Prince of Tennis: Shishido Ryoh & Atobe Keigo; Five Stages of Change: Adaptation & Acceptance
First of all, major apologies for how late both of these are; my time the past couple weeks have been eaten by professional commitments.
Title: Adaptation
Author: midorinomizu
Series: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: Shishido Ryoh/Atobe Keigo
Length: 487 words
It hadn't yet been discovered that they'd started taking lunch up on the roof of the school, Shishido thought as he flopped onto his back on the smooth asphault, pushing several long strands of coffee brown hair behind his ear and shutting his eyes. If it had been discovered, they would have been swarmed by the legions of girls who'd quickly decided that Atobe was their version of movie star and pop idol and star athelete, all rolled into one; they swarmed them at all other times of the day, after all. It was a pain in the ass at first, Shishido thought, stretching his arms above his head and yawning; hell, it was still a pain in the ass, but he was getting used to it. He was adaptable.
"Are you going to take a nap or eat your lunch?" Atobe drawled, and Shishido opened a single eye to look at him. Atobe had a lacquered bento box filled with a weird combination of traditionally Japanese foods and heavier European ones, and Shishido smirked as his best friend poked at his german-style potato salad with his chopsticks.
"Haven't decided yet," he said. "It's just a cheese sandwich again anyway." His eyes closed again, and he settled back against the roof, letting the sunlight beat down across his face; it was just past April now, and the weather was finally getting warmer, more like summer. And summer was his favorite season.
He blinked again as he felt a shadow fall over him and his eyebrows rose as Atobe shoved some of his omelet towards Shishido's mouth. "You don't need to feed me your lunch," he said after he took the bite and swallowed it. "I like cheese sandwiches. Just not hungry right now."
Atobe shrugged, tossing his long bangs from his eyes before grinning back at Shishido. "I like cheese sandwiches too," he said. "You eat my lunch, I'll eat yours."
Shishido's teeth flashed white in a fast grin as he sat up and smoothed his own hair back into its sleek tail. He'd always taken cheese sandwiches for lunch - his parents both worked and were often too harried to make his and his older brother's lunches - and from the time he'd met Atobe at the age of seven, the other boy had eyed his sometimes sloppily put together sandwiches with a skeptical eye.
Once, he'd called them gross, and Shishido had retaliated by shoving him in the mud and forcing bites of cheese and bread into his mouth while he sat on Atobe's chest.
"That seems fair," he finally said as he reached out and grabbed blindly at the brown paper sack he'd brought his lunch in. He pulled out his sandwich and ripped off a bite, popping it into Atobe's mouth as the other boy fished through his box with his polished wood chopsticks again.
Title: Acceptance
Author: midorinomizu
Series: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: Shishido Ryoh/Atobe Keigo
Length: 360 words
They'd had this conversation a half dozen times already, Atobe thought, peering up from where he was hunkered down over a thick book of Greek vocabulary to stare at Oshitari Yuushi. Yuushi, for his part, twirled his pen lazily with the fingers of one hand and occasionally, absently, flipped a page in his mathematics textbook with the other, his eyes never really wavering from Atobe Keigo's face.
Oshitari's dark brown eyes gleamed with amusement, Atobe noted with some vague sense of irritation. He was playing one of his games - this one's purpose was just to see how long it would be before he'd change his answer to Yuushi's question, and they'd been playing it back and forth for weeks now.
"So," Yuushi said, drawing out his long drawl more than usual. "You're seeing Shishido now, right?"
This was the part where he'd normally snort sardonically, Atobe thought, and say either that Shishido was his best friend, and he saw him everyday - deliberate obtuseness annoyed Oshitari Yuushi, and Atobe Keigo felt that it was occasionally good for Yuushi to get back some of what he dished out - or he simply told the other boy to stop being quite so ridiculous. Then Yuushi would grin at him, and go "Whatever you say, Atobe," and turn back to his homework, his mouth twisted into a laughing grin.
In their three years of friendship, Atobe Keigo had gotten used to the idea that Oshitari Yuushi had a distinctly odd sense of humor.
Atobe took a moment before replying, transferring two vocabulary exercises from his textbook and into his notebook before he spoke.
"Yeah," he said finally. "I'm seeing Shishido."
Yuushi lifted an eyebrow. "Good," he said after a short pause. "The two of you have been driving me nuts with your...wacky little courtship ritual."
A muscle in Atobe's cheek twitched briefly and his teeth gritted together. "Somebody has to drive you insane," he muttered as he flipped the page in his book. "You do it to everyone else you know."
He ignored his friend as Yuushi broke into low, infectious laughter.
Title: Adaptation
Author: midorinomizu
Series: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: Shishido Ryoh/Atobe Keigo
Length: 487 words
It hadn't yet been discovered that they'd started taking lunch up on the roof of the school, Shishido thought as he flopped onto his back on the smooth asphault, pushing several long strands of coffee brown hair behind his ear and shutting his eyes. If it had been discovered, they would have been swarmed by the legions of girls who'd quickly decided that Atobe was their version of movie star and pop idol and star athelete, all rolled into one; they swarmed them at all other times of the day, after all. It was a pain in the ass at first, Shishido thought, stretching his arms above his head and yawning; hell, it was still a pain in the ass, but he was getting used to it. He was adaptable.
"Are you going to take a nap or eat your lunch?" Atobe drawled, and Shishido opened a single eye to look at him. Atobe had a lacquered bento box filled with a weird combination of traditionally Japanese foods and heavier European ones, and Shishido smirked as his best friend poked at his german-style potato salad with his chopsticks.
"Haven't decided yet," he said. "It's just a cheese sandwich again anyway." His eyes closed again, and he settled back against the roof, letting the sunlight beat down across his face; it was just past April now, and the weather was finally getting warmer, more like summer. And summer was his favorite season.
He blinked again as he felt a shadow fall over him and his eyebrows rose as Atobe shoved some of his omelet towards Shishido's mouth. "You don't need to feed me your lunch," he said after he took the bite and swallowed it. "I like cheese sandwiches. Just not hungry right now."
Atobe shrugged, tossing his long bangs from his eyes before grinning back at Shishido. "I like cheese sandwiches too," he said. "You eat my lunch, I'll eat yours."
Shishido's teeth flashed white in a fast grin as he sat up and smoothed his own hair back into its sleek tail. He'd always taken cheese sandwiches for lunch - his parents both worked and were often too harried to make his and his older brother's lunches - and from the time he'd met Atobe at the age of seven, the other boy had eyed his sometimes sloppily put together sandwiches with a skeptical eye.
Once, he'd called them gross, and Shishido had retaliated by shoving him in the mud and forcing bites of cheese and bread into his mouth while he sat on Atobe's chest.
"That seems fair," he finally said as he reached out and grabbed blindly at the brown paper sack he'd brought his lunch in. He pulled out his sandwich and ripped off a bite, popping it into Atobe's mouth as the other boy fished through his box with his polished wood chopsticks again.
Title: Acceptance
Author: midorinomizu
Series: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: Shishido Ryoh/Atobe Keigo
Length: 360 words
They'd had this conversation a half dozen times already, Atobe thought, peering up from where he was hunkered down over a thick book of Greek vocabulary to stare at Oshitari Yuushi. Yuushi, for his part, twirled his pen lazily with the fingers of one hand and occasionally, absently, flipped a page in his mathematics textbook with the other, his eyes never really wavering from Atobe Keigo's face.
Oshitari's dark brown eyes gleamed with amusement, Atobe noted with some vague sense of irritation. He was playing one of his games - this one's purpose was just to see how long it would be before he'd change his answer to Yuushi's question, and they'd been playing it back and forth for weeks now.
"So," Yuushi said, drawing out his long drawl more than usual. "You're seeing Shishido now, right?"
This was the part where he'd normally snort sardonically, Atobe thought, and say either that Shishido was his best friend, and he saw him everyday - deliberate obtuseness annoyed Oshitari Yuushi, and Atobe Keigo felt that it was occasionally good for Yuushi to get back some of what he dished out - or he simply told the other boy to stop being quite so ridiculous. Then Yuushi would grin at him, and go "Whatever you say, Atobe," and turn back to his homework, his mouth twisted into a laughing grin.
In their three years of friendship, Atobe Keigo had gotten used to the idea that Oshitari Yuushi had a distinctly odd sense of humor.
Atobe took a moment before replying, transferring two vocabulary exercises from his textbook and into his notebook before he spoke.
"Yeah," he said finally. "I'm seeing Shishido."
Yuushi lifted an eyebrow. "Good," he said after a short pause. "The two of you have been driving me nuts with your...wacky little courtship ritual."
A muscle in Atobe's cheek twitched briefly and his teeth gritted together. "Somebody has to drive you insane," he muttered as he flipped the page in his book. "You do it to everyone else you know."
He ignored his friend as Yuushi broke into low, infectious laughter.