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Shuichi should’ve have known that going along with Kaede’s idea to try out online dating wouldn’t end up well for himself. To be fair, it hadn’t sounded too bad at the beginning—he even got a little optimistic for a moment there, seeing the light in the opportunity of not having to endure Kaede berating him for his pathetic, lonely Friday nights and, who knows, he might actually find someone nice at some point—, but now Shuichi was regretting every decision that brought him to this moment.
“This moment” being Shuichi, sitting alone in a table for two for over an hour, awkwardly sipping on a cup of water ordered in a desperate action in response to the judging stare of the waiter—though now Shuichi was pretty sure the man had changed from judgmental to pitying, which was understandable really, Shuichi was pitying himself too. The nice but not too expansive restaurant got increasingly depressing with each passing second, and Shuichi stared at the tabletop, contemplating the eternal nap he was getting as soon as he got home, right after a nice session of utter shame.
Maybe he should’ve taken his pillow on a date instead. To his bed.
If Shuichi concentrated hard enough, he would be able to feel the eyes of everyone in the room; it was probably just his imagination, but Shuichi was willing to accept that every single person in the world was now questioning which entity thought it was a good idea to let him out of the womb. Shuichi himself was questioning that.
Waiting for almost an hour for someone who was probably not going to show up does that to you.
A sigh escaped from him, his body completely slumped over the table now. Shuichi glanced at his wristwatch (he actually dressed up for this, which just made the whole situation sadder) and tappwd a finger on his own forearm, following the rhythm of the clock. Just one more minute and he would head home, as embarrassing as he knew it would be for him.
At least he can tell Kaede he tried, right? And who knows, the waiter’s newfound sympathy for him might compel the man to pray for Shuichi’s soul, so maybe Shuichi will be getting something out of this whole thing.
His thoughts were very rudely interrupted by someone clearing their throat. Shuichi looked up with a frown, half expecting to see a staff member coming to put him out of his misery. Instead, a man in a white suit grinned at him.
“I’m so sorry, did you wait long? My bad! Traffic was horrible on the way, I should’ve predicted that, silly me!” The man said in a cheerful voice and Shuichi stared, gaping.
He coudn't quite find the words to reply to that, mostly because his date was supposed to be a bearded guy and with a pretty average haircut. But the man in front of him had dark purple hair tied up in a small ponytail and no facial hair to be seen—he was really cute, but that was beside the point right now.
“This is a kinda weird case of catfish,” Shuichi blurted out, all the embarrassment and nervousness in his body completely destroying his brain-to-mouth filter.
“What are you talking about? Did you wait for so long that your brain cells rotted?” Yes, exactly, but that was not the point either. “You’re being weird! Let’s just eat, I’m starving.”
The man proceeded to sit down on the chair across Shuichi, seemingly not at all concerned about this situation. Shuichi continued to stare at him, hoping it’d convey enough confusion to get an answer out of the suspicious man. God, this was why he didn't get out of his house.
The man leaned forward on his elbows, a smile on his lips and hand cupping one side of his mouth, as if he was about to reveal a secret to Shuichi.
“Just go along with it, okay? You looked pathetic so I decided to have mercy on your soul! But in exchange I want to know the story here,” the man told him in a low voice. He cocked his head a bit to the side. “A forgetful lover, maybe? No, no, wait! You mentioned catfishing, so maybe online dating?”
Shuichi felt like a blind chicken that just got told it needed to run to survive. The feeling must make its way onto his expression, because the man leaned even further, eyebrows raised.
“You don’t have anything to lose, right? Not like you are terribly busy here,” he insisted, pointedly gesturing to his cup of water.
Still, no reply came. Shuichi was still trying to get his head around the situation; he fidgeted with his glass, moving it from side to side—and almost letting it stumble from his hands—glanced at his wristwatch again, at the waiter who gave him a smile and a thumbs up as soon as they made visual contact. Well, he really didn’t have anything to lose, did he?
“Can I at least get a name before I tell a stranger about my embarrassing love life?” Shuichi asked, finally, forcing a smile onto his face so he wouldn’t look as nervous as he felt (he probably failed miserably).
“Oh, so you can speak! You were just staring at me for so long I was about to whip out some sign language to see if it worked.” Unlike Shuichi’s smile, which he was certain resembled more of grimace, the man in front of him beamed brightly, perking up as soon as he heard Shuichi’s word. “The name is Kokichi Ouma, Mr. Sad Sips of Water.”
“Oh god, please don’t call me that.” Shuichi eyed the glass in his hands ruefully. “Shuichi Saihara, just Shuichi is fine.”
“Wow, straight to first name basis, I see! I like your style, Shuichi,” Kokichi praised. Then, he smiled mischievously at Shuichi, eyes glinting. “So, go on. Spill.”
“Shouldn’t we actually order something first at least?” Shuichi questioned, unable to bear anymore judgment from anyone else that night.
“Don’t be silly, of course we’ll order, I’m starving! But you’re not getting away from this, so you better start talking. I don’t mind if it’s a long story, I’m a patient man.”
Kokichi put a palm under his chin, leaning on it, his pinky just barely touching the corner of his mouth as he smiles and looks up from his eyelashes.
Oh, he’s very attractive. Abort mission.
“We’ve got the whole night, Shuichi.”
Shuichi didn’t recall having agreed to spend the rest of the night with Kokichi, but he nodded regardless of that, accepting the idea of being in the other’s presence way too easily.
And so, he did as asked, going as far as explaining how the whole thing started—the hours spent either working or watching bad TV shows until the sun was peeking out in the horizon and he was regretting his choices yet again; how Kaede thought that was a sad way to live his life. Kokichi listened with interest, leaning forward on his elbow, eyes focused entirely on Shuichi.
Kokichi didn’t just watch: he nodded along and made small comments here and there, but for the most part, he just laughed. Some of those comments sounded weirdly like compliments, but Shuichi was trying his best to ignore them and how it made his stomach flip.
The unwavering attention wae a little disconcerting, unused as he was to it, but it didn’t exactly bother him. Even if his heart sped up every single time Kokichi smiled just so, purple eyes full of mirth, like he knew something more, a private joke that Shuichi wasn't privy to.
“So, let me see if I got this right. Your friend convinced you to try online dating because you were watching too many episodes of Friends and in the end it only made your life reach a new level of pathetic?” Kokichi asked once he was done with the story and they had their orders on the table.
“I- Well, I wouldn’t put it that way, but yes, pretty much.” Shuichi rubbed the back of his neck; he didn’t feel as bad as he did before Kokichi showed up, but the embarrassment was still fresh.
“Oh my god, that’s the funniest thing I’ve heard this week,” Kokichi said, laughing a little too enthusiastically about it.
Shuichi considered throwing a piece of his chicken at the other to wipe the smug smirk off his face.
“You’re lucky you’re cute enough to get my attention, now you’ve got me here to make your life better!”
The smile on Kokichi’s face widened and he gave Shuichi a look that messed with all of his organs, like they were revolting and fighting to break out of his body. Shuichi took a long swig of his drink—wine this time, instead of water—so his throat wouldn’t be as dry. Even then, the liquid didn’t go down easily and he was sure Kokichi could hear the hard swallow. Going by how much his face burned at the moment, Shuichi was willing to bet that he looked like a very nervous lobster.
His reaction earned a giggle from Kokichi, and although he wasn’t sure if he was being laughed at or not, Shuichi couldn’t help but notice what a nice sound it was. Shuichi hoped he would be able to hear it again, but without embarrassing himself this time.
“I, uh, thank you. I guess,” Shuichi whispered the last part, staring down at his lap to hopefully mask how much Kokichi’s comment affected him. “Actually, now that I think about it… Shouldn’t you be going over to your actual table soon?”
They already had their food on the table, and Kokichi didn’t look in much of a hurry, eating small bites and listening to Shuichi attentively. He didn’t get to see whoever was with Kokichi when he came in, since Shuichi was too deep into his own misery to look around, but it was very obvious Kokichi wouldn’t come unaccompanied. Especially with how much he was teasing Shuichi for being alone in the first place.
“Eh, not really! I wasn’t doing anything important.” Not what his clothes said, but Shuichi wouldn’t point that out. “Besides, they’ll understand, especially after seeing you!”
“I’m… Not sure what you mean by that,” Shuichi admitted nervously. Did Kokichi have a habit of talking to people who looked miserable in restaurants or something?
“You don’t, really? Man, your self-confidence is even lower than I expected!” Kokichi sighed dramatically, like the topic pained him greatly.
Which was a little unfair, since Shuichi was the one being mocked here.
“You’re making no sense to me, just so you know.” Shuichi fiddled with his fork, feeling the urge to sigh himself, but he refrained from it. “I just thought you’d have more relevant things to do besides talk to someone you just met a few minutes ago.”
“Low self-confidence,” Kokichi repeated with a grin, looking way too amused about this. “Like I’ve said, I don’t have anything important to do. Geez, Shuichi, don’t you listen to what I say?”
Shuichi opened his mouth to interject, because that was very much not true. His uncle didn’t raise him to be an impolite fool, after all. Not to mention that Kokichi’s voice was pretty nice to listen to, so not paying attention to it wasn’t exactly an option here.
“That’s not—”
“Besides,” Kokichi said interrupted, “why would I want to be anywhere else but here with you tonight? You’re more interesting than most people I’ve met before, anyways.”
“How can you be so sure? We’ve only talked for maybe twenty minutes, at most.” Shuichi frowned a little. “I just don’t understand what you have to gain from this.”
“You’re being awfully insistent, Shuichi. What, are you trying to get rid of me so early? That’s not a very nice thing to do to your date, y’know,” his voice came out dangerously wobbly at the end there, which managed to catch Shuichi very much off guard.
He was rendered speechless again, not only because of that, but… date. Shuichi wouldn’t consider this a date, exactly; he was under the impression that it was like someone picking up a crying animal off the street out of sympathy and pity more than anything else, really.
But Kokichi said it himself, didn’t he? He’s been complimenting Shuichi’s looks and how interesting he was for the entire time they’ve been talking—well, at least when he wasn’t busy teasing Shuichi for the whole online date fiasco.
Maybe it was okay to take one more risk today? His embarrassment couldn’t get worse than this, so no way to go but up.
“Are you-,” he stops, not liking the wavering tone of his own voice. Shuichi took a calming breath and tried again, “Are you flirting with me right now?”
Kokichi stared at him blankly for a full ten seconds, enough to make Shuichi’s stomach drop; maybe he got it wrong and Kokichi will be offended that he would ever think that, maybe he’ll just walk out without saying anything and then Shuichi will have to live forever with the shame. Shuichi is grateful that Kokichi couldn’t see how much his palms were sweating.
“Wow, you’re pretty slow on the uptake, huh?” Kokichi mused out loud, which didn’t help Shuichi’s nerves. “Yes, Shuichi, I am. Been trying to for the past thirty minutes, but kind of you to notice.”
“Oh,” he said in an exhale, face flushed yet again. “Oh. I didn’t… Realize you were interested, like that.”
“I am interested in you like that, did you think I said you’re cute, like, at least five times because I was trying to cheer you up?” Shuichi was going to reply, but Kokichi must’ve sensed he’d say something stupid like ‘yes’, because he added quickly, “Of course not, it’s because you’re hot.”
“Oh, uhm, I think the same. About you, I mean. You’re h—, you’re attractive.” Oh, god, why was he stuttering so badly? At this point Shuichi felt like he should just scream for help.
Kokichi looked at him with a smile softer than any of the ones he had shown Shuichi for the night; it had a genuine feel to it, and it made the other ones pale in comparison. That, coupled with the pink hue painting his cheeks made him a lovely sight to look at.
“Let’s start over, shall we? Well, Shuichi, would you like to go on a date with me?”
“What?”
“I know this really nice restaurant, pretty quiet and reserved, probably your kind of thing. It’s not stupidly expansive and the food is really good, I promise you’ll like it.” Kokichi paused with a thoughtful hum, then he winked at Shuichi and gave a small shrug. “But if you don’t, at least you’ve got me there, so we can make things fun.”
Shuichi smiled back, glancing around the restaurant, then back to Kokichi. He nodded.
“Sounds like a lovely place. And, I’d love to go on a date with you.”