Love, Fuji (Ch.2)
Title: Love, Fuji (Ch.2)
Author: doumyoujitsukas Kuramarulez on ff.net
Warnings: Worksafe
Pairing(s): Perfect Pair, slight Golden.
Notes: Love came in many different shapes and sizes. For Fuji, it came in the form of a tall, glasses wearing, stoic captain.
At first, Fuji had thought he meant something to Tezuka. He had thought that maybe, deep down under Tezuka’s quiet and stern exterior, the captain might have harbored some feelings for Fuji.
Not romantic ones, no, but some form of a feeling. Deep, deep inside.
But when Tezuka returned from his rehabilitation to take Ryuzaki-sensei’s place as one of the coaches of the Junior Senbatsu, he couldn’t help but think that maybe he was wrong.
Tezuka hadn’t told anyone that he was coming back, not even Oishi. But Fuji had hoped that they had had something special. But when Tezuka returned without batting an eye, Fuji knew it was time to stop living in his delusions.
There really was a limit to how long he could lie to himself. There was an invisible line.
And Fuji had gone way too far past it.
-
“Your drop shot was great, buchou!” Momoshiro Takeshi exclaimed loudly over his soda, “And Echizen’s Muga no Kyouchi activated pretty quickly, didn’t it?” he rubbed said teen’s head.
“You’re loud, Momo-senpai.” Echizen brushed the irritating hand off his head.
“That was a great match.” Inui agreed, “My data on both of you increased. Of course, more data would’ve been acquired if the cameraman was slightly more competent…” his voice trailed off.
Tezuka glanced around their little table, before frowning, “Where’s Oishi?”
The acrobatic teen beside Fuji seemed to twitch, just slightly.
“Hmm?” Inui glanced up, “Oh, he said he couldn’t make it. Something about lots of work, or whatnot.”
For the rest of the night, Fuji was content to sit by Tezuka, and listen to him talk. There wasn’t much to listen to, obviously, since the stoic captain let Echizen do most of the talking. But what little he said held Fuji’s attention, and absolutely captivated him.
By the end of the reunion, Fuji Shuusuke was extremely jealous of the time Echizen Ryoma got to spend with Tezuka. The secret smiles the two shared, when they spoke of the stories about the tournaments made it seem as if Echizen was rubbing it in. As if he was saying-
I know more about him than you do.
-
Tezuka and Echizen’s plane was set to leave the next morning. Neither of them expected the rest of the ex-regulars to show up, as the next day was a weekday.
“Buchou,” Echizen looked up, “We still have half an hour before the plane leaves. I’m going to get a Ponta.”
Tezuka nodded. “Don’t let your guard down.”
“Che.”
“Tezuka.”
Tezuka turned to the source of the voice, and gave the slightest hint of a smile, “Fuji.” he acknowledged, before walking towards the teen. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you two off.” Fuji smiled serenely before tilting his head in what was supposedly a puzzled manner, “Where’s Echizen?”
Tezuka almost answered, before catching himself, “How long have you been following us?”
Fuji chuckled, “As perceptive as always, Tezuka.” his eyes opened slightly, “What do you and Echizen usually do when you’re not playing matches?” Fuji asked quietly.
“More matches.”
A smile spread across Fuji’s face, and he reached out, straightening the collar of Tezuka’s shirt, “No pretty girlfriend to keep you company?”
“You know the answer to that.” Tezuka answered warily.
“Tezuka,” Fuji started, “I-”
“Buchou!” Echizen jogged up, two Pontas in hand. “I got you one too-Fuji-senpai!” the teen blinked.
“Echizen.” Fuji smiled, and patted his cap, “Good luck to both of you.” he turned and waved as he started to walk away.
Tezuka took two large steps, and grabbed Fuji’s wrist, “Fuji, listen-” There seemed to be some kind of intensity in the teen’s eyes, and his grip on Fuji’s wrist tightened, “I-”
“Will all passengers of flight JG234 proceed to the boarding area.” A voice came over the intercom.
Tezuka let go of Fuji’s wrist as if something had shocked him, “-bye.” he muttered, and grabbed his suitcase.
Fuji watched Tezuka and Echizen’s retreating backs, and couldn’t help but feel another pang of jealously towards Echizen.
Fuji, listen.
-
“Game set,” Eiji had mumbled through tears, “to Oishi. 6 games to love.”
Fuji had promised himself, that if Eiji lost his match, he’d forget Tezuka. Fuji smiled softly. He knew Oishi wouldn’t lose.
-
“Fujiko-chan!” Eiji’s cheerful voice rang through the apartment they shared, “Fuji, Fuji, Fuji! Listen!”
Fuji, listen.
“Oishi’s coming back tomorrow, nya!”
“That’s great.” Fuji smiled warmly at his friend, “We’ll have another reunion.”
The smile fell off Eiji’s face, “Fuji. When are you going to tell Tezuka?” Eiji wrapped his arms around Fuji in a hug, “You were right, Fuji. Oishi did understand. Now you have to listen to me-”
Fuji, listen.
“-and tell Tezuka, nya!”
Fuji, listen. Listen? Listen to what?
-
“Eiji?” Fuji leaned over his friend’s shoulder, “What are you reading?”
“Manga!” Eiji shoved the book in Fuji’s face, “See-” he jabbed at a girl on the cover, “-she’s the main character, and she loves this guy-” he jabbed at another person, “-but she doesn’t wanna tell him, so she tries to force herself to forget, but just ends up digging herself into it even deeper, and then he-” Eiji continued on his rant.
Fuji frowned lightly at the cover. Somehow, the story Eiji told had seemed so familiar. Fuji paused, and smiled, almost sadly.
That’s right. It’s the story of my life.
Every time Fuji tried to tell himself that Tezuka was merely a friend, something inside him hurt. With every single time he repeated it to himself, it seemed to grow, until it suffocated him.
“And?” Fuji spoke suddenly, “What happens to them at the end?”
“-and then they go to a picnic-huh? At the end?” Eiji frowned at the cover, “I don’t know. I didn’t finish yet.”
“Oh.” Fuji’s usual smile replaced the look of curiosity on his face, “Tell me when you are.”
“Mm’kay, Fuji!”
Somehow, Fuji could already tell that it wouldn’t be good.
-
“Game set! Won by Hyotei Gakuen’s Atobe, 7 games to 6!”
On screen, a 14 year old Tezuka walked slowly to the net and grasped Atobe’s hand, and raised it into the air. Cheers erupted from both sides of the court.
Fuji’s finger hit the pause button on the remote, and he stared silently at the frozen figures on the screen. There was some kind of passion that lay in Tezuka’s eyes. Something that Fuji rarely saw in the stoic captain.
“Tezuka…” Fuji whispered softly.
“Fujiko-chan!” Eiji called loudly from the kitchen, “Dinner’s ready, nya!”
Fuji jumped slightly, and he hit the power button. The TV shut off with a loud click, as Eiji entered the room.
“Fuji, dinner’s going to be cold if you don’t-” Eiji froze when he spotted the remote in Fuji’s hand, “Again, Fuji?” Eiji asked quietly, “How long are you going to do this to yourself?”
Fuji smiled, “I just thought I’d watch the tapes from before, just to see us all play again. It’s been awhile since we’ve all played together.” Fuji stood up from the bed, and walked over to his desk, pretending to rearrange the books into a neat pile.
“It’s the Hyotei match again, isn’t it?” Eiji asked Fuji’s retreating back, “Tezuka versus Atobe?”
Fuji stopped moving.
“You’ve watched that so many times.” There seemed to be an impatient note in the redheaded teen’s voice. “It’s not going to change anything, you know.”
Fuji stared down at his desk, and spoke, and it was barely loud enough for Eiji to hear. “I told myself that I’d forget Tezuka if you lost your match. You’ve done that before, haven’t you? Where you do something so many times that you get bored with it. If I watch Tezuka enough times, maybe, I’ll get bored with him.”
“And you think love works that way?” Eiji’s voice level matched Fuji’s, and Fuji had to strain to hear it.
The next sentence made Fuji’s heart skip a beat, and it took everything for him not to throw the remote in his hand at his friend.
“If you really think of it like that, then maybe you don’t deserve Tezuka.”
Fuji’s hand shook, and he let go of the remote and instead, grabbed the edge of the table, trying, but to no avail, to stop the shaking.
“By the way,” Eiji continued quietly, “That manga I was reading. The girl was too late, she-” he paused, and seemed to think better of what he was going to say. Eiji turned, and reached for the doorknob. When he was halfway out the door, he stopped again, and sighed.
“-she doesn’t get him.”
Previous chapter here. Golden Pair companion fic here.
Author: doumyoujitsukas Kuramarulez on ff.net
Warnings: Worksafe
Pairing(s): Perfect Pair, slight Golden.
Notes: Love came in many different shapes and sizes. For Fuji, it came in the form of a tall, glasses wearing, stoic captain.
At first, Fuji had thought he meant something to Tezuka. He had thought that maybe, deep down under Tezuka’s quiet and stern exterior, the captain might have harbored some feelings for Fuji.
Not romantic ones, no, but some form of a feeling. Deep, deep inside.
But when Tezuka returned from his rehabilitation to take Ryuzaki-sensei’s place as one of the coaches of the Junior Senbatsu, he couldn’t help but think that maybe he was wrong.
Tezuka hadn’t told anyone that he was coming back, not even Oishi. But Fuji had hoped that they had had something special. But when Tezuka returned without batting an eye, Fuji knew it was time to stop living in his delusions.
There really was a limit to how long he could lie to himself. There was an invisible line.
And Fuji had gone way too far past it.
-
“Your drop shot was great, buchou!” Momoshiro Takeshi exclaimed loudly over his soda, “And Echizen’s Muga no Kyouchi activated pretty quickly, didn’t it?” he rubbed said teen’s head.
“You’re loud, Momo-senpai.” Echizen brushed the irritating hand off his head.
“That was a great match.” Inui agreed, “My data on both of you increased. Of course, more data would’ve been acquired if the cameraman was slightly more competent…” his voice trailed off.
Tezuka glanced around their little table, before frowning, “Where’s Oishi?”
The acrobatic teen beside Fuji seemed to twitch, just slightly.
“Hmm?” Inui glanced up, “Oh, he said he couldn’t make it. Something about lots of work, or whatnot.”
For the rest of the night, Fuji was content to sit by Tezuka, and listen to him talk. There wasn’t much to listen to, obviously, since the stoic captain let Echizen do most of the talking. But what little he said held Fuji’s attention, and absolutely captivated him.
By the end of the reunion, Fuji Shuusuke was extremely jealous of the time Echizen Ryoma got to spend with Tezuka. The secret smiles the two shared, when they spoke of the stories about the tournaments made it seem as if Echizen was rubbing it in. As if he was saying-
I know more about him than you do.
-
Tezuka and Echizen’s plane was set to leave the next morning. Neither of them expected the rest of the ex-regulars to show up, as the next day was a weekday.
“Buchou,” Echizen looked up, “We still have half an hour before the plane leaves. I’m going to get a Ponta.”
Tezuka nodded. “Don’t let your guard down.”
“Che.”
“Tezuka.”
Tezuka turned to the source of the voice, and gave the slightest hint of a smile, “Fuji.” he acknowledged, before walking towards the teen. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you two off.” Fuji smiled serenely before tilting his head in what was supposedly a puzzled manner, “Where’s Echizen?”
Tezuka almost answered, before catching himself, “How long have you been following us?”
Fuji chuckled, “As perceptive as always, Tezuka.” his eyes opened slightly, “What do you and Echizen usually do when you’re not playing matches?” Fuji asked quietly.
“More matches.”
A smile spread across Fuji’s face, and he reached out, straightening the collar of Tezuka’s shirt, “No pretty girlfriend to keep you company?”
“You know the answer to that.” Tezuka answered warily.
“Tezuka,” Fuji started, “I-”
“Buchou!” Echizen jogged up, two Pontas in hand. “I got you one too-Fuji-senpai!” the teen blinked.
“Echizen.” Fuji smiled, and patted his cap, “Good luck to both of you.” he turned and waved as he started to walk away.
Tezuka took two large steps, and grabbed Fuji’s wrist, “Fuji, listen-” There seemed to be some kind of intensity in the teen’s eyes, and his grip on Fuji’s wrist tightened, “I-”
“Will all passengers of flight JG234 proceed to the boarding area.” A voice came over the intercom.
Tezuka let go of Fuji’s wrist as if something had shocked him, “-bye.” he muttered, and grabbed his suitcase.
Fuji watched Tezuka and Echizen’s retreating backs, and couldn’t help but feel another pang of jealously towards Echizen.
Fuji, listen.
-
“Game set,” Eiji had mumbled through tears, “to Oishi. 6 games to love.”
Fuji had promised himself, that if Eiji lost his match, he’d forget Tezuka. Fuji smiled softly. He knew Oishi wouldn’t lose.
-
“Fujiko-chan!” Eiji’s cheerful voice rang through the apartment they shared, “Fuji, Fuji, Fuji! Listen!”
Fuji, listen.
“Oishi’s coming back tomorrow, nya!”
“That’s great.” Fuji smiled warmly at his friend, “We’ll have another reunion.”
The smile fell off Eiji’s face, “Fuji. When are you going to tell Tezuka?” Eiji wrapped his arms around Fuji in a hug, “You were right, Fuji. Oishi did understand. Now you have to listen to me-”
Fuji, listen.
“-and tell Tezuka, nya!”
Fuji, listen. Listen? Listen to what?
-
“Eiji?” Fuji leaned over his friend’s shoulder, “What are you reading?”
“Manga!” Eiji shoved the book in Fuji’s face, “See-” he jabbed at a girl on the cover, “-she’s the main character, and she loves this guy-” he jabbed at another person, “-but she doesn’t wanna tell him, so she tries to force herself to forget, but just ends up digging herself into it even deeper, and then he-” Eiji continued on his rant.
Fuji frowned lightly at the cover. Somehow, the story Eiji told had seemed so familiar. Fuji paused, and smiled, almost sadly.
That’s right. It’s the story of my life.
Every time Fuji tried to tell himself that Tezuka was merely a friend, something inside him hurt. With every single time he repeated it to himself, it seemed to grow, until it suffocated him.
“And?” Fuji spoke suddenly, “What happens to them at the end?”
“-and then they go to a picnic-huh? At the end?” Eiji frowned at the cover, “I don’t know. I didn’t finish yet.”
“Oh.” Fuji’s usual smile replaced the look of curiosity on his face, “Tell me when you are.”
“Mm’kay, Fuji!”
Somehow, Fuji could already tell that it wouldn’t be good.
-
“Game set! Won by Hyotei Gakuen’s Atobe, 7 games to 6!”
On screen, a 14 year old Tezuka walked slowly to the net and grasped Atobe’s hand, and raised it into the air. Cheers erupted from both sides of the court.
Fuji’s finger hit the pause button on the remote, and he stared silently at the frozen figures on the screen. There was some kind of passion that lay in Tezuka’s eyes. Something that Fuji rarely saw in the stoic captain.
“Tezuka…” Fuji whispered softly.
“Fujiko-chan!” Eiji called loudly from the kitchen, “Dinner’s ready, nya!”
Fuji jumped slightly, and he hit the power button. The TV shut off with a loud click, as Eiji entered the room.
“Fuji, dinner’s going to be cold if you don’t-” Eiji froze when he spotted the remote in Fuji’s hand, “Again, Fuji?” Eiji asked quietly, “How long are you going to do this to yourself?”
Fuji smiled, “I just thought I’d watch the tapes from before, just to see us all play again. It’s been awhile since we’ve all played together.” Fuji stood up from the bed, and walked over to his desk, pretending to rearrange the books into a neat pile.
“It’s the Hyotei match again, isn’t it?” Eiji asked Fuji’s retreating back, “Tezuka versus Atobe?”
Fuji stopped moving.
“You’ve watched that so many times.” There seemed to be an impatient note in the redheaded teen’s voice. “It’s not going to change anything, you know.”
Fuji stared down at his desk, and spoke, and it was barely loud enough for Eiji to hear. “I told myself that I’d forget Tezuka if you lost your match. You’ve done that before, haven’t you? Where you do something so many times that you get bored with it. If I watch Tezuka enough times, maybe, I’ll get bored with him.”
“And you think love works that way?” Eiji’s voice level matched Fuji’s, and Fuji had to strain to hear it.
The next sentence made Fuji’s heart skip a beat, and it took everything for him not to throw the remote in his hand at his friend.
“If you really think of it like that, then maybe you don’t deserve Tezuka.”
Fuji’s hand shook, and he let go of the remote and instead, grabbed the edge of the table, trying, but to no avail, to stop the shaking.
“By the way,” Eiji continued quietly, “That manga I was reading. The girl was too late, she-” he paused, and seemed to think better of what he was going to say. Eiji turned, and reached for the doorknob. When he was halfway out the door, he stopped again, and sighed.
“-she doesn’t get him.”
Previous chapter here. Golden Pair companion fic here.