Title: Alone
Rating: G
Genre: Erm, I think it's Romance.
Pairings: TezuRyo,OishiEiji MomoKai, mentioned FujiInui (!!)
Summary: Tezuka remembers. Eiji wants to know why he does it alone.



It is winter and it is freezing cold, but the streets are still teeming with life, people weaving around each other, trying to get to their destination quickly, but trying not to hit anyone else either. Tezuka watches from the safety inside the cafe, the mug of coffee warming his hands.

A teenaged boy is busy laughing and talking loudly to his stoic, unresponsive friend and doesn't watch where he's walking. He slips on a patch of ice, and, without even a twitch of surprise--

--Kaidoh reaches a arm out to grab Momoshiro before he falls. Momoshiro's eyes widen in surprise as his descent down to what promised to be a nasty fall was broken and he looks at his classmate and fuku-buchou as if he'd just grown a couple of horns and an extra eye on his forehead.

"Kao-" Momoshiro gets out before Kaidoh's dark look silences him.

"Buchou," Kaidoh reprimands him, "You should be more careful." But there is something strangely soft in his gaze as he looks at Momoshiro. The former third year starters stand there quietly, wondering what has happened between the two since they have left for high school. Ryoma stands to the side, watching the two with a knowing smirk on his face.

The two of act the same as usual for the rest of the reunion, but somehow, no one is surprised when a few months later they announce that they are dating at the next reunion.

"Mou... They seem so familiar..."

Tezuka is startled out of his thoughts at the familiar voice. He turns to look at Eiji, who is watching the same pair Tezuka had been staring at while he was lost in his thoughts. Eiji watches as the boy who slipped laughed embarrassedly at having to be rescued, a thoughtful look on his face.

Suddenly, Eiji shifts slightly to beam at his former captain. "Tezuka-san, I hear you're being scouted by some of the best universities in the country, and some even from other countries! That sounds exciting." Tezuka nods. Eiji pouts. "Mou... You could at least try to seem excited! Oishi has been scouted by some pretty good schools too, but you know him, he's so modest..." Eiji trails off.

Tezuka waits. As captain, he felt that it was his job to know the people on his team, and some of what he learned comes back, reminding him that this means Eiji is about to start talking about something Very Important.

"...Tezuka-san, why are you here alone?"

He blinks. "Alone? You're here..."

Eiji laughs. "No, I didn't mean here here," he says gesturing towards the cafe sheepishly, "I meant, why are you here now, all by yourself unlike, you know..." He is unable to say it aloud, but he flaps a hand helplessly at the other people around him.

Tezuka looks, and he sees a girl and a boy sharing a booth, the girl snuggling up to her boyfriend, giggling at something he has just said. Nearby, another nauseatingly affectionate couple feeds each other, sweet nothings rolling off their tongues ceaselessly.

"I mean," Eiji continues, "Momoshiro and Kaidoh have found each other, Inui and Fuji have too --though I'm still not completely sure how that happened and it's been years now-- , me and Shuichiro... Even Kawamura has found somebody. What about you Tezuka-san?"

He does not answer immedeately. Eiji waits impatiently, looking up at Tezuka's face, silently demanding an answer.

"I don't know if I'll ever find someone." Tezuka says finally, truthfully.

"Why?"

"Because I already have someone that I care for."

"So what's the problem?" Eiji is frustrated. Tezuka wonders if Oishi knows how lucky he is to have someone who cares so much for others. He probably does. Oishi is a good man, if not one who underestimates his own worth. Tezuka is quite certain that Eiji has to deal with many headaches with his boyfriend, who probably often questions whether he is good enough for him.

"This person doesn't feel the same way."

Eiji is silent for a second. Tezuka takes a sip of his nearly forgotten coffee. It's cool now, and it tastes a bit bitter. He is thinking that he should go get some sugar to add to it, when Eiji says, "I think Ryoma would disagree with you."

Tezuka chokes on his coffee, all thoughts of sugar disappearing from his mind. "W-what?" he sputters.

Eiji looks somewhat smug at being able to break his cool, but is surprised at the same time. "What do you mean?" Eiji says, sounding incredulous. "Ryoma's liked you for a long time now. It's become so obvious that I think even Momoshiro's noticed."

Tezuka stares.

Eiji stares back. "Oh," he says, comprehension dawning on him, "You really didn't see. I thought you were doing that self-sacrificing shit again."

Tezuka is silent. His mind whirls at the news, and his heart beats against his ribcage, apparently determined to break out of his chest. He stares down at the brown rippling surface of his coffee. Eiji sits there silently, watching him.

"Buchou? Eiji-sempai?"

The two of them look up to see the only one who still calls Tezuka "buchou." Ryoma stands there, looking surprised to see the two of them together. Oishi stands behind him, smiling sheepishly.

"Shuichiro!" Eiji cries happily, bounding over to his boyfriend to give him a hug.

"Sorry to take so long," Oishi mumbled into Eiji's shoulder, where his face was pressed, "I ran into Ryoma and and we got caught up talking about stuff. When I said that I was meeting up with you, he came with me because he was going the same direction... Turns out we were going to the same place..."

Eiji lets go of Oishi and looks over at Ryoma questioningly.

"This cafe has some of the best pastries in this area," the younger boy explains, "My mother sent me to get some."

"Ah." Eiji says. He throws Tezuka a mischievious look before warning bells can go off in his head, Eiji says, "I'm sure Tezuka would be happy to help you with that. Well, me and Shuichiro have to be going. Bye now!" And the pair are gone, Oishi's hand clasped firmly in Eiji's.

Tezuka puts his mug down. The coffee is cold now, and sugar wouldn't do much for it anyways. The staff will clean it soon.

Ryoma blinks at him. "You don't have to help me," he pointed out.

Tezuka shrugs, and he helps Ryoma anyways.

Later as they are walking back to Ryoma's house, which to Tezuka's surprise, isn't much farther than a 15 minute walk. He holds two bags and Ryoma holds two bags, all filled to the maximum with bread. Ryoma's mother is having some guests over, and it was last minute, so Ryoma had been sent for bread. The bags are very heavy and Tezuka wonders how Ryoma expected to carry it all by himself.

"Buchou," Ryoma breaks the silence hesitantly, "What did you and Eiji-sempai talk about?"

"Nothing much," Tezuka lies automatically.

"Ah," his companion says, and silence reigns again.

This time it is Tezuka who breaks the silence. "Eiji said," Tezuka began slowly, "that you liked me."

Ryoma froze. "Oh," he mumbled belatedly. He scowled. "I thought so... I'm going to kill him... Stupid Eiji-sempai!"

Tezuka stays quiet.

Ryoma looks up at him and Tezuka is surprised to see a faint blush on his face. Ryoma averts his eyes and mutters, "Well it's true."

"Ah." Tezuka says. He's become so used to convincing himself that Ryoma would never think of him as more than just his buchou, that when he was confronted with a situation that countered that, he was a bit unsure what to do.

"Ryoma?"

When Tezuka said his name, the younger boy immedeately looked at him, eyes wide in surprise. It occured to Tezuka that he'd never used Ryoma's first name before. It felt... nice saying his name.

"Ryoma," he said again, "After we give these to your mother... Would you like to get some coffee with me?"

Ryoma opens his mouth, but doesn't do anything but gape, looking a bit like a fish out of water. He closes his mouth and tries again. "Yes," he declares and grins and Tezuka's heart squeaks, does a weird sort of flip inside his chest and says to his mind, "oh my god, he's so cute!"

Later, Ryoma will get his revenge on Eiji, and Tezuka will have to deal with Ryoma's father, who grumbles something about not getting any grandchildren and ignores Tezuka, preferring to read his dirty magazine than talk to the boy who took his son out on a date. But now, Tezuka and Ryoma walk together, both anticipating the time they can spend together after their task is done.


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