[LOG] Questionable choices
Who: Niou and Fuji
Where: (Photography) dark room
When: Saturday 15th December
Rating: PG
What: Niou questions Fuji about his choice in partner
Pouring the three developing solutions into trays that ran down the centre of the narrow room, Fuji readied his prints for developing. Since buying his digital SLR, Fuji --like the rest of the school-- didn’t use the dark room very often. However there were some pictures that called for the older techniques, flaws and all. Picking up a pair of tweezers, he slid his first print into the shallow bath on the far side of the room.
Niou double checked to make sure no light would get in before carefully sliding into the dark room, the red glow instantly making him look even more devious than normal. “Hey,” He said in greeting as he allowed his eyes to adjust to the new red lighting. He made sure to take in the trays and papers and all of Fuji’s other supplies so that when he did move he wouldn’t disturb anything. This was one room he was sure Fuji wouldn’t encourage him to use his natural glowing eyes, even if it would make it easier to see the details of Fuji’s face more clearly. But then, maybe it was better some things would be obscured.
“Niou.” Fuji smiled at his friend as he moved his latest print from solution one to solution two. He watched it as the white sheet darkened in a series of growing shadows to reveal the subject of his picture; ice crystals forming on the pane of his bedroom window. “Has Oishi’s raucous behaviour driven you out of your room again?”
“How’d you know? And I swear he still keeps trying to eat me in my sleep,” Niou said referring back to their teasing of his poor roommate the time Fuji had caught him with love bites all over his body and they blamed it on Oishi. “Mind if I crash your picture party?” Niou had only hung out with Fuji a handful of times in the dark room but he found it rather soothing to watch him work methodically from one picture to the next. Perhaps those carefully timed movements would help him keep calm and try to understand just why his friend was kissing Atobe in the snow.
“Poor Oishi. Next he’ll be planning to strangle me with laundry,” Fuji said with cheerful disregard for exactly how close his friend might be to realising that suggestion. He lifted out the print and dropped it into the third, fixing solution. Looking up at Niou in the dim red light, Fuji thought his friend looked strained, almost agitated. “Of course you can stay here. Has something happened?” If it involved Sakaki, this tray of fixing solution was going to be used to fix more than just photographs.
“Better make sure to keep your door locked,” Niou said and the suggestion wasn’t entirely in jest. How did you fight a man who could stop time, afterall? So it was best to keep him on the other side of the door when he was in a murderous mood. “And nothing’s happened to me...” Well nothing bad and certainly nothing that would have him seeking out Fuji in a dark room for. This time what was bothering him was what was going on in Fuji’s life. But he wanted to see if Fuji would bring it up first without him having to directly confront him.
Fuji waited for Niou to finish his cliffhanger sentence as he pushed the budding photograph around in the tray. When more wasn’t forthcoming, he put down the tongs entirely and lent on the counter. “Is it Atsushi?” he asked in some concern. The catboy had some serious personal space issues but Fuji hadn’t forgotten how he had supported him after the fallout from Halloween. “Or Yukimura?” He wasn’t sure why his room-mate’s name came to mind, other than Yukimura looked fairly breakable and Niou would be strangely upset by a shattering. Also, if his room-mate was never to return, he probably ought to know, if only to solidify his alibi.
“Nah, he’s fine. Frisky as usual,” Niou said wondering if Fuji was purposefully playing obtuse or if he really was oblivious to Niou trying to lead the conversation to him and Atobe. “And you’d know about Yukimura more than me, wouldn’t ya?” Niou saw his friend often, partially because they shared classes, but Fuji saw him even more and would probably be the first one to know if Yukimura was having an off day. At least if Yukimura wasn’t being stubborn about it and pretending to be okay. But even then Niou suspected Fuji would see through the act if he wanted to.
In fact, Fuji had no idea what topic Niou had on his mind that was causing him to dance with words more than a bear with a bee sting. It was perhaps a testament to exactly how focussed on Atobe Fuji was that he hadn’t included it in gossip he wanted to share with best friend. He had thought of Niou when anxiety about moving forward with Atobe was on his mind, and the knowledge had a low opinion of the diva had led him to conclude the conversation would not be profitable. Having dismissed the idea, he had moved onto other thoughts. Such as chilli cookies and snowballs. “Is it Ravi?” he teased gently, hoping making Niou relax would loosen his tongue.
Niou did smile a bit at that, Fuji was good at making him laugh and smile in nearly any situation. “Nah, he’s good too.” He stepped a little further into the room and looked down into the tray to see what Fuji was working on. He was pleased that it wasn’t Atobe staring back up at him. “It’s you,” Niou finally said thinking he should try and lead this conversation where he wanted. Well, perhaps not wanted as he really didn’t want to talk nor think about Fuji being with Atobe but he’d much rather hear about it from Fuji than to find out from Atobe.
“Me?” Blue eyes opened properly to stare at Niou in surprise. Niou had been Fuji’s best friend since their first year at the school. It was Niou who came out to hunt for likely grave digging spots, Niou who had bought Fuji a cactus and before that, a stuffed bunny for getting away with bank robbery, Niou who had shown Fuji --albeit initially accidently-- the true form of his mutation and Niou who had held him while weeping angels haunted his bedroom. They didn’t have problems; it wasn’t the way that worked. Hiding his rising concern, Fuji’s face relaxed back into its usual smile. “The body wasn’t mine. You told me the ground was too hard.”
Niou gave a light chuckle at that and shook his head. “Good to know. That would be quite sloppy of you just leaving bodies lying around. But...” Niou paused and poked at the tray causing the solution to ripple. He could still turn back now, make a joke or pick a different topic and just ignore things or he could carry on. There was a chance he would find out Fuji was just poking fun at Atobe, or maybe get Fuji to stop playing with the arrogant git but it was probably more likely they’d get into a battle of wills over it. But Niou wasn’t one to back down from a challenge, even if Fuji was part of the opposition. “It’s still pretty sloppy of you to kiss in the snow.” Fuji should know every well how fast rumours travelled in this school and how difficult it was to keep secrets that weren’t made behind locked doors and far away from others.
The knot in Fuji’s stomach loosened slightly. He had been concerned Niou would call him out on his continual cat fights with Yukimura or tell him in all seriousness he didn’t want Fuji to drown Sakaki in the lake. Compared to that, a moment of unguarded affection seemed neither here nor there. “Nee, Niou, you kiss people all the time,” Fuji pointed out with a chuckle. His friend might wait until there was a reasonable chance of privacy before getting down to his boxers but anything up to then was free viewing.
“Yeah, and it’s fun. But I’m not kissing Atobe,” Niou said trying to stay calm and casual about this. Though if he thought about it, Atobe was more the kind of person he would kiss and not the type he thought Fuji should be kissing. He was Niou, and he kissed the type of boys that had commitment issues and were unable to be monogamous so didn’t expect it from him. Fuji was the type of guy who deserved and wanted someone to be faithful and devoted and perfectly wonderful... while also possibly a little crazy and infinitely mischievous.
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Fuji asked. After all, if he were kissing Atobe and Niou were kissing Atobe... Well, it wasn’t that the concept wasn’t interesting, but it wasn’t really his scene. Fuji walked back to the start of the line of trays, keeping an eye on Niou’s agitated figure. “What is the problem with Atobe? We don’t always see eye-to-eye about people and it’s never been a problem before.” He dropped the next print into the first bath, mentally imagining it as a blue haired boy drowning in a bathtub full of acid.
“Very good. Be better if you weren’t kissing him, too,” Niou said and then rested back against a counter that had nothing on it he could ruin. “Last time I checked, you didn’t like the guy either and enjoyed tormenting him with the rest of us.” How did Niou miss such a big change in his friend? Had he just stupidly assumed that he was spending time with Atobe to torment him when it was really something deeper than that? The thought made him visibly frown.
Fuji beamed at him. “I was showing affection,” he declared. So perhaps that hadn’t been entirely true at first, but if Fuji truly despised someone he rarely bothered taking the time to verbally molest them. “And I find him interesting,” he admitted, lifting the dripping paper out and transferring it to the second bath. “I wasn’t aware he’d offended you quite so badly?”
“Why?” Niou asked before he could filter that thought. He just did not get why Fuji would want to show Atobe affection or find him at all interesting. Niou thought watching water freeze would be more fun than spending time with Atobe. Though to be honest, Niou hadn’t really cared about Atobe’s existence one way or another until Fuji decided to show affection to him. When he found out about Sakaki’s little obsession with the ice queen, Niou was just amused. When Atobe called him names or did annoying things, he was easy enough to ignore since Niou didn’t value his opinion at all and thought he was a giant prat. But if Fuji was (and he shuddered at thought) dating Atobe, then he’d have to be nice to him and they’d probably be forced to socialize and he definitely wouldn’t be allowed to plot his murder. Which would be tolerable if Atobe was but the guy was totally unworthy of looking at Fuji, let alone kissing him. “And he was fine when I could ignore him.... but when he’s messin’ with my friend I kinda have to pay attention,” Niou said trying to explain just a little of why he didn’t like Atobe now. It didn’t help that the more he paid attention to the guy the less he found to like about him.
Fuji tilted his head on one side. “I get to watch water freeze,” he said, and then nodded down at the print that was developing. It showed a frozen rose, glinting in the early morning sun. It was one of the ones Atobe had frozen in the Autumn when Fuji had met him in the garden. He eyed the picture as it filled in from the edges in the solution. Exactly why he liked Atobe was hard to place. The teen was opinionated, determined and frankly adorable when he was ordering Fuji’s death. Yet, it was the ‘je ne sais quoi’ that kept drawing Fuji back.
Moving to the next bath, he poked Niou gently in the stomach. “You don’t have to like him,” he pointed out. “We rarely discuss the people you sleep with after all.” He dropped the photo into the fixing solution and then rose onto his tiptoes, kissing Niou on the cheek. “I can take care of myself.”
Niou had to wonder if Fuji could read his mind but dismissed that, he knew that wasn’t one of Fuji’s powers. They were just good friends like that and sometimes creepily shared thoughts. He immediately distracted from the thought of them being good friends at Fuji’s next words. ‘Are you having sex with him?!’ Almost burst out from him before he clamped down on his tongue. That sort of question would not go over well with Fuji. Besides, his friend wasn’t the type to put out so easily.
After the sweet kiss, Niou curled an arm around Fuji to keep him from wandering off. “We can talk about my lovers if you want,” Niou said. If they talked about his lovers, then Fuji’s would be more than fair game. “And I’m not saying you can’t take care of yourself.” Because while his friend could be amused by chivalrous acts or over protectiveness it also could lead to that person on the ground bleeding. Or at least begging for forgiveness. “But this is pretty new territory for you. You should explore it with someone deserving.” And not the unworthy git, Atobe.
“No, I’ve only just got rid of my nightmares,” Fuji teased at the offer of sharing the more intimate details of Niou’s life. “I don’t need to know what you do to poor Oishi after dark.” Fuji didn’t judge Niou for his amorous lifestyle, but the details of how his best friend was hammered over a table didn’t do much for him. He lifted a hand and gently touched Niou’s cheekbone under his eye. It would be photographic homicide to reveal their true intensity in this room, but that didn’t stop Fuji admiring his memory of their colour. “Who would you set me up with?” he asked, playfully. “Oishi? Oshitari? Tooyama? …. you?” At the last suggestion, his own eyes opened properly to study Niou.
“We can talk about the people without talking about the actions,” Niou said and then looked down into Fuji’s blue eyes. Niou thought they were far more enchanting and beautiful than his own even if the red lights of the room dimmed their vibrancy a little. “And I’d love to suggest me... But we both know that I’m just as undeserving as Atobe is.” He might be able to recognize his own shortcomings and he was sure he’d be honest about any infidelities while Atobe would try to keep them secret but it still put them both in a category that wasn’t good enough to play with Fuji who expected more from his partners than a bit of frivolous fun.
“You judge him harshly, Niou,” Fuji pointed out. He knew Niou was right about himself; if he hadn’t been, they would have started dating years back. And --unlike Fuji and the ice king-- he and Niou had much more to lose. “Why do you believe he will sleep around? He had not the reputation of some of our classmates.” Namely, two catboys, a winged man and --until recently-- the man who chats up security systems.
“No worse than I judge myself,” Niou said with a small shrug and let go of Fuji so he could lean back against the counter, both hands on it and supporting him. “I bet he’s still not over his last lover.” Niou politely did not say Sakaki by name but he was sure Fuji knew who it was already. “And he’s been making puppy eyes at hero boy since he got here. One okay sign from Tezuka and the two will be going at it before you can say cactus.” It was, in all honesty, a bit harsh to judge Atobe like that but Niou argued that harsh did not mean inaccurate.
“I’ve been making puppy eyes at hero boy too,” Fuji said, quite unabashedly, turning back to his tray to fish out the photo and pin it to dry. “It was fun.” He leaned against the table so he was facing Niou, looking at him more seriously. “And no, I suspect he isn’t.” Best not to mention Sakaki’s name indeed. Sudden, violent rages could destroy a nice dark room like this. He paused before saying, “We may not share the same ideas about relationships, Niou, but neither do me and Oishi. It’s not going to be one single great love for me.” He smiled, reaching forward to take Niou’s hand. “I think I’d get bored. That being so, I can afford a risk or two, ne?”
“Yeah, but I bet you flirt with him just to freak him out,” Niou said. He gave Fuji’s hand a light squeeze and kept it in his own. “And I’m not asking you to go out and find your one true love. But Atobe’s gonna hurt you, or get you thrown in jail for murdering him.” Or get him thrown in jail for murdering Atobe for hurting and/or touching Fuji. Any and all of those scenarios, Niou wasn’t much of a fan of.
“It might happen,” Fuji concurred. “Or I might hurt him.” Quite a likely possibility given Atobe’s currently delicate nature and Fuji’s sense of humour. He turned Niou’s hand over in his own and tickled its palm. “This is what I want,” he said seriously. “And if it’s the wrong choice....” The smile turned wicked. “You get to say you told me so and I’m good at escaping jail.”
“I still don’t like it,” Niou said frowning despite the ticklish feeling on his palm. “I don’t want to tell you I told ya so.” Not that he wanted Fuji and Atobe to have a successful relationship because that thought made him feel physically ill but the thought of Fuji getting hurt made him feel worse. “But Eiji and I will help you break out if you need it.” When two of your best friends were a shapeshifter and a teleporter, there weren’t that many places that could hold you for long. Especially when said shapeshifter and teleporter had dubious views on morality.
The deep affection Fuji felt for Niou almost made him jump on his friend and hug him like a koala. Except that would probably result in them on the floor, covered with chemicals. Less adorable. In truth, Fuji had been concerned for Niou since he realised how seriously he intended to proposition his man-scarf tying teacher. Students were one thing, but Sakaki had far too much power in Fuji’s opinion for any disagreements not to work out strongly in his favour. So far it had seemed that Niou had known what he was doing, but Fuji sympathised with his concerns. “You can’t vet my suitors,” he said with a chuckle. “Or if you do... I want to see the questionnaire.”
“So I can quiz Atobe as long as you approve the questions?” Niou thought there were plenty of ways to turn a seemingly innocuous list of questions into an interrogation. And he’d certainly use all of them if he got a chance to quiz Atobe about what he thought he was doing with Fuji.
“If you can persuade him to answer them.” Possibly Fuji should have had more compunction about signing up his lover for detailed interrogation by the school’s biggest trickster, but the possible consequences were too amusing to pass up. He turned and started to unpin the dried prints from there line. “Will you come for a walk with me?” To demonstrate exactly what Fuji had in mind, 20 teletubbies armed with snowballs appeared in the dimly lit room behind him and Niou.
“I can be very persuasive,” Niou said with a grin already thinking up several questions that he thought he could slide past Fuji. His grin faded into a grimace at the small army of teletubbies though and was thankful he managed not to make any embarrassing startled noises. “Are the teletubbies staying here?” He was always happy to go for a walk with Fuji even if it meant getting lost in snowdrifts. He was however less thrilled to go for a walk with those damn tv aliens.
Fuji’s smile was one of innocent pleasure as he scooped up the completed photos. “Niou, the teletubbies are always with us.” And with that, he led the way out of the room.
“That’s reassuring,” Niou muttered to himself as he followed Fuji out, flicking off the red lights as he went.
Where: (Photography) dark room
When: Saturday 15th December
Rating: PG
What: Niou questions Fuji about his choice in partner
Pouring the three developing solutions into trays that ran down the centre of the narrow room, Fuji readied his prints for developing. Since buying his digital SLR, Fuji --like the rest of the school-- didn’t use the dark room very often. However there were some pictures that called for the older techniques, flaws and all. Picking up a pair of tweezers, he slid his first print into the shallow bath on the far side of the room.
Niou double checked to make sure no light would get in before carefully sliding into the dark room, the red glow instantly making him look even more devious than normal. “Hey,” He said in greeting as he allowed his eyes to adjust to the new red lighting. He made sure to take in the trays and papers and all of Fuji’s other supplies so that when he did move he wouldn’t disturb anything. This was one room he was sure Fuji wouldn’t encourage him to use his natural glowing eyes, even if it would make it easier to see the details of Fuji’s face more clearly. But then, maybe it was better some things would be obscured.
“Niou.” Fuji smiled at his friend as he moved his latest print from solution one to solution two. He watched it as the white sheet darkened in a series of growing shadows to reveal the subject of his picture; ice crystals forming on the pane of his bedroom window. “Has Oishi’s raucous behaviour driven you out of your room again?”
“How’d you know? And I swear he still keeps trying to eat me in my sleep,” Niou said referring back to their teasing of his poor roommate the time Fuji had caught him with love bites all over his body and they blamed it on Oishi. “Mind if I crash your picture party?” Niou had only hung out with Fuji a handful of times in the dark room but he found it rather soothing to watch him work methodically from one picture to the next. Perhaps those carefully timed movements would help him keep calm and try to understand just why his friend was kissing Atobe in the snow.
“Poor Oishi. Next he’ll be planning to strangle me with laundry,” Fuji said with cheerful disregard for exactly how close his friend might be to realising that suggestion. He lifted out the print and dropped it into the third, fixing solution. Looking up at Niou in the dim red light, Fuji thought his friend looked strained, almost agitated. “Of course you can stay here. Has something happened?” If it involved Sakaki, this tray of fixing solution was going to be used to fix more than just photographs.
“Better make sure to keep your door locked,” Niou said and the suggestion wasn’t entirely in jest. How did you fight a man who could stop time, afterall? So it was best to keep him on the other side of the door when he was in a murderous mood. “And nothing’s happened to me...” Well nothing bad and certainly nothing that would have him seeking out Fuji in a dark room for. This time what was bothering him was what was going on in Fuji’s life. But he wanted to see if Fuji would bring it up first without him having to directly confront him.
Fuji waited for Niou to finish his cliffhanger sentence as he pushed the budding photograph around in the tray. When more wasn’t forthcoming, he put down the tongs entirely and lent on the counter. “Is it Atsushi?” he asked in some concern. The catboy had some serious personal space issues but Fuji hadn’t forgotten how he had supported him after the fallout from Halloween. “Or Yukimura?” He wasn’t sure why his room-mate’s name came to mind, other than Yukimura looked fairly breakable and Niou would be strangely upset by a shattering. Also, if his room-mate was never to return, he probably ought to know, if only to solidify his alibi.
“Nah, he’s fine. Frisky as usual,” Niou said wondering if Fuji was purposefully playing obtuse or if he really was oblivious to Niou trying to lead the conversation to him and Atobe. “And you’d know about Yukimura more than me, wouldn’t ya?” Niou saw his friend often, partially because they shared classes, but Fuji saw him even more and would probably be the first one to know if Yukimura was having an off day. At least if Yukimura wasn’t being stubborn about it and pretending to be okay. But even then Niou suspected Fuji would see through the act if he wanted to.
In fact, Fuji had no idea what topic Niou had on his mind that was causing him to dance with words more than a bear with a bee sting. It was perhaps a testament to exactly how focussed on Atobe Fuji was that he hadn’t included it in gossip he wanted to share with best friend. He had thought of Niou when anxiety about moving forward with Atobe was on his mind, and the knowledge had a low opinion of the diva had led him to conclude the conversation would not be profitable. Having dismissed the idea, he had moved onto other thoughts. Such as chilli cookies and snowballs. “Is it Ravi?” he teased gently, hoping making Niou relax would loosen his tongue.
Niou did smile a bit at that, Fuji was good at making him laugh and smile in nearly any situation. “Nah, he’s good too.” He stepped a little further into the room and looked down into the tray to see what Fuji was working on. He was pleased that it wasn’t Atobe staring back up at him. “It’s you,” Niou finally said thinking he should try and lead this conversation where he wanted. Well, perhaps not wanted as he really didn’t want to talk nor think about Fuji being with Atobe but he’d much rather hear about it from Fuji than to find out from Atobe.
“Me?” Blue eyes opened properly to stare at Niou in surprise. Niou had been Fuji’s best friend since their first year at the school. It was Niou who came out to hunt for likely grave digging spots, Niou who had bought Fuji a cactus and before that, a stuffed bunny for getting away with bank robbery, Niou who had shown Fuji --albeit initially accidently-- the true form of his mutation and Niou who had held him while weeping angels haunted his bedroom. They didn’t have problems; it wasn’t the way that worked. Hiding his rising concern, Fuji’s face relaxed back into its usual smile. “The body wasn’t mine. You told me the ground was too hard.”
Niou gave a light chuckle at that and shook his head. “Good to know. That would be quite sloppy of you just leaving bodies lying around. But...” Niou paused and poked at the tray causing the solution to ripple. He could still turn back now, make a joke or pick a different topic and just ignore things or he could carry on. There was a chance he would find out Fuji was just poking fun at Atobe, or maybe get Fuji to stop playing with the arrogant git but it was probably more likely they’d get into a battle of wills over it. But Niou wasn’t one to back down from a challenge, even if Fuji was part of the opposition. “It’s still pretty sloppy of you to kiss in the snow.” Fuji should know every well how fast rumours travelled in this school and how difficult it was to keep secrets that weren’t made behind locked doors and far away from others.
The knot in Fuji’s stomach loosened slightly. He had been concerned Niou would call him out on his continual cat fights with Yukimura or tell him in all seriousness he didn’t want Fuji to drown Sakaki in the lake. Compared to that, a moment of unguarded affection seemed neither here nor there. “Nee, Niou, you kiss people all the time,” Fuji pointed out with a chuckle. His friend might wait until there was a reasonable chance of privacy before getting down to his boxers but anything up to then was free viewing.
“Yeah, and it’s fun. But I’m not kissing Atobe,” Niou said trying to stay calm and casual about this. Though if he thought about it, Atobe was more the kind of person he would kiss and not the type he thought Fuji should be kissing. He was Niou, and he kissed the type of boys that had commitment issues and were unable to be monogamous so didn’t expect it from him. Fuji was the type of guy who deserved and wanted someone to be faithful and devoted and perfectly wonderful... while also possibly a little crazy and infinitely mischievous.
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Fuji asked. After all, if he were kissing Atobe and Niou were kissing Atobe... Well, it wasn’t that the concept wasn’t interesting, but it wasn’t really his scene. Fuji walked back to the start of the line of trays, keeping an eye on Niou’s agitated figure. “What is the problem with Atobe? We don’t always see eye-to-eye about people and it’s never been a problem before.” He dropped the next print into the first bath, mentally imagining it as a blue haired boy drowning in a bathtub full of acid.
“Very good. Be better if you weren’t kissing him, too,” Niou said and then rested back against a counter that had nothing on it he could ruin. “Last time I checked, you didn’t like the guy either and enjoyed tormenting him with the rest of us.” How did Niou miss such a big change in his friend? Had he just stupidly assumed that he was spending time with Atobe to torment him when it was really something deeper than that? The thought made him visibly frown.
Fuji beamed at him. “I was showing affection,” he declared. So perhaps that hadn’t been entirely true at first, but if Fuji truly despised someone he rarely bothered taking the time to verbally molest them. “And I find him interesting,” he admitted, lifting the dripping paper out and transferring it to the second bath. “I wasn’t aware he’d offended you quite so badly?”
“Why?” Niou asked before he could filter that thought. He just did not get why Fuji would want to show Atobe affection or find him at all interesting. Niou thought watching water freeze would be more fun than spending time with Atobe. Though to be honest, Niou hadn’t really cared about Atobe’s existence one way or another until Fuji decided to show affection to him. When he found out about Sakaki’s little obsession with the ice queen, Niou was just amused. When Atobe called him names or did annoying things, he was easy enough to ignore since Niou didn’t value his opinion at all and thought he was a giant prat. But if Fuji was (and he shuddered at thought) dating Atobe, then he’d have to be nice to him and they’d probably be forced to socialize and he definitely wouldn’t be allowed to plot his murder. Which would be tolerable if Atobe was but the guy was totally unworthy of looking at Fuji, let alone kissing him. “And he was fine when I could ignore him.... but when he’s messin’ with my friend I kinda have to pay attention,” Niou said trying to explain just a little of why he didn’t like Atobe now. It didn’t help that the more he paid attention to the guy the less he found to like about him.
Fuji tilted his head on one side. “I get to watch water freeze,” he said, and then nodded down at the print that was developing. It showed a frozen rose, glinting in the early morning sun. It was one of the ones Atobe had frozen in the Autumn when Fuji had met him in the garden. He eyed the picture as it filled in from the edges in the solution. Exactly why he liked Atobe was hard to place. The teen was opinionated, determined and frankly adorable when he was ordering Fuji’s death. Yet, it was the ‘je ne sais quoi’ that kept drawing Fuji back.
Moving to the next bath, he poked Niou gently in the stomach. “You don’t have to like him,” he pointed out. “We rarely discuss the people you sleep with after all.” He dropped the photo into the fixing solution and then rose onto his tiptoes, kissing Niou on the cheek. “I can take care of myself.”
Niou had to wonder if Fuji could read his mind but dismissed that, he knew that wasn’t one of Fuji’s powers. They were just good friends like that and sometimes creepily shared thoughts. He immediately distracted from the thought of them being good friends at Fuji’s next words. ‘Are you having sex with him?!’ Almost burst out from him before he clamped down on his tongue. That sort of question would not go over well with Fuji. Besides, his friend wasn’t the type to put out so easily.
After the sweet kiss, Niou curled an arm around Fuji to keep him from wandering off. “We can talk about my lovers if you want,” Niou said. If they talked about his lovers, then Fuji’s would be more than fair game. “And I’m not saying you can’t take care of yourself.” Because while his friend could be amused by chivalrous acts or over protectiveness it also could lead to that person on the ground bleeding. Or at least begging for forgiveness. “But this is pretty new territory for you. You should explore it with someone deserving.” And not the unworthy git, Atobe.
“No, I’ve only just got rid of my nightmares,” Fuji teased at the offer of sharing the more intimate details of Niou’s life. “I don’t need to know what you do to poor Oishi after dark.” Fuji didn’t judge Niou for his amorous lifestyle, but the details of how his best friend was hammered over a table didn’t do much for him. He lifted a hand and gently touched Niou’s cheekbone under his eye. It would be photographic homicide to reveal their true intensity in this room, but that didn’t stop Fuji admiring his memory of their colour. “Who would you set me up with?” he asked, playfully. “Oishi? Oshitari? Tooyama? …. you?” At the last suggestion, his own eyes opened properly to study Niou.
“We can talk about the people without talking about the actions,” Niou said and then looked down into Fuji’s blue eyes. Niou thought they were far more enchanting and beautiful than his own even if the red lights of the room dimmed their vibrancy a little. “And I’d love to suggest me... But we both know that I’m just as undeserving as Atobe is.” He might be able to recognize his own shortcomings and he was sure he’d be honest about any infidelities while Atobe would try to keep them secret but it still put them both in a category that wasn’t good enough to play with Fuji who expected more from his partners than a bit of frivolous fun.
“You judge him harshly, Niou,” Fuji pointed out. He knew Niou was right about himself; if he hadn’t been, they would have started dating years back. And --unlike Fuji and the ice king-- he and Niou had much more to lose. “Why do you believe he will sleep around? He had not the reputation of some of our classmates.” Namely, two catboys, a winged man and --until recently-- the man who chats up security systems.
“No worse than I judge myself,” Niou said with a small shrug and let go of Fuji so he could lean back against the counter, both hands on it and supporting him. “I bet he’s still not over his last lover.” Niou politely did not say Sakaki by name but he was sure Fuji knew who it was already. “And he’s been making puppy eyes at hero boy since he got here. One okay sign from Tezuka and the two will be going at it before you can say cactus.” It was, in all honesty, a bit harsh to judge Atobe like that but Niou argued that harsh did not mean inaccurate.
“I’ve been making puppy eyes at hero boy too,” Fuji said, quite unabashedly, turning back to his tray to fish out the photo and pin it to dry. “It was fun.” He leaned against the table so he was facing Niou, looking at him more seriously. “And no, I suspect he isn’t.” Best not to mention Sakaki’s name indeed. Sudden, violent rages could destroy a nice dark room like this. He paused before saying, “We may not share the same ideas about relationships, Niou, but neither do me and Oishi. It’s not going to be one single great love for me.” He smiled, reaching forward to take Niou’s hand. “I think I’d get bored. That being so, I can afford a risk or two, ne?”
“Yeah, but I bet you flirt with him just to freak him out,” Niou said. He gave Fuji’s hand a light squeeze and kept it in his own. “And I’m not asking you to go out and find your one true love. But Atobe’s gonna hurt you, or get you thrown in jail for murdering him.” Or get him thrown in jail for murdering Atobe for hurting and/or touching Fuji. Any and all of those scenarios, Niou wasn’t much of a fan of.
“It might happen,” Fuji concurred. “Or I might hurt him.” Quite a likely possibility given Atobe’s currently delicate nature and Fuji’s sense of humour. He turned Niou’s hand over in his own and tickled its palm. “This is what I want,” he said seriously. “And if it’s the wrong choice....” The smile turned wicked. “You get to say you told me so and I’m good at escaping jail.”
“I still don’t like it,” Niou said frowning despite the ticklish feeling on his palm. “I don’t want to tell you I told ya so.” Not that he wanted Fuji and Atobe to have a successful relationship because that thought made him feel physically ill but the thought of Fuji getting hurt made him feel worse. “But Eiji and I will help you break out if you need it.” When two of your best friends were a shapeshifter and a teleporter, there weren’t that many places that could hold you for long. Especially when said shapeshifter and teleporter had dubious views on morality.
The deep affection Fuji felt for Niou almost made him jump on his friend and hug him like a koala. Except that would probably result in them on the floor, covered with chemicals. Less adorable. In truth, Fuji had been concerned for Niou since he realised how seriously he intended to proposition his man-scarf tying teacher. Students were one thing, but Sakaki had far too much power in Fuji’s opinion for any disagreements not to work out strongly in his favour. So far it had seemed that Niou had known what he was doing, but Fuji sympathised with his concerns. “You can’t vet my suitors,” he said with a chuckle. “Or if you do... I want to see the questionnaire.”
“So I can quiz Atobe as long as you approve the questions?” Niou thought there were plenty of ways to turn a seemingly innocuous list of questions into an interrogation. And he’d certainly use all of them if he got a chance to quiz Atobe about what he thought he was doing with Fuji.
“If you can persuade him to answer them.” Possibly Fuji should have had more compunction about signing up his lover for detailed interrogation by the school’s biggest trickster, but the possible consequences were too amusing to pass up. He turned and started to unpin the dried prints from there line. “Will you come for a walk with me?” To demonstrate exactly what Fuji had in mind, 20 teletubbies armed with snowballs appeared in the dimly lit room behind him and Niou.
“I can be very persuasive,” Niou said with a grin already thinking up several questions that he thought he could slide past Fuji. His grin faded into a grimace at the small army of teletubbies though and was thankful he managed not to make any embarrassing startled noises. “Are the teletubbies staying here?” He was always happy to go for a walk with Fuji even if it meant getting lost in snowdrifts. He was however less thrilled to go for a walk with those damn tv aliens.
Fuji’s smile was one of innocent pleasure as he scooped up the completed photos. “Niou, the teletubbies are always with us.” And with that, he led the way out of the room.
“That’s reassuring,” Niou muttered to himself as he followed Fuji out, flicking off the red lights as he went.