This one was hard to write. I hope it turned out ok... A lot of awkwardness coming up.

I don't own Eyeshield 21.


Fall – Chapter 8


Sena and Hiruma ate their lunches together with Ishimaru in an awkward silence. Hiruma was visibly fuming over the interruption of his small scheme. Sena was desperately trying to think of something to break the tension, that was as thick as smoke in the room, but failing miserably.

As soon as Ishimaru had finished his food he got up to leave. The silence went on even after he had left, with the exeption of Hiruma's gum poping ever now and then.

"He better not tell the fucking manager." Hiruma grumbled and Sena's eyes shot wide open. Leaving Hiruma behind he bolted out of the clubhouse and soon caught up with Ishimaru. Ishimaru who had looked almost emotionless inside the clubhouse, to struck by surprise to know what to think, now scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed look. Sena made a deep bow for him.

"I'm sorry we didn't notice you. Please don't tell anyone! Especially not Mamori, it would cause such a fight." he said and Ishimaru gave him a friendly smile.

"Don't worry, I wont. But I'm afraid that I might have some trouble sleeping after this." he said and Sena smiled back apologetically. He instantly felt a lot better. If you wanted your secrets safe Ishimaru was a good choice of who to share them with.

The afternoon lessons went by almost as usual but as soon as the last one ended Monta grabbed hold of Sena and headed out from the classroom. Sena found this needlessly enthusiastic even for Monta and laughed.

"What's the big hurry? I don't think one or two minutes will make a difference for that football keychain." he said while making Monta slow down to normal walking pace. Monta made a face at him.

"No, but I want to know where you were last night. At first the whole thing felt awkward, but when you told me it wasn't Shin I got really curious about who it might be. But I don't want any details!" he rambled and Sena swallowed, remembering that he had indeed promised Monta to tell him who he had been with, while they searched for Monta's lost keychain. At second thought that might not have been such a good idea. Sena wasn't sure if "scrawny running back" and "commander from hell" was a match that clicked in Monta's opinion. As they walked Sena tried to think of a way out of this situation while Monta babbled on about his catching, Mamori and bananas.

Before Sena got any ideas that was worth trying they had reached the riverbank. Monta made a proper check on the area to assure that they were alone before turning to Sena.

"Ok, now one else will hear. Tell me! Was it Jumonji?" he asked standing like he was ready to make a jump any second. Sena sent him a look of surprised confusion.

"Jumonji? No. Shouldn't we look for your keychain?" He said trying desperately to get Monta of the subject. Walking over to the place where he had last seen the small metal football, he recognized the sharp skid marks from Hiruma's golf truck.

"This is where I dropped it. I didn't have time to look for it so it might not be that hard to find." he said and pointed to the spot on the ground here he had been hit in the head just the day before. Monta was suddenly very enthusiastic.

"Search MAX!" he shouted an jumped down on all fours to dig around in the dirt with both hands an feet. Sena laughed to himself and hoped that this search would go on for long enough for Monta to let the subject of Sena's eventual partners go. Just as he crouched down to help looking Monta made a loud shout.

"Found it!" Luck was not on Sena's side today.

"If it isn't Jumonji and not Shin, then who? Riku? Habashira? Mizumachi? Otawara?" he kept insisting and Sena scowled.

"Why is it that you assume that I'm gay?" he said with irritation but soon regretted it when he saw the look on Monta's face. His friend had clearly not intended to make him upset.

"I don't know... You just... Is it Suzuna then?" the monkey boy replied. Sena shook his head stiffly and an uncomfortable silence set between them.

"I'm sorry. I just want to know whats going on. I mean, aren't we best friends?" Monta said and Sena was struck with guilt. The only reason he had wanted to keep this from his friend was because he didn't want Monta to feel awkward, but now it seemed not telling him was just as bad. Monta had always said that best friends should tell each other everything. Sena could clearly see how not telling him that he had practically gotten into a relationship with their team captain would seem like a insult.

"No, you have nothing to be sorry about. It's just.... a bit chocking. The one that gave me this hickey..." Sena said and Monta's eyes shifted back an forth between anticipation and fear of what he might hear.

"...was Hiruma." Monta froze. For a long while he stood there, staring blindly at Sena. The autumn wind blew leafs onto his shoulders and a small bird sat down on his head to polish it's feathers. Sena who had anticipated a loud scream stared back at him. After what seemed like an eon Monta's lips cracked open and he spoke in a low and strained voice.

"Nice catch..."