Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ Singing Juices: A Tenipuri Musical ❯ To Be At Home ( Chapter 5 )

AN: Just to make sure, because I'm not sure, but all of Eiji's sisters are older than him, right?

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Chapter #5: To Be at Home

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It wasn't that long of a walk between where Momo and he had stopped to talk and his house and a few minutes later Ryoma was home. Unfortunately, so was his dad.

“Oi seishounen!” Nanjiroh called out.

Standing at the foot of the stairs, on his way to his bedroom, Ryoma reluctantly turned around. “What?” he snapped. He was really not in the mood for his father's usual idiocy.

“Play a game with me.”

Oh that's what he wanted. “Not right now,” Ryoma said and turned to climb the stairs.

Nanjiroh stopped where he was and looked shocked. “No?” The concept seemed foreign to him. “But . . .” Then he seemed to realize something and got an annoyingly knowing look on his face. “Oh, I get it. You don't want to squashed into the ground. Got tired of being beaten every time.” Nanjiroh laughed loudly. “Oh my poor, no talent son.” He pretended to wipe away a fake tear.

Ryoma stopped halfway up the stairs and shot him a look. “No. I just already played tennis today. I don't feel like playing again.” He really just wanted to get to his room where things made sense and he wouldn't have to think about Momo.

Nanjiroh's mouth hung open and he looked stricken. “You don't want to—?” he cut himself off and suddenly got very serious. Closing the distance in two quick strides, Nanjiroh pulled Ryoma down the stairs by the neck of his shirt.

“Oyaji!” Ryoma protested. Nanjiroh was pulling him too fast and he had to hurry or he would fall down the stairs.

“Quiet. Something's wrong with you, boy. We need to get you to your mother.”

Ryoma struggled against his hold. “I'm fine! Leave me alone!”

Nanjiroh was silent, pulling him into the kitchen where his mother was seated at the table, papers spread out along its surface, and Nanako was busy making dinner. They both turned to stare at the father and son as Nanjiroh entered and shoved Ryoma in front of him.

“Tell her what you told me,” Nanjiroh ordered.

Ryoma didn't see what the big deal was. “I don't want to play a game right now.”

His mom immediately looked worried. “Are you okay? Did something happen at school?”

Why did they immediately think something was wrong with him? So he didn't want to play a game. So what? “Nothing happened,” he said, starting to sound exasperated. “I just already played tennis today.”

“See?” Nanjiroh said, pointing as if this proved everything. “He's gone crazy.”

“Are you sure nothing's wrong?” Rinko asked, concerned, “You've never passed up a game before.”

Ryoma shrugged, uncomfortable under the concern. “I just don't feel like it.”

Nanjiroh nodded, still looking serious. “Obviously this is a serious matter.”

Ryoma wasn't used to his dad being serious and he shifted uncomfortably under all their stares. “Look, nothing's wrong with me. Can I go upstairs now?”

His mom still looked concerned, but nodded anyway. “Well, alright.”

Nodding his thanks, Ryoma turned to go, but his father got in the way.

“Oh, no. I didn't say you could leave,” Nanjiroh said, blocking the way with his body. “This isn't over.”

Ryoma tried to go around, but Nanjiroh moved quickly to block him. He tried the other way and Nanjiroh moved with him. Stopping, Ryoma glared up at his father. “Get out of my way.” What was with people and blocking him today?

“Not until you're right again,” Nanjiroh said.

Not saying anything, Ryoma glared and tried to go around again. Then again. And again. Finally he'd had enough. “Oyaji! Move!”

“Are you sane again?” Nanjiroh asked, looking down at him critically.

Ryoma tilted his head up to glare. “Yes,” he said simply.

“Then play a game with me.”

“No.” At this point it was really just to not give his father what he wanted. The principle of the thing, you know?

“Then you're not sane. And I'm not moving.”

“Oh really, Nanjiroh,” his mother said, exasperated “Just let him go.”

Ryoma waited to see if his dad would listen to his mom.

Nanjiroh turned to give his wife a look. “You stay out of this, Rinko. This is between men.”

Apparently he wouldn't.

So he would have to get around himself. “Oyaji!” Ryma said irritably and tried to push his father bodily out of the way. It didn't work and his dad laughed at him.

“Heh heh, seishounen,” Nanjroh laughed annoyingly and then, just to annoy him, tried to advise him. “Put some muscle into it.”

Irritated, Ryoma tried harder, but his dad was a solid block of muscle. Why was he so weak?

“No. More. More.” Nanjiroh laughed again. “You're too weak. My poor, weak, no talent, son. I'm almost ashamed. When I was your age I could move . . .” and he proceeded to go into long exhausting detail about some time when he was younger and camping. There was a bear involved. Ryoma doubted it was actually physically possible so his dad was just making stuff up again.

He finally couldn't take the idiocy anymore and cut in irritably, “Oyaji!”

His father broke off from his ramblings, looking a little lost. He'd apparently been really into the story. “What?

Ryoma opened his mouth to reply and, to his eternal shame, instead started singing. “You say I should do it differently. I don't necessarily agree. Stand up! Sit down! Be nice! Did you hear me ask for your advice?”

His father looked a little confused and shocked, no doubt having expected something different and obviously wondering what the hell his son was doing singing all of a sudden.

And Ryoma couldn't stop himself from continuing. “Don't bother trying to tell me your beliefs. Your point of view is pretty screwed to me. Do this! Do that! On track! Do me a favor and don't talk back.”

Ryoma tried to keep himself from continuing, his mind screaming and pounding against its cage. He could not do this here. Anywhere but here. Anywhere. In the middle of the street at rush hour just not here.

But no. Visibly frustrated, he continued. “Round and round and the conversation always ends where it began. Round and round and I need a vacation. I've got a headache from yo-ou. Shut up!” he almost yelled, hands making fists. “Don't want to hear your voice. Shut up! I'm sick of all the noise. There's nothing you can say to me so get away from me. Shut up!”

Ryoma could feel his body begin to move against his will. “Blah blah, blah blah, blah blah, blah blah, blah blah,” he sang, hand making the talking motions, which he would normally never do. He probably looked like an idiot. “That's what it sounds like you said to me. You nag and you brag and I gag. There's so much beauty in what we have,” voice dripping sarcasm. At least this song wasn't as sappy as his other one. That was one relief, but it was hardly enough.

By now an amused smile had broken through his dad's confusion and you could see the jokes already lining up in his brain. And, just to make things worse, Ryoma could feel the weight of his mother's and cousin's stares at his back.

But Ryoma took a breath and started singing again. “You must have better things that you could do. Or does your life revolve around me too? What you want, what I need, oh please! I think you get off hearing yourself speak.”

His dad looked like he might say something but Ryoma thankfully continued to sing before he could get the words out of his mouth. “Round and round and the conversation always ends where it began. Round and round and I need a vacation. I've got a headache from yo-ou. Shut up!” he almost yelled. “Don't want to hear your voice. Shut up! I'm sick of all the noise. There's nothing you can say to me so get away from me.”

Ryoma could actually feel the song coming to a close, which he was almost stupidly thankful for, and he prepared himself to run. “Shut up!” he almost yelled. “Don't want to be polite. It's messed up, how you always think you're right. There's nothing you can say that's gonna change the way I am. Shut up!” (1) Ryoma shouted that last bit and then ran from the room, not waiting for his parent's and cousin's reactions. They wouldn't be good anyways. Running up the stairs, he got to his room and slammed the door.

But Ryoma could still hear his dad's laughter all the way up in his bedroom and his face burned. Did that really have to happen right then? Really? Why couldn't it have happened when he was in his room and away from where other people could hear?

Ryoma collapsed on his bed, falling back and covering his face with his hands. He would never live that down. He was going to be hearing about that until he was old and grey. His dad would probably tell his children so that they could make fun of him too.

Ryoma let his hands drop and he stared up at his ceiling. He was never coming out of this room again.

 

 

Entering his room, Kaidoh sighed and sat down wearily on his bed. He'd sung again today and the song he'd sung hadn't made him any more comfortable with what these songs were making him realize.

Because really. “I don't feel like loving you today?” Did he really feel that? Had things really gotten that bad? He hadn't thought they had. Hadn't he just been excited about their anniversary?

Of course then Inui had to go and say they wouldn't be celebrating it. Kaidoh guessed it wasn't the end of the world that they put off the celebration until the end of this singing thing, but it just reminded him of the time that Inui had missed his birthday to work on some project. He'd apologized and gotten him a great gift but it had been the principle of the thing. You don't miss your boyfriend's birthday just to work on some new and disgusting juice creation.

Plus it had made him realize just how many dates they had been forced to cancel because Inui had been too caught up in his work. They could go whole months without once seeing each other outside of tennis. Last night had been the first night in a long time that they hadn't been focusing on training and instead they had ended up fighting.

Kaidoh was just sick of being ignored. Inui wouldn't even listen to him anymore. It was like the words that came out of his mouth were meaningless sounds. He bet Inui had probably already written off his latest song as some strange delusion or something. He certainly hadn't approached him about it yet. Had actually avoided him. Which usually meant Inui was confused and Kaidoh was being studied, but he wasn't sure this time.

And right now Inui was probably hard at work on the antidote, oblivious to everything. For such a smart guy, he could be such an idiot.

But what was he going to do about it?

Thinking this through, Kaidoh sighed and sat back “I guess he's working late again,” he sang musingly. “I don't need to wonder where he is. But IIIII do-o. He oughta know that by nooow.”

Oh shit, Kaifdoh thought, realizing he was starting to sing. He sat up and tried to close his mouth, but it didn't work. Instead his mouth opened against his will and he continued, “I know his work takes a lot of him. There's not much left for him to give. But IIIII need more. He oughta know that by nooow.”

Knowing that it wouldn't work, he gave it one last try to close his mouth. As expected, his mouth continued to move. “It's not like he's gotta read my mind to know what I'm feeling after all this time. It's just too hard to hold on to what is never around. He oughta know that by noooow.”

And, actually hearing that and not liking what it was saying, Kaidoh brought his hands into his lap and stared at them. He was in his room, which was much better than on the street or at school, so as long as none of his family came in and caught him maybe singing wouldn't be that bad. But that didn't mean he was going to listen to the words anymore. They'd already ruined his relationship with Inui enough. “He used to promise soon things would change. It's been a year and it's still the same. And that hurts. He oughta know that by nooow.”

But he couldn't stop hearing it and what the song was saying was true. But he didn't want to believe it. “I've grown so used to being alone. Couldn't be much worse if I were gone and in a waaay I am. He oughta know that by nooow.”

And, as much as he didn't want to hear it, that was true. He'd never realized it before and it hurt to realize it now. Kaidoh looked stricken, but couldn't stop himself from continuing to sing. “It's not like he's gotta read my mind to know what I'm feeling after all this time. It's just too hard to hold on to what is never around. He oughta know that by nooow.” (2)

And the song finally stopped, the music he hadn't noticed slowly fading away into the background. Kaidoh sat on his bed, struck by what the song had just made him realize.

Was he really better off alone?

He didn't want to be, but it was true. Being with Inui wasn't exactly like being together with a person. He'd been alone for months. He wasn't even all that certain that Inui even still loved him anymore. He certainly didn't show it.

And God, Kaidoh hated these songs. Why couldn't he have just continued to live in ignorance? Now he would actually have to do something.

 

 

Eiji fell on his bed, hugging his pillow to him. He was still upset about that afternoon. Oishi was so frustrating.

He didn't even want to try, which Eiji couldn't understand. Would it really be that bad?

Oishi seemed to think that hordes of people would come out of the woodwork to criticize them and demean them for liking each other. That wouldn't really happen, would it?

Eiji rolled over onto his back and thought about it. Eventually he shook his head.

No, it wouldn't, he decided.

Eiji liked to have a more optimistic view of life. Sure some people wouldn't like it, but who cared about those people? Those people were small-minded bigots. Who cared what they thought?

And sure their parents might not like that they were gay. What parent did? But if they really loved them they would get over it.

But how to convince Oishi of that?

Fuji would know.

Letting go of his pillow, Eiji sat up and went to go grab his cell phone. Running downstairs to where he had left his backpack, Eiji dug around in his backpack until he found it. Phone in hand, he quickly dialed Fuji's number from memory.

The phone rang three times before it was picked up. “Hello?” Fuji asked.

“Fuji!” Eiji exclaimed.

“Eiji!” Fuji replied, most likely mocking how enthusiastic he'd been.

“Oh, shut up,” Eiji grumbled, turning to head back up the stairs..

Fuji laughed at him.

“Fine. Maybe I won't tell you what happened with Oishi.” Eiji had told Fuji all about what had happened at the ice cream parlor and his plans to corner Oishi yesterday. Fuji had actually been the one to suggest that he corner him after tennis practice. Something about him being tired and less likely to protest.

“No, no. I'm sorry. You're just so cute. Tell me. What happened?”

Eiji sighed and went back into his room, closing the door with his foot. “Basically, Tezuka-buchou's stories have him freaked out and he doesn't want to try anything in case his parents get mad.”

“What stories would those be?” Fuji asked curiously.

“You know,” Eiji said, “the ones where Tezuka-buchou's family mistreats him because of his relationship with you.”

There was a pause. Then: “Oh.” And there was a whole lot of meaning in that one syllable.

Plopping down on his bed, Eiji started to look worried. Maybe he shouldn't have said that. “You didn't know?”

“No . . . No, I didn't.” Fuji's voice was still pleasant but there was a dangerous edge to it now. “He must have forgotten to tell me those stories.”

“Don't tell him I told you!” Eiji cried, envisioning running laps for the rest of eternity.

“Oh, I won't. I won't,” Fuji promised reassuringly, but he still sounded scary. “But don't worry. I'll make up something . . . inventive for them.”

Eiji closed his eyes and fell back on his bed. He was so going to die.

There was a pause, where Fuji was most likely imagining horrible things, then Fuji said, “But back to your problem.”

Eiji was more than happy to get back to a safe subject. “It's like he thinks people are going to attack us or something. I told him we could just keep it secret. You know, like Inui and Kaidoh? But he doesn't want to do that either! He doesn't want to do anything!” Remembering it brought back his earlier frustration. “Ugh! He's so frustrating.”

“The best one's usually are,” Fuji said and Eiji could tell he was smiling. “And, besides, who wants an easy relationship? That's so . . . uneventful.”

“Well maybe if the reason wasn't so completely stupid, I wouldn't be so angry.”

“But it does have some basis in fact,” Fuji pointed out, “So you shouldn't immediately throw it out the window.”

“I guess,” Eiji grumbled, not liking that Fuji was being so logical. He didn't like to think negatively. “But you should know how to convince him,” he said instead, “You did it to Tezuka-buchou, didn't you?”

“Ah yes,” Fuji said, most likely remembering those happy times. It had actually been really funny to watch Fuji pursue their captain. He'd always had some sort of plan and Tezuka was just so himself. It was weird. Eiji, personally, didn't understand how Fuji could think of Tezuka and sex at the same time, but Fuji seemed happy and that was really all that mattered.

Eiji pulled himself up and bounced a bit on his bed. “So what did you do?” he asked curiously.

“I wore him down. He wanted me, but wouldn't let himself because of his family values. Eventually though even the strongest man will weaken and that's when you get them.”

“I don't think I can do that. I'm not as . . .” Eiji tried to think of a nice way to describe Fuji's methods, “persistent as you.” Yeah, that would work.

“I'm sure you'll do just fine. Just corner him again tomorrow and make him talk. Make him explain his reasons to you again. Eventually you'll find the right moment.”

Eiji bit his lip, thinking about this, and then asked, “How will I know?”

“Oh, you'll know.” Fuji sounded scary. “It'll be obvious. Trust me.”

“Well, okay . . .”

 

Inui stared at his lab set. It was all set to go, but he couldn't seem to focus. His mind kept bouncing back to what Kaidoh had sung that morning. It had been with him all day, almost haunting him.

He'd stayed away from the younger boy since then, hoping to study his behavior when not with Inui to see if maybe it was something else. Maybe something else had been bothering him and it had just come out like that.

But no luck. He'd acted perfectly natural around the others. Maybe a little quieter, but that hadn't stopped Kaidoh from getting into a fight with Momo, who had suffered a 25 percent increase in irritability since Ryoma had begun avoiding him.

But if it was Inui himself that had caused Kaidoh to sing that song, then what was he doing wrong? Why would Kaidoh say something like that?

None of his data had shown that anything of this magnitude would occur. But he had to admit he had been getting lax with gathering data about Kaidoh. He was just always there and Inui had figured he would have more than enough time to gather data, that his other projects were more pressing. He had more than enough data on Kaidoh's tennis game but, as for personal data, everything he had was rather old or impersonal. Who knew how Kaidoh had changed?

Inui didn't like this. Had he really become so lax?

This would need to change.

 

 

“Shut Up” by Kelly Osbourne

“He Oughta Know That By Now” by Lee Anne Womack