Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: No plot, no point -- just a bit of happiness because these boys need it if anyone. x.x

Nothing in Tennis

"Love means nothing in tennis, but in life, it is everything."

- Anonymous

Chapter 12
Meetings

Sengoku glanced around, obviously satisfied with what he saw. The whole team was there, in time even, or at least as close to that as humanly possible for their team. "What's the schedule for the day, Taichiichi?"

"We have a match in the evening against Rokkaku desu. Until then, there's nothing."

"What?" Kita asked. "You mean we came here so early even though we didn't have to?"

"We did have to," Muromachi sighed. "Everyone has to be present when signing up the team, and that had to be done before 10 AM. So, stop whining. It's not like you had to get up in the middle of night, anyway."

"Muromachi-fuku-buchou is right," Dan said cheerfully. "Why don't you just enjoy your free time while you still can? In the evening, you'll be far busy to do so desu."

"And what do you suggest we do with our free time?" Nitobe raised his eyebrows. "Shall we gather data for you, or?"

"Like I would trust you to do that desu." Dan smiled teasingly. "It's the Kantou tournament, ne? There's bound to be some matches you'd like to see. Well, matches or players desu…"

"No need to be mean, Taichiichi." Sengoku grinned, ruffling his boyfriend's hair. "But the kid is right," he then said to the others. "If you can't find anything interesting around here, I wonder why you're in the team." With a wink, he added, "If nothing else, think of all the well-muscled men sweating in their tiny shorts on the courts…"

"Stop while you're still ahead, Sengoku," Minami sighed. "Some of us have boyfriends, you know."

Sengoku blinked. "I have one, too."

"Well, let me elaborate." Minami shook his head. "Some of us have boyfriends who aren't currently planning to make us miserable."

"Hm?" Sengoku turned to look at Dan. "Are you planning to – oi!" Dan was currently rather swiftly walking away from him, caring little for his calls.

Laughing at their captain's little problem, the team started spreading around. Only Muromachi remained, looking at him. "Is he really that angry at you?"

"Taichiichi? I doubt it." Sengoku rolled his eyes. "He knows how I am; if a little comment like that made him really mad, he'd have left me ten times over already." With a grin, he then threw an arm over his fuku-buchou's shoulders. "So! Shall we go and see if we can find our opponents of the day?"

Soon enough they did find Rokkaku, or at least some of them – their high school had continued the tradition of red uniforms, making them fairly easy to spot even in the crowd of teams and other audience surrounding the courts. The two they did see were Saeki and Aoi-kun, which was rather delighting. With an enthusiastic wave, Sengoku shouted out to them. "Oi! Beach bums! Ready to lose, hmmm?"

"Confident as ever, I see." Saeki smiled at them. Given Sengoku's easy-going nature and the general attitude around Rokkaku, some kind of friendship between them had been inevitable before long – especially given how they were two of the very few not-absolutely-gay tennis boys around. "I'll warn you, though, we're better than last year."

"Then you're losing, since we're far better than last year." Sengoku grinned. Your team's disappeared, too, I see."

"Well, yeah – we don't have a match until in the afternoon with you." Saeki smiled. "So it's just Aoi-kun and I, for now. Someone has to keep an eye on him, you see, and the coach saddled me with the task." He nodded towards the middle-aged man nearby. Younger than Ojii, at least, Sengoku found himself thinking.

"Very funny. You're just hanging around to make sure I don't charm all the ladies around here." The youngest boy grinned first at Saeki, then at Sengoku and Muromachi. "Huh?" Aoi suddenly glanced around. "Where's your coach?"

"Hanamoto-sensei?" Sengoku rolled his eyes. "Oh, who knows? Haven't seen him in a week or two; he rarely bothers to show up. We're certainly doing well enough without."

"Isn't that quite difficult?" Saeki asked, raising his eyebrows. "Playing without a coach, that is?"

"Fudoumine did well enough, don't you think?" Muromachi replied. "Besides, at least he doesn't hit us with porn magazines like Banji used to."

"He did what?" Aoi looked somewhat amused. "Wow. No wonder you Yamabuki guys are so weird."

"Hey!" exclaimed Sengoku. "I resent that comment!"

"Right," Muromachi added. "We're weird by nature, not because of our coaches or lack thereof."

Sengoku glared at his fuku-buchou. "You're not exactly helping here, Panda-kun."

"Oh, I know." Muromachi sounded fairly cheerful about this fact.

"See?" Sengoku sighed dramatically. "This is what I have to live with! If I am a bit weird, don't you think it's quite inevitable, seeing what my team is like?"

During this banter Aoi wandered off, looking for something more interesting – like a pretty girl or two. He'd have to ask Sengoku to accompany him later, he decided; though he didn't know the Yamabuki captain well, Sengoku and Saeki had mostly befriended each other during high school, Sengoku's fame as one of the straightest tennis guys was rather wide-spread.

Before he managed to spot more than a couple of skirts, though, he heard a bright voice greeting him.

"Hello, Aoi-kun!" Dan Taichi was waving at him cheerfully. "Long time no see desu!"

"Well, hi there, fellow former buchou!" Aoi's grin then turned into a somewhat thoughtful expression. "Or would that be former fellow buchou? Aah, that's so confusing!"

Dan laughed as he approached. "I think either is fine, considering neither of us is a buchou anymore," he said. "Or is my data on you entirely wrong?"

"Nah." Aoi grimaced playfully. "The new coach isn't as nice as Ojii was. But, ah well! Less responsibility for me!"

"That's one way to look at it, I guess desu." Dan grinned. "You've been well, I trust?"

"Just splendid, really, even recovered from the beating my ego took as you beat me." The taller boy sighed dramatically. "Really, such pain! I couldn't get a date for a week!"

"And you suffered incredibly much, I'm sure."

"Of course! You wouldn't understand the pain, Dan-kun, not with your lack of interest in romance. A pity, though. If only I were interested in boys, I'd immediately ask you for a date."

Now, a slight blush spread over Dan's cheeks. "Ah, that is… you'd be kind of late for that," he said somewhat sheepishly. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I do have enough interest that I'm currently dating."

"Really?" Aoi's eyes widened, as did his grin. "Oooh, this is remarkable! And who is the lucky guy, hmm?" Judging by Aoi's voice, there was never any doubt about whether Dan had a girlfriend or a boyfriend. Dan didn't mind, seeing as there never had been, not for him at least.

"I think I spotted you talking with him just a moment ago," he replied with a grin. "He's even trying his best to cut down on the flirting, can you imagine?"

"Err – wait. Wait just a minute." Aoi shook his head. "You're saying… you're dating Sengoku-kun?"

Dan nodded.

"Sengoku Kiyosumi? The most renowned skirt-chaser the world of middle school tennis ever knew?"

Dan nodded again.

"…Are you sure you aren't just dreaming or something?"

This time, Dan laughed instead of nodding. "Oh, don't look like that, Aoi-kun desu. Sengoku-buchou has come to the realization that he is, actually, bisexual. And before you can ask, yes, he apparently can act monogamous enough not to go beyond flirting with others desu."

"Nuh-uh." Again, Aoi shook his head as though to clear it. "I'm not about to believe this. Sengoku Kiyosumi dating a boy? Maybe once in a blue moon, but in real life? Nooo way."

"Ah, here you are, Taichiichi!" A cheerful voice was the only warning Dan got before a pair of arms was wrapped around him. Then, Sengoku looked at Aoi, surprised. "Huh? You two know each other?" After all, there hadn't been much contact between their teams in middle school, and the two were both first years…

"Sure we do!" Aoi replied happily. "We were both captains last year, and then Dan-kun beat me. Both of our teams got to the Nationals, though, so we decided we could just as well celebrate it together. Echizen-kun's Seigaku happened to come to the same restaurant, too. And then Urayama-kun's Rikkai showed up… We had so much fun!"

"Echizen-kun didn't seem to agree," snickered Dan. "He seems to sometimes be far too serious for his own good, really."

"Seigaku's captains tend to be like that, I've come to notice." Sengoku grinned. "Ah, well – it's nice to see Taichiichi has at least one friend who won't be trying to take him from me!"

Now, though, the older of the first-years blinked in surprise. "So the two of you really are dating?" As Sengoku nodded in confirmation, Aoi grimaced. "Oh, what a pity. And here I was thinking you'd join me in checking out some girls. There seem to be quite a few watching the matches."

"Oh, I can still do that," Sengoku replied cheerfully. "Can't I, Taichiichi?"

Dan raised an eyebrow, looking at Sengoku over his shoulder. "As long as you behave yourself," he replied. "Checking out girls is one thing, actually making moves on them is another desu."

"Lucky!" Sengoku spun Dan around, pressing a kiss on his surprised boyfriend's lips. "Don't worry, Taichiichi. I'll behave. Promise."

"You'd better." Dan poked his nose gently. "I'll have Aoi-kun report back to me about your behaviour. And don't forget we have matches in the evening, both of you desu." Turning towards Aoi, he added, "You'll make sure Sengoku-buchou doesn't try to go further than looking, won't you, Aoi-kun?"

"Understood, Dan-kun." Aoi winked. "You sure you don't want to join us to keep an eye on him yourself?"

"What, and be mistaken for straight? Not a chance. I'd get kicked out of the Cute Tennis Ukes Association desu."

"Huh?" Now, the taller first-year blinked in surprise. "There is such a thing?"

Dan grinned. "No, there isn't. But you apparently would believe so desu." With this, he cheerfully waved as the two other boys walked away.

"That's strange," Muromachi commented as they were out of Dan's hearing. "You'd think he wouldn't like you looking at girls."

"Well, two facts here," Sengoku said cheerfully. "For one thing, girls are female, Taichiichi is male. He knows he definitely has something they don't. If I went looking for cute guys, he probably would protest. And for another thing… if he didn't let me look at girls, I would have every right to be jealous for the fact he's most definitely going to spend his morning staring at other guys. Even if it is just to gather data."

"You may have a point there." Aoi grinned. "So, he can't complain if – ooh, look at that!" He pointed at a girl walking past, her skirt just barely long enough to hide her underwear. "Good legs on that one!"

"I have to agree," Sengoku muttered with an appreciative tone. "Though Taichiichi's are still better…"

Aoi rolled his eyes. "I don't know if you're in love or if you're afraid of his spying skills, but…"

"Heh, very funny." Sengoku stuck his tongue out at Aoi. "For your information, Taichiichi wouldn't bother following me around all day when there's so much tennis data to be gathered. I've just been lucky enough to get the cutest boyfriend ever."

"Fine. Hopelessly in love." Aoi stuck his tongue out. "Ah, well. More women for me."

"You just don't know what you're missing out on."

"What, lack of boobs? Balls and racquets is all the homosexual symbolism I need in my life." Aoi laughed.

Sengoku grinned. "Let's see if you're still saying that when we've beaten you."

"Sorry, Aoi-kun." Dan grinned as they eyed each other over the net. "I guess it'd be your turn to win, but I can't let you do that so easily desu."

"Wouldn't want you to let me," Aoi replied with a similar grin. "That wouldn't make a good impression on the girls, now would it?"

"I wouldn't lose any games on purpose if I were you," Dan pointed out cheerfully. "Didn't exactly work out for you the last time, now did it?"

"Don't remind me of that," Aoi said, throwing the ball in the air. "I'll have you know that was the biggest difference anyone has ever won me by!"

"Your fault for being so predictable desu" Dan returned the shot. "One might think you'd have changed your ways since middle school, but no…"

"You're one to talk," Aoi replied, hitting the ball in turn. "Still as cute as ever"

This only made Dan laugh. "Flirting only works if you aren't straight, you know desu," he pointed out.

"…Well, damn. Guess you're right."

After this, they fell mostly silent, rallying back and forth, their rhythm occasionally broken by one of them scoring. The match was fairly even-paced, neither gaining a clear advantage. However, despite being obviously pressed to work for each point he got, Dan was yet to start his data mumbles.

Instead, his playing style was starting to look somewhat different.

Sengoku grinned as he realized what his little boyfriend was doing. It was somewhat daring, using an uncertain method in such an even match, but then he did have his Puppy Dog Serve to secure his own service games…

The first time he saw Aoi looking baffled as Dan was suddenly exactly where he had hit the shot, Sengoku couldn't help but cheer.

From then on, the match was Dan's. His new move failed a few times, Sengoku could tell by his expression sometimes, but it worked often enough that he managed to break Aoi's service game a few times. And, indeed, by the end of the match Dan gave Aoi an almost apologetic smile as the winner was announced.

"Game, set, and match, won by Yamabuki High's Dan Taichi!"

"Damn. No dates for two weeks," Aoi moaned as they shook hands over the net. "What on Earth was that, anyway? Telepathy?"

"Sadly, no, useful though that would be for gathering data desu," Dan laughed. "I'm yet to name the move, I'm afraid – this is the first time I ever used it successfully outside practice."

"So you were just using me to test your move, eh?" Aoi sighed. "Ah, well. I guess I will forgive you, given how cute you are."

Dan blinked. "Hey. You're supposed to be straight, remember?"

"Oh, I never told you, did I?" As Dan blinked in confusion, Aoi grinned. "Until I first heard your name announced in a match, I thought Yamabuki allowed girls into their boys' team, too."

"Why, you –" Aoi was truly lucky it would have been unsportsmanlike to hit him with a racquet right there.