Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: A friend and I were talking of what it would take to make Atobe cry. This is my theory.

Breaking of the Snob

Atobe's gaze lazily wandered about, his eyes only halfway open, lips just a bit ajar. The body under him was warm, he noted, warm and firm and familiar. The muscled chest was hardly the most comfortable pillow in the world but it was good enough for him right now – no, not good enough, the best. Because nothing but the best would do for Atobe Keigo, of course.

His fingers lazily moved along the muscular arm lying to the side, tracing its outlines carefully, as though committing them to memory. He felt a hand in his hair as well, fingers combing gently the soft strands, as warm as the legs entangled with his. The hand slipped down, caressing his neck, his shoulders, before wandering back up to his hair, tracing lazy patterns on his scalp.

A tiny smirk curled Atobe's lips. Oh, yes. This was most definitely the best place to be.

"…You know, Atobe." He felt the words as much as he heard them, the rumble coming from right beneath his head, the deep voice of an adult thought they were both still just teenagers. "I've been thinking…"

"Ahn?" He raised his eyebrows, out of habit, though the other probably couldn't even see it right now. "Please, do make sure you don't hurt yourself."

"As lovely as ever, I see." Even as his eyes slipped closed, his hand finally coming to a rest over the strong arm, he could well hear the slight smile in his lover's voice.

"Ore-sama does his best." Atobe shifted a bit, so as to better accommodate his body to the other one, determined to fall asleep exactly where he was. "So what is it you've been thinking?" It had better be damn important, to interrupt his precious little moment of silence…

"Well…" The hand in his hair was really soothing, the fingertips tracing the same pattern over and over again, really he could fall asleep right now… "If you ever wanted to see other people…" Suddenly, Atobe's eyes flew wide, his body tensing all over. "…It'd be okay. I mean, I wouldn't get mad."

Atobe wanted to sit up, to stand up, to bounce off the bed entirely. He wanted to demand an explanation, why would he say such things anyway, did he already have someone else and did he really think Atobe was willing to share. Nevertheless, he forced himself to stay calm, slowly relaxing himself little by little. Don't panic, Atobe. Think rationally.

"…Idiot," he muttered, eyes slowly closing again as he lightly punched the strong arm. "Don't say such stupid things."

That was exactly it, Atobe told himself. Just a stupid joke, maybe the idiot really didn't think too much of his own comment, maybe he was just too sleepy to think straight. Yes, that must have been it; they were both worn out after a full day of tennis and… other activities. It was already fairly late; of course they both were tired.

"…Atobe?" This time, the voice was a bit quieter. "Atobe, why do you –"

"Hush," Atobe replied, starting it as a sharp huff but softening it towards the end. "Ore-sama is going to sleep now." And, true to his words, he let his breathing calm down, concentrating on the warmth, on the pleasant feeling of a well-sculpted chest underneath his. He felt an arm being wrapped around his waist, strong and firm, and let a happy sigh escape his lips before finally falling asleep.

His dreams, though, were restless and disturbed, and as he woke up in the morning he really didn't feel rested at all.

Between school, tennis, and various other duties, Atobe didn't have as much spare time as he might have liked to. Of course, what little free time he did have he often used for tennis anyway, but sometimes, he did prefer to be simply free of everything and simply concentrate on himself. And because spending time with his boyfriend made him happy, doing that was obviously one of the best possible pastimes.

Except when said boyfriend didn't have time for him.

It was getting somewhat annoying, really. He didn't have too much time to spare for things like dates; when he did manage to get an afternoon free, he would have at least liked to see his boyfriend instead of simply calling him. It was natural to think Tachibana would be of similar opinion.

Yet he again found himself staring at his phone, barely containing the anger boiling inside him.

Finally, Atobe snapped the phone closed with forced calm, not about to give in to his anger as that would have clearly been beneath him. Dropping the phone to his side on his enormous bed, he rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. Tachibana's words from the call ran through his mind.

"Oh, I can't today." Just like that. No excuses, no explanations. Not even a suggestion of when would be a better time, which surely would have been the very basic requirement of civility! Of course, chances were his suggestion would not have suited Atobe's own schedule, but still. Not offering another time implied it wasn't the day that was the problem, but he simply wasn't interested in meeting Atobe. Of course that couldn't be true, but if Atobe had been someone with a bit less self-confidence…

"Huh? What do you mean, why not?" As though it was unreasonable of him to ask for an explanation. Whenever Atobe turned down Tachibana's suggestion of a meeting, he made sure to offer an acceptable excuse as to why he couldn't agree. That was only polite, after all – and made it clear he simply wasn't saying no because he felt like it. Was it really too much to ask the same of Tachibana?

"I just want to spend time with my friends." Friends? What friends were more important than Atobe? And while Atobe certainly understood the need to sometimes see friends other than just your boyfriend, did Tachibana really have to be with them on the one afternoon Atobe could get free all week? Was it simply so he didn't have to meet Atobe?

Well, that certainly couldn't be true. After all, there was no way he wouldn't want to see Atobe. Tachibana was just being rude; he'd doubtlessly realize it sooner or later and apologize. Atobe was just going to be a good boyfriend and not get angry needlessly. There was nothing to worry about.

…Worry? Why would he even think about that? The only thing that was worrying here was his boyfriend's lack of manners. It wasn't like he was jealous, Heaven forbid. Whoever Tachibana was spending his time with was simply a friend, while Atobe was his one and only boyfriend. Obviously his position was better than that of anyone else.

But if that were true, why was he the one getting pushed off when Tachibana already had plans?

Now, thinking like that wasn't going to help at all. He was Atobe Keigo, after all. Tachibana should have been grateful he actually bothered to arrange some free time to suggest a date. If he didn't realize that, it was his loss.

Which of course didn't explain why he felt so very, very lonely right now.

"Oiiii, Atobe!" Jirou's sudden tackle-hug actually made him sway a bit. Obviously, Jirou was nowadays quite a bit stronger than back in middle school, which could only be a good thing. Too bad he chose his captain to test his strength. "You sure look mad today!"

"Jirou," Atobe said curtly. "Please let ore-sama be."

"Huh?" Letting go of him, Jirou tilted his head to the side, a puzzled expression on his face. "Why are you so grumpy today, Atobe? Usually you're happy to start practice after a free day!"

"Not even ore-sama always has perfect days, unlikely though that seems," Atobe sighed. "Just get to practice, okay?"

"Awww, you're such a spoilsport!" Jirou made a face. Then his expression turned curious. "Oh! Since there wasn't practice or anything yesterday, were you with your boyfriend?"

"No, I wasn't." Atobe shook his head. "He had to help his mother with cleaning." The third time he'd been turned down in as many weeks. During that time, he'd had only one actual date with Tachibana. It was getting… annoying.

"Oh. Then it probably wasn't him I saw." Jirou shrugged, apparently losing his interest in the subject. Unfortunately for him, this was where Atobe's interest awoke.

"Hm? You saw someone like him?" But Tachibana had told he'd be stuck home the entire day… hadn't he?

"Well, yeah. I was at the arcade with Gakuto, you see, and someone who looked exactly like him walked by." Jirou frowned. "I was kind of confused, because he wasn't with you but someone else… but then, it couldn't have been him after all so that's probably not so strange, right?"

"…Indeed." Atobe nodded slowly. "It couldn't have been him." Turning towards the easily chattering players, he then shouted, "Everyone running now! You have five seconds to get moving before ore-sama assigns extra laps!"

"Meanie Atobe," Jirou muttered, yawning as he started running. "Tachibana really should spend more time with Atobe so he wouldn't be so strict…"

Atobe only barely resisted the temptation to assign him some extra laps anyway.

"Atobe."

Atobe didn't turn to look, merely raising his eyebrows. "Hmm?"

"Atobe." There was movement beside him, then lips pressed against his cheek. "You seem absent today."

"…Ore-sama apologizes." Sighing, Atobe forced a smile onto his lips, glancing sideways at his boyfriend. "There's just a lot on my mind today."

"Oh?" Tachibana frowned even as he slipped an arm around Atobe's shoulders. "Perhaps I should have come another day?"

"Oh, no. Who knows when that would be?" They were seeing each other far too little for Atobe's tastes as it was. The one time their schedules actually fit together, Atobe wasn't about to pass the opportunity.

Especially since the main thing bothering his mind was Tachibana.

Turning towards Tachibana, Atobe reached his arms up around Tachibana's neck, pulling him closer for a proper kiss. "Ore-sama… wouldn't complain if you distracted him," he then murmured against Tachibana's lips.

Tachibana smirked, wrapping his own arms around Atobe's waist. "As you wish, Atobe-sama."

Giving in to the kiss that followed, Atobe was glad to find his disturbing thoughts being chased far, far away.

Tachibana didn't answer his phone.

Well, to be more accurate, he had already answered his phone. To someone else's call. Which meant that when Atobe tried to call him, he couldn't get through.

After a moment of trying, Atobe sighed in frustration, ending his attempt at calling Tachibana. Surely, he thought, Tachibana could have at least asked him what he had to say. Surely it shouldn't have been that difficult to put the other call on hold for just a minute? It wasn't like Atobe was rude enough to interrupt a conversation; he would have just said a word or two and bade his goodbyes. But how could he do that when he never got a word in?

He did not throw the phone against a wall, as that would have been quite barbaric and foolish. Instead, he decided to spend some of his time sulking. Perhaps it was not the most effective pastime ever, either, but at least it wasn't destructive in nature.

It was quite some time later that his phone rang. Recognizing the ring tone, Atobe hesitated for a moment before answering the call. "Yes?" he half asked, half snapped.

"Woah, someone's cheerful today," Tachibana replied. "You tried to call me."

"Indeed, ore-sama did." Atobe raised his eyebrows. "And you chose not to answer."

"Well, I was already in the middle of a call," Tachibana pointed out. "That's usually an acceptable excuse for not answering."

"You could have at least switched calls for a second," Atobe pointed out. "What if ore-sama'd had something important to say?"

"Well, you didn't, did you?" Tachibana asked rather reasonably. "And besides, I really didn't even notice the other call coming. Senri was talking about their tennis practice, and I was thinking of –"

"…It's fine," Atobe said. He really didn't want to hear anything, absolutely anything, about Chitose. Definitely not about Tachibana's call to Chitose. "Just… it's fine."

However, most of the following call flew by his ears, and as he closed his phone he couldn't remember a word he'd said, still too focused on the first, rejected call.

The café perhaps wasn't the classiest place ever, but at least it was better than the cheap, messy places most of his peers frequented. Atobe was quietly stirring his tea, glancing at his watch every now and then. Impatience was generally beneath him, but now he was getting inexplicably nervous even though it wasn't even the time yet. Tachibana was usually in time – when he actually showed up, anyway – but today, Atobe especially didn't want him to be late.

Of course Tachibana would be on time, today of all days. Not even he could be that thoughtless, that rude. There was no way he would be late, or call and cancel their date; even he had to know just how special this one day was to Atobe. Not even Tachibana…

His phone was ringing. Atobe picked it up; he would have been nervous if he'd ever allowed himself to be such a thing. Flipping the phone open and bringing it to his ear, he said, "Yes? You only have five more minutes before we're supposed to meet up, Tachibana."

"Look, Atobe, I'm really sorry," Tachibana's voice said from the other end, and Atobe froze. "But, you see, I was over at Senri's last night, and we ended up staying up really late… Now I really can't get myself out of the house."

"Ore-sama… sees." The icy tone of Atobe's voice was nothing when compared with the coldness he felt inside.

"I'll make it up to you, okay? I'm sure we can meet another day, just tell me –"

"Don't bother," Atobe cut him off, carefully forcing his voice to stay at least somewhat close to his normal tone. "Ore-sama no more wants to see you. At all."

"Atobe?" Tachibana's voice sounded slightly alarmed. The idiot. "What do you mean by that?"

"Ore-sama should think it'd be obvious enough even to such an idiot as yourself," Atobe snapped. "But just to make sure you understand – ore-sama breaks up with you. Happy now?" And, without waiting to hear a word from Tachibana, he ended the call, then promptly turned his phone off.

For some time Atobe simply stared at the closed phone, thinking. Tachibana had forgotten. He'd forgotten, and got too little sleep because of Chitose – Atobe really did not want to know the details of that –, and chosen Chitose over Atobe. On the one day Atobe had been sure he'd get Tachibana's undivided attention, he'd been stranded once again.

Stupid Tachibana. Stupid birthday. Stupid, stupid Atobe who had made the mistake of trusting someone other than himself.

Leaning his head on his hand, Atobe did his best to stay calm. Atobe Keigo did not get upset over trivial matters – or even those not so trivial. However, even he had his limits. A few bitter tears of betrayal and frustration fought their way out from Atobe's closed eyes, rolling over his cheeks, leaving wet trails in their wake. At the moment, though, he couldn't even bring himself to wipe the tears away.

Atobe didn't even notice the footsteps approaching him. He only realized someone was close to him when a hand was set on his shoulder. Whipping his head up to look at such a rude intruder, Atobe found his eyes widening in shock as he saw the one person he had definitely not expected to see.

"Atobe," Tachibana said, not smiling for once. "I'm sorry."

"You should be," Atobe snapped. "Ore-sama believes he told you not to show your face again." He didn't even want to know just how Tachibana had managed to make it into the café in a matter of minutes when he'd said he was unable to come.

"No, please listen." Tachibana ignored his glare, taking a seat. Reaching out a hand, he then gently wiped the few tears away from Atobe's face. "Atobe… gods. I'm sorry. I never meant for it to come to this."

"What do you mean by that?" Atobe asked bitingly, even though he made no move to draw away from the hand caressing his face. The other customers were probably staring at them by now, but at the moment, he really couldn't bring himself to care.

"I… Atobe. Okay, this is going to make me sound like such a bastard… that or a girl." Tachibana gave him an apologetic look. "I was… trying to make you jealous."

"Me? Jealous?" Atobe echoed. "Why on Earth? We are – were dating!"

Tachibana visibly flinched at the way Atobe corrected himself. "It was just a stupid thought," he sighed. "It's just… you never seem to show just what you're feeling, beneath the whole ore-sama show. So… I thought… if I could make you jealous, it'd show you were serious about me, at least. But you never even flinched…"

"Of course not," Atobe replied, still annoyed but not furious anymore. "It would be quite beneath ore-sama to throw a fit over some vague implications. Therefore," he threw Tachibana a glare, "ore-sama just kept telling himself you would not be such a bastard as to cheat on ore-sama…"

"I never could. Gods, Atobe. I just wanted a reaction out of you, any reaction to show you actually cared whether I was with you or Senri. I never wanted… this." He made a feeble gesture towards Atobe's tear-streaked face.

"Oh, ore-sama quite apologizes for not being able to be his usual, glorious self," Atobe replied coolly. "However, few people would actually appreciate the implication their boyfriend would completely ignore their birthday in favour of spending the preceding night with another person."

"Your… birthday?" Tachibana's eyes widened. "It's today?"

"Well, obviously." Atobe huffed. "Don't tell me you forgot? It's hardly the first time you hear of the fact."

"Not as much forgot as I didn't… realize." Tachibana sighed. This time it was he who leant his head in his hand. "Sorry, Atobe. Honestly, I'm so sorry. If I'd realized just why you insisted on this particular day… gods. I'm an idiot."

"That's true," Atobe replied calmly. "…Let me guess, though. The idea for this idiotic jealousy scheme was originally from Chitose."

"Yeah!" Tachibana nodded. "How'd you know?"

"Ore-sama should think it's obvious." Atobe sighed, rolling his eyes. "Not even you could come up with something so stupid on your own."

"Gee, thanks for having such faith in me," Tachibana replied sarcastically. Then he reached out a hand to take a hold of Atobe's. "So… you think you could forgive this idiot?"

"Hmm…" Atobe put on the best smirk he could manage under the circumstances. It wasn't exactly exceptional, but it would do. "…Ore-sama wonders."

"Atobe!" Tachibana frowned. "…I already told you I'm sorry, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did." Atobe entwined his fingers with Tachibana's. "I'll forgive you… on one condition."

"Oh?" Tachibana raised his eyebrows, now. "So what is that condition?"

"You're spending the rest of the day with ore-sama." Atobe gave him a sharp gaze. "And so help you if ore-sama as much as suspects you're thinking of Chitose."

"…Agreed." Tachibana finally managed to smile. "And what do you want for your birthday?"

"Oh, nothing much." Atobe smirked genuinely, now. His wish wasn't anything complicated, really. "You're staying over tonight. No excuses."

Tachibana's smile widened a bit more. "…As you wish, Atobe-sama."

Atobe wasn't usually one for public display of affection. Even during this conversation, the held hands and wiped tears would have gone beyond his comfort zone if not for the fact he'd been quite too shaken to care much about anything. Though he was already feeling a lot better, he decided to differ from his usual habits just one more time.

For some reason, Tachibana's lips tasted even better now that he wasn't wondering just who else had tasted them aside from himself.