Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of its chars. I only own my TOL fics.

Warning: Semi-AU fic. Shonen-ai hints. Certain innuendoes. (But nothing too mind scarring…I think), Mild Genderswitch. This one-shot cannot stand on its own. Please read Trials of Life first.

Pairing: Tezuka X Echizen, hints of a certain other pair.

A/N: My apologies for the belated Valentine's Day fic. The chapter just wouldn't end. (even though it's not that long) Cries…

Please take note that this scene takes place shortly after TezuRyo's marriage, and way before Kunifuyu's birth. This chapter cannot stand on its own. Please read Trials of Life first.

Trials of Life (Valentine's Day Special)

By: Gwynhafra

Oh boy. This would be one heck of a day.

Ryoma's eyes were fixed on the calendar, his eyes glued to the number 14, which was circled in red and had a lot of little hearts drawn around it. That wasn't his doing though, but Kevin's. The blonde valued this day as much as Ryoma valued the first day of every Grand Slam tournament.

Ryoma sighed. February 14th, Valentine's Day. It was understandable that Kevin would be so excited over this highly commercialized celebration. It was the day when their female fans (though Ryoma suspected there were males too) sent them presents and chocolates by the boxes. Ryoma wasn't too worried though. His manager knew of his love for tennis and only tennis, and that he would accept none of those gifts given to him, so the manager would accept them and deal with them accordingly. Poor bloke even had to write the replies to thank them. Had it been Ryoma, he wouldn't have bothered. Why give them false hopes anyway?

"Hey, Ryoma! You're up early. I take it you're excited over all the presents too." Kevin asked abruptly, and moments later, Ryoma felt an arm sling over his shoulders.

Really, why was Kevin back to his old ways so early in the morning. This was a day when the guy could do his usual lucky draw of the chocolates and go out with some random girl whose name was chosen from it. This was supposed to be the day his shoulders, arms and any part of his upper body (if Kevin's hand strayed too far down for comfort, Ryoma would slap his hand away) were finally left alone, so why was Kevin still hitting on him?

Ryoma took the hand and dropped it from his shoulders. "I'm not interested in anyone's presents."

"Really?" Kevin smirked. "Not even his?" At seeing the slight flush spread across the black-green haired man's face, Kevin gave a laugh and finally let Ryoma go. "Ah…I lost. I still can't beat that guy after all. I'm not giving up though. I take it you're not joining me for a Bachelor's day out then?" At seeing the stare Ryoma gave him, Kevin held up his hands in a pacifying manner. "I get it, I get it. I won't force you then. See you later, Ryoma." Kevin gave a wave and walked off. Ryoma noticed that he had one of the chocolates held in his hand. Oh, so he had already chosen his date for the day. He sure moved fast.

Ah well, why should he bother? Valentine's Day did not have much significance to him. Kevin's so happy today because he's single and available.

Ryoma's face heated slightly as he walked, with his mind traveling all the way back to Japan. This was not a day he should concern himself with. He had already relinquished the title of being single just about three months back, to him. In fact, he had already booked the tickets for Japan, and his flight would be in the afternoon. At least he could escape from his fangirls here, and he could see his boyfrie- husband again. He missed him.

He wondered how his Tezuka was doing. After they married, they were only together for that one week of their honeymoon before they had to go on their separate ways again. Ryoma just could not think of that week together without turning into various shades of red. He did sneak off to his husband's house (their house now) when he went to Japan for a friendly match, but even that was too short a time. Also, he got scolded by his coach for making decisions like that on his own, and for not informing him first. (Why should he inform the coach just because he wanted to stay with his husband…wait…there was no way his coach would know he was married. Not even Kevin knew, and Ryoma would keep it that way. The less people knew the better.)

Ryoma took off his cap and put on his disguise (a pair of sunglasses.) He even combed his hair differently, hoping that he looked nothing like Echizen Ryoma and more like some random stranger on the road. Fangirls would be rabid today, and he had to take extra care not to be noticed.

He snuck out from one of the backdoors and headed off to do some window shopping. To him, Valentine's Day was more for those young, dating couples and not married couples, but still, he wanted to get something for his Kunimitsu. It was silly for him to even think it. Those young ones give each other chocolates and gifts with the hopes of hooking up and becoming an item. He was already married, and really, so what need did he have for Valentine's Day? What was he going to do? Seduce his husband?

…not a bad idea, actually…

Ryoma flushed again and chucked those thoughts to the back of his perv closet before coming back to the task at hand. He wanted to get something for Tezuka, a souvenir of some kind. The problem was what was he going to get for him? Also, he did not have much time to shop, since he had a plane to catch.

As he walked around, he could spot some students whispering excitedly amongst themselves as they decided on what to buy for their other halves. Seeing their excited faces, Ryoma gave a slightly wistful smile as he recalled his schooldays. He certainly had never had the experience of getting so flustered before. It wasn't like he hadn't had a date. Heck, he and Tezuka started dating when he was in his second year of junior high, but back then, they didn't really see the need to celebrate Valentine's Day. Instead, their minds were pretty much filled with the need to win the Nationals, and even on Valentine's Day, they shouldn't let their guard down and continue on with practice.

Ryoma walked off to another shop, even as he started reminiscing about the past. To him, Valentine's Day was an almost girly occasion. Girls send love letters, chocolates and cute little trinkets to the guys they like. It would be so odd of him to do that to Tezuka. At most, Ryoma would challenge him to a match, which the brunette will gladly accept.

Also, it did not help that on that day, they'd always be ambushed by their gaggle of fangirls. Tezuka had a larger crowd on his tail, but somehow he always handled it better than Ryoma did. Ryoma had a tendency to unintentionally break their hearts, and even now he didn't know what he did wrong. Tezuka on the other hand would write a letter to each of them to politely thank them for their chocolates, but reject their advances at the same time.

Now that they were married, Ryoma thought that while it wasn't necessary to be all so particular on this day, still, maybe they could make up for all that they missed out during their younger, still single days. At least he wanted it to be special for his brunette husband.

What should he buy for Tezuka though? Chocolates? As far as he knew, his boyfri- husband was not all that fond of sweets. Jewelry? Now why would he do that? His boyf- husband was not a girl, and he did not wear accessories often. Pretty little trinkets? Definitely not. His husband was a practical person. He had no use for pretty little trinkets.

Two hours passed, and by then, Ryoma had practically combed the whole street but came up with nothing. He just had to buy something. Something. So why was it so difficult to buy one little present for his husband? At least if Tezuka were still playing tennis, he could get him grip tape or a wristband. What would he like Ryoma to get him now?

Ryoma gave a gloomy sigh. They dated for so many years, and now they were married, but it still felt like Ryoma barely knew his likes and dislikes. He was such a horrible spouse.

"Are you preparing something special for your husband?"

Ryoma jumped, not expecting a question like that as he spun around, wondering if somehow someone knew of his marriage to Tezuka. He was thinking too much, for apparently, he was not the one addressed. A few ladies were chatting together, and by the looks of it, the topic was related to Valentine's Day.

Oh good. Maybe he could pick up some suggestions from this. Ryoma eavesdropped, trying to listen to what they have to say. He hadn't been married for long, and hopefully, he could get some hints from his 'marriage senpais'.

"I got him that shirt he has always wanted. He's going to be pleased." One spoke up, looking pleased.

"I'm preparing a special meal for us. Just the two of us, while the kids will be taken care of by a babysitter." Another said.

"I baked him a cake! Men are horribly weak to food anyway." A third laughed.

Out of the five ladies chatting there, Ryoma made a mental note of who said what. One mentioned clothes, the other mentioned a pack of beer (seriously, would anyone give that on Valentine's Day?), and the other three mentioned something food related. Ryoma was nowhere near as good as Inui when it came to statistics, but he could see the best out of all the suggestions was of course, food!

He took a look at his watch and made a mad dash back to his place. Sheesh! He should have thought of this sooner! Only a little more than two hours left before he had to board that plane!

He didn't have enough materials at home, and somehow bullied Kevin into letting him go to his place instead. Kevin held parties in his house frequently, so his food stock was definitely adequate. Poor Kevin had to cut his own date short and head back to open the door for Ryoma to enter the place.

Wonderful, Kevin even had cookbooks here! Ryoma browsed through very quickly, and, coming to a certain recipe which caught his eye, started working on it.

Kevin could only stare as his spotless kitchen counter was now filled with bags of flour, sugar and other items Ryoma found necessary to add to whatever he was making. "What on earth are you doing, Ryoma?"

The black-green haired man didn't answer, as he busied himself with mixing the flour, all the while casting a nervous glance at the clock. Kevin wondered if he should just leave Ryoma to it and return to his date, but at seeing Ryoma's quite terrible attempts to mix the batter (Could anyone in this world actually consume that much sugar? Whoever was going to eat this would be getting diabetes, although that would also mean that Kevin's strongest rival would be gone and Ryoma would be free for his taking…), he decided to help out before Ryoma sent someone to the hospital.

For the most part, Ryoma rejected his help, insisting on doing it himself. Kevin was reduced to doing the washing and the cleaning of the counter and other menial tasks, while Ryoma kneaded the dough, added the chips and made Kevin the taste-tester to see if he put enough sugar. (Kevin's tongue nearly fell off from that.). To Kevin's horror, Ryoma barely even consulted his cookbook, as he seemed to be going purely on instinct. Despite the blonde's dislike of Ryoma's other half, he felt a twinge of pity for him.

The oven gave a merry little chime as the timer's up. Ryoma opened it, and was about to reach for the bakeries when Kevin hurriedly pulled him away before the baka hurt himself. The blonde had a pair of mittens on, and he took the bakeries out of the oven before setting them on the table. After letting them cool for a while, he helped Ryoma to pack them.

"Doomo." Ryoma tried not to seem too sheepish for needing so much help from his teammate. He took a look at the clock and hurriedly rushed out. "I'll be going off somewhere for a couple of days. Help me tell coach."

"Shouldn't you tell him yourself?" Kevin shook his head as the black-green haired man sped out. He turned around, took one look around him and gave a yell of horror.

"My kitchen!!!"

XXXXXXXXX

"Happy Valentine's Day, Tezuka."

The addressed brunette turned slightly, only to see Inui behind him, a rather huge grin on his face and pleased glint in his eyes. Tezuka saw why though, for he was carrying many bottles of pink-coloured antibiotics, obviously homemade.

"Er…same to you." He decided it was wiser if he didn't bring up any mentions of the pink coloured liquid.

Inui seemed adamant in introducing it though. No surprise there. "Well, Tezuka. Would you like to try one? I call it Inui's Love Cure. Just one drop is enough to make someone extremely passionate. A perfect drink for a perfect day. Why don't you send some to your darling?"

"No thank you." Tezuka replied almost instantly, his eyes fixed on one of the janitors who was bleating out a poorly self-written love song to a horrified nurse. Tezuka didn't need a data notebook to guess that he might have taken the concoction.

Inui seemed to be in very high spirits. Tezuka wondered just what did he put in that drink to cause the data master to be this cheerful. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good. Still, Inui made plenty of scary concoctions before. To be this happy…

He finally spotted the actual reason behind it, as under that mountain of bottles in Inui's arm, he was holding a tiny little parcel. Tezuka blinked. "Inui…that's…"

"Oh this?" Inui couldn't really gesture or lift that parcel, or all those bottles would go crashing to the floor. He beamed, looking quite proud as he adjusted his hold. "It's from my Valentine, of course."

Tezuka's stare was blank, more so than his usually expressionless face. Was Inui serious or was he joking? He didn't realize Inui had a girlfriend, or that someone was brave enough to date him. He observed the parcel. It was so neat…too neat…the wrapping paper covered every angle perfectly, and even the ribbon was tied in a way that each tail looked like it had the same length. Would any girl actually do that? It looked more like it was carefully measured and calculated. For a moment Tezuka briefly entertained the idea of Inui wrapping this present for himself.

The next moment, he felt extremely guilty for all those mean thoughts. What was so bad with Inui having a date? He mused that his spouse's bratty nature was rubbing off on him a little.

Inui seemed to know what was going on in Tezuka's mind, for his glasses flashed. He set all the bottles on the table and took one before holding it out to Tezuka. "Do take one, Tezuka. Maybe you can give it to that wife of yours to make him more romantic. In fact, you haven't gotten anything from your darling wife, have you?"

Before Tezuka could say anything to that, Inui felt a cold chill run down his spine, as someone glared daggers into his back. "Who are you calling a wife, Inui-san?"

Inui turned to face the newcomer and backed away. "Ahaha…Echizen. How nice to see you here."

Ryoma was wearing his disguise, and his arms were folded, a scowl on his pretty (due to the disguise) face. Tezuka had to hide a smile at the sight of him, as he walked over to stand next to him.

"Ryoma, you're here. Are you having your holidays there?" Tezuka asked curiously.

Ryoma shook his head, making his brown wig sway slightly. "I took my own leave. Coach wouldn't miss me too much, I think. He's busy writing replies to my fangirls." He rummaged inside the handbag he brought and took out a small little box. Tezuka noticed out of the corners of his eyes that Inui had whipped out his notebook, but he ignored him.

A small flush appeared on Ryoma's face as he held out the box. "I thought you might be hungry, so I made something for you."

His spouse was so cute sometimes. Tezuka thanked him and opened the box. Cute little cookies…in shapes he could not identify were revealed inside the box. He took one and bit into it delicately.

Immediately, a loud crack echoed through the quiet hallway, causing staff and visitors alike to whip around and stare at him. Ryoma's eyes went wide. Oh crap…he didn't break his husband's teeth now, did he?

There was no change to Tezuka's expression, as he swallowed and nodded at Ryoma. "Thank you for the cookies. I'm afraid I'll have to catch up with you later, since my break time is over. Go on home first." He kept the box with him, but did not eat any more of it.

Ryoma tried to look nonchalant as he shrugged and walked off, heading home. Once he was safely within the walls of their house, Ryoma gave a gloomy sigh as he took off the disguise, removed the makeup and threw himself onto their bed, hugging Tezuka's pillow to himself.

It was a complete failure. What was he thinking when he wanted to celebrate Valentine's Day? There was no need for that. They're married anyway, so why would they need to do something so childish. Still, he had wanted to make it special, and now he blew it completely. Worse still, Tezuka didn't seem to even know what day it was. Just when he had taken all that trouble to make those Valentine dark chocolate cookies…

He continued immersing himself in gloomy thoughts, not hearing the door open. Tezuka saw him sulking on their bed and smiled, walking over to sit next to him before wrapping one arm around his waist to roll him over, so that Ryoma was now facing him.

"You're early." Ryoma muttered, turning away and pretending that he wanted to sleep.

Tezuka planted a kiss on his cheek. "Of course. We're going out."

Ryoma opened his eyes, perking up slightly. "To where?"

Tezuka didn't reply. He merely smiled to that and lifted his spouse out of bed.

XXX

It was worth it after all, coming back. Tezuka took him to the club and played against him in a match. Ryoma won, of course, but it was still enjoyable all the same. After that, they showered and went to a posh restaurant. Apparently his husband made reservations. Tezuka must have known that he'd be returning. Either that or he hoped that he'd return, and made plans for the probability of that happening.

Ryoma smiled. Now this was more like Valentine's Day. So Tezuka was aware of it after all. They sat down to a romantic candlelight dinner. Tezuka deliberately chased away all the musicians so that they could have some time alone to themselves in peace. The waiters poured a small glass of sparkling juice for Tezuka, and Ponta for Ryoma. (He wondered if this caused them to lift their eyebrows when Tezuka first made the arrangements). After that, they were pretty much left alone to enjoy their food and each other's company.

"Heh. Who'd have thought that you could be such a romantic." Ryoma teased his husband, watching his Kunimitsu flush slightly.

Tezuka took a sip of his juice before setting it down. He reached across the table and covered Ryoma's hand with his large, warm one. "Ryoma…to be honest I wanted to make this day a special one for you. I couldn't really think of a gift good enough for you, so today's dinner is my present to you."

Ah, so Tezuka didn't know what to give him and thought of food too. They were thinking along the same wavelength after all. Ryoma smiled, toying with his husband's fingers a little. "It's perfect, Kunimitsu." He declared. His eyes shone slightly thanks to the candlelight.

Tezuka got up from his seat and walked over to Ryoma's side. "Happy Valentine's Day, Ryoma. Will you accept your present now?"

That made Ryoma cock his head to one side. "Isn't this the present?"

"No…there is another." Tezuka leaned over and pressed his lips to Ryoma's. Ryoma was caught off guard by it, but he didn't mind it as he gave a happy little moan, returning the kiss enthusiastically. Tezuka's fingers tangled inside his hair, probably knocking the wig over a little, but Ryoma didn't care.

It was really too long since they last did this, Ryoma thought as he wrapped his arms around his husband's neck to pull him closer, deepening the kiss. He secretly counted Tezuka's teeth, sighing in relief when it felt like nothing was broken. He wondered if Tezuka finished those chocolate cookies. It would be good if he gave them all to Inui. Ryoma was still offended by his 'wife' comment anyway.

They finally broke apart after a long time, though to Ryoma, it should have gone on longer. He nuzzled against Tezuka's neck. "Let's continue this at home. It's my turn to give you a present." He said a little breathlessly, having not recovered from that mind-blowing kiss, though his trademark smirk remained strong on his face.

Tezuka smiled. "I look forward to that."

XXXXXXXXX

Ryoma ran his fingers across Tezuka's bare chest, liking to feel the muscles ripple under his fingers. His actions were not hurried, but were instead loving, and slightly lazy, as he was feeling sated, and had no need to rekindle their passion earlier. For now, he just wanted to memorize his husband's features, then carry that memory with him to dreamland.

Tezuka toyed with his hair absent-mindedly. His arms were wrapped around his younger spouse, and he held him close, knowing that he wouldn't have many opportunities to do so. Ryoma turned to look at him, his golden-hazel eyes glinting playfully.

"Well? Do you like your present?" He asked teasingly.

Tezuka gave him a chaste kiss. "Very much." He played along, and even though Ryoma was the one who started the teasing, the black-green haired man was also the one to turn red.

The brunette was quite for a while. "Your cookies too. Those were wonderful."

Ryoma gaped. Tezuka actually went ahead and ate those teeth-breaking bakeries? At seeing Ryoma's expression, he gave a light laugh. "They are a little hard, but they taste good all the same. Even Inui wanted to have a bite."

"Oh. For the sake of data? Did he enjoy it?" Ryoma asked eagerly.

Tezuka gave an awkward cough. "Well…he was unwell, actually. It's the lunch, I tell you. Nothing to do with your cookies at all, Ryoma. I assure you." He looked away.

Ryoma smiled, cuddling close to his husband. Today was a perfect day after all. He made a silent promise to celebrate this childish, commercialized little occasion again the next year, the year after next and all the years that would follow.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Kunimitsu."

End of One-shot

A/N: I wonder if any of you can catch the hints of the other pairing in here. XD

So sorry for the lateness of this chapter. I wanted to make it within the 14th, but I overshot that day after all. T.T . So here is the belated fic. Correct me if I made any mistakes.

Trials of Life is still in progress. Quite a number of scenes to type. It's a monster. T.T

Please read and review. No flames please.

Before I run off, Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

-Gwyn