Haruka's Fanfiction

This was the result of a fifteen-minute phrase prompt challenge. The prompt is stated at the end of the ficlet. Yaoi warning. Not necessarily canon.

*AN* This fic marks the successful end of my personal ‘fic-a-day’ challenge for December 2005, yay me! ^_^

Loose Juice (Prince of Tennis)

By Haruka (haruka@ymail.com)

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Kaidoh Kaoru had been jogging all morning and was finally finished, but now he was thirsty. He stopped by a vending machine and looked over the selections, finally deciding on an orange juice. He dug into his pockets and fished out enough money, then fed it into the slot and pushed the button for his choice. He watched the can start to move, then just before it fell, it stopped.

Kaidoh waited a moment or two, then decided nothing more was going to happen. He gave the machine a couple of not-too-hard pushes, which jiggled the cans inside, but didn’t urge it into coughing up the one he’d paid for. He tried shaking it again, harder this time. The cans banged their protest inside, but still that one he had chosen remained in place as if cemented there.

Swearing, Kaidoh kicked the machine and paced back and forth in front of it. He had more money on him, but wasn’t sure he could trust this thing not to freeze up on any other selection.

“Oiy, Mamushi, what are you doing?”

Kaidoh groaned internally as he spun around to glare at his teammate Momoshiro. “Nothing!”

“Yeah, that’s what it looked like.” Momoshiro grinned and fed some money into the machine. Kaidoh almost stopped him, then decided against it. If the dumbass lost his money, it was his own fault, and would be rather satisfying, to boot.

Momoshiro’s drink dropped neatly into the chute and he picked it up. “See you around,” he said, and walked away slurping on the can.

Kaidoh stared after him. Okay, FINE! He thought. It didn’t work for the orange juice, but it did work for the grape. He put more money into the machine and made the same selection Momoshiro had. He watched the can edge forward ….

Then stop.

“AUUUGH!” Kaidoh yelled and grabbed both sides of the machine, shaking it hard enough to rattle his own teeth, but not succeeding in loosening the cans. On the other hand, something else seemed to be coming loose … or tipping over….

Too late Kaidoh realized that the machine was about to come down right on top of him! He always knew he had horrible luck, but to die under a vending machine?!

Just before it overbalanced completely and made escape impossible, another pair of arms appeared over his and helped push it back into place. Kaidoh turned around to grudgingly thank his rescuer, then blushed.

“That was dangerous, Kaidoh,” Inui Sadaharu admonished. “You could have been badly hurt.”

Kaidoh avoided his gaze. How humiliating to be saved by the one boy he had a huge crush on and respected like no one else. “Yeah, sorry,” he mumbled.

“No need to apologize, just be careful. It does no good to train your body hard just to get killed by a falling vending machine.” Inui pushed his glasses up his nose and studied the situation inside the mechanical culprit. “Ah, I see the problem.” He put his ear to the glass, sliding his fist along it until it reached a certain point, then gave it one good slam.

Both of Kaidoh’s cans fell into the dispensing slot.

The younger boy stared at the elder one. “H-how did you do that, senpai?”

“It’s all in the technique, Kaidoh.” Inui smiled and gave him the cans. “And good data, of course. This particular machine is notorious for having this problem.”

Kaidoh grinned shyly and handed him one of the cans. “Thanks.”

Inui inclined his head and accepted the drink. “And thank you. Let’s sit down on that bench over there and go over your training schedule while we finish these, and then perhaps we can play a match at the court.”

Kaidoh nodded and followed him willingly. Maybe he had the worst luck in the world, or on the other hand, maybe not.

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(Phrase prompt – Vending machine)

(2005)

Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi.

This fic is not to be re-posted.