When Echizen Ryoma was nineteen, he met him once again.
And like the last few times, he couldn't help but stare at the blue eyes, which haunted him for some years. But once he saw the familiar color, he noticed the change.
It was a warm blue.
-Blue-
He wasn't sure anymore what exactly had gotten them together, but he clearly remembered the insults thrown at each other and the cold touches lingering on his skin.
He was fifteen at that time and probably somehow still not ready for everything. But he handled the situation like he would have handled a new challenge in tennis, just jumped right ahead, ignoring the consequences.
But that wasn't what made that relationship so strange and different from what he expected.
It was the fact that he Yukimura Seiichi for a half year, before they - or at least Ryoma - couldn't handle pretending to be cheesy and lovely with each other.
-Blue-
"It's been awhile, Echizen-kun."
He wasn't sure what to say, especially since he was still surprised at the fact that Seiichi's voice could sound so warm. He only remembered nasty insults, taunts and coldness. Maybe their break-up had done the former captain some good.
Or he changed with the years, which was quite unbelievable to Ryoma, since he couldn't really imagine Seiichi changing. But then again, he himself did as well, didn't he?
With a nod, Ryoma greeted the bo- no, man standing before him, "Yukimura-san."
He was sure his voice sounded far from warm, unlike Seiichi's. Though Ryoma couldn't help it, he wasn't one for interacting a lot with others, so he never had seen a reason to change.
Seiichi once told him that if Ryoma would continue like he was, nothing would change. It was merely a fact and since he knew that Yukimura was true, he hadn't responded.
"Still as cold, huh?"
The words were quietly whispered, but Echizen Ryoma heard them anyways. Years of training did that.
"And you're now warm," he mumbled as a response, questioning himself on why he responded in the first place.
Maybe, just maybe, he wanted to see how far he could go before the mask broke and his former boyfriend revealed that he never changed in the first place. He didn't understand.
Shouldn't he be happy, now where Seiichi actually is kind?
"Ryoma?"
He could hear the concern in the voice, and he felt like throwing up. Now where he thought about it, he didn't feel well the whole day, but until that moment he could ignore everything.
"…Ryoma?"
After Seiichi called him the second time, he stood up and muttered a hastily goodbye. With that he turned around and walked away… Or that's what he wanted to do, but halfway he lost conscious.
The last he heard were Seiichi's panicky shouts of his name.