💙𝕂𝕚𝕚𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕞𝕒💜

8.

Kokichi cautiously looked from place to place as he walked down the street, looking for Shuichi's house, but also making sure that no one was exactly watching him. He felt as if he were to get caught, everything would come crashing down and he would lose what he didn't want to. 

But wait.

How did he even know where he was going? It wasn't like anyone gave him Shuichi's address. 

He started down at the sidewalk, gradually slowing down. He looked around at the neighborhood. It looked so familiar, it was like he would go around here all of the time. He even knew Shuichi's address. He found himself shaking his head and he continued on with his journey. It wasn't that important, right? No, not at all.

Even though he told himself it wasn't important, he found himself staring at the house with a strange feeling. He didn't know what it was, but it felt so familiar. It was like he had already been here, several times. What was it about the house? He didn't know, but it wasn't something he would be forgetting about.

He made his way up the front steps, though right when he was about to knock on the door he found himself hesitating. Oh, forget it. He was probably just nervous. Right? Yeah, right. He knocked on the door, then took a slight step back for space.

The door clicked open, and there he was. Shuichi looked at Kokichi with slight surprise, but then gave him a soft smile.

"Oh, hey, Kokichi..!" He looked like he wanted to ask how Kokichi had gotten there, but he didn't. He expected that explanation from Kokichi. He figured Rantaro gave him the address or something along the lines of that.

"Um, hey! I..I was wondering if we could go out somewhere to talk..?" Kokichi grinned, almost awkwardly. It was so obvious how nervous he was.

"Oh, um...yeah, of course! Where did you want to go, Kokichi?" Shuichi spoke kindly with each word, slowly stepping out and closing the door from behind him. 

Kokichi stepped back, then skipped down from the front steps. He waited, then began to walk once again as he noticed Shuichi follow him, gradually starting to walk next to him, right by his side.

"Maybe we could get coffee? If you don't want to, then-"

"That sounds nice." 

Kokichi looked over, and Shuichi was looking ahead, slowly twirling a strand of hair in between two fingers. He wondered if his hair was as soft as it looked.

"...I'm glad you think so! If you didn't like coffee, I'm pretty sure we'd have a problem. Ehehe!" Kokichi tried to make conversation, quickly looking back ahead before he bumped into something, or Shuichi noticed him staring. That would be a difficult explanation. 

But for the rest of the way, they ended up having a conversation related to coffee. 

~~~

Shortly after they walked into the coffee shop, which was cutely decorated with things suiting the current fall season, they ordered their coffee. Kokichi, right when Shuichi began to take out his wallet, already swiped his card and paid for both their coffees. 

Since they were at the counter, he couldn't tell Kokichi not to, so he silently dealt with it waiting for the time to be able to thank him endlessly. Even though it was just a coffee, it was a kind gesture that he admired. Maybe he had been thinking wrong about Kokichi's behavior, sometimes. He really was a kind person. 

But right when they walked away and sat down, at a table with two chairs, one at each end, Shuichi started to thank him. 

"You really didn't have to do that..." Shuichi started, setting his hands down on the table and looking at Kokichi.