A/N: Oh, gosh… Prince of Tennis is absolutely addicting. That's all I have to say. Well, that, and that this chapter will probably be heavily edited later once I find myself a beta reader.
Summary: They were probably the quietest people in the entire school—maybe even the planet. But that's not true. They chatter away, and laugh and scream just like everyone else, but no one can hear. Luckily, they have an acute sense of hearing, and through the silent conversations, they fall in love.
Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis.
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Quiet.
That's how it had always been between Suzuki Shizue and Tezuka Kunimitsu.
Starting from the first day of school, when the two had been assigned to sit next to each other, they hadn't spoken a word to each other unless absolutely necessary. It was how the two of them liked it. Things were less awkward this way, and many headaches were avoided.
It was a sort of pact the two had made the moment they'd sat next to each other. She wouldn't fangirl over him, and he wouldn't try to get her to talk. They would enjoy the silence they held between them, which would not be broken if it could be helped.
Shizue turned a page in her book, biting her lip and silently wishing that the silence would spread to the two girls who were currently giggling in front of her desk. It was hard for her to concentrate on her book whenever girls came to ogle over her seatmate.
"Please be quiet."
Shizue peeked through her bangs and looked at Tezuka in surprise.
He was working on the homework that the teacher had assigned that morning, but everyone knew that he could work in loud places. That is, everyone who could hear the tennis club while they practiced.
She blinked when she realized that he had asked them to be quiet for her sake.
While the two girls pouted and deflated slightly, but grew quiet nonetheless, Shizue smiled at her seatmate in thanks.
Tezuka paused his writing and nodded back.
.
"…and so, this project is on the works of Shakespeare, and will be due in approximately three weeks. I hope you get along with your seatmate well, as you will be working together for quite a few more projects, as well."
Shizue looked down at her notebook and sighed. 'I don't like group projects…'
While the rest of the class chattered away about anything other than the project, Shizue and Tezuka sat at their desk awkwardly.
"Tezuka-san," Shizue said timidly. "Do you have time to go to the library after school? I'd like to check out books before everyone else does."
He was silent for a few moments. "I can go after tennis practice, if you don't mind waiting."
She nodded. "I'll just prepare everything for when you get there, then."
And that was that.
.
Shizue looked at the clock and sighed. She glanced at the work schedule she had worked out in front of her, which she had drawn out into a table and color-coded. The books she'd found were stacked neatly on the table, as was the binder she'd managed to buy from the store across the street.
Shizue liked things neat. It looked prettier that way, and everything was organized, so it was just easier to function in general.
She was in the middle of reorganizing her notes when Tezuka came, looking slightly frazzled from tennis practice. (She knew it had been a hectic and frustrating one—she'd heard it as it went on just out the window.)
He apologized for being so late, and was just about to sit down when she stopped him.
"Ah! Um… there were some books…" Shizue looked down at her notes, embarrassed.
Tezuka looked down at her short stature, and understood immediately. "Where are they?"
Shizue gestured to the shelves on the other side of the library, still too embarrassed to look up. She wordlessly pushed the list of books she'd made over to him.
His eyes scanned over the list, taking in the titles and the call numbers of the books she hadn't crossed out already.
As Tezuka walked away, Shizue sighed, inwardly degrading herself about her height.
When he came back, Tezuka found that Shizue had laid out the work schedule, the project rubric, some paper, and a pencil in the seat across from her.
"I'm sorry… I had nothing to do, so I asked Ryuzaki-sensei for your practice times and worked a schedule out. Is it—"
He made a noncommittal grunt and picked up the rubric.
Shizue stopped talking gratefully, knowing fully well that Tezuka approved of the schedule. She pushed two plays in towards him, silently urging him to pick one.
He picked Hamlet, and she smiled lightly and took Much Ado About Nothing.
She had always been a bit of a romantic at heart.
They worked across each other in silence, jotting down important quotes, details, and notes on the play. It was the same kind of comfortable silence they had when they were in the classroom. It was nice, and—
The library doors opened with a bang.
Shizue stiffened slightly. 'Oh, no…'
"Nya, Tezukaaa! Oishi said you'd be in here. We were just wondering if—Oh."
She looked up to see a few of the Regulars standing at the doorway. The one who had been talking, the redhead, was grinning impishly.
"Hohoho!" Here, his grin turned slightly evil. "Were you meeting your girlfriend here? She's so cute! Why didn't you tell us you were dating? Who is she, anyway?"
Tezuka's headache was coming back to him, but before he could answer that no, she was not his girlfriend, Inui cut in.
"Suzuki Shizue. Class 3-1. Currently five feet and one inch tall. Weighs 99.7 pounds. Lives in—"
Shizue paled. How did he know so much about her?
"Maa, Inui, you're probably scaring her. You wouldn't want to scare Tezuka's girlfriend, would you? He's probably very protective of her."
Tezuka stood up abruptly and glared at them all, particularly the smiling, brown-haired boy who'd been speaking.
The boy, however, didn't seem to mind the glare, as he went on speaking. "See? He's standing up right now, and that stance—"
"This is a library," Tezuka said stiffly, choosing to ignore the whole 'girlfriend' issue for now. He'd decided that his headache wouldn't be able to take all the protests about how he should start dating his seatmate that would come if he acknowledged it. "Fifteen laps, all of you."
He looked over to a very traumatized-looking Shizue. The look on her face conveyed her message very well.
'Are they always like this?'
He nodded grimly and sat down again.
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The next day, Shizue was bombarded at the school entrance by the red-headed boy from yesterday.
"Hoi, hoi! It's Tezuka's girlfriend!"
"Um, we're—"
"Don't be shy, nya! I'll take you to him! We're having morning practice right now."
She didn't know how they got to there so quickly, but the next thing she knew, Shizue was at the tennis courts.
"Look, everyone! I found Tezuka's girlfriend!"
Shizue's face turned an extremely interesting shade of white at an alarming rate. Everyone at the tennis courts was staring at her fascination, and all those eyes made her brain shut off.
"Eiji."
The red-headed boy who had dragged her there turned. "Tezuka! Look! I brought your girlfriend here for you!"
That seemed to switch everyone's mouths on.
"Eh, you're pretty cute! No wonder Tezuka's dating you!"
"What class are you in?"
"What's your name?
"Since when did Tezuka-buchou have a girlfriend?"
Tezuka rubbed his forehead gingerly and snuck a quick glance at Shizue. The tennis club could be extremely overwhelming for someone who wasn't used to handling them, and she seemed to be terrified of the Regulars alone.
Sure enough, she was standing frozen in shock as everyone crowded around her. When she did find recover from her initial shock, Tezuka could see her desperately forming words with her mouth, though no one could hear her.
It was only when she threw a helpless look in his direction did he remember to step in.
"Everyone! This is unacceptable!"
The entire tennis court was deadly silent, and everyone's attention switched to Tezuka.
"The fact that someone outside of the club is here should not affect the practice at all. Everyone will run twenty laps, and resume practice." He glared at Eiji. "Suzuki-san is not my girlfriend. We were working on our project yesterday, when you misunderstood the situation."
Shizue visibly relaxed at this, and her face got back to a healthier shade of white. (Her face was naturally pale.) She smiled at Tezuka again.
Thank you.
He nodded back.
You're welcome.
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To be continued.