Putting Out Fires
AU, TezukaFuji/ Fuji learns the hard way that it's probably not smart to give Tezuka detention.
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A/N: So I was writing this chapter...but somehow it crept up to more than 4k without me knowing it. I wasn't exactly comfortable with one HUGE chapter out of nowhere, so I'm splitting up. Thanks, thanks so much for all the reviews, you guys are the best!
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"I have to admit, sensei, that was one of the most stimulating detentions I've ever served in my lifetime."
Fuji glared at him, "Shut up."
"Make me."
His lips were red from kissing, what was one more? Fuji briefly wondered where all his resolve had gone. Not so long ago, he would have wished this prat a quick and painful death, and now, he was straddled in his lap, like he actually wanted him. But he...did, or did not. Right now, Fuji didn't know.
Fuji changed the subject, "It's six-forty. Shouldn't you be going?"
Tezuka looked amused, and somehow, he managed that while still not moving his lips. "I'm not in any particular hurry and I like having you on my lap."
That made his face flame, "Tezuka-kun is really a pervert."
"You've never complained about that, though."
Fuji slid reluctantly off his lap, "You're full of yourself, I'm going home."
"I have a car. I took it again today, Grandfather's not going to be back before next Thursday. If you want, I'll drive you home."
The offer was tempting. "But I rode my motorbike here."
"You can ride it home tomorrow, nothing's going to happen to it." Tezuka took his hand then, and Fuji's resolve melted once more, "Come on, sensei."
--
Tezuka held his hand the whole way and drove with one hand. They had stopped at a stoplight when his student broke the silence, "...It's too quiet. Come somewhere with me."
"Mm, like where?" Fuji bit the edge of his lip, he wasn't too keen on going home, since he and Yuuta had their disagreement. He knew from experience that his brother was going to avoid the house like the plague for the next few days. Fuji tried not to think about Yuuta crashing at Mizuki's place. He'd always questioned his brother's choice of a boyfriend, but being here like this with Tezuka made them even.
"I don't know, do you want to go to Chinatown?"
"I've never been to Chinatown." Fuji admitted, feeling very closeted all of the sudden. Shiraishi had offered to take him there more than a few times, but Fuji had always declined. Chinatown was close by, was his reasoning, and if he wanted to go, he could easily go there himself, "Is it fun?"
"They've got good food. It's cheap, and there's fireworks at midnight."
"Sounds like a classy place for a date." Fuji joked, but then regretted it the moment he said it.
Tezuka merely held his hand tighter as an answer, and at the next street, he made a U-turn.
-
As usual, Syusuke begged off on dinner. Said he was giving some kid detention, and didn't want them to wait.
Fuji Yuuta realized a couple of things, sitting here curled up on Shiraishi Kuranosuke's couch while familiar sounds of cooking came from the kitchen. He'd offered to help, but like any good gentleman, Shiraishi turned him down. Now, if it had been his older brother in the kitchen, he would have gladly accepted whatever help he could get—as long as he could worm out of it.
His brother always managed to worm his way out of everything. He wormed out of medical school, he wormed out of family obligations, and he wormed out of responsibilities.
And Yuuta had just followed. He had mindlessly followed his brother's selfish whims because he loved and adored Fuji Syusuke.
Sluggishly, he rolled off the couched and prodded to the kitchen. "Are you absolutely sure you can't use an extra pair of hands, Shiraishi-san?"
Shiraishi turned back to smile at him, "If you're really so insisting, I guess I can't stop you. You're a lot different from Syusuke."
Yuuta gave something that wasn't quite a snort, "Sometimes, I wish I wasn't." Hesitantly, even if he didn't agree with half the decisions Fuji made nowadays, Yuuta still wished that he was his older, smarter brother. And he wished that his brother had left some of the better genes in the pool, and not hog it all to himself.
"I don't think I'd be able to stomach two Syusukes, all at once." The older man's smile was an amused one. "In fact, sometimes I wish he was a little bit more like you."
His heart leaped, in spite of himself. "What do you mean?"
"I mean..." Shiraishi trailed off with a shrug, "I don't know, you're much more grounded than him, for one thing, and sometimes even I get tired of Syusuke constantly having his head in the clouds—would you mind chopping up these onions for me?"
"Oh, um, sure."
Yuuta chose a slender knife from Shiraishi's drawer and positioned himself at the cutting board. His blood boiled, a little. Shiraishi was trying so hard! Yet Fuji never seemed to see any of the sacrifices that Shiraishi made for him. In fact, Fuji even went out of his way to avoid seeing any of those things.
"Shiraishi-san?"
"Hmm?"
"When you said that you wished Aniki would be more like me...?"
For a long time, Shiraishi refused to look at him.
And when the kiss came, Yuuta's head spun, it was a soft pleading whisper against his lips and all he could do was yield. After all, he had been wondering for a while now what it was like to kiss Shiraishi Kuranosuke.
--
Inui slid the car skillfully into a parking space not meant for a car. But he always managed. He clicked off the ignition and slipped the key into his pocket. "Why do I even bother humoring you like this?"
"Because Tezuka's not the only one with money around here." Ryoma gave him a sour look, "You should know that as well as anyone."
"Yes, but most people with money wouldn't squander it the way you do." Inui looked skeptical, at best, "Seriously, though, I have better things to do than stalk your boyfriend with you. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just leave you here and go."
Echizen Ryoma had a little too much brass for his own good. He set his chin, and glared at Inui defiantly. "What? Do you want more cash?"
Inui turned away politely to cough, and roll his eyes. This kid...if Ryoma gave him compensation for every petty fit Inui threw....he was pretty sure the boy would be broke by the time they left.
It was almost too tempting.
But he shrugged instead, "Maybe that's why Tezuka doesn't like you."
--
"You seem like you come here a lot." Fuji commented aimlessly as Tezuka led him through a maze of vendors and stands. His ears were thrumming with all the noise he heard, but it was strange with Tezuka silent. Perhaps that was why Tezuka liked crowds and noise, he himself could be silent. That seemed like Tezuka—and how fitting, that Echizen Ryoma didn't know how to keep his mouth shut.
"I come here sometimes."
Fuji smiled at him, "With Echizen-kun?"
For that, Fuji got the response that Tezuka really, really wanted to roll his eyes, but for the sake of appearances, he didn't. "He...did badger me once or twice." He admitted, "I said I was busy."
"It's not fair to him, you know." Fuji said, not quite knowing why he had said it. "You're probably his first, and you don't think so, but he does love you. In the way that only children can love."
Tezuka just looked at him, "I slept with him once." He admitted quietly.
There was a pause, a pause that was perfectly still, despite an impatient shopper shoving Fuji out of the way. It only gave him an excuse to bury his head in Tezuka's chest. "Why would you tell me something like that?"
"Don't you think it's disgusting?"
"Since when do you care what I think?" If anything, Fuji sounded amused.
"Sensei, don't be like that. You're patronizing." But Tezuka's sigh was not an irritated one. He released him, "...Come on, do you like dumplings?"
"They're all right, I suppose."
Evidently, Tezuka took that as a yes, and after several twists and turns, led Fuji into a little Chinese eatery, where a nice girl in a short silk dress nodded at them. She had very red lipstick and an impeccable smile. Her voice was soft, "Hello, Tezuka."
"I brought a friend, Lian." Never one to mince words, Tezuka. Fuji almost felt proud of him.
"You can sit over there, Maya will be with you." Lian waved towards a table in the back.
They sat.
Fuji looked around. In spite of its location, the restaurant was neat, all of the waitresses looked like they stepped out of a fashion magazine, and the menus were quaint. Fuji could see why his student's inner teenager liked this place.
"Don't look at me like that, Sensei."
Fuji blinked at him, "How?"
"You look like you're thinking of me as a teenager."
"But you are a teenager." Briefly, Fuji traced a circle on the table, he didn't want to look at Tezuka. With a stare boring into him like that, he was too afraid that he would give away too much truth.
"But you don't mind that." Tezuka pointed out, as a waitress stopped by with two bubbling glasses.
"You're always trying to incriminate me, aren't you? What is that?"
"Alcohol, light cocktail." Returned Tezuka nonchalantly as he took a sip, "Probably nothing compared to what you're used. You went through college."
Fuji stiffened, "I wasn't a drinker in college. I was too busy studying."
Tezuka shrugged, took another sip, "Did Kura-senpai go to University with you?"
"Yes, but we hardly had classes together." Fuji watched him carefully, "Yuuta introduced us. I guess we clicked. But I'm not dating him."
"Yet you clicked." Tezuka rolled the word off his tongue like bitter venom. "Why aren't you dating him?"
It was a question he loathed, but thankfully, at the moment, it wasn't a question he had to answer because Lian stopped by their table and tapped long manicured nails in effort to get them to pay attention.
"Are you about ready to order?"
"I am." But Tezuka politely shot him a look anyway, "You?"
Fuji only took a minute to consider, "I'll have what you're having."
"Fine. Then I'll be having what I already have. Same goes for se—I mean, Fuji." With that, Tezuka handed her the menus.
Lian turned to Fuji and raised an eyebrow, "New boyfriend?"
Fuji winced, but then hid it just in time in favor of a smile. He said nothing.
The nerve of Tezuka to shrug at Lian, "Not yet, anyway."
"Good, the little one you hang around with is a parasite. I can't stand him." Lian walked away, heels clicking resolutely.
Fuji waited a bait before venturing, "I never knew you had a thing for older women too." He sampled his drink, it wasn't bad, something he could have liked in college. "Now it all makes sense."
There was a pause, a pause that snapped and broke when Tezuka sighed and looked at him.
"You're not like that to me, Sensei, and you know it."
Just the tone of Tezuka's voice made his eyes fill up. "What am I to you?"
Tezuka said: "I love you."
--
Yuuta couldn't bring himself to do it. He was lying on the couch with Shiraishi Kuranosuke practically on top of him. But even if he did want it, he could have never wanted like this. Behind his brother's back, with his brother's boyfriend. It was disgusting. It was sick. It was frightening.
He couldn't.
And if Shiraishi Kuranosuke ever thought to exercise cruelty, he would have kept him there.
But Shiraishi was never cruel. He let Yuuta up when he lay still, and Yuuta fled for the bathroom. Turned the lock.
A moment later, there was a knock, "Yuuta?"
Yuuta turned on the faucet, "Yeah?"
"Are you sick?"
He turned off the sink and opened the door, "No. But I think..." He avoided Shiraishi's eyes, "That I should go. I'll take the bus, it's fine you don't have to drive me."
"But dinner--"
Yuuta forced himself to smile. Syusuke could always do it better, he had practice. More practice than Yuuta could have dreamed. "It's okay, maybe next time."
--
Playing babysitter, Inui Sadaharu decided, was totally not on his to-do list, now, or ever again. But even as he followed Ryoma through the maze that was Chinatown, he counted his blessings and he was thankful that his parents never thought to gift him with a sibling. Inui didn't know how he could have stood it.
He watched the boy light a cigarette. Inui vaguely wondered how a kid could have gotten the means for his vices, but then remembered that Tezuka was always happy to indulge him. Sort of.
But Ryoma was clumsy with the lighter, and he had to take a couple of long inhales before he could stop choking.
"Should you be smoking that?"
"Kunimitsu does." As if that was a viable excuse for everything. Inui resisted the urge to roll his eyes—again.
"I bet he doesn't stalk people in Chinatown." The sarcasm was more than evident in his voice. "Or if he has, he's never invited me along. Did you need me to take notes or something?"
Ryoma shot him a scathing glare, "Do you ever shut up?"
"No, not really, would you like me to?"
"Will you tell me something you know for once?"
Inui pursed his lips, "Nope."
"Fuck you."
"No thanks."
Before he could dig himself into a bigger hole, Ryoma wisely shut his mouth and stalked faster. It made for a funny walk, but Inui knew better than to laugh.
Inui himself never liked Chinatown. He preferred computer clicks to loud yelling in a language that he could barely understand. Tezuka spoke it fluently, but that was only because his grandfather ran a global business. But as far as Inui could tell, Tezuka didn't like it either. He usually just came here to eat at this Chinese place that his friend owned.
Minutes passed, and Ryoma stopped, only to barely duck a woman's purse that was in his way. He was long overdue for a growth spurt.
"Say something."
"I thought you wanted me to shut up."
Ryoma paused belatedly, "...Just about that."
But just to get on the kid's nerves, Inui didn't say anything, and just silently followed him, even when they got to the restaurant.
The restaurant was nice, it was called Chang's Dumpling House, and all the girls were crooned at Inui because Tezuka told them to—the one time that Inui had dared to venture in. The dumplings were good, though, if anything.
Though Inui did feel a little sorry for Ryoma when the boy finally spotted Tezuka and Fuji-sensei at a back table kissing. He did, in fact, promise himself a good laugh whenever this day came, but somehow, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
