Author's Notes : Now, on to the fic!!!
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When All The Snow Had Melted
Chapter 2 - Preparations
It was the day of the party.
Tezuka paced up and down Fuji's front door, wondering if he should press the doorbell.
He sighed. After that little incident in the locker room, he ought to be more careful when he's around with the tensai.
He looked at his watch.
It read "7.05".
Which meant that he had already been pacing for nearly 10 minutes.
"I don't think anything bad will happen...right?" he tried to reassured himself before pressing the bell.
The door opened at the first ring. Somehow, it made him wonder if Fuji had been waiting all along at the door.
"Ohayo Tezuka!"
Tezuka's eyes narrowed.
"Saeki. Where's Fuji?"
"Syusuke?" Looking at Tezuka's stern expression, Saeki could not help but tease the poker-faced captain.
"Daijou. I didn't eat up your wife. He's…"
At that moment, a voice came from behind Saeki.
"Who's there, Kojiroh? Is it Tezuka?"
Fuji appeared behind Saeki.
"Maa Tezuka, you're late. Never mind. You'll get your punishment later. Come in and make yourself at home," Fuji invited.
But Tezuka's attention was on something else.
Saeki had snaked his arm around Fuji's waist.
Tezuka's eye twitched.
Mistaking Tezuka's embarassment as uncertainty, Fuji added, "Kojiroh is here to help with the preparations. I didn't think we could finish it by ourselves. Yuuta will be coming over later to help out."
Trying to break the ice between Tezuka and him, Saeki said with a smile, "Say, Tezuka, did you know that Syusuke is so talented? His skills are superb. Heavenly. I have been trying it out since last night. Well, since he's your wife, I assume that you have tried it before. Don't you think it's fantastic?"
They walked towards the living room, with Saeki's arms still around Fuji.
Tezuka's eyes twitched. Trying not to face–fault.
"Kojiroh dear, stop flattering me. I'm getting embarrassed."
"…"
Tezuka sweatdropped.
Dirty thoughts ran through his head, but got dismissed the next second.
"Anyway, I don't think Tezuka have tried it before. Have you, Tezuka? I don't really remember," Fuji said, turning his attention towards Tezuka with a meaningful look on his face.
Clearing his throat, Tezuka said, "Iie, I'm afraid I have not."
"What a pity. You should try it. It's perfect."
Saeki had a look of longing.
"Sasuga Syusuke. Why not let's all do it now," suggested Saeki.
"Nani? I'll pass. You two have fun," said Tezuka, getting a little jealous.
"Are you not tired, Kojiroh? We hardly slept last night because of your desire."
"Iie, I'm fine. Let's get started," Saeki said with a mischievous smirk, as he led Fuji towards the kitchen.
"What? Are you two going do it there?!" asked Tezuka, shocked.
"Well...where else would you bake a cake?" said Saeki, matter-of-factly, suppressing a chuckle.
Obviously, dirty thoughts have been passing through the Tezuka's head.
Tezuka's face turned pink for just a split second.
"Saa. Tezuka, what were you thinking of?" Fuji challenged.
His sharp eyes did not miss the blush.
"…"
Tezuka gave no reply. Although he gave a mental sigh of relief that they had not done anything…inappropriate.
"Since you don't want to join us in our fun, why don't you start decorating the room?" said Fuji with a devious smile as he shoved a humongous box of decorations into Tezuka's arms.
"Kojiroh and I will take care of the food, while you do the decorations. How does that sound?" Fuji asked.
"Fine with me."
Tezuka was very relieved.
"Syusuke, how lucky of you to have a husband who allows you to boss him around."
Tezuka glared at Saeki.
Unfortunately, Fuji too gave a glare as terrifying as Tezuka's.
"How many times do I have to tell you, Kojiroh dear. Tezuka is my wife."
Saeki shivered.
"Um…I think we should get started."
Fuji chuckled.
This is going to be fun.
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Tezuka went through the box he was given.
The first thing he saw were streamers.
"Hm…good thing that I'm tall. I wouldn't need a chair then."
The second thing he saw were balloons.
"Well. Blowing balloons will be good training for my stamina. Maybe I should time myself and see how many I can blow in a minute."
The next thing was a Piñata.
"What the hell is it dong here? Never mind. Good training for the arm later on."
And the list went on…until.
Mistletoes.
"Now. What is this doing here? I'll have to remember to ask Fuji later."
With that, Tezuka started with the decorations.
Streamers hung neatly around the house.
Piñata in the middle of the living room.
Every thing seemed so neat and tidy.
Like it had all been done with precise planning.
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Meanwhile, in the kitchen…
"No Syusuke, I'll add the spices. You'll measure the amount of flour and water to put in."
"But you did that yesterday. Just to be fair, let's switch roles instead."
"Iie. I insist that I add the spices."
"Oh well, if you insist." Fuji shrugged.
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Back to the living room…
Tezuka was having a "balloon blowing competition" with himself.
"Hm…6 balloons in a minute. Let's try 7 in a minute. Let's not get careless now. Concentrate, Kunimitsu."
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Some time passed…
In the kitchen…
"Kojiroh, if there's nothing else, I'll go help Tezuka with the decoration."
"Alright. I only have to put the last batch into the oven and I'm done."
Fuji walked out of the kitchen and into the living room.
A stern-looking Tezuka was blowing the balloons while looking at his watch at the same time.
"Just one more to break the record…" thought Tezuka.
"Saa. Tezuka, what are you doing?"
Upon hearing an alien voice above his thoughts, his hand slipped and the balloon he was blowing flew out of his fingers.
The deflating ballon flew around the room in an absurd manner.
"Well. I'm blowing the balloons," was the stoic reply.
"What else do I look like I'm doing," he thought, puzzled.
"Er…but, why are you looking at your watch? Are you in a hurry to get to somewhere?"
"Iie," replied Tezuka, hoping that he did not look or sound too irritated, unaware that he never had to worry about that.
"Do you need my help?"
"Betsuni. Demo…could you tell me what is this for?" asked Tezuka, as he lifted a mistletoe.
"That?" Fuji asked with a silky voice, his permanent smile turning into a grin.
"That's going to be part of the decoration. Daijou. I'll take care of that," Fuji said, as he reached out to gather all the mistletoe, thinking of all the strategic places to hang it.
Tezuka merely shook his head.
"Fuji can be so...unpredictable at times..." he thought.
Just then, the doorbell rang.
"That must be Yuuta," Fuji dropped the mistletoe in his hand, and ran to open the door.
"Yuuta!" Fuji hugged the younger Fuji tightly, "Glad that you came. Come on in."
"Aniki…" Yuuta turned tomato red, "Stop it. It's embarrassing."
Fuji grabbed his brother into the house, and slammed the door.
"Aniki...I brought a friend."
Fuji opened the door again.
"Where is your friend? I don't see anyone out here."
"It's in front of you..."
"You mean this?" Fuji asked, eyes opened slightly at the sight of Mizuki.
"How many times have I told you not to bring any animals home?" Fuji added on, his voice getting dangerous.
"This is Mizuki. You've met him before. And he is not an animal. He is…my…friend. He's here to help out."
"Hontouni? I've met him before? Why do I not remember? Are you playing tricks on your poor Aniki's memory?"
Mizuki remained silent throughout the whole 'brother to brother' conversation, aware of Fuji's death glare on him.
And he was not happy at all about it.
"Why don't you help Tezuka with the decorations? And Mi…what's his name again?"
"Mizuki."
"Oh. Ya…Ni…Ni what? Oh never mind. He and I will help Kojiroh with the sushi and the other food."
"NO! Iie. Mizuki and I will help Kojiroh-san. You go help Tezuka." Yuuta said frantically.
He shuddered at the thought of Fuji-and-food pair. He did not want to imagine what would happen when Fuji-and-food-and-Mizuki were in the same room.
"Well, ok. If my kawaii ototou insist."
"Aniki!!!"
The older Fuji smiled, and walked towardshis precious mistletoe.
"Now. Where did I plan on hanging this?"
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Forbiddenlover (The second author of this combined fic): Yay! I finally did it…it was a little hard at first, but I got into it after awhile. Not that easy to continue a fic…especially if it's not started by yourself. Anyway, I didn't know what to write, so I added a lot of humor in it…hope you liked it…thanks for reading. And please review. And sorry for the occ-ness of the characters.