But He's So Cute!

"Nope, no way," Shuichi said, shaking his head. "You promised that we would just look, that's it, remember? We don't even have the stuff to take care of it."

"Actually, we do," Kokichi said, cradling the furry creature in his arms. "I already bought food for him and everything. We have to get him."

"What? You already... You were lying to me about just looking, weren't you?"

"Yup," Kokichi said, remorseless. "But look on the brightside, now we can take this little guy home today." He held up the tiny bundle of fur and put on his best wide-eyed, pleading look. "Pleeeeeeease!"

Shuichi bit his lip, trying not to give in, but in the end couldn't deny Kokichi. He sighed. "Fine, I guess it's okay."

"Yay!" Kokichi gave Shuichi a quick hug, then turned his attention to his new friend. "You hear that? You're coming home with us today."

And that was how Sebastian the kitten came to live with Shuichi and Kokichi. At first Shuichi and Sebastian were at war, with Kokichi watching with amusement in the background. The cat knocked all of Shuichi's paperwork to the floor and always stepped all over his keyboard while he was working. Meanwhile, Shuichi locked the cat out of certain rooms (so he wouldn't make a mess) and plopped him back onto the ground whenever he climbed on the furniture. Eventually, though, the two settled into a somewhat stable peace, and on some nights Sebastian could be found watching over both Kokichi and Shuichi from the headboard of their bed.

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When You Ask Your Friends For Help

Kokichi frustratedly crumpled up the piece of paper in his hands and threw it behind him, where is landed among dozens of other crumpled balls.

"ARGH!! Why is this so hard?!"

Of course, he knew why he was having problems. He had never been honest about his feelings even with himself, so how was he supposed to be honest with his feelings towards someone else? He should probably just accept that a liar like him could never-

"Fuck that," Kokichi said out loud, interrupting his thoughts. "Stop making excuses and just write the damn letter already," he told himself.

Hours and hours went by. While the pile of rejected letters slowly spread across the room, Kokichi was still no closer to success than we he started.

Just when he felt frustrated enough to just flip his desk and be done with the whole thing, a knock echoed from the door. Kokichi took a deep breath to regain his composure, then answered the door, kicking paper balls aside on his way there.

"Hey Rantaro," Kokichi greeted his friend, sounding tired. "What do you want?"

Rantaro raised an eyebrow. "I came to check up on you since you haven't left your room all day, but nevermind that. What ran you over? You sound like just woke up after running a marathon and passing out halfway."

"Well, it's a long story involving a mechanical T-rex and several bananas, but either way I'm fine, so if you don't mind," Kokichi began to close the door, only for Rantaro to wedge his foot in the gap.

"Hey, c'mon. I'm your friend, Kokichi. Let me in, you can tell me what's up."

Kokichi looked at him for a moment, considering, then pulled the door back to let Rantaro through. "Fine. There really is nothing wrong, but if you insist."

Rantaro came in and his eyes were immediately drawn to the giant mess of papers strewn across the room. "Whoa, what happened here?"

"The paper uprising happened, duh. What does it look like happened here? Oh, by the way, you should be careful, those origami knights will give you a mean paper cut."

Rantaro rolled his eyes and picked up one of the paper balls

"Hey, what exactly are you doing? Do you always go through people's stuff when the invite you into their room?" Despite his protests, though, Kokichi made no move to stop him.

Rantaro uncrumpled the ball and read the letter. His eyes widened. "Wait, is this a love letter to Shuichi?" He looked around. "Are all of these love letters to Shuichi?"

"Of course not," Kokichi said. "Would I really spend all day just trying to write a letter to him of all people."

"Well, considering that there are like a hundred of these things lying around, I'd say yes. Oh," he said, coming to a realization. "I get it. You want me to help confess your love."

Kokichi looked at him like he was stupid. "Nu-uh. Nope. No way. Like I said, they're not love letters, and even if they were, I'm the Ultimate Supreme Leader, I don't need anyone's help, especially not your's."

"Uhuh," Rantaro said, obviously skeptical. "That's why you let me into your room, where you knew I'd see all these papers, and why you didn't even try and stop me from reading one. Don't worry, I understand. Why don't you come to breakfast tomorrow, and I'll help you set everything straight, or," Rantaro grinned, "I guess not straight, but you know what I mean."

Kokichi could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks, and he didn't even want to know what his expression was. "Okay, fun time's over." He herded Rantaro to the door. "Time for you to leave."

Rantaro held his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay I'm going. I was serious about you coming to breakfast though. Make sure you're there."

"Yeah, yeah. I heard you," Kokichi said, shoving Rantaro out the door.

(next morning in the dining hall, all the students are there)

Kokichi and Rantaro were sitting next to each other. In front of Rantaro lay a small mountain of pancakes drowning in maple syrup and whipped cream. Meanwhile, Kokichi had nothing.

"You sure you don't wanna eat anything?" Rantaro asked. "You're gonna starve if you keep this up."

"At least I'm not racing cookie monster to see who can get diabetes first," Kokichi said, gesturing to Rantaro's food. "You might was well be drinking syrup straight from the bottle."

"I guess I'm just sweet like that," Rantaro said, making Kokichi groan. "Speaking about how sweet I am, I found a way to solve that problem we were talking about yesterday."

"Yeah? How?"

Rantar smirked. "You'll see, and remember, you asked for this." He turned away from Kokichi and yelled, "Hey, Shuichi, can you come over here for a second."

Kokichi froze. "What the fuck are you doing?!" he hissed.

Rantaro didn't show any indication that he'd heard, instead watching as Shuichi came over.

"Good morning Rantaro," Shuichi greeted. "Did you need something?"

"No, I just wanted to tell you that Kokichi has a massive crush on you."

Shuichi gaped at him. "W-what?" Meanwhile, Kokichi was paralyzed by horror, unable to comprehend, much less stop what was happening.

Rantaro nodded sagely. "Yep, it's true. He's even been writing love letters and everything, but he's too afraid to actually tell you, so I thought I'd tell you instead."

"O-oh," Shuichi said in a strangled voice, blood rapidly rising to his face.

"Well, now that I've done my part I'm just gonna go over there where the air is less awkward. Have fun you two!" Rantaro went to sit with Angie and Kiibo at another table, leaving Kokichi and Shuichi staring at each other in shock.

Shuichi was the first one to come to his senses. He spoke, but he refused to look at Kokichi while he did so, holding one arm with the other and lowering his head to gaze determinedly at a spot on the floor. "Was... was what he said... really true? It's not...another lie?"

Kokichi swallowed before answer. "Y-yeah. I mean, yes it's true, and no it's not a lie," Kokichi said. As he spoke, he spotted Rantaro grinning and giving him a thumbs up in the background. "Er, I, um... the thing is, I really, really, like you Shuichi, and, uh," he cleared his throat, "I was wondering if maybe you.. felt the same... or something?"

"I... I don't... this is so sudden. I... I don't know how I feel but, um, I'd be willing to give it a try."

Kokichi gave a wide smile. He was relieved he wasn't rejected, even if it was exactly a yes either. "Thank you! So, um, do you want to go out for dinner or something tonight? If you're not busy that is."

Shuichi smiled hesitantly. "That sounds great."

Later, as everyone was leaving the dining hall, Kokichi passed by Rantaro.

"So, how did it go?" Rantaro asked. "Did you exchange numbers? Oh, and when can we expect the wedding? You'll make me your best man, right?"

Kokichi shook his head. "Don't even talk to me until I know whether I want to thank you or shave all your hair off while you sleep."

Rantaro laughed. "Admit it, you're just grouchy that my plan actually worked."

"That was such a jerk move, just telling him like that. Plus you almost gave me a heart attack."

"Maybe, but I repeat, it actually worked."

"Whatever. And to answer your question, we have a date set for tonight."

"Cool, you'll have to tell me all about it when you get back. I am now completely invested this, so as repayment for my expert help you can tell me all about it when you get back."

"Oh, I know what I want to do. As punishment, I'll just tell you absolutely nothing about what happens. Have fun not knowing," Kokchi said, mimicking Rantaro's words from earlier. He quickly walked away from Rantaro.

"What? Hey wait! Kokichi come on!" Rantaro yelled, chasing after his friend.

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Cycle

Kokichi stared down at the broken person in the hospital bed. He felt numb. Only bits of the doctor's words reached him.

"Concussion... major bleeding... three broken... be months before..."

Kokichi could never remember much from that day.

Every day since then, he would come to the hospital and sit by the bed. He would hold his lover's still hand and hope for the day when Shuichi would finally open his eyes again. Kokichi imagined how it would go. Shuichi would wake up slowly, confused, but then he would look over and see Kokichi beside him. He'd realize that Kokichi had been there for him the whole time, and he would feel bad about worrying him, but it'd also warm his heart to see proof of just how much Kokichi cared about him. Shuichi would get better, and the two would go home, and they could get on with their happily ever after. Kokichi could see it like it had happened many, many times before.

That was the fantasy, if you'd want to call it that, that Kokichi had in his head every time he visited Shuichi in his sterile little hospital room. He knew it would never really happen. Life had thrown every shitty thing it could into Kokichi's life since the day he was born. Meeting Shuichi was the best thing that had ever happened to him, but it also felt too good to be true, and now he knew why. It was to give him something to love, something to lose so he could be put through an even worse pain than he could ever imagine.

Except, one day, Shuichi did open his eyes.

He did get better.

And soon, he was released from the hospital, able to go home with Kokichi once again.

But then, he we went back to work, and Kokichi hated that. He wanted to demand that Shuichi stay home where he would be safe. He wanted to demand that Shuichi find a job that wouldn't put him in so much danger.

But he didn't. Kokichi knew that being a detective was part of who Shuichi was, and that as a result it was inevitable that Shuichi would get hurt sometimes.

So instead, he lied, to himself and Shuichi. He said he wasn't worried, he wasn't scared, that everything would work out in the end.

And then, Shuichi got hurt, and the cycle started again.