Chapter Text
What originally started out as a fun boy's night out turned out to be something out of a soap opera. Kaito suggested a boy's night out, to which all of the boys agreed. On the same night, all the boys on the campus got together in the gaming room that night to bond with one another as guys.
However, just when things were going smoothly, the usual conflict arose between Kaito and Kokichi, when the Surpreme Leader kept pestering him to admit his crush on Maki. After a solid 10 minutes of his pestering, the astronaut landed a punch straight directly on the shorter boy's gut. As part of his 'revenge plan', Kokichi attempted to douse water onto Kaito, but he ended up giving poor Shuichi a sudden surprise shower instead.
Upon impact, he was greeted with a plethora of apologies and water puns from Ouma, followed by shouts of Kaito telling Kokichi to shut the fuck up. After Korekiyo and Kiibo told him to return to the dorms and warm up in order to avoid catching a cold, or worse, pneumonia. After prying himself from a clingy and sobbing Ouma, Shuichi finally made his way back to the dorms, praying that Monokuma had at least installed heaters inside of the dorms.
But, much to his dismay, the dorms didn't have a heating system, leaving him to warm himself up under the covers. And here he was now, wearing pajamas Kirumi made him, fuzzy socks and curled up under his comforters. Despite his best attempts, Shuichi just couldn't seem to get warm, regardless of what he did. Silently cursing his intolerance for the cold, he regretted not drying his hair with a hair-drier when he was still getting dressed.
The sound of the doorbell echoed through the empty room, cutting off the silent sound of his chattering teeth and racing thoughts. He considered ignoring the doorbell in favor of the room temperature covers when it rang a second time, then a third ...and fourth. Deciding to leave his save haven, Shuichi dragged himself out of bed and unlocked the door, rubbing his eyes.
Truth the told, he half expected Kaito to be on the other side, deeply apologizing for his misfortune and offering a blanket or whatever. However, who truly stood on the other side surprised Shuichi to the moon and back.
"Kiibo? What are you doing here this late at night? Aren't you supposed to be in the gaming room?" He yawned yawned, rubbing his other eyelid as he looked at the robot with half-lidded and sleep-deprived eyes.
"After you got soaked by Kokichi, I began to worry for your health, since the dorms don't have a heating system. So I decided to finally show you my newest function!" Kiibo declared, resting his hands on his hips as he puffed out his chest boldly.
Despite not getting how showing his newest function and Shuichi getting soaked have anything to do with each other, he figured that the boy wouldn't leave unless he let him show of. So, stepping to the side, the detective figured that he might was well let Kiibo have his way. As the android stepped inside, the black haired boy shut the door behind him, turning himself around to face the robot. The robot in question kneeled on his bed, the springs creaking under the boy's weight.
"So what's the big news?" The Detective yawned, covering his mouth with a hand as he tried his hardest to ward off his exhaustion for a moment.
"First, sit next to me," He instructed, causing Shuichi to raise an eyebrow, bearing an expression that just screamed 'are you kidding?' Kiibo however, seemed dead serious, so he complied, seating himself on his own bed as his legs dangled off of the mattress.
"So what's next?" The Detective pondered, brushing aside stray bangs as he eyed the white haired boy.
However, in place of a reply, Kiibo turned his body to face him, gripping his hands in his own. The taller of the two let out a surprised gasp, though he didn't move back. Expecting an answer of sorts, he looked up at the android, only to find a stoic and unreadable gaze plastered on his face. Unsure of what to say, Shuichi looked at everywhere else except the boy in front of him, suddenly taking interest in the shelves in his dorm room.
"K-Kiibo? What's the meaning of this?" Shuichi choked out, feeling sweat bead against his forehead as he felt his heart race against his ribcage, much to his displeasure.
When the robot didn't reply, the boy cursed himself for speaking, feeling responsible for the awkward situation he was now in. He figured that all he could do for now was try his best to calm his racing mind and heart with an endless string of 'calm down' and 'it's ok'. However, one sudden detail rose amongst his panicked thoughts, and on that truly struck him as odd.
...Were Kiibo's hands always this warm?
Piecing two and two together, Shuichi finally understood: he wanted to show him his heating function. Dropping his stiff posture, he reciprocated Kiibo's action by gripping the robot's hands in return. After getting the message that he understood what was going on, he pulled away with a soft smile. Shuichi returned the gentle gaze and brushed a few loose strands of hair from his eyes, his dull yellow eyes softening a bit as his legs began swinging.
"When did you get this installed?"
"Not too long actually. Miu installed numerous updates alongside the flashlight function. Though a heating function wasn't originally on her list, I had personally asked her to install it for situations like these!"
"Well.... That's pretty thoughtful of you to do that just for everybody's sake..."
Nodding, Kiibo neatly placed his hands on his lap, shifting to face the door, afterwards placing his hands on his lap. Silence loomed over the room as the two awkwardly sat beside each other, unsure of what to say next. Mentally processing through a list of appropriate things to say in a situation like this, he zoned out, his blue crystalline eyes dulling as he did so. After a while, Kiibo felt something nudge against his metallic shoulder, followed by a light grunt. Glancing downwards, he saw Shuichi dozing off on his shoulder, his ahoge brushing against his collar. Now that Shuichi was closer than ever, the robot noticed a few stray water droplets on his face, as well as his still damp and messy hair splayed in all sorts of different angles (from what he could tell, he just used a towel to somewhat dry his hair) . Calculating the risks of Shuichi catching a cold, he wrapped an arm around the boy, carefully pushing him closer as he activated his heating function in his chest area.
A soft, almost deathly silent, hum echoed throughout the room as his body heated up to an adequate and desirable temperature. Shuichi let out a pleased hum as he snuggled closer. It was then that Kiibo finally noticed that the Ultimate Detective was trembling the entire time.
Moving slowly as to not wake him up, Kiibo cautiously shifted the sleeping teen onto his lap, taking extra care as to not let his hands brush against the cold parts of his body. He took note of Shuichi's facial features: his long lashes, his silky black hair, his soft cheeks and his ever so slightly parted lips.
After a few minutes, he began pondering on if he should just tuck him into bed and leave or watch over him for any signs of a cold. He decided that it'd be best to watch over his friend (for reasons he couldn't say, he decided). Kiibo tucked him in, pulling the covers and comforters over the teen as he kneeled next to his bed, placing his arm over Shuichi's hand. As he rested his cheek on his free hand, Kiibo scanned him for his temperature. After a few seconds, a small beep rang from his collar, which read '96.5 °F'
The robot sighed in relief when he didn't show any signs of a fever. However, he was still dangerously close to hypothermia, according to his internal previously recorded health records. On top of the dorms not having any heating system installed, the Ultimate being soaking wet for a long period of time certainly didn't help. Excluding the fact that Shuichi was already sensitive to the cold, he overall wasn't in a good situation.
Turning up his heating pads just a tad bit, Kiibo snuggled closer to him, taking into account his personal space. Thankfully, despite being kneeled next to the bed for a solid five minutes now, his knees didn't ache, thanks to the fact that he was a robot. On the other hand, Shuichi shifted himself closer to him, nearly falling off of the bed had Kiibo not been there to catch him in time.
The robot hesitated for a moment before he shifted Shuichi back into place, moving upwards to sit on the side of the bed. Internally calculating his risks of catching pneumonia, Kiibo decided to act in favor of preventing him catching an illness and laid besides him, wrapping an arm around the sleeping detective.
To his relief, the boy snuggled closer, holding him close to his body like a plush rabbit. Kiibo felt his face plates heat up – as well as his metallic heart - from the close contact. His fans whirred just a tad bit harder when he saw how peaceful Shuichi looked when he was sound asleep.
Deciding to spend the night in his room for Shuichi's sake, the robot pulled the blankets over them, wrapping an arm around Shuichi before drifting off into sleep mode, keeping a mental note to keep his temperature reader on, just in case he suddenly catches a fever overnight.
+
The morning announcement boomed on the monitor, with the Monokubs having their usual ear-piercing banter before finally shutting the monitor off. Shuichi woke up with a jolt, groaning from having his ears violated first thing in the morning. The suffocating sensation in his pajamas hit him like a truck, instantly causing discomfort. Upon sitting up to go and change, he felt an arm around his waist keeping him bound to the bed. Upon opening his eyes and looking around, he saw Kiibo right next of him, eyes closed, a peaceful expression on his face and his collar reading "98.8 ° F". ...Did Kiibo fall asleep whilst taking his temperature?
Moments after Shuichi sat up up, Kiibo's eyes fluttered open and he sat up with a warm on his face. Letting out a yawn, he retracted his arm to comb through his spiky hair before stretching.
"Good morning, Shuichi! Are you feeling better?" He inquired, almost as if he didn't just woke up after spending a night in his bed. Kiibo truly was oblivious and naive sometimes.
"Yeah... But, why'd you take my temperature?" Shuichi questioned with a tilt of his head.
"I got concerned that you might catch a cold, so I decided to take it upon myself to help you! Due to your intolerance to the cold, as well as the dormitories having no having system implemented, I realized that the risks for pneumonia would rise drastically," He began pausing to puff out his chest, eyes glittering with a distinct proudness Shuichi knew all too well. "And since I have heating pads installed in my body, I figured that I might as well help you!"
"Ah ok... Did we..." He paused to curse his thoughts for running wild before continuing. "...Do anything else or...?" The detective finished, mumbling the last part. His cheeks flared in sheer embarrassment as he tried his best to recollect last night's memories, glancing at the closet.
"Heavens no! Nothing else happened, I promise!" Kiibo instantly denied, his face instantly heating up as his collar snapped shut with a metal clank, hiding the bottom half of his face in practically glowed in sheer embarrassment.
Sighing in relief at the confirmation, Shuichi got up and began getting ready for the day, grabbing a spare uniform from the closet and heading towards the bathroom, closing the door behind him. In the meanwhile, Kiibo made his bed, being sure to smooth out the comforters. As soon as he finished, he headed outside and leaned against the wall as he began waiting for Shuichi to finish getting ready.
Memories of last night came rushing in, almost like a literal wave hitting his body. His soft smile, his long lashes, his silky hair, his peaceful expression... Now that Kiibo had thought about it, that was most likely the best night's sleep Shuichi has had upon arrival. Upon coming to that realization, Kiibo couldn't help but to smile a bit.
His attention was brought back to reality upon his fans whirring just a bit harder, just like last night. Shifting his thoughts onto wondering what caused his CPU to rise to the point where his fans had to work harder than usual, the android made a mental note to discuss this with Miu later on. Afterwards, he began wondering what Kirumi was making for breakfast and other miscellaneous things.
"Ready to head to the dining hall, Kiibo?"
Shuichi's voice snapped him back to reality as he whipped his head to see the Detective staring at him, waiting for an answer. Nodding, he pushed himself off of the wall and scurried down the stairs as the detective followed. Before he was able to step outside of the dorms, Shuichi grabbed him by his arm, stopping him dead in his tracks.
"Is something the matter, Shuichi?" He asked, holding his breath – despite not needing to – as the detective remained silent.
He blinked before glancing back at him, seemingly to collect his thoughts. "Thank you..."
Not trusting his words, Kiibo nodded, giving him the same comforting smile, as he turned back to face him. After a short pause, the two chuckled at each other before stepping outside. With nothing left to say regarding last night, the two boys made their way to the dining hall, occasionally cracking up a small joke or comment on the way.