It had been awhile since Ai had the time for herself to do things that she found relaxing. Her recent daily life was full with taking care of her adoptive daughter and her husband, if not it would be the school stuffs. She barely had the time for herself.
Although the latter didn't really need that much effort, but still, pretending to be the smart girl while she could be the genius was quiet tiring.
Ai sighed in relief as she flipped her exercise book closed. It was her last summer homework that she had to do, and with that, she was free for the rest of the holiday. She gave her arms a stretch and checked the time on the grandfather clock in the living room.
It's almost five. She said to herself.
Noticing that the time was nearing dinner hour, she cleared all her books up before she headed for the kitchen to start the preparation. Little did she know though, that she was smiling unwittingly all through the entire time.
Despite spending almost half of her alone time doing her summer homework this late afternoon, it seemed her mood was greatly elevated by the fact that she finally had her 'me time' after so long. And even though it was contradicting to the sentiment she had over all this, but the euphoria she felt about her up coming birthday actually summed it up too.
Perhaps, all the fond memories of her previous birthdays she had with the Professor and the detective boys had taken an effect on her. Moreover, they were getting more extravagant each year after Fusae joined in the family.
Those memories were too kind for her that she had unknowingly begun to anticipate the event that she used to neglect, turning her mood meter to yellow in this very fine evening.
Some random melodies escaped her lips as she made her way to get some plates from the cupboard. Her mood somehow prompted her to eventually take her time to unusually experiment on the foods she cooked and to give them some nice platings.
If only she realized this, she would probably grimace at herself. She looked exactly like a normal full-time housewife who was waiting for her husband to come home this way.
Nonetheless, she found this experiment fun. It was all science on food for her.
She was too engrossed in putting some finishing touches to the dish, that she didn't even hear the car engine went off at the garage or the main door opened and closed– not even the sound of the footsteps that was getting closer to her.
"Guess who?" A pair of hand suddenly covered her eyes from behind, blocking her view. She was startled a bit, although the voice made her relax.
"What's the point in covering my eyes if I could guess through your voice?" She chuckled as she felt the hands were removing themselves from her eyes, only to land around her waist.
"Why don't you just go with the flow and entertain me?" Shinichi pouted, yet he didn't mean to feel annoyed even the slightest bit. In fact, he was tightening his arms around her until there was no more room in between his chest and her back.
His musky faint perfume from this morning mixed with his intoxicating skin fragrance was all over her.
"Sorry, but no can do." She replied jokingly while continuing her last final touch on the dish.
Shinichi chuckled as he stole a peek at the foods from over her shoulder.
The nice smell of her cooking reached his nose once he entered the house minutes ago, which made his stomach grumbled louder in protest. He just couldn't wait to see what she had cooked for dinner. And true enough, they looked tremendously appetizing especially with the unusual experimental touches she had done.
Now, he was wondering how they would taste.
"Wow, it seems someone is overly happy and enjoying her time today." He teased.
"Shut up." She retorted softly while trying to hide her blush. "Why don't you wash your hands so we can start eating?"
He grinned, releasing his hug from her and began to walk to the sink to wash his hands. He was so hungry, and now he was starving after looking at the foods she had prepared.
Her home-cooking was indeed delicious, but somehow it was especially exquisite today.
"Do you have any plans for tonight, Ai?" He asked her out of the blue after they were done eating. He was helping her with the dishes in the sink right now, while she cleaned the dining table and the kitchen counters.
Her hand halted in respond to his question, then she blinked her eyes several times– thinking– before she answered.
"Not really." She plainly said, resuming with her chore on hand. "I need to take a bath though. Thanks to your impetuous little surprise you got me just now, I'm all damped with your sweat."
Although she slightly joked on the last part. How could he sweat when he went by his car today? In truth, she just needed to take a bath only because she hadn't taken one this evening, and that was that.
Shinichi actually caught her message nicely, but he grinned mischievously in return; an idea suddenly aroused in his head. He turned the water tap off, set the last washed up dish to the drying rack, then he walked closer to her spot.
"Let me damp you some more then." He remarked.
"W-What?" She was going to back away, fully aware of his intention to do something dumb to her right now.
But she was too late.
He was already pulling her into another squeezing hug by the time she finished her stuttering question. She could feel the cool water from his wet hands sipping through her casual dress, while his nose was brushing the crook of her neck. His breath was hot, coming out from his mouth as it touched her skin when he gleefully said–
"Now, let's take the bath together or you'll catch a cold."
It was a mix of cool and hot sensation, sending warm shivers down her spine and throughout her whole body. Ai blushed and her eyes fell into a soft stare as her shaking hands instinctively clenched onto Shinichi's back, crumpling his shirt altogether with the cleaning cloth in one fist. He still hadn't given up on that idea, huh?
How persistent he was, just like she always knew.
"O-Okay." She surrendered eventually.
Shinichi loosened his hug a bit to look at her face in awe, only to see her reddened cheeks and her purposely shifted gaze to her side. Why hadn't he thought of this earlier if it worked so easily like this?
He smiled so gleefully once again at her response, which she found his face to be so dumb. She unclenched one of her hands and brought it to his chin, squeezing his cheeks in between her thumb and forefinger. This little action of hers made his face dumber than it already had.
"Only because I can't stand to wear dampened clothes any longer than this, okay?" She hissed, still with her blushes on.
Damn, she was getting too soft with him by each passing day.
.
.
.
"It surely is quiet without Chii in the house." Shinichi's voice echoed all through the steamy air in the bathroom.
"Mhmm." Ai only hummed in reply as she tried so hard to hide her reddened cheeks in the water while hugging her knees so close to her chest. It could only go until just above her mouth though, lest she couldn't breathe with her nose.
She didn't know whether she had to feel grateful or the other way around, but the bathtub in the Kudo Residence was surprisingly big enough for them to enjoy a bubble bath together.
At least, they didn't have to cramp in a small space. Yet now, she had one less reason to decline the next time he pulled her into this again.
She surely was lucky this time that Shinichi put a lot of bubbles in the water. That way, she could hide her face and her naked skins in the white soapy clouds. Also, sitting with her back against the detective helped her so much to prevent him from watching whatever expressions she was making.
Perhaps he was being considerate of her feeling. However, knowing how thick his head was regarding such stuffs, maybe he was just too excited to finally have this moment with her that he exaggerated the things around a bit.
As tense as she was, she could feel the back of her ears and shoulders extremely hot due to their physical proximity. She didn't even dare herself to lean backward or else, her bare back would meet with his bare chest.
Shinichi chuckled at how nervous Ai was. He couldn't help but to find this side of her enticing.
"I've seen all of you, Ai." He teased, leaning himself slightly so he could purposely say the words right close to her sensitive ears, causing her to flinch. "What are you so embarrassed about?"
The bathroom was overwhelmed with silence, then the echo of some water droplets engulfed the quietude. She could feel goosebumps all over her head down to her neck.
She threw him a death glare from over her shoulder, inaudibly cursing him with incoherent words– her face was flushing annoyed at him. How could he be so bold?
He stifled a laugh in return before he caught her off guard by pulling her shoulders against his bare front. She let out a short soft squeal.
"I won't do anything to you, so why don't you just relax?" He said.
Just then, she felt something hard on her back, right at the start of her thoracic spine. By the feel of its shape, she immediately realized it was his pair of their wedding rings.
"Do you always wear it even when you bathe?" She asked. Now that her focus was on something else, the blushes on her cheeks were ceased a bit. "Your ring necklace."
"Yeah?" He was unaware of why she asked this, yet he replied her anyway. "Don't you?"
"No." She replied straight away. "I take it off every time I go to the bath or bed."
In fact, her ring necklace was sitting on the vanity in the dry room right now. Shinichi was amused. They had the exact same object but the way they treated it were totally different.
"Well, I almost never take it off except for some unavoidable situations that forced me to do so." He told her, smiling. "It somehow works like a charm that is so close to my heart."
The crimson color on her cheeks returned. Her memory recalled the one night when she accidentally put her ring on her finger. It was indeed worked like a charm.
But it was embarrassing that now she knew how he greatly held their marriage so close to his heart. Although it was just her being dishonest with herself; as a matter of fact she was happy.
"Stupid." She shyly scoffed, both at her foolish happy heart and at his sweet flirting words.
"How so?" He rolled his eyes, disapproving.
She turned her face once again to look at him from over her shoulder. Embarrassment was all over her face.
"It's the chemical reaction, Shinichi." She reasoned logically although it was actually her ego speaking. "It could reduce its shine or even tarnish it."
She didn't expect him to take it just like that, but eventually, he did. His stupefied look told her so. At once she threw away her flushed face, and her lips formed a smug smirk. She was satisfied looking at his distressed state upon listening to her say.
And so, Shinichi brought the ring into his view right after they were out from the bath, only to see it shone just fine.
Damn, you. He cursed his own foolishness for believing her word so easily.
But it seemed he would take it off from now on before he went to shower, only for precaution. It was better than when it was too late, wasn't it?
He just treasured the ring so much– no, it was their marriage symbolized by the ring that he extremely treasured.
.
.
.
The whirring sound of the hair dryer filled her bedroom, and a strong cool air was blowing into every strands of her strawberry blonde hair. She was sitting with her leg slightly bent toward her chest on the floor, her back was leaning to the edge of her bed, and a damp towel was on her stiffened shoulders.
Meanwhile, Shinichi was sitting on her bed with his legs crossed, his hand was holding the hair dryer and her hair in the other. He was humming through his curved up lips.
Her nerves were so strained with each gentle stroke his fingers made on her hair, while he enjoyed their little tranquil moment.
This was her first time, aside from her sister and adoptive mother– and the hairdresser she frequently visited to get her haircut, of course– to touch her hair so delicately like this. It sent her such a tingling feeling from the edge of her strand down to her spine and to her stomach.
If it wasn't for his insistent on offering himself to dry her hair, she would definitely turn him down. Her effort would be as fruitless as ever though, so she let him do anything he wanted.
That included him entering her bedroom– her private space.
She wasn't sure why, he somehow wouldn't just leave her alone this evening. It was tiring to have someone continuously invading her privacy, yet receiving all his attention was nice at the same time. Was this because he wanted to have their alone time together?
Even though all they did was nothing much worth the note, still, it would fill up two or three pages of her diary if she had ever kept one.
There weren't any words spoken between them; only the machine that did the talking in a low noise of whirl. Truth be told, she began to find this soothing as seconds passed by. And in a few minutes, Ai started to loosen up. The tingling sensation she got in the beginning was no longer stirring her insides, instead his strokes became comfortable and light.
It felt exceptionally pleasant that she unknowingly dozed herself off.
Shinichi didn't notice her falling asleep until he turned the hair dryer off and called her name. He began to wonder when she didn't give him any reply the second time he called her.
"Ai?" He gently called her name again, only to get a silent reply.
He put the dryer on the side table near her bed and got down to the floor beside her. Warm smile was forming itself on his lips upon finding her sleeping so peacefully. He was actually going to ask her to watch some movies together while waiting for the clock to strike twelve. As cheesy as it was, he was thinking of giving her the birthday surprise he had prepared when the day was changing at midnight. But it looked like she was exhausted from getting too worked up at his advances this evening.
His heart was instantly weakened by the look of her sleeping face.
Despite his transparent awareness that Ai hadn't gotten used to receiving his affection all at once, he couldn't stop himself from teasing her further and further. She was too lovely for him to hold his urges, and he knew how hard she tried every single time, only to fulfill his desire.
Now that he had done what his heart itched for, his troubled conscience poked itself into his mind.
"I'm sorry." He gently said as he cupped her soft cheek, brushing his thumb on her fair skin.
Then he set her damp towel aside and brought her head to rest on his shoulder. His smile returned when she snuggled her nose more into the crook of his neck– she was getting comfortable in his arms.
Making sure she was settled with her position, he slipped his other arm under her knees and slowly stood up, carrying her to the bed. It surprised him how easy he lifted her up. She wasn't as heavy as he thought despite her being not a child anymore.
She let out a low groan at the loss of his warmth once her back met with the mattress. She shifted a bit to her side, facing Shinichi who sat on the edge of her bed. He chuckled lightly at her relaxed expression, while her chest went up and down as she breathed in her sleep. She looked so innocent.
His hand tucked some strand of her hair behind her ear, then he leaned forward and brought himself to kiss her sweetly on the lips.
"Good night, Ai." He whispered.
His mind was telling him to get out from her bed. However, his legs and hands were somehow ignoring his body's command center.
He wanted to stay longer beside her.
As if his nervous system had been disconnected from the rest of his body parts, his legs moved to rest themselves on the mattress while his hands led themselves to tug the blanket over him and his wife.
He lied down beside her; his eyes never left her as he instinctively pulled her small frame closer to his arms, his legs were tangled in between her thighs.
She moaned quietly, satisfied by the feel of his returning warmth.
After he settled himself to a so much comfortable position, Shinichi closed his eyes. His brain began to shut down for the night as slumber came into the light.
It indeed felt nice to sleep with her on his arms. Although he knew he needed to take a little step at a time with her, yet he was getting impatient. He just hoped for her heart to be ready to contain this uncontrollable feeling he had for her soon.
Author's note: Oh well, I guess this chapter was full of fluff with not so much plot improvement (haha). But it was nice though, to write so many couple scenes for these two.
And don't forget to always unplug unused small electric equipment (like a hair dryer) before you go to sleep (wink).
Do not forget to give your comments and reviews. Happy reading!
Disclaimer: All characters of Detective Conan are belong to Aoyama Gosho. I don't own any single of them.