Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

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Isagi loves autumn.

The soft breeze it brings that’s not quite cold nor warm, the earthy colors spanning for miles and miles, the crisp smell of winter that’s not quite here yet.

Everything about autumn awakens Isagi’s blood, giving him more energy than he can contain.

“What’s on your mind?”

Those aren’t the only reason, Isagi thinks as he hears Kunigami speak from beside him, his voice a soft rumble. Isagi turns to him, blue scarf fluttering in time with his movement.

And for a heartbeat, his breath catches in his throat. He’s seen Kunigami a lot of times, been by his side longer than he believes he’s worthy of, but he’s never seen Kunigami under the glowing light of autumn quite like this. Hair the color of drying leaves, eyes as vivid as the chilly sunset, Isagi wonders if Kunigami is a child of autumn itself.

Really, Isagi loves autumn.

But as he sees Kunigami standing underneath the crimson and scarlet of his beloved season, a small, wayward leaf stuck innocently on his hair, Isagi concludes that he loves Kunigami more.

“Nothing,” Isagi says, a secret smile on his lips. “I just thought autumn’s a lot nicer this year.”

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When Kunigami accepts the letter from the National Football Association, he immediately assumes that it’ll be a normal football camp.

He’s never been so wrong in his life.

For one, instead of teamwork, the project deconstructs that concept, tearing it down without mercy and letting each player focus on individual skills instead. He doesn’t mind that. After all, he’s always believed that there’s nothing wrong with fighting rightfully for your dreams. Two, well two is more complicated than that because two is him finding himself parenting his two teammates — rivals — and trying to stop them from wreaking havoc on society, at least when it doesn’t involve football.

And apparently, number two continues on even after the Blue Lock project is long over.

Like right now.

All the members of Team Z decided it’ll be fun to hang out once the project is over and all of them are free, so here they are now in an impromptu camping trip, Isagi and Bachira huddled near one of their tents, whispering quietly to themselves.

Usually, Kunigami will let them be, but with how shifty both of them seem, he’s suspecting that they aren’t just having a normal conversation. What they’re planning, he doesn’t really know; all he knows is that the wary feeling growing in his gut is something he can’t ignore. Not when it involves Bachira and Isagi together.

“Hey,” Kunigami says as approaches them.

Both Isagi and Bachira jolt in shock at his presence before slowly turning to face him. The two of them were looking at him with wide, innocent eyes. Kunigami’s not buying it for a second.

“Hi, Kunigami,” Isagi says, scratching his cheek bashfully. He looks kind of adorable that if Kunigami doesn’t know what he’s really capable of, he might have believed that Isagi can’t do anything wrong.

The same goes for Bachira who’s more animated in his greeting, flailing both his arms, “Hi, hi! What’s up?”

“I should be asking that. What are you up to?”

They don’t answer, looking anywhere but him. That reaction alone tells him that they are up to something. Kunigami knows they’ll tell him if he presses hard enough.

“Well?”

“Ah, just,” Isagi begins, still not meeting his eyes, “remember the guy whose girlfriend you helped?”

Kunigami remembers. On the way to their campsite, he helped a girl carry some things. She’s struggling, and her bags look heavy; he can’t just watch without helping. She’s thankful, but her boyfriend, not so much. He probably thought he’s making a move on his girlfriend, but Kunigami has made a decision to ignore that, especially since he doesn’t want to cause anyone trouble.

“Yeah. What about him?”

“He was sizing you up. I didn’t like the way he was looking at you.” Isagi admits, and Kunigami sees a shadow fall over his eyes. Kunigami thinks that if he looks harder, he’ll be able to see an aura of darkness flaring from him.

Next to Isagi, Bachira looks no different, expression hard and dangerous, traces of his usual cheerful self is nowhere to be found.

The two of them look downright angry, and Kunigami tries to suppress the shiver running down his spine.

But then, he realizes that, oh , these intense emotions are for him. Isagi and Bachira are getting angry (and probably plotting murder) for his sake. That’s really … flattering, if he’s honest. Not that they have to. He’s fairly strong. He tells them so.

“I can take care of myself.”

“We know! But you’re too nice!” Isagi sounds beyond exasperated, like Kunigami being nice is a problem.

“You’d never start a fight, but that guy might. We just thought that if he tries something, well… we gotta do something.” Bachira seconds, looking more determined than ever.

They’re really serious about it, and Kunigami can’t help the warm feeling from spreading in his chest. It makes him happy that they’re this protective of him. Still, today is supposed to be a fun day, and he doesn’t want it to be ruined by a stranger’s misplaced jealousy and his friends’ need to defend him.

So he says, instead, “How about we just eat barbecue? Iemon cooked some, and they’re really good.”

It’s the right thing to say because the dark aura looming over Isagi and Bachira vanishes, quickly replaced by a sort of excitement at the mere thought of food.

“Barbecue! I like barbecue. Let’s go!” Bachira announces as he grabs both his and Isagi’s arms, dragging them both to where Iemon’s cooking.

Kunigami sighs in relief.

Crisis averted.

For now.

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The world is going to fucking end.

Raichi used to think the end of the world is a big lie, but now, he's absolutely sure of it. There hasn’t been any reports of major earthquakes and tsunamis, but the proof of the apocalypse is happening right in front of him.

Kunigami has fallen ill.

Kunigami has fallen ill .

Raichi really can't stress that enough. And yes, Kunigami nursing a terrible fever is the reason why the world is going to fucking end. One might think that it's an exaggeration in his part. Fevers are common, and they go away after a few days, but anyone who knows Kunigami and his role in keeping the world together will understand. The world can't afford Kunigami being out of commission for a whole day much less for several days.

"Bachira! You can't set the stove on high when cooking soup!" Isagi exclaims from the kitchen, his statement followed by the sound of pots clicking and clunking against the counter top.

"Eh? Why not? Wouldn't it cook faster like that?" Bachira asks.

Raichi curses under his breath at the sound of the stove turning on, basically running toward the kitchen where Isagi and Bachira are both trying to make soup. Though the mess of vegetables on the counter is enough to tell Raichi that the two are failing spectacularly.

See?

This is exactly why the world needs Kunigami functioning and not sick. Without Kunigami, the entire world, maybe even the whole universe, is going to be plunged in a state of total chaos, courtesy of Bachira and Isagi.

Sure Raichi might have had a hand on the end of the world because he let them make a soup for Kunigami, but there's no way that he can say no the two of them when they're giving him the glare . Besides, Isagi and Bachira look really determined to do something for Kunigami that their earnestness played as much role as their glare in getting Raichi agree with whatever they want to do.

'He's always taking care of us. We want to take care of him, too.'

Raichi recalls the conviction and sincerity in Isagi's voice — and Bachira's solemn nod — when he told him that, and Raichi be damned because that really got him to give in. Although that's proving to be a mistake because Isagi and Bachira are far more destructive than a hurricane when it involves things that don't revolve around football.

Raichi's only been around Isagi and Bachira for twenty minutes, and he's already feeling more stressed than seeing his eyeliner not going the way he want them to.

Honestly, Raichi has a new found respect for Kunigami. He doesn't know how Kunigami handles them. It's even more amazing knowing that Kunigami has to deal with Isagi and Bachira everyday seeing as the three of them decided to live together after the Blue Lock project.

Seriously, why did he even agree to come over and check on Kunigami? Oh right. That's because the remaining Team Z members are fucking cowards. They owe him a goddamn lot for his suffering.

"What the hell is going on here?" Raichi grits out, trying not to scream at the mess in the once pristine kitchen.

"Raichi! Tell Isagi we can set the stove on high to cook the soup faster!"

"No, we can't! You'll ruin the soup."

"You don't know that!"

"You don't know setting the stove on high will cook the soup faster either."

They're… They're seriously arguing about how to cook soup. Unbelievable. Raichi resists the urge to bang his head against the wall. Not that he can do that.

Taking a deep breath, Raichi tries to be a peacekeeper. "Hey, be quiet. Do you dumbasses want to wake Kunigami up? He's only fallen asleep, ya know?"

It's probably a low blow to use Kunigami, but he's almost at his limit. Damn it. Why does Kunigami have to be sick? The next thing that happens is nothing short of a miracle. Both Isagi and Bachira shut up, the two of them looking almost guilty.

"Sorry," they say in unison, for once looking like agreeable and well-behaved human beings.

Holy shit.

That worked?

Raichi is honestly amazed. He can't believe that's what got them to behave.

Even when he's sick, Kunigami's still fucking powerful.

Huh, seems like the world's safe for another day.

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Isagi first noticed the stuffed polar bear when he was walking on one of the quieter streets of Brazil. It was a lovely thing, large and most likely handmade, sitting innocently behind the glass window of an antiquated shop, its snow-white fur standing in stark contrast amongst the darker hues of reds and browns and greens within the store.

Isagi's immediate thought upon seeing it was that Kunigami would absolutely love it. Kunigami likes polar bears, and anything with a polar bear on it was always a hit to him, so there was no doubt in Isagi's mind that Kunigami would be happy to receive the stuffed toy.

Isagi's second thought was that he should buy it.

And since those thoughts were mutually inclusive, Isagi found himself paying a rather hefty price for the stuffed toy not even minutes later. He wasn't really bothered by the price. Being one of the top football players in the globe, Isagi had enough money to buy a mansion, a few cars, and travel tickets with enough money to spare for his retirement. So really, buying a rather expensive stuffed toy wasn't a problem for Isagi.

Besides, the smile he would surely receive from Kunigami once he gave it to him would make everything worth it.

It was no secret that Isagi would do anything, burning the world and turning it to ash included, for that smile.

And really, what could go wrong?

It turned out, a lot of things could go wrong.

When Isagi bought the stuffed toy, all he was thinking was that it would make Kunigami happy, and it did. Kunigami looked so pleased when Isagi told him that the stuffed bear was for him, and the smile he gave Isagi in return was so bright and blinding that Isagi was convinced the sun just came down and was now inside their apartment.

Unfortunately, Isagi didn't count on Kunigami liking the stuffed bear just a little too much.

If someone told Isagi in the past that he would get jealous of a stuffed toy, he would have laughed at them and told them how ridiculous they were being. There was absolutely no way he would be jealous of a dumb toy.

Well, he wasn't laughing now.

Because that was exactly what he was feeling.

Every cell in his blood was burning with both envy and jealousy, threatening to spill like magma so forceful it could obliterate the entire world.

It wasn't fair.

Isagi had just returned from a two-week long trip to Brazil, and Kunigami was more interested in cuddling with that stupid stuffed polar bear. Granted it was a really fluffy, four-feet tall stuffed polar bear, but Isagi was right there.

Honestly, Isagi remembered being excited about going to Brazil to watch and record their next opponent's matches, and then sulking afterwards when he was told that the entire Japanese football team couldn't come with them to Brazil due to some unforeseen circumstances, namely the JFA still being stingy even though Isagi just handed them the World Cup trophy when he got old enough to take part in it. And since a lot of players needed to be left behind, the head coach decided that Kunigami should stay in Japan because he was the only one responsible enough in their team, entrusting the remaining players to him until they return from Brazil.

It wasn't really helping his case that Chigiri — who was also left in Japan and was being petty — kept sending him stolen shots of Kunigami throughout the length of his trip to Brazil, all with varying captions that were basically saying 'I bet you're missing him now.'

And he was right. Isagi really missed Kunigami.

That was why Isagi wasn't very pleased when the bear received a hug and was continuously receiving a hug while he was still waiting for his.

In fact, he just walked in the living room hoping to finally get his two-weeks worth of hug only to find Kunigami sitting comfortably on his favorite bean bag chair, watching a nature documentary about crocodiles while still cuddling with the stupid bear — which he apparently named Heracles — and completely ignoring him.

Isagi watched as Kunigami, oblivious to his presence, hugged the bear tighter and closer to him, burying half of his face against its soft fur. Isagi felt his eyebrows twitch at the sight, a groan full of frustration threatening to spill past his lips, thoughts of that should be me running inside his head in a loop.

"I love you so much," Kunigami mumbled, declaring his affection for the stupid polar bear Isagi was starting to regret buying.

That was the last straw.

"Ah! Enough!" Isagi exclaimed before stomping towards Kunigami.

Without another word, Isagi pried the stuffed toy away from Kunigami, settling the stupid thing on the coach before grabbing Kunigami by the shoulders and pushing him down. Isagi held him in place, eyes blazing with determination as he loomed above him, effectively trapping Kunigami underneath him.

Kunigami just looked at him, brows furrowed, "Isagi? Something wrong?"

Instead of answering, Isagi just pressed himself against Kunigami with no intention of getting up any time soon. He wouldn't admit it to anyone but he almost cried when Kunigami finally wrapped his arms around his shoulders, strong and warm and gentle as Isagi remembered.

"I'm never buying you a stuffed toy ever again," Isagi swore, still clinging onto Kunigami — who just let out a soft chuckle — as if his entire life depended on it. Isagi was finally getting his long overdue hug; he was allowed to be extra clingy.

'I missed this,'  Isagi thought, enjoying every moment, all the while resisting the urge to stick his tongue out at Heracles.

It was silent for a moment until Kunigami spoke.

"You gave in faster than I thought you would," Kunigami said casually, and when Isagi moved to look at him, he saw what was probably the most mischievous grin Kunigami had ever given him.

Isagi blinked.

Once.

Twice.

Until Kunigami's words finally registered.

"Oh my god! You were doing it on purpose!"

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