I don't own Prince of Tennis.

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All it took was one minute of murmuring into Eiji's ear and a few suspicious glances from Echizen to have the whole tennis club know that Ryoma was in love by the end of the following week. Now everyone would help Fuji find who the lucky bastard was... wanting to know his/her identity themselves.

At home, Fuji brought out his camera and started to clean it, in preparation. For stalking Ryoma, of course.


'So, is it true?'

Ryoma turned to look at Momoshiro. They were walking out of McDonald's, looking completely satisfied... while the staff inside were looking completely exhausted from making a thousand burgers.

'So is what true?' Ryoma asked, popping open a can of Ponta.

'You're in love with someone.'

Ryoma turned and threw all his Ponta at Momoshiro, who took a step back in disgust as purple syrup drenched him. 'Who told you that?'

'A little bird...' Momoshiro was NOT happy. His cleanest (and only wearable) pair of clothes was now dirtied with horrible Ponta and smelled of grapes. GRAPES, for Kami-sama's sake.

'Well, tell me the identity of that little bird so I can shoot it.' The way Ryoma said it, it sounded literal, so Momoshiro decided to ignore that comment and instead focused on the rumour that was spread around by Fuji and Eiji... believing it to be true. Well, Ryoma didn't deny it.

'So, who's she?'

Ryoma threw him a surprised glance. 'She? I'm not in love with a girl, of course. Too boring.'

'What, it's a GUY?' Momoshiro was shocked. Sakuno was a good little girl, perfect for Ryoma! Or even Tomoka, who talked a bit too much for her own good. But still, Sakuno was faultless!

Or not, apparently, since Ryoma had his sights set on a guy.

They had nearly reached Momoshiro's house. Their speed slowed.

'Well, yeah, Momo. Didn't you know I'm straight?' Ryoma answered, smirking. Momo was confused by the sentence. But then Ryoma continued, 'As straight as a circle, that is. Mada mada dane, senpai. You really make me laugh. But don't worry, it's not you.'

Momo was not happy. And his mood wasn't being helped by Ryoma's smirk. Just how bad could his day go?

First he got scolded by the teacher for failing in English. Who understood it perfectly, anyway? Then Kaidoh decided to not respond to his jibes. Then Buchou gave him fifty laps for holding up practice by giving Kawamura a racket when completely unnecessary, and then making him provoke Kaidoh, who got aggravated (by Kawamura! And not Momoshiro).

Then Fuji was blackmailing him with pictures of his date with Ann, threatening to show them to "Tachibana-nii-san" unless he stole Tezuka's glasses for him, like he didn't have better things to do than piss his captain off and make him half-blind...Then Ryoma went and spoiled his only pair of clothes clean enough to wear... and the cherry on the cake: now he couldn't look at his best friend without imagining pink hearts in the background. He had no experience around gay people.

'I hate my life,' Momoshiro complained.

Ryoma just rolled his eyes. 'Mada mada dane,' he said, uttering his catchphrase one more time before Momoshiro stepped inside his house and Ryoma went his own way.

And as soon as Ryoma vanished, Momoshiro grabbed his cell phone and called Inui. 'Yeah, Inui? Ryoma let it slip that it's a guy...'


'So, who is it? The grapevine says it is a male, so the question is rephrased: who is he?'

Ryoma turned to screech the answer to the idiot asking him this question, that NO, HE WASN'T IN LOVE, DAMN IT, SO NEXT TIME SOMEONE ASKED HE WAS GOING TO MURDER THEM; MADA MADA—

He cut off his mental rant abruptly, going red.

It was Atobe, with his cocksure grin and hands in his pockets. Kabaji was absent.

He sat down beside Ryoma. They were in the local park, in a secluded corner that held a small pond and benches surrounding it, currently empty, save the one Ryoma and Atobe were sitting on. 'It's no one, Monkey King.'

'Don't call ore-sama that.' Atobe raised a hand to take Ryoma's cap off him. Trying to change the subject, Ryoma asked, 'How did you know I'm here?'

'Oh, ore-sama called your dear captain. Apparently he was told by Oishi who was told by Kikumaru who was informed by Fuji that you were hiding from all of us here.' As Ryoma cast a nervous glance at his surroundings, looking for the tensai, Atobe chuckled. 'He's not here. He left quite a while ago, seeing as there were no companions with you. This was also told to me by Tezuka.'

Ryoma nodded. 'Thanks. Mada mada dane. Give me my cap back.'

'Not unless you tell ore-sama who you are in love with.'

'No one, Atobe.'

'There is someone, Ryoma.' Echizen noticed the first-name address. But he wanted to strangle whoever spread that rumour. And Momoshiro, because he wouldn't tell the name.

'Why do you want to know, anyway?'

'Because, well,' Atobe began, nonchalantly, 'Ore-sama wants to murder them for taking what was—and is—his.'

Ryoma took a step back, scared. But then his natural personality returned, and he replied arrogantly, 'Well, you'll just have to commit suicide, then, won't you?'

Atobe took a step back in surprise. His eyes widened as he figured the cryptic sentence out, and then suddenly he was crushing Ryoma to him. 'I love you. I love you so much,' he murmured, and then Ryoma was being thoroughly kissed by Atobe.

'Me too, Keigo,' Ryoma managed to gasp in between one of their heated, impassioned kisses. Atobe's hand went somewhere sensitive, and Ryoma couldn't stop himself from crying out as Atobe gently laid him on the grassy ground.


It was the end of tennis practice. The first practice Ryoma had attended in two days. Tezuka reprimanded him, gave him laps, and then let him go. He'd also been about to ask the question everyone was asking Ryoma, but then decided it was against his personality.

'Why don't you tell me who he is?' Momo persisted. 'Because I don't want to,' Ryoma replied.

'Are you ever going to tell me?'

'No.'

'Fuck you!'

'No.'

Momoshiro forced himself to strike out the hearts in the background and replace them with tennis rackets (but then gave up as the rackets turned pink). 'I'll tell everyone it's Eiji.'

Ryoma smirked. 'I don't think I want Oishi-senpai running after me with a "first-aid" murder box, sorry.'

'I'm your best friend! You can tell me!'

'I know; I can tell "Tachibana-nii-san" about you and Ann too.'

Damn. The "Tachibana-nii-san" nickname was stuck. Let's just hope the person for whom the nickname was formed wouldn't ever find out about it.

'You wouldn't tell.' Momo drew back in horror. Purple eyes becoming purple tennis balls. 'You're so similar to Fuji, I swear—'

Momo stopped, as if slapped. Somehow, miraculously, the answer had come to him. How could he have not noticed before? The gentle calls of O-chibi, the pleasured smirk on Ryoma's face whenever he looked at him...

'Earth and Ann to Momo.'

Momo looked; Ann was nowhere. He scowled at Ryoma. And then winced, and shuddered lightly as an image of Syuusuke Fuji popped into place beside Ryoma, along with the million hearts he had worked to erase from his mind.