Catch My Fall

Chapter 12: You give me a heart attack. I will give you more than that.

For a period of time so fleeting it took more time to blink, Tezuka felt a sense of relief until it registered that Yukimura wouldn't sound so grave if Kirihara was who Fuji thought he was.

"Are you sure?" Tezuka asked, wishing that he didn't hear just that. His brain was muddled, and nothing was making any sense.

"Tezuka-san, I tried to explain to Fuji that I had my doubts. This confirms my suspicions."

Tezuka sighed. If this Kirihara person wasn't the one, then who could it be? Fuji never even hinted about anyone else that had ever given him problems. "Let me wake-"

"No!" Yukimura interrupted him. "Please, don't tell him yet. I don't know if you know Fuji as well as I do, but he's very stubborn. He'd want to leave the second he finds out to see the remains with his own eyes. For such a genius, he can be incredibly stupid. Whomever this person is, they're not afraid of maiming or killing those in their way. You need to take care of Fuji for me. Keep him up there. I still need to get things ready for your return."

Even though it unsettled him a little, he found himself agreeing. "I won't say anything for now, but you will tell him as soon as we come home."

"Acceptable. I will send Kabaji to retrieve you in six days. I'll meet you at your flat when you arrive. Tezuka-san, Fuji has always been precious to me. Good-bye,"Yukimura said, warning in his tone, before hanging up.

Not knowing what to do, Tezuka simply placed the phone back on the floor and watched as Fuji slept undisturbed on his chest. He slipped his fingers through Fuji's hair and silently wondered if he had done the right thing when he agreed not to say anything.

However, when he imagined Fuji's reaction to the potential news, he saw that he had precious little choice. If there were an iota of a chance that the remains did not belong to Kirihara, Fuji would demand to leave the cabin and go back to make sure of everything himself. That, possibly, could be very dangerous for both of them. This stalker wasn't exactly going after Fuji directly, only anyone that dared to try and steal him from whomever thought they had claim.

Only the warm reassurance of Fuji's body on his allowed him to finally fall back asleep.

In that surreal moment between sleep and wakefulness, Tezuka could sense his blanket shifting away from him. Frowning, but still refusing to open his eyes and acknowledge the day, Tezuka pulled his blanket back down onto him, holding it tight to his chest. It wasn't long before a little thought nagged at him. Blankets, at least proper ones, didn't move of their own volition, weren't Fuji-shaped, and none that he could ever recall ever licked anyone, especially over very sensitive areas of one's chest. Blearily, he opened his eyes and saw Fuji smiling at him.

"One day in a luxurious cabin, and you've already gotten lazy," Fuji teased as he dangled a watch in front of him. He managed to make out that it was already past eleven. They'd slept in quite late indeed, but he felt as if he hadn't slept at all.

Sighing, Tezuka closed his eyes again. He couldn't see it, but he could feel the warmth of Fuji's breath against his skin, tickling him. "Fuji."

Just because Fuji was more awake than he was, Tezuka learned, didn't mean that Fuji had any intention of moving off of him. He simply shifted around until he found a more comfortable position. It just so happened that the position, in which Fuji found the most comfort, was between his legs.

He tried to not open his eyes when he felt teeth and tongue mark a path from his chest to his collarbone up his throat, on his ear, before diverting to his lips. He tried to pull away not even wanting to think about how bad his morning breath must be, but Fuji, it seemed, didn't care about it in the least.

Tezuka could feel the heat of Fuji's weight leave his skin, and he felt bereft almost immediately. It was then that he opened his eyes, and found Fuji, hovering over him, staring at him with an expression he would describe close to feral. He pulled Fuji back down on him, almost unable to contain a sigh of pleasure as their cocks rubbed together as their skin met.

As incredible as Tezuka found it, there were things he wanted more than a cup of coffee and a toothbrush when he first woke up in the morning. One of which had to be the way Fuji's hands held the back of his thighs, pressing inside of him so deeply, drowning out everything else around them.

Clenching his eyes shut, Tezuka wrapped his legs around Fuji as much as he could, begging without words for him to move. Fuji moved his hands away from his legs, and curled their fingers together, pressing the backs of his hands against the couch.

He met each thrust with his own, demanding more until Fuji brought one hand teasingly against his skin, barely tickling him until he arched into the touch. Kissing him once on his temple, Fuji then wrapped his hand around his cock, hard and throbbing with need, stroking him firmly. Tezuka didn't need to open his eyes to know Fuji was smiling. He could feel the lips pressed against his skin. He could feel the way they moved, whispering words against his throat, over and over until he could make each of them out. He held the hand that remained in his more tightly and came.

Fuji sprawled on top of him once more, unmindful of the stickiness between them. Tezuka tried to not feel guilty that Fuji seemed so happy, and he was, for all intent and purposes, lying to him about something extremely important.

"Tezuka?" Fuji asked, concern in his voice unmasked as he got to his feet.

Averting his eyes, Tezuka looked at messy pile of their clothes on the floor. "It's nothing."

He doubted Fuji had believed him at all, but was relieved all the same when he didn't press the conversation any further. Instead, he let Fuji lead him toward the bathroom and tried to put his doubts out of his mind.

No matter how hard he tried, however, he couldn't stop thinking about it, questioning his decision, and replaying all the conversations in his head searching for some sort of clue.

Fuji was aware that something was bothering him, but had yet do bring it up. A small part of his mind was raising a red flag at that, but he was too focused on trying not to think about it to deal with it properly.

It was apparent after the first few times his mind wandered that Fuji had put his full effort into distracting him as well. When Fuji wasn't smirking at him as he led him to one of the places Atobe had already deemed worthy of an act of indiscretion, he was making him enjoy all the outdoor activities he hadn't had much chance to indulge in since he moved out of his father's house. They hiked, fished, canoed, and even had a picnic breakfast while watching the sunrise one of the mornings.

The night before they were due to leave, Tezuka was sure that if given the chance, he would have opted to never leave there. It was quiet, safe, and the time spent in Fuji's presence wasn't a burden at all. He knew, however, that it was not a possibility. They both had responsibilities beyond themselves, and he wouldn't be him if he didn't treat each of those duties seriously.

Instead, Tezuka absently followed Fuji around for the rest of the day, hardly allowing him to be outside of his presence. It wasn't until Fuji jokingly asked if he was trying to ensure proper bathroom hygiene that he realised what he was doing.

Slightly embarrassed, Tezuka turned and booked a hasty retreat to the kitchen and deliberately focused on the divine art of tea making.

"Tezuka?" Fuji began hesitantly. He could hear all of the unasked questioned in just they way his name was said.

He burrowed further under the sheets, forehead pressed against Fuji shoulders, and sighed. "Yes?"

"Perhaps we can come back again next year. You seem to enjoy it here." Fuji played with his hand, pinching the bone of his knuckles as he spoke.

Tezuka kissed Fuji's back absently before nodding. "It is relaxing."

In that moment, he was so close to just telling Fuji everything, about Kirihara, Yukimura's suspicions, his own doubts and apologies, but he couldn't make the words come out. He'd promised Yukimura, and he couldn't go back on it.

Fuji turned in his arms, facing him. "You can tell me anything."

Letting his eyes fall shut, Tezuka nodded. "I know. I want nothing more."


The ride back to the city was filled with a tense quiet he wasn't sure how to fix.
"Fuji—" he began, before he was cut off by the phone. He answered it, not surprised to hear Yukimura on the other end. They agreed to meet at his flat in an hour for a long-overdue discussion.

Fuji looked at him inquiringly, only having heard part of the phone call, and his end mainly consisted on restating the affirmative over and over.

"Yukimura plans to visit us today for a talk," he answered, at least half-honestly.

Not looking at all surprised, Fuji smiled and replied, "That's just like Yukimura."

Immediately, Tezuka could sense that that particular sentence referred to more than one thing. He was grateful for it and he knew by the expression on Fuji's face that he had figured out the source of his distraction during the vacation in the woods. The rest of the ride was considerably more relaxed, even if the silence remained.

No sooner did he step out of the car and on to the sidewalk, something hit him. He looked down to see half of his shirt drenched in what looked like strawberry milkshake, a rotten one, by the smell of it. Sighing, he slowly trudged up the stairs, Fuji following with a slight smirk on his face.

"You go take a shower to wash that off, and I'll unpack our things in the bedroom," Fuji said lightly, watching as he tried not to spill any of the liquid onto the floor as he walked.

Tezuka gingerly made his way down the hallway. "Thank you, Fuji."

Ten minutes later, and Tezuka still couldn't completely banish the sickly sweet smell of the milkshake. However, he couldn't stay in the shower any longer since Yukimura would be arriving at any minute.

He was grateful to see a pile of clean clothes waiting for him on the counter as he exited the bathing area. It saved him from walking in naught but a towel across the hallway.

As soon as he dressed, he headed into the bedroom, surprised not to see Fuji there, but still packed suitcases in his place.

"Fuji?" he called out, nerves prickling at him when there was no response. He left the bedroom, glancing everywhere, but Fuji wasn't there anywhere. Not in any of the rooms, kitchen, living room, nowhere at all. The door was slightly ajar, and he raced over to look outside, but again, nothing. He picked up the phone, dialing Yukimura's phone, and only received the answering service. After leaving a short message, he went back to the bedroom, and saw something on the floor.

On closer inspection, it was small piece of crumpled up paper and photograph. His eyes ran frantically over the note twice, not quite believing what he'd read. He placed the note under the photograph and almost froze. Dropping it in shock, Tezuka grabbed his jacket and headed off to the club.