Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis and am by no means profiting from this fanfiction.
Warnings: Shounen-ai (boy/boy), some mild language and some other things that might come up...
Note: Canon age at the start (15) and they age as the story progresses. Time skips varies from chapter to chapter.
~ One ~
It all started in their third year in middle school classroom, full of laughter and chatter of their classmates. Some were snoring loudly with their heads on their desk, others were cracking like witches while drawing on the sleepers' faces. There were even those who were stuffing their faces, while others went around begging for food. Niou even surrendered his remaining rice balls to a persistent classmate of theirs. Whereas, Marui was sitting silently and still in his seat, engaged in a staring competition with his desk, or rather, with what was on his desk.
"Marui," Niou said, "let's go out."
"Ya, sure," Marui mumbled back, distracted, as he was staring intensively down at the carvings on his desk: MINAMI & SHUN 4EVER! Yuck, hands off his desk. He never understood why people found the need to carve their so called never-ending love on school property.
Lost in his thoughts, Marui only vaguely caught Niou's, "Cool."
Marui blinked a few times before looking up at the Trickster, already awake from his trance, and asked, "Wait, what did you say?"
"Let's go out." There was that sly grin on Niou's face.
"And…what did I say?"
"Ya, sure," Niou repeated, with Marui's voice and previous tone; bored and nonchalant – being able to create an illusion of someone else had its perks. The bell rang, signalling the start of the next period and Niou grimaced. "Music, gross." The Trickster glanced at the stunned Marui. "I'm skipping. Meet me at the front gates after school!"
"Hey wait Niou – " Marui pushed his chair back and stood up, reaching out his hand in a feeble attempt to stop Niou, but the Trickster was already skipping out of class gleefully, not caring that he was spotted trying to skip class by the teacher.
Wait.
What…
Huh?
Edited (10 August 2013): Just a few minor changes. Doesn't affect the plot in any way.