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“Issei-kun~! Let’s practice!” Issei looked at his teammate. As a beater, he had no idea why their Slytherin keeper wanted to practice with him, specifically.
Issei nodded, which made the other boy grin. He had half a mind to invite their chasers too, but if Tendou had wanted to practice with those two, he would’ve invited them and not Issei. They both changed quickly and made their way to the pitch. Tendou immediately took to the sky, letting out a bark of joy. They seemed to both enjoy being in the air; Issei himself always found the wind rushing around him to be exhilarating.
It was strange at first, having a beater and a keeper practicing together. After a while of seeing if it would be weird, Issei decided it was, so he just did what he normally did when the team practiced together. This usually involved having their chasers, Oikawa Tooru and Iwaizumi Hajime, trying to score on their keeper, Tendou Satori. While this was happening, he and their other beater, Hanamaki Takahiro, usually hit bludgers towards anyone they came across to try and keep them on their toes, while their seeker, Sakusa Kiyoomi, flew around trying to find the snitch on hard-mode. Sakusa did this while also dodging stray bludgers.
Once Issei realized that he and Tendou wouldn’t practice in a normal way, he started just flying the keeper rings, having released a bludger, and kept trying to hit it through one of the rings. Tendou let out a loud laugh as he tried to stop the squealing ball’s path. They practiced this way, and it really helped the both of their reflexes, if nothing else.
They figured they’d been out on the pitch for a couple hours before they finally started to pack up and head back to the locker room to shower and change. Issei was quick to shuck off his top layer of his Quidditch uniform. This left him in his armor and underlayers, and he noticed Tendou turn away to face his own locker quickly. Maybe he was embarrassed?
“I’m gonna shower, you good, Satori?” a quick nod from the other boy was his answer, so Issei just shrugged and pulled the rest of his clothing off, grabbed a towel, and headed in to the shower area. Issei was pondering Tendou’s behavior as he cleaned the filth off his body. Was it so strange that he had started to undress in front of the keeper? He recalled something that their captain, Oikawa, had said way back, “Mattsun~! Don’t let your guard down, around anyone~!”
He had dismissed the warning as quickly as it had been given. But maybe Oikawa was right, but why would Tendou get embarrassed? He could practically hear Hanamaki’s jeer that Issei was too oblivious, but he had no idea what he meant when he said it.
It wasn’t until Issei had asked Hanamaki himself that he was slapped across the head. He rubbed the spot plainly as Hanamaki snorted, “It’s because he likes you! He told Hanger Tooru not to say anything about it years ago and he made everyone else agree to it too!”
Issei’s eyes widened, “For years? How long has this been a thing?”
Hanamaki let out a tiny laugh, “At least since fifth year, when we all made first-string on the team, minus Kiyoomi.” Sakusa had had to wait until his own fifth year to become a first-string, since they had still had their seventh-year seeker that previous year.
Now that Issei thought back, he would link a lot of instances where he had been confused but with the information he just received, it made sense. So, now the question remained, did he think that way about Tendou? That could be easily looked at, because he remembered what Hanamaki had told him years ago to test if he liked anyone. Basically, he just had to imagine Tendou with someone else. Did it make him jealous? If it did, then that meant he had feelings for him.
Issei imagined someone else dating Tendou, practicing with him, walking to classes with him. Issei couldn’t help the surge of jealousy that he felt. It was an ugly emotion, he didn’t enjoy the feeling at all. That answered his question though. He had feelings for Tendou. Speaking of Tendou, Issei observed the boy enter the Great Hall for lunch. He and Hanamaki had had a free period, so they had gotten there early, when Issei had thought to ask his question from before.
The Quidditch team usually ate together, so Tendou headed to where the two beaters sat. No doubt Oikawa and Iwaizumi would be there soon too, but it was always a toss up if Sakusa actually ate lunch of if he would just spend the time in the library.
“Issei-kun~! Takahiro-kun~!” Tendou greeted the both of them the way he always did, but Issei, with his new knowledge, he noticed that Tendou lingered on Issei’s name, only briefly, but still noticeable.
Issei suddenly couldn’t wait to do something about his knowledge that he had feelings for the keeper. He nudged Hanamaki, and with their basically telepathic connection, and so the other beater got up and said, “Bathroom. BRB.”
Tendou had nodded, but he also looked a tiny bit suspicious. Issei decided to just let his question out, “Hey Satori, wanna go on a date?”
The other boy looked startled, before he muttered, “Are you serious?”
Issei was nodding before the question was even being asked. He replied, “Yeah, Makki informed me that the feelings that I had weren’t unrequited like I thought. Which is good, I’m glad. So, do you wanna go on a date with me?”
Issei felt his cheeks get a little hot at the admission, but the look of pure awe and joy that passed on Tendou’s face and stayed there was totally worth it. Issei basically already knew the answer, but it still filled him with elation when Tendou shouted, “Would I!” which made almost the entirety of the Slytherin table look over at them, but Issei didn’t care. He had a date to plan.