Warnings: Some degree of OOC-ness, SHOTA, and REALLY BAD POETRY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Chapter 5: Favors

All the Seigaku regulars had come to watch Echizen declaim. Momoshiro and Kikumaru were no doubt relishing the opportunity to gather potential blackmail material to use against the freshman. Inui brought along his usual green notebook, prepared to jot down any relevant data on Echizen's profile. Kaidoh was there, but only because Inui dragged him along, supposedly, until Momo loudly revealed that he saw Kaidoh marking the event in his planner during their shared homeroom class .(Kaidoh punched him in the face for that but Momo said it was worth it). Oishi came prepared with a good supply of tissues, tearfully rejoicing in Echizen's giant step towards a higher EQ. Kawamura had brought another sushi coupon as a gift for Echizen. And Fuji, of course, had obligated himself to be a one-man documentary team and brought an SLR camera, a light meter, two studio stand lights, three tripods, and three camcorders. How he managed to set up all those things in a span of thirty minutes in a quite crowded auditorium eluded everyone's guesses.

And then, there was Tezuka.

The team had prime seats, care of Fuji, smack in the center front row. They waited excitedly as the lights dimmed and the emcee came out to greet the audience and introduce the contestants as they take their turn.

Then the contest began.

There were six declamation pieces in all, some of which included How do I Love Thee, by Elizabeth Barett Browning; The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt, The Road not Taken by Robert Frost, and of course, Echizen's O Captain, my Captain by Walt Whitman.

Echizen was the last contestant. When his turn came, Oishi turned to Momoshiro and Kikumaru, who had fallen asleep sometime during the speech of the second contestant, and shook them awake.

"Huh? Wha—Oh, it's Echizen's turn…" Momoshiro yawned and rubbed his eyes, earning him an affronted look from the contestant who just finished.

When Echizen emerged from the wings, Kikumaru released a loud cry of delight. "WAAAAIIII, there he is!" he bubbled, bouncing in his seat. "UNYA! Kawaii!"

"Hey, Echizen has an earring!" Momoshiro noted loudly. "Fuji-senpai, how did he get that?"

Fuji smiled serenely. "Oh well, incidentally, there was a hammer and some thin nails in the costume box so I thought, since Echizen's going to act like a pirate, he might as well experience how pirates complete their looks."

The rest of the team sans Inui and Tezuka looked at Fuji, horror-struck.

Fuji chuckled. "Kidding. It's a clip-on."

Everyone visibly breathed a sigh of relief then turned to watch Echizen, who looked quite surprised to see all his senpais gawking at him from the front seats. Kikumaru and Momoshiro were being particularly annoying as they imitated some of his fangirls, making goo goo eyes and blowing kisses at his direction shouting stupid things such as:

"Ryoma-sama! You look absolutely dashing in those princely rags!"

"Oh take me away with you Ryoma-kun!"

If eyes were shuriken, Kikumaru and Momoshiro would be human shiskebob. Of course, the two disregarded this and just screamed louder.

"Ooh, it's that sexy scowl! Did you see that Eiji-senpai? He scowled at me! Isn't that the cutest thing you've ever seen?"

"KYAAA!" Kikumaru and Momoshiro mimed jumpy hugging. "We love you Ryoma-kun!"

Tezuka ignored the antics of his teammates, leaving Oishi to settle things. His eyes were focused solely on the lone figure onstage. Echizen had stopped glaring at his two immature senpais and had settled himself on his position on the stage, waiting for his introduction.

The lights dimmed and a yellow spotlight focused on Echizen. After the formal introduction, Echizen started.

"O Captain, my Captain! Our fearful trip is done;

This ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won;

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:"

He approached the imaginary captain and knelt down, performing his actions and delivering his lines as if Tezuka was really there on the stage with him.

"But O heart! Heart! Heart!

O the bleeding drops of red

Where on the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen, cold and dead."

Echizen's low husky voice broke, along with his expression. He paused for effect before standing up to deliver the next stanza, his voice immediately gaining momentum.

"O Captain, my captain! Rise up and hear the bells;

Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;

For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding;

For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning:"

Echizen genuflected and cradled an imaginary Tezuka in his arms. Tezuka felt an inexplicable rush of emotion at the gesture, his mind flashing scenes from their past practices. It didn't hurt to remind himself that it was he, Tezuka Kunimitsu, that Echizen was imagining to be with him onstage. Tezuka watched with rapt attention as Echizen flawlessly carried on with the poem, his voice breaking and gaining strength at the right words, his movements and gestures defined and hiding nothing. Tezuka practically felt Echizen's fingers tracing his skin, the warm breath tickling his forehead, even though they were several meters apart.

"Hear Captain! Dear Father!

This arm beneath your head;

It is some dream that on the deck

You've fallen cold and dead."

Tezuka was blown away when tears suddenly trickled down Echizen's cheeks, unchecked. He heard some sniffling beside him and was not surprised to see a teary-eyed Oishi holding a fistful of tissues to his eyes. Momoshiro's mouth was agape while Kikumaru, who was unconsciously holding on to Momoshiro's arm, looked unusually serious. Fuji, unsurprisingly, didn't stay put on his seat and was roving around, his camera never seeming to leave his hands.

"My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse or will;

This ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won:"

Maybe it was just the lights or something, but it seemed that every time Echizen turned towards the audience's direction, he was looking straight at Tezuka.

"Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!

But I, with mournful tread,

Walk the dead my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead."

When he finished, the crowds were silent. Whether it was because they were awed by Echizen's delivery of the piece, or shocked that Echizen Ryoma had portrayed emotions so realistically, to the point of actually shedding tears in front of an audience, was irrelevant. There was no question as to who won the contest.

Then Tezuka stood up and started clapping. Soon after, a roaring applause broke out.

Oishi was blowing into what seemed to be his fifteenth piece of tissue and simultaneously handing the tissue box to Momoshiro and Kikumaru, who were oddly enough, sobbing into each other's arms. Inui scribbled furiously in his notebook. Kaidoh didn't move, his arms folded across his chest, but the blush on his cheeks was a giveaway sign of his heartfelt admiration of Echizen's performance. Kawamura, who had somehow gotten hold of a racket, was standing on his chair, shouting. "BURNING! ECHIZEN, YOU ROCK BABY!"

As for Fuji, he had simply stood to the side, smiling gleefully as he snapped pictures of the team in this state of disarray.

Tezuka wearily climbed the steps leading to his bedroom. It had been a long day, one that didn't conclude auspiciously. Since he was no longer within the scrutinizing eyes of the general public, he didn't bother to conceal his downed spirits, his eyes downcast and his gait unstable.

He was quite disappointed that he didn't get to spend time with Echizen after the performance. He and Fuji had mysteriously disappeared after the awards ceremony. When Tezuka asked where they were, Oishi mentioned something about Echizen having prior plans, and Fuji tagging along to accompany him on said plans.

Something on Tezuka's expression must've seemed out of place, because Oishi hastily added, "I'm sure they're just hanging out or something. Perhaps Fuji wanted to congratulate Echizen personally for his performance… or… " His assuasive smile faltered as he saw Tezuka's unchanged demeanor. He bit his lip and sighed. "I'm not being reassuring am I?"

Tezuka just shook his head. He felt pathetic, allowing his jealousy and self-pity to get to him like that, and quickly countered it with his inflection-less tone. "It doesn't matter. I'm going home."

He wouldn't put it past Fuji to be the type of person who'd present his one great wish on a silver platter then snatch it away from his fingertips saying 'Ha! You can't have him!'

With that last thought in mind, Tezuka swung his bedroom door open.

"It's about time you got home."

Tezuka 's heart jumped to his throat. Grabbing the first thing his hands could reach, he whirled around, the object raised in front of him.

A familiar snicker resounded from the bed. Suddenly pale yellow light flooded the room, as the lampshade on his bedside table glowed to life.

Tezuka squinted, his eyes adjusting to the intrusion of light, and he blinked a few times, before finally landing on the trespasser on his bed.

He couldn't wipe the surprise from his face even if he tried.

Echizen sat tangled in his navy blue cotton sheets, still donned in that ridiculous pirate costume of his. He glanced at the thing in Tezuka's hand, one fine eyebrow raised. "Are you going to use that on me?"

Tezuka looked at the object his hands: Jergen's Original Scent lotion. iOops./i He quickly put it back on the table. "Er… no, sorry. I didn't know it was you." Then after schooling his expression so that it betrayed none of his thoughts, he cleared his throat and turned towards the younger boy. "How did you get in here?"

"I scaled the walls and opened your window with a crowbar," Echizen answered, shrugging. "It was a cinch."

Tezuka blinked at him, confused.

Echizen sighed impatiently. "Your mom let me in. Fuji-senpai accompanied me here and introduced me to her."

"Oh." Tezuka took a few seconds to digest this new information. Then he remembered the first question he should've asked. "What are you doing here?"

Echizen scooted towards the edge of the bed. "Remember the favor Fuji-senpai asked of me?" he asked, tilting his head. "Well, this is it."

Tezuka lifted an eyebrow. "He told you to scare me half to death in my own bedroom?"

"No, he told me to come here and deliver my own version of O captain my Captain to you."

Tezuka just stared at him.

Echizen released another impatient breath. "Just lie down on the bed and watch me," he instructed. "And don't laugh."

Not one to be ordered around, especially by his own kouhai (never mind that Echizen was the same person who happened to be the stuff that makes his daily morning wood extra painful), Tezuka remained rooted to his spot. "Since when did you have your own version of O captain my Captain?"

"Since yesterday. It was Fuji-senpai's idea." Echizen made a face at this. "You're not dead here, of course. But you need to lie down."

"Ah. I see." Tezuka's brow furrowed. "And you are going to recite it to me, because…?"

"You'll understand in the end." Echizen leapt off the bed and patted it. "Can you lie down now? I want to get this done as quickly as possible."

Though Tezuka was still baffled as to where Echizen was getting at, he complied, deciding to withhold his questions till after Echizen was done with… whatever it was he was going to do.

Echizen didn't even wait til Tezuka had finished making himself comfortable before starting. climbed on the bed and stood up on the mattress, swaying slightly as he tried to catch his balance. "O Captain, my Captain, " he began, his face looming over him. "…My great ordeal is done. The crowds have cheered and clapped and left, the prize I sought is won."

He then approached Tezuka, his legs on either side of Tezuka's torso, giving him a wonderful view of the boy's tightly clothed nether regions. "The time is near, your breath I hear, steady calm and waiting." He genuflected on his left leg, keeping just the slightest distance from Tezuka's body, reaching out a hand to touch the side of Tezuka's face. "While follow eyes your soul's appeal, my own soul grim yet daring."

Then to Tezuka's utmost relief, Echizen stood up again, the mattress bouncing slightly with the force. "But O heart… heart… heart! O the bleeding drops of red. Where on this bed, my Captain lies…" He gently bent down on one knee and ran a finger on Tezuka's lips. "…with feelings left unsaid."

The truth that lay therein in Echizen's poem tugged at the strings of Tezuka's heart and he looked away, not trusting his eyes not to belie his internal turmoil. He wondered briefly if the freshman knew. It would certainly make sense, with Echizen being unabashed with this strange, yet arresting engagement.

Tezuka's breath caught in his throat as Echizen suddenly swung one leg on his other side, practically straddling the older boy. "O Captain, my Captain, rise up and heed my pleas. Rise up- for you I raise my voice, through you I win release." He lowered his torso in an angle calculated for barely visible distance as he held Tezuka's cheeks in his hands, his soulful feline eyes looking straight into Tezuka's own. "For you I'll bear the sadist's schemes, ingenious ways and cunning. For you I'll fall, down on my knees, my eyes all glazed and wanting."

The words themselves were breaking Tezuka's cool demeanor with the blunt sincerity in which Echizen said them.

For a moment, he was suffused with the urge to pull Echizen down and shut him up with a strategically well-timed oral maneuver but he quickly quelled it. Though it tore him apart to listen to Echizen (because deep within him, Tezuka knew that he should be the one saying these things to the young tennis prodigy), he was mildly curious as to what other wonders the poem might reveal.

Echizen slipped a hand under Tezuka's head and rested his other hand on Tezuka's collarbone. "Here Captain, dear Buchou… My arm beneath your head," he said softly. "Break not my heart, your feelings have…" He shifted his hand higher, his fingers feeling the pulse on the crevice beneath Tezuka's ear. "…Not fallen cold and dead."

The once fleeting touches now lingered enticingly on Tezuka's skin, and all Tezuka could think about was Echizen's graceful, feline body and how his own wanted it. The ordeal was torturous, but deliciously so. He was pretty sure Echizen now must have an idea of how much he was affecting the normally expressionless captain. Strangely though, that was the least of Tezuka's worries.

"My Captain, won't you answer? Are your lips too parched, too still?" He ran his fingers down and along Tezuka's arm, stopping on Tezuka's knuckles. "My Buchou, don't you feel my heart?" He lifted Tezuka's hand and placed it on his chest. "Have you lost all hope and will?" His voice gained volume, with a note of beseeching desolation attached therein. "These words I speak, straight from my soul, as bright and real as the sun. As pure and gentle as the moon, who reigns when day is done."

Tezuka could feel his defenses slipping. The subtle lilt to Echizen's tone, the inbred huskiness of his voice, the enthralling strokes of his fingertips, all but made him lose coherence of thought. Echizen was that good. Tezuka never knew poetry could be so powerfully seductive.

"Hold still, dear heart, this piece is done." He finally settled himself on Tezuka's pelvis, lying halfway atop him, as he placed his hands on either side of Tezuka's head. "Only one thing left unsaid." He lowered his face a few more inches, peering down at Tezuka piercingly. "All my desires and hopes O Captain…" His voice dropped to a mild whisper, thick with emotion. "Let in my eyes be read."

Echizen's eyes were strangely vulnerable, uncertain and flickering with an undecipherable emotion that Tezuka couldn't quite place for the moment. After some time, he broke eye contact, the intense gaze overwhelming him, and he focused his gaze on the boy's lips. They were moving closer.

He felt Echizen's lips a moment before they met his own. The kiss was sweet, chaste and unassuming, qualities that were the exact antithesis of Echizen's personality. However, despite this striking disparity, Tezuka didn't think it odd at all. It seemed right, somehow.

As the kiss went on, the alarms in the back of his head sounded, and he knew it was a matter of minutes before he gave in.

But Tezuka was nothing if not rational, even in the face of works of devils like Fuji. He didn't forget that little bit of information. Gathering all fringes of rational thought, he steeled himself when Echizen pulled away, and looked straight into his eyes. Then before his courage fled, he spoke. "You're not playing around with me, are you now, Echizen?" he questioned, hoping his tone didn't betray his premature nervousness.

Echizen's eyes widened, obviously taken aback. "Why would I do that?"

Tezuka kept his expression straight. "You told me yourself that Fuji was the one behind all this."

"Yeah. So? You think Fuji-senpai's just hacking around with you?"

"I wouldn't put it past him."

"Hn. I understand. I'll be suspicious too if I were you," Echizen admitted, bouncing slightly on his perch, causing an unwanted ripple of tingles up Tezuka's torso. "But no, sorry. I'm not playing around. Were you expecting me to?"

Tezuka didn't say anything.

Echizen smirked. "Che, Buchou, Fuji-senpai was right. You do have an insecure side."

"Is insulting me part of the plan too?"

Echizen's brow furrowed. "Where did that come from? Honestly Buchou, you'd think that after I looked like an idiot spouting poetry to you, you'd appreciate my efforts, but no, you still think I'm playing around."

"So you're not?"

"After all that… " Echizen sighed in disbelief and removed the bandana from his head. "Buchou. I like you. Okay? That poem's just a really fancy way of saying it—as well as a way to get Fuji-senpai's favor over and done with. Yes, I know it sucked, as my English isn't exactly poet material—and because I have to at least keep the formalities in the original poem, but I meant every single cheese-filled word."

Tezuka had stopped listening after Echizen mentioned the words "I like you," and could only look blankly at Echizen, who was looking at him expectantly. For some reason, his mind lingered on those three little words, refusing to process anything beyond that.

Echizen Ryoma liked him. Fuji could hack around all he wanted but Echizen Ryoma liked him. And that was worth everything.

It was only when Echizen pounced on him and kissed him so hard, they practically sank into the mattress did Tezuka reel back from his delighted trance and focus on the present.

And of course, just as Tezuka was about to return the kiss, Echizen broke away.

"Mada mada da ne, Buchou. Do you get the picture now?"

"Nn."

"Good." Echizen peered down at him with alluring half-lidded eyes. "Now let me ask you a question and be honest with me." He leaned an inch lower, his breath teasing the nerves on Tezuka's chin. "Do you like me?"

Tezuka's throat felt strangely parched as he answered. "Yes."

"Ah." Though Echizen was confident enough in his approach, his eyes betrayed relief. "Care to describe just how much?"

Tezuka leveled the challenging look on the freshman's face with an unyielding expression of his own. "Why don't I just show you?"

Echizen smirked, leaning back slightly. "Heh… Please do."

Tezuka fought back a smile. This was it. The moment he had been agonizing over for god-knows-how-long.

However, to his credit, he didn't rush, despite being driven by painful, strong compulsions. A methodical person by nature, he found nothing wrong with applying his organization to this more intimate sphere. The first thing to do, was to remove the unnecessary components.

Tezuka's fingers traced the ripped contours of the thin shirt, running across the outline of one fine nipple before settling on a particularly large opening.

Echizen could only shiver in delight as he felt the garment get stripped of his body. The rush of cool air and the sound of ripping cloth heightened his senses, and he shifted edgily in anticipation.

Tezuka smiled satisfactorily, as he carelessly tossed the ruined shirt to the floor. He had always wanted to do that.

Now that the boy's chest was very much open for exploration, the next thing to do, was… was…

His eyes traveled from the bud-shaped mouth to the enticingly graceful neck then to the flat porcelain chest, unsure of which to attack first.

Screw methodology, he decided eventually, and switched gears from thinking to doing.

In a blink of an eye, Echizen was catapulted to the other side of the bed with Tezuka lying halfway atop him, with the captain's hands and lips roaming everywhere on his body.

"Now that's more like it," Echizen whispered as he closed his eyes, and allowed himself to melt under Tezuka's ministrations.

"I thought you were doing all that because Fuji asked you to," Tezuka murmured into his ear, as he simultaneously ground his hips against the smaller youth's own.

Echizen gasped at the jolt that Tezuka's fluid motion educed, and barely rasped out his response. "Do… I look, ah… like Fuji-senpai's personal slave to you?"

Tezuka shook his head, a little more vehemently than necessary, disturbed by the very notion of it. "Of course not. I won't allow it." Then as if to emphasize his point, he gently bit on the junction of the boy's neck and sucked on it, well aware of the mark it would create.

"Unghh…good…answer." Echizen buried his face on a nearby pillow to stifle his moans as Tezuka moved further south and teased one rock-hard nipple with a skillful tongue. Pleased with the reaction, Tezuka continued, his tongue tracing a wet path of warmth across Echizen's chest.

It could've been seconds, it could've been minutes, but sometime during their intense make-out cum heavy petting session (and just as Tezuka had succeeded in getting a hand inside Echizen's pants) Echizen suddenly planted a hand on the older boy's chest, stopping Tezuka from further devouring him.

"So, Captain," he spoke up, panting slightly, his eyes brimming with mischief as they stared up at Tezuka's still wanting ones.

"What?" Tezuka clearly didn't appreciate getting interrupted.

Echizen grinned. "I assume you want to take me up on that favor now, don't you?"

Tezuka allowed the barest hint of a wicked smile to grace his face. He glanced fleetingly at the general direction of the dresser.

"Aye."

-Fin-

A/N: Suffice to say, I had a field day coming up with Ryoma's version of O captain my Captain. I'm sorry about that sucky other poem, but hey, what do you expect from a thirteen-year-old who only thinks about tennis? ::ducks rotten tomatoes:: For those classic lit fans out there, believe me on this one: I did not intend to bastardize Walt Whitman's masterpiece (although I fully understand if you feel that I did) This has got to be the most inane piece of drivel my coffee-contaminated brain has ever come up with. OMG, I'm so sorry for subjecting you guys with it. Go ahead, pelt me with tennis balls.

Edit: Just found out that the poem represents Abraham Lincoln. I have absolutely no background on American History so uh, I'm really sorry. I feel even worse. I AM SORRY WALT WHITMAN PLEASE STOP ROLLING IN YOUR GRAVE.

But wait, what's this? Fuji-muse is complaining that there's not much of him in this chapter? Hmm. Alright then, let's fix that.

Here's a little extra everybody.

EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA

Setting: Tezuka's room, approximately an hour later (or at least after the time it takes for Echizen to fulfill Tezuka's favors )

"Ne, Buchou, I just remembered something."

"What is it?"

"I think Fuji-senpai's still in your bathroom."

"What?"

"I didn't expect you to return home so soon. I pushed him into the bathroom a few seconds before you opened the door."

"Do you mean to tell me that Fuji might just have seen us doing…"

Choked silence.

"I think so. I was so caught up in my acting and… well, all that happened after that, that I forgot all about him."

"…"

"Are you mad? I'm really sorry."

"… Fuji, if you're hearing this, please step out."

A second. Then two. Then three. Then..

Bathroom door creaks open. "… My, my, Echizen, that was very generous of you."

"Fuji-sen—"

"I never doubted that you can pull it off but this is way more than I bargained for. I never imagined you'd both be so vocal in bed."

"Fuji-sen—"

"Oh, and Echizen did you know that Tezuka uses the same brand of shampoo as yours?"

"Fuji, that's enough. If you don't mind, I'll appreciate it if you kindly show yourself out."

"Of course. Sorry for the trouble. Bye Echizen." :: sadistic chuckle ::

"But Buchou—"

"Echizen, please, not another word until Fuji is satisfactorily out of my house."

"Fine." :: sulks ::

After five minutes…

"Can I talk now?"

"You just did."

"Hn. Fuji-senpai has a camcorder in his bag."

"What?"

"And he most probably taped us doing it in your bed."

More silence. Then…

"You'll be the death of me Echizen Ryoma. Any more disclosures and you're going to recite to me the original version of the poem."

"Don't say that Buchou. I truly am sorry. Are you mad at me?"

:: Pause :: "…No, it was an honest mistake."

"Then everything's okay?"

"No."

"Then you're really mad at me."

"I didn't say that. Everything is not okay, but I'll let it go. It may take some time getting used to but it's not worth wasting breath over."

:: hug :: "I'm so glad you think of it that way."

Fifteen minutes (and a lot of heavy kissing and other… more interesting maneuvers) later…

"Ne Buchou." :: cuddles ::

"What is it now?"

"Can we get a copy?"

-CUT!-

Okay, I'll stop now.