Title: Spectacles
date written: 10-21-06
Pairings: very small hints at Silver Pair, Ohtori/Taki, and Oshitari/Gakuto
Warning: the boys have dirty mouths...
"They are too!"
"They are NOT!"
"Yes, they ARE!"
"NOT!!"
"What's going on?"
Atobe, Kabaji trailing behind him, raised an eyebrow at the exchange that was occurring on the court. The entire club had apparently stopped to watch as Shishido and Taki had their daily bitch-out over the net. What they were arguing over was anyone's guess—topics ranged anywhere from tennis technique to the best hair conditioner. His sharp eyes took in the details of the court, the freshman standing there with confused looks, the second years trying to ignore their senpai, Gakuto sitting on the bleachers snickering madly, Hiyoshi watching the whole display with that disgruntled look he always wore….
"They're arguing over whether or not Oshitari-senpai really needs his glasses." Hiyoshi said, answering the question but not caring to elaborate.
"That's silly," murmured Jiroh from the bench nearby as he repositioned himself. "It's obvious."
Atobe regarded the volley specialist, who was now sleeping once again. He wanted to shake the boy awake and berate him for sleeping through practice. Not because he wanted to know what exactly Jiroh had meant by "it's obvious," you understand, and not because he was in any way interested, or curious. Because Jiroh shouldn't be sleeping during practice. Yeah.
He wondered if the team would see it that way if they caught him. He ignored Jiroh and turned his attention back to the impending cat-fight.
"Why would anyone wear glasses they don't need while playing tennis? They'd get in the way! Besides, have you ever seen him without them?"
"Obviously all those nights of being whacked in the head by the Scud Serve have addled your brain! It's all about aesthetics, you idiot! But I guess I'm wasting my breath on you."
Shishido bristled.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"
Taki smirked.
"Only that I shouldn't expect any understanding of fashion or style from someone whose hair looks like it's used to clean out the showers every day!"
Atobe almost winced, might have, if wincing wasn't undignified and plebian. The situation deserved it, however; Taki had hit a sore spot.
"Just because I don't spend three hours every day after practice primping like a goddamned girl doesn't mean I don't take care of my hair, you jackass!"
"I don't care what you do to it, it still looks like a rats-nest!"
"SAY THAT AGAIN YOU LAME EXCUSE FOR A DOUBLES PLAYER!"
"SCRUFFY BITCH!"
"PRINCESS!!"
Atobe sighed. Whatever semblance of discipline he'd created among the Hyoutei tennis club had vanished the instant he'd let Shishido back on the team. He understood the fact that the two of them had their issues to work out, Taki and his lost position among the regulars, Shishido and his butchered hair, not to mention their competition for the affections of a certain kouhai, but did the two of them really have to go at it every single day? Atobe would assign them laps, infinite laps, if he thought it would help. In the past however, that had only translated into the two of them taking their bickering into a broken orbit around the court, which only proved to be more distracting, hearing only snatches of their arguments as they sprinted by.
"I see the way you look at him!"
"What does that have to do with Oshitari's glasses?!" Leave it to Shishido to get them back on topic, not-so-cleverly steering the conversation away from a certain silver-haired second year.
"Nothing, obviously," Taki countered, "because I already won that argument. DUH."
"You didn't win anything, you delusional freak! I still say he has absolutely no reason to wear the stupid things if he doesn't need to!"
"If he really needed them that much and they got in the way like you said, don't you think he'd wear contacts?"
"Why don't they just ask Oshitari?" Atobe wondered out loud. Hiyoshi gave him a blank look.
"Because he's not here," said the second year, who then picked up his racket and wandered away, evidently deciding that he'd seen enough of the ridiculous drama.
Atobe looked back at the courts and realized that Hiyoshi was right—the bespectacled tensai was conspicuously absent. Of course, even if he had been there the chances were slim that he'd give anyone a straight answer. The Kansai boy liked to be mysterious like that.
"GAKUTO!" both combatants suddenly turned, their simultaneous scream startling the redhead, who almost fell off his seat. Up until this point he'd merely been watching from the bleachers, snickering to himself.
"Jeez, what?" he asked, as if he didn't know.
"Are Oshitari's glasses real or fake?" Shishido demanded.
Gakuto raised an eyebrow.
"How the hell should I know?"
Taki eyed him in disbelief.
"You're his doubles partner," he said, making sure to put due stress on the last two words, "of course you know!"
Gakuto glared at them.
"So what, we play doubles and that means I spend all my spare time stalking him? Fuck off, why don't you?"
"Bullshit!" Shishido yelled, starting to go red in the face, "Just tell us already!"
"Screw you!"
"A-HEM."
The court abruptly went silent and everyone preset turned to look at Atobe, who had evidently had enough. Two people fighting on the courts was more than enough to reflect badly on his captaining skills, and he was going to put a stop to it before a third got dragged in or, worse, Kantoku arrived.
"Shishido! Taki! One hundred laps, NOW. If the two of you can't play a match without fighting then you can spend the rest of practice running!"
"Serves you right, you nosy bastards!"
"Mukahi!"
"…shit."
"Fifty laps and clean-up duty after practice. Ore-sama suggests you use that time to reflect on why we do not allow vulgarity on the courts. It offends Ore-sama's ears. The rest of you, get back to practice!"
With that Atobe turned to retrieve his racket, and by the time he had walked onto the courts, practice was running as smoothly as it ever did.
Up in the bleachers, Gakuto, sulking, was just rising when something icy was pressed to the back of his neck. He shuddered.
"Don't do that, Yuushi," he said, accepting the cold soda can from the smirking tensai. Oshitari just nodded, surveying the courts below them and noting, with some evident disappointment, the two running figures.
"I suppose I've missed the daily drama, then?" he asked, indicating the forms of Taki and Shishido as they continued their circumnavigation of the courts. "What was the topic today?"
Gakuto snickered.
"Actually," he said, leaning forwards and snagging the silver frames, placing them on his own nose. "These."
Oshitari blinked, and then grinned.
"Ah," he said, his voice full of amusement. "I was wondering when that would come up. What was the verdict?"
"Shishido thinks they're real, Taki says they're fake."
"Any compelling reasons why?"
"Nothing good."
"And?"
"Two rounds, no winner. They asked me in the end, before His Highness got pissed off and assigned us all laps."
"Is that so?" Oshitari retrieved the glasses, but didn't put them on, instead looking at his partner, eyes sparkling. "And did you tell them?"
Gakuto snorted.
"Hell no," he said, "let 'em wonder."
Oshitari smiled, a genuine smile and not a smirk, and Gakuto knew his doubles partner was pleased with his response. As if Gakuto would actually tell anyone the secret behind the megane.
"I believe you said something about laps?" Oshitari prompted after a few seconds of companionable silence. Gakuto pouted.
"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled, handing back the soda and starting to make his way down the bleachers.
"Find me when you're finished, we'll play a match."
"Uh-huh."
Gakuto paused for just a moment, before he reached the bottom and started his laps, to look once more into his partner's mischievous, deep blue eyes. No, he decided, he would never tell anyone the real reason Oshitari wore glasses—and he'd never have to share those eyes with anyone.
A/N: This is what happens when I listen to "Go! Go! Meganes!" too many times. Also, I'm sorry if the ending doesn't make very much sense. There's a companion piece to this that's called "Silver" (which is misleading because it's not about the Silver Pair...) that might explain it a little. Then again, it might not. Either way, I'll probably post it tomorrow or the day after