title: the truth of the matter is
word count: 1, 237
summary: On the tennis court, inspiring. In the classroom, heartwarming. At home, almost brotherly. But on the bus, Fuj and Eiji together leads only to utter chaos.

the truth of the matter is

They never sat on the bus together because an incident occurred in their second year that forced Tezuka to make it an official rule.

Of course, this story was often blurred to include a tennis racket wandering into Takashi's hand, making the usually benign upperclassmen into the raving, English-spurting monster of his alter ego. It served well enough on the tennis court, but on the bus back from a long day of matches, Taka was best when quiet and smiling. Another variation of the story included Inui falling out of his seat and rushing to the front of the bus, begging Ryuzaki-sensai to stop. When the bus did halt with tires still spinning, Inui dove headfirst into the stream, pulling clumps of grass and reeds in a gesture that spoke of victory. Oishi was said to cause a disturbance by pulling everyone's tennis bags down from the overhead storage, only to reveal a live frog was loose on the bus. Where that frog came from remains a mystery even today.

After a while, though the incidents varied between something Inui wanted to get, Oishi's clumsy attempts to stop chaos from descending onto the bus or Taka letting loose with anger and lots of energy, one thing remained the same; Eiji and Fuji laughing, clamping hands over their mouths and lowering their heads in hopes that Ryuzaki-sensai wouldn't see.

After the sixth bus ride home ended with a detour that delayed their return back to Tokyo by two hours, Tezuka realized that this had to end.

He pulled aside Eiji, gesturing for Fuji to walk on ahead. The best way to deal with them was to separate one from the other; trouble grew exponentially when they were together. What Tezuka did not see was Fuji taking a sharp roundabout, sneaking his way to crouch by the garbage cans.

"Kikumaru-kun."
"Eiji-kun."

Tezuka stared blatantly at his smiling teammate, the gleam of his eyes matching the width of his smile. Tezuka coughed, pushing his glasses up his nose with one finger. He tried again, shifting his eyes to look at the strap of Eiji's tennis bag.

"Kikumaru."
"E-I-J-I."

Eiji swatted at his cheek, making a gesture for Fuji to move slightly to the left, to fully hide behind the garbage can. Tezuka followed Eiji's gesture to stare over his shoulder but saw nothing else than a slightly wavering branch from the shrubs near the garbage cans.

Coughing, Tezuka started his speech again, "Kikumaru, it has not escaped my notice that you and Fuji are –"

"Ne, ne, Tezuka-bunchou, don't tell me you want us to be doubles partners?" Eiji let out a laugh, shifting from his right foot to his left, casually throwing his tennis bag high into the air before catching it with his other hand. "Hoi, hoi! Don't break up the Golden Pair, Bunchou!"

"No, that's not it."
"Eh? Then…. Oh! Oh! Bunchou, you can go too if you want."

Tezuka saw Oishi approaching, carefully wheeling his bike. Perhaps it was the way Tezuka's eyebrows were furrowed in frustration or the glimmer of determination in his eye, but whatever the case, Oishi nearly tripped trying to pedal himself away from where Eiji and Tezuka stood.

"Go where, Kikumaru?"
"To Harry's Pet Store, nya! I promise, we can all go. You wanna buy a bird or somethin', Bunchou?"

"No –"
"How about a turtle? You look sorta like a turtle, nya! There's one I named Jimmy, he's gonna be so big one day."

"No-"
"Not a turtle man? Hoi, hoi! A cat! A cat would be perfect, Bunchou! Snowy will teach you about Acrobatic Play, nya."

"NO!"

Even Fuji had to laugh at the way this conversation was going, quietly chuckling into his hand as he kept the other wrapped tightly around his tennis bag. He never heard Tezuka response that vehemently to anyone else.

"Kikumaru! You are not allowed to sit with Fuji on the bus anymore!"
"How come?"

"I would like to know that also, Tezuka."

He wasn't surprised that Fuji appeared from behind the trash cans, his uniform pristine and crisp, as if he didn't spend the last five hours in the hot sun, two hours of which was spent warming up and playing a tennis match, and the last ten minutes crouching in the dirt. He wasn't surprised either when Eiji let out a cheer and grabbed a hold of Fuji, placing a jovial arm around Fuji's shoulder, assaulting Tezuka with a wide variety of protests.

Fuji smiled, fixing the strap of his tennis bag that Eiji jostled with his arm. "If you like, Tezuka, you can sit behind us."

Eiji let out a cheer, squeezing Fuji a bit too tight in the curl of his arm, "Yeah, yeah, Bunchou! You'll see, we're harmless, nya."

"I resent you suggesting that Fuji, knowing full well that as Captain, I must sit with Ryuzaki-sensei."

"Ne, ne, Tezuka, you jealous or somethin'? You can't sleep when Ryuzaki-sensei's watching you, nya?"

"No that's not –"

"Eiji, I told you, being a Captain is hard work. Tezuka probably can't even listen to his music when Ryuzaki-sensei is nearby."
"Hoi, hoi! Don't worry Bunchou, when we sit next to you, we'll play our music loud so you can hear, nya."

"I never said –"

"Tezuka, aren't you glad our team cares so much for each other?"
"That's why Seigaku's number one!!"

"LISTEN!" His yell surprised even himself, causing Tezuka to lower his eyes and fix his glasses. He shook his head, trying to remember what Ryuzaki-sensei told him about managing Fuji and Eiji when they were like this; reckless, loud and irritably devilish.

Eiji's hand slipped from Fuji's shoulder but his smile was still big. Fuji watched Tezuka, head tilted slightly in concern.

"The truth of the matter is, myself and Ryuzaki-sensei have reason to believe that you two are the cause of the.." Here he coughed, trying to suppress a slight smile, "erm.. the detours we've been having."

"And what proof do you have, Tezuka?"
"Yeah, yeah, what proof, eh?"

Tezuka reached forward, as if to grab a hold of Eiji's shoulder. And suddenly, the two were off, running in separate directions, calling out their good-byes and good-nights and Tezuka was left with a frog crouching in his open palm, croaking miserably in the gathering twilight.
--

They were not allowed to sit together on the bus. For a year and a half, they usually sat across from each other, or one row apart.

The frog and exactly what Tezuka did with it still remains a mystery even to this day, and though there were no detours on the bus rides back home, there were minor disturbances. Like waddled up paper balls hitting Echizen squarely on the forehead causing for a team-wide fight to break out, a balloon suddenly exploding, waking everyone up on a long ride back home and Kaidoh accusing Momo of pining a "Kick me" sign to his back ("I wouldn't even touch your back, Viper!" SHUT UP! Who else would do it but you!?!")

The disturbances varied in form and in severity but one thing remained the same; Eiji and Fuji laughing behind their hands, bowing their heads hoping that Ryuzaki-sensai would not see them, a quick, sly high-five to each other when they walked off the bus and home together, laughing and laughing, refusing to indulge exactly what they were laughing at it, or who.

--
author's notes: aw, man, these two are so cute. Sorta like how my best friend and his brother interacted with each other.