Tezuka had always thought, that the bond, that he had with Ryoma was perfect. There was some kind of magic between them. Every time he looked into Ryoma's eyes the warm feeling in his stomach grew.

It was no wonder to the regulars that one day Tezuka, with a little help from Ryoma, announced that they are officially dating.

They were congratulated and Fuji got some money from the bet that they had made, but Ryoma and Tezuka weren't supposed to know about it. (When Tezuka found out Fuji had to run a lot of laps.)

So all in all: Tezuka thought that he and Ryoma had a flawless relationship. It was supposed to be string and able to get through and withstand everything that would happen to them.

But after a while Ryoma became more distant when he was together with Tezuka. They no longer had the long tennis matches; the evenings that Ryoma was willing to spend together with Tezuka were reduced to almost nothing and the silly conversations were completely gone.

But Tezuka still thought that there still was a way for their relationship to work, if they both would work together.

That was what he thought until Ryoma asked him to meet up on the school rooftop today, in the lunch break.

The air between them wasn't the nice and comfortable one that they used to have. Now it was thick and tense, as if the slightest mistake could break the thin thread that was still between them.

The only one that was left.

"Buchou.." Even when they were dating Ryoma still called him 'buchou'. Tezuka never did understand why that one word, spoken from Ryoma's mouth could bring him such joy. "I… Let's break up."

The small sentence that had just left Ryoma's mouth at first didn't register in Tezuka's mind. After slowly replaying those few words again and again he finally felt the sudden pain and confusion.

His face still remained stoic, but on the inside there was turmoil of emotions.

Tezuka said the only thing that he was able to day at the moment: "Why?"

If at first Ryoma seemed just as bored and apathetic as always as looked straight into his eyes, then after he said that one word Ryoma bit his lip and lowered his eyes to stare at the concrete under his feet. From what Tezuka was seeing, he could tell that Ryoma was trying to find the right words.

"We… No, I always thought that there was something between us, something special, but with time I slowly began understand that that something wasn't 'like'. From my side, at least. I just admired you, Buchou. Maybe you like me to some extent, but I just admire you, nothing else." He finally looked into Tezuka's eyes again and continued "I met someone that showed me what it feels like to actually 'like' someone."

The fire that shone in those golden eyes was a different fire that Tezuka was used to see every time Ryoma looked at him, with something that wasn't a smirk, but not yet a smile.

This fire was fire of something bigger than 'like'. It was the same fire that Kikumaru looked at Oishi or his parent's looked at each other.

It was fire of love.

There was no way for Tezuka to fight with someone that had really won the young prodigies heart. Tezuka knew that he had to let go.

"I'm sorry." Was all Ryoma said before turning around and starting to walk away.

"Wait!" Ryoma stopped and reluctantly turned to look at his former boyfriend. "Just tell me one thing please. Who… Who was the one?"

"Atobe."

Tezuka wasn't expecting that.

He was almost gotten himself ready for almost everything, but Atobe.


A/N: I'm re-writing 'Three Steps to Eternity' and the same fate awaits 'Second Chance'.

Why? Because I read them again, for fun and almost fainted from the shock. I couldn't believe that I used to write horror like that. So I decided to improve them.

And the shortness in intended.