This was the result of a fifteen-minute word challenge. The challenge word is stated at the end of the ficlet.
Height of Loneliness (Prince of Tennis)
By Haruka (email: haruka at ymail dot com)
Gakuto sighed and turned off the Spongebob Squarepants episode he'd been watching. He empathized too closely with Plankton when he said he could deny his small stature no longer.
Not that Mukahi Gakuto had ever been able to deny his own height. Throughout his entire school life, he'd always been the shortest one in class. When he was in grade school, it used to mean getting picked on and bullied, but now, in Hyotei Junior High as a Regular in the tennis club, no one teased him anymore.
Gakuto tossed the remote aside. As an acrobatic player, being small was a good thing. He could throw himself around, leap and somersault in mid-air - it was like flying. Not quite on the same level as the bungee jumping he engaged in some weekends, but thrilling none-the-less.
He'd wanted to play tennis, and lacking a long reach, the acrobatics had been a good way to make up for it. Besides, he loved it.
Being short was still a pain in other ways, though. Having to look up at everyone, even some girls his own age, being buffeted and shoved around in crowds, and being unable to see over those crowds without performing some of his patented high jumps.
Even at home. His family weren't all Amazons or anything, but they were all taller than he was, even his little brother. He was only fourteen, so there was still a possibility that he would grow an inch or two, but even that wouldn't help much.
He pouted. "I don't want to be short forever," he said to the blank television screen.
A pair of strong arms wrapped around him from behind. "Good things come in small packages, Gakuto."
He smiled gently and touched the warm skin. Yes, he was short, but so long as he fit in Yuushi's embrace, that was all that really mattered.
(Word challenge – Undeniable)
(2005)
Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi.