Title: The New Golden Pair
Author: B.J.B. Freya-sama
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Genre: General, a tinge of Crack
Rating: PG / K+
Warnings: Minor spoilers for ep. 52, 56-57, kouhai abuse, Freya's cracked interpretation of Eiji's sisters, Fuji, Hyotei, and pie (unfortunately, that last one was a lie. Sowwie.)
Disclaimer: Not mine. If it were, Ryoma and Sakuno would totally have a double wedding with the Golden Pair... but then I'd be pelted with rotten tomatoes. XP
Characters/Pairings: Ryoma & Eiji doubles pair / as for pairing pairings, could be seen as Eiji/Oishi, ShishiTori, KamIbu and TakaFuji, should you choose to see it that way. Or it's just a gen fic.
Word Count: approx. 3700
Summary: The Golden Pair gets into a fight, so Momo and, well, just Momo really, decides that the feuding twosome needs to be consoled by him and Ryoma before things get out of hand. What better way is there to calm an angry fire than by tennis? Hohoho...
A/N: Written for Numisma's request at fic on demand. I apologize for anything confusing or grammar errors.
--- --- --- --- ---
Momo and Ryoma ducked behind the nearest bush, asa soon as they stumbled upon a heated argument between the Golden Pair.
Out in the open, Seigaku's infamous doubles pair exchanged scurrilous insults, each knowing just which nerve to strike to drag the feud on to greater decibels. Though they were shouting at the top of their lungs, Momo and Ryoma could barely make out a single word from the distance. It didn't help that their voices were going off at the exact same time; shots of venom dancing so perfectly around each other that it was almost as if they were speaking an entirely different language. Leave it to the Golden Pair to be in sync, even while arguing.
After a few minutes of the verbal brawl, the screaming drew to an abrupt halt. Eiji hooked his doubles partner in the left cheek and stormed off with his head ducked down low. He may have been crying, but the hell if either bystander could tell. Ryoma and Momo took one look at each other, then back to the scene at hand. Oishi started walking away, rubbing his abused cheek and muttering something to himself. Neither of them could see his face, so they could only imagine the serge of fiery emotion that must be flooding through the vice captain.
"Think we should do something about this?" Momo whispered to his kouhai, only to receive a bemused look in return.
"You're kidding, right?" Ryoma meant it, too. He'd been stuck in the middle of one of the pair's spats before and it wasn't pretty. Damned if he ever went within a mile radius of a fuming Eiji in do-everything-humanly-possible-to-piss-off-Oishi mode ever again.
However, he and Momo didn't always meet eye to eye in situations like this. Seigaku's powerhouse insisted that they each go off and console a respective member of the Golden Pair.
"I'll catch up with Oishi-senpai. You go find Eiji-senpai."
"Why don't YOU go find Kikumaru-senpai?" If he absolutely HAD to do this, Oishi was at least calm and collected about things, where Eiji was just downright shrill and vindictive. Not much could stir such anger within the acrobat, but when he got angry, he was damn impossible to talk to. Ryoma wasn't in the mood to deal with that.
Momo, similarly, knew the horror of dealing with an angry Eiji, and tried to think of some excuse; any excuse, just to get out of having to be the one to console him. Once he thought of something, he gave the freshman a good-natured noggie. "Because Eiji-senpai has a soft spot for you, 'O-Chi-Bi-Chan'! Hehe."
He laughed even harder when the shorter boy pushed him away.
"That's the spirit, Echizen. Ganbatte!"
Ryoma retorted with an irritated grunt and pushed forth in the direction Eiji took off. This wasn't going to be fun.
---
It wasn't hard to find his enraged senpai.
The first logical place to find an angry tennis player is on the courts, and, surely enough, there Kikumaru was, smacking a tennis ball against a tall stone wall as hard as he could. In the glaring sunlight, his hair resembled a chaotic fire, with a livid, burning face to match. Whatever it was he and Oishi were arguing about, it sure wasn't pretty.
Okay, he seems to be doing just fine, thinks Ryoma. Kikumaru was taking his anger out on the wall, and it should stay that way. He was ready to turn tail and flee when the acrobat hurled the ball right into the wall as hard as he could. It bounced straight off and zipped past Ryoma's ear.
He had been spotted. There was definitely no way out of this now.
The redhead cracked a forced smile and turned toward his kouhai.
"Hoi! It's not very nice to sneak up on your senpai, O'Chibi."
Ryoma picked up the abused ball and juggled it against the gut of his racket. "It's not my fault you weren't paying any attention," Ryoma deadpanned, causing Eiji's face to drop the act. He was positively furious; the stone wall had about a thousand dents worth of Eiji's wrath to prove it.
"O'Chibiii! You're mean."
"Mada mada dane."
He smirked at his senpai and sent the ball flying his way. Eiji hurled it back in response, this time clipping the shorter boy's ear before either of them realized it.
Ryoma fell to his knees and clasped his throbbing ear, much to Eiji's dismay. Immediately, the shorter boy found long, thin arms frantically embracing him for all he was worth.
"I'm sorry, O'Chibi. I'm sorry. I didn't hurt you too badly, did I? Did I hurt you?"
"I'm fine," said Ryoma, just accepting this awkward trembling, yet bone-crushing hug he was receiving without struggle. One thing Kikumaru liked was physical contact with others, and the sooner he snapped out of this rage and made up with Oishi, the better. They were so annoying when they were in the middle of a fight, after all. Ryoma wondered how he got forced into these things, though.
"Ne, are you going to let go of me any time soon?"
"Ah, sorry." Eiji backed off of the younger boy and rubbed the back of his head. "You needed a hug."
"Are you sure I'm the one who needed it?" Ryoma muttered to himself, unsure and uncaring as to whether or not Eiji heard it. He was now focused on his wonderfully grazed ear. He knew he wouldn't get out of this unscathed. He just knew it.
---
There was only one way Ryoma knew how to console those on his team; through tennis.
Once he offered to play Eiji, the older boy was all for it, until he realized one of the strings on his racket had snapped. They had to stop by Eiji's so he could grab his spare, which took more time than Ryoma thought it would. If he thought his senpai's overzealous affection was something, he hadn't seen anything until he walked into the Kikumaru household.
His sisters were nuts. Absolutely crazy, bonkers, psycho. Ryoma felt that, no matter how hard he tried, those two wouldn't stop hugging him, giggling, or pinching his cheeks. It actually embarrassed Eiji when he appeared in the sitting room, which was the highlight of the entire visit. Kikumaru Eiji, embarrassed by affection. Oh, the irony.
"Sorry about that, O'Chibi. They're that way with me all the time. It's sooo embarrassing, hnya-"
"It explains a lot, though," muttered Ryoma, as they stepped back onto the courts.
"Hoi! What's that supposed to mean!"
"Nothing."
---
Upon their arrival, they were faced with people now. Some players from Fudomine, and some from Hyotei. Currently, the Kamio-Ibu pair was pitted up against the Ohtori-Shishido pair, tied at 2-2.
"Hoi!" Eiji bellowed out before Ohtori could fire his infamous Scud Serve. He hooked his arm around Ryoma's neck and gave his cap a few good strokes. "This little guy and I are going to play the winners, nya!"
From the bleachers, Hyotei's captain Atobe Keigo gave the makeshift Seigaku twosome an amused smirk. "Come to show us more doubles for three, Kikumaru-kun?"
"Wouldn't we need Oishi-kun for that?" asked Ohtori, completely distracted from the task at hand. On the other side of the court, Kamio was at the baseline, humming a beat to keep his rhythm going while Ibu, in front, was muttering rather deleterious comments about Eiji and Momo's match against Hyotei a month prior.
Despite Ibu's inaudible comments, Eiji sure wasn't rooting for Hyotei, seeing as they were the first to bring up his name.
"Oishi who?" he grumbled.
"Kikumaru-senpai... you're choking me," said Ryoma, trying to break loose from his senpai's vice grip.
The whole court began to laugh at the makeshift Seigaku pair, as they both took a seat at the bleachers, feeling quite mortified.
"After Ohtori and Shishido-san crush you guys, Yuushi and I promise to bury you," said Mukahi, clear out of nowhere. He chuckled right in Eiji's ear for good measure, sending an irritated chill down his spine.
"Mou, aren't you the one with weak stamina?" retorted Ryoma, without even turning to grace Mukahi with his demeanor. The magenta-haired boy was ready to pounce, until Hyotei's tensai placed a reassuring hand upon partner's shoulder.
"They aren't even worth the air we breathe, Gakuto."
"That doesn't change the fact that we beat you fair and square in the last match, nya," said Eiji with a smirk, in spite of his growing rage. Really, he was still fuming inside about Oishi. He didn't need another cloud to ruin his sunny day.
"If Oishi-kun weren't there... "
"Game, Ohtori-Shishido pair, 6-games-to-4."
All eyes went back to the courts as each player shook hands respectively. Ibu was sweating, and Kamio looked like he was limping. A cramp maybe? Or a sprain?
"You're up!" Shishido called toward Eiji and Ryoma.
---
Taka had finished helping his dad out with cleaning around the restaurant and decided to call Eiji up, only to receive no answer. Funny. Eiji always had his phone handy, in case something big was happening that he just couldn't miss. He'd received payment for his duties and was in the mood for ice cream, so naturally Eiji was the first to come to mind.
He then called up Fuji. He didn't know if the tensai even liked ice cream, but asked anyway. Fuji agreed, and they met by the parlor a few blocks from the street courts.
"Say, Taka-san. Don't you think it would've been nice to invite Eiji along as well?" said Fuji. They both knew full well that Eiji was the ice cream fanatic amongst the group.
"Well... you see. I called him, but he didn't pick up."
"I see."
Fuji's eyes met the direction of the street tennis courts, just to see quite a few players heading toward there on bikes. Something large was going down and attracting a real crowd, and Fuji had a hunch that Eiji was somehow involved. His grin grew.
"Would you like to head over to the street courts with me, Taka-san?"
"Huh? But we didn't bring any rackets."
Fuji placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "We won't be needing them."
---
"Game Ohtori-Shishido pair, 3-games-to-love!" announced Mukahi, taking utter delight in Kikumaru Eiji's complete annihilation. This is what happens when you don't have a third party invading the courts. This proved once and for all that Eiji was nothing without Seigaku's vice captain to hold his hand. It was too funny, but Mukahi was going to save his laughter for after their cans were entirely cooked.
Not to mention, Shishido and Ohtori's game had barely begun.
"Nya, baka O'Chibi! How many times do I have to tell you that the net is MY turf?"
"Not if you're just staring out in space when Ohtori-san hits his Scud Serve."
"Why can't you make the Twist Serve work better?"
"My Twist Serve's just fine. Your acrobatics keep distracting me."
"My acrobatics could take on your Twist Serve any day, nya."
"Mada mada dane-"
Shishido and Ohtori stood back, blinked, then sighed. This win was going to be so easy it was almost painful to continue playing. Doing battle with such worthless opponents was an insult to Hyotei's pride.
"Are you two done now?" Shishido said, bouncing his racket up and down his shoulder. "Choutaroh and I have real players waiting in line, so if we could hurry this up just a little... "
"Shishido-san, you know they're good players," said Ohtori, trying to provide the makeshift pair at least a shred of dignity. However, "Let's get them to play their best and beat them that way."
"What do you think we've been doing for the past three games?"
"Oi, oi!" Hyotei's pair met eyes with Eiji, who was currently wagging his racket toward them. "We're ready!"
Shishido and Ohtori glanced at each other, then back at their opponents. They couldn't be serious.
---
"Hmm, this is interesting," said Fuji, once he and Taka reached the peak of the steps. "Echizen and Eiji. I wonder how that'll pan out."
"It hasn't so far," said Kamio from beside them, with Ibu bringing up the rear. They both had an open Ponta in hand. "Been awhile."
"Yes, it has." Fuji smiled and nodded. "Why are you limping, Kamio-san?"
"O-oh that? It's just a little cramp... "
"A little cramp, you say. But it threw off your entire rhythm, and then we lost," murmured Ibu, gaze focused on the game at hand. "This really sucks. I wanted to play a match against Echizen. We would've crushed him, too. Kikumaru-kun's acrobatics are no match for Akira's speed, but Akira was too stupid to avoid getting a cramp during our last match and we lost."
"Come on! It's not my fault I got a cramp, Shinji. Gimme a damn break."
"I suppose it's my fault, then, just because Akira's the speed ace and the vice captain. I get blamed for all of our loses... "
"Stop it, Shinji!"
Ibu would have proceeded his current rant, had one brand new squatting position of Ryoma's not aided in successfully countering the Scud Serve. Everyone stared in awe, and Eiji tackled his kouhai into a bear hug and swung his lithe body around a few times for good measure.
---
"Game, Echizen-Kikumaru pair, 5-games to 1. Change court."
"Nya, we did it, O'Chibi, we did it! We won back our service!"
"Kikumaru-senpai, this is embarrassing-"
"Hehe, gomen, gomen, but it's just so exciting!"
It really was exciting, to finally be able to counter such an amazing serve. Eiji and Ryoma were also finally able to find a level of compatibility in their game.
They'd come up with a haphazard plot to confuse their opponents. Ryoma stood at the mid-baseline and didn't move an inch while Eiji did his acrobatics. As the redhead flew through the air, he gave his kouhai subtle signs to attack. Index finger meant smash. V-sign meant Drive B. A wave meant come to the net. It all happened so fast that Shishido and Ohtori couldn't predict the two. After two or twenty rallies, Eiji had them baited and hooked for Ryoma's arrival.
"Game, Echizen-Kikumaru pair, 3-games-to-5."
---
"Did you know that Eiji and Oishi got into an argument earlier today?"
Taka, Ibu, and Kamio's heads all snapped in the tensai's direction, gaping mouths and all.
"Oh, come now. Even the most perfect of pairs get into fights every now and then."
"Why didn't you tell us sooner, Fujiko-chan?" asked Taka, now eyeing Ryoma and Eiji's surprisingly good combination with horror. Could Eiji... this time... he couldn't seriously be trying to replace Oishi with Ryoma, could he? Shishido and Ohtori were both excellent players, with skills that could only be accentuated if they were paired up. Eiji and Ryoma had hardly any coordination in the beginning, and, as far as he could tell, never practiced together as a doubles pair. Eiji and Oishi'd put blood, sweat, and tears into their combination, and have been a pair for three years now.
So... how could one little fight change everything? How-
"Game, Echizen-Kikumaru pair, 6-games-to-5."
"What did Oishi and Eiji get into a fight about?" Taka asked, panic clearly starting to form on his face. Fuji gave Taka a curious look, then focused back on the game at hand.
"I'm not sure. Yuuta only said he spotted them arguing on his way from the street courts."
Fuji pulled out his cell phone and searched for Oishi's number on speed dial. "But I'm going to find out."
"Oi, Fujiko?"
"Kamio-san, will you let Taka-san borrow your racket, please?"
The speed ace gave the smiling boy a curious gaze and shrugged. "Sure, I guess."
---
"Game, Hyotei, 6-games-all. Tie break!"
The two pairs decided to take a short break after that match. It lowered the morale on Eiji's side quite a bit, seeing as his batteries were now running low, and Ryoma kept taking the spotlight from him. The happiness and satisfaction he'd felt before had been sucked from him in one fell swoop. Shishido and Ohtori hadn't been playing their best the entire time! Eiji could tell, because there was no other explanation as to how they could take the twelfth game so swiftly from under their feet.
"For a minute there I could've sworn Seigaku had a new Golden Pair. Guess it was just a false alarm," said Atobe with a shrug. Eiji slammed his towel down onto the bench and sighed.
"That wasn't fair! I can't believe they were messing with us the entire time-"
"Mou, they weren't. They were just desperate to win this round so they did," Ryoma took a sip of water and fiddled with the gut of his racket a bit. "If you aren't feeling up to it, though, you can sit out and I'll take them out myself in the tie break."
Eiji swung his arm around the smaller boy and mussed his currently hatless head.
"As if I'd let you take all the credit!"
The two shared a mutual, competitive grin.
"Let's win this!"
---
Before the two diligent doubles pairs could resume their match, Taka appeared from the side, charging forth while flailing a racket.
"ECHIZEN, KIKUMARU, LISTEN UP! LISTEN TO ME! IF YOU WIN THIS MATCH YOU WILL BECOME SEIGAKU'S NEW GOLDEN PAIR, BABY!"
"Eh?"
"Golden Pair?"
Echizen and Eiji looked up at Taka, completely flabbergasted. That wasn't the point of this match, was it? It was all in good play, and to make Mukahi Gakuto choke on his words, but to become the new Golden Pair? Was it really possible?
When Eiji first got into tennis, he was about Ryoma's age, with no experience or interest in doubles whatsoever. That all changed, however, when Oishi's tennis had caught his eye. Since the day they'd become a pair, they met frequently, whenever and wherever they could to build their combination. Oishi always had a very distinct fear that he'd been holding back his partners in the past, but always commented on how natural he an Eiji fell in tune. Even in this match he and Ryoma were currently engaged in took five throwaway games before they could gain some ground.
It also took a lot of luck to get to this point, and sacrifices on both of their parts. Eiji was being hypocritical to be upset with Ohtori and Shishido for holding back. Without Oishi, Eiji was nowhere near the peak of his potential. Ryoma never had as much fun when he played doubles, as well. Where their combination wasn't bad, there wasn't anything golden about it. They were just holding each other back.
"Sorry, O'Chibi," muttered Eiji.
"Hmm?"
"There's only room for one Golden Pair in Seigaku!"
He dashed clear off the courts before the freshman knew it, to nearly ram straight into Oishi himself at the stairwell. Eiji gasped at the pair a familiar, albeit sullen green eyes that met his own.
"Are you really trying to replace me... Eiji?"
Being so overcome with emotion, Eiji found himself wanting to cry all of a sudden. Instead, he broke into laughter. He was kidding, right?
"Silly, Oishi! There's only room for one Golden Pair in Seigaku."
Once the acrobat was able to contain himself, the two shared a simultaneous apology and walked off together, chatting away as if none of this had ever happened. The entire court fell silent at the pair's departure for a moment, wondering how Ryoma planned to finish now that there was no Eiji.
Taka handed Kamio his racket back with a sheepish grin. "I hope I wasn't going out of line."
"Nonsense, Taka-san. You were perfect," said Fuji, giving his friend a reassuring nod. He then turned his attention toward Momo. "Thank you for talking Oishi into coming."
"Hehe, it was no problem."
"Did you find out what they were arguing about?" asked Taka.
Momo shook his head and groaned. "No clue. No clue at all. Oishi-senpai managed to evade the subject entirely."
"Saa, that's too bad," said Fuji half-heartedly. He was sure Eiji'd tell him all about it soon enough. He always did.
The boys then focused their attention at what was once the match of the century, reduced to half the Hyotei team debating on how to finish this match. Sure, they could just crush Ryoma flat, but that defeated the purpose of doubles entirely.
Eventually, Seigaku's freshman gave up on trying to convince the guys that he was fine on his own and approached his eves dropping teammates while rolling his eyes. "Those guys are annoying. Somebody help me beat them already."
"First thing's first, Echizen! Did you manage to find out what Eiji-senpai and Oishi-senpai were arguing about?" asked Momo frantically.
The short blinked. "Does it really matter?"
"YES!" everyone shouted in response.
Sigh. "Fine. Something about hairspray and a dirty magazine, okay," he lied, wanting to get going with the game. "Can we play now, or-"
But then the haunting circle of gossip shot Echizen's request right down and shut him out. So, this would be a match forever unresolved, huh? Whatever, thought Ryoma as he left. He hated doubles anyway.
E N D