[Log] Shoulder Pats
Characters: Momoshiro Takeshi & Oishi Shuichiro
Location: Oishi's cabin
Time: Immediately after Momo talks to Echizen, on April 2nd
Rating: PG for talk of... things
Summary: Momoshiro continues his apologizing spree. (And in which we establish that shoulder patting is the code language of closeted men.)
Oishi’s fingers trailed over the keys of his phone idly before setting it down on the desk in his room. So... Momoshiro wanted to speak with him. He’d thought it through for a while before giving a definitive answer. Truthfully he wasn’t anxious to speak with him right now, regardless of what he might say. But something told him he should give his former teammate a chance. Whatever the issue, he was very poor at keeping up a grudge for long. (Not that it prevented him from childish vengeance, mind.) He crossed the room and cleaned up a few things in the meantime, mostly books and clothing he’d left out.
Maybe he wants to apologize... Suddenly he felt a guilty little ache at the plan he’d hatched with Echizen earlier, while he was still irritable.
Right after reading Oishi’s last text message, Momoshiro shut his cellphone and stuffed it into his capri pants, and left his own cabin room. He eyed Echizen’s room for a bit, wondering if he was still in there-then shook his head; he’d have to worry about him later, right now he had to apologize to his former senpai.
Momoshiro knocked twice on Oishi’s door, luckily it wasn’t that far. “Oishi, it’s Momo.” His voice sounded a lot less confident than he wanted it to be.
At the sound, Oishi sighed softly and closed the short gap to the door, tugging it open and giving Momoshiro a quick glance that told him he was right about what exactly he wanted to talk about. "Please come in," He offered, making way for him tentatively.
If this conversation started in the same direction the other one had just the night before, Oishi had no qualms about asking him to leave again. Momoshiro might have been a good friend and a former teammate, that didn't mean he was going to listen to it. "What did you want to talk about?"
Feeling awkward under the watchful gaze of Oishi’s green eyes, Momoshiro hunched his shoulders, and stared down at the floor as he walked inside.
“About last night,” Momoshiro started, with a pout on his lips that he couldn’t get rid of. “I, uhh.” Well, he sort of wanted to blame his head injury for being cranky, but it was probably for the best if Oishi didn’t know about that too. Which meant to take full blame for his stupidity. Not that he didn’t deserve it …
Momoshiro ran his hand through his gel, which was already slightly disheveled because Echizen had played with it previously. “I’m guessing I made you mad.”
“Yes, you did.” Oishi answered simply, looking Momoshiro over again and keeping up a distinctly deadpan expression. He hadn’t liked being questioned about things like that, or bothered with it, or most of all being made to feel embarrassed by it. Likely, he had taken it far more personally than it deserved. Momoshiro couldn’t have picked a worse issue to harp on about with him.
Pissing people off seemed to be a regular thing with Momoshiro, so it seemed. First he pissed off Kaidoh-but that was Kaidoh, he’s always pissed off at him. Then he offended his best friend, and managed to bother Oishi with weird questions and childish teasing. Not to mention all that other crap he went through.
Like a child getting punished for eating the last cookie in the cookiejar, Momoshiro lowered his head to stare at his feet, and fumbled around with his fingers.
“I’m sorry,” he said with a high pitched voice, certainly not manly. “You were right … it was a personal question I had no right asking. … I was a bit … cranky, and you were hanging all over Eiji that I just sort of got … well, like that, I guess.” Momoshiro scratched an itch on his cheeks, which were still burning hot from the rash. “I acted like a jerk, I’m sorry.”
Watching as Momoshiro bowed his head, Oishi could feel the crease in his brows slowly work its way out and the frown on his face soften. The more he'd thought about it last night, the more he was sure he'd overreacted. Momoshiro had a clumsy, ridiculously blunt way of bringing things up, it just so happened to be the last thing Oishi wanted to discuss. … The fact that he'd kept picking at it when it had obviously unsettled Oishi as much as it did hadn't helped either.
Even so, it was difficult for him to stay angry if at someone who offered an honest apology.
"Ah," Hesitantly he set a hand on Momoshiro's shoulder, and nodded, "thank you. That means a lot." Yes, he was exceedingly bad at being angry, already regretting what he'd told Echizen earlier in the morning. He'd hoped it wasn't too late to reverse that plan. "Sorry I snapped at you. You shouldn't pry with personal questions like that, though." He scolded, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I know,” said Momoshiro. “I deserved you snapping at me though. Whatever you are, it doesn’t matter, it’s private. I get that.” He finally looked up, a bit more serious this time. “But don’t give Eiji any wrong signals, okay?”
Good, so he was getting it now. Perhaps this conversation would prevent Momoshiro from needlessly blurting out personal questions to the other people on-board. Those that he hadn't already, that is. Oishi couldn't recall the extent of the list he'd given last night, just that apparently wherever Momoshiro went, strange questions seemed to follow.
"That's all I wanted you to understand," Oishi smiled, easing up on his former kouhai and regarding his serious follow-up with a very confused, "Eh?" A brow quirked, "A-any wrong signals?"
Momoshiro bit his lip and looked sideways. “Yeah … uhm, I might have prodded you with that ridiculous question after seeing you be all friendly with Eiji. I’m a friendly guy-but even I don’t get that friendly.” Unless you wanted to believe Echizen, then he really did get that friendly.
“And since you’re in de-” Momoshiro coughed into his hand, “-not answering the question, but I know for sure Eiji is … well, he’s bi apparently. So he might be thinking weird things with you being so close to him. “ Like Echizen did, and that just made him feel even more awkward. Gays were hard to understand.
After being all friendly with Eiji…? Oishi blinked and chewed his bottom lip. If Momoshiro was noticing something between the two of them last night before… well, anything had happened, he was better at picking up on things than he knew. The golden pair had always been close, though. Oishi hadn't thought twice when Eiji settled in next to him, or curled up against him as the night went on. If things hadn't came to a head last night, he likely still wouldn't think anything was strange about the way they interacted.
Momoshiro obviously did.
Not that Momoshiro needed to know anything about what happened between them.
"I-I really don't think it was anything out of the ordinary," Hm, could Oishi send signals that he didn't want to talk about this? Or, was the better question-could Momoshiro pick up on a signal like that? "I'll keep that in mind, though. About Eiji." His answer was stilted, awkward, his fingers picking at the lining of his pants pockets.
Momoshiro placed his hand on top of Oishi’s shoulder as well, giving him a sympathetic look. “Good. So that means, no tickling, or holding hands, or hugs or-well, apparently, the knees, arms and head are fine to touch. Anything else, and he’ll misunderstand.”
Evidently that message wasn't getting through. Oishi answered that clarification with a rather uncomfortable and simultaneously baffled expression, feeling his cheeks prickle red and nodding.
They'd done all that in junior high, really. When they were still only friends.
Multiple times.
"I don't think there's any need to go that far, but… thank you."
Momoshiro was having similar thoughts; he had done all those things in middle school with Echizen as well. It seemed seven years later, the same things now turned him on. Aaaand, that made Momoshiro’s cheeks burst into colour like red cherries again. Not that they weren’t already.
“I’m serious. Gay people are hard to understand-just one pat on the shoulder, and they go crazy,” said Momoshiro and he shook his head. “...and what the hell is wrong with tickling,” he mumbled this more towards himself than to Oishi.
Oishi was now just as red, hoping perhaps he could redirect this question. He glanced at the shoulder Momoshiro still rested his hand upon as he thought about how… exactly… he could answer that type of assertion.
"I don't think they're…" we're "a-any different…" He defended of the other guys on-board, awkwardly.
Then he tilted his head, thinking back to the conversation he'd had over breakfast, "Is this about Echizen?"
“You think? Well … yeah it’s about Echizen,” said Momoshiro with a defeated sigh. “Apparently, I make him horny.”
A simple, "yes" would have sufficed. Oishi's eyes darted elsewhere, shrugging Momoshiro's hand away from his shoulder and shaking his head. "So maybe it's just Echizen." He didn't want to think about this. Any of this. Echizen. Horny. Not words that belonged together. His lips curled, "Like you said, you're very friendly. Maybe… take it easy around him."
Momoshiro groaned out loud, stomping his foot on the ground. “Well-how? I asked him where to not touch, and he just gives me these vague instructions. I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to remember them, and most likely, I’ll do it either way. Not on purpose of course … I mean, I’ve always been like that around him. But now that he’s gay, I suddenly can’t!”
How the conversation suddenly turned from apologizing, to Echizen being horny, Momoshiro didn’t quite know, nor did he particularly care, because he did want some advice on how to make things a bit less awkward around his best friend.
“That’s why I said to not give Eiji the wrong signals,” Momoshiro said, a bit more calm this time. “Who knows, you might be turning him on as well.”
No, Oishi definitely didn't need the thought of a turned on Eiji in his head right now. At all. He lifted his arm and rubbed his palm across the back of his neck anxiously and wondered too how this conversation had taken such a terrible turn. It was probably too late to end curtly with a, "Well, it was nice talking to you, Momo," wasn't it?
"If he's… that way, then he's always been that way, right?" Oishi thought aloud and shook his head, "Maybe you can tell yourself to limit it to just hugs." Why, why, why had he put that idea of a turned on Eiji in his head? Perhaps he knew more than he was letting on…? "I think it will be fine, really. Just back off when he tells you to."
“He said he didn’t have those kind of hormones yet when he was twelve, the brat,” said Momoshiro as he folded his arms defensively. “And when I asked about hugs, he said he’d get back to me on that. I mean come on … I’m a huggable person. Or, ehm, I mean, I just like to hug people, yeah. Eiji does so too, and hey, he’s bi, so I guess it’s fine after all?” Unless Eiji was hugging with different intentions.
“Either way, I don’t know what to do with Echizen right now … since he said that to me and all. How can I make him … not attracted to me?” Momoshiro looked down on his arms, that ugly rash still claiming his skin. “My rash doesn’t seem to deter him at all.”
Please let's just stop any and all references to Eiji right now… Oishi shrugged with a sigh, "You are," he had to wonder what kinds of hugs Momoshiro had been giving Echizen… he did tend to go all out in everything he did. "Shorter hugs, maybe." Suggested Oishi with a sympathetic smile. Not the giant, crushing bear hugs Momoshiro was used to giving.
"I don't think you can keep someone from being attracted to you, if they are." He eyed the inflamed rash on the areas of skin he could see with an inward hiss. That lotion he'd mentioned Kaidoh giving him seemed to be helping it a little, at least. "You have to remember to take his feelings into account when you're around him, that's all."
“Shorter hugs?” piped out Momoshiro weakly. “Are my hugs long or something?” He just hugged, he didn’t think about it, much less think about keeping it short and formal. Momoshiro was anything but formal.
“And I’m trying … believe me, I’m trying,” said Momoshiro. “It’s hard to though when the other party just runs off, leaving me with this bomb that exploded in my face. And really-just how are you supposed to hug someone without … turning them on? I never even knew you could do that!”
"I assume that has to be it, right?" Oishi himself wasn't entirely sure why Echizen was so uncomfortable with Momoshiro's hugs, as far as he knew he wasn't touching him anywhere inappropriately. Oishi didn't want to think about it.
A hand dragged along the side of his face, a quick glance at the door that separated his cabin from Eiji's, "I never knew that either." Are you sure you're not doing something else? "Ah, well… this seems to be a personal issue between the two of you, perhaps it's best if you clarify it with him."
Momoshiro scratched his itchy cheeks again, that rash was never going to give him some space to breathe, was it? “I would … except he kind of seems to want to be left alone right now. And frankly, I wouldn’t know what to say either. Walk up to him and say; ‘Hey, can you show me how I can hug you that doesn’t make you think dirty thoughts?’. I can’t exactly do that.”
For a few seconds, Momoshiro looked at Oishi thoughtfully. His infamous Momo Logic was working some things out. “Hey, would a hug turn you on?”
"W-wha…?" Oishi looked weary, like he could feel himself aging far too quickly now. Until now he'd been relatively patient with the strange questions on the assumption that as a doctor he'd be dealing with a lot of personal issues as well, and he should prepare himself. This was just all together too much to handle. "No!"
Momoshiro threw his hands up in a defensive act. “Okay, okay, no need to yell.” Oishi seemed to not like personal questions that much, did he?
“I don’t want you to get mad at me again, I’m honestly not trying to egg you on or anything. I’m just really confused on what to do with Echizen. He’s my friend, and well, I like to be friendly with him. With any of my friends really, so … I guess maybe it’s for the best if I just stop touching him period.” Momoshiro looked down with gloomy eyes. Yeah, if he was causing Echizen that much trouble just by being himself, then perhaps it would be a good idea to cease all physical interactions with him, no matter how much he wanted to pull him in a good headlock, or tickle the hell out of him.
"I-I'm not angry with you…" Stammered Oishi, deflating with a huff, "I'm just really not sure what kind of advice I can give you on that sort of thing."
Momoshiro looked entirely depressed and exhausted by all of this. Oishi didn't blame him-- it had to be strange to hear from your best friend that your everyday behavior was eliciting some inappropriate feelings in them. Well, it had to be strange to hear that when you also didn't feel the same way. "He told you he would get back to you on it, right? I don't think he'd be happy if you were suddenly stand off-ish either."
How did you separate friendly behavior from flirting? Oishi was likely… the worst person possible to ask that question of. "I don't think pats on the shoulders should be a problem, like you said earlier."
Momoshiro sighed; he didn’t know what to do either. Oishi wasn’t really the best person to ask this kind of stuff about. Maybe Eiji would fair better, he was sort of like Echizen himself, right?
“But what’s wrong with tickling?” he said with a very childish pout. “That’s one of the things he said I definitely shouldn’t do. I just don’t get why.”
What was wrong with tickling? Well, if Echizen did have some kind of feelings for Momoshiro, Oishi could understand how they might be exacerbated by that sort of teasing. "Do you have to understand it?" Oishi slid his hands into his pockets and looked at his former teammate seriously. "So long as you respect his boundaries."
A few seconds later he amended with, "Well, wouldn't it be awkward for you if a girl did that?"
“He said that too!” Momoshiro almost yelled out. “But no, I don’t get turned on if a girl did that. Not at all, it’s just fun, just messing around. ...Maybe he thinks it’s just a different kind of messing around.” Momoshiro didn’t quite understand why Echizen wouldn’t like tickling, but then again, he gave up trying to figure out his mind a while ago.
"Some people are more sensitive than others…" Was the only way Oishi could work that thought through in his head, shifting his weight on his feet somewhat impatiently, his face falling a moment later.
“I mean, would you get turned on if Eiji tickled you?”
"N-no," His answer was likely more hesitant and drawn-out than he'd intended, "we've always been close, that doesn't… it's not really out of the ordinary."
Momoshiro blew some air out of his puffed up cheeks. “Well, it’s been like that with Echizen and me as well, back then anyways. Now he’s saying I’m hot and he’s horny, and I shouldn’t tickle him. Are you sure nothing changed between you and Eiji? You weren’t really on talking terms either.”
There was that word again, with Echizen's name. Oishi, who despite seeing that Echizen had grown up recently (in age, not so much in height), still thought of him as a twelve year old, really had no interest in hearing those words together right now.
The question about Eiji caught him off-guard, "Well, of course things have changed… Fuji talked to him, we worked things out." Are you sure nothing changed between you and Eiji? "Everything's fine." Clearly, that was all that changed.
“Oh, you two did? Great, congratulations on being on speaking terms with him again. Try not to tickle him.” Momoshiro paused for a second. “Unless he wants you to.”
"Ah, thank you." Making up for the stupidity of their argument and everything they'd let come between them didn't seem like it deserved a congratulatory answer, more likely a well-deserved hit to the back of the head for not fixing things earlier. Or that was how Oishi felt about it, anyway.
"I'll… keep that in mind." Last night with Eiji underneath him and raining in kisses on him in between tickling him was a difficult mental picture to get out of his mind now, clearing his throat and directing his attention elsewhere. "Is that all? I don't want to keep you from enjoying the cruise."
Momoshiro scoffed out loud at Oishi’s excuse. “If you don’t want to continue talking to me, just say it out loud. I can take it. I’m just gonna brood in my little corner of the room and think about what I’ll say to Echizen next time I meet him. And Kaidoh, too.”
"That's not what I meant," Or rather it was, but not put that bluntly. Oishi's head tilted to the side a bit curiously, almost as if he was bracing himself and not quite sure if he wanted to ask. Unfortunately for him, the words spilled out quicker than he had time to think, "Kaidoh too?"
“Oh yeah, I asked him the same question,” said Momoshiro with a stupid foolish grin on his face. “And then he had to ca-” Wait, he should shut up before babbling off too much again. So Momoshiro promptly slammed his lips closed.
Oishi really felt as if he was navigating a minefield by now, "So, I guess the lesson is not to ask those kinds of personal questions anymore…" he trailed. "Especially from Kaidoh." Since the two of them seemed to endlessly butt heads. That probably hadn't changed since the third years' graduation.
“Okay, I understand that coming from you, but I’ve always picked a fight with Kaidoh. This time I wasn’t even trying to, and he got all offended by it-I really wasn’t trying to insult him or anything. But oh well, he shut up fast enough once I …” Momoshiro shut his lips again. “Ehhehe, the fireworks were nice, right?” The attempt to derail the conversation couldn’t be more obvious.
"I understand you weren't trying to insult anyone, but when you keep on talking about it so much, it's making people feel uncomfortable…" Or singled out. Or… weirder than they already might have felt about it. Oishi warily steered around the question about fireworks, wanting to stay as far away from talking about that night with Momoshiro as possible. So now it was a battle of who could derail awkward subjects better.
"He took it personally…?"
“I don’t know, he just got angry, I wasn’t really paying attention to the fine details at the moment, you know. And when I say angry, I mean, like hurt-angry? The kind of angry that he gets when we aren’t fighting. I guess. Sounds strange, but it makes sense in my mind.” As long as they weren’t going to go beyond what happened after that, Momoshiro should be fine.
Opening his mouth as if to say something from personal experience, Oishi stopped a short while later and gathered his thoughts, "Because it's a personal question, Momo. If you think he's hurt, I think you should offer him an honest apology too." he offered, meeting his eyes.
"Listen, I know you may not have meant to, but it's already hard enough without your friends saying negative things too. Or making you feel different, right? You can always call or leave him a note if you're afraid you'll just argue otherwise."
“Yeah, personal.” Momoshiro honestly did not understand that, because he would happily tell anyone who asked him if he was gay or not (which was a no). But if it seemed to offend so many people … He sighed out loud and shook his head. That’s not the only thing he should be apologizing for though.
“I wouldn’t call us friends though,” he quickly noted. Kaidoh and him as friends? They’d seen each other again for the first time in six years, and before that, they weren’t exactly on good terms. “That makes it even worse, ugh. Hey, Eiji isn’t mad at me either, right?”
"Old friends then." Oishi corrected, because it was apparent even when Momoshiro and Kaidoh argued and bit at each other that they had a begrudging respect for one another. "And no, I don't think he is." He chuckled quietly, "He didn't mention anything like that. He probably can't stay angry with you, if he was.”
“Well, if you see him again, tell him I’m sorry anyway. Just in case.” He’d rather not have anyone angry with him at the moment, least of all someone as cheerful as Eiji.
“I won’t ask you any more personal questions again,” said Momoshiro with a firm nod of his head. “I think …”
Oishi nodded, "I will. He likely doesn't even remember it." Not that Eiji was particularly forgetful, he just didn't seem to dwell on small things like that. If he did, there would be a very obvious blow-up and the entire ship would be hearing about what Momoshiro had done. Oh, that's right. That plan he'd hatched with Echizen. They definitely couldn't carry something like that out now, could they? If he'd already apologized to him too, there was definitely no reason to stretch this out longer…
Somewhat suspiciously he reached to pat Momoshiro on the shoulder (carefully, of course, remembering his rash), and stepped around him to open the door. He needed to let everyone else know that wasn't happening anymore, before it got out of their hands. "That's really appreciated. Ah, well actually I was just about to go out, and there's a lot to do, right? Maybe you can go talk to Kaidoh-" Yes, definitely trying to get him out as quickly as possible.
“I was planning to, after you of course. You’re …not still mad, right? I am really sorry. I act before I think too much …” Momoshiro knew all too well what his faults were (but they came in handy in situations where thinking was a luxury they couldn’t afford), and he had been a real jerk back then. “You don’t happen to know where Kaidoh is hanging out, right?”
"No, I'm not mad." Oishi wanted to add a little, just disappointed but realized that was entirely too motherly, and he wasn't anxious to earn that insipid nickname again this soon after their team reunion. "I accept your apology." Now rushing a bit, he considered Momoshiro's question with a thoughtful hum, "You still had my number, right? You have Kaidoh's?" If not, Oishi likely still had it stashed away somewhere in his address book, "I'd check his cabin first off." There weren't many things on the entertainment decks he could think of that might appeal to him-unless Kaidoh was planning on taking up tennis practice again.
"It was nice talking to you, Momo." Now leave before everyone starts in on dismantling the last of your sanity.
“Alright then, go do whatever you’re gonna do,” said Momoshiro, noticing Oishi seemed to figure out that he had to go do something. “Yeah, I’ve got Kaidoh’s number still, so long as he hasn’t changed it. Hopefully.”
Momoshiro then gave Oishi a friendly smile, and a friendly pat on the shoulder as well. “Thanks for accepting my apology. I still consider you as a friend, you know.”
"I can't imagine he would…" Oishi paused in his efforts to shuffle his former teammate out the door, all at once feeling more guilty than he already did for rashly deciding to exact some kind of retribution rather than just talking to him about it. That had gotten him into trouble before. Momoshiro was a good friend, and deep down, a good person. His blunt, hard-headedness did get him into trouble, but overall he was a good person to have on your side. Oishi knew that. And despite saying so, he wasn't really planning on murdering him. Maybe he would just take him bowling, and murder him that way…
"Thank you, Momo. I consider you a good friend too." Oishi said quietly, mirroring his smile. "… Ah, there's a petting zoo on deck, isn't there?" He recalled aloud, "I know Kaidoh doesn't think we know he likes animals, but… well…"
“That guy doesn’t know how to hide secrets, does he?” said Momoshiro with a scoff. Not that he really suspected of Kaidoh having this huge animal obsession, but he did saw him take a few cat pictures every once in awhile when he thought no one was watching.
Oishi laughed, "I guess it would interfere with his image. Anyway, if you don't find him in his room, I'd check there next."
Momoshiro nodded. “Right. I will. Anyways, sorry for bothering you. See you around!” Figuring it’d be best to start seeking for Kaidoh right now, Momoshiro finally turned around and walked to the door.
Again Oishi insisted it wasn't a bother-quick to shut the door behind him and almost immediately hurrying to his computer to right things. He should call Echizen at the same time and assure he'd received the same apology. In that case, and as long as Momoshiro understood what it was he did that made everyone so angry… there wasn't any need to make this worse for him.
Ah, Shuichiro you let your anger get the better of you again…
Location: Oishi's cabin
Time: Immediately after Momo talks to Echizen, on April 2nd
Rating: PG for talk of... things
Summary: Momoshiro continues his apologizing spree. (And in which we establish that shoulder patting is the code language of closeted men.)
Oishi’s fingers trailed over the keys of his phone idly before setting it down on the desk in his room. So... Momoshiro wanted to speak with him. He’d thought it through for a while before giving a definitive answer. Truthfully he wasn’t anxious to speak with him right now, regardless of what he might say. But something told him he should give his former teammate a chance. Whatever the issue, he was very poor at keeping up a grudge for long. (Not that it prevented him from childish vengeance, mind.) He crossed the room and cleaned up a few things in the meantime, mostly books and clothing he’d left out.
Maybe he wants to apologize... Suddenly he felt a guilty little ache at the plan he’d hatched with Echizen earlier, while he was still irritable.
Right after reading Oishi’s last text message, Momoshiro shut his cellphone and stuffed it into his capri pants, and left his own cabin room. He eyed Echizen’s room for a bit, wondering if he was still in there-then shook his head; he’d have to worry about him later, right now he had to apologize to his former senpai.
Momoshiro knocked twice on Oishi’s door, luckily it wasn’t that far. “Oishi, it’s Momo.” His voice sounded a lot less confident than he wanted it to be.
At the sound, Oishi sighed softly and closed the short gap to the door, tugging it open and giving Momoshiro a quick glance that told him he was right about what exactly he wanted to talk about. "Please come in," He offered, making way for him tentatively.
If this conversation started in the same direction the other one had just the night before, Oishi had no qualms about asking him to leave again. Momoshiro might have been a good friend and a former teammate, that didn't mean he was going to listen to it. "What did you want to talk about?"
Feeling awkward under the watchful gaze of Oishi’s green eyes, Momoshiro hunched his shoulders, and stared down at the floor as he walked inside.
“About last night,” Momoshiro started, with a pout on his lips that he couldn’t get rid of. “I, uhh.” Well, he sort of wanted to blame his head injury for being cranky, but it was probably for the best if Oishi didn’t know about that too. Which meant to take full blame for his stupidity. Not that he didn’t deserve it …
Momoshiro ran his hand through his gel, which was already slightly disheveled because Echizen had played with it previously. “I’m guessing I made you mad.”
“Yes, you did.” Oishi answered simply, looking Momoshiro over again and keeping up a distinctly deadpan expression. He hadn’t liked being questioned about things like that, or bothered with it, or most of all being made to feel embarrassed by it. Likely, he had taken it far more personally than it deserved. Momoshiro couldn’t have picked a worse issue to harp on about with him.
Pissing people off seemed to be a regular thing with Momoshiro, so it seemed. First he pissed off Kaidoh-but that was Kaidoh, he’s always pissed off at him. Then he offended his best friend, and managed to bother Oishi with weird questions and childish teasing. Not to mention all that other crap he went through.
Like a child getting punished for eating the last cookie in the cookiejar, Momoshiro lowered his head to stare at his feet, and fumbled around with his fingers.
“I’m sorry,” he said with a high pitched voice, certainly not manly. “You were right … it was a personal question I had no right asking. … I was a bit … cranky, and you were hanging all over Eiji that I just sort of got … well, like that, I guess.” Momoshiro scratched an itch on his cheeks, which were still burning hot from the rash. “I acted like a jerk, I’m sorry.”
Watching as Momoshiro bowed his head, Oishi could feel the crease in his brows slowly work its way out and the frown on his face soften. The more he'd thought about it last night, the more he was sure he'd overreacted. Momoshiro had a clumsy, ridiculously blunt way of bringing things up, it just so happened to be the last thing Oishi wanted to discuss. … The fact that he'd kept picking at it when it had obviously unsettled Oishi as much as it did hadn't helped either.
Even so, it was difficult for him to stay angry if at someone who offered an honest apology.
"Ah," Hesitantly he set a hand on Momoshiro's shoulder, and nodded, "thank you. That means a lot." Yes, he was exceedingly bad at being angry, already regretting what he'd told Echizen earlier in the morning. He'd hoped it wasn't too late to reverse that plan. "Sorry I snapped at you. You shouldn't pry with personal questions like that, though." He scolded, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I know,” said Momoshiro. “I deserved you snapping at me though. Whatever you are, it doesn’t matter, it’s private. I get that.” He finally looked up, a bit more serious this time. “But don’t give Eiji any wrong signals, okay?”
Good, so he was getting it now. Perhaps this conversation would prevent Momoshiro from needlessly blurting out personal questions to the other people on-board. Those that he hadn't already, that is. Oishi couldn't recall the extent of the list he'd given last night, just that apparently wherever Momoshiro went, strange questions seemed to follow.
"That's all I wanted you to understand," Oishi smiled, easing up on his former kouhai and regarding his serious follow-up with a very confused, "Eh?" A brow quirked, "A-any wrong signals?"
Momoshiro bit his lip and looked sideways. “Yeah … uhm, I might have prodded you with that ridiculous question after seeing you be all friendly with Eiji. I’m a friendly guy-but even I don’t get that friendly.” Unless you wanted to believe Echizen, then he really did get that friendly.
“And since you’re in de-” Momoshiro coughed into his hand, “-not answering the question, but I know for sure Eiji is … well, he’s bi apparently. So he might be thinking weird things with you being so close to him. “ Like Echizen did, and that just made him feel even more awkward. Gays were hard to understand.
After being all friendly with Eiji…? Oishi blinked and chewed his bottom lip. If Momoshiro was noticing something between the two of them last night before… well, anything had happened, he was better at picking up on things than he knew. The golden pair had always been close, though. Oishi hadn't thought twice when Eiji settled in next to him, or curled up against him as the night went on. If things hadn't came to a head last night, he likely still wouldn't think anything was strange about the way they interacted.
Momoshiro obviously did.
Not that Momoshiro needed to know anything about what happened between them.
"I-I really don't think it was anything out of the ordinary," Hm, could Oishi send signals that he didn't want to talk about this? Or, was the better question-could Momoshiro pick up on a signal like that? "I'll keep that in mind, though. About Eiji." His answer was stilted, awkward, his fingers picking at the lining of his pants pockets.
Momoshiro placed his hand on top of Oishi’s shoulder as well, giving him a sympathetic look. “Good. So that means, no tickling, or holding hands, or hugs or-well, apparently, the knees, arms and head are fine to touch. Anything else, and he’ll misunderstand.”
Evidently that message wasn't getting through. Oishi answered that clarification with a rather uncomfortable and simultaneously baffled expression, feeling his cheeks prickle red and nodding.
They'd done all that in junior high, really. When they were still only friends.
Multiple times.
"I don't think there's any need to go that far, but… thank you."
Momoshiro was having similar thoughts; he had done all those things in middle school with Echizen as well. It seemed seven years later, the same things now turned him on. Aaaand, that made Momoshiro’s cheeks burst into colour like red cherries again. Not that they weren’t already.
“I’m serious. Gay people are hard to understand-just one pat on the shoulder, and they go crazy,” said Momoshiro and he shook his head. “...and what the hell is wrong with tickling,” he mumbled this more towards himself than to Oishi.
Oishi was now just as red, hoping perhaps he could redirect this question. He glanced at the shoulder Momoshiro still rested his hand upon as he thought about how… exactly… he could answer that type of assertion.
"I don't think they're…" we're "a-any different…" He defended of the other guys on-board, awkwardly.
Then he tilted his head, thinking back to the conversation he'd had over breakfast, "Is this about Echizen?"
“You think? Well … yeah it’s about Echizen,” said Momoshiro with a defeated sigh. “Apparently, I make him horny.”
A simple, "yes" would have sufficed. Oishi's eyes darted elsewhere, shrugging Momoshiro's hand away from his shoulder and shaking his head. "So maybe it's just Echizen." He didn't want to think about this. Any of this. Echizen. Horny. Not words that belonged together. His lips curled, "Like you said, you're very friendly. Maybe… take it easy around him."
Momoshiro groaned out loud, stomping his foot on the ground. “Well-how? I asked him where to not touch, and he just gives me these vague instructions. I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to remember them, and most likely, I’ll do it either way. Not on purpose of course … I mean, I’ve always been like that around him. But now that he’s gay, I suddenly can’t!”
How the conversation suddenly turned from apologizing, to Echizen being horny, Momoshiro didn’t quite know, nor did he particularly care, because he did want some advice on how to make things a bit less awkward around his best friend.
“That’s why I said to not give Eiji the wrong signals,” Momoshiro said, a bit more calm this time. “Who knows, you might be turning him on as well.”
No, Oishi definitely didn't need the thought of a turned on Eiji in his head right now. At all. He lifted his arm and rubbed his palm across the back of his neck anxiously and wondered too how this conversation had taken such a terrible turn. It was probably too late to end curtly with a, "Well, it was nice talking to you, Momo," wasn't it?
"If he's… that way, then he's always been that way, right?" Oishi thought aloud and shook his head, "Maybe you can tell yourself to limit it to just hugs." Why, why, why had he put that idea of a turned on Eiji in his head? Perhaps he knew more than he was letting on…? "I think it will be fine, really. Just back off when he tells you to."
“He said he didn’t have those kind of hormones yet when he was twelve, the brat,” said Momoshiro as he folded his arms defensively. “And when I asked about hugs, he said he’d get back to me on that. I mean come on … I’m a huggable person. Or, ehm, I mean, I just like to hug people, yeah. Eiji does so too, and hey, he’s bi, so I guess it’s fine after all?” Unless Eiji was hugging with different intentions.
“Either way, I don’t know what to do with Echizen right now … since he said that to me and all. How can I make him … not attracted to me?” Momoshiro looked down on his arms, that ugly rash still claiming his skin. “My rash doesn’t seem to deter him at all.”
Please let's just stop any and all references to Eiji right now… Oishi shrugged with a sigh, "You are," he had to wonder what kinds of hugs Momoshiro had been giving Echizen… he did tend to go all out in everything he did. "Shorter hugs, maybe." Suggested Oishi with a sympathetic smile. Not the giant, crushing bear hugs Momoshiro was used to giving.
"I don't think you can keep someone from being attracted to you, if they are." He eyed the inflamed rash on the areas of skin he could see with an inward hiss. That lotion he'd mentioned Kaidoh giving him seemed to be helping it a little, at least. "You have to remember to take his feelings into account when you're around him, that's all."
“Shorter hugs?” piped out Momoshiro weakly. “Are my hugs long or something?” He just hugged, he didn’t think about it, much less think about keeping it short and formal. Momoshiro was anything but formal.
“And I’m trying … believe me, I’m trying,” said Momoshiro. “It’s hard to though when the other party just runs off, leaving me with this bomb that exploded in my face. And really-just how are you supposed to hug someone without … turning them on? I never even knew you could do that!”
"I assume that has to be it, right?" Oishi himself wasn't entirely sure why Echizen was so uncomfortable with Momoshiro's hugs, as far as he knew he wasn't touching him anywhere inappropriately. Oishi didn't want to think about it.
A hand dragged along the side of his face, a quick glance at the door that separated his cabin from Eiji's, "I never knew that either." Are you sure you're not doing something else? "Ah, well… this seems to be a personal issue between the two of you, perhaps it's best if you clarify it with him."
Momoshiro scratched his itchy cheeks again, that rash was never going to give him some space to breathe, was it? “I would … except he kind of seems to want to be left alone right now. And frankly, I wouldn’t know what to say either. Walk up to him and say; ‘Hey, can you show me how I can hug you that doesn’t make you think dirty thoughts?’. I can’t exactly do that.”
For a few seconds, Momoshiro looked at Oishi thoughtfully. His infamous Momo Logic was working some things out. “Hey, would a hug turn you on?”
"W-wha…?" Oishi looked weary, like he could feel himself aging far too quickly now. Until now he'd been relatively patient with the strange questions on the assumption that as a doctor he'd be dealing with a lot of personal issues as well, and he should prepare himself. This was just all together too much to handle. "No!"
Momoshiro threw his hands up in a defensive act. “Okay, okay, no need to yell.” Oishi seemed to not like personal questions that much, did he?
“I don’t want you to get mad at me again, I’m honestly not trying to egg you on or anything. I’m just really confused on what to do with Echizen. He’s my friend, and well, I like to be friendly with him. With any of my friends really, so … I guess maybe it’s for the best if I just stop touching him period.” Momoshiro looked down with gloomy eyes. Yeah, if he was causing Echizen that much trouble just by being himself, then perhaps it would be a good idea to cease all physical interactions with him, no matter how much he wanted to pull him in a good headlock, or tickle the hell out of him.
"I-I'm not angry with you…" Stammered Oishi, deflating with a huff, "I'm just really not sure what kind of advice I can give you on that sort of thing."
Momoshiro looked entirely depressed and exhausted by all of this. Oishi didn't blame him-- it had to be strange to hear from your best friend that your everyday behavior was eliciting some inappropriate feelings in them. Well, it had to be strange to hear that when you also didn't feel the same way. "He told you he would get back to you on it, right? I don't think he'd be happy if you were suddenly stand off-ish either."
How did you separate friendly behavior from flirting? Oishi was likely… the worst person possible to ask that question of. "I don't think pats on the shoulders should be a problem, like you said earlier."
Momoshiro sighed; he didn’t know what to do either. Oishi wasn’t really the best person to ask this kind of stuff about. Maybe Eiji would fair better, he was sort of like Echizen himself, right?
“But what’s wrong with tickling?” he said with a very childish pout. “That’s one of the things he said I definitely shouldn’t do. I just don’t get why.”
What was wrong with tickling? Well, if Echizen did have some kind of feelings for Momoshiro, Oishi could understand how they might be exacerbated by that sort of teasing. "Do you have to understand it?" Oishi slid his hands into his pockets and looked at his former teammate seriously. "So long as you respect his boundaries."
A few seconds later he amended with, "Well, wouldn't it be awkward for you if a girl did that?"
“He said that too!” Momoshiro almost yelled out. “But no, I don’t get turned on if a girl did that. Not at all, it’s just fun, just messing around. ...Maybe he thinks it’s just a different kind of messing around.” Momoshiro didn’t quite understand why Echizen wouldn’t like tickling, but then again, he gave up trying to figure out his mind a while ago.
"Some people are more sensitive than others…" Was the only way Oishi could work that thought through in his head, shifting his weight on his feet somewhat impatiently, his face falling a moment later.
“I mean, would you get turned on if Eiji tickled you?”
"N-no," His answer was likely more hesitant and drawn-out than he'd intended, "we've always been close, that doesn't… it's not really out of the ordinary."
Momoshiro blew some air out of his puffed up cheeks. “Well, it’s been like that with Echizen and me as well, back then anyways. Now he’s saying I’m hot and he’s horny, and I shouldn’t tickle him. Are you sure nothing changed between you and Eiji? You weren’t really on talking terms either.”
There was that word again, with Echizen's name. Oishi, who despite seeing that Echizen had grown up recently (in age, not so much in height), still thought of him as a twelve year old, really had no interest in hearing those words together right now.
The question about Eiji caught him off-guard, "Well, of course things have changed… Fuji talked to him, we worked things out." Are you sure nothing changed between you and Eiji? "Everything's fine." Clearly, that was all that changed.
“Oh, you two did? Great, congratulations on being on speaking terms with him again. Try not to tickle him.” Momoshiro paused for a second. “Unless he wants you to.”
"Ah, thank you." Making up for the stupidity of their argument and everything they'd let come between them didn't seem like it deserved a congratulatory answer, more likely a well-deserved hit to the back of the head for not fixing things earlier. Or that was how Oishi felt about it, anyway.
"I'll… keep that in mind." Last night with Eiji underneath him and raining in kisses on him in between tickling him was a difficult mental picture to get out of his mind now, clearing his throat and directing his attention elsewhere. "Is that all? I don't want to keep you from enjoying the cruise."
Momoshiro scoffed out loud at Oishi’s excuse. “If you don’t want to continue talking to me, just say it out loud. I can take it. I’m just gonna brood in my little corner of the room and think about what I’ll say to Echizen next time I meet him. And Kaidoh, too.”
"That's not what I meant," Or rather it was, but not put that bluntly. Oishi's head tilted to the side a bit curiously, almost as if he was bracing himself and not quite sure if he wanted to ask. Unfortunately for him, the words spilled out quicker than he had time to think, "Kaidoh too?"
“Oh yeah, I asked him the same question,” said Momoshiro with a stupid foolish grin on his face. “And then he had to ca-” Wait, he should shut up before babbling off too much again. So Momoshiro promptly slammed his lips closed.
Oishi really felt as if he was navigating a minefield by now, "So, I guess the lesson is not to ask those kinds of personal questions anymore…" he trailed. "Especially from Kaidoh." Since the two of them seemed to endlessly butt heads. That probably hadn't changed since the third years' graduation.
“Okay, I understand that coming from you, but I’ve always picked a fight with Kaidoh. This time I wasn’t even trying to, and he got all offended by it-I really wasn’t trying to insult him or anything. But oh well, he shut up fast enough once I …” Momoshiro shut his lips again. “Ehhehe, the fireworks were nice, right?” The attempt to derail the conversation couldn’t be more obvious.
"I understand you weren't trying to insult anyone, but when you keep on talking about it so much, it's making people feel uncomfortable…" Or singled out. Or… weirder than they already might have felt about it. Oishi warily steered around the question about fireworks, wanting to stay as far away from talking about that night with Momoshiro as possible. So now it was a battle of who could derail awkward subjects better.
"He took it personally…?"
“I don’t know, he just got angry, I wasn’t really paying attention to the fine details at the moment, you know. And when I say angry, I mean, like hurt-angry? The kind of angry that he gets when we aren’t fighting. I guess. Sounds strange, but it makes sense in my mind.” As long as they weren’t going to go beyond what happened after that, Momoshiro should be fine.
Opening his mouth as if to say something from personal experience, Oishi stopped a short while later and gathered his thoughts, "Because it's a personal question, Momo. If you think he's hurt, I think you should offer him an honest apology too." he offered, meeting his eyes.
"Listen, I know you may not have meant to, but it's already hard enough without your friends saying negative things too. Or making you feel different, right? You can always call or leave him a note if you're afraid you'll just argue otherwise."
“Yeah, personal.” Momoshiro honestly did not understand that, because he would happily tell anyone who asked him if he was gay or not (which was a no). But if it seemed to offend so many people … He sighed out loud and shook his head. That’s not the only thing he should be apologizing for though.
“I wouldn’t call us friends though,” he quickly noted. Kaidoh and him as friends? They’d seen each other again for the first time in six years, and before that, they weren’t exactly on good terms. “That makes it even worse, ugh. Hey, Eiji isn’t mad at me either, right?”
"Old friends then." Oishi corrected, because it was apparent even when Momoshiro and Kaidoh argued and bit at each other that they had a begrudging respect for one another. "And no, I don't think he is." He chuckled quietly, "He didn't mention anything like that. He probably can't stay angry with you, if he was.”
“Well, if you see him again, tell him I’m sorry anyway. Just in case.” He’d rather not have anyone angry with him at the moment, least of all someone as cheerful as Eiji.
“I won’t ask you any more personal questions again,” said Momoshiro with a firm nod of his head. “I think …”
Oishi nodded, "I will. He likely doesn't even remember it." Not that Eiji was particularly forgetful, he just didn't seem to dwell on small things like that. If he did, there would be a very obvious blow-up and the entire ship would be hearing about what Momoshiro had done. Oh, that's right. That plan he'd hatched with Echizen. They definitely couldn't carry something like that out now, could they? If he'd already apologized to him too, there was definitely no reason to stretch this out longer…
Somewhat suspiciously he reached to pat Momoshiro on the shoulder (carefully, of course, remembering his rash), and stepped around him to open the door. He needed to let everyone else know that wasn't happening anymore, before it got out of their hands. "That's really appreciated. Ah, well actually I was just about to go out, and there's a lot to do, right? Maybe you can go talk to Kaidoh-" Yes, definitely trying to get him out as quickly as possible.
“I was planning to, after you of course. You’re …not still mad, right? I am really sorry. I act before I think too much …” Momoshiro knew all too well what his faults were (but they came in handy in situations where thinking was a luxury they couldn’t afford), and he had been a real jerk back then. “You don’t happen to know where Kaidoh is hanging out, right?”
"No, I'm not mad." Oishi wanted to add a little, just disappointed but realized that was entirely too motherly, and he wasn't anxious to earn that insipid nickname again this soon after their team reunion. "I accept your apology." Now rushing a bit, he considered Momoshiro's question with a thoughtful hum, "You still had my number, right? You have Kaidoh's?" If not, Oishi likely still had it stashed away somewhere in his address book, "I'd check his cabin first off." There weren't many things on the entertainment decks he could think of that might appeal to him-unless Kaidoh was planning on taking up tennis practice again.
"It was nice talking to you, Momo." Now leave before everyone starts in on dismantling the last of your sanity.
“Alright then, go do whatever you’re gonna do,” said Momoshiro, noticing Oishi seemed to figure out that he had to go do something. “Yeah, I’ve got Kaidoh’s number still, so long as he hasn’t changed it. Hopefully.”
Momoshiro then gave Oishi a friendly smile, and a friendly pat on the shoulder as well. “Thanks for accepting my apology. I still consider you as a friend, you know.”
"I can't imagine he would…" Oishi paused in his efforts to shuffle his former teammate out the door, all at once feeling more guilty than he already did for rashly deciding to exact some kind of retribution rather than just talking to him about it. That had gotten him into trouble before. Momoshiro was a good friend, and deep down, a good person. His blunt, hard-headedness did get him into trouble, but overall he was a good person to have on your side. Oishi knew that. And despite saying so, he wasn't really planning on murdering him. Maybe he would just take him bowling, and murder him that way…
"Thank you, Momo. I consider you a good friend too." Oishi said quietly, mirroring his smile. "… Ah, there's a petting zoo on deck, isn't there?" He recalled aloud, "I know Kaidoh doesn't think we know he likes animals, but… well…"
“That guy doesn’t know how to hide secrets, does he?” said Momoshiro with a scoff. Not that he really suspected of Kaidoh having this huge animal obsession, but he did saw him take a few cat pictures every once in awhile when he thought no one was watching.
Oishi laughed, "I guess it would interfere with his image. Anyway, if you don't find him in his room, I'd check there next."
Momoshiro nodded. “Right. I will. Anyways, sorry for bothering you. See you around!” Figuring it’d be best to start seeking for Kaidoh right now, Momoshiro finally turned around and walked to the door.
Again Oishi insisted it wasn't a bother-quick to shut the door behind him and almost immediately hurrying to his computer to right things. He should call Echizen at the same time and assure he'd received the same apology. In that case, and as long as Momoshiro understood what it was he did that made everyone so angry… there wasn't any need to make this worse for him.
Ah, Shuichiro you let your anger get the better of you again…