Nowadays, it was nothing new to wake up early. Like today I was once again up before my alarm clock rang. I was thinking of adjusting the time on that thing just so I didn't feel like I was waking up so damn early.

I went to school early (again), this time because I left some homework in my desk that I had yet to finish. Yuushi distracted me yesterday with talk of my closeness with Atobe. It wasn't so much as closeness as competitiveness. The two of us were constantly trying to get the other to crack under unbearable annoyance, like a mutual understanding of sorts.

It was amazing what a week could do to a person.

Finishing the homework was easy enough and I quickly got bored staring out the window in an empty classroom. Unable to take anymore boredom, – I thought of playing the piano in the music room for a bit until I realized I left my piece at home, so forgetful today– I pushed my chair back and stood up, set on wandering around the building in search of something to do rather than sit around and let my butt get to be the size of a basketball. That would probably have been very amusing to Atobe.

Speaking of said asshole, I was a hall away from the hallway where the student council room was when I heard a drawer slam in that direction. There's no way... I thought to myself as I traipsed quietly down the hall. Worst case scenario, it could be a ghost... I came across the door to the student council room wide open with Atobe sitting on a sofa in the corner of the room with a bunch of folders open around him. I blinked unbelievingly.

"Are you here every morning?" I asked, hand on the doorframe.

He didn't look up but I saw the sides of his mouth turn up in a smirk or a smile, I couldn't tell. "Ore-sama could ask you the same thing."

I laughed, walking forward until I could sit on his desk. "Nowadays, pretty much."

He closed a folder and slid it into a box next to him before picking up another one. "Need any help, pretty boy?"

He cringed visibly and a smirk came to my face. When he looked up his eyes were narrowed with his eyebrow raised. I sighed and moved off the desk to sit on an overstuffed armchair across from him. The student council room had very comfy furniture.

"I have nothing better to do," I offered.

He smirked, putting away another folder. "Ore-sama knows."

"Don't mock me, pretty boy." I deadpanned.

He scowled at the nickname but slid a box towards me anyway. "When have I ever done that?"

I growled before taking the box. "Where are your other student council people?"

He shrugged. "Not here." He answered curtly.

"I hadn't noticed." I said blandly. "Seriously."

"This is ore-sama's job. They have other things to do."

I looked at all the papers around the room and then back at him. "Wow, you've got a lot to do. Don't you ever get tired?"

He looked up from his work and looked at me for a second as if to check if I were seriously asking him. Surprisingly enough, I was honestly curious. "I wanted this. Ore-sama has no right to complain." With that, the two of us returned to our work in silence.

Under my breath, I smiled. He wasn't completely an asshole. Just kinda one.

There wasn't any tennis practice on Tuesdays. I thought I was free to go until Atobe showed up at the doorway of my classroom.

Trying to fool myself into thinking he was there for Yuushi, I grabbed my bag, ushered for my friends – who were shamelessly gushing over Atobe – and tried to walk right past him at the door.

Of course, it wasn't that simple.

"Nice try, Mai," He drawled as he caught the strap of my bag. I could vaguely register horrified gasps from the fangirls in the background. I did not know why they had to gasp every time he did something. They even did it at practice. He'd flip his hair. Gasp. Drink water. Squeal. Hit ball(which, for the record, he does very much). Scream, scream, and more scream.

As if on cue, Atobe flipped his hair and a collective sigh erupted from them. His arm moved from my strap to my shoulder, pulling me until I was leaning against him. "And what would I be trying to do exactly?" I quipped in a hushed tone. "There's no practice today."

Yuushi chose this moment to walk by us and wink at me. "I forgot to tell you, Mai-hime. Atobe wants you to wait for him." He drawled before waving goodbye to a glaring Atobe. I turned to said captain impatiently.

"What did you want me for?" I asked, subtly trying to get his hand off my shoulder. My classmates were silent in the room behind him, staring unabashedly at our interaction.

He glanced at the class briefly before turning to me with a smirk I was beginning to think he developed together with Yuushi. "Ore-sama thought you could walk with me for a while." He said simply and suddenly some fangirl collapsed behind him. Good Kami.

"Well, you see," I started. "My friends and I were already –" Halfway through my sentence, my female friends (thankfully, I wasn't sure what I'd do if the males did it) screeched, catching my attention and Atobe's. They started passionately dictating that we had no arrangements together and that he could have me for as long he'd like.

Such wonderful friends. Really.

With a wider smirk than ever, he swung me around and, keeping his hand on my shoulder, led me down the hall. "Ore-sama suspects you have the most atrocious grades in drama class, Mai."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Because?"

"You're acting is terrible." He said bluntly. I decided not to take that to heart. It wasn't as if I was really trying.

I smiled up at him sweetly. "Your criticism is being taken into account." The face was happy but the voice was definitely not. We kept walking without any intrusion. Apparently, people actually had things to do when they weren't at tennis practice. Hope wasn't completely lost for the world.

"Thought I told you to try and sell it."

Looking at him blandly, I replied, "What do you want me to do?"

"Try and look like you hate ore-sama less."

"Ooh, that's gonna be hard." I scrunched my face up in mock-distaste. By that time we were already at the gate of the school. I turned to him, his hand dropped from my shoulder. "Was that all?"

He didn't respond but rather just smiled at me and ran his hand through his hair. Taking that as a yes, I turned away and started on my walk home.

I had barely gotten five metres away from the gate when I realized he was walking a few steps behind me. Not looking at him, I just kept walking with the hope that maybe he just had some business in the same direction. By the time we got to the curb, though, I noticed he was a lot closer than when I last looked. I faced him exasperatedly, still refusing to stop. "What are you doing?"

"Walking."

"I can see that." I said. "Where are you going?"

He was looking straight ahead the entire time but he glanced at me for a second, then. I could swear he was smirking at me. His eyes were smirking at me. "Where are you going?" He reiterated.

Pouting, I stuffed my hands in my pockets. "I asked first."

Facing me fully, I noted that he was really smirking at me. "And ore-sama can't answer your question unless you answer mine." He quipped. I stopped in my tracks.

"Why?" I exclaimed. And I thought I was free from seeing him this afternoon.

Disregarding my obviously miffed expression, he just smirked and looked away. I sighed. "There's no getting rid of you this time, is there?"

He shook his head coolly. For a while, we walked in silence. The silence wasn't awkward exactly. I couldn't place my finger on what kind of silence it was, though. Before I could find a word for it, I remembered something else.

"I won't be at practice tomorrow," I reminded him. "Don't make Shishido wait for me. God knows how pissed off he'll be when I don't show."

"Oh, he'll be very pissed off. God knows he's a hell of a drama queen." Atobe pointed out.

I snickered. "Don't let him hear that or you'll see just how much of a drama queen he can be."

I stumbled when Atobe suddenly stopped, my foot tripping on his. He latched onto my forearm and pulled me up before my face became a pavement pancake. "What'd you stop for?" I whined, leaning into him while I rubbed my ankle.

"Hungry?" He asked. Upon hearing his question, my stomach growled. I looked up at him testily. "Ore-sama figured."

He motioned with his head to the cafe next to us. My face brightened, completely forgetting about my sore ankle. It was a place I went to often after school with my friends and the cake was simply divine. He hoisted me up to a steady standing position with a hand at my waist and ushered me into the shop. Once inside, I pulled away and plopped onto a sofa in the corner. Atobe sat down next to me, shaking his head amusedly at my overly enthusiastic reaction to eating. I punched his shoulder before he could comment on it again.

When we were both seated, the waiter that always served me and my friends came up to us. He was this part-time college guy that'd been working here for about a year already and he had a penchant for flirting with us whenever we came but he was a nice guy. And it didn't hurt that he was pretty hot. "Hey, Mai-chan, the usual?" I smiled up at him and nodded. "And your friend?"

I nudged my 'friend' slightly and waited for him to answer. He looked at me and shrugged. "Whatever you're having, then."

Me and Hideki-kun, the waiter, shared a look before we broke out into chuckles. Atobe glanced at the two of us with his eye twitching, "Trust me, you don't want whatever I'm having," I said through a snicker, seeing the irony in it.

Hideki-kun nodded in agreement. "Take her advice for it. Unless of course, Mai-chan's finally found someone with the same level addiction as her."

"Don't encourage him, Hideki-kun." I sighed exasperatedly.

To prove his point, he took his notepad and began reading aloud its contents. "That would be one Dacquoise, one Esterhazy torte, one Pavlova, one Tompouce, and one coffee parfait to finish it off."

"Seriously?" I stuck my tongue out at him. "Ore-sama'll have coffee."

"Now that, I can believe." Hideki-kun scribbled it on before winking at me briefly. "Be back in five minutes, Mai-chan."

"Yeah, thanks, Hideki-kun."

"You come here often?" Atobe asked, pointing to Hideki-kun then to me.

I nodded absently, bringing out my cell and noticing a bunch of messages from my wonderful friends. I opened Yuushi's. "It's along the route I take from school so I come here often with my friends. That was Hideki-kun, he's been working here for about a year already. Nice guy." I explained quietly, reading through the message. Once I was done, I set my phone aside, leaning into the seat.

"You didn't tell your friends about our situation, did you?" He stated more than asked.

I twisted my neck on the cushions to look at him. He had an arm draped on the back of the seat, his hand dangling in front of me. "After a little deliberation on the matter, the conclusion was that telling them wouldn't really help a thing. Especially considering some of them are in your fanclub and would jump at the opportunity to say that you're technically single."

"Good point." He acquiesced.

"I have more of them than you think." I smiled wilfully.

He smirked back at me, running his other hand through his hair. From the corner of my eye, I saw a girl swoon at the sight of his vanity. He seemed to notice it, too. "And me still more than that."

I promptly stabbed him in the ribs with my very sharp fingernails. He glared. I glared back. We stayed like that until he suddenly leaned forward, looking intently at my face. I raised my eyebrow and he moved back.

"You're not entirely Japanese, are you?" He asked.

"Why?" I asked confusedly.

He shrugged. "Your eyes are green."

"As they have always been," I sighed. "And yes, as a matter of fact, I do. But it's somewhere back. My great-grandmother on my father's side was German, I think."

At this point Hideki-kun came back with our orders. He placed Atobe's cup on the table first before he laid out my four mini-cakes and parfait. I smiled at him as he walked away before sending a withering look at Atobe, challenging him to say something about it. He looked up at me innocently before taking a sip of his coffee. When he leaned back into the chair, I guessed he was doing me a favour and shutting up about my eating habits for the time being.

I started with a cake, placing it in my hand and leaning back, resuming our previous positions. "And you are?" I trailed off, waiting for him to answer. It was common knowledge in school that he was part European but I never really bothered finding out what exactly.

"Mother is from England." He offered.

I looked at him over the rim of my glass. "Part English, then. Is there anything else you'd like me to know or you'd like to ask?"

The question stemmed from pure curiosity and after I asked it, it seemed to have the same effect on him. Smiling at me pompously question after question, we finally got into the rhythm of it...Well, after a little stepping of toes on my end. The rest of the meal turned out as something akin to twenty questions.

"Alright, alright, let's move on from that horrid incident." I deadpanned when he laughed after I told him about last term's coffee incident. "What's your favourite class?"

"Greek." He answered quickly.

"Music." I shot back just as fast. He raised his eyebrow interestedly.

"Favourite food?"

I snorted. "Isn't it obvious?" I said, motioning to the plates on the table.

He shrugged. "Yakiniku..." he started before pausing for a second, thinking. "And pudding."

"Really? Pudding?" He nodded haughtily with the same withering look I gave him earlier. "Okay, pudding. What else can I ask...How about favourite date spot?"

He gave me a curious look. "Where did that come from?"

I shrugged. "If you're going to take me out on fake," I emphasized. "dates, I might as well know where you might take me." I said matter-of-factly.

For a moment, he seemed to be in deep thought. "Okay, if you say so. Ore-sama's favourite date would be a cruise about the southern isles."

Well, I did not know how to react to that. "Alright, then. Cruising the southern isles is a summer thing, right? I guess we won't be doing that since our deal only lasts until graduation at the start of spring." He looked at me for a second before shrugging. That was that, then.

"You?" He asked impatiently when I was quiet for a while.

"Wait! Still thinking!" I pursed my lips. "Any date that involves eating. No specific spot."

"You're really a – " He began to say but I thrust my fork in front of his face and glared at him sternly. "I will make sure that all of our future interaction involves food, then."

"Thank you, Atobe, how considerate of you." I said, smiling sweetly at him before nudging him affectionately in the ribs.

He glared at me. "Not as considerate as you," he drawled, running his hand through his hair.

I gave him another candy-floss smile. "How nice of you to notice."

"What other favourites are there?" He asked absently, tilting his head back.

Taking a bite of my cake, I hummed. "Is that your question?"

He tipped his head forward again to stare at me in annoyance. I shrugged and took another bite. "Favourite kind of movie."

"Anything that involves action and/or suspense."

He smiled. "European movies. At least I'm saved from sitting through any of those romance dramas women seem to love."

"Oh, I don't mind those. Yuushi used to take me to romcoms and 'those romance dramas women seem to love' a lot. Especially during our junior high days." I said nostalgically.

He grimaced. "That seems like something Oshitari would do."

"Yes, yes it does. I mean, I love Yuushi but I thought it was justified that I thought you two were in a relationship." I said wistfully. He glared at me. "But then, you're probably not his type." To my surprise he laughed at that. Well, if you knew Yuushi enough, you probably would. "What's your favourite colour?"

His laughter stopped abruptly and he looked into my eyes again with a mischievous smirk. "Ore-sama's favourite colour is green." He drawled, not breaking eye contact.

"What do you think of me gouging my eyes out this very moment?" I deadpanned.

He pretended to think about it, letting his head loll onto the seat before he turned his head towards me again. "Very messy."

"Not if you do it right," I sneered. "Answer the question, baka."

He laughed amusedly. "Gold," he said and I rolled my eyes mentally. It seemed like him. It matched his personality. "And black."

"Anticipating your funeral already?" I muttered under my breath.

He smirked, reaching for his coffee. "Ore-sama thought you would ask what I thought of you shaving your head."

I choked on a chunk of cream. "Blind and bald, Atobe?" I managed to choke out. "It's either your merciless or you have very strange fetishes."

He scowled at me over his cup. "Ore-sama confesses to being merciless, then."

"Wasn't really asking for the answer to that, Atobe. I was going to enjoy assuming on that one." His scowl deepened. "By the way, my favourite colour is silver."

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