Work Text:
God… swallowing his pride really fucking sucked.
If swallowing his pride could even describe what he was about to do.
Housewarming gift in hand, Michael strode down the street, car parked a block away, just in case he lost his nerve, changed his mind, and decided to whip around and get out before he could be seen by anyone. Especially by Yoichi.
Be nice. He’s not going anywhere now, so you need to learn to get along.
Michael scowled as he remembered Noa’s words. They irritated him at the time, as if he didn’t already know he was stuck with Yoichi for the foreseeable future. At least until one of their contracts expired, they got traded to another team, or were sent out on loan. It was different than in Blue Lock, when they were both just trying to be seen by the world and prove themselves worthy.
They had both been deemed worthy.
They both had been offered contracts that were immensely difficult to refuse.
And now, they were both stuck on the same team. And they had to play nice.
Playing nice wasn’t difficult, but it was Yoichi, so that made everything different. He wasn’t sure why, though he had some theories, but it was different nonetheless.
Yoichi made him angry, undermining him at every step of the way since their introductions. He stole his goals, stole his glory, and destroyed him from the ground up. And yet, the feeling in his chest as he readjusted the gift bag on his arm was closer to nervousness than anger or resentment. Maybe, it was because for once in their short time of knowing each other, it would be without the pressure of football. Michael often didn’t know how to behave when football wasn’t involved… the cocky, over confident persona he had crafted since entering Bastard Munchen working only in the locker rooms and on the field. Outside of that… the only person he interacted with was Ness. And with Ness, he could be however he wanted to be because Ness very rarely questioned a single thing he did. But Yoichi…
Swallowing thickly, Michael tugged at the collar of his shirt, suddenly seeming infinitely more constricting than it did when he left his house earlier. He realized he had come to a halt in the middle of the sidewalk, inconveniencing a stray cat that hissed at him as it dashed past, acting if it had nowhere else to go but forward. Michael supposed he had to do the same, knowing he shouldn’t return home with a bottle of wine and an upset mind, lest he fall into some of the same habits that nearly ruined his life in the first place.
Inhaling through his nose, Michael tried to fill himself with confidence as he filled his lungs with air to the point it hurt. He could do this, even if these pleasantries and niceties were beyond the scope of what he was comfortable with. He reminded himself… you don’t have to stay long… just in and out, pretend to like his decor, and then go home. That was all Noa wanted, right? A positive working relationship between teammates?
What a load of bullshit.
Be nice.
Be.
Nice.
He could be nice. He swore he could be nice even if every piece of himself wanted to kick and scream and drag himself back to his car and not be nice to Isagi Yoichi. But he would do it, because then maybe the relationship that they had that was so confrontational and adversarial could turn into something a bit more pleasant. Workable. Likely never enjoyable, but maybe he could hope once more.
Stepping forward once again, walking down the sidewalk as slowly as he could manage with his long legs, Michael remembered his initial impressions of Yoichi. The ones he had had before the pair even met. Images in his mind formed from videos and information collected by someone else. He thought that maybe… just like all the rest… he could use Yoichi. Form him to be a good little servant who worked under him and didn’t frustrate him.
Another little minion.
God he was so wrong about him.
Yoichi wasn’t anything like he expected, and was firmly the reason Michael established the rule he now held dear. Never let anyone else form his opinion of a potential teammate or rival for him, because they would end up alot more dangerous (more like dangerously annoying) than even Michael could’ve predicted.
All he had wanted was to use Yoichi’s talents for himself… to make him submit… but Yoichi fought him every single step of the way. He refused to be pushed further down than he already was, refused to kneel before a man who would never be his king, and now, here Michael was. At his door. With a peace offering.
Hesitating one last time, Michael paused before rapping his knuckles against the wooden front door of the home. It was small. Quaint. Probably the best Yoichi could do before his salary kicked in. But, it was better than nothing, and certainly better than staying in the team dorms.
Michael would have been fully happy living in a place like this when he first left his father’s house, so he couldn’t really knock the age or quality of the house. It wasn’t his to live in anyway, so if Yoichi was happy then it would be fine.
The outside of the home though had no character. No indication that the person living inside was a member of Bastard Munchen. Which also, was probably for the best. The only indication that the house was not vacant was the open window, curtains rustling away in the afternoon breeze. Oh, and the blinking security camera tucked away neatly in the corner of the awning, letting him know that he was being watched before Yoichi even opened the door.
By the time the door did finally crack open, Michael was wondering if Yoichi would even open the door. He was clearly hesitating to allow Michael into his home, just as Michael hesitated to request entry. Eventually though, Yoichi did open the door. Slowly, just a crack at first with one blue eye peeking out to see if it was really true and his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him and that Michael Kaiser was in fact in front of his very door. After a moment of realizing that this and all of its implications were very much real, Yoichi allowed the door to swing open fully, removing the last barrier between their persons.
Michael’s heartbeat ticked up a notch, pounding against his ribs and making his chest hurt. He and Yoichi simply stood there, staring at each other like neither of them really knew why they were there. The waiting was painful, but Yoichi relaxed first, dressed casually as if he had spent most of the day lounging about in sweatpants. His shirt had some character on it he didn’t recognize, and Michael had half a mind to ask about it, wondering if it was something strange from back in Japan. But the other half of his mind said that that would be weird if it was the first thing he said to Yoichi.
“Hi.”
Well, that wasn’t much better Michael, but it was a start.
Yoichi laughed, a short, sharp breath of air leaving his nose as he watched Michael closely.
“Hi?” Yoichi stated, half a question, half something else. He seemed amused by Michael’s discomfort, a sensation that he both hated and made him want to smash Yoichi’s face with his door before running away.
“This is for you.” Holding out the gift, in a shiny pristine bag with crumpled blue paper sticking out of the top, Michael waited, less than patiently, for Yoichi to take it. Though, he seemed a bit put off by it, as in his head, he surely thought it was another of Michael’s little tricks. Another manipulation tactic. Another odd act of camaraderie, pushed on them by their joint mentor, in hopes of making them better men and teammates.
Michael’s skin burned when Yoichi touched him, their hands brushing together lightly as Yoichi took the gift from his hand.
“Thank you.” Yoichi held the gift in one hand, standing there awkwardly in the doorway.
“Housewarming gift.” Michael responded, now lost even more without the one thing that was keeping him steady. He slipped his hands into the pockets of his jeans, not sure what to do with the empty dead weight that was his palms without the gift in it.
“Oh, thank you,” Yoichi said again, voice uncertain and robotic. He pushed himself away from the doorframe, shifting his weight from foot to foot. His feet were bare, Michael noticed, but he supposed that didn’t matter much as he hadn’t stepped a foot beyond the threshold of his new home. Yoichi followed his gaze to the ground, before looking back up again, meeting Michael’s eyes as he cocked his head to the side. Amused, once again, that Michael was still there, as if waiting for some sort of instruction. An idea of what to do next to get out of this perpetual loop of mindless chit-chat. “Would you like to come inside?”
Michael felt his eyes widen, as if that wasn’t exactly what he had come here for. To enter Yoichi’s space. To become closer to him in a positive way off the field so they could work more effectively together on the field.
“Sure.”
But even so, he hadn’t expected Yoichi to actually offer him passage into his personal space.
Yoichi stepped to the side, allowing Michael to step inside. He pointed to the shoe rack by the door, asking Michael to kick off his sneakers before proceeding any further. Michael complied, simply because he did not have any reason not to. The only reason that crossed his mind was to deliberately be an asshole, but that wasn’t on his list of to-dos for the day.
He followed Yoichi from a distance, allowing him to give him a tour. A mix of old and new were in his home, from things he had packed with him all the way from Japan, to the necessary items a new home-owner would need as they moved in for the very first time. It was a curious mix of Japanese and German items, just like Yoichi was an interesting mix for their very German team. But even so, it matched Yoichi as well as it could, and as he gathered more things to make the space his own, it would only increasingly show his annoying little personality..
At the end of the tour, they sat in Yoichi’s living room, an untouched glass of water sitting in front of Michael on the coffee table. He was too nervous still to even sip on it, lest he make a fool of himself by coughing on a half ounce sip of water. Yoichi though, seemed to have relaxed, and sank back into his couch, legs pulled up beneath him as he observed Kaiser carefully. The gift sat untouched on the coffee table as well, which seemed a bit rude, but maybe that was another difference in their two cultures.
“Open it. Your gift. Before I leave.” Three tiny sentences that really may have only needed to be one, but Michael’s brain was working in starts and stops. Yoichi seemed surprised by the request, which only made Michael want to slap him, gently, with a guiding hand, but he sat up straight, reaching for the gift and pulling it into his lap.
“Are you sure? I wasn’t wanting to be rude.”
“Just open it.” So he could leave. And end this ceaseless cycle of awkward half sentences and untimely social cues that Michael clearly kept missing. He kept looking for an out, a way to escape this encounter, but maybe he had already missed his one good opportunity and he’d be stuck here for hours while Yoichi stared at him, also uncertain of how to get Michael out of his house.
Be nice .
Michael nodded to himself, reminding himself again and again of the simple instructions Noa had given him earlier in the week. Be friendly, and if you can’t be friendly, be nice. Be welcoming, as it was Yoichi’s first time out of his home country. Show him you care, even if you don’t, and leave the moment the urge to say something smart comes up so you don’t damage your meager relationship further.
Be nice was the only rule he had managed to follow so far, but he supposed that was the one that mattered. He could worry about the rest of it later, when and if he and Yoichi made it past this uncomfortable silence phase of their relationship.
Michael watched closely as Yoichi pulled the paper out of the bag, piece by piece rather than grabbing it by the handful. Just like he was torturing him. Teasing him. Dragging this out even longer, even if he was just trying to be careful.Eventually, all the paper was gone (eventually, being less than five seconds later, but for Michael it felt like minutes, and minutes of silence were unbearable at this point), and Yoichi was able to claim his prize.
Out popped a brand new bottle of wine, picked up from a local store on his way to Yoichi’s house. It was nothing special, just a standard German Riesling as Michael didn’t know what kind of beverage Yoichi might like, if he had ever drank anything at all. Japan seemed like it would be a bit more strict with that sort of thing.
“Oh, thank you…” Yoichi mumbled, holding the bottle like a newborn baby as if he might hurt it by handling it any differently. Michael scowled, his eyebrows pulled together at the apparent displeasure Yoichi showed at his gift. He shouldn’t have come. He shouldn’t have listened to Noa. He shouldn’t have done any of this because god, now he looked like a fool once again. “Am I allowed to drink this? Aren’t we too young?”
Michael raised an eyebrow, clearly confused. Yoichi had gone out with a group of the other guys when he first got here. Some older, and some younger than him, all who had cracked open a beer or two to celebrate the newest members of their team.
“How old are you again?” Michael asked, even though he already knew. This emotional territory he was much more comfortable with. Getting to tease Yoichi once again after all this time.
“19.”
“Then you can have whatever you’d like. You only need to be 16 to drink wine here. 18 for liquor. How old do you need to be in Japan?”
“20… for all of that. Isn’t that way too young?” Yoichi asked again, cocking his head to the side in genuine confusion.
“Well save it then. For when you turn 20 if you think that 19 is too young. You won’t get in trouble now though, so it doesn’t really matter.” Michael shrugged, leaning back into the couch, still a bit stiff from lack of use. The thought of breaking it in for Yoichi crossed his mind, bringing him new beverages and cuisine to try to learn the German experience first hand.
But that would be silly. Michael would be the last person that Yoichi wanted teaching him anything. But if he did, Michael wouldn’t rule out taking up a part-time job as a tour-guide.
Yoichi pouted, looking from Michael to the bottle, and back once again. It was Michael’s turn to laugh, a mean snort coming out of his nose as Yoichi frowned.
“What?”
“I don’t have any wine glasses.”
As if that had ever stopped anyone before.
“Would you like some?”
Yoichi shrugged, his shoulders rising and falling slightly as he looked at Michael, and at the wine bottle once again. He was inspecting it so closely, trying to make sense of everything from the percentages to the swirly German cursive.
“I have some spares I don’t use at home,” Michael announced as he lifted himself off the couch. Be nice. “I can bring them to you later this week. That way you have time to chill the bottle as well.”
“It needs to be chilled?” Yoichi asked, so cutely innocent and inexperienced in this area. Michael rolled his eyes, turning his back to wander into the entryway so he could finally make his escape. He heard Yoichi scrambling to follow him, setting the bottle down on the coffee table. “What? My parents didn’t drink much so I don’t know.”
Ouch. Rubbing their differences in further. Michael could only try to not be bitter.
“How nice for you.”
“Sorry… I don’t know what sore spot I stepped on but yes. Bring them over. I don’t have much of a social life yet, so I just come home straight after practice most days. We can share it.”
Michael straightened his back, having leaned over to put on his shoes. Yoichi was just there, hands balled into fists at his side, determined to not let Michael go without a yes.
“Cook me Japanese food and it's a deal. I’ll come over on Wednesday night.”
Yoichi nodded, happy with the agreement and the avoidance of any further conflict. Of course, Michael had just walked himself right into something akin to a date without meaning, or wanting to.
Drinks and dinner. It couldn’t cause too much harm as long as it didn’t become a routine.
But gosh… it was Yoichi, and Michael wanted to be around him just as much as he wanted to avoid him.
“I like it. I’ll show you a little bit of Japan, while you show me a little bit of Germany. It will be nice. I think.”
Uncertain as ever, Michael nodded as well, not really sure how to expand his thoughts beyond that. Because yes. It would be them showing each other a bit of their worlds. As awkward and fumbling as it might be. Michael wasn’t much of a cook though, but he could improvise.
Improvise yes… just to be nice. Welcoming. As Noa said to do.
Not because Yoichi seemed extremely excited to finally have some plans outside of football.
And not because Yoichi broke the awkward silence of their parting like he broke the silence of their meeting. But, with a hug, rather than inviting him into their house. Michael felt his shoulders stiffen, not remembering the last time he was hugged. The tension didn’t last long surprisingly, as Yoichi squeezed him tightly, letting him go before opening the front door once again to usher Michael out.
“See you soon, Kaiser,” Yoichi said with a smile and a wave, his little cheek pink from where it had pressed against Michael’s shoulder for the duration of their hug.
“See you, Yoichi…”Michael mumbled as he hopped down the front step, feet taking him away at a pace just short of jogging, because god. He couldn’t be nice anymore.
Not right now.
Not when the anxiety and the frustration and the topsy turvy feeling in his stomach was back, confusing him immensely at the significance of Yoichi in his team and in his life.
He could be nice another day.
Like Wednesday.
When they had their date slash not date slash confusing evening interaction that would have his brain short circuiting once again.
Maybe he could manage to be even a bit more than nice if the food was good, and Yoichi was at ease and didn’t tease him for choking down wine.
Be nice .
Look at where being nice got him.
A date with a Japanese man…. Who may or may not hate everything about him… but was still pretty when… no, shush.
He shouldn’t be nice so often.