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Kaidoh opens the door to the research department slowly, careful not to annoy anyone even when he's frustrated, and finds himself looking at a room almost devoid of humans.
"Mizuki and Dan have gone to bed already."
Even late into the night Inui is there, writing out impossibly long equations and sketching Jaeger parts on his gigantic blackboard. It is widely suspected among the base's staff that he sleeps in the lab, but nobody's ever caught him at it.
Inui sets down his chalk, wipes his hands together, and turns around to face Kaidoh.
"Although the chances are ninety-seven percent you aren't looking for either of them, I figured I should tell you anyways."
Kaidoh swallows, knowing Inui is taking in his appearance. His flushed and sweaty face and his clenched fists and bigger-than-usual scowl must not make a nice sight.
Inui adjusts his glasses, "You are frustrated."
Kaidoh has spoken to Inui often enough to know he is fishing for a reason why, and he lets out a large sigh.
"The new guy is Drift compatible with Momoshiro."
"Ah," Inui looks back at his blackboard for a second.
"Tezuka seems to like the new guy, too," Kaidoh looks down at the ground, gritting his teeth. "He set them up to do a test run in a real Jaeger tomorrow."
"You are frustrated because you view yourself as more competent than Momoshiro and more experienced than the new trainee," Inui guesses, looking at Kaidoh with sympathy. "As such, you view yourself as more deserving of piloting a Jaeger, whereas they got the honour of doing so before you. As a result of this frustration, you have been training for the last hour or so, resulting in your flushed and sweaty appearance."
Kaidoh decides to finish off the story for him, "I was going to do more training, but..."
Kaidoh trails off and bites his lip. Inui doesn't interject, simply puts his hands in his pockets and waits.
"Training more doesn't help me become Drift compatible with someone."
"You realized that," Inui picks up again, "and afterwards training became frustrating as well."
Kaidoh nods.
They fall into silence. Inui brings his hand up to his chin, likely calculating some odds that might reassure Kaidoh. He normally did that, when Kaidoh came to him with a dilemma like this. Then he'd propose a solution, and Kaidoh would put that solution into action, and everything started looking a little better.
After a moment, Inui begins frowning. Apparently, things don't look promising, and that just makes Kaidoh angrier.
"Whatever," Kaidoh says, turning towards the door and supposing he could just train some more. "There's nothing I can do about it then I guess. Bye, senpai."
"Wait, Kaidoh."
When he looks back, Inui is taking off his lab coat. Seeing him without it is almost as strange as seeing him without his glasses, and it stops Kaidoh right in his tracks.
"Kaidoh," Inui starts again, speaking strangely solemnly. "Come spar with me."
"With all due respect senpai, I didn't know you had combat experience." Kaidoh turns around to fully face Inui. Inui is removing his shoes now.
"Actually, I was a fully-fledged Jaeger pilot for three years before my partner and I suffered communication difficulties and found ourselves unable to Drift."
Kaidoh gapes at him, as Inui discards his coat, shoes and socks in a pile in front of the blackboard.
"I... Didn't know that." Kaidoh says, unable to think of anything else to say or even fully wrap his head around such a significant fact that Inui never told him.
"There are many things you don't know about me, Kaidoh."
Inui walks over to his desk, and he pushes aside his piles of notebooks and files and papers and even his jar of pens until he finally picks up a small, white object.
A case for contacts.
"If all goes well during this spar," Inui grins, "that will not be the case for long."
Kaidoh doesn't quite know how to respond.
"B-but, you," Inui continues to grin at him, "you're always so immersed in your research why would you make this offer? "
Inui sets down the contacts case, "I do enjoy designing Jaegers but piloting them appeals to me as well. I would like to be back in the thick of things, so to say."
Kaidoh is still trying to wrap his head around everything Inui is saying. He doesn't even know what to ask about first.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" he eventually asks, muttering a bit.
"As for my background, you never asked."
Kaidoh frowns, and Inui chuckles.
"As for the offer to potentially be your partner, I've been contemplating asking you about this for a while," Inui admits, staring at the ceiling for a moment. "I've had thoughts of getting back in a Jaeger more frequently as of recent, and through analyzing your fighting style and taking into account the fact that we have become fairly good friends over this past year, I have determined that we have an eighty-three percent chance of being Drift compatible."
"I didn't extend the offer before because I conceived the notion that you wouldn't want to partner up with me," he looks back at Kaidoh and smiles a little. "Seeing your frustration now and realizing I was the first person you chose to see in such a state, I have realized that that particular notion was incorrect."
Kaidoh blinks in surprise at Inui's admission, feeling a little indignant that his senpai underestimated Kaidoh's regard for him that way.
Inui doesn't wait for Kaidoh to respond to the confession.
"Now," he scratches at the back of his neck sheepishly, "if you would either agree or disagree to spar with me, I would appreciate that. I am now feeling immensely silly for removing my coat and shoes before you actually agreed, and would like your answer before I remove my glasses and shirt."
There is an awkward moment where Kaidoh continues to stare at him blankly. Inui is starting to look less sheepish and more outright embarrassed.
Finally, Kaidoh tears his eyes away from Inui and answers.
"Y-yeah, sure."
Inui perks up immediately, adjusting his glasses to recover his composure.
"That was an agreement, correct?"
"Yeah," Kaidoh sighs again, scratching at his own neck. "I definitely just agreed to spar with you to test our Drift compatibility."
Inui smiles in a way that can only be described as "beaming".
"Excellent," he says, picking up his contacts case again and walking back in Kaidoh's direction. "Shall we proceed to the sparring area?"
"If we're going to walk that far you might want to put your shoes back on."
Inui laughs, and it doesn't sound like his usual mad scientist cackling. He just sounds a bit high-strung.
Kaidoh idly notes that he has never heard Inui laugh that way before. He wonders just how long Inui's been thinking about asking him about this.
"Yes, of course, that would be advisable," he picks up his shoes from the clothes pile on his way to Kaidoh, but he doesn't put them on.
When he walks up to Kaidoh, he is still holding them.
"Shall we depart?"
He gestures animatedly at the door and is still beaming.
Kaidoh finds himself smiling a little in return.
He's not entirely sure about what he'll do if they are compatible, and he's still somewhat frustrated about Momoshiro, but Inui's excitement is spreading to him somehow.
He supposes that going to Inui really is the right thing to do when he wants to calm down.
"Sure."
---
They spar for twenty-three minutes and fourteen seconds with no definite winner.
Then they hear a loud cough from the doorway.
They look towards the source immediately, still keeping their poses.
"Tezuka," Inui says, less surprised than Kaidoh thought he would be.
Tezuka narrows his eyes. Inui and Kaidoh stand up straight and turn to face him.
"I would not ordinarily expect our primary Jaeger designer and a pilot candidate to be sparring late at night."
Kaidoh is too intimidated to respond.
"I had something I wanted to test," Inui replies evenly, in between his deep breaths.
"And did you find your answer?"
Inui looks at Kaidoh for a moment, still breathing hard and flushed and sweaty, and then he looks back to Tezuka.
"I found that Kaidoh and I are Drift compatible."
"So I see."
Inui bows his head, and Kaidoh quickly copies him.
"I would like to resign as a Jaeger designer and be a Jaeger pilot instead, with Kaidoh as my partner."
Tezuka regards them with his usual coolness.
If Kaidoh weren't sweating from exercise already, he'd be sweating from nervousness.
"As I'm sure you know, Oishi and Kikumaru tested your newest creation today, Inui. The unnamed green Jaeger you've been so intent on for months."
The pair look up at Tezuka, not sure where this is going.
"It functions without any difficulty. Since your current project is finished and functioning well, I do not see any difficulties with you resigning as a designer."
"And the other request?" Inui asks, speaking quickly.
Tezuka pauses.
"I see no issues with that arrangement either."
Inui and Kaidoh stop bowing, and Kaidoh feels an almost disbelieving excitement bubble in the pit of his stomach.
"Inui, congratulations on being reinstated as a Jaeger pilot. Kaidoh, congratulations on being chosen."
They stare at each other for a moment. Inui looks completely stunned, and Kaidoh is sure he looks the same.
"You will have your first Drift in the aforementioned recently finished Jaeger in two days time."
"Yes, sir!" They both respond, standing upright.
For a split second, Kaidoh could have sworn he saw Tezuka smile.
"However, it is well past midnight now. I would highly suggest that you stop sparring and shut down the lights in this room as you leave."
Kaidoh is a bit embarrassed at the reminder of exactly how late it is.
"Er, yes, we will do that." Inui replies.
"Very well," Tezuka turns around. "Goodbye, Inui, Kaidoh."
He turns around and leaves before either can respond.
They stand in silence even after he is gone.
"He accepted it. We actually did it." Kaidoh says, as his heart pounds in his chest and his brain tries to catch up to all the implications of actually being a Jaeger pilot.
Inui smiles at him even brighter than he did when Kaidoh agreed to spar.
"That we did."