Work Text:
One Week Ago -
“Heyy, hey detective!” Kokichi ran up to Shuichi right after spotting him. “I need your help with something.”
Shuichi jumped, being taken off guard by the purple haired boy running up to him. “Ah, hi Kokichi... What do you need?”
“Sooo, you’re with Kaito, arentcha?” The other looked slightly taken aback at the very straight forward question, especially considering Kokichi already knew the answer.
“Well, yea... Why do you ask?” He was very fidgety, playing with his fingers, or otherwise playing with the bottom of his shirt.
“I thought so. So basicallyyyy, how did you ask him out? That guy seems like a realll pussy soo I don’t think he’s the one who confessed to you. Am I right?” He had a confident look on his face, as usual, as he questioned the much taller boy in front of him.
“Ah, yea... I did do that. I guess I just sort of... told him. I asked him to dinner, bought him flowers, picked him up, gave him those flowers-” Shuichi went on to explain everything that happened on his unintentional date with Kaito until he eventually got to his point. “I just went for it, the feelings were reciprocated, and now we’re here. It definitely took some courage, but it’s good to get it over with. Why... do you ask?” Kokichi’s face grew slightly red. His usual playful and cocky behavior being quickly discarded. Admitting stuff about his feelings wasn’t exactly his move of choice, usually lying about it or telling the truth and lying about it being a lie afterwards. Essentially, a string of lies so that he wouldn’t have to face the painful reality of human emotion. This time he actually felt like telling the truth about what was going on though. At least for a little.
“Well...A few weeks ago I was hanging out with Kaede. Halfway through though, a LOT of stuff started making more and more sense and dots started connecting. Anway, I realized I might have developed just... a smallll crush on her. And of course, I’m no pussy, so I’m gonna do something about it. I just didn’t know how.” His playful and cocky demeanor was back, most likely to distract himself of the fact that he just admitted to that as if it wasn’t a big deal.
“Ah, I see. Well, I wish you luck with your situation, Kokichi. You and Kaede are close. I’m sure you have a chance.” *He smiled sincerely at the other in full support.
“Of course, that would be if I didn’t lie about that entireee thing. I do have to go though. I have stuff to plan. Cya later, detective!” He smiled as he walked off, leaving Shuichi confused and pensive.
Present Day-
It had been a week since the interaction with Shuichi, and Kokichi has still done nothing about his crush. He sat at his desk in his mess of a room, throwing papers into an overflowing trashcan that contained discarded scripts for what he would exactly say to Kaede and how. Most of the pages were full of doodles that replaced the started scripts he had given up on. He realized his plan wasn’t working out very well, throwing his last sheet of paper into the bin, and missing. He eventually stood up and threw most of the stuff on his bed onto the floor, throwing himself on the bed once it was cleared and face planting. He turned around, now facing the roof. Right about now, he realized that ignoring feelings like these does in fact have its consequences. He decides to pick up his phone and ask for more help. Asking for help is very out of character for him. He tends to try and deal with stuff on his own, no matter how big or how small. But in this case, he trusted Shuichi, and even he knew that this was something he needed help on. So, he shot Shuichi a text.
“heyy saihara, I kind of need your help again” Only a few seconds went by before he got an answer.
“Hey Ouma, what do you need?”
“sooo I sort of havent been ablw to tell kaede about the wholeee having a crush on her thing yet. what exactly did you say to kaito that made it so easy”
“Well, it’s never ‘easy’ no matter what you say or how you word it. It sort of just... came out and I happened to get lucky. You have to be yourself; you have to be confident. If you keep asking me what to say, you’re gonna sound more like me rather than yourself.’
“why do u type so fancy”
“Are you going to take my help or not?”
“yea yea, sooo helpful. thanks shu!”
“Anytime. If you need anything else, I’ll be here.”
He sighed. That didn’t help much at all, but he didn’t feel like saying that. Instead of asking for help, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
“heyyy hey hey hey kaede kaede!!” Yet again, an almost instantaneous reply.
“Hey Ko!! What’s up? :)”
“say, how would you like it for me to pick you up at 8 o’ clock latr today? we can go out to eat, my treat”
“Oh! Quite the sudden request. What’s the special occasion?”
“what, cant I just want to hang out with my best pal? I'll see you there, dress nice! >:p”
“Alrighty then, I'll see you there! >u<”
The way she matched the emoticons he used whenever he used them was special to him. Well, there’s no turning back now. The invitation has been sent and the plans have been made. Let’s just... hope this goes well. Just remember what Shuichi said. Be yourself, say what you think feels right, be confident. This should be easy enough. And with that, Kokichi got up and started getting ready. He went with a black dress shirt, an elegant purple vest overtop of it and a white coat over that. He wore a simple pair of white pants and some black slightly heeled loafers to go with it. With all that, he wore a black and white checkered tie. It was currently 7 o’ clock, an hour before his ‘date’ with Kaede. He still had some time, so he took the time to freshen up and make sure he looked somewhat presentable. Ten minutes later, he gathered his things and exited the house, then getting into his car. Before picking up Kaede, he made a quick stop at the nearest grocery store. He picked up some candy to give Kaede after dinner. One of them was a chocolate bar, the wrapping was designed to look like piano keys. He was already outside of Kaede’s house by 7:40, sending her a text to let her know of his presence. She came out around 10 minutes later, getting into the passenger seat of the car. She wore a pink, layered dress that had flowers at the top of the bodice. Her hair was in a bun that was tied up with a bow. There were basically hearts in Kokichi’s eyes.
“Woww, you took ‘wear something nice’ very seriously.” He smiled, easily hiding the fact that his heart was bursting upon seeing her.
“You said dress nicely! Besides, I think you look a lot fancier than I do.” She smiled, face flushing only slightly red at the complement. Meanwhile, Kokichi was internally marveling at Kaede's pulchritude as she sat back, placing her bag in the back seat.
“So, what were ya thinking? I haven't actually picked a restaurant yet since I don’t really know what you like, so I figured I’d just ask ya!” He actually felt a little bad for making Kaede choose the restaurant, but he couldn’t ever admit that. He also just wanted this date to go as smoothly as possible, making sure he took her to a restaurant she actually liked. He would hate to force her to eat food she doesn’t even like. Or worse, accidentally take her to some place where the only thing they serve is stuff she's allergic to. Therefore, it's naturally better to let her pick the place, right?
“Oh, I know a really good Italian place that has some really good pasta! Can we go there?” Perfect! Italian food always has plain options, he can’t go wrong with that! At least he won’t have to eat something that has way too many toppings for him to handle.
“Ooo, I love Italian food! We have sooo much in common, Kaede! We should just get married right now!” He smiled, speaking in a tone that sounded like he was joking but he didn’t really know if he was. Well, maybe not marriage, but he was definitely ready to be more than friends already. Kaede smiled in return.
“Slow down, Ouma. There’s a long way to go for that!”
“Aww, rejection already? I was really looking forward to it!” He pouted jokingly before returning to his neutral face. “Let’s get going already! Gimmie the address to the restaurant and I’ll get us there.”
“Alright, here, I sent it to you. Don’t break the speed limit though...”
“I won’t, I won’t! Do you not trust my driving, Kaede?” He pouted jokingly once more. Kaede giggled in response before Kokichi started the car, pulling out of the driveway and following the GPS to the restaurant. Once they got there, Kokichi quickly exited the car and rushed over to open Kaede’s door for her, holding his hand out like a gentleman. In response, Kaede grabbed her back from the back seat and exited the car, taking Kokichi’s hand.
“Well, aren’t you sweet?” She smiled, closing the door of the car once she got out. Kokichi locked the car, putting his keys in his pocket and taking Kaede by the hand once again.
“I’m taking you on a date, I have to treat you well! Now c’monnn, let's go! I’m sooo hungry, I haven’t eaten anything since I texted you!”
“Okay okay, let's go then.” They went in, getting seated and quickly getting their orders in. Kokichi ordered a grape soda with a plain personal cheese pizza. Kaede ordered a lemonade with a plate of ravioli. The date went well as they engaged in conversation, laughed, talked, joked, and so on. Kokichi ended up paying after they got some dessert; an Italian ice cream dish of some sort. Once they were done and paid, they got up and went back to the car, only to talk more.
“Thank you for inviting me out, Kokichi. If I’m being entirely honest, I was planning on staying home bored and watching bad movies before I got tired and passed out. I can say that this definitely lightened up my night. Truly, thank you.”
“It was no problem, Kaede! I just wanted an excuse to leave the house.” He smiled at her, smile slightly fading after a little. His tone slightly dropped, catching Kaede only slightly off-guard.
“Actually, I... did want to tell you something.” Kokichi admits it was a slightly uncomfortable feeling. He wasn’t usually so open with his feelings, let alone feelings like these. Kaede nodded in response, allowing him to continue. She seemed attentive. One of the reasons Kokichi liked her so much. She always paid so much attention to what he said, she always understood what he meant and why he lied so much, why he hid his feelings so much. He wasn’t an asshole; he was just scared. It was a trauma response, not something he could help. It was something most people didn’t get, which is why it felt so special to him.
“I actually realized a few months ago buttttt... I’m not very good with emotions. I figured I wanted to tell you already since I was getting impatient, so I invited you out to tell you. Ah...” He seemed uncharacteristically nervous, a shy side to him that Kaede had never seen before. She had to admit it made her curious.
“You know I’m all about fun, right? I hate it when things or people are boring. I can’t focus if it makes me wanna fall asleep! And ah... I can say that uh... you’re... not boring. You’re actually... really fun to talk to. And I like talking to you! Which is weird, because I’ve never... done that before. And I was confused because it was something completely new to me and I-” He was suddenly cut off by Kaede’s hand on his cheek and her lips on his. His eyes widened, Kaede pulling back shortly after.
‘I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself. You were just taking so long and I-” Kokichi kissed her in return, Kaede quickly kissed back. They pulled back after a few seconds before just looking at each other, Kokichi beginning to laugh.
“It was that obvious, huh? Too bad, I had a whole other part planned out!”
“Well, I was really just hoping I guessed what you were gonna say correctly... Besides, you asked me to marry you earlier! If you didn’t want me to guess, you should’ve been subtle.” She smiled at him.
“Well, maybe I wanted you to guess! And what if I was just lying when I said that, hm? You would never know!”
“Well, considering your reaction, I don’t think you were.” Her smile grew as her thoughts ran wild. “So, does this mean we’re like... together now?”
“Do you want it to mean that? Because I know I want it to mean that. Otherwise, I just spend 200 bucks on Italian food for no reason.” He giggled.
“Hey, the food was good! Your pizza looked amazing, and my ravioli was really good too! And you can’t deny the ice cream was the best part.”
“Yea yea, you’re an Italian food defender. Answer my question already!” He pouted playfully.
“Yes, Kokichi, I do want it to mean that. Is that... okay?” He kissed her in response.
“What do you think? Oh, I also got you candy before I picked you up. Here.” He handed her a supermarket bag that was filled with various types of candies, gummies, and chocolate. They giggled, kissing once more before Kokichi pulled out of the driveway, dropping Kaede off at her house before going back home.
“wow detective, your advice actually worked!!!”
“Hi Ouma, I assume the date went well?”
“yuppppp I have a girlfriend now >: )"
“Good for you, Ouma.”