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.
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.”
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.
Mizuki and Fuji play head games with each other.
The slow smile that curved Shuusuke’s mouth would have sent any sane person running, very far and very fast. Just as well, probably, that Hajime had never made any strong claims to sanity when he was in pursuit of a goal he wanted.
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.”
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.”
Atobe and Fuji have a chat about possessiveness.
“If you objected I would expect it to be because you thought I was a threat,” Atobe said, elliptically. “And if you thought I was a threat, I would expect you to carve my heart out and never lose that smile while you did it.”
Some conversation, courtside, about what it means to be Seigaku’s pillar.
Kikumaru Eiji liked it when his team was relaxed. Which meant he didn’t like it much when scouts came sniffing around the school courts.
Yukimura apologizes to the teams his own injured, and picks up a challenge on the way.
Seiichi’s eyes narrowed. He had come here to render an apology, but he’d be damned before he stood still to be a source of entertainment for Fuji Shuusuke.
Fuji visits Rikkai, hoping Yukimura can explicate a few things for him.
“Fuji,” Seiichi sighed, running a hand through his hair. Still, he had been trying to wake Fuji up for years, now. Something he suspected Fuji had recalled, too.
A small snafu leads to some practice time between Rikkai and Seigaku, just before the end of Nationals.
Momo cast his erstwhile opponent a thoughtful glance. “You know, Marui-san,” he said, slowly, “all of you are acting really different, today.”
Marui cocked an eyebrow at him. “Of course we are,” he responded, easily, “Yukimura’s back.”
Side-story to the Challenge arc. Fuji finally plays a serious match against Tezuka.
Shuusuke was terrified.
All right, perhaps that was a bit strong, but it had been a very long time since he’d felt this kind of tension. Even longer since he’d had butterflies in his stomach and shaking hands over a tennis match.
The long awaited last match of Nationals.
Seiichi’s smile changed, undiluted pleasure added to the satisfaction. It was the last round of Nationals, and they were ready.
Ryouma catches up to his senpai, and takes advantage of his second time around with Tezuka as his captain. This time with, perhaps, a few more insights than last time.
As soon as Ryouma came within range of the crowd noise that enveloped the high school tennis courts he started praying that his captain had a lineup for the ranking matches that would make the day, in some way, less annoying.
Ryouma comes to terms rather abruptly with the reason he’s clinging to Tezuka.
At first, it had been a matter of chance, really.
Atobe is rather tired of Tezuka brooding, and decides it’s time for another conversation with Fuji to see if the problem is amenable to a swift kick.
He couldn’t believe Fuji had misread Kunimitsu that badly. No, wait, he could believe it; after all, it wasn’t as though he hadn’t known plenty of intelligent, talented individuals who where, nevertheless, gifted with the people skills of dried seaweed. It was just that he expected this kind of thing from Ryou, not from Fuji.
Pet Shop of Horrors crossover. While visiting the US, some of the tennis boys come across an unusual pet shop. This evolves, as such things do, into some strange situations for a few of them.
If anyplace could hold the interest of his senpai when they were determined to play tourist, he’d figured Chinatown would be it. Something was always happening.
Lucifer passes through Seigaku and Hatter spots Fuji.
When the Lord of Hell and what had to be his strongest supporter appearedat the courts, Kunimitsu took a prompt and firm hold of Fuji’s arm.
A Belial and Fuji moment.
Shuusuke took a precautionary step backwards. "Is there any particular reason I should ignore a friend’s warning in order to talk with you?"
Belial introduces the Fujis to the Mudous.
Notes: Contains consensual sibling incest.
Yuuta sighed, resigned, and then had to take a second look at the person who had hailed his brother. He didn’t think he’d ever seen anyone dressed quite that flamboyantly outside a festival. Or, possibly, a circus. He was busy enough looking at the top hat that it took him a few moments to notice that his brother had paused beside the strange person, and was now standing on Yuuta’s other side.
Between him and the strangers. Yuuta took a closer look.
Michael taunts Belial about winning and Lucifer gets involved.
"Hah!" Michael took his opportunity, as the teams filtered past each other on the way out of the stadium, to taunt Mad Hatter. "Told you we’d kick your asses."
Tezuka gets to high school and meets his rather unsettling new senpai.
At least there weren’t any supernatural beings hanging around this year.
Karupin has some issues with Ryouma’s new realm.
Echizen Ryoma had two loves in his life. (Actually, he had three, though he would never admit it, at least not until the said third love stopped playing so damned hard to get.) Anyone from the Seishun Senior High tennis club could tell you the first one: tennis. Any of them could also tell you the second: his cat. So no one said anything when Karupin started to tag along on some of their practice days.
Side-story to the Third Watch arc; follows from “Fly”, in Challenge. Fuji and Tezuka move from the court to the bedroom.
“I like your hands, you know,” Fuji remarked, head bent over the one in his possession.
Inspired by ep. 174, and the anime version of the Rain Scene. Just how might Fuji answer the demands Tezuka is making?
More than Tezuka’s tongue stroking against his own, that firm hold occupied Shuusuke’s mind and defined the world for him at that moment. It was so unmistakably Tezuka holding him. Powerful, demanding, overwhelming. He felt so light in Tezuka’s grasp, as if Tezuka might breathe him in.
The start of the new year gives Fuji some new problems to deal with. Yamato-buchou is his mildly evil self.
Shuusuke regarded the lineups for the first ranking matches of the year as though the board might bite him.
Tezuka watches his newest warrior and wonders about him.
Kaga would be a good place to see Echizen’s real mettle. Kunimitsu’s mouth tightened.
Echizen’s form was beautiful. Deadly.
And wrong.
Fuji decides to try his hand against Echizen. It provokes a lot of thought.
Shuusuke felt a touch of excitement flicker along his nerves as they moved out into the open, feet scuffing up tiny puffs of dust to mark where they set themselves. Echizen was good. Not good enough to make Shuusuke lose, but perhaps…
Yuuta plays some with Fuji and they wind up discussing Mizuki.
And Mizuki-san looked at him differently, too, which Yuuta wasn’t going to say because he didn’t know how to describe the difference. At least not so that Aniki wouldn’t have a heart attack.
Mizuki comes to see Yuuta play; so does Fuji; a little silent competition ensues.
He’d never really taught Yuuta anything about managing people; he’d never had to.
Post-canon. Yukimura has recovered and Fuji has left tennis. They cross paths over art and weave a new acquaintance.
"What are you thinking?"
It was not the kind of question Seiichi expected to hear out of the blue, but he recognized this voice and so it surprised him less. "Fuji."
A rewrite of the end of Regionals and the month until Nationals. Echizen gets obsessed, Rikkai is still on edge, Tachibana is brooding, Momo is insightful, Kirihara retrains, Atobe is annoyed, Fuji gets down to business, An is delighted, Yukimura is not particularly happy, Tezuka is plotting, and everyone is coming to town.
When the match with Sanada reached five games all, Ryouma knew he was in trouble. It was a new feeling. When he played his dad, he was always in trouble, so the knowledge was meaningless and he’d learned to ignore it. When he’d played Tezuka he’d barely had time to understand that he really was in trouble, and notice what it felt like, before the game was over. After all, it wasn’t like a lower score meant he was losing! He’d come from behind plenty of times and won anyway.
But he could feel his pace falling, now.
Semi-finals. Atobe takes Sanada by surprise, Zaizen’s senpai help him start to think more flexibly and Echizen finishes the job, and Shiraishi pushes Fuji all the way.
