The Games We Play
A
Prince of Tennis Fanfic
By
Jaelle
Rating: PG-13. Humour.
Warnings: Fuji (he's kind of a warning all by himself).
Pairings: Well, that's an interesting question.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
"Aniki, I'm home!"
Yuuta poked his head around his brother's door.
"Yuuta!"
Fuji paused the game he was playing and turned to send a brilliant
smile his brother's way. "Welcome home! How was school this week?"
"Brutal,"
Yuuta slumped into the room and threw himself down on his brothers bed.
"I had four tests and two papers due. I'm exhausted."
Fuji made sympathetic noises.
Yuuta
rolled over onto his side and peered at the computer screen. "Is that
the same game you were playing last time I was here?"
"Mmmhmmm."
"Really? I would have thought you'd beat it by now."
"Well, it's not really the kind of game you beat," Fuji began to turn
off the game.
"Don't quit on my account. What's it called?"
"The Sims."
Yuuta frowned. "The Sims?"
"Actually, this is the Sims2," Fuji corrected himself. "The newer
version."
"What's a Sim?"
"A Sim is a character in the game. You design them, then you basically
watch them grow and help them along the way."
Yuuta sat up. "Doesn't sound very interesting. How do you win?"
"Oh,
you don't really," Fuji smiled. "There's no goal, unless you want one
of your Sims to be really good at something or make a lot of money.
It's just... fun."
Yuuta stood up and came over to the computer, looking dubious. "Show
me."
Fuji
obligingly switched the game back into play mode. "See, all the Sims
live in this neighbourhood. You move them into houses, if they can
afford it, and then you buy them furniture and clothes and so on. Look,
I'll show you one of the houses."
He clicked on one of the house icons.
"This is the Golden Pair household."
Yuuta blinked. "Golden Pair household?"
"Mmm, Oishi-Sim is at work at the moment, but there's Eiji-Sim, playing
in the pool, see?"
"You named your Sims after your teammates?"
"Of course, this is Seigakuville, after all."
"... Seigakuville."
"That's right. See, there's Tezuka-Sim out for a walk. Oh, and Momo-Sim
and Taka-Sim too!"
Yuuta watched as Eiji-Sim, Momo-Sim and Taka-Sim all swooned and sighed
as Tezuka-Sim walked past.
"... That's really disturbing, aniki."
"Well, Tezuka is Tezuka, after all," Fuji replied. "He lives in the
biggest mansion in the game. Want to see?"
"No, that's alright."
"Okay,"
Fuji instructed Eiji-Sim to return to the pool. "Swimming is a good
activity because it keeps Sims healthy and fit AND makes them happy."
"Happy?"
"See
the green thingy over Eiji-Sim's head? And these gauges here? These are
mood indicators. If they're green, then the Sim is happy and full and
clean, and so on. If they're orange or red, the Sim is unhappy."
"I see."
"Here,
I'll show you some of the other things you can do." Fuji clicked a few
more times and a new house opened up. "This is the Inui household."
"... It looks like a mad scientists lab."
"Well,
yes. There's Inui-Sim and... excellent! He's making a new potion. These
have all kinds of different effects, and they're a lot of fun. This one
looks quite impressive."
They watched as Inui-Sim completed
his potion and waved it triumphantly. A second Sim then entered and was
forced to drink the green sparkling juice.
"Was that Kaidou-Sim?"
"You guessed!" Fuji was pleased. "And the juice, I mean potion, seems
to be a success... oh... oh dear. That's not good."
Kaidou-Sim
drummed his hands against the floor and loped around the room like an
orangutang, while Inui-Sim scratched his head in the background.
"Oh well, I'm sure it will wear off in time," Fuji said, clicking back
into the neighbourhood.
Yuuta
didn't trust himself to speak and merely nodded. Then his eyes spotted
something on the screen. "Hey, that one looks like our house."
"It is our house."
"What?"
Fuji obligingly clicked on the house in question and the pair were
welcomed to the "Fuji-Sim household".
"See,
there's Yumiko-Sim, about to go to work. She's in the Paranormal job
track. Sims can work in all kinds of occupations, and get promotions if
they work hard and learn lots of skills."
Yuuta watched a helicopter pick up his sister-Sim.
"Yumiko's
currently at the top of her grade," Fuji explained. "And there's
Syuusuke-Sim in the kitchen, making dinner. Oh, and here comes
Yuuta-Sim, home from his job in the professional athlete job track. And
there Syuusuke-Sim goes to welcome him home."
Yuuta watched as the Yuuta-Sim and Syuusuke-Sim embraced at the
doorway, and then began a rather passionate kiss. "Aniki!"
"Ah,
aren't they such sweet brothers?" Fuji regarded them fondly. "Oh, it
looks like Yuuta-Sim is tired from his long day. Why don't we let them
both go and relax on the bed?"
Yuuta twitched as he realised
that, while the exterior of the house matched theirs totally, the
inside was different in two significant ways. One, his room had been
converted into a hot-tub room with a bar and other luxuries, and two,
Syuusuke-Sim's room now hosted a double-bed, onto which both Sim
brothers were climbing.
"Aniki," he began threateningly, and then paused. "Hey, who's that?"
"Hrmmm..." Fuji reluctantly took his attention off the Sim-Siblings.
"Who's what?"
"That."
Yuuta pointed at a Sim off in the far corner of the property. It was in
really rough shape, most of its mood indicators were orange-red, and it
was naked except for a pair of briefs.
"Oh..." Fuji turned
back to the Yuuta and Syuusuke-Sims and clicked a few more times. The
pair began to enthusiastically make out. "Noone important I guess."
The left-over Sim began to cry and wail, shivering outside.
"Oh
for heaven's sake, aniki, you could at least put some clothes on it."
Yuuta took control of the mouse and, after a few hesitant clicks,
directed the nameless Sim to go inside and change into everyday wear.
"Why do you bother having this one if you don't play with it?"
"I do play with it," Fuji protested mildly. "All the time."
"Then why don't you know who it is?" Irritated, Yuuta instructed the
two Sim-Sibs to stop doing what they were doing.
The
left-over Sim finally made it to the dresser and, with an animated
swirl, changed into an eye-blindingly bright purple shirt with matching
trousers, just in time to have a bathroom emergency.
The
brothers watched as the Sim made a small puddle in the middle of the
room, and then immediately throw a tantrum, finally huddling up into a
crying, sobbing, lurid-purple ball.
"..."
Fuji sighed. "It's the strangest thing. I can never remember it's name."
"..."
"Oh look, Tezuka-Sim and Echizen-Sim have come over to visit! Let's all
have a hot-tub party!"
"... ANIKI!!!"
End
A/N: Because he would and we all know he would!!!
Additional
credits: Sims2 belongs to EA Games, who are brilliant, evil geniuses.
Prince of Tennis is the work of Takeshi Konomi. I spend far too much
time playing and watching both of their works.