"Shut up, idiot!"
"Hey, you bastard! Don't tell me what to do!"
"Ah, not again, you two � Eiji, what are you doing? Maybe you should get down from there in case the bus stops suddenly�"
Fuji knelt on his seat, watching the chaos unfolding at the back of the bus with interest. To say that everyone was overexcited would be something of an understatement, and Eiji as usual was the worst of the lot. Currently he seemed to be using the seat backs as a sort of climbing frame, hanging over to wave his arms in the first years' faces. Oishi, of course, was occupied with trying to coax Eiji down before he hurt himself, which meant that there was no one to distract Momoshiro and Kaidoh from their disagreement.
"What did you call me?"
"Wanna make something of it, Viper?!"
"Momo-chan-senpai!" One of Echizen's little fanboys tugged on Momoshiro's sleeve helplessly, then cringed back as Kaidoh hissed. That one would never make a Regular, Fuji thought dispassionately, exchanging smirks with Inui, a few seats back, as the familiar chorus of "Wanna fight?" started up again.
"Momo, Kaidoh, that's enough � Eiji, stop bouncing like that, I know we won but you're making me seasick�"
Poor Oishi, Fuji thought with amusement, stuck in the middle of that. He himself had been careful to take a front seat, across the aisle from Tezuka who was making a determined effort to read a vaguely familiar-looking textbook. From here Fuji could observe the antics of his more enthusiastic team-mates without getting uncomfortably caught up in them.
"Hey, hey, senpai!" The loud first year, Horio, was waving his arms in an attempt to make peace, or at least a truce. "Wasn't that shot of Buchou's great? And Ryoma-kun's thing with the spin �"
Fuji smirked, settling back into his seat as the talk turned to dissecting the matches yet again. The 'thing with the spin' had been a truly impressive piece of ball control that had turned a thirty-minute tie-break into Seigaku's win. Fuji had wondered at the time whether Echzen had learned it from him; it reminded him of the way he put the extra spin onto a Tsubame Gaeshi. Tezuka� was always Tezuka.
"Weeeee are the chaaaampions, my frieeeeend!" Fuji saw Tezuka twitch at that; Eiji didn't have much of a singing voice. His English wasn't so great either.
"Ah, no more singing �" Oishi began, but Eiji carried on right over the top of him, Momo joining in.
"Weeeee'll keep on fiiiiiighting to the eeeeeeend!"
"Shut up, bastard!"
"Make me! No time for losers, 'cause we are the champions!"
"Hmm," Fuji murmured to himself; movement caught his eye and he looked up to see Echizen scowling his way down the aisle, swaying with the movement of the bus.
"Buchou?"
"Echizen?" Tezuka looked up from his book curiously; Fuji smirked.
"Can I sit here? It's too loud back there."
"If you want." Tezuka shifted his bag to make room, and Echizen dropped down beside him, slumping into the seat with a yawn. Fuji smiled to himself; usually the baby of the team slept their bus journeys away, but with the racket the others were making and the fact that his usual pillow was busy yelling at Kaidoh� This could be fun. Casually, he reached for the strap of his bag, tugging it down from the overhead rack.
It didn't take more than a minute or two for Echizen's head to droop onto Tezuka's shoulder; Fuji distinctly saw the captain freeze for a long moment before turning a page as though there was nothing unusual about being slept on by first years. Careful not to make any sudden movements, Fuji reached into his racquet bag, locating his camera by touch. It was summer, so there was still plenty of light left, but the angle was wrong and if he used flash he'd wake Echizen and alert everyone else.
The bus slowed to take a corner, and Echizen's mouth creased into a little pout; he clutched at Tezuka's sleeve with one hand, snuggling against the older boy's side. Tezuka didn't so much as look down at him, but he turned three pages in close succession, too fast to have read anything on them. Fuji raised the camera carefully, hearing the frantic scratching of Inui's pencil from behind as the bus turned again and patches of light slid across the seats in window shapes. One of them settled over the sleeping Echizen, who turned his face into Tezuka's shoulder, a tiny smile tugging at his mouth.
Perfect, Fuji thought, and snapped the picture before anything could spoil the moment. The click of the shutter went unheard, drowned by Eiji and Momo's attempts at Queen; he tucked the camera away quickly, already anticipating the fun he could have with a picture like that. When Echizen saw it�
The bus shuddered to a halt outside the school, and Echizen shifted with a soft sound that might have been words and might have been a muffled snore; Fuji wasn't close enough to hear. It made Tezuka freeze again, though, before he closed his book serenely and stowed it back in his bag. The movement dislodged Echizen, who yawned himself awake, blinking muzzily up at his erstwhile pillow. Fuji watched with amusement as his eyes went wide and golden, his mouth rounding into an O.
"We're here," was all Tezuka said, and Echizen flushed suddenly scarlet, looking down at the floor as he scrambled out of his seat. Fuji turned his face to the window, fingers running lightly over the bulge of the camera in his bag, and watched the way Tezuka's reflected eyes followed Echizen off the bus.