Spring Fever

III. Oishi

Oishi warily looked around the secluded grove he had hidden himself in, expecting to get jumped at any moment. Slowly, he sat and took out… several lunches. Lunchtime had barely started when a few enterprising girls had accosted him with "Valentine bentos". It took a while before he could make his escape. But now he was safely hidden away. No one would find him here.

"Wai! Oishi!"

Eiji didn't count.

Oishi looked up at his doubles partner, who was drooling over his extra lunches. He could already guess what was coming next.

"Ne, Oishi, you're not going to eat all these yummy-looking lunches, are you? Share! Share!"

Oishi sighed. He'd never been good at saying "no" to Eiji. At least this time no one was watching.

"Here you go, Eiji," he said with a smile, pushing the other bentos toward the other boy, and watched as Eiji attacked the lunches with his usual gusto. "Maa. You don't need to eat so fast. If you're not careful you'll choke." He felt obliged to tack on that admonition, even if he knew it would be ignored.

"Mmf. Mmmmmf. Oommmf." Indeed, it was.

The rest of lunch was a quiet affair, Oishi enjoying his (single) lunch in rare companionable silence and Eiji too busy with his mouth to talk. Afterwards, they walked back to class together, legs moving in perfect synch and the backs of their hands lightly brushing with each step. Just as they entered the building though, Eiji suddenly stopped mid-step. Oishi paused as well, unconsciously reacting to his partner's movements as soon as they were made.

"Eiji?" Oishi looked at his partner and almost did a double take. "Are you feeling all right, Eiji?" he asked in concern as he studied his partner's face. There was something wrong… but he couldn't quite put his finger on what.

"Ah, I'm just full!" Eiji reassured him and began to rummage through his bag. "But I almost forgot something." He pulled out a brightly wrapped box and pushed it into Oishi's hand. "This is for you!"

Oishi stared at the small bag of chocolate cookies and then looked back up at Eiji's bright grin. "Valentine's Day cookies? B-but… you're not a girl…" The protest was half-hearted and he knew it, and he could already feel his face heating up.

Eiji shrugged lightly and blushed as well. "I was helping 'neechan make Valentine's chocolates yesterday and these were the best ones! So… so I thought you might like them…"

"I see." A new voice suddenly intruded onto the scene behind the duo, and they whirled around in unison to see Fuji there with his perpetual smile. "You ate all of his presents so yours would be the only one he'll take home, ne?" the tensai asked Eiji.

"Wah! That's not it at all!" Eiji immediately protested, his hands flapping comically. Though, now that Fuji said it that way, he thought that idea didn't sound so bad. Maybe next Valentine's…

The smile suddenly left Fuji's lips, though his eyes were still closed. "Are you feeling all right, Eiji? You look a little… green."

Oishi forgot his embarrassment as his concern for his partner returned full-force. He frowned as he studied his partner closely. Indeed, the other boy did look a bit sick.

"What? I'm fine, really!" Eiji was still protesting. "I'm f—Mmf!" Suddenly, he slapped a hand over his mouth, his eyes popping out in shock. He looked wildly around for a moment before rushing toward the bathroom.

"Eiji!" Oishi was right on his partner's heels.

Fuji stared for a moment before following them as well. He arrived to the sound of labored retching, and found Eiji collapsed over one of the toilets, his body convulsing. Oishi's arms were wrapped tightly around him, holding his suddenly boneless body upright.

Oishi looked up as Fuji joined them. "I don't think it's just the chocolates," he said worriedly.

"I agree," Fuji replied, having seen Eiji keep down piles of chocolates in previous years without much ill effect. "You should take him to the nurse. I'll tell your teachers."

"Aa." Oishi turned back to his partner. He barely noticed Fuji leaving or the bell ringing shortly thereafter. His thoughts raced and he decided it was uncomfortably likely that something in one of his gift lunches had caused this.

Finally, Eiji seemed to have emptied his stomach, and his shudders tapered away. Oishi gathered up his partner and maneuvered them over to the sink, where he carefully cleaned off Eiji's still disturbingly pale face with his handkerchief. He pressed a hand to the other boy's forehead, and was slightly relieved to find that at least there was no hint of raised temperatures.

"Eiji?" he called softly. "Can you walk? We need to get you to the nurse's office."

Eiji mumbled something unintelligible. He stumbled closer to his support and his head lolled onto Oishi's shoulder, his face automatically seeking the crook of the other boy's neck. Clearly, he was not well enough to move by himself. Thus, Oishi ended up carrying most of his weight as they made their way awkwardly out of the bathroom.

Unfortunately, they arrived there to an empty office, as the nurse had been called away on another case of food poisoning. There was nothing for them to do then but wait, so Oishi carefully eased them down onto a nearby bench. However, barely a few minutes had passed after he'd settled down when Eiji began to climb clumsily into his lap. Oishi blinked and he automatically reached out to keep his still disoriented partner from falling off.

"Ah… Eiji?" he asked uncertainly as Eiji proceeded to snuggle into his chest.

"Mmm… warm…" came the barely audible response. Eiji again buried his face into the crook of Oishi's neck. He was shivering slightly as he blindly sought for the nearby source of warmth.

Resignedly, Oishi wrapped his arms securely around his partner. He supposed that whatever mortified embarrassment he'd have to endure later would be a fair price to pay for Eiji's comfort.


Next Up: Tezuka. And Atobe shows up as well.

Notes: Wow. There's actually some whispy semblance of plot this time. gasp shock Heh. Also, this is pretty much as graphic as this fic is gonna get. I'm keeping this rated G, after all. Still, I think the GP-fluffiness alone ought to be enough to send most fans into sugar-shock already. Ne?

Vocabulary:
bento - kind of boxed lunch
'neechan - short for oneechan, which means sister
tensai - prodigy
Aa - sound of agreement