FASH: Here we are at the second instalment, thanks to everyone for the reviews and the congrats on reaching my 123rd story! Internet hugs for everyone!
""-speech
''-thoughts
Practising being intimidating in a mirror was fine and dandy for the first while, until Sena wanted to get someone else's opinion on his tactics. It wasn't as if he was trying to be easy on himself, he just had no idea if what he was doing would be as affective as Hiruma seemed to think it would be if he actually used it on someone.
Also, since they were now in America and Sena was sharing a room with Monta and Riku, it was going to be a lot harder to practice without either of them stumbling upon him and asking questions.
He had yet to tell anyone, other than Hiruma of course, about his secret training, so that he would have the element of surprise on his side if he decided to practice on somebody. But he couldn't just walk up to someone and act 'psychotic' without a reason, especially if he was bad at it.
He was trying to be scary, not a regular, non-scary creep.
'Although, all things considered, I'm being really creepy as it is.'
But it was better to have an excuse to be creepy, then to just go ahead and be creepy for no reason.
And that was why he had taken to hanging around people who were known to have very little tact, crossing his fingers and hoping that sooner or later they'd say something he could pretend to take offence to.
Thank goodness for Mizumachi, for once his tendency to say things without thinking them over and being extremely blunt was something Sena could look forward to other than dread.
Mizumachi had been lazing around the hotel pool with Kakei when Sena had entered with Hiruma and Takami trailing behind him, speaking to each other lowly.
Needless to say, Mizumachi felt like saying something to point out Sena's vertically challenged nature compared to the quarterbacks, adding a "so cute!" at the end to let the brunette know he was just kidding around.
"You really shouldn't say things like that Mizumachi-kun." Sena chided on reflex and for a moment he was worried he had lost his chance to practice on somebody, but he soon found out that he need not fret.
"Why?" The blonde asked with mock-curiosity.
"Because," Sena leaned in closer to the lounging boy, smiling and fluttering his eyelashes in an effort to look more innocent.
Mizumachi's eyes widened minutely and he swallowed uneasily as he silently stared back. Sena took it as a good sign.
"I've been hanging around with Hiruma-san for nearly a full year, some of his deviously evil thought processes might have rubbed off on me. Not to mention that if you got me mad enough and I decided to come after you, there's no way you could outrun me." Sena smiled widely and tilted his head to the side as he chuckled softly before he excitedly snapped up and turned to look at Hiruma, not noticing the twitchy stares he was getting from the other occupants of the room.
"How was that?!"
Hiruma looked about ready to roll his eyes. "It was good enough for your first try I suppose, but you need more practise. Especially on that ending."
"First try? Practise?" Kakei parroted curiously, giving Mizumachi a minorly concerned look when the blonde seemed to still be incapable of speech.
Sena nodded enthusiastically. "Hiruma-san gave me a couple of tips on how to be intimidating. Did it work?" He turned to look at Mizumachi with a wide smile.
"Uh, that sorta depends dude. For a while at the beginning I thought you were hitting-"
"Why would you want to practise something like that, Sena?" Kakei cut in before Mizumachi could finish.
"Well, when Hiruma-san and the other second years leave, I'd rather keep our training methods the same as they always were."
Takami was outright staring at him in shock and Hiruma appeared to be attempting not to laugh. "But Sena-kun, surely your new team mates would obey you out of respect." Takami lightly suggested. "Just think about how Chuubou-kun looks up to you, you don't need intimidation tactics."
"But the games just won't be the same if the other team doesn't get a little scared beforehand."
"But then someone who's a little more... Frightening than you could try."
"But this is fun."
Hiruma apparently could hold in his laughter no longer and began to cackle darkly.
"Fun?" Mizumachi questioned and Sena smiled lightly.
"Yeah, well, Hiruma-san certainly seems to have fun, right?" He titled his head and looked at the blonde quarterback who paused his cackling to smirk.
"Damn straight. But next time you decide to practice for real, just do it on me, that way you won't be giving mixed signals to anyone, or do it to someone who knows you would never hit on them." Hiruma scratched at his chin absent-mindedly, a wicked grin slowly stretching over his features.
"Uh, I think I'll just practice on you, Hiruma-san." Sena replied nervously, Hiruma's expression putting him on edge. 'Who knows what kind of trouble I'd get into if I tried to do this with someone like Agon-san.'
He wasn't that brave, or stupid.
Hiruma's grin shrunk slightly, and he looked a bit miffed at the thought of loosing out on some prized entertainment.
But he'd make up for it.
He couldn't wait until Mamori caught wind of what her precious childhood friend was doing and decided to confront him about it.
He was going to have to buy himself some popcorn in preparation for that.