The cold wind whistling around the curve of Samezuka's aquatic center made Momotarou's teeth chatter as he walked to his swim class. All day, he'd been lugging around Mrs. Pyuunsuke, showing her off to a couple acquaintances, who merely showcased antsy smiles and waved him off. Momo didn't quite get it, though. Why ignore the beauty of a such a genuinely awesome beetle?

Aside from that, the young ginger muddles through swim practice, making his ultimate goal to set a new record for prelims. Being enveloped in the massive pool after such a strenuous night had felt overwhelmingly satisfying, but the boy's backstroke hadn't been at his best like he'd hoped.

Every time he'd run a new lap, pushing himself to try harder, his mind veered back to the night. Nitori's distraught face shrouds his thoughts, and he keeps swimming, up and back, in vehement bursts until he—

Bump!

Sinks like a rock.

The distracted otter resurfaces, pulling air into his lungs with a wild gasp. He stares down his lane as if it'd wronged him in some way, and then that familiar voice snaps him out of the intense stare he'd set over the waters.

"Momo-kun, are you all right?" Aiichirou Nitori queries.

The carrot-mopped boy swivels, looking up to his senpai. An imperceptible pink specks his cheeks, and he pushes off his embarrassing display with a laugh, rubbing the back of his head. "Ah, ah, I'm fine! It's just the lack of sleep, ya' know!"

Nitori's brows furrow, and his big cyan optics squeeze with his chide. "I told you it was a bad idea..."

"Yes, but you got Mrs. Pyuunsuke for me out of it!

Ivory hands squeeze tight around the even paler ducky towel draped around the petite captain's neck, and something that sounds like a little huff sounds from the teen. "For you," he repeats, turning heel and flip-flopping away from the other.

'What was that about?' Momo clutches the border of the pool, blinking catty lemon optics.

After calling it quits for the day's trial, Momo scours the locker room for his senpai. There had definitely been something amiss with Ai today, and the boy was determined to find out. They had such a great time last night, so it left the younger puzzled. It isn't until he's sauntering back outside when he spies the silver-haired one engaged in conversation with another teammate.

The bolstered boy springs to the shorter, invading conversation without a twitch in his winning smile. "Ai-senpai, Ai-senpai!"

"Un, what is it, Momo-kun?" The smaller responds with a slight furrow to his charcoal brow.

"I've got Mrs. and Mr. Pyuunsuke with meee," the taller croons, pulling the jar out his open bag. "Ta-dah!"

"Dude, why do you have that?" The teammate before Nitori recoils.

"Isn't she great? Ai-senpai and I caught her just last night!"

"Well, I did..." Ai's shrinking voice adds. He turns to the Momo, and their teammate dismisses himself with a shaking head. Once he's out of an earshot, Ai waves up at Momo. "Momo-kun, please, put her back in your bag before anyone else notices! It's probably a hazard to even have her out on campus..."

"Are you mad at me?" The taller ginger accuses loudly, obediently settling the jar back in the safety of his backpack.

"Ah? Oh, no, Momo-kun. Why do you ask?"

"You're being less senpai-y than usual, Ai-senpai!"

"S..senpai-y?"

Momo puckers out his lower lip in a pout, voice squeezing. "Is it because of last night?"

"N-no, it's not!" Nitori clasps his backpack's straps, ducking his steely mushroom head meekly and averting his gaze. A shade of pink dots porcelain cheeks, and he adds. "Nothing's the matter, Momo-kun, so please..."

"Ai-senpai—"

"Don't you have some beetles to mate? ...Or a beetle to show off?" The silver shota alludes to Gou, and Momo blinks in slight confusion.

"Well..." Nitori waves a hand, steadily turning foot. "Go do that! And good luck!" He says with a trace of a squeak.

The grey duckling takes off before Momo can formulate a proper response, and he stands, nailed in place from the awkward exchange between him and his senpai.

He didn't quite grasp what was going on with the vague hostility he received from Aiichirou. From what he recalls, they had a great night. Only the smaller boy did go out of his way to catch the beetle they'd fruitlessly searched for. Momo wonders why he'd done that, anyway. He looked like such a wreck that morning, covered in dirt with little hashmarks dusted over his customary squeaky clean visage. Ai looked so proud to see the way he had reacted, Momo silently noted. It heartens the second-year, and the smile he easily plasters to his face fades with the thought of being a let-down to his elder.

But, by Ai's "wishes", Momo does as he's told and troops off and out Samezuka's campus in quest of a certain Matsuoka sibling.

Momo waited impatiently about Iwatobi's campus, squinting over several heads bobbing through the cobblestone streets until he sees the undeniably recognizable girl.

There she was, Gou Matsuoka, with her sugarplum up-do and scarlet gems of eyes. She was just striding along with a little brunette. Funny, when most of the time Momo had seen her, she'd be hanging around Rei, Nagisachi, and a couple other new members to Iwatobi's swim club. It'd been like that since Rin, Haru, and Sousuke graduated and gone off to college.

Momo really missed their former school competitors, and Rin and Sousuke.

The boy shakes his wild orange hair, along with the shivers of nostalgia he gains. He dashes to the girl in sight, sparks flaring in his citrus optics.

"Gou-saaan!"

Gou peers in the direction she's being called, eyes widening as she holds up her hands in feeble defense to the hyperactive boy.

"Gooouuu-san!"

"Oh, Momo-kun! So good to see you," She greets in that mousy voice she adapts whenever that boy comes a-knockin'. "What are you doing here?"

"To see you, of course!"

"Oh.." She cants her plum head, donning a little smile and glancing at the hands veiled behind Momo's back. "Did you get something?"

"Yes, yes! Check it out!" Extravagantly, the boy holds out the jar that bears his stag beetle and his mate, sparks pop-rocking about his head. "Ai-senpai and I call her Mrs. Pyuunsuke!"

Gou's hands fly up in terror of the jarred beetles, which she quickly puts off as a swell surprise by shaking them in feigned glee. "Aah, ohhh! You two are...very creative, Momo-kun!"

"I wouldn't say I'm one to take credit! It was all Ai-senpai's idea, anyway!"

"Oh, Nitori-san... How considerate!"

"Yes, I know!" Momo marvels at the beetles fidgeting around the jar's base. "We were out really late, but I totally crashed when we got back! Ai-senpai was nice enough to go and find her!"

"Really?" Gou's crimson optics briefly shuts over her smile. "How sweet. He must really care to do that for you, Momo-kun!"

"Yea, he—" Momo halts, the proud glimmer in his eyes fading. His lips fairly purse as he raises his gaze up to the sky. "Oh, Gou-san. You're right. Maybe that's why he's been giving me the cold shoulder lately..."

"Mn?"

The ginger reflects: him, crawling about Samezuka's lawns, scouring skillfully. He hardly took notice of his senpai constantly tripping in the dark and putting off every little mishap blowing up in his face with a smile. Just thinking of how unlikely it was for his number one role model to follow him on such a outdoorsy adventure made the carrot top don a goofy smile. That's right. He had followed him all the way, just as Momo had when he was a first-year.

'I should've been more appreciative of Ai-senpai... He would never have done all of this stuff had it been...for me...'

A gentle breeze settles over the young Mikoshiba, and his eyes dilate slowly. The incandescence of the early sunset draws a certain warmth to the typically boisterous boy, and his expression contorts with internal conflict.

'What am I doing? Ai-senpai did this /for me/! And I repay him by flaunting it all to Gou-san? What kind of friend am I?!'

Gou's sweet voice pulls Momo out of his reverie, and she blinks at the boy expectantly. "Something the matter, Momo-kun?"

"Oh!" Momo flinches, an uncharacteristic twitch in his broad smile. "...I'm sorry, Gou-san, but I have to go see my senpai now! You just reminded me how much I have to thank Ai-senpai for doing so much for me!"

The Matsuoka sibling nods uncertainly, but displays a gentle smile anyway. Somehow, she can understand what exactly is donning over the Mikoshiba, and her cordial simper stretches, a gleam in her plum optics. "Right! ...Okay. Best of luck to you, Momo-kun!"

With her goodbye, the playful otter turns on the heel of his sneaker, waving. "Arigatou, Gou-saaan!"

So, the pursuit for Nitori is a go, and so is something else. He had to find Ai, and he had to apologize. Maybe he'd earn the kind of smile he'd seen blossom over the shota's face the prior night, before the melon soda incident. It was the first hopeful break he'd had. That hope buoyed Momo's mood as he passed down to Samezuka's narrow, winding sidewalk. He prays with ambition in his eyes.

'Something's bound to happen!'

Clear by sunset, Momotarou had ambled back to Samezuka's dorms. His characteristically confident stride had slackened since he parted with Gou at Iwatobi's domain. Something about confronting Nitori on the previous night's situation gave his stomach a carnival-ride flip as the unfamiliar feelings came bubbling back up again. A boy like Momo had an attitude of armor getting by in the world, and Aiichirou had a way of dismantling his so easily.

The young citrus-head made a furtive attempt of entering their dorm room, only to see Nitori quietly perched and working at his desk. Our silver duckling hardly even acknowledges his roommate, rapt with the work before him. Momo inhales a deep breath before piercing the serene air with his grating voice. "I'm back, Ai-senpai!"

"Hello, Momo-kun.." Nitori's enchanting blues stay fixed to his papers. "Did you speak with Gou-san?"

"Yes, I did!" Momo replies without skipping a beat. "And she reminded me how nice it was of you to go out and find a Mrs. Pyuunsuke for me!"

The scratching noise running along Aiichirou's paper halts. "Oh," his babyish features pinch humorously, a fairly ironic lilt to his voice. "It took Gou-san for you to realize that."

Momo stands locked in an embarrassing momentary silence, playing with the chords of the yellow hoodie snugged under his white uniform. "Eh, yes! I mean, no. I know it was nice of you to do that for me!" He beams.

"Yes, how nice," the duckling leans a cheek in his palm, forefinger scratching the beauty mark dotting porcelain skin. "You're welcome."

'Yikes,' Momo makes a paw of his hand, miming a "kitty got scratch" gesture. He strips off his backpack, unpacking Pyuunsuke n' his "lovebug". Suddenly, the descending sun milks a glow like bellini cocktails, and casts a halo over Ai's steely bob of hair.

The young Mikoshiba draws a slow, dazzled intake of breath, mutely marveling over his senpai. The setting was so gracious to the feminine male, always. Momo scuttles up to bed, flopping on the mattress and observing his roommate like some endangered species. Even Ai, for someone who is so reserved, usually would've engaged in conversation with him. Why did Ai have the upper hand, suddenly?

This haunts the citrus boy, and he sulks, assessing the quiet one with squinted and sad, sad puppy eyes. It seems there is no way to calmly resolve the tense air Nitori puts off so easily, so Momo resorts to what he does best. Yamming senpai's ears off.

Eventually, Nitori's choppy responses fizzle to his typically considerate ones, and Momo's not even done reeling the shota into his claws. The boy's nestle into their own beds, the only sound in the room being the loud Mikoshiba's nonstop chatter. Ai scuttles under his sheets, hugging the pillow beneath his head at the sides like earmuffs. Momo does not even take a breath, it's astounding. The frazzled captain sighs in exhaustion, finally giving in and letting his high voice pop the air. "Momo-kun, what do you want?"

An unsettling silence follows the query, paired with a yawned, "Ah...ha!" from Momo. "I knew you couldn't stay mad at me...Ai-senpai..."

The swim captain draws his bedsheets up to his face, serenely staring up at the mattress above, as if it were transparent. He inwardly reverts the question back to himself.

No, he wasn't mad at Momo-kun. The feeling of anger wasn't present at all. Rather, it was something bitter that Ai prefers keeping to himself. He lets his head sink against the pillow, unbidden tears pricking and pooling in the corners of his great azures. A loud snoozing whistles through their room, and Nitori figures this was simply Momotarou exhausting himself of conversation. The duckling, too, decides to toss over to sleep, that sinking, bitter feeling making the rhythm of his heartbeat badump vehemently. He hardly understands himself.

Moonlights spills through the dorm's window, and it cast the most heavenly glow upon the quaint space. The stars milking the sky blaze through the midnight blanket of the atmosphere, and it does anything but put Aiichirou Nitori to sleep. He lies in bed with hands tented over tucked sheets. Nothing had worked, not even counting sheep. The sour pit numbing his stomach keeps his eyes open, and his little nose twitches with disdain for himself.

He understands it wasn't right to give Momotarou the cold shoulder, but that bitter, sinking feeling just tore him from being the proper senpai he so strived to be. Something tugged at his heart when Momo's smile grew so at the mention of Gou, and it made him want to duck and hide for being so foolish. He figured all he had wanted from the silly carrot top was a little recognition, but there was an underlying ignition to his...jealousy! Ai flinches against his pillow, curling into himself. That was unlike him. The silver-haired leans off his pillow, flits of pink dusting his cheeks. Alas, his roommate is most likely sleeping, but the sudden realization propels him to come out with it.

"I'm sorry, Momo-kun. It wasn't fair of me to treat you so badly today. I let my emotions get the best of me, I guess..." Cerulean optics drop to the dark grey sheets, and he furthers. "I just wanted to prove I could equally be a good figure as Rin-senpai is to me. I've seen firsthand what a senpai is supposed to be, and I blew it with the way I acted today. You mentioning Gou so suddenly threw me off...after what I did. So, I'm sorry!" Ai enunciates, curling linen into his fists. He slowly shimmies himself back into a sleeping position before a drowsy voice invades.

"I knew...you were jealous..."

"Excuse me?!" Ai shoots up in protest, throwing his covers off. "I, I didn't mean it in that way, Momo-kun!"

A long pause ensues before another answer comes in a drawled tease.

"Ookay. Ai. Senpai."

Aquamarine hues squeeze in scorn, and the grey-bobbed captain squirms out of bed. He carefully levels himself on the edge of the double-decker, grasping up at the rails of Momo's bed and huffing. "You're...full of yourself! I told you, I was upset!"

Momo's eyes are fixed up at the ceiling, arms pretzeled under his mop of orange bedhead. "..Ya' know what's the synonym of 'upset'?"

"..."

"Jealous."

Aiichirou's lips pinch together in a flattened, taut line, and he confides. "Okay. Maybe after a night of losing my shoe, getting drenched with soda, falling several times, and getting chased by a rabid raccoon... Maybe, Momo-kun, Maybe I was a little jealous that you preferred to celebrate the gain of Mrs. Pyuunsuke with Gou-san." The heated shota bites out, huffing.

Lemony optics blink back in unspoken surprise, and the sophomore curled so comfily in his sheets perks a carrot-colored brow. "That's the most you've said to me all day."

"Momo-kun!" Nitori chides.

"I'm sorry," the orange one weakly laughs. "..Why would you do all that for me?"

The duckling falls blessedly quiet, and the atmosphere suddenly flows thicker. Momo turns onto his stomach, hiking himself up on his elbows and inching to the silent one.

"You like me, Ai-senpai?" Momo presses, though with a trace of unsurety.

Silence thickens, and Nitori's cheeks flare like Christmas lights. He stares at the other bewilderedly, mouth slightly agape and empty of a proper response. While so, Momotarou's unnatural tranquility allows him to study Ai through heavy, sleep-addled eyes. Gently, he reaches out and a traces a fingertip from the edge of the boy's brow, connecting and invisible line to his beauty mark and grinning impishly. Ai merely flinches to the touch, but finds himself glued to his spot before the younger. The orange-haired cants his head slowly, studying the face he'd helplessly fallen for before leaning forward and pressing his lips against Nitori's for a kiss.

He felt a minor jolt before the soft lips shy against his own, and the briefness of it all was completely clumsy in their half-awakened state.

The silver and small captain draws back, aquatic optics shimmering in a dazed stupor as he murmurs. "Momo-kun..."

Ai's pale hands fly up to cup over his mouth, and his entire body runs plank stiff. He teeters backwards and crashes into the floor in a crumpled heap. Momo winces, warbling and hastening to the ground. "AI-SENPAI," he crows, kneeling beside the squirt of a captain and jostling him. "Ai-senpai! Ai-senpai, are you all right?!"

The silver one stirs, slowly regaining consciousness. His soft features contort in a grimace to hearing Momo's raucous voice so late, and he squints up at the other, groaning quietly. "Did I wake you, Momo-kun? Why am I on the floor?"

The sea otter's lips purse in an unheard "oh", a hand fetching up to his unruly orange tresses and shaking awkwardly. Ai seemed to have knocked any remnants of their kiss out of his noggin from the fall, and something about breaking that to the boy didn't settle well with the Mikoshiba. Impulsively, he answers. "Uh, you fell out of bed."

"All the way from there?" Ai sleepily queries, indicating to his bottom bunk with a loll of his head and insulting dubious tone.

"All the way from there," his roommate says. "...Let's get you back to bed, senpai."

And he does.

And he doesn't remember.

Sunrise pierces the room like every other morning. The Samezuka swim boys follow their same routine as any other day, but Momotarou keeps one eye out for his roommate.

After fitting in their stark ivory uniforms, the two are making use of good conversation until Momo finally adds. "You don't remember what happened last night, Ai-senpai?"

The grey shota with the mushroom bob merely arches a full brow, faintly shaking his head. "I told you, Momo-kun, all I remembered was...saying how sorry I was. It's not something I'd like to tread on, so please—"

"Apology accepted!"

"...Funny you should be the one saying that," Nitori sullenly puffs a cheek.

Momo merely waves a hand, innocently squeezing his eyes shut and snickering. Lemony optics snap back open to the sight of the mason jar perched at his desk. He scrambles over, momentarily silent before crowing. "Ai-senpai! Look, Pyuunsuke ate all his—! Nani? How'd you get in there..."

Nitori peers over his teammate's shoulder, brows lifting. "What is it, Momo-kun?"

Momotarou squints attentively at the stag beetles occupying the expansive jar, gold hues glazing over in a slooow deadpan. He'd been so busy flaunting the bugs, the dumb otter hadn't even taken much note of Mrs. Pyuunsuke's appearance.

"Ai-senpai..."

"Nn?"

"...Mrs. Pyuunsuke is a...Mr. Pyuunsuke."

"AH?!" Gloomlines droop down Nitori's cheek, and his shoulders hang loose. He quickly turns to his companion. "How can you tell?"

"See these pinchers," Momotarou indicates to Mr. Pyuunsuke. "They're oddly small for a male. You must've mistaken him for a girl, 'cause he's a little more underdeveloped and feminine-looking than most guys! It's a rookie mistake, Ai-senpai."

Somehow, those words sound a tad familiar to Nitori, and he deadpans. "Well, then it's your job to find a real Mrs. Pyuunsuke, Momo-kun..."

"I don't think so!"

"Eh?"

The second-year straightens his broad posture, snickering. "They seem pretty happy with each other, so maybe it's best we leave 'em be!"

Aiichirou blinks questionably, glancing at the stag beetles cozying up in the jar. His baby blue gaze fixes up to Momo, who seems to be assessing him with knowing eyes. The swim captains feels himself shrink under the other's gaze, and he ducks his head, a feeble curl gracing his lips upward. He pumps a fist at his side, nodding curtly. "Hai!"

"All right. Let's get going, then, Ai-senpai!" The taller ushers his senpai out the door with a little shove, and the two amble out the door, leaving their lovebugs in peace.

And even though fall has come, and the leaves wither, and the pumpkins sprout, these boys will always run back to remember.

'This one...was for us...'

a/n: Surprise, surprise! Looks like Pyuunsuke's the true fruitcake here! This was so fun to write! I'm not one to be into fast progressive, but it kind of comes out as a people pleaser, anyway, right? Anyways, this is the conclusion to our little dual perspective Momotori fic. Hope y'all enjoyed!