Work Text:
There was one time during Oujou’s after-school practice- optional, because the Christmas Bowl had passed and some of the players were graduating this year anyway- that Sena had shown up on the field, looking nervous and uncomfortable as he hovered near the sidelines. He had gotten a few odd glances, and a few greetings, but surprisingly, it was Shin that actually stopped in the middle of running laps to speak to him.
Further down the field, Takami and Sakuraba exchanged surprised glances as they jogged- not many things could get Shin to pause while he was training. However brief the interval was, as Shin and Sena spoke for what had to be at the most thirty seconds before Shin resumed his run, this time with a visibly more comfortable Sena at his side, it was significant.
The next time something strange happened was during lunch, when Sakuraba had noticed and commented that Shin had packed a smaller lunch than usual. Shin had replied that he would be getting the extra nutrients later, and when pressed for a more detailed answer had explained that he was going to do extra training with Sena, and they were going to eat afterwards. Sakuraba had stared at him then, and Takami had had a similar reaction when Sakuraba related the story to him later. The telling had been followed by a jumbled half-conversation- “D’you think he--?” “They do spend an awful lot of time . . .” “But I didn’t think that Shin--” “--Neither did I, but maybe . . .”
“. . . Maybe,” the pair had agreed, and they’d left it at that.
Those two moments, and several other small instances, had led up to what remained of the team changing out of their pads in the locker room, and Sakuraba suddenly asking, “Shin, what do you think of Sena as? To you, I mean.”
Shin paused for a moment before answering, “A rival.”
Curious in spite of himself, Takami injected, “But is that all? The two of you train together, and while rivals might do that, there was that one time that you ate dinner over at his house, which wasn’t necessary.”
Shin looked like he was thinking, so Sakuraba suggested, “A friend, maybe?”
“No,” Shin answered, shaking his head, “not a friend. Not just a rival, though.”
Takami and Sakuraba exchanged glances once again, and for a moment Sakuraba tried to translate his next question into terms that Shin would understand- but Takami was already on it.
“Shin, you were disappointed when we lost the Christmas Bowl, correct?” Takami asked, and Shin nodded after a moment of thought. “Would you have been more disappointed if Eyeshield 21 hadn’t shown up to play?”
Shin had to think about it.
Sakuraba and Takami gaped.
When he was done thinking, Shin answered, “Yes,” and here Sakuraba sat down heavily on the locker room’s bench, staring, “because it is unlikely that Deimon will reach the Christmas Bowl again, while Oujou is likely to. There was only one chance to play Eyeshield 21 at the Christmas Bowl; there will be more to win.”
Takami took a seat beside Sakuraba- much more calmly and controlled, but his staring was to no less extent. Shin stared back, confused.
“Shin,” Sakuraba said slowly, sounding dazed, “I think you might have a crush on Sena.”
“. . . Crush?” Shin asked, trying to remember if he had ever tackled Sena that hard.
Sakuraba and Takami stared some more, before sharing one last long, disbelieving glance.
~*~*~
“So,” Sakuraba cleared his throat as he sat down on the bench beside Sena, taking a drink from his water bottle, “Shin’s a pretty amazing guy, isn’t he.”
Sena looked startled, but he still answered, “Y-yeah, he is! He was really intimidating the first time I played him.”
Sakuraba smiled reassuringly at him and commented, “He likes you, you know.”
“H-huh?” Sena stuttered, flustered and waving his hands almost frantically. “No, I- I’m just his rival; I’m nothing special-”
“He thinks you are,” Sakuraba interrupted, and Sena blushed harder, “Shin has a lot of rivals, but he doesn’t train with all of them.”
“They don’t ask,” Sena argued feebly. It was obvious that he was faltering, though- he wanted what Sakuraba was saying to be true, after all.
Sakuraba stood up, noticing his coach glaring at him, and responded, “Neither did you. Shin invited you along, not the other way around, right?”
When Sena merely flushed a deeper red and stared at the ground, Sakuraba continued, “You’re important to him. And Shin’s never liked anyone before, so it’ll be up to you to move first.”
It was when the receiver was jogging away that Sena realized that they had been talking about entirely different definitions of ‘like’.
“He just turned an amazing shade of red,” Takami noted as Sakuraba approached him. Sakuraba laughed and the two resumed their pass training- their coach was also turning an amazing shade of red, but for very different reasons.
~*~*~
“Sakuraba, is this really necessary?” Takami asked, as he and Sakuraba ducked around another corner.
“I want to see if he takes our advice,” Sakuraba replied, peeking around the wall to catch a glimpse of Shin and Sena.
“You know that Shin will tell you whatever happens if you ask,” Takami pointed out, leaning against the wall to catch his breath. It was a good thing that Sena didn’t have as much stamina as Shin, or he and Sakuraba would have had to give up a long time ago.
“Shin’s not a very good storyteller, Takami-san,” Sakuraba reminded him, and Takami had to concede that he had a point.
“Ah, they’ve stopped a few houses down. It must be Sena’s,” Sakuraba said a minute later, and Takami placed a hand on Sakuraba’s shoulder to keep his balance as he leaned out past the wall to see.
Sena and Shin talked for a few moments, and though they couldn’t hear what the two were saying, Sakuraba and Takami could make out Sena’s nervous gestures and expressions. He obviously didn’t say anything about what Sakuraba had told him, though, because Shin eventually turned to jog away. But-
“Oh, Sena stopped him,” Sakuraba commented, and Takami raised an eyebrow at the pleased surprise in his voice, “and now- oh. Wow.”
Sakuraba and Takami stared openly, forgetting that they were supposed to be in hiding, before Takami cleared his throat and said, “Well, you did tell him to make the first move.”
“Well yeah,” Sakuraba said, and he continued staring, stunned, “but I didn’t think his first move would be so . . . drastic.”
“Shin just would have been confused otherwise,” Takami pointed out, and Shin and Sena were like a train wreck; he couldn’t look away.
“That’s true,” Sakuraba conceded, and Sena finally untangled his hands from Shin’s shirt and stepped back, blushing neon red as Shin blinked at him in confusion.
The two talked for a little longer, and Sena looked decidedly happy when he walked into his house. Takami managed to remember that Shin would be coming back his and Sakuraba’s way and drag his teammate back behind the wall in time for Shin to miss them.
“. . . Wow,” Sakuraba said again, and Takami had to agree.
~*~*~
Sakuraba was fully prepared to get Shin’s side of the story the following day at lunch, but his plan was interrupted by Shin asking a sudden question.
“Who are ‘the two fucking voyeurs’?” Shin asked, and Sakuraba choked on his juice.
“What? W-why are you asking?” He managed to cough, and Shin helpfully handed him a few napkins.
“Deimon’s quarterback approached me on the way home last night,” Shin explained as if it were the most normal thing in the world, “He told me to tell ‘the two fucking voyeurs’ that he wants copies of any photographic evidence.”
Sakuraba stared for a moment before wiping his mouth and clearing his throat, replying, “Well, don’t worry about it, Shin. I’ll, uh, pass the message along for you, all right?”
Shin nodded and went serenely back to his lunch. Sakuraba decided that grilling him for information could wait until after he finished hysterically ranting at Takami about why the hell Deimon’s insane quarterback was watching them.
Fin.