*Drawing the Line*

-FOUR-

"Why aren't you eating lunch? Feeling sick?"

Eiji looked up from the magazine he was reading to face the one who had just asked the question. "Not hungry, nyaa. Besides, my mum is cooking something lavish later so I want to save as much space as I can here," he said with a pat at his tummy. A wide cat-like grin lit up his face and one could practically see a thought bubble filled with delicious food hovering over the redhead.

"Hmm… I'm so envious," Fuji remarked

Eiji shrugged his shoulders playfully and turned his attention back to the magazine on the table. "So why aren't you eating lunch?" he asked as he flipped a page.

"I've got no one to eat with," answered Fuji as he allowed his lids to ease upwards. It was true though. Tezuka had gone off to have a talk with Ryuzaki-sensei… along with Oishi. At the thought, his lids slid back down, hiding the pair of now ominous blue eyes. "Saa, Eiji… I've got something to ask you," he said in a fallaciously friendly tone.

Absent-mindedly, Eiji nodded. He was totally engrossed in the article he was reading, which Fuji noted was one on relationships.

"Eiji…" the tensai started. "Do you like Oishi?"

The redhead froze, one hand that was about to flip a page immobilized. He slowly turned to the smiling devil in an angel's robe. Well, not really a devil but with such a question, he qualified though. "Huh-nyaa?"

Fuji's smile widened slightly. "Do you like Oishi?" he asked again in an innocent tone.

Hoi…why is Fuji asking me such a question? Does he know? Masaka? Maybe Fuji's trying to trap me! I can't fall into his trap or Oishi will be angry with me! "Of course I do, nyaa," Eiji answered smoothly, which momentarily startled the tensai. "I like all my friends."

A slender fair brow inclined slightly. So Eiji was trying to play it cool. The tensai's smile stretched dangerously. "I'm not talking about that kind of 'like'. I'm sure you know what I mean."

Eiji tilted his head, a look of contemplation crossing his features. "Not that kind of 'like'?" he asked, feigning incomprehension. "Doesn't 'like' means you're fond of somebody? In that case, I do like Oishi but I am fond of you too, nyaa. Come to think of it, I'm also fond of Ochibi, Momo, Kaidoh though he's kind of weird, Taka-san, Inu—"

"Yare yare…" Fuji sighed, breaking Eiji's ramblings. As Fate would have it, some of their classmates began strolling into the classroom and the tensai realized that break-time would soon be over. When he turned back to Eiji, his smile had lost its predatory edge and it was taking all of the redhead's willpower to remain collected. "Class is starting soon. Aa, literature isn't it? We are going to discuss Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, right?" He stood up and walked back to his seat, clearly absent-minded, and Eiji heaved a huge, inaudible sigh of relief.

"Mataku… that guy can be so scary sometimes," he mumbled under his breath as he closed the magazine before him.

He waited till they were alone in the clubroom before walking over to the boy seated on the bench who was tying his shoelaces. The black-haired boy, aware of a presence before him, looked up, a questioning look on his face. "What is it, Eiji?" Oishi asked with a small smile.

The redhead remained silent and sat down beside the green-eyed boy instead. Oishi turned to face his partner, a worried expression now replacing the prior one. "Daijobu ka, Eiji? Is something troubling you?" he questioned anxiously.

"You're the troubled one, nyaa…"Eiji whispered.

Oishi managed to feign bewilderment though he was certain his heart had stopped beating. "What are you talking about?"

The acrobat heaved a heavy sigh before turning sharply to the boy beside him, frowning as he did so. "You can fool others, nyaa… but not me!" he shrieked, sounding like an old nag. "These past three days you've not been playing your best and those smiles on your face were sooo fake!"

Unable to stop himself, Oishi let out a chuckle, though somewhat strained. "Am I that obvious?"

Eiji pouted. "This is not funny, nyaa! And yes, to me your behavior is so obvious!" He softened his voice then. "I didn't want to press you but it's been three days so I'm going to ask now whether you like it or not. What's wrong, nyaa?"

/ Three days? Sou ka… it's been three days since I saw Tezuka and Fuji… /

Oishi looked away and focused on his half-done shoes instead. No way was he going to tell Eiji what was troubling him. Pain stabbed at his heart again at the thought of Fuji and Tezuka together and he closed his eyes shut, trying to block out the image.

"Oishi…" Eiji called out as he placed a hand on his partner's shoulder.

/ Why do I feel this pain? Is it because… But Tezuka's my best friend. I can't possibly… /

"Oishi…" Eiji called out again, leaning in closer.

/ Get a grip on yourself, Oishi! You and Tezuka… that's ridiculous! He's only a friend. And besides, how can you compete with Fuji? /

He felt an intense warmth pressed against his side then and a voice calling out his name. Lids fluttered halfway, he inclined his head to his right and saw Tezuka looking at him, concerned.

/ Tezuka? /

He felt his hand rising and before he knew what he was doing, his hand moved to cup the bespectacled boy's cheek.

"Oishi!"

Green eyes immediately came to focus and Oishi realized that it was Eiji beside him and not Tezuka. He instinctively withdrew his hand and grimaced at the widened blue eyes staring at him as if he had committed a murder.

"Gomen…" he whispered softly, wishing that he was anywhere else but there by Eiji's side. The redhead remained quiet and had not even moved an inch. Oishi mentally kicked himself for his injudicious behavior. "Gomen, Eiji…" he apologized again and hastily fastened his shoelaces before standing up. Without another word, he quickly grabbed his bag and hurried towards the door. Part of him wished that Eiji would call him back, to say that what had happened was nothing serious and that he was just delirious, which was true. But another part of him knew that there was no way the ordeal could easily be forgotten.

"Gomen, Eiji…" he said again before exiting the clubroom, leaving his partner to look after him with an unfathomable look in those dark blue eyes.

"Fuji asked what?"

Eiji gave a toothy grin and patted the anxious vice-captain reassuringly on the cheek. "Relax, nyaa! Fuji may be smart but so am I. I know he's got a trap of some sort in that pretty head of his so naturally, I gave him a hypothetical answer. I said I do like you…"

At this point, Oishi's face immediately fell and Eiji chuckled.

"…but I also said that I like you just like I like all my friends," he finished triumphantly, obviously pleased that he had gave Fuji such a cliché but effective answer.

Oishi looked up and it was obvious that he did not share Eiji's optimism. "And Fuji believed you?" he questioned slowly, as if afraid that Eiji would be upset with his skepticism.

His partner gave a deliberately huge, exasperated sigh. "Nooo…" Automatically, Oishi had his 'I-told-you-so' face on and Eiji squinted his eyes in annoyance. "But…" he quickly drawled, "I was lucky 'cuz some of our classmates entered the class in the nick of time and so I was saved from Fuji's further interrogation."

Oishi heaved another worried sigh. "It must be the rumors, Eiji. Fuji probably knew about them."

"There are no rumors, Oishi! Quit worrying, nyaa! Don't you think our friends and kouhai-tachi would have given us odd looks or whispering behind our backs if there were rumors?" Eiji questioned diplomatically.

The vice-captain gazed at the cheery face before him, feeling somewhat envious of the latter's happy-go-lucky attitude. "You're probably right," he finally gave in and pinched his partner lightly on the cheek. "Gomen ne," he apologized as his lips eased into a small smile.

"Bet-su-ni," the redhead chirped and leaned forward to kiss Oishi on the cheek. The virtue of the top floor boys' toilet was that it was rarely frequented by the students hence they were somewhat safe from the prying eyes of others, amongst some other secluded spots around the school that they both had chanced upon.

As Eiji lapsed into another round of his animated chatter, this time about the Maths teacher who had 'purposely' made him looked like a fool in front of his classmates, Oishi wondered once again where Tezuka had heard the rumors from.

~ tbc ~

Thanks to everybody who reviewed! Really, really appreciate it! Special shout-out to fellow Singaporean, spilche-san! Hewa!

Am so sorry for taking such a long time to update. Aizo (my muse) got distracted (Spanish Guitar *hint, hint*). This fic will not be abandoned (hopefully) but I'd like to apologize before hand for late updates. Oooh, by the way, just wanna point out that I like to insert flashbacks (it's just my style) so hopefully, I am not confusing you all much ^_^ And that part with Fuji-Eiji… *hint*