Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis nor do I own the characters used in this story. I do not own Facebook or any other companies mentioned in this story.
Warning: Fluff, very light language, sexual jokes.
Note: I know Facebook chat isn't set up like how I do it, but it's easier for the story.
Note II: This takes place right after Tachibana re-did the tennis club, so Kamio and Ann aren't that good of friends.
C r u s h
Ann tapped her pink mechanical pencil on her notebook, pretending to be listening to her math teacher. Her blazer hide the white wire that ran from the ipod in her pocket, her hair covering the headphones in her ears.
She glanced up, looking around Kamio's red hair to see the board. It was something about diving polynomials. Boring, she decided without a second thought. She rested her chin in her palm, her eyes drifting from the board to the back of Kamio's head.
She smiled softly to herself and stopped tapping her pencil. Pushing the lead back in, she twirled the pencil in her fingers a few times before poking the tip into Kamio's shoulder blade. He rolled his shoulders, and Ann had to fight the urge to giggle.
Another poke, and this time he turned around. However, he only saw Ann doodling a small smiley at the top of her empty notes. Confused, Kamio turned back around. Ann moved the palm her chin was resting in over her mouth to keep everyone around her from seeing her huge smile.
.
Kamio stared out the window in history, listening to his teacher go on about something completely unrelated to WWI. The teacher had the same routine – warm-up, any questions on the homework?, collect the homework, notes, assign homework, questions?, end of class. It was easy to be bored.
He stopped staring out the window, his eyes drifting to the opposite of the room. He caught her staring, and when she realized she was caught, she looked away. He watched for a second, wondering if she had looked at him by mistake. She looked again a second later, and this time Kamio smiled. She smiled back, and then looked away before he could see her blush.
That was no mistake.
.
Ann was lying on her stomach on her bed, her sky blue laptop opened and lightening up her dark room. It was late, too late to be up on a school night, but it was the only time she had to catch up with friends. She scrolled over the names in chat, mumbling things like "whore" "slut" "cute" "boring." When she reached Kamio's name and saw a green circle, she stared at the screen.
Should she? What would that mean? She never talks to him, really. Would it be weird to chat him on facebook like he's an old friend? It's not that weird…
She clicked his name.
Ann: do you know the math homework?
She bit her lip, waiting. Would he type something back? Probably not. He probably doesn't even know she exists. She minimized the chat, scrolling through the news feed. A minute later, she jumped ten feet into the air when she heard a familiar pop. She looked at the bottom of the screen and saw Kamio's block highlighted blue, a red block with the number three above it.
Kamio: srry, I had to get my notes.
Kamio: pg 242 # 4 – 134
Kamio: I meant # 4 – 34 haha
She smiled. Then her mind went blank. What did she say now? She knew the math homework; she had done it the second she got home.
Ann: thanks! I thought I was screwed for a second!
Kamio: no problem
Kamio Akira is offline.
.
Ann sighed, holding her homework next to Kamio's shoulder so he could pass it forward. When he didn't grab it, she tapped his shoulder with her papers lightly, and he turned around.
"Sorry," he mumbled, grabbing her papers.
"It's okay," she mumbled back, pulling her hand back. He turned his head back around, and Ann began her ritual of tapping her pencil on her notebook.
Ann sighed again, discreetly reaching into her skirt's pocket to turn on her ipod. They were dividing polynomials again. Bored out of her mind, she began to doodle. She was drawing a jack-in-the-box, only instead of a clown it was a tennis ball that jumped out.
Then papers came into view.
"Hey," Kamio said, still waving the papers in her face. "Take yours."
Ann took the paper, setting it on her desk. "Sorry."
"It's okay." He smiled.
It was just a smile. Guys can smile and not have it mean something more, right? Or was that just a misconception by girls? Did guys smile at girls a lot? Of course they did. Guys flirt. A smile is nothing special.
.
"Any questions on the homework?"
The boy in front of Ann raised his hand. She rolled her eyes. It was book work. The answers were all in the text. Despite that, half the class didn't read and just asked questions. Ann actually read, which is why she never had to ask stupid questions, like who was president of the United States when WWI started.
The teacher called on the boy, and the whole class looked at him, including Kamio. Ann stared down at her desk as if her life depended on it. She knew the class was looking at the boy, not her, but she still felt like everyone was staring at her. She glanced up a second, and she could have sworn that Kamio was looking at her, not the idiot in front of her.
.
Ann was sitting at her desk for a change, looking up an English word that wasn't in the glossary. After she found the word and wrote it down a flower sticky note, she absentmindedly opened up facebook, her pointer going straight for chat. Kamio was online.
Ann: do you know the English homework?
Kamio: there was English homework?
Ann wanted to slam her head against the keyboard, to tell him that yes, they had English homework.
Ann: guess we don't have any
Kamio: haha you scared me
Kamio: g2g
Kamio Akira is offline.
Ann sighed. Now she was going to get a zero for her homework because she couldn't suddenly remember that they had any. Perfect. Just perfect.
.
"New lab partners," their psychics teacher announced.
Half the class groaned, standing up from their lab tables and moving to the outer rim of the room. The other half didn't say a word, picking up their bags and moving to the outer rim. Ann had just gotten her previous lab partners to call her 'Ann' not 'Kippei's-younger-sister' and she was not looking forward to having a new partner.
Ann watched as her teacher called off name, moving from table to table. Ann tried to figure out how the teacher was doing the seats. It wasn't alphabetical, it wasn't by grade, it was completely random.
"Tachibana Ann, Kamio Akira."
Ann grabbed her bag strap tight and gently pushed the people aside who were in her way. She set her bag on the black surface, holding her skirt down before she sat on the stool. A second later, Kamio sat next to her.
"I hate this class, just so you know," he said. "I sleep most of the time."
She didn't know what to say, so she said nothing.
.
Ann was standing outside the tennis locker-room, waiting for her brother to hurry up. He came out laughing with Kamio and Shinji. Ann's body went numb as the three walked over to them, each boy smiling. (Well, Shinji got as close to smiling as he ever would.) She must have looked like an idiot because Kippei asked if anything was wrong.
"Uh? Oh. I'm fine," she said, pulling her English textbook against her flat chest.
"I'll see you two tomorrow," Kippei said, giving one last wave to Kamio and Shinji.
And then the siblings left.
Ann looked over her shoulder and saw Kamio and Shinji laughing. He closed his eyes and slapped his knee when he laughed. It was pure, true. When Kamio stopped laughing, his eyes caught hers. He waved. She smiled.
.
They had English class in the library to study English authors. The students were filtered throughout the small library, most of them going to the computer to find books. Ann, who was apparently the only one of them with common sense, went to the English section.
She went to grab a thin, red book on William Shakespeare, but someone else's hand was a bit faster, grabbing it the second before she could.
"Hey, I need –"
She stopped herself when she realized it was Kamio who had taken the book.
He tapped her gently on the head with the book. "We'll share."
Ann wanted to die when Kamio walked over to a table and sat down, pulling a chair out for her. She hesitated for a moment, and then he gave her a look. The look seemed cold with his narrowed eyes and pressed lips, but Ann melted on the inside.
She sat next to him, leaning close to him to read the pages. He smelled like cherries.
.
Ann: my bro says you're full of potential
Kamio: what?
Ann: tennis…
Kamio: oh haha sorry I didn't know what you meant
Ann: it's okay
Kamio: haha okay then
Ann: you say haha a lot
Kamio: sorry lol
Ann: ugh stop it
Kamio: no
Ann: yes
Kamio: no
Ann: stop it
Kamio: no
Ann: stop it or I'll sign off
Kamio: no
Ann thought about signing off, but when she went to click the button, she ended up typing instead.
Ann: …
Kamio: I thought u were gonna sign off
Ann: shut up
Kamio: haha ttyl
Kamio Akira is offline.
.
Poke.
Kamio turned around. Ann was working on finding the slope of the line. He drew a smiley on her paper before turning around.
.
Physics was the only class Ann took notes in. She put the lesson number at the top right, any notes on the right, underlined any vocabulary with a highlighter, and any equations or formulas on the left.
She reached for her blue highlighter, which she had pulled out earlier. After highlighting the word, she looked at Kamio – he was asleep, his head resting on crossed arms, a small drop of drool dripping out of his mouth and onto his messy notes.
She grabbed his wrist, turning up his palm.
Ann was here.
She re-capped her highlighter and went back to taking notes.
.
Ann was sitting on a cool, uncomfortable wood bench, watching the tennis regulars play practice matches. She took out her spiral from math and began to work through the equations, moving X's and Y's and all that jazz to get a simple slope equation.
She heard someone hum and looked up. Kamio was squatting in front of her, panting from the match he had just finished. He put a sweaty finger on Ann's notebook, pointing to the top equation.
"That should be negative," he said, taping his finger for emphasis.
She turned red, using her pencil to poke his finger away. He stayed squatted in front of her, a content smile on his face as she erased the whole problem.
Cute.
He stood up and walked away.
.
Their English class was in the library again. Ann was sitting with her back against a bookshelf, her legs stretched out. She had her head phones in, her ipod lying next to her. Over her music she heard someone coming, but didn't look up until she heard, "Yo."
It was Kamio.
He sat down next to her, grabbing her ipod. He rolled his thumb over the circular pad. "You like Enligsh music?" he asked, spinning through a playlist.
She shrugged. "Some of it. It helps me learn the language."
He made a sound, but Ann wasn't sure what it meant. Was he making fun of her choice of music, or was he approving of it? She began to wonder what kind of music he listened to.
He clicked a song, stood up, and then left.
Ann picked up her ipod.
"Crush" by David Archuleta.
.
Ann tapped her pencil on her history textbook, waiting for her teacher to stop talking about pineapples and start talking about the Triple Alliance. She flicked her eyes up and saw Kamio looking at her.
"Shoot me," he mounted, making a gun with his hand and putting it to his temple.
She made her own gun, closed one eye, and pretended to shot him.
They spent the rest of the class shooting each other.
.
Ann: I don't have your number
Ann turned red, immediately wishing she could pull the message back. She had decided to ask him for his cell phone number without thinking, and after she thought about it, it was a really bad idea. He probably thought she was some clingy girl. He probably –
Kamio: is that your way of asking? haha
Kamio: 443-555-4820
Ann reached for her flower shaped sticky notes, quickly writing down the number.
Kamio: g2g, text me :)
Kamio Akira is offline.
Ann closed her laptop, grabbed the sticky note she had his number on, and then jumped onto her bed. She grabbed her cell phone out of its charger, smiling at the site of her Pikachu keychain. She flipped her phone open, programmed in his number, and then thought about what to text him.
Hey.
She rolled onto her back. That was so lame.
Hey~!
She smiled.
.
"You didn't text me back," Kamio said as he sat down in front of her in math the next day.
Ann looked up from her doodle, giving him a confused look. "I didn't have anything to say."
He rolled his eyes. "I have unlimited texting, you can text me whenever – it doesn't matter what you say."
Did that mean he wanted her to text him?
Ann nodded.
.
"Can we work in the hallway?" Kamio asked their psychics teacher.
Their teacher sighed, but nodded.
Ann sat just outside the door, her back against the wall, her legs stretched out. Kamio was sitting next to her, his legs stretched out.
"How do you do number fourteen?" he asked, tapping his foot against hers.
She tapped his foot back, leaning closer to him to see what problem that was. "Oh, you just…"
Kamio zoned out. She smelled like lemons.
.
Ann was sitting on her bed, playing an innocent game of catch with her dog. She tossed an old, torn up tennis ball to the other side of the room, her chunky dog rushing after it.
Her phone buzzed.
She reached for her nightstand, flipping her phone open. Kamio.
What's up?
Her dog jumped on her bed, wagging its tail, the ball by her feet. She kicked the ball to the floor, smiling at her phone. He texted her.
Nothing. Playing with my dog. You?
Hangin w/ Shinji and some guys. They're really boring.
And I'm interesting?
Her dog jumped on the bed again, and she grabbed the ball, tossing it through her open bedroom door into the hall hard. It ricocheted off the wall, probably going downstairs.
Yeah haha
She blushed. She was interesting? She always thought she was weird. Weren't guys supposed to like girls with big boobs who cried about breaking a nail? She wasn't anything like those girls. How could she be interesting?
Don't haha me
I'll haha you if I want to
You suck
You swallow
She laughed, rolling onto her back, her tank top ridding up her stomach.
You spit
You up chuck
She rolled her eyes. Was this considered flirting?
You just chuck
You just up
Yes, this was definitely flirting.
That makes no sense
Shut up
I win
:)
She closed her phone, biting her lip. Part of her wanted him to text back, the other part was terrified that he would text back and she wouldn't know what to say again. Her brain did stupid things like, not work whenever she talked to him.
She turned off her phone. She couldn't risk sounding like an idiot.
.
Ann was walking down the hall towards her first class when she heard Kamio yell her name. She froze and turned around, smiling at the site of the red haired boy rushing towards her. His hair was a mess, papers were sticking out of his textbooks, and his bag was half unzipped.
He skidded to a stop, not even huffing – he is a speed demon, after all. "Mornin'."
"Morning," she said with a smile, taking a sip of her lemonade. Kamio frowned, eyeing the glass Snapple container in her hand. "Why were you running?" she asked.
"I overslept."
"Ah." She pressed her lips together. He was still staring at her lemonade. She sighed, handing the glass bottle to him. "It's all sugar. It'll wake you up."
He grabbed it. "I love you," he said, taking it and chugging it down.
She turned red. "Whatever, just make sure to recycle."
.
Math was boring like always, and Ann had seemed to drop her pencil tapping habit for a new habit.
Poke.
Ann frowned when Kamio didn't say anything.
Poke.
"Stop," Kamio said.
Poke.
"Ann."
Poke.
He turned around and wrote "STOP" at the top of her notes with a little smiley inside the 'O.'
.
Ann stood up and moved to the front of the class to read her paper of the economical situation during WWI. She stared down at her paper, stumbling on the words. Public speaking never had been one of her talents. Everyone was quiet, everyone was looking at her, just like a tennis match, but it was different from a tennis match. People watched the ball, not her. People were watching her. He was watching her.
When she finished, people clapped, she bowed, set her paper on the desk, and smiled as Kamio gave her a huge smile and two thumbs up.
.
Ann was lying on the bench, staring up at the blue sky. She had done her homework, she finished her book, and her ipod was dead. She figured she could take a nap, but even with her bag under her head, it wasn't comfortable. She had nothing to do, and she thought she was going to die of boredom if Kippei didn't end practice early.
"Yo."
Ann turned her head, watching as Kamio walked over to her.
She didn't bother to sit up and fix her hair. She didn't make any attempt to pull her skirt down, which was half way up her thigh. She didn't make any attempt to re-button the top of her shirt. She didn't make any attempt to be anything but herself.
"Hey," she said.
He sat on the ground around her stomach, his back to her. They just sat there for a moment, Ann's stomach doing hand stands, Kamio's heart pounding.
"You have nice legs," he commented, his throat dry.
She put an arm over her face, as if to block the sun from her eyes, but it was really to keep him from seeing her blush as she mumbled a "thank you."
.
Their English class was in the library (again). Ann was sitting on one side of the table, reading a translation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Kamio sat across from her, listening to a translation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Ann stretched out her legs, accidently tapping his foot. He grinned from ear to ear, gently kicking her foot back. She turned the page of her book, refusing to blush as she kicked him back.
"You got a boyfriend?" Kamio asked, his foot rubbing against her ankle.
This time, she did blush.
"No. Why?
"Just wond-ering," he said, his voice cracking.
She kicked his foot again, and when he looked at her, she was smiling in a teasing way.
.
"Ann," Kamio said, turning his desk around. "Let's work together."
Ann looked up from her graphic calculator. "It's three problems."
He shrugged, playing with the blue fabric cover on his math book. "The teacher said we could work in groups if we wanted. If you don't want to…" He trailed off, rolling the coarse fabric between his fingers.
"It's fine."
Kamio didn't do any work; he just doodled on her paper, drawing little hearts and smiley faces.
.
Ann was sitting on her bed with her hair in buns and her laptop in her lap. She pulled up facebook, looking at the chat boxes she never closed out of. She saw Kamio's name with a little green light and her face light up like New Year's Eve.
Ann: hey
Kamio: yes! You are online! it took you long enough!
Ann: sorry haha
Kamio: now you're hahaing
Ann: sorry
Ann: did you need something?
Kamio: nah
Kamio: just wanted to talk
.
The door bell rang.
"Ann, could you get that?" Kippei called from the kitchen.
Ann rushed to the door, yelling, "Coming!" She unlocked the door, yanking it open, her eyes going wide when she realized Kamio was standing outside.
"Yo."
"C-come in," she said, moving aside.
"Is your brother here?" he asked, moving inside. He looked her up from head to toe, biting his cheek to keep himself from smiling. She was wearing men's boxers and a camisole, her hair was a mess, and she had toothpaste on the corner of her mouth – it was adorable.
"In the kitchen," she said, closing the door before pointing towards the kitchen.
He let go of his cheek and smiled. "Thanks."
Ann rushed upstairs, tripping on her way up. She heard him laugh.
.
Kamio: which is cooler? squirrels with bazookas or a monkey in a tank?
Ann: me
Kamio: haha
.
Their English class went to the library again, and Ann was sitting in front of classic English literature with Kamio right next to her. They shared her headphones, one in each of their ears, and he picked the music.
She was too nervous to say anything. He was too worried about his voice cracking to say anything.
.
Ann and Kamio walked to practice together in the hallway, their shoulders bumping; their steps were completely in unison, their knuckles brushing together with each step.
Ann slid her hand into Kamio's. She didn't intertwine their fingers, she didn't squeeze his hand, she just let it sit there. Kamio blinked, surprised, and looked at her. She was looking the other away, but he could see her pink cheeks.
"Ann?"
"What?"
She looked at him; her face was a mix between embarrassment and a pout. Kamio just grinned and softly squeezed her hand.
"Nothin'."
.
Ann was sitting on her bed, her dog sleeping at the foot of her bed. She had her laptop in her lap and she bit her lip when a green circle appeared next to Kamio's name. She hesitated, but pressed his name.
Ann: hey
Kamio: hey
She was worried. What if he thought she liked him? She did, but what if he knew? He probably knew, she did hold his hand after all. But he held back. Maybe he was just being nice. Kamio's a nice guy, he probably –
Kamio: since we don't have school tomorrow and practice is canceled…
Kamio: wanna go get smoothies?
Ann: sure :)
Kamio: it's a date! I'll meet you Sweet Treats around 12?
Ann: k
Tachibana Ann is offline.
Ann slammed her laptop shut.
Date?
She swung her legs off her bed and rushed over to her closet.
.
Kamio checked his phone every five seconds to see the time. It was 12:02, and he was freaking out, wondering if she was coming or not. He took a deep breath, rocking back and forth on the heels of his feet.
"Hey."
He turned his head and felt his heart stop. She looked cute. Really cute. She always looked cute, but she looked cuter. Her jeans were perfect, her brown hoodie was unzipped, and she was wearing a black tank top beneath it. It was cute.
"He-ey," he said, blushing as his voice cracked.
She covered her mouth with her hand when she laughed.
He smiled despite his flaming cheeks and took her hand in his, leading her into the small shop.
.
Ann tapped her pencil on her physic notes, trying not to nod off as her teacher went on about her children. She stopped tapping her pencil when Kamio tapped her shoulder. He grabbed his pen, drawing a tic-tac-toe board on her notes.
She smiled and used a heart instead of an 'x.' He used a smiley instead of 'o.'
.
Ann: what would you do for a Klondike bar?
Kamio: nothing
Ann: nothing?
Kamio: nothing
Ann: would you wear a dress?
Kamio: no
Ann: would you kiss that weird girl with the glasses in our English class?
Kamio: no
Ann: would you kiss me?
Kamio: yeah
.
"Hey," Kamio said as he sat next to Ann in some secluded section of the library.
"Hey," she said, handing him a headphone.
He stuck the headphone in his ear. They sat there silently for awhile, Ann reading her book, Kamio playing solitaire on her ipod.
"Ann," he said suddenly.
"What?"
"Close your eyes."
Ann closed her eyes; her heart pounding in her throat. Kamio was turning his body as he leaned in closer to her. His lips were chapped and tasted like cherry chap-stick. Her lips were sticky and tasted like lemonade. It was weird and lame and awkward, but completely perfect.
He pulled his head back, giving her a lopsided grin. "You owe me a Klondike bar."
A/N: This fluffy sucker was 15 pages long.