The first thing Conan saw when he woke up was an IV bag.
He lethargically blinked as his surroundings focused into view. He was laying down on a hospital bed, with said IV stuck into his arm. The blinds in the room he was in were drawn, but he could still tell it was around some time in the morning.
He stared blankly up at the ceiling.
So, evidently, he didn't die then.
That was, well, kind of surprising. When he heard that they were going to try and use Ran's blood, he was nearly convinced he was going to die. But, it wasn't impossible that a new shipment (or.. however they get blood to the hospital - he didn't know) of his blood type arrived or that they found someone else who could give blood, soon after, but he wasn't exactly in his right mind then, so he figured that was good enough excuse.
He felt very tired and woozy, but he guessed that was to be expected when he just woke up from surgery. He was probably chock-full of weird medical drugs, which was actually a good thing.. maybe. His wound didn't hurt nearly even half as much as before so that was a plus, although they were probably clouding his mind a bit.
Conan yawned, slowly pushing himself up to a sitting position, wincing at some slight pain (it seemed they hadn't given him enough pain killers to fully numb the pain - oh well). He placed a hand on the injury and leaned back against the pillow.
His new position allowed him to see the two other occupants of the room: Ran, who was draped over the corner of his bed sleeping, and Kogoro, who was also asleep on one of the chairs in a very Sleeping Kogoro-esque position (except this time naturally, and not due to any tranquilizer or anesthetic).
He couldn't help but smile softly at the sight. It felt nice.
Suddenly, he heard some shuffling from the foot of his bed and saw Ran sitting up sleepily. She yawned and rubbed at her eyes.
She looked over, her face lighting up as soon as she saw the boy. "Conan-kun!"
He smiled at her. "Good morning, Ran-neechan."
She immediately stood up and rushed over to bring him into a gentle hug (taking care to avoid his wound). "You're awake..." She said quietly.
He let her stay like that for a while, and, if he felt some slight wetness on his hospital gown, he didn't comment on it.
Soon, Ran released Conan from her hold and brought over a chair to sit down next to him. "You're okay." She said softly.
Conan looked up at her and, ooh yikes, along with the few tears currently in her eyes, there were still some faint tears tracks slightly visible on her cheeks. He must've worried her a lot.
He nodded. "I'm okay." He reassured.
She smiled, bringing his hand into hers.
They stayed like that for a moment, and soon Conan had to wonder who, if not Ran, gave him their blood.
"Ran-neechan..?" He asked. "So, did you..." He trailed off. She let out a 'hm?'. "Your blood..?" He asked meekly.
"Oh!" She shook her head. "No, I didn't."
Which he already knew. What he actually wanted to ask was, "So who did then?"
"Dad did." She answered, looking behind at the man in question.
Conan's eyes widened. "Oji-san did?" He asked incredulously, looking behind Ran over at him. Now that he actually got a look at Kogoro, he looked quite pale and just horrible in general. But still, he looked back over at Ran skeptically. "Are you sure?"
"Yes I'm sure! You don't have to sound so disbelieving; he's not heartless!" They both laughed. "Yeah, after they figured out I didn't have the same blood type, they realized dad did." She continued. "I heard he gave you quite a lot of blood and stayed with you the whole night. I don't think he even ate yet."
Conan scoffed. "Okay, now you're taking things a bit too far."
"Geez!" Ran laughed and playfully ruffled his hair.
Conan laughed while smoothing his hair into place. He paused for a second. "So what blood type do I have, then?" He was quite curious.
"Ah, it's A." She answered.
A, huh...
That was nice to know, in case he ever gets critically injured again in his life, which, knowing his luck, was probably going to happen.
Conan looked over at Kogoro, who was still sleeping away. He could hear a bit of snoring from him, thankfully a lot less than the deafening sound that typically comes out of him at night.
So Kogoro also had type A then.
It seemed having the same blood type as Shinichi was just a bit too much of a coincidence for the universe to provide him with.
Wait, Shinichi...
Conan suddenly gasped, bringing a hand up to his mouth.
That's right!
He was pretending to be Shinichi right now! And Shinichi was supposed to have the same blood type as Ran, which was something Agasa probably knew! And clearly Conan did not!
"Conan-kun?" He heard Ran ask. He flinched, looking up at her. "Are you okay?"
"Do the others know Oji-san gave me blood and not you?" He asked without thinking.
"Eh?" She said, confused. "Uh.. I'm not sure. I mean, we didn't necessarily tell them."
"So.. they don't know?"
"I guess not..?" She said worriedly. "Is there something wrong?"
Conan sighed in relief. "No. In that case, no."
But that didn't seem to have dissuaded her worries. "Are you sure? You looked.. scared there, for a second. Do you need anything?"
He shook his head. "No. I'm fine, really." He assured. "I don't need anything, Ran-neech-" Which was when he suddenly broke out into a mini coughing fit, causing Ran to immediately fuss over him.
"Conan-kun-!" She yelled.
After a few seconds to let himself catch his breath, Conan said, "I could use some water though." He was actually quite thirsty.
"Hold on, I'll go get some!" She quickly said and rushed out the door.
And that was when Kogoro decided to wake up. Well, it was more like he tipped over and bashed his head on the corner of the chair's armrest, startling himself awake.
"Hm? What..?" He said, confusedly looking around the room.
"Good morning. You're late." Conan said dryly.
Kogoro whipped his head over to the boy. "You're awake?"
"Have been."
He swiveled his head around. "Where's Ran?"
"She left to go get me water."
"Ah..." He yawned, leaning back against the chair in a more relaxing manner and closing his eyes.
Now that Conan got a better look at him, Kogoro really did look terrible. The pale skin was making his eyebags far more pronounced and it looked like he hadn't slept in ages even though he quite literally just woke up.
Great, now he felt guilty.
Kogoro peeked an eye open. "...Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Eh?" Oops, he must've been staring. Conan looked down shyly and twiddled his fingers. Before he knew it, he was saying, "...Thank you."
Seriously, he can't be thinking right.
"Hnn?" Kogoro raised an eyebrow. "What for?"
"Ran-neechan told me you gave me a lot of blood..."
Kogoro sighed. "No need to thank me. Anyone would've done it."
"I guess... I was surprised." Conan smiled over at him. "It's just so unlike you."
"H-hey!" He said angrily. "What do you mean it's unlike me!?"
Conan cheekily grinned. "I mean, she also told me you stayed with me all night and didn't even eat anything!"
Kogoro's hands tightened into fists as he glared over at the boy. "You little..."
Conan let out a deceptively cute giggle. "Aw! You do care!" At this point, he didn't think he had any control of what was coming out of his mouth.
"You know what." Kogoro crossed his arms. "You are not cute. At all."
"But really, you should go eat something. You look like shit."
Kogoro just gave him a weird and vaguely surprised look.
Why was he..? Oh, it was probably because he said shit. Children, like him, don't tend to know or have swear words in their vocabulary. Oh well. He's blaming the drugs in his system.
Kogoro blinked at him. "Where'd you hear that?"
Conan smiled up at him mischievously. "You."
"Fair." He sighed, bringing a hand up to his head. "Just, don't say that around Ran."
"Okay!" He said brightly. "But only if you go eat something. Really, you do look like shit."
"I- you!" Kogoro sat back up in his chair. "Stop that!" He pointed an accusing finger at Conan. "Besides, you don't look too good yourself."
"Well, yeah.. I just woke up from surgery." He said obviously.
"You really worried us, kid." Kogoro leaned back and sighed. "Ran was a sobbing mess when they figured out she didn't have the same blood type as you, and then again when they figured out I did."
Conan just looked down at his hands. "Sorry..."
He never wanted to worry them.
He didn't even expect this whole thing to last any more than a week, but it's been, what, more than six months now. He's pretty sure that was longer than any time he's stayed at some sort of foster home after his parents died.
He's caused the Mouri's so much worry and trouble all because of some stupid decision he made months ago.
Suddenly, he felt a hand plop down on his head and start to roughly ruffle his hair. Conan squawked and batted the hand away, trying to smooth the mess of his hair down into something more presentable.
Kogoro leaned down and stared Conan right in the eyes. "Don't say that. It's not your fault."
Conan was left no other choice but to nod and agree. "O-okay."
Kogoro straightened back up. "Good."
Which was when the door burst open to show Ran breathing heavy with a cup of water in her hand. "Sorry I took so long! I could find the-" She stopped, noticing Kogoro. "Ah, you're awake, dad."
"Yeah, I was just telling this guy" he patted a disgruntled Conan on the head a couple times as emphasis, "that he should stop worrying about us when he's the one who's injured."
Conan glared at him before smiling over at Ran. "Yeah!" He said brightly. "And I was telling him to go eat something 'cause he looks" he noticed Kogoro tense up beside him, "horrible!" The tension released.
"Ah, then why don't I go get us some snacks then?" She headed over to Conan and handed him the water. He took a couple greedy sips.
"You don't need to-" Kogoro was interrupted by his stomach loudly growling, as if on cue. He looked down, embarrassed. "Fine..."
"Alright!" Ran cheerfully headed back out the door.
Conan gave Kogoro a smug smile.
"Oh, shut up."
Throughout the day, doctors and nurses came in now and then and did weird medical stuff to him that he didn't exactly know what was for (maybe Haibara would). But thankfully, it seemed he was well enough to have visitors over, aside from just his guardians, and also to have the IV taken out (which he was quite grateful for - it was uncomfortable knowing there was a needle just there, sitting in his arm).
The new visitors just included the Detective Boys, which he was glad that it was only them. He didn't know if he could handle any more, in his condition. He was just so tired and the liveliness of the Detective Boys was.. a lot. Honestly, he probably accidentally fell asleep on them a few times.
And Haibara.. she didn't really say or do much of anything aside from giving him and Ran odd looks from time to time, which was definitely worrying (although it's not like he was complaining about her quietness), because, even though Ran said they didn't tell anyone Kogoro gave Conan his blood, that didn't prevent anyone from piecing it out themselves, including Haibara. He wasn't sure if she was actually suspicious of his identity or if it was something completely different, but thankfully she didn't mention anything about it. But that was probably due to the fact that there was always someone else in the room, so he wasn't too hopeful.
However, the collective enthusiasm of the Detective Boys combined with his anxiety over if Haibara was catching on to his secret or not, made him way too tired to actually deal with the latter. So, he just did what he does best and ignored the problem, leaving it for his future self to handle.
Fortunately, by some stroke of luck, no one mentioned anything about who Conan got blood from (just in case Haibara didn't know) and he was going to keep it that way (at least try to). Hopefully he would be able to get away with sudden subject changes, thanks to his age, if the situation ever arises.
But, by the end of the day, Conan was completely exhausted. After the nurses did their rounds, he snuggled into his barely comfortable hospital sheets, ready to sleep.
And that was when he suddenly heard the metallic sound of a gun cocking right next to his head.
He looked over to see Haibara, of all people, casually sitting next to him on his bed, pointing a gun right at his face, and not a criminal or Black Organization member trying to kill him like he was expecting (which technically wasn't wrong...).
Well, if she did know he wasn't Shinichi, this was definitely a way to deal with it. A bit over the top though, in his opinion.
He was definitely startled and scared at first, but that was before he realized the gun she was pointing at him was fake. Although, it took him a second because it was quite dark in the room and the majority of the gun actually looked real, the only fake looking portion was the barrel. It was larger than it should be, but not noticeably from the outside. The rim was a lot thinner (enough so that a bullet would not be able to effectively fire from it) therefore making the hole itself larger. The only reason he noticed was because he was staring straight down at it. If he were to guess, he'd say it was a real gun that was modified for whatever purpose Haibara had needed it for.
And so, now Conan instead just stared very irritably at Haibara, because he was very tired and she was pulling this weird stunt in the middle of the night for God knows why.
He sighed. "I literally just woke up from surgery this morning and I am very tired. Can this wait?"
He wasn't exactly thinking about what he was saying but he really did not care.
That seemed to get a fairly surprised look out of Haibara, but she soon schooled her expression back to the more serious and menacing look she previously had. "Do you understand the situation you're in?"
"To be honest, not really." He really had no idea why she was doing this.
"My identity got found out.. by those you call the 'men in black'." She said.
Ok, he was really not expecting that. Why on earth was she joking about that?
If she was trying to scare him into seeing how dangerous pretending to be Shinichi was, this was honestly quite unnecessary. He hoped she knew she could just talk to him.. like a normal person.
"It was all because of that incident at the Haido City Hotel." She continued. "I never would've imagined that there was another member apart from Pisco in that party hall..."
Well, to be honest, Conan would've. How else would Pisco have gotten that handkerchief? Which was something he had actually forgotten about until now. Well, it's not like whatever member that was at the party was exactly relevant.. yet.
Conan let out a huge yawn, mostly because he was so tired he couldn't help it, but also partly out of spite.
A brief look of annoyance flashed over her face, which Conan had to admit was a bit satisfying because why was she doing this? At night!
But alas, Haibara still had to finish the rest of her story. "Because of that member, the organization began to suspect I had shrunk because of the drug, and this morning they found where I live. I thought they'd kill me, but they said they'd overlook my betrayal if I returned and resumed research on APTX 4869."
Conan had to give it to her. Her story was pretty believable. He most likely would've been convinced if he didn't know the gun was fake. Well, except for the fact that she was trying to kill him with a gun, in a hospital. Like seriously. The noise would've alerted probably everyone in the hospital (and that thing did not have a silencer) and she would've been caught.
But, he decided he might as well play along. "And, I know about their existence so you came to kill me, huh?"
"Yeah, those were the conditions they gave me. Of course your parents and that Osakan guy will be killed tomorrow."
Hmm, parents? Maybe she doesn't know then..? But then what is this for?
"Sorry.. the Professor's been taken hostage, so I'm doing all I can to save him." She smirked. "But you should thank me. You won't have to see the dead faces of your friends and family. I'll be sure to send you to the afterlife right away..."
She was really getting into her role, huh? He felt a shiver go up his spine, despite knowing she was lying. She was very convincing.
Conan watched as her finger curled around the trigger.
He closed his eyes, subconsciously expecting a loud gunshot even though he knew it was fake, but instead he heard a swish and what sounded like rustling leaves..? He opened his eyes to a face full of bright red roses.
He stared incredulously at them for a second, before saying, "...How did you fit those in there?"
Why was that the first thing he asked about?
He really was tired, huh.
Haibara lifted the gun upwards, thankfully away from his face. "Perseverance." Was all she said. Conan just irritably stared at her because that was not a suitable enough answer for him. She sighed. "I had to remove a lot of the gun's insides."
"Ah, that would explain why the barrel was so large." To fit all the flowers.
It was now Haibara's turn to look at him irritably. "You knew it was fake."
"Yep!" He said brightly.
She brought a hand up to massage the bridge of her nose. "Of course you did..." She said, exasperated.
"But, anyways..." Conan continued. "How'd you sneak a gun into a hospital? After visiting hours no less?"
Haibara scoffed, lowering the gun into her lap. "You'd be surprised how lax the hospital's security is."
"That's.. definitely worrying."
Especially considering all the classified patient records and potentially dangerous drugs that hospitals tend to have.
"Well.. I'm sure my small stature was a significant help."
Conan flashbacked to the time he managed to sneak onto a plane past all the security, primarily by just staying out of the adults' eye level.
He chuckled. "Yeah... I guess that's true."
Their conversation paused.
Haibara lifted the gun back up, pulled the bouquet out, and placed the flowers in the vase on his bedside table and set the gun down next to them.
Conan cleared his throat. "Um... So, what was the whole pretending-to-kill-me thing about there?" He was dying to know. Because she wasn't even mentioning the not-being-Shinichi thing so he honestly had no clue anymore.
"Ah, that." She said as if she were referring to something completely normal, and not as if she had just threatened to kill him moments ago. "I was just giving you a preview of what could happen if you told that girl your identity..."
Oh.
So this wasn't about him not being Shinichi, and she apparently didn't even have any suspicions.
He lives to see another day.
"That girl..." He repeated, trying not to show the relief he was feeling on his face. "You mean Ran?"
"Yes." She answered. "We haven't properly met, but.. I'm nearly certain she suspects you're Kudo Shinichi." Conan internally scoffed. Yeah, there's no way she thinks that anymore, especially after the whole blood type thing. "And, you assumed you wouldn't be able to fool her this time, so you want to end this problem and tell her.. don't you?" She finished.
Conan raised an eyebrow and just stared confusedly at her. "Huh?" He said incredulously. "How on earth did you come to that conclusion?"
"It's obvious." She said. Conan waited for her to continue, because, really, it was not. "I can tell by your faces. You seem resigned, despite the seriousness of the situation."
Ah, so that explains why she was staring at them throughout the day.
"Or maybe," Conan cut in, "I'm calm because I convinced her I'm not Shinichi." He suggested.
Haibara huffed. "There's no way you could've done that in such a short amount of time." She curtly said. "And I can tell she's noticed as well. She's sad, but she's also come to terms with the situation. I bet she's wondering why you haven't told her yet, but glad she's realized it's you."
Conan rolled his eyes. "Or maybe," He said again. "She's sad because she's realized I'm not Shinichi, and she's now accepted that."
"Again, impossible." She said. Conan internally groaned. "You're not going to be able to convince her with such simple means anymore, Kudo-kun. She knows you have the same blood type. We're going to have to do something more..."
Conan sighed. She's not going to listen, is she... "Oh, then do you have something in mind?" He half-heartedly asked.
"Yes." She answered. Oh, he didn't actually think she did... "You have three options." She said, holding up three fingers. "First, you don't tell her anything and act cold around her until she stops suspecting you. Second, you ignore everything I've told you and tell her, and hope they don't find out and kill you. Or third..." She paused. "We can try the plan I've come up with..."
"Plan..?" He repeated hesitantly.
Why did he have an almost.. ominous feeling.
"Yes." She said. "Remember back at the Haido City Hotel, when you had me take that Paikaru?"
Conan's eyes slightly widened. "Y-yes..?" He said nervously.
He really hoped she wasn't implying what he thought she was implying.
"Well," She continued. "Thanks to that, I was able to take the base chemical components of the alcohol and modify them to make, essentially, a temporary antidote to the drug that shrunk both of our bodies, Apotoxin 4869." She finished with a proud smirk.
Shit!
So that's what was with the ominous feeling.
Why didn't he think of that!? Of course she would be able to make an antidote!
"My, you look surprised." She said expectantly.
Well, of course he looked surprised!
He just hoped he somehow looked more pleasantly surprised and not deathly afraid, like he was.
He schooled his expression to look at least somewhat less terrified, and placed a smile on his face. "Well.. I have to say I am. How'd you finish it in such a short amount of time?" Because, really, it had only been a few weeks since the Haido City Hotel incident.
"What did you think I was doing during my week off?"
Week off? Was she talking about when she didn't go to school for a week after that whole thing to let her injuries heal?
"Uh.. recovering?" He said with a shrug.
"I.. I mean, yes I was." She stammered. "But it's not like I was doing nothing that whole time."
Actually, now that he remembered, he often found Haibara down in the basement with all her weird science-y equipment, when he went over and visited her. "Y-yeah.. I guess so."
"But," Haibara continued. "Because of the short time span, it's only a prototype. It hasn't exactly been tested yet, so it could be dangerous."
Nope. No way he is taking that.
Conan just stared down, conflicted.
He's going to have to tell her isn't he...
Damnit! Just when he thought he was in the clear!
"I'm planning on having you take the antidote and show up as Kudo to that school play." She continued, oblivious to Conan's inner dilemma. "And I would have your mother disguise me as your current form, Conan, so that theoretically you two would be in the same place at the same time, making it impossible that you could be the same person." She smirked. "So, what do you think?"
He nervously glanced at her.
It was either, heavily disappoint Haibara and make her hate him for the rest of his life, or die.
(Well, he was probably exaggerating a lot, but that's honestly what it felt like.)
But, he already knew what he was going to do.
"Haibara-san..?" He carefully asked.
She looked at him confusedly. "What?" She asked testily.
"I have something to tell you."
"Hm?" She said, apprehensive and slightly confused.
Conan looked away nervously and fiddled with his fingers. "I, uh.. may have been lying to you this whole time." He instinctively closed his eyes and clenched his hands around the hospital sheets.
After a few seconds, he heard her fearfully say, "D-don't tell me..!" He opened his eyes to see her wide eyed with a look of sheer horror on her face. "You already told her!"
"Huh?" He said surprised. "No, no!" He quickly waved his hands. "It's not that."
Her expression of fear changed to anger. "Then what?"
He just had to bite the bullet and get this over with.
He gulped. "I'm not Shinichi."
He stared at her with an entirely serious look, but she just looked irritated.
"Oh? Then who would you be?" She asked sarcastically.
"Conan, of course..!" He said with fake cheerfulness. He pathetically laughed.
Haibara just looked very unimpressed. She sighed and brought a hand up to her head. "I don't know what you're trying to get at here, Kudo-kun, but you can just say you don't want to take the antidote. It is potentially lethal."
Conan blinked.
That's.. that's true. He could've just said that instead...
He mustn't be in his right mind.
He sighed, trying to seem more exasperated and not relieved. "Yes, I don't want to take the antidote." He channeled his inner Kudo Shinichi. "I would love to be able to see Ran as myself again, and clear up her suspicions.. but I just don't think I'm ready to risk my life like that."
He won't be ready, ever (even if the antidote is proven to be safe), but he felt he didn't need to mention that.
He did feel kind of bad that Haibara went through all that trouble to make an antidote that wouldn't even be used, but, oh well, his life was just a bit more important, he figured.
"Well..." Haibara hopped off the stool she was sitting on. "I hope you'll find another way to convince her, then." She grabbed the gun off his bedside table, slid it into her pocket, and turned around towards the door.
He internally chuckled. "Don't worry. I will." He said confidently, considering he already has.
She looked over her shoulder at him skeptically. "Alright then." She headed over to the door and placed her hand on the doorknob. "I'll see you to that." She opened the door and walked out.
Conan laid back down on his bed and promptly fell asleep.
