A Prince of Tennis fanfic by Maria.
Written for 30 Romances. Theme(s): 2. (The subconscious ; Bury), 15. (Take a hint ; Scram)
Pairing/Characters: Tezuka x Fuji. Allusions to the Tezuka family.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer/claimer (if needed): Not mine. Konomi-sensei pwns it. Ooookay! XD
Summary (if needed): Everyone has a more or less subtle way to tell 'The Three Words' to a Special Person...
When it came to his feelings, Kunikazu Tezuka was a man of few words. He'd always tell his wife, son, daughter-in-law and grandson to be alert and ready to take on whatever life brought them, and would also have zero tolerance to any distraction or laziness from anybody in his surroundings. To some people (specially his pupils at the police academy), his iron fist was just too hard, and some others wondered how far would the man go in his obsession to make things better and improve.
However, his grandson knew better than those people. They had not seen the patriarch of his family helping him with homework, looking at the falling rain through the window, or just sitting quietly by his wife's side whenever his hectic schedule allowed him. There was a human heart beneath the serious exterior; the little big details showed this, and the younger Tezuka loved to politely but firmly tell that to his grandfather's whiny pupils whenever Kunikazu took him to his work place.
Kunimitsu Tezuka specially liked to remember the quiet ritual that usually took place in his grandparents' anniversary. Masako Tezuka was very fond of everything that surrounded the tea ceremony, so she liked to take her time preparing all she needed fot that special day. While his parents, aunts and uncles were busy with the typical adult celebrations, the boy used to sit down on his desk and pretend to be fully focused in his school work, waiting for the time when he would be able to peek into the "special moment" his grandmother was getting ready for...
If he was patient and lucky enough not to fall asleep early, the reward for it was high. The boy would silently go down the stairs, barefoot to avoid any kind of unnecessary noise, and then go to the hall. With all the others adults gone, it was almost a sure thing that Masako and Kunikazu would be sitting by the garden, calmly drinking tea without sharing a single word. Just looking at each other and enjoying the peaceful atmosphere was enough for both of them... and it was kinda sweet for the child, to see how his grandfather smiled at Masako, as if she was telling him something endearing with just little gestures.
That's one of the reasons why Tezuka was so sad and cried so much (but only when he was alone in his room, he hated to see his parents worry) when, after a long disease, Masako died. He was just six years old, but he could sense the big impact that the loss had not only on his parents, but on his grandfather. And it happened just some weeks before his grandparents' anniversary... Oh, that was so unfair. Had it been just some days later, they would've had one more ritual where they renewed their feelings for each other and where he got to see his grandfather show a more smiling, sweet side of him.
And it was worse when "the day" came. That was the first and last time ever that Tezuka saw his grandfather just looking at the sunset, on the garden of the Tezuka house... with tears rolling down his serene, yet sad face.
Kuniharu Tezuka was a more laid-back, cheerful person than his father. Not exactly a ditzy guy, nope (he was very serious and competent in his work), but he had his heart on his sleeve more frequently. If Kunikazu ever got carried away with his extremely severe behavior, Kuniharu was always the one telling him to calm down. If either Tezuka or his mother, Ayana, were stressed or tired, he would remind them that they needed to rest.
And Tezuka owed his father something else. While the man wasn't extremely fond of sports beside some regular exercising, it was thanks to his sport-crazy friends that the young boy got into tennis.
"It's the sport of gentlemen", some of those active and cheerful men said about their hobby, slightly swinging their rackets in front of the enthralled boy.
"I think it's honorable and effective way to pass time and keep yourself healthy", Kunikazu told him when he learnt about how he preferred tennis over judo.
"Such a special way to make friends and fan girls!", Ayana gently teased the kid the first time she saw him dressed up and ready to play.
Anyway... Kuniharu had his sort-of own way to celebrate his and Ayana's anniversary. No matter how long he had to work that day or where he had to go (something that, at times, implied even going out of town due to his job), whenever Tezuka came from school or tennis practice in that special day, he'd always see his mother smiling and holding a bouquet of white lilies and white roses, her two favorite flowers ever, sent by her husband along with a small card with a cute message.
"White lilies mean 'It's heavenly to be with you'", she told her boy the first time he asked her, "and white roses mean 'I'll always love you'. That's what your dad wants to tell me with them...".
Ayana wasn't the type to forget this. Even if her husband had to spend the whole day out, only to come back at midnight or even later, she would remember to say thanks in her own way. Many times, Tezuka caught his mother asleep on the bed, with a small bouquet of camellia either in her hands or lying by her side. Those flowers were meant to be a subtle way to wish good luck on everything to a man, so the sight would always make him smile...
And if he happened to be free or still awake by the time Kuniharu was back home, he'd be the first one to say "Go and check on Mother, she's waiting".
Things were also very... special, when Kunimitsu Tezuka himself fell in love. During his school life he wasn't interested in romantic love, focused into school work and tennis as he was. This didn't mean he was indifferent to it, oh no; he kept and ate all the chocolates he got from the girls at Valentines Day, gave each of them a white rose at White Day to thank them all equally, blushed intensely when he thought that a guy had sent him a love letter and it turned out to be a joke played on him by his junior high teammates...
But in the last Valentines he spent at his high school, one of his closest male friends kissed him on the lips and said that he had loved him for a long time.
Until then, Tezuka had never known what to really think of Syuusuke Fuji. Such a complicated person, always with a secret behind of that eternal smile of his' - the same one that, at times, he really hated. But Fuji had looked and sounded very serious back then, with his blue eyes fixed on Tezuka's shocked face, and silently waiting for whatever he would come up with.
Tezuka was speechless, and left the club room quickly. It took them several days to even try acting normally when around each other - and it was partially due to what happened, and partially due to their common friends' endless and merciless teasing. And it took Tezuka even more to admit that his own feelings for Fuji were changing... sice, for the first time in his life, he really didn't know what to say.
Weeks passed, and since none of them never really talked about it, everyone who knew about the affair assumed that time healed whatever wounds were made, and that they were back to their "quiet off-courts friendship, subtle in-courts rival/friend relationship" dynamics. But months later, in Tezuka's birthday, Fuji suddenly brought up the subject again.
"I love you, Tezuka. Never stopped doing so, even after the Valentines fiasco", the other man told him while they were sitting on the same bench, in the empty tennis street courts they used to train together sometimes.
Tezuka looked into Fuji's eyes, hoping that this was another joke from him. But, just like that Valentines Day, Fuji stared back at him, looking completely serious.
"Fuji, you...".
"It sounds selfish to say it again, I know", Fuji cut him off, "but I suppose I can't help it, and wouldn't even try if I could...".
Taking the chance that they were alone, Fuji leaned closer to Tezuka and kissed him on the mouth again...
Like all the times that followed their second-first kiss, he didn't even try to pull away.