Archive of Our Own ^beta

1.

Kokichi watches Kaito put his hand on Shuichi’s shoulder and wonders why the detective looks so happy.

Shuichi has probably, once again, done something impressive and now Kaito is congratulating him the only way he knows how to. Physical contact. See, Kaito is a touchy feely sort of person. He likes to give out high fives. He squeezes people’s shoulders to show affection. Hell, Kaito is apparently also a big fan of hugging since he makes it his daily mission to at least hug half of his classmates to greet them every morning.

He doesn’t hug Kokichi though, which is a little rude of him. Okay sure, it’s not like Kaito has any reason to greet him so warmly. The two of them are, hmm, the best way to describe them both is to probably say that they’re rivals. Why? Well, it mostly has something to do with the fact that Kaito has decided anything Kokichi can do, he can also do and also do it at least ten times better. Which is a very bold statement.

It’s been like this for years now and it’s normal to see both Kokichi and Kaito competing against each other at least once a day.

Such as, who can write the fastest? The true answer is Kokichi, although whenever Kaito does somehow manage to beat him, his handwriting is nothing more than unintelligible chicken scratch and the teacher always makes him redo everything.

Who is at the top of the class? It changes frequently. Sometimes it’s Kaito, sometimes it’s Kokichi. Sometimes, although rarely, it’s someone else, which forces Kokichi and Kaito to have to work together so they can take down the absolute fucking nerd who decided to steal their throne. Honestly, the audacity of some people. It astounds Kokichi sometimes.

There’s also the debate over who is faster. Kaito has already proved that he’s fast on his feet, a worthy challenger to the running world. Some of the class think Kaito is the quickest but Kokichi also has some loyal supporters too. Kirumi, surprisingly, sticks up for him being the fastest because she has yet to catch him whenever he makes her chase him around the school. See, they could just both race each other and find out who the victor is that way but every time they run together, it always ends up with them creating such a large cloud of dust because of how fast their feet hit the floor, everyone always unfortunately misses who crosses the finishing line first. Kokichi would find it comedic if it also wasn’t so damn tragic.

Kokichi can’t exactly pinpoint when they both became rivals. It’s not like Kaito fucking waltzed up to him and declared that they’re destined rivals for life in front of the entire class. No, it’s something that happened rather subtly but also something they both quickly picked up on. It only became truly personal when Kaito said after being one point behind Kokichi on some random test that he’s totally on the same level as Kokichi and he’s going to prove it.

He’s fairly sure that some of the class find their rivalry endearing whilst some others wish they would stop already. Well, it’s mostly Maki who vocally complains about the two of them, which makes sense since she is the president (and co-founder) of the I Hate Kokichi Ouma fan club.

So yeah, he and Kaito have some sort of rivalry going on. Kokichi isn’t entirely sure how else to describe what’s going on between the two of them outside of that. Calling them both friends would be weird but saying that they’re enemies also seems a little extreme.

Either way, they both frequently interact on a daily basis.

It’s just, well, Kokichi isn’t sure why today of all days he realises that Kaito has never actually squeezed his shoulder whilst talking to him. Or hugged him. Or even high fived him. He finds it bizarre that he’s even wasting his time pondering about this. It’s not like he cares who Kaito decides to almost slam dunk against the wall after hitting someone’s back too hard. Nope. It doesn’t bother him at all.

That’s why he’s a little surprised that he’s still thinking about Kaito’s hand on Shuichi’s shoulder even after his morning classes are finished. It’s not the fact that it’s Shuichi’s shoulder Kaito squeezed that bothers him. Shuichi is Kaito’s self declared sidekick and it’s common to see the astronaut draping himself over the detective like a blanket most days. He does the same to Maki too. Kokichi swears that sometimes, Kaito covers them both more than their actual clothes.

For a moment, he can’t help but wonder why Kaito hasn’t squeezed his shoulder yet? Sure, Kaito congratulates him wherever he manages to beat him during one of their little competitions but that’s it. He doesn’t even get a handshake, which, well, to be fair he doesn’t actually give a shit about getting a handshake. Kokichi bets that Kaito's hands are yucky and sweaty anyway.

He just thinks he deserves at least something from his rival, that’s all. Apparently his mind has decided to obsess over Kaito squeezing his shoulder for whatever reason. However, now that he thinks about it, maybe he deserves to be a little petty. Maybe it’s his turn to get one of Kaito’s amazing shoulder squeezes.

Getting his shoulder squeezed by Kaito turns out to be the hill he is willing to die on.

Now, to trick Kaito into doing so.

He spends the majority of lunch time scheming, scribbling down dastardly plan after dastardly plan in one of his little notebooks which are filled to the brim with, wait for it, dastardly plans.

Kokichi could set up some sort of trap and cause Kaito to trip into him. If Kokichi positions his body just right, Kaito will have no other choice but to use his shoulder as a crutch. A worthy contender of an idea but it won’t be a genuine shoulder squeeze. Also he’s fairly sure if he fucks around in class one more time this week then the teacher will be boring and banish him to work in another classroom.

To save himself from getting into trouble, he could do something more tame, like maybe doing something so impressive that Kaito is blown away and has no choice but to put his hand on his shoulder to catch himself from swooning. The big issue is, well, Kokichi is already a tragically impressive individual. He’s so perfect that every time he does something that would be considered spectacular, it just seems like he’s doing another every day thing. Oh how woeful, foiled by his own perfectionism. Truly a tragedy. This day will surely be remembered as the saddest day in history from now on.

Anyway, moving on.

There is one daring idea he could try, although Kokichi is unable to calculate its success rate. The idea is so outstanding and mind boggling and so high risk that Kokichi feels like it would be cruel to put himself through such an ordeal just so he can feel Kaito’s hand on his shoulder for a fleeting few seconds.

What if he, fuck, he’s already shaking just thinking about it.

What if he just asks Kaito to squeeze his shoulder?

The mere thought almost makes him fall to his knees. How could he think of something so sadistic? He wouldn’t even put his most loathed enemy through something emotionally scarring like this.

No, absolutely not. Kokichi will not put himself through such hell. Him? Ask for affection? Impossible. Absolutely mind-boggling. What sort of person goes up to someone and simply asks for attention? Is that something people actually do? Holy shit, is the world secretly full of masochists and he’s the only normal person left?

Kokichi promptly tears that idea out of his notebook before he gives himself a heart attack.

Phew, that could’ve been a disaster.

He vows to never let his mind wander to such dark places again.

However, he still has a problem. He hasn’t come up with a doable idea which results with Kaito’s hand on his shoulder. Hmm. He chews the end of his pencil before sighing. Maybe he’s going to need more time than he thought to see his plan through. It’s a devastating realisation but it’s not like there’s much he can do about it.

“Oh shit. Do we have homework due next lesson?”

Kokichi blinks as Kaito tries to lean over him to look at his notebook, which is thankfully closed. If things were different then he’d probably have a sarcastic quip to say and remind Kaito that it’s rude to look at other people’s writing without their permission.

But he doesn’t because Kaito’s hand is on his shoulder.

Is this what salvation feels like? Kokichi swears he hears an angel’s choir as Kaito uses his shoulder as a crutch so he can get a better view of his notebook, which is still shut. Oh. So this is what it feels like to have the heavenly weight of Kaito’s hand on his poor, touch deprived shoulder. Kokichi swears his brain goes through an entire system reboot. For a moment, he realises that there’s not a single thought in his entire head since they’ve all been wiped out by Kaito’s powerful hand.

Kaito squeezes a little harder as he tries to snatch Kokichi’s notebook. Thankfully, by this point, Kokichi has finally started to function like an actual human being and grabs his notebook before Kaito can open it.

“Yeah, we had to write a hundred page essay on why we think the moon landing was faked.” Kokichi quickly shoves his notebook into his bag whilst Kaito is distracted.

Kaito narrows his eyes and looks thoroughly unimpressed. “Like hell is that true.”

He pulls his hand away and Kokichi almost topples over, as if Kaito’s hand alone is responsible for controlling gravity. Okay, sure, it wasn’t a genuine shoulder squeeze but it was also better than nothing. Just an innocent little squeeze.

It felt kind of nice though.

He’d rather cut his own tongue out before admitting this out loud. If for some strange reason someone asks him what it’s like to have Kaito press his hand against him, he’s going to say it's the worst feeling in the world. Kaito’s hand definitely didn’t feel like molten warmth against his shoulder.

“It is,” Kokichi insists before letting out a dramatic sigh. “Chop, chop, spaceman. You need to write it pronto! If you don’t have it ready then you’re totally going to fail the next class and then you’ll become even more stupid!”

Kokichi swears he sees a vein emerge on Kaito’s head. “Tch, I’ll just ask someone else. Pretty sure we didn’t have anything due though…”

Kaito leaves with a sour pout on his face and Kokichi watches him quietly, suddenly finding Kaito’s back fascinating. Huh. He had no clue someone could be so abnormally warm. Whilst it’s true that he himself is freakishly cold even during summer, he just finds it weird how hot Kaito is.

Hot as in warm. Like body temperature. And that’s it. Kaito is definitely not hot in any other way.

Unfortunately, the brief moment of contact wasn’t enough to satisfy his curiosity. He’s still baffled as to why everyone always looks so happy to receive attention from Kaito.

Kokichi hates being baffled.

He realises there’s only one way to remedy this situation. He’s going to have to do some further research and figure out what makes Kaito so special. There has to be some sort of logical explanation for all of this.

2.

Kokichi gets to continue his investigation a couple of weeks later during a rainy day.

Actually, saying that it’s rainy is far too kind. There’s basically a full on rainstorm happening outside, although it’s not severe enough to send everyone home. It’s predicted that the weather should hopefully calm down by the time it’s time to go home, which is good news for everyone who was smart enough to bring an umbrella today.

Kokichi did not bring an umbrella today. Purposefully.

He didn’t know about the storm but he did know about the rain. The plan to not bring an umbrella didn’t formulate in his head until he was standing at his front door and saw the rain pelting the pavement outside. Of course he instinctively went to grab his black umbrella, which he always keeps by the entrance, but then stopped.

It turns out Kaito putting his hand on his shoulder the other week was just a random one off. He’s not gone out of his way to touch Kokichi again ever since, which is a shame because who the fuck else is going to thaw his icy heart? 

So basically, Kaito hasn’t blessed him with his warmth for a while but he’s been insanely generous with everyone else. He has witnessed Kaito squeeze Shuichi’s shoulders at least one hundred times during this last week. Yes he was counting, he wants his research to be accurate. Maki has also earned a couple of half hugs and hair ruffles, which was something Kokichi didn’t know Kaito also gave out until now. Hair ruffles? Does Kaito think his classmates are dogs or something? Granted, there are a couple of bitches in the class, Miu being a shiny example, but Kokichi can’t believe he didn’t notice how often Kaito just goes around and shoves his hand into people’s hair until now.

It’s fucking weird because Kokichi hasn’t heard a single person complain when Kaito crashlands his hand into their hair. Tch. And this guy wants to go to space. If he can’t control his hand then how the fuck is he going to engingeer a spacecraft?

Basically, Kaito hasn’t shown any signs of treating him like everyone else and Kokichi is starting to take personal offence to this. If this continues then he’s going to write a strongly worded letter to Kaito’s grandparents telling them that their grandson is a huge meanie and they should revoke his dessert privileges from him. Kokichi has overheard how much Kaito raves about his grandparents cooking. If he’s going to be awkward then Kokichi is going to aim where it hurts the most in retaliation.

In fact, he’s going to ask Kaito’s grandparents to send him Kaito’s desserts instead.

Damn. It’s almost scary how fiendish he’s becoming.

He’s getting off track. So after noticing that it was raining outside, Kokichi was instantly hit with a fool proof plan. If Kaito won’t willingly treat him like everyone else then he’s going to make him. That means they’re going to have to get close to each other.

Feeling like an absolute genius, Kokichi leaves his umbrella at home and arrives at school with nothing to protect him other than his clothes. Granted, he arrives to class sopping wet and he makes so much of a mess that Kirumi literally surrounds him and his desk with wet floor signs. He thinks any other person would be embarrassed by this but he’s quote on quote, built different, so he isn’t.

Even when Kaito stares at him incredulously after arriving just a couple of minutes before the bell, Kokichi doesn’t feel any shame. In fact, he’s almost proud when he feels Kaito’s concerned gaze throughout the entire day. Oh? He’s managed to steal Kaito’s entire attention? He’s graduating from being a pesky crook to a full time super villain.

His hair and clothes are dry by the time it’s late afternoon. Well, Kirumi did pin him down during break and towel his hair dry herself whilst lecturing him but that isn’t relevant. Kirumi is basically the mother hen of the class so it’s not unusual for her to worry over everyone’s wellbeing. If Kokichi didn’t have a reputation to uphold, he would’ve thanked her for her service by now. Alas, if he were to show kindness and his enemies were to find out then they’d have some pretty inconvenient blackmail to use against him.

Unfortunately, Kokichi forgets that he has cleaning duty today with Kiibo and whilst he would usually make someone else take his place, because of the rain, everyone has quickly gone home before the storm re-emerges.

Kokichi sweeps the floors as quickly as possible, ignoring Kiibo’s outraged cries every time he blasts dust into his face. They both manage to get the classroom cleaned quicker than usual but it doesn’t change the fact that the school is close to empty by the time Kokichi makes it to the entrance.

He pulls a face as he peers through the glass doors and feels like he’s basically shot himself in the foot. It’s still raining pretty hard and whilst he is dry now, his clothes are still on the chilly side. If he walks home like he is then there’s no doubt he’s going to wake up with a cold tomorrow and that simply will not do. He thinks about asking Kiibo for a ride home because he knows his professor picks him up in his car. Kiibo, however, is out of sight when Kokichi turns around to find him and Kokichi promptly tells himself to fill the robot’s locker with something hard to clean out tomorrow.

With a heavy sigh, he changes his shoes and sneaks a hopeful glance at the box of umbrellas near the entrance. It’s empty, of course.

He wavers before accepting his fate and presses a hand against the door. The rain had sounded muffled whilst he was inside because the doors were shut. As soon as he opens the door a slight crack, he straight away hears the rain firing at the floor unapologetically. Ugh. Okay, so maybe his idea wasn’t all that genius after all.

“Ouma! Hold on a second!”

Kokichi jolts and lets the door go, rapidly retreating further into the building. He pretends that the sudden voice didn’t surprise him and spins around on a heel to glare at whoever dared to yell at him. His glare softens as he spots Kaito run down the stairs. His forehead is glistening with sweat. Huh? Did Kaito run so he could catch up with him? What’s he even doing at school anyway? It’s way past home time.

“Fancy seeing you here, spaceman.” Kokichi narrows his eyes. “What? Did you stay behind so you could hunt down your missing brain cells? Even if you do find them, they’re going to be pretty useless anyway.”

Kaito rolls his eyes and wipes his forehead with an annoyed sigh. “There was an astronomy club meeting I had to go to and it’s only just finished.”

“Wait? You’re telling me that you’re not the only student here obsessed with space?” Kokichi fakes a small shudder. “God, even the thought of there being several of you absolutely terrifies me.”

“Shut up, man,” Kaito grumbles before clearing his throat. He spares a glance outside and lets out a low whistle. “Looks like the rain is going to pick up soon.”

“Astute observation.” Kokichi crosses his arms and gives the rain a withering stare. There’s no way he’s getting home dry.

Kaito must notice his anguish or must actually have a couple of brain cells rattling around somewhere because he makes a sympathetic noise. “You check if there’s any spare umbrellas lying around? Pretty sure the school has a few just in case.”

“I don’t need an umbrella,” Kokichi boldly responds and almost preens as Kaito stares at him like he’s told him he wholeheartedly believes that the moon is made of cheese. “I was genetically modified to be completely waterproof as a baby. It is basically impossible for me to get wet.”

“That’s a fucking lie,” Kaito huffs, although there is a distinct lack of anger in his voice. If anything, he sounds amused. “I saw how wet the classroom floors were this morning. You nearly flooded the entire school.”

Kokichi crosses his arms even tighter. “Maybe I planned to do that from the start.”

“Or maybe you forgot your umbrella like a dumbass,” Kaito counters. He looks at Kokichi and then at the rain, a thoughtful look growing on his face. “We live near each other, right?”

They do. Some mornings Kokichi spots Kaito walking the same path as him. Unfortunately for him, Maki also lives near Kaito so they walk to school together everyday. The last time he tried to walk with them, his bag ended up in a tree courtesy of Maki. Kokichi had climbed up after it and almost got himself stuck. Thankfully, Kaito had been conveniently standing right next to the tree because he watched him climb it the entire time. Without warning, Kokichi had thrown himself from the tree and used Kaito as a crash mat. They both ended up going to school with bruises that day.

“Are you stalking me, spaceman?” Kokichi snickers behind his hand as Kaito blanches. “Just kidding, I know Momota actually has a huge crush on me and follows me home just to make sure I arrive safely.”

“No I fucking don’t,” Kaito grumbles. He looks like he’s about to storm off before he stops himself. “Look, you’ll get sick if you go home without anything to protect you. It isn’t ideal but, can’t believe I’m about to say this-”

“-what? Momota actually has the ability to not believe in something?”

“-but you can share my umbrella with me,” Kaito finishes before narrowing his eyes. “And the fuck do you mean by that?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Kokichi says. He eyes Kaito’s umbrella quietly. To no one’s surprise, Kaito’s umbrella has a galaxy pattern on it.

Kaito shows it to Kokichi proudly once he realises Kokichi is staring at it. “It’s pretty cool, right?”

“It’s certainly interesting,” Kokichi answers. Even though it’s closed, Kokichi can tell that it’s barely going to fit both of them under it, which means they’re going to have to stand close to each other if they want to stay dry.

Kaito accepts his response easily and Kokichi chalks it up to the fact he didn’t outright insult Kaito’s umbrella. The wannabe astronaut cautiously opens the door and braves the outside weather for a moment, fighting against the wind as he opens his umbrella. For one startling second, Kokichi swears the umbrella is going to soar into the sky, never to be seen again. Kaito, however, keeps a crazy firm grip on the handle and somehow manages to win against the wind.

He turns around and grins at Kokichi proudly. Kokichi wonders if he’s waiting for a standing ovation.

“Budge up.” Kokichi isn’t entirely sure why he takes a deep breath before squeezing himself next to Kaito. He knows that it doesn’t matter how much air he sucks in, he isn’t going to make himself any smaller. To his surprise though, it’s not as cramped under the umbrella as he thought it was going to be.

Kaito accommodates him rather flawlessly and doesn’t seem too bothered that they both need to be pressed against each other to fit. It takes a moment for Kokichi to realise that one of Kaito’s shoulders is getting slightly wet because it won’t fit under completely. Kokichi, however, is completely dry. He decides not to comment on this fact.

Gonta would be impressed by how gentlemanly Kaito is on their way home. He keeps the umbrella steady the entire time and not a drop of water lands on Kokichi despite the numerous times Kaito has to play tug and war with the wind. He always wins though and every time he does, he looks at Kokichi with an accomplished grin.

Kokichi finds the situation so natural that he almost forgets that he wanted to be under an umbrella with Kaito for a specific reason. Now, to figure out if being this close to Kaito is going to frazzle his brain.

He certainly does feel, hmm, what’s the right word? Safe. Content. Pleased, even. Kaito is doing a stellar job at keeping him dry, even though he has every reason under the sun to push him into the cold. Well, Kaito is a well known people pleaser so Kokichi shouldn’t be surprised that Kaito is doing his best to offer top notch umbrella holding service. That doesn’t take away the fact that Kokichi is happy with his efforts though.

It does make him wonder if anyone else in the class would go out of their way to accommodate him. Whilst he is small and probably one of the best people to share an umbrella with aside from Himiko, Angie and Ryoma, that doesn’t mean people want him under their umbrellas. He’s sure people like Kaede and Kirumi would begrudgingly welcome him. However, he can clearly picture Korekiyo purposefully keeping him out in the rain just so he can observe his reaction. He’s also fairly confident Maki would angle her umbrella so even more water would trickle onto him.

Hmm, whilst he did accomplish his goal of being in close proximity to Kaito, Kokichi feels like he still doesn’t have enough research.

He wants a more special situation, something more unique.

Kokichi can’t deny the contentment he’s feeling right now, the reassurance that he knows he’s going to get home dry because Kaito is firmly keeping the umbrella above their heads. In fact, he quite likes the determined look on Kaito’s face as he battles the weather.

There is one thing that’s throwing him off though. Why did Kaito offer to walk him home?

“You okay?”

“Huh?”

“You’re being strangely quiet,” Kaito says. As they walk under a tree, the rain eases up ever so slightly from attacking Kaito’s umbrella. “Don’t tell me you’re actually sick?”

“No one gets sick that quick from a little rain,” Kokichi responds. He keeps his gaze firmly focused on the path in front of him, although he does get momentarily distracted by a leaf as it races down a stream of water.

Kaito huffs. “Well if you’re not sick then what’s wrong?”

“Who said that there’s something wrong?” Kokichi purses his lips. “Maybe I’m enjoying the silence.”

Well, their shared silence. The rain is pretty noisy, although it’s actually quite peaceful to listen to.

“Oh.” Kaito snaps his mouth shut and readjusts his grip on the umbrella’s handle as they emerge from under the trees. “Didn’t think you were capable of keeping your mouth shut for more than one second, that’s all.”

Kokichi isn’t entirely sure if Kaito is trying to bait him into a fight but he finds he’s too distracted to give him the satisfaction if he is. He hums and clasps his hands behind his back. “A good leader always knows when to be quiet and listen, you know? I can totally be quiet when I want to be.” He flutters his lashes. “Buuut I didn’t realise that spaceman loves the sound of my voice so much that he can’t stand me being quiet for too long. Fear not, I can quickly fix this-”

Kaito snorts as he playfully nudges Kokichi with his shoulder. “Hell no. I’m actually enjoying the peace and quiet for once.” He pauses before letting his voice soften. “Just wondered if something was wrong. If you’re fine then I must’ve been worrying over nothing.”

Eh? Did he hear that right? Kaito was worried about him? Tch, what an idiot.

Kokichi squirms as he feels something strange flutter in his chest for a brief second before he shoos it away. He schools his expression into something more unreadable and hopes his hair hides it enough so Kaito doesn’t say something else stupid.

The rain eventually turns to drizzle but Kaito continues to keeps his umbrella up. Kokichi doesn't register that Kaito has missed his own house until they’re both outside of Kokichi’s apartment. Kokichi blinks at the apartment complex and then at Kaito, who looks down at Kokichi with a slightly raised brow.

“Eh? What’s up?”

“You walked me home,” Kokichi says dumbly before shaking his head. “Which was a part of my plan of course, nishishi! Now you’re going to arrive home late and get into lots of trouble!”

“My grandparents will understand once I tell them I was making sure one of my classmates got home dry,” Kaito easily responds. He glances up at the sky and holds out one of his hands from under the umbrella. “Although it looks like I won’t be needing this anymore.”

Kokichi watches as Kaito closes his umbrella and pretends that he isn’t impressed by his ability to do so quickly. Kokichi usually has to wrestle with his for at least five minutes before it even thinks about closing.

“I should probably be heading off now,” Kaito says. “Even though I know my grandparents will be chill about me being late, I don’t want them to worry.” He tucks his umbrella under his arm. “Seeya tomorrow, Ouma-”

“Why did you walk me home?”

“Huh?” Kaito’s eyebrows reach his hairline before he lets out a loud laugh. “Well it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? We won’t be able to compete against each other if you’re ill, right? There’s no way in hell I’m fighting against my rival if he’s not at his best! If you walked home in the rain then you definitely would’ve gotten a cold at the very least!”

Kokichi stares at him and his chest does that annoying fucking flutter again. “I bet I could beat you even if I were on my deathbed.”

Kaito chokes on his next breath before bristling. His eyes, however, are alight with determination. “Oh really?”

“Yep, totally!” Kokichi starts to walk backwards towards the apartment complex. “Anyway, I just remembered I have a very important thing I need to be doing. World domination doesn’t happen overnight, you know?”

Kokichi turns his back as he hears Kaito let out a loud snort. “World domination my ass.” Kokichi can imagine Kaito rolling his eyes. “Whatever you say, dumbass. See you tomorrow.”

He reaches his apartment and steps inside. When he notices his umbrella balanced against the wall in the corner, completely dry, he gives it a tiny smile.

3.

Kokichi loses a fight with Miu's drawing compass and things spiral from there.

See, Miu had stupidly left her pencil case unattended during lunch and Kokichi found himself deathly bored. Only him and Shuichi are in the classroom and the detective is being boring and doing next week's homework like the good little nerd he is. Shuichi is no fun when he's engrossed in his work so Kokichi has no other choice but to entertain himself.

After ransacking the entire classroom, Kokichi eventually notices Miu's pencil case teetering on the edge of her desk. He's surprised he didn't notice it until now since it's an obnoxiously pink colour. He picks it up and looks around inside, eyes sparkling as he finds a drawing compass.

He spots Shuichi eye the compass warily from across the room but blatantly ignores Kokichi as he sits back down at his desk and pulls out one of his thicker notebooks. The leader lies his hand flat against the book and spreads his fingers out wide.

"Hey Saihara? Do you want to see something super cool?"

"I'm busy, Ouma," Shuichi responds before narrowing his eyes. "Um, you're not going to do something stupid, are you?"

Kokichi lets out an offended scoff as he readies his hand. "Who do you think you're talking to? I haven't done a single stupid thing in my entire life. I expect a handwritten apology written with your own blood in my hand by the end of the night or I'm sending my organisation after you."

Shuichi looks thoroughly unimpressed and smartly turns his attention back to his homework. "I definitely will not be doing that."

"Then it looks like you're going to be living the rest of your days in the middle of the Sahara desert," Kokichi sighs. "I hope Saihara doesn't burn easily."

He knows for a fact Shuichi turns as red as a lobster if left under the sun for literally two minutes. Kokichi pokes his tongue out as Shuichi sends him a dry glare, which turns wary as he once again looks at the compass and then at Kokichi's hand.

"Last time you played you played your, um, stabbing game, you cut your hand."

"I'm a lot better at it now," Kokichi insists as he wiggles his fingers. There is a faint scar on the inside of one of his fingers from when he accidentally caught it with a pocket knife a couple months back. It didn't hurt too much but it bled quite badly. He ended up being scolded by Kirumi for several hours, hence why he now plays without her around.

Shuichi is far too timid to confiscate the compass from him, even though he does look a little uncertain. Kokichi is fairly confident that the detective has one eye on him and his homework at the same time.

Kokichi hums as he starts to plunge the compass between his fingers, poking tiny holes into his notebook as he does so. He notices that Shuichi flinches every time the compass embeds into his book with a quiet thunk. He pays him no mind and continues to play.

He wasn't lying when he said he'd improved. Even Shuichi looks a tiny bit impressed as he speeds up, weaving the compass back and forth between his hand and the notebook. The trick is to not hesitate. Kokichi strikes down each time without a second thought. If he catches himself so be it, that's the risk you take playing this game.

His tongue sneaks out of the corner of his mouth as he continues, moving his hand so fast that it looks like a blur. It's purely muscle memory that's keeping him safe right now. Still, that isn't enough to put him off playing.

Shuichi starts to waver as he notices Kokichi's rapid increase in speed. If he didn't have the backbone of a wet noodle then he probably would've told Kokichi to cut it out by now. Instead he watches nervously, as if he knows something terrible is going to happen any second.

Kokichi snorts as he spots Shuichi's furrowed brows. "Geez, chill out, mister detective. I'm actually the world champion of this game so there's no way I'm gonna-"

The classroom door rattles loudly as Gonta almost pulls it from its hinges thanks to his freakish strength. Shuichi swivels around on his chair to stare at the entomologist with a startled expression whilst Kokichi jumps. “Hey, did Gonta leave his bug box in here?”

He did. It’s sitting on his desk. Kokichi, however, isn’t able to tell Gonta this as he misses his target and jabs the compass a little too closely to his finger. It slices through his skin like butter, thankfully only merely nicking his skin. He lets out a hiss between his teeth and drops the compass as if it had burned him.

“Oh!” Gonta’s eyes go wide as he spots a splatter of blood on Kokichi’s notebook. Whilst it’s nothing serious, Gonta acts like Kokichi has somehow managed to hack his entire finger off and starts panicking. “Ouma! You’re hurt!”

Shuichi snaps his head back over in his direction before clicking his tongue. Okay, sure, maybe Shuichi deserves to be a little salty about this since he knew Kokichi’s little game was going to end with an accident and had heavily implied he shouldn't play. The detective sighs and quickly finds the first aid kit that Kirumi put in the classroom herself. Apparently the maid has the gift of foresight or something since the kit is usually cracked open at least once a week.

Gonta hovers nervously nearby as Shuichi pulls out the chair in front of Kokichi’s desk and flips it around. He rummages around for a bottle of disinfectant and a roll of bandages, not bothering to hide his unimpressed grimace.

“I knew this was going to happen,” Shuichi sighs before pinning Kokichi’s hand down before Kokichi can even think about waving it around and making things ten times more awkward. Which, to be fair, is a smart move since Kokichi is prone to being annoying on purpose.

Kokichi pouts and tries his best to keep a straight face as Shuichi carefully cleans his scratch. He has no reason to be so gentle but Kokichi supposes that’s the sort of person Shuichi is. Shuichi may be the universe’s greatest mystery of being the first person to function without a spine but he still has his uses, one of them being that he’s surprisingly kind when he wants to be.

Gonta calms down once most of the blood is cleaned up. Like the last time he caught his finger, his scratch looks worse than it actually is. It still stings, especially since Shuichi cleaned it but thankfully Kokichi will definitely live to see another day. He can already hear the entire world let out a collective sigh of relief at this tremendous news.

“Gonta didn’t mean to make you hurt yourself,” Gonta says as Kokichi starts to examine his newly bandaged finger. Gonta sounds so guilty that even Kokichi feels a tiny bit bad. Like he’d ever admit that out loud though.

“Don’t feel guilty,” Shuichi tells him as he closes the first aid kit with a loud snap. “I told him that playing his stupid game would only end in disaster.”

“Those exact words did not come out of your mouth, you liar,” Kokichi huffs.

Shuichi sighs once again. “Ouma, even little kids know ramming a compass near their fingers is a bad idea.”

“Well little kids are boring and so are you,” Kokichi scoffs.

It’s not exactly the most impressive tale but it’s how he ends up with a bandaged finger. He thinks about pretending that the scratch doesn’t exist once everyone comes back, mostly so he doesn’t have to sit through another one of Kirumi’s lectures. That idea quickly dissipates, however, once he spots Kaito do a double take when he notices his bloody notebook after everyone returns to the classroom.

Before Shuichi can explain that Kokichi only has a scratch, the leader is already swooning on his chair, almost toppling himself onto the floor as he thrusts his finger in Kaito’s face. “Spaceman, I was mortally wounded over lunch and the doctors think I don’t have much time left!” He sniffles as he points at the bandage on his finger. “See, I’m literally at death’s door!”

“No you’re not,” Kaito responds with a heavy eye roll before grabbing his hand so he can get an actual look at Kokichi’s finger without him waving his hand around. “What actually happened?”

Kokichi sniffles and points an accusing finger at Miu’s compass, which is still on his desk. “Iruma’s compass attacked me unprovoked! It flew out of her pencil case and stabbed me whilst I was simply minding my own business!”

Miu lets out an outraged shriek and opens her mouth to yell at him about taking her stuff, again, but is promptly stopped as Kaito quickly passes her compass back to her before she can annihilate everyone’s eardrums.

“Shuichi? What happened?” Kaito asks as he turns to the detective.

Kokichi bristles and shakes a fisted hand at Kaito. “I’m telling the truth!”

“He was playing his stabbing game again,” Shuichi sighs.

Kaito looks exasperated, especially when he notices Kokichi’s bottom lip start to tremble. “I thought Tojo banned you from playing that?”

“She can’t ban me from doing anything,” Kokichi defiantly responds with a heavy pout. He wiggles his finger at Kaito. “And now I’m going to die unless I get the proper treatment to save me. The doctors were very specific about what I need in order for me to make it through the next twenty four hours.”

“Ouma, it’s literally only a scratch,” Shuichi quietly points out.

Kokichi blatantly ignores him. “They said I need an IV directly dripping grape juice into me at all times-”

“That will literally kill you,” Shuichi says.

Maki, who must’ve either been listening in on the conversation or was lured over by the smell of blood because Kokichi swears she’s part bloodhound, places an earnest hand on Kokichi’s desk. “Don’t worry, I’ll personally make sure you get your grape juice drip.”

Kokichi takes a second to swallow down a nervous gulp since Maki sounds a little too serious. “That was just a lie, they said I can also drink it normally.”

“What fucking doctors are you even on about?” Kaito grumbles.

“They also said,” Kokichi says before letting out a loud sigh, “that my scratch won’t ever go away unless someone kisses it better. They specifically said that it has to be a clown who kisses it, which means I’m in luck since you’re here, spaceman!”

“What the fuck did you just call me?!” Kaito slams his fists down heavily onto Kokichi’s desk, causing it to rattle along with some nearby chairs. Kokichi scarcely looks phased as he continues to stare at Kaito steadily, holding out his finger. “And I’ve never heard a doctor ever say that kisses are capable of healing wounds!”

“I’m not lying,” Kokichi insists. “Don’t tell me that you’re going to make me have to deal with a scratch for all eternity? There’s absolutely no way I’ll survive! It already really stings, like, really, really stings! It hurts so bad that I’m going to die from the pain!”

“Then do it quietly,” Maki grumbles as she makes her way over to her desk, already fed up with the entire situation. Kokichi’s amazed that she even lasted this long around him without threatening him with death.

Kokichi ignores Maki’s rude comment and cradles his finger to his chest. Okay, so here’s the thing. Whilst he didn’t actually plan to slice his finger open, he’s now starting to see the entire situation as one big happy accident. What better way to grow closer to someone than to tenderly treat each other's wounds? Well, Kaito technically isn’t injured but Kokichi definitely is.

Kaito, however, looks like he isn’t going to give Kokichi the comfort he so desperately needs. Hmm, maybe getting him to kiss his hand wasn't the smartest idea. 

Maybe he’ll just have to find a different prince charming to kiss away his pain. Or not. His scratch stopped hurting literally minutes after it appeared. He can’t help but be slightly disappointed though. Kaito usually at the very least drapes his arm around someone when they’re recovering from a minor injury. Hmm, oh well. It’s not like he cares. He’ll just laugh the whole thing off and pretend that this conversation never happened.

He has an excuse to end the conversation sitting on the tip of his tongue and he's ready to use it when Kaito suddenly grabs his hand with a huff and presses a chaste kiss against his bandaged finger.

"You'll only fucking spend the rest of the day complaining otherwise," Kaito grumbles as he pulls away, turning his head away and effectively hiding his face.

Kokichi feels like he's about to swallow his tongue. Oh. He didn't think Kaito was actually going to kiss his finger better. Hmm. Well. That certainly felt…nice.

"Well?" Kaito still refuses to look at him. "You fucking cured yet?"

"Uh…" Kokichi blinks before quickly hiding his hand under his desk, acting as if the world would explode if someone were to look at it. He gives his fingers an experimental wiggle. "Yeah, yep. Absolutely cured. Your work here is done, spaceman. You can leave now."

Kaito grumbles under his breath but thankfully does as he's told without arguing. He almost trips over a chair on his quest to get back to his desk, which causes Kokichi to let out an involuntary snort.

Kokichi swears that the entire class is either looking at him or Kaito, which is slightly mortifying since he swears his face is heating up. He pretends that he needs to grab something from his bag and spends the next five minutes rummaging around inside of it for some imaginary thing he claims he needs.

4.

Someone organises a movie night and the entire class ends up crammed inside Kaede’s living room. It’s rather spacious but since there’s sixteen of them, well, it’s a bit of a tight squeeze.

Kokichi ends up squished next to Kaito, much to the astronaut’s blatantly obvious dismay. He huffs as Kokichi sits down next to him. In Kokichi’s defence, he was one of the last people to arrive so there wasn’t much choice about where he could sit. His choices were either to sit next to Kaito or Maki. He doesn’t plan to die anytime soon so the choice was obvious.

It’s not uncommon for everyone to meet up like this, they’re a close knit class, after all. This is probably the third time they’ve done a movie night though. The first time the class had one, everyone spent more time arguing over what to watch than actually watching anything. To remedy this, everyone now brings their own movie to watch. Then, a movie is picked by random so no one can complain.

“Hey, hey, spaceman,” Kokichi says as he gets himself comfortable. He grabs one of the blankets that have been conveniently placed on the back of each couch and throws it over his legs. “You look like you’re super excited.”

That’s a lie. If anything, Kaito looks a little nervous. He keeps sneaking glances at the pile of DVDs near Kaede’s TV. Kokichi has no idea what he brought, he just pulled one from his shelf at random before sprinting to Kaede’s house. It’s too dark to make out what Kaito is glaring at but it must be something bad for someone as positive as Kaito to look so rigid. He tries to crane his neck to get a better look but before he can, Kaede snatches up the DVDs and starts to shuffle them randomly.

Kaito ignores him and instead watches Kaede’s hands intensely. Kokichi isn’t entirely sure why Kaito seems so agitated, maybe there’s a movie in the pile he really doesn’t want to watch? Either way, Kaito has always been a big advocate about people bringing their own movies in so it’s not like he has much room to complain if that’s the case. He can suck it up like everyone else if Kaede picks something tragically stupid, like one of Tsumugi’s shitty anime movies.

Kaede opens up one of the cases and sets up the movie, giggling excitedly to Rantaro, who she’s sitting next to. There’s a rather cosy vibe going on. The room is swamped with blankets and pillows. There’s a few bowls of popcorn scattered around. The TV is large enough to provide enough light so the room isn’t completely dark. Kokichi supposes he should be grateful that he’s managed to get a place on the couch so he doesn’t have to peer over everyone’s heads to see.

The room goes dark for a second as the DVD loads up. Then, the selection menu appears and Kokichi hears Kaito suck in a sharp breath next to him. He’s not entirely sure why Kaito is in such a bad mood. Sure, from the looks of things, it looks like the next hour or two is going to be mind numbingly boring since the movie looks rather shitty. It’s definitely some sort of horror film, or at the very least some sort of experimental indie film no one has ever heard of.

Kokichi notices Maki turn her head so that she’s looking at Kaito from the floor. There’s a slight frown on her face, which only intensifies as Kokichi sticks his tongue out at her. She scowls and turns back around straight away, her shoulders tense.

“Who the fuck picked this shit?” Miu groans. “It looks like a two year old fucking directed it.”

“This is an extremely interesting watch,” Korekiyo says, which straight away answers her question. He hugs a pillow to his stomach and stares at the screen with shiny eyes, bright with anticipation. “How fortunate that my movie was picked.”

“It, uh, certainly does look fascinating,” Kaede responds, trying to keep the mood up. Even though she looks a little doubtful as she clicks the play button, she leans back and gets herself comfortable, nestling her head against Rantaro’s shoulder as the room once again goes dark.

It’s a struggle to describe the movie. Kokichi has no idea what the plot is or what the fuck is even going on half the time. The main character seems to be a black and white bear who acts out different scenes from different films. Honestly, the entire movie is one big copyright disaster but Kokichi doubts enough people have seen it for it to be noticed by anyone important.

He pulls a face and slouches down in his seat, disappointed that the nearest popcorn bowl is too far away for him to conveniently grab some. He just hopes that the film ends sooner rather than later. The next one better be more entertaining.

He’s fairly sure that he’s not the only person who is confused. A few examples include Kaede laughing at the wrong parts, Gonta asking what’s going on every ten seconds and Tsumugi tutting every time she sees a wardrobe error. Kokichi supposes that a couple of his classmates are actually genuinely enjoying the film. Kirumi hasn’t looked away from the screen yet and even Ryoma looks slightly engrossed.

Kokichi sighs quietly as something needlessly gory happens and rests his cheek on a fisted hand. Ugh. He hates it when horror films are overly gory, it just makes the film less scary. Everything about this film screams over the top. The bear is currently slashing people open and Kokichi swears that what is supposed to be someone’s organ is instead a pool of jam.

He yawns and entertains the idea of a nap. The only person who’ll notice if he falls asleep now is Kaito and Kokichi is fairly confident he won’t snitch on him because he must be finding the film as boring as he does, right? Still, he should check. Kokichi doesn’t exactly want to be rudely woken up by a self righteous Kaito once he realises he’s asleep. He turns his head and blinks.

Kaito’s eyes are wide and his skin is pale. The pillow that he’s clutching to his chest is being squeezed so tight that there’s even tiny pieces of stuffing trickling from the seams. Huh. Well this is an unexpected sight. Suddenly, the thought of going asleep seems a little less appealing.

“Psst, you good, spaceman?” Kokichi whispers, poking his arm.

Kaito lets out a loud yell, which is thankfully well timed since something disgusting happens on the TV, causing most of the room to either recoil or let out surprised noises, apart from Korekiyo, who lets out a delighted gasp. Weirdo.

“T-The hell do you want?” Kaito responds as everyone else calms down. For someone who is trying to sound tough, the astronaut ends up sounding rather pathetic.

“Don’t tell me you’re actually scared?” Kokichi teases, He doesn’t feel too bad about poking fun at Kaito since there’s no way he’s finding this film scary, right? He waits for a response but falters after Kaito takes too long to say something.

The astronaut goes back to keeping a wary eye on the TV, as if he’s convinced himself that if he looks away then whatever hideous creature that’s on the screen will jump out and get him. Oh shit. He's actually scared. Hmm. This is a development Kokichi certainly wasn’t expecting. Kokichi thought if anything, Kaito would be scared of something a lot more serious, like getting lost in space. Horror films though? How peculiar.

He’s not sure if anyone else has caught onto the fact that Kaito’s scared. Maybe that’s why Maki looked at him earlier, to make sure that Kaito knew what he was getting himself into. Kokichi doubts Kaede would’ve picked the film if she knew Kaito was scared of anything paranormal. That means Kaito probably hasn’t told the class about his fear of horror films. Kokichi supposes he can see why Kaito has kept his fear a secret, he doesn’t like people knowing he’s capable of being weak. In fact, Kaito usually goes out of his way to emphasise that he doesn’t have a single weakness or flaw.

Which is why Kokichi finds it weird that Kaito is trembling next to him on a couch right now. He supposes Kaito was the one who shot himself in the foot by not telling everyone about his distaste for horror films. However, it’s obviously far too late to say something now. Well, Kokichi could always demand for the film to be turned off but he doubts Kaito will ever forgive him if he exposes his secret fear.

Kokichi watches as a ghost appears on the TV. Well, it’s a tragic imitation of a ghost. It’s literally someone with a sheet over their head. Even little children would be able to tell that it’s fake. Kaito, however, must be too spooked to be able to tell. Kokichi jumps as a hand tightly grasps his own and he wonders if Kaito knows what he's doing.

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. “Oh wow, you can literally see the actors' feet under the sheet,” Kokichi suddenly says, loudly. He straight away earns a couple of hushes, an especially loud one from Korekiyo. Kaito, however, blinks at the screen as if it’s suddenly showing something completely different.

“Oh. You can,” Kaito agrees quietly. He still doesn’t relinquish his hold on Kokichi’s hand though.

Kokichi hums before letting out a loud snort. “Did they accidentally leave a bottle of ketchup on the set? Look, it’s right on the table! I totally bet that’s what they used for the fake blood.”

“Ouma. Shush.” Korekiyo glares at him briefly before turning back around.

Kokichi rolls his eyes and mimics Korekiyo under his breath mockingly. The grip on his hand loosens and Kaito quickly crosses his arms over his chest as Kokichi continues to obnoxiously point out every flaw he sees.

He’s not entirely sure when Kaito starts to lean more and more of his weight onto him. It’s only until Kokichi is extremely squashed against the couch that he realises that Kaito is casually pressing his weight against him. Kokichi supposes he shouldn’t be so surprised, a lot of his classmates are currently pressed against each other or have their limbs intertwined.

For some reason though, this feels a little different. A couple of weeks back, Kaito definitely wouldn’t have pressed his weight against him. In fact, he probably would’ve moved onto the floor if Kokichi sat down next to him.

Kaito doesn’t feel tense anymore though, which is a good thing. Kokichi relaxes against the astronaut’s arm, basically trapped between the end of the couch and Kaito. It’s not an entirely uncomfortable spot for him to be in though. He actually kind of likes it, only because Kaito is really warm.

He ends up falling asleep in the end. Everyone must decide to let him sleep until it’s time to go home because the next time he opens his eyes, the TV is off and the room is mostly empty. It doesn’t click that his head is on Kaito’s shoulder until he looks up and sees that Kaito’s face is rather close. The astronaut is also asleep, his arms still tightly crossed.

Kokichi decides to put his head back down and close his eyes for a little longer, far too comfortable to even care if anyone sees the two of them together as they are. 

5.

Kaito spends the entire day lamenting about how both of his sidekicks aren’t going to be around to train with him tonight. Shuichi isn’t at school at the moment, something to do with a case his uncle wants him to work on. Maki is also busy helping out at the orphanage she grew up at, apparently it’s short staffed or something. Either way, both of Kaito’s sidekicks are busy and the astronaut is making it everyone’s problem.

The three of them train most nights, if not every night. Kokichi knows that they all train in a nearby park where there’s plenty of space and grass for them to exercise on comfortably. He’s not exactly sure what they get up to specifically but he’s overheard Shuichi tell Kaede a while back that they mostly just stargaze, which doesn’t sound like exercise to Kokichi. Then again, it does sound like something Kaito would suggest.

Kaito has been telling everyone who is willing to listen about how he’s going to have no one to exercise with tonight, which basically translates into him having no one to stargaze with. Kokichi isn’t sure why he’s so bothered by this fact, especially since Kaito hasn’t exactly gone out of his way to ever invite Kokichi to one of his training sessions before. Besides, he’s the Ultimate Astronaut. Kokichi is fairly confident Kaito can look at the stars by himself for one night.

Still, there is something pitiful about how Kaito’s expression falls throughout the day. By the time it’s the last lesson of the day, the astronaut has his head on his desk and isn’t even listening to the teacher. For some godforsaken reason, the teacher likes Kaito enough to not call him out, which is extremely unfair since this is the same teacher who threatens Kokichi with after school detention if he so much as looks out of a window for too long.

When Kokichi goes home, he finds that he’s restless. He can’t sit still for longer than five seconds and feels like he has a scratch that he just can’t itch. It gets so annoying that he ends up going for a walk, hoping to clear his head.

He’s not sure if it’s a coincidence or not when he ends up at the very same park Kaito usually holds his training sessions. He peers over the fence curiously and isn’t too surprised to see the astronaut sprawled out on the grass, hands behind his head as he looks up at the sky through half lidded eyes. It’s rare to see Kaito looking so peaceful. He’s always so full of life and raring to go that seeing him look so relaxed almost gives Kokichi whiplash.

For a moment, he feels like sneaking away before Kaito spots him. Granted, that probably won’t happen since Kaito looks completely entranced by the stars in the sky but Kokichi feels like if he takes one wrong step then he’ll alert the entire neighbourhood. He hesitates by the gate before sighing, making his way over to the astronaut.

He was right about Kaito not noticing him right away. Kaito only fully acknowledges Kokichi until he’s literally standing over him, blocking his view with his entire body. “Hi, spaceman. Did you crash your spaceship in the park or something?”

Kaito huffs. “This is where I usually train with my sidekicks.”

He doesn’t have his jacket on, although Kokichi supposes it isn’t too cold. Kokichi pauses before making himself comfortable next to the astronaut, lying down close to him and resting his hands on his stomach. He hears Kaito make a rather confused noise but ignores him because when isn’t Kaito making some sort of stupid noise?

“Eh?” Kaito looks at him through narrowed eyes. “The fuck are you doing?”

“Getting comfortable, duh.” Kokichi hopes that the grass doesn’t stain his clothes. Oh well. It’s not like he’s only got one uniform to wear.

“Why?”

“Because I’m going to be your training partner for the night,” Kokichi easily answers. He scoffs at Kaito’s raised eyebrow. “What? Do you not think I can keep up with you? I’ll have you know I’m the fittest person in our class.”

He’s definitely not. Whilst he’s fast, his stamina could totally do with some improvement. He’s built for short but insanely quick runs. He can probably last up to five minutes before getting a stitch and dying. Well, maybe not dying but still.

“Uh huh, sure you are.” Kaito sits up and flexes his hands. “My workout routine is a little more intense than the average one, you know? Harumaki can keep up with me but even Shuichi sometimes struggles and he’s been training with us for months.”

Well the chivalrous thing to do would be to alter the routine so Kokichi can keep up but he’s not about to admit that the sound of Kaito’s exercise regime worries him. “Psh, sure it is. Let me guess?” What’s an outrageous number? “You do, like, one hundred sit ups a night?”

Kaito blinks before nodding. “Yeah, you’re absolutely bang on with that number.”

Kokichi blanches. What the fuck. He was only joking. “But that’s it, right?”

“Of course not! I also like to do one hundred press ups, one hundred star jumps, one hundred laps around the park-”

“Nishishi, okay, you definitely have to be lying.” The scary thing is, Kaito doesn’t sound like he’s lying. In fact, his impressive muscles already prove that he’s capable of doing so much.

“Well if you’re too much of a chicken to keep up with me-”

“Oh I’m definitely not a chicken,” Kokichi insists. “In fact, I do double of what you do every morning and night and have done so for the last one hundred years! I actually have a huuuge six-pack to prove it.” The only six pack he has is a pack of grape juice at home.

Kaito snorts. “Prove it.”

“Eh? You want to actually see my six-pack?”

“No, not that!” Kaito lightly shoves him. “Let’s shake on it. Let’s do two hundred of everything tonight.”

Well shit, him and his stupid mouth. “I’ve suddenly remembered that I’m due to invade Mars in five minutes so I can’t-”

Kaito suddenly bursts out laughing, an amused glint in his eyes. “Dude, I was kidding. There’s no way even I would put my body through all that. There is such a thing called overkill, you know?”

“Oh!” Well there goes Kokichi’s spontaneous plan to launch himself to Mars so he could get out exercising. Now that he thinks about it, it’s probably for the best. “Well, I totally knew you were joking-”

“I was serious about doing one hundred though,” Kaito says and slams his fists together a little too enthusiastically for Kokichi’s liking. “You said you’re my training partner for the night, right? The sooner we start, the better!”

Before Kokichi can even point out Kaito wasn’t even exercising before he arrived, the astronaut has gotten himself into position and is already starting his set of sit ups. Kokichi stares at him like he’s a madman before rolling up his sleeves. He’s never turned down a challenge before, even when some of them have gotten him hurt. He’s not going to let a measly one hundred sit ups get the better of him.

At first he tries to keep up with Kaito but he’s surprisingly fast. Kokichi isn’t stupid, he’s not about to give himself a stomach ache over trying to keep up with someone who has probably exercised daily for years now. Still, he grits his teeth and tries to continue at a respectable pace so Kaito can’t make fun of him.

He’s so in the zone that he doesn’t notice that Kaito stops to watch him. He reaches roughly fifty sit ups before realising he’s the only one who is exercising. Kokichi stares at Kaito dryly, his hands behind his head. “Already worn out, spaceman? I can do this for ages.”

No he can’t. He’s fairly sure he’s got five minutes left in him before he gives up and flops onto the grass.

“I just didn’t think you were going to take this seriously,” Kaito admits.

“Yeah, well…” Kokichi pulls a face before sitting up completely. If Kaito gets to stop then he does too. “I didn’t want you complaining the entire time about me not doing your stupid exercises properly, that’s all." 

“Ouma, I know you don’t do as much exercise as me,” Kaito says. “Well, proper training like this anyway. I was sort of expecting you to make some sort of joke and refuse to join me altogether. I’m pretty impressed with how much you’ve done already.”

Eh? A genuine compliment? No way.

“Most people would run a mile if they heard they had to do a hundred sit ups,” Kaito continues before letting out a loud laugh. “And everything else too. Glad to see that my rival doesn’t back down from even the most daunting challenges.”

“Well it’s like I said, I do double of what you do on a daily basis,” Kokichi responds as he pretends to check his fingernails. “So of course a measly hundred sit ups doesn’t scare me.”

“Then why don’t we continue?” Kaito challenges. There’s something teasing about his tone and Kokichi can’t tell if the astronaut has figured out he literally can’t do anymore than he already has. Then again, Kaito’s so stupid that he probably hasn’t realised Kokichi is seconds away from flatlining.

Kokichi pauses as he tries to think of an appropriate response. He could just pretend to die. That does sound very tempting right now. However, before he can throw himself onto the grass and play dead, he spots something soar across the sky.

“Is that a shooting star?” Kokichi asks, following the star with his eyes eagerly.

“Huh?” Kaito tilts his head up before making a happy sound. “Yeah, it is!”

They both line down flat as the star continues its journey. Kokichi can’t help but be entranced by it. He’s never been lucky enough to see an actual shooting star before.

“I didn’t actually think they were real,” Kokichi admits.

“Of course they’re real, they’re just meteors,” Kaito tells him and points to the shooting star. “They’re pretty cool to watch. Haven’t seen one for a while though. Bet the galaxy was waiting for you to join me before showing me one again.”

“Nishishi, aw, your beloved space loves me more than you,” Kokichi teases. “How does that make you feel, spaceman?”

Kaito rolls his eyes. It seems he’s too distracted by the stars to actually argue with him. “You know, clear nights like these are the best. You can see absolutely everything. Kinda miss living in the countryside because the views out there are amazing but I suppose this is okay too.” He turns to Kokichi. “We should totally take a train out of the city one day. I know where all the best spots are to stargaze!”

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were asking me out on a date,” Kokichi responds.

“Eh?” Kaito abruptly turns his attention back to the sky. “Shut up, dude. If you’re going to be an asshole then I’m not taking you anywhere.”

“Then I’ll just hijack the train you plan to take so you’ll never get an amazing view again!” Kokichi lets out a mischievous cackle. That’ll teach Kaito.

To Kokichi’s relief, Kaito somehow manages to forget that they both still need to finish their exercises, or maybe he doesn’t bring them up purposefully. They spend the next couple of hours gazing up at the sky, Kaito babbling about all the different planets and stars and his plans to go to space one day. He sounds so happy that Kokichi doesn’t even have it in him to tease him about how excited he sounds. See, he can be nice sometimes.

The thing is, he’s not entirely sure when the realisation hits him but by the time they’re both helping each other up, it hits him that he's had a nice time with Kaito, even though it's just been the two of them.

Kokichi’s average meetup usually includes tormenting everyone until they leave. Tonight however? He hadn’t felt any urge to bait Kaito into an argument, which he finds a little concerning. If he was having so much fun that he forgot to be an asshole then what does that mean?

Is this the power of Kaito? Being able to put anyone at ease just by existing? Huh. How strange.

Kokichi thinks he finally understands a little better as to why his classmates always look so happy whenever they’re near Kaito.

+1

Kaito can pinpoint the exact moment he realised that his feelings towards Kokichi weren’t as simple as he thought.

It was a couple of weeks into their first year at Hope’s Peak Academy and they were having one of their usual competitions. Kaito can’t exactly remember what they were competing over, maybe it was something to do with who can shove the most sweets into their mouth without choking? Yeah, that sounds about right.

Kaito won, of course. The details are a little blurry but he can remember with perfect clarity the grin on Kokichi’s face around ten minutes later after the two of them were done cleaning themselves up. Of course the leader was disappointed he lost but he took it like a champ and had promised Kaito he would win next time. Maybe the sun had been shining brighter than usual that day, or maybe Kokichi had coincidentally been standing in the sunniest spot in the classroom.

His rival had looked perfect and Kaito realised he wanted to spend the rest of eternity competing with him.

He didn’t really think much about this fact until he told Shuichi. Unfortunately Tsumugi had overheard him and started squealing about love, which caused Kaito to choke. Love? The dreaded L word?

Him? In love with Kokichi?

No way. Even Shuichi suggested that Kaito was probably in love with their competitions and not Kokichi himself.

Kaito thought that was the case until he tried to pat Kokichi’s back after the leader beat him in a game of chess. It was a couple of days after Kaito's initial revelation. Shuichi’s suggestion had kept Kaito’s thoughts relaxed but when Kaito leant over the table to congratulate the leader, his hand froze and his face felt like it was on fire.

Shuichi had been wrong. Kaito’s feelings were very much aimed at Kokichi himself.

From then on, every time Kaito looked at Kokichi, it always felt like he was taking an arrow to the heart. He thought it was just a phase, that he was just confused. Sure, Kaito is well aware that he wears his heart on his sleeve, always has and always will. He thought that his feelings had accidentally intertwined with his love for their competitions. That had to be it.

But no, that was not the case.

Even though they’re third years now and due to graduate soon, Kaito is still hit with the same gooey feeling in his stomach every time Kokichi gets a little too close to him. He doesn’t want to say he’s lovesick, which is something Tsumugi calls him on a daily basis, but he’s definitely something. He just doesn’t know what.

Can’t a man enjoy competing with another man without there being any complicated feelings?

Apparently not.

Kaito’s done all he can to avoid putting himself in awkward situations that would end in his face burning hotter than the sun. Okay, sure, he’s well aware he treats Kokichi a little differently to everyone else. He doesn’t squeeze his shoulder or ruffle his hair. Kaito knows if he does then he’ll combust and he can’t explode before he gets the chance to go to space, damn it.

He doubts Kokichi cares, or has even noticed. Why would he? Kaito still competes with him every day so it’s not like Kaito is completely ignoring him.

The thing is, Kaito doesn’t want to leave school with any regrets. Everyone is due to graduate soon and Kaito knows he’ll be kicking himself for the rest of his life if he doesn’t say something. He doesn’t want their little competitions to end once school is over. He wonders if Kokichi feels the same way.

So, Kaito hatches a plan. He’s still got a couple of months left before graduation. That’s plenty of time to hype himself up. Once he’s ready, he’ll tell Kokichi that he doesn’t want their competitions to end and, uh, heavily suggest that they should keep them going. It’s an absolutely fool proof plan.

He eases himself into his plan carefully. First, he needs to figure out if he can withstand being in proximity of Kokichi without dying.

The perfect opportunity for him to subtly put his hand on Kokichi’s shoulder arises when he spots Kokichi furiously jotting down something in his notebook one day. There’s an uncharacteristically serious look on his face as Kaito approaches him. The astronaut has the perfect plan. He’s going to pretend to look at Kokichi’s notebook and ask if there’s any homework due. As he’s doing this, he’s going to, wait for it, put his hand on Kokichi’s shoulder.

It’s a daring and bold idea but if Kaito can’t even do this then he might as well give up now.

He manages to do it and Kaito ends up feeling like a champion as he keeps his hand on Kokichi’s shoulder for at least ten seconds. Yeah, that long.

A couple of weeks later, Kokichi forgets his umbrella despite there being a storm outside and Kaito takes this as the perfect opportunity to kickstart the next step in his plan. He wants to know if he can handle being extremely close to the leader for a stretched period of time.

He spends the day wondering how he’s going to approach Kokichi to ask him if he wants to walk home together. Astronomy club has been cancelled due to the weather so Kaito plans to find Kokichi as soon as class ends and tell him that they’re walking home together. However, what Kaito completely forgets to take into consideration is that Kokichi is on cleaning duty.

Kaito ends up napping in an empty classroom upstairs until Kokichi is done. He ends up waking up a little later than planned and sprints downstairs, hoping that he isn’t too late. When he spots Kokichi standing by the entrance without an umbrella, he’s relieved.

They walk home together and Kaito doesn’t falter once. He even manages to fight the weather and keep his umbrella up the entire time, which he thinks is a rather impressive feat considering the relentless rain.

For a while, Kaito feels victorious. He’s definitely making some progress.

Then Kokichi hurts himself.

The thing is, the injury isn’t that bad, only a minor cut. Kokichi, however, acts like he’s been stabbed multiple times and dramatically claims that he’ll only recover if Kaito kisses his finger better.

Which Kaito stupidly does. Only because he knows Kokichi will complain about it for the rest of the day if he doesn't, of course. Kaito ends up tripping on a chair on his walk back to his desk, distracted by his thoughts that swarm around his head like an angry colony of bees. He can’t believe he just did that.

The kiss plays on his mind for a while. Thankfully, he finds something else to fret over a couple of weeks later.

Movie night.

More specifically, the DVD Korekiyo decides to bring. It’s undoubtedly a horror film and even though Kaito prays to everyone who is available to listen, Kaede unfortunately ends up picking it. The horrible truth is that Kaito may or may not be a little, uh, spooked by horror films. They’re certainly something he wouldn’t willingly watch. However, he knows it would be super uncool of him if he kicks up a fuss so he grits his teeth and forces himself to stay seated.

He’s not sure why Kokichi starts to point out all the flaws in the film but he’s glad he does. The horror film eventually stops being scary and more comedic after Kokichi loudly makes a valid point about how shitty the costumes are. Kaito ends up relaxing and finds that he’s able to finish the film without feeling the need to bolt.

About twenty minutes before the end of the film, Kaito feels a soft weight on his shoulder. He turns his head and blinks as he spots Kokichi dozing peacefully next to him. One of the rules of movie night is that you have to stay awake and watch everything no matter how boring the film. However, because no one has noticed that Kokichi is asleep, Kaito decides to ignore that rule and lets the leader sleep as his way of saying thank you.

He ends up falling asleep too.

Kaito is woken up by Kaede when it’s time to go home. He realises that, for some bizarre reason, Kokichi is still asleep on him. Kaito wonders if his classmates purposefully didn’t wake Kokichi up or not.

At this point, Kaito realises that maybe being around Kokichi isn’t as hard as he anticipated. He no longer has the urge to combust whenever the leader is around, which is a good thing because Kokichi ends up training with him one night.

It’s just the two of them since Shuichi and Maki are busy. He had thought about inviting Kokichi personally but, well, he wasn’t sure if he’d agree to join. Kokichi lies down on the grass next to him and they both bicker about exercise. Kaito has to force down a snort when he notices Kokichi’s bewildered expression once he realises how much exercise Kaito actually does. He wasn’t lying when he said he did so much, Kaito knows how fit he needs to be if he wants to go to space.

Kokichi somehow manages to almost keep up with him and Kaito tells him that he’s impressed before he can stop himself. Because it’s true, Kaito never thought Kokichi would take something like this seriously.

In the end, Kaito purposefully cuts their training session short because he notices how shaky Kokichi is by the time he reaches fifty sit ups. Truth be told, he didn’t think Kokichi would even do ten, so for him to do fifty well and truly shatters Kaito’s expectations.

They admire the stars together and Kaito even offers to take Kokichi to the countryside for a better view. Kokichi then takes things from zero to a hundred by suggesting that Kaito wants to take him on a date, which blows Kaito’s mind entirely because, well, he wasn’t trying to ask him on a date.

Oh well.

Time speeds up and Kaito realises that Valentine’s day is rapidly approaching. This also means school is going to be over soon. Kaito spends a torturous afternoon in class weighing up his options. Typically, it’s usually girls who give guys chocolate on Valentine’s day but his class doesn’t really follow that tradition. Everyone gives everyone at least something. Mainly chocolate. Kaito likes to hand out chocolates with wrappers that look like planets.

It’s actually Valentine’s day tomorrow and the reason why Kaito feels so tortured is because he, well, he sort of impulse bought a box of chocolates that are filled with grape jelly. They're even in a nice little lilac box, wrapped with an indigo bow.

They’re for Kokichi, obviously.

He’s not entirely sure what he wants to say to Kokichi or if he even wants to give him the chocolates. Like stated, they were an impulse buy. The truth is, Kaito still isn’t entirely sure what his feelings towards Kokichi are. He doesn’t know when his love for their competitions and his love for his rival blurred together. Of course he cares about his rival, about Kokichi. He’s the guy he wants to compete with for the rest of his life.

Kaito ends up deciding that he'll put the chocolates on Kokichi’s desk in the morning and then fucking bolt. He even wakes up a little earlier than usual just so he can get to class first. He figures there’s no point wasting his money by throwing the chocolates out. Sure, if he just tells the class that they’re for everyone then no one will bat an eyelid but these chocolates are special, damn it. Kaito doesn’t want to give them to just anyone.

He arrives at school earlier than intended and figures he can just take a nap until class starts. The hallways are strangely empty, although he spots a couple of teachers wandering around with piles of paper in their arms.

Kaito arrives at his class and takes a deep breath before pulling the door open. He’s not sure why he’s so worked up, it’s not like anyone is going to be inside-

“Eh? Momota? What are you doing here so early?”

Kaito blanches and quickly shoves the box of chocolates behind his back, almost launching them down the hallway in the process. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“I asked you first,” Kokichi responds with a pout before smiling once again. He has a stick of chalk in his hand and he’s admiring the chalkboard on the wall in front of him. “Well, if you must know, I always come in early on Valentine’s day! It’s super important that you make sure you have a strategy so you end up with as much chocolate as possible!”

Of course Kokichi turns a day about love into conning people out of their lovingly made or bought chocolate. Now that he thinks about it, Kaito is pretty sure Kokichi ends the day with a lot more sweets than anyone else.

“Hah?” Kaito steps into the classroom and eyes the board warily. So far, Kokichi has jotted down how much he expects to receive from his class. Kaito can’t help but feel smug as he realises Kokichi is only expecting one piece of chocolate from him. Kaito has brought along his typical planet chocolates. They’re sitting at the very top of his bag.

However, Kokichi has gone into impressive detail about their shared classmates.

“For the last two years, everyone has pretty much brought in the same sweets,” Kokichi tells him as he taps the chalkboard loudly with his chalk. “Tojo makes the most sweets and therefore gives everyone at least three pieces of homemade chocolate. Shinguji is also pretty generous but he also gives people chocolate from all the different countries he’s been to, so sometimes he’s pretty hit or miss depending on what flavours you like or don't like. Oh! I know I'm two years too late to warn you about this but you haven’t been eating Iruma’s sweets, right? I’m pretty sure she puts her hair in hers.”

“She what?!”

Kokichi looks disappointed. “So you have been eating hers. Yikes, sucks to be you, spaceman.”

Kaito grumbles as he shuffles closer so he can get a better view of the chalkboard. “Dude, you should’ve said something earlier…”

Kokichi shrugs. “Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah! Akamatsu makes personalised little bags for everyone so I’ve made sure to be extra nice to her this week. Harukawa, however, always gives me lemon flavoured sweets even though she knows I hate them.” He sighs loudly. “Which is why I always swipe half of what she plans to give you each year.”

“Seriously?!” Kaito raises an eyebrow. Maki typically gives him a box of handmade chocolate every year. Kaito thought the ten chocolates he usually gets from Maki was generous enough.

There’s a mischievous glint in Kokichi’s eyes as he moves on. “Amami is also super generous because he usually shares all the chocolates he gets from everyone else. I mean, did you see how many he got last year? I counted at least fifty boxes.”

“And let me guess? You took all fifty of them?”

“Carrying fifty boxes around would’ve been super inconvenient,” Kokichi tells him before grinning. “I emptied all fifty of them into one big box instead.”

“Of course you fucking did.”

Kokichi continues to babble on, going into extreme detail about who likes to make what sort of chocolate and who is super stingy. It turns out Kokichi is planning to get chocolate from every class this year, not just his own. At one point, Kaito is pretty sure Kokichi refers to his plan as the greatest heist he’s ever going to pull off, which makes Kaito wonder if Kokichi is also planning on stealing everyone’s sweets at some point.

Really, he should put his foot down and tell Kokichi not to be some sort of anti-cupid. Kaito, however, doesn’t and instead listens to Kokichi’s ridiculous schemes.

He’s not entirely sure when he puts Kokichi’s box of chocolates down on a random desk. He ends up draping his arms over Kokichi’s shoulders and resting his chin on the smaller male’s head as Kokichi continues to ramble on, seemingly unbothered by Kaito’s sudden intrusion.

Kaito has a feeling that the reason why neither of them say anything is because they’re both comfortable.

He decides he can worry about Kokichi’s chocolates later. For now, Kaito thinks he’s just going to relax and enjoy the rare moment of peace between them both.