Kikumaru Eiji, who was sprawled on his stomach across Oishi's bed, had not done a pencil-scratch's worth of work in the last ten minutes. The pencil in question was hanging out of Eiji's mouth, and he was idly chewing the eraser, chin resting in his hands. The only movement during those ten minutes had been the steady rise and fall of his breath and the slow drift of his pupils as he tracked Oishi's fish around the aquarium.

"Nya, Oishi," Eiji said suddenly, startling Oishi, "shouldn't you be working?"

"Shouldn't you?" Oishi replied lightly, flushing just a little across his nose at being caught staring. Eiji laughed and slapped his textbook shut in response, then shoved it off the bed. A small flurry of crumpled homeworks fluttered out of it on its way down to thump on the floor facedown, half its pages crushed underneath it.

In case the message still wasn't clear, Eiji tore his eyes away from the fish tank long enough to stick his tongue out. Oishi rose from his chair and scooped up the book, smoothing the bent pages flat again.

"You shouldn't treat your things so roughly," he tsked, setting the book on the desk.

"Homework is boring!" Eiji announced, settling his chin back in his hands and returning his gaze to the aquarium.

"And the fish are somehow more exciting?" Oishi inquired, chuckling at Eiji's darting eyes and the way the tip of his tongue was sticking out of the corner of his mouth in concentration. His laugh cut off abruptly when Eiji shot out a hand and yanked him down onto the bed. "Eiji!"

"If you watch them long enough," Eiji scootched over a little so that Oishi could stretch out beside him, "they look like they're flying instead of swimming."

Oishi sat stiffly on the edge of the bed for a minute, but when Eiji went right on staring at the fish, Oishi relaxed enough to lay beside him, trying not to notice how their elbows and knees were almost brushing, and how a line of Eiji's warmth was seeping into his side. They did look like they were flying, Oishi realized, and he felt a smile curl up the corners of his mouth.

"Thank you for the present," he murmured after a handful of seconds, his gaze straying to the small purple canister sitting beside the aquarium. It was just like Eiji to show up unexpectedly on his doorstep right before dinner after an impulsive trip to the pet store, his only explanation being 'Hoi, Oishi, it says it'll brighten their colors and bring them good luck!' "I'm sure the fish thank you as well."

Eiji turned his head and sprang the full force of his brightest grin on an unsuspecting Oishi, making him swallow hard and flex his fingers against his bedspread.

"I just mean," Oishi struggled to maintain control and to keep from tumbling backwards off the bed, "you didn't have to get me something."

"It's for staying after practice to work on the new formation," Eiji said, nudging Oishi's shoulder with his own. "And for sharing your juice at lunch cause my sister stole mine. And for doing the thirty laps with me because you laughed at my Fuji impression."

"Eiji…" Oishi squirmed just a little and dropped his gaze.

"But mostly it's for being Oishi," Eiji finished decisively. "We couldn't be the Golden Pair without Oishi!"

Looking back up, Oishi was caught immediately by the biggest blue eyes in the history of tennis, and he realized that the only thing more deadly than a cute, fish-watching Eiji was a serious Eiji whose tongue-tip was poking out of the corner of his mouth in concentration.

"Y-yes," Oishi stuttered, and it seemed to him suddenly that Eiji's mouth was leaning closer than usual.

"Eiji-kun!" Oishi's mother called up the stairs suddenly, making Oishi twitch. "Your sister is on the phone!"

"Yeah yeah," Eiji muttered, pushing himself up on his elbows and rolling over Oishi neatly before scampering out the door. As his footsteps pattered down the stairs, Oishi seized two fistfuls of comforter and sucked a deep breath in, trying to shake the buzz from his back where Eiji had slid against it.

By the time Eiji skipped back up the stairs, Oishi was standing in front of his desk, straightening it, and the comforter was smooth.

"Oi, I have to get home," Eiji rolled his eyes, brushing shoulders with Oishi to slide his abused textbook from the desk. "My sisters are going on a double date and I have to watch the house."

"I'll walk you," Oishi said, surprising himself. Eiji paused in the middle of tugging his sweater back over his head.

"You don't have to," he said, his glance straying to Oishi's stack of textbooks. "I kept you from doing your work."

"It's for being Eiji," Oishi replied, and the grin that earned from Eiji was well worth the late night he would undoubtedly have.

Oishi flipped the light switch on his way out the door, leaving his textbooks and bed bathed in the soft blue light of the aquarium. Glancing over his shoulder as he was pulling the door closed, Oishi paused to notice again how the fish did seem to be gliding, fins rippling in the gentle current.

"Oishi?" Eiji called, lingering halfway down the stairs. Oishi turned to look down at him, blue eyes lit up softly and the tips of his hair waving gently around the edges of his hat.

"Nothing," Oishi smiled, tugging the door shut with a click. "Let's go."