Chapter Text
Kokichi winced at Kaito’s volume. He turned it into a pout, digging a finger into his ear as he affected an air of nonchalance. Sitting cross-legged on the couch, where he’d just shown up out of the blue, he looked almost like a child about to be scolded by their parents. “Yeah, obviously. Geez, you don’t have to be so loud about it,” he mumbled in a childish tone.
As if he hadn’t been missing for an entire week, leaving both Kaito and Shuichi desperately worried with no word from him.
“What the hell do you mean ‘obviously’? You fucking disappeared on us, what do you expect us to think!” Kaito stomped over to the couch, looking like he very much wanted to grab Kokichi and shake him.
Shuichi could understand the sentiment. He’d been just as worried, and to see Kokichi brushing off their concerns now both hurt and angered him. Yet he didn’t miss the way that Kokichi tensed as Kaito approached him so aggressively. It lasted onto a second, before it whisked away with Kokichi rising to his feet, hands tucked behind his head.
“Geez I can’t believe you think so little of me. I’m the Ultimate Supreme Leader of evil, ya know. I get baddies targeting me aaaaaaall the time, so a little kidnapping isn’t a big deal for me.”
That took some of the wind out of Kaito’s sails, although perhaps not for the reason that Kokichi intended. He froze, and for a second he couldn’t think to do anything but blink. “A… a what? ‘Kidnapping’? Kokichi, what happened to you?”
Shuichi watched as Kokichi’s expression wiped blank, looking surprised. Like everything else about him, the bit of truth startled out of him lasted mere seconds before he replaced it with yet another mask, grinning wryly up at Kaito.
“Oh, that was a lie. I didn’t think Kaito would get so worried over me saying something like that, so oopsie!” Kokichi laughed, but there was tension in his giggles. “I was actually just out for a walk, and I lost track of time. Sowwy, guys.”
“Kokichi!”
It was like going up against a brick wall, Shuichi realized. Something had happened that Kokichi didn’t want to talk to them about–someone had kidnapped him, if his reaction was to be believed. A truth wrapped up in lies, trying to play things off as less important than they really were.
The way Kokichi winced at Kaito yelling, tensing up when he stopped nearer, if his mask was pressed so tightly over his own face, then he had to be a lot less ‘alright’ than even slipped through the cracks.
“Kokichi…” Shuichi’s voice was gentler when he spoke, and he hoped that Kaito would pick up on it as well. It was easy to get wrapped up in high emotions, knowing something happened to their boyfriend and seeing him brush it off. Trying to force him to acknowledge it would get them nowhere, however.
Kokichi could dig his heels in hard, no matter how much he was yanked at.
As Shuichi drew closer, Kokichi’s eyes flickered towards him, and when Shuichi reached out his arms as if to wrap them around him, he flinched.
So he remained where he was, arms held out and waiting for Kokichi to choose to accept the embrace or not. A minute passed, until he began to feel silly for how he was standing. Yet after another minute, Kokichi finally moved, entering the warm circle of Shuichi’s arms.
While Kokichi didn’t return the embrace, he stood close, his face pressed wordlessly into Shuichi’s chest.
“We know something happened to you, please don’t try and pretend it didn’t. You were gone for days and we were so worried about you,” he said, holding Kokichi close. “You don’t have to talk about it, but we’re both here for you, whatever you need from us.”
Kokichi didn’t move his face from Shuichi’s chest, but he grabbed blindly for Kaito, still standing to the side. When he caught the end of his shirt, he tugged, and Kaito stepped closer to them.
“‘m fine,” he insisted, the words muffled into his shirt. After a pause though, he added, “You guys could just… hug me for a little while, if you want y’know…”
Once Kaito wrapped his arms around them both, they stood here for some amount of time, which felt like an hour but could’ve only been a few minutes. Shuichi lost track, his mind focused on the boy in his arms, and the slight tremor he could feel running through him. At some point, he could feel Kokichi’s shoulders shaking, the front of his shirt growing wet from where Kokichi still buried his face into it.
He didn’t mention it, and allowed Kokichi to cry it out in silence, but the way Kaito’s arms squeezed around them told him that he’d noticed it, too.