for kumikuri. this was written as a response to her challenge in LJ

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The One I Love

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Afternoon practice ended a few minutes ago and most of the tennis club members have already gone home. Only Fuji and Oishi were left behind. Oishi waited at the door for Fuji, the last one left inside, to step out of the club room before he locks it. On his way out, the tensai bent down and picked something up.

"Are?" Fuji tilted his head to the side.

"What's that, Fuji?" Oishi asked as Fuji walked towards the door carrying the object he had just found. It was a thin, blue notebook with a silver cat paw print in the middle.

Fuji opened it to take a look. "It's Echizen's..."

He pointed to the only thing written on the front page- the full name of their freshman regular- then flipped to the next. His eyes were darting from one end of the page to the other when he heard Oishi comment from behind.

"It's written in English… I'm not very good at this. What does it say, Fuji?" For a moment, Oishi thought a strange look flickered across Fuji's face (one that was quite different from his usual grin), but it disappeared in a blink. Oishi shrugged it off, thinking it might've been his imagination.

"What's this... 'the one who occupies my mind, even when I'm in class (especially the boring ones)'… and 'I'm happy whenever we play together'… there's even..." Fuji paused for a long while, then his eyes opened and lips widened into a full smirk. "… 'the only one I've ever slept with'!"

Oishi's cheeks turned crimson. "Fuji, I... I don't think we should be reading this. Don't you think it's kind of... private? I mean this--" He pointed to the right hand corner "--is the date this was written, right? It's obviously a diary so…"

Fuji's smile, if possible, became even brighter. "Hm…" Fuji tapped his cheek with his index finger. "Does this mean that Echizen is dating a regular?"

Oishi's eyes widened. "Eh! Don't be silly, he's too young for that! And… And with a regular! Fuji that's…" Oishi paused. He thought back at what he had heard just now. Someone Echizen liked playing with... Everyone knows tennis is the only thing on the kid's mind, so... Okay, fine, it's a given that it's a regular. But...!

...'the only one I've ever slept with'!

His cheeks became so red it looked as though they were about to explode. "…outrageous."

---

Oishi and Fuji agreed to keep everything between themselves. Naturally, all the regulars knew about The Secret Written in Echizen's Diary the next day.

The atmosphere inside the club room while the regulars (with the exception of Echizen, who was once again predictably late) were changing into their jerseys was thick and taut.

Eiji would stare at a regular until he was caught- at which moment he would instantly look away and whistle some random tune.

Momo would surreptitiously look around at the members and survey each one, wondering who among them his best friend could possibly be going out with. Of course, he felt a little twinge in his heart- though he couldn't tell if it was because Echizen didn't tell him about it or because, sooner or later, someone will be spending more time with the kouhai he's so fond of. He knew from the start that this was bound to happen but… he wasn't ready yet. He truly dreaded the mere thought of Echizen totally forgetting about him.

Kaidoh didn't say anything, but he looked as though he ate something very, very spicy for breakfast.

Inui was busy scribbling something in his notebook- nonstop- and occasionally muttering to himself.

Taka-san without the racket looked embarrassed. Taka-san with the racket kept yelling "DON'T MAKE THE SWEET LITLE BOY CRY! OR I WILL HADOUKYUU YOU OUT OF THE TENNIS COURT, BABY!"

Tezuka, as usual, looked like he could care less. But he was unusually silent and looked grumpier than before, which prompted Inui to comment that he had four more lines in his forehead. Tezuka rewarded him with thirty laps for that.

Inui reluctantly recapped his pen and closed his notebook with a snap. He got up and strode past the sniggering regulars, but when he opened the door, everyone fell silent.

Right in front of him stood their youngest regular.

"Ah… Ohayou." Echizen looked up at Inui. The data tennis specialist noticed that he was blocking the way and stepped aside awkwardly.

Oblivious to everyone's stare, Seigaku's little prince marched across the unusually quiet club room and settled in front of his locker to change. He was just about to take his shirt off when something thin and hard tapped his shoulder.

"I believe this is yours?" Fuji handed the notebook to him, smiling.

"Ah! Thanks, Fuji-senpai." Echizen bowed slightly. "I was looking for it in the library this morning."

"The others already know what's written in it." Fuji added pleasantly, before walking off and heading for the tennis courts, leaving everyone in the room more tense than before.

Echizen blinked owlishly at Fuji's retreating back, then shrugged. After changing into his Seigaku jersey, he got out and ran laps for warm up too. (With an additional ten laps from Buchou for coming late.)

Fuji dropped his pace and waited until Echizen caught up with him. "Echizen, you shouldn't leave important things like your notebook for Enlish class lying around. Imagine what would happen if your classmates got their hands on it." He gently chided.

"Uiisu." Echizen casually answered as they continued to jog side by side.

Fuji smiled brightly. "And also, your essay about Karupin was wonderful."

"Doumo."