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Silence fell on the field, except for the rhythmic lone tap, tap, tapping of shoes on a ball. Rin was forever grateful for the lack of actual clocks in the fields, otherwise the survival part of his brain would kick in and tell him to go rest. He would run until he couldn’t, then run some more, thoughts alit; his brother (with a knife through his side), Isagi (his limp body lying face down in the bath), and Shidou (he had yet to conjure a way to kill him without getting harmed himself, but he was working on it). It wasn’t like it had been just yesterday that he’d seen sunlight, but he’d learnt to bloom regardless.
If it hadn’t been for the ball ricocheting off of Blue Lock Man towards the door, he might not have noticed it slightly ajar. He also wouldn’t have cared, continuing to practice, except it was now creaking open ever-so subtly. Focus already broken, he clicked his tongue and jogged over to close it. Out of all of the fields, why would anyone need this one specifically?
Then, just as his hand reached for the handle, the door flew open, and a body found itself in Rin’s arms by reflex, against his will. He was about to drop it to the floor promptly and return to practicing, until his slightly-out-of-it mind recalled a name to match it.
“Hiori? Was that your name?” he grumbled, instead setting him to sit upright on the grass, and letting the door close. “Oi.”
All he got in reply was a light, but audible exhale, as if at peace. His eyes were open, but unfocused and looked straight through Rin like he was a ghost. Lips forming a thin line, he gave Hiori’s leg a nudge for good measure, before retrieving the ball; just an hour more.
By the time Rin was satisfied, he heard a dainty yawn coming from the direction of the door.
“Move,” he stood over Hiori, who was still rubbing his eyes, before they tilted upwards.
“Oh. Sorry,” he shuffled over and opened the door with his foot. “There ya go.” Rin grunted a obligatory thanks and was about to leave before taking a second glance.
Hiori was still in pyjamas. If he had wanted to use this field specifically, which Rin could not think up a reason for anyway, he was in no state to be kicking around a ball and getting sweaty. So, perhaps out of an uncharacteristic curiosity he’d long since exercised, he asked,
“Why did you come here?” Another yawn, before Hiori stood up and stretched.
“I didn’t.”
“You…didn’t.” If his brain wasn’t already not at its sharpest, his ears must also not be.
“Yeah. Ever heard of sleepwalking?”
“Of course I’ve fucking heard of sleepwalking.”
“Yeah.”
“...uh huh,” he ran his hand through his hair, as he consciously registered this moment as “awkwardness”.
“Sorry to-”
“I’ll be go-” they both started at the same time, and after a beat, Hiori yawned again.
“Let’s just head back to the rooms.”
In the same way that it was hard to describe the snapping feeling of bare feet on the facility floors after a long practice, Rin didn’t quite know what to make of…this. But he didn’t have the time to, since Hiori had already started,
“So why d’ya rotate around the fields every night? They’re all the same.” Rin raised an eyebrow at this, still not sure whether to class this feeling as wariness, confusion or a silver of idiocy. Because there should be no chance of it being any of these.
“How do you know that? You haven’t seen me on other nights.” Hiori was staring ahead, but Rin could still feel the knowing, almost smug look on his face.
“I think I always end up at that one, and this is the first time someone else has been there before me.”
“Ok. And why that one?”
“These are very un-Rin-like questions. As in, they aren’t rhetorical for once.” Rin stared back blankly, and Hiori’s eyes met his in a searching gaze, with a touch of Rin perceived as melancholy. As if he had asked something that struck a nerve. Understanding this was one thing that Rin had grown used to (telling others the truth about them tended to give a similar, angrier variation of this reaction), but instinctually empathising with it was quite another.
“I just used to practice there a lot myself,” Hiori replied simply, and left it at that.
They walked on in silence, the hallway lights flickering on sequentially and both looking straight ahead. If Blue Lock in the daytime was an inhale, at this hour it was an exhale. It reminded Hiori of being at school far, far in its after-hours, when his whole team had left, and he had the whole place to himself. On those days, he’d either actually practice more, or simply wander around the halls like a ghost and then pour water on his face and hair to realistically lie to his parents that he had practiced more. It was a fifty-fifty which he chose to do.
“Well, this is mine. Is your room also in this direction?” Hiori’s voice was quieter now, but startled Rin nonetheless.
“Probably.” He had no clue where he was.
“Cool. Then, good night. Maybe I’ll see ya ’round?”
“Maybe.” Hiori slid the door open, and offered a smile to Rin as he realised he was standing still, and he was gone. Alone, once more. But only for a moment, as Hiori poked his head around the door again and gently tugged at Rin’s shirt.
“You caught me when I tripped on the entrance, right?” Rin nodded, not knowing what else to add, or if he should, because a persistent thought had grown just then, at the back of his mind, that something was missing.
“And you sat me down?” He nodded again, and rather uselessly said,
“Not like I knew what the fuck else to do.”
“I see. Thanks.” Hiori’s face was open and with an innocence Rin found himself disgusted yet enamoured at. This added up to his nose crinkling in a half-frown. But all the same, reaching to rest a hand on Hiori’s head with a mildness he shouldn’t have anymore, he picked out a section of hair as if to study it.
In that moment, he couldn’t help but see a part of his former self in him; a person that he’d killed all those years ago. Smashed like the glass he had been, suffocated with a pillow, soaked with gasoline and lit on fire. Then the body parts were gathered and stitched piece by piece, blood dripping at the seams and simultaneously acting as the glue keeping him together. At first he’d roared at the searing, melting the skin over his face like a candle, which was then promptly flogged pink. Strangled and mangled, shamed and untamed.
“You’re kinda cool,” Hiori broke his trance, now staring with such resoluteness that Rin wouldn’t have been surprised if he read his thoughts.
“And what of it?” he broke contact and put a hand to his waist, suddenly hyperaware of his lowered barrier.
“Nothin’.”
“You jealous or something?” he tried to return to his usual haughty tone, but it came out with an edge of teasing smugness as well. Hiori rolled his eyes, but with a playful smile.
“Aren’tcha tired too?” Rin shook his head, but an inevitable yawn escaped him anyway. Hiori reached out to pat his arm, his touch firm and more like a squeeze.
“Well, good night then.”
“Hm. Yeah. You too, I guess.”
Hiori awoke some hours later, the other beds already emptied but an Isagi organising some things and muttering to himself. Upon hearing rustling, he shot a grin over in his direction.
“Everyone’s already gone for breakfast. I’m about to go too.”
“Ah, cool,” was all Hiori could muster at this time, sitting up already taking significant effort.
“By the way, did you go somewhere last night or something? When I went to the bathroom, your bed was empty, and you weren’t there either,” Isagi said, still occupied in his tidying.
“I was doing some late night monitoring,” Hiori replied smoothly. This hadn’t been the first time he sleepwalked, in Blue Lock or in his life, but he made sure to have something to say in case anyone else asked. An image of a towering figure popped into his head then, followed immediately by the weight of a hand on his head– the overlap in the Venn diagram of “times he’s sleepwalked” and “times he’s been caught”, consisted of only last night. Ego might know if he could be bothered to review security camera footage of the hallways, but even he had better things to do. In any case, Isagi seemed to accept this response well,
“Damn. Did you learn anything?”
“You could say that.”
Hiori was just about to exit the cafeteria with Isagi, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to meet eyes that first of all, looked like they had not rested and second of all, threw a killer side glance at Isagi. He tilted his head, and when Rin proceeded to be silent despite being the one to get his attention, he nodded.
“I’ll see you at practice then,” he quickly placed himself between Isagi and Rin, in case their eye contact alone started something unnecessary. And so he turned to follow Rin in the opposite direction, leaving Isagi to have a minor existential crisis.
Rin led them both to one of the smaller monitoring rooms, locking the door behind them for good measure.
“How hard are you gonna roast me right now?” Rin shrugged, cutting straight to the chase.
“Shut up and listen. Have you been hiding this the whole time?”
“Is it any of your business?” Hiori retaliated without missing a beat.
“No,” Rin said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, “Unless you disturb my practice again, it isn’t. But answer the damn question.” Hiori sighed.
“I guess. There, are ya happy? You’re the one disturbing my practice now.”
“It’s not like missing 10 minutes is going to make a difference for you guys,” he retorted, and swiftly continued, “Are those paper cuts?” he pointed at Hiori’s hands.
“Yes.”
“Were you ripping up paper? A letter, perhaps?”
“Where are you going with this?” Hiori wore the same hurt expression as last night, only this time with a snarl. Rin went quiet, fragments of sentences coming to mind but never being able to form a coherent thought to voice. After a few moments, Hiori’s face returned to a neutral state and he stood to unlock the door. With it ajar, he turned back to see Rin also standing, now with his eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed. Then, his eyes widened and he grabbed Hiori’s arm a split second before he stepped out of the room.
“What?” Hiori spat. Rin stared back, searching his face for something with breath quickening by the moment. Then, he tore his gaze away and dropped his hand.
“Nothing.”
“Ok then. Bye.” Rin exited the room after a couple seconds, but the coldness of Hiori’s final words stuck with him for the rest of the day, much to his annoyance.
The next time they saw each other was, unsurprisingly, at a game. Although by a quick scan of the other team, there wasn’t a Hiori in sight on the field. The only person of particular note was some dude with a (he hated to admit, pretty sick) blue rose tattoo on his neck and who was currently throwing a shit-eating grin at Isagi. Still unbothered, he cast a glance to the sidelines, where his gaze automatically rested on bright blue hair, and his forehead creased into a frown. It wasn’t until they made eye contact, that Rin realised he had stared for just a little longer than he’d intended. Upon recognising him, Hiori squinted but Rin couldn’t tell if his eyes were saying “I hope you’re prepared to get absolutely shit on” or “I thought you’d be more than 36 million yen. Though maybe I’m not one to talk.” Either way, something about this irked him more than it should’ve, but he pushed it to the back of his mind nonetheless; in the next 90 minutes, he would disprove both.
It was Rin’s turn to be intercepted on his way out from the dining hall that evening.
“What do you want?” It came out more like a statement than a question, and he flinched at the invisible static of their shoulders brushing as they walked out.
“I just wanted to apologise. Felt like maybe I was a bit harsh on ya,” Hiori looked at him straight in the eye with a toughened outer shell, but transparent enough for Rin to see sincerity.
“Is it this just because we won against you? Because I don’t care for apologies.”
“I don’t care, that you don’t care,” he tilted his head, a corner of his lips turned upwards almost cheekily. “If it matters to me, then I’ll do it anyway.”
“How very Blue Lock,” Rin murmured as an off-comment, his chest unconsciously loosening at Hiori chuckling next to him.
“You could say that.” They fell into silence, neither of them moving to leave, neither of them feeling the need to fill the space with empty words.
“You’d be great at FPS with those reflexes,” Hiori rewound a 20 second portion of the recording for the third time.
“Are you assuming I’m not?” Rin didn’t quite know why he’d stayed to rewatch his own game with someone else, but it wasn’t like he was just going to dismantle the pillow fort already constructed and currently in use. Very much, in use. The firmness felt good on his back, what could he say?
“So are you?”
“...I could be if I cared enough,” he hesitantly muttered, extremely conscious of Hiori’s hair just ghosting his cheek with their unintentional proximity. The camera cut to him, and he focused back on the screen.
Hiori paused the recording some arbitrary amount of time later.
“Can I ask a question? That isn’t that one obviously.”
“You’ll do it either way.”
“Hm. Ya got me there.” A twinge of sleepy frustration coloured his face, “Do you like football?”
Rin really had no incentive to tell the truth here, but not answering altogether also wasn’t a particularly attractive option. So instead, he opted for,
“You want me to say no,” his voice lowered, monotone yet sank into the pillow he’d placed between them. Hiori raised his eyebrows in mild shock before wearing a pained smile.
“Wow, it’s like you read people like a book. Should’ve seen that one coming.” He fiddled with a loose string on the pillow he was hugging. “I wanted you to say…well, I don’t know anymore.”
“What do you want to say then?” Rin found himself asking. Hiori didn’t give him time to question why he suddenly cared about hearing what someone had to say, as he leaned against the pillow between them, his head very nearly on his shoulder.
“I’d probably be locked off if anyone knew about my…you know, sleepwalking. Crumbling to the stress, the pressure, the…all those things that probably…probably don’t make you fit to be called a striker," the last part came out in one breath.
“We’re hardly even concentrating on being just strikers at th-”
“You were right,” Hiori continued, sitting up and bouncing his knee, “I got a letter from my parents the other day.” He stopped there and took a breath as if he wanted to say more, but couldn’t find the words. Yet, Rin simply pushed his leg over to stop the bouncing.
Then, after some deliberation, he removed the pillow and set it on their legs.
Hiori, who had his head down, turned and revealed a glint in his eye.
“Sometimes I wanna mur-”
“Did you imagine killi-” They started at the same time, and Hiori burst into laughter, body shaking and his head eventually coming to a rest on Rin’s shoulder, who in the meantime cracked a smile at this. Hiori sighed.
“Yeah, you got it,” he said through giggles. “Right on the nose.”
“Like, just whacking them with a sledgehammer? Or very mysteriously obtaining a gun with bullets-”
“-and bringing them to a secluded location and-” Hiori continued excitedly through another fit of laughter.
“Or, or…poison?” This had been the longest Rin had smiled in…quite some time. His cheeks already hurt, but he didn’t want to stop; he didn’t want this to stop.
At some point in their brainstorming, Rin’s hand found itself delicately clutching onto Hiori’s, resting on the pillow. The paper cuts had fully scarred now, and scratched against Rin's palm. When a wave of exhaustion hit him and his eyes threatened to close any minute, Hiori peered at his face, being careful to keep his hand still.
“Do you still want to watch the rest of the footage?” Right, yes, they had been monitoring. The match. From earlier that day. The screen at this point had turned off, leaving only the soft glow and hum of the floor lights. Rin forced his eyes open.
“Uh, yes. Yes, let’s..continue. Where we…where we left off,” he reached over for the remote, keeping their hands firmly planted on the pillow despite the remote being closer to Hiori. The screen turned back on, and the room abruptly became more crowded.
In spite of his tiredness trying to hold him back, Rin’s brain went back into football mode, and it wasn’t a couple minutes after the recording ended, when he realised Hiori’s head was back on his shoulder and slow breaths were escaping him.
When the sound cut from the speakers, he had blinked awake and quickly glanced around at his surroundings, eyes finally landing on their hands, then Rin, deep in thought. He waited until anything indicated that he had stopped thinking about the match (which took what felt like days), so he could murmur into his shoulder,
“I guess I’m lucky it was you.”
“Hm?” Rin could hardly turn his head before the weight on his shoulder lifted and he felt lips on his cheek, just for a split second. He stared straight ahead at the black screen, eyes slowly opening and closing as if that would help his brain catch up to the situation, and Hiori let out a content sigh.
“Thanks for not caring.”
And all Rin could think to do in response, was lean over and kiss him.