Glory to the Kingdom
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.
Warning: Spoilers for the Nationals Seigaku-Hyoutei matches.
The sun hung low in the sky, but Taki was still there at the fence anyway. In his school uniform, without the tennis jersey, it felt awkward and almost blasphemous to be at the courts, but he wasn't there to play tennis. Rather, he was waiting as Atobe finally completed the captain's duties, and from behind iron chain links he watched as the other boy exited the gate.
Their eyes caught, briefly, and then Atobe looked away and down to lock the courts. Like his existence had been erased, just like that, and even if perhaps he didn't deserve it, Taki still had his pride.
But in the end it was Taki who broke the silence, finally - just "Atobe," spoken with a wry half-smile and a tone that asked Atobe to listen, just this once.
Atobe granted him audience, but not without a little bit of irritation at being held up. "Well? Is there something you wanted? Taki."
That got a flicker of a grimace, but Taki plunged on anyway. "I'm not bitter, you know, buchou. Even though Ohtori chose Shishido, and you. You backed him to Kantoku." He was being awfully matter-of-fact despite the subject, Atobe noticed, and it caught Atobe off-guard a little when Taki smiled and continued on. "But you admire his will, though, don't you? I do, too, I suppose. I didn't have what was needed to come back to Regulars again. But I'm not bitter, you know."
"Is there a point to this, Taki?" Now there was, under that irritation, something like wariness. Taki had managed to stay near the top of Hyoutei ranks, after all.
Taki just shrugged. "I just wanted to wish you luck in your matches. You've slotted yourself against that Seigaku first year brat, right"
They both grinned at that, and then Atobe began walking away.
"I make my own luck. But thank you, Haginosuke." And the smugness on Atobe's face, when the Hyoutei captain looked back briefly, stunned Taki into silence.
7-6! Seigaku advances to the Semifinals!
And so the mighty fell. Behind the thunder of Seigaku's win came the undertone of Hyoutei support: "Atobe! Atobe!" and someone on the courts spoke up. "C'mon, we should get him off the courts." How blue the sky, and if any of Hyoutei begrudged the world for the good weather, well and true they'd played with all they had. (It hadn't been enough.)
In the brief space of time that it took Atobe to shake off the muzziness of sleep, he registered two things. One, that he was in an unfamiliar room, settled on a cloth-covered floor, and that someone was running gentle fingers through his hair. His eyes opened to half-slits, and with a quiet "nngh" made the fact he was quite awake now clear. But someone held his head from moving.
"Oh? You're awake." Taki came into view, peering over Atobe from his position on the chair behind. "Don't move, I'm evening out your hair."
His hair. Ah. Atobe closed his eyes again, at that. "I lost."
Taki didn't mince words. "You did." The scissors clattered to the floor beside him, the metal still warm from Taki's hands barely touching his own skin. "There," and it felt good, the way Taki was running fingers through his hair. "It's not bad, really. Just different."
He laughed at the words, because Taki was trying to comfort him, and the thought of that was amusing given the position the other boy had been several weeks back. "Are you trying to console me? My great self is not so easily injured." Taki's face blanked out at his words, and the other boy just watched him, considering. When it became apparent that Taki wouldn't be the first to break the silence, Atobe sighed and spoke up himself. "It's been a long time since I've come over, hasn't it?"
"Not since we were first years."
And then Atobe was half-heartedly slamming his palm into his forehead and just chuckling. If the laughter was tinged a little hysteria, well, it had been a long day. "And now we're about to graduate. It's all over. We'll take the high school circuit, next year." They were tangible dreams, still, even if Tezuka and Fuji and Yukimura and so many were joining the circuit with them.
Soft brown locks brushed against Atobe's head as Taki tilted forward again. "Have you chosen the next captain yet?"
"Hiyoshi, probably. Unless a strong freshman comes in and defeats him." They both sneered a little at that. For all Hyoutei's strength-based system, it was unlikely that Sakaki would give the position to a newcomer. There was more to running a team than being the strongest, and perhaps tomorrow he would show Hiyoshi what it meant to lead a team. "We'll see." Hiyoshi was not a pillar, but Hyoutei didn't need pillars.
They stood on the courts, Atobe and Hiyoshi, and then Atobe tossed the ball in the air. A lazy toss, up, fall, "Come at me, Hiyoshi," serve.