Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ The Sound of Two Heads Crashing ❯ Ch. 5: Sometimes in the Dark ( Chapter 5 )

 

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Chapter #3: Sometimes in the Dark

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Momo shoved his thoughts about Ryoma liking him deep into the back of his mind. They were at home there with the thoughts of his failing English grade and of his parent's obvious sex life. He would never think of them again.

And, as he would never think of them again, he would need to put up some protective measures. He would need to get himself a girlfriend.

Which was what he was currently doing.

Surrounded by a group of girls, Momo smiled down at them charmingly and they burst into giggles, whispering excitedly to each other.

Now Momo just had to choose one and make her his girlfriend and all thoughts like the ones he'd had yesterday would leave him entirely.

Just about to make a comment about how pretty one of the girls looked with her new haircut, Momo opened his mouth only to be interrupted by a loud voice.

“There he is! Get him!”

Having a strange feeling that the voice was talking about him—fueled mostly by the fact that the voice sounded strangely like Eiji—Momo's head shot up and he looked in that direction.

It was Eiji and he was pointing in Momo's direction, seeming to be urging Inui and Kaidoh forward.

Inui had no expression like always, but Kaidoh looked almost like he was evilly enjoying himself. They were both coming straight at him.

He turned to the girls, throwing them a quick smile and saying, “I'm sorry, but I think I have to go. I forgot something in my locker that I need for class.” And then he turned and began to hurriedly walk away. Behind him, the girls burst into another round of giggles.

Struggling to push through the crowd, Momo looked behind him to find that Inui and Kaidoh were only a few feet away. Beginning to sweat, instinctively knowing that whatever they wanted would not be good, Momo began to run, hindered by the crowds in the crowded hallway. People got in his way, he stepped on a number of feet, and everything just generally slowed him down. Inui and Kaidod easily caught up to him and grabbed onto his arms, one on each side.

“Hey! Wait!” Momo tried to struggle and pull away but Inui and Kaidoh held on tight. ”What are you guys doing?!” Momo tried to ask, but they ignored him, skillfully leading him over to the side of the hallway.

“Hey! Come on!” Momo struggled as Inui and Kaidoh stopped before a janitor's closet. Opening the door, Momo only had time for another, “Hey!” and then he was shoved inside, falling into the cleaning supplies as the door shut on him quickly, the sound of the lock clicking into place.

“Hey!” Momo cried again, getting to his feet and trying to open the door. It was locked from the outside. He turned to pounding his fists against the door. “Let me out! Hey! Let me out!” Nobody answered his cries and the pounding seemed to fall on deaf ears. “Mamushi!” he screamed as he continued his pounding. “I'll get you for this!”

 

 

Inui regarded his boyfriend with some amusement as they walked away from the closet. “You enjoyed that far too much.”

Smirking and looking a little too pleased with himself, Kaidoh only nodded. He really had enjoyed that. A person didn't get many chances to throw someone they hated into a closet for an indeterminate amount of time and actually be thanked for it.

Still somewhat amused, Inui shook his head.

 

 

The strange feeling of being watched coming over him, Ryoma paused in the middle of the hallway and looked around suspiciously. Everybody was going about their business, totally ignoring him. But if they were ignoring him then why did he suddenly feel like he was being hunted?

“Echizen!” someone shouted and Ryoma turned in the direction of the voice to find Oishi and Fuji waving him over. Still strangely nervous, Ryoma approached cautiously. What were they doing in the first-year hall?

“Oishi-senpai. Fuji-senpai.” Ryoma nodded at each boy in turn. “Did you need something?”

Fuji smiled warmly, beckoning him even closer. “We wanted to show you something.”

His smile looking a little pasted on, Oishi nodded in agreement.

“What?” Ryoma asked, stepping a little closer against his better judgment and eyeing them suspiciously.

In answer the two of them took his arms, one on each side so that he was in between them, and started to lead him down the hallway.

“It's in the second-year hall,” Fuji said, giving him another smile. “You have to come with us to see.”

Oishi still said nothing, but smiled and nodded in agreement.

Now knowing something was wrong, Ryoma tried to protest, tugging futilely at their arms. “I have class in a few minutes. I need to get going.”

“It'll only take a minute,” Fuji assured him.

“But—

“Don't worry. You won't mss class,” Fuji said soothingly, “And I just know you're really going to want to see this.”

Ryoma shook his head, beginning to feel scared. They were acting really weirdly. He began to tug harder, wanting to get away. “No. That's okay. I can miss it. I don't mind.”

Oishi and Fuji said nothing, continuing to lead him along.

“No, really Fuj-senpai. I don't think I want to see. And I have class.” Ryoma stopped walking, attempting to stop whatever they were doing by the simple act of refusing to move. Undeterred, Oishi and Fuji simply started dragging him along.

A few minutes later, as they got to the quickly emptying second-year hall, they were still dragging him and he was still protesting.

“Oishi-senpai,” Ryoma said, turning to the more motherly teen, knowing that if anybody would let him go it would be Oishi, “I really have to get to class. I don't want to see.”

Smile still obviously pasted on, Oishi clearly hated what he was doing, but that didn't stop him from dragging him on. “Fuji's right. It'll only take a minute,” he said.

“But—

“Here,” Fuji said, stopping in front of the janitor's closet.

Having been hanging between the two older teens, Ryoma now stood up straight on his two feet, some confusion replacing his fear. “A closet? What's so interesting in there?”

“Why don't you see?” Fuji said, unlocking and beginning to slowly open the door. Ryoma gave him a confused look, but still turned to see. And the door was barely open before Ryoma felt two hands on his back, shoving him inside

“Hey!” he cried, falling into something large and firm.

“Hey!” Momo's voice echoed. “Wait! Let me—

And then everything went dark.

 

Oishi turned to Fuji, clearly worried. “Are you sure this is okay? They'll be missing class.”

“It'll be fine,” Fuji assured him with a smile. “We'll just leave them in there for a while and when we get back they will have finally gotten over their nerves and told each other how they feel. Everything will be perfect.”

Oishi still glanced back nervously in the direction of the closet. He wasn't so sure.

 

 

Momo jumped up in surprise when the door suddenly opened and something large and protesting was thrown into the closet.

“Hey!” Ryoma's voice cried.

“Hey!” Momo echoed. “Wait! Let me—” but the door had already been closed again. The large and protesting thing, most definitely a human, immediately tried the knob, twisting and turning it fruitlessly. Admitting defeat, the person began to curse softly and fluently under his—because it definitely sounded like a guy—breath.

“Echizen?” Momo guessed hesitantly.

The cursing subsided for a moment and then came a vaguely irritated but unsurprised, “Momo-senpai.”

“They got you too, huh?”

Ryoma said nothing but the fact that he was there said all Momo needed for an answer.

“You know,” Momo continued musingly, “It might just be me, but I think the senpai are acting kind of strange.”

Momo couldn't see him, but Ryoma was giving him a very unimpressed look. That didn't dignify a response, but it would get one. A very sarcastic one. “No. You think?”

The sarcasm was lost on Momo. “Yeah,” Momo said and Ryoma could feel him shift in the small closet, ending up giving them just the tiniest bit more room between the two of them. They were still so close Ryoma could feel Momo's body heat. “Eiji-senpai actually sent Inui-senpai and the Mamushi at me like dogs,” Momo said, sounding bewildered by the strangeness of it.

Irritated, Ryoma said, “Oishi-senpai and Fuji-senpai said they had something to show me and dragged me over here.” A pause then: “Literally.”

Momo shifted again, only this time it brought them closer together. “Why do you think they did that?”

Ryoma tried to move away and didn't succeed, shifting even closer. Now he could feel the fabric of Momo's school uniform, their knees bumping into each other. This irritated him. “Why do they do anything?” he asked irritably, trying to shift away again.

Momo paused and actually thought about this. Ryoma was way too close to him and so most of Momo's mind was busy freaking out about that so this took some time. “Well they obviously wanted to get us in this closet for some reason,” he finally said, brain too occupied to allow him to do anything other then state the freakin' obvious.

Ryoma sighed irritably and shook his head.

And, feeling the brush of Ryoma's hair against his neck, Momo stilled all movement and was glad for the dark so Ryoma couldn't see his sudden blush. He tried to shift away once more, desperate for a little space before his weird thoughts came back again. Momo felt Ryoma lean back, effectively granting him a tiny bit more space but not nearly enough. He could still feel Ryoma's body heat and their knees still bumped into each other. Leaning back himself, he leaned into what felt like a broom and accidentally knocked something off the shelf above him. Unable to see, he just felt the object hit his head with a dull bonk and tumble down his right side before landing solidly on his foot.

Momo paused, letting the pain come to him, and then said, very calmly, “Ow.” That had really hurt.

Unseen in the dark, he heard Ryoma stifle a snicker.

“Shut up,” he grumbled lowly, a little embarrassed, and was careful not to lean back again.

 

 

Eiji, Oishi and Fuji stood in front of the janitor's closet, Eiji with his ear pressed against the door, trying to see if he could hear anything. Passersby shot them strange looks and made a point of walking around them, obviously thinking them crazy for being so interested in the janitor's closet.

“I can't hear anything,” Eiji complained.

“They've been in there all day,” Oishi said, looking between the door and Fuji in concern. “Shouldn't we let them out?”

Fuji clearly thought about it, but then shook his head. “No. It's only lunch and they're stubborn. We should give them a little more time.”

“But what about their classes?” Oishi asked, still worried. “They can't miss the whole day.”

“They've already been marked absent,” Fuji said, waving his concern off, “A couple more classes won't hurt anything.”

Clearly thinking otherwise, Oishi looked back at the closet door with a concerned frown

 

 

This had to be some new form of torture. Momo was positive. It had to be. Nothing could be this bad without somebody planning it.

He had thought he would be okay. He had thought he could scrunch up in a corner and ignore it. And he had. For the first few hours. But now it was hours later and it was getting a little hard to deal with.

He could feel Ryoma's body heat, gently radiating off the other boy. He could feel the brush of Ryoma's hair against his neck. Could hear Ryoma's soft breathing, their knees bumping into each other. Could do nothing but be aware of how close he was to his best friend. And he shouldn't like it this much. Or be so bothered by it.

He wanted to touch. He wanted to run away. Run far, far away where these weird thoughts wouldn't bother him.

He was straight. He didn't like boys and he most definitely didn't like his best friend. This was Ryoma. The little brat he ate with, played tennis with, skipped practice with. This wasn't someone he should like that way. It wasn't right.

Oh, he had nothing against gays. Everyone on the team but him and possibly Ryoma was gay in some way, how could he have a problem with them? They would kill him.

But that didn't mean he wanted to be gay himself. And he'd never thought about guys that way before. Sure there was that couple times with Fuji, but in the right light Fuji looked so much like a girl that it didn't matter. And sure there were those couple times when he wondered. But that was all he did. Wonder. He didn't actually go out and find a guy to make out with.

So why was he thinking like this about Ryoma? He didn't understand. Why now? Why him?

Caught up in his despair, Momo groaned miserably.

“Momo-senpai?” came Ryoma's voice, sounding half out of it. Like he was tired and about to fall asleep.

“Yeah?” Momo answered, looking up and trying to make out Ryoma's silhouette in the darkness .

A pause, then: “Nothing.”

Deciding not to ask, Momo let it go, turning to a different topic. “Hey. How long do you think we've been in here?”

Momo heard Ryoma huff irritably. “I don't know.”

“You think they'll let us out for practice?” Momo asked.

“They'd better or Buchou will be mad,” Ryoma answered.

Momo snickered. “Maybe he'll make them run laps.”

“He'd make us run laps too, you idiot. We'd be missing practice.”

That effectively shot down Momo's hopes for some revenge. “Oh, yeah . . .”

Momo heard Ryoma snort in derision and then felt him shift position. Now their thighs were pressed together. Momo stiffened, all his attention focused on that one point of contact so he missed Ryoma's next comment. Then Ryoma kicked him and he started paying attention again, looking up into the darkness. “What?” he asked blankly.

“I said, I'm hungry.”

“Well what do you want me to do about it?” Momo asked irritably. “I'm hungry too. I bet we missed lunch.”

Again, Ryoma sighed irritably and shifted his weight from foot to foot, causing their legs to rub against each other.

“Ah!” Momo said and jumped back. Knocking against the shelves, there was the sound of something teetering and Momo looked up only to get something heavy landing right on his face. “Shit!” he cursed, holding his nose. “Fuck, that hurt.”

“What'd you do?” Ryoma asked, unable to see.

“Nothing,” Momo said, poking at his nose gingerly to make sure it wasn't broken. It was fine. “Something fell on my face.”

“Then don't jump around in here,” Ryoma said as though he was stupid to not realize this.

Momo didn't say anything to that. It was true. He'd been stupid to jump. He just hadn't expected Ryoma to suddenly rub up against him like that.

He really needed to get this thing under control. There was obviously nothing he could do.

He was . . . Momo steeled himself to finish the thought. He was attracted to Ryoma. He was attracted to his best friend.

There. He'd admitted it. And if he'd expected to feel better for having done so then he was disappointed. If anything, he felt worse.

Why did this have to happen to him?

 

 

Ryoma had a feeling that something was going on with Momo. The other boy had been strangely quiet all day. Sure it was a little odd that they had been thrown into this closet, but that wouldn't normally have stopped Momo from chattering like the monkey he was. He was a talkative guy. Too talkative. Ryoma wasn't exactly upset that he'd been so quiet. He would've gone insane if he'd been trapped in such a small place with somebody who wouldn't stop talking.

But then there was also how Momo was so jumpy. Ryoma had barely touched him and Momo had jumped nearly a foot back to get away. It was strange.

Ryoma himself was just trying to keep himself from falling asleep. It was comfortably warm in the closet with their shared body heat and Momo had proved in the past to be a very comfortable pillow. And Ryoma hadn't gotten a lot of sleep last night, kept up with questions about those strange letters from yesterday. Questions like: Who sent them? and, more importantly, Why had Ryoma reacted like he had to them?

Ryoma had felt like he almost wanted them to be real. He'd been almost disappointed to find out they hadn't been. Why?

Things were just so strange lately. First that day when the senpai kept pushing him into Momo and then that Truth or Dare game where he found out that everybody was—what was the word—gay? And then, after that, he'd had to pretend to like Oishi to get Oishi and Eiji back together. Everything was just strange.

And Ryoma just wanted to go to sleep. Being in this closet was boring and leaning against Momo would at least give his feet a bit of a break. They were starting to hurt.

But Ryoma held himself back. Momo was still acting strangely and Ryoma didn't want to add to whatever was going on his head.

Still . . . Ryoma thought as he shifted his weight again. His feet really did hurt. And he was so bored . . . getting so sleepy . . .

 

 

Everybody else off getting ready for practice, Fuji stood in front of the janitor's closet, keys in hand. Nobody had asked or wanted to know how he had gotten a hold of them for the day.

It was time to let Ryoma and Momo out. Hopefully this day had given them enough time to get over their nerves and obliviousness and tell each other how they felt.

Turning the key in the lock, Fuji opened the door to find Momo frozen in place, eyes wide and unblinking, arms up and away from his body. Ryoma was leaning against his chest, one hand gently grasping at Momo's school uniform.

Fuji smiled at the scene. Obviously they'd done just fine.

“Oh, Fuji-senpai,” Momo said, noticing him and the open door. Then the significance of this seemed to hit and he cried, “Fuji-senpai! Echizen!” Momo shook Ryoma's shoulder roughly. “Echizen! We're free!”

“Wha?” Ryoma asked, blearily looking up and blinking dazedly.

“We're free!” Momo repeated, detaching himself from the younger boy. “Alright!” Bounding out of the closet, he stretched his arms over his head and smiled when he felt the tense muscles of his back relaxing. Then he turned to Fuji. “What time is it?”

Fuji still smiled. “Time for practice.”

Blinking at this, Momo looked shocked. “We were in there the whole day?”

“Why were we in there anyways, Fuji-senpai?” Ryoma asked, stepping out of the closet to look at Fuji accusingly.

Fuji smiled and waved a finger reprovingly. “Se-cret,” he sing-songed.

“Whatever,” Momo said, “I'm just glad to be out of there. Come on. Let's go.”

Ryoms nodded as Momo turned and set off for practice, following behind. Quickly locking the closet, Fuji followed behind them, carefully watching the two. They didn't act any different. And Momo seemed to be putting a lot of distance between the two of them.

So were they together?

This would take some looking into. Just to make sure.

 

 

TBC