Title: Oh Captain, My Captain
By: AtobeLover
Summary: Prequel to "that summer...". Momoshiro falls for the most unlikely member of his team, and it's Tezuka's first time at relationships.
Rated: T
Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis, blah blah.
A/N: Hello~ here's the unlikely pair again. No flames for it. It's the month that they spend together before Tezuka leaves.
Review if you like, if you don't the back button's just sitting there waiting to be clicked. I would recommend reading the other story, "that summer, we fell in love", but this can be also read as a standalone.
It's from Momo's point of view. It's like everything's being seen through his head, and I think his head's a random mess, so...
Thank you for reading!
It's been creeping me out, lately.
I don't know what this tightening of my chest is when I look at you.
It's weird, like I said, so I don't really look at you much, just go "yes, buchou" to all your orders and play tennis.
You reserve your gaze for the most select of people, and I'm one of them, maybe, I don't know, I don't look at you anymore, my heart clenches and I feel short of breath. I asked Kaidoh, and he says it's love I'm feeling. Yeah, right, like I'm going to believe Mamushi. He feels short of breath and clenched of heart when he's done running, it's not like he's in love with the road or his legs or something, so why should I be in love with you?
Echizen serves, on the other side of the court, and I guess I'm thinking about you to the point where a game with my best friend won't distract me. The ball goes by, an ace. I try to shake myself out of whatever I'm going through, and I turn my head to see who's watching.
It had to be you, didn't it? You say, "Don't let your guard down," and fix me with some sort of glower that might be your normal gaze and I heat up. Dammit. I'm not blushing, I'm not...
"Momo-senpai, you're blushing," the brat calls out.
"Am not," I reply, looking at him with the same glare you're directing at me. Go away, go away.
"Find me after practice, Momoshiro, and run ten laps around the court right now." You walk away. I sigh in relief, exasperation, and some other emotions with long names. At least you're gone.
"Ten laps, Momo-senpai," Echizen smirks. He loves getting back at me for all the times I tease him about his height. Oh well, it's not like I'm going to realize the error of my ways and stop picking on my best friend.
"Yeah, yeah," I say, going to run them.
The laps help a bit, and by the time I return to my match with Echizen I'm at least able to play like a Seigaku regular.
Practice ends. My heart dies a little, dreading what's to come.
Everyone filters out of the courts, everyone except me and you. You're waiting for me to approach you, so I approach you. "You asked for me, buchou," I say meekly. You scare the hell out of me but make my heart beat faster and breath come shorter.
"I just wanted to know if you have some sort of problem with me, Momoshiro, as your behavior towards me has recently taken a turn towards strange."
You fold your arms and look at me. I look up and look away (my heart clenched again).
"Um, no, buchou, not really, is that all, I'll get going, thank you," I turn to go, and you grab my arm, and I have a million different reactions to that.
My entire body heats up.
My heart goes crazy.
The place where you're touching my skin's become super-sensitive, and buchou, I really want to kiss you and tell you that you're the most oblivious person in the world, right after me.
"I think I love you, buchou," I say, looking back at you.
"Oh." That's all you can say. Your eyes are wide.
"Uh, yes." So maybe Mamushi was right about it after all. Good thing I didn't tell him who it was, he wouldn't have let me live it down.
You glance at me, let go of my arm, and say, "You can go now."
I don't hesitate or look back before leaving, but remembering this at night when I can't sleep because I'm thinking of you, maybe you were blushing just as hard as I was.
The next day we both pretend like nothing really happened. At least, I do. I don't know about you. Your behavior hasn't changed much.
I'm completely fine with it, believe me. I'm just as shocked as you are, realising I love you.
Today, when I watch you, my heart clenches a lot more, and I feel really breathless and I wish I could just spend time talking to you instead of focusing on my life.
Yesterday, I made plans to go out with Echizen for burgers after practice. I'm trying to play seriously with him, today. I actually can. I love tennis just as much as I love you (I love you, don't I?) and I can go all out when I want to, and sometimes Echizen doesn't slack off against me, and I know I play well.
I lose. Echizen's a prodigy, but that's no excuse.
I spend the rest of practice hanging out with the other three freshmen who oscillate between calling me Momo-senpai and Momo-chan-senpai. They're watching your match, so I am, too. You're playing against Fuji-senpai, and it's breathtaking.
I mentally hit myself. I used to love cute girls and curves and flirting and being funny and now I love glasses and blank expressions and straight edges and calloused hands holding tennis rackets.
When practice ends, Echizen tells me he can't accompany me to the burger place after all, and I sigh, giving him a noogie, complaining about how he ditches me all the time. He says it hurts, he says "mada mada dane", and goes off.
I really don't want to stay back after practice, it's too embarrassing being alone with you after yesterday, but Oishi-fukubuchou asks a few favors of me and I have to stay back, anyway. You're not to be seen anywhere. It's a relief. I lose myself in the chores Oishi-senpai asked me to do.
I'm done an hour later, sweaty, tired. I wonder if I'm allowed to use the school showers right now, but decide to not risk it.
As I walk out with my bag, I see you near the school gates, standing there, looking down, like you're waiting for someone. I ignore all the reactions you bring up in me and say, "Waiting for someone, buchou?"
"You," you say, glancing at me.
I go still. Instead of clenching this time, my heart feels really light and feels like it's flying. What is this? Love? Mamushi, I'm going to fucking kill him for making me realise it.
"I, uh..." I have nothing to say.
"It's what people do when they're... dating, right?"
Dating.
Oh. I'm in a relationship with you.
I am?
"I suppose, yeah," I say, rubbing the back of my head with my hand. "We're in a relationship?"
"You told me you love me yesterday, it would be rude of me not to reciprocate."
"It's not really necessary, buchou, you can always reject the other person."
You look at me. "I don't think I want to reject you."
Ah, that flying feeling again. I could die of happiness.
"Um, let's walk home together, then, buchou," I reply, giving you a very hesitant smile. You give me a small smile, too. So you can smile after all.
We don't talk when we're walking. It's peaceful. I don't need to talk on and on, like I do with Echizen. You're different. You're wonderful.
To see if I feel the same heat I felt yesterday, I brush my hand against yours. It's a featherlight touch. You notice all the same, and I feel the heat again.
I'm too shy to try that again, so I don't, but then you just outright take my hand and intertwine your fingers with mine and I could die, buchou.
My house comes before yours, so we stop at the gate, awkwardly staring at each other, holding hands. "See you tomorrow," you say, and I don't want to let go of you right now.
But I don't have the guts to hug you either! Cue mental desperation and agony.
I close my eyes. It's okay. I have time with you, weeks and months, if you don't break up with me before then.
"Bye, buchou," I say, letting go of your hand. You're looking at me, your gaze intense, and I stand there gaping like a goldfish when you come closer to me... and put your arms around me, like it's the first time you're hugging someone.
I embrace you too, taking in your unique smell, the feel of your arms holding me, the feel of my arms around your body. I rest my forehead on your shoulder, and one of your hands goes to run through my hair, and I have never, ever felt like this before, buchou, I love you.
Maybe I won't kill Mamushi after all.
It's become a regular thing for us to walk home together now. Sometimes I see you outside my house in the morning, too. My mom says I've changed, become less rowdy. I don't say anything, because she wouldn't have commented on it unless it was a good thing. And I wasn't rowdy, she's just imagining things.
"Would you like to play a tennis match with me?" you ask, a week later.
I dumbly nod. I've never played against you except in that one ranking match that one time. You'd defeated me so badly Echizen was teasing me for days later on.
"Stay back after practice and wait, then."
I do that.
Everyone's gone. The sun's going to set soon. Everything's tinted golden and I'm standing on a tennis court, racket in hand, waiting.
You come soon enough, and standing in front of me, about to serve, you look godlike...
I push all that out of my head to play tennis.
It's astounding, it's terrifying, it's beautiful. I have a hard time returning your shots. I use my Dunk Smash more in this match than I usually would, and somehow you're returning them with a bit more difficulty than the rest, and I feel good about it.
You win, of course, six games to love.
As we come up to the net to shake hands, dropping the rackets, you say, "Your power has increased."
I grin widely as I grip your hand. "Thank you, buchou."
We stay in that handshake longer than we should, and that shit-eating grin of mine slowly fades away as I notice your eyes through your glasses. They're looking at me with something akin to what I think I look at you with.
Before I know what's going on, I'm leaning towards you, putting my hands on your shoulders.
There's an expression on your face that I've never seen before, you're frowning, like you're in pain, but your eyes are liquid, shining, and your hands go beneath my t-shirt to lay on the bare skin of my waist and a shiver runs through me and we're going to kiss, our mouths are this close...
"Tezuka!"
Oishi-senpai.
"Tezuka!"
We quickly go back to the handshaking, and part. Oishi-senpai finally gets close enough to see us clearly. "Tezuka, I was wondering where you were! So you were playing with Momoshiro, were you?"
"Yes," you answer, unruffled. I, on the other hand, am a completely different story, but Oishi-senpai's too busy talking to you to notice. I hear him whispering something about using drop shots and elbows, but I don't pry, it's your business.
The three of us walk home together, and as the two of you drop me off at my house, I turn to look at you only to meet your stoic meant-for-everybody gaze.
"See you, buchou, fukubuchou," I say, grinning kind of fake, and walk in without a backward glance.
"It... wasn't a mistake, was it?"
I wonder why you're asking me this.
"What wasn't a mistake, buchou?"
"The time that we almost... k-kissed."
You're stumbling over kissed. I wonder how you'll speak after... okay wait why are you calling our almost-kiss a mistake?
"Buchou, why are you calling our almost-kiss a mistake?"
"You seemed uncomfortable," you say, looking to the side. We're alone again, in the locker rooms, after practice, having played another gruelling, exhausting, exhilarating match. People've begun to wonder nowadays. When did Momoshiro and Tezuka-buchou start being so friendly?
"I was... far from uncomfortable, buchou," I tell you.
"Oh." You're really dense at this sort of thing.
"Yeah, buchou," I laugh.
"I... love you too, Momoshiro."
My laugh peters out. "Yes, buchou."
"You should stop calling me that."
I don't know what to say.
"Kunimitsu," you gently say, raising a hand and cupping my neck, thumb tracing my jawline. "My name is Kunimitsu."
I repeat your name, whispering it. Something flits across your face and suddenly you push me up against the lockers, the locks digging into my back, but I don't care, we're only a couple of centimetres apart, and you're going to kiss me, your eyes are half-closed and you're so beautiful, buchou...
This time it's Echizen who breaks us up.
"Momo-senpai," his bored drawl comes from outside the closed door of the room, and I really don't care if he catches us now, this is the second time I've almost kissed you, but I grudgingly pull away and turn to my locker as the door opens and he glances in.
"Momo-senpai, we were going to have burgers today," he says, and then noticing you in here, rummaging through your own locker, adds, "Hey, buchou."
"Yeah, I'm coming, brat," I reply, and then take your leave (you have that blank look on your face again as you say goodbye).
Ryoma, later, asks me, "What were you guys doing in there that you had to close the door?"
I choke on my burger and say, "It was just to keep the cold out."
It's summer right now, but Ryoma decides to be nice to me for a change and shuts up.
"I found a great cornfield, buchou," I say to you. It's been a month since we've been in a relationship. A month in which I have thanked Kami-sama for everything in my life, most of all you.
"Cornfields in Tokyo?" You're sort of amused at that. I grin. You only show this human side of yours to me, don't you?
"Yes," I nod enthusiastically. "And the best thing is we could be alone there, and... no one would, you know, interrupt us."
"I see." You adjust your glasses, and go back to your reading, and I'm sitting there, still unable to believe that I'm in your house, in your room.
"It's a really pretty place," I add weakly after that.
You look at me and say, "As much as you are?"
I refuse to admit that I'm blushing. "That... was a really bad line."
You blush a bit too. "It isn't like I have experience being suave, Takeshi. It's the first time I've let my guard down."
"I thank you for that."
"We'll go there tomorrow, I have something to tell you, anyway."
We make plans, and then I go to sleep on your bed. When I wake up, you're beside me, eyes closed, breathing evenly, and I have never been this happy before.
Maybe I'll go thank Mamushi later.
Review if you liked it!