Okay, about the title. There has actually been an outbreak of whooping cough where I live in my age group so I was called in for a vaccination. I'd never realised that there were so many teenagers in town and they were sending us in one by one, giving us the jab and then metaphorically kicking us out to move on to the next person. It was quite literally a jab 'n' go, as I said to my mother. I am not just being my usual weird self, I promise. Enjoy the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince Of Tennis.
Jab 'N' Go
"Why is Marui-kun curled up in the corner? With a blanket and teddy bear?" Yagyuu asked as he walked on to the courts one sunny morn. Well, it wasn't actually that sunny. Kinda cloudy actually. Dreary even. But I digress.
"He had an injection yesterday. Apparently there's been an outbreak of whooping cough in our age group and Marui's house fell into the area they were vaccinating. His arm is now sore." Yanagi informed them as Marui huddled closer under his blanket, starting to look a little bit like a Swadloon. It was at that moment that Akaya came running on to the courts.
"Morning Marui-senpai! Get up on your feet and let's play a match!" Akaya shouted happily as he bounded over to the redhead.
'God, who gave him sugar?' Everybody thought as Akaya glomped Marui. The tensai let out a small whine as his sore arm was pressed against the chain link fence that surrounded the courts. Marui pushed him away and poutily glared at Akaya as he cuddled his teddy closer. Akaya cocked his head to the side in confusion as Yukimura came over to the duo and knelt down beside them. He quickly told Akaya about Marui's arm before turning to Marui.
"Are you up to doing some warm up laps, Marui?" Yukimura smiled gently as he extended a hand. Marui sniffled a little before taking the hand and letting Yukimura pull him to his feet. Yukimura took the blanket and bear from him and placed them on the bench for Marui to get later before ushering him outside the courts to begin his laps. Marui jogged slowly through his laps, holding on to his left arm carefully and looking like he was about to burst into tears at any moment. He finished running a full five minutes after the others and Yukimura let Marui sit out the rest of practice with a sigh as Yanagi and Jackal distracted Sanada from slapping the redhead.
In class, Marui sat curled up on his seat with his blanket once again round him, this time covering his head as well, with his teddy peeking out. When the teacher entered the classroom, he did a double take when he saw Marui.
"I'm not going to ask…" He sighed as he slumped down in his seat with a shake of his head. Why hadn't he listened to his friends and gone to teach at Hyotei instead? The students were supposed to be a lot less crazy there…
It was a bad day for Marui. He had to keep moving his sore arm about to stop his blanket and teddy from slipping and to keep the paper still as he wrote. At lunch, Marui almost didn't eat since he was too scared to his bento out of his bag in case he banged his arm on the desk. It took Jackal coming to see why he wasn't in the cafeteria with the rest of the team and getting his bento out for him to make him eat.
At the end of the day, Yukimura quickly made his way to Marui's classroom before the boy could start making his way to the tennis courts.
"Hey Marui. Is your arm feeling any better?" Yukimura asked kindly as Marui carefully slung his shoulder bag on before wrapping his blanket round him and picking up his teddy and tennis bag. Marui shook his head despondently, tagging a couple of sniffs on to the end. Yukimura rubbed his good arm soothingly as they started to walk out of the classroom. "Do you wanna skip practice and go home? No point in pushing yourself to do something when you're in pain." Marui gave a small nod and Yukimura hugged him gently before going their separate ways.
At the school gates, there was only one person left when Marui exited the school building. The person looked up as Marui drew closer and pushed themselves off the wall they were leaning against.
"Hey, puri." Niou greeted as Marui came to a stop in front of him. Marui looked up at him with wide violet eyes and a quivering bottom lip.
"'Haru… Where have you been all day…? My arm hurts and people keep giving me strange looks…" Marui sniffled out as he hid the bottom part of his face in his teddy's fur. Niou rolled his eyes as he gently ruffled Marui's hair.
"I had to have three fillings because of your bloody Death By Chocolate cake, remember? I didn't come in because the numbness in my mouth has only just gone. And of course people have been giving you weird looks, you're carrying round a blanket and bear as if you were five." Niou said exasperatedly as he took Marui's blanket from him, the redhead letting out a small and pitiful noise of protest, and folded it up before stuffing it in Marui's bag. He let Marui keep the teddy since he seemed seconds away from crying. "Come on, let me have a look at your arm."
"Be careful…" Marui whimpered as Niou pulled his left jacket sleeve down and looked at the arm, turning the appendage gently to get a proper look at it.
"Baby, it's just a little red. Nothing to cry about." Niou said as he softly kissed the arm before pulling Marui's jacket back up for him. Marui sniffled as he moved into Niou's chest, the Trickster's arms immediately raising to embrace him loosely.
"'M not a baby… It really does hurt a lot…" Marui said, his voice muffled by Niou's chest. Niou sighed and kissed the top of Marui's head before moving his arms so one was round Marui's waist as they began to walk away from the school.
"Okay, okay, you're not a baby and I won't deny that it hurts. Now let's go get some ice cream, puri." Niou soothed as he squeezed Marui's hip lightly and pulled him closer. Marui looked up at Niou with hopeful eyes.
"Strawberry?" Niou let a small smile slip on to his lips as he gave Marui a soft kiss.
"Strawberry."
A/N: Okay, I know it seems like Marui overreacted a little and I normally would agree if I hadn't been in the same position a few hours ago minus being at school. Our reactions are perfectly viable so please send us both some hugs to make us feel better.
