The New Motive

A Surprise

Shuichi quickly caught the shorter up on what had happened earlier and about how Kaede and Kaito had stopped by briefly. Kokichi still didn't trust the pianist, though, and he couldn't bring himself to forgive her for what she'd done to both of them. And the bluette understood. It was difficult to just be okay after everything, even with her apology.

"I don't know how you're not more upset with her," the violette spoke. "How can you believe her so easily?"

"She's been doing better," here explained. "I mean, she's not perfect and yeah, I still get uncomfortable around her sometimes, but at least she's trying."

"I suppose. But I'm not gonna forgive her that easily."

"It's been almost a month."

"I know," he said simply. But his voice showed that he didn't want to talk about it anymore, so he changed the subject.

"So, have you made up your mind on what kind of pet you want yet?"

"Nah, just something soft and furry that won't try to kill me."

"Why would it try to kill you?" he laughed.

"You never know. Birds can be pretty vicious. They might fly around and try to take my Pantas or steal my shit of the dresser or eat my gum from my gumball machine or-"

"Wait," the detective laughed again. "Your what?"

"Oh," he said, running to grab his bag from by the door and reaching into it. It took a bit of shuffling around since he wasn't the most organized person, but then he pulled out a small object about the size of an alarm clock before finally finishing with, "I got a mini gumball machine."

"What the f- where did you even get that?"

"I don't know," he just shrugged. "Store down the street?"

"Bu- how do you not rememb-"

"Want one?" He interrupted, pulling out a small handful of quarters from his pocket and offering a few.

"Hell yeah, I do," he agreed, taking some."

"So," Kokichi asked after grabbing a few. "Are you gonna stay here tomorrow, too?"

"Yeah, probably. You could always stay with me. Tomorrow's a Friday anyways, right?"

"I would. But I've got a stupid test in science that I can't miss," he complained before making a bubble with his gum and popping it.

"Well, good luck."

"Thanks. I'm gonna need it."

. . .

The next day was pretty much the same as the last, save for Kaede and Kaito visiting. Kokichi went to school until late afternoon and Shuichi stayed home, his sickness finally seeming to clear up.

The bluette was just about to go lay down for a minute after cleaning up the house a bit out of boredom when he heard the front door open.

"Hey," the detective called from across the house where he quickly washed off the rest of the chemicals from his hands. "I'll be back out in a sec."

"Oh, no rush," he replied somewhat nervously.

"What's wrong?" He asked as he returned to the other was waiting by the door. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, of course. Why?" He responded, staying mostly outside, only his head poking in through the doorway.

"You're not coming in your own house and you seem nervous," the taller reasoned. "Did something happen? You're home a little later than usual."

"Um, . . . Nope. I'm good. You good?" He tried changing the subject, still not entering the house fully.

"Feeling better, yea- Are you okay? Seriously you're making me nervous."

"Mm-hmm. Never better. Shh!" He shushed something outside before turning back to his boyfriend. "So, . . . Uh, the house looks nice. I like it. Uh, so, . . . Why don't you go take a rest real quick. You know . . . for the, uh, . . . to u- no, be quiet! You're gonna get us in trouble!" He whisper shouted outside the door again. "For the bees! Save the bees. Sleep for the bees."

"Kokichi who are you talking to?" He asked, making his way over to the door with him.

"N- no one," he tried to convince him before he opened the door, but when he did he didn't see anyone but the shorter who quickly zipped up his coat and crossed his arms over his chest.

"What do you have?"

"Nothing," he said, obviously lying since the taller could see the lump made from something under in his jacket.

"What do you have?"

"Nothing."

"What do y-"

"Nothing! You're probably just tired. Go get some rest. And I'll just-" he began, trying to sneak past him, but he was to fast. He pulled him inside and closed the door before putting both hand on either side of his body, his back now pressed against the wall.

"What is it?"

"It's nothi-" he said, but then he stopped himself, looking down away the ground guiltily before unzipping his jacket slowly. And when he did, a small animal poked it's fuzzy grey head out and looked right at Shuichi with it's bright blue eyes from inside. It was a cat. "I found a kitty," he muttered.

"Kokichi, where did you find this cat?"

"Aw, it's a stray, Shumai. He didn't have anywhere to go. Can we keep him? Please," he begged.

"He's too clean to be a stray. Did you steal someone's cat?"

"What!? No, of course not. I would never . . . um . . . do that."

"Is he really a stray? Did he have a collar?"

"Well, I kinda got him a collar and name tags, so he does now," he mumbled.

"You just assumed I'd be okay with this?"

"Well, I mean, how could you say 'no'? Just look at him. Go on. Tell him, Toby. Yeah, Shu. I wanna stay here with you guys. Aw, see, he loves us," he said hugging him close.

The bluette just looked at the two of them. He seemed so happy. "Okay," he finally agreed. "But if, and only if, you can promise me that you did not steal him."

"I . . . I did not steal Toby from the old neighbor's down the street that live next to that weirdo with the big dog and the garden gnomes. You happy?"

"Kokichi!"

"Okay, okay," he laughed. "It's fine. I didn't take him, promise. That other stuff was a lie."

"Well, that's a relief," he sighed. Then the cat looked up at him and meowed softly. "I guess he is kinda cute," he admitted, petting him once the shorter let him jump down from his coat.

Then he rolled over onto his back and reached up to play with the detective's hair.

Well, this'll be interesting.

So, . . . Here's this. Sorry if there's errors or whatever more often, I dont know, I didn't check. I've been catching up on my Language Arts homework from last week. I hate it, but oh well. Anyways, enjoy.