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Kunigami and Chigiri had met in their first year of high school during soccer practice where the ginger had been initially intimidated by Chigiri’s beauty and confidence. But that quickly disappeared when Chigiri opened his mouth and turned out to be as cocky and bratty as he looked. Although Kunigami also thought their seniors were annoying, that didn’t mean it was okay to be rude to them. He finally decided to break up the argument that was escalating since he noticed the senior the red head was talking back to was tightening his fists even though Chigiri himself had his arms crossed and delivering harsh insults like he was stating facts.
After Kunigami had gotten rid of their senior, he had turned to Chigiri. “Even if they’re annoying, it’s not okay for you to talk to others like that, you can be respectful while confident in your own ability” Kunigami lectures with his arms crossed.
But it didn’t seem like Chigiri was paying attention since apparently his perfectly manicured nails looked more interesting. When he finally looked up, the redhead rolled his eyes at Kunigami. “Spare me the lecture Mr. Goody Two Shoes, who cares about formality, we’re all just here to play soccer and show off,” and with that said, Chigiri flips his hair and walks off since practice was about start, leaving Kunigami speechless.
Chigiri at first thought Kunigami was a third year with how big and muscular he was, but introductions let him know that he was not only a first year but also in his class. The ginger may be hot, but their first interaction was a drag because who has time for pleasantries when Chigiri knows he can outrun all the other players. Chigiri had hoped him and Kunigami would be put on opposing teams during tryouts, so he’d be able to put him in his place, showing him that he is superior when it comes to soccer, but alas they were forced to work together. Turns out Kunigami’s muscles were not just for show, he is very much capable of holding his own against two defenders and shoots very powerful pinpoint shots. Even if they did work well together, Chigiri that day had decided he would always make sure to be ahead of Kunigami.
Kunigami was impressed by Chigiri's speed and ability to sprint past anyone that stood in his way. Chigiri may be pretty and talented, but that still doesn’t excuse his lack of showing basic human decency. He decided he would keep his distance from the red head.
They’re still teenage boys after all, so of course everything became a competition. In the classroom, Chigiri dominates in all subjects, especially literature and history. Whereas Kunigami struggles so badly that no amount of studying will ever make him understand why he needs to know this shit in the first place. Chigiri finds a lot of entertainment in watching the meathead struggle.
Chigiri tries to compete with Kunigami during independent training, but the ginger takes exercise very seriously and can lift more than double than what he can. Chigiri does watch him work out a lot, definitely not because Kunigami looks hot and it's impressive (seriously this guy is lifting more than he weighs). Nope, Chigiri is just thinking of ways he can beat the other, yup totally.
If they’re not forced to work together, Kunigami and Chigiri always go against one another in the casual soccer games they play with the rest of the first years during their lunch periods. But there are times even rivals must put aside their differences to dominate the soccer field when playing against other schools.
When asked what is it that drives their rivalry, Kunigami says “respectfully, he’s a spoiled brat, a princess even” while Chigiri claims that Kunigami is too serious and stoic for his age, “there's no way we’d ever get along''. They’re always complaining about each other to their fellow teammates but even then, there isn't an ounce of hatred in their tones, if anything other’s notice the glimmer in their eyes and growing smiles the longer, they speak about one another. And because of that, their teammates are right to assume its admiration. Which is why the others secretly refer to them as “the hero and the princess”
With time, Kunigami and Chigiri learn to be civil with each other, mainly because they’re always the last two left after practice. Chigiri takes too long in the shower and Kunigami is still working out even after everyone else has gone home. Chigiri would avoid talking to the other by putting his hair dryer on blast, and Kunigami was okay with that.
One time, Chigiri couldn’t find any of his hair ties, even if Kunigami couldn’t stand the guy, he’s still nice enough to give one of his spare hair ties. Which confused Chigiri a lot. “You got a girlfriend or something? What are you doing with a hair tie?” Chigiri had asked Kunigami. Makes sense, the dude is hot and a gentleman, what girl wouldn’t like that?
Kunigami blushed and looked away, “Nah, no girlfriend, I just got used to carrying around hair ties for my sisters.” he explained bashfully.
This peaked Chigiri’s interest, “Oh? You have sisters too? I have one older one myself” he shares.
“Ah, the youngest son, that explains so much,” Kunigami laughs.
“Hey what’s that supposed to mean huh” Chigiri scoffs.
“You learn a lot about someone based on which sibling they are” Kunigami explains.
Chigiri hums, “hmm okay lemme guess then, you’re the middle child,”
Kunigami looks surprised as he replies, “wow, most of the time people assume I’m the oldest how can you tell?”
Chigiri laughs, “you do look older than your age, but I don’t know something tells me you also understand the love of an older sister,” he finishes with a soft smile Kunigami has never seen directed towards him. And Kunigami replies with a smile of his own.
Since then, Chigiri and Kunigami learn that they do get along well and it’s fun to team up when it comes to teasing fellow egotistical maniac soccer player Isagi. But they’re not trying any less hard to one up each other in soccer. Unfortunately, they also bond over having front row seats to the Nagi and Reo drama plus having to deal with the aftermaths of every misunderstanding due to miscommunication.
Of course, every silly little thing is still a competition, including who gets the most Valentine’s Day chocolates when February rolls around. The boys couldn’t care less about romance and confessions since soccer is the most important thing in their lives, but it’s still fun to show off getting more attention than the other.
“You got 11 confession chocolates? What the fuck?” Kunigami exclaims.
“He he he, I beat your what? Messily 7 chocolates, bow down to me!” Chigiri declares.
“Tch shut up, who even cares, you’re just an ice prince who rejects them all,” Kunigami mumbles in response.
Chigiri rolls his eyes, “it’s not my fault none of the guys that confessed to me seem worth my time even if they were cute.”
Kunigami froze, “Oh.” This response has Chigiri bristling and glaring at Kunigami. “No, no, wait, no I like both guys and girls, I’m just surprised anyone is brave enough to confess to you,” Kunigami quickly stammers out.
Chigiri blinks silently before smirking, “aw you’re jealous I’m appealing to both genders when you can’t even get girls to confess to you because of your scary face.”
Kunigami just rolls his eyes because this is going nowhere, “oh my god it doesn’t matter anyway. I hate having to turn down girls, it makes me feel bad,” he explains.
“Why reject them in the first place? Are none of the girls to your liking? Didn’t know a hero has standards,” Chigiri challenges. The redhead secretly hopes it’s not because the ginger already has his heart set on someone.
Kunigami blushes and scratches his red cheek with his pointer finger, “tch you and I both know we don’t got time for dating, soccer is the most important thing right now,” he says looking directly at Chigiri.
Chigiri stares right back and smirks, “glad we can agree on something for once”. Neither of the boys say that a temporary high school romance doesn’t even seem as fun and exciting as their rivalry that keeps them on their toes constantly. They also don’t voice the relief they feel knowing neither one of them will be accepting a confession from anyone else any time soon.
But everything changes after Chigiri tears his ACL on the field. He still comes to soccer practice, but he refuses to step on the field even with all the physical therapy he has been doing. Chigiri isolates himself from the rest of the soccer team, even when they’re all together he keeps to himself in a corner. And when anyone tries to coax him out of his shell, he builds up his ice walls taller and thicker responding with icy insults. This also includes Kunigami. It hurts to see Chigiri struggle, it makes Kunigami feel helpless, but he decides to let Chigiri heal at his own pace. Which includes physical therapy and the redhead spending a lot more time on his hair care.
Kunigami never had plans of confessing to Chigiri, even when the redhead got prettier with time and looks gorgeous with his hair grown out. But of course, Chigiri just has a way of making Kunigami risking it all in the hopes of great results. It was once again Valentine’s Day and Kunigami was on his way to soccer practice after rejecting yet another brave girl when he heard a gaggle of girls gossiping about Chigiri.
“No way am I confessing to Chigiri, I got over him when he started to act even more like a dick after his injury,” a blonde girl huff.
“Omg right, like sure the dude’s pretty but where does he get off acting like no one’s worth his time hmph,” a brunette with glasses agrees.
“Especially with that broken leg he’s not even that cool anymore lol,” Kunigami doesn't even remember what that girl looked like because it all became a blur as he made a run for the soccer field where he knows Chigiri will be even though practice doesn’t start for another thirty minutes. The ginger finds Chigiri curled up on the benches staring off into the unknown and runs right in front of him.
“What the fuck man?!” Chigiri yells, caught off guard. He just stares as Kunigami catches his breath, waiting for a response. Kunigami is more nervous than exhausted from the short run, but he's thankful for the chance to pull himself together.
“I know you didn’t get any chocolates this year,” Kunigami says.
Chigiri scoffs, “wow you ran all the way here to brag about stupid chocolates. None of it matters anyway,” he looks away with his arms crossed.
“It matters to me,” Kunigami admits, raising his voice so Chigiri will look at him again.
“Why?” Chigiri asks, arms still crossed, and eyebrows scrunched together.
“Because that means I’ll be the only one giving you chocolates this year,” Kunigami confesses, pulling out a red box which Chigiri assumes has chocolates.
Chigiri scowls, “I don’t want your pity chocolate some girl gave you,”
“No girl gave me these, I made these myself with my sisters,” Kunigami replies with his own frown, shoving the box in Chigiri's own hand.
Chigiri is left speechless for a few seconds before he blinks. He puts the box on chocolate down on the bench and mumbles, “why?”
Kunigami rolls his eyes, “damn I didn’t know you hit your head when you got injured too,”
“Shut the fu-” Chigiri starts.
“Because I like you,” Kunigami says cutting him off.
Chigiri and Kunigami stare at each other, almost like a staring contest since neither one has blinked yet. Kunigami blinks when he notices the tears welling up in Chigiri’s eyes. “Hey-”
“Fuck you, you think you’re in love with me because you don’t consider me a rival anymore, what I’m not good enough for you because I’m broken? Well, you can take your pity feelings and fuck off, ” Chigiri cries, wiping away the tears before they even have a chance to fall.
Kunigami has had enough and doesn't want to see Chigiri ever cry so he pulls him in for a hug, holding the back of Chigiri’s head, pressing his face against his shoulder. “Shut up, this isn’t pity, I love you because we are rivals, you make me want to work harder, to be better, you push me in ways no one else can because we are rivals,” Kunigami confesses.
Chigiri moves his face back so he's looking at Kunigami, “really? Even with this ticking bomb of a leg, you still consider us rivals?” Chigiri asks.
It's the shining hope in Chigiri's eyes that makes Kunigami brave enough to take Chigiri's face in his hands and bring it towards his own until their foreheads touch. “Even when you got injured, it felt like you were so far ahead of me, but now it feels like I was able to shorten the distance between us, that I have finally reached you. But I know in no time you’ll be running right past me again and I'll be chasing after you,” Kunigami says, moving back to make eye contact with Chigiri. “Now, can you say you like me back already, so I can finally kiss you,” Kunigami huffs.
Chigiri smiles and Kunigami thinks he is about to speak, but instead the redhead pulls him in while going on the tips of his toes and presses a kiss against Kunigami’s lips, still holding his face when he drops on his heels again. “I like you too, maybe even more than you, maybe even longer,” Chigiri confesses while looking at Kunigami from under his eyelashes.
Kunigami comes out of his moment of shock, “not you making this a competition too,” he laughs and pulls Chigiri in by his waist and tips his head down to catch Chigiri’s lips in another kiss even though they’re both grinning.
When they pull away, Chigiri is still smiling, “of course, everything is a competition,” and goes to stand on his toes again using the ginger’s shoulders for balance. Kunigami understands and immediately picks up Chigiri by the waist and brings him closer for another kiss.
The rest of the soccer team watch from a distance as Kunigami starts spinning Chigiri around. They all start grumbling as they pull out money and hand it to those who won the bets they’ve made.
Even though they’re partners now, Chigiri and Kunigami are still rivals. But now Chigiri attempts to tutor Kunigami and help him study, and Kunigami is understanding and patient about Chigiri’s fears and insecurities. They may be rivals but Kunigami was so proud of Chigiri when he finally got back to running past him on the field.