Chapter Text
that morning, when niko accompanied charles to the airport, the two exchanged phone numbers.
even now, charles had no idea what he meant when he told him what ryusei said. all he wanted was to compliment niko—his hair was very, very pretty. he wished to be his friend, but when niko stormed into the bathroom to hide away, he thought he had ruined his chances. so, charles sought him out before their game started. this time, he made sure to speak english since julian told him that niko might understand him that way. to his luck, niko did, and they managed to form a base of communication. he and niko had a nice pre-game conversation (more like them challenging each other) before they had to separate.
of course, his team won, but charles lost his bet with ryusei about the older man’s ability to mark a random player for the entirety of the game while being able to score goals. they could’ve done better, as well—rin wasn’t his best because nijiro, his boyfriend, was sick; his passes were specifically for rin. even charles himself could’ve done better.
after the on-field celebrations, charles went up to niko. he had played well, very well. he liked his style almost as much as he loved ryusei’s. he was a worthy opponent. he didn’t understand why he called him his rival, they hadn’t really been at each other’s necks like yoichi and rin always were.
for the rest of their time in italy, his team was allowed to explore the city they were staying in. charles spent most of his time with ryusei, as well as occasionally bothering rin. but, at night when the city was asleep, he was alone. having not been used to sleeping in foreign countries, charles often found himself unable to sleep. he missed his bed, he missed his pillows, and he missed his blankets. to distract himself, he would leave his hotel room to find a quiet place to go stargazing. it was something he liked doing when his team traveled. he did the same when he played against fc barcha and bastard münchen. without a doubt, he would do the same when he plays manshine city.
the first night he snuck out, he found some docks by the seaside that he decided to lay down on. the light pollution sucked ass, but he was able to count a few stars. if it weren’t for fútbol, charles surely would have been an astrobiologist. he loved space and the possibility of aliens. he had several journals at home filled with sketches of the sky, and, of course, the cheshire cat.
it was no surprise that he had fallen asleep there. it was in silent nature that he relaxed the best. in his youth, he always slept in the weirdest spots. one time, he fell asleep on top of the fridge. his dad tried beating it out of him, but it was a habit that stayed by his side.
he had been woken up by a fisherman who was confused as to why a random blond kid was sleeping in front of his boat. when he opened his phone, he was met with thirty missed calls from his team, wondering where the hell he was. when he got back to his hotel room, ryusei was absolutely pissed, and he made charles promise he wouldn’t do it again.
except, he did it two nights later. luckily he crossed his fingers when ryusei threatened him!
when he had finally managed to get ryusei off of his ass (which included the man staying up just in case he tried leaving), he immediately left. this time, he tried a different route because he wanted an area with less light pollution. although that’s difficult to achieve because there will always be some in most populated cities, he at least wanted to see more than thirty stars in the sky. unfortunately, he got lost. he ended up inside an empty park with far too many lamp posts than he liked. grabbing the pole, he stepped onto one to look around the area for a better spot.
that was where he saw niko. or, niko saw him.
at first, he couldn’t figure out it was niko. It was dark out, and the lamp post didn’t illuminate him. then, he stepped closer, and charles found himself absolutely lighting up. to be lost in a country was one thing, but to have someone you want to be friends with there with you was another.
niko helped him find a place to stargaze. it was quiet, excluding the waves crashing onto the shore. he got to see more stars than he would have in the city. It was the best place he had ever stargazed at. it was beautiful, and it was all thanks to niko.
it was at that moment, when charles turned to face him underneath the glow of the moon, he fell in love.
he looked like an angel. charles thought of him as one as well: niko was someone he didn’t feel like annoying the hell out of. he was intrigued by him; never had he met anyone with such long bangs. his hair was genuinely beautiful, something charles had verbally admitted.
niko had been the one to ground him during his time of panick. he had even teased him! they absolutely had to be soulmates. charles never really believed in them, but just this once, maybe he will.
so, to see him again, charles sent him an online (and very well seated) ticket to his game against manshine city. he even tried paying for his hotel, but niko refused.
the day of the game, charles was incredibly nervous. not because he was going up against manshine—charles knew his team would smoke them—, but because his first crush was coming to watch him play. charles was aware he was a good player; niko himself told him so. it was only because he wanted to impress niko with his practiced plays.
charles even started learning japanese, just so he could talk to him in his native tongue. in english, despite the barrier caused by their thick accents, niko sounded lovely. but, back at the restaurant, he felt nothing but adoration when listening to him speak japanese. he sounded divine, and charles felt hurt when he couldn’t understand him.
slowly, practicing both his fútbol skills and working on his understanding of the japanese language took over his free time. ryusei caught on, but only after charles denied his invitation to egg the new kaiser shrine three blocks away from the team’s practice field.
really, he was willing to do anything to impress him.
currently, he was standing in the center of france’s finest stadium, studying the opposing team.
they didn’t look very scary. the white haired man looked very tall, but with him draped across the purple haired man’s back, he didn’t come off as intimidating. charles knew about their gifts, he wasn’t stupid (julian was always up his ass about those things), so he knew how to beat them.
based on past plays he’d watched, they would put up a fight. a decent one, as well.
– which gave him an idea. charles looked over to ryusei, a monstrous wonder filling his eyes to the brim. he wanted to play another game, because football wasn’t fun without challenges. he knew exactly what he wanted to do to make it more fun. “who do you wanna mark this time?”
ryusei snorted. he crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow. his accent was thick as he spoke in french: “we’re doing this again?”
charles nodded, grinning. in response, ryusei smirked, eyes studying their opponents for a moment before facing him. “i call the red haired one, then.”
charles looked back at the team, who were currently doing warm ups. he knew about hyoma before julian made him study seishiro and reo — he did his own research, separate from julian’s — and hopefully ryusei was fast enough to stop him from scoring because, damn, he was fast.
“good luck, ryu! i heard he’s a real cheetah.”
“you doubting me? i scored goals while marking that sendou guy.”
charles snorted, raising his finger accusingly. “you also pissed off an entire team by doing that. did you see how mad that olive guy looked?”
“hell yeah, man. gotta make the game explosive.”
“and that way, it’s fun!” he nodded, eyes sparkling. playing with ryusei was the best. he knew how to match charles’s energy and made games fun. without him, it was always about boring strategies… his french team members didn’t know what humor was. “you’re the best, ryu.”
ryusei opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by julian. ryusei groaned before blowing a raspberry at charles. perhaps he was going to be fussed at for his foul language during his past matches? if sae were there, he’d call it immature.
turning around, he scouted for somebody to bother. tabito was an immediate no; charles didn’t want to listen to him ranting about how mediocre the other team looked. on any other day, he’d love to torment aoshi, but he didn’t want to deal with the guy’s constant sputtering and terrified look. zantetsu and renoir were also immediate no’s…
then, he remembered exactly who was playing with him again. with a bright expression, he merrily hopped toward nijiro, who was in the middle of talking to rin. jumping onto his back, charles called out, “you’re finally playing with us, niji! yay.”
the other boy coughed, startling and nearly bumping into rin. the tallest grabbed him, helping him stand straight, but not without scowling. “watch who you’re jumping on, chevalier.”
charles stuck out his tongue, happily wrapping his arms around nijiro’s neck. “don’t be a buzzkill, rin-rin! niji doesn’t mind. do you, niji?”
“of course not,” he laughed, shaking his head. “as long as i can be closer to my bros.”
“yeah, rin-rin. you’re more fun with niji around! niji, you should have seen him without you… he was a pouting mess.”
rin sneered, smacking the back of his head. he was definitely fed up with charles. “shut the hell up!”
nijiro smiled, patting rin’s shoulder in comfort. the taller boy just rolled his eyes, averting his attention to something else.
charles hummed, looking up at the audience. they had about five minutes until the game started. he scanned the crowd for long, black bangs. he knew niko had arrived at the stadium, and he knew where he was seated—but damn, there was a lot of people.
letting go of nijiro’s neck, charles met the ground once again in order to find niko better.
he continued to search for a few more seconds before he noticed him—niko in the crowds, wearing a “GO CHARLES!” hat. he felt blush creep up his face as he brought his hand up to wave. at the sight, niko lit up before waving back.
he didn’t even know that type of merch existed, and he was surprised niko would even buy such things… whatever!
charles grinned, raising his other hand in excitement. he waved his hands like a mad man in joy — he definitely looked crazy to the fans surrounding the other boy. he didn’t seem to care, however. niko followed his movement, and for a moment, it felt like it were just the two in the world.
it was as if his pre-game anxieties suddenly went away. he felt at peace, staring lovingly at his fan in the stands, a lovesick grin on his face. he never wanted it to end — perhaps they were the only ones in the world.
except, unfortunately, they weren’t; ryusei jumped on his back, shouting into his ear: “let’s go, charlie, it’s about to begin!”
charles looked back at niko, who was still staring at him with a fond smile. giving him a quick wink, charles turned around, ready to play. he paid no attention to niko’s reaction just in case it wasn’t a positive one. looking at ryusei, he shouted: “let’s do this!”
he jogged over to his team, a large grin on his face. he couldn’t wait to win this game and show off in front of niko. he would impress him and gain his affections!