#nooooow

They had been dating for who knows how long, and yet Kokichi hadn’t even bothered coming up with something creative to call Kaito. On occasion, he might get a “dear” or “babe” from the little gremlin, but Kaito felt entirely restless. 

As ‘unmanly’ as it was, he really, really wanted a nickname or two for himself.

Bringing up this fact, however, was a different matter entirely. Kaito was not in the mood for Kokichi’s typical teasing and antics, nor was his pride able to handle any sort of belittlement for the vulnerability he was trying to force out. While he loved Kokichi to death, he knew that he had a difficult time determining when his teasing was appropriate verses when it wasn’t.

So when Kaito found Kokichi sitting on the couch playing a video game, Kaito steeled himself and plopped himself onto the free cushion net to him.

The force had slightly bounced Kokichi up, making him yelp a little and misclick a button on his gaming controller, and Kaito snickered as his character fell into a lake below the cliff he had been perched on.

“Kaitoooo!” Kokichi whined. “Do you know how long it too me to get up there?! Ugh! You and your fat ass, jeez.”

Kaito was absolutely unapologetic, snickering at Kokichi’s apparent misfortune. “Yeah, yeah. I’m the worst.”

“You aaaare! Ugh...”

“Well, if it’s gonna take you a while to climb back up anyway...” Kaito started, and apparently the tone in his voice had shifted just enough for Kokichi to glance at him for it. Kaito swallowed down a nervousness that was balled up in his throat, and continued; “I kinda... wanna ask you something.”

“Hmmm?” Kokichi tilted his head, but then immediately turned his attention back to his video game. “Well, this better be good, or else I’mma put yellow hair dye in all of your hair gel.”

“Do not put dye in my hair gel!” 

Hearing Kaito bristle and react made Kokichi grin. “Then out with it, or I’m gonna exact my revenge!”

“Guh, always messing around...”

Kaito found himself restless, however, at the idea of finally spitting it out. Kokichi was patient enough, at the very least understanding that whatever he was about to hear was somewhat of an important issue. Or at least, that’s what Kaito would guess--not that it actually was an important issue, or anything.

“It’s just... well...” In fact, now that he was about to ask, he felt rather silly and weak. Vulnerable. His voice quieted as he finally spat it out; “Why don’t you give me nicknames like you do Shuichi?”

Kokichi, whom had started making his character climb back up the mountain, seemed to be taken aback by the question. The character slipped and fell all the way back down into the water. “Wait, what?”

“Nicknames. You know, like. Shumai, and Shuii, and shit like that.” Oh, it was getting awkward. Kaito could barely stand it. “I was just wondering why you don’t... ah, never mind it. It’s nothing.”

Kokichi raised a brow, staring at Kaito with about as much disbelief as he could muster. The tension made Kaito hold his breath, but soon, Kokichi shrugged. “Welp, okay. If you say so.”

Kokichi turned his attention back to the video game, and they sat there in silence, the air awkward around them.

It wasn’t long before Shuichi was home from work and shopping, greeted warmly by his two boyfriends as he put the food he bought away. And before long, Shuichi was in the living room.

“What are you two up to?” Shuichi mused. “I was half expecting you two to be up to your typical nonsense.”

Without missing a beat, Kokichi spoke with a flat tone; “Oh, that’s ‘cause I’m too busy trying to think of super adorable, cute nicknames for Kaito.”

Kaito nearly choked on the air he breathed, caught by surprise from Kokichi’s blatant call out, but the words he wanted to say died immediately in his throat.

Shuichi, on the other hand, only grew curious. “Oh...?”

“Yeah, he’s jealous I give you so many nicknames, so he wants me to make up some for him too.”

This emboldened Kaito to protest; “I--I didn’t say that!”

Kokichi rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but you were toootally obvious about it. Hey, Shuichi! We should both make up nicknames for Kaito!” He then paused the game, beaming a big smile up at Shuichi. “I already thought of a few! Like Momo, Ai, Aito, Momo-Ai...”

“A-Aito?!” Kaito stuttered, cheeks burning with a blush.

“Ooooh, I think he likes that one!” Kokichi giggled. “Aito’s a good one, it suits him well, right?”

Aito. In Japanese, the term “Aito” is derived from the word “Ai,” which meant love. “Aito,” in turn, meant “Cherished one.”

The idea of either one of his boyfriends calling him Aito made Kaito’s blush darken.

“I think Aito is a good one too,” Shuichi held a hand close to his mouth, smiling, as if he was preparing to hide any giggling or snickering that may arise from the topic. “I also think ‘Momo-Ai’ is sweet, too.”

“Yeaaah! I think it can translate to ‘One-hundred love.’ Like, we have one-hundred loves to give our dearest Kaito!”

“Guh...” Kaito could feel his cheeks burning hotter and hotter as the two continued, and he couldn’t resist bringing a hand to his face, in an attempt to hide it.

“Awww, Kaito’s being shy!” Kokichi grinned. “Oh, no wait, Aito is being shy. Our cute, precious Momo-Ai is all embarrassed!”

As Shuichi sat on the other side of Kaito, Kokichi dropped the controller onto the floor and cuddled up next to Kaito’s chest. Kaito grumbled some incoherent protests before wrapping his arms around Kokichi and Shuichi.

“Are they too much?” Shuichi asked. The question was innocent enough, but it made Kaito even more restless.

“Whaaat? No way!” Kokichi pouted. “My nicknames are the cutest nicknames ever! He’s gotta love them!”

“They’re fine,” Kaito managed to force past his lips, grumbling. “Jeez...”