Hyotei and the Happy Panda

Chapter Title: In which Jirou gets a little more direct and everyone's plan gets more complicated.

A/N: Now the ff.n is back and running with alert systems and the like, I present the new chapter. Thank you all from the bottom of my fangirl heart for your reviews. Extra cookies to my beta gals for helping me fix Jirou to act more ... Jirou in these upcoming chapters. To those of you waiting for the not-so subtle Atoji fluff: Here ya go!

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Atobe prided himself on his perception, but he must have been slacking to not hear Jirou sneak up behind him. Either that or Jirou's stealth had improved considerably. Thus, he was thoroughly surprised when the novelty hat was slammed down over his perfectly coiffed hair, accompanied by a shout of "Ta da!"

Atobe shut his eyes, breathing deeply. "Jirou, are there panda ears attached to this hat?"

"No, you'd look silly like that. I got you the moose antlers."

Atobe felt the vein on his forehead throb. "Moose?"

"They're blue. They match your shirt," Jirou offered.

"That's very considerate. Please remove it."

Jirou's smile quirked upwards the way it did when Atobe was walking into a trap. "You know, you'd have to take it off if you went on one of the roller coasters. Or it might accidentally fall off and blow away and you'd never see it again."

"Kabaji."

"Uhs."

The second year obediently removed the hat from Atobe's head. The buchou pretended to ignore Jirou's sulk. Gracing the lower class with his presence for a day, he could tolerate. Dressing like a common tourist, he could not.

"Mou, Atobe, they're all really safe. And your hair's already messed up from the hat so you can't use that excuse."

Atobe felt a desperate urge to find a mirror. He started to stand.

Jirou rolled his eyes. "Hold still." He leaned over the expanse of the picnic table, balancing on one hand while using the other to rearrange the hairs that had been pushed out of place. Atobe willed his heartbeat to slow down, at least enough that Jirou wouldn't notice. Still, he couldn't ignore the feel of those deft fingers sliding through his hair or the sticky sweet smell from the funnel cakes that still lingered on Jirou's breath.

Jirou sat down all too quickly, his eyes beginning to take on that glazed look that accompanied his narcoleptic phases. "It's fixed," he mumbled. "I could fix it after a ride too."

Atobe sighed. "That will not be necessary."

Jirou opened one eye. "You're not scared of heights."

"Of course ore-sama is not--"

"That wasn't a question, Atobe. I'm just telling you that's not what you're scared of." Jirou shrugged, laying his head down on his folded arms. "You're not afraid of heights. You like being up high where everyone can see you. You're just scared of the ground."

"What exactly do you mean by that?"
"Nothing." Jirou nestled deeper into the sleeve of his bright blue jersey.

"That doesn't work on ore-sama, Jirou," Atobe snapped. "Explain youself."

Only years of experience allowed Atobe to understand Jirou's mumbled speech. "You're not afraid of heights, you're afraid something's gonna go wrong. You're so busy worrying you'll fall that you can't even enjoy the view. You're like that about lots of stuff."

Atobe's eyes narrowed. "Ore-sama most certainly --"

And then Jirou was kissing him.

Right there. In public. In front of everyone.

Atobe jumped back. He had to learn to remember how fast the boy could move when he wanted to. "Jesus, Jirou! What on earth do you think--"

"See?" Jirou slumped back onto his side of the bench. "You're so busy worrying somebody could have seen us you don't even remember I kissed you."

Atobe remembered fairly distinctly, but he was a little preoccupied at the moment with scanning the crowds for paparazzi to concentrate on a kiss. Other than a few parents removing their children from the area and a couple of teenage girls giggling, no one seemed to be paying them any attention. Still, one could never be certain. "Jirou, you have no idea what you might have done. Ore-sama must uphold a certain image or-- are you even listening!"
Jirou's only response was a stifled snore.

"Jirou!"

Still nothing. Atobe could feel the steam issuing from his ears. There was only one way to stop this nonsense and prove that there was a very big difference between an amusement park ride and a relationship that could possibly destroy his very promising future.

The buchou took a breath, willing his voice to return to its normal, elegant timbre. "Jirou?"
Jirou's head raised a fraction of an inch "Mn?"

"What's the tallest ride in this park?

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The panda picked the wrong moment to decide Shishido needed a hug.

He thought he could handle it. Thought he could do the good senpai thing and help Ohtori out without this horrible awkwardness. Thought he could let Ohtori down gently, and not get upset or jealous or worry about Taki or anything. But the way they walked out of that shop together, all cozy and smiling and in full view of everyone... Shishido felt the last of his willpower snap. The panda guy was an unfortunate bystander in the matter.

It wasn't until after the "fwump" sound effect of foam suit hitting asphalt registered that Shishido realized he had just laid out an icon in front of Ohtori, Taki, dozens of bright-eyed children, and several security guards.

Dropped or not, Shishido was still the fastest person at Hyotei. He ran for it.

At first he wasn't sure where he was going. He certainly didn't feel like putting up with Atobe's crap anymore today, so that was out. Maybe he should just leave. He could think up some excuse to tell Ohtori later, and no one else was likely to notice or care. He'd already made his point that he wasn't intimidated by Atobe or any of his latest hanger-ons, so he had no reason to stay.

And from the dreamy expression on Ohtori's face, he had every reason to go or risk being expelled for violence.

Decided, Shishido started following the arrows pointing to the exit.

And was almost immediately stopped by the jingle of the Jelly Bean's new single from his cell phone. He should really remember to change that, but the song was damn catchy. He fumbled the phone out of his still damp pocket -- grateful it was ringing at all after his unexpected drenching -- and glanced at the caller ID. Oh, this should be fun.

"What?"

"Is that any way to greet your captain?"
"Screw you. What do you want?"

"Ore-sama is having a gathering at the SkyDrop. You will attend."

"I'm going home, Atobe."

"You can leave after the ride."

"What's with you? I thought you didn't debase your noble self with kiddie rides."

Atobe was unusually silent for a moment. "Ore-sama is making an exception. And if ore-sama is riding this contraption, so are you. Move." The phone clicked off. Shishido resisted the urge to pitch his cell phone into the nearest fountain, but only because the way his day was going, he'd probably hit a duck and be arrested for animal cruelty.

Where the hell was the stupid SkyDrop, anyway?

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Taki was winded, tired, and generally annoyed. It wasn't supposed to be this hard to get a date with your doubles partner. That was practically why people started playing doubles at all!

"Oy, Ohtori. Let's stop for a second!" Taki huffed, grabbing the second year's arm. "If Shishido wants to throw a hissy fit, just let him. He gets over these things."

"Taki-senpai, I'm sorry, but I need to catch him before he leaves--"

"He's straight."

That stopped Ohtori. Just because Taki was pretty didn't mean he was an idiot. You had to be blind not to see what the kid was up to. The second year turned around, eyes wide.

"It's true." Taki put his hands on his hips. "Don't believe me?"

Ohtori stammered, "Not really, Taki-senpai."

Taki closed the distance between himself and Ohtori. "Fine. But I'm just saying you're wasting your time with him when there are other..." He slid one hand up Ohtori's arm "...options around."

Naturally, Ohtori's cell phone rang at exactly that moment. Ohtori jumped backwards to answer it, while Taki folded his arms, frowning.

"Hai, senpai. That'll be fine. We'll be right there." Ohtori hung up the phone. "That was Jirou-senpai. We're all supposed to meet him and Atobe-buchou at the SkyDrop."

"His prissiness is getting on a ride? What's the occassion?"

"I'm not sure." Ohtori looked thoughtful for a second. "We'd better hurry, senpai. We shouldn't keep him waiting." And the guy tore off again. Taki sighed. He hadn't run this much since he'd been caught making out with a second year while he was supposed to be doing racquet forms.

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The EllipsesBandit...'s continuing inside jokes and commentary:

1. You know, most of the PoT pairs I ship and can point at the show and go "There! Right there! See? Totally together." Not Atoji. No real evidence except I think it'd be really damn cute. And I'm okay with that.

2. Atobe's headgear is in no way inspired by my reindeer Atobe Christmas plushie with antlers. Of course not. I just happened to have the complete Christmas set minus Echizen. Moose antlers are cute.