This is my gift-fic for shanu~! It's Tezuka-centric with Tezu/Ato as the pairing. I'm going to apologise in advanced; I've never written Tezuka before so I'm not sure how he'll turn out. If he's OOC, I'm sorry!

This is set directly after the Hyoutei vs. Seigaku Nationals match, so there are a few spoilers for that.

Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis.

The Aftermath

Tezuka Kunimitsu stared at the door leading to the public shower and change rooms; accessible only to those who participate in the Nationals Tournament. He knew that most players generally paid a visit to the showers after their match, if only to soak their heads in the cool water after a hard match before heading back to their lodgings. Normally, he was one to leave immediately, to move on from a match and analyse it thoroughly in the privacy of his own room.

But this had not been a normal match, and the stakes had been raised high before the sets had even begun. Tezuka knew, or at the very least had a strong idea, of how hard it was for Hyoutei to go to the Nationals as mere guests. Or, more specifically, he knew how hard it was for their buchou.

Atobe Keigo's pride and self value was a force unto itself and to have to be invited to the tournament…

Not only that, but Tezuka himself had, in a round-a-bout way, insulted Atobe's pride. He had a suspicion that one of the driving forces behind Atobe's decision to accept the invitation was, aside from his duties to his own Regulars, was that he had the chance to verse Tezuka at full strength. Instead, Tezuka had placed himself at Singles Two to face Kabaji and left Atobe to play against their first year, unquestionably one of Seigaku's best players, but a first year none-the-less. In Atobe's eyes, he had chosen Kabaji, who was quite possibly the only other person aside from himself who knew how far Atobe's desire to face him went, excluding perhaps Oshitari Yuushi, instead of facing Hyoutei's buchou.

To add insult to injury, Atobe and Echizen had made that (in Tezuka's mind) ridiculous bet – which Atobe had lost, resulting in his hair being buzzed down into an almost Shishido-like manner.

Which lead to why Tezuka was currently standing outside the showers, debating with himself as to whether he should enter or leave the sole inhabitant to their own thoughts.

Until the door was opened by an irate Atobe Keigo.

"Tezuka, if you're going to stand around being a nuisance, then at least be a useful nuisance, ahn," Atobe ground out, before promptly turning around and re-entering the building.

Silently, Tezuka followed, frowning slightly as he observed Atobe making his way back to the still fogged mirrors along the wall. The room was hazy with steam from what must have been a painfully hot shower, if Atobe's reddened skin was anything to go by, and Tezuka had to wipe his glasses briefly before he could look further. When he placed them back on, Atobe had already positioned himself in front of the mirror with a pair of hairdresser scissors in hand.

Atobe didn't move from where he stood facing his reflection, and Tezuka remained silent, waiting for Hyoutei's resident diva to speak.

He didn't have to wait long.

"Why?"

Tezuka should have been expecting it, really; even his own team had questioned his position in the line up. But that didn't stop his eyes widening when he heard Atobe's voice breaking slightly, almost unnoticeably, at the end. When he didn't reply immediately, Atobe slammed the side of his fist into the mirror.

"Why the hell did you let that brat take your position? That should have been you in Singles One, Tezuka, not some rookie who still has two years to achieve what he wants!" Atobe's voice had risen to a yell.

"There is still time fo—" Tezuka started, frown becoming more pronounced as he tried to follow the train of thought that Atobe was taking. Atobe's loud scoff interrupted his sentence, the noise so uncharacteristic for the other boy that Tezuka halted mid-word.

"Time? Please, Tezuka, you and I both know that you won't be around by the time we reach high school. It reached even Hyoutei that different sponsors in Germany have agreed to train you for international tournaments while allowing you to continue your studies there besides. Don't look so surprised," he added, seeing Tezuka's eyes widen at his words. "Your skills are obvious enough. You would have to be half-mad not to go."

Atobe's voice was far from yelling now. It had taken on a quiet, resigned air that quite frankly disturbed Tezuka slightly. He had never seen the other boy more dejected, for lack of a better word, then he was now; turned away, the hand grasping the scissors leaning against the sink while the other hung limply at his side, head down, shoulders shaking slightly…

Shoulders shaking slightly?

Carefully walking forward, Tezuka moved cautiously until he was standing behind the older boy staring at the reflection of Atobe's face, mask barely in place. Atobe wasn't crying, but Tezuka could see that he wasn't far off from it, pride and self-preservation most likely the only thing stopping the water gathering in the icy blue eyes from falling.

Tezuka had no idea what to do. He highly doubted Atobe would appreciate assurances of his staying in Japan; Tezuka had already made up his mind to go back to Germany, he just wasn't sure when, and Atobe would see through the lie anyway. Hesitantly, Tezuka rested a hand on Atobe's shoulder, supporting him more firmly when he didn't pull away from the touch. Moving backwards, he brought the both of them to the wooden benches that lined the walls before sitting both of them down. Atobe followed him without a sound, resting his head on Tezuka's shoulder with a self-resenting sigh falling from his lips.

"This is pathetic."

I'm pathetic. Tezuka had no problems understanding the undertones of Atobe's words.

"You're not. You could have hardly handled this any differently."

"I could have made you leave."

"You wanted answers. Even if you already knew what they were," seeing Atobe's slightly incredulous look, he elaborated. "There are other opponents that you can focus on, to aim to beat, not only me."

"You're suggesting that Ore-sama needs to aim to beat someone like Echizen?"

Tezuka gave a small smile at that; Atobe had pulled himself back together.

"So you can smile."

Looking to where Atobe's head still rested on his shoulder, Tezuka's eyes widened as he saw how casually Atobe was observing his face and, more importantly, just how close their faces were together.

Checks turning the slightest pink, Tezuka started to move away, only to have Atobe follow his movement.

"Atob—"

He was silenced by Atobe gently place his lips against his own, pressing against them slightly when Tezuka didn't move away. It was when Atobe had lessened the light pressure to pull away that Tezuka began to kiss back just as lightly. He felt Atobe smirk slightly into the kiss as he coaxed Tezuka into deepening the kiss briefly, before pulling away just enough so that their lips were no longer touching. They didn't know how much time past as they stayed there, feeling the others breath ghosting their skin, before Atobe stood up and moved back toward the mirror, smirk softening into a smile.

He picked up the scissors he didn't remember putting down and gestured over to Tezuka. Seeing his confused look, Atobe's smirk returned as he pointed to the small golden mirror at Tezuka's side.

"Ore-sama told you to be useful, didn't he?"

A bemused expression settling on his face, Tezuka picked up the mirror and walked behind Atobe, wordlessly swapping it for the scissors. It was Atobe's turn to look confused, though it faded away just as quickly when Tezuka began to even out Atobe's hair where he had cut it, hands moving carefully over the light brown hair long after he had completed the task.

That was the longest oneshot I've ever written. Be impressed XD

A few small points:

~ Tezuka going to Germany: this is explored more deeply in Shin Prince of Tennis. Atobe doesn't look half as surprised or affected, for lack of a better word, when this was taking place so I took liberties assuming that he had some information on this before hand.

~ 'the light brown hair': I've gone with the manga version of Atobe, which means that his hair is not purple or silver, so please don't tell me I've done it wrong, ne?

Review and let me know what you think!