Title: Can I Drive?
Author: Muzy
Series: Prince of Tennis
Characters: Atobe Keigo, Shishido Ryoh
Rating: G
Length: 606
Note: Pre-series, no real spoilers.
"Can I drive?" Shishido asked, leaning forward to take in the instrument panel, the throttle, the steering column. This was so much cooler than the motorcycle he'd seen in Rei's magazine, he thought, pushing his long hair back away from his face. But he guessed a helicopter was way out of reach for him, so he was still getting the motorcycle when he got old enough. "Can I?"
"Steer, not drive, Shishido.-kun," replied the pilot. His lips quirked - this was the first time young Atobe had brought one of his friends onto the helicopter to take them to the country house and Shishido was an amusing kid.. "You'll need to ask Atobe-sama," he said.
Shishido whipped his head around and grinned at Keigo. "Come on, Keigo, can I give it a try?"
Keigo opened one blue eye and smirked. He was jaded at twelve, having been up in the helicopter thousands of times. Shishido's enthusiasm was amusing, but also annoying, he thought. He'd wanted to take a nap. "No," he said.
"Please."
"No."
Shishido scowled. "Fine," he said. "I guess I can just tell your father all the stuff we do together."
Keigo looked amused. "Am I supposed to feel threatened, Shishido?" he drawled. "You're missing the mark."
"Like the time we ran into the rich boarding school boys, and you broke the Mitsui Group heir's nose." Shishido grinned. "I heard from my dad that the Atobe Group's trying to work a deal with Mitsui. It's in the papers."
Keigo narrowed his eyes. "You wouldn't," he said.
Shishido shrugged. Of course not, he thought, but no harm in using it if necessary. "Maybe I would," he said. "I'd really like to drive."
"Pilot," Keigo corrected. He sighed and glanced at his watch. "Fine," he said. "We're only in the air another twenty minutes. Even you can't manage to crash us in that small amount of time."
Famous last words, Keigo thought five minutes later as he clutched at the arms of his seat. His face went whiter with every dip and curve, and he could feel the meze his parents' Greek chef had made for lunch coming back to haunt him. He gulped. He was going to kill Shishido, and then he was going to forbid his from setting foot on the helicopter again.
They swerved and dipped again, and Keigo took a deep breath. He was going to be sick. He was never sick, he thought.
In another fifteen minutes they landed - miraculously in one piece, Keigo thought - and Shishido yanked open the door.
"Wasn't that awesome?" Shishido said. "It was so much fun, you should do it."
Keigo was silent as he stepped regally from the helicopter, and then he turned to his friend. "Shishido," he said coolly.
"Yeah?"
"I am going to KILL you," Keigo continued. His voice raised with every syllable and his eyes flashed.
"Oh, come on, it wasn't that bad," Shishido said with a grin. "The pilot wouldn't have let us go down."
Keigo twitched and gritted his teeth, and his breath huffed out. Shishido eyed him warily.
Maybe a retreat wouldn't be such a bad idea right now after all.
*
"Hey, Shishido-san," Ohtori said as they stared up at the helicopter Atobe and Oshitari had just climbed into to go off in search of Echizen - Shishido swore that kid managed to get into more crap - "why didn't Atobe take you?"
Shishido scowled, and twisted his lips and smirked. "You know Atobe," he said with a shrug. "Didn't want to go anyway," he added.
"No?"
"No way. I've been in that helicopter. It's totally lame."