Chapter seven
Sanada growled to himself as he hung up his phone after the millionth call that day. Arranging a party was a lot harder than he'd thought it'd be, especially for the most flamboyant person he'd ever met, who seemed to have very demanding needs.
Storming back into his office, he saw Atobe look up from his desk.
"Ah, good, you're here," Atobe said, before his face fell. "And… is that what you're wearing?"
Sanada glanced down at his jeans and shirt, which he thought depicted smart casual perfectly. "Yeah."
Atobe sighed. "I knew this would happen." He turned toward Jiroh, who seemed to have a pile of material on top of him. "Jiroh. Jiroh, wake up, now."
Opening his eyes, Jiroh glanced toward Atobe. "Yeah?"
"The suit," Atobe held out his hands expectantly. Jiroh pushed the pile of material toward Atobe, who sighed and picked it up. "You will be wearing this."
He held up a brown suit, with a teal tie and a white shirt. "Conveniently, it clashes horribly with your hat."
Sanada looked up at him. "I'm only wearing the suit if I can wear my hat."
Atobe glared at him. "Brown and red don't go, Sanada."
"I have a blue hat."
Atobe continued glaring at him. "Of course you do." He paused. "Fine." He handed the suit to Sanada. "You can change here."
Sanada raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well Jiroh's asleep, and I'm… doing paperwork."
"You never do paperwork."
"Ah, it's true. Fine, use the toilets. The car will collect us at two."
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Atobe stood at the door, smiling at the people going toward him. A small, plump man and his wife came in, and Atobe looked expectantly at Sanada, standing beside him with a list.
"Who are they?"
"Mr. and Mrs. Shindou," Sanada whispered at him, and Atobe smiled brightly at the couple.
"Mr. Shindou, how's the golf?" Atobe asked him, and the two chatted for a moment, before they moved on.
"How'd you know he played golf?" Sanada asked him. Atobe glanced back, "Tweed." Sanada nodded in reply, ticking the man off his list.
Two men came in after them, and Atobe smiled at them.
"Umm… Shishido and -"
"I know," Atobe murmured, looking at the two. "Ah, welcome Mr. And Mrs. Ohtori."
Shishido sent a dark glare at him, as the two moved on in.
"They're my private jet pilots," Atobe explained to Sanada.
"Do you treat all your employees this way?"
They were interrupted as another man came in through the door.
"Ahh, Mr. Honda," Atobe greeted him. "How's your wif-"
"Divorced, divorced," Sanada whispered harshly at him.
"Ffff- bin? How's your bin?"
Sanada rolled his eyes as he ticked Mr. Honda off the list. "Nice save," he said sarcastically to his boss, as the man went on into the hall. Atobe pinched him in reply.
"Did you just pinch me?"
"No," Atobe replied. "I'm a professional. Professionals do not pinch co-workers in professional situations. Ah, Mr. And Mrs. Oshitari," he greeted Oshitari and Mukahi as they entered, receiving a kick from the red-head.
"I could fire you!" Atobe yelled at Oshitari as they went on through.
"I could quit, and sell my story to the newspapers," Oshitari retorted, and laughed at Atobe's yell of 'Yuushi!'.
Echizen walked in alongside Tezuka and Fuji, and the group stopped at Atobe and Sanada. Fuji placed his hand on Echizen's shoulder. "Look who we found hiding in the toilets."
"The official meal begins in an hour," Atobe said to Echizen, sharply. "So don't wander off again."
Echizen scoffed, and strolled into the hall.
"And take those hands out of your pockets. And take off your hat!"
"Is Echizen no longer allowed to wear his hat? I thought it was his thing."
"I'll give you a thing."
"I bet you will," Fuji said to Atobe, with a wink. "We'll meet you in there later then. Come along, Tezuka."
Atobe glared after them, as they entered the banquet.
"Who invited that… photographer?" Atobe snapped.
"You did," Sanada replied, ticking him off the list. "Now play nice, the next guy's a reporter."
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Tezuka stood by the bar, on his own, taking a sip from his glass of wine. Fuji had left him twenty minutes ago, claiming to be 'back in a minute' and hadn't returned. Glancing around, Tezuka's eyes fell on Echizen, sitting in the corner with what looked like a statue of sorts.
Moving toward him, Tezuka saw that it wasn't a statue, but a pyramid of five empty bottles of Smirnoff; Ryoma about to add a sixth to the top. Tezuka watched him closely.
"Are those… all yours?"
Echizen looked up at him, his eyes slightly unfocused. "Tennis."
"Yes, Echizen, I did play tennis with you."
Echizen nodded. "Mada mada dane," he murmured, before returning to his pyramid. He placed the sixth one at an odd angle on top, and the whole pile fell to the ground. Echizen looked at it sadly, for a moment, before his eye caught an ice sculpture across the room.
"Ice," he mumbled, pulling himself up and wandering off.
Tezuka grabbed his elbow before he could leave.
"Come on, Echizen."
"Tezuka, where are we going?"
"To Atobe."
Echizen pouted. "I don't wanna go to Atobe, Atobe's an arse. He was mean to my cat. He didn't brush him! I would've brushed him, but I was in the mountains," he looked up at him. "And so were you."
"Yes, yes I was," Tezuka replied. "Come on, Atobe will be mad."
"Fuck Atobe."
"Indeed."
Echizen pulled back, refusing to move any further. "But we don't have to go see Atobe…" He nestled into Tezuka's chest. "We could find things to do which are much more fun."
"Echizen, you're drunk."
"And you're hot."
Tezuka pried the boy off him. "No, Echizen."
Echizen huffed. "What does a guy gotta do around here to not see Atobe?"
Fuji took that opportunity to appear, smiling at the two of them. "Ah, Tezuka, I was looking for you, I just went to have a cigarette outside." He glanced down at the smaller boy. "Ryoma, are you drunk?"
Echizen shook his head angrily whilst Tezuka nodded. "Wait," Echizen pointed accusingly at Tezuka. "I saw that. I'm not drunk."
"We're going to see Atobe," Tezuka explained.
"That wasn't part of the deal!" Echizen wailed. "Tezzzzzzzzzuka… you said if I gave you my body…"
"Oh, really?" Fuji asked.
Tezuka glared at the tennis player. "Echizen, stop lying."
"Oh, I get it," Echizen tapped his nose. "Secret."
"Echizen."
"We'll meet in the toilets… and it'll be wonderful…"
"We're going to see Atobe," Tezuka insisted.
"But… the deal…"
"The deal doesn't exist."
"It can with me," Fuji piped up.
"Fuji."
"Fuji!" Echizen said, moving toward him. Tezuka grabbed the back of Echizen's collar, and began leading him away.
"Ah, Tezuka, you're no fun…" Fuji said from behind him.
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"Sanada, why are there yellow roses?" Atobe snapped at him.
"You asked for roses."
"Yes, but not yellow." Atobe replied.
"Well, you didn't tell me that."
"I pay you to know!"
Sanada opened his mouth to reply, but stopped as he looked over Atobe's shoulder at the group moving toward them. Atobe turned around, and his eyes grew wide.
"What happened?" he asked, as Tezuka thrust a small tennis player toward him.
"Echizen's drunk."
Echizen looked angrily up at Atobe. "You."
"He's drunk? It's been half an hour." Atobe snapped, looking at the boy, who was baring his teeth at him. "What did I do?"
"I believe it was his cat," Fuji suggested.
"Oh, for hell's sake, it was just a cat -"
Echizen gasped at Atobe's words. "How could you? I don't need your sponsorship! I can make it on my own!"
He began to walk off, but stumbled and ended up falling into Sanada.
"Look," Atobe said, rubbing at his temple. "The dinner's in half an hour, give him lots of water, and we'll get him sober."
Echizen suddenly looked up, a dazed glint in his eyes. "I need the toilet." He pushed himself off of Sanada, and began walking in the vague direction of the toilets.
"Someone go with him!" Atobe said. Fuji smiled and began to follow the small boy. Atobe paused for a moment. "Now, someone follow him."
Tezuka went after them, and Atobe sighed. Sanada turned to look at his seething boss.
"We cannot have the boy we're sponsoring drunk in front of all the people that matter!" Atobe snapped. He turned to Sanada. "And the flowers are still yellow!"
Sanada rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Atobe."
