Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis. If I did, Genius 305 would be nothing but a nightmare that you can wake up from… though, I still do have hopes.
A/N: This was inspired by the gorgeous, gorgeous pictures of Kazuki Katou getting intimate with a bouquet of roses. Kazuki Katou is love!
Summary: Atobe sends Tezuka a bouquet of roses.
Flower Power
"Who do you think it's from, nya?"
"Isn't it obvious, Eiji?" Oishi commented, eyes leaving the childish face of his doubles partner and turned back to the large red bouquet of roses that had been left on the step leading into their locker room. For some strange reason, the somewhat ordinary looking rose had piqued such an interest that the entire team, excluding Tezuka, had been standing there staring at it for the past ten minutes.
"No, that's why I'm asking, Oishi," he pouted.
"It's from Atobe," Fuji remarked in a rather amused tone, his fingers up to his chin in thought.
"Really? How do you know, Fuji?"
"Well," Fuji's smile never waived, "that cut out card of him that says 'To my dearest Tezuka, love Atobe' is quite a big let on, don't you think?"
Eiji mouthed an O and the realization dawned on him, "But why is Atobe sending Tezuka flowers, and calling him 'my dearest'?"
"Because they've been going out," an unexpected, tired voice answered from behind them. A couple dozen heads snapped around to locate the owner and came face-to-face with-
"Hyotei's Akutagawa Jiroh!" Momo exclaimed, pointing a dramatic finger as the yawning redhead before him.
"I'm one year older than you, so you have to treat me with more respect," Jiroh regarded Momo.
"What are you doing here, Jiroh?" Fuji asked in a calm tone, attention fully on the out-of place member of the rival team.
"Fuji!" He exclaimed suddenly, as if only just realizing the presence of his previous opponent. His eyes snapped open and he bounced over to where Fuji stood with stars glistening in his eyes. "Atobe asked me to come and send the flowers," he remarked rather enthusiastically.
"Wasn't he afraid that you'd fall asleep somewhere and forget where you left the flowers?"
"Probably," Jiroh gave Oishi a toothy grin, "But everyone else was caught up with something else and I was the only one available. Ohtori and Shishido were… busy doing homework. Oshitari and Gakuto were… doing something in the locker room. Hiyoshi was… I don't really remember where he was and, well, I was the only one available. Atobe also promised that he'd buy me strawberry cake if I did. It's Marui's favourite flavour. Did you know?" he blurted out excitedly.
The members of Seigaku tennis team had to take a moment out silence to let the information really sink into their brain.
"You said something about them going out, Jiroh?" Fuji seemed to be the only one unaffected.
"Yeah," he grinned, "You all really didn't know? Everyone at Hyotei's known since the beginning."
"I have suspected," Fuji muttered, "This is interesting," there seemed to be a twinkle in the corner of his eye.
"Well, I did what I had to do," he stretched out his arms and gave a big yawn, "I'm going to take a rest now," he walked over to the side of the wall, lay down on his back and immediately went to sleep.
"You know about this, Fuji!" Eiji immediately turned to the brunette, "Why didn't you tell us?"
"Maa, I only suspected."
"Eiji," Oishi exhaled exasperatedly, "What Atobe and Tezuka do in their free time is none of our business."
"But, Oishi…"
"What are you all doing here? We have warm-ups in five minutes."
The familiar commanding voice immediately grabbed the attention of everyone present, who could only just exchange a look with each other and moved to one side, making clear way between Tezuka and the door.
The stoic teen raised an eyebrow as his gaze fell on the large bouquet of blood red roses on the front step. Pushing up his glasses with the tip of his fingers, he calmly regarded the watchful eyes of the rest of the team, "Twenty laps around the court for tardiness."
There was a murmur of exasperation for the group, but Tezuka just ignored it, instead, he added that there would be an additional ten lap's for each second they delay their punishment. Hesitantly, they all began to move out, until there was only Tezuka and the roses left.
Calmly, he moved forward, sparring a brief glance over to the blissfully unconscious form of Jiroh. Tezuka's stony face still not giving any hints as to what he was feeling as he leaned down and picked up the bouquet, bringing them closer to his face. He could barely hold back the small smile from surfacing as he caught sight of the image of Atobe's smirking face on the card. Exhaling quietly, Tezuka remembered that he had distinctly told Atobe not to flaunt their relationship out in the open like this. A small present and a phone call during class once and a while would have been enough.
But getting back to the real world, Tezuka knew that it was a wishful thinking and had to force himself to remember that he was dating Atobe Keigo, and things like this should have already been on his list of 'what to expect'. If their relationship was going to continue, there were certain things he had to accept.
Holding the flowers close to his chest with his right hand (at the same time ignoring the spiteful looks Eiji was shooting him as he passed) his left hand grabbed the door knob and twisted it open, intent on getting into the locker room, get changed and start practice.
Unfortunately, as Tezuka would discover, things were never that simple. He had barely taken a step through the door when a stream of rose petals came flooding out, burying his feet beneath the mountain of red. He scanned around the room and found that not only was the floor littered with soft rose petals, all the lockers had been decorated with red roses of different arrangements. On closer inspection, he found that the only locker that seemed to have been untouched, by that, he meant the one who's personal belongings had not been removed, was his.
After sending one last glare to the group behind him who had stopped their running and now crowded together to have a good look at the rather shocking condition of their locker room, he trekked his way towards his own locker. There, he found a small velvet box waiting for him. Beneath it was a purple envelope that held a particularly enchanting scent. Taking the box and the envelope, he opted to open the box first. There he discovered a simple, yet very expensive looking ring with intricate patterns of roses carved onto the surface. He couldn't help but sigh. Opening the envelope, he could sense the expensive perfume embedding itself into the material of his clothes.
Tezuka…
He read the first line of the letter.
Ore-sama is sure that the size of this gift is inconspicuous enough not to grab the attention of that vagrant team of yours.
A small chuckle escaped his lips as he looked around to the mess that had been made in the room, and all that inquiring looks he would be receiving from the team for a long time to come.
It is in assumption that you will be eternally grateful, because Ore-sama does not suppress magnificence for just anyone.
Love, your ever exalted, Keigo.
The side of Tezuka's lips curled into a small smile as he reread the note again. It was so simple and straight to the point, not to mention, so Atobe. He made a mental note to get Atobe something special. At that time, he was intent to make it the least extravagant as possible, perhaps he would even give it to him by hand when they're alone in a deserted street. Tezuka knew that that would indeed irritate the flamboyant boy to no end, at the same time, the best means of revenge. Not that he had any malice intent for the boy he had become fond of, there was just something about Atobe's face when he was irritated that made him that much cuter.
At that time, Tezuka concluded that he had spent too much time around Fuji.
Placing the letter, the box and the flowers into his locker, he turned back towards the door. After hearing the soft click of the knob as he closed, it, he regarded the prying eyes of the tennis team and with an air of calmness that was unnerving, he spoke, "Another twenty laps around the court for nosing."
Mutters of 'aww's' and grumbles immediately rose.
"Tezuka…" Oishi began but was cut off.
"Do you want to make it forty?"
No on said a word after that.
Tezuka made another mental note to thank Atobe. He would have a team of extremely fit tennis players after this.
…He also needed to ask Atobe how Jiroh managed to bring all those flowers all the way to Seigaku all by himself.
- Owari.