Title: Candy Cane
Author: hikaridonya
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Rating: PG
Pairing: Atobe/Ryoma
Genre: Humour
Word Count: 1226
Previous drabbles: Secret Santa; Hats

A/N: For the AtoRyo advent calendar. One 'drabble' a day until Christmas Eve.


Ryoma was almost certain that there was some sort of force against him this weekend. Where Atobe had rudely woken him yesterday morning with a phone call, his Mum had done so this morning - claiming that he needed to go to the market to get some cat food for Karupin.

He ate his breakfast slowly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and yawning. He was going to be so damn tired on Monday morning. If worst came to worst he'd just phone Kachiro to start practice, so that he could get some more sleep. He didn't even have the option of going to bed early - he had revision to do for a science test first lesson tomorrow.

He nibbled at the edge of his toast, and muttered. "Why couldn't you have sent Dad to go get the cat food?"

"Ryoma," Rinko admonished, placing a glass of milk in front of him. Ryoma glared at it as though it was going to kill him. Even if he wasn't in the same school as Inui anymore, he was still using his menu. "Your father is busy in the shrine. You're not going to be out long."

"He is not busy." Ryoma took a sip of milk. "You know as well as I do that all he does up there is read his dirty-"

"That is enough!" Ryoma winced at her tone, and gave all of his attention to eating his toast. Rinko placed some money on the table - enough to cover buying cat food for a month. "You will go to the market, and you will get some cat food. Is that clear?"

Ryoma finished off his toast, and then mumbled, "Yes, Mum."

"Oh, and while you're there, get a small present for your team," Rinko said, clearing the empty plate from the table. "There is enough money there to cover it, I'm sure."

"But, Mum-" Ryoma started to protest, but trailed off at the look he was given. His Mum didn't need to say any more. He pocketed the money and stood up, quickly downing his milk. How was he supposed to keep up the image of a stoic captain, when his Mum made him buy presents for his team.

Rinko smiled at him. "Don't forget to wrap up warm, it's cold out."

"Fine, see you in a bit." Ryoma left the room then, stopping on his way to the door to grab his coat, scarf, hat and gloves. He pulled each of them on quickly before he had to brave the freezing weather outside.

---

The market was surprisingly busy for ten in the morning. Ryoma had to weave between some people on the street just to get inside the shop itself - which was a little insane, truth be told. What was it about December that made everyone want to rush out in large groups? Hadn't they ever heard of online shopping?

Clearly not, Ryoma thought, as someone elbowed him in the back while he was walking down the aisle with all the fresh vegetables on it. Not even an apology either, this was completely ridiculous. He hated having to go shopping near Christmas.

When he reached the shelves with all of the cat food on, he stopped. There looked like there were hundreds of different flavours, and then hundreds of boxes of dried food on top of that. Then small treats and toys. Why were there so many? How was he supposed to choose one from all of these? He couldn't remember the last one that Karupin had, but he was sure that the label had been purple...

He picked a couple of tins up off the shelf and turned around, only to bump straight into someone who had been passing by. He dropped the tins, and one landed on his foot - it took all of his will power not to curse out loud. "Sorry," he muttered quickly.

"As you should be, Echizen. Don't you watch where you're going?"

Ryoma usually didn't believe in fate, or anything like that, but he was encountering Atobe far too often for it to be anything else. "You. I take it back, I'm not sorry." He bent down to pick up the fallen tins of cat food. "What are you doing here?"

Atobe shook his head, and picked up a tin that had settled beside him, handing it to Ryoma. "Not that it's any of your business, but I came in here to buy a bottle of water." He looked at the tins closely then. "Cat food?"

"Yes, I have a cat." Ryoma hadn't picked up a basket when he entered the store, and now he really wished that he had. He'd forgotten about getting the team a little present too. Atobe was a captain, maybe he'd have some kind of idea of what to get. "Seeing as you're here, you might as well be useful. If you had to get a present for all of your tennis team, what would you get?"

Atobe looked at him strangely. "A present? Why would you be-"

"Don't question why, and just answer the one I asked." Ryoma stacked the tins on top of each other, hoping that they'd be easier to carry that way.

"I don't appreciate being ordered around, brat." Atobe sighed and took some of the tins out of Ryoma's hand, because he was struggling to keep the balance. "Well, for the whole tennis team... why not get something like sweets?"

"Like, Christmas sweets?" Ryoma asked, starting to walk down the aisle. Atobe followed along by his side.

"Yes, Echizen, like Christmas sweets. Ribbon sweets, or some biscuits. Maybe candy cane." Atobe grabbed a bottle of water from a fridge, as they passed by it, and Ryoma waited for him until they carried on.

Ryoma's lips tugged up into a half smile, half smirk. "That's not a bad idea, monkey king."

Atobe ignored the nickname, because there really was nothing he could do about it. "I never have bad ideas."

"That's what you like to think," Ryoma retorted, walking into the aisle that had all the confectionary on it. He looked at the rows, and rows of boxes of advent calendars, and other chocolates. There were sweets on every shelf, packaged in true garish, Christmas style. He grabbed a couple of boxes of candy cane, and balanced his tins of cat food on top.

"You should have got a basket, Echizen." Atobe smirked, and looked up the aisle at some commotion - probably a kid had knocked over some of the advent calendars.

Ryoma grabbed something else off the shelf whilst Atobe's attention was diverted. "Shut up."

Once Ryoma had got all that he needed, they walked over to the tills in silence. Atobe paid for his water, and then placed the tins he'd been carrying down on the counter. Ryoma put the rest of them, and the boxes of candy cane, down. Atobe waited for him while he paid, though Ryoma couldn't quite figure out why. He could have left and gone back home by now.

He bagged up his purchases and they walked to the door together. When there Ryoma fished around in the bag, and pulled something out, placing it gently into Atobe's hand. Once he was sure that Atobe had a decent grip on it he said, "See you around."

Ryoma walked until he was sure he was out of sight, and then looked over his shoulder with a smirk. He wondered what Atobe would think of that rainbow coloured candy cane.