Title: Momentum, A Drabble Series
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing(s): Tezuryo
Genre: General with a healthy dose (or maybe not so healthy dose) of fluff
Summary: Momentum (p) = mass times velocity.
Warning: This is just something that had popped into my head randomly and is probably also a product of the unhealthy amount of AP Physics that has just overshadowed my Senior year. There is only a hint of a plot in this series and fluffiness in a way that I have never written it before, so I'm afraid of OOC-ness, but please give it a shot . (^^)" The title explains itself eventually.
I. Flutter
Tezuka had long accepted the fact that he did not like surprises; Tezuka Kunimitsu would not appreciate the subtleness required to plan and execute a successful surprise Birthday party. He did not see the humor in practical jokes where a person could be harmed by the surprise and shock of having snakes fly out of a can instead of nuts or being zapped during the usually painless endeavor of shaking another person’s hand. This aversion to surprises, in fact, seemed completely natural when one considers who his teammates were.
However, all he felt as Echizen turned to him and said, “Buchou, I have a surprise for you,” was a distinctly warm feeling and fluttering in his heart that he tried to deny.
II. Glide
Tezuka had felt extremely reluctant about the entire outing. Of course, he was suspicious of any suggestion for an outing offered by the team of Fuji and Eiji. However, his reservations came to naught when most of the regulars had readily gone with the idea. Those reluctant, namely Ryoma and himself, were just dragged along.
Tezuka, later, felt relieved that he at least knew how to skate adequately well. (He had had one humiliating experience in his second year of middle school. It had been enough to convince him that he had to learn, and the memory had been deeply buried in the recesses of his mind. He was just thankful that he hadn’t at the time met Fuji and his camera yet.) He was very thankful for that blessing indeed as he watched Ryoma struggle across the ice. He could hardly repress the bubble of laughter that rose in his throat, his face as impassive as ever, as he watched Ryoma cause a three-way collision with Momoshiro and Eiji. The tangled mess that resulted did, however, manage to draw from him a barely visible smile that earned him a glare from the sharp-eyed Echizen. He also felt the tensai’s amused gaze on him.
Recovering his faculties, he decided to go over and help to make sure that there weren’t any serious injuries… as was part of his duty as a captain and a responsibility as a friend. Momo and Eiji soon stood by their own power, laughing, and said something unintelligible to Echizen before pushing off. Echizen, meanwhile, remained stubbornly on the icy surface, making no effort to rise. He waited until Tezuka reached him before looking up expectantly with a slight sulk in his countenance.
“Buchou.”
Tezuka pulled Ryoma up, Echizen’s hand fitting into his perfectly. It felt warm and comfortable in his grip despite the permanent chill of the ice rink. Neither let go.
“Teach me to glide.”
“Aa, hold on.”
Echizen smiled as his golden eyes glittered.
For Tezuka, it was enough… at the moment.
III. Convulse
It had just been an ordinary day, just like any other… routine, mundane, uneventful. One could take his pick for the word to describe it. Any word chosen from the list would have been fitting. Tezuka wished it had stayed that way.
Tennis practice had just ended for the afternoon, and after dismissing everyone in the club, Tezuka had entered the clubroom to shower and change with everyone else. It was only when he finished that he noticed Ryoma was nowhere to be found. Indeed, he was the first to notice, but Fuji was the first to voice this fact aloud.
“Does anyone know where Ryoma is?”
There was no answer.
“He wouldn’t leave without me,” Momoshiro contributed.
Oishi frowned. “Was he feeling ill during practice?”
“Nya! Ochibi certainly didn’t seem sick when he played against me.”
“Actually, according to my calculations, the speed of his returns had increased from yesterday’s practice.”
The first-year trio said that Ryoma certainly seemed normal during the school day.
As such, they had all finished changing and were filing out of the clubroom when Tezuka heard a gasp from those in front. Dread settled into his stomach as he pushed his way forward. Fuji’s eyes were open, Inui’s hand had frozen above his notebook, and the rest of the group’s jaws had become unhinged. He slowly followed their gaze to where Ryoma, yes, Ryoma was being molested by one of the non-regular second-years…
Tezuka’s stomach convulsed as he watched a struggling Ryoma overpowered by the older, bigger second-year, who forced a kiss onto the younger boy’s lips and pinned him against the wall with such force that they could hear the sickening crack of Ryoma’s head hitting brick. That finally shook them all out of their shock.
Momo charged in with a loud “Oi! What do you think you are doing?”
Kaidoh followed right behind him with a face that would have scared off, or at least rivaled, Akutsu.
Meanwhile the rest of the regulars including Tezuka himself followed at a brisk but more controlled pace, for at the first shout, the second-year- no Keiji Takeshi Tezuka remembered- had jumped away from the slightly stunned Ryoma. Finally recalling the second-year’s name seemingly set something off inside of him, and he overtook Momo and Kaidoh to land a solid punch on Keiji’s face that sent the shocked second-year sprawling to the ground.
Tezuka had surprised himself. He had never expected himself to feel this much rage bubbling up inside of him. His face, however, remained a stoic mask. “Keiji, I’ll be informing Coach Ryuzaki about this transgression. Do not return tomorrow.”
With that he turned to others to help Ryoma, but Ryoma quickly brushed off everyone’s concerns, and headed off to the clubroom to change. “Che, I’m fine.” The team, however, did smile when he stopped and added a soft “arigatou, senpai” to his statement.
IV. Collision (was dedicated to nekokatechan)
Inui had long seen it coming with his stalker-like habits and unbelievable observation and analysis skills. Fuji may have known for even longer. Some of the others on the team slowly began to see as well that Tezuka and Ryoma’s relationship would not remain platonic. They were fascinated by one another, drawn in like pieces of space matter to a star or black hole. However, they were masses with no velocity, and thus, their relationship had no momentum because momentum is mass times velocity. If velocity equals zero, momentum also equals zero.
Unfortunately, the said two people were at times unreasonable, thickheaded, oblivious, and just plain stubborn. This was one of those times. Even the freshmen in the club could sense the tension hanging around the tennis prodigy and their stern buchou. Really, it was starting to get ridiculous, and clearly, Fuji and Eiji thought so as well. They were starting to whisper to each other.
‘Hmm… there is a 99.8 percent chance that they are constructing a plan to break the tension as well as embarrass both Echizen and Tezuka horribly. There is also a 47.6 percent chance that what they have in mind could also make everything worse and cause World War III…’ Inui prepared his notebook for the incoming data.
“Eiji, do you mind handing me my water bottle?”
“Nya, sure Fuji.”
The water bottle sailed in a graceful arc as Eiji tossed it… right over Fuji’s head.
For once, Echizen’s shorter stature served him well. If he had been an inch taller, his head would have painfully met with the UFO, unfortunate flying object. As it was, he barely noticed his close encounter, even as the bottle released all of its contents onto the ground near him. He however did notice when Fuji ‘slipped’ on the wet patch trying to retrieve his water bottle. At least, that was his story later when questioned. Never mind the fact that he had slipped in the opposite direction of where he was going. He had to go around Echizen and away from the boy in order to retrieve the bottle. The fact that he had practically shoved Echizen into a Tezuka who, at the time, had been bending down to fix a shoelace was also conveniently overlooked when he opened his cerulean blue eyes in warning. Of course the shock of seeing Echizen’s lips landing on Tezuka’s in the course of the collision as both landed sprawled on the ground with the smaller boy on top of the older boy also helped knock everyone else senseless.
Yes, that’s correct; Fuji and Eiji had been the ‘innocent’ facilitators of their first kiss… in front of the entire tennis club. However, only the regulars, those who knew the two well enough, understood that they had kissed just a bit too deeply and held each other just a bit too long for it to remain a one time thing. Other members only saw two boys, one being their buchou no less, in a hilariously embarrassing position and trying their best to hide their humiliation. Of course, there was that slight hint of a blush across their cheeks.
Tezuka regained his composure first, and after clearing his throat, which was decidedly dry, asked, “Echizen, are you alright?”
“Hai, buchou.”
“Are you sure?”
“Hai.”
“Aa. I need to speak to you after practice then, privately.”
Echizen couldn’t help the automatic smirk. “Hai.” It was smothered quickly by Tezuka’s warning glance.
Inui was already busily scribbling everything down into his notebook as Fuji apologized to Echizen for his ‘clumsiness.’ Yes, Inui had seen it coming, and now that momentum had been created by that single push and collision, a very strong force, indeed, would be needed to stop it. A force that strong doesn’t seem very likely to exist.
Fuji was just glad that he had remembered to turn the flash off on his camera.
A/N: The increasing drabble length was deliberate. LOL! This is a re-post of the earlier sections together because I wanted to organize a bit. ><"