Trials of Trust

Part 3

We'll go to a place
Where no one will find us
Just you and I
I'm yours
I'll always be with you

Morning dew on blades of wet grass seeps through the legs of Fuji's dark jeans as he places his bouquet of white flowers before the headstones. He doesn't say a word, but copies what Tezuka does when the other man crouches down to pull out wild weeds and long grass around the stones, which has grown since Tezuka last visited over four months ago, when his health condition was diagnosed.

Finished, they take a few steps back to stand at a respectable distance from the stones. Blue eyes flicker open in surprise when Tezuka wets tissues with water from his bottle, then takes Fuji's hands into his own, and very carefully, gently cleans the hands of mud and dirt. Tezuka takes his time to wipe each finger, checks under the nails, and runs a thumb over callused skin that has thickened from years of tennis playing.

"Mitsu - " Fuji begins, then catches himself, looking down apologetically. This isn't the time or place to call Tezuka by his pet name or show any kind of intimacy with him at all.

But Tezuka looks up, and Fuji thinks he sees a smile in those brown eyes. When he is done, the taller man cleans his own hands too, then dries them. And in front of his parents' graves, he takes Fuji's hand into his own.

Fuji stands still, in complete shock. Earlier in the morning, soon after they got up, he was already surprised when Tezuka asked him to come to this place with him. Tezuka's parents never knew about them; even after they died, Fuji has never came to their graves, not even once, because every time he offered to go with his lover, Tezuka always gave a small shake of his head as his reply.

And now, suddenly all this.

Unconsciously Fuji holds the hand in his tight, until he is clutching so hard Tezuka must begin to feel pain, but Tezuka doesn't look at him, only stares straight ahead at the gravestones before them as he speaks.

"Right now there are still some things I need to do." The man does not murmur. The voice is clear and determined. It is the same voice Fuji has known since he was young. "But when that's done, I'm planning to hand the company over to Kimura-san and drop out of the executive position. Perhaps quit the job altogether. It's something I need to do for the employees and the shareholders. Even now, it's already wrong of me to hide my tumour from them."

During the man's momentary pause, Fuji realises Tezuka is not really talking to his parents, but to him.

"I don't know what life will be like from now on."

Fuji bites his lip and runs his thumb on the back of Tezuka's hand. Tezuka isn't referring to money, of course. He has enough savings, their flat was paid for in full, not mortgaged, and even Fuji's salary alone is enough to support both of them if Tezuka stops working. Neither of them spends much money anyway. They only work hard because they love their work.

But it's only been four months. The doctors said Tezuka may still have years to live. Why is he saying all this? What did the doctors say during the checkup last week that Fuji didn't manage to attend with Tezuka?

The strong, unwavering voice answers Fuji's question before it is voiced. "It's growing faster than expected. Much faster. They're giving me 2 years at most now. Unless it slows down, somehow."

If the warm hand in his isn't lending him strength, the shorter man thinks his knees would have buckled. The only word he can think of now is "why" - didn't they say that Tezuka still has much time, if he treats himself well? Then why suddenly has this new bomb been dropped, or has Fuji been wrong to even hope the doctors had been right with their estimation in the beginning?

Tawny hair tumbles a little when Fuji shakes his head absently, then settles to frame the face again. He will stop believing in those doctors from now on.

"Mitsu," He says, turning to Tezuka, and consciously stopping himself from forcing out a smile, "I believe in you more than I do those men in white coats."

That is all that's needed to be said. Tezuka's expression softens, as does his voice.

"Let's go home."

---

Fuji slowly wakes when he feels small movements on the bed. Blue eyes open, brows creasing a little at the bright light from the window, and he sees Tezuka trying to undo the tie around his wrists with his teeth. Suppressing a chuckle, Fuji watches in amusement, for a moment pretending to still be asleep and not moving to help the other man. But half a minute later, when he notices the frown deepening on Tezuka's face, Fuji reaches over and removes the silk tie with quick fingers.

"Tezuka."

Tezuka snorts once, shaking his head a little. "You should have done this before we fell asleep."

Fuji smiles gently. They were both too tired to even move then, and the idea of waking up and seeing Tezuka with nothing on but a tie around his wrists was an idea too enticing to ignore. But the smile is dropped when he sees the man run a hand through dark hair, with that furrow between his brows that mean Tezuka is having a headache. Wordlessly he slides off the bed, shivering a bit when his naked body meets cold air before he puts on his bathing robe. He finds Tezuka's medication and fills a glass of warm water in the kitchen, then pads back into the bedroom, picking the phone up on the way when it rings.

"Hello?" Tezuka is trying to take his focus off the headache. The man is sitting up in bed reading The Little Prince, Fuji's favourite book. Securing the phone between his ear and shoulder, Fuji holds out the pills and the glass of water, which Tezuka takes without a word, then goes back to reading.

"Hello! Fuji it's me, nyah."

Fuji smiles, switching to hold the phone with his hand as he gets back into the warm bed. "Eiji." He says, for Tezuka's benefit, "How're you?"

"Oh me, I'm doing great as usual." Kikumaru's voice seems to suddenly have dropped a bit lower. "And you guys?"

"Having a lazy Sunday." A fingertip traces random patterns on Tezuka's skin as Fuji answers, his voice laced with suspicion. "Eiji... what is it?"

For a little while Kikumaru makes some hesitant sounds on his side of the phone. "I mean like... is everything okay? How's Tezuka?"

Fuji's finger stops. Tezuka's gaze leaves the book to settle on cerulean eyes, before he turns his attention away again. Quickly Fuji runs through the possibilities in his head. They haven't told any of their friends about Tezuka's condition yet, there is no way Kikumaru can know about it... "What do you mean?"

This time Kikumaru pauses for even longer. Somehow Fuji thinks he is going to lose his patience, but finally the other side speaks again. "Do you keep up with the business news? You know about Atobe, nyah?"

"... I don't know what you're talking about, Eiji."

"Ah damn." Kikumaru curses. In his mind's eye Fuji can see his friend screwing his eyes shut and pulling a face, the way he always does when he knows he has done something he shouldn't. "Nevermind. Forget it then, Fujiko!"

"Eiji."

"But if ya don't know then it means I'm not supposed to tell ya!" Now Kikumaru sounds like he is pulling his red hair out. "You know it's part of my job description to know all the finance and business stuff... and I also heard things from Ooishi..."

Fuji's expression, now serious and worried, has caught Tezuka's attention. But he smiles at the other man, waving a hand to tell him that everything is fine. He takes a look at the clock. "Do you have time? Let's meet up for tea. Would that be easier?"

They arrange a time then hang up. Tezuka finally lowers his book and looks at Fuji with slight concern when the smaller man gets out of bed and heads for the shower.

"I'll be back in time for dinner." Fuji says, pulling out clean clothes from his drawers. To Tezuka's questioning look, he can only shrug. "I don't know. Eiji wouldn't tell me on the phone. I hope it's nothing."

He honestly hopes it's nothing.

---

Atobe Keigo has shocked the financial world when he announced he wasn't going to follow his father's footsteps but instead opened a publishing company, something completely unrelated to his family business.

Four months on, two of the magazines under Atobe Publishing are crashing head-on with the ones Tezuka's family business is printing. What Atobe lacked in experience, he paid for with money, employing the best in the field, and Tezuka sees his second member of staff leaving his own company to work for Atobe, within four months.

It is a continuation of their battle from over ten years ago.

"Are you okay, son?"

Tezuka looks up from his paperwork to Kimura, whose features are suddenly marred with concern, and moves forward quickly to grab the box of tissue, shoving it in front of Tezuka's face. Tezuka blinks, not understanding, until he sees a drop of blood falling onto the tissues, redness dispersing on the material. Pulling a tissue out, he covers his nose with it and pulled his glasses off, squeezing the bridge of his nose with his fingers.

"Don't stress out so much, Kunimitsu. This is no big deal. Nothing I haven't seen before." Kimura crossed arms before his chest. "I wasn't in the business for thirty years for nothing."

Tezuka just nods, not trying to speak as he tends to his nosebleed. Whilst Kimura's words are comforting, and he trusts Kimura like he would trust his father, there is nothing simple about going against a company with such a financial backing, with an executive who is set on crushing him.

But Tezuka never backs down from a challenge. He had faced Atobe before, and although he had lost his bet - his future as a professional tennis player - he made the message clear, that nobody, absolutely nobody could take anything away from him.

Or anyone.

And if anyone asks him, Tezuka will say he doesn't regret his choice. Because he can live life without tennis, but he cannot imagine life without Fuji.

It has been more than ten years and he still hasn't changed. And now Fuji is with him; Fuji loves him. There is no way Tezuka will let Atobe change anything.

"Go home. It's Sunday." Kimura's voice tugs Tezuka from his thoughts. "You aren't supposed to be working!" He pets Tezuka on the shoulder once, then his eyebrows furrow, and he gestures at the tissues in Tezuka's hand. "It still hasn't stopped? Want me to drive you?"

The young man waves a little and mumbles a "I'm fine" and leaves the office. Fuji had taken the car when he left to meet Kikumaru, and Tezuka is glad about that because even though the nosebleed has stopped by the time he exits the building, if it starts again whilst he drives it would be very messy. Throwing bloodied tissues into a nearby trashcan, he checks the time, and decides he can take a detour to buy some dinner before taking the bus home.

He gets home at around dinner time to be greeted by silence. But as soon as he puts the takeaway sushi into the fridge, he hears the sound of a key in the lock, so he leaves the kitchen to open the front door. "I bought dinner - "

It isn't until Fuji's hand stops just millimetres away from his face, and he feels air moving near his cheek, that Tezuka reacts, catching the wrist and ducking slightly, brown eyes widening in shock as they stared into cerulean ones. He doesn't know what to make of Fuji's expression at that moment - anger, pain, sorrow, misery, everything twisted into one. Shaking, fingers curl, until the open palm becomes a tightly clenched fist, then Fuji wrenches his hand away from Tezuka, pushing past the taller man as he enters their flat, storming towards the bedroom.

"Fuji!" Not understanding, Tezuka slams the door shut and follows Fuji with hurried footsteps. Hearing the call, the other man stops, almost screeching to a halt just outside their room, and Tezuka runs into him, knocking them both off-balance. Steadying both of them by holding Fuji by his shoulders, Tezuka forces Fuji to turn around. "What on earth is going on?"

The anger burning in Fuji's eyes would crush, would make anyone whimper in pain, but Tezuka isn't just anyone. After several seconds of stare-down, the tension melts, just a little, when Fuji forces himself to smile, and takes a step back, into their room. "Give me half an hour... I need a bit of time to calm down."

And the door closes in front of Tezuka.

-to chapter 4-