
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/101002.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Tennis_no_Oujisama_|_Prince_of_Tennis
  Relationship:
      Inui_Sadaharu/Kaidoh_Kaoru
  Character:
      Inui_Sadaharu, Kaidoh_Kaoru
  Stats:
      Published: 2009-01-11 Words: 1786
****** The Spice of Life ******
by Venivincere
Summary
     Variety is the spice of life. Or is it?
Notes
     Prillalar, what a daunting task, writing InuKai for someone who
     understands them so well. I hope I came up with something you found
     believable and enjoyed. Happy Smexing!
Title: The Spice of Life
Recipient's name: prillalar
Rating: NC-17
Pairing(s): Inui/Kaidoh
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created by Konomi
Takeshi. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is
intended.
Summary: Variety is the spice of life. Or is it?
Author Notes: prillalar, what a daunting task, writing InuKai for someone who
understands them so well. I hope I came up with something you found believable
and enjoyed. Happy Smexing!
When Inui sits down to plan training menus, he doesn't notice that he regularly
makes three for Kaidoh for every one he does for everyone else until Fuji
points it out.

"Is he progressing that quickly?" asks Fuji.

Inui doesn't even need to look at him to know he's wearing a predatory smile.
"Sloppy," he says to himself after he escapes, but he's not quite ready to
analyze why. There's an 80% chance he already knows the reason. If it's what he
thinks it is, there's plenty of time to figure out what to do about it. The
season's just begun.
From: Inui-senpai
Your new training menu is ready. I've increased your morning run by two
kilometers.

From: Kaidoh Kaoru
Thank you, senpai. I'll text you my data afterward.

From: Inui-senpai
Please call me, instead.
Inui doesn't get an answer to his last text until Kaidoh calls him after his
run. He sounds slightly more winded than usual, but Inui thinks he's handling
it well. Kaidoh's voice is still rough from running; it sends shivers through
Inui's skin that skitter all over his body and end up in his underwear.

"How do you feel? Are you sure the extra distance isn't too much strain?" asks
Inui, just before he hangs up.

"I'm good, senpai. It's OK."

When he gets to morning practice, Inui hands Kaidoh the new training menu. All
the new items are highlighted and Inui's carefully bordered the page in green
magic marker.

"Thank you, senpai," says Kaidoh.

Inui watches Kaidoh study it carefully before stuffing it in his tennis bag.

^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^

"I have a new nutritional juice," says Inui, a week later. "He pushes up his
glasses and shifts his weight to his other foot. "I'd like you to come over and
try it, Kaidoh."

"Uh..." Kaidoh looks down, out over the courts, back toward the changing rooms,
anywhere but at Inui's face.

There's a 95% chance Kaidoh is trying to find a way to say no. Inui makes a
mental note that the offer of juice is not an effective inducement to accept an
invitation. But what else can he offer? He panics. And then double panics
because if Kaidoh does look up at Inui's face, he's going to see a big bead of
nervous sweat trickling down the middle of Inui's forehead. "We can have dinner
and discuss your progress on the new training menu. I've correlated all the
data." The bead of sweat disappears under the bridge of Inui's glasses, which
slip a little further down his nose.

Kaidoh acquiesces, sort of. "I have to check with my mom, first, senpai."

Inui smiles. Kaidoh-san always says yes.

After practice, Inui supervises Kaidoh's afternoon training regimen himself,
matching him lunge for lunge, sprint for sprint, taking short breaks to record
Kaidoh's data. They walk to Inui's apartment afterward, as the sun hovers in a
fiery red haze on the horizon.

Kaidoh takes direction well, so it doesn't surprise Inui that he makes a good
sous-chef. They make broccoli shumai, some pork gyoza from a package in Inui's
freezer, and Inui broils fish. Kaidoh adds rice and water to the cooker when
Inui tells him to. By the time everything is ready to eat, Inui can hear
Kaidoh's stomach rumbling.

"Itadakimasu," says Kaidoh, bowing his head.

Inui watches him take his first bite. Kaidoh closes his eyes and his breath
whuffs out.

"This is delicious, senpai."

Inui feels a little melty inside. His limbs go loose and when he reaches for
more gyoza, he knocks over his cup of Super Nutritional Rainbow Remix.

"Senpai!" says Kaidoh, making a napkin barrier and catching some of it before
it runs onto the tatami mat. Inui mops up the rest with the towels he's used to
bring the hot dishes to the table. None escapes to the floor.

"It's OK, Kaidoh," says Inui, looking a little mournful at his empty glass.
He's disappointed, but he drinks his nutritional juice with every supper. He
pours himself a cup of barley tea, instead. "A little variety is nice, once in
awhile."

Inui has no idea why saying that would make Kaidoh blush, but it does. Bright
red.

"You've extended your range of peak muscle efficiency by 1.5% over the last two
weeks," said Inui later on, after the dishes are done. They're sitting on his
bed with their backs to the wall, and Inui's leafing through a notebook marked
on the front in green with "Kaidoh #4". He shows Kaidoh a table with a graph
above it. Kaidoh leans over Inui to get a little closer to the paper, and
traces the line on the graph with his finger. "That's all since you lengthened
your morning run." Kaidoh's so close that the skin on Inui's arm buzzes and the
hair stands up. Kaidoh smells like warm skin and his floral shampoo as he leans
over Inui's arm, and Inui can't remember what he was going to say next.
Instead, he breathes deep through his nose and out his mouth, jaw loose, almost
as though he's trying to taste the smell of Kaidoh. He edges the notebook back
over his lap so Kaidoh can't see the evidence of his fascination.

Kaidoh drops his arm and leans briefly against Inui as he gets himself back to
where he was sitting before he leaned forward. He's blushing again, but not as
red as before. After a moment, Inui's head clears enough to continue. "Next, we
have to work more on your wrist and shoulder strength. Hitting the Snake is
stressing the joints, but stopping the shot is not an option. The strain will
be less if we build your muscles up."

"What should I do to strengthen them?" asks Kaidoh.

"I'm not sure yet. You're already doing a third again as much swing training as
the others."

Kaidoh looks away from Inui and bites his lip.

"Or maybe even more," says Inui.

Later on that evening, lying awake in bed with his hands down the front of his
pyjamas, Inui replays the deep, red blush of Kaidoh's cheeks and the soft
brushes of Kaidoh's arm on his own. He hears in his head the deep, gruff voice
saying "This is delicious, senpai" and "thank you, senpai." He imagines that
same voice saying "I like you, too, senpai." He imagines the buzz of Kaidoh's
electric touch on his face; his own lips throb hot, anticipating an electric
kiss. He imagines Kaidoh's touch on the flat of his stomach, and clenches his
teeth, swallows around a groan, and spills himself into his hand.

^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^
From: Inui-senpai
Can you meet me before morning practice tomorrow? I have a new training menu
for you.

From: Kaidoh Kaoru
Sure, senpai. 6:45 in the changing room?

From: Inui-senpai
Meet me on the embankment under the overpass. I want to show you the new route
for your afternoon run.
Inui's shoes slide in the dewy grass on his way down to the embankment path.
Kaidoh's already there in his practice uniform, backpack slung over his back.
He's sipping from a bottle of Volvic. Inui bounces the last few steps down the
hill and pulls the new menu out of his pack.

"I've decreased your afternoon run by half a kilometer. Please follow this new
route." He flips the page over and shows Kaidoh the map. "The run still ends
right here, where you do your swing practice. But you'll have a little more
time for it."

"The menu says 'bring a towel,' senpai? Are we swimming?"

"No. I have an idea for strengthening your wrists and shoulders."

Inui has class duty and makes it to practice late. He stays after practice to
get in what he missed. "I'll meet you at the embankment when you're done with
your run," he says, and does just that.

"Come into the river with me," says Inui, and he has to restrain himself from
grabbing Kaidoh's hand and tugging him along. "Bring your towel."

Kaidoh follows, towel around his shoulders. When they get out to the middle of
the shallow river, Inui instructs Kaidoh to take the towel, dip it in the
water, and swing. "Keep your wrist straight, like with a tennis racquet."

Kaidoh looks surprised when he tries it. "I can feel it in my shoulders." He
keeps going, with something like a smile on his lips.

Inui looks at Kaidoh in the late afternoon sun, drops of water clinging like
gems to his skin, and sighs. He never tires of looking at Kaidoh, no matter
what Kaidoh is doing. He's had the opportunity to observe Kaidoh in a variety
of situations at every time of the day, and it's stirred something in him, some
sort of satisfaction. But it also stirs a hunger.

"Kaidoh, come with me to dinner? Let's get ramen," he says. "My treat."

"Thank you, senpai." Kaidoh looks at Inui and blushes. And he brings the towel
around and holds it in front of himself. Now it's Inui's turn to blush and be
thankful he's got Kaidoh #4 in his hands in front of him.

^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^

Dinner with Kaidoh becomes a habit. They rarely eat anywhere other than Inui's
house or the ramen stand they first had dinner at. But even if they did, it
wouldn't matter, so much. Variety isn't the only spice of life.

"Be sure to eat a banana a day, especially when the weather gets hotter," says
Inui to Kaidoh over dinner, one evening. "You risk losing potassium when you
sweat so much.

"Thank you, senpai."

When they get to Inui's house a little later, Kaidoh pulls Inui's head down and
thanks him again, this time with a kiss. His hands slide down the outside of
Inui's arms, and it's like new, every time, the sparks that ignite under Inui's
skin, sparks that make him stumble and press against Kaidoh, tilt his face
down, and carefully kiss Kaidoh's cheeks, the bridge of his nose, his open,
panting mouth.

Warmth buzzes all over Inui's skin, and he's content. Variety can take a hike;
Kaidoh is the spice of life.
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