Set in Motion [1/?]
Okay, guys~ Here it is: the first part of my NaNoWriMo novel! :D I'm horribly embarrassed by it. Let's make fun of it together! ^w^ b
It turned out a bit differently than I'd originally planned it, but when you don't plan much to begin with, that's what happens.
Please note that, due to the nature of NaNoWriMo (and the fact that I used WriteOrDie to finish this), this is completely unedited, and pretty much a massive stream of consciousness.
There's a good possibility that I will abandon this halfway through. Like always.
Anyway. It's behind the cut. It's massive for a single sitting (3360 words)
Info:
Title: Set in Motion
Series: Prince of Tennis
Pairings: YuuMi, EijiOishi, TezFu, others
Warnings/rating: None yet, PG
Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis or any of its characters. I am SO not making profit off of this labor.
The Internet: the epitome of anonymity. No-one has to know who you are; you are hidden behind an identity that may or may not be your own. Not a single person has to see your face. Not a single person has to see your expression, or hear your voice shake. No-one will know any information about yourself other than what you give them. You are free.
Thus, this world has become a place where people go to hide from the real world. It is a place for making friends from places you normally would not. It is a place for sharing, venting, reaching out.
It can also be a dangerous place.
Oishi Shuuichiro sat down at his desk with a sigh. Yes, the Internet was a dangerous place.
It was a place where he wrote things he shouldn't--and wouldn't, normally.
He logged into his Freedom Express account. Picking up his glass of water, he took a sip while he waits for the engine to load. He wondered who would be on tonight. He wondered who he would meet. He wondered what he would write about.
The familiar mascot greeted him with a smile and a wave before disappearing into the ether of the webpage.
A smile formed on his lips as he watches the strange creature bounce off into a distance he couldn't see. It reminded him of his friend Eiji in a way. Always cheerful, never a frown to be seen. Just an upbeat bundle of energy. He thought that should call Eiji sometime soon. It had been a while since they'd last spoken.
The engine faded onto the screen and asked whether he wanted to login to a chat room or go to Homespace.
He clicked the icon that took him to the list of chat rooms available and connected to the tennis room--it was the one he always joined. Upon seeing that there were no familiar codes on, he exited out and logged into Homespace. The pleasant mint green and pale yellow of the page always seemed to put him in a good mood. They were happy colors.
He replied to a few comments and clicked the link that let him create an Update.
"What should I write about today?" he wondered aloud. Not much had occurred. It was actually a pretty slow day. He decided on the bare essentials.
'Today, I packed a few boxes. I'm getting excited about the new semester. I wonder if it will be any different from high school?'
He sat back from his monitor. Yes, Oishi was a university student starting this fall. He was both happy and sad. A lot had changed since graduation. It worried him. He could feel his friends drifting apart slowly. It upset him since they'd been so close for so many years. They'd been playing tennis since they were 12, after all. They'd been together since then. Now, at 18 and 19, they were separating? It seemed unfair and just a little cruel.
It was no-one's fault, really. They all had different dreams to pursue and different paths to walk, but it bothered him. He knew they'd probably stay in touch for a while, but...eventually, they would stop keeping in touch altogether.
He didn't want that. Especially not with Eiji. He couldn't imagine not talking to Eiji. He'd become such a huge part of his life.
Sighing again, Oishi clicked the refresh button on the program and started when he saw a status update from someone he occasionally talked to in the program.
'I've been packing! I'm so excited! I can't wait to make new friends this year!'
He smiled to himself and clicked the reply button.
"Are you moving?" he wrote.
The reply came quickly.
"Yup! ...Sort-of."
"Sort-of?'" he questioned.
"Yeah. Well. I'm going to a university this fall and I'm living in the dorms, so...'sort-of.'"
Oishi nodded at the computer screen, though he wasn't sure why. It wasn't like the other person could see him. He found himself doing strange things like that sometimes.
"I see. I'm going to a university this fall, too. I've been packing all day. It's hard to know what to bring."
"You must be my age, then!" The reply said. "I've been trying to think of what all I should pack up, too. There's so much stuff I want to bring!"
Oishi nodded again. He knew that feeling. Sparing a glance around his room, he took in the piles of stuff he'd been sorting through. It wasn't very methodical, but it worked. One pile was stuff to give away, one was stuff he was putting into storage, and one was a small pile of things he'd decided to bring, but hadn't gotten around to packing up yet.
What he really wanted to do was ask this person which university he (or she, Oishi corrected in his mind) was going to, but that wasn't allowed. Freedom Express was an odd site devoted to anonymity. Revealing locations--present, future, or past--were strictly forbidden.
"I exactly what you're going through," he wrote. "I've got piles of stuff sitting over here."
"Me too!" The reply wasn't quite as speedy this time. "My room is such a mess!"
Oishi laughed. His room was barely navigable. He'd probably break an ankle if he had to leave in a hurry.
"Mine, too."
The person didn't write back. Oishi had met Number 31 in the tennis chat he frequented. They'd hit it off pretty well. Oishi was just disappointed that he didn't get to talk to him (or her) very often. now he knew one of the reasons why: they were both busy preparing for their new school.
It was odd. Oishi swore the other was much younger than him.
"Maybe he's lying," he mused. But it was a silly sort-of thing to lie about.
He checked his Update once more for comments, replied to a few that just agreed with what he'd written, and logged out of the server.
There was no point in staying on if no-one was around.
He picked up his cell phone and dialed a familiar number. He smiled when it was picked up almost immediately.
"Eiji?" he greeted. "Want to do something?"
--
"Yeah?" Oishi sat in the ice cream parlor listening to Eiji ramble on about things he was only half paying attention to. He felt a little guilty about not listening to everything, but Eiji had a tendency to ramble about things only he could possibly care about. "That's great."
"...Oishi!" Eiji looked annoyed. Uh-oh. He'd accidentally agreed to something bad again, hadn't he? "Are you even listening to me?"
"S-sorry, Eiji. My mind was elsewhere." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Let me buy you another bowl as an apology?"
This perked the other male up right away. "That'd be okay!" he agreed.
Sighing and nodding, Oishi stood and ordered another of Eiji's favorite. He really was childlike sometimes. He'd be lying if he said it didn't irritate him sometimes. There were some things that a person should take seriously. Eiji tended to not take anything seriously.
'Except doubles,' Oishi corrected. Eiji had always taken their matches seriously--he just managed to have fun while doing it. It was a shame that he couldn't apply the same technique to much of anything else.
"Here you go!" He slid the bowl of strawberry over to the rehead with a smile.
Still, he couldn't imagine life without Eiji there to keep him grinning. He just couldn't stay mad around the bouncing guy--or with him, really. In all the years they'd known each other, he'd never been able to be mad at Eiji for longer than two days. It was impossible. That infectious grin grabbed hold of you and refused to let go. It forced you to smile and forget what angered you in the first place.
That was the magic of Eiji.
"Thank you!" Eiji replied in a sing-song voice that made Oishi giggle in a decidedly unmanly way.
"Sure, sure." He took his seat again. "So what were you saying?"
Never forgoing an opportunity to talk, Eiji launched right in with--what Oishi assumed--was the story he was telling earlier.
"Well I was walking to the store today, and there was this cute little dog...."
Oishi nodded and smiled politely as Eiji talked, spooning ice cream into his mouth. He'd never had the appetite for sweets that Eiji had. He wasn't as bad as Oishi's little sister, but Eiji was close. Oishi always (half) teased that he'd tell Inui on him. Eiji would whine pitifully at this and beg him not to. It was adorable.
And childish.
"...and then she kissed me!"
Oishi blinked in the pastel-colored parlor. "Um...sorry, Eiji. Could you repeat that last part?"
"The girl kissed me. Weird, huh?" He calmly put another spoonful into his mouth. His tone was so casual. It irritated Oishi slightly. How could he be so carefree about something like that.
"Who kissed you, Eiji?" He was surprised at how calm his own voice sounded.
Looking exasperated, Eiji sighed. "You weren't paying attention again!" He pouted around the spoon in his mouth. Pulling it out and letting it drop into the bowl, he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in their booth. "I don't feel like telling it again."
"Eiji," Oishi sighed his name out. "Could you please? Just one more time?"
Oishi could tell that Eiji was giving in by the smile that spread across his face. "Okay~! But just once more, alright?" He pointed his spoon at Oishi. (Which earned him a swift reprimand of "That's not very polite, Eiji.") "You'd better listen this time!"
"I promise," he replied sincerely. "I'm sorry."
Nodding, obviously satisfied, Eiji began his tale again.
As it turned out, the girl was Eiji's sister, kissing him in thanks for finding the dog her friend had lost.
"Well it's good that you helped, right?" Oishi was trying to figure out why Eiji had gotten upset over this sort of agreement earlier. It was a good story with a nice ending, wasn't it? He chalked it up to the redhead's usual weirdness about things.
It was amazing to Oishi. They'd been the Golden Pair for more years than he cared to remember, but there were still times when he thought that understanding Eiji was completely impossible. On the surface, he seemed simple enough, but once you dug deep enough, you realized that Eiji operated on a logic that only he could understand. It was impossible for Oishi to completely get his motives.
"Yeah, I guess." He shrugged. Scrunching his face up, he continued in a not-so-pleased tone, "But she didn't have to kiss me right out in public like that."
This made Oishi laugh. "Sisters are like that, I guess."
Eiji nodded knowingly. "Girls are weird. I don't get them."
For some reason, this sent Oishi giggling. If only Eiji knew how hard he, himself, was to understand!
Eiji's questioning expressions and pleas for Oishi to explain why he was laughing only made the giggles worse. "It's nothing, Eiji. Nothing at all."
He took another bite of his ice cream after they'd mostly subsided and motioned that his mouth was full; he couldn't explain anything with his mouth already occupied.
"Oishi!" Eiji called out in a less-than-calm voice. "You're impossible!"
It was unfortunate that this started the giggles up again.
Yes. He was the impossible one.
--
Four o'clock found one Fuji Syuusuke typing away at his keyboard, excitedly recounting the day's events to the populace of the Internet.
A knocking on his door interrupted his reflections.
"Yes?" He called out, not bothering to look and see who it was. He'd know that knock anywhere.
"I called ahead." A masculine voice informed him as the door opened.
"Oh?" This was news; the surprise on his face was genuine. "I didn't hear my phone go off."
He quickly turned back to his keyboard, wanting to finish this Update before certain prying eyes saw what he was working on. A few sentences later, he quickly hit "submit" and closed out of the Updates section of the site.
Luckily for Fuji, Tezuka was not the prying type. Something in his DNA refused to let him be nosy. Instead, he stood in Fuji's doorway, pointedly looking everywhere but at Fuji's computer screen. This was quite a task in the sparsely-furnished room. Fuji only kept a bed, desk, and chair in his room. A half-opened trunk sat on the floor between the end of his bed and his open closet. He'd been working hard on sorting through which of his things he wanted to take with him to the university he planned on attending.
"Have you finished?" The phrase was ambiguous enough to either refer to Fuji's meddlings on his computer, or the packing of his trunk.
"I am." His answer was left equally-ambiguous.
A nod was all he got as a reply before the stoic man walked into his room. He seemed to not know what to do next.
"You can sit, if you'd like," Fuji offered, not the slightest bothered by his awkward unsurity.
Tezuka raised a brow. Fuji took this to mean, "Where?"
Smiling, Fuji nodded towards his bed. "You'll find it's quite comfortable."
"I'm sure it is." The tone could have meant anything, but Fuji just smiled.
Tezuka perched on the very edge of the blue comforter, his one leg crossed over the other, his hands folded in his lap.
"I apologize for the wait." Fuji turned in the chair to better see his friend and former tennis teammate. "I was just updating my Freedom Express."
"It wasn't a long wait." His inquisitive expression told Fuji that he wanted to know more, but wasn't going to ask.
Fuji gestured towards his screen. There was no identifying information on the front page. "It's a social community, sort-of like making Internet pen-pals, but anonymously."
"Anonymously?" Tezuka stood and walked the few steps to Fuji's desk. "There are ways of tracking people, I'm sure."
Light brown locks moved to and fro as Fuji shook his head. "It's not about finding out who people are. It's about forgetting who you are for a little bit, and meeting other people who want to do the same."
Tezuka's unmoving expression told Fuji exactly how interested he was: not very.
"You create Updates about your life. It's a bit like a blog. There are also chat rooms." He clicked on the chat button. "They have a tennis room. I've met quite a few people on there."
It didn't take him long to navigate to the room that he was so-used to entering. Briefly, his friend, Number 42, entered, but signed out just as fast.
"You comment on Updates, and let others comment on yours. It's interesting." He smiled up at Tezuka (who now seemed a bit more interested). "Disclosing personal information is not allowed. No names, no addresses, no phone numbers. Not even the country. It's a nice escape."
Tezuka frowned. "I'm not interested in such a thing."
"No? I think you could benefit from it."
His silence frustrated Fuji slightly, but he continued smiling.
"If you can guess my Number, I'll tell you if you're right," he encouraged.
"Number? Not username?" His smile wilted a little at the obvious disregard for Fuji's attempt at enticing him. Still, he was at least a little bit interested. That was better than when he'd walked in.
"Number, yes. You're allowed to pick a Number. There are no usernames, as they could potentially identify someone."
Tezuka turned and sat on Fuji's bed once more. "Freedom Express, it's called?"
Fuji's smile turned into a full-on grin. He'd done it. He had Tezuka hooked on the silly little site. Briefly, he mused over the sorts of things that a guy like Tezuka would have to say. A light chuckle escaped him before he could stop it. "Yes, that's it. You have to download their client, but it's well worth it."
It wasn't a total lie. It really was fun, and it really did serve as a nice escape. It was a great stress relief to not have to worry about people judging you on silly things. It was all on a deeper, more personal, level. Fuji liked this.
There was a long silence from the other side of the room. It was in moments like these that Fuji was able to really look at Tezuka. If asked, he wouldn't be able to put a finger on what exactly had attracted to him in the first place. It was so many years ago; he could no longer remember. But over the years, whatever had originally hooked him on Tezuka was replaced by his admiration for the man's maturity, intelligence, and, if he were to be totally honest, his looks were not something to ignore.
It irritated Fuji that Tezuka was so hard to read. Right now, he couldn't tell what the man was thinking at all. Any number of things could be going through that brain of his, and Fuji didn't have the slightest idea what any of them were.
It was so frustrating.
It was impossible for Fuji to tell if Tezuka were attracted to him or not. It was impossible to tell if it were even possible for Tezuka to be attracted to anyone. He was so stuck up in his own thoughts all the time.
He really hadn't been lying when he said he thought Tezuka could benefit from the silly program. Maybe putting some of those thoughts out in cyberspace could help him realize that articulating some of them was actually beneficial.
"Which university did you decide on?"
Upon realizing he'd been staring, Fuji worked hard to keep his smile from fading. "Find me on Freedom Express and you might find out."
He waited patiently for Tezuka's response. If he were genuinely interested in what Fuji decided on, then maybe, just maybe, he might have some sort of interest in Fuji other than as a friend. Maybe...just maybe...he'd have hope.
"I will not play your games, Fuji."
He quickly turned in his chair to avoid having Tezuka see his expression. He expected the words, but they still hurt. Surely, Tezuka was purposefully pushing him back down every time he dared to flutter up, but it took every ounce of his being to convince his heart of that.
It was so hard.
"Of course not." It took effort to keep the smile in his voice, but he did it. He was used to doing it after all these years. "What did you decide on?"
When he didn't receive an answer, he had to look over at the other man. His eyes were focused on his open cell phone.
Fuji was not pleased. He didn't appreciate being ignored by anyone, much less the guy he'd admired for so long.
"Tezuka?" he prompted, his voice telling the lie that he wasn't upset.
"Tokyo University," he replied without looking up. He quickly hit a button and snapped his phone shut. It slid easily into his pocket. "That was Grandfather. My apologies."
"Your grandfather uses a cell phone? How modern." He was intentionally derailing, and he had a feeling that both of them knew it.
"He does."
The room was quiet for too long. Tezuka eventually excused himself to the restroom, and Fuji was left sitting alone in his room. He felt like a stranger where he sat; somebody that didn't belong in his own house. It was a truly unnerving feeling.
He hated it. It wasn't fair.
It wasn't fair that Tezuka could be so cool and calm all the time, his expression never changing in any situation. It wasn't fair that he was always able to keep his composure. It wasn't fair that Fuji had to feel this way for a guy like him.
He stood and walked over to his closet, resuming the task that he'd been distracted from earlier. He carefully folded shirts and sweaters, placing them in their proper place in his old brown trunk. His father had insisted that he use it. It was leftover from his days at Tokyo University, he'd said. He'd been so proud when Fuji had told him that he'd gotten in. It was the first time Fuji really felt that fatherly approval. He'd wanted it so badly that he couldn't bring himself to tell his parents what he'd chosen to major in.
It would crush their little fantasy, and inevitably come back on him. He couldn't have that.
He slammed the trunk shut angrily and sat down on it, his face burying in his hands. No, he'd have to make sure that no-one close to him found out.
Unbeknownst to him, a figure crept backed away from his door silently and crept downstairs.
Oh. Someone asked me what music I listen to when I write. I don't remember who. If you're reading, here you go! My embarrassing YouTube PoT playlist! :D
It turned out a bit differently than I'd originally planned it, but when you don't plan much to begin with, that's what happens.
Please note that, due to the nature of NaNoWriMo (and the fact that I used WriteOrDie to finish this), this is completely unedited, and pretty much a massive stream of consciousness.
There's a good possibility that I will abandon this halfway through. Like always.
Anyway. It's behind the cut. It's massive for a single sitting (3360 words)
Info:
Title: Set in Motion
Series: Prince of Tennis
Pairings: YuuMi, EijiOishi, TezFu, others
Warnings/rating: None yet, PG
Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis or any of its characters. I am SO not making profit off of this labor.
The Internet: the epitome of anonymity. No-one has to know who you are; you are hidden behind an identity that may or may not be your own. Not a single person has to see your face. Not a single person has to see your expression, or hear your voice shake. No-one will know any information about yourself other than what you give them. You are free.
Thus, this world has become a place where people go to hide from the real world. It is a place for making friends from places you normally would not. It is a place for sharing, venting, reaching out.
It can also be a dangerous place.
Oishi Shuuichiro sat down at his desk with a sigh. Yes, the Internet was a dangerous place.
It was a place where he wrote things he shouldn't--and wouldn't, normally.
He logged into his Freedom Express account. Picking up his glass of water, he took a sip while he waits for the engine to load. He wondered who would be on tonight. He wondered who he would meet. He wondered what he would write about.
The familiar mascot greeted him with a smile and a wave before disappearing into the ether of the webpage.
A smile formed on his lips as he watches the strange creature bounce off into a distance he couldn't see. It reminded him of his friend Eiji in a way. Always cheerful, never a frown to be seen. Just an upbeat bundle of energy. He thought that should call Eiji sometime soon. It had been a while since they'd last spoken.
The engine faded onto the screen and asked whether he wanted to login to a chat room or go to Homespace.
He clicked the icon that took him to the list of chat rooms available and connected to the tennis room--it was the one he always joined. Upon seeing that there were no familiar codes on, he exited out and logged into Homespace. The pleasant mint green and pale yellow of the page always seemed to put him in a good mood. They were happy colors.
He replied to a few comments and clicked the link that let him create an Update.
"What should I write about today?" he wondered aloud. Not much had occurred. It was actually a pretty slow day. He decided on the bare essentials.
'Today, I packed a few boxes. I'm getting excited about the new semester. I wonder if it will be any different from high school?'
He sat back from his monitor. Yes, Oishi was a university student starting this fall. He was both happy and sad. A lot had changed since graduation. It worried him. He could feel his friends drifting apart slowly. It upset him since they'd been so close for so many years. They'd been playing tennis since they were 12, after all. They'd been together since then. Now, at 18 and 19, they were separating? It seemed unfair and just a little cruel.
It was no-one's fault, really. They all had different dreams to pursue and different paths to walk, but it bothered him. He knew they'd probably stay in touch for a while, but...eventually, they would stop keeping in touch altogether.
He didn't want that. Especially not with Eiji. He couldn't imagine not talking to Eiji. He'd become such a huge part of his life.
Sighing again, Oishi clicked the refresh button on the program and started when he saw a status update from someone he occasionally talked to in the program.
'I've been packing! I'm so excited! I can't wait to make new friends this year!'
He smiled to himself and clicked the reply button.
"Are you moving?" he wrote.
The reply came quickly.
"Yup! ...Sort-of."
"Sort-of?'" he questioned.
"Yeah. Well. I'm going to a university this fall and I'm living in the dorms, so...'sort-of.'"
Oishi nodded at the computer screen, though he wasn't sure why. It wasn't like the other person could see him. He found himself doing strange things like that sometimes.
"I see. I'm going to a university this fall, too. I've been packing all day. It's hard to know what to bring."
"You must be my age, then!" The reply said. "I've been trying to think of what all I should pack up, too. There's so much stuff I want to bring!"
Oishi nodded again. He knew that feeling. Sparing a glance around his room, he took in the piles of stuff he'd been sorting through. It wasn't very methodical, but it worked. One pile was stuff to give away, one was stuff he was putting into storage, and one was a small pile of things he'd decided to bring, but hadn't gotten around to packing up yet.
What he really wanted to do was ask this person which university he (or she, Oishi corrected in his mind) was going to, but that wasn't allowed. Freedom Express was an odd site devoted to anonymity. Revealing locations--present, future, or past--were strictly forbidden.
"I exactly what you're going through," he wrote. "I've got piles of stuff sitting over here."
"Me too!" The reply wasn't quite as speedy this time. "My room is such a mess!"
Oishi laughed. His room was barely navigable. He'd probably break an ankle if he had to leave in a hurry.
"Mine, too."
The person didn't write back. Oishi had met Number 31 in the tennis chat he frequented. They'd hit it off pretty well. Oishi was just disappointed that he didn't get to talk to him (or her) very often. now he knew one of the reasons why: they were both busy preparing for their new school.
It was odd. Oishi swore the other was much younger than him.
"Maybe he's lying," he mused. But it was a silly sort-of thing to lie about.
He checked his Update once more for comments, replied to a few that just agreed with what he'd written, and logged out of the server.
There was no point in staying on if no-one was around.
He picked up his cell phone and dialed a familiar number. He smiled when it was picked up almost immediately.
"Eiji?" he greeted. "Want to do something?"
--
"Yeah?" Oishi sat in the ice cream parlor listening to Eiji ramble on about things he was only half paying attention to. He felt a little guilty about not listening to everything, but Eiji had a tendency to ramble about things only he could possibly care about. "That's great."
"...Oishi!" Eiji looked annoyed. Uh-oh. He'd accidentally agreed to something bad again, hadn't he? "Are you even listening to me?"
"S-sorry, Eiji. My mind was elsewhere." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Let me buy you another bowl as an apology?"
This perked the other male up right away. "That'd be okay!" he agreed.
Sighing and nodding, Oishi stood and ordered another of Eiji's favorite. He really was childlike sometimes. He'd be lying if he said it didn't irritate him sometimes. There were some things that a person should take seriously. Eiji tended to not take anything seriously.
'Except doubles,' Oishi corrected. Eiji had always taken their matches seriously--he just managed to have fun while doing it. It was a shame that he couldn't apply the same technique to much of anything else.
"Here you go!" He slid the bowl of strawberry over to the rehead with a smile.
Still, he couldn't imagine life without Eiji there to keep him grinning. He just couldn't stay mad around the bouncing guy--or with him, really. In all the years they'd known each other, he'd never been able to be mad at Eiji for longer than two days. It was impossible. That infectious grin grabbed hold of you and refused to let go. It forced you to smile and forget what angered you in the first place.
That was the magic of Eiji.
"Thank you!" Eiji replied in a sing-song voice that made Oishi giggle in a decidedly unmanly way.
"Sure, sure." He took his seat again. "So what were you saying?"
Never forgoing an opportunity to talk, Eiji launched right in with--what Oishi assumed--was the story he was telling earlier.
"Well I was walking to the store today, and there was this cute little dog...."
Oishi nodded and smiled politely as Eiji talked, spooning ice cream into his mouth. He'd never had the appetite for sweets that Eiji had. He wasn't as bad as Oishi's little sister, but Eiji was close. Oishi always (half) teased that he'd tell Inui on him. Eiji would whine pitifully at this and beg him not to. It was adorable.
And childish.
"...and then she kissed me!"
Oishi blinked in the pastel-colored parlor. "Um...sorry, Eiji. Could you repeat that last part?"
"The girl kissed me. Weird, huh?" He calmly put another spoonful into his mouth. His tone was so casual. It irritated Oishi slightly. How could he be so carefree about something like that.
"Who kissed you, Eiji?" He was surprised at how calm his own voice sounded.
Looking exasperated, Eiji sighed. "You weren't paying attention again!" He pouted around the spoon in his mouth. Pulling it out and letting it drop into the bowl, he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in their booth. "I don't feel like telling it again."
"Eiji," Oishi sighed his name out. "Could you please? Just one more time?"
Oishi could tell that Eiji was giving in by the smile that spread across his face. "Okay~! But just once more, alright?" He pointed his spoon at Oishi. (Which earned him a swift reprimand of "That's not very polite, Eiji.") "You'd better listen this time!"
"I promise," he replied sincerely. "I'm sorry."
Nodding, obviously satisfied, Eiji began his tale again.
As it turned out, the girl was Eiji's sister, kissing him in thanks for finding the dog her friend had lost.
"Well it's good that you helped, right?" Oishi was trying to figure out why Eiji had gotten upset over this sort of agreement earlier. It was a good story with a nice ending, wasn't it? He chalked it up to the redhead's usual weirdness about things.
It was amazing to Oishi. They'd been the Golden Pair for more years than he cared to remember, but there were still times when he thought that understanding Eiji was completely impossible. On the surface, he seemed simple enough, but once you dug deep enough, you realized that Eiji operated on a logic that only he could understand. It was impossible for Oishi to completely get his motives.
"Yeah, I guess." He shrugged. Scrunching his face up, he continued in a not-so-pleased tone, "But she didn't have to kiss me right out in public like that."
This made Oishi laugh. "Sisters are like that, I guess."
Eiji nodded knowingly. "Girls are weird. I don't get them."
For some reason, this sent Oishi giggling. If only Eiji knew how hard he, himself, was to understand!
Eiji's questioning expressions and pleas for Oishi to explain why he was laughing only made the giggles worse. "It's nothing, Eiji. Nothing at all."
He took another bite of his ice cream after they'd mostly subsided and motioned that his mouth was full; he couldn't explain anything with his mouth already occupied.
"Oishi!" Eiji called out in a less-than-calm voice. "You're impossible!"
It was unfortunate that this started the giggles up again.
Yes. He was the impossible one.
--
Four o'clock found one Fuji Syuusuke typing away at his keyboard, excitedly recounting the day's events to the populace of the Internet.
A knocking on his door interrupted his reflections.
"Yes?" He called out, not bothering to look and see who it was. He'd know that knock anywhere.
"I called ahead." A masculine voice informed him as the door opened.
"Oh?" This was news; the surprise on his face was genuine. "I didn't hear my phone go off."
He quickly turned back to his keyboard, wanting to finish this Update before certain prying eyes saw what he was working on. A few sentences later, he quickly hit "submit" and closed out of the Updates section of the site.
Luckily for Fuji, Tezuka was not the prying type. Something in his DNA refused to let him be nosy. Instead, he stood in Fuji's doorway, pointedly looking everywhere but at Fuji's computer screen. This was quite a task in the sparsely-furnished room. Fuji only kept a bed, desk, and chair in his room. A half-opened trunk sat on the floor between the end of his bed and his open closet. He'd been working hard on sorting through which of his things he wanted to take with him to the university he planned on attending.
"Have you finished?" The phrase was ambiguous enough to either refer to Fuji's meddlings on his computer, or the packing of his trunk.
"I am." His answer was left equally-ambiguous.
A nod was all he got as a reply before the stoic man walked into his room. He seemed to not know what to do next.
"You can sit, if you'd like," Fuji offered, not the slightest bothered by his awkward unsurity.
Tezuka raised a brow. Fuji took this to mean, "Where?"
Smiling, Fuji nodded towards his bed. "You'll find it's quite comfortable."
"I'm sure it is." The tone could have meant anything, but Fuji just smiled.
Tezuka perched on the very edge of the blue comforter, his one leg crossed over the other, his hands folded in his lap.
"I apologize for the wait." Fuji turned in the chair to better see his friend and former tennis teammate. "I was just updating my Freedom Express."
"It wasn't a long wait." His inquisitive expression told Fuji that he wanted to know more, but wasn't going to ask.
Fuji gestured towards his screen. There was no identifying information on the front page. "It's a social community, sort-of like making Internet pen-pals, but anonymously."
"Anonymously?" Tezuka stood and walked the few steps to Fuji's desk. "There are ways of tracking people, I'm sure."
Light brown locks moved to and fro as Fuji shook his head. "It's not about finding out who people are. It's about forgetting who you are for a little bit, and meeting other people who want to do the same."
Tezuka's unmoving expression told Fuji exactly how interested he was: not very.
"You create Updates about your life. It's a bit like a blog. There are also chat rooms." He clicked on the chat button. "They have a tennis room. I've met quite a few people on there."
It didn't take him long to navigate to the room that he was so-used to entering. Briefly, his friend, Number 42, entered, but signed out just as fast.
"You comment on Updates, and let others comment on yours. It's interesting." He smiled up at Tezuka (who now seemed a bit more interested). "Disclosing personal information is not allowed. No names, no addresses, no phone numbers. Not even the country. It's a nice escape."
Tezuka frowned. "I'm not interested in such a thing."
"No? I think you could benefit from it."
His silence frustrated Fuji slightly, but he continued smiling.
"If you can guess my Number, I'll tell you if you're right," he encouraged.
"Number? Not username?" His smile wilted a little at the obvious disregard for Fuji's attempt at enticing him. Still, he was at least a little bit interested. That was better than when he'd walked in.
"Number, yes. You're allowed to pick a Number. There are no usernames, as they could potentially identify someone."
Tezuka turned and sat on Fuji's bed once more. "Freedom Express, it's called?"
Fuji's smile turned into a full-on grin. He'd done it. He had Tezuka hooked on the silly little site. Briefly, he mused over the sorts of things that a guy like Tezuka would have to say. A light chuckle escaped him before he could stop it. "Yes, that's it. You have to download their client, but it's well worth it."
It wasn't a total lie. It really was fun, and it really did serve as a nice escape. It was a great stress relief to not have to worry about people judging you on silly things. It was all on a deeper, more personal, level. Fuji liked this.
There was a long silence from the other side of the room. It was in moments like these that Fuji was able to really look at Tezuka. If asked, he wouldn't be able to put a finger on what exactly had attracted to him in the first place. It was so many years ago; he could no longer remember. But over the years, whatever had originally hooked him on Tezuka was replaced by his admiration for the man's maturity, intelligence, and, if he were to be totally honest, his looks were not something to ignore.
It irritated Fuji that Tezuka was so hard to read. Right now, he couldn't tell what the man was thinking at all. Any number of things could be going through that brain of his, and Fuji didn't have the slightest idea what any of them were.
It was so frustrating.
It was impossible for Fuji to tell if Tezuka were attracted to him or not. It was impossible to tell if it were even possible for Tezuka to be attracted to anyone. He was so stuck up in his own thoughts all the time.
He really hadn't been lying when he said he thought Tezuka could benefit from the silly program. Maybe putting some of those thoughts out in cyberspace could help him realize that articulating some of them was actually beneficial.
"Which university did you decide on?"
Upon realizing he'd been staring, Fuji worked hard to keep his smile from fading. "Find me on Freedom Express and you might find out."
He waited patiently for Tezuka's response. If he were genuinely interested in what Fuji decided on, then maybe, just maybe, he might have some sort of interest in Fuji other than as a friend. Maybe...just maybe...he'd have hope.
"I will not play your games, Fuji."
He quickly turned in his chair to avoid having Tezuka see his expression. He expected the words, but they still hurt. Surely, Tezuka was purposefully pushing him back down every time he dared to flutter up, but it took every ounce of his being to convince his heart of that.
It was so hard.
"Of course not." It took effort to keep the smile in his voice, but he did it. He was used to doing it after all these years. "What did you decide on?"
When he didn't receive an answer, he had to look over at the other man. His eyes were focused on his open cell phone.
Fuji was not pleased. He didn't appreciate being ignored by anyone, much less the guy he'd admired for so long.
"Tezuka?" he prompted, his voice telling the lie that he wasn't upset.
"Tokyo University," he replied without looking up. He quickly hit a button and snapped his phone shut. It slid easily into his pocket. "That was Grandfather. My apologies."
"Your grandfather uses a cell phone? How modern." He was intentionally derailing, and he had a feeling that both of them knew it.
"He does."
The room was quiet for too long. Tezuka eventually excused himself to the restroom, and Fuji was left sitting alone in his room. He felt like a stranger where he sat; somebody that didn't belong in his own house. It was a truly unnerving feeling.
He hated it. It wasn't fair.
It wasn't fair that Tezuka could be so cool and calm all the time, his expression never changing in any situation. It wasn't fair that he was always able to keep his composure. It wasn't fair that Fuji had to feel this way for a guy like him.
He stood and walked over to his closet, resuming the task that he'd been distracted from earlier. He carefully folded shirts and sweaters, placing them in their proper place in his old brown trunk. His father had insisted that he use it. It was leftover from his days at Tokyo University, he'd said. He'd been so proud when Fuji had told him that he'd gotten in. It was the first time Fuji really felt that fatherly approval. He'd wanted it so badly that he couldn't bring himself to tell his parents what he'd chosen to major in.
It would crush their little fantasy, and inevitably come back on him. He couldn't have that.
He slammed the trunk shut angrily and sat down on it, his face burying in his hands. No, he'd have to make sure that no-one close to him found out.
Unbeknownst to him, a figure crept backed away from his door silently and crept downstairs.
Oh. Someone asked me what music I listen to when I write. I don't remember who. If you're reading, here you go! My embarrassing YouTube PoT playlist! :D