Chapter Text
Itoshi Sae was back in Japan after four whole months since the U-20 match. He couldn't ever say he enjoyed being back in his home country, but after seeing the way Blue Lock had produced players capable of achieving the dream he had when he was younger, something within him had changed. He suddenly didn't look at his country as a boring one incapable of moulding a star player anymore, he just had an extremely indifferent outlook, and maybe indifference was better than bitterness.
He expected an uneventful stay, his manager had told him he has a day to spend freely as he wishes. He was only staying here until he received a new contract abroad, which he was confident he would get soon. For now, he planned to have a quiet day, maybe strolling through the streets or going to shops that sold skincare products. After checking in to his hotel room, he quickly got changed and idly checked his messages.
He only ever got messages from four people. Ones he didn't immediately block anyway; his manager, his parents and the one horny little parasite that would never leave him alone no matter how many messages were piling up, read but never responded to - Shidou Ryusei. Now, Sae knows that the block button does exist, he uses it very often, in fact, but it had been four entire months since he had given that horny demon his number, four entire months since Shidou started texting him. But Sae hadn't responded, not even once. For some reason, that never seemed to stop Shidou, if anything he seemed to text him more often as the days went by, perhaps gaining more confidence after seeing that Sae did in fact read all his messages and still hadn't blocked him.
Honestly, Sae didn't know why he hadn't blocked Shidou either. He justified it by telling himself that he was making fair on his part of the deal, but he knew that the deal had just been to give Shidou his number, not to read his messages or keep him unblocked. He didn't like the idea of trying to find another reason for his own erratic behaviour so Shidou's texts just became a part of Sae's otherwise mostly uneventful life.
As for the texts, they were all weirdly passionate - 'Hey pretty underlashes senpai, I miss you.' or ' I would kill a man in a heartbeat just to be able to play again with you' . Sae had to admit, Shidou was a good player, his ego and passion for the sport was undeniable. But Sae never understood why he was so fixated on him. He would receive at least ten messages from him per day and nothing seemed to make him stop. It honestly made Sae's head spin a little bit, even though he did not really understand why.
Just as he was thinking about all this, the devil himself texted him. 'It's so unfair that you're always abroad, I would kill someone to see you even once' . Seriously, what was with this man's obsession with killing people for Sae. And also the fact that Sae received this text just as he came to Japan was slightly unnerving. He brushed it off and didn't respond as usual. He was going to have an uneventful stay here. Completely ignoring the horrendous and irrational part of his brain that was curious to see what would happen if he met Shidou, he headed outside.
Sae decided that his first stop would be a local café. He used to visit this place frequently before he left the country, and as much as he preferred being out of Japan, he had to admit that nothing quite tasted like the coffee he got here. He ordered a regular black coffee with a single sugar cube and left.
Other than catering to a few fans who wanted pictures with him, his day was going fine. He didn't even mind taking pictures with them as long as they didn't try to touch him as Sae valued his physical space above all else. And usually, people respected that too, almost everyone did honestly. Except a certain tall tan demon with bright hair that was shaped like fire untamed. Sae hated that his mind was drifting there again. He just wanted a peaceful and uneventful day, away from all the commotion, he reminded himself.
Next, he headed to the health and beauty products store. No matter how grimy and sweaty he got during practice, Sae always followed his skincare routine exactly, every single day. He was strolling through the serum aisle, trying to find the exact brand he always used. Or he was until a very tall, very blonde figure appeared literally 2 inches away from his face, blocking his view from the products.
Itoshi Sae looked up at the man he had been dreading to meet all this time. Shidou Ryusei had a horrendously wide grin plastered on his face, and it looked like he was almost shaking? With excitement? Honestly Sae didn't even get to stomach the fact that what he had been actively avoiding had happened because Shidou was all up in his space, literally talking loudly right at his ear.
"Well, well if it isn't pretty underlashes senpai. I'm so hurt, you were in Japan but didn't want to see me? You could have at least said something, I mean I've left you many texts today which I know you saw", Shidou's voice was practically a whine.
Sae tried his best not to let his annoyance show in his face. Impassive as ever, he said "I don't know what gave you the impression that I was obligated to inform you about my plans"
To this Shidou put a hand over his own chest, pretending to be hurt. "Ouch pretty Itoshi, you hurt me. How could you be so cold after all that we had been through together?"
"It was just a match that happened four months ago. I don't know what has you acting like we're lifelong friends", Sae said, ignoring the slight increase in his heart rate when Shidou said pretty.
"We were amazing together and you know it. Plus you haven't blocked me, even after my texts got viler by the minute", Shidou said with a shit eating grin. Sae did not even want to remember the details of those horrendously sexual texts, and he himself was surprised that he hadn't blocked him yet.
"Don't tempt me.", Sae said coldly. But Shidou completely ignored Sae's passiveness and disdain as usual, and to his extreme horror, he grabbed his hand instead.
"Oh come on, I haven't seen my soulmate in four whole months, aren't I allowed to get some affection?" Shidou asked teasingly when Sae tried to pull away.
"I don't know what gave you an impression that I am your soulmate, we played one match together and I gave you my number because that seemed to boost your enthusiasm and unlock your potential. I held good on my part and now it's about time you left me alone."
"Both you and I know that there was something there. You felt it too. I know it." Shidou said, still gripping the shorter man's hand. Sae did not know if he was losing his cool because of the physical contact or the fact there was some truth in Shidou's words. Sae may be in denial, but not enough to not admit that him and Shidou's plays had stirred something in him and given him more enthusiasm than he had felt in a while.
He chose to keep his expression stoic and pull his hand away instead of answering.
Shidou chuckled. "You sure are a tough nut to crack, but lucky for me, I love a good challenge. So you, my pretty underlashes senpai, will spend your entire day with me to see exactly what you're missing out on. I promise a good time." He had an absolutely unhinged grin on his face now.
Although he felt like it would be pointless , Sae said "And what if I refuse?"
Shidou's grin seemed to grow even wider. "Then I will knock down every single product in your precious aisle and run for it. But if you agree and genuinely hated spending the day with me after it's done then I will leave without protest, I promise not to bother you ever again."
Sae sighed. He was left with only one choice - to accept. On the bright side, Shidou will completely leave him alone if he says he hated the time they spend together. Ignoring the unnatural feeling of dread seeping into his heart, Sae acknowledged Shidou with a slight nod.
That was enough for Shidou to quite literally drag Sae out of the shop. There he was, the raging demon all up in his personal space again, leaving Sae absolutely helpless.
"You know, ever since I left the U-20 match that day, I had been thinking about what we should do on our first date. And since I had plenty of time to think, I know exactly what we are gonna do today", Shidou said once they were out, his voice brimming with excitement. Sae did not like the sound of that. Seriously, he wouldn't have been surprised if Shidou had somehow managed to find a football themed sex dungeon just for them.
So, he was pleasantly surprised when Shidou stopped at an arcade instead. They stepped inside and Sae observed their surroundings. It was pretty low-key and quiet, but with a lot of games, just the way Sae enjoyed most things. It was almost as if Shidou had carefully considered this arcade before taking him there. Sae brushed off the thought.
"So was this your idea of the ideal first date? I have to admit, it's not bad, better than I expected." , he said. Shidou looked like he was going to combust at the validation. "When I told you we are meant to be, I meant every word. I knew you would like this! Of course you would!", Shidou exclaimed, as if he received pleasure from all this.
Sae had to physically restrain himself from letting out a slight smile. "So, where do we start first?"
Turns out, Shidou had bought them enough tokens to play every single game there, and Sae flawlessly outplayed him in every single one they had tried out so far. Shidou did not seem to mind at all. In fact, he seemed exhilarated when he was playing besides Sae, focusing on doing his level best to do as well as he could. Both of them had beaten the previous highscores by a phenomenal margin, but Sae was still a few points above Shidou in every single game.
Sae was honestly having fun, even though he did not particularly like admitting it. He liked how Shidou respected and acknowledged his wins instead of being aggressive or a sore loser. They had two games left, the worst ones according to Sae - shooting and claw machine.
For some reason, ever since he was a child when his father used to take him and his little brother to arcades, Sae could never shoot with the air rifle. He always seemed to miss and get the lowest score on the whole score board. It was the only game Rin used to be better than him at. And as for the claw machine, he admittedly never gave it a chance an he did not want to even now. The rewards were silly little prices for little kids or squealing couples and it simply never interested him.
Shaking off his childhood memories, he grabbed the air rifle, aimed and shot. And missed the balloon he was supposed to pop entirely. By an extremely large margin. Simultaneously, Shidou landed a perfect shot and popped the balloon placed at the most difficult-to-reach position there.
Shidou walked towards Sae and quietly whistled. "No way. Could it be that you're actually bad at this, pretty Itoshi? Even angels have their flaws?", he said, pleasantly mocking him. Sae frowned, and lifed his rifle again. "I never was very good at this even though I think that logically, I'm not doing anything wrong.", he said.
He suddenly felt a body press against him from behind. Shidou was extremely close. Sae was going to push him away when Shidou stopped him "Hey, hey I just wanna correct your form. I know you're capable of doing literally anything so with a little help I'm sure you'll be better than me in no time." He said, as he lightly held the hand that Sae was using to balance the rifle, and moved it slightly, their fingertips grazing with every movement.
Shidou then wrapped his fingers around Sae's where it was balanced on the trigger, and moved it further up. He was completely covering Sae's body from behind and now it looked as if he was literally draped around him. Shidou leaned down and whispered into Sae's ear, "Now look closely and shoot".
In an attempt to escape the shiver that was creeping down his spine, Sae pulled the trigger without thinking. And hit the balloon precisely. At the heat of the moment he turned around and smiled at Shidou without realising what he was doing. He saw Shidou's eyes widen.
"You're literally so gorgeous, holy fuck.", Shidou said. To this, Sae turned back and tried his best to make his face neutral again. He wasn't sure if he succeeded. It was all a little too much and he didn't really understand it.
He cleared his throat. "Thank you for teaching me", he said. They did a couple more rounds, where Shidou got a clear win but Sae did manage to get a couple of perfect hits. He felt good, this was different. Breaking out of routine didn't seem so bad anymore.
After they were done with that, Shidou took him to the last stop - The claw machine.
"I think I'll pass on this one. It's for children and cringeworthy couples only.", Sae said.
Shidou looked at him and smirked. "I think you and I make a pretty good cringeworthy couple, then.", He said before leaning down to push the buttons on the claw machine. Sae just sighed and watched him use it.
After a couple of failures, Shidou's patience seemed to be wearing thin. He seemed to be aiming for a particular object and he was very, very pissed that he couldn't get it. So, when an eight year old boy next to him grabbed three prices in a row, Shidou started yelling and was about to throw hands until the boy's mother came to take him away, giving Shidou a horrified look. Sae found all this quite amusing. A 6 foot tall man was really about to fight an elementary school kid.
After his amusement faded away, to prevent further commotion, Sae approached Shidou. "What is it that you're so badly trying to win? If I get it for you, do you promise to leave without traumatizing any more children?", he asked.
Shidou looked at Sae in defeat, pointing to an object in the machine. "I wanted to win it because it reminded me of you but this stupid machine seems to hate romance", he said. Sae nearly rolled his eyes and looked at what he was pointing at. It was a dark pink cat plushie-keychain with bright green eyes. Sae could see why it reminded Shidou of him. He reached down and pressed the button. He managed to procure it after one failed attempt. "Here you go", he said, his tone even.
Shidou literally leapt with joy and gave Sae a quick hug, throwing him off balance before he could even attempt to push him away. "You are literally magic, Pretty Itoshi", He said, holding the keychain as if it was an actual infant. Sae would hardly call winning a prize from the claw machine magic, but he knew better than to argue at this point.
After this, they left the arcade, Sae feeling oddly content and Shidou's eyes sparkling with joy.
Sae looked at Shidou. "Well this has been-"
"Wait, wait where do you think you're going? Do you seriously think I'd let you go after a single trip to the arcade?", Shidou questioned.
"The sun is literally going to set soon, we started at noon.", Sae responded.
"So what? We haven't even eaten anything yet, you must be getting hungry. I can't let my favourite underlashes senpai starve now, can I?", Shidou said.
Sae's stomach was rumbling, as much as he hated to admit it. He also knew there was no point in arguing with the life force that was Shidou Ryusei and followed him to wherever he was planning to take him.
Shidou once again surprised Sae by stopping at a roadside Takoyaki joint. He seemed to know the pleasant looking old lady who worked there because as soon as she saw him, her eyes lit up. "Oh, if it isn't Ryusei-kun! I am so happy to see you after such a long time, I hope that football club or whatever it is you joined is treating you well" she noticed Sae standing next to him. "Oh, who is this handsome young man?", she asked.
"Good evening, Honda-san, it's great to see you after so long too! You look as amazing as ever." Shidou said, uncharacteristically polite. "This is my soulmate, Itoshi Sae. You have a good eye as always, Honda-san!" , he said to Sae's great horror. He looked at the old women in shock and bowed slightly to show courtesy. "Please ignore what he said. I'm Itoshi Sae, it's nice to meet you", he said, hoping she would ignore Shidou's soulmate remark.
She did quite the opposite. "Oh-ho! Ryusei-kun has never said that about anyone, you must be truly special!" she exclaimed. Sae tried his best to keep a pleasant expression and change the topic to generic small talk, and luckily for him, it worked.
Shidou bought them both two packets of Takoyaki, gave his thanks to her and left. Sae watched at him in frustration as he kept walking ahead. "You were the one who told me you didn't want me to go hungry. So why aren't we stopping and eating?", he asked.
Shidou looked back at him and smiled. "I need to show you something first, I promise it'll all be worth it!", he said. Sae just walked behind him in defeat as Shidou Ryusei always somehow managed to get his way with him. He hated it but there was nothing he could do.
Shidou abruptly stopped when they reached a completely abandoned, eery looking skyscraper. For the first time the entire day, Sae was not surprised in the least by his weird location choice. "Is this the super romantic place you wanted to show me?", he asked
"That depends, do you feel like working out?", He asked, pointing to the completely vertical fire escape ladder of the 20-something storied building. "Not afraid of heights, are you?"
Sae looked at Shidou in horror. But it was indeed true that he hadn't been able to hit the gym all day because of this horny little demon he had on his shadow. "Alright", he said.
It took them about fifteen minutes or so to reach the top, and when they did, they were both sweaty, although not exhausted. Sae looked down at the ladder he had just climbed, trying not to think about what would happen if he had slipped, because they had to get down using the same ladder.
Shidou had seated him at the edge across from Sae, beckoning him to join him. He complied, sitting down next to Shidou as the blonde man took the Takoyaki from his bag and handed it to Sae. The sun was setting in the cityscape ahead of them and a gentle breeze grazed their faces. Sae had to admit, it was all pretty nice.
Shidou was uncharacteristically quiet, gazing at the cityscape beneath his feet while eating. For once, it was Sae who broke the silence. "You were weirdly nice to that old lady who sold the Takoyaki. It was strange seeing you that way"
To this, Shidou looked up to Sae and smiled. "She kinda.. raised me in a lot of ways. My parents used to fight a lot when I was a kid and she would often give me free Takoyaki and tell me stories. I'll always be grateful to her for it."
Sae understood messy families more than anyone. He had detached himself from his own a long time ago. "That was nice of her.", he said, nodding at Shidou.
"No one who gets anywhere great in their lives have extremely happy backstories. I mean, look at me now, the way I explode is undeniable. I have found my passion, I am happy!", he exclaimed, without a single hint of bitterness in his voice.
Without thinking, Sae said "I like that about you. I like people who accept their present without thinking too much about their pasts.", he said,
Shidou's eyes widened "Oh yeah, what else do you like about me?", he asked with a grin.
Sae sighed. "I never should have said anything."
Shidou laughed. "Well that's a shame because I could name a million things I like about you. I like how rigid you are, I love your confidence, I like how stubborn you can be, but man above all I fucking love how you make me feel, you drive me insane", he said casually, as if he hadn't mentally hit Itoshi Sae, best Japanese football player in the world, repeatedly on the head with a hammer with the most sincere complements (are those even complements?) that anyone had ever given him.
Sae was bad at- this, whatever it was. Emotions and whatnot. So he tried (and failed miserably) to push his thoughts away and change the topic instead.
"Do you want to see the people I play with in Royale Youth and assess their capabilities? I'll evaluate how keen your judgement is.", he said, instead of whatever it was that his mind was itching to say.
Shidou, however, was delighted by this idea, he nodded frantically and leaned in extremely close to Sae, to look at his phone and see what he was talking about.
Sae felt Shidou breathing, his body rumbling as he laughed and the texture of his hair gently hitting Sae's face as the wind blew. He hadn't had another human being this close to him in a long time. Not including his family, He hadn't had this much physical contact with anyone in his entire life. He was trying not to let the feeling distract him and he tried his best to listen to Shidou's admittedly accurate judgements about his team members.
"Yeah, I think you're pretty spot on", he admitted when Shidou was done.
"So, do you get along with any of them?", Shidou asked.
"Not really, there's very few I can stand outside of football, honestly. I can't care that much about pretentious good or nothings that are all talk no cock", he said.
This sent Shidou rolling back with laughter. "All talk no- I never expected those words to leave your mouth, Itoshi", he said, barely getting a hold of himself "I love how unpredictable you can be"
Sae smiled. In a zillionth attempt to ignore his racing heartbeat, he talked to Shidou more about football, who they played against, where they went, how many matches they've won, his teammates blunders and everything. Shidou in turn told Sae about how he found out he loved football when he kicked a deflated one in the ground outside his house on one of the days his parents fought and how he had not looked back since. By this time, The sun had long since sunk below the horizon and city lights illuminated every corner of the world in the two boys' eyes. Neither of them had realised the amount of time that had passed until Sae's manager called him, asking when he would make it back to the hotel room.
Sae looked at Shidou "I need to leave now", he said.
"Oh. I'll drop you to your hotel then", he replied.
"Okay." Sae said softly, surprising both himself and Shudou. But he was tired of pretending like this wasn't one of the best days he has had in months. In fact, he admitted to himself that he actually wanted Shidou to walk him to his hotel now.
So, the two men climbed down that dreadfully vertical fire escape and walked home quietly. Sae did not even pull away when Shidou entangled their fingers. They walked in silence, even Shidou didn't dare to say a word, perhaps in fear that Sae would change his mind and step away from him if he did. Sae liked the warmth that Shidou's body gave him, because even though it was not a cold night, the wind was pretty chilly.
Finally they reached the entrance of the hotel. "So, did you hate it?", Shidou asked the other man quietly, as if he was dreading the answer.
Sae exhaled. "No, not at all. I wouldn't mind doing that again", he replied.
To that, Shidou grinned and wrapped his arms around Sae. "I've been meaning to do this all day but I was afraid you would push me away and go back home", he said.
Sae closed his eyes , taking in his little horny demon's warmth. What had life come to? He didn't even bother replying, because honestly a few hours back, he would have done exactly as Shidou said. Instead he held the other man's arms lightly, pulling away from the embrace. "It was unexpectedly nice spending time with you, Shidou Ryusei.", he said.
Shidou just looked at him and did not say a word. He then lightly cupped Sae's face, leaned in and brushed his lips against Sae's, kissing him softly.
He pulled back and looked at him, grinning widely. "It was amazing being with you, Itoshi Sae. See you again reallll soon!", he said, before turning around and walking off, leaving Sae dumbfounded on the street.
After regaining his senses, Sae returned to his hotel room. He took a shower to unscramble his thoughts and returned to see two notifications from "Horny Pesty Demon" on his phone.
The first was an image of Shidou kissing the cat keychain Sae had given him. Sae was mortified.
The second message was - 'I'm so glad I decided to buy hair dye today and ran into you. Kinda sad you didn't invite me to your hotel room though ;)'.
'maybe next time' Sae typed out and hit send.
His phone was bombarded with messages all night long.