A/N: Welcome to my MayBlade 2022 collection! I saw the prompt list on Tumblr and it sounded like a fun challenge. Just to forewarn you: every chapter of this is going to be very different, but I'm posting them all together because they're such short pieces and, honestly, I don't have the energy for multiple titles and summaries. I'm gonna struggle enough to keep up with a one-a-day schedule lol. Wish me luck!

That being said, I'm going to post my author's notes at the beginning of each chapter and include individual character and rating info, just so anyone flipping through can pick and choose what they read. I'll update the summary as I go along, as well, to the latest chapter's info. If you know me at all, you can probably guess which two are opening the show. ;)

Day 1 | Max/Mariam | Rated: K

Sun

Max was staring. He knew he was staring, but he couldn't look away.

"Sharkrash!" Mariam called to her bitbeast, arcing one arm over her head.

Her beyblade moved as directed, effortlessly bobbing and weaving through the course they'd set up. It moved faster than he remembered and with a precision he knew had to come from nonstop practice in the years since he'd seen her last.

The thrum in the air, the invisible connection between her and Sharkrash, that was new too, and equally as impressive.

Unfortunately it was neither of those things that had such a hold on his attention. Instead it was the way the setting sun softened all of Mariam's edges while simultaneously casting steeper shadows on the rest of the world. It was the way the ocean breeze caught her hair and the way her bracelet glittered when she brushed it out of her face and the way her eyebrows wrinkled in annoyance while her eyes remained laser-focused.

Max gulped. His fingers flexed, adjusting his launcher in his sweaty grasp as he patiently waited his turn to run the drill.

Sharkrash surged up a ramp constructed from discarded pallets, sawdust flying. Instinctively, Max looked to Mariam to catch the way her lips turned up at the corner in a satisfied smirk. He almost missed her beyblade nailing its last slalom run, too preoccupied with her face.

When she caught her beyblade and met his eyes, he hoped it wasn't obvious that he'd been watching her more than Sharkrash.

"Your turn, Maxie," she said smugly, tossing her ponytail over her shoulder, "if you think you're a match for me."

The way she said that did something weird to his stomach. He took a deep breath, tasting the salt in the air on the back of his tongue, and took his place at the beginning of the course.

Mariam retreated to the top of a stack of shipping crates to observe. She was backlit from where he was standing. Up until today he'd probably have assumed that that would make her less of a distraction, but he stole a look even as he launched Draciel. Crookedly. He frowned and concentrated until it straightened out.

This was how the whole training session had gone. He'd expected her to come out on top for the agility courses, but even the strength and endurance drills he should excel at weren't won by as substantial of a margin as they should have been.

Even though her presence was apparently stunting his progress, he didn't regret inviting her to train. She teased him with every slip-up, and after it happened a couple times, he realized that he'd sacrifice a lot of things to earn her undivided attention.

Back in reality, Draciel faltered again. He flicked his eyes to Mariam to see if she noticed. Then back to the course in a panic when he heard his beyblade clip an obstacle.

"Focus," he muttered to himself, clenching his fists. He barely refrained from looking up at Mariam again. It was becoming a costly habit. "Draciel!" he cried, louder this time, urging his beyblade to get back on track and run the rest of its race.

He finished in half-decent, but far from great, time and recalled his blade. The attack ring stung when it hit his palm. He tried focusing on that sensation instead of the feeling of her gaze on him, giving him goosebumps.

"You're lucky I'm not on a mission to seal Draciel this time, or you'd be in real trouble."

Max winced sheepishly and ran one hand through his hair. Turns out it was easy to keep his eyes off Mariam when he didn't want to see the disappointment lingering in her own. He studied the scars they'd carved into the pavement instead.

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize to me," Mariam scoffed. He didn't hear her climbing down from her vantage point until her boots hit the cement louder than they should have – she must have jumped part of the way. "You're only hurting your own chances in the tournament."

He looked up in a hurry when he heard her walking away. Thankfully she only went as far as the edge of the pier before sitting down and dangling her legs over the edge.

He followed her, because the thought of doing anything else made him panic inside for reasons he couldn't fully ascertain. He slid down beside her and bit his tongue to keep from asking if she was mad, afraid it would make him sound needy. She'd only barely agreed to meet him in the first place; he didn't want to scare her away.

Mariam sighed and leaned back on her hands. Her hair was so long that the end of her ponytail brushed the ground. Max tracked her movements, watching intently as she tilted her chin up, drinking in the last rays of evening sunshine.

He drank them in, too. Only difference was he let them reflect off of Mariam's pale skin first.

Not even a sunset could entrance him like she could. He'd spent every second he could spare since the Saint Shields' return wondering why that was.

Why was he drawn, without fail, into her orbit? Why did basking in her presence fill him with inexplicable warmth? Why did a single glance from her make a blush bloom over his cheeks like a bad sunburn? And why did the days before she came back seem gloomy and gray in retrospect, just like the thought of days ahead without her?

The questions drove him crazy enough to get as close as he could, not caring if he got burnt in the process.

"If you have time to stare at me like a devoted puppy, that must mean we have time for a battle before your team comes looking for you," she remarked, emerald eyes shifting to focus squarely on him. She raised an eyebrow at the look on his face.

He blushed and his palms started sweating again. He wiped them on his pants, wondering why she always looked like she could see right through to parts of him that he couldn't even find himself.

"Max?" She drew out the question in a way that made him tug at his collar.

Brain suddenly on the fritz, he could only parrot her words from earlier back, too fast, too eager, slightly jumbled: "If you think you're a match for me."

The battle ended in a draw because, as it turned out, she was.

A/N: I've been craving some early Max/Mariam, so I took my opportunity. Always a sucker for some lovesick Max, especially when he hasn't quite made that connection yet. ;) Thanks for reading and starting out on this month-long journey with me. This won't be the last time we see these two, but we'll make some other stops along the way. I hope you enjoy!