Drabble-age (1548 words, First Impressions- Happy Birthday Jackal!)
Title: First Impressions
Author: Ociwen
Wordcount: 1548
Rating: Gish
Disclaimer: Konomi owns all.
Summary: Rikkai is expecting a new kid on the team. Mostly D2 Gen.
Author's Notes: Today is Jackal's birthday- Happy Birthday, Jackal!
The first time Marui ever heard of some kid named Jackal, it was during second year. The weather was just starting to chill and the days were getting longer. Tennis practices were getting shorter and thank god because Marui was freezing his ass off in the morning standing at the bus stop to make it to school in time.
He was hanging around the regulars’ locker room. He wasn’t a regular yet, but that was only because Nishiki hadn’t realized Marui’s Genius potential. That, and Marui lost 6-1 to Yagyuu at the start of the season and there went his chances to shine.
Still, Yukimura didn’t care if Marui partook in the regulars’ pow wows because Yukimura was his friend and he understood Marui’s genius.
Marui had an excuse. Niou, on the other hand, only lurked in the regulars’ locker room because Yagyuu was there and Marui noticed that Niou was creepily obsessed with Yagyuu from day one of first year.
It was weird.
But not as weird as Yanagi raising his hand. “I have an announcement,” he said, reading off a clip board.
Marui crossed his fingers. His time had come! He chewed his gum with relish and looked to Yanagi, who looked at him and smiled back in his all-knowing, smug way.
Marui nodded and then nodded to the side. “You don’t need to have much ado,” he said. “I know the team has been eagerly awaiting my genius-”
“Actually, we’re getting a transfer student,” Yanagi said.
The bubble Marui was blowing starting to sag when his mouth hung open.
“He’s from Brazil. And his name is-” Yanagi looked down at his clipboard again, “-Jackal.”
Nobody noticed Marui slinking back behind the row of lockers. Nobody except Niou, who was lurking there and leaning against a basket of tennisballs. But Niou was a creepy asshole, so he didn’t count.
“Still not on the regulars,” Niou said.
“Yeah, stuff it!” Marui snapped. He snorted and chewed on his gum, making sure to be nice and loud so that Niou ground his teeth out of irritation.
“Who hell calls their kid Jackal?” Marui grumbled. “What a dumb gaijin name.”
***
“What a dumb name,” Marui said. He popped a bubble and swung his racket. Kirihara ran to the ball, grinning like a dog and about as bright. “Stupid transfer student probably can’t speak a word of Japanese. How the hell is he gonna play tennis with us?”
“Senpaaaaai!” Kirihara shouted. “Senpai, look what I can do!”
Marui ignored Kirihara and swung wide, not paying too much attention to the ball either because the fangirls were grouping on the grassy bank again and they were a nice distraction from Marui sweating like a pig in his trackpants because it was too cold for shorts this morning.
He waved. “Hello ladies!” Marui waggled his eyebrows.
And then someone walked into his field of vision. Someone with nasty bleached hair and a cancerous mole on his mug.
“Oi!” Marui shouted.
Niou looked at him. “If you’re not going to practice properly with the kid, give him to me.”
Marui narrowed his eyes. On the other side of the net, he could see Kirihara flapping his arms about some new serve he was working on, or something. Marui didn’t really care because whatever the kid was doing, it was nowhere near as genius as the volley Marui hit last week that accidentally purposely smucked the metal post and netted Marui a game.
“Why?” he asked. He popped a bubble right in Niou’s face.
Niou looked down his nose- as if Marui would be intimidated by that!- then shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t hog the kid, fatty. It’s my turn.”
Marui craned his neck and jumped up as high as he could. Niou was in the way, but Marui could see the girls starting to scatter and walk off and rub their hands together. It was too cold for even the diehard fangirls today.
Damn.
How the hell would the Brazilian kid survive in this weather?
Marui snickered. Niou kept staring at him and Marui blew another bubble.
“Fine, take the chibi. I hope he hits you in the head or whatever!” Marui snickered again to himself. For spite, he wandered over to the regulars’ courts and, after ignoring Sanada’s telling him off for being over here in the regulars-only area, Marui sidled up to Yagyuu.
“Wanna play, Hiroshi?” he asked, as loud as he could in the hopes Niou might hear.
“All right,” Yagyuu said.
Marui laughed under his breath. Which happened to make puffy clouds in the air and only made the world seem even colder.
***
This Jackal kid was supposed to show up on Monday, but Marui didn’t see any black kids wandering around at practice.
It was still kinda dark out, but Marui had the eyes of an eagle. Or some equally genius bird and he sure didn’t see any black, confused kids at practice yelling out gobble-dee-gook Brazilian words. Spanish, or whatever they spoke there.
“Maybe he got lost,” Marui said.
“Yeah, it’s confusing getting to school sometimes,” Kirihara agreed. He bounced a ball between his knees.
“You live five minutes from here,” Marui said.
Kirihara stuck his bottom lip out. “I’m really confused when I have to get up for morning practice, senpai. Jeez.”
“Jeez yourself.”
Kirihara kept pouting. And bouncing his ball. And then squeezing the living daylights out of the ball until he squeezed so hard the tennis ball shot up out of his hand and was lost in the harsh glare of the yellow floodlights.
A beat later, Marui heard a distinctive “Ow” on the regulars’ courts. Said by a distinctively Sanada voice.
“What are Brazilians like?” Kirihara asked. “I’ve never seen one in real life.”
Marui thought for a moment, striking a pose with his thumb and index on his chin because that was the sort of thing smart people like him did. Behind the bench, he could hear Niou being creepy and clicking his tongue. Marui puffed his chest up and loudly said, “You know the shows on the Amazon that they show in geography class?”
Kirihara nodded.
“And how there’s, like, black people wandering around in the jungle in loin clothes and feathers?”
“The ones with the cool spears?”
Marui nodded. “Those are Brazilians.”
Kirihara was silent for a moment. The balls ping-ponged across the court, punctuating the quiet until he whispered “Wow…”
“Yeah. We’re gonna have one of those on the team soon,” Marui said.
The gravel crunched behind the bench. Marui huffed and rolled his eyes.
“Niou stop lurking, you dickwad! Yagyuu’s on the regulars court, DUH!”
But it wasn’t Niou. Marui could tell when the person cleared their throat. He looked over his shoulder and craned his head up. Some kid in a school uniform and a tennis bag was standing there with his forehead all scrunched up.
“Yo, you’re supposed to be changed already,” Marui said.
The kid scratched his hair. He looked confused, but then it could have been the crappy lighting and the fact the sun still hadn’t risen and there was barely a sliver of grey in the east. The kid looked as greenish as Marui’s skin did in the floodlights.
“Uh, sorry about that,” he said. He stood there and looked awkward, shifting the weight of his tennisbag strap on his shoulder.
Marui blew a bubble. He felt that he should say something more, so he fished into his pocket and pulled out his pack of gum. He held it out. “It’s Lotte Green,” he said.
“Cool,” the kid said. “Guess I should get changed then.”
“Yep,” Marui said. The kid started to walk off before Marui had a brilliant idea. “Hey!” he shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth for warmth as much as volume. “If you see some black dude in a loin cloth and feathers, can you tell him we’re supposed to be looking for him?”
The kid saluted Marui and nodded.
***
“So…” Yukimura said. He paced around the regulars’ locker room. “You’re Jackal, then?”
“Yep,” the kid said.
Marui could hear Niou sniggering behind the row of lockers. And not only that, he could see Kirihara laughing too across the room: laughing and whispering something to Yanagi, who looked at Marui and smiled, all-knowing-smarmy-dataman-like
Marui narrowed his eyes.
When Yukimura told the kid, this Jackal, “You can practice with Marui today” Marui glared at everyone else in the room. His gum tasted stale.
The first thing Marui said when they got onto a court was “You’re supposed to be black and in a loin cloth!”
Jackal cocked his head. “I’m Brazilian, not black, you know. I’m as pasty as you are.”
Marui sniffed. “Well,” he said, searching for something smart to comeback with. “Well…well that’s not very scary! We’ll have to, like, blackface you in matches or something. Brazilians are supposed to be all primitive and scary and headhunt, especially if they play tennis!”
The look Jackal gave Marui didn’t help. It didn’t help one bit. Marui glared. Jackal raised an eyebrow. Niou was lurking somewhere not too far away, probably being creepy and staring at Yagyuu’s ass or Yagyuu’s laser or something.
But then Jackal broke the tension. “You got any more gum on you?”
Marui nodded.
Author: Ociwen
Wordcount: 1548
Rating: Gish
Disclaimer: Konomi owns all.
Summary: Rikkai is expecting a new kid on the team. Mostly D2 Gen.
Author's Notes: Today is Jackal's birthday- Happy Birthday, Jackal!
The first time Marui ever heard of some kid named Jackal, it was during second year. The weather was just starting to chill and the days were getting longer. Tennis practices were getting shorter and thank god because Marui was freezing his ass off in the morning standing at the bus stop to make it to school in time.
He was hanging around the regulars’ locker room. He wasn’t a regular yet, but that was only because Nishiki hadn’t realized Marui’s Genius potential. That, and Marui lost 6-1 to Yagyuu at the start of the season and there went his chances to shine.
Still, Yukimura didn’t care if Marui partook in the regulars’ pow wows because Yukimura was his friend and he understood Marui’s genius.
Marui had an excuse. Niou, on the other hand, only lurked in the regulars’ locker room because Yagyuu was there and Marui noticed that Niou was creepily obsessed with Yagyuu from day one of first year.
It was weird.
But not as weird as Yanagi raising his hand. “I have an announcement,” he said, reading off a clip board.
Marui crossed his fingers. His time had come! He chewed his gum with relish and looked to Yanagi, who looked at him and smiled back in his all-knowing, smug way.
Marui nodded and then nodded to the side. “You don’t need to have much ado,” he said. “I know the team has been eagerly awaiting my genius-”
“Actually, we’re getting a transfer student,” Yanagi said.
The bubble Marui was blowing starting to sag when his mouth hung open.
“He’s from Brazil. And his name is-” Yanagi looked down at his clipboard again, “-Jackal.”
Nobody noticed Marui slinking back behind the row of lockers. Nobody except Niou, who was lurking there and leaning against a basket of tennisballs. But Niou was a creepy asshole, so he didn’t count.
“Still not on the regulars,” Niou said.
“Yeah, stuff it!” Marui snapped. He snorted and chewed on his gum, making sure to be nice and loud so that Niou ground his teeth out of irritation.
“Who hell calls their kid Jackal?” Marui grumbled. “What a dumb gaijin name.”
***
“What a dumb name,” Marui said. He popped a bubble and swung his racket. Kirihara ran to the ball, grinning like a dog and about as bright. “Stupid transfer student probably can’t speak a word of Japanese. How the hell is he gonna play tennis with us?”
“Senpaaaaai!” Kirihara shouted. “Senpai, look what I can do!”
Marui ignored Kirihara and swung wide, not paying too much attention to the ball either because the fangirls were grouping on the grassy bank again and they were a nice distraction from Marui sweating like a pig in his trackpants because it was too cold for shorts this morning.
He waved. “Hello ladies!” Marui waggled his eyebrows.
And then someone walked into his field of vision. Someone with nasty bleached hair and a cancerous mole on his mug.
“Oi!” Marui shouted.
Niou looked at him. “If you’re not going to practice properly with the kid, give him to me.”
Marui narrowed his eyes. On the other side of the net, he could see Kirihara flapping his arms about some new serve he was working on, or something. Marui didn’t really care because whatever the kid was doing, it was nowhere near as genius as the volley Marui hit last week that accidentally purposely smucked the metal post and netted Marui a game.
“Why?” he asked. He popped a bubble right in Niou’s face.
Niou looked down his nose- as if Marui would be intimidated by that!- then shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t hog the kid, fatty. It’s my turn.”
Marui craned his neck and jumped up as high as he could. Niou was in the way, but Marui could see the girls starting to scatter and walk off and rub their hands together. It was too cold for even the diehard fangirls today.
Damn.
How the hell would the Brazilian kid survive in this weather?
Marui snickered. Niou kept staring at him and Marui blew another bubble.
“Fine, take the chibi. I hope he hits you in the head or whatever!” Marui snickered again to himself. For spite, he wandered over to the regulars’ courts and, after ignoring Sanada’s telling him off for being over here in the regulars-only area, Marui sidled up to Yagyuu.
“Wanna play, Hiroshi?” he asked, as loud as he could in the hopes Niou might hear.
“All right,” Yagyuu said.
Marui laughed under his breath. Which happened to make puffy clouds in the air and only made the world seem even colder.
***
This Jackal kid was supposed to show up on Monday, but Marui didn’t see any black kids wandering around at practice.
It was still kinda dark out, but Marui had the eyes of an eagle. Or some equally genius bird and he sure didn’t see any black, confused kids at practice yelling out gobble-dee-gook Brazilian words. Spanish, or whatever they spoke there.
“Maybe he got lost,” Marui said.
“Yeah, it’s confusing getting to school sometimes,” Kirihara agreed. He bounced a ball between his knees.
“You live five minutes from here,” Marui said.
Kirihara stuck his bottom lip out. “I’m really confused when I have to get up for morning practice, senpai. Jeez.”
“Jeez yourself.”
Kirihara kept pouting. And bouncing his ball. And then squeezing the living daylights out of the ball until he squeezed so hard the tennis ball shot up out of his hand and was lost in the harsh glare of the yellow floodlights.
A beat later, Marui heard a distinctive “Ow” on the regulars’ courts. Said by a distinctively Sanada voice.
“What are Brazilians like?” Kirihara asked. “I’ve never seen one in real life.”
Marui thought for a moment, striking a pose with his thumb and index on his chin because that was the sort of thing smart people like him did. Behind the bench, he could hear Niou being creepy and clicking his tongue. Marui puffed his chest up and loudly said, “You know the shows on the Amazon that they show in geography class?”
Kirihara nodded.
“And how there’s, like, black people wandering around in the jungle in loin clothes and feathers?”
“The ones with the cool spears?”
Marui nodded. “Those are Brazilians.”
Kirihara was silent for a moment. The balls ping-ponged across the court, punctuating the quiet until he whispered “Wow…”
“Yeah. We’re gonna have one of those on the team soon,” Marui said.
The gravel crunched behind the bench. Marui huffed and rolled his eyes.
“Niou stop lurking, you dickwad! Yagyuu’s on the regulars court, DUH!”
But it wasn’t Niou. Marui could tell when the person cleared their throat. He looked over his shoulder and craned his head up. Some kid in a school uniform and a tennis bag was standing there with his forehead all scrunched up.
“Yo, you’re supposed to be changed already,” Marui said.
The kid scratched his hair. He looked confused, but then it could have been the crappy lighting and the fact the sun still hadn’t risen and there was barely a sliver of grey in the east. The kid looked as greenish as Marui’s skin did in the floodlights.
“Uh, sorry about that,” he said. He stood there and looked awkward, shifting the weight of his tennisbag strap on his shoulder.
Marui blew a bubble. He felt that he should say something more, so he fished into his pocket and pulled out his pack of gum. He held it out. “It’s Lotte Green,” he said.
“Cool,” the kid said. “Guess I should get changed then.”
“Yep,” Marui said. The kid started to walk off before Marui had a brilliant idea. “Hey!” he shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth for warmth as much as volume. “If you see some black dude in a loin cloth and feathers, can you tell him we’re supposed to be looking for him?”
The kid saluted Marui and nodded.
***
“So…” Yukimura said. He paced around the regulars’ locker room. “You’re Jackal, then?”
“Yep,” the kid said.
Marui could hear Niou sniggering behind the row of lockers. And not only that, he could see Kirihara laughing too across the room: laughing and whispering something to Yanagi, who looked at Marui and smiled, all-knowing-smarmy-dataman-like
Marui narrowed his eyes.
When Yukimura told the kid, this Jackal, “You can practice with Marui today” Marui glared at everyone else in the room. His gum tasted stale.
The first thing Marui said when they got onto a court was “You’re supposed to be black and in a loin cloth!”
Jackal cocked his head. “I’m Brazilian, not black, you know. I’m as pasty as you are.”
Marui sniffed. “Well,” he said, searching for something smart to comeback with. “Well…well that’s not very scary! We’ll have to, like, blackface you in matches or something. Brazilians are supposed to be all primitive and scary and headhunt, especially if they play tennis!”
The look Jackal gave Marui didn’t help. It didn’t help one bit. Marui glared. Jackal raised an eyebrow. Niou was lurking somewhere not too far away, probably being creepy and staring at Yagyuu’s ass or Yagyuu’s laser or something.
But then Jackal broke the tension. “You got any more gum on you?”
Marui nodded.