Title: Betrayed by Cream Puffs

Theme: HiruSena

Author: Tania Dick

Disclaimer: Sadly I don't have the privilege of owning Eyeshield 21 (that honour belongs to the respective owner). I have simply *cough* borrowed *cough* the players for the purpose of setting them in torturous… I mean unrealistic situations…

* This actually started out differently (about 4 chapters worth) but I lost it due to computer problems

* So enjoy the slightly different version of 'take two' :D

[] = author's notes, comments

Italics = generally mindspeech or private thoughts

Chapter 1: The Secret Admirer

.

"Ah…What a nice day!" The small brown haired boy in the turquoise uniform of Deimon Senior High commented to no one in particular. It was a beautiful day; the sun was shining high in the clouds above. The birds chirping and singing in the trees that seemed to be glowing with a verdant emerald light as if heralding the wonderful summer day. It was still early in the year and the weather wasn't suffering the overpowering humidity that they could expect later that season. The young boy stood taking it all in, a wide smile on his face: The day was too perfect; nothing could ruin today!

.

"Oi! Hoi! Sena! Wait up!"

The small brunette turned to see his school mate, Raimon Taro otherwise known as Monta (the somewhat monkey-ish receiver of their Amefuto club – The DevilBats, waving as he hurried up for their early morning football practice session before school activities began.

"Monta! Ohayou desu" Sena waved back as his friend came to a gasping halt by his side. "Daijoubu?"

"Don't mind, don't mind. Dorukobu effort MAX!" Monta said brushing off his friend's concern. "I have to try harder, right? If I can increase my speed, then it might give me an edge for this year's Christmas bowl … and I'm not losing to Taka-san or Tetsuma-san at all this year! GLORY MAX!" He all but shouted as he straightened with fires in his eyes, fist clenched with excitement.

.

Poor Sena sweatdropped at his friend's enthusiasm; he on the other hand was still somewhat apprehensive. The resident demon of their school was up to his old tricks again with a training regime that was even more exhausting and demanding than last year. Sena was loving every minute of it, but he was concerned about Hiruma possibly tiring out their freshman applicants with his excessive zeal. Sena reminisced slightly as he and Monta walked to school together. This time last year he had been a lousy secretary just to hide the face that he was the 'star' runningback of the Deimon DevilBats. This year at least he was able to juggle both his training and his secretarial duties (he'd found packing up after training with the new recruits quite relaxing actually, and someone had to cheer them up and erase the terrifying memories caused by their demonic leader).

.

He was still a little unsure just how the third years of Deimon had been allowed to continue playing when in previous years they had been forbidden. Sena's childhood protector, Mamori-neechan had explained it to him when he'd asked…but he hadn't understood all the details very well. As far as he'd been able to understand from her explanation – because they had won with such success; Deimon had now changed the rules so that instead of being forbidden, it was now a voluntary option to partake in extra-curricular activities. The third years were encouraged to focus on their studies and exams but if students felt that they could manage both, then this year (and the years following) they weren't going to face possible expulsion for disobedience etc. All Sena knew and really cared about was that the core members of Deimon's American Football Club were able to continue and play.

.

Technically, Sena was this year's football captain… (Even with Hiruma breathing down his neck to teach him how) Sena was quite proud that the practice game they'd had with Zokugaku had been won with his choice of which play to use, but Sena was also very secretly glad that Hiruma was still around to save them when he made a dumb decision for a game plan – like their first friendly match during the school holidays with the Yuughi Guts, his first as the official team captain… Hiruma had scolded him in the middle of their huddle and had promptly taken over, erasing their deficit and leading to yet another victory. As embarrassed as he'd been at his public lecture over his panicking, Sena had been very grateful – for both Hiruma and the Guts: Hiruma for saving their team pride & for Asami-san [if you remember the proper name of the Yuugi guts quarterback & leader please correct me], the previous year's quarterback & captain of the Guts for his advice and after game tutelage.

.

Hiruma…I owe him a lot…I'm glad he's allowed to still play – and not to just save my mistakes. I just wish he didn't think I'm such a kid….

"Oi… Sena? Oi" a hand waving in front of his face broke his internal musings "What's up? Whats got you so serious looking?"

"Huh?... I just wish Hiruma-san didn't think I was just a kid…erk! Nandou janai nevermind [I think that's the romanji] Nandou janai!" Shaking his head to stop his stupid thoughts, Sena quickly tried to wave away his comments… without much luck.

Monta was staring at him with a weird bug eyed look, " Oi, Sena – you feeling okay?" Sena flailed wildly as his face was suddenly engulfed by one of Monta's enormous hands as his friend tried to check his temperature. "I don't feel anything different… you sure you ok? You sure are talking weird…"

"Ahhahaha…I guess I am… it just erm…I just…"

"YA-HO!"

"WAAAAAAHHHHHH!" both Sena and Monta jumped at the sudden appearance of Suzuna – the rollerblading cheerleading leader of the Deimon Devil Bats Cheer squad.

"Eh?...What's wrong with you guys?"

"Suzuna…Please don't come out of nowhere like that!" Sena pleaded as he slowly calmed his racing heart.

"Mukya Surprised Max! I think I lost all nine lives!"

"Monkeys don't have nine lives!"

"MUKYAAA! Who're you calling a monkey! Grrr!"

.

Once everything had calmed down again, Suzuna asked, "Anyway, what you so excited about – you were touching Sena's head, is he sick?"

"I don't' know. He don't got a fever, but he sure was talking weird before…"

"Weird? In what way?"

"Hey guys, come on… it wasn't that much of a bi…"

"Well, he basically whined like a lovesick girl over that demon only 'seeing him as a little kid"

"Yeah! Weird Max!...MUKKYAAA!" Monta jumped aside as he suddenly noticed Jumonji, their linebacker leader of the Sankyoudai.

"Ah! Juu-kun, Touga-kun, Kuro-kun Ohayou!" Suzuna chirped up. Sena nodded his greeting, pink and embarrassed; he wasn't at all sure that he liked the way this conversation was going.

"I wasn't whining exactly…" He tried to explain.

"Whaddya mean? Sure you were - 'I just wish Hiruma-san didn't think I was just a liddle kid!'" Kuroki said adding a whiney pitch to his voice.

"Along with that sappy look on your face you wear when you're losing at something." Added Tougano.

"Kyaaaaaa! Sena's got his first crush!" Squealed Suzuna suddenly, making them all jump.

Wha…no..eh" Sena's protest was lost as his companions dissolved into laughter at his expense.

"TnT"

"No, sorry….in all serious though," Suzuna said as she picked herself off the floor wiping the tears from her eyes.

"PffffffffT!"

"Whahahahaa"

"Widdle Sena gotta crush…hahaha"

"Muk muk mukyahahahaha"

"SHUT UP ALREADY!"

.

Four very bruised football players, later lay on the floor after Suzuna's devastating rollerblade attack "Moe! What is wrong with these guys? Can't they take a hint? Don't they know when to stop?" fumed the short cheerleader, "but seriously Sena, the joke about the 'crush-thing' aside it's not really that hard to understand, y'kno."

"wha…wha'dya mean" hiccupped Sena as he tried not to cry (why he felt particularly horrible about their teasing today he wasn't really sure why, it had never bothered him before).

"Well, think about it – Hiruma is the one that dragged you into American football and made you stronger stuff so in a weird way - One: he's your 'savior' as odd as that sounds & Two: you probably look up to him as your sempai and your 'ideal' captain. I mean he is pretty impressive right?"

"Un… I guess so"

"Yup that's right! So now, he's accepted your growth as a person; he'd have to right?"

"Mn… that's true, after all why else would he have named you as the new captain of the team?" Juumonji added, brushing himself off as he regained control of his emotions. (As always the other Sankyoudai followed Juumonji's lead, controlling themselves and restraining their mirth.)

"Mukya…don't forget you were the fourth official member of the football club after all those years of trying on their own."

"Nn! Nn!" Suzuna nodded, "Yup! And the fact that You-nii yelling at you like he did in first year bothers you, shows that even you can tell that you've grown since last year, right? Thereby explaining your feelings of 'not wanting him to see you as kid'. Am I right?" the blue heaired girl stated with an upraised finger.

"Man…when you say it like that it makes really boring sense" Kuroki bemoaned. "I liked taking the piss out of him for having a crush on Hiruma of all people!"

"Oi Oi…you've turned pink Sena" Tougano suddenly noticed.

"EHHHH!" They all turned to stare at a now steadily growing redder Sena.

"Usou desu you're lying, that can't be right!" a bug eyed Suzuna begged. There were a few moments of silence, then the incredulous look left her face to be replaced with that slightly odd 'nekotama' cat face of hers as her 'gossip antenna' began to perk up and jab wildly.

"D..do…don't be s-silly. I like girls! Girls!"

"Hmmmmm!" the others bore down on him with a cold speculating look in their eyes.

"Oi … Sena….are you sure?"

"MONTA!" Sena spluttered, "Of-Of course I do! …I like Suzuna well enough…"

.

"KyaHaHaahahaahaha," The girl in question broke out with a sudden peal of slightly hysterical laughter. "Gomen, gomen" she said trying to wave away her lost of control, "That's sweet Sena-kun, but that's not the kind of 'Like' we're talking about here & we're nothing more than just friends. Are there any girls in the school that you've had 'sweet thoughts' about?"

"Sweet thoughts?"

"Ya…like girls you wanted to kissu or other stuff"

"Kissu?" Sena stared perplexidly at the other boys in the group whose faces were slightly pink.

Suzuna sighed and rubbed her suddenly aching head – boys are so dense –

"Are there any girls you know that make you wanna act like Monta does over Mamo-nee (in a lower state of excitement mind!)?"

Sena sweatdropped and began to back away slightly as he reluctantly shook his head – he really didn't like the way this conversation was turning!

"Hah!"

"Haah!"

"Haaaaaah!"

"Mukeeeeeeeee!"

Sena turned and ran behind the nearest tree trunk.

"Usou desu"

"Stunned Max!"

"You'd have thought he'd at least thought about it"

"He's got enough of them chasing after him now"

"Oi Oi…" Juumonji coughed, regaining his senses, "imagine how bad Sena's feeling right now."

The others looked at their feet shamefacedly (but Suzuna's gossip antenna was having a hard time staying still).

.

They came and sat quietly around Sena who was crouched down, holding his knees in misery behind the tree. "We should have seen this coming…" Juumonji sighed.

"What do you mean?" the other two 'brothers' asked in hushed tones as Suzuna and the Monkey tried to comfort the embarrassed and depressed runningback.

"Think about it. The brat's easily scared and isn't used to attention & the only female he's been used to hanging around was the manager…and now the cheerleader. In the first place he probably runs from the girls that chase after him."

"…That's true" Kuroki muttered.

"Some of those girls are pretty scary to begin with, so it can't be helped!" added Tougano.

.

The Sankyoudai shuddered as one as they remembered the hellish period just before the end of school after the previous years X-games when the whole team had had to be called in for the 'Sena protection squad'. Even players from the other teams had come in to keep some of the more fanatical (as well as creepy & obviously dangerous fans) away from the tiny football player.

It had been the one of the few times that the demon quarterback and the Team Manager had been in total cooperation outside of football.

"So basically you're saying that he's as clueless as some of the idiots in Touga's mangas"

"Hah! And you were saying that my mangas were useless! There should be some ideas in them to help Sena."

Juumonji rubbed his aching head as his friends bickered between themselves.

"That's not the problem here…"

"Huh?"

"Huuh?"

"It's more complicated that just Sena being oblivious over romance… One - he's clueless about girls"

"Yeah – well we know that"

"Two – He's clueless about love and romance and stuff"

"Your point?" Tougano prodded…he had a rough idea where this was going and as far as his manga fuelled intelligence could tell, it was heading towards 'uncharted territory'.

"Three …" Juumonji sighed and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "now it looks like he's having his 'first crush' on the Demon of all people…."

"So?" Kuroki questioned.

"Hiruma's a guy remember"

"Yeah … we know that too"

Tougano held his head in his hands – they were definitely in 'uncharted territory' now.

"Juumonji's saying that Sena doesn't even realise that he's possibly gay…"

"Wahhhht!"

"Keep it down you idiot – what do you want to do? Embarrass him even more?" Juumonji hurriedly scolded, smacking the back of Kuroki's head.

"We could be guessing too early… I mean… it's only his first crush – it could mean nothing..." Tougano pleaded – he really didn't want to have to 'research' something like this.

"Do you honestly think that Bastard would let something like this go? For Sena's sake we need sort it out so that that bastard won't use it against him. I wouldn't put it past that Bastard to turn gay himself, just so he can blackmail the kid about it afterwards afterwards"

.

"What are you guys talking about?"

The Sankyoudai jumped as Suzuna's head pop out in the middle of their huddle.

That girl has been hanging around Hiruma for way too long Juumonji thought as he said, "We were trying to sort out a game plan to help the liddle guy out."

"Sena's calmed down a bit now so it should be safe to talk a bit more about it" Suzuna added, "I'll admit though, it's not like you to go that far out of your way to help."

"Hey, we aren't complete bastards you know" Tougano said.

They grouped themselves around the still miserable runningback (but at least he didn't look like he was on the verge of tears anymore).

.

"Right, now the first order of business with helping Sena out with his 'crush' will be to find out if the person in question actually has any feelings in return!"

Four deadpan stares and one confused one met her eyes, "Whaaat? It's a valid possibility!"

"Yeah, when Hell freezes over!"

"Don't tempt fate, He comes from there remember!"

"Maaan, seriously Suzuna since when have we ever known Hiruma-san to have any feelings - outside of amefuto and blackmail and blowing people up?" Monta asked.

Suzuna sighed, "I know the chances of it are next to one in a bazillion, but that's still a possibility isn't it?" She stared pointedly at them trying to unsuccessfully suppress her 'gossip antenna'.

"You are way too happy over this…" Juumonji stated suspisciously.

"Mah…well, " Suzuna tried to curb her enthusiasm, but gave up and just grinned with all her nekotama-ness.

"Usou….you can't be…" Tougano tried to stop himself from asking, not wanting the image of his crush destroyed, "You can't be one of … those? Can you?"

"One of those what - yaoi fan girls? 'Course I am" She grinned most happily. "Most girls are y'know!"

Tougano drooped in despair, the picture of dejection – you could almost see the thunderclouds hanging over his heavy head.

"What's with that attitude – you can't talk! After all you like Yuri! So you can't go sulking 'cos we girls like yaoi – if that's the case, then you guys aren't allowed to read yuri!"

.

Four blank looks watched the argument with various levels of confusion.

"…anyone care to explain the code to those of us out of the loop?" Kuroki asked.

"Huh? Oh… right, sorry guys" Suzuna chirped, "lets see… You know how this guy likes his manga right?" She said indicating Tougano.

"Yeah…but Suzuna, I've borrowed some of his stuff and I don't really see anything too wrong with it." Sena piped up.

"Really?"

"Huh?"

"Huuh?"

"Mukya – really? I didn't think you guys got along that well" Monta said.

"Ahhahaha… well it's just he's got Onepiece and a few others I haven't read yet" Sena explained.

"Wow… who'd have thought you'd be getting chummy with the pipsqueak!" Kuroki commented.

"Urusaii Shut up it's not like I can talk manga with you guys. You can't be bothered with it!"

"Ahem…getting back on topic here, "Suzuna coughed, cutting in "some of the manga I'm sure Tougano has; is of the genre labelled 'Yuri'. It means that instead of the usual 'boy & girl' romance it is of a 'girl on girl' type of action. Mamo-nee will probably thank you for not shocking poor Sena's mind with the graphics of some of the yuri. But whilst guys have yuri, girls have the opposite available for their viewing pleasure which is 'Yaoi' aka 'boy on boy' action." Suzuna finished pushing the fake 'teacher' glasses up her nose as she concluded her explanation.

.

Her audience appeared to be in various stages of either embarrassment or confusion. Kuroki was the first to break free of the state, "Oi oi…you switched from romance to action – what is that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it means – 'boy on girl' action would be pretty much porn, well so is yaoi and yuri but it isn't always that graphic. I know for a fact that Kuroki's girlfriend is a shonen-ai fan, meaning that she likes the 'fluffy' kind of stories. Not too graphic and more suggestive, with innuendo and nothing more serious than kisses or hugs." Suzuna shrugged.

"Kuroki has a Girlfriend!" the others whipped around to stare incredulously at the large lipped male.

"Of course! What – you think I can't get a girl or something?" Kuroki admitted shrugging with pride. "It's that blonde American chick in the cheer squad…and besides, how'd you find that out?" he asked turning back to the blue haired girl.

"Hu huu, because I'm the one that introduced her to it" Suzuna explained, her face full of cat faced mischievousness.

"Enough about that already – what does your weirdness have to do with Sena?" Juumonji butted in.

"Isn't it obvious?" Suzuna cried, engulfing Sena in a massive glomping hug, "He's just the perfect little uke!"

What the hell is an 'Uke'? four thoughts occurred in almost perfect synchronisation as five wide eyed stares watched the small blue haired girl hanging off of the runningback.

.

"Ano…What's an 'Uke' Suzuna?" Sena almost hated himself for asking that question, but it was one of those 'don't want to know but have to ask' kind of questions.

"Mrnnnnnn….Kawaiiii!" Suzuna squealed in cattish glee over Sena's all too innocent question - and promptly 'melted' all over him.

"Errrrrrrr Suzuna?"

"Hahaha gomen gomen, but you are just too uke-ish. Ukes are generally the smaller, cuter & absolutely adorable member of the pair in a Seme/Uke couple." She replied as she giggled out her apology, "and you are just too uke-ish!"

Sena found himself wrapped in another smothering hug as his friend nuzzled him with evident enjoyment at his confusion. Why are hugs always so painful? He winced. Urushii painful

"Do….do….should I even be asking what….what a 'Seme' is?"

"Oh Hiruma is so totally a Seme! Tall, dominating, good looking, always in control and everything – he's just 'Seme'!" she fangirled in reply.

.

"Oi…Touga – you still going to go after this chick after we've now confirmed how weird she is?" Kuroki whispered aside to his friend. There was no reply to come from the gloom surrounding his friend.

"Best leave him for a bit," Juumonji advised, "Nice going with scoring with the foreign chick, by the way."

"Thanks!" Kuroki replied, "You know I didn't think Suzuna would be taking this so well. I honestly thought she was digging Sena." He whispered aside.

"I heard that!" Suzuna butted in, bouncing up off of Sena, "Sena's cute and all, but he's not really my type. Besides I'll run right over him, which isn't really fair to him!"

"Ah sou, that's true – Mamori and Hiruma already both run his life as it is!" Monta added.

"You say that, but at the same time you sound almost happy at the thought of Sena and Hiruma pairing up!" Juumonji complained, "That's just not on!"

"Yah, well…that's just being a fangirl." Suzuna answered airily, "Seriously it'd be really cute if he returned Sena's feelings and all. Check the internet sometimes – you'd be surprised at the number of HiruSena fanfics floating around due to yaoi fangirls' letting their imaginations run wild. It's just a bit of fun – but we know that most of the time it's not really going to happen!"

The boys sweatdropped at her admission (and at the knowledge of the range of potentially seedy stories floating about).

.

"Anoooo….it's not really like that…" the subject in question attempted to explain.

His friends turned to look at him. "If that's the case why are you so pink?" Kuroki asked pointedly.

"Ah…well…that is…It's Embarrassing!" was the flustered reply, "We're both guys anyway, so it's not even possible!"

"Ehhhhh…Sena weren't you just listening to the cheerleader? Guys can pair up too!"

"Well, yes but that's just a bit of make believe fun – isn't it?"

Clonk! All four of them fell over at Sena's preposterous evidence of his lack of understanding.

"Seeeeenaaa!"

"Oi Oi!"

"Sena the last thing you want is that Bastard to take an interest in you! So don't even give him and opening like that!"

"Huh?" Poor Sena's head was starting to ache. How could two guys fall in love? Guys got with girls! That was the natural order of things!

"AHAHA! When it comes to Love there are No Boundaries!"

"WHAAAAA! Where'd you come from!"

"My gods, the world's falling apart when that idiot actually makes sense" Juumonji bemoaned, head in his hands.

"ANIIIKIIIII!"

"Are you blessed to see me? I am here to save the day!" Suzuna's overbearing brother Taki Natsuiki [?] proclaimed as he spun around on the spot.

"Where'd he come from?" Kuroki asked.

"The Twins said they'd drop him off today for practise after their date last night" Suzuna drooped.

"Whoa! He's scored with both those two on the cheersquad? Surprised MAX!"

"Ahaa ha, naturally – I am just wonderful!"

"Aniki SHUT UP!"

"ITAI! ahh haa aha, You're Love is Painful MY Sister!"

.

After a few moments, when everyone was in a calmer frame of mind; they returned to the problem at hand.

"Look, do you really want Hiruma of all people to take that kind of interest in you?" Juumonji demanded.

"I don't think…"

"Love Conquers All!" Taki proclaimed with a huge thumps up.

"BAKA Aniki!" Suzuna ordered smacking his head.

"Shocked Max! I still can't believe Taki-san's that popular with the ladies

"He's dumb, but funny – they take him out for entertainment then dump him when they want a more serious relationship."

"It's all for the Love!"

"Ignore him!" Suzuna insisted, "Now getting back to the subject; Sena do you even realise what it means to be gay?"

"I'd say really happy….but you guys don't seem to see it that way." He replied hesistantly.

There was a collected sigh of resignation from his group of friends (Taki just whirled on regardless). "Man, this is just what we need – how bothersome. Look Sena; that's what it used to mean." Juumonji explained awkwardly.

"Yeah – like back in the sixties!" Kuroki added. He shut up when Juumonji silenced him with a glare.

"Well, yeah…" Juumonji grudgingly admitted, "Nowadays, it usually means that you're a 'homosexual'…"

"Homosexual?...EHHHHHH! Yada Yada! I like girls!" Sena insisted as his brain finally understood what his friends were trying to explain to him.

"Oi…Sena…you just admitted that you haven't even thought about going on a date with any of the girls at school" Monta said with a deadpanned look.

"Well…Ya…they're scary!" the embarrassed runningback argued.

"Hey…you think he could turn any pinker? I'm starting to understand why those freaky girls want to pair him up with a guy!" Kuroki whispered aside to Juumonji.

Thunk! "Will you shut it!" Juumonji hissed as Kuroki fell back from the thump to his noggin'.

.

Suzuna rubbed her head – this was beginning to be harder than she imagined. She tried a different tact "Sena? You like Mamo-nee because she's your 'big sister', right?"

"Well, yeah…"

"…and you like me because?"

"Errrr…..I can talk to you?"

The group gave another collective sigh; Sena just hadn't matured enough to comprehend the problem at hand.

"Maybe we should try sorting this out later on? We aren't going anywhere!"

"Mukkya…troubled Max!"

"True, and if we're late for practise the Demon will be sniffin' around to find out why!"

"Er…gomen nasai" Sena tearfully replied. Everyone was trying to help him, but he couldn't really understand why they were so worried – Suzuna's explanation from before seemed to make the most sense. "Demo… I think it's probably like Suzuna said before – I just want Hiruma to recognise that I'm not as useless as I was in first year!"

"Haa…If it was just that then we wouldn't be so worried, but it certainly seems that there's a bit more to it than 'looking up to your sempai'!" Juumonji sighed.

"Huh?"

"Mrrrrnnnnn! Kawaii!" Suzuna squealed and glomped Sena again, "you and your widdle puppy eyes of cluelessness!"

"oh come on," Juumonji said with resignation, "we'd better get to practise, and let's keep an eye for some 'safe' girls for Sena to date."

"…typical guy solution for gayness – find the guy a girl!" Suzuna commented scornfully as she got up and brushed herself off, "If its not gonna happen, it's not gonna happen! Why are you so interested in helping him anyways?"

"Like Kuroki said, we aren't complete bastards! If we hadn't been dragged into Amefuto – then tend to one we'd be heading for Juvi-Detention and later on Jail; So we owe this club a lot and we just wanna help out our 'brother'."

"Yeah, and Jail's were you end up as some guy's B*tch! Dealing with all sorts of sh*t and crap and really getting it up the a$$! So we're really grateful and all for helping us get our acts together! I haven't gotten any sh*t from my folks since we kicked amino's a$$es!" Kuroki said.

"Ge..get..getting what u-u-up the a-a-a?"

"Urusai dumbass – what are you trying to do? Scare him even worse?" Juumonji scolded, clouting his friend on the head again. The other linebacker mercifully shut his mouth in shame.

"Anyways Suzuna, why are you here so early anyways? Cheering practise doesn't usually begin till we're starting to get tired halfway through our practise session." Monta asked with his hands behind his head as they prepared to head to the clubhouse.

"Hrn Hrn! Isn't it obvious?" Suzuna asked with an upraised finger – her face full of cattish glee.

"No, not really…"

"Oi….Oi! Hey guys, Touga's still broken." Kuroki informed giving a light kick to the gloomy miasma surrounding his schoolmate.

"Ara ara….is he still upset over 'that'?" Suzuna sighed, "Mah well... no help for it (and it's not like I don't care)…" She said, crossing her arms, turning faintly pink, "Touga-kun…Tougano! Tou-Gan-Nou Shou-Zo!...SHOU-KUN GET A GRIP ALREADY!" She finally yelled – back straight, hands fisted by her side complete with a scary fang face, demonic eyes and (enlarged) enraged head. Everyone jumped backed at this display of altered personality – so far removed from the usual cheeky pintsized cheerful cheerleader. It was enough to break the gloomy lineman from his cocoon of despair though.

"Mou! Just get over it already!" She pouted, crossing her arms again and looking away a little, "I'm not even going to consider dating a guy that can't accept my Yaoi-otaku ness…" her cheeks flushing even more with that admission, Suzuna sneaked a peek at Tougano's reaction. [yay to dreamynitemare on livejournal for introducing me to this pairing – her version was really sweet and cute ^w^ ]

.

Touganou stared at the pintsized epitome of his dream girl, then the words she'd just said filtered through his flabbergasted brain, "U-Usou….You…You'd be willing to g-g-go on a date-o with me?" he cried leaping to his feet.

Suzuna pouted in her red devil cheerleading dress, then relented uncrossing her arms, "Maybe…but not if you're going to be stupid about the yaoi thing. I mean, they're just manga – it's not like it's that big a deal anyway." She clasped her hands behind her and looked up through her bangs at the taller schoolboy; her cheeks now flushed dark pink.

"YAHOOOO! Then –then you were seriously considering my offer last week? About going to the movies and stuff?" He cried jumping with joy. Suzuna blushed even harder and nodded, suddenly shy.

"Omedeto congratulations Suzuna"

"Nice one MAX!" Monta said giving a huge thumbs up.

"Hahhhaah, he's got a really weird taste in girls" Kuroki commented, shrugging in resignation.

"Can't be helped I suppose, he is that kind of idiot." replied Juumonji, a smile on his face at his friend's good luck.

"Ah Ha ha, welcome to the family My Brother!" Thock! "Urusai Baka!" Tougano said smacking Taki-kun to the floor.

.

Once the congratulations had been given, Monta turned to Suzuna, "So you came out this early to give him his answer then?"

"Not really, I was actually going to wait till the lunch hour to tell him in private. But desperate times call for desperate measures and how else would I get him to practise on time? Last thing I want is to have Hiruma come after me for reducing one of his linemen to a vegetable!"

"Ah sou…" they all agreed – after all, it was sad but unfortunately quite true.

"But then if you going to wait till later, why are you here so early?" Sena enquired.

"I thought I said it was obvious! To see if 'That' has happened again!"

"That?"

"Of course! Mamo-nee's Secret Admirer! "

"Mukkyaaa! Irritating Max! How dare he compete for my Mamori-swan's love!" Monta complained pulling his 'angry monkey' face.

"What 'compete'? Anyone else is better than a 'Monkey'!" Kuroki jested snidely.

"MUKKYEEE! ANGRY MAX!"

Amid the general rowdiness and the laughter emanating from the happy group as they made their way towards the club house to prepare for that morning's practise, Sena couldn't help but unobtrusively hug his bag to his suddenly too tight chest. He wished he could laugh as wholeheartedly as his friends but when he thought about whether another package had been left for his childhood friend, he couldn't help but feel uneasy.

.

As the last head disappeared from view; a long, lean black clad leg dangled down from the upper branches of the tree they had been sitting under. A familiar silhouette dropped to the ground and straightened to stare shrewdly at the departing club members as a pale green gum bubble popped ominously. As the cool summer breezed wafted through his pale blonde hair, Hiruma Youichi speculated with narrowed eyes the most INTRIGUING conversation he had just overheard.

He certainly hadn't asked them to come waltzing under the very tree he'd been resting in. And it certainly wasn't his fault that he had become an unwitting eavesdropper on their pathetic attempt at a private conversation of what was most undoubtedly NOT for his ears.

.

He had just been tapping away quite merrily on his laptop, organising his next nefarious deed when this particularly juicy piece of information had drifted up to his ever sharp ears. Now with the information at hand, the probabilities had most definitely increased for certain …...

.

.

.

Opportunities!

took a break from my sad attempt at a one shot 'Who's the Fool' (shameless plug) and switched to rewriting this one :)

as said before - this originally started completely differently! but i think (hope) it's actually better than the previous one that died.

as always please note me of any errors that i can fix etc.

unsure if this will turn smutty - no promises! i may actually succeed in staying clean and fluffy

H that's no fun ...

urusai - you'll get plenty in some of the other works!