Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ The Band-Aid ❯ 1 ( Chapter 1 )

 

Title: The Baind-Aid

Author: Hex

Pairing: Golden Pair

Rating: PG

Warnings: Cute and Sappy.

Summary: Eiji always wears a Band-Aid to cover something.

 

~#~#~#~ Indicates flashback

 

“Eiji-senpai is weird."

 

“Horio!" Katsuo hissed. Eiji muffled his snickers with his hands. The freshmen were clearing balls from the court and chitchatting as they went. Eiji had already cooled down, just relaxing until he was sure that Momo and Ryoma had left. He refused to buy them burgers again. Eiji was also of the opinion that eavesdropping on the freshmen while they were talking about him would be far more entertaining.

 

“But it's weird. He wears a Band-Aid on his cheek all the time. It's not normal," Horio muttered.

 

"He's not weird." Katsuo sounded down right defensive. Eiji decided he would affectionately pat him on the head later. And maybe muss up his hair, because it certainly needed to be mussed.

 

"But why does he wear the Band-Aid all the time?" Horio muttered. Eiji couldn't help but notice that Horio was picking up one ball to Katsuo's three. If Tezuka caught him slacking he would be in a lot of trouble. "Maybe he cuts himself shaving."

 

Eiji tried not to snicker too loudly at that. He stroked his chin and tried to imagine himself with facial hair. It just didn't seem right.

 

"In the same place every time?" Kachiro asked.

 

"Kachiro!" Katsuo snapped and glared at his two friends. Both looked completely cowed.

 

"Well, it's true. It /is/ a little weird," Kachiro mumbled.

 

The freshmen continued to squabble amongst themselves, but Eiji had stopped really paying attention. He was gently smoothing down the Band-Aid he always wore on his face. He knew it was strange but the Band-Aid covered something important. It had since his first year in the Seigaku tennis club.

 

When he thought about it now, it seemed so silly. But feeling silly was something that Eiji was used to. At the time, he had just been curious. He wasn't like Oishi; he couldn't understand something simply by reading it in a book. He needed to experiment and actually attempt things to make a concept solid and valid in his mind.

 

For that reason, one after noon when Oishi had come over after tennis practice, Eiji had asked his friend about kissing. Oishi had looked absolutely horrified.

 

~#~#~#~#~

 

"Why?"

 

Eiji blinked at the way Oishi's voice squeaked and tried his best not to laugh at his friend's expression. Oishi looked almost… traumatized.

 

"Because I want to know what everyone is going on and on and on about. It's not fair. All the regulars keep talking about it ever since senpai started dating that girl from Hyotei," Eiji pursed his lips and drew patterns on his bed spread. "I've been kissed lots of times, by my aunts and cousins and stuff. I don't understand why everybody is acting so weird about it now."

 

When Eiji looked up he was shocked. Oishi looked /smug/. Eiji thought he knew Oishi fairly well, so he was surprised to see that expression on his friend's face. It was still one of Eiji's fondest memories. It wasn't everyday he got to see Oishi looking superior.

 

"It's not that kind of kissing that they're talking about." Oishi sounded so put upon that Eiji had to frown at him. "It's more like the kissing in the movies. You know, when people kiss on the mouth and stick their tongues inside."

 

Eiji felt his face contort at the idea.

 

"That's so gross!" Eiji flailed his hands in front of his face and smacked his lips repeatedly. "I mean, having your own spit in your mouth is one thing, but wanting somebody else's spit in your mouth is - EW!"

 

Eiji was shaken from his fit when Oishi coughed. A bright red blush was on his cheeks and his hand was hovering in front of his mouth.

 

"You thought about it?" Eiji asked, completely thunder struck. "And you thought it would be a good thing?" Eiji flailed his arms over his head. "I'm grossed out for you!"

 

"Why don't you kiss someone /before/ you say it's gross?" Oishi demanded.

 

Eiji fidgeted where he sat.

 

"It would still be gross." Eiji maintained and drew himself up to sit straight on his bed. This way he could look Oishi straight in the eye.

 

"How would you know? You've never kissed anybody." Oishi huffed.

 

Eiji bowed his head in a sullen fashion and stared at his comforter. He looked through his bangs at Oishi's annoyed face.

 

"Gross."

 

"I dare you!" Eiji's head snapped up as Oishi's eyes became round. He couldn't seem to believe what he had said.

 

"What?" Eiji sputtered.

 

"I d-dare you to kiss someone. Then you can say it's gross." Oishi's cheeks and ears were red. He looked somewhere between embarrassed and angry.

 

"Fine. I will. You kiss me and prove it's not gross." Eiji challenged. He was so surprised that Oishi had dared him. Oishi didn't dare /anyone/ to do /anything/, /ever/. Oishi just didn't /dare/.

 

"Fine. I will."

 

Eiji and Oishi stared at each other for a few minutes from opposite ends of the bed; neither of them ready to make that first, decisive move. Eiji soon lost his patience and wiggled in place, eager to have the gross event over with as soon as he could. Oishi's face was no longer red; it was a sickly sort of white. They scooted their way to the middle of bed. They sat cross-legged and faced each other. Their knees brushed and they look at each other through their lashes.

 

Oishi shut his eyes and pursed his lips before leaning forward. Eiji honestly thought that the pained look on Oishi's face was enough to let him know that kissing was going to be /awful/. Eiji was determined to prove to Oishi that kissing was gross, he held his ground. That was when his mother called him.

 

Eiji quickly turned his head in the direction of his bedroom door. He was treated to the unique sensation of Oishi's lips sliding on his cheek. It did feel slightly different than when his sister or aunt kissed him, but Eiji was not fully prepared to admit that to Oishi. Oishi's lips had been soft and /not/ slobbery in the least. Eiji gave Oishi a fierce pout.

 

"You missed." Oishi looked a little surprised, then annoyed.

 

"You /moved/"

 

They both glared at each other. Eiji was annoyed that he hadn't been able to prove Oishi wrong. He was sure that Oishi felt the same way. Eiji's mother broke up the staring contest and thrust the simmering animosity aside with the announcement that Oishi's parents had arrived to take him home. Oishi left without really saying goodbye.

 

* * * * * * * * * * *

 

The following day things at practice were awkward. Oishi acted somewhere between hostile and sad whenever they spoke. Eiji was annoyed because he just didn't understand what was bothering Oishi. It had been a stupid fight anyway and Oishi was usually the one to point out things like that first. Eiji finally lost his patience enough to say it /was/ stupid. Oishi hadn't really given any kind of response.

 

Eiji loitered around the tennis courts after practice. He wasn't used to being the one that called the truce. The concession wouldn't have been so bad if Oishi had accepted it, but he hadn't. Eiji stared at the courts while sitting on the bench, swinging his feet.

 

It was probably because he was alone, and sitting still and looking sullen that the team captain sat down on the bench and stretched out his legs in front of him, lounging in the cool fashion of the older students. Yamato gently rested his hand on top of Eiji's head.

 

Eiji confessed everything immediately and without really thinking about it. Their team captain, even if he was older, a little bit cryptic and odd, was a surprisingly easy person to talk to. Eiji glared at the ground and swung his legs as hard and as fast as he could. The sun was setting and everything was turning a faint pink. Yamato gently scratched his scalp a bit, the way Eiji liked to pet cats, before he stood.

 

“Well, I suppose it's official then."

 

"Huh?" Eiji asked, squinting as he looked up at his back lit captain.

 

"It's officially your first fight as a pair."

 

Eiji looked to the ground. He felt like the lightness that had accompanied telling Yamato his troubles was gone. His shoulders felt heavy again. Yamato put his hand on Eiji's shoulder.

 

"No matter what happens after, the first is /always/ the first and can't be easily forgotten. Firsts are very important and memorable."

 

With that Yamato left. Eiji imagined that he could see swirls of ambiguity following in his wake.

 

* * * * * * * * * * *

 

At home and after his bath, Eiji brushed his teeth. After rinsing, spitting and putting his toothbrush away in its place, Eiji decided to fully consider what Yamato had said.

 

"I guess yesterday /was/ my first kiss. Firsts are important and /everyone/ talks about how special your first kiss is supposed to be." Eiji pursed his lips at the mirror. "I guess that was why Oishi was so weird and mad." Eiji filled his cheek with air and examined the space that Oishi had kissed in the mirror. "At least it wasn't gross. But that was probably because it was Oishi. And I'm never ever telling him that."

 

Eiji leaned in until his nose was barely an inch from the mirror. He touched his tongue to his upper lip and carefully pealed the Band-Aid from his nose.

 

Pressing his index finger to the tip of his nose, Eiji flattened it out. It stretched the skin causing the faint line to show up as bright white slash across the pink of his nose. Eiji had originally started wearing a Band-Aid to cover up stitches and the scar they left behind. It had been the result of his elementary school days, when he had been in gymnastics and had face planted while playing on the uneven bars. The scar was faded and old now, a barely there white line. Occasionally his mother would tell him that he didn't need the Band-Aid any more. No one could see the scar unless they knew what they were looking for. Eiji had not been so easily convinced.

 

Eiji stared at his scar for several minutes and then really thought about it for several more before he threw the Band-Aid in the garbage. Eiji took a fresh Band-Aid and instead of smoothing it down over his nose, he carefully pressed it to his cheek. He ran his thumb carefully over the stretch that he thought Oishi had kissed. Eiji examined the result in the mirror. He didn't doubt that everyone would wonder why the Band-Aid would move. He decided they would have to wonder, he wasn't the type of person to kiss and tell.

 

~#~#~#~#~#~#~

 

Eiji smoothed his thumb down the Band-Aid again. He blinked rapidly when he realized the freshmen were gone and he was sitting completely alone outside the tennis courts petting his own face. Oishi had never really said anything about the Band-Aid in the past two years. Eiji decided he was sick of it. He bounced up from where he had been spying and jogged to the club changing room. Oishi still had to lock up. Eiji grinned madly to himself. He had plans to make his first kiss stop being his /only/ kiss.

 

~End~