10 Letters: #030--Writer's choice
Title: And So They Lived....
Rating: PG
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Character: Ibu Shinji/Echizen Ryoma
Author's Notes: 30th letter, from Ryoma to Shinji, plus epilouge. Additional notes at the end.
Main table can be found here and here.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Shinji….
I’m not sure what part of your email to tackle first. I want to say it’s too late at night for me to make any sense, but maybe that’ll help me right now, because I feel like I’m not making any sense right now.
First…I’m glad for your sake that Tachibana was able to see reason and you can keep him as a friend. I know he’s important to you. I was really afraid, when you said he came over, that he was going to try and, well, take you, but the rest of what you said made me feel better.
I’m not happy that he kissed you again, but if it means that he has the closure to not have to do it again, then I guess it’s okay.
Don’t worry about feeling hurt by it. It can’t have been easy to turn down something that you clearly care about. And there’s nothing wrong with you, that you couldn’t love. We can’t always love the ones we’re supposed to.
How do I know that? Because if it were true, I’d be in love with Ryuuzaki-chan instead of you.
Yeah, you read that right, so don’t do thinking that you probably read that sentence wrong or something.
I love you. I don’t hate you. You’re mine. Your next kiss? It belongs to me and only me.
And you better be coming here tomorrow. Because…I’m going to be the one kissing you tomorrow, now. I was probably going to, anyway, but now that’s the first thing on my list.
Who knows? Maybe we’ll even play tennis between kisses, and figuring out just how we got here.
Love,
Ryoma
P.S.: Sometimes, maybe it’s best to throw caution to the wind. But don’t tell Tezuka-buchou that I said that.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
When Shinji pulled back from what seemed to be an endless stream of kisses, he looked dazed, and more, satisfied, a sight that had Ryoma smirking. “I take it that you like my kisses, Shinji?”
All Shinji could do for a moment was nod. “Your kisses…I think they’re the only kisses I could like, and they certainly blow Tachibana-san’s out of the water without even trying.”
“Don’t even mention him right now.” Ryoma kissed Shinji hard, then released him again. “It’s going to be hard, you know.” Ryoma looked at Shinji from his perch in his friend’s-no, boyfriend’s, now-lap. “I’m going to have to go back at least until the end of the school year here.” He made a face. “Stupid weird school years. I’m going to have to do a lot more cramming sessions to catch up.” His voice held no doubt that he could, though.
Shinji nodded, his arms tightening around Ryoma. “We can do it, though. I mean, we started a relationship through letters, and we can definitely keep one alive through letters, and it’ll be worth it just to have you here again at all, and I’ll even help you study, I mean, the curriculum is the same so I can tell you what we’re doing.” He sighed.
“Yeah.” Ryoma tried to sound a little more cheerful. “And it’ll give us more time to plot the closet thing, too.”
“Even if they get together by then?”
“Even if.” Ryoma smirked. “It’ll serve them right, no matter what.”
Shinji chuckled softly at that. “I like the way you think.” He kissed Ryoma’s hair. “Hey, Ryoma?”
“Yeah, Shinji?”
“Are we going to tell anyone about us?”
Ryoma thought about it, then shrugged. “It’s no secret. I’m not ashamed.” He shrugged. “I’m not into the big announcements, though. They’ll find out when they find out.”
“It works for me.” Shinji opened his mouth to say something else, but Ryoma covered Shinji’s lips with his fingers.
“I’ve only got another week here, and you’re going to have to share me some of that time.” He smiled. “We do a lot of talking through the letters. How about some more kissing, to tide us over?”
Shinji happily obliged.
And so it went, until several weeks later:
“Hey, Shin?”
“Yeah, Akira?”
“Who are you writing so often?”
“My boyfriend.”
Kamio choked on his lunch. Ishida helpfully smacked Kamio’s back while Uchimura pointed and laughed, and Tachibana looked both amused and sad. A regular day for Fudomine.
*~*~*~*
“WHAT???”
“Momo-baka, quiet down!”
“Shut up, Mamushi!” Momoshiro waved around a piece of paper. “Echizen is dating that weird Ibu kid from Fudomine!”
Kaidoh hissed, turning away. “Idiot. We all knew that before Echizen went back. Anyone with eyes knew that.”
Momoshiro turned dazed eyes on his senpai. “Is…is that true?”
Oishi looked a little sad. “Momo…they never tried to hide it.”
Momoshiro promptly passed out.
Oishi tried to revive him, Fuji took pictures, Inui recorded data, and Tezuka ordered laps. A regular day for Seigaku.
--The End-
End Notes: And this is really the end of the Letters saga. I thought about just having it end with Ryoma’s letter, but this little epilogue thing appealed to me more.
Thank you so much for reading as I wrote this! All the reviews encouraged me more than I can say. I enjoyed every bit of this process, and I hope that you did, too!
Rating: PG
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Character: Ibu Shinji/Echizen Ryoma
Author's Notes: 30th letter, from Ryoma to Shinji, plus epilouge. Additional notes at the end.
Main table can be found here and here.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Shinji….
I’m not sure what part of your email to tackle first. I want to say it’s too late at night for me to make any sense, but maybe that’ll help me right now, because I feel like I’m not making any sense right now.
First…I’m glad for your sake that Tachibana was able to see reason and you can keep him as a friend. I know he’s important to you. I was really afraid, when you said he came over, that he was going to try and, well, take you, but the rest of what you said made me feel better.
I’m not happy that he kissed you again, but if it means that he has the closure to not have to do it again, then I guess it’s okay.
Don’t worry about feeling hurt by it. It can’t have been easy to turn down something that you clearly care about. And there’s nothing wrong with you, that you couldn’t love. We can’t always love the ones we’re supposed to.
How do I know that? Because if it were true, I’d be in love with Ryuuzaki-chan instead of you.
Yeah, you read that right, so don’t do thinking that you probably read that sentence wrong or something.
I love you. I don’t hate you. You’re mine. Your next kiss? It belongs to me and only me.
And you better be coming here tomorrow. Because…I’m going to be the one kissing you tomorrow, now. I was probably going to, anyway, but now that’s the first thing on my list.
Who knows? Maybe we’ll even play tennis between kisses, and figuring out just how we got here.
Love,
Ryoma
P.S.: Sometimes, maybe it’s best to throw caution to the wind. But don’t tell Tezuka-buchou that I said that.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
When Shinji pulled back from what seemed to be an endless stream of kisses, he looked dazed, and more, satisfied, a sight that had Ryoma smirking. “I take it that you like my kisses, Shinji?”
All Shinji could do for a moment was nod. “Your kisses…I think they’re the only kisses I could like, and they certainly blow Tachibana-san’s out of the water without even trying.”
“Don’t even mention him right now.” Ryoma kissed Shinji hard, then released him again. “It’s going to be hard, you know.” Ryoma looked at Shinji from his perch in his friend’s-no, boyfriend’s, now-lap. “I’m going to have to go back at least until the end of the school year here.” He made a face. “Stupid weird school years. I’m going to have to do a lot more cramming sessions to catch up.” His voice held no doubt that he could, though.
Shinji nodded, his arms tightening around Ryoma. “We can do it, though. I mean, we started a relationship through letters, and we can definitely keep one alive through letters, and it’ll be worth it just to have you here again at all, and I’ll even help you study, I mean, the curriculum is the same so I can tell you what we’re doing.” He sighed.
“Yeah.” Ryoma tried to sound a little more cheerful. “And it’ll give us more time to plot the closet thing, too.”
“Even if they get together by then?”
“Even if.” Ryoma smirked. “It’ll serve them right, no matter what.”
Shinji chuckled softly at that. “I like the way you think.” He kissed Ryoma’s hair. “Hey, Ryoma?”
“Yeah, Shinji?”
“Are we going to tell anyone about us?”
Ryoma thought about it, then shrugged. “It’s no secret. I’m not ashamed.” He shrugged. “I’m not into the big announcements, though. They’ll find out when they find out.”
“It works for me.” Shinji opened his mouth to say something else, but Ryoma covered Shinji’s lips with his fingers.
“I’ve only got another week here, and you’re going to have to share me some of that time.” He smiled. “We do a lot of talking through the letters. How about some more kissing, to tide us over?”
Shinji happily obliged.
And so it went, until several weeks later:
“Hey, Shin?”
“Yeah, Akira?”
“Who are you writing so often?”
“My boyfriend.”
Kamio choked on his lunch. Ishida helpfully smacked Kamio’s back while Uchimura pointed and laughed, and Tachibana looked both amused and sad. A regular day for Fudomine.
*~*~*~*
“WHAT???”
“Momo-baka, quiet down!”
“Shut up, Mamushi!” Momoshiro waved around a piece of paper. “Echizen is dating that weird Ibu kid from Fudomine!”
Kaidoh hissed, turning away. “Idiot. We all knew that before Echizen went back. Anyone with eyes knew that.”
Momoshiro turned dazed eyes on his senpai. “Is…is that true?”
Oishi looked a little sad. “Momo…they never tried to hide it.”
Momoshiro promptly passed out.
Oishi tried to revive him, Fuji took pictures, Inui recorded data, and Tezuka ordered laps. A regular day for Seigaku.
--The End-
End Notes: And this is really the end of the Letters saga. I thought about just having it end with Ryoma’s letter, but this little epilogue thing appealed to me more.
Thank you so much for reading as I wrote this! All the reviews encouraged me more than I can say. I enjoyed every bit of this process, and I hope that you did, too!