Disclaimer: The Prince of Tennis is not mine.

Part 3

Day after day passed without any incident at the tennis club. Tezuka was still quiet, Fuji was still smiling, Eiji was still energetic, Oishi was still worrying too much, Inui was still have his note, Kawamura was still shy, Momo was still powerful, Kaidoh was still scary, and Echizen was still…well…Echizen.

It's almost like the time before Fuji's incident except the tensai was avoiding his buchou now. And the small brunette did a good job at that. If the other didn't look carefully, they wouldn't have known.

Fuji never talked to Tezuka, neither did Tezuka. Fuji didn't want to talk while Tezuka didn't know what to say. Even though the smaller brunette was still smiling at him, his smiles weren't like the ones he used to give before that day. His smiles seemed so pure and warming back then but now…it looked strained and sad…and that sad smile, Tezuka realized, was directed only at him.

"Dismissed!" Oishi's voice startled him. How long had he been daydreaming anyway. It didn't felt 'that' long. He blinked then sighed. Time seemed to be moving faster every time he thought about Fuji.

"Freshman, clean up the court!" he said his daily command. He waited until the freshman finished and followed them to the locker room. He quickly changed his uniform and went home. He was uncomfortable being surrounded by the first year students. In fact he didn't feel comfortable with anyone except…Fuji and the other regulars.

Midway, he saw Fuji standing in the middle of road, staring at something. He followed the small brunette's gaze and saw Momo and Echizen. They were sitting on the grass and chatting happily. He looked at Fuji again and saw something like pain and envy in his blue orbs before the tensai turned and walked away silently.

/What are they talking about, to make Fuji sad like that?/ He waited until the brunette walked far enough before he walked closer to Echizen and Momo.

"What about your injured ankle, Momo-senpai?" Tezuka could hear the small genius ask as he ate the last bit of his cheese burger.

"It's okay." The older boy said, grinning widely.

Echizen frowned at him. "Why are you grinning like that?"

"It's because you care a lot about me!!" Momoshiro laughed as he hugged Echizen tightly.

"You're killing me, Momo senpai! Let go of me!" the smaller boy protested. But inside he felt happy to be hugged by his dark-haired senpai.

"Nee, Ryoma-chan you know how much I love you, right?"

Echizen smirked. "Really?"

Momoshiro pouted. "I'm serious!"

Suddenly, the smaller boy leaned up and pecked him on the lips. "I know. I love you too, Mo-mo-sen-pai" Echizen smirked as he saw his senpai's shocked _expression. "That's why I'm always worrying about you since you're so clumsy."

"Hey!" Momoshiro protested. "I'm not!"

Tezuka felt that he had heard enough and went away, not wanting to disturb the couple. /I love you…that's why I'm always worrying about you…/ Echizen's words echoed in his mind.

~~

Fuji was watching the match between Eiji and Oishi. It was a good match and they looked like they were enjoying it very much. Beside him Momoshiro and Echizen were chatting loudly. He closed his eyes tightly, willing the pain to go away.

If he wanted to be honest, he was envious of them. They have had someone they loved return their feelings. Even Yuuta had someone now while he ended up alone. Life was never fair.

He sneaked a glance at the tall brunette who was not too far away from him. It's been weeks since that painful day and yet…he still loved him. He knew he should forget him and move on but…he just couldn't. There was something inside him that refused to forget the stoic buchou.

"Yatta! I win!" he looked up as he heard Eiji yelled. The red head had a big grin on his face.

"Mada mada dane, Oishi-senpai" Echizen said as the golden pair walked past him. Oishi just smiled and shook his head. Fuji couldn't help but smiled a little at that. It's just liked Echizen to say something like that.

"Next! Tezuka, Momoshiro!" Inui called.

Hearing Tezuka name, Fuji's attention was back to the court. He watched him carefully as the buchou played. It was flawless as usual. He kept his eyes on him until the game was over. Tezuka won of course.

He stayed still as the stoic teenager stood beside him. He ignored his pounding heart and moved his lips to smile. He didn't dare to look up at him.

"Fuji, Echizen!" Inui called again.

Fuji resisted the urge to sigh in relief and picked up his racket. He was about to walk to the court when a large hand pulled his right arm. "I'll date you if you win against Echizen." Tezuka whispered near the smaller brunette's ear.

Fuji widened his eyes at Tezuka's statement. But before he could ask anything, the buchou had gone to the locker room. He could hear Inui called him vaguely. /There's no time to think about it/ he thought as he walked to the court.

~~

"Game set! 6-4! Fuji wins!"

"That's a good match, Fuji sen-" Echizen began but stopped as he realized Fuji had ran off to the locker room. He smirked. "Mada mada dane" he lowered his cap.

The tensai was out of breath when he reached the locker room. He opened the door slowly to reveal a form. Tezuka was sitting on the chair with his eyes closed. "I won" Fuji said calmly.

"Aa"

"What did you mean by this?" the brunette asked. "If you just using me to improve Echizen's skill just forget about the deal" he said. He loved Tezuka and would do anything to be his boyfriend but he didn't want it like this.

Tezuka stood up and approached our tensai. He looked down at Fuji and caressed his cheek gently. "I'm not that low." He said.

Fuji tried hard to hide his pain and slapped his buchou's hand. "Then why?? It's obvious that you hate me! I don't need this bullshit!" he yelled for the first time since he was six. "Don't play with my feelings, please…" he sobbed. Suddenly he didn't care about his pride anymore. He just wanted the pain to go away. He fell down to his knees, hugging himself.

The taller brunette kneeled beside him and cupped his face with his larger hands. "I don't play with your feelings." He whispered, resting his head against Fuji's. "I just realized how important you are to me…" he kissed away Fuji's tears. "How I miss your smile, your voice…"

Fuji opened his teary eyes slowly. He could feel his face redden. Who would expect that the inexpressive teenager could say something sweet like that to him? "Really?" he asked in a small voice.

Tezuka smiled at the blushing brunette. He looked so cute like that. "Aa" he replied. "And you have the bluest eyes that I've ever seen" he said truthfully. He never noticed it 'till now. Was he that blind?

Fuji was astonished to see Tezuka smiled. /And he looks even better when he smiles/ he thought. "But what if I lost? What would you do then?" a small part of him still refused to believe all of this. It felt too good to be true.

"I knew you'd win" the brunette said, kissing Fuji's nose.

"Then why did I have to win the match? I mean why you didn't just tell me that…that you liked me too?" he blushed a little.

Tezuka smirked. "I like to see you working hard for me." He answered coolly.

Fuji took his time to register Tezuka's words before he smiled. "Getting cocky, aren't you?"

"Only for you" The bigger and taller brunette pushed the smaller one to the wall and kissed him gently on the lips. He never thought Fuji's lips would be so soft. The stoic teenager felt like he was in heaven when the tensai kissed him back. /How come I didn't realize it before? Fuji is perfect/ He deepened the kiss when Fuji's arms wrapped around his neck. He would gladly have kissed his-now-boyfriend for another minute if someone didn't interrupt them.

"Fu~ji? Tezu~ka?" a cheerful voice called them. "What took you so-" Eiji stopped abruptly when he saw his team mates. "GYAAAAAAA!!!! I'm SOOOOORRRYY!!" he ran outside quickly.

"HEEEYYYY! I SAW IT! TEZUKA AND FUJI WERE KISSING!!"\ they could hear him yelled outside. Tezuka cringed at that. He knew that as soon as he was out, everybody would tease him. He sighed. At least there are only regulars on the court now.

Fuji just chuckled.

"I'm glad that at least one of us finding this amusing" Tezuka groaned.

"Come on. It's not that bad." The tensai smiled.

"Well, if you say so…" he said pulling Fuji's waist to kissed him again.

"The door is still opened, Tezuka."

"Let it be. They're going to torture me anyway." Then the buchou placed his lips against Fuji's again. No matter how much he kissed the small brunette, he couldn't get enough.

After long minutes, Tezuka finally broke off the kiss. Fuji smiled at him and rested his head on Tezuka's shoulder. "This is real, right?"

Tezuka caressed Fuji's hair and nodded. He could feel Fuji grin against his shoulder. He cupped Fuji's face again and pecked him on the lips. "Come on; let's go back before they start any gossip"

Fuji chuckled and clasped their hands together. "Is it alright?" he asked carefully.

Tezuka squeezed their hands tighter together as an answer. They picked their racket with their other hand and went out slowly. He frowned a little when he heard their team mates loudly talking about them. "I'm gonna make them ran 30 laps..." He murmured.

The tensai smiled widely. /I could get used to this./

Owari

So how was it? I hope you didn't disappointed with the ending. Thanks for everyone who reading this fic ^^