A/N: Um...Hi? Please hold off from throwing eggs at me until after I complete my explanation. I'm really sorry this took so long, I was busy dealing with this thing called 'real life', and it can be quite a bitch sometimes, you know. I want to thank all the people who favorited, followed and reviewed the first chapter. You guys are the reason I wanted to continue writing this series. Also, a shoutout to Hislips, who kept encouraging to come back. I'm literally picking up my pen after a break of almost two years, so please don't blast me if it's not up to the mark. So, without further ado.

The Bra Quandary

"Shinichi, can you come here for a sec?"

The sound of Ran's chime made the said person spin around from the bathroom mirror. The bathroom door was ajar, as he stood inside fixing his tie in front of the bathroom mirror, which he was compelled to use since the person addressing him right now had the vanity mirror occupied. He was looking quite dapper at the moment, dressed in a solid black three-piece tuxedo, with the exception of the coat, which was still hanging in their shared wardrobe, and a plain white shirt to complement it. He'd combed down the fore fringes of his hair and straightened his cowlick to sport a more formal look. Hesitatingly, he stepped outside to attend to his girlfriend's call.

"What is it, Ran?" He directed his voice towards her, who was sitting on a stool opposite the dressing mirror across the room, seeming perfectly dressed in a bodycon red halter sheath dress with her hair fastened in a bun with an exquisite silver beaded comb pin. She was wearing light makeup to accent her features, which he would agree suited her the most. "You know I'm in the middle of tying a full Windsor. If I miss a single step, I'll have to start all over again. We're already getting late for the party."

"I know! That's why I need your help!" She provided, albeit reluctant, with a tinge of red streaming her cheeks. He had to admit she was looking extremely gorgeous right now.

"My help? With what?" Shinichi's brow furrowed as he threw her a perplexed look.

"Uh...actually" Ran started while avoiding his piercing gaze, as her face bloomed further. "I was taking care of some chores just now, and while doing so.…" She struggled to frame it in a way to tone down her discomfiture. "Uh…well, the clasps unfastened…" She stammered as she labored to explain her conundrum to him while trying to control her embarrassment from boiling over.

"The clasps? Your dress doesn't have any.." That earned him an annoyed glare, as her eyes narrowed at his cluelessness. It was then, that the realization hit him, and a blush of his own painted his cheeks. "Oh…" Gosh, he really couldn't take a hint sometimes.

"I can't take off my dress and hook them back now since it will ruin all my hair and makeup. Plus, we're already getting late for Sato and Takagi Keiji's wedding.." She explained hastily so as to take the edge off the awkwardness surrounding the whole conversation.

Shinichi and Ran had begun dating in the final year of high school, and ever since they entered University a few months ago, they'd started living together. Back in high school, they hadn't ventured much when it came to the subject of intimacy, though granted, they had shared passionate kisses and made out on several occasions before, but they hadn't escalated things further, and after they entered University, well, their crazy busy schedules; which they were still acclimatizing to, hadn't exactly given them the opportunity think about it. So obviously, it was pretty flustering for Ran to ask him for such a favor.

"Hmm, so you want me to clasp them back for you?" Regaining his composure, he supplied nonchalantly.

"Yes.." Ran looked at him meekly through the mirror's reflection as she felt the urge to bury her face in her palm.

His gaze lingered on her for a moment. A bead of sweat rolled down her face as she became slightly unnerved by his perusal.

"Yeah, alright." Shinichi finally said with a straight face, as he slowly started approaching her. He had once made an embarrassingly inaccurate deduction about her bra and had been schooled by Ran for it. If he was feeling any trepidation, he was masking it very well.

On the other hand, Ran's heartbeat was growing erratic as he was inching closer.

He made a beeline from the bathroom until he was standing right behind her and glanced at her through the mirror's reflection. Ran just gave him a shy, embarrassed smile.

Shinichi mirrored it with a smile of his own and bent down to examine the back of her dress, probably to contemplate his next steps. The scent of his freshly laundered shirt entered her nose and she found herself getting engulfed by his aroma.

However, when he just stood there, staring at her back for a few seconds with his eyes seeming absolutely clueless, Ran got pretty amused. He was really bad when it came to these things, wasn't he? Her lips quirked ever so slightly and she decided to save him from the struggle.

"The zipper" Ran said, looking at him through the glass, her eyes pointing towards the back of her neck.

"Ah right!" He exclaimed, but immediately realized his faux pas. "I mean…I knew that! I was just trying to find the slider!" He sweatdropped as he tried to save.

"Sure" Ran fully smirked at him.

But her smirk vanished as swiftly as it came; when Shinichi's fingers clutched the slider and started pulling it down carefully, one hand coming to rest on her bare shoulder to steady its movement.

She experienced jitters coursing her entire body as she slowly felt her back, all the way from her neck to her lower back, being exposed to Shinichi.

Once done unzipping her dress, his hand reached out to check her bra. His palms; cold, but soft and smooth, made contact with the warm skin of her back, and she swore she felt a jolt of electricity race through her veins. She stifled a moan from escaping her lips.

This was the first time Shinichi had ever undressed her in any way. Even though what he was doing right now seemed such a trivial task, she couldn't help but feel affected by it. Sure, they had their amorous make out sessions before, but both of them had been fully clothed on those occasions. So, she had no idea her body would respond this way to his touches.

She didn't have time to recover from her daze, however, since his hands started gliding upwards, ambitious to achieve their set goal. Her eyes shut as she felt an unfamiliar sensation surging through her as his hands wandered around her back. They finally came to rest at the middle of her back.

"I can't find the wings"

Ran's eyes snapped open as she recovered from her trance.

"Huh?" Her face bled red as she tried to make sense of his words through her daze.

"The wings of your bra, I can't find them" He said looking up at her reflection in the mirror, the tinge of red on his cheeks betraying his otherwise blasé tone.

"Oh!" Ran twisted her arm and patted her back in order to locate them.

"Their elastic must have pulled them to the sid-

Whatever she was about to say was instantly cut off when a sudden realization hit her.

Oh crap

She found them. However, with their current placement combined with the snug pencil dress she was wearing, there was no way she would be able to just pull them out.

Her eyes widened in realization, and blood rushed to her cheeks.

"Seems like you'll have to slide off your dress straps" Shinichi said easily.

Her eyes shot up to meet his in the mirror. Damn. So, he deduced it too.

Nope. This is a bad idea. Maybe she should just do it herself. Sliding off her dress when her bra is unfastened in front of Shinichi is way too risqué.

But…

It is also true that she has been craving to get intimate with Shinichi since they started living together three months ago. But, they've been busy adjusting to their new University life, and dealing with the stress of assignments, projects, and club activities while keeping up with their studies. Whenever they do get some time, Shinichi's death magnet decides to activate, and then it's just rigor mortis, murder weapons, alibis, and evidence; all of which is so romantic.

Anyway, the bottom line is that the time is never right, and probably it will never be. They're always going to be busy with something or the other. They just need to make the best of any opportunity they find. And Ran was seeing an opening here. Granted, she was nervous as hell and still mulling over whether she should do it or not.

Maybe she's just dwelling too much into it. Maybe it's not such a big deal. I mean, it's not like she's completely undressing, all she needs to do is slide the straps of her dress off her bust, enough to allow Shinichi to get hold of the wings. That's it. It should be fine. She doesn't need to be so uptight about it. Also, they're getting late. Maybe, she should just swallow her anxieties and get this over with.

"Ran?"

"Huh?" Shinichi's voice broke her little reverie.

"Are you sliding them off or not?" Shinichi's eyebrows rose questioningly as he looked at her through the mirror. She couldn't comprehend how he could behave so insouciant in such a situation when she was having an actual meltdown. Sometimes, this mystery-otaku could be so unreadable and enigmatic. But maybe, it was she who was indeed looking too much into it. Deciding to put an end to her train of thoughts, she prepared herself for what she was about to do next.

"Yes, I am" She said, trying to sound unperturbed as she nervously fiddled with her dress straps before finally pulling them down one by one, until her bust was completely exposed with the exception of her breasts that were, thankfully, still decently covered by the front portion of her bra. In hindsight, she realized she should've probably chosen a lacier bra tonight if she knew it was going to get exposed to Shinichi.

'It's alright.' She tried to compose herself. She wanted to see Shinichi's expressions, in order to gauge his reaction, but his face was effectively hidden behind her head as he'd lowered it to reach her level in order to perform the task he was assigned.

'No need to get edgy. I am breezy.' She repeated in her head to calm her nerves.

But then, Shinichi's warm breaths caressed her exposed shoulders, and her eyes closed instinctively.

Nope. Not breezy at all.

And this was just the beginning of the hormonal overdrive she was going to experience over the next few minutes.

His hands started traversing her smooth back and found their way to the side of her breasts, and she felt her skin burn at the sensation. It was as if his fingers were leaving a trail of fire on their wake as they traveled up in excruciating slowness. They finally reached their goal. Ran could feel his cold fingers just centimeters away from her breasts. He was so close right now. She was pretty sure he could make out the outline of her breasts in her current state. And that thought alone was sending her heart into arrhythmia.

His hands stopped there for a heartbeat, before gently tugging at the wings of her bra. He gently pulled them behind her back, and was carefully hooking them together already.

Ran breathed a sigh of relief. The hard part seemed to be over. Maybe she was indeed getting nervous over nothing.

But it appeared that fate had other plans as the elastic band abruptly sprang back as Shinichi loosened his hold thinking he'd successfully hooked up the wings. The wings pulled back so swiftly, had Ran not had her arms lying to her side, her bust would've surely been completely exposed without warning. Her face flushed as she became conscious of how close a call that was.

"Oh, my bad. I thought I'd hooked them properly. Let me try again" Shinichi looked up at her reflection in the mirror, and gave her a nervous smile. His cheeks were a healthy shade of red. However, he was actively avoiding any form of eye contact with her, at least not one long enough for her to gauge his reaction. Ran just gave him a slight nod.

And he did. He tried again.

And again.

And again.

By now, she was walking on a thin line between maintaining a composed countenance and wanting the earth to open up and swallow her whole. Between his hands gliding her back repeatedly, and his warm breaths caressing her shoulders, coupled with the fact that she was practically sitting almost topless in front of him, it was getting too much for her to handle. This wasn't exactly what she had in mind when she decided to let him do this. The seducer was becoming the seduced here.

And honestly, she was also getting borderline frustrated. I mean, how difficult was it to hook a simple bra!? He was fucking dubbed the Great Detective of the East, couldn't he accomplish such an easy task!?

"Geez! This is more difficult than I imagined" He said, irritation lacing his voice, as he tried to hook up her bra for the fourth time. He'd honestly thought it would be a child's play when he agreed to do it, but the three failed tries were making him rethink his assumptions. Although he tried to sound irritated, Ran hadn't known him since the age of four to not be able to sense the slight tenseness in his voice he was so actively trying to hide through his words.

Nonetheless, amused at her boyfriend's distress, Ran smirked. "Now you'll understand a girl's troubles!"

Shinichi just gave her his best stink eye through the mirror, before his eyes lit up and his lips tilted up in a cocky smile.

"Isn't this too much? Asking me to hook your bra? I should really be doing the opposite, you know?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and gave her a cheeky grin.

Ran's eyes widened and her mouth gaped in shock as her face went scarlet immediately at his tease. Had she been dressed properly right now, she would've immediately jumped up from her seat and smacked him, but she couldn't. He knew that! And he was taking advantage of it! He was turning the tables on her!

Opening and closing her mouth in order to formulate a response, she fumbled for words before finally managing to blurt out, flustered "Shut up and be a gentleman! We're already getting late for the party!"

"Hai-Hai" He let out a hearty chuckle, probably amused to see her getting flustered. Focusing his vision on the clasp once more, he gave it another go and thankfully for Ran, this time he finally managed to get the hook successfully inside it.

"There! Done!" He announced, rising up to his full height and facing her through the mirror, sporting a victorious grin.

"Ah! Arigatou Shinichi!" Ran said, all too happy that the hormonal assault was finally over.

"C'mon, get dressed now. You're cold, aren't you? I could literally see the goosebumps on your skin." He smiled smugly, before leaving the room, shutting the door after him. If he'd only spared her one last glance, he would've seen her face go so red; it would put even a scarlet macaw to shame.

"Baka!" Ran mumbled under her breath after he left. "It wasn't because I was cold!"

A/N: When I started writing this, I was wondering how much could I possibly write on a simple scene of Shinichi fixing Ran's bra. The answer is 2500+ words! And I would really appreciate if you guys give me some feedback, because I'm really not sure how I fared, especially after a 2-year long break *insert sweatdrop emoji*