will return in [10] minutes

[fic] Newton's Third

2008-06-29T03:17:04Z

shenguin, as promised, I wrote more. I even wrote your specific Guitar Hero fic, though it's kind of weird and convoluted and I don't even know. DO YOU GUYS LIKE MY NEW ICON? (This is the one my sister saw. |D)

Title: Newton's Third
Words: ~800
Pairing: Tezuka/Fuji
Rating: G
Warnings: A lot of parenthesis. Also, I have never played Guitar Hero before.
Summary: They play Guitar Hero (or, more accurately, they try to; even more accurately, Fuji tries to while Tezuka tries to study) and Tezuka is very bad at it (no surprise--his mind is elsewhere, after all).

They had gone downstairs for snacks and Tezuka had fully intended to just grab them and go right back up to Fuji's room to study. That may have been Fuji's intent too, but a few moments of freedom made it difficult to return (studying is not quite a hellhole, but it's close; oddly enough, Tezuka's presence makes it worse which is something Fuji had not anticipated but perhaps should have, since Tezuka is a model student and studies studiously and intently while ignoring Fuji). This may have affected his sudden and not wholly unexpected decision to veer from the agreed upon return path to his room and into the living room.

Perhaps Tezuka should have known better to follow him in. Perhaps he should have remembered that he was dealing with Fuji, who would not have gone on a tangent unless there was a purpose behind it. Perhaps he should have been more aware, but three hours of pure studying gets to the bottom of anyone's patience and when you're out of patience then it really is very hard to remember certain principles on which certain relationships are built, especially one as laden with intricacies as the one he had with Fuji (calling it a relationship wasn't quite right; a contract, perhaps, would be better—'relationship' is such a vague word). So while he might have remembered the very basic law of their interaction (very much like Newton's third; for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, only without the certainty of Newton's laws because Fuji's reactions varied and he might choose to respond to outside stimulus or he might not), Tezuka might have forgotten some of the principles built from that law, many of which were equally important (if Fuji led, then things could get very bad very fast, especially if there was something that they were supposed to be doing).

He frowned when Fuji handed him the plastic guitar and reminded Fuji that they were supposed to be studying, a bit naïve on his part, but again, he was not at his best just then.

Fuji smiled, nodded, and promised that they would just play one game and then they could go back, and wasn't it better if they took a break anyways?

Tezuka frowned and didn't consider arguing, because by the time he won that argument they would have already finished a game of Guitar Hero anyways. He took the guitar, obedient as ever, and waited for Fuji to get to the actual game part of it all while he tried to remember exactly how the quadratic formula worked and if they would need to know the food vocabulary for their English exam. The game started, Tezuka idly pushed some buttons (x is equal to a squared over b squared, no that's not right, that's Pythagorean's theorem, almost, not quite, no, x is equal to...) and waited for the game to finish.

He didn't realize that Fuji had stopped playing and was watching him, amused. The music continued and he continued pushing buttons (the Meiji era starts in 1912 right before the first World War, no, that can't be right, it ended before then). The game ended and Tezuka didn't realize until Fuji put his hand on Tezuka's wrist.

"What?" he snapped irritably and looked up. Fuji as shaking, slightly, and Tezuka was not happy at all with the way his eyes were full of mirth and his lips were pursed.

"You are," Fuji said, and his voice was choked, "the worst Guitar Hero player I've ever met."

Tezuka nodded and handed Fuji the guitar. Fuji refused, saying that that wasn't really a game, that it didn't count.

Tezuka finally realized that he should have argued, that once they start they won't stop, but it was too late now. Fuji had started a new game and watched him like a hawk or an overprotective girlfriend. Tezuka sighed and watched the screen. Red, yellow, yellow, blue, green, red-green, hold the red, green-green-green-green, blue, red, yellow. He glanced to Fuji's side of the screen and realized that Fuji had stopped again. He turned to glare, saw Fuji on the couch and Fuji's guitar on the floor, and he crossed his arms, or as much as he could with a plastic guitar in hand. Fuji wasn't quite laughing, but it was only by a valiant effort.

"Fuji," he started, but that was the crack on the dam that breaks the entire structure, because Fuji burst out laughing and couldn't seem to stop.

Tezuka waited patiently.

"Sorry," Fuji said when he could breathe again. "You're really bad at this."

Tezuka did not dignify that with a verbal response. Instead, he turned out of the room and went right up to Fuji's bed, where he had left his history book. Fuji followed a few minutes later, after putting everything away, and sat down right across from him, a smirk plastered on his face.

[fic] Reunion

2008-06-26T23:39:11Z

Title: Reunion
Words: ~1,300
Prompt: Through Fire & Flames, 7_days
Pairing: Tezuka/Fuji, implied, slightly, maybe.
Rating: PG
Notes: I swear, it's kind of tangentially related to the prompt. A little bit.

Tezuka woke up to a blinding ray of sunlight under a bright red comforter that he had never seen before, freezing cold where the comforter didn't cover his skin even though he knew that it was the middle of summer. He rolled over to face away from the sun, rubbed his eyes groggily, and froze when he heard the gentle tapping sound right behind him. The tapping continued and he rolled onto his other side to see Fuji, who wore an amused smile and a light blue dress shirt that clashed badly with the red sheets and the still blinding light. He tapped a rolled up manila envelope against the bedside table, but stopped when he saw Tezuka looking at him.

"Fuji?" He asked, blinking at the sunlight that shone right in his eyes.

"Broken right arm, two broken ribs, sprained left shoulder, sprained ankle, and a very large bruise on your back." Fuji listed calmly, then added as an afterthought, "Not even from tennis."

"What are you doing here?" Tezuka moved an arm to push himself upright and realized that Fuji was right—it was broken and set inside a large and clumsy cast.

"Don't worry, it's just your right arm," Fuji told him. "You'll still play fine."

"How did you get in?"

"I told your housekeeper that you would be expecting me." Fuji's voice was amused. "She let me in easily enough."

"Glasses," Tezuka ordered, not so much taking everything in a stride as much as simply not processing anything that was happening.

Fuji handed them to him. "You're welcome, Tezuka."

Tezuka nodded his thanks but didn't put the glasses on. He was still seeing spots and figured that glasses wouldn't help him see past them. "I haven't seen you in years."

"I've seen you, though," Fuji said dryly. "Your face has been pasted on every billboard in the area at least once."

"Public relations... they hired someone," Tezuka said by way of explanation though he didn't know why he had to explain.

Fuji shrugged. "We figured as much."

"Who?" Tezuka's eyes finally adjusted to the light. He put the glasses on.

"The team."

"Team?"

Fuji winced. "She said you were pretty drugged. I guess it wasn't an understatement."

"Drugs."

"Pain medicine." Fuji leaned forward and tapped Tezuka's arm. "Remember?"

"Actually, no." Tezuka turned back onto his back. "How did—"

"You ran into a moving car."

Tezuka turned his head over to stare at Fuji.

"It was about to run into a woman and you pushed her out of the way," Fuji explained.

"Oh."

"You don't remember."

"Vaguely."

"It's probably just as well." Fuji sat on the bed with a sigh. "I don't even know if you've changed, I've seen you so much."

"You..." Tezuka's eyes traced the curve of Fuji's neck and the way his smile was just a bit strained, then made their way to his hair which was a shade darker than Tezuka remembered but still cut in the same style. "You haven't changed at all."

Fuji's eyes widened briefly in surprise. "Really."

"Yes."

Fuji bit his lip. "Then you must not remember me very well," he said calmly.

Tezuka shook his head. "If I had to decide who would be most likely to break into my house and be there the first time I woke up disoriented in years, I would have chosen you."

"I didn't break in," Fuji reminded him.

"Nonetheless."

Fuji chuckled. "How flattering."

Tezuka smiled and they lapsed into the comfortable silence that they had always surrounded themselves with, years before. Tezuka leaned back into his pillow to watch Fuji, still comfortably nestled in drowsiness and his warm cocoon of blankets.

Fuji had put his arms behind himself and was leaning on them, head thrown back and eyes closed. He breathed deeply and steadily, basking in the sun that had blinded Tezuka moments before.

The housekeeper broke the relaxed silence, bustling in with a tray of food. "Oh? He's up?"

Fuji straightened himself up and smiled at her. "Yes."

"About time, too." She handed the food to Fuji briskly. "Make sure he eat some of that. You know where the pain medicine is?"

"Yes."

Tezuka thought that Fuji's smile was very disarming, and apparently the housekeeper thought likewise.

"Ah, well, that's good." She looked at him. "H-how long did you say you needed him for, again?"

"Not very long," Fuji promised. "Just some catching up."

"Oh, don't worry about it," she said, completely thrown off kilter. "He just shouldn't be... shouldn't be..."

"Pushing himself too hard, I know." Fuji must have turned his smile up a notch, because the housekeeper looked like she was about to faint.

"I-oh, it's good that you know."

"I've had injuries before too," Fuji said. "Granted, nothing as severe as this, but it should apply all the more so, right, Takamura-san?"

"Ah, yes." She nodded and headed unsteadily towards the door. "If you need anything, I'll be right outside."

Fuji's smile waned when she left and Tezuka wondered if Fuji had always known how to use that smile as a weapon. "That was impressive," he murmured.

Fuji leaned back and closed his eyes again. "My ex taught me that."

"Your ex?"

"Well, I learned because of him anyways."

"Ah." Tezuka didn't press for more, though he would have liked to.

Fuji opened his eyes and looked at him. "You're curious," he accused.

"It's not my business."

"You're right," Fuji said softly. Still, he continued, "Atobe and I broke up a few months ago anyways."

"Atobe."

"Mm." Fuji's eyes closed.

The bright squares of sunlight on the floor grew smaller as the sun rose and the warmth of the blankets grew uncomfortable. Tezuka shifted a little and Fuji stood up. "You're not allowed to get up, I think," Fuji informed him.

"It'll be fine," Tezuka promised.

"Your housekeeper will kill me," Fuji disagreed. "What did you need?"

"Never mind."

Fuji shook his head.

"You're not just here to visit," Tezuka said, partly to change the topic but mostly because he knew it was true.

"No." Fuji smiled wryly. "I'm in the news industry now, did you know?"

"It doesn't suite you," Tezuka commented.

"Why not?"

"It's too... concrete." Tezuka shrugged. "It just doesn't seem like something you would do." Because there were no boundaries for him to push. Because he was limited by what others could do and find. Because the potential for greatness couldn't be greater than the imagination.

"I like it," Fuji said.

Tezuka didn't respond to that.

"Anyways, I just thought you should see this." Fuji picked a packet off of Tezuka's bedside table. "Here."

"Thank you." Tezuka looked at it, puzzled. The manila envelope was thin and difficult to open with just one hand.

"Just... a heads up." Fuji looked away. "I'm sorry, I tried to keep them from publishing it but it should be the cover story in a week or so."

The envelope opened and Tezuka pulled out the sheet inside. It was a plain, white sheet of paper with a large picture of Tezuka to the right and bold, black letters on top. Two Time Wimbledon Winner, Tezuka Kunimitsu, Gay? Tezuka looked back up at Fuji, who shrugged.

"I thought you would want to know what was coming."

"Why would you—"

"We're friends," Fuji said simply. "Or we were, at least, right Tezuka?"

Tezuka looked away. "Thank you."

"It was nothing." Fuji flopped down to lay right across Tezuka's legs. "Sorry."

"Hmm?"

"Nothing." Fuji smiled wryly. "Can't change it now, anyways."

Tezuka nodded and skimmed through the article. It was almost impressive, how much time and effort must have gone into it. They had managed to find every one of his ex-boyfriends and talk to all of them. Tezuka doubted even he could find them all again. It was also slightly disturbing how much they knew of his life.

"I suppose I should tell my parents, then."

"Probably." Fuji got up reluctantly. "I'll get going, then."

"You don't have to leave."

"I have a meeting, actually." Fuji smiled. "I'll see you around, Tezuka."

"Mm. You too."

Fuji laughed. "I might hold you to that."

Tezuka doubted that he would, but maybe he could find Fuji, then.

[fic] And a... Happy Birthday to You Too?

2008-04-29T22:09:54Z

LOOKIT! I wrote something! Rather, I started to write something and then I lost my train of thought and so I threw on a really weird ending and called it done. It is, however, the first thing I've written in months (more or less).

...Please don't hate me?

Title: And a... Happy Birthday to You Too?
Characters: Tezuka, Fuji, Cactus
Rating: G
Words: ~800
Warnings: I think the characterizations are both a bit off... =/
Summary: Fuji is silly and Tezuka has a press conference to go to after breakfast.

Tezuka's very first thought that day was that breakfast smelled good.

His very next thought was, by default, that Fuji was cooking.

And then he started to worry. It wasn't that Fuji didn't cook well, or that Fuji didn't cook often, or even that Fuji did odd things to food. It was just that Fuji didn't like waking up early enough to cook breakfast most of the time; that he was up and cooking meant that it must have been well past noon.

Tezuka had a press conference at eight-thirty and his first match of the day was at ten.

Tezuka took all of two seconds to process that thought, then jumped out of bed, ran across his room, nearly fell into the closet in his haste to grab something—anything—to wear, and was halfway into the bathroom when his alarm clock rang. It was an obnoxious sound, but he normally couldn't wake up otherwise. Tezuka groaned and doubled back, racing to turn the damn thing off so he could take his shower already. If he already missed the first match and the press release, he must have offended just about everyone there. The manager probably took care of it, though. Still, that would leave the manager pissed...

...and his alarm clock was set to ring at six o'clock sharp.

Tezuka checked and, sure enough, he wasn't late to anything.

He stared at the clock. It didn't make any sense to him; Fuji was awake enough to cook, for goodness sake. There was no way it could be this early.

The alarm continued to ring and Tezuka continued to stare at it, until an arm (Fuji's, he presumed) reached over his shoulder and hit the snooze button. "Good morning, Tezuka." Fuji sounded irritated, probably because the alarm had been ringing for a while now.

"You're up." Tezuka said.

"So are you." Oh yes, that smile was definitely forced. This was probably not good, Tezuka's brain was telling him.

"It's six."

"Really?" Fuji had that smile on, the one that meant he was this close to butchering someone to little shreds. "And here I was wondering why your alarm clock was ringing."

"You're up."

"Yes?"

"It's—"

Fuji nodded.

"And you're—"

"Yes, Tezuka." Fuji sighed, apparently ready to just let it go. Tezuka was thankful for that, though he had a feeling it wasn't so much a victory on his part as it was a mercy on Fuji's. "We know that."

"So you're—"

"Breakfast is almost ready." Fuji gave him a light push towards the shower. "You're really slow today, Tezuka."

Then Fuji got back up and went right back to the kitchen, leaving Tezuka with nothing to do but obey and take a shower. To be totally fair, it was a very nice shower, plenty of hot water and all that, but it was nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, by the time he got out of the shower, Tezuka's day had almost started to right itself. He had practically convinced himself that surely it wasn't all that odd for an anomaly in Fuji's behavioral patterns to exist. Surely he would have to worry if Fuji never woke up before eleven, rather than if he did it once or twice.

Then he got into the kitchen and eating area and the almost righted day flipped itself over several times.

It wasn't even the worst thing that Fuji had ever done, but it was certainly a shock first thing in the morning. There were ridiculously bright streamers hung all over the room, shiny birthday balloons with their tails in the way of absolutely everything, a banner over the sink that read in bubble letters 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY YUUTA!' and, to top it all off, a cake with five and a half candles on it covering fully half of the table surface.

"Fuji." Tezuka almost had a hard time keeping a straight face. "Yuuta's in France."

Fuji laughed. "Not that one."

"Is there another—" Tezuka stopped. Because right there, sitting where he normally sat, was a cactus. A cactus with luridly bright flowers. Oh. That Yuuta.

"Hurry up and eat." Fuji sat himself down. "You have a busy day."

"And you will be..."

"Celebrating with Yuuta, of course." Fuji said matter-of-factly. Tezuka actually felt vaguely jealous, but it was a very vague feeling and he didn't honestly feel like exploring it just then.

"Are we eating cake for breakfast?" He asked instead; Tezuka could have sworn he smelled something else—something very western and very not sweet, actually.

"Yes." Fuji beamed at him.

And then Tezuka woke up from his weird dream!

Or rather, he wished that he did. What actually happened was that Fuji (and the cactus as well, or so Fuji claimed later) decided to skip the singing part of the birthday and (this part was just Fuji) grabbed a handful of cake, blew the candles out, and threw the sticky mess into Tezuka's face.

This was not going to be a good day.