"What's that?"

Ohtori turned off his monitor and covered his desk by throwing himself upon it. "Nothing! It's nothing!"

Shishido rolled his eyes and hefted Choutarou off the desk. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone you were looking at…"

"I said it's nothing, now go back to bed Shishido-san!" Ohtori threw himself over the desk again.

"Choutarou?" Shishido's mouth opened and closed a few times. "Was that a picture of me from our beach trip?"

"No."

Shishido put a hand to Ohtori's back, rubbing out a knot. "You can have pictures of me, it's not illegal or anything. I have that school picture of you, so it's okay."

"Okay." Ohtori didn't move.

"What was on the computer?"

"Nothing."

Shishido's hand flew out and turned the monitor on while Ohtori tried, in vain, to bury himself in the desk. "Choutarou?"

"Yes?"

"You have a website?"

The heat from Choutarou's cheeks was burning through the papers on the desk. "It's our doubles website, Shishido-san. I wanted to get a head start on it for when we're famous."

"Choutarou?"

"Yes, Shishido-san?"

"Why am I naked in that picture?"

Ohtori unplugged the computer. "That's a publicity photo, Shishido-san."

"Choutarou, why weren't there any pictures of you on the website?"

&-&

"Shishido, I understand that what you do with your free time is up to you, but your father and I are concerned." Shishido's mother called Shishido into the kitchen for a "family meeting" when he got home from practice. She was still in her apron from preparing dinner and his father was still in his suit. This didn't bode well.

"I'm not quitting the tennis team. My grades can go to hell." Shishido tried to look stern in front of the two people who could pull him out of Hyoutei faster than one of Atobe's secret guards could snatch him back.

"We've seen the website, son," Shishido's father said, a rosy tinge to his cheeks. Shishido-san was a quiet man by nature, so the fact that he was saying anything meant he was 1) highly concerned or 2) very upset.

"Website?"

Shishido's mother brought out a laptop and flipped it open. "Sweetie, we understand that we're not the richest family and that Hyoutei has certain standards, but you don't have to resort to this for pocket money."

Shishido's eyes fell out of his skull. He ran from the room and grabbed his phone.

"Yes Shishido-san?" Choutarou sounded far too calm and far too nice.

"Choutarou, I told you to take those pictures off the website!"

Shishido could see the shy smile now, the lying, devious smile that no one but Shishido knew was an act. "Oh I couldn't do that, Shishido-san, our subscribers would be upset. I did members lock most of them, though."

"Ryou?" Shishido's mother called.

"Just a minute, mom!" Shishido cradled the phone and whispered as viciously as he could. "Take them off, Choutarou, or I'll never speak to you again."

"You don't mean that, do you Shishido-san? There's a substantial deposit in your Hyoutei spending account this month."

"I will not be pimped!" Shishido screamed, throwing the phone and running out of the house before his parents could express their newest bout of concern.

&-&

There were girls with money surrounding Choutarou. Shishido's first instinct was to run at them with a racquet, beating them until they swore they'd never come near Ohtori again. Recently, though, Shishido was loathe to go anywhere near Ohtori. Ohtori had cameras in hidden places and an online community on which he posted the photos he took. Choutarou was making good money and Shishido wouldn't mind all that much if it weren't for the section in the member's only area that boasted the title: The Full Shishido. Shishido was horrible at English and didn't know what the title meant, but it was probably something he'd blush over.

"Shishido-san!" Ohtori waved and ran over, the girls trailing behind and reforming around them.

"Hey." Shishido tried to be nonchalant, tried to pretend that his boyfriend wasn't the world's weirdest exhibitionist, posting nude Shishido pictures on the internet for unseen millions to stare at.

Oh God, some of these girls were probably members. They'd probably seen him naked. They probably had naked Shishido photos on their desktops and as ketai wallpaper.

"I was wondering if you could help me with my serve. My accuracy's down again." Choutarou gave a cute, puppy smile and the girls surrounding them cooed. Shishido's stomach curdled.

"Ah, sorry, I'm doing homework, and I'm grounded. My mom's sick, too. Later Choutarou." Shishido walked away, pausing when he heard a click. "Hey Choutarou?"

"Yes Shishido-san?" Choutarou said around his camera.

"Nothing." Shishido shoved his hands in his pockets and stormed away, ignoring the clicking and the cooing. This was just a phase Choutarou was going through. It would pass, just like the body paint incident.

&-&

"If you wanted to be a model, ore-sama could have arranged something. You didn't need to resort to such unsavory methods.

"Shut up. It was Choutarou's idea."

Atobe took out a pen and a paper pad. "Have a seat, Shishido. We need to discuss a few things."

"Like what?" Shishido grumbled, sitting in the chair opposite Atobe's at the desk.

"You have assertion issues, Shishido, and ore-sama is going to help you overcome them." Atobe wrote a few things down and ripped the paper out of the notebook, handing Shishido a list.

"Do not be afraid to say no? You can be together without being a burden to Hyoutei's pride? Atobe, what the hell is this?"

"It is your list of daily affirmations. You will say them when you wake up and before you go to bed. I expect this website nonsense to be solved by the end of the week." Atobe made a shooing motion. "You may go now."

"The end of the week? Atobe, it's Thursday."

"Best get to it then, ah?"

&-&

Do not be afraid to say no. Do not be afraid to say no.

"Ryou, you finished with the bathroom yet?" Shishido's brother rapped on the door.

"No!" There, that wasn't so hard.

"Hey Ryou, your doubles partner is here. Want me to show him to your room?"

"No!" Again, very easy. He could do this all day if need be.

"Shishido-san, are you okay? You've been in there a long time and we're going to be late to practice." The door handle jiggled. Luckily, Shishido had the foresight to lock the door and push the laundry basket against it. Ohtori couldn't get in. Unfortunately, Shishido couldn't get out.

"My stomach's upset. Go on without me."

"I can wait, Shishido-san."

"No." After the fist one, the rest would hopefully be easy.

&-&

"What're you dressed up for?" Shishido's brother asked around the Doritos in his mouth. "You taking Ohtori somewhere respectable? Gonna propose?"

Nice Atobe-purchased suit or not, Shishido was not beneath beating his brother bloody. "We're just going somewhere without fries on the menu. I can eat nice if I want to." Shishido had enough money from the website to treat them. A dinner to discuss the shut-down of the website probably shouldn't be funded by the website in question, but money was money and Shishido wanted a steak.

"Ryou, your friend is here." Shishido's mother said friend like she really meant "our stepson." She'd never used that tone before she found out about the website. Shishido also didn't get buckets full of fan mail in his locker before the website. The entire population of Hyoutei Gakuen had never seen him nude before the website.

&-&

He was going to discuss this reasonably and not yell.

"Shishido-san, you haven't eaten your steak. Are you okay?" Choutarou wiped his mouth with his napkin, looking very proper and very at home in the stuffy restaurant.

"If you don't take the website down, I'm going to play singles."

Choutarou dropped his napkin and his eyes went wide and watery.

Shishido wasn't falling for it. "No. Take it down."

"Can I keep the photos on my computer?"

"No." Shishido had to keep saying no or he'd never get this situation sorted and his parents would sue Choutarou for child pornography and then they wouldn't be able to play doubles or go on dates or…other things.

"May I keep the glossies?"

"No – there were glossies?"

Choutarou flashed a picture of Shishido smiling, sweat dribbling down the side of his face. "It's the fanclub's item of the month."

"There's a fanclub?"

Choutarou flashed a gold business card. "I'm the president."

"No. Just…no. Burn it all and delete everything."

Choutarou looked at his wineglass full of orange juice and pouted. "If you really want me to, I will Shishido-san." The big, watery eyes were back. "I just wanted to show you how much I like you."

"Buy me some tennis shoes or something next time, Choutarou. Distributing pictures of me naked isn't the way to show you care." It was a way to make sure Shishido never got a good paying job or was taken seriously ever again. Maybe if he asked really nicely, Gakuto would check the website and make sure it was completely destroyed. Of course, that meant asking Gakuto for a favor and the last time Shishido did that, he was sent to Rikkai to deliver Jirou's love note to Marui. It took a week for the bruises Kirihara gave him to heal.

"Are we still partners, Shishido-san?" Ohtori reached forward and grabbed Shishido's hands, squeezing.

"Yeah. Just, tone it down a little, kay? People are staring." And clapping. People were clapping. "Will you sickos shut the fuck up?"

"Shishido-san, your language. We're in public." Choutarou smiled and promised to delete everything on the website. He even offered to let Shishido watch, an offer that Shishido declined because watching Ohtori delete naked pictures of him one by one would be awkward.

Shishido would make Gakuto check the website. He'd threaten to tell Oshitari about the time Gakuto secretly went out with Mizuki for a week. Blackmail was 100 times easier than asking for favors any day.