Title: Training Camp Romance
Rating: PG
Word count: 1882
Pairing: Fuji x Tezuka
Warnings: none
Summary: Fuji is being a pest, but it is just a plan to get his captain's attention.
A/N: set somewhere in the beginning of the series because I'm pretty sure that after winning the Nationals Seigaku would be able to afford single rooms for everyone. But that would defeat the purpose of the fic. Written for funpotexchange at LJ.
The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the non-Regulars were somewhat wistfully looking at the regular Seigaku tennis club members, who were boarding a bus. Wistfully, because the Regulars were having a training camp somewhere in the mountains, and the overactive teenage imaginations of non-Regulars showed them magnificent views of old-fashioned traditional hotels, hot springs, and girls in yukatas.
But Horio, exhibiting an insight quite unusual for him, said: "My two years tennis experience tells me that we should not envy them – after all, the location for the training camp was chosen by Tezuka-buchou!"
The non-Regulars considered it, and the lovely visions of the training camp they had conjured were replaced by images of standing naked under icy waterfalls and running with huge heavy stones in backpacks. Suddenly their own situation did not seem all that bad, even though Ryuuzaki-sensei was not going with the Regulars, which meant that there would be no slacking off, despite the fact the buchou was away for a week. The non-Regulars went to practice their swings with somewhat more enthusiasm than usual.
Meanwhile, the Regulars were enjoying a nice peaceful bus ride. Well, it was nice and peaceful for Echizen, who fell asleep almost immediately and did not hear Momoshiro and Kaidoh argue until Tezuka had to interfere. Neither did Echizen hear how the impromptu word game championship among the team members degenerated into something like verbal warfare, with Inui and Fuji battling it out in the final round of the game, and leaving the rest of the team to wonder whether the things they said were even actual words…
So when the team bus had reached the destination, Echizen was well-rested and smirked at the haunted looks that the more responsible team members were wearing. You thought organizing the camp will be easy, mada mada dane, thought Echizen.
Tezuka announced that it was already late and they would have to get up early next morning, so he would announce the room arrangements and trust the team to be responsible and behave in a manner befitting… Somebody chuckled.
"I can assign running laps around the hotel, too," ominously said Tezuka. The rest of his short speech was received in silence, until he mentioned the rooming order: "There are three double rooms and one room for three. I need to discuss the training schedule with Oishi, so we will be rooming together. The rest can choose, but Momoshiro and Kaidoh must not be in the same room."
Momoshiro and Kaidoh glared at each other, and Kikumaru glared (or what counted as glare for him, which was about as threatening as a kitten) at Oishi.
"I wanted to room with Oishi, nya!" Kikumaru pouted.
Oishi smiled apologetically: "Well, we will probably manage to discuss everything today, so maybe tomorrow I can…"
"Oishi is a meanie! I'll sleep with Fujiko, then!" Kikumaru announced and dragged Fuji away. Fuji gave Tezuka a Look over his shoulder, and Oishi, noticing that, felt rather uneasy.
"Tezuka, do you think Fuji wanted to room with you?" he asked. Tezuka shrugged the question off and said: "Let's get our bags inside."
Soon enough, it was time to go to their rooms for the night. Tezuka and Oishi had just managed to start discussing the training schedule Inui had proposed, when somebody frantically banged at their door.
"Oishi, let me in, nya!'"
Oishi rushed to the door and opened it, revealing a very ruffled Kikumaru.
"Fuji told me such a scary story! I can't sleep there anymore! Can I stay here?" the story must have been scary indeed, if Kikumaru even forgot to nya. Oishi pleadingly looked at Tezuka.
Tezuka shook his head. Oishi was definitely coddling Kikumaru too much.
"Come with me," Tezuka told Kikumaru and strode out of the room. He went directly back to Kikumaru and Fuji's room, ignoring Kikumaru's frightened whispers behind his back.
Tezuka knocked at the door and said: "Fuji, pack your things, you are switching rooms…"
The door opened almost immediately and a smiling Fuji came out.
"…with Kaidoh!'"Tezuka finished, and Fuji's smile immediately turned threatening. But of course, Tezuka did not pay any attention to that.
They walked to Inui and Kaidoh's room and knocked at the door. It was opened by a very happy-looking Inui.
"Ah, Tezuka and Fuji. I was just about to test my new juice on Kaidoh, would you also like to participate?"
Tezuka peered into the room over Inui's shoulder and caught Kaidoh's glance that clearly said "Please save me, buchou!'" In a situation like this, there is only one Tezuka could do.
"My apologies for interrupting the experiment, Inui, but we need to change the rooming order. Fuji will room with you and Kaidoh with Kikumaru."
Inui looked disappointed, but Kaidoh packed his things in record time, relief almost coming in waves off him.
Tezuka sent Kaidoh to Kikumaru's room and went back, considering the incident resolved. He had just managed to resume the discussion of the training methods with Oishi, when there was a knock on the door.
Oishi sighed. It really seemed they would not be able to get any work done tonight. It was Inui, and he demanded another room-mate.
"Fuji drank all the juices I had prepared for the team, and ate most of the ingredients! Well, that is good data about his stomach capacity… But I can't work like that, Fuji is disrupting my research! Tezuka, switch him back with Kaidoh!"
Tezuka frowned almost imperceptibly. Sending Kaidoh to Inui would mean Fuji had to go back to Kikumaru. And that, probability 90%, as Inui would say, would result in the two of them fooling around all night and not being able to perform at their best in the morning. No, he had a better idea - switch Fuji and Momoshiro. Besides, now that Fuji had drunk all the juice and eaten the ingredients, Momo was in no danger of juice poisoning.
Tezuka went with Inui to arrange the new rooming plan. Fuji was giving Tezuka a decidedly evil smile, but Tezuka stoically ignored it. Momoshiro was not happy about switching the rooms, but when it occurred to him that he would have a double room with Inui instead of staying in a room with two other guys, Echizen and Taka-san, he accepted the change.
"Settle down, Fuji!" Tezuka sternly told Fuji, and briskly walked back to his room. Was there even any point to continue making training plans with Oishi, he wondered – it was unlikely that there would be no further interruptions.
His intuition was perfectly right – soon enough there was a knock on the door again. Only the fact that he is supposed to be the stoic and unflappable captain made Tezuka refrain from doing something unseemly like sighing or rolling his eyes.
This time it was Echizen.
"Hi, buchou. I can't stay in that room, Taka-san keeps yelling in his sleep. Switch with me?"
Tezuka did not say a word, he stalked past Echizen to the room the three boys shared, threw the door open, completely ignored Fuji, who smiled at him again, walked up to Taka-san's bed and pulled the tennis racket out of his grip.
Kawamura went quiet immediately.
"Problem solved," Tezuka intoned. "Also, Fuji, a few words."
They stepped out of the room and Tezuka carefully closed the door and gave Fuji as disapproving look as he could manage without slipping and actually showing some expression.
"Stop being difficult, Fuji."
"Whatever do you mean?" innocently asked Fuji, but of course that fake innocence was not fooling Tezuka.
"I mean you are not letting people get proper sleep. I understand that funmight be seen as essential camp component for some people, but I would like everyone to be serious," Tezuka said.
"You say fun like it is a foreign concept to you," Fuji remarked. Tezuka just continued looking at him.
"Oh fine, I'll be good," Fuji said, somewhat irritated. "But it all could have been avoided if you just roomed with me in the first place."
"Why are you so insistent about that?"
"I want to take photos of you sleeping, of course!" Fuji smiled again. "Also, I want to confess."
"What did you do again?" Tezuka asked suspiciously.
"Not that sort of confession," Fuji chuckled. "Isn't it traditional during a school trip to confess to a person you are romantically interested in?"
"We are in a training camp, this is not a school trip," corrected Tezuka. And then the actual content of Fuji's last sentence registered.
"You are romantically interested in somebody from the tennis team?" for some reason Tezuka felt compelled to whisper.
Fuji rolled his eyes. "Yes, Tezuka. Interested in you, even though sometimes I really wonder why."
Tezuka searched his brain for an appropriate response and could not find any. Questions like why?, since when? and is this some kind of joke? occurred to him, but were dismissed as inadequate for expressing the gravity of the situation. Tezuka settled for simply staring at Fuji, hoping he would smile one of his mischievous grins and say it was all just to get a reaction out of the stoic captain.
Fuji serenely gazed back.
Moments passed. Echizen, who had been listening behind the door all that time, was getting seriously impatient and very tempted to say Mada mada daneout loud.
"I have never thought about it. Or about you like that. I have to concentrate on my tennis," finally said Tezuka, manfully fighting a blush. Somehow rejecting all the countless girls who tried to confess to him had never been this difficult or this embarrassing.
"But if you thought about it a little?" winked Fuji. That was something Tezuka absolutely refused to do.
"I am going to bed," said Tezuka, trying to save his dignity.
"Can I come with you?" asked Fuji.
"Fuji!" Tezuka tried to inject all his disapproval of such behaviour in his tone, but he did not do very well because in the mere minutes that had passed from Fuji's confession Tezuka managed to come to a conclusion that he didn't really mind.
Fuji was great at tennis, Fuji was interesting, Fuji looked good by any standards. If Tezuka had ever thought about getting a girlfriend, it would have to be somebody like Fuji. And now Fuji himself said he was interested, whatever it was Fuji meant by that…
Apparently Fuji felt the change in Tezuka's mood. "So, what do you think?" he asked.
"I think we are still in a training camp and this is no place for such frivolities .We must set an example to our underclassmen," Tezuka said seriously. Fuji looked a little disappointed.
"However, from what I heard, fun is supposed to be an essential camp component," Tezuka continued, giving Fuji a little smile. "I will think about it. And now please return to your room."
"Thank you, Tezuka," calmly said Fuji, and Echizen behind the door could barely keep himself for snorting in derision. Mada mada dane, Tezuka-buchou. Fuji always got what he wanted. Echizen was sure that by the end of the training camp Tezuka would be buying Fuji flowers, watching the stars together and doing things that Echizen himself considered silly and girly.
And of course Echizen was completely right, but that is another story.
The end.