Move With Me: chpt 7
Title: Move With Me
Chapter: 7/?
Pairing: Traditional Seigaku pairings w/ Perfect (main)
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Prince of Tennis unfortunately… or is it fortunately? Either way they’re not mine... but Konomi Takeshi’s
Summary: Inspired by their teammates, these third time Olympians go all out in synchronized diving as Japan's Dream Pair. When these former gold medal gymnasts make the switch from the platform to the water, will diving bring them to discover the true depths of their hearts? Dream Pair (friendship)
A/N: OOC warning! It’s the year 2000 in the beginning of the fic just so you know.
“Italics” - T.V.
Italics - thought
Disclaimer: I do not own Pepsi or Diet Pepsi… or the movie ‘Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’
A/N: So sorry for the delay… *sigh* I’ll just end up giving you the same tired excuses of school, work and life in general, so I won’t say it -even though its already implied lol- but I really am sorry!!! I’ll try to make up for it with another chpt release soon, plus this one is longer due to my slight leave of absence… so please REVIEW and let me know what you think…
Fuji couldn’t believe the pace that time was suddenly flowing at. The last month and a half, that was full of rigorous training, internal competitions, try-outs and team meetings flew by at an unbelievably fast pace, but one straight flight from Japan to China was taking forever to be over. It didn’t help that he was sitting in a completely different section to his self-proclaimed love of his life.
He was sitting in the aisle seat of a private-jet, paying little attention to the in-flight movie; preferring to complete his Sudoku puzzle book before arriving at their destination. Eiji was quietly watching the American movie about a college archeology professor who seems to enjoy saving the world during his spare time, having grown bored with watching the water pass below them through the window. He was pouting slightly because he was in the same predicament as Fuji; Oishi wasn’t in his seating section either.
Though the sections were split up according to sport or event category, the trainers, and coaches and were all sitting together near the front of the plane. Japan’s diving team was small and made up of athletes who were already involved in an event, and so they were not sitting together but with their main event teammates. Luckily, Fuji and Eiji could sit together regardless, and much to Eiji’s grudging acceptance, Gakuto as well.
In front of them was Yuta, Fuji’s younger brother. This would be his first Olympics and so he was undoubtedly excited, though looking at his snoozing face, you wouldn’t be able to tell. Next to him, directly in front of Fuji, was Jiroh doing the same thing: no surprise there. The last members of their team event were Kajimoto, their captain, and Gakuto. They were too far ahead for Fuji to tell what they were doing. He knew the Kisarazu twins were sitting behind them because for some reason the Boxing team always sat behind them when they travelled; which meant that behind the twins Ootori would have confiscated a seat next to Shishido since Sengoku was in the captains’ section.
Unbuckling his seat-belt, he told Eiji he would be back and got up to go to the bathroom and in the dim light of the cabin he saw that, in the center row that had three seats, the Track, Swim and Fencing teams were there sitting there all mixed up together since Sanada from Fencing was sitting with Yukimura from Swimming; both captains of their respective teams. He continued his trek to the back of the plane, pouting slightly that they got to sit with who they wanted, and passed a few empty rows of seats. He couldn’t help thinking that it was a waste that everyone, mainly him and Tezuka, were divided when there was plenty of room in the team section; the thought only made him sulk more.
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Shiraishi was stuck in the front row between Kirihara and Amane, and though he was already used to Kirihara’s uniqueness from swimming practice, the guy still gave him the creeps from time to time. Looking at his teammate, he shifted away slightly and brushed against his other companion’s side. He jolted away and prayed that neither man woke up. Amane was somehow tricked into sitting with them when the three teams were blending; apparently no one from track wanted to sit through his ridiculous puns for three and a half hours. He could now see why. The guy found anything to comment and then joke about; the scenes from the movie not helping his predicament much. He would be eternally grateful that the man exhausted himself within the first hour and has yet to make a peep.
He pulled the earphones out and closed his eyes trying to block out his surroundings. The calm atmosphere made it easier for him to concentrate on his thoughts, which have recently been revolving around a certain Artistic Gymnastics Coach who would be entering this year’s Games as a Fencer. He sighed softly when he recalled the way he and Saeki danced at the party. He knew the man was usually a calm, collected and composed person so he never imagined that he would be such a sensual dancer. Just thinking about it was making his face heat up again. It seemed like everywhere he went after that the white haired man wasn’t far behind. He lingered near the pools before and after he went looking for his Gymnasts, at cafes during his breaks, and ready and waiting to give him a ride to his hotel when necessary; the other man even showed up at his residence to take him to SGAA on occasion. Shiraishi sighed in his recollection; he couldn’t think of anything beyond Saeki.
Somewhere behind him, he heard the bathroom door close. Rising out of his seat he turned and scanned the cabin, he saw that Fuji was missing and smiled, before turning back around to the movie he wasn’t watching. The brown-haired man was a better friend than prospective lover, and he liked to think that Saeki thought that way too since Fuji obviously had no qualms about hiding his efforts to make them comfortable around each other; all three of them. He thought that it would have been more difficult to integrate himself into Saeki’s life but with Fuji as a constant reminder to all that they should live and let live, it was surprisingly easy. His long-time crush on Fuji grew into a comfortable understanding and adoration of the slighter man but he grew to pity him in his quest for Tezuka. He had hoped that both he and Fuji would have been given the chance of romance that night at the party, but it seemed that Fuji’s chance slipped by him.
Shiraishi looked up and punched the call button for the flight attendant and asked for a Diet Pepsi when she arrived nearly ten minutes later. He sighed, thinking that the service would have been better since they were on a plane, but decided not to dwell on it too much. With his beverage in hand he closed his eyes; Shiraishi sent up a silent prayer to anyone who would listen that the next chance Fuji got would bite Tezuka where the sun didn’t shine.
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Washing his hands, Fuji looked at his reflection in the slightly musty mirror. His hair was a bit longer than usual, just brushing his shoulders, and heightening his already sharp feminine looks. He mused that if he curled the ends into a bob he would no doubt look like his mother did at his age.
He sighed as he turned the faucet to stop the water flow. The weeks following Atobe’s little bash were hectic; he had diving training everyday and gymnastic every other day. Regardless of seeing him everyday though, he could never seem to get Tezuka alone so they could talk. He didn’t know whether their dance meant something to the stoic man or not. He was either too busy trying to organize his tennis team, or having meetings with the other team captains, trainers or coaches, and whenever he had a spare moment, Inui always showed up with his little green book to discuss one thing or another. Not to mention that his cell phone always rang not a minute after their tightly scheduled session ended. Tezuka always had an exasperated look on his face whenever that happened, but he left immediately after anyway.
It also didn’t help him much that he thought that Eiji was up to something. Whenever he could, he would invite Fuji and a plethora of people, most commonly Tachibana-san, along on one of his and Oishi’s many dates; if they could still be called that with the extra company. If Fuji didn’t know any better, he would have thought that Eiji was deliberately trying to keep him away from Tezuka, maybe even going so far as to send him on blind dates with people who were equally clueless. But Fuji did know better, Eiji would never do something like that knowing that Fuji only had eyes for Tezuka.
Regardless, they were entering a new country soon, and Eiji’s antics would at least be put to rest in the new environment. Realizing that if he were in the restroom any longer Eiji would come looking for him, he checked his reflection in the mirror once more before opening the latch so he could exit the small space.
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In the front cabin, Atobe was being his usual higher-than-thou self. He had practically all of the flying staff occupied since neither his precious Kabaji nor love Jiroh could sit upfront with him; one flight attendant was giving him a neck-rub while two more tended to his hands and feet, the only male attendants were sent back and forth finding drinks and snacks for the young heir. There were only six attendants in total, leaving only one free to serve the second cabin that the team members were in.
Tezuka on the other hand, had the misfortune of sitting next to the narcissist. The All-Japan-Team captain didn’t seem to mind at all that his seating companion was trying, and failing miserably, to read some novel in his hands. No Atobe only saw that his, apparently, highly valuable nail would chip if it wasn’t filed in a special way.
Rubbing the space between his eyes, Tezuka replaced his glasses and looked across the cabin. The first section of the plane was designed so that the coaches, captains and trainers could talk freely with each other; much like the second cabin except that instead of facing one direction, a few seats were turned around so that the four occupants were sitting face to face. He saw Ryuzaki-sensei giving him a pitying look before turning back to her conversation with Sakaki-sensei. It appeared that she, like everyone else who avoided his gaze, would much rather not get in between the two men.
The green tea he asked for fifteen minutes prior had only just arrived and he was beyond parched with Atobe’s air-conditioner blasting in his face and drying the atmosphere. Accepting it gratefully from the lonely, weary looking attendant, he sipped his tea and savored the still warm liquid. Hoping to continue his reading for the next two hours of the flight, he opened the book to his saved page and took another sip of his tea. It was cold now.
He sighed.
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Meanwhile, Eiji was thanking the gods for his luck in the past month. He felt terrible for leading his best friend on into thinking that he liked Tezuka but he just couldn’t stand by and watch as Fuji pined after a two-timing Casanova when there were so many available and faithful men around. Shiraishi fell through after the party; Saeki practically kidnapped him for the rest of the bash, and they were more or less inseparable after that, so Eiji gave up on him. But, Tachibana-taichou soon caught his eye.
The Fudomine Athletic Institute (FAI) coach started coming over to SGAA about three weeks ago with his Olympic selected duo Kamio and Ibu. He would roam the halls when the track team was having a break, and since he knew Ibu would be fine under Ryuzaki-sensei’s lead, he often wondered into the pool area. Eiji, who became highly sensitive to any single man besides Tezuka having the slightest interest in his best friend, all but pounced on the unsuspecting coach. He invited Tachibana to all of his lunch dates with Oishi under the pretense that he should keep Fuji company since Fuji didn’t want to be the third wheel. It seemed to be working since the two planned their own outing together, alone, about one week ago. Apparently Tachibana has been to China before and would be giving Fuji a personal tour of all his favorite places; Eiji found no fault in that since he planned on following them closely to make sure they were not disturbed.
Yes everything was going according to plan, and Eiji could not have been happier.
Eiji was getting anxious with the amount of time Fuji was spending in the bathroom. He took out his earphones and looked around. Just as he was about to unbuckle his seat-belt to check on his friend, Fuji plopped down next to him with a breathy sigh.
The blue-eyed man smiled at his companion before plugging in his own earpiece and looked up to watch the end of the film with his best-friend. It would be another hour and some until they landed and he figured that Eiji would join most of the cabin in a nap by that time; leaving him to once again complete his Sudoku puzzles.
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The in-flight movie ended and random commercials filled the space until another flick started, when Ootori felt a stirring on his right shoulder. He looked over and saw Shishido wiping the sleep from his eyes. Smiling gently at his senpai he offered him a bottle of water from his carry-on.
Shishido gratefully accepted the container, he noticed a calm hush and looked around the cabin; people were either reading, watching the monitors or sleeping. Perplexed, he leaned over and afraid that he missed something he whispered,
“Ootori-kun, why is the plane so quiet?”
So tell me: how did you enjoy my attempt at a silent chapter? Did it bore you, make you want to throttle me from the lack of dialogue, or were you as pleasantly surprised about it as I was?
By far Tezuka’s scene was easiest to write lol.
THANKS to ALL who have been reading, me, putting me on alerts and of course reviewing!!!
Reviews are always welcome, and like I said before, they guilt trip me into updating faster *sigh* that is just too true *sigh*
Chpt [1] ; [2] ; [3] ; [4] ; [5] ; [6]