Disclaimer: Here's a random fact: Guillibility isn't a word in the Oxford dictionary. Here's another random fact: I don't own Prince of Tennis, or any of the characters. :)
Rating: … You know how bad I am at rating these… probably PG…
Warnings: Shounen-ai/yaoi, fluffish, one tiny use of mild language
Summary: 34th in the Rikkai Drabblethings. Well, his best friend's life might be in secret turmoil, but Marui's is going just fine. And to prove it, he's even got an origami Sanada in a dress… MaruiHara fluff.
Author's notes: Another Rikkai Drabblething. You don't have to have read the ones that come before this, but it might help a bit. The drabblething list goes:
Times of Stress
Passing the Time
How to ask out Marui Bunta
Four Days Later
October Ice
Because I Love You
Evil
Further Nonsense
Dear Diary
Kind of… the same
100 Word Challenges
Driver in a Hurry, Child in a Coma
Doctor, doctor!
The Woes of Solomon Grundy
I'm Not Going
The Little Things
I Had To
He WHAT?!
Operation: Christmas Party
Being Fukubuchou
Once Upon a Time
My Brother Bunta
Dear Diary: Living with Niou-senpai
A Morning at the Pool
This is Love
SFRR
And So It Begins
Most Unexpected
This Is March 5th
No Small Wonder
The Last Day Of A Stage in Life
Back to Basics
Blame it On the Damn Vodka
Papercuts
A little interlude while I wait for BiOtDV (wow, that looks strange…) to reach 24 reviews :)
Dedicated to Blufox. She said, "Hey, I miss your Maruihara drabbles. Make one in the near future." –Bows- I listen to what my reviewers say. x3
Takes place on April first, same time as the end of BiOtDV. Just so you know. Oh, and I apologise for the title -.-;; I'm tired, and my brain refused to come up with anything better, so... yeah...
-------------------------------
They were in Yukimura's living room, and they were On a Mission. At least, that was what Marui loudly declared when Yukimura answered the door to find him standing there carrying a box of felt-tip pens, glue, scissors and various other stationary-related devices.
Yukimura let him in before Marui dropped the contents of the box all over the street, and Marui settled himself comfortably on the floor of Yukimura's living room before explaining what he wanted. Namely, he wanted Yukimura to help him make some nice origami… you know, cranes, and bears and things for Akaya. Just cos.
"I was gonna ask 'Haru for help, but… well, I figured he's not really the arts and crafts type," Marui explained as he turned the box upside down. Yukimura almost burst out laughing thinking of Niou sitting quietly and folding paper, and agreed to help. This would be easy after the over-ambitious origami castle he'd tried to make a few months ago, and gotten bored of about three quarters of the way through. So they sat, and ate crisps, and folded origami. It was taking a lot longer than it should; Marui admitted after the first couple of papercuts that he hadn't really tried doing origami properly before, which was why he'd asked for Yukimura's help.
"Ow."
Sighing, Yukimura handed Marui another piece of origami paper. "And that is…?"
"The thirty-eighth papercut, yes. I can't help it, though! It's your paper; it's got Essence of Mura in it," the kneeling boy complained, sucking mournfully on what remained of his right thumb.
"Well, if you went and bought some yourself…" But Yukimura was smiling, and Marui continued to fold with a sheepish grin.
"What's the occasion, then?" Yukimura asked, stacking the little seahorse he'd just finished onto the slowly growing pile.
"Occasion?"
"Why are we making Akaya origami? Not that I think it's a bad idea or anything; I think he'll like them. Just wondering why."
"Oh, well…" Marui wrinkled his nose. "I just thought, yanno, we're starting high school tomorrow, and Akaya's gonna be all alone in junior high, so… I thought I'd make him some of these to stick in the clubhouse to make himself feel better, or something."
Yukimura looked very approving. "That's a very sweet thought, Bunta."
Marui grinned. "Yeah? Good. Don't wanna hurt his feelings or anything. You'd probably kill me, for one thing," he laughed, only half joking.
"True." Yukimura finished the second seahorse and placed it, sitting back against the front of the sofa with a sigh. "Right. What shall I make next?" he asked.
"Um… ow… how about a frog?"
"Didn't we do that first?"
"Did we? Oh. Then… I dunno, you think of something. Ow."
Yukimura suddenly sat up straight, inspiration hitting him like a hyper Akaya. "Why don't we make little origami versions of us?" he suggested, looking enthusiastic. "We can draw the faces on, and I'm sure I can manage to make some little tennis racquets…"
Violet eyes lit up. "Yeah! That's brilliant, Mura!" Delighted with the idea, Marui abandoned his failed seahorse and grabbed some new pieces of coloured paper. "Ok, right, what should we do first?"
"Let's do Genichiroh. You make the cap, and I'll do the top half. Then you can make the legs."
"Roger that."
They worked in happy silence for a while, speaking only occasionally to work out who was doing what. It took a whole hour, but finally the eight members of the old Regulars were lined up in a neat line in front of them.
Marui eyed them critically. "Yeah, they're good. But we need to make some golf clubs for Yagyuu."
"Oh, ok. You do that, then, and I'll make a golf bag to put them in."
"Wait, none of them have shoes!"
"Oh, you're right… We should do that first, then."
Marui smirked. "I'm gonna make some high heels for fukubuchou, then."
"…" Marui could see Yukimura staring at the mental image that inspired. Slowly, a little gleam started twinkling deviously in Yukimura's eyes.
"I always thought Genichiroh would look interesting in a dress," he said slowly, sizing up the origami figure thoughtfully.
Marui started cackling. "And, and, Jackal in a maid's outfit!"
"Renji should be in cowboy gear."
"Yeah! Oh, can we make a penguin suit for Yagyuu? A purple one?"
"Oh, yeah, Akaya said he was like a purple penguin once, didn't he?"
"Ha! Yeah, a pregnant one!"
"Let's make little baby penguin chicks to go with the costume, then." Yukimura started folding with renewed enthusiasm.
-------------------------------
When all the paper figures were completely finished to both Marui and Yukimura's satisfaction, they took a couple of polaroids and emailed them to all the Regulars. They got an email back almost immediately from Yanagi saying simply, "I don't pretend to know what goes on in that mind of yours, Mura. Just please don't express your thoughts in origami form again."
Marui was so pleased with the things they'd made for Akaya that he didn't stay beyond that to read what the rest of the Regulars thought. He packed the delicate origami into a special carrier folder that Yukimura agreed to lend him and took them right round to Niou's house to give to Akaya.
Just as he turned the corner, however, he stopped. Wasn't that… Shishido? Hyoutei's Shishido? What was he doing here?
He began to creep towards him, curious, but then his mobile went off in his pocket. Swearing under his breath, Marui dived for the cover of a bush to avoid being seen and answered his phone, not looking to see who it was; he was too busy watching Shishido as he rang the doorbell.
"Moshi moshi?"
"Mura-buchou says you have a present for me! Is it a good one? Can I have it now? Is it crayons?"
"Akaya? Good timing. Where are you?"
"In the park. Why're you whispering?"
"I'll tell you when I get there. Whereabouts in the park are you?"
"At the tennis court, duh."
"Ok. Stay there." Marui hung up and, taking a last regretful look at where he was sure something interesting was going to happen, headed back the other way towards the park.
-------------------------------
"Fukubuchou's in a dress! And Yagyuu-senpai's a penguin!! And Mura-buchou's a devil!"
"Yeah, and we made me into a seal, see? With little bubblegum patterns."
"Look at me! I'm sitting on a camel!!"
Marui laughed at Akaya's wide-eyed excitement. "Yeah, I know. I made them, remember?"
Akaya nearly fell off the bench trying to hug him without crushing the origami. "I love you!" he beamed, looking adoringly at his oh-so-thoughtful boyfriend. "I love you even more than green tea and crayons!"
Carefully, Marui packed the origami back into the carrier folder so that he could sit next to Akaya properly. "Well, I thought it'd cheer you up for tomorrow," he said, wrapping an arm comfortably around Akaya's shoulders.
"Uh huh. It really, really did!"
"Good. All is well in the world of Aka-chan, then?"
Akaya nodded. Then he said slowly, "But… it's gonna be really weird, not having you around. Or Mura-buchou. Or any of you."
"Yeah. It's gonna be weird not having you there either. But don't worry, everything'll be back to normal next year, right?"
"I guess so..." Akaya didn't look convinced, and Marui regarded him silently for a moment before turning a little awkwardly on the small bench to face him better.
"Hey… Don't worry too much about it, 'k? I'm sure you'll be fine. And it's not like I won't be around, not really; we're in the building right across the road, so once we both get our timetables there has to be a time we can see each other during school. I'll even sneak out of a coupla lessons if I have to, ok? I promise."
"Promise?"
"Cross my heart and hope to be sugar-free forever."
Akaya abruptly leaned forward and kissed him. Marui was startled for a moment, but quickly forgot they were in a public park, even if they were under a large willow tree as he kissed him back. When Akaya finally pulled away he looked considerably happier than a minute ago, and Marui pecked him fondly on the nose before settling a little reluctantly back against the bench.
"You know I love you, Aka-chan," he said. Akaya nodded and started leaning in for another kiss. Marui smiled and closed his eyes, saying just before their lips met, "Besides, you'll have fun as the new buchou."
He opened his eyes after a few seconds, wondering where his kiss had gone. Akaya was gaping open-mouthed at him, and Marui immediately looked concerned. "Akaya?"
"Wait… I'm gonna be buchou?" Akaya asked slowly.
Marui blinked. "Mura didn't tell you?"
The complete lack of answer spoke for itself.
"Oh… I guess it was meant to be a surprise… aw, crap." Marui looked guilty.
Then Hurricane Akaya hit. "I'MGONNABEBUCHOUOFTHETENNISCLUBNOWAYOHMYFREAKINGGODTHATISSOCOOL!!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, making Marui wince and reflexively shield his eardrums.
"Yeah, yeah, ok, but I think it was meant to be a surprise, so please, please don't say anything to Mura until tomorrow evening?" he pleaded.
'Beaming with joy' didn't even begin to describe Akaya's expression right at that moment. "Ok, I totally promise. I'm gonna be buchou! Kirihara-buchou!"
Relieved, Marui got up, tugging on Akaya's sleeve. "Alright, Kirihara-buchou. Let's go back to 'Haru's, ok? I saw Shishido there earlier, and I really wanna know what happened…"
Akaya nodded, dazed with happiness. They headed out of the park hand in hand, Marui carrying the carrier folder because he didn't really trust the current Akaya not to drop it in a puddle by mistake.
"Thank you for the present," Akaya said suddenly. He squeezed Marui's hand. "You've got a lot of plasters. Did you get papercuts and stuff?"
"Hell yes. You should've seen the look on Mura's face; he couldn't believe someone could papercut themselves so many times. But you like the origami, right?"
"Yeah!"
"Then that's all that matters." Marui gave him a goofy grin. "You're my precious Aka-chan."
"Nope, nope, I'm your precious Kirihara-buchou now."
Marui snorted. "You're not my buchou. I'm a year and a half older than you. Mura's my buchou."
Akaya deliberately pouted at him. "Akaya-buchou, then?"
"No. You're Aka-chan to me."
The pout didn't seem to work even when Akaya turned it on full force, so he gave up with a little sigh. "Fine… I guess being your precious Aka-chan'll do," he half-mumbled, not really wanting to admit to liking the endearment.
"Exactly. Come on; let's see what interesting things are happening in 'Haru's life."
-------------------------------
You probably know all this, but I'm putting it anyway :)
Fukubuchou: Vice-captain
Buchou: Captain
Moshi moshi: The thing Japanese people say when they answer the telephone. Like 'hello', except only for use on the phone.
Aka-chan: 'Baby'. Akaya's nickname.
-------------------------------
Sandy: Mwa. Give me some love and leave a review? -Does the Akaya Pout(tm)- You know I live for them xDD
If you could be kind enough to quote your favourite bits/bits from this in your review as well, then that would be fantasmic. n.n Pwease? It helps me improve. -Nodnod-
Until next time!