Title: Realizations: Mortgage
Author: Alexis
Pairing/Characters: OishiEiji (finally!)
Rating: PG-13
Part: 3/3 (oh dear God, did I actually finish a multi-parter? shocku)
Warnings: Eiji POV, fluff, sap, all that good stuff
Summary: After their freshman year in college, Eiji reflects on things he learned about himself in the past year. He then runs into Oishi (at a rather cliche place) and the two talk about the past.
Disclaimer: If I owned Prince of Tennis, all the boys would be paired with each other, so that's why I write fanfiction.
Notes: Urk. This took me way too long to get out, since I kept getting stuck. It's also longer than the first two parts combined. For one the first line challenge in encryptedminds.

By the time I was ready to forgive Oishi for withholding such an important piece of information from me for so long, he had stopped trying to call me or stop by. Then again, school had started, and I swore I'd call him; really, I did! But one thing led to another, and soon enough freshman year was over and I was back at home for break.

I did have a lot of time to think, though, as this year passed. Spent a lot of time staring at my new fish. It's actually kinda fun to watch them move around in the water (plus it's a great way to procrastinate studying for classes).

One of the things I thought a lot about was that kiss that Fuji gave me (well, okay, maybe not gave, since I ended up being a pretty willing participant). I tried to figure out what he meant by saying it was to answer both his and my questions. I didn't think I had any questions - not until he kissed me at least. Then I had lots of questions, one of the biggest being 'does this mean I like guys?'.

Well, going off to university is all about experimentation, right? So I experimented. I found my first boyfriend, and it was a lot easier than I expected it to be. His name was Kiyoshi, and I had met him in one of my classes. I saw him, thought he was cute, and he did the rest by coming over to me. It was so much easier than dating girls, and just felt so much more natural. So there was an answer to a question.

It didn't last very long though, and another question was raised when we broke up. See, it was kinda my fault - I called him Oishi. I guess that wouldn't be so bad if we weren't fooling around at the time. So then there was another question raised, but maybe it had been there all along?

I realize now that I had feelings for Oishi way back when we were still in junior high, but I pushed them away, made myself forget about them. I guess I couldn't totally forget, since that's why I felt so betrayed when he left me - yes, me, because that's what it felt like - behind to go off to Tokyo University.

Well, there's the questions and the answers, but I still don't know what to do. Lying around my room and staring at my fish isn't exactly accomplishing anything. I feel restless; I have to get up, move, do something, before I go insane from the circular thoughts in my head and the soft burbling of my fish tank.

It really wasn't that much of a surprise when I found that my feet had brought me to a pet shop - well, not just any pet shop, but the same pet shop that Oishi and I would go to together. I seemed to find myself there each time I came home, maybe because it was familiar, maybe because I was hoping to catch a glimpse of my old friend. Did he even still come here, or did he choose to go somewhere else to buy fish food and other stuff?

I was in the back, looking at the turtles, when I heard the jingling of the door as it opened. Leaning back to see who walked in, I had only my good reflexes to keep myself from falling over when I saw a face I hadn't seen since high school graduation. Oishi.

Had it really only been a year? It felt much longer than that, and I drank in the sight of my former doubles partner as I peered around the end of the aisle I was currently in, and ended up stumbling backwards when he turned right towards me, as if he could feel me there.

Reaching out to grab one of the shelves in an attempt to steady myself, I plastered on a bright smile as Oishi appeared at the head of the aisle, looking almost disbelieving in seeing me there. After so long of wanting to see my old partner, wanting to talk to him again, now that he was here in front of me I had no idea how to act, what to say.

"Eiji..."

Had his voice always sounded that way when he said my name? My heart was pounding harder than it ever had after one of our hardest matches, and I let my false smile melt into something softer, more real. "Oishi."

"How are -"

"What's -"

I couldn't hold back the laughter that filled me when we started speaking at the same time, and I was reminded of our fight back in junior high. Though, this time, it took much longer than a day for me to be able to laugh with Oishi again. He had joined in with me barely a moment after I started, and it felt good, most of the tension between us dissolving immediately.

"Do you want to go for a walk?"

Oishi's voice held a hint of nervousness, as if worried that I'd say no, even now. If it was a year ago, I would have, because I wasn't ready to talk to him yet. Now, all I did was nod, unable to trust my voice to hold steady. We left the pet shop together, and if I looked down, I know I would have found that our steps had fallen into perfect sync, as always. There was a park nearby, so we turned in there, heading down the path towards the lake.

Every few moments I would glance over at my old friend, taking in the changes he had seen in the past year. Oishi was still taller than me, even though I had gained a couple of centimeters recently, and his shoulders were broader. I wondered if he continued to play tennis while at university. I hadn't; I couldn't find another partner I felt comfortable playing with, and I refused to play singles. I made a promise, and I was going to keep it.

We reached the waterside and paused, the late-afternoon sun bathing everything in gold. Seemed appropriate, what with the once-Golden Pair standing there together again.

"I missed you."

Three short words, but within them I could hear his hurt, anger, and - was that longing? Maybe I was projecting my own feelings onto Oishi; it had been a year, we had grown apart. It wasn't guaranteed that I'd still know my old partner and friend as well as I once did.

"I missed you too, nya 1."

He turned to face me then, those green eyes pinning me with their steady gaze. I felt stripped bare underneath them, I wanted to hide, to keep him from seeing whatever it was he was searching for. Finally, his shoulders slumped slightly and he looked back over the water, uttering one more whispered word. "Why?"

Fuji had gotten his answers nearly a year ago, and that's when I first started seeking out mine. Now it was time for Oishi to get his. Didn't mean I wasn't going to stall a bit, though. Looking down at the grass, I decided it didn't look wet and lowered myself to the ground, stretching my legs out in front of me. Shielding my eyes with a hand against the setting sun, I gestured for him to come sit with me in the soft, spring grass.

After a moment's pause, he settled down beside me, and I could feel the warmth from his skin all along my left side. Sitting here like this was great, something we hadn't done in so long, and I took the time to savor it, something I never would have done when I was younger. Eventually, though, I had to break the silence; I had questions to answer.

"You left me, Oishi."

"But I didn't! I-"

I interrupted Oishi with a rueful laugh and a shake of my head. "Spoiled brat baby of the family, nya, remember? It doesn't matter that you didn't mean to, that's what I saw it as...even if I didn't realize that right away." I knew he would try to speak again, to apologize, and I just held up a hand, eyes fixed on the sunset reflected in the pond's surface.

"You ended the Golden Pair's partnership, and I figured it was only a matter of time until our friendship ended too, so I decided to end it on my own terms." A bitter chuckle escaped my lips, and I tilted my head up towards the slowly-darkening sky. "Not exactly one of my brightest ideas, nya."

"Eiji," he said, with that same tone of voice he used earlier. Hearing him say my name like that sends a tingle down my spine, and I want to hear it again, over and over again, for a long time to come. "Just because we weren't going to be playing together didn't mean that the Golden Pair was over. Gold is forever, remember?" His next words were tinged with amusement, and had me finally looking over at him curiously. "Besides, you never did beat me, and I know you could have."

"You...you knew?" I was shocked. I had no idea that Oishi knew; I didn't even really know, so how could he? Did that mean that he knew how I felt - still feel - about him? Had he known something about me that even I hadn't realized? I wouldn't be surprised if that was so, I mean this was Oishi. He always knew me so well, knew how to read me. That's what being partners is all about. "Oishi, you really knew?" And with those words, I asked so much more, hoping he was still just as good at knowing what I meant as he once was.

He smiled then, a warm smile, the corners of his eyes crinkling ever so slightly, and even without his next words, I knew what he would say. "I knew."

Shifting so that I faced him, I scooted a bit closer to my old partner, wanting to be able to look directly at him. "Do you still know?" My heart was beating so hard and fast, but I needed my own answer. Maybe this was really the question I needed answered all along, the others just a step towards this one.

Oishi's expression grew serious, and for a moment I was afraid that he would get up and leave, but instead he spoke, so softly I had to strain to hear his words. "I always knew. I never stopped knowing, Eiji, but I had all but given up on you ever knowing the truth yourself."

"Oishi, I have really good eyesight, right? It picks up on the littlest things, nya, but even then it doesn't always see what's right in front of me." I bit down on my lower lip, worrying it between my teeth, and just looked at you for a long moment. "Can you forgive me for being so blind?"

I should have seen it coming, but all of a sudden his lips were on mine and any coherent thought flew from my head. All I was aware of was the feel of Oishi's lips as he kissed me, then of his hand as it reached up to tangle in my hair. I didn't even care about the fact that he was ruining the perfectly flipped hairstyle. There were much more important things to be thinking about, like the tongue that was currently lapping at my lips, asking for entrance. I could do nothing but comply, and the taste of him was heady, with just a hint of the mints I remember him carrying in his tennis bag.

When we finally broke apart for air, he smiled again, and I know I had a silly grin on my face. "Does that answer your question?"

He never did know why I laughed.

1 nya - Eiji nonsense noise, doesn't really mean anything, just his pattern of speech.