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Nightclub at Daytime Chapter 23
Writer: Tacuma
Pairing: Perfect Pair
Chapter: 23/40 (probably)
Genre: AU, romance, angst, crime
Word count: 3808 words
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis
Previous Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22
Chapter 23
'Everybody, get your pyjamas, a towel and your toothbrush, a pair of clean clothes and clean underwear,' said Oishi. 'We're going on a little trip to Osaka.'
The men were all happily surprised and quickly packed everything they needed. Tezuka had managed to arrange things and today they would meet Yukimura again. It had been almost two months since he had left, but most already missed him terribly. Fuji missed him to. There was nobody left he could bicker with like he could with Yukimura.
Soon they were all ready to leave. It was still early in the morning, and normally they wouldn't be out of bed yet, but today was different. Everybody would be coming along, even Tezuka, Oishi and Momoshiro, who normally didn't always join in activities. They went to the train station and searched for the right platform. When their train arrived they got in and searched for a good spot. They were all happy and enthusiastic like a class of kids going on a field trip. It had been a while since they had left the house, since they had left the city to have some fun together. They talked about Osaka. Most of them had never been there before, but Fuji had been there plenty of times and he told about everything he had seen there.
The trip took about three hours. The first hour most of them were still active and talking a lot about what was going to happen, but after that most got a little tired. It was a long trip and just sitting in the train wasn't very interesting. Tezuka brought a book, he was the only one who thought about that. He was reading it, while Eiji and Gakuto were playing a game together, Nioh was sleeping, Momoshiro and Kaidoh were in a fight about the touching of their legs when they sat in front of each other while Oishi tried to make them stop fighting, because everybody in the train was looking at them and Ohtori was looking nervously around as well. Fuji made a few photos of it all, knowing it would be nice memories one day. Then he put his camera away. He would need it in Osaka as well.
He turned around in his chair so he could talk to Tezuka who sat behind him. Tezuka didn't seem to notice him, he was caught in the story he was reading.
'Ne, Tezuka,' said Fuji. 'Who paid for all of this? Did Atobe-san? If he did we should thank him.'
'He didn't,' answered Tezuka, without looking up from his book. 'There was still some money left with no destination. It was meant to be used for the club, but nothing is broken and everything is working fine, so we could use it for this trip.'
Fuji wondered if that was the truth. No company, no club, no bar, no café, not any place had money left. They were all short on money and always needed more. If there was money left Atobe would have taken it for sure to use for his companies.
'You paid for it, didn't you?' whispered Fuji so only Tezuka could hear it. This time Tezuka did look up. Fuji smirked. He could see in Tezuka's eyes that he was right. Tezuka was always at the club, so he hardly spent any money on anything, unless it was really necessary. He must have a lot of savings.
'Thank you,' said Fuji and he smiled at Tezuka before he turned back again and sat down in his chair. He slept the rest of the way just like most of the others.
When they arrived in Osaka Oishi woke everybody up. He had been one of the only ones who hadn't been sleeping. He was too worried they would miss their stop and would end up somewhere they shouldn't be. They got out of the train and found Yukimura waiting for them. Immediately all the guys ran towards him, except for Kaidoh, Oishi, Tezuka and Ohtori.
'How are you doing?' asked Nioh.
'I'm doing fine,' answered Yukimura. 'Osaka is a really nice city to live as well. I'm still searching for a job, but I'm sure I will find something soon.'
'You look good,' said Fuji. 'It seems you really enjoy living here. Or maybe living with Sanada did this to you!'
Everyone laughed when Yukimura blushed. 'You can bring your luggage to my place,' said the blue-haired man quickly. He started to walk from the platform and lead them the way to his home. They stopped in front of a nice building. They got into the elevator and went to the top floor. Everything looked like a very luxurious hotel, but it wasn't. Behind the many doors were apartments. Also at the top floor. There were only four doors. Yukimura unlocked one of them and opened the door to a big penthouse.
The only one who wasn't surprised was Tezuka. He knew what kind of place Yukimura lived and he often went to Atobe's house, which was even bigger than this place.
'You can put your luggage down in this room,' said Yukimura as he opened one of the doors. Behind it was an almost empty room. 'Most of you will sleep there tonight. Futons will be prepared before we get back here. There is place for all of you, but if it is too cramped we can make some place in the living room for a few of you to sleep.
'You know Momoshiro can sleep everywhere,' joked Nioh. 'No need to prepare something for him.'
'Prepare food for me then!' laughed Momoshiro. He couldn't live without a lot of food. He ate more than any other in their house.
'I thought it would be nice if we would go out today,' said Yukimura. 'That way you can see a little of the city. I didn't know where to take you, but Sanada told me the aquarium is pretty interesting. He offered to pay for the tickets, so don't worry about that.'
'They have whale sharks, don't they?' asked Fuji. He had often visited Osaka, but he had never been in the aquarium. 'And gigantic crabs?'
'I want to see those!' said Eiji and he jumped up and down. 'Let's go to the aquarium.'
They left the apartment and with a few taxi's they went to the aquarium. There was only a short line, with mainly tourists. Other people had to work and kids had to go to school, so it wouldn't be crowded. Fuji had brought his camera and hoped he could get some wonderful photos that he could sell. When they went inside and Yukimura had paid for the tickets, Eiji and Gakuto turned into kids. They were amazed by everything and almost ran from one place to another to see everything before the others. Fuji kept clicking around. There were so many interesting things to see, not only the fishes, but his friends as well. He was often the only one left and either Tezuka or Oishi had to call him to tell him that they would move on.
'Sorry,' said Fuji when Tezuka had called him for the third time. 'Everything is just so beautiful.'
Tezuka was glad to see Fuji enjoyed it. This wasn't Hawaii, this wasn't America, Australia or Europe, but it was good enough to give Fuji the feeling of freedom again. They passed the different tanks with all different kind of sea animals. The one was even more beautiful or more strange than the other.
When they arrived at the tank with the whale shark, Fuji's eyes grew wide. The animal was enormous, even bigger than he had imagined. He could only stare in awe. It took him a few minutes before he lifted his camera and started to make photos from all possible angles. The huge fish was so majestic and magnificent, no matter how you looked at it.
Fuji was so engrossed in photographing the whale shark that he forgot about the time. When he realised he had been there for too long already, he quickly looked around to search for the others, but didn't see any of them. Fuji almost panicked. They would definitely get angry at him for staying behind on his own and maybe Tezuka wouldn't allow them anymore to go on a trip like this.
Then he suddenly spotted said man. He sat on one of the benches and looked at the whale in the tank as well. Fuji hurried towards him.
'I'm sorry!' he said, hoping Tezuka wasn't too angry. 'Thank you for waiting for me.'
'It's fine,' answered Tezuka, stoic as ever. 'Eiji and Momoshiro called you, but you didn't hear them. They were hungry, so they all went to the restaurant. I offered to stay until you would wake up from your photography dream again.'
Fuji wondered if Tezuka was joking. He could never really tell with Tezuka.
'I'm sorry,' he said again. 'It's been a while since I have photographed something amazing like those shark whales. I just forgot about everything. It was like my life before, when I could come and go whenever I wanted.'
Fuji sat down on the bench next to Tezuka and both of them continued to watch the enormous fish. It swam from one side to the other and back. Around them it were mostly couples who were watching the big animal as well. Fuji sighed. Tezuka looked at him, but didn't say anything. Fuji noticed and looked back at him and smiled.
'The whale shark reminds me of myself,' he said.
Tezuka looked at the animal in the water tank and then back at Fuji. 'He is big, ugly and scary. You are small, good looking and scary.'
Fuji laughed. The way Tezuka said it, it didn't sound like he and the whale shark were alike at all. 'You're right, but I meant it another way,' he said. 'We're both locked up and we can't get out. We go from one way to the other, but we can't go further than that. We have clear borders, while we used to have so much freedom. That is what fascinated me the most about him. But also the fact that I am here. It means my borders have moved and have become a little more vague. I'm glad about that. Even though the whale shark is locked up, I feel freedom when I look at him.'
'I'm glad you enjoy the trip,' said Tezuka. 'But today was also meant to see Yukimura again and I'm sure he won't like it if you're away the entire time.'
'You're just getting hungry,' joked Fuji, but he put his camera away and stood up. Together they walked to the restaurant and found the table where the others were sitting.
'It took you a while to notice we were gone,' said Eiji. 'Aren't you hungry? We were starving! We already ordered for the two of you. I hope you don't mind. Really, what were you doing so long?'
Fuji smiled. 'The whale shark was just fascinating. It's very photogenic as well, so I just couldn't stop making pictures of it. I can earn a lot of money with it if I sell them, so I wanted to take that opportunity. I'm going to stay with those enormous crabs for a long time as well, so you must prepare yourself.'
Yukimura laughed. 'You are really obsessed with photography. It's obvious what you will do when you paid off your debt.'
'I'm not sure,' answered Fuji. 'Living with all of you have made me think. One day I will have to settle down. The question is when do I have to? I know I'm not that old yet, but when I'm done paying off my debt, I'll be a few years older. Maybe by that time I have found a nice, rich boyfriend, like you and maybe I don't want to leave Japan anymore.'
'Knowing you, you will just drag him along,' said Nioh with a grin on his face. 'And whoever it will be, he will have to accept it and he will accept it. Just a single smile and you can convince everybody to do whatever you want.'
Fuji smiled at Nioh. 'Then why don't you undress and jump in the tank of the whale shark? I would very much like to photograph that.'
'You're a sadist!' answered Nioh. 'You might look cute, but you really are not.'
Everybody knew the two of them were just joking. The two of them got along very well and some of the others expected that Nioh would be the one dragged around the world by Fuji one day, even though both of them always said they were just friends.
The food was brought and everybody started eating. The food was good and they all enjoyed it. Yukimura paid once again. Since he and Sanada were together he didn't have to worry about money and he knew Sanada didn't mind if he spend money on having a fun time with his friends. They didn't meet each other that often.
After lunch they all went back to the tanks with different fishes and water creatures. Some were pretty, some were scary and others were plain boring. Fuji photographed as much as he could. Especially the big crabs got a lot of his attention. He was fascinated by the way they moved. Once again it was Tezuka who waited for him to finish his photo shoot with the animal before they moved on to see what the others were doing.
After a few hours they had seen every single animal in the aquarium, so they went back to Yukimura's home. It was late in the afternoon and it was already getting dark outside. They walked past a few shops where some of them went to buy things they wanted or needed. It was hard shopping with such a big group, since most them had to wait outside for the ones inside to be done. So they decided to just go home.
'I'll order some food for dinner,' offered Yukimura. 'I can't cook for so many people. Sanada might be late, so it will be easier for him as well. Just make yourself comfortable in the living room.'
They all settled down in the living room. They talked about their day and about the city. Kaidoh had made them all a cup of tea. Fuji was reloading the batteries of his camera, because they were almost empty. He looked out of the window. From the high apartment they had a wonderful view over the city. It was amazing to see the sun set behind all the buildings.
'You really live in a wonderful house,' said Fuji when Yukimura entered the room. 'I'm jealous. The view is good, it's big and comfortable and I'm sure you think the company is even better.'
Yukimura smiled. 'It is,' he answered. 'It's still hard to believe I really live here, even though I'm staying here for a few months already. Sometimes it's a little lonely, because Sanada has to work often, but I'm searching for a nice, simple job for a few days a week. I won't be bored then.'
'I hope you will find something,' answered Fuji before they joined the others in their conversation. They talked about their work, their lives and how they wanted their future lives to be. Everybody envied Yukimura in a way, except for Kaidoh, who liked his job as a cook and who wouldn't feel comfortable living in a fancy place like this.
When the food was brought, they all dug in and started eating. It was a simple meal, but it was enough. The others complained that Yukimura had to cook himself next time, only as a joke, but Yukimura promised he would cook them breakfast. The others cheered. They wanted to taste his cooking. Kaidoh promised to help him. It was hard to cook for so many people if you had never done so before.
Sanada arrived home, took some of the food as well before he joined the big group. He didn't know them very well, but it were Yukimura's friends and he didn't want to be rude. He enjoyed listening to the conversations between the other guys. When it got a little later he offered them a drink, which they all took. Fuji was surprised that Tezuka took a drink. He never drank alcohol at the club. But he was even more surprised Oishi took the drink. They didn't think Oishi was the type to drink alcohol at all. A little later they understood why Oishi never drank alcohol. He couldn't hold his liquor. After he drank two glasses he said he felt a little weird and within a few minutes he was deep asleep. The others laughed. They were used to the alcohol, since they often drank something at the club. Sanada often went for a drink with his colleagues, so he could handle it as well.
Since Oishi was snoring, they decided it was time for all of them to go to bed. Momoshiro and Kaidoh dragged Oishi to the bedroom and dropped him on the first futon they passed. Everyone else searched for a nice place as well. It was a little cramped, but there was enough space for all of them.
'Tezuka, if you want you can get a place in the living room,' offered Yukimura. 'We can put Oishi there as well.'
Tezuka shook his head. 'It's fine,' he said. 'We'll sleep here.' He didn't want to trouble Yukimura any further. He never slept in the same room as the others, not even at the same floor, so he wasn't sure how this would end, but he slept on the futon next to Kaidoh and he wouldn't be of much trouble.
They all searched for their bag and took their pyjamas out. Some were wearing just sweat pants or shorts and a t-shirt, while others had a nice warm pyjama. Momoshiro was wearing his boxers.
'Are you sleeping in that?' asked Kaidoh.
'I always sleep in my boxers!' answered the spiky-haired man.
'Baka, you knew we were going to sleep in the same room.'
'You don't like looking at my hot body?' asked Momoshiro.
'No,' answered Nioh. 'We want to see Fuji, but of course he is wearing long pants and a t-shirt. That way we still don't get to see anything. Maybe we should go to the pool next time and put Speedos in his bag.'
'I'm not that interesting to look at,' said Fuji. 'And that is exactly the reason why I'm wearing this. I have to sleep in the same room as you. I don't like to get molested in the middle of the night, thank you very much.'
'A shame,' said Nioh with a fake pout.
'I'm just glad you sleep on the other side of the room,' Fuji said. 'If you want to come here, you will wake some people for sure.' Fuji was more glad that Mizuki slept on the other side of the room, but he didn't say that out loud.
They all lay down on their futon. Tezuka had forbidden a pillow fight. They were too old for that already. So they just talked for a little longer, before they switched off the lights and went to sleep.
In the middle of the night Tezuka woke up, because he heard movements. It was dark and he couldn't see much, especially since he wasn't wearing his glasses. He didn't know who it was, but there was definitely someone walking through the room and not in the direction of the bathroom. Tezuka sat up, grabbed the leg of the person walking around and stopped him from whatever he was about to do.
'You scare the hell out of me,' sounded Nioh's voice.
'Go back to your own bed,' warned Tezuka. He was serious. Whatever Nioh was going to try, he wouldn't allow it.
'I just wanted to crawl into Fuji's futon,' whispered Nioh. 'Show him that nobody would wake up and that I could molest him if I wanted to.'
'Go back to bed,' said Tezuka again. 'I don't want such jokes. They give people wrong ideas and Fuji is fast asleep, so you should let him sleep.'
With that said he made sure Nioh went back. Only when the gray-haired man was lying on the futon again, Tezuka lay down as well. When he was sure Nioh went back to sleep, he turned around and tried to sleep again as well.
The next morning neither Nioh, nor Tezuka said a word about it. Everybody was making fun of Oishi and making jokes about his alcohol tolerance. Oishi was embarrassed to no end. He vowed he would never drink alcohol again, but the others said they would make sure he would.
Kaidoh was already gone, helping Yukimura with breakfast. The others dressed themselves and went to the living room.
Fuji walked into the kitchen. 'Smells good,' he said. 'Looks like you're a good cook, Yukimura. Or well, I hope you are, I haven't tried it yet.'
The blue-haired man let him try. 'It tastes good as well,' smiled Fuji. 'I look forward to having more. Soon they were all having their share of breakfast in the living room. Sanada had already left for work, but Yukimura had made him breakfast as well. He even made him a bento for lunch.
'You really are like a perfect housewife,' said Fuji. He wasn't teasing the other. It was more like a compliment. 'You take good care of him.'
Yukimura laughed. 'He says I can be a lot of trouble as well.'
'I believe that,' answered Tezuka. He had his share of trouble with Yukimura as well.
After breakfast they helped the blue-haired man with washing the dishes and they helped with putting away the futons. Then they had to leave again. Yukimura took them to the train station and they all said goodbye, promising they would visit again, telling Tezuka and Oishi to make sure they would be able to come again.
They all waved goodbye when the train left the station and the three hour trip home started. Within minutes most of them were asleep. Except for Tezuka. He was once again engrossed in his book. Fuji sat next to him this time. He peeked at the book and tried to find out what it was about. It was hard to read, but it sounded interesting.
'I'd like to borrow it from you when you're done reading,' said Fuji before he yawned. 'Mind if I use you as a pillow?'
Tezuka raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything when Fuji laid his head on his shoulder and fell asleep within minutes.
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Best line ever. Tezuka nailed it. Oh! And Tezuka, you're never too old for pillow fights.
P.S. Tacuma-san, do you know that Tezuka and Fuji's hands that are clamped together in the Nationals after his match with Niou are shaped like a heart. I totally fangirled for hours.
P.P.S Great chap! Still the same Tacuma-san I have grown to like. :)))
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I know XD Lol, we all fangirled over that moment anyways! XD
Lol, thanks!!
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