I'm terribly sorry that it's late. It was supposed to be up over a week ago but our computer crashed(its still broken) and my flash drive was with my sister in Japan so I had to wait until she came back to get my files.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

I woke up early to borrow some pieces in the library at school. Sakaki-sensei had this private collection that he told me I could get from and I took him up on the offer.

I passed the student council room on the way to the music room from the library and I noticed that the door was slightly ajar. I thought I would be the only one at school this early.

Leaning in towards the small opening, I took a glance inside. I suppose it shouldn't have been surprising but it was.

Atobe was at his desk again, rifling through another set of papers intently. I sighed and looked down at the scores in my arms.

I'll come back in an hour.

Looking up at the clock above the piano, I realized an hour had passed already. My stomach gurgled as I gathered my things and I decided to make a quick stop at the cafeteria before heading to the student council room. There was a small tinge of hope that maybe he wasn't around anymore.

He looked up as I slid the door open and an expression of bewilderment crossed his face for a split second before he schooled it into a bland look in my direction.

"The door was open," I said blithely, prancing into the room with my breakfast in hand.

His eyebrow rose as I leaned comfortably on the side of his desk. "Ore-sama noticed." He took a look at the stacks in front of him and handed me one. "Don't get it dirty."

"Wouldn't dream of it," I said, taking a bite of delicious pastry. "Same thing?"

"Yeah," He said, returning to his own stack and not looking back up until he was done.

We finished at the same time and he collected the papers, putting them in a bunch of drawers around the room. He sat back down and started gathering his things. It was amusing watching him flit around the room like some sort of busy White Rabbit right out of Wonderland. Especially since he barely talked while he worked which made it loads easier to be around him.

Once he had packed up his bag, he stood and started for the door, looking at me as he passed. "Aren't you going to class?"

I stretched my arms and legs before hopping to my feet, having already left the scorebooks and my bag in the classroom. "So, that's done, then?"

"For the most part," He said and then turned to smirk at me. "Do you have fun spending all that time with ore-sama?"

I knew it was coming so I just chortled openly at him. "Not particularly. You just looked like you needed help. And what kind of person would I be to ignore a fellow human being who looked so pathetic?" I said in my best dramatic voice.

He moved so his bag hit my shoulder. I elbowed him in the ribs. "It didn't occur to ore-sama that you were a human being. The way you eat mostly reminds ore-sama of a – "

"Don't say it."

"What was ore-sama going to say?"

"You know what you were about to say." I whined. "Stop calling me fat. It's rude to say that. What if I said something like that about you, you ass?"

"What is there to say about ore-sama?" He intoned haughtily.

I gaped at his utter vaingloriousness. This guy couldn't get enough of himself. "There is a lot to say about you."

"Like what?"

I pretended to think about it. "Well, personally and all, you're not my type, remember? There are a lot of things that don't appeal to me." Which obviously do not include the muscles... He made a face that said continue. "Well, you're too pretty for me."

He froze in place and his eyebrows rose so high they disappeared into his hairline, practically. "You can't be serious." He said, purely in monotone.

A confident smirk made its way to my lips. "On the contrary, I am very serious." I clutched onto his arm teasingly. "You're so pretty. It just feels so weird to be hanging around you like this."

He breaks out of his stupor to lean forward so that our faces our centimetres apart. I look up at him, daring him to try something. His arm slips around my waist to pull me closer to him. His mouth goes to my ear. I can hear him breathing heavily. "Do you still think I'm pretty?" He drawls into my ear.

There's a pause in the air before I gasp out, "Yes."

He pulls away from me slightly, arm still around me, to glare straight into my eyes. "What is wrong with you, woman?" He complains, whiny.

I resist the urge to laugh in his face because I'd literally be laughing in his face. And that would be gross. Before I'm able to answer, a voice cuts into the tension.

"Hey guys, are we interrupting something?" Mukahi Gakuto and Shishido Ryo are standing a few meters away with looks that reflected shock, disgust and amusement all at the same time. Amusement was apparently winning out at the moment if the leers currently crawling onto their faces were any proof.

Splaying my hand out on Atobe's (chiselled) chest, I pushed him until he had the sense to drop his arms before I turned to the two guys still watching interestedly. "Not at all," I said with belying calmness. Unlike most girls, I did not easily blush. Right at that moment, I was eternally grateful.

Atobe finally got his bearings together – it would seem that he reacted worse to being called 'pretty' than being called 'gay' – and addressed the two of his teammates with a customary drawl...and then slung his arm around my shoulders again. I slumped with the weight.

"I told you it was heavy," I said out of the corner of my mouth. His hand slipped down to my waist. "I was thinking of a different solution." I looked up at Atobe to see that he was rolling his eyes at me. I glared.

"Are you two having a fight?" Shishido asked dully. But I could see the glint in his eyes.

I smiled pleasantly. "Oh, well, we're always fighting, nothing new there."

"It makes things interesting," Atobe added.

"That's just like you, Atobe. You must be suffering, Takashina." He gave me an apologetic look before laughing clapping Atobe on the back. You have no idea, Mukahi. I wanted to say that but I settled for a bright smile and a curt chuckle. Shishido looked like he was trying grievously hard not to spontaneously explode from laughter. "How long have the two of you been dating anyway? It was a hell of a shock when you guys announced it."

You weren't the only ones surprised, I thought wryly. "Just recently," Atobe and I answered at the same time. Like a few days ago...

"Woah, couple-ness." He hooted, smirking. "We'll be leaving you two alone, now. Right, Shishido?"

Shishido tipped his baseball cap at me before catching up with Mukahi, on their way to their classrooms. Once they were out of sight and earshot, Atobe and I pushed off of each other.

I stalked away from him, irritated. "Don't touch me like that." He was still walking behind me. I groaned, realizing his class was right next to mine.

"Ore-sama will try to keep it at a minimal. But it worked, didn't it?"

I grimaced, glancing at him next to me. He kept up with my pace effortlessly. "Too well, unfortunately. I don't like being manhandled to prove a point."

He looked at me and proceeded to stuff his hands into his pockets blithely. "Happy?"

"Happier if you just chopped them off," I said in my most sugary tone.

He laughed. "That would be a great loss for the world."

"In your head, Atobe. The world in your head."

After our little scene, Atobe dropped me off at the door of my class as promptly and vehemently refused his joking request of a goodbye kiss. He turned on his heel and chuckled, wasting no time to get to his own classroom before the bell rang.

As I walked towards my desk after class, I was yanked back by a hand on my wrist. For a second I thought it was some hostile fangirl until I hit something very solid but not quite a wall. "How was your date, Mai-hime?" Someone drawled into my ear. Looking around, I saw a massive nosebleed wave overwhelming the fangirls. I looked up, fully knowing who to expect.

"You know about that, huh?"

Yuushi grinned at me but I pulled away slightly to look at him properly. "It seemed as if I do, didn't it?"

I walked over to my seat with a smile and sat down on the desk, he leaned on the desk across me, still grinning. The fangirls were still bleeding out on the floor but some of them recovered to do something wholly more significant. Namely, glare at me. Ignoring them was easy. After a few minutes, they started to file out of the room anyway to get prime seats for tennis practice. "So, you didn't know and I just told you, didn't I?" I asked incredulously.

"An educated guess. I saw you guys outside." He winked at me. "You seemed a lot closer than when I saw you guys last week. Something had to have happened in between."

"Close?" I gasped out theatrically. "What kind of blasphemy is that?"

Laughing, Yuushi bowed ever-so gentlemanly, "I'm so sorry for such a rude assumption," he said.

I pulled playfully on his hair before I grabbed my bag. "You going to practice again?" he asked curiously as we strode out of the classroom together.

"Tragically," I rolled my eyes before I smiled and winked at him.

He nudged me gently. "I'll try to make it as interesting as possible, Mai-hime."

"You can try," I nudged back.

"So, how was the date?"

"And, we're back there again." I sighed, mostly just amused at Yuushi's expression. "It was..." I searched for the right word. "Adequate."

He raised his eyebrow at that. "Adequate? Atobe's going to die if he learns something he did was anything less than awe-inducing."

I snorted. "Like his prowess?"

"Yeah, just like that." He chuckled. "But really, how was it? I want facts." He pressed.

I puffed my cheeks out, recalling what happened yesterday. Coolly, I related to him everything that transpired. By the end of it, Yuushi had a permanent smirk on his face.

"You're one of a kind." He intoned, ruffling my hair.

Running my hand through my hair, I smirked. "It's great to think so."

Right before we entered the crowd of bystanders, I spotted Sakaki-sensei a little ways off talking on the phone. I remembered I had to give him a few things and stopped abruptly. Yuushi followed suit, staring at me inquiringly. "What's up?" He asked and turned to look at what I was staring at. "Oh, Sakaki-sensei? If you're going to talk to him, do it now. He won't be around at practice today."

Nodding, I took an envelope and a scorebook out of my bag. "You still play?" He addressed me, spotting the scorebook in my hand.

"Yeah, I've got to talk to Sakaki-sensei about it actually. I'll follow."

"Do you want me to wait for you?" I looked at the crowd and frowned acutely. If I left Yuushi, I would have to trudge my way through the impossible crowd again but then it made me guilty to ask him to wait especially since he was actually already late because of me.

I shook my head. "It's fine, I'll see you there."

He looked at the crowd for a second before looking at me again. "Are you sure?" At my nod, he gave me on last look and nodded back. "Let's play together sometime."

"Sure." I grinned at his wink. Turning around, I was pleased to see that Sakaki-sensei was done with his phone call. I jogged over to him before he left.

"Sakaki-sensei, these are for you." I extended my hand to him. "From Akazawa-sensei."

He took them from me and placed into his briefcase. "I was just speaking to him actually. He's excited for your first session on Wednesday. Do your best."

"I will."

"Good luck." He gave me a pat on the shoulder and excused himself.

When he was out of the gate, I faced the unbelievably large crowd that had gathered by the courts and wondered how I was going to get through. I walked around the edge for a while to look for a place I could pass before I spotted an increasingly familiar blue baseball cap again. The owner of this cap was leaning against a wall in a corner, away from the crowd.

I approached him, and when I was about a meter away, he spoke up, looking at me. "I don't appreciate that I have to get you every time." His tone was annoyed but there was no mistaking the amusement on his face.

Placing a hand on my hip, I copied his tone. "I don't appreciate being here every time."

He stood up straight before turning his cap around so that the bill was at the back. "But you're here anyway."

Sticking my tongue out slightly, I answered. "So are you."

This time Ootori Chotarou sat next to me for some time, identifying the different shots for me. Even if he was a year younger than me, he was cool, easy to talk to and was every bit as mature as anyone in my year and was significantly more mature than Mukahi who took pleasure out of teasing me about Atobe every single time he passed by me. Mukahi and Chotarou tried multiple times to let them teach me tennis but I refused for fear of embarrassing myself in front of everybody present.

When it was done, Atobe walked me to the gate like last time. "Why don't you want to learn tennis?"

I stared at him incredulously. "You very well know why, Atobe, I'm sure you do."

He gave me a sideways glance and stuffed his hands in his pocket. "Ore-sama does know but ore-sama thought you should learn how to play."

I pouted. "No thanks. I'm already learning the game; I don't need to learn how to play the game."

He shrugged, smirking. "You'll change your mind eventually."

Folding my arms across my chest, I looked up, pretending to think. "When that happens, however unlikely that is, you will not be the first to know."

We stopped by the entrance of the school. He still had things to do inside while I had to head home. He gave me one last pat on the back before he turned away. "Ore-sama will find out eventually."

"When it's on my file?" I asked lightly, choking back a chortle.

Atobe stopped in his tracks to look back at me exasperatedly. I grinned and waved, turning on my heel before he had anything to say.

Hope you enjoyed!

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