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Shuichi Saihara loves parties.
Not in the way most of the students do. Shuichi isn’t there for sex or drinks or drugs, he’s there to watch.
Growing up, him and his uncle would get tea and walk to the park. They’d find a table and just… people-watch. The first time they went was just a few months after his uncle got full custody, so Shuichi was about nine. They got a few snacks that day, too. He specifically remembers his uncle saying stuff like, “You can learn a lot from people’s mannerisms, kiddo.” He would then point out a couple people, telling Shuichi about how their behavior relates to their actions and feelings.
Of course, this was not an ideal bonding activity for most kids. His uncle hadn’t really interacted with children before this.
Shuichi found some fun in it, though. He liked being able to read people. Pick up on the slightest furrow of a brow, catch a tiny hint of a smile, and spot subtle nervous habits. It helped him fit in with the kids at middle school, since he could always tell when someone needed something.
So going out with his uncle to people-watch became a habit. They’d go once a month or so, depending on work and school schedules. Unfortunately, Shuichi people-watching on his own also became a habit. As he went into high school, he stuck to corners, not making many friends. People found him weird, usually named some kind a pervert for “always watching people.”
Then he switched to Hope’s Peak for tenth grade. Everyone there was eccentric in their own way, so no one really cared about Shuichi’s odd habit. Plus, the peculiar behavior of his fellow students made for very interesting parties, hence Shuichi’s love for Hope’s Peak Academy parties.
He arrived with Kaede, since she insists on getting ready together. Not that Shuichi minds, since she helps him do some make-up. Nothing heavy, he’s not aiming to stand out, but just a little eyeliner and mascara. Blush, too, but only lightly. She left his side roughly ten minutes after they got to Rantaro’s house, most likely to hang out with the host himself. No matter, Shuichi can people watch in peace from one of the cozy loveseats in a corner.
It’s quite nice over here, actually. Two loveseats, a deep purple rug, and a dim, warm lamp. Perfect spot to observe the others.
He spots Angie trying to convert Himiko, and Tenko trying to talk both of them out of it. She seems to be on the verge of hitting the artist, but her favoritism towards all women doesn’t let her. This is nothing new.
Miu is at the drink table pouring something into one of the pitchers. Still pretty typical. Shuichi sips from his own cup, happy he got something to drink before she inevitably spikes it all.
Kaito is… doing push-ups? Oh, no, he’s just on the floor. Shuichi can’t really tell why. Maki, Korekiyo, and Kiibo are near him. He tries to read their lips, but can’t quite make it out. He’ll just ask Kaito why he was on the floor later.
Kaede found a corner to flirt with Rantaro. Fun. He’s happy for her, honestly. She’s been going crazy over Rantaro since the fourth month into their first year. Rantaro seems to be returning her advances tonight, so yay for her! He’ll have to deal with the debrief tomorrow, but he doesn’t mind. Kaede is a good storyteller, even if she gets… detailed.
Kirumi is in the kitchen, which is very normal. She never stops working, which is unfortunate, but Shuichi can’t really comment on it. He’s detective-ing tonight, too. For fun! Crazy! At least Gonta is in there trying to help her.
Ryoma is in a corner keeping to himself. Shuichi still isn’t sure how Kaede convinced him to come. Tsumugi walks up to Ryoma now, talking about… something. He isn’t sure if he wants to know what she’s trying to convince the tennis player to do.
Who is he missing? Oh, right, Kokichi. That’s weird. Kokichi is normally the life of parties, messing with everyone throughout the night. Shuichi looks around the room, not spotting that familiar head of spiky violet hair.
“Detective!”
Kokichi gracefully (not) falls into Shuichi’s lap, his head on the detective’s thighs. His feet are propped up on the armrest, since he can’t fit on just the cushions laying out like that.
Where did he come from??
“Kokichi?”
“Don’t sound so surprised! I was busy~ One of my heists took a wrong turn! I had to run forever to not get caught!”
“Yeah? Didn’t get followed here, did you?”
“Do you take me for an amateur!? Of course not!”
Shuichi chuckles. Despite Kokichi being one of the most odd people in their class, he’s easy to talk to. Shuichi is one of the only people to think that, though.
“So, what are you doing in this corner all by yourself? Brooding like a detective in a film noir?”
“Ah- I’m, um, people-watching, I suppose.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“That’s so boring. But so you. Weirdo.”
“It’s not weird! It’s… interesting.”
“Synonyms, Shuichi.”
“They’re not.”
“In this situation, they definitely are.”
Shuichi just sighs. Their banter is fun, but Kokichi can be impossible. It’s intriguing, the way the shorter boy can pull him in so effortlessly.
“Anything interesting, then?”
“Um. Everything’s pretty normal. The lemonade got spiked.”
“Miu? Yeah, typical. Any idea why Kaito is on the ground?”
“No clue. Probably a dare.”
Kokichi just hums. His round purple eyes are focused on the detective, even though he’s scanning the room for anything ‘interesting’. Shuichi looks back to Kokichi though, then blushes a little after realizing that he was staring.
“What?”
Kokichi grins, “You’re hot when you analyze like that.”
“What?”
“I said-”
“No, no. I heard you! Just surprised. I didn’t think you’d… admit something like that.”
“Admit? Aw, detective, you’re so confident. Just waiting for people to compliment you, huh?”
“That’s not what I meant! Um, you always say things in such roundabout ways. It’s weird to hear you be so blunt, especially about someone’s appearance.”
“Is it?”
“Y-yeah. But. Um. Thank you, I guess.”
Kokichi’s grin softens. It becomes something less mischievous, but only by a little bit. You could never take the mischief out of him. He sits up, then adjusts his position so his back is against the arm rest, his knees over Shuichi’s thighs.
“Wanna take a break from your people-watching?”
“Sure? What are you thinking?”
Kokichi drops his voice a little bit and whispers, “Want to get out of here?”
Now, Shuichi isn’t stupid. He’s well aware of the typical implication of that phrase. It makes him turn pink. But… hearing it from Kokichi is so unexpected. He’s rarely upfront like that about what he wants.
“...Are you messing with me?”
“Nishishi… you got me! It’s a lie!”
Shuichi pauses. He saw a flicker of disappointment on the other boy’s face, he knows it.
“Where are we going?”
Kokichi’s grin brightens up again, “Is your house free? All my si- err, organization members are at my base! Still regrouping from that heist earlier!” Almost slipped the word ‘siblings’ in there, oops.
“Yeah. My uncle is in Europe right now on a case, and my aunt is with a friend tonight.”
“Great! Allons-y!”
Kokichi stands up, grabbing Shuichi’s hand and pulling him along. Normally, Shuichi would panic about leaving without telling anyone where he’s going, but… whatever. He has Kokichi leading him out.
They exit Rantaro’s house without anyone questioning them. They fall into step together along the sidewalk, still holding hands.
“How far is it? My legs will explode in two minutes and then you’ll have to carry me!”
Shuichi chuckles, “Only a five minute walk.”
They walk in silence for a bit, Kokichi getting just a bit closer to Shuichi’s side. This whole thing feels oddly normal, even if they’ve never, ever touched upon stuff like this.
“I don’t wanna dash your dreams, Shuichi, but we’re not going all the way, ‘kay? I just got bored of that dull party!”
“Okay,” Honestly, Shuichi didn’t really want to do all that, anyway, “You were there for like five minutes.”
“Yeah, and I was bored!”
“Okay, okay.”
Shuichi looks down at Kokichi and smiles. Honestly, he’s developed a bit of a crush on him over the past five or six months. This feels… unreal. His heart rate picks up, reality settling in.
They chat mindlessly for the next few minutes, and eventually arrive at Shuichi’s quaint house. He fumbles with his key for a moment, then finally unlocks the door. Kokichi walks in like he’s been here a hundred times (it’s his first), but then looks around.
“Nice place!”
“Thanks?”
Shuichi steps in front after locking the door, leading them to his bedroom. His room isn’t decorated very much, it’s very simple. A full-sized bed, a shelf of books, a desk with a lot of files and homework across it. He has a navy rug, too, in the center of his room.
Kokichi gets comfortable quickly, rushing over to Shuichi’s bed and laying down on it. He grins, like he feels so confident in this moment. It makes the detective question just how many people he’s asked to go home with before.
“Are you going to stand there all night~?” He giggles, and it makes Shuichi discard his worries. Why be wary of others when Kokichi is in front of him now?
“Sorry. Zoned out.”
“My beauty shocked you that much!?”
“Apparently.”
Shuichi smiles softly, walking over to his bed. He settles in over Kokichi, being careful to not put any weight on him. He licks his lips nervously, then glances from Kokichi’s lips to his eyes.
He nods. So Shuichi leans down, and their lips meet. It’s soft and chaste and perfect and over way too quickly. He kisses Kokichi again, letting it linger now. It’s a little messy, since Kokichi had lip gloss on for the party. The stickiness of it makes Shuichi cringe a little, but he can’t find it in himself to care about it that much.
He pulls away with a quiet giggle.
“Are you laughing at me, detective!?”
“No! Just, um, happy.”
“You’re such a dork!”
Shuichi smiles. His arms are shaking a little. Even though he’s been training with Kaito, he’s not exactly the strongest. It makes Kokichi laugh.
“Sit up before you fall on me.”
“Yeah, okay.”
He does, carefully getting off of Kokichi, who also sits up. Shuichi leans against the wall (his bed is in the corner), so Kokichi finds his place in his lap, thighs on either side of the detective’s hips.
Kokichi cups his hands around Shuichi’s cheeks, then leans in, the kiss a bit rougher than before. Shuichi’s hands find their place on Kokichi’s waist, albeit a bit awkwardly. It’s his first time, okay?
Both of them have very little experience, so they continue just kissing for a while, which does make Shuichi incredibly giddy. His crush is in his arms, against his lips. It’s perfect and clumsy. He feels Kokichi’s tongue poke at his lips, sending a shiver down his spine. He didn’t really expect it – though he should’ve, honestly.
He lets Kokichi in, their tongues cautiously exploring at first, before giving into their teenage hormones and needs. It gets rough, messy. Shuichi is lost in the feeling of it all. His hands slide under Kokichi’s shirt, moving back to his waist. One of Kokichi’s hands moves to the nape of Shuichi’s neck, the other finding its spot in navy hair.
Kokichi pulls away first, breathing heavy. Shuichi smiles weakly while also trying to catch his breath.
“Wow, detective, haa… didn’t realize you were so experienced, nishishi!”
“Um.. I’m not.”
“Oh! Hey me neither!”
Kokichi laughs.
“Really?”
“Really! What, expected me to have hundreds of guys after me?”
“...Yeah, I did.”
“God, you’re smooth.”
Another kiss from Kokichi, a quick one.
“What! I’m serious! You’re… charming.”
Kokichi just bursts into a fit of giggles, squirming a bit.
“Yeah?”
“Mhm.”
“What else?”
“What… else?”
Kokichi nods excitedly, happy to fluster the detective for a moment.
“Um. You’re really cute, I’ve always noticed that. Nice.”
“Nice? Honey, I’m an evil supreme leader!” The nickname slipped out, oops.
Shuichi nods, losing a bit of his awkwardness. He always does when he starts to get into detective-ing.
“You prank people, of course, but it’s usually to help them. Like that time you booby trapped Kaito’s dorm room, but we later found out that there was a carbon monoxide leak inside.”
“Or when-”
Kokichi puts a finger over his lips.
“Okay, okay, detective. I get it.”
“Sorry.” He tops his apology off his a kiss to the tip of the shorter boy’s nose.
Shuichi smiles, his hands moving farther up Kokichi’s torso. His skin is really soft. Kokichi reaches to take off his shirt and then-
“Meow?”
His door opens, courtesy of a small black cat pawing it open.
“Kitty!”
And Kokichi is up in a second, off of his lap to go pet the cat. Goddamnit, how did his own pet cockblock him tonight? Shuichi sighs, deciding to stand up and follow the other boy, also reaching down to scratch behind her ears.
“What’s it’s name!” He looks like a kid in a candy store. It’s adorable. It makes Shuichi want to pin him against a wall and kiss him again.
“Estrella.”
“Estrella?”
“My uncle found her in Mexico. A lady there named her.”
“Oooh, what’s it mean?”
“Star.”
“Cuuute!!!!”
Kokichi picks up the cat.
“Ah, wait she might-”
Now, Estrella has never let anyone pick her up. She does not fight against Kokichi.
“Huh?”
“...Nevermind. She never lets me pick her up. I thought she might claw at you.”
“Oh! So she likes me more!” Kokichi giggles, “As expected! I will recruit her!”
“Please don’t.”
“You’re no fun!!”
They make their way back to Shuichi’s bed. Shuichi is lying between the wall and Kokichi, with the cat sprawled across both of their stomachs.
They talk for a little while, just meaningless conversation. Most of it is Kokichi regaling him with dramatic tales of heists and vandalism. From his tone, Shuichi is easily able to tell that at least ninety percent of it is lies. Eventually, he quiets down, and Shuichi realizes that he fell asleep. Cute.
…So maybe he grabs his phone and takes a selfie of the three of them, even if his own face is barely poking out of the corner. He’s never been a photo guy, but Kokichi looks adorable. So does Estrella, but that’s besides the point.
When he goes to look back at what he took, he finally notices all his text messages. Mostly from Kaede and Kaito. All asking where he went. He quickly texts their groupchat of him, Kaito, Kaede, and Maki that he just went home earlier. Hopefully they don’t question him further, since this is pretty in character.
He quickly adds “btw kaito why were you on the floor earlier” Then checks his messages with just Kaede, seeing her small rant about Rantaro. He’s way too tired to deal with this right now, so he just sends “want to get boba tomorrow so you can tell me about it”
He sets his phone down, not able to plug it in tonight since there’s a cat on him and a boy cuddled up next to him. He just hopes it won’t fall later. His last screen protector just broke a few weeks ago.
˚₊‧꒰ა . ——— ˗ˏˋ ✮ ˎˊ˗ ——— ˖ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚
When Shuichi wakes up, Kokichi and Estrella are gone. He understands the cat leaving, she always does, but Kokichi? He’s probably poking around somewhere.
…unless he regretted it?
Shit, no, he can’t be thinking like that this early in the morning. Shuichi brushes his hair quickly, then leaves his room, only to hear… conversation? From the kitchen?
He walks over… Oh, great. It’s his aunt and Kokichi at the kitchen island. Kokichi is on one of the chairs, Estrella in the one next to him. His aunt is cooking omurice.
“Good morning,” Shuichi mutters, still half-asleep.
“Shuichi! Morning!” Kokichi grins. Shuichi can only imagine what his aunt has been saying. Something embarrassing, he’s sure.
“Good morning, honey. Have a seat! Breakfast is almost ready!” She smiles. Her black hair is in a loose bun, and her light make-up from last night with her friends is not fully washed off.
“I tried to help I swear!” Kokichi puts his hands up in surrender, like Shuichi was going to accuse him of being a freeloader, “She is very determined!”
“Hush, you.”
Shuichi just sighs. What a great way to start the morning. He takes the seat next to Estrella, who quietly mrows at him.
“Sooo, Shuichi!”
“Hm?”
“I didn’t know that you played the cello!”
He sighs, “I haven’t played in years. Why tell him that?”
His aunt smiles at him, “We needed something to talk about! I figured I should tell the boy you brought home about your hobbies!”
Kokichi and his aunt giggle at the light blush on Shuichi’s cheeks. How did they manage to team up on him??
“I’m going to make myself a cup of coffee…” Shuichi stands up, then goes to the cabinet to grab a mug.
“What are you, 50?”
“In his heart!”
Both Kokichi and his aunt start giggling. Shuichi shakes his head and ignores them, turning on the coffee machine that his uncle bought last year.
This is… nice, actually. As annoying as this duo is, it’s kind of fun. He was expecting his aunt to at least question him a little bit about a guy staying the night. It feels really normal. His aunt and Kokichi continue talking, with Shuichi joining in sometimes.
His aunt puts a plate of omurice in front of each of them with a smile, then turns off the stove and puts the pan in the sink.
“I’m going to go shower. Shuichi, clean up. Don’t let him help, he’s a guest.”
Shuichi nods, and his aunt heads down the hallway and into the master bedroom. Kokichi is happily eating his breakfast while Shuichi eats his slowly.
“Sooo,” Shuichi starts, but trails off, unsure of how to approach the topic of ‘i tongued you last night but now we’re eating breakfast together like nothing happened’
“So!” Kokichi just grins at him, then takes another bite. Shuichi decides to ignore the topic for now.
“...You can eat slower, you know.”
“I physically can’t! I’m being puppeteered by a rat!”
“Is your name Linguini?”
“Maybe!”
Shuichi chuckles, taking another slow bite. Based on how quickly he eats home cooked meals, and his overall small stature…
“You can come over whenever, you know. Meals or… just to hang out.”
‘I don’t want this to be a one time thing’
“Okie dokie! I will definitely take you up on it! Bothering you is my favorite hobby, Shumai!”
‘Me neither’
“Shumai?”
“Yes!”
“...Okay then.”
They eat the rest of their omurice in silence, which is surprising for Kokichi. He always seems so full of energy, but maybe quiet mornings like this just work for him. Shuichi handles the dishes, which Kokichi was very happy about.
“I should get going. My members are probably soooooo worried about me! I don’t want a search party happening this early in the morning!”
“Okay.” Shuichi tries not to let the disappointment show on his face while he dries his hands off.
“I’ll see you tomorrow at school! If the police don’t catch me!”
Shuichi smiles softly and nods. Kokichi walks over to the door, and Shuichi follows. He’s halfway outside when Shuichi grabs his wrist.
“Huh-”
And kisses him. Quick, but soft and sweet nonetheless.
“Um. See you tomorrow. … It was nice having you over.”
Kokichi grins, “Yeah. I had fun.” He waves excitedly, then heads down the sidewalk.
Shuichi shuts the door slowly, then slides down it and sits on the hardwood floor.
What the fuck.
He has a lot to update Kaede about later.