"Are you sure you feel up to this?" Oishi blinked at Eiji with concerned green eyes.

"Oishi, I told you," Eiji huffed, his red-dotted cheeks puffing out, "it's just the chicken pox! They don't even itch anymore, but I can't go back to school until they're all gone. I'll be fine!"

"Hm." Oishi almost said, as his eyes strayed towards the fish tank, that it wasn't Eiji he was worried about, but at the last second his emergency boyfriend preservation system kicked in. "Well, there's food in the fridge when you want lunch, but don't feed the fish anymore even though you like watching them dive for the pellets…"

"Oishi…" Eiji fidgeted with the hem of his t-shirt and blew his bangs out of his face.

"You're welcome to watch TV or any of my movies, but could you try and keep an eye on the thermometer in the tank? It has to stay between 27 and 29…"

"Oiiiishi!" Eiji interrupted more loudly. "You're gonna be late for morning practice!"

"Aah!" Oishi glanced at his spare clock, then hopped up and grabbed his schoolbag. He looked around his room, trying to figure out if he'd forgotten anything. He had his math homework, his keys, his cell phone, but he knew he was forgetting…

"Oishi." Eiji purred his name in his low, amused voice, and slipped the strap of Oishi's tennis bag up onto his shoulder. "Go on, go on! If you're late, Tezuka'll give me laps!"

"You'll call if anything happens, right?" Oishi asked as he let Eiji steer him towards his door.

"Hoi hoi," Eiji said, rolling his eyes. "Even if they hatch, they'll still be all stuck together for three to five days!"

"You did research?" Oishi twisted to smile at Eiji, despite the fact that they were going down the stairs now, and his sister tended to leave her tennis shoes strewn anyplace likely to break somebody's neck. "That's wonderful!"

"Aw, Oishi, I can look stuff up the same as anybody!" Eiji protested, giving his shoulders a little push, but he looked pleased too, and he rattled off a few other factoids as they reached the front door and Oishi slipped on his shoes. Grinning, Eiji gave Oishi a hug for luck and shoved him out the door.

Outside, Oishi made it the whole way to the sidewalk before looking back up at his bedroom window. Really, he did have perfect attendance, and what if Eiji had a relapse? What if the tank sprang a leak? He could miss just one day…

His phone jangled loudly, interrupting his worries, and Oishi fished it out of his pocket, blinking when he saw Eiji's number on the screen.

"Eiji, what happened?" Oishi demanded, ready to sprint back inside. "I'll be…"

"Go to school," Eiji commanded, and Oishi blushed and glanced up at his window again to see his partner staring back down at him, arms crossed.

"Yes," sighed Oishi, and hung up the phone. It was going to be a long day.

*******

"I refuse to play you with that thing in your pocket." Tezuka stared Oishi down, patented "buchou says no" expression firmly in place. His hair waved threateningly in the afternoon breeze.

"But what if…" Oishi started, but then Tezuka's brow furrowed—was that thunder, even when the sky was clear?—and Oishi meekly slid the phone out of his pocket and was about to sit it on the bench, but then looked around. That was hardly safe, anybody could just walk by and…

"Don't worry, vice-captain!" Momoshiro popped up in front of him, grinning widely as he plucked the phone from Oishi's fingers. He handed it to Echizen, who was at his elbow. "We'll take good care of it, won't we, Echizen?"

"Whatever," Echizen shrugged and slipped the phone into his back pocket.

"But what if…" Oishi fretted, then jumped about a foot when Tezuka's gunshot "OISHI" rang out across the courts, and he scurried off to Court C with a final backwards look.

Apparently wanting to teach Oishi a lesson, or perhaps just grumpy because Fuji had elected to warm up with Taka-san and then come back wearing his wristband, Tezuka drew out Oishi's match much longer than usual, so long that most of the other regulars had finished their matches and had drifted over to watch.

"Five games to love!" called Inui, who was reffing the match distractedly in between scribbling in his notebook. "Change court."

"When I'm captain next year, things'll be just like this," Momoshiro announced, elbowing Echizen. "Just like this."

Echizen jumped suddenly and scowled, slapping a hand against his rear. "Momochan-senpai, I told you not on the…oh, it's Oishi-senpai's phone."

"Viiiibrate, Oishi?" Fuji inquired, while Taka-san bellowed "GOOD VIBRATIONS" and Kaidoh edged a few inches farther away with a wrinkled nose. Inui made some more notes.

"Hn, it's Eiji-senpai," Echizen said, looking at the screen, and Oishi was in front of him so fast that even the ball Tezuka drive volleyed at his head missed totally, whanging off a fence pole and reflecting right back at him. It smacked the pavement on his side of the net and bounced a few times, eventually rolling to a stop against Tezuka's sneaker. He scowled at it.

"Eiji!" Oishi yelled into the phone, then blinked when it rang again, and sheepishly pressed the 'answer' button. "EIJI!"

There was silence across the courts as Oishi's spine straightened and all the color drained out of his face.

"Now? Are you sure? Don't move, I'll be home in two minutes! No, Eiji! Think of the babies!"

"Babies?" Fuji cracked an eye.

"PRENATAL!" Taka-san added. Oishi shoved his phone in his pocket and bent down to scoop everything into his tennis bag.

"Everyone!" he yelled as he swung the bag onto his shoulder. "The Golden Pair are going to be parents!"

He tore off at top speed with no further explanation, leaving everyone but Fuji's jaw hanging. Even Inui's pencil was momentarily stilled. After a second, Fuji reached up to tap Inui's sneaker where it was dangling off the referee chair.

"See," he smiled, tilting his head back to look at the data expert, "I told you it would work. Echizen-kun, come here."

Echizen tugged his cap down over his eyes. "Don't wanna."

*****

"Nya, aren't they cute, Oishi?" Eiji asked, wriggling around a little under the arm Oishi had across his shoulders.

"They don't even look like angelfish yet," Oishi laughed, but he really agreed that his first hatch of Golden Angelfish were sort of cute as they shivered in a mass against the spawning plate. The self-satisfied Golden parents drifted serenely by, blowing water over the fry to keep things circulating.

"You're a proud papa now!" Eiji announced, snaking an arm around Oishi's waist to squeeze him. "You'll have to work hard to make sure they all grow up strong and pointy."

"I will," Oishi agreed solemnly. "Pointy is definitely best for angelfish."

"Speaking of that, nya," Eiji wriggled a little more and looked up at Oishi, a faint blush across his nose, "Oishi, I have something to tell you…"