Hello guys! So here's the 8th chapter, set A FEW MONTHS after the last one. Have a good read!


Kudo Mansion, 11:30 pm.

Conan switched position on the bed for the umpteenth time. He was desperately trying to find the right posture for sleeping. The reason why it was harder than usual? Ai was not with him.

That morning, Ayumi had proposed her to have dinner and sleep at her house, so they could have a sort of a girls' night out. Much to Conan's dismay, Ai had to accept the offer to make her friend happy, aware of Ayumi's deep care for spending time with her.

As a consequence, Conan ended up sleeping alone at his house after having dinner with Hakase. The last time he was forced to sleep without Ai was when they got hospitalized after having that incident many months ago. At least, back then, they were in the same room, but this time he was completely alone.

A deep sense of emptiness crowded his soul, although he knew his wife wasn't in danger or anything like that. He wasn't used to sleeping without her.

He missed the weight of her head resting on his chest, the warmth of her arms around him, the slight vibration emanated from her breathing and the sweet smell of her strawberry blond hair. All he could do to compensate for all of that was hugging tightly her pillow, which was impregnated with her pure aroma; he hoped that it would have helped him to fall asleep, someway.

His mind flew back to when he had to separate from her...


*FLASHBACK*

5 hours earlier...

"See you tomorrow then, bye", Ai greeted Conan and Agasa while exiting the car and starting to proceed towards the entrance of the building where Ayumi's apartment was.

However, before the professor could start driving again, Conan determined that he hadn't told his wife something, so he opened the car's door on his side and quickly told Agasa, "Hakase, I'm accompanying her, meanwhile you can go somewhere to buy dinner, I'll wait for you to pick me up here."

The old scientist got completely taken aback and didn't even have the time to respond as Conan shoot the door behind him and reached Ai, so all he could do was following his hasty instructions.

Ai had just entered the condominium when she heard the sound of the automatic door opening again right behind her, followed by a loud 'Wait!'.

Conan gripped the handle of her bag on her right shoulder, stopping her from walking further. She turned back to see a thin sad smile on her husband's face, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Do you really have to go?", he asked as if he was trying to change her mind at the last moment.

Ai let out a long sigh, she had to begin from the start again, "I've already told you, this was the third time that Ayumi-chan asked me to stay at her house and have a girls' night out, and I had already found an excuse for the previous two times. And you also know that she's extra sentimental, so I don't want to break her heart in a million pieces."

He lowered his gaze a little, looking crestfallen, "So you prefer breaking mine instead.", he stated in a low voice.

Ai rolled her eyes, "Don't you think you're exaggerating a bit? You're being overdramatic just like your mother is with you. It's only one night, not one year."

Conan overlooked the comparison she'd just done between him and Yukiko, normally he would've shot her a lot of daggers from his eyes for doing that, a thing that surprised her expectations. It was because of that missing reaction that she understood his real mood, his facial expression looked painful, he really meant what he had said.

She blushed at that realization and gazed at him in a mix of understanding and affection.

"Hey...", she held his face and made him look at her straight in the eyes, "... Are you going to miss me that much?", she asked delicately, a hint of amusement was lightly perceivable in the way she spoke.

He blushed too and brought his eyes away from her gaze, kind of a positive answer to her question.

Her eyes went wider, he wasn't joking.

She smiled at him, "I can't back off now, you know that, right?"

He let out of an unhappy and resigned sigh, "Yeah... I know..."

His disappointment got eased when Ai enveloped him in her arms, putting him into a comforting and warm embrace. He hugged her back, very tightly.

He rested his chin on her shoulder and took the chance to whisper something into her ear, "I love you so much."

Those words sounded like music to her ears, she drove a hand to caress his dark hair. She was finding it difficult to break the hug, she was stuck in his gravity. After something like one minute, Conan pulled back for a second before leaning forward to kiss her, but she stopped him by gently pushing his chest away with her hands.

"Not here, not now", she told him, mainly because they were in public, and she swore she had heard things like 'awwww' and 'how cute' coming from the few people who had passed by there and seen them hugging affectionately. It was rare to see two 14-year-olds being so deeply close and intimate with each other.

"Tomorrow, 'kay?"

He sighed for the umpteenth time of that evening, "Okay."

After many seconds of eye-to-eye glances, Conan was still holding her hips, as if he didn't want to loosen contact with Ai, so she had to speak.

"Conan...", she called softly.

He let out of a questioning hum, although he wasn't really listening, he seemed to be engrossed in staring at her.

"I have to go now, she must be waiting for me", she reminded him, bringing him back to reality. He shook his head and released her with regret.

"See you tomorrow.", she finally greeted and approached the intercom.

"See you tomorrow.", he merely waved his hand at her and got out of there to wait for professor Agasa to pick him up and go back home.

Ai secretly smiled and a shade of scarlet coated her cheeks. This time Conan had dazzled her, she didn't know he was so clingy, also because they were always together so he didn't need to be like that. She giggled, this knowledge was amusing her very much, and his confession had set her in a sentimental mood.

*END FLASHBACK*


Conan wondered about how was it possible that being without Ai for some hours could make his life so miserable. He depended on her, he needed to continually have her around to feel complete. She was a part of him, a very consistent part, that explained why he was feeling that empty sensation.

He concluded that he wouldn't have managed to sleep that night, not without seeing her and hearing the melodic and harmonic sound of her voice.

He grabbed his phone and sent her a text message.

'Are you awake?'

He waited. Not too many seconds later, he received her reply.

'Yeah... can't sleep huh?'

He smiled. Basing on the time he had to wait for her answer, he liked to think that she was hoping for him to text or call her.

'Are you alone?', he asked.

'Guest room... on the bed... so yes.'

'Can't sleep too huh?'

'Well, I'm messaging with you... draw conclusions.'

He chuckled as he imagined the way she would've spoken those words in some kind of an it's-obvious-you-idiot tone.

'Can I call you?', he demanded.

'Mmmm... sure'

He didn't need to be told twice as he immediately did what he asked. He opted for a video call, instead of a classic one. She placed the smartphone on the bedside table and pointed the camera towards herself, then answered.

"Hey..."

As soon as he saw her face and heard her voice, the emptiness he was feeling got filled almost fully, he only wished that he could touch her. He smiled more.

"Hey..."

"Miss me?"

"Not really, I just wanted to check if you miss me.", he mocked.

"Same as you, goodnight.", she replied nonchalantly and began to move a finger towards the phone as if she was gonna hang up.

"Wait— I was just kidding!", he clarified in a hurry, seen her movements.

Ai retracted her finger back and smirked. However, her smirk got replaced with a confused look as she spotted a weird figure beside Conan on his bed.

"There's something right next to you, what is it?"

"Huh... nothing.", he quickly pushed the object out of the range of the camera.

"A pillow?"

Conan looked away, clearly embarrassed.

"Cheating on me with a pillow, huh? What an unfaithful husband..."

She chuckled, waiting for him to explain. Seeing that he didn't want to talk, she decided to ask by herself.

"Seriously, why do you have a pillow beside you?"

"It's not any random pillow... it's yours...", he muttered the last two words in a low voice, still, she heard him perfectly.

"So you think I'm replaceable with my pillow?"

"It's not like that... it's because... it smells like you...", he awkwardly confessed in a low voice. He was sure she would tease him for that but, to his surprise, she didn't. Instead, her gaze melted into a warm and understanding one.

"I miss you too..."

His heart skipped a beat. Her confessions were quite rare to hear, although this one was kinda indirect.

For an instant, he even thought she was gonna say something like 'just kidding', "This isn't one of your jokes... right?", he reluctantly asked.

Ai sighed and spoke with sincerity, "Not this time."

It took a few seconds for him to process that she truly meant that, before smiling as if he had just won a trophy.

"Too bad that I can't kiss you right now..."

"Oh and speaking about that, you have to thank me, because if I had let you kiss me when we were at the entrance of the condominium, we would've been discovered."

"What do you mean?"

"Well..."


*FLASHBACK*

3 hours earlier...

Ai was having dinner with Ayumi and her mother, her father was away on business that night, so it was an authentic only-ladies evening.

They were chatting about this and that when the 'boyfriend' topic came out, started by Ayumi's mother who narated the two girls the whole love story between her and her husband, exploiting the context to give them a little advice on that matter. Ayumi listened intently to her mother's speech; Ai, on the other hand, wasn't that much interested in the topic, since she already had her man, but obviously, Ayumi's mother could never imagine not to be the only married woman there.

"What about you, Ai-chan? Do you have anyone you like?", Ayumi's mother asked gently.

Ai was caught off guard by the sudden question, she wondered about how the conversation had landed on her.

However, before she could speak, Ayumi enthusiastically preceded her since she couldn't resist, "How do you get noticed by a boy you like? Because Conan-kun never seems to notice me.", she innocently asked her mother, blushing slightly.

"This Conan-kun is the boy with glasses, dark hair, and cobalt eyes you often talk about, right, Ayumi?"

"Yes, it's him."

Ayumi's mother put on a thoughtful look and hummed, "Isn't he the boy who was with you before, Ai-chan?"

Ayumi's expression became confused.

The conversation was taking a bad turn, Ai sensed that, but she also determined that denying the evidence was worthless, she just had to put things in a different way.

"Yes, it was him."

"I thought he was your boyfriend, you seemed deeply intimate.", Ayumi's mother ingeniously pointed out.

She must have been one of the people who passed by there when she and Conan we're hugging affectionately, Ai assumed.

Careful not to hurt Ayumi's sentiments, she delicately answered, "Edogawa-kun is a close friend, he was near me after my older sister died, so I would be lying if I said that we haven't a strong bond. However, he's not my boyfriend, he can be very unbearable and troublesome sometimes, believe me."

Fortunately for her, Ayumi and her mother seemed to buy that version.

*END FLASHBACK*


"...Understand now?"

"So you had to lie.", Conan remarked.

"There wasn't any hint of a lie in what I told them."

Conan raised an eyebrow and let out a questioning grumble.

"It's true that you're a close friend and also that you were near me after my sister's death.", Ai begun.

"Agree on that."

"It's also true that we have a strong bond."

Conan exposed his point, "Okay but you told them that I'm not your boyfriend."

"That's valid too. Technically, you're not my boyfriend, you're my husband; so no lie when I told them that.", she pointed out.

"And then you told them that I'm unbearable and troublesome.", he murmured with an offended attitude, expecting a sarcastic remark on this point.

"Again, there's nothing incorrect in what I said."

Conan sulked childishly at her, groaning in irritation.

Ai chuckled on the other line, "Try to sleep now, it's late."

Conan's look softened, "I'm not sleepy, let's talk for a few more minutes.", he sounded like he was pleading.

She chuckled again, "I didn't know you were so dependent on me, otherwise I would've found a way to bring you with me."

He pondered that possibility, "It would have been quite uncomfortable for me to spend a night at Ayumi's house, especially because you talked about love and boys."

"Yeah... I guess..."

Silence filled the successive moments as they didn't precisely know what to talk about.

"So what now? Do you want me to tell you a story to make you fall asleep?", Ai mocked.

Still, Conan decided to take it seriously, he concluded that maybe hearing the sound of her speaking could put him to sleep, "You know what? It's not a bad idea..."

Ai looked dumbfounded and checked her ears as she was not sure whether he was being serious or not, "Can you repeat?", she asked incredulously.

"Why not? Maybe it could work.", he simply answered.

She blinked a pair of times, "That sounds kinda ridiculous...", she commented.

"Who cares? None else is hearing us so..."

"Well... If that's what you want..."

He nodded to confirm that he really wanted her to tell him a story.

Since she felt bad for him and wanted to help him to fall asleep, she decided to satisfy him. She took a sigh, "Make yourself comfortable."

He grinned and obliged, adjusting his pillow and putting the phone right beside his head. He closed his eyes and waited for her to begin.

Ai massaged her temple, 'Geez, I'm gonna be the murderer of my dignity... but I guess I love him more than it...'.

"Once upon a time..."

He moaned lightly as he heard her starting.

"... there was a very very idiotic man..."

Conan couldn't help but chuckle, this was gonna be such an unusual story.

"... his name was Kudo Shinichi."

Although she had found a way to tease him even on an occasion like this, he didn't mind it and just appreciated her effort, he knew her pride was suffering very much from her actions, which had the goal to please him.

"Although Shinichi was 23 years old, his brain had stopped developing when he was only 5 years old."

Conan's mind started relaxing and preparing itself to rest.

"A merciful woman, Miyano Shiho, felt very pity for the poor Shinichi, so she decided to take care of him. Shiho used to feed him, play with him, and tell him a story every night to make him sleep..."

Her voice was lulling him to sleep.


Ai went on for many minutes with her 'story', until she heard Conan's steady breathing from her phone, meaning that she had managed to make him fall asleep. She giggled and hung up the video call, adjusting her posture on the bed.

She missed her husband too, but she already had an idea on how to help herself to drift off; her hand grabbed her phone. She started listening to the full interview reporters made with Conan the last time he confronted Kaito Kid; if she remembered well, it was pretty long, about half an hour of duration.

She vowed to herself not to tell Conan about this, or else that last little piece of her pride which had survived until then would be gone too.

Switching all her attention to the sound of her lover's voice, Ai shut her eyes and relaxed.

THE END


Thank you for reading! Hope you liked this chapter, I've already delineated the events of the next one, so stay tuned. As always, comments and feedbacks are extremely appreciated.