I Only Want What's Best For You (Pregame Saiouma AU)

Hold My Hand

“Kokichi, I need you to tell your teacher you’re going to the bathroom.”

Shuichi slid his cellphone back into his pocket as he peeked into Kokichi’s classroom window. He waited anxiously for Kokichi to check his phone so that he could see his friend. It was about midday and classes were almost finished. Shuichi had snuck out of class to hang out with Kokichi until the end of the day. Really, it had been a while since he'd had a proper friend so he had naturally attached himself to him and was the only person who could calm him down when he was stressed or angry since his ways of releasing anger weren't exactly the... healthiest, one could call it. He hoped Kokichi would check his phone otherwise he'd have to get him out of class manually. Kokichi had his head in his hands as he listened to the teacher drone on, only ever picking up his pencil to write things from time to time. After a while, the phone in his pocket vibrated 3 times in rapid succession, something he'd gotten Kiibo to do for him so he knew when his best friend Shuiichi was texting him. He perked up and sneakily slipped his phone from his pocket and hid it under the desk, turning it on and unlocking it. He read the text and immediately slipped it back into his pocket, and then raised his hand shyly. When the teacher called on him, he meekly spoke "May I use the restroom, please?" The teacher sighed and nodded, and Kokichi hopped up and walked quickly out of his classroom, looking for any sign of Saihara. Saihara noticed that Kokichi had taken out his phone, happy about the fact that he wouldn't have to actually barge into the classroom and come up with some excuse to drag Kokichi out of the classroom. He waited outside of the classroom, making sure he wasn't in sight as to not look suspicious about it. He smiled softly when he saw Kokichi exit the classroom, shamelessly reaching over to grab Kokichi's wrist gently, dragging him along until they were a distance away from the classroom. "Heyy, Kokichi." He greeted him finally, clearly happy. "It took me ages to get out of that classroom so you better appreciate my effort." He said in a joking manner. Kokichi jumped a bit at Shuichi suddenly grabbing his wrist, but relaxed when he realized it was him. Once they moved from the classroom, Kokichi looked up and smiled at his friend. "I'm glad you were able to come to me, though. I'm proud of you." Kokichi swayed back and forth, a habit he had whenever he stood. "So are you okay? What happened?" Shuichi couldn't help the small smile from the small bit of praise Kokichi had given him, letting go of his wrist carefully. He wouldn't lie to himself, he would hold Kokichi's hand but he figured that was a bit too much for friends. "I'm fine. I just got really bored in class.." He admitted. "And I really wanted to see you.." "Oh! Alright!" Kokichi beamed happily. "Did you wanna take a walk around and talk? That way if the hall monitor catches us, we can say we were just running errands." Shuichi nodded in agreement, though he planned on trying to avoid the hall monitor as much as possible. "Well, hopefully we don't even end up running into the hall monitor." He said and then grabbed Kokichi's wrist again, beginning to drag him along. "If he tries to bring us back to class, I'll probably get really mad at him.." He sighed, knowing what his anger could be like sometimes. "You don't have to worry, Saihara-kun! I can handle it if it comes to that." Kokichi followed close behind, having been witness and, in their first years of being friends, subject to Shuichi's fits. Kokichi had learned and implemented some tactics to help Shuichi tame and direct his stresses into less violent means. "Are you sure? What if they're really, really persistent?" Shuichi questioned, wanting to make sure Kokichi would be fine with handling a situation like that. He wasn't against it, it's just that Kokichi was sometimes a bit of a pushover. He headed down the halls, towing Kokichi along with him and trying to find a more secluded area of the school to be around to lessen their chances of being caught. Kokichi laughed softly, a bit of a worried look on his face. "Really, its no problem. I don't want you getting too angry." Kokichi was pretty used to being dragged around by this, the only time he didn't mind it was when he was with Shuichi. "If you say so. Am I really that scary when I'm angry?" Shuichi joked, already knowing that he got pretty intimidating. Surprisingly intimidating for someone who wasn't even all that strong, he just used more cheap and dirty tactics when hurting someone. "A-a little bit." Kokichi's voice sounded a bit nervous. Shuichi was a bit more intimidating considering how frail Kokichi was and what Shuichi had done in blind rages in the past. Shuichi smiled, clearly he didn't take his anger all too seriously despite how harmful it could get to people around him. He acknowledged it most definitely, aware of how bad it was but he continued to pretend as if there was nothing wrong with it. "Well, it's a good thing you're around then. Since you're the only one who can keep me calm, you know." He said, he managed to keep his anger down around Kokichi. He was basically addicted to how happy he got when Kokichi would praise or be proud of him for controlling his anger, it was his entire motivation. "Don't give me all the credit!" Kokichi smiled, moving to be at Shuichi's side. "You've made a lot of progress in keeping yourself calm." Shuichi felt his heart skip a beat in his chest at that, hiding just how happy it made him by looking to the floor for a moment to recollect himself. "Well, you're the reason I even tried to keep myself calm." He commented. Really, he hadn't made a whole lot of progress. He just wanted Kokichi's praise and happiness. He brought him along the halls until they finally got to a slightly more quieter area of the school, hoping they wouldn't find any hall monitors. Kokichi smiled at him. "Well, I'm proud of you nonetheless." Kokichi backed up against the wall and slid down to sit on the floor. He placed his hands in his lap and waited for Shuichi to sit with him. Shuichi sat down with Kokichi, trying to get as much praise as possible. He didn't know why but it just always sat well with him, knowing that Kokichi took the time to help someone like him.
"Are you really, really proud of me?" He asked."Of course!" Kokichi giggled a bit. "Oh, I wanted to ask you if you wanted to sleepover at my house this weekend? My parents are leaving for the weekend and I bought some new movies I've been meaning to watch." Shuichi immediately agreed, more time with Kokichi was always good in his eyes. Maybe he was a bit.. too dependent on him but Kokichi was the only friend he had. He had nothing without him, really. "Of course. I'd love to sleepover." He said happily. "I'll have to convince my parents though." He said though he planned on going whether or not his parents let him go. "Okay! Hopefully it goes well. My mom and dad really like you so they said they were okay with you coming." Kokichi perked up suddenly. "Oh, really quick, before I forget. I moved apartments because the plumbing broke." Kokichi pulled a small purple stickynote pad from his bag and a purple pen with a fluffball on top. He scribbled some words on it and put a little heart at the bottom before ripping it off of the pad and placing it into Shuichi's hand. "Here's my new address. It's not too far from where I used to live, but it'd be good for you to know." Shuichi was genuinely pretty surprised by the fact that Kokichi's parents liked him but shrugged it off, it wasn't worth pondering over. He watched as Kokichi took out the purple pen, almost wanting to tease him for how weirdly cutesy his stuff was. He took the note into his hand, looking it over before putting it in his pocket for later. "Hm, okay~." He smiled happily, simply happy about Kokichi wanting him to come over. "Sleepovers with you are always the best~." "Yeah! Be sure to bring some of your favorite snacks. I have a few of the basics like popcorn and stuff but if there's anything specifically you want, feel free to bring some by! Oh, I also have some tea I could make. I think it's one of my new favorites." Kokichi's face practically lit up. Shuichi could see how happy Kokichi was which just made him happy in return, he wasn't stupid, he knew he had a small crush on him. But he didn't dare speak of it, not wanting to chase him away.
"Oh, really? You'll have to show me some of it then." He smiled happily. "If you think it's good then it has to be amazing." He complimented slightly. "The surprising thing is, I don't even have to put sugar or honey or anything in it! It's just that good!" He smiled at Shuichi. "You'll love it, I promise!" "I'm really excited to try it then if it's really that good." Shuichi said happily, subconsciously shuffling a bit closer to Kokichi but not so much that he invaded any personal space.  "You really like your tea, huh~?" He teased. Kokichi blushed at his teasing and looked down, a bit ashamed at how excited he was over something as simple as tea. "Sorry. I get a little carried away sometimes." Kokichi fiddled with his sleeves, embarrased with himself. "I'm only teasing." Shuichi said softly and looked to Kokichi. "I find it nice that you get carried away, it's nice to listen to." He said, not wanting Kokichi to feel like he couldn't go on about the things he liked. He liked listening to Kokichi happily rant about things. "Really? Usually people tell me I'm too obsessed with it. It makes me feel like I'm being selfish." Kokichi looked up at Shuichi with a sad smile. "That's most of the reason I don't talk very much in public." Shuichi's expression twisted into one of slight distaste for a moment before quickly returning to his usual smile to hide it, not fond of the thought that some random scumbags were telling Kokichi that he was 'too obsessed'. "Well, fuck those guys." He said bluntly. "They're just assholes who are just mad that they have nothing to be happy over in their pathetic excuses for a life." He said with his usual, slightly optimistic tone. "Thank you, Saihara-kun." Kokichi smiled. "You're too kind." "It's no problem." Shuichi smiled softly. "I'm not that kind though, I just have common sense." He looked over at Kokichi, not wanting him to be sad.
"You're always welcome to talk about whatever you like. I love listening to it." Kokichi giggled as the bell for the end of the day rang. "Want me to walk you home?" Kokichi slung his bag over his shoulder and offered to help Shuichi up by holding his hand out. "Sure. I wouldn't mind." Shuichi answered, actually, he'd love to have Kokichi walk him home. He reached up to grab Kokichi's hand, an instant light pink flushing over his features. Kokichi's hand felt warm in his own... He got lost in his thoughts for a moment, just holding Kokichi's hand for a short moment before snapping out of it, using Kokichi's hand to pull himself off of he ground and quickly spoke. "Let's go then." He said casually, letting go of Kokichi's hand now (reluctantly). Shuichi hoped Kokichi hadn't noticed but guessed it would be hard not to notice, a little embarassed over that slip up. Kokichi laughed a bit under his breath and began walking with him towards the exit. "Do you need to grab anything from your locker?" Shuichi already missed the feeling of Kokichi's hand in his own. "Nope! I have nothing important in there!" Really, Shuichi didn't care enough about school to actually keep anything in his locker. "Alright. I have all my stuff to, so I guess we can just go." Kokichi smiled at Shuichi and began walking to the front exit. "Good, good." Shuichi said, taking Kokichi by the wrist gently and doing the usual thing of dragging Kokichi along with care. "Hey, Kokichi?" He asked and glanced to him. Kokichi looked at Shuichi. "Yeah? Is something wrong?" Shuichi hummed in thought for a moment, trying to think of a way to phrase the question normally. "Do you have any other friends than me?" He started. "I'm just curious, is all." "Hmm...not really? I'm somewhat close with Kiibo, but I'm not sure he likes me very much. Other than that, you're the only one that doesn't bully me and I consider you my best friend so..." Shuichi didn't know why he felt a bit of relief, he only had one friend other than himself. That meant Kokichi would spend more time with him than anyone else~. "Ahh, I see. Well, we're in the same boat then! I don't have any other friends either!" He said as if it was normal. "Huh. I guess we just work well together, then?" Kokichi smiled gently. "I guess we really do." Shuichi said happily, leading them both out of the school building. "Who are your bullies though?" He asked curiously, wanting to know exactly who they were. Kokichi likely wouldn't tell him though knowing what he was like. "Too many to count, honestly." That was only sort of a lie. He was definitely bullied a lot but it was really only one specific group. It was normal bullying you'd expect in a school, until the afterschool bell rang. Kokichi didn't want to tell Shuichi though. He brought it upon himself and really didn't want Saihara involved. "I'm fine though. They've kinda stopped now." "Are you surrree? You know I could deal with them really easily if you need it." Shuichi promised, he could easily just go ahead and kick one of the dude's in the junk if need be or simply use his own words to scare them off. Hell, he could even just threaten one of the bullies, perhaps like a hostage situation. Many different scenarios ran through his mind. "Please don't." Kokichi said a bit abruptly. "It's really nothing, I swear." He had a bit of a worried expression on his face. "But." Shuichi sighed, he could easily just deal with any problem Kokichi had. Even if it was violent, assholes like that deserve it. "I know you don't like it when I get angry. But don't bullies deserve it?" Kokichi was silent. He did think they deserved it, but something in his gut kept telling him that it was his fault. If he hadn't gotten involved with them they wouldn't hurt him. It told him that that was his burden to bear. He deserved to be bullied by them. After all, he was just a useless waste of space. Just like everyone says. "Can we drop it...please?" "..Fine! If you say so!" Shuichi said happily, dragging him along with more energy. He didn't really plan on dropping it, if Kokichi had bullies then he was hell-bent on finding out who they were and making their lives miserable. "Kokichi, can I hold your hand instead?" He asked him out of the blue, sounding casual so it wouldn't sound like anything suspicious.
"Holding your wrist is uncomfortable." "Huh?" Kokichi's face flushed red. "Uhm, sure I guess. Sorry if my hands are a bit sweaty, though.." "That's fine." Shuichi shrugged it off, letting go of Kokichi's wrist and instead holding his hand. His cheeks flushed red but he looked ahead, keeping Kokichi behind him so he wouldn't be able to see it. His hand felt.. amazing in his own and he had to stop himself from showing his happiness. Kokichi grasped Shuichi's hand, feeling its calloused rough texture. He didn't mind it actually, it was actually calming holding his hand. Shuichi dragged him along via his hand, holding on rather tightly for simply dragging him along. His hand just felt so nice, he wanted to hold it for as long as he could. "How long is it until the weekend, Ouma-kun?" He asked, wanting to know how long until he could spend time with Kokichi. "One more day, I think. Today is Thursday, right?" Kokichi looked up at Shuichi. "That's good~. I can't wait to spend more time with you, Ouma-kun!" Saihara said happily, simply enjoying any time he got with Kokichi. But he mostly enjoyed hanging out with him at his house, where they didn't have to worry about school rules, classes or any of that. "I can hardly wait myself." Kokichi smiled as they arrived at Shuichi's house. "Well, see you tommorow, Saihara-kun!"
Shuichi watched as they arrived at his house, glancing back over at Kokichi. He wasn't fond of letting go of Kokichi's hand. But with great reluctance, he let go so he could get home. "Yeah! I'll see you tomorrow, Ouma-kun!"