#16
' ʙᴇɪɴɢ ɪɴ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ᴛᴇɴᴅs ᴛᴏ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴏɴᴇ
ᴍᴏʀᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇʟʏ ᴛᴏ ʙʀᴇᴀᴋ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴜʟᴇs '
𑁍︎.𑁍︎.𑁍︎
Dinner that night was feastful. Everyone seemed to be in full swing, and the idea of Kaito not even there hardly occured to anyone's mind, or even that Keebo and Kokichi dismissed themselves early to go eat dinner outside alone earned nothing but some comments.
"Be careful Saihara! I think IIdabashi is gonna steal your boy toy!" one of the male students laughed, causing a roar of laughter to fill the room.
"Haha. I hope not.." Shuichi weakly chuckled back, though his eyes never left Keebo taking Kokichi outside.
"I warned you Kokichi.."
However, outside the classic Japanese inn was Keebo and Kokichi sitting together on the engawa, their feet dangling off the edge.
(A/N: *engawa* like a veranda that goes around the outside of the building that.)
"It's pretty outside," Kokichi commented, holding a can of soda in his hands. The sky seemed so clear tonight; dozens of stars twinkling over the sky that spread out like a dark blanket above the two teens.
Keebo glanced at Kokichi. He had never seen Kokichi look so pale before. Bruises were on his ear and neck, but Keebo covered them with band-aids in hope no one would notice and ask about them. Still, even looking at Oma now, he didn't seem like the same quiet and passionate boy who Keebo knew when the first met– the same person who loved comics and was slightly an outcast– the same person Keebo found himself drawn to more than anyone.
Keebo looked down at his lap. "It is.." he answered, however, not thinking much about the night sky when he said that.
Kokichi pulled out his phone and showed it to Keebo. "Look. I put the keychain you got me on here," he said. The little worn-out robot keychain dangled off the phone case.
Without knowing, Keebo turned red. Luckily it was dark out. He felt embarrassed. "Why would you put that on your phone case ? The keychain is pretty old. Don't you think it would look odd?" He asked Oma curiously, watching Kokichi awe over the decoration like it was gold.
"I don't care," he insisted back, looking over the keychain. "If it's old, then it must mean it was special to you, so... it's special to me , too ," he answered honestly with a small smile directed towards Keebo.
Oh, now it was noticable how close they were. Eye-to-eye , sitting right next to each close enough their thighs almost touched. Even when it seemed the gap between them was closing in very slowly, neither said a word. It just seemed peaceful... quiet.. and blissfully calm when their lips met each other's in a small kiss. It was only for a second before both bashfully pulled away from each other. But before Keebo could apologize for the out of character action, Kokichi looked down and tears began to form in his eyes.
"IIdabashi-kun.. I'm scared.. Saihara.. he said– "
"I don't care what he said," Keebo interrupted . It was true he didn't care for a word that came out of the maniac's mouth. He wouldn't let Kokichi care either.
Keebo cupped Kokichi's cheeks, cradling his face and brought it close to his.
"Listen to me, Oma-kun. From now on, I'll protect you from that psycho. You're not his boyfriend. You're nothing but a toy to him," Keebo stated clearly, looking Kokichi dead - in - eye the whole time.
Kokichi felt speechless. But somehow that brought on more waterworks. It was hard to accept those words. Deep down Kokichi knew he never loved Shuichi— Damn, he was sure he wasn't being truely loved, just obsessed over like some sort of pet. But Kokichi was too busy feeling he had to be thankful and putting himself lower than anyone else, he assumed how he was being treated was all he deserved and he should be grateful.
But he finally had to accept the truth, didn't he? He wasn't loved by Saihara.
"So.. from now on, just.. rely on me.." Keebo muttered softly, averting his gaze to the side, retracting his hands away from Kokichi's face.
And as the two shared that moment, someone was approaching. That someone got closer, and Keebo and Kokichi didn't even notice. The figure snuck up behind them, holding up something in the dark then—
"BOO!" shouted a sudden voice, causing Kokichi to jump, startled and fall off the engawa and for Keebo to cover his ears.
"T-the hell–" Keebo glared up at who was responsible. A male with slightly curly green hair and matching eyes was standing behind them. He had a charming and pleasant smile on his face. He was wearing a dark olive-colored shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and had ripped black jeans on. His black and white baseball jacket was on as well even though it wasn't cold whatsoever.
"Ah, Amami." Keebo nonchalantly greeted, barely paying Rantaro a glance. What was be even doing here? Usually he was busy hanging out with his popular group of friends.
Rantaro smiled innocently, lowering the megaphone he was holding. "Sorry. I couldn't resist.." he admitted. "I got this from one of the girls. Also, we're all going to the baths now if you wanna join." He explained, his eyes glanced over at Kokichi with a look of interest before back at Keebo.
Kokichi was staring at Rantaro, which caught the greenette's eyes. Oma flinched. "Oh! Sorry, um. Are you cold?" He asked awkwardly, glancing at Rantaro's jacket. But Rantaro just chuckled and laughed it off.
"Oh I think I'm coming down with a cold honestly. I've been shivering all night." He did look a bit off. But Rantaro's playful smile had never left so it was hard to notice
While those two chatted, Keebo felt like his heart was going to explode. He prayed to God Rantato didn't see Keebo and Kokichi acting so... intimate. So to quickly make Amami leave, Keebo shooed him off saying he and Kokichi would be there in a minute.
.
.
.
As Kokichi walked down the hallway after changing into his robe, he looked around. Was Keebo already there? Oma hesitantly began to walk out of the boys room. The hot springs was in the back, right? Kokichi was sure of it.
But as he turned the corner, he bumped into someone. That someone being Keebo who.. dear lord looked quite attractive in his robe in Kokichi's eyes. Keebo had smooth skin, his frame slightly toned– enough he didn't look as puny as Oma. Honestly Keebo looked kinda like a sleep-deprived vampire. But Kokichi had never seen Keebo's legs before. He didn't know he had any!
"Um.. sorry." Kokichi apologized.
"It's fine. Let's go."
"Have you been to a hot spring before?"
"Once. With my parents when I was a kid. We went on vacation."
As Kokichi and Keebo went outside, all their other male classmates were all getting into the spring. Even Shuichi was there. Actually, he looked quite pleased. He was leaning his chest against a rock, his arms folded under his chin.
"Kokichi-kun! IIdabashi-kun. I'm glad you both made it," he said, watching as Keebo gave him a hateful glance and Kokichi gave him no glance at all.
"We can go," Keebo said, ready to leave, but Kokichi shook his head. He really didn't want to ruin this for anyone. Besides, they were already getting dragged into the water by a couple of the other guys.
As they got in, Kokichi and Keebo sat next to each other by the edge of the water. Kokichi sighed and felt tired relaxing in the hot water, but Keebo was too busy watching Shuichi.
"Why is he so calm? He hasn't even come over here to see Oma.."
Something wasn't right.
"Hey! Oma! Can you pass me my towel over there?" asked one of the males. Kokichi nodded and walked through the water to go and collect the towel that had floated off in the middle of the spring.
"What is he thinking...?"
Something wasn't right...
Suddenly, Kokichi haulted in his steps. He stepped on something down in the water that made the hot spring seem cold in an instant.
"That smile on his face.. He's drooling.. Why does he looking at us like that–"
"AHHHHH!!!"
And just like that, Keebo's was snapped out of his thoughts by Kokichi's scream and splashes as Kokichi stumbled back in the water.
Kokichi's heart had dropped. He couldn't even cry. He was too horrified. He just kept screaming.
"AHHHHH!!!"
"Oma-kun??" Keebo saw Kokichi was staring at something in the water. Everyone in the spring stopped their joking around when they noticed the commotion.
Keebo quickly got up and waddled through the waist-height water to see whatever Kokichi was staring at.
But when it was Kaito Momota tied to the bottom of the spring that had Kokichi so horrified, Keebo felt sick.
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