A/N: With many great hugs to my beta-reader, Vierblith
Chapter 2 – Love Fuji?The early morning sun streamed through the gauzy curtains and flooded the bedroom with warm light. Tezuka stirred in bed, eyebrows drawing together into a frown as he slowly forced himself to open his sleepy eyes.
Despite his slight exhaustion, Tezuka looked forward to going to school. He stretched lazily in bed and put on his spectacles before making his way to the bathroom.
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"Ohayou, Fuji," Tezuka greeted, his heart skipping a beat when he saw the tensai leaning against the wall just a few feet away from his house.
That started around the same time Fuji began sending good night messages, Tezuka recalled, unconsciously letting out a soft smile. He felt nostalgic. Tezuka could clearly remember the Cheshire grin on the tensai's face when he first saw Fuji waiting outside his house to go to school together. At that time, Fuji only commented that he wanted to walk to school together with Tezuka since Tezuka's house was along the way.
'Ah,' Tezuka thought, 'since when have I been accustomed to walking to school with Fuji?'
"I wonder what you are thinking, Tezuka," Fuji's voice broke in, effectively bringing Tezuka back to reality. "Care to share?" Fuji asked, giving Tezuka a lopsided grin.
"Not a chance," Tezuka shot back. The corners of his lips curled a little when he saw the pout on Fuji's lips.
The journey to school was quiet, but comfortably so. The occasional brushes of his knuckle's against Fuji's seemed to send electric sparks to Tezuka's heart. Tezuka tried to conceal his reactions, while, at the same time, stole glances at the seemingly ever cheerful Fuji.
Several meters away from the entrance of Seigaku High, they noticed Inui, the data tennis player.
"Inui," Fuji remarked. "I wonder whom he might be waiting for."
"Ohayou, Inui," Fuji greeted, his blue eyes now scrutinizing the dark-haired player. "Who are you waiting for?"
"Tezuka."
Upon hearing the reply, two pairs of eyes stared at Inui in surprise.
"What would you wish to say?" Tezuka inquired, his curiosity now piqued.
Inui steadied his glasses, and flipped open his notebook. He opened his mouth and was about to reply when he paused to look at Fuji.
Raising an eyebrow, Fuji asked with an evident note of stubbornness in his voice, "I have to go?"
"Yes, please." Inui gave an affirmative nod. "I need to speak to Tezuka alone. You can find out from Tezuka later since there is a hundred percent chance that you would ask anyway."
"But-" Fuji began to protest, when Tezuka placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke in a warning tone, "Fuji…"
Fuji sighed. Giving a submissive shrug, he flashed a fleeting, dazzling smile, as he teased, "Aye aye, Tezuka Buchou."
Once Fuji was out of earshot, Inui cleared his throat and began as he started to flip through his notebook, "According to my data, it was one month and five days ago when you and Fuji started to appear at school together. Since then, there has been a fifty percent increase in your happiness indicator, and a ninety-eight percent increase in your conversations that mention Fuji. In addition," Inui emphasized, not wanting Tezuka to interrupt yet, "there is a ninety-five percent increase that you show extreme concern about Fuji. So," he paused to catch a breath, having said so many things at one go. He asked, "Are you in love with Fuji?"
Tezuka would have stared back at Inui. But he cleared his head. Instead, he cleared his throat, pushing his glasses against the bridge of his nose – an action that he always did whenever he felt uncomfortable.
"What is your calculated probability that I would confirm your data, Inui?" Tezuka asked, feeling slightly inquisitive.
Without hesitation, Inui squared his shoulders as he snapped his notebook close. With an air of confidence, he replied, "Ninety-seven percent."
Tezuka's eyelids flickered in surprise. Apparently Inui had been observing him, and even seemed to know his feelings much more than he himself did. 'But is that really love? What is love?' Tezuka thought.
Recovering from his surprise, Tezuka folded his arms across his chest and he replied defensively, "Gomen nasai, Inui. But," he paused, contemplating for a moment whether he should say the following words before coming to a conclusion, "I don't love Fuji."
Tezuka felt an immediate twinge of regret once those words tumbled out of his mouth. He began to doubt himself.
'If I don't love Fuji, what's up with those dreams about him?' He questioned silently. Giving a mental shrug, he faced Inui once more. "See you during tennis practice then."
With that, he strode off towards the direction of his classroom, unaware of a pair of blue eyes that were following him.
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Inui was not surprised at all to hear Tezuka refute his data. "Out of the three percent, there is a two percent chance that Tezuka would deny because he feels uncomfortable answering my question, and there is the remaining one percent chance that he truly does not like Fuji at all. A pity that I don't have Fuji's full data yet," Inui mumbled, scribbling furiously into his notebook as he slowly walked away.
But unknown to Tezuka and Inui, Fuji had not headed straight to his classroom as promised. The curious tensai had made a roundabout to walk back to the entrance of Seigaku High and was surprised to hear Inui asking about Tezuka's feelings towards Fuji himself.
Fuji's heart began to race. What was Tezuka going to reply? Yes? Fuji thought. Or…
"…don't love Fuji." Tezuka replied.
At once, Fuji's heart seemed to sink right into a bottomless pit of sadness. His mind seemed to stop working save for those hurtful words that kept playing in his head. '…don't love Fuji.'
Spinning around, Fuji turned towards the direction of his classroom and slowly made his way there, oblivious of the noises that other students were making. It was rare to see the tensai walking with a serious expression on his face.
'Maybe Tezuka never thinks of me as a lover…He only sees me as a friend.' Fuji thought, 'But then again, maybe my method of 'courting' is wrong. As a result, Tezuka does not realize my feelings for him. But,' Fuji sighed, "Expressing my feelings to Tezuka does not mean that he will reciprocate," he mumbled, his shoulders slumping in defeat.
Straightening his shoulders, Fuji took in a deep breath before letting it out slowly. That action seemed to calm down both his mind and heart.
'Well,' Fuji thought, 'I am Fuji Syusuke. I can't give up without properly trying, can I?'
A/N: I hope everyone enjoy this chapter. :)
To those who reviewed previously, thanks again! :D
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Of course, reviews are greatly appreciated for this chapter too!