petronia: (sleepy)
[personal profile] petronia
EDIT -- This is a draft. Read the HTML version here.

Draft draft draft, posting because seeing something online magically highlights the bits that need fixing, you know how it works. The skating!fic in its entirety, no longer as cheery and sawagashii as kookiness factor rachets up a few notches as soon as Fuji opens his mouth. (Wonder why that is?) Not really TezuFuji.

...Okay, it's kind of TezuFuji. Because apparently I have nothing better to do than write vaguely ominous TezuFuji fluff. Nevertheless this is the first one that manages to convey something of what Fuji is like in my head.

[livejournal.com profile] yasminm might notice callouts. :)

(And now I return to PMKfic, and this... way I have of writing PMK fic. Not sure why that's so. It's not as if the series is lacking in crack to balance out the angst, after all. >_>

Incidentally, I also managed to finish Fire From Heaven and Infernal Affairs II. And two episodes of MariMite. Go me.)



***


On Ice


Once they went skating, on Kikumaru's recommendation. The place he picked was indoors, essentially a roller rink with a bona fide ice surface; part of an amusement-palace complex that took in an arcade, a movie theatre, concession stands and half a floor devoted to mini-golf. The crowd ran to cute and teenaged, the music to domestic R&B and Hello Project candyfloss, blaring from surround-speakers in time to the flashing coloured strobes that cast spinning star-patterns on ice and skaters alike. Riotous, happy, and obviously Kikumaru's environment from the moment they stepped in the door.

What wasn't obvious - at least until put to the test - was that Kikumaru didn't know how to skate at all, but had no intention of allowing minor quibbles to curb his fun.

"Ooishi! Ooishi wait up wait for meeeaaaaaahhhnyaaaa!"

Tezuka held back a wince as Kikumaru dopplered past, pinwheeling arms a near-blur. Obscenely speedy for a beginner, despite the gravity-defying contortions it took him just to keep vertical from one second to the next - was that a camel spin? It must have been unintentional - not for long, though, given that the only braking mechanism Kikumaru had figured out was to let himself slam into the boards, or a teammate, or--

"Eiji! Watch where you're--"

"Waaahh!"

"Ack!"

A crashing noise. A brace of nearby girls gave half-shrieks of surprise and giggled.

--Or both at once.

After a moment Inui drew up next to the twitching tangle of limbs that had once been Seigaku's Golden Pair. "Hhn," he said. "By all rights vector addition would seem to preclu--"

"Inui," Ooishi grunted, "Give me a hand." Kikumaru made a whining sound from somewhere under him.

"There's a two-to-one chance you'll make me fall if I did," Inui said, but he reached down and gave Ooishi a firm tug to disentangle him. The minimum quota of a teammate's duty accomplished, he kicked off again, moving somewhat reminiscently of a stiff-jointed marionette. Insofar as anyone knew, it was also the first time Inui had been set on skates. "Still, it's interesting. Interesting da--"

"Outta my way outta my way COMING THROUGH!" Momoshiro streaked past gleefully, waving something white over his head. He propelled himself bent deep in the knees, as effortlessly as any hockey player, ice crystals spraying in his wake. He'd surprised the rest of the team by being one of two regulars to turn up carrying his own skates. "Come and get it, Echizen!"

"Yarou," Echizen panted, a gleam in his eye. He sprinted after Momoshiro with commendable form, stumbling only occasionally. Had had practice in America, Tezuka assumed, though they were all athletically gifted and had quickly picked up the knack. Well, apart from-- "Give it back!"

"Not a chance!"

The pursuit weaved through the circumambulating crowd, with joyful whoops and the scraping of blades on ice. The second time around Echizen had the bright idea of crossing the rink breadthwise, forcing Momoshiro to make a hairpin turn to avoid him. In process of doing so he nearly collided with Kaidou, who hissed like a boiling kettle in annoyance.

"Temee! Watch where you're going!"

"Bite me hard, Viper!" Momoshiro yelled from over his shoulder, flourishing Echizen's cap as punctuation to the deathless epigram. Kaidou gave a strangled growl, launched himself after Momoshiro--

And prompt fell over his own feet into the path of an oncoming skater. She crashed into him with a squeal of dismay. The couple skating hand-in-hand directly behind her tried to avoid the pile-up, stumbled and fell instead, the man dragging his date to the ice. The first woman tried to get up and kneed Kaidou in the ribs. He went back down with an audible 'oof', pinned and struggling like a very disgruntled starfish.

Echizen skirted the mess adroitly, skating backward into the boards. "Mada mada da ne," he said for the benefit of Kawamura, who was shuffling past. Kawamura only winced, muttered some private invocation and took a firmer grip on the banister. He hadn't let go of it once since he'd stepped on the ice.

Tezuka sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and turning away. Some kind of hot soothing drink, he thought, would not be amiss at--

The scent of chocolate assailed him, and he looked up.

"Here," Fuji said, smiling. Tezuka blinked and automatically took the steaming styrofoam cup he was holding out. "Hot cocoa. I got you one while I was at it."

Tezuka murmured thanks. Beside him Fuji gave a satisfied half-sigh and leant back against the banister, rotating his own cup between his hands as if engaged in an impromptu tea ceremony. Turn, sip. Turn.

"This is fun," he said. "We should do this more often. Don't you think, Tezuka?"

"It's noisy," Tezuka said. "And someone is going to end up breaking a leg." Fuji did not widen his eyes in mock surprise; merely smiled a little wider.

"One of our regulars?"

"It would be worse if they broke someone else's." That made Fuji laugh, a light, silvery sound that nevertheless carried. Halfway across the rink Kikumaru glanced around and waved. Fuji waved back; Kikumaru grinned, swung his arms frenetically and barely missed clobbering Ooishi, who apparently hadn't learnt what Kikumaru's proximity did for his chances of remaining upright.

"They're not as hopeless as they seem," Fuji said. "Even Taka-san's better than he thinks he is. You must have noticed." Tezuka remained silent, the exasperated thought uppermost in his mind that 'not as hopeless as they seem' could serve as epitaph to the Seigaku team in its entirety on and off the court. "Noisy, though... Eiji likes this place. He was talking about it all week. I told him an outside rink was better fun, on a sunny day with fresh air and fewer people."

"In Tokyo?"

"Oh, of course not." But Fuji did not volunteer the information. Tohoku perhaps, Tezuka thought, or Hokkaido. Or even overseas? He'd watched Fuji earlier, gliding here and there through the crowd with a kind of casual, unhurried grace. They had been the movements of a figure skater, consciously restrained; nothing of Momoshiro's showmanship. But where Momoshiro's blades left gashes and shavings on the ice, Fuji's traversal barely etched the surface, and was as soundless as a ghost's. For all that it said nothing about how long ago he'd learnt how to skate, or if he'd had to put thought or effort into the practice. Tezuka knew that Fuji's eccentric genius did not limit itself to the tennis court, but its manifestations were as unpredictable as the rest of the package.

It made him wary. The subconscious undercurrent shaded all their dealings; it might have been akin to a sense of rivalry, had there been a straightforward contest to define it.

A whistle sounded shrilly over the intercom, and the crowd turned with sluggish obedience, flowing counterclockwise. Fuji smiled.

"They'll take a break to resurface soon," he said. "Say, Tezuka, do you know Peanuts?"

Tezuka finished the dregs of his cocoa, waiting for Fuji to make sense.

"Charlie Brown once said that there are three things in life everyone likes to stare at: a flowing stream, a crackling fire, and a Zamboni clearing the ice." Fuji squatted down and picked up a chunk of ice that had been chipped free by someone's passage. "I wanted to be a Zamboni driver once. When I grew up."

"So people would stare at you?"

"No... not in itself. But it makes people peaceful to watch a Zamboni, as if it were a rock garden. It seemed like a nice occupation."

"You must have changed a lot," Tezuka said, before he could stop himself. Fuji lifted his head and smiled at him beatifically.

"Tezuka," he said. "Whatever do you mean? ...Oh, Taka-san. Are you all right?"

"Fine, Fujiko-chan, fine," Kawamura answered absently. Fuji moved away from the banister to let him pass, looking concerned. "Just... this is awfully unsteady business, isn't it? Not like tennis, both feet on the ground and all that. Ahaha. Ha." One of his skates caught on a bump in the ice, and he swallowed the rest of the nervous laughter with an audible gulp.

There was a silence after he'd wobbled past. Tezuka watched Fuji closely, not quite knowing why. Fuji was gazing pensively after Kawamura, then at the half-melted lump of ice in his palm. His eyes were very blue.

"Excuse me," he said, and skated off after the other boy, taking care to come up behind him quietly. Tezuka only realised what he intended a split second after it was too late.

"Fuji--"

Fuji slipped the ice down the back of Kawamura's shirt collar.

"WHO DID THAT? WHO DID THAT!!" Kawamura spun, flames in his eyes, but Fuji had already ducked into the all-too-convenient rink entrance, expression radiating serene innocence. Kawamura's gaze locked on Momoshiro, a few feet away. "YOU TRYING TO START SOMETHING, PEACHES?"

"Wha--?" Momoshiro looked around, and blanched. Kawamura had grabbed a handful of ice scraps and was advancing on him menacingly, the fact that he'd ever been unsteady on his skates seemingly forgotten. "Taka-san, I - I didn't do it--"

"BUUURRRNNING!!"

"Are you all right?" Fuji said cheerfully, coming up alongside Tezuka again. "You look as if you have a headache."

Tezuka bit back the 'twenty laps' that came unbidden to his lips. They were technically off club-duty, but Fuji would have obeyed him - instantly, on ice skates.

"Twenty laps around the rink?" Fuji said in helpful tones. And then, as Tezuka's glare proved unabated, "Tezuka."

Those blue eyes. For once he was conscious of the wariness, spine prickling. When Fuji's smile came it was as agreeable as ever, but Tezuka could not decode what meaning his gaze might have conveyed.

"It's all right to loosen up, you know. Every once in a while."

"Don't trouble yourself with unnecessary matters," Tezuka said. Fuji shrugged, leaning back easily against the banister again. Still smiling.

"That I never do."

Date: 2004-02-02 10:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] quixotic-sense.livejournal.com
*dies laughing* Indeed I did.

I love your Fuji. Even though your Fuji is synchronizing rapidly with the Fuji in my head and it's really not helping the threesome plotbunny and it's scaring the hell out of me, but-- reading Peanuts and wanting to drive a Zamboni just seems to be a brand of kookiness that is so essentially Fuji-esque. I think you managed to write virtually all the regulars in-character, which is no mean feat.

Which brings us to the all-important question: which comics would the rest of the Seigaku regulars read?

... and I just realised what this fic reminds me of. The J-pop Christmas songs you put up a while ago. Angst -- or the potential thereof -- sung to cutesy jingles. Kill me now, please.

Re:

Date: 2004-02-03 07:37 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] petronia.livejournal.com
Please! Write it. XD No one writes TakaFuji ever. And I swear Fuji came up with the Charlie Brown quote on his own.

It's odd in that it kept veering from the original happycrack to a vaguely ominous character-study feel. (Maybe it's just Tezuka being the usual stick-in-the-mud.) But at least that allows this'un to be read as if it follows "Game Theory", without too much jarring.

Date: 2004-02-03 08:05 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] quixotic-sense.livejournal.com
Well, Fuji is a vaguely ominous character all by himself. This is a boy who never shows his true strength, is a sadist, uses his insight into other people a little too deliberately, and -- if Yuuta is any indication -- cares very intensely when he loves. He's really not the fluffy uke type, you know? But he's not quite a distant enigma either.

I will write the TakaFuji one of these days. With or without Akutsu. Though AkuTakaFuji shall be my OT3! Yes! XD

Re:

Date: 2004-02-03 10:21 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] petronia.livejournal.com
Poor Yuuta. XD The Jfandom doesn't swallow Fuji's martyred sibling-love in the least, you know. Or rather, the prevailing opinion appears to be that said sibling-love probably manifested itself under normal circumstances as gentle torture, and it's no wonder that Yuuta cracked after so many years of inventive trauma. XD;;

[1]
Yuuta: *comes home* *finds room turned into cactus-filled greenhouse* ANIKI!!

[2]
Yuuta: What are you writing, aniki?
Fuji: Oh, it's fic about you. Want to read?
Yuuta: ...

[3]
Little!Yuuta: Can you help me with this, aniki? 3-2=?
Little!Fuji: ^_^ Okay. If there were three Yuutas and two were brutally murdered, how many are left?
Little!Yuuta: O_O ...one?
Little!Fuji: Right answer! ^____^

...Et cetera ad infinitum. XD

Re:

Date: 2004-02-03 12:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fyredancer.livejournal.com
No one writes TakaFuji ever.

Wot, NEVER? You have a short memory...

Re:

Date: 2004-02-03 12:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] petronia.livejournal.com
Wot, NEVER? You have a short memory...

Incontestably so. XD;; You wrote TakaFuji, you mean? When and where? ...Seriously, I'm drawing a blank.

(I apologise in advance if it was a fic that I, like, read and commented on. See, memory, total lack of.)

Date: 2004-02-03 05:07 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fyredancer.livejournal.com
Utterly. Delightful.

And very right, down to the detail of Hard-Luck Kaidou.

Re:

Date: 2004-02-03 07:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] petronia.livejournal.com
Because it's not Seigaku ensemble fluff without Kaidou getting shafted. XD;;;

Date: 2004-02-03 07:29 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] typhoid-mary.livejournal.com
Really cute. I always want more of the boys, you know, talking to each other in the series. Except for a less obscure than usual Fuji (and who'd a thunk I'd say that about you) it felt like the series, especially with your ideas about how they would bring their talents to this new game. So Fuji was the one pestering you for an outdoor rink, despite it being Tokyo?
-Mari

Re:

Date: 2004-02-03 07:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] petronia.livejournal.com
Except for a less obscure than usual Fuji (and who'd a thunk I'd say that about you)

Hahahahaha I know! I was editing both Tezuka and Fuji down like crazy. "Why are you talking so damned much!?" This when in the actual series they have conversations that could be straight out of my usual run of fic.

[literal]
Fuji: Tezuka, have you ordered the matches yet? If it's possible, I'd like to play Jiroh.
Tezuka: You really care about your brother.
Fuji: How's your arm, Tezuka? If you play with your arm half-healed you're going to lose.

[subtext]
Fuji: I have to bury the fellow who beat my brother in a shallow grave. I'd owe you one, but in any case you won't be disappointed in the outcome.
Tezuka: You're letting personal feelings cloud the issue.
Fuji: Funny, that makes two of us.

...Yeah, it was Fuji. He was voted Most Likely To Figure Skate in the fanbook, though, so apparently the Japanese fen agrees with me. XD

Re:

Date: 2004-02-03 12:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] worldserpent.livejournal.com
Man, your memory and close-viewing are far beyond mine...

I wonder how long it takes before someone creates a fanpage dedicated to TeniPuri analysis? Actually, the TeniPuri English fandom is doing way too much at the same time for me to really keep up on it. I don't even know if people have made webpages, I'm just centered on LJ stuff these days.

Re:

Date: 2004-02-03 01:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] petronia.livejournal.com
Well, this is my second runthrough of the series (manga and anime). And I have to make at least some show of paying attention to subtext if I'm going to write these characters. ^^;

I think FET is still the best single webpage resource for canon data. Then there's a couple of very complete Hyoutei shrines, and... that's about it. People keep the analysis to their own blogs, methinks.

(PS: If there's anything you'd like out of 10.5 or 20.5 you have but to ask. :D Though when one has said books physically in one's hands it becomes readily apparent why no one ever translates more than dribblets and drabblets at a time. They're mindbogglingly detailed and utterly chaotic.)

Date: 2004-02-03 01:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vignette00.livejournal.com
I love the part where Tezuka just drinks his cocoa and waits for Fuji to explain what he was babbling about when he mentioned Peanuts. It's such a Tezuka-move.

As for Fuji ice-skating, it can't be a good thing, can it, that I'm picturing him in a flowly soft material skirt and waltzing around to classical music? I'm sure he'd do finishing stances to his routines, though, considering the dramatic pose he strikes when he finishes a Higuma Otoshi.

Re:

Date: 2004-02-03 07:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] petronia.livejournal.com
I was drinking my cocoa and waiting for Fuji to tell me what the hell he was on about. XD <--(was literally drinking cocoa while writing this part of the fic)

Fuji ice-skating: word. *pictures Fuji doing that Takeshi Honda bolero routine*

Date: 2004-02-03 07:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vignette00.livejournal.com
*makes you put on Tezuka wig and glasses and forces you to POSE for the camera*

Can you see Oishi and Eiji in doubles or something? I mean. *weeps* Prince of Ice Skating! Ryoma, the flashy newcomer from America, who skates to rock music, finds his kin in Momo, the upstart skater in Seigaku who's had badluck straight through! UNTIL THEY DO DOUBLES! Tezuka who's recovering from a secret hip injury! Fuji the cross-dressing female singles skating champion! Oishi and Eiji, the Golden Pair, who've never scored less than , except for that one time when Eiji forgot to drink his soda and tangled his skates in between Oishi's legs and they both fell down! But uh. Kaidoh and Inui are not allowed to skate. Ever. And Taka... only if he's lucky.

Date: 2004-02-03 04:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rageprufrock.livejournal.com
I think you're my hero. You do such a brilliant job with Tezuka and Fuji. You're going on my recommendations list for February, thank you for rocking my world!

Re:

Date: 2004-02-03 07:14 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] petronia.livejournal.com
Thanks! :D Always happy to hear someone liked it.

Date: 2004-02-04 02:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fable.livejournal.com
Hey! I was just surfing through LJ when I came across this fic, and, yeah. Had to comment, because this was *wonderful*. Your Fuji was so delightful - mischevious without being malicious, yet still with an edge, and able to give Tezuka the worst headaches seemingly just by *existing*. I got the same frission from this fic that I get from watching him in the anime. So, thanks for writing this - it was a pleasure reading it.

Re:

Date: 2004-02-05 07:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] petronia.livejournal.com
Thanks for the compliments! *^_^* I'm glad you liked it.

Date: 2004-02-04 08:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keieru.livejournal.com
...and now I have to watch Tenipuri as well, I see. Argh. I have not the time for this nonsense.

It's an adorable fic. And the transition from cute to oddly disturbing is very smooth.

Re:

Date: 2004-02-05 07:31 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] petronia.livejournal.com
I doom you to following me from one shounen anime fandom to another! Doom, I say! XD Eheh.

(Congrats on the job thing, btw. :D)

Date: 2004-02-07 02:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] beckymarie.livejournal.com
You know what I loved about this fic the most? The way you got everyone in there, the way I could just picture everything so clearly, the way it was all... *waves hands, groping for words* the usual Seigaku insanity swirling around the one sane man in the place. ^_~ (It's a wonder he manages to stay sane having to deal with that day after day after day. XD) Your writing is gorgeous as always, I'm floored by the details, and your Fuji and Tezuka feel right. Fuji quoting Charlie Brown and commenting on the Zamboni were fabulous touches.

Kawamura's gaze locked on Momoshiro, a few feet away. "YOU TRYING TO START SOMETHING, PEACHES?"

This, however, is the line that caused me to lose it. I was vastly amused the entire time, but this just did me in. ♥ ♥ ♥

Re:

Date: 2004-02-09 09:27 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] petronia.livejournal.com
Sankyuu! Glad you liked it. :D Yasmin and I were discussing whether Ryouma had ever been tempted to call Momo "Peaches"; I came later to the independent conclusion that Ryouma prolly wouldn't, but that it would be right up burning!Taka's alley.

Tezuka's strength and weakness is that he just won't give in. XD If he did he wouldn't get those pesky tension headaches; Inui is literally right when he says muscular flexibility exercises should also extend to the face.

Date: 2004-02-07 09:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ayatsujik.livejournal.com
I really, really <3 you. Nothing else I can say. And here I thought I was starting to lose my PoT sparkly. XD

Re:

Date: 2004-02-09 09:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] petronia.livejournal.com
Noooo, don't lose the PoT sparkly! :O A fine thing to do to me that would be.

(Glad you liked it. :D I would've left you a note on your lj like I said, but, er, the last entry you made was FMA fic, and I can't click through to that yet. ^^;; Actually I have FMA ep.1-16 sitting on my computer table, courtesy Lux who is my hero, but I've only been eying them warily. As if they were explosive.)

Date: 2004-02-08 02:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] myth720.livejournal.com
wai!! that was really fun fic! i wish it was longer, i'd love it if Fuji would be teasing Tezuka on the ice XDD great characterization with everyone, tho i'm not sure how well Fuji knows Peanuts.. but the rest of it seemed like sth he'd say, he's eccentric that way ^___^ loved the Momoshiro & Kaidoh part, ahh i just loved everything hehe

ano.. where can i find your PM fics?

PMK fic

Date: 2004-02-09 09:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] petronia.livejournal.com
Only one so far, here: http://www.kekkai.org/sabina/NnY/fiction/harunotsuki.html

Date: 2004-02-11 07:05 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
"Fine, Fujiko-chan, fine," Kawamura answered absently.

At long last, Kawamura vindicates his uncanny resemblance to Lupin III. XD
Highly doubt the similarities end at the phenotypic traits, though... ♥♥

(Am non-lj user, but hoping to change that in the near future. Just couldn't refrain from inserting my long-overdue homage, regardless of whether you would find the notion of a webstalker titillating. -_-;;; )

Re:

Date: 2004-02-11 09:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] petronia.livejournal.com
In point of fact Taka's a Lupin fan, that's why he calls Fuji that. The fanbook sez so. XD

You can sign up a lj easy now, no code necessary. Anyhow, just leave a name next time so's I know how to address you? :)

love it

Date: 2005-08-14 02:27 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
I love the style of your writing and how you portray Fuji-Tezuka. It is very enjoyable to read.
And the last line is awesome!

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