How Buchou Found the Christmas Spirit
Chapter 4: Amends
A/N: K, gonna try to get a chapter a day up which should mean the last one appears on Christmas if I'm not too busy doing that whole "Family" and "Christmas" thing. Bah humbug. This next chapter was originally the only idea I had for a fic… and then it exploded as my stories seem to enjoy doing. Shopping with Buchou, I thought. Yeah, that'd be fun. And then BOOM No Christmas one shot for me. Ah well, I like this plot better, though I find Kikumaru extremely difficult to write without stereotyping him. This is why I can't do Golden Pair fics. Hope I did Eiji justice here.
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Purchasing a gift is considerably more difficult when one's allowance has just been revoked on account of failure to sabotage the enemy. At least Fuji had gotten the other polar bear cub back before his mother woke up. Tezuka replaced its hat when he left to shovel the sidewalk. He then made the single most awkward call of his life before taking a bus to the mall.
Kikumaru met him at the mall's entrance, an absurd grin on his face.
"You are to tell Fuji nothing of this," Tezuka stated. "The same goes for Oishi."
Kikumaru mimed zipping his mouth shut.
Tezuka shifted uncomfortably, looking around at the shuffling masses of holiday shoppers. Like sheep, he thought, bargain hunting sheep. Kikumaru still hadn't said anything, seeming to be waiting for Tezuka to do something.
"Well?" Tezuka asked.
The silence lasted another four seconds before Kikumaru's face erupted in a giggle fit through which he managed the string of words: "I'm sorry, Buchou, but I knew this would happen someday and nobody believed me and now it's finally happened and-"
"Kikumaru."
The acrobat stopped
for a breath. "Hoi?"
"10 laps."
Kikumaru blinked. "Buchou, we're at the mall. And you needed my help to shop."
"We will begin when you've completed your rounds."
"But ..." He looked around uncertainly. "You can't really make me run laps here."
Tezuka raised an eyebrow. "Then I will get back on the bus and go home until such time as I can make you run laps again."
Kikumaru rolled his eyes, moving off at a jog and muttering something that sounded suspiciously like, "Fujiko better appreciate the things I..." before he was out of earshot. Tezuka waited, sitting on the edge of a fountain and attempting to give off powerful "stay the hell away vibes" to any shoppers who got too close.
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Kikumaru became a much more tolerable person after his initial energy burst was depleted. This, however, did not make the prospect of selecting a gift for Fuji any easier, particularly when Kikumaru appeared to have at least six ulterior motives, most of which were highlighted by the first store they entered.
"Come on, Buchou. Fujiko shops here all the time." Kikumaru rolled his eyes at the entrance to a small boutique, called (according to the hot pink English letters on the sign) "GAIN." Tezuka entered warily, eyeing the store's patrons most of whom were wearing mesh, fur, or some combination of the two.
"What about a hat?" Kikumaru proceeded to try on several styles of knit caps, featuring embellishments ranging from butterflies to skulls, sometimes in combination.
Outside of last night's cat burglar cosplay, Tezuka had never seen Fuji in a hat before. Verbally, he only grumbled and moved over toward the scarves. Fuji did wear scarves from time to time. They were warm; practical. He removed a dark blue one with silver thread woven into the fabric, checking it for misspelled English. Nope. Perfect. He was fini--
He looked at the price tag.
"Kikumaru."
"Hoi?" The acrobat looked up from his conversation with an anorexic looking store attendant.
"I'm leaving." If Fuji really shopped here and this wasn't just a ploy to mortify Tezuka, Fuji shopped with someone else's credit card.
Tezuka ignored Kikumaru's protests, which continued for a good seven minutes before a reminder about budget constraints quieted him. Sullen, Fuji's friend proceeded to drag Tezuka around the mall into various esoteric stores he claimed Fuji shopped at. They first visited the billiard shop, but Fuji already had a personal cue and case. Neither Tezuka nor Kikumaru knew enough about photography to choose something useful in that store. And cacti seemed too sharp to be considered a peace offering. By two-o-clock, Kikumaru sat slumped in an irritated heap in the food court, demanding Tezuka buy him lunch to make up for the wasted day.
"If I'd known you were going to be this difficult, I'd have made Oishi come with," Kikumaru sighed, wolfing down the burger that cut another slice out of Tezuka's gift budget.
"Fuji is the difficult one."
Kikumaru rolled his eyes, swallowing another bite. "You still don't get it, do you? It doesn't really matter what you get him. Just that you get him something."
Tezuka raised an eyebrow.
With a huff, Kikumaru clarified, "Fuji doesn't really care what you get him--" Tezuka started to make a suggestion, but Kikumaru cut him off. "--as long as it's not something completely insensitive like tennis stuff-- but it's more important that you just give him something, no matter who wins the competition."
"Why?" Tezuka blinked.
Kikumaru threw his hands in the air, shouting loud enough for the entire food court to hear, "So he knows that you still like him!"
Tezuka shut his eyes, pretending for a moment that several dozen people had not just turned to stare at the two of them. Kikumaru didn't seem perturbed by the situation, just continued munching fries at an irritated pace. Once he was sure everyone had stopped staring, Tezuka said, "That's ridiculous."
"That's what I told him," Kikumaru mumbled around a mouthful of fries, "But he's worried that if he wins, you'll be jealous, and if you win, he'll be jealous and you'll think he's a loser and either way you might not want to be friends anymore, let alone..." he trailed off, eyes suddenly large in worry. Then he returned to his lunch as if he'd said nothing at all.
As Tezuka thought before: ulterior motives. He waited expectantly for a few moments, and when that failed to work, he prompted, "Let alone what?"
"Hoi?"
"You said 'let alone.'"
"I did? No I didn't."
"Lying to a captain is a minimum of 25 laps."
Kikumaru menaced a burnt fry in Tezuka's direction. "Nyah, you can't make me run any more laps! I promised Fujiko I wouldn't say anything, and besides if you haven't figured it out yet, you don't deserve any help." Kikumaru avoided the glare Tezuka shot his way by staring obstinately at his soda.
Wonderful. Kikumaru's slip proved what Tezuka had suspected for some time, and that meant that Fuji's emotions were currently as taut as the strings on his racquet. An emotional Fuji was irrational, volatile, and completely unpredictable; Tezuka had seen it before, though usually it centered around his fierce defense of his brother or teammates. Now, it applied to him, meaning one misstep could blacklist him permanently in Fuji's mind.
And Tezuka realized - with a moderate degree of surprise - that he didn't want that. Maybe he wasn't quite clear on his own feelings towards what Fuji'd been hinting at, but he certainly didn't want their friendship, such as it was, to end. He enjoyed Fuji's company more than that of most people. Socializing usually left Tezuka feeling awkward and clumsy, but not with Fuji. The tensai was quiet, never speaking just to hear himself talk and not pressuring others into conversation either. When he did speak, he was clever, witty, and appreciated that Tezuka was smart enough to get most of his jokes.
Fuji never clung to him like any of the girls from school or his father's office. He didn't pry Tezuka with questions about his arm, even though he subtly monitored Tezuka's condition at practice. He didn't need Tezuka to watch out for him, preferring to deal with problems himself, and he was usually capable of doing so.
Fuji was also discreet, both about Tezuka's injury and ... other secrets he'd discovered. Last year, Tezuka's father let Fuji into the house, allowing him to unwittingly interrupt the Saturday morning sentai ritual Tezuka had been observing since the age of four. Fuji hadn't laughed; hadn't broadcast it to the school. Instead, he'd smiled, commented on how the current generation's mecha didn't compare to last season's, and sat down to join him.
And while he would never admit it, he liked Fuji's smile: the real smile occasionally let slip around Tezuka. The buchou knew if this feud carried on, he'd probably never see that smile again. Losing the Christmas competition seemed petty next to losing that. If nothing else, he could make sure that didn't happen, and that their friendship remained stable.
A plan began developing in Tezuka's mind. Not a particularly appealing plan, but one that might work.
"Anything?" he asked Kikumaru, who jumped as if he hadn't expected Tezuka to speak to him again.
After checking to make sure he wasn't to be assigned further laps for inappropriate insinuations, the acrobat explained, "Nyah. Not anything anything. But anything you wouldn't give to somebody else."
Tezuka decided his plan met this qualifcation. He sighed. "I will have to ask you for one more favor."
Kikumaru saluted with a smirk, "Hai, buchou!"
Tezuka sighed, taking a moment to stare at the mall's glass ceiling. This had better work.
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The EllipsesBandit…'s commentary
The tenimyu jokes continue (two so far and at least one more in the future for those of you keeping score). GAIN is the boutique owned by Nagayan of Tenimyu Kikumaru fame. I'm moving its location here because I wanted it. It's my crackverse and I can make Tezuka and Kikumaru shop wherever I want. Support Nagayan!
Yes, Tezuka and Fuji watch sentai for the mecha…just like me. Certainly wouldn't watch it for the spandex or the posing or barely concealed shounen-ai subplots. What Dekaranger marathon? Don't know what you're talking about. P.S. Whisper I hope you don't consider this stealing on account of everyone loves sentai!
