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It burned him to say it, but he spent too much time in the academy. Seijuro Mikoshiba was retiring and this meant many things to Momotarou Mikoshiba. First, it meant his dream of piloting with his brother was not going to happen—something Rin had warned was going to happen long before the actual moment. The strain of being a single pilot was too much and with his engagement to Gou, well, it was safer to quit while he was ahead. Second, he now did not have co-pilot waiting for him, and third, it meant that Momo was going to have to go through the test of drift compatibility. The Samezuka jaeger division wasn’t exactly on its last legs or trying to prop itself up like the Iwatobi division. It was just that he was so ready to do this with his brother –like very ready—like stayed up the whole night in excitement for his graduation party ready. The same party where, unfortunately, his brother announced he was leaving.
The nerve.
If he was going to complain it also meant that their totally cool name was out. Honestly the true tragedy of the situation, and the fact that Ren and Ran are going to be the only sibling duo once they graduate. The Tachibanas were startling with the amount of jaeger pilots they were generating. He was surprised when Haruka and Makoto announced that they were a team and that Makoto wasn’t going to wait for them.
“Hey, I told you not to get so hell bent on it,” Rin grumbled, clearly only half paying attention to Momo’s pouty lips and sad eyes.
Now that he thought about it, Rin’s work load had probably doubled, maybe even tripled with his brother leaving. He did feel kind of bad for him. His brother would still be on site, but more as advisor than anything, and possibly helping with new recruits. Regardless, this is where Sousuke should be stepping into help with the paperwork and training regimens were usually made by the teams and specialized for each pilot. Jaeger co-pilots generally did everything with each other most likely a side effect of being in someone’s head at all times. Which lead to the sudden realization that Rin was missing his other half as Sousuke was not there, in fact he wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
“Bah! Whatever you’re not the one who lost their partner, Senpai!” Momo whined out, his head slamming down on to the desk in front of him in a grand act of resignation, “How could Nii-chan do this to me?”
“Stop whining you will be fine,” Rin said, running a hand through his hair, messing up his joke of a pony tail. Momo eyed him, kind of annoyed, kind of concerned, but mostly realizing Rin was over worked.
“Hey, since my brother is marrying your sister does that mean I ca—“
“No.”
“I didn’t"
“No.”
o.O.o.O.o
Running away was the term Sousuke would use. Being an idiot was what Rin would call it, and his brother might have said it was sulking, but Momo definitely called it avoiding the problem. The problem at hand was the drift compatibility, Rin was sure they would match as Rin was his partner last year before Sousuke transferred over this year and, wow this kid was actually his best friend from elementary school? Isn’t that crazy? Momo who had come to respect Rin and had even thought they knew each other pretty well, but this clearly showed that no, him and Rin did not know or understand well at all.
Momo did not have a best friend he trusted everything with, he did not have best friend that practically took care of him, like Makoto and Haru, nor did he have some best friend returning just to be his partner. Sousuke literally fell from the sky at the perfect time for Rin. To be perfectly honest Rei and Nagisa were unreal too. Who becomes best friends that fast?
It wasn’t like he didn’t have friends or even a best friend, he was sure he was compatible with all his childhood friends it was just that none of them went on to jaeger pilot training. The engineering, medical, media and kaiju study were equally important areas. If he didn’t get to be a pilot he wouldn’t mind joining the engineering division; he his scores were pretty good and they were always looking for people. His sister and his old friends from high school were there and it wouldn’t be so bad. He could even go and get a job with Iwatobi—any division there would take him no matter the score, and they all seemed pretty cool.
Regardless when it came to piloting Momo just had his brother— who apparently now had Gou, not that he was bitter. But he would definitely admit to being hurt and only to his brother. Disgruntled he focused on the task on at hand; he had better things to be doing than fighting to save the world—like frying an egg and then eating it afterwards. A real skill, if he was to be honest, and done in the safety of the Samezuka site kitchen. He glanced to the side and looked at Pyunsuke, at least his beetle never let him down.
“People, Pyunsuke-chan, people.” Momo shook his vigorously shaking off some gloomy thoughts. “All trying to ruin my happiness! How lame is that little buddy?”
Pyunsuke gave a little twitch in response, which Momo roughly translated to ‘eat more! You’ll feel better!’ Pyunsuke always gave great advice and eating had always made him feel better and what was better then—
WOOO—
He nearly dropped the frying pan. There was no mistaking it, the warning signal for a Kaiju had sounded. He found himself turning off the stove, setting down the spatula, and gritting his teeth. He had no station to report to and no partner to join with, he had no reason to leave this area. He would only be getting in the way, the smart thing to do would be to stay put.
WOOO—
Betrayed by his feet, he moved out the kitchen, and the hurt as he began to walk into the hallway, and the devastation as he entered the dome with nothing to do, but watch the people move around. Mutely he glanced to his left and right as people were prepping for Sharkbite’s departure into the fight. Kazuki Manami was talking hurriedly with Takuya Uozumi—actually the two seemed quite frantic as if there was great problem other than the incoming of kaiju. Then seemingly out of nowhere rushed over Toru Iwashimizu who moved his arms with such great intensity it was frightening, usually Iwashimizu was the calmest of three. He could clearly remember his trainee days, when he would always give some suave and nonchalant answer to anything Momo had asked, despite the rising absurdity to get him to say something silly.
WOOO—
The betrayal of his legs seemed to be on going as he practically ran to them. The two gave him the same frantic looks and allowed him to give his own panic look. He could feel it bubbling in his chest while whole heartedly deciding there was definitely a thing to be worried about and most definitely a thing that was going to be way terrible if it was not fixed in couple of minutes or even better, right now.
Manami looked particularly ruffled, his brown hair seemed to be going in every direction, and his purple eyes darted around the room quickly and methodically. Uozumi jaw was set so tight, he’d be surprised if words were ever going to exit.
“We have a problem,” Manami said as he ran hand through his hair and balling the other into a fist—the alarm not missing a beat, “Sousuke-senpai can’t be found anywhere!”
“Momo-kun, they are the only active pilots on base, this—“
“This is a disaster! We’ve tried calling over to Iwatobi, but they don’t even have all the equipment yet Killer Dolphin hasn’t been used sense the past fight. The ETA for them getting to the Kaiju is 116 minutes,” Uozumi finished.
A lot can happen in 116 minutes. Momo could watch three episodes of some half hour tv show maybe more; he could see a crappy movie; he could bake a cake; he could go home and visit his parents, but most importantly the drift compatibility test would have been finished in 50 minutes. He could have had a pilot with him right now, he could be in jaeger right now. In a 116 minutes he was sure Tokyo would be devastated with a loss it hasn’t experienced in over 6 months. His chest tightened, and no his eyes were most definitely not watering.
“I don—“
“Momo! There you are!” Rin shouted and running from the stair case leading to the control tower.
“Captain!” They all simultaneously shouted straitening up. Rin scrunched his eyebrows and frown.
“There’s no time—Momo get in the Jaeger with me,” He stated and grabbed him by his arm.
Rin’s face was hard as steel and Momo couldn’t help but feel like he was making some great sacrifice by doing this with him, and while he would bite down an indignant comment he couldn’t help but wonder where Sousuke was.
“Where—“
“I don’t know,” Rin cut him off, his glare suddenly being directed at him in full force. “You are the only one who is qualified to stand in, and so you will.”
Momo didn’t really know about qualified. He was quite sure there were others that could do this, an emergency call to his brother could even be smarter, but he was moving forward only barely nodding as Rin dragged him in a choke hold— and for a moment, he could pretend this is what it would be like to be with his brother.The fight wasn’t exactly as hard as anticipated, it most certainly wasn’t easy. Momo had three statements he would like to amend. First, he was extremely and outrageously wrong about the Iwatobi jaeger pilots being friends. Looking back, it was cute that he had ever even thought that—he felt bad for Rin for walking in on either pair as he had apparently done it many times. On the other hand, Rin should have warned or implied or maybe even flat out stated that he and Sousuke were together.
o.O.o.O.o
The amount of sex they have is unreal, the amount that Momo knows they have is horrifying. He had to wonder how many times had he almost walked in on them? Knocking has never seemed more important in his life. He did wonder what Rin would do if he knew that he cried that night for Rin’s dad, or for his time in Australia. He always pictured Rin to be someone who was steel inside and out, but the jokes on him. Rin cries at the drop of a hat and Momo is apparently has a stronger resolve when it comes to romance movies.
Rin cannot sleep without his pillow, and he accidentally called his coach mom in elementary school. He likes eating meat and spicy foods and refuses to touch anything sweet. He’s really great at speaking English, which made drifting difficult because he would randomly switch between languages. No wonder Sousuke was adamant about learning English, Momo had always thought it was for diplomacy, but apparently not. He also knew why Rin had to drift with him.
It hurt at the time and he choose not to acknowledge it. If simply for no other reason that Rin’s sake, whose feelings were everywhere. He was sure that Rin now knew all his feelings on his brother leaving, his marriage to Gou, his irritation that he couldn’t connect with Rin no matter how hard he tried, and the abandonment he felt.
Momo decided that drifting was not bonding, in fact, he felt like they were forced to exchange dairies. He was even a little bitter at Sousuke for not being there, but it’s hard to tell if that is all him with, or how much of Rin had bled over into him. From the drift he knew Sousuke was hiding something, and he wondered if Rin noticed it or just ignored it out of respect. He didn’t want to think about how he felt like he practically piloted with Sousuke--he made a resolute decision to never be with lovers, they could have lovers but they cannot have piloted with their lovers. He wasn’t sure if he was to be piloting with Rin again, but he couldn’t help but feel as though he would have to, the phantom pain in his shoulder hadn’t left and even he felt like the jaeger was warning him, standing in someone else’s place was dangerous, and even more dangerous in battle.
He glanced down in the jar in his hands, Pyunsuke had never let him down. He could already feel Rin being chaotic and moody behind his office door, or perhaps he was just assuming. He did know a lot of facts now about Rin, but actually doing something on them felt dangerous. He once again couldn’t help but feel invasive right now, drifting did not give him the right to meddle.
But maybe it did for Pyunsuke.
He knocked on the door three times waiting (he was not going to going to walk in on them if they had made up), and briefly hearing something that resembled a come in.
“Rin-senpai!” Momo shouted, he found himself grinning, despite his previous thoughts because he totally got the ok to come inside. Rin sat at his desk and had a blank look on his face. The papers before him were clearly decoration and the pencil in his hands a prop to show some effort.
“I come bearing a temporary gift!” Momo declared and dramatically placed Pyunsuke onto the desk, again he grinned.
“You’re letting me have a bug,” Rin said. A sigh escaped his lips and eyebrows scrunched together into a look that might have been disdain, but couldn’t possibly be since it was directed at Pyunsuke. No one could hate Pyunsuke.
“Borrowing! I figured you could use him, Pyunsuke-chan is very good at giving advice—though he does suggest eating most of the time when it comes to my problems, but he never lets you down,” Momo said and scratched his chin sagely.
“Problems?” Rin inquired as he raised the glass to get better look at the beetle.
o.O.o.O.o
“So are you going to do it?” Sousuke inquired, leaning against the door frame of Momo’s room.
“Of course Senpai!” Momo cheered as he packed some more of his stuff into a bag. Cleaning his room had been a harder a task then he had realized but if he had he might have started earlier and not just couple hours before move out time.
“Why do you think I’m cleaning so much? For fun?” Momo grinned as if his joke was too funny.
“True,” Sousuke said, smiled and walked into the room, “but, I think you might need this?” He teased and lifted up shirt.
“Hey, it’s a processes Senpai!” Momo said and snatched the shirt away from the weenie.
“Momo,” Sousuke said and took a seat on the edge of his bed, “Thanks."
Momo froze, shirt now hanging uselessly in his hand just inches above his bag and suddenly felt the blood rushing to his face, “Ah! There’s no need Senpai!” Momo said, and spastically swung his arms forward to gesture that’s enough.
The moment was unreal Sousuke always seemed a little too cool to be talking to Momo, whenever he asked for help from him, he would get an exasperated sigh. If Momo was honest he would say that Souske reminded him a lot of his brother. He was strong, and could make important decisions, he was only a little colder. Seijuro was warm colors and compliments while Sousuke was cool colors and told you what needed to be done. It sometimes made it difficult to talk to him.
“You drifted with Rin for you first time, successfully defeated the Kaiju and kept your cool through the whole ordeal,” Sousuke stated, while leaving out he was the reason why it happen.
Momo shrugged a little, he did well in the simulations and his brother always told him what it was like to be in the drift so wasn’t as hard as he made it sound. Momo did know you weren’t supposed to drift with someone who had a previous partner, but it worked out. It usually did.
“I can’t believe you’re being bashful for once? You really are the new dangerous force your brother described you to be,” Sousuke said and laughed, his head thrown back and his hand going to his mouth.
o.O.o.O.o
50 dulling minutes of the neuro-exam, three basic and completely irrelevant questionnaires, and one physical exam later and Momo was waiting for Rin to introduce him to his new Jaeger co-pilot. Rin was effectively taking time off for Sousuke to have his shoulder heal. Momo couldn’t believe Sousuke had managed to keep it so under the radar that not even Rin had noticed was something short of astounding. The site advisor Suigimoto must have had a field day when found out about the injury, that couldn’t have been fun to report that to the higher ups. Now, though, he was getting a partner of his own. He couldn’t help but wonder if they would be as cool as his brother, or as strong as Rin, or maybe as chill as Iwashimizu?
“Momo, are you ready?” Rin asked as he appeared out of his office.
“Ahh, of course Rin-senpai! Why did you make me wait so long?” Momo exclaimed bouncing on the balls of his feet. Rin made a face that could have been rolling his eyes, but he would never do that to Momo after he loaned him Pyunsuke.
“This is Ai.” Momo looked over to see a guy with bowl cut of silver hair, definitely shorter then him, and skinny as they come.
“Ou! You’re so cool Ai-senpai!” Momo said nearly crashing into the other boy in his excitement.
“Uh, Nitori.” He said and suddenly overcome with a look of exhaustion.
Rin and Nitori shared a look, one that Momo couldn’t really discern, but it felt familiar
“Hey, Nitori-senpai! You should come with me to my brother’s wedding, since we are going to be co-pilots now! My brothers really cool, you’ll definitely like him. He even used to work here—“
“Momo I think Ai would have heard of your brother,” Rin said and effectively cutting Momo off with an arm around his neck
“Rin-senpai,” Momo whined, “Hey, since my brother is marrying your sister does that mean I ca—“
“No.”
“I didn’t ask anything yet!”
“No.”