A/N: This story was supposed to have been over by now, but I keep getting so many ideas and keep adding onto it. It's so long... Thank you guys for all the wonderful reviews so far. They keep me writing.

Shattered Reality
Chapter Ten
by Wolfram003

Oishi resisted the urge to put a hand to his forehead in a gesture of resignation. His day, strange as it had already been, had become even stranger when Echizen-san had returned everyone to his house. Apparently his three teammates—Echizen, Eiji, and Fuji—had decided that it would be fun to play a game. Normally, he would have been fine with such a decision, but his boyfriend and youngest teammate had let Fuji choose the aforementioned game.

So now they were all sitting in a circle in Echizen Ryoma's suddenly too-small room, eyeing each other warily while playing Truth or Dare, thanks to Fuji's choice. As they had only been playing for a few minutes, nothing too terrible had happened yet—yet being the word that stood out most in Oishi's mind. Something was bound to happen, or Fuji wouldn't have picked this particular game. He turned his attention back to his teammates after a shrill cry of disbelief made him cringe involuntarily.

"You want me to do what! That's not right! It's just not right! It's Mamushi!"

Ah, it had been Momoshiro. Somehow that didn't surprise him. The comical expression of horror plastered across Kaidoh's face did, however.

Oishi shot a quizzical glance at his boyfriend who was sitting beside him. Eiji was stifling a giggle to the best of his ability, but he quickly noticed the dark-haired boy's look. The redhead leaned over and whispered an explanation, "Fujiko dared Momo to kiss Kaidoh."

The vice-captain grinned and looked around at his teammates reactions as Kaidoh gripped the front of his rival's shirt, briefly kissed him—he was not quick enough, however; Fuji's camera flashed with expert timing, capturing the image forever—, and shoved him away all in the same instant with a frustrated hiss. Eiji was clearly amused, and he didn't even bother to hide that fact. Seigaku's brown-haired tensai held his camera close to him, as if daring anyone to try to take it away; Oishi was sure the moment-capturing device, at least the film inside, would survive to see the next morning somehow, even if it caused someone great pain later in the night. Inui's hand had frozen in midair from where he had been about to write something in his data book. Ryoma choked on his can of grape Ponta; Oishi vaguely took note of the jealousy that entered the youngest boy's amber eyes. Momo seemed to be in shock, violet eyes wide and staring straight ahead. Kaidoh just wiped his lips furiously before petting Echizen's cat—apparently the gruff second-year liked felines—again.

"Well, Kaidoh's technically the one who went through with the dare, so it should be his turn," Fuji stated with a somewhat sadistic smile. Oishi had the feeling that he was never going to be able to see the tensai the same as he had in the past after this night. He was also leery of the prodigy's growing blackmail collection. Hopefully Fuji wouldn't use it.

Oishi mentally rolled his eyes at himself; of course Fuji would use his blackmail! That was the whole reason he was gathering it in the first place. Oishi had the feeling that that did not bode well for the rest of the team.

Kaidoh rolled his eyes and tightened his bandana. Dark eyes scoured over the group as the snake-shot user assessed his targets. He hissed in boredom and asked, "Echizen, truth or dare?"

The youngest boy returned his upperclassman's glance with a look of boredom and replied without hesitation, "Dare."

Kaidoh was silent for a moment before he smirked and gestured to his rival who was still staring ahead at nothing, "Kiss him."

Oishi and the rest of the group laughed slightly as Echizen paled slightly. No one moved for a few seconds, but then Fuji lifted his camera, smiling. "Go on."

Ryoma's eye twitched slightly before he grabbed the front of his senpai's shirt and pressed his lips to his violet-eyed teammate's. Momo blinked a few times before realizing that he was being kissed by the first-year. He then promptly deepened the kiss when Ryoma made no attempt to move away from him.

Eiji whistled and yelled, "Go, Momo-chan!"

Oishi stiffened when he noticed the door opening. Nanjirou peeked inside to say something but stopped as he noticed the scene. His mouth moved silently as he tried to say something, and his eyes widened. He promptly slid the door shut, and his footsteps echoed down the hall.

The vice-captain turned back to face his friends who were still kissing. He shared a look with Inui who was scribbling in his data book. He then shrugged; Nanjirou could have walked in during a worse moment. In fact, Oishi was fairly sure that such a thing would happen sometime in the future. Hopefully Echizen-san would learn to knock at some point.

He didn't seem to have a problem with the fact that they were both boys—Oishi believed the man was just startled at seeing his blasé son kissing someone—, so that was a point in Echizen-san's favor. At least he didn't throw a fit about it like others Oishi knew of. He glanced in his boyfriend's direction.

Fuji had told him the story he had learned from Hiroshi-san earlier in the day. Apparently Eiji's father—and possibly the redhead's other older brother, Yohji-san—was totally against any mention of a same-sex relationship. Oishi thought the man should at least try to understand his children.

Eiji didn't deserve to go through this. The outgoing half of the Golden Pair was used to everyone getting along with each other. His partner had once quietly admitted to him that he hated fighting, especially when the fight involved people he cared about. Oishi found that he agreed.

His emerald eyes gravitated toward his younger friends, and he found himself blushing, though not nearly as much as Kaidoh. Apparently Echizen and Momo liked each other. Beside him, Eiji was still cheering something to the effect of, "Way to go, Ochibi!"

Well, this game was over. Echizen and Momo apparently didn't want to stop what they were doing to finish it. Oishi averted his green gaze and coughed politely, silently hoping that the two would hear him and stop what they were doing.

They didn't.

At least his teammates were fine with the idea of a relationship happening between two men. In fact, Oishi was fairly certain most everyone on the squad was now officially going out with another guy. He and Eiji were now an item. Inui and Kaidoh seemed to be awfully close. Momo and Echizen... well, he felt that was self-explanatory as his eyes drifted back to his teammates. Fuji seemed to look at Tezuka quite a bit, and he had caught their captain watching the tensai with a fond—for Tezuka—expression several times.

He wasn't too sure about Kawamura(1). However, Oishi was positive that the boy would be supportive of any relationship between any of his friends. He was just incredibly kind like that.

The emerald-eyed tennis player found that he was a bit leery of what Taka-san(2) might say when he was in burning mode. Whatever the normally calm boy said, he was sure it would be spouted in slaughtered English though. That's just the way that worked.

He was startled out of his thoughts when he felt a sudden weight against his shoulder. He looked down to see Eiji yawning. "Hoi, I know it's not that late, but I'm really tired, Oishi. We haven't even eaten yet, either."

Oishi smiled fondly, "Then go to sleep, Eiji. I'll wake you up when dinner is ready."

He brushed the redhead's bangs away from his forehead, mentally noting that Eiji still had a slight fever. He'd ask Tezuka to let Eiji rest during practice if he was still sick in the morning. The serious half of the Golden Pair noticed that Eiji's breathing had evened out just as he was about to tell the acrobat to go ahead and lay down. Apparently Eiji was very tired if he could fall asleep sitting up.

"Ow! That's not cool, Karupin. It's just not cool at all!"

Apparently Karupin had tired of watching his(3) owner be semi-molested by Momo and had sunk his claws into Momo's leg to get the couple's attention. Oishi breathed a sigh of relief. At least he didn't have to break them up now.

A soft knock sounded throughout the room before Nanako-san peeked inside. "Ojisan was going to tell you that dinner was ready earlier, but for some reason he came back downstairs without doing that. Well, if you guys are hungry, come downstairs, okay?"

The door slid shut once again.

"Oyaji was here?" Ryoma appeared rather confused. Fuji laughed, held his camera closer to him, and said, "Saa... I didn't see him, but I wasn't paying much attention."

Kaidoh was still blushing.

Inui was still writing in his notebook.

Momo was still griping at Echizen's cat.

Eiji was still asleep—well, it hadn't been that long—and leaning against him, not that Oishi minded in the slightest. It was nice to know that his partner felt comfortable enough around him to sleep in his presence. It was also rather endearing.

As everyone filed out of the room, Oishi roused his boyfriend. Eiji blinked sleepily before giving him a light kiss to thank him for waking him for dinner. The redhead then hopped to his feet and helped Oishi up. They walked down the stairs together, hands intertwined and smiles gracing their features.

To be continued...

Notes:
(1) He wasn't too sure about Kawamura: I was sorely tempted to make Taka-san have an obvious crush on either Fuji or Akutsu Jin. I adore both of those pairing, but, alas, I had already announced that Fuji would be paired with Tezuka. So paired with Tezuka he shall be.
(2) Taka-san: I know I've heard Fuji call him that in the series.
(3) ...Karupin had tired of watching his...: I don't know if Karupin's male or female, but I'm going with male for this story.

Glossary of Terms:
Mamushi— "Viper"; How Momo refers to Kaidoh.
tensai— "genius" or "prodigy."
-senpai— upperclassman.
-chan/-san— terms of endearment/respect.
Ochibi— roughly "Kiddo"; Eiji calls Ryoma this.
Hoi— nonsensical term used by Eiji.
Ojisan— uncle.
Oyaji— roughly translates to "old man"; Ryoma uses this term to refer to Nanjirou.
Saa— something like "Who knows?"

--Wolfram003--
(Please review!)