Gelly: This fic serves as my entry for the 'POT stands for Pointless but Original Talking' forum's Hanakotoba challenge using Zinnia (flower definition: loyalty).

Additional notes – the story starts some time after the Christmas Bowl (for any other timeline screw-ups, I claim artistic license 8D). Names of the other Wild Gunmen players were pulled off from Wikipedia. Taiga, from what I recall, can be a girl's name since there's a female anime character with that same name.

Pairing: Kaitani Riku/Kamiya Taiga

xXx

Morings Without

xXx

There were too many questions entering Riku's head once he heard Taiga's confession. Things like the pros and cons, the possibilities, their future—would they have a future?

Taiga recognized this hesitation and with a fond chuckle he told Riku he thought too much. "Why not just throw yourself at fate this time, ne?" he whispered inches away from Riku's flushed face. A beat passed and Taiga closed the distance between them. The younger teen was left with no choice but to surrender to the kiss.

In normal circumstances, Riku wouldn't have allowed himself to be coerced. However, Taiga knew about his pride and he made sure Riku didn't have a chance to let his ego and super-ego take charge. Instead, Taiga decided on appealing to his id (the spoiled part of the conscience—a thing he learned in psychology class). Using kisses and his oozing sex appeal (he learned that, according to some psych dude, people are driven by aggressive and sexual tendencies. How cool was that, right?!), he managed to bring Riku to the hotel room he was staying at for his Tokyo visit. When that stay got extended for three days, Taiga knew he won. Not that he doubted himself, of course. He wasn't Misaki's ace and captain for nothing!

In those three mornings, Riku still found himself surprised every time the light from the hotel window shone over Taiga's gray-white hair. It gave him a somewhat earthly glow. Riku would always feel the need to touch Taiga, to caress his surprisingly tangle-free locks, his soft cheeks and his pink lips, to make sure it was no dream. Only after assuring himself that, indeed, it was no figment of his over-active imagination, only after affirming that last night was not just another fantasy (yes, he fantasizes—he's a healthy teenager, after all) did he allow himself to finally release the breath he was holding.

Riku enjoyed this set-up; Taiga snuggling up to him before they slept, lulling him to sleep with his soft snores, and he would return the favor every morning by waking his partner up with a quick kiss.

He liked those mornings.

"Good morning, kitten," Taiga would greet him with that quirky smile Riku had often only imagined seeing before they got together.

Riku would kiss him again; another confirmation of the truth of the situation. "G'morning to you, too," he would say with a relieved, satisfied smile before cuddling back inside the blanket to nuzzle in Taiga's neck.

But then, on the fourth morning, he woke up to the receptionist telling him over the phone that he had scheduled a wake-up call by eight-thirty. There was no Taiga beside him. No Taiga to gaze at, to hold, to kiss, to greet him 'Good morning', to greet 'G'morning' back to. Instead, there lay a bouquet of red-orange flowers and a note telling him 'Sorry, kitten, I had to leave early to catch the train back home. Couldn't wake you up (you looked really tired from last night, was I a bit too much?). And don't you worry about the hotel fees! It's already been arranged and everything. Love you, see you soon!' on the side of the bed where Taiga used to be.

xXx

"Riku's… not in a good mood, is he?"

It was during an intensive early morning warm-up when the rest of the Wild Gunmen took notice of Riku's odd behavior.

"No, really Saba, how can you tell?"

Their freshman ace had chosen to do his runs alone that morning instead of doing it with the rest of the team (though technically, he still ran alone since the others couldn't catch up to him, but that wasn't the point). What was even odder about the situation was that Riku looked rather down in the dumps. He was always eager during practice.

"What do you think's going on?" Nishina asked as he continued to glance worriedly at Riku.

"Problem in football?" One of them suggested. "The last time Riku acted a bit off was during his match against Deimon's Eyeshield."

"Nah, he was fine even after we lost in the semi's. Even helped Deimon practice for the fight with Teikokou, right?"

They all nodded. It was true. And the way he acted when it was football-related was different from how he was acting now. At the moment, the freshman was just staring off into space as he absent-mindedly ran his usual course. Sometimes, a worried look would cross his face. At other times, he would look pissed. In any case, his teammates found his actions baffling.

"…School? Bad grades?" offered another.

"This is Riku we're talking about. Not Saba."

"HEY!"

"Oh! I know!" A teammate's voice rose above the quarreling two. "Love life! The kid's got a girlfriend now!"

"WHAT?!"

"Wait, that makes sense! He's been too happy these last couple of days," Saiyama nodded. "Such an aura can only be brought about by a girl. Definitely a girl."

Hazama rubbed his chin, trying to make sense of the idea. "So they fought or something?"

"Could be, could be." Saiyama, now sounding like the expert of whateveritmaybe of the group, affirmed.

"Aw, poor kid." The others nodded in agreement to Iseri's empathy. "Let's be good senpai and give him some girl advice!"

"You? Give him advice? You haven't even had a girlfriend before," a teammate interrupted.

"Shut up! I bet I know more than you do!"

"Quiet, you two!" The booming voice of Ushijima, their team captain, stopped them. "Problems like this require a real man to solve. Therefore, I'll be the one to help Riku!"

Shouts of disagreement arose.

"Fine, fine. Just shut up already! We'll all help Riku," Ushijima finally relented.

"Yeah!"

In the midst of cheering, Kid, followed by Tetsuma, approached the group. He raised his cap but immediately pulled it back down as if he was about to ask a question but then thought twice about it. "Coach already told us to start practice."

"Y-yeah."

xXx

The American Football club's quest to help Riku with his girlfriend problems began at lunch time.

Their target was spotted sitting with his classmates inside the cafeteria. He had a plate in front of him but all he did was poke at his food. Said classmates had the same look as the football players did when they first saw Riku in his current state, but none of them had the courage to probe. It looked like the task of cheering Riku up could only be left to their senpai.

"Mind if we sit here?" Ushijima lead the other football players towards their table. At their appearance, the freshmen knew help had come. 'The Amefuto team is really great and cool!' the younger teens thought.

"Eh? Where's your appetite, Riku?! That's not good, not good at all," Higashigi began. "You'll need to eat if you want to have enough strength for practice later."

When Riku nodded and began putting food into his mouth, the others inwardly cheered. When two minutes had passed and he was still chewing the same glob of food, they figured his girl problems must be really, really bad. But they couldn't give up just because their task had become a little bit more difficult! Riku didn't give up on them, so they weren't going to give up on him!

"Here, Riku, you can have my dessert!" A Jell-o cup was passed down and placed in front of the boy, but it was ignored.

"Wasn't Jell-o Riku's favorite?!" Iseri, the one who gave the dessert, whispered.

"No, you idiot. It was cake! Cake!" Haga whispered back.

"…Taiga liked cake," Riku murmured before he slumped even further. He looked worried again, but at least he took another bite! And more importantly, a revelation had come! Riku's current disposition really was about a girl! Not only that, they found out about her name, too!

Taiga~

Good. Good. With this piece of knowledge, they could now proceed to step 2: approach Riku and make him talk to them about his Taiga problems.

xXx

Afternoon practice was their second chance to help out, but with everyone equally out of breath and tired during drills and water breaks, it was hard to sneak a little advice session in between. Nevertheless, that didn't stop them, no—Seibu was known for its offensive style, after all!

"Hey, Riku." When ladder drills came, Saba was the first to attack.

"…Yes, Saba-senpai?"

"I just want you to know that if you happen to have girl problems—though I'm not saying that you do, just if you do—you can tell me (your older, wiser, more experienced senpai), okay?"

"…Okay," Riku answered a bit hesitantly.

All of them knew Riku wouldn't even breathe a word to Saga. Not with that kind of self-advertisement.

"Yo, Riku-kun!" Riku was timing his teammates' yard-dashes when Saiyama appeared with the second attempt.

The freshman gave him a nod of acknowledgement, "Senpai."

Saiyama's hand perched on top of Riku's shoulder. He gave the freshman a pinning gaze. "Riku. Do you trust me?"

"Of course."

"I thought so. But, I have to ask, how far does that trust go?"

Riku, a little more skeptical, asked, "What do you mean, senpai?"

"Let me put it this way. I trust you enough to tell you about my life problems. We're like… confidants? Yeah, yeah, that's it, 'confidants'. Because that's what teammates are, right? We depend on each other inside and outside the field," Saiyama said while nodding and looking quite proud of his word choice.

The freshman, however, was a bit confused as to where this was going to lead. "Wouldn't it be better to talk to the guidance councilor, though? If it's a confidant that you're looking for, that is."

Saiyama was quick to shake his head. "No, no! That's when you don't have great teammates like us. Don't you think it's easier to talk to good friends? So don't forget Riku—we're confidants," Saiyama stresses the word. "Confidants!"

"Er, yeah." Riku, looking rather disturbed, unconsciously took a step back. "Confidants."

This definitely wasn't going well.

"Just telling him we can help isn't going to work. We have to make him spill it," Ushijima told the team while they were doing bench-presses. "Let's tell him we know he has a girlfriend! He'll be so flustered that he'll let it all out for sure."

"Right! Right!"

Luckily, Riku was too depressed to run at his top speed so most of them were able to run alongside him half an hour later.

"You know Riku, you didn't have to hide it from us," Nishina began.

"Yeah, yeah. We're hurt, really," Hazama followed after.

Riku finally noticed their presence. "What are you talking about, senpai?"

They faced him with knowing looks. "Your girlfriend, of course!" they said with big, cheesy smiles.

"That's right, you lucky dog! You should've told us that you got one already!"

"He's growing up so fast." A few fake tears were wiped away.

"A girlfriend?" Riku, at least, looked surprised. However, that wasn't enough. They needed him to fumble and have those slips of the tongue. Come on, Riku! Spill! They needed to know what's wrong!

"So, who's the girl? Come on, you can tell us. We're your senpai." The senpai trick had always worked with the younger kids.

Riku sighed. "There is no girl, senpai."

"Sure there is! Gossip travels fast you know. What was it that we heard? Tammy?"

"Taiga, Hazama-kun, Taiga. Cute name right? She must be cute. Only the best for our Riku, surely."

"But Taiga isn't—" Riku began, but he quickly caught himself. Good, good. Just a bit more! Gun and gun, Wild Gunmen!

"Yes, Riku?" The group moved closer together.

"Nothing. There is no girl, senpai," Riku told them again, sounding as confident as ever. Did he see through them? "I don't have problems with any girl right now, and I don't have a girlfriend. But if I ever do, I'll introduce her to all of you. Because we're confidants, after all." And then he smiled at them before speeding up and quickly finishing the rest of his laps, leaving the rest of his teammates behind.

Damn him for being so cool and smart.

xXx

"So we all wait for him to walk out here?" The Wild Gunmen (sans Kid and Tetsuma; they decided not to include themselves in this, and Riku, of course, wasn't with them, too) were all grouped together outside the school gates. It was the end of practice and everyone was ready to go home after doing their club activities.

"…I think we're beginning to look like a bunch of bullies. Or idiots."

"Shut up, Hata, this is for Riku. For Riku!"

"Yeah! For Riku!" they echoed.

"For me?"

"Riku!"

"What's going on, senpai?" Riku asked. "You're all acting kinda weird today. Girl problems, maybe?"

Smart-aleck.

They dismissed his rather cheeky comment with smirks and suspicious glints in their eyes. Then, they all nodded at each other and without further ado, two of the players grabbed Riku and hauled him out of school.

"Senpai, can you please put me down," Riku calmly requested after he had been dragged a block away.

"No way, Riku, you'll just run and we won't be able to catch you."

Riku held back a sigh. "It's not like you guys are kidnappers or anything. You're just my concerned senpai who happened to decide to take me somewhere without my consent. I won't run away because of that."

"He's started with the sarcasm again! That's two times in a row! It's worse than we thought."

"Okay, we're here. Quick, everyone in!"

Riku was brought inside what must be one of the players' houses. Which one, he had no clue and it didn't really matter. He just wanted to get this over with as soon as possible so he could go home. He needed to check his email and his home phone to see whether a certain someone had left him any messages.

Everyone was quickly settled inside the living room. Riku had the honor of sitting in an armchair while the rest were gathered around him on the sofas or on the floor.

This was it; the moment of confrontation. They had picked lots before on who was going to start the questioning (not to mention that they had even rehearsed how they were going to go about it), and according to the slip of paper which had the lucky yellow star, Ushijima was the one to get the ball rolling. "Okay, Riku, don't try and escape the subject this time. A couple of days ago, you were all smiles—"

"And you were glowing!"

"—And 'glowing'... what? What the hell is that?"

"You know, glowing. Like he was… sparkling."

"Sparkling, Ushio?"

"It's true! He had this happy aura around him. And it's as if he'd burst into a song about flowers and love at any given time!"

Ushijima slapped his own forehead. "Okay, okay, Riku was 'glowing'. But this morning you've been acting really weird."

"Really weird!"

"And as your senpai and teammate, I'm worried about you."

"We're all worried about you."

"Yeah, yeah. All of us. But mostly me. So I wanna know: what's bothering you, huh? From the way it looks, it must be about that girl of yours, right? Taiga?"

Riku stared at them. "Am I in some kind of hot seat or something?" he said, but to them, it sounded more like 'You went as far as kidnapping me just to ask me about my lovelife?' "But if you ask me, senpai, you guys are the ones acting pretty weird."

Direct hit.

"Hey, hey, don't turn this on us, Riku." Ushijima crossed his arms across his chest. "Just answer the question."

Riku ran a hand through his hair. "…Fine," he relented. "It's about Taiga. So, since it's all said and done, I'll be leaving now. Thanks for the concern, senpai. See you tomorrow…" He started to make his way out, but was immediately stopped and forced back down on his chair.

"Hold your horses, cowboy. You're not getting away that easily." Saba held on to the freshman's shoulder. "Like I said, if you got some troubles, we're here to help. So, what went on between you and Taiga?"

"It's nothing really, senpai." Riku shook his head. "Taiga just went back home… without telling me beforehand. Or calling me the days after."

"Ehhh?!"

Nishina tsk'ed. "That's not just 'nothing', Riku! There's definitely something going on with her. You must've done something wrong! You know how girls are. The only time they're quiet is when you've done something they didn't like. Either that or they nag. But maybe she's the silent-when-angry type."

Riku uncharacteristically slouched and rubbed his temples. "That's what I thought at first, too. I'd be up all night, but there was nothing I could find that I did wrong. I mean, I thought we both liked being with other. I did, at least. And, there's nothing bad about going home, we're still kids after all, and Taiga couldn't stay here since school's still going on back at their place. What I don't get, though, is why just leave without telling me anything? Or calling me back? It's been four days since Taiga left. The note and flowers were nice, but…" Riku sighed. "Kid-san was right, something bad always happens after something good."

They all felt pity for their kohai. He looked so sad. What love can do to people, really.

"Maybe she's cheating on you," Hazama murmured at the back. "A two-timer. I mean, if she can get you this crazy about her, then it's not impossible that she's one of those outgoing, pretty types who dates more than one guy for fun."

Riku immediately frowned. "Taiga isn't a player."

"Is she pretty?" Hazama asked.

"You can say that, yes." He was a bishounen, that was for sure.

"Sexy?"

Of course; Riku nodded.

"Smooth-talker?"

Riku thought about it. "…Yeah."

"Popular?"

"Pretty popular, I think." He's the Misaki Wolves' captain so he should have a very decent fan-base, right?

"Good with the guys?"

Taiga's a guy, Riku sweatdropped. "That's kinda a given."

Everyone shook their heads. This Taiga didn't sound so right for their Riku. "She's a player, all right."

Riku, however, was quick to stand up for his partner's defense. "How can you guys be so prejudiced? You haven't even met Taiga yet. It's all just coincidental, there's no proof that—"

"But Riku," Iseri said. "You agreed to the descriptions Hazama gave. Don't you think that there's a big chance that she might be fickle and—"

"That's enough, senpai. Please, don't try to help me anymore. I'll be fine. See you all at practice tomorrow." Riku bowed and left them sitting there to assess their actions.

They hadn't exactly been good teammates, had they?

Then again… It was wrong how they talked about Riku's significant other, true, but even he knew the logic behind their accusations. It pained the teen to think about Taiga like this, to not trust the person he loved. What was worse was that Taiga had not done anything to relieve him from his internal turmoil. Anything would have sufficed: a phone call, an email, even a text message. Anything.

Riku arrived home twenty-nine minutes later. Immediately, he checked the landline if Taiga had left any messages for him. He checked his computer for any emails. He checked his cell phone for any missed calls or text messages.

All Taiga had left for him were the same red-orange flowers, now sitting in a vase, and nothing more.

xXx

It had been two weeks after Taiga left. Winter break was just around the corner and that meant everyone was in a considerably cheerier mood. Everyone except for Riku, that is.

It wasn't only because of his depression over Taiga's lack of contact, but it was also because word had gone around the whole school about Riku's relationship (even Kid-san showed signs of knowing). It wouldn't have been so bad, really, and it was nice that they tried to help, but the problem was, the only help they managed to give was raising his suspicion against Taiga's supposed affair.

'Taiga, why aren't you making this any easier for me?' Riku wanted to wail. And he was really about to do it, too, but an arm that wound around his shoulder stopped him.

"You look frustrated. Anything the matter, kitten?"

Riku stood there with his mouth hanging open. Now in front of him stood Taiga, who took the chance to pull at the stoned Riku's cheeks. It took a while before the younger teen got back to earth, and when he did, he simultaneously gave a frown that perfectly opposed Taiga's grin.

"You," Riku said with venom in his tone.

"Me!" Taiga replied with his own kind of antidote.

"I hate you," Riku muttered once before he found himself going straight into Taiga's open arms. He didn't cry. His manhood had already been bruised enough, thank you, and he would not add salt to his own injury by crying. He did not cry.

"It's okay to cry, Riku," Taiga whispered. "I know you missed me, so it's all right to cry."

Riku punched him in the chest. "No way am I giving you that kind of satisfaction."

Taiga lowered his head so that his lips were at the same level as Riku's ear. "Fine, I'll suffice with making you cry in bed, then. And I have all winter break to do it, too~"

The younger teen raised an eyebrow at his boyfriend. "After leaving me behind and not calling, Taiga? How am I supposed to know that you didn't cheat on me while you were gone?" he said teasingly, but they did say jokes were half-hearted.

"Aww, kitten, you know I'd never do that to you. I'm crazy about you, ne?" Taiga gave him a bear hug. "I was so lonely. I didn't call you 'cause I might miss you so bad that I'd be tempted to skip school and just come here! Just hearing your sexy voice won't be enough for this hungry wolf!"

Riku turned a faint pink. "Idiot."

"I love you, too~"

"But still," Riku said with his usual smirk. "That doesn't change the fact that you made me worry. For that, you're not getting anything from me for a month."

"B-but Riku!" Taiga now found himself chasing after a glowing Riku. "Aww, come on, Riku, I left you those flowers! The old lady said that you'd like Zinnias for my going-away gift, so I got them just for you, kitten… Riku? Rikuuu! Don't do this to me! I won't even last a dayyyy!"

xXx

Omake

xXx

Over at the sidelines, we have the peanut gallery populated by the dumbfounded Wild Gunmen.

"…What just happened?"

"…Who was that?"

"…What on earth…"

"Hey, isn't that the Misaki Wolves' team captain, Kamiya Taiga?" Hina asked as she passed by the group. "What is he doing here, and with Kaitani-kun? …Ohhh. I see."

"What?! What?!"

"…Wait. Wasn't Riku's girlfriend's name 'Taiga'?" Saba hesitantly said.

"EHHHH?!"

"That's the Taiga that was cheating on our Riku?!" Ushijima exclaimed. "Wait. Taiga's a guy?!"

"Men." Hina shook her head. "Oh, and I think you could use a warning; you guys are so going to be on Kaitani-kun's bad side by tomorrow."

"Please say you're kidding, Hina-chan!" They gulped. A sad Riku was bad enough, but an angry one? They didn't even want to imagine it.

"Call it a woman's intuition…" she shrugged. When the players continued to look confused, she decided to explain for them. "I heard that you were the ones who gave Kaitani-kun the idea that his 'girlfriend' was cheating on him."

The players looked at Hazama accusingly.

"Kaitani-kun must've been really troubled about his lover's disappearance," Hina continued. "Or else, he wouldn't have paid attention to you guys. Unfortunately," she looked at them pityingly. "The things that you fed into his mind only made him feel worse when really, there was no need since Kamiya-kun is so sweet."

They looked at her like she was crazy.

She sighed. "Didn't you hear what he just said? Kamiya-kun left Kaitani-kun Zinnias before he went away. Zinnias mean 'loyalty' in flower language. Kaitani-kun had no reason to worry from the beginning. Especially when it comes to 'cheating'."

They 'ooh'ed at the newfound knowledge, but cold sweat dripped down their necks as they realized the grave mistake they had committed.

Practice was going to be very difficult from now on.

xXx

Omake 2

xXx

The skies still had remnants of glittering stars and the early morning blew cold wind at Narita Airport the day Team Japan had to fly to New York for the Youth Cup.

"Bye, Riku~ Don't cheat on me, okay?" Taiga said as he kissed his lover goodbye.

"I could say the same to you," Riku replied with a somewhat serious tone.

"I won't! I promise! But… Here." Taiga offered a familiar looking bouquet of red-orange flowers to Riku. "So you'll be at ease~"

Riku chuckled. "Seems like we thought about the same thing." From one of his bags, Riku retrieved another bouquet of Zinnias.

Taiga joined in on the laughter as he warmly gazed at the flowers.

Outside, planes skidded down the runways, their silver bodies reflecting the pink-orange-indigo sky. "Hey, look, the sun's rising."

"Mm, yeah."

Both of them paused to gaze at the picturesque view. Then, on impulse, Riku smiled and kissed Taiga.

"Good morning, kitten."

By habit, Riku kissed him again.

"G'morning to you, too."