Work Text:
It was just another day in the Baster stratum. Everyone was practicing like usual, but Kurona kept looking for one person. Kurona wasn’t sure how many times he had run this drill, but he knew it was at least over 20 by now. Kurona passed Isagi the ball once again. He could feel the strain on his legs. He was pushing near his limit.
“Hey, hey, Isagi, time out,” Kurona panted, feeling his legs almost give out.
Kurona sat down on the bench while Isagi tossed him a water bottle.
“Sorry if I was pushing you, Kurona. Tell me next time. I was just really in the zone and wasn’t thinking about how you were…” Isagi paused as Kurona spaced out, staring at something on the field.
Isagi followed his line of sight, and it wasn’t a thing, but someone. It was Kiyora, walking over after running his drills. Isagi was a little puzzled as to why Kurona was watching him of all people.
“His hair gets in his face when he plays,” said Kurona, looking up at Isagi, noticing that he realized who he was watching.
Isagi looked at Kurona with a mix of confusion and curiosity. He decided to brush it off and just smiled and agreed.
After practice ended, everyone was exhausted, including Kurona. He grabbed his dinner tray and sat next to Isagi like usual. Hiori and Isagi were talking about strategy for the PXG match. Kurona had nothing much to add to their conversation, so he glanced in Kiyora’s direction. Kurona caught himself doing that a lot more recently.
It was night, and everyone was in bed. All the Blue Lock boys shared a room together. Kurona couldn’t sleep; he wasn’t sure why. He decided to head out to the field to do something productive with his time, at least.
There, he found Kiyora, alone on the field, practicing.
“Hi, hi,” said Kurona.
Kiyora looked up, a little startled. “Hi, Kurona.”
“Why are you practicing so late?” asked Kurona.
Kiyora looked back down in contemplation. Kurona felt that he looked troubled.
“I don’t want to be sent home. This is our last game, and I haven’t played once. I need a bid,” Kiyora answered honestly.
Kurona felt something shift inside of him hearing Kiyora be so honest. Kiyora was a quiet person who didn’t open up, but now he was talking to Kurona.
“Hey, hey, don’t worry! I’m sure you’ll make it. Noa said you were definitely guaranteed a spot in the next match. If I’m being honest, I’m worried too. I got subbed out for my lack of stamina. It’s hard keeping up with Isagi. Him and Hiori see stuff I can’t…” said Kurona.
Kurona felt vulnerable and exposed, but it wasn’t bad. It wasn’t bad because it was Kiyora and no one else. Kiyora looked at Kurona. The face he made was one that Kurona couldn’t make out. Was it sympathy or petty?
Kiyora sat down on the field and gestured for Kurona to do the same next to him. Kurona did so, sitting next to him.
“Kurona, I think you’re doing great. You’re too worried,” said Kiyora while moving his hair from his face again.
Kurona noticed and offered, “I can braid your hair if you want me to. It’ll keep it out of your eyes.”
Kiyora paused. He turned a bit red, but still said yes. Kurona scooted closer to him and grabbed three parts of his hair and started. Kurona thought to himself how cute Kiyora was up close.
“So… how are you so good at braiding hair?” asked Kiyora, who was trying to cut the tension.
Kurona answered while continuing to braid his hair, “As a kid, I would get bullied for my teeth, and that really stressed me out. I learned to braid to cope. It really calms me down. I can teach you one day.”
Kurona smiled at Kiyora as he just stared back at him. Kiyora’s hair was so soft in Kurona’s hand. Then he realized to himself he was taking longer to braid than normal. Was it because he liked being close to Kiyora?
Kiyora interrupted his thoughts by saying, “Sure, you should teach me how to later. Maybe I could braid your hair too. Also, your teeth are cool, don’t listen to them.”
Kiyora chuckled at Kurona’s face turning red. Kurona just nodded at him, trying to hide his embarrassment. He finished and took the second hair tie on his wrist and tied the braid.
“You look good, good with a braid,” said Kurona without realizing.
Kiyora was shocked by the compliment. It made something warm inside him.
A meek, “Yeah, well, you look better with one,” escaped Kiyora’s lips as he turned away, blushing.
They spent the better part of the night just talking about everything and nothing. Kurona felt so at peace sitting and chatting next to Kiyora. He loved watching Kiyora mess with and fiddle with his braid.
As the night dragged on, they decided to head back to the dorms and go to bed. Kurona couldn’t help but steal another glance at Kiyora before going to bed.
Kurona woke up reluctantly as Isagi shocked him.
“Five more minutes, minutes,” Kurona pouted.
“We’ll be late, come on,” Isagi pleaded.
Kurona dragged himself out of bed. He took a quick glance at Kiyora’s already made bed. He had already gotten up and was ready for the day. Kurona felt a little embarrassed for sleeping in.
After getting ready, he and Isagi rushed to the dining hall. Kurona grabbed his tray and asked Isagi, “Can I sit with Kiyora today?”
Isagi just looked at him and said, “You don’t need to ask me to have fun! I got Hiori.”
Isagi gave him a warm, knowing smile and patted Kurona on the back before walking off in the opposite direction. Kurona just smiled back and waved while walking to the table Kiyora was sitting at.
“Morning, morning, Kiyora,” said Kurona. He felt like he was beaming. He was so excited to see Kiyora, but he had no clue why.
“Good morning, Kurona. You got up later than usual,” said Kiyora.
Kurona felt himself flush as he just nodded.
“Well, staying up with you didn’t help either,” pouted Kurona. He felt a little dejected by what Kiyora had said.
“Sorry, I was just teasing. Didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, Kurona,” apologized Kiyora.
“It’s okay. It’s my fault for oversleeping either way,” said Kurona.
An awkward pause happened, then Kiyora asked, “Could you braid my hair before practice? I don’t want my hair in my eyes again.”
Kurona was startled but agreed immediately. He thought about last night and how soft Kiyora’s hair was. He thought about how much he just wanted to touch Kiyora again. His face started to flush at the thought. He heard Kiyora chuckling at Kurona's reaction.
Breakfast wrapped up, and Kurona was braiding Kiyora’s hair right before practice started. He made sure to do it faster this time to make sure they weren’t late.
“So you can braid hair faster,” teased Kiyora. He was poking fun at how Kurona had stalled last night to stay closer to Kiyora.
Kurona was stunned, and all he could get out was, “Be quiet, be quiet.” He felt his cheeks turn red and his face warm.
It was true; Kurona loved being closer to Kiyora. He liked just being near him. No words even had to be said.
“Sorry, Kiyora, I have to go practice with Isagi now,” Kurona said as he finished Kiyora’s braid.
Kiyora looked at him and paused before asking, “Wanna go over game footage together later tonight?”
Kurona smiled and agreed while running off in Isagi’s direction. He took one last glance at Kiyora as he was trying on his cleats and smiled to himself.
After Isagi and he were finished with their drills, Kurona asked him, “How do you know if you like someone?”
Isagi was stunned but recovered quickly, saying, “Well, let’s see, you just enjoy being with them and think about them a lot. You care about them, and they give you butterflies… Well, I think that’s what it’s like? I won’t really know. Never really liked anything but soccer. Sorry it wasn’t very helpful…”
“No, no, it was!” said Kurona, looking down.
“Wait… Who’s this someone you like?!” shouted Isagi.
Kurona jolted up, covering his mouth. Kurona angrily told him, “Be quiet, be quiet. I don’t want them to know!”
Isagi pulled away from Kurona and said, “Okay, okay, sorry, but who is it? This is crazy news, you know.”
Kurona blushed and said while looking at his own feet, “I think I like Kiyora. He’s really sweet and cute. We were talking last night, and I’ve been thinking about him a lot more, like you said. I’m just not sure what to do.”
Kurona looked at Isagi’s face, which was now white. “Isagi, Isagi, are you okay?”
All Isagi could do was point behind Kurona. A confused look plastered Kurona’s face as he spun around, and there he was. Kiyora Jin. Kurona froze. He felt his face turn red. Everything else was a blur, and he dashed off the practice field.
Kurona was now sitting in the corner of the locker room, hiding from everyone. He had messed everything up. He didn’t even know if Kiyora liked boys or not. He didn’t want to ruin what they had just started building. Kurona was panicking as he undid his braid and braided it again.
He heard the locker room door open and heard a voice, but he couldn’t really understand anything beyond his own thoughts. He felt like his world was collapsing but felt the bench creak as someone sat down next to him. A firm hand wrapped around his shoulder. That’s when Kurona looked up.
“Hey, listen, it’s okay. I don’t mind if you don’t,” said Kiyora, interlacing their hands. He was looking straight at Kurona.
Kurona was stunned. He was at a loss for words. He had never even considered a world where Kiyora said yes.
“Wait, wait, you’re serious?” asked Kurona, with so much hope.
Kiyora just looked away and nodded. The sight of Kurona was too much right now, but the grip on Kurona’s hand tightened. They sat next to each other in silence for a while, but it wasn’t awkward. They were both just happy to be in each other’s presence.
“We should get to the film room soon,” said Kurona while reluctantly letting go of Kiyora’s hand.
They both changed out of their training clothes into their Blue Lock pajamas. They walked to the film room together but stopped by their dorms first for Kurona to grab a blanket.
They sat next to each other while reviewing each other’s game footage. They would offer small words of advice where it was needed for each other, but it was still mostly a comfortable silence. Kurona was just enjoying sitting next to Kiyora.
“Are you cold?” asked Kurona while extending out the blanket to Kiyora.
Kurona felt Kiyora shift closer so that they could share the blanket easier. He liked feeling the other’s warmth this close together.
“You’re turning red, Kurona,” said Kiyora in a teasing tone.
Kurona reached out for Kiyora’s hand and laced their hands once again.
“Well, it’s warm in here, but I think it’s you also being next to me,” smiled Kurona. He rested his head on Kiyora’s shoulder as the other was quiet.
“Can you teach me to braid?” asked Kiyora after a moment.
Kurona was surprised but obliged eagerly. He reached out to grab Kiyora’s hair again.
“First, you have to…” Kurona paused as he felt Kiyora lean into his touch. He felt his insides tingling. Was this what Isagi meant by butterflies? Whatever it was, he liked it.
“You have to separate three different parts of your hair and move the centerpiece to the right and the right to the middle. After that, you move the leftmost pieces over to the middle. Then you start from the beginning again. See?” said Kurona, focusing on the other’s hair.
“Yeah, I do…” said Kiyora.
Kurona noticed he wasn’t focused on what Kurona was saying but was just staring into his eyes instead.
This made Kurona blush and ask, “Were you paying attention to what I just told you?”
As Kurona finished Kiyora’s braid again, Kiyora grabbed his and undid it.
“Let me try. I think I get it now,” demanded Kiyora.
Kurona's heart was going to explode. Feeling Kiyora’s hand in his hair was too much, but it felt so right. He could feel how gentle Kiyora was being. Kurona started to get why people wanted to seek out love now.
“I’m sorry if this isn’t as good as your normal one,” said Kiyora while tying the end of the sloppy first attempt of a braid he made.
Kiyora pursed his lips in frustration at his own work. He was disappointed with his work, but Kurona felt the opposite.
“No, no, I love it. It’s good, good,” said Kurona. He couldn’t help but love it.
It was now Kiyora’s turn to blush. “If you’re sure, then who am I to disagree.”
Kurona could feel a smile creep onto his face as they sat, now leaning on one another again.
“I wish I didn’t teach you how to braid,” said Kurona in a pouty tone.
“Why?” asked Kiyora while playing with the braid Kurona had made with his hair.
“Because that means I can’t do it for you now,” Kurona said softly while looking down at their interlaced hands.
“Don’t worry. You’ll still be braiding my hair. It’s not like I can make a good one yet,” Kiyora said to comfort Kurona.
“Yeah, yeah, that’s true,” smiled Kurona.