Title: Doubles to Doubles?
Author: Ruia
Rating: PG
Pairings: mainly FujixEchizen, mentions of OishixKikumaru and InuixKaidoh
Warnings: Other than the boy love? None
Disclaimer: Not my characters, so don't sue me.
Summary: Fuji and Echizen attempt to play doubles with disastrous results, for their relationship and for the rest of the team.
If it works one way… Ryuuzaki-sensei thinks one day. She is watching Kikumaru and Oishi finish their doubles match and sees the easy way they are in each other's space- helping each other stretch out, handing over towels and water bottles, and Kikumaru hanging over Oishi as he asks for burgers and ice cream after practice. She turns a blind eye to the loud entreaties and inappropriate touching and watches the ends of the other matches instead. After all, she's been a tennis coach for a long time now, and she understands that sometimes doubles partners become Doubles Partners. She approves; it helps their doubles sense, she thinks, and the Golden Pair have been on a long winning streak.
But Seigaku still only has one good, constant doubles pair; everyone else is too stubborn to stick with doubles for very long. She has high hopes for Inui and Kaidoh and Doubles 2, but they're coming along more slowly than she thought they would. Ryuuzaki-sensei will give them some time to work it out themselves before she might give them a helpful nudge in the right direction, but that still leaves the immediate problem of Doubles 2 for now. She watches Fuji hand Echizen a water bottle after Echizen finishes his practice match against Momoshiro and thinks that Fuji can play doubles, Echizen is adaptable, and if a doubles sense can turn into a dating sense, then maybe a dating sense can turn into a doubles sense as well.
***
It's another week, another practice, and Kaidoh has a strained muscle in his calf. He's doing easy drills with the freshmen, because he won't settle for watching on the sidelines, but it reminds Ryuuzaki-sensei how easily injuries can occur. If she gets too settled in her line-up, too settled in her singles players and doubles pairs, an unexpected injury could throw the whole team into chaos. There are too many singles players on the team, and she thinks again of Fuji and Echizen and decides to find out if dating sense can turn into doubles sense after all.
"Tezuka!" She hails the captain over from his warm-up with the team.
"Yes, sensei?"
"Inui and Kaidoh make a good doubles pair, don't you think?"
"Their teamwork is improving, and they support each other well in their matches."
"Today is going to be practice matches between the regulars again, isn't it?"
"Yes, it's Tuesday."
"Why doesn't the team try doubles matches?"
"…Kaidoh is recovering and won't be playing in matches." If Tezuka is confused, he doesn't show it.
"I know, but the Inui-Kaidoh pair was an unexpected doubles pair. I wonder if there might be other unexpected pairs."
"Inui and Fuji have played doubles well together before."
Ryuuzaki-sensei lets her gaze slide toward Fuji. She watches him put his hands on Echizen's back and press him down into a harder stretch. She sees him lean forward to whisper in Echizen's ear and catches the brief smirk that crosses Echizen's face. "I was thinking of something else."
***
"Regulars will be on courts A and B, non-regulars on court C! Regulars will practice doubles matches, non-regulars can arrange singles matches, and freshmen, practice your swings!"
"Doubles? Hoi, hoi, we've got this one, easy!"
"How… unfortunate Kaidoh is suffering from a strained muscle. Our doubles has improved significantly since our last match here, and there is a thirty-eight percent chance we could have beaten the Golden Pair, an increase in nine percent."
"Doubles? 'che…"
"Maa, it could be interesting. But there's an uneven number of regulars right now."
"Oishi-Kikumaru pair versus Fuji-Echizen pair on court A first, while Inui, Momoshiro and myself work on court B. Let's go."
"Aaah, versus ochibi? This is gonna be fun!"
***
The doubles practice isn't going exactly as Ryuuzaki-sensei had envisioned. Tezuka is hitting balls to Momoshiro under Inui's instructions, while Momoshiro runs around the court frantically, trying to return the shots. But the Golden Pair isn't playing up to their usual level, and Ryuuzaki-sensei suspects it has a lot to do with Oishi's concerned looks and Kikumaru's attempt to stifle his laughter.
The Fuji-Echizen pair is… She doesn't know a word to describe their pair that would be appropriate for a high school tennis club. In fact, she wonders if she is mistaken and Fuji and Echizen aren't dating at all.
Their rackets clash, and the ball bounces right in between the two boys.
"Echizen, what are you doing?"
"You looked like you'd miss it." Echizen shrugs and heads back to the baseline for his next serve. Fuji's eyes are narrow blue slits, and Ryuuzaki-sensei thinks that if they are dating, they might not be after this.
"Echizen, you have to trust your partner to handle the balls at the net."
"Fujiko is much better at doubles than you! You're supposed to play with him, ochibi!"
"Try to… work together. Fuji, you know how to play doubles. Try to help Echizen."
"Yeah, yeah! Ochibi needs all the help he can get when he's playing doubles!"
Ryuuzaki-sensei shakes her head slightly and sighs in despair at the Fuji-Echizen pair. She had hoped the Fuji would be able to adapt himself to Echizen's play, but Echizen goes after all of the balls he can reach. He keeps pushing into Fuji's territory, too obstinate to let Fuji handle more of the balls, and Fuji is too stubborn to let him take more balls or to divide the court in half. Oishi spends most of the match trying to offer advice, while Kikumaru takes great delight in the other pair's difficulties, and the situation continues to deteriorate. Ryuuzaki-sensei contemplates stopping the match as the Golden Pair bring the score to 4-1. Unless Kikumaru starts laughing too hard to play properly again, Ryuuzaki-sensei seriously doubts Fuji and Echizen are going to take another game.
"That was my ball, Fuji-senpai."
"Oh? I didn't think you'd be able to make it. Your reach is still a bit short."
Ryuuzaki-sensei rubs a hand over her face and mutters something uncomplimentary under her breath. Somehow, this seemed easier to deal with in the middle school, and she wonders why she accepted the position of the high school coach. The rest of the team is stopping their own activities slowly to watch the disaster unfold, even Kaidoh, and Tezuka is left essentially trying to play a match with himself.
Kikumaru starts snickering as Echizen's next serve connects with Fuji's head. "Ochibi! You're supposed to get the ball over the net."
"Sorry. I guess it must be because I'm so short and Fuji-senpai is too tall." Echizen smirks in the face of Fuji's cold glare, and Ryuuzaki-sensei wonders if he's always been this deliberately provocative.
"I'm sure Inui has a special juice that can help with that," Fuji replies. "They're quite good. I wholly recommend them."
"Ew, Fujiko, that's disgusting!" Kikumaru makes gagging noises, and even Echizen is looking a little green at the thought of one of Inui's juices.
"Oi, you two!" Ryuuzaki-sensei usually lets these sorts of tensions play themselves out and hands out punishments after, but she thinks that she should stop this match before Echizen "accidentally" flings his racket along with the ball at Fuji. Echizen is still young and petulant, and she doesn't need two injured players after all.
But they haven't heard her, and Echizen is serving again. It goes passed the net this time, and Oishi returns it. Fuji reaches out to the side, taking a ball that should be Echizen's, and the ball sails in an arc, high in the air. Kikumaru jumps to return the ball, and he's so amused by the angry looks Echizen is sending Fuji that he forgets that a smash is a bad idea, that Fuji always returns his smashes. But the ball is heading down already; he can't stop it, and Fuji is getting ready to return it, ready with his Bear Drop, but Echizen… Echizen is sliding in, here comes Drive B, and he can't stop the slide; he tries to jump up and dodge to the side, but he can't; his momentum is carrying him forward and Fuji turns just in time to widen his eyes…
***
"Everyone, practice is over! Go home early!" Ryuuzaki-sensei yells.
"Twenty laps first," Tezuka adds, and Ryuuzaki-sensei leaves the team with him.
She turns her attention to Fuji and Echizen. Fortunately, Kikumaru dodged in time to prevent a three-person accident, but Fuji and Echizen took the net down with them and didn't stop until they had nearly reached Oishi. She reaches the nurse's office with them, and there are a lot of scrapes and cuts to deal with, torn uniforms, and probably a few bruises will bloom, but it's not as bad as it could have been. None of the cuts are too deep, and their injuries will heal quickly, but judging by Fuji's frostiness and Echizen's annoyance, Ryuuzaki-sensei bets that they won't be talking to each other for a few days.
But that's all right. They'll get over it eventually, and she needs to think about other doubles pairs that don't involve Echizen.
***
Tezuka concentrates firmly on changing into his uniform.
He is going to change, warm-up, then everyone will run laps. Yes, laps. Maybe he'll even let Inui threaten the team with juice so everyone will run extra hard and wear themselves out too much to even talk. Then there will be silence- beautiful, beautiful silence, and not two sets of hands tugging on his arms and two voices constantly ringing in his ears, before, during, and even after practice.
"Tezuka, let's stretch together."
"Buchou, let's have a match."
"I need you to help with my serve, Tezuka."
"There's a new move I want to try out, Buchou."
"Let's get something to eat after practice, Tezuka."
"Buchou, I need help with my Japanese homework. There's some kanji I don't understand."
"I need your help for- Tezuka? Are you listening?"
"Buchou."
Tezuka does his best to ignore the chatter of his teammates and imagine climbing up a mountain, alone, with nothing but the faint sound of running water and some birdsong in his ears. Yes, he'll see what new juice Inui has concocted this week and remind himself that tripping Echizen and Fuji during laps would be unsportsmanlike and undignified and totally unlike himself. But if he takes some pleasure in imagining it, no one will know.
***
Since entering high school, Inui has upgraded to a two-subject notebook during practices. He keeps all of his standard notes in the first half, to be organized later on his computer, and the second half is devoted to some of the new… tensions that have risen on the team. (For instance, the Tuesday before last, Inui noticed that Kikumaru forgot his lunch. It was just a passing note jotted in the first half of his notebook, and Oishi rectified the problem by sharing his own lunch. Inui watched carefully during practice during that afternoon to modify his data on how the decrease in food intake affected their games, then after some consideration moved the notes to the back section of his notebook once he determined that both Kikumaru's flexibility and stamina increased by twelve percent. Inui considers the possibility of different situations before an important match, during which Oishi would offer to share food or a drink with Kikumaru, and wonders whether or not shared activities outside of tennis, such as food and homework and maybe a movie or two, might help improve his doubles abilities with Kaidoh.)
The team doesn't need Inui to point out that the tensions at tennis practice have increased significantly. But he takes careful notes anyway: eye contact between Fuji and Echizen increasing by twenty-eight percent, though one hundred percent of that time is spent glaring; Fuji's eyes are open forty-six percent longer, while his time spent smiling decreases by an equivalent amount; both Fuji's and Echizen's attempts at interaction with Tezuka have quadrupled, and they spend eighty-two percent of the practice near Tezuka, who as a result is suffering an increase in stress by sixty-eight percent, judging by his developing eye tic. So when Tezuka approaches Inui and asks if he has any new juices for the week, Inui has an appropriate juice ready.
"I have something special I've been working on," he says and his glasses flash. "I call it Kairuzu."
***
"I call it Kairuzu," Inui-senpai says, and the entire team breaks out into a run before Inui even verbalizes his threat.
Momo keeps close behind Oishi-senpai and tries to conserve his energy for when just the regulars are left, trying to beat their own best time. Echizen and Fuji are a few steps ahead of him, flanking either side of Tezuka-buchou, and Momo wonders how they can talk so much while running. Momo probably would have fingered either of them as the quietest members of the team, but they keep chattering on, loud and clear and with no sign of stopping.
The entire team speeds up after Tezuka-buchou, and Momo suspects him of trying to escape from Fuji-senpai and Echizen. Momo would laugh, except he barely has enough breath to keep running, and later on he fully intends to give Echizen, at least, the biggest noogie ever in revenge because the persistent bastard is still talking. Momo's lungs burn, his legs ache, and he's sure that he's going to collapse if they don't stop running soon, then suddenly he nearly does fall over as he skids to a short stop to avoid crashing into Oishi-senpai. Momo flails his arms and catches his balance, and he looks up in time to see Tezuka-buchou neatly side-stepping the Fuji-Echizen pile on the ground.
Momo groans and starts to help untangle Echizen, but the freshman is looking even crankier than usual and Tezuka-buchou barks out "Last lap" to get everyone running again. Momo just barely makes the lap time and takes the rest of practice to catch his breath. Later, he goes out to get burgers with Echizen, and Echizen still looks cranky and a little sick now too, so Momo offers to treat him. Afterwards, looking at his empty wallet, he decides that was probably a bad move.
It isn't until much later that Momo wonders how, since Fuji-senpai and Echizen had been flanking Tezuka-buchou, the two managed to trip each other up without taking down Tezuka-buchou as well.
***
Sometime later, Kaidoh gives up waiting outside the school's chemistry lab. The look on Inui-senpai's face was slightly worrying when both Fuji-senpai and Echizen missed their lap times and he handed over two glasses of steaming, bubbling liquid, but Inui-senpai's expression was even more worrying when Fuji-senpai had finished the entire glass off and then asked for more. Inui-senpai had started muttering about "a miscalculation" and "unforeseen factors," but privately Kaidoh thinks Fuji-senpai's taste buds are finally all dead.
He doesn't share these thoughts, and he most definitely does not agree to join Inui-senpai in the lab when Inui-senpai asks him to come in. Kaidoh thinks Inui-senpai must be mad at him if he's trying to poison Kaidoh with testing new juices, so Kaidoh decides to ask Inui-senpai over for dinner another day when when Inui-senpai is less likely to try to kill him. Kaidoh heads out of the school instead and starts to jog home, wondering how long Inui-senpai will be in the lab and whether or not he'll remember to eat dinner or even sleep. He likes it when Inui-senpai does science-related things and talks to himself about scientific formulas, but even Kaidoh is disturbed by Inui-senpai's obsessive look as he fiddles with his beaker and mutters about different taste ratios.
***
Oishi is worried.
This is a somewhat normal state of mind for him, but he's even more worried than usual. He had decided to let Fuji and Echizen cool down and rationally discuss their problem in their own time, but Oishi doesn't think that will happen anytime soon. Not only are they not talking to each other, like Oishi thought they would by now, but they're both putting in a considerable effort to not talk to each other. What worries Oishi the most is that their efforts to avoid interacting seem to both be concentrated on Tezuka. He checks his observations against Inui's and worries about Tezuka's blood pressure.
Besides, it's good training, but Oishi thinks his legs might fall off if they have to spend another practice running laps.
Sometimes, when Oishi is walking home, too exhausted even to go the three blocks out of his way to walk alone with Eiji and hold hands, and he's much less charitably concerned, Oishi wonders if Tezuka remembers they're on the tennis team, not the track team. But mostly Oishi worries about the possibility of Tezuka developing an ulcer and if Eiji is feeling neglected and whether Echizen will be scarred permanently and will spend his life alone and pining after his first boyfriend.
Oishi isn't sure whether or not Echizen is the type to be pining after a lost romance ten years later, but he thinks its best not to find out, so he determines to talk to the freshman at the first available opportunity.
***
Fuji watches Tezuka walk off to do his warm-ups alone and decides not to follow him.
Oishi is talking to Echizen again and somehow taking up Tezuka's time isn't as satisfying when he's not also taking away Echizen's time with Tezuka. Not that he's been paying attention to what Echizen's been doing. Not at all.
Oishi spends more of the practice near Echizen than with Eiji, so Fuji plays a practice match against Eiji. He doesn't want Eiji to be lonely and start to mope without Oishi, and if he inquires after Oishi's recent fixation with the team's youngest regular, Fuji tells himself it's only because he's concerned with the consequences it could have on Eiji's and Oishi's relationship.
"Oishi? We haven't had a lot of time together, but we're fine," Eiji shrugs, unconcerned as he hits the ball across the court, then he starts to grin. "Is that why you're playing with me instead of Tezuka? Is Fujiko worried about what Oishi's doing with ochibi, nya?"
"Why would I be worried about that?" Fuji punctuates his question with a hard return to the baseline.
"You are, you are! Do you think ochibi's gonna get a crush on Oishi?" Eiji hits the ball back and tries to run up to the net, but Fuji keeps him back with deep returns.
"Wouldn't that be bad for you as well?"
"Hmm, nope. Then Oishi and me would have to help ochibi get over him. Maybe find him a new boyfriend to buy him burgers. Like Momo-chan!" Eiji hits the ball as hard as he can across the court, trying to buy himself enough time to reach the net.
"New boyfriend? Momo?" Fuji reaches out to return the ball, but there's no power behind the shot and it bounces in a light, high arc.
"Yeah! I bet ochibi's almost eaten his way through Momo-chan's wallet by now. Are you jealous?" Eiji laughs and runs forward to return the ball.
"Why would I be? Echizen can extort burgers from whoever he wants," Fuji answers with a cross-court shot, trying to pass the ball by Eiji.
"Jea~lous. You want to be the one to buy ochibi burgers. Are you gonna try and make up?" Eiji dives to the side to reach the ball in time, but he recovers quickly and bounces back, ready at the net.
A breeze ruffles Fuji's hair and he returns with White Whale, the ball sailing perfectly over Eiji's head and bouncing at the baseline before returning to Fuji's hand. "No."
***
After practice, Echizen follows Fuji away from the club house. He's tired of Oishi-senpai's concern, Inui-senpai's questions, Momo-senpai's pestering and Kikumaru-senpai's comments. He thinks that he can apologize to Fuji-senpai if it will get everyone to leave him alone for a while, but he's definitely not going to do it where everyone can see them. The last thing he wants is anyone offering helpful "advice" on how to apologize properly. He follows Fuji-senpai until they're a block away from the school, then Echizen runs to catch up to him.
"Fuji-senpai."
"Hm? Yes?" Fuji-senpai turns to look at Echizen, blue eyes open and piercing, and Echizen suddenly realizes it's been almost two weeks since they started fighting and he is sorry. He misses playing with Fuji-senpai and getting burgers together and sometimes sneaking up to the roof to be lazy and relax while classes go on below them. Echizen looks away and tugs his hat down, embarrassed, as if Fuji-senpai can read his thoughts.
"I guess… neither of us are very good at doubles," he says and it's almost an apology. He means an apology, really, and he thinks Fuji-senpai should understand that.
"Saa, that's not true. I can play doubles well."
Echizen glances up sharply, but Fuji-senpai's already walking again and Echizen can only stare at his back in surprise.
***
Taka-san brings Fuji lunch one day in class. It's an assortment of sushi rolls, fairly inexpensive and messily arranged, but they're handmade and there's plenty of wasabi on the rolls, and Fuji is sincere in his thanks. He offers to share with Taka-san, but Taka-san has his own set and they eat together at Fuji's desk.
"What are you doing here, Taka-san?" They're in different classes and even though Taka-san still goes to the weekend games to cheer the team on, Fuji doesn't see him very often. Fuji thinks that Taka-san is wonderfully sweet and amusing, and Fuji tries to go to Kawamura's Sushi every two weeks to see Taka-san.
"I just wanted to see you," he says. Taka-san offers Fuji an easy, open smile, and Fuji feels guilty that he missed his last visit with Taka-san and hasn't been to the sushi shop in a month.
"I was thinking of stopping by the shop tomorrow," Fuji says, and it's only a little lie because he's certainly thinking of it now.
"It's okay. I heard that you've been having a rough couple of weeks."
"Ah." Fuji fiddles with a sushi roll and falls quiet. After some initial attempts, only Eiji has bothered Fuji about the matter with any consistency. But Taka-san isn't pressing Fuji, and Fuji's back nearly is healed and the scabs don't itch anymore. So Fuji nods slightly and asks, "From Eiji?"
"Yeah," he says and rubs the back of his head with a sheepish laugh. "Sorry."
"It's all right," Fuji answers. "It wasn't a secret."
"I just wanted to make sure you're okay," Taka-san says, and he looks genuinely concerned.
"My back is fine, but thanks."
"Not just that. You're usually so… so graceful when you play," Taka-san continues and waves his hand vaguely, cheeks pinkening briefly, "I can't imagine that kind of thing happening. If I ran into you, I would've been so embarrassed."
"I guess Echizen just wasn't made to play doubles," Fuji says, smiling, then he leans closer to Taka-san and slides his hand over Taka-san's shoulder. "I never had any trouble playing with you."
"F-Fujiko!" he admonishes.
Fuji chuckles at Taka-san's flustered expression and leans back. He suddenly feels lighter and easier than he has in two weeks, and as he pops a sushi roll into his mouth, Fuji wonders if Echizen will come with him to Kawamura's Sushi tomorrow.
***
"Are they okay playing together?"
Ryuuzaki-sensei glances down at her granddaughter and pats her shoulder. Sakuno had shown up to practice everyday, trying and failing to offer Echizen consolation and someone understanding to talk to. Ryuuzaki-sensei thinks Sakuno has a lot to learn about boys and is thankful she isn't learning too quickly.
"They're playing singles against each other. They're fine now," she says.
"But they're still mad at each other!"
Ryuuzaki-sensei has played and coached tennis for a long time now, and she can read an apology in a return shot, even in someone else's game. "Don't worry too much about it," she says instead of explaining. Sakuno can learn about it by herself. "Shouldn't you be working on your serve?"
"Aah, I left my racket in the club room!" Ryuuzaki-sensei watches Sakuno run off towards where the girls' team practices, then turns her attention back to the match in front of her. She reads Fuji's invitation to sushi in a complex shot and is pleased by Echizen's returning "yes" that he's learned to read that deeply into a game. She lets the boys continue a few more points until she's satisfied that they've settled their dispute, then calls Tezuka over to have him assign laps to the team as a lesson for the chaos they've caused in the past few weeks.
A/N: So this has been gathering dust on my hard drive for a while. I kind of like the stream-of-consciousness style for their collision, so the whole fic is that what for style consistency, but I don't think it goes entirely too well with humor (not that I'm good at writing humor anyway). I'm not entirely happy with the Fuji/Taka-san section either, but I don't know what else to do with it. Comments and constructive criticism always welcome! I'd love to have help with how to improve this.
As a side note, I've been trying to stay away from using fandom Japanese as well, but I used it for their names because I felt that there wasn't an appropriate equivalent to the way they refer to each other (ie, Kaidoh refers to everyone as –senpai, etc.). In the narrative, since each section was from a different team member's point-of-view, I changed their names based on how that team member views/refers to everyone else (so again, everyone is –senpai in Kaidoh's section). If anyone finds this awkward or thinks there's a better way to do it (such as dropping –sensei, -san, -senpai, and ochibi because we all know that's what they say), please let me know too!