[FIC] Tanka
Title: Tanka
Rating: G
Genre: Romance
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: NiouYagyuu
Summary: Short fic about summer and poetry.
Tanka
Summer was always too hot. The heat and humidity had a way of sneaking into houses, creeping under doors and barely open windows, until it surrounded you like an electric blanket. Sometimes it got too hard to breath, and sometimes even sweat felt like boiling water. On days like those, Niou and Yagyuu liked to go to the Vietnamese restaurant down the street, the only Vietnamese restaurant in town. It wasn't because the restaurant had a wonderful air conditioning system (it didn't). It was more because Vietnamese food had a way of feeling good in the summer.
The Vietnamese vermicelli was always cool on their tongue, accentuated by bursts of cucumber and lettuce pieces, and the lemonade, actually made from lime, was always refreshing. Sometimes Niou would order an iced coffee, watch as it drained into his cup throughout the meal, and make a celebration out of drinking it for his desert.
Afterwards, they would spend their time at the book store, because it did have a wonderful air conditioning system. Yagyuu leafed through Salad Anniversary, looking up every now and then to find Niou in the porn section. He mused over the fact that poetry and porn shared such close quarters.
"Niou," he said, fingers splayed on the cool, glossy pages of Tawara Machi's work. "It's cold out today, one says, and some one answers. It's cold out today. So comes the reply, and then, you feel the warmth of those words."
Niou sniffed at that. "Why are you reading that cheesy crap? Only girls like that stuff. What the hell's a salad anniversary, any way?"
"It's not the words, Niou. It's the emotion behind them."
Niou snatched the book out of Yagyuu's hand, and it came to open on a random page. "'You should try to go wherever you want to.' I don't think you see that the place I want to be is wherever you are now."
He handed the book back to Yagyuu.
"So much pure crap."
Yagyuu opened the book again, knowing not to take Niou's comments to heart. He liked to read tanka, though he was loath to write it.
"I've never liked the rigidity of Japanese poetry," he said out loud. "Counting syllables seems so stifling to the creative process."
Niou looked at Yagyuu, both disbelief and understanding written in his eyes. "Rigid things can be interesting too."
Yagyuu chuckled, turned back to his book. "You better call me. Like always, it's a command. Wait for me, you yell. They're the only ways you know to tell me that you love me."
Yagyuu looked up, met Niou's eyes, silence descending upon them. It took him a moment to realize that Niou was blushing slightly.
"Yeah, well... whatever."
Yagyuu paid for the book, and the two left to sweat out the rest of the summer together.
Rating: G
Genre: Romance
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: NiouYagyuu
Summary: Short fic about summer and poetry.
Tanka
Summer was always too hot. The heat and humidity had a way of sneaking into houses, creeping under doors and barely open windows, until it surrounded you like an electric blanket. Sometimes it got too hard to breath, and sometimes even sweat felt like boiling water. On days like those, Niou and Yagyuu liked to go to the Vietnamese restaurant down the street, the only Vietnamese restaurant in town. It wasn't because the restaurant had a wonderful air conditioning system (it didn't). It was more because Vietnamese food had a way of feeling good in the summer.
The Vietnamese vermicelli was always cool on their tongue, accentuated by bursts of cucumber and lettuce pieces, and the lemonade, actually made from lime, was always refreshing. Sometimes Niou would order an iced coffee, watch as it drained into his cup throughout the meal, and make a celebration out of drinking it for his desert.
Afterwards, they would spend their time at the book store, because it did have a wonderful air conditioning system. Yagyuu leafed through Salad Anniversary, looking up every now and then to find Niou in the porn section. He mused over the fact that poetry and porn shared such close quarters.
"Niou," he said, fingers splayed on the cool, glossy pages of Tawara Machi's work. "It's cold out today, one says, and some one answers. It's cold out today. So comes the reply, and then, you feel the warmth of those words."
Niou sniffed at that. "Why are you reading that cheesy crap? Only girls like that stuff. What the hell's a salad anniversary, any way?"
"It's not the words, Niou. It's the emotion behind them."
Niou snatched the book out of Yagyuu's hand, and it came to open on a random page. "'You should try to go wherever you want to.' I don't think you see that the place I want to be is wherever you are now."
He handed the book back to Yagyuu.
"So much pure crap."
Yagyuu opened the book again, knowing not to take Niou's comments to heart. He liked to read tanka, though he was loath to write it.
"I've never liked the rigidity of Japanese poetry," he said out loud. "Counting syllables seems so stifling to the creative process."
Niou looked at Yagyuu, both disbelief and understanding written in his eyes. "Rigid things can be interesting too."
Yagyuu chuckled, turned back to his book. "You better call me. Like always, it's a command. Wait for me, you yell. They're the only ways you know to tell me that you love me."
Yagyuu looked up, met Niou's eyes, silence descending upon them. It took him a moment to realize that Niou was blushing slightly.
"Yeah, well... whatever."
Yagyuu paid for the book, and the two left to sweat out the rest of the summer together.