The night was long, tedious and tiresome. Kokichi Ouma still couldn't sleep.

With a heavy sigh, he swung around in his bed, plopped his feet on the ground, and stood up, stretching out his tense muscles and cracking his neck. It didn't matter too much, anyhow. He had overslept a bit yesterday, so one night of little sleep wouldn't hurt him too bad.

He brought out his phone, clicking it on and checking the time. 2:37 a.m. He hadn't gotten any texts from when he had last checked, which was… ten minutes ago. He briefly debated waking up the group chat, but knowing his 'friends' they would be more likely to curse him out and yell at him than actually engage him in meaningful conversation.

… in a way, that piqued his interest more.

He tapped his thumb on the screen of his blackberry rhythmically, humming a melody under his breath that he definitely hadn't heard from Sayaka Maizono's newest album, "Gooshie Gooey Love!". Definitely not.

What to do?

His mind was racing. Realistically, he knew that he could get up and do anything he wanted right now. Literally anything. Yet he still sat confined to his bed, the lock on his door shut tight and his bare feet unwilling to move an inch. He wiggled his toes. They still worked fine. Why didn't he work fine?

Me: Heeeeey~! Saihara-chan! Are you up?

He waited. And waited. No response.

That's bullshit. Saihara was the literal embodiment of anxiety, and he had overheard him remark on more than one occasion to Akamatsu that he suffered from insomnia.

In his mind's eye, he had envisioned Saihara in the exact same predicament as him: standing by his bed, tapping his blackberry, and waiting for somebody to text him. Despite his brilliant ideas and his perfect vision, Saihara still didn't text him back.

With a frustrated sigh and a hand ran through his tousled hair, Kokichi threw his blackberry onto his mattress. It bounced softly. Kokichi didn't see the screen light up.

He had already finished his homework, too. He had read every book that he had rented from the library and every book currently sat on his dusty old shelf. He had watched every DVD he owned and he had forgotten his laptop bag in class, so he couldn't even surf the web. He supposed that he could watch YouTube on his phone, but it was already low on battery and the power outlet was in the far corner of his room, far away from his bed and any source of comfort. Kokichi wasn't quite desperate enough to watch videos put out by YouTubers that he hardly even liked hunched over in a corner.

So Kokichi stared.

If he stared hard enough, he could almost see a figure in the doorway, winking and blowing a kiss at him in the darkness. A trick of the mind, obviously. Kokichi wasn't naive enough to believe in ghosts of all things.

(... although that would explain that weird knocking he kept hearing…)

oOo

Me: yeah, i'm up

Shuichi Saihara was staring.

If he looked hard enough, he could almost see a figure in his doorway, winking and blowing him a kiss.

Ridiculous, obviously.

He glanced at his phone once more. A trick of the light had made it look like the screen had glowed, but nevertheless it was just as black and bleak as before.

His fingers twitched. He wanted to pick up his phone again. He wanted to text Ouma again. Ouma had obviously texted him for a reason, right? Even if he was a pest on the best of days, he was much better company than this black nothingness.

He gave into his impulse.

Me: can't sleep?

After a moment, Ouma responded.

Kokichi Ouma: I don't know, maybe I'm doing evil supreme leader duties right now! Supreme leaders have to be nocturnal, ya know! Nishishishi~!"

Me: if you're so busy, why'd you text me?

Me: … also, did you just type your laugh?

Despite himself, Shuichi found himself smiling.

Yes, Kokichi Ouma really was a pest, and Shuichi had to restrain himself from punching him in the face usually multiple times in one sitting, but on his best days he really was someone that he didn't mind talking to.

On his worst days… well, that's another story.

oOo

Kokichi yawned for the fifth time in the last ten minutes. Staying up all night texting Saihara hadn't been the best idea, but it's not like he would've been able to sleep anyways. Besides, Saihara was interesting! Much more interesting than the other scrubs at Hope's Peak Academy.

"Hey, virgin!" Miu Iruma dropped down next to him at his lunch table. Quite honestly, on days like these Kokichi preferred to eat alone, leaving his antics for the teachers. Iruma was always alone too, so she must view it as her duty to personally annoy the hell out of the only other person that nobody liked. "What's up, you stay up all night jacking it?"

Kokichi glared at the girl, but when he turned away from her he must've made the mistake of accidentally looking at Shuichi instead. Iruma slapped the table, spilling just the slightest bit of his chocolate milk and knocking the chair just next to him a few inches back. "No fuckin' way! You boned the other virgin!"

"You wish, not everyone's as much of a cumslut as you, Iruma."

"H-Hey! That's…"

"You're boring me, I'm going to go now," he made to stand up, grabbing firmly onto his tray and the remnants of his milk. Just before he left, Iruma called his name, gesturing for him to sit down again. Knowing full well that he'd regret it later, Kokichi complied.

Iruma fiddled with the ends of her hair, peering just barely at Kokichi behind her bangs. True to character, the submissive side of her personality had come out as soon as Kokichi had had the gall to insult the self-proclaimed genius beauty. What a joke. "H-Hey… listen, if you ever do want to-"

"No."

"W-Wait, you didn't even-"

"I don't need to finish hearing what you're saying before saying no. You're so boring, Iruma. Keep it in your pants, god."

"H-Hey, like I'd want anything to do with a shota like you-!"

oOo

Shuichi couldn't stop staring at Kokichi Ouma.

It was odd. He'd never felt any sort of interest in Ouma before hand. Even when he wasn't doing anything, Ouma was still an enigma.

Shuichi knew full well that what he was feeling wasn't any sort of romantic attraction to Ouma. He already has had a long-standing crush on the one and only Kaede Akamatsu, and that wasn't going away anytime soon. Plus, he was straight. Always had been, always would be. (Probably.)

If anything, he felt more of a kinship. A commonality. Despite all of his grandeur and false claims, Ouma still found himself unable to sleep last night. Even though he refused to admit it, when he had texted Shuichi he had left himself vulnerable by even revealing in the first place that he was still awake, despite Shuichi knowing full well that he was one of the early birds in their class, if the group chat activity was anything to go by. Ouma had trusted Shuichi.

Then again, he could be reading too much into it.

"Hey, Shuichi," began Kaede. Immediately, Shuichi distrusted the smirk on her face and the lilt in her tone. That smirk was not meant to belong to Kaede. That smirk was fit more for the likes of Byakuya Togami or Nagito Komaeda; or maybe it belonged to Kirumi Tojo on the odd days that she felt smug and was desperately trying to hide it, but that was a rarity.

Gulping, Shuichi tore his eyes completely away from the bickering duo of Iruma and Ouma and gave his full attention to the woman of the hour. "Yes, Kaede?"

"Why are you staring at Iruma-san and Ouma-kun, hm? Got a crush?"

"Uh… no."

"Aw dang, I'd thought I'd really had it!" she went silent for a moment, tapping her pouted lip thoughtfully, "Iruma-san really isn't your taste, huh?"

Oh. So that's who she thought I was staring at. "... can't say she is."

"C'mon, just tell me already," she leaned closer to him and propped her chin up between her two fists, a cheeky smile revealing dimples on the inside of her left cheek and a rosy tint dusting both of them. "Whose this secret crush? You can tell me, ya know? I won't tell anyone!"

Shuichi smiled, then he didn't. He really couldn't tell her. She wasn't exactly secretive in hiding her crush on the new kid, Rantaro Amami, and he knew that he'd be outright rejected if he let any sign of his crush slip.

"Shuichi?"

"Ah, right, well…" he forced a smile right back onto his face, gave his secret crush a rather uncharacteristic wink, and stood up. "Victory isn't any fun without the race."

"Ah, boo. As expected of a detective…" Kaede sat back in her chair and narrowed her eyes at him, as though he were doing something wrong that warranted suspicion. "... what are you doing?"

"Oh…" He really didn't have an excuse. He just wanted to get away from the situation as fast as humanly possible. Having your crush try to guess your crush was beyond awkward already, and she was quickly narrowing down the list of suspects. It wouldn't be long before she guessed herself, and he'd rather die before that happened. If all went according to plan, he probably would. "I have a project."

"A project?"

"Yeah, I forgot to do it, so…" he nudged his shoulder towards the door, "can I go now?"

Kaede nodded, her eyes still narrowed. She didn't believe him. Shuichi wasn't the best liar, and whenever he told anything but the truth he started fidgeting and sweating, so he didn't really blame her for her suspicion. He was always lying to her.

When he passed by Ouma's lunch table, he felt the other boy staring at him. He didn't look back.

oOo

The same routine played out that night. Kokichi Ouma sat wide awake in bed, staring up at an unmoving sky and counting the nonexistent constellations that existed on his bedroom ceiling. He could count every little bump of paint, and he felt pathetic and empty when he began to connect them all, marvelling at the great majesty that was his own personal faux night sky.

How boring.

Once again, his homework had been completely finished. Every book had been read. Every DVD had been watched. Every person was asleep, except…

Saihara-chan~! 3: hey. are you awake?

Kokichi's mind was racing. His foot was tapping. His hands were sweating and clammy and gross, and no matter how many times he wiped them off on his pajama bottoms his pores still released more and more sweat. If Saihara could see him right now, there was no doubt in Kokichi's mind that he would immediately cease contact with him and refuse to ever talk to him again.

Me: Awake as the dead.

Saihara-chan~! 3: well considering youre very obviously talking to me and alive, i'm gonna say that's a lie.

Me: Nishishi~! You caught me!

Saihara-chan~! 3: you realize you don't have to type out your laugh every other text, right?

Me: Oh, am I annoying you, Saihara-chan?

Saihara-chan~! 3: when are you ever not annoying me?

Kokichi giggled, yes, giggled. He giggled like a fucking schoolgirl on crack, plastering his hand over his mouth on the odd chance that one of his neighboring classmates would hear him through the soundproof wall.

Saihara was much more confident through text. Kokichi would never dare to call him boring, but he shot back with just as much feistiness to each of Kokichi's jabs and insults, picking and picking away at Kokichi's skin just as much as he did to others. He wondered how often other people saw that side of Saihara, or if it was just him, for him, only.

He seldom ever talked to Saihara outside of his glass screen. He stared at him from afar mostly, and whenever Kokichi raised a ruckus in class Saihara would never dare take his eyes off of him, as though he were anticipating his next move. Every time Saihara would look at him, he felt happy and light and magical.

God, he sounded so gay.

I mean, he is, but still! Like he'd ever tell Saihara that!

Me: You were the one that started texting me.

Saihara-chan~! 3: looks like you caught me in a lie

His heart soared.

Me: Saihara-chan! That's my line! That's copyright infringement!

Saihara-chan~! 3: i look forward to seeing you in court

Kokichi folded his legs over his body, grinned, and squealed. He held his phone to his chest, rocking on his back as he thought over his response.

Me: Be prepared to lose! In my secret organization we have every profession imaginable there, including all of the top lawyers in the world! You're no match~!

Saihara-chan~! 3: oh really, what are these lawyers names? since i'm a detective and all i mightve heard of them :)

HE SENT A SMILEY FACE!

Me: I couldn't tell you that! They're in a secret evil criminal organization!

Saihara-chan~! 3: uh huh. and what is this organization's name?

Me: It's seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeecreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

Kokichi knew that his mood was going to go away soon. He knew that soon he wouldn't be cursed to staying up all night because of his insomnia, and he knew that soon he wasn't going to be able to text Saihara anymore for fear of letting too much slip.

Soon, he was going to get out of his euphoric state of mind and let go of his stupid one-day crush and sink back to the dreaded, horrible confines of reality. He was going to be wide awake every night staring up at a painted constellation on his bedroom ceiling, but instead of being forced to stare for hours upon hours as they shifted and morphed into something magical and wonderful while his heart raced and his eyes bulged, he was going to fall asleep with his eyes wide open, not seeing the lumps of paint on his bedroom ceiling and not knowing the great mystery of Shuichi Saihara.

For right now, he wasn't going to think of that.

If he doesn't think of it, maybe that dreaded day won't come.

Kokichi Ouma lifted up his phone, read his text from Saihara, and smiled. The constellation above his head shifted, and he paid it no mind. When the stars reversed and shifted, maybe then he would give them their much-due attention.

He pressed send.