Chapter Text
They don’t meet again for years; Gakuto still hasn’t forgotten the day in spring and from time to time he takes out the practice tennis ball and rallies with it, even though he’s long since progressed past practice balls. He joins the rest of his elementary school classmates in the prestigious Hyotei Gakuen middle school and of course joins the tennis club straight away.
He’s not going to pretend that he’s not at least a little impressed by Atobe Keigo. Anyone who can take out all the senpais without even dropping a point and then take out both him and Ryou is someone that Gakuto can respect. Even if he’s pissed off that he lost. Plus, if it saves him from a year of picking up tennis balls then who is he to complain.
He’s about to say as much when an almost-too familiar voice calls down to Atobe. Gakuto doesn’t even need to look up to see who it is; he already knows. He’s partly humiliated because, wow, the object of a six-year crush has just witnessed his complete and utter defeat at the hands of Atobe but also there’s a part of him terrified that Yuushi doesn’t remember him.
They don’t get a chance to talk; Atobe’s already pissing all over his new-won territory like a dog and he immediately challenges this interesting newcomer to a match. Despite his defeat, Gakuto’s not so sure that this match will go as smoothly as Atobe appears to be expecting it to.
From Yuushi’s first serve Gakuto falls in love all over again. The way he plays is so precise, so focused; smashing the ball into the corners of the court with pinpoint accuracy. Ryou nudges him at one point and makes a comment, but Gakuto barely hears him, eyes fixed on Yuushi’s figure as it darts around the court.
The game ends with Atobe’s win, but it’s a win he had to work hard for and even the great Atobe Keigo can’t keep the impressed look off his face as he shakes Yuushi’s hand. Yuushi ambles over to the three of them; Jirou bounces off after Atobe, hanging on his arm and chattering away. The look on Atobe’s, for some reason, isn’t one of irritation but a mild interest. Gakuto opens his mouth, hesitates and then shuts it again.
There’s so much he wants to say but at the same time so much he can’t say. He’s always been a bit of a coward like that. Yuushi’s still smiling the way he did all those years ago as he introduces himself; Ryou has to nudge Gakuto to get him to speak.
Something like recognition spreads over Yuushi’s face as he shakes Gakuto’s hand but before he can say anything Gakuto’s pulling away hurriedly, mumbling excuses before fleeing, trying to stop the angry tears from falling because why now, why now of all times is he here?
He makes a contentious effort to avoid Yuushi the next day; it’s hard because he, Ryou, Jirou and apparently Yuushi have been adopted into the ‘Atobe Kingdom’ and this means they all have to eat lunch at the same table. Gakuto disappears to the bathroom on the way and doesn’t follow them to the cafeteria, retreating instead to the school roof. He tests the ladder of the water tower, judges it to hold at least his weight and climbs up.
The sun-heated metal of the tank is a gentle warmth at his back and he closes his eyes against the glare of the sunlight. How the hell is he meant to somehow explain to Oshitari that yes, he is that weird kid he met back in Osaka and yes Gakuto still has his tennis ball.
Also that he has a crush the size of Jupiter on him. That, too.
Gakuto groans miserably and rolls onto his side, picking at the rusting white paint. Why can’t his life just be normal. Why can’t he find Airi-chan in his class cute the way she thinks he’s cute? He just had to fall in love with a guy, didn’t he?
“My dad’s gonna kill me” He sighs, staring up at the sky.
“Why’s your father going to kill you?” Gakuto all-but screamed, jack-knifing into a sitting position, heart thumping in his chest. He turns to find Yuushi staring back at him, eyebrows raised in surprise.
“Don’t- don’t laugh.” Gakuto mutters, picking at a loose thread at the bottom of his cardigan. “And nobody’s going to be killing anyone, unless I kill you for scaring me half to death.” Yuushi starts laughing eyes closing behind his stupid glasses and Gakuto blushes. “I could’ve fallen off!” He cries, hiding his face, now the colour of his hair, in his knees.
“If there’s anyone who could spontaneously sprout wings, it’d be you. Ga ku to.” Yuushi replies, enunciating every syllable in his name. Gakuto swallows a nervous laugh.
“Bit familiar, aren’t you?” He replies, not looking Yuushi in the face. Yuushi laughs again, much gentler this time.
“If I recall, you never told me your surname, all those years ago.” He leans his weight back onto his palms, turning his face into the midday sun. Gakuto peeks at him from under his curtain of hair. “Do you remember; that you climbed that tree and stole my tennis ball?” He shot a glance at Gakuto who looks away quickly, shuffling his feet against the sun-baked paint.
“Sh-shut up!” I didn’t steal it; you gave it to me and I forgot to give it back.” He wipes his hands nervously on his trousers, feeling the weight of Yuushi’s gaze on the back of his neck.
Yuushi’s laugh makes his heart race uncomfortably. ‘Is this what a heart attack feels like?’ he thinks to himself, a little panicked. “A-anyway, lunch’s almost over, we should go.” He internally congratulates himself for managing to sound at least a little blasé about the situation as he gets to his feet, brushing off flecks of white paint that have affixed themselves to his uniform trousers.
Yuushi, still staring, as is becoming a thing with him, does the same. Gakuto very deliberately does not stare at the flex of his shoulders under his shirt. Definitely not. No way.
Feeling a little like he needs to show off in the face of Yuushi’s unwavering suaveness, he backflips off the water tower, landing perfectly. He grins at Yuushi’s shocked face, staring down at him from the top of the tower. “I’ll see you at tennis practice I assume?” He tucks his hands in his pockets, and turns to leave.
“Wait, Gakuto!” Yuushi’s voice rings out across the rooftop and Gakuto stops dead, glancing back over his shoulder. Yuushi jumps down the last couple of rungs and drags a hand through his perpetually messy hair, sweeping his fringe off his face. Gakuto’s struck dumb by the delighted expression on his face.
But it’s what Yuushi says next that really floors him.
“Won’t you play doubles with me?” Yuushi asks, earnestly
A cloud drifts across the sun, throwing half of Yuushi’s face into shadow and raising a chill on Gakuto’s skin. He rubs his arms absently, trying to figure out if Yuushi’s taking the piss or in fact being deadly serious.
“Uh.” He scuffs the toe of his shoe on the floor, the paint flakes in its wake. “Not, not that I’m refusing per se, but why? You’ve never played with me, or even played against me.” Yuushi shrugs.
“I watched you in yours and Shishido’s match against Atobe. That guy’s ridiculous, but he was impressed with you tennis. I was impressed; I’ve never seen a style like it.” Gakuto crosses his arms.
“No.” He says. Yuushi looks like he wants to say something so Gakuto ploughs ahead. “I can’t play doubles with someone that I haven’t beaten first.” He tosses his hair and turns to walk inside. “Play me at practice and we’ll see.” He doesn’t wait to hear Yuushi’s reply and bounces down the stairs, already planning his victory speech.
The clay of the court is hot under his knees but not as hot as the burning humiliation seething in his chest. Across the net, Yuushi extends his hand and Gakuto smacks it away irritably, getting to his feet and stalking off the court. Yuushi, the dumb idiot, follows him as he digs in his bag for his towel.
“Gakuto.” Oh great now he’s speaking.
“What?” he rounds on Yuushi. “What do you want? Haven’t you done enough to humiliate me today?” He’s being childish and he knows it, but he was so, so sure he could’ve beaten Yuushi and he’s pissed off that the bastard let him get all the way to match point before effortlessly tearing holes in his tennis. His precious acrobatic tennis that took three years to hone properly. All that effort reduced to shreds in less than twenty minutes.
“Will you play doubles with me?” Yuushi asks again, his glasses slipping slightly down his nose. Gakuto wants to smack him and just about resists the urge.
“Hell no.” He snaps, prodding Jirou awake with his foot. “There’s no way I’m playing with you.” Jirou yawns and rolls over, swatting half-heartedly at Gakuto’s leg. Gakuto frowns, grabs his half-empty water bottle and wanders over to the water fountain.
Yuushi doesn’t follow him.
Gakuto honestly expects it to end there. He’s relieved but at the same time disappointed. That is until he opens his locker and finds a carton of his favourite chocolate soy drink sitting on a folded-up piece of paper in front of his indoor shoes. Shishido sniggers and Gakuto elbows him hard in the ribs, snatching the carton out.
He doesn’t read the note until later, halfway through Japanese History and when he knows Shishido won’t have any chance of reading it over his shoulder.
When I heard
the first sound of the small cuckoo,
I couldn’t help
but feel longing
without knowing for whom.
-O
A love poem. Gakuto blushes and crumples the note paper in his hands. That asshole. But it doesn’t stop there.
Yuushi’s waiting for him at the end of third period. There’s a couple of girls staring at them and Gakuto tries very hard not to stick his tongue out at them. He also tries very hard not to blush like a damn girl as Yuushi escorts him to the cafeteria and then buys him lunch.
It’s actually kind of flattering; he’s never had anyone pay this much attention to him before. Sure he’s great friends with Shishido and Jirou but they come as a set and are rarely apart. He expects Yuushi to drag him over to sit with Atobe, who looks like he expects the same, but Yuushi takes his tray and leads them to an empty table in the corner. He smiles and slides Gakuto’s tray across the table, Gakuto mumbles a thanks.
For the entire lunch period, Yuushi point blank refuses to talk to anyone else but Gakuto. It’s unnerving; his intense stare, the genuine interest he shows when Gakuto reluctantly starts talking about himself, Gakuto feels himself falling more and more in love with every damn smile.
It doesn’t end there; Yuushi’s somehow managed to convince Atobe to let the two of the play doubles in a single match game. Gakuto tries to protest but he’s stared down by Atobe with a look that promises a million laps until he relents. They end up playing a couple of second-year; a pair of cocky little shits and who have a nasty habit of playing dirty if they can get away with it.
They settle into a rhythm very quickly; Yuushi’s quiet presence at the back of the court means Gakuto can leap around all over the place, knowing Yuushi will be there to sweep up any baseliners. It’s almost a shock when they realise it’s match point; Atobe stands on, smug and Gakuto can’t help but grin.
Of course it all goes to hell in a hand basket very quickly; Nishijima, the more violent of the two, out of humiliation or desperation Gakuto doesn’t know, smashes the ball straight onto Yuushi’s wrist, sending his racquet flying. Tsukishima, a manic grin splitting his face, leaps high, snatches the ball out of the air and sends it screaming towards Yuushi, who kneels defenceless on the court, eyes wide in surprise.
Everything seems to slow down; Atobe stands, face furious, Jirou and Ryou look on in horror from where they’d been practicing their serves. Gakuto runs, runs faster than he’s ever run in his life, hurtling headlong into a handspring and sending the ball rocketing back over the net and straight in between Nishijima’s legs. Unfortunately Gakuto misses his landing and goes flying, tumbling over and over until he rolls to a stop by the umpire’s chair. He blinks, staring up at the sky and distinctly feels the hot sting of a nasty graze on one of his knees and both of his elbows. The entire court goes silent for a split second, and then Yuushi’s scrambling to his feet and Atobe, not quite-running, hurries over.
Gakuto shakily pushes himself up, shoving his hair out of his eyes with the back of his hand. Yuushi drops to one knee, missing his glasses and a half-furious, half-frightened look in his eyes. Atobe practically radiates fury, Tsukishima and Nishijima at least have the sense to look vaguely contrite.
“I don’t expect you two idiots to realise just how much damage you could have done. At least have the decency expected of students of Hyotei to lose with grace rather than resort to petty foul play.” The coach finally rises from the bench and strides across the courts. Gakuto, a little reluctantly, heaves himself to his feet with Yuushi’s help, wincing as the movement causes yet another trickle of blood to run down his leg.
“Oshitari, get Mukahi to the infirmary; Atobe, Tsukishima and Nishijima come with me.” He turns to address the rest of the club members. “First years continue with swing and serving practice, second years split up and have practice matches with the third years. That will be all.” He stalked towards the clubhouse, Atobe stoic behind him, followed by an ashen-faced Tsukishima and Nishijima.
Gakuto sighs heavily and tries very hard not to think about Yuushi’s arm tight around his waist or just how handsome his face was up close. Then his knee gave a particularly painful twinge and he sucked in a breath, face pinching in pain.
“Any chance we could get going?” He gritted out, hand clenched in the fabric of Yuushi’s jersey. “I’ve already ruined one pair of socks; I don’t need to get blood on my trainers too.” Slowly, painfully, the two of them limped off the courts.
The coolness of the infirmary is a blessing on the hot sting of Gakuto’s injuries. The nurse takes one look at the pair of them and rolls her eyes, ushering Gakuto onto one of the beds and directing Yuushi to sit in a chair and not move under any circumstances . She goes through at least a dozen cotton balls cleaning the gravel and dirt out of the grazes; Gakuto grips the edge of the bed until his knuckles bleed white because ow .
She bandages his knee, frowning as the blood seeps through the layers of white cotton, and slaps a pair of enormous plasters over his elbows. After she writes up the accident for the school records, the two of them wander slowly back to the courts.
“I guess that was quite the initiation.” Gakuto says into the silence. Yuushi’s quiet beside him, hands stuffed in his pockets and frowning. “Didn’t think those two would actually try and do something that stupid but-” Yuushi cuts him off.
“Why did you do something that reckless?” He demands, wrenching his hands out of his pockets to gesture at Gakuto’s injuries. “You could have been seriously hurt; what’s the worst that could’ve happened to me? A bruise and maybe a wound to my ego?” He looks genuinely distressed and Gakuto is extremely confused.
“Look, it doesn’t matter why I did it, I don’t really know why, it just kind of happened.” Mainly because I wanted to prove to you that I’m strong, he thinks but doesn’t say. “Just consider it something doubles partners would do for each other or something.” He stops abruptly, face turning the same shade as his hair because did he really just say that out loud?
He coughs and hurries along the corridor. Well, as fast as his knee will let him. “We’d better get back to practice before Atobe makes us run a million laps.” He can practically feel Yuushi’s grin from behind him.
“So does that mean you accept?” Right on cue. Gakuto groans and speeds up. “You’ll play doubles with me?” Yuushi sounds so excited that even Gakuto can’t help but smile a little.
“You’re smiling!”
“Oh my god shut up Yuushi!”
“You finally called me by my first name! I was starting to wonder if maybe you knew another Yuushi, Ga ku to~”
“Yuushi I swear to god I’ll hit you don’t think I’m not capable of it.”
“You can’t kick your doubles partner; it’s against the golden rules of- ow!”
“In all seriousness, though.” Gakuto says over a veritable pile of burgersat the first of their doubles strategy meetings. “The only person I’ve ever played doubles with is Ryou and put bluntly he’s shit: too selfish on the court. That guy’s much better off in singles.” He took a long sip of milkshake. “As are you, really, in terms of skill.”
Yuushi shrugs and crams a fry into his mouth. “I’ve been playing singles my whole life, but really I’ve been waiting for the right partner.” He glances at Gakuto out of the corner of his eye and smirks. “Also singles is boring, what could be more exciting that destroying an opponent together; if it’s in singles you have nobody to celebrate with.”
Gakuto very deliberately does not look Yuushi in the eye but his does unclench his tight posture and lets his leg brush companionably against Yuushi’s under the table. “You know Atobe means to take Hyotei to Nationals this year don’t you?” He asks casually, unwrapping one of the burgers. “At the moment we’re Hyotei’s strongest combination; the only others are those two second-year brats.” He takes a mouthful, licking mustard off his thumb.
Yuushi walks him home. Gakuto’s pleased to note that he’s now perfectly comfortable around Yuushi. Sure, his heart speeds up from time to time whenever Yuushi gets particularly close or when he gets really animated when he talks, but other than that they’re friends and Gakuto’s prefctly happy with that.
The lights are on when they reach Gakuto’s house which means his father’s home and oh, god Gakuto really doesn’t want to deal with him tonight. Forcing a smile on his face his turns to Yuushi and wishes him goodnight. If Yuushi notices how fake Gakuto’s smile is he doesn’t say anything; they’re not at that stage yet, but Gakuto wants them to be.
“Wanna walk to school together tomorrow?” He asks before he can stop himself, scuffing the toe of his shoe against the perfectly manicured pathway.
Yuushi looks surprised in spite of himself. “Sure.” He agrees, a smile gracing his features as he turns and closes the gate behind him. Gakuto watches him walk down the street where he stops, turns and waves. Gakuto jumps and waves awkwardly back, the cool night air a relief for his burning face. Not even his father’s palpable disappointment or his mother’s cool distance could ruin his good mood. Humming under his breath he skips up the path, takes a deep breath and goes inside.
Around the corner Yuushi walks home alone, heart fluttering excitedly in his chest like a baby bird and he grins.