Warnings: Cliche plot, language and OOCness. Written for the POT forum's Royal Flush Spread the OTP Love! challenge. Sweet Pair. Any constructive criticism is very much welcome as this is my first Sweet drabble and typos are to be squashed without pity. Thank you.
Jiroh blearily watched some children caper by, shouting and yelling in excitement. He wanted to doze off on the park bench he was sitting on, but he knew that if he did, he would never get home on time. But then again, it might not be such a problem if he turned up late. No one was at home anyway.
His eyelids were almost completely shut when a sudden shriek jolted him awake.
"Look at Kentaro-kun, Sakura-chan! He's blowing this awesome bubble!"
"What? Where?"
"It's so big! Won't it pop soon?"
"Nah, Kentaro-kun's good at blowing huge bubblegums!"
"Maybe it's the brand he uses..."
"He uses the Kawaii Aka kind. D'you think that one works better?"
"I dunno. Shall we go ask Kentaro-kun?"
The children giggled and scampered off, unaware that they had startled Jiroh out of snoozeland. The orange-head sat on the park bench for a few more minutes, processing the children's conversation.
Bubblegum...Jiroh knew what that reminded him of. A smile on his face, all sleepiness forgotten, he got up and shouldered his tennis bag, leaving the park behind.
--
"Mou...it's so big..." Jiroh said anxiously to himself, scanning the large Rikkaidai school grounds. "Well, Hyoutei grounds are bigger but..."
Jiroh looked around, clueless and lost.
Then he saw a Rikkaidai student walking towards the buildings. Thinking that he could ask for directions, Jiroh raised a hand and yelled.
When the Rikkaidai student spotted Jiroh, still dressed in his Hyoutei uniform, he paused, but came over, his face a mask of politeness.
"Ne, could you please tell me where I can find Bunta Marui?" Jiroh asked.
The Rikkaidai student stared at him. "Bunta-sempai?"
Oh, was he a kouhai of Marui-kun?
"Has he gone yet?" Jiroh asked anxiously.
"No, not at all." the student hurried to say. "You're lucky you bumped into me. I was just on my way to see him."
Jiroh beamed, delighted at his good luck. He followed the student into the school buildings. The corridors were, by far, deserted (it was quite some time after school), but looking out one window, Jiroh could see the track field being used by two groups of students.
"Wouldn't Marui-kun be at the tennis courts?" Jiroh asked, puzzled. "He did say he has tennis practice every day after school..."
The student shot him a cool glare before quickly masking it as he realised his mistake.
"Bunta-sempai decided to stay in class today to complete his advanced maths homework." The student looked up to check that it was the correct classroom. He slid the door open. "After you."
Jiroh stepped into the class. The first thing he noticed were the group of boys gathered a certain desk. The second thing he noticed was the fact that the student had lied to him. Marui-kun wasn't there.
He turned, but the student had already shut the door, and barred the way.
"Hey guys, look who's come to join us."
"Why did you bring a Hyoutei, idiot Ken?"
"I think he'll blab – rich kids always do."
"He was looking for Bunta-sama." The student named Ken said, and a tense hush fell over the students. "And he called him Marui-kun."
"Unforgivable." The group of boys left the table and began surrounding the apprehensive Jiroh. "No one, especially not a rich, stuck-up Hyoutei kid like you can address Bunta-sama with whatever honorific you like."
"Hear that?" Another boy asked maliciously. "You should call him Bunta-dono."
"Why are you here in the first place?" A boy snorted. "I'll bet you're here to challenge Bunta-sama to a tennis match! You'll lose, I'll tell you that for sure."
"And now," Ken spoke up, his eyes glinting with anticipation, "let's teach him a lesson."
There was a metallic shick of a blade being released, and Jiroh knew that the boys had a pocket knife and was planning to use it. He backed away from the advancing group, wondering how query of directions had led to this.
"What's going on here?" A sharp voice asked.
The boys froze.
Jackal eyed the uncomfortable boys before his eyes flickered briefly to the surprised Jiroh.
"I see you have been mistreating my guest, Ken."
If the boys looked uncomfortable before, they were now pale and nervous. Marui himself emerged from behind Jackal, no longer chewing on his ever there gum, and the expression on his face could curdle more than just milk and blood.
"If you come near Jiroh-kun again...hell, if you even sneeze in his direction, I swear I will hunt you down and skin you alive." There was a menacing note in the usually bubbly red-head's voice, and the guilty boys nodded feverishly.
"Get out." Jackal commanded, and the boys fled.
"Are you all right, Jiroh-kun?" Marui was before his boyfriend in a flash, a concerned look on his face. He was chewing his gum again, Jiroh noticed, the scary glint gone from his wide, amber eyes.
"You should do something to rein in that Ken and his buddies." Jackal commented, staying where he was at the threshold. "These fanboys are going too far."
"Hey, what can I say?" Marui said teasingly, blowing a pink bubble before popping it. "My charm and charisma ooze out of my every pore."
He turned to Jiroh, his cheerful nature reasserting itself. "Want some gum, Jiroh-kun? Then we can go and have a match, ne?"
Jiroh looked down at the gum Marui was offering. He almost laughed out loud when he saw it.
Kawaii Aka. Go figure. Jiroh was beginning to believe more and more in fate. He took the gum, and Marui beamed.
"Come on, don't waste too much time." Jackal said. "Marui, grab the book you came here for and let's get back. Sanada-fukubuchou won't be happy if we miss the remaining hour of practice."
"Right." Marui grabbed the book from his desk, and took Jiroh's hand in another. "Jackal-kun will have to sit out on a match with me. I'm playing with Jiroh first!"
"Whatever you like." Jackal grumbled, although good-naturedly. "Just hurry up for goodness sakes! I don't want to get punished by Sanada!"
As they made their way out of the buildings and on to the tennis courts, Jiroh glanced at the bubblegum he held in his free hand. Marui's warm touch was holding his other hand, and it felt so right that Jiroh smiled.
'There is no such thing as coincidence. There is only fate.'
Quote from xxxHolic, Yuuko Ichihara.
xEndx