A/N: Words spoken in Sign Language will be written in bold letters!

Disclaimer: Do not own anything.

~~ Discussion With Heart ~~

~~ 8. March, Late Afternoon ~~

Ryoma's stomach growled loudly as he entered the small and crowded dining room where the wonderful smell of finished and definitely eatable dinner lingered and sat down on his chair, opposite from Tsukiko. His mother sat next to her at the end of the table, so she had everyone in her view. Strangely enough, there were suddenly not only two but six available chairs around a new and larger table.

That was probably his mother's doing, organizing something like this. She must have done it while she had searched for him, otherwise there would have been no time for such a thing. His cousin talked to his mother in a quiet voice and both stopped laughing when they noticed his presence. Tsukiko's eyes went immediately downwards onto her hands, which rested in her lap, and a shade of pink, a small blush, crept up her cheeks. So she was still embarrassed from what she had witnessed.

Well, Ryoma would have reacted the same if it had been his first time seeing those two kissing. The memory was still too fresh as that he could have forgotten the picture from his first time seeing them kissing or seeing Fuji kissing Monkey King or seeing his captain kissing Monkey King after their tennis practice was over behind their club house. Actually, if he thought about it more clearly, there were far too many guys around him who kissed another guy.

Oh god, better not think more about it than he was already doing. Who knew where it would lead him to?

"Ryoma, honey, sit down and tell me about your new life. I'm happy to see that you have found already friends and you also joined a club. How is your school? Are you getting used to everything? Do you want to come home with me?" His mother bombarded him with questions, he didn't know which of them he should answer first. Well, the last one let him raise his right eye brow.

"Mom, what's going on?"

"Well, you know, honey, while you have been out, I have taken a look around here and I think your father hasn't done a very good job he-"

"AHEM!" Ryoma blinked, looked at his father who had already started to eat, though, the so called guests weren't even sitting at the table yet, and he was eating like a pig which wasn't anything new for Ryoma but not very appropriated when other people were in their house. His mother noticed it too and paused for a second before continuing to speak after shooting her ex-husband a glare.

"-here but it's much better from what I had feared to see. I-" Just then did his two "friends" appear from his room, probably having stopped their little contest with his neighbour. He would have asked who had won but stopped the thought as soon as it had appeared. Neither Fuji nor his captain would understand him and it would confuse his already worried mother only more. They sat down and Tezuka was the first one to speak.

"We're sorry for our belayed arrival. It's inexcusable after you made the effort to cook such a delicious meal for us. We apologize." They bowed deeply.

Snap.

Ryoma could hear the sound of his mother's opinion snap back to seeing the perfect impression of a nice, gentle and polite son. He saw her eyes gleaming in delight. Wonderful! Now he would hear his mother's scolding about him being not like his captain whenever he did something with not so good manners. "Oh no, don't worry. We haven't started to eat yet, so you're not too late." She simply ignored the munching sounds caused by her ex-husband.

"That's good to hear. We want to thank you again for inviting us. We hadn't had the chance to talk to Ryoma in the last couple of days." Fuji's sharp eyes rested on him, silently scolding him for his unanswered questions and the declined offers and invitations. The mute didn't even need to look up to see or feel it, so he calmly sat there and began to eat the fantastic meal.

The first bite was absolutely fantastic and it felt like he had never eaten anything better. Oh god, how he had missed the taste and the feeling of having finally something eatable on his tongue and between his teeth. It was so delicious, he had nearly forgotten the people around him and also his mother's little speech which started anew where she had left off. "However, I'm thinking... you see, you have gotten a lot thinner from the last time I saw you, honey, and I'm very worried about you. We both know that your father's cooking is anything else than eatable and as I see it, you're in no position to hire someone who could help out with doing the laundry and cleaning this house or cooking meals."

His mother tried to smile friendly but it ended up in a grimace. Ryoma knew she tried her best to convince him because she was already worried sick. Yeah, he had lost weight due to his father's horrible and none existing cooking skills but it didn't mean that he would starve to death. There was still the convenience store at the end of the street and also the school cafeteria. If all strings would break, he could always ask these crazy and freaking loud girls in his class to share their meals with him. They were already asking him every day anyway, so why not making use of it, instead of throwing the food away.

No, there was no need to think about him starving to death. He was far from it.

If his mother had asked him a couple of weeks ago, he wouldn't have hesitated a second but now, after seeing his cousin's clinginess and his mother's over protectiveness... No, he was fine, finally doing something by himself, even if it had been hard at the beginning and some of his teachers and classmates were more than simply strange... he was doing quite a good job. All he would like to see now was his dear friend who was still in the States.

Before he could reply his mother, she continued. "I know you only arrived here a couple of weeks ago and you have probably just managed to get used to everything. You have even found such nice friends but Ryoma, honey, I'm truly frightened about your manners and your health."

"AHEM!" His father, again.

"Stop making those noises, Nanjiroh! It's unfriendly to do so in front of Ryoma's new friends." Said friends had followed his example and started to eat like everyone else had, except his mother. She was still ranting on.

"You're the one who tells lies and that is a bad manner!" His father mumbled through the munched food in his mouth and Ryoma could see the annoyance and the slowly but steadily rising anger in his mother's eyes. He believed to see a vein pulsing on her right temple.

"You know it's the truth, Nanjiroh. Your cooking is horrible, you can't do any laundry or cleaning without my help and your manners are not the very best, not to mention yo-"

"Saa, so why doesn't Ryoma come over to my place and eats my mother's and sister's cooking? It's just opposite your house, the food is very good and he would also learn the necessary table manners."

NO!

OH DEAR GOD...

Was the guy serious?

Where the hell did that idea come from?

He couldn't really mean...

Fuji was kidding him, right?!

He could already imagine the torture and embarrassing moment whenever he would eat with the tensai.

The chair scraped loudly over the floor as his mother jumped up and clapped her hands together once. She made a squeaking noise from her uncontrolled excitement and Ryoma could have banged his head against the table from frustration. He was damned, he knew the second his mother bowed and the next words left her full and feminine lips. "Thank you so much. That would be wonderful. I don't know how to thank you for this offer."

"Mom!"

She bowed again, deeper this time, though. "Thank you so much, Fuji-san."

Ryoma snapped his fingers, trying to get his mother's attention. It was all in vain, useless. His mother was so full of excitement, she didn't even notice him or casted a glance at him. Tezuka on the other side looked kinda surprised in his own way. His glances went from Fuji to Rinko back to his boyfriend and rested then on Ryoma.

"It's all my pleasure. It's a good chance to get to know him better and it would also be easier for Kunimitsu to tell him news about the tennis club. He is still new but we're pretty sure he will become a regular as soon as the next ranking tournament takes place in our school."

"MOM!"

"I'm really happy to hear about my son making friends. He can be so stubborn and anti-social sometimes."

"That's what we thought too, so we actually went ahead and organized a pajama party at my house. Well, it's actually only us three plus a few more friends of mine. Having a big group might have scared him off, ne, Ryoma?" Piercing blue eyes gazed at him with a silent but unmistakable challenge. Oh, he was so not falling into this easy-to-see trap. Ryoma didn't want the brunette to think about him as pussy but he wasn't so stupid and blinded by pride that he would agree to such a stupid...

"He can't go!" The room went silent in an instant, no other sound than the noise of chop sticks falling onto the table filled the silence. Ryoma noted only then that it were his chop sticks which had fallen out of his light grip. Tsukiko had actually spoken up with her usually soft and quiet voice, surprising and pushing him out of his deep thoughts. Her cheeks reddened as she noticed that all eyes were on her and Ryoma found it quite cute as he knew his cousin didn't like standing in the center of attention. Her hands were intertwined with each other, held tightly in place as they rested on her lap. Her eyes were focused on the table in front of her. "Aunt Rinko and I will fly back to America tomorrow evening. I wanted to see you so much, Ryoma. I missed you."

Ryoma's eyes softened, knowing Tsukiko didn't mean her words the way it must have sounded for Fuji and Tezuka but also for his parents. He was her safety net, her anchor in the frightening world she believed to see. He had once dared to let go of her, to break free from her grasp. The result had been fatal and unforgivable. Never would he want to risk such a situation again.

The raw thought about the dark memory gave him the chills. Never again. He had promised it to his family and to Tsukiko directly. He couldn't disappear or leave her alone for too long. She was too fragile, too sweet and innocent to understand his wish for freedom. She was still his little cousin and he was her best friend.

"Tsukiko! You promised me to not cling to Ryoma! He needs to make friends and a pajama party would be a perfect occasion to make a lot of friends, especially if they belong to the tennis club he has just joined in, too."

"But Aunt Rinko! I-"

"Tsukiko, you promised not to be so selfish! I understand that you want to talk to Ryoma but you need to understand that Ryoma's life is now here and he needs to make friends! At a pajama party he can talk about boyish stuff like tennis and girls and... well, such things you know." And with that Tsukiko stood up with a pouting lip and rushed out from the dinning room, sprinted into his room. "Tsukiko!" His mother's shout didn't reach her as she slammed the door shut like an angry child would do.

"This girl. She gets more and more selfish and absurdly with each visit. Do you mind going to-"

"I'll take a look." Ryoma said and stood up, bowed out of reflex before walking slowly after his cousin who was probably now insulted by his mother's rejection. Tsukiko wasn't used to putting back her wants and needs for another person's wish or desire. She had always been bad at it while Ryoma had lived with doing so at the beginning, after the accident.

He knocked at his own door, finding himself shaking his head in confusion and frowning over his own joke. When nobody answered, he opened the door and walked in, seeing his cousin spread over his bed, face pressed into his pillow.

"I don't want to talk about it!" She yelled as he sat down at the edge of the bed, feeling his insides turning into a knot like they always did when they were alone. He felt the uneasiness surrounding him. Nothing had changed in the last couple of years. He was still the same boy with the same doubts and sins whom he had been after he was left alone with Tsukiko. Would he be able to ever change it?

The moment he rested his hand on her left shoulder, the second Tsukiko turned around and hugged him tightly. "Don't leave me! You can't leave me. Ryoma!" Her hands were clutched strongly against his neck, her face rested on his shoulder and she pulled him all the more closer to her. He stroked gently her back with trembling fingers.

Tears soaked his shirt and he could hear the suppressed sobs. Ryoma let her cry for a few more minutes, all while his cousin begged for him to stay tonight and the rest of the incoming day, before he pushed her away gently so he could speak.

"I would never leave you and you know that, don't you?"

"But these...gay guys... they-"

"-are my team mates, nothing else."

"For now they're your team mates, yes, but for how long before they become your friends and grow more important to you? Aren't you afraid, that these two in our kitchen will try... something... at you... I'm not homophobe but you're not into guys or other girls as I know because you never let anybody getting close to you. You don't like people getting too close and ask questions about your past and your current life... why you became speechless..." Tsukiko's voice grew quieter with each spoken word and her watering eyes glanced around, everywhere than in his eyes.

Was he really like that? Yeah, perhaps he was antisocial and didn't like people asking questions as it was making him feel uncomfortable but what Tsukiko said made it sound like he was some kind of freak who had panic attacks by making friends and was completely isolated from the outside world. It wasn't like this. He had just trouble making friends because most people didn't care to listen to his language or were too stupid for his liking - for example people like Horio.

Ryoma shrugged to answer her questions. "Ryoma! You need to be more careful. Maybe they plan to make a move on you!"

Now he couldn't help but to snort at her remark. "A move at me? We're just team mates, Tsukiko! As long as they still play good tennis, I don't care what they are or do in their private time."

"Really?!"

"I would never lie to you." Ryoma moved his hands once more to say something but the knock on his bedroom's door interrupted him. The door was opened soon enough by Tezuka and Fuji. Both brunettes stood at the door frame and stared at them for a moment. Fuji's smile seemed kind of... wrong. It looked somehow crooked. The blue eyes were even more intensive than usual. Tezuka, on the other hand, was stiff and remained in his perfect form of a frozen statue like always. Though, he was the first to break the awkward silence between them.

"Your mother told us about your cousin's short visit and we wouldn't mind if she joins us in our nightly group meeting. It means, if she is okay with sleeping around a horde of guys." Tezuka's glasses sparkle suddenly and his gaze was fixated on Ryoma, not leaving his own stare.

"I-I will go if Ryoma is sleeping beside me."

"Would it be okay for you, Echizen?"

He nodded in agreement to his captain. What other choice did he have anyways? None if he thought about it.

"Saa, then pack your bag with all the clothes and things you need for our sleepover and tomorrow's camping trip. We will leave around midday for the trip. We'll tell your parents and wait for you in the kitchen." Fuji left, not waiting for a reply and left the room with his boyfriend in tow, dragging Tezuka along.

"Isn't it great, Ryoma?" Tsukiko beamed at him, her smile was so bright and full of joy. "I'll ask Aunt Rinko if she can drive me back to our hotel so I can get my things. I'm so happy. Thanks, Ryoma." She hugged him, kissed him on his left cheek lightly and rushed out soon after. The teen needed a few seconds to collect his thoughts about what had just happened.

He was going on a sleepover, probably to discuss their tennis moves or something like that but... what exactly would they do there? He had never been at such party... What should he pack inside his bag?

Pajama?
Underwear?
Toothbrush?
A couple of his tennis magazines?
Karupin...

...no, better not.

A soft knock at the already open door pushed him out of inner ranting about his check-list.

"Honey, are you okay?" His mother entered his room and sat down beside him onto the bed. He nodded slowly after a good pause of thinking if he really was okay. He thought so. Why shouldn't he?

"You don't have to go if you don't want to. I just want you make friends soon so you don't feel alone here. I know your father is horrible at keeping someone company and those two friendly team mates of yours seem to be good for you. You actually bowed down." His mother sounded surprised in a good way and Ryoma cursed himself when he saw small tear drops at the brick of her brown eyes. "It's something neither of us had taught you."

She took a deep breath, calmed herself and wiped the tear drops away. "And if you don't want to have Tsukiko with you, I can und-"

"It's okay, Mom." He smiled at her sheepishly even if the smile most probably didn't reach his eyes. He stood up and began to pull out his large tennis bag, replacing some of the tennis equipment with new ones and adding some clothes and other things to it. His mother watched him till he finished his packing and turned around to face her.

"Alright. I'll go and drive back so your cousin can get her things and bring her back in around an hour to your friend's house. I trust your friends because I know that if you trust them, I can trust them too. Nevertheless, please take good care of your cousin. I don't know when we'll see each other again, so..." She approached him and hugged him quietly and quickly. "... I'll take my leave then and wish you good luck with joining the regulars in this training camp. Call me whenever you need something or want to ask me something, okay?"

Ryoma smiled back and made one quick last check if he had everything packed what he would need for tonight and the incoming camp tomorrow. He heard a car's door shutting and the following sound of the start of the engine told him his mother and cousin were gone for now. He closed the open window and was thankful for the missing ear droppers from next door. Even so, Ryoma hesitated to move away from the window.

"Ready to go?" Soft fingers stroked briefly through his hair and made him jump out of his skin. Where had he appeared from so suddenly? Fuji stood right behind him, looking pleased by the side of his neighbour's closed windows.

The teen nodded hurriedly, wanted to free himself from this closeness, and grabbed his bag, waited for his team mate to follow him out of the room. His father was, of course, already testing his poor and perverted jokes at Tezuka who looked quite uncomfortable by them. His poor captain.

As soon as his father noticed him, he left Tezuka alone and walked over to him, grinning like the perverted father he always was. "My son, let me give this to you and try to be gentle with her." His father nodded in Fuji direction and his grin widen all the more. He gave Ryoma a small, black package. "Remember what I told you, a girl is like a flower. If you don't take good care of her needs, she will wither."

Girl?

Needs?

He had no clue what his father was talking about till it hit him and it hit him hard. The blush was unavoidable as he read the description on the black package. He was frozen where he stood and didn't know if he wanted to push the thing back at his father's chest - but there would be a high possibility of these two brunettes seeing it and that would be very embarrassing - or shoving it hurriedly into his jean's pocket and throwing it away later into the trash can - where nobody would see or find it.

Without thinking he shoved it into his pocket, bowing his head to cover the blush as good as possible.

He also suddenly understood what his old man must think about the tensai as Fuji truly looked quite like a girl with his slender body, the slim and tender hands and his long brown hair which caressed his face gently. Ryoma couldn't hold the smirk and snort, laughing silently.

"We should go. The others must be already there, waiting for us." Tezuka left uncharacteristically the room silently, with no word of goodbye or good night leaving his mouth. A bow was the only thing he gave the old man. Ryoma hoped Fuji hadn't heard his father's smart remark or who knew what would happen if his father was thrown out of his little, perverted dream of the brunette being a girl and not a guy.

Said brunette pushed him forward and out of the door, just to stop right in front of his father and grinning at him with his typical Cheshire cat-like grin and telling him bluntly: "It's nice of you, Echizen-san, to allow your son to our all-boy-Sleepover. Good night."

The last thing Ryoma saw from his old man, before Fuji closed the door behind him, was the confused and then shocked and horrified expression on his face. The scream of horror was, nevertheless, clearly audible, even behind the closed door.