Disclaimer: yuku does not nor will ever own tenisu no ouji-sama

Pairing: MizukixSyusuke (double gasp!)

Cheaters Sometimes Prosper

By: yukuro

How he ended up in this situation, Yuuta had no idea. Actually, he wanted nothing more than to just back out of the house again and dash down the street. Although, it was kind of his fault that Mizuki and his older brother were staring each other down in his bedroom.

"Welcome home, Yuuta," Fuji said with a tight smile that seemed to scream, "DANGER! RUN AWAY NOW OR FACE ANNIHILATION!"

Yuuta's eye twitched slightly at the way his brother's sharp blue eyes suddenly snapped open. Taking that as a warning, he took a step backwards towards his bedroom door. "Uh, thanks, aniki, but I think I better…"

Slam.

Yuuta's other eye twitched when Mizuki shut the door before he could escape. Silently, he wondered how he had surrounded himself with such tormenting people. Oh. One was his brother and the other was the authority figure of his tennis club. No escaping, damn it.

"I'm so glad I came home with you this weekend, Yuuta-kun," Mizuki stated with a hint of evil delight. "I hadn't completely expected such a forward confrontation of Fuji Syusuke-kun."

"Yes, you did," Yuuta muttered under his breath, eyes trailing towards the wall. Rolling his eyes slightly, he continued to mutter to himself, "That's the whole reason you followed me, Mizuki-san. Of course aniki would be here. He lives here."

"Yuuta," Fuji suddenly said pleasantly in a sickeningly sweet tone, "kaa-san did tell you many times not to bring stray animals into the house on the way home."

Yuuta winced slightly when Mizuki frowned at his older brother's glaring blue eyes and sharp smirk. Before he could open his mouth to say something in his senpai's defense, Mizuki spoke up for himself.

"No wonder Yuuta-kun wanted to run away to St. Rudolf," Mizuki said, equally as pleasantly as he draped his arms around Yuuta. Smirking, his eyes narrowed at the blue-eyed boy. "Bastard."

"Bitch," Fuji stated pleasantly in return with a smile on his face.

Yuuta could imagine that the expression on his brother's face could frighten a grown man, but for some reason, Mizuki seemed to be enjoying the encounter. That was what made him slightly worried. Sliding out of Mizuki's grasp with a slight flush on his face, Yuuta cleared his throat. "The atmosphere in here isn't very good. I'll go downstairs and…"

"Don't go anywhere, Yuuta," Fuji said sweetly, pulling his younger brother into a friendly embrace. "It's been such a long time since you came home. Aniki's been worrying about you while you're at school."

"I know, I know," Yuuta sighed as Mizuki sniffed. "You did call at four in the morning yesterday, after all."

Fuji's smile widened innocently. "Did I?"

"Yes," Mizuki stated off-handedly, examining his nails. "It was so annoying when Yuuta had to answer the phone just before I was going to—"

"Those who are guests should not speak out of turn before those who can kick him out," Fuji said coldly, sending a glare at the other boy.

Mizuki simply laughed.

Yuuta felt miserable. All he had wanted was to come home, drop himself on his nice, warm bed, and have a quiet dinner with his family. But, noooo… Mizuki had decided it was a good day to drop by his house and tell his parents how wonderful Yuuta was doing in school, flirt with his sister, and get into a catfight with his brother. Not that Fuji Syusuke was doing anything to help the situation either.

Sighing, Yuuta closed his eyes in misery against his brother's shoulder while Mizuki and his brother had yet another facedown of glares. He swore there was enough ice in the room to build snowmen.

"Aniki," he said suddenly, sighing slightly. His voice was slightly muffled against his brother's tight hug, but at a time like this, Yuuta ignored the conditions. "I'll go walk Mizuki-san back to the train station so he—"

"What are you talking about, Yuuta?" his older brother replied, cutting him off in a surprising way. Even so, there was something in his voice that set sirens off in Yuuta's mind. "You've invited a guest over! Why rush him out so suddenly?"

Folding his arms, Mizuki smirked widely; his eyes locking with Fuji's blue ones while exchanging cold glares with smirks to match. "I'm honored you feel that way, Fuji Syusuke-kun."

"…"

For once, Yuuta was frightened. He had no idea what would happen next, nor did he really want to find out. At that point, he really just wanted to die right on the spot rather than face what his brother and Mizuki had in mind.

Fuji's eyes narrowed slightly and his smirk grew wider as he pulled out a deck of cards. "How about a friendly game of poker?"

There again, Yuuta really wanted to die.

--- ---

After losing for the tenth time in a row, Yuuta began to think someone was cheating. Not because he had been losing, but because Mizuki and his brother had been landing the same suit of two pairs for the last few games. Both were equally annoyed by the result, but Yuuta was the only one who wanted to bang his head against a wall.

Yuuta let out a sigh when he lost again and the other two ended up with similar cards again. It was starting to get out of hand.

"Cheaters never prosper," Mizuki stated off-handedly.

"Listen to your own advice," Fuji advised in return with a dangerous smile gracing his lips.

Hardly paying attention to the two older boys' silent exchange of hate, Yuuta yawned. When he opened his eyes again, he found two pairs of eyes staring back at him. Something in his stomach turned over. "W…what?"

"Bored, Yuuta-kun?" Mizuki asked sweetly.

Yuuta's eyes went from Mizuki's dark eyes to his brother's shining blue ones. He had a feeling his impending doom was creeping up on him. "Um…"

"How about a wager then?" Fuji suggested with a wicked grin.

"Exactly what I was thinking," Mizuki agreed.

For a moment, the two older boys exchanged glances of extreme disgust upon the fact that they had actually agreed on something. Yuuta would have rolled his eyes at the lack of maturity if he did not feel as if the third world war was about explode in his bedroom.

"How about, in the next game," Fuji started, his blue eyes open and sparkling with mischief, "winner gets…"

"…to kiss Yuuta-kun," Mizuki finished without approval from either one of the other boys in the room.

Fuji's eyes flashed for a moment and he reached out to pull his younger brother back down on the floor after his attempted escape. Then, he smirked. "Sounds good to me."

Yuuta suddenly felt sick. "Wait a minute! This isn't right! We're all boys here and…and aniki, you can't…! W-What if I win?!"

Both boys raised their eyebrows as if it were the first time this thought had ever occurred to them. Considering how Yuuta had lost the last eleven times in a row, it probably was.

"We'll kiss each other," they stated simultaneously before glaring at each other again. Apparently, they already saw that there was no way Yuuta could ever beat either one of them at poker. Plus, the cute little second year did have the worst poker face ever.

Yuuta mumbled something under his breath as he shuffled the cards quietly. It felt a bit insulting to know that both his brother and Mizuki did not see him as a threat. They just kept glaring at each other from their places on the ground. What was the harm if Yuuta just left? Anyway, Yuuta promised he would show them someday…if though that day may probably be relatively far off. Just relatively.

Yuuta tried very hard this time not to let his expression change when he saw his cards. Neither one of the older boys turned to examine him anyway. Drawing his lips in a straight line, Yuuta peered over his cards to take a look at the other two.

Smile just as casual as always, Fuji rearranged the cards in his hands a bit, cocking his head to the side slightly before shrugging to no one. His expression rarely changed anyway, so Yuuta had no idea what his older brother was thinking. Although, by the smug feeling that simply radiated from him, Yuuta got the feeling his older brother had quite a good hand. And again, something in his stomach turned over.

Mizuki had a similar smug expression on his face as he fingered his cards. It was giving Yuuta a headache just trying to figure out what could possibly be going on in his brother's or Mizuki's head. Not that he wanted to find out. At this time, it was just frustrating.

As they put their cards down, Yuuta let out another loud sigh.

Mizuki blinked at the cards.

Fuji blinked twice.

Yuuta blinked a few times as well.

Two full houses, of different cards of course, and one royal flush lay in sloppy piles on the ground.

"He won…" Mizuki said in slight awe. "I…can't believe I was beaten…! I've never even seen a royal flush before…"

Yuuta felt his lips twitching.

"What a lucky hand," Fuji stated, eyes turning sharp. "How did that happen? Hmm, Yuuta? The only other person I've seen make this kind of hand is Tezuka."

"I'm just lucky, I guess," Yuuta commented, eyes drifting to the side. "Aniki and Mizuki-san were both so busy making sure not to lose to each other that neither one of you bother to check to see if you lost to me."

Both the older boys' expression similarly twitched.

"Don't forget about the punishment for losing," Yuuta reminded them with a serious expression as he stood up. "I'm going to get a drink of water."

Fuji and Mizuki exchanged glances of mutual disgust once the door shut, frowns on their faces.

"Yuuta-kun just left," Mizuki muttered, "he'll never know if we did it or not."

"I always keep my word," Fuji reminded himself, almost miserably.

Mizuki rolled his eyes.

Their kiss was odd and sloppy, but at least neither one bit the other. Although biting did seem like something either one of them would resort to.

"I feel like I just kissed a lizard," Fuji declared openly. "A really annoying, stuck-up, purple lizard."

"Purple can be a sign of poison," Mizuki shot back, daintily wiping his lips. He smirked at the other boy. "Bastard."

At a sideways glance, Fuji smirked back. "Bitch."

Outside, Yuuta leaned against the door while sitting on the ground, doing his best to hold in his laughter.

"Ara, what's so funny, Yuuta?" Yumiko questioned with a slight smile on her face as she passed by her youngest brother.

"You know, nee-san," Yuuta began, letting a chuckle escape, "actually, cheaters sometimes do prosper."

Yumiko smiled gently as Yuuta covered his mouth to muffle his laughter. "Very tricky, Yuuta. You definitely are Syusuke's little brother."

Owari.

--- --- ---

A/N: Gawd, that was tricky. I kept thinking that there was so much hate between Mizuki and Fuji-kun it would be extremely hard to somehow get them together. Even the way I have it now is very vague. Erg… Yup, well that's the MizukixFuji for rosenblut then! Hope it was acceptable.

Thanks for reading my crack.