lovefujitez

Title: Hemlock
Day/Theme: September 4: the hidden secret button inside your head.
Series: Prince of Tennis
Character/Pairing: Tezuka/Fuji.
Disclaimer: Konomi owns PoT characters, I just write about them.
Rating: PG/ Humor
Word Count: 754 words.

A/N: A drabble series continued from: Goosebumps

Misstep: Tezuka's special Inui drink

Tezuka watched his tennis players go about their daily routine in practice, the younger members working on their swings and the senior players engrossed in their match against one another. He just finished the 100 laps he promised his blue-eyed, now he describes in his mind, devil of a boyfriend and he was parched. He craved for cold refreshment. A bottle of cold water would be perfect. His next task, however, involves drinking something else.

He stood at his usual spot on the sideline, observing the group of senior players at the other side of the court hovering over Inui's table of bubbling juice. The new, experimental refreshment for members of the club found to be falling short of their expected best. Tezuka managed to exempt himself from drinking the scary mixture, being tennis captain has its advantages. Today, however, his exempt status yields no favor in his behalf.

He stalwartly hid his misgivings. He has witnessed the effects of Inui's potent creations on his team members and at one time accidentally imbibed the paralyzing drink himself, leaving to this date a vivid recollection of the horrid taste and its effect. He wondered if hemlock would be a preferred choice of drink considering the lethal ingredients of Inui's mix would result to a similar aftermath.

“Tezuka,” the sweet calling of his name pulled him from his silent musing, “thirsty?”

The grin from the querying player, in Tezuka's mind, was pure evil. “Parched,” he replied bravely as beads of sweat profusely rolled down from his forehead. Fuji handed him a towel to wipe his face, and Tezuka nodded his thanks.

“Inui's new drink is quite refreshing,” Fuji noted with his ever so sweet smile.

Tezuka finished wiping away the sweat from his face and glared at his smiling teammate. “Ah,” the captain replied dryly. If truth be told, Tezuka meant to chide Fuji for purely enjoying every minute of his compliance. He toyed over the notion of retaliation too, but he was just not one to linger over such thinking.

His thought process was literally halting when the alluring, sweet smiling prodigy handed him a drinking bottle filled with the mysteriously scary drink. Tezuka saw an image of his limp body sprawled on the court. Deep inside, he wondered if his week old boyfriend already planned his funeral. Suddenly, the deep blue eyes gazed at him, openly impressing upon him a sense of utmost surprise. Everyone knew of the intensity emanating from those blue eyes, but the meaning, more often misunderstood.

When Fuji snaps his eyes open everyone around him backs away. Somehow taken as his signature warning, something tantamount to him saying, “Oh no, you didn't…”

Tezuka, however, saw the depths of those slits of blue and the genuine emotions Fuji willingly exposed to him. A quirk of a smile he showed in response before accepting the offered drink. All eyes in the court centered on him as he drank Inui's mix. A sense of perturbation abound when all the players held their breaths. They waited for their captain's reaction to the handed refreshment while Fuji stood before him smiling.

Nothing happened to Tezuka's surprise. The drink was indeed refreshing and tasted more like cold apple juice. He gazed at Fuji bewildered. Fuji, however, just smiled at him.

“Goldenly delicious,” he whispered as he walked past him, “just like Kunimitsu,” Fuji continued before ambling towards the group of nervous-looking seniors at the opposite side of the court.

Tezuka eyed the entire court of idly-standing players, “Practice is not over,” he announced, “50 laps for everyone just standing around!” Shouts of appeal echoed from the court.

“Or try Inui's drink?” the honey-haired suggested with a smile.

A group of tennis players dashed to the table where cups of the golden mix were lined up in rows. Inui stood next to the table, his pencil and data-book on hand, to scribble his notes on the effects of his new drink. Gasps and frantic screams echoed when the daring group of players began to turn green, and one by one dropped on the hard court. Immediately, the rest of the tennis team dashed out to run the ordered laps.

Tezuka closed his eyes, cringed his forehead in frustration. He wondered who is more evil, Inui or Fuji. Somehow the warning lights blinking in his head told him, he simply could not allow himself to be careless.

Look into my eyes and hear what I'm not saying,

for my eyes speak louder than my voice ever will....

~Author Unknown~

Followed by this misstep: Ineffable

for :