Notes: Written for a friend and posted in May of this year. I had a lot of fun writing this story :D I changed the title. :P

Ever Seen a Snake Dance?

By Miki

Kaidou's first kiss is also Momoshiro's first kiss. Neither of them know that, of course, and the incident itself isn't romantic at all.

It's more painful than anything else. They're trying to learn to dance for PE; an initiative of one of their teachers who thinks that boys of their age need more coordination and less testosterone, and who thinks that a little coordinated dancing at the seniors' graduation night wouldn't go astray.

Dancing doesn't cure testosterone, nor stupidity, so Kaidou and Momoshiro who have been stuck with each other as punishment for being late to the class - they were busy fighting in the change rooms over a mixup involving their shirts - aren't exactly helpful when they're trying to learn the waltz.

Kaidou's infuriated that he's been designated 'the girly part' and Momoshiro's hand around his waist is sending creepy chills up his spine. Momoshiro's trying not to touch him too much, but when they move onto the next dance, which requires dipping, Momo's hand slips. Kaidou's surprisingly heavy. He's pretty built and Momo's not used to bending forwards and trying to hold someone up. Kaidou looks terrified as though Momo's about to drop him, and so to scare him, Momo lets him.

Just for a moment, he tells himself, and then he'll catch Kaidou and Mamushi'll be absolutely livid and Momo can laugh about it and tease him.

Instead, he really does drop Kaidou. Momo stumbles and Kaidou falls and his arms shoot out and suddenly instead of just touching Momo as little as possible, he's thrown his arms around the boy and is pulling him down too.

Things bang and bump and Momo feels as though his elbows have gotten the worst of it - almost.

Their mouths hit together and Momo yelps. His tooth is throbbing all of a sudden and he feels spit on his lips and Kaidou looks shocked and the rest of the class bursts into laughter and Kaidou punches his head.

Hard.

(S)

It's an accident, of course, since everything Momo does is accidental.

Kaidou still can't face his classmates a week later, and Momo teases him about it even though he's just as embarrassed as Kaidou. Kaidou's his scapegoat though, and he teases him endlessly during the next lesson, even though they're both dancing with different partners and Kaidou doesn't have to be the girl.

Momo snorts as he watches Kaidou falling over his own feet, trying to lead when his partner is leading him instead. He's trying so hard that he's staring too much at his own feet and not seeing where he's going.

Momo catches Kaidou rehearsing his steps after training the next day.

He's just finished the laps that Tezuka-buchou has assigned him for torturing Mamushi. He wants to resent the fact that Echizen's left him here and gone off for burgers with Eiji-senpai, and he wants to resent the fact that Mamushi didn't get any laps even though it was totally obvious he started the whole thing by staring at Momo first.

Momo makes sure to bang the door when he walks into the change rooms.

Kaidou freezes in his movements, caught out.

Momo brushes past him, shoving him a little and feeling like picking a fight again.

"You know why snakes can't dance, Mamushi?" he says.

Kaidou turns to him, pulling off his shirt, hurrying to get out now that he's been caught. He hisses.

"It's 'cause they don't have legs, stupid," Momo says, only half-satisfied with himself.

He knows Davide's puns can be awful, but sometimes he wouldn't mind sounding smarter when he pays out Mamushi.

"Shut up," Kaidou says, and doesn't bother wiping the sweat still on his face. He pulls off his shorts and struggles with the knots in his shoelaces, feeling like his routine's off course. It's the dancing that's done it. He feels awkward and stupid now and he didn't before. He didn't know how uncoordinated he was before this, even though he's been practising and even though Inui's told him he's better than 84 of the other boys in his year level.

Momo thinks it's practical to take off his shoes before taking off his shorts. He watches Kaidou out of the corner of his eyes.

"You're not still sulking about that, are you?"

Kaidou hisses; louder this time. "What are you talking about?"

Momo frowns, suddenly annoyed. Really annoyed.

Kaidou ignores him and is halfway out the door before Momoshiro catches his shoulder and pushes him back, banging his head against the door.

They glare at each other.

Momo isn't quite sure what it is, but he lets Kaidou go for some reason and goes home feeling frustrated and pedalling his bike so hard that he nearly runs Echizen over by accident.

Echizen's had four burgers on Eiji-senpai and Momo thinks of his empty stomach, feeling sorry for himself and wondering what he's missed out on.

But somehow, when he thinks of Kaidou, he suddenly isn't so hungry anymore.

(S)

The incident, as Kaidou likes to think of it, is probably something that ought to be filed away somewhere and forgotten.

He thinks everyone else should forget about it too, but the girls in his class think it's funny that he and Momoshiro are paired up together again the third time they have a dancing class.

Kaidou's not used to dancing the girly part. He's been practising the boy part, since he's a boy after all.

He argues with Momoshiro about it too, but Momo tells him to shut up about it and says he should get the boy part because he's taller. Kaidou says it's just his hair, and he bangs Momo's head hard to prove it. Momo spends five minutes trying to get his hair to stand up again and he and Kaidou spend the waltz trying to stomp on each other's toes.

They end up being ordered to stand at the edge of the room for the next three dances as punishment.

Momoshiro watches Kaidou dancing the steps by himself, ignoring the way he's being giggled at by the girls and some of the boys.

"You're doing it wrong," he snaps, watching as Kaidou puts his left foot over his right for the fourth time in a row. If he danced like that on the night of the ball, he'd end up crossing his legs and falling over and looking stupid.

Momoshiro won't let Kaidou look stupid when he knows everyone will automatically assume it has something to do with him too.

If they're going to be stuck being partners, they might as well look good together.

"Do it like this," Momo says, and grabs Kaidou before he can react.

He holds Kaidou's waist, trying to ignore the fact that he's touching Mamushi voluntarily. It's embarrassing, but at least he has an excuse.

Kaidou doesn't punch him.

He actually shrinks back a little and his cheeks turn pink.

Momo can't understand it. It's not as though Mamushi's a girl, though he is playing the girly part.

He shrugs it off as Kaidou being stupid and prissy and makes him move his feet properly as he orders him around.

For once, Kaidou actually listens to him.

He tries to step forward a few times when he's supposed to step backwards instead, but Momo figures it could be worse. Besides, he thinks Kaidou's suffering from confusion; he's probably gotten the boy and girl parts confused in his head.

Kaidou doesn't look at him as they change after the PE class.

Momo thinks he ought to be more grateful. After all, he's put his reputation on the line and he doesn't like the thought that he's just spend the last half an hour dancing with Kaidou much either. Kaidou doesn't have to act so weird about the whole thing.

(S)

"I've heard your dancing classes are going smoothly," Fuji-senpai says, and sidles up to Kaidou.

Kaidou hisses, trying to step away when Fuji grasps his forearm and leans in closer.

"You know, I can ask my sister to borrow a dress for you, if you'd like." He smiles and Kaidou's caught between anger and embarrassment.

Only Inui's arrival in the change room saves him from Fuji's probing about the issue.

(S)

Kaidou ends up dancing with half the girls in his class.

Momo doesn't know whether it's because he actually scrubs up well, or the fact that he must have practised his boy steps over and over and over again at home, but all the girls he wanted to dance with have turned him down and asked Mamushi instead, and it's pissing him off the more he thinks about it.

Echizen has joined him at the side of the sports hall where streamers and balloons have been sticky-taped to the walls. It's hard to disguise the smell of sweat and sport though, and Momo feels as though Tezuka-buchou might as well be assigning laps any moment because the way he's staring across the room at Echizen and him is really unnerving.

(S)

Kaidou's counting down the minutes until the official end of the night.

There are ten minutes left by the time he disentangles himself from a group of girls and tries to find his way to the drinks.

They're set up on a trestle table at the back of the hall, so he tries not to attract attention as he picks up a cup and inspects it for cleanliness before filling it with orange juice.

"You're pretty popular with the girls," Momo snorts, right in his hear.

Kaidou nearly spills his drink in surprise and glares at Momo instead, annoyed to see him. He didn't want to be popular with the girls; he just didn't want to look like an idiot when he was dancing. It turns out that he wasn't the only guy to practise at home, but he was the only one to practise with real success.

He ignores the long stare that Momo's giving him.

Kaidou thinks he's been doing that more lately, but he wonders if he's imagining things.

"So, what was Sakuno like?" Momo asks, sipping at his apple juice.

Kaidou looks at him sharply. "Huh?" he asks, all teenage eloquence in a tuxedo and with gel in his hair.

"Sakuno," Momo repeats.

"I don't know; I can't remember," Kaidou answers honestly. "My feet hurt," he grumbles.

He regrets saying that and expects Momo to reply by telling him he's stupid and weak and how can he play tennis for hours but he can't stand dancing for two?

Instead, Momo sips his apple juice more and stands next to him as they survey the makeshift dance floor.

"Kaidou-kun?" someone asks.

Both Kaidou and Momoshiro turn to look at her.

"There's only one dance left, so…" She fumbles, glancing at Momoshiro awkwardly. "Would you…"

Momo straightens up, staring at her.

"One dance left?" he asks quickly, looking around for a clock.

He's lost track of time, though it isn't because he's been on the dance floor all night. He's only danced with five girls and Mamushi's probably danced with twenty. Not that he's keeping count. He's just pissed off that Mamushi's beating him and he doesn't even appreciate it.

Kaidou starts to answer the girl.

Momoshiro cuts in.

"Mamushi's dancing with me," he says.

The girl blinks and Momo doesn't even give her a chance to respond as he grabs Kaidou's cup, puts it on the table and grabs Kaidou's arm, dragging him off.

"You're stupid," he huffs. "Didn't you just say your feet hurt? Why would you go and say 'yes' again? Do you even know that girl?"

Kaidou glares at Momo. "I'd rather dance with her than with you!" he spits out.

Momo looks away. They're in the middle of the dance floor and the last song has started playing already.

"Shut up," he says, trying to make it sound tough. His voice comes out sounding quiet and high-pitched instead and he curses it. "I didn't even get to dance with anyone good tonight," he sulks.

Kaidou stares at him and hisses.

There's a moment of silence and Momo can't believe he's almost sulking in front of Kaidou.

"You're not allowed to tell anyone about this," Kaidou hisses, looking as though he almost wants to run to a corner. Then he steps closer and puts his hand on Momo's shoulder, slapping his arm when Momo doesn't respond by holding up his hand.

Half the couples on the floor are dancing steps and the other half have slowed to shuffles and half-hearted, off-beat dancing as they concentrate on other things instead.

Momo can't help but be a little surprised at the way Kaidou's steps have gotten a lot more confident. He's dancing the girly part – Momo would never play the girly part and it doesn't work when both of them try to do the boy part – but he's pretty good.

He's better than the girls Momo's danced with tonight.

Momo's second kiss is Kaidou's second kiss.

It's an accident, when someone elbows Kaidou and he bumps into Momo, banging their noses together and causing Momo to swear. He tightens his grip around Kaidou's waist quickly, trying not to let them both fall over again.

Momo thinks he can see Tezuka-buchou over Kaidou's shoulder, staring at them through his glasses. He forces Kaidou to turn on the spot and they both shuffle awkwardly until they're turned around the other way. There's something about kissing your team-mate in front of your captain which just spells wrong to Momo, but he wants to do it all of a sudden, and the fact that Kaidou would probably just punch him for it isn't registering right now.

Kaidou's fingers tighten against his shoulder as their lips touch.

Momo wonders to himself if that means he's good. He doesn't have any experience with kissing, but he's not about to let Mamushi know that. He wouldn't want to think the stupid viper could beat him in something like that, and the thought inspires a kind of enthusiasm in him.

Kaidou, however, doesn't appreciate his enthusiasm even if he didn't mind the initial kiss. Or perhaps it's that he's in shock and has no idea what to do now that his team-mate is suddenly trying to stick his tongue in his mouth.

His instinct is to bite Momo's tongue and he does so.

Momo yelps, Kaidou pushes him away and hisses and both of them are glad when the music finally ends and the DJ starts thanking the students for attending.

Their second kiss is only a little more successful than their first, Momo thinks. At least it seems as though Mamushi actually thinks something of this one, even if he did bite. Hard.

Momo thinks the third time might just be the charm.

.fin.