Work Text:
--
Toma sincerely regrets ever running into Takuto at the train station that day, because now he won’t stop bothering him about, and he quotes, “those two cute girls he was with.”
“Come on, Toma!” Takuto wheedles, looming over his chair during lunch break. “Why won’t you introduce me?”
Toma gives him his fiercest glare. It’s a testament to either his idiocy or his prolonged exposure to it that Takuto doesn’t even flinch.
“I’ve never seen them before, so they obviously don’t go to school here,” he continues. “How long have you known them? Where did you meet them? Are they single?”
“I already told you, we just ran into them,” Toma says, folding his arms and sincerely wishing he’d go away. He shoots a careful look across the table where Yuuta is eating his lunch, the picture of unruffled calm. On the other side is Maki and Mitsue. The latter looks even more bored than Yuuta, but Maki’s mouth is quirked up to a smile that feels slightly worrying to Toma.
“You’re just avoiding my questions!” Takuto accuses. “Unless…” his eyes narrow. “Is one of them your girlfriend? Is that why you’re keeping them away from me?”
Toma splutters. He glances around the classroom, and is horrified to realize a number of them are now listening on the conversation with interest. They’re all sharks in the water - Maki included, as he nonchalantly leans into his space. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing!”
Yuuta, thankfully, takes pity on him. “Murakami-san, it isn’t very polite to ask personal questions.” This is why he’s Toma’s favorite.
“It’s just a simple question!” Takuto insists. “I just want to know if he has a girlfriend or not!”
“Girlfriend, huh,” Maki muses with that shit-eating grin. Normally, Toma likes the sight of it, knowing he’s plotting in behalf of the soft tennis club, but he certainly doesn’t appreciate it right now.
Toma kicks him under the table. “You’re not helping,” he hisses.
“Toma’s always been popular,” Maki continues, undeterred. He props his chin with his hands. Takuto stares up at him, rapt. This is the last thing Toma needs. “Even when we were kids.”
“Ah - that’s right! You guys were childhood friends!” Takuto perks up. “Katsuragi-kun, you’d know if Toma was dating someone, right?”
Maki smirks and leans in. “Toma, what do I say?”
Sometimes his doubles partner is such a pain in the ass. “Just stop talking,” he says through clenched teeth. In a louder tone, he says, “It’s none of your business. Leave us alone.”
“I always thought Toma was too busy with soft tennis to have a girlfriend!” Takuto moans, pulling up a chair to sit beside him irregardless. Mitsue makes a small snort of complaint, but Toma can sense that, like Maki, she’s enjoying his torment.
He shoots a helpless look to Yuuta. Fortunately, he’s still on Toma’s side. “Shinjo-kun is shy,” Yuuta starts.
Takuto shakes his head. “He has nothing to be shy about! Those two were so cute…” his eyes light up. “Hey - so only one of them is your girlfriend, right? That means the other one is single! Which one of them can I ask out?”
--
“I didn’t know you had a girlfriend, captain,” Rintarou says timidly during their training, two days later. Right now they’re all huddled together, having just finished their strategy session before their next practice match, and Toma nearly hits his own face with his racket in surprise. “What?”
“It’s all over the school gossip,” Itsuki says offhandedly. “It’s even reached the girls’ soft tennis club - my sister asked about it yesterday.”
Fucking Takuto. Toma is going to murder him when he sees him again. “I don’t have a girlfriend,” he says, his voice so loud some other clubs turn to look at them. “When would I have the time? The summer tournament’s coming up!” he adds.
“Besides,” he continues furiously, voice significantly lower now, “Takuto’s just making baseless assumptions! You guys were there!”
There’s a moment as he waits for comprehension to slowly dawn on his teammates’ faces. Most times, Toma does his best to understand all of them, knowing what they’ve all gone through, but on some terrible occasions, he can’t help but despair. This is one of them.
“So...those two girls…” Shingo glances around their circle. Maki tosses a ball gleefully while Yuuta hides his face behind a clipboard. “Huh. Now it makes more sense.”
“God, I can’t believe I almost fell for that,” Tsubasa chuckles, throwing an arm around Toma. “As if the captain would ever consider dating at such an important time like this!”
Nao nods solemnly. “The club is his number one priority.”
Toma doesn’t even know if they’re insulting him at this point or not. “Glad that’s sorted out,” he says. “Now let’s never mention it again.”
That order is summarily ignored when they’re all crammed in the locker room half an hour later as they change back into their school uniforms.
“Makimaki would make a good girlfriend,” Itsuki says thoughtfully. “Since he can cook.” There’s a chorus of agreements from the rest of the club.
“Yuuta’s not bad either!” Rintarou adds, as if he’s compelled to defend their manager. “He’s organized and thoughtful and sweet.”
They pause over this as Toma shoots them all outraged looks over this clear insubordination.
“Katsuragi-kun is very kind too,” Yuuta pipes in. Toma is going to have to retract his favoritism. “In fact, he and Shinjo-kun would be very compatible.”
“Ah, because they’re childhood friends?” Taiyou nods, clapping his hands together. “That does make it very romantic...through fate, they’ve found each other again!”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Yuu!” Maki says. “As the club manager, Toma relies on you a lot. It would make for a natural course of a relationship!”
Shingo jumps up abruptly. “You guys are forgetting the most important thing!” he cries out. “Height differences.”
“Ohh,” they all say, glancing at Toma, who’s standing beside Maki. Toma instinctively steps away, but it’s too late. They’ve noted the inches between them with military precision used in solving math equations.
“This is stupid,” Toma says desperately. “Can we just - ” but it’s too late. Now they’re arguing about star signs and blood types. At some point, Itsuki viciously declares his argument based on common interests - since Maki and Toma both play sports, they would be more suited for each other. Clearly Maki is enjoying the debate, judging by how he’s grinning from ear to ear. Yuuta seems to be smiling, too, even as he packs away his jacket.
“Wait a minute - how come Toma’s the only option here?” Tsubasa complains. “I mean, we were there too! They could have been dating us.”
“That’s true!”
“Who would you date then, Manager-san?” they all turn to Yuuta eagerly.
Yuuta pauses, his cheeks turning the slightest hint of red. “Well...I am closest to Shinjo-kun,” he says apologetically, to their groans. “But...I guess if I had to choose someone else...Rintarou-kun is very nice too.”
“Yessss,” Rintarou cheers, pumping his fist.
Itsuki turns to Maki. “What about you, Makimaki?” he asks curiously.
Maki shrugs. “Toma does seem like the expected choice...I wouldn’t mind dating Yuu, though,” he says, smiling at Yuuta.
“Hey, not fair!” Shingo says. “We’d all choose him if we had a choice.” There’s another chorus of agreements. Yuuta’s blush deepens.
“Hmm...well…” Maki pauses so long that it’s obviously drawn out. “Arashi, then?”
“You can’t choose someone who isn’t from the team!” Toma says abruptly, shocked into throwing in his own opinion. Trust Maki to choose a dark horse. “That would be fraternizing with the enemy!”
Maki sticks out his tongue at him. “I thought you didn’t want to contribute to this,” he says, smirking.
“I don’t!” Toma groans. “Whatever. Can we please stop talking about this now?”
Taiyou only looks thoughtful. “So they both do want to date Shinjo-kun…”
Nao tilts his head. “You should choose, captain,” he says. “Which one would you want to be your girlfriend?”
Toma gulps as everyone turns to look at him. He knows it’s in jest, but - nobody’s laughed at all, and he doesn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Besides, Maki and Yuuta are both important to him in different ways - it’s not fair to ask him to pick one to date, even in a hypothetical scenario. “I’m not choosing anyone!” He says instead. “This - I don’t even want to date anyone at this time!” He tries to ignore the disappointment in the slump of Yuuta’s shoulders.
“Aaah,” Maki says, shaking his head. “Toma is such a heartbreaker.”
Rintarou takes one look around the room and straightens up. “We should ask a girl for her opinion,” he says decisively, as if this discussion was actually a matter of life or death. Toma opens his mouth to argue further, but already the soft tennis club is clamoring to get to the door first. Maki skips after them happily. They head straight to the stairs near the courts, where Mitsue usually waits. She looks up at the gaggle of them with mild bemusement.
“You’re all fools,” Mitsue eventually declares, to Toma’s relief, after they’ve explained the situation. He should have known she would be level-headed about this. With one word from her, they can all put this ridiculousness behind them. “Toma can date both of them! He has two hands!”
--
The following week, the whole school is abuzz about the fact that Shinjo Toma has two girlfriends.
--