Work Text:
The autumn breeze flew past two figures as they sat peacefully on a courtyard bench. It was that time of year again, and the air continued to grow chillier until winter would finally approach.
Kokichi and Shuichi sat close together on the bench, the cold air influencing them to sit nearer to each other. They were deep in conversation, with Kokichi playfully lying left and right, while Shuichi tried his best to deduct the truth and find the real meaning behind his words. They had already been outside for quite a bit, and with the soon-approaching darkness came the chills that were close behind.
The atmosphere was comfortable, the steady back-and-forth chatter keeping their hearts warm. They were both hopelessly infatuated with the other--what was once short-lived banter now becoming full time conversations that were hours in length compared to what they had started with. Of course, Kokichi would deny it with all of his being, not waiting to believe that he could feel anything close to romantic love for another person, let alone having them return it. Shuichi, on the other hand, embraced these feelings, and hoped for the day he would get over his anxiety and finally confess. Although, that wouldn’t be soon. He was waiting for a sign--any sign-- that Kokichi was okay with being approached that way, and having that kind of conversation with him.
Eventually, the sun retreated behind the glowing horizon, taking its warmth with it. The boys took that as their sign to head back to the dorms, though they were reluctant to leave.
As they stood, Kokichi shivered. He wasn’t wearing his usual Supreme-Leader uniform, the cold biting into his skin through his shirt. Shuichi took note, sliding off his sweater and handing it to Kokichi. “Here,” Shuichi offered, “you must be cold.”
Kokichi laughed, raising his hands in denial. “Shumai is too nice, won’t he be cold as well? And besides, a supreme leader can’t feel the cold!”
“That’s a lie, I can see you shivering. I’m wearing an extra layer underneath this anyway, so you can wear it on the way back to the dorms if you want. I won’t mind.”
“Alright, since you insist. But you may never get it back! Thank you for your generous donation, we’ll remember it when we take over the world!”
Shuichi chuckled as Kokichi finally took the sweater from him and slid it on. It was a little big for him, the sleeves cascading almost all the way to his knees. It looked at home on him, and if he saw the faintest hint of gratitude in Kokichi’s eyes, he didn’t mention it.
The walk back to the dorms resumed with their usual antics, both of them smiling as they entered the dorm hallway.
“I’ll see you at lunch, right?” Shuichi asked, “We can sit on the bench again, like we did today.”
“Sure, but only if you bring me a grape Panta and the sweetest of sweets!”
“I’ll see you then, Ouma-kun. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Saihara-chan!” Kokichi parted with Shuichi, entering his dorm after he saw Shuichi also retire for the night. It was then as he closed the door, that he realized he was still wearing Shuichi’s sweater.
He considered waltzing up to Shuichi’s dorm and returning the sweater, but then he remembered the bags under his eyes. It was obvious he wasn’t getting enough sleep, anyone could see that. He should probably let him rest. Besides, it wasn’t like Kokichi disliked wearing his sweater. In fact, maybe he was just bullshitting his way into not giving it back until lunch tomorrow. Unimportant details.
As Kokichi got ready to change into his pajamas, he felt a weight shift from inside the sweater. He reached into one of the sweater’s pockets, and found something. He pulled it out, and looked at it curiously.
“Seriously..? What kind of highschooler has an iPod these days?” He stuck his hand back into the pocket to see if there was anything else, his reward being an old pair of earbuds that fit the iPod.
Out of curiosity, he plugged in the headphones, and turned on the iPod. It would totally be funny to make fun of the music Shuichi listens to! It’s probably all My Chemical Romance, or something , Kokichi thought as the ancient device finally revealed its secrets.
He scrolled through Shuichi’s playlists, and it didn’t take long for the sea of emo to be parted by a different playlist that caught his eye. It was titled “Kokichi,” and the cover was a picture of him and Shuichi together, smiling up at the camera with carefree faces.
He blinked, confusion taking over his senses for a moment. Why did Shuichi have a playlist about him? He knew this would be breaching into restricted territory if he were to see what songs were inside. He knew curiosity killed the cat-
- but satisfaction brought it back , his mind supplied as he finally selected the playlist. Without looking at any of the songs, he pressed play and let the music flow into his ears through the headphones.
Minutes passed, and song after song played as he struggled to put two and two together. First, Shuichi lends him his sweater, which also has his iPod in it. He didn’t know if he left it intentionally, but it led to this moment right now either way. Second, he finds said iPod and a playlist that literally has his name on it. Third, the playlist is filled with ironic vocaloid love songs and songs about… pining? What the fuck.
His mind struggled to come up with answers. Was this playlist about someone else and he just put his name on it to cover his tracks? But that wouldn’t make sense, some of the songs were exact copies of how they acted with each other. Does Shuichi actually think about him in the way that the songs suggest? No, no way , he thought. Impossible.
Deciding to save his troubles for future-Kokichi, he set the iPod and headphones on his nightstand and curled up under the covers. He ignored the fact that he left the sweater on.
The next morning, his classes seemed to be a weird mix of going too fast and going painfully slow. When lunch finally rolled around, he caught Shuichi standing by the courtyard door and waving to him. In his hands were a bottle of grape Panta and a package of small, colorful candies, as promised.
As Kokichi approached, sweater in hand and iPod tucked carefully away into the pocket of the sweater, he mentally prepared himself for two outcomes. One, Shuichi didn’t notice he left the iPod in the sweater, and they can both ignore it ever happened. Two, Shuichi felt the iPod and could either tell Kokichi he left it intentionally, or freak out and get too flustered to even speak. Unfortunately, it was the latter.
As Shuichi was handed the sweater, he felt a familiar weight be settled into his hands-- Oh my God, this is it, my life is over, this is how I die --as the realization of what had happened struck Shuichi harder than he would have liked.
Internally panicking, he could feel Kokichi’s eyes on him, watching his every move, judging him, and oh my God, he saw, he totally saw, I’m so dumb what the fuck was I thinki-
“-aihara-chan! Geez, you can’t make a lovey-dovey playlist about me and then totally ignore me! Not fair!” Kokichi whined, though he was careful enough to be too loud and embarrass Shuichi any more than he already was.
“Uh- Um, I’m s-sorry, can we take this outside? I would rather talk to you about this in.. um, private,” he finally stuttered out, an embarrassed blush faintly covering his cheeks.
“Lead the way,” Kokichi said, his face turning neutral, a faint frown and impartial eyes replacing his normally playful features.
Shuichi gulped and guided Kokichi to the bench they had sat on before, and stood by it awkwardly. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself for anything that Kokichi might say.
“Look,” he began, “I... I apologize if any of the songs made you uncomfortable, first of all. Second of all, I- uh, I- (oh my God, Shuichi, spit it out.) I, um, I’ve been trying to wait to see if you would be comfortable or not with me saying this, but with this whole thing going on, I guess I should say it now. I have feelings for you! And it’s okay if you reject me, that’s fine, haha, I don’t want to force you into anything, it’s okay, I’ll just-”
“Saihara-chan. You’re rambling.”
“Ah, um, sorry.”
Awkward silence filled the air before Kokchi took a deep breath, and started to speak, “Saihara-chan. I appreciate you trying to make sure I was comfortable before you confessed. I had all of last night and this morning to think about how I felt, so everything I’m about to say isn’t a lie.”
Saihara wrung his hands together nervously, waiting for Kokichi to finish as his eyes were glued to the floor.
“Saihara-chan, look at me.”
Shuichi nervously looked up, his face slightly paler than usual as he waited for Kokichi to finish. He held his breath as Kokichi began to speak again.
“I thought about how I felt about you. In the beginning, you were entertaining, someone who wouldn’t get bored of my lies. You wouldn’t stop trying to figure them out, and your reactions were the last thing from boring. You kept me on my toes--I found myself thinking, ‘How would Saihara-chan react to this?’ over and over again, and every guess that I had was wrong. You were about as unpredictable as I was.
“When we started to talk more, I could feel a part of you growing on me. I started to think of unbearable pranks and lies that I thought were unsolvable, just to see what you would do. How you would react. How you would feel. How your reaction would cause some strange feeling in my heart to surge. I realize now that it was adoration. Surprise. Respect. A growing interest. A growing interest that, in time, would slap me in the face all at once as I realized how I really felt about you.”
Shuichi’s eyes began to water. Kokichi lifted his hands to his face, standing on the top of his toes to become level with him as their faces were inches apart.
“My beloved Saihara-chan… I feel the same,” he whispered as he leaned forward, Shuichi doing the same, their lips meeting for a quick peck as they quickly separated.
Kokichi returned to his regular height, chuckling at Shuichi’s bright red face.
“Come on,” Kokichi laughed, “I’m hungry. I see you brought Panta and candy for your wonderful Supreme Leader, as you should!”
Shuichi, face still red, laughed with him as they sat down on the bench. He spread out the sweater as a blanket over the both of them in the cool air, and offered one earphone to Kokichi as he powered on the iPod.
The two enjoyed their candy-and-panta filled lunch as they listened to the music that started it all.