A/N: I do not own any of the characters that you recognize. My brain does crack without me, hence where the idea for this and one of the pairings comes from. Virtual cookies go to anyone who can guess the crack pairing before chapter two.
Sanada yawned as he walked onto Rikkai's campus. He was coming off of a rather long weekend and he was really feeling the lack of sleep. Thankfully there weren't any tournaments coming in the next few weeks, so Sanada knew he would have time to get back into the swing of things. Concert tours were great, and Sanada truly enjoyed performing for his fans, but missing school and tennis practice really sucked. Thankfully he had gotten all of his homework ahead of time so as not to fall behind.
Entering the locker room to change for morning practice, Sanada couldn't help playing with the hole for his lip piercing with the tip of his tongue. Thankfully the hole on the outside of his lip, as well as the piercings on his ears were conveniently cover by flesh colored stickers. Sanada knew he should probably tell Seiichi and Renji why he had really been gone, but that would take all the fun out of making them guess. As he pulled off his shirt and looked at the small mirror in his locker, Sanada double-checked that all the gel and temporary dye had come out of his hair before pulling on the top for his tennis uniform. Putting his feet up on the bench one at a time to tie his shoes, Sanada reflected on how glad he was that all his band mates also happened to be tennis players. At the very least he had had good practice partners during their tour.
"Oh! Sanada-Fukubuchou, you're back! How was your trip?" Kirihara Akaya bounced into the locker room, and Sanada could tell that the second year had obviously gotten sugar already.
Pulling on his cap to hide his amused smile, Sanada pulled a small package out of the grocery bag at his side. "It was fine, nothing too special." Yeah right, he snorted mentally. "Here, I brought you something from my trip. It's not much, but it's better than nothing." Sanada allowed a small smile to show on his face as Akaya thanked him profusely; really, his kohai could be so cute at times.
Around that time, the rest of the team began to trickle in to the locker room. As he passed out the little trinkets that he got for everyone, Sanada snickered mentally at the looks on Yukimura and Yanagi's faces. He had been dropping clue after clue after clue for his two friends to figure out his side hobby for almost two years. Sanada kept waiting for the other two demons to put two and two together and realize that he was the guitarist for a visual kei band. After all, Seiichi and Renji had helped him pick out his first electric guitar and amp in their second year of middle school.
"Welcome back Genichirou, how was your trip?" Seiichi greeted his long time friend with warmth, and just a sliver of suspicion. He knew Sanada was hiding something, he just didn't know what.
"It was fine, kind of boring actually." Sanada pulled his phone out and made sure it was on silent as he replied.
"There is a 95% chance that you're lying Genichirou." Renji frowned at his taller friend.
"And a zero percent chance that I'm going to tell you the truth, at least right now anyway." Sanada shot back haughtily. Looking at the expressions on his friends' faces, Sanada rolled his eyes. "Honestly you two, I couldn't drop bigger hints for you if I had a neon sign. Seiichi, Renji, all the pieces are there, I've already given them to you. You just need to put them together now."
Nioh scoffed as he tied his shoes. "So what's the big secret, the fact that you're gay Fukubuchou? I thought that was already common knowledge."
Flicking the trickster in the back of the head and he headed out of the locker room, Sanada fired back a retort. "I've never tried to deny or hide my sexual preferences. And while that isn't the actually secret that I've been hinting at, I do have a boyfriend right now. No I'm not going to tell you who he is, but he goes to school in Tokyo. That is the only clue you get."
Seiichi's eyes narrowed as he looked at Sanada. "You aren't dating Atobe or Tezuka are you?"
Sanada stopped short of the door as his left hand flew up to cover his mouth. Cocking his head to the side slightly, Jackal asked if he was okay. Turning around with a sour look on his face, Sanada replied. "Yeah, I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. I am definitely not dating Atobe or Tezuka. Since I'm feeling nice, I'll give you one more hint. The guy that I'm dating is in the same grade as Akaya. Now, can we please get on with practice before school starts?"
Yuuta was rather glad for once that his team generally trained as individuals. As he smacked the balls fired by the ball machine back at a small square on the wall, Yuuta felt his mind begin to wander. After having been on tour for the last month, sleeping in his dorm room had not been remotely restful. Sighing softly, Yuuta wondered how long it would take for him to get used to sleeping on his own again since his boyfriend went to a different school in a different town.
"You're rather slow today Yuuta-kun. Was your trip that draining?" Mizuki startled the younger brunette as he appeared outside the fence of the ball cage.
Reaching back to flip the off switch for the ball machine, Yuuta walked out of the cage and traded his racquet for a towel and water bottle. "You know, it was kind of draining, but it's more that I didn't sleep well last night."
Throwing an arm around Yuuta's shoulder and laughing as the younger boy jumped in surprise, Yanagisawa threw in his two cents. "What's the matter, Yuuta-kun? Are the dorms beds that uncomfortable after cushy hotel beds dane?"
Rolling his eyes as he tried to shrug off his senpai, Yuuta smirked as he answered. "Well that's part of it, but mostly it's just the fact that I have to get used to sleeping alone again. After getting to curl up at night with my boyfriend for the last month, having a bed to myself kind of sucks."
"Wait, where exactly did you go for the last month? And since when are you gay?" Kaneda asked as he walked over to his teammates.
"What the hell! Am I the only straight guy on our team? Shit Yuuta, I thought you at least were on my team." Akazawa ran one hand through his hair in exasperation as he came up behind Kaneda.
"Nope, sorry Buchou. I'd rather have a tall, dark, and handsome man than a soft and curvy woman." Yuuta smirked as he sucked on the straw of his water bottle.
"So do we know him?" Kisazaru Atsushi asked as he slipped under Yanagisawa's arm in an effort to pull his doubles partner off of Yuuta.
"Yep. Or you have at the very least heard of him if you haven't met him personally." Yuuta grinned mentally; he was going to enjoy making his teammates guess everything.
Twirling a lock of hair, Mizuki asked the next question. "So he doesn't go to St. Rudolph then?"
"No Mizuki-senpai, he doesn't go here."
"Does he go to school anywhere in Tokyo dane?"
"No he doesn't."
"You aren't trying to steal Saeki from my brother are you?" Atsushi glared at Yuuta.
With a roll of his eyes as he pushed open the door to the locker room, Yuuta replied with a hint of disgust. "Ew, no! Sae is practically my second older brother, dating him would be just weird and gross."
"Come on man, just tell us!" Kaneda whined as he stuck his head into his locker.
"Nope, not happening. I'm having way to much fun making you all guess." Yuuta grinned as he straightened his tie in the mirror.
"At the very least give us a hint man, come on!" Kaneda just kept whining. Really Yuuta was growing tired of his year-mate's childish behavior.
Rolling his eyes as he headed for the door to go and turn in all of his assignments from while he had been gone on tour, Yuuta sighed as he acquiesced. "Fine, I'll give you a hint. I'm dating a guy who is the same age as my brother and he goes to school in Kanagawa. Now if you're all done gossiping like a bunch of old ladies, classes will be starting soon."
As the boys nodded and filed out of St Rudolph's locker rooms, Yuuta smiled to himself as he returned to his new routine.
Plopping down in his seat as he waited for class to start, Shiraishi was already bored. Morning practice had been canceled due to rain, and he hadn't even found a good book to read in the school's library when he had gone there earlier. Stretching is arms across the fake wood of the desk; Shiraishi put his head down on his arms and stared outside at the rain. Days like this were best spent curled up with coffee and a good book, not stuck in class listening to boring teachers drone on.
"Yo, welcome back Shiraishi." Chitose nearly laughed at how the blonde jumped in surprise at the sound of his voice.
Fighting down a blush, Shiraishi sat up and stretched his back. Not only had Chitose startled him, but the dark haired teen had also played the starring role in pretty much all of Shiraishi's fantasies since middle school. Turning to look his friend in the eye, the Buchou of Shitenhouji smiled as he replied. "Thanks Chitose. I'm glad to be back, but I'd be even happier if we could have gotten in at least a little practice today. I heard this rain is supposed to last until late tonight, if not all the way until morning. So since I didn't get to see anyone this morning, how has the team been? Has Kin-chan been behaving himself?"
Chitose rolled his eyes as he took his own seat. "Do you ever think about anything but tennis? I mean, seriously, what did you do while you were gone?"
Shiraishi glared softly at his friend and long time crush. "I'll have you know that I think of plenty of things other than tennis. Now would you please answer my question?"
"The team is doing fine, Kin-chan acted up a few times until I told him that you were learning new ways to poison him with your arm when you unwrap the bandages. That shut him up pretty damn quick. Now you answer my question, what did you do while you were gone?" Chitose leaned toward Shiraishi and gave the blonde a very serious look.
Crossing his arms behind his head, Shiraishi leaned back in his chair with a small smile on his face. "If I thought for a second that you would believe me then I would. But I know you won't so there's no point right now."
Chitose frowned at the resigned tone in his friend's voice. "Since when are you a mind reader Shiraishi? How can you be so sure that I won't believe you?"
Shiraishi lowered his arms and looked Chitose straight in the eye. The blonde used the most serious look he could as he responded with complete honesty. "So if I told you that I've been on a concert tour for the last month as the bassist for a visual kei band that I've been a part of for the last two years, you would believe me?"
Chitose just blinked blankly at Shiraishi as his brain tried to process what he had just been told. Unfortunately, instead of forming words, Chitose's brain was only generating images of his blonde friend in leather pants. Resisting the urge to drool over the tantalizing mental image, Chitose's chance to respond to Shiraishi's question died with the entrance of their teacher.
"Oh Kamio-kun, you and Shinji are back! How was your trip?" Tachibana An chirped as she bounced over to the red haired teen.
"Oh hey An-chan, how are you? Our trip was fun; honestly I can't believe it's over already. We have music class first today right?" Kamio smiled slightly at the little brunette as he changed from his sneakers into his school shoes. As much as he loved music and playing songs on keyboards and pianos, Kamio was dreading having to use the school's piano that was horrible out of tune.
"Mou, Kamio-kun, I thought you liked music, but you look like you're dreading your music class. What's the deal?" Tachibana Kippei asked with genuine curiosity as he placed one arm on An's shoulder as though his sister was an armrest.
"Aniki, get off and go to class."
"I will with you two. Hima-sensei asked me to videotape the performances in your music class today. But Kamio-kun still needs to answer my question about his look of dread. Are you not prepared for your class performance today?" Tachibana raked a hand through his short blonde hair as he stopped leaning on An.
"Oh no, I'm fully prepared, I'm just not happy about having to use an out of tune piano. Shinji has it good with only needing a guitar, he brought his own so he knows it's been tuned right." Right Kamio scowled slightly as he led the way to the music classroom.
"Oh, what was that about me?" Shinji asked as he joined the trio. He had gone to put his guitar in the classroom before seeking out a water fountain, so the blue haired tensai had no bags to carry.
Looking over at his best friend and band mate, Kamio gave a small nod of greeting as he replied. "I was just saying that you're lucky you were able to bring your guitar because you know that that's been tuned properly. If my keyboard wasn't in getting fixed, I would have brought that with me today to avoid using the school piano. That thing is so out of tune it'll make me sound like shit!"
Shinji chuckled lightly at the red head next to him. "Actually, it won't. Sensei told me that she got it tuned yesterday, so you'll sound just fine. Provided of course that the mics get hooked up properly for us."
Stopping dead in his tracks, Kamio stared at Shinji like a man who had just found God. "Shinji, if it wasn't for mitigating factors, I would kiss you right now."
The Tachibana siblings shared a look of interest and curiosity before An spoke up. "Yeah, that would be hot. What mitigating factors are you talking about Kamio-kun?"
Smirking as he turned to look An, Kamio casually stuck his hands in his pockets as he answered her. "Well for one thing, Shinji is practically my brother, so kissing him would be kind of weird." Behind him, Shinji snorted in amusement. Kamio elbowed the tensai in the stomach as he continued. "And secondly, I really don't feel like making Akaya jealous today. Don't get me wrong, that would be hot and I would enjoy every second of it, but I also enjoy walking without a limp and sitting without being in agony.
As they got closer to the music room, Kippei had to force himself to focus on his surroundings and not his own imagination. He knew that Kamio was dating Rikkai's Kirihara, but that wasn't what was distracting him. Kippei couldn't help but wonder what kissing Shinji would be like, let alone what it would be like to do other things with his blue haired kohai. Silently cursing Kamio for sending his brain in that direction, Kippei tagged along silently for the rest of the way to the music room.
Nearing the locker room after school, Aoi couldn't wait for practice to start for the day. Sure he had had five other people to play tennis against over the last month, but the first year Buchou- for the second time, thank you very much- missed playing with his teammates. Of course the tall boy also missed his girlfriend, but since she went to school in Tokyo he would just have to wait to see her.
"Hey! Welcome back Ken-ken, did you have a fun trip?" Saeki Koujirou smiled widely at his kohai as Aoi entered the locker room.
"Yep! It was great. I'm glad to be back home though so I can train and play with you guys. Oh! I need to remember to call my girlfriend and tell her I'm back. I promised to take her to dinner this weekend." Aoi proclaimed loudly as he changed into his tennis uniform.
All movement in the locker room stopped at the last part of Aoi's comment. Since when had the youngest of their team started dating? Fixing his hat on his head, Kisazaru Ryou placed his hand on Saeki's back as he addressed the gangly captain. "Um, Aoi-kun, when did you start dating? And who is this girlfriend of yours?"
Smirking into his locker before shutting its door, the first year turned to his senpai as he answered. "I started dating when I was a second year in middle school, and I started dating my current girlfriend about six months ago."
"That's great and we're happy for you, but you didn't answer who she is." Bane ran a hand through his hair as he waited for the others to finish dressing.
Aoi smiled as he tied his shoes. "I'm dating Ryuzaki Sakuno."
"Isn't she in love with that Echizen kid?" Saeki asked.
"Not since he rejected her back in second year of middle school. We became friends, and I ended up falling for her. We're happy together, and Echizen is her friend now at least. Heh, I still remember when he threatened me." Aoi smirked slightly as he rolled his neck to loosen the muscles in it. "Can you believe he said that he would beat me up if I ever broke her heart? I asked if that meant that I could beat him to a pulp for all the times he had hurt her."
"What did Echizen say to that?" Itsuki asked.
Aoi snorted in amusement. "He didn't say anything. Echizen just did a great impersonation of a fish for a few minutes before walking away. Now, how about we get on with practice."