Title: (un)revealed

Author: L. W. (artemisial)

Fandom: Prince of Tennis

Disclaimer: Konomi Takashi, manga-ka. Plot is mine, characters and seriesare his. Not for profit.

Warnings: implied shounen-ai, fluff.

Rating: G or PG

Summary: The Golden Pair make an announcement to the regulars, but it's not what they – or you- are expecting! Humor, parody, fluff. Golden Pair, hints of Tezuka/Fuji. My own take on a standard, repeatedly-done fic for this fandom, with a bit of a twist. Or not.

Notes

Hoi, nya - cheering or whining nonsensical noises that anime!Eiji makes
sempai, sempais - upperclassman, older students (yeah I know that's not the proper plural but oh well)
Yosh - all right!
Saa - well or so, part of Fuji's speech pattern
Ochibi - little boy,kiddo, Eiji's nickname for Echizen Ryoma
Kawaii - cute, adorable
Buchou - captain
Tensai - genius, prodigy.

Eiji could hardly wait until all of Seigaku's regulars were in the locker room. Bouncing nervously from foot to foot, the acrobat restlessly surveyed the room.Eight boys in blue jerseys and their data-head manager were the only ones there, the non-regular team members having been dismissed over an hour ago while their sempais stayed for special training. When theninth and last member finally came in off the courts, Eiji couldn't contain himself.

"Hoi hoi!" he cried out to get everyone's attention. As soon as all eyes were on the excited redhead, he threw himself onto Oishi's back from behind and yelled, "Oishi and I have an announcement! We're dating, nyah! And our first one's tonight!" Pumping his fist in the air excitedly while Oishi blushed and tried to gently set his partner down, both boys happily scanned the crowd for reactions to their big news.

Varied reactions on seven faces met the two sets of dark green and blue eyes.

Momoshiro and Kaidoh both just stared at the doubles one team, jaws dropping and sweat springing on their brows, before turning to each other in unison to see their wide-eyed, confused expressions mirrored in each other's faces. Glancing at the two stunned second-years, Kawamura blushed and brought a hand up to scratch the back of his neck in embarrassment, but a friendly smile was on his face when he turned back to the Golden Pair. Inui's glasses glinted evilly as he scribbled a checkmark and the date in his notebook, then nodded satisfactorily to himself before pushing his glasses up on his nose to eagerly observe the rest, pen at the ready to record the details he knew would be coming. Fuji, calm as always, merely allowed his small smile to widen into a genuine grin, and through closed eyes discreetly but avidly watched his teammates' reactions as well. Tezuka, beside him, didn't even blink before resuming packing his bag. Face shadowed under the brim of his ever-present cap, no one saw their hot-shot freshman, Echizen, roll his eyes while allowing himself a small smirk.

Looking around, Eiji's face fell and he turned back to his partner with disappointment in his catlike eyes. "Nya, Oishi! No one's congratulating us! No one's excited for us, nyaaaaa!" he whined, drawing out the last word in a wail. Privately, Oishi was glad there wasn't more of a reaction. He was most relieved to see Tezuka maintain his normal expressionless demeanor; secretly, Oishi had been afraid their buchou would view a relationship as a distraction from the game. Eiji, had the thought even crossed him mind, would have simply been afraid of being made to run laps for yet another reason.

A heartbeat later, Fuji was the first to speak. "Saa, of course we're happy for you, Eiji! You both deserve congratulations." "Yes, congratulations Oishi and Eiji. I hope you have fun on your date!" Kawamura added quickly in his gentle voice, a soft blush still staining his cheeks.

Too shocked and confused to move, Momoshiro could only keep his violet eyes fixed on the couple in the center of the room, while only a small "fsssshh" could be heard from Kaidoh, who had suddenly found the floor a subject worthy of his undivided attention. Raising his eyebrow, Inui commented, "Well, this is not entirely unexpected." Flipping through his notebook, he continued, "According to the data, there was an 80 percent chance that you would announce your relationship sometime this year."

"What, Inui? Our relationship? Singular?" A bead of sweat appearing between his two bangs, Oishi turned in confusion to the data specialist. Momentarily losing his composure, Inui allowed his eyebrows to shoot up. "You mean, you're not in a relationship with each other?" he asked, bewildered for once, his pen forgotten.

"NO!" The black- and red-haired boys burst out simultaneously, looking at each other in amazement and horror, respectively. "Nya, I'm not GAY!" Shouted Eiji to the whole room. Turning to a very red-faced Oishi, he cried, "Tell them, Oishi! We're not gay! I don't wanna kiss a guy,ew ew ew ew ew! I'm not gay!

All eyes in the room shot back in surprise to the distraught boy and his discomfited partner. For the briefest second Fuji's eyes popped open. Tezuka paused while zipping up his jacket. Momohiro and Kaidoh again looked at each other in confusion and, perhaps, the beginnings of relief. Kawamura's fading blush reasserted itself. Echizen continued to watch from under his cap in amusement and, if he admitted it to himself, curiosity. Inui himself stared blankly at them before hurriedly flipping through his notebook to recheck his data.

Into the stunned silence after his partner's outburst a flustered Oishi spoke, his face still beet red. "N-no! That's not it at all. We're not dating each other, and as Eiji said, neither of us is gay. Wait, not – not that we have anything against that, I hope you don't think that. Eiji, you should be more considerate, you could have hurt someone's feelings! Of course we're open minded and accepting! And if any of you ever need to talk to someone about things like…" he trailed off as Eiji punched him lightly in the shoulder, realizing he was babbling. "What he means is, we're dating girls! Oishi and I have started dating girls! Our first real date with them is tonight!" Eiji exclaimed in frustration, throwing his hands up in the air.

Looking around again, the two boys still sensed surprise and confusion in the room. This time it was Momoshiro who broke the ensuing silence. With a huge smile and a loud laugh of giddy relief, he strode over and thumped the redhead on the back, throwing an arm around each half of the Golden Pair. "Well good job, you lucky devils! So are you gonna tell us who they are? Come on, sempais, you have to tell us now!"

Finally getting the reaction he was hoping for, Eiji broke out into his characteristic grin. "They're the Iwasawa sisters, Hina and Yumi! You know, Hina's in Oishi's homeroom and Yumi's her younger sister!" "Eiji! Are you sure we should be telling them all this? The girls might be embarrassed…" Oishi tried to break in, but his voice was drowned out in Momoshiro's excitement. "Iwasawa Yumi? Yosh! She's in my class! Kawaii! Oi, way to go Eiji-sempai!" he cheered, holding his hand up for a high-five which was eagerly returned with a wink.

"You're dating sisters?" Kawamura asked shyly. "Of course!" Eiji cried, happy at all the positive attention he was now receiving. "Double-dating them!" "So who's dating which one?" Momoshiro asked, grinning slyly at his lucky sempais. He was glad someone at least had a love life - Kamio had prevented him from getting anywhere near Tachibana An, so his own wasn't going anywhere at the moment, he thought.

Fuji, eyes closed once more, widened his smile again at that question. "Yes, do tell. Who's dating the shy Hina and who's dating the out-going Yumi?" He asked in his quiet voice. Something about the way he said it, though, made Inui think he already knew the answer.

"You guys ask such obvious questions!" Eiji said. Trying to get the conversation over as soon as possible to avoid further embarrassement and questions, Oishi said simply, "I'm taking out Hina and Eiji's with Yumi." "Of course!" Eiji cried again. "They're both quiet! We're both loud! What did you expect?"

At that, Inui paused in his frantic data collecting to ask another question. "Indeed...however, they do say opposites attract. Not looking for someone more…exciting, Oishi?" he asked, turning to the vice captain. Oishi frowned in mild disapproval. "Inui! Hina's a very nice, smart girl, she's just shy." Looking over at his doubles partner, who was once more bouncing off the walls, "Besides, who needs anyone else exciting when Eiji's around?" had added with a fond smile. "What about you, Eiji-sempai?" Momoshiro asked. "What if Yumi's too loud for even you?" "Hey, Momo! You're the one who's too loud! Watch what you say to your sempais! If she's too loud then I'll just talk to Oishi instead, nya!" Nodding absently to himselfand with a speculating glance at Fuji, Inui continued updating his data.

"Oi, Ochibi! You didn't congratulate your sempais! What do you have to say to Oishi and I?" Eiji asked suddenly, launching himself at the smaller boy. After a thoughtful moment Echizen glanced up from under his cap with an unreadable expression on his face. "Mada mada dane, Eiji-sempai, Oishi-sempai." "Ochibi! What do you mean by that!" Eiji cried in mock anger, pouting and trying to pull the freshman's cap off and muss his hair while Echizen tried his best to keep out of the acrobat's reach.

All of a sudden something that had been niggling at the back of Oishi's mind popped up once again. "Wait a minute, Inui, why would you even think that Eiji and I – that we were – together?" he asked withconfusion. With it came a related thought. He narrowed his eyes. "Fuji, Taka-san, just what were you congratulating us on?"

Kawamura'seyes turned into large brown saucers and his blush flared up for the third time as he quickly turned to Fuji for help. The tensai's smile was still inscrutable. "Why, just congratulating you on the date that Eiji had just announced," he calmly answered."Uh, hai!" was Kawamura's hurried addition.

Realizing he wouldn't get a straight answer out of Fuji, in exasperation the vice captain looked again to the data man. "What about you, Inui? What did you mean by your 80 percent data?" Oishi persisted. Eiji by this time had focused his attention from Echizen back to Inui as well. Looking thoughtful, Inui flipped to a certain page in his book. "Well, based on the data I've been gathering for the past three years, when you two are together there is a 75 percent increase in overall physical contact, hand contact during high-fives persists for 50 percent longer than between other people, and eye shimmers occur -"

"Inui-sempai." A gruff voice cut the data player off. "They're just friends." And with that, the tail of Kaidoh's bandana disappeared out the door of the clubhouse as he left.

Before Inui could resume and Oishi could question further, their forgottencaptain broke in. "There will be practice tomorrow morning and afternoon. It is already 5:00." Tezuka's expressionless face and equally inflectionless voice nevertheless failed to convey the rest of his unspoken message loud and clear to his team: It's late, I want to lock up, and you had all better be well rested for tomorrow or you'll be running laps. This conversation is over.

"Aaah! 5:00! Oishi, we need to go NOW! The girls are waiting!" Eiji cried, managing to simultaneously pull on his jacket and drag his slower-moving friend stumblingout the door. Momoshiro followed right on their heels, yelling, "Wait, wait, sempais! You never told me where you're going! Dinner and a movie? Do they have cousin? Hey, wait up!"

With the two centers of their attention gone, there was nothing for the other players to do but pack up and vacate the locker room, saving the gossip for another day. Tezuka was the last to leave, and turning out the lights, he locked up for the night, suppressing a sigh at the antics of his team.

Epilogue:

Tezuka left the clubhouse to find Fuji waiting for him. Not saying anything, they fell in step together as the late afternoon light began to darken around them. After walking halfway in comfortable silence, Fuji turned to look upat the taller boy beside him. "Ne, Tezuka?" He asked, the perpetual smile still on his lips, betraying nothing. "Were you expecting that?" Silence, then "Nn," a small grunt. Fuji faced forward again. There was silence for several more moments. Then, unexpectedly, "I saw you open your eyes."

Fuji whipped his head up and stared at his captain. A moment later a chuckle escaped the smiling lips. Fuji replied to the deadpan statement in a tone of mock disbelief. "Tezuka Kunimitsu, are you teasing me?" There was, of course, no reply, and the captain never glanced down at him, but close scrutiny by one who knew what to look for revealed the slightest wrinkles at the corners of Tezuka's eyes that betrayed his amusement.

"That was a convenient time for you to remind us of the practices that we have every morning and afternoon," Fuji gently teased him back. The expected, non-committal "Nn" came again the requisite full minute later, but the tiny wrinkles remained. Sighing and shaking his head, Fuji let them continue on in silence.

Just before they reached their destination Tezuka slowed down. Finally turning to look thoughtfully at the fair-haired boy beside him, after a moment he came to a full stop. "Give them another three years. Not everyone's a tensai, Syuusuke," he said gently.

Fuji looked back at him. After a moment a genuine, wide grin with more than a hint of mischief in it spread across his face as Fuji allowed small slivers of his deep blue eyes to reveal themselves in a piercing gaze.

"You mean, not everyone has a tensai to help them…discover…certain things about themselves, Kunimitsu," he replied, as the chuckle came again anddeepened into a full peal of laughter. Even with his eyes closed again he could still see that this time definite laugh lines had appeared around Tezuka's still straight mouth. Still laughing, he reached for the captain's hand and started walking again.

Epilogue 2:

Late that night a light could still be seen shining through one of the windows of the Inui residence. In that room a figure was hunched over a computer, running endless calculations. His parents, checking on him before turning in for the night, had heard nonsensical mutterings through the door.

"Illogical…the data doesn't lie…according to my calculations there was only a 5 percent chance they weren't….however, considering the national statistics, not everyone on the team can be gay, can they?… and yet I was so sure….those two had the highest probability out of all of them, and the entire team's probablity was extraordinarily high…..now, to compute his reactions to their perceived announcement….distressing…..and yet not unexpected….I could work with this….

End

My first fanfic. Please read and review! Praise is always nice and is an incentive to keep writing, but constructive criticism helps us become better writers! Thanks for reading.