Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis isn't mine.
"Jiroh. Jiroh! WAKE UP!"
Akutagawa Jiroh slightly raised his head in response to the noise somewhere above him. "Hn?" He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and looked up to see who was disturbing his sleep.
Oshitari Yuushi was leaning over him, a peevish look on his face.
"Nnn... Oshitari. What is it?" Jiroh questioned, squinting to rid his eyes of the remaining blur.
An irritated sigh sounded from Oshitari as he seated himself next to Jiroh. "You have been asleep on the club room floor for an hour now. If you don't come to practice and participate sometime, you'll lose your spot on the regulars."
Jiroh glanced around to find that he was indeed sitting on the floor of the club room. And, apparently, he had been using the bench in front of him as a spot for his head. Noting this, he started to lean forward in an attempt to lay his head down again. Unfortunately, Oshitari's hand had become a barrier between Jiroh's head and the bench.
Heaving a frustrated sigh, Jiroh acknowledged his defeat. "Fine, I'll go to practice." As Oshitari rose from his spot, Jiroh raised his arms. On cue, Oshitari grabbed Jiroh's hands and helped him to his feet. Oshitari then stepped around the bench and headed toward the door.
He got about halfway across the club room before he realized that Jiroh hadn't moved. "Jiroh?" Oshitari turned back to see that Jiroh was looking at him like a child that expects a gift from a parent. He recognized the expression and moved back to Jiroh to offer him a ride to the courts.
"Thank you," Jiroh happily chimed into Oshitari's ear as he threw his arms over the taller boy's shoulders. As soon as Oshitari had a good grip on Jiroh's legs, he left the club room and started toward the courts.
Jiroh turned his head so that he was facing Oshitari. "You know, I was having this really funny dream about a liger in a zoot suit. He had glasses kinda like yours, Oshitari," he mumbled into Oshitari's ear as he raised one hand and plucked the glasses he had just mentioned from their owner's face.
Oshitari stopped short and glanced at the head on his shoulder. "A liger? Do you mean a tiger? And could you give me my glasses ba--" He was cut off by Jiroh's forehead meeting his own.
"How do I look? This is what the liger looked like, you know," Jiroh stated matter-of-factly as he stared through the lenses at Oshitari. After a few seconds of silence, he pressed his forehead against Oshitari's in an attempt to get his ride to answer.
"You want to know how you look?" Oshitari asked. Jiroh nodded, making Oshitari's head move up and down with his. "You look kind of odd. And strangely... cute." The last word came out muttered in the middle of a sigh, but Jiroh caught it anyway.
"Really?" Jiroh's eyes widened and a grin spread across his face. Before Oshitari could object, Jiroh had returned his glasses, jumped off his back, and was on his way to the courts. As he put distance between himself and Oshitari, he turned and called out, "I'm going to tell Mukahi that his doubles partner thinks I'm cute!"
Oshitari snapped to attention when he heard Jiroh's declaration. In the back of his mind, all he could hear was Gakuto's voice. Yuushi, you think Jiroh's cute? What about me? I'm cuter than he is, right? Oshitari shook his head and took off after Jiroh, who had already reached the fence by the far end of the courts. Luckily, the part of the team that was practicing -- the part that included Gakuto -- was at the other end.
He easily caught up with Jiroh, who didn't bother to change his pace when he heard Oshitari approaching. "You honestly plan to tell Gakuto what I said?"
Jiroh looked over to Oshitari and nodded, smiling. "Yeah. Why not?"
A pained look crossed Oshitari's face. He didn't want to explain to Gakuto that he liked Jiroh. His short, redheaded doubles partner would be intolerable if he found out that Oshitari had a crush on somebody on the team. Especially since Oshitari had never mentioned it to Gakuto before.
Without putting much thought into his actions, Oshitari grabbed Jiroh's arm and pushed him toward the fence. Jiroh's eyes widened as his back met the wire behind him. "Oshitari?"
Oshitari kept his hold on Jiroh's arm with his left hand and placed his right hand on the fence, pinning Jiroh in place. If possible, Jiroh's eyes got even larger as Oshitari leaned toward him. "Jiroh, I like you," he mumbled as he tilted his forehead down to place it on Jiroh's.
Jiroh stared for a second then, as he gave Oshitari a warm smile, he whispered, " I like you too." Before Oshitari could react, Jiroh shifted his head and allowed his lips to meet Oshitari's. When Jiroh pulled back, he noticed the look on Oshitari's face. "What? You didn't think I liked you too? I let you carry me the most, don't I?"
Oshitari looked down at his normally sleepy companion. "I carry you the most after Kabaji. Does that mean you like him too?" The stricken look that accompanied the question made Jiroh laugh.
"No. Kabaji only comes to get me when Atobe is impatient. I don't let anybody else on the team carry me, though. And I wouldn't let Kabaji if it wasn't for Atobe," Jiroh explained, making it clear that he would have liked for Oshitari to be the only one to carry him around.
Oshitari smiled and leaned forward to place his lips on Jiroh's. "We'll have to see about that now, huh?" he said, pulling back.
"We sure will," Jiroh happily replied. Oshitari turned to offer his back to Jiroh, who declined. "I think I'd rather be here," he stated, stepping alongside Oshitari as they headed off toward the rest of the team.
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