Verse 7 - Talking

Fuji quietly made his way to the kitchen, where he expected the others to be. Then, he remembered that both Tyler and Aiden had a meeting that day, and Sakuno had her summer class. So he was going to be alone with Tezuka.

He made himself a cup of milk tea while he waited for his breakfast to heat. Sakuno didn't believe in the idea that a drink and a slice of bread was enough for breakfast, so she always (when she had the time) made full breakfasts of different kinds. Today's breakfast was a full Japanese breakfast – rice, miso soup, tamagoyaki, natto, nori, and grilled fish. Fuji allowed his smile to widen just a little; he 'd only realized how much he loved Japanese food after too much exposure to American cuisine, and Sakuno always made exactly what he liked.

As he set down his food on the table, Fuji quickly glanced up and murmured a quick "good morning" to Tezuka. He had already decided that they didn't need to talk about what had happened earlier. It had been completely accidental and a total mistake. He knew it would also save Tezuka much embarrassment. As Tezuka had clearly told him before, he wasn't gay.

"Good morning," Tezuka simply replied. He then reached in his shirt pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, which he handed to Fuji.

Fuji looked the note carefully over. It was written in Aiden's perfect print, with a few deviations that Fuji knew Aiden liked.

Shusuke,

The meeting won't be over until around five or six. Tyler and I will have to stay back a bit later (around eight-ish?) to finish up everything. Don't worry about making dinner. Sakuno says she'll go out with a couple of friends. XD

Your old friends, Seiichi, Genichirou, and Kunimitsu are going to be fairly idle today. Keigo's with us at the meeting. I heard Seiichi and Genichirou talking about doing something, but Kunimitsu doesn't seem to have any plans. I wouldn't be bothering you too much if I asked you to entertain him today, right? :D

Oh, and, also, today seems like a good day to go dancing. I'm sure that you'll accept this as a sorry for dragging you around yesterday (though, somehow, you still managed to escape…how?). We're going to the usual place right after work. See you there, hopefully! ;p

XOXO, you dear fiancé,

Aiden

Fuji continued smiling throughout the whole note. It sounded just like Aiden, and Fuji was glad that Aiden was actually bothering to apologize for the nightmare last night had been: all the classical music; the dimmed, yet not completely dark lights; the fake laughter; the bright designer clothes. It had all been a bit too much for Fuji after Aiden's proposal, and through the murmur's of the crowd, he'd been able to escape.

"Thank you," Fuji commented to Tezuka, still smiling as usual. The stoic man simply nodded in acknowledgement, but went back to doing what he previously had been – staring blankly at the wall.

Fuji smiled internally – Tezuka hadn't changed that much since he'd last seen him. He hadn't grown more than half a centimeter since Seigaku (the middle school), and though he looked just a bit less muscular, he still had his commanding I-will-assign-you-laps-if-you-annoy-me-even-a-little-bit air about him. His personality and mannerisms hadn't changed either: Fuji remembered Tezuka often used to stare blankly at the wall when he had something to think about, and it would continue for hours upon hours (Fuji had once actually stared at the wall along with him for that length of time) unless someone interrupted his thoughts.

And Fuji felt like talking to Tezuka for once.

"So, we're by ourselves again, huh?" Fuji face palmed internally for his lame attempt. He blamed it on not having talked to Tezuka for six years. Communication was bound to be awkward, right?

Tezuka, himself, simply nodded and accompanied it with a quiet "hn".

Fuji stared intently at Tezuka while he ate his breakfast – he knew Tezuka would break sooner or later. And, with Tezuka, it was much easier to speak once you had his full attention.

After about five minutes, Tezuka broke. "What?" he asked Fuji bluntly, his eyes holding the same question.

Fuji continued to eat his rice. "How are you, Tezuka?" His voice was quiet and controlled, yet teasing and openly friendly, a very obvious reminder of their middle and high school days. It was fully of sincerity.

He chanced a glance at Tezuka eyes, immediately knowing from experience that Tezuka would simply want to answer with a truthful, but vague, "fine". His own eyes were open making sure Tezuka got the message. His eyes never really lost their power of making people react however he wanted them to.

"…" Tezuka didn't answer immediately. Fuji could tell Tezuka was trying phrase whatever he wanted to say correctly. The taller stoic had always been bad at communication.

"The team basically fell apart after you left…" Tezuka started. Fuji also knew from experience that Tezuka often required a lot of input from his partner to continue speaking.

"There were only two weeks left of school anyway. It didn't matter that much," Fuji provided.

"I suppose…"

The two were still staring at each other, Tezuka seemingly lost in a world of old memories, and Fuji anticipating Tezuka's answer.

"I went to Tokyo University," Tezuka tried again, to which Fuji nodded. At that time, he had actually tried to keep in contact with his friends. "It was…surprising. I met many new people, and made multiple acquaintances. I work with some of them now."

"Really? What are they like? What line of work?" Fuji supplied once again.

He hadn't missed that Tezuka had said acquaintances and not friends. Fuji decided to question that later.

"I don't really know. I only see them for work related matters, if ever, since they always come to me for help. I did an MBA and now I'm starting at one of Atobe's companies."

Fuji couldn't help it. He started chuckling. "Leave it to you, Tezuka, to see someone regularly for more than a year and still not make friends with them." Fuji then continued chuckling.

Tezuka simply deadpanned at Fuji, but the tensai could see the amusement in the other's eyes. It was true. Fuji was always the one who made friends for the both of them, since he was more social, but Tezuka was infinitely better at keeping contact.

"Well, what about you?" Tezuka stated once Fuji stopped laughing and continued to eat at his general slow pace.

"Hm…I liked Stanford. It had very pretty scenery – perfect for pictures – but later, I realized that I wanted to go into business too. I met Aiden there, actually, but didn't go there when I met him. He was vacationing, and the next year, he transferred. Sakuno came here shortly after, and the four of us roomed together even then."

Unlike Tezuka, Fuji already knew what to say. The words simply flowed, since there had been many occasions where he'd imagined telling Tezuka about all the wonders of America.

"We went to parties all the time, almost every night, I swear. It was tons of fun, and it really pressed into my school time. Sometimes, I felt like there was too much work and I was going to drown in it."

Fuji then turned to look at Tezuka, this time with closed eyes, once again. Six years ago, Fuji had always been easily distracted when it came to actual working. True, he was a tensai, but, oftentimes, he simply didn't like to work. It was during those times that Tezuka would appear and force Fuji to do everything.

"I managed, somehow, and at the end of the four years, I decided to follow Aiden to Chicago for my MBA. I actually finished last winter, since I took more classes than necessary per quarter, and I've been working at the Clanes' company as a photographer for the past few months."

"Photographer? Why the MBA, then?" Tezuka looked only vaguely interested, but Fuji knew that Tezuka wouldn't look away or stop listening even if Fuji stopped talking.

"I actually wanted a break from business work. I'm going to pursue business, but only after this year. I'm not completely sure, yet, exactly what aspect of their company I want to go into. I'm taking the rest of the year off for photography because…well, I want to. I haven't really focused on it in a really long time and it's one of my passions, you know? Tyler lets me take pictures of many of the models and sometimes, I even help with the designing. It's a lot of fun."

"Hn," Tezuka muttered.

Fuji smiled more. He was finally done eating and the awkward atmosphere was mostly gone. Talking to Tezuka felt unbelievably good. He hadn't realized how much he missed it until now, even if the brown haired stoic only put in small comments.

They spent the rest of the day fully enjoying each other's company. Fuji asked Tezuka all the questions that he'd been dying to know the answers to, regarding his old teammates, and Tezuka's answers always made him happy.

He learned that Eiji and Oishi planned to get married soon and co-managed one of Japan's most successful tennis clubs. Taka-san had taken over Kawamura Sushi and had expanded it into a large, famous cooking and dining business. Inui had started working for Atobe as well, but was involved in creating new chemical mixtures and testing prototypes of different products, along with Yanagi Renji from Rikkaidai. Kaidoh and Momoshiro had become surprisingly good friends, and lovers. The two had opened a pet shop that had just started expanding quite a bit recently.

And, of course, Echizen had become a tennis pro, and one of the top in the world. Fuji already knew that, since anyone with eyes could see Echizen's picture everywhere – books, magazines, TV commercials, posters, billboards, etc.

Then, Fuji managed to drag Tezuka off to play videogames with him. At first, Tezuka had simply pressed a random button every now and then, not realizing that with the Nintendo™ Wii you had to move your arms as well. Fuji could see Tezuka's frustration after a while – one of very few things that Tezuka had always managed to beat Fuji at had been videogames – and had finally showed the poor man how to play. Fuji had then learned that Tezuka was only good that videogames that required only the movement of thumbs and a few other fingers. Somehow, Tezuka winded up hanging upside down from their couch with the wire wrapped around his neck. Fuji had laughed at him again.

Fuji could feel himself slip back to some of his old, sadistic, teasing ways around Tezuka, and could see the other visibly loosen up and relax around him. Tezuka still didn't smile, but the corners of his lips slackened just a little bit. Watching Tezuka act like he always did around him reminded Fuji exactly why and just how much he had really, truly loved Tezuka.

While Fuji had been thinking, a strong stab of pain made its way through his body. It had been cold, very cold – Tezuka's rejection and Fuji had never really gotten over it. Later, as Fuji had thought over it, he'd at least thought that Tezuka would've been more considerate. The Tezuka he knew wasn't a jerk…well, not always.

When Tezuka asked him why he was spacing out, Fuji shook his head and replied, "Saa…"

Tezuka rolled his eyes and Fuji chuckled. They slipped back, once again, to joking around and wasting their time in a fun, fruitful manner. However, Fuji's thoughts lingered in the back of his mind. He hadn't really gotten over Tezuka, at that time. Instead, Fuji had focused on falling in love with Aiden. Right then, he wondered if his own confession had left any impression on Tezuka.

And he was still trying to figure out whether it was working.

Overall, it had been a good day, especially since Fuji was waiting to drop the bomb on Tezuka until right before they had to leave. He had really missed teasing him and his sadistic side was full of glee.

Tezuka loathed dancing.

TBC

Does anyone want to beta for me please? Or can anyone suggest a beta? Help would be really appreciated!

-bows- I'm really sorry it took me over two weeks to update this. Last week I completely forgot that a whole week had already passed (since I was freaking out about school starting again), and this week, I was readjusting to school. They're just excuses though, so please forgive me!

Note: The next chapter will be updated tomorrow. From now on, all updates for Baby will be on Sundays. It's the most convenient time, really. Over the next month, or so, I'm going to be working on revising the previous chapters and putting them up again. Unless I find a beta, which means that the chapters will probably be updated much sooner. Please?

Anyways, if I still have any readers left, please review away! They're really helpful and have the added bonus of making me want to write more. And they make me really happy after a hard day of school!

REVIEW PLEASE!