"Laughing Matters"
-a Tennis no Oujisama fan-fiction by Calliope-
Chapter One: Falling Over You
EDIT EDIT!!!
Message EDIT!: Alright alright! I acknowledge the blasphemy which is the pairing I have chosen! You don't have to keep on reminding me! LOL! Also, yeah, if I change things or things are said which you don't appreciate - fine- I acknowledge that also - but yeesh! Give me a break! All is explained later! It all works out for the best! TRUST ME! HEHEHEH! If you're just too mad at me for what I've done - fine! Don't read it! Nobodies making you! Heheh! Man, I've never been torn down so much for writing something before! SHWEE! Stick around and I promise you wont end up still hating me! Hehehhe!
(PS: a lot of times in my dialogue you'll find a bunch of what, you might assume, are typos. I assure you they aren't all! although, I do make lots - I'm dyslexic - give me a break LOL! Some of them are just random noise words - I used a lot of the ones I say like, "mah", "chi", "waii", "mar", and the like. Sorry bout that, but I just thought it fit their characters! )
Summery: Eiji has found himself torn, between his new best friend, and the one person who has always been their for him. Confused and feeling like he can't have both - overcome with guilt and wishing there was something he could do - Eiji has to find a way to sort things out before he loses them both!
Warnings: shounen-ai, language, etc. EijiXOishi, EijiXJirou
(Disclaimer: as much as I wish it wasn't true - none of these characters belong to me. TT sadness)
"Nyaa! I knew there was nothin' to worry about the whole time!" Eiji laughed, slinging his tennis bag over his shoulder, as he and his fellow Regulars cleared the courts after Ryoma's, all too, sweeping victory against Hyotei's, Hiyoshi Wakashi. Echizen's match had quickly put an end to the, ridiculously, intense first round of the regional finals with a smashing 7-2 win, that they could all breath a sigh, of at least temporary, relief at.
"Yeah sure - your death grip on my arm after Tezuka went down says otherwise." Oishi shook his head at him, smiling, as he rubbed his sore, left arm, threw his sleeve.
"Well sorry!" Eiji stuck his tongue out at him playfully. "Kehh! I hope he's gonna be ok though!" his eyes went wide and he flailed his arms in an odd show of concern, "But - still," Eiji began to whine again, skipping over the more important details and grabbing his stomach, "I'm SOOOOO hungry!" he went on, reeling dramatically.
The regulars all just shook their heads, smiling to themselves - leave it to Kikumaru Eiji to lighten even the most serious of moods.
"I have some Pocky in my bag you can eat if you want." Fuji offered.
"WAII! Really!?" the springy, magenta-haired, boy exclaimed happily.
"Sure - here." he said, offering his friend a partially open box of Strawberry Pocky.
"AHH! My favvvv!" Eiji groaned in delight, tearing into the remaining package with his teeth. Fuji just smiled as usual, and Eiji stopped for a moment - eyeing him oddly.
"Chiiii... what'd you do?" he asked Fuji suspiciously. The brunettes ever present, slightly devious, smile always seeming to make everything he did have an ulterior motive.
"Nothing." the, subtly disturbing, tensai only went on smiling.
"I swear Fujiko-chan, if I didn't trust you so much - I wouldn't trust you at ALL!." Eiji told him sardonically, as he snapped down on one of the, thickly-coated, snack sticks.
"Gawd - I'm totally exhausted and I didn't even play," Oishi sighed, as the boys all threw their tennis bags down on the ground by the nearest benches, "I can only imagine how you guys feel." he observed, in his, typically-over-worried, way.
"It was rather intense, wasn't it..." Inui said calmly, as he folded his arms across his chest.
"Intense isn't the half of it!" Momoshiro cut in, looking utterly relived that the whole thing was over.
"And just think! This is only the beginning!" Eiji exclaimed, clenching his fists in pure, excited, delight. "Jahh, but marr - I need a drink," he muttered threw a mouth half full of Pocky, "anyone else want something?"
Everyone just shook their heads and Kikumaru bounded off, like the sugar-filled-crack- kitty, that they all knew he was - across the grass to find the nearest vending machine.
"Hiyo!? Hiyo vending machine!?!" Eiji shouted randomly, as though he were expecting a reply - as he wandered across the complex aimlessly, "HIY - AHHHHH!"
Kikumaru's calling turned to surprised exclamation as he stumbled, falling head over heals and landing on his back in the grass.
"EHHHHHHH!" he whined bitterly, sitting up, and rubbing his head as he pouted. "What the hell!!!" he snapped bitterly, picking up his, now empty, Pocky box, and hucking it at his paths obstruction.
"Mahh..." the only partially awakened, but mostly asleep, copper-brown haired boy whom Eiji had tripped over groaned slightly. Quite obviously out of sorts, the groggy boy lifted his hand from his side and pick up the Pocky box which was now laying on his chest.
"Hey... Pocky." he muttered, a weird, vague, smile, crossing his drowsy expression.
"Pocky nothing! What the hell are you doing sleeping out here!" Eiji nipped at him crossly.
"Mmh?" he sat up a bit, propping himself up on his elbow and looking over at Eiji, who was still sitting where he'd fallen, arms crossed and pouting like an irritated little kid.
"Mmhhhhhh... that's it?!"
"What the hell?"
"That's what I said!"
"Sei-ga-ku..." he muttered, sounding out the letters on Eiji's jacket as if they were foreign to him.
"HYO-I-TEHH!!!" Eiji yelled back at him phonetically.
"AHH! You're from the same team as that awsome guy I played!" the boy sat bolt up right suddenly, startling an already agitate Eiji. "WAIII! AWSOME!!"
"What the fu - "
"FUJI SYUSUKE! You ARE on his team right!?!"
"Yeah - and you're - "
"Akutagawa, Jirou Akutagawa!" the once lethargic boy exclaimed emphatically.
"Yeah, I know." Eiji nodded, totally thrown off by his night/day switch in personality. "I saw you play Fuji, you were pretty crazy!" he began to laugh, all of a sudden forgetting that he'd just been mad.
"No way! Fuji was the crazy one! I mean, WAIIIIIIII! SUGOI!!!" he went on raving.
"Hehehe! Yeah yeah! I know what you mean! He can be kinda scary some times!" he nodded, not even realizing the conversation he was getting into.
"Scary nothin! Play with Atobe - THAT'S scary. Fuji-san was so COOL!" Jirou exclaimed, grinning like some rabid fan-girl.
"I know I know! He is a tensai after all! Gawd! He makes me SO jealous some times!!"
"CHAI! No doubt!!!" He nodded quickly.
"Heheh! You think so huh?" Eiji laughed at him, completely amused. "Oh yeah - can I have my Pocky back?" he asked, suddenly realizing that the Hyotei Regular was crushing the flimsy, pink-cardboard, box, in his excitedly clenched fist.
"Eh? Oh! Sorry!" he laughed, scratching at the bridge of his nose in embarrassment as he handed the box to Kikumaru, "Guess I broke em huh? Hehehe."
"Nah, I already spilled what was left when I tripped over you." he pouted, remembering again why he was sitting there.
"EH! Gomen gomen!!" Jirou appologized again, "I have more if you want!" the fully- awake, and high-strung, boy pulled his tennis bag off his shoulders quickly and swung it around in front of him.
"CHI! Really! Thanx!" Eiji - never one to refuse candy - nodded quickly.
"Chocolate, Banana, Green-Tea, or Strawberry?" Jirou asked him, as he rooted threw his bags outer pockets, shaking different boxes to see how full they were.
"STRAWBERRY! It's my favorite!" Eiji nodded rapidly, grinning from ear to ear.
"AH! Me too!" Jirou laughed, handing one of a number of pink-foil packages over to Kikumaru, who accepted it eagerly.
"Mmmm! Oishiiiii!" he squealed, bitting into three at once, as Jirou did likewise.
"That was a pretty awesome game we had huh!?" Jirou went on rambling to Eiji as the pair munched away.
"Totally! It was one of best EVER! I thought Tezuka and Atobe were gonna go at it all day!!" Eiji exclaimed, failed his arms madly back and forth, mimicking their swings.
"Well - heheheh, I slept threw most of it actually," Jirou confessed, sounding a little ashamed, "but what I did see was totally AMAZING! 5-6, 6-6, 6-7, 7-7, 7-8, OH MY GAWD! I thought it'd NEVER end!!!"
"I KNOW!!!" they both squealed like gossiping girls - the two's oddly, over-hyped, personalities only worsening each others.
"I didn't see the game, but - I heard when you beat Gakuto and Oshitari in doubles." Jirou went on, as he brushed bright-pink crumbs from his, stark, white, Hyotei jacket.
"Yeah, we did, but - it wasn't a good game at all." Eiji pouted with a sigh, thinking about how crappy his game had felt, "You didn't really miss anything."
"You were with a different partner right?"
"Yeah -" he nodded, sighing with resentment as he clenched his Pocky in his teeth.
"That must a been totally harsh!" Jirou exclaimed, catching Eiji off guard again with his exclamatory tone. "I don't know doubles - but, I know you gotta be totally in synch!"
"Totally! I hate playing without Oishi! And I had no idea that Hyotei had a player like me!!!"
"Gakuto? Yeah well -" Jirou stuck out his tongue, "he's flashy - and his Moon Salute's pretty freakish - but, between you and me," he leaned in closer to Eiji, who leaned in as well. "You'd probably kick his as in singles! Hhehe!"
"You think so!?" Eiji laughed, feeling particularly flattered.
"CHI! TOTALLY!" Jirou batted his hand at Eiji as if it were more fact then theory. "Atobe makes us know EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING bout all the teams, and you're kickin' compared to that feather-weight!" he laughed.
"WAII! Thanx Akutagawa-san!" Eiji laughed, thinking it odd, but funny, that anyone from Hyotei would say that sort of thing.
"Hehehe! No prob! And it's Jirou, JI-ROU! My last names too long don't you think?"
"Hehehe! If you says so Jirou-kun."
"Well I do!"
"Hoi hoi - You know, your captain's SERIOUSLY scary!" Eiji whined to Jirou, while thoughts of the Hyotei team started bouncing around his head.
"HEHE! I know! I know! Isn't he?! With that THING he does? 'I see EVERYTHING'." Jirou mocked Atobe's voice deeply, as he dragged his fingers dramatically down his forehead and across his nose.
The pair burst out laughing hysterically, holding their sides as they giggled and snorted like six-year-olds. They just went on laughing too - until they were both literally in tears - making fun of their team mates and complementing each other on their, distinctly-alike, taste in practically everything. Although they'd only just met one another that morning they were already talking like they were just old friends catching up with one another.
"Ehhhh, Kikumaru-san, why can't someone like you play for us!" Jirou tried to talk threw his waning laughter, "It wouldn't be half so boring! And I totally wouldn't wanna sleep threw everything!"
"CHAII! Same same! No one on Sigaku's half as fun as you! It's always - 'Eiji, stop that', 'Eiji, cut that out', 'Eiji, be more serious'," he laughed, so obviously mocking the way Oishi was constantly babysitting him.
"Hhehe! I know what you mean!" Jirou nodded as he rubbed his tears of laughter away with his jacket sleeve.
"EIJI!"
"JIROU!"
The two boys happy fits of laughter were suddenly interrupted by two distinctly irritated voices. Their shoulders shrugging up to their ears - like puppies who'd just been scolded for chewing a shoe - and they both turned slowly. Atobe and Oishi were both standing behind them, arms folded across their chests, looking thoroughly pissed off.
"Where have you been!" They both yelled in unison - causing them to snap harsh looks at one another.
"Do you have any idea what time it is!?!" Oishi shouted at Eiji.
"Everyone was looking all over for you, idiot! We're leaving!" Atobe scolded Jirou with equal harshness.
"Sorry..." the once hyperly-excited boys both sulked apologetically, getting slowly to their feet. Eiji and Jirou both looked at each other with sad expressions, as though their mothers' had just shown up to drag them home.
"We're leaving too Eiji, lets go." Oishi frowned at him, stepping back.
"Hurry up Jihro." Atobe just shook his head, turning his back on them and walking off.
"It's been fun." Eiji smiled at his new-found-friend sheepishly.
"Yeah." Jirou nodded, smiling weakly, as he knew full well they were both in trouble.
"Bye." Kikumaru nodded. But as he tried to leave, Jirou grabbed his hand and pulled him back.
"Eiji!" Oishi called him insistently.
"Coming!" Eiji groaned, grinning back at the Hyotei Regular as he ran over to his doubles-partner's side. Jirou just shrugged his shoulders back, smirking as he began to yawn, stretching his hands over his head and waving.
Eiji was completely ignoring Oishi's reprimands as they walked out of the tennis grounds; he just nodded at appropriate intervals, giving the occasional 'uh huh'. He glanced down at the back of his hand quickly, smiling with a quick squeak of laughter, before burying it safely in his pocket again. His skin was still tingling, from having a ball-point pen dragged across it so roughly, as it left behind the phone number which had just been quickly scrawled onto it.
(To be continued)