Work Text:
"Even though we've seen them before and alive, it is still so crazy looking at how big the skeletons are."
"... Yeah."
Tsurugi's gaze couldn't help but flicker between the room around them and Tenma as the other spoke so easily and loudly about their adventures through time. Thankfully, this part of the dinasour exhibition was empty by some miracle.
He still wasn't completely sure how they got here, or more, how he let himself be convinced this was a good idea by the mouse and the orange peel.
-
Tenma had come up to him after practice, exuding so much energy like always. Tsurugi was beginning to genuinely think the other was powered by the sun itself. He'd bounced up to his side and smiled wide with excitement as he asked if Tsurugi wanted to go to the museum with him.
"I didn't know you liked history of any sort that much, you seemed pretty clueless over some parts of the places we visited."
"Oh no, you are right, history isn't my favorite topic. Shinsuke had been planning to go with Taiyou since they just opened a new exhibit about dinasours. But he told me that some things came up and they can't make it. It would be disappointing for the tickets to go to waste so they gave them to me and suggested we could go together instead and just tell them about what we saw there later."
"They suggested it to you? Interesting."
Tsurugi remembers seeing the short goalkeeper in the corner of his eye trying to not so subtly look towards them with a knowing smirk. He had been spending too much time with Kariya recently. It was also probable that if he said no Taiyou would begin blowing up his phone with calls and messages until he did accept too. He would find a way to get back at them for this.
"Alright, if it's at a good hour I suppose I don't mind going."
In comparasion to the rest of the things that led to this trip, Tsurugi was very glad for the small mercy that was not having his brother there to call him a simp over how his insides fluttered the moment Tenma gave him that huge grateful smile that Tsurugi could never get used to.
-
And that's how he ended up in the museum at 10:00 am on a Saturday with Raimon's captain tugging him along from one room to another to see all the stuff it had to offer. Tsurugi wasn't paying much attention though, his attention divided between keeping his feelings down and making sure Tenma didn't scream to the world that they traveled in a time machine. Honestly, the team was too loose-lipped about that detail, Tsurugi was sure almost every team they fought against in the present day knows about it.
"I don't think there is anything else to see in the dinasour part of the museum... Why don't we go check out some of the other areas? Then we can leave and play some football together in the nearest park."
"Yeah, sounds good."
Tenma began tugging him along again urging them to move across the rooms and halls as he looked around for something that called his attention. Unsurprisingly for such a football fanatic, nothing really called to him for a while. Not that Tsurugi was complaining, Tenma's hand felt nice when it held his and his enthusiastic search was something Tsurugi wanted to burn into his brain along with the other things that already filled his mind about the midfielder.
"Hey look! I recognise that photo."
Tenma sped-walk across one of the rooms towards the famous portrait of Sakamoto. It still felt so different to look at it knowing how the real guy looked like.
"I miss Sakamoto so much, he was so nice and funny. It was so cool playing football with him for that small while. I wonder if there is anything about Okita around here too."
"Tenma try and keep your voice down a bit please. The whole world doesn't need to know you miss Sakamoto. I'm sure if there is something about Okita it will be near, maybe one of the next rooms."
"Yeah, you are probably right. Let's search, see if we can find it and however does can send the other a quick text if we are too far apart. Don't want to yell in the museum."
Before he could really answer, the other was already walking off in one direction and clearly expecting Kyousuke to look around another. He sighed in a mix of exasperation and disappointement before starting in the opposite direction Tenma had gone. He kept a slow pace and began looking around, how could one miss another person so much when they were still so close? Tsurugi was definitely getting back at Shinsuke and Taiyou for this idea of theirs, they were making him feel more like a desperate man than he normally was.
There were things around that looked vaguely familiar, either from class or from their time in the past, it gave him nostalgia for a time he wasn't actually born in, maybe that's how Fei felt about Raimon's own time.
His eyes finally got caught in another portrait that was familiar, Soji Okita's image standing behind a protective glass along with a set of clothes that, while similar, weren't quite the ones they had seen. Tsurugi supposed they still worked fairly enough. He pulled out his phone and wrote a text just like Tenma had asked if he found it and telling him to come back around.
It wasn't long before he could hear some slightly rushed steps only vaguely stilted in an attempt to not break the rules and outright run inside the museum. Two arms launched themselves out to hug around his middle as Tenma used him to stop his run. If Tsurugi wasn't used to it they would have both crashed on the floor.
He looked over his shoulder just as Tenma looked up too to look at him back. He was wearing a sheepish smile but didn't look like he regretted crashing into him at all. It wasn't like Tsurugi actually minded enough to complain either. Tenma's hugs were very... Warm.
"You know, I think Midori and Ryoma would have enjoyed this section, I wish they could have come too but Shinsuke told me the tickets were already sold out for today."
"I'm sure he said that and I am sure he searched carefully to know so he would be giving you those tickets with complete assurance that they would be used."
"Yeah, it's a pity really. If Shinsuke and Taiyou had said something sooner we could have all come together. It would have been so much fun with them and Ryoma and Midori and also Hayami as well."
Now that Tenma mentioned his name, Hayami had appeared oddly nervous and extra avoidant with Tsurugi the same day Shinsuke gave the tickets to Tenma.
"Is it not fun enough with just me here?"
"Of course it is fun being here with you, that's not what I'm saying."
Tsurugi huffed a light laugh at Tenma's offended pout, ruffling the other's hair with cheek. Tenma grumbled a bit more but seemed to let it go as he looked towards Okita's portrait again while tilting his head to the side.
"What are you thinking now?"
Tenma turned to look at him for a moment before stepping closer to the protective glass.
"I'm just thinking about... How difficult it must have been for him to see his whole world change in those last few years or maybe months of his life. Even if he ultimately knew it was the right thing, it must have been scary finally being free of the old Shogun, no matter how bad they were."
Tsurugi blinked in surprise at the sudden and a bit morbid thought but he supposed Tenma was still so very sympathetic and always wanting to help those in unfair situation. Just like Tsurugi himself...
"Living under a group that ruled the world he cared for with unfairness and clear wrongs but not having the strength to change it or being too afraid to. Guess it's a good Sakamoto was there to force the Shogun's hand, and that he had our help too."
Sakamoto's story appeared to be a basic hero's story really. Both in fiction and history, born from such basic and unseeming origins only to become so important to everything around them solely because of their morals, their determination, their passion, their words that move nations. Those same people could be such monsters if they chose too, yet they somehow never did.
"Hey, Tsurugi?"
Tsurugi turned his attention back to the present and automatically took a step back due to how close Tenma was. He must have spaced out for a bit too because the captain looked concerned even though he was trying to hide it.
"Sorry, what did you need?"
Tenma's expression softened, changed into a lighter smile that retained all of his usual warmth without needing to be as wide. Those grey eyes of his still looking at Tsurugi like he was a bright star.
"You and Soji Okita are both very strong. There is nothing wrong in having someone else help you. You are still so incredible for defending yourselves and your worlds so fiercely, regardless of if you changed your mind later or not. What matters is we now get to play football together as teammates. Not what happened before!"
Tsurugi felt his breath get caught in his throat, it always caught him by surprise when the midfielder weaved such nice words into a little speech. If he didn't almost always direct it to some aspect of football, Tsurugi thinks he'd make for a good school counselor one day. The kind children would always go to for advice to.
"Thank you, Tenma. You are very strong too. I'm just as happy as you that we can be teamamtes and play together."
The captain's smile turned into a grin so wide and perfect, how did anyone expect him to not want to follow this football freak from the moment he extended his hand to him?
"I think we've seen everything interesting here. Let's go play football now, Tsurugi!"