Chapter Text
There were two things in life that Takeshi Momoshiro wanted. The first he’d gotten at an early age, when he’d begun to play tennis competitively. The second – well, the second had eluded him. He’d wanted it since he was thirteen years old, and here he was in his second year of college and he still didn’t have it.
The second thing that Momoshiro wanted was Echizen Ryoma. He’d known that there was something between himself and the serious-faced little prodigy from the first moment that their eyes had locked. An understanding had passed between them, an acknowledgement of a strange sort of bond between the two that had manifested in a deep friendship. But Momo had wanted more than friendship from Echizen for a long time. Ever since he first started to have sexual urges and realized that he preferred boys to girls, in fact.
He would have liked Ryo to be his first lover, but that wasn’t in the cards. Echizen remained indifferent to the whole concept of sex all through their junior high and high school years together. Hell, he didn’t even seem to notice that most of the rest of the world existed. They were there only as his potential opponents, nothing else. Momo had lost his virginity with another junior during high school, and he’d had a few one time sexual encounters since then. But much to his dismay, he discovered that sleeping with other people made him feel that he was somehow cheating on Echizen, despite the fact that the serious boy with the bronze-gold eyes had never shown any interest in his best friend in a sexual way. It was absolutely frustrating, and Momo had finally given up on the whole thing altogether. While he wasn’t pleased about being celibate, it was still better than feeling bad about having sex with people who weren’t Ryoma.
Still, he held onto hope. He seemed to be one of the few people that Echizen actually SAW; he had never looked through Momo in that way he had, as though he were transparent. And he enjoyed their close friendship, even as he was sometimes driven crazy by his beloved friend’s cluelessness. Perhaps, one day, when Echizen finally began to take an interest in sex, he’d start to feel about Momo the way that Momo felt about him. It was a hope that Momo had clung to for all of these years. He refused to believe that his cause was hopeless.
Because he was a year older than Ryoma, he’d started his first year of high school without him. That had been bad enough; at least he got to see Echizen after school, when they would meet to play against each other at the municipal courts or on the make-shift street court. And Ryo would come over to Momo’s house afterward, so that they could study together. But Momo’s first year of college had been pure hell. He only got to see Echizen on weekends sometimes when he went home to visit his parents, and he talked to him on the phone occasionally. These conversations weren’t exactly scintillating; Ryoma was at best a terrible conversationalist. This didn’t bother Momo when they were together in person. Echizen’s silences were full of meaning. But over the phone it was a total wash, and so he restricted himself to only calling his friend once in awhile. While he wasn’t exactly lonely, as he was attending a college with all of the other Seigaku Regulars because it had the best tennis program in the country, he still missed his little friend intensely.
But joy of joys – he was starting his second year this week, and Echizen was enrolled as a first year. He’d been rather disgruntled about the whole thing – his dad had put his foot down and told his son in no uncertain terms that he was going to attend college before he turned pro. Momo could have kissed the perverted monk when Echizen revealed this fact to him.
Perhaps he’d finally get his wish. Echizen was eighteen now, and had finally put on some height. He was as tall as Fuji, which wasn’t very tall but was miles above how short he’d been when Momo first met him. And he’d filled out a bit, too. His shoulders were broader than they used to be, and he looked more like an adult than a little kid. Just the sight of him made his old friend salivate silently. Surely Echizen not only looked like a young adult, but was also starting to feel adult urges?
Alas for poor Momo, Echizen seemed as oblivious as ever of everything that wasn’t tennis. While Momo was blissfully happy to be around his friend once more, he was also being driven slowly and steadily crazy. Everything that Ryo did was a turn on for him. Even the way he held his racket. Watching him play had become a kind of torture, because he moved with such cat-like grace and power. Momo imagined that that was how he’d be in bed, as well. He was losing his good nature, as his frustration mounted higher and higher.
He was sitting on a bench in the locker room one day, a few weeks after school had started, moping dispiritedly. It didn’t help that the Golden Pair were billing and cooing together a few feet away, happily oblivious of anyone else in the room. They were utterly sweet together, but Momo could have done without seeing them just now. Watching a happy couple only made him feel more lonely and depressed.
“Momo-chan! Why the long face?” a voice sang above his head. He looked up to see Fuji standing next to the bench, beaming down at him in that somewhat eerie way that he had. Momo tried to conjure up a smile, with only limited results.
“It’s nothing, Fuji-senpai. I’m just not feeling well, is all,” he lied. He wasn’t about to admit the truth to Fuji, who sometimes seemed more than a tad crazy.
“Mmm-hmmm. Let me guess – you’re ‘sick’ of being ignored by a certain delightful little freshman, aren’t you?” Fuji said. Momo gaped at him. Fuji only smiled wider, tilting his head a little in a pleased way at having scored a hit.
“How did you know…?" began Momo, then realized just how much he’d admitted and shut his mouth.
“Oh, please. A blind man could see the way you look at him. And our dear Ochibi is many things, but discerning about sex and attraction is not one of them.”
Momo sighed, his shoulders slumping. Fuji had hit the problem right on the head with his usual perceptiveness. It just made him feel worse to have someone else point it out to him. Fuji patted his shoulder comfortingly, a move that made Momo jump in shock. “Don’t feel so bad, Momo-chan. You’re not the only one with a problem,” Fuji said. Something in his voice made Momo look up into Fuji’s face enquiringly. But as usual, he couldn’t read what the prodigy was thinking at all.
“Actually, perhaps there’s a way to kill two birds with one stone. Maybe we could help each other out.” Fuji said thoughtfully.
“Huh? How?" Momo asked, puzzled.
Fuji sat down on the bench next to Momo, a little too close for the purple-eyed boy’s comfort. “Well, it’s like this,” he began. “I believe that both of our problems could be solved if we become lovers.”
Momo gaped at him. He felt a spurt of fear at the smile of Fuji’s face, and he prepared to bolt out of the locker room as fast as his feet could carry him.
Fuji burst out laughing at the look on his face. “I’m sorry, Momo-chan!” he gasped, waving a hand in the air as he fought for breath. “I just couldn’t help myself!” he went off into another bout of laughter, holding his sides. Momo didn’t know whether to feel relieved or put out that Fuji was making fun of him.
When he finally recovered, Fuji said: “Actually, my plan is pretty close to what I just said. Only, instead of actually becoming lovers, I propose that we PRETEND to be lovers.”
“How is that going to help?!” blurted out Momo, wondering internally what kind of twilight zone he’d wandered into.
Fuji cocked his head as he smiled most wickedly at a confused Momo. “My plan involves making two parties jealous,” he said happily. “Echizen and Tezuka. And even if it only works for one, at least one of our problems will be solved.”
“Tezuka?” Momo said, furrowing his brows. “What’s he got to do with this?”
Fuji sighed and shook his head at Momo’s naiveté. “Silly boy, we’ve been lovers for years. Didn’t you know?”
Momo’s jaw dropped nearly to the floor. “No!” he yelped, stunned.
“Be that as it may, we’ve been together since our senior year in high school. But lately he’s been taking me for granted. I know that part of it is that this is our senior year and he has a huge load of schoolwork. But whenever I make time to be with him, he’s always so busy or distracted that I might as well not be in the room. And we haven’t…” he stopped, and made an eloquent gesture with one slender hand. “You know…for over a month. I’m almost as frustrated as you, Momo-chan. And there is no way that I’m going to take this lying down. If he thinks that I’m going to go for the rest of the year without getting laid, he is seriously defective. This plan of mine will either work, and put his attention back on me where it belongs, or it won’t, and it will tell me that I’m just wasting my time on him. Either way, I’ll have some resolution.”
“But how will this help me where Echizen’s concerned?” asked Momo.
“Hmm. Well, by making him aware that you like guys and that you’ve been taken by somebody else, it might start the wheels in his little head spinning. Get him started thinking about things. If not, you haven’t lost anything, since I don’t predict that there’s any other way that he’ll start paying attention to you in the near future.”
Momo nearly groaned aloud. While Fuji’s plan seemed insane, he had a valid point. Ryoma showed no signs of becoming aware of him as more than just a friend, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could stand this situation as it stood. So maybe he should just give Fuji’s crazy plan a try, because what could it hurt? You, a voice whispered in the back of his head, because Tezuka might skin you alive. But he tried to ignore that little voice of reason because he was that desperate.
“So what’ll we do?" he asked.
Fuji beamed to see that Momo had decided to go along with his plan. “We’ll stage a very public display of affection, right out where everybody – and by everybody I mean Tezuka and Echizen – can see it. I hope you don’t mind kissing me, Momo-chan. I assure you that you’ll have a good time.”
Momo gulped in horror at the thought of making out with Fuji, especially in a public place. But certain parts of him much lower that his brain were yelling at him to do SOMETHING before they withered and fell off from lack of use. He gathered all of his courage and nodded.
“Excellent,” Fuji remarked. “I’ll pick a time and place, and let you know before hand. You won’t regret this, Momo-chan,” he got up and strolled away, leaving Momo sitting on the bench sweating. 'Won’t regret it?' He thought wildly. 'I already regret it, and I haven’t done anything yet!'