ketchup (ketchupblood) wrote in ironman7, @ 2007-09-09 23:18:00 |
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Entry tags: | ketchupblood, prince of tennis, week 3: prompt 7 |
Prince of Tennis (Tezuka/Fuji) [week 3 - prompt 6]
Title: Presents in the Morning
Author: ketchupblood
Rating: PG
Warnings: Slash
Word Count: ~1,500
Summary: Tezuka and Fuji talk on the phone.
Author's Notes: Supah cheesy/obvious ending, but I still like it.
6. I'll paint you mornings of gold, spin you valentine evenings.
Tezuka always woke up to the ring of his cell phone, mostly around seven in the morning, though sometimes Fuji would forget the time difference or would feel like calling sooner and the call would come at six. Still, it was never anything too unreasonable, because Tezuka used to always wake up much earlier than six anyways—and Fuji still had school and even calling at six meant he must have been skipping a class, which Tezuka most definitely did not approve of.
So Tezuka is surprised when Fuji calls at four one day. The ring doesn't actually wake Tezuka up until it's too late—the phone goes dark for about two minutes while Tezuka stares at it stupidly, not fully awake. Then it rings again and Tezuka starts a little before flipping it open. "Fuji?"
"Tezuka, I really miss you right now." Fuji's voice is softer than usual and Tezuka has to turn the volume up to hear him, even this early in the morning when the softest sounds are still audible.
"Fuji?" Tezuka repeats, at a loss of anything else to say.
"I had a dream about you last night." Fuji's words are still as quiet as before and he's talking much faster than normal. "You were walking down the street and you were laughing and you were walking towards me and holding out your hands."
Tezuka closes his eyes and is thankful that he got lucky enough to have the dorm all to himself—there was normally only one dorm mate as it was and he happened to be one of the few students who benefited from the extra dorm rooms available—because he would have had to have gone outside if he shared the dorm, to be polite to whoever it was that he might have been sharing it with. "Mm... That's nice." He says, voice groggy from sleep.
"No!" Fuji's voice gets louder, slightly, and then ridiculously soft again. "I'm not done yet. And then you were walking past me and I saw you were standing with a pretty western guy and then you two went to the movies and we've never gone to the movies and then to dinner and it was a fancy restaurant but we've only ever gone to the ramen shop sometimes when we had time and I really want to go to the movies together..."
Tezuka sighs. "We'll go to the movies in a few weeks." Winter vacation is almost there and it is a bit longer in the private school Tezuka is attending than in Japan. Fuji will still be in school, even, when Tezuka gets back.
"I really miss you, Tezuka." Fuji's voice is choked and Tezuka wonders, suddenly and without much reason, if Fuji is crying. "Do you miss me too?"
"Yes." Tezuka says and looks at the clock again. It should be around lunch in Japan, though Fuji's lunch hour was about half an hour ago.
"I really love you, Tezuka." Fuji's voice is nothing but a whisper now; it's a wonder Tezuka can understand what he's saying at all.
That he does understand is enough. He starts and almost drops the phone. They had never said that much to each other before and it's a little scary, like taking their relationship to a new level. Tezuka doesn't say anything because he can't seem to get any words out of his mouth and Fuji coughs a little.
"Sorry, Tezuka. I just really wanted to say that." He says, his voice sounding harsh and loud after the hushed tone he had used before. He's faking it, Tezuka knows. Fuji always suddenly seems more confident and cheerful when he's most embarrassed and scared. "Don't get mad, alright? I don't know what I'd do if you got mad."
Tezuka doesn't remember ever having gotten mad at Fuji before and he doubts that he would anytime soon. He coughs and tries to say something, anything. All he can get out is, "I'm not."
"Alright." Fuji sounds... like he had before. Unnaturally loud and a little forced. "Do you know what Eiji told me earlier?"
Tezuka mumbles something that must have sounded like "No" because Fuji starts talking about how Eiji—who had moved to Kanagawa because of his father's job transfer and was going to Rikkai—had walked in on Rikkai's double's one blowing each other. Tezuka makes little noises in agreement and tries to tune Fuji out because Fuji is just talking to be talking right then and Tezuka knows that he's not really listening to what he's saying either.
Instead, Tezuka wonders just why Fuji would want to tell Tezuka that he loves him, why he would need to skip school to say it. He isn't overly worried, of course. If it is something really bad, Fuji would have told him, surely. Still, getting so upset for a dream is silly, Tezuka thinks. After all, Tezuka has had those sorts of nightmares before, though rarely and only when he has been in a very bad mood for a very long time. Tezuka hates it when people ask about how he's doing, then, because it isn't anyone else's business to know.
But Fuji isn't Tezuka and Tezuka knows that, so he asks, cutting into the middle of Fuji's monologue about how Yukimura, who had claimed the position of captain at Rikkai's high school almost immediately upon stepping onto the courts the first time, had punished Niou and Yagyuu, "How was your day?"
"Eh? Tezuka, you know it's very rude to interrupt, right?" Fuji is blithe, uncaring about anything and untouchable by the world, then. It's a very good mask, Tezuka admits, but masks are never perfect.
"I'd rather hear about your day." He says, and he can hear Fuji shifting from whatever position he'd been in.
"Really?" Fuji sounds guarded now, but differently. Like he's trying not to sound happy when he normally tries to force happiness.
"Mm-hmm." Tezuka turns over in bed. His arm is sore from lying on it for so long.
"Mm... It was a good day, I guess." Fuji says and Tezuka wonders if it was. "I mean, nothing bad happened or anything."
"Oh?" Tezuka's eyebrow goes up even though no one can see it.
"Just that there were a lot of couples together today and Yuuta brought his girlfriend home yesterday and that manager of his came too and he had his boyfriend with him." Fuji sighs. "And my art teacher apparently still hates me."
Tezuka's lip twitches. Fuji was unused to not being given the limelight and so when he found that his art teacher had no interest in being amazed at his genius, he was slightly annoyed. Of course, he had also sent Tezuka photos of the other students' works, the ones that the teacher had praised, and Tezuka had to silently agree that yes, Fuji's were better. Still, it was different to see Fuji frustrated for once.
"You know, I even went to play with Eiji and Marui-kun yesterday." Fuji says. "And Yukimura dropped in on us. I kind of wished my school had a team."
"You could make one."
"Yeah, but we'd need courts and I don't want to talk to the principle about getting them." Fuji points out. "That's more what you do."
"Ah."
"I think I'll just find a new school with a tennis program. Do you miss being on a team, Tezuka?"
"Sometimes."
"I do too." There is a shuffling noise and the sound of a door opening. "Hey, Tezuka. When you come back, will you bring me a present?"
"If you want one."
"I'll have a present for you too." Fuji says. "It'll be right around Christmas, right?"
"A little before, but I have to go with my parents to visit relatives for Christmas first."
"So you won't have time before, huh?" There's a rustling noise. Tezuka wonders if Fuji is in a store. "Well, we can just trade them later, then."
"Ah."
"You know, the old team was thinking about getting together sometime. Just the regulars. What do you think, Captain?"
"I don't see why not."
"Let's spend some time alone first, okay?" Fuji asks. "I don't want to share you so soon after you get back."
"Alright."
"Tezuka..."
"Ah?"
"I have a present for you."
"Ah." Tezuka frowns. There is someone knocking on his door and no one should be up this early. "One second."
"I can wait..."
Tezuka pads over to the door, slowly because he can't be sure this early just where everything is and he would rather not have a large bruise to watch out for during morning practice, unlocking and opening it in a fluid motion. Then his cell phone drops as Fuji wraps his arm around him. "I really, really missed you." Fuji says, and Tezuka has to admit that he's missed this a lot more than he'd thought he had.
That won't stop him from lecturing Fuji later about how expensive flights are and how he should just be patient and wait, but for the moment he's happy and suddenly awake.
Fuji smiles when he sees how much Tezuka's eyes shine and he wonders how much more they'll shine when Tezuka 'accidentally' finds the enrollment papers in Fuji's bag.