Disclaimer : I do not own Prince of Tennis & the hot tennis princes inside, although like everyone else out there, I really wish I did.

Note to all : No, no, I haven't forgotten about my other stories, don't worry. I sometimes find myself getting random bits of ideas without being able to string them into something usable, and here's where they'll end up! This is a collection of one-shots/short stories/drabbles about the silver pair from Hyoutei, Prince of Tennis, with other pairs mentioned here and there. Rated T generally, with individual ratings inside each chapter/story. Stories may or may not be related to one another, so be sure to read the Summary!

Title : #2 - Hearts

Summary :Silver pair fluff! An alternate way of how Choutarou and Shishido got together. Shishido had always treated Choutarou as his best, best friend, and nothing more. However, the senior realises one day that Choutarou's tennis play is deproving; His junior's serves were extremely off, his smashes too hard. Choutarou, too, seems to be paying attention to something else rather than their game.. What's happening? A drabble, rated T to be safe.

I typed this just before I slept yesterday, and after rereading it in the morning, I spotted many of my own mistakes So here's an edited version, I hope I've gotten most of my mistakes! Enjoy!


Shishido Ryou hit a cross-court rising shot towards his double's partner, wincing slightly as he watched his Kouhai miss it - It was the fourth time Choutarou had let such an easy return slip after sustaining a long and hard rally with him each time. Normally, Ryou would just laugh it off as Choutarou blushed at his 'mistake'.

This time, however, Choutarou wasn't blushing at all - Well, not when he missed the shots anyway. This time, too, Ryou found himself unable to laugh, and was frowning as he scrutinized the silver-haired boy's each and every action. The mistakes didn't seem coincidental at all - If anything, they were done on purpose - Ryou confirmed that suspicion as he caught a familiar gleam lurking in those fierce, golden eyes, of concentration and calculation. Ryou's own amber ones narrowed in suspicion as he threw a sharp glance in Atobe's direction, then in Oshitari's. They must have something to do with this.

Well, if he didn't know better, he would just assume that Choutarou's tennis was deproving like mad for reasons yet unknown. But he did know better, or at least well enough to start suspecting that something serious was going on. Atobe isn't being himself. Normally, Atobe would be screaming his head off at his Regulars when they under-perform. Now, he's just watching Choutarou with this annoying smirk on his face. A smirk that told Ryou they were all hiding something from him.

"Love to thirty! Ootori to serve!"

Besides, Choutarou's serves were getting extremely inaccurate, and they were getting weaker and weaker, so much so that they could actually be returned - Not to mention his smashes as well. It was almost as if Choutarou was trying to get them to hit every single uncovered spot on the court, and that Choutarou was actually trying to make him return every single one of his smashes. This is just.. Ridiculous.

Frowning again as he sent Choutarou's 'scud' serve (that wasn't that fast at all) back with an easy smash, Ryou watched as Choutarou dived after it at once, a sudden alarmed expression on the junior's face as he tried to save the ball, as though.. As though he didn't even want it to land on the court. As though he was scared it would leave a mark or something.

That's so lame. That's so unlike Choutarou.

The ball slammed into the net, and Choutarou sighed with relief - Yes, he actually sighed with relief! Brows furrowing as the umpire was taken aback, like everyone else watching, Ryou whipped around and tugged his cap off, wanting to start shouting-

The least you can do is to start playing serious, Choutarou-

"Lo-Love to Forty! Ootori to-"

"That's about enough."

"Ah.. Hai! Game set and-"

"There's no need for that."

With a fierce scowl plastered upon his face, Ryou spun around to face the source of the voice, Atobe Buchou, almost growling as he saw that his captain had stood up. Choutarou jumped slightly, but when Ryou stole a sidewards glance at the junior, he was surprised to find that Choutarou was actually grinning sheepishly.

What the hell?

"That's about enough for today," Atobe repeated slowly, his voice somehow managing to be knife-sharp and lazily-cool at the same time. "Ootori, you owe Ore-sama another fifty rounds for your wonderful performance, so remember that. Shishido, tidy up that court before you leave. Everyone else, you may leave."

"But I've already done the courts yester-"

"Ore-sama says that you will do it again, then, and you will. Let's go, Kabaji. We're going home.

"Usu."

There's no point arguing, Ryou knew. Cursing under his breath, the blue-capped boy stalked off the courts in anger, storming off to drop his racket and to pick up the maintenance equipments. In his fury, he had failed to notice the hopeful, but saddened glance Choutarou threw at him as the junior left the tennis courts with Hiyoshi. In his fury, he had almost forgotten about Choutarou and his absolutely bizarre behaviour.

The keyword is 'almost'. At least, only until he overheard Oshitari and Gakuto as the doubles-2 pair brushed past him without noticing him.

"Say, Ryou's really being thick isn't he? Neh, Yuushi?"

"I'm sure he'll come to understand.. Soon."

"It's fun isn't it? We should play truth or dare more often!"

"Gakuto, please, you might as well announce it to the whole world with that kind of volume."

"But Ootori was being cute! He really managed it, after just 2 matches!"

"I'm sure he practices on his own, it's hardly.. A challenge."

"It is for a second year!"

"Hai, hai."

Unconsciously, his grip on the floor brush tightened, and Ryou stayed on the spot even after Oshitari and Gakuto were long gone.


Two more days had passed; Ryou had been made to play a doubles' match against Oshitari and Gakuto with Choutarou, and another match against Choutarou alone. The doubles' match went almost too smoothly - Choutarou seemed to have regained his normal control over his tennis play, so they breezed through the match, ending with a Six-games-to-Two with Gakuto screwing up his acrobatic tennis mid-game through. However, during their singles' match..

"Oi Choutarou! Stop that!"

His poor Kouhai took a step backwards as he yelled across the courts. Ryou scowled as he whipped around, half regretting that he had shouted at Choutarou, half hoping that Choutarou would just stop messing around anymore. Today was slightly different - The only people watching them were Jiroh and Oshitari. Jiroh was, well, he was sleeping like he always did. The only person who appeared to be watching the match was Oshitari, who sat at the extreme end of the spectators' stands, allowing him a good view of the whole court. Right now, Ryou found himself staring at Oshitari more often than he would rather, because Choutarou had his back to their tensai, and because Choutarou didn't seem to want to play proper tennis with him at all.

Still, the distance their tensai put between him and the courts weren't enough for Ryou to not notice the obvious smirk the blue-haired boy held on his features.

"I.. Just one more smash.."

"One more smash to what?!"

Ryou was getting extremely agitated; His cap had already been tossed aside a while ago, and he was ruffling his choppy-brown hair much often than ever, a recent habit he had developed when he was agitated, pissed, or nervous. Choutarou stood in the middle of his court, head lowered, shuffling nervously on the spot. He didn't seem like he was going to do some explaining anytime soon, though.

"One more smash to what, Choutarou?!"

"Shishido, maybe you should come up here and enjoy the view."

A quiet voice drew their attention almost at once, a voice laced with amusement, as though its owner was very, very entertained. Ryou's glare shot to Oshitari's know-it-all smirk once more, and he was almost certain he looked like he was going to murder the first person that gets into range. Choutarou, too, whipped around to glance at Oshitari with a shocked expression on his face, jumping slightly at the sound of Oshitari's voice. Whatever! Ryou's amber-fury eyes narrowed significantly; He didn't even understand what the hell Oshitari was talking about. Trembling slightly out of pure agitation and because he totally couldn't comprehend what was going on, Shishido swallowed a growl that threatened to escape his throat, and opened his mouth to speak.

"What-"

"Just get up here, Shishido. Ootori, don't you have something to-"

"Enough, Oshitari. Don't ruin Ore-sama's fun."

"Ah.. Atobe."

"Yeah that's right, Yuushi! You cheated!"

"Maybe you should start keeping an eye out for Oshitari, Kabaji."

"Usu."

"Gekokujou."

"Ah, ah well, fine.."

"YUUUSHIIII CHEATED!"

The other Regulars had joined them all suddenly, causing his one-way conversation with Oshitari to end as yelling (contributed by Gakuto) started echoing around the courts. Ryou growled as he stormed off towards the stands; He knew what he was going to be told without even being told this time. Besides, he might as well try out Oshitari's.. Ah, suggestion. Not that it could actually be.. Wait, could Yuushi actually been trying to be helpful?

"That's about enough for today," Atobe said lazily, as though he was starting to get tired of repeating himself. "Choutarou, that's two hundred rounds now, remember that. Shishido, you know what to go. Let's go, everyone."


He didn't really understand, standing at the spot Oshitari had been sitting at. Ryou stared hard at the courts, trying to spot something, anything in fact, but nothing was coming to him.

Well, if Gakuto was making so much noise about Oshitari 'cheating', then this must mean something. But something what?

Choutarou had insisted on throwing a last serve into his court, and that last serve had been a perfect scud serve with a good speed, almost as though Choutarou never had problems controlling it. That serve left a darkened mark on his left court, one that he was staring at right now. Not that he could make anything out of it anyway.

It had still been the evening just a while back, but now, night was falling, and it was soon getting dark. Finally deciding that he didn't want to tidy the courts alone in darkness, Ryou sighed, and hopped off the stands. In the end, Oshitari's 'advice' didn't seem to help at.. All..

Barely a couple of steps down the stands, Ryou found himself rooted on the spot again, staring straight at a single spot on the courts - It was another darkened mark Choutarou had made with his first scud serve in this game, one that forced Ryou into a sidewards dive, one that Ryou had missed in the end. That spot laid directly in the middle of the back-half of his court, and now that he was staring so hard at it, Ryou began to notice the rest of the other smash marks.

He noticed, too, how the mark seemed to be able to join together to form.. Something.

Raising a slender finger quietly, Ryou slowly traced out the shape in mid air, following the dots one-by-one, going in a clockwise direction. Ryou traced a curve in the shape of a semi-circle, then a diagonal line down in the south-west direction, where it ended sharply on the middle line on the front-half of that court, another diagonal line back up in the north-west direction, another semi-circle.. Ending with the last mark Choutarou had made with his final serve. The line closed itself in a shape of a..

"Baka," Ryou mouthed silently as his eyes squeezed shut. "Baka," he repeated slowly, shaking his head in disbelief. "Baka," he managed out loud this time, opening his eyes again to take in the trace of the heart shape on the court.

It wasn't perfectly done, since Choutarou had to complete it while enduring Ryou's screams and agitation. However, it was really.. Really.. Touching. Moreover, Choutarou actually did this in front of everyone, and it seems like everyone else knew about this already - At least the Regulars do, anyway.

As he whipped out his phone to take a picture before it becomes to dark, the mahogany-haired boy shook his head, denying the slight bit of moisture that found its way to the corners of his eyes.

No way I'm crying over this.. Choutarou..

Maybe, when he next sees Choutarou, he, too, will have something for him..


"I want to see I want to see I WANT TO SEE-"

"Kabaji, shut Gakuto up."

"Usu."

"Neh, Kaba-chan, can you carry me? I can't see-"

"Mukahi Senpai, control yourself please."

"MMMMUUURRRR-"

"..."

"But well, declare your love for Shishido infront of everyone on the courts? That sure was a good way around that one, Ootori."

"Ah, thank you, Oshitari Senpai, but.."

"Shh."

"No fair! I wanted to see Choutarou confess!"

"Ano, I did.."

"He did-"

"In words, Choutarou, in words!"

"..."

"But this is nicely done, all the same. Ore-sama is rather impressed."

"Thank you Buchou.."

"And Ryou's cry-cry-crying! I'm going to laugh at him in class tomorrow!"

"..."

"By the way, I won the bet, Atobe."

"Ore-sama will not accept this. You cheated."

"He still found out within five matches."

"But Yuushi, you did cheat!"

"Ano, Atobe Buchou.. My rounds.."

"You may forgo them."

"Thank you so very much, Atobe Buchou!"

"The bet, Atobe.."

"No."

"..."

"Whatever! Let's go play truth or dare again!"