Title: Strange Flavor

Author: Mirai2

Summary: Mizuki's away for summer vacation, and Yuuta is left to practice on his own. Slash, strange flavor. Try it; you might like the taste.

Thanks for the reviews! It's nice to see that some people find this pairing plausible, even though it's a little different.

There were voices down the hall from his room. Yuuta's heart thumped against his chest. That was Inui's low voice he heard coming from his brother's room.

It went against his nature, but he had to know what they were talking about.

He crept across the hall carpet and put his fingers on the door frame, laying his ear gently against the door. Tonight, Inui and his brother were going to a movie. Somehow he had been included in the plan. It was probably a good idea; Yuuta had stuffed his tennis racket in the back of his closet to avoid even thinking about it, and frankly, it was driving him nuts. Inui probably knew that it would, and had suggested that Yuuta come with to the movies. Yuuta wondered again if Shusuke knew about them training together.

"…thought it was something like that. Of course I understand. I feel the same way." That voice was Shusuke's smooth tenor.

"Very interesting. I thought perhaps you might take this differently. Obviously, Shusuke Fuji, there are a few things I don't know about you yet." That, of course, was Inui. Yuuta closed his eyes and could almost see that annoying smirk.

It had been quiet for several long seconds. Yuuta could barely contain his urge to throw the door open. Were they just lost in thought? Or were Inui and his brother…? He couldn't even think about it!

"We understand each other then?" Shusuke said, his voice muffled by the door. The knob turned.

Yuuta all but sprinted to his bedroom and closed the door most of the way, careful not to make any noise. His brother didn't notice, though; he was looking at Inui as they came out of his room.

"Yes… where is Yuuta?"

When Shusuke opened his door, Yuuta was sprawled stomach down on his bed, a book flipped open in front of him.

"Yuuta, Inui is here… were you sleeping?"

Yuuta let out a small yawn and switched off the bedside lamp.

"No, reading. Oh, that's right. I forgot we were going out tonight."

Inui glanced around Yuuta's room. Now that was annoying. He had that same look he always got, like an etymologist might get pinning down their favorite species of insect on a piece of styrofoam. He put his hand on Yuuta's desk, almost a caress.

"Let's get going," Yuuta said hurriedly.

"Must be a boring book," Inui said, looking at the neat stack of papers Yuuta had accumulated during the school year.

Yuuta shrugged, glancing at it. "I guess."

"It's upside down."

Yuuta looked. He was right. And what was the dumb book anyway? Nursing guide to medicine? Probably his mom's. Great, he'd been reading a book about drugs upside down. Doubtless, Inui thought he was using some of the products mentioned in the book.

Inui raised an eyebrow.

"Um… right, let's go."

The ride on the train was comfortable. They sat at the back, and Yuuta was happy to stare out the window and listen to Shusuke and Inui talk about tennis and their middle school days. It was strange. On the one hand, he wanted to be able to talk with Inui, with that smooth effortlessness they'd had when they had been practicing together. On the other hand, he wasn't sure he could look Inui in the eye after that strange incident. That… almost kiss? Was that what it was? Yuuta could feel his face getting warm, and he stared more intently out the window.

When they got to the theater, Yuuta wished he had walked behind his brother, because somehow he ended up sitting between Inui and Shusuke. They talked back and forth just as comfortably as they had on the train, but Yuuta couldn't look at either of them.

Was this feeling... jealousy?

It wasn't possible. Yuuta shoved that thought away and resolved to act normally.

"Yuuta?" Shusuke asked quietly, just as the show was beginning. "Are you all right? You seem very quiet."

"Shhh. The movie is starting."

Shusuke didn't say anything after that. Yuuta hated that; how he always did just what Yuuta asked him to and never got angry about it.

Through the previews, Yuuta couldn't help thinking about the man on his left and his brother on his right. On one side was Sadaharu Inui, intelligent, dark, and charmingly sarcastic, and on the other was his fair-haired, good-looking brother. The only thing keeping the two apart, he thought, is me. This is a date, and I'm the third wheel.

And throughout the whole movie, with Inui's leg pressed against his and Shusuke's arm overlapping his own, that thought came back like a mantra, wearing on his mind.

They played a few games of cards at home. Yuuta really couldn't get into it. Then, Shusuke let him win a few rounds of five card stud, and he couldn't take it anymore. He pushed his chair back from the table and put the cards down.

"It's late and I'm very tired… please, continue playing. I enjoyed going to the movies with both of you." There was a big fat lie.

Inui looked up at him, an unreadable look that Yuuta couldn't return. He found himself staring at the cards he'd thrown down on the table.

"It was very diverting, wasn't it? Good night, Yuuta," Inui murmured.

It took considerable effort to walk, rather than run, out of the room.

Shusuke followed him up the stairs to his bedroom.

"Yuuta…"

"What?" Yuuta whirled to face his brother. He couldn't help snapping at him; that wistful tone was annoying. He went over to his closet, rummaging for a tee-shirt. A tennis ball bounced off of the top shelf, hitting him in the head. Yuuta stuffed it in his pants pocket.

"What's wrong? You seemed very distracted tonight," Shusuke said. He narrowed his ice-blue eyes at Yuuta.

"It's nothing." Or at least, nothing that can be fixed unless I learn to magically disappear into thin air. Yuuta threw the shirt he'd been wearing at the laundry basket and pulled the beat up tee-shirt over his head.

"You said you were tired," Shusuke said.

"I just… look, why don't you just go and play cards with Inui? I'm sure you have plenty to talk about." Yuuta went down the stairs two at a time, Shusuke a step behind him.

"Yuuta…"

He couldn't stand that tone. He pulled the front door open and turned to face his brother.

"Don't sound so concerned. It has nothing to do with you, so stay out of it. I really wasn't in the mood to be dragged along on your little date with Inui tonight. I'm allowing you two some time together, so why don't you take advantage of it, brother?"

His voice had raised in volume, seemingly of its own accord. Yuuta hoped that Inui hadn't heard any of that. He probably had. Slamming the door behind him, Yuuta decided it didn't really matter.

Yuuta whipped the ball at the backboard. The huge yellow moon on the horizon scattered light across the court. The gentle summer breeze that ruffled his hair should have been soothing, but he felt too close to exploding to enjoy it.

He'd gone for a jog. A long jog – he should have been exhausted, but somehow he felt like it had just fueled his anger more. How could he have been so stupid? Acting like a jealous child because his brother and his tennis partner got along so well? He couldn't even imagine what his brother and Inui had said after he left.

"Ugh." He whipped the ball at the board again. The old board was chipped and dented in some places, so it went off at a weird angle and Yuuta missed the catch.

He spun around, looking to see where the ball had gone, and gasped.

There was someone standing a few meters behind him.

Of course it had to be Inui, holding the lost tennis ball.

"I thought I'd find you here."

Yuuta stared at him. The moonlight put shadows on his face. Yuuta could see his upturned lips, but he couldn't read the expression there.

Yuuta froze for a few seconds. It seemed like ages. Then, almost instinctively, he turned and ran, back toward the train station. He couldn't face Inui just now.

He was half a block from the terminal when a hand grabbed his wrist, wrenching him to a stop.

"Stop. Don't run, Yuuta. I can catch you, anyway," Inui's voice was slightly breathless.

"Let go! I don't want to see you right now. After that…"

Inui coughed. "Actually, it's not about that." He tossed the tennis ball in the air, caught it. Yuuta stared at Inui's feet, unwilling to look at him. "This is something of a violation of our agreement, wouldn't you say?"

"Oh!" Yuuta looked up at Inui, startled. "I'm sorry, I barely realized it," he said genuinely. "When I'm… upset, I generally go play tennis. I didn't even bring my racket though, so really..." he trailed off.

Inui's pursed his lips. Yuuta could tell he was annoyed. Certainly, he took training and his data seriously. That look was somewhat frightening. "You do understand the point behind this, hm, 'untraining', do you not?" Inui tossed the tennis ball to him.

"I… I... not really," Yuuta admitted, catching the ball and looking at it. Just because it worked for piano lessons didn't mean it would work for tennis.

Inui took Yuuta's arm. He pressed his thumb into a tendon on the underside of Yuuta's arm, making his hand spasm. The ball dropped to the ground. Yuuta looked at his empty hand in surprise.

"The point is to make the body forget," Inui said. His voice was low. Yuuta felt his stomach do a strange flop. He looked up at Inui, studying his expression, but his face was impassive as usual. He really was very good looking, Yuuta suddenly realized. The high cheek bones and firm lips… Yuuta had never really thought about it before. He looked good with glasses, but they did something to hide his natural features.

With his free hand, Yuuta reached up and pulled Inui's glasses off of his face. He had startling dark eyes.

Inui leaned forward and brushed his lips like feathers against Yuuta's. His stomach did that flip thing again, like slamming a match point. He couldn't think anymore. He closed his eyes. After all that stressing and yelling and running, he was finally exhausted. Inui's lips met his again, firmer this time. A hand went around his waist. Yuuta didn't fight it. He felt his body responding to Inui's warm lips.

Inui pulled away. Yuuta found he was breathless and utterly speechless.

"The point is to make the body forget," Inui murmured in his ear, "so that it reacts by intuition alone."

Yuuta fought to catch his breath. When he opened his eyes Inui was gone. He picked up the tennis ball, pocketed it, and wandered slowly toward the train station. He would have jogged home but all of the energy he'd gotten from his anger was gone, stolen away by a kiss from his brother's best friend.

He was on the train before he realized that he was still holding Inui's glasses in his hand. He folded them and put them in his shirt pocket.

"What an annoying guy," he muttered. The old lady three seats ahead of him turned to glare at him, as if to tell him to keep his problems to himself.

If you had my problems, lady, you'd be talking to yourself on the subway too.