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Kaidoh goes through the morning before his first Drift in a bit of a daze.
First he wakes up, gets dressed, and eats a small breakfast in the cafeteria. Then he goes for his morning run, showers, and returns to the cafeteria for an apple. Then he goes to the training room to punch a dummy for a while, and returns to the cafeteria for a granola bar. Then he showers again and returns to the cafeteria to throw out the granola bar's wrapper.
Just as he is about to leave the cafeteria for the third time that morning, a hand falls on Kaidoh's shoulder.
Kaidoh outright jumps.
"Wow, somebody has a case of the jitters."
It's Kikumaru who says that, but when Kaidoh turns around, it's Oishi whose hand is on his shoulder. He looks a bit concerned.
"It's okay if you're a nervous eater, but I wouldn't recommend it before Drifting."
Kaidoh looks guiltily at the ground, "Sorry."
"I wouldn't exercize, either," Kikumaru offers, looking over Kaidoh from head to toe. "Jaeger piloting is hard work, and you don't wanna get tired faster than your partner."
Further embarrassed by his lack of foresight, Kaidoh doesn't say anything.
He knows better than to do these things, but the urge to do something when he's nervous is stronger than he is.
Oishi smiles at him and takes his hand back.
"If coming back here so often for food is an excuse to look for Inui, you'll be disappointed. He never eats breakfast in the cafeteria."
"I know that!" Kaidoh hisses. It's not as if he really expected Inui to be there.
He had kind of hoped they would see each other before it was time, but if Inui doesn't feel that way then it can't be helped.
Kikumaru raises an eyebrow at him, and Oishi reaches around to pat Kaidoh on the back.
"Trust your partner, Kaidoh. He'll turn up before it's time."
"Yeah, Inui isn't that much of a jerk."
Kaidoh glares at Kikumaru, and Oishi sighs before resting his hand on Kaidoh's shoulder again, looking him straight in the eye.
"Just take care of yourself in the meantime, okay?"
Even Kikumaru looks serious as Oishi asks that, so Kaidoh nods dutifully.
"Good," Oishi nods, withdraws his hand, and turns to walk away.
"See you later, Kaidoh," he says as he leaves. "I hope everything goes well."
"Good luck!" Kikumaru chimes in as he leaves too, close on Oishi's tail.
Kaidoh silently watches the pair leave the cafeteria, to where ever the experienced Jaeger pilots will go to watch Kaidoh step into one for the first time.
Alongside Inui. Who still hasn't shown his face.
Kaidoh looks up at the clock on the cafeteria wall. He has fourty five minutes before he has to be fully prepared to pilot a Jaeger.
He's been waiting for this day for so long, but Kaidoh still feels a nervous twist in his stomach that makes him want to eat a second breakfast and go for a run again to get rid of it.
He walks off to find the nearest distraction instead.
---
The nearest distraction turns out to be Dan Taichi, one of Inui's (former?) research lab colleagues. Kaidoh has a certain respect for Dan because he is very undaunted, but he is also mildly disturbed by Dan because this undauntedness includes endless enthusiasm for kaiju.
Dan talks energetically at Kaidoh the moment he walks up, about this apparently awesome specimen of live kaiju skin mites he bartered from the Shatterdome in Kanagawa.
Kaidoh tries his best to listen, to get his mind off of where Inui could possibly be and what they're going to do in less than an hour, but it doesn't really work. Kaidoh finds his attention straying from Dan's chatter constantly.
Dan doesn't seem to care.
"So you see, that's why I really want to see a fresh kaiju corpse up close someday!"
He seems to have changed topics during Kaidoh's last space-out, so Kaidoh just nods.
"I tried to get permission to go to the corpse of Nekomata down south, but for some reason the higher-ups think I'll be kidnapped by black market kaiju part dealers so-"
"Dan-kun, I believe that is my co-pilot whose time you are occupying."
Kaidoh's heartbeat speeds up considerably as he whirls around to find Inui standing there, hands in the pockets of his ever-present labcoat.
"Oooh, right!" Dan flushes with embarrassment. "I forgot that was happening today. I'm so sorry for occupying your time Kaidoh-san."
Before Kaidoh can say that it wasn't that bad, Dan takes off down the hallway at a brisk walk.
Kaidoh turns back to Inui. His expression is unreadable.
"Today is the day."
Kaidoh swallows, "Yeah."
"There is a one hundred percent chance you are at least somewhat nervous about it."
Kaidoh gives a little nod.
Inui takes his hand out of his pocket and scratches at the back of his neck.
"Well, I cannot say I am not nervous either."
"But you've... Done this before, haven't you?"
They haven't talked about the "former pilot" thing since Inui first mentioned it, but Kaidoh had assumed the experience would give Inui an edge.
Inui looks rather sheepish.
"Kaidoh, it has been two years, six months, and nine days since I last piloted a Jaeger. I am not exactly in practice."
"Oh." Kaidoh supposes that makes sense.
They fall into silence, standing in the middle of the corridor. Inui returns his hand to his pocket.
Just as Kaidoh is about to ask what they should do, Inui speaks up again.
"There are approximately twenty-seven minutes until we must absolutely be ready. I believe we may want to suit up in the meantime. There are no other tasks to do and it is in our best interest to be ahead of schedule."
Kaidoh nods vigorously at Inui's suggestion. Doing something productive sounds very good right now.
Inui adjusts his glasses.
"Then let us proceed."
They head off down the hallway, falling in step beside each other.
Having Inui beside him makes things better, but nervousness still stirs in Kaidoh's stomach.
---
When they arrive at the pilots' change rooms, the Jaeger suits are laid out for them on a bench, folded neatly with a small slip of paper on top of each denoting whose is whose. Thankfully, they are not the bright green colour of the Jaeger they will be piloting, but a simple black.
Kaidoh would have been excited to see a Jaeger suit fitted specifically for him even if it was green, but the black is definitely cooler.
As Kaidoh picks his up, he stares at it for a moment and feels some of his nervousness become anticipation.
Inui picks his up carelessly and inspects it as it unfolds. The piece of paper that was on top falls to the floor.
He looks to Kaidoh, who is still staring at the folded clothes in his hands.
"I myself requested black for the suits. I thought you'd be more comfortable with it."
Kaidoh snaps out of his reverie to look at Inui, "Oh, thanks."
Kaidoh looks back at his hands and unfolds the suit slowly.
"They're pretty cool," he says. It is a complete understatement of how holding one is getting him impatient to get in the Jaeger already.
Inui smiles at him as if he understands. He had a first time too, so maybe he does.
"They are cool, aren't they."
Kaidoh nods, and puts the suit down on the bench again before he moves to untie his bandana.
Inui drops his suit haphazardly and plunges his hand into his labcoat pocket.
Instead of the contacts he used during his spar with Kaidoh, he pulls out a pair of goggles.
Kaidoh looks at them for only a few seconds, but Inui notices the gaze anyways.
"These goggles are perscription," he explains without facing Kaidoh, taking his glasses off and placing them on the bench. "I wear them because my glasses a bit too large to fit in the helmet. I would wear contacts, but I lost one while piloting once and would prefer to avoid a repeat of the experience."
He stretches the goggles around his head and turns to face Kaidoh again. The goggles are rectangular and surrounded by thick black rubber. Once in place, they achieve the exact same effect Inui's glasses do.
"I don't want laser eye surgery, so these are the next best option."
Kaidoh nods, oddly disappointed that he won't see Inui in contacts again, and turns back to his own changing.
A few minutes of quiet shifting of clothes later, they turn to each other again, fully suited up.
Even with the goggles, Kaidoh thinks that Inui looks rather cool.
They stand there in silence for another few seconds, doing nothing but looking at each other until they both look away.
Inui looks off to the side. Kaidoh looks at the ground.
"Well, all that leaves is for us to go tell everybody we're ready."
Inui moves his hand up as if to adjust his glasses, but the goggles are too tight for that so he ends up jabbing his fingers into the bridge of his nose instead.
Kaidoh decides not to comment on both the moment of staring and Inui's momentary clumsiness.
"Yeah, guess so."
They turn to leave the changeroom, and suddenly Inui is talking again.
"You know, Kaidoh, this is my first time piloting a Jaeger of my own design, and I fear that I will suddenly realize a glaring design flaw while inside it and it will injure us both."
Kaidoh pauses his walking. Inui stops beside him.
"Yeah?"
Inui nods rather quickly.
"This will also be my first time Drifting with somebody I have not known since I was seven."
"Oh." Kaidoh wonders, not for the first time, about what kind of person Inui used to pilot with. He supposes he'll find out in a moment.
"What I am attempting to communicate here is that I am rather nervous at this very second. I may have piloted before but I feel very daunted by the prospect of Drifting right now."
Kaidoh looks down at the floor again, not quite sure of how to respond.
"You don't have to say anything," Inui quickly adds. "I just wanted you to know."
"You did... Tell me that you were nervous earlier."
Inui looks unsure as to where Kaidoh is going with this.
"Yes, I did. I felt that the first time I told you I didn't fully communicate the extent of my nervousness, and I didn't want you to go into this thinking I am more collected than I am in reality."
"You didn't have to repeat yourself. Exactly how nervous you are doesn't bother me. All we need to do is work through it."
Inui is surprised for a second, and then he chuckles.
"That is true, isn't it. You are wise beyond your years, Kaidoh."
"You're only a year older than me, senpai. I don't think you can apply that saying in this case."
"Yet you are clearly wiser than me, so I think I can," Inui grins as he says this, and Kaidoh can tell that beneath the joke the compliment is sincere. Kaidoh is a bit flattered.
"Well, now that I've run my mouth off at you I believe we should get the last pieces of these Jaeger suits fitted in."
Kaidoh nods, and they leave the changeroom without further conversation.
---
As the last pieces are added to the suits and their helmets are put on, Inui addresses the staff who do it by name, whereas Kaidoh has never seen them before in his life.
"Both of them were lab assistants Mizuki hired and then got tired of," Inui explains once the staff are gone, while he and Kaidoh are walking the last stretch before the Jaeger. "They aren't in very prominent positions anymore. That you don't know them doesn't surprise me."
Kaidoh feels mildly outclassed, and then they turn a corner and are there at last.
There's the entrance to the Jaeger's cockpit, circular and gaping, and there is Tezuka Kunimitsu, the commander of Tokyo's Seishun Shatterdome, standing right in front of it.
Kaidoh feels completely outclassed. He can hardly believe this is happening to him as he and Inui step forward in front of Tezuka.
Tezuka regards them coolly.
"Good morning, Inui, Kaidoh. You are both well ahead of schedule, so I trust you are fully prepared?"
Inui and Kaidoh both nod.
"Good. What we are to do today is a simple test run. You are to get in the Jaeger and listen to the instructions you are given. Do not do anything you are not explicitly told to do."
"Yes, sir!" they respond, standing fully at attention now.
Tezuka nods, "Then things are settled here. I will return to the control quarters. You two step into the cockpit and wait for instruction as for when to plug in."
They give another "yes sir" and Tezuka walks right past them as he leaves. They watch him go for a moment, then look to the entrance of the giant machine they will control in a moment.
They look at each other fleetingly one more time before walking forward.
Kaidoh can't help drawing in a sharp breath when he crosses the threshold.
He is in a Jaeger. After a year of rigorous training and hoping desperately that somebody would want to share their head with him, he is actually here.
Before Kaidoh can get too caught up in his excitement, Inui clamps a hand on his shoulder.
Kaidoh doesn't jump as he looks up at him.
"Is there anything you would like to say before we Drift, Kaidoh?"
Kaidoh shakes his head.
"You?"
Inui stares at Kaidoh for a few seconds and opens his mouth.
"Actually-"
He closes his mouth.
Kaidoh frowns at him, "Inui-senpai?"
Inui stares for another few seconds, and then shakes his head to himself.
"It's nothing, Kaidoh. You look nice."
"I what?"
"Alright," a deep voice that Kaidoh doesn't recognize comes in through a speaker somewhere. "Time to plug in to the Jaeger."
Whatever window of opportunity they had for personal talk is over now.
"Do you have any preference as to which side you will occupy, Kaidoh?" Inui is very quick to get back to business.
Kaidoh, still wondering what Inui would have said, mutters in return.
"Not really."
"Then I will take the left."
"Sounds good to me."
They turn away and walk to their respective sides.
Kaidoh pushes Inui's odd hesitation out of his mind. There's no time to dwell on it when they're so close to piloting.
He'll probably learn what it was about in the Drift anyways.
Inui steps into the rig on the left almost thoughtlessly. Even as the machinery responds to his presence and attaches itself to him, he seems at ease. He certainly does not seem as out of practice as he says he is.
Kaidoh approaches his rig a bit more cautiously, hesitating before entering it. He's done this in simulations before, but now that it's the real thing it seems more intimidating.
Kaidoh steels his resolve and brings his foot forward. It clamps in. He brings his other foot forward, and it clamps in as well.
Once he's in place, the machinery attaches itself to him through the suit. It is strange to think that these small plugs and wires will let him control a towering weapon.
Kaidoh feels out of his depth for a moment, restrained and not entirely sure of his balance, but after a few seconds pass and he does not fall, he relaxes.
Then, through a communication channel that sounds much closer to Kaidoh's ears than it did last time, the deep voice speaks again.
"Kaidoh Kaoru and Inui Sadaharu, confirm that you are properly plugged into the Jaeger."
"There are no problems here," Inui says, calling up a screen in front of him and browsing through its options thoughtlessly.
"Are you both prepared to enter the Drift?"
Inui closes the screen, brings his hand back to his side, and looks at Kaidoh. Kaidoh nods.
"We are fully prepared, yes."
"Kaidoh Kaoru, confirm this?"
"Yes sir, I'm ready."
He was, a second ago, but now he can feel his rapid heartbeat as he thinks about what is on the verge of happening.
"Alright, initiating neural handshake in three, two-"
---
The first moment of a Drift is like being thrown into a pool.
One moment, Kaidoh is staring at the metal interior of the Jaeger, then a sudden jolt moves through him and Kaidoh is not seeing at all but picturing things the way one does in a dream.
Then Kaidoh plunges into his memories.
Kaidoh's memory of holding his baby brother comes to him first, as one of his earliest. Then there are memories of being teased in elementary school, then he remembers his first fight, then how his mother burned dinner when the first kaiju attack was televised and he just keeps flitting through these disjointed memories until-
"Don't lose me here, Kaidoh."
Kaidoh becomes much more aware of the other spectator in this Drift. Kaidoh feels like he falls sideways, right into what he knows are Inui's memories, but Kaidoh feels them as if they were his own.
In Inui's memories, the first thing that surfaces is the face of a young boy named Yanagi Renji.
Inui meets this boy on his first day at a new school. Neither Inui nor Yanagi know anybody, and when Inui compliments Yanagi's arrangement of marbles by colour and type, Yanagi smiles. It's cute, in the way that kids are, but the memory weighs on Inui much more than a simple childhood memory.
Yanagi seems to appear in every memory of Inui's. He appears at Inui's household dinners, beside Inui when he is walking home, and he is sitting in Inui's living room, working on a chemistry project, when footage of the first kaiju attack appears on television.
Inui and Yanagi think the whole phenomenon is fascinating. They track every technological advancement made in the face of the kaiju threat and look up every piece of information about the kaiju they can find, staying up late into the night on separate laptops and comparing notes at three in the morning.
When the Jaegers are invented and the pair see footage of them for the first time, Kaidoh sees that Inui sees Yanagi more enthralled than Inui has ever seen him.
Inui and Yanagi exchange a fist bump and a promise to pilot one together one day.
They fixate on this goal all through high school. Their once-perfect grades suffer somewhat in the face of their continued intense research and the physical training, but their work pays off.
When they enlist in the program at eighteen, they are deemed one of the most promising pilot pairs and are within a Jaeger in three months.
Kaidoh feels a bit of unease, knowing they don't pilot together anymore, and that makes Inui do the mental equivalent of shaking his head, apologizing for becoming so absorbed in his memories.
Inui decides he will pull himself out of them. Kaidoh wonders if it's that easy, but then Inui remembers his and Yanagi's first Drift. They pulled themselves out of the memory phase even quicker than this, they were so proud of themselves, and at that Kaidoh realizes that pulling out is actually that easy and-
Then they come to.
Kaidoh is looking at the interior of the Jaeger again.
He can feel Inui's every thought now.
Inui frowns for a moment, stewing in the unease that thinking of Renji brings him, but then he remembers his strategy for pushing those memories out of his mind.
Inui focuses on how absolutely ecstatic he is that he is piloting his own Jaeger. He is piloting a Jaeger he worked on for six months and seventeen days, he is Drifting using technology that he drew on the blueprint himself and isn't that just the coolest thing Kaidoh?
Kaidoh feels Inui's memory of pencil against paper all those months ago and agrees that it is pretty cool.
Inui beams.
Then Inui remembers that he is purposefully distracting himself. Kaidoh extends some sympathy, but Inui insists that Kaidoh shouldn't worry about it.
Inui doesn't want to get lost in memories of Renji again, that's all.
Just thinking that sets Inui into unease again. He doesn't think about Renji every day anymore, and having just relived his memories makes the pain sharper.
Kaidoh wonders what happened between the two.
Inui summarizes it as Renji growing distant from him, going so far as to consciously lower their sync rate in the Drift, until finally Renji cut off their Jaeger partnership without telling Inui he decided to do so.
The last thing Yanagi ever said to Inui wasn't even a proper goodbye, just a "see you later, Sadaharu."
Kaidoh feels his hurt and is sorry for wondering.
Inui says it is natural to wonder, and that maybe they can discuss the situation when they aren't sharing thoughts.
Kaidoh agrees to those terms.
As they both settle down a bit, Kaidoh thinks that this whole Drift thing is kind of overwhelming.
Even with his years of experience, Inui wholeheartedly agrees.
"Alright, sync rates are good. Pilots, please respond."
Kaidoh is shocked at how much mental conversation they had in what must have been only a few seconds, but to Inui the sensation is familiar. Renji once recounted an entire novel to him in what was ten seconds outside their heads.
"Both Kaidoh and I are fine. Kaidoh is simply adjusting to his first Drift experience."
"Inui, Kaidoh," it's Tezuka this time. "Give us some movement."
Inui had a ritual with Renji where when they first started moving the Jaeger, they would clap their hands in a gesture resembling what one would do before they ate.
The gesture reminds Kaidoh of this one anime Hazue used to watch where the main character clapped a lot, though he cannot remember the name. Inui thinks that Kaidoh should voice his thoughts out loud more often because he's actually very entertaining.
Kaidoh is mildly embarrassed and Inui is amused.
"Whatever, let's do your weird clap thing."
They clap their hands together in perfect sync, and the clash of metal against metal can be heard throughout the Jaeger hangar.
Both of them think it is a very satisfying sound. This ritual gets to stay.
"Alright," Tezuka's voice doesn't change but his approval is clear to Inui. "Take five steps forward."
Both Inui and Kaidoh focus on the action. Walking is harder than usual with the rigs on their feet, but Kaidoh knew about that part from simulations. They manage walking just fine.
Inui is thrilled by the feeling of piloting again.
They stop on the fifth step as instructed, and their mental chatter is momentarily blank as they wait for Tezuka's response.
"Alright, we have confirmed that the Jaeger-"
"My Jaeger," Inui thinks, smugness and pride and elation settling deeply in his chest.
"-is moving normally. Walk towards the hangar door and we'll take this outside for some weapon tests."
---
They go through the exercizes perfectly, with Inui's piloting memories and intimate knowledge of the Jaeger guiding them.
Though Inui's memories of Renji keep surfacing, no matter how many times he wills them down.
Kaidoh sees many things in them, but Inui pushes them out of his head quickly and the only thing that sticks with Kaidoh is that Inui and Yanagi took out seven kaiju in their three years piloting together.
They used the same approach against every kaiju during this time. They would always spend a period of time collecting the kaiju's data and then they would strike decisively.
Inui tells Kaidoh that he is under no obligation to follow the same procedure, but it will still remain part of his thought process.
Kaidoh is actually grateful for Inui's experience. His confidence that he can kill kaiju rids Kaidoh of any reservations about his ability to.
Inui is glad he can be of help.
"Alright, ready the arm cannon." Tezuka tells them.
They largely tune out their mental dialogue and focus on lifting the right arm of the Jaeger. Kaidoh hovers over the option to activate the cannon.
"Fire."
After a moment's charge, the cannon fires.
Inui grins from ear to ear, remembering the nights he spent designing this cannon. He remembers the feel of pencil to paper, of chalk to chalkboard, and of endless poring over reference books. He remembers one specific night working on it when Oishi came into the lab to check on him with a cup of Inui's favorite tea.
Kaidoh interrupts the flow of memories by thinking that he didn't know Inui and Oishi were good friends.
Inui has known Oishi for more than two years now. The memory of their first meeting comes back to him.
It took place only three days and thirteen hours after he left Renji, thirty-two minutes after he first entered Seishun Shatterdome. Oishi did not have as distinctive a haircut as he does now, and he hovered behind Tezuka almost constantly. He was Tezuka's co-pilot at the time, and largely forgettable in the face of his strangely charismatic partner.
In the beginning, it was more that Inui befriending Tezuka meant he was befriending Oishi by extension. During his first week of knowing the two, Inui would often forget that Oishi was there until he spoke.
Kaidoh thinks about his own memories of Oishi the experienced Jaeger pilot who offered him advice and well-wishes this morning. He is glad that the present Oishi is more outgoing than the Oishi of Inui's memories.
Inui agrees, feeling a hint of pride at how far his friend has come since then. He's changed for the better, from Tezuka's injury to Kikumaru's arrival.
Inui sees that most people focus on the tragedy of leaving a partner behind, but he thinks they should focus more on how beneficial having a new partner tends to be.
Kaidoh feels a pang of conflicted emotions at that thought, now that he knows how much Inui is speaking from experience. Inui feels the pang too, and insists that there's no need for Kaidoh to feel bad on his behalf.
Then Tezuka's voice cuts in again.
"We have confirmed everything we need to. Return to the hangar. I will be waiting to inform you of your results when you step out of the Jaeger."
As they turn around, Kaidoh focuses his thoughts on walking, on the feeling of moving the feet of a giant with his own.
Inui still feels the leftovers of that earlier pang and he admires how quickly Kaidoh can focus.
Kaidoh thanks him for the compliment, and Inui attempts to mimic Kaidoh's thought process as they walk back. They focus on putting one foot in front of the other, on the feel of the metal clasped around their feet and of machinery shifting beneath them.
Inui gets derailed by remembering that he designed this Jaeger they are piloting. He gets excited about it again, and Kaidoh finds it kind of endearing.
Inui is glad Kaidoh thinks so. It makes him blush that Kaidoh finds him endearing.
Knowing that embarrasses Kaidoh thoroughly.
Inui thinks they should stop thinking about this kind of thing if it's going to embarrass Kaidoh.
Instead, Inui starts to daydream about the design of the Jaeger.
As they step inside the threshold of the Jaeger hangar once more, Inui thinks about the mechanics of how it moves, how it connects to the pilots' brains, the logistics of installing weaponry, and even finer points than those.
Ordinarily, Kaidoh would find it impossible to follow, but since it makes perfect sense to Inui it makes perfect sense to him too. Kaidoh is absolutely positive he will forget how much sense it makes the moment they disconnect, but for now he lets part of his brain be absorbed in Inui's thoughts of measurements and sketches and complicated robotics while they walk.
Kaidoh finds it soothing to do so, and Inui is a bit surprised by that.
Kaidoh doesn't know why it surprises him.
"I listen to you when you say things like this outside of your head. Why would you think I didn't like it?"
Inui is a bit embarrassed, there goes his habit of assuming Kaidoh doesn't like him all that much.
He feels Kaidoh's indignancy himself this time and is glad Kaidoh's regard for him is so high.
"Alright," the deep voice interrupts them again.
While Inui was daydreaming and dragging Kaidoh along for the ride, they had arrived at the Jaeger's docking station.
"Settle into a neutral position and prepare for the disconnect."
Inui takes a moment to smile at Kaidoh while they relax their posture.
Kaidoh ends up smiling back, feeling for himself the happiness bubbling in Inui's stomach from getting to pilot a Jaeger he designed with the person he likes.
"Wait."
Inui realizes what Kaidoh caught on to just then and feels completely mortified. He had been doing so well at not thinking about it.
"Disconnecting in three, two-"
"Inui-senpai-"
"One!"
---
There is a moment of nothing but black, as the connection is severed. Kaidoh's mind is purely his own now.
It is incredibly disorienting at first, to lose the mental noise of Inui's thoughts and feelings, but when Kaidoh remembers what he last heard in the Drift he comes to quickly.
"Inui-senpai!" he repeats, out loud this time, wrenching off his helmet. "What was that last thought about?"
Inui does not look at him right away. He heaves a large sigh and removes his own helmet. He looks somewhat defeated and wholly embarrassed.
"That last thought was..." Inui trails off, disconnecting some plugs from his suit. "Well, it was exactly what you thought it was about."
Kaidoh takes a moment to think about that and the implications of it.
He comes to a realization.
"That hesitation before we got in the Jaeger. That's what it was about," Kaidoh looks Inui right in the eye. "You were hesitating about whether to tell me that you-"
"Kaidoh," Inui looks away from Kaidoh and gestures at the machinery that surrounds them, "we can still be heard through the communicator."
No matter how confused and curious and indignant he is, Kaidoh understands, and he bites his tongue before he can say anymore.
"You might want to unplug," Inui suggests as he steps out of his place entirely, helmet held to his hip.
He turns around to face Kaidoh, who still hasn't moved from his spot.
Inui's face is completely red. The sight makes Kaidoh even less capable of movement.
Inui notices Kaidoh is staring and he looks away again.
"Let's go listen to Tezuka's briefing and sort this mess out afterwards."
Kaidoh hurriedly unplugs and rushes to stand beside Inui as the Jaeger's cockpit is opened from the outside.
Inui is still red-faced.
"I apologize for sullying our first Drift together with that."
Kaidoh looks at him. He lets out a somewhat frustrated hiss and looks away from him.
"It was fine, Inui-senpai."
"Really?" Inui sounds somewhat hopeful.
Kaidoh doesn't face him, but he nods.
He hopes that's enough of a response for now, since at that moment the exit opens and Inui and Kaidoh are greeted to fresh air and a crowd of people clapping.
---
Tezuka's briefing ends up taking the "brief" part to heart.
After a moment of loud congratulations and clapping from the crowd to the new pair, Tezuka lifts his hand to silence everybody and says:
"It was a solid first run. We will do more test runs in the future, but this alone has proved your competence well. Inui, Kaidoh, you two are now on the roster for the next kaiju attack."
"Yes, sir."
Tezuka nods.
"Congratulations."
With that, Tezuka walks out.
The crowd then moves in on Inui and Kaidoh, making them bump into each other. They barely even notice the contact, overwhelmed by the clamour around them as the base staff hurry to get a word in.
Dan comes up at some point, giving both of them very excited congratulations. Mizuki has deemed it a worthy occasion to leave the lab, and puts his hand on Inui's shoulder as he talks about how it was incredibly obvious to him that they would succeed.
Even Momoshiro comes up to Kaidoh at some point. He nudges Kaidoh and says "welcome to the club" and somehow it isn't annoying. Standing behind Momoshiro, Echizen nods approvingly.
Right after the seventh base staff whose name Kaidoh ought to know but doesn't offers congratulations, Oishi comes up to Inui and Kaidoh, Kikumaru in step beside him as usual.
"Congrats, you two!" Kikumaru grins at the pair. "I'm looking forward to working with you."
Oishi, meanwhile, raises a questioning eyebrow at Inui.
Inui grimaces and waves dismissively at him, but that just makes Oishi frown.
Kaidoh gets the sinking feeling that he knows what the silent conversation was about.
Oishi seems to come to a decision when it's over. He claps his hands together very loudly.
"Alright," his voice carries over the crowd rather well, so they shut up quickly. "I know this is exciting for all of us, but Drifting is tiring and Drifting for the first time is doubly tiring, so let's get back to work and let our new pilots recuperate for a while, okay?"
A murmur of agreement goes through the crowd, and they start filing away from the area.
Oishi and Kikumaru wait until everybody else filters out, Kikumaru does some very enthusiastic shooing away of people, and then they finally turn to leave too.
Oishi looks over his shoulder as they do.
"Congratulations, by the way. Both of you."
Inui smiles, "Thank you very much."
Kaidoh bows his head a little, "Thanks."
They leave, and Kikumaru gives Inui and Kaidoh one last thumbs-up gesture and a wink as he and Oishi round the corner.
Kaidoh is now sure that they knew about Inui's crush the whole time.
He wants to hit his head on something, remembering this morning's conversation with the pair through the lens of that knowledge.
The knowledge that people other than him know Inui likes him. As something other than a friend or co-pilot.
They haven't talked about it yet, since they were high on the excitement of success and surrounded by people.
But now, they are relatively calm and completely alone, standing in their Jaeger suits on the bridge.
They turn to each other at the exact same time.
Inui looks off to the side.
"I assume you would like to resume our conversation about-"
"You've had a huge crush on me this whole time."
Kaidoh's tone is accusing in spite of himself, and Inui winces.
"Yes," he admits. "For about seven months and twelve days now, I believe."
"You decided not to tell me this before we Drifted together."
Kaidoh knows he sounds disbelieving and exasperated, and he does not blame Inui for looking down at the floor.
"Yes. The chances I calculated of you responding favourably to the confession were only fifteen percent, and I really do want to pilot with you, Kaidoh. Regardless of my infatuation, I want that. Back when I piloted with Renji, we figured out techniques to avoid thinking about specific things in the Drift, so I figured I could use those when we were in the Drift together, and then the chances of you rejecting me would not come into play in our potential combination."
Kaidoh cannot believe how red-faced Inui is at the moment.
"I apologize for my behaviour. Trying to keep a secret from you was unquestionably stupid, I understand if you want to just call the whole thing off-"
"Inui-senpai."
Inui looks Kaidoh in the eye again.
"Calling off piloting with you for something like that would be stupid. I want to pilot with you too, and I told you I was okay with the crush thing when we were leaving the Jaeger."
Inui scratches at his neck, "I suppose you did."
"So," Kaidoh feels more awkward by the second. "Don't worry about it."
"Okay."
They stand in silence.
Inui still looks embarrassed and ashamed, and Kaidoh realizes that there is something else he should say on the subject.
He swallows the urge to run away and takes a deep breath.
"I accept."
"What?"
Kaidoh is sure he's almost as red-faced as Inui now.
"W-We'll pretend you actually confessed. So I accept."
Inui's whole body seems to perk up.
"You do?"
Kaidoh nods.
Inui blinks in surprise.
Then he gives Kaidoh that large smile he gave him a few days ago, when Tezuka agreed to let them pilot.
Though somehow he looks even happier.
They stand in silence for a moment again.
Inui continues to smile to himself while Kaidoh lets the day's events catch up to him.
He has been appointed a full-fledged Jaeger pilot and may have just agreed to date his co-pilot. Kaidoh can't say it's how he saw events proceeding when he woke up this morning.
"So, Kaidoh," Inui picks at the strap holding the goggles to his head, still red-faced but not ashamed anymore. "Would you like to leave this matter alone for now and go get changed into more ordinary clothes?"
"Yes please."
With that, they take off down the hallway.
Inui hasn't stopped smiling. It's actually kind of endearing.
Kaidoh smiles too, down at ground, and feels as if piloting with Inui is the best decision he's ever made.