Latest entry. Enjoy!

The Island of Doom

Tezuka spent the next couple of days with Fuji and Atobe, ignoring the approving thumbs up their mothers gave. Eiji commented, though, that instead of being a good company, he acted more like Fuji's bodyguard, glaring murderously at Atobe whenever he got within five feet away from Fuji. He hadn't had chance to have a private conversation with Fuji ever since Atobe's arrival because of his constant presence near the artist. He wasn't sure if he should be relieved or disturbed by that fact. Things had indeed gotten a bit awkward between Tezuka and Fuji for a while. They weren't speaking to each other, only smiling (on Fuji's part) and nodding (on Tezuka's part) whenever they have to communicate, like when Tezuka see Fuji to his suite (and made sure that the door is securely locked as to not allow entry to Atobe).

The most annoying part about thing whole fiasco concerning Atobe was that Tezuka couldn't really hate him. Whether intentionally or not, he had brought back Fuji's smile. Tezuka wasn't sure of what Fuji's feeling for Atobe might be, but he certainly knew that Fuji found the diva's antics amusing. Watching him lightened his mood and eventually led to conversations though they dared not touch the subject of what happened the night before the wedding.

Somehow Tezuka managed to endure Atobe's numerous 'be awed by my prowess' moments, though by the time they got to the private island several days later, he had probably scared half of the guests with his scowls, glares and even occasional growls.

The tropical island was beautiful. Just like the cruise ship, it was mostly used to be getaway resort for the wealthy. There were many cottages on the island where the guests would be staying. Yumiko and Shiori would stay in the best and most remote lot. While the couple's and Tezuka's families would be staying at the main mansion on the hill overlooking the whole island. Tezuka thought that the arrangement was rather weird; why should his parents also be in the main house? But he got his answer soon enough.

"But there isn't any more rooms in the main house and the cottages are all booked." Yoshiko insisted. "There is no choice but for you two to stay together in the same cottage."

"I can't share a room with him." Tezuka said, frowning.

"Why not?" Aya asked her son, almost innocently.

Tezuka glanced at Fuji but the petite brunette just looked at him expectantly. Clearly this time he wasn't inclined to help Tezuka.

"I'm not comfortable sharing this place with somebody else." Certainly not sharing the same enclosed space with only one bedroom. He ignored the nagging part of him that demanded him to nod his head in agreement, and glared at Yoshiko and Ayana instead.

"But where should Shuusuke stay, then? There's no more place left." Ayana said.

"…"

"You couldn't possibly expect Shuusuke to stay with someone else, could you?" Yoshiko gasped scandalously.

Tezuka gave the woman a dark look. He heard Fuji chuckled beside him and knew he had lost the argument. Before them, their mother's faces brightened as they exchanged victorious looks.

"Sorry." Fuji apologized later after their mothers had left.

"It's all right." Tezuka said, pinching the bridge of his nose to relieve the pounding headache. What would happen tonight? What should he do when they had to share the same bed? He glanced at the said bed and felt his face burnt slightly as his mind supplied him with various ways of sharing a bed with Fuji. Damn his awakening perversion!

"Would you like me to show you around the island?" Fuji asked, breaking Tezuka's imagination. "Or would you rather stay inside? You seemed flushed."

Tezuka cleared his throat, embarrassed to be caught thinking about ecchi things. He was Tezuka Kunimitsu, he was supposed to be asexual! Never mind the fact that Fuji had proved him to be otherwise. "Wouldn't you rather have someone else to show the island to?" he asked grouchily to hide his embarrassment

"Hmm?"

"Atobe?" Tezuka said almost bitterly.

"Well, I do plan to bring him along, too. The more, the merrier, ne?"

Tezuka sighed, knowing that he had lost two arguments in a day. Half an hour later, he found himself in a jeep with Fuji, Oishi, Eiji and Atobe. Taka-san drove as Fuji explained what they're seeing. The boy was oblivious as Atobe and Tezuka sat side by side, holding back the urge to claw each other's pretty face raw. So much for being a genius.


"It's getting late. We should sleep."

"We should."

With those said, they both stared at the bed before them.

They had drawn out the afternoon and evening, visiting places around the island and entertaining their guest but eventually it came to this. Eiji and Oishi joined them before retreating to the cottage they shared. Atobe had drawn out his visit but then admitted defeat in delaying the inevitable when the time came for his beauty sleep.

Fuji had tried to ignore and forget but the major fact that he had to share this bed with Tezuka for several nights to come couldn't be ignored. He knew what was possible now and a part of him wanted it again. The less amorous part of him told him that he must absolutely not let that happened again though. But who knew what could happen at night when their minds were too fuddled to think clearly and the proximity and warmth of each other roused their primal needs?

"So which side do you want?"

"Whichever is fine with me."

Fuji nodded. "I'll take this side, then." He said, approaching the right side of the bed. He settled beneath the blanket, basking in the proximity of the other male beside him and tensing in fear of even the simplest skin contact. Fuji stared at the ceiling, hoping that sleep would soon come and bring him oblivion. Unfortunately, Morpheus wasn't so kind to him tonight and he remained awake long after he went to bed. Fuji felt Tezuka sighed softly and shifted next to him and smiled. It seemed like he wasn't alone in this situation. "This is awkward." He said with a chuckle.

"It is." Tezuka said quietly.

"Should we count sheep until we sleep? One sheep, two sheep, three sheep…"

"This isn't working."

"Do you prefer to count tennis balls, then? One ball, two balls, three balls…"

"You're noisy."

"What do you usually do when you have trouble sleeping?"

Tezuka sighed. "I think about my professor's most boring lectures."

Fuji chuckled. "Really?"

"Really."

"I usually think of things to look forward to tomorrow. It makes me want to sleep so that the night would pass faster."

"… Fuji."

"Hmm?"

"It's nearly midnight." Tezuka said, turning to face the unclear shadow beside him.

"We should sleep, then."

Tezuka gave his fiancée a look. Finally, Fuji conceded and got up from bed. The cold night air hit his body and he could hear the faint sound of wave crashing into the shore in the distance.

"What are you doing?" Tezuka asked from the bed.

"Helping us get a good night sleep." Fuji brought their suitcases to bed and put it between them. With the suitcases between them, they could only see each other's face. Fuji smiled at Tezuka once he made himself comfortable. "Good night, Kunimitsu."

"… Good night."


Tezuka was awakened the next morning by heavy pounding from the front door. He frowned lightly, wondering who might be on the door so early in the morning. Taka-san wouldn't have pounded on the door so impatiently and even Eiji would show some manner. Tezuka put on his glasses and looked over the luggage that separated him from Fuji.

There was a tiny frown on Fuji's face but otherwise, he seemed to be completely undisturbed by the noise. For a while Tezuka found himself staring in awe at the peaceful expression on Fuji face. His face burnt slightly when he remembered the nearly similar sight several days ago so he cleared his throat and reached out to shake Fuji's shoulder.

"Wake up, Fuji. Someone's at the door."

Fuji pouted and snuggled deeper into his pillow. "Five more minutes." He murmured sleepily. Clearly he isn't a morning person.

Tezuka shook his head in amusement and wariness and got up from bed. He threw on a bath robe before going to the living room to open the door for the insistent visitor/intruder. He scowled when he saw the most annoying smirk upon opening the door.

"Good morning, Tezuka. May I come in?" Atobe said with a devious smile.

Despite wanting to refuse, Tezuka still moved to the side to allow Atobe entry. He cursed his fine upbringing then. If only his parents had taught him to act on his impulses and instinct instead of common courtesy, he would've thrown the guy out to the sea and hoped that some sharks found him edible, thus saving the sanity and future peace of the world.

"Thank you. Give that to him, Kabaji."

Tezuka could only blink as Atobe's zombie butler (he didn't look very humane to Tezuka) handed him an armful of picnic basket along with an umbrella and a blanket. He tried to glare at Atobe over the mountain of items in his arms but the silver haired diva wasn't paying attention to him.

"You may leave now, Kabaji." He said with a dismissive wave of his hand while looking around the living room.

"Usu." Kabajii replied, and thus confirming Tezuka's guess that he wasn't entirely human. He left the cottage, closing the door behind him on Tezuka's face.

"Where is Fuji?" Atobe asked as soon as his butler was not in the immediate vicinity.

"He's still sleeping."

"Then ore-sama will offer himself to wake Fuji up, seeing that you must start your day soon."

Tezuka frowned. He was just about to do some serious bodily harm to Atobe when the door to the bedroom suddenly opened revealing a cheery-looking Fuji in a bathrobe.

"Who was it, Kunimitsu? Oh, it's you, Atobe. What have we done to deserve your visit so early in the morning?" Fuji greeted them without a single trace of sleepiness in his face. How he did that in a span of three minutes was beyond Tezuka. But the bespectacled young man's main concern was now about rescuing his fiancée from the threat of molestation coming by the name of Atobe, not on beauty tips.

"Ore-sama would like to invite you to a picnic at the beach." Atobe explained to Fuji with a smug smile.

"Sounds wonderful, don't you think, Kunimitsu?"

Atobe turned to Tezuka with a smirk that hid little of his ill intention. "Of course. Tezuka had even kindly volunteered to help us carrying some things for us."

Tezuka glared at Atobe but Fuji's sunny smile dissolve his intention of committing bloody murder. He put down the basket, blanket and umbrella on a table and dragged Fuji back into the bedroom. "We must get ready."

"That's not nice, Tezuka." Fuji chided him once they're inside the bedroom.

Tezuka gave him a pointed look that conveyed his annoyance on Atobe's implicit meaning behind his early morning picnic proposal. "We shouldn't make him wait too long." He said as he went to the bathroom.

The cold water did little to damp Tezuka's annoyance. He left the bathroom with a frown still attached to his face. Fuji seemed to realize his mood and smiled at him.

"I just called Eiji and Oishi and asked them to join us. Do you think that Atobe would mind?"

Tezuka paused in toweling his hair dry. "I don't think he would." He answered after a brief pause.

Fuji nodded in satisfaction and went to the bathroom. Tezuka stared at the bathroom door for a moment before resuming frying his hair. He felt slightly better now but something told him that the feeling wouldn't last very long.


Atobe didn't mind at all about Eiji and Oishi coming with them. In fact he seemed to have anticipated it. Their brief meeting had taught him enough about those two to enable him to predict their actions. First, Eiji would attack the picnic basket. Then Oishi would drag him a little away to give him a small lecture on courtesy. Next, Eiji would give Oishi a kicked puppy look and wailed 'Oishi hates me!'. Soon Oishi would be chasing the redhead around the island. It didn't take Fuji's genius mind or Inui's frighteningly accurate calculation to know that they wouldn't be returning until at least a good hour or two.

Fuji had thought that asking Eiji and Oishi to come with them was a good idea but the smirk on Atobe's face proved that he had made a slight calculation in underestimating the diva. He had been caught in an awkward situation ever since Atobe got on board. He was well aware of Tezuka's strong disliking to the silver haired young man and Atobe's own competitiveness to Tezuka. Fuji had been nagged endlessly by his mother and sister to get better acquainted to Tezuka but by doing so, he only seemed to encourage Atobe to pursue him harder.

The diva had been trying to approach Fuji since forever. He was one of the reasons why Fuji decided to continue his study abroad. Atobe's attempt to change his mind by sending a truck full of cactuses (including one particularly evil looking monstrous cactus with a purple ribbon and a name tag that introduced it as 'Tannhauser') had failed horribly and only strengthened Fuji's resolve to leave the country. Although Fuji didn't adore Atobe, he couldn't do anything about his attempt to court him. The fact that Atobe was the sole heir of one of the biggest and eldest companies in Japan which was also his father's client had refrained him from doing anything drastic.

So in his situation, Fuji couldn't decide what to do. Though preferred Tezuka's silent company, he couldn't ignore Atobe's advances either. Showing a fondness to one more than the other was a recipe for a disaster of an unimaginable magnitude.

"Tea, Fuji-kun?"

"Yes, thank you." Fuji said, smiling at Atobe. He glanced at Tezuka who was currently attempting to freeze the tropical sea with his glare. "Isn't the view magnificent, Kunimitsu?"

"Hn." Tezuka grunted his reply.

"I could help you apply sun block if you wanted to sunbathe." Atobe offered maliciously.

Tezuka turned his eyes to his companions when he heard that. He watched as Fuji considered his options. Refusing Atobe was a lengthy affair; Fuji could see that he wasn't going to give up on this. On the other hand he would like to avoid Tezuka's quiet wrath. His only hope was for Tezuka to stop Atobe.

"Yes, please." Fuji smiled. He took off his shirt and lay down on the blanket, presenting his back. He felt the weight of two pairs of eyes on him but pretended like it didn't matter to him. He turned to Tezuka's direction when he heard the sound of cap opening. The young man was glaring murderously at Atobe, causing Fuji to be slightly worried that someone would find his father's client's son mutilated body in the ocean tomorrow. The crowded beach should be a safe place. There were too many people so there wouldn't be any attempt of homicide from either Tezuka or Atobe. But not every place in the island was this crowded. Fuji could only hope that by the time they must go back, they would all still be in one piece.


Dinner was a silent and private affair. Atobe had retreated to his room to tend the bite of a crab on his royal toe. Eiji and Oishi returned just before they decided to leave the beach. They were practically glowing then and had soon excused themselves to return to their shared room.

They were supposed to have a peaceful tropical dinner tonight but the silence was almost deafening. They hadn't spoken more than necessary and seeing that they were going to be under the same roof for a while, it's a problem. After taking a deep breath, Fuji breached the subject they knew was the source of their problem.

"Today was fun, eh? We should go to the beach again soon." Fuji began with a disarming smile.

"Hn."

"Too bad Atobe stepped on the crab. I rather like the warm water." Fuji chuckled remembering the way Atobe swung his leg to get the crab off him. The diva should consider playing soccer; that crab flew quite far.

"Don't you want to visit him?" Tezuka asked coldly, clearly displeased by the topic.

"He's got his butler. He will be okay." Fuji replied, hoping that Tezuka could catch the meaning behind his indifference.

"You didn't seem this indifferent earlier." Tezuka said, referring to the way Fuji had tended to Atobe while they were waiting for his zombie butler to come to the rescue. Apparently he didn't get what Fuji was trying to say.

"Are you suggesting that I should've let him roll around the beach and called the sharks?" Fuji replied. His smile had a certain edge now. Tezuka was being unreasonable and his patience was thinning after indulging Atobe's selfishness all day long. "You know who he is."

"I do." Tezuka said coldly.

"Then you must know why I do what I do."

Tezuka looked back at Fuji defiantly. "I understand."

Fuji sighed in exasperation and annoyance. He tried not to glare at Tezuka as he stood up from his chair. "I'm going to bed early." He announced.

Fuji's mind raged with the thought of Tezuka's inconsideration as he tried to sleep. Tezuka of all people should understand the necessity of his actions. He wasn't doing this for his own pleasure, it was for his family's business. The angry thoughts accompany him to sleep and when Tezuka joined him later on, he found him sleeping with a pout on his face.

TBC