Author's Note: Well, White Day is on March 14th, and so I figured now would be a great time to write a fanfic for the occasion. Just in case you don't know, in Japan, Valentine's Day is usually celebrated with girls giving chocolate to the guys they like. Then, a month later on March 14th, the guys give something back to the girls as a thank-you present. Of course, this fanfic is a bit… unconventional… in that respect, but I've heard of giving chocolate and thank-you presents to friends too, so anything goes with interpretation here. Most importantly, it's Golden Pair fluff! And you can never have too much of that.
I'll be releasing this story in three parts, and all of them will be up by tomorrow, since today after all is White Day!
Please review! Reviewers earn cyber cookies! And most importantly, enjoy. :)
It was an unusually quiet Sunday.
Shuichiro Oishi couldn't help thinking this, sitting on his bedroom floor working steadily away at his chosen task. But then, it was always quiet at his house, unless Eiji was visiting. And the fact that his energetic friend wasn't there at the moment was probably the source of the serene hush that pervaded his room.
He almost thought to himself that he could still hear a few echoes of Eiji's laughter, though, tacked onto the walls like bright pieces of tinfoil.
Well, he almost thought that, but he decided it wasn't the time for poetic introspection. What he was already doing was feminine enough to begin with, and anything more romantically inclined was going to make him feel awkward, even alone in his own room.
He returned to the steady clicking rhythm that was required in order to continue working on his new project.
"Oops, slipped again," he murmured as he carefully placed the knitting needle back into one of the loops.
Yes, that was right.
Knitting needle.
Shuichiro Oishi was sitting on his bedroom floor on a Sunday, knitting.
No one had forced him to do this, and this wasn't some sick kind of joke his friends had dared him to do just for amusement. He was actually voluntarily knitting something, and he even had a deadline he really wanted to reach in time, which was why he'd been at it for hours already.
And so he was knitting. Oishi couldn't help smiling a bit wryly to himself because of this fact. It was a good thing none of his friends knew he could knit, or he'd never hear the end of it. He'd have to figure out some way to avoid being caught if he really was going to complete this project.
But it really was true. Oishi could sew, knit, and crochet, and he actually wasn't too bad at it, considering he'd had years of experience.
That was true, too. He'd had years of experience sewing. He had been one of those boys who was made to do quite a few things in his elementary years that he wasn't particularly proud of. And among those things were the sewing lessons his mother dragged him to for three years just to have company among a bunch of old ladies who never stopped cooing about how 'adorable' and 'sweet' her son was. He wondered now if maybe part of that whole arrangement had simply resulted from his mother's customary pride in her offspring and wanting to show Oishi off to her friends.
Either way, Oishi could sew. But it was a secret he'd entrusted to only one person, other than his family, and that person had sworn that fire and water couldn't wrest the secret from him, possibly on pain of death if he should fail to uphold that bargain. Of course, he had only told this person when he couldn't possibly have kept it a secret any longer, on the day Eiji found some knitting needles in a bureau drawer and asked more questions than a kindergartener on Show and Tell Day.
It was just as well. Oishi never liked keeping secrets from Eiji, and this one was trivial, in spite of his extreme embarrassment about it.
But he knew he never, ever wanted any of his other classmates finding out. He was already dubbed 'the mother of Seigaku' in his tennis club, and if they found out there was more to his feminine side than just his characteristic compassion, they'd have a field day.
His train of thought was interrupted when he decided to check his progress, however.
"Hmm… still a ways to go." And he frowned. He really hoped he could finish it in time. If he couldn't actually make the due date, the gift would seem random and purposeless, at best. And given the personality of the desired recipient, it was probably best if the sentiment behind the gift avoided any sense of ambiguity. Otherwise, some interesting and likely awkward theories would result about its meaning. And Oishi didn't need any interesting or awkward theories about a gift that was already causing him some private embarrassment in compelling him to sew it in the first place.
Suddenly, a storm of energetic footsteps came raining down the hallway outside his room, apparently aimed in the general direction of his bedroom door.
He hastily shoved the extent of his progress thus far into a desk drawer and slammed it shut somewhat clumsily, along with the knitting needles. He was careful to make sure, however, that no pieces of brightly colored yarn were sticking out that could possibly attract attention.
"Oishi!"
The enthusiastic voice that had crossed his mind only a minute earlier rang in his ears, and it was only a split second before two arms were happily squeezing the life out of him, just like always.
"Hey, Eiji. What's up?" He couldn't help smiling, despite the fact that he'd nearly had a heart attack what with all the sudden racket. Eiji was just Eiji, after all, and Oishi was used to it… Well, as much as anyone could be, anyway.
"Nothing really, nya," the boisterous redhead replied cheerfully, punctuating his response with that odd, catlike sound that was nevertheless strangely endearing.
"So what exactly brings you here?" Oishi couldn't resist a laugh. "Or did you just happen to decide to grace me with your presence?"
"Well, I thought you probably needed some Eiji time by now," his best friend replied with one of his characteristically wide grins. "It's been nearly a day, nya."
"And you know I just couldn't possibly survive a day without you," Oishi teased him, yielding to the temptation to tickle his friend on the nose.
"Exactly." Eiji tossed his head slightly, more as a method of escape from the tickling than an expression of disdain. "So what were you doing?"
Those large blue eyes of his looked suddenly curious and were sliding from side to side, soaking in their surroundings in an attempt to surmise the answer.
"Ah… doing?" Oishi repeated somewhat awkwardly, trying to decide how to answer.
Fortunately, he didn't have to make up his mind. As usual, Eiji's mind had already moved onto other things and had probably forgotten his own question completely.
"Hey, what's this doing here?"
Oishi refocused his attention, only to see his best friend poking an extra ball of yarn he'd forgotten to stuff in the drawer.
"Oh, that? I guess I never put it back…" He paused, deciding that a change of subject would be the best strategy to avoid further questions. Besides, he really couldn't resist voicing this particular thought. It was too perfect.
"But you look exactly like a cat, Eiji."
"Nya?" Eiji looked back at him and cocked his head slightly.
"Well, you know, the way you're nudging it like that."
Eiji's expression changed, which indicated comprehension of his friend's train of thought, and he laughed. He started batting at the ball of yarn, crouching on the ground slightly, just exactly like a young kitten would. "Nya."
Oishi, too, couldn't help laughing. Really, he had a strange best friend. Not that he didn't enjoy Eiji's quirks, of course.
In fact, it was probably Eiji's whimsical way of life that helped Oishi to be himself when they were together. In a strange way, the carefree attitude of the one boy balanced out the serious personality of the other, and some things that could have been awkward between other friends were natural for them. Oishi could be occasionally sentimental when he wanted to be, and Eiji would lap up the attention and then force him to lighten up with his usual banter. Really, it was a perfect balance, the kind only lucky people get to experience, and even then only maybe once in a lifetime.
And Oishi really did feel lucky.
That was something of the train of thought that remained in the back of his mind all during Eiji's visit and even long after his best friend had said goodbye. He resumed work on his project with those particular reflections still swirling around in his head. And suddenly, what he was doing seemed to take on a renewed significance.
Well, the whole project was for Eiji, after all.
Although the reason why he was knitting something for Eiji Kikumaru as a present was kind of a strange story.
- end of part one -
A.N.: I'll have part two up later today! Let me know if you liked it (or didn't)!