Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ The Sound of Two Heads Crashing ❯ Ch. 4: Written With Love ( Chapter 4 )

Wow. I'm inspired this weekend. Again thank you for all the reviews. Thank you! And to kage-nedo: You're right. That was a little confusing. I fixed it. Hope you guys like this chapter too. I think it's a little more serious then the other ones.

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Chapter #3: Written With Love

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Echizen,

This is going to sound weird, I know. Especially since I just told you that I wasn't gay. But I was just hiding my feelings. I didn't want you to know. I didn't want anyone to know. But I can't live like that anymore. I love you. There I said it. Wrote it. Whatever. Now I just have to wait for your reaction. I hope it's good. I really do love you. I think, ever since the day I first met you, looking into your eyes I knew there was something special about you. Please don't hate me. Meet me under our tree at lunch. We need to talk.

---Momo

Ryoma stared at the note in his hand. It had fallen out of his locker when he had opened the door to get out a book, falling to the floor for him to pick up and read.

What kind of sick joke was this? Momo obviously hadn't written it. So who had?

He'd have to find out. He'd go see Momo right now.

The bell rang, signaling class was about to start.

Or later. Later was good too. He'd find out later.

Hurriedly, Ryoma shoved the note in his pocket and grabbed the book he'd been looking for, slamming his locker shut and hurrying off to class.

 

 

Momo-senpai,

I know I seem cold most of the time and I know I don't always show you that I care. But I do care. I care a lot. Maybe too much. I hadn't known it was okay to feel this way, but I've just recently learned that it's maybe not normal, but it's okay for two guys to like each other. And I know you said you weren't like that, but I wanted to tell you anyways. I love you. I'm almost positive I do. I've certainly never felt this way about anyone else. Please don't be mad. Meet me under our tree at lunch. We need to talk.

---Echizen

Stunned and confused, Momo stared at the note in his hand. He'd been opening his locker to put away a book he didn't need and this note had fallen out, fluttering down to the floor before he could catch it. Bending over, he had picked it up and turned it over to read.

This could not be Ryoma's work. He didn't think the brat was even capable loving anything other than tennis and his cat.

So who wrote this? He'd have to find out. He'd go see Ryoma right now.

The bell rang, signaling class was about to start.

But that could wait. He'd see Ryoma after class, maybe at lunch. Yeah, he'd see Ryoma at lunch.

Shoving the note in his pocket, Momo slammed his locker shut and turned to hurry off to class. The note was promptly forgotten.

 

 

Walking toward his and Momo's normal spot under the tree, Ryoma reread the note he had gotten that morning. It was in Momo's handwriting. It even sounded a little bit like the other boy. But it couldn't really be from Momo. Could it?

No.

Ryoma would show Momo the note and Momo would laugh it off. Would say it was just some weirdo with a pen and his locker number having fun with him. Momo liked girls, not guys. He'd told Ryoma that before.

But the more Ryoma read it the more he was unsure. He didn't want to be wrong and have Momo actually mean it. That would just be weird and uncomfortable. And another smaller part of him couldn't help but think, he didn't want Momo to laugh it off either. He wanted it to be true.

Ryoma promptly took that thought and threw it out the window. It had never happened.

Maybe he'd just see how Momo acted during lunch. See if he brought the subject up or not.

Yeah. That's what he'd do. He'd wait and see how things went.

“Echizen!”

Startled out of his thoughts, Ryoma looked up sharply to find that he had almost walked by their usual tree. Momo sat on the ground under the tree, waving a hand in the air and grinning.

Well he didn't look nervous.

Hastily shoving the note back in his pocket, Ryoma turned to head back in the direction of the tree.

“What's got you so distracted?” Momo asked with a grin as Ryoma sat down next to him. “You walked right by me. Is it a girl?”

Keeping his head down, Ryoma shook his head and busied himself with taking out his lunch and unwrapping it.

“Oh I know,” Momo said, nodding his head with a knowing smile, “Is it tennis? Man, that's just like you.”

Ryoma barely spared him a glare, trying to act normal but feeling strangely nervous. It was weird. He was never this nervous around Momo. What was there to be nervous about? It was Momo. He wasn't even acting all that different. Obviously the letter had just been somebody's idea of a joke.

Apparently understanding that Ryoma wasn't in a talkative mood, Momo went on to tell him all about some accident that had happened during science class. One of the beakers had blown up or something. Ryoma wasn't really paying attention. He was still trying to understand this strange nervousness and the feeling of . . . disappointment?

He was disappointed? Why?

He didn't actually want Momo to like him did he? Ryoma didn't think so but then he'd never even thought of Momo in that way. Momo was just Momo. The guy he ate with and talked with and played video games with.

No. Obviously that was just anger at whoever had played the joke on him.

Yeah. That was it. He was angry.

He'd have to find out who wrote that letter and get back at them somehow. Maybe tie them to a chair in the middle of the tennis court and practice his serve on them. That would make him feel better.

But who was it?

 

 

Watching the two boys from a tree some distance away, Eiji leaned closer to Fuji and whispered. “They're not doing anything. Did they get the letters?”

Inui nodded, adjusting his glasses. “Both received their letters at approximately 8: 13 AM, right on schedule.”

“Then why aren't they doing anything?” Eiji asked.

Kaidoh rolled his eyes and sat back against the tree, eating his lunch. Oishi looked up from his own lunch to say, “Maybe they're too embarrassed?”

Fuji shook his head, watching the two boys over by the other tree closely. “No. I don't think that's it. Inui.” Fuji turned to the other boy. “When you were watching them did you notice if they seemed to believe the letters?”

Inui nodded calmly. “Both seemed confused by the letters but like they were going to talk to the other at the soonest convenience. I do believe, though, that there is a 56 percent probability that Momo has forgotten.”

“I bet that's what happened,” Oishi said, nodding. “I mean, look. Echizen looks really uncomfortable. Maybe he's just waiting for Momo to bring the letter up himself.”

Fuji smiled. “Well if that's the case then I suppose another letter is in order, correct?”

“But wouldn't that be a little suspicious?” Eiji asked. “I mean, it would be a little weird, wouldn't it?”

Taking out a notebook and pen from his backpack, Fuji shook his head. “Not if we word it correctly.”

 

 

One hand in his pocket, Momo swung the empty container of his lunch back and forth with his other as he walked back to his locker. Ryoma had been acting weird at lunch and Momo didn't understand it, but then Momo didn't understand Ryoma a lot of the time. He swore that kid needed to come with a manual or something. Something to tell him what was okay to do and what was not okay. Obviously Momo had done something that was not okay. Now he just had to figure out what that something was.

Obviously it wasn't too bad as Ryoma had still eaten lunch with him instead of abandoning him for the roof, but that still left over a million little things that Momo could have done to upset the younger boy sometime between morning practice and lunch.

Momo hadn't even seen Ryoma between morning practice and lunch. What could he have possibly done?

Maybe one of Ryoma's classmates had said something and it wasn't actually Momo's fault?

Oh well, he'd figure it out. Either that or Ryoma would get over it. He always did.

Getting to his locker, Momo spun the lock in his combination and swung open the door. As always his locker was a mess, books crammed into it at odd angles and loose paper nearly falling out. A smaller sheet of paper came apart form the mess and floated down to the floor and Momo sighed irritably.

“Man. . .” Still he bent over to pick it up, turning it over curiously to see what it was for anyways.

Momo-senpai,

I guess you didn't get my first letter as you didn't bring it up at lunch. I couldn't bring it up myself as I wasn't sure what to say. What *could* I have said? It's hard enough writing it without having to say it aloud to someone who doesn't know. But, either way, I'm writing to you again to tell you that I love you. I really do. Can you meet me after practice? We really need to talk.

--Echizen

Momo blinked. Oh yeah. He'd gotten a letter that morning, hadn't he? And hadn't he pocketed it?

Hurriedly, Momo dug in his pockets to see if he could maybe find the letter again.

Candy wrapper? No. That girl from his English class's phone number? (What was her name again?) No. A piece of gum? No. McDonald's receipt? No.

Ah, there it was. Echizen's fake love letter. It was all crumbled up so Momo put it against the cold metal of the lockers and tried to straighten it out. Rereading it again, Momo frowned and then compared it to the letter he had just received. Both were in Ryoma's neat handwriting, but the second one didn't sound like the boy at all, never mind the fact that Ryoma would never give him a love letter to begin with.

Still . . . it would explain Ryoma's odd behavior at lunch. Maybe the brat really had sent him the letters.

Momo couldn't even finish that thought without laughing. There was just no way.

Ryoma was in love with two things: tennis and his cat, maybe Ponta coming in as a close third. Momo couldn't even begin to hope to come even close to one of those three things.

Not that Momo wanted to, Momo hurried to assure himself. He was straight after all. Very straight. He liked the ladies and the ladies liked him. Never mind the fact that he'd never actually had a girlfriend. He was busy. He definitely wasn't in love with his best friend. That would just be weird and wrong.

Momo was straight. He didn't know what he was thinking, thinking about Ryoma liking him. His brain was just going off in weird and wrong directions today. He'd never even thought about Ryoma like that. Ryoma was just his best friend, bratty and cocky and maybe a little cute but only in the very straightest sense of the word.

Momo wasn't gay. He definitely didn't want these letters to be true. He'd show them to Ryoma at practice and Ryoma would call him an idiot and everything would be back to normal.

Yeah. Everything would be back to normal.

 

 

“Look. Momo seems really uncomfortable,” Eiji whispered to Oishi, the two standing in the clubhouse before practice. “You think the second letter worked?”

Oishi frowned, watching his younger teammate. Momo kept glancing around nervously, looking for who knows what. He'd turn to get something out of his locker then suddenly stop and look over his shoulder suspiciously. “I don't know. Should he be acting that nervously?”

Eiji shrugged. He didn't know either.

Momo took off his shirt and then turned to his locker to get out the shirt he usually wore at practice. Kaidoh brushed by him and Momo nearly jumped out of his skin, whipping around to face the other boy. Finding that it was only Kaidoh, his eyes narrowed.

“Mamushi,” he said lowly.

Kaidoh, having stopped to look on in confusion as Momo freaked out, hissed at him.

Glaring at the other boy suspiciously, Momo slowly turned back to his locker to change and Kaidoh went on his way, crisis averted. And that was when Ryoma entered the room.

Walking over to his locker, three lockers down from Momo with nobody in between to block their view of the other, Ryoma threw his bag down on the bench and sat down to take off his shoes.

Seeing him, Momo froze, “Ech - Echizen,” he stuttered.

Ryoma looked up at him, large golden eyes blinking up at him curiously.

Momo had always noticed that Ryoma had nice eyes, but only in a very detached non-caring manner. Yeah. Non-caring. That's it. Momo began to laugh nervously for no apparent reason, putting a hand behind his head. “Ah heh heh heh.”

Ryoma just looked at him for a long moment then turned away, shaking his head. “Momo-senpai is weird.”

At that, Momo blinked and stopped laughing, letting his arm drop down to his side and blinking down at Ryoma dazedly. What was he thinking? He turned back to his locker.

Watching this, Eiji turned to Oishi with a raised brow as if to ask, “And what the hell was that?”

Looking clueless but worried, Oishi shrugged, just as lost as Eiji.

 

 

Later, after practice, Momo approached Ryoma.

“Hey, Echizen?” he asked, sounding almost nervous for some reason.

Having been stuffing the last of his stuff back into his locker, Ryoma turned to him questioningly. “Yeah?”

“Did you . . .” Momo started hesitantly. Rubbing the back of his neck nervously, he looked down at the ground then back up again. “Did you get any weird letters today?”

Oh. That. Getting nervous himself, Ryoma looked around the clubhouse. Everyone had already vacated the area, leaving Ryoma and Momo the only two left inside. Looking down at the ground and adjusting his cap on his head, Ryoma nodded.

Momo looked almost relieved and let out the breath he'd been holding. “So you did too? Good. I thought it was just me.”

At that, Ryoma looked up, confused. “You got one too?”

“I got two,” Momo said, “Both saying they were from you. I mean, I didn't think they actually were from you—why would you send me a love letter?—but I just wanted to check and make sure, you know? Not that I actually think you're in love with me or anything just that—”

Ryoma cut him off irritably, holding out a hand. “Can I see?”

Interrupted mid-flow, Momo wasn't the quickest in handing him the letter. “Oh, um. Sure,” Momo said, moving to his backpack and rummaging around in the pockets before finally taking out a crumpled bit of paper. “Here,” he said, handing it to Ryoma.

Snatching it out of his hands, Ryoma quickly read what he had supposedly wrote. At the end he looked disgusted. “Why would I send you something this sappy?”

“Hell if I know,” Momo said but then looked curious. “Hey. Can I see what I wrote?”

Without a word, Ryoma turned to his backpack and got out the requested note, handing it to Momo.

“Wow,” Momo said, quickly reading the letter. “This doesn't sound like me at all.”

Ryoma was starting to feel a little foolish for even half-believing the letter, but he couldn't let Momo think that he'd believed it either. “Neither do these,” he said, waving Momo's letters in the air.

“Who do you think sent them?” Momo asked curiously.

Ryoma shrugged.

“Actually, no,” Momo said, a thought coming, “I think I wanna know why they sent them more.”

Ryoma shrugged again. “Does it matter?” he asked, walking over to throw the letters he held in the trash.

It was weird but Momo was almost sad to see them go, but he still followed Ryoma's example and threw the letter he had in the trash. “Don't you want to know who's crazy enough to think we should be together?”

Walking back to pick up his backpack, getting ready to go, Ryoma stopped, blinking over at Momo in confusion. “Somebody thinks we should be together?”

Raising a brow, Momo looked at him like he was stupid. “Um. Remember the notes? You only threw them away like ten seconds ago. Don't tell me you've forgotten them already.”

That made Ryoma irritated and he glared at Momo. “No. I remember the notes. I just don't see how that automatically means somebody is out to stick us together.”

“Well why else would somebody write them?” Momo said.

Now it was Ryoma's turn to look at Momo as if he were stupid. “A joke?”

Momo frowned. “That would be going through a lot of trouble for something where he wouldn't even be able to see the results.”

“Unless they're spying on us,” Ryoma said quietly, just then realizing that somebody could be watching. Momo and Ryoma looked at each other and in silent agreement the two of them turned in the direction of the door. Slowly, Momo reached out for the knob on the door, slowly turning it only to pause at the last second and throw the door open wide.

Nobody was there. He quickly poked his head out and looked around, but still nobody was there. Huh.

He turned back to Ryoma and shrugged. “I guess we were just being paranoid.”

 

 

“Kikumaru-senpai, you're stepping on me.”

“Fuji, get your elbow out of my face.”

“Inui. Oh, oh. Ow. Ow. Stop moving.”

“Kaidoh. I can't move. Move back a bit.”

“Shh! They might hear!”

“No seriously, Inui. Ow. Stop moving!”

“Be quiet!” Fuji hissed and pressed back further.

“Ow! Please stop that!” Oishi complained.

Eiji, Oishi, Fuji, Kaidoh, and Inui were all scrunched up the best they could be in the small space provided between the clubhouse and the bleachers. They'd been listening to Momo and Ryoma's conversation at the door when they had heard the conversation go in a bad direction and had all rushed to hide.

“Is he gone? Eiji asked, squeezed somewhere between Oishi's back and Kaidoh's knee.

Fuji leaned out to check. “Yes. He's gone.”

The sighed in relieved and slowly started extricating themselves from their hiding spot.

“That was close,” Oishi said, straightening out his clothes.

“Yes. Too close,” Inui said, adjusting his glasses on his face. They'd gotten screwed up somewhere in the pile.

“And they're still not together!” Eiji complained. “And I thought this one was working too! Momo was acting all weird.”

Fuji, meanwhile, was obviously feeling frustrated. “They will be together,” he said, looking scary. He turned back to look at his helpers. “We just have to try harder.”

Oishi almost looked hesitant to ask, but someone had to. “Do you have another plan?”

Fuji nodded seriously.

“What is it?” Oishi asked, still looking hesitant.

Fuji told them and Oishi had to blink. Kaidoh looked unsure and Inui looked blank, but Eiji looked almost impressed. “Wow. That's really desperate.”