LOVE ~ [1/?]
Title: LOVE
Chapter Title: A Score of Nothing
Chapter: 1/?
Pairing: Tegopi [Tegoshi Yuya/Yamashita Tomohisa]
Genre: Humor?, Romance !?
Rating: PG
Word count: 5.869 ~
Disclaimer: I own nothing! [...too bad, really (●´△｀●)]
Summary: ...Join Yamapi, Tegoshi, Koyama and Shige on a weekend trip. Share some laughs at the tennis court and some sickly sweet and sticky situations with Tegopi in the kitchen ~.... "childishly funny with some mushy yaoi romance" xD
[this time, was it a better summary???
]
Now this time I would call it a bit different from what I've done so far
I want to repeat myself, "childishly funny with some mushy yaoi romance"
Hope u like that, but be aware it's a bit sickly childish and no matter what I wrote, believe me I don't hate Koyama or Shige xD But it fittet so perfectly for them to be.. well like theyre here
nyaaa enough said ~ secret credits to some person I sadly don't recall the name but got me inspired and 'unknowingly helped' on writing the tennis parts. hope there is nothing wrong with what i used !
If you don't like tennis much, you can skip down to the kitchen part ^-~ [chap two, i had to split already cause it was too long to post >-<]....domo ~ I never intendet to harm anyone
so so ..now now. read and review xD *naughtymode*
Oh and btw. Tell me if that font size is well readable!?
These LJ settings are driving me insane…
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Today’s meetings came to an end and everyone got ready for following appointments or other activities. After Koyama finished talking to Shige he went to look for Tegoshi and Massu. You could see he was excited about something, which made Tegoshi curious already as he approached him with a wide smile on his face.
“Hey Tegoshi, what are you doing this weekend?”
“I haven’t made any plans. The usual, soccer practice and maybe meet some friends. Why do you ask?”
“Ah good good. Do you want to join us on a trip?”
“A trip? Who is ‘us’?”
“Shige, me and hopefully the others…Well Ryo already has plans.”
“Hn, I see. Where do you guys wanna go?”
“Play tennis!”
“Tennis?!”
“Yeah, Shige got invited to use the set of the drama he’s currently shooting. First the cast invited him to stay with them as they were planning to throw a party, but yesterday they cancelled everything. Still he can use the set freely as he pleases, so we decided to have a little NEWS fun trip! What do you say?!”
“Wow, that’s very generous of them! What kind of set is this?”
“Yeah yeah, it’s because he’s so mature haha! They don’t think he’d break anything or get into trouble.”
“Obviously! That’s so Shige!”
“It’s like this huge mansion with 4 tennis courts, swimming pools and other fitness facilities.”
“Wow sounds brilliant! … for a whole weekend? ...Count me in!”
“Great! I’m gonna go and look for Massu, can you ask Yamapi if he wants to tag along?”
“Erm, sure I’ll go and have a look.”
Yay great, why did he have to ask Yamapi!? -_-“
He didn’t even know the details. He didn’t like to be the go-between!
When he finally was about to give up as he couldn’t find Yamapi anywhere, he was suddenly standing in front of him.
“Woah, Tegoshi!”
“Sorry, didn’t see you …sorry…”
“ Are you in a rush?”
“I’m not. I was looking for.. you.. cause Keii-chan.. he wanted to see …well he wanted to know if.. what are you doing this weekend?”
“Huh? Weekend..? I don’t know yet. Koyama wants to know that?”
“Well, yes kinda. He asked us out to join him and Shige on a trip so I was looking for you to ask whether you wanted to join as well?”
Tegoshi nervously looked at Yamapi, smiling a little too tightly and keeping his hands close to his body.
“So I see. Sure why not I’ll join you guys. Are you coming as well?”
“Really? Yamashita-kun? You’ll join?”
“Hn.”
“Oh yes yes I will come too. Ryo-chan can’t make it but maybe Massu!”
“Great. We haven’t done anything in a long time together.”
“But wait! Don’t you wanna know where we are going?”
“Well if Koyama picks a place then it will be fun, right?”
Tegoshi nodded happily. Their conversation got interrupted by Koyama, tapping Tegoshi on the shoulder from behind.
“Hey, you found Yamapi. Sadly Massu doesn’t want to come along. So it’ll be only us after all.”
“Wait, Yamashita-kun wiil join us! Right?”
Yamapi nodded and they started to make decisions about ‘where, when and how’.
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
It was a bright and sunny summer day with about seventy-nine degrees and slowly rising. The city air was still pretty hot from a whole week of sunshine and there was no rain in sight for another week or two. Tegoshi, Yamapi, and Koyama met up at Tokyo Station at around 8 AM. They took Keiyō Line to Chiyoda where they met with Shige, who was ‘doing business’ there.
From there Shige drove them down to their destined location. Tegoshi wasn’t too happy about the fact that he’d be missing a few days of soccer practice. Luckily Koyama and Yamapi could cheer him up a bit by telling him it’d be a good change and the weather would stay as tediously hot as today. The fact that he’d be spending a whole weekend with Yamapi and Koyama cheered him up a lot more. Oh and shige will be there too, so nothing could be more fun! He knew this was going to be an entertaining weekend. Lucky him, he thought. Tegoshi was excited, but apprehensive. He had never played tennis before, though he had seen people play and knew what the courts looked like. He hadn't told Shige, Koyama or Yamapi that he didn't know how to play, but figured he would learn fast enough. It couldn’t be that hard, could it?
After a long ride they arrived at the fancy property around 2 PM and the plans were to go on as scheduled. Tegoshi, Yamapi, and Koyama walked a path decorated with pretty pink and red rose bushes. After a minute they arrived at a huge house which looked rather like a haunted mansion than a “spa”-like property. A couple minutes later they were joined by Shige who was carrying four tennis rackets and a red bucket full of tennis balls.
Tegoshi glanced up at the sun still rising. They planned to check out the inside, choose rooms, have some lunch and then play until dinner. Tegoshi leaned his tennis racket against his shoulder. Yamapi and Shige already wore suitable clothes to play tennis in; therefore Tegoshi and Koyama had to change clothes before as well.
After they settled in and had their lunch plus some major style makeovers, they made their way toward the courts.
"This is a perfect day to play," Shige was commenting when Yamapi caught up, "It's not too hot or too windy or anything. At least, not yet."
Tegoshi gasped excitedly when he saw, for the first time, the inside of the facility. There were two courts on this side and another two on the east side of the building. The boundary lines painted white on the grey concrete. The nets tightly stretched across from one side to the other. Some kind of machine, foreign to Tegoshi, was sitting across at the farthest court, filled with bright yellow and green tennis balls. Around the whole area was a fifteen-foot high chain link fence, which Tegoshi supposed kept wild balls from flying too far away.
"Alright, let's get started," Shige began, accepting his racket from Koyama, and then added, "Well, first, does everyone know how to play tennis anyway? Koyama?"
"I do," Koyama replied, "My dad and I used to play a bunch in the summertime. I haven't played for a while but I still remember how and I was pretty good."
"Tegoshi?"
"Uh…" he trailed off and avoided eye contact with the others, "Uh… well…"
"Well, do you!?"
Yamapi questioned him too.
"No…!..do you!?"
"…No."
Tegoshi cocked his head in surprise.
"You don't?"
"No."
"Oh, boy," Koyama muttered under his breath to Shige, "Half of the group is inexperienced? This is going to be a long day, isn't it?"
"Probably," Shige whispered back. To Tegoshi and Yamapi, Shige asked
"Do you even know the setup of tennis? Even if you don't know about backhand and that kind of thing, you can still play. But do you know what game, set, and match is?"
Slowly, both Tegoshi and Yamapi shook their heads. Shige sighed.
"Okay, the first thing you need to know is that a real tennis game is divided into games, sets, and matches. A game is-"
Tegoshi looked away from Shige. He didn't see what this had to do with playing tennis. All you do is hit the ball over the net, right? There are enough balls for one whole year of tennis too! You could play and play and sure you’ll learn quickly not to hit them too hard, so they won’t fly over the net. So there is also no need for so many balls…
"TEGOSHI!"
Koyama’s voice broke Tegoshi's daydream ..
"You didn't listen to a word Shige just said, did you?"
"Sure I did!"
Tegoshi responded automatically.
"All about games, and sets, and matches! I heard!"
"How could you hear him, staring off into space the way you were!?"
"I wasn't staring into space," Tegoshi said defensively, "I was looking at…" Tegoshi glanced back to see what was near where he had been staring into space. He had unconsciously been looking through the fence at some bushes on the other side.
"Uh… I… thought I saw something for a second."
"Yeah, great! That’s not gonna help u learn how to play! IS IT?"
"Yeah!"
"Yeah??!"
"YEAH!"
"YOUR TEACHERS MUST HAVE HAD A HARD TIME WITH YOU!”
“WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING?”
"TEGOSHI! KOYAMA! CUT IT OUT!"
Both Yamapi and Shige yelled at them at the top of their voices. With a final glare at each other, Tegoshi and Koyama stopped shouting.
"Let's just play," Yamapi muttered, "or else we stay here until dinner..."
"We don't have to have dinner," Tegoshi slyly joked, "We could play right through dinner, all night through."
Yamapi looked appalled.
"Ok ok stop it now!..Could we practice a bit before starting a real game? I need to warm up.” said Koyama.
"Okay," Shige happily agreed.
"I think we should all play on teams, even though there are two courts, because it's hard to have two games going at the same time."
Tegoshi, Yamapi, and Koyama nodded favorably.
"Okay, how should we divide up? Maybe there should be one experienced person on each team to help the less experienced person."
Koyama quickly pulled Shige aside and whispered
"Don't divide it up that way! Surely you don't want to lose!?" Shige shook his head.
"Let's put me and you on a team, and Tegoshi and Yamapi on the other. We both know how to play, so we can totally obliterate them in every game, set, and match. It's perfect; Inexperienced vs. Experienced. Do you really want someone who plays like Tegoshi play on your team?"
They watched Tegoshi, who was swinging his racket back and forth wildly like a baseball bat. Yamapi kept ducking, even though the racket was nowhere near his, just to aggravate Tegoshi, which it did.
Koyama called to them, "Let's get into our teams and practice."
"What are our teams?" Tegoshi asked.
"Me and Shige, versus you and Yamapi."
"WHAT!? I'm on a team with him!?"
"Do you have a problem with me, Tegoshi!?"
"No, but…" Tegoshi looked pleadingly at Shige and Koyama, "Come on, guys! Don't make me be on his team! We are so going to lose! We both don’t know how to play. Where is the fun in loosing?"
The two boys ignored him, taking their rackets and the bucket of tennis balls with them to the other side of the court.
"Tegoshi, Yamapi…"
Koyama called to them from across the net. He and Shige had already gotten into position, one in the middle of each side of the court.
"Get in place. I'll serve first, and just try to hit it back over the net, okay?"
Yamapi walked to the left side of their area, and Tegoshi went to the right.
"Ready? Here we go!"
Koyama threw the tennis ball up in the air. Tegoshi tensed as he watched the ball soar straight up. It seemed to pause for a moment, and then began to come back down. Koyama swung his racket, and it hit the ball dead center. The ball instantly changed direction, flying in an arc over the net. It was going in Tegoshi's direction so Tegoshi ran up to meet it, racket at the ready. Suddenly, the ball seemed to disappear, and Tegoshi froze, looking around. As Tegoshi stood there, dumbfounded, Yamapi, Shige, and Koyama surveyed the ball plummeting to the ground right behind Tegoshi. It bounced against the fence, then away towards the second court, and still Tegoshi was confused about where it went.
"This is going to be easier to win than I thought, isn't it, Koyama?"
"Maybe. 'Depends on how quick he learns. 'Depends on how good Yamapi is."
Yamapi tapped his foot impatiently. "Let me have a try at a tennis ball, will 'ya?"
Tegoshi looked away from where he had been gazing straight up in the sky for the missing ball.
"Hey! Give me another chance! It just… kinda took me by surprise a little."
"Tegoshi, I'll give you two more shots then it will be Yamapi's turn, okay?"
Koyama reasoned, he was used to being the peacemaker.
Tegoshi's second and third tries at hitting the tennis ball were as prolific as his first. The second ball didn't go over his head, because Tegoshi backed up instead of running forward. Instead, it hit Tegoshi in the chin after the first bounce because he didn't back up far enough. The third ball actually made contact with Tegoshi's racket, but he turned his wrist in such an impossible way, which was hardly perceived and out of the question to duplicate, that the ball became imbedded in the chain link fence behind him, about nine feet up and out of reach. Tegoshi's face burned in disgrace …
Yamapi, Koyama and Shige were trying so hard to control their laughter, that they had a hard time talking. Finally, Shige was calm enough to be able to shout across the court to Tegoshi and Yamapi.
"Tegoshi, you can, uh… try again in a minute. Yamapi, do you want to try now?"
Yamapi nodded vigorously. He shook himself in anticipation and balanced on his toes. Tegoshi watched him flick his bangs out of his eyes with the back of his left hand. His racket was poised in the air just perfectly. This time, Shige served, so that the ball would fly over the net diagonally, in Yamapi's direction.
Everyone watched the ball soar gracefully over the net from Shige's hit. Yamapi backed up a few paces in expectancy, and a look of panic suddenly crossed his face as he found that his head was in the ball's direct path. He moved his racket up in front of his face just in time. The ball bounced harmlessly off of his racket, and rolled away towards the other court, but Yamapi was frozen in his position in fear. The horrified and terrorized look on his face was too much for Tegoshi to bear, and he clamped his free hand over his mouth to suppress the chuckle rising in his throat.
Across the net, Shige and Koyama grinned.
"We are so going to beat them bad, aren't we, Shige?"
Koyama called to Yamapi across the net,
"You want to try again?"
He nodded and lowered his racket, but panic was still lingering in his eyes.
Shige served again, but again Yamapi found himself in the path of the next tennis ball. With a slight yelp, he leapt out of its way and it flew past his, rebounding off the fence, and rolled to join the others on the second empty court. As Shige was about to serve his last practice ball, Koyama could contain himself no longer.
"Hey, Yamapi! Is that another thing to add to your list of the most scary things in the world!? Cows, ghosts, horror movies, heights and tennis balls!?"
The fact that the ball was already flying though the air made Yamapi ignore his insult and so he took his instant rage out on the tennis ball, running to it with his racket. He finally hit the ball, but in his ferocity, his wrist twisted and the ball simply hit the bottom of the net, which was actually the best either he or Tegoshi had done so far.
"At least I hit the ball in the right direction…"
Koyama suggested that they finally start the ‘serving’practice.
"I'll go first!" said Tegoshi, Yamapi shrugged indifferently. Tegoshi picked up the bucket of tennis balls and set it down a few yards behind him, out of the way. He selected one tennis ball off of the top and walked back to his starting position, tossing the ball a few inches into the air and catching it several times. Readying his racket, he stood still for a moment, focusing on his mission, and then threw the ball up into the air. Tegoshi's pitch was wild, however, and instead of going straight up, went high and backwards. Tegoshi was desperate not to lose track of the ball like he had the first time, so he quickly backed up and kept his eyes on the flying ball. He raised his racket to hit the ball over the net. He took one more step backwards for good measure, and suddenly, the bottom of Tegoshi's foot hit something… the edge of the ball bucket. He lost his balance instantly, and fell backwards over the bucket, overturning it and causing all of the balls to roll away in every direction. Tegoshi hit the concrete, but fortunately landed in such a way that he didn't hurt himself very much. His racket fell out of his hand in defeat, and Tegoshi watched the ball he had been trying to serve bounce away to the other court.
It was truly a pathetic sight. Funny, but pathetic. Yamapi worked hard to not laugh, succeeded, and walked over to see what Tegoshi's condition was.
'You okay?"
With a sigh, Tegoshi nodded. Yamapi extended his hand and helped him stand up. Tegoshi looked around at the loose tennis balls. They were slowly rolling away, almost as if they were alive and unsure about how far to go away from their bucket home. Tegoshi righted the bucket and began to pick up the rouge tennis balls. Yamapi set his racket down and gathered some tennis balls to help.
Meanwhile, Koyama and Shige watched and waited patiently.
Tegoshi declined the chance to try and serve the tennis ball twice more, so as to prevent the chance of him injuring himself again. After setting the bucket safely off of the side of the court, Yamapi grabbed three tennis balls to practice serving himself. He hit the first ball, but accidentally twisted his wrist again, resulting in the ball bouncing off the middle of the net and rolling to join the growing quantity of tennis balls abandoned on the spare court.
Yamapi hit the second ball with a firmer wrist and at just the right angle, and it actually made it across the net. Koyama and Shige weren't prepared for the ball to bounce into their court, but Shige recovered quick enough to swoop in with his racket and send the ball back over the net. Because Shige's hit was rushed, the ball consequentially flew exceptionally high into the air, higher than the top of the fence. It headed over towards Tegoshi's area of the court, but it was clear to everyone that the ball would eventually go over the fence on the path it was on now. Everyone could see that… except Tegoshi.
Knowing that there was no bucket in the way now, Tegoshi focused hard on his target and began backing up rapidly to try a swing at it. The ball seemed to speed up in Tegoshi's mind, so Tegoshi sped up his backwards sprinting. Just when it looked like he would be able to hit the ball any second, he suddenly rammed backwards into something very hard and solid, knocking the breath out of him. The ball disappeared over the chain link fence, which was what Tegoshi had collided with. Tegoshi groaned dejectedly and leaned against the fence right where he crashed.
"At least we got it over the fence twice," Tegoshi heard Koyama comment.
"Come on, Tegoshi!"
Yamapi called to him.
"This is my last serve!"
The third tennis ball that Yamapi hit made it over the net like the last one, but this time Koyama and Shige were ready. Koyama ran ahead and knocked the ball back over the net with ease. The ball flew right towards the center of the court for either Tegoshi or Yamapi to strike. Both of them ran to the center at the same time and stood waiting for the ball side by side. Yamapi drew his racket back to hit the ball- "AH!" Yamapi's racket stroke something hard and Yamapi looked to see what it was. He was startled to see that he had clouted Tegoshi in the face by accident, as he had been standing a few inches further back then he was. With a gasp, he jerked his racket away and Tegoshi, dropping his own racket, began to raise his hands to hold his face when- "AH!" Tegoshi cried out again a second later as the forgotten incoming ball clouted him in the face where his partner's racket had. He sat down hard on the ground, and buried his face in his arms.
Koyama and Shige couldn't contain their mirth any longer, and burst out laughing. Yamapi dropped his racket and kneeled down beside him. Placing a hand on his shoulder, he asked quietly
"Tegoshi? Are you alright?..does it hurt?"
He trembled a little, but shook his head.
From inside his arms, Yamapi heard him mumble "It does kinda hurt but I'm okay."
Tegoshi had bit his lip to keep himself from tearing up, because both blows had stung, but it went away quickly. Tegoshi had built up an immunity to pain through many years of life and small things like that didn't hurt much anymore anyway. Tegoshi looked up at Yamapi and grinned, to show he was all right. He sighed exasperatedly and stood up.
Koyama and Shige's giggles had subsided and Shige called out
"Is that enough practice for you guys? If we don't hurry and start soon, we won't be able to get in at least a set before dinner!"
Tegoshi looked up at the sky. The sun was completely up now and the temperature was beginning to climb into the eighties.
"All right," Tegoshi shouted back, "Let's get a real game started.”
Shige took the ball bucket back to his and Koyama's side of the court so that he could serve first. Tegoshi whipped his racket up from the ground and swung it back and forth experimentally. Yamapi stretched his legs and arms to loosen up. Koyama rolled his shoulders back and readied his racket.
"I'll keep score, okay?"
Shige called out to his teammate and opponents.
"Tennis is scored in a weird way, so it's kinda hard to keep track. The first score is fifteen, then thirty, and forty. The next score is advantage, and the last score is a win."
“Ready?" Koyama shouted. Everyone was in his correct positions and all rackets were held up in front like warrior swords. Tegoshi and Yamapi nodded. Shige nodded, too.
"Let's play!"
Shige was good at serving and he used all of his skill to make the first one a challenge for the inexperienced partners. The refined arc brought the ball cattycornered into Yamapi's area. Yamapi was beginning to figure out how to handle the racket properly, and after the first bounce, he even managed to hit the ball back over the net. Tegoshi wondered how he learned so fast. Natural, Tegoshi thought slightly resentfully. Koyama charged forward and sent the ball over the net. He purposely aimed the ball at Tegoshi, given that Tegoshi had only hit the ball with his racket once the whole time, and that had been in the wrong direction. Tegoshi panicked and swung his racket crazily, but in his rush, actually hit the ball back over the net, though just barely. Koyama and Shige both rushed forward, but Koyama let Shige hit the tennis ball into the opposite area again. It went straight down the middle. Yamapi lunged towards it. Tegoshi interrupted his personal victory dance to chase the ball, too. A second before a possible collision between them could have occurred, they both looked down and halted, but in the process, lost track of the ball. Tegoshi and Yamapi saw it again just as it touched the ground inside their court. They groaned sadly as Koyama and Shige erupted into joyful whoops and cries for scoring the first point. They high-fived each other. Tennis had begun to actually get interesting.
Tegoshi retrieved the ball and threw it back to Shige. Shige caught it.
"We're going to take them down," Shige muttered and Koyama grinned. Shige loudly shouted out the points. „The score is Koyama and Shige, fifteen, Tegoshi and Yamapi, love."
It took a second for Tegoshi to realize what Shige had just said, and when he did, he was completely bewildered. Did he just say 'love'? Tegoshi had no idea what to do or think about the comment. He looked over at Yamapi. He was looking at him with wide eyes, and when he glanced at him, his cheeks reddened very deeply. Why on earth did Shige just say that!? What does that kind of stuff even have to do with anything, anyway!?
Koyama and Shige stood on the other side of the court, watching Tegoshi and Yamapi in confusion. They had no idea why their opponents were acting so strangely.
"Shige, what's going on? I think I missed something."
"If you missed something, Koyama, I missed it, too, 'cause I have no idea what they're doing."
After a pause, Shige added, "Was it something I said?"
Yamapi was as confused as Tegoshi about why Shige had just said what he had said about them. Inside of his, a little alarm was going off, crying, "Deny it, deny it, deny it!“. He did.
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?"
"Uh…?"
Shige turned to Koyama. Koyama shrugged.
"STOP THAT CRAZY TALK!" Tegoshi shrieked.
"YEAH!" Yamapi inserted, getting into defensive mode, too.
"What'd I do!?"
"YOU KNOW!" Tegoshi nervously gestured with his racket, utterly unable to repeat the offending remark. Tegoshi blushed further after glancing at Yamapi again.
"All I said was the score!" Shige defended himself uncertainly.
Koyama was thinking hard. Suddenly, he burst out laughing. Shige gave him a weird look. In between chuckles, Koyama managed to explain
"THEIR… SCORE, SHIGE! …THEIR… THEIR… SCORE!"
Koyama doubled up, howling with amusement.
Shige thought for a moment.
"Tegoshi and Yamapi's score is…"
He trailed off as he realized his fault. Shige began to laugh, too. They were soon both hysterical.
Tegoshi’s face was burning. "TAKE IT BACK! You are being ridiculous!" he shrieked again.
"No, no, Tegoshi!" Shige laughed..
"You don't get it!"
“I HEARD YOU! ARE YOU SAYING I’M DUMB TOO!?”
"Calm down, you two!"
Koyama chuckled. Tegoshi was the only one yelling, but Yamapi’s eyes were shooting daggers at the two boys.
"You don't get it! In tennis, when you have zero points, it's called 'love'. 'Love' is a score of nothing! That's another thing that makes tennis so hard to keep track of. Shige was just saying the score! He wasn't… implying anything!"
He burst out laughing, again.
"You two! You… I can't believe… you …took it… so LITERALLY!"
That is the stupidest way to score anything in the whole entire world, Tegoshi thought miserably.
This is so… embarrassing. Embarrassing isn't even the word for it, Yamapi thought, mortified.
Koyama and Shige couldn't even try to stop laughing.
"TEGOSHI AND YAMAPI, LOVE!" Shige screeched.
"TEGOSHI AND YAMAPI LOVE! THAT'S BRILLIANT, THAT IS!" Koyama was hysterical.
"SHUT UP!" Yamapi screamed quickly.
"STOP IT!" Tegoshi yelled. They glanced at each other again and blushed even further, if that was humanly possible.
"TEGOSHI AND YAMAPI LOVE!" Koyama and Shige jeered at the same time.
"YEAH, RIGHT!" Yamapi screamed out sarcastically.
Trying to recover from his laughing fits, Shige called out, "HERE!"and began to serve the tennis ball he was holding. Tegoshi gripped his racket intensely. Yamapi ground his teeth. The ball plunged over the rope mesh. Yamapi ran forward and hit the ball with great, goaded force. It went back over the net. Koyama swung at the ball, and volleyed it to Tegoshi and Yamapi's side. Tegoshi ran to make a swing at the tennis ball, but in his resentment towards his adversaries, missed. The ball hit the court, thus earning Koyama and Shige their second score.
"Koyama and Shige, thirty,"
Shige grinned
"Tegoshi and Yamapi, LOVE!"
"SHUT UP!" yelled Tegoshi.
"What was the score, again, Shige?"
Koyama joked
"I didn't hear you way over here."
"I said," Shige repeated teasingly, raising his voice, "Koyama and Shige, thirty, TEGOSHI AND YAMAPI, LOVE!"
"OH! Tegoshi and Yamapi, LOVE!"
Koyama cried out, with mock realization.
"I wasn't sure if you said TEGOSHI AND YAMAPI LOVE or not! Silly me!"
"GUYS, damnit…SHUT UP WILL YOU! THAT’S NOT EVEN CLOSE TO FUNNY!"
Yamapi cried desperately once more.
“You know, Shige…”
Koyama said very loudly, but conversationally
“…'Tegoshi and Yamapi LOVE' is terribly hard to say!"
"Oh, yes, let me try!"
They both had a mocking, bantering edge to their voices.
"TEGOSHI… AND… YAMAPI… LOVE! Oh, yes, I see what you mean, Koyama! Terribly hard to say in a rush! “
"Let's shorten it a bit, shall we!"
Koyama cried jovially. He considered the phrase as an acronym.
"Let's see? It would be… TAYL, then, wouldn't it?"
"TAYL!"
Shige exploded cordially
"Wonderful! Rolls RIGHT off the tongue! TAYL!"
Together, Shige and Koyama started up a sing-song-like chant.
“TAYL !.. TAYL !.. TAYL !.. TAYL !.. TAYL !.."
“SHUT UP!" Tegoshi and Yamapi yelled jointly.
"Hit the ball, already!" Tegoshi yelled, trying to ignore the mantra.
"Okay!" Shige complied, as Koyama continued the chant. He selected a ball from the bucket, and lobbed it over the net. Yamapi was so furious and wrapped up in his own thoughts that he didn't see the ball at all. He stood, fuming, as the ball went right past his. Koyama and Shige scored again.
"Look at that!"
Shige squealed
"Now the score is Koyama and Shige, forty, AND… TAYL!"
" TAYL! TAYL!" Koyama continued, absolutely loving the joke.
Shige served again. He and Koyama scored easily.
"Koyama and Shige, advantage, and everyone’s favorite score of… TAYL!"
"One point to win! Here… goes!" …and of course they scored, again.
"Well, ladies and gentlemen,"
Shige announced to an imaginary audience
"What a game this first one has been! Koyama and Shige have won, and the opponents are… TAYL!"
"Let game two begin!"
Shige transferred the ball bucket over to Yamapi to serve the next game, who looked very sadistic. He ran back to his position quickly before Yamapi could compose himself enough to trash him over the head with his racket.
Each time he served, the ball bounced hard, high, and at strange angles, because his fury didn't allow his to have decent shots. Yamapi was truly more embarrassed and shy than he was angry.
Koyama and Shige were able to chant their "TAYL! TAYL!" cheer the whole second game, as they won and Tegoshi and Yamapi stayed at 'love' the entire time.
Game three was very similar to game one, as Koyama served this time, and Koyama was about as good at serving the ball as Shige. Fifteen, thirty, forty, advantage… Koyama and Shige won the third time in a row. Also for the third time in a row, the chorus of "TAYL!" was shouted after every score. Tegoshi and Yamapi hadn't scored one point yet, and the first set was half over.
Game four was Tegoshi's turn to serve. Koyama and Shige didn't even have to hit the ball more than five times the whole game. Tegoshi was so bad at serving the ball that he kept automatically giving them points. Some of the balls headed towards the second court, some ended up in the back fence (though none were hit as grand as Tegoshi's third practice ball).Tegoshi might have done better serving if he hadn't been so jumpy. Unlike Yamapi, who knew exactly why he was so self-conscious of the comment, Tegoshi had no idea why Koyama and Shige's love chanting made him so fidgety. Game four's final score, as Shige broadcasted it, was "Koyama and Shige win, with Tegoshi and Yamapi in- I mean AT… LOVE!"
Shige served again in game five, and Tegoshi and Yamapi were so dispirited and so humiliated, that by this time, they had practically given up. Tegoshi wished he had earplugs, so that he wouldn't have to hear the repeated mantra shouted by two of his friends. Déjà vu reigned supreme as Koyama and Shige scrapped in their fifth win, Tegoshi and Yamapi remained jammed at zero, and the initials of 'Tegoshi and Yamapi love' rang throughout the court.
Tegoshi sighed. One more game won by Koyama and Shige, and they would win the first set. Tegoshi glanced up at the sky. I hope we can get this over with quick. Game six was almost a repeat of game two. Yamapi's serves were out of control with fury, but weren't as hard, as Yamapi wanted the game to end quickly like Tegoshi. He tried to remain hopeful that after they finished playing and had dinner, Koyama and Shige would give up on their teasing, but he had some serious doubt.
To no one's surprise, Koyama and Shige, expert tennis players and chant writers, won the last game. They had won not only the game, but also the whole set, with Tegoshi and Yamapi not scoring a single time. They celebrated the major victory with a loud, resounding chorus of "TAYL! TAYL! ". They somehow managed to create a kind of triumphant song out of their chant, which went to the tune of 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'. They danced about, waving their rackets, noisily singing:
" TAYL! is the score!
Such 'love' we could not ask for more!
If easy winning is your dream,
Put Tegoshi and Yamapi on a team!
Don't they make the cutest pair?
TAYL! Everywhere!"
Tegoshi sulkily grabbed his racket, marched over to the other court right in the middle of the fifth round of the song, and silently headed towards the gate.' There’s absolutely no reason for all that… that… nonsense, Tegoshi thought. ANYBODY could make the mistake of taking the score the way I thought at first! Even YAMAPI thought that Shige meant that I and he are… in… uh…' Suddenly, Tegoshi blushed.
Yamapi was out of the gate and under the archway. He went down the dirt path before everyone else. He didn’t feel like waiting for anyone, hunger driven and obviously annoyed by the whole day he made his way toward the mansion. He knew why he tried to avoid hanging out with these three guys together. It always seemed to get messy. When he suddenly heard pounding steps behind him, he paused and looked around to see Tegoshi sprinting towards him, clutching his tennis racket close to his chest. Yamapi wondered nervously if he was going to talk to him, but he never slowed his pace. He ran right past him down the road, Yamapi caught a glimpse of his scarlet face as he glanced at him.
He started to walk on, as Koyama and Shige burst out from the archway of the courts and hurried to catch up with one of their victims. They swung their rackets and the bucket of tennis balls wildly, their faces grinning maliciously. Yamapi quickened his pace and made sure he arrived at the house before them.
Chapter two this way .....
