The doorbell to Shuichi's house rang through the first floor. Groggily, the detective sat up with puffy red eyes and tear-stained face. Shuichi placed three of his fingers into the glass of water on his bedside table, dotting each of his cheeks with water droplets. As the detective headed down the stairs, he carefully wiped his face with the hem of his shirt.
Knowing full well Kaito was the one at the door, he wanted to make it look as though he wasn't crying. Luckily his still stuffy nose and pounding headache was enough to pass off Shuichi as sick.
The astronaut patiently waited at the door, knowing it would take a few minutes for the sick Shuichi to get out of bed. The door clicked open, revealing a semi smiling detective.
In response, Kaito gave Shuichi a huge smile to balance out his melancholic aura. "Here's the soup I promised you! Nana just made it so it's still warm."
The detective stepped aside, letting the astronaut into his home. "Thanks, Kaito. Your Nana's soup really is something special."
Shuichi never had many home cooked meals growing up. His uncle was always busy with the job that he just brought take-out from semi fancy restaurants. The detective barely even remembers his parents, let alone any dinners they shared.
Kaito gave Shuichi a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Head up to your room. I'll be there in a sec. Gotta get a bowl for this soup, yeah?"
The detective nodded, his smile remaining but showing sadness. It was not something the astronaut wanted to see.
Kaito was confused. Why did Shuichi look upset? Maybe he felt bad that Nana made him soup. Nah, he already accepted that hours beforehand. He'd find out later. First he needed Shuichi to be physically fine, then he could work on whatever was bothering the detective.
Once the soup was in the ceramic bowl, the astronaut headed upstairs with a spoon in hand. The door to Shuichi's room was already open from before, meaning Kaito didn't have to knock on it. But the astronaut is too much of a dork not to.
While still holding the spoon, Kaito tapped his knuckles twice against the wood door. "Knock, knock."
Shuichi smirked, thinking of continuing the joke. "Who's there?"
"Soup for."
"Soup for who?"
"Soup for you!"
The detective chuckled while the astronaut burst out laughing. "If Maki was here, she would be smashing her head into the wall."
The astronauts roaring laughter slowly died down. "You're probably right. Anyway, I have your soup so sit up."
Shuichi followed Kaito's order, resting his back against the headboard. "Alright, hand me the soup."
The astronaut shook his head. "Nope! I wanna feed it to you."
The detective avoided his gaze with Kaito, blushing in embarrassment. "O-Ok."
The astronaut asked for the detective to open his mouth, which he complied. Carefully, Kaito placed the warm metal spoon into Shuichi's mouth. The detective lips closed around the spoon, taking in the salty flavor of the soup.
The astronaut beamed. "How is it?"
Shuichi reached his hands out to grab the bowl Kaito was holding. "Delicious. I think I can eat the rest by myself, though."
The astronaut nodded, letting the detective take the spoon as well. "Fair enough. I'll just stay here till you finish."
The bowl was half full when Shuichi put it on the nightstand. He didn't feel particularly hungry. As good as the soup smelled and tasted, each bite almost made him throw up. "I'm done."
Kaito smiled, taking the half empty bowl and dirty spoon. "I'll put the rest in the fridge in case you want it later."
The detective smiled. "Thanks."
The astronaut left the room. Shuichi was somewhat relieved. Even though it was only a few seconds, the detective had a moment to himself. Because of Kaito, Shuichi had almost forgotten why he was crying in the first place. However, as soon as the smiling astronaut left, the detective's thoughts started to catch up with him.
He was an idiot for thinking Kaede liked him. Yes, he didn't ask the pianist about her personal life but he's a detective for god's sake! He should've been able to figure it out. Miu was around Kaede all the time, why couldn't he see it before? He shouldn't even be a detective if he couldn't see anything that obvious.
Tears started to fall from Shuichi's face. He tried to stop himself from crying but that only made it worse, he wanted to curl up in his blankets and go back to sleep. The detective took his many blue fuzzy blankets and made himself into a burrito.
It was at this time Kaito came back from washing the spoon. "Hey, bro! I heard some weird noise so I thought I'd check on y-"
The astronaut couldn't finish his sentence as he realized what was happening. Shuichi was crying. It broke Kaito's heart to see his crush like this. The astronaut wasn't the type of guy to sit around and do nothing if someone was crying, so he picked up the burrito that was Shuichi and brought him into a warm embrace.
Gently, Kaito rubbed circles on the detectives back, trying his best to soothe his sobbing friend. "Hey, shh, it's alright."
The astronaut knew it was not best to ask what was wrong now, it was best to ask after the person was done crying so you could get a clearer answer.
Slowly but surely, Shuichi's sobs came to shaky breathing. "S-Sorry."
Kaito held the detective closer to his chest. "Don't apologize, you didn't do anything wrong."
Shuichi shook his head. "I-I got your shirt wet."
The astronaut let out a small chuckle. "You think I care about that? It's just a shirt. You're more important."
The comment made the detective's stomach all fuzzy. He wasn't entirely sure why but he had a few theories and didn't like any of them.
"So," Kaito lifted Shuichi off his chest, wrapping his jacket around the burritoed boy, "Why were you crying. If you don't mind telling me."
The detective lifted his head up, making eye contact with the astronaut. Puffy red eyes from crying and red cheeks from wiping the tears away. It was not a good look for Shuichi. "W-Well, I just don't think I should be a detective..."
The room became dead silent. If you listened closely, you could hear a dust particle fall to the floor.
What in the hell was Shuichi talking about? The astronaut thought. He should be a detective! He's solved countless cases, gave people closure. Why would he want to stop now?
Instead of thinking more about it, Kaito asked. "What made you think this?"
As the memories of Friday kept flooding back to him, more tears welled up in his eyes. "I-I couldn't solve this... case. The answer was in front of me the whole damn time and I just... gah!"
Now the astronaut knew it was serious. Most of the time, Shuichi only cursed when he was stressed or having a bad day.
Kaito placed a hand on the detective's shoulder. "It's alright, it was just one case. One case can't ruin your record, can it? What was it even about anyway?"
Now the nerves were kicking in. He was pretty sure the astronaut knew about his crush on the pianist but that didn't stop him from being nervous. "I-It... It was about me. You know about how I liked Kaede, right? Well turns out, she's dating Miu and I'm so stupid for not seeing it before! How the hell can I be a detective when I can't even notice if my friends have feelings for each other?!"
Kaito felt called out to say the least but didn't want to upset Shuichi. "Romantic feelings and murder mysteries have nothing to do with each other, right? So don't beat yourself up over it."
A few tears fell from the detective's face. "Th-That's not all, though."
The astronaut raised an eyebrow, smiling dropping, anticipating what was coming next. "Oh?"
More tears fell, leaving a few puddles of salty water on the fuzzy blankets. "She didn't like me back. Sh-She's not even bi or anything...
... I-I never stood a chance."
Without a second thought, Kaito embraced Shuichi. The detective buried his head into the astronaut's chest, leaving tear stains on the white t-shirt. The astronaut held the detective protectively, one hand behind his head and the other on his back.
The detective continued to cry. "I-It hurts, Kaito."
The astronaut rubbed circles on Shuichi's back, trying to comfort him. "I know. I know it hurts to have someone not return your feelings. Trust me... I know."
A/N
I went a little overboard on the angst and it slowly turned into 1.5k words. Fitting since this book hit 1.5k reads so thank you so much! I appreciate and love every single one of you lovely readers!
See ya later my guys, gals, non-binary pals, and anything else in between! ~ Nex ☆