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Tezuka couldn’t exactly pinpoint when Atobe and a few of his teammates started showing up at Seigaku’s usual monthly catch-ups at Kawamura Sushi, but he never found it in himself to protest. Quite the opposite, really. He’d finally been able to admit to himself that his reasons for keeping in contact with the other captain were not solely tennis-related; in fact, he found Atobe’s company fairly pleasant.
Perhaps he’d become soft now that the season was over. Or he was just tired of denying himself what he wanted for the sake of some “greater good” and “not letting his guard down”. So there Tezuka sat, next to Fuji at a table off to the side of the restaurant, watching Echizen tease Atobe and cause him to frown grumpily. An unusual expression for Atobe, which Tezuka couldn’t help but find rather cute. Fuji, usually so talkative when with Tezuka, had been silent for several minutes, a fact that should have concerned him, if he weren’t distracted by the way Atobe’s nose scrunched slightly at whatever snarky thing Echizen just said.
Tezuka had his glass of water raised to his lips as he observed the scene unfolding before him, and in that moment Fuji decided to speak up.
“Ah… I think I’m going into heat,” he sighed dreamily, cheek propped in a perfectly manicured hand.
Tezuka nearly choked on his water.
“Fuji…!” Tezuka sputtered, placing his glass down with a little more force than necessary as he whipped his head around to fix his best friend with a look of shock and disapproval.
Fuji’s eyes flickered briefly to Tezuka, but immediately returned toward the object of his declaration. Kawamura was laughing at something Eiji said, which isn’t anything abnormal. Kawamura had become much less reserved throughout their high school years.
“Oh, did I say that out loud? How careless of me,” Fuji murmured, clearly not at all abashed that Tezuka heard him. “It’s true, though. I want those teeth on my neck.”
Tezuka watched as Fuji’s gaze traced the line of Kawamura’s neck, up to the protruding canines that flashed below his upper lip as he talked excitedly, making sushi expertly between his fingers all the while. All alphas had longer, sharper canine teeth, it was simply a phenotypic marker. But to hear Fuji speak about them in such a fashion…
Tezuka felt his cheeks flush as he realized the meaning behind Fuji’s words. It was no secret that he and Kawamura were courting, but Tezuka had never heard anyone speak so boldly about their potential mate like that. Not outside of the manga that he kept carefully stashed beneath his mattress, anyway.
Before he could interject about waiting until adulthood to bond, and propriety, and not saying such things in public, Fuji fixed Tezuka with an inquisitive look, eyebrow raised. “You’re telling me you’ve never thought about a certain alpha’s bite?” His head tilted just a degree towards where Atobe was now talking with Hiyoshi.
When Tezuka just continued to blush, not willing to meet Fuji’s gaze, the other boy just sighed. “Oh, Tezuka… We both know you have. But I’ll save you the emotional turmoil of admitting it and torture you a different way instead.” His lips curled into a smile, then. One with a slightly predatory edge as he surveyed Kawamura once more.
“He’s such a gentleman, you know. He won’t even leave a love-bite over my scent gland. Not even when I’ve been in heat,” Fuji huffed at this, as if irritated, but the still-soft crinkle of his eye betrayed his true feelings about the matter.
Tezuka frowned. “At least one of you is decent,” he retorted, but Fuji just rolled his eyes.
“I don’t want him to be decent. I want him to ruin me.”
“I’m going to leave if you don’t stop being gross.”
Fuji leaned over to nudge him with his shoulder. “Wanna bet that I can get him to leave early and go upstairs with me?”
Tezuka sighed, so very tired. “No. I definitely don’t want to bet.” There was no use in it, really. One look from Fuji and Kawamura turned into a puddle of goo, and Tezuka knew a guaranteed loss when he saw one.
Fuji patted Tezuka on the shoulder as he stood from the table. “It’s a good thing we don’t have practice tomorrow,” Fuji said with a grin. “Otherwise I’d have to tell you that we’d both be late.”
“Goodnight, Fuji.”
Fuji just laughed. “I know I’ll have one. You should too.” And with that, Tezuka watched as Fuji sauntered across the restaurant towards Kawamura, who immediately stopped what he was saying mid-sentence to greet his paramour with a sweet smile. He leaned down to let Fuji whisper in his ear, and when his cheeks turned a flaming scarlet, Tezuka knew their fellow third year was had.
Arm wrapped around Fuji’s waist, Kawamura quickly excused the pair much to the amusement of a snickering Eiji and embarrassed Oishi, before glancing furtively around and quickly disappearing upstairs with Fuji gleefully in tow.
Tezuka was too busy lamenting the ease and carefree attitude with which his friend did… just about everything, really, and missed the fact that Atobe had bid Hiyoshi farewell and was currently making his way over. He barely contained his startle when Atobe took a seat beside him, but did not protest.
“What happened to your genius? He’s usually so protective of you,” drawled Atobe.
“He’s current occupied, likely for the remainder of the evening,” Tezuka replied. Even rival teams knew about the courtship of Fuji and Kawamura. He trusted Atobe would catch the implication.
“Hmm, so that’s where the chef-to-be went off to.” Atobe observed the room, taking note that despite the host’s absence, no one was making moves to leave. He turned to face Tezuka, relaxing back in his chair and throwing a leg over his thigh.
“Perhaps I should offer to move the party to my mansion? It’s got more than enough space should anyone else desire… privacy.” He flashed a grin at Tezuka, and Tezuka was momentarily distracted by sharp canines.
“I-” He mentally kicked himself – now was not the time to get distracted. “That’s generous, Atobe. But tonight is a school night, after all. It wouldn’t do to get so careless.”
Atobe only laughed. “Ah, Tezuka, always the responsible one! But I suppose you’d have to be, with a team like yours.”
Tezuka looked pointedly over at Gakuto, who was very much in Yuushi’s lap and looking quite comfortable there. “Those who live in glass houses…”
Atobe sighed, shaking his head at the pair. “That’s ten laps for every second you keep sitting there, Gakuto! And twenty laps to you, Yuushi, for letting him!” He yelled across the restaurant, startling his teammates into action.
Oshitari practically shoved Gakuto off his thighs, causing the other boy to yelp in shock. Graceful as ever though, he landed on his feet, managing to give Atobe a one-finger salute as he steadied himself.
Atobe turned back to Tezuka, rolling his eyes. “It was almost easier back in middle school, before all the hormones started taking hold.”
Finally, someone who gets it, Tezuka thought, mentally thanking the gods that he wasn’t the only one who lamented that change.
“Mm, it makes it too easy for one to let their guard down.”
Atobe stretched languidly beside him, before fixing Tezuka with an intrigued expression. “I wonder…. What might it take to make the ever-unflappable Tezuka Kunimitsu to let his guard down?”
The way Atobe’s tongue curled around his given name made Tezuka’s brain go a bit fuzzy. Before he could think too much on the impulse, he returned Atobe’s playful gaze with a steady look of his own; a rare moment of boldness.
“If you have to ask, perhaps you’ll never know.”
Atobe’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second in surprise, the reaction was quickly replaced with a pleased smile. “Why, Tezuka... That almost sounds like a challenge.”
Tezuka just tilted his head, a subtle invitation. He wasn’t sure what possessed him to banter with Atobe in such a blatantly flirtatious way, but there was no going back now.
As Atobe leaned in, Tezuka held his ground. He was close enough now that his lips were a hairsbreadth from Tezuka’s ear.
“Consider your challenge accepted, then,” Atobe purred, a low rumble that shook Tezuka to his core. But before Tezuka could move, or speak, or do anything other than feel the flush creeping up his neck, Atobe had pulled away.
“It’s getting late, and as you said, it is a school night.” That promising purr was gone without a trace, Atobe once again the picture of aristocratic composure before him. “I’ll gather my rabble.”
“Hyotei! We’re leaving,” he called to the room at large, and his teammates began to make their way to the entrance.
Before stepping away, Atobe addressed Tezuka one last time. “Goodnight, Tezuka. We’ll see each other again soon, I’m sure.”
As Tezuka nodded, murmuring a quiet ‘ goodnight, Atobe ’ of his own, Atobe turned to herd his teammates from the premises. Not soon after, Seigaku too disbanded, and Tezuka took care to lock the door to the restaurant before closing it, knowing it might be some time before Kawamura or his father were to do so.
As he laid in his bed a short while later, waiting for sleep to claim him, Tezuka couldn’t help but replay the night’s events. After his conversation with Fuji, he was more aware than ever of Atobe’s perfect, sharpened fangs. And as Atobe had whispered in his ear… they’d practically been close enough to graze his neck. He’d only have needed to lean in.
The thought alone made Tezuka’s stomach swoop dangerously. He certainly hadn’t intended to taunt Atobe in such a way but… It seemed that Hyotei’s captain was more than welcoming of it.
Tennis season may be over, but the summer might be consumed by a new type of challenge. One that might have much longer-reaching rewards and consequences, for both himself and Atobe.