This fic has been sitting around unfinished for months and I finally got around to finishing it today. I hope you all enjoy it!
It had been a mistake to leave his phone on the table.
"What's this?" Nanjiro crowed, brandishing the phone at Ryoma. There was a message on the screen, but Ryoma couldn't read it, "have you got a girlfriend?"
"Don't just look through other people's messages," Ryoma snapped, making a grab for the phone and missing.
"What's she like then? Is she pretty? I know! It's that old hag's granddaughter, isn't it?" Nanjiro continued, laughing as his son tried in vain to get back his phone.
"No! Give it back!" Ryoma managed to get his hands on his phones and snatched it back. The message on the screen said 'do you want to meet on Saturday?'.
"My son's got a date!" Nanjiro announced loudly to the whole house (and probably the entire neighbourhood).
Ryoma sighed, he wouldn't be able to changes his father's mind now.
"So, when are you going to bring her home? I want to meet your new girlfriend."
"I don't have a girlfriend," Ryoma insisted, getting up and stomping to his room. Karupin was waiting for him on his bed. He scooped the cat up and hugged him, "I don't have a girlfriend," he repeated, downstairs he could hear his father excitedly telling his mother about his non-existent girlfriend.
He sat down on his bed and looked Karupin in the eyes, "I'm dating Tezuka-buchou," he explained to the cat, who just looked back at him nonplussed.
Ryoma endured his father's teasing all through breakfast the next morning. It was enough to drive him out of the house early enough to get to morning practice early. Oishi had been very surprised to see him waiting outside the club room, sat on the ground and yawning.
"Echizen, you're here early," he said, unlocking the door.
"Karupin woke me up," Ryoma lied.
Tezuka arrived exactly fifteen minutes before practice.
"At least you don't have to give me laps today," Ryoma said as Tezuka started to get changed.
Morning practice went along as usual. That was until Ryuzaki-sensei pulled Ryoma over to one side.
"I've just had a phone call from your father," she started.
Oh God, Ryoma thought, knowing exactly what was coming next.
"He says you're dating my granddaughter."
"I'm not," Ryoma insisted, tugging his cap down. The other regulars were not far away and doubtless one of them would be listening into the conversation.
"He told me you'd say that," Ryuzaki said. She sighed, "Look, I don't mind you dating her, just don't hurt her."
"I'm not dating her!" Ryoma said again. He understood his father not listening to him, but Ryuzaki-sensei? Out of the corner of his eye he saw Momo and Kikumaru watching them and whispering. Ryoma resigned himself to having to put up with questioning from them next.
Ryuzaki-sensei seemed to have made up her mind that Ryoma and her granddaughter (Ryoma really needed to try and remember her name) were now a couple and short of outing himself and Tezuka, Ryoma didn't really know how he could change her mind. Whilst he didn't mind outing himself, he had no idea what Tezuka wanted. They hadn't talked about it.
Ryuzaki went to oversee the rest of practice and Ryoma saw Kikumaru and Momo heading his way. He scarpered in the opposite direction and joined the other first years in doing drills. Tezuka, who had seen the entire scene, gave him a questioning and slightly amused look. Ryoma tried to convey 'please don't ask' back at him.
Sadly, by lunchtime everyone knew exactly what had happened, or rather, everyone knew that Ryoma was dating Ryuzaki's granddaughter. Momo and Kikumaru burst into his classroom almost as soon as lunch started.
"I can't believe you've got a girlfriend! Why did you tell me about her?"
"Shorty! You're so grown up! When did you two start going out?!"
Of course, the rest of the first years had found out and he'd been surrounded by Horio and the rest of his first year friends. Ryoma made a quick escape and went to hide in the library, hoping that Tezuka would be there. He wasn't, so Ryoma grabbed a random book and started at it, fuming. Why had his stupid dad just had to look at his phone and then not believe his son? Why hadn't Momo and Kikumaru believed him either? Weren't they supposed to be his friends?
Someone tapped him on the shoulder and Ryoma looked around to see Fuji standing behind him. He was smiling serenely as usual, although there was a hard edge to it.
"Eiji told me you have a girlfriend," he said, "congratulations. I did think your affections had lied somewhere else though." He gave Ryoma a sharp look that look him aback. What was Fuji getting at? "By the way, do you know what Ryuzaki's granddaughter is called? I have to ask her something and I've completely forgotten it."
Suddenly, Ryoma could see a bright, light at the end of the long tunnel. A bright, Fuji shaped light. He'd found out Sakuno's name at the start of lunch, he'd picked it out from the wall of noise that had been surrounding him. It would be easy to get it wrong.
"Sakura," Ryoma replied with total confidence whilst internally praising Fuji for being his saviour. Fuji would sort this mess out. "and I'm not dating her," he added.
The hard edge disappeared from Fuji's smile disappeared and he patted Ryoma on the shoulder. "I'll see you at practice."
He spend afternoon lessons ignoring Sakuno, who had now heard the rumour and kept looking at him and blushing. He couldn't wait for the day to end, even if it meant having to deal with his father. At least he would have Karupin at home.
Practice came around and he was warming up when he saw the two girls hovering by the fence watching him. He figured he should probably talk to Sakuno about this, she could help stop the rumour as well. He finished stretching and sauntered over to the fence, ignoring Momo's catcalls. The shrill girl didn't seem to want Sakuno to go off with him, but they were able to get away from her.
"We need to talk," he said and Sakuno turned red. This was going to be an annoying conversation.
"I-I don't know how that rumour started," Sakuno said when they'd moved slightly away from the courts.
"It was my dad," Ryoma explained, "he got hold of my phone, assumed I was dating you and then told Ryuzaki-sensei."
"Oh."
"As long as you keep telling people it's not true they'll believe us eventually," Ryoma said, "I'm sorry, it's a pain I know."
"No, no, it's fine," Sakuno said quickly, "I keep trying to tell people that we're not dating, but they won't believe me."
Ryoma nodded and sighed, "they'll get bored."
"Urm.." Sakuno started, her face now the colour of Kikumaru's hair. "Is there any chance….that...urm…" her voice got so quiet Ryoma could barely heard her.
She was going to ask that, wasn't she? Ryoma almost groaned in exasperation. He put his hands on her shoulders and made her look at him. "I'm dating someone else."
"Oh," she squeaked, "sorry, I shouldn't have-"
"It's fine," Ryoma shrugged. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Kikumaru and Momo watching them, he just knew they'd be taking all of this the wrong way. "I have to go back to practice. You should too, you're a member of the girl's tennis team, aren't you?"
As he walked away, Tomoka ran past him, giving him a nasty look for upsetting Sakuno. He didn't see how it was his fault, she'd asked and he'd told her the truth. He walked back onto the courts and made a beeline to Tezuka; Momo and Kikumaru wouldn't dare try to bother him whilst he was standing next to him, not if they didn't want laps.
"It's all my dad's fault," he muttered at Tezuka, who nodded.
"Do you want to play a game?" Tezuka asked and Ryoma grinned at him.
Ryoma put everything into the match, as he always did with Tezuka. He didn't think anyone but them would be able to understand how they communicated through tennis. He put all his frustration and annoyance into his strokes along with asking Tezuka for forgiveness for letting his dad get a hold of his phone. The balls Tezuka returned spoke of forgiveness and comfort.
Their match ended and Ryoma looked to the side lines where Momo and Kikumaru were gossiping and Fuji was standing near them, looking like the cat who had got the cream. Clearly, he wasn't going to crush Momo and Kikumaru's dreams until he'd got enough amusement out of their wrong assumptions. The bastard.
"Momoshiro! Kikumaru! If you're not going to practice you can do laps!" Tezuka barked at them. They both jumped and looked guilty, then started laps. He turned on Fuji, "you're playing me now."
"Okay," Fuji said, grabbing his racquet and walking onto the court.
Despite having just played Ryoma, Tezuka crushed Fuji six games to two. Ryoma watched from the side lines, keeping score and smirking at Kikumaru and Momo when they ran past him.
Somehow, he and Tezuka ending up getting changed before anyone else. It happened occasionally and Ryoma was relieved that today was one of those days. They changed in the comfortable silence that always surrounded them. It was nice to be able to forget everything that had happened that day.
Ryoma finished getting dressed and quietly jumped on the bench behind Tezuka. He snuck over to his boyfriend and wrapped his arms around his neck, hugging him close and burying his head in Tezuka's neck. One day, he would be tall enough to do with without the help of a bench, but right now he had to deal with it.
"Echizen, someone might see us," Tezuka said, calmly finishing buttoning up his shirt. But Ryoma could hear how his heartbeat had quickened.
"Then we'll just go to plan F," Ryoma replied. Tezuka was warm and smelt of sweat, not that Ryoma minded. He probably smelt exactly the same.
Tezuka finished buttoning up his shirt and leaned his head against Ryoma's, his hands coming up to rest on Ryoma's arms. "What where you talking to Ryuzaki's granddaughter about?"
"Just apologising for this mess," Ryoma replied, pressing a quick kiss against Tezuka's neck, "and telling her I'm not single."
Tezuka squeezed his arm and their silence fell around them again. That was until the door knob rattled and the door swung open. Almost immediately, Ryoma hooked his legs around Tezuka's waist. Tezuka grabbed them and started walking towards the door.
"He's feeling faint," Tezuka explained to Oishi, who had come into the clubroom, "I'm taking him to the nurse."
Ryoma hid his face in Tezuka's shoulder, not to hide his embarrassment, but to hide the Cheshire cat grin that had spread across his face. He was quite happy letting Tezuka carry him around.
The nurse couldn't find anything wrong with him, but suggested he rest before going home. "The tennis practice may have over exerted you," she told Ryoma, who nodded.
"I'll walk him home," Tezuka offered.
"Only if that's okay with you," Ryoma said, putting on his best 'please look after me senpai' voice to see if he could get Tezuka flustered. It didn't work.
Tezuka nodded.
"Well, if he's with you then it should be okay if you leave now," the nurse said, "just make sure you sit down if you feel faint again," she said to Ryoma.
"This is a good excuse to get out of burgers with Momo-senpai," Ryoma said after they'd picked up their things and left the school. He hadn't been looking forward to being interrogated by Momo about his non-existent girlfriend.
"You can't use me to avoid him forever," Tezuka warned him.
"He'll get bored soon," Ryoma said, "we could always kiss in front of him, that'll get him to shut up."
"Just talk to him," Tezuka said, "don't let it get out of hand."
It already is, Ryoma thought, "I'll sort it out, don't worry. Plan F worked well."
"We can't use it too much, people will start to think you're ill."
"I just can't help swooning around my big strong captain."
"It would certainly keep you quite if that were true."
They made their way to Ryoma's house, Ryoma trying to think of ways of inviting Tezuka in and smuggling him up to his bedroom.
I think it's safe to assume that Tezuka was successfully smuggled into Ryoma's bedroom and spent the evening cuddling with Karupin.