Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most

By TG

Disclaimer: I don't own PoT or the title of the story.

Warnings: The usual… Probable OOC-ness, unbetaed, written in under 10 minutes.

Author's Note: Bringing this collection back like a baws. Sorry for the length... I've got a sinus infection and I can't brain today D=

Summary: Ryoma's father is a conniving bastard when he wants to be.

Theme: Crush (thanks to theheroandhisbrit on tumblr)

Enjoy!

The fuzzy yellow ball bounced past him yet again, and Ryoma had to grit his teeth to keep himself from letting his frustration show to his opponent. He knew the man on the other side of the court was over–exaggerating his excitement just to provoke a reaction from Ryoma and the younger man was not going to let it work.

Across the net, Nanjiroh quit showboating and pulled another ball out of his robes, and Ryoma shoved his thoughts to the side as he got into receiving position. His father was beating him embarrassingly quickly, and it would be obvious to him that Ryoma's mind was on something other than tennis; in fact, he hadn't even wanted to play his father, but he hadn't been given an option.

"Hey kiddo, something on your mind lately?" Nanjiroh had asked casually over breakfast –Japanese, Ryoma's favorite.

Ryoma's chopsticks froze halfway to his mouth and he did his best not to look up and meet his father's eyes. As stupid as Nanjiroh could be, he was the one person who knew Ryoma inside and out and would be able to tell he was lying when he said, "No."

"Oh, is that so." The older man took a sip of his coffee in an act of nonchalance, but it was just that –an act. "If that's the case then you won't mind having a match with me after breakfast."

Ryoma desperately looked toward his mother for help, but she wouldn't meet his eyes either. 'Please, just give me chores to do, anything,' he mentally begged, but his mother just sat at the table, smiling to herself and ignoring her son's plight.

Just when he was about to relent Nanako walked in –his last hope!

"Nanako-san, I um… I need to uh… Go shopping! Yes, I need to buy some uh new tennis shoes! In town! Could you take me?" Ryoma all but begged. His cousin blinked at him and had the decency to at least look apologetic when she told him she had to meet with a study group all day.

Hopes crushed, he turned back to his father, who was smirking at him over the newspaper.

"Sorry kiddo, but there's something bothering you and I'm going to find out."

And here he was, facing off against his father who was beating him soundly. The man had him on a string, running back and forth, forward and back, barely able to catch his breath between serves. And boy was he getting served.

"Come on, kiddo! I know you can do better than this," he taunted, firing off another powerful serve that ended up going unreturned. "Judging from your reactions, it's not school that's preoccupying you… Could it be one of your friends?"

Ryoma missed another shot.

"Momoshiro? No, not him… Could it be your buchou? Fuji?" Ryoma scowled and sent the ball flying back across the net. "Nope, not them, either, huh."

Ryoma grumbled under his breath and played through an entire service game before his father opened his yap again.

"Could it be…Tomoka? Ryuzaki? I bet you have a boner for that Ryuzaki girl!" His father said, shocking him into missing another return. Nanjiroh crowed his apparent victory, muttering stuff about how his kid was growing up into a young man and how he would make many precious babies with Ryuzaki –after they were married of course.

Ryoma just let his racquet fall to the ground and held his hands to his burning cheeks. This was too much. It wasn't until his father started going into detail about their future sex life that he finally snapped.

"BAKA OYAJI. I HAVE A CRUSH. ON ATOBE. NOT RYUZAKI."

Nanjiroh stopped mid-rant and sent him a shit-eating smirk, and Ryoma realized he had just been played.

Shit.

Author's Note: Basically written because I feel bad about going over a year without updating, and then the first thing I update is depressing. Sorry for the quality -_-; I'm actually not in the Prince of Tennis fandom anymore so it's kind of hard to get back into the swing of things. You all should follow me into the Hetalia fandom XD

TG © April 2012