There Once Upon a Time, Here Forever

A Delightful Day Trip (Boy's ver.):

Miu and Kaede waved goodbye to their teacher and left the room where they took their classes. Once they had shut the door behind them, Gundham took deep breaths and stared at his bandaged hands. The silence in the room was deafening, and the emptiness was suffocating.

He lifted his head at the sound of a knock on the door. Trying to steady his shaky hands, he cleared his throat and called, "You may come in."

Not a moment too soon later, Mikan opened the door slowly and peered in. Just behind her was the ever helpful robot, whose name, if Gundham remembered correctly, was K1-B0 or something along those lines. But it was pronounced Kee-bo.

"Gundham, I come to ask of you a favor," the nurse began.

Gundham blinked at her. "Go on, I haven't time for your stuttering and stalling."

Mikan seemed to shrink at these words, but she went on. "Well, if it wouldn't be too much for you, perhaps... Could you take the boys out to the town? Just a little trip?"

His eyebrows shot up. "Really? How long do you propose I do this?"

The nurse fidgeted with her fingers. "Oh, maybe the day... I think it would be good for them."

Gundham's even narrowed. "Mikan..."

"Gundham, please... You're the only one I can ask."

Sighing begrudgingly, Gundham eventually nodded. "I suppose I could do that," he huffed, his arms crossed.

Mikan's face lit up. "Thank you! Kiibo's here to be your sort of assistant, if you should need his help."

"I hear he is very resourceful... Come now, Kiibo. We must gather everyone together."

One thing became apparent the moment they stepped outside: Korekiyo would need a lot of help getting around. But Gonta insisted that he would be okay, because he was helping Kiyo. Not that Gundham was bothered. Honestly, he didn't care. The only patients he had grown to care about were the two mute ones he had to teach.

Ryoma trudged along with his head hanging and his hands in his pockets. Obviously trying to help him feel better and more loved, Kiibo and Rantaro walked on either side of him. There was a hint of gratitude in the tennis player's dark eyes as he went on beside them.

Now, in the back of the sort of line they'd formed was Kokichi. He would have been wheeling his way to the front if it wasn't for his paranoid boyfriend beside him. Yes, boyfriend. Gundham cast a glance at Shuichi, his eyebrows raised. But he quickly lost interest and turned back to face forward. All he had to do was lead them wherever they wanted to go. So that was all that concerned him.

"I hate to be annoying, but I'm, like, really hungry," Kokichi whined.

Korekiyo snapped his head in his direction and hissed. "Nobody asked."

Gonta gave his shoulder a firm squeeze, and Kiyo took a deep breath and turned away, a scowl still present on his face.

Gundham stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and turned around to look at his group. They all stared at him expectantly, and he just sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Oh, don't give me those pathetic faces," he grumbled. "Look around you. Where would you like to go, hm? Surely you knew that's what me stopping meant."

Rantaro raised his hand. "I would like to pitch an idea, sir," he said, the corners of his mouth twitching with a smile.

Gundham raised an eyebrow. "Go for it."

Unable to control his excitement, he pointed to the window of a pet shop. "If it's all right, I would like for us to all get Ryoma a cat."

Ryoma stared up at him unblinkingly. "Huh..."

Kiibo nodded eagerly, and eventually the others seemed to be on board with that. With a glint of joy in his own eyes, Gundham waved his hand and led them inside the shop. He watched as the boys all went off before heading off on his own.

Rantaro seemed to take charge of the group once they'd gone in. He meandered around the shop, looking around. Kokichi pressed his face up against almost every glass cage he found, and Shuichi had to firmly grab him by the shoulder and pull him away. Obviously, Kokichi didn't like that.

"Look, we've found them!" Kaito declared.

Ryoma nodded and stepped forward. He was clearly overjoyed at this act of kindness his classmates were doing for him, but he was doing his best to contain himself. It was almost as if he didn't care, thought he obviously did.

"Don't get the black one," Kokichi stage-whispered. "I'm pretty sure it's possessed."

Ryoma pointed to the black cat anyway, and Kokichi pouted, turning to face Shuichi and sniffling.

"No one ever listens to me, Shumai!" he sobbed through obvious crocodile tears.

Shuichi sighed heavily. "I wonder why..."

They left the shop, with Ryoma carrying the cat carrier in his hand. Gundham had obtained a mouse, and no one bothered to say anything about it. Not when he had proudly told them that it was named "Lord Bartholomew of Eastern Hell."

"So, back to the hospital we go, huh?" Kaito said, noting that the day was almost over.

"Sure," Gundham agreed, barely paying him any mind. He was feel in conversation with his new rodent friend.

"Thank you for taking us out like this," Shuichi said through a chuckle. "I think it was good for all of us, even if someone kept whining the whole day and complained that he hated it."

"I didn't hate it!" Kokichi objected at once. "I did like it."

Gundham sighed. "Of course..."

✨✨🍭✨✨

"The air smells gay."

So does your mom.