Chapter Text
“We need four more players before tomorrow at ten.” Youichi announced, stepping into the club room.
“Ha?”
“Haa?”
“Haaa?”
Yoichi didn’t bother holding back his cackle at the sankyoudai’s ridiculous reaction. It was nice to have teammates.
“Why such a specific time frame?” Kurita asked, biting down on one of the many sweets he had brought to the club room that day. Youichi still had no idea how he could eat such sweet food and not want to throw up.
“That’s when the first game of the spring tournament is and we need eleven players to compete.” He stated, once again cackling at the looks on his teammates’ faces. They didn’t need to worry about some stupid game until they were playing it. Especially not against the fucking Koigahama Cupids.
“By the way, where’s Sena?” Monta asked, finally looking around the room.
“He had a doctor’s appointment.” Kurita supplied, shoulders slumped slightly. He was always disappointed when his teammates couldn’t make it to practice, even if he knew they were coming back the next day.
“Which means you fuckers gotta pick up the chibi’s slack. Each one of you better come back with a recruit each or you die.” Youichi called out over the sound of his machine gun firing into the air. The sharp grin on his face grew wider as they all quickly filed out of the club room. He missed the look shared by the sankyoudai as they left together.
“Hiruma, most people are already in clubs by now,” Kurita’s soft voice came from behind Youichi. “How are we supposed to find people to join the team?”
“We do what the Devil Bats have always done; we steal ‘em.”
Kurita’s answering smile was much too soft for a Devil Bat, but Youichi couldn’t find himself wanting it any other way. He just wished that they could have their other brother next to them as well.
“Well then we can’t slack either, can we?”
“Not a chance in hell.”
It only took five minutes for the two of them to find a recruit. Kurita, being the too-nice idiot that he was, had offered to help another club carry some (read: most) of their equipment to their club shed. Sometimes even Youichi was impressed with his brother’s strength. No matter how many times he saw it, the easy force Kurita managed to exude was impressive. Not that he would ever admit it to the boy.
“Apprentice!” A small but forceful voice came from down the hall. It reminded Youichi of Kobayakawa’s voice in the way it wobbled around the edges and seemed to scratch at the speaker’s throat. A voice that wasn’t used too often. His eyes followed the voice to its source, finding a small, round boy at the end of the hallway. The boy opened his voice to speak again. “Shishou!”
“I think we just got ourselves a new lineman.” Youichi chuckled as he elbowed Kurita and shoved the large boy forward.
“W-what?”
“Little fatass wants to be your apprentice.” The grin on Youichi’s face grew sharp as he gave Kurita one final shove, forcing him in front of the shorter boy. “You just completed your line.”
Kurita looked between their new teammate and Youichi a few times before breaking into tears. Youichi clicked his tongue but couldn’t help the way his smirk grew into a smile. Not gentle or soft by any means, but genuine.
Sena didn’t really enjoy hospitals very much. He had too much experience waking up in them after being beat up by bullies and even more experience with doctors poking and prodding him because of his hearing. He wasn’t unique by any means, but his parents were always worried about him and forced Sena to get regular checkups. He just appreciated that they at least trusted him to get to the hospital by himself now.
“Welcome back, Kobayakawa-kun.” A dark voice whispered as he sat down in the waiting room. Sena was glad he wore his hearing aids, even if his parents made sure he charged and brought them to every appointment.
“Hello, Oka-san. It’s nice to see you again.”
The head nurse had always somewhat unnerved Sena, but after years of seeing her, he knew that she really meant no harm and wanted the best for her patients. The stories were actually pretty interesting when you ignored the gaunt look on her face and the way the flashlight she always carried cast dark shadows that danced across her face.
“In for another checkup?” When Sena nodded, she glanced down at the clipboard in her hands. “The doctor won’t be in for a while. He got a backlog of appointments so he’s a bit behind. I apologize for the inconvenience.”
Sena just shook his head at her apology to let her know it was fine before she walked away to check on other patients. He decided to roam the hallways of the hospital, keeping to the quieter areas to stay out of the nurses’ way. After a few minutes, he came across a familiar room.
“Sena-kun, how are you?” the older man laying on the bed asked as he saw Sena in the doorway.
“I’m alright. How about you, Takekura-san? Feeling any better yet?”
“You know me. I’ll be out of here in a snap.”
It was the same thing Takekura had said every single time Sena visited him, since the very first time. It had been a year prior and Sena had been to the hospital for the first time without his parents. He had absolutely no idea where to go and he was too nervous to try to ask any of the nurses he didn’t know for help. In the end, he found what he thought was an empty room to just take a breather. It had, in fact, not been empty. But Takekura was a very kind man, despite his loud words and violent actions, and had helped Sena find his way back to the waiting room.
“Will Gen-san be visiting again today?”
“Not if I can help it. That boy needs to spend more time enjoying his youth than taking care of an old geezer like me and working his ass off.” Takekura shook his fist as he spoke and didn’t even try to keep the grimace off his face.
“Well too bad, old man. You’re stuck with me.” Gen’s familiar voice came from the doorway where Sena had been standing not too long ago. He must have come straight from work as he was still in his work clothes. Gen glanced down to lock eyes with Sena and smiled before ruffling his hair. “Hey kid, what’s up?”
Gen had learned sign language when he realized Sena didn’t speak. He and Takekura both knew how to understand Sena’s signs, but Takekura wasn’t quite as proficient at the actual act of signing.
“I joined the football team at school!” Sena signed, straightening when he remembered he hadn’t visited either Takekura or Gen since before he took the entrance exam for Deimon. “I’m the running back and we almost have a whole team now.”
“Oh yeah?” Takekura grinned, clapping a hand on Sena’s shoulder and laughing. “Gen’s told you about his time in middle school, right?”
Sena nodded, remembering all the times he had visited Takekura and the old man had been asleep, Gen sitting silently at his side.
“What school did you pick?” Gen asked, ignoring his father. Last time they had spoken, Sena had told them about his hopes to go to a high school that wasn’t affiliated with his middle school and Gen had fully supported him. Especially after he learned about the bullying Sena was experiencing.
“Deimon.”
Gen went silent for a moment, as if he couldn’t believe what Sena had just signed.
“Oi, that’s where Gen went before he decided to drop out and waste his life away.” Takekura said, a strange mix of grimace and smile on his face.
Sena suddenly remembered one day when he had spoken to Gen. The older boy had told him about his friends he used to play football with, Youichi and Ryou-kun. But it hadn’t been until that very second that Sena made the connection.
“The Youichi you described as an ‘annoying little brother’ is Hiruma-san?”
Sure, describing Kurita as a ‘good kid with the most determination you’ve ever seen’ tracked, but describing Hiruma as anything other than ‘devilish’ felt almost wrong.
Gen took a deep breath, letting out the longest sigh Sena had ever seen him give before signing again.
“Yeah. He’s a little shit.” He hesitated for a moment before beginning again, his hands moving slowly. “You said you almost have a whole team? You sure Youichi isn’t just blackmailing them?”
“ Yes, ” Sena dropped his hands, bringing one up to tap his chin to think for a moment. “ Well, maybe the sankyoudai, but I think they’re starting to really enjoy playing. I convinced Monta to join from the baseball club. We just need a few more players and we’ll have a whole team. ”
Gen smiled at that, the curves of his face softening into a look that was almost fond. He had told Sena before that he missed playing football, even though he knew he couldn’t come back. While Sena didn’t understand exactly what it was like to have that kind of weight on your shoulders, he knew why Gen felt like he needed to sacrifice himself for his father’s company. Even if Sena did agree with Takekura.
“Good for you guys. I’m sure you’ll do great in the tournaments this year.”
“Well, Hiruma-san says we still need another running back, a tight end, and another lineman. Apparently we don’t need a kicker because we can just score twice as many touchdowns as the other team, but I think it’d probably help.” Sena signed, thinking back to his lunchtime lessons with Hiruma. The image of the sankyoudai telling him he liked Hiruma flashed in his mind and Sena physically shook his head as if that would rid it of the thought. “Oh, our first game is tomorrow against the Cupids. You should come watch. Hiruma-san said I might not play because he doesn’t wanna show all his cards yet, but you should come anyway.”
Gen didn’t have a chance to respond before a voice cut into their conversation.
“Sena-kun, the doctor is ready for you.”
Sena turned to see Oka standing in the doorway, having found Sena in Takakura’s room enough times to know that he would probably be there if he wasn’t in the waiting room.
“I’ll see you later, Takekura-san. Bye, Gen-san.” Sena quickly headed for the doorway, giving both men a wave as he left.