Fic: Lessons, TezuRyo, 150 words

[alias]

I've been trying to write Tezuryo, and struggling with characterization, especially the way anime and manga Tezuka are actually not quite the same person, and with the differences in the Tezuka-Ryoma relationship. Anyway, I got out this drabble and a half today. Still not sure if this fits, but it's a start.


Lessons
The second time Tezuka goes to Kyuushuu to recover from an injury, he finally learns the lesson he’d tried to teach Momoshiro three years before. He learns to stop letting his shoulder take the strain of worrying about his elbow; his knee the strain of worrying about his ankle. He learns to stop thinking about parts of himself as weaker than others, and needing to be protected; he learns that he is stronger when all of him takes the burden, and so is his team.

He gets better, and he goes home. His first day back, at morning practice, he asks Echizen to play a match with him. On Saturday, at the clay courts where they played their first match, he kisses Echizen over the net after the first game (1-0, Echizen). They don’t finish their match. It doesn’t matter. They know there will be other days, and other matches.

Comments

[kallistei.livejournal.com]

The anime is definitely more focused on the Tezuka-Ryoma relationship, but the manga is readable in a Tezuryo light too. Also, the art becomes really very good. Re: Tezuka, more open doesn't mean he's actually open at all! And again, it's a matter of perspective. Because I read the manga first, I think I may actually see more in Tezuka in the anime than I might have otherwise. Similarly, because your Tezuka so far is the anime version, you may not think he's more open in the manga.