Washed Up

A/N: some awkward times between Kaidoh and Ryoma after Momo blabbered out Ryoma was in love with him, and Kaidoh moved out.

Authors: Happiestwhen (Kaidoh) & Gottis (Ryoma)

Rating: K

Events leading up to this log:
- set directly after the last log

Date: July 13, 2012

Kaidoh is a creature of habit. He's out on the beach, in the protective shade of a few palm trees, and he's training, as he always does this time of day. He's just finished his third round of crunches and has moved on to doing bicep curls with his coconut dumbbells (which are absolutely not called dumbnuts). No one's bothering him, which means he can focus.

Although apparently that focus is off today, because the dumbbell he's holding suddenly slips from his hand and crashes into the sand, sending dust up into the air and sand all over his shoes.

Ryoma, once he notices Kaidoh on his way back from talking with Sakuno, is about to turn the other way and simply ignore his former teammate for now - he doesn't want to talk with Kaidoh yet, if he can help it, because he honestly don't know what to say - but as Kaidoh drops the dumbbell, he can't stop a small chuckle escaping him. "You've gotta have a strong grip too, senpai, or those biceps don't mean shit."

Kaidoh turns around and sees Echizen standing there, and probably would have gotten angry at the comment had it come from anyone else, but instead he just frowns.

"That doesn't usually happen..." he says, and picks the dumbbell off the ground, brushing the sand off it. Then he looks at Echizen again, but isn't really sure what to say. To call things a little awkward would probably be an understatement.

Ryoma blinks at him, face blank for a moment, before he crouches down, picking up a handful of sand and filters it through his fingers. Suddenly, the look on his face is almost wistful. "So..." He starts to talk, but stops himself, not quite sure how to continue.

"So…" Kaidoh repeats, and goes back to doing curls with the dumbbell to give him something to occupy himself with, but he's lost count now, and can't really concentrate. He's aware that Echizen's still standing there, looking at him, waiting for him to say something. Kaidoh has never been good at filling up silences.

He puts the dumbbell back down, giving up on it for now. He looks down at the ground and his voice turns gruff. "So what?"

"I dunno," Ryoma mutters. And he feels stupid directly afterwards. Making a small, annoyed sound in his throat, he spins around on his heels and starts towards the shoreline in as long strides as he can manage. Once he feels the water reach over his ankles, he stops, bending over so that he can scoop up some water in his hands. He splashes it in his face and blinks, hoping that it will help clear his mind some. "Hey," he says over his shoulder, "did you make those yourself?" He points at the dumbbells. "Everyone's so damn crafty..."

Kaidoh nods. "Yeah…" he says, and scuffs the toe of his sneaker against the coconut husk. "They weren't that hard to make." He shrugs. "Gave me something to do, I guess." He's been keeping himself busy with fishing and running, now gardening and building his hut. It keeps his mind occupied.

"Haven't you like... Done a lot of things? Why're you pushing yourself so hard?"

"I'm not!" Kaidoh protests, not sure why he feels defensive. "I'm working as hard as I always do."

"Hey, okay...! Jeez..." Ryoma puts his hands up defensively, giving Kaidoh a pointed look. "But you're doing an awful lot on your own, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Kaidoh hisses. "But I don't mind." He's good on his own. He likes the familiarity of something like training, where the only thing he has to control is how fast he runs, or how much he lifts. There's nothing complicated about it.

"What about you?"

"Haven't done jack shit since we got here." Ryoma shrugs, hand going automatically to his ribs, even though they're healed now. "And no, that doesn't feel good, but I'm still trying to figure out what I can contribute with. Except food gathering and all."

Kaidoh's eyebrows crease and he looks thoughtful for a moment. "If you want to help me with the garden, I could always use another pair of hands," he suggests.

"You're gonna have to tell me what I'm supposed to be doing, then," Ryoma smiles bleakly. "I'm... Totally not good with gardening. Or growing things. Or living things." Maybe he should just stop.

Kaidoh snorts. "You can't be that bad at it," he replies. "It's not hard. Momoshiro sucks at it but that's just because he's an idiot who can't tell weeds from vegetables. I can show you which is which."

"I think I know the difference anyway." Probably. Hopefully. Who knows... Yeah, he will need some help with this, he feels. He takes to scratch the back of his head, stopping himself as his fingers dart over the newly formed scar; it still feels odd. Unfamiliar. "Momo, huh..." Kaidoh likes him. Or had he liked him? Kaidoh knows, thanks to Momoshiro's blabbering nature, that Ryoma likes him. Suddenly everything feels a lot more awkward.

"Yeah," Kaidoh says. "He doesn't know what he's doing at all." Meaning growing vegetables. Although when Kaidoh sees the look on Echizen's face, he feels a little like that's suddenly not all they're talking about. He hisses and looks away again.

"Not that that's anything new..." Ryoma sits down, legs pulled up to his chest. "So... You like living on your own? You didn't move out because you thought you were in the way or anything, right?"

Kaidoh shrugs. "It's not bad," he says. "And no, I just felt like it. I shouldn't have imposed on you for as long as I did." Which is Kaidoh's very polite way of saying he didn't want to make things awkward and complicated and sleeping on the floor next to Momoshiro was probably making them both feel really weird.

"It got pretty weird, didn't it?" Ryoma guesses he's supposed to say that of course Kaidoh didn't impose, but platitudes aren't really his way of expressing things. "You know, since I'm here and all... Are we good?" He knows he wants them to be. If not friends, then at least two people with an nostalgic connection that can still get along, despite any added heartache.

Kaidoh's eyebrows crease. He doesn't feel like fighting Echizen or anything...

"Why wouldn't we be?" he asks gruffly. To Kaidoh, they're as good as they've always been. Which is to say, Kaidoh stays out of Echizen's way and Echizen stays out of Kaidoh's. It's why Kaidoh's never really had a problem getting along with him.

"Yeah, I guess." But... Momo. He wants to say it, halfway at least. But then again... He doesn't feel comfortable talking about Momoshiro. He really doesn't feel comfortable talking to Kaidoh at all, not until he's managed to clear his head out. "... Good luck with that." He nods at the dumbbells. "I... Gotta go." He can't think of a good excuse as to where he should go. So stupid.

"Right," Kaidoh replies. There's a weird edge in Echizen's voice, and Kaidoh feels like maybe he's supposed to say or do something, but he doesn't know what. Maybe things aren't okay between them and Kaidoh is just bad at noticing.

"Good luck with... whatever you're doing too," he adds as an afterthought, and immediately feels stupid for the way the words tumble out.

Ryoma stops for a moment, turning around to gawk at Kaidoh, before an amused smile spreads across his face. "Thanks, man." He lifts his hand up and waves, and then he walks back towards his own hut, his steps considerably lighter for some reason or the other.