Chapter Text
Ness wanted only the best for Kaiser, he would do anything to see Kaiser happy, even if it meant giving up for him. Everything was okay until Yoichi arrived. Yoichi didn’t have to do much to get Kaiser’s full attention, which angered Ness, because Yoichi took it for granted.
And yet, Ness still tries to get Kaiser to notice him again.
“Want to practice with me Kaiser?” Ness asks
“Later Ness, I'm busy learning how to beat Yoichi” Kaiser says, looking at game highlights of Yoichi
Of course. Kaiser would prioritize Yoichi over him.
“If you like him just confess already”
“What?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. I’ll go practice by myself”
Ness bumps into Yoichi while on his way to practice. Ness’ mood gets even worse. Why does Yoichi have to ruin everything for him?
“Ness? What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to practice”
Ness tries to act uninterested, trying to make Yoichi leave him alone. Unfortunately, Yoichi has other ideas
“Well if you’re free uh I mean if you want I could practice with you. I also came here to do the same thing”
Ness thinks for a few seconds. Although he doesn’t want to interact more with Yoichi, maybe he could learn why Kaiser is so fixated on him.
“Sure”
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Practice was pretty normal. Ness would give Yoichi a few challenges and would tell him if he’s doing something wrong. Ness finds Yoichi acting weird during the whole thing. It seemed like Yoichi was busy spacing off, his face blank every time Ness turned to face him.
They both head out of the field, and Ness continues to tell Yoichi things he needs to work on. All of a sudden Yoichi trips. Even though it would be pretty funny to see Yoichi land on the floor face flat, Ness’ body moves faster and grabs Yoichi’s hand to stop him from falling. Maybe it was just a habit to help, or maybe Ness pitted Yoichi.
“Are you okay?” Ness asks, again another habit
“m’fine” Yoichi runs off.
“Huh, weird” Ness shrugs his shoulders and heads to his room
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Ness gets Kaiser’s food and water for him. Like usual, Kaiser glances at Ness before taking the tray out of his hands and sitting down to eat. Ness just follows Kaiser.
Ness rambles on about random things to entertain Kaiser, and maybe get a few laughs out of him, when Kaiser looks over Ness. Ness also stops talking to see what Kaiser’s looking at. It’s Yoichi and his teammate from blue lock
“Came to bow down to your emperor Yoichi?”
“Shut the hell up Kaiser I’ll beat your ass”
This triggers Ness and forces him to break his silence
“Don’t talk to Kaiser like that” Ness says, wanting Yoichi and his friend to leave
“Sorry about that, Yoichi wants to talk to you Ness” Yoichi’s friend says
“I uh what” Yoichi says, looking confused
Ness’ angry expression soon disappears. His eyes widened.
Yoichi wants to talk to me?
Yoichi is really weird. Kaiser starts to smirk, ready to say another taunt to Yoichi
“You want to talk to...me?”
“Why do you want to talk to Ness all of a sudden Yoichi? got a crush on him or something?” Kaiser teases. Ness grits his teeth feeling himself slightly heat up due to the embarrassment.
Yoichi? Having a crush on me? That’s impossible.
Even if it was, Ness wouldn’t know how to feel.
“Maybe, maybe not. What's important is that Yoichi has something to tell Ness.” Yoichi’s friend says, elbowing Yoichi
Tell me something? Ness starts thinking about all the possibilities.
What if Yoichi tells me he wants to become Kaiser’s servant and needs my help?
That would be really great for Kaiser
Ness internally nods at this
“Let’s meet up after practice, you can talk to me there”
Ness returns to eating, thinking about what he’ll say
“That’s great! Now let’s go Yoichi”
Yoichi and his friend leave, and Ness can hear the loud commotion happening at their table. Ness finds it weird but shrugs it off.
—————————
Practice ends, and Ness waits in the locker room. Eventually, he sees Yoichi
“So...what is it you wanted to tell me Yoichi?”
“I-”
So this is the time you tell me that you want to be Kaiser’s-
“I think your playing is amazing. The way you control the ball is so enticing, not to mention your passes are absolutely perfect.”
“wait I- what?”
Ness is stunned at this.
Since when did Yoichi like complimenting his enemies? Is this some new tactic?
Ness wants to be mad but for some reason can’t. In fact he feels warm again. It doesn't feel so bad. Ness wonders how Yoichi would react if he does the same
“Well...I don’t know what to say. You’re full of surprises Yoichi” Ness lets out a small giggle.
Yoichi starts blushing even harder. Ness gets even more confused.
Yoichi is really weird. What is he trying to do?
Many thoughts pass Ness’ mind.
Maybe he just likes you.
No way. Ness is so deep in thought that he doesn’t realize Yoichi has moved closer to him. Yoichi reaches out to hold Ness’ hand.
Why is Yoichi doing this?
Ness tries to think of a possible reason why.
Maybe he’s trying to flirt with you
Ah.
“You know, I think you’re really cute when you smile”
Bam. Another compliment. Ness’ shocked face doesn’t change. His brain is working overtime while Yoichi is casually flirting with him.
Isn’t Yoichi supposed to do that with Kaiser?
Ness knows he shouldn’t be doing this. What if Kaiser finds out? He wouldn’t be too happy.
Weren't you supposed to get Yoichi and Kaiser together?
Oh. Ness completely forgot the reason he even talked to Yoichi in the first place.
“You know,” Yoichi says, moving closer. “I think-“
He shouldn’t continue this.
“Please stop Yoichi” Ness lets go of Yoichi’s hand.
I need to get out of here
Ness starts walking away as quickly as he can.
“Wait! Ness!” He hears Yoichi call out, but it just makes him walk even faster
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Ness gets to his and Kaiser’s dorm, breathing heavily from the running. He doesn’t know when he started running, but he just did. Maybe out of fear or embarrassment.
“Ah Ness your back. What’s with the breathing, and why is your face all red?”
Thank god Kaiser is still here.
“Practice today was pretty intense, that's all”
“Whatever, just get me a drink after you shower, ya”
“Yes Kaiser”
—————————
“I’ll get water for you Kaiser”
“Okay”
Ness holds two cups in his hand, one for him, the other for Kaiser.
At the corner of his eye, he spots Yoichi approaching him
Kaiser is around. If he sees me and Yoichi he’s not going to talk to me when I get back
Ness panics seeing Yoichi moving closer
“Hey Ness! It’s a nice day isn’t it? You see-“
Ness decides to quickly walk away to avoid the mess that might happen
After that, Ness decided it would be better if avoided Yoichi altogether. He always made sure that he was surrounded with people, or with Kaiser, and would leave practice early so that Yoichi could never bother him alone. Yoichi finally stopped trying luckily, which made Ness feel relieved. Yet a part of him feels like he needs to do something about it.
—————————
Ness silently packs his bag when he hears Yoichi and his friend talking. It’s the perfect opportunity to tell Yoichi what he needed to say.
He watches as Yoichi approaches him. He decides to get it over with and let it all out.
“I’m sorry for avoiding you these past few days. I- I was just worried I might get in between you and Kaiser..”
“Wait what”
Yoichi’s looks stunned, shocked even. Ness continues on
“You like Kaiser right? I know he likes you too..”
“I-“
And for the cherry on top
“It’s alright Yoichi. I fully support you guys”
Ness walks away smiling, knowing he did something good for both Kaiser and Yoichi
—————————
“Ness”
“Yes Kaiser?”
“How do you feel about Yoichi?”
Ness stays silent
Why would Kaiser ask a question like that? Ness decides to give an answer Kaiser would like to hear.
“He’s a shitty clown for not being obedient to you, and I don’t think he’ll ever surpass-”
“I didn’t ask for praise and sweet talk Ness”
“Ah…well then”
Ness doesn’t know how to answer
“I don’t know”
“...”
The silence in the room is almost killing Ness. He tries to think up something to try and ease the tension between them.
“I think he’s not bad as a person”
“I see”
—————————
“Ness find a table I’ll be back”
“Yes Kaiser!”
Ness eats at a table waiting for Kaiser. He soon hears Kaiser sit down, as well as another person
“How nice of you to sit with us today Yoichi”
Kaiser says. Ness immediately looks up to see Yoichi in-front of him. His mood immediately sours
“Yeah yeah…”
Ness stays quiet, hoping Kaiser and Yoichi continue to talk. The silence is deafening
Ness clears his throat before speaking
“Why are you here Yoichi?”
“Well I-“
“He wants to see you, Ness,” Kaiser said before Yoichi could say anything
Huh?
“Wha..”
“I mean who wouldn’t”
Yoichi still continues to flirt. Seriously, what is up with him?
“Thanks Yoichi...I guess”
—————————
Ness finally catches his breath after running a ton during practice.
He sees someone approaching him. It’s Yoichi.
“Hey Ness. You did well today. Here, you should drink some water”
Yoichi hands Ness a water bottle.
“Thanks..”
Ness is too tired to respond or think, so he just takes the water and leaves.
Ness regrets giving positive responses to these small gestures. Because Yoichi continues to do them till it gets to a point
“I’ll hold the door you can go ahead Ness”
“Thank you..”
“Here Ness let me help you with the gear”
“I can do it it’s okay...oh”
“I’ll get you your food Ness just sit there”
“I’m fine I really-“
“Ness let me-“
“Please stop Yoichi…”
Okay that’s enough. Ness doesn’t know why he suddenly feels warm again seeing Yoichi do things for him. Ness decides to sort things out with Yoichi. Maybe Yoichi isn’t as bad as he thought.
“Ness?”
“I- I appreciate the kind gestures you’ve been doing but I think I’m okay. Yoichi, if you want to be friends just tell me. I’d like to be friends too.”
Ness smiles politely. Yoichi smiles back. The warm feeling is back.
—————————
Ness sits next to Kaiser, watching as Kaiser looks up and gets up
“Hm?”
Kaiser leaves without a word
“Ah. Bye Kais-”
Ness sees Yoichi enter the room as soon as Kaiser leaves
“Hi Ness”
“Hello Yoichi”
“I heard you like sweets. I have some peach rings. Wanna…share?” Yoichi opens a pack of peach rings and offers some to Ness
“Well, I do like sweets…okay maybe just a few” Ness loves sweets, but ever since he and Kaiser started playing professional football, he stopped eating unhealthy things entirely. The sweet flavor of peach hits Ness’ mouth. He really missed this.
“Is this Haribo? It’s my favorite”
Yoichi sits down next to Ness.
“Peach is my favorite flavor, after strawberry.”
“I like strawberries too.” Yoichi also smiles.
The warm feeling returns once again, and Ness doesn’t want it to end.
“You know you’re not that bad Yoichi…off the field that is”
“You too”
Yoichi isn’t so bad. When he has a goal, he sets his mind to it. He’s really caring to others, not just to Ness but to everyone. Ness gets why Yoichi is quite likeable
Yoichi grabs a handful of peach rings and places some in his mouth and one his finger.
“Hehe nice ring Yoichi.”
Yoichi gets up and kneels to slip a peach ring on Ness’ finger. The warm feeling gets more and more intense. Ness can’t help but smile widely and blush even more
“There, now you’ve got one” Yoichi stands up and smiles, his face as red as a strawberry.
Ness looks down at the ring, trying to hide the fact that his face is red and his heart is beating quickly.
Ness soon hears someone walk in. Both Ness and Yoichi turn to see Yoichi’s friend. Ness quietly sneaks out while Yoichi is still distracted, not wanting to embarrass himself even more.
Ness walks through the hallway, face still warm and heart still beating fast.
Maybe, just maybe, I like Yoichi