Title: Meet the Family and A Fish Out of Water by Jaelle
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: Kamio/Atobe
Categories: humor, angst, drama
Length: long-ish (14,000+ words together)
Warnings: n/a

Author on LJ: n/a
Website: http://crash.ihug.co.nz/~jaelle/Jaelle_Orla.htm

Review:
Before I get into the summary and review, I should note two things. First, I have been assured that this is a rare pairing, but having absolutely no knowledge of the Prince of Tennis fandom (these are the only stories I've read), I'm having to take that on faith.

Second, these two stories are actually part of a series (link to the series as a whole below). It's probably best to read all of the stories if you really want to know what's going on, but I have to admit that a couple of them I actively disliked (mainly due to the way Atobe treats Kamio). On the other hand, a couple were quite entertaining, if not meaty enough to warrent a rec. Proceed at your own risk.

In Meet the Family, Kamio meets Atobe's teammates/friends for the first time. It does not go well. In A Fish Out of Water, Kamio attends his first day of school at Hyoutei High School. This goes much better.

I should start by explaining that I tend to approach anime fanfic very cautiously -- some of it is quite good, but the vast majority is not. Keeping that in mind, the very fact that I'm reccing stories from a fandom/canon I have no prior experience with should tell you just how fabulous these fics really are. Relationship angst, school drama, hilarious dialogue (managing to be both overblown -- in the spirit of teenage boy manga -- while still be plausible, which might just be the most impressive aspect of this story), fights and romance and high drama -- these fics have absolutely everything and it's all brilliantly executed.

Meet the Family hits all of my relationship angst buttons and I just wanted to hug and smack everyone involved in turns, all the while enjoying the greek chorus of Atobe's teammates (who I absolutely adore). It's a fantastic romantic angst fic.

A Fish Out of Water is in turns hilarious and dramatic, as Kamio ends up being wildly popular at his new school, despite his best efforts to the contrary. You also get fighting and rampant teenage crushes and lots of tennis players attempting to be sneakily protective.

What can I say? Two fabulous stories for the price of one. (And if you choose not to read the rest of the series, I think these two stories could be read alone with a minimum of confusion. Also, crap. Now I need to find more Prince of Tennis fic. Any suggestions?)

Meet the Family
A Fish Out of Water

The Prince and the Pauper Series