Flash Effects

Summary: Before classes start for Fuji, Atobe, and Shiraishi, Fuji finds out something no one can predict. Then, all kinds of problems start popping up.

Warnings: Shounen-ai

Pairings: Shiraishi x Fuji, Tezuka x Atobe, Chitose x Yukimura

Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis is not mine.

This chapter is a little shorter, too. XD;; Under 3000 words, at least. But I hope you enjoy it anyway! Time for Tezuka to come into the story! Even more now! Anyway, please read, review, and enjoy!

Fuji stumbled from his bed to the windowsill quietly. Had he really heard what he thought he had last night? Had he really? Atobe…and Tezuka…no. No. Them…three years ago…in the locker rooms… Fuji clutched his forehead. He couldn't stand in this room anymore. He grabbed his backpack and ran out the room. He ran across the hall to Shiraishi's room, in his pajamas. Fuji rapped on the door loudly and insistently.

No answer. He nearly pounded on the door. "Shiraishi, answer the door!" he hissed. Finally, the door was opened and Fuji almost fell into the room. Instead, he just fell onto Shiraishi and clutched him.

"Syusuke, Syusuke! What happened?" he asked. "Syusuke!"

Fuji started to cry. Not sob, but just cry. He was shaking. He could feel it himself. "Don't let go of me, Kuranosuke," he barely managed to whisper. He felt Shiraishi's grip tighten around his waist. "Don't let go…"

There was silence. The only sounds that were heard were Fuji's quiet crying and the rain tapping on the window, as if asking to be let in. Shiraishi would not open the window. Especially after what happened last night.

He didn't know what had gotten into Fuji last night. He was going to Fuji's room to ask if he could have some printer paper to sketch on, since he was out of it. He knocked a couple times, but no one was answering. Fuji should be at that time, he thought. And he wasn't a particularly heavy sleeper.

Shiraishi had finally decided to try the door. It was unlocked. If it was unlocked, then Fuji probably wouldn't mind his coming into the room. He opened the door to find his boyfriend standing out in the pouring rain. He had shouted his name, and ran over to the balcony just as Fuji was about to fall onto the concrete outside.

What had happened? Fuji was fine yesterday afternoon. He was pretty sure nothing happened during or after class, either, or else Shiraishi would've been there to witness it. Something had gotten into Fuji, which made him do that. And at night, something probably went on between Fuji and Atobe. It must've been serious, though, to make Fuji like this. It must've had to do with Tezuka.

Shiraishi dialed the number of the one person who would be a great help. Damn it, Chitose Senri! Pick up the phone!!!

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Chitose Senri woke up to the sound of the phone ringing. The shrill ring pierced his eardrums. Who the hell could be calling now?! It was not even 7:00 in the morning. He lied in his bed for a while, and finally decided to pick up. "Hello?" he said in a sleepy voice.

"Chitose! You finally picked up!" It was Shiraishi.

"What could you possibly want at this hour of day?" Chitose asked irritably.

"It's Syusuke." Chitose sat up immediately in his bed.

"What happened?"

"I don't know. He just came over to my room and started to cry," Shiraishi said.

"Is he still there?"

"Of course! Do you think I would make him go back? Something clearly happened between him and Atobe, but I don't know what."

"Here, let me talk to him," Chitose said. There was a beep and the phone was on speaker.

"Senri, is that you?" Chitose heard Fuji's quiet voice say.

"Yeah. Syusuke, can you tell us what happened?" Chitose asked. Fuji seemed to have calmed down now.

"Tezuka…and Atobe…" was Fuji's only reply.

There was silence.

"Oh, no. Oh my god," Chitose finally said into the phone quietly after a while.

"He never told me…he didn't really like me," Fuji said. "Last night, I heard them talking on the phone in the middle of the night."

"That sick bastard!" Chitose almost shouted into the phone.

"Wait a minute, who's fault do you think it is more of, Tezuka's or Atobe's?" Shiraishi asked.

"It's both of them. Tezuka was the one who first cheated on Fuji, but Atobe was the one who kept it a secret. Not telling anything is the same thing as lying," Chitose said.

"That's right. What are we going to do?"

"Just let Syusuke stay at your place for a while. I don't know if he's ever going to want to go back to his original room. Don't force it," Chitose said.

"Alright."

"I'm glad you called me."

"Mhm. So am I," Shiraishi said. "I'll just let Syusuke rest and wash his face a little before our classes start. Thanks."

"No problem."

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Atobe woke up. His first thought was that Fuji—he looked over at the other bed—was not there. Where had he gone? Probably to Shiraishi's room, Atobe thought. For what reason? He got his phone and dialed Fuji's cell phone number. Busy. Why? He called again, and this time, the call got through. He waited and listened to the dial tone. Finally, Fuji picked up.

"Hello?" he said. His voice was quiet, but still normal.

"Syusuke! Thank god you're safe. I was so worried—"

"Don't joke with me, Atobe," Fuji said in a dangerously icy tone.

"What?" Atobe said, confused. But Fuji had already hung up. Atobe brought the phone down slowly from his ear. What? He repeated the question in his mind. What had happened? Had Fuji heard him and Tezuka? No, it wasn't possible. Yet, somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew it was possible. He called the person that Shiraishi must have told first.

The ringing was the only sound that Atobe could hear. Finally, after a few rings, Chitose picked up. "Hello?" he said.

"Chitose. Sorry to disturb you, but do you know what happened to Fuji?" Atobe asked.

Suddenly, Chitose's voice turned cold, too. "Well, well, who do we have here? The cause of Syusuke's pain, perhaps."

"What?" Atobe said, surprised.

"What happened to Syusuke? I think you should know that the best," Chitose said. "You may have ruined Fuji's life, but we can bring it back. You can just stand back and enjoy your little Tezuka, because you can have him back. Neither you nor him were ever good enough for Syusuke, anyway." Chitose hung up.

Atobe stared at the wall. So Fuji had found out. He should have been more careful. He shouldn't have let down his guard. Like Tezuka always said. What difference would it have made? Fuji would have found out about it one day, anyway. He just thought that maybe there would be less trouble if he had told Fuji himself.

Why didn't he earlier? Atobe had kept delaying it and delaying it because he didn't want to see Fuji's reaction. Just a day, he kept telling himself back in high school. Just another day and I'll tell him. But days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and months turned into years. And this was Atobe's consequence.

He had delayed it to the point that he pretended that he liked Fuji. He had felt an attraction to the smaller boy at first, but after they had gone to college, it had all turned into an act. Maybe he had acted differently. Fuji had probably been suspicious of him. So had Shiraishi, probably.

What a mistake, he told himself. The biggest mistake. He kept insisting in his mind that it wasn't his fault. It was Tezuka's fault. The one who originally cheated on Fuji. But it didn't work, of course. Atobe knew it was his own fault. He was the one who had been the one who Tezuka was with, and yet, he didn't tell Fuji. If he had just told him…

Atobe picked up his phone once again. Just one more call, he thought. Maybe Tezuka would be able to straighten things out. But things were already pretty straightforward. Atobe had made a mistake. A big mistake. He called Tezuka anyway.

The phone rang. He was absolutely sure that Tezuka would pick up. And he did. "Hello?" he said in his deep voice. Atobe knew why Fuji had fallen in love with this man. He had, too, anyway.

"Kunimitsu? It's Keigo."

"Oh, hello. Why did you call?" Atobe almost laughed. For Tezuka there was no 'calling just to say hi'. There was always a reason. He wondered what Tezuka's reaction would be if he told him that he just called to say hi. But not now, he told himself. Now, he had to straighten things up with Fuji.

"It's Fuji."

"He found out?"

"Yeah."

"Figured he would sooner or later. He's a perceptive guy."

Atobe blinked. "Why did you keep calling me, then? All the blame is going to go on me."

"Why didn't you tell him earlier?" Tezuka asked.

"What?"

"You needed to be taught a lesson, Keigo. Don't be a procrastinator. Especially in a situation like this one. You can't just stand around and do nothing. This is your lesson. And your consequence. He's yours to deal with now. Don't bother me with Fuji." Tezuka hung up.

Atobe blinked. Tezuka was betraying him, too? He was annoyed. But deep down, he knew that he deserved to be betrayed.

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Chitose was still shocked that Atobe would do a thing like that. He had trusted the former captain of Hyotei, after he had played a match with him in the National tournament (1). He was a fair player, even after he had injured Tezuka's shoulder. Chitose almost didn't believe it. Yet, it was true. He trusted Fuji more than he trusted Atobe. Fuji wouldn't lie about something like this. What did he have against Atobe, before the incident happened? Nothing.

"What's going on?" Chitose jumped. Kintarou had just walked into the room. "I heard a lot of talking going on here, but there's no one but you."

"I was on the phone," Chitose said simply.

"With who?" Kintarou asked.

"It was Syusuke. Something…happened between him and Atobe concerning Tezuka."

Kintarou seemed to be in thought for a moment. "Let me guess. Atobe is dating Tezuka and he was the one Tezuka cheated with on Fuji three years ago. And Atobe didn't tell Fuji, and Fuji is now very angry at him."

"How did you know?"

"It's obvious," Kintarou replied simply.

"Oh."

"From Fuji's past experiences, anything that happens that concerns Tezuka isn't going to be good news. And Atobe seems like the type for Tezuka. Does Kura-chan know?"

"Yeah, of course. He's the first one Syusuke ran to. And then he called me, and Syusuke told us everything that happened."

"How did Syu-chan find out?"

"He heard Atobe talking to Tezuka last night. It was at, like, midnight or something. I think they've been talking to each other in secret ever since they moved to college."

"Wow, I bet Atobe was absolutely thrilled to have Fuji as his roommate," Kintarou said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I know. But he did a good job keeping a secret. I wonder how long he thought he would last."

"I wonder if he's told Tezuka yet."

"Probably has. He probably went crying to Tezuka right after he called me."

"He called you?"

"Yeah."

"What did you say?"

"I just told him off."

"Oh, I see. Sounds like a Chitose thing to do."

"Is that a compliment?"

"Sure."

At that moment, Yuushi and his younger cousin walked in. "Sounds like something happened to Syusuke," Kenya said.

"Yeah," both Kintarou and Chitose replied. "He found out that Atobe was the one that Tezuka cheated with on him three years ago. They've been dating since then, but Atobe didn't tell Fuji. And now Fuji's mad. Really mad."

"Oh, I can imagine," Yuushi said. "But Atobe? He doesn't seem like the type."

"Are you kidding me?!" Kenya almost shouted.

"Even if he's an egoist, he normally keeps to his word."

"This isn't a promise we're talking about. This is a matter of lying and telling the truth, or a matter of not telling anything at all."

"What I'm saying is that he's normally pretty honest."

"Well, Atobe may be honest about the things that he actually says in the first place. In this case, though, not saying anything is the same thing as straight up lying," Chitose said.

Both Yuushi and Kenya thought for a moment. "You have a good point," Yuushi finally said. "But why Tezuka? Why did he have to mess around with Fuji's boyfriend? Couldn't he have just left them alone and found someone else?"

"Maybe he just felt a strong attachment to Tezuka. Things like that happen, you know," Kintarou said.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Atobe's going to get it, though. Dating Tezuka is not his only fault. The biggest error was the fact that he didn't tell Syusuke," Kenya said.

"That was the thing he could've controlled, and yet, he still chose not to. It was lying and that in a punishable sin," Yuushi said.

"And Tezuka couldn't have told Syusuke himself?" Kenya asked.

"I think Tezuka was trying to mend his relationship with Syusuke, not hurt it even more," Chitose said and rolled his eyes.

"Besides, it's Atobe's responsibility to tell Syu-chan, since he was the one that totally ruined his life, anyway," Kintarou said.

"We'll just see how this turns out in the end. And if the chance arises, we'll help Syusuke."

(1): I have NO CLUE WHATSOEVER if Chitose actually played Atobe or not in one of the many years that their teams have gone to Nationals. I just made it up for the sake of the story. xD;;

Please review! I'll see you guys next chapter!