Part 7

Bored. Kamio rolled over on his bed. He'd done as much studying as he could stand and sitting in his room was driving him nuts. He wanted to go OUT and play some tennis, damnit, but Shinji was away for the weekend, on some trip with his family.

Finally, at a loss for what else to do, he got to his feet and threw on a jacket, heading out. He knew Kirihara's address, and while the other boy wasn't answering his phone, he was hoping he was at home, at least. Kirihara wouldn't mind if he just knocked on his door and invited him out, would he?

If he did mind, at least it would be more interesting than staying at home.

He jogged past the court they had played at and around the corner, finally locating the house. Without hesitating, for fear he'd change his mind, he jogged up to the door and knocked.

There was no immediate answer, but somewhere inside the house Kamio could hear voices. Raised voices, he realized a moment later as there was a feminine shriek of rage and the sound of something breaking.

Just when he was starting to wonder if anyone was going to answer at all, there were heavy footsteps in the hallway and the door opened to reveal a weary-looking man in his fifties. "Yes?" he asked, peering quizzically at Kamio.

Kamio wasn't REALLY surprised by the sounds of fighting, but he did feel pretty bad about showing up right then. "Uh," he said nervously, looking up at the man. So this was Akaya's deadbeat, gambling father who lost it all. "Is Akaya-kun home? I'm his friend from school, Kamio Akira..."

"Yes, he's here," the elder Kirihara said, stepping back to let Kamio enter. He gave a slightly nervous look over his shoulder, and added, "He's in his room, I'll show you the way. He may not come out, though."

He waited for Kamio to take off his shoes and step into one of the guest slippers, then led the way further into what was clearly a fairly small apartment. The moment Kamio had entered he'd been able to hear the pounding sound of a base beat from somewhere inside, only barely muffled by the walls. Akaya's father led him down a short hall, then pointed at a closed door that was clearly the source of the music. "You're welcome to try to pry him out," the man said, then turned to leave.

Kamio was panicking by now. He hadn't really wanted to come inside, but he hadn't seemed like he had a choice. He KNEW that Kirihara didn't really want him to meet his family, but here he was, in the middle of his house, standing outside his bedroom door.

Well, there was nothing for it, really. He reached up and knocked on the door.

"Fuck off, I told you I'm not coming out!" Akaya's raised voice replied, clearly agitated. "Have your own damn fights, leave me out of it!"

"A-Akaya-kun?" Kamio called, using his first name just in an effort to separate the other boy in his mind from his family. "It's Kamio." Please don't be mad at me.

For a moment there was no response, and then Kamio could barely hear a muffled scrambling over the music. A moment later the music was gone, and there was the sound of a lock being undone. The door opened to reveal a very surprised Akaya.

"Kamio?" he said, not quite believing it. Then his expression turned dismayed as the sound of voices in what must be the kitchen started to rise again. "Ah, hell, get in here," he commanded, stepping aside and gesturing for Kamio to enter quickly.

Kamio slipped into the room, looking around quickly. "Sorry..." he said. "I was bored, and Shinji's gone for the weekend, so I thought I'd call you and we could go play or something," he explained hastily. "But I couldn't get through on your phone, and so I figured I'd come to your house and just stand on the doorstep, but your father made me come inside."

Closing the door behind him, Akaya locked it again. "Probably knew I'd just turn the music up louder so I couldn't here him if he tried to call me out," the wild-haired boy explained. "Have a seat, if you can find one. Sorry, I'm kind of a slob."

The walls were plastered with tennis posters, and the silver and gold medals from the Prefecturals and Invitational last year were hung carefully on the wall, with a framed picture of the Rikkaidai team between them. The room was cluttered with the usual assortment of junk; spare racquet strings and grip tape, random tennis balls, clothes and wrappers from junk food. The stereo on the dresser was old and rather battered, clearly second hand, and there was no desk. The only furniture other than the dresser was the futon, with an open textbook on it showing what Akaya had been up to before Kamio arrived.

"I thought my phone was on, though..." with a frown, Akaya dug through his tennis bag, hanging on the back of the door, and found the phone. The display showed several missed calls. "Oops." His expression turned sheepish. "Guess I couldn't hear it over the music."

"It's okay," Kamio said, sitting down on the futon and crossing his legs. "Do you just spend all your time when you're at home in here with the music up loud?" he asked curiously. Don't his parents EVER stop fighting?

"Depends on if they're both home or not," Akaya said, sitting across from him. "I don't tend to spend a lot of time at home, period. Only reason I'm here today is that I can't spend all day at the tennis court, and I figured it was better just to hide out in here rather than go in and out and risk getting pulled into a fight." He didn't see any point in dissembling; Kamio had already heard what they were like, there was no point in trying to hide it.

Kamio nodded sympathetically. "Well...you don't need to be ashamed, you know," he said suddenly. "I mean, everyone has parents who suck, or something like that."

"I'm not ashamed, just embarrassed," Akaya snorted. "They behave like five-year-olds squabbling over a broken toy. I try not to subject my friends to them if I can avoid it."

"Yeah," Kamio said with a smile, a little warmed that Kirihara had called him a friend, even if it might have been unintentional. "But you don't have to be embarassed." Kamio shrugged. "You saw my house, after all. It's nothing to really be proud of, either."

As if to punctuate the point, there was a distant sound of something thudding hard against a wall. Akaya flinched and sighed. "At least she didn't break it this time. It's a wonder we have anything breakable left in the house." He flopped over, squirming onto his stomach with his chin propped on his hands and his feet kicking lazily in the air. "So you said you were bored. I can sympathize. Did you want to hang out here and be entertained listening to them, or did you have something more interesting in mind?"

"Well, I thought about playing tennis," Kamio said, wincing at another thud. "They aren't actually hitting each OTHER are they?" he asked a little nervously.

"Not unless her aim has improved recently," Akaya assured him blithely, though there was a bitter twist to his lips. "You usually can't hear it if it actually connects, though. Tennis, huh? I can do that."

He turned to gather up his racquet and other gear, poking around for clean tennis clothes. His Rikkai uniform was hanging on the door behind his bag, but he'd already decided to put it aside as a memory now. Instead he came up with his uniform from the Invitationals, which he figured nobody could object to.

Kamio cocked his head at that. "Why that one?" he asked curiously. He certainly didn't mind if Kirihara wanted to wear his Rikkaidai uniform while they played together, and he always wore a pretty standard pair of shorts and T-shirt at practice. Eventually, of course, Kirihara would get his Fudoumine regulars jersey.

"Because it's clean, and doesn't signify a team alliance," Akaya replied, now hunting for his court shoes. "I'm not part of Rikkai anymore, I shouldn't be wearing the uniform." He cast a quick glance over to the photo, and smiled slightly. "Damn it, where the hell did I leave my shoes?"

Kamio watched him hunt for shoes. "Well, I wouldn't recommend you wearing it to practice at school, no," he said with amusement. He was still a little wary, not sure he wanted to be alone with Kirihara in a bedroom anymore - at least, not so soon after the last time - but he tried to hide it. He lounged back on the futon, glancing around the messy room with interest.

"I'm trying to separate myself from them," Akaya explained, his voice somewhat muffled as he dug through the drawers of his dresser. "I'm Fudoumine now, it's about time I started acting like it. Which reminds me, after we play did you want to go over my training notes?"

"Sure," Kamio said with a grin. "Do you want to get burgers again? Or...maybe you can't afford it," he added awkwardly. He didn't dare offer to treat Kirihara again, after all.

Exasperated, Akaya stood in the center of the small room with his hands on his hips, searching the whole area for his shoes. While he did so he mentally calculated how much money he had left. "I think I can do burgers, if it's at the same place," he agreed absently. "Damn it, I need a part-time job or something. Which means even more time away from tennis," he sighed.

Abruptly he snapped his fingers. "Oh shit, I remember, I left them out in the front hall. Let's go." He hefted his bag, then paused, wide-eyed. "It's quiet out there," he observed. Indeed, he realized now, he hadn't heard the sounds of yelling or impacts the entire time he was looking for his shoes.

Kamio looked almost frightened. "Is that bad?" he asked, looking around nervously as though he were in a horror movie right after someone had said 'it's quiet, too quiet'. He found Kirihara's house very disturbing, between the fact that he knew things were really NOT well between the various members of the family, and the fact that the family had produced Akaya - more specifically, the part of Akaya he had to be constantly wary of.

"Depends on whether it means they left or not," Akaya said, shrugging. "I just can't remember the last time I heard it quiet, is all. Kaa-san's usually muttering to herself if she's not fighting with tou-san. C'mon, let's get out of here while the getting is good."

Despite his words, Akaya moved cautiously through the hall, listening hard for any sign that one or both of his parents were still around. Even still, it was only his tennis reflexes that saved him as he saw something flying towards him from the kitchen the moment he came into sight of it.

He ducked and raised his bag to shield his face as the dish shattered on the wall beside him. One shard caught him high on the cheek, though it didn't give him much more than a scrape. "Demon child!" his mother shrieked, searching for something else to throw. "This is all YOUR fault!"

Kamio's jaw dropped and he immediately leapt between Akaya and his shrieking mother. "Hey!" he cried, holding his own racquet bag in front of him just in case she launched something at HIM too. "Stop that! Akaya is NOT a demon, and it's certainly not HIS fucking fault that this happened!" Normally, Kamio would never have sworn at an adult while he was a guest in their house, but this was ridiculous. Akaya could have lost an eye!

Akaya took one look at his mother, and knew it was pointless to try to argue with her. She didn't have any obvious signs such as Akaya's red eyes, but her children had learned the hard way to know when she was beyond the reach of logic.

"Forget it, there's no reasoning with her," he said, pulling urgently at Kamio's arm. "Let's just get out of here." She threw another plate, but this one didn't even make it through the kitchen doorway, shattering just to one side.

"Out, get out, red-eyed oni child!" she cried, glaring at them both. "Before you ruin us any further. Oh, that I should have birthed such a monster..." She started sobbing and collapsed where she stood, and Akaya blew out a long breath.

Kamio swallowed hard and followed Akaya out of the house. "Holy...fuck," he said, awed, as they reached the street. "I'm really sorry, Akaya-kun. She's..." crazy. He didn't know what to think, and he was worried that Akaya was going to be especially upset that Kamio had seen that.

" 'Psychotic' is the word you're looking for," Akaya snorted, more resigned than anything else. "At least now you know I come by it honestly." He shrugged, heading for the court he'd started to think of as 'theirs'.

Absorbed in thought, Kamio trailed after Akaya, glancing up every so often to look at the scrape on his cheek from the plate. "Does she attack you a lot?" he asked quietly as they reached the court.

"Not very often," Akaya shrugged, as if it were no big deal. To him it wasn't; while their unfortunate circumstances had severly increased his mother's instability, it hadn't been entirely unheard of for her to lash out at him before that. "She's never done any real damage. Most of the time she's not angry, she's just terrified. She really believes I'm an oni."

Kamio wondered vaguely if Akaya believed it, too. For once, he didn't really feel like playing tennis, though he thought it might take Akaya's mind off of what happened.

Of course, it seemed like Akaya didn't need to be distracted nearly as much as Kamio did. He dithered a bit, putting his bag down and rummaging through it.

"Hey, are you okay?" Akaya hadn't missed Kamio's hesitation. "I know they're a lot to take the first time. I told you there was a good reason I don't invite anyone over. I understand if you'd rather be as far away as possible from me and anything connected to me right now." He tried not to sound bitter, and he thought he succeeded. It wasn't Kamio he was mad at anyway, just his psychotic family for putting him in this situation in the first place.

Kamio looked up at Akaya, frowning. "I don't want to be away from you!" he said firmly. "I'm just...thinking." He looked down at his bag for a few moments before suddenly looking up again and blurting, "Do you want to stay with me?"

"What, overnight?" A little stunned at the offer, Akaya stared at him. "I..." It certainly sounded a hell of a lot more appealing than going home. On previous occassions when his mother had been in an angry rather than fearful episode, he'd often simply turned up on Niou's or Jackal's or even Yanagi's doorstep.

"I don't have any of my school stuff," he realized, glancing down at his bag. They'd been going just to play tennis, so he hadn't brought his uniform or textbooks.

Actually, he'd meant more or less permanently, but overnight would be a good start. And less likely to cause Akaya to look at him funny. "Maybe we could sneak back in later tonight and get your stuff," Kamio suggested, straightening and nodding. "I mean, after they go to sleep. You could get whatever you need."

While his teammates had certainly never hesitated to let him in when he showed up looking to crash, this was the first time someone had actively offered him a place to stay. "Yeah, thanks," Akaya agreed, still a little bemused. "If it won't get you in trouble with your mom or anything."

Kamio shrugged to indicate that he didn't really care that much what his mother thought of the arrangement. He doubted she'd even notice until Akaya had lived there for a week or two. "We have a spare bedroom," he offered quietly. "It's bare right now, but if you did want to stay longer, we could get a futon mattress for it."

"Longer?" Now Akaya was outright staring at him, and for once it was his turn to be flustered. "You... fuck, Kamio, you don't have to do that." He bit his lip. "Given our track record at getting along for more than a few hours at a stretch, I'm not sure your house would survive it."

Oh, but it would be wonderful... to live in a house again, not a tiny cramped little apartment. To not have to worry about staying out until he was sure his mother would be asleep, to aviod provoking her. No more deafening himself just so he didn't have to listen to the screaming...

He shook his head. Don't get your hopes up, he scolded himself. He's just in shock right now, he'll regret making the offer once the immediate horror has worn off...

Kamio shrugged one shoulder, colouring a little and biting his lower lip. "It's a big enough place that we can have our own space. I mean, it's not huge, but we would have our own room. And maybe we'll figure out how to get along better." He looked up at Akaya, smiling nervously and sure that Akaya would think he was cracked for offering. "You shouldn't stay there, Akaya-kun."

"I..." Akaya realized his hands were trembling, and he folded his arms across his chest to hide it. Except now the rest of him was trembling, too. He turned away abruptly, busying himself with checking the strings of his racquet. "Lemme think about it, okay?"

There was a pause. "Okay," Kamio said quietly. "But you'll stay tonight, right?"

"Yeah, sure," Akaya agreed. "We'll go back later and get my stuff. Now c'mon, did you bring me out here to play tennis or what?" It was too much to take in, so Akaya retreated into his usual defence of flippancy. "Let's play, I've been stuck indoors all bloody day and I'm dying to move."

Relaxing a little, Kamio nodded, offering Akaya a smile. "Sure," he said. He was still unnerved and a bit distracted, wondering if he HIMSELF were crazy for inviting Akaya to stay with him. He could see a lot of fights in their future...but he couldn't let him stay there. Not after what he'd seen.

He shoved his mp3 player headphones into his ears, cranking the music and turning the song to his favourite. If any song could burn the bad feelings out of him and focus him on his game, it was that one.

Actually, maybe I'm not the one who needs to worry about going deaf, Akaya thought in amusement as he heard the music coming from Kamio's headphones. How loud does he need to play that?

Well, just as music was Kamio's escape, so tennis was Akaya's. He turned his attention to the practice wall, and seeing if he could manage to get three balls going at once today.

Soon they were both warmed up and ready, though Kamio was still a little distracted, and didn't play nearly as well as he had before. The final count was 6-1, the single game he'd taken hard won, though he still presented a challenge to the former Rikkai player, enough that he was able to get into it.

Kamio shook Akaya's hand sheepishly before they headed towards the burger joint. "Sorry," he said. "My mind wasn't really on it, I guess. I really enjoy playing with you."

"Everyone gets distracted sometimes," Akaya shrugged. And it wasn't hard to figure out what had been distracting Kamio. "It was still a good game. How long have you been playing tennis, anyway?" he asked, realizing he knew really almost nothing about the boy who'd invited him to come live at his house. Presumably Kamio's parents hadn't been able to afford private coaching for him from a young age; did that mean he'd only been playing since the start of middle school? If so, it was a little scary to think what he'd be like now if he'd had the kind of early instruction Akaya had.

Akira confirmed that thought, shrugging. "I joined the team at the beginning of middle school," he said. "I guess I just picked it up quickly," he added, grinning at Akaya. "I practiced a lot after school and stuff. Once they taught me what I was supposed to be doing, I practiced as much as I could."

"Heh." Akaya couldn't help but shake his head, and his respect for the Fudoumine team rose another notch. "Just goes to show there's hope yet for our clumsy little pre-Regulars. And that people in Hyoutei, Rikkai and Seigaku aren't actually that much better than the other schools, they've just had years more practice." He laughed. "I think I knew how to swing a racquet before I could walk, even." An exaggeration, but not much of one.

"Really?" Kamio asked, realizing it was an exaggeration, but still impressed. "How old were you when you started to learn how to play?" He couldn't imagine doing something since he was so tiny, and many years later still loving it and being that good. No wonder Akaya was THAT good, though it gave him a swell of real pride that he was good enough that Akaya enjoyed playing him.

"Honestly?" Akaya shrugged. "I'm not sure. I think my earliest memory involves a racquet. Ask just about anyone on the Regulars at Rikkai and I know they'll tell you the same. Well, other than Yagyuu, but he's kind of a special case." He grinned, remembering how Niou had dragged the prim and proper boy into the tennis club whether he wanted to go or not.

"Huh," Kamio said thoughtfully. "I guess...I'm not that bad then, eh?" he asked, turning to Akaya with a wide smile. "I mean, I've only been playing for a while, and you guys have been playing forever."

"No, you're pretty damn good, considering," Akaya agreed. "Actualy, you're pretty damn good period, which means you're amazing considering. If you keep it up, by the time we all get out of high school our having started young will be much less of an advantage for us. Still an advantage," he added, "but less of one."

Kamio grinned brilliantly. "I'll kick your ass yet," he said, laughing. "Maybe not until highschool, but ONE DAY, I'll beat you." He opened the door to the burger joint and led the way to his favourite table, sprawling in the booth.

"Don't get your hopes up too soon," Akay drawled, flopping into the seat across from him. "After all, it's not like I'm going to be sitting around doing nothing while you practice your ass off."

"Yeah, I know," Kamio said, still smug as he rummaged for his notebook. "That's why I said it'd have to wait until highschool, probably."

"In your dreams, rhythm boy," Akaya returned, grinning at him. "I'll still be able to kick your ass whether it's five years from now or fifty five. You're a hundred years too early to beat me."

"You wish," Kamio said cheekily. "I'm already a challenge, you said so." The waitress came over and he ordered his usual, finally finding his notebook and flipping through it in preparation for hearing Akaya's thoughts.

Akaya already had his books out, and he set them to one side as he placed his order. Once the waitress was gone, he shoved the first one towards Kamio.

"That's got everything concerning our five pre-Regulars," he explained, tapping the cover. "Strengths, weaknesses, habits, training suggestions. I think we've got the makings of one decent doubles pair, and the other three are showing promise in singles."

Kamio nodded. Five wasn't perfect, but it wasn't bad, either. "Do you think they'll be good enough next year to compete?" he asked, taking the notebook and putting it away to go over in detail later.

"They'll make it to the prefecturals," Akaya said with confidence. "Whether they get any farther than that will depend on who they face when, and how good the other teams are. Hyoutei's always a threat; Seigaku's strength will depend a lot on whether they've still got that damn freshman of theirs."

"And Rikkai," he tapped the second book, suppressing a surge of guilt. Fudoumine was his school now, damn it. "Rikkai won't be nearly as much of a threat as it usually is. With me gone, there's not a single person on the Regulars who was on the team last year. That means unfamiliarity with tournaments, and that'll transfer over into the next season as well. And this book has everything I know about the Rikkai training system and the players. Unless Morishita manages to pull some ace freshman out of his ass the way Seigaku did last year, they'll still be hard to beat but not impossible."

Kamio blinked, his eyes widening. His hand reached out to take the book, then faltered. "You...sure you want me to see that?" he asked, his voice a hushed whisper. Sure, it wouldn't necessarily mean a win at the Nationals for Fudoumine, but knowing this much about an enemy team was a significant advantage. Particularly if they were all new. It was just possible that with this, Fudoumine could beat Rikkai out, maybe take a top spot in a tournament they wouldn't otherwise get.

A fiercely competitive light shone in Akaya's eyes. "I think another gold medal would look awfully nice next to the silver and gold I've already got, don't you?" he asked, a smirk curving his mouth. "Besides... can't let Rikkaidai get too full of itself."

Kamio grinned and took the notebook, holding it like a precious artifact. "Now if only we could get Inui Sadaharu's books, from Seigaku," he said, his eyes alight with mischief. "It's not like he needs them anymore, right?"

"Yeah, right," Akaya laughed ruefully. "I've been trying to get those things, or at least get a look at them, since the day I found out he had them. Yanagi finally told me to give it up."

Kamio laughed, then glanced up as the waitress returned with their food. He put the notebook away quickly and picked up his hamburger, digging into it hungrily. "Yeah, I know it would be impossible. I don't think the other Seigaku players get to see them!"

"Probably not," Akaya agreed, quickly picking up his own burger. He hadn't dared come out of his room for breakfast or lunch that day, so he was completely starving. He could probably have eaten three of the things, but he just didn't have that much money and he was not going to sponge off Kamio. Which reminded him...

"I'd have to find some way to pay your mom back for food and stuff," he mumbled, unable to look Kamio in the face. "I mean, if you're really serious. Not fair to ask her to suddenly start feeding another of the bottomless pits known as teenage boys."

Kamio shrugged helplessly. “I’m sure she won’t mind,” he said. “I mean, she’s…” he spread his fingers helplessly in a vague gesture that didn’t really mean anything. “But my dad has a good job. He sends us cheques every month, and we have lots of savings.” He averted his gaze. “My mom doesn’t know about them. I’m sure we could take a bit from that, to supplement the grocery budget, and I’d still be OK for university.”

Absorbing that, Akaya blinked a bit, opened his mouth to say something, and thought better of it for a moment. Finally he decided on, "No way in HELL am I affecting your university savings. I'll find some way to make a little extra cash for food that won't eat up too much of my tennis time."

He'd sort of been assuming at this point that Kamio's dad was dead, or at least a deadbeat. The fact that the man was sending them regular checks brought up the question of why, if Kamio needed to hide that money from his mother, he wasn't just living with his dad. There were several obvious possibilities, starting with Kamio not being ligitimate and ending with his father paying the money purely out of duty and not caring enough about his son to want him around, but it didn't seem like a good idea to start poking at it

Kamio looked up, his eyes narrowing. “I told you it wouldn’t affect my university savings,” he said sharply. “And you don’t HAVE a job yet, or any money, so until you do, we’re using those savings. I’ve been handling my family’s finances since I was ten. I think I know what I can afford.” Reddening, he looked away again, stuffing a handful of fries in his mouth and chewing savagely, his pride stung.

"Fine," Akaya gave in, recognizing unshakeable stubbonness when he saw it. He practiced it himself often enough, after all. But there was no point in the two of them getting into a fight over something that might not even be relevant. He still hadn't decided to do this, he was just... exploring the option. "But - IF we do this - you better keep track of every penny, because I'm paying it all back when I go pro, damn it. I don't take charity."

Kamio shrugged and nodded. “Fair enough,” he said. He grinned hesitantly, his mood beginning to lift as Akaya failed to push him about his family. “Believe me, I don’t want you mooching off of me, either.”

Suddenly, his smile vanished. “I…guess I should tell you what’s going on with my family. If you’re going to be living with us, you’ll figure it out eventually.”

"If you'd rather wait until we know for sure if I'm going to, that's fine," Akaya told him. "It's not like you need to warn me... It can't possibly be any more fucked up than my family, as you've now experienced first hand." He of all people respected a need to keep the circumstances of your family life private.

“No, you’re right that it’s not as fucked up as your family,” Kamio said with a wan smile. “So it’s kinda stupid not to tell you. Shinji knows everything, too. I just…don’t really like telling people until I’m good friends with them.” He stuck a fry into a pool of ketchup and drew patterns with it restlessly. “It’s really not that complicated. My mom doesn’t get migraines. She’s a drunk. My dad doesn’t want anything to do with us. He ran off with this woman from his work when I was 10, and he sends us cheques. That’s all.”

"Pretty shitty for him to leave you behind, but I guess at least he's still supporting you," Akaya observed, feeling a bit like he was treading on a minefield. It was always hard to know how to react when someone told you something like that. "Does she ever get violent?"

“No, no,” Kamio said, shaking his head quickly and looking up at Akaya, a little distressed. “I wouldn’t take you out of your house just to put you into the same situation, Akaya-kun. She usually just sleeps, and she does stupid things sometimes, like leaving the stove on. But she’s not violent.” He didn’t want to think about his father.

"Fair enough." It would definitely be an improvement over dealing with his mother. Living with someone who ofter either ran screaming from you or started throwing things got on your nerves after a while. She hadn't been nearly as bad when he was little, at least, or he might not have survived long enough to grow up.

"You do realize it'll start all kinds of rumours at school if I move in with you," Akaya pointed out with a faint smile.

Kamio blinked at him slowly for a moment, then clued in. “I guess so,” he said, reddening to the tips of his ears. “But at least we aren’t playing doubles,” he added with a nervous laugh. “Everyone thinks Shinji and I have been together since first year. I’m kinda used to all of the rumours.” Of course, Kamio had been Akaya’s strongest supporter since he’d transferred at the beginning of the term. If they began living together, too… the rumours would be flying, as Akaya had pointed out.

"Heh. What is it about doubles pairs anyway?" Akaya asked, shaking his head. "Though I'm about ninety percent certain Marui and Jackal were not doing the nasty, at least not with each other, so it's not always true." He snickered. "Oh man, I never had such perfect material to tease Sanada about as I did after he and Atobe played at the Invitational..." The snicker became a full-blown laugh. "And I wasn't the only one. He finally forbade me, Niou, and Marui from ever again uttering the words 'Atobe', 'Keigo', 'Hyoutei', or especially 'tango'."

Kamio began snickering when Akaya mentioned Sanada, and it turned into a full blown burst of laughter by the end of the story. “And here I thought he was having fun,” he said, his eyes glinting merrily. Talking about this was much more fun than talking about his family, and Akaya was rather neatly putting the embarrassing reality of Kamio’s life out of his mind. “I know we sure did a lot of speculating after that game, though not all doubles pairs are like that. Jackal and Marui for one, and what about Oshitari and Kikumaru? I think they’re both taken, anyway.”

"Well, all teasing of Sanada aside, it seems like it's only the permanent pairs that are all getting it on," Akaya snickered. "Which might explain Marui and Jackal being the exception, actually. They play together more often than not, but they don't care if they're split up, either."

“Maybe that’s why they don’t care about being split up,” Kamio countered, gesturing with a fry before putting it into his mouth and grinning. “Because they don’t share that—“ and here he raised both hands and made quotation marks with his fingers. “—‘mystical connection’ good doubles players have. And that connection totally can’t be created without the two players sleeping together.”

Akaya nodded vigorously, grinning around a mouthful of burger. He swallowed, and added thoughtfully, "I wonder if the same thing is true in girls' tennis? Might not be, they don't seem to have nearly as much trouble as guys do making emotional connections. Nor are they as obsessed with sex as your average teenage male. Hell, come to that, it's probably part of why I make such a shitty doubles player." He snickered again.

“Because you don’t make emotional connections, or because you’re obsessed with sex?” Kamio asked teasingly, the subject bringing a flush to his cheeks again. “I dunno, Ann-chan never mentioned anything like that, but I don’t really talk about those sorts of things with her.” His voice sped up slightly, the flush deepening with every word as he spoke about the subject of his crush.

"Ann-chan?" Why did that name sound familiar? "Oh, right, Tachibana's little sister!" Akaya snorted. "How could I have forgotten? How's she doing these days, pushed anybody down the stairs lately?" His tone was pure amusement. He didn't hold any sort of grudge against her, and in fact what she'd done, combined with his defeat at Fuji's hands, was part of why he'd really begun fighting back against the demon.

Kamio rolled his eyes, thankfully realizing that Akaya was only kidding an instant before he would have gotten pissed off about it. That time was not a memory he treasured, looked upon with suspicion and basically feeling ostracized by all of his friends and the other people at the tennis camp. And there was a large part of him that blamed Akaya, though he had felt better about it once he realized that Akaya had been protecting Ann and Kamio’s troubles were just incidental fallout. “I can’t believe you didn’t remember,” he said. “And no, she’s really not that violent, except with people who beat up her brother.” He smiled to soothe the sting of the words.

"I remember her, just not her name," Akaya explained with a grin. "To me she's generally either 'Tachibana's little sister' or else 'That...' " Glancing at Kamio, Akaya smoothly changed what he'd been about to say. He didn't think 'bitch' would go over well. He might not hold a grudge, but that didn't mean he thought of her in a shining positive light, either! " 'girl who nearly broke my neck'. That's all." He finished off the rest of his burger, still grinning.

Kamio snickered, his tone distinctly affectionate. “Have you two run into each other yet?” he asked curiously. “You know, I don’t even know if Tachibana knows you’re here. I haven’t told him.”

"I think I saw her at practice a couple of days ago," Akaya said, trying to remember. "If she's grown her hair out, anyway. She was certainly gaping at me like she thought she was seeing a ghost, and then she took off. You were playing Ibu at the time, so I guess you didn't see her." He laughed. "If she knows, presumably Tachibana knows or will know soon. I'd expect a visit in the near future if I were you."

Kamio blinked slowly. “No, I didn’t see her. But if she did that, she probably DID see you. And her hair has been getting longer lately.” He grinned. “You’re kinda hard to miss, for anyone who knows you, Akaya-kun. But in that case, I’m surprised I haven’t heard from either of them yet.”

"Maybe Tachibana's just been busy," Akaya shrugged. "Like I said, I'm sure you'll be hearing from him soon. They'll want to know what the hell I'm doing here." He smirked slightly. "Y'know, if you insist on calling me by my given name I'm going to start returning the favour. And I hate being called '-kun', just Akaya is fine."

Kamio blinked, then reddened again. He hadn’t realized he’d been calling Kirihara ‘Akaya’ ever since arriving at the other boy’s house. Perhaps he’d been unconsciously trying to separate the boy from his extremely messed up family. “Well… if you don’t mind me calling you Akaya,” he said slowly. “Then I guess you’ll just have to call me Akira. It’s only fair.” He smiled shyly.

"I'm more used to hearing Akaya anyway," the other boy laughed. "Since I was the 'baby' of the team, they all made a point of calling me that. You guys have no idea how much teasing you escaped being on a team made up mostly of second years." Akaya snickered again. "And somehow I doubt any of you managed to get over your hero-worship of Tachibana long enough to tease him for being the 'old man' on the team."

The redhead ducked his head slightly. “Hey, it wasn’t complete hero worship,” he protested. Then thought about it for a moment. “Well…maybe it was...” he admitted with chagrin.

"It's not a bad thing, necessarily," Akaya laughed at him. "I mean hell, look at us. You couldn't pay any of us enough to say something bad about Yukimura, and we'd have killed anyone who tried." He sipped at his drink. "I wouldn't say it was hero-worship, exactly... but we sure as hell were devoted to him."

“Well, you make it sound kinda bad when you call it hero worship,” Kamio said with a grin. “I mean, it’s one thing to be devoted to someone because they deserve it, because they’ve earned your loyalty. Hero-worship…is more like being devoted to someone because you have stars in your eyes, and you don’t see their flaws. Not that Tachibana HAS any flaws,” he added impishly.

For once Akaya managed to think before he spoke, and so Kamio didn't get the inflammatory response that immediately leapt to the green-eyed boy's mind. Some how I don't think he'd take it well if I answered 'Sure he does, his left knee', Akaya thought wryly to himself. If I do move in with him we may yet end up killing each other if I'm not careful.

"Yeah, well, we could get into a 'My old captain is better than your old captain' pissing contest, but it seems silly," Akaya said. Then, perfectly deadpan he added, "I try not to get into fights the other person has no hope of winning; it's no challenge."

Kamio rolled his eyes. “Hey, I don’t even KNOW Yukimura, so I’m not going to say anything about him,” he said. “And I’m really not interested in a pissing contest about Tachibana, Akaya,” he added with good humour. “I don’t think either of us will convince the other, and we’ll just end up pissed off again.”

"I was only kidding, Akira," Akaya laughed. "And Tachibana was obviously a good captain to you guys. Hard to live up to something like that, isn't it?" he asked sympathetically. Or maybe the word was empathetically, because gods knew he'd felt like he was trying to do the impossible sometimes in attempting to follow after Yukimura.

Kamio sighed and ducked his head, the fall of his bangs covering his eyes even more than usual. “Yeah,” he said lamely. “He always knew what to do. I mean, I haven’t been too bad, but I let Ueno-kun get hurt…” It was the first time he’d expressed a certain roiling feeling of guilt in his stomach, and saying it lifted a bit of a weight from his shoulders. I should have known they’d start bullying eventually. I mean, I DID know, but I should have been able to stop it. It undermined Akaya on the team, and Ueno-kun won’t be able to play for weeks.

"That's as much my fault as yours," Akaya asserted, fighting with his own sense of anger with himself. And not just that he'd let Ueno be injured, but that he knew he'd over-reacted. "We knew it would happen sooner or later, but I thought they would start out just verbally picking on them, and we'd have some warning. Either I missed the signs, or they escalated a hell of a lot faster than I expected them to." He shook his head in frustration. "I'm going to sit the pre-Regulars down on Monday morning and we're going to talk about some different ways to keep them safe outside of practice. I don't trust those six not to retaliate somehow."

Kamio looked up at Akaya, surprised and grateful at the other boy’s reply. “You did a lot more than I did to keep them safe,” Kamio assured him. “You knew exactly who was going to cause trouble. I wouldn’t have been nearly as prepared as I WAS, if it weren’t for you.” He smiled. “And I think that’s a great idea. What are you going to tell them, though?”

"I'm not entirely sure," Akaya admitted. "I've got plenty of experience in bullying, but it, uh..." he had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. "It's all from the bully's point of view. I was going to ask if you and the other Regulars could talk to them with me. You guys went through this last year, you must have developed ways of keeping the worst of it off you. Other than 'stick together and tell me if they try anything', I'm not sure what to tell them."

Kamio sighed. “Well, that’s pretty good advice right there,” he said. “Speaking from the victim’s point of view—“ he gave Akaya a sharp look, but there was a smile playing about his lips. “—the best you can do is try not to give the bully an opportunity. Don’t hang around in places where you know they’ll go. Try to stay near teachers or other people you know they won’t try anything in front of. And generally stick together.” He picked up a cooling fry and stuck it in his mouth. “I’m hoping they’ll be too scared of you after what you did to try anything, honestly. That’ll be the best deterrent.”

"Yeah, hopefully," Akaya agreed, brightening somewhat. "If there's one thing I'm good at, it's making people scared of me." His eyes gleamed with a faintly sadistic glee. "I can't go after them every time they do something, though, or I'll be suspended for fighting. I hate getting suspended, it's boring as hell and way too much work to catch up afterwards."

“And you REALLY don’t want to get expelled,” Kamio added sternly. “Maybe they don’t kick you out of school for fighting too much at Rikkaidai because you’re all geniuses or something, but here if you get too rough and get suspended too much, they can kick you out.”

"Actually, the main reason they didn't kick me out of Rikkai is because they didn't want to lose my tuition," Akaya informed him wryly. "And it's kind of a 'let the students sort it out for themselves' school. But no, I don't particularly want to be expelled, either." He shook his head. "Hopefully what I did yesterday will be enough in and of itself. If we're lucky, that'll be the end of it. But I'm not counting on us being that lucky."

“Yeah,” Kamio agreed, nodding and settling back in his seat. “I don’t want anyone else on our team to get hurt. But if you DO have to frighten them again, try to be careful, okay? I mean, I really don’t want to lose you.” Reddening again at his own words, he turned and fiddled with his bag, hiding his face in his hair. “You wanna get out of here?” he added suddenly. “Or are you still eating?”

Shaking his head, Akaya shoved the last handful of fries in his mouth and stood, dusting off his hands. As he chewed he dropped enough to cover his meal on the table; which was to say, pretty much everything he had. He was forced to let Kamio cover the tip, but he hoped if he didn't say anything neither would the redhead.

"What're we up to now?" he asked curiously once he was done chewing.

Kamio wisely kept silent, pulling several bills out of his wallet and paying for his share, along with the entire tip. “Well, I thought we could go back to my place and do some studying,” he suggested. “And see if we can figure out where you can sleep tonight.” He was nervous that there wouldn’t BE anywhere for Akaya to sleep – after all, he knew for a fact that that extra room was bare. Well, if I can’t find a futon mattress for him, I’ll just have to get creative or something, he thought, grabbing his stuff.

"Floor is good enough for me, if you've got an extra pillow," Akaya said with a shrug as they left the restaraunt. "Won't be the first time. And y'know, isn't sleeping on a hard surface supposed to be good for your back?" He laughed. "Anyway, I don't have my textbooks with me, I'll have to borrow yours if we're going to study."

“It’s supposed to be, but I don’t believe a word of it,” Kamio said, laughing. “And you won’t have to sleep on the floor. The couch, maybe, though I’m worried about my mother getting up in the night and being freaked out that there’s a strange boy in her living room.” He shrugged slightly, ducking his head. “Anyway, you can borrow my textbooks if you want. They’re all the same.”

"Yeah, but we can't both study the same thing and talk to each other about it, unless we get really friendly over the book," Akaya pointed out, grinning at him. "And I promised I'd be good and not touch, but I'm only human." The hot expression in his eyes made it clear that he was doubtful of his ability to lean over a text book and not break his promise. Really, either Ibu is horribly straight or they never studied together, or they would be together, he thought to himself. He's just too damn tempting all stretched out and concentrating hard on the books...

Kamio felt his cheeks growing hot again. “I…uh… Well if I know that you don’t mean anything by it, it’s OK,” he stammered. That look in Akaya’s eyes made something start fluttering in his chest. I bet he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it.

"Uh-uh." Despite shaking his head, Akaya couldn't stop a pleased, almost predatory look from crossing his face. "You said you didn't want me to do something unless I meant it, and I know what you mean by that. But if we get started," his voice dropped until it was more of a purr, "you might not be thinking straight enough to stop me, and then you'll regret it later. And believe me, it takes less to start things than you might think."

At the sound of Akaya’s voice, Kamio’s heart was set to beating rapidly, the sound echoing in his ears. “A-Akaya,” he stammered, blushing deeply and playing with a loose thread on the shoulder strap of his tennis bag. “I…I know what I said. And I don’t want you to do anything unless you mean it… but surely we can do something.” He looked up, still blushing. “Maybe we can sit up on the couch or something? Or one of us can read questions aloud.”

Unable to help himself, Akaya gave a delighted, sexy laugh. "Damn but you are cute when you're flustered," he commented, grinning. "Sure, we can study on the couch or whatever. And I promise I won't do anything unless you start it." He might have to sit on his hands, but he'd manage somehow.

Kamio looked up and gave him a suspicious glance. “A minute ago you said you couldn’t promise not to start something, and that it would be really easy,” he said. “Akaya, I don’t want to get my heart broken, and I really don’t want to fight with you.”

With a sigh, Akaya dropped all the teasing and just looked at Kamio seriously. "Trust me, Akira, I don't want to break your heart either. To be honest, ordinarily I wouldn't care one way or the other, but I like you and even if I don't move in with you, you're my captain and my teammate and I try to make it a point not to fuck with my teammates." He shook his head. "I don't know what to do. I can - I think I can - control myself and it's not like I'm going to force you. If you say stop I'll stop. But I don't want to count on you saying stop if we get carried away, is all."

Kamio chewed on his lower lip. “I know you don’t want to break my heart, Akaya,” he said with a nervous smile. “I guess I’m just trying to make you see how easy it would be. And for the record, there is no doubt in my mind that you’d stop if I said stop.” At least, so long as your eyes aren’t red… He put a hand on Akaya’s arm gingerly, and then let it fall away again. “It’s not just your responsibility,” he said firmly. “It’s mine, too. If you don’t deliberately fuck with me, then I can handle teasing and flirting. And if we get carried away and I don’t say stop, the only one to blame is me.”

"Not if I knew before we started that you'd object to getting carried away," Akaya sighed. What was it about him that Kamio was apparently finding so appealing? For a guy who'd hated his guts to go from that to worrying about getting his heart broken in a few short weeks... He understood his own attraction to Kamio, the redhead was hot and unbelievably responsive to teasing. It made Akaya wonder what else he might be responsive to. But Kamio's attraction to him was something he didn't understand at all.

“Well, I guess so,” Kamio agreed softly. He too didn’t quite understand his attraction to Kirihara, except in terms of the fact that he’d never had someone flirt with him so much before. He’d opened his heart up to someone who’d seemed to be attracted to him, to someone who had given him the kind of attention he’d never had before and had craved, and had started to fall. “But I guess what I’m saying is that if it did happen, it wouldn’t be all your fault. It would be mine, too.”

For a long moment Akaya was silent as they walked, staring down at the sidewalk in thought. One hand was wrapped around the handle of his bag slung over his shoulder; the other was tucked into his pocket to keep it warm in the chill air. "Y'know, I almost wish I could give you what you want," he finally said softly, more talking to himself than Kamio. "It'd make everything a hell of a lot easier. I just don't think I'm built that way." Or maybe he'd just spent too many years with his dysfunctional family. Either way, there was something broken or missing inside Akaya, the part that let people make deep emotional connections with other people.

Kamio watched him in silence. “And I wish I could just let go and do what you want,” he said quietly. “But I don’t know if I’m wired that way, either.” Pause. “Do you think you’d want me if I weren’t the way I am, though?” he asked hesitantly. “You always say you like how I get flustered.”

"Would I want you if you had a different pesonality?" Akaya stared at him. "Of course I would, dumbass, you're gorgeous. Don't you even realize that?" He shook his head. "But I probably wouldn't like you as much. There's plenty of gorgeous people out there. There aren't many I let get this close to me."

Kamio went beet red. “You really think I’m gorgeous?” he asked in a choked, shy whisper. Somewhere, in the small part of his brain that was still thinking after what Akaya had just so blatantly said to him, a lot of what Akaya had done was making more sense to him. But most of him was still stuck on repeat, replaying Akaya’s words over and over.

"Who did the number on your self esteem?" Akaya wanted to know, giving Kamio an odd look even as he reached out to casually ruffle the other boy's hair. "Yes, you're gorgeous. Half the reason everyone thinks you and Ibu are a pair is probably because you look so good together." He grinned. "It's the red hair, I think, it makes you exotice and alluring. And the fact that you never get to see all of your face, so you've got the mysterious factor too."

Kamio ducked his head as Akaya ruffled his hair, feeling like he was being treated like a kid. "It's not that I have low self-esteem," he protested. "But no one's ever...just come out and SAID that before. I don't exactly have girls lining up or anything. Ann-chan was never interested in me."

"Forgive me for not seeing her lack of interest as much of a loss on your part," Akaya said dryly. "And most people don't have the balls to just say the stuff I do. I don't care what anyone thinks of me, you see. So I can just say whatever the hell I feel like. And I think you're hot as fuck, so there."

"Right," Kamio said with a nervous laugh, looking up at Akaya with his face still red. "Well forgive me for not hearing that kind of thing that often. Most people aren't like you."

"That's what I just said, isn't it?" Akaya asked in amusement. "Good thing, too... the last the the world needs is more people like me." They were almost to Kamio's house now, and Akaya was a little amazed to find that he was feeling relaxed and... rather happy. Usually when his mom went off on an aggressive spaz it took him days to stop jumping at every little thing. It was a pleasant change.

Kamio grinned. "That's for sure," he said teasingly. He walked up the steps to his house and unlocked the door, glancing around. His mother was actually up for once, in the kitchen making food. She was leaning heavily on the counter, her hand shaking a little as she stirred a pot of soup.

She looked up at Kamio entered. "Akira," she said, looking surprised. "Who's your friend?"

Fuck. "This is Akaya, mother," Kamio said, smiling wanly. "Is it OK if he sticks around for a little bit?" She waved vaguely and turned back to her cooking.

Akaya bowed even though she wasn't looking, and put on his best 'of course you can take me home to meet your parents' charm. "Pleased to meet you..." he realized at the last second he had no idea if she and her son actually shared a family name or not, and skipped that part. "I'm Kirihara Akaya, from Akira's tennis club. Please take good care of me." He added the last traditional greeting phrase without letting any of his internal irony show in his voice; if he really did decide to stay here, she might be 'taking care of him' far more than she knew.

She glanced up and looked at them squintily, then pulled the spoon out of the pot. "Welcome, Akaya-kun," she said with a slight bow. "I'm making soup," she added, gesturing at the pot and spattering a little of the soup around the kitchen.

Kamio hurried over to her, relieving her of the spoon gently. "Why don't I finish, mother," he asked brightly. "You've worked pretty hard today."

Watching Kamio attempt to subtly extract his mother from the stove area, Akaya wished the redhead had at least given him some hint of how to react here. Taking a chance, he turned up the charm a notch and started chatting with the woman, giving her the occassional compliment, asking her about herself and mostly just listening to her ramble on. It distracted her and let him draw her away from the stove to let Kamio finish with the soup, at least, even if she was slightly incoherent.

When Akaya started to chat with his mother, he shot him a relieved, thankful look. He hated when she cooked - at least, some of the time. Occassionally she was sober, and then it was fine, but that was happening less and less often. He was always terrified to come home to find her injured, or for the house to be burning down.

By the time the soup was ready, he'd managed to cajole his mother back up to her room and had brought a bowl of soup to her, taking a number of dirty dishes back downstairs with him, and a bag of alcohol containers.

"Sorry you had to see that," Kamio muttered in embarrassment as he handed Akaya another bowl of soup and took one for himself.

"Why? It's fine," Akaya shrugged in reply, blowing on a spoonful. "She's nice, in a drunk kind of way. I'll take her over my mom any day. Though she can't cook any better than mine," he added with a grimace as he discovered the scorched bits at the bottom.

"She just...gets distracted," Kamio said helplessly, extracting a burned piece of noodle from the bowl and dropping it into his napkin. "I don't like it when she cooks. I'm always afraid she'll burn something more than the meal."

"What kind of stove is it?" Akaya asked. "Could you cut the power or the gas or whatever? Then you wouldn't have to worry quite so much. Be even better if YOU could turn it off and on if you needed to." Years of living with a mother who wasn't always wholly aware of the reality around her - and occassionally suffering from that state himself - had taught him a few essential precautions.

Kamio frowned, taking a bite of his soup. He'd just finished eating, so he wasn't that hungry, but it was decent. "How could I cut the power?" he asked. "Like...unplug it from the wall? I'd just have to plug it back in again all the time, wouldn't I?"

"Yeah, but chances are good that if she's drunk enough to be dangerous cooking, she's also drunk enough not to be capable of getting it plugged in," Akaya pointed out bluntly. "Which is worse, dealing with the irritation of having to plug your stove in when you want to use it; or coming home to find the house on fire?"

Kamio sighed softly. "She wasn't this bad before," he said. "I guess...it kinda snuck up on me."

Leaving the soup behind - he was feeling less hungry by the minute, anyway - he went back into the kitchen and hunted around the stove, pulling it out and unplugging it.

Following him in, Akaya watched him with dark eyes. "Believe me, I know how easy it is to overlook how bad they're getting," he said softly. "You live with them every day, and each day doesn't seem any worse than the last. It's only when someone comes in with fresh eyes, or something happens that really wakes you up, that you realize how bad it's gotten."

Kamio sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I know," he said softly. "I guess because it's just us, I know how to deal with it and I just DO deal with it. Most people don't know about it, and almost nobody actually has to see her like this. Even Shinji hardly ever comes over." He grunted as he shoved the stove back into place, then stepped back, looking at it ruefully. "I hope she doesn't get mad about this."

"Only if she sees you ever unplugging it or plugging it in," Akaya assured him with a faint grin. "And as long as she doesn't get organized to call a repairman. As long as you make a big deal about it working 'sporadically', you're probably safe."

After a moment, he added with a carefully casual tone, "You're the first person ever to see my family. Even Yukimura never met them. I forgot you'd have my address as captain, actually."

Kamio blinked, turning to look at Akaya in surprise. "No one else?" he asked, stunned. "I...I thought the other Rikkaidai people would have known. They were your friends."

"They knew things were fucked up," Akaya agreed, not quite able to look him in the eye. "Would have been hard to miss it, really. But they never asked, and I never told the details. It was better that way. And really, it wasn't so bad then. I only had to crash at someone's place maybe once a month."

"I guess it's gotten a lot worse now," Kamio said sympathetically. He reached out and touched Akaya's arm. "Well, I'll try to help as much as I can."

Akaya glanced at him at the touch, then quickly away again. He didn't try to move out of reach, though. "Just don't you dare feel sorry for me," he half snarled, though there was no real malice in his tone. "I don't take pity any more than I take charity."

"I don't feel sorry for you!" Kamio protested. "I just want to help. It's not the same thing!" He dropped his hand, clasping both hands together and fidgeting. "Do you want to study or something?"

"I'm not saying you do, just warning you not to," Akaya said, somewhat mollified. "Yeah, let's go study. On the couch, or do we risk your bed again?" Some of the earlier teasing light returned to his eyes as he asked.

Kamio flushed. “Couch,” he said firmly, gesturing towards the rear of the house, and then leading Akaya in that direction. In the back was a sitting area, with a large and overstuffed couch that was sagging a bit from use. Though the room was comfortable and clean, it had an air of disuse. Kamio plunked himself down in the couch and opened his bag, pulling out textbooks and putting them on the coffee table. “What should we start with?”

"I was working on math when you came over," Akaya said, draping himself over the other end of the couch. He liked to sprawl, and he ended up with one knee hooked over the arm, his arm over the back to help support him, leaning towards Kamio. It put him in a position where he'd be able to read over the redhead's shoulder without being all pressed up against him. At least, that was the plan.

Kamio glanced at him, seeing the position he’d taken and smiling despite himself. Akaya looked incredibly sexy when he sprawled like that, but at least he wasn’t going to be rubbing up against him or anything. Kamio could keep it together. Really.

“Math it is, then!” he said brightly, pulling out his textbook and opening it to the page with the exercises the teacher had assigned. “Do you mind waiting until I catch up?” he asked.

"Depends," Akaya drawled, for once unaware of how he was affecting Kamio. As far as he was concerned this was just a casual pose, the way he liked to sit, and he was focused on the textbook rather than Kamio's face. "If you're caught up to Saturday, you may have to wait for ME to catch up. I was working on Thursday's when you showed up." He'd been letting his homework slide a bit; he just wasn't used to having to spend so much time on it, and his habit of being home as rarely as possible left him with few opportunities to work on it.

Kamio blinked and flipped back a couple of pages. “I’m caught up to Friday,” he said sheepishly. “We should do homework together more often, so we stay in sync,” he added with a grin. “Of course, then you’d have to deal with Shinji muttering to himself all the way through any passage we have to read, because I’m not giving up the study partner that’s gotten me this far. I don’t even hear it anymore, but I remember it being annoying in first year.”

"He's been tutoring me at lunch," Akaya admitted with the slightest trace of a flush. He'd hated having to ask for help, but when he'd found himself floundering and remembered Kamio mentioning that Ibu would be able to teach him to study, he'd swallowed his pride and asked. "And you're right, it's enough to drive you nuts, but I'll put up with it if it means passing the damn exams."

Grinning, Kamio pulled out his notebook, figuring the extra practice of working through the homework questions with Akaya wasn’t a bad thing, even if it was tedious. “Good,” he said. “Shinji is annoying sometimes, but he’s really, really smart. And he says he likes tutoring people, because it makes him practice and get even better. I’m glad he’s been giving you a hand.”

|Prologue| |Part 1| |Part 2| |Part 3| |Part 4| |Part 5| |Part 6| |Part 7| |Part 8| |Part 9| |Part 10| |Part 11|

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