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When no one utilized the First Blood Perk and the deadline came and went, they'd all held their breaths and feared the worst… but all that had happened was the obnoxious music cutting off and being replaced by an angry rant from Monokuma, the bear chewing them all out for failing to kill anyone.
They had called his bluff, and it had paid off. Monokuma wasn't actually ready to murder them all.
He even said as much—that mowing everyone down with the Exisals 'wouldn't be entertaining enough' and that it was too early in the game to throw in the towel—before proceeding to whine and moan for another twenty minutes until he finally rage-quit his rant and ended the broadcast. After that he spent the next several days introducing increasingly nonsensical motives, each of which was no more effective than the first.
The second motive had been some sort of book of spells—why? Was he expecting them to learn how to revive the dead and immediately go around murdering people to raise a zombie army?—while the third was a key card that none of them could figure out where to use. He also kept leaving around weird flashlights, but by that point they'd all learned to just ignore the strange objects Monokuma gave them… so everyone mostly went around continuing to search for exits or otherwise waste time.
Kokichi was currently doing the latter, chasing Kaito around for no other purpose than to be a bother. Earlier that morning Monokuma had released a swarm of bugs from Gonta's talent lab that apparently were carrying something called 'despair disease'... Angie had contracted it sometime after breakfast and hadn't stopped dancing since. Supposedly, the symptoms wouldn't be leaving anytime soon.
(Kokichi still didn't know why that would make anyone kill her, or cause her to kill them. He felt foolish for ever having been intimidated by this game.)
"Time! T-time out!" Kaito breathed, holding out a hand for Kokichi to stop. Chasing him had been a way to get out his frustration with Monokuma's stupid tricks, but Kokichi had grown bored of it a few minutes ago; he obediently stopped pursuing as Kaito caught his breath and slowly walked over to the flower-draped pagoda.
"Aren't astronauts supposed to be in shape?" Kokichi asked, watching Kaito lower himself to sit.
"Shut up, you've been hounding me all morning." Kaito took in a few more labored breaths, letting his head fall back. "It's not my fault you have the energy of a grade school ki—augh!"
He slapped a hand against the arm he wore outside his jacket, wincing at whatever had cut him off. Kokichi internally groaned.
"Did you just get bit by one of those bugs?"
"I think so, yeah… dammit, this is definitely going to be a pain in the ass."
Joining him in the pagoda, Kokichi ducked around to inspect the bug Kaito had crushed into his sleeve. "Aw, when Gonta finds out you squashed one of his gross flies he's definitely gonna cry. Or kill you."
Kaito merely rolled his eyes, just as fed up with Monokuma's poorly thought out murder motives as the rest of them. "I'm sure my stupid randomized ailment will help me survive."
"If you start dancing like Angie, maybe your awful stamina will improve." Kokichi giggled, mirth shining in his eyes as Kaito scowled at him. "She needs a dance partner anyway, watching her solo tango around the courtyard just looks sad."
Kokichi was expecting a response to that, maybe a growled complaint or a demand to shut up. Instead Kaito took it into his own hands—literally—by grabbing Kokichi by the front of his jacket and attempting to cover his mouth with his own.
Naturally, Kokichi immediately jerked out of his hold and shoved him off the bench. "What the hell was that?"
Rather than answering, Kaito scrambled to his feet and immediately tried to make a run for it; Kokichi grabbed him by the sleeve to get an answer from him, but instead what he got was Kaito spinning back around and forcing another kiss onto him.
"Seriously, what the hell—!" he blocked another kiss with his hand, an edge of irritation in his voice. Then his shield was pried away by the wrist, revealing Kaito's desperate face.
"Kiss me back," Kaito gasped, an uncharacteristic note of pleading in his voice, "kiss me back, kiss me back kiss me back kissmeback—"
Kokichi cut him off by tugging him down by the sleeve, muffling Kaito's begging against his mouth.
Immediately the luminary seemed to melt, the tension that had filled his body leaving all at once at the touch of Kokichi's lips. He sighed into the kiss, humming a little while Kokichi tilted his head and led them into a less frenzied pace—and then he suddenly seemed to get control of himself, reeling back before shoving Kokichi away.
Kokichi simply raised one thin eyebrow, otherwise unperturbed. "Feeling better now?"
Kaito dropped to a crouch and hid his face behind his hands, red up to his ears. "You should have just let me run."
"What, and let you get away with sexual harassment?"
Letting out a long, low groan, Kaito sunk lower and bore the sting of Kokichi's resulting laughter.
"So, I'm guessing you didn't just suddenly realize how pretty I am?"
"No, that was probably the bug. The…'despair disease.'" Kaito scowled around the turn of phrase, finally peeking out from behind his knees and hands. "I sure am despairing, alright."
"I may not be a doctor, but I'm just gonna jump the gun and diagnose you with Kissing Disease." Clapping his hands together happily, Kokichi grinned down at the miserable figure at his feet. "Well, I know how I'm spending the rest of the day! Let's ask Kirumi to cook up some popcorn, 'cause I'm gonna be watching you terrorize your poor friends!"
Just as promised, Kokichi stuck at Kaito's heels for the rest of the day…and just as predicted, Kaito was frequently possessed with the need to kiss someone.
It happened while asking Kirumi for snacks; in front of Kaito's little sidekicks; inside and outside and within every room they entered, christening each new space Kaito went. It seemed like every 10-20 minutes he became a mindless kissing machine programmed to lock lips with whoever was closest to him, and Kokichi made sure that person was almost always him.
It wasn't long before the others started noticing Kokichi always seemed to conveniently insert himself between the kissing monster and his would-be victims. While Kokichi was always ready with a new taunt to make it look as though he was only sticking around to torment Kaito, it had become obvious Kokichi was trying to save anyone else from becoming a target… or at least hoard all the kisses for himself.
By the end of the day he wasn't even attempting to be subtle about his intentions. Kaito had sat at dinner with Kokichi on one side of him and Maki on the other, and when the man began leaning far closer to her than someone just invested in conversation Kokichi didn't try to pretend he wasn't jumping into a rescue mission.
Maki seemed to be a little unsure of what was happening before Kokichi seized Kaito by the arm and swung him around, climbing into his lap just as Kaito reached out to crush their mouths together. He must have been resisting the compulsion for a while, because Kaito rushed into it with enough desperation to have them knocking teeth; Kokichi had to physically grab his face and guide them into something slower and more gentle, winding down the kiss until it petered out and eventually stopped completely.
"Wow Kaito, right in front of my salad?" Kokichi wiped his lips as he was finally allowed to pull away, a bit of mocking laughter in his voice. "Look how grossed out Maki looks, she's definitely going to kill you for this."
"No she's not!" Turning back to Maki with embarrassment burnt into his cheeks, Kaito muttered a bashful apology; Maki accepted it hurriedly, not quite knowing where to look when Kokichi was still perched on top of him.
Sliding out of Kaito's lap, Kokichi casually went back to his seat. "You need a breath mint, by the way. Garlic, really?"
"Can we not talk about this?"
"I'm just glad you've stuck to keeping your mouth closed. If you were frenching everyone, that definitely wouldn't have mixed well with my food."
Kaito quickly shoved his dishes aside so he could slam his head onto the table, hiding his face. "Someone make him stop, before I do it myself."
"Ooooh, is the motive working? Are you going to murder me?"
Kaito ended up canceling his training session with Maki and Shuichi that night, purely on the count of the fact that he was technically sick and recovering (and not because he was too mortified to risk kissing anyone else).
By the time most people were heading in for the night he had still managed to force several more kisses onto the supreme leader, the last one being right outside the dorms. They parted with the stars twinkling silently above them, Kokichi not-so-silently rubbing at his chin.
"I'm gonna get burns from your stupid goatee. Have you considered shaving it off?"
"Have you considered shutting up for once in your life?" Kaito had progressively stopped being embarrassed after his episodes; it only ever ended up more humiliating if he made himself a desperate mess trying to resist, or made a big deal of it afterwards. He would have been proud of himself for getting used to his new symptoms if the very thought didn't feel somewhat upsetting.
"Nope!" Moving toward the entrance to the dorms, Kokichi paused to turn over his shoulder. "Don't go breaking down doors tonight trying to get your kiss fix. I'm not sleeping over even if you beg."
"I'm not going to! And I won't be trying to break into anyone's dorm rooms, either!"
"Sure, just like you won't be scratching at the walls craving the tender touch of my lips in a few minutes. You're in complete control of yourself."
Grumbling darkly, Kaito shoved Kokichi out of the way and opened the door himself. He doubted he'd even have the energy to be conscious before all that happened…Kokichi had pointed out the noticeable heat coming off his face a few kisses ago, so he was pretty sure he had a fever. The sickness was sapping his strength and leaving him drained and sore, and all he felt capable of doing was falling into bed and passing out.
Morning came, and Kokichi exited his room refreshed from a night of plotting and scheming and mostly not-actually-sleeping. Kaito followed suit soon after, looking a little run down but better for having rested.
"Need me to top you off?" Not bothering to wait for an answer, Kokichi closed the short gap between them and pulled Kaito down, moving his lips lazily against the other's in what might as well have been a morning greeting. He'd become so used to the action that he hadn't bothered to think much before doing it; and maybe it was that trained autopilot or the lack of sleep, but it took him a moment to realize Kaito was completely still and unresponsive against him.
Backing up, he found Kaito's eyes wide and face entirely flush.
"Uh—"
Just then the buzz of many televisions turning on flooded through the dorms, the sound of the Monokuma's shrill voice slightly echoed and audible from where it came from inside every room. "Good morning, disappointments! My precious cubs forgot to mention this during the morning announcement, but last night everyone infected with the Despair Disease was delivered an antidote… honestly, I just lost the motivation to see it through. Been there done that, you know?" The bear sighed, before continuing, "And if no one put on their big kid pants and started murdering, you'd just start dropping like flies from the illness…which would have been even more boring than slaughtering you all with the Exisals in chapter one."
The bear proceeded to complain, but the words had become a distant droning in Kokichi's ears. "...did I just kiss you for absolutely no reason?"
Stepping back, Kaito held up one hand protectively while he used the other to wipe at his mouth. "It's not like I told you to! You decided to do that on your own!"
Kaito was right, but the dismissal still managed to irk him. For some reason, Kokichi felt a little…cheated? He didn't have time to reflect on the thought, too caught up in needing to be properly annoying.
"I'm a victim of false advertising!!! You set up my expectations and purposely misled me!!" Churning out the tears, Kokichi threw his head back and sobbed. "WAAAA-HA-HAAAAAAAAAA!!"
"Why the hell are you acting like the victim?!"
Kokichi ignored him, continuing to cry until Kaito ran off to breakfast. When Kokichi cut the waterworks and sniffed the last stray tears away he found himself achey-eyed and dehydrated; he definitely hadn't slept enough.
He felt crummy, he internally acknowledged…and almost immediately he realized he could use that to his advantage.
Kokichi entered the dining hall with a long, drawn out groan, slumping against the door as he pushed it open with his shoulder. "Guuuuyyyss, I think I'm sick."
Kirumi was already getting up to prepare him soup, bless her maternal heart. Everyone else merely studied him from the table, each displaying varying ranges of belief and doubt.
"Well duh. You spent all of yesterday swapping spit with a sick guy, of course that'd happen." Miu barely looked up from her food as she corroborated his lie, the absolute angel. Kokichi was really appreciating his friends today.
"Did Monokuma ever say the disease was contagious?" Shuichi asked, once again proving himself to be the worst out of the bunch. Rantaro, who was much better in every conceivable way, frowned doubtfully.
"He didn't, but he also never mentioned that the despair disease was terminal until this morning."
"Of course he didn't bring it up; that would have made the murder motive too motivating!" Crossing the room at a carefully slower pace than usual, Kokichi walked around to Kaito's chair before falling into the boy's lap. "Anyway, I bravely sacrificed myself yesterday and kept Kaito from spreading his deadly germs to everyone, so you should all be super nice to me!"
As if called upon specifically, Kirumi chose that moment to set a bowl of warm soup in front of him. Kaito, however, didn't seem to appreciate the placement.
"Hey, get off. Why are you sitting down like I've naturally become your spot?"
"Isn't that obvious? Since I caught what you had, it's your duty as someone with immunity to protect the others from my cooties."
"Are we even sure that's how the disease works?" Shuichi wondered aloud, and Kokichi immediately tuned him out.
Kaito didn't, though, which entirely defeated the purpose. "Yeah, I don't buy it. You're not sick."
Kokichi pouted even as he forced his eyes to unfocus, the same way Kaito's had when the kiss craving started to come over him. "I'm not lying, you can even check! C'mon, feel my forehead!"
Twisting around and readjusting so he was sitting side-saddle over Kaito's legs, he offered his face to Kaito in challenge. Groans immediately broke out across the table, but Kaito had already leaned in to take the bait; he had just begun to reach a hand out when Kokichi pulled Kaito into him.
His first attempt at a kiss was of course stopped, but Kokichi had expected that. He licked the palm that had come up to block his mouth, then surged forward again when Kaito pulled his hand away with disgust.
"Kokichi, cut it out! Everyone's here!"
Kokichi wanted to quip back ('that didn't stop you yesterday' or 'so it would be okay if we were somewhere else?') but instead forced himself to keep his eyes unfocused, trained vaguely at Kaito's lips like they were the only thing he was capable of seeing.
"Kiss me, I need it, I need you to kiss me now now now now nownownow!"
It was with a frustrated noise that Kaito gave in, holding Kokichi away just long enough to pull his jacket off and fling it over both their heads before finally kissing him. Kokichi's con had paid off; a spark of satisfaction burst through him as he succeeded in bending Kaito to his will.
Kaito's lips were moving against his, and for the first time Kokichi knew for a fact this is what it felt like for Kaito to kiss him—consciously, not feverish and under the influence of a weird manufactured disease. Each movement was slow, deliberate, warm—it was so warm, being this close to someone. Every breath they took through their noses was caught between them, heat ghosting over Kokichi's skin only to linger as it was trapped within their jacket cocoon, and that along with their body heat made the space they shared unexpectedly cozy.
Kokichi felt himself continuing to lean into the kiss, his tired eyes blissfully closed. The angle he was twisted at was a bit uncomfortable but he felt himself relaxing into it anyway, pushing his lips against Kaito's in what was effectively muscle memory and nothing else.
It meant he was a little alarmed when Kaito finally pushed him away and startled him awake—he hadn't even realized he'd started dozing. "Okay, quit it, that's enough!"
Kokichi allowed himself to be moved away, not quite willing to open his eyes yet. His eyelids felt so heavy… letting his head fall into the crook of Kaito's neck, Kokichi snuggled into the remaining warmth.
Vaguely, he became aware of Kaito pulling away the jacket to look at him better. He wished Kaito had kept it over them; it felt like the covers had been thrown off when he was trying to sleep.
"Woah…is he actually sick?" Tenko's voice was annoyingly loud across the table—or maybe that was just Kokichi being overstimulated from how tired he was. He burrowed further into Kaito's shoulder in an attempt to hide from the noise, only to whine when he felt Kaito's hand push him away to check his forehead.
"No, he's definitely lying."
"Am not," Kokichi mumbled, pushing Kaito's hand away. Re-opening his eyes burned, but he forced himself do it anyway. "You need to brush your teeth, I almost passed out from being forced to inhale your breath for so long."
He turned back to the table as Kaito began complaining, each word jangling his buzzing nerves. Grabbing the soup in front of him, Kokichi let his eyes settle for half-open as he began to eat. He had thought the food would wake him up a bit, but instead Kokichi found the warm broth only made him more tired as it filled his stomach… and in more serious situations Kokichi might have been able to keep his edge, but there was little to keep his eyes from progressively sliding shut.
"Kirumi, did you poison my food? I thought we weren't doing the murder thing…"
"Can you stop bringing that up?" Kaito complained, moving to steady Kokichi as he started slumping to the side. It was a dumb question; if Kokichi didn't frequently remind himself why they were trapped in this seemingly inescapable fortress, he might actually stop taking it seriously. He didn't want to be lulled into any more complacency than he already was…
Not that he was going to explain any of that. He didn't have to, either, as the others all leapt to comment on the situation.
"I don't know, he's acting pretty sick."
"I'm telling you guys, he's definitely faking! At least…most of it."
"I say put the kid to bed. Even if he doesn't have the despair disease, this isn't like him."
In the end, Kaito was tasked with bringing him back to the dorms. Kokichi spent most of the walk finding new inventive ways to lean his body weight into Kaito, dragging his feet as he hung from the arm the taller boy was using to support him.
"Cut it out, I know you're doing this on purpose!"
"Whaaaaat? I don't understand, I'm sooooo siiiiick." Kokichi threw his weight back into Kaito's chest, causing him to stumble; it was difficult to keep himself from laughing. "I'm just so weak…can't you just carry me?"
"Do I look like Gonta to you?"
"I don't know, my vision is swimming…Are you Gonta?"
Eventually they got to Kokichi's room, Kokichi not even having to pretend very hard to fumble the key as he unlocked the door. Inside was his messy but incredibly sparse quarters; the only thing of note was a large whiteboard he'd rolled in, the whole thing scrawled with the results of last night's brainstorming session.
Kaito wandered over to study it all as Kokichi stumbled to bed, unable to care as his efforts were scrutinized. "What is all this? Stuff about the key card, the death road of despair…have you been trying to figure out an escape method this whole time?"
"I'll die of boredom before anyone picks up a weapon. Why stick around a killing game with no killing?" Kokichi fell onto his sheets, his body burning with relief as the well-missed comfort hit him. "Don't look too closely at my notes, I was taking Monokuma way too seriously at first."
"I think we all were." Taking a second to give one last glance at the whiteboard, Kaito shrugged before turning to Kokichi. "Need anything else?"
"Where's my goodnight kiss?"
"It's morning."
"Doesn't matter, I need my medicine before I can sleep."
"No, you don't." Still, it took only a little more whining before Kaito leaned down to give him a quick kiss, lingering only a second or two before straightening up.
The moment Kaito pulled away Kokichi was grinning, his smile stretched across his face before it broke open in laughter. "Heheh…hahahahaha!"
"What? Why are you laughing?"
"You kissed me!"
"You asked me to!"
"I know!" Kokichi shook with another wave of giggles, rolling onto his side so the edge of his grin was half-buried in his pillow. "You never once believed I actually needed it, but it was still so easy to get you to kiss me! How is that not incredibly funny?"
Kaito's response was to grab the covers and throw them over Kokichi's head, which only made him laugh harder. By the time he pulled the blanket back down Kaito was already making his way to the door, back turned.
"I'm outta here."
"You'll be back! You can't resist me!" Kokichi burst into another fit of laughter, the sleep deprivation making the situation feel much funnier than it probably merited. He didn't stop giggling until Kaito shut the door behind him, and then Kokichi was so tired from laughing that he fell asleep almost instantly.