Marco watched the Poseidon's line clash with the Gunman's and jotted out the strong and weak numbers in the line. They were playing against them next week, Gaou would have to deal with Mizumachi's swimmer's stroke, but Marco was confident that Gaou could handle anything an opponent threw at him. He would match up the rest of the line as best he could to break through their ranks. The height advantage the other team held would have to be dealt with soon, too.

He shifted on his bed and rubbed his shoulder. It was almost evening, and he had yet to get fully dressed. But who was around to see anyway? His phone rang with Maria's song, so he paused the video to fish it from his pocket and answer it. "Hey, Maria."

"Hello, Marco. Hey I was wondering if you wanted to get something to eat together before I have to go back to school tonight?"

"Sure, where do you wanna go?"

"How about the ramen shop we always used to go to when you were still in middle school?"

"That sounds good."

"I'll be at your house in a bit."

"Okay, see you then."

He shut his phone with a snap and put it back in his pocket. He got up and put on the grey shirt he had picked out earlier that day when he had been thinking about getting dressed. His phone rang again; from the song he could tell it was Gaou. He held it to his ear with his shoulder while he buttoned his shirt. "Hey Gaou, what's up?"

"Are you busy tonight?"

Marco blinked; it had been awhile since Gaou had been interested in spending time with him. But Gaou didn't get along with Maria, so he couldn't invite him to come with them. "I'm sorry but I'm going out to dinner with Maria, may-"

Gaou cut him off roughly. "Okay fine." He hung up.

Marco frowned. What was up with him lately? Maybe it was something he had done? Or was Gaou just not interested in him anymore? He felt his chest clench at the thought and gritted his teeth. If Gaou was moving on, that was fine. As long as the team dynamics didn't change, he would be okay with that. It had been Gaou's idea in the first place anyway. He walked to the front door and went outside and locked it. Maria was coming up the street, and he walked to her and fell in step beside her. "Hi."

Maria smiled, "Hi, I'm glad you're coming. It would have been weird eating alone. I wonder if the cook still remembers us."

"Probably, after all it's only been a year and a half since we've visited. I wish we could have had more time to go last year."

Maria nodded. "Yeah, but absence only makes the heart grow fonder, or in this case my stomach."

"Yeah."

They discussed school and other things as they walked. When they reached the shop, they found that it was no longer there and had been replaced by a new noodle shop. Marco frowned sadly. "I hadn't realized it was gone. I guess we can eat here instead, though."

"Okay, I'm sure it'll be good."

They entered, and the bell above the door chimed. They found seats right next to the kitchen door and ordered their food. The noodles were good, a little bland but still palatable. As they sat back to relax after their meal, Marco noticed the TV. "Hm, they're playing reruns of our last game."

Maria turned to look and winced as she watched Gaou slam a quarterback into the turf. She turned back to Marco and asked, "Why are you still playing football like that? Last year you did it to try and keep your promise to me. But this year - why are you still playing this way?"

Marco shrugged. "It's our way of playing football. It's our advantage. And we still are playing to win, after all."

Maria starred at him. "But how can you just let a monster like Gaou do that?" She pointed to the flattened quarterback being carried off the field on a stretcher.

A twinge of annoyance rose inside him at Maria's comment. "He's not as bad as you think he is, I'd say. He can even be rather…" He remembered Gaou's promise to move no faster than what he wanted, "…gentle in his own way."

Maria stopped herself from laughing in disbelief and simply raised a questioning eyebrow. But Marco couldn't tell her everything that had happened and avoided responding by taking a drink of his cola. The silence began to get awkward, and finally Maria said, "You've changed since I last saw you, haven't you?"

Marco asked, "What do you mean?" He couldn't tell any big changes.

"You never would have defended Gaou before. Just your strategy. What happened?"

Marco paused mid-drink. Could he really explain all of what had happened over the last month? Could he really define what he and Gaou were (though at the rate things are going, probably not for much longer)? He stomped on the sensation that stirred again in his chest at that thought. He had never tried to tell anyone about the two of them before. Kisaragi just knew, and the rest of the team haven't said anything if they had noticed how close they were now. It wasn't like he was ashamed; he just didn't want to tell Maria, didn't want to see her surprise and maybe disgust. She probably wouldn't understand what he felt for Gaou the same way she would never understand why he played football so brutally. So he stayed quiet, and soon Maria looked at her watch and broke the silence. "I need to go back to my friend's house to catch my ride back. Dinner was nice; we'll have to do it again some time."

Marco nodded. "Of course we will. Let me walk you to your friend's house." He got up and took his jacket from the back of the chair. They paid and walked out; by this time the sun had set, and the world was painted in tones of red. The only sound that could be heard was that of their shoes hitting the ground as each was lost in his or her own thoughts. Finally, Maria turned to him. "Well, this is my stop. Thanks for dinner and good luck in the tournament. I'll try and watch the games I can."

Marco opened the gate for her and smiled. "Thanks, good luck in college."

He watched till she walked inside before continuing to his own house. A block down his phone rang. He answered and barely got out a 'Hello' before the voice on the other end, Marco realized it was Kisaragi, started ranting at him. "I can't believe you went to dinner with Maria when you're going out with someone as beautiful as Gaou! How could you? How could you when all I-" His voice choked up.

Marco raised an eyebrow. "So I'm not allowed to talk to friends over dinner now? Calm down, there's nothing going on between us."

Sounding sheepish Kisaragi cleared his throat and said, "Oh. Well then you should go tell Gaou told me you two were on a date."

The phone hung up and left Marco starring at the pavement. Did Gaou really think he'd cheat on him with Maria? Yes, he had loved Maria for a long time but he knew that she'd never love all of him back and had begun to move on. To Gaou. He needed to set things straight. He called his mother to tell her that he would coming home late tonight and left a message on their answering machine.

"Hey Mom, having a strategy meeting with Gaou. Won't be back till late, maybe it'll become a sleepover, so don't stay up waiting. Love you, Bye."

Now that that was wrapped up, he broke into a light jog to Gaou's. He wanted to get there quickly, wanted to reassure Gaou that there was no one but him. And Marco wanted it to stay that way. He reached the doorway and took a moment to slow his breathing. He tried to straighten his hair with nervous fingers before he knocked. Small feet padding along could be heard, and the then the door swung wide open. A little girl, that Marco realized was Gaou's sister Kagome, looked up at him before asking, "Who are you?"

"I'm Marco, one of-"

"Marco!" He suddenly found arms wrapped around his middle in a hug. "I know who you are. You're here to see big brother. Come on, I'll take you to him!"

Kagome padded along the hall ahead of him, talking so much that Marco didn't know if she needed to breathe or not. "It's so nice to meet you. Big brother is always talking about you, he likes you a lot. I hope you can cheer him up. He's really sad right now. Even though he's pretending he's not, sometimes he's sooooooo silly."

She stopped at one of the plain doors and turned to Marco. "He's in here. Go on in, I'll see you later!"

She left him standing in front of the door. He rapped lightly on the wood, but didn't get a reply. He opened the door, ignoring the instincts that told him to run. The only light in the room came from a dim lamp on top of the desk. Gaou's football gear was piled in a corner, apart from the rest of the clutter that covered Gaou's room. Long shadows were cast against the walls. The owner of the room himself lay across from Marco on his bed, facing the wall. Without even turning he said, "I told you to leave me alone right now Kagome."

Marco scuffed his foot against the carpet and moved closer, closing the door behind him.