A/N Okay the beginning is a bit slow but towards the end it gets better. (I hope)

Please read the whole chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Prince of Tennis.

Warnings: Violence, adult themes, shonan ai, and use of alcohol.

Written for DreamFreak336!

Tezuka Kunimitsu was in no shape or form a 'coward'. Back in middle school he faced his opponents with a mere stare that would pin anyone where they were. Even at the nationals he was completely oblivious to the intimidation from the rivaling team, so for the former middle captain to be called a 'coward' was most unwise.

But…somebody did.

Tezuka suppressed the urge to sigh in annoyance. Really…albeit Tezuka was two years the males' junior, it was like talking to a pair of obnoxious eight-year-old kids. One of the two elder boys wanted to play a match with the bespectacled male, with the other backing him up. By that time, Tezuka was ready to leave the club activity and go home. He clearly demonstrated this to the other boys by slinging his sports bag over his shoulder.

"You shouldn't be so disrespectful to your seniors," The one wanting the match said dumbly before turning to face his friend. "Ne, Akira?"

The boy named Akira nodded, slightly peering over to see if anyone else was in the change rooms. "Yes, Takeshi."

"…" Tezuka attempted to push past the two but was stopped brusquely when a hand grabbed his left arm; belonging to Takeshi no less. "Let go," Tezuka said, an aura of authority encircling him.

"Take your racquet out and play me, or are you too scared?" Takeshi said, tilting his head down a little to meet with Tezuka's glare.

The former captain threw daggers into the elder male with his amber eyes. Normally, he could undermine those simply by staring at them, but for some reason, this guy was being a little too persistent and wasn't giving in as much as he'd like, so instead, Tezuka took this time to study him. Takeuchi Takeshi was taller than Tezuka and was still wearing the Seigaku regular uniform. He was also a well built male with spiky brown hair and beady dark eyes.

"Take out your racquet, boy!" Takeshi shouted, letting go of Tezuka's arm and pushing him roughly to the ground.

Tezuka's glasses were sent clattering to the floor, followed by the owner whom fell hard on his back. Tezuka's assumptions were right; Takeshi was indeed strong.

"Get up you coward!" Tezuka heard Takeshi's voice. Funny, it wasn't that close to his ear before…

"Yeah, get up," Akira chuckled from somewhere above of the former captain.

Tezuka ignored their orders, and instead felt around for his glasses.

"Humph…arrogant bastard," Akira said angrily as he went on to kick the younger male in the stomach.

Tezuka winced slightly at the attack, but still chose to find his glasses. He felt something that was clearly made of a metal frame. Definitely his glasses, but as he was about to pick them up, a vast amount of weight pounded down upon his hand, instantly shattering the glass to pieces. Tezuka closed one eye in discomfort, feeling the glass pieces sticking into his skin.

"Oops. I do apologize for stepping on your hand. I didn't break anything, did I?" Tezuka could sense the elder boy grinning with satisfaction.

"Get off," Tezuka said sternly as he looked in the general direction of Takeshi.

"Say please you rude little kohai," Takeshi said maliciously as he applied more pressure with his foot.

Tezuka stifled a groan in pain. "Get off," he repeated.

Takeshi frowned in aggravation as he applied more weight onto Tezuka's injured hand.

The former captain gritted his teeth.

"I bet you're not even worth playing a match against. Ne, Akira?" Takeshi said.

"You're absolutely right, Takeshi," Akira replied. "Come on, let's go. This little pest isn't even worth bothering with."

Takeshi smirked before lifting his foot up and slamming it back down onto Tezuka's hand.

Tezuka hesitantly bit his lip.

"Bye, bye pest," Takeshi said in a sing-song voice as both he and Akira exited the change room.

Tezuka sat up and grasped his hand, yeah, there was definitely glass wedged in there.

The sound of a shower being turned off was heard.

Tezuka closed his eyes.

A man with dark green hair stepped out of the shower with a towel around his waist and another he was currently drying his hair with. Stubble was evident around his chin but still not definitely a beard. His eyes were of a dark colour, close to green, and yet still had a blackish tint.

Tezuka gripped his hand tighter. There was no debating in who the man was. Tezuka had been informed as soon as he enrolled in the high school tennis club. The man was the present captain: Yūdai Yamato, with his un-mistaking smile and kind yet confusing words.

Yamato made his way over to his locker, immediately spotting Tezuka on the way. "Tezuka-kun?"

The said boy turned to the source of the voice. "H-hai," Tezuka had never once seen his buchou's eyes, up until now, and that was probably why he had sounded somewhat surprised.

Yamato looked quizzically at his old teammate. "Tezuka-kun, are you okay?"

Tezuka looked at his hand. "Ah…"

"How did your glasses break?"

Tezuka stiffened. Yamato was now staring over his shoulder with a worried look. In one swift movement the elder man was kneeling in front of younger, carefully taking the bleeding hand into both of his.

"This looks very nasty…it doesn't look like the work of one person alone," Yamato examined.

"I'm fine…" Tezuka said hastily, clearly in a bit of distress from his senior's lack of apparel.

"That was what the arrogant man said to the friend he was hiking with after a snake had bitten him. After ignoring the wound, eventually the poison of the serpent's fangs seeped through his bloodstream and to his heart. In the end, his friend had to drag his dead-corpse back home." Yamato frowned. "You had better go to the nurse's office."

Tezuka nodded as he began to stand up. Yamato-buchou hadn't changed whatsoever…

"It's nice seeing you nonetheless though, Tezuka-kun," Yamato added, his usual smiling face beaming up at the former captain.

Tezuka nodded awkwardly before picking up his sport bag and exiting the change room.

Yamato stood up straight, only bend down again to gather the remains of Tezuka's glasses. "Curious," he frowned, studying the spectacles knowingly.

T h e P r i n c e O f T e n n i s

A timid knock came from outside the nurse's office.

"Come in," an old looking woman at her desk said.

The door to the office opened, revealing a new face that the nurse had never encountered before.

"Hello young man, what can I do for you?" The old woman smiled. The name on her nametag was Yumi.

"…Well, you see. My hand-"

"Oh my, oh my, that looks painful!" Yumi fussed as she got up and took hold of the young man's hand. "What is your name?"

"Tezuka Kunimitsu."

"Hmm…okay Tezuka Kunimitsu, how did you end up with this?" Yumi asked, letting go of his hand and zipping over to her desk.

"Accident," Tezuka replied simply as his thoughts drifted back to his buchou. Yamato was someone Tezuka deeply respected and trusted. All through his first year at middle school he took in his buchou's advice and wisdom, which left a deep impression in his mind. Tezuka winced as Yumi sprayed some purified water onto his wound.

"Sorry dear, this is going to hurt even more than the spray," Yumi explained as she took out a pair of tweezers. "Here, sit down," she gestured to her desk chair.

Tezuka did as he was instructed, but looked away from her actions and squinted. Had his sight gotten this bad?

After a few minutes of pulling out the small shards of glass, Yumi deemed the wound clean and carefully bandaged the male's hand up. "Come in," she said again when another knock was heard from the door.

The door opened.

"Ah. Hello Mizuki-san, I just came to check on Tezuka-kun." Yamato appeared wearing his usual school uniform and glasses (minus the headband) from the door way and ventured in so that he was standing next to the former middle school captain.

Yumi smiled, "Well now, it seems you've made a new friend then, Yūdai?" she said as she packed up her first aid kit.

Yamato shook his head politely. "No, no. He's an old friend whom I used to attend the same school with."

Tezuka blinked. Friend? Sure Yamato-buchou was friendly to him, but Tezuka never thought of them to be friends, perhaps maybe acquaintances, but nothing more…

"Well thank you Mizuki-san, for taking care of his injury," Yamato said and then looked at Tezuka.

"Hai, thank you," Tezuka said before getting up and bowing.

"Anytime," Yumi said, grinning. "If any of you handsome boys ever want to talk just come around here, okay?"

Yamato smiled and headed for the door with Tezuka following close behind, narrowly missing bumping into the door frame.

"Tezuka-kun?" Yamato said as he closed the door to the nurse's office behind them.

"Hai?" Tezuka inquired, looking at his buchou with the same innocence as Echizen Ryoma did with himself.

"I suppose you have some spare glasses lying around at home then?" Yamato asked, digging his hands into his pants pockets.

"…Ah," Tezuka replied simply.

"But, I can't help but ask you how the snake bit you."

"…An accident," Tezuka said softly.

"Hn…?" Yamato smiled suddenly. "I really do admire your pride, Tezuka-kun. As I recall there was another certain player with the same pride and dignity that you carry, his name is Echizen Ryoma, right?"

E-Echizen? How does he know Echizen?

"Ryuzaki-sensei asked me to be the special coach when Seigaku went to camp last year."

"Oh. I see…" Tezuka said monotonously. "Yamato-buchou, thank you."

Yamato seemed to have caught Tezuka's drift instantly, as he just smiled and waved. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye, buchou," Tezuka said as the two went on their separate ways.

And that was the beginning of their building relationship.

After the previous events that occurred, Tezuka would casually converse with the captain until Yamato would then go on to wait for Tezuka for recesses and eat with him, sometimes in complete silence, but neither cared or wished otherwise. Tezuka then later found out that Yamato and he lived rather close to each other when they were both walking home one day. Yamato, of course, being the cheerful and friendly type then decided to wait for Tezuka at the end of each day to walk home with him. Both enjoyed each other's company quite a lot and in a way, both tried to take care of each other, an example was when Yamato heard about what Takeshi and Akira had done to Tezuka, he had immediately kicked them both off of the team. However he did not tell this to Tezuka.

"Yamato-buchou?" Tezuka said as the two males were walking home one day.

"Hai, Tezuka-kun," Yamato was wearing his usual smile.

"You heard about how the venom was injected."

Yamato's smile decreased.

"Why did you do kick them off the team?" Tezuka inquired.

"The fangs of a dangerous beast in a zoo must be clipped," Yamato answered. "Don't you think so?"

"…Ah," Tezuka said quietly, casting his eyes downward.

T h e P r i n c e O f T e n n i s

Weeks passed and business went on as usual, until a certain player decided to have a party. Tezuka didn't really know him, but he knew his name was Ronin and he was a senior. Yamato seemed to know him quite well though, and they looked rather close.

"You'll be coming, right Tezuka-kun?" Ronin asked at the end of practice when everyone was changing, he had a sheepish grin on his face.

"…I don't know," Tezuka said as he buttoned up his school shirt.

"Well there are no 'I don't knows' here. Besides, it's a team building exercise," The flamboyant male said.

"…Well-"

"Good, come at nine-thirty!" Ronin cried in glee. Tezuka had to admit, Ronin reminded him of Kikumaru Eiji in many ways…you see, all of the seniors at Seigaku had gone on to different schools than him, so he was basically all alone.

T h e P r i n c e O f T e n n i s

Tezuka couldn't remember the last time he'd seen a drunken person in action. Maybe he never even had? But all he knew now was:

He liked the pretty lights…

Everything was so much appealing now.

Yamato-buchou was behind him.

Yamato-buchou was holding him.

He had a red hue on his face.

He was surrounded with drunken teenagers, who vast majorities were probably underage.

Someone had been giving out spiked drinks.

He was being led upstairs…

"How are you feeling?" Yamato asked as he helped Tezuka into the double bed.

"…Light-headed," Tezuka replied before letting a little 'hic' escape his mouth.

"One of the many cons of a party," Yamato chuckled as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"…Is it okay for me to be her-hic-here?" Tezuka asked, closing his eyes.

"I'll go and inform Ronin if it makes you feel better," Yamato said as he attempted to get up. But for some reason, the captain couldn't bring himself to leave, maybe it was the alcohol? No, Yamato could hold his liquor quite well, so what could it be? He stayed and watched the younger male as he drifted off to sleep. As if his body was acting on it's own, his hand reached out and gently pushed away a few stray hairs that were covering Tezuka's eyes. Ronin could wait. Yamato leaned in closer and caressed Tezuka's cheek, all the while getting closer and closer to the younger male's lips…

And just like that, Yamato pushed his lips softly against Tezuka's in a time stopping kiss. All Yamato thought was how good it was, and how right it felt, and usually, when something felt right, it generally was.

Tezuka began to stir. He opened his eyes half way and realized what was happening at once. Tezuka was drunk, not stupid or oblivious to the world. Just, drunk.

Yamato suddenly pulled away from the chaste kiss. "I'm, I'm sorry Tezuka-kun."

Tezuka sat up in the bed. "Have you heard that story about the two bears?"

Yamato looked puzzled.

"There once was a bear that lived in a cave all by himself, he had the gift of immortality, and even if he did 'die' he would just come back to life. One day he met a female bear and they instantly fell in love. As time went on the female bear grew old and died. The male bear cried, and then he also died, but this time he didn't come back to life."

Yamato widened his eyes the slightest, and then smiled. Climbing further onto the bed, Yamato kissed the younger male.

I NEED ALL OF YOUR (THE READERS) HELP!

SHOULD I INTRODUCE A LEMON INTO THE NEXT CHAPTER?

WHAT SHOULD I DO?

Please review!!!

Squishy.