Match 3

[mathisradical]

Action: Outside 1249 Williams Road

[ Niou steps out the front door just to trip over a package lying there. He trips, letting out a couple of swear words, and looks around quickly to see if anyone saw him. ]

Who the fuck-

[ He stops his angry question when he actually looks down to see what he tripped over. It's a package, and the shape of it is

Comments

[myougi]

Well, well, well. Fancy seeing you here!

[ guess who else has his tennis stuff with him? And not just his racket - looks like most, if not all of his tennis gear has been returned to him. ]

[mathisradical]

[ Marui is promptly ignored for several moments until Niou runs out of tennis balls to hit. Then he looks up, and doesn't seem at all surprised to see him. He figured he'd run into him eventually. So he just grins his razor grin and gestures to the other side of the court with his racket. ]

Well? What're you waitin' for? Go get warmed up and prepared to be slaughtered.

[myougi]

[ that's okay, he'll just do his pre-game ritual while he's being ignored. It involves cake, naturally. ]

Slaughter, huh... we'll see about that! [ and he'll start on his warm-ups diligently, taking his time to do all the stretches properly. No sense in rushing things. ]

[mathisradical]

Damn right we'll see. [ Unfortunately, Niou's being unusually impatient today. So he's going to half-heartedly serve some of his retrieved tennis balls at Marui to hurry him along. ]

[myougi]

[ maybe he's being purposely a little frustrating, but he moves through his warm-ups pretty much as slowly as possible. When he's done, he'll walk on over to the court. ]

Sooo, ready to see my genius first-hand?

[mathisradical]

[ A snort. ]

I've been seein' your so called 'genius' first-hand since we were like, twelve. Which is why it'll be so easy to beat you. You're gonna be about as much competition as the wall was a hour ago.

[ He's being a jackass just to see if he can wile Marui up enough to get a really awesome game out of him. ]

[myougi]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you even think you'll be able to make me take my armbands off, huh? [ he doesn't seem particularly agitated, but it probably will be more intense than usual - it's been so long since his last match against an actual person, after all. ]

Anyway... rough or smooth?

[mathisradical]

I know I can get you to take your armbands off.

Give it to me rough.

[myougi]

Don't brag 'til you've actually managed it.

[ he spins his racket and checks it as it falls - ] Well, it's your lucky day! Rough it is.

[mathisradical]

Nothin' wrong with havin' all the confidence in the world.

[ He grins and snatches up a stray ball from the court, knocking a few out of his way as he makes is way to the base line. ] Better not've been slackin' off in your training, 'cos I'm not goin' easy on you. [ He bounces the ball a few times before serving it hard, not even bothering to check if Marui was actually ready or not. ]

[myougi]

Would I ever slack o - [ and then the ball comes bouncing towards him - he manages to return it, though it's a bit weaker than he'd like it to be. ]

[mathisradical]

[ Niou's grin widens as he returns the ball with ease and power. ] So you have been slackin' off.

[myougi]

Just 'cause I don't have four lungs - [ and there's a pause as he returns ] - doesn't mean I've been slacking off!

[mathisradical]

[ He clicks his tongue and returns before speaking again. ] Buchou would be so disappointed~.

[myougi]

I'm a doubles player anyway! [ he manages to return this time, but he's run himself into a corner to do so. ]

[mathisradical]

No excuse! [ Niou's first instinct is to do something that would be least expected, which would mean aiming somewhere besides that empty corner. But maybe doing the least expected is what's expected of him. So he aims for the corner anyway. ]