#a new one-shot in celebration of kunikida's bday!!

[kunikiiida-kuuun]

Part Of You (Kunikida x reader)

As Kunikida's hand hovers over the wooden shelf in search for a certain document, instead of the familiar row of neatly arranged files, he is greeted with a sight of dolls lined up next to each other.

"What... “Kunikida mutters under his breath. Upon closer inspection, he finds that they aren't just ordinary dolls. They are dolls modeled after every member of the Detective Agency, each doll matching perfectly to their counterpart.

"Who put their dolls here?! And where are the files that were kept here?" Kunikida points towards the dolls and looks for an answer from his seated colleagues.

“Don’t worry, the files have been moved to that shelf.” You come up to Kunikida, smiling widely, "Aren't they adorable? Kyouka-chan made them with Naomi-san's help!" When you suddenly lean in close to Kunikida and he can’t help but stiffen up. Even though the two of you had recently started dating, Kunikida wanted things to be strictly professional at work. "Kyouka-chan said she had made her own dolls before." You whisper into his ear.

He nods curtly, understanding your underlying meaning. Her parents had been killed while she was still a child. A comfortable life had been snatched away from her, a child forced to grow up to early in this harsh world.

Yet, all Kunikida wanted right now was to complete his file work on time.

In spite of himself, Kunikida doesn't ask Kyouka to put the dolls away. Moreover, he had been caught by you, admiring the dolls she was steadily adding to the collection, each of them better than the other. He didn't say it out loud but Kunikida really loved the little version of you; everything about the doll right from the adorable shape of your face down to the smile resembled you accurately.

He also didn’t comment on it, but the day Kyouka presented the doll she made after him, he was secretly really happy about it. On the other hand, he saw that you were hardly concealing your excitement about it, constantly giggling adorably over his furrowed eyes and how cute his little smile looked, distracting him from the work at hand more than he let on.

One morning Kyouka stands before the shelf wearing her usual stoic expression, "It's not here." She mutters under her breath.

Atsushi comes up to her and asks, "What's not here?"

She turns to look at him and points at the shelf, "One doll is missing."

Atsushi scans the shelf, sure enough all the dolls had to be here...That's when he realizes that it's Kunikida's doll that is missing.

"That's strange." he frowns, tapping his chin in thought. "Who would take it?" He adds after a moment of speculation, "If it's Kunikida-san's doll that was taken, then I suppose it could only have been taken by Kunikida-san himself, right?"

When they seek to inquire him about it, they are barely able to get their question through as Kunikida was as busy early in the morning as ever. The two youngsters go around the office asking every agency member if they happened to see the doll anywhere. Tired of watching their poor attempt at an investigation, Ranpo finally speaks up, "I know who has the doll."

Atsushi beams at Ranpo, who was smiling like a cunning cat, legs propped over his table in his usual carefree manner. "Were you able to deduce it using your ability, Ranpo-san?"

Ranpo snorts at Atsushi's obvious naiveté, "Of course not. I only happened to see the person concerned when they thought that nobody was around."

Atsushi continues smiling, happy to know that the mystery would be solved, "Who is it then?" Although it was strange to wonder that anybody had taken it, since they practically asked everyone in the office.

"That person is," Ranpo's emerald eyes gleam with the familiar shine he has when he declares the murderer in a murder case, "You, y/n."

You flinch as all eyes turn to you, including Kunikida's, even though he was engaged in his paperwork, his eyes full of surprise. All your previous attempts to hide behind your laptop fail as you find out that the cats out of the bag.

Before anyone can get a word in, you shoot up from your seat, "I-I'm sorry for all the trouble!" you pull out the doll from your bag and go over to Kyouka, holding it before her.

"I'm sorry Kyouka-chan. I was playing a bit with it and somehow, the sleeve tore off. I didn't want to upset you so I took it home for repair." you explained to the young girl. You bowed in apology, "I'm really sorry."

Kyouka nods slowly, accepting your explanation. "It’s alright." she takes the doll from you and holds it up to inspect it. It was barely noticeable but it was obvious to the maker the difference in the stitches. “Thank you for mending it.”

"That's solved then!" Atsushi chirps happily. As the minor distraction had been resolved, the workers are about to return to their work when Ranpo speaks up once again.

"That story may be true, but there's more to it isn't it, Y/N?" He smiles, eyes twinkling with amusement.

You hesitate, and stutter upon your words, “W-What are you talking about, Ranpo-san? What more can possibly be there to it?”

"Well, certainly you don't need to take it all the way home to mend a small tear like that?" This time it’s Dazai, who leans forward on his desk and smiles innocently at you, "Since you did lend Haruno-chan a needle and thread that you carried in your bag when she needed to mend her skirt in an emergency."

You stand hesitantly at a complete loss for words at their observations, although this much must be a piece of cake for the two clever detectives. "Uh... Well... “You search for an explanation in your head, a single excuse to escape the situation, but you know you've arrived at a dead end, considering it was Ranpo and Dazai before you.

Your jaw drops in shock as this time Kunikida asks you directly, "Then for what reason did you take it home?"

"Do you want to know?" Ranpo grins, his glasses glinting in the sunlight.

Realizing that you have no chance of escape at this point, you quickly grab Kunikida's arm and pull him out of the room. Closing the door behind, silence engulfs among the two of you as you try to gather your thoughts. A moment passes before Kunikida's deep baritone cuts through your thoughts, "Well? Are you going to say something?"

“First I need you to promise that you won’t laugh.” You look at him with such a determined look, he simply nods without a question, “Okay, I promise.”

You bite your lip nervously, your eyes darting all over the place, "You see... I was just..."

“It’s been a while since we went on a date or spent any time together,” You start to explain while he nods nimbly, prompting you to continue. With the sudden increase in the number of requests piling up for the agency, Kunikida was the first to arrive at office and last to leave. It was unlike him, but there was no other choice than to postpone the dates he had planned with you. You had been so kindly understanding about the situation that Kunikida thinks he fell in love with you even more.

“And you don’t like any sort of PDA…” You mumbled to which you added hastily, “Which I completely understand, and agree with.” He nods again silently.

"But that doll looked so much like you... I thought it would be nice to hold it…Like having a part of you with me...“You explain with faltering confidence, feeling more and more embarrassed at yourself. At this point maybe a double suicide with Dazai sounded like a good offer.

"And before I knew it, I carried it off with me.” You fidget with your sleeves absentmindedly. “I mean what could I even say? ‘Hey, can I just borrow this adorable plushie of my boyfriend for one night?’ without seeming like a weirdo.” You continue ranting before noticing that Kunikida hasn’t said a word all along.

“C-Can you please say something?” You hadn’t expected him to be this silent. Kunikida continues to stand still, eyes shaded by the glint of his glasses. There is a sinking feeling in your stomach like you've disappointed him. "I'm sorry if I creeped you out, okay? I don't know what made me do such a thing! You must think that I'm so childish right? Honestly I'm not-"

You stop when you notice Kunikida’s shoulder quiver and he turns away quickly from you, covering his mouth.

“Hey, you’re laughing at me aren’t you?!” Your voice comes out as a squeal your and cheeks turn red in embarrassment. His reaction completely takes you by surprise.

Kunikida bites his lip, clearly restraining himself. He clears his throat and composes himself, “No, I’m not.”

“Yes you are! Even though you promised not to laugh!” You pout your lips at this. “So much for being a man of his words!”

You let out a gasp as Kunikida pulls you into a bear hug. "If you wanted a hug, you should have just asked for it." he whispers softly.

Getting over your initial shock, you immediately melt into his arms, all your worrisome thoughts scurrying away. "I'm sorry; I didn't want you to think of me as clingy just when we started dating."

"An ideal boyfriend takes care of his partner's needs." he says in his monotonous manner that makes you smile widely.

You feel a blush spread on your face as he whispers, "Besides, you don't need a doll for something like that when you can have all of the real thing." Kunikida's husky voice in your ear was making you weak in the knees and you were glad that he was holding you firmly, a hand hooked onto your waist and another caressing your head softly.

You remain in each other’s arms for a few minutes until Kunikida asks, "Are you satisfied?"

You nod your head even though either of you seem reluctant to let go. He had his schedule to adhere to, yet when it came to you, he seemed to forget the looming sense of time and work.

"Let's get back to work, shall we?" Kunikida adjusts his glasses and clears his throat awkwardly a slight blush adorning his cheeks as well, as he suddenly remembered that they were still at work.

You nod, a blush still gracing your cheeks, "I'm sorry for interrupting your schedule."

"Don't be silly. You know you're more important than that." At this, your heart flutters just like a young girl in love. You're amazed at how he says the most romantic things without even trying to do so. “I’ll make up for all the time we lost. I promise.”

If possible, your cheeks heat up even more, "Okay." You compose yourself, reminding yourself that the others were still present behind that door.

Nodding his head curtly, he pushes the door open to re-enter the office. As you walk back to your seat, you feel a few lingering eyes follow you, but apart from that everyone is silent, focused on their work.

When it seems like everything is normal, Dazai's drawls out in his teasing voice, "A nice long kiss would have been better, Kunikida-kun. How boring." He stretches out his words, making a perfect mockery Dazai style.

Not even a second passes as Kunikida explodes like a volcano and holds Dazai in a choke hold, a string of insults pouring out, while the man in question continues smiling and teasing his partner even more.

You try to hide your face behind a file in embarrassment. The rest of the agency tries to ignore them, but fail, finding Kunikida's reaction so obvious and hilarious.

All among the chaos in the background, Kyouka walks up to the shelf of dolls and makes a slight alteration.

She places Kunikida's doll next to yours, tiny hands entwined together, and smiles to herself in satisfaction.