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The Devil Is in the Details (Prince of Tennis, Inui/Kaidoh)
Title: The Devil Is in the Details
Author: aviss
Pairing: Inui/Kaidoh, Momoshiro
Rating: PG
Prompt: public displays of affection - it’s the little things that matter
Word Count: ~1.800
A/N: late fic for the 13th.
The Devil Is in the Details
There is something strange about Kaidoh lately and though Momoshiro can't put his finger on it, he can already tell he doesn't like it. He doesn't like the normal Kaidoh all that much, so the new, different one shouldn't be--well, different.
It's not his tennis, that much is clear. Momo knows the stupid viper's style of play inside out and it hasn't changed since he mastered his Boomerang Snake. It has improved, almost--but not quite--as much as Momo's, but it hasn't changed one bit: it still relies too much in that inhuman stamina of Kaidoh's and that ridiculous shot.
Momo knows he's going to have to observe and maybe follow him to find out what is the difference. It doesn't appeal to him too much to follow the bastard around; it would cut his playing and eating time, and Kaidoh isn't that interesting.
But if there is something Momo can't stand is not knowing; especially if it's about Kaidoh and he can use that knowledge to annoy him. And neither Ryoma nor Eiji are of much help, though they usually are his primary source of information, well gossip. At least Eiji.
He can't keep his eyes away from Kaidoh during class, though nothing has changed there for what he can see. Kaidoh is a good student, paying attention and doing his homework. He answers correctly when the teacher asks him but rarely volunteers the answers on his own.
In tennis practice things are exactly the same. Kaidoh runs and does his practice shots with the same single minded intensity he applies to everything related to tennis. He sticks to Inui, like he has been doing since the Prefectural tournament, and he snaps at Momo and they get in one of their normal arguments.
No, the change isn't there either.
Momo tries, unsuccessfully, to get the stupid viper and his stupid strange change out of his head. It shouldn't bother him if Kaidoh changes as long as his tennis remains the same, but it feels as if Kaidoh is now one step ahead of Momo in something, whatever that something might be, and Momo can't stand it.
Rivals should always be equal.
Or if someone is to be ahead, that should be Momo and not the stupid viper.
He's not convinced he's doing the right thing following Kaidoh when tennis practice ends, but he's doing it all the same because he knows he won't be able to put the matter to rest until he knows.
So he follows Kaidoh, and the viper's destination is, unsurprisingly, a park when he begins to stretch. He should have known. The fact that Inui appears a few minutes later is also expected. Momo had already guessed Kaidoh was going to train some more, and for some time already he has been doing it with Inui. That's not a secret among the regulars in the club.
They begin to run and Momo follows at a distance, trying to be discreet and to match the pace to their. It shouldn't be hard, he can tell even from where he is, that Inui and Kaidoh are matching the other's pace perfectly. If they can, so can Momo.
He asks himself again why he's doing that when they pass 5 kilometre mark in their run. He feels out of breath and tired, and could be doing something a lot more interesting than running, like playing in the street court or having some food or annoying Ryoma. But Kaidoh and Inui look far from done, they keep running, their pace never faltering, so Momo runs and concentrates in keeping his breathing steady.
When they finally stop Momo is concentrating so hard in his breathing he almost misses it, continuing a few more meters than he intends and almost giving away his position. They're at the riverbank, and odd place to stop but quiet and open enough. He finds a nice spot to observe while he gets his breath back.
On the bank Kaidoh and Inui are stretching, helping each other and sharing a bottle of water before finally collapsing on the grassy bank. They don't do anything by lay there for a few minutes, their bodies aligned and very close, almost touching. They must be more tired than they let on if they don't bother to move apart from each other.
Momo is about to give up and head home when Inui suddenly sits up, saying something to Kaidoh who nods and begins to rise. Inui extends his hand to help him up, and Momo sees surprised how Kaidoh accepts it, letting himself be pulled to his feet. It strikes him as strange to see Kaidoh accepting help from anyone, even Inui, especially because he doesn't release the hand immediately.
Before he has the chance to ponder about it, they are moving and Momo follows. He should be heading home now, dusk is falling and he has homework to finish and the entire afternoon has been useless and tiring.
What does he care about Kaidoh and what he does? It doesn't matter; the whole thing has been stupid.
He stops running after them, turning around to try to find where he is. With all that following them around he has no idea which direction to turn to go home. He moves aimlessly for a few streets until he finds a place he recognizes. He's close to Kaidoh's home, and from there is fifteen minutes walk to his own house. He looks at the time and curses softly, seeing is later than he thought.
He's going to have to run if he doesn't want to be grounded for a week. It's well past his curfew.
He curses himself again for wasting his time in something like that.
He's going to ask Kaidoh straight away when he sees him in the morning, that way he won't need to think about it anymore. He runs into a dark alley behind Kaidoh's house, one he knows as a shortcut to his own, and his breath catches.
He's not going to need to ask, he realizes stopping short. Not with the answer to the mystery right in front of his eyes with Kaidoh pressed against a wall and Inui practically trying to merge against him, his mouth busy devouring Kaidoh's.
And maybe it's not been such a good idea to follow them, because this seems private and something Momo has no right to know. And the clues have been staring at him in the face, and Momo has been too oblivious to notice. It's the little things that matter, as the saying goes, the tiny details he has been noticing the entire day without really seeing them for what they were. Like the way Inui and Kaidoh's steps were completely synchronized during their run, or how Kaidoh had taken a bottle from Inui and drank from it without checking the contents before. And more telling, how it didn't kill him. How they sometimes leaned closer to each other than was necessary, their shoulders bumping more often than not, how their fingers brushed for a second when Inui passed the racket to Kaidoh during practice, the gesture natural and at the same time clearly deliberate.
All those details are there for everyone to see, if they care look.
But it's wrong.
This shouldn't be happening, it's very wrong.
Momo lets out an involuntary noise, ruining his only chance to escape before Kaidoh and Inui find out he knows, and they move away as if burned, turning to stare at him with startled eyes.
"Momoshiro," Inui says, and there is so much in that one word Momo is unable to identify every single emotion in it. Fear and embarrassment are clear, the rest, though, will remain a mystery for him.
It's not Inui the one he's interested in at the moment, anyway. Kaidoh is also staring at him with wide eyes, something frail and uncharacteristically open in them. He doesn’t like it, Kaidoh should never look at him with that vulnerable expression.
"Sorry," he hears himself saying, unable to tear his eyes from Kaidoh. "I--I wasn't--I didn't mean to--I'm sorry." He garbles, inarticulate, his face flaming.
"Momoshiro," Kaidoh's low growl doesn't sound threatening, just shy and afraid. And it's wrong, it's all so wrong.
Momo shakes his head. "This is wrong, this is so wrong," he mumbles, and he can see how Kaidoh tenses, his eyes narrowing into hate filled slits, Inui taking a protective step in front of him. "It's wrong," he declares one more time, firmer now. He understands everything he's seen, the full implications finally reaching his brain, and he glares heatedly at Kaidoh.
That idiot viper, getting ahead of Momo without caring about leaving him behind.
Kaidoh looks about to lunge for him, only Inui's hand curled around his wrist preventing him to, apparently.
"This is so wrong," he says one last time, "why does Mamushi have to find someone before I do?" He can see the way Inui's brows shot up his forehead at his words, his entire posture relaxing, and he realizes how his words might have been misinterpreted. He doesn't care, feeling too annoyed by the situation to pay attention to what he's saying. He ignores Inui for the moment, his attention focused only in Kaidoh, who's regarding him slightly less murderously. "You'll see, Mamushi, I'll get a girlfriend and she's going to be prettier than--" he cuts himself short when he realizes what he's about to say, flushing. "Well, of course she'll be prettier," he continues, undaunted, after a second. "She's going to be my girlfriend, so she's going to be pretty and you, no offence Sempai, are not a pretty girl, not that you're ugly but you're a boy, and not pretty, and not--I'm babbling. I'm going now, but I'm going to get a girlfriend." He turns to leave, Inui's expression a strange mix of embarrassed and amused. It's creepy.
He wishes he had never seen it; it's probably going to be in his nightmares for some time.
"You do that, idiot," Kaidoh's growl follows him as he retreats, but he sounds more amused than angry now, which Momo imagines must be a good thing. At least for Inui. "That way you won't have time to follow people around."
He feels his face heat up but doesn't turn around, afraid he might discover something new again and not ready to face more revelations. One is enough for a day.
And now he needs to find a pretty girlfriend, and hope she isn't much work and leaves him enough free time for tennis. It's a pity there are no pretty girls in the team.
But he'll find one, because he has no intentions to let Kaidoh beat him so easily.
And if Kaidoh can find someone, then certainly Momo can as well.
And it won't be as creepy as Inui-sempai.
…
Author: aviss
Pairing: Inui/Kaidoh, Momoshiro
Rating: PG
Prompt: public displays of affection - it’s the little things that matter
Word Count: ~1.800
A/N: late fic for the 13th.
The Devil Is in the Details
There is something strange about Kaidoh lately and though Momoshiro can't put his finger on it, he can already tell he doesn't like it. He doesn't like the normal Kaidoh all that much, so the new, different one shouldn't be--well, different.
It's not his tennis, that much is clear. Momo knows the stupid viper's style of play inside out and it hasn't changed since he mastered his Boomerang Snake. It has improved, almost--but not quite--as much as Momo's, but it hasn't changed one bit: it still relies too much in that inhuman stamina of Kaidoh's and that ridiculous shot.
Momo knows he's going to have to observe and maybe follow him to find out what is the difference. It doesn't appeal to him too much to follow the bastard around; it would cut his playing and eating time, and Kaidoh isn't that interesting.
But if there is something Momo can't stand is not knowing; especially if it's about Kaidoh and he can use that knowledge to annoy him. And neither Ryoma nor Eiji are of much help, though they usually are his primary source of information, well gossip. At least Eiji.
He can't keep his eyes away from Kaidoh during class, though nothing has changed there for what he can see. Kaidoh is a good student, paying attention and doing his homework. He answers correctly when the teacher asks him but rarely volunteers the answers on his own.
In tennis practice things are exactly the same. Kaidoh runs and does his practice shots with the same single minded intensity he applies to everything related to tennis. He sticks to Inui, like he has been doing since the Prefectural tournament, and he snaps at Momo and they get in one of their normal arguments.
No, the change isn't there either.
Momo tries, unsuccessfully, to get the stupid viper and his stupid strange change out of his head. It shouldn't bother him if Kaidoh changes as long as his tennis remains the same, but it feels as if Kaidoh is now one step ahead of Momo in something, whatever that something might be, and Momo can't stand it.
Rivals should always be equal.
Or if someone is to be ahead, that should be Momo and not the stupid viper.
He's not convinced he's doing the right thing following Kaidoh when tennis practice ends, but he's doing it all the same because he knows he won't be able to put the matter to rest until he knows.
So he follows Kaidoh, and the viper's destination is, unsurprisingly, a park when he begins to stretch. He should have known. The fact that Inui appears a few minutes later is also expected. Momo had already guessed Kaidoh was going to train some more, and for some time already he has been doing it with Inui. That's not a secret among the regulars in the club.
They begin to run and Momo follows at a distance, trying to be discreet and to match the pace to their. It shouldn't be hard, he can tell even from where he is, that Inui and Kaidoh are matching the other's pace perfectly. If they can, so can Momo.
He asks himself again why he's doing that when they pass 5 kilometre mark in their run. He feels out of breath and tired, and could be doing something a lot more interesting than running, like playing in the street court or having some food or annoying Ryoma. But Kaidoh and Inui look far from done, they keep running, their pace never faltering, so Momo runs and concentrates in keeping his breathing steady.
When they finally stop Momo is concentrating so hard in his breathing he almost misses it, continuing a few more meters than he intends and almost giving away his position. They're at the riverbank, and odd place to stop but quiet and open enough. He finds a nice spot to observe while he gets his breath back.
On the bank Kaidoh and Inui are stretching, helping each other and sharing a bottle of water before finally collapsing on the grassy bank. They don't do anything by lay there for a few minutes, their bodies aligned and very close, almost touching. They must be more tired than they let on if they don't bother to move apart from each other.
Momo is about to give up and head home when Inui suddenly sits up, saying something to Kaidoh who nods and begins to rise. Inui extends his hand to help him up, and Momo sees surprised how Kaidoh accepts it, letting himself be pulled to his feet. It strikes him as strange to see Kaidoh accepting help from anyone, even Inui, especially because he doesn't release the hand immediately.
Before he has the chance to ponder about it, they are moving and Momo follows. He should be heading home now, dusk is falling and he has homework to finish and the entire afternoon has been useless and tiring.
What does he care about Kaidoh and what he does? It doesn't matter; the whole thing has been stupid.
He stops running after them, turning around to try to find where he is. With all that following them around he has no idea which direction to turn to go home. He moves aimlessly for a few streets until he finds a place he recognizes. He's close to Kaidoh's home, and from there is fifteen minutes walk to his own house. He looks at the time and curses softly, seeing is later than he thought.
He's going to have to run if he doesn't want to be grounded for a week. It's well past his curfew.
He curses himself again for wasting his time in something like that.
He's going to ask Kaidoh straight away when he sees him in the morning, that way he won't need to think about it anymore. He runs into a dark alley behind Kaidoh's house, one he knows as a shortcut to his own, and his breath catches.
He's not going to need to ask, he realizes stopping short. Not with the answer to the mystery right in front of his eyes with Kaidoh pressed against a wall and Inui practically trying to merge against him, his mouth busy devouring Kaidoh's.
And maybe it's not been such a good idea to follow them, because this seems private and something Momo has no right to know. And the clues have been staring at him in the face, and Momo has been too oblivious to notice. It's the little things that matter, as the saying goes, the tiny details he has been noticing the entire day without really seeing them for what they were. Like the way Inui and Kaidoh's steps were completely synchronized during their run, or how Kaidoh had taken a bottle from Inui and drank from it without checking the contents before. And more telling, how it didn't kill him. How they sometimes leaned closer to each other than was necessary, their shoulders bumping more often than not, how their fingers brushed for a second when Inui passed the racket to Kaidoh during practice, the gesture natural and at the same time clearly deliberate.
All those details are there for everyone to see, if they care look.
But it's wrong.
This shouldn't be happening, it's very wrong.
Momo lets out an involuntary noise, ruining his only chance to escape before Kaidoh and Inui find out he knows, and they move away as if burned, turning to stare at him with startled eyes.
"Momoshiro," Inui says, and there is so much in that one word Momo is unable to identify every single emotion in it. Fear and embarrassment are clear, the rest, though, will remain a mystery for him.
It's not Inui the one he's interested in at the moment, anyway. Kaidoh is also staring at him with wide eyes, something frail and uncharacteristically open in them. He doesn’t like it, Kaidoh should never look at him with that vulnerable expression.
"Sorry," he hears himself saying, unable to tear his eyes from Kaidoh. "I--I wasn't--I didn't mean to--I'm sorry." He garbles, inarticulate, his face flaming.
"Momoshiro," Kaidoh's low growl doesn't sound threatening, just shy and afraid. And it's wrong, it's all so wrong.
Momo shakes his head. "This is wrong, this is so wrong," he mumbles, and he can see how Kaidoh tenses, his eyes narrowing into hate filled slits, Inui taking a protective step in front of him. "It's wrong," he declares one more time, firmer now. He understands everything he's seen, the full implications finally reaching his brain, and he glares heatedly at Kaidoh.
That idiot viper, getting ahead of Momo without caring about leaving him behind.
Kaidoh looks about to lunge for him, only Inui's hand curled around his wrist preventing him to, apparently.
"This is so wrong," he says one last time, "why does Mamushi have to find someone before I do?" He can see the way Inui's brows shot up his forehead at his words, his entire posture relaxing, and he realizes how his words might have been misinterpreted. He doesn't care, feeling too annoyed by the situation to pay attention to what he's saying. He ignores Inui for the moment, his attention focused only in Kaidoh, who's regarding him slightly less murderously. "You'll see, Mamushi, I'll get a girlfriend and she's going to be prettier than--" he cuts himself short when he realizes what he's about to say, flushing. "Well, of course she'll be prettier," he continues, undaunted, after a second. "She's going to be my girlfriend, so she's going to be pretty and you, no offence Sempai, are not a pretty girl, not that you're ugly but you're a boy, and not pretty, and not--I'm babbling. I'm going now, but I'm going to get a girlfriend." He turns to leave, Inui's expression a strange mix of embarrassed and amused. It's creepy.
He wishes he had never seen it; it's probably going to be in his nightmares for some time.
"You do that, idiot," Kaidoh's growl follows him as he retreats, but he sounds more amused than angry now, which Momo imagines must be a good thing. At least for Inui. "That way you won't have time to follow people around."
He feels his face heat up but doesn't turn around, afraid he might discover something new again and not ready to face more revelations. One is enough for a day.
And now he needs to find a pretty girlfriend, and hope she isn't much work and leaves him enough free time for tennis. It's a pity there are no pretty girls in the team.
But he'll find one, because he has no intentions to let Kaidoh beat him so easily.
And if Kaidoh can find someone, then certainly Momo can as well.
And it won't be as creepy as Inui-sempai.
…