A/N: Thank you guys for all the nice comments! I'm sorry I haven't posted this sooner! Oh, I changed my screen name too, if you haven't already noticed; it's Wolfram003 instead of Abyssinian003. It matched my LJ now.

On another note, I finally got to see the translation of the lyrics for "My Lover," one of Eiji's songs. I just about died because they made me so happy. GP love really is canon, ne?

Warnings: The same as previous chapters.

Shattered Reality
Chapter Five
By Abyssinian003

Oishi held him for around half an hour before he heard approaching footsteps. He turned his head to glance at the intruder but never let go of his boyfriend. Fuji's serious expression met his gaze. Oishi barely held back a shiver; he was glad the anger in those ice blue eyes wasn't directed at him.

"How is he?"

"He's asleep, but he's not as bad as I expected. He doesn't appear to have caught pneumonia or anything of that sort. I think he has a slight cold though, so we should keep an eye on him in case it develops into something worse. The stress caused by whatever happened—"

Fuji glared, "I left you alone with him so you could find out what happened to him, Oishi. Echizen-kun didn't know much, and what he did know wasn't the least bit helpful. Oh, by the way, his father said that we could also stay the night if we wanted, since tomorrow is Sunday."

The dark-haired boy continued, casting a dry, meaningless smile toward the tensai, "I tried to get him to explain, Fuji! He keeps avoiding giving any direct answer to the question, but I did find out some of the events that led to where we are now. As I was saying, the stress everything has put on him probably isn't helping him, and I think it would be a good thing if he had friends around him right now. So I'm staying the night at Echizen's, are you?"

Fuji nodded and offered his hand to the vice-captain, "Come on. Echizen's father is waiting in the car for us, and I don't know how long Ryoma's scheme will hold up. His dad took the news that he skipped school well enough, but Ryoma still found it necessary to hold his magazine for ransom at claw-point of his cat."

"Okay," Oishi blinked, stunned by the oddness of what Fuji said. He turned to the boy leaning against his shoulder in sleep, "Eiji, it's time to go. Wake up."

The other boy mumbled something unintelligible and nuzzled against his shoulder. Oishi felt his face flush as Fuji raised an eyebrow at Eiji's actions. The vice-captain of Seigaku's tennis club tried his best to ignore the enigmatic prodigy and gently shook his boyfriend's shoulder, "Eiji, wake up."

This went on for a few minutes before Oishi gave up with a sigh. He scooped the redhead into his arms, being sure not to drop him and turned to Fuji. Emerald and sapphire exchanged worried glances.

"Follow me," Fuji ordered, and they stepped out of the alley. Oishi's attention was almost immediately drawn to loud voices coming from a nearby car. Fuji smiled, "I was being serious, Oishi. Echizen-kun really is holding his father's magazine for ransom."

Oishi shook his head in disbelief, squinting. Sure enough, the Seigaku first-year had a fluffy cat in his lap, batting at the magazine dangling from his fingers. Echizen's dad was shouting at him in distress, saying something about how that was his favorite issue.

"Come on. The sooner we get to the car, the sooner that poor man can have his entertainment back," Fuji said with another smile, clearly amused at the adult's predicament.

Oishi sweat-dropped; it seemed Fuji wasn't the only person with a sadistic streak on Seigaku's team. Why did that fact not surprise him in the slightest?

They walked over to the car, and Fuji tapped on the window. Ryoma glanced through the glass pane at the group blandly. Nanjirou quieted down and frowned when he caught sight of Eiji's darkened cheek. He said something that Fuji and Oishi couldn't hear and gestured a few times before Ryoma shrugged and rolled down the window.

"What happened? How did he get hurt?" Nanjirou demanded. The elder Echizen listened to Fuji explain what was known about the situation. Ryoma had told him nothing; he had just stolen his beloved magazine and threatened to let Karupin rip it to shreds if he didn't drive the car to go pick up the injured member of Seigaku's tennis club.

Nanjirou viewed Oishi's protective embrace of Eiji with kind eyes and a subdued smile, but he nearly shivered when he noticed Fuji's silently dangerous demeanor. The boy seemed ready to injure anyone who dared to make a remotely snide comment about his friends. Actually, the scary kid seemed ready to kill someone, but Nanjirou thought that he was justified in feeling that way after finding his best friend—at least, that was the vibe the monk was receiving from him; perhaps he thought of Eiji as a brother?—in the state he was in.

"So," Nanjirou paused to snatch his magazine away from Ryoma, "everyone is staying the night, I take it?"

Oishi and Fuji nodded in response, and Oishi shifted his boyfriend's slipping form in his arms. The slightly jarring motion caused Eiji's eyelashes to flutter open to reveal fever-glossed blue eyes. The redhead blinked several times before asking, "Oishi? Why are you carrying me?"

The dark-haired half of the Golden Pair smiled down at him warmly, "You wouldn't wake up, so I picked you up. You don't mind, right?" Eiji blushed and shook his head, "Sorry. That's not like me at all, nya?"

Fuji's fingers itched to be holding his camera at the moment. He would give anything to capture this scene. He wouldn't even use it for blackmail as with so many others of his pictures. Honest!

"You're sick, Kikumaru-senpai. No one acts like they usually do when they're sick," Ryoma's blasé voice interrupted the Golden Pair's scene, causing them to start slightly. Fuji wanted to throttle the boy—he had been waiting for the Golden Pair get-together scenes for a long time now!—though he knew it wouldn't do any good. Echizen just didn't care if he irritated other people. In fact, if Fuji had anything to say about it, he rather thought the boy enjoyed annoying people.

"You're right, Ochibi—"

"Ochibi!" Nanjirou cackled. Ryoma, appearing somewhat horrified at the mention of his nickname in front of his father, snatched back the magazine and actually let Karupin's claws come into contact with it, nearly growling, "Oyaji."

Kikumaru coughed slightly and whined, "Nya, Oishi. I don't feel so good." Oishi glanced at him with worried green eyes. Ignoring the squabbling of the Echizen family, he asked Fuji, "Could you open the door, please?"

The honey-haired prodigy nodded and did just that before stepping back and allowing Oishi to set Eiji in the car. The worried boy brushed back his boyfriend's sweat-dampened bangs as Eiji coughed a bit more. The redhead gave a tense smile as he caught sight of the vice-captain's expression, "I'm fine Oishi! It's just a cough."

He slid to the middle of the backseat and patted the spot beside him. Oishi sat next to him and shut the door. Fuji went around the car and took the seat on the other side of the acrobat, pulling the door closed gently. The blue-eyed tensai turned his attention to Ryoma's father and spoke, "Echizen-san, thank you for allowing us to stay for the night."

Nanjirou grinned, thinking nothing of Fuji's words, "No problem!"

Ryoma, however, caught the unspoken words of Fuji Shusuke and shuddered at the icy undertone, "My best friend's sick, and he needs to be taken care of, so drive us to your house right now!"

He dangled the slightly-worse-for-the-wear magazine in front of his precious cat once again and demanded, "Oyaji, drive now."

To be continued…

Glossary of Terms:
-kun/-san— formalities.
tensai— Translates to "genius" or "prodigy."
nya/hoi— nonsensical terms used by Eiji.
-senpai— upperclassman.
Ochibi— roughly means "kiddo."
Oyaji— roughly translates to "old man."

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