A little over a week had passed since the first day of the new school term and Ryoma had taken to the new but still somehow familiar routine quite easily. It wasn't all that different from before, really, not even tennis practices, even if it was a little strange to call Momo buchou, and go trough practice not even once receiving one of Eiji-sempai's death hugs, or Inui's lethal juices.
But Kaidoh still hissed and glared at everyone, and Horio exclaimed his excellence. Not much had changed since junior-high, and somehow, that made Ryoma feel better.
It really hit him that things were different, when they were supposed to meet at Kawamura's, like before, and Momo told him that he was going on a date, and Kaidoh said he had plans with his family. After that, Ryoma really saw no need to go either. He had seen Taka just a couple of days before, anyway.
So he went home.
After finishing his homework, he felt like playing, but his father wasn't home. He considered calling Fuji, but found the thought of a game with the tensai annoying. Almost as annoying as playing against Inui and his data tennis.
He was holding his phone, thinking of who to call, when it started ringing. He took one look at the name flashing on the screen, frowned, and pushed the end call button. He did the same when it rang again. After the fifth time, he decided to answer, but kept the phone at a distance from his ear. A good precaution, considering the volume of the voice that yelled, "Hey Echizen, I think there's something wrong with your phone! It kept disconnecting my call!" Aoi Kentaro's voice shouted from the phone.
Ryoma rolled his eyes and asked, "What do you want? I'm busy."
"Come play tennis!"
Ryoma's frown deepened. He considered his options. Kentaro was extremely annoying, but on the other hand, he could play a good game. Still, he was annoying.
"Come on! It'll be fun!"
"Fine," Ryoma finally agreed.
"Great! I'll come and get you! Where do you live?"
"NO! I mean, I'll meet you there. Where are you?" Ryoma definitely did not want Aoi Kentaro to find out where he lived.
"The tennis club next to the university where Saeki and your sempai Fuji goes! Know where it is?"
"Yeah. See you there." He hung up before he could hear Kentaro's excited shouts. From experience he knew, they were to be expected. And he did not want to loose his hearing again because of Kentaro.
He quickly pulled some pants over his tennis shorts, zipped up his jacket, put his shoes on, donned his cap and zoomed out of the house, grabbing his tennis bag on the way. He ran to the bus stop and arrived just in time to see it disappear behind a curve.
Fuck! There wouldn't be another bus for half an hour. Sighing, he started to walk. If he walked to the station which wasn't that far, he could catch a bus from there.
He was just about to cross the street, when a black limo drove right in front of him. Huffing, he started to go around it, when the door opened, and Atobe stepped out. That's right. Atobe. With a freaking disturbing smile on his face.
"Need a ride?" Atobe asked, continuing to smile.
"Why'd you think I need a ride?" Ryoma glared at him.
"Because, I just saw you miss the buss. Come on, I'll give you a ride. Where are you going?"
"Why would you want to give me a ride?" Ryoma asked, feeling a little paranoid. And the smile on Atobe's face wasn't helping his paranoia. If anything, it was making it worse.
"I saw you were in need of a ride, and decided to be generous." Atobe answered, but when that didn't get Ryoma to step any closer to the limousine, he continued. "And I promised Tezuka I'd keep on eye on you."
"Buchou?" Ryoma's glare turned in to a confused look.
"That's right, your buchou. He was concerned you might do something stupid if you were left alone by your self." Atobe was twisting Tezuka's words a little, but what Tezuka didn't know, wouldn't hurt him.
"And he asked you to look after me?" Ryoma didn't believe it for a second.
"Why wouldn't he?" Atobe asked, quirking an eyebrow. "He has no reason to doubt my capabilities in looking after a brat like you."
Atobe was right. Tezuka had no reason to suspect Atobe being anything other then trustworthy. It's not like Buchou knew about the… incident, as Ryoma had started to call it. The Incident That Never Happened.
While Ryoma had been going over the The Incident That Never Happened, and his Buchou's strange request to the monkey king, Atobe had managed to steer him inside the limo. Ryoma snapped back to reality when the car started moving.
"What the hell!" He exclaimed, and found Atobe smirking at him.
"So, where are you going?" Atobe asked.
Ryoma told him his destination, and Atobe bent over him, to convey it to his driver through the intercom. Like he just couldn't use the one on his side? Right. Ryoma frowned a little deeper, and pulled his cap lower.
"You know, I've decided I really don't like this cap of yours." Atobe informed him, before snagging it from his head. Ryoma yelped, and dived after his cap.
And landed right on Atobe's lap.
Atobe's hands circled his waist, and distracted him from his original goal to save his cap, but Ryoma still had enough control of his mind to try and pry them of. Though all sense fled his mind when Atobe's other hand moved behind his neck, and their lips connected. Ryoma tried very hard not to respond, but gave up pretty quickly, and buried his fingers in Atobe's hair.
He didn't actually notice when Atobe opened his jacket, or when he had tugged Atobe's shirt open, and was too busy licking on the other boy's neck to protest when Atobe started to slide his trousers off.
He did protest when the car stopped, and they were thrown to the floor.
"Get off me!" He shouted, and tried to push Atobe off him.
"Why? I find this position quite comfortable." Atobe whispered in his ear.
"You would! But you're not the one being crushed. Now, get off!" He pushed Atobe a second time, and this time, he got off Ryoma. "Where's my cap?" He demanded to know.
"Here." Atobe, who was sitting on his seat placed it on his head, and leaned closer to look him in the eyes. "Though it doesn't suite you. I think I'll have to steal it again, another time."
Ryoma just huffed, grabbed his bag, and got out off the car.
"Play with me tomorrow?" Atobe shouted the question after him.
He turned, and looked at the older boy for awhile. He really wasn't sure what to answer, not after what had just happened. The sane thing to do was to say no. But he really wanted to play with Atobe.
After a couple of scowls, most of them meant for him, although they were all pointed at Atobe's direction, he agreed. "Fine."
"Same place as before?"
"Sure."
"Be there at noon." After that, Atobe closed the car door, and the limo drove off.
Who knows how long Ryoma might have stared after the limo, if a loud voice hadn't yelled, "Echizen! Hey, Echizen! Was that a limo! Did you just get here with a limo! Great! Whose was it?"
"You're still too loud." Ryoma mumbled, and decided very wisely to ignore the question at the end. The last thing he needed was Aoi telling everyone that he'd seen Ryoma getting of Atobe's limo, looking, well, not so great.
Ryoma pulled his cap deeper on his head, and continued walking, after peeking around another corner and seeing no one he knew.
He wasn't exactly sure why he didn't want to meet anyone he knew. It's not like he was doing anything worth hiding. He was just going to play some tennis. With the monkey king.
Maybe that was it. Atobe.
Still, he was only going to meet the monkey king to play tennis. Nothing more and nothing less. What happened yesterday, and before that, wasn't necessarily going to happen again.
Just a friendly match of tennis.
Okay, maybe the friendly part was pushing it a little too far. It was the monkey king, after all. With his arrogant smirk, flowing hair, tight ass, and –
"O'chibi!" Ryoma jumped. Literally. He could've sworn he lifted at least a feet from the ground, when he heard Kikumaru's voice.
He got tackled to the asphalt by on over excited red head. That's twice in a row Kikumaru had been able to surprise him with his glomps. It was just about time for Tezuka to appear with his catch phrase.
"Saa, Echizen, I thought Tezuka told you not to get careless." Fuji's smile was evident from his voice, even if Ryoma couldn't see his face.
"Eiji! Please be careful!" Oishi shouted, worry in his voice. "Are you alright Echizen?" He asked, after helping him up.
"I'm fine, Oishi-sempai." He brushed his jacket and trousers, and righted his cap.
"We were going to go play some tennis. Would you like to join us?" Oishi asked.
"Yeah, we could play doubles! O'chibi could team up with Fujiko against Oishi and me!" Kikumaru shouted, and Ryoma covered his ears.
"Is something the matter with your ears?"
"It's nothing, Fuji-sempai. I was with Aoi Kentaro yesterday." He said, as if it explained everything. And it kind of did.
"Well, why don't we go to the street courts, and you can tell the whole story on the way." Fuji suggested.
"I cant, I have to go somewhere."
"You going to play tennis with someone?" Kikumaru asked.
"No, of course not! Why would you think I'm going to play tennis with someone?" Ryoma laughed nervously. He got strange looks from all the three.
"Because of the tennis bag you're carrying on your back." Fuji answered him.
Right, the tennis bag. He'd completely forgotten it.
"Well, I'm not going to go play tennis. And definitely not with someone. No. I'm just, well…" Walking my racket out, would sound pretty stupid, right? And it probably wouldn't work. Hell, need a good excuse, think, think. He had a racket, right? So something to do with his racket. "My racket," he finally stated. "Yeah, my racket needs…"
"Oh, are your strings are loose?" Oishi helped him out. Great pal, Oishi. Ryoma had always liked him.
"Yeah, that's right! The strings are loose!"
"We could come with you. I know a great place, not too far from here, and after your racket is fixed, we could come back and play." He never really liked Oishi with all his mothering.
"No! I mean, well, it's not just the strings, the whole thing needs work, I mean, replaced. Yeah, that's it, everything need's replacing. Hell, I might even have to get a new racket! " He was grinning like an idiot, and he knew it. Why didn't he just say he was going to meet someone and play tennis with them. They would've left him alone if he had plans with someone.
But noo, Ryoma had to be clever, and come up with a plan. Which was currently going down the drain. It was time to run. "Oh, look at the time!" He waived his hands, not even pretending to look at the clock. "Time sure does fly, when you're having fun! Well, gotta go!" He run away, leaving three very confused and worried boys behind him.
"Eeh, Fuji. You get the feeling he's hiding something?" Eiji asked his friend.
"Definitely," Fuji said, blue eyes gleaming.
"Let's follow him, nya!"
"Eiji, we can't! Fuji!"
"Don't worry Oishi, nya! We won't get caught!"
"That's not what I meant." Oishi sighed, but gave up, knowing he was fighting a losing battle. And after the way Ryoma had acted, he admitted he was a bit worried about the boy.
It was pretty much like the first time. They exchanged insults, and started to play.
Halfway, Ryoma's breath was hitching, and it wasn't just because of the game.
Atobe smirked, like he knew exactly what Ryoma was thinking. Chances were the bastard probably did.
The smirk wasn't helping either. Instead of annoying him, like usual, the smirk affected him in a whole other way.
Cursing under his breath Ryoma bounced the ball a couple of times, before giving the monkey king his twist serve, which he got right back.
"They're just playing tennis." Eiji felt cheated. He had been expecting that they discover some deep, dark secret. But all Echizen was doing, was playing tennis with Atobe. Although, that in itself was strange. How did those two end up playing tennis together?
"That doesn't look like a hand shake to me." Fuji commented, snapping Eiji's attention back on the courts.
His jaw fell.
After a very long, and a bit stretched silence, Oishi voiced out his thoughts. "Maybe we should leave."
"Oh, come on, Oishi! If they were going to do anything more than that, they'd take it… indoors."
"You were saying?" Oishi could be sarcastic when he wanted.
"You're right, Oishi. Maybe we should leave. Right Fujiko, nya?"
"Well, it's not like we can see anything anymore." Fuji shrugged. "We might as well leave."
"Fuji!" Oishi shouted, shocked, while Eiji just giggled.
There weren't any showers in the locker room, true, but there was a toilet cubicle, and a sink. Ignoring the toilet, Ryoma walked over to the sink and splashed his face with cold water. He lifted his head to find a half naked man staring at him in the mirror. Their eyes locked through the reflection, and for a moment, they just stared at each other, until Ryoma broke the contact.
He refused to look at Atobe when he put his clothes back on.
"Again next week?" Atobe threw the question after him, when he was almost outside.
"Mada mada dane, monkey king." Ryoma smirked at Atobe over his shoulder. He heard laughter from behind him, but kept smiling, nonetheless. Despite his comment, they both knew he'd come next week.
After what he'd seen, Fuji decided to spend some more time with his former kouhai.
The three of them had decided it was best not to mention it to anyone, or bring the matter up with Echizen, unless the kid brought it up himself. But Echizen never mentioned Atobe, and didn't seem fazed if his name was mentioned. He just continued as usual. Going to Kawamura's for some sushi, hanging around with Momo at the street courts, bantering with other players from rival schools, or eating burgers after school.
After hearing from Momo that Echizen had declined his invitation to join the others to get some ice cream, Fuji excused himself with the pretext that he needed to go see Yuuta, and went back to the courts where he, Eiji and Oishi had followed Echizen.
His hunch paid of, and he watched the two play and what came after it, which wasn't all that different from the last time.
Next week, he didn't even bother to check up on Echizen. He just returned to the courts at the same time. He decided it was time to confront Echizen, since the kid hadn't told any of them about his meetings with Atobe.
Atobe was leaning against the wall, hands circled around the boy who was sitting between his legs, his head resting on Atobe's shoulder. He kissed the boy's forehead gently, and heard Ryoma grunt about the lack of showers. He smiled, face buried in Ryoma's hair. "We don't need to meet here every time." He suggested, and was startled when Ryoma fled from his arms.
"No!" The kid shouted.
"Why not?" Atobe asked.
"Just… Nowhere else." Ryoma pulled his clothes on, not bothering to splash him self with water by the sink, like every other time. Meeting Atobe somewhere else meant that he was seeing Atobe for some other reason than tennis. And he wasn't ready to admit that to anyone, not even himself.
But before he left, he looked at Atobe, who was still sitting on the floor, and asked, "Next week?" Atobe nodded, and Ryoma didn't notice the slightly hurt look, still lingering on the others face.
After Ryoma had left, Atobe buried his head in his hands, and yelled out from frustration.
Ryoma was shocked when Fuji joined him at the path. He glanced quickly at the direction of the court where he and Atobe had been playing. Fuji just smiled his serene smile, all too knowingly, for Ryoma's comfort.
"Fuji-sempai," he greeted the other boy.
"You really don't need to look so startled, Echizen. I already know about you and Atobe, and so do Eiji and Oishi." Fuji told him.
"You do? How?" He stumbled, but Fuji's hand on his arm kept him from falling.
"Remember the time when you saw us, and said you had to go and get your racket replaced?" Ryoma nodded, face red with embarrassment. It really wasn't one of his brightest times, or fondest memories, but he remembered it. "Well, we decided to follow you, and saw the whole thing."
Ryoma was shocked. For a second. Then he remembered who he was thinking about. It really shouldn't surprise at all. "Che." He exclaimed in a sour voice.
"So?" Fuji raised a suggestive eyebrow.
"So what?"
"Well aren't you going to tell me about you and Atobe?" Fuji opened his eyes, and stared at him a little too long for his comfort.
Ryoma shrugged. "What's to tell? We play tennis."
"You did hear me when I said we saw the whole thing?"
"So? We're just playing tennis." Ryoma answered stubbornly.
"Is that what you see the two of you as? Tennis partners with perks?" Fuji asked in a disbelieving voice.
Ryoma considered it, sounding out Fuji's words in his mind. Finally he nodded. "Yeah. Something like that." Fuji was left staring at his back, stunned.
After finding out about their relationship, Fuji never thought he'd end up feeling sorry for Atobe Keigo.
A/N: Thanks for all the reviews in the last chapter. I'm hoping you'll do it again...