Title: Everything else less

Characters/Pairings: Atobe Keigo/Akutagawa Jiroh, Ohtori Choutarou/Shishido Ryou

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of The Prince of Tennis but boy, I wish I did. Oh, the gayness.

Atobe was worried. He hadn't been this worried about anything before, he had made Jiroh mad by saying something too arrogant right after a big fight they had had about something as unimportant as what colour the curtains or the carpets should be. Jiroh had taken off and Atobe hadn't seen him after that.

Atobe rubbed his forehead in pain, trying to think where Jiroh could have gone. It just wasn't like him to just disappear like this and then be away for days. Atobe started getting really nervous and worried, what if something had happened to Jiroh? If that was the case, then it would all be his fault. And ore-sama couldn't bear with that.

Atobe looked out of the window, the sky was already turning darker and it looked like it would start raining soon. He sighed and run a hand through his hair. This was all new to him, he couldn't recall feeling like this for anyone else than Jiroh, there was something about that boy that made his heart go wild. Atobe knew he had a certain reputation at school but Jiroh hadn't cared about his one-night stands or anything.

A lightning struck to the ground outside and it made Atobe shiver. What if Jiroh was out there, laying in some dump so badly injured that he couldn't even move? What if...?

Where was his cell phone? He had tried to call Jiroh several times after the incident but his cell phone was either turned off or he didn't want to answer to his calls. Maybe he should try calling anyone who might know about his whereabouts. Shishido, that Rikkai's red head Jiroh admired, just anyone. He needed help, he wouldn't be able to find his beloved sleeping beauty this way.

"Ahh."

Atobe found his cell phone. Someone had tried to call him but he was too busy worrying over other things, so he just searched Shishido's number as fast as he could. Atobe knew Shishido and Ohtori were probably right in the middle of it but this was more important. He was the one and only, ore-sama himself after all and everyone should have been awed by his presence.

"Ah, Shishido. Sorry to interrupt your private moment but ore-sama needs your help. You and Ohtori both get your sorry asses here now!" he commanded and then shut his cell phone. Atobe sat down to a comfortable, leopard patterned couch to wait for them. He snapped his fingers and commanded someone to bring him some black tea to get him relaxed.

The doorbell rang. It should be Shishido and Ohtori by now, Atobe thought and dragged his feet to the door. Shishido looked at him, a little surprised to notice that their buchou had opened the door by himself and that he hadn't put one of his servants to do that.

"Wow, it has to be something really important, if you came to open the door yourself," he said in a mocking shade of voice. Ohtori was more amazed than shocked by Shishido's arrogance and he hit his senpai gently to get him shut up and stop annoying Atobe any more.

"Ha ha. Very funny, Shishido." Atobe said coldly and closed the door behind them. "Jiroh's missing. Ore-sama thought that you two might know something about him."

Ohtori's fingers were running up and down Shishido's arm and he whispered something to the long- haired boy's left ear. Shishido didn't say anything but judging by his blushing it had nothing to do with Jiroh. Atobe folded his arms, he didn't want to witness this. He hit both of them on the head and then turned around.

"Didn't you two lovebirds hear a word of what I just said? Our sleeping beauty is missing and ore-sama needs your help," he said and glared at Shishido. Shishido sighed and pushed Ohtori away from him.

Atobe went on and on about how he had made Jiroh mad but Shishido couldn't care less at this moment. Atobe had called at the worst possible moment and made the two of them rushing here just because Jiroh was probably sleeping under some tree without a clue about anything.

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"So... How come we're in the rain, soaking wet without an umbrella or anything, looking for Jiroh? We were supposed to have a nice evening together, weren't we?" Shishido pouted when Atobe had practically pushed them out of the door and told them to go search for his darling Jiroh.

Ohtori smiled and wrapped his arms around Shishido's slender but still muscular enough body, closing his eyes.

"Shishido-senpai, don't be so selfish at a time like this," he said, brushing the older boy's dark brown wet hair. "Try to imagine yourself into his position, what if this kind of thing had happened to us instead of them?"

Shishido took a deep breath and said nothing about the situation anymore. Ohtori whined a little when Shishido pushed his hand away instead of taking it to his own even though he had used to this already. Shishido wasn't like most of the other boys out there, he wanted to keep his own head when it came to things like these and it was also a part of his charm that made Ohtori's heart race whenever they were together.

They kept on walking around the streets, searching every park and every forest but they found no clue of Jiroh, absolutely nothing. It took more than just a few hours and when Shishido finally looked at the clock, it was way over midnight. They knew Atobe would be hard on them when they'd get back without Jiroh but it couldn't be helped. They either had to keep on searching or to face Atobe's anger.

"Choutarou," Shishido said quietly and tugged his friend's sleeve. "I think we should just go home alread--"

"Shishido-senpai! There's someone out there," Ohtori said and pointed at the bushes. Shishido's eyes followed his finger but he didn't see anything. Poor Ohtori was probably seeing things already, they were both exhausted after all those hours and searching for nothing. He shook his head and pulled Ohtori along him.

"Let's just call it a quit, we won't find him like this."

Ohtori tried to get his senpai turn back but it was useless. He was sure he had seen someone - or something - moving in those bushes and that's what he tried to tell Shishido all the way home. Shishido folded his arms and Ohtori rang the doorbell.

No one came to answer. Shishido and Ohtori gave each other a look and then tried to open the door. It was really unexpected, the door wasn't locked. They stepped in and switched on the lights, maybe Atobe had already gone to bed or something. They walked around in the big house until they found their way to Atobe's bedroom. Ohtori knocked on the door but Shishido just slammed the door open.

"Oi, Atobe, we didn't find-- Jiroh, what the hell are you doing here?" he asked shocked when his eyes fixed on another person in Atobe's bed. Atobe was petting the blonde's slightly curly hair tenderly and put a finger on his lips as a sign for Shishido and Ohtori to be quiet.

"Atobe, what's going on? How is it possible that Jiroh's here and he's not even wet like we are after all those hours we spent looking for him?! Why you --" Shishido glared at the two of them, biting his bottom lip so hard he could almost feel the blood in his mouth. Ohtori grabbed his senpai's arm and covered his mouth with his free hand so he wouldn't cause any more trouble.

Jiroh opened his eyes slowly and yawned. His eyes wandered around the room and finally fixed on Shishido and Ohtori who looked at him really surprised.

"Aaahh... What are everyone so jumpy for?" he asked, still half asleep. "I just... Zzz..."

Shishido looked like he could have gone crazy and kill anyone to come in his way. Ohtori tried to keep him still and not to do anything stupid because of all that frustration that had packed into his body. Atobe smiled letting out a little laughter and caressed the blonde's face as Jiroh changed his position.

Shishido was furious. This was exactly why he didn't like Atobe, and after all this he probably would never be able to respect or face him as anyone else but their captain or he'd kick Atobe's ass and badly. He could've had a nice and comfortable evening with his Choutarou, snuggling against each other, sleeping together or something like that, but nooo. They had to spend the whole damn night searching for Atobe's idiotic sweetheart and all for nothing! And Atobe hadn't even informed them about Jiroh getting back.

Ohtori noticed his senpai's irritation getting worse and dragged him away. Atobe yawned, Shishido sure knew how to be hot-headed but how could he accuse him, the almighty Atobe Keigo? His attention turned to Jiroh who was munching a pillow in his sleep and mumbling words like hungry, raspberry pie and... Kei-chan. It made Atobe's heart melt and he couldn't help but smile at Jiroh's posture.

He had never thought about falling in love with someone like Jiroh but it just happened. At first he had felt like it was nothing special and that it wouldn't last like the most of his other relationships. But later he noticed that there actually was something different about Jiroh, he didn't want Jiroh just for sex or anything. It was something bigger, just being needy couldn't feel like that.

Atobe smirked, he felt Jiroh's arms tightening around his body and begging him to lay down by his side. He could hear Jiroh mumbling about something but he wasn't quite sure what it was.

"I'm glad you came back, Jiroh," he whispered softly in Jiroh's ear and kissed him on the nose. Jiroh's eyes opened at the very same moment Atobe's lips touched his skin.

"Atobe!"

Jiroh's eyes sparkled and he cuddled against Atobe's chest beaming with happiness and pureness, there was no way anyone could have resisted that sweet face of his. Oh well, guess it was possible for even Atobe to have a lasting, fully satisfying relationship after all.

"Ah, I'm such an idiot, such an idiot! Were you worried, Kei-chan? Kei-chan?"

Atobe smiled and fixed the blonde's hair. Jiroh tilted his head to the right and the smile on his face just got wider and wider when Atobe placed another kiss on his forehead.