A Marui-based collection type thing of drabbles and short one-shots [mainly… I think].

You may want to know that there will often be Trick or Treat Pair [MaruixNiou] in here, but for the sake of the non-chronological and generally unrelated fics, the pairings will vary. Also, I'll be using Sandileina's naming system [Maru, Haru and Mura] often [because pet names are an addiction/fetish of mine ^-^] so kudos to her for that snippet of genius.

Now~

Warning: PoT, often yaoi, randomness, sugar and Niou :D (Don't like it? Leave.)

Disclaimer: Fuji told me that it's best if I don't let Niou steal PoT ownership rights off Takeshi Konomi for me, and Mura-buchou reminded me of the last time one of his plans backfired… so, basically, I don't own the characters, anime or anything officially PoT, and I'm not likely to anytime soon, thanks.

Now, go! Fly my Pretties!-err, I mean read… please?

Lifeline

People always asked the self-proclaimed tensai for the reason why he ate so many sweets. They said he should stop, that it would make him sick, fat, stupid.

Everyone gave the third-year strange looks when he got extremely possessive over the stashes of sugary snacks he always kept, wondering why he panicked so, if he found even a few had disappeared.

They just didn't get it.

Ever since he was young the redhead had been sick. Crippling headaches, upset stomachs, constant dizzy spells and weakness, he hid it well, and bore it as best he could. But there were times when he couldn't take it, and he did everything possible to stop the illness, the pain, but the problem never went away.

Aspirins and medicines all lost effect, doctors turned him away or shrugged him off, he was otherwise perfectly healthy, there was nothing they could do, he wasn't their problem. He really had tried everything, but in the end, nothing ever helped.

Now, Marui tended to snack when stressed, and, as he never really felt substantial foods were fit for 'snacks', the volley specialist often found himself with sweets in his hands, and that's how he noticed.

Sweets, all those things so full of sugar, seemed to almost ward off the pains, not gone, no, never gone, but distanced, just far enough to be bearable. Sugar became his support, his almost-antidote, which kept him sane and kept him going.

Everyone would comment on Marui's 'diet', but they didn't see, they didn't know.

His 'diet' had become his drug. His lifeline.

The sweets got him through the day, and that was what mattered. No-one got that. Of course, how could they? Even his parents thought he was fine; they saw pains that had haunted him through his childhood had faded and they soon stopped paying attention.

This said, it makes sense why the red-haired boy panics if something happens to his precious snacks, or if the pains seem to intensify in some way. Nothing that helped had lasted this long before, and so he clung, terrified.

Because Marui was afraid that one day, his lifeline would break.

Hope you like! Feedback, requests and ideas are all loved =] I have the next chapter ready to be typed up, so it'll be here soon.

Thanks,
blue