justonetruth | (no subject)

"Really?" Conan brightened momentarily, then collected himself. "I've grown out of paper-planes," he announced. "Those are for kids."

Ran winced.

Aoko lifted an eyebrow at Conan. "Weren't we just playing with them a few days ago?"

"Like I said," Conan repeated. "I've grown out of them."

"In just a few days?" Aoko asked skeptically, gaze flickering back to Ran.

"Here's the bathroom!" Ran said with a brightness she did not feel. "Conan, you tell me how the water is."

"I already know how the water is. It'll be too cold."

"And if knowing it would take me a long time to find you I ran it too hot on purpose?"

"... I'll check it."

As Conan disappeared into the bathroom, Ran's smile faltered. "Sorry about that. It's not you, it's something one of the other Conan's said to him."

Aoko watched Conan disappear with a frown of her own. "What did he say?"

"Conan won't tell me, but I think it must have been something along the lines of telling him he was acting like a kid because ever since he's been like that." Ran sighed. "He gets very touchy when you comment on it."

Aoko briefly thought back to her encounter with the other Conan. The one who had acted much, much older. Perhaps there was something different about this one.

Nevertheless, she played her part. "But he's only eight."

"Seven," Ran said unhappily. "And kids at that age can get odd ideas. You never know how sensitive they are -- ah, Conan! How's the bath?"

"Too cold," Conan reported, adding grudgingly "But not by much."

Aoko nodded in agreement, though it had been a while since she had been around kids.

She leaned forward to address Conan when he returned. "You just have to wait for it to warm up, right?"

Ran ruffled his hair. "It won't take me five minutes to get it topped up. You can take Aoko and find some clean clothes."

Conan grouchily smoothed his hair down again. "I don't need help finding clothes!"

"I know that," Ran returned. "But it's going to be boring for Aoko just waiting if we're both gone."

Conan took Aoko's hand. "My room's next door," he explained.

Aoko took his hand in return, and nodded at Ran as she followed Conan toward his room. "That's useful," she said, "Your room is right next to a bathroom."

"Ran's idea," Conan said direly. He led the way into a room scattered with child's clothes and complex electronic equipment. A good helping of detective novels and crime fiction filled up any available places.

Conan found a t-shirt on the floor and started hunting around for pants. "I think it would be more useful to be next door to the library."

Aoko scanned his room and frowned. It was odd, seeing the children's clothing in sharp juxtaposition to the electronic equipment. It was almost like the latter didn't fit with the picture the former tried to paint.

"It looks like you have a library here," Aoko said as she pointed to the detective novels and helped him search for pants, "What kind of pants are you looking for?"

"I would if Ran wouldn't keep making me take them back after I'm done reading them," Conan complained. Clearly he was in one of those moods. "She says I have to share but what if I want to read it again later?"

He found a pair of pants that had been kicked under the bed. "Okay, I'm ready!"

"It's important to take library books back on time," Aoko said with a nod, "You can always check them out later."

When he found his pants, she smiled and reached out for his hand again. "This way, then!"

"It's not that kind of a library," Conan protested, but didn't argue as Aoko led him back to Ran.

Ran meanwhile had just finished topping up the bath, and smiled as Conan and Aoko returned. "All yours," she said, nodding to the door to the bathroom. "I'll be out here if you need anything."

"I am capable of taking a bath by myself," Conan said with offended dignity, letting go of Aoko's hand. "Bye Aoko."

"Thank you, Ran-chan!" Aoko said with a nod, before she turned back to Conan. "Ran-chan wants me to stay here to help you."

Conan balked at that. "You're a girl! I'm not taking a bath with a girl--"

"Yes, yes." Ran pushed Conan through the door into the bathroom. "We'll be out here though I warn you -- if we can't hear bath noises, we will be checking on you."

Conan gave them both a look. "I'm not climbing through the bathroom window and hiding. This time."

At Ran's insistence, Aoko stepped out of the bathroom and nodded at Conan to ensure him they both would be listening. Then, she turned to Ran and lifted a hand up to cover her mouth so the boy couldn't see her whisper.

"Do you need me to watch the windows, just in case?"

Ran shut the door behind her. "Would you mind? Or if you'd rather guard this door, I can take the window."

Before the words fully left Ran's mouth, Aoko was trotting down the hallway toward the nearest staircase. It took her a few minutes to sprint down the staircase and outside to the side of the mansion, and a few more to find the window she was pretty sure belonged to Conan's bathroom. But once she had found it, she situated herself outside and watched it carefully, hands linked behind her back.

After a few minutes, the bathroom window opens a crack. There is a pause and then the window is closed again.

Aoko lifts a hand to her mouth and giggles a bit.

Some time after that, the window opens again and Ran waves, cupping a hand to her mouth as she calls out, "All clear!"