Written for PillarPairWeeks on tumblr
"Are you asking her?" Momo asked, throwing an arm around Ryoma as he tried to eat his burger.
Ryoma chocked slightly, but managed to swallow it down before asking boredly, "ask who?"
Momo sighed and shook his head, "you know," he said.
"No. I don't," Ryoma insisted.
"Sakuno," Momo said, "don't roll your eyes! You gotta take her to the festival and then, find an out of the way spot and kiss her during the fireworks. Girls love romantic things like that!"
That would be all well and good, Ryoma thought, if he actually liked Sakuno. But he didn't. He didn't much like girls, especially not in the way Momo was blabbering on about.
"Maybe," Ryoma said, mostly to shut his friend up about this subject. He had better things to do than date girls.
Like tennis and schoolwork and Tezuka.
Would Tezuka ask him to the festival? They were sort-of-probably dating, so Ryoma assumed he would. He hoped he would.
With a week to go before the festival, Ryoma started to worry. Tezuka never asked him out last minute, especially to things with a date and time. He put it down to Tezuka thinking about other things and left it.
He made sure to be in places where Tezuka would be though, just to make sure Tezuka was always thinking about him. They were dating after all, it was only fair if Ryoma monopolized Tezuka's time! Tezuka seemed appreciative and the student council office was a nice place to nap when Tezuka wasn't giving him jobs to do ("If you want to stay here then you need to help.")
In an act of desperation, he even bought up the festival offhand, just asking what it would be like. Tezuka had made some remark about how they were usually fun and then moved on. Looking back on it, Ryoma probably shouldn't have asked whilst Tezuka was reviewing the tennis club's accounts.
And so, it was the day of the festival and Ryoma still had no plans with Tezuka.
"I'll ask him," Ryoma told Karupin in the morning before he headed off to school. "Since he won't ask me."
Morning practice was in full swing when Ryoma arrived. Tezuka glared at him as he tried to sneak into the clubroom to get changed.
"Will you come to the firework festival with me?" Ryoma asked, joining Tezuka at the side of the court.
"I've already said I'd go with Inui and Fuji," Tezuka replied. Ryoma frowned and pulled his cap down over his eyes. Tezuka hadn't sounded like he cared who he went with.
Fine. If he was going to be like that!
Ryoma stormed away to where Momo was chatting with the Kikumaru.
"Are you going to the festival?" Ryoma demanded.
"Y-Yes," Momo replied, "why?"
"Good, I'm going with you," Ryoma said. Next to them Kikumaru was torn between confusion and laughter.
He left Momo gaping like a fish and went to hit a ball against the wall. It wasn't as if he needed Tezuka to have a good time! He'd hang out with his friends and have the best night ever!
He was still in a bad mood when he was changing out of his school uniform into his casual clothes. He didn't have a yukata so he went for jeans and a shirt over a tshirt with the sleeves rolled up.
Karupin was hiding under the bed, not wanting to get in the way of Ryoma. Ryoma was too angry at Tezuka to care.
How could he agree to go with Fuji and Inui when he hadn't asked what his boyfriend was doing? Did he not want to go on a date with Ryoma? Idiot Buchou!
Momo came by to pick him up on his bike. "How are you?" he asked as Ryoma hopped on.
"Fine!" Ryoma snapped.
The short journey to the festival was in silence.
Once inside, surrounded by the chattering crowds and beautifully lit stalls, Ryoma started to calm down. Who cared about Tezuka? He was going to have fun!
He immediately challenged Momo to a game, but was pulled away to a food stall first. Ryoma really wanted to some shaved ice, but Momo was after something with meat in, so they ended up with Yakitori. Although, if he kept hanging out with Momo he'd end up sampling all the food from every stall.
"Look over there," Momo said, nudging Ryoma and pointing to a stall selling accessories where a couple of girls were standing.
"So what? They're girls," Ryoma shrugged, turning to another stall. But Momo grabbed his arm and pulled him towards them. "Stop it!" he whined.
"Fancy seeing you here," Momo said as they reached the girls, who turned out to be Sakuno and Tomoka, looking very cute in yukata.
"Hello Momo-senpai," Sakuno said, then she caught sight of Ryoma and blushed. "Hi Ryoma-kun."
Momo hit Ryoma's shoulder. "Hi," he muttered.
"Are you having fun?" Momo asked when Ryoma made no attempt at conversation.
"Yeah, it's great," Tomoka replied. "I can't wait for the fireworks!"
Somehow, the two girls joined their little group. Ryoma glared at Momo's back as he walked with Sakuno and Tomoka either side of him- Momo was a traitor, how was he supposed to forget about Tezuka not asking him out when Momo was more interested in hanging out with girls then him!
He started to drop off the back, he'd got lost accidentally so many times that it was easy to do it deliberately. Soon, the crowd was milling around him and he was all alone.
He set off to find a shaved ice stall, making sure not to catch back up with Momo, they'd find out he was missing soon enough.
"Echizen!" Someone called behind him, Ryoma spun around and saw Fuji jogging towards him wearing what was definitely a women's yukata.
"Yes," Ryoma said. He wasn't going to judge Fuji on his choice of clothing, he looked pretty good in the black with bright flowers yukata, the lip gloss just added to the effect.
"Are you looking for Tezuka?" Fuji asked.
"I thought he was with you."
"Yeah, then I met Yuuta," Fuji replied, his face lighting up as he mentioned his brother.
"Uh-huh."
"Tezuka wanted to come here with you," Fuji said, suddenly serious.
"Then he should have asked me!" Ryoma snapped before stalking off. He heard Fuji chuckle behind him and his blood boiled.
Stupid, idiot Tezuka!
If he wanted to go with Ryoma then why didn't he ask? He had plenty of opportunities to do so! Did he think Ryoma would turn him down? Why would he think that?! They were dating, sort of, weren't they?!
Ryoma blinked, he'd stormed out of the street stalls and was now in the crowd milling around and finding good firework watching spots. Well, he didn't feel like looking around stalls anyway! He just wanted to find somewhere quiet and sit down, away from people.
He started to push his way through the crowds, half of a mind to go home, when someone grabbed his arm.
Ryoma was not in the mood for this. "What?" he snapped viciously, spinning around to see Tezuka. "Oh, it's you."
It would have been better if Tezuka was wearing normal clothes and not looking particularly handsome in a dark blue yukata with lighter blue stripes. Now Ryoma was blushing.
"Good evening, Echizen," Tezuka said, a small smile on his face that tested Ryoma's will to stay mad at him.
"Hi," Ryoma muttered.
"I've been looking for you," Tezuka said, "I've found a quiet place."
He lead Ryoma through the crowds, Ryoma scowling at his back. Stupid Tezuka! Ryoma should struggle out of his grasp and run away. That would show him….
But he didn't.
Tezuka took him to a spot on the edge of the crowd, they weren't in a prime position for fireworks watching, but they'd be able to see them.
"You're not in a good mood," Tezuka said and Ryoma rolled his eyes, that was obvious. "Is it because of me?"
"Yes," Ryoma replied, turning so that he watch the crowd and not have to look at Tezuka. Tezuka waited patiently for Ryoma to continue. "I wanted to come here with you," Ryoma said, only loud enough for Tezuka to hear. "But you didn't ask me."
"You didn't ask me either," Tezuka said reasonably.
"That's because I wanted you to ask me!" Ryoma snapped. "Forget it, I'm going home."
"Ryoma!" Tezuka grabbed Ryoma's arm again. But that wasn't what made him pause.
Tezuka had called him by his name. Tezuka.
"I wanted you to ask me," Tezuka admitted.
Ryoma faced him, the anger fading away. They were both idiots. He found himself starting to laugh, then he was in Tezuka's arms, laughing almost hysterically into his shoulder.
"I thought you weren't interested," Tezuka said as Ryoma laughed. "I assumed you'd ask me if you were."
Behind them, the first firework exploded with a bang, filling the sky with a chrysanthemum of red sparks. The crowd 'ooh'd' their appreciation, all eyes turned to the sky as it filled with colour and light.
No one noticed the couple on the edge, too wrapped up in each other to pay any attention to the fireworks. By the time the fireworks had ended, the couple had gone, to make fireworks of their own.