I keep having TeFu ideas, although this one doesn't really have much of them together. -Rin
Matryoshka: each of a set of brightly painted hollow wooden dolls of varying sizes, designed to nest inside one another.
Tezuka Kunimitsu was like a matryoshka doll. Those who didn't know him saw only the outermost doll, the one with the adult-like face. People often assumed he was older than his fourteen years.
Those in the tennis club, especially the regulars, saw the doll inside that one, the stoic buchou. Though Tezuka never said out loud how much he cared about them, he didn't need to. It was already silently understood.
His family saw the third doll, the respectful son and grandson. Tezuka was always polite and got good grades in school. He loved his family, and did as he was told.
But only his boyfriend, Shusuke, saw the smallest doll, nestled inside all the others. This was the one with Tezuka's hopes for the future, and the one that showed his true feelings. Shusuke was always glad he was allowed to see the littlest doll, and very glad he was the only one. He didn't like sharing.