Prince of Tennis: Ibu Shinji, 012: Orange
Title: Scientific Method
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Characters: Ibu Shinji, Uchimura Kyosuke, Kamio Akira, Sakurai Masaya, Ishida Tetsu
Prompt: 012: Orange
Word Count: 1,108
Rating: G
Summary: The adventures of science lab.
Author's Notes: This fic has two inspirations. The main one is that, the vast majority of these events happened in one of my science labs in college. The other…well, I had written a fic off of that lab a LONG time ago, and I wanted to adapt it for this, because I thought I could do better with it. So…my attempt. This takes place when Shinji and his year-mates are in 8th grade, during the canon timeline.
Main table can be found here and here.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
As a general rule, Shinji enjoyed science. He always wanted to know more, and science let him do that. He loved labs, for the most part too. The thing was, the labs had to somehow be relevant to him. But being stuck in a science lab doing the extremely important task of watching a crucible heat, all for the purpose of finding out the atomic mass of magnesium…Shinji didn’t find relevant at all. And he really didn't care. And, Shinji thought, if for some reason, I ever did develop the burning desire to know that, then, well...that's what the periodic table is for.
"Shinji?"
Shinji looked up from where he had been staring at the lab table, daydreaming. "Yeah, Uchimura?"
"I think it's time to remove the crucible." Shinji nodded, and Uchimura moved the crucible to the asbestos pad.
“Now there's another bright idea,” Shinji mumbled to himself, picking up aloud whatever train of thought had been internal. “Isn’t asbestos dangerous? And they’re exposing students to it. And, now we get to watch the crucible cool. Joy. This is so boring…."
Uchimura raised an eyebrow, looking at Shinji. “No, that wasn’t at all sarcastic, was it? We’ll deal, Shinji.”
They stared at it for a few minutes, hoping it would do something interesting, before Uchimura got bored and began playing with the igniter on the Bunsen burner. “Gods protect me, my lab partner is a pyro,” Shinji muttered, watching that. “No wonder I managed to conquer my fear of the Bunsen burner. Though, to give Uchimura credit, he hasn't tried to kill me yet. Two labs in a row...a new record for him, I think….”
“Shinji!"
Shinji started in shock. "What’s the matter? Don’t you think it’s rude to just yell at someone like that for no reason?
"You were mumbling. Again. And I’m not trying to kill you. The crucible's cool, too."
“Oh! Actual work to do, then….” Shinji and Uchimura actually focused on their work for several minutes, taking the measurements they needed. “And now it goes on the heat for five more minutes?” Shinji asked. “So boring….” He looked at his notes, writing down the information, then looked up at Uchimura. Then blinked and looked again. "Uchimura, what on Earth are you doing?"
Uchimura looked up from stabbing his hand with his pen and grinned at me. "I want to hurt someone."
"Who?" Shinji became concerned. “Are the senpais bothering you again? If they are, we should tell Tachibana-san, so we can have it stopped before something bad happens, and we can’t afford for anything bad to happen to you because it’s close to the Regional tournaments and we need you and Mori in doubles.”
Uchimura looked at Shinji sheepishly. "Ummm...I wanted to hurt myself? And not really hurt myself, but distract myself, you know?"
Shinji sighed and couldn’t help chuckling. "That bored?"
"Yup, Shinji, but look! We can move again!" He rescued the crucible from the heat, and they went back to watching porcelain cool. “This is about as fun as watching paint dry,” Uchimura commented wryly.
Shinji nodded in agreement absently, flipping through the lab packet. "This is the last time we have to heat this, right? I mean, twenty minutes before, then the next twenty minutes, and now this five...."
Uchimura looked at the instructions as well and nodded. "Yeah. Then after we get these measurements, we get to do the math."
They both groaned. Neither one of them particularly enjoyed math, even though they weren’t bad at it
Uchimura touched the crucible in a fit of impatience and hissed, pulling back quickly. "Still too hot." He tried again a minute later. "But not now."
They measured, worked out the math...and groaned in unison when they discovered that their number was too high. Shinji looked at Uchimura almost helplessly. "Well...do we want to leave it like that, or try heating it again?"
Uchimura looked back at him. "What do you think?"
"Up to you."
"No, you decide."
They met each other's eyes and burst out laughing. Finally, Uchimura said with a shrug, "It's only five more minutes."
Shinji nodded and tried to re-light the burner, glaring at it as it refused to catch. "Damn it, it worked before!" he exclaimed in a rare fit of frustration.
Kamio went over from his table next to Shinji and Uchimura, responding to his best friend’s distress, followed closely by Sakurai when all of Kamio’s efforts proved futile. It took five minutes of the group of them staring at the Bunsen burner and offering useless suggestions before Ishida rescued them all and made it catch with just one try. “It's like a joke,” Shinji muttered, staring at the cheerfully flickering orange burner flame. “'How many people does it take to light a Bunsen burner...?'”
Kamio grinned. "You having fun?"
"NO!" Shinji and Uchimura chorused. Kamio shrugged and wandered back to his own lab setup, deciding that maybe it wasn’t a good idea to bait his friends right that second.
They heated, cooled, measured, calculated.... "Shinji?"
"Hmmm, Uchimura?"
"We're screwed. This number is worse."
Shinji sighed. "What now?"
Uchimura threw up his hands in frustration. "I give up!"
Shinji laughed for the second time that afternoon. "Me too!"
They got their data signed by their sensei, who reminded them to think about what might have messed up their results when they wrote their lab reports. Shinji and Uchimura just rolled their eyes as they make tracks for the door, giggling for reasons even they didn’t understand.
Uchimura elbowed Shinji. "Good thing we've got tennis to fall back on, right, Shinji?"
Shinji nodded vigorously, agreeing. "Yes, and a good thing too, because I think we just proved with this lab that we aren't fit to be physicists or chemists, but we can play tennis…."
Uchimura threw an arm around Shinji's shoulders. "Hey, at least we screwed up together, right?"
That caused Shinji to laugh again. "The mark of true friends, I guess-those who can screw up together and be bored together."
Kamio walked up behind them. "So...what happened?" Did it work out better?" He grinned almost smugly, knowing that his and Sakurai’s data had been nearly textbook accurate.
Shinji and Uchimura shared a secret grin. "No," Shinji finally replied, "but I think everything was just fine in the end, anyway."
Uchimura had to laugh at Kamio's puzzled expression. “I’d try to explain, but I think it’s over your poor, science-addled brain.”
A soft smile spread of Shinji’s face as he watched Kamio jump Uchimura, watched Sakurai egg them on, and Ishida try to reason with them. Labs may suck, but friends make it all worthwhile.
--The End--
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Characters: Ibu Shinji, Uchimura Kyosuke, Kamio Akira, Sakurai Masaya, Ishida Tetsu
Prompt: 012: Orange
Word Count: 1,108
Rating: G
Summary: The adventures of science lab.
Author's Notes: This fic has two inspirations. The main one is that, the vast majority of these events happened in one of my science labs in college. The other…well, I had written a fic off of that lab a LONG time ago, and I wanted to adapt it for this, because I thought I could do better with it. So…my attempt. This takes place when Shinji and his year-mates are in 8th grade, during the canon timeline.
Main table can be found here and here.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
As a general rule, Shinji enjoyed science. He always wanted to know more, and science let him do that. He loved labs, for the most part too. The thing was, the labs had to somehow be relevant to him. But being stuck in a science lab doing the extremely important task of watching a crucible heat, all for the purpose of finding out the atomic mass of magnesium…Shinji didn’t find relevant at all. And he really didn't care. And, Shinji thought, if for some reason, I ever did develop the burning desire to know that, then, well...that's what the periodic table is for.
"Shinji?"
Shinji looked up from where he had been staring at the lab table, daydreaming. "Yeah, Uchimura?"
"I think it's time to remove the crucible." Shinji nodded, and Uchimura moved the crucible to the asbestos pad.
“Now there's another bright idea,” Shinji mumbled to himself, picking up aloud whatever train of thought had been internal. “Isn’t asbestos dangerous? And they’re exposing students to it. And, now we get to watch the crucible cool. Joy. This is so boring…."
Uchimura raised an eyebrow, looking at Shinji. “No, that wasn’t at all sarcastic, was it? We’ll deal, Shinji.”
They stared at it for a few minutes, hoping it would do something interesting, before Uchimura got bored and began playing with the igniter on the Bunsen burner. “Gods protect me, my lab partner is a pyro,” Shinji muttered, watching that. “No wonder I managed to conquer my fear of the Bunsen burner. Though, to give Uchimura credit, he hasn't tried to kill me yet. Two labs in a row...a new record for him, I think….”
“Shinji!"
Shinji started in shock. "What’s the matter? Don’t you think it’s rude to just yell at someone like that for no reason?
"You were mumbling. Again. And I’m not trying to kill you. The crucible's cool, too."
“Oh! Actual work to do, then….” Shinji and Uchimura actually focused on their work for several minutes, taking the measurements they needed. “And now it goes on the heat for five more minutes?” Shinji asked. “So boring….” He looked at his notes, writing down the information, then looked up at Uchimura. Then blinked and looked again. "Uchimura, what on Earth are you doing?"
Uchimura looked up from stabbing his hand with his pen and grinned at me. "I want to hurt someone."
"Who?" Shinji became concerned. “Are the senpais bothering you again? If they are, we should tell Tachibana-san, so we can have it stopped before something bad happens, and we can’t afford for anything bad to happen to you because it’s close to the Regional tournaments and we need you and Mori in doubles.”
Uchimura looked at Shinji sheepishly. "Ummm...I wanted to hurt myself? And not really hurt myself, but distract myself, you know?"
Shinji sighed and couldn’t help chuckling. "That bored?"
"Yup, Shinji, but look! We can move again!" He rescued the crucible from the heat, and they went back to watching porcelain cool. “This is about as fun as watching paint dry,” Uchimura commented wryly.
Shinji nodded in agreement absently, flipping through the lab packet. "This is the last time we have to heat this, right? I mean, twenty minutes before, then the next twenty minutes, and now this five...."
Uchimura looked at the instructions as well and nodded. "Yeah. Then after we get these measurements, we get to do the math."
They both groaned. Neither one of them particularly enjoyed math, even though they weren’t bad at it
Uchimura touched the crucible in a fit of impatience and hissed, pulling back quickly. "Still too hot." He tried again a minute later. "But not now."
They measured, worked out the math...and groaned in unison when they discovered that their number was too high. Shinji looked at Uchimura almost helplessly. "Well...do we want to leave it like that, or try heating it again?"
Uchimura looked back at him. "What do you think?"
"Up to you."
"No, you decide."
They met each other's eyes and burst out laughing. Finally, Uchimura said with a shrug, "It's only five more minutes."
Shinji nodded and tried to re-light the burner, glaring at it as it refused to catch. "Damn it, it worked before!" he exclaimed in a rare fit of frustration.
Kamio went over from his table next to Shinji and Uchimura, responding to his best friend’s distress, followed closely by Sakurai when all of Kamio’s efforts proved futile. It took five minutes of the group of them staring at the Bunsen burner and offering useless suggestions before Ishida rescued them all and made it catch with just one try. “It's like a joke,” Shinji muttered, staring at the cheerfully flickering orange burner flame. “'How many people does it take to light a Bunsen burner...?'”
Kamio grinned. "You having fun?"
"NO!" Shinji and Uchimura chorused. Kamio shrugged and wandered back to his own lab setup, deciding that maybe it wasn’t a good idea to bait his friends right that second.
They heated, cooled, measured, calculated.... "Shinji?"
"Hmmm, Uchimura?"
"We're screwed. This number is worse."
Shinji sighed. "What now?"
Uchimura threw up his hands in frustration. "I give up!"
Shinji laughed for the second time that afternoon. "Me too!"
They got their data signed by their sensei, who reminded them to think about what might have messed up their results when they wrote their lab reports. Shinji and Uchimura just rolled their eyes as they make tracks for the door, giggling for reasons even they didn’t understand.
Uchimura elbowed Shinji. "Good thing we've got tennis to fall back on, right, Shinji?"
Shinji nodded vigorously, agreeing. "Yes, and a good thing too, because I think we just proved with this lab that we aren't fit to be physicists or chemists, but we can play tennis…."
Uchimura threw an arm around Shinji's shoulders. "Hey, at least we screwed up together, right?"
That caused Shinji to laugh again. "The mark of true friends, I guess-those who can screw up together and be bored together."
Kamio walked up behind them. "So...what happened?" Did it work out better?" He grinned almost smugly, knowing that his and Sakurai’s data had been nearly textbook accurate.
Shinji and Uchimura shared a secret grin. "No," Shinji finally replied, "but I think everything was just fine in the end, anyway."
Uchimura had to laugh at Kamio's puzzled expression. “I’d try to explain, but I think it’s over your poor, science-addled brain.”
A soft smile spread of Shinji’s face as he watched Kamio jump Uchimura, watched Sakurai egg them on, and Ishida try to reason with them. Labs may suck, but friends make it all worthwhile.
--The End--