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Bachira wasn’t expecting to see Isagi collapse right after his team’s match with Manshine City, and he shot to his feet the second his best friend’s eyes flickered and he fell forward, only to be caught from his hair by Kaiser.
“Where are you going?” Otoya called after him as he made his way out of the viewing room in the Spanish stratum.
“To see Isagi.” Bachira called back, hurrying to the German stratum. He didn’t like Kaiser and he most certainly did not trust him with Isagi, especially not after the way he ‘caught’ Isagi. Bachira’s mind was racing as he ran down the corridors, ignoring any concerned shouts from his teammates. What could have made Isagi collapse like that? Had he gotten hurt? Not been taking care of himself? He had better be eating and drink water and sleeping, Bachira scolded him in his head.
Upon entering the German stratum, he came across some of Isagi’s teammates leaving the pitch after their match and not far behind them were some of the Manshine City players. He spotted Chigiri with Nagi and Reo but that wasn’t important right now.
“Bachira?” Kurona looked surprised to see him there, and his exclamation drew the gazes of some of the other Blue Lock players. “Didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Where’s Isagi? Is he okay? Why did he collapse? What happened?” Bachira fired off, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.
“Uh…” Kurona exchanged a look with Hiori, both of them looking unsure about what to do next, but Yukimiya plastered a smile on his face.
“I’m sure Isagi would appreciate your concern, but he’s well-taken care of right now.”
That wasn’t what Bachira wanted to hear.
“What, with Kaiser?” Bachira asked. “That’s not very reassuring.”
“Bachira, hey,” Chigiri made his way over, his scarlet hair tied back from his face and Nagi and Reo not too far behind, concerned looks on their faces. “Everything okay?”
“No, Chigi, no one will tell me if Isagi’s okay!”
“Oh, he’s fine,” Reo spoke up. “Noel Noa took him to get some rest. Apparently he just exhausted himself.”
“But where?” Bachira insisted.
“Is there a problem?” A deep voice interrupted their conversation and everyone turned to see Noel Noa approaching.
“No, sir,” Yukimiya shook his head. “This is Bachira, another Blue Lock player who plays for Barcha.”
“I remember you,” Noa nodded and if Bachira wasn’t worried about Isagi right now, he would be freaking out because oh my god Noel fucking Noa remembered him? “What about him?”
“He’s very good friends with Isagi, so he’s worried about him.”
“Can I see him?” Bachira asked. “Please.” He added as an afterthought. Noa stood there for a moment, silent, with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes contemplative.
“Come, I will take you to him.” He conceded and Bachira grinned, hopping after Noa as he led the way down the corridor. The Barcha player turned briefly to wave goodbye to the rest before he hurried after Noa.
“Is he alright?”
“He is fine. Just exhausted. He’s sleeping it off,” Noa replied, casting a sideways glance at the dribbler. “So you’re friends with Isagi.”
“He’s my first friend!” Bachira said brightly. “We hit it off on the very first day!”
“And yet you’re on different teams now.”
“Well, we both have different playstyles and also we can’t both be the best striker in the world. We have to get stronger and that means playing separately from each other. Besides, we’ll both make it onto the national U-20 team so we’ll be playing together in no time.”
“Awfully confident of you to assume you’re going to make it.” Noa raised an eyebrow.
“Of course!” Came Bachira’s beam. “It’s Isagi and I, I’m always confident about us.”
Noa said nothing but the corners of his lips curled up slightly as he continued to lead the way. The silence didn’t last, instead being punctuated by continuous chatter from Bachira who seemed insistent on recounting every single moment he had with Isagi to the master striker during their short journey. Noa found he didn’t really mind it though, Bachira was a refreshing change from his usual companions.
“He’s in there,” Noa stopped in front of a closed door. “He shares this room with Hiori, Kurona and Yukimiya so they might drop by later, but I suspect they’re going to shower and eat now, so you should have some time.”
“Thank you, Noel Noa!” Bachira waved enthusiastically before opening the door and stepping in, hearing it slide shut behind him. His eyes instantly landed on Isagi’s body laid on his bed. He was still in his uniform and the covers were down to his waist. Bachira huffed fondly and approached, tugging them up to cover him and patting his head gently, earning a quiet murmur from the sleeping boy.
Bachira looked around and spotted a football laid near Isagi’s bed and smiled. He nudged it over with his foot and tossed it up, doing some kick-ups and touches while he waited. Might as well make use of this time if Isagi was sleeping. As much as he wanted to ask the other boy if he was okay, he was not about to wake him up to do so.
He didn’t know how long he was there, playing with the scuffed football that he suspected belonged to Isagi but eventually he heard the rustle of blankets and turned around just as the ball came down, catching it in his hands and meeting Isagi’s eyes. The blue eyed boy looked surprised to see Bachira there as he pushed himself up into a sitting position.
“Isagi!” Bachira crowed, hurrying over, and sitting on the side of the bed, dropping the ball, and trapping it with his feet so it didn’t roll too far away.
“Bachira?” Isagi murmured, his voice deep from sleeping and his cheeks flushed from… something! “What are you doing here?”
“I was watching your match with Otoya and I saw you collapse. I was worried so I came to see you!” Bachira explained brightly. “Noel Noa brought me here.”
“Master?” Isagi’s eyes widened. “He brought me here? That’s so embarrassing.” He groaned, hiding his face in the palms of his hands.
“Only a little,” Bachira giggled, tugging Isagi’s hands away by wrapping his own fingers around the other boys wrists. “Besides… better him than Kaiser.”
“That’s a good point.” Isagi agreed, turning his gaze downwards to see Bachira’s hands still wrapped around his own. His cheeks flushed even more but he didn’t say a thing, enjoying the warmth emanating from his best friend.
“So, what happened?” Bachira asked, leaning closer with wide eyes. Close enough that Isagi could see how much prettier his eyes were up close, close enough for Isagi to see the little scar on the corner of his lip and the very faint dimple nestled near his left cheek. “Why did you… you know… collapse?”
Isagi cleared his throat and dropped his eyes from Bachira’s face, knowing he wouldn’t be able to explain or talk like this. “Just… pushed myself too much I think. I… discovered a new thing called metavision and I –”
He stopped himself just then. He shouldn’t go on a tangent, not really. None of his old classmates or teammates at Ichinan were very fond of his long explanations so he learned to just stop himself before he started.
“Why’d you stop?” Bachira tilted his head to the side, lips jutting out in a slight pout. “I want to hear more!”
Oh.
Oh.
“Really?” Isagi asked, lifting his gaze to meet Bachira’s.
Bachira was taken aback by the sheer hope and elation in isagi’s blue eyes, he didn’t think he had said something too crazy, had he? But Isagi seemed so surprised and delighted that he wanted to hear more. He decided then and there that he would listen to anything and everything Isagi wanted to say, that he would urge him to speak when he was silent so he could see that look on his face more often, an expression so happy, it made Bachira want to cry.
“Of course.” Bachira nodded with a gentle smile, unlike his usual excitable one. He let go of Isagi’s wrist and linked their fingers instead, brushing his thumb over Isagi’s knuckles gently.
“Oh… okay… uh – it was – it’s sort of a development on my spatial awareness,” Isagi began, murmuring at first but his voice gradually grew louder and steadier. “I can see everything, I can see everyone and where they are, I can predict what they’re going to do –”
Bachira decided that if he died now, he would be happy. He got to listen to Isagi rambling about something he was truly passionate about and he was telling Bachira and Bachira only. What a blessing! He thought.
“And yeah… I think I just wasn’t used to using my brain that much more than usual and pushing my body as well and it kind of all piled up when the match ended and my adrenaline vanished and poof!” Isagi huffed out a soft laugh and Bachira died a little on the inside.
“You’re so cute,” Bachira said breathlessly, leaning in and pressing the quickest kiss to Isagi’s cheek before leaning back just as fast and going to stand up. “Well, I just wanted to make sure you were okay but I’ll see you later –”
“Not so fast,” Isagi tugged on their still linked hands and Bachira fell back onto the bed with a surprised sound. “Aren’t you supposed to be the confident one?”
“Uh –” Bachira’s eyes widened when he saw how close Isagi was.
“Can’t even kiss me properly?” Isagi tilted his head to the side, mimicking the move Bachira had done not that long ago with his lips and Bachira gulped. “Do I have to do everything myself?”
He got a little closer, slowly, giving Bachira the chance to back away if he wanted to, but of course Bachira didn’t want that. “Are you going to kiss me or not, egoist?” He murmured.
“Very demanding, Meguru.” Isagi retorted, bringing a bright flush to Bachira’s cheeks at the use of his given name but before he could muster a response, Isagi’s lips were on his and all he could think about was how long he’d waited to kiss this stupid boy.
Everything felt like too much but also just enough at the same time, he could feel the sheets he fisted in between his fingers, he could feel their thighs pressed against each other and their hands still linked between them. Bachira drew away from the kiss and unlinked their hands, instead cradling isagi’s face in his palms and pressing kisses everywhere he could find, biting his cheek lightly as well and causing the other boy to splutter out a laugh.
“You’re so cute.” Bachira said seriously, still holding Isagi’s face in his hands.
“Thank you,” Isagi laughed. “So are you, the cutest.”
“No, no, you got it wrong. We’re the cutest together.” Bachira corrected.
“Oh right, my bad. Of course, of course.” Isagi nodded.
“Yeah, you get it now.”
“I do,” Isagi smiled. “Will you stay with me? Till dinner? We can eat together then.”
“Yeah, I’ll stay with you,” Bachira smiled. “Wanna play some football?” He kicked the ball that had been at his feet up and caught it in his hand, already seeing the competitive gleam in Isagi’s eyes.
“Do I?”