The White Bag - A RedStarling Pre-Canon Fanfiction
Cast & Main Pairing: Shuichi Akai (26), Jodie Starling (22)
I do not own Detective Conan. Jodie Starling and Shuichi Akai belong to Gosho Aoyama. The others are supporting characters I created.
This is Shuichi and Jodie's flashback story, 6 years prior to the main timeline when they were still dating and Jodie was still a junior agent.
That day is the last day for the FBI team to be in the Albuquerque desert area after an outdoor mission to fall out of a criminal syndicate. Since morning, they prepared to leave the temporary headquarter area using a Jeep and headed towards Albuquerque International Airport. Jodie herself has settled up and is ready to go. While she packed her things, someone came closer to her. It's her boyfriend.
“You ready?” Shuichi rests his hand on her shoulder.
“You'll ride with me, right?”
“But, Shu... I'm sorry, Andrea invited me to ride with her, along with Vanessa and Grace. Andrea will be the driver.”
Shuichi didn't say anything. He's looking at her with a flat gaze, as usual.
“Okay. Take care.” He rubbed her shoulder, making her blush.
“Thank you, Shu. See you!” she smiled.
No one knows they're now together. At least, their colleagues have yet to be made aware of it. Both of them preferred to keep their relationship private. They never did any PDA or something. But Shuichi always cares for her even in public and shows affection in his way, while trying his best not to get attention from others. The others already knew that they were close, but not as lovers.
Shuichi then left her, headed to the 7th Jeep, and sat in the driver's seat. Jodie kept her eyes on him until her colleagues from the 12th Jeep, the last one, yelled her name.
“Starling, come in! We're about to go!” Grace shouted. Jodie walked fast towards them, then placed herself in the 2nd-row passenger seat on the Jeep beside Vanessa.
Just right before they departed, Jodie's phone rang. A stranger's number called her, but she answered it anyway.
Someone: Hello, is this Agent Jodie Starling?
Someone: A white Chanel handbag, with a rose keychain, is this yours?
Jodie: What? Yes, it's mine, but I believe I brought it with me!
Someone: I found it. Then, I left the bag near the reception table. I am unsure if it's yours or not. Just check it by yourself.
Jodie: Okay, hold on! I'll be right there.
The call ended, then Jodie immediately released her seatbelt and headed to go.
“What's wrong, Jodie?” Andrea asked her.
“Someone found my cosmetics bag, but he's unsure if it's mine or not. I think I should check on it.”
“Okay, we'll wait for you.”
Jodie left the car, going back to the headquarters. While she was gone, Shuichi came to face passengers on the 12th Jeep.
“Hey, Andrea! I think your car's oil is spoiled!”
“What?” she was surprised and checked it immediately.
“Ah, no fucking way! I need to hurry! I'm the one who booked the flight tickets! I have no time to fix this.”
“What if we exchange cars? I might stay here longer because I gotta clear some things up.”
“Whoa, is it okay, Shuichi?”
“It's okay. I can take it. My car is number 7.”
“Thank you! Okay, guys, let's move!” Andrea led her colleagues to move to Shuichi's car.
“By the way, you can keep all your luggage here. It'll be so much space since I drive alone,” said Shuichi.
“Eh, how about Jodie? We need to call her and tell her we'll move!” Vanessa uttered.
“Andrea is hurrying, right? It's okay, I'll take Jodie with me. She's a junior agent. She has nothing to hurry.”
“Alright. See you, then!”
Andrea, Vanessa, and Grace got out of the car and headed to the 7th Jeep. Minutes later, all of the Jeeps left the headquarters one by one, except the last one.
Meanwhile, Jodie desperately searched for her cosmetics bag. The housekeepers said they'd cleaned every spot in the reception room and found no bag. She then concluded someone had just taken her bag, kept it for her, and decided to return immediately.
When she arrived back at the parking area, she was so surprised when she found out only her Jeep was left there, and the others were gone. She felt guilty because her colleagues had to wait for her.
As she opened the car door, she yelled. “Ah, I'm so sorry to make you wait- Shu! What are you doing here?! Where's Andrea and the others?!”
“Stop talking and get in here,” Shuichi opened the car door for the passenger seat beside him.
“But, how?! What happened here?!” she sat on the seat but was still confused and startled.
“Finding my cosmetics bag. Someone called me, he found it and put it somewhere on headquarters' reception desk, but when I searched for it, I found nothing,” Jodie breathed deeply, putting her hands on her head.
“You mean this?” Shuichi showed her the white bag she was desperately looking for.
“What?! How the hell my bag is on you?! You... Wait...” her expression changed from shocked to puzzled, full of confusion as Shuichi chuckled.
“Don't say it was your plan...”
“I'm amazed you noticed this earlier than I thought.”
“So it's true?! But... the one who called me... He didn't sound like you at all!”
“I paid someone to call you.”
“See, Jodie. You ended up with me anyway.”
Jodie's cheeks reddened, realizing although Shuichi can be categorized as a cold-blooded man, he is also very sweet. He tricked her, fooled their colleagues, and made some effort only to be with her. If he had wanted to be with her so badly, he could've asked her one more time and forced her a little, and she wouldn't have refused. But, no. Shuichi would do it in Shuichi's way. He's a man of service, not a man of words.
“How did you manage to exchange car with them?!”
“I tricked them, said that this car oil spoiled. Whereas I spilled out the oil by myself.”
“Shu, you're ridiculous!” Jodie laughed. A pure, genuine laugh. So heartwarming and full of joy, like how she is in Shuichi's eyes. Shuichi then realized all the tricks he had done were worth it to make her laugh like that. She unintentionally gave him a ray of sunshine for his thunder, and he needs nothing more to heal himself after going through a hard mission.
Even though she was quite flattered by his actions, she felt a little bit of displeasure. “But you got me a heart attack, Shu! I can't lose this bag!” she gummed, crossing her hands.
“My apologies,” he grinned a little. “Is the bag contains holy grail or something?”
“My cosmetics and skincare, which cost around $1000 in total. And most importantly, I just bought this Dior lipstick last month for goddamn 50 dollars, Shu. It's still full. I ain't losing it for nothing!”
“You using it right now?”
Without thinking and considering any hesitation, Shuichi suddenly catches Jodie's lips with his and kissed them passionately. Jodie was startled, her muscles are stiffen, not ready for the surprise. But she enjoyed it eventually, especially when she began to taste the mix of tobacco and Bourbon in him. Time stopped for both of them, as their kiss is getting deeper, and deeper.
“Mmmh... Not too bad for 50 dollars,” said Shuichi after he broke the kiss. Jodie, however, was still processing what had just happened, while Shuichi started their Jeep and rode away toward the airport.
*Note: This is my first English fic, I'm so sorry for any grammar mistakes :“)
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