Fandom: Tenipuri/POT
Genre: General/Romance
Rating: PG-13
Type: Multi-part? Chapter 5/8
Pairings: Oshitari/Eiji
Disclaimer: No, I do not own Prince of Tennis.
Author's notes: Here's chapter 5, enjoy!
Chapter 5
The next morning, Eiji woke up with a pounding headache. Silently, he cursed himself for taking a walk out in the cold the day before. Groaning unceremoniously, he lay back down on his bed, deciding that breakfast could wait until the pain subdued. That was when he remembered that he was alone for the weekend. His family members were away on a three-day cruise tour. Initially, he was invited to go along but he had denied the invitation; claiming that he wanted to study instead. It had taken him quite some time to convince his parents that he was capable of taking care of himself, yet now he'd gone and made himself sick. He could already imagine his mother ranting at him when they came back from the tour.
/Now What/ He frowned, judging from his current state of mind; he could hardly walk a straight line, let alone taking care of himself.
For a while, he thought of calling Oishi up to seek his advice. However, he decided against it at the last moment, as he did not want to disturb his friend from the vacation. Just as he was wondering what to do with the situation at hand, the doorbell rang indicating that there was a visitor at the door. Frowning, he tried to recall if there was anyone coming over but could find none. Pushing himself up from his bed, he made his way slowly down to the ground floor and towards the front parlour.
He had never really realized how tiring it was to move from the upper floor to the ground floor before. In fact, he was the one who had insisted upon having a room on the top floor of the house. Now, he was starting to regret his decision, but it was too late to change anything now. He cursed under his breath as he nearly tripped on one of the steps; he trudged over to the door and pulled it open without looking at the visitor.
He didn't even realize who it was until he lost his balance and nearly fell. If it had not been for the pair of strong arms that reached out and caught him in time, he would have fallen flat on his face. He glanced up at his rescuer, and was shocked to find Oshitari Yuushi eyeing him with concern.
"Hey, are you alright?" Oshitari asked, frowning when he realized Eiji felt rather warm. Eiji blinked a few times, trying to clear his blurred vision but ended up fainting right in Oshitari's arms.
Oshitari took one look at the open doorway, then at his surroundings, and back down to the unconscious redhead in his arms. Letting out a sigh, he picked the redhead up without much difficulty and kicked the door close. He steadily trudged up the stairs, and found Eiji's room quite easily since it was the only one with the door opened.
Entering the room, he was stunned by what he saw in Eiji's room. Sitting in one corner of the room, was no doubt the teddy bear, Daigoro, which the redhead had told him of on more than one occassion. Tucking the redhead into bed, Oshitari decided to stay and wait for Eiji to regain consciousness.
Eiji didn't know how long it had taken him to regain consciousness, but when he opened his eyes; the first thing that greeted his sight was the unmistakable Hyoutei tensai sitting on his working chair with a book in hand. Groaning miserably, he tried to sit up but failing which when his head fell back on the pillow instead. His groan must have alerted the other boy of his awoken state, as the latter was by his side in a flash of light.
He eyed Oshitari with pleading eyes, before brightening up in a smile when the latter helped him to sit up in bed. For a while, Eiji couldn't speak as he was blushing madly due to the closeness between the two of them. He took some time to calm himself, before asking. "How long has it been?"
Oshitari glanced at his watch, before answering nonchalantly. "2 hours and 45 minutes..." Eiji's eyes widen at the response, he felt bad for taking up the latter's time. Especially, when time was an essence to them at this point of time. Oshitari could have been making full use of the time to study, but he'd tied the latter down by his side due to his losing consciousness.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to hold you up..." Eiji apologized, unwilling to meet Oshitari's eyes.
Oshitari took one look at Eiji, and sighed. "No, it's fine... I'm not in a rush for time anyway..." When he realized Eiji was still avoiding his gaze, he added. "Kikumaru, it's not your fault that you fainted. After all, you're sick."
"But... you could have spend the time on studying rather than taking care of me..." Eiji argued.
"True..." Oshitari smirked slightly, before responding. "However, that's under the circumstance if one could concentrate on studying."
Eiji blinked. "Huh?" he responded dumbly.
Oshitari sighed; he wondered how the redhead could be so slow in catching his hints. After all his relentless effort in asking the redhead out, how the latter still hadn't thought of the possibility of him being interested in dating the other boy, was beyond his comprehension.
Before he could control what he's doing, he found himself leaning closer to the redhead and whispered. "How could I have concentrate on my studies, when you're constantly appearing in my mind?"
"Eh?" Eiji's response was one of pure bewilderment, obviously more confused than before. His eyes widened, and his jaw dropped in shock. If it were not for the fact that the latter had made that confession in front of him, the redhead certainly would never have believed it. If someone else had informed him of it, he would have thought the other as insane, but now...
Oshitari smirked; somehow he always found the redhead's reactions to be amusing. He knew he shouldn't be smirking, else the redhead would think him to be jesting... but he couldn't help it. It was too amusing for his liking.
"Are you kidding?" The unmistakable voice jarred him from his thoughts.
"No... I'm not kidding..."
"How?"
He appeared to be thinking for a moment, before shrugging. "No idea, it just happened. I was wondering about it myself..."
"Oh..."
That was when Oshitari's cell phone rang. He muttered an apology under his breath, as he walked over to the window to answer the call. After a while, he came over to Eiji looking apologetic and said. "Sorry, but I'd to leave now. I've something on... do try not to faint again while I'm not here..." he said, adding a smirk at the last bit.
Eiji blushed, but still nodded in agreement. His eyes nearly fell out in shock, when he felt the other boy's lips gently brush against his cheek. He could vaguely felt a thrill traveling down his spine, when Oshitari whispered 'goodbye' in a husky voice. It took all of Eiji's self constrain to prevent himself from 'melting'.
He waited until he could hear the front door close, before proceeding to sag against the wall weakly. The confession he had heard from Oshitari earlier on, still played out in his mind. He wondered what exactly it was about him that'd captured the latter's attention. Under normal circumstances, one would be disgusted over the idea of having someone of same gender confessing their affection to them, but for Eiji, it was not the case. Instead of feeling disgusted, he was actually rather pleased with it.
With that idea in mind, he slipped into a blissful sleep of oblivion and found himself looking forward to his next meeting with the Hyoutei tensai.
to be continued
date started: 30/09/05
date completed: 30/09/05