Disclaimer: I own no part of Tenisu no Oujisama (Prince of Tennis). This fanfiction was written solely for entertainment purposes.
Rating: T. For safety purposes.
Warnings: Intended shounen-ai. If I succeeded, then I succeeded. If I didn't, then I didn't. Ryoma and Tezuka pairing. Short. Possible overuse of the word "buchou". Wild, wild grammar, though that has a purpose.
Dedication: For Alina, the newest (coughfirst) initiate into my little TeniPuri coven. Muahaha.
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Like a Lion
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Buchou, Ryoma thinks at practice one day, is a little like a lion. It's hard to say, though, what makes the freshman think of him like that--hard to say what part of Tezuka is actually leonine.
Maybe it's the hair. How it's wild, like a mane, except not, because Tezuka-buchou isn't the type to be negligent enough to grow it out all the way. So, okay, no, it's not really the hair. Is it? Ryoma doesn't know.
So maybe it's the eyes. Gold-brown eyes that don't seem to show much emotion towards things that are unnecessary and even things that are necessary, like math class. But when they alight upon something that's special (anything that's tennis, Ryoma supposes)—or something that he wants—that he wants to incorporate into his grand plans for the future—that he has to take care of—that he cares about (and Ryoma isn't vain enough to think that this includes him, even though…)—then his eyes blaze. They become spectacularly beautiful in the way that looking into a lion's huge brown eyes would be beautiful. Awe-inspiring.
But maybe it's Buchou's movements. Strong and steady with the rippling of various muscles and the way that the skin slides across them—exactly the way, in theory, that everyone else moves. Except that it's different. There's confidence and readiness in the way that he moves. The way that he doesn't have to try to exert power, or try to walk with an affected air that would never fool those who are close to him. Strong like a lion—strong without trying, without meaning it, because it's in his nature.
(Or at least that's how Echizen thinks a lion moves, because he's only seen the ones in the zoo and in The Lion King and on the Discovery Channel or something like that…)
Except that maybe it's just his aura. The power, the confidence, the air that rolls off of him. And that air makes him seem just a little unapproachable—just a little aloof, just a little otherworldly, just a little majestic. It's the reason that he doesn't have to roar to make people listen—but if he does, the then they listen. They don't question. He is the leader. The captain. The king of the Seigaku pride.
(Which is lame-sounding, even in Echizen's head, but as long as he doesn't say it out loud, to buchou's face, then it's okay. Not that Buchou would laugh at him or anything, because Buchou doesn't laugh, but…)
But maybe it's something else. His dedication to the tennis club is the same dedication to a lion to his pride. Leadership, of course. (Ryoma doesn't have all that many leadership qualities, only pillar-qualities—and only Buchou really knows what those are—so he particularly respects that aspect of Tezuka's character.) Or maybe it's his firmness, his resolve, his laconic manner of speech, or even—even—
Oh, Ryoma doesn't know. Buchou is his buchou, and whatever animal he is like—it doesn't matter.
(Doesn't matter, Ryoma thinks, as his eyes slide over Tezuka-buchou's figure again, because Ryoma will always follow Tezuka's orders, even if the reasons for that are kind of jumbled in Ryoma's head.)
So Echizen turns away from Tezuka's practice and returns to what he is supposed to be doing and feigns his disinterest quite well.
It really wouldn't do if he got caught admiring—no, observing—Tezuka again.
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.notes.
I don't know why this struck me. I was just on the train and it wouldn't leave me alone. :shrug:
Ack…
I wanted my 50th post to be something Prince of Tennis and TezuRyo. Yaaay!
Reviews are adored. Reviewers are adored.
--raspberry