Confidence

Confidence, hah, we all know who's got that. Littlest big-shot I ever did see, though I gotta admit he's got the skills to back it up.

"What're you writing, Takeshi? What, what?!"

"Go away, Nina" Momo growled, trying to pull his notebook away from his youngest sister. "I'm trying to get my project done"

"Confidence, Takeshi? My teacher was talking about confidence today; I'll help you with your homework!"

"I don't need…" it was no use, the surprisingly strong six year old yanked the book from her big brother's grasp and ran off with it, giggling. Momo sighed and rolled his eyes; sure, Nina was gonna have a lot of fun with that. The book was mostly filled with his class notes, and he had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that his sister wasn't quite up to eighth grade physics level yet. Knowing his sister's penchant for hiding things, Momo decided to find another notebook to write in and copy it into his first book later.

I'm confident too, but he's just plain cocky. You've gotta be confident to be on the tennis team, I guess – except Taka-san, but he's got that burning thing – but shortstop just crosses the line.

Not like I'm complaining or anything.

That Echizen, what is it about him that does arrogant so damn well? I mean, at least he's not li

"That's my pen" Momo looked up and was faced with his other sister; nine year old Kameko. The girl tweaked her glasses "I need it for my math homework, can I have it back?"
"I'm using it, Turtle" Kameko scowled at the nickname "You can have it back later"

"I need to do my homework now, Takeshi, and that's not yours. I'll have that back" she quickly swiped the pen from his hand despite his resistance "and since you took my pen without asking, I'll have your book." Before Momo could do a thing, Kameko was walking out of the room with his book clasped to her chest. And the pen.

No wonder Momo was a power player, strength ran in the family. He just hated having that strength used against him, particularly when it was his little sisters. Despairing, Momo hunted down whatever he could find to write with.

Damn this pink crayon, it's all waxy and it's getting all over my hand and my shirt. And the paper's pink, too. I can barely see what I'm writing.

Where was I? Oh yeah, Echizen and his arrogance. Sure his unwavering cockiness is annoying but at least he's not Atobe.

Echizen in purple frills is not a good mental image, not at all.

Anyw

"That's Nina's crayon you're using" Momo groaned as Kameko's blank voice met his ears "and she wants it back. Also, your physics notes are all wrong; Nina gave me your other notebook in exchange for getting this from you" in a display of speed to rival both Kamio and Shishido put together, Kameko snatched the crayon and left, calling back to Momo "your notes suck, Takeshi, there is a difference between AC and DC!""

Momo sighed; deciding now was a good time to leave the house.

--

"Momoshiro-kun? Hellooooooooo!" Momo froze, he had just been walking through the park by himself, nice and quiet, then someone had called his name. His eyes darted from side to side but there was nobody there. "Yoohoooooo! Above your head, silly!"

The second year looked up into the trees; stretched out on a thick branch with a notebook in his lap was Akutagawa Jiroh. The older boy beamed.

"Jiroh-kun? What're you doing up there?!"
"My project, join me!"

Momo scrambled up the tree and sat on a branch next to Jiroh. It was a nice view; you could see the whole park from up there: little children playing, couples sitting on the bridge, and what Momo made out to be none other than Seigaku's golden pair splashing above in the river, playing some shouty mish-mash of tag and British bulldog. "Nice view, what's the project?"
"Aah, that arty hearty thingy. I drew 'smile', lucky me! So I'm writing things that make me smile and the park makes me smile, so I came here. I heard Buchou has to write about love, poor guy. I was writing with him this morning but he wouldn't show me what he'd written and kept looking at me…look at my project, Momoshiro-kun! Tell me if it's bad!"

Momo read the sprawly writing quickly, as Jiroh hadn't written very much. It was all in bright blue gel pen.

"Let's see…I smile lots, lots of stuff makes me smile. Sleeping and pretty things and the park and sleeping and tennis and sweets and Buchou all make me smile. Buchou is always funny when I smile at him, he goes all red and slinks away. I like red, and cats slink and I like cats, so when he slinks away I smile more. Then all my team mates laugh, and them laughing makes me happy and I smile even more… I like it, Jiroh-kun. It's very…you" Momo chuckled. "I'm meant to be doing my own project, but my sisters…"

"My sister kept interrupting me; too, that's why I'm up a tree and not on the ground where she has a chance of finding me. Have some of my notebook and write with me, Momoshiro-kun, I have another pen…"

Confidence is a great thing. It makes you happy, makes people like you, it's really, really awesome. So awesome, in fact, I can't think of any words to describe it.

Dammit, why didn't I get 'smile'? That would've been so much easier to write about. Confidence…pleh, it all leads back to Echizen. Echizen and his smug little face and his laugh and his mada-mada-dane and his…his…aaah, what the hell am I doing? Jiroh-kun is looking at me and laughing, I think he's reading this.

"That I am"

"Stop it…"

Echizen…and his god-damn confident snarky adorableness…damn him…

Momo sighed and looked up from his work, Jiroh was snoring softly, his notebook now over his face. He grinned and looked down where there was quite the commotion going on.

"Gah! Th-this kid! He's unreal!"
"He's some kind of phenom!"

"G-get him away from me!"
"What's wrong?" a familiar snarky voice floated up to Momo from below. "I thought you guys were gonna teach a little brat like me some tennis…"

"Ne, Echizen!" Momo leapt out of the tree and landed beside his freshman friend. The group of men with rackets froze.

"E-Echizen?!"

"Let's get out of here!"

The men fled, and deciding it wasn't too immoral to take Jiroh's pen, Momo punched Ryoma's shoulder playfully and left with him, blushing lightly as the younger boy took his arm.

Confidence…maybe I'll be confident enough one day…