Chapter Text
The sun was beginning to fall on the pale horizon of mid-winter, the sky that had until then been gray was beginning to be tinted with the blush of sunset. A warm spectacle that contrasted sharply with the inclement cold that hit the outskirts of Tokyo. Although almost none of the numerous teenagers who were gathered on that soccer field where they were celebrating the victory of the Japanese team in the international tournament seemed to be aware of how the icy clutches of the night were beginning to catch them.
Just as they were unaware of the melancholy that hung in the air, so imperceptible, oh so imperceptible...
Fudou Akio looked at the others from a high position, he had long since climbed a tree that grew nearby, but not so close to the field as to be easily discovered, and had settled on a branch. His sharp and cunning green eyes, beautiful eyes with long brown eyelashes, rested on one boy in particular Kidou Yuuto.
Kidou had been celebrating with all of his friends from Inazuma Japan and all of his friends who had come to the victory party. And at that moment he was surrounded by his old Teikoku teammates who continued to worship him as much as the first day and hugged him with laughter. Fudou stretched his lips in a gesture of annoyance and slight envy. How he wished he could act so naturally with the genius playmaker!
He felt a bitter pang in the pit of his stomach, he forced himself to look at the others.
Endou, Inamori and a red-haired boy who had not bothered to learn his name were shouting joyfully, totally unaware of that melancholy.
That soft, subtle and sad scent of farewell.
Kiyama and Saginuma were talking animatedly to the group of orphans from the Sun Garden, the dark haired talking petulantly about how his performance in the tournament had been key in their victory. The others listened irritated and exasperated, totally unaware of that melancholy.
That soft, subtle and sad scent of farewell.
Gouenji had been caught by his fan club who asked him to narrate his adventures in the tournament while Kazemaru laughed openly at his side. His fans were asking for his autograph at that moment and he kindly began to sign their shirts with his own number on them, totally unaware of that melancholy.
That soft, subtle and sad scent of farewell.
The Fubuki brothers were meeting with the Hakuren team. A pink-haired girl was teasing the younger brother and jumping around him. The older one was holding the arm of a tall boy, with a rough face and short pink hair, his turquoise eyes looking excitedly and with what Fudou was able to distinguish as a clear hint of flirtation, the small black ones of him who smiled shyly with the blushing cheeks, totally unaware of that melancholy.
That soft, subtle and sad scent of farewell.
He heard a scream and looked in that direction, Kira and Haizaki were laughing loudly at something, although at that moment they looked around. The taller of the two asked something and the other shrugged as they went back to look. The brunette smiled guiltily, knowing that they were looking for him. The two of them were the only two people he could consider his friends. But at that moment he felt too overwhelmed to be with them, who were also celebrating, ignorant of that scent.
Maybe he was the only one capable of feeling it. Because maybe he was the only one who had no future.
He felt that pang of loss in his chest and pressed his hands against the rough bark of the tree. He moved agilely, descending as if he had spent a lifetime jumping from tree to tree and left without looking back.
Maybe if he had looked back he would have realized that someone had caught his movement. Because that person also felt that bittersweet scent of farewell.
He walked along the edge of the place, hands in his pockets, entering a small grove of trees that protected him from the gaze of others. The grass crunched under the weight of his steps, his breath condensed around his mouth, and his cheeks shone a scarlet from the low temperatures. He wouldn't be at all surprised if it started snowing.
He sat on a stump and snorted, rubbing the back of his neck, which he had forgotten to shave that morning and which was therefore covered in that fluff before the hair came out.
He had spent his last two years chasing Kidou Yuuto's shadow, ever since he saw him in a teen sports magazine giving an interview as Teikoku's key player. The moment he saw him he felt something very strange inside his chest, as if he had met an old friend again, as if he had already met him before, as if he were finally complete. That night he had the strangest dream of his life: Kidou and he were teammates on a soccer team with a light blue and white uniform. Both worked in sync and used a technique he had never seen before, a purple energy field, managing to bring victory to the team.
He woke up very confused and since then he carefully followed the evolution of that boy: how Teikoku reached the regional final, how they lost against Raimon, how they lost against Zeus, how Kidou joined the Raimon soccer team to avenge his teammates... Wherever posing his eyes was that boy with a confident smile and red cape.
And, meanwhile, those dreams continued, in them he and Kidou lived different lives in which they became increasingly closer. Fudou would be lying if he said that sometimes he would have preferred not to wake up.
He decided on impulse to enter Teikoku Middle School in his third year, working hard to get a scholarship thanks to his intelligence that until then he had not put to much use due to lack of motivation in the small city where he lived and where the best way to spend his time was fighting with other people just as lost as him. His mother was initially worried that her son wanted to leave Ehime and go to Tokyo, to a highly prestigious school, but she believed it was a good opportunity for him and after the initial shock, she supported him with everything she could.
It was in vain, of course.
Kidou Yuuto wasn’t in Teikoku anymore.
But fate, which he believed had played the worst possible joke on him, conspired on his side and allowed them to finally meet when they joined the same soccer team for the international tournament: Inazuma Japan. That Inazuma Japan was very different from the one in his dreams and his relationship with Kidou was as well.
Maybe if he had been less arrogant, proud and lonely... maybe then he could have become as close with that Kidou Yuuto as he was with the ones from his dreams... Or at least close enough to be able to exchange phone numbers.
He had to accept the inevitable, from that day on the trails of the genius strategist and absolute commander of the pitch would be lost like foam in the sea.
He yawned, slightly numb from the cold even if he was a winter boy.
“Look at the great Fudou Akio, running away with his tail between his legs.”
The appellee was startled; he had been so immersed in his own thoughts that he had not noticed that presence. A provocative smile appeared on his lips. “It would be worrying if I had it on another part of my body, don't you think, Kidou Yuuto?”
In front of him, the boy raised bushy eyebrows with a funny quirk and began to laugh. “Didn't you feel like celebrating the victory that took us so much sweat?”
“Hm.” The brunette shrugged. "I'm a lonely wolf."
The playmaker's eyebrows moved comically again. “Wolves are actually gregarious animals. Very loving, touching and affectionate.”
Kidou pushed Fudou slightly on the stump to sit next to him, careful not to sit on top of his cape that he left hanging behind him. His green eyes watched him closely, perhaps closer than ever, outside of his dreams, of course. His heart shuddered, feeling a sudden warmth take over him. "Smarty."
“I plead guilty.”
They remained silent for a while, feeling the touch of their shoulders, hips and knees and the rise of both their temperatures. No one commented on it.
“My friends were busy and I didn't feel like forcing myself to smile with people I didn't care about at all.”
At that explanation, Kidou looked at him hurt, Fudou was surprised by that reaction.
“I thought we were-” Kidou's lips stayed apart without finishing the sentence, they were very full lips of a beautiful peach color, and just like a peach he wanted to sink his teeth into them; The brunette had to remember to breathe and swallowed slowly, unable to look away from those lips. Maybe everything would be much easier if that night he hadn't dreamed that they were his. “Uh… Fudou?”
Fudou blushed violently at being called, aware of how uncomfortable, vulnerable and inappropriate his gaze was. He turned his head away, forcing himself to look at the sneakers, perhaps if he had raised his eyes instead of lowering them, he would have realized that Kidou was looking at him with the same vulnerability and no less rosy cheeks. The playmaker cleared his throat and continued, but that interruption had changed something in the melancholy of the air.
“I thought we were friends.”
“More than your friend, being by your side, I look like your pet.”
That was so unexpected that Kidou started to laugh loudly, making Fudou finally look at him, somewhat offended.
“Sorry,” he murmured without meaning it at all. “Will you be my pet wolf in that case?”
"Idiot."
“I will scratch your belly all you want and I will not be angry if you howl at the moon, a good master's promise. Although honestly, you have more of a cat behavior, I always wanted to have a cat.”
Fudou rolled his eyes, catching the other boy's interested gaze through his glasses at him. He huffed and moved pressing against him. “Meow.”
Kidou wrapped his arms around him and rested his forehead on his shoulder, laughing loudly. The brunette ended up smiling too and letting out a chuckle.
“I saw that you were with the Teikoku boys and I did not want to disturb their time of worshiping their deity; Besides, I can't stand Sakuma and Shimewhining.”
“Shimewhining.” Kidou laughed. “Very appropriate, I've been with him for five minutes and I already wanted to punch him in the face for all his whining.”
“Do you know how to punch?”
“Oh, I think so, I have my little secrets too.”
Fudou looked at him affectionately, then shook his head. “We should have a friendly fight in that case, they say men speak with their fists.”
“I'd really rather not, I don't want to hurt you.”
“Oh!? Do you think you are stronger than me?”
"What? No, I didn't mean…” Kidou stifled a grunt. “I just don't want to hit you.”
“It's okay, I don't want to hurt you either, I prefer to treasure you…” Fudou turned towards him and moved his hand to brush away a dreadlock that had fallen over his face, gently caressing his cheek and temple as he did so.
Kidou blushed. “Before, I was talking to the Teikoku team about the High Schools we are going to enter in April.” His green eyes looked closely at him and he made a noise in his throat to indicate that he was listening but had nothing to say. “Some of us are going to continue our studies at Kotei High School, and-” It was Kidou's turn to stare at Fudou. “- what will you do?”
The brunette blinked slowly, his eyelashes dancing in that gesture that made Kidou stay trapped for a few seconds. “I don't know, I haven't thought about it yet. I guess I’ll go back home.”
"Where?"
“Ozu… Ehime.”
The playmaker remained silent, feeling a painful sensation, he grabbed his hand tightly. “You should enter Kotei too, Fudou.”
The brunette's eyebrows, thinner and sharper, rose on his forehead at dizzying speed.
“I didn't know you had such a sense of humor.”
“I am not kidding, Fudou. You should apply to Kotei.”
Even through the tinted lenses of his hideous blue rubber glasses he could feel his abrasive gaze. Still, the playmaker moved his hands and Fudou realized, with a knot in his stomach, that he was going to lower them in order to express his complete seriousness in this matter. His heart skipped a beat with anticipation and nervousness.
It was then that he finally saw them, as if he had been longing for those eyes all his life, eyes red like the blood that trembled within his blood vessels. His world stopped for an instant, as if an overwhelming force had hit him in the pit of his stomach and he was unable to focus. And from Kidou's expression, he must feel the same.
He covered his mouth with his hand, drowning out that complex sensation that continued to shake his insides as if it were an earthquake. He wanted to devour those eyes, sink into them forever.
He forced himself to act naturally, but what was natural? Wouldn't the natural thing be to throw Kidou against the ground and kiss him until his heart stopped aching in that longing, in that desire to love him? That extremely complex feeling that was born the day he read the interview of the Teikoku genius in the magazine, that breeze that had become a hurricane.
"I? What the hell am I doing in a male boarding school for the crème de la crème of the country?”
"You entered Teikoku, many Teikoku students continue their studies in Kotei, it's the natural course."
“I entered Teikoku thanks to a scholarship and a lot of effort, I don't have the resources to pay for a luxury boarding school.”
“Try it, you can ask for a full scholarship, you have participated in a sports team that has won an international tournament, that is a great merit. And I can help you get a few letters of recommendation.”
“Do you want to see me clowning around among the rich brats that much?”
“Not everyone is rich, Sakiyama…”
“Sakiyama's father is a high-ranking military officer.”
“Will you come with me or not?”
The brunette blinked again, looking dumbfounded at the other boy whose expression was unusually serious. “Do you want me to go with you?”
“Yes,” he answered flatly, although his ears were red.
"Why?"
“I want to get to know you better, the tournament has been insufficient with everything that has happened. Something tells me that you would be a good motivation for my intellect and my soccer game, I have never felt so attuned to another person when using a Hissatsu... Also-” Kidou lowered his voice, getting closer to his ear to whisper, giving the other goose bumps “-I don't want to be alone in that place full of rich brats… Even Genda, who is my best friend in Teikoku, fits in better there than me. I need you by my side, Fudou.”
The air was cold, but neither of them felt cold at that moment. Fudou's eyes looked with amazement, but also fear, at the other boy. Their gazes met again and his lips stretched out with the recklessness of his almost fifteen years.
"Kiss me."
The playmaker breathed deeply, perplexed. "What have you said?"
“If you want me to go with you to that place of horror so badly, give me a kiss.”
The brunette tapped his index finger on his scarlet cheek, his gaze flirtatious, teasing and mocking. At no point did he expect Kidou to respond to his provocation.
Maybe that's why he felt like he was entering the middle of an uncontrolled fire when Kidou, after swallowing hard and slowly wetting his lips, with his red eyes in the pink and thin ones, leaned over him, cupping his cheeks in his hands as if they didn't belong anywhere else, and he caught his mouth on his.
The dreadlocked boy had not yet moved away when Fudou's arms closed around his neck and he pressed harder against his lips, losing his mind before that strong and deep sensation. As if that had been the signal that Kidou had been waiting for, he brought one of his hands to his hair, grabbing it with less delicacy than they would dare to admit, and the other pushed him by the chest, throwing him against the cold, dark grass stained with the shadows of the sunset that gave way to the first stars of the night.
Kidou was holding him against the ground, introducing his tongue into Fudou's mouth and beginning to move as if it were a rehearsed dance, while a thin thread of saliva dripped from the corner of their lips that they were unable to retain. The air filled with the sounds of that passionate kiss that altered their breathing and made them murmur pleasantly. They both stifled a moan as Fudou caught Kidou's waist with his legs and they both felt each other's warmth.
“Who the hell would think of leaving the party like that when it's getting dark?”
Both boys were startled and immediately separated when they heard Sakuma's angry voice approaching through the trees along with footprints that indicated the presence of at least two people.
“Don't be angry, Sakuma. We will find them.” Genda spoke much more kindly. “There they are… oh!”
Three teenagers stood stunned looking at the scene in the darkness. Fudou lying on the ground with his hair disheveled and several blades of grass caught in it and Kidou halfway to rise to his feet.
"What are you doing!? Were you fighting?” Kazemaru accused, pointing at Fudou rudely.
The brunette ground his teeth. “And what if it was like that? Are you going to go crying and tell your mommy?”
Kazemaru furrowed his eyebrows and clenched his fists, furious. “Thank goodness when I enter the High School in my neighborhood with Mamoru I will stop seeing you, I can't stand you.”
“Ha, don't think I'll miss you either.”
Sakuma crossed his arms, glaring harshly at the boy who stood up from the ground, almost ignoring Kidou's hand that offered him help, until he had no choice but to take it out of insistence.
“I understand you, Kazemaru. I'm looking forward to our third year being over and being able to enter Kotei to get rid of him.” The white-haired sighed with clear relief that made Kidou, Fudou and Genda look at him indignantly.
“I don't think you'll be that lucky, captain.” Fudou narrowed his green eyes, returning a look of unempression that camouflaged great meanness. “Kidou has convinced me to enter Kotei with him.”
“No,” Sakuma said, losing the color in his face. “Tell me it's a joke, oh please. Kidou, tell me this is a bad joke.”
Kidou didn't reply and Genda, after looking at them with growing interest in his kind and gentle blue eyes, laughed loudly, patting Fudou on the back and putting his arm over his shoulders.
“Looks like we're going to be together for a while longer!”
“Unfortunately,” the Teikoku captain muttered tremblingly, Kazemaru patting him on the shoulder in commiseration.
Fudou met Kidou's eyes and he smiled widely at him.
"Yeah."
The air carried a sweet and kind scent, a scent of future.