Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis. Or any other franchises I mention (Facebook, song lyrics, Oreo cookies, ect) I do own my Ocs.
Warnings: Yes, this does contain guy/guy (at this moment it will remain rated T). And I've never written from a guy's point of view so we'll see how this goes. Also language! I do use the F-word and other swears a lot in this story.
If you see any grammar, spelling, OOC, plotholes, anything, lemme know. I love opinions, they fuel my need to write, especially this story since it's on the border of being thrown in the chopping block..-.
Frustrated I head inside to play with a ball machine. It doesn't take my mind off Yagyuu and his wiggling ass. I smash ball after ball into the court, the smell of rubber is everywhere as my sneakers squeak against the gym floor. The gym door opens and slams shut but I don't lose my concentration. Sneakers slap and squeak against the floor, I know that walk. The last ball flies towards me and I launch it back over the net before I turn to glare at Yagyuu.
"What?" I ask.
"I can't practice with my doubles partner, Niou-Kun?" Don't play sly and innocent with me! You know I'm mad at you.
"Whatever." I pick up a few stray balls before bringing them to a basket. Cool, slender fingers touch my wrist, just above my wrist weights. The nails are perfectly cut and formed and they look almost feminine. My eyes snap up to Yagyuu who observes me silently. He knows what his touch does to me, he knows that when he touches me a little shock goes through my body, he knows it and he exploits it.
"I am sorry Masaharu." He whispers my name. "I've been very busy lately and as soon as I can explain I will. I promise you." As much as I want to forgive him and tell him how sorry I am I'm not going to give in. I'm too stubborn for that.
"Whatever." I shove by him and shuffle away. Inside my heart squeezes, what the hell Yagyuu? Leading me on and telling me all this shit? Fuck it, I'm done.
.-.
The next day at school I go to the library during lunch in hopes to work on a report without people noticing. Instead, in the back corner of the library I find Yagyuu sitting with that tree girl from Friday. The two sit side by side at a small table looking over a few sheets of paper. Tree shakes her head and points saying something to Yagyuu. My eyes narrow, my fists clench, and I storm out without finding the book I needed to write my report. I should have known. I should have known! They're together, Yagyuu's spending all his time with that stupid Tree. It's too cold to hide out on the roof, besides that there's probably some seniors up there smoking away. Fuck.
.-.
Yagyuu approaches me as we stretch, I walk over to the kid and demand he helps me stretch. Kirihara Akaya peers up at me through his mop of hair but complies without much complaint. His hands feel wrong against my back as he pushes me forward, stubby little fingers dig into my shoulder blades.
"Wanna play a game with me, senpai?" He asks as we switch and I press against his back.
"Sure." I say as normally as I can. So long as I'm not playing with the dork, or the fatass for that matter, I really don't care. Speaking of the fatass, he stuffs a round cake into his face getting frosting all over him. He wipes at it but misses a spot on his upper lip. "Hey fatass! You missed a spot!" I shout at him. Marui flips me off and wipes his mouth again. Sanada sees Marui and smacks him hard on the back of the head. Snickering Kirihara and I head to an empty court for a game.
Kirihara doesn't hold back and it actually takes my mind off things. He hops on his left foot, lob. Hops on his right foot, cross shot. His footwork is amazing I have to admit, I've attempted to use the one-foot split-step before and ended up tripping over myself. Kirihara bounces and moves like water. Still he's no where near as powerful as Sanada or analytical as Yanagi. I end up winning 6-4 because I know all his habits and movements. Despite being frustrated Kirihara looks satisfied as he pants and chugs his bottle of water.
I wipe my sweaty hands down my shorts and watch everyone practice. It's getting colder, winter is just around the corner, and our numbers are diminishing as the holiday break approaches. I wonder if Yagyuu will be "busy" over break too, my eyes find him talking politely to Jackal about something or another. Probably. Just then he looks over and notices me staring. Smooth Masaharu. I glare at him before I look to Kirihara and nudge him into playing another game with me.
.-.
I take a shower as quickly as possible letting sweat and a little blood swirl down the drain. Kirihara is still rather violent when he plays but it's no where near as bad as when we were in junior high. Next year we're going to take Nationals by storm, our senpais (AKA Yukimura, Sanada, and Yanagi) won last year and we're going to win this year too. My pants stick to my legs from where I didn't dry off completely but that doesn't matter as I sling my bag over my shoulder and stalk out of the locker room. There's that girl standing there again. Tree girl. Today she's reading, what a dork, and doesn't look up when I walk by her. The door swings behind me and the girl makes a little sound from the back of her throat like an "Ahn" sound, as much as I want to look back and see what she was gasping over I stalked away.
The second I step onto my bus I regret not looking back. Something in the pit of my stomach twists as I cling to the hand rail. It was probably a girlfriend of one of a club member, then I try to wrap my brain around who would like a glasses wearing, tree-doppelganger like her, I might not know all the members of the tennis club but I doubt many of them find her attractive. The only person I can think of would by Yagyuu but Yagyuu likes…
The bus stops at my stop and people move and push around making it difficult for me to slip through them and off the oven-hot bus. The second my foot touches the sidewalk the sky opens up and starts pouring. "Fuck." I hiss as I start to run. The sky was clear today! Perfectly clear with those stupid white, fluffy clouds! Not a drop of rain in sight! Now rain pelts down on me as I try to get home before I get too soaked. Sadly, I'm drenched from head to toe before I'm even halfway home. My sneakers squish and squeak as I run and dive around pedestrians that are smart enough to have an umbrella with them. Damn it! Damn it all!
The door creaks open when I get home. "You're late." Mom calls from the living room, the smell of cigarettes is drifting around. I squeak my sneakers as loudly as possible before I peel them off and stick them close to a small heater, maybe they'll dry before school tomorrow. Mom's brown eyes peer around the living room at me and she smirks. "You're soaked." She states.
"Yea, that's what happens when it rains." I shake my head and hope water droplets fly everywhere and from Mom's reaction I assume they did.
"Masaharu!" She yells. I dive around her and head up to my room, dripping water all the way. Like usual, my room is cold and my A/C hums to the same beat as the rain pitter-patting outside my window. I strip from my wet clothes and change into shorts and a teeshirt before I gather things that need to be washed and chuck them into the hamper in the bathroom like a good boy. Since there's nothing more interesting to do I start working on my homework, my hair drips occasionally down my spine and I shiver each time. I peer into my mirror and pull my hair back to look at my roots, just starting to turn black, I have time before I need to bleach it. Good. I hate bleaching my hair but I love the result too much.
Knock, knock.
"What?" I drop my hand and my bangs drop back into my face.
"Masaharu, you have a friend over." Mom calls softly through the door.
A friend? Who the hell-? The door opens and I roll my eyes at Wonderboy. "What do you want kid?" I lean back in my computer chair and glare at the kid.
"Treat your guest with respect Masaharu." Mom snaps before she turns to Kirihara, "Would you like any snacks or tea?" Kirihara politely tells my mother no and she leaves without a question. The kid shuffles into my room, toeing an open tennis magazine.
"What are you doing here?" I glare.
"I… ah… I wanted to see if you wanted to go to the arcade with me." Kirihara glances up at me, suddenly he's not the tall, lanky, violent teenager anymore but an innocent kid.
"Che, couldn't you have texted me and asked or something?" I ask but I don't give him time to respond, "I have a lot of homework to do, kid."
Kirihara sits on the edge of my bed and flips through the tennis magazine. "Well, could I stay here then? Everybody's busy and I'm bored." He shrugs and I roll my eyes.
"Fine, whatever." I wheel myself back to my computer desk and set to work making sense of calculus. "Do you have any homework?"
"No." His voice squeaks; puberty, glad I accomplished that hurdle.
"Don't lie to me." I growl.
"I… I brought my stuff with me if…"
"Work on it. Sanada would have both our asses if you started failing a class." What the hell is up with me today? Kirihara and I hang out occasionally, yes, but we've never gone to each other's houses before.
"Your mom is nice." Kirihara mumbles as he digs through his tennis bag for his homework. The stench of sweat and grime and… something else emanate from the tennis bag. All worries of Wonderboy finding out how dorky my family is are gone when I wrinkle my nose up.
"Dude, do you ever wash your clothes?" He flushes bright red and looks away. "Whatever." I push away my calculus work, I need something to really focus on, chemistry should help. Scrawling starts to fill the room and I feel a little awkward about Kirihara lounging on my bed doing homework for no reason. It makes my skin crawl in fact. "Hey." I ask suddenly after I get bored writing a lab report.
"Yea senpai?" Kirihara asks not looking up from whatever he's working on. I glance at him, his green eyes narrow in frustration and he licks the corner of his lips.
"Do you know that tree girl that's always waiting outside the locker rooms after practice?"
"Tree girl?" Kirihara glances up through his mop of hair.
"Yea." I wave my hand, "Glasses, tall, dark hair, she looks like a tree."
Kirihara snorts, "I have no idea who you're talking about senpai."
"Whatever." I roll my eyes and go back to chem work.
For a while we're quiet, I can even hear my brother clacking away at his keyboard in the room next to mine. Kirihara lets out a grunt, like he does when he's playing tennis and I glance at him. He glances up at me, "S-senpai… are you good at math?"
"Yea, sure, what's the problem?" I huff. Kirihara crawls over to my desk and sets his notebook down in front of me. Simple factoring. When I explain the concept Kirihara gets it and can do all the problems on the page, despite what everyone thinks Kirihara isn't dumb, he just has a tough time understanding.
"Thanks senpai." Kirihara beams at me before crawling back onto my bed to finish his homework. I finish the report and lean back in my seat and close my eyes. Kirihara's pencil scrawls in tune with the pitter-pat outside my window, he must have an umbrella with him.
Bzzzt one of our phone starts to vibrate and since I can feel my computer desk shaking I assume it's mine. I grunt and sit up to grab my cell phone. Yanagi? What the hell is Yanagi texting me for?
Do you know where Akaya is? ~Yanagi
Why does Yanagi want to know where the kid is? Regardless I tell him, last thing I need is him upset with me. My phone is silent for some time before it starts to ring, a rather popular hip hop song.
"Hello?" I ask already knowing who was calling.
"Can I talk to Akaya?" Yanagi skips all pleasantries and I hand the phone over without question, Kirihara looks curious when he accepts the phone. As Yanagi talks, about what I can't tell because Yanagi keeps his voice even, Kirihara's eyebrows furrow and he frowns and pouts.
"Sorry senpai." Wonderboy murmurs into the phone before he ducks his head, bangs falling into his face as he murmurs back to Yanagi. I tune them out, it's none of my business. My phone snaps shut a minute later and Kirihara hands me my phone back.
"Your babysitter checking up on you?" I tease.
"Yanagi-Senpai isn't my babysitter." Seaweed-Head pouts.
The stairs creak outside my door and Kirihara jumps as if he's going to get caught with his hands down his pants or something. After I sigh Mom shows up in my doorsteps. "Is your friend staying for supper?" I glance to the kid who just glances back at me.
"Sure." I answer, Mom smiles and prances off commenting how she's glad I have friends over, Kirihara gives me a soft smile too.
.-.
Supper's awkward to say the least. Kirihara's never met my parents so when my glasses wearing, freaky family sits down around the dinner table Kirihara can't help but gape. My brother snuffles and pushes his thick glasses up on his nose before going back to his food. Dad eats so fast I doubt he even realizes there's a guest at the table, then he's off back into his study. Mom asks Wonderboy questions and he responds politely. She asks if he's from the tennis club, what year is he, other odd questions. The wonder boy only seems slightly awkward as my mother pressures for answers. Mom offers to drive Kirihara home but he says no and says a quick goodbye. I shuffle back to my bedroom and flop onto my bed so I can play video games until Mom yells at me to go to bed.
.-.
"Masaharu! Wake up right this instant!" Mom yanks the sheets back away from me, I turn and curl into the remaining warmth of my bed. "Masaharu! You'll be late for school!" School? Shit, we had tennis practice this morning. I leap from my bed and run into the bathroom. I don't have time to shower so I ruffle my hair into something acceptable before I grab all my stuff and run down the streets texting Jackal as fast as I can without running over pedestrians.
When I arrive at school Sanada glares at me but there's no time for him to slap me. Thank God. I change my shoes and race off to homeroom making it just in time. School is a drag, I don't pay much attention, though if I did I'm sure I'd be as smart as Yagyuu or Yanagi. The excitement of the morning is over and I stare out the window during the majority of my classes. I do pay attention in math class, I like math, I can manipulate the numbers how I want to, though lately with our Calculus class things are getting more confusing. Now there are so many rules I have to follow but it's still easy. During my chemistry class I zone out and before I know it I'm thinking about Yagyuu. Good memories float by the window, like that time two years ago when we were all alone in the locker rooms and I moved closer and -
"Niou!" Someone shouts my name and I snap back to realizing I've been asked a question. Sensei glares at me, I've been caught, and a few kids in the class snicker.
"Puri~"
"I asked you a question." Sensei tapped the board where he'd drawn an element using only the orbital notation. My head counts quickly going through the elements.
"Cobalt." I state.
Sensei's eyes narrow but he nods his head and changed a few numbers around and moved on to pestering some other kid. Sad part is the kid gets the answer wrong, orbital notation isn't that hard people.
"Puri~…" I glare out the window refusing to think about those good memories, they don't matter anymore, clearly Yagyuu's with that tree girl. Bitch.
I find tree girl in the hallways and discretely push her into a locker, her books go flying and I scurry off.
To avoid Yagyuu again I, against my will, ask Yanagi for a game. Not only will it keep my mind occupied but Yanagi will surely have something I can correct or work on. I'm right, I lose 1-6 and Yanagi tells me my follow-throughs are bad and I need to work on them. Puri. I can't keep avoiding Yagyuu; as cliché and girly as it is I miss him, he's my friend. So I take my time in the showers until Sanada yells at me for wasting water, then I lounge around my locker organizing things until Yagyuu steps up to his locker beside me.
"I want to talk to you." I tell him, "Once everyone leaves."
"Alright Niou-Kun." Yagyuu blinks his blind eyes at me before he slides his glasses on and gets dressed. My eyes drift over at Yagyuu's pale stomach before he slides his shirt over his chest. We both pretend to be doing something until everyone leaves, Yukimura, Sanada, and Yanagi slide off into the office to talk about something. Yagyuu cocks his head at me, "What do you want to talk about?"
That clipped tone, the glint of his glasses, that stupid smirk, blood rushes through my body as I push Yagyuu back into a locker. "What the fuck has been going on these past few weeks Yagyuu? You've been ignoring me and I'm tired of this shit."
Yagyuu sighs but doesn't move away from the lockers. "I'm sorry Niou-Kun… I'll tell you this weekend… I promise."
"Fuck that. Tell me now." I demand as I slam my hand into the locker by Yagyuu's face. He doesn't even flinch. He knows I'd never hurt him like that, bastard. "I'm tired of this shit. Don't tell me you're just leading me on Yagyuu." My heart clenches at the idea that Yagyuu never really liked me like that… that all those times were nothing to him.
"No," Yagyuu's hand curls around my neck, "I'm not leading you on." His fingers twirl my rattail and a shudder runs down my spine. "I'm not." He pulls me close and breaths on my face. I close my eyes, I've waited so long… A door creaks open and we both jerk back. "I'll tell you this weekend I promise… Masaharu." Yayguu murmurs before he grabs his things and leaves quietly. For a moment I just stand there, the smell of Yagyuu's cherry shampoo still fills my nose.
"What are you still doing here?" Sanada bellows.
"Puri~" I mutter back.
"Tarundoru!" Sanada's hand comes down hard on the back of my head and the corners of my vision turn black for a moment. God someone's PMS-ing. I sling my bag over my shoulder and saunter out, Sanada doesn't scare me, not since he started "dating" Yukimura. Sanada's been tamed… and he's whipped. Glad I'm not like that.
Tree girl isn't there when I leave but I didn't expect her to be. The only reason she would have stayed this late was for Yukimura, Sanada, and Yanagi… and since it's well known Yukimura and Sanada are a thing and I don't suspect Yanagi is looking for a relationship… Still it crosses three people off my list of reasons.