21/12 (Tezuka/Ryoma)
title: 21/12
pairing: Tezuka/Ryoma
words: 224
rating: G
summary: Futurefic. Tezuka and Ryoma meet again, and they have a conversation, in their way.
notes: I wrote the beginning of this weeks ago, and the rest just came to me last night. Thanks to sparklespiff for the title and the word resentfully.
Center court after center court, from the US to France to Australia to Wimbledon, Ryoma hopes that maybe this time the person across the net will make him stop pretending to play against Tezuka. He finds the Zone easily, stares aggressively at his phantom opponent. "Come on, buchou," he says quietly, "break it. Make me work for it."
So far, he's won three Grand Slams and no one has yet come close.
---
On his 21st birthday, Ryoma receives a card in the mail. I hope to see you at the Open, it reads. Ryoma doesn't need to look at the return address to know who it's from.
---
They face each other in the finals. Of course, Ryoma thinks when he hears. Who else is good enough to beat buchou?
When their eyes meet across the net, it's like coming home, and they talk for the first time in years.
It's been too long, says Ryoma's twist serve.
Tennis isn't the same without you, answers Tezuka's return.
Why'd you ever let me go? asks Ryoma's cyclone smash, somewhat resentfully. Tezuka doesn't have an answer.
The match lasts for hours, each of them reaching higher and higher, pushing each other to their limits, and when it ends, Ryoma falls to the ground, staring up at Tezuka like he's 12 again, and it's the best he's ever felt.
pairing: Tezuka/Ryoma
words: 224
rating: G
summary: Futurefic. Tezuka and Ryoma meet again, and they have a conversation, in their way.
notes: I wrote the beginning of this weeks ago, and the rest just came to me last night. Thanks to sparklespiff for the title and the word resentfully.
Center court after center court, from the US to France to Australia to Wimbledon, Ryoma hopes that maybe this time the person across the net will make him stop pretending to play against Tezuka. He finds the Zone easily, stares aggressively at his phantom opponent. "Come on, buchou," he says quietly, "break it. Make me work for it."
So far, he's won three Grand Slams and no one has yet come close.
---
On his 21st birthday, Ryoma receives a card in the mail. I hope to see you at the Open, it reads. Ryoma doesn't need to look at the return address to know who it's from.
---
They face each other in the finals. Of course, Ryoma thinks when he hears. Who else is good enough to beat buchou?
When their eyes meet across the net, it's like coming home, and they talk for the first time in years.
It's been too long, says Ryoma's twist serve.
Tennis isn't the same without you, answers Tezuka's return.
Why'd you ever let me go? asks Ryoma's cyclone smash, somewhat resentfully. Tezuka doesn't have an answer.
The match lasts for hours, each of them reaching higher and higher, pushing each other to their limits, and when it ends, Ryoma falls to the ground, staring up at Tezuka like he's 12 again, and it's the best he's ever felt.