A/N: First and foremost a huge thank you to vierblith for betaing this for me. Secondly, hugs to all reviewers, you've made my day! And now without further ado, here is Chapter 2! This chapter was a lot of fun.

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II

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"Morning?" Tezuka stared blankly at Atobe's back. Then, he turned back to Fuji. "What does he mean by 'morning'?"

Fuji shrugged. "I suppose that means he paid for you for an entire night, Tezuka-sama. It's certainly nice of him to do so. Just come in." He gave his pale wrist a flick of invitation. "I don't bite, I promise."

Tezuka stepped into the room. It looked like any other hotel suite. Everything in the room was white, and it reminded him of his own apartment - completely austere, void of all personality - as if Fuji too didn't know how to reveal himself to the world.

Fuji closed the door after him. "Why don't you take off your suit jacket and tie? I'm sure they're uncomfortable."

"I suppose." Tezuka shrugged off his jacket as requested and set it on a chair. He loosened his tie, and paused. "May I ask you something?"

Fuji had settled himself down on a stool, in front of what looked like a vanity table. "Ask. I might opt not to answer, though, Tezuka-sama."

"Could you stop calling me that?"

Fuji picked up a comb, and inspected it quietly. "What? Tezuka-sama? I guess I could, if you really want. But it's a rule. Most people like it too." He turned at last, his blue eyes making Tezuka shiver again. "If not Tezuka-sama, then what?"

"I don't know. It's unsettling." Tezuka admitted, "I don't even know you."

"Well, then, you have no choice but Tezuka-sama until you think of something, but I'm yours for the night. I'll call you whatever you want – within reason, of course." Fuji began raking the comb gently through his own hair. "Can I ask a question of my own?"

Tezuka laid his tie across the chair. "I'll give you the same answer you gave me. Ask, but I might not answer." And, most likely, he would not answer.

"Why are you here if you don't want to be?"

A long silence stretched between them. It wasn't at all a comfortable, and Tezuka found that he had no words to say. He couldn't tell Fuji the real reason; Fuji worked in a cat house—rather, an elite-caliber brothel and was nothing more than a boy. Of course Fuji would laugh.

"I decline to answer that."

Fuji laughed lightly, "I thought you'd say that." He put the comb down, and spun around in his stool. "Atobe-sama probably forced you to come. That's nothing to be ashamed of. He has brought lots of people to me."

Tezuka still didn't say anything. For one who sold bodily pleasures for a living, he had a feeling that Fuji's mind was something to be reckoned with, too. "Did you like any of them?"

"I can't answer that. It's against the rules too." Fuji told him, sounding just a little remorseful. "Try asking me something else."

"How old are you?" Tezuka himself was twenty-seven next month, and he knew that Atobe had a tendency to create sex scandals around employees or executives he didn't like. While Tezuka was pretty sure he was the only colleague who didn't suffer the other's wrath (yet), there was no harm in checking.

"I'm not the youngest one here, although I guess you could say we're all young. I'm five. In two more years, I'll be six."

Tezuka blinked; Fuji obviously didn't look six. And then it hit him, "...Ah, you were born on February 29th, right? So it makes you...twenty-two?"

"Yes. And I'll tell you a secret. Ryo-chan just turned twenty, so Atobe-sama has been breaking the law for three years before that." Fuji actually sounded quite pleased about it. He sounded quite casual too as if he didn't know that what he had just relayed to Tezuka had been something of a great bombshell.

All Tezuka could say was, "Oh."

Fuji's expression dropped, "Did I... offend you, Tezuka-sama? Atobe-sama is your friend, isn't he?" He looked properly ashamed. "Sorry."

Now that Tezuka thought about it, were he and Atobe really friends? Perhaps. The answer depended on which definition everyone tried to use, actually. Tezuka was pretty sure though that he and Atobe Keigo did not employ the same definitions of the word. But he shrugged anyway. "I'm not offended, just surprised."

Fuji lifted his head, relieved again. "But you won't tell him? Technically, I'm not supposed to say anything about other clients. But for Atobe-sama I make exceptions in everything. And he's not exactly breaking the law now, so..."

Tezuka couldn't think of any reason why he'd have to bring up the fact that Atobe had been consorting with an underage...prostitute (it sounded nicer than whore, at any rate) for a number of years, unless he was drunk or tipsy again. But he certainly didn't plan on it. "It's not like we'll...talk about this in a normal conversation."

The boy (even at five and a half - twenty-two, really - Tezuka realized that he still saw Fuji that way and he blamed it on the kimono) looked at him with a faint smile. "This embarrasses you, Tezuka-sama."

"...Well...I suppose it does a little." The idea of denial hadn't even crossed his mind before he answered; he'd never learned how to lie. "It's more...awkward than embarrassing, and it's not your fault."

Tezuka almost cringed, as the blue eyes studied him. "Is it awkward because you're a virgin, Tezuka-sama?"

Tezuka opened his mouth. But he thought better of it and said nothing at all. Of course his silence was taken for the truth. Perhaps Tezuka's paranoia was just kicking in, but he thought he saw the other's vague smile turn a few inches into a teasing smirk. Still, he couldn't think of anything to say. For once - perhaps a first in his life – he said nothing; there simply were no words to say.

Probably the silence got so insufferable that Fuji took pity on him, and said, "Tezuka-sama, being a virgin isn't a bad thing. I mean, to Atobe-sama it's an embarrassment, which is probably why you're here, but it's not a bad thing." He got up from his stool and walked over to where Tezuka was still standing erect next to the chair. He came up to only Tezuka's shoulder, seeming like a delicate little thing.

"How can you tell?" Tezuka asked finally, feeling more than a little stupid.

"I just can. It's what I do for a living." Fuji shrugged. "That, and Atobe-sama always brings me virgins."

"They don't leave that way...do they?"

"Most of them are eager not to." Fuji touched Tezuka's arm. And even with the thin cotton between them, Tezuka's skin tingled. "But I think you're different." He dropped his hand, and Tezuka let out a breath he hadn't been aware of holding.

Tezuka looked down at the boy, and realized that the latter's eyes were too innocent, yet too knowing. He didn't understand Fuji at all. He didn't want to understand Fuji either. They were, after all, from worlds as different as black and white.

"I'm making you uncomfortable again. I'm sorry." But this time, there was a smile on Fuji's face. "You're making this very hard for me, Tezuka-sama."

"That's what Atobe said," Tezuka said.

"Did he? I regret saying what I did then. I'll try to make your evening pleasant. I promise I won't touch you at all for you seem to be a little hesitant when it comes to that. We'll just have tea and talk. What kind of tea do you like?"

Tezuka was surprised at first, but he was grateful for the change in conversation. If Fuji was going to try to outdo Atobe, that was a relief by all means. The boy probably did not even have to try hard. "I don't really drink that much tea; I have too much coffee for my own good. But make whatever you'd like."

"Ah, all right. Sit down on the couch and make yourself comfortable then, Tezuka-sama. I'll only be a minute."

Tezuka sat down on the couch as instructed as Fuji headed over to the corner kitchenette and busied himself with tea. Fuji was not going to touch him tonight. The thought lifted a huge weight off of his chest. Atobe would probably rant tomorrow about how money was wasted, but still...

"Fuji."

"Yes, Tezuka-sama?"

"It's probably useless asking, but...can Atobe tell?"

"Tell what? Whether or not you lost your virginity to me?" Fuji glanced back to him. Mildly perplexed, he thought for a moment, "I'm almost positive that he can. He is Atobe-sama."

Tezuka sighed.

The smile Fuji gave this time was a small sympathetic one. "With friends like Atobe-sama, you don't need enemies, ne?" He made his way over to the couch, with a small porcelain pot and two teacups. Setting them on the table not too far away, he took a seat beside Tezuka on the couch. "If you'd like, I can make up excuses for you."

"Excuses?" Tezuka watched as the boy poured tea.

"Yes, Tezuka-sama, excuses. I'll make excuses for you; it's the least I can do." He offered Tezuka a delicate teacup, the faint scent of herbs filling Tezuka's nose. "I'll just say that I didn't like you and you didn't like me, so nothing happened. He'll believe me. I'm picky, after all."

Tezuka took the cup, and, when their fingers brushed for the first time, he shivered again.

"Fuji...you're lying, right?"

Fuji let go of his hand and picked up his own cup. He shrugged one shoulder, as if the question didn't bother him at all. "Yes, I'm lying to Atobe-sama. I like you, Tezuka-sama, which is why I'm lying for you. You can't do it yourself."

Tezuka stared hard at his tea, willing the dark gold liquid to provide the answers he didn't have.

He didn't know what to say again. Never had he been told that he was liked in any way… Even when he was younger and when those feelings were easier conveyed, never had the words been said so casually – like they had no meaning at all. And Fuji had talked about lying in the same way, as if it was a shame that Tezuka wasn't capable of telling a lie.

A white hand settled on Tezuka's knee. "I didn't mean that in a bad way, Tezuka-sama. Don't misunderstand."

Now he just felt stupid for misunderstanding; of course, Fuji had meant well. He glanced at his watch as he always did when there was nothing else better to do. It was getting on towards eleven. Not late, of course, to someone like Tezuka who rarely slept. But Fuji looked like he wasn't one of those people so Tezuka changed the subject. "You said you were tired. Aren't you going to sleep?"

"I'm all right if we're just talking." Fuji sipped his tea and poured some more onto his cup. His hand rubbed Tezuka's knee absently. "Or do you not like my company?"

Tezuka drank more tea. When Tezuka's cup was empty, Fuji refilled it without asking. "I...well, this is awkward. That's all. I...like your company, really. And... I guess I don't want you to be tired."

Fuji's ever unwavering smile seemed uncertain now. "You're...worried about me?"

"Should I not be? You said you were tired, and you look tired."

The boy shifted, and his hand was gone from Tezuka's knee. "I'm not used to having people worry about me. So...I...well, it's a little awkward for me too." He paused. "Can I lean on your shoulder, Tezuka-sama?"

There seemed to be a lot of awkward moments between them. This was expected though; Fuji was only a paid company. But Tezuka started slightly at the request and looked at the boy beside him, "If you'd like."

Fuji hesitated, only for a moment, and then he leaned over just so slightly to settle his head on Tezuka's shoulder.

It was too simple a touch, and yet, for a man who had never been touched, Tezuka didn't know what to do again. Was he supposed to shift to make himself comfortable? Or was he supposed to just stay still? But Fuji seemed quite comfortable so Tezuka retained his composure.

There was silence. But this silence, unlike the other ones, didn't stretch until it broke. In this silence, Tezuka could hear Fuji's breathing – slow and even.

"Fuji?"

"Mm?"

"Won't a bed be more comfortable than my shoulder?"

His only answer was Fuji snuggling closer, sighing, "I like Tezuka-sama's shoulder better."

"Oh." Tezuka said nothing else after that. The next time he checked, Fuji was asleep. For a moment, Tezuka was at a loss, but then Tezuka settled a hand over Fuji's on his knee and closed his eyes.