Chapter 11: Amplector

Shinichi had always been a fan of personal space. Growing up without siblings and only having a couple of close friends while his parents ran around doing their own thing didn't exactly make him very outgoing. Combine with that his penchant for stumbling across crimes that often showcased the worst humanity had to offer and he wasn't one prone to see the best in every person he met. Not like Ran.

It got worse after he became Conan. He had almost been killed, had felt the worst kind of physical agony thus far in his entire life. Everything was so much bigger, and actions that had seemed so simple before now required gargantuan efforts on his part. On top of all this, he had almost no one to turn to, to confide in.

Hakase was helpful sometimes, but more for making new gadgets than helping Shinichi with the amount of emotional backlash he was experiencing. The gadgets did help somewhat, made him feel less inadequate, less helpless, but it was like putting a flimsy bandaid on a gunshot wound. In the long run, ultimately fruitless.

It took a toll on him, pretending he was someone different, especially with Ran. He was living a lie, was a lie.

And then there were the kids. The Shounen Tantei were completely unexpected, not that much of Shinichi's life had been very predictable at that point beyond running into corpses almost daily. Having... friends who were so much younger alternated between mind numbing and strangely helpful. On the one hand, they were ten years younger than him and drove him crazy with childish concerns. On the other hand, they could be surprisingly considerate and were often more observant than many (including himself) gave them credit for.

Conan slowly became less of an act.

Where Shinichi took his coffee almost straight black, Conan enjoyed four scoops of sugar and a dash of cream. Shinichi relished the limelight from the compliments his classmates paid him at how well he did in class, at soccer, at mysteries, while Conan accepted them modestly, giving a perfunctory "thank you" before quietly basking in the acceptance. Shinichi could not have cared less what he wore unless it related to a case somehow, but Conan's neechan, not to mention Ayumi and Haibara, would give him such despairing looks if he wore something strange that usually guilted him into changing. Shinichi delighted in impressing people with his intellect and would backsass the hell out of anyone who doubted him. Conan sat back and let them be hoisted by their own petard.

There were a select few that Shinichi had let stay close to him. Those close to Conan usually wormed their way in without him noticing until they were hugging him or patting him on the back and it took all he had to relax because he was such a normal kid, wasn't he normal?

Ran practically clinging to him in the car on the way back was annoying but also somewhat calming, because this was Ran. She was his best friend, his older sister, someone he loved very dearly, enough to tolerate the almost unnoticeable way she smoothed his hair back or held his hand or touched his arm as if to reassure herself he was there, that he was safe.

And here he thought that a few weeks after the incident at Tokyo Tower would be enough time for Ran to calm down. She hadn't been conscious when Irish chased him, when Irish was shot, when the helicopter Gin had been in fired on the observation deck, when he jumped off the tower with only his suspenders keeping him from fatally splattering against the ground. She'd been awake in the aftermath, when he had to feed his story about the fake Matsumoto to Sato and Takagi, to tell them how he'd hid until the imposter was gone, and that the bruises were from before Ran got there and the cuts from when that helicopter had fired on the tower, and no he had no idea who they were or why they would kill the fake Matsumoto.

She'd hovered then, much like she was hovering now. It was almost twice as bad since Hattori was here, leaning in close like she was, his two closest friends, the both of them worried so much about him, about Conan.

Hell, even occhan kept his eyes on the rear view mirror, on Conan in the backseat. He must have really freaked him out at the heist, covered in all that blood and screaming. Say what you will about the man's skill as an investigator, but when it came to kids, especially ones he cared about, he was frighteningly competent.

Conan laughed at something Ran-neechan said to Hattori-niichan and Shinichi rolled his eyes at Hattori's sputtered response. Sandwiched between the two of them was a bit smothering to Shinichi, but to be out of the hospital, to be away from the smell of antiseptic and the stark white walls was a relief to them both.

The car pulled up to the Detective Agency and Ran exclaimed, "Look, Conan-kun!"

He peered out the window and blinked in surprise to see Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko standing on the sidewalk with Agasa and Ai. Ran opened the car door and Conan clambered out over her lap before she could take her seat belt off. He heard Hattori snicker behind him but ignored it. "You guys..." he said before he was besieged by seven year olds.

"You're back!" Ayumi squealed, hugging him tightly and ow that was possibly going to bruise.

"How," he managed to get out before Mitsuhiko interrupted him.

"Agasa-hakase and Haibara-san told us you were out of the hospital!" the freckled boy exclaimed, a wide grin on his face as he stood a bit closer than his normal politeness would let him.

"We're gonna catch the guy who put you in there," Genta declared, crossing his arms and frowning deeply. "No one messes with the Shounen Tantei and gets away with it!"

"Yeah!" Ayumi agreed, letting go of Conan and letting him breathe. "And we're gonna get ice cream to celebrate!"

He looked at the three of them, then over to Haibara and the professor. The latter grinned at him while the former gave a small smirk. He raised an eyebrow at her before turning his attention back to the others. "Thanks," he said, because what else could he say to them right now? There would be time enough later to convince them to leave the case to the police, though they probably wouldn't listen since Shinichi and Conan both tended to lead by "do as I say, not as I do".

For now, Ayumi's suggestion of ice cream actually sounded very good.

Above the reuniting children a lone dove perched on the Detective Agency windowsill. She peered at the humanshe recognized as having taking care of her before when she had been injured. A small velcro band around her leg attached to a small camera. Her master was worried about something, though she wasn't sure what since humans worried about many things. She gave a small coo before stretching her wings in flight to follow the group of smaller humans as they walked off down the street, the larger humans accompanying them.

Down the street in an unmarked car a pair of eyes belonging to a man of average height and average weight watched the group as well. His eyes narrowed at the way everyone seemed to cluster around the boy in the glasses before he got out of his car and locked it. He had a rather gaunt face, his brown eyes close set over a thin nose. His brown hair was cut close to his head and the cap he wore mostly covered a deep purple bruise on his forehead. He strode toward the Detective Agency nonchalantly, head high.

No one was around to see him go up the stairs and pick the lock to the door on the first landing. He had work to do after all.

Chapter title translation: Embrace

A/N: Ehehehehehehe I love cliffhangers :D And yay for Shinichi POV and stuff! He is the protagonist after all ;3 Also this is turning poly really super fast idek what's going on maybe KaiShinRanHei? that actually sounds really good, it might be a thing (though i really like queerplatonic ShinRan too ugh idk)

Anon review replies:

Guest (chapter 4): You are the first person to notice Itsuki Koizumi! *confetti* Or at least the first to say anything x3;; It was more me being a brat and referencing anime than anything, lol xD But you know, I could see Kaito knowing him somehow, maybe ran into him doing something ESPer-y on the street and thought he was a magician and became good friends. Or maybe they're penpals or smth. He's not going to be appearing in this story unfortunately ^^;; And yes, Hakuba does not understand. He may soon-ish though...

Guest (chapter 11): Yay cookies! *noms* Overprotective!Hattori is practically canon and I love him so much =w= Hakuba has the best job, coming up with wrong answers with the right information xD And yes he will be having stern talks, though the content of them may be different... probably bc I headcanon as most of the DCMK characters (or at least the Gosho Boys and Girls) as being somewhere on the asexual and/or aromantic spectrum =3=

Hope you all are having a wonderful NaNoWriMo (or just November), and don't forget to review!