Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ His Voice - MomoRyoma ❯ Chapter 1

Title: His Voice

A Prince of Tennis Fanfiction
By Andrea Readwolf [andrea_readwolf @hotmail.com]
Rating: G
Pairings/Characters: Momoshiro +Echizen (others mentioned)

Genre: melancholy fluff
Warnings: post-series
Summary: Ryoma's in America; Momoshiro calls him up.

Disclaimer: Tennis no Ohjisama, characters and settings are the property of Konomi Takeshi. Story idea is property of Andrea Readwolf.

Notes: "sempai-tachi" is the plural form of 'sempai'.

Date Started: May 2005
Word Count: 828

 

"His Voice"

 

 

The phone rings in the middle of the night. You almost don't bother to answer it, but by the fourth ring it's cradled in the palm of your hand, tipping in the general direction of your ear and mouth.

 

"'ello?"

 

"Oiya! Ryoma! How are you?"

 

You blink a gummy eye open to squint at the clock and glare at the caller, despite him not being able to see you. You roll over onto your back with and grunted exhale.

 

"Momo, it's 3 am," you inform him. Not that it matters. You've never bothered with time differences before.

 

"Oh, ah, sorry, sorry," he apologizes, and in your mind you see him grinning unabashedly. "I wasn't thinking. Want me to call you back later?"

 

You want to retort that he never thinks, but you don't. You don't ask him to call you back, either, because you know how you both are. One or the other will forget and it will be another week before he calls again.

 

"No, it's okay. What did you call about?" Not that you really need a reason to call, you think, but you also know, you two don't just call without having something to talk about. Even with the phone plan, calls from Japan to America aren't exactly cheap.

 

"Oh, well, I just got home."

 

"Mmhmm."

 

"Stopped by you house today," he continued, but you know this isn't what he wanted to talk about. "Saw Karupin. She's doing good."

 

A sharp pang of longing pierces you. You still regret having to leave your beloved companion behind in Japan; almost as much as you miss him.

 

"Played a game with your dad. I don't know. Either I'm getting better or he's getting older, but I almost took a game from him today."

 

You smile. It had been several years now since you've won that battle, but the game is still fun, the competition still challenging. It is one of the few games you'll return to for a rematch, despite the outcome. Habit, you tell yourself.

 

"Your cousin was over, too. You should see the baby. He's, like, tripled in size, I swear. And Mayumi's gotten really big. You won't even recognize her."

 

"Ah. Kids usually do get bigger," you remind him. Not that you need to. He works with kids all day, after all, you remind yourself.

 

"Yeah, they do, don't that?" He sounds a little sad, and you wonder what happened today. What is he thinking about?

 

"I stopped by Kawamura's the other day, you know, just for old time's sake and all."

 

"Oh?"

 

"Yeah. Oishi-sempai and Eiji-sempai were there with the boys. I told you, right? They adopted a couple of boys?"

 

"Ah." You remember him saying something about that.

 

"They're good-looking boys. It's easy to see the sempai-tachi just think the sun rises and sets on them. And Eiji-sempai's looking really good, too."

 

"That's good." You try not to think about the accident that had left the acrobatic-player near-paralyzed. It has been six years, after all, and the other man was walking and laughing and playing. He was living, which is more than you and your teammates, your friends, had dared hope for when it had happened. It was good to know that your long-time friends and teammates were happy and well.

 

"And it looks like Taka-san is dating some girl he met at the fish market."

 

You picture the older sushi man and smile. "Good for him," you think aloud.

 

"Yeah, I know. We didn't think he was every going to start dating again after Minako-chan left him," he rattles on, but you don't care much. "He seems to really like her, and from what I've seen, it's mutual. She's really cute, too."

 

"Jealous?" you try to tease, but you're too tired for it to come across right.

 

"Not at all. I see lots of cute girls all the time. And they all adore me."

 

You humph down the phone. "Of course, all the cute girls my age have boyfriends," he sighs dramatically, and before you can stop yourself you're retorting, "So do you."

 

"I know," he answers softly, and you can tell he's smiling. "But he's not here right now."

 

"Mm. Two more months," you remind him, wishing the time was shorter.

 

"I wish it could be sooner. I miss you."

 

"Miss you, too, Momo-chan."

 

Neither of you say anything for the longest time, and you wonder if maybe he's fallen asleep before you. You close your eyes and relax into the bed.

 

"Talk to me, Momo."

 

"What about?"

 

"Doesn't matter," you tell him. "Anything's okay. Just talk."

 

"Ah," he agrees before launching into detailed expositions of his students' antics and school gossip even though you're not really listening to what he's saying. It's his voice, tickling your ear drum and dancing in your head. And an hour later, when you finally hang up and go back to sleep, it's his voice you hear in your dreams, too.

 

~owari~

 

 

 

After word:

 

A little bit of Momo-Ryoma for Mari-chan. ^__^v

They were supposed to have phone sex {sighs} I swear, these two never cooperate with me. >.>