Title: Friendly Competition

Theme: Beat the Heat Challenge

Author: Loiviation

Summary: Len let go of his last breath and succumbed to yet another defeat. Victory for Ryoutaro Tsuchiura... again. Drying his hair, Len put into mind that this summer, the heat wasn't the only thing he was going to beat.

Genre: Friendship/Humor

Rating: T

Characters: Len Tsukimori/Ryoutaro Tsuchiura

55 minutes have passed. The clock was ticking and the sun was beating down the lake. Muscles ached as they waited for the last five minutes to end.

"I'm down to my last bait," said Tsuchiura, smirking as he looked tapped his worm bucket. Len darted a look towards the green-haired man before looking down on his own bucket. His was still half full. Tsuchiura's cooler was already half-filled with big fish resting on hard ice while he merely had one in his. It was almost self-pitying seeing how Tsuchiura, a man no older or wiser than he was, had already (possibly) emptied the whole pond in an hour's time.

And to think that they had their bait swimming around the same area.

Just about an hour ago, Tsuchiura boasted his fishing skills to the group just as Len was telling a story of how he and his grandfather used to walk this island when he was young. He practically knew the place from here and back.

Now the bet… The bet happened when Tsuchiura started bragging about how many fish he could catch in a day. As if by instinct, Len's mouth just had to open. Out came the words, "Anyone could fish. It's nothing to brag about. I'm sure I could catch as much fish as you do." He wasn't sure why but whenever Tsuchiura mentioned that he could do one thing, he would always have to urge to question it. The doubting eventually lead Len to challenging him on the said talent and he often lost.

After the words escaped his mouth, some idiot murmured that they should have a contest to see who catches the most fish. Not wasting any more time, the gang bought bait and borrowed fishing poles, running to the nearest lake.

I should really learn how to control my misplaced competitiveness, Len thought as he stared at his lone fish: a fish just an inch longer than a sardine. He could sense Tsuchiura feeling good about himself as he was down to his last catch.

If I could catch twenty sardine-looking fish, I might be able to beat him, Tsukimori mentally comforted himself. After all, we are judging by quantity.

"Alright! Time's up!" The brunette shouted from the sidelines, holding up her stopwatch. "Now let's see who caught the most fish!"

This is embarrassing, Len dared not to look at anyone as he stood up and started packing his things. Nami leaned closer and counted Tsuchiura's box first. Len grabbed his things and accepted his fate.

"Six big trouts!" Nami announced. Team Tsuchiura cheered. Nami didn't have to peer into Len's cooler to see how many he had in his. She was watching the whole time to know that he had caught only one. She grabbed the floater and striped swimsuit.

Len sighed as the rest cheered. The worst part of losing, he thought, isn't losing. He took the suit and floater hesitantly and watched as his friends laughed.

It's the punishment.

A/N: The theme was "Beat The Heat" so I thought maybe beating the hell out of each other in the form of bets and skill tests would be a fun way for the gang to "beat" the heat. I think this is the first time that I've written for SF as I've failed to pass my previous story for most of the past prompts.

Well anyway, this is the first part of the two-month weekly installment type of story that I'll be writing for this two-month prompt. Just a little friendly competition rather than a fluffy summer romance for a change _ ~koi