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The background noise of chatting and laughter fades from focus as Nagi sits and waits. His foot taps on the ground. He brushes a piece of hair from his eyes. He shifts on the bench, the yukata firmly in place, thanks to the help he got from Reo and Chigiri earlier.
Nagi knows he’s early, but impatience settles upon him. Or maybe it’s being anxious? Isagi could always change his mind, after all. But if he had, Nagi’s certain he’d send a message.
He still can’t believe Isagi agreed. It almost feels like a dream.
After Japan won the U20 world cup, with Nagi part of it as part of the Buratsuta-3, he’d felt like the top of the world. Of course Isagi was number one, but Nagi couldn’t believe his dream had come true like this. He’d won with not only Reo, but Isagi. So after the celebrations had wound down, Nagi had approached Isagi.
“Isagi,” Nagi says. He’s on a high. Adrenaline is pumping through his veins. He knows the other Blue Lock contestants have mixed feelings about him after being part of the Buratsuta-3, but everyone is celebrating, he has to take his chance.
Isagi turns to face him with a grin. “Nagi!” He reaches out for a high five, but instead of high fiving him, Nagi threads their fingers together. Isagi’s smile drops, happiness turning into confusion as he eyes their locked hands. “What are you doing?”
“Go on a date with me,” Nagi says.
“A date?” Isagi repeats, his tone rising in surprise.
“Yes, just the two of us. Doesn’t have to be immediately, but soon.”
Isagi’s eyes are wide as he processes this. But then he nods. Squeezes Nagi’s hand. “Sure. Okay.”
They let their hands drop and Nagi watches breathlessly as Isagi gets pulled into another celebratory hug with Bachira and Chigiri. They lock eyes, and Nagi doesn’t miss the light flush on Isagi’s face that wasn’t there before.
It’s a date.
It had been Nagi to choose this summer festival as the location of their date. He might have gotten a little advice as to what to choose, but after thinking about it, it really is a perfect spot. Normally Nagi would find this too troublesome. Dressing up, crowds, being too noisy. But it was his first date with Isagi. Hopefully the first of more. He didn’t mind so much the things he’d usually find troublesome.
“Nagi.”
The voice makes Nagi jump up and come face to face with Isagi. Isagi looks a little uncertain, standing in front of him in his dark blue yukata, but he has a smile on his face.Nagi just stares.
“Nagi?”
Nagi shakes his head. “Sorry. I was admiring your yukata. You look nice.”
Isagi’s face flushes. “Oh. Thank you… yeah, yours suits you too.”
“Thanks.” Nagi stares. He’s not sure what to do now. What would someone usually do from here?
“This is the first time it’s just the two of us, huh,” Isagi muses.
“Yeah, it is. Outside of Blue Lock at least,” Nagi replies. “For agreeing… thank you.” It feels awkward saying those words, but he figures he should.
“I was surprised you asked. I never thought Nagi of all people would ask me on a date.” He looks slightly embarrassed, but seems to shake himself out of it. “Not to say I’m not glad you did… well anyway, come on, let’s see what we can do around here.”
“Why was it surprising?” Nagi questions as they walk together.
Is it obvious now that Nagi likes Isagi? Or will he still need to confess? At some point tonight, he hopes there’s a chance to be clear about that.
“I don’t know, it was just something I didn’t see coming,” Isagi says, unable to come up with a clear answer. Which is okay. Nagi’s glad that he’d asked. They hadn’t seen each other for a while after the Neo Egoist League even before Nagi got eliminated, so there wasn’t much time to talk, but he hopes they can get closer now, before they possibly go in different directions again.
“So you can say it was beyond your expectations,” Nagi says.
Isagi chuckles. “Yeah. But then again, you’ve always gone beyond my expectations.”
Nagi doesn’t want to talk about his downfall in Blue Lock and how that hasn’t always been true, so he doesn’t, but he nods, going along with it. “Hmmm.”
Nagi’s relieved that Isagi takes the lead now, pointing them towards a few games. Isagi heads towards a goldfish scooping game first, and Nagi ends up standing aside and watching Isagi go for it first.
Isagi kneels down, picks up the paper net, and watches the fish while biting his lip. Nagi’s heart starts to race. Isagi is so cute.
After managing to catch a fish, Isagi turns to Nagi and grins. “I got one! Come try.”
Nagi shakes himself out of his admiration and approaches the game, too. Nagi isn’t so lucky, however. As fish after fish breaks through the net, they leave the game with Nagi pouting.
“I’ll find something to beat you at,” Nagi complains.
Isagi laughs, a sparkle in his eyes. “Good luck with that, genius.”
“I missed you calling me that,” Nagi says, glancing over.
“Oh, really? I thought it annoyed you.”
“Maybe the first couple of times, but then, it felt special.”
Isagi’s brows furrow. “Special? What do you-”
A sob breaks through the air, and Nagi and Isagi look over to see a child by the fish game with tears running down her face. She looks about five or six years old, and her mom is trying to calm her down.
“I want the fish!” the girl sobs.
“We can try again,” her mom assures.
Isagi approaches, leaning down to the girl’s level. “Do you want my fish?”The girl’s sobs calm as she meets Isagi’s eyes. She sniffles loudly. “Really?”
“Yeah,” Isagi says. “After thinking about it, I think I don’t know how to care for a fish properly, and you look like you love them a lot so you’ll do a good job.”
“Really? I will, I will!” she perks up immediately.
After Isagi hands over the bag, the mom thanks him, bowing her head.
The girl grabs onto Isagi’s leg, crying out “thank you, onii-chan!” as Isagi pats her head gently.
Nagi stares in awe. Oh no, he’s so lucky he thinks he might burst.
He not only knows what Isagi is like on the field, all fierce and fiery and blazing blue eyes, full of anger and egoism, but he also knows this every day side of Isagi, what he looks like doing normal things, what he looks like being nice to kids.
Isagi is an egoist. He can easily get angry and swear at someone, and whoever his enemy is on the field knows that side of him. Isagi is also kind, cute, friendly, and warm. He attracts people wherever he goes. It’s always made Nagi envious, since he’s wanted Isagi’s attention on him and he’s felt like he had to compete for it.
Nagi wonders if he knows the duality of Isagi more than anyone else. He hopes so.
When Isagi meets him, Nagi has to resist the urge to grab onto him, embrace him, kiss him, right here in the middle of the festival. It’s hard. Isagi is so…
“You’re amazing,” Nagi ends up saying.
Isagi shakes his head. “Not really. Anyone would do that.”
“Nah,” Nagi says. “It’s because it’s you, Isagi. Kids really like you.”
When it comes to football or otherwise, Isagi really is a humble person. All these sides of Isagi just make Nagi fall for him more. It’s dangerous, almost, how many feelings Nagi has had since meeting Isagi. Starting with curiosity over a creature he didn’t understand, turning into motivation, fiery passion, and even more before he’d realized. Meeting Isagi was a twist of fate he’d never expected, one that affected him in ways he knows and ways he doesn’t yet.
“Maybe.” Isagi shrugs. “I do like them, too.”
They stare at each other, and Nagi’s stomach swirls. Isagi’s eyes on him like this is all he’s ever wanted. But… Nagi’s the one who asked him out, is he doing enough?
“Are you having fun?” Nagi asks quietly.
Isagi clears his throat and nods, seemingly shy all of a sudden. This side of Isagi is also adorable. “I am having a good time. Thanks.”
Nagi grabs Isagi’s hand. “Alright. But now I’m hungry, Isagi, let’s get something to eat.”
Isagi stares at their hands before meeting Nagi’s eyes. He laughs. “Alright, I could eat, too. What do you want to eat?”
“I don’t know, everything smells so good. Hmm. Okay, wait here, I’ll go get us takoyaki.”
“Sure, but I can get it-”
“No, I will,” Nagi insists. He wants to be gentlemanly and cool. He wants to make Isagi like him, too. If he has to put in effort, it’s worth it. He’s on a date with Isagi. He can’t waste the moment.
He makes note of where Isagi is, and he heads over to the food stalls, purpose in each of his steps.
When he comes back with the food though, Isagi’s not there.
“Where do you want me to sign?” Isagi asks.
Isagi knows he’s popular and he gets recognized all the time if he’s not wearing a disguise, but this is pretty extreme. These friendly looking men had asked for Isagi’s autograph, leading him into a quieter place to chat. He knows he shouldn’t have moved or else Nagi might not find him, but he would have felt guilty saying no to fans.
There are three men here, who look older than Isagi, maybe in their early twenties. They appear to be huge football fans. One of them rambles off Isagi’s statistics and biggest goals during the world cup, and Isagi smiles and nods along with him. It’s flattering.
But the way they’re crowding in front of him is a little disconcerting. He swallows. He wants to get done with this quickly. He appreciates his fans, but it’s getting overwhelming.
One of the men pulls a notebook from his pocket and hands it to Isagi. “Here, please.”
“Sure.” Isagi signs it.
The next man turns around. “Sign my back!”
Isagi does it. Even if he’s a bit confused, he knows fans can be over eager. He was once like that too, he’d do anything to get Noel Noa’s autograph when he was little.
The last guy doesn’t have anything to sign, instead he steps forward almost crowding into Isagi’s space. “What are you doing now? Are you staying in Japan or did another team make you an offer? You’re staying, right?”
Similar questions come flying, and Isagi starts to back up, but they step closer.
“I-”
“What are you doing?” a low pitched voice interrupts them. The voice is familiar and unfamiliar at the same time because of the tone.
Nagi appears, grabbing the wrist of the man closest to Isagi and pulling him off to the side. “Get away from him.”
The man blinks, shaking his head. “Are you… Nagi Seishiro? What-”
Nagi pushes another man away, hand firmly on his chest. With so much strength the man fights to keep his balance. “You’re too close to Isagi, get away.”
The look in Nagi’s eyes is as fierce as his tone of voice. His eyes are squinted, face contorted into something scary, the aura coming off him intimidating and so unlike him. The men spit out apologies and run away.
Isagi’s heart races. What? What was that?
Nagi can make that kind of expression? He can let out that kind of voice?
It’s a Nagi he’s never seen before. Even he has this kind of duality?
“Nagi,” Isagi chokes out.
“Are you okay?” Nagi asks, fixing his attention back to Isagi, his glare softening back to a slightly annoyed version of his usual deadpan expression.
Isagi exhales. “Yeah, I’m fine. They were just fans who wanted an autograph. You didn’t need to scare them off.”
“They could have been suspicious,” Nagi says. “Who pulls you off to somewhere where there’s less people? They could have been creeps.”
“I don’t think-”
“You’re too innocent, Isagi,” Nagi says.
Isagi pauses to think about it. “You’re right. It might not have been the best idea.”
Nagi nods in agreement. “As long as you realize. There’s a lot of fans crazy about you.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” he says out of impulse, but he wonders.
The look on Nagi’s face before, his tone of voice, Isagi thinks he won’t be able to forget it. He’s shocked, but intrigued at the same time. Even a normally laid back Nagi makes his heart race, but that, that was something else. Or maybe it’s the novelty of knowing a new side of Nagi? There are still a lot of ways they have yet to get to know each other, after all.
Football playing Nagi, genius Nagi, lazy whiny Nagi, competitive Nagi, curious Nagi, the Nagi who bickers and says funny things, the attractive Nagi, and now the… overprotective Nagi? Scary Nagi? Isagi is learning more sides of him.
“Here,” Nagi says. He pulls Isagi back to the main festival street, where there’s a bench with two containers of takoyaki. He hands one over.
“Thanks.”
They sit side by side, eating with a lull in conversation.
Isagi still can’t believe he’s on a date with Nagi of all people. Isagi had never thought of dating before. It wasn’t something on his radar. It was something other people did, while he only thinks of football. But when Nagi asked, something in him said yes before he could emotionally process it. It wasn’t just the high of winning, he wanted to go out like this with Nagi. There’s always been something about him that drew Isagi to him, on and off the field. Something different.
When they’re done eating, Nagi picks up their garbage. “I’ll be right back. Stay here this time.”
The slightly scolding tone in Nagi’s voice makes him want to laugh, but he nods his head. “Sure.”
Isagi looks at the people walking back and forth, enjoying their experience at the festival too, and he smiles to himself. While in Blue Lock he thought his time as a normal teen was over, but even he can still have moments like this. A date at a summer festival. Who would have thought?
When Nagi comes back, he’s holding two things. He puts one of those things right on Isagi’s head.
“What’s this?” Isagi pulls it off to look at it. “A fox mask? What’s this for?”
“To hide you,” Nagi says, “to protect you, so something like before doesn’t happen again.”
“That’s not necessary-” Isagi tries. But when it comes to Nagi’s firm expression, Isagi relents and puts the mask back on. At least so it covers his eyes. “Alright, fine.”
“Even if it weren’t dangerous, I want you all to myself,” Nagi mutters.
“Eh?” Did he hear that right? If he had, why had those words made Isagi’s heart skip a beat?
“And also, here.” Nagi hands something else over to Isagi.
“This is…” It’s a box of kintsuba. “Woah.”
“It’s your favourite, right?”
“Yeah.” Isagi grins. “How did you know?”
“I read your profile.”
“Oh right. I forgot about that. I guess you pay attention to those, huh.”
“Nah. Just yours.”
“Just mine?”
“Yeah. I like you, after all.”
Isagi freezes. He opens his mouth but nothing comes out. His heart races, and his face grows warm. He shouldn’t be surprised to hear this. Nagi had asked him on a date. But hearing the words feel so different, it’s like he got struck in the chest, all air whooshing out of his lungs.
It’s Nagi.
Nagi who has felt special to him somehow, but…
Nagi, who Isagi had been devastated by when he’d been eliminated from Blue Lock.
Nagi, who Isagi somehow always had a good time with whenever they spent time together, even when they lightly bickered, even when Nagi is being frustrating and baffling, it was always fun.
These feelings mix inside of Isagi, puzzle pieces that are starting to click into place. Even when agreeing to this date, Isagi hadn’t fully realized the extent of what it meant. But what was for certain was that Nagi asking him out shifted their relationship and Isagi is too conscious of it. Not in a bad way. But different.
Nagi grabs Isagi’s hand, pulling him up from the bench. “Hey, Isagi, let’s play that shooting game over there. I’ll beat you this time.”
The change of topic is welcome yet disappointing at the same time. But Isagi is enjoying their date, and there’ll be time to keep talking.
Isagi grins. “Let’s see you try.”
They hold hands as they head over to the game. Holding hands with Nagi is still something Isagi isn’t used to, it’s comfortable but makes him feel flustered all at the same time. He can’t stop staring at their joint hands.
Nagi lets go of his hand to go up to the shopkeeper to try first. Nagi pays for his tries and picks up the game gun. He aims. He misses the first target, but is able to hit the next few easily. Apparently it’s enough for a small prize. Isagi finds himself smiling. He has to admit, Nagi did look pretty cool just now. His athletic capabilities are supreme even when it comes to aiming…
Nagi turns to Isagi and hands over his prize. “Here.”
“Huh?”
“For you.”
“For me?” Isagi repeats, taking the item—a small stuffed sloth—in his hands.
“Yeah. It’s a date, right?”
Isagi laughs to himself as he looks at the sloth. “Yeah. Thanks. It’s cute.”
“Right?”
Isagi stares very hard at the sloth. It’s soft and has sleepy eyes and arms that look like it wants to cling on to someone. “It looks like you, actually.”
Nagi meets Isagi’s eyes, his mouth forming an ‘o’. “Me? Really?”
Isagi chuckles. “Yeah.”
“Do I take that as a compliment?”
“You should.”
“Alright. Then, yay.” Nagi’s lips turn up slightly as he glances at Isagi holding the sloth in his hands. “As long as you hold me like that too.”
Isagi chokes on his next breath, his face growing warm. “What are you talking about!” He’s definitely not used to Nagi saying these kinds of things. This date version of Nagi is dangerous!
Nagi’s eyes twinkle as he watches Isagi. “Your turn, striker.”
A shiver travels down Isagi’s spine. Maybe Nagi was onto something when he’d said before how he liked it when Isagi called him genius. He thinks he understands. From Nagi it feels special, an undercurrent that is unique between them.
That look in Nagi’s eyes, of admiration, of attention, the spark in his eyes, it’s mesmerizing.
“Okay.” Isagi hands the stuffed animal back to Nagi for now. “Time to beat your score, genius.”
Isagi turns to the display, pays for his own play, and holds up the game gun. His first try… sucks. He only gets one target. His second try is a bit better, but still not good enough. When he meets Nagi’s eyes, Nagi raises a brow. It fires Isagi up so he tries again.
Good thing he has enough yen to keep trying. These fucking targets-
He finally hits enough to win a prize. Isagi pumps his fist up into the air.
“Yay, good job, Isagi, though that took a while.”
“Shut up,” Isagi grumbles.
He chooses his own prize and heads over to Nagi. “Here.”
Nagi takes it. “You’re giving it to me?”
“Yep. It’s a date, right?”
Nagi nods, his aura light and sparkling, somehow. “Thanks. Though I’ll only take it on one condition.”
The football video game sits in Nagi’s hands as he turns it around to look at the back of it before turning it back before.
“A condition?”
“That we play it together.”
Isagi laughs. “Sure. It’s a promise.”
Nagi puts his hands behind his head. “Yay. More time with Isagi.”
“Wow,” Isagi murmurs, shaking his head.
“What?” Nagi pouts.
“I’m not used to how blunt you are yet.” Isagi says, pondering. “At least when it comes to this kind of thing. It’s a side of you I didn’t know of before.”
“This kind of thing?”
“This version of Nagi… the Nagi on a date.” Isagi somehow feels embarrassed to say the words aloud. The protective side of Nagi from earlier is still fresh in his mind too, still flustering him internally.
Nagi’s eyes brighten. “I see. But there’ll be time for you to get used to it, Isagi. I don’t plan on this being our only date. I’ll ask you out again. Even when we get busy with football again.”
Isagi’s chest swoops, an unfamiliar sensation. He puts a hand on his chest in surprise. This Nagi… Isagi doesn’t know how he’s going to handle it.
“I’d like that,” Isagi agrees after a moment. “It’d be a shame if it was only one date. We still have things to learn about each other, too.”
“That’s true,” Nagi says as he grabs Isagi’s hand and they continue to walk through the festival.
This really feels like a date already, but all the hand holding really makes it feel even more so. Isagi tries not to get lost in his thoughts. What does this mean? They both agreed to more dates. But what does the future look like? If he and Nagi end up in a relationship, there’s a high chance it’ll be long distance. Does Isagi want this to end up a relationship? It’s a first date, he knows he’s getting ahead of himself, but-
“You can ask me anything you want,” Nagi says suddenly.
Isagi pauses. They stop walking, step off of the busy path and stare at each other. Did Nagi know he was overthinking things?
“Like what?”
Nagi exhales. There’s an uncharacteristically hesitant look in his eyes. “Buratsuta 3.”
Isagi’s stomach flops. “Oh, that.”
They really hadn’t talked about that.
“Were you mad?”
Isagi takes a moment to answer. “I was.”
He remembers his reaction when Nagi showed up along with Sae and the other member of the three. He’d been gobsmacked, furious. The other Blue Lock members felt similarly.
Nagi nods, expecting that answer.
“I hated what he did. It was a betrayal of Blue Lock, of our efforts, of Ego-san.”
Nagi nods again.
“But I don’t need to ask you anything. I’m not mad at you. I can’t fault you for going for it when a chance like that appeared. You’re selfishly going for being a striker, it’s an egoist move, one I can’t help but admire in the end.”
“Ah, really?” Nagi slouches a bit, as if tension had been keeping him upright until now. “It took a while of moping before I realized that I needed to play. I couldn’t not play. So I kept going back to the Blue Lock building to try to make them let me back in. But then he showed up.”
They both knew what Nagi meant.
“I see.” Isagi puts a hand to his chin. “I can’t say what I would have done if the roles were reversed, but I can tell you that I was glad to see you play football again. I’m glad you didn’t give up.”
“I’m happy you think so,” Nagi ends up saying. He still sounds unsure of himself, so Isagi squeezes his hand.
“Where will you end up, do you think?” Isagi asks. “I haven’t chosen myself, yet.” He has great offers. It’s a lot to think about.
Nagi shrugs. “I have a few offers. I don’t know yet either.”
Isagi smiles. “That’s great.” He knows Nagi still is banned from playing for the Japan team, but as long as he keeps playing. “Do you trust Buratsuta with your career?”
“Not sure. Not completely. But as long as I get to keep playing football, as long as I get to play with or against you, Reo, and everyone else, it’s fine.”
“Nagi…”
“Thank you, Isagi.”
“For what?”
“For calling at me to not quit football. I didn’t know what I was going to do at the time. I was depressed. But your words meant a lot at the time anyway.”
Isagi’s heart lurches. The devastation he’d felt when Nagi had been gone fills him again. It’d been a travesty. Someone with that amount of talent and gift being let go was heartbreaking… but it was also just because he cares about Nagi, his emotional reaction was proof he cared more than he realized.
“Of course, I meant it with everything-”
A loud bang interrupts their conversation. They move their head to the direction.
“Oh hey, it’s fireworks,” Isagi says excitedly. “I didn’t realize there were going to be any!”
Nagi nods. “Let’s go watch them together.”
Isagi is the one who leads Nagi, pulling his hand, his sloth plush in his other hand, until he finds a better vantage point, and better yet, a private one where there are no other people around.
The night sky explodes in colour and they watch for a few minutes in silence.
It’s not Isagi’s first time seeing fireworks, but it might be his favourite time.
“Colourful,” Nagi murmurs. “Beautiful.”
“Yeah,” Isagi agrees. But there’s a prickling on his face and he turns to see that Nagi is looking right at him instead of the sky.
The colours flash in Nagi’s eyes and Isagi feels something burst in his chest, a feeling that overwhelms him.
The look in Nagi’s eyes is full of such desire and admiration that it steals Isagi’s breath. By some twist of fate he’d ended up here, and knowing that, a powerful, profound feeling settles over him.
Before Isagi realizes what he’s doing, he’s leaning over, up, and kissing Nagi.
Nagi inhales in surprise before wrapping his arms around Isagi and kissing him back. It starts slow but grows more heated due to Nagi’s eagerness. Isagi keeps up, though his heart is racing like never before. It’s not like Isagi has any experience in kissing, but even he can tell Nagi is good at this. Damned genius is going to be the end of me. He’s not sure how many seconds, minutes, go by, but when Isagi pulls away, dazed and breathless, Nagi lets out an indecipherable sound.
“Oh,” Nagi mumbles. “Oh this is bad, I think I like you even more now.”
Isagi’s face heats up though he also can’t help but smile. “I like you too.”
Nagi grabs Isagi’s face and kisses him again. It’s a rush, one that Isagi welcomes. One that he might get addicted to.
It might be an inconvenient timing to start something like this, and it might get complicated because of their careers and possible long distance. But if they’re both serious, Isagi’s sure they’ll figure it out.