Truth or Lies

Chapter 2

"Jirou?"

Jirou slowly blinked his eyes open. "Ah," he mumbled sleepily. "I must have fallen asleep." Of course, he meant that he must have fallen asleep in the magic world, but Gakuto, who was hovering over Jirou worriedly, obviously thought Jirou meant otherwise.

"How could you have fallen asleep in the middle of a match?" demanded Shishido, who was crouched down on the other side of Jirou. "Baka! Do you know how worried we all were?"

Jirou blinked. "I fall asleep all the time," he said, yawning.

"Yeah, but never in the middle of match with Atobe!" argued Gakuto as Jirou sat up.

Jirou paused. "Oh," he said, remembering. "That's right. We were playing doubles, weren't we?"

"Hell yeah, and you were pretty good, too," said Shishido. "You were so hyped up and into it; then suddenly you just got really sleepy and eventually passed out."

"Atobe nearly killed Ryou," Gakuto snickered. "The ball would have hit you in the face if Atobe hadn't gotten to it first."

"Gakuto and I jumped over the net and carried you here, to the nurse's office," supplied Shishido. "Atobe wanted to do it, but he had practice to run and rumors to stop from spreading."

"The nurse isn't in, the bitch," added Gakuto. "Went off to see her boyfriend a couple of regions away."

"Why would she do that without waiting for a replacement?" snorted Shishido. Gakuto shrugged. "She's new, and she's been working overtime, too. They'll let her off. It's only for three days, anyway."

"Your family doctor's been called though. He'll be here in half an hour," supplied Ryou.

Jirou scrunched up his nose in dislike. "You called him?" His family doctor was really annoying, always treating him like a child or a mental patient thanks to Jirou's constant dreams of the other world. The magical world.

"We were forced," said Shishido apologetically. "We tried to tell Atobe that you hated the guy, but Atobe said that his office was the closest to school grounds and hated or not, he was still a doctor."

"You okay?" asked Gakuto worriedly. "That hasn't happened in years."

Jirou smiled. The last time he had to give up tennis-world for magic-world was during the senior year finals during his Academy days. He had to force himself out of his narcoleptic tendencies in order to take the exams and subsequently was always falling asleep in the middle of all sorts of things in the tennis-world. Thankfully, there was no strong competition for tennis-Hyoutei that year, and Jirou won most of his matches half-asleep.

"I'm fine," said Jirou, yawning and scratching his head for effect. "Just a little tired, that's all. I had a late night."

Shishido and Gakuto exchanged a glance. "Were you playing video games till five in the morning again?" Shishido asked exasperatedly.

"The Kanto tournament is just around the corner, Jirou! You need your rest or we're going to lose!" scolded Gakuto, his hands on his hips.

"When did you two become my parents?" Jirou asked teasingly.

"Parents my ass!" snorted Gakuto.

"Like I'd marry this bitch," said Shishido simultaneously.

Jirou laughed as the two glared at each other. He hopped up off the bed and stretched, then put an arm around their shoulders. "Admit it, you two really care about each other. And me," he added as an afterthought.

"I do not care about him!" they chorused, glaring daggers at the other. Jirou just laughed and hugged them closer. "You guys..."

Atobe put a hand on his hip and glared at his team. "20 more laps!" he barked just as the team finished the previous 50. There was a collective groan, and Oshitari drawled, "Oi, Atobe, if you're worried about Jirou, you should go see him instead of torturing us."

"Oshitari, 30 laps!" Atobe ordered, obviously in a bitchy mood.

"Go, Atobe. I'll oversee the 20 extra laps," said Oshitari, rolling his eyes. He was like a magnet for stubborn people or something. First Atobe, then Gakuto. Geez.

"You'll slack off," huffed Atobe.

"Atobe-san, I'll make sure the team runs the laps. Including Oshitari-san," said Ohtori, stepping forward.

Atobe regarded the younger boy slowly. Ohtori was trustworthy, and with his height and build, he would definitely command respect. "Very well," said Atobe. "But if I find out any of you were slacking off..." He left the sentence hanging as he glared threateningly at the team, then turned on his heel and left.

Oshitari sighed. "Why is it that he trusts you more than me, his second-in-command...?" he whined to Ohtori, only half-joking.

Ohtori smiled. "Your personality is not as... rigid as one would hope, Oshitari-san," he said delicately, hoping he wouldn't hurt his sempai. "Everyone, let's begin the 20 laps!" he called cheerfully. "Oshitari-san, don't worry, I won't make you run the extra 30 Atobe-san assigned to you while he was in denial about his feelings for Jirou-san."

"He's been in denial since second year of middle school. But I take your point."

Shishido tilted his head to one side. "Ah, it's our cue to leave, Gakuto," he said, grinning at Jirou. "Your boyfriend's here," he sang teasingly. Gakuto snickered, ruffled Jirou's already messed-up hair and left through a different door, Shishido close behind him.

"How are you, Jirou?" Atobe asked, stepping through the door.

Jirou blinked. "Ah, Atobe! I'm fine, just... my narcolepsy catching up to me. You know how it is with these pesky illnesses," he laughed weakly.

"I thought it was selective narcolepsy," said Atobe, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

Jirou laughed nervously. "Well, you know, sometimes it's uncontrollable. Do you really think I'd choose to fall asleep in the middle of a doubles match with you as my partner?"

"Or maybe your condition is getting worse. Maybe we should get my doctor to have a look at you, Jirou."

"No! No, I'm fine, don't worry. I'll be fine," insisted Jirou firmly, hopping out of bed quickly. "See? I can stand and everything, no big deal, really."

Atobe still seemed suspicious, but let it go. "Well, I trust you, Jirou. If you say it's nothing, it's nothing."

Jirou almost sighed with relief. Atobe was damn perceptive all the time, but Jirou supposed that in this world they called 'reality', Atobe wouldn't believe Jirou if he started talking about magic. People generally didn't, Jirou knew from experience. His mother, for instance, kept telling him it was all a dream.

"Your family doctor should be here in a few minutes, though he is most likely incompetent and only useful for treating things like the flu," sniffed Atobe disdainfully.

Jirou made a face. "Ne, 'Tobe, do I have to see him?" Jirou whined, widening his eyes. Atobe had a soft spot for his eyes, it was a fact in both this world and the other. "I mean, I don't like him and he doesn't like me, and I'm fine now, so why do I have to see him?"

Atobe sighed like he knew what Jirou was trying to do. "What is it you want me to do, Jirou?" he asked, half-amused and half-exasperated. "You have to be looked at anyway. Your fainting is worrying." He didn't say that it was worrying him, but Jirou heard it anyway.

Jirou crossed his arms for a moment, then his eyes lit up as if an idea had struck him, and he climbed back into the bed. "Fine," he said defiantly. "Then I'll just be sleeping until he comes. Good luck trying to wake me up."

The last words Jirou heard was Atobe saying exasperatedly, "Oh, come now, don't be childish, Jirou!"

"I am a child," retorted Jirou with a yawn. "Good night, 'Tobe."

DISCLAIMER: I think that AtoJi is teh shiznet, but obviously, this is not displayed in canon, so by logical conclusion, I am not the owner of PoT.

This is short, I know, and after the long wait it should really be longer, but I think if I put it off any longer it'll be sitting in my computer forever. So this is what you get. –sheepish laugh-