Read All About It
By: Catrina
Prince of Tennis One Shot Drabble
A/N: This is my first piece of fiction for Prince of Tennis. I was hoping that I had a grasp of the Golden Pair. Please let me know!
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It wasn't that Oishi didn't know that he was in love with his doubles partner. It was more like something that was understood. Like the fact that he knew his hair was black and that his eyes were green. It was just something that was.
He thought that it was something that was obvious. Everyone else seemed to see it, the team, the fans, their opponents…
So why did it shock him to find out that Eiji had no clue?
Because if everyone else knew why didn't Eiji?
And all of this came to light just yesterday.
The day started off just like every other day. Get up early, go to school, early practice, run laps, work on formations, play a light game with Eiji… nothing was different. They showered after practice, and got ready for school. It was then that something changed. Eiji walked away.
"Oye, Oishi, I'll meet you later, I need to go see Daichi-chan before school starts." Oishi watched in almost a state of shock as his doubles partner walked away. It was right before he saw him turn the corner that he watched Eiji throw his arm around another boy. The two turned the corner. For a few moments the after image was burned into Oishi's eyes, Eiji's uniform encased arm, thrown around the taller boy with short black hair. He had had broad shoulders, Eiji's hand had latched onto his neck, and the other boy had laughed when Eiji had jumped on him. The other boy was bigger then Oishi, and had a deeper laugh.
He spent the rest of the day trying to figure it out.
But then it was after school, and even though he couldn't remember anything that he had done all day, he knew that it was time for tennis practice. And then during tennis practice everything was the same. Eiji was himself, bouncy, and acrobatic. He was smiling and pouting and every once in a while he heard, 'nya.' But right before practice was over, there he was, with his broad shoulders and black hair, but now Oishi could see his bright smile and dark eyes behind glasses.
He missed the game point against Momo.
"Hey Oishi-senpai, are you all right?" Oishi started at the other boy, but was pulled from that with Momo's question. He looked over to the other boy, and shared a smiled that seemed to scare the other boy.
"Great!" Did it seem that Momo winced when he said that? And when he turned, he met Fiji's eyes that held a question but held even more laughter. It was that day that was the first time in a long time that he could remember walking home alone.
But today was today and yesterday was yesterday, and he could only hope that today was better then yesterday.
He was waiting patiently when Eiji came running to the bus stop.
"Good morning Oishi!" it was at this time that Oishi found his arms full of Eiji.
"Good morning Eiji" He responded back, was it just him or were Eiji's eyes brighter today? And it looked like his hair was shinier and his eyes bluer?
Could it be possible that Eiji got more beautiful every day??
"You seemed down yesterday? Is everything ok today?" Eiji asked still latched onto Oishi's arm as they boarded the bus.
"Yeah, everything is okay… I was a little distracted yesterday."
"Were you sad that I couldn't walk you home?" Eiji questioned as he took the seat next to Oishi and didn't notice as Oishi blushed down to his roots.
"No, that's okay…" Oishi himself could never understand why his first thought was to make sure that Eiji didn't feel guilty even though deep down Oishi wanted him to feel just a little guilty about ditching him.
"Daichi-chan and I had to work on a project, but he made me do all the work," Oishi looked over as Eiji's lower lip produced an adorable pout that made Oishi think of kissing it better.
"You and he had to work on a project?" Oishi knew he sounded surprised but he knew that he was more relieved then anything.
"Yeah, he writes for the school paper, and wanted to interview me about tennis and doubles. I'm not sure why he didn't ask to interview you too." Eiji wondered as he looked out the window watching the scenery as it passed by. Oishi shook his head at his doubles partner. Sometimes it amazed him how naïve Eiji was. He never seemed to see the bad in people…never wanted to see the bad in people. Maybe that was why he loved him so much.
Oishi's thoughts again wondered during the day. He realized that he had been jealous yesterday, and he more then anyone could rationalize his thoughts with a cool head. But he just didn't know how exactly to deal with this development. Could it be that his feelings for Eiji had continued to grow? And that everyday these feelings would get stronger and stronger?
So now he had some options. One- he could continue to hide his feelings and die of a broken heart. Two- he could tell Eiji and ruin their friendship. Or three- he could wait to see if these feelings went away. And after sleeping on it he decided that it would be number three.
So week one passed and then week two and he realized that there really was no option three, because in the long run option three and option one were the same thing. The way he knew this because everyday kept getting worse.
More and more he realized that he had been much more in love then he thought, and even more now that he had acknowledged it, it had gotten worse. Earlier before when he had just known it, when it was just part of him, it was something that he could ignore. But since his dance with jealousy it had become something that he would think about everyday, and even more it was something that he would dream about every night. Now he hated more then ever the fact that he was the player in the back, because his thoughts about his partner were no longer in the 'rosy lovey dovey' stage, his thoughts were in the 'please let me kiss, taste, and ravage you' stage.
It was Momo that actually brought him the paper, after tennis practice was over. Oishi was standing outside, waiting for Eiji to get done
"Hey, Oishi-senpai, I thought that you might want to read this. It has an article about doubles in it." Looking at the paper that was already turned to the article he noted the authors name, Daichi.
Tennis is not always thought of as a team sport, but a couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to sit down with one of the graduation seniors who is on this tennis team and he and his partner are considered one of the best doubles pairs in the nation. I got the chance to get to know Eiji Kikumaru a little better, and now you can too.
What is it you love most about tennis?
The thing that I love most is the person that I play with. I wouldn't love tennis at all if I couldn't play with Oishi. So I love Oishi most of all.
Oishi couldn't read past that. All he saw when he closed his eyes for a moment was the words 'I love Oishi'
'I love Oishi'
'I love Oishi'
'I love Oishi'
'I love Oishi'
'I love Oishi'
"OISHI!!" Oishi's eyes snapped open and he looked into Eiji's bright blue eyes. "Are you okay?" Eiji asked waving a hand across his line of vision.
"Did you mean it?" Oishi asked and for a moment wanted to hit himself. Sometimes his mouth got ahead of him, it was rare, but it did happen…
"Mean what?" Eiji asked, then looked down at the paper that Oishi held in his hand. He grabbed the paper. "Nya, I haven't had the chance to read it yet!" He started to read the article and then looked at Oishi again. Oishi had never seen Eiji look this shy before.
"Eiji?" he asked concern coating his voice.
"Oishi is the best part of tennis, the thing that I love the most." Eiji stated but his cheeks were red and becoming more and more red by the moment.
Oishi opened his mouth to say something but found his lips covered by Eiji's. The kiss was messy, and sloppy, and he was completely unprepared. Then Eiji pulled away and he didn't know what to say or what to do, so he stared at his best friend, his partner, and hoped that his stare conveyed not only his shock but his love for his partner.
"Oishi, I'm sorry… I've ruined everything….all of it….nothing will be the same ever…."
"Eiji, you're the thing I love most about tennis too." Oishi said it before the thought really processed in his brain.
"Really?"
"Really." He nodded.
And this time when Eiji jumped up to kiss him, it was perfect, just like it always was…when he was with Eiji.
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A/N: Please tell me what you think. This is my first venture into a new fandom
Thanks for reading,
Cat