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After school, Kaido called everyone to a ramen store. It was quite unusual, if Saiki did say so himself, because Kaido's mother often forced him to go straight home and study.
Of course, Nendo and Saiki were not ones to turn down ramen. So they went.
Kaido was uncharacteristically silent as they walked, with his head dipped and hands fidgeting with the hem of his school uniform. He was muttering inaudible sentences and ignored every 'you okay there little guy?' that Nendo offered.
Eventually, Nendo just started ignoring Kaido. Saiki was his chosen victim for those twenty minutes.
"So, technically, two plus two is five because the plus could be another number, am I right? Anyways..."
And the rest is history that Saiki's not willing to remember.
The crunch of gravel, the whistling of mid-winter wind, and Nendo's insistent yammering filled the silence left by Kaido's muteness, and although it was strange not hearing Kaido's voice preaching absolute bullcrap every two seconds, Saiki was grateful.
He knew what Kaido was quiet about, obviously, because he's a psychic and can read minds.
Nendo stayed oblivious to Kaido's behavior, and used the power of his deliriously boring voice to make everything seem... normal. Or, at least, close to normal.
They got to the ramen place after twenty minutes of Nendo's useless and borderline brain cell harmful Ted Talk. Kaido was still quiet, thank himself.
They were met by Teruhashi, Kuboyasu, and Yumehara. Teruhashi, spotting Saiki, flipped her hair over her shoulder and gave a small, charming smile. Saiki saw only facial muscles contorting.
Yumehara waved hello and cheerfully greeted them. Kuboyasu just grunted and smirked. It irritated Saiki, like it always did. Why do you act like a bulldog?
Kaido, however, buried his face in his scarf to hide the rosy flush spreading across his face.
Saiki was tempted to put on his telepathy blocking ring upon hearing Kaido's following thoughts.
Finally, finally, they entered the ramen shop.
They sat down at a window table. It was kind of annoying, because Teruhashi's Perfect Girl Golden Sparkle Aura™ kept glinting off of the window every time she moved and blinded Saiki. She did it purposefully, of course.
"Ramen for table four?" The waitress balanced six bowls of sloshing ramen on her plastic tray with one hand while reading off of a receipt in the other.
The friendly chatter descended into slurping and occasionally conversation as they ate their ramen. The whole time, Kaido just picked at his bowl and looked so miserable, Saiki almost felt bad for him. Almost.
When everyone had nearly finished their bowls and were ready to pay, Kaido finally spoke.
It was more like a feeble cough, but it caught their attention just fine.
"I, um, have something to tell you guys."
He was met with silence and waiting stares.
He cleared his throat. "Ahem. So... um...."
"Just spit it out!" Nendo laughed, a noodle slipping out of his mouth.
"Uhhh.. so... um..."
This was getting hard to watch. Kaido losing his knowledge of words, losing his will, losing probably his pride too.
"Just say it," Yumehara encouraged gently. "we don't bite."
"Yeah, unless it's something bad about me," Kuboyasu barked out.
Kaido suddenly turned very red and Saiki had half the mind to teleport himself back home so he wouldn't have to suffer through the second hand embarrassment; and the images flashing through Kaido's mind that Saiki unfortunately was shared with.
"Kaido, it's okay, just say it," Teruhashi urged, flashing a kind smile. This time, Nendo blushed. Saiki wanted to explode the shop right then and there.
Kaido took a deep breath.
"ILIKEGUYS!"
The table goes very quiet. They're all just staring at Kaido, who is a volcanic scarlet color, and fiddling nervously with the straps of his school bag.
"That's great, Kaido," Yumehara is the first to speak, her voice trimmed with microscopic amounts of disappointment but supportive nonetheless. "I'm really glad you had the courage to come out of the closet like that."
The rest of the table offers 'good for you man' and 'i'm glad you told us' with smiles.
"He wasn't in a closet," Nendo juts in, looking very confused. Or maybe he just looks like that all the time. "we're in a ramen shop."
Yumehara shares a look with Kaido. "T-that's not what it means."
"Well, there's no closets around here, so it can't really mean anything," Nendo scoffs. "why was he even in a closet in the first place? Why was there a closet in a ramen shop?"
Saiki sighs. Loudly.
"Nendo, Kaido was very brave coming out like that, please don't make fun of him," Teruhashi says sternly.
"He didn't come out of anything, though, he was sitting there the whole time," Nendo replies, raising an eyebrow. "You guys are really messing with me."
"Nendo, I like guys, okay," Kaido looks on the verge of tears. From laughter or from nerves, Saiki doesn't know.
"Uhhh... okay? I'm a guy and we're friends, so you like me, right?"
Kaido presses the heels of his palm into his eyes and makes a long, hollow sound. Yumehara pats his shoulder.
"No, it means I like like guys."
"You think we're best friends?" Nendo's eyes light up, and Saiki thinks about the consequences of bursting out laughing.
"This is seriously my last straw," Kaido sighs.
"There's straws right there."
"Auagghhhhhhhhhhhhh....."
"What?"
Nendo looks around the table, still confused. "You guys are looking at me like I'm stupid."
There's a collective sharp intake of breath.
Kuboyasu eventually (heavy on the eventual) gets it into Nendo's vault-thick skull that a) Kaido does not think they're best friends and b) Kaido likes guys romantically. There's a lot of unsavory cursing and table pounding, but it works.
After that, nobody can stomach any more conversation, so they just pay and leave.
The sky is still light, but the dusk sky is a vivid gold and littered with dark purple clouds. The sun casts long, dusty orange shadows on the asphalt.
Kaido comes out of the shop looking a little less sick than before, his complexion returning to its usual warm alabaster.
Kuboyasu, however, pushes open the shop's double doors with a pale chartreuse tint to his cheeks.
Everybody else walks ahead, clutching scarves to faces and with brisk paces to return ahead of the frigid night winds.
Kaido lags behind the group, kicking loose pieces of gravel.
Suddenly, Kuboyasu grabs Kaido's wrist and motions for him to fall back.
"Um, Aren?"
Kuboyasu is oddly bashful, avoiding Kaido's gaze and rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.
"Okay." He clears his throat. "I um... I like you." Kaido's eyes widen in surprise. "A lot." Kuboyasu stares meaningfully at Kaido, lips pressed into a straight line, a fear of rejection brewing in his chest.
"I-I like you too," Kaido murmurs quietly.
"Really?" Kuboyasu sounds over the moon. Literally. With how high his voice has gone, he could be an opera singer.
“Yes, Aren-kun!”
Kuboyasu laces their fingers together, smiling the widest he’s ever smiled. Kaido smiles right back, squeezing Kuboyasu’s hand and nuzzling into his neck.
Currently, Saiki is between a romance anime couple and Teruhashi, who is eyeing him over her shoulder.
Gun to my head I say pull the trigger, he thinks miserably.