Disclaimer: Not mine.
Author's Note: Blame it on Fuji's Image Song 'SHUTTER CHANCE wa ichido dake' and my inability to understand the lyrics…
Shutter
The day had started off perfectly. The sky was bluer than blue, with white fleecy clouds chasing each other, the birds were chirping cheerfully in the trees…
And Echizen Ryoma was late for school.
The sixteen-year-old tennis prodigy of Seigaku High hurtled down the road as fast as he could, all the while cursing certain spiky haired sempais who could not do the simple job of picking him for school right.
He would be wiping the court with Momo-sempai the next time they had a match, he promised himself.
Miraculously – or rather, due to all the training Tezuka-buchou and Inui-sempai made him do everyday, Ryoma reached the school with a few seconds to spare. He paused at the school gate to catch is breath, panting and sweating like a pig, his inky hair in a state of disarray.
A few girls passing him gave him once-overs and nudged each other, giggling like there was no tomorrow.
Ryoma's golden eyes narrowed dangerously. Oh yes, Momo-sempai was so dead.
Maybe it was due to his disheveled appearance, because as he hurried down the corridor that would lead him to his classroom, Ryoma could feel hundreds of pairs of eyes following him in interest. Whispers and giggles could be heard wherever he went.
His fingers itched for his beloved racket.
The situation only got worse in class. Half of his classmates blushed and avoided his gaze when he entered the room, while the other half gawked at him openly. Even the teachers gave him weird looks.
He tried to ask Ryuzaki Sakuno what the matter was after three periods of their strange behavior, but the dratted girl burst into tears and ran out of the room, leaving a very startled and frustrated Ryoma to figure it out for himself.
By lunch break, Ryoma had developed a permanent tick on his forehead and a death glare that could rival Kaidoh's.
He sat down in the cafeteria to eat his meal, pointedly ignoring all the stares and hushed whispers all around him (even the second and third year students were joining in the Let's-Gawk-At-Echizen madness). Boy Wonder was now feeling more like a bomb, all set to go BOOM!
Which was why, when he felt a hand on his shoulder, he whipped around, promising the person a slow and painful death with his furious golden eyes.
"Wah! Ochibi! It's only us!"
Ryoma blinked.
"Sempai-tachi?"
It looked like all the Tennis Club's regulars, except Tezuka-buchou and Fuji-sempai were there. Oishi and Kaidoh were blushing, the latter more than the former. Kikumaru and Momoshiro looked gleeful. Inui was scribbling madly into his accursed notebook.
"Ochibi!" Kikumaru exclaimed, glomping the team's baby. "You've grown up nya!"
"Huh?"
"I take it you haven't seen it yet." That was Inui, glasses gleaming in a most frightening manner, although nowhere was frightening as his grin.
Ryoma suddenly developed a strong urge to run home, pride be damned, and hide himself in his room until the next Tuesday.
"Seen…what?" he asked tentatively.
Momoshiro burst out laughing. Ryoma shot him an annoyed glare.
"And where were you this morning, Momo-sempai? You were supposed to pick me up at seven!"
Momoshiro's expression instantly turned from tickled to bewildered. "I thought you put a note in my locker yesterday telling me not to bother?"
"I did not," Ryoma snapped.
"Maa, maa, Momo, Echizen," Oishi placated them. The team's vice president then turned ro Ryoma, blush still intact. "Er…Echizen, did you know that there's a photo exhibition by the Photography Club today?"
Ryoma frowned. Fuji-sempai (who was a member of the Photography Club as well as the Tennis Club) had mentioned it yesterday during their match after school.
"Yes," Ryoma answered tersely, scowling at all the staring students in the cafeteria. "But what has that to do with all this?"
Kaidoh let out an embarrassed hiss behind Inui.
"I think you'll understand if you see it for yourself," Inui's grin widened. This promised very good data indeed. "Shall we?"
"Hoi hoi!" Kikumaru crowed. "Let's go, Ochibi!" and promptly dragged Ryoma out in the direction of the hall where the photo exhibition was held, the rest of the Regulars in tow. (Oishi was there to exercise some damage control, and Kaidoh only because Inui promised him a new training menu if he tagged along)
To sat the hall was packed would have been an understatement. To Inui's trained eyes, 48 percent of the student population was there and 80 percent of the crowd was clustered at the end of the hall…where the 'main attraction' was located.
"Over there," he informed his teammates and let Kikumaru lead the way, propelling a sullen Echizen in front of him.
"Fuji!" Kikumaru called over the din the students were making to his best friend.
At his shout, the crowd turned, took one look at Ryoma, and parted like the Red Sea. The giggling and nudging started again. This time, Ryoma was near enough to hear their exclamations of "Kawaii!"
That did nothing to improve his royal temper.
Standing at the end of the crowd was Fuji Syuusuke, smiling that beautiful (read: creepy) closed eyed smile at them. Ryoma had known him long enough to know that something was Very Wrong. The forehead tick intensified.
"Fuji-sempai…" Ryoma started, striding up to his boyfriend, stopping in front of the (still) taller, fair haired tensai, and glaring up at the older boy. "Is there something I should know about?"
Fuji's eyes opened slowly, the blue glinting in almost wicked amusement. "Now why would you think that, Ryoma?" his gentle voice asked, all the innocence in the world in it.
"Fuji-sempai!" Ryoma growled.
His boyfriend let out a soft chuckle and moved aside to let Ryoma have a look at the masterpiece hanging on the wall.
Ryoma stared in disbelieve.
It was a full-blown picture of himself, asleep on what he recognized as Fuji's bed, the rumpled sheets wrapped around his lean hips, leaving his upper torso bare. But what was the most intriguing feature about the picture, was the three love bites – one on his neck, and two on his collarbone, standing out prominently against his tanned skin.
His horrified gaze swiveled over to Fuji.
"You looked too cute to be left alone, and my camera was within reach…" Fuji explained gently, a serene smile stretching his lips.
Ryoma stared some more.
"You agreed to be my model last week, remember?" Fuji reminded him after five more minutes of silence from the younger boy.
Ryoma's outraged yell could be heard throughout the school.
Tezuka looked up from the book he was reading, a frown on his face.
That sounded like Echizen…
The bespectacled captain of the Tennis Club was about to get up to look into the matter when he suddenly remembered Fuji's angelic smile that morning before class and the soft words the team's number two singles player had uttered.
"Do come and join in the fun later, Tezuka. Everyone needs entertainment now and then…"
Tezuka froze, and then hurriedly buried his patrician nose in his book once again, repeating the mantra he had been repeating ever since being acquainted to one very sadistic Fuji Syuusuke under his breath.
"Ignorance is bliss. Ignorance is bliss. Ignorance is bliss. Ignorance…"
Owari.
Guess who put that note in Momoshiro's locker? lol