[FIC]: star-crossed liars

[graveexcitement]

so i totally forgot to post this a month ago when reveals went up... whoops. written for Chocolate Box 2019, for robin_hoods.

star-crossed liars (1672 words) by graveExcitement
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Momota Kaito/Oma Kokichi
Characters: Momota Kaito, Oma Kokichi
Additional Tags: chapter 5 au
Summary: Ouma decides to hide out with Momota in the love hotel instead of the hangar.

"Why the hell are we here?"

It was the first thing Momota had said since Ouma had taken him as a hostage. Granted, he'd seemed pretty out of it for most of that time. Ouma threw his hands behind his head and smiled. "What do you mean, Momota-chan? Why shouldn't we be here?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" He waved a hand at the room around them. "You kidnap me, take me away from my friends, and you take me... here?"

Ouma's gaze wandered around the room. It was, to put it simply, hideous. The room gave off a lurid atmosphere that was only compounded by Monokuma's face plastered everywhere. Even the damn horse had Monokuma's grin etched into it, making it all the more horrifying, and it was already creepy to begin with. Just looking around was painful on the eyes, thanks to the entire room being colored in garish pinks and reds.

It was perfect. "Why not?"

"Because it's the fucking Love Hotel!"

Ouma tilted his head. "Huh. Is it really? I had no idea. I guess I'd better let you go, then! There's no way I'd want to spend time with Momota-chan in the Love Hotel!"

Momota sputtered, apparently torn between the impulse to be offended and the impulse to agree.

He giggled. "Just kidding! That was a lie. There's nowhere I'd rather be with you than here!"

"What the shit," he said. "No, fuck this." He stormed to the door. It failed to open for him.

"Funny thing about the Love Hotel: it actually locks from the inside, too!" Momota whipped around, and Ouma twirled the key around his fingers. A little sleight of hand later, and the key disappeared into his sleeve. "And I wouldn't try taking it from me by force! You remember the last time we fought, right?"

Momota glared, but took the hint. "Fine," he said. "You still didn't answer my question."

"Hmm? What question?"

"Why here?"

Ouma giggled. "Right now, Momota-chan, all your friends are a little busy coping with the end of the world. But at some point, some of them are going to come looking for you, right? Like Harukawa-chan, or maybe Saihara-chan? You're their leader! They're your faithful sidekicks! Riiiiight?"

"Get to the point."

"The point is, when they do... They're not going to look here. Not when I have all the Exisals out guarding the hangar bay." He giggled. "I mean, when I have the Exisals at my beck and call, why would I do anything other than defend my home base?"

Momota frowned. "You're saying they're going to think you've locked us in the hangar... But this is Shuuichi we're talking about! He'll figure it out!"

"Hmm. Maybe! He is the Ultimate Detective, after all. But even if he figures out the hangar is a bluff, why would he look here? Face it, Momota-chan. No one's going to find us!"

"Fuck's sake..." Momota ran a hand through his spiky hair. "Okay, whatever, they won't find us. Good fucking job." His brow furrowed, and he shot a quizzical look at Ouma. "Wait. Why the hell do you care if they find us?"

Ouma plastered a blank expression onto his face. "Hmm?"

"You're the goddamn mastermind! You control the Exisals, you control everything! What does it matter if they find us or not?"

Huh. Ouma honestly hadn’t expected Momota to reach that conclusion this fast. “Well, it would be annoying, you know? The game’s over. It’d be annoying if they started pestering me, right? This way it’s just us.” Momota continued to frown. Of all the times he decided to actually use his brain… Ouma was almost surprised it hadn’t atrophied, what with how much he relied on Saihara during the trials.

The truth was that he’d originally planned on taking his hostage to the Exisal hangar. On the surface, it was perfect: he could shut Momota in the bathroom, and they would both be safe behind the hangar’s electric gate.

But… it was too visible. It was a very defendable position, but an all-too-visible one. And no defense was impenetrable. He had planned his shocking reveal to demoralize the others, to ensure none of them wanted to get out anymore. To force the game into stalemate. As far as he could tell, he had been successful. So maybe it was just paranoia, but… A hidden position was safer than a supposedly defendable but highly visible one.

Momota didn’t need to know any of that, though. Time for a distraction. “I brought food,” Ouma said, “and the bathroom’s got water, so we’re all set for our new life together!”

“Our new life?!”

Ouma grinned. “Yeah! Momota-chan and I are star-crossed lovers, aren’t we? But there’s no way we could have lived together in the killing game, so I ended the killing game and brought you here! Isn’t it perfect?”

For a brief, hilarious moment, Momota went purple. Ouma wished he had a camera. “Don’t spout bullshit at me!”

“Bullshit?” His lip wobbled, and he started the waterworks. “Does that mean… you don’t really love me? But I thought…”

“For fuck’s sake — I know you’re faking, goddammit! Stop trying to mess with my head!”

He giggled, dropping the fake crying. “Momo-chan’s so easy to rile up!”

“Momo-chan?!”

“See? All I have to do is call your name and you get mad! It’s so easy!”

“Gah…” Momota ran a hand through his hair. “Fuckin’ asshole—” He broke off and turned away. “Never mind,” he said, voice suddenly choked, and quickly retreated into the bathroom.

Ouma watched him go, frowning slightly. The sound of the sink running did little to muffle the sound of Momota’s coughs. He’d checked the warehouse a few days ago, and the most it had was pain medication, nothing that would alleviate bloody coughing fits. Still, if it was getting worse, maybe the next time he snuck out for supplies, maybe he should pick up the pain medication anyway. Not that Momota would accept them from him — or if he did, he would question his motives.

Momota emerged from the bathroom, pale and unsteady. Ouma looked over at him with his biggest, most innocent eyes. “Momota-chan’s not going to die on me, right?”

His eyes widened. “The fuck? No. Why would you even think that? I’m fine.”

“You’ve got blood on the corner of your mouth,” Ouma said, tapping his own mouth to demonstrate.

“What?” Alarmed, Momota wiped at his mouth, then glared when he realized it was clean after all. “Goddammit.”

“You can’t hide anything from me!” Ouma giggled. “So there’s no point lying. Are you going to die?”

“No, I’m not gonna fucking die.” He crossed his arms. “It’s just… annoying, that’s all. It’ll go away soon. Why do you even care — no, that was a lie too, right?”

He grinned. “Bingo! But you’re lying too. I can tell.” He smiled wider. “I guess we’re star-crossed liars!”

Momota started to reply, then rolled his eyes and flopped down on the bed.

Ouma reached over and flicked the light switch, which didn’t actually make the room go dark but instead dimmed the lights to a more muted red. Then he crawled into the bed beside Momota. “Bedtime!” The bed wasn’t all that big, probably to encourage couples to cuddle or… partake in other activities, so there was barely any space left between him and Momota.

“Wh— Seriously?”

“Huh? Aren’t you sleepy after such a long day?”

“Is it even night yet?”

Ouma stuck his tongue out. “Who cares? You laid down first, didn’t you? Just sleep already!”

Momota turned to face him. “Are you seriously suggesting we sleep together?”

“This is the Love hotel, isn’t it?” He giggled. “Just kidding! But seriously, Momota-chan, would you rather sleep in the shower? Or with all the bondage gear?” He gestured at the handcuffs, and Momota’s face wrinkled. Then he frowned, looking thoughtful.

“That reminds me. You’re not even cuffing me? Or tying me up?”

“Do you want me to?” The only thing the Love Hotel lacked was a more secure way to contain Momota. (Well, there were the handcuffs, but they were actually trick handcuffs. He didn’t expect Momota to know how trick handcuffs worked, but he wasn’t that dumb — he’d figure it out. Probably. It might be funny to cuff him anyways, though.)

“No, just… Ugh. Whatever.”

Ouma looked over at the other boy. Under closer inspection, he still looked rather pale, though it was hard to tell with the Love Hotel’s horrid lighting. Momota seemed to be studying him in return. What conclusions he was drawing, Ouma had no idea.

“The hell’s going on in your head?” Momota muttered.

“I could ask you the same thing! You’re doing all that thinking when you could be sleeping!” He gave one of his terrifying grins. “Just leave the thinking to me, Momota-chan.”

“I don’t think so. There’s something up with you.”

“Oh? And you’re going to figure it out?” He giggled. “You’re not Saihara-chan, you know that, right? Too bad your sidekick isn’t here to explain everything for you.”

Momota scowled.

“Hey, hey, Momota-chan…” Ouma gave his most innocent expression. “Is it really so hard to believe that I just want to be alone with you? You’re not as boring as the others!” That last part wasn’t even a lie, now that it seemed he was actually using his brain. He studied Momota’s frown, his furrowed brow. If he was given enough time, what more would he figure out? Ouma couldn’t let him learn too much, and he couldn’t quite trust him, but… He couldn’t think of him as the mastermind, either. Was that a mistake? Momota was emotional, overly trusting, and easily misled, but beneath that, there was something interesting. Something that Ouma couldn’t ignore.

He watched as Momota’s eyes slipped closed and his breath evened out. Surprisingly trusting of him, to fall asleep this quickly. Or maybe not; this was Momota, after all. Maybe if they stayed in the Love Hotel long enough, Ouma could figure him out.