#lemme know if i should continue this or nah

“A fake husband?” Shinichi asked dubiously.

Ran nodded eagerly, her eyes twinkling with mischief, “Yes, a fake husband.” 

Shinichi slowly sipped his coffee, reminding him that no, he wasn’t drunk and what he was hearing was in fact, correct. “A fake husband?”

Ran’s enthusiasm didn’t wane as she exclaimed, “Yes, a fake husband.” 

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was well aware that they had been repeating themselves for the past minute but for the love of god, he couldn’t compute the information he was being provided with and in a courageous attempt, tried to actually process what Ran was saying.

It took him some time, if he was being honest. He didn’t like that fact. But then again, who else other than Ran was capable of reducing his brain to mush? 

“You want me to be your fake husband?”

“Yes.”

“… Why?”

“You know how my parents have been overseas this whole time?”

“Yeah, ten years.”

“Recently, they’ve been on my case about ohh, nooo, Ran, you’re twenty-five. You’re still not married. Your medical career is not going to keep you away from loneliness when you grow old. Why don’t you find a good man for marriage? Maybe I should help you out.” Ran rolled her eyes as she recalled what her mother had said to her on their video call, “Soooo, I thought, hey, what if I told them I was already married?” 

“So you wanted to send them early to their grave. What a good daughter you are.” Shinichi said as he stabbed the omelette.

Ran pouted at him and Shinichi rolled his eyes, very well aware that Ran and her parents had what he liked to call a give-them-a-heart-attack-love relationship. 

“Oh, please. If changing my career choice in my last semester didn’t make them keel over, nothing ever will.” She said nonchalantly as she poured herself a glass of black coffee. Shinichi made a disgusted face at the quantity and Ran gleefully smiled at him, aware that he found her drinking habits appalling.

“Sooo, be my fake husband, please?” she pleaded.

“No.”

“Awwww, you’re such a bad sport.” 

“Thank you.”

“Wasn’t a compliment.”

“I don’t want a compliment from you. It’s the scariest thing ever.”

Ran sniffed, “Waaaow, so rude.”

Shinichi smirked, “I aim to please.”

“You being my fake husband would be most pleasing to me,” she said as she sipped her coffee, her eyes over the rim of the glass.

Shinichi sighed, “Why me? You know you have an endless line of admirers who would jump on this proposal.”

Ran put away her coffee and answered, “Because I love you.”

Shinichi could have sworn his heart leapt out of his chest when he heard her. He chuckled nervously at the serious look on Ran’s face, trying very hard not to let her words swarm into his brain and heart. She didn’t meant it that way. She was never supposed to mean it that way. They had been childhood friends since they were four. There was no way he would see Ran in a romantic light. She meant much more to him than a fickle love. She was like a sister he never had. His number one supporter in everything, his go-to person. There was no way she would blur the lines knowing how he felt about romances. How much he loathed them and the horrible relationship his parents had. And how much he was turned off from the prospect of romantic love, in general. There was no way Ran would force him into a corner like that, knowing how much he despised romantic love, so he deflected.

“Ha ha, you know I love ya, too, but c’mon Ran, a fake husband, isn’t that too much?” he swallowed at the serious look on her face.

And as Ran gave him a sad smile, he knew she got the message. Shinichi had never felt this horrible, seeing that sad and accepting look on her face and blurted out before he could stop himself, “For how long will I have to be your fake husband?” 

Ran tried to put up an excited front now that he had agreed but Shinichi could see it through. She meant it when she said that she loved him but Shinichi also meant it when he said that he loved her. 

He loved her too much for her to end up like his mother.