Heat Prostration
An alternative encounter between Tatsuya and Novem.
In the moment Tatsuya breathed out, shoulders falling, hands opening, Novem closed both palms delicately around Tatsuya’s face.
An alternative encounter between Tatsuya and Novem.
In the moment Tatsuya breathed out, shoulders falling, hands opening, Novem closed both palms delicately around Tatsuya’s face.
In the National Library.
Ed was shocked. Roy never got like this in public. And now here they were in the National Library.
Ed finds things out about Roy’s plans, Roy gets a surprise.
Edward’s voice was low and clear. “We’re off script. You know that. Forget the excuses.” He unfolded himself to kneel upright, took Roy’s face between his hands, kissed him.
Roy starts to notice Ed growing up.
While he worked, Edward’s fire and flamboyance were channeled, honed to an edge that would shame a razor. When they had occasion to debate interpretations, which happened frequently, Edward did so with a ferocity and speed and focused force that delighted Roy, sometimes even provoked him to open laughter.
Ed talks to Hughes about his changing relationship with Roy.
When Hughes arrived at their house, mid-morning, with a gleam in his eye, Ed was positive he’d been targeted for something.
Roy tries to deal with his changing relationship with Ed.
His awareness of Edward’s physical presence was really getting just a bit disconcerting.
Roy and Ed finally admit how close they’ve gotten.
Roy’s hands came up to settle lightly on his back. “Edward, do you know what you’re offering?”
That induced Ed to look up with a glare. “Oh, tea and cookies, of course, what else could I possibly mean?” he snapped.
How Roy and Ed deal with the way Ever ended.
Ed woke up wondering why his pillow was such a strange shape.
How Roy and Ed deal with the way Ever ended.
On the one hand, the door was merely closed, not locked, and Ed had no intention of sharing this part of his life with anyone else, thank you.
On the other hand… well at the moment the other hand was Roy’s, and it was tracing patterns up his back in a very tempting manner.
How Roy and Ed deal with the way Ever ended.
Ed supposed there was some reason for the concern. Ed spent at least half his time at Roy’s house instead of his own. His conversation had become peppered with Roy’s comments even in the man’s absence. And now Al was wondering whether his big brother was about to get his heart broken for him. Al thought that way.
A pleasant end to a trying day.
“Next time Hawkeye asks me to go with you for a routine inspection because she’s busy and you know what he’s like, Edward-kun, remind me of this,” he grumbled.
Roy considers some of the difficulties of his relationship with Ed.
He knew that it was not a good idea to relax, and still couldn’t seem to stop himself.
Ed and Roy go for a walk in the rain… at least that was Ed’s intention.
“I actually like rain, you know,” Roy answered, tone reminiscent. “I used to go out in it all the time when I was little. Especially storms like this. Even when I started specializing, I still liked walking in it. It wasn’t until later that it became,” he paused a moment before finishing, “inadvisable.”
Ed gets home after a rather rough trip.
Ed’s fingers were too cold and stiff to fumble around with his keys, so he knocked instead. When Roy opened the door, Ed glared at him.
“I hate being cold, I hate giving reports to stupid Generals, and I hate sleeping on train seats,” he declared, stepping in out of the biting chill.
When it comes down to action everyone has to find a way to handle the stress.
“If you die doing this, the way you think you’re going to,” Ed growled, lifting Roy’s chin until they were eye to eye, “I swear I’ll bind your soul to your damn desk, and you’ll spend the rest of eternity buried in paperwork.”
Upon meeting again in the hospital, after Seigaku plays Rikkai, Tachibana decides Fuji could use a friend outside of tennis.
He’d been told before, most notably by his little sister, that he worried too much. But he couldn’t shake off a feeling of responsibility for this injury.
Mizuki seduces Yuuta, and possibly vice versa.
It wasn’t that Yuuta didn’t know what kind of person Mizuki Hajime was. He knew perfectly well.
Takes place in Current Tenipuri Year. Ohtori reflects on the pair he’s found himself a part of.
Choutarou had been raised to show courtesy; Otou-sama always said it was one of the best ways to disarm an opponent. So he was polite to his peers and his seniors, both, and lent a hand wherever one seemed needed, and devoted every bit of his strength to working his way up the ranks.
Fuji, slowly, learns how to be cared for; fortunately, Tachibana is patient.
“What?” his friend asked. “It’s obvious that you never let your temper go unless someone provokes you intolerably. You certainly never lose it on your own behalf.”
Snippets of how Ohtori and Shishido keep company while they’re apart, during Ohtori’s third year of junior high and Shishido’s first year of high school.
“I will be so glad when it’s next year,” he commented to the ceiling, knowing Choutarou would have looked up at the rustle when he fell back. “I mean, singles is fun, and all, but it’s just not the same.”
In the winter of Ohtori’s third year of junior high and Shishido’s first year of high school. Shishido reflects on his partner, and their bond as a doubles pair.
The first time Ryou found himself admiring his partner’s body, he chalked it up to hormones and went on from there.
Tachibana and Fuji ease into intimacy.
A month into his second year of high school Kippei was very pleased with the world. The fact that he was currently surrounded by spiky, vicious looking plants didn’t change that in the slightest.
Ohtori and Shishido finally come to terms with their attraction, and their partnership.
“All right, Choutarou, give. What’s got you so wound up, lately?” Shishido-san didn’t look up from zipping his bag, but his tone was not casual.
A little Momoshiro introspective about how he manages to be friends with Ryouma.
Despite his startlement, Momo could hold back a delighted grin. Lately, Ryouma had been descending to physical retaliation, in their teasing; it was almost as good as having another little brother.
Ryouma encounters someone who jars his view of what tennis is, and has a few revelations in the aftermath, some less comfortable than others.
Momo remembered going from being a bit worried about Akutsu’s dismissive contempt to being a little alarmed at his absolute, devouring, manic focus on Ryouma, once the game heated up. At no point had Momo really been surprised, though. Even then, he’d taken it pretty much for granted that Echizen could hold any fire barehanded, on the court.
The day after the events of “Twist”, Ryouma tries to sort out his thoughts.
Ryouma snorted a laugh. If he ever admitted to Momo that his protective streak made Ryouma feel better, he’d be doomed. Probably for life. Momo would never again believe Ryouma was serious when he grumbled or swatted Momo away.
The aftermath of Fuji’s encounter with Mizuki, and explanations for Tachibana.
Kippei smiled down at him when Shuusuke raised his head to give him an inquiring look. “All the people you’re most drawn to are ones you can’t control.”
A typical day in the life of Ryouma and Momo, with a few extra revelations on Momo’s part. Karupin gets in on the action.
That furball was the only living creature he had ever seen Ryouma look at with open tenderness, and Momo had a good idea of who would lose if it came to a choice between the cat and himself.
The Clue Trout descends upon Ryouma.
“You should have someone you can actually trust, every now and then, that’s all,” Momo said. His mouth tugged up at one corner. “Someone who can talk, instead of meow.”
Tezuka and Atobe meet while out fishing, in the Spring of their third year of high school. Conversation, verbal jousting, poetry, philosophy, angst, dramatics and humor ensue.
Keigo took a few deep breaths; he would not, he told himself strenuously, scream with frustration. No matter how cathartic it might be just now. He had an image to maintain, even if Tezuka didn’t usually believe it.
Tezuka and Atobe meet while out fishing, in the Spring of their third year of high school. Conversation, verbal jousting, poetry, philosophy, angst, dramatics and humor ensue.
Kunimitsu considered his companion as he sorted through his hooks. Atobe was a showman, even when he was relaxing. If he was showing exhaustion, he probably wanted to be asked about it.
Tezuka and Atobe meet while out fishing, in the Spring of their third year of high school. Conversation, verbal jousting, poetry, philosophy, angst, dramatics and humor ensue.
Keigo opened his eyes. He was becoming increasingly fluent in Tezuka-speak, which was a very tonal language. That particular tone was more terse than he would have thought the comment warranted.
Tezuka and Atobe meet while out fishing, in the Spring of their third year of high school. Conversation, verbal jousting, poetry, philosophy, angst, dramatics and humor ensue.
“Why haven’t you ever argued philosophy with me before, Tezuka? You’ve been holding back on me.”
Hiyoshi’s perspective on a “chance” encounter between Hyoutei and Seigaku, and especially their captains.
The first anyone really knew of something going on was at the end of practice a few days later when Atobe answered his cell phone and suddenly had the gleam in his eye that meant someone was going to regret his existence very soon.
Atobe watches Tezuka, and reflects.
Keigo didn’t have a great many examples to work from, yet, but he had come to the conclusion that Tezuka Kunimitsu never relaxed completely, even in sleep.
Niou enters junior high and encounters a wonderful new game.
Niou Masaharu liked seeing people disconcerted. The expression itself amused him, and the knowledge that he had been the one to put it on somebody’s face gave him a nice, warm glow of accomplishment.
Niou and Yagyuu become a doubles pair, and the game continues.
Masaharu opened his mouth to ask a pointed question about why it was Yukimura making all these decisions and announcing them, and not the captain standing, silent and uncomfortable, behind the Trinity. He closed it again, with a smooth look, at Sanada’s burning glare.
Stress in school gives Niou the break in the game he’s been looking for.
Yagyuu was eyeing him like a tiger trying to decide whether some sharp-clawed creature would be more trouble than lunch was worth. Masaharu gave him a brilliant, wolverine’s smile, and he snorted.
Niou and Yagyuu settle into their partnership.
“You do realize,” Masaharu murmured, “that you can be polite while still smashing them into jelly.”
Niou coaxes Yagyuu into more intimacy; or perhaps it’s the other way around.
He reached out and, delicately, removed Yagyuu’s glasses. A signal, a symbol, a talisman, but more than anything else an intense desire to see Yagyuu Hiroshi’s eyes.
Niou has an idea for a trick.
Yagyuu moved forward, fingers trailing ever so lightly over Masaharu’s wrist in passing. Masaharu suppressed his reaction, sternly, but couldn’t hold back a grin. Who would have thought that Yagyuu would be an incorrigible tease?
Disaster strikes for the whole team.
After such a golden autumn, no one expected what happened in the heart of winter.
Takes place during Chapter Seven. Sanada finds an opponent who can help him improve his game, and, perhaps, offer some much needed distraction from his captain’s illness. Yanagi notes, in this, the possible start of a dangerous trend.
Genichirou never could decide whether he preferred Seiichi’s manner, who invariably drew whatever Genichirou was thinking out of him, or Renji’s, who rarely asked since he could usually be assumed to know already.
The team starts to recover, and Niou and Yagyuu find another kind of comfort.
It stretched him to the edge of pain, but never quite over. It was, perfectly, everything he desired of his partner, every reason he pressed Yagyuu to let himself go, the extremity of sensation that could have been destruction but, to him, was not.
For Regionals, the team pulls out all the stops.
Masaharu didn’t know about the others, but he’d had to catch Yukimura from falling more than once, while spotting for his “light” practices, and had to carry him back inside twice. He’d watched the frustration his captain could keep out of his voice but couldn’t keep out of his eyes, and shuddered to think what it must be like.
The team brings the results to their captain.
“Is it over, do you think?” Yagyuu asked, at last, barely whispering in the silence. He didn’t protest when Masaharu twined a hand into his hair, drawing his head down to Masaharu’s shoulder.
During Chapter Ten Yanagi deals with Sanada guilting.
It had been a split-second decision, almost an impulse, really, except for the calculation behind it.
Immediately after Chapter Ten, Sanada (and, to a lesser extent, Yanagi) explains himself to Yukimura.
“You take too much on your own shoulders so often,” Renji sighed. “That was exactly what got you into this situation in the first place.”
Yukimura is finally convinced that he is fully recovered, and is beyond pleased over it.
Seiichi stepped away, and then spun to face them. “It’s all here,” he said, and Genichirou’s throat closed at the wonder in his voice, “I’m all here, still. Again.”
Immediately after “The Continuation of War”, Yanagi and Inui finally get around to talking about how they parted.
He had read descriptions of how it felt to have a dislocated joint realigned, and, from what he recalled, it sounded remarkably like what he had felt this afternoon: a sharp pain accompanied by a hard wrench and a sudden feeling of rightness.