Pairings: Tajima/Mihashi

Disclaimer: I do not own Oofuri

A/N: Well, here it is, the third story to 'take a chance'. Thx to Fangirl for reviewing on 'surprises', and also thanks to you that this story exists...but sorry if this doesn't really live up to your expectations...I just really don't know how to get Abe to really fight back for Mihashi, so the story came out like this. Thx for reading, pls R&R!^^

"Hey hold on a minute, where do you think you're going with him?!"

"I want Ren to come with me!!!"

"He has to practice with me!!"

"But you praticed with Ren yesterday for the whole day! He should practice with me sometimes!!!!"

"But you should practice with Hanai!!!"

"But….!!!!!!."

As Abe and Tajima were continuing their argument, Mizutani turned around to Sakaeguchi, looking like he was going to cry. "Sakaeguchi, help me!!!! I cannot take any of this anymore!!!!"

Sakaeguchi nodded in agreement, and so did some of the others. Hanai let out a long sigh. He had long since convinced himself that idiots attract each other, since Tajima and Mihashi make a perfect couple in that sense….and it seemed they were influencing Abe to go the same way.

"And you were too close with Ren yesterday!!!"

"So what if I want to be too close with him?"

"But I'M his boyfriend!!!"

"So what?!"

Mihashi stood in the middle of the argument, unsure of what to do. There had been a lot of arguments like this lately, and most of the time he had just stood there until Hanai broke up the argument. This was what Hanai was doing.

"Both of you! SHUT UP and START PRACTICING!!!"

"But what about Ren…"

"Your 'Ren' will go with neither of you. Now go!"

He waited as the two of them glared at each other for awhile, then walked of rather unwillingly. He ordered Mihashi to go practice too, and there was peace after that...But he knew it won't be for long.

"Rennnnn, let's go!"

"Hey, I was talking to him!"

"You talked to him a lot already. Let's go Ren!"

"No way, I'm not done yet."

"Come on Ren, let's gooooo!!"

"I SAID I'm not done!!!!"

Hanai seriously felt like he was going to burst into flames soon. He would usually storm up to them and break up the fight, but what's the point? "I swear, someday I'm going to KILL both of them!" He yelled out, but Abe and Tajima didn't even hear him. He groaned and looked at Izumi. Izumi just yawned a little.

"Hey Izumi, aren't you bothered at all?" He turned towards the others who were wearing an agonized expression. You would think that by now they were supposed to get used to it already.

"Nah...it could be worse."

Hanai frowned a little. If things were to get worse, Abe and Tajima would be dead meat.

"And that Mihashi, doesn't he even CARE!?!?" He knew that saying Mihashi doesn't care would probably be wrong, but looking at how Mihashi always stands there and just WAITS for the argument to be over, well it makes people think otherwise. And that Abe, man is he bringing the whole thing too far. He knew that Abe wouldn't just let the whole thing go, but he didn't know Abe would do the whole 'get back Mihashi' thing so obviously. Anyone could see how ridiculously close he was trying to be with Mihashi lately.

"I believe it won't be wrong to say Mihashi does care. In fact, that might be an understatement."

Hanai stared at Izumi. "What do you mean?"

Izumi just put on a bored look. "Nothing...and well, in this situation, all I can say is....." He paused for awhile.

Hanai urged him to go on. "What?"

"When you fight fire with fire, you might win the opponent...or you might just create a bigger flame."

Mihashi lay in his bed, trying to go to sleep. Things were becoming really complicated lately, and he didn't even know why. First Yu-kun and him started dating, and that was a good thing, or rather, one of the best things that ever happened in his life. But then Abe-kun started becoming...strange, sort of sticking to him a lot, and then there were these fights almost every single day - or hour.

He turned to his side. The fights weren't even half of his problems. The problem was Abe-kun, or maybe it was himself. If it wasn't for that day, that one, crucial moment, he wouldn't even be thinking about all this. He would just be living normally and happily.

The whole thing was very simple, kind of like what you would see in the movies...or EXACTLY like what you would see in the movies. He was in the locker room . Abe-kun was in the locker room too. They talked a little, Abe-kun was acting a little strange, and of course, by some weird twist of fate, Abe-kun HAD to just slip and fall on top of him. And then Abe-kun became even stranger. He didn't get up, he just stayed on the ground, on top of him, and he looked at him in...a different way...sort of, sort of the way Yu-kun sometimes looked at him when they haven't started dating. His gaze was intense, like it was cutting right through him.

And then he said something even stranger than his gaze.

Abe-kun asked... if he had told him he liked him, would he still have chosen Yu-kun.

Mihashi burried his head into his pillow, trying to stop himself from thinking. It was lucky for him that someone arrived at that moment, so he didn't have to answer Abe-kun's question. But it still bothered him a lot, even though Abe-kun seemed to have forgotten about that. Why did Abe-kun say that? Did Abe-kun like him? He didn't think that it was possible, but then what was the reason?

And what would he have answered?

Mihashi threw his blanket over his head. It was going to be a looooong night.

Tajima hadn't really been sleeping well these few nights either. His thoughts kept revolving around Mihashi, the most important person to him in the world. Yes, they were dating, and yes, he was really really happy with that. But something kept bothering him....Abe. He knew how close Abe and Mihashi were, and he knew that Abe liked Mihashi. And the worst thing is, Mihashi might like Abe too.

Except for the regular fights he had with Abe, Tajima actually went up and talked to him seriously once, and that conversation made him worry even more. The things Abe said kept ringing in his mind. Especially that one sentence.

"Yes, I love Mihashi...and I will never stop fighting for him."

If Abe kept fighting for Mihashi....one day, will Mihashi choose him?

He wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer.

Hanai knew that eavesdropping wasn't right, he KNEW IT. But why in the world was he doing exactly that?!

But still, it was because he was concerned for his team. Concerned for his teammates. He had a RIGHT to be there. So he wasn't going away, no way.

Inside the now empty classroom, he could hear Tajima and Mihashi's voices.

"Ren...if Abe told you he liked you, would you still choose me...?"

Mihashi shut his eyes. Tightly. Why did both of them ask him the same question? And why couldn't he ever give an answer?

He opened his eyes and stared at Tajima. Tajima stared back at him, and Mihashi recognized the look in his eyes. It was like that day when Tajima thought he was rejecting him. He felt like someone just stabbed a knife right into his heart...but why couldn't he just say something?

"Mihashi...do you like Abe........?"

Hearing Tajima call him 'Mihashi' instead of 'Ren' was worse than anything else. But he often asked himself that same question, ever since that time in the locker room. Abe definitely had a high position in his heart, and he even came to think that he was nothing without Abe. It always came into his mind, how Abe helped him, supported him, showed him that he was something, showed him that he can actually be something. He always wanted Abe to be by his side, and he never ever wanted Abe to leave him.

So?

Some things have to be said.

"Yu-kun...I like Abe-kun, really, really much...."

Tajima held his breath, and so did Hanai, outside the door. Was it really going to happen...will Mihashi really choose Abe?

"But Yu-kun....I love you." Mihashi knew it...that was his answer all along, and that was what his answer will always be.

Hanai smiled to himself as he walked away, his mind going back to his conversation with Izumi the other day.

"Okay...so...if you say that, are you saying that Abe is trying to fight for Mihashi?"

"I'm not saying anything, but isn't it obvious enough?"

"So....which flame do you think will win?"

"Well...that one will, of course." Izumi pointed his finger towards the two arguing figures.

"Why do you think he will win?"

"Because Mihashi knows, that Abe is his strength...his confidence, his support ...." He stopped awhile and smiled a little, before continuing.

"...And Tajima is his everything."

"NO WAY, they're NOT at it again!!!!!!" Mizutani almost wished that Hanai would REALLY kill them. No matter what, these fights that happen almost every second was IMPOSSIBLE to get used to. It still infuriated him and every single person on the team, except maybe Izumi.

Hanai, though, was just quite relieved to see that this 'fire with fire will cause a bigger flame' that Izumi talked about was just Tajima and Mihashi getting closer than ever, and not some really, really serious fight between Abe and Tajima. So what if there's a little fire?

"No way, today he MUST practice with me!!!!"

"But you're STILL supposed to practice with Hanai or Oki!!!"

"But who knows what you'll do if I let Ren practice with you too long?!"

"And so what if I DID do something?!"

Okay, on second thought, where is the fire extinguisher when you need one?!

A/N: Okay, I hoped it actually turned out all right. Thx for reading!