A/N: I'm not sure how this will turn out, but I'm looking forward to travelling to Europe with them!

Tennis practice was as usual, with the freshmen learning their swings and the Regulars having practice matches. The captain was relieved that there were no incidents (or accidents) to disrupt to practice except for the usual bickering Momoshiro and Kaidoh. They must have been rivals in their past lives. It was rather amusing how they were at loggerheads over anything almost every other day. They made a good doubles team though. Nevertheless, Golden Pair had won the match against the two bickering pair and Kikumaru was as active as usual, shouting at the top of his voice, "Good game, Momo and Kaidoh!" and proceeded to high-five his partner, Oishi.

At another court, Echizen was playing a match with Fuji and they had been rallying for quite sometime already. Kawamura wasn't able to make it for practice that day as he had to help his father, who injured himself, out at the sushi house. As for Inui, he was lurking around somewhere with his handy green notebook..

Tezuka liked to observe his teammates quietly, pointing out to them their strengths and weaknesses at times. Well, and also to punish anyone with laps (or Inui's weird juices) if they did something to disrupt practice. No one thought he was being saddistic, he was just being Tezuka.

Practice finally ended, everyone was looking forward to the weekend ahead and went back home excitedly, leaving the school faster than on normal days.

"Tezuka. It's been awhile, ne?"

"Hn"

Tezuka found his blue-eyed friend sitting on the bench in the clubhouse, waiting for him. When he walked in to retrieve his belongings, Fuji smiled and stood up. They had not walked home together for quite awhile. Sometimes, Fuji stayed back after tennis practice to work on a photography project he had been working on for weeks. On other days, Tezuka had to stay behind to settle some tennis club matters for Ryuzaki-sensei. Today, both of them were finally free to go home together.

Secretly, Tezuka was happy that he found his smiling friend in the clubroom. He missed walking home with Fuji. The thought of him not seeing Fuji much anymore after graduation taunted him but they each had their own live to lead, after all. All he wanted now was to treasure every moment left with his friend.

They usually walked home in silence. However, today Fuji broke the silence.

"I'd going to Europe for a month or two right after graduation."

Of course, his talented friend had been offered by the Photography Association to go on a trip to Europe to expand his horizons and further develop his photography skills in a beautiful foreign land.

"Congratulations. You've been looking forward to it right?"

He did not say that he would miss him, or anything else. The thought of him not seeing Fuji much anymore after graduation taunted him but they each had their own lives to lead after all. All he cared about now was to treasure every minute spent with his close friend. There was only a comfortable silence that the both of them enjoyed.

"Would you like to come over for dinner, Tezuka? Mother just messaged me, asking me to invite you over for dinner tonight and said there's a surprise waiting for us at home."

"Alright, if that's your mother's wish."

They arrived at Fuji's place and found another lady sitting with Fuji's mother in the living room. It looked very much like Tezuka's mother. Wait, his mother was with Fuji's mother?

"Tezuka-kun! You're here! Come boys, take a seat. We have good news to share!" Fuji's mother had a smile that was ever-so-familiar and waved the two boys who were still standing at the door over to the sofas.

"Hello, mother. What are you doing here?" Tezuka greeted his mother, who was smiling at them sweetly as well, a little too kurtly. Albeit not wanting to sound rude, it was a question he needed to ask.

The two boys sat down and looked at their mothers with puzzled looks. (Tezuka did have a puzzled look)

"Long story, I shall just say that Fuji's mother and I had been good friends in High School and somehow we lost touch. We met at the shopping centre today and she invited me over for lunch, we've done lots of catching up and she told me about Fuji-kun going Europe after graduation. Coincidentally, your father and I had the intention to bring you on a holiday trip to Europe as well! Though he might not be able to get away from work.. So we've decided that the four of us would go together! Isn't that wonderful?" Ayana told them excitedly.

"This way, Syuusuke won't feel lonely by himself in a foreign country during his stay with Tezuka-kun around and Ayana and I could get our well-deserved holiday and some bonding time with our lovely sons," Fuji's mother continued cheerfully.

Fuji returned the smile and replied, "That would be really wonderful! And I was worrying about feeling home-sick while I was there. It would be a lovely trip, ne, Tezuka?"

"Hn, yes, of course. Since our mothers had already planned it out."

"Alright! Go on to your room, we'll call for you guys when dinner is ready!"

The two long-time friends walked to the kitchen to prepare dinner and the boys headed to Fuji's room.

"They seem very happy, don't they? I wonder if our friendship would turn out like our mothers?" Fuji asked Tezuka while they took out their homework to do for the weekend. I hope we will keep in touch and not lose contact, ever .

"Maybe, we might not even lose touch?" as if he read Fuji's thoughts.

"This trip could even be worth looking forward to," the corner of the stoic boy's lips twitched upwards slightly.

"Did Tezuka just smiled?" Fuji teased and Tezuka's face turned slightly pink.

He continued to solve the Math question, not responding to Fuji's teasing.

"Saa, did anyone tell you that you look cute when you blush? You should really do so more often." Fuji flashed another smile and went back to his homework.

It'll be a real interesting trip, indeed. The blue-eyed boy thought silently.

TBC