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It rains on the day Kaito is supposed to come back. Kokichi wakes up hours before his alarm and creeps out to the patio, hiding under a large umbrella and wrapped up in one of Kaito’s hoodies, breathing in the smell of his aftershave. Kaito will be back in his arms in just half a day, and even despite this, Kokichi can’t help running his hands up and down the fabric of Kaito’s sweatshirt, closing his eyes and tucking his nose into the collar as if the smell could in any way take the place of the person.
Of course it would be raining. Kokichi’s never particularly liked the rain, but he’s liked it more since meeting Kaito, who always seems to come to life a bit in the water, splashing around and grinning wide like a puppy or something. Childish. But Kokichi is childish too, and it’s hard to feel dismissive when he’s watching the way Kaito’s eyes sparkle every time he comes across a big water puddle, so… Kokichi can’t exactly complain.
He sure can complain now, though. Kokichi’s nose wrinkles when a particularly large blob of water lands on his sock and he draws his legs in closer to his chest. Distracted as he is by the inconvenience, he almost doesn’t hear the front door open and shut, a blonde head of hair in his peripheral acting as an announcement of Miu’s presence. Even noticing her, Kokichi doesn’t say anything to greet her, just extending a hand past the edge of his umbrella to catch water in his palm.
“You look pathetic,” Miu calls as she approaches. She’s wrapped in a bathrobe, so maybe she has a leg to stand on, but a quick glance over tells Kokichi that the pair of star-patterned boxers she’s wearing does in fact belong to their boyfriend.
So he sticks his tongue out. “Says the bitch who woke up crying about being abandoned at least once a week for the past six months.”
Miu sputters. “I-I thought we weren’t gonna talk about that!”
“What’s the point in lying about it?” Kokichi scoffs, flicking water at Miu the moment she comes close enough, but he lets it drop after that. Miu might be the one who wakes up in tears, but that doesn’t mean Kokichi has missed Kaito any less… even knowing he’s out there fulfilling his destiny or whatever. “Hey, are you out here to do anything useful, or did you just come to flap your gums? Because your whore face is a real eyesore before I’ve had my coffee.”
Miu whimpers. It’s funny, ‘cause Kokichi doesn’t even drink coffee, but she’s too flustered by Kokichi’s insult to rebuke him as she slides onto the chair behind him, her arms curling around his shoulders. She’s warm, though not as warm as Kaito, and because Kokichi is craving the touch he leans back into her embrace. Good enough. And he loves Miu anyway—even if it’s not quite in the way that she loves him—so he can be content with her arms. Has been content with her arms for the past six months… though he really is starting to miss Kaito something awful.
Good thing he’s coming home today. Kokichi hates caring this much about people. He takes another deep breath in through the fabric of Kaito’s sweatshirt, then lets it out through his lips.
“Did I scare you?” Kokichi asks, more seriously.
He feels it against his shoulder when Miu shakes her head. “Nah. You get outta bed at ass o’clock way too much for it to fuck me up now. Besides, you left the door open.”
Ah, yeah. She probably got cold. Kokichi snickers at the reminder and only stops when Miu grabs and yanks on his ear.
“That’s so mean,” Kokichi whines without heat, reaching up to rub the shell of his ear.
“You deserved it,” Miu retorts, before relaxing again. “You excited?”
Obviously Kokichi is excited. He gives Miu a bit of a side-eye at the obvious question. At the same time, though, he can understand why she asked; she probably feels a bit insecure about how much she misses Kaito, a bit clingy… she needs affirmation that Kokichi too is feeling what she feels in order to verbalise it. Unfortunate that Kokichi doesn’t actually deal in mushy gushy feelings like that, not in the slightest… but he can still throw Miu a bone.
“Nope! I haven’t missed that big lug for even a second!” Kokichi declares, voice bold and quite loud for the early hour. “In fact, I’m dreading his return tonight! He’s gonna make a tooootal mess.”
This, of course, is a lie. Not just the part about not missing Kaito, but the mess thing—though Kokichi and Miu do do their best to pitch in, Kaito tends to have the best eye for organisation, so he ends up being the strongest cleaning force in their household. As much as they’ve tried to keep clean in the past six months, Kaito’s probably going to walk right into their apartment and sigh at the mess.
That’s probably fine, but Kokichi will have to keep him from doing any cleaning the second he gets back on earth, at least. Kaito deserves the rest first.
Judging by the snort that Miu lets out in Kokichi’s ear, his lie has clearly landed successfully. “Right. Of fuckin’ course you’d say that.” She exhales. “You’re such a jackass. I dunno how he puts up with you.”
“I hear the sex is pretty good, maybe that’s why.”
“A small king like you? Hard pass.”
They stop talking for a moment to snicker, and Kokichi relaxes back against Miu’s chest, looking up at the cloudy sky. He hopes the rain clears tonight for when Kaito touches down. He deserves a grand finale.
“I’m excited too,” Miu admits. “Feels like I’m losing my mind.”
Kokichi closes his eyes. Him too. It’s scary loving someone as much as he loves Kaito. Addicting, though, like the high you get from skydiving. No matter how dangerous it is, you always want to dive back in, feel the thrill of falling through the sky without the parachute out to catch you… or in this case, of having Kaito hold you close and tell you he’s in love with you.
Jesus. Kaito’s not even back yet and Kokichi’s getting all sappy. He exhales, letting the cool morning air clear out his blush.
“Sure you didn’t lose it already? No offence, Miu-chan, but you come across as totally batshit sometimes.”
Miu shoves at Kokichi’s back. “Asshole! It’s not my fault nobody understands true genius!”
It’s at least fifty percent her fault. But since they’re pretty much in the same boat right now, Kokichi will let it slide. Just this once.
The rain has slowed to more of a light pitter-patter by the time Kokichi pulls up in front of the shuttle landing facility, just slow enough that he doesn’t really need to use his wipers. They’re a bit early—got overexcited on the way out the door—so Kokichi and Miu stay in the car for around twenty minutes while they wait, chattering occasionally but for the most part sitting in silence. It’s not usual for them, but Kokichi always gets a bit meaner when he’s experiencing strong emotion and Miu, on the flip side, gets more sensitive, so it’s better not to talk. Better to just sit with their feelings.
And sit they do, until Kokichi’s alarm goes off and it’s time for them to get out of the car. They’re joined by other families, people Kokichi only vaguely recognises from the launch day six months ago. A few men their age approach Miu on the way in, clearly trying to get her number, and Kokichi lets them go for just long enough to flatter Miu before he steps in and pulls a scary face to get them to back off. Usually he wouldn’t care, but it feels a little disrespectful to try and make moves on Kaito’s girl on the exact day he’s getting back from space. Come on. Have some tact.
Thankfully, Kokichi’s just about stopped thinking about any of the other families present by the time they make their way into the waiting room, where the crew are set to meet them. The others present are still talking amongst themselves, making small talk and reminiscing about their returning loved ones, but Kokichi ignores all of them. He even ignores Miu—which he’ll give some kind of apology for later—in the interest of keeping his eyes trained on the door.
Kaito will be coming through there soon. It’s been six months, and Kokichi has video called him since then, but in all that time Kokichi hasn’t once gotten to see the exact colour of his eyes, trace over Kaito’s freckles with the pads of his fingertips. He hasn’t been able to prod at Kaito’s sides to hear him laugh or kiss him stupid, and he hasn’t been able to feel Kaito’s arms around him, strong and warm and secure—and it’s stupid and humiliating but that’s all Kokichi wants right now. To be sappy with him. To welcome him back to earth in exactly the right way.
When the door opens, a few of the older crew members exit first, received by their family members who take them by the arms and hold them close. Kokichi’s happy for them. Sort of. He’s a little pettily disappointed that it wasn’t Kaito who stepped out first, but in a matter of seconds his boyfriend steps through the door and he’s smiling and his hair is messy and the rest of the room completely disappears as Kokichi takes his first few steps forward.
If Kokichi was thinking a little more coherently, he’d make a joke about the moon walk—one small step for them, one big step for mankind—but as things are, all he can do is warble out some approximation of Kaito’s name and sprint to him, not even giving Kaito a chance to respond before he’s jumping, throwing his arms around Kaito’s neck and holding him tight.
Fortunately, Kaito’s quick on the uptake; aside from a small oof, Kaito’s only real reaction to Kokichi’s sudden arrival is to grab him around the waist and laugh, feet planting firmly on the ground for a moment before Kaito spins them in circles. Kokichi’s too short for his toes to meet the tile as Kaito does this, but it feels dizzyingly good to be this close right now, breathing in that same smell of Kaito’s aftershave, so there’s not a single part of Kokichi that actually wants to complain.
Instead he wraps his legs around Kaito and leans in even closer, nuzzling against his cheek. The rush of emotions flooding his chest is so overwhelming that Kokichi doesn’t know what to do with it, whether he wants to kiss Kaito or tell him he loves him or squeeze him so tight neither of them can breathe, so in the end Kokichi does the one thing he can at this proximity: he bites.
“O-Ow? Kokichi?” Kaito sputters, his grip slackening slightly on Kokichi’s waist before it tightens again. “Why would you—”
“You’re ten times uglier and smellier than I remember you being,” Kokichi declares, right in Kaito’s ear, kissing the spot he chomped down on in apology. “I hate you times a million.”
Kaito exhales through his nostrils. Kokichi’s close enough to feel it against his neck. “Right. Okay.” It’s said through an amused, fond-sounding laugh, and Kokichi can’t help but grumble that Kaito knows him well enough not to be bothered by that stuff now. “I missed you too, ‘Kichi. I love you.”
After saying that, Kaito’s head lifts, and Kokichi catches the way his eyes widen out of the corner of his eye. Guessing that it’s probably Miu, Kokichi unwinds his legs from around Kaito’s waist and wiggles them to get Kaito to put him down.
The moment Kokichi’s feet are planted, Kaito sweeps past him, stopping just a few paces away to scoop Miu up in much the same way as he did to Kokichi. Miu does have a bit of a height advantage though, so she’s on her tiptoes as Kaito swings her around, letting out a shriek of laughter that sounds almost a little bit like a sob.
Hah. Played like a true casual. Kokichi didn’t even cry a little. He wipes at his eyes just to be sure before walking over, a lopsided little grin on his face as he watches Kaito nuzzle into Miu’s neck, squeezing her close like she’s something truly precious. She is, of course, though Kokichi would almost rather die than admit it sometimes, but there’s nobody who makes it look that way more than Kaito. It’s no wonder Miu fell for him.
Kaito pulls back a bit after a beat, resting his forehead against Miu’s and smiling at her. It’s all dopey and soft, his eyes sparkling with fondness. Miu, face bright red, has to turn away, perhaps not used to getting the full brunt of that after a full six months apart. Again: total fucking casual behaviour. Watch this.
“Kai-chaaan,” Kokichi whines. He latches onto one of Kaito’s arms, pulling it off of Miu to hug against his chest. “I really did miss you, you know… I felt like dying every night without you there!”
His complaint gets him a raised eyebrow from Kaito, who does pull his attention off of Miu to look down at Kokichi, lips curling in a slight smirk. “Oh yeah? Sorry for being gone so long then.” He doesn’t sound especially sorry, but then, Kokichi wasn’t being serious about feeling like dying either. There’s nowhere else in the world he’d rather Kaito be than in space, enjoying his passion and fulfilling his lifelong dream.
Just, you know. He’s clingy. It sucked a little.
“It’s true,” Kokichi says, despite this, nodding quickly. “I think I need you to kiss me to make it better!”
Kaito’s other eyebrow raises to join its twin. Without even pausing, he leans down, closing his eyes as his lips meet Kokichi’s. Even though Kokichi had been the one to insist on it, he somehow isn’t expecting Kaito to move in like that without complaint, and his heart ends up skipping a beat, a flush hitting his face. Ah. Right. When it comes to things like this, oftentimes Kaito will just indulge whatever it is Kokichi demands of him—sometimes through complaints, but other times without commenting at all.
When Kaito draws back, his eyes are just as warm and affectionate as they’d been on Miu. Kokichi’s heart skips a beat and he very nearly manages to avoid looking away. Nailed it.
“I already told you I missed you too,” Kaito mumbles. “You better be treating me to dinner tonight.”
“Miu-chan’s treating both of us,” Kokichi states.
“Th-The fuck? I didn’t agree to that!” Miu sputters. When Kaito looks at her, she continues hurriedly, “I mean, o-of course I’ll get you, but Kokichi—”
Kokichi’s eyes well with tears. “What? You won’t even treat me, the second love of your life? That’s so mea—”
“Okay,” Kaito cuts in, putting up a hand. “We can talk about paying in the car.” His lips part in a grin. “You don’t have to pay, though, Miu. I was just messing around.”
Miu’s cheeks puff out. She looks away, seeming more embarrassed than indignant. “W-Well, I know that, but… you shouldn’t have to pay for your fucking welcome-home dinner… I can handle it…”
Simps are an absolute plague on society. This of course does not apply to Kokichi, who even as he nuzzles up against Kaito’s bicep and absorbs his comforting, familiar warmth, is doing so completely selfishly and without a hint of affection in it. When Kaito runs his fingers through Kokichi’s hair and Kokichi shivers, leaning into it, that’s just like. You know. He’s just doing that. For fun.
Kaito smiles. “What do you say we get the hell out of here, huh?”
“Finally! I thought you’d never ask.” Kokichi pulls away from Kaito, in part to spare his dignity and in part so he won’t end up biting the man again, turning towards the door. “Onwards, minions! I parked in the disability parking space so we gotta hurry.”
Pro tip: No he did not. But even knowing this is a lie Miu complains loudly as she follows along behind, and of course Kaito is protesting too about the minion title. Hearing the way their whining mixes together makes a big, broad smile come onto Kokichi’s face, his chest filling with warmth.
Kaito is home. Kokichi was happy for him when he left, happy that he finally got to do the thing he’s always wanted to do… but he’s happy Kaito is back, too. That much is for certain.