Chapter Text
A few minutes was all there was left for the referee’s whistle to blow the match to an end, only for a strong goal scent to similarly blow his senses. He had seen it; the perfect opportunity that would exquisitely serve the greed he had been cursed with, the greed to snatch victory by scoring his own goals, and he would seize it, and without fail.
He’s been positioning himself in his opponent’s blind spots for a while, then, moving on pure instinct, he robs the pass that was meant for the young prodigy, earning a disapproving remark from a certain dark green haired toddler, the one that initially made the pass. He made his way through the field, crushing players as he bypassed them with a blinding glint radiating from his hunger-filled eyes, to finally use his last weapon, having the ball hugging the net as it spun.
His goal hadn’t made a prominent impact since they were far ahead from their opponents when it came to scoring. But Yoichi knew better, the opposite team wasn’t his only opponent, therefore his little goal had thrilled him, drawing a proud grin on his lips.
“As annoying as ever aren’t you, Yoichi" Sae’s voice trailed off from behind him, the match having had reached its end, his hand aggressively tousling the blue locks, making the striker slightly wince. Rin joined the two, a scowl all over his face, at the sight of the smug face Yoichi had been wearing seconds ago, after performing his least favorite habit of his; of cutting through the sibling’s passes.
Exiting the field, they perform their usual post practice ritual; consisting of Sae buying the three of them ice cream, as they walk their way to the beach.
It used to be only the itoshi siblings, until leech Yoichi had forced itself between them, being that annoying neighbor who kept interfering in their play, asking the same ‘can I play with you' question like a broken record only to be faced by rejection, until they finally gave in. He truly was a nuisance. Only that he actually had something up his sleeves, which didn’t make him less unbearable as Rin believed, managing to barely keep up with the siblings.
Although he wasn’t as good as Sae or even Rin, his presence in the field can’t be ignored, he was eye-catching despite not having an outstanding weapon, his birds eye view of the field, capturing the little fatal mistakes to make a great comeback.
And so, he was gradually getting included in the two’s lives, until he was part of all their daily routine, from their trips to school, to practice, and sleepovers.
Upon seeing the familiar ‘you lose’ carved it the wooden stick of the ice cream, Sae went off about the idiocy of wasting luck over such things, after Isagi’s declaration of winning the prize. Rin having had lost too, agreed with his older brother this time. Yoichi just huffed and muttered something about them being sore losers.
The salty ocean breeze ruffled their hair as they sat in silence, quietly enjoying each other’s company, until Sae broke the silence.
“what goes on your mind while playing Rin?” he asked, his teal eyes never leaving the sea, the wooden stick still sticking out of his mouth.
“nothing much, I guess I just think about scoring, since if I dash to somewhere where it looks critical, you’ll pass to me.” Rin replies.
“define critical.”
Rin thought about it for a bit, then spoke. “Like where the enemy’d panic and fall apart.”
Moments later, he’d asked Yoichi to answer the same question. although he’s taken his time to elaborate a proper answer, and organize his thoughts, it came off messy; “i don’t know how to word it out.. I kind of receive so much information from the field, even useless ones, it gives me headache sometimes, and it just happens that I, uh.. smell the goal, does that make sense?” he finished, turning around to read Sae’s face, who had reflected his gesture, staring at him with a confused look in his face, one couldn’t distinguish from its usual blank state, but not yoichi.
“both of you rely too much on instinct” he observed, tearing his gaze away from the blue haired boy, to focus on the sea once again, “rin, your plays are only working out for you, because I'm here, as for you yoichi, I think you realize how efficient your playstyle is by how little you get to score.” he reasoned..
“Well I am evolving. Have little faith, would you?” Isagi retorted, offended by the criticism he’d just received.
“i have no interest in such lukewarm concepts” he mocked. The younger grimaced at sae’s sentence,
“of course you would say that” he muttered under his breath, “though I still think rin and I will manage just fine.” he added. rin had silently agreed with him while Sae scoffed.
“As if any of you can replace me.” Nobody objected to his comment since it was nothing but the truth, he was the best out of the three, rather, in the whole country. “I'm going to Spain tomorrow, I'll play in the best football club in the world.” he delivered the obsolete news, “I'm going ahead of you, so you better come after.”
“well, you’ll become the best striker in the world, that’s obvious” Rin stated as a matter of fact.
Isagi’s lips quirked upwards, “enjoy it before I snatch the title away from you” he challenged, his blue eyes glinting with the fire of determination, Sae smirked upon hearing his declaration, while Rin just snorted,
“Big words coming from someone who can barely ever score” he sneered.
“I'd love to see you try” Sae challenged back, as a strong burst of wind blew on his hair, ignoring his little brother’s snarky comment.
Their daily dose of sea gazing had drawn to a close as the sunset chased them away, and the wind became chillier. They trailed the way back home by the sight. Isagi, who lived a few blocks away, was to spend the night over as some sort of a farewell since it was Sae's last night in Japan.
They hung out in Sae’s room out of habit, as neither of the brothers was the talkative type, isagi had been the one to occasionally fill the void of silence as they sat on the red hair’s bed, warming the place up with his bubbly presence, something the itoshi brothers had grown accustomed to, and even fond of, not that they’ll ever acknowledge the fact. At some point Rin had dismissed himself to his own room, since he could no longer stay up, leaving his older brother and Yoichi alone, the usual scenario of their sleepovers. Despite the familiarity of scene, it didn’t prevent the sweating of Yoichi’s palms, the knots forming in his stomach, or the incoherence of his thoughts that always accompanies being left alone with the older itoshi. He’s always blamed it on how intimidating the latter can be despite their closeness in age.
Silence has never been as comfortable. The two of them sat staring out the window, their breathing was the only thing that could be heard.
“You should get some sleep Sae” he yawned, his eyelids feeling heavy from drowsiness.
“Yeah, I will.” he lied, “you can go first”
“but I wanna spend more time with you” he protested, his eyes were shut down when Sae looked at him from the corner of eyes, he sighs.
“you can’t even open your eyes” he remarked.
“they are open” he claimed as he squints them open, blinking several times to chase the sleep away.
“God, why are you being a stubborn idiot?” he scoffed, “I'm not that interesting anyway”
“i do find you interesting, though” he countered, “your company is enough for me” he added as he rested his head on Sae's shoulder out of somnolence, a familiar movement that never failed to elicit a somewhat softened expression from the older. He ruffled his hair, in an attempt to shake the surprise upon hearing Yoichi’s confession. He normally detested physical contact, but it always felt right to loosen his guard a little, and allow isagi to have this much, it was his last day there anyway.
“you’re nervous” he remarked as he felt is unsteady pulse due to the contact.
Sae was aware that lying to Isagi was quite unwise, since the boy never spoke unless he’s done the thinking and is sure of the accuracy of his claims. “I might be” he half-admitted, causing Yoichi to slightly twitch in surprise.
“I think you’ll do great” he reassured, after debating which words were the most appropriate to say, and that won’t scratch the pride of the red hair, since he valued it more than his own life.
“What are you taking me for? of course I will.” He deadpanned, forging offense.
“i know, just.. Take care, okay?” I’ll always be there for you, went unsaid, as well as so many things he wanted to say, but he chose to be subtle about them, as he wondered how far is too far for him to speak, how much of his defense Sae had allowed him to invade. So, he quiets down, waiting patiently for the other’s answer, assuming that he was willing to offer one.
“fine” he simply responded. It wasn’t much of an answer more than it was a reassurance that Yoichi hadn't violated his pride, and that he wasn’t offended by the younger’s words, even the ones he hadn’t said, Afterall, they had the ability to read each other like an open book. “Now sleep” he ordered, as his hand moved unwillingly to isagi’s soft hair as he slowly brushed it with his fingers.
The little gestures coming from both sides were subtle confessions about so many feelings neither could put into words, something similar to deep trust, fondness, and far beyond that, it was blissful, to be in the other’s presence. The movement of Sae's fingers on his head had lulled Yoichi to sleep, a very uncomfortable one that he’d surely wake up from with a sore neck, but it was worth it, Sae was worth it.
Sae wasn’t aware of when he had fallen asleep too, his head rested on top of Yoichi's. He was indeed nervous that night which was the reason of his temporary insomnia, excited about all the new skills he’d get to learn, but slightly anxious about the unknown future, but he would absolutely not admit even to himself that having Yoichi’s faith in him had appeased him a little, it left a warm feeling in his chest he doesn’t want to come in terms with, just like he doesn’t want to question why is he allowing him to intrude this far in his life..
The following day, Sae roused to his mom shaking him awake, waking Yoichi too in the process who was tangled to him. The sight of them sleeping was too adorable not to have it eternally frozen in a picture, was all she could think once she entered the room, which made her carry out the task, the reason for which she had a smile plastered on her face. The boys didn’t bother questioning it as they still were in a sleep haze.
Mr itoshi drove them to the airport, yoichi was holding back tears the whole ride, as he sat in the middle of the two siblings. He envisioned how Rin would make fun of him for the rest of the week for being a crybaby when he’s supposed to be the mature one since he’s older than him, so he’d better keep quiet.
However, when they reached the gate where they had to part ways, he couldn’t bottle his tears up anymore, as his eyes turned into waterfall sources. Sae teased him about being that upset that he’ll become even more out of reach for him to keep up, receiving a weak punch him in the stomach as a response.
He caught his wrist when he started walking away, having said their goodbyes, and trapped him in a crushing hug. his teal eyes widened in surprise, as he stood frozen like a statue from the sudden contact. He’s still not quite fond of this type of contact, regardless of who it came from. He gently pulled him away, whispering something only the two of them had heard, making Yoichi smile inside his tears, he looked at him one more time, with a smile that fought its way through the smirk he was trying to maintain, dragging his luggage as he left.
Rin stared at the whole scene before his eyes in disgust, scowling at isagi’s flushed face when he walked beside him, on their way back. Having his brother as his only friend, well beside that nuisance next to him, it was sure painful to watch him leave, but definitely not worth the whole funeral the blue-haired boy just displayed.
“Are you in love with him or something?” He deadpanned.
“What? It’s not.. that” his voice trailed off, as blood rushed to his cheeks, and the tip of his ears. He didn’t like Sae like that, did he?
“Well stop acting like a baby whose toy was taken away” he grumbled, his hands shoved in his pockets.
The ride back was as quiet as the one to the airport, rin ocasionally stealing stares at yoichi’s side, checking if he’s still silently sniffling like the baby he is..