On Wednesdays

And here is a Drama Pair ficcy! (And for those of you who don't know what that is, it's Atobe x Shishido. Because, really, who's more dramatic than the pair of them? XD)

I'm dedicating this to Jazzy-chan, The Tensai Fangirl, since she was the person who inspired this crack.

x On Wednesdays x 1000 words x For Jazzy dearest

Every Wednesday, after tennis practise, Atobe and Taki would go somewhere without fail. Nobody was ever allowed to accompany them, and the people who tried to follow them - and there were very many of them - were always caught and dealt with accordingly. (Accordingly meant that Atobe would threaten them with more gruelling tennis practices and speeches about his brilliance.)

Of course, such mysterious behaviour made rumours sprout. Some were quite innocuous: perhaps Atobe wanted to train Taki, because he had the most promise out of all the non-regulars. Some, however, were a bit more insidious, whispered safely out of earshot of the two: maybe, just maybe, the two had an illicit relationship. What else could explain their need to keep their secret so entirely?

Even though the rumours were numerous, nothing dispersed them: Atobe and Taki remained as secretive as they ever had.

And it was, quite frankly, driving Shishido entirely insane.

Shishido could admit, though only in the deep, dark depths of his own mind (which really wasn't that deep or dark, mind you), that perhaps he had a teensy weensy crush on his captain dearest. Though he didn't like calling it a crush. Crushes were for giggly girls who turned bright red when the object of their affections just looked at them, and Shishido was definitely not a giggly girl, now would he turn bright red whenever Atobe looked at him. (...Though he would sometimes turn a bit pink. But that was inconsequential.) Shishido preferred to refer to his not-crush in his mind as a... well, as a crush, since he couldn't think of a better word for it.

Shishido just did his best to never think about it.

But seeing Atobe and Taki disappear each Wednesday like clockwork irked him to no end. He had, of course, heard the rumours that Atobe and Taki were secretly dating, and really hoped it wasn't true, since Taki was everything that Shishido wasn't. Taki had beautiful hair, Shishido had to admit, having taken such good care of his own beautiful hair before he'd cut it short. Taki's hair was soft, and took on an amber sheen when under sunlight, making him look like an angel and what was Shishido doing, waxing poetic about his rival for Atobe's love? But anyway, Taki's hair matched Atobe's in its flawlessness. They made for a pretty couple (and here Shishido was, referring to the couple as if they actually were a couple and he really hoped they weren't-)

'Shishido? What are you doing?'

And Shishido turned red as he heard the perfect voice of Atobe Keigo.

'What do you mean?' Shishido retorted. 'Can't a guy sit where he wants?'

'A...guy,' Atobe started, using Shishido's colloquial language with a sniff, 'can indeed sit where he wishes to, but if he's mumbling incoherently to nobody in particular, can't this guy's captain inquire about what on Earth he is doing?'

Shishido hadn't realised that he'd been thinking aloud. At least he hadn't been actually speaking, it wouldn't have gone well, having Atobe hear Shishido bemoaning his and Taki's relationship.

'Fuck off,' Shishido replied rudely, deciding that he wanted to sulk. Why should Atobe care anyway, since he had Taki to talk to, Taki with his beautiful hair-

'Why are you grumbling about Taki's hair?' Atobe questioned, sounding polite though Shishido knew Atobe was just being condescending, raising an eyebrow elegantly, because, obviously, everything Atobe did had to be elegant. Shishido should have just stopped thinking, because clearly, it wasn't doing him any good.

'Didn't I just tell you to fuck off?' Shishido asked irritably. Stop thinking, he reminded himself. Just stop.

Atobe, instead of, as Shishido had put it, 'fucking off', sat down next to Shishido on the bench. 'You seemed distracted in practice,' he said reprovingly. 'Don't make me regret having you on the team.'

Shishido wanted to scream 'It was your fault that I was distracted in the first place!' but then he'd have to explain, and there was no way he was going to.

'Yeah, yeah,' Shishido replied, rolling his eyes. His cheeks were still a bit pink, and why wasn't Atobe just leaving?

'I can't lock up before you get off the courts,' Atobe replied, with an air of 'Really, you should be glad that I'm even talking to the likes of you' mixed with 'Why do I even put up with you?'

...Was Shishido still mumbling out all his thoughts aloud? What was he, that muttering guy from Fudoumine?

Shishido stood up, picking up his tennis bag, which had been beside the bench. 'I'll just...go then.'

Fuck Atobe and Taki and their Wednesday outings.

'...What about my Wednesday outings?' Atobe asked carefully, as if he were talking to a spooked animal.

And fuck Shishido. Couldn't he stop mumbling? What was wrong with him today?

'Nothing,' Shishido replied quickly, but Atobe didn't seem convinced.

All of a sudden, a smirk found its way onto Atobe's face. 'Ah,' he said, sounding exactly like Oshitari did when he was being all 'I'm smarter than you, and you know it'. 'You're jealous.'

'No I'm not!' Shishido immediately retorted, but the flush on his cheeks answered for him. Atobe's smirk only grew wider.

'You're not?' Atobe questioned, still smirking. 'Well, that's too bad.'

'Huh?' Shishido asked dumbly, staring at Atobe with confused eyes.

Atobe shrugged, a gesture that would have seemed slovenly on Shishido but seemed refined on Atobe, and stood up as well. As Shishido stared at Atobe's retreating back, the diva said this as a farewell:

'It'd have been rather cute.'

As Shishido kept staring, Atobe looked back at him. 'I can't lock up if you're still in here, Shishido,' he added, his arrogant tone making Shishido smile though he had no idea why.

And as Shishido hurried up so he was walking beside Atobe, he decided that the rumours had to be false, and perhaps, just perhaps, he had a chance after all with his crush...

That was not a crush, dammit. x owari

x omake

'So, I heard that Shishido was trying to figure out what we do on Wednesdays?'

Atobe nodded. 'I almost told him, but stopped myself just in time.'

'Good,' Taki said seriously. 'We can't have anybody else know about this, Atobe.'

Atobe acquiesced, looking over his nails. 'I just don't understand why nobody else on the team takes care of themselves as well as we do.'

'They just can't appreciate a good spa trip,' Taki said with a long sigh.

And the two stopped talking so they could continue to enjoy their afternoon at the beauty salon.

x x x

No, I'm not certifiably insane, why do you ask? XD Now, you know you want to review, right? -awinchan