Dropping Hints
Story 2: Monta gets a lesson in expressing your feelings from the Ha-ha brothers? Misunderstandings ensue.
Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21 (if I did, I would make fun of the characters a lot more than I do)
"I... I can do this," Monta walked as confidently as he could to the door of the clubhouse.
"I can't do this," he backed up 10 feet.
"I c-can! I will!" he sped towards the door, but froze before he touched it.
"I should plan it out," Monta began walking back to the school.
"MUKYAA! Courage MAX!" Monta whipped around and charged the door, rearing and snorting. Sena watched as his friend went back and forth arguing with himself in front of the clubhouse.
"Uh, what's he doing?" Jumonji approached Sena.
"Ah, he's declared that today is the day he tells Mamori-nee-chan his feelings," Sena sighed, "but I think he's having some confidence issues."
"Huh?"
"Huuuuh?"
"HAAAAAAH?"
"Oh," Jumonji glanced over his own shoulder to see Kuroki and Togano, "when did you guys get here?"
"Just now," Kuroki answered, "so the monkey is not experienced in love?"
"I guess not," Sena shrugged.
"Exhausted MAX!" Monta sat on the ground, currently five feet away from the door. He simply couldn't make up his mind.
"Having love troubles?" Kuroki leaned over Monta's left shoulder.
"We can help," Togano leaned over his right.
Jumonji scratched the back of his head "I can lend you my experiences-"
"Shut up! He doesn't need any help from you!" the other to Ha-ha brothers yelled at him. Jumonji blinked and slunk over to Sena.
"It's okay," Sena gave him a 'there, there' pat on the shoulder, "they're just jealous of you."
"You have two options," Togano held up two fingers, "the direct confession or the subtle way."
"You were winding yourself up to be direct, but is that the option for you?" Kuroki held up a finger. "Confessions will give you the instant info you want to know, but you can also be shot down quickly as well."
"Oh?" Monta scratched the top of his head with a finger.
"For you, considering your easily broken spirit (when it comes to Mamori), I'd recommend the subtle way," Togano flipped to a page in one of his books, "it's the little things that count. Doing this, saying that, dropping hints."
"Dropping...?" Monta wore a confused face.
"Hints!" Kuroki exclaimed, finding this a worthy point to stress, "drop one here, one there, but just enough so she understands."
"Is that so..." Monta was thinking it over, "what kind do they have to be?"
"Softer ones," Togano nodded, "you don't want to scare her away, just something small, but big enough to catch her attention."
"I see," Monta nodded slowly, "so when do I start?"
"Right now!" The two exclaimed pushing the sitting boy to the door.
"B-but I'm not prepared," Monta was startled.
"Fine, fine," Kuroki was getting annoyed, "but soon! Or someone might get her before you!"
"What are you idiots doing?" a voice said from behind them.
"Ah!" the three turned to be face to face with the devil incarnate.
"No-nothing at all," Togano said nervously.
"Practicing!" Kuroki exclaimed, "we were just practicing!" The other two vigorously nodded their heads in agreement. Hiruma raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.
Hiruma blew a bubble and continued onto his original destination, the clubhouse, "idiots will be idiots."
"Ha?" Monta tilted his head.
"Haaah?" Togano nearly ripped his book in half.
"HAAAAH?" Kuroki yelled at the door.
"I've been replaced," Jumonji was silently crying.
"It's only temporary," Sena did his best to comfort the ex-bully.
"He's obviously your biggest rival," Togano said with the upmost conviction.
"Really?" Monta asked, eyes wide.
"He is the master of subtleties," Kuroki shook his fist in anger, "he's been dropping hints almost as long as I can remember."
"No," Monta couldn't believe it, "I've never seen him do so."
"That's why he's the master," Togano gave a deft nod, "and she's been gobbling them up from day one." Monta's jaw dropped to the ground.
"No," Sena weakly raised his arms, "I don't think that's right."
"It's settled," Monta stood with his right arm raised to the sky, "subtle counterattack MAX!"
"No, that's an oxymoron," Sena finally gave up.
[]
Monta marched up to the clubhouse the next day, his hands in his pockets. He had gone to great lengths to prepare and at last he was ready. The door slowly swung open. Hiruma was showing Sena some of the plays the Devilbats were going to work on this week while Mamori was completely preoccupied with sweeping.
Monta flashed Sena a thumbs up and then found a spot of wall to lean on.
"Hey Mamori-san," he said cooly. Mamori glanced up from her sweeping.
"Oh, hi Monta-kun," she smiled and continued this task, "forgive me if I don't talk to you, I have to finish this."
"S'alright," he gave a solitary nod. Mamori swept past him and Monta dropped a couple things on the floor.
"Oh!" she came across them, "peppermints?" She looked up at Monta, who pretended to be watching Hiruma explain the play. She looked back down at the candies in her hand and slipped them in her pocket. She continued on with her duties. He threw a couple more mints on the floor. Sena blanched.
No. He didn't. He couldn't have.
"Monta-kun," Sena went to his side, whispering. "What are you doing?"
"What the brothers told me to do," Monta was grinning ear to ear, "I'm dropping mints." Sena had to look away. Monta really had done it.
"It was hard to find the soft kind they were talking about, but I came across a store that had just what I needed," he took one out of his pocket, "soft peppermints! Who would've thunk?"
"Ye...yeah," Sena wobbled back to the table, unable to say anything else. He didn't have the heart to tell his friend the mistake he had made.
"Do you have a good reason to walk away while I was explaining this play or am I boring you?" Hiruma held a gun to Sena's head with a feral expression. Surprisingly Mamori was too busy intensely cleaning to see this incident take place.
"I-I'm sorry," Sena was sweating profusely, "Monta was doing something odd so went to check on him." Hiruma glanced over at the whistling receiver as he threw another mint on the ground.
"What is that f***ing monkey doing?" Hiruma had not yet taken the gun off of Sena's head yet.
Sena gulped, "yesterday, two of the Ha-ha brothers were trying to help Monta express his feelings to Mamori-nee. They told him he should drop hints and well..." Sena wiped the sweat off his face, "he misunderstood and thought they said he needed to drop mints."
Hiruma froze, processing what had just been said.
"Hiruma-kun!" Mamori finally realized there was a gun to Sena's head, "what are you-"
He burst into laughter. Tears were pouring from his eyes as comprehension had dawned on him.
"You stupid monkey," Hiruma banged his fist on the table with every word. "MINTS?" His cackling was unnerving to Sena and especially to Mamori.
"Hiruma... kun?"
He fell off his chair and was rolling on the floor with laughter. It was too much, oh, it was too much. Monta was wide eyed and confused.
"What's happening?" Monta didn't understand.
"I think it's better you go," Sena began pushing his friend out the door. Mamori tried to help Hiruma up, but he was laughing too hard.
"Do you think the mints worked?" Monta turned to his friend eagerly. Sena could hear Hiruma starting another roar of laughter with Mamori asking him to calm down in a worried tone.
"I don't think so," Sena shut the door behind them, "I don't think *ahem* dropping mints is for you."
Yeah, I went there :) I am absolutely horrible. If you go back and read where they start explaining 'dropping hints' it's actually funnier the second time. At least I think so. But I would love a review if you could spare one. Or perhaps a prompt you'd want me to write on.
