This is a weird little fic for me. I had the image in the first paragraph, and then the rest just kind of wrote itself. It's just your standard friendship fic, nothing really special. (Aside from the fact that it's officially my first -posted- fic of the year 2011 :3) I hope you like it!
Warnings: I admit, I have no idea about golf course rules. But writing's all about suspending disbelief, yes?
Disclaimer: Damn, I'm really getting bad about forgetting these things. !Konomi owns Prince of Tennis!
Company
Yagyuu Hiroshi took a deep breath, enjoying the pungent scents of fresh cut grass, exposed earth, and the worn leather of his gloves as he raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his brow. A deep orange sun barely touched the horizon, and its rays turned the partly clouded sky a myriad of intense colors that had yet to fail in taking his breath away. Evening at the golf course had become one of Yagyuu's favorite places over the course of the summer. To him, it was a place where he could go and forget about the stress of life and simply enjoy his surroundings.
But he had yet to decide if Niou Masaharu was a welcome visitor in his little paradise.
Niou was standing beside him with one of his nicer clubs in hand and little frown, whether bored or displeased Yagyuu didn't know, pulling down the corner of his mouth. Well, he wasn't just standing, he was doing a little bouncing dance and testing the grip of the pair of Yagyuu's spare gloves. He would keep moving as he lined up the club with an imaginary ball, and it would only stop long enough for him to swing, rotating his shoulders and back like Yagyuu had shown him, and send a little tuft of grass and dirt sailing a good twenty or thirty feet.
"Stop that. You're tearing up the grass." He said when Niou had a neat little circle of scars going. Niou huffed, and his frown deepened, but he obeyed. To an extent. Now, instead of digging the club into the turf, he was simply swinging it wildly about in the air. Yagyuu took a couple of steps back, suspicious that one of them was about to become the proud owners of their very own head wound.
"Masaharu." He pressed, hiding his growing frustration by pushing his glasses up. Niou heaved an exaggerated sigh and shot him a half-hearted glare from the corner of his blue eyes. But he gave in and put the club away, dutifully wiping the dirt off of the head with a soft rag stored away in one of the pockets of the golf bag before sliding it in the top with the others.
"Hiroshi" Niou drawled, while Yagyuu placed another ball onto a small orange tee that he had pressed into the ground, "It's so boring here. What am I supposed to do?" Yagyuu swung, and watched the ball as it sailed towards the darkening colors of the evening sun. When he lost sight of the little round silhouette, he turned and faced his partner, who was kicking lamely at the grass with the toe of his shoe and once again destroying the greenery.
"You don't have to stay here you know." He said, choosing to outwardly ignore Niou's disobedience even though it was eating away at his patience. Niou grimaced, starting up that little dance again, and hummed reluctantly.
"You could call Marui. I'm pretty sure he's not doing anything." Yagyuu continued, thinking that Niou wasn't sure what he wanted to do and that a suggestion might give him an idea. Niou shrugged as he danced in a little circle.
"Eh, he's just gonna want me to buy him some candy or something." That was a lie, and a pretty bad one. Yagyuu barely managed to hide his smile before Niou looked at him, a little hopeful glint in his eyes.
"Hey, how much longer are you planning to stay?" He asked, looking to the line of trees a ways off and feigning disinterest. Yagyuu shrugged and looked over his shoulder at the setting sun.
"Well, the sun's about to set-"
"Then we'll go?" Yagyuu held Niou's gaze for a second in a miniscule punishment for cutting him off.
"Then the flood lights will come on." Niou's expression became pained and his shoulders slumped.
"Well, I might as well stay. I don't have anything better to do." He said as he crouched, then sat, beside the golf bag and leaning back onto his hands. Yagyuu turned and set down another ball, swung, and watched the tiny shadow disappear into the dim light on the horizon. If Niou was so adamant on staying, then he guessed he would welcome the company. He heard the snap of grass and turned to see that Niou had a few broken strands clutched loosely in his fingers.
Well, only if the company behaved.
Love it? Hate it? Need improvement? Let me know! I wrote this in less than two hours, so I'm sure there's something I missed. :)