Author's Notes:
ShinRyo! One of the cutest pairings I've written to date. Cuter than FujiRyo (though it's kind of difficult to believe because they're so cute too.) I had too much fun writing this. So much fun that it's almost sinful. Aye, I'm really going to hell for this :P There'll be lots of fun moments inside, lots of humour, and I hope that it gave everyone a good laugh, at least. Shinji is just too damn cute. Credits goes to Hypertia for certain advice on how Ryoma will react by the river. And yes, the non-existent TezuAto was inserted upon request by Hypertia too.

Warning and Disclaimer:
Tenisu no Oujisama is the property of Konomi Takeshi-sensei. I don't own it (though I wish I do) and it's a good thing that I don't because otherwise you people will be swimming in yaoi-ness and innuendo from chapter one to whatever we have now. Spoilers for the Fudomine match and certain parts of the anime/manga are inside. Timeline might be a little screwy. But this fic is really meant for entertainment, so don't be too picky, 'k?

Date Started: 300703

-----

Words
by
Jennifier D.

Ibu Shinji barely noticed the fact that people were staring at him as he wandered past on the street, head lowered. He was deep in thought. Furthermore, he was already used to this. The staring, that was. Usually, if he didn't try to think as he walked, this wouldn't happen. But he just recalled something a moment ago and decided to spare some time thinking about it.

"...not my fault if I talk aloud to myself when I think..."

Mumble, mumble.

"...I don't see why I can't do this when other people do the same too..."

Mumble, mumble, mumble.

"...ah, they must be jealous of the fact that I can do this while they can't..."

Mumble.

"...I wonder what Echizen..."

Shinji came to a stop. He looked up, then gave the boy standing right in front of him one of his expressionless stares.

"Oh. You." There was a pause as they stared at each other. "Hi."

Ryoma gave him a slightly peculiar look. "Hi."

"I was just thinking about looking for you."

The younger boy blinked. "Okay."

"We didn't get to have a match the other day."

Ryoma nodded.

"Let's finish it now."

"Ehh?"

Shinji was, at best, a little vague. At worst, sometimes, he reminded people of an idiot. It _might_ have something to do with his naturally slow reaction. Then again, it might just be him. 'Idiot' wasn't exactly an apt title for a prodigy, but still... nobody ever said that tennis prodigies had to be normal. Or intelligent.

"Let's have a match now."

"Now?" Ryoma looked a little bewildered at the suggestion. He then shrugged. "Whatever."

"Good. Do you still have that grip tape?"

"Yes, but-"

"Okay. You can give it to me when I win."

"..." Shinji didn't seem to be aware of Ryoma's confusion. Boy wonder blinked. "Actually, I've already thrown it away. Why don't you buy a new roll? I thought you said you're going to pre-order some the other time."

The tensai from Fudomine lowered his head to stare thoughtfully at some random object on the floor. "Hmmn... I forgot."

For a long period of time, there was nothing but silence.

"Ah," Shinji seemed to have thought of something. "You can buy the new roll then. When I win the next match we have, you can give it to me."

There was a pause as Ryoma stared at him, before he replied stubbornly. "Yada."

The younger boy wasn't making a head or tail out of the conversation they were having. It was just grip tape, right? Why were they fighting over a roll of used grip tape and why did HE have to buy a new one so that they could have a match over it?

"Ehh... Why are you so difficult? You took it the other time. It's only fair that you buy a new one."

"Yada."

"Buy the new roll of grip tape."

"Yada."

"Buy it."

"Yada."

"Buy it."

"Yada."

"Eh..."

The two stared at each other.

Finally, Ryoma, who seemed to have thought of something, started smirking. "Okay, I will buy the new roll."

"Oh, good. I was going to buy it if you didn't volunteer. Since you have volunteered, that makes things easier. I don't understand why you're so reluctant to buy a new roll of grip tape. It's just grip tape after all..." Pause. "Oh, I know, he must be trying to trick me into buying the tape so that he won't have to buy it. Ahh... you're such a pain... You tried to do the same thing the other time..."

"Mada mada dane."

"...should have known better than to do that. It is not going to work on me anymore... You are too arrogant. Freshmen are not supposed to be enjoying life like this. You don't know what you're asking for. Should have more common sense..."

Ryoma watched Shinji mumbled (to him? to himself?) for a bit more before wandering off. He decided that if that was all the other boy was going to do, he had better things to do that day. Things like buying a new roll of grip tape. That was his original intention for going out, actually. He wasn't expecting to run into Shinji, and he certainly wasn't expecting the other boy to make such peculiar requests.

He was going to buy (and keep) the grip tape for himself. From the way he looked at things, Shinji wasn't going to win the next match they were going to have either, so there was no harm done. Furthermore, who knew when they would have another match again?

He would get to keep the tape and that would be the end to their dispute.

Or so he thought.

But things were never that simple in life, were they?

-----

Ryoma was out with Momoshirou a couple of days later when he ran into the tensai from Fudomine again. By then, he had already forgotten about the incident between him and Shinji. He didn't have a memory for insignificant things. That incident happened to be one of those, unfortunately.

The both of them were heading for the public courts they always visited when they ran into Shinji, who was with Kamio. The two of them seemed to be heading there for matches too, but neither group of boys was expecting to run into each other.

"You! WHAT are you doing HERE?!" Kamio's outburst practically broke the peaceful atmosphere of the courts.

Everyone present at the public courts paused in their playing and turned to gawk at the four of them.

"WHAT do you mean by what am I doing here? This is a public place! I have every right to be here!" Momoshirou gave Kamio an incredulous look.

Shinji seemed to finally notice Ryoma, who was standing behind his senpai. He stepped forward and Ryoma did the same. Even Kamio and Momoshirou halted briefly in their shouting to see what was going to happen.

"Hi."

Boy wonder returned Shinji's stare. "Hi."

There was more silence as a breeze gently passed them by.

"ANYWAY! You haven't told me why you are here!" Kamio seemed to be the first one to snap out of their daze.

"WHY should I tell you why I'm HERE?" Momoshirou picked up right after him, his mood turning dark rather rapidly.

"Mou~ why are the two of you always arguing?" Ann gave the two boys an exasperated look.

"ANN-CHAN!"

"Ann...chan..."

"YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO CALL HER ANN-CHAN!"

"WHY can't I call her by her name?"

Ann winced. It appeared that a disaster was going to happen again. And this was purely coincidental too.

"Oh. The grip tape..." Shinji suddenly spoke up, staring at Ryoma.

"Ah, I've bought it already." Ryoma stared back. "I didn't bring it today though."

"It's okay. You can hand it to me when we meet each other again."

Boy wonder blinked. "Only if you win, of course."

"Of course I'm going to win."

"Ehh... heki na."

By the time the both of them turned back to the two other boys, they were already having a fast and furious match on the only free court left.

"MOMOSHIROU! I'M GOING TO WIPE THE COURTS WITH YOUR ASS!" Kamio panted. "ANN-CHAN, YOU HAVE TO STAY AWAY FROM PEOPLE LIKE HIM!"

Momoshirou glared back. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY PEOPLE LIKE ME? YOU'RE RIDICULOUS! I'LL MAKE YOU EAT YOUR WORDS!"

Shinji stared at the two boys for brief moment, then glanced around the courts before speaking up suddenly in his usual monotonous manner. "Ah."

The younger boy turned to him, curious.

"The courts are all occupied."

That, was a rather (slow and) redundant observation, by the way.

"Hmmn... We can always play later when there's an empty court."

"Hm..."

Silence between both boys yet again, as they watched the ongoing match.

"Oh," Shinji suddenly spoke up again. "They only play doubles on these courts, don't they?"

"Ehh..." Ryoma seemed to remember that fact. He pointed to the court where Momoshirou and Kamio were on. "But nobody was using that court just now. And nobody stopped them from using that court either. We can use it later."

"Ah."

Somebody obviously forgot to mention that nobody _dared_ to stop Momoshirou and Kamio during their match. Ann sighed and sat down on one of the benches beside the courts, a frown on her face. Shinji and Ryoma both sat down next to her, nonchalant about what was happening right before them.

Ann sighed again. "Mou... when will the two of them stop quarrelling?"

Shinji and Ryoma turned away from Ann to watch the match.

"I'M GOING TO PULVERISE YOU WITH MY DUNK SMASH!"

"YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO KEEP UP WITH MY RHYTHM, IDIOT!"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN IDIOT?"

Kamio sneered. "YOU, OF COURSE! DO YOU SEE ANY OTHER IDIOT ON THE COURT?"

"HOW DARE YOU CALL ME AN IDIOT YOU MORON!"

Shinji and Ryoma turned back to Ann.

"This is a disaster..." She buried her face in her hands.

There was more shouting from the two boys playing, and more silent watching from the spectators. All of them had the feeling that the match wasn't going to end any time soon. And it definitely didn't look as if it was going to be a one set match either. Ryoma glanced over to the west, where the sun was already beginning to set, dyeing the sky in beautiful shades of red and gold.

"Ah..." Shinji seemed to be thinking about something. "Echizen."

The younger boy turned back to him, blinking almost owlishly. "Hm?"

"They don't look like they are going to finish playing any time soon." Shinji glanced over to where Momoshirou and Kamio were still shouting insults at each other and whacking the poor, abused tennis ball from one side of the court to the other.

"Nn." Ryoma nodded in agreement.

There was more thinking from Shinji before he finally spoke up. "This Friday... we'll meet here after school. Is that okay?"

Boy wonder nodded again, silent.

"Ehh..." Ann seemed to suddenly brighten up. "Echizen-kun, you are going on a date with Shinji-kun?"

There was a pause. Even Momoshirou and Kamio, who were both still shouting at each other rather energetically (despite the fact that they had been playing against each other for nearly an hour) moments ago stalled their game and turned to stare at Shinji and Ryoma.

"DATE?!" The two boys half-panted, half-shouted the word at the same time, then paused to glare at each other across the court.

"Saa," Ryoma tilted his head to one side. "Something like that."

"Shinji-kun?"

"Hm." Shinji didn't disagree when Ann turned to gaze thoughtfully at him. (It took him a while to notice she was gazing at him, by the way.)

And that was about when hell broke loose.

"ECHIZEN!"

"SHINJI!"

What a lovely day it was today.

-----

"Ahh, so Echizen is actually dating Ibu Shinji from Fudomine..." Inui muttered to himself while he wrote in his notebook with a thoughtful look. "Did that mean he was actually meeting up with Ibu Shinji on that day? Hmmn, this means that Momoshirou is really in a love triangle with Tachibana's sister and Kamio Akira from Fudomine..."

"I~NU~I~!" Kikumaru gave the upperclassman a frantic look. "Now is not the time to think about all that nya!"

"Hmmn..." Inui looked up briefly from his notebook. "Ah, but Echizen is not in school yet. We can't verify with him if Momoshirou is right until he arrives."

"Even so...!" Kikumaru looked as if Inui was the one dating Shinji, and not Ryoma. "Nnnnnnnn! He's from Fudomine! Fudomine nya! Our rival team, even though we did kick their asses nya~! And I never knew that Ochibi like BOYS..."

"Eiji... That's not the important part." Oishi gave his doubles partner a troubled look. "Do you think Echizen's parents know about this? What if they don't know and he's dating Ibu-san in secret? Or... what if they'll disown him when they find out what is happening?"

"I SWEAR IT IS THE TRUTH!" Momoshirou's shout came from the other side of their courts. "He said 'Something like that' yesterday when Tachibana's sister asked if he's dating Ibu Shinji!"

"Maa, Momo..." Kawamura looked a little troubled by the topic of their discussion. "I'm sure that if that is what Echizen wants..."

"Hmmn... there was no denial of the fact that they are dating... no hesitation either, but a rather awkward phrasing was used for admitting to dating Ibu Shinji." Inui continued to murmur to himself in a self-satisfied manner while writing in his notebook.

Kikumaru blanched. "OISHI~!"

Oishi frowned. "Maa, I'm worried about Echizen too... he's still too young to start dating... he's only thirteen, and I'm sure his parents don't know about this..."

Tezuka observed the chaos happening on the courts from where he was standing a little further off, the look on his face neutral. He was dressed in their school uniform instead of the tennis club uniform which all the Seigaku regulars were wearing. Standing next to him was Fuji, who smiled (in a rather inappropriately) cheerful manner as he watched the proceedings, satisfied at being uninvolved with the mess on the courts at the moment.

There were only the regulars around that morning, due to the fact that it was an early morning practice on a weekend. Tezuka would leave for Germany soon, but there was still a period of time from his departure date and nobody other than Fuji and Oishi knew about it.

The tensai grinned. "Maa, it's a little early in the morning for so much excitement, isn't it Tezuka?"

Tezuka declined to reply.

"Sssssss..." From just behind the two of them, Kaidoh sat leaning against the large tree near their tennis courts, glowering and hissing at nothing (or no one) in particular, a faint blush on his cheeks.

Fuji glanced over to where somebody was approaching the school courts rather sleepily, and his smile brightened. "Ah."

"ECHIZEN!" There was a chorus of voices.

Ryoma looked up, startled, when most of his seniors pounced on him with a type of urgent concern. "Ehh?"

"Echizen! Tell them I said the truth! They don't want to believe me!" Momoshirou's almost furious statements made Ryoma blink in confusion.

"Tell them?"

"That you're going on a date with Ibu Shinji from Fudomine!"

Ryoma glanced around at their concerned faces, then shrugged. "Saa."

"Unnnnnyaaa! You can't date each other nyaaaaa! The both of you are boys, Ochibi!"

"Ahh," Ryoma nodded, then pointed out helpfully. "But so are you and Oishi-senpai."

"Ehhhhh?! These two topics are unrelated nya!"

Oishi was sporting a rather nice shade of scarlet.

"Hmmn, apparently, Kikumaru is dating Oishi too..." As Inui muttered, he wrote in his notebook. "Echizen doesn't deny the fact that he is dating Ibu Shinji when confronted by Momoshirou..."

"I~NU~I~!" Kikumaru's wail would have been amusing to the others had they not been concerned about other things at the moment.

Fuji was still watching them from where he was standing beside Tezuka, and he gave a soft laugh at Kikumaru's reaction. "Maa, this is getting interesting."

"Echizen... saa... eto... maybe..." Kawamura hesitated before Ryoma, blushing and rubbing the back of his head.

"Ne Taka-san, you can tell him what's on your mind." With that, Momoshirou handed Kawamura his racket.

"BURNNNNNNNNING LOVE! AHH YOUNG PEOPLE! LOVE LIKE THERE IS NO TOMORROW! DO NOT BE AFRAID TO SHOOOOOOOOW YOUR LOOOOOOOOOVE! EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT SUPPORTED BY OTHERS IN YOUR DECISIONS, I WILL ALWAYS SUPPORT YOU, ECHIZEN!"

Ryoma backed a couple of steps away from his senpai in order to make sure he wasn't hit by the other's wildly swinging racket.

"Kawamura shows approval..." Inui continued writing with the nonchalant air of an observer.

"Maa ne," Ryoma suddenly spoke up, a faintly curious look on his face. "Why are all of you so concerned?"

The next few minutes were passed in silence while everyone thought furiously about Ryoma's question and tried to come up with their own answers. Before any of them could open their mouths though, Ryoma spoke up again.

"It's not the first time I'm going on a date to play tennis anyway." Ryoma turned to where Tezuka and Fuji were hidden by the shade of a tree. "I did that with buchou the last time."

There was another period of silence on the courts while everyone digested what Ryoma said. A few dried leaves drifted by on a passing breeze. Looks of realisation were beginning to dawn on everyone's face as each of them turned to stare at their captain in disbelief.

"Saa." Fuji seemed almost obscenely cheerful about something.

Tezuka remained silent.

Kaidoh startled from where he was behind the buchou and tensai of their team, then lowered his head, hissing in a slightly traumatised manner. He just recalled his supposed 'date' with Inui, which turned out to be a gigantic misunderstanding. As much as Kaidoh would like to forget about that incident, Inui wasn't going to let him off that easily.

Oishi seemed to snap out of his daze and began to explain frantically. "No, wait! It's not like that-"

"BUCHOU AND ECHIZEN?!" There was a chorus of disbelief.

Tezuka's reply was calm. "You can all do thirty laps around the school now."

-----

Meanwhile, on the Fudomine front...

"SHINJI! THIS IS NO LAUGHING MATTER!" Kamio's shout could have reached heavens.

"Ahh." Shinji seemed to be thinking about what Kamio said. "I'm not laughing. I don't find it funny either. Why did you say it's a laughing matter when it's not funny, Kamio? Strange..."

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT! HOW CAN YOU DATE THAT ANNOYING SHRIMP FROM SEIGAKU?!"

Tachibana frowned. "Kamio, what are you talking-"

Kamio didn't seem to hear his buchou. "YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU LIKE BOYS!"

"...like boys...? But Tachibana-san and the rest of the team are boys too, and I like all of you..." Shinji tilted his head to one side, then continued. "Of course I like girls too. Ann-chan is a very nice girl. I don't understand what you are so upset about..."

"SHINJI! YOU'RE NOT LISTENING TO ME!"

"...why should I listen to you...? I only listen to Tachibana-san. Indeed, it was my fault that we lost the match to Seigaku the other time... if I have beaten Echizen into pulp that time..."

"PRECISELY! YOU HATE HIM! SO WHY ARE THE TWO OF YOU DATING NOW?!"

"...hate him. Not really actually. He might be a little too arrogant. He's a first year student after all... not supposed to be enjoying life. We never enjoyed ourselves when we were first year students in Fudomine... ahh, maybe it's the school environment. Right, good school environment with good senpai... no wonder he's so arrogant..."

Kamio might as well be shouting at the wind for all it was worth. Not much was going into Shinji's head.

The buchou sighed. "Kamio..."

"Oniisan, it's not going to work. He's been like this since yesterday." Ann's slightly exasperated reply made Tachibana close his mouth with another soft sigh.

"Tachibana-san," Ishida spoke up from where he was leaning against the fence of their school tennis courts. "What is Kamio raving about?"

Everyone turned to stare at the rhythm expert on their team.

Kamio, who seemed to finally realise that everyone was staring at him, had the decency to look embarrassed. But that look only last for five seconds before he reverted back to his former raving self. He pointed a shaking finger at Shinji, whose attention seemed to be elsewhere from the way he was staring off at nothing in particular.

"SHINJI IS DATING ECHIZEN RYOMA FROM SEIGAKU!"

Uchimura and Mori stared at Kamio in disbelief. Ishida looked surprised. Sakurai... had an indescribable expression. Ann sighed and covered her ears with her hands. Tachibana, though, looked as though he had just been put in a difficult spot.

"Shinji," Tachibana began a little hesitantly. "Is that true?"

The tensai glanced over. "Ah. Yes. We have a date this Friday."

There were a series of more shocked looks. Kamio looked like he was going to blow a blood vessel in his brain. Ann only gave Shinji an encouraging smile.

Crickets chirped. The passing wind sighed too, as if in sympathy with their current predicament. And the sun... it was merciless, just like the revelation.

"Hm," Shinji suddenly spoke up, seemingly unaware of the others' state of mind. "Tachibana-san, when are we starting practice?"

"WHY ISN'T ANYONE SAYING ANYTHING?! SOMEBODY STOP HIM FROM DATING THAT SHRIMP!"

Uchimura gave Tachibana an uncomfortable look. "Well, he _is_ an arrogant shrimp..." He then turned to his doubles partner.

Mori only shrugged and pulled his cap lower, helpless.

Sakurai seemed to snap out of his shock. "Tachibana-san, do you think it's alright..."

"Ah," Tachibana nodded, then turned to gaze thoughtfully at Shinji. "Shinji, are you sure that's what you want? I'm not going to stop you from dating Echizen, but if you are pressured into it..."

"Tachibana-san... actually, I was the one who suggested the time and location."

There were more moments of silence and shocked looks. Ibu Shinji taking the initiative? Usually, that happened only when he was angry or infuriated enough to want to beat someone into bloody pulp. And he certainly didn't look as if he was ready to beat Echizen Ryoma into bloody pulp, not to mention that Ryoma was no where near their vicinity at the moment.

"Ne Kamio-kun," Ann's thoughtful tone snapped everyone's attention to her. "Why are you so concerned about Shinji-kun dating Echizen-kun?"

Kamio started to pale. "Well, he... that shrimp... it's not right..."

There was a decidedly innocent, and yet devious grin on Ann's face. "Unless of course you're telling us you're jealous na. But saa... who are you jealous of? Echizen-kun or Shinji-kun?"

More silence. The breezes were getting more frequent, too. Despite the fact that it was in the middle of summer, there was a distinctive chill in the air.

"JEALOUS?! ANN-CHAN! WHY WOULD I BE JEALOUS OF THAT SHRIMP...?"

"...ah, maybe Kamio is jealous of the fact that I get to play against Echizen while he can't. He has never played against Echizen before, that's why. The last time doesn't count because he's paired off with Momoshirou and they spent most of the game arguing... ahhh... so that must be why..."

Ann sighed in an almost happy manner. "So Kamio-kun does have a crush on Shinji-kun after all ne~"

The other team members were silent. Tachibana looked like he needed a long break from his team.

Ishida finally spoke up in the uneasy silence that followed. "So actually-"

If Shinji's mumbling had been louder, it would have saved everyone a lot of trouble. "...ah, crush? Why would he have a crush on me? I'm not interested in Kamio. I thought Kamio has a crush on Ann-chan... Ehh.... and why are we talking about me dating Echizen? We're only meeting to play tennis. Saa, this can get quite confusing if we don't sort it out. Wouldn't want to cause trouble for Tachibana-san..."

Kamio's reply was almost a wail. "ANN-CHAN~! I DO NOT HAVE A CRUSH ON SHINJI!"

-----

"Ehh... why are all these people here?" Shinji glanced up from where he sitting beside the street tennis courts.

Ryoma shrugged. "They insisted on coming along."

Just a little further off stood most of the Seigaku regulars. Everyone seemed to be present, except for Tezuka and Kaidoh. Inui was standing right at the back of the crowd, his notebook and pen ready. In front of him was Oishi, who looked slightly apologetic about intruding. Hanging off Oishi was Kikumaru, who made a face at Shinji. Momoshirou was sporting the most uncomfortable grin Ryoma had ever seen. Beside him stood Kawamura, who was rubbing the back of his head and giving both Ryoma and Shinji a sheepish look. Fuji was standing on the other side of Momoshirou, a cheerful grin on his face.

"Echizen!" Horio panted, running up the steps to the tennis courts, followed closely by Kachiro and Katsuo. "IS IT TRUE THAT YOU'RE DATING IBU-SAN FROM FUDOM..."

The three first year students froze when Shinji turned to stare at them.

"Uhhhh... h-hi... Ibu-san..."

"Che," Shinji snorted, then stood up. "All these unnecessary people hanging around..."

Ryoma shrugged. "Mada mada dane."

Sakuno came to a stop behind the three boys who just arrived, a worried look on her face. "Ryoma-kun..."

While Shinji glared at all the extra people hanging around, whispers could be heard from the bushes behind him.

There was a hurried whisper. "Ishida! I can't see! You're blocking my-ow!"

"Shhh! Not so loud, Mori!"

"If only you have taken off your dumb cap-"

"My cap is not dumb!"

Uchimura shook the two quarrelling boys with an urgent look. "You guys are talking too loudly!"

"Ne Uchimura, don't you think..." Sakurai began with a nervous look. "Do you have the feeling that there's someone..."

"Echizen!" Kamio practically rushed out from the bushes beside them with an enraged look. "Stop standing so close to Shinji!"

"Ehh?" Shinji and Ryoma paused to stare at each other across the distance (of five metres) between them.

There was a brief period of silence where everyone stared at Kamio, who was glaring furiously at Ryoma and pointing one shaking finger at him. The Fudomine team began to creep away from where they were hiding in the bushes, but Kamio reached behind himself and conveniently pulled Mori out. The smaller boy ducked his head and gave Shinji a somewhat apologetic smile before pulling his cap lower to hide his face.

"We're all here to help you!" Kamio exclaimed the fact almost proudly.

Momoshirou startled, then gestured at Kamio furiously.

"Kamio! I know this is going to happen! You're going to ruin their date! Even if I don't agree with Echizen's taste in boyfriends-" there was a faintly traumatised tone to Momoshirou's voice when he said the word 'boyfriends' "-I'm not going to let you ruin their date!"

"Maa, Momo, I think we should-" Oishi raised his hands to stop Momoshirou.

"OISHI~!" Kikumaru tugged on his doubles partner vehemently. "We're supposed to help Ochibi nya!"

"Hmmn... it appears that there is a love triangle present between Echizen, Ibu Shinji and Kamio Akira..." Inui's nonchalant comment made everyone turn to stare at him.

"LOVE TRIANGLE?!" Horio's exclamation alone was enough to shatter the peace of the park. "ECHIZEN! YOU NEVER TOLD US YOU'RE GAY!"

"Maa, Horio..." Katsuo gave the loudmouthed lowerclassman a troubled look. "You shouldn't have said it in that manner..."

"BUT THAT'S THE TRUTH ISN'T IT?!"

The look on Ryoma's face was far from pleased. His aim for coming to the street tennis courts that day was to play tennis, not listen to all of them talk about inane things like who he was dating or whether he was gay.

Kawamura looked a little embarrassed. "Saa... Echizen, gomen ne..."

"Taka-san," Fuji gave the apologetic-looking boy a sweet smile. "Here's your racket."

"OHHHH BURNNNNING! YEEAAAAAAH!" In the blink of an eye, Kawamura had transformed from his usual gentle self into his rather passionate and reckless personality. He was currently brandishing his racket at Kamio with fires of determination burning in his eyes. "YOU! KAMIO AKIRA! EVEN THOUGH I DON'T REALLY SUPPORT ECHIZEN'S CHOICE, I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO DISRUPT HIS DATE WITH IBU SHINJI!"

The whole Fudomine team (with the exception of Shinji) stared at Kawamura with varying degrees of shock apparent on their faces.

"Ko-kowai..." Ishida began to creep away from the bush again, but Kamio hauled him out as well.

"Ishida!"

"COWARDS! WEAKLINGS! FOOLS! TRYING TO RUN AWAY NOW? HOW PATHETIC!"

At this, Ishida too, began to see red. "What? Who are you calling cowards?!"

"YOU LOT FROM FUDOMINE, OF COURSE!"

As the two teams gathered in the tennis courts to start shouting at each other, Ryoma turned to Shinji with an annoyed look. "Is our match still on? I brought my rackets."

The tensai from Fudomine turned to him with an almost similar annoyed look. "Of course."

With the din that was occurring on the tennis courts, Ryoma and Shinji managed to wander off easily with mirrored irritated looks on their faces. Furthermore, only a pair of voices could be heard clearly above the random shouts and grumbles.

"I'M ONLY LOOKING OUT FOR SHINJI! WHAT IF THE SHRIMP IS NOT SERIOUS ABOUT HIM? SHINJI HAS NEVER DATED A BOY BEFORE!"

"ARROGANT PUNK! RIDICULOUS! ATROCIOUS! WHAT IBU SHINJI WANTS TO DO IS HIS CHOICE! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO INTERFER?"

"I'M SHINJI'S FRIEND! THAT'S WHO I AM! WHO ARE _YOU_ TO INTERFER THEN?"

"I, KAWAMURA TAKASHI, AM ECHIZEN'S SENPAI! I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO LOOK OUT FOR HIM!"

Fuji, Inui and Sakuno seemed to be the only few who noticed that Ryoma and Shinji had left.

"Ahh..." Fuji's smile was vague. "What a pity. I was looking forward to watching their match."

Sakuno looked as if she was on the verge of tears. "Ryoma-kun... hidoi~!"

"Hmmn," Inui turned to glance at the disappearing silhouettes of the two boys. "They don't look like they're going elsewhere to play tennis."

Fuji's smile seemed to brighten. "Saa... who knows?"

-----

About two streets down from where the street tennis courts were located, Ryoma and Shinji had given up their search for a location to play tennis and decided upon having dinner together in one of the fast food restaurants scattered around town. After the both of them finally settled down with their food, the meal was eaten in silence.

Ryoma had nothing to say to Shinji.

Fortunately, (or unfortunately,) Shinji had nothing to say to Ryoma either.

The atmosphere surrounding their table was definitely strange.

"Ah," Shinji suddenly spoke up before taking a bite out of his burger. "Since we can't play tennis today, we have to arrange for another day..."

"Nn."

The two boys stared at each other; Shinji's face was expressionless whereas Ryoma's had a slightly curious look.

"Hmmn..." Shinji glanced away, thinking about when to arrange their next 'date'.

Ryoma turned back to his food, but his eyes were trained on Shinji's face.

"Ah." Shinji tilted his head slightly as if he suddenly remembered something. "Let's start dating."

"Heh?" Boy wonder paused in mid-chew and blinked.

The two of them stared at each other again.

"It's convenient for playing tennis." Somehow, Shinji's logic didn't seem to be making sense. "Is that alright?"

Despite that, the younger boy shrugged in an almost nonchalant manner. "Maa ne."

Both continued eating in silence.

And that...

...was how the both of them started dating.

-----

"Hand it over."

"Yada."

"Hand it over."

"Yada."

"I said hand it over, so hand it over."

"I said no, so no means no."

"Hand it over!"

"Yada!"

Fortunately, the casualty of the current argument between Shinji and Ryoma wasn't anything animate. It would have been unfortunate if they were fighting with each other over Karupin, or any other animal. They might actually asphyxiate it by accident with the way they were holding it.

The two boys glowered at each over the last can of 'Ponta' fruit juice from the only vending machine within that area. Ryoma was holding the lower end of the can, whereas Shinji was holding the upper end. Usually, Shinji could care less about a can of fruit juice. But he happened to find out earlier in the day that Ryoma had used up the fifth roll of grip tape he bought. His excuse for that was: 'I need to change the grip tape of my racket. It's not as if you're going to win your next match against me anyway.'

That, had set Shinji in a considerably foul mood.

This meant that the prodigy was out to make life difficult for his 'boyfriend'. And making life difficult for him didn't just refer to beating him in tennis. When he realised that Ryoma liked 'Ponta' a lot more than he knew, and since the vending machine actually dispensed the last can of drink to them, it meant that there would be a full frontal fight over the (unfortunate) can.

The situation was so ridiculous, it was almost hilarious.

The two boys had arranged to meet on that day for another match to decide on who would own the roll of (finished) grip tape eventually. Of course, there were some rather unexpected incidents and both boys failed to locate a court (due to their bad luck.) It might be helpful to mention at this point... the fact that their national tournaments were already over; they were into their summer vacation, and both boys were still haggling over a roll of (finished) grip tape while they dated.

Their respective team members had all given up stalking or following them on their dates after the first few weeks when they realised that the two boys were not going to do anything other than play tennis. Therefore, that was why they were currently sitting undisturbed by the river with the last can of 'Ponta' held firmly between them.

"You're such a pain..."

"You're being a bully."

The two boys glared at each other again, annoyed.

In this very strange relationship which they were involved in, Ryoma seemed to be the only one who was truly interested in having something close to a proper relationship. Maybe, at a lot of instances, having Shinji around was a matter of convenience for the younger boy, since Tezuka was no longer in the country and he didn't want to play against Fuji.

But there was another reason behind why he started dating Shinji and he was perfectly aware of it.

Shinji seemed to be the only one who was still rather clueless about what was going on, actually.

"You're not going to win." The prodigy's mood was rapidly turning dark.

"Mada mada dane."

More silence and even more staring commenced, as the both of them tugged at the can stubbornly.

"Ah," Shinji seemed to realise something.

As Ryoma glanced up to see what his 'boyfriend' was up to, Shinji leaned over to kiss him.

In the moment where Ryoma's grip on the can loosened from surprise, the older boy snatched it from him and held it away with something close to a sneer. Apparently, only Shinji would think of something like this to acquire a can of drink. Come to think of it, it was kind of amazing how he could actually think of that to begin with.

Ryoma was unappreciative of his efforts, to say the truth.

"It's mine now." The prodigy opened it.

Ryoma thought about protesting, then thought of something better. He made a move to shoved Shinji's arm 'accidentally', causing the contents of the canned drink to be sprayed all over the older boy. The prodigy sat beside Ryoma dripping fruit juice for about five seconds before he turned to glare at boy wonder in anger.

"You-"

"Ahh, gomen." The younger boy smirked, then leaned over to lick a drop of juice from the tip of Shinji's nose.

There was a lot more (bewildered) staring and silence between both boys, accompanied by the sound of fruit juice dripping from Shinji's face and hair.

"Ah..." Shinji gave boy wonder a slightly surprised look. "...you've never done this before."

Ryoma only smirked in return.

Without blinking, the prodigy dumped the rest of the can over Ryoma's head.

"Urk!"

Unfortunately, boy wonder wasn't wearing a cap that day so he had the luxury of feeling sticky fruit juice run down the back of his neck and his face. There was a mildly surprised look on Shinji's face when Ryoma turned to glare back at him. The two of them maintained a staring match for a couple of minutes before Shinji stood up as if there was nothing particularly wrong with what he just did.

Ryoma stood up too, and continued glaring at him, annoyed. "Idiot."

"...it's not really my fault since you're the one who started it anyway. It's not like you're the only one with juice dripping off your hair. I have longer hair, it'll be more difficult to wash all the juice out. Ahh, good thing that my school jersey is black, the juice stains won't show up much..."

Ryoma glared at him some more. Shinji seemed to finally realise that Ryoma was waiting for him to say something.

"...gomen."

Just as Shinji started for the top of the riverbank, Ryoma stuck his foot out. He watched the other boy trip, roll and then fall into the river with a loud splash, a decidedly self-satisfied smirk adorning his lips.

"Iisuyo."

-----

"Tadaima."

"Oi, seishounen... what have you been up to lately? You have been going out almost every day." The smirk Nanjirou sported was annoying.

So was his slow drawl. Ryoma couldn't help wondering why, of all people, he had to get someone like Echizen Nanjirou as his father. He pondered about that question often. Children didn't exactly have the luxury to choose who they want as their parents. The same could be said for parents in reference to their children.

"Betsuni." And as Ryoma began to wander upstairs with his racket bag, the phone rang.

"Okaeri, Ryoma-san!" Nanako's voice could be heard from the kitchen. "Dinner is almost ready!"

"What have you been so busy with? Dating?" The disgruntled man muttered half-heartedly before picking up the phone. "Yo, this is the Echizen residence."

Ryoma's reply, though faint, was still quite clear in the small household. "Something like that."

"EHH?"

There was the sound of the phone receiver clattering as it hit the floor.

When Ryoma came downstairs again, his father was giving him a bright-eyed and overly interested look that could be passed off as a leer. "Who is it? Are you dating that old hag's granddaughter? Or some other cute girl from your school? Come on, you can tell your oyaji who you're dating, shounen... Ehehehe... must be some cute girl... ohh... this can be good... At least this son of mine is not as useless as I thought! Ahh, maybe-"

"Urusai."

"That's not the way you talk to your father, you brat! I'm just looking out for you! Looking out for you, you know? You can't deny me of my fatherly duties-"

"Since when do you ever act like a father?"

"What attitude! You young people nowadays, no respect left for your elders..."

Ryoma ignored his father and went into the kitchen, where Nanako was making dinner. Karupin gave him a soft meow of welcome before following him to the sink and watching him washed his hands.

Nanako turned to regard him with a smile. "How has your day been, Ryoma-san? Ara! Are those fruit juice stains?"

"Aha! I know! Seishounen..." Nanjirou drawled again, leaning against the doorway to the kitchen. "You must have been dumped, right? The girl poured juice over your head? Saa... you should have asked for some tips from your oyaji before going on the date. What did you do to offend her?"

Ryoma was silent.

"Mreow~"

"Saa!" Nanako spoke up suddenly. "Why don't you change into a clean shirt before dinner?"

"It's alright," there was a distinctively sulky tone to Ryoma's voice. "I'm going to shower after dinner."

"Ah..."

Echizen snickered. "Haha! I knew it. My son's a useless bum when it comes to girls! How can that be? I, Echizen Nanjirou, was a lady killer in my past!"

"Ojisan!"

"Urusai."

"Ahh, Ryoma?" Boy wonder's mother peeked into the kitchen on her way upstairs after work, then smiled. "How's your day today? Ehh...? What happened to you?"

There was only silence.

"He got dumped!"

Nanjirou burst out laughing, thumping his hand on the table and trying not to weep from laughing too much. Nanako looked a little embarrassed, then tried to stop her uncle from wrecking the kitchen table in his mirth. Boy wonder only scowled.

"Saa," his mother gave a soft huff of laughter before stepping into the kitchen, smiling.

If looks could kill, Ryoma would have massacred his father about a few million times by the time dinner was over.

-----

"Ah, did you manage to get the juice stains out of your shirt?" Shinji's nonchalant, and yet somewhat absentminded question made Ryoma turn to regard him with a pair of large, unblinking eyes.

"Yeah, I did."

"Hmmn," the tensai from Fudomine paused, then stared at their table top. "...strange... I didn't manage to wash the stains out.... my shirt is black. Why would there be stains if it's black..."

"I soaked it overnight."

"Ehh..."

Comfortable silence occupied the space between both boys as they each munched on their burgers. Ryoma kept staring at Shinji over the top of his burger, a curious look on his face. After Ryoma tripped him and sent him rolling into the river last week, Shinji had stood up in the middle of the slow flowing water, dripping wet and sporting a murderous glint in his eyes. 'I'm going to kill you.' That was all the prodigy said before stepping out of the river and starting for where Ryoma was seated.

It was just as well that Ryoma escaped being pushed into the river and drowned by his 'boyfriend'.

After the both of them finished their meal (in silence), they wandered off towards the shop selling tennis equipment. There was a lot of silence between the both of them. The silence wasn't brought about by awkwardness, or because they were uncomfortable around each other. In fact, the two of them were extremely comfortable around each other (when their respective competitive streaks were not incited) and that was mainly because they were too similar.

Both of them had competitive streaks miles wide, with similar ego sizes to boot.

The reason behind how they got together had been an amusing one, of course, but nobody could deny the fact that there was something very compatible about these two boys. Something very easy and right about their behaviour around each other, even with the way they would glare at each other every now and then for doing something that raised the hackles of the other.

It would still be safer to say that Ryoma was the one consciously manipulating their relationship to his liking. He had honestly liked Shinji enough to date him. And he was probably the only person who didn't mind the fact that the road before them was paved with lots of fights and glaring contests. It made the relationship somewhat exciting, and kept his interest in Shinji alive, that was what Ryoma felt.

As for Shinji's reason for wanting to be with Ryoma, that was anyone's guess.

One thing which Ryoma was aware of, and was sure that not many had noticed, would be the fact that Shinji left a lot of things unsaid. He had a habit of mumbling to himself, but it didn't mean that he wasn't aware of what he was mumbling. In fact, Shinji's mumbling helped him avoid answering questions rather effectively.

While he was derailing topics of discussion with his mumbling, there were often a lot of words left unsaid.

Boy wonder wanted to know what was on the other's mind.

There was still a long way to go before either of them could understand the other, though. But Ryoma felt that it would be worth the wait. Shinji was a constantly evolving talent in tennis playing, and he was a lot less troublesome than Fuji when it came to relationships.

Furthermore, Tezuka did choose to become Ryoma's guide and nothing more. Although the buchou of Seigaku was around when Ryoma started dating Shinji, he was one of the main reasons why boy wonder continued dating Shinji after he left the country. There was nobody there to occupy Ryoma's time in Tezuka's absence, and the younger boy really wasn't keen on looking for Fuji to play tennis. The older boy had a habit of smiling sweetly in a knowing manner each time Ryoma spoke to him.

It was unnerving.

Not to mention that Atobe Keigo from Hyotei would be on him like a ton of bricks if he was to make any proposition to Tezuka. The other captain hadn't been turning up during Ryoma and Tezuka's practice matches (since Tezuka returned from Germany) to stare at boy wonder (critically) for nothing.

Therefore... he had to look for someone else. Someone he liked enough, someone he didn't mind spending long periods of time with. Someone with a compatible tennis playing style in regards to his. Someone he could provoke into playing serious tennis much more easily than the others.

Shinji was (simply put,) convenient.

And of course, there was that something else present in their relationship, which made him hold onto the prodigy despite all the stupid things the other managed to accomplish.

Ryoma watched as Shinji disappeared off somewhere while he was in the shop, only to return later with two cans of 'Ponta'. He tossed it at Ryoma's outstretched hand, but his aim must have been quite off since the can bounced off boy wonder's head instead.

"Itai!"

The two of them stared at each other. There was a slightly nervous look on the shopkeeper's face.

"Ah," Shinji seemed to realised what he did when he finally noticed the can, which had rolled to a stop somewhere near his feet.

Ryoma glared at him, reaching up to rub the sore spot on his head.

The prodigy actually had the decency to look surprised. "...gomen."

"Iisuyo." The younger boy glared at his 'boyfriend', annoyed, then walked over to pick up the can.

After the both of them left the shop, they started walking towards Ryoma's home. Shinji usually walked Ryoma home (since their houses were in the same direction anyway) after their 'dates', and the two of them had a tendency to part at the gate of Ryoma's house with just a simple "Ja."

It was terribly unromantic, but the both of them had never been anywhere near romantic to begin with.

At any rate, there was something different about today's parting, though.

After the both of them finally reached Ryoma's house, the two boys stood outside staring at each other for a rather (unnecessarily) long period of time. Shinji was giving Ryoma one of his habitual and vague 'I'm-here-physically-but-my-mind-isn't' looks. Ryoma only blinked and stared at the other boy curiously.

"Hm," Shinji seemed to return from wherever his brain had taken a trip to. "Ah, I'll see you tomorrow then."

Ryoma nodded, still sporting the curious look.

"Ja."

Boy wonder shrugged. "Ja-mmf!"

Before the younger boy could turn and step into his house, Shinji had leaned over and kissed him. From somewhere behind the two of them, Ryoma could hear his father's rapidly approaching foot steps. He closed his eyes and sighed a little against Shinji's lips before returning the kiss. He could deal with his baka oyaji later.

"Oi, seishoune-WHAT ARE THE TWO OF YOU DOING?!"

end

Date Completed: 040803
Date Revised: 040803