Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi.

He noticed it when he overheard Ootori telling Hiyoshi.

"Well, I'm just worried about him, Hiyoshi-kun. And you've known him a lot longer than I have," he'd said in a loud whisper.

Hiyoshi looked annoyed (as always), and grunted some sort of response that probably meant he didn't care, even though Ootori smiled and took it as he did. Gakuto watched from the other side of the net as Hiyoshi tossed a glance over at Shishido, who was sitting in the bleachers. His brow was furrowed underneath his hat, and his fingers were laced in front of him.

He must be worried about something, Gakuto thought.

It wasn't until that night when Gakuto was practicing flips out front. He'd jump off the stone fence and stick the landing. "Too easy," he mumbled as he took a swig of water and sat down on the wall. He sighed, the image of his distressed friend coming back to him. "Shit, Shishido," he growled, scratching his head roughly in frustration.

Damn, he could almost hear him, all stressed out and tired. Like he's been working so hard, like he always has. Like he always has, since they were kids.

"Gakuto?"

What?

Gakuto looked up. Shishido was standing there, a towel wrapped around his neck, and a water bottle in his hand. "Shishido?"

"Hey, I've been calling for you for a while now. You alright?"

"I was practicing my acrobatics. Yuushi was busy with some homework, so I've been stuck here by myself," he answered quietly. Gakuto noticed it again. Shishido frowned when he said that. "Have you been running?"

"Ah, yeah," Shishido chuckled a bit. He rubbed his face with the towel. "You could've called me you know, we could've played some practice matches."

"Oh." Gakuto looked at the ground a few meters below his feet. Why didn't he call him? He forgot Shishido lived a couple blocks away. Jiroh lived closer, and Hiyoshi's family was always busy with the dojo down the street. But Shishido was still within walking distance. He just didn't think of it. "You aren't out with Ootori?"

"He's usually busy with school work during the week nights, so we usually just go out on the weekends sometimes."

"Oh," Gakuto said again.

"I don't," Shishido began. He sighed, wiping his face with the towel again. "I don't usually see you around. I know you're always with Oshitari lately."

"Yeah, I am," Gakuto answered. He smiled a little bit at the thought of the blunette.

"You've liked him ever since he first came to Tokyo, huh?"

He laughed to cover up the blush he felt on his face. "He was really good at tennis! And he is really hot, Shishido. Don't act like you don't think so."

Shishido shrugged. "He's alright. And he's good with words, I guess."

Gakuto caught himself grinning, and looked down at Shishido. He was frowning, with that furrowed brow again. Was he always this tall?

"Hey, Shishido?"

"Huh?" He looked up at Gakuto, almost as tall as the wall now. "What? Sorry."

He bit his lip as Shishido looked up at him, with open eyes. He couldn't take it. He looked over him, over the hat Ootori gave him when he cut his hair, giving everything up, changing completely, towards the setting sun. "Why does it seem like so long since I've seen you?" he asked quietly.

He knew the answer. He knew it.

Because you're always busy.

He didn't want to hear it.

"Because you're always with Oshitari."

He bit down on his lip, and he rubbed his palms on the jagged stone wall beneath them. It hurt, but not as much as that.

He remembered when it wasn't like this. When it was him, and Shishido, and Jiroh, and sometimes Hiyoshi. He remembered when they were best friends.

"That doesn't mean we can't be friends, Shishido! I mean – we – we're still friends, aren't we?"

"Gakuto," Shishido mumbled.

"Aren't we?" he yelled. He could feel his throat start to ache as he choked down some more water to calm himself down.

Shishido tossed his head to the side and swore. He began, "Well, I thought we were!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" he yelled, finally looking back at the short brunette as he jumped down from his spot on the wall. He had to look up at Shishido, he realized, who looked a lot more grown up than he remembered.

"I thought we were, but you were the one that stopped calling me by my first name once you started talking to Oshitari! It was just 'Yuushi, Yuushi,' all the time! I was Shishido, but Jiroh was still Jiroh. What's up with that, huh?"

Finally, Shishido met his eyes, and Gakuto wondered how long this had been bothering him. How long he'd looked like he was so upset, and when was the last time he noticed?

"I," he stuttered, "I don't know! I don't know, okay?"

He expected a lot more yelling, but Shishido just sighed, a hopeless look on his face.

"I don't know," Gakuto repeated quietly. "And – and where do you get off – getting so mature without me looking?"

"What?"

"Look at you! You're so much taller than me now! And all those muscles! I'm not the only one that changed! I just… Just between Yuushi and Ootori, I guess we just don't see each other as much. But because Yuushi's always with Atobe, and Atobe's always with Jiroh, I still… see him," he said, every word becoming more and more impossible to say than the last, feeling like a big orange in his mouth he had to try to talk around. "So, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry. Let's be friends again!"

For a while, for what seemed like forever, Shishido stayed quiet and didn't reply to him.

Then a breathy laugh escaped him, and Gakuto looked up.

"I'm sorry, Gakuto," he said, wiping his eyes before hugging him. "I'm sorry, too. I swear, I'm not that different," he said from above Gakuto's head. "I'm the exact same I always was."

"You're a liar." Gakuto wrapped his arms around Shishido. He realized that Shishido filled his arms a lot more than he used to. He smelled like sweat, but he could faintly smell the same shampoo he's always used. "Let's be friends again, okay?"

He chuckled again. "Okay."

The end. Hope you enjoyed!

so... long time no update? I'm sorry about that.