Disclaimer: I don't own the Tenipuri universe. :/
A/N: Sorry for this absurdly late follow-up!
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Chapter 2: Words That Don't Need Saying
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His head was full of fuzz due to the fact that it was buried under a mound of pillows and blanket and because he was slowly being wakened by the music of his cellphone. He half-heartedly struggles to squirm his way out, ends up just reaching out to where he thinks his cellphone is, misses once, twice, and is finally able to grab it. He buries it with him instead of burrowing out, and answers, voice muffled, "HulloOishi am I late for school againI'm up."
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Tezuka ends the call abruptly, a little bit annoyed. He mulls over the reason: was it because of the reply, or was because he couldn't quite figure out what possessed him to actually dial the number at this ungodly hour? He looks at his phone again, half-contemplating as he stares at the screen. The glare of the gadget makes him drowsy, so he drapes his arm over his eyes.
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Five minutes later (but it was probably about fifteen), Kikumaru stirs, remembers that he was late, and sits up with a start. He feels a bit dizzy from the rapid change in position, so it takes a while before he notices that it isn't even light out. He glances at his phone to check the time, presses the wrong button and is directed to his call logs instead. His eyes widen.
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Tezuka's hand vibrates. He belatedly realizes that it's his phone and that he had fallen asleep. He sits up when he sees the name on the screen, disregarding the weird, numb feeling left by his glasses when they were pressed against his face. He presses 'accept' -
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"Ah, Buchou, sorry I thought it was Oishi because he makes sure I'm not late for practice and I forgot that it's a Sunday tomorrow and that we get to sleep in. Got so tired yesterday because Inui was being mean and making us do these really weird exercises and of course none of us wanted to lose because you know how yucky his punishments are. I don't know how Fujiko-chan can stand it at all you know? *Yawn* Sorry. So good thing Momo lost his footing so he ended up drinking the Inui Special version *yawn*-I don't know anymore. But because of that I ended up treating Momo and Echizen because Momo looked so pitiful and Echizen just happened to be with him and I told them not to order so much but those boys are just too -"
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Tezuka smiles when the other line grows silent. He felt so much better, even when he hadn't even gotten a word in otherwise.
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Today, the team captain is jolted awake when his vehicle lurches to a stop. He wipes the sleep from his eyes, replaces his glasses, then gets to his feet. He pulls his bag, subconscious nagging him to tug at his clothes, fix his hair or what, but self-control (and reason) tells him that nothing was out of place, really. Besides, he knows why he wanted to fidget so much and he wasn't about to lose to it.
He passes through the doors and runs a hand through his hair when he sees a flash of red.
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The team enfolds their captain as soon as they see him. Their enthusiasm is almost overwhelming, but Tezuka is his usual calm (note: stoic self). Momoshiro is off chattering his mouth off, after Oishi gives him a chance to voice out his thoughts; Inui is blabbering random facts somewhere to his left, Kawamura, shy without his racket. Echizen is peering at him from behind his cap, Kaidoh hissing periodically right behind him and Fuji, the youth is sure, is smiling off somewhere among the group. And Eiji… he was being still, trying to be ridiculously inconspicuous with that red mane of his.
Because of the need to finally move on (nine boys take up so much space after all), everyone starts heading off to their rented van; light chatter accenting their progression. Tezuka trails after Oishi, who was gently prodding everyone forward. They pass their redheaded teammate, talking with each other. And then it was only he and the redhead and inches of air. He walks past the unusually-quiet boy, then stops just millimeters away. The redhead looks on, curious, head tilted sideways. Without his super motion-sensing vision, he might have missed the small movement his captain did. He looks down, sees a hand turned out to him. Kikumaru smiles widely, fingers alighting the upturned palm. He feels a brief squeeze, and then he is off again, skipping to catch up to the rest of his teammates.
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-end-
A/N: Sorry, I totally made up this scene of Tezuka getting back. Don't remember how he did, actually. But I hope you enjoyed this! Thank you for the reviews last time, especially eijikikumarufan01's, which helped make this story take shape.