sophistry: ([Tenipuri] come on baby)
Sophie ([personal profile] sophistry) wrote2006-04-20 02:09 pm

Tenipuri ficlet.

Untitled, unbeta'd septidrabble, dubbed Circle by [livejournal.com profile] bookshop (after being spontaneously spewed into a comment box and posted anon in the latest meme in a fit of zomgfirstTenipurificwhatifeverybodyhaaaaaatesit wibbling). Reposted here by request.

I will weep happy tears of joy for any concrit, and if there are any communities I should be cross-posting this to, please let me know?

Title: Untitled / Circle
Pairing: TezuRyo. Sort of.
Rating: very, very G. PG if math scares you like it does me.


**************


When they print Echizen's picture, no bigger than the pad of Tezuka's thumb, there's a wide margin of glossy white all around it. It makes the short column look misaligned, and untidy. A young man to keep an eye on in the upcoming regionals, the small letters proclaim. If nothing else, Tezuka is vaguely satisfied about being proved right. He's watched Echizen. He's not so generous as to think that Monthly Tennis has matched his conclusions on two counts, however - that the extra space around Echizen's small, grainy portrait is anything but a typesetting error.

The new freshman never seems to walk with his classmates, always a step behind or a few ahead, racquet over his shoulder like it's between himself and the rest of the world. He eats on his own, as well - or tries to, at any rate. Sometimes, he even manages. He'd probably do half the training exercises by himself, Tezuka thinks, if only he could, alone inside a circle maybe the width of the reach of those thin arms.

If Tezuka were anyone but Tezuka, he might be worried about Echizen's social tendencies. That's not what bothers him, though.

Things seem to improve - that circle seems to lessen a bit in size. He's studying one evening when he looks out the classroom window and sees Echizen standing in a spotlight that seems about the size of it. Then the rest of the floodlights flicker on, and Momo bounces onto the court, trailed by a pair of hapless second-year friends. They practice doubles for a while; it's dire. Once, Echizen and Momo run right into each other, and land in a tangle of limbs, one set strong, the other fine, and bird-like. They nearly break each other's noses.

If Tezuka were anyone but Tezuka, he might crack a smile, at that. He turns back to his math.

The figure shows a fixed circle C1 with equation
(x-1)2 + y2 = 1
and a shrinking circle C2 with radius r and center (0, 0). The equation for C2 is:
x2 + y2 = r2

P is the point (0, r), Q is the upper point of intersection of the two circles, and T is the x-intercept of the line PQ. What happens to T as C2 shrinks, i.e., as r → 0?


Tezuka is not consulted when Ryuzaki-sensei draws up the team's listings for the district preliminaries. He doesn't ask why, exactly, but Ryuzaki-sensei tells him anyway; he'd looked preoccupied, these past few days. She means my arm, Tezuka thinks. Echizen and Momo are paired together for Doubles 1. They volunteered.

If Tezuka were anyone but Tezuka, he might be horrified. He doesn't say anything.

Don't think too hard, Tezuka. It's better to relax. Ryuzaki-sensei thinks he is nervous. I understand, he replies. He is tense, after a fashion. He is watching. They do... well, at first. Gyokurin's Izumi-Fukawa pair is strong, but not as strong as they might be. Of course, there's the matter of Echizen and Momo running about the court shouting AH! and UN!, but Tezuka is Tezuka; he doesn't seem fazed. They help them work together, those sounds. And Echizen seems - not pleased, exactly, but less disgruntled to be sharing that circle with someone else. Tezuka almost does crack a smile at that, small and private.

If he were anyone else, he would have.

It starts to go pear-shaped, eventually. Inui points it out; their circles overlap. Tezuka, (Ryuzaki-sensei) you think I made a mistake in arranging the players? He answers honestly, Yes. It's true, technically. It was not, strictly speaking, a good tactical decision; Echizen would have done well on his own in Singles 3. Tezuka ought, perhaps, to have said something. But he had not. And the why is in the back-and-forth, the long moment Echizen and Momo spend almost eye-to-eye, 0-15 into the fourth game. Echizen's eyes flash, from beneath his untidy black hair.

Tezuka's palms itch. He brushes his fingernails along them, wishes he were playing, and folds his arms again. The scrape of graphite against clay makes him look back up.

There's a line down the center of the court.

If Tezuka were anyone but Tezuka - .

Well.

[identity profile] hollsh.livejournal.com 2006-04-20 01:24 pm (UTC)(link)
I have to link my friend to this, she's a huge TezuRyo shipper.

[identity profile] hollsh.livejournal.com 2006-04-20 01:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Any time! I sent her the link. She's absolutely nuts about PoT.

[identity profile] bookshop.livejournal.com 2006-04-20 02:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Does she have an lj? WILL SHE BE MY FRIEND?

uh. hi. :))

[identity profile] bookshop.livejournal.com 2006-04-20 02:27 pm (UTC)(link)
i am so glad you posted this here that i am going to sit quietly and reread it for the rest of the day. as soon as it has gone into memories.

[identity profile] hollsh.livejournal.com 2006-04-20 02:31 pm (UTC)(link)
She does.

cimorene111.livejournal.com

[identity profile] bookshop.livejournal.com 2006-04-20 02:42 pm (UTC)(link)
She is already my friend! How delightful. :) And I actually just recced this fic and Cim's fic (which is excellent, excellent, excellent - we plotted it out together and then she wrote it and I am so thrilled!) together on the same post. Two amazing writers both foraging into my ship on the same day. I am full of glee and joy.

[identity profile] hollsh.livejournal.com 2006-04-20 02:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Hahahaha, awesome! She's my best friend and my first son's godmother!!

[identity profile] cimness.livejournal.com 2006-04-20 03:23 pm (UTC)(link)
yeah, hi, that's me that they're talking about all over your comments, so i suppose i need to make myself coherent enough to leave feedback. but sadly, i haven't gotten a lot of sleep so i have a hard time being coherent. i love thematic stories and i love your use of the equation, here. where 'love' is an understatement, kind of. the parallel is so elegant. whenever it is written well, tezuka's stoic self-restraint just slays me. and also, i was much struck by this angle on tezuka's opinion of the momo-echizen doubles pair.

[identity profile] takewing.livejournal.com 2006-04-20 03:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Awesome. ♥

I'm glad Tezuka isn't anyone but Tezuka.

[identity profile] cimness.livejournal.com 2006-04-20 05:01 pm (UTC)(link)
yeah, i definitely think you're right about that, and i'd never really thought about tezuka observing ryoma's distance from other people in precisely that light, but i see exactly what you mean. and i do think he's looking for weak points in ryoma's defenses. even just through the end of the hyotei arc he's very patient and seemingly quite deliberate both about catching ryoma's interest and setting the slightly more personal and familiar tone of their relationship (besides stimulating ryoma to grow in terms of just tennis, i mean).

[identity profile] cimness.livejournal.com 2006-04-20 05:13 pm (UTC)(link)
yes, i just watched that arc last weekend. i'm still trying to draw breath properly to post screencaps and reactions but i still haven't really gotten past "LOVE" and "aölskdfjöaskl" yet. thinking about it still makes me incoherent. tezuka's little hints of encouragement, making the first move in taking ryoma to play the practice match, are enough to let ryoma flirt shamelessly. and tezuka obviously loves it or he wouldn't flirt back like that. i'm getting all wibbly thinking about it.

[identity profile] happiestwhen.livejournal.com 2006-04-20 05:15 pm (UTC)(link)
I love the trailing-off bit at the end. This is so clever! :((
ext_30559: (headphones)

[identity profile] fluttering.livejournal.com 2006-04-20 05:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Tezuka... XDDDD

Well done^_^

[identity profile] lindra.livejournal.com 2006-04-21 12:02 am (UTC)(link)


YOU WROTE FIC, YAY. YOU HAVE ENTERED THE THIRD STAGE OF THE SPIRAL FROM WHICH THERE IS NO RETURN.


Also: YOU WROTE FIC, YAY! TENIPURI FIC, YAY YAY! TEZUKA/RYOMA FIC, YAY YAY BLOODY YAY!

In conclusion, love.

[identity profile] bookshop.livejournal.com 2006-04-22 01:49 am (UTC)(link)

oh yes. yes. yes. I made an entire post about that moment but I still really haven't found the words to talk about how significant it really is for both of them beyond, as Cim said, general gibber and GOD IT IS LOVE.

I AM STILL DYING OVER THIS FIC. I LOVE THIS SHIP.

[identity profile] kishmet.livejournal.com 2006-04-22 02:25 am (UTC)(link)
Here via [livejournal.com profile] bookshop, and I'm so happy she rec'd this. This is one of the most wonderful, classiest fics I've ever read. I love it. *___*

[identity profile] kessie.livejournal.com 2006-04-22 11:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Still loving this. :| You made me like Math again (not that I really ever liked it, having spent so many years slogging for my B average, but).

This is slightly OT, and I feel a little silly, but I took one look at your LJ header and a TezuRyo drabble popped into my head. :( I have given up trying to figure out why PoT does this to me (I get fic ideas through toothpaste, now, too, apparently), but, well: Photographs. Sorry. :(

(Also, being further OT, but you're from Ireland too! Wow! I got all excited. :D Though I'm in Cork, myself.)

[identity profile] kessie.livejournal.com 2006-04-22 11:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Hahaha. I was talking to Aja today when I noticed, so I suddenly said, "OMG, AJA, SOPHIE'S FROM IRELAND, TOO!!! AHHH!"

I found two people in HP going to the same college as me a few months ago. I only knew them through a friend of a friend online, but it was very, very strange. Hahaha.

I got all sad writing that drabble. I had writing angst for TezyRyo unless there's a proper happy ending. :(

[identity profile] emcyclopedia.livejournal.com 2006-04-27 03:42 pm (UTC)(link)
lukhgdn;sgjdjf;g

*___*

Gods. So pretty. I'm very glad I took a break from homework to catch up with Pillar readings. DD:
love_archived: (Default)

[personal profile] love_archived 2007-11-07 02:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Came here from a VERY old rec on [livejournal.com profile] assyrian's journal. Pretty prose, and oh, MATHFIC.