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The U-20s match had just come to an end. Blue Lock’s locker room was buzzing with excitement. Everyone seemed happy, except for two. Hiori and Rin.
Only a few noticed, but Rin seemed more glum than usual. Of course, no one brung it up because they knew Rin would lash out at them. So they ignored him and moved on. They took their showers and left to go party.
Except for Isagi and Hiori.
Hiori stayed behind, just sitting in his locker zoned out. Isagi on the other hand decided to talk to Rin. He tried to cheer Rin up and make small talk with him but just like everyone feared, he lashed out at him. With that, Isagi left, he wasn’t going to associate with him while he was angry.
After Isagi left the showers and decided to join the party going on, Hiori decided to get up and head to the showers. He had always been more modest than others. It had always been this way, he never felt completely comfortable around others and this was mainly because of how fragile he looked.
After about an hour and a half, Hiori exited the showers. He noticed Rin still sitting there sulking. So he decided to test his luck and try to talk to him. He and Rin didn’t have any conflict so he had some hope he would be able to help.
He sat down next to Rin while simultaneously drying his hair. “Hey, are ya alright? You seem.. kinda distant, well more distant than usual at least.” Rin barely looked up before responding with “Leave me alone, why is that so hard for you lukewarms to understand?”. Rin tried to make it sound abrasive but it instead came out soft and broken, more than anything it came out frustrated.
Hiori’s tone softened, “I know we’re not close but sometimes it helps to talk about it. Ya definitely didn’t want to talk about it to Isagi so maybe ya can talk about it to me? I won’t pry if not but I will listen if ya want me to.”. Hiori’s words shocked Rin. He looked up and gave Hiori the sickest expression ever. This caused Hiori to give him a confused and concerned look in exchange.
“Rin-Kun?? Are ya okay? Do you need some water?”. Rin looked terrible. His eyes were puffy and red like he had been sobbing but that wasn’t what Hiori noticed right away. Rin’s face was drained of its colour making him paler than he already was. He looked as if he was going to vomit any minute. “Please… don’t say that fucks name. Don’t even mention him.”, Rin’s voice was a raspy whisper when he said this.
“Who’s name?”
“… I’m not going to say it, not right now at least.”
Hiori started thinking, analyzing the conversation they just shared. That’s when he realized the only name he said was Isagi. He couldn’t help himself from bursting out in laughter. He felt bad because it was the wrong time to be laughing but Rin's resentment towards Isagi was just hysterical.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be laughing. Damn Rin-Kun.. you really hate him that much, huh?”
“More than you think.”
“I’m sorry, did you still wanna talk about what’s on yer mind?”
“I never wanted to talk in the first place.. you came to me.”
Hiori let out a sigh, “Okay well can we keep talking? We both have stuff on our minds and talking will help us forget. Drowning in dread and whatever emotion yer feeling won’t do us any good.”
“Tch.. do what you want..”, Rin quietly said with less malice than intended.
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After a half hour of talking, they somehow came to the topic of video games. Hiori mentioned that he plays a lot and would play more if his friends weren’t so “busy”.
“I play COD and stuff but it gets boring after a while. Especially since my gaming group is usually offline. It’s kinda small, it consists of Karasu, Otoya, Yuki, Nanasae, and Niko.The only people who are usually online are Niko and Nanasae but they’re playing Stardew Valley. It’s kinda adorable because they go into intense conversations about it.”
It took a minute for Rin to comprehend everything Hiori had just barfed out. He decided that sharing a little bit of his personal life with the least irritating person in Blue Lock was most likely safe.
“I play video games too.”
“Really?! I always took ya for a soccer freak who only trained in his free time. Like I just vision you watching old soccer matches before bed and analyzing data.”
“What… I’m a pretty normal person outside of soccer. I like to play horror games. Actually, anything horror interests me.”
“Really shocking but not shocking at the same time, you understand, right?”
Rin gave him the most disgusting look before replying with the dryest response he has ever heard.
“No.”
“Uh okay, that’s kinda awkward. Anyway do ya have Discord? I’ve always wanted to play horror games but I’m too scared to play them myself, if you have Discord we can play together. Maybe. If yer up to it.”
“I do have it. I am willing to play only if you adapt to my schedule. Like no asking me to stay up past 2. Even though We have break, I still have training.”
“2am is perfect. We’re gonna have so much fun! Maybe. If ya pull that stick out of yer ass and learn to joke and have fun.” Hiori was obviously joking when he said that but it was too early for Rin to tell.
Rin defended himself, “Don’t talk to me like you’re not some lukewarm parasite. Know your place, shitty midfielder.” This time his voice was soaked in hostility.
“Sheesh Rin-kun, it was just a joke. Anyway, I’m gonna sit next to ya on the bus to the train station.” Hiori said this so confidently it almost sounded sarcastic.
“Yeah okay. If you do try to sit down next to me I’m just gonna push you off the seat.”
“No you won’t” said Hiori so snarkily that it silenced Rin. He didn’t know what to say so he got up and flipped him off before heading to the showers.
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It was the morning of their homecoming. Everyone was excited to finally be heading home. Everyone except Hiori and Rin. Again.
Everyone had gotten their stuff back from Anri. This included their phones. Everyone called their parents as soon as they got it back, except for Hiori and Rin. They finished packing along with everyone else and then started to board the bus.
Rin made sure to grab one of the seats in the back before anyone else. As soon as he sat down he put his bag on the seat next to him so people would get the message. Of course, it wasn’t like he was expecting anyone to want to sit next to him.
Expect for Isagi
He clearly didn’t get the message. Rin thought he was being extremely obvious. Isagi just stood there, waiting. Rin looked him up and down before he got dragged away by Bachira. He looked out the window for a moment when suddenly his bag was thrown in his lap.
“What th-” Rin stammered before a certain cyan haired individual cut him off.
“Don’t ya know that’s my seat Rin-Kun or did you forget already? Yer so out of it.” Hiori let out in a giggle.
Rin felt his ears go red. No way he was feeling this way towards someone he had barely talked to. “And did you forget that I was going to push you away if you tried to sit down next to me?” But before he knew it Hiori was already sitting down.
“Ya know, I was kinda worried ya were going to push me away but I figured you were too nice.”
“Excuse me?” Rin said, his tone filled with hatred and disgust.
Hiori, completely ignoring Rin and his tone, continued talking. “Anyway, do ya have a charger? I forgot to charge my power bank and my phone is gonna die.” Rin sighed before pulling out a power bank and handing it to him.
“You can use it if you leave me alone.”
“Yer no fun. I have games on my phone if ya do want to play, though none of them are horror, sorry”
“Ok” and with that, Hiori looked up and he was already half asleep.
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At some point in Rin’s sleep he shifted and started resting his head on Hiori’s shoulder. He woke up to giggling and being tickled by a strand of hair. He lifted his head and wiped the saliva off his lips before turning to face Hiori. They looked each other dead in the eyes before Hiori smiled.
“Mornin’ Beautiful”
Rin’s face flushed red while Hiori broke out in laughter. Rin wasn’t flustered because of Hiori’s God awful attempt at being funny but because he just fell asleep on someone else. Him, Blue Lock’s best player. Itoshi Rin, the strongest, smartest, and scariest player fell asleep on somebody else, drooling and everything.
“Shut up, also you have drool on your sleeve”
“What! Ew Rin-kun, yer so nasty. I can see why people don’t wanna sit next to ya.”
“Ok”
“Not even a sorry?”
“Nope.”
“I’ll forgive ya if ya give me yer Discord handle.Ya said ya would yesterday and I know your ego is too fragile to say sorry.”
Rin gave him a dirty glare before pulling out his phone. “Here.” He said harshly before shoving his phone in Hiori’s face. “And I can say sorry, I just don’t think you deserve my sorry.”
“Pfft, yer username is “shinning654Owl”? That’s kinda funny, what does 654 stand for?”
“How the fuck should I know?”
“Cause you made it..? Anyway I’m “crippledking1” so if you receive messages from them it’s me.”
“… What the hell is that username supposed to mean?”
“Um anyway…. Did you have a nice nap?” Hiori said weakly before going back to his games.
And that was the end of the conversation. For the rest of the ride to the station Rin just watched Hiori play games.
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The bus was finally closing in on the train station. Everyone seemed pumped to finally go home and get rest, except for two. Again. Rin didn’t show it but the closer they got the more dread, anger, guilt, and emotions he couldn’t even describe he felt. After looking over to his right, he realized he wasn’t the only one dreading this. Hiori looked pale. He wasn’t talking anymore and he stopped playing on his phone. He was just staring at the seat in front of him while playing with his hoodie strings.
Rin fought the urge to ask what was wrong out of pure curiosity, obviously. It’s not like he actually kinda cared, it’s not like the boy next to him with the soft angelic voice and big doe eyes was luring him in. He just wanted to ask out of pure curiosity because why should he care when he’s #1? But he didn’t have to ask because the blue eyed angel started talking for him.
“God, I really don’t wanna go home. Ya look like ya feel the same way.” Said Hiori in an almost hopeful manner.
Rin was caught. He thought he was hiding it well but apparently not. He snapped back with more malice than intended “What would you know?”
Great, he thought. Now it was obvious he didn’t want to go home. Home was lonely, cold, home was everything that reminded him of that night.
Hiori looked at him with a mix of confusion and concern. “I’ll take that as a yes.. Say Rin-Kun, you don’t talk to anyone right..?”
“.. not unless necessary”
“Okay so now I’m going to explain why I don’t wanna go home. I know ya don’t care but if I don’t talk about it at least a little bit I’ll combust.”
Rin didn’t respond. Hiori knew that was a “You’re right I don’t care, do what you want” but he took it as a “I’m here to listen, not make shallow remarks about how it’ll get better”. Hiori knew Rin would never say this but it was what he wanted, no needed to hear.
So Hiori talked.
“I don’t wanna go home because it’s a prison. A prison full of endless nightmares. I eat a diet, I train vigorously, fake everything I do. I don’t fucking like soccer, I play it to make my parents happy. But I don't know why. Why am I doing something for people who don’t care? I mean they could at least pretend to love each other instead of showering me in this facade of love. It’s quite obvious they only want me for my skill so why even try.”
Rin internally sighed after hearing that. He wasn’t expecting him to have any other reasons than ‘my parents don’t understand me’. In a way though, Rin could kinda relate. He wasn’t playing soccer for anyone but his brother who also put expectations on him. His mind went blank. Why was he relating to some lukewarm? Also, what is someone supposed to say after having someone pour their heart out to them? One thing came to mind. He didn’t want to say it but he couldn’t stop himself.
“I don’t pity you. And I don’t know why you’re pitying yourself. It’s lukewarm and for freaks.”
“Wow Rin-kun, yer great at comforting people” Hiori sarcastically said.
“If you’re dreading it that much just don’t go, that’s it.”
“..what do ya mean..?”
“I mean just don’t go? Get to the train station, tell them you’re staying at a friend's house then go with one of your friends. Nothing else to get.”
“I can’t. I don’t have anyone to go with and my parents would kill me.”
“Fuck your parents and go with crow boy.”
That made Hiori giggle. “I can’t go with Karasu, his house is too close to mine, also he’s going on a trip.”
Rin thought for a minute. “What about.. him?”
“Who? Are ya talking about Isagi? This one sided belief is hilarious. But no, I'd feel too bad bringing it up on them so suddenly.”
“God, just come home with me. You made such a big deal out of not wanting to go home and now you’re not taking any of my recommendations.”
“Really Rin-kun?! You’ll let me go with ya?? Cause I mean if yer offering I’ll definitely take ya up on that!”
“I just said that, you moron.”
And with that the colour immediately flooded the Kansai boy’s face while some left Rin’s.
It’s not that he didn’t want the company, feeling alone was one of the things he dreaded. He needed Hiori to come. He just didn’t know how this was going to work. His mind was flooded with thoughts.
Where will he sleep? Are we going to be sleeping in the same bed? God, I hope not, if so I’ll puke. Why is he so perfect looking?! His skin is literal glass, and his laugh! WHY AM I THINKING LIKE THIS?!?! Focus Rin. What will my parents think when I bring some random boy home. Actually it doesn’t matter, they’re too swallowed in their work to care.