Haruka's Fanfiction

This was the result of two writing prompts, both of which are stated at the end of the fic. AU, none of this happened.

Support System (Prince of Tennis Musical)

By Haruka (haruka@ymail.com)

--

Aoyagi Ruito opened his eyes slowly. His head hurt and he was dizzy. He felt battered and bruised all over. The ceiling overhead looked different than usual.

This isn’t my bed, he thought.

“Rui Rui, can you hear me?”

Ruito looked around and saw several of his co-stars hovering near his bed. He finally recognized that he was in a hospital room. “What happened?” he asked groggily.

“You took a dive off the stage during one of your no-hands cartwheels,” Saitoh Takumi told him. He was still wearing the prop eyeglasses he wore as his character, Yuushi.

Ruito remembered now. He had been rehearsing onstage for his performance as Gakuto, the acrobatic tennis player for Hyotei in the latest Prince of Tennis musical. He could recall heading into the stunt and a loud bang off-stage had thrown off his timing. He’d actually fallen off the stage?

“You should have seen it! You had this great height and all, then PLOP, you were out of sight and we all went, ‘Ruito’s missing!’” Takuya, their Jiroh, told him, looking almost as excited as his character did when he was awake.

“You’re going to be all right,” Kato Kazuki, who played team captain, Atobe, assured him. “They did head x-rays already –“

“They needed a stronger dose to find your brain,” smirked Kamakari, tugging on his Shishido baseball cap. “But everything else was okay.”

Ruito was relieved. He was moving his limbs around a little to assess any damage and was glad to note no broken bones. “So if I’m okay, why am I still here?” he asked.

“Observation,” Pretty Date Kouji explained, gazing at him with gentle concern just as Choutarou would. “No one saw you land, so we didn’t know if you’d hit your head or not. They’re keeping you overnight.”

“I must have at least bumped it, because it hurts a bit,” he admitted.

“That must have happened when you fell off the stretcher as they were carrying you out,” Kawai Ryunosuke, who played Hiyoshi, remarked.

“What?!”

“Just kidding!”

Ruito closed his eyes and groaned. His co-stars were comedians, but that was okay, because they were also like older brothers to him and he loved them all. Their presence was keeping him from feeling afraid.

“Your folks were here, but we sent them to get coffee so we could visit,” Saitoh said. Ruito felt his onstage doubles partner squeeze his hand. “Don’t scare us like that again, all right?”

“Deal.” Ruito shared a smile with him. “Hey,” he said suddenly, “where’s Washimi?” Their Kabaji actor was the only Hyotei member not in attendance, and a family gathering like this just didn’t feel right without him.

“Right here,” came Washimi’s voice from the doorway, and Ruito gave him a big grin when he saw the mass of Mylar balloons he carried with him.

“Those are awesome! Thank you!”

“We thought that even if you had to stay here for just one night, we could make it a little more fun for you,” Saitoh told him, and he and the others began loading his bed with magazines, puzzle books, handheld games, an MP3 player, even a colouring book and pencil crayons. Ruito laughed.

“You know what? I already feel a lot better!” he said earnestly. “You guys are the best!”

“And don’t you forget it.” Kato smiled affectionately. He snapped his fingers. “Almost forgot – here’s your script.” He placed it on top of the pile. “It can’t hurt to refresh your memory of how that scene you messed up was SUPPOSED to go!”

Ruito threw a magazine at him and everyone laughed.

--

(Phrase prompt: Family gathering)
(Sentence prompt: This isn’t my bed ….)

(2005)

Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi.

This fic is not to be re-posted.