From the View of an Outsider, a prince of tennis fanfic

Title: From the View of an Outsider
Genre: Romance, Fluff (getting better with practice, I think)
Beta: pinksnow
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: Tezuka/Fuji
Disclaimers: All Konomi-sensei's. Didn't make money off of this. Don't sue.
Summary: "... I find myself thoroughly mystified that Tezuka would indulge Fuji and his erratic whims to the point of dancing to this music that only they seem to hear."
Author's Notes: The seventh in a series of completely unrelated first kiss fics, with various pairings as requested by people. This one was written at the request of towel master from LJ. Do enjoy, sweety.
Warning(s): Told from Oishi's POV. Paragraphs go from his thoughts to flashbacks, so I hope the jumping tenses don't throw you off.

First Kiss Series:

From the View of an Outsider

It was an intricate dance… It was complex and it was tedious. Apparently, only they knew the steps to it. However, just watching them is enough to tire out anybody. They've been dancing around each other since the first day Fuji joined Seigaku's tennis club. It was only a matter of time before one of them stepped on the other's toes and called a halt to that endless psychological tango they've been engaged in.

For as long as I've known him, Tezuka has always been a pretty straight-forward kind of guy. If something needed to be said, you can bet that he would definitely get it out and said—sometimes, even at the expense of tact. Beating around the bush has never been his style, and when talking to him, using a three-minute paragraph to say something that can be said in two sentences is a sure-fire way to find yourself running laps until sundown. Knowing this, I find myself thoroughly mystified that Tezuka would indulge Fuji and his erratic whims to the point of dancing to this music that only the two of them seem to hear.

"Ne, are you guys just about done?"

"Was there something you wanted?" Tezuka asked the team's tennis prodigy by way of an answer.

A deceptively sweet smile preceded an equally deceptively innocent, "I was planning to drop by the tennis equipment store. I was hoping you'd care to join me…?"

The fact that the invitation certainly implied the '… and then maybe we could do something else together afterwards' was left hanging in the air.

"We're done here," Tezuka gave his implicit acceptance of the invitation with commanding finality.

My eyes shot wide open in surprise for a split second before I turned them back down to the clipboard I held. Said clipboard held the new training schedule that Inui proposed; Tezuka and I were just about to start discussing whether or not we were going with the items in it.

I looked back up just in time to see Fuji give me a cheery smile and a jaunty wave before I turned my head to seek out the team captain's eyes.

He barely breathed out the "We'll talk about the rest tomorrow, before the morning practice, Oishi," into my ear as he passed me by, on his way to follow Fuji out the door.

I shook my head in bafflement. What was it about Fuji Syuusuke that could make Tezuka blow off his responsibilities like that when usually, not even the threat of being stranded in school due to extremely bad weather could make him put off tennis club paperwork for the following day?

While Tezuka and Fuji are usually very careful about how they come across to other people when they're together in plain view of everyone, they usually drop their guard when there's just me. I don't know if this is because I'm supposed to be Tezuka's best friend and, as such, is not to be considered as "other people", or because they felt safe because it's me, Oishi Shuuichiro—Seigaku's mother hen. If they know nothing else about me, they know that I would rather bite my own tongue and choke on it than say anything that may hurt either of them.

I practically flew to the clubroom. I was supposed to meet with Tezuka at 12:30 to finalize the line-up for the next ranking matches (they needed to be posted up in time for the afternoon practices), but my Science teacher held me up, I damn near choked on my lunch in my rush to finish it, I met my Socials teacher in the hallway and he sent me on an errand, and now the bell heralding the beginning of the afternoon classes would be ringing in 15 minutes… Tezuka was going to KILL me!

… Well, no. Tezuka wouldn't do anything quite that undignified. He'd probably just look at me with clear disappointment in his eyes and then move on to business. And that would make me feel even more terrible than if he actually did just kill me.

I was actually slightly surprised when I reached the clubroom door and heard voices from the other side of the door.

"… I really would rather not talk about this right now."

"When would you want to talk about it then?"

I turned the doorknob and the little clicking sound it made immediately put a halt to the conversation. I cautiously poked my head in and gave a self-conscious little smile at the pair looking at me.

"Anou… I'm sorry I was late for our meeting, Tezuka," I started out uncertainly. Looking from Tezuka to Fuji and then back to Tezuka, I added, "I could come back a little later--"

"That wouldn't be necessary, Oishi," Fuji cut me off with a kind smile that had a bit of an edge to it. "We weren't talking about anything important."

The amount of bitterness that Fuji was able to inject into that one statement almost made me visibly gag. But with that one statement left hanging in the air, Fuji turned on his heel and was just about to walk out of the room, leaving me to my business with Tezuka, when Tezuka surprised me by jumping up from his seat and said, "Fuji…" with just the barest hint of desperation in his voice.

Fuji stopped mid-stride and turned to face the team captain. Neither of them said anything. They just looked at each other for the longest time, and once again, I got the feeling that both of them were communicating, moving, stepping and side-stepping to music that only they could hear.

Finally, Fuji gave a small smile and a nod, and then turned to leave. The tennis prodigy murmured a soft "I'll see you later" to me as I stepped aside to let him through the door. Closing the door after him, I turned to look at Tezuka who was slumped onto his seat, looking like he'd just gotten out of an ordeal.

I sat down facing Tezuka, a small sheaf of paper in my hand, looking at him curiously. I was dying to ask him what all that was about—after all, if Tezuka was willing to let me see him slumped on a chair, it must have been something BIG. But I was never one to pry. The most I could do was raise curious eyes at him.

He gave a tired little sigh, pinched the bridge of his nose, and shook his head at me. That was all the answer I got for my silent question. When he reached for the sheets of paper in my hand, I knew I wouldn't get anything more. But as expected of Tezuka, even his silent answers held a certain eloquence to them that let me know exactly what his words could not say.

As I said, it was an intricate dance… It was complex and it was tedious. I've been watching them dance around each other and quite honestly, I was getting tired of it. I was beginning to wonder if, perhaps, a little intervention from me was needed. Should I give them a little push already? Throw them off balance?

The day started out as usual. I hated rushing and so I woke up practically at the crack of dawn in order to unlock the clubroom in time for morning practices, just the same as usual. I got to school with plenty of time to spare, and I was anticipating the peaceful solitude I always enjoyed in the clubroom before anybody else came in.

But that particular day, instead of going through my usual morning ritual of unlocking the clubroom, I was surprised to find that the clubroom has already been unlocked, with the door left slightly ajar.

Of course, being who I was, my first instinct was to worry. Did somebody break into the clubroom? Will I go in there to find most of our tennis equipment gone? What if the perpetrator was still inside? Cautiously, I sidled up next to the door and listened for any sounds. When I didn't hear anything, I cautiously peeked in, carefully keeping my head out of the door just in case somebody was in there, ready to bash my head in. What I saw gave me a bit of a surprise… It was most definitely the last thing I expected to see.

Fuji was standing before Tezuka, the former's hand held out to the latter, as though inviting him to dance. Tezuka looked at the proffered hand in silence. A few moments later, he looked up at Fuji and quietly said, "So it's finally come to an end."

Tezuka took the hand that Fuji held out to him and in one smooth motion, he stood up, swept Fuji into his arms, and brought his mouth down to meet Fuji's. Fuji's arms went around Tezuka's neck, as though getting ready for an intimate slow dance. Tezuka's right hand came to rest on the small of Fuji's back, further reinforcing that image in my mind of a slow dance; his left hand, though, tangled as it was in Fuji's hair, kind of tilted that picture a bit.

It was a sweet kiss. Tender. Gentle. And although I was positive that this was their first kiss, there was none of that feeling of uncertainty, of hesitation. There wasn't even that sense of wonder in discovering each other. If anything, there was only that sense of "at last…" And even I found myself silently breathing out, "Finally."

And that was how Tezuka and Fuji became an official couple. They affirmed it between themselves, with me standing witness. And I do know that that was intentional. I know that I was supposed to witness that first kiss. I may not know much about Fuji, but the timing and the circumstances all had Fuji's brand of scheming stamped all over it. But I couldn't bring myself to get mad about it—if anything, I feel honored.

Looking back on it now, I think everything that's happened went the way it should have. I've been watching those two dance around each other for the longest time and I thought that it would take a misstep to finally to throw them off the beat and end that strange dance. But I was wrong. They danced and they kept at it until they saw it through to its natural conclusion; I really shouldn't have expected anything less from Tezuka and Fuji. And when the song that only they could hear came to a close, they found themselves naturally in each other's arms.

Owari

La Fuego
08/14/2008