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🧩🥀.-
It does not begin as something obvious.
It begins as a proximity that feels far too natural.
Kaiser has always invaded Isagi’s space. He leans in, whispers, smiles with that perfectly rehearsed arrogance. Shoulders brushing, murmurs too close to his ear, glances unnecessarily prolonged that resemble a battlefield. None of that is new.
What is new is that Isagi no longer falls behind. Not like before. Not anymore…
One day, without overthinking it, he deliberately lifts his hand.
His fingers slide beneath Kaiser’s chin, uninvited, as though the action belonged to him by nature.
Everyone is reviewing a play on the field. Kurona speaks about tempo. Hiori mentions an angle adjustment. Yukimiya listens in silence. Raichi complains about something irrelevant with one of the Germans. And yet, everyone notices; it would be difficult not to.
— What the hell are those two doing? —Raichi says, bewildered from the other side of the room, interrupting his conversation.
— Damn Yoichi… —Ness has been on edge from the moment Isagi placed his hand beneath Kaiser’s chin.
The one who allows himself to observe is Noa. Only a few meters away. He studies the situation from head to toe. He senses it: nothing good will come of this. Kaiser remains still. Stunned.
The hand is soft. Warm.
And then his chin is lifted slightly.
Isagi does not do it to prove anything. He is not trying to assert dominance or provoke a fight. He simply… likes how Kaiser falls silent. How his arrogance pauses. How his breathing stirs, just a little. The reaction is unexpected. He sought nothing specific, yet found something marvelous by pure accident.
Isagi withdraws his hand when Hiori finishes speaking. As though returning to reality.
It takes Kaiser half a second to rejoin the conversation.
And that fraction of a second does not go unnoticed.
Over time, the team begins to feel it. It is not an isolated gesture. It is repetition.
In the locker room.
During training.
In the hallways.
A hand beneath the chin. Kaiser responding the same way each time. First stillness, then lifting his face. Then tilting slightly.
The most unsettling part is not the gesture. It is the expression.
Because there are brief moments, nearly invisible, in which Kaiser softens. Without his usual smile, without the mocking sarcasm or swagger. Simply… present.
And that makes everyone uncomfortable.
— Was he always like that? —Birkenstock murmurs.
— No —Grim replies.
Ness is on the verge of collapse. He does not intervene because technically there is nothing to intervene in. And deep down, he knows that if he dared to interfere, Kaiser would make his displeasure known. But he cannot help feeling that every time Isagi touches Kaiser, it is as though something is being taken from him.
And Kaiser does not even seem to notice. That is the worst part.
He does not notice how he leans in more each time. How he searches for the hand when it does not arrive. How his body now anticipates the contact. Little by little, he is conditioning himself to the Japanese player’s touch.
Noa notices. He says nothing. But he observes.
Because it is not merely flirting.
It is distraction.
And he has a team to keep focused.
The tunnel before the match is where everything gathers. A major game. Live broadcast. The team lined up.
Raichi striking his chest.
Kurona breathing deeply.
Hiori concentrated.
Yukimiya calm but alert.
Ness rigid as a statue.
Kaiser stands in front of Isagi. Very close. Too close. Seeking to claim, without words, something he did not know he needed. His chin is already slightly lifted. He does not decide it. His body has already learned.
Isagi looks at him. And raises a hand. Fingers sliding beneath his chin. Slower than ever. This time it is not distracted; it is deliberate.
And that melts Kaiser. His chin lifts as his back curves, enclosing the moment with his own body. His neck is exposed. He leans into the touch as though it were the most natural thing in the world. He does not realize how he appears. At this point, he could not care less.
Vulnerable, open, and hungry for that contact. And Isagi feels the shift.
His second hand rises without thought. Now he holds him with both. Thumbs tracing the line of his jaw, drawing over it. Knuckles grazing his neck, exactly the way cats love so much.
Kaiser exhales, low and rough. He closes his eyes, sinking into the warmth. His hands move to Isagi’s wrists. He circles them. Pulls him just a little closer. It is not enough; close is not close enough.
— Is he purring now too? —Grim mocks, receiving an immediate elbow from Ness in response.
The first kiss is a small brush. Brief. Delicate and shallow. Another, slower and more certain. Another, a third that lingers a second longer.
The entire team is paralyzed.
— What the hell —Raichi whispers, with that characteristic fury in his tone.
Grim runs a hand over his face. Hiori smiles, amused. Ness looks as though he might explode. And Noa…
Noa is there. Watching them like an adult already far too old to be handling two adolescents who cannot control themselves even if their careers depended on it.
Isagi feels the weight of every gaze, but Kaiser does not. Leaning in, searching for another brush. Another small kiss, at the corner, at the center. Calm or impatient. In these moments, Isagi is losing his mind entirely.
— Let´s move further down —he murmurs.
Kaiser follows without argument, without separating by even a millimeter. As though pulled by an invisible string. They move toward the back of the corridor. Technically farther away, practically just as visible.
The team watches them go. Ness seems on the verge of a heart attack.
— This can’t be… —he murmurs.
Like water. Natural. One brush and then another. More kisses. More tender now. Private, or so they believe. Until a shadow falls over them.
— Enough — The voice is authoritative and final. Noa.
Isagi pulls away as though electrocuted. His face flushes red in an instant.
— Noa! I— it’s not what it looks like—
Kaiser takes a second longer to compose himself. He straightens more slowly than usual. Noa regards them with an expression somewhere between judgment and fatigue. Disappointment? Perhaps. Just a little.
— You are part of my team — he says — I must ensure that you step onto the field focused. What you do outside of that does not concern me — A pause — But right now, we have a match.
The silence is brutal.
Isagi wants to disappear. His idol, the person he respects most, has just seen him flirting like a reckless adolescent incapable of restraint.
— I’m sorry — he says, lowering his head. With genuine remorse.
Kaiser glances at him sideways, and for the first time he does not smile.
Noa sighs faintly.
— Five minutes. Then you go out. And behave —He walks away.
The entire team pretends to look elsewhere. But everyone knows.
Isagi does not lift his gaze. Kaiser steps a little closer. They do not touch, and yet his chin remains slightly raised. Instinct. And when they finally walk toward the field, everyone feels the tension.
No one breaks it. Because now it is part of the team. Even if Noa would clearly prefer that it were not.