So guys, finally after five months, I had finished writing and tweaking the story a wonderful person (who shall remain nameless) commissioned me and @cherelleholmes​ to do a mini collaboration. Hers is the art and mine is the story. This was way back March and the plot is ShinRan life after the Conan Fiasco. Be warned that this is M-Rated and a bit longer than what I used to write. I guess this is longer than my Red and White one shot. Still, I had enjoyed writing this including the crazy conversations with the… er… commissioner (?). Anyway, this is part one of three.
Hope y’all will enjoy this!
Kako
It wasn’t a fairy tale. It wasn’t a perfect love story. In a way, it was still a whirlwind romance. But the most important thing for them was despite what they’d been through, they were still together.
The revelation of Edogawa Conan forced a crack in their relationship. It cost Shinichi, Ran’s trust as it carefully broke into pieces in his hands. He thought and seriously believed that this would be their end. He had done something irreparable. And there was no one to blame but himself.
But Ran would always prove to him, and to everyone, that she was an angel. A strong and forgiving one. It takes immense courage to forgive someone who had hurt you so badly, practically breaking you. Even more so when you continue to love them.
It was the epitome of Ran and Shinichi didn’t know whether to cry or to laugh. Maybe he did both. She just proved to him that he didn’t deserve her. But Ran deserved to be happy, and he just happened to be an integral part of her happiness.
All of the people that had known what happened said he was the luckiest guy on earth. Shinichi didn’t doubt it a bit.
It took some time to earn her trust again though. It was hard, but he was more than willing to endure it. Although at times, he forgot where he stood. At times, he was upset and mad at her distrust. He was thinking, why would five unanswered calls upset her? It was so shallow to argue about it and dig into his mistakes when he was Conan. He was a rational guy and he would always retort something in their argument that would surely make her stop what she was being upset about. She was being too emotional and too bitter with the whole thing.
But then, he would see the sadness in her eyes. Despite how angry tears were starting to fall, despite how she was refusing to look at him, despite how her hand curled as if preventing herself from using her karate on him, what strike him most was the sadness in her eyes. The same sadness when she had known of Conan, of his betrayals, of his lies. Then just like that, he would go against his nature. He would not argue with her anymore and make amends. He would apologize. It took a lot for him to swallow his pride. Especially when he knew he was right, and reasonable. But for Ran, he would swallow it. He would apologize.
The only compensation he got was how surprised she always was. Ran knew what kind of a person he was. So, every time they argue, with him ending up apologizing, it was always consistent. She would get surprised and it would end up with her cooling down, acknowledging her mistake or her overreaction, and they would make up.
It was also one of the reasons why he didn’t mind lowering his pride. Making up with Ran always involved hugs and kisses and no matter how cheesy it was, he loved it. Even though he would never ever admit it.
He thought it was a good practice to be a little less proud, after all, once they finished high school, they would see each other frequently and more arguments might come because they decided to live together as college starts.
They had discussed it, two months prior to their graduation, they decided that they would live together under one roof. Both would be going to Tokyo University. Shinichi had taken criminology while Ran had taken law to follow her mother’s footsteps.
They tried to reason to themselves that it would be wise to live together. They would be studying in the same university, would probably find dormitories closer to each other. They’d probably always see each other and hang around at each other apartments. Instead of wasting money on different rents and other miscellaneous things, it was wise to just live together. And even with those excuses, no one would admit that the real reason was they wanted to be closer, more intimate and have private time together.
With the help of Sonoko’s arrangement (after Shinichi threatened her that he would expose to her father that she and Makoto-san were living together if ever she told anybody about their deal), they had acquired a decent apartment in a high-rise building. Their parents didn’t know because they were sure Ran’s would oppose.
Especially Occhan.
For safety measure, Sonoko made sure a vacant but fully furnished dorm would be available for Ran to reside in on the off chance her parents visited her, so they wouldn’t be exposed.
Shinichi was ecstatic. Living together with Ran was the best thing that happened to him. It wasn’t like he hadn’t experienced it before. He was Conan before and Ran was a good home-maker, but the absence of her father and the fact that he was in his real form and didn’t need to act like a little boy, he was really elated to experience it with her.
She was good at everything. At cooking, taking care of the house, taking care of him. Even though the arguments and little fights were still there, it was nothing compared to the feeling when he went home and saw her or the feeling of sleeping next to her.
It was surreal at the beginning, until Shinichi had been struck with a problem.
