The New Motive

New Surroundings

The two males were worried at first, but Kaede's parents did as they said they would and helped them out whenever they needed it after they moved out. They transferred them to a different school and even lent a hand in renting out a nice house not to far from it to make the commute easier.

They really were great people. And neither Kokichi nor Shuichi had seen Kaede herself since before they left. Not that they wanted to anyways.

The past few weeks had been pretty hectic, but by the time school had started back up the two males were doing pretty well. They kept in touch with Kaede's parents, they both had part time jobs to pay rent and whatnot, it was almost like the time they'd spent in the killing game had never even happened. Like it was all just a bad dream.

It took some adjusting to get used to a regular school again, and they caught back on decently quickly, it was difficult at times though. It was hard to believe that everything was back to normal and every now and again they had to force themselves to realize that no one was going to try to kill one another.

But aside from that, everything was great.

Or at least it was.

Barely a week into the first semester Shuichi awoke to get ready for school and found his boyfriend had caught some sort of illness. It wasn't major, probably just a cold or something, but he made him stay home anyways. He didn't want to take any chances.

"I'll see you after school. 'Kay?" the detective smiled, kissing the other's forehead softly. "Hope you feel better soon."

"Mm-hmm," he replied, nodding. He let out a small cough and smiled up at the bluette, reassuring him that he'd be fine.

Shuichi knew it wasn't severe, but his gut kept on telling him something wasn't right. That something was going to happen. Something bad. He just didn't know what.

And it was those thoughts that bothered him relentlessly as he went throughout the day.

. . .

Finally, the dismissal bell rang out through the corridors of the school, releasing students from their classes. They all filed out of different rooms into the now crowded hallways, heading for their lockers, gathering their things and leaving.

Shuichi did the same, slinging his bag over his shoulder and exiting the campus grounds. Usually he'd walk home with Kokichi, but since he wasn't there he continued on by himself, making a quick detour into town before making his way back to the house.

He took the same route back as normal, but somehow it seemed longer. It was likely just because he was worried, but it bothered him anyways.

When he arrived back home he was nervous as he went to unlock the door. He figured the violette should be completely fine, his thoughts kept trying to say otherwise though.

He took a deep breath and opened the door and was immediately met with darkness, dropping the medicine he'd got for the other in surprise.

"Nope. Sorry, Shu. You can't look yet." This was Kokichi. He'd somehow gotten up behind him and was now covering his eyes and steering him off to a different room.

"Wai- what?" he wondered aloud, reaching out to try and touch the walls to walk more naturally. "Where are we going?"

"Just a second," he said, ignoring his questions and directing him down the hall. "Wait here. I'll be right back," he giggled mischievously, then he left.

He returned a few minutes later to find Shuichi laying on the floor staring up at the ceiling.

"What are you doing?"

"I don't know," he said, getting up, "but you're about to give me a goddamn anxiety attack. Are you okay?"

"Come here," when he walked over to the door the shorter went up behind him again, covering his eyes and leading him back out to the main area. "Ta-da!"

When he uncovered the taller's eyes he saw that there was a variety of kitchenware on the counters and he looked at it confused.

"Ta-da!" he repeated when he didn't get a reaction.

"I'm confused."

"Geez, Shumai. Come on. At least pretend to be excited. I worked pretty hard on this for you."

"What is i-"

"It's your birthday, dummy. We're making a cake."

"It's my . . . Oh, is that today?"

"Wow," the violette laughed. "You know, for a detective, you're pretty damn oblivious."

"S- sorry."

"No, no. It's fine. I think it's kinda cute."

Shuichi blushed softly at the compliment before he was suddenly pulled into the kitchen.

"Come on. Let's get started. This cake's not gonna make itself."

. . .

By the time they'd gotten the cake in the oven they were both practically covered in flour. They didn't really remember how it had happened, but it did. And while they waited for it to bake they threw more at each other like snow in a snowball fight, ducking behind the counters every now and again to avoid being hit.

And somehow they ended up just slow dancing around the kitchen while they waited, holding each other close. Without a care in the world.

"Hey, Shu," the violette said after a while.

"Hmm?"

"I love you," he whispered.

Shuichi smiled, brushing some of the flour from Kokichi's hair as he looked up to meet his eyes. He held his chin in one hand, his other arm still wrapped around his waist, and kissed him lovingly.

"I love you more," he grinned when he pulled away.

They stayed like this for a short while, just looking at one another, then the violette stood on his toes to try and reach the other again, but was interrupted by the timer for the cake going off.

"Welp," Shuichi sighed. "I guess it's done."

"Not so fast," the shorter said as he pulled it from the oven to cool. "I've got frosting here somewhere."

Thank you guys so much for 1k votes. You're all so amazing and I appreciate all the love and support my writing's getting. And for everyone in quarantine, stay safe. I'll be posting another update in a little while if I can 'cause why not ^w^