Just Add Bubblegum and Rhythm

Pop!

Kamio was abruptly brought back to reality by the loud popping sound, and blinked a few times to register his surroundings. Right in front of him, currently licking his cherry red lips free of apple gum, was a bubblegum pink haired boy. He was reaching out a hand for Kamio to shake, and around them the crowd was murmuring loudly. Confused Kamio glanced over to the sidelines and caught sight of his team. Tachibana was giving him a strange look, Shinji remained as apathetic as ever and the rest of Fudomine looked either amused or concerned. Kamio glanced back to the pink haired boy.

"Since when do you play singles?" He hissed out angrily, ignoring the out stretched hand. Another happy pop echoed over the court, and Marui smirked through gum coated lips.

"Since right now. Scared, Akira?" His tongue darted out to collect the strands of sticky chewing gum. Kamio growled and snatched the lightly tanned hand.

"You wish, let's go." Marui winked and leaned closer to Kamio, pulling the shorter boy to him and almost brushing their lips together. His eyes sparkled seductively.

"I thought you'd never ask…" The look on Tachibana's face at the display was most definitely an experience that cannot be bought with a MasterCard.

-

Kamio Akira was beyond angry. Anything that could go wrong today had gone wrong, and then some. He was currently making his way home in the torrential downpour minus his umbrella (which was sitting happily safe and dry in his bedroom), wearing Shinji's school uniform jacket as his own had been ruined during a stair related accident on the way to tennis practice that had resulted in the sprained wrist he was clutching painfully to his chest.

Despite his mind screaming it was a bad idea he was running in an attempt to avoid getting completely drenched. Knowing today's luck he was likely to run into a lamp post or get involved in a car accident or run into…

"Ouch, hey watch where you're going!" Kamio ignored the annoyed voice as he tried to pick himself up off the slippery pavement. He had apparently run into someone, a very loud someone. He glanced up to see that whoever he had run into had got the better deal; they were already standing up. Kamio pushed the soppy hair from his eyes and blinked up through the thick film of rain.

He vaguely recognised the uniform the figure was wearing as that of a rival school tennis team's, but couldn't place it. The bright yellow was certainly distracting, though, and Kamio idly wondered if the colour had been picked to purposely put the opponent off their game. The yellow blob knelt down next to him and pointed an accusing finger in his direction, apparently immune to the fact that it was raining so heavily.

"Hey, aren't you going to apologise or anything? You could've killed me how fast you were running! Pedestrians should abide to the speed limit too you know!" Kamio pushed him aside and shakily stood up, noting that the fall had jarred his wrist. He tried to walk around the crouched figure and continue on his way, but the yellow clad boy sprang up and jumped in front of him, intent on not letting him get away. Kamio was getting even angrier.

"Get out of my way; I'm really not in the mood." He feigned right and dove left past the other boy, who made a mad grab for his arm. His right arm. Kamio yelped and crumpled to the floor, leaving the boy to retract his hand as if he'd been scolded. He crouched down again though spoke a little more softly this time.

"You okay? I didn't mean to actually hurt you, I just wanted you to apologise for running me down…Hey, are you listening to me?" Kamio grit his teeth and stood up again, staggering slightly as he rose. The boy steadied him and wrapped an arm around his waist to guide him. "You need help getting home?" Kamio shook his head and attempted to pull away, but pain stabbed through his wrist and he felt a wave of dizziness wash over him. He fell into the boy who giggled and replaced his arm around his waist.

"Well, I can't guess where you live. I can't really leave you here on the ground either, though. Look, I need to go shopping quickly and then I'm heading home. Nobody will be there so you can dry up and call someone to come and get you. How does that sound?" Kamio scowled but said nothing, the blinding pain was making it difficult for him to think clearly and help getting home would probably be his safest option. He followed as they briskly made their way to a small supermarket.

Kamio shook the water droplets from his hair as soon as they entered, and began wringing the excess water from his hair and clothing. The boy next to him was doing the same but recovered more quickly as he was wearing only the shirt and shorts from his uniform and his hair was shorter. He wandered off for a basket but returned quickly. He gave Kamio a quick look over and began walking towards the nearest aisle. Just as Kamio started to follow the boy stopped dead in his tracks and twirled around, a mixed look of shock and abashment spread over his face. He stuck out his left hand and grinned.

"I completely forgot about introductions. We can't go shopping and spend the afternoon together calling each other 'you', can we?" Kamio shrugged, and took the offered hand wearily.

"I'm Kamio Akira, from Fudomine." The boy nodded and took in the uniform Kamio was wearing.

"Well I'm Bunta Marui, from Rikkaidai. Are you a part of your tennis team? Your name sounds familiar…" Kamio nodded and retracted his hand.

"Vice captain." Marui nodded, impressed. He swung the basket in his hand and guided Kamio through the aisles towards the small patisserie at the back. Kamio watched Marui almost drool at the selection of French iced cakes on display, but to his confusion they bypassed the pre-made cakes and moved on to the adjourning aisle.

Marui released his grip on Kamio and made his way to a shelf. He checked the expiration date on a pack of self raising flour before placing it in his basket. He sidestepped to the sugar and picked one of the packs that didn't have a tear and wasn't spilling granules over the floor. He twirled round and shot a smile at Kamio before picking out a selection of chocolate chip packets of varying flavours. He grabbed Kamio once again and pulled him down the aisle and into another.

"I'm pretty sure I have enough icing sugar and food colouring left. Just need to get some eggs and milk, they're over here I think…" They turned left into an aisle with a refrigerator; one side of which accommodated the various types of milk and juices, the other side shelved eggs. Marui expertly picked eggs and milk, and Kamio felt a great sense of respect for the boy; he'd never been able to understand the different types of milk at all. Milk was milk, right?

Finally they passed through the fruit and vegetables section. Considering the ingredients Marui had bought thus far Kamio assumed they were using this as a short cut to get to a check out, but Marui stopped at the chilled fruits and began sifting through the plastic boxes of berries.

"Mmm, strawberries. These ones look good, what do you think?" Kamio agreed that they looked nice, though wasn't really sure to what he should be comparing them. The mouldy blueberries in the section next to them, perhaps? He had no time to ponder this as the strawberries were nestled between the flour and the sugar and he was being gently dragged off again.

Now he expected to be led to the check outs but was surprised again when they turned into another section with an overpowering scent of disinfectant and toothpaste. A medical help desk sat in the middle and an elderly couple were arguing with the pharmacist over a prescription. Marui set the basket down and forced Kamio to peel his soaking wet sleeve back.

"You said you did this about an hour ago? It's really bruised up…" He frowned at the bruising and swelling before gently replacing the sleeve and ordering Kamio to keep it still. He picked up the basket and began weaving in and out of the small mini aisles. "I have ice at home, but I think we used the last of the bandages up…" He deposited a small cardboard package in the basket. "And you'll probably need some painkillers too. Are you allergic to anything?" Kamio shook his head and Marui selected a pack of ibuprofen. "Ibuprofen is a good anti-inflammatory, so it should be best."

Seemingly satisfied Kamio was led back down the aisle and finally towards the check outs. Marui grabbed a couple of packs of bubble gum from a stand by the tills and placed them on the conveyor belt. Kamio went to start helping him unpack but was swatted away.

"People with hurt arms don't unpack heavy food shopping." Chastised, Kamio simply watched as Marui unpacked the food, paid for it and repacked it all into two neat bags. Kamio didn't even try to take one of them; the glare Marui gave him when his gaze drifted to the bags was a sufficient deterrent. As he followed Marui through the shop he mentally calculated how much the pills and the bandages would come to, and estimated how much money he had in his pocket. The numbers didn't match up, and he wondered just when he should bring the issue of payment up.

By the time they were ready to leave the rain had let up a little, though the sky was already dark. They walked quickly, Kamio following Marui, their way illuminated by harsh yellow street lamps. They passed by the street tennis courts and Kamio wondered if practice had been cancelled due to the weather. Whenever it rained practice would always depend on Tachibana's mood; some days he'd say it's too dangerous to take the risk of them slipping and others he'd suggest it was good practice to get used to any and all conditions.

"Are you cold?" Kamio turned his attention from the courts to the pink haired boy who was now beside him. His hand had sneaked around Kamio's waist again. "You've gone really pale like you're going to faint. Are you okay? Want to sit down for a bit?"

"No, I'm fine." He tried to squirm free of the arm on his waist but found it wouldn't budge. Marui was clasping both bags in one hand and the other was keeping a good grip on him. "I can walk just fine on my own, you know." Marui raised an eyebrow but took the hint. He transferred the lighter bag to his left hand but kept in step beside Kamio.

Where Kamio would usually turn left they crossed the road and went right. Kamio tried to recall ever going this way before, but everyone he knew of on the Fudomine team lived left of the street courts.

He soon realised why.

The houses instantly detached from each other, and had big double width garages beside them. Lawns were all neatly mown and where there were walls surrounding gardens none of the bricks were missing or crumbling and there were no strange plants growing in the cracks of the driveways. The houses all had strange names instead of numbers, and expensive fountains and ornaments neatly decorated the gardens.

Apparently paying Marui back for the medical supplies wasn't going to be a number one priority.

Marui stopped outside a pair of wrought iron gates, and began searching his pockets for a key. He fumbled with the lock, cursing under his breath as the slippery wet metal padlock slipped from his fingers a few times before he controlled it enough to open in. He let Kamio through before snapping it locked behind them.

"You actually live here?" Marui grinned at Kamio's astonished expression and ushered him into the house, using another key from the same key-ring on the front door.

"Yes, well during school term time. We have a summer house in Kyoto that my parents and I retreat to during holiday seasons. And our American apartment in Los Angeles. And our English cottage in Norfolk is quite quaint." Kamio stared wide eyed as he absorbed this information. As Marui opened the door the luxurious décor flooded into view.

They removed their shoes and Kamio was handed a pair of spare house shoes. He was led through a long hallway past family portraits in handsome mahogany frames into a large brightly lit kitchen. Marui was already unpacking the shopping onto the big central table. He put the eggs and milk into the fridge and grabbed the bandage and tablets.

"Now, I think it's time we fixed your arm up before you damage it further. Our little 'encounter' can't have done it any good and you're holding it as if it's about to fall off." Marui opened the freezer door and produced a large bag of ice cubes. He poured a few in a sealable lunch bag and wrapped it in a tea towel. He ordered Kamio to sit on one of the chairs at the table and rest his arm with the ice. "You really should have done something about it sooner; the ice should have been applied immediately. Doesn't Fudomine teach you basic first aid?"

Kamio said nothing while he watched Marui dance around the kitchen filling a glass with water and removing two of the ibuprofen from the package. He held them out for Kamio to take with a smirk.

"Or I could put them in your mouth for you…" Kamio narrowed his eyes and snatched the pills with his left hand, awkwardly placing one on his tongue and quickly reaching for the water to wash it down with to avoid the taste. However the pill was pleasantly sweet. Marui seemed to sense this and sat down next to him flicking the package over in his hands.

"I like sweet things, so I got the ones that are coated in sugar. They taste better, and they're easier to swallow. You don't seem like the type to keep quiet for five minutes to swallow a pill so I thought they'd be best." Kamio stuck his tongue out and took the other pill in silence. He handed the empty glass to Marui who set it by the sink. He turned to study the red head and crinkled his nose in thought.

"You're too little." Kamio blinked, not sure whether to be offended or not. "They'll be a bit big for you, but you can borrow some of my clothes if you'd like." Marui wasn't put off in the slightest by the look of distaste on Kamio's face. "That is unless you'd like to sit there in dripping wet clothes? I'm not overly fond of the idea of you soaking the chair and floor through."

"I…urgh…" Before Kamio could protest Marui had bounced off and could be heard bounding up the stairs. Kamio was immediately reminded of Seigaku's Eiji Kikumaru, who seemed to have the same sort of boundless happy-go-lucky energy and need to touch and hug everything. Marui Bunta, unlike the sugary cute Kikumaru, had a tendency to be insulting and sarcastic. Kind of like an evil Kikumaru. Kamio had to stop himself laughing at the thought of Kikumaru with a pitch fork and horns.

A few minutes later Marui jumped down the stairs two at a time and entered the kitchen. He threw a pink towel over Kamio's head and began to rub the mess of hair dry. Kamio growled from under the towel.

"I can dry my own hair, thanks. Are you going to dress me too?" Marui shrugged and continued to dab at the silky red strands.

"Whatever turns you on." Kamio angrily shook Marui from his hair and tried to remove his school uniform jacket one-handed. Marui watched with amusement for a few minutes, stifling a laugh each time Kamio smiled when he managed to undo a button. "Guess you really are an invalid. Here, let me do it before you catch pneumonia."

"I would have managed eventually." Marui nodded, unconvinced, and gently pulled the jacket over his injured arm.

"I'm sure you would have." He spoke in a soft, patronising tone. Kamio growled and tried to remove his sodden wet trousers so as to avoid further embarrassment. "You needn't worry; I'm not going to dress you in one of our tennis uniforms; the yellow would clash horribly with your hair. I know it does with mine…" Kamio noted that Marui had changed out of his yellow top and white shorts. Instead the boy was wearing a pair of baggy cargo trousers and a long sleeved sweatshirt. Similar to the clothes he had set down on the table for Kamio.

"Thanks…" Kamio awkwardly dressed himself, and even found himself not complaining when Marui helped with the sweater which proved almost impossible to master one handed. He sat back down lest the trousers fall to his ankles. Marui hadn't been exaggerating; they swam around his waist. He was especially appreciative that Marui wasn't really making fun of him for all of this. Marui was only attacking when provoked.

"So, I'm going to make a cake. I would offer to let you join me, but I can't see you being too much help. Besides you should be resting your arm not stirring mixture. I promise you can taste it though! I can never resist eating some of the mix from the bowl…Jackal, my doubles partner, always makes fun of me for that." He grinned and began retrieving scales, bowls, spoons and ingredients setting them out and weighing them. Kamio noted that he hadn't once looked in a cook book for the quantities.

"Do you cook often? It's just that you seem to know what you're doing. I'd still be sitting by the oven looking for the temperature dial…" Kamio admitted, a slight blush staining his cheeks. Marui laughed and popped a bubble with the gum Kamio hadn't even realised was in his mouth. Talk about a sweet tooth; this guy was even more sweet-obsessed than Kikumaru!

"Yeah, well, just cakes and other sweet stuff. Cakes are my favourite and I have to make them so often so I can make them with my eyes closed. I can't do main dishes and savoury things. I can't see the point in them…they're no fun at all."

"Is this cake for a special occasion, then? Someone's birthday?" Marui shook his head and popped a heaped spoonful of pure sugar into his mouth, making Kamio wince.

"Nope. I just take a bit of cake every day to school for tennis practice. I eat it just before we start to conserve energy. I play quite an energetic form of tennis and I lose stamina quite easily. Eating sugar just before I play stops me from collapsing half way through."

"Really...?" Kamio made a mental note to buy some gum for himself. Maybe chewing the sugary substance throughout his matches would help with his own stamina.

-The Next Day-

"…"

"What?"

"…"

"WHAT?"

"…"

"Shinji, what's wrong?"

"…you're bubbling…"

"…"

-Pop-

"Yeah, but I'm feeling the rhythm!"

"…How can blowing bubbles make you so fast, I can't believe you beat me. Stupid gum. Maybe I should get some…"

-Back to present-

"So what's Fudomine like? I must admit I've head about your team and none of it's particularly nice. Then again I've heard what most people say about Rikkaidai and none of that's nice either. Most of it's untrue, too. I guess it's always best to hear from the students themselves, right?"

"I've heard plenty about your school. I assumed it was true; I mean you have been national champions for two years in a row. I heard your three main singles were demon worshippers…but I'm guessing that's not true…" Marui laughed and wiped at his eyes.

"No, no they're not. Yukimura worshipping demons is quite an amusing thought though…I hadn't heard that one. No, they're known as the 'Three Demons', but as far as I know that doesn't include actual worshipping. What they do behind closed doors, though, is their business. I wouldn't be surprised if Sanada was worshipping Yukimura…" Kamio blushed and decided not to follow that thought through and instead opted to answer Marui's initial question.

"Fudomine gets a lot of bad press from last years' team. The regulars were terrible; we never stood a chance against them until Tachibana came and changed everything." Kamio paused and glanced up. Marui was watching him and had stopped stirring the bowl.

"I heard you used to fight them, and that Tachibana hit a teacher." Kamio stared down at the floor, trying to concentrate on the stinging pain in his arm.

"…Yeah. He…we…it's complicated. The regulars used to push us around so much sometimes we had to fight back. Tachibana told us not to fight, but when it got too much he hit the manager. He almost got suspended but somehow he got through it. And we ended up making our own team. We're nothing like the trash that entered the years before. This is the new Fudomine." Marui blinked and suddenly remembered to start stirring again.

"I get it. I do. I can't even imagine a tennis team acting like that to its first years. My first year was so easy, and everyone kept encouraging me and telling me what a great Regular I'd make. It was all so easy for me." Kamio said nothing but heard the bowl being gently set down and felt a hand on his. "Nobody really thinks that about you; not after your performance so far this year. There's a lot of talk about how much Fudomine have improved…maybe you should listen out for the praise and not concentrate on all the negative stuff. You take things too seriously. Lighten up; like me!"

Framed by deep vibrant bubblegum pink hair and with a big grin Marui gave him a peace sign.

"I guess…" Marui nodded enthusiastically.

"Yup, oh, the cake! I'm never going to get this finished if you keep distracting me!" Marui winked at him and popped another bubble before turning back to the mixture. "So anyway, what's your favourite kind of cake? Mine is this recipe I found years ago for a strawberry chocolate chip sponge. Absolutely gorgeous. It's a plain sponge base with chocolate chips, and three layers with butter cream between them. Then you make a white icing to go on top and decorate it with pink icing florets. You cut up fresh strawberries to put on top and voila!" Marui finished stirring and selected milk chocolate chips. He tore the top off the packet and poured the chunks of chocolate in.

"That sounds nice, I like strawberries. My mum makes a great chocolate cake, but I can't make anything more than toast. Burnt toast." Marui smiled and ran his finger along the surface of the mixture, scooping up a few chocolate chips. He removed the green blob of bubble gum from his mouth and tasted the mixture.

"Yum…I can never decide which chocolate chips to use. So I always pick at random." He dipped his finger in again and licked delicately at a chip. "Today appears to be a milk chocolate day." Kamio watched the small tongue dart out at the remnants of mixture on his finger. He turned sparkling amethyst eyes towards Kamio, with a fresh scoop of mixture on his finger. "Wanna try some?"

Kamio scooped some from the bowl himself, ignoring the offered mixture. He licked at it delicately unaware he was almost exactly imitating Marui. Marui licked his own mixture while watching Kamio.

"This is really good; did they teach you this at Rikkaidai?" Marui shook his head and removed three circular tins from a cupboard.

"Self-taught chef. Though a chef that only knows how to make cake isn't really a chef, I suppose. Maybe if I learn more sweets I could become a pastry chef, but I don't think my team mates would appreciate me taking up cookery this close to the national finals." He placed the three tins in the oven and checked the time. Marui rooted through a cupboard for a few minutes and produced an opened pack of icing sugar. He set it down next to a small plastic bowl and returned to Kamio's side.

"How's your arm doing? You're still awfully pale. I can give you some paracetamol or something for the pain if it still hurts." Kamio shook his head, and watched as Marui sunk into the chair next to him. The pink haired boy removed the ice from his arm and gently unwrapped the bandage, wincing as the dark blue and black bruising came into view.

"Well, when I do something I like to do it right." Marui tried to smile, but stopped when he accidentally brushed against the swelling and caused Kamio to hiss in pain.

"You've really done a number on this; when's your next match?" Kamio shifted uncomfortably, trying to keep his arm still.

"…Wednesday." Marui let out a short hollow laugh.

"I don't think so. Did your captain see your arm? It hadn't been treated or anything. Did you even mention to him how badly you were hurt?" Kamio blushed and glanced to the tiled floor, at the patters of raindrops that had fallen before Marui had towelled his hair dry.

"I was kind of angry, I just said it hurt and asked to go home. He was angry, he said yes. Probably more to get rid of me than out of concern. I pissed off a lot of people today. Even Shinji…and he's really hard to annoy." Marui shrugged and rubbed his hand gently over the bruise, prodding it in several places to test reaction.

"You haven't annoyed me. In fact, I've kind of liked having you here." His voice was small, nothing like the vibrant confidence he had been bounding about with moments before. "My parents work late and I'm an only child. It's been fun, even if you can't do much with your arm banged up. Maybe you could come by some time when you're not injured and help me bake? I'll even let you have first taste…" Kamio felt himself smiling.

"I'd like that. Speaking of cake maybe you should check on yours before it burns." Marui's bright purple eyes flew open and he jumped up and over to the oven.

"Ooh, golden brown. Thanks for reminding me; I'd completely forgotten. I must have been lost in your eyes…" He removed the tins and emptied the three sponges onto cooling racks. "We make a great team! You can cook, see, you can be the timekeeper." He sat back down beside Kamio.

"I better re-wrap your arm before it gets wore. Try moving your fingers." Kamio complied, and managed to slightly twitch two of them. Marui frowned. "That's not good. You've hurt the wrist and the hand. Just how many stairs did you fall down, anyway?"

"The whole flight." Marui's eyes widened with shock and admiration. "With grace, I might add."

"I'm surprised you didn't break your neck." He instantly began scanning the skin that was visible on Kamio. "Speaking of, does anything else hurt? You'd have to be really lucky to get away with hurting only one arm after falling down a flight of stairs." Kamio brushed the silky auburn hair from his left eye, revealing a long thin gash that had stopped bleeding long ago and more deep bruising.

"Luckily my hair covers it up, so Tachibana and Shinji didn't see. There was a lot of blood and they'd have probably rushed me to hospital or something. I wasn't in the mood for their pity. I think I've probably got some bruises on my legs but it's not important." Marui frowned and retrieved a cloth from a packet under the sink. He dampened it with cool water and began dabbing at the dried blood around Kamio's forehead.

"They can't be very good friends if you'd hide something like this from them." He let the hair filter through his fingers and hide Kamio's eye. "Why do you hide away like that? Your eyes are so pretty, I always wished I had blue eyes. And such pale skin. How can you be so pale when you play tennis outside all year? You must have really terrific sun cream." Shrugging Kamio watched as the bandage was tied off and the ice gently placed on his wrist.

"I don't hide, I just avoid. There's a difference. Not a particularly obvious one, I'll admit." Marui grinned again and stood up, stretching out and yawning. He checked the clock and sighed.

"I can't believe how late it is. I should get started on the icing or I'll never finish in time for tomorrow." He turned back to Kamio, a wickedly seductive grin on his lips. "I told you that you were distracting."

Marui went through the motions of making butter icing and spread this on top of two of the circular cakes. He stacked them all neatly on top of each other and began preparing the top layer of icing. He separated a little of the mixture into a smaller bowl and added a few drops of red food colouring. He mixed the red swirls until it turned an even light pink, and smiled at his work.

"Now for the fun part." He expertly spread the white icing evenly over the top of the cake, and used a piping bag to make small flower-shaped blobs of pink around the edges. He washed all of the strawberries and chopped four in half, placing one half in each of the four pink florets. Then he placed three whole strawberries in the centre.

"Why do you go to all of this trouble if it's only for yourself?" Marui shrugged and stood back to admire the cake.

"I don't know. It's fun, I guess. As I said I have a lot of free time on my hands with no one to share it with. Why not spoil myself by making pretty cakes?" He grinned and cleared up the utensils, placing them all neatly by the sink. When he was finished he placed the cake carefully in the fridge and covered it with a clear plastic lid.

"I haven't even called my parents yet, they've probably called the police by now!" Marui ran out to the hallway and bounced back into the kitchen holding a cordless phone. He sheepishly handed it to Kamio.

"I guess we lost track of the time. I completely forgot about calling someone. Sorry." Kamio shook his head and began dialling his home phone number. He paused at the end, his finger hovering over the call button.

"So, what time are your parents coming home then?" Marui shrugged and glanced at the clock, the smile draining from his face the instant his parents were mentioned.

"They're usually home after I go to bed, so I don't really know. I think my mum gets home first though."

"Would they mind a guest?" The smile on Marui's face was blinding, as realisation dawned on him. He nodded his head enthusiastically and began checking the fridge and freezer mentioning something about heating a pizza for dinner. His decision made for him Kamio pressed call.

"Hi mum…yeah, sorry about that. I meant to call earlier but I've been busy…what? Shinji and Tachibana are there now? Um, tell them I'm really sorry for what I said and I'll make it up to Shinji tomorrow at school. Speaking of which can you give him an extra uniform to give me tomorrow? I'd like to stay at a friends' house as it's raining…Yeah, thanks. See you tomorrow." Marui watched with a smile, as soon as Kamio put the phone down he was bombarded with questions.

"What kind of pizza do you prefer? We have loads, so you can pick whatever you like. We have ice cream, too, but I think that should be after the pizza; I know through experience that they don't go well together. Or we could order some sushi if you'd prefer. Do you want a drink or anything? We can watch a movie if you'd like, we have tonnes and a really big television screen…" Kamio smiled and placed the phone on the table.

"A movie sounds great and I'll have whatever pizza you're having." Marui nodded and selected a mushroom pizza from the freezer and began playing with the oven controls again. "See, you can cook main dishes." Marui turned and stuck his tongue out.

"Heating pizza is not cooking; it's me being too lazy to make something substantial." He popped another bubble and slid into the chair beside Kamio again. "So, your captain was at your house?"

"Yeah, apparently he and Shinji wanted to make sure I got home alright in the rain. And in doing so almost gave my mum a panic attack because I obviously wasn't home. They're fine, though, and Shinji's going to bring me a uniform to change into tomorrow."

"You're going to school tomorrow with your arm like that? I'd so use it as an excuse for a day off." Marui shook his head in disbelief.

"I'd love to, but I'm vice-captain of the tennis club so I have duties. And I really don't want to get too far behind in class; I already have to tutor Shinji because he keeps on daydreaming."

"Then I'd better not keep you up too late then." Marui spoke in a low seductive voice, and winked at Kamio with another pop of his gum. "I can't make any promises, though; it's been too long since I've had a new toy to play with." Kamio raised an eyebrow and watched Marui strip the pizza of its cellophane wrapping and slide it in the oven. "Besides, I'd love to see what you'd look like in a Rikkaidai tennis uniform; it'll be more comfortable for you to sleep in that what you're wearing now. And I do so want to see if your hair clashes too horribly…"

Three hours later the living room had been plunged into darkness, the objects casting eerie shadows on the wall from the blue glow of the television screen. An old, low-budget horror movie was playing but the sound had been turned down so low that the growls and claps of thunder were barely above a whisper. Kamio was lying on the sofa, his arm freshly bandaged and iced, resting on a cushion. True to Marui's words he was wearing the bright yellow shirt and white shorts of the Rikkaidai tennis club. They were very loose on him. He was lying sideways across the soft plush sofa, the tips of his toes lightly brushing the armrest at one end and his head nestled on Marui's lap at the other.

Marui was half heartedly watching the film; he'd seen it several times before. He was leaning against the arm rest with his feet resting on the low coffee table in front of him, mindful of the pizza plates and empty glasses. His right hand was absently running through the silky crimson strands of Kamio's hair, every so often the other boy would sigh under the ministrations.

"Hey, Akira?" The teen in his lap stirred and turned his gaze upwards, his eyes shining by the glow of the television.

"Yeah?" His voice was slightly hoarse and groggy as he kept on drifting off to sleep. He blinked wearily up at the other boy.

"Are you still awake? How are you feeling now?" Kamio smiled and settled down into a more relaxing position that meant he still had a clear view of Marui. "You know, I was having a really bad day today. I mean a really bad day."

"Tell me about it; today absolutely sucked." Kamio agreed.

"For me whenever it rains I always know it's going to be a bad day. And it was raining so hard this morning I tried to convince my mum that I was sick and couldn't go to school. She didn't believe me. My umbrella broke last week and I forgot to buy a new one so by the time I got to school my jacket was wet so I've spent the whole day freezing in my shirt. I couldn't find my trainers so I got yelled at by Sanada at training. I was late for maths again so I got detention. I forgot my lunch so I now owe a favour to Kirihara for sharing his, and I know he'll make me do something embarrassing. And then I ran out of school to get to the supermarket out of the rain and I…well…"

"Got run over by me? Look, I'm sorry about that. Today wasn't so great for me either and I just wanted to get home." Marui smiled, his skin paled by the television light.

"No problem, I kind of liked it." Both their blushes were hidden by the darkness. "You must be some speed freak to be able to run that fast, though. I didn't even see you coming until you were on top of me." Kamio's blush darkened.

"So you liked me being on top of you?" Kamio teased, taking advantage of being able to hide his blush from the other. He could feel Marui smirk, and knew what was coming.

"Yeah, but I'd make you fight to be on top. I'm a seme by nature." He growled and popped a bubble with a fresh piece of apple gum.

"Are you hitting on me?" Kamio asked slyly, the sour apple fragrance from the bubbles drifting down to him.

"No. If I were hitting on you, you'd know about it." Kamio felt strangely unhappy at the speed of the response. Suddenly the apple scent grew stronger as Marui bent down, capturing Kamio's lips with his own. As he had warned, he dominated the kiss and broke off only when he was ready. He casually sat back up seconds' later s if nothing had happened.

"I…what…huh?" Marui popped another bubble, the sour apple taste on his tongue mixing with the sweetness of Akira.

"Now that was me hitting on you. See the subtle difference?" Kamio was too shocked to respond. Marui grinned, his smirk just visible by the artificial light of the television. "So, what do you say?" Kamio forced himself to recover, and forced his mind to think clearly. He'd only just met this boy, but doing things on impulse and living life in the fast lane had always been his forte. Kamio imitated the smirk and answered in a sultry voice.

"I do." Marui giggled and pretended to wipe his eyes of tears.

"You've made me so happy!" He popped another bubble. "My gum tastes like Akira now. You definitely enhance the flavour." Kamio settled into Marui's lap again, this was going to be fun; they both had such similar personalities they were going to be constantly competing with one another.

"Not the first time I've been told how nice I taste." Marui grinned and relaxed into the sofa once more, running a hand through Kamio's hair.

"Nya, you may even taste better than my gum. Huh, I wonder…maybe you'd be even better to blow that the gum?" Kamio almost chocked, and realised he would never be able to compete with Marui.

-

The ball sailed past Marui, and he mock glared at Kamio from across the court pointing an accusing racket at him.

"No fair! You never said you were this good…that's it; I'm sticking to doubles from now on." He grumbled as the players met at the net to shake hands. "Feel free to get your ass whipped anytime against Jackal and me. Although, as I recall I've already whipped your-" Kamio drew his hand back as if he had been burned and glared at the pink haired boy.

"Not so loud! Do you want my captain to hear?" Completely contradicting himself Kamio was almost shouting himself.

"But my captain already knows, thanks to your friend Shinji. In fact, I think all of Rikkaidai knows I'm going out with some guy from Fudomine called Akira. I'd be surprised if no one at your school knew; I think they're all just protecting your feelings." The gentleman scoring their match began to announce the next game, and from the corner of his eye Kamio could see Shinji flicking at the strings in his racket. Tachibana was watching him with confusion. If the news had spread throughout Fudomine, Tachibana hadn't heard of it.

"Well, great game." He spoke loudly, so that his captain would hear him making pleasantries with the other team. Countless times he'd been told off for provoking his opponent after a match. Before a match. During a match…

"Yeah, fantastic match." Marui caught Kamio's line of sight, the short haired captain sitting rigidly watching them like a hawk. Marui decided to play nicely, and began to walk back to his teams' bench when a loud pop made him turn back. Kamio was licking his lips free of strawberry pink gum, and smirking. "You! You stole my stamina tactic!"

"'All's fair…', as they say." Kamio shrugged and turned to leave when he heard Marui jump over the net and turn him round, roughly pressing their lips together in a rushed kiss. He let Kamio go, and winked.

"Akira, I always get the last word. You should know that by now!" He jumped back over the net. "See you tonight?" Kamio, blushing deeply, ran to the Fudomine bench ignoring his team mates' questions and Tachibana's horrified face. He sat down next to the wide eyed captain and cleared his throat, his eyes glued to the floor as he spoke.

"Oh yeah, and by the way Marui Bunta and I are dating. Did I forget to mention that?" Kamio grinned sheepishly as his poor captain tried to come to terms with the information. It wasn't exactly how Kamio had planned to tell him, but at least it got the message across loud and clear. Kamio feared that his captain was going to need therapy, though…

He glanced over to the other bench where Sanada was ignoring the defeated Marui and Kirihara was sneering at something or other. Marui must have felt his gaze as he turned around and smiled, popping an apple bubble as a sort-of apology to his boyfriend. Still blushing slightly Kamio smiled back, and popped a strawberry bubble to let him know everything was fine.

And that Rikkaidai would be paying for Tachibana's therapy bills.

Owari

Please review.

Hmm, I love Kamio and will ship him with anyone but I haven't a clue where I got the idea for a MaruixKamio piece...Comments are very much appreciated.

Completed: 2nd July 2006

Latest revision: 18th July 2006

-Mayoki