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The despair disease motive had been put into play a few days ago, but thankfully, it hadn’t spread to anyone past the original victims yet. Korekiyo and Himiko were the first cases, and because Himiko had it, of course Tenko ended up with it the next day.
They were all sectioned off in their own rooms, though, and everyone else met in the dining hall as was tradition.
Kokichi was too busy messing with Gonta to notice it when Shuichi entered the lunchroom without a word. And he certainly wasn’t expecting it when he walked directly up behind him, wrapping his arms around him from behind without warning.
Kokichi immediately froze. Across the table, he was aware that Gonta and Miu must be just as confused as he was.
Kokichi turned around to try and look at Shuichi, but his face was buried completely. “Uh.... Hey, Shuichi. What’s going on?”
Shuichi could only give a mumble of an answer, burying his face even more so into Kokichi’s back.
Kokichi could feel his heart racing and prayed that Shuichi didn’t notice. He was trying his absolute best (and failing) to keep the red out of his cheeks as he focused more and more on the fact that Shuichi was practically holding him.
“Allllright. Well, you could’ve just told me you wanted to cuddle, Shumai. I wouldn’t have said no.”
His only response was Shuichi squeezing him tighter. Kokichi’s heart stopped for a second.
“Gonta confused… Is Shuichi okay? He seem clingy.” This came with another shift from Shuichi.
Kokichi felt the concern at Shuichi’s silence creep into his own face as well, and immediately shut it down, plastering on another one of his grins.
“The hell’s wrong with Poo-ichi?”
Ignoring Miu, Kokichi just shrugged. “I dunno… Maybe I should go check it out, though.” He looked down at his nails. ”If my darling detective wants to cuddle, we should probably go somewhere more comfortable, hmm?”
All the over the top flirting was really only to get Shuichi to pull away, or say something against his claims, show him that he was okay, but… it didn’t work.
Kokichi frowned, and Miu rolled her eyes.
“Think he has the... fuckin’ despair disease or whatever?”
“Aw, Miu, is it that hard to believe that someone just wanted to hug me?” Kokichi whined.
He excused himself, practically prying Shuichi’s arms off of him, and Shuichi wouldn’t let him get a look at his face as he followed behind Kokichi, stiff as anything.
...
Kokichi closed the door to his dorm room and sat down on the foot of the bed.
“Alright, what’s up, detective?”
Shuichi kept himself near the door, standing completely still, and just exuding tension.
He couldn’t hide his face from Kokichi anymore, though. His expression was completely serious, but his cheeks were flushed with red.
“Uh, sorry. I didn’t-” Shuichi stumbled over what he wanted to say. “I’m fine.”
Kokichi leaned forward, making intense eye contact.
“Nope, something’s up. I can tell. You know I’m the ultimate liar too, right? I can see through this, it’s like you aren’t even trying.”
“Seriously, Kokichi.”
He squinted at the detective, before breaking the tension.
“..Sure.” Kokchi kicked his feet. “Hey, I was gonna go watch a movie in the AV room. Do you wanna come?”
“Yes.” Shuichi nodded a little bit too fast. But that didn’t matter. Kokichi’s plan was set in motion- he was gonna figure out what was going on with Shuichi.
Taking on the role of the detective for the detective.
Ironic.
—-
Shuichi didn’t even notice what movie Kokichi put on, because he wasn’t paying attention to it at all.
He definitely had the despair disease, he was sure- but what was he supposed to do about it? He couldn’t tell Kokichi that he had hugged him so spontaneously that morning because he felt like he would die if he didn’t. And now, sitting here next to him... It was even harder not to just fall into the boy, for anything, any kind of contact… because Shuichi just felt like Kokichi’s warmth would make it all better. Cure him, maybe.
And yes, that was Monokuma’s game of course… but it didn’t help the feeling that Kokichi looked so warm and comfortable, and a shiver ran through Shuichi’s spine as he looked at the boy lounging back on the couch, watching some shitty rom-com.
He hated this. So much. His heart swelled anyways when he was around Kokichi, but this… was too much. He simultaneously wanted to hide from Kokichi until he forgot all about how he was acting, but at the same time… he couldn’t help the ache inside telling him he needed to stay with him more than anything in the world.
It was unclear how much of that was the despair disease and how much of it was just the longing inside of him surfacing.
—-
Kokichi of course noticed how many times Shuichi glanced at him throughout the movie. And he noticed how often he shifted in his seat and messed with his hands. To be truthful, he wasn’t paying attention to the movie at all either. Just trying to crack the case.
“Hey, want a drink?” Kokichi asked, feeling thirsty himself.
“Hmm? Sure. Just a water.”
Kokichi got up off the couch and made his way to the water bottles in a minifridge at the back of the AV room.
He couldn't help but hear Shuichi shifting in his seat every few seconds he was gone.
He returned to his seat and held out the water to Shuichi.
The silence now that the movie had been paused seemed to weigh down the room.
As Shuichi took the water into his own hand and placed it on the side table, Kokichi noticed something.
“Shuichi, are you... shaking?” He put a hand on the side of Shuichi’s shoulder to steady him, and Shuichi looked almost like he came alive again at the touch.
Like he had been holding his breath.
Shuichi instinctively grabbed the arm that was on his own, and sighed with relief- more noticeably than he would’ve liked to.
Kokichi stared at Shuichi for a moment, who was looking straight back into his eyes.
“Shuichi, I know you have the despair disease. I wanna help.”
Shuichi’s eyes darted around his face, trying to find some sign of what he should do, before just sighing again.
“I need… um.”
Kokichi reached out to feel Shuichi’s forehead. Burning up.
Shuichi practically melted under the touch, closing his eyes, heart pounding- and it reached a point where it was all just too much, and he gave in- falling into Kokichi’s arms.
Kokichi sat there for a moment, blinking, before wrapping his arms around Shuichi’s back.
As they found a comfortable position, Shuichi was… still.
He had stopped shifting and shaking and fidgeting.
Kokichi felt like he could cry of relief. Was this all he needed?
“Did you just… really, really, need a hug?”
Shuichi nodded against Kokichi’s shoulder and sort of laughed at the absurdity of it.
“Kind of a boring disease, if you asked me. Could have been a lot worse,” Kokichi observed, refusing to acknowledge how he tightly was clinging to Shuichi. “I thought Monokuma would do something more impressive than this.”
Being held so tightly like this… Shuichi felt perfect. Everything was soft and correct and safe and he could finally just... breathe again.
Kokichi leaned his head into Shuichi’s.
“If this is all Monokuma’s got, he better up his game, hm, Shumai?”
“Mmm. Just don’t leave.”
“I won’t.”