☆ opposites attract | saiouma fic ☆

twenty-two | incentives

☆

"That's... a shock," Shuichi finally managed to utter out, fidgeting with his hands. "So, if I can ask... why do you guys think that I might like him?" He blushed.

As if she'd been waiting to bring this up for ages, Kaede swiftly perked up. "Ooh! Well, for starters- there's always a weird light in your eyes when he's chatting your ear off in the middle of class, you're with him almost all of the time to the point where the group barely sees you anymore, you're always the first one to defend him when someone says something, annnnd now, you're getting red at the thought of him."

Not expecting to get read like a book, Shuichi's body began to tense up.

He didn't exactly love confronting his problems. Especially if the problem in question was the possibility of him having feelings for Kokichi.

Okay, sure. He thinks he's cute, he loves being around him, he likes falling asleep with him, he likes working on things with him, he gets red when he thinks about him, he hates hearing people spread rumors about him, but...

That doesn't mean that he has a crush on him or anything. It could be as simple as admiration for a friend, right?

Yeah, no. Friends don't think about other friends like that at all.

Buuuut, at the same time, it was a little bit early to decide if he truly liked him or not, wasn't it?

Truthfully, he hasn't even dated anyone since Kaede in middle school, and he was always more focused on work rather than romance these days, so he wasn't really an expert on this kind of thing. He'd never felt so utterly clueless in his entire life.

Maybe this was just something that he didn't need to think about. Maybe it'd go away after some time. Yup.

"That all may be true, but... I'm not in the position to say anything about how I feel. I'm not really sure of anything yet, you know?" Shuichi admitted, staying as truthful as he could despite his unwavering embarrassment.

Kaede nodded in understanding. "That's fine! We don't have to get into anything right now, it's not really any of my business either way. I guess that's all we really have to talk about regarding Kokichi, though... you wanna do something fun in the meantime?"

"Sure, why not? I may as well try to take my mind off of all of this anyways..." He agreed.

With that, they spent the rest of their afternoon studying, playing games, watching shows, and engaging in pretty meaningless chit-chat together in order to keep themselves entertained.

But, as they say, time flies when you're having fun.

In the blink of an eye, it was dark out and Kaede had to leave, leaving Shuichi with nothing but his thoughts as he got ready for bed. He was honestly kind of nervous for school tomorrow... it was for no reason in particular, though. He just hoped it would be a breezy, uneventful day. He didn't really feel like dealing with anything otherwise.

After spacing off in bed for about an hour or two, he drifted off to sleep. But, of course, that bliss didn't last for long. The morning ended up arriving rather quickly, and that reality slapped him in the face when his alarm began to blare. It was a familiar sound, but still annoying nonetheless.

He used every bit of energy left in him to haphazardly get up and get ready, tiredly trudging his way over to school. But, as soon as he stepped foot into the building...

He heard a shout followed by the rapid thumping of footsteps along the floor.

"Shuuuuuuiichiiiiiiii! Heeeey! Heey!" Kokichi called out, putting his legs into hard drive as he practically launched himself towards Shuichi.

"Kokichi!" Shuichi gasped, his heart skipping a beat from being so caught off guard.

He let out a lengthy sigh of relief after a moment, gently gripping Kokichi by the shoulders so he didn't accidentally fall off balance from running so fast. Seriously, how does he do that? Maybe because he's so small or something...

"Youalmostscaredmetodeathjustnow..." Shuichi murmured all in one breath, glancing down at Kokichi. "Why are you so excited? Did something good happen?"

Kokichi began to sway back and forth out of anticipation, his hands now shoved in the pockets of his pants. "Okay- I may or may not have gotten you a gift! But you gotta close your eyes, okay? It's a surprise!" He persisted.

Those words left Shuichi puzzled.

A gift? For him?

He should've already expected something like this happening based off of what Tenko and Kirumi said yesterday, but still... his heart was fluttering regardless.

"Oh- alright, if you say so..." He complied, closing his eyes, hoping the rosy color spreading on his cheeks wasn't too obvious.