tennis slash - Smart People (13)
Title: Smart People (13)
Author: Kris S.
Fandom: Tennis RPS
Players: Rafael Nadal, Richard Gasquet, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Ernests Gulbis, Marin Cilic, Andy Roddick, Dinara Safina
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: This did not happen.
Summary: College AU. Richard and Rafael are geniuses who are roommates in a suite, though they’re different as could be. Inspired by the movie Real Genius. This chapter: Roddick reminds Richie about payback for Federer, Rafa tries to push Andy back toward Marat, Ernie tries to prank Novak .
Chapter 13 - Testing
“We’re running out of time,” Roddick says as soon as he opens his door for Richard, then yanks him by the arm into the room and shoves him against the wall.
“Ow. Good evening to you, too. I thought we were past the rough stuff.” Richard grabs onto the front of Roddick’s shirt and pulls him into a kiss. “But it’s never a bad thing.”
Roddick initially gives in, then pushes Richard back. “That we have time. No, I mean more long term. I’m supposed to graduate in December. If we’re going to get Federer good, we need a plan.”
“We can do both,” Richard punctuating that with a smile. Roddick rolls his eyes then walks over to his desk and sits on the edge. The sudden distance straightens Richard up and he says seriously, “Nothing came from the rumors involving Stan, although I suspect Professor Henman is getting more annoyed with Federer by the minute.”
“But he hooks up with students, promising better grades,” Roddick maintains. “I can’t be the only one he’s pulled that on.”
“True, but it’s only hearsay. You’re the only one I’m sure of… does Henman know?”
“Of course not. It happened a year and a half ago! I’m not interested in rehashing the details in a hearing and humiliating myself for the whole university. There's a reason I had to be stinking drunk to tell you."
Richard continues, "You had to be stinking drunk to confront Federer about what he did in the first place."
"Exactly! We both know he'd bring that up - and be totally right. If there was someone else…”
“I have three guys who owe me favors. One of them, Evgeny, might be his type.” Richard shakes his head, disgusted he even said that out loud. “No, I’m not prostituting someone to get back at King Fed. If I have to ask Leo or Thomaz for something, let it be breaking into his office. Better yet, distracting him so I can get to his files.”
Roddick raises an eyebrow, then asks, “What do you expect to find in there? We raided his office last semester but you didn’t mention anything then about getting to his files.”
“I don’t know.” Richard crosses his arms over his chest and stares down. Then he glances up, eyes locking in on Roddick as he admits, “Maybe you’re not the only one convinced Federer likes replaying the same mind games.”
Roddick gives a sideward glance, hoping for elaboration, then relents and says, “Get over here.”
Richard reluctantly approaches, sitting next to Roddick on the desk. He says, “I promise I will come up with something,” kisses the back of Roddick’s ear and whispers, “in the meantime, let’s enjoy this time.”
“You better have a plan so that I don't mind you having your way with me.”
Richard chuckles lightly, then hisses, "You're too turned on to throw me out."
"I hate when you're right."
* * * * *
Rafael realizes he should be happy for Andy. As a side effect of his evening with Marat, the guys from the Russian suite have been sending invites to other parties. This essentially means Rafael doesn’t have to worry about fixing Andy up anymore, even if Andy has turned down the first two weekly events.
The third time isn’t as simple. Rafael and Andy have just returned from their morning workout when there’s a knock at the door. Andy, being closer to the door, gives a quick glance through the peephole and shrugs. “Probably looking for Ernie.”
Andy opens the door to find Marat’s sister Dinara, who pushes him back in the suite and states, “You are showing up to the next party.”
“What? No, that is a terrible idea.”
“My brother has been off since that party. He has lost his groove and I couldn’t be happier. I need you to stay around.”
Andy shakes his head. “I can’t do it. I told him why that night.”
“Yeah, I know about that from Dima’s video of the evening but… okay, actually here’s what you can do. You show up at the party, keeping your distance and acting aloof and see if he gravitates towards you anyway. If, after that, you still feel the same way, let me record your voice so I can torture him at a later date, you no longer have to attend, and we’ll call it even.”
Rafael interrupts to ask, “There’s video of that party?”
Dinara replies, “The idiot records everything. I’ll email you the link.” Rafael smiles at that information but Andy cringes. “I’d better get going…”
As Andy leads her out, Rafael says, “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he’s there.”
“Thank you,” Dinara says just before Andy shuts the door on her.
Rafael laughs as Andy glares coldly at him. Then just as suddenly, Andy breaks out into a grin. Rafael backs away, realizing there’s a devilish plot forming and he’s gone too far. Sure enough, Andy announces, “Don’t you worry. I will have a date of my own for that night and you will have to deal with the consequences.”
* * * * *
“Hey Marin,” Ernie says upon entering his room the next morning. “I need you to do a small favor. Five minutes, tops.”
“What type of favor?” Marin had been getting ready to leave but he has time and Ernie seems so excited.
“You know how the others pull pranks and dares on each other?” Marin nods, wondering warily what has already transpired to lead to this favor. Ernie beams then explains, “Novak is in the shower right now. He may suspect that I will eventually pull a prank on him. If you do it, he’d be taken by surprise.”
Marin says, “What exactly do you have in mind?”
“Steal everything from the bathroom. He will immediately ask who it is so you speak. Pretend to wash your hands and take his stuff while the water is running. Richie is watching some boring National Geographic documentary so will be able to witness my ingenuity and be totally impressed.”
While Marin doesn’t care about that angle, he does like the idea of being involved in this particular prank. “Okay. Five minutes.” He waits for Ernie to leave the room, distracting Richard about something, then slips past and enters the bathroom.
Just as Ernie predicted, Novak wanted to know who entered, slight paranoia in his voice. When he found out it was Marin, his voice was calm then asked about dinner plans. Marin found it easy to say he was free after his last class as he gathered together the towels and clothes, then excused himself by saying he had to rush to class.
Ernie has his eye on Marin as he exits the bathroom to drop the belongings by their door, then says aloud to Richard, “You are going to be so proud.”
Richard looks over his shoulder at Marin, then shakes his head. “Nice try, but you picked the wrong person for this stunt.”
Ernie exclaims, “What? No. Novak thinks I’m doing it but he wouldn’t suspect the quiet one!”
Richard shakes his head. “Oh I understand how you concocted the plan. That’s not the problem.”
There’s something about Richard’s rather insistent tone that downright aggravates Marin. The words are out of Marin’s mouth before he even realizes it. “You’re not always right.” Ernie and Richard turn around, both stunned by the statement, and Marin tries to take it back. “No, I didn’t mean it that way.”
Richard says, “Don’t apologize. That’s called speaking your mind, something you don’t seem to do often enough.” It’s that same cold tone from when Richard stayed in Marin’s room two weeks ago.
Ernie glances from Marin to Richard, noticing the tension filling the space between them, then says softly, “What is the problem with the prank?”
Before Richard gets a chance to answer, Novak steps out of the bathroom, dripping wet and naked. Upon spotting Ernie, he makes a show of smothering him in a bear hug and whispers, “Nice try, freshman.” Then he spots Marin and the pile, walks over to pick up his belongings before returning to the bathroom.
Ernie wrings out the bottom of his shirt as Richard explains, “Mario and Janko did that to Novak his first semester. Except Novak saw me around as well, assumed I was the mastermind, and calmly asked me to strip as well and walk out into the hallway together. I was not liking that prospect, being just a bystander, so Mario and Janko had to admit everything and ruin the prank. Then again, maybe asking you to get naked with Novak isn’t a deterrent, especially if you’ve already seen the goods when you hooked up…”
“Hey!” Ernie protests. “We didn’t have sex that night!”
Richard finishes, “…but I sure as hell don’t want to see any more than I've already been forced to see.” He snaps his fingers, then faces Marin. “I now know what I want as payment regarding the tutoring. I heard you say to Novak you were free after class today. Perfect. I’ll wait for you after chemistry lecture,” then stops the DVD and retreats to his room, muttering, “So much to do.”
Marin and Ernie exchange looks. Ernie asks, “What the hell just happened?”
“Somehow, your prank on Novak turned into Richie thinking of something that would be in my version of hell. He’s not going to have me in the hallway, naked or wearing a dress!” Marin notices Richard hasn’t shut the door to his room. “I’m going to try to get answers.”
Marin stalks toward Richard’s room. Just as he gets to the door, he hears Richard say in a concerned tone, “Rafa, why are you doing this?”
“I need to know!” Rafael insists.
Marin pushes the door open, Ernie close behind, to find Richard standing while Rafael sits at his computer, both watching the screen intently. Richard says, “I know it’s something that neither of us believe truly happened but this is a bad idea. Andy is right to dislike this being recorded… Oh my! He and Marat are actually pretty hot together. That’s how he’s getting those invites!”
Rafael says, “His sister said Marat was thrown by the rejection. I have watched this five times and I still don’t believe it. Keep it going and Andy says something that I’ve written down.” He points to a sheet of paper, then gestures for Marin and Ernie to see the video. Ernie hangs back, having already seen this in person, but Marin does walk in.
Richard reads aloud, “‘I want you so badly but I can see this is just like every other mistake I've made and I can't do it. I hope you got what you wanted out of tonight.’ Ugh. No wonder Andy got annoyed. I wouldn’t want anyone to record me like that.”
Rafael resets the clip for Marin to see, then turns to Richard, surprised he’s agreeing with Andy. “Really? So if I, hypothetically, figured a way to sneak a spycam into Roddick’s room and posted your ‘innocent’ activities for everyone to see…”
“If you, hypothetically, figured out a way to do that, you’d also need to figure out a way to deal with telling your family why you got kicked out of the dorm as well as dealing with me never speaking to you again. I don’t think you would betray me but, then again, I clearly would have misjudged your character if you really carried that out. In that hypothetical situation.”
Rafael nods, then returns his focus to the computer. He says, “After I forced Andy to go to this party, he said I shouldn’t worry, that he’ll have a date, and I’ll have to deal with the consequences. But now,” pointing to the paper. “I think I should worry.”
“You are right to worry,” Marin says, then chuckles. “He basically said that you’re going to be his date.”
“No.” Rafael swivels in the chair, looking to Richard to dismiss that idea.
However, Marin’s guess sounds completely logical to Richard and he can’t help but smile. “Yup. That sounds like Andy. I hope David doesn’t get bothered about the triangle being completed.”
"Shut up. You know the deal with David."
"Yeah and you also said you think Andy knows that there's nothing there between you and David either. So stop pretending otherwise, suck it up and hope Andy kisses you the way he's kissing Marat." Richard shakes his head, turns around to grab his books and mutters to himself, "I cannot believe I actually can say that and have it possibly come true!"
Author: Kris S.
Fandom: Tennis RPS
Players: Rafael Nadal, Richard Gasquet, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Ernests Gulbis, Marin Cilic, Andy Roddick, Dinara Safina
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: This did not happen.
Summary: College AU. Richard and Rafael are geniuses who are roommates in a suite, though they’re different as could be. Inspired by the movie Real Genius. This chapter: Roddick reminds Richie about payback for Federer, Rafa tries to push Andy back toward Marat, Ernie tries to prank Novak .
Chapter 13 - Testing
“We’re running out of time,” Roddick says as soon as he opens his door for Richard, then yanks him by the arm into the room and shoves him against the wall.
“Ow. Good evening to you, too. I thought we were past the rough stuff.” Richard grabs onto the front of Roddick’s shirt and pulls him into a kiss. “But it’s never a bad thing.”
Roddick initially gives in, then pushes Richard back. “That we have time. No, I mean more long term. I’m supposed to graduate in December. If we’re going to get Federer good, we need a plan.”
“We can do both,” Richard punctuating that with a smile. Roddick rolls his eyes then walks over to his desk and sits on the edge. The sudden distance straightens Richard up and he says seriously, “Nothing came from the rumors involving Stan, although I suspect Professor Henman is getting more annoyed with Federer by the minute.”
“But he hooks up with students, promising better grades,” Roddick maintains. “I can’t be the only one he’s pulled that on.”
“True, but it’s only hearsay. You’re the only one I’m sure of… does Henman know?”
“Of course not. It happened a year and a half ago! I’m not interested in rehashing the details in a hearing and humiliating myself for the whole university. There's a reason I had to be stinking drunk to tell you."
Richard continues, "You had to be stinking drunk to confront Federer about what he did in the first place."
"Exactly! We both know he'd bring that up - and be totally right. If there was someone else…”
“I have three guys who owe me favors. One of them, Evgeny, might be his type.” Richard shakes his head, disgusted he even said that out loud. “No, I’m not prostituting someone to get back at King Fed. If I have to ask Leo or Thomaz for something, let it be breaking into his office. Better yet, distracting him so I can get to his files.”
Roddick raises an eyebrow, then asks, “What do you expect to find in there? We raided his office last semester but you didn’t mention anything then about getting to his files.”
“I don’t know.” Richard crosses his arms over his chest and stares down. Then he glances up, eyes locking in on Roddick as he admits, “Maybe you’re not the only one convinced Federer likes replaying the same mind games.”
Roddick gives a sideward glance, hoping for elaboration, then relents and says, “Get over here.”
Richard reluctantly approaches, sitting next to Roddick on the desk. He says, “I promise I will come up with something,” kisses the back of Roddick’s ear and whispers, “in the meantime, let’s enjoy this time.”
“You better have a plan so that I don't mind you having your way with me.”
Richard chuckles lightly, then hisses, "You're too turned on to throw me out."
"I hate when you're right."
* * * * *
Rafael realizes he should be happy for Andy. As a side effect of his evening with Marat, the guys from the Russian suite have been sending invites to other parties. This essentially means Rafael doesn’t have to worry about fixing Andy up anymore, even if Andy has turned down the first two weekly events.
The third time isn’t as simple. Rafael and Andy have just returned from their morning workout when there’s a knock at the door. Andy, being closer to the door, gives a quick glance through the peephole and shrugs. “Probably looking for Ernie.”
Andy opens the door to find Marat’s sister Dinara, who pushes him back in the suite and states, “You are showing up to the next party.”
“What? No, that is a terrible idea.”
“My brother has been off since that party. He has lost his groove and I couldn’t be happier. I need you to stay around.”
Andy shakes his head. “I can’t do it. I told him why that night.”
“Yeah, I know about that from Dima’s video of the evening but… okay, actually here’s what you can do. You show up at the party, keeping your distance and acting aloof and see if he gravitates towards you anyway. If, after that, you still feel the same way, let me record your voice so I can torture him at a later date, you no longer have to attend, and we’ll call it even.”
Rafael interrupts to ask, “There’s video of that party?”
Dinara replies, “The idiot records everything. I’ll email you the link.” Rafael smiles at that information but Andy cringes. “I’d better get going…”
As Andy leads her out, Rafael says, “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he’s there.”
“Thank you,” Dinara says just before Andy shuts the door on her.
Rafael laughs as Andy glares coldly at him. Then just as suddenly, Andy breaks out into a grin. Rafael backs away, realizing there’s a devilish plot forming and he’s gone too far. Sure enough, Andy announces, “Don’t you worry. I will have a date of my own for that night and you will have to deal with the consequences.”
* * * * *
“Hey Marin,” Ernie says upon entering his room the next morning. “I need you to do a small favor. Five minutes, tops.”
“What type of favor?” Marin had been getting ready to leave but he has time and Ernie seems so excited.
“You know how the others pull pranks and dares on each other?” Marin nods, wondering warily what has already transpired to lead to this favor. Ernie beams then explains, “Novak is in the shower right now. He may suspect that I will eventually pull a prank on him. If you do it, he’d be taken by surprise.”
Marin says, “What exactly do you have in mind?”
“Steal everything from the bathroom. He will immediately ask who it is so you speak. Pretend to wash your hands and take his stuff while the water is running. Richie is watching some boring National Geographic documentary so will be able to witness my ingenuity and be totally impressed.”
While Marin doesn’t care about that angle, he does like the idea of being involved in this particular prank. “Okay. Five minutes.” He waits for Ernie to leave the room, distracting Richard about something, then slips past and enters the bathroom.
Just as Ernie predicted, Novak wanted to know who entered, slight paranoia in his voice. When he found out it was Marin, his voice was calm then asked about dinner plans. Marin found it easy to say he was free after his last class as he gathered together the towels and clothes, then excused himself by saying he had to rush to class.
Ernie has his eye on Marin as he exits the bathroom to drop the belongings by their door, then says aloud to Richard, “You are going to be so proud.”
Richard looks over his shoulder at Marin, then shakes his head. “Nice try, but you picked the wrong person for this stunt.”
Ernie exclaims, “What? No. Novak thinks I’m doing it but he wouldn’t suspect the quiet one!”
Richard shakes his head. “Oh I understand how you concocted the plan. That’s not the problem.”
There’s something about Richard’s rather insistent tone that downright aggravates Marin. The words are out of Marin’s mouth before he even realizes it. “You’re not always right.” Ernie and Richard turn around, both stunned by the statement, and Marin tries to take it back. “No, I didn’t mean it that way.”
Richard says, “Don’t apologize. That’s called speaking your mind, something you don’t seem to do often enough.” It’s that same cold tone from when Richard stayed in Marin’s room two weeks ago.
Ernie glances from Marin to Richard, noticing the tension filling the space between them, then says softly, “What is the problem with the prank?”
Before Richard gets a chance to answer, Novak steps out of the bathroom, dripping wet and naked. Upon spotting Ernie, he makes a show of smothering him in a bear hug and whispers, “Nice try, freshman.” Then he spots Marin and the pile, walks over to pick up his belongings before returning to the bathroom.
Ernie wrings out the bottom of his shirt as Richard explains, “Mario and Janko did that to Novak his first semester. Except Novak saw me around as well, assumed I was the mastermind, and calmly asked me to strip as well and walk out into the hallway together. I was not liking that prospect, being just a bystander, so Mario and Janko had to admit everything and ruin the prank. Then again, maybe asking you to get naked with Novak isn’t a deterrent, especially if you’ve already seen the goods when you hooked up…”
“Hey!” Ernie protests. “We didn’t have sex that night!”
Richard finishes, “…but I sure as hell don’t want to see any more than I've already been forced to see.” He snaps his fingers, then faces Marin. “I now know what I want as payment regarding the tutoring. I heard you say to Novak you were free after class today. Perfect. I’ll wait for you after chemistry lecture,” then stops the DVD and retreats to his room, muttering, “So much to do.”
Marin and Ernie exchange looks. Ernie asks, “What the hell just happened?”
“Somehow, your prank on Novak turned into Richie thinking of something that would be in my version of hell. He’s not going to have me in the hallway, naked or wearing a dress!” Marin notices Richard hasn’t shut the door to his room. “I’m going to try to get answers.”
Marin stalks toward Richard’s room. Just as he gets to the door, he hears Richard say in a concerned tone, “Rafa, why are you doing this?”
“I need to know!” Rafael insists.
Marin pushes the door open, Ernie close behind, to find Richard standing while Rafael sits at his computer, both watching the screen intently. Richard says, “I know it’s something that neither of us believe truly happened but this is a bad idea. Andy is right to dislike this being recorded… Oh my! He and Marat are actually pretty hot together. That’s how he’s getting those invites!”
Rafael says, “His sister said Marat was thrown by the rejection. I have watched this five times and I still don’t believe it. Keep it going and Andy says something that I’ve written down.” He points to a sheet of paper, then gestures for Marin and Ernie to see the video. Ernie hangs back, having already seen this in person, but Marin does walk in.
Richard reads aloud, “‘I want you so badly but I can see this is just like every other mistake I've made and I can't do it. I hope you got what you wanted out of tonight.’ Ugh. No wonder Andy got annoyed. I wouldn’t want anyone to record me like that.”
Rafael resets the clip for Marin to see, then turns to Richard, surprised he’s agreeing with Andy. “Really? So if I, hypothetically, figured a way to sneak a spycam into Roddick’s room and posted your ‘innocent’ activities for everyone to see…”
“If you, hypothetically, figured out a way to do that, you’d also need to figure out a way to deal with telling your family why you got kicked out of the dorm as well as dealing with me never speaking to you again. I don’t think you would betray me but, then again, I clearly would have misjudged your character if you really carried that out. In that hypothetical situation.”
Rafael nods, then returns his focus to the computer. He says, “After I forced Andy to go to this party, he said I shouldn’t worry, that he’ll have a date, and I’ll have to deal with the consequences. But now,” pointing to the paper. “I think I should worry.”
“You are right to worry,” Marin says, then chuckles. “He basically said that you’re going to be his date.”
“No.” Rafael swivels in the chair, looking to Richard to dismiss that idea.
However, Marin’s guess sounds completely logical to Richard and he can’t help but smile. “Yup. That sounds like Andy. I hope David doesn’t get bothered about the triangle being completed.”
"Shut up. You know the deal with David."
"Yeah and you also said you think Andy knows that there's nothing there between you and David either. So stop pretending otherwise, suck it up and hope Andy kisses you the way he's kissing Marat." Richard shakes his head, turns around to grab his books and mutters to himself, "I cannot believe I actually can say that and have it possibly come true!"