Author's Note: I have more! It's still from Oishi's POV (I forgot to mention that in the first chapter, oops). Reviews much appreciated.

As soon as we were safe in my room, Eiji jumped into my bed. I knew it wouldn't take him long to fall asleep. Once he was tired, he was tired. I could have tried giving him sugar, but then he might have been up all night. Better just to let him sleep. I didn't bother telling him to change out of his uniform, either. I could beg my mom to iron it in the morning.

When I was in my pajamas and all ready to go to bed, I noticed a new problem. Eiji was in my bed. This problem had never presented itself before. At the time, I had no idea that it wouldn't be the last time this would happen.

I considered my options. I could retrieve Eiji's sleeping bag and attempt to sleep on the floor myself, or I could sleep comfortably… in my own bed… with Eiji…

Neither option seemed like a great solution. But I pulled out my friend's sleeping bag and laid it out next to my occupied bed.

One never realizes how sore they really are until they try to sleep on the floor. I tossed and turned for an hour, trying to get comfortable. I wasn't worried about not getting enough sleep; it was the weekend, and it wasn't that late yet anyway. But I certainly didn't want to wake up in the morning aching all over.

I peered over the side of my bed. Eiji was tossing and turning as well. Then again, he always did that. He just couldn't keep still… I pondered the situation, very tempted to crawl in next to my friend. Was it worth a shot?

I don't know how I ended up rationalizing that it was, but I climbed into the bed beside my doubles partner. My timing was lucky; Eiji was currently on the opposite edge of the bed. I rolled over so my back was facing him and got comfortable. Much better.

Now, Eiji always sleeps hugging something, be it a pillow, a stuffed animal, or just his covers. He had a body pillow at home that he was particularly fond of. This fact had slipped my mind, but I was quickly reminded of it when I felt Eiji's arms lock around my waist. Great. I had become the substitute body pillow.

Despite these odd circumstances, I was so tired that I fell asleep quickly. Something about it was actually very comfortable. Eiji was so warm…

I woke up to the sound of my bedroom door opening, and a giggle. I opened my eyes. My little sister walked over to my bedside.

"Big brother! Mommy made pancakes," she whispered, like she was telling a juicy secret.

I started to try to sit up, but I realized Eiji was still clinging to me. "We'll be down in a minute."

"Okay." She ran off with a giddy smile, carefully shutting the door behind her.

Now to wake him up. I sort of elbowed him in the stomach. At this point, gentleness wasn't my main objective. I wanted breakfast. But instead of waking up like I had hoped, Eiji simply let go of me and rolled the other way. I shook him, this time calling his name. "Eiji!"

"Mm?"

"Wake up."

"Mm." Clearly that wasn't his current plan.

I shook him again. "My mom made breakfast."

"Eh? What?"

"Pancakes, Eiji."

No answer.

I sighed. "With powdered sugar, if you want…"

Eiji was out the door and racing down the stairs before I could finish my sales pitch. I took my time in following him. Apparently, he had no idea that he'd been attached to me throughout the entirety of the night.

When I came into the kitchen, Eiji was already sitting at the table working on two pancakes: one holding a sugary snowdrift in place, and the other piled high with syrupy strawberries. Being more of a traditionalist, I prepared myself a small stack of three pancakes with butter and maple syrup.

Eiji wasn't always a morning person, but today was one of his good days. He must have slept well. He really was the life of the little party he had made of breakfast, chatting casually with my mom and making my sister giggle with his antics while he eagerly finished his breakfast. When he had done so, he got up to put his plate in the sink. I heard a little "ding!"

I perked up and looked around. "What was that?"

Everyone froze like statues and stared at me. "What was what, honey?" my mother asked gently.

"That sound… didn't you hear it?" My eyes scanned them all for affirmation, almost pleading. "It sounded… like… a bell…" I turned to look at Eiji. He felt around his collar to make sure his new "equipment" hadn't magically found its way back to his neck. It hadn't.

My face felt warm. I heard my sister snicker as I looked back down at my plate. "Shuichiro's hearing things…" I looked up a little to see Mom give her a look that said, "Now, sweetie, that's not very nice…"

After a sip of coffee, Mom turned to me. "Your friend called this morning."

I picked up my glass of orange juice and started to drink. "Which?"

"Tezuka."

I don't know why that surprised me so much, but I almost choked on my juice. Eiji patted my back, trying to help me as I broke into a coughing fit. Tezuka never called anyone…

"Really?" I sputtered out, still coughing a little. "What about?"

"He was wondering if you wanted to play tennis with him today. He called rather early… I told him you wouldn't be up until later. He wanted you to call him when you were ready, if you wanted to go."

Eiji slapped his hands on the table. "Of course we do!"

I found myself wondering where he got the idea that he could answer for me. But I didn't protest. I did want to go.

Mom started cleaning up the table. "Well, I hope you boys have fun. Shuichiro, you should call him, then."

"Okay, Mom." I got up to go to the phone. Eiji was clearly a little confused as to what his job was. So I helped him out. "Eiji… you might want to change out of your school uniform…"

He blinked, and then looked down at his shirt. He obviously hadn't even thought of that. Lucky for me, he thought it was hysterical. He started laughing. It was a long, cheery laugh that rang out sweetly and lightly disappeared. Sort of like a bell…