Disclaimer: PoTakeshi.

Summary: Niou tries pick-up lines on Marui. Sadly, she didn't think he was serious until later on. They got a happy ending.

Notes: I'm so happy I was able to get this out.

Forest of Snowflake Blossoms and Ashley Gardner's request was to write a HaruMaru pick-up fic.

Guest 0038 gave the prompt of them skipping class together and Ahsley Gardner gave the second prompt, of Marui not taking Niou's lines seriously because he is the 'Trickster'.

I wanted to focus on their emotions more than the lines here, so they aren't as many as other pairings.

Thank you all! Please leave a review! Hope you like it!

Warnings: Toxic pair ahead! Slightly OOc, genderbending.

The bell rang. One more class knocked down successfully.

Niou stretched his back in his seat then turned to Marui beside him, "Wanna skip?" he asked her with a lazy smirk. Her answer was an excited grin and an immediate straighten of posture as she was ready to hop out of her place.

"You know that I'd never miss skipping a class with you."

The warmth behind those words tugged at his heart in a lovely tingling sensation, but he knew she didn't mean a thing by them, and proceeded to lean his head on his propped up elbow, "What can I say, maybe you're destined to be with me?"

Marui looked at him with an amused expression. She blew up a bubble and shrugged, "Yeah, and we'd end up skipping life together instead."

He pretended to feel amused, too, and snorted, "Habit." He reasoned and stood up from his seat, turning away in the direction of the classroom's door. The silver-haired teen lost some of his mischievous spirt, and didn't wish for his classmate to see his hurt expression.

This wasn't the first time Marui took his attempt to flirt with her for granted, and every time would hurt him more than the first in a way that he wished would end. She never thought of taking him seriously on that one.

Niou linked his hands behind his head lazily and turned sideways, "You comin' or what?"

"Just a sec." Marui seemed to search for something in her school bag, and when she finally found it, she grinned in triumph. The redhead rushed then to his side and saluted playfully, "Ready to go! Lead the way, Captain!" and she pushed him out the door before anyone noticed them going out.

As usual, the headed to the rooftop. The garden there, personally taken care of by Yukimura, was a perfect place for relaxing. Their bluenette friend had put in all her efforts and worked to let it provide the most relaxing atmosphere in the whole school. They sat sideways on one of the benches there and Marui placed the plastic bag in her hand between them.

"I brought something special for you today. It's a brand new snack that I thought resembled you when I saw it." And she pulled out a small box that had prints of white bunnies. Funny enough, those bunnies had two dots of blue for their eyes.

Niou accepted the box from her and opened it to peer inside. He popped one of the candy pieces in his mouth and rolled it around before biting into its soft texture. The sweet and sour taste of orange fill in the mildly sweet white chocolate mingled nicely around his tongue and he nodded in approval when he swallowed it.

"It's good." He said and then raised his eyebrows when there was an eager expression on Marui's face. "Do you.. want to try it?"

"Yes." Her purple eyes twinkled happily, and the silver-haired boy reached for another piece of the small candies before offering her the whole box.

The redhead clicked her tongue before reaching for his hand that was holding the single small piece and bringing it forward to her mouth.

"My guess was right! It does suit you!"

Niou stared at her lips then at his hand still between hers and fought a blush. It was so unexpected and bold of her, but she didn't seem to notice that.

He hurriedly shook himself out of his reverie and poked her nose playfully before retreating back to pop a piece of candy in his mouth. His hand felt tingling hot where she was touching.

By terms of habit, Niou walked with Marui until they reached the road where they would part ways to go to their respective homes. The redhead was chatting animatedly half-watching the road while she kept most of her attention on her companion.

".. and then mom came and told both of them to shut up, because they were giving her a headache. They immediately did! But glared at me so hard I had to fight my laughter back!-… Niou?"

She turned around and saw him at the head of the street, just looking at her with a strange expression. Her head tilted sideways, "Why did you stop there?"

Niou waited for a couple of heartbeats to pass in silence before he opened his mouth.

"If I followed you home, will you keep me?"

On her side, Marui's mind worked to analyze the line. She thought of a couple of ways to take it, but decided to go for the most obvious and let out a squeal then an involuntary giggle escaped her. "I can so imagine you with two long white ears! You'd make the most adorable bunny!" she then took a couple of steps towards him and extended a hand, "I'll let you have my special cupcakes, and we'll play video games. Is that okay?"

Niou forced a playful smile as he took her hand, "Be careful, I might bite you." And that set her into another fit of laughing.

At least, he could make her laugh, if not anything else, he tried to soothe his heart..

The mixed tennis team regulars were in the changing rooms, changing back to their uniforms, ready to go home finally after the day and practice had ended. From the girls' rooms, Marui emerged with Kirihara by her side, the two giggling over something. Soon after, Yukimura and Yagyuu came after them in more reserved manners.

Niou was already out, waiting for his close friend to go home together as usual. He was going to try getting to her again as he held a small squared envelope in his hand, looking at it intently, thinking if it was suitable.

"Niou." The redhead called him. The silver-haired boy looked at her then threw the object in his hand at her direction, "Catch!"

When she did, she looked at him quizzically, and their baby ace looking curiously between them, "Senpai, what's this?" she asked the two.

Niou only shrugged and said with an easy smile, "Wanted to show you a beautiful girl."

The two girls blinked and exchanged looks before Marui opened the envelope. Inside was a small thin mirror, and the two seemed confused.

"What do you mean, senpai?" Kirihara asked with a hint of a pout and looked up when a hand landed on her shoulder. Yukimura was behind them and pointing at the mirror.

"This means that whoever looks into it is the beautiful girl Niou's talking about." A knowing smile played on the female captain's lips as she left them to go to her vice's side.

"Ah!" Kirihara suddenly exclaimed with a blush, "Marui-senpai is the beautiful girl!"

As if she needed someone to explain. The redhead understood the message directly and tried hard to regain her normal heartbeats. She gave a wide grin and teased him "It's nice to know that you can be sweet, Niou."

The silver-haired teen pushed himself off the wall and sauntered close to her, "It's because your sweetness is flowing on me."

"How sweet." She rolled her eyes and turned around, looking at him sideways, "Come on, now."

Kirihara stared after the two figures with a frown. Only Yanagi's voice calling her name snapped her out of thought.

"Renji-senpai," she called his attention as she slipped her smaller hand in his, "Niou-senpai was flirting with Marui-senpai, wasn't he?"

"That's right."

She looked up at him with innocently batting eyelashes, "And she is dumb enough to not notice it?"

The data master chuckled at that and ruffled her curls gently, "Probably and probably not." And to avert her mind from the idiotic couple, "Would you like to have lunch with me?"

Green eyes twinkled with happiness as she nodded excitedly, "I won't miss it!"

Marui was walking with a female classmate back to class, chatting on the way, but they suddenly stopped before entering the classroom.

".. and if you lose, you have to ask Marui out on a date." A round of laughter sounded after that.

"Are you kidding?! She's gonna kill me and my pocket if I take her out!"

"Geez, no need to fret about it. She's just a girl, and it's just a single date."

Out of a sudden, there was the sound of a chair falling back and their alarmed yells. A strong thud sound reached the two girls by the door before the guys' voices started to rise again.

"Dammit! What has gotten into you, Niou?!"

"Chill out, man!"

Marui stepped to the doorway when she heard that and saw Niou standing over one of their classmates on the ground- who had a hand covering his cheek-, and the others circling around him.

"Do you think it's funny to play on her like that?!" the silver-haired boy snapped, "Dare and try getting near her name again, and it'll be more than a tooth that you'll be missing!"

At that moment, the guys turned their heads to the door and their eyes widened to see the redhead standing there. When Niou did the same, his reaction wasn't so different, except that a flush tinted his cheeks as he turned around and left hurriedly through the back door of the classroom.

She silently made her way to the bathroom, her friend following her worriedly.

Niou made his way to the rooftop in a foul mood. The guys' conversation and dirty play rubbed him off the wrong way and he snapped at them. He couldn't let them talk about Marui like that. A date with her as a bargain? Over his dead body! No one treated his close friends like that!

Especially her..

He couldn't tell when he started liking her.. probably at the beginning of their second year when they became teammates and classmates, but maybe before that, too. His emotions soon began blooming towards her.

However, when he was convinced that he should confess, she didn't understand, slash, she chose to ignore, he didn't know. He was being so obvious in his attempts to say it, but he was that degree of shyness away to ever confess directly.

The silver-haired boy let out a heavy sigh and laid back his head on his folded arms, the glaring sun concealed to some extent by the white make-shift cover over the sensitive roof plants. His teal blue eyes closed tiredly, and soon, he slipped into slumber, noticing in the far corner of his mind the sound of a door clicking open.

When he felt the sun beams shining behind his eyelids, Niou groaned and shifted around, pressing his face to the soft fabric in the process.

His mind was suddenly alerted. There was no fabric there when he did fall asleep. His eyes shot open as he turned his head upwards and met with the sight of purple eyes peering at him over the tenting cloth of the white school shirt [In other words, decent covered breasts].

Faster than one could blink, he sprang up and turned around, trying to understand the change of setting of before and after he fell asleep.

Marui looked at him with soft eyes and smile, "You have a cute snore." She commented making him blush uncharacteristically.

"What time is it?" he asked, not looking at her.

"Almost twelve."

Silence fell between them as each contemplated his thoughts. The redhead then broke it.

"Earlier in the classroom.." she paused and looked up at him, "Thank you.. for what you did."

Niou only managed a nod before they returned to the tensed atmosphere.

"You know.." Marui tentatively began, ".. I never really knew how to understand you. Sometimes you're like an enigma." She looked away and sighed.

"What is there to not understand?" he asked with a frown, "I tried a lot of ways to tell you that.. thing, but you never reached there."

"You think it was easy for me?" she asked back, a frown marring her expression this time.

The silver-haired boy raised an eyebrow "What was hard about it, then?"

She bit her lip but then sighed again and confessed, "How could I know! You're the trickster! For all I know, this could have been one of your many jokes or pranks!"

Niou blinked. She thought it was a trick? "But that's not a matter to joke about!"

"How could I know you were serious? When you talk to me, and somehow enter a flirty line in between sentences, you just throw me into a spiral. Are you serious or not? I'm unable to know. If you're serious, then how should I face it? But what if it was a joke, then what can I do?"

He actually felt a pang of guilt tugging at the strings of his heart. He didn't know she was that insecure because of his known playful times. How could he have not seen it? He scooted closer to her, "Look, I'd never joke about my feelings. It's never been in my intentions." His eyes widened when he witnessed her usually cheerful eyes well up with tears, "O-oi, don't cry!"

"Say it."

"Wha..?"

She wiped her eyes and glared at him, "Say the words." But her eyes returned to their glossy state with more unshed tears. If Niou was going to back out of this, she didn't know what she would do after killing him.

The silver-haired didn't have to even think before the words tumbled out of his mouth hurriedly. "I like you!" strangely, no amount of courage was needed.

A chuckle left Marui as her tears fell. She tried to smile, because she was really happy but waterfalls broke and wouldn't stop. Deciding to end it, she threw herself at Niou and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, laughing and sobbing at the same time.

On Niou's side, if he was surprised, he didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her waist and hug her tightly. A genuine smile splayed on his lips as he finally got to this stage.

When she pulled back and wiped her tears, Niou gazed softly at her between his arms and averted his eyes for a second, "Then.." he looked back at her and grinned, "My lip hurts. Will you kiss it and make it better?"

Before he even knew it, Marui's soft lips were on his in a sweetly innocent kiss. She had the brightest smile on when she pulled back.

"My pleasure, Haru."

He couldn't be any happier.

A/N: Finally done. Now I can return to my last assignment peacefully.

Hope you enjoyed it.

Please, leave a review. Again, you can ask for a pair in the PU-Lverse or go and read the previous ones if you haven't.

Note: I apologize beforehand, but I won't be writing any pairs that break the Alpha or Perfect. Others are fine. Just thought I'd tell you.