#also natsumiheart if you're reading this: your art is hecking AWESOME

[himiko-yumehellno]

Saiouma Week Day Six: Appreciation Day

Title: Three Days to Set Up a Confession is As Easy As Cookies and Roses

Summary: Shuichi employs Rantaro's help to confess to Kokichi. Rantaro's got this.

Word Count: 2260

Note: I don't really talk about other writers or artists I like (I mostly just rb their stuff on Tumblr and leave comments when I can), buuut... I chose one of my favorite saiouma artists, @natsumiheart , for this day of Saiouma Week! The piece that inspired this fic can be found here. I'll admit that this fic only briefly mentions the comic that inspired it, but I hope you enjoy anyway!

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Rantaro wasn't new to being a wingman. He'd done it for plenty of his sisters before, and he was a frequent choice for people to go to for romance advice, even if he himself was aro. Still, he can't say that he had ever been in a wingman situation quite like this before.

Because not only was Shuichi requesting help from him in confessing to someone, but he was asking for help in confessing to Kokichi Ouma. AKA, the person literally everyone knew had a crush on Shuichi.

Except, it seems, Shuichi himself.

"I'm sorry, could you please repeat that? I want to make sure I heard right." Rantaro would have pinched his nose in exasperation if he wasn't so polite. Instead, he merely crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at Shuichi, who was glancing to the side and not making eye contact. "You want my help in confessing to Kokichi?" The guy who calls you his beloved? The guy who flirts with you every other day? The guy who I hear endless talking from about how you're so amazing it should be a crime?

Shuichi shifted his weight, a frown on his face. "Er, yes, of course, if you don't want to, that's fine too, I just thought I should ask since you helped Kaede out with her and Kirumi, and, well..."

As Shuichi trailed off, Rantaro took a deep breath, letting it out and starting to plan how he could do this. Since he already knew both of them loved each other... "Alright, give me like, three days."

"What?!" Shuichi snapped his head up to look at him, jaw dropped. For once, he didn't seem to care that he was being loud, and his eyes were wide and he visibly struggled to find the words to express his surprise. "But – three?! How – I know you're friends with him, but –"

Shuichi's rambling stopped as Rantaro calmly put a hand on his shoulder, smiling at him with his trademark easygoing grin. Shuichi blinked at him, and Rantaro squeezed his shoulder reassuringly.

"Hey, don't worry about it, I'm serious. I'm gonna go find Kokichi and talk to him, so don't wait up on me, okay?"

Shuichi nodded slowly, seemingly coming out of his shock as he stepped back from Rantaro. "You... Are you sure you can help me in only three days?"

Rantaro wasn't surprised at Shuichi's surprise, since it had taken weeks for Kaede and Kirumi to get together, even with Rantaro's help. But on the other hand, what Shuichi didn't know was that his crush liked him back, and Rantaro was going to use that to his full advantage. "Yeah, I got it. I'm not a suspicious guy, remember?"

Shuichi couldn't hide his snicker at the inside joke that had come from one time the class played Clue, and Rantaro waved as he walked away, already pulling out his phone to call Kokichi and request a hang out.

Now, let's see if he can put this plan into action...

—

Day one of Rantaro's plan: a hangout where Kokichi and Shuichi baked cookies together.

Rantaro hadn't needed to say anything more than "cookies" to get Kokichi to agree, and after a quick text to Shuichi to meet them in the school kitchen, the three of them found themselves mixing batter that Rantaro bought from the store yesterday after hanging out with Kokichi.

So far, Rantaro's favorite part of this whole thing had got to be when Shuichi walked into breakfast with Kaito and Maki, and Kokichi muttered to him, "Do we even need the sun anymore?" only to find, with quickly covered up elation, that Shuichi stayed after breakfast to bake with them.

Rantaro had snorted at seeing Kokichi hide his real emotions behind a cocky attitude. Kokichi had socked him in the arm.

That said, a close second favorite would have been when Kokichi called him over to "check if the batter looked right." Of course, he only called Rantaro over to talk without Shuichi hearing.

"Alright, avocado dork," Kokichi had hissed at him; his batter was perfectly fine, and Kokichi had wasted no time getting to the point. "I know you and your weird matchmaking thing. Are you trying to set me up with Shuichi?"

Rantaro only shrugged. "Maybe," he replied nonchalantly, and Kokichi punched him again, both because there was no way to tell whether or not that was a lie, and because it could be true. Thankfully, Kokichi wasn't very strong, and Rantaro didn't see any bruises when they finished up, and he went home with two happy friends, and a bagful of cookies.

Shuichi texted him and thanked him for the help getting closer to Kokichi today. Kokichi called and said he was going to steal all his cookies at midnight for trying to set him and Shuichi up today. Rantaro just laughed, made a tick mark on his calendar, and started preparing for the next day's matchmaking event.

—

Day two of Rantaro's plan: trying to convince Kokichi to confess.

"C'mon, I'm sure nothing bad will come of telling him."

"'Nothing bad' my ass! He'll hate me even more than he normally does, obviously!"

Rantaro rubbed his forehead, giving Kokichi a deadpan look as Kokichi huffed and turned away, staring at the books laid out on the table in front of him. The few others in the school library didn't pay them much attention; their whispered debate was going nowhere, and Rantaro was starting to wonder if he should have brought Kokichi somewhere else to talk about this.

"Kokichi, Shuichi isn't really the 'hating' type. You know this. I know this. He's so far from the type of person to hate someone we have a literal fan club for him. You started it, shouldn't you know this?"

Kokichi muttered something under his breath that Rantaro couldn't hear. "Sorry, what was that?"

Kokichi picked his head up from where he had been scowling at a page about the physical geography of Mongolia. "I said, that he wouldn't believe me anyway! I'm too much of a liar; remember when I tried to warn Kaede about Miu pulling a prank on her and the dummie walked right into it anyway?"

"You're not much of a liar with me," Rantaro offered, but privately he had to admit Kokichi had a point. That hadn't been one of Kaede's better days, but oddly enough she became a little better at spotting Kokichi's lies after that incident. "And Shuichi knows you well enough to believe you when you're being serious."

"Hah!" Kokichi scoffed, just a tad too loudly, and quickly got shushed by a library assistant. Kokichi stuck his tongue out at them when their back was turned, then turned back to Rantaro with one of his more serious expressions, slumping in his chair. "I only lie less with you cause you buy me Panta – but that's a lie! ... And why should I trust that he won't start hating me after he knows a liar like me thinks of him like that? He hates liars like me; just accept it..."

Rantaro took in a slow breath as he watched Kokichi deflate. He hadn't wanted to play this card, but if Kokichi left him no choice...

"Give it a go, tomorrow afternoon, and if you do it I'll be DICE's getaway driver for the next month." Rantaro closed his eyes, but he already knew Kokichi was probably gaping at him. After months of pestering for Rantaro to join DICE or take part in their pranks, he was offering to be their driver, just like that? Rantaro held up a hand before Kokichi could say anything. "If it goes badly, you can just say your confession was a lie, right? Just make sure I'm there to see it happen."

Rantaro opened one eye, and was pleased to see Kokichi with a blank expression. That probably meant he was thinking it over; Rantaro knew he couldn't resist an offer like that, and smiled as he rested his head on one hand.

Kokichi took his time thinking. Rantaro waited patiently.

"Alright, fine!" Kokichi agreed finally, again being shushed as he had grown too loud again. Kokichi didn't stick his tongue out this time, instead grinning as he stuck a hand out at Rantaro. "You better buy me a box full of Panta too!"

"Of course." Rantaro took the offered hand, and as Kokichi shook it with a pretend air of dignity, Rantaro chuckled. Now, to see if he could get Shuichi to confess as a bonus...

—

Day three of Rantaro's plan: picking out flowers with Shuichi.

It hadn't taken much pushing from Rantaro for Shuichi to agree to buy Kokichi flowers. Sure, he had been embarrassed about the idea at first, but they weren't arguing about confessing for a half hour (unlike with Kokichi), so Rantaro counted his wins. Plus, Kokichi was going to be stopping by Shuichi's place to confess in... Half an hour? Twenty minutes? Fifty? Kokichi was finicky like that, but Rantaro didn't mind. He just had to make sure they were done and back to the dorms by three pm.

Easy as... Oh, hey, cool, they dyed roses blue!

"Hey Shuichi, take a look at this," Rantaro called. Shuichi, a little down the aisle looking at some bellflowers, glanced up at him before heading over, eyes analytical.

"Blue... Roses?" Shuichi smiled, shaking his head as Rantaro chuckled. "Well, they do look nice. Do you think Kokichi would like them?"

"Honestly? Yes, completely." Rantaro smirked as he imagined Kokichi's face, being given blue roses by Shuichi. He didn't blush often, but Rantaro knew Kokichi's face would be bright red if Shuichi gave him something he found cool. "I think he'd find them interesting, don't you think?"

Shuichi narrowed his eyes at the flowers and tilted his head in thought; Rantaro shrugged and left him to it, checking his phone to text Kokichi and ask where he was currently.

Twenty minutes and a purchase later, Rantaro was giving Shuichi a last-minute pep talk as they headed towards the dorms of Hope's Peak. Shuichi brought up a couple of his concerns with Rantaro, but Rantaro shot them down as swiftly as they were spoken. Shuichi was nervous about what to say? "Just keep it short and simple. Offer the roses, say you like him, and wait for his answer." Shuichi was worried Kokichi would be lying if he said he liked him back? "Knowing him, he'll probably immediately declare his love was a lie, so you don't have to worry about being tricked, just accept that this is his way of turning you down. It's not the best way, but on the other hand, it's not the worst."

The pep talk was kept short, because as soon as they reached the second floor of the dorms, Rantaro paused, gave Shuichi a thumbs up, and pointed to where Kokichi was waiting with a tapping foot and an unusually sharp outfit outside Shuichi's room.

Shuichi gave a light gasp; he glanced to Rantaro once more for reassurance, and slowly, hesitantly, he made his way towards Kokichi. As Kokichi checked the watch Rantaro wasn't even aware he had, Shuichi quietly brought out the roses in front of him, seeming to shake off his nerves as he took a deep breath.

Rantaro held in a chuckle as he leaned on the wall next to the stairwell door.

C'mon... C'mon, notice hi – yes! Haha, eye contact made!

Kokichi had glanced up, and Rantaro had to try hard to hold in his giggles as he saw how red Kokichi got within a few seconds. Of course, a blink later and the blush was gone, and Kokichi was casually talking with Shuichi with his hands behind his head.

Rantaro couldn't hear them well, but that was a normal experience for him when it came to match making. He simply leaned forward a tad and strained to make out what they were saying.

"... -cy... ting you here!"

".... Wanted ... Wait, this is my room, why – nevermind."

"So? Does Shuichi ... something... say to me?"

Rantaro crossed his fingers. Do it, do it, do it, do it!

"Yeah, actually. I... you these."

Shuichi offered Kokichi the flowers, and Rantaro silently cheered as he watched Kokichi blush again, taking the flowers with what was probably a snarky comment, though Rantaro couldn't hear it from here. Shuichi went red as well, though not on the same level as Kokichi, and Rantaro inwardly happy danced.

Ooh, but it seems the show wasn't over yet. There were still the mutual feelings to confess!

"Ooh, why... Shuichi... ?

"Er... You see..."

Shuichi glanced back at Rantaro discreetly. Rantaro made sure to give him the very specific thumbs up and grin found in that HTTYD3 meme. Shuichi gave him a light nod, smiling, and turned back to Kokichi, taking a deep breath.

"I really like you, Kokichi. Romantically."

Rantaro beamed, pumped the air with his fist; he had to restrain himself from outwardly celebrating too much, but c'mon, who wouldn't be excited?! Especially when it involved a best friend? Rantaro sighed in relief as he thought about how he'd no longer have to listen to Kokichi's pining rants, and as he realized that he should probably leave and start planning how to tease Kokichi at their next hang out, he nearly missed Kokichi pull Shuichi down into their first kiss.

Rantaro chuckled and left, humming a song that played while he was at the flower shop.

Now, if only he could get Kaito and Korekiyo to stop being oblivious that easily...