Disclaimer: POT is not mine in any form. I only borrowed some characters to create this fic ^^v

"Sorry, but I only see you as one of my teammates." Tezuka said in his usual cold tone. Fuji had asked him whether he could spare a few minutes alone to discuss a private matter. He never expected that it turned out to be Fuji's confession.

"Ha-ha, I had a feeling you would say that." Fuji gave a short laugh as if what happened was a joke. "Well, it's worth a try." He added later.

It's been a while after they won the Nationals and the third years had to give up their spot as regulars. Tezuka filled in Ryuzaki sensei's spot as a temporary coach and the other four ex-regulars joined to help the club during practice. Since it was too cold to hold any practice in mid-December Tezuka met up with the remaining regulars as well as the retired ones in one of the empty classrooms afterschool.

"Tezuka." Fuji called his name as he was about to leave. The others had gone home before them. "I'm sorry to have bothered you with my feelings but I just had to tell you. Anyway, I guess you must be uncomfortable with it so you can pretend that I never said anything." Fuji put it calmly.

"Aah." Was his reply. "You should be going home too." He said without looking at the tensai.

Fuji pulled a chair and sat down. "I'm waiting for neesan. She's picking me up today." Fuji kept his smiling face though he knew the Tennis club buchou weren't looking at him. "Mata ashita." He waved once as Tezuka slid the classroom door shut.

Silence shadowed over Fuji who was left alone. He sat straight on the chair with both hands' fingers interlaced on the table. His confession was over within a few minutes. When he told Tezuka that he fell in love with him, the stoic buchou didn't even hesitate for a second before he rejected the brunette tensai.

Warm tears sprung from his eyes and rolled down his cheek. Fuji didn't make any attempt to fight it back. He just sat there and let he droplets dripped onto the desk beneath him.

Unable to take another step, Tezuka who was still standing outside the door turned around and peeked through the glass on the door. That was when he saw Fuji's crying face- an enchanting porcelain sculpture with sparkling tears.

"Fujiko-chan!" A familiar redhead's voice echoed after the doorbell rang. A middle-aged woman with perpetually-closed eyes opened the door and let the visitors in. She led all of the boys upstairs to her son's room.

"Syusuke, your friends are here to visit you." She knocked on the door to alarm her son of his guests.

"Arigato, kaasan. Please let them come in." Fuji sat up straight before his mother Yoshiko, squeaked the door open and allowed all eight boys inside.

"I'll bring some refreshments in a moment." The motherly figure excused herself.

Oishi suddenly nudged Eiji's ribs. "Eiji!" he said as if reminding the latter.

Eiji snapped and handed the lady a basket full of Fuji apples, Fuji Syusuke's favorite fruit. "Obaasan, here's a little something that we brought for you and Fujiko-chan."

"How kind of you, but you don't have to go through the trouble of bringing anything." She said as she took the basket offered to her. She shut the door behind her and headed downstairs to the kitchen.

"Sorry for the trouble guys." Fuji tried to get up from his bed.

"Ah Fuji, you should stay in bed. You're still recovering." Kawamura stopped him from getting up.

Fuji smiled. "It's just a mere cold. I'm feeling better now." The brunette assured them despite the fact that he looked very pale and wobbly.

Inui approached the bed and placed a palm on the tensai's forehead and another one on his own. The others watched what he was doing. "I'm 94% positive that your temperature is above 38˚c." He pulled away his palm and took out his notebook. "Fuji's sickness data." He scribbled it down.

"That's a very high fever you got there." Seigaku Tennis Club 'mother hen' began to worry. "Have you been eating right? How about medicine, you didn't skip any of them do you?" He interrogated the patient.

Eiji sat down beside Fuji and covered both of his friend's ears with his palms. "Oishi, if you keep nagging like that Fuji will get even sicker than he is." The redhead pouts.

"I am not nagging!" Oishi denied.

"Eiji-senpai, if you get too close to a sick person you'll get infected too!" Momoshiro who was standing in the middle of the room teased.

"Fshuu… only idiots like you get infected so easily." Kaidoh who stood nearby him hissed.

"Nani??! Who are you calling an idiot?!"

"Fshuu…You should know better."

"Are you looking for a fight?!" Momoshiro clenched his fist.

"Bring it on!"

"Cut it you guys. We're visiting the sick here!" The fuku-buchou broke the junior's petty quarrel.

"Mada mada dane, senpai-tachi." Echizen made his first remark.

There was a knock on the door before Fuji's mother appeared with a tray of drinks. As if she came in at a bad time, Fuji coughed and all eyes were set on him. "Are you alright, Syusuke?" Fuji's mother looked worriedly at him.

"I'm fine." He tried to convince them. "Kaasan, can you take them downstairs? The room is kind of stuffy and I don't want them to get infected." He then looked at his friends. "Sorry guys, after you came all the way to visit me." He looked apologetically.

"Don't worry about that, you just get plenty of rest okay." Oishi advised the sick brunette.

"Hurry up and get better. I don't know how long I can survive without you in class nya!" Eiji signaled his hand pretending that it's a cat's paw.

"Yumiko made a lot of raspberry pies this morning. Why don't you boys have some before leaving." The gentle woman led them out of Fuji's room.

"Sorry to impose on you." The fuku-buchou bowed politely for the generosity of the hostess. "Tezuka, you coming?" Oishi asked when he saw Tezuka still standing in the middle of the tensai's bedroom.

"I'll join you in a minute." His voice full of seriousness. Oishi and the others headed downstairs toward the living room where Fuji's mother had served the refreshments. Momoshiro and Echizen were the firsts to sit down and helped themselves with the snacks.

Meanwhile in Fuji's room, the situation was intense. Tezuka took a seat on a chair beside the bed. It has been three days since Fuji's confession after which he had been absent from school due to high fever.

"If you didn't hurry Echizen and Momo will eat your half." The sick boy's voiced very hoarsely. His throat felt like he was swallowing needles.

"I'll go after you answer one question." Tezuka said sternly.

"Don't worry, I fell sick because of my own carelessness. It has nothing to do with you." Fuji stated clearly before the question ever brought up by the captain. "You were about to ask me something regarding that weren't you?" the tensai smirked.

Tezuka didn't show any sign of shocked or amazed. Fuji can almost read his mind like a book. "If that's your answer."

Fuji sighed. Maybe he should enlighten Tezuka more on how he got sick. "Well you see, while waiting for neesan to pick me up the other day, I fell asleep." He began explaining. He wasn't lying. There was no need for a made up excuse. However, he didn't mention that he cried himself to sleep in the chilly classroom only to be found unconscious an hour later. "Neesan was worried that I didn't pick up my phone so she asked whether someone could go look for me. They told me my face was almost blue at the time." He ended his story with a chuckle.

"I'm sorry." The word came out from Tezuka voluntarily.

"I told you its not your fault."

"I saw you cry."

The last statement made Fuji's eyes wide open. "What do you mean by that?"

"You were crying after I left. I saw you from outside the door."

"Pathetic, isn't it?" Fuji's smiling mask was broken. "Crying because I got rejected by another guy." His cerulean eyes were sharp.

"It's impossible for me to accept your feelings, Fuji." Tezuka's coldness didn't die down regardless the moment being so tense.

"I know." Fuji faked his smile once more. "That's why I told you to pretend it never happened. I'll get over you… eventually." In spite of what he said, the smaller boy didn't believe that his feelings for the stoic buchou would fade so easily.

"Fuji…"

"Tezuka, we're going now. Are you coming?" Oishi called as he twisted the doorknob. Tezuka's conversation with Fuji didn't resume after that. The left-handed buchou stood up and returned the chair to where he took it from.

"See you guys soon." Fuji waved at the boys who came up to say goodbye. Tezuka…" the bespectacled boy turned around as his name was summoned. "Thanks for coming." The sick tensai sent him off with a smile on his pale lips. Then, he was left alone again.

The next Monday, Fuji returned to school as normal. His face was still a little bit pale but his temperature had return to normal. His throat was no longer sore when he talked and he recovered his strength to run around with Eiji. The only thing that remained painful was the thought of having to be nearby Tezuka. He was still unable to overcome the throbbing in his heart whenever they were close.

"Fujiko-chan!" Fuji turned around to face his classmate but his teeth were forced to sink into an apple.

"Hehe…" Eiji pulled the fruit away and took a bite out of it too before placing it onto Fuji's hand. "Fuji apple is so big I can't finish it by myself." The sound of him crunching on the apple became the background of his speech.

"Hank hyou…" Fuji thanked him while munching the big piece that was in his mouth.

As they entered the cafeteria, Momoshiro waved at them from the reserved table. "Fuji-senpai, Eiji-senpai, over here!" he pointed at the empty seats. All of the others have made themselves comfortable in front of their lunch.

"Nyaa…I'm so hungry." Eiji whined. "It's hard to move quickly when all of the girls are surrounding Fuji in class." He mumbled while pulling the seat.

"Ah, Eiji-senpai, that's Fuji-senpai's seat." Momoshiro alerted before Eiji took the seat next to Tezuka.

"It's okay I'm fine with sitting anywhere." The blue-eyed tensai cleared. Momoshiro exchange glances with Echizen then shrugged. Oishi who sat opposite them gave a stern gaze before he shook his head.

Tezuka placed his chopsticks on the food tray and stood up. "I'm going to the library." He stated and left the table.

"Ah, Yuuta is coming home tonight." Fuji instantly remembered. "I'm giving him a call." He pulled out his cell phone from inside his pocket and dialed his younger brother's number. "Yuuta?" He said when the call was picked up. He excused himself from the group and walked outside.

"That's so weird nya." Eiji pointed out first. "Usually Fuji would say something like;" Eiji mimicked Fuji's smiling face with his eyes closed; "'Ah Tezuka, I'm coming with you. I want to borrow some books' or something like that." He then changed to his normal face.

"Lately Fuji and Tezuka seemed a little bit distant toward one another." Kawamura noticed.

"From my data, Fuji had been standing 39.2% farther than he usually does from Tezuka and spoke 66% less than he used to with him." the data collector butts in.

Momoshiro grinned at Echizen. "I guess THAT's the reason for it. That!" Momoshiro smirked.

"Nyaa?" It grabbed Eiji's attention. "What reason?"

"Momoshiro!" the fuku-buchou were against his idea.

"What is it Oishi?"

"It's nothing."

"Are you hiding something from me, nya?!" Eiji pouted.

"That's not it, it's just…" Oishi was still reluctant.

"Tezuka-buchou rejected Fuji-senpai."

All eyes were on the nonchalant first year regular. He casually sipped the juice from the can of Ponta in his hand without the slightest care of the seniors' reactions.

"Is that true Momo?" Inui appeared interested. For the sake of his data, that is.

Momoshiro was anxious when all attention diverted to him. "Well, kind of." He scratched the back of his head. "We heard the two of them talking about it back when we visited Fuji-senpai last week." He explained.

"You were eavesdropping." Kaidoh unintentionally provoked him.

"Nanda, mamushi?!"

"Fshuu…"

"You knew about this Oishi?!" Eiji looked offended.

Oishi tried to calm down his double's partner. "It was an accident!" Oishi defended himself.

Inui adjusted his glasses on his nose bridge and ready his notebook. "Tell me everything you know, Momoshiro. Everything!" An evil grin swept across his face.

Momoshiro sat back down after the little ruckus at the table. Eiji and Oishi gathered their composure to listen through the whole story as well. "When Echizen and I were told to get Tezuka-buchou the other day, we heard something like an apology." He began. "We thought we heard it wrong. I mean come on, Tezuka-buchou apologizing to Fuji-senpai?"

"He did apologize. He said 'I'm sorry'." Echizen interrupted.

Momoshiro told them the rest of what they heard. Eiji was staring at Oishi, which made him opened his mouth to add. "I only get to hear Fuji said he'll get over Tezuka eventually or something like that." He stuck up for himself. "I only went to look for them since they were taking longer than they were supposed to." The 'mother hen' sweat-dropped.

After the story ended, Eiji looked like a volcano about to erupt. His eyes were somewhat of cat 's eyes during fight. "Tezuka is so mwean!" he burst. "How could he say that to Fujiko-chan!" He growled.

"Calm down Eiji, you're attracting too much attention."

"Mou, this is unforgivable!" Eiji dashed off from the cafeteria and headed to the library for Tezuka. Oishi and the others went after him while Momoshiro and Echizen searched for Fuji.

Fuji was just done talking to his brother on his cell phone when Momoshiro and Echizen ran toward him. "Bad… news… Fuji… senpai!" the second year regular was out of breath. The two underclassmen informed what happened and gave Fuji quite a shocked. He rushed to the library with the two informers to stop Eiji from attacking Tezuka.

Unaware of what's happening, the matured teen was searching for books calmly between the shelves in the library. Eiji burst into the deserted area with his eyes wildly seeking for the captain. He stomped his feet as he walked in Tezuka's direction with both fist knuckled up to his side.

"Eiji?" Tezuka became aware of his presence.

The cat-like boy abruptly grabbed the taller guy by the collar and started yelling at him. "Tezuka, you mweanie!" He scolded him in a childish way. "How could you say that to Fuji?!"

Tezuka frowned. He still couldn't grasp what was going on. In the meantime Oishi along with Inui, Kawamura and Kaidoh arrived and restrained the redhead. "Eiji, stop it." Oishi calmed him down as he struggled. He still hadn't let go of Tezuka's collar.

"Let me go, nya!" he tussled back. "I want to give him a piece of my mind!"

"Eiji!" Fuji and the other two boys caught up with the rest.

It was like a primetime drama at the moment. Though Eiji was smaller than the four people that were holding him, they're still having a hard time controlling. Fuji approached the scene and faced his best friend. All those who had their hands on let Eiji off.

"Gomen, Tezuka. There was a little misunderstanding." Fuji explained.

"It wasn't a misunderstanding. Fuji!" Eiji tugged the middle child's hand.

Fuji's eyes were sharp as he glared at the latter. "Eiji, please don't make things hard for me." Fuji reasoned with him.

"Demo…demo…" Eiji started sobbing. "It's just so mean." Tears rolled down over the band-aid on his cheek. "How could you not tell me you liked Tezuka all this time and how could he reject so heartlessly." His sobbing turned louder and his tears were already unstoppable.

Fuji's gut twisted. Now he had involved more people into his personal problem. "It's not like I'm trying to keep it a secret from you." He coaxed his crying friend. "But I have long expected that Tezuka will not accept my feeling, that's why we acted as if nothing happened." He cleared in the best way he could.

It's the buchou's turn to get shocked. Fuji just said that he knew Tezuka will definitely reject him if he confessed. 'Then why did he go on with the plan?' he heard the words in his head.

"Saa Eiji, please stop crying." Fuji circled his arms around the redhead's neck and hugged him.

"Demo…"

"Please…" He begged. "It's so painful to be rejected but it hurts much more that you were crying because of me." He whispered in Eiji's ears.

"That's why I'm crying for Fuji." He sobbed. "Because Fuji only smile and kept everything bottled up inside."

"Arigato, Eiji." Fuji released him from his embrace slowly. "I'm much, much better now." He smiled then turned to look at the other sets of eyes who were watching from the beginning. "Sumimasen, minna." He bowed his head. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused."

"It's our fault too Fuji, we shouldn't have pried in other people's business. Right Momo, Echizen?" the fuku-buchou turned at the two mischievous underclassmen.

"Gomenasai, senpai." Momoshiro and Echizen apologized.

"Saa Eiji, apologize to Tezuka now."

"Eeh, why should I?!" he refused.

"Please Eiji, do it for me." Fuji petted his shoulder.

"Hmph, listen here Tezuka. Fuji deserved someone better than a cold and heartless buchou like you." Eiji lectured Tezuka. "Gomenasai, you mweanie!" he stuck out his tongue to Tezuka then stomped his feet away. "Let's go, Fujiko-chan!" he pulled the tensai along with him.

Tezuka sighed heavily. It's a good thing that the library is not a famous place to hang out during lunch or it would trouble him big time with the commotion Eiji created. Come to think of it, he was the only person who went to the library during lunch for the past three years he's in Seigaku. After it was being found out by Fuji, he had tagged along with him every time without fail.

"Damn, why am I thinking about him right now?!" He said to himself.

"Sorry Taka-san, are you sure we can have the party here?" Oishi placed a box full of ornaments on one of the stools in the sushi restaurant.

"Yeah. My dad said it's okay as long as we clean up afterwards." Kawamura brought in another box. "Besides, my dad is also a fan of Echizen."

"Let's make o-chibi have the best birthday party in his entire life!"Eiji cheered.

It's December 24th, Echizen's birthday. They planned to surprise the first year regular at Kawamura's place. Except for Echizen and Tezuka, the others were busy putting up the decorations. Momoshiro and Kaidoh were decorating a Christmas tree that seemed a little out-of-place in the Japanese-oriented restaurant. They thought since its Christmas time it would be nice to have one in the corner of the store. Inui was busy with his calculations on how the party would turn out to be a success while Oishi and Kawamura hung up a banner wishing Echizen happy birthday. Eiji wrapped himself around a fluffy ribbon and boss around the others while Fuji placed down some candles on the tables. An hour and a half later they were done and the place looked very party-ish.

"Ne, Fuji." Eiji sat down beside the brunette who was sipping tea. "Are you sure it's alright to invite Tezuka?" He continued with the question that has been playing in his mind.

"Of course it is. Why did you ask?"

"Well, you know…"

"Eiji, are you still mad at him about last week?" Fuji recalled on Eiji's outburst in the library.

"No! I already forgave him about that. I'm only worried about you."

"Me?"

"Umm… It's still hurting when you see him right?"

Fuji sipped down the tea from his cup. He purposely delayed his response so that he can come up with something to convince Eiji that he's over it.

"Fuji…" Eiji tugged Fuji's sleeve. Ever since the incident, Eiji had forced Fuji not to keep anymore secrets from him. Fuji, in order to avoid anything similar to happen again agreed to it and made the redhead promised not to mention the things he told him to anyone.

"I'm not as sensitive as you thought I am." Fuji said in his casual tone. "Tezuka has been acting normally just like always. So as long as we can keep our relationship as it is, I'm fine." He answered satisfactorily. "I'm glad Tezuka and I can still be friends."

"Tezuka's here!" They heard Oishi announced.

Fuji tapped Eiji's shoulder. "I'm sure Echizen would like to have our buchou at his birthday celebration." The blue-eyed tensai smiled.

"Echizen will be here any minute now." Momoshiro informed after he received a phone call from the green-haired boy.

"Places, everyone!" Oishi clapped his hands twice.

All of the boys lined up facing the entrance of Kawamura Sushi. None of them made any sound in order to surprise Echizen when he walked through the door. Tezuka, despite the fact that he looked reluctant to do it joined the group.

"Chiuss!" Echizen nonchalantly slid the door open.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!" A synchronized cheer in Japanese slang greeted him as he entered the restaurant. Confetti was tossed hat him and balloons flew everywhere. Momoshiro and Eiji blew the party whistle and danced around him.

A pair of hands flung towards the shortest boy in the group. "O tanjoubi omedeto, o-chibi!" Eiji hugged him.

"I can't breath, Eiji-senpai." He struggled.

"I'll get the cake." Fuji volunteered. He didn't realize that Tezuka was standing behind him until he bumped into him. "Sorry Tezuka." He rubbed his forehead that touched Tezuka's chin slightly.

"…" He gave silence for a reply. 'What was that smell?' He wondered. 'Was it Fuji's hair? It smells so nice.' The buchou remained unmoved with his expressionless face.

"Tezuka, watch where you're going. Fujiko-chan is very delicate!" Eiji left Echizen alone with Momoshiro and hurried to Fuji's side. "Fuji, are you hurt?" He inspected the boy.

Fuji chuckled. "Eiji, I'm not made out of jelly." He laughed at his over-protective friend. He knew that Eiji is unnecessarily sensitive when it comes to him and Tezuka though he was indifferent concerning other issues.

Tezuka frowned. "Delicate?" he heard the word escaped his mouth.

"That's right." Eiji pulled Fuji out of the way.

"Saa Eiji, they're waiting for the cake."

Fuji and Eiji left Tezuka to get Echizen's birthday cake. Tezuka turned and stole a glimpse of the tensai's body. 'His body does look a little delicate.' Tezuka agreed silently. 'I wonder if he would break if I were to cuddle him…' The bespectacled boy was shocked with himself. 'What the hell were you thinking?! Fuji's a boy and so are you!' He scolded himself. He rejected Fuji because he thought it was repulsive for a guy to love another guy. But right now he was the one who kept having such impressions toward the tensai. 'Yudan sezu ni iko…' he told himself. 'Yudan sezu ni iko.' He kept on chanting in his head.

"Tezuka, come here. Echizen is about to blow the candles!" the fuku-buchou called him. All of them had gathered around the youngest member.

"Don't forget to make a wish first o-chibi!"

"One… two… three!" Echizen blew out the candles on the cake after his senpai-tachi counted to three. Fuji snapped a photo of him in time including other photos throughout the party.

"Echizen, this is from all of us." Seigaku Tennis Club 'mommy' took out a big red box with silver ribbon on top.

"Arigato, Oishi-senpai, Eiji-senpai, Fuji-senpai, Inui-senpai, Tezuka-buchou, Kawamura-senpai, Kaidoh-senpai and Momo-senpai." Echizen thanked them one by one and made sure he didn't left any of them out.

"Open it nyaa!" Eiji appeared excitedly behind Echizen.

The birthday boy ripped the ribbon apart and uncovered the lid of the box. He pushed away the white paper wrapping inside to expose a black colored skateboard. His eyes were glistening as he held his birthday present.

"We hope you like it."

"Arigato, senpai-tachi!" He stood up and bowed at them.

Once the celebration was over and they cleaned up all the party mess, everyone excused themselves to return home and spent the rest of the Christmas Eve with their family. The roadsides were mostly covered with snow. It was so cool that they felt the iciness regardless of how thick their jackets are.

"I'm so jealous of o-chibi. He'll get two presents from the same person in two days straight. One for his birthday and one for Christmas."

"Eh, do Echizen celebrate Christmas?" Oishi asked. "Isn't his father a bou-san?" An image of Echizen Nanjirou in his monk attire emerged in his head

"But Echizen was raised in America. I'm sure he's accustomed to it." Eiji pointed out the possibility.

"If so, Echizen must be very lucky." Fuji's infamous smile entered the scene.

"Ah, that's right! I didn't give Fuji any birthday present this year." Eiji suddenly remembered. "Gomen, Fuji!" He placed both of his palms together and lowered his head toward his best friend.

"Don't worry about that. You don't have to." Fuji signaled with his hand. "I don't have a birthday this year."

"Hmm…then when is your next birthday?"

"Second year in high school."

"Eeh, two more years?!

"Not really." He replied. "The next February is in two months, therefore I only have to wait fourteen months in total." The tensai calculated.

"That's so bad… you can only properly celebrate your birthday once every four years."

Fuji gave a short chuckle. "The good part about it is, I wont get older every year." He joked.

"I guess that's true. Fuji will only get old a quarter of our age." Eiji nodded. "Is my calculation right, Tezuka?" He referred to the quiet genius.

"Aah."

"Well then, see you guys later. Come on Oishi!" Eiji excused himself from the two to take another route. "Ah, Fuji. Take care okay!" he shouted once they were a block away.

Fuji chuckled at the sight of his friend. "Tezuka, wanna walk home together?" Fuji enquired. He saw the boy nodded. They strode the street quietly before Fuji broke the silence between them. "I have something to give you." The shorter boy took something out from under his jacket.

"…?"

"Your Christmas present."

"Thanks." Tezuka accepted the flat rectangular box.

"Open it." Fuji encouraged him.

Tezuka placed the thin box on his palm and lifted the cover. The first thing that came to his vision was a picture of him which he had no idea when it was taken. He then discovered the picture frame which the photo was placed in. As usual the captain's expression remained unchanged.

"You didn't like it?"

"I do. Thanks."

"I'm glad." Fuji beamed. He resumed their walk while talking. "I hope you don't mind I took that picture of you secretly when we went to visit you in Germany." He gave a hint. "I developed it myself. It turned out nicely even though it was my first attempt." He grinned making his eyes smaller.

"Come with me for a while." The stoic buchou spoke out of his silence. He tucked the gift inside his trench coat and led the way. Fuji stole a glimpse oh his face. It was as grim as always.

Tezuka made his way through the snow covered park. It was almost sundown; most people would be with their family at the moment leaving the park empty with the exception of the two figures that just arrived.

"Tezuka, I may be a good tennis player but I'm not a mind-reader." The awkwardness made Fuji spoke first.

"…" Tezuka was still hesitating. "About that day…"

"What day?"

"The day you confessed… to me."

"Oh."

"You see-"

"Drop it, Tezuka." Fuji cut him off. "I though we agreed to pretend nothing happened." Fuji's tone was serious.

"Is that what you really want?"

"Does it really matter what I want?"

"Don't use my words to confuse me, Fuji." Tezuka stressed more in his utterances.

"You damn well know what I want." The azure pair eyes of his were no longer closed. "I want you!" He almost choked by his words.

"Why me?" Tezuka remained the calm one.

"Do I need a reason to fall in love?" Fuji only managed to come up with a cheesy line. "I wondered myself why must it be you. It's bad enough that we're both guys. Why do I have to fall for my friend?!" he clenched his jacket tighter to his chest.

No reply came from Tezuka. "I only can be honest with you." He stated after a long pause. "Relationships between men are nauseating." He put it insensitively.

"Don't tell me something I already knew."

"That makes me a sickening person as well."

"What?!" Fuji gazed up to Tezuka.

Without alarm, the taller boy took Fuji's cold hand and slowly pulled him into an embrace. It left Fuji with no time to react "I told myself countless times to never let my guard down yet here I am unable to stop myself from holding you." Admit Tezuka, almost in whispers. "This is wrong and despicable."

"Don't force yourself, Tezuka." The smaller boy used both of his hands to push away the other. "You're going to hate yourself for this."

"I already hate myself for letting my guard down but I won't forgive myself for hurting you." The pair of golden hazel eyes stared deeply into the cerulean ones.

Fuji's heart thumped so hard that it felt like it almost broke out off his ribcage. Tezuka never lied. He would never said anything unnecessary or more than he have to. At the moment, Tezuka's genuineness meant more than anything that came out from his mouth. The tensai stood there not blinking. 'Say something wise, Syusuke!' His conscience urged him. "Wake me up." Was his line. "I'm dreaming again." He mumbled in denial. "Wake up, Fuji Syusuke!" he slapped his cheeks slowly.

Warm lips were pressed against Fuji's cold ones. His closed eyes were wide revealing the sapphire within. "Are you awake now?" the voice asked him.

"Te… zuka." The smaller tennis player's face was painted red. The golden-brown haired teen leaned in to repeat his act only to be stopped by Fuji. "I- I ate a lot of wasabi-zushi today." The blushing boy stuttered. It was his favorite sushi though people found it absurd, including the guy he's staring at.

Tezuka pay no heed toward the flustered teenager. He brushed his lips on the other's as he drew him back in his arms. The kiss was light at first then it deepened every second. Fuji's mouth welcomed Tezuka's tongue inside as the buchou shifted his angle. White puffs of air exhaled from both of them when they parted to breathe. The captain's glasses were in the way, it made the tennis prodigy to boldly remove it.

The brunette felt limp on his legs with each butterfly kisses planted on him. If there wasn't a pair of strong arms around his thin waist he would've fall onto the ground. Tezuka's inner demon suddenly told him that Fuji's wet lips were irresistibly enticing that he couldn't cease himself from sinking his teeth and nipped at the flesh of the lower lip.

"Ouch!" A soft whimper escaped from the tensai's occupied mouth. The tall boy withdrew and Fuji touched his throbbing lip.

A tint of red colored Tezuka's cheeks. He faked a cough when he realized how swollen those lips were. Kissing Fuji Syusuke felt so good that even the stoic buchou had a problem restraining himself. Now that he experienced it first hand, there will be no way he'd ever give a chance to someone else. Tezuka bent over and gave the other another deep kiss before his eyes locked with the azure ones. "I love you too." He murmured.

"What?" Fuji blinked in disbelieves.

"My answer to your confession, I love you too." He mouthed clearly.

Fuji froze. His heart stopped before it turned into rapid breathing. He flung his arms around Tezuka's neck while the matured one of the two lifted him off the ground and swung him in a circle. "I love you! I love you! I love you!" Fuji pecked his new lover each times.

"Fuji you're strangling me." He put the brunette down. Fuji loosened his arms around Tezuka's neck but still hadn't let him go. He rested his chin on the boy's shoulder and stayed there within embrace.

"Look Tezuka, the snow is falling." Fuji caught a snowflake in his palm..

"Aah…"

"It's beautiful."

"Aah."

"Arigato."

"Aah."

"I love you, Tezuka Kunimitsu."

Tezuka buried the tensai's face into his chest. "I love you too, Fuji Syusuke."

-Owari-

Glossary

Mata ashita – see you tomorrow

Obaasan – auntie

Kaasan (okaasan) – mother

Neesan (oneesan) – older sister

Nani – what

Mamushi (Kaidoh's nickname) – viper

O tanjoubi omedeto – happy birthday

Gomen/ Gomenasai/ sumimasen – sorry

Arigato – thank you (duh!)

Demo – but

Chius – gesture of greeting (usually used by people in sports team)

Owari – the end

*why wasabi-zushi and not wasabi-sushi? Well, its coz the Japanese pronunciation was like that. The 's' changed to 'z' in presence of 'i' in the word before.

A/N : Oops I did it again… Another BL story (I'm sorry to gay them up!) but Tezuka x Fuji is super cute! No tennis scenes though it's based on TeniPuri… It started off shakily, I had a hard time thinking of a nice plot and I changed it many times. Anyway, its finally done and I hope you guys like it ^^v Btw, I used quite a few Japanese words this time so I provided the glossary. Have fun reading and please leave me your reviews. Please be nice about it too ^^ Yoroshiku onegaishimasu ne!