Disguised Feelings | Kokichi Oma x Reader

2 | It Started With A Pencil

By the end of lunch, I'd already finished a draft of a sketch for Saihara's outfit. However, I had no reference to see if I nailed the DICE style. I just couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about Saihara's motives with DICE.
"No." I told myself aloud, closing my sketchbook with a feisty thump. "He might not even be infiltrating DICE. All they pull are immature pranks. Why are you even worried? Why do you even care?"
I huffed. I knew very well why I cared.
Still exhausted from my lack of sleep, I barely made it through fourth and fifth period without falling asleep.
"Hey."
I didn't respond because I recognised the voice.
"Hey, Y/N!"
The class wasn't exactly quiet, since we had a laid-back teacher who let us talk, so I pretended not to hear him.
"Y/N, can I borrow a pencil?"
Oh. That wasn't what I'd expected.
I turned to the short student. He sat next to me, so I just passed him the pencil like a normal person and continued working. No, not on the classwork, my sketch. He gave me a close-eyed smile, but I couldn't tell if he was only grinning to get me to bend to his will. If that was his plan, then it worked.
"Nice drawing, by the way."
The words seemed to make my heart leap. Why did I care so much?!
"Nishishi. You seem to be pretty good at disguises, for the Ultimate Tailor. It's a shame - you could have been useful to me."
I didn't respond.
"Aw, don't be coy." He rolled his dark lilac eyes. "I'm not as bad as people make me out to be, y'know?"
"Sorry, I'm just trying to focus."
"Maybe... I could commission you sometime?"
Truthfully, I was quite surprised. People like Kokichi usually expected me to do it for free.
"And you'd pay me?" I asked.
"Yeah. DICE is loaded with money, so we'd be fine with covering the costs and all that crap." He leaned back in his chair and placed his hands behind his head. "I'll meet you after school by the gates, okay? I'll give you all of the details of the commission then."
I didn't respond, and just kept working. Though, looking back, I may have nodded and smiled a goofy smile to myself. But who knows?

She was definitely glad to get a commission from me. She was smiling like an idiot.
But... it kind of annoyed me how she didn't lose her cool after I brought up disguises. I mentioned how she lived across from my place, didn't I? I'm pretty sure her desk has a window above it which she leaves open. I see her working all the time, and even spotted her dragging some of her mannequins around her room.
I wasn't lying when I said she could become useful to me. In more ways than one.
So, after she barely survived staying awake during period four and five, she did as I requested and met me by the gates. She was tracing her fingers over the cracked paint of the fence, a focussed expression on her face. Her eyebrows had knitted together, and she was having a glaring and/or staring contest with the said fence.
"Heya." I said, knocking her out of her daze. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Just thinking how great this texture would be on one of my desg- outfits."
I'd broken down her facade, now I just had to finish it off. Be blunt for once, y'know? Shake things up a bit.
"Y'know how I said I was gonna commission you and all that?"
"Yeah?" Her eyes gleamed with naive hope. Clearly, she didn't understand how I worked yet. Or maybe she did, and she was just unbelievably stupid. Hell if I knew.
"It was a lie. I actually just wanted to tell you that I know who you really are. You should be afraid, L/N, very afraid. DICE may seem harmless from an outsider's perspective, but we can really get vicious if we want to, y'know?"
I slowly backed her up against the fence, and a mixture of fear and irritation glinted in her e/c eyes. It was pretty fun to tease her like this. She was blushing like an absolute nerd.
I backed up, satisfied with my fun. "Nishishi. You're so easy to get flustered. Well, that was all."

I walked home alone with a heavy heart. He clearly didn't like me back - I just wasn't ready to accept that. So... I decided to buy a ton of Panta. Yes, I was bribing him with carbonated drinks.
I got home with two bags full of the purple syrupy drink and set them down on the kitchen counter.
I got a text from Saihara. Like I said, he's my best customer.

Shuichi: Hey, wondering how you're doing on the commision again?
Y/N: should be down by tomorrow.
Shuichi: perfect.
Shuichi: ...I know you think I'm going after DICE
Shuichi: it's for a good reason, I promise.

I tried to message him back multiple times, but he stopped responding (and even reading) my messages.
I convinced myself that I didn't care about Kokichi, and promised that I would stop thinking about him until I finished my commission at the very least.
No, I couldn't.
Every stitch I made, I worried about Kokichi's wellbeing. Under all of those layers of lies and memes, there was a caring and care-free nature to him which made him easily drawn to.
Ugh, when did I get so poetic?
I ended up completing the costume at midnight. It was a white tux with the occasional splash of colour, a rainbow bowtie and a round clown mask to top it all off. I felt eyes on my as I hauled the mannequin to my mannequin closet and let it mingle with my other creations. I stared out of my desk window and saw a messy-haired silhouette gazing back at me.
I felt a sense of peace and serenity fill me.
I flicked off my light and lay in my bed. It took my thirty minutes to get a wink of sleep until four-am.
Took a cold shower.
Chugged a pint of f/d.
Drew sketches.
Lay awake and stared up at my brilliantly white ceiling.
Everything felt better when Kokichi started to enter my life properly.
Maybe he wasn't so bad after all...?
...
...Ugh, who am I kidding?

Word count - 1070.