Aa I just managed to get it in before neesan's birthday ended here in Toronto. It'll take me a while to post so, nya, remember neesan, your birthday's still running in Victoria. 3
So Happy birthday Neesan! It's so very messed, but TachTez nonetheless.
Notes: Unbetaed thus far. Late night writing. Weird.
The DotToast Chronicles
Part I
Once upon a time, there was a boy named Fuji. One day, in his land far, far away, he found himself bored. When he was bored, Fuji wandered, quite aimlessly if anyone might add. On his spontaneous walk on a bright and sunny day, he ran into a brunette. She was small and hyper, two words that were attached at the hip in the English language.
Fuji held out his hand courteously to help the girl stand. The green bottle full of bubbling soda was picked up from the ground as were a few of the scattered papers which fell from his hand.
"Ann," The girl beamed, adjusting her backpack.
"Fuji," He returned her introduction with perhaps a fifth of the energy. Fuji has always appeared lethargic.
"Shouldn't you be in school?"
"Saa…shouldn't you as well?"
"It's too nice outside."
"It's not nice enough inside."
They smiled, something mutually snapping together within them, like two pieces of a puzzle. And this was how the long and interesting relationship of Tezuka Kunimitsu and Tachibana Kippei was conceived.
Part II
It had been two weeks since then and Ann and Fuji ran into each other often. It was spring, perhaps the only other season worth admiring other than winter. School was a variable – who needed to go everyday, or to every single class. They got to know meaningless things about each other. She was a second year In Fudomine Junior High, he was a third year in Seigaku Junior high. She was straight and he was not. They were as compatible as any two people could get under such circumstances.
One day, they passed a street tennis court, which sparked a conversation, surprisingly, about tennis. It was technical, boring and, as always, futile.
"You know onii-san plays tennis." She said eventually. "He's captain of the Fudomine team. It's strange to see him change so much in such a short time. Responsibility is unbecoming of him."
"Saa, our buchou is like that too sometimes. Stoic, stone resolve, in a corner, always watching... It's…" He trailed off looking for the right word, "…creepy."
"So are you."
"Saa…" He smiled, proving her point.
"Is that your answer for everything?"
"We all have our quirks."
They watched as profanity bounced across the net faster than the tennis balls.
"They'd go well together." They both said simultaneously, exchanging yet another smile.
The walk home was spent in silence.
Part III
"Oiya, Fuji-san, what a coincidence!" The short haired boy beside her eyed him discreetly. He knew his sister well enough to tell when she was acting.
"Ann-chan, how are you?" He smiled. (Does he ever stop smiling?)
"This is onii-san." She introduced, "Onii-san this is Fuji-kun from the street courts."
Tezuka raised an eyebrow. Street courts? "Saa, Tezuka, these are the Tachibana siblings from Fudomine. They play tennis." He reassured, just incase anyone missed it.
Bows and pleasantries ensued. So did an awkward silence. It was a match made in heaven right from the start.
"Ice-cream?" Ann offered randomly.
"Saa… there is a nice place by the beach." Fuji seconded.
Tachibana shrugged in agreement.
Tezuka didn't make them run laps and thus didn't disagree.
So, off they were to the beaches, where poor innocent civilians lay – plenty of them. There was a nice breeze and a nicer sunset. Laughter and children almost outranked the sand and water in quantity. It was annoying yet soothing, in a way a lot of life was.
"This ice-cream is good." Ann accorded, "Ne, onii-san." A smile and nod – he was a man of few words; or he would be were he a man. (Unfortunately, the author is stubborn and has a vendetta against the word boy.)
"It's Tezuka's favorite place." Fuji smiled, wind rustling through his hair making him prettier than the word bishie could handle. (Then again, he already was and didn't need the wind to help him in any way.) "Every time Eiji wants ice-cream we come here, just because we love buchou so much." It could be considered teasing, and Fuji could feel the heaviness of the punishment that awaited him.
"Can we go up to the water? Please?" She was polite about it. Too polite. Tachibana made no move.
"Saa…" Fuji, well, smiled.
"I think Tezuka-san is sick." The Fudomine captain pointed out. Tezuka gave him the look. He has only one; it is very hard to be vague about it.
"I'll go if you promise to watch Tezuka." Fuji offered.
"I am not a child." Tezuka protested in his usual public monotone.
"I promise." There was the look again.
"Thanks," and before the almighty Seigaku captain could get in a word, Ann and Fuji were off, their conversation starting off on the lines off, "So, who is this Eiji?"
"Just because you are older than I am…" Tezuka finally started.
"Fuji probably knows now." Tachibana cut in.
"Fuji always knows." His voice pouted his he couldn't.
Part IV
The wonderful thing about fiction is that you can turn back time. Like pictures in an album nothing has to have sequence per say. So, going back a few weeks to spring break we arrive at a dark, deserted, lonely place where nobody walks by. Ever. Really, it was the ideal place for a romantic love-at-first-sight chance meeting. Of course, neither of the people in question believed in any such thing. Nor do I, but I digress.
It was really simple, really dark and a really drunk man did something really stupid, like steal a lady's purse. Now, this lady had a really high pitched scream and wore really high stilettos. So, in the first two steps of chasing our drunken antagonist, she tripped, fell and shrieked at the resonance of glass. Almost. They were in a largely urban downtown-type neighborhood. She'd have broken more than just a nail.
Now, this was an alleyway that nobody passed so there were only two people there to help. One chased the thief, who stumbled on every other step and hiccupped something about either his wife or a pony. It was hard to make out. The other helped the woman. The faster she was out of her misery, the sooner they'd be out of theirs. There was only so much one's ears could handle.
The boy who pursued the thief returned, the drunken man and gaudy purse in tow. By now the woman had subdued to small sniffs and bad aggressive flirting. It really wasn't her fault. Her savior did look much older than he was.
Cue the police – and endless hours of sitting in the police station.
They started at 7:00 pm, and went all the way till midnight without a word; then came the cuckoo clock, for the fifth bloody time. The woman's flirting still hadn't ceased.
"So, what school do you go to?" The boy in black asked, wincing at the alcohol stench that had rubbed off on him in the earlier chase.
"Seishun Gakuen." He adjusted his glasses.
"School?" The woman echoed.
"Junior high." The bespectacled boy added.
"Oh." And she left. Finally.
"Thank you." The brunette nodded politely.
"You should have said something earlier. You're unbelievably tenacious." He smiled.
"Aa." He did not.
"Tachibana, from Fudomine." He held out his hand.
"Tezuka, from Seigaku." He took it briefly.
"Aren't you the captain of the tennis team?"
"Aa."
"What're you doing all the way out here?"
Tezuka remained silent for he wasn't going to admit it was ice-cream.
Part V
Tachibana and Tezuka had been called back often to the police station. It was quite disturbing, considering nothing had been stolen and the drunk guy had been caught. There was some hushed whispering about, well, we don't know. The whispering was really that hushed.
"This is quite cumbersome," Tezuka stated out of the blue one day.
"Hmm?"
"I don't know if Oishi will be able to hold up against the regulars." Tachibana snickered. If anyone dared went against Kamio there would be rhythmic hell to pay. Unless it was Shinji; no one was immune to him.
"I'm sure they can't do anything to him that some therapy won't fix."
"Remind me to introduce you to Fuji and Inui sometime."
"How bad can they be?"
"Bad enough to frighten you from meeting them."
"I'm not afraid."
"Sure."
This was where an officer came and told them they had a half hour break if they wanted to get coffee or something. Like ice-cream.
"What, you aren't going to check on your team?" Tachibana asked as they walked ice-cream in hand.
"I trust them."
"Touché."
"The worst case scenario is that they turn the tennis club into a zoo. I get to yell 100 laps around the courts. It's not such a bad situation really."
"You are surprisingly sinister underneath that bedrock of cool, suave captain."
"…Aa." He smiled. Yes, smiled.
Thus began the strange courtship of the two junior high schoolers in question. In all fairness, it really was the police force's fault for exposing them to each other so much. But they aren't complaining. Neither are we.
Part VI
This brings us back to the beach, the melting ice-cream and the cool breeze. Fuji and Ann ran about torturing the minors. The mature bunch licked ice-cream calmly.
"I can see why you were worried about your vice captain now." Tachibana warily eyed the hazel haired photographer. "His psychological genius should not be put to such torturous use."
"I like to think his psychological genius is a by product of his evil mind."
"And this boy is your ace?"
"You should probably meet him on the courts someday too."
"Perhaps not."
"Of course, you have a wild cat persona to keep under wraps."
"Are you taunting me?" Tachibana raised an eyebrow.
"You treated me like a child earlier on. Consider it payback."
"That's because you are acting like a child."
"I'm allowed to be illogical at times."
"What will your team say if they hear you talk like this?"
"They won't."
"And I'm privileged?"
"We are dating Kippei."
He laughed, "It's amusing to hear you say it." And he leaned down to lick the small bit of ice cream that stuck to Tezuka's lips.
Brown eyes did widen ever so slightly, which amused Tachibana further. "What are you blushing about? You remember that time with the chocolate cake and the other time with the hot sa---"
"We also are in public." He pointed out with the now trademarked look. He'd never struggled his hard to keep from blushing. He'd probably never struggled this hard, the end.
This was when Ann rushed back (Fuji following suit), her cell phone in hand, cursing her brother for leaving his uncharged. Tezuka concluded that siblings were most definitely weird.
"You show anyone those pictures and I'll get my revenge so that even you'll have a hard time topping it," said the captain to his ace.
"Saa… What was that about chocolate cake?" Bright blue eyes smiled.