Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: Written for my Oishi 5trueloves claim, the theme being Secret.

Gentleman

Though most people already knew better than to trust appearances when it came to him, Yagyuu still strove to live up to his nickname of "gentleman". It wasn't much of an effort, really; for the most part, the politeness came to him by nature. Sometimes, the more Niou-ish part of his nature tried to show up, but he always pushed it back down unless he was currently acting the part. Truth be told, when it really came down to it, he was the crueller half of their doubles pair. He merely hid it better.

Nevertheless, as he ran into Oishi Syuichirou in a park in Tokyo, he actually felt somewhat hurt as the Seigaku fukubuchou took a step back.

Granted, it wasn't much of a surprise. After all, it had been him – though in Niou's guise – who had given Oishi's doubles partner a concussion in their match. Nevertheless, from what little he had seen, Oishi was generally kind to everyone; too see him having such an averse reaction was… hurtful. He wasn't quite that bad a person, now was he?

"Ah, Oishi-kun," he said, nodding politely. "I didn't really expect to run into you here."

"I could say the same," Oishi said, almost snapping at him. "Isn't this a bit far for you?"

Yagyuu tilted his head to the side. "Not too far for me to make it here, surely," he replied with a shrug. "There's hardly a prohibition against my presence in the capital."

Oishi muttered something that sounded suspiciously much like "There should be". Yagyuu chose to ignore him.

"You played a truly great match in the finals," Yagyuu continued, determined to be polite even as Oishi didn't seem to be of similar mind. "I was honestly impressed."

"…Thank you." Even this sounded somewhat forced. "Was it you or Niou in the singles match?"

Yagyuu's lips twitched a bit against his will. "Now, now. I couldn't hope to come even close to his skills of disguise. And before you can ask, no, I am not Niou."

"…Whatever." Oishi was avoiding his gaze, Yagyuu noted. "If you'll excuse me…"

"But certainly." Yagyuu raised his eyebrows. Well, he certainly wasn't forcing the other to stay around and chat; he'd made quite enough of an effort to be polite on his part.

Just then, he heard a loud, deep rumble up from the sky.

Frowning, Yagyuu glanced up, seeing dark clouds gathering up above. "My," he muttered just as a drop of water fell onto his shoulder. "It looks like there's going to be a storm."

There was no response. At first Yagyuu thought it was simply because Oishi didn't want to talk with him. Then, though, he glanced towards the other boy, and was startled to see him looking very pale.

"…Oishi-kun?" Yagyuu frowned in concern, reaching out a hand towards the other boy. "Is everything all right?"

"…Yes, of course." Oishi didn't sound exactly convincing. The manner with which he kept eyeing the clouds wasn't very reassuring, either. "Everything's just –"

Oishi was presumably going to say "fine". However, he never quite got the chance as lightning flashed over them, after a few seconds followed by another rumble. Even an idiot would have figured out the situation as they saw how Oishi started at the sound, obviously frightened.

"…Oishi-kun." Yagyuu grasped on Oishi's hand, pulling him closer. Oishi didn't protest, his eyes locked on the clouds up ahead, worrying his lip. Yagyuu eyed him closely for a moment. "You're scared." It wasn't a question.

"…Yes." There was a wild look in Oishi's eyes even as he finally turned his gaze to Yagyuu. "I – I'm sorry. I know it's childish, it's just…"

"Oh, don't apologize." After a moment of hesitation, Yagyuu pulled Oishi into a careful hug, like a mother trying to soothe a spooked child. "It's not childish at all."

Oishi seemed about to protest, but instead he just closed his mouth and shivered a bit as they heard another rumble. "…It's too open out here…"

"Indeed it is." Carefully, Yagyuu let go, still keeping one arm around Oishi's shoulders. "Come on. We shall go inside." There was a café just outside the park, one he now headed towards. Every passing second seemed to be making Oishi's fear even worse, although he did seem somewhat soothed by the touch. Once they actually got inside the café, he relaxed a bit, but he still looked very anxious, glancing out of the window every few moments.

"…Why are you doing this?" Oishi asked after a moment, very quietly. He wasn't looking at Yagyuu, his eyes locked on his hands, folded on the table.

"Isn't it obvious?" Yagyuu asked, raising an eyebrow. "I am, after all, a gentleman."

The raised eyebrow he got in response made him smile a bit. Oishi still looked very frightened, but if he could question Yagyuu's sincerity, he couldn't be panicking too badly, could he?

Though Yagyuu himself had never had any trouble with thunder, for some reason he couldn't feel entirely relaxed himself before the dark clouds had finally passed by and the spooked expression had left Oishi's eyes.

And when he afterwards made a promise not to tell anyone about the entire episode, seeing the doubt in the green eyes hurt more than it should have.