notes: These two dorks, gotta love causing them grief in the most impossible way. This is set during their fourth year of university where they're about to graduate, let's say they're about 22 years old here. I've reverted back to reading shoujos again and this is what I come up with. Thank you to my good friend of mine who helped me fix all of the blinding errors, I appreciate everything she's done for me!
notes2: Can you believe there's like no corny marriage proposals out there for these two? I think Hiruma and Mamori would plan to get married and then like never act on it because of hesitancy and such, but a part of me thinks Hiruma would be so down for marriage, I guess it all depends, haha! enjoy!

SUNDAY NIGHT

"We usually have coffee in my apartment?" Mamori notes with some confusion, feeling as if asking would disrupt the usual order of things. Hiruma closes his laptop.

"Some things can change," Hiruma responds, a knowing grin forming on his face as Mamori doubtfully eyes from behind her cup's rim.

"You're acting suspicious today. I can see you, you have that glow in your eyes," Mamori notes, her heart beginning to pick up the pace as Hiruma glances quickly away to a point behind her.

"I have no idea what you mean, so I'm gonna ignore that." He sips his drink casually and Mamori grips her cup.

"You can't just ignore things! You texted me to head up here!"

"We're going over our next plan of action," he tells her, sounding like he's stating the most obvious thing in the world. That's right, with graduation around the corner, they were here to discuss their future, whether it be as a couple or about continuing to work together as Hiruma heads towards his next dream; The NFL.

Mamori sighs. "Fine. I see, well I'm gonna all ears. Whenever you're ready."

Hiruma looks at her, in that same way he studies formations or videos of players' impossible techniques.

Mamori chooses not to look him in the eye, her eyebrow twitching as she begrudgingly ignores his visual analysis of her recent looks.

Mamori decides her own best possible plan of action and that is talking to fill up the empty space. "Well, if you're not going to speak, I will. Anyways, have you heard that my mother invited us over for a congratulatory dinner? Hiruma, I'm as happy as you are, I know," she looks at him then, and he still hasn't budged once, the same intense expression on his face as he seems to be listening.

She pushes forth, despite the blush creeping across her cheeks. "It should be sometime noon next weekend. I'll have her send me the details. I'm sure you can be on your best behavior? Right?" She gives him an accusatory look which quickly crumbles away as his eyes brighten suddenly.

Something's coming, Mamori thinks, something big and she's not sure what it is.

"Honestly, Hiruma-kun, have you been eating well? I'm sure you've been skipping meals again. Do I need to get Kurita-kun and Musashi-kun to come here and remind you to take care of yourself?" She huffs. He still hasn't stopped looking and Mamori begins to feel her palms sweat.

"Mamori—" he speaks finally in an unfamiliar tone, but she continues talking over him, suddenly terrified of whatever it is that's coming.

"You know, couples who aren't on the same page is terrible luck. Ako was just telling me about her boyfriend she met who didn't understand her and—"

"Let's get married."

There it is. The big all consuming thing.

Mamori stops a moment, it's like she's stuck in a bad case of vertigo, and she nearly chokes on her drink at how quickly she swallowed it.

Mamori stands up so fast that the table clatters everything around.

"I remembered! I have this assignment for my research project I have to complete, I'm sorry Hiruma-kun, I need to go!"

Mamori runs as fast as she can, her feet carrying her farther away from Hiruma's apartment, not realizing that this, this could be the end of it all for them.

MONDAY NIGHT

Anezaki Mamori is in an odd sort of jumble at the start of her day. After Hiruma suddenly stopped by her apartment to drop off the rest of her things she left at his place from that embarrassing day of his proposal, it was hard for her to look him in the eye.

Hiruma doesn't even cast her a warm look even once, and Mamori feels a pang.

"Hiruma-kun," she had tried to tell him, all that she wanted to say and she knew it was important to him, but very similar to how he is about most emotional things, it was hard for her to convey verbally what she was feeling.

She takes the plastic bag of her stuff from him, still thinking about finding the right words to say. "Thank you, I—" he cuts her off with a look. "Right, I'll see you at practice tomorrow," she reminds him, hoping he'd turn her way, flashing her one of his bright grins, but what comes is nothing of that sort. He walks off into the night, not turning back once.

Mamori feels her heart ache.

WEDNESDAY

"You asked her to marry you!?" Kurita shouts, Musashi winces at how loud his friend is and Hiruma doesn't even make a move to shush him irritably.

"Kurita, keep your voice down," Musashi warns, Kurita begins to apologize profusely.

"Well, what did she tell you, Hiruma-kun?" Kurita asks nervously. Hiruma continues his typing, but suddenly pauses, his eyes never straying from the screen of his laptop.

"She ran off," he tells them, and continues his typing. Kurita and Musashi exchange a glance and know. Their friend is hurt.

"Of course she'd run away," Musashi scolds and Kurita jolts suddenly at Musashi's brutally honest phrasing.

"You asked her to marry you without any preamble," Musashi finishes, his frown deepening as Hiruma looks up, his sharp eyes narrowing.

"R-right," Kurita manages to say. "Give her some time, I'm sure she'll come around. I think Anezaki just has a lot on her plate at the moment," Kurita assures him.

After a beat, seeing how quiet Hiruma had gotten, a softer smile broke out across his face.

"You two are fucking idiots, but you're right. That damn woman, she better give me an explanation on why she ran off like that."

"I'm sure she'll gladly explain," Musashi says and Hiruma grins. The two breathe out a sigh of relief.

"She really ran off, didn't she?" Hiruma repeats, talking more to himself as his expression darkens irritably, grinding his teeth.

"I swear I could give her a piece of my fucking mind," Hiruma threatens, the aura around him swirling as he continues furiously typing away.

Kurita sweats nervously. "It could've gone better in many ways, Hiruma, but I'm sure she'll come around soon."

Hiruma looks up at that point. "I give her the end of this week. If she doesn't tell me anything, I'll know in the end it was just a rejection."

Musashi raises an eyebrow and Kurita gawks. "He doesn't ask for much now does he?" Musashi states as they both make their separate ways after their weekly luncheon.

"I'm sure Anezaki didn't mean to be that way, it probably caught her off guard. Hiruma can be pretty intense," Kurita adds thoughtfully, and Musashi considers it.

"They're both idiots, why don't they just talk it out?"

"I'm sure we both know why, you don't even have to ask that," Kurita laughs goodnaturedly, his smile never wavering.

Musashi sighs, defeated. "Those two, what's more important than their pride?"

"Their feelings." Kurita replies, his statement hanging in the air as he laughs. Musashi smiles, his eyes crinkling.

"Their feelings." Musashi repeats to himself as they walk off to their respective areas.

THURSDAY

"You seem to be out of sorts today, Anezaki." Banba stops as he sits down on one of the benches after their boxing session.

Mamori blinks, suddenly aware of where she is, as if she was lost in some dreamlike trance. "I'm sorry, Banba-kun, I haven't been the most cooperative this week."

Mamori looks down at her feet and Banba looks at her oddly, as if she's not the same girl he's used to.

"Does it have something to do with, Hiruma?" Banba asks, his gaze never wavering from her as Mamori jolts.

Her face breaks out into a pained expression, and Banba realizes that he's hit the mark.

"Yes," she murmurs, Banba leans back on the bench, looking at her seriously.

"I'm sure whatever it is he asked you must've been something huge." Mamori looks up, eyes impossibly wide.

"Banba-kun?"

"Anezaki, if you love him, and I know you do, you'd give him a definitive answer," Mamori nods robotically at how sure Banba sounds. She's only heard him like this during half times when they were stuck in a pinch, especially their matches against Ojou University or Enma.

Mamori's eyes brighten, as she thinks to herself, all the moments between her and Hiruma appearing before her in the back of her mind.

They've always been together, and that if it's something she's not ready for, she just has to tell him and be honest with him. She doesn't care whether he leaves or she leaves to go off to their separate dreams, she just loves him. She realized she loved Hiruma well into her second year; now they were both seniors in University, gearing up for graduation and their next step.

Mamori just needs to tell him, to make her views known.

Looking so sure of herself she stood a little straighter, her wrapped fists clenched tightly. "Banba-kun, thank you! I'll do that!" She bows to him and freezes suddenly, in shock.

"I don't know why I bowed to you like you were my coach," Banba smiles at that as he watches Mamori run through the glass doors, leaving quickly out into the street heading towards the practice field.

"That girl, she left her stuff here," he notes in disbelief.

For being late February, Mamori realizes that running in her athletic clothes was not a wise idea, especially without a jacket on.

She had no time, she had to find Hiruma and tell him.

Mamori makes it to the practice field, looking around all the first and second string players putting up their equipment and heading to make their daily run.

"Hiruma!" Mamori yells and everyone looks at her curiously, as if she's grown an extra head.

Mamori sees a familiar group.

"Taka-kun! Yamato-kun!"

"Anezaki?" Yamato looks shocked at seeing their senior manager here, heavily breathing as if she's run a 5k.

Taka takes note of her frazzled look and eyes her disapprovingly. "What's wrong?" He questions.

"Nevermind me, have you two seen Hiruma-kun?"

Yamato and Taka exchange a glance. "We saw him on the eastern part of the field, he's practicing his throws," Taka tells her and Mamori nods, running towards that area.

"Thank you!" She hollers at them, as they watch her go.

"That was odd, she looked unlike herself," Yamato observes and Taka shrugs. "Let's go wash up, today's been quite a day."

"I'm sure those two are about to have a day," Yamato jokes and Taka rolls his eyes as they head for the showers.

Mamori spots the familiar spikes of blonde hair, his back turned to her as he throws another football straight into a net.

She feels the doubt steadily creeping in, but she knows if Hiruma could bare his heart to her in his own way, then she could too, damn it all.

"Hiruma-kun!" She shouts and he throws the last football into the net as he glances behind him, his eyes seeming to widen for a second before flicking away.

"What?" He asks irritably, wiping the sweat off his forehead as he stands. He's never looked so seriously at her before, and she feels an odd sort of deja vu.

Now or never, Mamori, she thinks to herself.

"I'm sorry, Hiruma-kun, for being cowardly and running off from you when you made your proposal, I didn't mean for that to happen." Mamori declares loudly, the two seem to be stuck in some sort of stalemate because neither of them realize that all the first string and second string players have gathered to watch the notorious demon quarterback and manager have a romantic face off.

"You came all this way to apologize?" Hiruma asks in a patronizing tone. He doesn't know whether to laugh or shoot his gun at all the witnesses around him. Leave it to Mamori to be so happy to be announcing their business to everyone unknowingly.

Mamori feels her resolve weaken a bit at Hiruma's tone and look, but she's told him this once and only once.

"I love you, and I want to be with you forever. I'm happy you gave me your life and I gave you mine¹. I do want to marry you, I wanted to tell you this, I really am sorry I didn't just tell you this in the first place. That was my error!" Mamori feels the tears welling up but she stubbornly holds them back, please let him understand.

"I'm sorry I acted on impulse and I hope you can forgive me, I just feel like we need to wait a bit—"

Mamori stops suddenly, in awe that Hiruma suddenly has his large gun in his hands as the look on his face is nonchalant.

"Hold that thought, there's some nosey vermin I have to take care of," Hiruma turns pointing his gun at all the players. "Get the fuck out of here, fuckers! Go practice!" The sounds of gunshots litter the field as they all quickly run off to the other side of the empty lot.

"That's the first time captain has used his guns this week!" Came from one of the players as another responds. "He seems to be back to his fiendish ways, not good for us though!"

Mamori breathes heavily as Hiruma straps his gun away and turns to her, his broad smile in place as he walks up to her.

"That's what you needed to tell me and you finally chose to tell me all of this at the very end of this week? Your timing is really something."

Mamori flinches. "I-I, well you see," she fumbles for the right thing to say and suddenly flushes so brightly that it hits her that she declared something so personal out loud to everyone who was just here.

"Hiruma-kun, I'm so sorry!"

"Enough with the apologizing! I heard you the first time!"

"Well you don't have to be so rude! I was just wanting to tell you something important! It shouldn't even matter who's listening anyway!"

Hiruma grimaces and suddenly sighs, seemingly exhausted. "You—you're a pain in the ass, you know that?"

Mamori flushes in anger. "Well if I'm such a pain in the ass, why did you decide to marry me?"

"Because I love you," he responds seriously, and Mamori freezes, her eyes widening as she looks away. "Oh, I—of course you'd say that!" Mamori laughs suddenly, patting him on the shoulder as he looks at her oddly.

"Don't act shy, you should already know that by now!" Hiruma hisses.

"Of course I do. You just never say it often!"

Hiruma suddenly pulls out a tiny black box and hands it to her.

Mamori looks at it with a mix of awe and apprehension. She takes it from him carefully and peeks inside only to close it quickly.

"A grenade?!" Mamori screeches and Hiruma swipes it from her.

"Damn it, Mamori! It's a ring." He opens it for her and she looks at the silver band with a small diamond wrapped around the center.

"When did you—?" Mamori feels herself shaking, the tears welling up as Hiruma grins brightly.

"The first week we started dating," he announces and Mamori gapes at him.

"You've kept this with you for years and I never knew about it once?"

"There's a lot of things you don't know," he remarks. Mamori looks at him as he steps closer to her, his long fingers brushing her hair away from her face.

"I'm willing to tell you everything about me, all the known and unknown."

Mamori feels her heart pounding as she listens to Hiruma's declaration.

"Anezaki Mamori, let's get married one of these days, I'm sure we'll find a day and time to do all that fancy shit. Whenever you're—we're ready."

Mamori smiles brightly, her eyes bristling with unshed tears as Hiruma's lips soften to a gentle expression, one that she's rarely ever seen before. There's so much she doesn't know about him, but she's willing and ready to learn. She's sure he doesn't know entirely everything about her, but they have all the time in the world to figure it all out.

"How was that, damn manager?" Hiruma asks her, as he holds her against him. Oddly enough he doesn't feel entirely weird with having her so close to him in such a public space.

"Cheesy," she laughs as he glares at her, flicking her forehead affectionately.

"Yeah, yeah, well your declaration was a bit harder to match up to," he tells her, his eyebrows twitching as she laughs out loud, snorting as he grits his teeth.

"Don't laugh like a damn hyena! It wasn't that cheesy!" He defends and Mamori just snorts even louder, yanking him down to her level. "I appreciate all of it, thank you!" She kisses his nose and he moves away from her. "Come on, I gotta wash up, I've been out here all morning and afternoon."

"Really? No breaks in between?" She looks at him in disbelief.

"I was frustrated because the only woman I've ever cared about couldn't answer me honestly."

Mamori brightens, her cheeks tinting pink. "Well, I'm here now, aren't I?"

Hiruma grins, the afternoon sun lowering to the horizon as he gazes at her with the most content expression she's ever seen from him.

"You're here now," he assures as they walk back towards the Wizards clubhouse.

a few disclaimers:
[1] that quote is a direct nod to gauthannja's "the devil's cram school" which if you love and adore hirumamo like i do, you should definitely deep dive into gauthannja's "the art of management" series because it is all kinds of gorgeous and wonderful and heartachingly in character.
[2] this was some of the best fun i had writing these two and i will probably write more wacky things in the future, i have an entire AU based fic set in college where hiruma owns a tattoo parlor and guess w

thanks for reading!