Fic: Common Sense
Title: Common Sense
Characters/Pairing: Gaou/Marco, Marco/Himuro
Rating: G
Summary: Sometimes you just have to stop and think.
Common Sense
“God, I’m so sorry, Marco,” Maruko frowned anxiously as she held a wad of slightly bloody tissues to the side of his head. “Tako’s just a cat, I know she didn’t mean it.”
“It’s all right Maria,” Marco said, calmly. “I’m not going to get mad at Tako-chan just for acting like what she is.”
He glanced down at the happy bundle of calico fur that was nestled against his hip, purring obliviously, and gave it a friendly scratch behind the ears to show there were no hard feelings.
“I know,” Maria said, biting her lip. “I really am sorry, though; they were right there, I should’ve known better than to just hold her up to you like that - that was just common sense.”
“Hey, hey, don’t be so serious, it wasn’t your fault.”
He gently grasped the wrist that was supporting the makeshift dressing and reeled its owner in to drop a quick kiss on the tip of her nose.
“That’s better,” he said when she was forced to crack a smile at the silly gesture. “As pretty as you are when you’re worried about me, I like you better this way. Besides - if I can’t be mad at Tako-chan, then I could certainly never be mad at you.”
He rested his chin in the crook of her bent arm and smiled up as endearingly as possible.
“I’m not worried anyway. I know I can trust Nurse Himuro to make me all better.”
Maruko laughed sheepishly as she let him pull her closer.
“I guess I should be glad for that since 'Nurse Himuro' was technically the reason you got hurt in the first place.” She toyed with the white streak that ran through his hair and added, “And I like how even that doesn’t stop you from making a play for me.”
“But that’s what you like about me, isn’t it?” Marco smiled up at her, fondly. “I don’t give up easily.”
***************
“So, the colonies,” Marco said, flopping back on to his bed.
“Yeah,” Gaou replied. “The report’s supposed to be in by Monday, so if you don’t want us to fail, we’d better get started.”
“Don’t worry,” Marco waved a hand in the air, unconcernedly. “I know all about that, it’s in the bag.”
Gaou eyed him dryly. “This is why people call you cocky, you know.”
Marco turned his head, a sly grin on his face. “Really? And here I’d been thinking it was my awesome powers in the bedroom. I feel obligated to prove something, now.”
He propped himself up on one elbow, roguish smile still in place, and patted a spot on the bed invitingly.
“Wanna help?”
Gaou smirked back at him from the floor. He stood, easily abandoning the book he’d held, and made his way to the bed where Marco made a show of giving a long, luxurious, full body stretch before casually tucking his arms behind his head. Gaou rolled his eyes at him, despite appreciating the little display. He rested a hand on the pillows behind Marco’s head and leaned in close - only to be pulled to a halt when a shrill series of electronic notes erupted behind him.
“Dammit, let me turn my damn phone off. It’s probably my sister wanting me to take her somewhere or something, so if I don’t turn it off now she’ll just keep calling.”
He turned around with an irritated sound to reach for the phone on the floor. He’d barely moved, though, when he heard Marco swear loudly behind him.
“Ow, Gaou wait, ah, waitwaitwait, your hair - wait!“
Gaou frowned and turned back quickly, trying to see what Marco was making such a fuss about.
“What are you - “
“AUGH!”
“ - yelling about?”
When Gaou looked down, it was to find Marco sprawled half on and half off of the bed, clutching the side of his face. He looked up slowly at Gaou, features fixed firmly in a deeply aggrieved expression.
“I told you,” he said mournfully, “to wait.”
*
Several minutes later, Gaou watched from a kitchen chair as Marco’s mother piled ice cubes into a towel. She handed it to her son and watched as he gingerly applied the packing to the side of his face.
“Well. It’s certainly not as bad as it could have been.” She carefully tilted Marco’s jaw to the side with a finger. “I suppose next time you’ll know what to do before engaging in certain, ah, athletic, after school activities, hmm?”
Marco directed a pained look at his mother and the obvious amusement she was having a hard time trying to suppress.
“Come on, Mom. Please?” He winced at the unpleasant feel of the ice water soaking into his hair.
“Well, it’s just common sense, love.”
At the deeply saddened look he gave her in response to that, she laughed and said, “All right, I’m sorry, I’ll leave you alone.”
She ruffled his hair lightly and set a bottle down on the table in front of them.
“Here’s the antiseptic. You know what to do.” She gave Gaou a little pat on the arm as she passed him and added, “Make sure he doesn’t bleed to death, won’t you?”
***************
“So you were playing football when this happened?”
The school nurse stared incredulously, eyes moving from Marco to Kisaragi and then back again. When neither boy responded other than to stare at his feet in silent embarrassment, she shook her head in disbelief.
“All those safety measures and padding and you couldn’t be bothered with this one little thing? What on earth were you boys thinking?”
She sighed and went off into the other room, presumably to get some first aid supplies, still shaking her head in disapproval.
After she’d gone, Kisaragi cleared his throat and shifted, fidgeting with the helmet he still held behind his back.
“Should I - should I go back and tell the others you’ll be a little while?”
Marco sighed and rubbed a weary hand over his face.
“Don’t bother Kisaragi, it’s not like it’s an emergency. It shouldn’t take more than ten or fifteen minutes, I’d say; I’d probably be back by the time you started practice again.”
“Right.” Kisaragi fidgeted a little more, still looking at the floor. “Still. It was a little surprising, wasn’t it? I mean who would’ve thought that your helmet would’ve just gone flying off like that? I guess - oh.” He stepped back respectfully as the nurse returned.
“All right,” She handed Marco an icepack and set a handful of gauze, cotton balls, and packaged antiseptic wipes down on the table next to him. “Just hold that on there till the swelling goes down and then use what’s on the table to patch yourself up. I’d stay around to help more, but I’ve got two kids with stomach bugs in the next room to keep an eye on and I think you’re old enough to take it from here.”
She turned to go, a slightly harried look on her face, but stopped and looked back at him before she reached the door.
“Really, dear,” she said with an exasperated sigh, “you must be at least seventeen by now. You need to start showing a little more common sense at your age.”
*****************
“All right! Hakushuu will start the game on offense!”
Marco smiled at the referee’s words. Maybe he’d been spending too much time around Gaou, or maybe it was from facing opponents like Deimon’s Hiruma, but lately he’d noticed his anticipation levels just before a game seemed to be at an all time high.
He shrugged his jacket off onto the bench before starting for the field, barely able to keep the eagerness from affecting his usual unhurried stride. He’d almost reached the lines when he stopped short, remembering something.
“Ah, damn!”
His hands leapt quickly from one side of his head to the other. He looked around for a suitable recipient until he saw one of the first years, Jounouchi, seated on the bench. He would do.
“Hey, I need you to do something for me.”
The kid looked up in surprise when he realized the team captain was speaking to him. He immediately sat up straighter, trying to look as useful and attentive as possible.
“Can you hold on to these during the game? I don’t want to lose them.”
“Uh, sure!” Jounouchi held out his hands automatically to take what Marco was holding out to him. He blinked. “You’re giving me your - earrings?”
The boy stared blankly at the jewelry in his hand. Then his eyes widened in realization.
“Oh! Of course, you wouldn’t want to have them in during a game would you, that’s just - “
“Common sense? I know.” Marco smiled wryly. “That’s what people keep telling me.”
Notes:
I love Marco's earrings. I think they're sexy as hell, but every time I look at him wearing them during a game all I can think of is the epic injury potential.
You also gotta love how in ES21 world football helmets go flying off at the merest nudge to the wearer. Brain damage, ahoy!