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Practice had ended uncharacteristically easy, the ace of Kyoto Fushimi slipping out of the club room without so much as glancing at the rest of his teammates as he muttered something to himself about a gross climber and something that sounded like “chiba”.
The second the door shut behind him, you could almost hear everyone relaxing with one collective sigh. Tsuji and Yamaguchi had already shuffled out of the showers and packed up their belongings, Ihara tagging behind them as they threw a quick good bye over their shoulders into the emptying room...probably cutting formalities to ensure their escape, not entirely sure (and rightfully so) if the sudden departure of Midousuji was some sort of trick to be used against them the following practice.
Ishigaki let out a small chuckle and waved them off as he busied himself with tidying up the last of the equipment pulled out earlier that afternoon. He let out small, satisfied sigh as the last set of rollers were pushed back into the proper spot against the wall, brushing his hands off onto his sweatpants as he stood upright.
It’d been a few months now since Midousuji’s reign of terror began, but everyone had started to settle into the routines and regiments he provided them with. It was easier to just fall in line, than to resist and face whatever form of torture he delighted himself with that day. Ishigaki thought that their new ace wasn’t entirely bad, he, at the very least, pushed them into growing more capable than they would have on their own. And as the captain, bringing his team to victory was something he was ultimately responsible for, although at what cost was always up for debate.
He turned around to head back over the lockers to retrieve his belongings, only to see that there was still one teammate straggling behind. Ishigaki let out a small, quiet laugh as he walked up behind Mizuta. He peered over his shoulder to see the blond more focused onto his phone clutched between his fingers than the presence of the captain behind him.
“Hey Nobu, you should probably head home--” Ishigaki’s voice and sudden press of his palm onto the smaller boy’s shoulder caused him to launch upright, phone rocketing out of his grip and onto the floor beside them.
Ishigaki laughed and plopped down onto the bench beside his teammate, reaching over and down to retrieve the device as Mizuta shot him the most terrified glance as he handed it to him.
“I didn’t mean to spook you,” He laughed, apologetically nudging the blond’s shoulder.
Mizuta frantically glanced around the room, sighing to himself once he confirmed that it was only the two of them left. If Midousuji-kun heard that slip of Ishigaki’s, he’d be furious for sure. He took his phone back, shoving it down into his duffle bag at his feet. He relaxed under Ishigaki’s touch, “Sorry Ishiyan,” he laughed weakly, “I was trying to make sure this wasn’t a test.” Ishigaki nodded, mouth pulling into a half smile as he glanced over the boy beside him, equally as exhausted and obviously on edge from earlier.
Mizuta was always the most dedicated to following orders and quick to answer to who ever held authority over him, something that sent a small pang of sadness through his heart as the months since Midousuji’s sudden appearance gradually grew. Prior to the new ace, Mizuta was just an overly excited kid who was incredibly eager to please, mimicking those he looked up to...annoying to some, but Ishigaki had found his loyalty to be one of his most endearing traits. He considered him to be one of his closest friends, and it hurt how easily Midousuji was able to wedge himself between them-- mostly Mizuta’s own doing, but it still hurt to see him treated less of a friend and teammate, and more of a worthless subordinate above all else.
“Ishiyan?” Mizuta blinked, the sudden silence that fell between them as Ishigaki found himself glancing down to focus on the gleaming metal that linked between each of Mizuta’s teeth. It was a constant reminder of their distanced relationship, every time the blonde spoke or smiled.
Dark blue eyes focused onto his face as Ishigaki let out a small, frustrated sigh.
“Are you okay?” He asked again, Ishigaki’s palm still resting on the other’s shoulder, finger curling down to grip him tightly. Mizuta glanced between the hand and his captain's face, eyebrows knitted together in confusion as Ishigaki had yet to meet his gaze.
“Ah, yeah..” He started, clearing his throat awkwardly as his pulled his hand away, letting it fall down to his side. Ishigaki glanced up, meeting eyes for a moment before retreating his gaze to focus over on the smooth metal surface of the lockers instead. Mizuta fidgeted uncomfortably, behavior like this was incredibly uncharacteristic of the older boy, usually reserved for when something legitimately bothered him. Which, that on its own was enough to make the other fall into a small fit of concern as Ishigaki seemed to space out, noncommittal response earlier a few moments ago.
Mizuta reached up to nudge Ishigaki’s shoulder, causing him to turn towards him, a gentle smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Mizuta felt his cheeks warm a little as he squinted at him, still mostly out of confusion, unable to read the expression he was giving him.
“I miss you-” It was quiet, and Mizuta probably would’ve missed it completely had he not been both staring directly at his friend’s face, and sitting in complete silence in the locker room with him. The blond quirked his head to the side, still squinting as he tried to decipher what that even meant...he was sitting right there?
“I’m sitting right here, Ishiyan?” He spoke aloud, half way between confusion and a nervous giggle. He nudged his shoulder again, hoping that would make the other snap out of whatever trance he was in an speak actual words that the boy could understand better.
Ishigaki let out a small laugh and rubbed at the back of his neck with his hand, realizing how stupid he probably sounded just now. He straightened his posture, shifting his lower body to straddle the bench and face the blond directly. Mizuta shuffled back a little to allow him to do so, but never broke eye contact, expectantly waiting for an actual explanation.
“Ah...I guess I mean we don’t really hang out much outside of practice anymore.” It was a clean enough save from the small emotional slip-up that might’ve let Mizuta in on how he actually felt...not that he really had to worry since the other probably wouldn’t have put two and two together unless actually spelled out to him directly.
“Oh” Mizuta blinked a few times, “Yeah, I guess we haven’t really hung out in a while, huh?” He shifted, reaching down to pull his dufflebag from the ground beside him. He nervously toyed with the zipper before shoving the contents down to zip the bag shut.
Ishigaki eyed his hand, balling his own fist for a moment before letting the hand reach up and catch the smaller boy’s in his own
He opened his mouth to speak again, Mizuta’s eyes wide and cheeks reddened, utterly confused from the suddenly gesture. Ishigaki swallowed, opening his mouth again...the normally cool, calm, collected Ishigaki fumbling with his words as they caught up in his throat like some sort of verbal vomit threatening to spill out if he hesitated any longer.
“I mean--” he croaked out, Mizuta not pulling his hand away as it sat beneath the older boy’s ontop of his bag. “I mean I miss you.” He tried to force as much meaning behind the final word as he could, hoping Mizuta would catch on before he was forced to elaborate to his junior that, no, I don’t mean I miss you and want to hang out casually on the weekends and do homework, I legitimately miss you and your attention solely focused on me and me alone because I may or may not actually love you. But that would be too much, and would probably scared the other off, and deeper into Midousuji’s clutches to further distance themselves because Ishigaki had to go and be weird about it.
They sat there in silence for a moment, Ishigaki could feel Mizuta shift uncomfortably as he looked off to the side to avert the blonde’s stare.
Mizuta wasn’t good at these kinds of things, and the fact that he was sitting here in the club room alone with his captain, after he had said that only sent him deeper into confusion as he tried desperately to figure out Ishigaki’s intentions, and the meaning behind his hand still clasped gently around his own. The only thing he could do was stare directly at Ishigaki’s face, mouth agape, as if he waited for words to form on their own.
But nothing happened.
No words or thoughts formed, and the blond sat there stupidly, blankly staring at the older boy as he looked like he was bracing himself.
A few more moments passed, Ishigaki slowly became more and more frustrated with the lack of response. He glanced back over to the blond, eyes falling down onto his own hand still holding the smaller boy’s beneath it. Eyes flicked back up to meet the dark blue ones that still vacantly stared at him. He sighed, bringing his other hand up to run frustratedly over his face, groaning as he tried to think of how to get the other to actually respond...or at least understand what he meant.
Mizuta’s mouth, which had been hanging open, quickly shut, lips pressing together over the bumpy metal of his braces. He chewed nervously on the inside of his bottom lip as Ishigaki tilted his head; sighing quietly as he squeezed his eyelids together.
He followed suit, eyelashes fluttering shut as the next thing that registered was the soft touch of lips against his own.
Ishigaki pulled away quickly and released his grip around Mizuta’s hand, sliding back on the bench away from the other. He looked down, fondly smiling to himself as the other boy still had his eyes pressed together- a deep pink blush coloring his cheeks from the tips of his ears to nose.
“Ishiyan?” He questioned meekly, still refusing to open his eyes.
“Nobu?” He responded softly.
“You just kissed me…”
Ishigaki chuckled to himself, taken by how cute and nonthreatening his response was. “Y-yeah...I did.” Confirming to the other.
“Oh.”
Mizuta slowly opened his eyes, focusing onto Ishigaki’s face as he was still smiling warmly down onto him. The corners of his mouth tugged up into a small smile, hands grasping the fabric of the duffle bag that sat between them on the bench.
“Ishiyan?” He questioned again, eyes averted away as the blush across his cheeks deepened.
“Yeah?”
“Can you um...do that...again..” Mizuta croaked out awkwardly, “I miss you too…”
Ishigaki picked up the duffle bag that sat between them, gently setting it down onto the floor before scooting forward again, closing the distance with another soft laugh. He wrapped his arms around the smaller boy’s shoulders, pulling him into his chest as he nuzzled his face against the top of his head, letting out a contented sigh as he bent down to press a sweet kiss to the apple of the blond’s cheek.
He was happy Mizuta finally understood something.