Chapter Text
On the surface, Isagi Yoichi and Shidou Ryuusei are total opposites. They, in all honesty, probably wouldn’t be friends under different circumstances. They didn't have much in common aside from football but even then they had different views towards the sport.
Shidou saw it as a way to leave something behind, as an art, or in his words an explosion of everything he loved.
Issgi saw it as a stepping stone for his final goal. The world cup. The sport was for him to shine and have that mind-twisting fun he loved so much.
Shidou was tall and abrasive. Loud and unforgiving in his judgments unless truly given a reason to change that. Isagi was short and well-mannered. Quiet and willing to give just about anyone a second chance unless they truly are terrible. Even where they grew up is strikingly different. Shidou was from Tokyo and Isagi was from Saitama. Shidou had a busy mother that worked late shifts at the hospital while Isagi had doting almost overly attentive parents that both worked from home.
Truly the boys had almost nothing in common. And yet, they were extremely close friends. It started when the boys were little. It was completely accidental and possibly something that could’ve been avoided all things considered. Isagi was in a park near his home, playing with a football when he first met Shidou. The boy was dark-skinned with blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. He was about a year older or so older than Isagi and the first thing he thought to do when he saw Isagi was to scare him.
Isagi remembers it well because he also remembers screaming and crying immediately afterward. Shidou very obviously wasn’t expecting that reaction and that was clear from the surprised, almost bashful expression on his face. It was probably more the fact Shidou didn’t even do anything yet but still managed to scare Isagi that surprised him, Isagi remembers his parents rushing over and getting picked up by his mother and her instantly muttering soft songs and attempting to soothe him. He remembers his father kneeling down to talk to Shidou and telling him that he has to be gentler with Isagi if he wanted to play with him. He remembers Shidou’s mom showing up and making Shidou apologize and by the next day, Shidou, his mom, and his aunt were at their door.
They’ve been friends ever since. The only issue was the fact they lived in different cities and Shidou’s mom worked a lot. So over the summer, they’d alternate staying at each other’s houses. When they were old enough for phones they kept in touch that way. It was mostly football and dumb stuff sent at unholy hours but sometimes they’d get important updates from each other. Like the wedding invitation, Isagi got from Shidou about his mom’s coworker's wedding.
His mom didn’t want to attend but she didn’t want to completely blow it off so she took an extra shift and sent Shidou in her stead. In return, Shidou got to bring anyone he wanted. So of course, he dragged Isagi with him. Or like the time, Isagi’s middle school had a graduation party, so he told Shidou to come to the party and celebrate with him. The boy wasn’t lonely by any means but he wanted his best friend there with him. They basically grew up together, each having a considerable amount of memories with the other.
Then Blue Lock happened. Isagi hadn’t heard anything about it from Shidou and since he hadn’t seen the boy in the lobby that first day, he assumed that Shidou decided it wasn’t exciting enough for him and turned down the offer. He wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case so you can imagine his surprise watching Shidou walk through the door at the end of the second selection instead of Kunigami.