Pairing: YuuTari
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.
A Regular position was never really something that Oshitari strived for as much as other club members. To him, tennis was really more of a diversion than anything else. He played doubles when he needed to, singles otherwise. He didn't care who he played with, or who they played against. That particular second year was just too easy to oust though, which was why, shortly after the Regulars for the new season had been selected, Oshitari had already booted one of them from their slots.
"So Oshitari, you gonna play singles or doubles?" Shishido asked him before class started the next day - they were in the same homeroom.
"Don't know; Coach should be telling us today at practice," he responded, flipping through the chapter they would be covering that week in math. He had a working knowledge of trig basics, but needed to refresh his memory in the many identities they'd need to memorize. Just then, the bell rang and Shishido headed back to his own seat.
It wasn't that Oshitari wasn't pleased at getting a spot on the Regulars, not at all. In fact, he was proud enough to have told his parents about it after dinner. The problem was that they'd then sat him down in the family room and brought out the expensive tea set - they only did that when they had something important and "adult" to talk about.
As they steeped the tea, his parents had expressed their concern over what he wanted to do with his life. "You're not in middle school anymore - you can't keep endlessly playing tennis," his father had said while handing him a cup of green tea. They had asked him what he wanted to do - of course, since they weren't tennis fans, they didn't quite understand that he was good enough to possibly have a future in professional tennis. Nonetheless, it was something that Oshitari himself had already pondered over - he wasn't that good in tennis. Atobe was. Sanada Genichirou, Yukimura Seiichi, Tezuka Kunimitsu - they were, but he wasn't.
He was good in a lot of things, but there wasn't really anything that sparked his interest the way that making computer animations could keep Jirou up for hours without sleeping. "I know it may seem like you just got into high school, but university is going to come before you know it - have you thought about a major at all yet?" His mother had been honestly worried, and it only made his present situation all the more real.
Though, worst come to worst, he could always go into investment banking. It was getting to be a big and lucrative industry.
During lunch break, he went to the school's computer lab to check his email. He'd sent a message to Yagyuu after the conversation with his parents, to see if Yagyuu had any advice. There was in fact a response awaiting him - Yagyuu seemed to make a habit out of checking his email every morning before going to school. Oshitari could see him being the kind to wake up long before school started to do morning exercises and the like.
"I'm probably going to work for my dad's company." If there was anything Oshitari had noticed about Yagyuu's messages, it was that they were always concise and to the point. It was nice - there were never any word games involved. "I don't think you really have much to worry about; you're smart and are good at a lot of things. It just matters what interests you, and that will come naturally.
"By the way, what are your plans for the New Year's?" Oshitari's breath caught upon reading that last line. He also conveniently forgot everything else that had been troubling him that day. Could Yagyuu be intending to visit during the break? It was a very short time, but it could be enough. He quickly wrote a response saying that he in fact had no plans at the moment, before signing out and returning to the classroom to eat his lunch.
English was right after lunch - that particular day's class was so boring, Oshitari found himself unable to concentrate. He fought valiantly against the post-lunch sluggishness that haunted unwary students, but had to admit defeat as he slipped into the state of semi-consciousnesses between reality and dreams. Though he'd never admit it, the daydream was due more to Yagyuu's email than to some food coma.
At practice, Oshitari found himself paired with Jirou in a practice match against two non-Regular second years. It could've been worse, he figured, as he lined up at the baseline, waiting for the other team to serve. He could've been paired with Atobe, who was currently also playing doubles. Oshitari didn't know the small boy who was Atobe's partner, but felt immense pity for him. He was called back into his own game by a call of "Love all!", and directed his full attention to winning the game at hand. While the net-happy Jirou dazzling his crowd of admirers with volleys left and right, Oshitari didn't have much to do aside from getting the occasional smashes or lobs the opponents tried. That was the problem with partners like Jirou and Gakuto - they never let him get any of the balls. Unfortunately, that also left him with time to think about how set everyone else was in their future plans.
After the match, Jirou sat down next to Oshitari on the bench. "You OK?" Jirou had been doing better about not falling asleep whenever he sat down, and Oshitari had been duly surprised at the boy's observation skills - when he was awake long enough to observe something, anyway.
"Yea, fine, why?" Instead of answering, Jirou laid down on the bench, looking for all the world like he was going to take a nap. Upon closer inspection though, his eyes were still open, gazing up at the clouds.
"Oshitari, do you like candy?" It was an odd question - not to mention completely out of the blue - but Jirou asked things like that, so Oshitari just simply answered in the affirmative and waited for Jirou to finish his thought. "I wonder why people like sweet things. Marui-kun really likes sweets, and so do girls. I haven't really met many people who don't like sweets, except Atobe and Hiyoshi. People say it's taste, but aren't tastes supposed to be different?" Oshitari was confused about where Jirou was headed, but it was an interesting topic.
"My bro's graduating university this spring. He's going to be a video game programmer, isn't that awesome? I want to be like him someday. But my dad says my math isn't good enough. He says I need to work harder in school. It's hard, you know. Tastes kind of bitter, not sweet like playing tennis. Maybe that comes from chewing on my eraser." Oshitari stifled a chuckle. Jirou's words seemed to be exactly what he needed at the moment.
"I guess that's why there's different types of candy. Atobe will eat dark chocolate, if nothing else. It's too rich for me though. I guess he just likes stuff rich. I wonder if your taste in candy can tell what type of person you are." Jirou honestly looked inquisitive, eyebrows furrowed as he stared straight up. He was kind of cute, really. Oshitari could see why people found him attractive, asleep or awake.
"I'm sure you can do it, Jirou. I hear you managed to go an entire day without napping - if you can do that, you can do anything, right?" As he spoke, Oshitari realized that he was probably in a better situation than Jirou. While Jirou had a goal, he still needed to build his foundation. Oshitari had a solid foundation in all the general subjects - picking an area of concentration afterwards would just be choosing what he liked most. Maybe that was what Yagyuu had meant.
Jirou grinned up at him. "Yup! Did you know that homework actually makes sense if you listen to the day's lecture? Now I don't have to copy Atobe's notes - it makes homework go by so much faster!" Oshitari smiled. Trust Jirou to only realize in high school that note taking helped with homework. He wasn't sure if Jirou had planned the conversation, but it definitely helped lift his spirits. He'd do well in classes, like he always did, and get into a good college. By then, Yagyuu would also be back in Japan. There was a quote from an American movie that said something about how life is like a box of chocolates - "you never know what you're going to get."
"Thanks, Jirou." Whether or not Jirou had consciously chosen the particular topic was still unclear, but it didn't matter. Oshitari brushed some hair away from Jirou's forehead before giving it a light kiss. He hurried away to grab Shishido for some rally practice before Atobe could come and demand what Oshitari thought he was doing.