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Ryoma woke the next morning to find Tezuka already dressed in his school uniform, sun glinting gold off his hair. His captain looked stronger, more controlled and sexier then anyone had a right to look first thing in the morning and in a simple school uniform. His own uniform had been mended by Tezuka’s mother and was waiting for him at the bottom of the bed. As he got dressed, Tezuka told him to go to his classes, that he would pass some excuse to coach Ryuzaki about his absence, and to avoid the science club at all costs. Ryoma said nothing, he was more then a little uncomfortable about attending classes this morning not knowing who the girls in the shed were, but confident that somehow the truth would come out even without his captain telling him his own suspicions. The truth always outs itself eventually. As for the nerds, he was not afraid of them. What bothered him more then anything was the forced silence between he and Tezuka. As a consequence Ryoma wore a very serious pout. Tezuka worried about Ryoma, it hurt unexpectedly to see his unhappy face. He worried even more that he may have added to the boy’s misery with his actions. The silence between them wore on all thru the walk to school, where they separated for their respective classes. Tezuka watched the younger male turn to walk away, feeling more sad and alone then he had felt in a long time when those bronze eyes briefly turned back to glance at him in reproach.
During classes, Ryoma paid attention and did his work to the best of his abilities while his mind restlessly flipped back and forth between working out how he could fix whatever he had said to make Tezuka coolly polite again, and finding the faceless girls in the shed with him last night. Echizen was not the kind of person to allow others to fix his problems for him. Just like the man who now held his heart, he was strong and faced things head on. His captain….. thoughts again raced to those incredible lips…… shaking his head out of the daze, Echizen lifted his eyes to find Sakuno and Tomo glancing at him from across the room, bright red flush on both their cheeks. In typical Ryoma fashion he leveled a steady unperturbed gaze back at them but to his surprise instead of waving at him, or screaming his name annoyingly the way they usually did, they turned even more red (if that were possible) and hid their faces from him whispering heatedly to each other. Ryoma shrugged, ducking his head back down to his work when a chill suddenly crawled up his spine. Whispering??
Eyes widened, he glanced back up to find the girls still in their huddle, not noticing the angry look he shot at them. Ryoma carefully got his face and emotions under control, and returned to his schoolwork. Could it be? No…. they were annoying, but harmless…..self proclaimed biggest fans of his, coach Ryuzaki’s granddaughter……. Eyes narrowing, the pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place for him. Ryuzaki had made him teach these girls tennis a few times, had even made him take Sakuno to have her racket re-strung. She never made anyone else do these things. Never. Only him. How could he have been so stupid not to see it for what it was? Could it be because she knew her granddaughter had a crush on Ryoma and hoped he would respond? The girls in the shed said they thought he was cute, they wouldn’t hurt him, but how did they get in there with him as Tezuka said, after he had already been tied and drugged? It would make sense that Sakuno and Tomo had run to his aid when they saw him getting jumped by those 4 morons. They probably were locked in with him to keep them silent while the science guys played out their joke, not realizing the eventual ramifications. That would make some sense…… He glanced up at the girls again to find them busy with school work, which was what he should be doing of course. The thought that they probably had tried initially to help him sounded very much like Tomo and Sakuno. That alone kept his temper in check. Still, now that he was fairly sure he knew who the culprits were, what was he going to do about it? They obviously were embarrassed, and thought he might know it was them. They must believe Tezuka saw them and told me. Then again, why wouldn’t Tezuka tell me it was them? The answer was instantly apparent. Coach Ryuzaki for one. It would be horrific for her to know Sakuno had done something like this. She would not be able to function as his coach after that. For all their faults the girls were big team supporters, if the whole team found out, the girls reputations were done for. Ryoma was angry and wanted them taught a lesson, but truly the more he thought about it, the less he wanted to seriously damage them. Yes, they took liberties they shouldn’t have, and he never wanted it to happen again, but it wasn’t completely unpleasant come to think about it. After all if the girls hadn’t gotten him to that high state of arousal, then when Tezuka had found him, he was sure he would never have known what it was like to kiss his captain, or the feel of his hands……. Ryoma shook his head again. He was in biology class daydreaming of Tezuka, and getting a hard on. What was he thinking? Crap. He definitely needed to fix whatever went wrong in that department too. He wanted Tezuka Kunimitsu, no matter what it took to get him. The fact that Tezuka is male didn’t matter to him. He was not particularly attracted to boys, he understood them better of course. He had some attraction for girls, mostly that was purely physical but once they opened their mouths, Ryoma invariably decided it was simply best to ignore them. Tezuka was different. He was incredibly attracted to Tezuka. To all of him, and that is all that mattered. He almost laughed at himself. What right did he, a seventh grader, have to even believe such a thing were possible? When all the girls and a 1/3 of the guys in the school wanted Tezuka? To his knowledge Tezuka had never taken anyone up on it. He was very focused and private about his life outside of tennis. Who did Ryoma think he was that he would be the one to have him? The answer to that was simple. In a way, he sort of already had. So he only had to make sure it happened again…. And again….. and …… for the 10th time in as many minutes he shook his head out of the self induced Tezuka daze he had sunk into. Class was almost over now and he had done no course work. Ryoma glanced quickly to the 2 girls seats. At class end, instead of waiting around to stalk Ryoma as they normally would, Tomo and Sakuno hastily grabbed their books and literally ran out of the classroom. Well that cemented it. It was definitely them. He’d get even with those girls and the science idiots too, without getting anyone else involved. Then he’d focus on his recalcitrant captain. When Ryoma wanted to win something bad enough……. He usually did.

The day had passed from there without event. Ryoma had no chance to run into the guys who had attacked him, and tennis practice was a mere 15 minutes away. Class rooms were emptying out and several of the Seigaku regulars had met up in the hall on their way from classes to practice. The usual fans stopped to greet their favorite team players and the regulars handled it as usual with aplomb. Once he joined the group all the guys asked Ryoma where he was during yesterday’s practice stating they had been worried but he didn’t have a chance to answer when Tezuka calmly approached the group and said curtly, “MoMoshiro. Come with me.” All the Siegaku regulars flinched at the dark look on their captain’s face, wondering what that was all about, and Momo looked wary but followed Tezuka up the hallway thru the crowds of students. As the pair walked Tezuka said something short to Momoshiro, and Momo responded with a nod. It was then that Ryoma saw it. His golden eyes widened and his heart raced as he realized what was about to happen. There in the center of the hall, the entire science club was milling around, apparently waiting for the classroom where their meetings were held each week to empty out. The 4 who had attacked him were standing there with the rest, along with their club president, watching Ryoma with smirks on their faces. Obviously he was the source of their amusement. Ryoma gazed steadily back, unruffled. The Science Club president Kazuma saw Tezuka approaching quietly and assumed they were going to have a chat one team leader to another. Perhaps a short discussion about how the boys should ‘play nice’ now, and maybe a warning for Ryoma to be seen and not heard so this type of thing never has to happen again, you know, as a reminder to have some respect for the science club. He was wrong. Ryoma as well as all of the other Siegaku regulars watched in amazement as their Captain calmly walked up to Kazuma, (a thin geek with an annoyingly self-important expression), and without preamble, used his lightening speed to grab the unsuspecting 8th grader’s uniform in both his fists, then lifted him up and slammed him hard against the wall, the force of which knocked the geek’s thick glasses askew. Tezuka held him there, feet dangling off the floor, gasping for breath. When the other boys from the science club might have gathered enough courage to intervene, Momoshiro stepped between his captain’s back and them, silently daring anyone to come a single step closer. No one dared. No one except possibly Momo could hear what Tezuka said to the other boy, but the pinned boy’s face drained of color to a deathly pale shade. He nodded his head quite a few times and apologized repeatedly before Tezuka finally let go of him with half the student body watching, allowing the body to slump unceremoniously to the floor in a heap. Without another word or a backwards glance, and not unlike a large panther, Tezuka turned and walked away, a mystified Momoshiro following in his wake. As Tezuka passed the Siegaku regulars (eyes all as large as saucers) their captain offered no explanation for his actions- however he merely stated that there would be extra laps for anyone late to practice. Eyes wide, the regulars grabbed their tennis bags and rushed to practice, wondering what in the world had just happened. Whatever it was, their captain rocked! The regulars were stunned, whispering questions amongst each other out of Tezuka’s hearing, with no answers anyone could grasp. Ryoma remained silent. His face was flushed and he had the most painful immediate erection he could ever remember (the night in the shed not withstanding). His captain was amazing. He had wanted to take care of things on his own, and eventually he would off course, but watching Tezuka plant that guy against a wall had been well worth sacrificing his pride for. Damn. Walking carefully, he followed his team mates to the tennis courts, praying the boner would be gone by then.
The run had helped. Seigaku’s members, regulars as well as underclass, were in various states of exhaustion, breathing heavily, leaning on each other or full out flat on the floor. During the course of the grueling set of laps, some of them had experienced the indignity and upset stomach that went along with drinking one of Inui’s penal-teas, while others escaped that punishment the additional mileage at speed was punishment enough. Tezuka pushed them hard today. He had to. He had to shut them up from the relentless questions and whispers. He had to shut his own mind up as well. He had to push himself hard to stop him from talking to Ryoma, from thinking of him. It seemed all he did all day was think of the boy with those amazing eyes and sweet lips. Alternating between wanting vengeance for him, wanting to kiss him, and hating himself, his mind needed the numbing effects of over exertion. The other players would just have to deal with it. Besides, they could all use the challenge as the Metropolitan Matches were in a few days. As soon as the guys could catch their breaths, coach Ryuzaki split them up to work on drills in teams. Tezuka stood on the sidelines watching his players, assessing and commenting when needed. Echizen was never approached by Ryuzaki about his absence the day before, so he assumed (correctly) that Tezuka had spoken to her sometime during the day on his behalf. Echizen was glad of that. Now that he was pretty sure about Tomo and Sakuno, he couldn’t see himself facing her about his whereabouts yesterday. Ryoma played well as he always did, striving to improve himself, his own worst critic. The problem was that his ears and eyes seemed to be playing tricks on him today. Not that it wasn’t to be expected, and he truly did try to stop it, but his efforts were for naught. Ears and eyes were acting as their own automatic radar system without his consent! Scanning constantly, his eyes would automatically pick out any movement made by his captain. Ears suddenly coming alive, breaking Ryoma’s concentration, when Tezuka would speak to instruct any one of the team. The deep sensual timber of his voice catching his ears even in the middle of a rally. Suddenly his whole body seemed to be highly sensitized where the tall muscular man was concerned. As an afterthought, it occurred to Ryoma ‘He has spoken to everyone today except me. Not a single instruction. Not a good or bad word. Nothing.’ The knowledge of this slowed his mind and his heart to a crawl. Why? Like a large angry red question mark in his head, it loomed there blocking out all else. “Is this the way it’s going to be from now on?” The sound of a ball hitting the ground just past his feet brought Echizen out of his reverie. He had been standing there, a dazed look on his face, with racket lowered, completely absorbed in his own thoughts. “Hey Echizen!” Kikumaru called. “You alright?” Nodding, Echizen blushed to be caught so inattentive. A slight movement caught his radar yet again, his eyes sliding right to see Tezuka turn to gaze at him. He couldn’t let this go, he couldn’t just silently accept it, lowering his racket the rest of the way, he turned his head to look Tezuka in the eyes, but all he saw looking back at him was the normal, controlled, cool gaze the captain used for everyone. Unreadable. And still Tezuka said nothing to him. No instruction to pay attention. Nothing.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Go ahead.” He turned back to his game, purposefully giving his back to his handsome captain.
Tezuka’s head hurt, and so did his heart, not to mention the constant need to control his body’s reactions to watching Ryoma play. He had loved watching the little prodigy from the moment he first saw him, but now it was different. Different to the Nth degree. Back then it was because they were SO much alike. Because he loved Echizen’s fire and ability. Because he knew Echizen would be truly great someday. Because he couldn’t help laughing inside about his cheeky attitude. Both boys were in fact very sensitive, yet both also hid their true feelings from everyone, even those closest to them. Tezuka had always seen Echizen as a kindred spirit. Now, all those things still applied, but the additional element left his stomach churning. That element had just reared it’s head yet again as Ryoma tossed the fuzzy yellow ball high into the air to make a serve. Tezuka watched as his arm went back, body arching up and extending, then tightening to bring the racket to bear, grunting slightly with the effort. That sexy sound tightened up Tezuka’s body as if it was on autopilot, a slight flush rising to his cheeks. Ryoma might think Tezuka wasn’t watching but the truth was, that he was beating himself up because watching Ryoma was all he seemed to be ABLE to do. He couldn’t even trust his own voice to have enough control to be able to yell at the boy for spacing out. His heart couldn’t do it even if his voice could have managed it. After what yesterday’s events had brought him, Ryoma had a right to be spaced out for a while. It’s me that needs to get my head on straight. Tezuka turned to speak to coach Ryuzaki briefly, claiming a nasty headache, then calmly walked to the team’s locker room. He needed to get out of here. Had to center.
Radar Activated. Target Found. Ryoma slammed the ball cross court, sending Eiji racing after it, but his eyes watched Tezuka go to the lockers. He shrugged and continued playing. Minutes later, the radar again picked up Tezuka leaving the building. In his school uniform. Leaving the grounds. Heading home. What???? Viciously slamming the ball once more, Ryoma didn’t even wait to see where it landed. Turning, he walked off the court, “Eiji. Your win.” Putting his racket away he sat down popping open a can of Ponta, Eiji standing fixed on the other side of the court, flummoxed. “Echizen?” “I’m not into it. It’s yours.” Not knowing what was going with Echizen, Eiji looked like he wanted to cry, but Ryoma was blind to it. He was blind to everything, probably because the only thing he was really conscious of was the clenching of his stomach, and the burning pain around his heart. Maybe he was acting like a child, he didn’t know. He’d never felt anything like this before. Never been this attracted to anyone before, he’d certainly never been rejected before. And all in less then 24 hrs. It hurt. However he wasn’t done yet. If nothing else, he deserved an explanation from his captain and it wasn’t over until he got at least that. A tug on his arm informed him of Momoshiro’s presence. He glanced at his best friend, then went back to drinking his soda. “Hey. You wanna tell me what happened?” Echizen glanced at him again, wondering just how much he knew. Momoshiro could see the little guy wasn’t going to open up that easily, “I know Tezuka plastered that guy against the wall because of you. So what happened.” Echizen turned bronze tip-tilted eyes on him “What did he say to the head geek?” Momo made a frown, “I couldn’t hear it quite clearly, only caught pieces. Something about Violating school club rules. Drugs, arrests. I heard the word expelled, and then he clearly said “If any of you touches Echizen ever again, even in passing, you had better hope they expel you before I get my hands on you.” Then Tezuka dropped him and walked away. It totally rocked man! I kept hearing Kazuma saying ‘yes, sir, sorry sir, sorry.’ Awesome. But what the hell was Tezuka talking about? We’re best friends, what happened?” Ryoma’s mind was still sorting thru the information…drugs, arrests… expulsion? He really wanted to talk to Tezuka now. “Echizen?” he snapped out of it, and decided to give his friend a very short version of what happened. “They jumped me.” Momoshiro’s face fell. “They WHAT!?” “They jumped me.” Echizen stared at his friend, who was obviously waiting for more information. Sighing, he guessed he could lengthen it just a bit. “4 of them. They jumped me, knocked me out with chloroform, and tied me to a chair in the old metal storage shed. I guess they thought it would be funny to leave me there over night. But Tezuka found me and cut me loose. He was very angry. I spent the night at his house instead of going home.” Momoshiro looked as if you could knock him over with a feather. “This all happened yesterday!? Those bastards! Why didn’t you tell us? We’ll beat the crap ouot of those guys. We would have helped you. So that’s why the captain creamed that guy. Ha! He rocks. Is that all then?” Echizen got up brushing off his shorts, “Don’t bother getting upset about it. Tezuka took care of it already. Oh yeah, and there were 2 girls locked in the shed with me.” Echizen walked away leaving his friend stuttering, wide eyed, asking more questions. Momoshiro trailed him to the locker room. Finally having enough of the interrogation he spun on him, “Oh please. I was unconscious. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” He left his friend to get changed and go home.