The New Motive

Preparations

"Hey, that hurts," he flinched, pulling away a bit.

"I know. I'm sorry. Just hold still a little longer and it won't hurt anymore," Shuichi replied, finishing up the last of the disinfecting and bandaging of the shorter wounds. "And . . . There. All better."

"Thanks, Shumai," Kokichi smiled, looking over his work. "You're the best."

"No problem," he replied nervously. "And . . . Thanks?"

"You're welcome," he grinned happily.

"So . . . Uh . . . This dance is this Friday."

"Yeah, time sure does fly, huh?" the violette said. "Hey, I just got an idea."

"An idea?"

"Yeah, how about we have Piano Girl's mom to help us pick out our outfits for it. She's really good at stuff like that and she'd probably enjoy it. And since she helped us get into a place it could be a way to sort of thank her, I guess. I don't know. What do you think?"

"No, I think that'd be fun," the detective agreed. "Let's do it."

. . .

"Alright, turn around," she said, admiring what she'd helped pick out for the taller male. "You look great, sweetie. What do you think, hun? No, you look over there. We're not done quite yet."

"Fine," the violette grumbled to himself in the corner.

They had been able to get a hold of the pianist's mom, who'd almost immediately agreed to help them with their appearal for the occasion, and they were now by one of the dressing rooms trying to find Shuichi's clothes.

Since Kaede hadn't found a dress yet, she'd come too, and she was helping them as well. Kokichi already had his outfit, but neither him nor Shuichi we're allowed to see what the other had until the night of the actual dance, they'd been told. She said she thought it'd be fun to make it a surprise.

Shuichi easily agreed, but the shorter male was more stubborn about it, trying to turn around almost every five minutes to see what the other was wearing.

"I think it looks nice on you, too," Kaede agreed.

"Hey, Piano Pants, you're on thin ice right now. Don't push it."

"I'm just complimenting him," she defended herself.

"I know what you're doing. I might not be able to see you, but I can hear just fine. Watch it."

"It's alright. She's fine," the bluette tried to convince him.

"Sure, okay."

"Alright, go change back into your other outfit so we can go pay for it," the pianist's mom smiled finally, getting up and gathering her things from beside where she was sitting.

He quickly changed, they bought their outfits, and then left the store, heading back to the car to go home.

"So do you two have dates already then?" Kaede's mom wondered aloud as they began driving.

Then suddenly a loud silence filled the car. Should they tell her? Kokichi and Shuichi just looked at each other, thinking it over silently before she spoke up again.

"If you don't want to talk to me about it that's fine. I'm just curious. You're both very handsome. I find it hard to believe you don't."

"Um, . . . Yeah, we do," Shuichi responded.

"Aw, who are the lucky ladies?"

"Actually, . . . I guess you could saw we are," Kokichi said. Then she looked back at then in the rear view mirror. Not judgementally, just slightly confused.

"What do mean by that?"

"Well, . . . We're going together."

"Oh, going with you're friends so you can just enjoy yourselves and have a good time?"

"No, not exactly," Shuichi tried to tell her, but he got nervous and trailed off.

"We're boyfriends," the shorter male announced to her.

She didn't say anything in response to this, just glanced in her mirror again before returning her gaze to the road in front of them. Then she smiled.

"You know what? That is just so sweet. Good for you two."

"R- really?" Shuichi asked. "You think so?"

"Yeah, of course. From what I've seen and know about, neither of you have ever treated the other poorly. You both seem happy around each other. I think that's great."

"You don't care that we're not straight?"

"No, I don't. I think it's more important to be in a healthy relationship than with the opposite sex. Who cares if you're both boys? Because you wanna know what? It's none of their damn business," she smiled. "If your choices aren't directly and negatively impacting them, they shouldn't be allowed any say in what you do."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, thanks."

"No problem. And remember, if you ever need anything, I'll always be there. For all three of you."

"Thanks, mom," Kaede said.

"Mm-hmm. So what about you, dear? Who are you going with?"

"Well," she sighed, "I was originally going to ask Kiibo, he's the one in was talking to you about from the academy, but I found out he didn't want to go. So there's this other person I met at the academy, uh, her name's Irima. And . . . she said 'yes'. So I'm gonna go with her," she smiled to herself.

"Well, I hope you all have a great time," she said as they pulled up to the males' house. "Alright. Here we are. I hope to see you two again soon. Be safe. Goodbye."

"Bye," they waved as they made their way inside to Toby greeting them at the door as per usual. Tripping the taller and rubbing up to the other's legs.

"Aw, we missed you, too," Kokichi greeted happily, petting him.

"Yeah, I really liked falling all over the place," Shuichi said sarcastically as he got up. "Can't forget about floor, now can I?"

"Ah, you'll be okay," Kokichi laughed as he stood with the cat in his arms. "You know he only does it 'cause he loves you."

The bluette just smiled, shaking his head as he left to put away his clothes before returning to start dinner. The shorter of the two sitting in the living room with Toby in his lap.

"You almost done, Shu? Toby says he wants us all to watch a movie together."

"Oh, does he now?" he smiled, bringing out their dinner and settling down next to the violette.

"Mm-hmm."

"Okay then," he agreed. And so they finished eating and watched a movie cuddled together on the couch until they fell asleep.