Genta rubbed his stomach, hungry. He hadn't gotten to eat lunch yet that day and it was starting to seep away his energy.

When Conan noticed he laughed and walked over to a nearby stand, buying a crepe then giving it to Genta. Taking the crepe Genta smiled then stopped the moment Conan turned away.

Wasn't it weird how much he was relying on Conan? It was turning out to be the same way he relied on him mom and dad.

Shouldn't it not work that way? Their relationship should be that of equals, not him looking up to Conan as almost a parent.

It made no sense. What was so different about Conan that caused Genta to look at him that way? It wasn't anything physical, Genta towered over Conan by at least a head's height. Then was it his intelligence?

Genta was not particularly smart but he could tell that Conan was not normal. He was much smarter than even the police officers they met on cases. Regardless of how Genta proclaimed himself the leader of the group every member knew it was really Conan.

So was the intelligence of the other boy the thing that made them all follow him? Genta didn't think so. Mitsuhiko was also smart and Genta knew plenty of bullies picked on smart kids for their intelligence but no one ever did that to Conan. It was like there was something that made everyone else want to follow his footsteps no matter where they went.

Then what was it that made Conan the unofficial leader of their group and have the respect of every kid in the school?

Maturity. A word Genta had heard him mom say before popped into his head. There was something more mature about Conan than could be found in anyone else and even in some adults. Conan had confidence him himself, he knew exactly what to do at all times and projected an aura that said exactly that.

Conan was as mature as adults in some areas. The uncle he was staying with was much less mature than Conan was most of the time. Genta's dad had said that it was fine to drink (he did run a bar) but people who spent most of their time wasting money on drinking were not to be trusted or respected. (Sorry Kogoro fans but you have to admit that he isn't responsible or any sort of respectable adult…)

There was Haibara too. She felt different than Conan, like her views of the world were, while not wrong, filtered. She was always suspicious of other people and always untrusting. While occasionally coming off as more mature she was always seeing the world in a bias lense. No one could be trusted to her and any act of kindness from someone she didn't know meant something else was going on.

Both of them had become parents to the detective boys, they were always like that and had been from when they met.

They were a bit strange.

But Genta decided he liked spending time with them just the same.

Mitsuhiko sighed. He was already tired from staying up late camping with the other detective boys the night before and now Conan's luck got them involved in a murder. Again.

Usually he would be excited about getting involved in a case like the time he once told Megure, 'We're the detective boys. We can't help it if cases come to us.' That would be his usual reaction, it was a different case when he had trouble walking in a straight line due to his exhaustion. Of all times for this to have happened.

Conan looked miserable as well, he had been running around with them the previous night but he had been trying to stop his friends from breaking something. Once he calmed them down they were yelled at for when they succeeded in breaking a cup they brought. It was weird how Mitsuhiko considered the child who was the same age as him a guardian of his, someone who would look after him and always be able to fix everything.

To him Conan resembled an older brother or role model, not at all a kid who might be a bit younger than him. Same with Haibara.

For a while he had a crush on Haibara. She was amazing and intelligent and cool. Now though, he noticed he was thinking about her the same way he thought about him mom. She always knew what to do but that didn't mean she was invincible.

He had seen her scared before, worried, uncertain. It was different from when it happened to Ayumi or Genta or himself though. When it happened to her it looked like she thought they would all die if they made a single mistake. Mitsuhiko remembered seeing her and Conan truly angry in those rare times.

It was completely different from when Genta's food was taken or when Ayumi got into an argument with one of the other girls or when he was angry at someone who bullied him. When that happened it was always a hot burst of emotion that controlled their actions but was over something silly.

When it happened to the those two it was terrifying. A cold anger that had their emotions power their minds to impossible levels. It was also almost always over the three of them getting into danger, always over something more important.

Conan and Haibara always protected them. Taking the positions of their role models and teachers and guardians and parents all at once. The detective boys had two members that were different from everyone else their age. Sure, all of them could be considered different for being detectives and constantly running into murders but Conan and Haibara were different.

They were too smart, too mature, too different from normal kids.

And Mitsuhiko found that he wouldn't want it any other way.

Ayumi smiled as she watched the TV tell her about a new store openning up. It was a Kamen Yaiba store that would allow birthday parties to be held there.

She was giving a slight jump of excitement with every word the TV said. It would be so much fun! She and Mitsuhiko and Genta would all have tons of fun trying out the different Yaiba candy and the different Yaiba based games.

Conan and Ai-chan… might not have quite as much fun.

Sure, she knew they would come. They always came along on the adventures the other three members had. Mostly to look after them but it was Kamen Yaiba. They must have some fun when they come with the group.

Ayumi frowned in annoyance. It had been eating at her for a while but now it was starting to consume her. Those two were just too different.

She had just seen them for their camping trip and the oddities would become even more apparent. As much as they were when she thought about them the differences in personality became much stronger when she actually interacted with the two.

Something about them had maturity in it. The maturity was different from the kind she felt from her mom. While it did feel the same in that they would be able to take responsibility for anything that happened it was still off. It felt slightly less experienced- like they had matured a great deal far, far too soon for their age.

But it also felt darker. Like they could never be fooled and like they had seen all evil in the world and survived. It felt that while they didn't have enough experience to know what to do in every situation through that they could use their brains and view of the world to make it through. They let their emotions take control a bit more than they should but they also were better at dealing with consequences. The two of them could take the darker side of life head on without a second thought.

It scared Ayumi. It felt like the two of them might disappear.

Ayumi relied on them now- almost as much as she relied on her parents because they were always there to help them when there was trouble. What scared her was the fact that it might not stay that way.

As a social girl Ayumi was enormously skilled at learning the emotions of her friends. She would watch them and be able to tell if something was wrong with them. She did the same thing with all her close friends: Genta and Mitsuhiko and Haibara and Conan. Sometimes, when he thought there was nobody looking, Conan would stare enviously out the window during class and look like he wished he could be anywhere except where he was.

Not in the normal childish way of not wanting to be at school.

Not in the normal childish way of being bored with the lesson and wanting to go home.

In the old, tired way of cursing the world for his luck and being willing to do anything to leave the world he was in. To leave the world where he was Ran-neechan's brother and lived at the Mouri detective agency and went to school with them. He looked like he wanted to run away from his life as Edogawa Conan and never look back.

Ai-chan was different. She would become terrified. Like Conan, it wasn't normal fear a child will have when they find something new.

No. This was the pure, unhidden terror of having your life at stake. Of feeling like there was nothing you could do and that everyone you cared about would die.

Ayumi didn't want those two to leave but she didn't know anything she could do to make them feel like they didn't have to. She knew there was plenty to the world she couldn't understand but she wanted to at least understand her friends.

There was so much Ayumi didn't know about them but she did know they were always protecting the other detective boys from the evil that hid in shadows.

It made her sad sometimes that they wouldn't trust the others enough to let them help. She wanted to make them feel happier even if she was glad they were being protected.

They were like her parents. Even with how weird their maturity was they protected her from everything she couldn't see.

Ayumi didn't want them to leave. So even if they were stuck because of something that made them have those terrified or sad expressions she was glad it existed. It let Conan and Ai stay with her for now. Regardless of how weird they could be she was happy like this.

Conan and Ai were her family.

More than anything Ayumi wanted their lives to stay that way.

So sorry for ending on something that was a bit depressing but I thought that sense Ayumi was the most social out of all of them she would be able to tell even more was off. I'm not sure if this will be the last chapter or not but for now I'll say it is. Hope you enjoyed, I thought they sometimes make a cute family!