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Class is pretty normal today for the most part, which in other words means it’s boring enough for Kokichi to be completely tuned out as their history teacher continues on with his lecture. He doesn’t have to get good grades at this school, and even if he did he could always ask Kirumi for her notes, so he can’t particularly be bothered to try and pay attention to stupid, boring lectures. Instead, Kokichi leans his chair back onto two legs and props his feet up on the desk, flipping through one of his many joke books for inspiration.
Not that he always takes his pranks from these—can’t become too predictable—but it also keeps his classmates on their toes if the vast majority of his tricks are Kokichi specials and then a rare few are the old classics. Plus, it makes for a great distraction when his teacher is talking about how the Dutch got Japan to open their borders or whatever. Yawn. Extra yawn. Kokichi’s interest in Japan’s history starts and ends with how he can use it to conquer the world. Anything beyond that is just soooo totally a waste of his time.
This joke book is starting to feel like one too, though. Bored again, Kokichi slams the book shut and drops it on the floor with a loud thud. After the teacher tells him off, Kokichi mimes a big yawn and leans back further in his chair, allowing his gaze to sweep the classroom instead in search of some other form of stimulation. He could always just leave, but being absent means missing out on all the drama that goes down when the full class is together, so he prefers to attend, even if classwork is a complete drag.
Fortunately, Kokichi finds his stimulation soon enough when he meets Kaito’s gaze across the classroom. Seems like the guy’s been looking at him beyond a passing glance, because Kaito seems almost embarrassed when Kokichi an eyebrow. He doesn’t look away though, which Kokichi is pleased by. If Kaito were some kind of pussy who couldn’t deal with getting caught staring, he definitely wouldn’t be worthy of being Kokichi’s rival.
After a beat, Kaito’s lips part in a smile, and Kokichi watches him drum his fingers against his desk. Looks like he’s also bored. Kaito’s never particularly excelled in history; he’s a good student, but mostly in the topics that interest him, like math and science. He does alright on their history exams—claiming that astronauts have to be good in everything, what a loser—but always seems to sleep right through the lectures like this. He must borrow notes from Shuichi or something, the guy’s enough of a simp that that would make sense.
In response to Kaito’s smile, Kokichi sticks his tongue out. Privately, he likes it when Kaito smiles at him, but he can never make anything too easy on the guy. Kaito would get bored then, Kokichi is sure, and more importantly Kokichi would get bored. Plus, getting to see the way Kaito’s nose wrinkles in response before he returns the gesture makes it more than worthwhile. Another thing Kokichi would never tell anybody ever unless he was using it to harass Kaito is that Kaito’s at his most attractive when he’s annoyed. Terrible thing to be thinking about your crush, but it’s true. When his face is a little flushed with irritation, or when his brow knits, or when he presses his lips together when he’s trying not to yell—cute. Kokichi has a serious psychological problem.
Kokichi’s new source of entertainment is suddenly taken away when Kaito’s eyes dart down to his pocket and he pulls out his phone. The room is quiet enough that Kokichi can hear it vibrating from where he sits all the way in the back. He can also see the way that Kaito’s expression screws up with concern, just for a moment, before it’s quickly smoothed out into a smile. He gets to his feet, phone tucked into his sleeve, and ruffles Shuichi’s hair on his way out into the hall.
The door falls shut behind him. Kokichi stares at it. Five minutes pass, then ten, then fifteen. Kokichi realises Kaito probably isn’t going to come back, but just to check he tells the teacher that he really really really has to piss, then makes a show of hopping with his legs crossed to the door just to make everyone else uncomfortable before he relaxes once out in the hall.
Yeah. No Luminaries. Kokichi frowns now that there’s nobody here to see it, scanning the hall and rubbing the side of his cheek. Kaito could’ve been called for something that he’d forgotten about, like a doctor’s appointment or a training session with JAXA—he misses class for those sometimes—but the look on his face hadn’t been the sort of look you get when you realise you forgot about something. It’d been more like… he was worried, because he hadn’t been expecting that person to call him. Or something.
Kokichi leans against the wall by the door, thinking on it. If he asked, Kaito probably wouldn’t tell him. This would be more understandable if that wasn’t Kaito’s policy with just about everyone in the class. Kaito’s one of those dodgy bastards who doesn’t trust people, even the people closest to him—not that Kokichi can blame him, considering Kaito’s choice of company—and while it makes for a fascinating character study, it also makes the prospect of trying to care about him a whole lot harder.
Which Kokichi doesn’t. Or shouldn’t, at any rate, but unfortunately the more time he spends around or thinking about Kaito, the more he finds these awfully inconvenient mushy gushy feelings starting to crop up, and it’s getting to a point where it’s spiralling out of his control. Kokichi almost wishes Kaito would make this easier, so it would be more boring and he could just pass it off onto Shuichi or something, but…
No, it’s not boring. Nothing where Kaito is concerned is boring, but especially not checking after his wellbeing, since Kaito always makes it a challenge. Beyond that, Kokichi wants to know. Maybe he doesn’t need to know what exactly happened, but he wants to know where Kaito is, and that he’s—okay? No, that’s gross. That he’s not going to be annoying about this. Kokichi likes that more.
Deciding to skip out on class, Kokichi pulls out his phone and starts towards the dining hall, shooting off two tests. One, to Gonta, telling him that it’s an emergency and to meet him in the dining hall. The other to Kaito, telling him that their class had a pop quiz right after he left worth enough points that it could make or break his grade.
The text from Gonta doesn’t get replied to, but the [READ] notification pops up almost immediately, which reads to Kokichi like he’s already on the way, so Kokichi decides to leave that alone as he enters the dining hall, hopping to sit on one of the tables and kicking his legs. Kaito’s text takes a little longer, long enough that the door opens and Gonta rushes up to him before it’s come in.
“Is Ouma-kun alright? What’s the emergency?” Gonta asks, tone urgent, his eyes narrowed and scanning Kokichi over for obvious injuries. Kokichi waves his hand.
“It’s fine, Gonta. I lied. Or… sort of I lied.”
Gonta blinks, a little frown tugging at his lips, but doesn’t outright make a displeased face. “What does Ouma-kun mean, he sort of lied?”
At that moment, Kokichi’s phone vibrates with Kaito’s response.
[ Momota-chan: Fuck off, Ouma.]
Kokichi’s lip twitches. “Well, that’s the problem!” He kicks his legs a little more as he types in a reply, and Gonta moves out of the way to give him a larger kicking radius. Very courteous of him. “I don’t know if it’s an emergency… but I think it could be. You notice Momota-chan got a call and rushed off?”
“Ah!” Gonta’s eyes go a little wide. “Gonta understands… so Ouma-kun is worried about Momota-kun?”
“Ew, don’t accuse me of something lame like that.”
Gonta hesitates, then amends, “Ouma-kun is… curious about Momota-kun.”
“I’ll take it.”
[ You: whaaat, i thought you’d want to know! aren’t you a straight 100 student?]
[ You: i guess not on history though, so maybe you were doomed from the start… too bad! i would’ve totally let you copy off of me]
[ Momota-chan: I know there wasn’t a pop quiz. Just tell me what you want.]
Kokichi frowns at his phone screen. Kaito is being a little short over text… but that could just be because he’s texting Kokichi, it doesn’t necessarily mean that something happened. Kokichi is kind of inclined to think that something did, but he doesn’t want to let confirmation bias cloud his analytical skills right now. Especially when something completely unimportant could be happening with Kaito right now, and Kokichi could be making a fool of himself by caring too much about it.
“Gonta, if I’m wrong about this and Momota-chan’s actually completely fine, you have to kill me. It’s the only way I’ll be able to preserve my dignity,” Kokichi says, as he types out his next text.
Knitting his brow, Gonta protests, “Gonta would really rather not kill you.”
“Well, I didn’t wanna take over Canada either, but it’s not like you can just spare some countries in the world. Even if their inhabitants are the most wishy washy, pathetic losers out there. Just like Gonta!”
Gonta blinks. Then smiles. “Gonta is glad Ouma-kun thinks he’s nice.”
Ugh. “When did you get so annoying?”
[ You: since you’re asking… probably just your undying love! and an order of fries if you can, since you’re out already…]
[ Momota-chan: I’m not getting you either of those things.]
[ Momota-chan is typing…]
[ Momota-chan: I’m busy right now. I’ll be back at the school later, you can bug me then.]
Yeah, definitely being short. Kokichi chews his thumbnail, legs rocking a little harder in an attempt at venting his excess energy. This is so frustrating. Kaito doesn’t make caring about him easy at all— why won’t he just say what’s wrong? Groaning a little, Kokichi gestures for Gonta to move forward, then drops his forehead against Gonta’s shoulder.
Gonta pats him on the back. “Is Ouma-kun okay?”
“It’s whatever. I just dunno how to get Momota-chan to be honest.” He holds out his phone for Gonta to see. “Any suggestions?”
It takes a moment for Gonta to read everything, his eyes narrowed. Kokichi lets him take his time. Gonta’s smart with a lot of things, but he’s still pretty behind on kanji, so it takes him some time to get through even the most simple of exchanges. Eventually, Gonta lets out a hum, and Kokichi lowers his phone.
“Has Ouma-kun considered… asking Momota-kun what’s wrong?”
“Out of the question.”
Kokichi sits back upright again, holding his phone in both hands. He doesn’t want to put too much into this. Busy could really mean anything. But Kaito’s always at least a little bit willing to entertain Kokichi’s hijinks. He only outright shuts him down like this when he’s really stressed out. It should piss Kokichi off, and it used to, but now that he knows Kaito better it just makes him… feel something really really gross that he’s not even admitting in his head.
Biting his lip, Kokichi types out and deletes a few replies before finally settling on one.
[ You: okie doke! but if momota-chan suddenly decides he wants to be less boring and actually tell me what’s going on, he can text me any time~]
The read receipt pops up almost immediately, but Kaito doesn’t even type anything else. What a dick. That probably means it’s spot on, though, so Kokichi sighs, shoving his phone away after showing the text to Gonta. Gonta pats him on the shoulder a few more times, looking thoughtful.
“Does Ouma-kun want to go to class, or is he too upset to focus?”
Kokichi pulls a face. “I’m not upset. But class sounds like a tooooootal drag right now. You should skip with me, Gonta!”
“Ah… gentlemen don’t skip class,” Gonta says, sounding rather apologetic about it. “But Ouma-kun could always spend time in Gonta’s lab while he waits, if he wants. Gonta’s bug friends will be very reassuring!”
As much as Kokichi appreciates the offer, he doesn’t have a lot of faith in bugs to understand where he’s coming from right now. Gonta, seeming unsurprised by Kokichi’s rejection, pats him on the back one last time before exiting the dining hall to return to class like a good boy.
Once alone, Kokichi flips to lie back on the table, draping his forearm over his eyes. This sucks.
Kokichi’s not sure how long he lies there, just absolutely deflated. At least long enough for class to let out for the day, and for Gonta to return to sit by him at the table. Long enough that the dining hall fills with students looking for a post-class snack and for the smell of dinner to start to waft from the kitchen. He only really comes back to the world when he feels his phone buzzing, at which point he rolls onto his side and unlocks it.
There’s a text from Kaito. Kokichi shoots upright with an embarrassing amount of sudden clarity and opens the text.
[ Momota-chan: Are you busy?]
Without acknowledging Gonta’s curious look, Kokichi gets right into his reply.
[ You: as a matter of fact, you’re in luck! i just finished terrorising the good people of constantinople, so my entire evening is free and could be aaaaall yours for the small small price of two of your organs!]
[ Momota-chan: Isn’t it Istanbul now?]
[ Momota-chan: Anyways, I uh. I can’t offer you my organs or anything, but…]
[ Momota-chan: I could really use a friend right now]
Kokichi hates that his heart twinges reading that. He hates even more that his immediate instinct is to type and you texted me? Swallowing, Kokichi takes a moment to compose himself, then replies.
[ You: where are you?]
[ Momota-chan: Tokyo General. The hospital, I mean.]
Oh. Kokichi squeezes his phone. It’s a pretty easy trip from Hope’s Peak—anywhere in Tokyo is an easy trip from Hope’s Peak—but the situation that Kaito is in right now seems… a lot more severe, all of a sudden, than just having to rush out of class for an appointment or something.
[ You: expect to see me in half an hour! and by see me, i mean fight me, because i’m on my way to the maternity ward to commit infanticide]
[ Momota-chan: You’re so full of crap.]
Then, a second later:
[ Momota-chan: Thanks, Ouma.]
Ugh. Kokichi really hates him. He shoves his phone away and leaps off the table, latching onto Gonta’s arm. “Welp! I gotta get going, Gonta! Thanks for the company, but I’ll return you to your insects now… I’m sure they’ll be super duper glad to have their vessel back after all this time! Tell them they can forget about the whole ransom money thing, okay? All’s forgiven!”
Gonta blinks, parsing that. Then asks, “Where is Ouma-kun going?”
“Somewhere special.” Kokichi pulls off Gonta’s arm and starts backwards towards the door. “I’ll prooobably be back soon, but call me if you get worried! Even if I don’t pick up, you can listen to my voicemail to feel better!” Noting the worried look Gonta shoots him, Kokichi quickly adds, “Momota-chan asked me to come see him off grounds, so that’s where I’ll be. Really don’t worry about it, okay? That’d be super annoying!”
Thankfully, Gonta does seem to relax at that, nodding and sitting back down in his place. Kokichi looks at him for a moment longer just to make sure everything’s good, then turns around to rush out of the building.
His first stop is his dorm room, where he picks up a portable charger, a thicker coat, and a couple of his emergency chocolate bars. Almond, Kaito’s favourite, not that Kokichi cares or anything. Then he’s out the door, looking up the bus route to the hospital from here. If Rantaro was in town, he’d ask the guy to call him a Lyft or something, but Rantaro’s out on one of his many trips. No big. Kokichi will take a little bit longer, but this works too; the bus ride should only take around twenty minutes.
Kokichi slips out the gate and down the sidewalk with minimal interruption, swinging his legs at his sides as he makes his way to the bus stop. All the while, his mind races. Kaito got called to the hospital, so he probably went there for someone… it wouldn’t make sense for him to get a phone call and then suddenly need to be hospitalised, unless the call was with test results and he only went to hear them. That shouldn’t have taken hours though. It wouldn’t make sense for him to still be there now if that were the case.
So… a friend? One of his grandparents, maybe? To Kokichi’s knowledge, Kaito’s parents aren’t in his life anymore, so it must be someone else… Kokichi chews a little on his thumbnail as he climbs on the bus, flashing his Hope’s Peak Student ID at the driver as his fare and making his way to sit in the back. How frustrating… Kokichi will figure it out when he gets there, of course, he’s sure Kaito will tell him, but… he hates worrying about people. Or caring about people in general. Absolutely one of the worst possible feelings that any human being could ever have, ever.
Once off the bus, Kokichi pretty much runs the last few blocks to the hospital. He has to make a conscious effort at slowing himself down as he mounts the steps, not wanting to look too bothered or anything, but he’s pretty sure some of it is still showing on his face as he enters the waiting room, eyes scanning for Kaito.
He’s pretty easy to make out, though, still dressed in his Hope’s Peak uniform, distinctive purple hair sticking right out in the thinned group of elderly people and worried husbands. Kokichi makes his way past them, stopping in front of Kaito and taking a breath, sorely regretting that he didn’t come prepared with some sort of hilarious lie that would make the astronaut think he wasn’t actually all that worried about him at all.
Kokichi doesn’t get a chance to formulate one though, because the moment they lock eyes, Kaito takes a step forward and puts his arms tight around Kokichi, almost collapsing into him. It’s kind of a big deal; Kaito is a big guy, and heavy, and Kokichi likes to joke about having abs but he’s still at an inherent disadvantage at just over five feet. He lets out a grunt, but reaches up around Kaito and spreads his legs to give himself a better fighting chance, holding tight to his—friend’s? Rival’s?—waist while he catches his breath. Admittedly, it’s a lot even just without the size factor, because Kaito is warm and he smells like rosemary (after switching from that stupid body spray) and Kokichi can feel his heart beating right up against his rib cage.
This is so stupid and embarrassing for him. Kokichi feels Kaito shudder and reaches up to hold him a little better.
A few joke ideas run through Kokichi’s mind. He ends up settling on, “All okay, Momota-chan?”
“I—yeah. Should be, just—” Kaito’s voice comes out a bit rough. “Had a scare with Gramps’ heart, damn bastard keeps skipping out on his meds.” He exhales into Kokichi’s shoulder. “Nobody can stop him from going for all the high-sodium foods either because he keeps saying some bullshit about how he should eat what he wants when he’s old…”
Kokichi can’t help giggling. He has a pretty clear mental image of the surly old man in question, having met Kaito’s grandparents before, and that does indeed sound like something Gramps would say. “You know, he has a point. When you get that old you have the right to a couple steaks.”
“Don’t encourage him,” Kaito grumbles, his arms tightening around Kokichi. With another sigh, that grip relaxes again, and Kaito shifts his head where it rests in the crook of Kokichi’s neck. “He’s gonna be okay, the doctors said. Just gotta stay off his feet for a while and keep taking his meds. Gran seemed pretty pissed, so I’m sure she’ll get through to him… didn’t realise it was this hard from this side of the hospital bed, though.”
When Kaito says stuff like that, Kokichi assumes he’s alluding to his childhood, which Kokichi has only gotten bits and pieces of—but more than enough to understand that it involved a lot of hospital visits to deal with a pair of weak lungs. He’s a lot better now it seems, which is good considering his ambition, but… well, Kaito should be more than familiar with how it feels to be stuck in a bed while people worry about you. Kokichi has only had a few run-ins with hospitals himself, being more the type to just laugh something off when it gets him hurt, but he definitely doesn’t like being fussed over. He hopes for that sake he’ll never find himself in the position that Kaito is in now, so he doesn’t have to understand how it feels to be the person fussing.
That’s the only reason, obviously. If Kaito got hospitalised or whatever, Kokichi would only be upset for purely selfish reasons. He doesn’t truly care.
Kokichi tightens his arms around Kaito’s back. “Gonna come back to the school tonight?”
“Probably. Visitor hours ended already, I just…” Kaito trails off, sounding a bit distant. “Shuichi and Harumaki’ve been texting me all afternoon, and I don’t know what to say to them. I don’t think I’m ready to talk to them about this.”
“I’ll make them back off if you lend me your phone for a minute!”
“Not happening.” Kaito snorts. “I just needed a minute, I guess. It feels better now that you’re here.” He starts to draw back with that, and Kokichi lets him go, against the needy urge he gets as Kaito withdraws to grab him by the shirt and pull him back in. When they make eye contact again, Kokichi sees that Kaito’s eyes are red-rimmed. He looks exhausted. Kokichi reaches up involuntarily, cupping his cheeks.
Then squishes them. Can’t be too gentle, or Kaito will start getting the wrong idea about the kind of person Kokichi is.
“If you’re just saying that ‘cause you’re gonna repress everything with me here, that’s super boring, Momota-chan,” Kokichi points out. “I’d kick your ankles.”
“Don’t kick my ankles. That’s not what I meant,” Kaito insists, voice slightly distorted by the cheek squishing. He leans into Kokichi’s hands with another sigh. “I’m sorry if I worried you… I didn’t mean to.”
“Worried? Me?” Kokichi huffs. “I don’t worry. Especially not about dummies like Momota-chan, even when they run out of class looking all stressed out and then dodge my super obvious prying…”
Kaito gives Kokichi a look that is simultaneously bewildered and all-knowing at once. Kokichi has to look away from it, puffing his cheeks out.
“Okay, maybe I thought about it a little bit. Out of curiosity. But that’s all it was.”
Snorting again, Kaito leans forward, face slipping out of Kokichi’s hands. When their foreheads touch, Kaito closes his eyes, letting out a quiet hum, and Kokichi feels his heart skip a stupid little beat at the proximity.
“Sorry for making you curious then,” Kaito says quietly. “I’ll take you out for ice cream before we go back, since we came all this way.”
Kokichi beams. “Wow! You really know the way to a man’s heart… I ought’a do things like this for you more often if it’ll get you to give me treats!”
That gets a surprised laugh out of Kaito, who shakes his head and starts to pull away, but this time Kokichi is unable to stop himself from grabbing onto him, keeping him close like some little kid, or maybe a koala. Or a whiny puppy. Kokichi wants to be absolutely none of these things, so the exact visual doesn’t completely matter, but the point is he sucks for it.
What sucks even more is that Kaito indulges him, arms slipping around his waist and scooping him up with minimal effort. Kokichi tries for a pout, but finds himself leaning into Kaito’s chest, his warmth, tucking his own arms around Kaito’s neck.
“Don’t do shit for me just to get rewarded,” Kaito says, clearly trying for stern, but his voice is too soft for it to come across completely. “I won’t buy you anything if you start doing that.”
“Awww… but then you miss out on my undying love and affection! Wouldn’t that suck?” Kokichi wraps his legs around Kaito’s waist, grinning up at him. Kaito meets his gaze for a moment, then turns away, face reddened. Heh.
“‘C-Course it wouldn’t… I’m not getting that anyways…” Kaito mumbles. Kokichi hums, and thinks, don’t be so sure about that, but decides that is transparently way too embarrassing to say, no matter how pretty Kaito’s face would be with the blush that would surely hit it in response.
Maybe some other time. Maybe later tonight, if Kokichi gets a little braver.
“Is Momota-chan sure he doesn’t wanna take a break or something before we go?” Kokichi asks, leaning into Kaito a little more as they—or rather Kaito, given that Kokichi is being carried—start on the way back out of the hospital. “We don’t haaave to get ice cream right away. I can be patient!”
Kaito exhales through his nose, as though in disbelief. Mean of him. “It’s okay. I think if I stay in there any longer, I’m gonna go insane.” He shakes his head, nodding to the receptionist as he takes them back out through the double doors. “I uh… really do appreciate you coming, Ouma. Especially when you didn’t actually know there was gonna be ice cream involved.”
Well, duh. Kokichi is gonna take the ice cream, but it’s not why he’s here. Kaito must know that.
File that away as another item on the list of things that are way too incredibly embarrassing to say. Kokichi nuzzles into Kaito’s neck instead, hoping it’ll convey the same point.
“All a part of my evil plan to make you loyal to me forever,” Kokichi says. “I’ll be unstoppable then.”
Kaito hums in response, but doesn’t say anything. When Kokichi glances up, he sees that Kaito’s gaze is on him as it had been in class earlier, except this time it’s almost unbearably soft. Maybe it’d been then, too, and Kokichi hadn’t noticed it since Kaito was across the classroom. Either way, the sight of it makes Kokichi’s heart beat fast enough he almost wants to look away, but at the same time he thinks it would be a tragedy if he did, and risk missing out on that tender gaze and how it makes him feel.
This is so utterly humiliating. Kokichi’s going to have to ask Gonta to kill him sooner than he thought.
For now, though, Kokichi snuggles up nice and close to Kaito and listens to the sound of his heartbeat as Kaito takes them away from the hospital. He’ll rouse himself later for ice cream, and to keep Kaito’s mind off of what happened. He’s good at that, and Kaito seems like he’s been handling this about as well as anyone could, so there’s no need to try and force him to address it. In this moment though, Kokichi feels incredibly cosy, and more importantly relieved that Kaito is, if not completely okay, then at least not alone.
And he will be okay, in due time. Kokichi will make sure of that.