Yuuta looked at his watch.
She wasn't late, but he was nervous. He couldn't just stay still like a statue while waiting for his date to turn up. It was too unnatural. He would have paced, but that would have made him look like he was in trouble, or something.
Never again, he thought resolutely. Even if Aniki bribes me with a million things, never again shall I be forced to go out with anybody.
Even if said person happens to be nice, and cute, and good at tennis….
"Fuji-san!"
The clear voice shook him out of his fantasies of violence towards his older brother, and he spotted the brunette gaily waving at him as she walked briskly up the sidewalk towards him.
He smiled, although he felt it rather unnatural. She looks as if she actually doesn't mind.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," An said apologetically.
"It's okay, you're not late," Yuuta assured her. "Umm….let's go in, then."
"Okay!"
The café that they'd chosen (or rather, Fuji had chosen) was small, but welcoming. There were booths set up as well as seats along a bar. Yuuta and An chose a booth in the middle of the room (or rather, Yuuta had led An to a booth where they couldn't easily be seen from outside. He couldn't live it down if his friends knew he'd just been match made. Ugh. As if he was so desperate.)
"I've never been here before…" An said as she picked up the menu on the table.
"Umm, me neither," Yuuta said to keep the conversation going. "But I'm rarely here, so…."
"Hey, yeah," An picked up enthusiastically. "You live in a dorm, right? I've never known someone who lived in a dorm….or I do, but I don't know them well. Is it the holidays or something? How come you're home?"
And as the date progressed, Yuuta found that really, there was nothing to worry about.
Except for the risk that he might get seen, of course.
Xxxxxxx
"Dan-kun, it's so nice to see you again!" Akutsu's mother greeted the short boy enthusiastically. "Do bring Dan-kun along more often, Jin. It's nice to know that you're making friends!"
Akutsu growled. "I didn't bring him. He tagged along. There's a shit of a difference there."
"Konnichiwa desu, Akutsu-san!" Dan Taichi greeted her cheerfully.
"Well, what would you guys like?"
"The usual."
"Hai, desu!"
Dan Taichi was happy. He'd had a great practice with the ichinen trio the day before, and this was just a treat after the hard work he'd put in. He enjoyed coming here with Akutsu-senpai, especially ever since they had fixed the air-conditioning. He stretched appreciatively, twisting his head this way and that-
"Eh?"
Akutsu ignored him as he usually did.
"Those two are familiar! Look, Akutsu-senpai! I think I've seen them before somewhere….Do you know them, Akutsu-senpai?"
Akutsu grunted.
"That's the St. Rudolph uniform isn't it? But….I'm not so sure about the other girl's uniform though. I don't know anything about girls' uniforms…desu…."
Akutsu slumped and started to snore.
"It's not the Seigaku uniform, I remember their uniforms were green and white with that really ugly pink bow, desu…this uniform's kinda nice, desu…"
"Here you go! Jin, wake up."
"Ne, Akutsu-san," Dan didn't know why, but that guy looked so familiar and he just had to know who he was, desu! "Can you see the guy and the girl sitting in the booth at the centre of the café desu?"
She looked. "Oh, you mean those two? Yeah, they just walked in a few minutes before you did. Do you know them, Dan-kun?"
"I just feel like I've seen them somewhere before, desu. Do they often come here desu?"
"Umm…no, I think this is the first time I've seen them. But I know the girl's uniform though, I remember it because we have a regular from the same school, and their uniform's just so cute! It's the Fudoumine uniform."
"Fudoumine?"
"Don't you remember anything? That kid is the brother of that Seigaku player. The triple counter guy," Jin growled as he ate. Really. Conversations were annoying.
"AAAHH! Sou desu! Now I remember who he is!"
"Good, now shut up and start eating," Jin grumbled. Really.
"Sasuga Akutsu-senpai! Now if I can only put my finger on who the girl is, desu…"
Akutsu rolled his eyes. "She's the kid sister of the Fudoumine captain. Really, and you call yourself the Yamabuki manager?" Now, maybe that annoying prick would just shut up.
"Oh RIGHT! That's who she is! Hey…do you think….do you think…" Dan's face had taken on a tinge of red… "they're on a DATE?"
Akutsu ignored him.
Xxxxxxxx
"Actually, there's something I need to be clear with you about," An suddenly said in the middle of their meal.
"Mmpf?" Yuuta chewed and swallowed. "Yeah, what is it?"
"Well…" An laughed uncomfortably and twisted her fork uncomfortably. "I hope this doesn't come off as sounding weird or anything….although it probably will, but….you see, I sort of….need your help, really, on something."
"Oh. Okay." Yuuta wasn't sure where this was going, but no doubt he would be finding out soon.
"What exactly did Fuji-san say to you? About…me?" she abruptly asked.
Yuuta frowned, trying to remember exactly what his aniki had said.
"Well, actually, he's been going on and on about me not….meeting enough girls or something…" Never mind that it was actually meeting NO girls. "So he said he wanted to introduce to me someone. No commitment, just…you know. To give it a shot or something."
An nodded. "Okay."
"What did your brother say to you?" Yuuta asked, part politeness, part curiosity.
"Well, actually…." An twisted uncomfortably in her seat, "it's like this. Do you know Atobe-sam – I mean, Atobe Keigo from Hyoutei?"
"Yeah, I know him," Yuuta nodded. "Who doesn't?"
"Yeah. Well….I don't know how to say this without sounding arrogant, but…" An paused hesitantly, and pushed on. "he's been sorta, you know, hitting on me for a while."
Yuuta grimaced upon hearing that particular phrase, thoughts of Mizuki-san and his sister suddenly surfacing, but did not interrupt.
"So…I've been trying to throw him off for a while, but he's persistent."
"Mm-hmm," Yuuta responded as he shoved another bit of sandwich into his mouth.
"So it was like, so totally sudden, but onii-chan had this idea that I should look for a surrogate boyfriend…."
Xxxxxxxx
Tachibana sneezed violently. Hmm. Maybe the air-conditioning was too cold.
As he got up to adjust it, his mobile phone rang.
Changing direction, he made to his desk and looked at the blinking LCD screen.
Fuji.
His heart did a little jump, skip, and decided to attempt suicide by jumping to his throat.
Tachibana swallowed. "Moshi moshi," he answered.
"Tachibana-san. Umm…am I interrupting anything?"
Thoughts of the next day's Japanese history test flew out of his mind. "No, no, not at all," he answered.
"Okay. That's good. …..Um, really?"
"….Yah."
There was an uncomfortable silence. Then Fuji spoke.
"Do you think they're alright?"
Tachibana sweatdropped. "Um…yeah."
"Okay."
"…."
"Shall we go look at how they're doing?"
Tachibana blinked. "Well….that is….I mean…."
"I mean, I just want to make sure Yuuta's okay. An is a natural at this, but Yuuta….well, he's never gone out with a girl before, and I …..just don't want this to….you know…. bomb."
Tachibana decided that this brotherly side of Fuji was quite surprising (and endearing) even if it was a little bit…well….intruder-ish.
"I'm sure it won't bomb," Tachibana reasoned. "I mean, they're two nice people who're out to have a meal. Nothing bad can possibly happen."
"Okay."
"They have lots of stuff in common. I'm sure they're enjoying themselves."
"Sou ne."
"But…" Tachibana tried to quell the little voice taunting him in his head, "if you wanted to, we could always…"
Xxxxxxxx
"Tadaima!"
Tachibana jerked himself awake. He had, unbeknownst to himself, fallen asleep on a stack of Japanese history notes.
Damn. He had not wanted that particular dream to end.
Pushing all thoughts of a dream concerning a certain blue-eyed Seigaku third-year tennis prodigy, he got up and poked his head out of his room. "Okaeri, An."
An grinned at him, stopping at the landing that separated their rooms.
"So?" Tachibana asked.
"It was nice," An said airily, and stepping into her room, closed the door.
Tachibana smiled to himself. "Yokatta," he said to the door. He wasn't one to press for details. It was good enough to know that the date hadn't ….bombed.
Tachibana shook his head. Really, he had to get a grip on himself nowadays.
Xxxxxx
Yuuta opened the door slo-o-o-wly. The house was still. There were no sounds emanating from either the TV room or the kitchen.Good.
He entered the house and painstakingly shut the door as silently as possible.
When the latch clicked shut, Yuuta paused, bracing himself for any sudden appearance of his brother or sister.
When it remained silent, he heaved a sigh of relief and proceeded to tiptoe upstairs.
Safe, he thought triumphantly to himself as he made it to his bedroom door.
"So how did it go?"
Yuuta jumped in shock and glared at his aniki who was grinning at him, his head poking out from his bedroom doorway. It was just plain eerie, that grin.
Yuuta paused, as though contemplating what to say to his brother.
"Well…."
Fuji's features brightened in anticipation.
"…you promised not to pester me, so one more word and you can kiss your jazz CDs goodbye," Yuuta deadpanned, and stepped into his room, closing the door.
Fuji's face fell. Not wanting to risk his jazz CDs, he retreated into his room.
His gaze fell upon a couple of tickets lying innocently on his desk.
Tsuzuku.
A/N: Okay, so it was a lame attempt at a cliffie, because I am sure every single person out there knows exactly what it is Fuji is going to do. He is going to ask Tachibana out!
That was an even lamer attempt to throw you guys off track.
But anyways! I've had a lot of difficulty writing this! There were so many ways it could go – I had written out a whole Fujibana scene before deciding it was too early – and Eiji ended up somewhere, but I decided that could wait – I even had this corny brotherly fluff going on before deciding that Yuuta was a lot less cornier than that – review, please?
