Stranded... without tennis

RP Log; Silver Pair; Boatwide Bachelor's Day~

Sun, 30 Apr 2006 06:52:22 GMT

When? Febuary 14 (XD;;)
Rating: PG-ish
Summary: Celebrating Ohtori's birthday. ~~Also known as, the Silver Pair gets drunk.~~

Since it was Ohtori's birthday after all, Shishido had decided to surface at a relatively decent time. Otherwise, he would have been perfectly content to skip out on the celebration for Boatwide Bachelor's Day, or whatever it was Mukahi was going on about. For the most part, he didn't hold much stock in the sentiment of the holiday, regardless of the name changes the red-head bestowed upon it.

He arrived in time to see Ohtori begin his solo performance, a grin tugging at the corner of his lips as he watched the silver-haired teen sit at the piano bench. It wasn't often that he heard Ohtori play, and he wasn't the most musically savvy person when it came to Classical, but on the few occasions he witnessed such, he was left impressed. This time was no exception.

Standing amidst the other milling people, Shishido waited for Ohtori to finish before approaching. He leaned against the piano as he spoke, tone light, "I'd say your talent was wasted playing tennis if I didn't like having you as a doubles partner so much."

“Shishido-san! I- I didn’t see you in the crowd.”

The junior blushed slightly, and turned his head to allow his nerves to cool slightly. The string quartet had yet to pick up again, and people weren’t really paying attention anymore, so he let his fingers ghost over the keys in a light happy song. Luckily, it didn’t catch too many people’s attention, so he was able to just play absentmindedly.

“You shouldn’t say that, I’m not terribly skilled at playing piano. I’m just okay. Besides, I don’t know what I would do with my time without tennis.”

He felt a little bit dazed, but not unpleasantly, and not like he was losing his mind either. Somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice told him he shouldn’t have drank that glass of punch someone had offered him, but Ohtori just wrote it off as nerves. He had no problems playing either of his instruments in recitals, but they usually had large crowds of unfamiliar faces; his friends and teammates were an entirely different matter. He stood up from the bench, as the violinists began playing their own song again, barely heard over the din of a large crowd. He would have never believed that so many people would show up to the party.

"Yeah, I got here just in time."

Shishido looked at the other, amused, the notes of the melody faint though carrying enough to where he could catch them. One brow raised as he gave Ohtori a look of skepticism, since it was obvious he disagreed about the first point, though he was in a way relieved to hear the second. "Choutarou, you're underestimating yourself. I might not know most of the technical jargon that goes along with it, but I know what sounds good, and what doesn't."

Fingers curled into a loose fist, he rapped his knuckles lightly against the side of Ohtori's head, hardly more than a light brush against silvery strands. Without pause, Shishido continued jokingly, "But it's good to know I won't be losing you any time soon."

Using his hip as leverage he pushed himself away from the polished surface of the instrument. "You got any other plans now or can I claim your time for a while?" While the backgrond music was melodic, if almost inaudible, the cacocophony of the crowd made it difficult to speak at a normal level.

It seemed, as his senpai rained down his own form of praise, that “blush” was the only action his body was capable of doing. He was thankful for the fading light of the setting sun on the horizon, which was water as far as eyes could see. Hopefully it would go unnoticed, he thought as he smiled slightly at Shishido. As his partner reached up to rap his temple, he couldn’t help but to chuckle slightly. He knew that he could be a little dense at times, as Shishido tended to point out.

“No, I have no other plans. I was thinking of sneaking back to my room and hoping no one had sabotaged it. Or something like that…”

The noise of the clamor was clearly irritating his doubles partner and he wouldn’t mind escaping some of the people either. He had managed to avoid a catastrophic event, such as someone mentioning it was his birthday, or waking up Jirou or something, and he would gladly make his exit before something really crazy happened.

The truth was the truth in Shishido's mind, compliment or no, and he had no reservations speaking it to anyone when need be, least of all Ohtori. He ignored the blush, for now, just chalking it up to the junior's modesty, which was by no means a bad thing. Letting his hand fall back, he grinned. "But what would the party be without the birthday boy?"

Shishido was perfectly fine with retreating back to Ohtori's room, though he figured they should at least stay a little while. Otherwise, he'd probably hear no end of it from Gakuto. "How about we just get something to drink and move some place quieter?"

"Oh! Uh, yeah, sure, of course!”

Again, more nervous chuckling. He’d nearly choked on air when he’d heard the implication in Shishido’s voice. Of course, his plan to go back early was before he’d known that the third year was going to be joining him on his birthday. Well, that would have been a couple of weeks ago now, when he still wasn’t sure that the senior wanted to see him at all…

But suddenly he remembered that he was still in the presence of said senior and it was no time to be introspective.

“Right, let’s go. And careful how loud you say the B-word out here. I might be swept away in those nightmares they like to call parties…”

His attempt at humour fell flat on its face, he knew, but he offered a small smile and indicated for Shishido to lead the way.

Shishido blinked at the nervous laughter, his own look quizzical, though he didn't commit any of his confusion to words. Shrugging, he said, "Up to you, really. We can do whatever you want, since it's your day today. Even if it does include sneaking away from your party." The last was delivered teasingly as the brunette turned in the direction of the refreshment table.

At the joke he paused to look at Ohtori over his shoulder, unable to contain a quiet, though genuine, chuckle, more at the attempt than anything else. "I'll keep that in mind, and do my best to keep you from getting caught in the tide of well-wishers." Taking the lead as given, he resumed toward their intended destination.

Ohtori opted not to say anything, but to simply follow Shishido over to one of the many refreshment tables, decked out in the usual “Hey yeah, we actually are on Atobe’s ship” splendour, with what seemed to be a fine crystal punch dish, but far more sensible disposable plastic cups. The punch itself seemed fairly common party fare as well, however the plates of expensive hors d’ouvres belied Atobe’s… flagrance. Enough about buchou, though. He smiled over at his upperclassman, and pladled a bit of punch into his cup, and moved away from the punch bowl, as a lively crowd went by singing a terrible karaoke of "I will survive".

“So, Shishido-san, what exactly were you thinking of when you decided to monopolize my time?”

Punch in hand, Shishido followed Ohtori, expression turned baleful at the offkey notes as the group went by them. Shaking his head he took a sip of the red liquid, making a face at the slightly bitter underlying taste. Maybe it was just one of those things that tasted better after more of it was consumed.

"Hmm." That was a good question. "I was thinking that I wanted to see you since it's been a while," he answered honestly, shrugging as he took another drink of the punch. "Beyond that I didn't have anything in particualr in mind, since I figured we could talk or find something to do or whatever."

The junior took in Shishido’s words letting the “I was thinking that I wanted to see you,” wash over him like a much loved blanket being tossed over his head. He knew that Shishido had apologized for randomly disappearing on him, but hearing it spoken just strengthened his belief in the senior’s words, the sincerity setting his doubts down forever. Not that he had ever doubted… Okay, so he doubted, but he was also only human. Plus, now the guilt for ever doubting him would probably eat him alive, so he would make sure to squash further doubts before they could even flare into thoughts.

“Shishido-san! Never preparing ahead of time,” He laughed offhand, “It’s okay. I really didn’t think there would be much going on. I was just wondering, in case you had gone and done something stupid like organize something…” He almost wished he hadn’t said it; maybe Shishido had thought of it, or even gone as far as to do it, and keep it a surprise. He really had no tact. “I- I mean… Not that organizing an event is stupid, but it would be a little bit wasted on just me… Just for my birthday…”

He sighed, nervously, decided to take a sip of the punch as a means of escape. He had no way with words, and once he had stumbled over something it took a great deal of talking to get him back to a state of normalcy. Something caught his attention in the punch, which made him forget for a fraction of a second. It tasted a little bitter to him, and he wondered whether the punch had spoiled for a minute. Then he realized that the boat was fully staffed, and there would be no such thing as rotten juice served, as well as it could have some kind of grapefruit in it. Grapefruit juice had always tasted bitter to him. Hm. Weird.

"You know me well, Choutarou." Shishido grinned as he continued jokingly, "I'd say too well if it were anyone else." Which was, in essence, true. Few people knew him as well as Ohtori did, but he liked to think he knew his partner just as well, from the way he moved to the way he thought; otherwise he doubted their doubles combination would be as strong.

As the junior seemed to start stumbling over his words, Shishido was left to blink, but couldn't contain a rueful laugh. "I haven't organized anything, but it'd hardly be a waste if I had." He half-wished he had attempted something, but Gakuto had taken care of the party, and pre-planning occasions, no matter how special, wasn't his forte. It's your birthday, so it should be celebrated," he said, putting emphasis on the 'your' part.

Shishido continued sipping on the punch, the bitter taste fading from notice the more he consumed. "There just seems limits to what we can do onboard, so I figured we could just go out wherever we dock next and make a day of it." The last he accompanied with a wink, using his free hand to reach up and ruffle silvery strands of hair. Realizing they were both close to finishing off their drinks, he asked, "Want me to get you some more punch?"

“Of course I know you well by now, we’ve been playing doubles for how long? And I- Hey! Shishido-san~” He whined as the other ruffled his hair. He might have been younger, but he wasn’t a small child by any means. And of course, now his hair was messed up, more so than it would have been simply by being on deck and letting the wind get at it.

At Shishido’s suggestion for more punch, he quickly surrendered his cup, wondering for a fraction of a second why the response was so automatic. He didn’t even really like it at first taste, and he was getting a little light headed and… Oh. It clicked, in his foggy brain. The punch had been spiked. He was just about to tell Shishido not to get him another glass when he faltered. He hadn’t ever been in a situation where alcohol was present as well as Shishido-san, and he would do just about anything not to be gekidasa, so the junior just kept quiet. He leaned against the ships railing, looking out at the water and wondering just what he had gotten himself into this time.

At the reaction, Shishido's grin only grew, a quiet chuckle falling from his lips. Cute, he thought to himself; sometimes it was easy to forget that Ohtori was a year younger, with the combination of his height and demeanor. The time didn't really amount to much, but there was still occasion where Shishido liked treating the junior as such. "What is it, Chou~ta~rou?" he asked teasingly, drawing out the inflection of the other's name. Before he let his hand drop, he smoothed - or attempted to at least - the hair he had just mussed.

With both cups in hand, he went back to the refreshment table, popping a couple of the hors d’oeuvres in his mouth as he refilled both. He should have asked Ohtori if he was hungry, but that could wait, he supposed, since he was currently limited to two hands. There was a nagging suspicion in the back of his mind that something was decidedly off about the drinks, but he couldn’t quite discern precisely what it was.

Mentally shrugging the matter off for now, he returned to where he had left Ohtori, holding the red liquid before the other as he asked, “You hungry or anything? We could get something to eat.”

He stiffened as Shishido attempted to smooth his hair back down, the soothing motion sending shockwaves of sensations down his spine, and as soon as he other turned away, he physically shivered, rubbing the skin of his arms are goose flesh appeared all over. He made his own halfhearted tries to fix his hair, at least the ones he could feel sticking out at odd angles, and leaned against the railing. I think this was why I didn’t want a big fuss over this holiday. Me and alcohol aren’t normally a good mix, but now I have to keep my head on around Shishido-san too? He straightened up and smiled again as soon as the high school senior had returned with a couple of full cups, and he stared into his own with disdain after accepting it. As if on cue, as soon as Shishido mentioned food, his stomach growled sharply, and with his free hand he clamped his hand over his abdomen as if it would silence the groan.

“Er… Yeah, I’m kind of hungry.”

Shishido was about to ask if something was wrong with the drink; even if his head was feeling somewhat muddled, he was still attuned enough to reading his double's partner to notice even the brief falter. However, the question died on his lips as Ohtori anwered his question, his thoughts instead turning back toward food. He grinned at Ohtori, tugging the other's hand away with his free one, and started toward one of the tables that seemed designated for dining. "C'mon, then. I'm half-starved myself."

“Y- Yeah, let’s go.”

He offered a compulsory smile before being half dragged off by Shishido. Trailing behind, he couldn’t help but notice how incredibly warm his hand felt in the older boy’s. He also couldn’t help but notice how incredibly warm the back of his neck and his ears felt as a result of said hand being held by said older boy. He stared at the conjunction of their hands the rest of the way to… well, wherever they had gone. Had he been asked to go back to where they had been, he wouldn’t have the faintest idea. Had he been asked about the way that Shishido’s cap tilted just so, or how there was a tiny scar left by his eyebrow from their junior high training, well he would pass that test with flying colours. It was a moment before he realized they were in the main dining room, and yes, the enticing smell of food was making him hungrier than before. He took a plate, and began helping himself to whatever he deemed edible. Once finished he set his plate down on a table and began to pick slowly at his food, waiting for his senior. Suddenly, a question bubbled up out of his mouth before he could even think.

“Shishdo-san… Ano, Well, I was wondering if you were going to continue with tennis. After high school. I-I mean, you will probably have to stay back a year like the rest of us, unless you secretly harbor a brain the size of Oshitari’s and can skip over third year of high school, but… I really want to keep playing tennis with you so I was hoping you wouldn’t… Give it up…”

It all rushed out, and he nearly ran afterwards. Way to sound like a total moron, as well as a freaking sentimental girl at the same time, Choutarou. Keep up the good work. If people actually facepalmed, now would be an appropriate time.

Once at their destination Shishido released Ohtori's hand, in part missing the familiar warmth once it was gone. He mentally shook off the thought as absurd and set about getting things to eat. While he sometimes - more often than not, rather - thought Atobe's lavish style was far too overdone, it was hard to complain when it came to the food.

"Mm?" Shishido blinked, looking up from his own plate which he had heaped with whatever looked appetizing. It took him a moment to process the words, during which time he finished chewing and took a drink of the punch they had brought along. "I hadn't thought about it, really. Just didn't occur to me," he said with a shrug, arms folded on the table as he leaned forward a bit to regard Ohtori better. "Of course, I wouldn't give up being your partner that easily, if at all. So yeah, we can keep on playing as much as possible." While his head felt somewhat muddled as he tried to sort through the reasoning, he assumed he got it across enough to be intelligible.

Brows furrowed slightly in concentration he reached up to poke Ohtori's forehead. "What about you, though? After you're out of high school. We'll we keep playing then, too?" Truth be told he didn't know what Ohtori's plans were once they graduated, not that he had much of an idea of his own for that matter. It wasn't really a topic that came up, since usually he didn't think beyond the week, much less years into the future.

With boldness he never knew he had, he looked right into Shishido’s eyes and nodded.

“I wouldn’t ever give up playing tennis with you. You know, unless you really didn’t want to play with me anymore.”

Slowly he realized exactly what he had said, and felt the blush that had taken up residence on the back of his neck with a vengeance move over his cheekbones. He realized foggily that it might have been the alcohol working its magic already, but for some reason, he had an urge to just kiss his senpai. He shook his head to rid himself of the idea, the dying rational part of his brain vetoing the action.

“I guess after next year I’ll evaluate whether I’m better for pro tennis or music. I’m sure my parents will be happy either way... But what about you? What do you think you’ll do, Shishido-san?”

"That wouldn't happen, Choutarou. I like playing doubles with you too much to give that up."

For a moment Shishido just looked at Ohtori, momentary seriousness penetrating through a fog he hadn't entirely been aware of that had settled over his brain. Without giving much thought to the action his fingers ghosted down over the blush that appeared on Ohtori's cheeks, calluses catching on smooth skin in a gentle, if somewhat clumsy, caress. As soon as he had done it, he seemed to snap back to himself, clearing his throat as his hand hastily dropped to rest on the white cloth that covered the tabletop.

"Hm, I don't know. I've thought about going pro some, but if not that I'd probably end up going to university somewhere." Pausing, Shishido grinned, not quite as easily as he would have liked after his earlier behavior, though he was trying to push that out of mind. "I'm sure you'll do great at whichever one you choose."

His eyes widened to the point that he must’ve looked like a deer trapped in the headlights, and he shivered slightly from the touch of Shishido’s hand. It was a bit unfortunate, he mused, that he more than likely would not come to remember that at all.

“It’s good… That you want to keep on playing. I really- I hope you get to do what you want with your life. I’m still not sure I’ll be happy doing either of the things I want to do. Because they’ll uproot me from the place I want to be. I think…”

He trailed off, and decided that maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to get absolutely pissed and forget everything that had happened and subsequently would happen. He picked up his half empty (or was it half full?) plastic punch cup and downed the entire contents. He almost immediately regretted it, as the sudden intake of alcohol made him dizzy, despite the fact that he was sitting down already, and he needed to place his hands on his temples to stop the world from spinning.

“I’m really starting to think that someone tampered with this punch, or maybe it was just intoxicating in the first place… So don’t worry if I suddenly pass out or something, ‘cause I’m really bad with alcohol. I hope that isn’t too gekidasa for you, Shishido-san.”

He grinned, hoping the answer was no, or that Shishido would eventually get as drunk as he felt and not remember how not like himself he was behaving. Oh well. Either way, he had a valid excuse.

"I - you're - what?" Not quite expecting any of that, Shishido put his own cup down from which he had just drank the last of his punch as well. First of all, he wondered what Ohtori meant in terms of being happy. Second, and temporally more important, "The punch is spiked and you've been drinking it anyway?"

Mentally he cursed his own obliviousness to the seemingly benign red liquid; he should have realized that that was why it tasted off, and that this was a party thrown by Gakuto, even if the redhead was mostly just taking advantage of the facilities offered by Atobe's ship. "Well, damn," he said, more to himself than anything and not quite realizing he had spoken aloud. He wasn't sure whether to laugh or beat his head against the table, so instead he settled on a rueful chuckle. "You're not gekidasa at all, Choutarou."

"In fact," he continued as his thought process seemed to catch up more with him and the implications set in, "You shouldn't be drinking at all -- especially if you were only doing so because of me." That made him feel marginally guilty, though he tried to shake it off as best he could as he clapped Ohtori on the shoulder. "No passing out on me, though. C'mon, I'll help you get back to your room."

Nevermind that he wasn't quite sure where that was, or exactly how steady he would be on his feet. At the moment he felt fine, save for the part where he was warmer than usual and the slowing of his mental processing rate, but who knew how long that would last.

“Well, I didn’t really know. I just suspected. The fact that I’m now rather drunk just confirmed my suspicions. But maybe I’m not drunk, maybe I’m just dreaming. It is awful foggy around the edges of this place. If I am, don’t wake me up, this is the best birthday I’ve had. I’m glad I’m not gekidasa. But this is just a dream, I’m fairly certain, so I probably am. When exactly did I fall asleep? Mattaku, I’m starting to sound like that Fudomine kid…”

He looked over at Shishido again, trying to give him his best innocent eyed, completely sober look, which failed, because he was not sober at all. His eyes probably only looked a tad glazed over. He laughed loudly, and poked the older boy’s shoulder.

“It’s all well and good that you think you can take me back to my room, but I don’t think you even know where it is. In case you’ve forgotten, which I certainly haven’t, this is one of the first times I’ve even seen you on this cruise. Even so, I know my room number. It’s 417. But why did I tell you that? I’m supposed to be guilt tripping you. Hn. That didn’t work.”

At best, Ohtori was a mild-mannered drunk who didn’t bother to hold back anything he was thinking. At worst, he was vindictive. At this point, he was some sort of unhappy medium. He stood up, fully intending to navigate his way back to his room on his own, when he realized that he probably wouldn’t be able to do that, and put his hand on his chair back to steady himself. When he finally deemed himself ready, he began to wander his way towards the hallway that he vaguely remembered using to return to his room once before.

"I don't think you're dreaming," Shishido said, since he wasn't aware it was possible to be cognizant in someone else's dream. "And even if it were, you wouldn't be gekidasa anyway. Or something." At this point he doubted whether he was making much sense, but then again, Ohtori really wasn't either.

"If you hadn't told me, I would've just taken you back to my room," he said with a shrug. The alcohol seemed to have progressed into having a mellowing effect on him, one that bordered on outright brooding. Frowning, he said with some exasperation as he stood up to follow Ohtori, "If not seeing me bothered you that much, then what stopped you from just tracking me down?"

He didn’t stop walking until he came to the elevator which would take him to his own level. Normally he would use the stairs, but he didn’t really trust his legs at the moment. He leaned his head on the cool metal framing before pressing the call button.

“Shishido-san, I tried. For a couple of days I did nothing but wander around. But then I put my head to some good use and got to thinking. I thought that maybe if you actually were avoiding me there was a good reason. So I stopped looking. Yeah, I whine too much, but what would I have said if I had found you? Whether you were or were not avoiding me? ‘Oh, hey, Shishido-san, I found you! I’ve only been looking a couple of days.’ That would be just a tad odd, don’t you think?”

He wasn’t angry, not really. He wasn’t even frustrated. He was just simply not all there. A quiet chime signaled the opening of the doors to the elevator, and he stepped inside, pressing down the button which held the door open after the one for the fourth floor. Then he let out a little rueful chuckle, shaking his head.

“Great Kami, I hope neither one of us remembers this. Hardly pleasant like before, and that’s entirely my fault…”

As the doors slid open, Shishido followed Ohtori on the elevator, leaning against one of the walls as it began its ascent. "No it's not, I'm just as much to blame as you," he said with a sigh. "I guess I really screwed up, huh? With the not seeing you thing. I should've known better and that you'd start thinking like that," he mumbled, more to himself almost than Ohtori.

"Though if you were going to put your head to good use," he continued, one eye closing as the movement of the elevator didn't quite agree with him in his current state. "It should've been toward realizing you've got yourself a blockhead of a partner sometimes who always gives a damn, but just doesn't always know how to show it." At present a vague part of his mind knew he was being far more glib than normal, and he had to agree with Ohtori that he hoped neither of them remembered this the next day.

Taking that thought in mind, he reached a hand out to tug Ohtori toward him, pulling the taller boy into a hug, face pressed against the other's shoulder. He inhaled the lingering traces of soap, and a scent that was undefiniably Ohtori, crisp and clean as sunlight on a spring day. After a moment he muttered, "I think if the elevator doesn't stop soon I'm going to be sick."

Ohtori was just lost for words, like he always was when his partner got apologetic. It always felt just a little like the day he had cut off his precious hair, and it made his head spin. Though this time, that was more likely the fault of the elevator. He continued to stare dumbly as Shishido rattled off the fact he thought he was dense but admitted he always cared, and when Ohtori finally had the words to say something, he didn’t anymore. Because one Shishido Ryou was now pressed up rather close. Oh.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t been hugged by Shishido before, but he was currently rather intoxicated, and probably more than a little infatuated. Not to mention, the other guy was right there, and he could see the shine on each little strand of brown hair and smell the generic shampoo, and then he realized he had gone stiff as a board, and relaxed a little, patting Shishido’s back. The elevator was his savior, and the bane of his existence, as a short chime announced the opening of the doors.

“Your prayers have been answered, Shishido-san.” He murmured.

Shishido knew he was leaning heavily against Ohtori, but it was hard not to. His partner seemed warm and steady, despite whatever alcohol intake they both had. After a moment he could feel Ohtori relax in his hold, a vague part of his mind noting the soft fabric of the other's shirt against his cheek and wondering at how good it felt to be this close.

"Nngh?" he replied incoherently once he realized that Ohtori had spoken; the world was still on the spinning side, but not so much so he guessed that must mean they had stopped moving.

None too steady on his feet, he eased himself away from his partner as the doors to the elevator slid open. He stepped off, leaning against the wall outside after he had done so. Once Ohtori joined him, he grinned weakly, gesturing down the corridor of doors to the guest rooms. "Lead the way."

Ohtori did as he was told. Rather easily in fact, remaining just one step ahead, and making sure that Shishido-san was completely out of his peripheral vision. Simply because, well, he was drunk and alone with Shishido-san. The latter would have been excuse enough on any occasion, but he felt that being drunk was also valid and could be tossed in for good measure. He was concentrating so hard, he nearly missed the room altogether. Fumbling, he dropped his key on the floor.

“Ah, gomen, I seem to be rather clumsy right now…”

Now, he didn’t know why he was even talking. Who was he apologizing to, the key? Would Shishido even care that he had dropped his key? No, probably not. Speaking (Thinking?) of, Shishido looked about ready to pass out, and Ohtori mulled over whether he should offer to escort his senpai home, when he realized he might not be able to make it back here. He bit his lip. Meanwhile, he bent over to pick up his key, and (having finally procured it and got it safely into the lock) he opened the door, leaving it ajar into the semi-dark room.

“Shishido-san, you should probably stay the night. I mean… I, um, I have an extra bed in here and you look like you might pass out in the hallway trying to get back to wherever you’re staying and I would feel guilty. Plus, it would suck if, you know, someone like Gakuto-senpai came along and started poking you with a stick.”

At the door Shishido had returned to leaning against the wall; wasn't as comfortable as leaning against Ohtori, but that couldn't be helped while his partner was opening the door. He stood in a kind of stupor, gazing thoughtfully at the silver-haired teenager while not really paying attention to much of anything. After a moment he realized he was probably staring, but since Ohtori seemed preoccupied with some other thought, he didn't see any reason to stop.

It took him a few seconds to process Ohtori was speaking to him, and then another few to comprehend what he was being asked. He nodded. The last thing he needed was Gakuto seeing him drunk; the redhead was probably the one responsible, no reason to give him fuel for gloating. "Yeah," he replied. "Seems like a good idea. Don't want the brat coming after me."

He pushed himself up and entered the room, not bothering to try to find a lightswitch as light flooded in from the hallway and a pool of moonlight through the porthole. There wasn't much to impede his progress as he headed toward one of the beds; Ohtori's room was more organized than his own. Sitting heavily on the edge of one matress, he kicked off his shoes and socks, shirt following shortly thereafter. "Does it matter which bed I take?" He probably should have asked that first, but it had slipped his mind.

“No, it doesn’t matter, pick whichever one. I don’t mind either.”

He shut the door blindly, and shuffled over to the desk to turn on the lamp. Then he vetoed the idea, hearing the soft fwump of a shirt hitting the ground. Yeah, less light, better. He could see well enough to know that the other boy had taking the bed he usually slept on, so he was careful to quash his body’s natural urge to go over to the bed farther from the porthole. He peeled back the crisp covers, which would be mercifully cool against his skin, and thoughtfully pulled off his shoes, tucking his socks into them, and folding his own shirt to put overtop them. Normally, he might just stuff them into one of his drawers, but he felt obligated to be good little Ohtori Choutarou at the moment.

He flopped back on the other bed, which made a little squeak of protest. His jeans were tight and uncomfortable for sleeping in, but screw it; it wasn’t as if he wasn’t going to wake up with the worst headache ever. He watched the ceiling for a little while, listening to the soothing sound of someone else’s breathing.

“Shishido-san? Thank you. I mean, I really did have fun tonight, even if we argued and didn’t really do a heck of a lot. I’m glad we got to spend time together.”

Before he laid down, he debated whether or not to leave the pants. On the one hand he was used to sleeping just in his boxers -- not that it mattered much, since he imagined he'd be sleeping like the dead soon enough anyway; on the other hand, he was in someone else's room, even if that someone was Ohtori. He finally settled on removing his belt and unbuttoning his jeans.

Crawling between the sheets, he turned on one side to regard his partner with half-closed eyes. "Anytime, Choutarou." He folded one arm beneath the pillow as he pulled it closer. "We'll do more next time, and argue less. Promise."

Part of his mind registered a familiar scent enveloping him, wrapping around him warmer than the blankets he burrowed beneath. "Good night. And happy birthday."

RP log; Bitch Pair; a practice round

Thu, 09 Mar 2006 06:07:04 GMT

Well, here's a log that Fyre and I have been working on for quite a while, now. XD; Gakuto and Eiji, practicing for whenever they have their match against the Sparkling Pair. These two are actually quite cute if you can look past Gakuto's bitchyness and Eiji being stupid. :D;

The day was very clear and hot, the spring sun beating down on deck with an intensity gifted by the southern climate. Gakuto let his head fall back to feel the warmth of it against his cheeks, rolling his shoulders with a happy purry sound under the slow comfortable burn of the ten or so minutes he'd been sitting here. There was a little splash as his toes momentarily lifted free of the waves in the pool, and he entertained himself for a while with rocking back across the tiled edge and kicking out his feet to throw glittering droplets at the nearest patch of light on the water. Hmm, no volleyball for him today until the sun was no longer so deliciously irresistible, although he'd probably end up at least a little sunburned around the edges at the rate he was going, shirtless and stretched out like a cat on a rock. He found that he didn't particularly care right now even if he might regret it later--if it started to really hurt he'd just slip into the coolness of the pool and swim it off.

Eiji still didn’t have much of an idea why he had agreed to come seek out Gakuto in hopes of getting in some practice before their inevitable match of doom with their respective partners playing together as a doubles combination, that Eiji knew was going to be good, if only because Oishi was capable of playing doubles well with anyone. Really, Eiji didn’t know why he had even agreed to the game period, never mind the fact that he had wanted to have one ever since they had first come onto the court; but, he had wanted to play against D2 of Hyoutei – not have his supposed rival on the same side of the court with him. There was no way they were going to be able to play together all that well, either; not with their playing styles being nearly identical… well, sort of. Eiji thought that the other redhead relied too heavily on his acrobatics, and not on the actual act of basic tennis; he was too… showy.

But, Eiji supposed that was the whole reason why he was looking for Gakuto in the first place – he didn’t want the game to be a complete disaster if he could help it. He didn’t want to make a complete fool out of himself by running into Gakuto while they both leapt for the ball, or something equally as embarrassing as that. At least the sun was bright… it was a nice day for practice, and searching for his new doubles partner was easy – the smaller acrobat was sitting on the edge of the pool, feet dangling in the water, and his face tilted back to soak up the sun’s rays. Eiji would be doing the exact same thing if he didn’t want to get on a court and at least try practicing before playing the actual game… what a hassle.

Approaching Gakuto, Eiji kept the side of his hand pressed up against his forehead to provide a shield from the sun so he could look without needing to squint his eyes – they were sensitive enough as is. “Mukahi,” the redhead said while settling down on the pool deck beside his supposed rival, putting his tennis racket on the ground with care, not wanting to lose the tennis ball that was squashed in the space above the racket. Eiji wanted to keep some distance between them if possible; didn’t know how Gakuto was exactly going to react right at that moment… he wanted to avoid being screeched at, if he could.

Gakuto blinked and brought his head back down when a shadow settled next to him and called his name, sun-blinded eyes taking a moment to adjust where all he saw was a vaguely lit outline. He smirked when he could finally make out the flippy head of red hair; well, what do you know, his rival had been serious about practicing together. He blew a few strands of stray hair out of his eyes and contemplated his response... If nothing else, this should be an interesting exercise in which he could scout out Kikumaru's weaknesses, hmm? "The weather is nice~" he said finally, noncommittally, and put his head back again. Kikumaru even had his tennis racket... But Gakuto wasn't in that much of a mood to get up and get his. What to do, what to do...

It was too much to expect so much as a greeting in return from Gakuto, wasn’t it? Eiji had told Gakuto that he would look for him to practice… after all, it had been Gakuto’s suggestion in the first place – if Eiji had it his way, he would be with Oishi, or Fuji, or someone else from the Seigaku team… not seated beside Gakuto on a gorgeous day. There was no reason why he couldn’t remain friendly, though… it wasn’t that he hated the other boy or anything. “It is a nice day outside,” Eiji agreed; he paused for a moment, contemplating his options, before taking off his sandals and letting his legs stretch out over the water, his heels barely grazing the surface – he might as well get comfortable. “But, that’s not why I’m here – you told me that you wanted to practice for future matches, and considering that we’ve never played together before, this would probably be a perfect time before we both make ourselves look like idiots on the courts.”

Hand moving away from his forehead, Eiji let the both of them fall to the ground, slightly behind his back, leaning back against them while his legs remained completely parallel with the water. “I don’t want to fight with you or anything, and I do think this game could be fun if you would cooperate,” Eiji’s pride was going right down the drain with that statement; but, someone had to be the bigger man, and there was no way Gakuto was going to have that right. “Obviously we don’t want to do this, but we have no choice – Oishi and Oshitari want to play, and, really, if it means me having to play the both of them, I guess that’s just what I’ll have to do.” Frankly, Eiji hoped that Gakuto could do this – he didn’t want his face wiped across the court with Oishi’s doubles skills, and Oshitari’s tensainess, or anything.

Gakuto at first rolled a few choice words on his tongue about how Kikumaru would probably wind up looking like the idiot ~~first~~, considering he was just so much closer to the ground~ But no, he could be civil if he felt like it, actually, and at the moment, believe it or not, Gakuto wasn't really in the mood for a bitching match. They could save that for when their combination, which was going to be the worst on the planet, no doubt, fell apart on the courts before it even formed.

... Kikumaru was really annoying, though. He pouted a little and kicked his feet a bit more vigorously, deliberately splashing the other redhead a little--well, if Kikumaru was going to sit by the poolside like that, he should expect it... And it just wasn't in Gakuto's constitution to not poke his rival a little when he had the opportunity. "Pff. Don't patronize me, Kikumaru. I don't like you at all, but I'm a doubles player when it comes down to it."

His voice was sober when he spoke again, though, his kicking subsiding somewhat. "Oishi's the game maker on your side, I s'pose? Yuushi takes care of that on ours; I don't think I've ever played the baseline. Not my thing," he admitted, thoughtfully. For a moment Gakuto had forgotten who was sitting next to him, perhaps, and was just contemplating how to garner a victory. And maybe it was more important because he was playing against Yuushi. If he couldn't at least be his partner's equal, what business did he have playing doubles with him? "Still, you know how the egghead plays, and I know Yuushi--if we put that together we should be able to come up with a gameplan, eh?"

Somehow, though Eiji didn’t really know why, Gakuto saying that he didn’t like him stirred a little something in his stomach; of course, not everyone could be expected to like him – especially not someone like Mukahi Gakuto, show off extraordinaire – but, Eiji wasn’t used to it actually happening. It was a rather foreign concept to him, and after actually hearing it come out of someone’s mouth for the first time, though unsurprising, made his shoulders droop slightly, as his feet broke the water surface and submerged into the water. “Yup, I know,” there was no point arguing with the other acrobat – waste of time, effort, and again, the screeching would be unnecessary. Even while Gakuto took the immature route (did he think that splashing water was going to make Eiji cry, or something?) he didn’t let himself react further, except simply wiping the water droplets off his arms; at least it wasn’t cold outside.

But, finally, talk about tennis – Eiji could deal with that; it was a comfortable topic and was often used as filler for silence. “I don’t usually play the baseline, but I can.” Eiji highly doubt that they could make their combination work perfectly, but there was no reason why they couldn’t aim for a victory, right? It would likely fall apart knowing Gakuto, and his need to show off at every moment, but they could try, and maybe even discover that they didn’t play half-bad together… even if Eiji highly doubted that would happen. “Knowing the two of them, they’ll probably have this all figured out before we even step onto the court… but we could try – we can obviously read our partners well, so we could use that to our advantage.” Why was he doing this again? Didn’t he say that he would never play doubles again with someone that wasn’t Oishi? So much for that… good thing it was only a game for fun. It felt weird already to be talking about this with his supposed rival, but… it didn’t seem all that bad; the two of them have more in common than they would like to think.

"Hmmmph, well, isn't the point of acrobatic tennis being unpredictable~?" Gakuto sniffed, a little affronted at the insult to his playing style (and Kikumaru's, for that matter), although he didn't deny that the fact that the way Yuushi knew him and the way Oishi no doubt knew his own partner probably made it pretty much moot... "I guess we should actually plan this, though, since they'll no doubt have all sorts of traps set up for us, everywhere." If Gakuto knew Yuushi, he really liked to maneuver his opponents into a false sense of security, before moving in for the kill. It reminded him a bit of the playstyle of that Fuji Syuusuke from Seigaku, albeit a bit more efficient--did all tensais think alike or something? "Anyway," the acrobat stood, or bounced from a sitting position to his feet, whichever way you wanted to look at it, "nothing's getting accomplished just sitting here. I vote we take this to the courts. I'll play you singles first~"

They hadn't played a game against each other in a while--just the two of them. When they'd been younger they'd frequently encountered each other in the street courts and one or the other would throw out a challenge; and before they knew it, they'd have played the day away, neither willing to back down. Gakuto never could figure out if Kikumaru had been seeking him out, or something. He bounced a little on his heels and by the time the other got up was already halfway across deck, practically cartwheeling as he headed for the tennis courts. Whatever else, tennis should be a relief from everything that had happened lately, and a reminder to Kikumaru that Gakuto could still keep up with his rival despite any losses he and Yuushi might have incurred would not go amiss.

Keeping himself from rolling his eyes upward at the sky – really, did Gakuto always have to try and be right no matter the circumstance? – Eiji pushed himself up from the ground, slipping his feet back into his sandals before picking up his tennis racket, flipping it around his wrist with a flourish, and sat it back against his shoulder as he followed his opponent… and current doubles partner. It had been a while since the last time Eiji could actually remember a game that they had played together, just the two of them; it had probably been before the second year of high school, meeting up at the street courts just by chance and without their respectable partners with them. Sometimes, Eiji had to admit, playing games against Gakuto really was fun… not only for the fact they were playing singles with each other, rather than doubles, but the games were always unpredictable… and the outdoing each other was only one side of things. It was easy to become lost in the game, wasting the entire day away in a series of flips, stretches, and other acrobatic movies that would be impossible on the tennis court for anyone else but them.

Although, there were times when Eiji wanted to push his hands against his ears and refuse to listen to Gakuto's taunts, because sometimes the redhead's words were… outrageous. As much as Eiji didn't like Gakuto as a person, he did have talent – and that talent was a joy to play against, even if it was his own moves being spat back to him most of the time; Gakuto would never know that, though.

With an eye trained on the smaller acrobat, Eiji flipped his racket absentmindedly around his wrist once again, walking onto the courts with a slight bounce in his step, and his game face already on. This time, he wasn't going to focus so much on beating Gakuto, but more paying attention to his… tricks, and learn the movements around the courts; there was no use attempting to play doubles if he couldn't even do that much. It was going to certainly be much different than playing doubles with Oishi – and playing against both Oishi and Oshitari that was going to be the strange thing, too. It wasn't so much playing in the back that was going to be the difficult thing… but the paying attention and making sure not to… for lack of a better word, run into his "partner."

"Do you want to serve first?" Stepping onto his own side of the court, Eiji took the tennis ball out from the space between his racket head and handle, and bounced it a few times on the court, before plopping down on the ground to begin his stretches, straightening his legs out in front of him and bending forward to touch his forehead to his knees, much like a folded pancake.

Gakuto was halfway across the court by the time he remembered he'd left his damned shirt on a lounge chair by the pool. Slowing his steps, the acrobat frowned a little--oh, well. Extras in his locker, which he was currently heading for. Moments later, fully clothed with racquet in tow, the Hyoutei redhead came bounding back to face Kikumaru across the net, blue eyes bright and sharp. He hurried to catch up on his stretches.

"Whenever you're ready~" Then it was time for the match, and Gakuto sent the ball whipping across the net with all the weight of his anticipation behind it, completely forgetting the point of the exercise as competitive spirit surged and he sank happily into the pure concentration required to coordinate acrobatics and tennis—a more difficult feat than it looked.

Perhaps it was this single-mindedness, then, that allowed him to notice how Kikumaru was pulling himself back from the game and not to waste time being too annoyed with it; he remembered abruptly what they were there for, and it accounted for why the current game was a tiny bit (just the tiniest) like playing singles against Yuushi--it was the same feeling of being watched, picked apart, although less acute. He found himself responding instinctively to that watchfulness, matching Kikumaru's rhythm and beginning to tone down his own a little, until he was regularly throwing the other redhead's moves back at him in efforts to understand them and sometimes sheerly because he could. Kikumaru's style was far more efficient and cut-down than Gakuto's own--not as fun, but rather enjoyable to play with every once in a while.

Waiting patiently for Gakuto to return to the tennis courts from the locker room that was situated right off the side of the courts, Eiji bent backwards, hands falling to support himself on the cement as he pushed his body into a bridge shape, holding that position for a second before then pushing himself into a handstand. With light inhales and exhales of breath, Eiji kept his feet high in the air before slowly letting his knees bend to tuck in close to his stomach, before standing up straight; it had been awhile since he had been able to practice just his acrobatics without the tennis involved, and Eiji missed it. The controlled movements, various tumbles, cartwheels, and flips presented during a floor routine; even the balance beam was something Eiji craved to use again – it had been one of his favorite apparatuses as a child.

The thought began to form about maybe he could ask Gakuto if he wanted to go with Eiji to practice... maybe Gakuto would probably be able to teach him a thing or two, and Eiji in return… but that idea flew out of his head as Gakuto came bounding back onto the courts, falling into his own stretches, before serving the tennis ball without much of a warning – Eiji ran to the sideline, hitting the ball in return, and kept off-blue eyes trained on the smaller acrobat as he moved across the court. The area around them dissolved as shot after shot flew over the net, some with acrobatics attached, and others without – it seemed that Gakuto was trying to tone his own style down to match Eiji’s, and Eiji found himself hitting back shots that were identical to his own. “Fifteen-love,” Eiji called out as he missed the tennis ball aimed towards the back right corner of the courts, wiping the back of his hand on his brow before getting in position to return the next serve.

"Mo~tto tondemiso~" Gakuto called across the court half-laughingly, pleased at having taken the first point. Although, now that he'd pretty much absorbed his opponent's style, he was getting bored with all this analytical stuff--how did people make it their style of tennis, anyway?--and decided to reward himself by upping the ante a bit. This meant that he slid back into his own style of tennis, but used his fresh experience with Kikumaru's moves to pressure the other acrobat a little more, prodding to see if he'd been hiding anything up to this point. If he hadn't improved more than this, Gakuto would be very disappointed.

At the familiar phrase, Eiji couldn’t help but laugh; it reminded him of a game past; a game that, while he had been the winner, hadn’t been something that he particularly liked to think about. Momo wasn’t too bad at doubles, but playing without Oishi had been difficult… and it had almost been Eiji’s own fault that they had come close to almost losing, if it hadn’t been for Oishi who appeared halfway through and gave Eiji the will he needed to succeed.

With a flip, Eiji returned the ball to his opponent’s side, darting up to the net to return Gakuto’s next shot with a Kikumaru Beam of his own, watching with satisfaction that Gakuto missed the ball by split second of a step. “Zannen munnen, mata raishuu,” Eiji returned his catchphrase with a grin, twirling his racket around his hand before moving in position once more. If Gakuto was going to insist upon moving his game into a mixture of his and Eiji’s moves, then Eiji was just going to have to do the same – see if he could up the rhythm. It would take almost double the effort – there was a reason why Eiji toned down his acrobatics while he was on the court; it wouldn’t be good to tire even more quickly than usual – but if Gakuto was going to throw out the challenge, than Eiji was going to do the exact same. “After this game we should try playing with a ball machine… or maybe we could hit our balls against the wall – we’re not going to be able to practice doubles together quite like this.”

Gakuto just smirked when Kikumaru returned the formula challenge. "Speak for yourself, Kikumaru." Even though he'd just lost another point, and perhaps they were still on more even footing than he liked to think, at least when it came to acrobatics. This was familiar, the rush of adrenaline and the responsiveness of a good opponent on the court (that was not a thought, no, it was more like an instinct, a feeling in his gut that told him all was fine and dandy with the world). It was exactly what he'd needed--not the cruise, not the companionship of his fellow volleyball players, not even, perhaps, Yuushi could have done this for him, helped settle him quite as much.

And the rhythm was perfect (he vaguely remembered this being the catchphrase of someone else, the hell was it with tennis and catchphrases?), at the moment, he could play his best just like this. Hmm, maybe he ought to look into stealing a few ~~more~~ of Kikumaru's moves for future play. Without it being obvious, of
course--Gakuto liked to be original. Kikumaru calling out reminded him once again, though, why they were here and what, exactly, they were trying to do. Preoccupied with the match, Gakuto simply responded, "Sounds fine" and went back to the more pressing business of trouncing the other redhead at his own game.

The game dissolved into sounds of the tennis ball being hit back and forth over the net, both Eiji and Gakuto working their hardest to outdo the other; and neither one of them showed any sign of giving up yet. Before they knew it, and much like their games had always been when they were younger, the afternoon had quickly passed away, the sun beginning to dip down below the level of the top deck they were playing on and disappearing under the surface of the ocean. Eiji was sweating hard – perhaps even more than he usually did while trying to keep up with flashier acrobatics; but, he learned things that would come in handy by the time the real game against Oishi and Oshitari came around, and that was the most important thing. Now, nothing sounded better than just relaxing, maybe asking Oishi if he wanted to come and spend some time in the hot tub, or something.

“Well, the sun’s setting now,” Eiji moved to the front of the net where Gakuto was bent over, hands on his knees, catching his breath. “I think we should stop, and maybe try with a ball machine or something, tomorrow – or, we could try and hunt down a doubles game with someone else, even.” It was difficult to speak – this was the hardest Eiji had played since coming on the cruise. It wasn’t that he was out of shape, but the toll of playing singles when he was so used to having a partner standing in back; there hadn’t been any ranking matches before the cruise on Seigaku’s side of things, so it had been awhile since standing alone on one side of the court.

Gakuto did his best to straighten once the other redhead had come up to the net and started talking; it wasn't easy, he was exhausted (but happy, he could still keep up with Kikumaru when the both of them got carried away) and there was a fierce ache burning under his ribs, that kept his shoulders slightly hunched although he met gazes squarely. "I guess a ball machine'd make sense." He smirked carelessly. "But I'm always up for a game, so you'd better look hard for some worthy opponents~"

Laughing to himself, Gakuto sauntered off the courts without waiting for a reply, belying the fact that he would've preferred to stretch out right there, maybe take a nap under the sunset. Perhaps he'd do that up at his spot, if the wind didn't pick up too badly. And, most surprisingly, he was looking forward to tomorrow.

With a roll of his eyes, Eiji just moved to the side of the court as Gakuto exited, absently flipping the racket around his wrist again; there had been no winner for their game. Oh well – the next day was going to be interesting with practicing alongside each other, rather than on opposite ends of the court. Maybe he could go poke around the swimming pool and go for a swim – and perhaps Oishi would be there, too. Returning his tennis ball to the small “v” space between the racket handle and head, Eiji bounded off, wiping his forehead along his sleeve and made his way to the pool deck once again.

[RP Log: Fuji & Yuuta]

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 00:40:02 GMT

When? Febuary.11
Rating: G
Summary: Fuji goes to Yuuta's room hoping to do a bit of catching up with his brother.

It was well into the morning, Yuuta had already eaten breakfast, trained for a bit before parting with Mizuki, and headed back to their room. Once he arrived, he was a bit tired so he just collapsed onto his bed for a bit.

Syusuke finished applying liniment on his sore wrist and tucked the tube away. His wrist was still swollen but it looked slightly better at least. He stretched a little and headed outside, set on one particular goal. He hadn't really spoken to his brother in far too long and hoped that a little catching up would do them good. He arrived outside Yuuta's door, hoping the slightly younger teen would be inside - without Mizuki preferably - and knocked. As no reply came, he felt the handle and blinked in surprise as the door gently slided open. He looked inside and smiled as he noticed his brother asleep on his bed. Slipping inside, the young genius quietly tiptoed his way over to the bedside and sat down, absentmindedly running his slender fingers over Yuuta's cheek.

The knock at the door went compeletely unnoticed as Yuuta had seemed to have drifted off to sleep. He moved slightly, feeling fingers gently running against his cheek. His eyes abruptly blinked open, seeing his brother sitting down beside.

"...Aniki? How did you get in?" Yuuta sat up, looking towards his brother "And just what are you doing here?"

"The door was open," Syusuke replied calmly, moving further down the bed to give Yuuta some space. "And I wanted to see how you were doing. That's all..."

"I guess probably forgot to close it when I came in earlier," Yuuta blinked, then smiled "Oh, I'm doing just fine, aniki"

"I'm glad to hear that", Syusuke smiled and tucked a few strands of honey colored hair behind his ear. "What have you been up to lately? Is Mizuki-san an okay roommate?"

"The usual" Yuuta shrugged, not really wanted to elaborate much, "Oh, yeah...Mizuki-san is an okay roommate, it's just going to take a bit of getting used to, that's all..."

"He does have some rather strange quirks, doesn't he?" Syusuke stood up and raked his fingers through his hair. "I came to ask you if you wanted to do something really, but if you're sleepy, I should just leave you alone, I guess..."

"Hmm, I guess" Yuuta sighed, then looked over to his brother "No, it's fine. What did you want to do?"

"Maybe just a short walk around deck? I miss talking to you, and we could catch up on things." He smiled softly, sliding the door open. "Shall we?"

"Sure, that's fine with me" Yuuta nodded as he stood up and went towards the door "Let's go"

Syusuke waited for Yuuta to exit the room until he slipped out himself, stepping away to allow Yuuta to lock the door. He walked through the hallway that lead to a larger area where several chairs, plants and a few tables were, all under a gorgeous cieling in crystal and gold. "Atobe's ship is really amazing, isn't it?"

Yuuta smiled, looking around him as he walked beside his brother "Hmm, yeah, it is..."

Syusuke made his way to the nearest elevator and pressed a button. "I like the seventh deck the best, they have a swimming pool", he smiled as they waited for the car to arrive. "You don't mind us killing some time there, do you?"

Yuuta looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook his head, "No, of course I don't mind, aniki"

Syusuke merely smiled in response. The elevator pinged and the doors slid open. Syusuke stepped inside, waiting for Yuuta to enter before he pressed the button that would bring them to the higher level. During the short ride he remained silent, speaking first as the doors opened again and the brothers made their way outside. "I've really hated not being able to keep in touch with you, Yuuta... So please tell me... What have you been up to? I mean... more detailed..."

"Yeah, I know that. You've told me that before, and I guess...maybe, I miss talking to you too" Yuuta said quietly more to himself than to his brother, before answering the question, "More detail? You mean about today, right?"

"About... Well, everything you feel comfortable about telling me, I guess." They arrived at the door that lead outside and Syusuke started struggling with it. The doors on this ship were really heavy, weren't they?

"Okay, well..."Yuuta began, he was about to continue but stopped midsentence when he saw his brother struggling with the door. He came a bit closer, and reached out to help Syusuke out with opening the door "Here,...I'll help"

"Thank you", Syuske smiled weakly. "I've been feeling slightly off lately, and these doors are heavy."

After going though the doors, Yuuta turned and looked at his brother in concern, "Aniki...are you sure you're okay? We can do this another time, if you're not feeling too good"

"What?" Syusuke blinked, then smiled again, his smile wider this time. "I'm just fine. And I really wanted to talk to you..." He walked up to the rail and looked out on the ocean.

"But you can talk to me anytime,so if you aren't fine it's okay, you know" Yuuta sighed, still not entirely convinced with his brother's answer "But okay, if you say so..."

"Thank you", Syusuke smiled and tucked a few strands of hair behind his ear. "It's your birthday in a week, nee? Are you sure you don't want me to get you anything?"

"Uh, yeah...my birthday is coming up," Yuuta looked towards his brother, "but aniki, you don't have to go to the trouble of getting me anything"

"But what if I want to give you anything? Isn't there anything you would like me to get you?"

Yuuta paused for a moment to think about it before answering "Well, if you really want to...but I don't really know what I want. Just anything you get me will be fine, aniki"

"Anything?" Fuji smiled and winked. "Now that's a dangerous thing to say. Remember that orange tie I gave you last time you said something like that?"

Yuuta made face, "Okay, fine. I mean anything as long as it's not too weird"

"And how would I know what you find is weird? Really, Yuuta..." Okay, maybe he shouldn't be teasing him like this, but it had been so long since he actually done that.

Yuuta shrugged, "Oh I don't know, you figure that out since I'm not too sure what I want"

Syusuke's smile faltered and he looked away, walking towards the more open part of the deck. He felt his throat itching, he wanted to cough, but wasn't about to do so after he had told Yuuta that he was fine. No way. "I don't think I could
ever get tired of looking at the sea," he said dreamily.

"Hmm, yeah same here. It's a nice change, I guess..." Yuuta smiled slightly.

Syusuke turned around, the smile back on his face. "Really, do you mean it?" He chuckled softly. "I never knew Yuuta liked the ocean..."

"Yeah, of course I mean it" Yuuta laughed, "I don't know, I guess I just find it relaxing"

"I do too", Syusuke sighed, a slender hand reaching up again to brush away strands of hair from his face. "It gives a peace of mind tennis can never quite give..."

Yuuta nodded, "Yeah, I know what you mean..."

Syusuke felt his head taking a slight spin for the worse, and he paled. "Nee, Yuuta... You know what? I might have to go lie down for a bit.... Sorry about that."

"No, that's perfectly fine. Go ahead and lie down if you need to," Yuuta responded, looking concerned. His brother didn't look too good, and really he should have known his brother wasn't fine, even though he said otherwise, but he decided not to comment on it. "We can talk later when you're feeling better, aniki"

"Sounds like a wonderful idea." Syusuke began walking back the way he came, when he suddenly thought of something and turned around. "It's a promise then, Yuuta?"

"Yes, a promise" Yuuta nodded, "Now go and get some rest, before I change my mind!"

"I hear you," Syusuke smiled, nodded and made his way towards his own room. His body might be failing him right now, but still... He felt happy.

[IM Log: Fuji & Eiji]

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 04:16:30 GMT

When: Sunday 12th.
Rating: G

Angelic Tensai: Uhm... Eiji? Is that you?
eiji r a b u yuu: yuuuup! :D
Angelic Tensai: Hello there! ^_^
Angelic Tensai: Fuji here.
eiji r a b u yuu: hoi, Fu~ji
Angelic Tensai: ^^ How are you?
eiji r a b u yuu: I'm bored, and have nothing really to do~
eiji r a b u yuu: how is Fujifuji?
Angelic Tensai: That's too bad...
Angelic Tensai: I could be better I guess. I think I'm coming down with something... ^^;;
eiji r a b u yuu: yuck, being sick is no fun!
eiji r a b u yuu: make sure you drink lots and lots of fluids, and get sleep~
Angelic Tensai: I will. ^_^ Thank you.
Angelic Tensai: I guess I'm not a good patient though... I should be asleep, but I was lonely, so I opened up my laptop, and you were online, so... ^^;;
eiji r a b u yuu: well, it's not like I mind, of course~
eiji r a b u yuu: just promise me that you'll get a good sleep when you leave :D
Angelic Tensai: o(^_^)o
Angelic Tensai: I will. I threw up this morning. And I've been feeling pretty bad ever since...
eiji r a b u yuu: mou, Fu~ji, that's not good; did you take any medicine?
Angelic Tensai: Uhm... I think I forgot. ^^;;
eiji r a b u yuu: well, take some and then sleeeeeeep~
eiji r a b u yuu: what about food? did you try eating some food?
eiji r a b u yuu: heh, I'm starting to sound like Oishi
Angelic Tensai: You are indeed. ^__^
Angelic Tensai: I've eaten two toasts with butter today. ^^
eiji r a b u yuu: that's good~
Angelic Tensai: Well... What have you been up to today? Done anything fun?
Angelic Tensai: What are you planning for Valantine's? If you are planning anything?
eiji r a b u yuu: well, Oishi and I played a volleyball game earlier, but other than that, I've just been sort of hanging around in our room or on the pool deck
eiji r a b u yuu: nope~ don't have anything planned for Valentine's Day... I wish we... er, I did, buuuuut
Angelic Tensai: Oh...
Angelic Tensai: Things aren't so good right now...? Not that it's any of my business, but...
eiji r a b u yuu: mouuu
eiji r a b u yuu: I still haven't been able to tell Oishi
eiji r a b u yuu: and every time I come cloooose, we get interupted
Angelic Tensai: I'm sorry to hear that...
Angelic Tensai: Oh...
Angelic Tensai: Brb..
Angelic Tensai: [Two Minutes Later]
Angelic Tensai: Back. Sorry about that...
eiji r a b u yuu: it's fine~ it's just frustrating after awhile
eiji r a b u yuu: I've been so close to saying it sooooo many times
Angelic Tensai: You really love him then?
eiji r a b u yuu: well... I... do love him, but right now I wouldn't really call this lovelove, you know? I mean... he's my partner... it's Oi~shi... and I really, really want to be with him in a... relationship, but... I don't know if it's love in *that* way yet...
eiji r a b u yuu: you can't really tell until these things happen, right?
eiji r a b u yuu: mou
Angelic Tensai: I wouldn't know, really, but... Do you...
Angelic Tensai: To be blunt...
Angelic Tensai: Do you have any... fantasies about him? Sexual ones?
eiji r a b u yuu: I... mm... yeah...
Angelic Tensai: Then I'd say it's more than just partner partner love at least. Since there are sexual feelings involved.
Angelic Tensai: If you ask me... I'd say it's love in 'that' way.
Angelic Tensai: Then again, I've never dated, but...
eiji r a b u yuu: yeah...
eiji r a b u yuu: well, I *do* want to be with him
eiji r a b u yuu: I... I want to kiss him...
eiji r a b u yuu: ...well, I already kinda have a few times...
Angelic Tensai: Oh?
Angelic Tensai: What did he say about that?
eiji r a b u yuu: well... it was him who did it, actually...
Angelic Tensai: Oh?
Angelic Tensai: Congratulations...?
eiji r a b u yuu: well... mou
eiji r a b u yuu: the first time was after he got back with Oshitari-san and Yukimura-san... and... he had a little bit to drink...
eiji r a b u yuu: he said he had been... questioning himself -- been attracted to the same sex...
eiji r a b u yuu: and then the second time... was when it was Kamio-kun's birthday, and we left the party early... and he just asked me if he could kiss me again...
eiji r a b u yuu: and after that was one of the times I almost told him... but then Atobe-san had fireworks for the party, and it interrupted us
Angelic Tensai: I'm sorry to hear that...
Angelic Tensai: And sorry for my late reply, I had to get away from the keyboard again.
Angelic Tensai: You don't think he suspects anything?
eiji r a b u yuu: I... don't know
eiji r a b u yuu: we share the same bed, too, but we've always done that...
eiji r a b u yuu: actually, he got us a new room because I was having nightmares sleeping alone, and it just has one big bed...
eiji r a b u yuu: but, again, we've just always done that... it just feels right
Angelic Tensai: Just tell him, Eiji. From what I can tell it's pretty clear that he's attracted to you too.
eiji r a b u yuu: really? do you really think so, Fujifuji?
Angelic Tensai: I do.
Angelic Tensai: <33
eiji r a b u yuu: hee~ well, I hope you're right! :D
Angelic Tensai: I hope so too. ^_^
eiji r a b u yuu: thank youuuuu, Fu~ji
Angelic Tensai: You're welcome. ^_^
Angelic Tensai: Well... I really should get to bed... My head's is doing some very strange things right now... o.o
eiji r a b u yuu: sleep is goooood~
Angelic Tensai: Yes... Think I'm going to find a bucket first though...
eiji r a b u yuu: well, hopefully you won't have to use it~
Angelic Tensai: Hope so too... ^_^;;
Angelic Tensai: It's not really dignifying...
eiji r a b u yuu: and it's yuck, toooo
Angelic Tensai: It is.
Angelic Tensai: And I don't do 'yucky' things.
eiji r a b u yuu: of course not~
eiji r a b u yuu: Fuji Shuusuke and yucky things are a nono ^_~
Angelic Tensai: Of course. ^_~
eiji r a b u yuu: we~ell, go get sleeeeep
eiji r a b u yuu: I don't want to have to come to your room and tell you that, now >P
Angelic Tensai: Why not? I have... Uhm... Fresh germs!
eiji r a b u yuu: yuck~ I don't wanna get siiiiiick
Angelic Tensai: I know...
Angelic Tensai: Maybe you shouldn't come then...?
eiji r a b u yuu: nah~ until Fuji is alllllll better
eiji r a b u yuu: once he's alllllll better, then I'll come~
Angelic Tensai: You do that. ^^ And then I'll have cookies. Maybe. But I don't eat cookies... I'm weird... Don't mind me. Think I have a fever... ^^;;
eiji r a b u yuu: mou, Fujifuji, just go to bed~ you're not getting better any quicker by staying up
Angelic Tensai: I know... ^^;;
eiji r a b u yuu: don't make me go mommy Oishi on you, now~
Angelic Tensai: I just like talking to you. I've missed you.
Angelic Tensai: <333 Would that be so bad?
eiji r a b u yuu: aww
eiji r a b u yuu: I've missed you, too, Fu~ji
Angelic Tensai: Thank you. *hugs*
eiji r a b u yuu: <3 :D
Angelic Tensai: ^_^
Angelic Tensai: Well... bed.
Angelic Tensai: I'm starting to feel really sick...
eiji r a b u yuu: bed, bed, bed~
eiji r a b u yuu: I'll talk to you later, Fuuuuuji
eiji r a b u yuu: remember, medicine~
Angelic Tensai: Yes.
Angelic Tensai: Good night, Eiji.
eiji r a b u yuu: nightynight, Fu~ji

RP Log: Fuji & Kirihara

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 19:46:31 GMT

When? Dunno? Today? Or rather tonight? XD 30th of Jan.
Rating? PG to be safe~
Summary: Random meeting at night, a bit of 'inteligent' conversation and a tennis match :D

Also, hope it's not bad to date logs :D;; habit from xp? XD; and I think the mod needs to create the tags for all charas? :D;;

The soft sound of waves slushing against the ship's immense body made a calming impression on Fuji Syusuke where he stood outside on the highest accessable passenger deck in the middle of the night, full moon shining down on him from a black sky covered in torn clouds and the occational star that fought an almost futile battle against the overpowering clouds. The breeze was cold and Fuji could feel the hairs on his bare arms stand straight up. And it wasn't the most normal thing to do, standing outside a winternight dressed only in a pair of jeans, a teeshirt and a thick vest, then again, Fuji Syusuke wasn't known for being the most normal person around. The cold made him feel alive and he didn't even consider going inside to put on something warmer. He wanted it like this.

The night was nice, even though slightly on the cold side and a bit cloudy (well... that was a misunderstanding, but whatever). Kirihara liked cold, though it didn't mean he wore light clothes. No, thanks. Sunburn and a smashed hand was enough for him, he didn't want a cold or some other illness to be the next thing that would happen to him.

And the boy liked nights in general. It was always quiet then and he always could be alone, but... apparently not tonight. Great, Sengoku probably sucked his luck away, Akaya thought as he saw the lone figure, "You gonna catch a cold like that."

Fuji turned his head slightly and tried to keep from raising an eyebrow when he saw who the boy was that had approached him. Kirihara Akaya. Well... interesting. "Saa", he replied, turning his gaze back to the moon. "Cold weather doesn't cause colds per say. Viruses do."

Akaya resisted rolling his eyes and looked down to the water, standing next to the other boy as he did. "Still, standing in cold is not healthy." Which was not to say that Kirihara cared, actually... he didn't, it was just a natural reaction, or something.

"True, for long it isn't." Fuji stepped aside slightly, allowing the younger boy more room. "Everything all right?" You could always be polite. You should always be polite. So, why not try and keep a conversation going here? Even if the company was Kirihara.

The Rikkai player didn't say anything for a while, just put his chin on his folded arms, watching the water below. Then he gave Fuji a look, saying, "Yeah, you?"

"I'm quite fine, thank you." This was beginning to feel a bit stupid, exchanging empty phrases like this, but Kirihara was a person he wanted to be... careful around. For the time being. "How was your New Year?"

Akaya gave a shrug, "Apart from puking my guts up, it was fine." The fact was... he didn't remember much of it anyway. And this... was going to sound completely stupid, but... "You?" And the boy couldn't help the snicker that escaped him. Now, this was some "interesting" conversation.

Interesting indeed. Fuji shivered in the cold breeze and he could feel the tip of his nose growing colder by the minute. "Sounds like you were having a party then? I didn't do much at all. I finished a really nice book and had a lovely dinner."

"Sort of," and he didn't care to elaborate. " 's nice then." What could he talk about with Seigaku's Fuji of all the people? A question that probably won't get an answer any soon.

Fuji took a deep breath and glanced over at Kirihara from the corner of his eye. "So... On a more general plane... How are things shaping up for you, Kirihara-kun?"

... Akaya wanted to spat that it wasn't Fuji's business, but right. He was supposed to behave himself. Buchou wouldn't be pleased, not at all. "Just like they should, nothing interesting," apart from having a certain redhead around.

Fuji raised an eyebrow at that and smiled. "What? You don't think it's interesting to be here on this cruise?"

"As much as I like water, I don't like being stuck in one place." And what there was to do? Except for swimming, sunbathing, and playing tennis? Nothing.

"You're still here though", Fuji commented mildy. "What's keeping you here then?" He turned his eyes back to the sky and the moon. "I like it here. It can be pretty a serene atmosphere surrounding a ship like this."

An eyebrow raised, "How do you think I could leave?" Nothing was keeping him there to be honest. As annoying as the thought was, Sengoku would probably get bored soon. "It is nice, sure. But boring at times."

Fuji sighed and pushed himself away from the rail. "I'm getting cold. You're up for a game?"

Well, that's not what he came here for, but why not? Seigaku's tensai surely would give him a nice game. A much better than just practise games Akaya got to play during training. Pushing himself away as well, he looked at the other, nodding his head, "Sure," After a moment he added with a smirk, "If you want your ass beaten~"

Fuji smiled sweetly at that, and nodded towards the door. "I'll meet you at the indoor's court in five minutes then? I need to get changed." He left slowly, struggling a little bit with the rediculously heavy door that lead to the inner parts of the ship before he made his way to his cabin.

Akaya wasn't so slow with getting to his cabing and grabbing his things. Sure, he had time and it wasn't far, but oh well. He disliked being slow.

So quite soon, he was at the indoor's court. Clad in long, black sweatpants and a matching T-shirt. Rikkai uniform was for training, this was just a... "friendly" match. Right, he might as well start warming up.

Fuji went through his things and soon found a white T-shirt with yellow borders and a pair of dark blue sweatpants. He quickly changed and picked up one of his rackets from the bag, feeling the strings thoughtfully. He thought quickly that maybe he was a bit out of his mind, challenging Kirihara Akaya of all people for a game, but he wanted something to do and it wouldn't be too bad if he could help the other boy with his boredom as well, since boredom was bad. Really.

His arms felt ice cold and he thought quickly of getting a jacket too, but he had never liked playing wearing one. He would defrost eventually anyway. He shrugged it off and picked up a tube containing three balls, then made his way over to the court. As he arrived he noticed that Kirihara already was there. Eager was he? "I'm sorry if I kept you waiting."

Kirihara was always earlier than necessary, unless it was school, that wasn't usually his fault, but whatever. He was used to waiting, aware that not many people liked and could show up same moment he did. When Fuji arrived he was half way through his normal warming up exercises and he did intent on finishing them up. The other boy needed some as well anyway.

"That's fine, how much time do you need to warm up?" Akaya asked.

"Playing against you is warm up enough I think", Fuji smiled sweetly. "You can have the first serve if you want."

For that the older boy recived a glare, Kirihara would make sure it was more than just warm up for the other. Damn right. He took his position and didn't wait for Fuji to get ready just served. Hard and fast, seriously annoyed.

Kirihara was good but Fuji prouded himself to have potential to be even better than Tezuka if he really put his mind to it, and he was not about to take this lying down. He returned the first serve with what seemed like no effort at all, but it had actually been rather close that he had missed it as he had been unprepared, then they rallied back and forth, Akaya's play becoming rougher by each serve from either side. It didn't take long before Fuji had to resort to a few of his counter attacks, however he didn't use either the Hakugei or the Kagerou Zutsumi. He didn't use the first since there was no wind inside and he didn't see any use for his fourth counter. He still couldn't avoid that a few of the balls connected with himself rather than the racket, and he was pretty sure he would sport some pretty ugly bruises in the morning. But it was worth it. This was actually... entertaining.

Definitely entertaining. To be honest Akaya thought so as well, it didn't stop him though from pushing forward, using his annoyance and anger to show Fuji that he was not to be taken lightly. Thanks to Rikkaidai's harsh training he had great amount of stamina so he could continue playing for long. The demon inside was sealed long time ago as well. Even though... sometimes, rarely as it was, he snapped. Seigaku's player could feel safe though, at the moment Kirihara was far from losing control.

Over the years, after for the first time he entered the state of self actualisation, he worked on it a lot, with both Sanada-fukubuchou and Yukimura-buchou. It took a lot of time and determination, but Akaya managed to figure it out. He had no problems with switching to that mode and not fainting right after.

This was supposed to be a "friendly" match, but to hell with it. It was his serve again, and he decided to go for it. Showing off a little never hurt anyone. Taking his time with the serve, he focused, closing his eyes. It took only a second or two and he felt that familiar and pleasant rush of adrenaline. Opening his eyes and smirking, the younger boy shot the ball. Faster and stronger than before.

Since this was supposed to be a 'friendly' match, and that had been the purpose to begin with, Fuji was actually taken by surprise as the next ball came faster than the pervious one and as the ball hit the racket he could feel a sharp pain go from his wrist and spread itself through his entire lower arm. It took all his will power not to drop the racket at the force of the impact and he grabbed onto it with his other hand as well, returning the ball... that ended up right in the net. He looked up and rubbed his wrist absentmindedly, eyes narrowing as he could almost see the force that radiated from the younger boy. He had felt this before, years ago when playing against Kirihara, all though he hadn't been able to see anything at the time. "Going all out are you", he smiled, sending the ball over to Kirihara to await his second serve.

Another smirk, and a snarky answer, "Deal with it." Flexing his shoulders for a second, Akaya threw the ball in the air and sent another strong shot to the other side of the court. He wanted to win the match fair, otherwise... buchou wouldn't be happy, not at all, and who knew what Sanada would do. The thought was scary to say at the least.

It wasn't long before Fuji found himself running back and forth across the court, sweat pouring down his face. This was draining, both physically and psychologically, the raw energy that radiated from the younger boy was enough to make his head spin, especially at this late hour. He managed to keep the defeat at bay for another fifteen minutes before he had to admit his defeat, 7 - 5. He wiped his face with his towel then walked up to the net, extending a sweaty hand to Kirihara. "Thank you."

Kirihara was tempted to just ignore the other boy, but decided against it. He shook Fuji's hand, but didn't stop the snarl in his voice, "Good enough for a warm up?" He then turned around and walked up to his things. Grabbing the water bottle he drained it all at once. Damn... this match also exhausted him quite much.

Now Akaya just wanted a long, hot shower and then maybe curl up somewhere warm, possibly with someone.

"Good enough. For a game being played in the middle of the night at least", Fuji said calmly, turning around to get his own things. When he had everything he somehow made it all the way to a shower where he quickly washed most of the sweat of him as well as eased his aching muscles. Now for a good night's sleep...

[Marui, Ohtori] Meeting for the first time

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 00:37:15 GMT

Just 3,000 words of Ohtori attempting to show Marui that Hyoutei isn't so bad. Whee! My first log~

Munch, munch, munch. Soft crunches of something hard – cookies most likely – being broken and chewed were heard throughout one of the various dining rooms on Atobe’s massive ship. The small redheaded tensai of Rikkai sat cross-legged on the floor – alone. Idly, one crunchy cookie of golden-brown went into that soft mouth. The consumer lost in his thoughts.

It had only been a while since he’d woken up in the compromising situation with Gakuto and Jiroh, and right now he wanted to do nothing more than hide from the world with his sweet little treats. He didn’t know how to feel, so he decided not to feel anything about it. He just sat there in silence, eating one cookie after another.

The light-haired second year wandered into the dining room, feeling a little foolish after having woken late enough that he had missed breakfast and lunch. As per the norm, an assortment of fresh fruit and chilled sandwich fixings, as well as salads and desserts, were laid out on the long buffet table. However, not as per usual, there was a redhead sitting alone in the middle of the floor.

Somehow, Ohtori was nervous. He hadn’t met very many people on this cruise yet, and although he had conversed with the Rikkai prodigy over his online journal before, he hadn’t actually met him. He walked over to where Marui was sitting, and cleared his throat gently.

“May I sit here?”

Deep pink strands and crumbs were jostled as the small boy jumped at the sudden voice. He hadn’t heard anyone approaching. Though, he had been pretty intent on eating his snack. Blinking curious purple eyes, Marui looked up… and then looked further up until he found himself staring into warm chocolate eyes. Very tall and friendly looking, the redhead knew the boy. He was one of the doubles players in Hyoutei.

He frowned just a little. He wasn’t feeling very friendly towards the other team right now, seeing as two certain people from that team made his heart twist and turn in miserable directions. Ah well, he wasn’t one to judge. The boy looked friendly enough… (Even though, Jiroh was quite friendly too…)

“Of course,” the volley specialist replied, taking a minute to swallow all the food in his mouth. “I didn’t think anyone would actually want to sit on the floor, but if you can manage with those long legs of yours~.”

“Thank you, uh…” he thought a moment. “Marui-san.”

He sat down, leaning back on his hands and feeling the slight burn of the rigid carpet against his palms. He looked at the other boy, who seemed to be very involved in his small mountain of cookies. He seemed unhappy, though, which was out of character (at least from what Ohtori had heard).

“Anou… What’s eating you?”

His attempt at humor fell flat from the lack of confidence he’d had, and a pun that would have made Rokkaku’s Dabide cringe. He nearly smacked himself in the forehead. Good job, Choutarou, way to make friends.

What… was eating him…? Marui blinked his pretty amethyst eyes at the question; it took a while for him to realize that it was a joke. He bit his lip at the expression on the younger boy’s face, unsuccessfully trying to keep his laughter down. Cute, cute, cute, cute! The bubblegum-haired boy had to admit, Hyoutei could dish out a strange variety of characters. Not that Bunta minded in the least. <3

Stifling the last of his giggles, the smaller boy shifted over so he could lean on the silver-haired tennis player. “That’s funny.”

“You really think so?”

He smiled happily, enjoying the fact that his terrible excuse for a joke had been so well received. The happier version of Marui was definitely the better one, he automatically decided, as someone with hair so incredibly pink shouldn’t walk around with a frown on his face. Which still begged the question: What was on the Rikkai player’s mind? Did he need someone to talk to? Every once in awhile, Ohtori felt the need to vent his frustrations, and maybe Marui wanted to talk.

“Really, though, why the long face?” He queried down to the shorter boy currently resting his head on Ohtori’s shoulder, coffee tinted eyes inquisitive.

“Ah…” Marui shuffled around a little, dusting the cookie crumbs off his hands and lap. The younger boy was a relief. It was annoying to deal with so many people who jumped around the subject and didn’t want to get the real point across. Marui, even as a tensai, couldn’t get past the strongest of personalities to figure out what was real and what wasn’t. Especially over the journals, it was impossible. He couldn’t do it and he was no less of a genius because of it.

Making himself more comfortable against the light-haired boy’s side (who wouldn’t want Marui Bunta leaning against them?), the pink-haired boy let out a sigh closing his eyes. He felt strangely tired. “You don’t want to hear me whine, do you… Ohtori-kun?”

“I don’t mind. O-Only if you want to tell me though. I mean, you don’t really know me and might not want to tell me because of that, but I’m a good listener…”

He laughed shakily, mentally slapping himself for the umpteenth time in the span of a few minutes for his less than normal behavior. He used the arm that Marui wasn’t leaning on to scratch the back of his neck nervously, and he could tell that he was blushing slightly, because his ears felt hot. Face it, Choutarou, if you want human companionship from time to time, you’ve gotta stop tripping over your own feet. He cringed inwardly at his conscience’s statement. It was only the truth, he knew, but he would have liked to think that he could interact with someone new without stuttering.

A small lazy smile fell over light pink lips; Marui looked up curiously at the other boy. The smile morphed into a frown when he saw the blush over the other’s cheeks. Poor boy was probably in awe of his tensai-like company. Then again, he’d never really met anyone that got flustered because of his tennis genius, though more people should.

“That’s really nice of you Ohtori-kun~,” he chirped, smirking a little deviously. Poor second year looked so cute, blushing because of nothing like that. The redhead knew that sometimes when you giggled a bit too hard you turned red but it didn’t look like that was the case. Reaching up a tennis-calloused finger he tapped those red cheeks gently. “Something the matter?”

“No, nothing’s wrong, Marui-san. I’m just not much of a talker these past couple of days. I’ve only seen Hiyoshi, and it seems some of my other teammates have been… Avoiding me.”

The second year trailed off, barely even mumbling the last two words. Ohtori almost let himself wallow in self pity for a moment before he realized that he was supposed to be helping Marui, not the other way around. This time, he really did smack himself in the forehead; something he hadn’t done since at least the last year of grade school.

“I’m sorry, Marui-san, don’t pay attention to that. I’m supposed to be helping you out, and my teammates are really nice people. Like… Mukahi-san! He was so nice to cheer me up over my journal, even though I think he has something going on by himself. So I’m just being silly.”

The redhead frowned. Poor kid, Marui knew how he felt though. Rikkai was so mean sometimes~ if it hadn't been for his wonderful buchou and uberly wonderful doubles partner, he just quit. Tennis was about team work after all, and if you didn't have that then you weren't going to get very far. The volley specialist didn't believe that all it took was a will to succeed, everyone had their strengths and weaknesses and where those lay wasn't something people could control all too easily.

Oh right, he had company. He really had to stop spacing out, it was depressing that he was getting used to being alone. Maybe the Hyoutei second year was just the friend he needed~.

"Ah~, I feel so bad for you, Ohtori-kun." He grinned up at the other, dark lashes heavy on his puffed out cheeks. "Such a nice boy like you shouldn't have to be on a team with… with… Mukahi."

Ohtori may have been dense at times, but he wasn't quite stupid. The intonation Marui tacked on to his upperclassman's name conveyed more, perhaps, than had been intended. The light haired boy knew Mukahi somewhat, and he could be snarky and even mean at times, but not to the extent that someone he didn't even know would dislike him. Furthermore, Marui didn't seem to be the type to dislike someone for no reason, even if it was someone who could be typecast as being downright bitchy. That left some kind of angsty childhood drama that came a dime-a-dozen in manga, but more likely, from the somewhat jaded look on the purple-eyed senior's face, the two had been or were still romantically involved.

But wasn't Mukahi involved with Oshitari?

He shook his head, trying to loosen up his tense facial muscles from knitting his eyebrows too much. As he had heard from his somewhat vain mother from time to time, too much thinking gives you wrinkles.

"But Marui-san... Mukahi-san is a really nice guy. He can be kind of a spazball sometimes, and sometimes he's mean to other players, but he doesn't mean to ruin anyone's day. Well, not that I can say that for sure, but as a character witness, I would say he's pretty friendly. Atobe-buchou is similar in that way. He can be so vain sometimes, but he cares for his team. I could go on about every one of my teammates. Hyoutei might seem very pretentious, but we're all still human beings. We care about one another."

Wait just a second... the Hyoutei Regulars... they were human?

Ok, maybe that was a little harsh. Considering that he hadn't even met all the Hyoutei Regulars yet. And from what he could see Ohtori was a very sweet and I-like-to-worry-even-if-you're-a-stranger type guy. Not to mention perceptive, which really helping the whole caring bit. But the others! The others! Marui, as lost as he was in his own little world, had heard bits and pieces about the other teams. He'd heard Yanagi, Kirihara and Jackal talking about Hyoutei once (he supposed he was apart of the conversation too, even if he was only there because Jackal had promised to take him out for ice cream and cake).

Apparently, there was a diva (Atobe, he assumed), a tensai sadist (no one he could think of... rum candies?), an annoying acrobat (Gakuto), a narcoleptic (Jiroh), a zombie (...?), a drama-queen, a puppy (who from the looks of it was Ohtori) and a mushroom. Not exactly the most appealing of characters. Actually, Marui was surprised he even remembered that conversation, it was such a long time ago...

"Oh~ everyone in a team cares about their team mates, Ohtori-kun," he said thoughtfully, cheerful look still on his face, "It's other -- normal -- people that I'm talking about."

Wait, where was this conversation going now? Hadn't Marui said Mukahi in particular? He shook his head, it would go nowhere but far into confusion if he pressed the topic. Instead, he moved to get up and stretch his legs, walking over to the buffet to pick up a piece of fruit before going to sit back down. There was something awakward about standing above someone your were talking to, especially a senpai. He took a bite into his small lunch, and looked over at the pink-haired boy inquisitively.

"What about you, Marui-san? Why don't you like Mukahi-san...?"

He left the question as open ended as possible, wanting to continue, but knowing that if he inferred something wrong he could truly insult the other boy.

Letting a red tongue poke out of the side of his mouth, Marui's violet eyes regarded the other boy curiously. The Rikkai genius could pick up a little something glimmering behind those eyes that reminded him of chocolate, which in turn reminded him that he could really use some chocolate right now. Especially little bits of it on a golden-brown cookie… especially one that was made out of ice cream. And if Jackal were here the two of them would go out for ice cream after every tennis practice Sanada made them go through because Jackal knew what it meant to be a good friend. Therefore he didn't mind waiting thirty minutes when Marui couldn't decide what flavour he wanted because he didn't have enough time to think about it before they got to the shop because Jackal really knew how to keep up a conversation…

Back on topic, his relationship (that was a general enough term right?) with Mukahi was complicated, Bunta being the tensai he was didn't have the time to bother with… such… trivial… things…

Right then.

"Uh…" Smart. Marui was a genius he could come up with something in the Japanese language that resembled an answer, couldn't he? "Why should I like… him?" He lifted and dropped a slim shoulder for a careless shrug. "Na Ohtori-kun, what kind of cookies do you like?"

"Well, I was just wondering why you didn't like him. But I suppose you have enough reasons to dislike him... Or maybe it's just unfounded dislike..."

The light haired boy trailed off, unsure. He couldn't think of one person he disliked for no reason at all. In fact, he couldn't think of one person he genuinely disliked. Everyone had their own personalities, he conceded, and maybe that was just the way Marui was. Some small inkling told him that was not the truth, though, but he squashed it. Pushing topics was not a very polite thing to do, and the shrug that the older player had given him was a simple enough gesture he took to mean 'I could care less about what we're talking about.' The sudden change of topic was also a deciding factor. Really, though, what did cookies have to do with anything? Ohtori had seen people who could go off on tangents completely unrelated, and he'd heard that Marui was really into sweets, but wow, it was so random. He nearly completely forgot to answer the question.

"Ah! I like... Oreos...?"

"Eh~… Oreo ice cream is so good, isn't it Ohtori-kun?" Pink eyebrows raised high as he leaned closer to the other boy. Oh wait, was eating ice cream with someone from Hyoutei a safe thing to do…?

Pfft.

Yeah right, like doing anything with Ohtori was dangerous. (Save perhaps asking for… what was it? A Scud Serve? Yeah, having one of those aimed at your head.) Besides, what else was there to do? "We should have some~"

He gasped slightly. Oreo Ice Cream was his favourite food in the entire world (with the exception of beef casserole). He had forgotten how much he enjoyed the confection until Marui had brought it up, remembering the time the Regulars had gone out for a celebration after defeating St. Rudolph. He hadn't tried it previously, but he knew he liked the cookies, so he had tried it, and he had been happier than a Jirou awakened. He smiled giddily, nearly giggling.

"Can we, do you think they have it~? I would love some!"

He exclaimed rather rambunctiously, and then he did deign to laugh a little, realizing how incredibly hyper he must seem.

"Ah~ Sorry, Marui-san, you just reminded me how much I love it."

Amusing. Bunta could feel the twitch of his mouth tugging upwards as he took in the sudden change in the other boy.

"Never let it be said that you can't into a man's heart through his stomach, Ohtori-kun," he laughed a little. Tossing a slightly muscled arm around the pale-haired boy's neck, he winked happily. There we go; food always gave him a homey feeling. It was easier than tagging mementos along with him everywhere. "Don't let that become too true."

With a smooth push and movement of slim legs covered in jeans, Marui had pushed himself up, grin on his face. His hand had managed to move up with him and was lightly playing with the silver strands atop Ohtori's head. "There must be some in the kitchen, ne~?"

"Not too true... So in other words, don't become too much like you, Marui-san?"

He laughed lightly, letting the other know he was only joking. Now that they were on a happier subject, he felt a little more free to smile and be playful. Funny, he had never really felt so at ease with someone he hadn't ever met. Maybe it was just the general childish gaiety that Marui gave off.

He picked himself up off the floor, wondering if it was okay to just barge into the kitchen. He hadn't ever been on a cruise before, private or public, so he had no idea how the staff would react. But the grumble in his stomach betrayed the fact that he didn't really care. Fruit wasn't exactly the most satisfying meal to a teenaged boy (not that ice cream was any better, but the calories would probably keep him until dinner). He was suddenly overcome to just act his age and do something impulsive. He extended one arm, pointing at the door to the kitchen exuberantly, over-exaggerating the gesture by making some sort of silly, determined face.

"To the kitchen~!"

Pouting in the slightest of indignation at the second year's comment, Marui nodded his head, dark pink strands overlapping and flying around. For what it was worth, the bubblegum-haired boy felt bad for badmouthing Hyotei earlier. He still wasn't really familiar with the other team but they couldn't be that bad…?

Perhaps it was time to stop really thinking about people as just tennis players. It would stop the classification for sure… but Marui was proud to be the genius of Rikkai! He wanted everyone to know when they saw him that he was from Rikkaidai Fuzoku.

"Yeah~, to the kit-chen~!"

Oh well.