Title: Who's the Fool?
Theme: HiruSena for April fool's Day 2009
Author: Tania Dick
Disclaimer: Sadly I don't have the privilege of owning Eyeshield 21 (that honour belongs to the respective owners). I have simply *cough* borrowed* the players for the purpose of setting them in unreal situations..... *read torture*
- Italics - = thoughts
[[words]] = Author's comments
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Chapter 2 = D-Day
Two weeks had come and gone, with the entire time being spent in utmost secrecy in preparation for The Plan. D-Day was the 31st of March with the revelation of the 'fool' on the subsequent April fool's day. Sena felt somewhat nauseous; he was relieved that he'd been able to convince both Mamori and Suzuna in regards to the attire he was to wear - both their options would have led to another chapter in Hiruma-san's handbook. Over the last few days he'd gotten more and more nervous - he was surprised that Hiruma hadn't noticed any of their goings on. They'd only been lucky enough to have another two Hiruma-free days throughout that time to organise said Plan. He was glad that everyone had no time to be thinking of anything other than practise once they'd reached the clubhouse; including himself. If not Hiruma would have definitely caught on to something or noticed that Sena's head wasn't in the game - which would have tipped him off anyway. Every morning Monta would tip him a 'thumbs up' in encouragement and the other team members would slip him similar signs whenever it looked like Hiruma wasn't around...which was difficult to do. And every morning Sena would mentally kick himself for getting into this mess.
.
No one had really asked him if he'd wanted to play target. He'd just been steamrolled into Suzuna's over excited fantasy land. Mamori-neechan would give him and apologetic smile whenever she saw him but after the initial protest hadn't really done or said anything in his defence to help him out the situation. To tell the truth Sena had felt a bit used. He'd been too overwhelmed in shock to be able to protest against the team's arguments. He was 'Team Captain', 'Should take one for the team', 'He was the only one fast enough to dodge the bullets', 'He was Eyeshield and therefore Hiruma's prized weapon against the other teams', 'It was unlikely Hiruma would damage him too much since he was such a key player and necessary for the completion of most of their plays'. The list had gone on and he hadn't been able to do much more than protest at the minor details of the plan, instead of the major one like why he had to be the one to face Hiruma and attempt (Attempt! Mind you!) to lead him astray for the April fool!
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March 31st dawned bright and sunny and arrived no matter how hard or often Sena had wished and prayed that it wouldn't. He'd shoved the necessary equipment into his bag before heading to school. The Plan - officially began at the end of afternoon football practise. Suzuna - even though she went to a different school - due to her position as head cheerleader of the Deimon Devil Bats had also scored a position on the Deimon school paper because of her freelance journalism skills. She would follow at a discreet distance (here Sena inserted 'Unable to assist') from Hiruma and himself and document the night's events to be released in a special edition paper on April 1st. Arriving at the school he met Monta as usual. The monkey-ish school boy gave him a resounding slap on the back with a following 'thumbs up' in encouragement. Sena wished he could melt into his shoes. Once he'd regained his breathing they'd proceeded to the clubhouse chatting about normal things. Suzuna had stressed that for The Plan to have any possibility of working; the members were forbidden to mention or even think of it outside of the meetings of the 'Get Hiruma Club'. Sena had enough trouble trying to obey that advice. Given Monta's history of acting skills he doubted that either had succeeded in looking normal; he also doubted that any of the other members had similar luck. Monta was chatting far too amicably of every subject but the one obviously on their minds and Sena looked and felt pale and was extremely skittish.
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As they reached the clubhouse they were joined by the other members as they turned up. Juumonji and crew gave a nonchalant wave as they joined the smaller boys - on the outside, a meeting of team mates - but as each gave a glance of sympathy to Sena as they met his eyes it was very much obvious that all were concerned of the pending event. Sena was surprised that Hiruma hadn't picked up on anything during the passing two weeks - that or he was playing dumb to catch them all off guard and pay them back! Sena cringed a bit as that thought crossed his head. Hopefully morning practise wouldn't give anything away, not when they'd gone this far...
.
The end of the normal school day passed presently and they were all in the clubhouse cleaning up afternoon practise. Hiruma was tapping away on his laptop - he'd been doing that a lot more in the past week, but Kurita had said that Hiruma had 5 pending assignments due at the end of the week. Sena was the last to finish showering; he'd waited to last being too embarrassed with the intended plan to feel as carefree as he usually did at the end of a hard day's training. Shaking the excess water from his hair and towelling it dry he'd quickly wiped down the rest of his body and had reached for his bag with the 'special items' he was going to need for the prank to proceed. After putting on a clean pair of boxers Sena had removed a pair of pants from his bag, a wry smile quirking his lips as a bitter thought couldn't' help but flash through his mind. -Thank god I convince Mamori-neechan and Suzuna to let me wear jeans and not a dress or a skirt for this farce! That would have just been handing Hiruma-san blackmail material on a silver platter - He shuddered at the remembered argument that had broken out between the two in regards to what he needed to wear for tonight. Mamori had dragged him to a store that had consisted of frills and ruffles whilst Suzuna had been arguing for the pros of a miniskirt. Sena's protests about being a boy had been completely ignored. It wasn't until he'd made mention of the possibility of future blackmail that Mamori-neechan had woken back up to being his 'protector' and started convincing Suzuna to look in men's outfit stores. He still couldn't understand girls' determinations to place him in ridiculous outfits. Granted Mamori-neechan had only done so when he'd been small but that was when he'd been a kid - there wasn't any reason for her to continue doing so now that he was grown and not as much of a 'skirt tugger' as before.
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That had been what Hiruma had caught as blackmail material the previous year. Sena had been sent to look for Mamori-neechan who'd been in the midst of her sewing group friends. They'd been chattering about something along the lines of clothes and adorable models when Mamori had said something that they'd all hung onto and laughed with comments of "so adorable" etc. The next thing he'd known - once they'd noticed his presence - was they'd asked Mamori-neechan permission to 'borrow' him to model some of their sewing projects. Sena had shyly agreed thinking that it couldn't have hurt. Imagine his horror when they'd presented him with an ungodly mess of frills for him to wear instead of the normal men's clothes he'd been expecting. As a dress it was probably very pretty, for a girl's perspective. But the notion of him, a boy being photographed whilst wearing that had left him labelling Mamori's friends a little on the weird side and Mamori had been startlingly overjoyed to help him into the colonial period dress and take photos, cooing at how adorable he looked. He'd nearly died on the spot and heartily wished he'd had when the door had slammed open by the blonde demon as he came in growling irritably at the manager for something ... only to pause with raised eyebrows as he'd recognised Sena under the dress and makeup, grin maliciously and whip out a camera and join the throng of girls.
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No, over the past week Sena had been running through every possible thing that could be going WRONG with this little scheme of Suzuna's. Unfortunately with their restricted opportunities to talk about it, he hadn't been able to find a way to get out of it and now it was too late to back out. Like his runs in Amefuto - once committed to the line he couldn't deviate from the path.
- Well, at the very least I got some new clothes - he thought, somewhat mollified. Now dressed he summoned what was left of his courage (of which there wasn't a whole lot) and made his way out to the main common room. Hand on the door he paused, taking deep breaths in an effort to calm himself down. Outside he could hear the chatter of the other team members - it wasn't unusual for them to hang around after practise, not with the lavish environment of the clubhouse that Hiruma had designed. Sena sincerely wished that he could be one of the ones outside talking of needless things whilst waiting for the 'fun' to start. Instead he was the 'main entertainment'. His life sucked! But there was no stopping the fate that he had been dealt with. Grasping the door handle, he took one last deep breath and quietly opened it, taking the last step towards the end of his sanity.
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Closing the door just as quietly, Sena turned to face the room. His nerves were jumping all over the place and the way the room was slowly filtering down to silence as the members notice his presence and his appearance, wasn't helping. He couldn't help backing up against the door; Looking at the floor, his feet - anywhere but the room. Only Hiruma hadn't looked up from his position at his special table, engrossed with his laptop. Sena fidgeted - this isn't any good. I have to actually go to Hiruma-san for this to work - he mentally cringed, close physical proximity to the demonic ex-captain was something that he'd spent the previous year trying to avoid. Steeling himself, Sena gingerly pushed himself off the locker room door and setting his eyes on the back of the blonde's head, began to take one slow step after another towards his doom.
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The silence of the room made the clicking of Hiruma's laptop keys all the more pronounced and his ears twitched at the lack of noise. - Now what...? - He wondered irritably. He'd just finished emailing his completed assignments in and was enjoying the short period of peace before beginning that year's April fool Schemes. Heaving a sigh, he pushed back on the castors of his chair to get enough room to swivel around "What the Fuck are you idiots..." and suddenly discovered the need to grit his teeth to prevent his jaw dropping in surprise.
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Sena had succeeded in a total of three steps towards the target when said target, shoved back from the desk and turned around without leaving his seat. Sena jumped slightly back in shock; pierced by those devilish green eyes. Standing straight Sena found himself looking at and fidgeting with his hands. Every time he peeked up and looked at Hiruma's eyes he found himself getting more flustered as contrasting emotions ran through his head. Because Hiruma was wearing what could only be described as the closest expression to 'completely off-guard' shock that they'd ever seen. Not that there was much emotion shown, but Hiruma's eyebrows had shot up to his hairlines and his eyes were opened wide with the whites of his eyes showing and he was completely expressionless. The few times Hiruma shown surprise in the past he'd reacted with either 'ready to shoot' (Komubusi-kun's entrance at the tryouts) or started to calculate the next move (usually during a game). If it had been anyone other than Hiruma, Sena would have been laughing at how he looked like a stunned demonic fish.
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Sena couldn't stop fidgeting, either they were going to pull this off - or he was going to be regretting this for the rest of his life! However, he needed to get the next stage started.
"Uh um you know um eto..." he couldn't seem to get his brain to connect with his mouth and say the lines he'd been rehearsed in. It didn't help that Hiruma looked like he'd gotten his senses back and was now looking at Sena with a calculating eye slowly appraising the clothes he'd dressed in.
.
Blinking, Hiruma relaxed his jaw and studied the shrimp. The kid wasn't too badly turned out for a change. Tight black designer dress pants hugged his derriere, caressing the kid's well toned thighs and flowing down into loose pant legs that displayed the runningback's calves subtly. A pale blue silk shirt was worn loosely buttoned over a soft white cotton t-shirt. A scooped out collar went to just below his neck with just enough skin showing to display the petite collarbones. To ward off the night chill, Sena wore a loose fitting bomber jacket in dark brown with a faux fur aviator collar. The jacket was designed to be slightly shorter than normal so that even when zipped up, one would be able to see a tantalising peek of the silk shirt underneath where it just covered the pants. The blue silk was moulding itself to the lithe body of the younger man and reflecting the light at odd angles bringing out the gold in the pipsqueak's still damp brown locks. Shiny black patent leather lace-ups finished the image allowing for comfort without detracting from looks...In other words, while Sena's physique was unlikely to allow him to fit the definition of 'hot and sexy', he still looked utterly fuckable in a combination of sweet, adorable and cutely sexy- a kitten in a jewelled collar with big shiny 'puppy-plead' eyes. A part of Hiruma was wondering if his birthday and Christmas had decided to arrive early (Hiruma was hoping that no one noticed that his pants were a little tighter than when he'd finished changing after practise), for now Hiruma chose to ignore that part of himself. The little sap was fidgeting and stumbling over whatever he was trying to say to him.
.
Just then the tension was broken as Suzuna came in from the cheerleaders' changerooms - still in her blades and cheerleader suit complete with pom poms - and did a double take of Sena. "Yaaaa! Sena's looking adorable!" she cried flinging herself onto him for a spinning hug. "I just found out! Sooooo sneaky! You didn't even tell your best friends!"
- Wha? - Sena thought in panic! This hadn't been in the Plan; as usual Suzuna had decided to add a few choice adlibs to spice things up a bit! "Hoooo?!" was the only comment Hiruma made from his seat, crossing one of his legs and placing the ankle on his knee. Leaning back he steepled his fingers in thought; processing the information, his narrowed eyes never leaving the two chibis in front of him.
"Suzuna Wha..?" "I can't believe that it's THAT person tho!" Suzuna cut across Sena "I mean No One EVER would have thought that you two would have even gone that far! You'll have to share your secrets on how you got them to do this! Tell! Tell! Tell!" she cried, trapping him in a headlock and twisting him till his back was facing Hiruma. 'Don't mess it up now! You-nii really looked really confused for a bit back there!' she hissed in a barely perceptible whisper, catching his eye with a secretive glare. Looking up she seemed to notice the clock on the wall "Wahhhhh! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! You don't want to be late!" So saying she turned and gave him a sudden shove the rest of the way.
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Back pedalling and losing balance, Sena turned to save himself, throwing out his arms in an attempt to break his fall. He froze as he found himself staring into Hiruma's eyes, only a few inches from the older student's face. He'd practically landed in Hiruma's lap with his hands on Hiruma's shoulders. Had Hiruma always been this warm? Sena could feel an almost intangible heat rising through the quaterback's school blazer, it made him think of the heat haze one saw on the road of a particularly 'melt-some' day; making him wonder if his hands would sink through the quarterback's shoulders. He'd never been this close to the quarterback before and usually the only contact he'd had was when the ball had been passed to him in a game (or when Hiruma had booted him in congratulations). It wasn't a fever heat, more like a reflection of Hiruma's volcanic temper that could 'erupt' at anytime - in other words a part of him. Sena had heard that some people could have a hotter base temperature than others, perhaps Hiruma was just one of those people? "Um eh um ah uh uh" he stated in a brilliant flash of intelligence. A single eyebrow elegantly raised itself in Sena's vision. Sena flushed Bright Pink!
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The door to the main room burst open "HIRUMA! What's this I hear about you...." Mamori paused at the scene that confronted her. The blonde demon was nonchalantly sitting cross-legged in his swivel chair, elbows resting on the armrests as Sena pretty much draped across his lap. One of Hiruma's knees was between the younger man's thighs and both of Sena's hands were on Hiruma's shoulders, their faces only inches away and Sena looking highly embarrassed and flushed to his roots! "....JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!!!" she shrieked, immediately leaping forward to separate the two only to have Kurita, Yukimitsu, Juumonji and Monta hold her back, urgently whispering to her. Sena blinked as both he and Hiruma looked at her from their positions - I don't think that was supposed to be part of the script Suzuna gave her... - Sena hadn't looked since Suzuna said that it would be easier to act naturally if he didn't know all of The Plan (meaning that he'd been left in the dark about the parts others were supposed to play). Mamori looked like she'd gotten herself under some control; dusting some imaginary dirt from her clothes with unnecessary force before stalking up towards Hiruma, her face coloured dull pink in fury.
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"Just WHAT have you bullied Sena-kun into doing this time?! And exactly How FAR are you planning on taking this little Joke?" she clipped out through tight lips, her hands on her hips and leaning forward to glower at Hiruma. "Don't you think you're getting a little AHEAD of yourself!" she barked out waving a finger in his face. If Sena hadn't been worrying over the possible repercussions, he would have been awed at Mamori-neechan's audacity and bravery. "Oh?!" came the speculative tone. Mamori-neechan promptly turned from dull pink to bright red as her upright body shivered with warring emotions. "D-Don't you DARE think you can sweep poor Sena off his feet and get away with following the proper order of things!" she spat out, biting each distasteful word as it left her mouth and gesturing at Sena's current position. "The Proper Order?" Hiruma sounded like he couldn't have cared else. Mamori's entire body quivered, hands fisted as she shrieked out "You are NOT getting out of this Hiruma! If you think you can promise Sena that you'll take him out on a Date; then act like it never happened then you are most surely mistaken!"
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The entire team were able to enjoy the spectacle of the Demon Quarterback's eyebrows rising to his hairline for the second time in a row as he stared in shocked dropped jawwed silence at the original manager of the Devil Bats. - He's not faking - Sena noted in a detached way. In such a close position Sena was able to tell that the demon's aura was less intimidating that usual; no piercing glares, no heaviness in the air making it difficult to breath, no anger. Hiruma really had no clue about the events in hand! (From the corner of his eye, Sena caught a couple of the first years give each other the 'thumbs up') "We're on a Date?" Hiruma questioned narrowing his bright green eyes as he turned to look at Sena (now it was time for his part to come into play) "A-ano... well you did pr-promise Hiruma-ku-kun." Sena said lowering his eyes and looking at Hiruma's shirt. - Thank god I don't have to face him for this part. What if he can read minds! - He risked a peek through his bangs at the blonde again. No eyebrows this time but his eyes slightly widened then turned speculative. - don't let him figure it out! Iamsodead! Don'tgetitdon'tgetitdon'tgetitdon'tgetit! -
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"Yaa You-nii, It's all over the forums!" Suzuna piped up, distracting the demon. "Hn?!" the quarterback turned and Sena squeaked as the armrest bumped against his hip and effectively deposited him into Hiruma's lap. "Um um..." Sena sweatdropped and grinned awkwardly, but Hiruma looked too interested in his laptop to notice. Sena squeaked again as his eyes travelled to his shoulders, then hurriedly removed his hands from the older boy's shoulders, dropping them into his lap. A few moments of Hiruma tapping on his keyboard and Sena looking at his hands past before Sena dared to look up at the computer screen. Hiruma was on the school forums and the quick glance showed the Demon was clearly thinking things through.
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'It's such a Surprise!' 'popular 'Backs to go out on date!' 'Amefuto love!' 'poor Eyeshield's going to be eaten alive' Sena read, sweatdropping again. - How did Suzuna pull that one off?! - She'd somehow managed to get the school web page moderator to write up a news article and it already had tons of comments and had also led to several other related topics - more importantly, How she do it without Hiruma finding out ! - He risked another glance at the still thinking demon and wondered if he should risk getting out of his lap (Suzuna caught his eye from behind Hiruma's head and furiously shook her head indicating that he should stay where he was). "There you see! Now what do you say to that?!" Mamori-neechan demanded crossing her arms huffily, scowling at Hiruma. "Hoooo? So fucking chibi, what exactly did I say we were 'going' to do?" Sena found himself being asked in an all too quiet voice. "Um ah eto" Sena stammered as he found himself pinned by that steely gaze "W-well y-you said we sh-should catch a m-mo-movie and maybe dinner..." he answered, the words fading to a mumble under that hard emerald stare, he could feel sweat developing on his back making his shirt stick to him. Edging away slightly Sena wished that he didn't feel so much like a bug on a needle.
.
After an intolerable length of silence, Hiruma finally said "Fine" closing his laptop and tucking it under his arm before standing up with his usual fanged grin. Sena meeped as he found himself suddenly on his feet; pressed up against the table looking up at a leering Hiruma, one arm almost touching as Hiruma left the other hand on the table. "Heh" the demon blonde smirked heading for the locker room for his bags. "I'll have to stop home to change and dump my shit. I'm not walking around town dragging a pile of crap, but that should be 'fine'?! Right, Fucking Manager?" He threw out challengingly. Mamori closed her mouth with a snap while everyone else's remained in a 'gape mouthed' position. Hiruma had actually accepted this?!
.
"Don't think that this changes anything Hiruma! It's a weekday and you Both have school tomorrow. One movie and then dinner! Sena has a curfew and needs to be back at his parents by 10 o'clock. And I fully expect you to conduct yourself Properly as befits a Responsible individual. Don't you dare resort to anything underhanded or there WILL be hell to pay!" Mamori harangued Hiruma, following him to his locker where he packed his laptop bag and collected the rest of his belongings. "Ha! And what sort of 'Hell' could you make me face, fucking manager? Are you going to make me do homeroom and cookhouse duties? Maybe I'll be sent to sit in the 'naughty corner' and do 'timeout'! " Hiruma retorted, cackling."Don't underestimate me Hiruma-kun. If you expect to continue with this relationship I expect you to treat Sena-kun with the respect he deserves and not some kind of rug! Is that clear?!" Mamori countered, shaking a finger in Hiruma's face. "Reelaaaaaax fucking manager" drawled the blonde as he rested an arm on the door lintel leaning over the shorter female, "it's just a night out...Why? What Exactly are you Expecting me to DO?" grinning maliciously at the enraged squeal that produced he turned back to the smaller runningback, "Get your shit, we'll have to book it fast if we're to make the early slot to suit Miss Fucking Fussypins here" nodding at the redfaced manager who was struggling to reach him as Kurita and Juumonji held her gingerly back, pushing her out of the way and whispering urgently to calm her down. "H-Hai!" Sena quickly left his space from just outside the locker room to head to his own locker and grab his school bag and uniform. As he turned back towards the door he saw Hiruma stand, looking questioningly with narrowed eyes at the two tickets in his hand.
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He'd found them under one of the books he was about to pack into his bag - only Hiruma couldn't remember putting them there. "Tch!" He scowled, "move it fucking secretary." jerking his hand before tucking the tickets into his blazer pockets. Sena waited till the former captain took the lead and then hesitantly followed him out the clubhouse door. He turned for one last scared look at the rest of the team and received various signs of encouragement before "MOVE IT FUCKING PIPSQUEAK!" Sena yelped and hurriedly complied.