It's Not All About Tennis
40. Chained
Niou's hands rested behind his head, his eyes closed as he tried to get to sleep and Marui's head over his heart. He shivered as he felt Marui's fingers moving in circles on his bare chest.
"What are you doing?" he questioned, peeking an eye open as he reached down to grab the hand. He twined their fingers together, pulling Marui's hand up as he placed kisses on them.
"Nothing," Marui answered, shaking his head. "I was just wondering about something."
"Which is?" Marui was quiet for a minute and Niou lifted his eyes away from his hands to find him chewing on his lip. "Bunta."
"I just," Marui let out a frustrated groan. "I was just wondering if you felt held back by me. I mean you got into three of the top five high schools in the country and you chose to stay here because I wasn't smart enough to get into them."
"Look, Bunta, here's the thing. None of you, you or the team or my family, forced me to stay because you love and wanted the best for me but I stayed because I love you. Because I love my shitty little brother and my shitty big sister and my parents, and I love our shitty friends even Sanada and the twerp, and I love you." He punctuated the last statement by reaching over to kiss Marui's lips. "Okay?"
Marui was quiet for a minute before a smile came over his face, "Yeah. Okay."