Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Itoshi sae has come to Bluelock!!” It was like a song that had started playing through the entire building. Rin did not like this new song. When he had last seen him, just when he had thought that he might forgive him when sae had approached him during the U-20 match, The bastard had said that Japan’s strikers had hope. That that striker was Isagi Yoichi, after watching him score the final goal. Which he had passed to Isagi, where he had a mental breakdown and fought like a starving beast to get the ball, had successfully got it from Nii-chan. It was just as much as his goal,as it was Isagi’s, the man himself had said it.

And Yet,

Not a single word about him, about what he accomplished, fucking nothing. As much as he had gotten angry at Isagi, In his heart,he knew there was no use blaming him for his brother’s actions.

At the thought of Isagi, a prick of guilt and warmth rose up conflictingly. He was the only person to come and check on him, in the aftermath of their hard-earned win where they were only eager to stuff their faces( he couldn't really blame them) Isagi had cared enough to look for him, that was more than he could say for the people in his life, and how had he treated him? By spitting in his face about rivalry and shit. Rin sighed. He did’nt deserve Isagi’s kindness. He had no idea why the guy even bothered with him. He frowned while he recalled the news.

But he knew, even then, even now, if his brother deigned to hand him something resembling an Olive branch, he would be like a dog with a bone.

Dammit, he was disgusted with himself. Nii-chan would probably ask him to have a bit of self-respect or something. Damn that bastard.

*-----------------------------------*

Rin was not having a good day. The opponents team was strong, ridiculously so, These were not the foreign teams that had come to participate in Blue lock TV( rin still hated that word, they really were allowing clubs to auction them like ancient artifacts), but a new team from beyond the seas, “The Evermores”.

What technique Rin had thought was ideal, They surpassed it by 10 times. Whatsmore, some members from other teams were watching as well, Like Isagi and fucking Niichan.

Rin had thought he was fit and of a decent size, but that thought had clearly been demolished by these giants from another land. The first to score 5 goals would win. And they were currently at 0-4, one more goal and they were done for. He looked at the despair in the faces of his teammates. It was half-time and he was already tired.

It was'nt an important match,he knew that. To the guys in the half-witted football association of japan, this match was'nt as relevant as the NEL matches. They've seen the talent of these players beforehand. It was a supposedly friendly match.  But the profuse need in his heart to not lose overturned in him and abetted on by ego said otherwise. His team huddled together as Rin sat at the very corner mind blank and in a haze not processing anything.

"If Isagi were here, he could have done something instead of useless No 1 here" Igaguri said eyeing Rin detestedly.  Only select members had been chosen to play and Igaguri who had not been in a single NEL match was chosen.

The rest of them genuinely had no idea what Ego was thinking.

Igaguri who was overjoyed at first but was now losing had resorted to picking on others. the air around them soured at the monk's words.

"How about you shut the fuck up ya?" Hiori glared down, cyan hair falling forward.

"Bit rich coming from you, Mr extra useless" Karasu said, looking daggers at Igaguri.

Their words came in like echoes inside Rin's cloudy mind. Incompetent as he was, Igaguri had a point. Isagi..he knew how to uplift people around him, how to use his words and actions to light a fire under their asses and get them working at their best. Rin, on the other hand, if he hit a wall too big would only crumble down at the moment.

Useless

Rin responded by saying nothing. He missed the disquieted looks of his teammates at him.

They went out into the field with no new ploys.

Suddenly he heard a loud cheer. Rin turned to the stadium and saw Bachira’s overenthusiastic face as he gave a thumbs up, saw Isagi’s determined face looking at him with fiery eyes.

“C’mon, you can do it!!” they yelled in creepy synchronization, he saw Sae’s emotionless face, glimpsed some blond guy with a tattoo leering at Isagi (stop staring at him you creep).

He closed his eyes, saw Bachira’s play during that fateful match when he had got isagi ,saw Isagi’s blue eyes like electricity was brimming in them when he got too into a match. No words were said but it was as though Isagi was pouring every emotion and every ounce of strength in to him by sheer will alone.

Remember them, learn from them, make their courage your own

Itoshi Rin felt hope and strength course through his veins again. Felt the chain around his heart loosen. He felt himself going into the flow , embarassingly his tongue started lolling out a bit, and felt the fire rise in his eyes and soul. He fought with every fibre of his being and felt the coils in his brain turning to make new strategies.

He scored.

It was worth seeing the looks of surprise in the other team’s eyes. His goal seemed to have awakened something in his teammates. He scored the first 2 goals and Hiori and yukimiya scored one each. By now, he was spent. His heart beat was going up and he was sweaty all over, hands on knees. Their defense was very tight, so it was an effort for his team to merely hold on to the ball.

He looked up to see the Evermores, …..looking completely fine, not a drop of sweat on them, smirking at them, at him. There was like 10 seconds left, what did these idiots think they could do now? he glared at them. It was almost like they did’nt care if they lost, they were too above bluelock, it would’nt hurt their damn pride.

Wait

It was either that or they were confident enough to score under a minute. Rin’s eyes widened in horror, and he scanned the field. He saw a small lean guy running towards their goal. He looked back and saw the others defending against the enemy team, watched as one of the big guys passed to the lean guy. He smirked at Rin as he ran to the goal and swung his foot in an arc.

Rin looked down at the cheers of the other team, hands shaking slightly.

He had lost, lost miserably. He looked at the other team, they were smiling at the bluelockers. Two of them put out their tongues in a teasing imitation of him and winked. One of them mouthed at him ”You kids are good”.

........

Damn them, he did not need their misplaced pity. The fact was that he had lost. He looked down dejectedly.

The reporter looked at the camera with a wide grin.                                                                          “So football fans everywhere!,  That was a mind blowing match we just witnessed. The elite Evermores as incredible as they were, seems to be impressed by blue lock. And with good reason! Rin Itoshi’s play during the second half was truly inspiring and a beautiful comeback which spurred the rest of the team to show their true potential!”

Said team for some annoying reason had noticed his inner turmoil. Mind your own business, will you? Tepid Busybodies

A hand met his shoulder, “You were amazing Rin- kun” hiori said with a soft smile while handing him a drink.

“You truly were” Yukimiya added while taking off his shades with a smirk.

Karasu sauntered towards the pair of them with a lazy grin  “Eh, why're ya sulking eyelashes? I mean, you do realize your goal was the reason the rest of us stopped being scared dumbasses don't ya?”

I know you have issues but don’t sell yourself short Rin, For a learning match, we did good" Otoya said smoothing his hair out.

"How about that huh Igaguri? , you saw what Rin did! " Nanase laughed. The bald boy flailed his arms around while trying to explain.

He looked at the stadium again and saw electric blue eyes shining at him. “Great work Rin ,that was a good match!” Isagi yelled.

Something in his heart melted at the beaming wide grin on Isagi's face,the sharp canines on the front of his teeth slightly crooked, the lines around his eyes crinkling with his smile and his eyes, maybe not as blue as sapphires but with a truly vibrant glow in them which set them apart from any gem, reminding him of the ocean, of home, looking at him with an affection he had'nt seen from anyone in a long long time.

If there was a blush staining his cheeks it was no one’s business but his own.

Still, The fact there are guys that good means that’s my new height to reach, I pushed and did my best did’nt I?, I suppose that’s ok-

“Oi, Rin”

He startled and looked around to see Itoshi Sae, gem of Japan and not-a-child-now prodigy walking towards him, to speak to him.

Maybe it was the fact that he was not surrounded by hostile teammates and irritating opponents. Maybe it was the fact that no one was reluctant to talk to him anymore and had showered him with compliments. Maybe it was that Isagi Yoichi, blue lock’s ideal egoist had smiled at him a second ago. But Rin felt warmth seep through him and a smile tug at the corners of his lips as he looked at his brother, his nii-chan with shining eyes. Perhaps Maybe….

“What the actual fuck was that?” Sae looked up at him with an emotionless face, eyes betraying the repressed anger.

……Ha

“You were shit in the first half, the second half lacked your usual strength, you lost focus in the last minute. And you lost.”

“But nii-chan, I did try-

“Shut up, you clearly weren’t doing enough, if you let those bastards win”

I don’t know what I was expecting

“I already told you Rin, if you can’t play football, you’re trash. All those dumbasses can coddle you all they want, but don’t expect me to do shit like that. And I thought I told you not to use me as your reason to play football, whether it was against or with me” Sae glared.

He turned to leave,
”It looks like you’re still the failure you always were ”
His teammates looked in shock at the 2 brothers. Rin turned and walked away from them. If there were tears prickling his eyelashes, it was no one’s business but his own.

Dumbass, what were you even expecting from him?? You know he’s always like that. And what’s more he was right. I’m the fool for getting carried away by stupid praise and for thinking what I did was ok. I lost in the battlefield. I’m dead. 

His soul felt like it was stabbed. ……Maybe I should be dead, perhaps then he won’t look at me like that.

Looking back, he felt like he should have noticed and tried to stop what was going to happen. But he had been too lost in his own mind. And so did not notice a small someone going like wind past him.

“Um, Excuse me, Itoshi Sae” someone prodded Sae gently.

“Yes?” Green eyes looked down at blue disinterestedly.

BHAM

Rin’s drink fell from his hands and his jaw fell open. He could vaguely register his teammates doing the same.

Bachira, Chigiri and the others stared.

Kaiser and Ness stared.

Fucking Noel Noa, Prince and Lavinho stared.

The entire football world might have stared.

Itoshi Sae was too stunned to speak. He had fallen from the force of the punch.

Isagi Yoichi, the absolute mad lad, took him by the collar, eyes burning with anger, growled with fury dancing in his eyes.

“How dare you"

Chapter Text

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing , talking to Rin like that!”

“H…huh?”

“Rin just did an incredible job, no matter if he lost, ego meant this to be a learning match, he did half the work all on his own against those monsters and yet you’re telling him he’s not enough?? What the hell is wrong with you?”

Recognition lit Sae’s eyes and his face darkened.

“I really don’t think it’s any of your business what I do or don’t do with Rin, Isagi Yoichi. It’s a family matter, outsiders don’t need to meddle in it”  Sae growled back, eyes hardening like ice.

But unfortunately for Sae, Rin thought, Isagi was not the type of person to back down, no matter if the opponent was Japan’s youngest prodigy, or anyone or even God himself.

“Exactly, he’s your brother, he’s family, how could you even think of talking to him like that? You fucking retard” Isagi snarled with even more ferocity.

Rin’s eyes might have fell out of his skull if it hadn’t been attached to his head. That crazy- and di..did he just curse at nii-chan!?

Little did Rin know, he was going to do a lot worse than cursing.

Sae roughly grabbed the hand that held his collar and squeezed to make him let go. His eyes narrowed even further, “Oi brat, who do you think you’re talking to like that? Do you even know who I am-

“I don’t care”

Sae would be lying if he said he didn’t feel a chill running down his back at the way the boy said that. The grip on Isagi's wrist loosened.

“I don’t care if you’re one of the world’s eleven, I don’t care if you can clear an entire ground by yourself or how fancy your roulettes are, nothing gives you the right to treat your younger brother like that” Isagi’s eyes burned like boiling acid.

“Oh really, and who do you think you are-

“I’m his friend, and both him and you are probably not used to people standing up for him, but I’m here to tell you, do that again and you will regret it”

Itoshi Sae was speechless.

Itoshi Rin felt the chain around his heart loosen and fall to the ground.

Isagi let go of Sae’s collar as he looked down sadly and took a breath.

“….do you even realize how much you matter to him?”

“What?” Sae mumbled suspiciously.

“He keeps going on about wanting to defeat you but I can still see how much he wants your approval, how much he admires you” Isagi spat.

Sae’s eyes widened.

“He calls you nii-chan! which coming from him is really damn huge. Seriously, Do you just not realize how much you're hurting him?”

“Rin doesn't, hah, he wouldn’t let anything-

“Yeah, that’s it, you don’t know, you don’t realize or care how much your brother loves and looks up to you. He had goddamn sparkles in his eyes for god’s sake! Plus, he was smiling, I’ve never even seen him smiling!!”

If Rin felt a blush creeping up his cheeks, it was really no one’s business but his own.

Maybe you should shut up for a bit, Isagi you dumbass-

“You are the person he loves and admires most in this world!! How do you think it’ll feel, huh, for someone you admire that much to treat you like trash? And Newsflash asshole, in case no one told you, you don’t talk to anyone like that, much less someone who admires you, much fucking less your own little brother who loves you that much!”

Itoshi Sae didn’t seem to have a reply to that.

“I’m guessing that this trashy behaviour didn’t start today, and if you’ve always been treating him like shit, you should look at what he achieved despite that.”

“He’s one of our youngest players and he still managed to defeat the best 300 players of Japan and rose to the top all on his own. We won the U-20 because of his play at the last minutes and judging by what I’ve seen, you don’t seem to care. And he’s still getting better and is a much better person than you’ll ever be”

Isagi looked down at him coldly “You should be proud”

Sae’s hands were trembling.

“You should be proud to call him your brother”

Two pairs of hands went to Isagi’s shoulders pulling him back.

“As fabulous as that was, I think that’s enough for today, Isagi” Chigiri beamed, pink hair flowing around his shoulders.

“Yeah, that was so cool, Isagi!!” Bachira laughed, golden eyes shining like his birthday had come early.

“But wait, guys, I’m not done with him yet” Isagi complained, a complete 180 switch from the spitfire he had been earlier.

“Nope” they said together smirking like a pair of maniacs.

“That’s enough for today. I don’t think the prodigy can handle any more than that” chigiri said with a grin.

Isagi sighed and allowed himself to be dragged away.

But he suddenly looked at Sae with a glare.

“Ah shit, we forgot to cover his mouth” Chigiri looked back lazily while making no effort to actually do so.

“YOU’RE AN EMBARRASSMENT TO OLDER BROTHERS EVERYWHERE!!”

Bachira was choking with laughter.

They finally reached Rin who was wondering if he was in a fever dream.

“Isagi, y..you just...just did… that ” he finished lamely while looking at Isagi like a confused puppy.

Isagi’s heart might have broke from how young he sounded at that moment. ”I’m sorry you had to deal with that Rin.  C’mon, let’s get you away from this psycho.” Isagi said and lead him out with a hand on his shoulder.

 Even Chigiri and bachira looked momentarily shocked at seeing such a vulnerable expression on Rin’s face and ran to follow the pair.

*---------------------*

 “Sae-chan!! Are you alright?”

His manager ran up to him and helped him up. He looked at the boy next to him and sighed, low and deep.

“Let’s go back to the hotel for now,Sae”

Sae was in shock.

He was still processing the events of the past 5 minutes.

Never in all his years of living in this planet had anyone ever spoken to him in that manner. Not his parents, not friends, not even in Spain which was arguably the worst time in his life. Sure, there were insults, jabs at his talent which had hurt his childish heart who up to that point had never had negative feedback.

Despite that, he did not feel hurt to that level per say, he did’nt even feel angry at Isagi for some reason.

After all, that guy...Isagi was defending Rin from Sae, his own brother.

An uncomfortable feeling rose in his heart. Snakes were coiling in his stomach and his body felt numb, like a statue. It mirrored the feeling he had on that snowy evening after he had returned from Spain and met Rin on the field.

People had noticed, the distance between the two of them. They'll have been blind not to. His parents, teammates, even the recent U-20 players. But no one had said anything. Aiku had come really close when he saw his lack of hesitation and mercy to fight his brother and when he came to know that Sae had a choice and he chose Shidou over Rin. But he had been too preoccupied with other issues, mainly said demon whom even blue lock couldn’t tame.

 But Isagi had not hesitated, not in the slightest. He would rather burn to death than admit it but he was impressed.

He's definitely crazy

…but a good kind of crazy.

He had been right. Isagi Yoichi was one of a kind.

 But

 He turned back to look at Rin, looking as though he was the one who was punched in the face being led away gently by Isagi with a hand on his back to guide him.

The truth was that if Rin hadn’t lost concentration at that last minute, He. Would. Have. won. It reminded him of one of the blue lock matches he had watched from Ego’s videos. Team V vs Team Z. Team Z had won despite the talent being on team V’s side. It was the same kind of power that he had felt today from this match.

The others had been right as well. Rin’s play was inspiring but if he had just held on till the last second of the game, played with full concentration for a few more seconds. He would have won. Instead, the idiot had decided he’ll be happy with a tie and the other team won and it was so so frustrating to watch.

So he had taken out that frustration on Rin.

“Idiot” A voice that sounded suspiciously like Isagi murmured at the back of his mind.

  He… had always treated Rin like that since that dreaded day after he came from Spain, that was just how it was. Rin was too attached to him so it was the only way to make him grow and reach a place Sae knew Rin could. That he had to reach. Had to learn to play for his own sake. To continue their dream. Making him reach there at any cost was the least thing he could do for Rin after what had happend.

 But maybe Isagi had a point. His words rang in Sae’s ears.

 ”You should be proud”.

He remembered Rin’s first goal in the match and the rush of happiness that had filled him.

A small smile pulled at his lips ”I guess my little brother is pretty cool too”. Sae went on his way.

*---------*

The rest of the audience were also trying to take in what they had just witnessed.

Karasu picked up the bottle he dropped and walked to the podium.

“I think I speak for everyone when I say what the everloving fuck just happened?”

“That was wild” Reo laughed.   Even Nagi looked a bit winded.

“Yeah no kidding, but even then I still can’t believe that Sae just said all of those horrible things with a straight face to Rin” Yuki said looking troubled. He and Sae were the same age and he couldn’t even fathom saying anything remotely similar like that to his little sister.

“I’m with Isagi-kun, Sae definitely deserved that. You guys didn’t see his face but Rin was nearly crying”.  Hiori added with an unnatural dark look on his usually expressionless face.

“That doesn’t erase the fact that what Yoichi did was something both really brave and stupid, ” Kaiser said while looking thoughtfully at Isagi as he curled the tip of his dyed blue hair.

The Bluelock boys looked surprised that he had joined their conversation.

Kaiser thought he was above everyone else after all, and he had a team of idiots who stoked that ego.

“Looks like the kitten has claws,” Ness said disdainfully.   “I thought you’ll be a bit more upset though, Michael. Sae is a friend to you.”

The rest of the team looked at the blonde German in shock.

“You better hope ta' god that Isagi does'n hear that, Rat Tail guy” Karasu tutted

Ness looked offended while Kaiser raised his eyebrows directing all of them a silent question of why that was.

The bluelock boys exchanged looks of various degrees of freaked out.

“Trust me, you don’t want to end up in isagi’s shit list”

The answer came from a tall, buff guy with spiky hair and a red tint to his eyes who was sitting near them looking unbothered but clearly listening.

“When barou says to look out for someone, you know shit’s gotten real” Otoya grimaced.

“Oh really…” Kaiser felt his lips widening and his pupils contracting in excitement.

 “That merely means I have so much more to look forward to” he finished with an insane grin on his face.

Their hair stood on end and their eyes widened.

“Ookay!, lets go kaiser” Ness smiled sweetly at them, glad that Kaiser’s feelings towards Yoichi had’nt changed.

He was going to utterly destroy him and he would laugh watching that.

Nanase looked thoroughly creeped out. “I’m surrounded by psychos” He shivered.

“Sorry mate, you already signed up for that when you stepped foot in this place” Karasu said voice dripping with fake pity while he wrapped an arm around the smaller boy.

*----------*

Did you guys see that?! Did ya!!? Lavinho shook Noa and  Chris Prince’s shoulders excitedly.

“Yes, we can in fact see” Noa deadpanned

“Honourable is’nt he?, definitely the hero type”. Chris said with an assessing smile.

“I don’t know about y'all, but that was the coolest thing I’ve seen since I came here” Lavinho laughed.

“Yep, have to admit that boy has balls of steel to say that to Sae’s face” Chris shrugged.

“He must really like Itoshi Rin, he’s in Loki’s group is’nt he?” Noel noa inquired.

Loki himself walked towards them with a pensive expression on his young face.

“Ha! , talk about the man and he shall appear” Lavinho chuckled with a well meaning hand on Loki’s shoulder.

The atmosphere around them lightened instantly.

Chris beamed at him, “Well, what does our youngest mentor think about this?”

Loki gave them a long suffering smile, used to their behaviour around him but looked at Isagi and Rin’s receding backs and frowned.

“I hope Rin’s gonna be ok”

“Huh?”

“I mean, it always feels like he has a lot of pressure on him. Pressure he puts on himself. Probably, from what we saw, fueled by his brother. ”

“Wow, you really care about this kid, don’t ya?”

Loki shrugged.

“Maybe”

Considering that all of the new players in PXG were his age or older with Rin being the youngest. He would be lying if he said he did’nt feel a tad protective over the one player who could actually look up to him.

And, the boy was constantly over working, so much that he could’nt help but be concerned. It was as though he had some unending ocean to swim across which he did with staggering determination not caring if he killed himself along the way.

 “Aw, I can’t believe little Loki’s finally found someone to care for. He’s so grown up now ” Chris mimed wiping a tear off while Lavinho guffawed like a demented man.

Sigh

Sometimes he wondered who the teenager in here was.

Noa patted his back while giving a slight smile.

Loki gazed at Noa inquisitively.

 “But this Isagi Yoichi from your team truly is something, Noa. A great guy on and off the field.”

Lavinho suddenly squinted his eyes “Hey hey, does it really count as off the field when he was roasting dear ol’ Sae in the field??”

……

Yep, Loki was definitely done speaking to these grown babies (except Noel noa of course)

“Keep Isagi Yoichi close won’t you Noa? I have a feeling he’s not as unassuming as he looks” Loki left while giving them a slight wave.

Noa hummed .

He has potential, Noa thought.

In a secluded part of the grounds, Shidou Ryussei stood watching over all the commotion. His eyes followed Rin and Isagi to the elevator, watching as the sliding doors closed behind them. His eyes switched instantly to the departing older Itoshi as he debated for a moment before sprinting after Sae and outside the hexagonal building.

Chapter Text

Rin was being shepherded outside by three concerned blue lockers to the changing room. Isagi took him by the shoulders and made him sit on one of the benches with surprising strength. Chigiri stood with a hand on his hip while bachira leaned on him. All three of them were looking at him appraisingly with varying degrees of concern and curiosity.

 The hefty amount of fog which had filled his brain since the spectacle outside started to recede at their attention. He felt a shot of anger go through him. He was’nt some animal to be stared at like in a zoo.

“What?” he snarled but felt like it came out a little fainter.

Chigiri flicked his hair , “Mind telling us what that was about , eyelash junior?”

“Yeah Rin-chan, Sae-kun seemed pissed ”

Rin huffed in mock amusement. Since when did  nii-chan ever have an expression that was’nt pissed at everything around him?

“You’re asking me? I was’nt the one who punched him in the face like a reckless idiot”

“you ungrateful little-

Rin looked down, “do you realize how stupid that was Isagi? You just ruined all support and publicity you could have had.”

Bachira’s eyes widened “Surely they would’nt-

“Who do you think the media’s gonna support? Huh? Japan’s representative in football or some kid from a new facility whose very foundational morals in their lukewarm opinions are a bit fucked up and selfish”

Isagi’s crouched down in front of him to meet his slightly teary teal eyes.

“Are you okay?”

Rin looked up in surprise.

 ”I….yeah I’m fine”

“ ~Lies~ “

 Rin glared at bachira.

Isagi realized the only way he was gonna get anything from Rin was alone and looked at chigiri and bachira beseechingly.

Chigiri sighed “I’m gonna go and check on the shit storm outside after that”

“Yo, Monsterbee come with me” He grabbed bachira around the neck.

The door closed behind them with not a single creak.

Isagi slowly faced the distraught teenager and inclined his head in a silent question. Rin raised a sleek eyebrow in retaliation.

“So?”

“So what”

“You’re obviously not fine but that’s ok. You don’t have to be”

Rin turned his head away from Isagi.

“What do you even want to know?”

“Because if it got to the point that Sae does’nt even care if he’s in public or not to berate you, then something obviously needs to change”

Rin’s breath hitched and his head lolled back to look at the ceiling. His eyes closed again trying to stomach that awful damning truth.

“How long?”

“What”

 “How long has this been going on for?”.  Rin tensed

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Years” Bachira said

“Huh?”

“He’s been dealing with that for years”

“What? No way” chigiri’s brows furrowed.

“I can tell, I can see it clearly in his eyes” Bachira looked up at the ceiling with downcast eyes.

I know loneliness and despair when I see it.
Chigiri looked back at the changing room with a worried glance.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Years huh?” Isagi grimaced.

They were completely alone now and the only sound was the faint chatter of the people outside the room .

 He sat down next to Rin and allowed the boy the time to calm himself down, both of them appreciating the silence but still comfortable in each other’s presence.

Isagi looked back to the past few minutes and Rin’s words about the media slowly sank into his mind carrying his mind from adrenaline rushed anger to calm internal panic.

He slowly turned his head over to Rin who was easing on to the wall, eyes closed. Rin must have felt the eyes on him because he opened his eyes to see Isagi looking at him, face showing thinly veiled consternation.

Rin sat straight and nodded his head upward in a quiet question to ask him what was wrong.

Isagi blinked once, then twice, looked at the floor, the ceiling and finally the green eyed boy before him.

“I just realized….”

“realised what?”

“that I…punched the gem of Japan in the face”

At that, a cloud of something akin to amusement shot its way up his throat and threatened to appear as laughter, which he quickly disguised as a scoff.

“.. So you noticed, Well spotted”

Isagi still looked as if one of his nightmares had come true.

“…in live tv..and.. yelled at him…” 

Isagi gave him a wide smile full of fear.

“ Well fuck ”

Rin arched an eyebrow.

‘ Sometimes, I really don’t recognize myself. Ever since I came here, I’ve been doing such crazy shit huh?’

“Again, glad that you noticed at last” Rin said side eyeing him sarcastically.

Rin had been thinking the same thing everyday since the second match against him, trying to figure out the anomaly that was Isagi Yoichi, so of course he was familiar with Isagi’s newly realized but late discoveries about himself.

But his last sentence made him think back with a jolt about his state at the U-20 match. He remembered thinking the same thing about not recognizing himself in the comfort of the seaside.

They relapsed back into a languid state again and let their thoughts fill the silence. Isagi’s mind went back to crux of the situation that was Rin and Sae.

He was an only child and had wondered numerous times how fun it would have been to have a little brother or sister. When he was small and naïve, he remembered asking his dad where babies came from and his father had fumbled much to his mom’s amusement only to successfully divert his attention about whether he wanted siblings and whether it should be a boy or a girl while smiling at his mom suggestively (thank god he was small enough to not realize that at the time) which in turn made his mom flustered. His mind wandered back to what could have caused the brothers to be like this.

“Not gonna bombard me with questions, are you?”

Isagi peeked back at Rin.

“Only if you’re ok with it”

Any other time, Rin would have pulled back, snapped and withdrawn. Like he had done with every other person who had tried to get close to him. For some indiscreet reason, with Isagi, he just could’nt.  No matter how hard he tried. If anyone deserved an explanation, even the slightest, it was Isagi.

Rin opened his mouth and..no sound came out.

Wow,this is way harder than I thought

He did’nt even know what to say. How could he properly explain all his tumultuous thoughts which churned like a storm every time he tried to think about them. Even he gets a headache trying to sort through the muddle that was him and his brother. How on earth could Isagi possibly comprehend that?

“I’m not saying I could completely understand what you’re going through, only you can do that, but I’ll listen and I’ll be here for you”

…God was cruel for giving Isagi mind-reading abilities.

Could he not?? How was Rin not supposed to cave in when Isagi looked at him like that?? With those understanding blue eyes fixed right on him, unwaveringly.

“How about the U20 match?”

“Huh?”

“Tell me what happened then, After the match. What the heck happened that got you so pissed ”

At Isagi’s words, the puzzle pieces connected by strings pulled back into their fixed places. His head felt a little bit clearer and the veins of stress and shock calmed down.

Rin slumped back to the wall and put an arm over his eyes.

“Eh, nothing much. Sae said some shitty things to me, which made me angry, which I took out on you. End of story”

Isagi’s eyebrow twitched. He smiled with difficulty.

“Elaborate please”

“I’m sorry about that by the way”

The eyebrow twitching stopped.

Rin swallowed and his arm tightened harder around his eyes.

“You…did’nt deserve that…especially not after you were so happy after winning. I’m sorry. You can hate me if you want to. You would’nt be the first one”

Isagi blinked back the astonishment that he felt at these words and quickly gained his composure back.

“Ah, yes. I definitely hate you. That’s why I just punched your brother in the face for insulting you”

Rin took back his arm, peered at him through one eye and slightly frowned.

“I thought we were having a fucking mome-

“Oh we are, Continue. Don’t stop” Isagi leaned on one fist while wearing a patient smile which was starting to grate on Rin’s nerves.

He hid his eyes again and sighed deeply.

“I was just sitting there after the goal having to watch you and Aiku be all buddy buddy” Rin huffed while Isagi stifled a smile.

“and Nii- cha..Sae came up to me and…said he was wrong” Rin’s breath hitched and his hand started to shake. Isagi gently took it in both his hands which he did’nt even seem to notice.

 “He gave me hope Isagi, he gave me hope for one measly second that everything was gonna be alright, that we could go back to the way we used to be… but that shitty snake of a brother couldn’t give a shit about how I felt.”

“He.. he just told me that Japan’s football had hope and the striker who could make that change was…you ” Rin finished numbly.

Any other time, If any other time a top high level player who was a part of the world stage had said something similar about him, plain old him who had crawled from the mud to where he was now, he would have been overjoyed.

Now, he could feel the calmed tendrils of rage in his body spring up again.

 Yes, He had levelled up once again and had used his previous lesson of luck but Rin had done more than half the work. The way he not only managed to defeat every single opponent but had won against Sae was truly unforgettable for Isagi. So No he did not have to say that. He could have just stayed silent or acknowledge both of them.  Overlooking all the growth Rin had went through and putting up Isagi just because he was mad that Rin had defeated him was just...plain petty.

“What a petty bastard”

Rin put down his arm to stare at Isagi dumbfoundedly.

“Please never say that in front of cameras”

Isagi frowned.

“I can and I will”

Rin looked even more bewildered if it was possible.

“Do you have clay for brains or what!? If you pull the same shit you did today, Its gonna affect your career you fucking idiot!”

“The media won’t affect my career, they’re not the ones who decide whether or not I go on up to the next stage!”

Isagi’s hands clenched into fists. In the back of his mind, he could still hear Tada’s words. How he had gotten lucky at the last moment. How much it inkled him. That day had really been a strange one. A small child had took him as his idol but he also had to listen to Tada. It was two sides of the spectrum of his life from now on. That was the reality of being in the spot, the truth of being in the world stage. You had to be able to deal with the strain outside the field. He had never been a person who was concerned over other’s opinions on him. Mostly, because outside of football, rarely anybody noticed him. But that wasn’t the case now. After coming back to his room, staring at the ceiling from his bed and thinking for a long time. That night he had decided he couldn’t afford to think like that anymore. This was part of the journey that Ego said. He had to be able to survive under pressure and he would do so. No matter what.

He fixed Rin with a resolute stare full of determination.

“I won't care if people don’t like me or not. I’ll go up there my way and with my effort”

Rin would’nt admit it over his dead body but something akin to respect grew in him for Isagi.

Isagi crossed his arms and once again fitted him with a heated stare. He had a slight suspicion on Sae’s mind but he had to make sure.

“That  aside, have you really thought about what Sae said?”

Rin turned his whole body towards him suspiciously.

“What are you implying?”

Isagi stood up and looked down at him, analyzing him, scanning his face and drinking in every emotion trying to complete the puzzle that was Itoshi Rin.

"Do you wanna know something Rin?" "Do you know what Bachira told me about you?"

Rin’s eyes narrowed.

“He told me you were the only person he had seen who looked so lonely while playing Soccer. And from what I know of Bachira, that’s saying something. Why do you think that was, Rin?”

He had enough, he stood up and grabbed Isagi’s collar, the extra height giving him a surface level advantage which Isagi was not gonna get intimidated by. He pulled him closer to look into  eyes which were completely unafraid.

“What the heck are you talking about!? All this time you were listening to me and now you’re siding with Sae!? Did everything I say mean nothing to you? You’re making zero sense right now!” Rin yelled.

Isagi did not back down, he responded right away by grabbing Rin’s collar.

His voice was low and deep trying to penetrate his words into Rin’s head.

“You’re the one who’s not making any sense. Do you think you’re gonna get anywhere by recklesssly working hard and not stopping like a goddamn tank?  Instead of getting blinded by anger, why don’t you try listening to the people around you, including your brother, vile his methods may be”

Rin grit his teeth  and clenched the cloth in his palm.

“Fuck you, Damn you Isagi. You want me to listen? I listened to my shitty brother for four years while he was in Spain doing nothing but working for our dream and look where that lead to!” 

“Our dream was to become the best in the world! Him at first and me right after him. This fucker shows up with his stupid suitcase while I was practising and tells me out of nowhere that he quit. Told me he wanted to be the best midfielder instead and had threw our dream over a cliff!”

Isagi’s attention quickly went back to Rin. Suddenly, eerily, a ghost of a memory slid into his brain. Ego Jinpachi’s voice whispered in his ears. Often, when a young talented player goes abroad with high hopes, they get it crushed in front of them, the language barrier, the skill barrier, sometimes the racism all changes a person’s worldview and forces them to confront reality and work around it. You need to be able to get through that moment to surpass your weaknesses. Ego had said it right after the world 5 match while ordering them to learn English. The memory was gone as quick as a flash.

Rin’s voice had dropped to a dejected tone during his tirade.

“Of course I didn't agree. I told him that he wasn't the brother that I knew anymore. He… didn't like it and told me that if I could win in a 1on1 with him, he’ll take back our dream, if not I can forget everything.”

Isagi’s mind was spinning and he could see the puzzle pieces clearly for the first time. Told him that he was’nt the brother I knew anymore…Of course he wasn't , Rin was right, Sae had changed.

“Obviously he won and I was..devastated. I told him that without him, there was no point in me playing soccer anymore.”

Isagi’s mind turned blank. What.  There’s..there’s no way

But he was once again distracted by Rin’s hand falling from his shirt and dangling numbly by his side. A silent horrifying tear run out singularly from his right eye and dropped to his hand. The next words that came from Rin’s lips made him if it was possible, even more horrified.

“He told me to fucking quit then, that I was lukewarm, to not be so full of myself for being his brother, that I was....unnecessary in his life and If I could’nt play football, I was worthless” Rin finished voice so blank and broken that he could’nt even get himself to cry.

The final puzzle piece in Isagi’s mind fell down right at the middle clear as crystal as he accessed what he had heard.

I get it, Now I get it.

He was so mad. He was so mad at Sae for perpetuating this mess and Rin for completely missing the point but he supposed Sae could have been a little more specific.

Idiots. both of them. Why am I the only sane one in this entire building?

He felt like whacking Sae on the head and booping Rin on the nose. Instead he did something completely unexpected. He grabbed Rin’s collar and pushed him back on to the locker.

Rin looked very startled by this turn of events. He did not expect Isagi to push him around, especially not after he had just opened his heart out to him. In his shock, he stayed quiet pausing for Isagi to speak.

Isagi went close to him, close enough that he could count each one of Rin’s long lashes wet from tears framing his alluring jade eyes.

“Listen you idiot, You’re right and he’s right too. He’s going about it in the absolute worst way humanly possible, but he’s right.”

            Rin’s eyes were twined with hurt but Isagi continued.

“You shouldn't be aiming to be 2^nd best  and you shouldn't be playing football to defeat Sae either. You should be playing for your happiness, solely for yourself, has’nt that been what Ego is telling us since the beginning? You can play like that, I saw it in the U-20. The only question here is will you be able to continue it."

"You're not worthless or unnecessary Rin, not to me”

Isagi wiped that sole tear under his eye with his thumb.

“Your brother is an idiotic scumbag but he has a point. Have you noticed? You’re always imitating him, his playstyle, his mannerisms , Its great that you love him-”

“I don’t love-

“BUT, that love should’nt overshadow who you are. You’re your own person, Rin. And I know that your whole…aloof persona is probably from Sae but I wanna see what you are beneath that. I don’t want this copy paste of Sae ”

 Isagi smiled at him with unspoken affection.

“I want to see the real Rin”

And in that moment of complete bafflement, Rin went on to do something in his opinion was unbelievably moronic which he would define for the next few days as the biggest mistake of his 16 years.

He kissed him.

It was’nt that hard to do in the spur of the moment to be honest, considering how touchy Isagi was being. After how the incidents today had turned out which felt like he was lit on fire and gasoline was poured over him again and again. Maybe he could be excused ( he could’nt because what the hell was he doing).

But surprisingly, out of all the jaw dropping things happening today, after his eyes widening for one second, Isagi responded .

Isagi threw all his self control down the drain, grabbed the locker handle behind and pushed Rin’s head even further back. Rin wasn't experienced whatsoever, Isagi seemed to have some semblance of what he was doing. Rin’s  hand which went to hold his head was caught by Isagi’s hand as he interlocked their fingers and pinned it back to the locker door. Isagi completely devoured and swallowed the little gasps that came from his soft lips as he nibbled gently on his lower lip. His tongue came to lightly touch Rin’s and at that instant, the veins in his brain sparked and something like ambulance horns rang incessantly in his mind.

He took Isagi’s shoulders and pushed him back, breath heaving and arms shaking and turned away from him to the door.

……

WHAT IN THE FUCK WAS HE DOING?!?

What.  What.  What

How could he do this? He was behaving like an uncultured dog.

Oh God, I’m going to jail for sexual assault.

If he was too unlucky (which he clearly was these days) he was going to meet Shidou there and that insect would make his days hell for the rest of his life.

He just forced himself on someone.

He wanted to crawl into a hole and die. (Too bad blue lock didn't have convenient holes in the ground) Definitely better than jail time with Shidou.

“Uh…. Rin?”

How he had forgotten the presence of the force of nature he had assualted was unfathomable, but he had somehow managed it.

He gave Isagi a look concealing a dam of emotions and ran like wild dogs were after him, door slamming behind.

Isagi was dumbfounded, flabbergasted and all the synonyms there were for shock.

Was my kissing that bad??

Chapter Text

Girolan pov-

The air was unusually cold for the summer night. The massive Blue Lock building had been put up in the mountains of Japan, spanning an entire cliffside. The JFU would only allow it in a remote place after all.  So Sae and his manager, had rented rooms at the foot of the hills just in case. It was a waste of money, in his opinion, but Sae being as rich as he was could afford it,

 So who was Girolan to argue? The man even had no problems deleting flights at whim.

He pushed his glasses back to his nose and regarded the boy walking beside him with faint footsteps. His farsightedness, especially with the slight fog in the air was making it hard for him to make out Sae’s expressions. But he didn’t need that to know Sae’s emotions. He had watched the boy grow up from when he had left his family at the airport at the slight age of 13 after all. Of course he knew.

Rin and Sae’s relationship was something He didn’t want to get into the middle of. He did remember that night, When he had dropped Sae off at the park near the Itoshi’s house looking more glum than ever and an hour later, he had shown up at his house, surprising his mother, an air of death strewn over his face. They had given him the guest room, but Girolan had been really worried.

Next day, he came to know, Sae had left some time later to meet his parents, conveniently at the time when Rin had gone to school.

They left for Spain in the evening.

When he asked the young player about what happened, all that came out of his mouth was a quiet “We had a fight”.

He covered himself with the standard grey blanket given by the airline, looking out of the window into the cities below and pretended to sleep for the rest of the journey.

Forgetting that Girolan could see his glum face and misty teal eyes in the reflection.

Rin was an even more complicated case.

----------------------------------------------------------------

His phone rang in its classic old school ringtone. Who the hell called at 11 at night anyway?? He groggily rubbed his eyes, somehow manged to put his aviator glasses and look at the number. It was unknown but the caller ID said it was from the JFA.

 Wait.  JFA!??

He quickly got up from bed and took the call.

‘Hello?’

“Hello, Are you Girolan Dabadie who applied for one of the jobs here at our organization?”  It was a smooth low female voice, steady and on to the point.

The sleep had not left his brain so he paused for a few seconds and tiredly rubbed his eyes from behind his glasses.

  He suddenly scrambled awake knocking over a cup on his table and causing an unholy racket in the middle of the night.

There was an awkward silence at the other end.

“I- I’m sorry about that. Um, Yes , yes I am Girolan Dabadie.”

A quiet chuckle rose from the receiver.

“ I should be the one sorry about calling this late Dabadie- san. “ She quickly coughed.

“ My name is Chiyo Ume and I’m here to tell you that your application to us has been accepted.”

In the back of his sleep-addled brain, he thought what an odd name it was, Bloody nights and apricot blooms ? How Peculiar.

“Oh! Really?”

“Yes, Your job specifications will be informed shortly. Please contact me for any extra information. That’s all. Thank you for your time. And Good Night. ”

“What? Wait ! wait “

She waited for him to speak.

“If you don’t mind me asking Ume-san, May I know just what I’m supposed to do? Generally?”

She paused once more and then sighed deeply.

“I don’t envy you. That’s for sure”

“…Eh?”

Two days later, he found himself at Kanagawa prefecture at the sleepy little town of Kamakura walking towards the house number on the card Ume-san had given him. For the famous tourist place it was, Kamakura turned out to be quiet and quaint.

 Perhaps it was true, maybe people living near the sea were comparatively more calm. Upon knowing he was going to Kanagawa, his mother had given him a long list of souvenirs to buy, especially the Daibutsu goods which he was sure she would throw him out of the house if he dared not bring them. Even then, he definitely wanted to take her to see the Great Buddha statue and shrines here.

He would have almost passed it in his thoughts if he hadn't been keeping an eye on the houseplates.

It was a house just like any other on the street, but with a bit more space and foliage, the warm red and tuft blue creating a pleasant contrast with the green. The air was cool with the sea breeze nearby and new hydrangeas were planted here and there clumsily as though by a child. All in all, it was quite cozy.

How disconcerting.

 Girolan was confused. With the way Sae was, he would not have been a bit surprised if he came from an upper-class family and lived in a godforsaken palace. From what he had watched of him, the boy was extremely arrogant and rude. This sweet little abode which looked like it jumped out of a slice-of-life anime didn’t match him.

Ah, whatever. Who was he to judge? He was here to be Sae’s manager and nothing else. About that…

 Nobody ask him how because he had zero idea. He had met Miss Chiyo in person, her sweet features contrasting with the serious expression on her slightly tanned face. He had found it hard to concentrate on her words for some reason. She glared as she gave him his instructions and bid him a quiet ‘good luck’ out of the corner of her mouth.

Now, he straightened out and fixed his glasses nervously , but before he could get one more second of peace and ring the bell, the door opened and out stepped a tall handsome man, stuffing a white coat into his bag hurriedly. The man started at the new arrival and stared at him.

He could almost hear crickets chirping.

A clear strong voice came from inside.

“Eiji, Why are you standing in the doorway-

A very pretty woman appeared from the inside and stared at the two of them staring at each other.

The imaginary crickets seemed to get louder.

The woman started and leaned closer to him. She gave him a wide smile showing pearly teeth. Her hair was a lighter shade of burgundy red and her eyes were a deep ombre bringing out the lightness of her hair. Her eyes were lined with especially long lower lashes to complete the look.

He kind of felt like a scarecrow standing next to her.

She didn’t seem to care about his less than outstanding personage however and grabbed her husband’s arm excitedly.

“Don’t you recognize him!? He’s the one who applied for the job!”

“He’s the one going with Sae!”

The man whose face was contorted in confusion slowly relaxed and slid into a small smile. He put his bag down and firmly took his hand. Up close, he had bright green eyes and full dark brown hair to accentuate his pleasant features.

“Its nice to meet you, Dabadie. I’m sorry for not recognizing you earlier.” He shook his hand profusely and gave him a kind smile.

He appreciated Mr. Itoshi’s manners but right now, standing between these two, he felt like a particularly badly made scarecrow and consequent dread at the job he had taken on.

“Oh, That’s- that’s quite alright” He stuttered.

He bowed to hide his internal panicking. “Its nice to meet you, Mr and Mrs. Itoshi”

“Well, lets not waste any time! Come on in Dabadie-san!” She nudged him inside.

“I need to get going as well, I’m sure you’ll do a good job Dabadie.” He finished and walked away from house.

Due to his nervousness, Girolan completely missed the look of concern he shot at his wife and her quickly shaking her head to signal that it was alright.

She led the nervous wreck of a man inside. The inside was just as cozy as the outside. With simple Japanese wooden furniture, cream walls, Tomioka tessai paintings hung here and there and the small house plants sitting near the windows. There was a slight perfume i n the air probably sold only around Kanagawa. It was refreshing to his stressed-out brain.

“You can just call me Sayuri by the way” She said turning back and sliding her hair to the back.

“Ah, then I guess you should call me Girolan as well, Sayuri-san”

She smiled as she led him into the hall and showed him the couch.

“There, You can sit here while I go and call him”

A rock dropped into his stomach.

“Um, wait! Are we not going through the specifications first Sayuri-san? Without him, I mean.”

She turned around and gave him an inquisitive look and looked down.

“If Sae is going to a country without us, we should atleast try to trust him enough to take care of himself, shouldn’t we?” She smiled with a faraway look on her face.

Girolan was ..interested. It looked like the Itoshis were quite lenient on their children. He didn’t really know if that was a good thing considering Sae’s attitude in interviews. He watched as the woman walked up the stairs to the rooms above.

He turned and startled. Nearby Tessai’s painting depicting a flowing waterfall, were a series of photographs of the family. However, in some of the photos of Sae with his trademark scowl was another young boy. An expectedly pretty child, a head shorter, blessed with his mother’s features and father’s eyes and ebony hair.

Sae had a younger brother.

Well, that complicated things. It surely wouldn’t be easy on a child to let go of their sibling for who knows how long. Among other reasons, he wished Japan had a better team as good as Real Madrid so this wouldn’t have to happen. Looking at the last photo where the younger boy held up a football cup surrounded by cheering teammates while Sae carefully held his arm to keep him from keeling over, A tender concern visible even through the faded paper, his heart gave a sharp pang.

He didn’t even know Sae had a brother. Considering said boy at Interviews who deflected every question with petulant answers, the only time he truly expressed himself was during matches. There were no lengthy articles on magazines where they interviewed the entire family like other famous people. If there was, it was all about his football prowess and prodigal skills. Nobody really knew the real Sae.

As he ran his eyes through the photos on the tall desk, his paused at the last one. It was a photo of the couple, the two of them in their black and white coats. A doctor and lawyer couple. Huh. He wondered how the media hadn’t got a single tidbit about them. Most people would jump at the chance to be in the paper.

He realized that the Itoshis for their leniency were private people.

People this reserved were going to entrust their son to him. An arrogant brat sure. But their precious son indeed.

The ball of nerves and tension in his stomach loosened and made way for something new. A drop of determination which grew the more he looked at the one family photo of them, because in this one the corners of Sae’s lips were turned very slightly and there was a glow in his eyes.

He was jittery with nerves. He had no prior experience looking after 13 year olds or going to a new country(He hasn’t crossed one meter out of Japan in his life) and also had slight anxiety.

He won’t half-ass this.

The Itoshis put their trust in him and he wasn’t going to leave from this job until Sae Itoshi became one of the best in the world. With his talent, he could. Hell, he might be the only one who could get Japanese football to the world stage. So no, he won’t half-ass this job.

                                                                                              *------------------*

He was close to half-assing this job.

Children were supposed to be noisy and energetic. But Sayuri Itoshi had come back with her two boys and the black haired one had immediately speedwalked into the kitchen after one glimpse of him. (Damn, save him some face Junior Itoshi kid)

A small black blur suddenly came into his peripheral vision holding a tray with tea and snacks, put it down on the table and quickly went back the way he came. He couldn’t help but look curiously after the boy.

“Oh, that’s my son Rin, he doesn’t like strangers, don’t mind him Girolan-san.” Sayuri shook her head in exasperation.

“And Sae, this is Girolan Dabadie. He’s here to meet you” She smiled as she gestured at the smaller red head beside her.

At an encouraging look from his mom, Sae reached out to him and shook hands, the smaller hands cold and firm in his.

“Hello”

At the lingering sharp look from his mother, Sae gave a sigh so quiet his mom wouldn't be able to hear with bat ears and said,

"Its nice to meet you, Mr. Girolan. I look forward to working with you"  his voice came out a bit high but laced with solemnity as he gave a small bow.

 So now he was left with Sayuri and her famed prodigy son who instantly locked his eyes with Girolan .

He came and sat down, leaning his head on his fist which was casually put on the armrest, looking for all the world as if he was above petty mortals, not taking his eyes off him once. He had the same shade of hair as his mother and his father’s teal eyes. They fixed him with a look he could not decipher.

Sayuri-san had went to talking about the two flights they had to take to reach the Madrid airport which takes 13 hours, the info about Sae’s next coach who would welcome them and settle them in their prepaid rooms. All the other things like the cultural barrier and language barrier. For both of them to learn Spanish rapidly and to call her without hesitation for any issues.

“Sae sit properly” His mother admonished him as she tapped his shoulder.

The boy slowly straightened his spine and sat like a proper Japanese child should, but his eyes quickly moved to meet his.

 He would have been able to concentrate better if Sae wasn’t boring laser-holes in him, but for now he was stuck with this. He supposed this was how it felt to be loured at by dinosaurs. It was ridiculous how a child could have such a presence.

After a taxing 15 minutes, he did his best to keep his gaze on solely Sayuri-san and away from the child prodigy, nodding and talking at the right places. Sae hadn’t said a single word since the beginning of this conversation.

“Well, since that’s done, I’ll get the contract Girolan-san!” She clapped her hands together and smiled at him. “Sae, You can come with me”.

The boy slowly got up and made to move after his mother, but before that he turned around to give one last look to his would-be manager. But unlike the begining, Sae's glacial eyes appeared as if they were melting, each sliver in the iris shining brightly in the evening light as though trying to speak through them.

He suddenly reached out to the tray, took one biscuit and held it out while Girolan looked quizzically back at him.

"You should have some, They're great, Mom and Rin makes them together"

He hesitantly took the offering and bit into it. It was pumpkin-flavoured with a slight dash of coconut and cinnamon aftertaste. In the words of his avid little niece, "Very Delish".

.....crap, Did he just say that out loud?

Sae's eyes widened a fraction more as he smiled clearly with his eyes.

"They are"

He casually took another one and went into the sideroom making an offhanded gesture with his free hand as he left the man.

Girolan let out a confused breath as he adjusted his glasses once more. If he wasn't dreaming, Itoshi Sae had actually been, dare he say, approachable, not friendly, but approachable. With luck, perhaps this won't blow up in his face. 

He looked up at a new noise.

“Rin, Why haven’t you talked to Girolan yet? He’s going to be the one looking after Sae you know? Go on, go talk to him ” Sayuri nudged the black haired boy forward with a gentle hand while going to the room.

He watched as the 11 year old boy slowly walked up to him, sat down and quickly grabbed one of the treats he had bought earlier. He munched on it while looking anywhere but Girolan’s face. His bangs covered his eyes as he got tiny crumbs over his lap.

Girolan regarded the boy sitting in front of him. Rin Itoshi was a lot less intimidating than his brother. It was easier to be around him. Rather than the aloof and chilling aura around Sae, Rin looked forlorn and almost nervous as he sat there nibbling his cookie.

He quickly got himself together and made to talk to the young boy. He smiled at him.

“Hello, Rin right? Its nice to meet-

“You’re the one taking him away”

The boy half-heartedly looked at him, a curl of resentment in the deep of his eyes as he glared at girolan.

......

He takes it back. This kid was just as much a little shit as Sae was. He just hid it better.

“Woah ,kid . I’m not the one taking him away. If its not me, someone else will surely turn up” he frowned.

Rin responded by finishing his little biscuit.

 He brushed off the crumbs from his clothes and crossed his thin arms around his torso, looking down again.

“Dad said he’ll be gone for at least 4 years, maybe even more...”

The air plunged into an uncomfortable silence again as he felt his throat going dry.

“Look, Rin-san, I know it must be hard on you, but you need to understand that this is for your brother’s futu-

“I know”

Rin’s voice came out uncharacteristically raspy for his age as he looked morose. Girolan’s initial annoyance faded away at the barely visible pain in his voice as Rin idly brushed the carpet with his big toe. Looking at his resigned face and the way his hands kept closing around his frame, Girolan’s heart gave another sharp tug.

The silence between them only grew.

 God, What could he possibly do in this situation?

Perhaps, this was one of the downsides of fame. People all over Japan exclaimed how lucky Sae was, how rich he could be but were conveniently blindsided that that didn’t mean his life was in any way easy. It was easy to point at other’s achievements and make remarks but it was a hassle to actually put themselves in other’s shoes.

Something akin to understanding clicked in his brain and he reached forward to provide some form of comfort.

“Rin-san, Now there’s no use in despairing is there, your brother wouldn’t want you to be sad, would he?”

Green eyes a lighter shade than Sae’s scrutinized him.

“You don’t get it”

Rin’s palms left his torso and came to clutch his hand tightly, twisting his fingers slightly as his teal eyes curled once more in undiscernible emotion.

“Nii-chan’s strong and brave but he’ll be alone out there and I know even he gets lonely. Most people just scold him not to be rude.”

“He’ll be far away with no one to really be there for him” Rin finished.

 The air grew tight with the silence as Girolan tried to decide what to say.

He didn’t know this boy, not the first thing about him, but something about him, his speech, his demeanor reminded him of the children he used to tutor, their bright young faces, full of innocence,of hope, his little niece hugging his leg, pleading for him not to go, to stay.

 His voice grew softer as he put his hand on the table towards Rin giving off a subtle reassurance.

“Rin, I know I may not be the best person for this job and I can’t say there won’t be any problems. But I promise you,”

The light of green irises finally raised to completely meet his own.

“I won’t leave him alone”

  Oh, what was it?, that he had seen in the telecasts. Right. One of the interviews from when he was 9, Itoshi Sae’s bored eyes perking up at the last question as he grabbed the nearest mic next to him and said with a strange little fire in his turquoise eyes.

“I will be the best striker in the world” His words had rung with a seriousness uncommon of his age.

Rin’s hand was laid upturned on the table nonchalantly. Girolan closed his hand over the smaller one and smiled gently at him. A sudden sea breeze flew in through the window and brushed his cheek, calming his mind down enough to say the words.

“I promise I’ll help him be the best striker in the world”

                                                                                                 *---------------------*

That  was 5 years ago. Sae hadn’t become the best striker in the world. Of his own volition. Sae had grown up into a man. He had seen the world, had changed, changing his ideals and dreams along the way. Some would say that he couldn’t have done anything about it, but to him, he felt like he had broken his promise to Rin.

 It was Sae’s choice in the end and he could never go against that, but he knew better than anyone, that the night in the snow had broken both of them. That 2 years ago, Sae’s dream had shattered the moment that player came by and challenged him. Yes. Him. The best professional player Spain had to offer. The Scion Of Royale. Leonardo Luna.

He glanced furtively at Itoshi Sae next to him. He was shivering slightly in the cold wind of the upper hills. He rubbed his palms together and shoved them deeper into his trouser pockets.

Girolan opened the bag he was holding and took out a blue jacket and smoothly covered the freezing Sae with it. Gently stopping Sae and fastening two buttons on his new coat.

“Its only a bit more Sae, We’ll soon reach the car. ” He said with furrowed brows.

Sae clutched the jacket tighter around him and nodded. But suddenly turned his head with a minute mischievous look in his eyes.

“Always prepared, hmm?”

Girolan shook his head in exasperation along with giving a slight smile.

“I have to be if I’m your manager, Sae-chan.”

After a swift 10 minutes which felt like an instant to the frazzled manager, They finally reached their destination. Their car was parked near a steep clearing. In a few official business cars used by the media, theirs stood out a sleek nautical blue in the moonlight, shining eerily.

He turned the key and ushered Sae inside. Due to his generous income, the inside was rather spacious equipped with everything one could need. Reclining seats and mini fridge and all that jazz.

He swung open another compartment below and took out a first-aid box. Sae gave him a look and raised one thin eyebrow.

“There’s no need for that Girolan”

He gave an incredulous look back.

As he opened it, he felt another cold breeze blowing in and scraping his cheeks.

“Close the door first, Sae-chan. Then we’ll discuss whatever you want.”

Sae off-handedly pulled the handle. Before he could click it shut, a large foot placed itself in the way and turned the door back.

Shidou Ryuusei poked his pink head of hair into the inside and smirked.

“Hii, Sae-chan!!”

Chapter Text

A light shone at the edge of their room. Isagi squinted his eyes and twisted and turned in his bed. The silence would’ve almost been deafening if it weren’t for the light breathing of his roommates. After the ear-splitting noise of team Z during night and Nagi and Barou’s chicken fights sometimes lasting till 12 pm which had Isagi press a pillow over his head while Chigiri did the equivalent of eating popcorn with shades, his current NEL teammates were a boon.

But of course, another favorite would have been his brief but satisfying stay with the top 3 and Bachira. It had been awkward at first, but Bachira had broken the ice by proving that no one could be weirder than him in one room and Aryu, Tokimitsu, and him had bonded over that shared experience. Then there were his anticipating early morning yoga heists with-

Shut up

Don’t think about him

He wondered how long he could keep this up and sighed deeply. After his blowout at Sae (he internally cringed) and the -ahem-  incident with Rin (he cringed harder). The green-eyed boy had simply spent the past 3 days avoiding him like the plague. The stratums were separate but the cafeteria was joint and there were joint training rooms and fields for everyone.

Rin had brought his analytical skills to real life and somehow calculated where exactly Isagi was going to be in order to properly avoid him and once, only once when he had managed to catch a glimpse of him in the cafeteria, before Isagi could go up to him, Rin had magically vanished into thin air. (later Bachira would say that Rin had simply left from the side door).

Isagi sighed once more and turned his head to the only light in the room sitting on Hiori’s bedstand. It was faint and emitted a cyan light fitting for the boy. After the U-20 match, Hiori’s parents had gifted him the small contraption and unlike the teasing that anyone else would have given him over such a present, Yukimiya had gently smiled and patted him on the back while Hiori looked at the gift with an unreadable expression. He still turned it on every night though.

Isagi tuned his gaze to the strangely calming light and let his thoughts wander.

He didn’t expect it, he hadn’t foreseen it in his wildest dreams but somewhere along the way, Itoshi Rin had burrowed his way into Isagi’s heart and now he couldn’t let him go.

He idly wondered where it had begun, was it at the beginning of the 2^nd selection, when he hadn’t even known his name and Rin had done a perfect curl kick at the ball? Was it when he had played against him for the first time and instead of lamenting at the loss, he only had eyes to marvel at the beauty of Rin’s play?

A kind of effortless grace that he hadn’t ever seen before. One he had got to enjoy each time they were together on the field, the feeling of synchronizing with Rin unlocking new parts of his brain, getting him on a high which in his opinion could’ve made alcohol and sex look down in shame. It wasn’t the kind of anger-induced play Kaiser caused him to make, riding on the pure need to evolve.

It was one that he wholly enjoyed and the excitement made every nerve in his body catch fire.

Or was it none of that and the moment that he had started to look at Rin as a person?

The aloof and rude surface which he had realized was a mask, the way he silently corrected Isagi’s yoga mistakes and went right back to routine as if nothing had happened, the way he fixed his laces, the string held in place by his lips while Bachira sang that Rin shouldn’t put things in his mouth and the resulting glare, the tenor his voice took when he spoke English, the way he had got Isagi out of his dazed state before the U-20 match, admonishing him with that slight (cute) pout on his lips and most of all, the person he saw behind the mask every time he talked or looked at Sae.

People would call him a bad person, but he really really didn’t feel sorry for punching Sae, sue him. He was sorry that it was seen but not for the action itself.

He couldn’t, not after he saw the look on Rin’s face that moment, and it struck him in an instant why Rin had told him those hurtful words after U-20 and what Sae must have done. His body had jumped from the stands on pure instinct and everything after, was a haze. He just couldn’t stand to see it one more second.

And the things that had happened later, the crushing information that Rin had shared with him in a moment of vulnerability, the reason why he chased after Sae like a dog, the fleeting anger at him for deluding himself like that, desperate for him to understand.

Why can’t you see yourself the way I see you? Why do you keep hurting yourself?

And in a sudden moment of all the emotions that he felt, something had sparked between them, and wonder of wonders, Rin had kissed him.

In that nanosecond of shock, instinct had taken over and he had…he had...pushed him back and proceeded to devour him like some sort of cannibal….(god what was wrong with him??) most surprising of all, Rin, instead of kicking him in the crotch and punching his face in like any other normal person when someone assaulted them, had responded with vigor?

Then he panicked.

And ran.

And left Isagi alone.

Now he understood if Rin wasn’t comfortable and had only acted on teenage hormones and he was ready to go and apologize this second if only he could actually meet him.

He sighed again and put an arm over his eyes.

He needed to fix this. Tomorrow he would go and find Rin. It would perhaps end their relationship as it was and make Rin trust him less. But at least they could both let it go and move on with their lives.

It didn’t make him feel any better but the fact that doing so would give Rin some peace of mind alone made his eyes slowly droop.

                               *------------------------------*

Isagi picked at his ramen, the cafeteria was almost empty now with only a few latecomers. Bachira despite the time still went around tables like a bumblebee and excitedly made conversation, somehow finding a fellow bluelock friend at every table. He was happy for him, he had finally got over the mental block in his life and was happier because of that.

  Another good thing about the NEL was that he had upgraded from Natto every single day at every meal and actually had a variety of options now. He thanked god for that, his mum would be upset but he didn’t think he could ever look at Natto in the face again.

But, even that couldn’t take away the moodiness that he felt. He idly twirled the last bits of noodle on his plate round and round with his chopsticks, deep in thought.

Despite his best efforts all day, he couldn’t find Rin anywhere, reinforcing the idea that if Rin wanted to stay hidden, he would stay hidden and no one could best that. It was fine if Rin didn’t reciprocate his feelings, he would..…deal with it really,  but he wanted to clear this awkward air between them at least before the PXG match. Knowing Rin, his emotions heavily influenced his play, as much as he liked to pretend otherwise. He wanted to win, but he wanted Rin to give his best play possible.

It was then that the door slid open and in walked a person, unnoticed by Isagi as he went, quietly took his dinner (a sad piece of buttered toast), spotted Isagi ruminating, visibly steeled himself, and sat himself next to the heart of blue lock.

It wasn’t until he looked up at the sound of a new plate meeting the table that he finally noticed that Itoshi Rin was sitting next to him, a hand over his cheek and munching his toast calmly.

……

Isagi’s brain functions shut down for one whole minute as he sat and stared at the boy who looked rather unbothered and was pointedly looking at anywhere but Isagi.

He had spent the whole day looking for him and here Rin was! , voluntarily on his side looking cool as a cucumber.

He remembered that staring was rude and quickly turned his eyes back to his ramen.

It was then that he realized that if Rin had very obviously sought him out, there was only one conclusion, and that was that the green-eyed boy had chosen the same decision as Isagi did today and unlike him, succeded.

He let out a light chuckle which Rin noticed out of the corner of his eye. Isagi could feel his chopsticks slipping from the sweat on his palms. The noise of the cafeteria remained stable as the tension between the two boys slowly rose like a ticking time bomb.

Fuck it, Isagi had a job to do darn it, he steeled himself and turned around.

“ I-

“ You-

They stared in surprise. They had both talked at the same time and quickly turned back, cheeks pink.

Before either of them could forget that embarrassing embarrassing moment, the main tv screen of the cafeteria lit up and Ego Jinpachi’s face appeared on it. That took their attention.

Screen ego looked at the paper and scratched his head absentmindedly. He looked at them with bored eyes.

“Hey you, Diamonds in the rough, there’s some news for you lot. Because of certain circumstances, The last match of NEL,  Bastard Vs PXG  will be postponed 5 days after the fixed date.”

He fixed his glasses and gave them another unsettling look.

“Yeah, that’s about it, Goodnight” The screen went black.

There were mixed reactions to this.

“Oh come on! , why we do have to sit and wait till that match is over? I wanted to go back home sooner..”

The people from said teams were secretly glad though, A few days more of practice and planning could make the difference between a win and a loss.

Isagi was one of them, more time meant more chance to perfect his technique and fix the mess he and Rin were in. Beside him, Rin looked at his plate, an unreadable look on him.

It was then that Bachira Meguru decided to make his appearance and jumped over to their table.

“RIN-CHAN!!!”

Said boy gripped his fork and took a deep decisive breath.

“What, Bachira? ”

Bachira stopped and looked at the two of them with curiosity and something unseen to both Rin and Isagi clicked behind his eyes. He smirked.

“You’re hereee!”

“And look what I found!”

Bachira pulled out what looked like a roll of hard paper and a long nylon tube.

“I snuck it from coach!”

“He didn’t even notice!”

Isagi joined Rin in raising an eyebrow at the boy. Isagi was pretty sure Lavinho had noticed, he was just the same brand of loose canon as Bachira and had probably let it slide instead.

Bachira shook the tube at an inhuman speed making the objects inside rattle. “Guess what it is!”

Rin took another bite out of his toast, unbothered.

Bachira made a sound in exasperation at their silence and excitedly waved the things around.

“It’s a chess board, sillies!”

“It doesn’t look like a board, Bachira”

He simply gave them a wide toothy grin and spread out the sheet to reveal squares of a chess board.

Rin raised both eyebrows at his past teammate.

“Play with me Rin-chan!”

“No”

“Why not?”

“Its late”

Bachira pouted and tilted his head at Rin.

“Before U-20, You trained till 12 pm every night”

“It was 12:45 Bachira” added Isagi.

 Before Rin could open his mouth to argue, bachira continued.

“And at morning, you…uh..”

“woke up at 4 every day to practice again” Isagi finished.

“Exactly!”

Rin gave Isagi a very dirty look and glared at Bachira.

“Not the point”

“Besides, I don’t want to do it.”

A gleam sparked in Bachira’s eyes as he sighed, long and deep, but quickly smiled again.

“Oh, I know!” He clicked his fingers together.

“I could ask Kaiser instead!”

Now that particular sentence made Isagi look up from his ramen, Since when had Bachira expressed more than a surface-level interest in Kaiser of all people. That was so weirdly random. Maybe at a later time, he would ask his best friend to better his tastes in friends.

“He’s really smart and he likes Isagi, like a lot. And they also have chemistry in field. That’s enough for me. Its ok Rin-chan, maybe later” he nonchalantly patted Rin’s shoulder and made to bid him goodnight.

“Wait”

Rin’s voice was unnecessarily tense for some reason.

“What about this Kaiser?”

Isagi was about to have whiplash from the out-of-characteredness of everyone around him today. First, Bachira deciding that Kaiser would somehow be a good chess opponent for him by mentioning that Isagi and him had good on-field chemistry, like

How was that even remotely related???

Then again, he was accustomed to Bachira’s customary weirdness, but now Rin wanted to know more about Kaiser?? What was wrong with the world?? What next, Barou laughing and giving out sweets?

The other 2 boys, oblivious to Isagi’s inner confusion were resuming their earlier conversation.

“Oh you see Rin-chan, Kaiser is one of Bastard’s star players and apparently he came all the way from Germany just to meet Isagi and I can tell he really admires Isagi and by the way they play together, I think they really make each other grow ” said Bachira with an awestruck faraway expression on his face.

Rin was gripping the unused fork by his side with stiff fingers, yet not a single expression showed on his face.

“Oh!, and did you know that their combo is the most popular social media topic-

“Bachira, Don’t” Isagi groaned.

“Hmm, what was it called?, Oh yeah! Kaisagi!”

Rin’s eyes widened a tiny fraction as an unseen nerve twitched at the back of his head.

Isagi smacked his head on the table loudly, “God I absolutely fucking hate that name… Who’s great idea was it anyway?”

“And the first time I saw him, I thought he was really handsome, you know with the blonde hair and blue streaks, Oh ! And he also has this really cool blue rose tattoo starting from his neck down to his-

“That’s enough” the hard voice surprisingly came from an irked Isagi.

Bachira leaned and brought his face closer to Isagi and grinned.

“Why, Yoichi ?”

The fork in Rin’s hand seemed to bend a little.

“Bachira, don’t call me that” said Isagi exasperatedly.

Said boy’s grin extended a few centimeters.

“Oh, So Kaiser can call you that, But when I do it, it’s a problem?“

The sound of a fork being smashed into the table got their attention, just in time to glimpse Rin with a look of mild disgust on his face as he stared at Isagi.

“He calls you by your first name?”

Bachira burst out laughing for some unknown reason and Isagi looked between the two of them and groaned.

“Oh my- Look, He’s an ass ok? And if nearly killing each other on the field is great synergy to you, Bachira. Then I really don’t know what to say ” said Isagi with a slightly annoyed look at the laughing boy.

Isagi looked back at Rin and saw a myriad of emotions behind teal eyes and found himself bewildered again.

“What?”

Rin wisely did not answer as Bachira gulped back hiccups in the background. He patted his chest lightly as he made to get up.

“Bye then, Isagi and Rin-chan”

“Wait” said Rin for the second time that night.

“Hmmm?”

Rin looked straight into Bachira’s amber eyes, unfazed.

“I’ll play”

Bachira’s entire demeanor changed as his face began to extend in a full Cheshire grin.

“Really?!!?”

“Really, Rin-chan!!? Oh, I love you!”

For another unknown reason, Isagi’s heart seemed to grow a little tighter at Bachira’s last sentence as Rin dispassionately rolled his eyes.

Bachira excitedly rolled out the paper chess board and stacked out his own black pieces first. Rin quickly finished the last piece of toast on his plate and made to put his own pieces on the board.

It was then that unnoticed by Isagi and Rin, Shidou and Karasu walked in through the main door. Shidou quickly spotted them sitting next to one another and went towards them.

Shidou looked between Isagi and Rin with a slowly growing smile on his face. He and Bachira exchanged some kind of mental conversation which had them both grinning from ear to ear at its end.

Karasu looked at the black and white board interestedly.

“Oh, you’re playing chess?”

“Let's see it then”, he grinned, took out a chair, and settled on it.

“This isn’t gonna be long, Karasu” said Rin.

“Its Karasu-kun to you, you rude kid”

Rin frowned at Karasu. “Don’t call me a kid.” He looked back at Bachira. “Get in the chair.”

“Of course, Rin-chan. Anything for yo- “ Bachira cut off with a shocked look on his face. His palms slowly fell over his head as he looked woefully at Rin.

“Oh, shoot. I can’t believe I forgot. Rin-chan, I think I might have made a mistake haha”

Rin glowered disbelievingly at Bachira, mouth slightly ajar.

“You’re gonna chicken out now!? You were the one begging for me to play!”

“I know, I know. But its just something urgent and I completely forgot about it!”

“Of course you would” he huffed, Rin also however, completely missed the sly look Bachira had given Shidou. Karasu noticed and looked between the two of them incredulously.

“Oh, I know!” Bachira slowly turned his neck towards Isagi who had been slurping his noodles peacefully.

“Isagi will play with you Rin-chan!”

Said boy startled and dropped his chopsicks.

“What!?”

“Please Isagi , won’t you do it for me?, Won’t you save my honour Yoichi-kun?”

“Bachira….”

“No”

They turned to look at Rin who had a barely hidden trepidation in his eyes.

Shidou leaned forward, lips in a constant smile. “Why, scared Rinrin?”

Rin scrunched his nose in disgust at the proximity.

“No, Its because he hasn’t finished dinner insect, now get out of my face. He slapped Shidou away.

 “Besides” he snuck a glance at Isagi.

“Does he even know how to play?”

That did it. Isagi who had been watching the chaos around him off-handedly till now, suddenly felt his hands itching, for what he didn’t know. But he would find out soon.

He quickly got up and placed himself in front of Rin, blue eyes gleaming, the insinuation clear. Rin’s eyes gleamed back, the trepidation replaced with a kind of concealed excitement.

“You know, playing with your 10 year old cousins don’t count” Rin said with furrowed eyebrows.

“She’s thirteen for your information, and No, I don’t only play with her.” Isagi snarked back, not meeting eyes with Rin.

Karasu’s hair seemed to vibrate with excitement. “The golden boy and the perfectionist No1 huh?”

He grinned. ”Man, this is gonna be fun”

Bachira smiled and swiftly put his arms over both their heads bringing it close together and giving a slight squeeze.

“Thanks Isagi, Thanks Rin-chan”

“Anytime Bachira” Isagi lightly patted his curly bags with a gentle smile.

“You’re choking me, bobcut,” said Rin, ears a little pink at the gesture.

“Ok bye bye!, Goodnight! Have fun!”

Bachira skipped away from them, laughing and waving. This time, Isagi did catch the barely there wink that Bachira had given Shidou. For some reason, he felt a little uneasy at the harmless action. He looked at Shidou who was helping with putting his pieces on the right places innocently.

I can’t help but think there’s some kind of set-up here.

“Are you just gonna sit and stare or are you going to play?” came a familiar voice from his front.

Blue eyes finally met green.

Isagi drank his soup in one gulp and pushed the empty bowl away to join Rin’s plate. He cracked his knuckles. He gave Rin the same challenging look that the boy had seen many a time in the field. And smiled.

                                           *-----------------*

The atmosphere at the table suddenly changed, the air growing tenser as Isagi and Rin stared each other down in front of the surrounding spectators.

Rin, being white, opened the game by moving his 4^th pawn 2 squares to the front.

(A/N: Customarily, White starts first in chess)

Before Isagi could find the possible openings to gouge into Rin’s defence, the brief silence that had settled over them was broken by, to no one’s surprise-

“And Rinrin finally gets the game kicking with his little henchman on the left wing!” Shidou exclaimed using a fork as a makeshift mike and gesturing grandly to a imaginary audience.

Isagi could see the beginnings of a vein swelling in Rin’s temple.

He sighed and bought his 5^th pawn to the front blocking Rin’s little henchman as Shidou had put it.

“AAAAaaand Isagi Yoichi is aggressive from the start, cruelly blocking Rin’s d4 pawn!” Shidou sang, as though commenting for a WBC match.

Karasu raised a fist in Shidou’s direction.

“Who are you even talking to!?, I’m right here!”

Shidou fluttered his fake eyelashes with a laugh.

“Oh you sweet naïve assassin, what’s the fun in explaining to you?, You can already follow the game. Now as I was saying”

“Who knew the kind-hearted egoist of blue lock could be so ~daring~?” Shidou smirked at a reddening Isagi who tried to focus on the board in front of him.

The fork was snatched from Shidou’s hands and clanged noisily to the table, a livid Rin holding it.

“Insect, I swear to God if you don’t shut up-

“Now Now Rin-chan, How is our audience going to know…

Isagi gave a low groan and turned towards the squabbling teenagers.

“Shidou-san”

 Said boy looked at him in surprise.

“Please”

One could visibly see the rankles go down in Shidou’s demeanour as he backed down. Isagi had that effect on people. Particularly, emotionally deprived people like Shidou.  

“Ah, fine” He ruffled Isagi’s hair with a grin.

 Shidou wagged his finger at Rin with a frown

“See, Rin-chan. That’s how you talk to elders. I’m in college and a puny high schooler like you can’t even be bothered to give me proper respect!”

Rin shook his bangs back. “Hmph, I’ll give the likes of you respect when you do something to deserve it.”

Now that brought a sly idea into Isagi’s head. He bent forward, chin resting on his knuckle, a smirk at the corners of his mouth.

“What about me then?”

“Huh?”

“Uh, What do I get when I win?”

“…..You mean ‘If’ ”

“No. I mean ‘when’. ”

Rin’s teal eyes narrowed, their colour getting deeper at the contraction as his lips tightened. He opened his mouth, but failing to find the words, closed it again.

“Call me Isagi-san”

…….

“What”

“You heard me”

He could almost see the cogs in Rin’s brain working as he turned the idea over and over in his head, pink lips tightening harder, almost in a pout. He closed his eyes in frustration.

“I-  Fine”

“Oooh, Nicee. Now that I would pay money to see.”

“Insect, Isagi asked you to shut up, I suggest you do that, for your own well being.”

“Yeah yeah Grumpy Rin”

Karasu looked miffed at Rin’s reaction, “No need to be so irritated Rin.  You brats are supposed to show some respect, you’re just lucky Ego doesn’t care.”

Rin still looked annoyed at agreeing to Isagi’s proposal so Shidou leaned down to whisper in his ear.

“Oh come on lil Rin, Loverboy did help you so much these past few days. Its not like he asked you to rob a bank. It’s the least you can do for him.”

Before Rin could register the comment and shout at Shidou and before Isagi could ask what Shidou had said in his ear-

“Will you dunderheads stop talking and start playing!? Its been 5 minutes already!” Karasu yelled having had enough.

“Jeez, calm down, assassin-san. You’ll get BP at such a young age.”

“You’re the one raising my blood pressure you-

Rin tuned out their noises for the first time and put his full focus on the game before him.

He thought for a second and put his 3^rd pawn adjacent to Isagi’s black pawn, threatening it.

Recognition lit Isagi up like a lamp as he inspected the board, beaming.

“Oh!, Queen’s gambit”

Rin looked up too, “You watched it?”

“Of course I watched it, who hasn’t-

Their eyes met again in shared interest. The slight awkward air from before fading away. Isagi gave a half-smile.

“I meant your move, but yeah it’s a great show.”

 “Its an excellent show.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like our resident rivals are having a sweet little bonding moment~”

The vein in Rin’s temple was twitching again and before he could threaten Shidou, Isagi spoke up.

“Rin, Focus”

Rin tuned shidou out again and massaged the side of his head.

“Never finished it though.”

“Wait, What!?”

“Isagi, quiet” hissed Rin. He joined the fingers on his right hand in a lightly curled fist and brought it near his head, messing up the hair on his side.

“I could never get the last episode.”

“Dude, all the excellence is in the last match, how can you miss it?”

“I told you,I never got it”

Without thinking, Isagi said, “Come over sometime, I think I have it downloaded. We can watch it together.”

Rin slowly raised a thin shocked eyebrow at his words.

“I mean- if- if you want to that is”

Rin swiftly averted his eyes, long lashes fluttering to compose himself. The faded lighting of the room illuminating a half of his face, Isagi idly noticed. He really was too pretty. Not like Chigiri’s feminine or Hiori’s cute features, but a kind of subdued beauty, like the first bloom of spring or a sparkling star in a cloudy night.

“….Isagi?”

He startled out of his daze. Rin tilted his head at the board below.

“Your move”

Isagi’s attention went back to the board and in one sweep, he rejected Rin’s Queen’s gambit by moving his 4^th pawn one step forward.

Rin didn’t hesitate and bought his left knight out threatening to capture Isagi’s pawn if it dared to go sideways.

(A/N: A pawn can only capture pieces on its side, in both directions.)

Isagi bought his right bishop out preparing it to defend his pawn or catch the knight. The only problem was unless Rin took the bait, both their consecutive knight and bishop were locked in that place, useless.

Rin did take the bait, but in the most convoluted way possible.

 He bought his Queen out.

In the silence that followed, a set of consecutive attacks were performed, Rin capturing about 3 pawns but Isagi getting an additional knight to the other pawn he had captured.

Their pieces moved in calm calculated tandem as they weaved in and out of each others’s places. Rin had an extremely strong defense. Any of Isagi’s pieces daring to come near where methodically eliminated. It wasn’t until the first check of the game that Rin came to a standstill. He bored his eyes at Isagi’s unassuming little bishop who was all the way at the far end of the board but had managed to worm his way into Rin’s space.

He clicked his tongue and took a long moment to think.

Something like growling came from his front and when he looked up, Isagi was being lifted off his seat by a hand to the back of his shirt, said boy looked rather nonchalant though.

“Isagi, how dare you not take your dish to clean it?” Barou snarled.

Isagi rolled his eyes when barou wasn’t looking.

“I’m doing something King. Its not like I can leave. I’ll do it later.”

“You think that’s a good excuse!?”

Shidou stared at Uber’s ace, unused to such behaviour, almost intrigued.

Karasu who was eagerly waiting for Rin to make his move, looked up in annoyance, then seeing who it was, gave a wide smirk.

“Barou, I want you to know you sound exactly like my mom.”

“Shut it, you shitty crow!”

“And You!!” Barou pointed a thick finger at Rin who was calculating the best way to get out of Isagi’s check. Rin raised an eyebrow. This gorilla had never bothered to speak to him before other than saying with his stupid mouth about how he was just another Isagi in the U-20 match. What motivated him to speak now?

“Why didn’t you go and wash your plate?!!” he barked.

Rin blinked.

He raised his other eyebrow and gave him an incredulous look.

“I don’t even know who you are”

If Barou was angry before, he looked ready to rip out some throats now.

“Huh!? ,We just played last week? Are you insulting me, freak?”

Rin narrowed his eyes and frowned at the boy. Giving off an unimpressed look that he didn’t know and didn’t care.

“You have a really bad memory, Rin. He’s with Ubers now but he played with us in U-20 y’know?” Isagi said almost insulted on Barou’s behalf.

Rin raised his eyes to meet Isagi’s in annoyed disbelief.

“I don’t have a bad memory” He took out his own bishop to block the check, threatening Isagi’s piece with a warning.

“Besides ”He turned his eyes to Barou who still looked as though someone had stolen his goal.

“I don’t know what there is to remember about a person who lost matches against both of us and still talks big.”

Barou’s hair seemed to stick up straighter in electrified anger as he glared at Rin with a scathing look. He didn’t have anything to say back but the plates in his hand were starting to crack under pressure. He gave the two of them equally burning looks and stormed off.

“Well, someone takes losses very well” said shidou crossing his arms behind his head. He looked at Rin who had given him an offhand glance and smirked.

“Oh, don’t worry Rin-chan, I wasn’t talking about you”

Rin’s eyebrow twitched sharply as he glanced at Isagi who was looking somewhere distantly with a contemplative look on his face.

Isagi scanned the board in front of him and protected his bishop with a knight.

“Well, He’s not wrong per say”

 Rin’s forehead veins bulged as he grit his teeth, mentally reminding himself of Loki’s advice that murdering his fellow bluelockers would be of no gain to him than momentary peace. But Rin was set on getting that peace, dammit.

“Rich coming from a person who hasn’t won against me once, lets see how you fare against a loss, knucklehead,” said Rin brusquely and bought his own left knight out forming a double attack if Isagi took the direction that he thought he would.

It was now Isagi’s turn to stop and think as his entire body became still and he assessed the board in front of him.

It was one thing excelling in the mind games they played in the field, where the constant movement could be blamed for any slight lapse in concentration, but in a game where everything was eerily still and his mind was the one who had to run, and in a moment of distraction, one could see your mistake laughing at you in the face, losing here would be downright mortifying to them.

Rin could almost see the reflected pieces in Isagi’s cerulean eyes moving as he rearranged and played every possible move in his head. After a tense minute, Isagi simply bought his pawn a step further, crossed his arms and leaned back into his seat.

Before Rin could enjoy the silence to think properly, a distraction came in the form of Uber’s ace.

Barou came back and slapped the bench near Shidou as he sat down slowly, akin to that of a hungry Lion, eyes never leaving the pair in front of him.

“You not sleeping, King? ”asked Isagi, giving a genial smile.

“Yeah! ,What brings you here, former 100 mil?”  Shidou grinned like a cheshire cat rubbing his loss against Bastard on his face.

Barou took a deep growling breath which sounded like hot air being blown through a pipe and leaned on his knees to glower at the two egoists who had beat him, eyes especially hard on Isagi. Rin and Isagi both turned at his scorching glare.

“Listen, you freakish peasants, don’t think that just because you managed to win, that means anything.” Barou bared his teeth at them.

“I’m gonna teach you fuckers to never dare to rise above me again.”

 Rin scoffed while Isagi never lost his small and competitive grin.

He slammed his fist on the desk with a loud thump.

“That’s why I’m gonna sit here and watch you, and learn how to devour you trashcans.”

“Remember, You may have won the battle, but you won’t win the war”

Barou finished and crossed his arms, joining Shidou and Karasu in watching their little chess game. Rin’s eyes took on a slight gleam as he looked at Barou intrigued as well.

“I’m pretty sure trashcans aren’t edible, King” Isagi muttered.

Rin had never had anyone except Isagi show this much drive in defeating him and he was honestly a bit stunned. Except when he was with Sae, he had always been the top at every game he played and had moulded himself to be the team’s reliable ace. But with that, there was no one else to really match and best him.

The top was the best place a player could be, but it was also a lonely place. He had accepted the fact that he was a solitary winner and it was one of the reasons why he had missed Sae so much. So he didn’t quite know what to say to Barou’s unexpected comment.

So he gave an uninterested look with a huff as though his words were beneath him and not worth a reply. He lifted his head to see Isagi’s reaction and saw the guy was looking at Barou with an almost…affectionate look?!?

“Good luck then Barou” he said with that challenging look in his eye and a smirk at the corner of his mouth.

Rin watched as Barou leaned forward at Isagi and growled like the brute he was.

 What the fuck? What was wrong with these people? First that Kaiser creep who was fixated on Isagi and now Barou leaning way too close to Isagi’s face than what was appropriate and Isagi was just letting him??

….

He was not jealous, he really wasn’t.

Thinking about that took him into unfamiliar territory, so he diverted his attention to the game and mentally vowed to not pay any attention to the idiots around him for the rest of the night.

He positioned his bishop in place to take Isagi’s rook at the corner of the board.

“Nice try” smirked Isagi and moved the rook aside.

He had done exactly as Rin planned, hah, he could almost smile.

                             *-------------------*

Barou followed each of their movements with an eagle eye. Brainpower was where he was lacking in terms of these two. He remembered how baffled everyone had been in their 1^st match with Rin. Isagi was the only person there who could read Rin properly.

He had gotten this far with explosive power and moving in a way that nobody could predict. He didn’t regret going rogue in the Bastard Match but that inability to score the last goal was fully on him.

But the most infuriating part of all was that Snuffy hadn’t been angry. Not a bit. He had simply patted his back and stared at him with those unsettling dead fish eyes. And the entirety of the team had followed his stupid fucking example. But that hadn’t stopped him from blaming himself.

Isagi and Rin were the top 2 now. And the key for Barou to defeat them was in each other. Both of them would draw out each others’s weakness , forcing them to improvise and that is when he would claw in, pounce and tear them apart.

Or he would, if he could actually see at least a bit behind their moves. He could follow the game well (his sisters liked to play occasionally) but he could sense more calculations behind each of their moves and he couldn’t spot them.

It was grating on him as he grit his teeth.

Suddenly, a hand met his shoulder and neon pink bangs brushed his ear and spoke quietly.

“You see what baby lashes is trying to do, Barou-chan?” whispered Shidou in a honeyed tone.

Barou startled and  looked at him suspiciously, could this pink demon read minds now?. Whatever was the case, he was useful, so he let the heavy hand on his shoulder lie there.

“What?”

Shidou grinned.

“Moving that pawn forward looks pointless, but its gonna serve its purpose in luring Isagi in”

Barou’s ears honed in to Shidou’s words.

“And if Isagi comes in then…”

But Isagi had noticed just in time, so he grunted in annoyance and quickly castled his King in.

(A/N- Castling is when 2 pieces move at the same time ie. the rook and King switch positions.)

                                      *-----------------*

Shidou was explaining to Barou in quiet tones, unexpectedly being considerate to the two players in front of him.

A sudden sound of exclamation distracted them. Rin was glowering at Isagi.

“You can’t do that!”

“There’s no rule that says I can’t” shrugged Isagi. Rin angrily put his bishop between the check, turned away from the board and crossed his arms, exactly as if he knew what Isagi’s next move was gonna be, he didn’t even look as Isagi caught his bishop and Rin quickly took Isagi’s progressing pawn.

Rin was still grumbling so he didn’t hear Isagi mutter, “What can I say? All’s fair in Love and War.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing”

Rin gave him a particularly scathing glare and said, “You’re gonna pay for that”

Isagi’s eyes glimmered and the crow’s feet on his face grew as he smiled widely and gave the younger a look as if to remind him of something.

“You can try”

Rin’s eyes narrowed.

2 minutes passed as Isagi came to a standstill and paused for a moment to think. His hand hovered over his queen uncertainly till he let out a breath and pushed her forward.

His rival placed his own queen a step forward.

“You know, Maybe if you weren’t so reckless, you’ll see that coming” scoffed Rin.

Isagi grit his teeth, aching to do something to the boy before him. He didn’t know exactly what but he was determined to win and find out. His eye suddenly latched on to one square on the board, zeroing in on his knight and an idea to get out of the trap forming in his mind.

He put his knight forward, threatening both Rin’s king and Rook at the same time effectively getting out of the snare.

He then smiled very sweetly at his teal-eyed rival.

“Maybe if you could accept your wins and losses with grace, perhaps you wouldn’t be on the edge of a mental breakdown all the damn time”

Rin’s lips parted slightly.

Shidou winced and even Barou looked curiously at the addressed boy.

“Bit of a low-blow, Hero-chan”

Now Isagi was sweating a bit at Rin’s overly calm face, the eerie stillness similar to that of the time before a volcanic explosion. Damn, was that ultra sadist bastard Hiori rubbing off on him??

But Rin surprised him again by simply taking a deep breath and playing his move. He looked up at Isagi with an air of defiance.

“I am never on the edge of a breakdown” he hissed.

…Now that was just a stone-cold lie.

“Sure, Rin”.

2 minutes later,

 Beside them, Karasu grabbed the end of the table in sudden alarm and looked between the players and the board, his mouth hung open.

“He didn’t”

“What is it, assassin-kun?”

He pointed a shocked finger at the board. Isagi too was suddenly speechless at the view in front of him.

Rin had placed his knight to the right threatening both Isagi’s king and queen. It meant by using his move to protect the king, the knight would take his queen and he would lose the most valuable piece on his side. He sucked in his lips and moved the king. Rin’s didn’t waste a moment in capturing the queen.

“Dammit!” Karasu punched his palm.

“Ah well, that seals it then, Rinrin pretty much won” Shidou deadpanned.

“Shame, I liked you, Isagi-

“Fuck that”

Shidou turned his head, ”What, Barou-chan?”

“I said, Fuck that ”

“Uh, Barou, babylashes got the queen”

Barou grit his teeth. “You’re wrong pink demon, there is no way that Isagi loses like that, that peasant definitely has a plan up his sleeve. ” While Barou couldn’t exactly explain the moves like Shidou, he could see in the back of his mind that there was something Isagi could exploit, he just couldn’t pinpoint what.

“I don’t know man, If Sae-chan did that move on me, I’ll be ugly crying for a week.”

Barou and Karasu looked oddly at that unnatural comparison between Rin and Isagi and him and Sae. But before anyone could remark on it,

“Why are you smiling!?”

Their attention was taken again by Isagi who had a growing grin on his face. He looked up at a Rin who looked ready to tear his own hair out at the look on Isagi’s face and shook his head.

“Nothing, Its just, That really was an excellent move.”

Rin looked at him as if he had sprouted two extra eyes, hoping that it conveyed the question of what kind of person praised their opponent when they were close to losing.

“I just took your queen.”

“Its just a game, calm down”

“Football is also just a game”

Isagi glanced at him and wore that grating smile again. He put his fingers on another piece.

“Whatever game you play, I think its important to enjoy it”

“How lukewarm” Rin scoffed and put his queen against Isagi’s advancing piece.

Isagi put his legs up on the chair and fixed Rin with another sharp look.

“I don’t think you understand what I mean”

 He placed his knight to the adjacent right. His rival threatened the annoying piece with his queen again.

“Its important to not get caught up in your emotions and look outside the box, hence see the beauty of the entire game.”

Rin stayed quiet for a second.

“Well you can keep looking at the beauty of the game, because you’re going to get crushed soon.” He huffed.

Isagi smirked, long and slow and raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, am I?”

Rin looked down at Isagi’s bishop who had been lying at a corner all day and saw its position now, all up in his space.

The bastard had trapped his queen, pinning her in place.

“Screw you” Rin hissed.

“I mean if you want me to” Isagi muttered.

Rin hadn’t noticed but Shidou grinned at Isagi who turned red.

It wasn’t until a few moves later that Rin realized the deadly web woven around him. The thread sticking all over him, imprecise yet artfully created. He was completely surrounded. Isagi’s quiet voice met his ears.

“Do you see it, Rin?”

Could he see a crafty serial killer on a lone hallway dripping blood from his axe? Yes he could. He could also see which doors the killer could open and who would be the victim. He was hiding in a corner with nothing but a gun with a  single bullet while the killer prowled around with the axe that he had foolishly gifted him.

He quietly blocked the check with a pawn.

And watched Isagi’s pawn damningly move forward to the last square and reclaim his queen.

Chaos filled the air.

Karasu clapped his hands together as Barou sat straighter, the corner of his lips moving. Shidou was jumping around like a maniac.

“DID YOU SEE THAT!?, Did you see that!? Now that is a called a comeback, ladies and gentlemen!. Give it up for Isagi Yoichi!!“

“Shidou- san, shut up”

“Ok,~Loverboy~. “

Barou stood up from his seat and clapped his hand on Shidou.

“Its time for me to leave now. You better make sure you tell me what happens pink demon.”

“Aww, leaving already, Barou-chan?” Shidou pouted. “We’re gonna miss you. Don’t worry. I’ll record it all for you.”

Isagi gave a teasing smirk, “Bedtime already King?”

“Don’t get your hopes up Isagi, I’ll devour both you and shitty lashes over there soon.”

“You can go and dream about it”

Barou flipped him off as he left.

He laughed cheerfully but his laugh died as soon as he saw Rin’s face. It looked like death strewn over as he sat as still as a statue not even appearing to breathe. Rin hadn’t reacted to a word that Barou or even Shidou said.

A memory resurfaced on what felt like an eon ago, a empty training room with Rin pushing himself till midnight. Isagi had admonished him for it but,

“If I fall from this, then that means that’s all I’ll ever amount to”

Yeah, The No1 in their facility had a bad habit of linking his self-worth to his achievements and Sae’s praise.

He finds that he hated the look on Rin’s face right now.

So warm blue leant down to meet teal.

“Rin”

The same teal eyes moved to give him attention.

“Don’t get overwhelmed, look as a whole”

Teal eyes glimmered at him as Rin took a long deep breath. The Rin from before would have hissed back that he didn’t need Isagi’s shitty help. But the present him stopped and seemed to consider his words.

Even Shidou and Karasu quieted down at the strange atmosphere around them as Rin gave Isagi a heated look and made his move.

                               *---------------------------*

Time passed for Shidou Ryuusei as he watched Isagi and Rin claw at each other’s throats as calmly as possible. The cafeteria was completely empty and the time on his watch showed 11 pm. His eyes were really starting to droop, his hand was aching from holding his phone camera and the initial excitement had eroded for everyone save the two egoists before him. Karasu looked more frazzled than excited as he took a sip from a mug and clutched his hair as if he was the one playing.

Looking at the board, one could see why, both of them were down to 2 pieces. Both had their queens and a knight and bishop on either side. Each move needed to be doublechecked before they could play or it was game over. Neither had spoken a word since that little interaction earlier and the rest of the world didn’t seem to exist for them.

While it was exciting as fuck, Shidou genuinely really needed his beauty sleep so he was eagerly waiting for the inevitable mistake that could come from either boy.

But both of them were stubborn little shits and were hell bent on stretching out this dance till morning. He sighed.

It was then that he noticed it. The shining golden opportunity. Isagi had done the same move of checking Rin’s king in the same manner and Rin was going to retort in the same way.

 Fuck it.

The moment Rin put his knight to block the check, Shidou sprang from his seat like a lion, grabbed both ends of the board and turned it over.

………

The mug and Karasu’s jaw dropped at the same time as the mug broke into a million pieces.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!! SHIDOU!!  “, the voice surprisingly, came from Isagi.

Rin blinked a few times to process the view of the haphazard pieces around him and slowly looked at the offender with killing intent.

Said offender cracked his knuckles and stretched his toes, completely unbothered. “ Sorry, Loverboy. 2 repeats means draw. I don’t make the rules.”

All three of them looked at the blonde boy in a combination of expressions. Ranging from “How can one person be this stupid?” to “I will push you off a cliff with no regret”.

Isagi held the bridge of his nose, irritated and voice struggling to be calm.  “Shidou, three repeats make a draw.”

Shidou stopped and gasped, loud and theatrical, hands on the sides of his face.

“Oh, really Isagi? I am so sorry ” he said not sounding sorry at all.

He stood up and grabbed his things, trying to ruffle Isagi’s hair and meeting air because he moved away.

“Anyways, Its late and I’m sure that everyone needs their beauty sleep as much as I do, especially Rin-chan who needs to curl his eyelashes”

Rin slowly stood up, hair almost thrumming with anger.

" 1, I don’t curl my eyelashes, 2, watch your back because I am going to strangle you in your sleep.”

Shidou winked seductively, “Oooh, kinky~”

“Shidou” called Karasu, voice eerily calm.

He looked ready to shoot daggers.

“Start running”

Even Shidou seemed to sweat a bit at Karasu’s glare and quickly waved at them.

“Oh, shit I need to dash, Good night! Isagi, Rinrin!!.” He ran as fast as he could to the exit.

“COME BACK HERE YOU-“  Karasu ran after leaving the broken pieces of the mug on the floor and slammed the door behind them.

The two of them were left completely alone now. Not a single sound except for the light whir of the air conditioner.

“Hey, Rin, did those two just ditch us to clean up this mess?”

“What do you think?”

“….Fuckers”

They glanced at each other for a moment, struck at the absurdity of the situation. They paused and Isagi burst into laughter while Rin hid a smile.

Isagi fought to keep his breath and smiled. “ I really don’t know how you survive with Shidou around.”

“I’m more surprised at how Sae willingly wants him near.” Isagi grinned.

They methodically went to work putting back the pieces and cleaning up the shards of the mug. Rin folding up the board while Isagi threw the mug pieces into a plastic bag.

“That aside, you do play really well. Ever thought of competing?”

“Football is enough”

“Figured you’ll say that”

The air suddenly turned a tad awkward. The brief game had given them an outlet to face each other but now they would have to address the problems they had left behind.

“Uh, soo, How’s PxG?”

Rin gave him a withering look saying that he wouldn’t want to know. “Hell personified.”

Isagi snorted. “Because of Shidou?”

Rin put the last piece into the tube with a little extra aggression. “He doesn’t ever shut up about Sae, Its embarrassing.”

“Well, you did go in ther- , he was suddenly cut off by a pained cry. When Rin looked down, he saw Isagi nursing a bloodied hand, a shard stuck in his finger and Isagi screwing his eyes shut from the pain. His eyes widened and he  instantly stood up.

He didn’t waste a moment in kneeling down and taking Isagi’s hand in his. He pressed the hurt finger to cut off the blood flow and take out the shard. Isagi however, looked rather surprised at Rin near him. But he let out another cry as Rin pulled at the shard.

Rin looked at the closed door angrily.

“I hate that crow bastard”

He looked warily at the shard on Isagi’s finger. It was so small he had to squint to see the tiny glimmer on his finger.

He spoke, voice unexpectedly soft, “This is going to hurt.”

Isagi nodded at him to continue, eyes still screwed shut. He didn’t let out a single sound as Rin pulled out the tiny shard with difficulty that had somehow edged deep into Isagi’s finger.

He threw the piece into the bag and Isagi let out a long sigh.

Rin took out a light green cloth from his pocket and made to tie it around his finger. He leaned close to wrap it around the bleeding as Isagi looked at him strangely. Rin concentrated on the wound trying to ignore the heat of Isagi’s stare.

“You’re not as heartless as you make out to be aren’t you?” Isagi gently smiled at him.

“Humph, anyone would do this.” said Rin, eyes fixedly not leaving the wound.

“Yes, but most wouldn’t stay in the first place. They’ll just leave everything to the last person.”

Rin's eyes narrowed.

 I won't let you feel what I felt, I won't leave you Isagi.

Rin finally looked up to see Isagi smiling sadly at the wound and fingering the edge of the cloth.

Isagi’s mind filled with memories from Ichinan soccer club. He had always been the one to get water or food for everyone, cleaning up their messes and fixing their holes, both in life and in the field. After long tiring karaoke nights which Tada dragged him into, he always found himself to be the one who had to call their worried mothers and tidy up everything. He hadn’t minded it, but looking back, he really would have appreciated the company.

Isagi watched as Rin gently tied his finger with a knot and felt his heart filling with warmth for his rival.

“You stayed, Thank you”

“…..Shut up”

Isagi chuckled lightly.

Rin was now getting uncomfortable with the closeness and made to stand up but Isagi swiftly grabbed his wrist with his free hand, eyes swirling with unsaid words. He coughed and got his nerves together.

“Rin, I-

“Later”

Isagi blinked. “Huh?”

“We’ll..talk..later”

Isagi looked curiously as the best player of Blue Lock, who had defeated countless opponents, who he had seen fight back against players twice his age while his senpais had already given up, who had fought tooth and nail against a team gifted with his brother while an audience who wanted him to fail cheered them on, now faltering to meet plain old Isagi Yoichi’s eyes. It was kind of amusing to him. He hid a smile.

“Ok, then. At your own time.”

Isagi lightly patted his wrist and they both stood up.

A thought suddenly sprang in his mind.

"Oh! And Rin?"

Rin glanced at him.

"Don’t think that I'm gonna hold back on you during the match." 

A spark glinted in Rin’s iris. 

"Naturally, lukewarm Isagi."

Isagi grinned and inched closer to Rin’s face.

"I'm gonna beat you and make your heart dance."

Rin inched away from him and made towards the exit. After a moment, he stopped and turned his head towards the heart of Blue lock.

His eyes glinted like fireflies in the dark.

"Good fucking luck then."