Chapter 10: Weirdo Magnets

Kazuha smiled when her mobile rang at exactly eight รณ clock the next morning. She knew it was Heiji without having to look at the Caller ID. When they were younger, the Ahou tended to call her at the most ungodly hours, waking her up at six in the morning or even earlier, just to tell her about some case he had solved or about a dream he'd just woken up from. And even though she liked Heiji and felt glad he would call her of all people, she soon decided she liked sleeping even more. So, making sure he understood that emergencies or important information that couldn't possibly wait for another minute were excluded from this new rule, she declared he was only allowed to call her after 7.59 am. From there on, some phone in her house would ring at exactly eight in the morning, much to her father's annoyance on work-free Sundays. Sometimes, when she woke up shortly before eight, she'd even watch her most exact clock ticking away the seconds till eight, just to see whether he'd call her on time. (Which he normally did, the stickler...)

Picking up her mobile right now she smiled as she answered. "Good morning, Heiji."

She could nearly hear his grin through the phone. "Soooo, when are you getting here, girlfriend?" He stressed the last word and Kazuha loved the way it sounded from his mouth, still new, but elated. She giggled. "Well, boyfriend," at that she made a meaningful pause to test how the word felt on her own tongue, "I'm actually already here." With that, she rang the doorbell at Heiji's home. Merely ten seconds later she could hear him approach the door and opening it. "I guess we won't need the phone then," he reasoned, still talking into his mobile anyway. "I think you might be right," she answered grinning, talking into her phone before cancelling his call. Heiji had also put his mobile into his pocket and was now leaning down to catch a good- morning- kiss from Kazuha, before pulling her inside the house. "I missed you," he murmured against her lips, softly pressing her against the door from the inside, running his hands along her face and down to her shoulders. She beamed at him and put her arms around his torso. "We've only been apart for seven and a half hours," she told him, chuckling as he groaned. "Longest seven and a half hours of my life!" He punctuated of my life with a kiss for each word and then lovingly nudged her nose with his. She smiled and a warm fuzzy feeling of happiness settled itself in her stomach. She had had trouble sleeping the last night, feeling his lips on her own and missing his arms around her and apparently, he hadn't had the greatest sleep either. "I wish you could have stayed here," Heiji continued, glancing up the stairs. "You can't imagine how much I envied Kudo and Mouri-chan when they went up to their shared room last night." Kazuha sighed. "Since we haven't even told our parents about our relationship yet, it would have been suspicious if I stayed over at your place, don't you think?" - "In my bed," Heiji corrected her and congratulated himself on the blush he conjured on Kazuha's cheeks. She shoved him lightly, feeling embarrassed and squeezed out of his embrace, walking into the direction of the kitchen. Heiji grumbled something under his breath and followed her. "Our guests aren't up yet, just so you know," he told Kazuha, inching closer to her as she looked around the kitchen. "That's great, so we have some time," she exclaimed and Heiji's face lit up. "Yep, hopefully much time. How about we go up to my room or cuddle up on the sofa 'till they decide to come down?" he suggested, encircling her from behind and kissing her neck. She giggled and pushed away from him. "Nice try, Mister," she chided, keeping some distance between them. "What I meant was, there will be enough time to prepare a nice breakfast. It's already such nice weather for this time of year, I believe we might be able to eat on the patio." Heiji's face fell and he moaned like a little boy. "Do we have to?" In his head he had already seen them snuggled together, watching some stupid tv show and, most importantly, stealing kisses. She laughed and patted his cheek. "Puppy eyes won't work on me. Come on, you prepare your world- re-known scrambled eggs, while I do the rest." With that, she turned around and started rummaging through the cabinets. Heiji grumbled. For that, Kudo really owed him one.

When Shinichi awoke at about half past eight that morning, the smell of coffee and warm bread hung in the air. He did not know how those smells could climb into the Hattori's guest room from way down in the kitchen, but it was much too appetizing to be ignored. He grinned at Ran, who was still sleeping next to him, her back nestled against his front, and buried his face in her hair. "Wake up, sleepy head," he murmured, as she stirred in her sleep. "Put your cute little nose into the air and take a whiff of the wonderful smells filling the room. I believe the breakfast- fairy has been here." He could see a little smile form on Ran's face, but she still didn't open her eyes. "I believe", she purred sleepily, "the breakfast- fairy's name is Kazuha." With that, she hid her face further in her pillow.

Shinichi chuckled. He had first realized Ran really wasn't a morning person when he came back from being Conan-kun and they started dating. All the time they had lived under one roof she had hidden her grumpiness well, by being up early to prepare breakfast or staying in the bathroom and her bedroom until she was able to communicate with other living creatures. But right after waking up in the morning, she (and he quoted her on something she had once jokingly told him) hated any humans, animals or plants. "Stones are alright", she'd liked to add. "Raaaaan," he whined, trying to pry her from her pillow, "common, wake up. Aren't you hungry?" She shook her head. "Ran's not here. Leave her a message and she'll call you back at a more humane hour!" she declared, her voice muffled. Shinichi grinned and kissed the back of her head. "Alright, I'm going to take a shower. But I'll be back for you, so don't go back to sleep!" When he left the bed he thought he heard a happy sigh, as she turned more comfortably on her side, pulling the covers up to her nose. He sighed. He might be able to get her up for supper.

When Shinichi and a still slightly sleepy Ran-chan joined them for breakfast some time after nine, Heiji and Kazuha had already settled comfortably into the wicker chairs on the patio, drinking some coffee and reading the newspaper. At least, Heiji was reading the newspaper while Kazuha was immersed in some novel on Heiji's E-book reader. Looking up from the paper he greeted their friends. "Well, good morning to you. Want some coffee or tea?" Heiji grinned when Shinichi greeted him back, while Ran just sat down on a chair next to Kazuha, taking a strawberry from the breakfast table and not even looking at him directly. "Not a morning person, huh?" Heiji inquired, at which she just shot him an irritated glance. Shinichi handed his girlfriend a mug of black tea, already prepared with some sugar, before pouring himself a cup of coffee. "Caution, I do not vouch for any injuries caused by her in the morning," he laughed, sitting down next to Heiji. For that, Ran shot him an angry look as well, before putting some food on a plate and snatching part of Heiji's newspaper, ignoring the boys for the next fifteen minutes. Kazuha, who had shortly looked up from her book to greet her friends, soon realized there was no use for talking to Ran in this state, so she continued to read her story. Heiji rolled his eyes. "Girls," he muttered, looking from one girl to the other, "what would we do without them?" Shinichi, who just shoved a piece of pancake into his mouth, chortled: "Well, I know I wouldn't be dining this well if it wasn't for Kazuha." Heiji rolled his eyes. "I can cook, just so you know. I just wouldn't put so much effort into making breakfast for YOU, Kudo," Heiji snorted. "I stand by my former statement," the other man replied, taking another bite of his breakfast.

"Kazuha told me they wanted to go to the city, shopping and stuff," Heiji changed the subject. Shinichi just nodded. "I heard them talking yesterday. Those two nasty women were nearly excluding us from their plans, thinking some case would come up. I really don't think they realise we do not summon dead people or criminals for our own twisted amusement, but merely help the poor victims to find justice." At that Ran snorted, but did not look up from the newspaper and a small smile appeared on Kazuha's face. "Yeah right," she mumbled, glancing up at the two detectives, "You two are so unselfish. You never felt happy about a case because you were bored or wanted to proof yourselves." - "You have no idea what you are saying, woman, we'd never find pleasure in the misfortune of others," Heiji declared pretentiously, at which Kazuha only murmured "Yeah, right" again under her breath and looked back at her book. Still, when Heiji offered her his hand on the table she took it without looking up again, entwining her fingers with his. "Anyways," Heiji continued, drawing lazy circles on Kazuha's hand as he continued talking to Shinichi, "I think we could accompany the ladies, if they don't mind and nothing 'more interesting' comes up." Shinichi was a little distracted by Heiji's behaviour towards Kazuha, but nodded anyway.

"Alright," Ran suddenly exclaimed, lying the newspaper to the side, visibly startling Heiji. "I'm awake, I'm fed, I'm ready to go!" she declared, seeming as cheery and determined as usual. Next to her, Kazuha put away her book and smiled. "Alright then, let's go to town!" she agreed with Ran, standing up just as the other girl did. "Let's get our stuff and meet back here in 20 minutes, so the boys will have enough time to clean the table." Ran approved the plan and both girls left, pecking their boyfriends before walking into the house. Both men were sitting at the table, dumb- foundedly. Heiji stared at Shinichi. "Is Mouri-chan always like this in the morning?"- "Always..." Shinichi agreed, starting to put the remains of their breakfast on a tray. "Poor guy," Heiji said sympathetically, patting the other detectives shoulder, before he started to clean up as well.

Once they arrived in the city they soon settled into a comfortable rhythm. The girls would point out a store, the boys would grudgingly follow and to appease them the girls would try on every stupid piece of clothing the boys came up with. Even though, the two detectives soon felt an urge to do something more manly, so, when the girls decided it was time to look at make- up, they left them to take a look at a new games store just around the corner. When Kazuha's mobile phone rang a mere eight minutes later, she only rolled her eyes at the guys' news. She ended the call and shook her head. "I'd say I can't believe it, but it would be a lie," she sighed, looking at Ran, who already put on a face. "Don't tell me," the other girl started, "there's a case." Kazuha only nodded. "I know we joked something like this would happen, but this is really getting ridiculous!" Ran exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air. Again, Kazuha nodded. "Sometimes I get the feeling, there's something really, really wrong with those guys," Ran stated dryly, linking arms with Kazuha. Kazuha grinned. "Weirdo magnets," she chuckled, as they strolled towards the next cafe.

Author's Notes:

Since I know exactly, what I want to happen in this story, I'll be able to update quite quickly, but since my next exam is on Monday, I don't know whether it will be as frequent as the last days.

I just wanted to thank everybody for reading and reviewing, I'd just wish more people would leave comments. They're really rewarding.

So keep in mind: A review a day keeps the doctor away (especially reviews to RiaSternchen's stories! :)

Thanks a lot and have a nice day!

Ria