Royal Games [Prince of Tennis: Tezuka/Fuji, Atobe, ES Challenge fic]
pairing/characters: Tezuka/Fuji, Atobe.
challenge: Image; Royal Games.
summary: Set after the Hyotei matches, Tezuka leaves for Germany. Fuji and Atobe play games.
notes: Written for ES Challenge 21. 612 words.
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Tezuka never actually told him, in words, about Germany. One morning Fuji walked into his classroom (alone as usual; Eiji was in his class, but Eiji liked to run in at the last possible moment after having spent every free second chatting with Oishi), and found the brochure laid out neatly on his desk perfectly straight, and perfectly centred, unmistakable.
It made him smile, despite it all, to think that Tezuka knew which desk was his, though they hadn't been classmates at all this year. Their classes weren't even close to one another; it was unlikely he'd ever walked past and looked in. And Tezuka was not the kind to go asking Eiji for directions to Fuji's seat. And if the world had reversed on its axis and he had, it was even more unlikely that Eiji would remember where his own seat was, let alone Fuji's. He mostly worked it out because he always came in last and had to take the empty desk, or if someone was absent, he looked for his empty seat next to Fuji.
A smile, which led to near-silent but hysterical laughter, (the few other students early to class so far either did not notice, or looked away quickly and pretended they hadn't), which led to a huge crack in the facade. He refused to shed a tear, barely had the urge to, but inside it was far worse than a whole ocean of them tossing his organs about during a storm at sea. He sat down, laid his book on top of the brochure, and spent the entire lesson attempting not to touch the top inch of it that his school-book wasn't large enough to cover.
-
The day Tezuka left, only Oishi and Ryuzaki-sensei accompanied him to the airport. Fuji curled his fingers around his cup of coffee and stared out of the cafe window, watching the skies.
"You make for terrible company, you know." Atobe told him between sips of his cappucino.
"You're surprisingly persuadable." Fuji replied. They both knew it wasn't at all surprising.
They didn't speak for twenty minutes after that. It reminded Fuji so much of being with Tezuka that he himself broke the silence with his hollow laughter.
"Don't you think you're a little young to care this much?" Atobe asked. The way he sat, and the way he held his cup suggested he also felt older than he actually was in years.
"I don't know who they are," Fuji replied, distractedly, "but 'they' say love and hate are two sides of the same coin. I don't think I'm capable of love; I can't hate you. I can't even hate myself."
"Even now, you don't regret what you did?"
Fuji smiled sadly. "I can't afford to regret it."
-
If the rest of the team had known what lay between them, they would have wondered why Fuji did not seem angrier towards Atobe for what he had done to Tezuka. For them, it would have been as black and white as that; Momoshiro, Taka-san, they were so passionate that if it had been a partner of theirs they probably would just stormed in and ended it with blood. Inui, Echizen, and possibly Oishi for the fact that it was about Tezuka, they would have been more calculating, but it would have gone the same way eventually.
Fuji spent more time with Atobe than anyone else in the weeks and months Tezuka was away.
"I hope you aren't using me to try and ease your conscience." He said during one long rally. Fuji would never play him seriously.
"Nor my sexual frustration." Fuji replied airily, letting Atobe's shot go past.
-
challenge: Image; Royal Games.
summary: Set after the Hyotei matches, Tezuka leaves for Germany. Fuji and Atobe play games.
notes: Written for ES Challenge 21. 612 words.
-
Tezuka never actually told him, in words, about Germany. One morning Fuji walked into his classroom (alone as usual; Eiji was in his class, but Eiji liked to run in at the last possible moment after having spent every free second chatting with Oishi), and found the brochure laid out neatly on his desk perfectly straight, and perfectly centred, unmistakable.
It made him smile, despite it all, to think that Tezuka knew which desk was his, though they hadn't been classmates at all this year. Their classes weren't even close to one another; it was unlikely he'd ever walked past and looked in. And Tezuka was not the kind to go asking Eiji for directions to Fuji's seat. And if the world had reversed on its axis and he had, it was even more unlikely that Eiji would remember where his own seat was, let alone Fuji's. He mostly worked it out because he always came in last and had to take the empty desk, or if someone was absent, he looked for his empty seat next to Fuji.
A smile, which led to near-silent but hysterical laughter, (the few other students early to class so far either did not notice, or looked away quickly and pretended they hadn't), which led to a huge crack in the facade. He refused to shed a tear, barely had the urge to, but inside it was far worse than a whole ocean of them tossing his organs about during a storm at sea. He sat down, laid his book on top of the brochure, and spent the entire lesson attempting not to touch the top inch of it that his school-book wasn't large enough to cover.
-
The day Tezuka left, only Oishi and Ryuzaki-sensei accompanied him to the airport. Fuji curled his fingers around his cup of coffee and stared out of the cafe window, watching the skies.
"You make for terrible company, you know." Atobe told him between sips of his cappucino.
"You're surprisingly persuadable." Fuji replied. They both knew it wasn't at all surprising.
They didn't speak for twenty minutes after that. It reminded Fuji so much of being with Tezuka that he himself broke the silence with his hollow laughter.
"Don't you think you're a little young to care this much?" Atobe asked. The way he sat, and the way he held his cup suggested he also felt older than he actually was in years.
"I don't know who they are," Fuji replied, distractedly, "but 'they' say love and hate are two sides of the same coin. I don't think I'm capable of love; I can't hate you. I can't even hate myself."
"Even now, you don't regret what you did?"
Fuji smiled sadly. "I can't afford to regret it."
-
If the rest of the team had known what lay between them, they would have wondered why Fuji did not seem angrier towards Atobe for what he had done to Tezuka. For them, it would have been as black and white as that; Momoshiro, Taka-san, they were so passionate that if it had been a partner of theirs they probably would just stormed in and ended it with blood. Inui, Echizen, and possibly Oishi for the fact that it was about Tezuka, they would have been more calculating, but it would have gone the same way eventually.
Fuji spent more time with Atobe than anyone else in the weeks and months Tezuka was away.
"I hope you aren't using me to try and ease your conscience." He said during one long rally. Fuji would never play him seriously.
"Nor my sexual frustration." Fuji replied airily, letting Atobe's shot go past.
-