For Aia, wonderful person you are.

I know you said FujiRyo, but I'm like glue. I just latch and then stick, and unfortunately I'm stuck to Kaidoh until further notice.

Happy Endings

The train was relatively quiet. The metal seats, curved to fit the shape of a hunchback, pressed uncomfortably into Kaidoh's back at the base of his shoulder blades. He fidgeted and fiddled, and stared across at Inui's bag which was sitting somewhat precariously on the edge of the seat while Inui scribbled in one of his notebooks.

The boy looked lost to the world, concentrating only on the notebook in his hand as his glasses flashed and reflected the white fluorescent light inside the train, but behind the glasses, Kaidoh imagined, Inui was observing his every move. It felt a little like it anyway.

Sometimes Kaidoh wondered exactly what went into those notebooks. He imagined he could see the strokes that Inui was writing, and read the characters. Right now he was probably recording the angle at which Eiji was tilting his head, or writing about the way the boy's hair was falling into his eyes, suddenly droopy in the late night heat. Or maybe he was recording the emotions written on Eiji's face; calculating Eiji's heart rate from the crinkles on his forehead or the way his mouth curved at the edges or the light pink on his cheeks.

Kaidoh stopped himself hurriedly, twitching somewhat more and turning away from the boy next to him. Echizen was dozing lightly on Kaidoh's other side, beginning to lean a little towards the boy, and Kaidoh panicked, trying to nudge him back towards Momoshiro.

The train continued on its journey, not caring for the wellbeing of its passengers, even if they were faced with such horrible dilemmas as drooling Echizens.

Kaidoh felt his face flush suddenly as Eiji shifted his legs, kicking them momentarily, scuffing his shoes – heels and then toes – against the old floor. He flexed his calves; the movement not going unnoticed by Inui, spread his legs left and right and then settled in crossing his legs at the ankles in front of him. His eyes never strayed from the book in front of him, but Kaidoh's did.

Kaidoh felt his cheeks heat up. Sitting next to Eiji; sitting so closely was making his entire body tingle – maybe in expectation. He didn't really know why. He just knew that this feeling was horrible and wonderful; like he was teetering on the verge of something so sweet he wanted to taste it and was yet too afraid to step over the edge. As Eiji's legs once again brushed his, he felt himself breathe in quickly and desperately tried to look somewhere else.

A small piece of litter in the far corner of the cabin caught his eye and he glared at it. If he could, he would happily have stomped over to the poor, screwed up, neglected piece of paper and strangled it. He knew he looked stupid.

Well, he probably looked stupid a lot of the time, Kaidoh thought. He reached up to his bandanna subconsciously, wondering if the others saw him the way he saw himself. But it didn't matter, really.

So he went back to glaring at the stupid piece of paper, wishing it would at least turn and run away the way everyone else seemed to.

Although after a few minutes of glaring, he almost felt as though he'd exhausted all of his irritation on the small piece of paper, and thought of going over and thanking it.

A few minutes later, realising that Ryoma and Momoshiro were now completely asleep – Momo snored louder than the train ran over the tracks – and noticing even Inui seemingly struggling to stay awake, Kaidoh let himself relax a little in his seat. Only Fuji seemed mostly awake still, which bothered him more than he tried to let on.

Eiji moved his arm slightly, and the tiny hairs on his forearm brushed against Kaidoh's arm, causing him to tremble slightly. It was as though his entire body was tuned to Eiji's every action and he screwed his eyes closed and leaned forwards to hug his arms around his legs. He felt his muscles twitching and his heart beat thumping and he felt for a moment as though he wasn't getting enough air – as though he was suffocating on the spot.

A hand clasped his shoulder and he let go of his grip on his legs and sat up straight, cheeks flaring pink again. "Kikumaru-senpai!"

Eiji tilted his head and smiled a little. "Nya, are you okay Kaidoh?" He pressed the back of his hand suddenly to Kaidoh's forehead and Kaidoh had to clutch the sides of his track pants with both hands just to concentrate on anything other than the soft touch of Eiji's hand.

The redhead frowned a little and moved his hand to Kaidoh's cheek. "Oi… you feel a bit hot…" and he moved in a little closer to take a better look. "Did you eat something funny? I mean, apart from the Inui juice?"

Kaidoh quickly narrowed his eyes. "Fshhh…"

Eiji watched as the boy turned his face away from him and he smiled, flashing his teeth. "Hoi hoi! Cheer up, nyaa!"

Kaidoh ignored him.

Eiji let the smile on his face slip just a little and he turned back to his book, biting on his lower lip in thought.

Kaidoh for his part, wondered how much longer the train trip might last. The darkness outside didn't help, since he couldn't recognise any landmarks or buildings, and the lights flashing past were just bright and sudden blurs.

Even Fuji now looked as though he was sleeping; dozing maybe. Tezuka was sitting next to him; his eyes closed and his arms crossed.

The sounds of the train tracks were comforting in a way – perhaps because they were regular. Kaidoh imagined he could see the air rushing past the windows on the outside, streaming past the glass in an effort to let the distraction pass through before settling again. He wondered if he was very much like that; moving around to let people pass around him.

Eiji shifted once again and Kaidoh could swear Eiji's thigh was touching his. He wondered when seats had suddenly become so small. He knew there were at least four layers of clothing between them – or possibly six layers – but his body really couldn't care less. He looked around, searching for any possible reason to move; to sit at the other end of the train as far away from Kikumaru Eiji as possible. But there wasn't any reason, and he turned once again to glaring at the hapless piece of paper.

And then he remembered – and wanted to hit himself over the head because he couldn't believe how he'd forgotten. He spread his legs a little, leaning over and pulling his bag a little closer to unzip it and rummage through one of the side compartments. His hand clasped around a bundle of wires and a small cool object, and he pulled it from his bag in triumph.

His brother's mp3 player clasped in his hand, and his ears plugged in to some strange piece of music, Kaidoh sat back. As long as he could concentrate on something, he knew he'd be able to ignore the slight pressure against his thigh where Eiji was sitting just a little too close.

Though even if he was ignore Eiji, that book looked kind of interesting…

Kaidoh glanced at his senpei's book, discreetly trying to work out exactly what Eiji was reading. The task proved harder than he had thought and he shuffled just a few millimetres closer to the redhead so that their thighs were pressing a little more insistently against each other.

When he realised what he'd done, he felt the heat coming back into his cheeks and he stared stiffly ahead, body tensing, wondering if Eiji could possibly notice that he was fast becoming the same colour as his bandanna.

"Kaidoh-kun?" Eiji started slowly, taking his eyes off his book to blink and tilt his head at Kaidoh. Then all seriousness evaporated and he smiled, throwing his arm around his kouhai. "Want to read too?" he asked excitedly, and thrust his treasure at Kaidoh's empty hands.

"Fshhhhhh," Kaidoh hissed somewhat and turned his head away again.

But Eiji just moved his hand to the side of Kaidoh's face and forced him to turn his head. "Want to start from the beginning? Hoi hoi! It's good!" he said brightly, beaming as Kaidoh finally clasped his hands around the sides of the book and felt the heat left in the pages where Eiji had been holding it tightly.

Kaidoh grunted, wishing Eiji would hurry up and move his hand. It was lingering dangerously close to his neck, the tips of Eiji's fingers just brushing against the skin tenderly. He didn't seem to notice what he was doing though, so Kaidoh tried not to draw his attention to it, gritting his teeth as Eiji flipped the pages of the book, forcing the fingers of Kaidoh's right hand to move against the redhead's right hand.

"See this is Kaidoh-kun. He's sort of grumpy; a little stupid and possibly ignorant too," Eiji began quickly, frowning and jabbing his finger childishly at the character on the page.

Kaidoh startled.

"See, I named them after us," Eiji explained, beaming. "I just didn't like their names, nya. So I had to change them. And then this one is Tezuka. He could probably loosen up a bit and his facial expression doesn't change much. And then this one here, he's Ochibi! And then this one here is Kikumaru Eiji!"

Kaidoh stared at his senpai, wondering just how twisted his head really was. He knew Eiji had a childish streak, but wasn't this pushing it?

"But… that's a girl, Kikumaru-senpai," he protested gruffly.

Eiji beamed. "See? She's the prettiest one, ne?"

Kaidoh's cheeks turned a darker shade of pink as he flicked back to look at the cover and found himself staring at a familiar title. It was one of those manga that the girls would sometimes swap after school. It was one of those stories where the theme was romance and the characters spent all of two hundred chapters flirting around each other before ever getting anywhere. It was one of those stories where the pretty girl, in this case Kikumaru, and the pretty boy, in this case… Kaidoh… happened to fall in love…

Oh god.

"Kikumaru-senpai?" Kaidoh said quickly, trying to keep the horrible heat from his face and the waver from his voice. "I don't think-"

Eiji put his fingers on Kaidoh's lips, smiling at him. "It's just a story Kaidoh," he said insistently, and Kaidoh wondered if he was imagining the pretty little blush on Eiji's cheeks.

He stared up at Kaidoh for a moment and Kaidoh shifted uncomfortably, reaching for his bandanna again. Eiji was looking at him intently, and his blue eyes were watching him carefully, and Kaidoh found quickly the action sent a little thrill down his spine, as well as a little discomfort. He wondered what Eiji was thinking as the boy tried to push a few strands of his hair from his eyes. He wondered if Eiji liked the way he looked, and then he blushed again, wondering whether Eiji could read his thoughts from the stupid look on his face.

"But I do-" Kaidoh tried to protest again. Secretly he wanted Eiji to ignore his protests, but he wouldn't have been Kaidoh if he didn't at least once try to dissuade the boy from his silly idea. Although even Inui would have said Eiji would always have the upper hand in these sorts of situations, just because he was Kaidoh's senior.

"Nyaaa, no fair Kaidoh! I'm sharing my book with you, and you haven't offered once to share your music with me!"

Kaidoh's eyes widened in surprise at the loud whine in his ear and he quickly removed one of his earphones and thrust it at Eiji, pulling his hand away as fast as possible when Eiji took the earphones from him. "S-Sorry Kikumaru-senpai."

Eiji seemed nonplussed about the apology and simply put the earphone in his right ear and then leaned his cheek against Kaidoh's shoulder. "Flip the page, nyaa. I've already read this one."

Kaidoh obeyed.

The book didn't last very long; the gentle humming of the train broken by Eiji's gasps and "turn the page quickly, nyaaa!" every few seconds. The music had long since finished, unnoticed by either of the boys who left the earphones in their ears.

Eiji's eyes scanned the panels with excitement and his hands clasped Kaidoh just a little tighter as he registered the words on the pages, and Kaidoh's cheeks flushed just a little pinker every time Eiji leaned into him further.

And Kaidoh actually didn't mind one bit, although Eiji was making him sleepy. He tried to fight back the waves of tiredness, but Eiji's lazy cat-like sprawl was making him tired too, and the slight rocking motion of the train was comforting and monotonous… And before he knew it, he had given in to sleep.

Eiji nudged Kaidoh, suddenly aware of his team mate's lopsided position. "Oi! Turn the page Kaidoh! It's the last one!" he whined, forcing Kaidoh to let go of his grip of the book.

He looked up to see Kaidoh's eyes shut and, caught between sulking and smiling, he settled for the latter; just an indulgent smile when he knew no one was watching. Eiji turned the last page carefully, about to grasp the book from Kaidoh's fingers when it fell to the ground.

Eiji stared mournfully at it for a moment before he took Kaidoh's fingers and wrapped them with his own. Then he stared at the cover of the book for a moment longer before closing his eyes too and settling his cheek again against Kaidoh's shoulder.

He didn't much care for the ending anyway. He was sure they both already knew how it went.

fin

PS. Just so that you know, if we were sitting on a train and were bored stupid, I'd let you have both the earphones. 'Cause one just isn't good enough XD