DISCLAIMER: I do not own Detective Conan.

-02-

Hold my hand.

"Hurry up! We're already late as it is," high-schooler Edogawa Conan called out as he maneuvered his way in a crowded place.

Haibara Ai, who was struggling to keep up, frowned and replied with a snippy, "If someone had not gotten distracted, we would've been there on time."

It was summer and the festival venue was packed with people. The Detective Boys agreed to going to the event together but a certain young detective poked his nose where it did not belong and now they were half an hour late for their meeting.

"Hey, it's hardly a distraction. I helped solve a case, I brought justice to the victim."

"Which can be professionally done by the police who, by the way, were already present at the scene and were trying to get to the bottom of it. They can do that even without employing your help."

The tone in her voice clearly indicated annoyance and Conan knew not to add more fuel to the fire. Regardless, he hated verbally losing to this girl so he countered with an equally irritated voice, "Okay fine, I'm sorry okay? It would've nagged at me all night if I hadn't pointed out the culprit." He was irritated, alright, but he knew not to anger her more at this point. After all, Haibara hated not being on time the most.

She clicked her tongue, which she did not usually do (a clear sign of her exasperation). "Right, of course," she muttered, words dripping with sarcasm.

Conan decided to abate her frustration by not retorting anymore but that did not mean he wasn't as equally frustrated as she was. It was just better not to fight with her any longer than this. They continued to slip through the crowd with little ease. It was especially hard for Haibara who was getting swept away.

"Ouch!" Conan stopped in his tracks and turned to face his only companion upon hearing her distressed cry.

Haibara was keeping up but she was obviously trying hard to do so because she kept being pushed back by people. Sighing, the young detective stretched out his hand to offer to his petite partner. "Here, hold my hand, shrimpy."

Haibara frowned, not at all liking the nickname he gave her and especially the annoying smirk on his face.

"Shut up," was her ineloquent response, yet she still took his hand. Conan pulled her with him, deftly dodging people which made it easy for her to walk in the crowd. "Well I'm sorry for not being as tall as you."

He cringed as an image of a very tall Haibara flashed in his mind. "Please, don't give me weird ideas."

At last, they pulled through and were now out in an open, crowd-less area. Several meters away, the rest of the Detective Boys, who grew up into fine teenagers, were enthusiastically waving at them.

Before approaching them however, Conan stopped and turned around to face his companion once more, hand still holding hers. "But you're fine as you are though." He looked at her intently before nodding to himself. "Yup, I like the current you best." Even the short-tempered part of you, he added mentally to himself. Heh, a short-tempered shorty, he thought.

He turned to face forward again and continued their way to their waiting friends.

The pinkish tint on her cheeks were unmistakable but she tried to cover it up with sarcasm. "Right, and it's not just because you like looking down on people."

He laughed merrily, clearly not taking it as an insult. "That's not it but whatever."

It was funny how one moment they were arguing and the next they were bantering. That was just how their relationship worked and that was exactly what made it special.

Ayumi, Genta and Mitsuhiko complained about their being late when they arrived but they also took note of their intertwined hands even as they stopped and stood in front of them.

Edit: I noticed a missing line so I added it back.