Gambling

By Yukitsu

Notes: Requested by LMC and Akiha over at LJ, written in chat.

"I did not cheat," Umehara insisted as he gathered his winnings with his arms and pulled the lot to him. It wasn't really much money -- they'd all been playing with coins and small stones -- so he didn't really understand why they were all insisting he give it back for cheating. Not that he cheated, because he so did not.

Well, Hamada had been showing him his pieces. Not willingly, of course, or consciously for that matter, but still.

"UME!" Hamada was saying. The guy had stood up on his chair and put his foot on the table, such as it was. He was, Umehara thought, terrible at this gambling thing. Hamada, Umehara continued his musing as he started stacking his coins, shouldn't wear shorts so much. Not when he had plans on putting his foot on tables and such. Goodness, Tajima and Hanai could see the world.

Speaking of Tajima and Hanai -- Umehara snuck a look at them to see if they were going to steal his coins, too, but Hanai had just started looking red in the face and Tajima was... well, Tajima, freckles and all. Ume didn't really know what to make of that kid. But anyway--

"Dude, are you okey?" he asked, squinting at Hanai. The guy gave a start and shook his head, turning redder. "I'm fine. Really."

Hamada stopped ranting to inspect Hanai from his higher vantage point, saw no reason for more concern than his winnings, and went back to harassing him for the rocks. Ume chucked Hamada on the head with one. "DUDE, your team's captain doesn't look so good. Shut up."

Hanai blushed, fidgeted in his place and shook his head some more. "I--I---I'm okey. Really!" he squeaked. Tajima gave him an openly concerned look.

"You look sick," he pointed out, dodging when Hamada pounced on him in retaliation to being told to shut up.

"I'm not!" Hanai said, putting his head to the table and turning red to the tips of his ears. Tajima just grinned.

"He's feeling a little hot?"

"Hot, right," Ume echoed doubtfully, standing up to peer at the kid. He felt Hamada trying to sneak up on him again and promptly dodged again, but he overstepped this time and, with the grace of an ox, tripped over his chair. Hamada, true to the lummox' nature, tripped with him.

Three different things happened: Umehara felt his skull make contact with the floor, he promptly dropped his well-earned (and cheated) coins and stones, and he saw why exactly Hanai was 'feeling hot'.

Well, at least the hand down Hanai's pants was a perfectly logical explanation. If he thought about it, it was the more desirable reason, too -- Hanai sick would be bad for the team. At least this -- this just meant there was nothing to worry about.

Hamada, apparently not seeing the hand job happening right under the table, promptly kissed him.

So Tajima and Hanai weren't watching them, and Hamada hadn't seen the freshmen's activity yet, but that was not an excuse for Hamada to start pawing at him.

Still, though, the view was very conducive to bodily reactions.

Umehara smacked Hamada on the head the same time Hanai smacked Tajima.

"OW," they both exclaimed -- the hand on Hanai's privates retreated back up and Hamada crawled off him. If anything, he should be the one feeling the pain, given that his head just banged against the floor, but shock did that to people. Hanai, on the other hand, had quickly and wisely dragged the tablecloth down to cover his parts. Ume didn't really care; it wasn't his tablecloth.

No wonder those two didn't mind him winning all the time, albeit by cheating. Made sense.