Work Text:
Kokichi was an intelligent man, more than intelligent enough to do his own university work. He could get by on his own merit just fine... but it was exactly because he was intelligent that he chose not to. Why work harder when he could work smarter— AKA make someone else work hard in his place?
Yes, a smart man was the one who found the right tool for every job. And was this school full of top class tools; he was quick to snatch up Miu Iruma for his first semester engineering class, earning himself an easy A and the girl genius's ire as she carried them through the course. And then when his mandatory science credit rolled around next term and the angry bitch was there gunning for revenge, Kokichi was also quick to hide behind the big, loyal, very intimidating wall named Gonta Gokuhara (who was then also forced to do all their work— not that he needed much convincing. Gonta was quick to protect his friends, including their GPAs).
So yeah, Kokichi was basically a master at this. When the next semester came he was all but determined to keep his hands free of coursework, scanning his classmates for a potential new lackey. He considered himself a good judge of character, and this time he wanted someone who looked responsible, weak-willed, and too anxious about failure to not pick up the slack.
His eyes immediately landed on Shuichi Saihara, a bookish-looking kid who could barely make eye contact with those around him. Bulldozing his way into an acquaintanceship was child's play, and when the first group project was announced Kokichi was already looking forward to bullying him into doing all their work.
While he was at it, he also decided to get his kicks in. Shuichi was painfully easy to mess with, and the more Kokichi made a nuisance of himself the more funny reactions he got. It made him want to intrude into the guy's life even further, which is why it wasn't long before he invited himself to Shuichi's house.
"I really don't see why we couldn't have gone to the library instead…" the Shuichi in question said, his tone just shy of complaining. He very obviously didn't want to have Kokichi over, but that wasn't stopping him from obediently leading the way.
"Because we can't talk there, duh! How are we supposed to discuss our project if we're constantly getting shushed?"
"It's not like you ever do any work…"
"Hey, it's not like I could've helped my dog dying and my grandma dying one after another!" Elbowing Shuichi in the side, Kokichi glared at him through fake tears. "Don't you know what a mourning period is? You should be grateful I agreed to help work on this at all!"
"I'm sure you'll just think up another excuse to get out of it once you've gotten what you want…" Sighing, Shuichi nonetheless continued guiding Kokichi down the sidewalk. "...we're almost there, it's just up ahead."
Kokichi very much enjoyed how Shuichi fully understood his game yet continued to play it anyway. It made harassing him a blast; Shuichi had easily become one of his new favorite toys, and Kokichi couldn't wait to pilfer through the house for new ammunition.
And now that opportunity was looming in front of him, their short walk ending with both of them standing in front of a small, cheap looking building obviously aimed at students. Shuichi took out his key and unlocked the door with a resigned look on his miserable face, before (with obvious hesitance) ushering Kokichi inside.
"Leave your shoes here at the entrance. We can—"
"Shuichi, welcome back!"
Kokichi had only just stepped inside when a door within the house opened, steam rising out into the hallway as someone jumped out to greet them. Instantly Kokichi's eyes were drawn to tan skin—so much skin, still glistening as water droplets dripped down the stranger's wet hair and rolled over expansive planes of chest and arm. One arm was partially flexed, scrubbing a towel over the top of his head, and Kokichi had never been as fixated on a muscle in his entire life.
He was so entranced, in fact, that it took Kokichi a second to realize the stranger was clad in only slippers and a pair of boxer shorts.
"Kaito! I have a guest, put some clothes on!"
"Whoops, sorry man. I was just finishing up my shower when I heard you get home." Seeming entirely unbothered by the situation, the half-naked adonis cast his eyes on Kokichi. "Hey there, make yourself at home! I'm Kaito Momota, Shuichi's roommate!"
Thrusting out a hand to shake, he waited patiently as Kokichi realized he was supposed to do something other than stare at it. When he finally reciprocated the gesture it was mostly unconsciously, more muscle memory than choice, as Kokichi silently short-circuited at the idea of touching the man before him.
When their hands met, Kokichi couldn't stop looking at the contrast. His small, pale hand was swallowed up by Kaito's larger, tanner one, long fingers wrapping around his own and holding tight. Kaito's grip was firm, resolute. His palm was rough and warm.
Kokichi was going to combust.
The handshake ended in a moment, Kaito's hand falling away as he excused himself to finish dressing, and Kokichi stood shell-shocked in his absence. His heart was beating hard enough to make him light-headed. His hand felt cold.
Some corner of his mind registered Shuichi ushering him down the hallway, but Kokichi was barely conscious of it.
He followed at Shuichi's heels as though possessed, and ended up seated on his classmate's bedroom floor without any memory of getting there. He spent the rest of the visit in a daze, mostly silent; Shuichi sent him worried glances every now and then, but otherwise let Kokichi be. When asked about their project, Kokichi answered in hums and distracted tones. At some point, goodbyes were traded and his feet carried him home.
Kokichi was pretty sure he had liked someone before. He'd had crushes, been interested in other people—he'd craved a certain someone's attention, and had his heart swell when he'd gotten it.
But this was the first time he'd ever experienced this kind of lightning bolt attraction, sudden and overwhelming. It was desire so powerful it hadn't left the capacity for want, Kokichi too busy processing Kaito's existence to do anything else.
Seeing Kaito Momota had struck him dumb. It had rendered him speechless, something Kokichi never was and hadn't thought himself capable of being.
Kaito Momota was so hot, he made Kokichi's brain shut down—left him incapable of focusing his attention on anything else. Which wasn't to say his attraction to Kaito drowned out all other thoughts, but rather that his attraction shoved those thoughts underwater by the head and held them there until they stopped breathing.
Just thinking about the memory of Kaito Momota had his pulse racing, desperation clawing at the walls of his heart. He yearned to see the man again and re-experience the magic of it, be recaptured by his siren song and be pulled back into his orbit.
It was stupid. He didn't know he could be so stupid about someone he'd barely spent ten seconds with. But that didn't change the fact that he needed to see Kaito Momota again.
"Wow, this is… wow. You did this all in one night?"
Shuichi sat in front of his laptop, staring at the document Kokichi had sent him that morning. Class had just ended, and Kokichi had spent most of it pretending like he wasn't seconds from falling asleep—all so he could pull his classmate aside afterwards and sit him down to forcibly review the results of his all-nighter.
"Run it through a database if you think I plagiarized. I also have all my notes and the sources I used." For flaire, Kokichi tossed said printouts onto the table before sitting down. "I won't be offended if you check."
"Oh, okay." Shuichi looked at all the work in front of him, seeming a little lost among it all. "...sorry, it's just a bit surprising. I thought you were still grieving?"
"Eh, I decided I'd never liked that dog anyway. Good riddance."
"...and your grandmother?"
"What a hag!"
Shuichi just blinked at him, thoroughly bewildered, before turning to read through Kokichi's work. He skimmed quickly, silently scrolling through the document, and when he was done Shuichi was left in disbelieving awe.
"Kokichi, this is… this is really good. I think the report is basically finished."
"I was thinking I'd handle the presentation too, to make up for all those times you had to work on your own. You don't like public speaking, right Shuichi?"
"Yeah, that's true. This is all… very considerate of you."
"I know, right? I'm basically the best partner you could ask for!" Flashing one of his brightest smiles, Kokichi tacked on, "so I can expect you to work with me again for the next group assignment, right?"
Shuichi faltered. "Um—"
"You'd be a fool not to choose me, with results like these. And it's pretty hard for you to talk to people, right? Everyone else in class has probably made friends by now, so it'd be tough to squeeze in and find someone new." Kokichi pretended to clean under his nails, reciting his manipulation with the boredom that came with uncontested fact. "And I'm pretty fond of you, too… I think we work well together. We're probably on the way to becoming best friends, dontcha think?"
"Best fr—?"
"I certainly think so. You know, I felt sooooo comfortable hanging out at your place. We should do that again some time! Well, even if you don't want to pal around, we'll still likely end up there when we're working on our assignments. It's great that you live so close to campus."
"Wait, I—!"
"Oh, would you look at that!" Jumping up from his seat, Kokichi grabbed his bag and hefted it onto his back. "I gotta run—class soon. Let me know if there's anything I should fix before our presentation."
Kokichi did not actually have class soon… or rather, he did, but he was prioritizing a date with his bed. Other courses didn't matter—what mattered was securing reliable access to Shuichi's hot roommate, a mission he'd complete at all costs.
Even if it meant actually doing his schoolwork.
When the next group project came around, Kokichi flew over to Shuichi's desk to call dibs. The man himself seemed a little hesitant about it, but just as planned he'd ended up agreeing to partner up… as well as work together at his house.
And Kokichi worked his ass off on that project. He focused on their work, contributed more than his fair share… and, when he thought he could get away with it, he asked about Kaito. Just enough to look like smalltalk between friends.
Kaito, as it turned out, was Shuichi's best friend from high school. He was the same age as them, was too busy studying for a part-time job, and—most importantly—he went to a different university than them, which meant staying on Shuichi's good side was Kokichi's only reliable way of seeing him.
So Kokichi stopped with the pranks, the excuses, and the messing around. He became a perfect, diligent student. Shuichi, for his credit, seemed disturbed by the sudden change.
"I don't get it. What is it that you're planning, Kokichi?"
"Currently, I'm planning on getting us an A on this paper. Oh, and maybe some snacks—can I steal some stuff from your kitchen?"
Shuichi frowned, still harboring doubts, but couldn't seem to find any faults to poke at. "Sure, help yourself."
Permission granted, Kokichi jumped up and went to the door. Kokichi wasn't actually all that hungry, but it wasn't exactly a lie to say he was looking for a snack. And the kitchen was as good a place as any to start searching, so he slipped out in hopes of a chance encounter.
The universe was feeling generous that day, because Kokichi was immediately rewarded with a hot roommate sighting. Kaito Momota was doing pushups in the living room, shirtless and starting to work up a sweat.
(Also, his hair was gelled up in a crescent of vertical spikes. It should have looked dumb. Why didn't it look dumb?)
"Heya, nice to see you again!" Kaito rose up from the floor, throwing out a smile before lowering himself into another rep. "Working on another project with Shuichi?"
"Yep," Kokichi chirped, making a beeline for the kitchen cabinets and fetching himself a glass. His throat had very mysteriously gone dry.
"You sure picked a good guy to partner up with," Kaito said as he continued his pushups, listening to Kokichi fill his cup with water. "I can't think of anyone more reliable than Shuichi."
"Mhm," Kokichi couldn't think of an interesting quip, too distracted watching Kaito go up and down… ohhh that sounded bad. Mental image. Uhhh.
"Treat him well, alright?" Kaito went down into another pushup, shoulder blades shifting under his skin. Kokichi decided he'd look at Kaito Momota forever if he could. He would stop blinking out of sheer willpower.
Why don't I treat you right?, Kokichi thought. "Will do," he said instead.
Grunting through one last bit of effort, Kaito huffed out a sigh before rising from his final rep and announcing, "...five hundred!" Then he popped up onto his feet, heading to the kitchen before Kokichi could turn around and pretend he hadn't been blatantly staring.
It meant he was still wide-eyed and shocked still when Kaito stopped in front of him, lifting the water out of his hand and taking a few gulps. Kokichi just watched Kaito's adam's apple bob, frozen in silent, horny awe.
As Kaito finished with a satisfied gasp and put the half-finished glass of water back in his hand, a normal Kokichi would have said something. But proximity to a half naked hottie had reduced him to monosyllabic thoughts, meaning the only words he was currently capable of thinking of were things like Wow. Abs. Hot.
"Thanks for the drink!" Kaito beamed, wiping his mouth and somehow managing to look like a goddamn supermodel as he did it. Kokichi forced himself to string a sentence together.
"That was mine."
"Well, technically it's my water. In my glass, that you got in my house." Kaito grinned, like that completely justified him stealing drinks from people's hands. And if the argument was that it Kaito's water in the first place, didn't that completely contradict him thanking Kokichi when he took it?
But Kokichi wasn't about to poke holes in this man's logic when he was preoccupied by the fact that he could feel his body heat. "Sure. Okay. I'll just… refill this."
And then he did, suddenly aware that Kaito's lips had touched it and soon his lips were going to touch it, and holy shit was he a middle schooler? Was he actually freaking out about an indirect kiss right now? This was mortifying. He had to leave.
A hurried goodbye was all he could manage before fleeing the scene with his glass, hightailing it back to Shuichi's room. Once he was in, safe from the burning gaze of the local hottie, he immediately slammed his cup onto Shuichi's desk before curling into a ball on the floor.
"Why the hell is your roommate so sexy?!"
Shuichi, who had been trying to find an opportunity to greet him, froze. "What?"
"He was working out, there in the open!! Shirtless!!" Kokichi ran his hands through his hair, not attempting to downplay his hysterics. "I could barely breathe! My heart rate still hasn't gone down! I'm having a stroke!"
"You're not actually having a stroke, right?" Shuichi did not sound like he believed it, but there was definitely some concern in his voice. "Take some deep breaths."
Kokichi took in a gasp of air, once again reminded of the dryness of his throat. He could not bare the thought of touching his water yet. If he thought about Kaito Momota's lips right now he was going to explode.
After a few more forced breaths, Kokichi started regaining some of his sanity. "…I swear, I was about to start licking the sweat off his skin. Why is he always covered in water? It's like he's intent on always glistening when I see him."
"Ew?"
"Right, it should be ew, right?? And he even has that grubby little goatee, I have never been into goatees. Or muscles!! I know I'm not normally into macho guys, I have a friend who's entirely made of muscles and biodiversity facts."
"I… Kaito isn't even all that muscular. He's just in shape."
Was that true? Maybe Kokichi wasn't fixated on Kaito's body because it was impressive, but rather because it was Kaito. Who had somehow bewitched him just by existing. "…is he flirting with me? There's no way he wasn't purposely showing off, he totally lied about his pushup count. Do you think he did that because he's interested?"
"No, he does that with everyone. It's just the way he is."
Kokichi clicked his tongue, ignoring the despairing look Shuichi made in response. "Are you... actually serious? I still can't tell if this is just your new way of messing with me."
"Shuichi, ever since I bore witness to your roommate's smokin' bod I swore off all my lying ways. From now on, it's candid honesty and nothing else."
"You could always be a bit less candid," Shuichi eked, looking very, very uncomfortable. Unfortunately for him, that was funny.
"Nope! Nothing but the whole, honest truth from me! I'll be turning over eeeeeeevery corner of my mind for you, with special focus on the explicit sexual fantasies!"
"Can you go back to bullying me instead?" Shuichi asked, visibly wilting. "I think I preferred the bullying."
Since then, Kokichi came over many more times for many more projects. He didn't always see Kaito, and even if he was home Kokichi didn't always get to talk to him. But he became a common fixture in the household regardless.
On one such visit, they got to Shuichi's room only for Shuichi to realize he'd forgotten something at school. Since they needed it for the project, he decided to run back and get it—telling Kokichi to stay put and start working on his own. (By this point, Kokichi was such a frequent visitor that he'd apparently been trusted with home alone privileges.)
So Kokichi set up his laptop and started working on their project, becoming immersed before he even realized it. It didn't feel like long at all until the door to the room opened again, and Kokichi didn't look up from his work before greeting Shuichi.
"Welcome back, I'm partway through writing up the outline. Did you find your flash drive?" Then, realizing there were more important matters to discuss, he amended, "nevermind—when's Kaito coming home today? I want to time my breaks so I have a chance to ogle him, it's been too long since I've seen his sparkling abs. If I don't get my fix soon I'll wither away from thirst."
This was normally where Shuichi would groan out some complaint, but instead the room stayed eerily silent. Frowning a little, Kokichi added, "that's an innuendo, Shuichi. I'm saying I'm horny for your roommate."
Still, he got no reply. Had he just imagined the door opening? Furrowing his brow in confusion, Kokichi finished typing the sentence he was on before finally looking up from his computer screen.
Standing in the open doorway, frozen in surprise, was Kaito Momota.
For a few seconds they just stared at each other, both stunned into silence. Kokichi wasn't proud of this, but his mind immediately flew to Shuichi's bedroom window—specifically in regards of how quickly he'd be able to climb out of it, wondering if he should escape out of the room and then, maybe, the country.
But before he could his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the house's front door unlocking, both of them jumping a bit as they heard Shuichi coming inside.
"Oh—Kaito, are you home?"
Turning to look down the hall, Kaito replied with his hand still gripping Shuichi's doorframe. "Yeah, I got back a few minutes ago. Was just trying to find you."
"I had to run back to school, but Kokichi's over again—he should be working in my room right now."
"Yeah, I uh. I noticed."
Maybe sensing the awkward undertone in the reply, Shuichi's steps sounded quickly down the hall. Soon enough he stood next to Kaito, eyes ping-ponging between the two of them as he attempted to make sense of the atmosphere.
Kokichi opened his mouth. "I'm dropping out."
"What?!"
With Shuichi and Kaito blocking the doorway, Kokichi once again considered escaping out the window. "This is the last you'll see of me, Shuichi. Tell my grandma I love her."
"Your grandmother that died???"
"Yep! Dig her up, send her my love! And maybe my body, just bury me alive at this point!"
"Uh, I think I'm gonna go," Kaito awkwardly announced, carefully not looking at Kokichi. "Good luck on the project…"
Kokichi was not going to work on this project. He was going to change his name and start a new life somewhere far away, like Guatemala. Or the North Pole. Or maybe inside an active volcano.
Everything had gone wrong. University was ruined. But you know, maybe this was life's attempt of correcting the proper order of things. Because somewhere along the way Kokichi had gone astray, abandoning his code.
But it was all going back to the way it was supposed to be. Getting up, finalized his escape plan before bestowing Shuichi with the one, unmovable truth. "Shuichi, you're going to be doing this assignment on your own."