I'm thinking. I should try new things more often. After all, life is only this short. :O. therefore, I am going to try and see if it is possible to stay alive while I dig my heart out. And give it to Bunta. :S. who, btw, i realise is quite cute with Niou too.

(I'm kidding, of course. Not about the one with Niou. oh, but i am thinking of trying contact lenses.)

I apologise for any spelling and grammar errors, cause it's 1am and i'm tirrrrrreeeeeed. _ .

It was not Marui's day at all, and, of course, he was in the worst mood. Home-to-school's weather was an asshole. It was pouring cats and dogs, and Marui was drenched head to toe by the time he was at school despite having an umbrella. Not to mention that his umbrella broke due to the abnormally strong winds that were cursed repeatedly at by the redhead. At school, Niou was being a completely asshole, too. He'd chosen that very fateful day to set up a prank on Marui, which, unfortunately for him, earned him a punch and an extremely infuriated teammate.

Then, as if the gods were completely against him, it began raining as crazy as it was that morning on Marui's trip back home. He had to deal with his only spoilt umbrella. He also forgot his keys, so he had to wait outside the house for one hour, before he called his parents, only to be reminded that he was supposed to go his aunt's at Tokyo that day. He kicked the door in utter frustration, only to end up with an extremely sore foot which did not help his mood at all.

With a look of complete rage, his eyes glaring at every single person who came in his way, he got on the train, irritatedly criticising each person who was sitting down. He was tapping his feet in impatience, when a familiar voice called out to him as he was about to reach his station.

"Marui-kun!" A blonde-haired boy was trotting towards him and Marui gave an annoyed sigh but forced a smile. "What are you doing here? I thought you lived in the Kanagawa region?"

Marui had an overwhelming urge to snap that it was none of his business and leave him along, but he took a deep breath and replied, "I'm going to my aunt's." Deep breath.

"This is so cool! I never thought I'd meet you here!" Akutagawa was gushing rather excitedly, completely oblivious to the shorter boy who was radiating a menacing aura. Marui forced a smile. "How long will you be in Tokyo? Hey, I can introduce some sweets shops to you if you want!"

"Just the weekend. That's great, but..." Marui gestured meaningfully though he was not really sure what to reason. But it seemed like Akutagawa got the idea. Well, an idea.

"Yeah, a weekend's too short... Maybe you should come again! It'll fun, you know! Recently, I went to this really yummy store that sells really yummy donuts! Maybe I could bring you there or I could-"

"Look! I don't need you to do anything, just shut up and leave me alone!" Marui had reached his limit after listening to Akutagawa's rant. He shrunk away in shock and regret, and the look on his face almost made Marui feel bad. But a bad mood Marui was as cold as ice. Akutagawa muttered a soft apology and sidetracked to the other side of the train, feeling terrible.

"Shit. I can't believe I did that. Shit, shit, shit!" Marui was muttering to himself during class on Monday. He'd suddenly remembered about what'd happened on the previous Friday and he was feeling beyond bad.

"Puri. What's up? Can't believe that you punch me and tossed my things out the window?" Niou asked in curiousity as he approached Marui.

"I did that?" Marui looked up at Niou in confusion, then remembered. "Oh, I did. Nice job, Bunta," he patted himself on the back with a grin. But the grin was immediately wiped away. "No, I met Jirou when I was going to my aunt's."

"So... You can't believe you met him?"

"No, I... Kinda snapped at him. Pretty coldly," Marui explained, looking rather sheepish.

"Woah, why? He's pretty cool."

"I don't know. Arghhh, I guess I was just frustrated and pissed at the day. So maybe I took it out on him."

"Wow, he must've taken it really harshly, since he admires you and all..." Niou was clearly enjoying this after being hit on the previous Friday.

"Shit! I'd forgotten about that. Now what am I supposed to do?" Marui was practically screaming.

"How should I know?" Niou shrugged, then gestured towards their fellow teammate who was walking towards them. "Ask him."

"What's up?" Jackal asked as he came nearer. Marui practically pounced on him.

"Jackaaaaaal. What should I dooooo?"

"Huh?"

"He scolded that Akutagawa guy from Hyotei," Niou explained simply, popping a sweet into his mouth.

"Akutagawa Jirou? Really- oh. Last Friday?" Jackal had remembered Marui's bad mood. He was the victim of his rants that day. Marui groaned.

"What did I do to you?"

"You were yelling at me about your - I quote - 'utterly horrendous shit of a day'. You were pretty exasperated, it was funny to watch, kinda." Jackal chuckled in amusement as he recalled Marui's 'black friday'.

"Oh. I'm sorry," Marui grinned sheepishly. "But! Back to Jirou. What the hell am I supposed to do? I would apologise but it's not like Hyotei's near here. Oh, by the way, what else did I do...? Do I want to ask this?"

"Then go there. Oh, I'll need a whole list for this!" Niou grinned smugly. "Let's see, let's start from the morning shall we? First, you flung your umbrella on a random girl, to which Jackal had to apologise to for you, then you snapped at the teachers during class. But they were pretty understanding when I said you were having your period. Just kidding." Niou quickly added in when Marui was about to run to the teachers to clear the misunderstanding.

"Then, you grabbed my wallet and bought yourself a bun during break. Not to mention you cut the extremely long queue and kicked someone's leg which was blocking yours. After break, during practice, you threw Sanada's cap to the ground and stepped on it when he told you to run laps after you screamed at Mura to 'bite you' when he told you to calm down," Niou was counting off his fingers, clearly enjoying the flabbergasted expression of the redhead who occasionally looked to Jackal for comfirmation.

"Then you tried to snatch people's umbrella and screamed at anyone who was in the way. Then, the highlight of the day, you scolded Akutagawa for no reason!" Niou cheered, "Which by the way, you should go and apologise to personally."

Marui looked like he was about to cry. "They understand, right? Surely they knew I wasn't myself then! No one's gonna come after me, right?" He grabbed on to Jackal's shirt, cornering him to reply, and he had no choice but to nod weakly. "But Hyotei's far!" He turned to Niou after he was satisfied with Jackal.

"That's not a very good excuse after shocking the poor guy," Niou stated matter-of-factly. Marui glared at him, because he knew he was right.

"But... But it's so awkward!" He whined. Niou simply raised eyebrow as if to repeat what he'd said earlier on. "Fine. Fine!"

"I can't believe I let Niou persuade me to come all the way here," Marui was muttering to himself. He was outside Hyotei, staring at the abnormally huge school(?). "What if he has something on? Gosh, why didn't I think this through? I should've just called him up or something." Marui smacked himself on the forehead, sighing deeply.

"Hey, that red hair. Isn't that the gumboy from Rikkai?" Marui froze at the vaguely familiar voice. He spun around to see the gang of Hyotei tennis regulars, excluding Atobe and Akutagawa.

"Crap."

"What are you doing here?" Mukahi - was it? Marui wasn't sure - asked in group stopped when they neared him.

"Um. I'm looking for Ji- Akutagawa."

"He's sleeping by the courts," Shishido gestured, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at Marui. "What do you want with him?"

"Um. Nothing much."

"This is great! Akutagawa-senpai has been sad all day. Seeing you will bring his mood up!" Ootori was smiling kindly. Marui felt really bad, knowing that that was completely untrue. Marui would be the last person Akutagawa wanted to see.

As the Hyotei students left, Marui began walking in, uncertain about where the tennis courts were. He managed to find it, though. After half of a (freaking) hour. Akutagawa was, as said, lying on the platforms next to the courts, asleep. Marui walked over, smiling at the fact that the boy really did sleep everywhere. He decided to let Akutagawa sleep for a while longer, after which he would wake up. But another half an hour had passed and Akutagawa was clearly deep in sleep, not seeming to want to wake up any time soon.

Marui looked at Akutagawa from time to time, thinking that the blonde boy - who was now drooling - was quite cute, sleeping like a toddler. He poked his cheek, and Akutagawa's eyes slowly opened, gazing around until he caught sight of Marui and sat up in alarm.

"Ma-Marui-kun! Wha-what are you doing here?" Akutagawa spluttered in completely surprise.

"He-hello," Marui smiled, then there was an awkward silence, in which Akutagawa seemed to want to say something but thought twice of it, before he jumped up saying that he would get drinks for them both.

"Here," he handed a grape Ponta to Marui, and he smiled and thanked him. Then came another awkward silence. Marui sighed.

"Listen," he began, feeling a bit nervous, "I was in a terrible mood that day! I really didn't mean whatever I said. Really. I was not thinking right... It was a really terrible day..." He was feeling stupid for being so awkward. He'd planned the entire speech in his head on the way here, after all. But it seemed that it was different apologising to the actual person rather than a pillar. Akutagawa seemed surprised, but gave a tiny, unsure laugh.

"It... It's alright!"

"Really! I even punch Niou and threw his things out of window, for God's sake! Oh, and I even told Yukimura to 'bite me'." Marui felt like he had the need to elaborate more. Akutagawa let out a louder laugh, and Marui relaxed. It was calming, listening to that boy's innocent and angelic laughter.

"It's okay already, Marui-kun."

"Oh, by the way, you don't have to add a '-kun' to my name... 'Bunta' is fine. It sounds tiring saying 'Marui-kun' every time. Besides, I call you 'Jirou' anyway." He smiled.

"Eh?" Akutagawa's eyes widened in complete surprise. "O-okay... Bu-Bunta... Kun?"

"That's fine, too," Marui laughed, then got up, throwing his juice can into the nearest bin. "You free? Wanna bring me to the shops you were talking about that day?"

Akutagawa's eyes glowed. "Okay! Here, here!" He threw his juice can away before directing Marui out of the school.

"Yuuuum!" Marui cried out with a mouthful of strawberry shortcake while Akutagawa looked exceptionally pleased with himself. He wasn't lying though, the cake really was good. "I see you've gotten my good taste buds!" Akutagawa laughed as Marui gave a quick wink.

"The cheesecake here is good too! But I think that has to wait for next time," Akutagawa beamed, gesturing to three empty plates.

"Yeah... I need to bring Jackal here. I don't have enough money."

"Shall we leave? It's getting late and the train ride back won't be short, wouldn't it?" He offered, and they got up. Jirou gushed, "I can't believe Marui-kun came all the way to Tokyo for me!" This was when Marui suddenly realised exactly what he had done.

"Ye-yeah..." Marui felt embarrassed and he could feel his cheeks burning. Wha... Am I blushing?! He looked away immediately.

"Marui-ku- Ah, Bunta-kun?" Akutagawa glanced at him, worried. "What's wrong?" Then he saw Marui's face. "Your face is the same color as your hair! Are you alright?"

"Yea-yeah..." Marui looked further away, feeling his blush deepening. Why the hell am I blushing?! God, I hate myself. Akutagawa grinned, in slight understanding.

"Bunta?" Marui jumped at that. It was the first time Akutagawa addressed him without honorifics. Marui glanced at his face for a slight moment, only to be met by a set of lips pressed against him for a slight moment which Marui felt like it was forever. Something inside him fluttered. Akutagawa pulled away, a light blush on his cheek and a gentle grin on his face. "Thank you."

Marui stiffened for a moment, his eyes wide, then looked away. "U-um... Yeah..." He glanced around and sighed in relief. There was no one around.

"If you walk straight here, you'll reach the train station. My house is right here," Akutagawa gestured to a light blue house with a white roof by the corner, and smiled at Marui.

"Okay..." Marui still did not dare look at Akutagawa in the eye. He started walking away, but said a quick bye-bye before leaving. Once he was out of sight, Marui leaned against a nearby wall, feeling his knees going all wobbly. He felt weird, and he knew Akutagawa felt it too. Probably. He thought through about what just happened. Just thinking about it made him feel a sort of happy feeling. He walked slowly towards the train station, still feeling his cheeks burn.

The next day was a pretty boring day. But for Marui, he was still thinking about the previous day, this time in utter confusion. It was break time, and he was mumbling to himself.

"But why? I'm not gay. At least. I don't think I am..." Marui was staring out of the window and at the cloudy sky.

"You're gay?" Niou popped out and asked in amusement.

"Wha!" Marui fell of the chair in surprise. "Don't do that!"

"Do what? You were thinking so hard that you didn't see me coming." Niou smirked, then handed him a juice packet.

"Huh?" Marui glared at the juice packet suspiciously as he got back on his chair. "Is that poisoned?"

"It's from them," Niou gestured to a bunch of giggling girls who giggled more at the mention of them.

"Oh," Marui poked the straw in, "thanks!" He called out to the giggling bunch of girls who then giggled more, and blushed. At this, Marui was suddenly reminded of the previous day with Akutagawa, and he quickly looked away, feeling his cheeks flush.

"Hey," Niou looked at Marui's face closely, "are you blushing?"

"Am not!" Marui exclaimed indignantly, but Niou had caught sight of the now disappearing red.

"Ooo, the girls over there suit your tastes?" Niou grinned smugly. Marui frowned at this. girls?

"Right," he rolled his eyes.

"Oh, by the way, how was your apology with Akutagawa?"

"Ah. It was fine," Marui said casually, trying his best not to remember anything about it and not to blush. He never knew that he was one to blush so easily. Only Akutagawa did that to him.

"I see," Niou muttered, edging back to his seat as the teacher walked in. Marui simply sighed in relief at end of the interrogations which he feared would not end up well.

That day at practice, he received very threatening glares from Sanada and very sickeningly sweet smiles from Yukimura. "Sorry, Mura!" Marui exclaimed nervously as Yukimura and Sanada walked closer. "And Sanada too!"

"'And Sanada too'?"

"You know what I mean. Heheh..."

Yukimura had simply laughed. Then the day of practice quickly came to an end. Marui walked out of school with Jackal, thinking partly about Akutagawa and whether he should go find him. But, for what? Marui simply wanted to see him, and he was feeling like a complete fool for being like that.

"You all right, Bunta?" Jackal asked in the slightly concerned way when he noticed that the redhead was quieter than usual. He gave a weak nod, still amidst his thoughts which were broken when Jackal said, "Hey, isn't that Akutagawa?"

"Huh? Where?" Marui immediately looked up, holding in a burst of excitement and happiness. Then, he caught sight of the boy who was leaning on the school gates. "Jirou!"

"Ma- Bunta-kun!" Akutagawa smiled and waved at the approaching redhead. Jackal looked at Marui in surprise.

"'Bunta'? Since when does he call you that?"

"Shu- shut up. Hey, Jackal, I'll catch up with you later on, alright?" Marui waved at Jackal for a moment and went over to Akutagawa. "Jirou?"

He gave a smile. "Bunta-kun, are you free?"

"Yeah..." Marui was trying to suppress his glee, but couldn't help smiling. But he felt a bit scared, that Akutagawa might not feel the same way. Besides, he wasn't even sure of his feelings yet.

"Let's go somewhere," he was looking down, and Marui realised that he was slightly blushing.

"Okay!"

"Really? Yay! Marui-kun agreed!" Akutagawa lit up, then quickly added, "I mean, Bunta-kun."

"So... Where do you want to go?" Marui asked casually as they were strolling outside the school. Akutagawa looked dumbfounded for a minute, as if he hadn't thought it through. Marui chuckled, "Wanna go walk in the park for a moment?" When Akutagawa nodded happily, Marui led them both to the park, ranting as they walked, afraid that it would be awkward if he stopped.

"Wah, there's a tennis court here!" Akutagawa noted, as he and Marui watched some tennis players rally. Marui nodded. They both studied intently at the sport they both loved the most. "Wahhh! Awesome! Isn't that Seigaku's Fuji-kun?"

"Ah, now that you mention it..." Marui spotted the brunette wiping himself with a towel by the courts, with Saeki from Rokkaku. From what he knew, they were childhood friends.

"Fuji-kun!" Before Marui could react, Akutagawa darted towards the genius. He couldn't help a grin tug on his lips at Akutagawa's enthusiasm. He was pretty much unconsciously harassing the Seigaku player, but Fuji had regained his calm and was taking Akutagawa's flow of compliments easily now.

"Hello, Akutagawa. What are you doing here?" Fuji was asking Akutagawa, with a rather amused Saeki watching. As the blonde happily responded, Marui approached, ready to take Akutagawa away from the interruption. "Ah, Marui-kun."

"Bunta-kun?" Akutagawa questioned, a look of confusion, as Marui dragged him from the courts. "H-hey, Bunta-kun." His voice was now full of concern, " Are-are you angry?" At that, Marui spun around to face Akutagawa.

"N-no. I just... Well, we shouldn't bother them, now," he reached up and was playing with his red hair, displaying a slight nervousness. Akutagawa smiled.

"Okay, Bunta-kun!"

They walked in the park, filling the silences with meaningless over-enthusiastic conversations.

"Hey, Jirou. Why do you sleep so much...? I mean, like, is there a special reason? Or you just sleep," Marui was asking, this he was slightly interested in knowing the answer. Unless, of course, it was as simple as he just wanted to sleep.

Akutagawa hesitated. He'd never told anybody the real reason before, except for his family, and Atobe probably knew by now, and some of his teammates. It wasn't that big a deal, though, but he was hesitant in telling Marui. "Well... Normally I would say that I just like to sleep... But... Since it's Mar-Bunta-kun asking me... Well, you could say I'm insomniac."

"Insomniac?"

"Yeah. I mostly can't sleep at night, so I sleep in the day. Sometimes I think I might be nocturnal..."

Marui gave a short laugh. "I see." Then there was a long, thoughtful silence, then-

"Ah! What a beautiful feather!" Akutagawa was leaning against a chair, picking up a multi-coloured feather. Marui laughed at the how random it was. Akutagawa grinned mischievously, then caught up with Marui, the feather still in his hands. When Marui turned away, Akutagawa brushed the feather against Marui's neck, causing him to flinch only slightly, with no other reactions when Akutagawa was tickling his neck.

"Hey!" Marui exclaimed, brushing the feather away.

"Awesome, Mar-Bunta-kun, you're not as sensitive at your neck, huh?" Akutagawa smiled, withdrawing his hand. Marui just laughed and turned away again. This time, Akutagawa lifted the feather to brush Marui's ear, not expecting much response, but surprise-surprise. The moment the feather touched Marui's ear, he yelped and jumped away from Akutagawa, his hand darting up to guard his ear.

"Ah! He-hey, what?!" Marui flushed.

Akutagawa was rather surprised at Marui's change in behaviour. "Wah! Bunta-kun, your ears are really sensitive, huh!" Akutagawa grinned widely, then Marui quickly turned away, hand still guarding his ear. He wanted to change the subject, quick.

"Jirou, what do you think of me?" He suddenly remembered wanting to ask such a question, and braved himself. There was a stunned silence from Akutagawa, and Marui glanced at him. He almost snickered at his bewildered expression.

"Eh-eh?! Ah. Um..." He stuttered, taken off guard by Marui's question. Then, barely half a minute, he seemed to relax slightly, taking a deep, long breath. He leaned in towards Marui, and just as Marui turned to wonder what was going on, he planted a light, short kiss on his lips. He pulled away quickly, a red tinge on his cheeks. "I... It's slightly embarrassing to say..."

Marui was stiff after receiving a surprise kiss from Akutagawa. "Ah... I see..." A smile slowly tugged on his lips. "Me, too, if you're saying what I think you're saying. But I think whatever you're saying it's the same too, or- forget, it's embarrassing." He was blushing slightly when he noticed Akutagawa's gaze on him. Akutagawa was smiling so wide.

"Really, really?" Akutagawa leaned closer, the grin still on his face. Marui could feel his breath, and shuddered as a chill ran down his spine. Somehow, Akutagawa got the courage. He leaned closer towards Marui, who quickly turned away in embarrassment, and whispered into his ear. "I love you, Bunta." And then a lick on his ear.

Marui had stiffened at the confession, but the moment he felt a tongue on his ear, he darted to one side, yelping in surprise. He hastily looked around, to find out that there was nobody. Well, it was after all, a weekday. Nobody usually comes on weekdays, especially to such a deep part. He was completely red, and Akutagawa laughed.

"I love you, Bunta."

Marui froze again, turning even redder, and this time, was met with a kiss on the lips. It was nothing French, it was a simple, innocent kiss. Neither of them would probably be able to manage otherwise, maybe. But it made his heart fly, and his stomach flutter with joy. If this is how it felt to kiss Akutagawa, he wanted to kiss him forever. It was intense, firm, but gentle.

As they pulled away, they were smiling, grinning at each other, their cheeks red. Marui was happy. He lips curved upwards, and whispered, soft enough so that no one could hear, loud enough so that Akutagawa could hear.

"I love you, too."

They're cute, aren't they. I always thought of them as a subtle, gentle kind of couple. c: