Washed Up
A/N: just a cute filler log.
Authors: Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)
Rating: T
Events leading up to this log:
- People are preparing for the storm
- Momo and Kaidoh can talk normally again
- Momo gets bored as Kaidoh goes out running, and he comes up with some quiz questions he wants everyone to fill out
- Right before this log happens, Hiyoshi convinced Momo to go look for Kaidoh if he was bored
Date: September 3, 2012
The weather is really getting dreary, and a bit windy too. Momoshiro is pretty sure it will start to rain sometime, and he has to get off his ass and actually start looking for Kaidoh. He sort of made a weird deal with Hiyoshi, and told him he'd find Kaidoh, if he filled out a few questions on the meme form.
And it's not like Momoshiro is really against the idea, except he remembers what happened last time Kaidoh asked him to go running.
The thought is both thrilling and terrifying, but in a good way.
He does finally get off from his comfy spot in their hut, he's got his blanket sprawled out across the floor, pillows are scattered everywhere, and he's taking over Kaidoh's side of the hut (it's not a very big hut). He might have done it a little bit on purpose. He shoves his phone into his shorts, then finally goes outside.
Yup, it really is rather grey looking in the sky. Momoshiro wonders if Kaidoh is unfazed by the weather, and would even go running in a storm. That'd be stupid. Hopefully he hasn't run too far. But it seems he has, because Momoshiro is walking down the shoreline for about fifteen minutes already before he spots Kaidoh in the distance. He's either running or lifting dumbnuts, or maybe both; Momoshiro wouldn't put it past him.
"Hey—Hey Kaidoh!" Momoshiro yells loudly and starts waving his arms at him. He stops walking and hugs his sides; it's a bit chilly. But there's a warm sensation flowing through him at the prospect of seeing Kaidoh again, talking to him. Maybe do some other things …
Kaidoh, who's been running with his head down, fists swinging at his sides, stops at the sound of Momoshiro's voice. It's easy to recognize, even from a distance—it's just got a very distinctive, annoying tone. He looks up and sees Momoshiro waving to him like an idiot from down the beach, and his face crinkles up in confusion. What the hell is he doing? Kaidoh picks up his pace until he's a bit closer and then stops, giving Momoshiro an annoyed glare.
"What do you want?" he grumbles, looking at Momoshiro like he's some kind of roadblock. It's not like he had much further to run—he's already been out for a couple hours now—but Kaidoh still hates interruptions. Well, okay, so maybe he doesn't hate them outright if they're in the form of Momoshiro. Which might be why he can't bring himself to sound truly irritated.
"I'm taking you back home," says Momoshiro while grinning. Despite the depressing weather, he's feeling rather good. It's nice that he's not awkwardly fumbling around with his words anymore.
In fact, he even feels brave enough to take a step forwards, turn 180 degrees so he's right next to Kaidoh, and slips an arm around Kaidoh's shoulder. Instantly he's warmed up; Kaidoh's body is pretty warm from all that running, it's comforting. He lifts up his other arm and points into the direction he came from.
"Home is that way. Just wanted you to get back before it started raining. Haven't you noticed the weather?"
Kaidoh shrugs, not because he's reacting to Momoshiro's arm around him or anything, although that does make his shoulders feel a bit tingly. But that's just because he stopped running and is all sweaty and there's cool wind blowing against him. Part of the reason he doesn't like interruptions.
"Yeah, I noticed," he says flatly. He's not stupid, he can see the weather's changing. But a little wind isn't going to halt his training routine. Very few things do. "But it's not so bad today. It's not hot out so I can run for longer."
Momoshiro frowns; he doesn't want Kaidoh to run longer. He already runs too much. He'd rather have him at the hut, at home, with him. That sounds like a much better option than running, and not being with Momoshiro. Because he likes that they're not awkward anymore.
He also really likes the other things they do, and Momoshiro is a little hopeful that it might happen again. Okay, he's really hoping it will.
"Don't do that," Momoshiro whines. "This is the kind of weather you need to spend inside. And play cards or something. Or take a nap. Or perhaps both. Both could work. You hungry? I'm hungry, I haven't eaten anything in over an hour." Momoshiro slowly pushes the palm of his hand against the back of Kaidoh's shoulder blade, gently encouraging him to start walking. "I've got some bread again, we could like, roast it or something. If only some of the vegetables were done, then we could have a real sandwich. Sounds nice. And butter too, I miss butter. Oh, I think someone might actually be trying to make butter right now—who was it again? Oh right, Tachibana. He's got a goat or something, and it just had uhh ... what do you call baby goats?"
"Kids," Kaidoh replies gruffly, but he's not glaring this time. Momoshiro's whining, Momoshiro's rambling, it all has a certain effect on Kaidoh. He just can't stay grumpy with him. He can't ignore him either. And the idea of spending time with Momoshiro—doing anything, even if it's really dumb—makes something flutter in Kaidoh's stomach like an automatic conditioned response. Like he can't help but feel excited about it.
Not that he's about to say as much. Playing games, or napping, or eating (does he really eat every hour?!) … Kaidoh's not about to agree that, add Momoshiro to the equation and any of those things sound really nice. Maybe better than running. Maybe. No, that's stupid. Running's the best.
Instead he just sighs and says, "Fine. I guess I can be done for today."
He better be. "Great! Oh, I got bored and found some of those quiz questions again. You have to fill it out again, Mamushi. They're only fifteen questions instead of twenty this time." Rather embarrassing and invasive questions he knows Kaidoh won't answer, but it's worth a shot. After all, Momoshiro sort of likes reading anything Kaidoh posts. He doesn't do it often.
They continue to steadily walk down the beach, back to the hut, and Momoshiro is feeling quite happy. There's something fluttery inside of his stomach that he kind of likes. It feels warm and hopeful too. His hand rests on top of Kaidoh's shoulder, and his fingers are itching to tighten his hold on it, and pull Kaidoh closer.
Oh, he actually already is doing it subconsciously. Well. Momoshiro tilts his head away from Kaidoh and hopes he won't notice that suddenly he's got a pink hue on his cheeks. He also hopes Kaidoh won't punch him and push him away. That'd be less than ideal.
"I'll make you some food after you're finished, sound good?" Momoshiro asks. Bribery with food is always a good idea to him.
"I can cook food for myself, you know," Kaidoh replies, scowling. He's too distracted with arguing to register that Momoshiro's kind of tugging on him. Well, maybe a part of him does notice and just doesn't mind. It's Momoshiro, after all. Kaidoh just likes being close to him. Which is kind of embarrassing when Kaidoh actually spends time thinking about it, but that doesn't make it any less true.
He nudges Momoshiro in the side with his elbow. "Besides, you're the one who's hungry right now, not me."
"Well … if you're offering …" Momoshiro nudges him back with his other hand, poking him in his side. "I won't say no to some cooked food."
"What the hell, that's not what I meant," Kaidoh growls. He crosses his arms over his chest as he continues walking. "I wasn't offering anything, idiot."
"And I was, but since you said you'd rather cook it yourself …" Momoshiro taps his fingers on Kaidoh's shoulders, one by one, from his index finger to his pinky, trying to annoy him.
Kaidoh flinches. "Stop that." It's making him feel funny. Why can't Momoshiro just walk like a normal person?
"Hmm, what's that you said—I can't hear you, I think you were just about to say you were going to cook food for me," says Momoshiro in a sing song voice.
"Asshole."
"That's a yes?"
Kaidoh lets out a reluctant hiss. "Fine, what do you want to eat?" he asks.
"Hehe." Momoshiro leans his head against Kaidoh's shoulder. "Take one good guess."
"I can't make you a hamburger," Kaidoh replies flatly.
"I know …" Momoshiro sighs. He really does want one though. Anything fast food sounds delicious to him, like his holy grail. "Well, whatever you can make that won't burn, I'm fine. Are we still making that cake together? I wonder when I'll get that chocolate … hmm, how do you make a cake without any eggs. Do you substitute it for something? I wonder what."
"I don't know. I'm no cake expert."
"Really."
Kaidoh narrows his eyes at him. "Really, idiot," he says. "You can probably bake without eggs though. I'm sure there's some way."
"Yeah, I think so. I should ask Tachibana later, if he's not busy with his uhh, kids. Right. Why the hell do they call it kids? I thought he was talking about actual babies when he mentioned it to me." Momoshiro rolls his eyes. He steers Kaidoh away from a branch washed up on the shore so they can walk around it without splitting up. It's a bit cramped and weird to walk like this, being pressed up against Kaidoh, but Momoshiro doesn't want to let go anytime soon.
"But that couldn't be possible, haha. I mean, there are no kids on this island. Unless you want to count Hazue-chan."
"He's not really much of a kid anymore," Kaidoh points out. "Lives on his own out here and everything." Which can be kind of worrying for Kaidoh, especially now, with Hazue's bad ankle, but at least he's close enough that Kaidoh can get to him easily if he needs to. Even though Kaidoh knows his brother is strong and independent—he's his brother, after all—sometimes his protective instinct still kicks in.
"True, and isn't he like almost seventeen? Or eighteen?" Momoshiro pulls his head away from Kaidoh's shoulder as he ponders. He doesn't remember asking Hazue how old he was, but it had to be somewhere around that age, since he wasn't in Seigaku when Momoshiro was in his third year.
"Too bad we couldn't coach him together, huh. I'm sure we'd have turned him into a good regular, maybe even run the tennis club as captain in his third year!"
Yeah, maybe if they'd been there to mentor and train Hazue during his first year at Seigaku he'd have made the team, something Kaidoh had wanted for him and was sure Hazue wanted for himself, too.
"Too bad," he agrees, a wistful edge to his voice. What's worse is that his brother is missing his final year in high school now, and the main tennis season has come and gone. Kaidoh had been helping him train and run so he'd really be able to shine and finally grab a regular spot. That'd always been Kaidoh's main focus and goal throughout high school after all, so he assumes it's Hazue's as well. Kaidoh will just keep doing what he can to help him become stronger.
"But he probably wouldn't have been able to handle it." Momoshiro's eyes shift to the side, glancing at Kaidoh. "He's nothing like you, you know."
Aside from their similar looks, and their tendency to lie sometimes, the two are very different. Hazue is very polite and nice, whereas Kaidoh's mouth needs to be washed with soap sometimes, and his idea of 'nice' is not punching Momoshiro right away if he does something he doesn't like. And Momoshiro is always doing things Kaidoh doesn't like. Hazue is also always smiling, an expression that seems foreign on Kaidoh's face, he's usually grumpy and irritated.
The memory of Kaidoh's face screwed up in pleasure flashes by in Momoshiro's mind. He gulps loudly and hopes the image goes away; he can't think of this now. But as if he can't help himself, his fingers sneak from Kaidoh's shoulder towards the towel around his neck, and he pulls it down a little bit, revealing a purple patch of teethmarks.
"Definitely nothing like you," Momoshiro repeats in a mumble. His fingers fall out of the towel and rest back on Kaidoh's shoulder, pressing them closer together. He's been feeling elated and jumpy ever since that day, and now there's a constant flutter in his stomach that has nothing to do with his urge to eat food, and Momoshiro doesn't hate it at all. He tries not to think about it, because if he does, he's sure the awkwardness is back, and then they'll stop talking to each other again.
Momoshiro doesn't want to stop talking to Kaidoh. Neither does he want to stop touching him.
On instinct, Kaidoh's fingers tug the ends of his towel tighter around his neck and against his chest, because that's still embarrassing. He doesn't pull away though.
"I guess you're not much like your sister either," he says and his mouth scrunches into a weird, sour expression. That's gross to think about.
"Huh, what do you mean. You've never met her," says Momoshiro.
Kaidoh's cheeks go pink. "Yeah, I know," he says, eyes narrowing. "I just meant, uh, because you're not a girl, obviously."
Then suddenly, it does become awkward for Momoshiro. Something about the way Kaidoh said it reminded him that they are both guys. They're not a boy and girl, there's nothing normal about the way they're acting towards each other, or the things they do, or the things Momoshiro feels. Kaidoh is most definitely a guy, no matter how many times Momoshiro will say he's a girl; he won't magically turn into one.
It's really confusing.
"Obviously," Momoshiro echoes. He can feel his fingers clutch Kaidoh's shoulder in annoyance. He doesn't want to think about this, not now, not when they're like this. He doesn't want to feel that weird nauseous weight inside of his stomach.
So Momoshiro changes the subject, to take his mind off of it. "So, you gonna answer those questions? I'll show you when we get back."
"They'd better not be stupid questions..." Kaidoh replies with a grimace.
"Define 'stupid'."
Kaidoh jabs his finger against Momoshiro's cheek. "Well, you are, for one thing."
Something flips and bounces around in Momoshiro's stomach. He grins widely. Then he pinches Kaidoh's cheek in return. "So are you, dumbass. I guess that makes you a perfect candidate for answering these questions."
Kaidoh huffs. "What if I don't want to?" he says defensively. Because he doesn't, really. He thinks survey questions are, almost universally, really dumb, and they're always about weird, embarrassing topics that Kaidoh thinks no one needs to know about anyway. If he wanted to tell people that kind of stuff, he'd have said it already. But it's hard to deny Momoshiro anything when he's smiling like that. Momoshiro can be so annoying.
"Well, I'll uhh … I'll do laundry for a day! And wasn't I cooking you something? Oh, wait, no, you were. Never mind. So yeah, laundry. I can do that. You'll fill out fifteen questions. Shouldn't take long." Then Momoshiro pinches Kaidoh's cheek again, since he's feeling a little bit fuzzy and affectionate. It's a bit weird.
"Okay…" Kaidoh says slowly, after a long moment of consideration. "Fine, whatever." He hisses and, because it still feels weird to agree to things Momoshiro suggests, adds, "Idiot."
Momoshiro fistpumps the air. "Alright! But make food first, 'kay? I'm starving." The hut is already coming into view by now, and the memories associated with that view make everything crawl inside of Momoshiro's stomach. It makes him feel embarrassed again, but he also cannot stop thinking about it, and hopes they'll do it again.
At least he's not avoiding Kaidoh. This is the opposite of avoiding, which is good, Momoshiro thinks. And he's touching him, which is really good.
Momoshiro looks over at Kaidoh, and surveys him a little bit. His hair is long, and Momoshiro thinks Kaidoh needs a haircut as well, but saying that out loud is a bit … well … he remembers what happened last time.
So what does he have to lose? "I'll cut your hair too. It's gotten longer than mine."
Self-consciously, Kaidoh tugs at the hair poking out from under his bandana and then drops his arm again and gives Momoshiro a narrow look. But it's a little hard to look serious when his cheeks have gone kind of red.
"I don't know about that," he says. "I've seen you with scissors."
"On myself, okay. I'd do a much better job if I can actually look at it," says Momoshiro defensively. "And I won't cut off your ear." He might do other stuff though.
"How long do you want it?" he asks, as his fingers leave Kaidoh's shoulders, and presses them up against the towel, slipping it around some dark hair. He tugs at it a little bit; it really is long.
Kaidoh shrugs dismissively. "Uh … how long it normally is," he says, sounding a little uncertain. He's never really given much thought to his hair. It's just hair—he's never done anything stupid to it like put gel in it—and it's been pretty much the same length for years now. He just cuts it when it starts to get in the way. Which, admittedly, it kind of has been for a couple months now.
"Hmm, so right up here?" Momoshiro slides his fingers up against the hair, until he's half-way poking it in Kaidoh's ear.
Kaidoh scowls. Momoshiro's fingers kind of tickle. "Yeah, I guess," he says. "I don't care. Just don't do anything weird to it."
"What ever would I do with it?" asks Momoshiro completely innocently.
"I don't know, dumbass," Kaidoh grumbles. "Something annoying."
"Well maybe not to your hair …" Momoshiro is feeling mischievous, so he sticks his finger into Kaidoh's ear, before pushing himself away and then running the last few steps towards the hut like a total spaz.