Titolo: sayonara janai
Fandom: Free!
Personaggi: Aiichirou Nitori/Momotarou Mikoshiba
Genere: fluff, un pochino di angst, romantico
Avvertimenti: in inglese, shounen-ai, future fic, hurt/comfort (? maybe?)
Parole: 1572
Note: COW-T, settimana 6, esame di fine anno - Tanit, la ship l'ho arrubata di nuovo alla lisachanoando XD e il bello è che ho detto "mah okay, la scrivo, ma non è che li shippo, cioè non è che non mi piace la ship ma proprio non mi arriva, non la percepisco" #einvece.
E niente, il disagio in questi ragazzi è sempre una cosa bella su cui scrivere. E non riuscirò mai a trovare un titolo decente per le fic. OTZ *piange* sembro una giappominkia, quanta vergogna. ç_ç


This evening Momotarou is not in a good mood. Aiichirou guessed so because his roommate just burst into the room they're sharing, threw something on the chair with quite some noise and then climbed on his bunk flopping on it with a grumble and a loud mutter. Because even when he's upset, Momo can't just do anything quietly. Of course, then, Ai noticed immediately, and frowned at that unusual behavior.
They've shared the room for two years now, and while Momo has had bad moods often, there is something in the way he absolutely avoided Aiichirou's eyes as he disappeared to his bed immediately and without a word. There was something sad.
"Momo-kun?" Ai hums, gazing worriedly up at the wooden surface that's a small ceiling between him and Momo's mattress.
"Mh?" Momo grunts, with chagrin scratching clearly in his voice.
"Are you alright?" Ai continues sounding quiet and patient while at the same time digging through his memories of the day to find a clue to what could have possibly turned off the constant hyper mood in his friend.
"Yeah. 'M alright," Momo mutters, and a few squeaks tell Ai that he turned on his bed, probably to face the wall and curl up.
Aiichirou holds a breath for some seconds, before letting it out impatiently but in a soft sound, not to bother the other boy even more in case he was the source of his disappointment, even though Momo gave no signals that he was angry at him specifically.
Eventually, he rolls down from his own bed, and looks at the figure on the top bunk, huddled like a ball. It makes some compassion stir in his chest, placid but not dull, and that feeling pulls him to climb the bunk bed's structure and crawl on top of Momo, who turned his head against the pillow in the meanwhile.
Ai has an idea of what's bothering him.

"Momo-kun, are you sad because I'm leaving in a few days?" He asks, careful but still blunt. The small noise coming from the boy bundled up in a fetal position seems to confirm so, and Ai puffs air out in a funny mix of sadness and amusement. The entertainment is all due to how adorably ridiculous Momotarou can act when he tries to hold his feelings in, since he is really not one to do that at all. How hard and strong he wants to look even when he is not.
Ai flops on top of him, forcing him to roll back and face his friend, and when he does his light eyes seem to be saddled with the entire world's weigh.
"We'll see each other again, Momo-kun," Ai reminds him crossing his arms on Momo's chest and leaning his chin on them to examine Momo attentively with his blue, smart eyes. "I'm not moving to a different country. Besides, I'll be here for the summer!"
"Yeah..." Momo grumbles, with his face moving again to make him look at the wall as a slight blush appears on his cheeks and his lips press together to suppress his emotions. Ai does imagine they are strong ones: after all he is sad too about leaving the Academy and Momo as well. He had fun these years, swimming and studying together, sharing a room and assisting to Momotarou's shenanigans.
"I won't miss your blabber about bugs, though," he tries teasing with a smirk, to value just how upset Momo is. In a normal situation, he would turn around and whine that it's a mean thing to say, but he doesn't. Ai is sure there's a sigh leaving him, and a frown scrunches his eyebrows in a definitively serious expression of bitterness. Oh, this is bad. Ai has barely ever seen him like this, taking something seriously and not breaking into something exaggerated.
So he lies next to him, wrapping an arm around Momotarou's waist.
"I'll miss you too," he hums, lying his head on the other male's shoulder.
Momo's throat constricts for a moment in a swallow, and then finally he looks into Aiichirou's eyes.
"I'll send you texts," he croaks, with his own already wet and tears threatening to spill out.
"Of course," Ai replies, moved in his tone and expression. He hesitates, timid, bites down just a little on his bottom lip with his brows knitting together, and right as his thoughts fade into a blank he takes a big breath and presses his lips against Momo's. They are soft, wet, and hard for the sudden tension that blocked all of his muscles in their position. Ai's chest echoes loud in his ears with the loud roar in his veins and the idea of rejection flashes with anxiety behind his eyelids before he realizes he did indeed close his eyes.

He kissed Momo because they are alone and it's probably the last moment he has to do something like that, maybe. He kissed Momo because it would help, maybe, or because he simply felt like it. But he did it, and now he stares into Momotarou's yellow eyes with an uncomfortable, fast spiking fear. The mirrored expression in Momo's features goes from bewilderment with lips parting and eyes blowing wide, to embarrassment with a deep flush coloring his cheeks red, and then confusion. He frowns with an uncertain stutter: "N-Nitori-senpai...? You like me too, then?"
Ai blinks a few times, now shocked.
"Wait, what do you mean 'you like me too'?" He squeaks out, before rolling back on top of Momotarou's form. "So you like me?"
"I, um. Yeah, I mean, Nitori-senpai was always kind and supportive of me, and we have some good memories. We had lotsa fun, didn't we? Right?" Momo replies in quick shots, with a shade of pink to his cheeks that almost matches his hair color in intensity. But Ai just keeps gaping at him with so much surprise it would seem like Momo kissed him.
"Do you like me?" Momo asks then, raising up on his elbows and now looking straight into Aiichirou's eyes, so differently from how he did just a moment ago.
Aiichirou's lips open and close repeatedly like he was a goldfish, and he blinks just as frequently, which gives him a ridiculous air that Momo ends up laughing at despite himself.
"I-I don't know. I did that because... because I thought it would, um..." Ai begins, but his voice fades almost immediately as he realizes he does not have a honest answer. "Well, maybe I do? I don't know, Momo-kun!" He continues, now with a petulant tone.
"But there's a chance, right? It's not a yes but it's not a no either, right? So you could like me, right? Like, it's a possibility. Right?"
Momo talks fast all in one breath, ending up in a higher tone and his hands brushing on Aiichirou's arm while the two move together to sit upright and close at the bottom of the mattress so that Momo is now crawling on top of Ai, with his eyes still pointed and staring at Aiichirou's lips. "Can I have another? Another kiss? Can I? Can I?" He adds, faster, even, and the hopeful tone in his voice finally manages shaking the older, and making him smile. None of them stops blushing for the entire time they experiment with brief and nervous kisses melting one after the other into longer, clumsier and wetter ones, but the moment their heads begin spinning and they gasp for air after who knows how much time, euphoria finally kicks in and they laugh, leaning into each other and hugging.
"I think I might like you, after all, Momo-kun," Aiichirou's murmur is surprisingly quiet between a deep breath and another, and the new wave of blood rushing up to his cheeks might be unnoticeable with how red he already looks anyway.
"Good! You look like a tomato," Momo chirps in a voice that sounds cheerful again, pinching his cheeks, and then he leans forward again to taste Ai again.
"Ah! Shut up, you look very red yourself, Captain Mikoshiba," Ai teases, going from a shocked reaction to a grin.
"Captain Mikoshiba?! Really?" Momo's face is filled with wonder and disbelief as the thought of being the second Mikoshiba who'll lead the Samezuka team crosses through his mind.
"Yep. I decided that last week after I studied our team's times and yours are the best," Ai replies with a smug grin, and satisfaction painted on his face for Momo really pushed himself a lot to bring results to the swim team.
"Nitori-senpai!" Momotarou yells even though it's midnight and they are both very tired, glomping Aiichirou and making them both end up sprawled on the bed again with the structure of it squeaking dangerously under their total weigh.

That night, they fall asleep hugging, half-naked and both the boys' skin is dirty with semen after nervous touches and kisses turned to late exploration which they promised they will push harder for in the next months, and for every time they will happen to see each other. As Ai mumbled before falling asleep, it's the end of high school for him, but they don't have to drift apart, especially now that something new began. Momo smiled, with a nod.
"I feel better now, Nitori-senpai," he replied as he closed his eyes, last night, and then he also drifted into sleep with a warm hug pulling them together.