Title: The Affair
Genre: Angst, Romance (of a skewed sort)
Beta: pinksnow
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: Primarily a ToFu. Surprise side pairings
Rating: T
Disclaimers: Still don't own PoT last time I checked.
Summary: They weren't having an affair. Or so Atobe insisted.

Author's Notes: The first in a series of fics/ficlets that came into being because of a writing challenge wherein people give me a pairing, and I write said pairing's first kiss for them. This one is written for Sugar-chan! Your DP request is coming soon!

First Kiss Series: THE AFFAIR

"We really have to stop meeting like this."

Atobe Keigo gave the smiling man sitting across him a long, considering look. His smile was subdued, the heir to the Atobe fortune noted. And that smile didn't quite match the quiet sorrow lurking just below the surface of those beautiful blue eyes. "You make this sound like some sordid affair, Fuji."

"Isn't it?" came the arch reply.

"Hardly," the answer was firm and quick in coming. "Us having tea together every once in a while can scarcely be considered a sordid affair. The places we've met in was always beyond reproach - had anybody we know seen us, it would have been perfectly plausible to say that we met each other quite by chance and ended up having tea together! We haven't done anything to--"

"You're rationalizing, Keigo." Seigaku's former tennis tensai quietly but resolutely interjected, effectively cutting off the remainder of that rather lengthy justification.

Atobe pinned Fuji with a sharp glare and a raised eyebrow, wordlessly yet very effectively conveying his displeasure at being so rudely interrupted. Nonetheless, he opted to maintain his silence as he reached for the delicate porcelain teacup which held his Lychee black tea.

Fuji heaved a deep sigh as he cradled his own teacup in his hands, seeming to coax it to impart some warmth into his hands. "All I'm saying is that…this, whatever this is, feels wrong." Fuji raised wounded eyes and stared straight at Atobe, "Did you even tell him where you were going today and whom you were meeting?"

The former "Ice Emperor" of Hyoutei once again proved that he deserved the title in more ways than one when his eyes narrowed into dangerous slits and he looked down his nose at his companion before gritting out, "You WILL leave him out of this."

A wry smile found its way to Fuji's lips as he gently shook his head. "So, it's to be like that, ne? I had to lie to mine, you know. I told him that I was just going to the park to see if there's anything there worth taking a photograph of… it's for the upcoming photo exhibit. And he believed me…"

… An awkward laugh that did nothing to hide the raw pain such an admission cost…

"He believed me and it didn't even occur to him to wonder why I didn't take my camera with me."

"He's just that kind of person. He loves you. He probably thought you wanted some time alone but you were just too afraid to hurt his feelings to tell him straight out." Atobe softly said.

"And you would know, wouldn't you?" This time, it was Fuji's turn to raise a questioning brow at his companion, the smile on his lips turning subtly mocking.

"That's enough, Fuji." Atobe pushed out a little too forcefully.

"Tell me, Keigo," Fuji went on, his voice taunting, "…if this isn't an affair, why is it fraught with so many lies? Why do we have to hide the fact that we are here together at this time? Why does this have to hurt so many people, ourselves included?"

Instead of answering, Atobe pulled out his phone and punched in a few numbers. "Bring the car back around to the café. We're done here."

Atobe finished settling the bill just as his sleek, black Mercedes-Benz S600 Pullman limousine pulled up in front of the café. He firmly pulled Fuji by the wrist and practically dragged him to the waiting car.

"Just drive around the city. I don't care where we go," the haughty Atobe heir instructed his driver before pulling up the divider that would give him and his 'guest' some privacy.

"Now then," Atobe started in a steely voice, as he cradled Fuji's cheek in his hand, making sure that the golden brown haired tennis tensai was looking at him, "…tell me again why you think we are having an affair."

Fuji met the challenge in Atobe's gaze with a determined look of his own. "Does he still call you 'Atobe', Keigo? After all this time, has he still never called you by your first name? I call you Keigo all the time. Does that mean--"

"Damn you, Fuji!" Atobe practically spat out with venom, as he withdrew his hand and turned away from the blue eyes that were taunting him.

"Hit a sensitive nerve, did I? But you shouldn't take that personally. About him calling you by your last name, I mean. He and I were together for four years and he never saw it fit to call me Syuusuke." This declaration by Fuji was followed by a thoughtful silence which was broken by a whispered, "Of course there was that one time. He called me by my first name… when he apologized to me. 'I'm so sorry, Syuusuke', he said… that time when he left me… when you stole him from me…"

Atobe looked stricken. How did this conversation come to this?

"I was an arrogant bastard…"

" 'Was'?!" Fuji's tinkling laughter did not sound as melodious as it should. "You still are, last time I checked."

"I wanted you, but you wouldn't have me. I couldn't understand it. I know you wanted me too, even if it was just a bit. And then I found my answer… it was him." Despite the damage it was doing to his dignity, Atobe plodded on.

"What Ore-sama wants, Ore-sama gets," Atobe recited in a self-mocking tone. "If I couldn't have you, then he couldn't either. And so I took him from you."

"But then, if you'd remember, I got revenge from you the only way I knew how back then. I took someone from you too… 'You don't know what you've got till it's gone'… You were so fixed on me, you never even realized how much he meant to you, and how much more he could have come to mean to you – until I took him from you. That made us even, ne?"

"Only you, Fuji Syuusuke, could have been sharp enough to pick up on something like that."

"And then things got really complicated. Because eventually, you fell in love with him for real… And I fell in love with mine."

"But after all that… After all this time… I still want you, Fuji." Atobe resignedly whispered.

Another wry smile found its way to Fuji's lips. "And that part of me that was able to deny you and resist you back then seems to have upped and disappeared. You're still an arrogant bastard, Keigo. And I know I should hate you more than any other person in the world has a right to - Heaven knows you've given me more than enough reason to. But despite that, I seem to find myself wanting you anyhow."

"If you're going to feel guilty about having an 'affair' with me, I might as well give you a concrete reason for it." Atobe declared as he gathered the man beside him into his arms.

The kiss started out tentative, at best. Fuji had the 'deer-in-the-headlights' look as Atobe closed the distance between them and touched Fuji's lips with his, but Atobe was gentle and soft… and when he started gently nibbling on Fuji's lower lip, the former tennis prodigy was lost. He closed his eyes and gave himself up to the sensations assaulting him.

Fuji wrapped his arms around Atobe's neck, one of his hands bunching the shirt on Atobe's back and the other, tangling in the immaculate silvery-gray hair. Atobe's kiss was steadily growing more demanding and Fuji slanted his head and opened his mouth to give Atobe the access he'd been wanting. Fuji reveled in the flavor that is Atobe's kiss. He tasted like… like the Lychee black tea he had earlier… and… and…

Fuji abruptly pulled away from the kiss and rested his forehead against Atobe's chest, breathing hard. "Damn you, Keigo," he whispered on a choked sob.

Atobe imagined that Fuji would be affected by their kiss… but not like this. Gently forceful, Atobe's fingers lifted Fuji's chin and compelled those beautiful blue eyes to meet the silent question in his.

Fuji gave him a smile that was teary and heart-breaking and guilty and accusing all at once. "My first kiss with you and you tasted like Lychee tea… and Tezuka."

Atobe didn't know what to say to that… which is why he was all the more thankful that Fuji's phone rang at that exact same moment. Of course, he felt differently as soon as Fuji answered the phone and Atobe realized who exactly it was that was calling.

"Hello? Yes… I was just on my way back home, Jiroh… Ok, I'll see you in a bit… I know… I love you, too."

owari

La Fuego

09/15/2007