Author's notes:
My very first attempt at writing a TezukaRyoma. Probably one of the most difficult pairings to write to date ;_; The fic will be a little strange, and parts of it might not be very interesting. No smut here, unfortunately. But my Tezuka-muse is now prodding me with a pointing stick and demanding for interesting bits simply because my friend wrote interesting bits for her TezuRyo. Bleah. I wrote this while I'm struggling with a block and a few uncooperative muses, because I wanted to make use of my remaining holidays to finish writing this. Otherwise... saa. Please forgive me if it's too dry, too dull or too OOC for your liking :D Oh yes, I think I must have forgotten to mention that I've screwed up the ending again. Haha. And the ending sounds a little too much like 'Chase' than for my liking, but I seriously doubt that I can extend the fic past that stage. My muses are no longer cooperating by the time I hit that portion of the fic.

Disclaimer and Warning:
All copyrights of Tennis no Oujisama belong to Konomi Takeshi-sensei, who is intent on making everyone's life hell with all his innuendo. The rest of the blame falls on our extremely slash friendly animating team who inserted innuendo right and left for us. Oh yes. Now you all know why I adore PoT so much :) There are spoilers for the anime and manga up until after the Hyotei match. Anything after that is sporadically guessed by me and inserted here. Heh.

Date Started: 290603

-----

The nationals were over and Tezuka was back from Germany, fully healed. Although Tezuka wasn't gone for too long, it was merely a few months, his presence was missed greatly. It simply wasn't the same without the buchou around. Fuji, being one of the sharpest members of the team, had noticed certain subtle changes in the team dynamics ever since Tezuka left. And he was curious to know exactly what was going on in the various members' minds.

Sure enough, all of them thought about Tezuka, but none of them thought about the buchou more than Ryoma did. Maybe there was something between them which nobody had discovered yet... maybe the both of them were sharing something which even they were unaware of. But Fuji was extremely amused to discover that Ryoma was the first person Tezuka went looking for the moment he was back in the country.

That had almost hinted on something tangible between the two.

Having set himself on a mission to find out exactly what was going on-- Fuji wasn't someone who would back out simply because currently, nobody was doing anything interesting enough to guarantee his attention. He was given months to observe Ryoma's behaviour. He then spent the last two weeks observing Tezuka's behaviour. A part of the tensai couldn't stop grinning at the conclusion he eventually arrived at.

It might be helpful to mention at this point of time that Fuji had been standing beside Tezuka for the past fifteen minutes or so, observing Ryoma's match against Momoshirou with a type of vague detachment. After all, he had more interesting things to take note of. Tezuka, meanwhile, had his eyes trained on every single movement the youngest member of their team made.

Fuji never jumped to conclusions. Neither did he make assumptions out of what he thought he saw. Yet, in the current situation, when all the hints and clues were screaming so loudly for him to look, to notice and formulate his own opinions...

There was only one way to verify if he was right. Even though he already knew he was right.

"Ne Tezuka," Fuji smiled, turning to face the famous buchou of the Seigaku Tennis Club. "Are you in love?"

Deuce
by
Jennifier D.

..........

'Love is nothing in tennis, but in life it's everything.'
-- Anonymous

..........

There was a faint commotion from the side of the court where the other regulars were watching Ryoma and Momoshirou's match. Unaffected and disinterested in what was going on, Ryoma continued playing just as he would in any other situation, but his opponent was already distracted. One of these days, Momoshirou's innate curiosity would become his biggest weakness. That was what Ryoma thought, before calling out from his side of the court with a faintly annoyed look.

"Momo-senpai!"

"Matte Echizen!" Momoshirou, too, had gathered by the side of the court, where Fuji and Tezuka were standing at since the beginning of their match.

Irritated at the fact that his match was disrupted in such a manner, Ryoma stalked over to where his water bottle was left and waited for Momoshirou to turn his attention back to the court.

"WHAT?! I DON'T BELIEVE THIS! BUCHOU IS IN LOVE?! WHO'S THAT UNLUCKY GIRL-OW! EIJI-SENPAI!"

Ryoma barely twitched at the sudden revelation. A low hiss sounded behind boy wonder.

Apparently, the only other person of the school team who wasn't interested in who their buchou might be dating was none other than the mamushi. How very predictable. Ryoma glanced at the second year student out of the corner of his eyes. He paused. Was it him or was the stoic upperclassman actually blushing? Ryoma blinked, but the other boy had already moved away from where he was leaning against the fence.

"Echizen! Did you hear?" Horio was somewhere behind him, separated from Ryoma by the fence. The other boy was bouncing from one foot to another in excitement, and the look of unconcealed glee on his face made Ryoma pity their captain, for the briefest of moments.

"Hear what?"

"How can you possibly NOT hear it?! Momo-chan-senpai was loud enough that the whole school probably heard it!"

A shrug. "So?"

"...ne Echizen...." Horio pressed his face against the fence, a look of realisation slowly dawning in his eyes. "DON'T TELL ME YOU KNOW WHO SHE IS?!"

Ryoma almost fell off the bench. "Of-of course not."

Before Horio could open his mouth again, their buchou's familiar voice echoed down the tennis courts.

"Everyone! Thirty laps! Fuji... You can do fifty."

Boy wonder stood up, scowling. Not only did he _not_ get to finish his match, he had to run laps too. Like it was his fault that Fuji-senpai caused their buchou grief. Ryoma pulled his cap even lower before standing up, then left his tennis racket leaning against the bench.

While everyone was doing their laps, most of them grumbling as they ran, Fuji caught up with Ryoma and grinned at the lowerclassman in a rather suspicious manner (in Ryoma's opinion).

"Ne Echizen..." Ryoma glanced out of the corner of his eyes at Fuji with a vague, suspicious look. "Did you hear about it?"

"Hear about what?"

The familiar sound of feet striking concrete as the people around and behind them ran in pace was strangely comforting. Familiar and comforting.

"Tezuka is in love."

Ryoma shrugged. "So?"

"Ahh," the smile on Fuji's face never wavered. "So you already know?"

"No," the lowerclassman answer was curt. "I was waiting for Momo-senpai to continue our match."

"Hm..."

And then there was nothing but the sound of the whole tennis club running, a few people grumbling, and generally a lot of panting.

"Saa..." Fuji finally spoke, his breathing unruffled by the twenty laps they had already done. They were nearing Tezuka, who was standing by one of the corners observing their run.

Fuji opened his eyes to stare at Tezuka while they ran past. "I thought you'll know, since the both of you seem to spend so much time together nowadays."

There wasn't even a twitch to Tezuka's features when he registered what Fuji said.

Ryoma shrugged, again. "We are just playing tennis."

A slight tilt of his head, and the tensai gave Ryoma a puzzled look. "What else can the two of you be doing, other than playing tennis?"

There was a brief pause as both of them pondered the significance of that question.

"Saa. Who knows."

It was a good day.

That was the only thought on Ryoma's mind after he finished his last lap.

-----

"Tezuka..." The buchou straightened up from where he was packing his bag, then stared at Fuji. "You didn't answer my question this afternoon."

"I did. The answer is 'no'."

"Maa... I must have missed it then." The tensai sat down on the only bench in their locker room, then watched the other with a type of quiet calm. Everyone else had already left, and Fuji stayed back only because he wanted a proper answer to his question. It was true that what happened that afternoon was a little overdone. After all, he had never meant for Kikumaru to hear what he was asking Tezuka. Or Oishi either, though Fuji was sure that Oishi would have never caused a commotion of that size. Throw in the ever curious Momoshirou and they had a disaster at their hand.

It was strange how Ryoma didn't drift over to where everyone was gathered. They were taking the chance to poke questions at Tezuka after all. Maybe he wasn't interested. Or maybe he already knew. At any rate, the damage was done, Fuji had done his fifty laps as well and it was time to pick at the scab again.

"You sure have a strange way of showing your affections, Tezuka."

Tezuka paused, then straightened and turned to face Fuji again. "What are you talking about?"

The tensai only smiled. "Saa."

Annoyed and more than able to place a finger on what was annoying him, Tezuka turned back to his packing, intent on ignoring Fuji. He knew that replying to any question Fuji posed at the moment was dangerous. The tensai had an uncanny ability to turn all his answers against him.

The smiling boy followed his buchou out of the locker room, watching him lock up the place and walk towards the school gates. There were only a few lights left on around the school, and it gave an eerie feeling to the otherwise familiar place. The two regulars walked in silent accompaniment; Fuji was no longer asking probing questions, and Tezuka was no longer pressured to answer any.

Even though the silence was comforting, Fuji felt a strange sort of tension from Tezuka. Apprehension? Guilt? Or was it plain nervousness?

"Buchou. Fuji-senpai."

Ah. Bingo.

Ryoma stood waiting by the school gates, a nonplussed look on his face. So this was what the both of them had been up to for the past two weeks. Private matches. They could mean more, they could mean less. Fuji was certainly curious to know what the reason behind this arrangement was. But-- he felt he had done enough probing for today. He would reserve those questions for another day. After all, there was a fine line to tread between being plain annoying and being a menace. Fuji was curious, but he wasn't overly curious. He wasn't so curious that he was willing to make a prat out of himself before Ryoma and Tezuka.

Fuji turned to Tezuka, and before he could even open his mouth, the taller boy spoke. "We're having practice matches. You can join us if you want to."

The tensai shook his head, smiling cheerfully. "Maa... I really don't want to disturb the two of you."

Ryoma only stared at them.

The fair-haired boy gave his two other team members a small bow. "Thank you for the company, Tezuka. And sorry about making you wait, Echizen."

Ryoma shrugged nonchalantly, and Tezuka's face was expressionless.

While humming a soft tune to himself, Fuji walked off in the opposite direction, apparently extremely cheerful about something.

"What's wrong with Fuji-senpai?" Ryoma's question finally broke Tezuka out of the reverie he was lost in.

The dark-haired boy stared at Ryoma briefly before turning to walk towards the opposite direction of where Fuji had gone. Unconcerned about the lack of answer, Ryoma followed his buchou to where they always conducted their private practice matches. This was one of the various things Tezuka suggested to Ryoma the moment he came back from Germany.

The buchou was satisfied with the amount of improvement Ryoma made while he was gone. But there were certain technicalities he wanted the younger boy to improve on. Since the nationals were over, the third year students were all rapidly turning their attention to their forthcoming examinations, Tezuka was free to use this period of time to train Ryoma in any manner he wanted to. He knew that the moment he left the team, there would be no more chances for him to guide Ryoma in the same way his buchou guided him back then.

'Live for Seigaku now. Play for the school. Play for the team. Dream this dream while you still have the chance to be here amidst so many team members who share the same dream as you. You won't be given a second chance again, and you know that. Become the pillar of the team, and you will find strength in places you never know existed before.'

Their training wasn't something which everyone in the club was aware of, though Tezuka was sure that Oishi knew about it. Now that Fuji had found out as well... there was no harm done, actually. It wasn't as if the both of them were engaged in something illegal. They were just playing tennis, after all.

Weren't they?

-----

It was a few days after the rather unexpected discovery of Tezuka's love life. Or his lack of one, to be more exact. The buchou had owned up to no love interests and demanded that everyone do laps afterwards, irritated with how all of them could kick up such a huge fuss over his private life.

"What's all this fuss about? Even though the tournaments are over, you're not supposed to stop training unless you're having exams!" A multitude of groans and grumbles reached the ears of Ryuzaki Sumire, who was dressed in her usual pink tracksuit. She would come down to observe the practices now and then, and in her opinion, everyone from the team had rested enough since the tournaments ended. It was about time they buck-up in their training again.

Just because the tournaments were over was not a good enough reason for them to slack in their training. It seemed as though, year after year, with all the different batches of tennis players she came to supervise and coach, all of them had this problem. They always managed to forget about the coming year, the new tournaments they would be facing, and the inevitable problem of trying to maintain their position in the ranks.

That was why, even after the tournaments were over, ranking matches were still being held. All of them were still made to train as hard as they did prior to the nationals. There was no reason to relax now. The tennis club members would grumble and complain about the lack of significance in such an arrangement, but Ryuzaki-sensei knew better.

"Go on! I want to see you practice your serves properly!" Ryuzaki-sensei came to a stop beside Tezuka, who was watching the tennis club members scuttle around trying to carry out her commands. "You've been rather distracted lately."

Even without turning to look at him, she knew his expression had remained unchanged. The buchou was someone who could remain unfazed in almost all situations. Despite that response... she knew she was right. He had been distracted by something of late, and it must have been very important. Or else, he wouldn't have let the tennis club members fooled around the way they did during practices for the past week or so.

"There isn't anything distracting me."

A snort, and she finally turned to look at him. "Is it Ryoma?"

For the briefest of moments, Tezuka looked as if she had just proclaimed that he was having a flamingly sordid affair with Ryoma. Which was far from the truth, of course. Amused by the look on Tezuka's face, Ryuzaki-sensei shook her head with a soft huff.

"I know you have plans for him, Tezuka."

Silence.

It might be purely coincidental that none of them noticed Inui, who was standing just a little further behind them with a particularly nasty glint to his glasses. Kikumaru sidled up to the upperclassman's side, one ear cocked in alert for any interesting titbits of information. Needless to say, Inui already had his notebook open and his pen ready for recording at any instance. Right behind Kikumaru was Momoshirou, who was trying his best to creep closer to where Tezuka and Ryuzaki-sensei were standing.

"I want him to become the pillar of Seigaku."

Ryuzaki-sensei's laughter was like a sharp bark, and it startled the regulars hiding behind them. "I was expecting you to say something else, buchou."

If Tezuka had felt pressured to answer then, he certainly showed no signs of it.

"Oh, yes, before I forget..." The look on Ryuzaki-sensei's face turned thoughtful for a moment before she shifted, until the regulars hiding behind her were in her line of sight. "I heard several lowerclassmen talking about you... and your love interest?"

By then, the crowd consisted of not just Inui, Kikumaru and Momoshirou. Fuji stood a little further off, with Kawamura and Oishi by his side, both looking a little flustered and embarrassed about sneaking up on their captain in that manner. Ryoma was with the three of them, a disinterested look on his face as he plucked at his tennis racket. Kaidou was on the other side of the court, pretending to be unaware of what was going on.

If Tezuka was aware of his team members spying on him from not too far away, he certainly showed no signs of acknowledging them either.

"There is no love interest."

"Really?" Ryuzaki-sensei laughed again. "Tezuka... you, above everyone else, should know that there is more to life than tennis..."

"Yes, I do know that."

"So who's the lucky person?"

Meanwhile, Ryoma had tapped Kawamura on his shoulder and handed him a racket. He was only willing to waste this much time on watching Ryuzaki-sensei weasel the truth out of Tezuka, after all.

"OH YEAH! BURNING! CONFIDENCE! BUCHOU! THERE IS NO NEED TO CONCEAL THE TRUTH! YOU KNOW WE WILL SUPPORT YOU IN WHATEVER YOU DO! LET'S SHOW YOUR LOOOOOOOOOVE~!"

Tezuka turned to regard the tennis club members crowded behind him, then watched them scatter like nervous mice under the watchful gaze of a cat. Or at least, watched Momoshirou, Kikumaru and some of the second year students do that. It was impossible to tell what kind of expression Inui had behind his glasses. The data-collector didn't budge a single inch from where he was standing. Fuji only smiled at him. Oishi was trying to restrain a shouting Kawamura and Ryoma's cap was tilted in a manner that made it difficult to see his face. The only regular who wasn't lurking behind Tezuka and Ryuzaki-sensei was Kaidou. And the mamushi was nowhere to be found.

Ryuzaki-sensei snorted again. "They sure are a supportive bunch."

"Those who break the rules must be punished." Tezuka glared at his insolently laughing team members for a brief moment before shouting. "Everyone! Thirty laps!"

The coach only smiled and shook her head.

'It's good to be young.'

-----

"You're not going to tell him?" Oishi's voice was gently chiding.

Tezuka looked up from where he was organising the first and second year students for the ranking matches which were to be held in a few days' time. Technically speaking, the third year students were all still going to be on the school team. But they would have to start making space for the second and first year members sooner or later, and now was a good time as any to start. In a couple of months' time, the third year students would stop attending club practices to start preparing for their final examinations.

"Who are you referring to?"

"Echizen."

The buchou stared. "And what am I supposed to tell him?"

"That you like him, of course."

There was a pause.

"I think you are mistaken."

Oishi was insistent. After all, wasn't he the only one on the team who knew their captain's temperament and personality well enough to be proud of it? If Fuji actually recognised the fact that there was something between Tezuka and Ryoma, he certainly wasn't wrong when he also recognised the fact that there seemed to be something going on.

"You know what I'm talking about, Tezuka."

Tezuka stood up and glanced out of the window. Not too far below, if he concentrated enough and followed the only flash of white among the sea of dark heads... Echizen Ryoma. How did anyone ever guess that the person Tezuka thought about often was him... that was something the buchou had yet to figure out. And just as predicted, Fuji glanced up and smiled at him, the look on his face knowing.

"I don't see a need to talk about this."

"Tezuka..."

"Even if I do like him, it doesn't mean anything."

Oishi looked frustrated for a moment. "We'll help you."

The buchou's reply was calm. "Oishi, I don't need any help. Neither do I plan to do anything about my feelings for him."

"Not even if he likes you in return?"

Silence.

"I don't want to talk about this." With that, the buchou stood up and started for the door.

"Wait, Tezuka!"

"Running away again, aren't you?"

The captain and vice-captain both stopped and stared at Fuji, who was standing at the doorway to the classroom, a casual smile on his face. His eyes were opened and the familiar sharp gaze was trained on Tezuka.

"You should be at practice downstairs." Tezuka's tone was almost accusatory.

"I was. Then I decided that I have more important things to do."

Oishi observed the strange exchange between both boys with a type of nervous tension.

Tezuka's voice was soft, but there was an underlying trace of irritation. "What can be more important than your practices?"

"Ne Tezuka," Fuji smiled, then leaned against the doorway. "There are more things to life than tennis."

"I don't live by that philosophy."

"I know," the fair-haired boy smiled, wider.

The two boys stared at each other for a long moment in silence. Oishi was sure that if he reached out towards the space between them, he would be able to feel the crackle of tension. He knew that Fuji was someone who believed that if two people belonged together, there should be no reason for them to stay away from each other. Maybe that was one of the reasons why he was so insistent on making Tezuka own up to his feelings. There would be no harm done, and plenty of rejoicing to go around later.

Actually, the truth was, Fuji was someone who liked to watch things that amused him. He liked to watch people suffering too, but there was always a limit to how much suffering the others could endure. Once that limit had been exceeded, the situation would start to lose its entertainment value. This was one of those situations. What else could be more interesting than Tezuka and Ryoma's so very tangible relationship? But the tensai had grown bored with waiting for something to happen. It wasn't that he was keen to interrupt in Tezuka's courtship, because the actual fact was-- there was no courtship. There was nothing. There had been nothing for weeks. And if someone didn't move things along soon, everyone would be turning mouldy from all the waiting.

Almost as if the both of them had reached some unsaid agreement, Tezuka broke the eye contact and started for the door again. Right when he passed by Fuji at the doorway, the tensai spoke up with a soft, sweet smile which made Oishi double check if he had done anything to offend the other of late.

"It never hurts to try." Fuji looked absolutely cheery.

Tezuka left without saying a single word.

-----

Watching the flip and splash of wet, gleaming bodies underneath the slightly cloudy pond water was almost a ritual for Tezuka. This was what he did everyday, feeding the koi. He found the action strangely therapeutic. Beyond his school work, beyond tennis, beyond worrying about the school team and his examinations, Tezuka had realised since a long time ago that he wasn't someone who had too many varied interests.

And he wasn't really bothered by that fact.

What had been annoying him of late was how everyone seemed to think that they had a say in his private life. It wasn't as if he was openly declaring details of his love life. He saw no reason why everyone thought they could poke their noses into it and give him advice on what he should do.

Fuji was one of them, and Fuji liked doing things in subtle manners, which made it all the more irritating. Oishi was straightforward enough, and feared Tezuka enough to stop when he felt that Tezuka had quite enough of his mothering. Kikumaru and Momoshirou were like two annoying younger siblings, both intent on making him confess his feelings. The others were all quietly supporting, in one way or another. Inui gave him a book on dating tips. Kaidou never said anything but Tezuka had this feeling that if there was anything the mamushi wanted to say, it would be 'good luck'. Kawamura without the tennis racket was shy and hesitant when it came to talking about this issue. Kawamura with the tennis racket was one big encouragement shouting energetic mess.

And Ryoma... Ryoma never said anything.

Out of all of them, only two of them knew who his supposed 'love interest' was. That might have made life easier for him, but things didn't exactly work out in that manner. As long as the others had yet to figure out who that mystery person was, they wouldn't stop dropping questions at him in hopes that Tezuka would somehow answer them.

It was incredibly annoying.

And Tezuka was pretty definite that in the past week or so, all the regulars had broken the records and ran over three hundred laps around the school courts. Every time he found them lurking behind him and Fuji, or behind him and Ryuzaki-sensei, he sent them along for laps. It was unfortunate that everyone was punished along together with them, but they should seriously learn where to set their priorities.

'There are more things to life than tennis.'

Of course he knew that. How could he not know that? As driven as he was about tennis, there was no way he could ignore the fact that outside of tennis, there were still too many things in life for him to pay some attention to.

When the school team suddenly decided that they should stick a foot into Tezuka's (supposedly) complicated love life, he knew he should have put a stop to it immediately. But a part of him was curious to see everyone's reaction. The stoic and (supposedly, again) cold-hearted buchou of the Seigaku Tennis Club wasn't someone who had emotions. That was what many of them believed. It was almost nice to see everyone being so concerned, but the irritation they raised in him for being nosy far outweighed the amount of... gratitude.

'It never hurts to try.'

He knew that too. In fact, now that Fuji had mentioned the issue of trying, he was beginning to wonder what actually stopped him from trying. He wasn't afraid of trying. Maybe he didn't have the confidence? But that wasn't the issue. Maybe, a part of him didn't want to try, because if he knew Ryoma's character well enough, the lowerclassman would agree to date without even blinking. He wasn't the type of person who would think too much or too deep about relationships. He was more driven about tennis than Tezuka had ever been, and that was one of the reasons why the younger boy could shrug off so many things in his life so easily. It was especially easy when they had no relation to tennis. Ryoma was someone who took things that came his way in his stride and made them a part of his life.

He knew that if he had asked... simply asked...

But he didn't want to.

And now he was trying to remember why he didn't want to ask Ryoma.

Tezuka stood up, the packet of koi feed forgotten.

Maybe he would ask him, after all.

-----

It was the usual.

Bright green synthetic courts, the sound of tennis balls bouncing and hitting the sweet spot of their rackets, and the almost inaudible sound of panting above the usual faded noises underneath the overpass. Every now and then, a train would pass by and everywhere would become one softly echoing rattling mess, until the familiar silence had crept back onto the courts and shrouded the both of them like a safety net.

There was a soft thud and the tennis ball rolled to a stop.

Ryoma looked up from where he still had one knee on the floor, an annoyed look on his face. That was their match point.

"That should be enough for today." That was all Tezuka said before he started walking towards where he left his bag.

"Buchou," Ryoma's voice was loud in the lonely courts, and the younger boy stood up.

Tezuka paused.

"Are you dating Fuji-senpai?"

Silence. Another train rattled by. There was an almost wide-eyed look on Tezuka's face.

"No."

Boy wonder shrugged, then started packing his things.

"What gave you the idea?"

Ryoma slung his bag over his shoulder and turned to stare at his buchou. "Momo-senpai told me."

More silence. Just as the younger boy started walking towards the gate, Tezuka stalled him.

"Echizen."

A pause. Then a half-turn, followed by a curious look.

There was some hesitation before the words finally came out, smooth and strong. "Are you free this weekend? Let's go watch a movie."

The smile which surfaced on Ryoma's face looked almost like a grin underneath the shadow of his cap. He tugged his cap even lower out of habit before pulling it off totally, then regarded Tezuka a with full smirk on his lips. The look of surprise on his buchou's face at that moment was priceless.

"What took you so long, buchou?"

end

Date Completed: 090703
Date Revised: 100703