It was another hot day in this July heat, and the entire mansion was on its merry way to hell.
Rikkaidai were visiting.
Sanada had been right those days ago, Rikkai had indeed heard of Hyuotei's two visits, and the fact that Seigaku got to be the first to visit, and Niou was not happy.
Which was why Sanada tried to keep a very close eye on him, hoping to prevent him from laying out traps. With Yukimura's eyes boring into his back however, it was just a tad difficult to ignore his instincts that screamed for him to not turn his back on the blue haired, fragile looking predator who had locked onto him.
And of course, in his quest to keep Niou in line, he had forgotten about the prankster's boyfriend. The same boyfriend who had been influenced quite badly by his lover, and was nowhere to be seen at the moment.
Kirihara, at least, behaved himself. he was holding Akira very carefully, as though he was made of the most fragile crystal in existence, and barely even dared to breathe just in case he would do something wrong.
Yukimura was holding Hikaru, and after making Sanada sweat by the intensity of his gaze for the last thirty minutes, devoted his entire attention to the little baby, who was more than happy to have someone coo at him.
Yanagi, who were quietly taking note of everything that happened, turned to Fuji who was overlooking the Yukimura and Kirihara to be sure nothing happened.
"By the way, where are Echizen? I was under the impression that he doesn't want to leave the babies for long periods of time."
Fuji turned to smile at him, though his attention was still on the babies.
"Saa he's having a checkup at the moment, but he'll come join us later. Keigo's with him."
Yanagi nodded, seeing he really wasn't getting much else out of him. Instead he turned his closed eyes on the third father in the room.
Tezuka was sitting with Yagyuu quietly conversing. Once in a while his eyes would sweep the room before returning to the person across from him. Probably keeping an eye out for when Echizen and Atobe would return. That or keeping an eye out for Niou and his tricks.
He wondered for a moment if he should do them the favor of pointing out that Marui had apparently used now close to forty minutes at the bathroom, but a look from Yukimura quickly made him rethink. He didn't know how his former captain knew what he was thinking, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know either, but it was clear Yukimura was set on leaving Niou and Marui to showcase their… creative sense of humor.
Tezuka let his eyes sweep out across the floor again; wondering what took Ryoma and Atobe so long to get back. He had half a mind to go check on them, but decided to wait a bit more. They were both grown up, they hardly needed a babysitter.
Just then voices floated through the door that was left slightly ajar, and Tezuka turned his head as he caught the sound of his missing lovers' voices. He couldn't quite make out the words, but it was clear that they weren't getting any closer. Furrowing his brows, Tezuka excused himself to go see why they didn't just enter.
On the other side of the door, Ryoma and Atobe were eyeing the bucket that was standing precariously on top of the door, supported by the wall.
"We should get one of the maids to bring a ladder." Ryoma decided as he determined it was far too high to reach by any of them.
"Nonsense." Atobe said flipping his hair back. "If you stand on my shoulders you'll be able to reach, no problem."
"Yeah, but it would be safer with a ladder." He pointed out, making Atobe huff in indignation.
"You think I won't be able to keep you safe? How preposterous. Come on brat, get on my shoulders."
Sighing Ryoma gave in, and with a bit of jostling about he ended up on top of Atobe's shoulders. Careful to steady them, Atobe went to stand by the door, close enough that Ryoma could reach, but far enough that if the door opened, it wouldn't hit them.
Reaching out, Ryoma's fingers just barely touched the edge of the bucket, when the door swung open and the bucket and its content fell on top of the one who exited the room.
"Oh." Ryoma said "Guess we were a bit late."
The figure stood very still for a moment, and all sounds from the room beyond the door had quieted. Then two hands were raised, and slowly, ever so slowly, the bucket was removed.
And there stood Tezuka, drenched in water with his hair clinging to his forehead. He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but just then the door thumped into the wall behind it, releasing the next part of the trap.
Another bucket, this one filled with flour, fell on top of Tezuka. Absolute silence reigned.
Quietly, Ryoma climbed down from Atobe's shoulders, idly wondering if he should run, just in case Tezuka thought they had been the ones to set up the trap.
But luckily, at that exact moment Marui came down the stairs, freezing upon seeing Tezuka standing at the door.
And as Tezuka turned his steely eyes on his, Marui knew that he had figured out exactly who had been setting up traps.
"Uh oh." He whispered.
And then Tezuka pounced.