Chapter Text
Arakita was used to living in dorms, but Kinjou wasn't. Arakita had gotten accustomed to a rowdy, close-quarters existence in his years at Hakone. Arakita wasn't quite sure what Kinjou's living situation had been at Sohoku but he obviously wasn't acclimating well to Yonan University’s around-the-clock camaraderie.
Arakita couldn't place what was bothering him about it. During rides with the Yonan bicycle team if he happened to be behind Kinjou he would unconsciously look out for it. There was a bit of lag there. And it wasn't the former Sohoku captain's bad knee, he knew from talking to Fuku-chan to be aware of that. More like exhaustion. Not like third-day at Inter High exhaustion but instead a slow bleeding away, would be hard to discern if you hadn't seen Kinjou ride before.
Kinjou looked fine in class, though. Hell, took better notes than Arakita. In their group study sessions Arakita would always hone in on the guy to ask for school help. But Arakita knew he himself was a dumbass so his not stacking up wasn't saying much. But Kinjou had thick glasses frames and that had to stand for something in the brains department, so reasoned Arakita.
Still, something didn't smell right.
Arakita noticed too when their other teammates would invite Kinjou out to drink with them, or to goof off downtown. Kinjou would always politely decline. He'd disappear after practice to who-knows-where. Arakita wasn't sure if Kinjou was the type to have a girlfriend already, especially with his lack of trying. And he didn’t seem unsociable enough to turn down a drink. So Arakita was worried.
Maybe worried isn't right. Disappointed. Arakita had been so excited when he learned that Kinjou also ended up at Yonan. Another stoic captain to pull and follow! They'd become unstoppable! But his unease about Kinjou's performance at practices had put a damper on those delusions of grandeur. It was getting to the point where Arakita was actually getting pissed off about it.
-----
After another day of practice finished, Arakita spotted Kinjou still in his Yonan jersey and coasting his bike back towards the main road. Arakita plucked his own Bianchi up and turned it around, then kicked himself off in the direction that Kinjou went. He wasn't sure what he was doing exactly. He hadn’t planned this at all. The anger had started to well up again and he had to finally do something about it.
He decided he wasn't going to run down Kinjou and confront him, instead he just wanted to see where the guy was going off to hide.
Kinjou veered off their team's usual training route and opted to climb the first hill. Their leading captain usually chose to forgo it, instead focusing on warming up with a sprint and saving the climb phase for a further out incline. The grade of this slope was less severe but his slow covert following speed caused gravity to take its toll on Arakita. After a bit he was grumbling he developed an irritation on top of his bubbling anger while following Kinjou.
Then when turning with the road around the edge of the hill near its peak Arakita spotted Kinjou's bike propped up against a fence in the grass, but its owner was nowhere to be found. As Arakita clicked his bike closer to where the other one was parked he was able to peek over the edge of the curvature of the hill, and saw a figure lying in the grass.
"You're an asshole, you know that?" Arakita snapped while rolling to a stop and propping his bike against the nearby guardrail.
One of Kinjou's sharp eyebrows appeared arched above his sunglasses as he tilted his head up to get a better look at the intruder.
"Arakita." Kinjou turned his attention back to the horizon. "Was there something you needed?"
"Yeah. There's something I need." Arakita growled as he hopped over the guardrail onto the green, tromping towards Kinjou's prone form. "I need you to stop fucking around!"
Kinjou smirked to the sky. "Your definition of that kind of behavior is sensitive. I'm fully clothed and just laying here."
"And stop with that over-literal shit! I had to deal with it for three years with Fuku-chan, don't need to hear it from you!" Arakita plopped down cross-legged next to Kinjou. "Your performance has been crap lately. What the fuck happened?"
Kinjou sat up to match Arakita's sitting height and took off his sunglasses, all the better to glare with. "What makes you say that?"
Arakita clicked his tongue and kicked back into the grass, laying out with all his limbs spread. "At Inter-High you kept up with Fuku-chan, when you tried. He struggled to keep you in check. I trained with him for years and I'm just not seeing that from you in practice now." Arakita burst upwards into a sitting position again. "It sucks and is confusing as hell!"
Kinjou just smiled. "What makes you think you haven't gotten better than Fukutomi since then?"
"No! Nonononono! Don't try to spin this back on me!" Arakita popped up onto his heels and stood up, then stomped back to the road to his bike. "You suck, Kinjou!"
And with that, Arakita was gone back down the hill. Kinjou put his sunglasses back on, laid back down with his hands under his head and went back to staring into the fading sunlight.
-----
At the next Yonan bicycle club practice ride Arakita lead at the front of the pack. After the training session a freshly-showered and casually dressed Arakita stood at his designated locker, stuffing various things into a duffel that he might need over the weekend. He was so distracted packing things up that he didn't notice Kinjou, still in his biking jersey, suddenly sitting on the bench behind him. When Arakita turned around he made a sharp squeak and dropped his shampoo bottle.
"Gah! Fuck! How is a big dork like you so quiet!" Arakita snarled as he scrambled to pick up the bottle before it rolled away.
Kinjou's eyes were closed and he didn't answer immediately.
"Practice." He said, and smiled.
Arakita snorted. "Well at least you're getting good at something." He placed the shampoo bottle in his bag. "What do you want?"
Kinjou didn't break from staring straight ahead at the lower level of lockers. "I've been thinking about what you said."
"Oh, about how I'm right." Arakita quickly zipped up his bag, the sharp noise punctuating that what he said wasn't a question.
At that, Kinjou glanced up at Arakita. "Perhaps."
Arakita shouldered his duffel and turned to squint down at Kinjou. "That's probably the best I'm going to get out of you." He hopped over the bench and started striding towards the locker room exit. "And what are you going to do about it?"
Kinjou quickly turned around on the bench and said to Arakita's back, "Come out with me."
Arakita froze and slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder. "Out where?"
Kinjou looked up at the ceiling for a second and then brought his eyes back down to meet Arakita's, "I've been craving udon lately."
"O—kay. Udon. I guess can do udon." Arakita fully turned back around to face Kinjou, who now stood up from the bench. He was still in his Yonan uniform. "Hurry up and go change, before I regret this!"
Kinjou smirked and walked around to the other side of the lockers. As he turned the corner Arakita heard him say, "You may still regret it."
"You're a real charmer, you know that Kin-chan!" Arakita yelled over the wall, not caring who else heard.
-----
The noodle place Kinjou took Arakita had been really good, so he couldn't bring himself to be grumpy about the whole situation. But it was still weird and sudden.
Their conversation over dinner had mostly been reminiscing about Inter High. Arakita didn't know much else about the guy.
"Kinjou, do you like cats?"
Kinjou slurped up his noodle and paused to think. "I don't really know any. Do you have a pet back at home?"
Arakita smiled into his bowl. "A dog, not a cat. But I like cats! When they let me."
"Sounds like we need a club mascot," Kinjou teased while fishing out the remainder of his noodles.
"Hah! Lemme know when you find one that’s not scared off by your face." Arakita picked up his bowl to sip out the remaining broth.
------
Kinjou ended up paying for the both of them, completely ignoring Arakita's protests. "You can get next time," he said.
Next time. Arakita still didn't know what this was all about.
On their walk back to the side of campus where the dorms were Arakita finally asked. "So what do you want?"
Kinjou glanced over and then forward intent on his walking. "I want to win races."
"Well yeah, we all do! What does that have to do with buying me dinner? Do I owe you a race now? Because you're not going to win with your shit performance lately." Arakita kicked at a rock that went clacking down the dark sidewalk.
It was too dim for Arakita to see Kinjou smiling. "I need someone like you who doesn't mind telling me to my face when I'm under-performing. Or in your case, enjoys telling me."
"I actually don't enjoy watching you flail around like a stupid shitty baby! It was really irritating me! So I told you. Lotta good that did."
"It was good, Arakita." Kinjou stopped walking. "I want to ask you something."
Arakita also stopped walking and turned back to Kinjou. "Just ask then. You don’t need permission."
"Will you help me catch up?" Kinjou stared, stone-faced. Arakita knew the stubborn guy wouldn't start walking again until he got an answer.
Arakita broke his gaze and acted more interested in the buzzing street lamp overhead. When its flicker finally reminded him to look back down he noticed Kinjou still hadn't budged.
"I will if you promise to try. Really try! I want to see the Snake of the Stone Path again!"
Kinjou closed his eyes in what looked like relief. "That I can promise." Kinjou started walking again and Arakita swung around in step with him.
Before they split off to their respective dorms Arakita griped, "Ugh, this means I have to wake up extra early tomorrow, huh." He wiped his hand down his face and then turned abruptly to Kinjou, "And you better be awake when I come knocking! I got real tired of the Mommy-Waking-Up-Schoolkid shit with Shinkai, I expect better of you! You got that, Kin-chan!"
Kinjou nodded. "Got it. Thank you, Arakita."
Arakita had already broken off to climb the stairwell. "Don't thank me till we get your butt into shape. And you better treat me to more udon! My fee!"
"Sounds reasonable." Kinjou turned to make his way down the hallway to his own dorm. "Good night."
Arakita just grumbled.
-----
Kinjou was true to his word. On the second knock in the morning he opened his dorm door and startled Arakita.
“Good. I don’t have the energy to kick your door down. Have you eaten?”
“Yes.” Kinjou responded. He turned and locked the door.
As they made their way down the hall towards the dorm entrance Arakita asked, “Kin-chan, are you a morning person or a night person?”
“I’m not particular. I’m whatever I need to be—”
“Bullshit!” Arakita barked. “Just answer the question, which are you!?”
They exited the dorms and made their way in the direction of the club room. Kinjou sighed. “If I’m being forced to pick one, I’d have to say night person. I have a tendency to stay up late to finish things.”
“Okay! That’s good to know. That means you’re going to be extra shit in the mornings, and we’ll have to try harder then.”