Recess (Prince of Tennis, G)
Title: Recess
Author: Shi Lin
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Type: (very mild hints of) yaoi
Pairing: Inui/Kaidou
Rating: G
Challenge/Time Taken: Seasonal, 60 + 2 mins rough edit

Disclaimer: How many times am I saying this? Property of Konomi-sensei and the rest of them.

Notes: I thought chestnuts would be good, but that occured to me *after* I wrote the middle scenes, so I said Heck That and concluded it in haste, for time was ticking. Once again, it would make me very happy to hear from y'all. :3

(baked apples with dark chocolate in the centre really *are* good, trust me on this. Non-traditional-Japanese food notwithstanding. n_n;)



Kaidou still isn't too sure how he managed to enter the same high school that Inui attends. But he has, and already it is the third quarter of his first year.

Inui frequently drops by his classroom during lunchtime. This has gone on for a few months, and Kaidou isn't too sure why he does this, either. But he has stopped brusquely feigning objection; no one else asks him to eat with them, not that he particularly wants them to, of course. Sometimes they do work as they eat, and Kaidou is forced to admit that having Inui around is extremely useful when he has physics assignments due. This is something of a sore point with him - he dislikes relying on other people in any case, but the fact that Inui is the one helping him now makes it worse (he does not bother to examine the cause; it just *is*.) Though Inui seems perfectly happy with helping him, not that Kaidou understands why. In any case he has started putting in extra work for his mechanics tutorials on weekends.

It is the third quarter of his first year; it is the season when a chill nip enters the wind and the leaves change hue. They have taken to eating outside the school building, at a sheltered area a short distance away from the tennis courts, with the leaves starting to fall around them.

Kaidou's mother always packs a traditional-style bentou for him, but one day Inui brings out two round shapes wrapped snugly in aluminium foil that is charred from heating, and passes one to him. Kaidou is initially inclined to reject it, having intimate knowledge of the type of concoctions its giver is capable of producing, but then he is struck with the realisation that Inui does not *give* people things meant to flay their digestive systems. He sets penalties and forces them to ingest whatever he conjures up with manic satisfaction. Besides, there are two of the - things, but he has never seen Inui eat whatever he makes.

So.

So he decides to risk it, still reluctantly, and takes the foil-wrapped object with a nod and a muttered "Doumo." Inui does not say what it is and Kaidou decides that he's already being crazy anyway; he might as well continue that line of action. The thing is still warm. He gingerly peels back the burnt foil and a slightly sticky-looking surface is revealed; as the rest of the foil crackles back Kaidou realises he's looking at what appears to be a Fuji apple.

Inui watches him as he takes a cautious bite. Kaidou, for his part, is immensely relieved to find that it really *is* an apple. The softened flesh easily gives way under his teeth, its warm scent filling his nostrils. Kaidou is not exactly a fan of sweet food, but he willingly takes a second, deeper mouthful.

His eyes widen as the baked taste of the apple is suddenly mixed with a trickle of thick, slightly bitter -

"Chocolate," Inui says placidly, still watching him closely, and Kaidou starts to breathe normally again. He has the sense that Inui is hugely enjoying this. "Unsweetened, with 85 percent cocoa content. A balance to the sweetness of the apple."

It does taste good, Kaidou grudgingly concedes. He finishes the apple without comment and reaches for his small thermos of sencha - no, he thinks, he really doesn't understand Inui sometimes. But whatever it is he decides that the apple has to be reciprocated, and it will be.

The leaves are falling, spinning through the air in the light breeze. One gracefully alights on Kaidou's head, but before he can move Inui's hand reaches out and picks it off for him.

Kaidou blinks and mumbles something like thanks, feeling a sudden rush of embarrassment that he cannot explain. Inui merely raises a brow, pushing up his glasses, and takes a bite of his own apple. The leaves continue to fall softly around them, bits of brightness liberally scattered on the ground. They say no more; the quiet that fills the crisp air comes easily, and they let themselves be drawn into it without protest.

----