A/N: Thank you to FerociousGrapes for the reviews! I'm glad that you liked the fic so far. Feel free to say it if you have any suggestions. I could never have enough ideas for this.

Lunch

While Ryoma's existence was something quite "new" for the Seigaku Regulars despite their relative closeness to Ryoga, there had actually been many hints of it if they had just paid closer attention.

For example, Eiji who was in the same class as Ryoga during both their second and third year, had known that Ryoga brought a very exquisite-looking lunchbox every day. If he had just asked about it once, Ryoga would have happily started gushing about his younger brother who made the whole thing for him, but it never came up once for some reason.

It was only after Ryoma dramatically joined the club that the topic somehow came up.

"You know, I've kinda noticed it for a while but your lunch box always looks really good," Eiji commented, looking over from his own lunch.

Ryoga grinned, "Of course, Ryoma is the one who made it! You can take a bit if you want."

"Really? Thanks!" Eiji said as he used his chopstick and eagerly took a piece of fried chicken. Just from looking, he could tell it was really well-made with near-damn golden skin and an appetizing smell. After he took a bite, he immediately regretted taking one that basically took out half the whole piece at once because holy shit.

Then Ryoga's earlier words struck him.

"Ryoma made this?" Eiji asked, disbelieving there was no way that the younger teen was not only better at tennis than all of them but also a really good cook at the same time. Also, the image of the aloof Ryoma cooking and arranging a lunch box for Ryoga felt somewhat unreal to him.

"It's really good, right? He can cook all kinds of things and it always turned out amazing once he got it down and still good even when he's still figuring a dish out." Ryoga practically gushed, obviously taking pride in his younger brother's cooking prowess the same way he did with Ryoma's tennis skills.

Eiji simply nodded in agreement, eyeing Ryoga's lunch for the rest of the lunchtime though Ryoga had no intention of sharing any more once he got his time to brag about Ryoma much to Eiji's disappointment.

The word quickly spread among the tennis club members though, and Ryoga certainly helped that spread by bragging about Ryoma's cooking when the others asked him about it. Ryoma, whose attendance at the practices was quite spotty due to his many commitments, only found out about it when during lunch Horio asked him if he was the one who made his own lunch, which he of course did.

To his chagrin, that somehow became widely known among all the other first years even outside the tennis club, which further added to his largely unwanted popularity.

"I'm not that good." Ryoma contested when Momoshiro something along the line of " holy shit this is the best thing I've ever eaten" .

All the other Regulars, who all had at one point taken at least a bite or two of Ryoma's cooking through various methods at first out of curiosity and later out of a genuine desire for more, firmly disagreed.

Idol

Despite his tendency to show off and gas himself up, Horio thinks that he's someone who is mostly aware of where he stands compared to others. As friend groups, reputations, and other such social things began to crystallize with time's passing among the first years of Seishun High, Horio knew several things: One, he was firmly middle of the pack. Not particularly popular but nowhere near the bottom of the hierarchy. Two, his two years of tennis experience doesn't mean shit especially compared to the Regulars in the Tennis Club. Three, his classmate Ryoma Echizen is very popular among their peer.

Hell, he thinks he heard some of the girls calling him "prince" and it's spreading.

He gets it, really. For one, Ryoma is certainly good-looking, and while he seemed very aloof, in the past few weeks it become very apparent that he's not as unfriendly as he might first look. He diligently cleaned the class when it was his turn to do so and offered his help even when it was not his turn, quite amicable when others tried to strike up a conversation with him, and when the class projector broke, Ryoma was the one who fixed it.

Then a personal one for Horio, who up to the point when it happened had talked with Ryoma maybe five times, Ryoma gave him some of his side dishes when he overheard that Horio only brought rice for lunch by mistake. If the kind gesture alone wasn't enough, the fact that it was incredibly delicious and that Ryoma himself was the one who made it only added to the insanely good impression that Horio had of Ryoma. Hell, he thinks he might just be a little bit in love after that.

( Not that he ever said that out loud. He still wanted the girls to like him, and he didn't think being competition would endear him particularly well with them )

If that's not enough, apparently Ryoma was also insanely good at archery. One of the girls who had become Ryoma's self-proclaimed fans told him how apparently he had been competing in high school level competitions since he was in middle school and won many of them.

Then Horio had the realization that he might just be more stupid than he himself thought because how did he never make the connection that Ryoma is the little brother that Ryoga-senpai often talked about?! They have the same surname and looked very similar to each other, for fuck's sake!

But if that's the case, then Horio is even more confused because if Ryoga-senpai was to be believed, Ryoma must have been a tennis genius. Yet not once did the other teen ever show any interest when Horio talked about tennis, nor did he ever appear in the tennis club, and after the food-sharing thing Horio was pretty sure that he's probably the person in their class that talks to Ryoma the most.

"Echizen, Ryoga-senpai said that you're even better than him in tennis. Is that true?" Horio asked when he couldn't hold his curiosity back anymore.

Ryoma frowned at the question and Horio wondered if he had misspoken, then he heard Ryoma mutter something that sounds like "dammit Ryoga".

Did Ryoma not want people to know he's good at tennis? But that would be such a waste especially if Ryoga-senpai was telling the truth!

He told Ryoma as much, and Ryoma just sighed.

"I'm busy with other things. I won't mind occasionally playing a game or two, but I'm not joining the club."

"Then how about helping me practice?" Horio asked. "A friend from the tennis club invited me to play in a nearby club where his father works and we don't really have anyone guiding us there…"

He could clearly see that Ryoma was hesitant about it and Horio decided that at that point he might as well try his luck.

"Pleaseee?" Horio wasn't particularly aware of it, but as he pleaded, he was also giving Ryoma his best puppy eyes.

(Ryoma really wished that he's better at saying no to people who said they needed his help)

Much to Horio's surprise, Ryoma said yes. Reluctantly, but still a yes. Both Kachiro and Katsuo didn't believe that he was telling the truth until the next day after school when he came to the meeting spot with the two along with Ryoma.

Not only that, once they got inside the club and got a court to play on, Ryoma began giving them pointers that when they implemented truly did improve their game. While Ryoma had yet to participate, content to just stand on the sideline giving advice to them, Horio already believed deeply in his heart that Ryoma was truly just as strong and skilled as Ryoga-senpai claimed. Such a shame that he probably won't get to see him in action though…

Then they heard a commotion from a few courts over and saw one of the customers in an altercation with Kachiro's father. He remembered that customer to be the one complaining earlier about his court placement, the one Kachiro's father told them to be called Sasabe. Much to his surprise, it was Ryoma who on his own approached the heated adults.

Horio watched as Ryoma seemingly said something that pissed Sasabe off, and before he knew it, a match are beginning between Ryoma and Sasabe. When they approached, Kachiro asked his father what happened.

Apparently, Ryoma had tried to mediate between Sasabe and Kachiro's father, but Sasabe only got even more pissed because of a teenager meddling. Things escalate from there.

"Is your friend gonna be fine? He might be a jerk, but that Sasabe is pretty well known around here." Kachiro's father wondered, worrying that he might have just got a high schooler into a terrible situation.

Horio could only shrug helplessly. He himself had never watched Ryoma play, and while he believed Ryoga-senpai's words, there was no telling whether his faith is misguided or not.

That worry didn't last long though, because less than ten minutes later Ryoma had already very obviously swept the floor with the older man. His opponent had not scored a single point in the entire game, nor had he managed to start a single rally because Ryoma had perfectly returned all of his serves while Ryoma's own serves all had resulted in aces.

To further add insult to injury, Sasabe then had a cramp from not properly warming up, something that Kachiro's father had told him earlier to do but was not only dismissed for but also the beginning of the earlier altercation.

All in all, the whole matter had shot Horio's respect for Ryoma through the roof, and with one glance at Katsuo and Kachiro, he knew that they were just as impressed as he was by Ryoma. He imagined that all the other first-years in the club would probably have the same reaction to Ryoma.

Once they were all done for the day and Ryoma had left, Horio, Katsuo, and Kachiro had a small huddle together and the three of them agreed on one thing: They needed to have Ryoma in the Seigaku tennis club. If nothing else they need someone among the first years who can actually guide them.

(Horio had no idea that their effort would culminate in Ryoma joining the club after playing a match against Tezuka-buchou that Horio thinks he will remember for the rest of his life)

Couple

Ever since the match against Hyotei in the first round of the Regional tournament, a rumor had begun swirling among members of both Seigaku and Hyotei tennis clubs; Ryoma and Atobe were dating.

Apparently, they had met each other prior to the match though nobody knows the details. They speculated that the two had known each other for a long time, enough for inside jokes like the way that Atobe had greeted Ryoma during the match by asking his zodiac sign to form between the two. Then there's the fact that just a few days after the match, Oshitari Yushi from Hyotei had spotted the two of them together in a cafe.

For one, the sight of the Atobe Keigo being inside an otherwise unremarkable cafe would already be something of interest to those who knew him. The fact that he was there with Ryoma, someone totally unknown among the circle of tennis players outside of Seigaku, just added to that interest. The fact that Ryoma is Ryoga's younger brother certainly helped too, especially when Ryoga used every opportunity to talk about how much of a genius his younger brother is.

In fact, members of the Seigaku tennis club had grown more and more used to the sight of Ryoga's face souring significantly whenever any mention of Atobe and Ryoma together came up within his (surprisingly wide) hearing range.

Just as well known within their circle as the fact that Atobe was filthy rich was the fact he was completely inept with any kind of digital technology to the point he relied on others for it. An example was how apparently Kabaji had been the one receiving and sending messages from Ryoma for Atobe.

They tried to grill Kabaji about it, but he's loyal to a fault to Atobe and gave almost nothing up. Apparently, the two don't actually message each other much and when they do it's mostly for the purpose of meeting up.

"Ryoma had not been going home together with me for some time now and often came back pretty late," Ryoga informed them with very apparent disdain while obviously sulking due to Ryoma not going home together with him.

The rumors would spread like wildfire way beyond the two schools. By the end of the Regional tournament, all the major high school tennis clubs in Kanto had caught wind of the rumors. The only ones seemingly unaware of those rumors are the two people in question.

Many would voice their skepticism about the two actually dating, with some being in outright denial for… reasons. Sanada had been one of those skeptical about the claims of the two dating.

He had interacted with Atobe in the past and didn't have any particular impression about the Hyotei Captain other than that the other was a strong tennis player who might rival him. Ryoma, on the other hand, was someone he had known for years. A fellow kendo and iaido practitioner whom he had crossed swords with quite often (and had yet to ever beat in either art), Sanada liked to think that he was someone who knew Ryoma well and he never had the impression that Ryoma was someone who cared much for romance or intimacy.

Caring and thoughtful? Very much so, but romantic isn't really a trait that he would associate with Ryoma.

Yukimura, who had also known Ryoma for years, shared his sentiment when he caught wind of the rumor during his recovery.

"I was under the impression that he might live his entire life without ever becoming romantically entangled with anyone," Yukimura stated, and Sanada agreed.

Then, the "evidence" became more and more concrete. Ryoga complained about how Atobe suddenly showed up at their house at night and that not only did Ryoma immediately welcome him, but he also took Atobe to his bedroom. Even worse, Ryoga had found them cuddling on Ryoma's bed when he went to wake Ryoma up the next morning and Ryoma simply refused to answer any question.

There are also multiple people who had said that they saw Ryoma and Atobe together out in cafes or restaurants, with Oishi and Eiji from Seigaku swearing up and down they saw Ryoma sitting on Atobe's lap while the two looked at something in Ryoma's phone.

Perhaps the biggest red flag for Sanada about the whole situation appeared when he heard that Ryoma told his team that he and Atobe first met during one of Ryoma's sword appraisals. This shouldn't be possible because Sanada's family was always there for those since they're the ones acting as Ryoma's backers in that field and the Atobes had never had any business with them. Which meant that Ryoma was lying.

He chose not to point it out, however, as he decided that Ryoma most likely had his reasons, but it does make him wonder. Ryoma wasn't the type to lie, and the fact that he lied in relation to Atobe about something quite mundane told Sanada that the Hyotei Captain might be truly quite significant to Ryoma.

In the end, it was Yukimura who asked Ryoma about it during one of the younger teen's visits to Yukimura during his recovery.

"Are you dating Atobe Keigo?" Yukimura had asked.

The confusion that appeared on Ryoma's face had been genuine, and both Sanada and Yukimura were 100% sure about it.

"No? Why are you guys asking?" Ryoma asked.

"Did you two not go out to cafes and restaurants together quite often?"

"Yeah, Atobe is awful with technology so we figured it's better to meet in person when we want to talk."

"I heard you've sat on his lap in public?"

"I was trying to explain to him how to send emails and I figured it's more comfortable that way, I think?"

Yukimura was beginning to wonder if maybe he had underestimated just how dense Ryoma really was and was beginning to pity Atobe a little.

"I've heard that your brother said that Atobe once stayed over at your house and you two were cuddling on your bed?"

"Atobe had a rough day," Ryoma stated before frowning. "I really need to tell Ryoga to stop telling people about what we do at home."

"Ryoma, you do realize that things like going out together, sitting on laps, and cuddling each other on the bed are things that couples do right?" Yukimura asked.

"Of course I do," Ryoma replied almost defensively. "But me doing them with Atobe doesn't automatically make him my boyfriend."

Then what does that make him? Sanada wondered, and he knew that Yukimura probably also really wanted to ask that same question.

"He's… a special case I guess," Ryoma said with a small, fond smile as if sensing the questions in Sanada and Yukimura's hearts, and suddenly Sanada felt a strange sense that the Ryoma sitting across from him wasn't a fifteen-year-old teen.

When Ryoma said Atobe was "special", Sanada felt that image overlapped with when his father was fondly complaining about his mother twenty years into their marriage, with when his grandfather talked about a childhood friend and rival kendoka who had passed away years ago.

When Ryoma said that Atobe was "special", it felt like he was talking about someone he had known for an entire lifetime.

"I see," Yukimura said. "I'm glad that you met him, then."

(His grandfather said that to cross swords with someone is to understand that person, and when Sanada crossed swords with Ryoma during the very rare instances where they were not doing so as friends, as simply sparring partners, but as rivals, as two people who wanted to beat the other…

"That friend of yours… something within him has been broken for a long time and he's just beginning to learn what it's like to be whole again." His grandfather once said, "At least that's what I understood from having crossed swords with him."

"What does that mean?"

His grandfather sighed, "It means that if you see him as an important friend… try not to let him go and be on his own."

The old man then frowned, "What the hell am I saying to a thirteen-year-old kid? You know what, just try to be good to him. Think of him like an old cat looking for somewhere to rest."

"...okay?"

"You'll get it, one day."

Sanada thinks that he's beginning to get it, after all those years.)

A/N: Someone need to stop me from making these 1k+ drabbles. How did me from 3 years ago made such short drabbles? I have to relearn the ancient arts