A/N: Hello and welcome back! I know this is a late update and all but I apologize, things have bleh as of late, and honestly, don't we all wish that real life didn't exist sometimes? I know I do...and my computer's been giving me endless grief. But I'm glad this chapter is done, it's my favorite chapter by far, which almost make up for things. Thanks to vierblith and hakkaisensei for their wonderful beta-services as always.

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V

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The waitress gave Tezuka and Fuji a strange look before leading them to a side table. They were probably an odd pair; Fuji seemed so much like a boy, clutching at Tezuka's hand just so, and even when they sat down, Fuji refused to let go.

"Tezuka-sama."

Tezuka looked at the boy beside him. "What?"

Fuji idly played with Tezuka's fingers, splaying them, and then closing them into a loose fist again. "Are you married?"

Tezuka flipped one of the glossed menus open with his hand and paused."No, I'm not." He wasn't offended; people had asked him that too many times. "I don't think I ever will be. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know." Fuji shrugged and laid his head on Tezuka's shoulder."Atobe-sama is engaged, isn't he? You just seem like the type that would be married. But then... I guess if you're still a virgin you wouldn't be married." There was a pause. "Why don't you want to get married? It's not so bad from what I've heard. There's always someone to come home to everyday. Wouldn't you like that?"

Fuji knew Atobe was engaged. Of course it wasn't news; Atobe had been engaged for two and a half years and a wedding date had yet to be set. But he wondered how Fuji knew. "Just because Atobe's engaged doesn't mean that he has to get married, and I'm not Atobe."

"You're avoiding the question." Fuji smiled."But, for what it's worth, yes, he's not going to get married. I know that."

Tezuka was at a loss."Do we have to talk about this?"

"Do you not want to?" The boy's thumb rubbed idly against Tezuka's palm.

"Not really." And Tezuka was saved from further explanation because a waitress minced by and asked for their orders. Tezuka ordered black coffee with just cream and no sugar, plus plain buttered toast for himself. And he ordered pancakes with chocolate syrup as well as strawberry parfait for Fuji.

The boy's smile was the most beautiful he'd ever seen.

And when the said pancakes and parfait finally came, Fuji smiled like a child witnessing his first Christmas morning, and let go of Tezuka's hand. At first, Tezuka was a little bit peeved, but seeing Fuji dig into his pancakes with such childish enthusiasm made the corners of his mouth quirk.

This was not missed by Fuji, who had just looked up. The boy had chocolate stains near his jaw, but the stains made him look endearing.

"Tezuka-sama, you were, weren't you?" The boy wiped chocolate from his mouth with the back of one hand. "You were about to smile."

Tezuka's coffee suddenly was bitterer than he'd remembered it. He put down his cup and coughed, and Fuji rubbed Tezuka's back soothingly. "No I wasn't."

Fuji sighed, and took his hand away from Tezuka's back. "It's not abadthing to smile, Tezuka-sama." He turned back to his pancakes, then added, "Would you like some? Toast with butter is boring."

The coffee was bitter, the bread was stale, and the butter was too oily. Fuji didn't seem to like anything Tezuka did. Tezuka look down at his lap,"It seems that everything I do is wrong to you, somehow, Fuji."

The boy paused, properly chastised. "... Sorry."

Tezuka shook his head and drank more coffee."It's all right. Just eat your pancakes."

"Are you sure you don't want any?" Fuji held up a half pancake smeared with chocolate syrup. If it was supposed to be tantalizing, Tezuka failed to see.

"I'm sure." As a further proof, Tezuka downed his coffee. "It's for you, anyway. I can have pancakes whenever I feel like." While Fuji was probably locked away most times with only fish and rice. However, Tezuka never really felt the need to go out and get pancakes for breakfast.

Fuji was unexpectedly sober then; his head was a warm weight on Tezuka's shoulder. "I used to have these for breakfast everyday. Neesan would make them for me everyday. I'd make the parfait though, except when we ran out of strawberries."

Speaking of the parfait, Tezuka looked. It was untouched. He looked at Fuji again, "Is... something wrong with the parfait?"

Fuji shook his head. "No, there's nothing wrong with it, it's just... it tastes strange, I don't remember it tasting like this at all. Would it bother you if I didn't eat it?"

It did; in all honesty, Tezuka didn't like to see anything go to waste, even something as insignificant as a strawberry parfait. But after one look at the boy's forlorn face, Tezuka shook his head."You don't if you don't want to."

Fuji relaxed. "Does it bother you if I lean like this?" he added like an afterthought.

"No." But Tezuka had the vaguest feeling that Fuji knew exactly what bothered him, and what didn't. Even though the boy was still nothing more than an acquaintance, even if he was rented out—that word sounded so odd every time Tezuka thought about it, like it was degrading—from a brothel.

"Ah, that's good." And then Fuji closed his eyes. Tezuka watched him, the waitress passing by to refill Tezuka's coffee watched too. Tezuka let her watch, and when she turned away, Fuji opened his eyes again.

"Fuji...actually... I wanted to ask you a question. It's been bothering me, so..."

The boy bit his lip, and then his eyes lit up again, making him look not so sober. "Okay, I'll answer, even if I don't like the question. But you have to eat a pancake for me first." He sat up and cut a very careful slice of the pancake and speared it carefully with his fork. Then he held it up to Tezuka. "Here."

Tezuka didn't mind pancakes, really, he did not; he just minded the chocolate sauce that dripped from the pancake. He hesitated.

"Oh, come on, Tezuka-sama. There's nothing bad about chocolate pancakes." Fuji chided him with a slight nudge. "You might actually like it."

Tezuka sighed. The boy wasn't likely to stop until he tried the pancake so he bit into the offered, making Fuji beam.

"See? Not so bad at all, Tezuka-sama."

No, it wasn't bad, if Tezuka got used to the blunt sweetness that invaded his mouth. He'd grown used to austere and bitter food, like coffee without sugar, and buttered bread – foods that Fuji deemed boring. He swallowed and took a sip of coffee. "It was... better than I thought it'd be."

Fuji smiled and settled his head back on Tezuka's shoulder. "I told you. You have chocolate on your face. Here, let me get it."

"Thank you."

However, it seemed that their definitions were crossed. Tezuka had expected a napkin to brush the corner of his lips, and yet... he felt warm lips touching the corner of his mouth. Fuji's lips. He froze.

The boy's voice was light. "There, it's gone." And he sounded pleased. A little too pleased, if Tezuka had any say.

"Fuji..."

"Hmm?" Fuji tilted his head to look up at him, "What's wrong, Tezuka-sama?"

"I..." Tezuka found that he had no words to say. "Never mind, it's nothing." He signaled to the waitress for the check.

-

Without asking, Fuji immediately laced their fingers together again after they walked out of the restaurant. He stopped when Tezuka did, and glanced up at the man. "Ne...Tezuka-sama, it's a long way from four-thirty, don't send me back yet, okay?"

"...What?" Tezuka looked at him.

Fuji looked down to the ground, and concentrated on a puddle. "Um... I was just... what time is it?"

Tezuka checked his watch. "Ten-thirty, it's still early. Why?"

Fuji bit his lip."I don't want to go back to the brothel yet. Can we go for a walk?"

It was the first time that Tezuka had heard the word 'brothel' from Fuji's mouth. The way the boy said it told him plenty. He said it in such a way that was resigned, as if the brothel was much too big a force for him to handle, and he had no other choice but to submit to the brothel. It was probably not a happy fate.

He gave the boy's hand a reassuring squeeze. "Sure, I could use a walk. You don't have to go back yet."

Fuji was relieved. He pressed closer to Tezuka. "Thank you."

They walked along in companionable silence until they came to a small parkand the faint buzzing of Tezuka's phone interrupted them. Fuji plopped down on a bench, and tugged until Tezuka relented and sat down. Fuji watched as Tezuka stared at his phone. The man didn't seem happy.

"I'm going to have to take this."

Fuji just smiled."It's all right, go ahead."

Tezuka sighed; the call was from Atobe (who else?) and he had half hoped that the boy would stop him from answering the phone. He was unfortunate in all ways. Tezuka held the phone to his ear."What do you want?" He asked quietly, without a greeting.

"You're so rude all of a sudden, you know that?" However, Atobe did not really sound perturbed, he never did. Not even when it came to Tezuka. "I called your apartment and you weren't there... there's actually an emergency luncheon meeting today at two-thirty, can you make it?"

Tezuka glanced down at the boy, who was looking back at him. "Is it mandatory?" He asked, already knowing what the answer was. The words 'emergency' and 'luncheon' just didn't sound right next to each other.

"Well, obviously yes. You are a partner. But ore-sama can cover you, if you really want me to. Are you even in Tokyo right now?"

Now, for Atobe to offer him a favor like that was surprising. But the prospect of having one elitist Atobe Keigo save his skin not once but twice wasn't exactly savory to Tezuka. "I'm in Tokyo, Atobe. You don't have to be so kind. I can make two-thirty."

"You always get so angry when I try to be nice." Atobe's sigh was an annoyed one. "Whatever, just be there by two-thirty." He hung up without a goodbye, which was appropriate, really, seeing how Tezuka hadn't answered with a greeting.

He pocketed his phone, and felt eyes on him, as if the boy knew everything. Fuji simply let out a little laugh.

"Atobe-sama's a character, isn't he?"

Was that resigned affection in Fuji's voice? Tezuka couldn't be sure, but he nodded to agree. Atobe Keigo really was a character. He sighed.

Fuji blinked.

"Tezuka-sama?"

Tezuka shook his head. "Sorry. But we do have to go now. I have to make a meeting at two-thirty."

Fuji paused."I could get mad, you know, and never see you again. You chose Atobe-sama over me. I can get jealous too, Tezuka-sama." The boy didn't seem like a boy anymore, speaking like that.

"Sorry."

And then suddenly, Fuji was a boy again."It's all right, even if I don't like him, Atobe-sama has nice moments sometimes. Could you do something for me though?"

They were holding hands again and walking from the park. "Sure. What is it?"

"When you drop me off, I want you to kiss me."

-

"When you drop me off, I want you to kiss me."

Tezuka Kunimitsu wasn't one to think much about kissing. But never had he been told to kiss someone so bluntly. Fuji had turned away after he made his request; it seemed like the boy wasn't looking for a definite answer.

Tezuka was glad. It wasn't as if he hadn't kissed anyone before, but... still, with Fuji Syusuke it seemed everything was different because of what the boy did for a living.

They made their way back to Tezuka's car. It was nowhere near as extravagant and flashy as Atobe's car. Instead, it was practical and economical, and most importantly, it got Tezuka to places.

"Fuji, how do you know Atobe?" The two seemed to be on terms that seemed a little too familiar, and yet it was no secret that they got off on the wrong foot and hadn't bothered to fix it. Which was interesting; usually, when one started off on the wrong foot with Atobe Keigo, one fixed it in a hurry.

The boy smiled."Saa...Atobe-sama and I grew up together. We used to be best friends. As you can see, we're not anymore. That's all. It's really a long boring story."

Used to be best friends. And yet, Atobe Keigo grew up to become one of the country's (perhaps, even the world's) largest business tycoons. While Fuji Syusuke had... become a high level prostitute (honestly, Tezuka wished there was a less blunt way to put this) in the most famous brothel in Tokyo.

Tezuka mulled this over and decided that it made little if any sense at all. But then Atobe Keigo already made no sense, and Fuji Syusuke made even less so the two of them put together...

"Ne, Tezuka-sama?"

There was a red light, so Tezuka braked and turned to look at the boy."Yes?"

"You've kissed before, right?"

It always came back to this. The light turned green and Tezuka started driving, glad for an excuse not to look at Fuji. He had, but it was long ago and he saw it as an accident; it wasn't anything to be proud of.

Fuji read Tezuka's silence, and his smile grew. "Was it nice? Or don't you remember?"

Tezuka still could not bring himself to answer.

The boy's laugh was mocking in Tezuka's ears for the first time, yet the nonchalant smile was still on Fuji's face as he laughed. "Would you like to know about my first kiss?"

Tezuka didn't, but he had the feeling that Fuji was going to tell him anyway.

He was right. "I was twelve and Atobe kissed me for my birthday."

They were at the mouth of the alley, and Tezuka stopped the car. Somehow, it didn't surprise him at all that Atobe had stolen Fuji's first kiss at such a young age. It made his own coming of age story—if one could even call it that – sound quite immature, though it came much later.

"I..." Tezuka took a deep breath. "I was actually in my senior year of high school and got roped into playing some kind of game that required kissing, by the same Atobe."

"Really?" Fuji laughed still, but this time it wasn't mocking at all. "That certainly sounds like him. For the game, did you spin a bottle around and you had to kiss whoever it pointed to?"

"Yes."

"Then you played Spin the Bottle. Haven't played that in ages." Fuji looked at him."Who was it?"

"Some girl."

"Strange. I would have thought that Atobe-sama would have jinxed the bottle somehow. Did you like the girl?"

"I don't remember." And this time, Tezuka was telling the truth; he barely even remembered her name. Tachibana something, but then he could be wrong.

Fuji leaned in, and tilted Tezuka's face towards him a little. Then, tantalizingly soft lips teased Tezuka's own mouth for one moment, one very long moment. And then the boy pulled back.

Tezuka was numb all over.

"Tezuka-sama, go on to work. I'll be fine by myself. Call me later?"

-

Tezuka drove home in a daze. Still in a daze, he changed from the jeans and button-down to an unassuming gray suit. He even drove to work in a daze.

By the time the elevator reached the tenth floor, where the banquet halls were, he was still in a daze. Atobe met him outside and simply looked at him.

"What happened to you?"

Fuji happened, Tezuka thought.

But Tezuka only shrugged. "Nothing. Your tie is crooked."