Words: 1,693

Atobe's Little Plan

Chapter 10

Eiji carefully wheeled Oishi away from the dining room, mindful that if Oishi even got one spot of new blood on the bandage that the doctor would rip into him. After Oishi had woken up, they had spent hours talking. Oishi told him about how long he'd loved him and what they were going to do now.

When Oishi went over that cliff, Eiji could only sit there stunned for the longest time. He realized then that he'd be lost with out him. He hadn't realized how deeply Oishi had made himself a part of Eiji's life until then. Eiji had laughingly explained that if he ever did get a girl to go out with, she'd always come in second place in Eiji's heart because Oishi was and would always be first. Not that Eiji would want to go out with a girl. He'd stressed that point when he had seen Oishi's face fall.

He said that he'd always love Oishi and that was the truth. After they had run out of things to say, Oishi made the suggestion of going down to the dining room to eat. He said that Echizen would be there and it wouldn't be right if all the team wasn't there to greet him.

So, after the doctor laboriously transferring Oishi into a wheelchair and harshly reprimanding Eiji, he had wheeled Oishi to the dining room. When Eiji spotted Echizen, he was with Momo-chan. The two looked very close. Eiji noted that their hands were a brush length apart. He had mentally chuckled at that. Just maybe…

When they sat down, Taka had greeted Ryoma and Eiji noticed that he'd moved his chair closer to Momo-chan's.

-flashback-

"So, nya, does that mean that you two have finally confessed your feelings? Nya!" They blushed furiously. "Nya, nya, Oishi look at them. They're blushing! That must mean they're going out."

He had really meant it as a joke but they took it seriously. Everyone took it seriously. Sakuno was so shocked that she dropped her dish. Eiji felt so horrible for bringing it up in front of everyone. He winced. When would he learn to keep his mouth shut?

"Ryoma is, as of last night, my boyfriend," Momo had said in that no-nonsense voice. Ryoma confirmed it.

The poor girl had run out of the room like a pack of hell hounds were after her. Her poor friend fainted at the news.

Eiji blushed when he realized exactly what they had said. 'As of last night' could only mean one thing. When Echizen refused to sit down without a cushion, Eiji's thoughts were confirmed.

Taka glanced at the blushing pair and then at his girlfriend and quickly changed the subject to tennis. That was a safe subject to talk about. He asked about the pros, and who was good and who was not. Ryoma had been all too willing to give that information.

It seemed that everyone was trying to forget about what had just happened. People would pointedly not look in their table's direction; but the blushes on peoples faces betrayed what they were really thinking of.

-End of flashback-

Eiji blushed, even now, thinking of what those two could have done last night. However, he wasn't so into Echizen's arrival that he didn't notice the pair that didn't arrive. Wonder where those two have gone, Eiji thought to himself.

Last night, when Tezuka had come to check up on Oishi, Tezuka seemed out if it. He didn't even seem that worried over Oishi. Eiji would have been mad, but Oishi told him that Tezuka probably had something weighing heavily on his mind. Oishi getting hurt probably didn't help anything. As it was, Oishi would be out of tennis for the next month, if not more. That had to put a lot of strain on Tezuka. Even without Echizen, they had an image to uphold and, if one of their players got hurt, that image could be destroyed.

Eiji had backed down, but he still thought that Tezuka could have shown more sympathy. If he was really worried about Oishi that much, he sure didn't show it.

Eiji blinked when a blur went past him. He turned around to see that the blur was actually Sakuno.

"Sakuno-chan, nya, what's the matter?" he called after her.

Sakuno stopped and turned. He could see the tears in her eyes. Echizen's sexual preference must have really hit her hard. She ran back to Eiji and threw her arms around him, soft sobs wracking her body. Oishi didn't look happy with this. Eiji tossed Oishi a frown. The poor girl was crying, for heavens sake. Oishi's eyes softened. Oh, he understood Eiji alright, and that's why Eiji loved him so much.

When her crying subsided, she spoke. "I didn't want to see it." Her soft voice was almost too low to hear. "I really didn't but I think, I think I knew it from the beginning." She hiccupped a couple of times. "He was always hanging out with Momo-sempai, and he actually showed his feeling to him. I couldn't get anything out of him. I was bad at tennis, I couldn't confess my feelings, everything about me was wrong."

He patted her back. "There, there. There are better guys out there for you. Echizen is a star. Most of us little people can only watch the stars, not become them, or marry them. It takes strong people, nya, to handle strong people. You're strong in your own ways."

Eiji actually thought she was very strong, just not strong enough for a star. He didn't know if he was strong enough for a star but, luckily for him, he didn't have to worry about that. Momo-sempai didn't care, though, and just jumped, luckily catching it. He thought that in itself proved that Momo-sempai was a very strong individual.

She sniffled. "You really think so?"

Eiji nodded, a small smile on his face. "In fact, I thought I saw a guy watching you last night. You were very pretty in your gown."

She looked at him, tears nearly gone. "You saw me? I didn't think anyone saw me. They were too busy with everyone else."

"I saw you, nya. You knocked 'em all dead. They all thought you were too beautiful to dance with, nya." He winked at her slyly.

She giggled, wiping her remaining tears away. "If you weren't taken, Kikimaru-sempai, I'd fall for you," she said breathlessly, aware of Oishi's glare.

Eiji chuckled. "Well I'm sure flattered, and I must say that if I didn't have Oishi, I'd definitely look at you too."

She smiled, getting on her feet. "Thanks, Kikimaru-sempai. Oh, and don't go around that corner over there." She pointed down the hall. "Tezuka-sempai was ravishing Fuji-sempai. That's why I was running away." She turned around, walking the way she had been going more sedately.

Eiji gaped like a fish out of water. "Tezuka and Fuji? Masaka."

Oishi laughed and cried at the same time. Eiji quickly went over to check on Oishi's bandage. He was laughing so hard that he could strain the stitches and reopen his wound. It must have been bothering him, because he was crying.

"Mo, Oishi, don't laugh or you're going to hurt yourself, nya."

He checked the wound, thankful that there was no blood. Oishi hadn't listened to Eiji; he laughed harder then ever before. The stitches were really straining, and it was alarming.

Eiji did the only thing he could think of to stop Oishi: he kissed him. It shut him up and left him stunned enough for Eiji to slip his tongue in. They were in the middle of their kiss when a cough interrupted them.

"I thought I told you to take Oishi to the medical room, not stand in the middle of the hallway kissing his brains out," the doctor said, a hand on her hip.

Eiji, with a blush and a bow, said, "Yes ma'am. Sorry, but we met someone up here, and with what they said I couldn't get Oishi to stop laughing, nya! So I had to kiss him." He was going a little fast, he knew, but he wanted to explain himself so he didn't get into trouble.

"Sure, you did," the doctor said, her tone suggesting that she wasn't convinced at all about the reasoning. "Come on. This time I'll chaperone you two to the room." She briskly walked on.

Eiji grabbed the wheelchair and had to jog to keep up. He had to admit that the kiss was a good one. He'd have to have more of those with Oishi once he got better. Again, he blushed, thinking about Echizen and Momoshiro. Perhaps, when he was better, they wouldn't stop at just kissing.

When they arrived at the room, they had to transfer Oishi to the bed. It took both of them to lift the bigger man, but they did so without any incident.

"I was thinking," Oishi started when they were finished tucking him in. "Isn't Echizen's birthday coming up?"

Eiji was startled. "You know, I think you're right, nya! I think it's on the 24th, nya."

"What if we threw him a surprise birthday party?" Oishi seemed troubled. "Do you think he'd hate it?"

"NYA! He'd love it." Eiji was into it now, whether or not Ryoma-chan cared. "Nya, I can have Inui do the decorations. Knowing him, nya, he'd do it perfectly. Then we can have Fuji and Tezuka do the food. Nya, I think they can cook. And Momo…" here's where he hesitated. (I'm not 100 percent sure, but I don't think Eiji calls Tezuka 'Tezuka-buchou.' I think he just uses 'Tezuka.' And he and Fuji are in the same grade, so he doesn't have to call Fuji 'senpai.')

Oishi shook his head. "No. We can't tell Momo. He'd tell Ryoma and then it wouldn't be a surprise. Let's just keep it with the seven of us. You, me, Fuji, Tezuka, Taka-san, Inui and Kaidoh. Taka-san can probably make us a huge dish of sushi and give directions to the other two. Inui and Kaidoh can do the decorations and you and I will get everyone together and keep Ryoma from finding out." (Same with Oishi. He only calls Tezuka by his last name, without any honorific, and he and Fuji are also in the same grade.)

"NYA! Oishi, you're so smart. Nya," Eiji said happily while bouncing on the bed.

Oishi didn't suppress the wince, and the doctor came to give Eiji a warning. Eiji apologized with his head hanging down.

"It's alright." Oishi said, patting the depressed little redhead.

"I didn't mean to hurt you, nya." Eiji pouted.

"I know, I know. You just got a little excited. I would have done that too, if I weren't hurt."

Eiji perked up. He couldn't imagine Oishi jumping on the bed like a five-year-old. The thought nearly made Eiji giggle. Oishi was too serious for his own good.

Oishi saw Eiji smile and thought, Eiji can't stay depressed for very long. That's one reason why I love him. Nothing gets him down.

"So, tomorrow I'll go to work." Oishi nodded.

He felt so useless just lying in bed, but with the doctor watching over him all the time, there was no way he was ever going to get out of bed.