[log] Momoshiro Takeshi & Echizen Ryoma
Who: Momoshiro Takeshi & Echizen Ryoma
What: An unexpected meeting.
When: 12/28
Where: The library then the pool.
Rating: PG-13 for violence.
Comments: Sure.
It's quite the experience, watching various students at the school, walking around with just about nothing on. He isn't entirely comfortable with it, Ryoma thinks, but it could have been worse. He, at least, have all his clothes where they ought to be. (He has some extra... equipment, but that's it.) When making his way to the library to catch up on some quiet reading - it's difficult to focus in class at times, and he feels he has missed out on a thing or two during the semester - he's not wearing any of it, however, simply his school uniform. His skin is darker than before the trip abroad, and he looks vitalized, like the trip has really done him some good. He rolls the wheelchair down one of the ailes, and then... Stops. Suddenly. And then stares at one of the people he notices a little bit further down.
There's nothing there to announce the younger boy's presence. No prickling in the back of Momo's neck. No sudden awareness that someone is staring a hole into his back. Nothing. For someone who prides himself for being so in touch with nature and his surroundings, it's a like a slap to the face to turn around and be face to face with the person he least (most) wants to see. Echizen. Despite the huge changes in the vibrant boy from his memories, there is no mistaken just who it is in that wheel chair. Momo stares, eyes wide and almost frightened. It's just for a split second, however, before the soft violet turns turbulent and stormy. "Echizen!" The name is shouted from the distance of an entire aisle and Momo doesn't care about the books that tumble from his arms onto the hardwood floor as he closes the space between them with long legged strides. The worry, the confusion, and the hurt that came with Echizen's sudden disappearance from his life condense into one sharp, overpowering pinprick of emotion. Rage.
Likewise, different emotions run through Ryoma at a deafening speed. It's Momo. Momo-senpai. His former best friend - not counting Kevin - and he's so glad to see him, but why the hell is he here and how dares he be here and how come Ryoma didn't know he would be here? It's wonderful, for a moment, to see those violet eyes again. Then the golden eyed boy is reminded how he was the one who cut off all ties with Momoshiro, after the Incident. How he doesn't have the right to call him Momo, or Momo-senpai, doesn't have the right to even think the affection laden name. "... It's a library. Keep your voice down."
"Keep my..." The distance is no longer between them and now Momo's hands are free to come crashing down on the sides of Echizen's wheel chair, closing tight around the armrests as he leans forward to glower at the smaller boy. It would be a far more threatening move if Momo's voice didn't crack on the words, shock and disbelief streaking across his always too easily read features. After the way Echizen had cut off their friendship, the first words he had to say to Momo were to keep his voice down?! A knot forms in the back of his throat and it only pisses off the power player even more. He doesn't want to be the one to break down. Doesn't want to fall to his knees and cry. To demand to know why he had been so expendable from Echizen's life. Instead he shakes his hands, rattling the wheel chair and the boy on it although far from violently because at the end of the day, he's still the same kid from all those years ago. Just taller and broader and with more hair gel. "You're an ass, Echizen!"
"Tell me something I don't know." Ryoma, on the other hand, keeps his voice leveled, and from the looks of things, it doesn't cost him much. (But it does.) He grips the seat of the chair with his hands, looking accusingly at the taller youth. "What are you doing here?"
"I go here," Momo growls. It's clear that he's itching for a fight. Except he's never hit Echizen. He's never really hit anyone but Kaidoh and a couple of guys in high school who didn't like that the two of them had acted so 'high and mighty' just because they were from the legendary middle school team. Even now, as pissed off as he is he can't quite bring himself to strike the younger boy. Instead his voice gets louder and the crowd of student watching them gets larger. "You got a problem with that?!" Never mind that Momo himself has a problem with being there at all. He's here anyway, dammit.
"Yeah, damn hell I do," Ryoma growls, not liking in the least where this conversation - and who is he kidding, this is nothing like a conversation and wasn't from the get-go - is heading. "You're not stalking me, are you? Because if you are, that's just fucking creepy." He knows he's unfair, and downright nasty, but the knowledge that he knows gives an extra edge to his voice, rising it a few octaves, making it unpleasant even in his own ears.
The words are enough of a blow to have Momo reeling backwards and away from Echizen. In a way, he would prefer it if Echizen had actually struck him. Then he would have a valid excuse for the pain piercing his chest and the way moisture floods his eyes. A hand clutches at his shoulder and Momo easily shakes it off, muscles rippling beneath the touch. He doesn't even hear the rapid fire reprimand from the librarian demanding he stop his tantrum this second or get out of her library. All he can see is Echizen, so seemingly cold and uncaring after all their time apart. "Fuck you, Echizen." A piece of his pride breaks along with his voice, because he doesn't want to seem so week. "Go crawl back into the hole you came from and stay there." He spins around with only one thought in place. He needs Kaidoh. He needs the stupid snake. He needs to hit someone over and over again and be hit in return until all he can feel is physical pain and not the urge to break down like he had done so many years ago, when Echizen had first left him behind.
The second he says the words, he regrets them. That look on Momoshiro's face is one he never wanted to see, let alone inflict himself. A couple of meters away a couple of boys from his class stands and chats with each other, laughing and pointing. For once he doesn't want to kill them, he'd rather kill himself, and slowly at that. "You're just going to walk away, huh?" Why can't the words sound so uncertain and small as he feels inside, why do they sound judging, accusing? He doesn't want this. "You're not going to give me a chance?" He doesn't deserve one, the dry voice in the back of his mind points out.
"You don't want me here, remember?" Momo doesn't turn back around, because then Echizen will be able to see the hot tears streaking down his face. They blur his vision, turning everything into a faded haze that is better than the sharp edges. The tears are there in his voice, but he can't help the way it thickens and lowers and breaks. "I gave you a million chances, Echizen." It is then that he realizes there's a tiny woman by his side, glaring at him with a mixture of anger and pity and telling him to get out before she calls campus security. The others he still doesn't notice, wouldn't even care about if he did. With a sharp nod, Momo leaves the library. This time, however, his strides are closer to a normal walk. It's Echizen's turn to follow him. If he wants.
You don't understand he wants to cry. I didn't want you seeing me like this he wants to argue. He does neither, even though the thoughts are there. He has made the wrong choice. He hates, hates, hates that cold, glaring voice of logic that refuses to go away. All thoughts of studying forgotten, his own pride forgotten, because there had been something in Momoshiro's voice that reminds him of that time when he went back to America the first time, the first time they really, really fought. He has to set this right. The thought clenches around his heart, makes him hurry, makes him actually ignore when one of his classmates dumps the leftovers of his soda on Ryoma's head as he wheels past. He simply wipes his face, and continues. Doesn't even spare the classmate a single look. Finally out of the library. Finally, he spots Momoshiro's back, and finally that nasty edge in his voice is gone. "Please, wait!"
Momo's shoulders are hunched forward, almost up around his ears with his head ducked as he walks. The heels of his hands wipe uselessly at the stupid tears and he can feel sobs trying to escape from the back of his throat but he bites down hard enough to taste blood on the inside of his cheek in order to keep them back. Even he doesn't understand why he feels such relief at hearing Echizen's voice rather than anger. Perhaps all he really needs is just a tiny sign that he wasn't the only one left missing the other, that Echizen missed him too. Momo spins around, facing him despite the wreck that is his face. "What?" Fingers wipe uselessly at the tears again and it takes a moment for Echizen's state to sink in, and now Momo is blinking in confusion because Echizen hadn't been dripping moments earlier in the library. Had he dumped a coke on himself as some sort of self punishment? "Why are you wet?" The first question was confrontational. The second just downright confused.
"Coke usually is wet. But you're wet too." On the cheeks. He hates seeing Momoshiro cry. Still. The thought startles him. He should be detached, shouldn't care anymore, so why can't he stop? "And your wet is kind of the wrong wet here." And this conversation is rapidly reaching a big fat 10 on the lame-scale. He bites down on his lower lip. "... Don't cry, man..."
"I don't see how my wet is worse than your wet..." Grumbles even as he uses the collar of his shirt to scrub at his face, wanting to rid himself of the stupid tears. Maybe Echizen has taken up dumping fountain drinks on his head as a hobby. Not that Momo would know, since none of his letters, emails, phone calls, or hundreds of texts were ever returned. Once he's sure that at least the worst of the moisture is contained, his hands drop and he half halfheartedly glares at the other, daring him to contradict him. "I wasn't crying. There was something in my eye."
"Sure was. A lot of H2O and salt." Ryoma doesn't know how he can do it, but he actually manages a tiny smirk. "C--can I buy you a soda?" Not to make up for everything he's done - or hasn't done, rather - but because he needs something that will keep Momoshiro around. If only for a little more. "... And I think I should find a water faucet..." He's sticky. And smells like coke.
There's something muttered under his breath, something that sounds suspiciously like 'damn brat.' A part of Momo wants to just walk away. Maybe it'll teach Echizen how it feels to be abandoned by someone you considered a true friend. But in reality, Momo isn't the type to be vindictive and hurt others purposely. Besides, he's missed Echizen. "You're not gonna dump it on yourself too, are you?" Asks with a weak smile of his own, trying to clam down to have a somewhat regular conversation. Although the fact that Echizen is still dripping in coke is still bothering him, because he can't remember the other even holding one in the library.
"It would totally make sense if I'd dumped this on myself, yeah, but..." He shuts himself up, blushing. Oh. Oh. Well, that was stupid. He entertains the idea of biting his own tongue off by the root.
Blinks and looks a bit confused, because it's not like people are just waving sodas around in the library like they would in the cafeteria. "Did someone trip and spill it on you?" Either way, he's moving towards Echizen so that they can go somewhere and clean up the junior.
"They spilled it on me, yeah," he replies, not lying, but not telling the whole truth either. There is a quick, confused and almost frightened look in Ryoma's eyes - Momoshiro isn't going to beat him up, is he? No, silly, he then berates himself, he could have done that when they were in the library, and he didn't, he won't do it now - before he simply looks embarrassed. Guilty. "Where are we going...?"
Momo misses the look and simply accepts the excuse for what it is. With a nod, he starts walking towards the restrooms he had passed not too long ago. They should probably get Echizen cleaned up and then back to his room for a chance of clothes. Or would just going straight to the room be better? He was still feeling awkward, unsure what this sort of half truce meant. They hadn't talked about why Echizen had cut himself off from him, or well... anything that mattered. Momo wasn't even sure why he was still here. Except that he wanted the younger boy back in his life, more than he'd realized.
Ryoma's fingers touch his hair, greasy strands that now stick together and feel disgusting. He makes a vague gesture with his hand, towards the dormitories. "Uh..." This feels so awkward; he doesn't really know what to do. What to say. How to act. And he's never really felt like this around Momoshiro and it's wrong.
"Right." Momo nods and starts walking back towards the dormitories. His teeth are once again worrying his lower lip before he just gives a loud sigh and frowns down at Echizen. "Did you miss me?" There isn't anything playful in his voice, but a simple need to know that the importance of their friendship hadn't been one sided. "Why did you never call?" Thankfully he didn't realize just how much like a jilted girlfriend he sounded.
Ryoma hears it, however, but for once, doesn't crack up in a wry smirk. Instead he nods. "I... I did. I promise, I did. I just..." He cuts himself short.
"Just what?" They're at the dorms now, and Momo knows he can drag this out here but it would be better to just go inside. Waiting for Ryoma to go in before him, he follows the younger boy inside. "I know... I know something happened. I can see that." There's pain for that too. Pain for seeing his friend like this. "But you should have counted on me, Echizen, not pushed me away..."
"I fucked up. I..." It is easier to talk like this, with his back turned. He can pretend, almost pretend, that he's practicing for a play. Of course, it's not really like that, and the words still roll off his tongue with great reluctance. "... I was so messed up. Didn't want to show you that side of me."
"Stupid." Momo's voice is rough with the pain of the memories, but he wants to get pats this. Wants to understand, so he can forgive. Holding a grudge weights too heavily and it's never a feeling he's enjoyed. His hand ruffles Echizen's sticky hair, fingers getting caught in the long strands. "I wouldn't have cared how ugly that side was. I would have stuck around."
He has to wonder why people keep doing that. Why is his head apparently so... Perfect for touching? It almost makes him feel like a little kid. Almost. "I know you would... And I didn't want you to. Would have been... I don't know. I can't explain it, okay? I know I fucked up. I..."
The classmate who had dumped the coke on him walked past, with his friends. "Talking about fucking so early, Echizen? Desperate much?" His friends laughed, while the boy himself gave Momoshiro a bored look before continuing onwards.
"The fuck you say?!" Momo didn't know the kid, but he didn't have to. It was impossible to miss what had been said, and that it was directed at Echizen. One second he was standing next to Ryoma, fingers lingering on the back of his chair, and in the next he had launched himself across the short distance to the boy who had uttered the hateful words. All the anger from earlier came surging back as Momo found a target to release it onto. If all those years of having Kaidoh as his best friend had taught him anything, it was how to land a punch even while falling. His fist connected solidly against the bastard's jaw, snapping his head back moments before they both crashed to the ground, Momom already preparing to strike again.
The boy cries out and one of his friends react immediately, grabbing Momo by the back of his shirt, trying to pull him away while he aims a blow at the violet eyed boy's jaw. "The fuck's your problem", the boy who was hit groans.
"Momo-senpai," Ryoma whispers, in spite of himself. "... St--stop, don't..."
While typically easy going, Momo's temper burns hot when ignited and these boys have found the best way to do it. By attacking someone he cares about. Momo snaps his elbow backwards, catching the boy that holds him in the ribs even while his own jaw explodes in blinding pain. The punch snaps his jaw shut, making him bite down on his own tongue and the taste of blood blooms across his mouth, bitter copper. There is an almost welcomed familiarity in this. All he needs is too glance over and catch sight of a green bandana trashing right alongside him to feel right at home. "Don't you fucking talk to him like that," Momo growls and tries to throw himself forward once more even while another of the boy's friends locks an arm around his throat, forcing his head back.
"Shut up," the first boy spits. "Everyone knows he wants it up the ass, yeah?" The second boy backs away, arms around his torso, for a moment, then spots his opportunity, as he's ended up beside Ryoma. He kicks, hard, and the kick connect with Ryoma's scarred leg. It's all he can do to keep from fainting, but he can't hold back a scream.
"Shit," one of the boys, who's wisely enough keeps his distance from Momoshiro and Ryoma, says. "Guys, we should split." Before this gets too ugly, he thinks. He doesn't want to be expelled.
Momo doesn't even have to wait for him to finish speaking before his leg kicks out, slamming his foot into the guy's balls and not feeling one bit sorry as he sees him crumple into a ball of pain. Tearing himself free of the ones restraining him, he's about to jump atop of him and make him eat his words when Ryoma's scream cuts right through him. Momo spins, unable to believe that someone, anyone would sink that low.
"Echizen!" The years have been good to Momo. He's trained hard, worked hard, and meticulously built his body to better carry out the power tennis he's so known for. All that raw strength falls down on the boy who dared to touch Ryoma. For a moment he sees nothing but the blinding red of rage as his fist splits the boy's mouth open then the other connects with the softness of his stomach. Whoever these guys are, they're no match for him. Maybe if they all attacked at once, but as it is... Breathing hard, he watches his opponent fall to the ground and is about to throw himself atop of him. It is only the accidental glimpse of Ryoma's face that stops him, the look snapping him out of the fighting rage and back into reality. Fuck.
One of Ryoma's hands clutch the armrest of the wheelchair and his face is an interesting mixture between ghastly white and sickly green. His other hand hugs his leg close - he has it pulled up, foot resting on the seat of the chair and thigh pressed against his torso. His breathing is quick, shallow and escapes him with small huffs. But it doesn't seem like it's the pain that's bothering him the most. "Y--You'll get expelled," he mumbles through clenched teeth. "Please, Momo-senpai..."
"Are you okay?" Worry for the younger boy was bright in Momo's eyes as he quickly scrambled over to kneel down beside Echizen. He didn't give a damn about being expelled. The only reason he had come here had been because of Kaidoh and because the other had told him he'd seen Echizen. Tennis was still his passion, but it was no longer his life. Seeing an opportunity, the other boys scrambled away, muttering about Echizen's psycho faggot boyfriend. Momo didn't even hear them. "Should I take you to the infirmary?"
Ryoma shakes his head, spindly fingers reaching out to curl themselves into the folds of Momo's sleeve. There are tears in his eyes. (From pain? Or from despair?) "I... You..." He can't take his eyes away from the blood that seeps down Momo's chin, from his mouth. "Se--senpai, I..."
"Echizen!" Momo's eyes grow more panicked, darting around as if searching for help. He can only assume that the other's hesitation comes from where the other boy hit him and Momo curses himself ten times an idiot for not thinking they would sink so low as to attack Echizen head on. These had been the same people that had laughed at the crude taunt. "Where? Where do I take you?" And the frustration at not knowing the campus shows clearly on his face.
"Pool," he finally manages. "There's an indoor pool. Water... Soothing, you know? Ta--take me there." But he wants Momo to go see the nurse. He bites his lip again, uncertain. He pulls up his cell phone, finds the campus' homepage and pulls up a map. "The pool's over there."
"Alright." Momo eyes the map and notes the straightest route there. A part of him wants to just pick up Ryoma in his arms and carry him there, bypassing having to go to wheel chair accessible routes, but another part doesn't want to simply leave the chair behind. If those guys come back and trash it... With a sigh, he runs the back of his hand over his chin, wiping the blood away with annoyance. "I'm sorry, Echizen. I should have been more careful..."
"What were you thinking? There were five of them!" Well, Momo had been able to hold his own pretty well, but still. (Five. Just like... Just like Them. And his leg hurts, hurts so much, a reminder and he wants to simply chop the leg off right now, take away that shameful injury forever.) And this is exactly the side he doesn't want Momo to see. And now his friend is hurt because of it as well. Ryoma wants to cry, wants to hit something, wants to curl up with his cats and Fuji-senpai and never leave his room. Instead he pulls his cap down over his face, to hide any stray tears, and mutely follows Momo.
Rubs at the nape of his neck, feeling somewhat like a child being scolded. "I wasn't..." Admits, because he knows he acted rashly. Yet the moment those poisonous words had been spit in Ryoma's direction, his brain had disconnected and the need to make the speaker pay for the hurt he was purposely inflicting had taken over. Now that the adrenaline was fading, Momo could feel several parts of his body crying out in protest. He knew the area beneath his shirt would be a map of bruises tomorrow. Some of those blows had landed without him even noticing. "But I'd do it all over again," he continued in a hard voice. "No one has the right to talk to you like that, Echizen."
"Well, they do." He focuses, doesn't want his voice to slip up, to show how close to crying he really is. "And what are you going to do about it? Get beat up every time you hear that? I'm not worth it." Words thirteen year old Echizen would never say, but words that slips out so easily from seventeen year old Echizen's tongue.
"Yeah." Momo stops walking until Echizen is next to him. He doesn't look down, eyes remaining straight forward even as his hand lands on Echizen's too thin shoulder. "Yeah. I'll get beat up every time. I'll beat them up to. Cause you are worth it." With a flick of his wrist, his hand smacks the back of Echizen's head and he starts walking again. "Idiot."
He can't help himself. He blushes. (Momo always did have that effect on him.) "Y--you're the idiot. Why would you get yourself involved like that? After everything I've done!" Or rather, didn't do. But the details doesn't matter. He hurries after the tall boy as fast as he can.
"You're still my kouhai." Momo shrugs, because even he doesn't have an answer to that. He's still pissed off at Echizen, still hurt by what happened between them. Yet Momo has never been any good at holding grudges, and with Echizen there and obviously being bullied, it's even harder. Life has knocked down the rebellious brat Momo remembers one too many times. If Echizen isn't strong enough to stand up for himself, then Momo will do it for him. The signs for the pool come up and he heads down the path indicating where they should go. "Sure you don't wanna see the nurse?"
"It isn't bleeding," Ryoma replies, shrugging. "It won't kill me." The fact is that he'd rather not think about the leg at all, and going to the nurse and have her check it up would mean he has to acknowledge that it is there. He hates that cowardly side in him, and it gives him all the more reason to stubbornly stick with the notion that he doesn't need to have it checked out. The faint smell of chlorine starts to fill the air. "A--almost there."
Momo wipes away the last traces of blood from the corner of his mouth and prods at the raw wound with the tip of his tongue. It stings and he knows that in about half an hour he's going to have a swollen lip. He's gotten worse from his scuffles with Kaidoh, however, or just from playing tennis. The voice at the back of his mind grumbling that it's because he doesn't have any self control or common sense only makes him grin, and the grin starts up the faint bleeding again. Dammit. "Alright. We're here." Thankfully it seemed it wasn't exactly a popular time to hit the pool, the place relatively empty. The last thing Momo wanted was to be stared at by a group of classmates who would immediately classify him as a trouble maker and give him a wide berth.
"We are," Ryoma nods, stiff shoulders relaxing somewhat. His leg still throbs with pain, even though it's a thought more barable now. "So... Uh." Something occurs to him. "Didya bring trunks?" Deadpan.
"Oh!" Momo suddenly freezers mid-stride, eyes going wide as the sudden realization hits him. Knowing perfectly well he did not, his eyes still dart downwards to his lap as if a pair might have miraculously appeared. Nope. Still wearing jeans. The thought of swimming hadn't so much as crossed his mind when he'd left his room for the library. Looking more than a little sheepish he glances down at the other boy before realizing that of course Echizen doesn't have a pair either. "Oi! You're the one that wanted to come to the pool!"
"Well, it... I... Shut up!" He can't think of a proper reply, instead he flush furiously, and a pout find its way to his lips. "We... I don't know. I..." Should probably shut up, he decides.
A snort works its way out at Echizen's floundering for an answer, soon turning into outright laughter when the other boy turns sulky. Momo places a hand against his stomach, face bright with amusement and a huge grin stretching his mobile mouth. "We could skinny dip if it wasn't for 'em." A thumb hikes in the direction of the two girls soaking on the opposite side of the pool, their only companions. Momo sure as hell isn't stripping down in front of two girls.
"I wouldn't be skinny dipping anyway." The sulk intensifies. He stares at the girls, almost as if he's accusing them for being there. One of the girls notice them and waves, even though a frown pass over her face at Ryoma's glare. No, she decides, it's much nicer, looking at that new kid.
Since Momo is also looking in the girls' direction, he catches the wave and immediately returns it along with a wide grin. They're kind of cute, even if they're keeping them out of the pool. "Wanna go in with our boxers?" It's the next solution that comes to mind, offered even as Momo begins to remove his shoes and socks. The least they can do after coming all the way here is to dip their toes.
"Sure," Ryoma replies, increasingly annoyed by the girls - even though he doesn't quite know why. He strips himself of his shirt, revealing his skinny torso underneath. (At least he's sporting a healthy tan.) He then hesitates, staring down at his pants.
Despite the fact that the girls are there, Momo has no compunctions about pulling off his shirt. Despite his seemingly lazy and over indulgent habits (he can still scarf down ten hamburgers in one sitting), he's worked hard on his body these past four years, and it shows. He sports a tan much like Echizen's, and the once lanky frame has filled out with the lithe musculature of a tennis player. Where Echizen hesitates, Momo doesn't. After neatly folding his shirt and dropping it atop of his shoes and socks on a lounge chair, he follows suit with his pants. It's only then he grows aware of the girls again, glancing up at the sound of giggling and feeling his ears go pink when he finds them staring in their direction again. "Oi, Echizen. Are you gonna take off your pants or not?!"
"I kind of like seeing you suffer though," Ryome replies with a catty grin.
One of the girls shouts across the pool:
"Hey, handsome! Haven't seen you around before!" Her friend hushes at her, but the way she's giggling, it's rather obvious she doesn't mind her friend pulling Momo's attention towards them.
"Eh-ehh?" The blush that had been just a faint tint now floods across his cheeks and neck, making him feel more self-conscious of Ryoma's mostly dressed state by comparison.
"I'm new." Momo manages to call back, but it's far from the suave tone he would have liked. Mostly because his experience with girls spreads to one very short, very awkward relationship that went up in flames when Momo chose to follow after his best friend over staying in the same school as his girlfriend. With an awkward laugh, he turns his back towards the girls and glares at Echizen. "Take off your pants!"
"Fine, fine, I will," Ryoma snorts, still a wicked look on his face. He wriggles free of the pants, stopping only as the fabric scrapes across his now overly sensitive scar on the left leg. "I... think I need help," he says after a moment of awkward silence.
It is only the brief flash of pain he catches on Echizen's face that stops him from playfully mocking the younger boy. Instead, Momo kneels down without saying a word and carefully slides first one leg and then the other free of the pants. It is the first time he has seen the scarring on Echizen's legs and his eyes go wide in shock. Fingertips brush lightly over the worst of the scar tissue, mouth going dry. "Echizen..."
Ryoma looks away, down to the side, fists clenching. "Yeah, what?"
For a moment, Momo can't say anything else. It takes most of his effort to concentrate on swallowing and trying to remoisten his mouth. When he speaks, his voice is low and pained. "What happened, Echizen?"
"... A--aren't we going to swim?" He tries to dodge the question, but he can tell himself he's being horrid at it.
"Echizen." Although his voice is still low, Momo isn't budging. He can't rip his eyes away from the still painful looking damage. His fingers still rest against it, a barely there touch but enough to feel the twisted and damaged muscle. No, he supposed tennis was no longer in Echizen's future.
"... They wanted to make sure I didn't escape." The words mumbled, barely even audible.
"Who?" Face ducked, Momo can't bring himself to look up and meet Echizen's gaze.
"..." He is silent for a long, long while, but then inhales, as if steeling himself. "The... The sickos who kidnapped me last year." It sounds so wrong, just talking about it like that. Even if he's mumbling, not talking... But same difference.
"Fuck..." It feels as if someone reached inside his chest and ripped out all the oxygen, leaving his lungs unable to function. Once again there's that burning knot forming in his throat. The cowardly part of Momo screams to leave this alone. This isn't his pain to carry. He doesn't want to know this. Yet he knows that isn't true. Echizen... Echizen went through something like that and Momo wasn't there to help him. The earlier thought of protecting him earlier from those bullies almost makes him laugh now, because Echizen had been through so much more. What had they done to him.... Arms snake around Ryoma's waist. Momo's broad shoulders shake as he presses his face against Echizen's ribs, breath stuttered and hot against warm, tanned skin. "Fuck, Echizen."
Ryoma's eyes widen and he tense up, unsure of how to handle this. Momo has turned into... Well, not a stranger, but not a close friend, not anymore, and that is all his own doing. So, having him this close, even if he knows Momo has always been the physical one... It's strange. It's suffocating. It's frightening. But they aren't alone, the girls are still there, and Ryoma refuses to cause a scene in front of them. (Well, more than they already are.) Uncertainly, he allows his hands to rest on top of Momo's head, dry spindly fingers treading through the gel-covered spikes. "Well, yeah." It's the only answer he can come up with. "But... Hey, Momo-senpai..." He stops himself. He's supposed to call him Momoshiro-san, isn't he? He decided on that. Why is he already slipping up?
Over the years, his tendency to overreact hasn't changed. Perhaps it is simply that he feels thing to deeply. So while others would have felt their attachment to someone who had cut them off so completley, Momo aches for Echizen as if there had never been a break in their friendship and the suffering the other boy had gone through was a recent thing. The fingers in his hair provide some comfort, as does the feeling of Echizen in his arms. He doesn't realize just how compromising the position would look to others, or even stop to think that most people outside of Kaidoh wouldn't be comfortable with him touching them so intimately. Even when Echizen speaks, it takes a few moments before Momo gathers his composure enough to release his embrace and slowly straighten up, eyes moist but without a single tear falling. "Yes?"
"I'll tell you more. I promise. But... Not here. I..." He pauses. "It's the reason I cut you off, you know. I didn't want you to know."
Despite wanting to push for more, Momo simply nods. Arms unwind from around Echizen and retract as the taller player pushes himself off his knees. There is no way for him to formulate into words what he is feeling or the thoughts rushing through his mind, so rather than cheapening what Echizen has confided in him with some trite comforting words, he remains quiet for once. "Do you still want to go in the pool?"
He nods, quietly. He looks up to see if the girls are still there. They are, whispering to each other. It doesn't really better his mood, but what can he do? Tell them to shut up and mind their own business? It doesn't seem fair, as they don't seem vindictive in the least. "Help me get in?" Instead he turns to Momo, eyes pleading.
"Sure." An attempt at a smile falls short, but the effort is there. Arms simply slip behind Echizen's knees and his back before Momo straightens up with the younger boy in his arms. There is no attention spared for the whispering girls, because he's still too caught up in what Echizen had told him. Kaidoh had mentioned the chair... and of course Momo had thought it had been some sort of accident. A crash, perhaps. Never would he have imagined that anyone would do this to Echizen purposely. The trip to the pool is a relatively short one, walking down the steps until he can settle Echizen down on one of the top ones, unsure of what else to do with him.
He sits there for a while, staring down at his legs, feeling utterly self conscious. They look so ugly. Sure, they've gotten some tan as well, but not nearly enough. They're thin and bony, muscles al withered away. He knows he can't stand on his own two feet for a full two minutes anymore... Well, he can, his stubbornness is still as good as ever, but he will have to pay the price afterwards. To counter that, his arms are strong. Driving around in the wheelchair, and still practicing his swings, sees to that. But it makes him look dispropotionate, awkward. He quickly sinks himself into the water, bothered by the sight of himself and want the water to wash it away.
The ravages on Echizen's body don't go unnoticed. It is impossible to reconcile the image of him now with the one that lives in Momo's memories. Could this really be the same boy? It only takes one look at the feline eyes of his companion to know that Echizen will always be Echizen, no matter what life has thrown his way. The rest of the afternoon goes by rather quickly. Momo does a few laps in the pool and even stops to talk to the girls on the other side, surprised to find that one of them will be in his class. At least not everyone in the room will be a stranger when he walks in the next day. The conversation is brief and most of it is spent avoiding questions about his bruises. Not long after Momo is back by Echizen's side, not saying much as they while away the time in the pool. By the time they leave, the sun is slipping beneath the horizon and Momo drapes the light jacket he was wearing over Echizen's shoulders. "I still haven't forgiven you." They're almost back at the dorms now and at the point where they will split to go to their respective rooms. "So you better stick around and make sure I do."
What: An unexpected meeting.
When: 12/28
Where: The library then the pool.
Rating: PG-13 for violence.
Comments: Sure.
It's quite the experience, watching various students at the school, walking around with just about nothing on. He isn't entirely comfortable with it, Ryoma thinks, but it could have been worse. He, at least, have all his clothes where they ought to be. (He has some extra... equipment, but that's it.) When making his way to the library to catch up on some quiet reading - it's difficult to focus in class at times, and he feels he has missed out on a thing or two during the semester - he's not wearing any of it, however, simply his school uniform. His skin is darker than before the trip abroad, and he looks vitalized, like the trip has really done him some good. He rolls the wheelchair down one of the ailes, and then... Stops. Suddenly. And then stares at one of the people he notices a little bit further down.
There's nothing there to announce the younger boy's presence. No prickling in the back of Momo's neck. No sudden awareness that someone is staring a hole into his back. Nothing. For someone who prides himself for being so in touch with nature and his surroundings, it's a like a slap to the face to turn around and be face to face with the person he least (most) wants to see. Echizen. Despite the huge changes in the vibrant boy from his memories, there is no mistaken just who it is in that wheel chair. Momo stares, eyes wide and almost frightened. It's just for a split second, however, before the soft violet turns turbulent and stormy. "Echizen!" The name is shouted from the distance of an entire aisle and Momo doesn't care about the books that tumble from his arms onto the hardwood floor as he closes the space between them with long legged strides. The worry, the confusion, and the hurt that came with Echizen's sudden disappearance from his life condense into one sharp, overpowering pinprick of emotion. Rage.
Likewise, different emotions run through Ryoma at a deafening speed. It's Momo. Momo-senpai. His former best friend - not counting Kevin - and he's so glad to see him, but why the hell is he here and how dares he be here and how come Ryoma didn't know he would be here? It's wonderful, for a moment, to see those violet eyes again. Then the golden eyed boy is reminded how he was the one who cut off all ties with Momoshiro, after the Incident. How he doesn't have the right to call him Momo, or Momo-senpai, doesn't have the right to even think the affection laden name. "... It's a library. Keep your voice down."
"Keep my..." The distance is no longer between them and now Momo's hands are free to come crashing down on the sides of Echizen's wheel chair, closing tight around the armrests as he leans forward to glower at the smaller boy. It would be a far more threatening move if Momo's voice didn't crack on the words, shock and disbelief streaking across his always too easily read features. After the way Echizen had cut off their friendship, the first words he had to say to Momo were to keep his voice down?! A knot forms in the back of his throat and it only pisses off the power player even more. He doesn't want to be the one to break down. Doesn't want to fall to his knees and cry. To demand to know why he had been so expendable from Echizen's life. Instead he shakes his hands, rattling the wheel chair and the boy on it although far from violently because at the end of the day, he's still the same kid from all those years ago. Just taller and broader and with more hair gel. "You're an ass, Echizen!"
"Tell me something I don't know." Ryoma, on the other hand, keeps his voice leveled, and from the looks of things, it doesn't cost him much. (But it does.) He grips the seat of the chair with his hands, looking accusingly at the taller youth. "What are you doing here?"
"I go here," Momo growls. It's clear that he's itching for a fight. Except he's never hit Echizen. He's never really hit anyone but Kaidoh and a couple of guys in high school who didn't like that the two of them had acted so 'high and mighty' just because they were from the legendary middle school team. Even now, as pissed off as he is he can't quite bring himself to strike the younger boy. Instead his voice gets louder and the crowd of student watching them gets larger. "You got a problem with that?!" Never mind that Momo himself has a problem with being there at all. He's here anyway, dammit.
"Yeah, damn hell I do," Ryoma growls, not liking in the least where this conversation - and who is he kidding, this is nothing like a conversation and wasn't from the get-go - is heading. "You're not stalking me, are you? Because if you are, that's just fucking creepy." He knows he's unfair, and downright nasty, but the knowledge that he knows gives an extra edge to his voice, rising it a few octaves, making it unpleasant even in his own ears.
The words are enough of a blow to have Momo reeling backwards and away from Echizen. In a way, he would prefer it if Echizen had actually struck him. Then he would have a valid excuse for the pain piercing his chest and the way moisture floods his eyes. A hand clutches at his shoulder and Momo easily shakes it off, muscles rippling beneath the touch. He doesn't even hear the rapid fire reprimand from the librarian demanding he stop his tantrum this second or get out of her library. All he can see is Echizen, so seemingly cold and uncaring after all their time apart. "Fuck you, Echizen." A piece of his pride breaks along with his voice, because he doesn't want to seem so week. "Go crawl back into the hole you came from and stay there." He spins around with only one thought in place. He needs Kaidoh. He needs the stupid snake. He needs to hit someone over and over again and be hit in return until all he can feel is physical pain and not the urge to break down like he had done so many years ago, when Echizen had first left him behind.
The second he says the words, he regrets them. That look on Momoshiro's face is one he never wanted to see, let alone inflict himself. A couple of meters away a couple of boys from his class stands and chats with each other, laughing and pointing. For once he doesn't want to kill them, he'd rather kill himself, and slowly at that. "You're just going to walk away, huh?" Why can't the words sound so uncertain and small as he feels inside, why do they sound judging, accusing? He doesn't want this. "You're not going to give me a chance?" He doesn't deserve one, the dry voice in the back of his mind points out.
"You don't want me here, remember?" Momo doesn't turn back around, because then Echizen will be able to see the hot tears streaking down his face. They blur his vision, turning everything into a faded haze that is better than the sharp edges. The tears are there in his voice, but he can't help the way it thickens and lowers and breaks. "I gave you a million chances, Echizen." It is then that he realizes there's a tiny woman by his side, glaring at him with a mixture of anger and pity and telling him to get out before she calls campus security. The others he still doesn't notice, wouldn't even care about if he did. With a sharp nod, Momo leaves the library. This time, however, his strides are closer to a normal walk. It's Echizen's turn to follow him. If he wants.
You don't understand he wants to cry. I didn't want you seeing me like this he wants to argue. He does neither, even though the thoughts are there. He has made the wrong choice. He hates, hates, hates that cold, glaring voice of logic that refuses to go away. All thoughts of studying forgotten, his own pride forgotten, because there had been something in Momoshiro's voice that reminds him of that time when he went back to America the first time, the first time they really, really fought. He has to set this right. The thought clenches around his heart, makes him hurry, makes him actually ignore when one of his classmates dumps the leftovers of his soda on Ryoma's head as he wheels past. He simply wipes his face, and continues. Doesn't even spare the classmate a single look. Finally out of the library. Finally, he spots Momoshiro's back, and finally that nasty edge in his voice is gone. "Please, wait!"
Momo's shoulders are hunched forward, almost up around his ears with his head ducked as he walks. The heels of his hands wipe uselessly at the stupid tears and he can feel sobs trying to escape from the back of his throat but he bites down hard enough to taste blood on the inside of his cheek in order to keep them back. Even he doesn't understand why he feels such relief at hearing Echizen's voice rather than anger. Perhaps all he really needs is just a tiny sign that he wasn't the only one left missing the other, that Echizen missed him too. Momo spins around, facing him despite the wreck that is his face. "What?" Fingers wipe uselessly at the tears again and it takes a moment for Echizen's state to sink in, and now Momo is blinking in confusion because Echizen hadn't been dripping moments earlier in the library. Had he dumped a coke on himself as some sort of self punishment? "Why are you wet?" The first question was confrontational. The second just downright confused.
"Coke usually is wet. But you're wet too." On the cheeks. He hates seeing Momoshiro cry. Still. The thought startles him. He should be detached, shouldn't care anymore, so why can't he stop? "And your wet is kind of the wrong wet here." And this conversation is rapidly reaching a big fat 10 on the lame-scale. He bites down on his lower lip. "... Don't cry, man..."
"I don't see how my wet is worse than your wet..." Grumbles even as he uses the collar of his shirt to scrub at his face, wanting to rid himself of the stupid tears. Maybe Echizen has taken up dumping fountain drinks on his head as a hobby. Not that Momo would know, since none of his letters, emails, phone calls, or hundreds of texts were ever returned. Once he's sure that at least the worst of the moisture is contained, his hands drop and he half halfheartedly glares at the other, daring him to contradict him. "I wasn't crying. There was something in my eye."
"Sure was. A lot of H2O and salt." Ryoma doesn't know how he can do it, but he actually manages a tiny smirk. "C--can I buy you a soda?" Not to make up for everything he's done - or hasn't done, rather - but because he needs something that will keep Momoshiro around. If only for a little more. "... And I think I should find a water faucet..." He's sticky. And smells like coke.
There's something muttered under his breath, something that sounds suspiciously like 'damn brat.' A part of Momo wants to just walk away. Maybe it'll teach Echizen how it feels to be abandoned by someone you considered a true friend. But in reality, Momo isn't the type to be vindictive and hurt others purposely. Besides, he's missed Echizen. "You're not gonna dump it on yourself too, are you?" Asks with a weak smile of his own, trying to clam down to have a somewhat regular conversation. Although the fact that Echizen is still dripping in coke is still bothering him, because he can't remember the other even holding one in the library.
"It would totally make sense if I'd dumped this on myself, yeah, but..." He shuts himself up, blushing. Oh. Oh. Well, that was stupid. He entertains the idea of biting his own tongue off by the root.
Blinks and looks a bit confused, because it's not like people are just waving sodas around in the library like they would in the cafeteria. "Did someone trip and spill it on you?" Either way, he's moving towards Echizen so that they can go somewhere and clean up the junior.
"They spilled it on me, yeah," he replies, not lying, but not telling the whole truth either. There is a quick, confused and almost frightened look in Ryoma's eyes - Momoshiro isn't going to beat him up, is he? No, silly, he then berates himself, he could have done that when they were in the library, and he didn't, he won't do it now - before he simply looks embarrassed. Guilty. "Where are we going...?"
Momo misses the look and simply accepts the excuse for what it is. With a nod, he starts walking towards the restrooms he had passed not too long ago. They should probably get Echizen cleaned up and then back to his room for a chance of clothes. Or would just going straight to the room be better? He was still feeling awkward, unsure what this sort of half truce meant. They hadn't talked about why Echizen had cut himself off from him, or well... anything that mattered. Momo wasn't even sure why he was still here. Except that he wanted the younger boy back in his life, more than he'd realized.
Ryoma's fingers touch his hair, greasy strands that now stick together and feel disgusting. He makes a vague gesture with his hand, towards the dormitories. "Uh..." This feels so awkward; he doesn't really know what to do. What to say. How to act. And he's never really felt like this around Momoshiro and it's wrong.
"Right." Momo nods and starts walking back towards the dormitories. His teeth are once again worrying his lower lip before he just gives a loud sigh and frowns down at Echizen. "Did you miss me?" There isn't anything playful in his voice, but a simple need to know that the importance of their friendship hadn't been one sided. "Why did you never call?" Thankfully he didn't realize just how much like a jilted girlfriend he sounded.
Ryoma hears it, however, but for once, doesn't crack up in a wry smirk. Instead he nods. "I... I did. I promise, I did. I just..." He cuts himself short.
"Just what?" They're at the dorms now, and Momo knows he can drag this out here but it would be better to just go inside. Waiting for Ryoma to go in before him, he follows the younger boy inside. "I know... I know something happened. I can see that." There's pain for that too. Pain for seeing his friend like this. "But you should have counted on me, Echizen, not pushed me away..."
"I fucked up. I..." It is easier to talk like this, with his back turned. He can pretend, almost pretend, that he's practicing for a play. Of course, it's not really like that, and the words still roll off his tongue with great reluctance. "... I was so messed up. Didn't want to show you that side of me."
"Stupid." Momo's voice is rough with the pain of the memories, but he wants to get pats this. Wants to understand, so he can forgive. Holding a grudge weights too heavily and it's never a feeling he's enjoyed. His hand ruffles Echizen's sticky hair, fingers getting caught in the long strands. "I wouldn't have cared how ugly that side was. I would have stuck around."
He has to wonder why people keep doing that. Why is his head apparently so... Perfect for touching? It almost makes him feel like a little kid. Almost. "I know you would... And I didn't want you to. Would have been... I don't know. I can't explain it, okay? I know I fucked up. I..."
The classmate who had dumped the coke on him walked past, with his friends. "Talking about fucking so early, Echizen? Desperate much?" His friends laughed, while the boy himself gave Momoshiro a bored look before continuing onwards.
"The fuck you say?!" Momo didn't know the kid, but he didn't have to. It was impossible to miss what had been said, and that it was directed at Echizen. One second he was standing next to Ryoma, fingers lingering on the back of his chair, and in the next he had launched himself across the short distance to the boy who had uttered the hateful words. All the anger from earlier came surging back as Momo found a target to release it onto. If all those years of having Kaidoh as his best friend had taught him anything, it was how to land a punch even while falling. His fist connected solidly against the bastard's jaw, snapping his head back moments before they both crashed to the ground, Momom already preparing to strike again.
The boy cries out and one of his friends react immediately, grabbing Momo by the back of his shirt, trying to pull him away while he aims a blow at the violet eyed boy's jaw. "The fuck's your problem", the boy who was hit groans.
"Momo-senpai," Ryoma whispers, in spite of himself. "... St--stop, don't..."
While typically easy going, Momo's temper burns hot when ignited and these boys have found the best way to do it. By attacking someone he cares about. Momo snaps his elbow backwards, catching the boy that holds him in the ribs even while his own jaw explodes in blinding pain. The punch snaps his jaw shut, making him bite down on his own tongue and the taste of blood blooms across his mouth, bitter copper. There is an almost welcomed familiarity in this. All he needs is too glance over and catch sight of a green bandana trashing right alongside him to feel right at home. "Don't you fucking talk to him like that," Momo growls and tries to throw himself forward once more even while another of the boy's friends locks an arm around his throat, forcing his head back.
"Shut up," the first boy spits. "Everyone knows he wants it up the ass, yeah?" The second boy backs away, arms around his torso, for a moment, then spots his opportunity, as he's ended up beside Ryoma. He kicks, hard, and the kick connect with Ryoma's scarred leg. It's all he can do to keep from fainting, but he can't hold back a scream.
"Shit," one of the boys, who's wisely enough keeps his distance from Momoshiro and Ryoma, says. "Guys, we should split." Before this gets too ugly, he thinks. He doesn't want to be expelled.
Momo doesn't even have to wait for him to finish speaking before his leg kicks out, slamming his foot into the guy's balls and not feeling one bit sorry as he sees him crumple into a ball of pain. Tearing himself free of the ones restraining him, he's about to jump atop of him and make him eat his words when Ryoma's scream cuts right through him. Momo spins, unable to believe that someone, anyone would sink that low.
"Echizen!" The years have been good to Momo. He's trained hard, worked hard, and meticulously built his body to better carry out the power tennis he's so known for. All that raw strength falls down on the boy who dared to touch Ryoma. For a moment he sees nothing but the blinding red of rage as his fist splits the boy's mouth open then the other connects with the softness of his stomach. Whoever these guys are, they're no match for him. Maybe if they all attacked at once, but as it is... Breathing hard, he watches his opponent fall to the ground and is about to throw himself atop of him. It is only the accidental glimpse of Ryoma's face that stops him, the look snapping him out of the fighting rage and back into reality. Fuck.
One of Ryoma's hands clutch the armrest of the wheelchair and his face is an interesting mixture between ghastly white and sickly green. His other hand hugs his leg close - he has it pulled up, foot resting on the seat of the chair and thigh pressed against his torso. His breathing is quick, shallow and escapes him with small huffs. But it doesn't seem like it's the pain that's bothering him the most. "Y--You'll get expelled," he mumbles through clenched teeth. "Please, Momo-senpai..."
"Are you okay?" Worry for the younger boy was bright in Momo's eyes as he quickly scrambled over to kneel down beside Echizen. He didn't give a damn about being expelled. The only reason he had come here had been because of Kaidoh and because the other had told him he'd seen Echizen. Tennis was still his passion, but it was no longer his life. Seeing an opportunity, the other boys scrambled away, muttering about Echizen's psycho faggot boyfriend. Momo didn't even hear them. "Should I take you to the infirmary?"
Ryoma shakes his head, spindly fingers reaching out to curl themselves into the folds of Momo's sleeve. There are tears in his eyes. (From pain? Or from despair?) "I... You..." He can't take his eyes away from the blood that seeps down Momo's chin, from his mouth. "Se--senpai, I..."
"Echizen!" Momo's eyes grow more panicked, darting around as if searching for help. He can only assume that the other's hesitation comes from where the other boy hit him and Momo curses himself ten times an idiot for not thinking they would sink so low as to attack Echizen head on. These had been the same people that had laughed at the crude taunt. "Where? Where do I take you?" And the frustration at not knowing the campus shows clearly on his face.
"Pool," he finally manages. "There's an indoor pool. Water... Soothing, you know? Ta--take me there." But he wants Momo to go see the nurse. He bites his lip again, uncertain. He pulls up his cell phone, finds the campus' homepage and pulls up a map. "The pool's over there."
"Alright." Momo eyes the map and notes the straightest route there. A part of him wants to just pick up Ryoma in his arms and carry him there, bypassing having to go to wheel chair accessible routes, but another part doesn't want to simply leave the chair behind. If those guys come back and trash it... With a sigh, he runs the back of his hand over his chin, wiping the blood away with annoyance. "I'm sorry, Echizen. I should have been more careful..."
"What were you thinking? There were five of them!" Well, Momo had been able to hold his own pretty well, but still. (Five. Just like... Just like Them. And his leg hurts, hurts so much, a reminder and he wants to simply chop the leg off right now, take away that shameful injury forever.) And this is exactly the side he doesn't want Momo to see. And now his friend is hurt because of it as well. Ryoma wants to cry, wants to hit something, wants to curl up with his cats and Fuji-senpai and never leave his room. Instead he pulls his cap down over his face, to hide any stray tears, and mutely follows Momo.
Rubs at the nape of his neck, feeling somewhat like a child being scolded. "I wasn't..." Admits, because he knows he acted rashly. Yet the moment those poisonous words had been spit in Ryoma's direction, his brain had disconnected and the need to make the speaker pay for the hurt he was purposely inflicting had taken over. Now that the adrenaline was fading, Momo could feel several parts of his body crying out in protest. He knew the area beneath his shirt would be a map of bruises tomorrow. Some of those blows had landed without him even noticing. "But I'd do it all over again," he continued in a hard voice. "No one has the right to talk to you like that, Echizen."
"Well, they do." He focuses, doesn't want his voice to slip up, to show how close to crying he really is. "And what are you going to do about it? Get beat up every time you hear that? I'm not worth it." Words thirteen year old Echizen would never say, but words that slips out so easily from seventeen year old Echizen's tongue.
"Yeah." Momo stops walking until Echizen is next to him. He doesn't look down, eyes remaining straight forward even as his hand lands on Echizen's too thin shoulder. "Yeah. I'll get beat up every time. I'll beat them up to. Cause you are worth it." With a flick of his wrist, his hand smacks the back of Echizen's head and he starts walking again. "Idiot."
He can't help himself. He blushes. (Momo always did have that effect on him.) "Y--you're the idiot. Why would you get yourself involved like that? After everything I've done!" Or rather, didn't do. But the details doesn't matter. He hurries after the tall boy as fast as he can.
"You're still my kouhai." Momo shrugs, because even he doesn't have an answer to that. He's still pissed off at Echizen, still hurt by what happened between them. Yet Momo has never been any good at holding grudges, and with Echizen there and obviously being bullied, it's even harder. Life has knocked down the rebellious brat Momo remembers one too many times. If Echizen isn't strong enough to stand up for himself, then Momo will do it for him. The signs for the pool come up and he heads down the path indicating where they should go. "Sure you don't wanna see the nurse?"
"It isn't bleeding," Ryoma replies, shrugging. "It won't kill me." The fact is that he'd rather not think about the leg at all, and going to the nurse and have her check it up would mean he has to acknowledge that it is there. He hates that cowardly side in him, and it gives him all the more reason to stubbornly stick with the notion that he doesn't need to have it checked out. The faint smell of chlorine starts to fill the air. "A--almost there."
Momo wipes away the last traces of blood from the corner of his mouth and prods at the raw wound with the tip of his tongue. It stings and he knows that in about half an hour he's going to have a swollen lip. He's gotten worse from his scuffles with Kaidoh, however, or just from playing tennis. The voice at the back of his mind grumbling that it's because he doesn't have any self control or common sense only makes him grin, and the grin starts up the faint bleeding again. Dammit. "Alright. We're here." Thankfully it seemed it wasn't exactly a popular time to hit the pool, the place relatively empty. The last thing Momo wanted was to be stared at by a group of classmates who would immediately classify him as a trouble maker and give him a wide berth.
"We are," Ryoma nods, stiff shoulders relaxing somewhat. His leg still throbs with pain, even though it's a thought more barable now. "So... Uh." Something occurs to him. "Didya bring trunks?" Deadpan.
"Oh!" Momo suddenly freezers mid-stride, eyes going wide as the sudden realization hits him. Knowing perfectly well he did not, his eyes still dart downwards to his lap as if a pair might have miraculously appeared. Nope. Still wearing jeans. The thought of swimming hadn't so much as crossed his mind when he'd left his room for the library. Looking more than a little sheepish he glances down at the other boy before realizing that of course Echizen doesn't have a pair either. "Oi! You're the one that wanted to come to the pool!"
"Well, it... I... Shut up!" He can't think of a proper reply, instead he flush furiously, and a pout find its way to his lips. "We... I don't know. I..." Should probably shut up, he decides.
A snort works its way out at Echizen's floundering for an answer, soon turning into outright laughter when the other boy turns sulky. Momo places a hand against his stomach, face bright with amusement and a huge grin stretching his mobile mouth. "We could skinny dip if it wasn't for 'em." A thumb hikes in the direction of the two girls soaking on the opposite side of the pool, their only companions. Momo sure as hell isn't stripping down in front of two girls.
"I wouldn't be skinny dipping anyway." The sulk intensifies. He stares at the girls, almost as if he's accusing them for being there. One of the girls notice them and waves, even though a frown pass over her face at Ryoma's glare. No, she decides, it's much nicer, looking at that new kid.
Since Momo is also looking in the girls' direction, he catches the wave and immediately returns it along with a wide grin. They're kind of cute, even if they're keeping them out of the pool. "Wanna go in with our boxers?" It's the next solution that comes to mind, offered even as Momo begins to remove his shoes and socks. The least they can do after coming all the way here is to dip their toes.
"Sure," Ryoma replies, increasingly annoyed by the girls - even though he doesn't quite know why. He strips himself of his shirt, revealing his skinny torso underneath. (At least he's sporting a healthy tan.) He then hesitates, staring down at his pants.
Despite the fact that the girls are there, Momo has no compunctions about pulling off his shirt. Despite his seemingly lazy and over indulgent habits (he can still scarf down ten hamburgers in one sitting), he's worked hard on his body these past four years, and it shows. He sports a tan much like Echizen's, and the once lanky frame has filled out with the lithe musculature of a tennis player. Where Echizen hesitates, Momo doesn't. After neatly folding his shirt and dropping it atop of his shoes and socks on a lounge chair, he follows suit with his pants. It's only then he grows aware of the girls again, glancing up at the sound of giggling and feeling his ears go pink when he finds them staring in their direction again. "Oi, Echizen. Are you gonna take off your pants or not?!"
"I kind of like seeing you suffer though," Ryome replies with a catty grin.
One of the girls shouts across the pool:
"Hey, handsome! Haven't seen you around before!" Her friend hushes at her, but the way she's giggling, it's rather obvious she doesn't mind her friend pulling Momo's attention towards them.
"Eh-ehh?" The blush that had been just a faint tint now floods across his cheeks and neck, making him feel more self-conscious of Ryoma's mostly dressed state by comparison.
"I'm new." Momo manages to call back, but it's far from the suave tone he would have liked. Mostly because his experience with girls spreads to one very short, very awkward relationship that went up in flames when Momo chose to follow after his best friend over staying in the same school as his girlfriend. With an awkward laugh, he turns his back towards the girls and glares at Echizen. "Take off your pants!"
"Fine, fine, I will," Ryoma snorts, still a wicked look on his face. He wriggles free of the pants, stopping only as the fabric scrapes across his now overly sensitive scar on the left leg. "I... think I need help," he says after a moment of awkward silence.
It is only the brief flash of pain he catches on Echizen's face that stops him from playfully mocking the younger boy. Instead, Momo kneels down without saying a word and carefully slides first one leg and then the other free of the pants. It is the first time he has seen the scarring on Echizen's legs and his eyes go wide in shock. Fingertips brush lightly over the worst of the scar tissue, mouth going dry. "Echizen..."
Ryoma looks away, down to the side, fists clenching. "Yeah, what?"
For a moment, Momo can't say anything else. It takes most of his effort to concentrate on swallowing and trying to remoisten his mouth. When he speaks, his voice is low and pained. "What happened, Echizen?"
"... A--aren't we going to swim?" He tries to dodge the question, but he can tell himself he's being horrid at it.
"Echizen." Although his voice is still low, Momo isn't budging. He can't rip his eyes away from the still painful looking damage. His fingers still rest against it, a barely there touch but enough to feel the twisted and damaged muscle. No, he supposed tennis was no longer in Echizen's future.
"... They wanted to make sure I didn't escape." The words mumbled, barely even audible.
"Who?" Face ducked, Momo can't bring himself to look up and meet Echizen's gaze.
"..." He is silent for a long, long while, but then inhales, as if steeling himself. "The... The sickos who kidnapped me last year." It sounds so wrong, just talking about it like that. Even if he's mumbling, not talking... But same difference.
"Fuck..." It feels as if someone reached inside his chest and ripped out all the oxygen, leaving his lungs unable to function. Once again there's that burning knot forming in his throat. The cowardly part of Momo screams to leave this alone. This isn't his pain to carry. He doesn't want to know this. Yet he knows that isn't true. Echizen... Echizen went through something like that and Momo wasn't there to help him. The earlier thought of protecting him earlier from those bullies almost makes him laugh now, because Echizen had been through so much more. What had they done to him.... Arms snake around Ryoma's waist. Momo's broad shoulders shake as he presses his face against Echizen's ribs, breath stuttered and hot against warm, tanned skin. "Fuck, Echizen."
Ryoma's eyes widen and he tense up, unsure of how to handle this. Momo has turned into... Well, not a stranger, but not a close friend, not anymore, and that is all his own doing. So, having him this close, even if he knows Momo has always been the physical one... It's strange. It's suffocating. It's frightening. But they aren't alone, the girls are still there, and Ryoma refuses to cause a scene in front of them. (Well, more than they already are.) Uncertainly, he allows his hands to rest on top of Momo's head, dry spindly fingers treading through the gel-covered spikes. "Well, yeah." It's the only answer he can come up with. "But... Hey, Momo-senpai..." He stops himself. He's supposed to call him Momoshiro-san, isn't he? He decided on that. Why is he already slipping up?
Over the years, his tendency to overreact hasn't changed. Perhaps it is simply that he feels thing to deeply. So while others would have felt their attachment to someone who had cut them off so completley, Momo aches for Echizen as if there had never been a break in their friendship and the suffering the other boy had gone through was a recent thing. The fingers in his hair provide some comfort, as does the feeling of Echizen in his arms. He doesn't realize just how compromising the position would look to others, or even stop to think that most people outside of Kaidoh wouldn't be comfortable with him touching them so intimately. Even when Echizen speaks, it takes a few moments before Momo gathers his composure enough to release his embrace and slowly straighten up, eyes moist but without a single tear falling. "Yes?"
"I'll tell you more. I promise. But... Not here. I..." He pauses. "It's the reason I cut you off, you know. I didn't want you to know."
Despite wanting to push for more, Momo simply nods. Arms unwind from around Echizen and retract as the taller player pushes himself off his knees. There is no way for him to formulate into words what he is feeling or the thoughts rushing through his mind, so rather than cheapening what Echizen has confided in him with some trite comforting words, he remains quiet for once. "Do you still want to go in the pool?"
He nods, quietly. He looks up to see if the girls are still there. They are, whispering to each other. It doesn't really better his mood, but what can he do? Tell them to shut up and mind their own business? It doesn't seem fair, as they don't seem vindictive in the least. "Help me get in?" Instead he turns to Momo, eyes pleading.
"Sure." An attempt at a smile falls short, but the effort is there. Arms simply slip behind Echizen's knees and his back before Momo straightens up with the younger boy in his arms. There is no attention spared for the whispering girls, because he's still too caught up in what Echizen had told him. Kaidoh had mentioned the chair... and of course Momo had thought it had been some sort of accident. A crash, perhaps. Never would he have imagined that anyone would do this to Echizen purposely. The trip to the pool is a relatively short one, walking down the steps until he can settle Echizen down on one of the top ones, unsure of what else to do with him.
He sits there for a while, staring down at his legs, feeling utterly self conscious. They look so ugly. Sure, they've gotten some tan as well, but not nearly enough. They're thin and bony, muscles al withered away. He knows he can't stand on his own two feet for a full two minutes anymore... Well, he can, his stubbornness is still as good as ever, but he will have to pay the price afterwards. To counter that, his arms are strong. Driving around in the wheelchair, and still practicing his swings, sees to that. But it makes him look dispropotionate, awkward. He quickly sinks himself into the water, bothered by the sight of himself and want the water to wash it away.
The ravages on Echizen's body don't go unnoticed. It is impossible to reconcile the image of him now with the one that lives in Momo's memories. Could this really be the same boy? It only takes one look at the feline eyes of his companion to know that Echizen will always be Echizen, no matter what life has thrown his way. The rest of the afternoon goes by rather quickly. Momo does a few laps in the pool and even stops to talk to the girls on the other side, surprised to find that one of them will be in his class. At least not everyone in the room will be a stranger when he walks in the next day. The conversation is brief and most of it is spent avoiding questions about his bruises. Not long after Momo is back by Echizen's side, not saying much as they while away the time in the pool. By the time they leave, the sun is slipping beneath the horizon and Momo drapes the light jacket he was wearing over Echizen's shoulders. "I still haven't forgiven you." They're almost back at the dorms now and at the point where they will split to go to their respective rooms. "So you better stick around and make sure I do."