Yuuta enjoyed video games, largely because Syusuke was so very bad at them. Honestly, Yuuta had his suspicions about his elder brother hiding his skill, but he still enjoyed beating him at something. Besides, he found it much easier to behave amicably toward his aniki while pummeling a CG avatar of him. They could talk normally then, without any seas of bitterness rising up.
Except of course when Aniki's cell phone let out that annoyingly cheerful ring. Yuuta knew that ring, and was already rolling his eyes when Syusuke hit the pause button.
"Aniki, we're in the middle of a game," he sighed.
"Just a moment, Yuuta," Syusuke smiled. A moment, my ass, Yuuta thought. Not with the Tezuka ring it wasn't. He slumped his head back on the sofa.
"Tezuka?" Syusuke said, frowning. "It's 3:30 in the morning there. Is everything all right?" Trust Aniki to know the exact time at Tezuka's current location. The brown teddy bear phonestrap bobbed up at down, smiling mockingly at Yuuta. The stupid googly eyes always freaked him out, and he was pretty sure Syusuke knew that.
A pause before Syusuke continued. "Ah. He did get my letter then."
Letter? Must be another one of Aniki's vengeance missions. Yuuta considered attempting to eavesdrop, but then realized he really didn't want to. Instead, he hit buttons that no longer had any effect on the frozen game and tried to think about anything that was not his brother and Seigaku's buchou.
Not that Aniki made this easy.
"I was simply trying to find a silver lining, Tezuka. You know if you hadn't played him in that match and hadn't injured yourself badly enough that you needed to flee the country, you never would have kissed me."
"I'm getting a soda now," Yuuta announced with another eye roll. Aniki could at least have the courtesy to take the phone to another room. Yuuta walked out, opened the fridge, glared at the lack of orange Ponta, settled for peach flavor, closed the fridge, opened the can, cursed as it erupted on his shirt, cleaned the shirt, drank the can's remains very slowly, and then returned to the living room...
...where Aniki was still talking with Tezuka.
The screensaver had long since taken over the TV, so Yuuta sat back down to watch the logo bounce around the screen. Maybe he could try to predict the angle it would rebound at. Couldn't be too much different from a tennis ball. "Aniki, can we get back to the game?" he muttered.
Syusuke either ignored him or was too deep in Tezuka mode to actually register other voices.
Yuuta tried again. "Aniki, Mizuki-san asked me out again the other day. He keeps wanting to take me to that ramen house you like."
No response.
"We're thinking of getting married after we graduate."
Still nothing. Yuuta reached over Syusuke's shoulder and hit the start button on the other controller. His own space pod zoomed onto the screen while his brother's idled on the sideline, occasionally being slammed into by other pods. Damn, Syusuke must be serious. Why, Yuuta wasn't sure seeing as he always thought Tezuka had the personality of brick wall, though the wall had better conversational skills. Then again, Aniki had always had weird taste. Yuuta remembered the Tachibana days and the Saeki days and could see it all starting all over again. He made a mental note to buy more violent video games as future conversations with Aniki were undoubtedly going to double in their annoyance factor.
At least it sounded like the conversation was wrapping up.
"I will. This week. Mn. No, I won't play tennis with him. Mn. Everything will be fine, Tezuka. Mn?"
A pause, and then Yuuta saw his brother's eyes reflected in the TV screen. For a moment, Syusuke seemed at a loss for words, and then he stuttered -- something Yuuta could never remember him doing before -- "I ... I miss you too. Mn. Ja." He pushed the end button and stared at the phone for a moment. Yuuta pretended not to notice, and rammed his vehicle into Syusuke's at the next opportunity.
"Ne, Yuuta," Aniki began as he attempted to turn his space pod in the right direction. "Do you want to come with me to Hyotei on Tuesday?"
"Uh, no. Why the hell would you want to go there?" Yuuta vividly remembered that sleepy boy defeating him with his eyes half-closed. The idea of visiting that guy's snobby academy had about the same appeal clothes shopping with Mizuki-san. Well, maybe a little more appeal than that.
"I have a few matters to clear up with their buchou, and Tezuka seems to think I need a chaperone."
"Not me. I have practice till five, and Yanagisawa asked me to help him work on his rising shot after," Yuuta insisted, spinning around a tight corner without even scraping the wall. He figured anyone chaperoning Aniki in the presence of the guy who had injured his precious Tezuka should be equipped with tasers and a tranquilizer gun.
"I still think there are better schools out there for you," Syusuke sighed, shaking his head. This argument was as old as Yuuta's enrollment at Son Rodolfo. "You'd do very well at Fudomine. Tachibana would be pleased to have you."
And pleased to watch me like a hawk and report my every move back to you, Yuuta thought. "Aniki, focus on the game."
Syusuke smiled patiently, having finally gotten his vehicle moving the right direction. His eyes, however, gave away his true focus as they continually flitted back to the now silent cell phone. A faint menace gleamed in them when they opened, a menace Yuuta had seen too many times for his own comfort. He wouldn't have traded places with the Hyotei buchou for all the money in the preppy kid's bank account.
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A/N: And that's all for today. It'll probably be at least a week before another update as I have this whole career thing that takes up most of my time, but hopefully I will finish this one.