(fic) Maybe - PoT
Jan. 27th, 2006 08:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katikatTitle: Maybe
Author: KatiKat
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Disclaimer: All standard disclaimers apply here.
Pairing: Kamio Akira/Tachibana Kippei (Fudomine)
Warnings: Teeny weeny spoilers for eps 100 and up
Notes: My big thank you goes to my wonderful beta![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
yami_tai!
Notes2: In my stories, the boys are going to High School and not to Junior Middle School.
Notes3: I'm not quite content with this story. There is just something off there... But Tai said that it was okay, so...
Maybe
by KatiKat
Kamio was late again, for the fourth time that week. Tachibana frowned as he looked down at his wrist watch. The practice matches were in full swing now, the regulars and the rest of their tennis club moving around the courts in an organized but at the same time chaotic patterns. Just two weeks ago, Kamio had been one of them, laughing and doing his best to beat his opponent in a friendly manner... And then something had changed...
It began with Tachibana's return from the hospital. He was still using a cane to walk and had to go back for the physical therapy regularly, but the doctors had finally allowed him to leave his bed and the hospital to recuperate at home. Returning to the club, he hoped that he could put the events of the last couple of weeks behind him and concentrate on getting back into shape and support his team-mates at least morally... But from the moment he walked into their club-room, his friendship with Kamio seemed to go downhill. The red-head kept avoiding any possible discussion of his sudden and unexpected change in behavior and his attitude worsened with every day, affecting the mood of the whole team. And Tachibana still didn't know why and neither did the other regulars with whom Kamio stopped socializing as frequently as he used to.
And so, when the Captain of the Fudomine team finally spotted his wayward kohai, he decided that there wouldn't be any more postponing of the talk they should have had two weeks ago.
"You are late," Tachibana delivered in a calm voice once Kamio got into earshot.
The red-head shrugged showing his lack of interest though the hunched shoulders gave away his bad mood. Eyes trained on the ground he shuffled past his captain. "Sorry," he mumbled, hefting the bag higher on his shoulder and heading towards the club-room.
Tachibana frowned, then reached out and grabbed Kamio by the arm. Their team-mates on the courts froze, watching the scene with bated breath. "Sorry won't cut it this time, Kamio," he dismissed the fake apology in a firm tone.
Kamio froze for a moment, then turned around, pulling away from is senpai. He furrowed his one visible brow and twisted his mouth into a sneer. "I overslept, is all. Could happen to anyone," he barked out, backing away a step.
The Captain took a deep breath to calm his rising temper. "We have an important match next week and the last thing we need is this attitude of yours. Pull yourself together or..." he didn't finish, actually not knowing how to. But Kamio obviously had his own idea of what Tachibana wanted to say but didn't.
His visible eye flashing dangerously, Kamio backed away another step. "Or what?!" he shouted angrily. "Twenty laps around the courts? Or will you kick me out of the club? Be my guest! I wanted to quit anyway," he yelled letting go of his inexplicable rage. "I don't need such a bunch of losers anyway and I'm sick of your moralizing talk. Go to hell, all of you!" With that last shout he turned away and hurried towards the club-room where he shut the door with a bang so loud and heavy that it bounced and opened a crack again.
Everyone, including Tachibana, stared after him with mouths wide open. In the end, Tachibana drawled with a touch of sarcasm: "Oka~y, that went well." His shoulders slumping slightly, he leaned heavily on his cane and sighed.
"Captain?" a reluctant voice sounded from behind. "Should I go and talk to him?"
Tachibana sighed again and shook his head. "No need, Tetsu. I will do it myself." Looking over his shoulder at his team-mate he smiled slightly. "Continue practicing. We have an important match ahead of us."
When he received a nod from Tetsu who then hollered at the others to go back to their business, Tachibana leaned on his cane and started walking slowly towards the club-room, wondering what he should say or do, being at his wit's end. What he encountered when he reached the door that stood slightly ajar surprised him though.
Kamio stood at his locker, forehead pressed against the cool metal door. His whole body was shaking. "Damn it... Damn it all to hell!" he whispered angrily and closing his right hand into fist he hit the locker with so much power that he dented the door slightly. Though there wasn't just anger in his voice, but a note of despair and in the crack at the very end Tachibana could actually detect tears.
Pushing the door open with a silent creak, Tachibana stepped inside, making Kamio raise his head in surprise then quickly look away again to hide his reddened eyes.
"What do you want?" the red-head snapped, opening the door of his locker, then taking off his black Fudomine jacket and stuffing it inside angrily. Though when he should release the familiar piece of fabric, his hand lingered.
Tachibana close the door silently, then leaned on his cane with both of his hands. "What's wrong, Kamio?" he asked softly.
"Nothing," the younger boy snarled, finally letting go of his jacket and grabbing his accessories from the top shelf of his locker and stuffing them into his bag.
"Kamio... Kamio, look at me and tell me what's wrong," Tachibana demanded again quietly not giving up.
This time, his friend didn't even deem him worth answering, concentrating fully on emptying his locker.
Seeking eye-contact or any reaction that would allow him to break inside the shell that Kamio had pulled back into, Tachibana reminded his team-mate dispassionately. "When you are at it, don't forget that the bag belongs to Fudomine too."
As if that was the straw that broke the camel's back, Kamio's face flushed with rage and he turned around, flinging the sack at the older boy. "Here, you can have it, Captain!" the red-head snapped, breathing hard while his things flew across the room.
Not expecting such a violent move from the friend who always behaved with utmost respect towards him, Tachibana barely managed to dodge the heavy bag. But to do so, he had to lean heavily on his splinted leg which made him gasp with pain and blanch. He staggered, his cane slipping on the tiled floor. Though before he could fall and maybe hurt himself further, Kamio, suddenly horrified by what he had done, jumped forward and with a terrified shout caught him.
"Captain!" Kamio yelled, gripping Tachibana's elbows and steadying him. "I'm sorry, I... I'm so sorry, I didn't want to... I..." Kamio's voice cracked, then broke and the red-head lowered his eyes, unable to look at his friend. "Let's sit down you down, okay? You... you shouldn't be standing for so long anyway... you... you know what the doc said."
Grinding his teeth, his body bathed in cold sweat, the pain from his ankle shooting up to his hip, Tachibana allowed the younger boy to steer him towards a low bench where he sat down and carefully straightened his hurting leg.
Hearing his Captain hiss with pain, Kamio, on the verge of tears, kept on mumbling apologies and other nonsense to express how sorry he was. Pulling himself together, Tachibana lay one hand on his friend's shoulder in a calming gesture, fearing that the other boy would fall apart otherwise. Looking down at Kamio who knelt on the floor in front of him with his head bowed and red hair hiding face, he smiled gently despite the sharp pain in his leg.
"Nothing happened. I should have sat down long time ago anyway." Gripping Kamio's shoulder harder, he asked slowly and quietly, as if afraid of spooking a wild animal. "Can you tell me now what's going on in that head of yours? Nothing could be so bad that we couldn't fix it."
Kamio swallowed painfully, his shoulders slumping. He shook his head slightly, still refusing to look directly at his senpai.
"Please, Kamio. Please, tell me. This is tearing us apart as a team, as friends. I don't want it and I bet you don't want it either." He put all his conviction into his voice, hoping that it would be enough to break through to his friend.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Kamio whispered. "If you knew, you would hate me."
Tachibana furrowed his brows for a second, then he retorted in a firm voice. "You really think so? And I thought you knew me better," he added with a hint of disappointment.
That seemed to finally wake up the red-head. He looked at Tachibana with desperate, pleading eyes, then gripped Tachibana's hand that until now rested on his thigh. "It's just... that I'm so confused. At first I thought it was your sister, senpai... But then you got hurt and all I could think of was you... and I was so worried and I wanted to kill Akaya with my bare hands for what he had done to you and then I realized... and," his voice broke and he fell silent for a moment. Then he added in a soft voice. "And I realized it was you."
This time Tachibana frowned, not understanding at all what Kamio was talking about. "I'm afraid, I don't understand..." he admitted carefully.
Taking a deep breath, Kamio bent his head and almost shouted. "I love you, Tachibana-senpai!"
If someone had hit Tachibana over the head with his cane, he couldn't have been more shocked. Kamio was in love with him? He knew that the other boy was devoted to him in an almost unhealthy way but love? He was at a loss for words.
Not able to bear the silence anymore, Kamio lifted his head to glance at his Captain. Finding only surprise and no disgust in his senpai's face, he sat back to look up at Tachibana fully. "I... I'm sure that it's a surprise for you, Tachibana-senpai."
'Surprise?' Tachibana thought. 'Well, that's an understatement.'
"And before you try to convince me that it's just an infatuation, let me tell you that it is not." Falling silent for a moment, Kamio collected his thoughts and in a remarkably calm voice he continued. "I have never felt like this before. My heart can't stop pounding when I'm near you and when I'm not, it aches so much that I can barely stand it. I was so afraid to tell you, afraid to lose your friendship but at the same time..." He lowered his eyes and shook his head, as if not knowing how to continue.
Choosing his words carefully and trying to find the correct thing to say, Tachibana squeezed the hand Kamio was gripping. "First of all, I'm not mad or disgusted and I don't hate you," he stated in a calm voice, happy that it seemed to lift a heavy burden from his friend's stooped shoulders. "But I have to be honest with you, Kamio. I have never thought about you in that way." The younger boy lifted his head to say something but before he could do so, Tachibana lifted his hand from his kohai's shoulder and laid his fingers on Kamio's mouth to keep the other silent. "Let me finish. It's not about you as a person or being a boy. It's about the fact that my whole life turns around tennis right now and at this point, there is no time for me for anything else. Do you understand?"
There was a glint of disappointment in the eyes that watched the Captain, but no hint of anger or sadness. Kamio nodded slightly in response.
Tachibana continued. "I'm not saying that there can't or won't be a chance for us in the future but I'm not promising anything either. We will take it one day at a time and we will see. But for now and for some time yet, all I can do and think about is tennis and my recuperation. Can you accept that? Can you accept a maybe and friendship from my side?" he asked, taking his hand away from his friend's lips.
Kamio looked away from Tachibana's face, his eyes wandering around the room while his mind mulled over what the Captain told him. Tachibana waited silently, patiently, but his heart raced, fearing that he would loose a good friend. In the end, he had nothing to fear though.
Smiling, Kamio nodded. "I can accept that," he answered. "I can't promise to stop loving you, though, and I ask you not to demand that from me. My love for you is too much a part of me already."
Tachibana also smiled, nodding. "That sounds fair. And I promise you that this will stay between us as long as you want it to."
Still smiling, Kamio breathed deeply in, then out again. Looking around the club-room he barked out a laugh. "What a mess. I think I should clean up here, huh?" He climbed to his feet and handed Tachibana the cane. "And then, twenty laps around the courts, huh?"
Getting up from the bench, the Captain laughed too. "Twenty? For coming in late so many times and messing up the club-room? That will be forty at least. And with enthusiasm."
"Forty, senpai?" Kamio groaned.
Heading for the door, Tachibana looked over his shoulder. "I could still make it fifty," he warned.
His eyes popping in horror, Kamio grabbed his clothes and accessories and stuffed them in no order whatsoever into his locker. Then he rushed passed Tachibana who held the door open and towards the courts. "No need, I'm going, I'm going," he yelled as if warding off the devil.
Tachibana smiled and leaned against the door, watching the boy run.
Yes, maybe one day...
The End
Author: KatiKat
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Disclaimer: All standard disclaimers apply here.
Pairing: Kamio Akira/Tachibana Kippei (Fudomine)
Warnings: Teeny weeny spoilers for eps 100 and up
Notes: My big thank you goes to my wonderful beta
yami_tai!Notes2: In my stories, the boys are going to High School and not to Junior Middle School.
Notes3: I'm not quite content with this story. There is just something off there... But Tai said that it was okay, so...
Maybe
by KatiKat
Kamio was late again, for the fourth time that week. Tachibana frowned as he looked down at his wrist watch. The practice matches were in full swing now, the regulars and the rest of their tennis club moving around the courts in an organized but at the same time chaotic patterns. Just two weeks ago, Kamio had been one of them, laughing and doing his best to beat his opponent in a friendly manner... And then something had changed...
It began with Tachibana's return from the hospital. He was still using a cane to walk and had to go back for the physical therapy regularly, but the doctors had finally allowed him to leave his bed and the hospital to recuperate at home. Returning to the club, he hoped that he could put the events of the last couple of weeks behind him and concentrate on getting back into shape and support his team-mates at least morally... But from the moment he walked into their club-room, his friendship with Kamio seemed to go downhill. The red-head kept avoiding any possible discussion of his sudden and unexpected change in behavior and his attitude worsened with every day, affecting the mood of the whole team. And Tachibana still didn't know why and neither did the other regulars with whom Kamio stopped socializing as frequently as he used to.
And so, when the Captain of the Fudomine team finally spotted his wayward kohai, he decided that there wouldn't be any more postponing of the talk they should have had two weeks ago.
"You are late," Tachibana delivered in a calm voice once Kamio got into earshot.
The red-head shrugged showing his lack of interest though the hunched shoulders gave away his bad mood. Eyes trained on the ground he shuffled past his captain. "Sorry," he mumbled, hefting the bag higher on his shoulder and heading towards the club-room.
Tachibana frowned, then reached out and grabbed Kamio by the arm. Their team-mates on the courts froze, watching the scene with bated breath. "Sorry won't cut it this time, Kamio," he dismissed the fake apology in a firm tone.
Kamio froze for a moment, then turned around, pulling away from is senpai. He furrowed his one visible brow and twisted his mouth into a sneer. "I overslept, is all. Could happen to anyone," he barked out, backing away a step.
The Captain took a deep breath to calm his rising temper. "We have an important match next week and the last thing we need is this attitude of yours. Pull yourself together or..." he didn't finish, actually not knowing how to. But Kamio obviously had his own idea of what Tachibana wanted to say but didn't.
His visible eye flashing dangerously, Kamio backed away another step. "Or what?!" he shouted angrily. "Twenty laps around the courts? Or will you kick me out of the club? Be my guest! I wanted to quit anyway," he yelled letting go of his inexplicable rage. "I don't need such a bunch of losers anyway and I'm sick of your moralizing talk. Go to hell, all of you!" With that last shout he turned away and hurried towards the club-room where he shut the door with a bang so loud and heavy that it bounced and opened a crack again.
Everyone, including Tachibana, stared after him with mouths wide open. In the end, Tachibana drawled with a touch of sarcasm: "Oka~y, that went well." His shoulders slumping slightly, he leaned heavily on his cane and sighed.
"Captain?" a reluctant voice sounded from behind. "Should I go and talk to him?"
Tachibana sighed again and shook his head. "No need, Tetsu. I will do it myself." Looking over his shoulder at his team-mate he smiled slightly. "Continue practicing. We have an important match ahead of us."
When he received a nod from Tetsu who then hollered at the others to go back to their business, Tachibana leaned on his cane and started walking slowly towards the club-room, wondering what he should say or do, being at his wit's end. What he encountered when he reached the door that stood slightly ajar surprised him though.
Kamio stood at his locker, forehead pressed against the cool metal door. His whole body was shaking. "Damn it... Damn it all to hell!" he whispered angrily and closing his right hand into fist he hit the locker with so much power that he dented the door slightly. Though there wasn't just anger in his voice, but a note of despair and in the crack at the very end Tachibana could actually detect tears.
Pushing the door open with a silent creak, Tachibana stepped inside, making Kamio raise his head in surprise then quickly look away again to hide his reddened eyes.
"What do you want?" the red-head snapped, opening the door of his locker, then taking off his black Fudomine jacket and stuffing it inside angrily. Though when he should release the familiar piece of fabric, his hand lingered.
Tachibana close the door silently, then leaned on his cane with both of his hands. "What's wrong, Kamio?" he asked softly.
"Nothing," the younger boy snarled, finally letting go of his jacket and grabbing his accessories from the top shelf of his locker and stuffing them into his bag.
"Kamio... Kamio, look at me and tell me what's wrong," Tachibana demanded again quietly not giving up.
This time, his friend didn't even deem him worth answering, concentrating fully on emptying his locker.
Seeking eye-contact or any reaction that would allow him to break inside the shell that Kamio had pulled back into, Tachibana reminded his team-mate dispassionately. "When you are at it, don't forget that the bag belongs to Fudomine too."
As if that was the straw that broke the camel's back, Kamio's face flushed with rage and he turned around, flinging the sack at the older boy. "Here, you can have it, Captain!" the red-head snapped, breathing hard while his things flew across the room.
Not expecting such a violent move from the friend who always behaved with utmost respect towards him, Tachibana barely managed to dodge the heavy bag. But to do so, he had to lean heavily on his splinted leg which made him gasp with pain and blanch. He staggered, his cane slipping on the tiled floor. Though before he could fall and maybe hurt himself further, Kamio, suddenly horrified by what he had done, jumped forward and with a terrified shout caught him.
"Captain!" Kamio yelled, gripping Tachibana's elbows and steadying him. "I'm sorry, I... I'm so sorry, I didn't want to... I..." Kamio's voice cracked, then broke and the red-head lowered his eyes, unable to look at his friend. "Let's sit down you down, okay? You... you shouldn't be standing for so long anyway... you... you know what the doc said."
Grinding his teeth, his body bathed in cold sweat, the pain from his ankle shooting up to his hip, Tachibana allowed the younger boy to steer him towards a low bench where he sat down and carefully straightened his hurting leg.
Hearing his Captain hiss with pain, Kamio, on the verge of tears, kept on mumbling apologies and other nonsense to express how sorry he was. Pulling himself together, Tachibana lay one hand on his friend's shoulder in a calming gesture, fearing that the other boy would fall apart otherwise. Looking down at Kamio who knelt on the floor in front of him with his head bowed and red hair hiding face, he smiled gently despite the sharp pain in his leg.
"Nothing happened. I should have sat down long time ago anyway." Gripping Kamio's shoulder harder, he asked slowly and quietly, as if afraid of spooking a wild animal. "Can you tell me now what's going on in that head of yours? Nothing could be so bad that we couldn't fix it."
Kamio swallowed painfully, his shoulders slumping. He shook his head slightly, still refusing to look directly at his senpai.
"Please, Kamio. Please, tell me. This is tearing us apart as a team, as friends. I don't want it and I bet you don't want it either." He put all his conviction into his voice, hoping that it would be enough to break through to his friend.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Kamio whispered. "If you knew, you would hate me."
Tachibana furrowed his brows for a second, then he retorted in a firm voice. "You really think so? And I thought you knew me better," he added with a hint of disappointment.
That seemed to finally wake up the red-head. He looked at Tachibana with desperate, pleading eyes, then gripped Tachibana's hand that until now rested on his thigh. "It's just... that I'm so confused. At first I thought it was your sister, senpai... But then you got hurt and all I could think of was you... and I was so worried and I wanted to kill Akaya with my bare hands for what he had done to you and then I realized... and," his voice broke and he fell silent for a moment. Then he added in a soft voice. "And I realized it was you."
This time Tachibana frowned, not understanding at all what Kamio was talking about. "I'm afraid, I don't understand..." he admitted carefully.
Taking a deep breath, Kamio bent his head and almost shouted. "I love you, Tachibana-senpai!"
If someone had hit Tachibana over the head with his cane, he couldn't have been more shocked. Kamio was in love with him? He knew that the other boy was devoted to him in an almost unhealthy way but love? He was at a loss for words.
Not able to bear the silence anymore, Kamio lifted his head to glance at his Captain. Finding only surprise and no disgust in his senpai's face, he sat back to look up at Tachibana fully. "I... I'm sure that it's a surprise for you, Tachibana-senpai."
'Surprise?' Tachibana thought. 'Well, that's an understatement.'
"And before you try to convince me that it's just an infatuation, let me tell you that it is not." Falling silent for a moment, Kamio collected his thoughts and in a remarkably calm voice he continued. "I have never felt like this before. My heart can't stop pounding when I'm near you and when I'm not, it aches so much that I can barely stand it. I was so afraid to tell you, afraid to lose your friendship but at the same time..." He lowered his eyes and shook his head, as if not knowing how to continue.
Choosing his words carefully and trying to find the correct thing to say, Tachibana squeezed the hand Kamio was gripping. "First of all, I'm not mad or disgusted and I don't hate you," he stated in a calm voice, happy that it seemed to lift a heavy burden from his friend's stooped shoulders. "But I have to be honest with you, Kamio. I have never thought about you in that way." The younger boy lifted his head to say something but before he could do so, Tachibana lifted his hand from his kohai's shoulder and laid his fingers on Kamio's mouth to keep the other silent. "Let me finish. It's not about you as a person or being a boy. It's about the fact that my whole life turns around tennis right now and at this point, there is no time for me for anything else. Do you understand?"
There was a glint of disappointment in the eyes that watched the Captain, but no hint of anger or sadness. Kamio nodded slightly in response.
Tachibana continued. "I'm not saying that there can't or won't be a chance for us in the future but I'm not promising anything either. We will take it one day at a time and we will see. But for now and for some time yet, all I can do and think about is tennis and my recuperation. Can you accept that? Can you accept a maybe and friendship from my side?" he asked, taking his hand away from his friend's lips.
Kamio looked away from Tachibana's face, his eyes wandering around the room while his mind mulled over what the Captain told him. Tachibana waited silently, patiently, but his heart raced, fearing that he would loose a good friend. In the end, he had nothing to fear though.
Smiling, Kamio nodded. "I can accept that," he answered. "I can't promise to stop loving you, though, and I ask you not to demand that from me. My love for you is too much a part of me already."
Tachibana also smiled, nodding. "That sounds fair. And I promise you that this will stay between us as long as you want it to."
Still smiling, Kamio breathed deeply in, then out again. Looking around the club-room he barked out a laugh. "What a mess. I think I should clean up here, huh?" He climbed to his feet and handed Tachibana the cane. "And then, twenty laps around the courts, huh?"
Getting up from the bench, the Captain laughed too. "Twenty? For coming in late so many times and messing up the club-room? That will be forty at least. And with enthusiasm."
"Forty, senpai?" Kamio groaned.
Heading for the door, Tachibana looked over his shoulder. "I could still make it fifty," he warned.
His eyes popping in horror, Kamio grabbed his clothes and accessories and stuffed them in no order whatsoever into his locker. Then he rushed passed Tachibana who held the door open and towards the courts. "No need, I'm going, I'm going," he yelled as if warding off the devil.
Tachibana smiled and leaned against the door, watching the boy run.
Yes, maybe one day...
The End
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-01-30 08:54 pm (UTC)Nope, I don't think so. But then I don't know the characters so I may not be the best judge. *shrugs* I really like this fic though, whether it is 'in character' or not ^_^!
And I owe you a long email...
no subject
Date: 2006-02-03 09:52 pm (UTC)