Disclaimer: Takeshi Konomi owns Prince of Tennis, and Cambridge owns their dictionary definitions.
AN: Up at last! Niou's PoV to contrast with Yagyuu's. Hope you like!
2: Obsession
Caffeine
There were times when Niou Masaharu could not believe in the sheer transparency of the people around him. But then again, despite his disheveled appearance, Niou's mind was a system so complex and highly organized that if his teacher's had the opportunity to peer at its depth, they would have insisted that he coerced Yagyuu into a brain transplant.
Indeed, one week after joining the school tennis team, Niou could tell that the boy with the baseball cap and perpetual sullen expression would soon be wrapped around the pretty boy with the gentle expression. Niou only required three hours with the said pretty boy to realize that beneath that gentle expression was a mind harder and more unrelenting than adamantine. The last boy of their little group of three, a tall lanky lad with tiny eyes that were never opened, had a quick mind, second only to Niou's. However, Niou noticed his one weakness. That however, is a different story.
Niou could tell that Jackal was not half as stern and effacing as he would like people to think he was, and Marui was to be Niou's bane of existence for the next 3 years, and the butt of all the malicious jokes.
There was nothing Niou Masaharu did not see, until he walked straight into Yagyuu Hiroshi.
Yagyuu had a uniform that was too pristine, hair that was too neat, nails that were too clean, shoes that were too shiny, manners that were too gentlemanly, notes that were too organized, and many others things that Niou deemed as flaws. So it would have been Niou's great satisfaction to note that ramming headlong into Yagyuu resulted into a great big wrinkle on that too-white-too-starched-too-clean-too-neat-too-everything school shirt of his. But Niou's attention was not only diverted by something else, it was also fixated. And that was saying something, seeing that Niou had the attention span of a 4 year old child diagnosed with severe attention deficiency hyperactive disorder.
Niou could not see behind Yagyuu's façade. Granted, Niou was not like most dense people; he actually realized that there was more to Yagyuu then gentlemanly manners and scrupulously neat uniforms. But behind that, there was something, something which Niou could not touch.
That caught Niou. It caught Niou enough such that he kicked Yagyuu's chair out from underneath him two lessons later. Cause and effect theory. The theory did not speak of desired effect. Fear, maybe, anger, yes possibly, but the two emotions that Niou was used to seeing, were replaced by something more…bland. This sparked another bout of curiosity in Niou, and Niou was persistent in getting his answers.
Niou, of course, kept all observations to himself. If he allowed himself deprecating words, he would almost term his actions as sneaky. As it was, Niou just continued through school with a smirk on his face and an arm thrown haphazardly around Yagyuu's shoulders. He knew the meaning of unbearable, of intolerable, knew that he was striving his hardest to match all this, trying to force a reaction out of Yagyuu.
Niou did not believe that his actions were cruel. He did not believe that Yagyuu lived in muted patience, either. In the past, taking religious connotations into consideration, Niou was an atheist, whose centre of everything consisted of himself.
Of late, it was galling to admit it, but him and I was a term Niou was starting to use mentally.
Niou would never confess (though he suspected that Yukimura, the astute, devilish beauty had noticed) that he had no idea what Yagyuu was thinking about most of time. Sure, he could read the other boy's playing style, but that was just movement, tangible and solid. A slight brush, a fleeting glance and voila, you had D1 co-ordination. But when it came to the emotions, the substances that were made up of Yagyuu's mind, they were practically locked away from any probing. Unfathomable.
Sometimes, Niou had the uncomfortable feeling that Yukimura was laughing at him, mocking silently in every gesture, every raised eyebrow that converted more sarcasm then words could ever. This drove Niou into exasperation. Was the Trickster, so cunning and shrewd, caught at his own game?
Never. He was Niou fucking stubborn Masaharu. And if he had to lose at the whole façade-disguise-screw with your mind until it resembles what I want it to- game thingy that he never knew he had competition in, then he was going down kicking and screaming.
Meaning, more extreme tactics had to be applied.
From classical guitar solo to electrical with full blast amplifiers.
Once, when Yukimura had gotten tired of watching Niou watch Yagyuu for the millionth time ever, he brushed past the preoccupied boy gracefully, words crossing the slight distance, silent enough to be heard only by Niou. Niou had shaken head twice. Once for uncertainty, twice for denying it resolutely. He could not, would not have fallen in love with Yagyuu Hiroshi. He was merely…what was that again? That stupid definition he read the other day. To devote oneself habitually or compulsively.
Niou Masaharu could not deny Addiction, anymore than he could resist it.
Once he had admitted this, theoretically life was suppose to be easier. But he was a practical person, who realized that his nightmares were just beginning. Addiction meant withdrawal symptoms, and prolonged addiction just meant greater want. Niou could not get enough of Yagyuu.
Being with Yagyuu, decoding and deciphering the personality the Gentleman hid behind, was like a math problem on probability, where there were so many factors affecting it, that the number of possibilities became so numerous that it might as well be infinite.
Ah, fuck it. It was exhilarating, and had reached the point where Niou was not sure if he wanted to uncover the brown-haired mystery. After all, a bored Niou was only that much better than a bored Yukimura.
It was in their third year that he noticed something that his very perspective new captain had noticed years ago.
Who cared whether Yagyuu was actually decipherable or just plain undefined? It was like math, you did not need to know it, to know it. Then, everything changed. Yagyuu initiated the switch, Niou followed it to follow and mimic and copy every move of Yagyuu into carbon replication, and allowed it to be so vice versa. And when there were others, others that threatened to take away his caffeine, Niou had his ways to make sure that they never came near again.
Never mind the fact that he was scaring away any interaction that Yagyuu might have wanted. As long as Yagyuu refused to say anything, as long as Niou could not garner any other emotion from the well-tempered boy, well, Niou would do as he damn well pleased.
When the match against Seigaku's golden pair was due, it was Niou that asked for the switch. Yagyuu as usual, assumed wrong about the switch. Niou had had his fun, but he had discovered something else from Yagyuu's point of view.
He, Niou Masaharu, was bloody confusing, utterly unreadable, and about as incomprehensible as it can get. The much older, much wiser him, decided that this was for the best. They should not cross certain boundaries; boundaries that Niou was certain Yagyuu would murder him for crossing.
And sometimes, a small childish part of him would petulantly protest, that if Yagyuu honestly wanted more from their fucked-up something-ship, their efforts would have met in between. This childish part would be quenched by Niou's insistence that there was nothing else. After all, he did not believe in fucking love. Just fucking, skin on skin, heat and fire and no strings attached.
No one saw fit to remind Niou that Addiction was compulsive enough to turn strings to chains and shackles and cold, hard metal.
In Senior High, Niou picked up French. He decided to keep this from Yagyuu. Maybe some part of him still wanted to feel like it belonged to himself.
Other parts of him knew that he belonged to Yagyuu, which belonged to himself that belonged to Yagyuu that went on and on and on till Niou got tired of rationalizing the irrational and fell asleep.
Tennis, despite everything Yukimura claimed, could only be part of so many people's lives. Similarly, people could only matter that much for so long. In university, everyone was so busy filling their heads up with rubbish called knowledge that they failed to remember the important things like Niou and Yagyuu, whose names were not supposed to be mentioned separately. Like D1. Like Platinum.
No one remembers that Platinum is 95 pure, does not tarnish and lasts a lifetime. It hurts more when you-or-him-or-both, but most likely him, can only remember platinum as Pt, a symbol on the periodic table, is a solid at 298K, and does not oxidize in air.
On the eve of his university entrance exams, Niou sat at his table, his long forgotten, well neglected studying strewn un-characteristically all around, and thought things out with a clear head for the first time in 6 years. No Yagyuu to cloud his mind, no Yagyuu to serve as a distraction.
In 5 minutes, Niou realized that he had long given in. Game, set and whole fucking match, Yagyuu. Six games to Love. In 3 minutes, he had packed his bags. In 2, he was out of his front door.
In 10 minutes, he had walked out of their life. The Gentleman was too preoccupied to notice that platinum can be corroded. To wear away or cause to wear away gradually, especially by chemical reaction.
He never liked Halogens. Bloody group six metals.
AN: Hello! Sorry bout the super long time I took to update. Was stuck and lazy and studying. Reviews and constructive criticism welcome! Please tell me if there are any mistakes! Will do my best to correct them. Once again, thanks loads for reading.
P.S: With regards to the ending, Platinum is supposed to be corroded when in contact with halogens, cyanides, sulphur, or alkalis. Yep!