Silver Lining (30 Friends: Shinichi and Heiji)
Title: Silver Lining
Author: Candyland
Fandom: Detective Conan
Friends: Kudo Shinichi/Edogawa Conan and Hattori Heiji
Theme: #29-silver lining
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan-all the characters belong to Gosho Aoyama. I just kidnapped them and hid them in my closet to keep them safe from…I dunno, something awful, I’m sure. Don’t worry, I feed them. Sometimes.
Summary: You know…I remember when Agasa called us and told us that you’d found Shinichi out.
Hospitals were horrible places to wait-especially considering what a person in a hospital waiting room would probably be waiting for.
Heiji hadn’t moved from that chair in over an hour. Heck, he’d barely moved, period. He just stared off vacantly into space, waiting for an answer that was in no real hurry to come forth. It had been a very…eventful night, to say the least. And it wasn’t over yet.
So Heiji just sat, sat and waited to find out if this nightmare was over or just getting started.
He was so out of it that he didn’t notice anyone approaching him or standing there, looking down at him. He was unaware of the presence until a hand touched his shoulder. He jumped a foot out of his seat before looking up at his newly-arrived company.
Kudo Yukiko was watching him with a sad smile and even sadder eyes. She gestured to the empty seat behind him. “Mind if I join you?”
He shook his head. That chair had been vacant for quite a while, since Kazuha had gone off to make sure Neechan was all right. He privately thought that it was a wise decision on the ahou’s part. When the woman was seated, he asked, “Any word?” She would be more privy to that than he would, given that she was not mere family, but Kudo’s mother.
She shook her head, dashing his hopes. “Nothing yet,” she replied. “I just know that he’s still in surgery. Yuusaku is talking to the police, trying to explain the whole situation to them. Hopefully Megure-keibu will understand-I still don’t know if Megure was more angry over being lied to or over what was happening right in front of him, but hopefully seeing what he saw tonight will help. Then when Shinichi wakes up, it’ll be a lot easier for him.” She seemed far too calm-either she truly believed that her son would be perfectly fine (as her words implied), or she was just keeping herself clamped down tightly enough to present that serene front. There were certainly none of her usual dramatics.
Heiji nodded. That meant more waiting to find out if one of his best friends was going to live or die. He turned his head to look straight ahead and sighed. This was not a good night.
Yukiko was silent for a moment before she spoke again. “You know…I remember when Agasa-hakase called and told us that you’d found Shinichi out.” She was referring to her son by his true name, rather than the childish nickname. That had to signify something-though he wasn’t totally sure what. But she was going on. “To be honest…I was fairly worried.”
He listened silently, rather startled.
“I’m sure you can understand my concern-I’m his mother,” she continued. “No mother wants to see anything happen to her child. And Shinichi’s life depended on secrecy-if no one found out, then there was no chance of something slipping to the wrong person. But you did find out. You put it together, even though you barely knew him. You had met him once, and not under circumstances where you could actually get to know him, from what I’ve been told. If you could figure it out like that, who was to say that someone else couldn’t? And just knowing that someone had found out…” she sighed. “Despite Hakase’s reassurances that you had sworn to secrecy, it still didn’t sit to well with me.”
Heiji remembered that night all too well-two murders at a gathering of Sherlock Holmes fanatics. Coming there to try and meet up with Kudo, and being shocked when the Tokyo tantei didn’t show. Being suspicious of a small boy who seemed to know far too much about what was going on.
In the end, a sleeping dart to the neck and a really bad Osakan accent were all it took to blow Kudo’s cover sky-high in his eyes. In some ways, he couldn’t understand how no one had noticed. And it had taken so little to make the poor guy crack. It was…well, what he had done could technically be called blackmail, he supposed. But it had worked! And he had…
He had gotten sucked into the case of a lifetime.
He had seen things that he had never thought could exist, even in his darkest nightmares.
And he had gained a friend.
…what had Kudo thought about all this? It really hadn’t occurred to him to wonder about that. Did Kudo feel like he’d gained a friend? He knew the pint-sized detective had been rather miffed about being found out, but they were friends, weren’t they? Did Kudo value that friendship as much as Heiji had come to?
“But after meeting you,” Yukiko said, interrupting his thoughts, “And seeing how you and Shinichi acted around each other, I realized that I didn’t have anything to worry about.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Shinichi…he’s so brilliant, most people can’t keep up with him. They tend to be rather in awe of him, and he thrives on that. But when this all happened, I think it shook him a lot more than he let on. He’s too proud to admit things like that-takes after his father in that regard,” she managed a dry smile at that, though her tone of voice was both sad and affectionate as she spoke of her son. “He hates to ask for help, even when he needs it.” She paused and glanced over towards the double doors; still no sign of news. “But who does he have to turn to? Yuusaku and I are half a world away, so we can’t do much. And Agasa-hakase is wonderful, but…he’s quite a bit older than Shinichi. So while he can be a good ear and confidante and offer excellent advice on some things…there are other things he just can’t understand or relate to, you know?”
Heiji nodded.
“But you…” Yukiko turned to look at him full-on for the first time since the conversation had started. “You’re the same age as Shinichi, with some of the same interests…you can relate to him, understand some of the things he’s going through…even though I don’t think any of us can really understand what it feels like to be shrunk like that. But I think you were a bigger help to him than either of you realized, and not just on cases. Having someone to argue with and debate with and discuss things with and just be himself around…someone to be a real friend-a friend to Shinichi, not Conan-while he muddled through all of this.” She paused, and gave him a real smile. “I guess what I’m trying to say is…thank you. Thank you for being there for Shinichi. Thank you for helping to keep him sound and sane while he tries so hard to take the weight of the world on his shoulders. I was worried, but I think that particular cloud had a silver lining.”
Heiji stared at her for a moment in shock. Then slowly, he smiled as the doctor finally appeared with news about Shinichi, and they rushed to find out what had befallen him.
The waiting was over.
What was still to come…who could say?
PS. Wow…when I was writing this, I didn’t realize it would end up with so many loooooong paragaphs. Most of them Yukiko talking, of all things! Before anyone decides to clobber me, I fully endorse that Yukiko is extremely intelligent and worries about her son a great deal. So I believe this to be in character. And lo, it was the tenth Friends fic! And Shinichi didn’t actually appear in it! WHOO!
This is sort of my way of putting out there a person character theory of mine-that Heiji is, in some ways, a sanity saver for Shinichi. They act like brothers, and I think Heiji’s cheerful, reckless way of doing things is a good balance to our more serious main character, to say nothing of being a good influence.
L’anyhoodle, thanks for reading, all! Much love!
Author: Candyland
Fandom: Detective Conan
Friends: Kudo Shinichi/Edogawa Conan and Hattori Heiji
Theme: #29-silver lining
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan-all the characters belong to Gosho Aoyama. I just kidnapped them and hid them in my closet to keep them safe from…I dunno, something awful, I’m sure. Don’t worry, I feed them. Sometimes.
Summary: You know…I remember when Agasa called us and told us that you’d found Shinichi out.
Hospitals were horrible places to wait-especially considering what a person in a hospital waiting room would probably be waiting for.
Heiji hadn’t moved from that chair in over an hour. Heck, he’d barely moved, period. He just stared off vacantly into space, waiting for an answer that was in no real hurry to come forth. It had been a very…eventful night, to say the least. And it wasn’t over yet.
So Heiji just sat, sat and waited to find out if this nightmare was over or just getting started.
He was so out of it that he didn’t notice anyone approaching him or standing there, looking down at him. He was unaware of the presence until a hand touched his shoulder. He jumped a foot out of his seat before looking up at his newly-arrived company.
Kudo Yukiko was watching him with a sad smile and even sadder eyes. She gestured to the empty seat behind him. “Mind if I join you?”
He shook his head. That chair had been vacant for quite a while, since Kazuha had gone off to make sure Neechan was all right. He privately thought that it was a wise decision on the ahou’s part. When the woman was seated, he asked, “Any word?” She would be more privy to that than he would, given that she was not mere family, but Kudo’s mother.
She shook her head, dashing his hopes. “Nothing yet,” she replied. “I just know that he’s still in surgery. Yuusaku is talking to the police, trying to explain the whole situation to them. Hopefully Megure-keibu will understand-I still don’t know if Megure was more angry over being lied to or over what was happening right in front of him, but hopefully seeing what he saw tonight will help. Then when Shinichi wakes up, it’ll be a lot easier for him.” She seemed far too calm-either she truly believed that her son would be perfectly fine (as her words implied), or she was just keeping herself clamped down tightly enough to present that serene front. There were certainly none of her usual dramatics.
Heiji nodded. That meant more waiting to find out if one of his best friends was going to live or die. He turned his head to look straight ahead and sighed. This was not a good night.
Yukiko was silent for a moment before she spoke again. “You know…I remember when Agasa-hakase called and told us that you’d found Shinichi out.” She was referring to her son by his true name, rather than the childish nickname. That had to signify something-though he wasn’t totally sure what. But she was going on. “To be honest…I was fairly worried.”
He listened silently, rather startled.
“I’m sure you can understand my concern-I’m his mother,” she continued. “No mother wants to see anything happen to her child. And Shinichi’s life depended on secrecy-if no one found out, then there was no chance of something slipping to the wrong person. But you did find out. You put it together, even though you barely knew him. You had met him once, and not under circumstances where you could actually get to know him, from what I’ve been told. If you could figure it out like that, who was to say that someone else couldn’t? And just knowing that someone had found out…” she sighed. “Despite Hakase’s reassurances that you had sworn to secrecy, it still didn’t sit to well with me.”
Heiji remembered that night all too well-two murders at a gathering of Sherlock Holmes fanatics. Coming there to try and meet up with Kudo, and being shocked when the Tokyo tantei didn’t show. Being suspicious of a small boy who seemed to know far too much about what was going on.
In the end, a sleeping dart to the neck and a really bad Osakan accent were all it took to blow Kudo’s cover sky-high in his eyes. In some ways, he couldn’t understand how no one had noticed. And it had taken so little to make the poor guy crack. It was…well, what he had done could technically be called blackmail, he supposed. But it had worked! And he had…
He had gotten sucked into the case of a lifetime.
He had seen things that he had never thought could exist, even in his darkest nightmares.
And he had gained a friend.
…what had Kudo thought about all this? It really hadn’t occurred to him to wonder about that. Did Kudo feel like he’d gained a friend? He knew the pint-sized detective had been rather miffed about being found out, but they were friends, weren’t they? Did Kudo value that friendship as much as Heiji had come to?
“But after meeting you,” Yukiko said, interrupting his thoughts, “And seeing how you and Shinichi acted around each other, I realized that I didn’t have anything to worry about.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Shinichi…he’s so brilliant, most people can’t keep up with him. They tend to be rather in awe of him, and he thrives on that. But when this all happened, I think it shook him a lot more than he let on. He’s too proud to admit things like that-takes after his father in that regard,” she managed a dry smile at that, though her tone of voice was both sad and affectionate as she spoke of her son. “He hates to ask for help, even when he needs it.” She paused and glanced over towards the double doors; still no sign of news. “But who does he have to turn to? Yuusaku and I are half a world away, so we can’t do much. And Agasa-hakase is wonderful, but…he’s quite a bit older than Shinichi. So while he can be a good ear and confidante and offer excellent advice on some things…there are other things he just can’t understand or relate to, you know?”
Heiji nodded.
“But you…” Yukiko turned to look at him full-on for the first time since the conversation had started. “You’re the same age as Shinichi, with some of the same interests…you can relate to him, understand some of the things he’s going through…even though I don’t think any of us can really understand what it feels like to be shrunk like that. But I think you were a bigger help to him than either of you realized, and not just on cases. Having someone to argue with and debate with and discuss things with and just be himself around…someone to be a real friend-a friend to Shinichi, not Conan-while he muddled through all of this.” She paused, and gave him a real smile. “I guess what I’m trying to say is…thank you. Thank you for being there for Shinichi. Thank you for helping to keep him sound and sane while he tries so hard to take the weight of the world on his shoulders. I was worried, but I think that particular cloud had a silver lining.”
Heiji stared at her for a moment in shock. Then slowly, he smiled as the doctor finally appeared with news about Shinichi, and they rushed to find out what had befallen him.
The waiting was over.
What was still to come…who could say?
PS. Wow…when I was writing this, I didn’t realize it would end up with so many loooooong paragaphs. Most of them Yukiko talking, of all things! Before anyone decides to clobber me, I fully endorse that Yukiko is extremely intelligent and worries about her son a great deal. So I believe this to be in character. And lo, it was the tenth Friends fic! And Shinichi didn’t actually appear in it! WHOO!
This is sort of my way of putting out there a person character theory of mine-that Heiji is, in some ways, a sanity saver for Shinichi. They act like brothers, and I think Heiji’s cheerful, reckless way of doing things is a good balance to our more serious main character, to say nothing of being a good influence.
L’anyhoodle, thanks for reading, all! Much love!