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It's been the worst day and the best day and even when they've eaten so much sushi Momo can barely move, he doesn't want it to end. So when they're crowding out the door, calling their thanks and their good-byes, Momo grabs Kaidoh by the arm.
"Let's go hit."
Kaidoh stares at him. "Now?"
"Yes, now," Momo says. "Let's play a match. I won't be satisfied until I win at least one today."
"I have to go home." Kaidoh pulls his arm away.
"I saved you twice," Momo says. "Your life and, more importantly, your tennis. So you owe me." He's not sure he likes the look that springs up on Kaidoh's face, but who else's ass is he going to kick?
"You'll be sorry," Kaidoh says, but he swings his tennis bag onto his shoulder and follows Momo to the courts.
They play and Momo kicks it up a notch because they're the freaking Kantou champions and he's going to break Kaidoh's serve this game, for sure; everything is coming up Momo and then he rushes to the side of the court and all that's coming up is their celebratory sushi dinner.
"Told you you'd be sorry," Kaidoh says, and gives Momo a handkerchief to wipe his mouth.
+
"There's no practice today." Momo falls in beside Kaidoh as they walk through the school gates.
"So?" Kaidoh walks faster.
Momo walks faster too, which he had been planning to do anyhow. "So, you still owe me."
"We're supposed to rest today."
Momo puts his arm around Kaidoh's shoulders. "That's why you're going to buy me ramen."
"I have to go out running," Kaidoh says and speeds up a little more.
"You're the one who said we have to rest." Momo steers them around the corner and down near the station and into the dubious-looking restaurant that he likes because it's cheap.
Momo orders for both of them, the large bowl with everything. He's halfway done while Kaidoh is still blowing on his.
"Ramen has too much sodium." Kaidoh shifts and their knees bump under the counter.
"You sound like Tezuka-buchou." Momo pulls Kaidoh's half-finished bowl toward him.
"You're not going to puke again, are you?" Kaidoh says.
+
"I can't afford to buy you ramen every day." Kaidoh pulls his shoes on.
"I know, I know." Momo unleans himself from the wall. "But the math homework."
Kaidoh pushes out the door. "Copying is cheating."
"Well, maybe you could tutor me." Momo catches Kaidoh up. "You're good at math, right?"
"Of course I am." Kaidoh keeps walking and Momo tags along and they end up at Kaidoh's house, in Kaidoh's room, with snacks from Kaidoh's mom.
They spread out their homework. Kaidoh gets a funny cluster of lines in the middle of his forehead while he's working, different than the ones from when he's yelling at Momo. He whispers the problems to himself while he's solving them.
Momo looks down at his blank sheet. "Can you show me how to do the first question?"
"Are you even trying?" Kaidoh works it out on scrap paper, and growls the steps at Momo as he goes. He holds his pencil so precisely and his numbers are so neat, his grade-school teachers must have loved him.
"I think I get it now," Momo says. "Thank you."
+
Saturday after practice, Kaidoh falls in step with Momo. "Ramen is disgusting," he says.
"More for me then." Momo grins.
"You'll get fat." Kaidoh eyes Momo's midsection, like he can see it puffing out.
"Never," Momo says. "I'm too athletic. Where are we going?"
Kaidoh takes Momo to a less dubious restaurant and buys them both chilled soba with nori. It's tasty but not very filling.
"What do you think Nationals will be like?" Kaidoh asks.
"We'll roll over anyone in our way." Momo holds his fist out and Kaidoh bumps it. "We should think up a cool name for our doubles pair."
+
Momo heads out of the club room. He drops his bag to try a new dance move some kids in his class showed him. "Hey," he calls to Kaidoh. Maybe they should add some dance moves in their doubles play, distract their opponents, look cool.
Kaidoh is over by the water fountains and Inui is there with him, bending over him. Looming, like a dark and twisted tree, trapping Kaidoh in his shadow.
Momo's feet tangle and he staggers. He grabs his bag and heads for the school gate, wondering what they're talking about and why Momo feels like he's swallowed a stone.
He gets out his phone, he's going to to text Echizen to meet him at the street courts. Kaidoh jogs up beside him.
"What was that about?" Momo shoves his phone into his pocket.
Kaidoh shrugs. "Lecturing me."
"What about?"
"Let's go to the arcade." Kaidoh is a step and a half ahead of Momo.
Momo stops. Kaidoh looks back over his shoulder. "My shoe," Momo says and catches up.
Kaidoh in the arcade has that same cluster of lines on his forehead as Kaidoh doing math, he hunches like he's on the court, moves the controls with the same power.
"Are you even paying attention?" Kaidoh kills Momo for the third time.
"One more time," Momo says and bumps Kaidoh's shoulder with his own.
+
"More tutoring?" Kaidoh sits down on the floor, his back against the side of Momo's bed. "Or am I supposed to clean your room for you?"
Momo turns on the small TV and puts on a puts on a movie. "No," he says. "We're hanging out. Just hanging out." He sits down next to Kaidoh.
"I thought I owed you."
"By now," Momo says, and he can feel the warmth coming off of Kaidoh's body, like Kaidoh is a patch of sunlight and Momo is a cat. He leans in so their shoulders are together. "By now I probably owe you."
Kaidoh's arm tenses and he seems to stop for a few seconds, long seconds, then he shifts his leg and their knees are pressing too. "If you clean my room," he says, "it will end up worse than before."
"Definitely," Momo says. He's warm all over, a little jumpy, a little daring. He tries to make a calculation but he's not that kind of guy, so he just runs and leaps instead and puts his hand down on top of Kaidoh's.
There's a second even longer than before, then Kaidoh turns his hand and their fingers slide together, locked. Kaidoh's thumb brushes over Momo's and Momo's heart does a brand new dance move, with an extra spin.
"After this," Kaidoh says, "let's play a match."
"You'll be sorry," Momo says and squeezes Kaidoh's hand.