𝑴𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐎𝐍 𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐋𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 | 𝑺𝐀𝐈𝐎𝐌𝐀 ✓

-☆𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀☆-

★·.·'¯'·.·★ . ★·.·'¯'·.·★

After getting home, Shuichi almost went straight to his room after muttering a quiet 'hello' to his aunt and uncle, who both caught notice of Shuichi's odd behavior , especially his uncle who was also a detective himself.

"Something on your mind?" he asked his nephew.

Shuichi paused halfway up the staircase. "...I'm fine. Just tired.." he assured with a weak smile before he went to his bedroom, quietly shutting the door behind him.

"Ah, what is wrong with me.." Shuichi dragged his hands down his face as he sighed. "I didn't think working at Walmart wouldn't be this stressful and confusing." he murmered to himself. Sure , starting to grow and work like an adult could and would be stressful and hard, but when Shuichi got his first time job, he really didn't expect this.

He didn't expect to have rapidly growing feelings for his co-worker.

Shuichi shook his head and sat down at his desk. He put his earbuds in and began to look over his homework.

'A gentle melody that reminds
me of the flames. '
'There is no eternity and
there is no eternity '

Shuichi wasn't one to listen to music much, unless it was something soothing when he was trying to relax. But Kaito gave him a playlist at work to try out after they had that talk about Kokichi and the pocky game. Apparently Kaito was a fan of Mrs. Green Apple, a popular band. Shuichi knew Kaito was just trying to be nice and he appreciated the gesture from his friend.

"This song is called Inferno. I think it was an opening to that one anime.. Force Fire ? Something like that. I can ask Shirogane-san from homeroom about it.." Shuichi was dazed into his thoughts , thinking about school and classmates really. He didn't want to think about work too much right now. His uncle already heard about Shuichi's near encounter with criminals. Though he didn't get irritated with his nephew not doing anything. Shuichi was still a kid, and he had a feeling that was a reason his uncle went a bit easy on him. Because his uncle could be pretty intimidating at times. Instead, Shuichi's uncle just asked him a few questions about what he saw and heard so the police could have something new to work with. Not that Shuichi could be of much use. He was too distracted by Kokichi that night.

Shuichi froze when he found himself grazing his fingertips across his lips. No, no. Don't think about all that . About that almost kiss he shared with the purple-eyed male. It's too late in the night to be confused. Shuichi went back trying to focus on the lyrics of the music while trying to unravel the answer to another algebra problem.

.
.
.

Shuichi didn't have work for the next few days. And when he saw his co-workers a few days later, he began to try and avoid being so close to Kokichi. Not in a rude or super obvious manner, but he didn't want to be all touchy with him. Whenever Kokichi would get super close, Shuichi would take a small step away. He avoided getting too close, trying to escape those weird little electric jolts that tingled whenever their skin would make contact. But it didn't take Kokichi long to notice Shuichi's new way of acting around him. Shuichi would let Kaito sling an arm around his shoulder or for Akamatsu to hug him, but whenever Kokichi got close, he would avoid him.

"Hey, Oma-kun. Mind if I borrow your scanner?" Shuichi asked awkwardly, rubbing his neck. "Mine isn't working-" though he almost cut himself off when Kokichi suddenly handed out his own scanner for Shuichi to take. Saihara was caught slightly off guard, but when he was about to thank Oma, he noticed the way Kokichi refused to look at him. He just held out the scanner without a word, waiting for Shuichi to take it.

"Um...t-thank you.." he mumbled softly, after taking it. Shuichi watched as Kokichi went back working with a scowl on his face. Shuichi didn't even notice he was just standing there staring until Kaito came over , putting a hand on his shoulder to see if he could wake Shuichi up from whatever daze he was in. Shuichi jumped a bit from the sudden contact.

"Huh. What has him acting all moody for?" Kaito asked out loud, glancing down at Shuichi, who couldn't find the words to reply with, and never took his eyes off Kokichi.

★·.·'¯'·.·★ . ★·.·'¯'·.·★