Author's Notes- A piece written for my Candy-sempai a long time ago. I just re-found it! There won't be any more of this fic, or any more TeniPuri from me, but this was for her. Please enjoy.
This is set in the year after the series, with a third-year Kaidoh and Momo as captain and vice-captain of Seigaku, respectively.
Details
Starbrigid
6.
If
Today had been a good day, up until third period. Third period, both him and Kaidoh's free, was the one they'd designated as their time to work on club stuff together. They had to do it with each other, because Momo was vice president, so they did, however grudgingly. It didn't make Momo's day any better, but it didn't make it any worse, either. He and Kaidoh- well, things had changed between them. Sometimes, Momo thought they'd grown up.
Ryuzaki-sensei gave them her office for it, gone for the day because of some tennis conference. She'd left her window open, and because of a capricious, unexpected rain, the papers on her desk were all soaked. Momo walked in to find Kaidoh bent over them, trying to salvage them. Momo looked at the papers the Mamushi had separated and laid out to dry and smiled. Even from the beginning, he'd known Kaidoh wasn't totally of a bad sort. Sure, someone might be a stubborn bastard, and they might only tolerate you, but things like this made them seem pretty cool.
Getting to know Kaidoh was like that, though, every interaction yielding a new discovery, something Kaidoh tried not to show but really didn't mind exposing in the two of them's own special pseudo-confidence. It was made all the more satisfying because it was Kaidoh, so it was still everything Momo loved, tennis and competition and danger and all the words his mouth fit around so nice and easy, so many hisses and sports drinks, and even if the magic of the old Seigaku was fading, there were still more spells to try.
"You suck" Momo growled, leaping to his and feet and getting right in Kaidoh's ugly face. "You are so wrong"
Kaidoh forgot whatever he had said, but he sure wasn't going to take such a challenge sitting down, figuratively or literally. He felt strange fighting, though, with the backdrop of dark sky and rain slicing the air to shake the brown-orange leaves, autumn outside Ryuzaki's still-open window. He'd run through the downpour more than once that day, just because not-exercising made him feel off-balance and desperate about something he didn't even know, but this weather still made him sad, a twitching of his fingers, intrusion and withdrawal, chance and effect. He forgot to yell back at Momo, and the time he'd been caught by the clouds yielded the memory of the subject, the current Hyoutei team.
"It doesn't matter anyway" Kaidoh said. "What matters is our own strength."
"God" Momo sighed, leaning back again"You're so impossible."
It was like that time when Kaidoh had seen Momo and Echizen together, the two of them wrestling against the bike rack next to the pink-hewed strands of sunrise, that sick feeling before it had been explained, the quiet hate he had felt then, and when Inui-sempai had told him he was quitting tennis to pursue science. Why had he expected anything else, why did it matter? Kaidoh didn't think he was impossible, he just seemed that way to Momo. Momo's stance, the half-accents in the tone of his voice, they meant pure euphoria, that form of kindness and immaturity that for Kaidoh, looking at their doubles plans together, made him jealous.
Kaidoh wanted to be running through the rain. He ignored Momo's pointless words and just watched the shadows of the rain on the idiot's arm, imaginary wetness that erased itself in a mysterious dance, and felt happy.
"When I grow up" Momo said"I want to be a superhero! I'll be Super Momo"
Momoshiro couldn't be serious. Kaidoh turned to stare at him, hissing. Meetings between them never got anywhere, especially after the work had been finished. God, he hated Momoshiro.
"You can be my enemy" Momo said thoughtfully. "I guess. But then I'd have to vanquish you, so I guess you can be my sidekick instead."
"Kaidoh Kaoru is no one's sidekick."
"Who was your favorite hero when you were a kid" Momo asked later, changing together after a match. Kaidoh had won, but Momo had gotten the jump on him and pounded his face into the dirt, so he wasn't pouting anymore.
Kaidoh's hero had been his father, but Momo would just make fun of him for saying that. He wouldn't understand. Kaidoh just hissed and ignored his vice caption, watching the stuff under the skin of Momo's back move as he was changing, reflected cleanly in the mirror of Echizen's locker. It was improper, though Kaidoh couldn't explain exactly why, but he still did it anyway.
He couldn't just grin and laugh like Momo. He couldn't brush things off, couldn't stuff his face or ogle girls or have friends. He couldn't have normal worries, couldn't have normal fears- he couldn't ever be satisfied with himself as he was. Momo could do everything Kaidoh couldn't, was the epitome of everything Kaidoh couldn't have, and the idiot just took it all for granted.
Kaidoh liked Momo's hair wet, those stupid spikes gone, any sort of posing or pretension removed, all those things that drove him so crazy. He liked Momo like this, because it was a feeling of being connected to him, and because he couldn't stop being annoyed by Momo, that uneasy feeling stayed, and grew with the accident, brush of gelled-soft hair against tennis-rough hands, porcupine spikes or blades of grass, only real.
Momo bought a puppy and took it to school one day, making sure everyone met Lucky, the new tennis club mascot. The next day, rumors of a brawl between Lucky and Echizen's cat surfaced, the reason that Lucky wouldn't soon return. Kaidoh hadn't even gotten to touch the puppy, but he'd wanted to. He stiffly wished Lucky strength through Momo, hoping for a speedy convalescence. The idea of the tiny animal, guileless and enthusiastic as its owner- the idea of Lucky being hurt, that thought just drove Kaidoh crazy.
He went to Momo's house, sneaking in behind Momo's terrifying little sisters and climbing the stairs hunched over to avoid detection. He knew violating someone's home was an awful thing to do, but he'd apologize to Momoshiro's parents later, when he was sure their son wasn't going to come around. It was easy to tell which room was Momo's, wet, wrinkled clothes overflowing into the hallway. Kaidoh hesitated at the threshold, though, feeling unspeakably awkward. Finally, he bowed his head and walked in. One step, two step, then he'd been rewarded with Lucky's joyous yelps as the now-sizable dog pounced on him. Momo had been gone all day, so the dog was lonely.
Momo found them that way when he got home, making quite a picture, Lucky's wet nose and fur of shot-gold to the sounds of Kaidoh's low, helpless laughter, the striking-ness of the striking-ness of Mamushi's cheeks, flushed with red-pink. Kaidoh's hands were stroking the pooch with careful adoration, short fingernails behind ears bringing Lucky to a contented sigh, excited but a little in love, too. In English class, the teacher was always talking about natural sympathies.
Momo attacked an unsuspecting Kaidoh with a flurry of questions. What was Kaidoh doing here? Wow, he liked dogs, who would have thought? You like Lucky? Yeah, isn't she the coolest? Oh, shut up, Mamushi, we shouldn't brawl in front of a lady. Hey, wanna see where I got the name Lucky from? No, not Lucky Sengoku, you asshole! I beat him, why would I name my dog after him, you brainless- um. Anyway. Mamushi, come ON…
Kaidoh was trapped and furious until the movie's opening credits struck up. Resigned to his fate, his indignation got stolen by the first appearance of Lucky's namesake. Yes, he was with this stupid Dunk Smash rival- but- but- sappy dog movie! But then there was the conflict, and danger…
Within an hour and a half, Kaidoh and Momo had consumed the vast majority of the house's food supply, Lucky and his young master had been torn apart and reunited, and Momo had been reduced to tears. "Gah" Momo wailed. "That was such a great movie"
He shifted, turned to Kaidoh, expecting cool scorn, and found his arch-rival with tears streaming down his face, quiet sobs escaping his throat. "Oh, Mamushi" Momo cried, throwing himself onto the other boy. Kaidoh stiffened at first, then let out another stream of tears, feeling his heart ready to start burning, smiling. Lucky had found his way home.
Momo kissed Kaidoh on Christmas Eve, cutting off an argument because they'd passed under the street tennis court's very own strand of mistletoe. For some reason, Kaidoh ended up kissing him back.
"Wow" Momo said helpfully, breath coming in short gasps. "That was… gross." His purple eyes were indescribably luminous in the spotlight.
"Hn" Kaidoh said, and almost smiled back. "You're disgusting."
Momo kissed him again, long and clumsy, but it got better as it went along. First it was just lips, chapped and blue and the sour, salty color of sweat, but then it was warmth, bright orange screaming aggression adrenaline that so much meant the future, and it felt… Sure, Momoshiro sucked at this, but he learned quickly. Snow melted into the shoes on Kaidoh's feet as Momo sagged against him, trying to get warm, warmer than the beeping digital watch, not waterproof against the snowflakes breaking open the gray-blue birth-of-god sky.
The tennis balls in Momo's bag fell, spilling out and escaping down the street. Kaidoh went home, Hazue opening the door and smirking at the dazed look on his older brother's face, Momo going home to howl out carols with his Buddhist-but-fun-loving family, but on Boxing Day that year, Momo gave Kaidoh his favorite gift of all: a puppy. Lucky was all grown up now, and his girlfriend had given birth to a whole litter. Momo gave Kaidoh the smallest and weakest, the runt of the litter, because he knew Kaidoh would help it grow stronger, and in any case, it was the one Kaidoh liked the most.
