TITLE: we are putting the world between us
FANDOM: Prince of Tennis
PAIRING: friendship!MaruiOC
SUMMARY: Of burning bridges and building new ones.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Prince of tennis.
DEDICATED TO: doroniasobi. But I call her Pororo. She's an awesome piano player, and my make-believe neighbor. Be jealous, yo.
.
She watches him all the time.
She doesn't watch him like Asumi-chan and Tsuki-chan watch him, because they watch him with adoration sparkling out of their eyes.
She watches him with glows of sadness and flickers of regret, because they could have been something quirky and cherubic and just plain hysterical.
No, not like that. Not fireworks or wedding bells. She means that they could have been an awesome pair of best friends, and she wonders how they drifted apart.
It's partially her fault, and it's partially his.
But she knows in her secret heart of hearts that she's more to blame.
Because he's evolved from an obnoxious, cookie-loving brat to a formidable, cake-eating tennis player.
And she's let that happen. She's sacrificed their friendship to let him evolve.
And, oddly, she has no regrets.
Because that is what best friends do. Sacrifice.
.
She is sitting in a corner, organizing her five cookies into a neat stack.
Kids around her are crying, because an especially hyper, black-haired boy named Marui stole their cookies.
She tears off the plastic wrapping around the straw that came along with her juice box, and neatly sets it aside.
That is when the ball of energy comes.
He swipes the cookie on top of the stack, and she stares at him.
"Do you want another one?"
Marui grins and sits down next to her, reaching for the next cookie.
"I like you," he says. "You're no crybaby."
He offers her some candy, and she takes it, even though his hands are sticky and grimy and gross.
"My name is Marui."
She unwraps the candy and pops it into her mouth.
It tastes like strawberries.
"I know," she says.
.
For someone who likes to run around so much, Marui gets tired so easily. He'll be bouncing off the walls in the morning, but after lunch, he'll be leaning his head against the table.
She finds that giving him her cookies at snacktime helps.
.
The teachers seem like they're a bit relieved that she's befriended Marui. She's the only one who can keep him under control, really.
At least, that's what they say to each other after school, when they don't know that she's just outside the door, waiting for Mommy to come pick her up.
She doesn't think she does. She has to give up trying to make him sit still most of the time, because no one can stop Marui when he's on a sugar rush.
But at least he's stopped stealing cookies.
.
She is there when Marui discovers tennis.
Two men are at the tennis courts right next to the playground. Marui is watching with his face pressed up against the chain-link fence.
She doesn't understand what they are playing, how they should be playing, or why it's so important to hit the ball, but Marui catches on quickly.
"Wouldn't it be cool," he whispers, "if you could make the ball roll across the net before it dropped on the other person's side?"
She's never seen him stand still before, but there he is, standing still, watching these two men play.
She thinks this game, whatever it is, might be good for him.
So she nods.
.
The game is called Tennis, and Marui has signed up to play lessons.
She doesn't sign up, but the tennis instructor lets her sit on the benches and watch.
Marui's really good, he really is, but he'll never be able to finish a match. He gets too tired.
But he is going to do this. She can tell from the look in his eyes. He will find out a way to finish a full set, and then he'll blow everyone away.
He walks to her, and she hands him his water bottle and a two cookies.
"Maybe," she said, "if you played with a partner, it'd be easier. You wouldn't have to run around that much."
He looks surprised. "Is there a way I can?"
She shrugs. "I wouldn't know. You should ask your teacher."
He does, and he tells her about it the next day.
"It's called playing doubles."
.
They are in their first year of middle school.
Marui has decided to go to Rikkai Dai because it has a good tennis program.
And, naturally, she goes along, too, because as their mothers say:
"They're peas in a pod, those two."
Marui is getting his hair cut, and she slyly slips the hairdresser something while he's falling asleep.
It is a pink card.
She points to Marui, the black-haired boy who is falling asleep, and the hairdresser laughs.
"Okay, honey," she says, "but only because I know he won't mind if I tell him you picked it out."
He wakes up with pink hair, and they both laugh until they can't breathe.
.
She stops thinking when she realizes that it's sounding as if she's been the one making all of the sacrifices, but that's not true.
.
She has joined the tennis club, because Marui has begged her to join.
She personally doesn't see what's so fun about hitting a ball with a racket, but she joins anyway.
She's fast, and she has a lot of endurance, to boot. She keeps up with practices easily, almost without breaking a sweat.
One day, people come and ask her if she's considered joining the track team.
She likes the idea of running better than she likes the idea of playing tennis, but she asks Marui about it, anyway.
"You should do it," he says, grinning. "But when you win that gold medal, you should thank me for your endurance."
She wonders what he means.
"Well, duh. You built up your speed and endurance by running around after me."
She laughs, and the next day, she goes to practice with the track team.
She'll be a regular by second year, they tell her.
And that is just one of the many, many sacrifices he's made for her.
.
One day, during their second year, Marui gets a new doubles partner.
At this point, they've started to drift apart.
"Yo," he says, bopping her head with a light fist. "Meet Jackal."
Jackal is a quiet Brazilian boy with a shaved head.
But when he nods at her, she knows he'll be able to keep him under control.
And then it hits her.
One day, he is going to take her place.
She wants to hate him, but she knows that he has no idea, and that will never mean to.
She swallows, and nods back.
.
and then and then and then––
She has finished practice, and she sees Marui there, waiting for her with her water bottle.
She chugs it down, and he's bouncing off the walls.
"Remember what I said the day I discovered tennis? About making a ball roll across a net? Well, I've been working on it with Jackal, and I've finally perfected it."
She chokes, and she feels stung, because if this had been just a few months ago, she would have been there when he perfected it.
She smiles and congratulates him, but deep down, she knows.
They are ending.
.
He has gotten better with his endurance, but he still can't play his best.
She has nothing else to do, so she bakes him a cake with the help of some of her friends in the cooking club, and brings it down to him after his practice has ended.
He munches on it, and then he lights up like a pink light bulb.
"You're a genius," he murmurs.
The next day, when she goes to watch him practice, she sees him with Jackal, playing with all he's got.
She sees the box of cake on the bench.
And just before he's finished playing his game, she leaves.
.
She hears that he's been recruited to be a regular.
She doesn't go to find him, anymore.
He doesn't come to find her, anymore.
But it hurts less than she's expected it to, because she'll hear about his matches from her new friends, and she knows that he's doing amazing.
.
She bumps into him one day at a sports store.
He is with Jackal, looking for grip tape.
She is with her friend, looking at the running shoes.
They are surprised.
"Hey," he says, blowing a bubble.
She wonders when he started chewing gum, when he's always preferred candy.
"Hey," she says back.
It is awkward.
She wonders what's happened to them, briefly, before she escapes by going in line to pay.
.
She's running.
The finish line is just two feet away, and she hears the other members of the track team yelling for her to "Go! Go! Go!" and the footsteps of some other runners just behind her.
She closes her eyes and runs.
Later, she is standing on a stage, and a gold medal is being placed around her neck.
"But when you win your gold medal, you should thank me for your endurance."
It is the first time she has thought of him in a while.
.
There is an assembly just for her, Rikkai Dai's track star, for getting first in Nationals in just about every event she's run.
The principal presents her with an award, and people are clapping.
She sees a head of pink in the crowd.
He looks sad, but he looks happy for her at the same time.
It's just how she feels about him, and when the principal asks her if she wants to say anything, she uncharacteristically grabs the microphone.
"There's someone in the room," she says, "who would run around like an crazy lunatic and make me run after him."
He looks stunned.
"I'd like to thank that person for my speed and endurance."
And then he looks delighted, because she remembered.
.
He finds her the next week, when she's stayed after practice to just run around the track.
"Hey," he says.
"Hey."
He holds up a box.
"I think your medal calls for a celebration."
They sit on the grass, and when he opens the box, she sees that he's brought cookies, candy, and cake.
Almost everything is either strawberry-flavored or has strawberries in them.
"It's still your favorite flavor, right?"
She nods.