Happily Ever After

Day Three – A Late Night Confrontation


“Get in,” said Tezuka as he lifted the blanket for Ryoma.

Ryoma climbed into the blanket reluctantly and lay down. Tezuka made sure that Ryoma was comfortable before he pulled the blanket up his chin, tucking him in like a mother would.

“Goodnight,” said Tezuka as he turned around.

“Wait, captain.” Ryoma sat up and caught Tezuka’s hand.

Tezuka turned back to look at Ryoma. Ryoma averted his eyes to avoid Tezuka’s questioning gaze. Tezuka sighed and sat down beside Ryoma; then waited patiently.

“Captain, I’m sorry.”

“Never mind,” replied Tezuka. “I know Haruya really scared you. You didn’t mean it.”

“No, no.” Ryoma said quickly, “I don’t mean what happened just now. It was just that I’m apologizing for whatever I did to upset you.”

Unknowingly, Ryoma started to use his finger to trace the bruises on his right wrist.

“Was it me?” asked Tezuka as he took Ryoma’s right wrist and inspected it.

Ryoma bit his lip.

“I should be the one apologizing,” said Tezuka softly, in a near gentle voice as he placed feather-like kisses on Ryoma’s wrist. “You did nothing to upset me.”

Ryoma blushed and took back his hand. Tezuka’s kisses felt like fire on his skin.

Tezuka moved forward and pulled Ryoma into his arms. He could feel the small boy in his arms tensing. He began to massage Ryoma’s back gently and mumbled softly, “Relax.”

Ryoma swallowed and tried his best to relax in Tezuka’s arms. Though he was feeling uneasy, he didn’t want to push Tezuka away. He could practically hear the beating of his heart in his ears. After a while, he finally found his voice, “So, you don’t dislike me?”

“I never did and never can. I was very fond of you. Too much until it was unreasonable,” confessed Tezuka. “What about you?”

“I can’t stand the thought of you disliking me.”

“And?”

“I don’t feel like myself whenever I’m around you.”

“May I kiss you?” asked Tezuka, tilting Ryoma’s head upwards.

“What?” Ryoma blushed more furiously.

“I take that as a yes.”

Tezuka pressed his lips against Ryoma’s. His kiss was feverish like he was going to devour all the air from Ryoma. Ryoma clutched the front of Tezuka’s shirt weakly with his eyes open. He could only watch as Tezuka attacked his lips.

“You should keep your eyes close,” Tezuka informed him.

Flabbergasted, Ryoma asked hesitantly. “Why did you kiss me?”

“Did you dislike it?” asked Tezuka, not answering his question.

“I hate it.” The blush on Ryoma’s face betrayed him. He buried his face into Tezuka’s chest, hiding his embarrassment.

“You are dishonest.” Tezuka smiled as he tightened his arms around Ryoma.

“Captain.” Ryoma looked up. “I still don’t know what is happening to me. I can’t understand why I am so weird while I’m around you.”

“I will explain to you soon. Now, it’s better to keep things this way.” Tezuka pressed a kiss on Ryoma’s forehead.

“So, I don’t need to do or know anything?” asked Ryoma. He then smidevidevilishly. “You are not suppose kis kiss me.”

“I don’t actually.” Tezuka averted his eyes. A faint blush tinted his cheeks.

“I like your kiss,” Ryoma said shyly. “And, I really like you,” Ryoma said quickly before he lay down and threw the blanket over his head.

Tezuka smiled and pressed a kiss on the blanket where Ryoma’s head was. “Good night.”

“Night.” Came the muffled reply of Ryoma from under the blanket.

Tezuka switched off the light and went out of Ryoma’s room. He was a bit surprised to see Haruka leaning aga the the wall outside his room.

“Asleep?” She asked.

Tezuka nodded.

“I forgot to give you this letter just now during dinner, our ex-neighbour: Aunt Ryoko found this letter sticking out from the letterbox at our old house and brought it over this evening.” She handed him a white envelope.

“Can’t you do it tomorrow morning?” asked Tezuka puzzled by her impracticality. The big sister of Tezuka Family was always practical and productive. Nevertheless, he still reached out to take the envelope from her hand.

“It’s from Futada.” She said after placing the envelope on Tezuka’s palm. She didn’t move her hand from his palm as if she was anticipating or waiting for something. She was waiting for his reaction.

“Thank you.” Tezuka said monotonously.

“I didn’t know you still kept in contact with her.”

“Goodnight,” said Tezuka as he turnrounround to turn the doorknob of the door to his room.

“Are you avoiding?” asked Haruka demandingly.

“Why should I? Just that there’s nothing more to say.” Tezuka opened the door.

“What about Ryoma, there’s something going on between both of you,” Haruka said in a matter-of-course voice.

Tezuka flinched slightly but visibly. “Give me some time to sort things out first.”

“Okay.” Haruka patted his shoulder several times and sighed before she walked away. “Goodnight.”

Tezuka closed the door behind him and let out a sigh. He threw himself onto the bed and lay face-down on his pillow, thinking and analysing his current situation.

After he kissed Ryoma just now, he was very much sure that he had fallen in love with that boy: his younger stepbrother, but that’s not the main point for him. The main problem now was: whether he was going to commit a relationship with Ryoma or leave the situation idly like this and forget about it.

~ Why did you kiss me? ~

He was in doubt, so he didn’t tell Ryoma about his newly-found realisation. The realisation of loving him. After that ‘incident’ a year ago, he knew that he wasn’t a good lover, a complete failure.

He turned around and stared at the ceiling: his unhappy memories and the cute face of Ryoma came to haunt him alternately. He continued brooding until it was morning. He made his decision finally when the first ray of light shone into his room.

He got up to wash and prepare for the day.

~Kitchen~

“Good morning, you are up early today,” greeted Haruka. She had two eggs in her hand. “Scrambled eggs?”

Tezuka nodded.

“It’ll be ready in a moment, please wake your sisters and Ryoma. Thank you,” Haruka turned around and continued with her cooking.

Tezuka stood there, refrained from moving.

“Is there a problem?”

“I’ve decided.”

“So, your decision is?” asked Haruka gently.

“I love Ryoma and I want to be with him,” confessed Tezuka certainly.

“Are you sure?”

Tezuka nodded.

Haruka raised her hand and ruffled his hair. “My little brother now has finally grown up.”

“What about you?”

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“What do you think about this?”

She smiled. “I give you all my blessings and I respect your choice.”

“Thank you.”

“But, you have to think about a reason to explain to our parents why you swept Ryoma off his feet while they were away.” She started laughing.

Tezuka frowned, he had completely forgotten about his parents.


~Love is blind, confusing and forgetting everything~


A quote by the authoress
2nd April 2003.


Authoress words: Gomen, gomen, I knew I took too long to update but pls be considerate; I am busy with school-works and presentation and everything. I practically don’t have time to do anything else nowadays.

I began to think that business studies will be my favourite subject. ^o^ Though I hate presentations.

Anyway, I’m a little off topic now, haha. I changed the title because I think that the new title suits the story better.

Beware, the plot is getting intricate. A ‘girl’ is going to appear next chapter. *Hint* Hint*

There’ll be slight yaoi hints between the *Golden Pair*

I’ll post the next chapter soon, most probably on Saturday!

Nowadays, it’s pretty depressing because of the war and the SARS disease. -_-

I wonder is there any Bruneians reading my fic. I can’t seem to find any yaoi-fangirls in Brunei! *_*

Lastly, pls read and review. If you really like the story please review it, it makes me happy.

Thank you Mi-Chan for reading the story since the beginning and had reviewed every time I update it. And many thanks to everybody who had reviewed.