Prince of Tennis: Ibu Shinji, 050: Spade
Title: Wordplay
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Characters: Ibu Shinji, Atobe Keigo
Prompt: 050: Spade
Word Count: 1,553
Rating: PG-13
Summary: When Shinji and Atobe talk, a good time is had by all. Well, at least by the bystanders with the popcorn, anyway. And sometimes, by them, too.
Author's Notes: This takes place in college, before Shinji meets Oishi, but after the infamous threesome night. Also, they don’t like shutting up and have odd conversations.
Main table can be found here and here.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Excuse me but can you tell me the time…oh. It’s you.”
Shinji looked up from his book and shaded his eyes as he looked in the direction of the voice he had heard. “What? Atobe?” He shook his head. “Can’t a guy get a moment’s peace from you?”
“Ore-sama should ask the same thing. Ore-sama is still angry at you for Friday night.”
Shinji glanced at Atobe, then looked back down at his book, not even bothering to acknowledge Atobe’s words, let alone respond to him.
Atobe scowled and shifted so he was blocking the sunlight Shinji was using to read. “Are you actually daring to ignore Ore-sama?”
“When you’re in my light, yes.” Shinji slid down the bench a little. “There.”
“Ore-sama demands that you pay attention to him!”
“You’re not supposed to pay attention to children when they’re having temper tantrums, you know. It simply encourages them to throw more, and maybe your teammates indulged you like the spoiled baby you are, but that doesn’t mean I have to.” Shinij calmly turned the page, eyes on his book.
Atobe’s face darkened. “Are you seriously comparing me to a child?”
“Call a spade a spade, Atobe. You act like one, you get called one.” Shinji looked up at Atobe with a smirk. “And I got you to drop that damn ‘ore-sama’.” He checked his watch. “Two minutes. That’s a new record for me. I have to tell Wakashi that.”
Atobe didn’t bother trying to argue that particular point further. “As I had been saying,” he said instead, gracefully taking a seat next to Shinji. “I am angry with you about Friday night.”
Shinji closed his book and set it aside with an internal sigh. “Friday. I didn’t even see you Friday. I haven’t seen you since last Tuesday. How can you possibly be mad at me when I was nowhere near you?”
“No, you weren’t.” Atobe made a show of inspecting his nails. “But Wakashi was.”
“With you?” Shinji frowned. “No he was with me…oh.” Shinji smiled knowingly. “Oh. I see.”
“And what do you think you see?”
“Nothing…nothing at all.” Shinji shook his head. “Other than the fact that you’re jealous.”
“I am not jealous! Why would I be jealous of you?” Atobe huffed.
Shinji sat back against the bench. “Because I spent Friday night with Wakashi, and you didn’t.” His tone was smug.
“Are you dating him?” Atobe’s eyes narrowed, all of his focus on Shinji as he brought his Insight to the forefront.
“Hardly. We’re too good friends to do that. But when everyone else in our lives have dates, we get together and hang out.” Shinji shrugged, tilting his head to the side. “It’s something to do.”
“Not everyone had a date on Friday, Ibu.”
“Then you should’ve asked Wakashi out.”
Atobe blinked, frozen. “What makes you think I’d even want to consider doing such a thing?”
“Simple.” Shinji ticked off points on his fingers. “You got upset that he was with me, not you. You made a point of asking me if we’re dating. And…I saw the way you looked at him, after that night.” Shinji looked down. “I’d give a lot to have someone look at me like that. It’s a shame he was asleep and missed it.”
Atobe scoffed, but there was little strength behind it. “Next you’re going to try and tell me that I’m in love with him.”
“You are. Oh, don’t look so shocked.” Shinji reached out and closed Atobe’s jaw with a finger. “It’s really not a secret, you know. In fact, I bet everyone knows but Wakashi. He can be loveably dense when he wants to be.”
“It almost sounds like you are the one in love, Ibu.”
Shinji shook his head. “No. We decided a long time ago that we’d never have a relationship like that.”
“That doesn’t mean that you can’t love him.”
“It does, because I closed that door a long time ago, and I refuse to try and open it now. I’m not going to throw away the friendship we have for something that I asked to not have in the first place.” Shinji reached out and nudged Atobe’s arm. “So no competition from me.”
“Assuming you were correct about me, what would you have me do next?” Only Atobe could manage to sound both haughty and honestly curious at the same time.
“I’d have you ask him out. Show him a good time. Shower him with the affection that I know you keep locked up somewhere in that cold heart of yours. Take him and make a happily ever after for you both.”
“Do you honestly believe in such a thing as a happily ever after, Ibu?”
“No.” Atobe’s eyes widened when he heard the sadness laced into that one word, and he knew, somehow, that this was the most honest that Shinji had ever been with him.
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t believe in them, not for me, anyway. I let mine go a long time ago, and it was just the dream of one. Happily ever afters don’t give you second chances, Atobe, and you don’t want to wake up one day and realize yours ran off halfway around the world.”
“You loved Echizen, didn’t you?”
Shinji’s eyes widened in shock, and his whole body jerked. “How did you-no one knew that! Not even Akira or Wakashi!”
Atobe tapped between his eyes. “I see everything, Ibu. I suspected, and you just confirmed it. So, you and the brat?”
“We never really got started. There was no relationship…just a lot of moments. Some intimate, some deep, all of them enough to wound.”
“And that is why you’re so engaged in your bed hopping. You’re looking for someone to fill that hole.”
“If you tell anyone, no one will find the body.” Shinji’s eyes flashed a promise.
“Assuming you could get close enough to me.”
“Believe me, I’ll do it. I am versed in the ways of the ninja.”
“Please, Ibu. A Naruto marathon does not make you a ninja.”
“Any more than your liking for lace and ruffles makes you a girl, even if you’re doing a good job of acting like one.”
“I am not acting like a girl!”
“Atobe, you so are. You know he likes guys. He knows you like guys. You’ve had sex. That’s usually the last barrier to come down, not the first. So suck it up and say something before I do it for you.”
Atobe was about to make a comment about Shinji and sucking, but he was brought up short. “You wouldn’t dare!”
“Wouldn’t I?” Shinji managed to look perfectly innocent. “I might not mean to, but you know what happens when I start talking. Sometimes the oddest things just…slip out.”
“And what would I have to do in order to not have you slip up?”
“Tell him. Preferably tonight.”
“Or you’ll tell him for me.”
“I’m glad we understand each other.”
“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re devious and underhanded?”
Shinji chuckled, clearly amused by Atobe. “One or two people may have mentioned it. Don’t you have somewhere you need to be?”
“I thought I’d dazzle you with my presence for awhile longer.”
“Consider me dazzled.” Shinji stood, tucking his book into his bag.
“And just where are you going, Ibu?”
“I have a date tonight, Atobe.”
“By “date,” I assume you mean another one-night stand. Do we know this one?”
Shinji had to think about that for a minute. “Ummm…I don’t know. He’s blond. He looked kind of familiar, but I couldn’t say from where.”
“Ibu….” Atobe’s gaze was steady and serious. “Far be it from me to offer you advice, but I figure now I owe you, since you felt free to advise me.” He paused.
“Well, spit it out, Atobe. We both have things to see and people to do.”
“That is my point. It seems to me, Ibu, that your heart will never move on like this. Either find the brat and tell him how you feel, or find someone to move on with. All you’re doing now is hurting yourself.”
“And having fun while doing it. You don’t think I know that already, Atobe? Part of all these dates is hoping someone will click with me. But it never happens.”
“Try not sleeping with them on the first date,” Atobe advised, voice dry.
“But then I’d have to borrow the stick you keep up your ass,” Shinji retorted. “I’ll be talking to Waka tomorrow, and he better be telling me that he has a new boyfriend.”
“Ibu…what makes you so sure he’ll accept me?”
Shinji looked at Atobe, posed to make a sarcastic remark, then decided to take pity on him. “Because he’s not the only oblivious, if lovable, dork I know. For being so insightful, you sure manage to miss what’s right in front of your face, Atobe.”
“You just called me lovable, you realize.”
“Yeah, yeah, hell just froze over.” Shinji walked away, shouting back over his shoulder, “You’ll thank me later!”
*~*~*~*
Early the next morning, Shinji disentangled himself from a tangle of long blond hair and clinging arms when his cell phone beeped. He muttered obscenities at it, but the curses changed to a laugh when he read the text there.
Ibu. Thank you.
--The End--
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Characters: Ibu Shinji, Atobe Keigo
Prompt: 050: Spade
Word Count: 1,553
Rating: PG-13
Summary: When Shinji and Atobe talk, a good time is had by all. Well, at least by the bystanders with the popcorn, anyway. And sometimes, by them, too.
Author's Notes: This takes place in college, before Shinji meets Oishi, but after the infamous threesome night. Also, they don’t like shutting up and have odd conversations.
Main table can be found here and here.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Excuse me but can you tell me the time…oh. It’s you.”
Shinji looked up from his book and shaded his eyes as he looked in the direction of the voice he had heard. “What? Atobe?” He shook his head. “Can’t a guy get a moment’s peace from you?”
“Ore-sama should ask the same thing. Ore-sama is still angry at you for Friday night.”
Shinji glanced at Atobe, then looked back down at his book, not even bothering to acknowledge Atobe’s words, let alone respond to him.
Atobe scowled and shifted so he was blocking the sunlight Shinji was using to read. “Are you actually daring to ignore Ore-sama?”
“When you’re in my light, yes.” Shinji slid down the bench a little. “There.”
“Ore-sama demands that you pay attention to him!”
“You’re not supposed to pay attention to children when they’re having temper tantrums, you know. It simply encourages them to throw more, and maybe your teammates indulged you like the spoiled baby you are, but that doesn’t mean I have to.” Shinij calmly turned the page, eyes on his book.
Atobe’s face darkened. “Are you seriously comparing me to a child?”
“Call a spade a spade, Atobe. You act like one, you get called one.” Shinji looked up at Atobe with a smirk. “And I got you to drop that damn ‘ore-sama’.” He checked his watch. “Two minutes. That’s a new record for me. I have to tell Wakashi that.”
Atobe didn’t bother trying to argue that particular point further. “As I had been saying,” he said instead, gracefully taking a seat next to Shinji. “I am angry with you about Friday night.”
Shinji closed his book and set it aside with an internal sigh. “Friday. I didn’t even see you Friday. I haven’t seen you since last Tuesday. How can you possibly be mad at me when I was nowhere near you?”
“No, you weren’t.” Atobe made a show of inspecting his nails. “But Wakashi was.”
“With you?” Shinji frowned. “No he was with me…oh.” Shinji smiled knowingly. “Oh. I see.”
“And what do you think you see?”
“Nothing…nothing at all.” Shinji shook his head. “Other than the fact that you’re jealous.”
“I am not jealous! Why would I be jealous of you?” Atobe huffed.
Shinji sat back against the bench. “Because I spent Friday night with Wakashi, and you didn’t.” His tone was smug.
“Are you dating him?” Atobe’s eyes narrowed, all of his focus on Shinji as he brought his Insight to the forefront.
“Hardly. We’re too good friends to do that. But when everyone else in our lives have dates, we get together and hang out.” Shinji shrugged, tilting his head to the side. “It’s something to do.”
“Not everyone had a date on Friday, Ibu.”
“Then you should’ve asked Wakashi out.”
Atobe blinked, frozen. “What makes you think I’d even want to consider doing such a thing?”
“Simple.” Shinji ticked off points on his fingers. “You got upset that he was with me, not you. You made a point of asking me if we’re dating. And…I saw the way you looked at him, after that night.” Shinji looked down. “I’d give a lot to have someone look at me like that. It’s a shame he was asleep and missed it.”
Atobe scoffed, but there was little strength behind it. “Next you’re going to try and tell me that I’m in love with him.”
“You are. Oh, don’t look so shocked.” Shinji reached out and closed Atobe’s jaw with a finger. “It’s really not a secret, you know. In fact, I bet everyone knows but Wakashi. He can be loveably dense when he wants to be.”
“It almost sounds like you are the one in love, Ibu.”
Shinji shook his head. “No. We decided a long time ago that we’d never have a relationship like that.”
“That doesn’t mean that you can’t love him.”
“It does, because I closed that door a long time ago, and I refuse to try and open it now. I’m not going to throw away the friendship we have for something that I asked to not have in the first place.” Shinji reached out and nudged Atobe’s arm. “So no competition from me.”
“Assuming you were correct about me, what would you have me do next?” Only Atobe could manage to sound both haughty and honestly curious at the same time.
“I’d have you ask him out. Show him a good time. Shower him with the affection that I know you keep locked up somewhere in that cold heart of yours. Take him and make a happily ever after for you both.”
“Do you honestly believe in such a thing as a happily ever after, Ibu?”
“No.” Atobe’s eyes widened when he heard the sadness laced into that one word, and he knew, somehow, that this was the most honest that Shinji had ever been with him.
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t believe in them, not for me, anyway. I let mine go a long time ago, and it was just the dream of one. Happily ever afters don’t give you second chances, Atobe, and you don’t want to wake up one day and realize yours ran off halfway around the world.”
“You loved Echizen, didn’t you?”
Shinji’s eyes widened in shock, and his whole body jerked. “How did you-no one knew that! Not even Akira or Wakashi!”
Atobe tapped between his eyes. “I see everything, Ibu. I suspected, and you just confirmed it. So, you and the brat?”
“We never really got started. There was no relationship…just a lot of moments. Some intimate, some deep, all of them enough to wound.”
“And that is why you’re so engaged in your bed hopping. You’re looking for someone to fill that hole.”
“If you tell anyone, no one will find the body.” Shinji’s eyes flashed a promise.
“Assuming you could get close enough to me.”
“Believe me, I’ll do it. I am versed in the ways of the ninja.”
“Please, Ibu. A Naruto marathon does not make you a ninja.”
“Any more than your liking for lace and ruffles makes you a girl, even if you’re doing a good job of acting like one.”
“I am not acting like a girl!”
“Atobe, you so are. You know he likes guys. He knows you like guys. You’ve had sex. That’s usually the last barrier to come down, not the first. So suck it up and say something before I do it for you.”
Atobe was about to make a comment about Shinji and sucking, but he was brought up short. “You wouldn’t dare!”
“Wouldn’t I?” Shinji managed to look perfectly innocent. “I might not mean to, but you know what happens when I start talking. Sometimes the oddest things just…slip out.”
“And what would I have to do in order to not have you slip up?”
“Tell him. Preferably tonight.”
“Or you’ll tell him for me.”
“I’m glad we understand each other.”
“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re devious and underhanded?”
Shinji chuckled, clearly amused by Atobe. “One or two people may have mentioned it. Don’t you have somewhere you need to be?”
“I thought I’d dazzle you with my presence for awhile longer.”
“Consider me dazzled.” Shinji stood, tucking his book into his bag.
“And just where are you going, Ibu?”
“I have a date tonight, Atobe.”
“By “date,” I assume you mean another one-night stand. Do we know this one?”
Shinji had to think about that for a minute. “Ummm…I don’t know. He’s blond. He looked kind of familiar, but I couldn’t say from where.”
“Ibu….” Atobe’s gaze was steady and serious. “Far be it from me to offer you advice, but I figure now I owe you, since you felt free to advise me.” He paused.
“Well, spit it out, Atobe. We both have things to see and people to do.”
“That is my point. It seems to me, Ibu, that your heart will never move on like this. Either find the brat and tell him how you feel, or find someone to move on with. All you’re doing now is hurting yourself.”
“And having fun while doing it. You don’t think I know that already, Atobe? Part of all these dates is hoping someone will click with me. But it never happens.”
“Try not sleeping with them on the first date,” Atobe advised, voice dry.
“But then I’d have to borrow the stick you keep up your ass,” Shinji retorted. “I’ll be talking to Waka tomorrow, and he better be telling me that he has a new boyfriend.”
“Ibu…what makes you so sure he’ll accept me?”
Shinji looked at Atobe, posed to make a sarcastic remark, then decided to take pity on him. “Because he’s not the only oblivious, if lovable, dork I know. For being so insightful, you sure manage to miss what’s right in front of your face, Atobe.”
“You just called me lovable, you realize.”
“Yeah, yeah, hell just froze over.” Shinji walked away, shouting back over his shoulder, “You’ll thank me later!”
*~*~*~*
Early the next morning, Shinji disentangled himself from a tangle of long blond hair and clinging arms when his cell phone beeped. He muttered obscenities at it, but the curses changed to a laugh when he read the text there.
Ibu. Thank you.
--The End--