Washed Up

A/N: yay for Kaidoh making Momo things, rainbow roses are awesome.

Authors: Celianna (Momo, Hazue) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

Rating: K+

Events leading up to this log:
- The rainbow roses are finished, and Kaidoh lets Momo know he can go pick them up
- At some point, Momo decides to dance with fire for his upcoming birthday in hula skirts
- He manages to convince Kaidoh to join, as well as Tachibana and Chitose

Date: July 14, 2012

Hazue crouches down on the floor, his face hovering over the bunch of roses. The petals are coloured in all of the rainbow colours. Pink yellow, green, blue, purple—it's actually really, really pretty, and Hazue wants one too.

"They're so beautiful, Kaoru-nii-chan," he says happily. He's even more impressed with his brother right now. "So, these are for Momo-nii-chan?" Hazue looks up at Kaidoh, who seems to be half listening, and staring at the entrance of his hut, and he looks awfully hot and nervous … It reminds him of that one time, during Christmas, he had the exact same look. And a few other times as well, Hazue still remembers, even if it was years ago.

"Yeah..." Kaidoh replies, looking guilty. His palms are sweaty. This is so stupid. They're just flowers. It's just Momoshiro.

He looks over at his brother. "Can you..." he starts. ...leave me alone? That sounds creepy. Why would he need to be alone? Kaidoh's face heats up at the thought, and he covers his cheek with his palm.

"You should do some training," Kaidoh says instead, shoving the weird thoughts out of his mind. "The weather's good for running right now, maybe five laps down the beach and back."

Hazue shoots up straight, as if he's just gotten a command from his superior, and he needs to do it straight away. "Y-yes, I shall!" he says immediately. "I will double it—I'll run ten laps!" Hazue wants to make his brother proud.

The younger boy grabs a water bottle on his way out, and he smiles at his brother. "I'm sure he'll like them, Kaoru-nii-chan, you don't have to be nervous." Alright, off to run ten laps! Hazue dashes out through the small makeshift door and starts to run along the beach.

On his route, he comes across Momoshiro. "Momo-nii-chan!" he calls out at him, waving. "He's waiting for you!"

Momoshiro who had been walking so far, jogs a little to catch up with Hazue and smiles at him. "Of course he is. Are you training?"

"Yes, ten laps around the beach," says Hazue while smiling proudly.

Momoshiro ruffles up his hair. "Don't work too hard, okay?" He then leaves Hazue alone to his training and walks all the way up to Kaidoh's newly built hut.

He's known about it since Kaidoh started secretly building it behind his back. Except Kaidoh really sucks at hiding things from Momoshiro (maybe he does it on purpose?) so it was pretty easy to figure out why he kept sneaking off and blowing him off. Of course, Momoshiro had to help him out; leaving Kaidoh to do all the work alone was cruel, not to mention a recipe for disaster. Momoshiro has a bit of experience building things now, so he helped out every now and then, when Kaidoh wasn't looking. He still doesn't suspect.

Which is why Momoshiro knew the route to the hut on the beach perfectly. It was only a three minute walk away from his own. It seems Kaidoh didn't want to stay that far away from him, which makes him smirk. Then he thinks about the rainbow roses that Kaidoh has grown for him, and the smirk explodes into a very broad grin; he's so stoked about this. When he first told Sanada about rainbow roses, it was such a throwaway remark; he didn't realize he'd end up asking Kaidoh to grow some for him—much less have Kaidoh actually do it! And now they're ready and done, and Momoshiro feels so bubbly and happy at the moment. He really needs this kind of distraction right now.

His shoes are filled with sand by the time he reaches the hut. "Kaoru-chan!" he yells out as he climbs up the wooden stairs to reach the entrance. "Saw your brother on my way here, you're really making him work his ass off, aren't you?"

Momoshiro finally enters inside the hut, and there's this anticipation sparking in his fingertips. He wants to see the roses. He also wants to see Kaidoh, simply because he's never been that nice before, and he wants to give him a pat on the back. Maybe punch his face too, since that's how they say hi.

He kicks his feet against the wooden planks to dust off some sand from his shoes, and he spots the blue pillow he made for Kaidoh on the floor as well. Then he looks around, and sees Kaidoh standing in the middle of the small room. Momoshiro cracks another wide grin at him.

Kaidoh feels the corners of his mouth pulling up against his will, like he's a puppet and Momoshiro is pulling his strings, especially when Momoshiro looks at him like that, with a wide smile just for him. Kaidoh can't help himself. It makes him want to smile too.

"Moron," he says, and drops his gaze from Momoshiro's face, because just looking at him is making him blush. It's super annoying. Momoshiro is the worst.

He pulls a bundle of the rainbow roses from behind his back and thrusts them at Momoshiro's chest. "Here," he says gruffly, still looking at the floor. His cheeks are as red as some of the rose petals.

Momoshiro's face is rubbing against the roses sooner than he thought, because there's a bunch of colourful petals brushing up against his cheek, and he's even managed to get one inside his mouth on accident. Spluttering the petal out, his hands reach out to catch them before the entire bouquet falls down, and they wrap around the stems of the roses.

Which aren't thorn-free, and Momoshiro cuts himself twice while holding it. He lets out a tiny little yelp from pain, and there's a slight grimace on his face, but it's soon pushed to the back of his mind when he really looks at the roses. They really are pretty when he sees them for real; all these vivid colours that are absorbed into the petals of the roses, swirling around in a rainbow—and so many of them too! It makes him feel happy; the colours are pure eyecandy, and his eyes start sparkle from looking at them.

Looking back at Kaidoh with those sparkling eyes, Momoshiro can't help himself but laugh at the awkward looking snake in the room.

"They're awesome!" Momoshiro exclaims. His fingers tighten around the stems, and he pushes his face into the sea of rainbows, happily smiling into them. They smell … not much like anything, mostly like the ocean and sand and dirt, and a little bit like real roses—his most favourite flower smell.

Pulling his face out of the roses, Momoshiro quickly scans the room for anything to sit on, and spots a chair on the other end of the wall. He hops over to it, ignoring awkward Kaidoh for a bit, and he sits down.

"Look at how vibrant the colours came out! I'm amazed you actually managed to do it …" Momoshiro plays around with one particularly big rose; it's a like a small miniature of a rainbow tornado. It's cool. He leaves the roses resting on his lap and he pull his hand away from it, bringing it up to his face; two of his fingers are pricked and little drops of blood are coming out of his skin.

"Didn't bother to de-thorn them, I see."

Kaidoh hisses. Momoshiro being an idiot is familiar territory, and it jolts him out of his awkward blushy trance.

"Obviously there are thorns," he says, walking over to where Momoshiro is sitting. "You were just too excited to notice." He takes Momoshiro's hand and inspects it. (He really hadn't been looking for an excuse to hold it or anything!) The scratches aren't deep. He'll be fine.

Kaidoh lets go. "I think you'll live," he says dryly. "Just be more careful."

Then he looks down at the floor again. "And, uh, glad you like them." The puppet strings are tugging at his mouth again, pulling the corners up just slightly. "Or whatever," he finishes roughly.

Momoshiro can't tell if Kaidoh is being gleeful he stabbed his finger with a thorn, or if he's genuinely happy. Or perhaps a little bit of both. There's a rush of blood going to his hand that has nothing to do with being stabbed by thorns. It's still raised in the position Kaidoh pulled him in, and he's looking at Kaidoh, waiting for him to hand him over a napkin or something; that blood isn't going to wipe itself.

"Yeah, I do—can you give me something for the blood? Or how about I use your shirt?" Momoshiro grins as he looks at Kaidoh's stomach which is right in front of him.

"Asshole, no you can't use my shirt!" Kaidoh replies, his eyes narrowing. He looks around the room. There are some towels folded up near the door so Kaidoh grabs a small one and passes it to Momoshiro. "Use this."

"Thanks."

Momoshiro takes the towel with his injured hand, and the fibers of the towel immediately absorbs his blood as he touches it. He wipes himself clean and looks at his fingers as he pulls it away from the towel; it wasn't that bad. Just a slight little prick. They usually bleed more than other kinds of scratches, which is ridiculous.

Having taken care of his hand, Momoshiro returns to gushing over the roses again. Being careful this time to avoid any thorns, he lifts up the bundle in the air to admire it, covering Kaidoh's face so it's out of his vision.

"It's really pretty," says Momoshiro. He's almost giggling. He feels like giggling. It's kind of weird to think that Kaidoh would have even made this for him (not to mention so well), but Kaidoh doesn't seem to have mind. Through the petals of the roses, Momoshiro looks at Kaidoh, and sees this strange expression on his face.

Maybe he really is happy he pricked his fingers? Nah, that would be a stupid thing to be happy about. So he really is smiling? With that crooked and lopsided curl of his lips? It's weird, but it makes Momoshiro smile wider himself, and he's feeling even more giddy.

"Oh, let's take these out in the sun, so we can see the colours better!" Momoshiro quickly gets up from the chair—the towel slipping from his lap and onto the ground—and he disappears out of the hut and into the hot sun.

It seems as soon as the roses were exposed to the sunlight, they seemed to sparkle and dance like a real rainbow. Momoshiro sits himself down on the highest step of the staircase as he admires the wonderful colours. His thumb brushes over some roses, pulling them apart a little bit to inspect it some more.

"Get out here, Mamushi," he calls out. He buries his face into them once more, giggling. Hopefully there aren't any bugs crawling inside of it. Though he's sure Kaidoh is girly enough to have fought those pests off. He scoots over a bit to make room for Kaidoh to sit down next to him.

Kaidoh picks the towel off the floor and refolds it, then drops it down on his pillow before heading outside and sitting down next to Momoshiro on the steps.

Momoshiro looks a bit crazed with his face stuffed into the bundle of roses. Crazed, but happy. The petals are even brighter in the sunlight, and kind of sparkly. Momoshiro's eyes are really sparkly too, like they're reflecting the colors. It makes Kaidoh feel weird and warm all over.

"They're going to fade if you keep them out here too long," he grumbles, as he tries to keep his leg from brushing against Momoshiro's. It's kind of hard; they're sitting really close.

Momoshiro has no such concerns; he's busy stuffing his face with rainbows. "Yeah, yeah, they're not going to fade right away, you know. A little bit of sunlight now can't hurt." He raises the roses above his head and admires them some more.

"They're so damn cool though!" Momoshiro jabs his elbow happily into Kaidoh's side as he brings his arms down. "You did well." More like, Kaidoh did great. The roses really turned out fabulous. Yes, fabulous.

Momoshiro brushes his hand along one stem and pulls it out. He looks at it; it's got all the colours, from pink, yellow, green, blue and purple, and they look perfect and lush in colour. Momoshiro smiles at it, then stretches out his hand to Kaidoh.

"Here, you can keep one." Not like he didn't make them in the first place at all.

Kaidoh's face is feeling warm again, which is stupid, since it's not even a real gift, and Momoshiro is a moron anyway. Maybe it's just the heat. It's a pretty warm day after all.

"Idiot," Kaidoh says, but takes the rose anyway. He twirls the stem between his fingers, the colors spinning like a kaleidoscope. It really is pretty. Kaidoh can see why it makes Momoshiro smile so much. Part of him is really smug that he did this, that he's the reason Momoshiro is so deliriously happy. The other part of him is still busy feeling nervous and zingy with electricity.

"You'd better take care of them and keep them in water, because I'm not going to make you more." The last part is probably a lie. If Momoshiro asked, Kaidoh probably wouldn't be able to refuse. Stupid idiot.

"Water …" Momoshiro tries to think of a way to keep them in water, and sure he's got a few pots, but they're not exactly long like a vase (not to mention he uses them for cooking). "How'd you keep 'em in water?" he asks instead. How did Kaidoh even grow these behind his back in the first place? Momoshiro was pretty sure Kaidoh sucks at hiding things from him.

A little bit of blood appears from the pinhole wound on Momoshiro's finger again, but he's quick to notice this time. Having nothing to wipe himself with, he lifts his hand up, then brings it to his mouth. His lips wrap around the tip of his index finger and he sucks off the blood. It tastes like iron, it's pretty nasty, but at least it's not a lot. With a pop, the finger is away from his lips, and back onto the roses.

"That's disgusting," Kaidoh says, although the look on his face says otherwise. He quickly turns away. Momoshiro is an asshole, he probably did that on purpose.

Then he leans back through the hut's doorway and reaches around to grab several hollowed out stalks of bamboo that were resting against the wall. He'd tied them together to use as vases for the colored water. Now that the roses are finished, they're empty. He plunks them in Momoshiro's lap.

"You can use these, since I won't need them anymore."

Momoshiro moves the roses away so they don't get squished by the bamboo, and he looks at them with a certain admiration on his face. "Oh, bamboo. That's actually kind of clever." Maybe he can hang some up in his shack, and stick the roses inside of it. Yeah, he can do that. Have a rainbow wall, that would be cool.

Actually, he will.

"I'm going to hang them up on my wall," he says with a grin. "Give a few to other people. I think Sanada wanted one. Oh and Echizen gets one too, though he doesn't seem to be a fan of flowers … well, if he doesn't want one, that's fine too. It just means I'll have more to keep to myself! These are just the best! Kyaa!" Momoshiro lets out this girly squeal as he pushes his face into the roses again. He really likes doing that.

When the roses are out of his face, Momoshiro turns his face towards Kaidoh, who is not looking at him, and then he gets this devious smile on his face. He reaches out his arm and settles it on Kaidoh's shoulder, then shoves him up against his side, almost making him collide with the roses and bamboo. He knocks his own head against Kaidoh's.

"I owe you one!" he says happily.

Kaidoh's whole body feels rigid, pressed up against Momoshiro like this, like he's holding in a breath. He finally realizes that he actually is, and hisses it all out in a rush.

"You don't owe me anything, dumbass," he says, blushing furiously and pulling away, his arms flailing a bit in the process. "They're just roses!"

Momoshiro simply laughs at Kaidoh's fumbling around. "Pretty roses! And you made them for me, hah!" He softly punches Kaidoh's arm, just because he slithered away from his glomp.

"And you sure? Don't want anything in return?" Well, he did make the pillow, does that count? "How's the pillow by the way? Soft to sleep on, I'm sure."

"Yeah," Kaidoh replies softly, "it's been really ni—" He stops and punches Momoshiro's arm back. "It's okay," he corrects, voice gruff.

"What do you mean 'okay', it's the best, right? Better than sleeping on the floor at least." Momoshiro starts to twirls one rose in his hand and smiles at it again; he can't stop being happy.

"Hey, weren't you going to make some kind of hammock for your brother? I can help if you want, shouldn't be too hard. Just a piece of cloth strung between two poles or something, right? Anyone can do that. You shouldn't sleep on the floor, you know. That pillow deserves a bed. Not my bed, that's mine, you moved out voluntarily, even after I told you that you could sleep in it—idiot—so that's your fault. But still, sleep in a bed. Feels better. I hate sleeping on the floor, I don't know how you managed to do it for an entire month. Actually, I sort of feel bad for not building you something more comfortable ... so uhh ... sorry?"

"You didn't have to build me anything!" Kaidoh grumbles. "I didn't mind the floor. I don't now either. It's fine. If Hazue wants a hammock, though, I'll make him one. There's probably room inside my hut for it to fit."

Momoshiro is not convinced. "Right, you just looooove sleeping on the floor. Don't be stupid. Sleep on something that's soft at least. And no, the pillow isn't big enough for that. Hmm. Maybe I should have given you a body pillow instead?" Did they even have those on the ship? He should be on the lookout for those next time he visits the ship.

Kaidoh growls, blushing a little at the idea of a body pillow with Momoshiro's name on it. "Idiot, I'll sleep on whatever I want to."

"Fine." Maybe he'll make a hammock for Kaidoh when he's not looking. His neck feels stiff, and his legs feel sore—all because he's been sleeping on the floor recently, since it's awkward sleeping with Echizen ever since he confessed.

"Maybe I should just make something comfortable for myself," says Momoshiro. "The floor makes my neck all stiff." He rubs at the back of his neck as he says this. "Don't know how you can deal with it." Maybe Kaidoh simply likes sleeping uncomfortably?

Kaidoh shrugs. "It's really not so bad..." Sure, the floor is hard, but it keeps him from sleeping in any longer than necessary. "It would probably be easy enough to make a futon though. Find something for padding, maybe palm leaves or whatever, and just sew a sheet around it. You could even fill the sheet with sand, there's so much of that." He turns to Momoshiro and gives him a flat, disinterested look. "That, or go ask someone for a neck massage and stop complaining."

Momoshiro puckers his lips at him. "Why don't you give me one?" he asks in an obnoxiously high voice.

Kaidoh sputters at him and his face goes red like a tomato. "What?! No way."

Laughter erupts from Momoshiro; getting Kaidoh all that flustered is definitely worth making a fool of himself. "I was joking, relax." Then he turns to Kaidoh with a grin. "And you can stuff it with cotton, you know. We have loads of pillow. And I really do mean loads of them. Just cut them up, stuff them inside of the sheet or whatever. Better than leaves or sand. Speaking of leaves—I need to go collect some for our hula skirt!"

"Fine, you do that," Kaidoh huffs. "And go sleep on a pile of pillows if you're so uncomfortable. I don't care."

"That sounds really uncomfortable you know. But I'm sure I could work something out. Hey, you sew, right? Go sew some pillows for me together. Make me a bed."

"I'm not doing that," Kaidoh replies, glaring at Momoshiro. "If I'm going to make a bed, it'll be for me to sleep in."

Momoshiro grins. "Then what's the problem? I'll just sleep in yours then!"

"No you won't!"

"It'll be nice and big and fluffy, and, oh—throw some rainbow roses on top of it!"

Kaidoh hisses, exasperated. "What the hell, Momoshiro. That is not going to happen."

Momoshiro digs his face into the roses again, and through the rainbow coloured petals, he looks up at Kaidoh, eyebrows raised and smiling innocently. "I know … which is why you should make me one?" Sparkle eyes, come on—sparkle. Momoshiro tries to will them to sparkle on command. Maybe the light from the ocean can reflect into his eyes for added effect.

Kaidoh sighs. Stupid Momoshiro looking at him with those stupid sparkly eyes. "Dumbass," he says, defeatedly.

Momoshiro smiles at his victory, but then it falters as he remembers why he wants one in the first place. "This is stupid though. Maybe I should just … I don't know, leave Echizen alone for a while. Sleep somewhere else entirely."

He looks up hopefully at Kaidoh. "Your place?"

"What?" Kaidoh squeaks, then tries to regain his composure. "It would be kind of crowded in here with three people," he protests. It's already crowded with just Hazue there, especially since he likes to follow Kaidoh around like a shadow. "I only meant it to be for just me..."

"Oh." Momoshiro slumps down his shoulders and hugs the roses to his chest. "I can just go back to the caves, I guess. Haven't been there in a while. Though it's kind of damp in there. Uncomfortable too. And dark. And sandy. And there's way too many people."

"Don't be an idiot," Kaidoh says, scowling and knocking Momoshiro in the shoulder. "The caves are creepy. You don't have to go all the way back there. There's enough room for you. I mean, we can make room. Whatever."

Happy that Kaidoh had a change of heart, Momoshiro immediately sits back up straight, glowing with pride. "You just miss me, don't you?" he jokes.

"Asshole," Kaidoh growls. "No I don't! It just would be stupid to go sleep in some gross cave when we have two shacks right here on the beach."

"Three," he corrects Kaidoh. "I built one for Kirihara too. I don't think he's using it though … ungrateful asshole. Maybe I can sleep in it instead." But why sleep alone when he can go and sleep with Kaidoh and bug him at night? That's much more fun. Not to mention Momoshiro gets lonely real quick.

"So you don't mind? I don't want to sleep on the floor though. I don't think Hazue wants to either, poor kid."

"I... Yeah, whatever, I don't mind," Kaidoh says, trying to sound like it's some kind of hardship and he's really grumpy about it. He isn't though. Not at all. "And I guess I can make you a hammock or your dumb pillow bed or something."

"How about a fusion of those!?" says Momoshiro excitedly. "A hammock built out of pillows! That sounds really damn comfortable. How do you make one anyway? Like, so that it doesn't topple over or something."

"I have no idea..." Kaidoh says blankly. "I've never tried to make a hammock before."

"Can't be too hard, right? Just string some piece of cloth between two palm trees and bam; instant bed! I think. But then what if it rains … I don't really want to sleep outside. Can we make one inside? Or is there …" Momoshiro leans his back against the edge of the small staircase and he looks back inside the hut, "not enough space."

He sits back upright again. "You should have built this bigger. I don't care if it was only for you, you still could have given yourself some more space. Unless you like it cramped."

"It's not cramped when it's just me!" Kaidoh argues. "I don't spend all my time inside anyway." He glances back inside the hut as well. "But I'm not sure the walls would hold a hammock up... We could try? Though I don't think we could fit more than one, and we need three beds."

"Or just two, to save space," suggests Momoshiro.

Kaidoh narrows his eyes at Momoshiro. "No one is sleeping together..." he says slowly.

"Saves space though," he says with a shrug. "Why not expand your little hut? Shouldn't be too hard. Can be done within a day if I help you out." Momoshiro wonders for a bit why he's imposing so much on Kaidoh as if he's going to permanently move in with him. He's not going to do that—he won't completely abandon Echizen. Just for a few days. When it doesn't feel so … awkward and the tension in the air resolves.

"Well whatever, I'll be fine sleeping on the floor for a while, I guess. I could try making my own hammock in my shack afterwards. Hang it from the ceiling or something. It's sturdier than your hut." He pats his hand against the wooden walls to emphasize his statement. "The entire thing is better than your hut, heh."

"There's nothing wrong with my hut!" Kaidoh replies with a scowl, his tone defensive. "It suits me just fine. If you think yours is so much better then you can just go back to it."

"Narrggghh," mumbles Momoshiro. He falls to the side and leans his head against Kaidoh's shoulder. "You know why I can't. It's worse now that you're gone."

Kaidoh sighs, but doesn't try to shove Momoshiro away, or hit him, or yell at him to stop touching him and getting in his space. He just sits there and lets Momoshiro lean against him. He doesn't really know what to say.

He settles for telling him, "That sucks," because it does, and it sucks that Kaidoh can't fix it.

Momoshiro stares at the roses, then at the sea with blank eyes. "Yeah." And now he's feeling a little weird, so he tries to divert his attention back to the roses. "At least these are a bright note in my day. Literally as well, they're so pretty."

Taking one rose out of the bundle, Momoshiro lifts it out in front of him and Kaidoh, looking at it while still leaning his head against Kaidoh's shoulder.

"Too bad it'll wilt. Can you like, preserve it or something? Too much of a shame to leave it to rot and die."

"Oh," Kaidoh says, "yeah, you can, actually. You just need... resin or gloss or wax or something." He's not sure why he hadn't thought of it earlier.

Of course Kaidoh would know. Momoshiro chuckles at him. "Figures you'd know. Did you spend a lot of time with flowers in your childhood?" he asks him.

"Shut up," Kaidoh says bashfully. "I just helped my mother when she gardened. I learned a lot, some flowers are a lot more difficult to grow than you'd think." Why the hell is he talking to Momoshiro about this? Momoshiro probably thinks it's really stupid. And girly. Whatever, he's the one holding the bouquet of rainbow roses. "I guess I liked them from a young age though, yeah."

Momoshiro brushes the tip of the rose against Kaidoh's cheek. "Obviously you did. Flowers aren't bad though, they're pretty. I like roses the most." He pulls the rose back and pushes it up against his nose and breathes it in. It still smells mostly like the ocean and sand, but it's still got that rose scent to it. "They smell good. Though Lavender isn't bad either. Ever grown that in your garden with your mom?"

"Yeah, it's nice. My mother uses it to help her sleep sometimes. I guess it's good for that. She likes to mix it with oil. Makes it into a perfume kind of thing..." Kaidoh shrugs. "Weird, but she likes it."

"Makes her own perfume? That's kind of cool." He looks down at the roses. "Can you do it with these?" he asks. "It'd be cool if my bed would smell like roses, haha."

"No, that would be stupid," Kaidoh says, frowning. "How can you sleep in a bed that smells? That's kind of gross."

Momoshiro shoves the single rose in Kaidoh's face, right underneath his nose. "Smell it. It smells nice, doesn't it?"

Kaidoh slaps it away from his face. "Yeah yeah, it smells fine. Doesn't mean I want to smell it all night long. That's weird."

"But then you won't smell the disgusting ocean at least." Momoshiro wrinkles his nose; he's gotten pretty much sick of the ocean smell. It can really stink sometimes. It makes him want to move away from the beach. "Any scent is better than that at the moment. You should have built your hut in the jungle or something. I bet you can't smell the ocean from there."

"I don't want to go live in the jungle," Kaidoh says. "I don't know enough of it to know what's in there, or what parts are dangerous. Besides the beach already has everything I need."

"Meaning me, right?"

Kaidoh punches Momoshiro in the arm. "You are a moron."

Momoshiro rubs his arm. "Hehe. I know you can't live without me." He sighs, still resting his head against Kaidoh's shoulder, and he looks out at the sea. "You should have built it closer to my shack." It's too much effort walking to this place for three whole minutes.

Kaidoh feels his cheeks flush. "It's fine where it is," he says. He'd meant to move away from Momoshiro, enough that things wouldn't be awkward between him and Momoshiro and Echizen, but Momoshiro seems intent on bugging him anyway. Even if Kaidoh built his hut on the other side of the island he's pretty sure he wouldn't be able to escape that. Not like he even wants to. It just seems like what he should do.

He's glad that, for the moment, things aren't awkward between them. Or dangerous and statically charged either, although Kaidoh is hyper aware of Momoshiro against him every time he speaks.

He shrugs, his shoulder lifting Momoshiro's head as it rises and falls again. "And well, I didn't realize I'd have a bunch of guests all of a sudden," he says quietly.

Momoshiro laughs out loud, a good and honest laugh. He can feel his cheeks stretching painfully because of his wide smile. "You got that right. Man, so many new people showed up. It's insane. And it's your brother too. What are the odds of that?"

Finally lifting his head away from Kaidoh's shoulder, Momoshiro twists and turns his body away from the other man, until he leans his back against Kaidoh's entire arm, his legs dangling off the side of the stairs. He throws his head back against Kaidoh's.

"This place is fucking weird," says Momoshiro. He starts to play around with his bouquet of roses again, mindlessly twirling them around. "People are being weird too."

"I'm not being weird," Kaidoh points out. "I'm the same as I always am." And he can't tell if Momoshiro's being weird right now, or if he just finds his floor so uncomfortable that he's decided he needs to use Kaidoh as a pillow. Kaidoh doesn't mind. For once the proximity isn't making him feel all strangled and nervous, just really warm and nice. But he's afraid to move, because if he does things might shatter into awkwardness again, or he'll start blushing.

Momoshiro snorts at that. "Not you," he stresses. "You haven't changed a bit. How long has it been now? Five years? You still look and act the same—you even live with your parents still. Though I guess studying in America is different. That's it though."

Looking at the roses in his lap, Momoshiro contemplates how much he has changed. Maybe he hasn't, it doesn't feel like he has. Sometimes he still feels like he's thirteen years old. It's probably why so many people are college would sometimes chide him about being too childish. Then again, that's probably what they liked about him in the first place. People really are weird, especially on this island, where everything seemed to mess up, and people changed from the last time they saw each other.

It takes Momoshiro a second to shut his mouth after he opens it to say Kaidoh had changed. He certainly didn't remember the snake liking him or anything back then. Kaidoh had always acted a bit strange sometimes, but he had no idea it was because he liked him.

And now he's sitting here, stranded on an island, having met the snake once more in what seemed like forever, sitting up against him like it's nothing. Oh, and his best friend, whom he hadn't seen in years either—was in love with him. Momoshiro wonders if it's really such a good idea to be showering him with roses.

"You're still the same too," Kaidoh says. "Still a dumbass." He flicks his finger against the back of Momoshiro's head. "Just without the stupid hair."

Momoshiro rubs the back of his head and huffs at Kaidoh. Then he yanks on one of the ends of Kaidoh's bandana for revenge. "Yeah, but you still wear those stupid bandanas. I guess I'm less stupid than you!"

"Moron," Kaidoh growls. "Even you admitted they're good for keeping your hair out of your face! You're the stupid one because you can't figure out how to tie one on your own."

"Of course I can tie one!" says Momoshiro. "It's just more fun when you do it."

"I'm not here just to do things for you!" Kaidoh sputters.

"Reeaallly?" he drawls out. "You've grown some nice roses for me otherwise though …"

"Yeah, well that was just a one time thing!"

Momoshiro kicks his legs back and forth, looking up at the sky, and leaning even more against Kaidoh. It feels nice, and kind of comfortable like this, he thinks. Some things never change, and that competitive and argumentative nature between him and Kaidoh is something he really missed. As long as nothing happens to ruin that between them, then it should be fine. Momoshiro doesn't want to mess up another friendship with awkwardness, and he really hopes staying with Kaidoh for a bit will mellow things out between him and Echizen.

"Thank you." Momoshiro's voice is soft, almost a whisper, but he said it. He's not thanking Kaidoh for the roses. He's thanking him for not changing.

Kaidoh shrugs. "No problem," he says dismissively. "It wasn't that hard."

Momoshiro grins. "How'd you do it? Come on, tell me, I'm really curious. It looks like you used magic or something—and I don't even believe in that kind of stuff!" He nabs Kaidoh in his side with his elbow. "Or maybe you used voodoo."

"Nothing like that," Kaidoh replies, giving Momoshiro a flat are-you-an-idiot look. "You just have to let the stems soak up the colored water and wait a while for colors to appear on the petals." It doesn't sound that exciting when he explains it like that. Maybe Momoshiro won't be as impressed anymore. Kaidoh adds, "I guess it does look a little like magic when it happens."

"Haha, that's pretty clever you know. I wonder who came up with that? If it were me, I'd probably paint each leaf myself … that would be a really annoying job though." Momoshiro certainly wouldn't want to put in that much effort to create some roses. Then again, just one wouldn't be bad. Or well, two. One for Echizen, as he promised, and one for Kaidoh—just because the snake actually does things for him every once in a while.

A grin appears on his face despite trying to hide it. Momoshiro can make Kaidoh do anything for him if he just pulls the right strings, and use the right facial expression—maybe even say 'please' a lot. That kind of thing still hasn't changed from back in the day when they were thirteen years old; Momoshiro could always find a way to drag Kaidoh into doing something he really didn't want to do. It was fun. Or perhaps Kaidoh wanted to do it after all, which Momoshiro suspects is half the truth. They were rivals (still are!), but they didn't hate each other, even when a lot of people think they do when they argue most of the time.

After all, Kaidoh happily talked back to him on the phone whenever he called him.

The grin disappears, replaced by a frown. Whenever he called him, that is. Kaidoh never once called him back, or texted him. It was a bitter revelation; five years ago Momoshiro lost Kaidoh's cellphone number, and he was simply waiting for the snake to call him again so he could get it stored in his cellphone again. But he never did.

"Hey Kaidoh," he starts. He's never brought it up before; they were too busy being stranded on the island, and lots of other things happened. It simply didn't come up, Momoshiro figured perhaps it was a standard way of growing apart from each other since they went to different high schools.

Kaidoh hisses. "Yeah?"

Momoshiro focuses on Kaidoh's bandana ends brushing up against the back of his neck, it feels fuzzy.

"Why'd you never call back?"

"Huh?" Weren't they just talking about flowers? "What are you talking about?"

"Well … just wondering." Maybe Momoshiro had wondered one too many times if Kaidoh really hated him, that he really bugged him, that he was finally fed up with Momoshiro annoying him he cut all contact, just like that. "I was always the one to call," he says. His wounded finger suddenly starts to throb.

"Oh..." Kaidoh breathes. He wants to say that it would have been strange for him to call just to hear Momoshiro ramble at him, like it would have had to mean something in a way it never seemed to when Momoshiro did it. Momoshiro made it look easy. For Kaidoh, calling Momoshiro, or going to his house, or even something as simple as adding him as a friend on Facebook was terrifying, like some kind of insurmountable task.

Instead, Kaidoh just says, "Well you didn't call me either. Not after that day."

Momoshiro huffs, his shoulders rising up and down against Kaidoh's arm. "Right, like I should be the one calling all the time. Don't deflect the question. And I lost your phonenumber, in case you didn't know." He rolls his eyes, even if Kaidoh can't see it.

It takes Kaidoh a moment to reply to that. "I didn't know that," he says quietly. "I thought it was because I yelled at you and told you not to call me." Which sounds idiotic now. Like Momoshiro would ever listen to him!

He sighs. "And, uh, I thought it would be weird to call you, not that I didn't want to..." he says finally, in a low, disgruntled voice like it's killing him to admit, because it kind of is.

Wow—that's kind of surprising to hear, coming out of Kaidoh's mouth. How many times has he said Momoshiro was annoying? To stop calling him? To stop annoying him? That he was a waste of space simply breathing? Well, not that Momoshiro fully believed any of those things … except when he realized Kaidoh wasn't calling him back, so he thought perhaps he just didn't care enough. Though why would it be weird calling him? They always talked about whatever, there was nothing weird or strange.

"Oh … that's it? You were just too chicken to call? Wow, what a pathetic reason. You know why I stopped calling? My phone fell into the toilet with you still on the line! It fucked up the entire thing, the memorycard inside of it was wiped clean, and I lost everyone's numbers and text messages. So I was just … waiting for everyone to call me so I could get their numbers back. Hell if I could actually remember them."

Momoshiro knocks his head against Kaidoh, for being stupid. "You're an idiot, do you know that?" A big damn idiot, even if Momoshiro was suddenly smiling. "Like I'd listen to what you tell me to do."

Kaidoh snorts. "Well, yeah," he says, "because you're an idiot, too."

"You could have texted me at least," says Momoshiro. He only really half cares. He's already satisfied knowing Kaidoh was simply being Kaidoh, meaning the idiot was too chicken to call him back. At least it wasn't because he hated him or anything. "A simple 'idiot' would have sufficed."

"Yeah, I guess so," Kaidoh says, feeling his cheeks go pink. If only he hadn't been such a nervous moron back then...

Momoshiro still makes him feel like the same nervous moron a lot of the time, but it's harder for Kaidoh to retreat into his shell now that Momoshiro is right there. It's not like high school when Kaidoh could easily hide everything away, avoid calling or messaging or visiting or even acknowledging Momoshiro's existence to anyone but himself. Now there's no distance between them, and Kaidoh has no excuses. He's not hiding or running away. And that's probably a good thing.

He bumps his fist against Momoshiro's shoulder. "Well, I'm here calling you an idiot now," he says, and means it to be an apology.

"You can call me that anytime." Momoshiro smiles as he looks at Kaidoh's profile.

Momoshiro hits the back of Kaidoh's head with the bouquet of roses, as he jumps off the stairs and laughs at Kaidoh's face. He sticks out his tongue, drops the roses in Kaidoh's lap—save for two—then jogs away.

"Be back later!" he yells at Kaidoh.

Meanwhile, Hazue was wondering how many extra laps he'd have to run until he'd be free to go back to Kaidoh's hut again.