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The only thing better than escaping the sweltering Dallas heat would’ve been beating the Netherlands instead of ending up in a damn draw.
A draw. A miserable 2-2 draw that the pundits call “electrifying”, but Chigiri calls “not good enough.” Chigiri flops on the W Hotel’s beds he and Kunigami pushed together, , luxuriating in being in his boxers and a novelty t-shirt from Bachira saying 'I Fucked An Olympian (2024) And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt". The shirt’s not that funny, but Kunigami thinks it is, and more importantly, it’s oversized enough that Chigiri can feel the cool air of the A/C rushing across his skin beneath the fabric - godsend after running his ass off under the Dallas sun all day. Perhaps Chigiri’s rage at the draw will melt away along with him in this weather.
It doesn’t help that someone’s being a hog.
“Rensuke, move. I’m melting.”
“Gimme a minute at least.” Kunigami sighs, “I’m not going to want to cuddle with you if I’m already overheated.”
Chigiri pouts; how dare his boyfriend ignore his desperate pleas, even with a good reason? How rude. Even if both of them are too tired to have a little fun, maybe add to Chigiri’s collection of hickeys on his thighs, Kunigami could still get over here already.
Thankfully, Kunigami really does only need a minute before he comes to Chigiri’s side, wrapping his icy cool arms around him. It’s enough to make him sigh and relax, and after such a long day playing his heart out, he can finally relax and fall asleep. It’ll be much-needed rest before they have to wake up before sunrise to get on a plane back to Nashville. Despite his frustrations, a smile plays on Chigiri’s lips as he slowly, but surely, falls into a deep sleep.
A smile that disappears with the sound of a fire alarm absolutely blaring.
Chigiri presses his face into Kunigami’s neck, which makes it very easy to hear Kunigami’s low: “What the fuck?”
"Make it stop," Chigiri murmurs, before realizing that no, it is not going to stop. So he groans, squeezing his eyes shut. “This has to be a joke.”
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like it. The sirens keep going, and both of them can hear people rushing through the halls outside their doors with sounds of panic.
Goddammit.
"Alright, come on princess.” Kunigami lets go of Chigiri and sits up, “Let's just go before we regret it."
Kunigami helps Chigiri roll out of bed, and grabs his phone, the key, and their jackets off the other bed so they’re not standing outside in just shirts and boxers. Chigiri puts his jacket on, half-dazed, and listlessly stumbles out the room with Kunigami, only to be met with–
“What is that?”
Something’s burning. Chigiri’s throat swells up with smoke, and Kunigami tenses and grabs Chigiri’s hand, rushing down the five floors of stairs. He wonders, briefly, if he should have thought to grab their passports or some cash as well as his phone.
It’s somehow still fucking sweltering at night as they burst onto the parking lot. Chigiri squints back at the building, glaring daggers at every passerby in case they were responsible for ruining his wonderful, air-conditioned night. How inhumane. Team Japan and their staff shuffle out one-by-one, and Chigiri squints back at the building. He’d smelled smoke, but he certainly doesn’t see anything from the outside. What the hell?
Chigiri is still trying to figure it out when Aiku walks up to them and interrupts his train of thought. "Had a good night?"
A good night? Who the hell is having a good night after a draw and then a fire alarm?
“What do you think?” Chigiri snaps, but Aiku’s smirk doesn’t fade, and it takes Chigiri a second for him to realize that Aiku is smirking at him. The reasons hit him one second at a time:
One: His jacket is unzipped.
Two: Chigiri’s wearing some day-old hickeys on his thighs.
And three: There’s the problem of his T-shirt. You know, the one about fucking an Olympian.
Well shit.
Ego’s flat stare bores holes into Chigiri across the parking lot. He trades glances with Kunigami; and Kunigami, for his part zips up his jacket that seems too tight across his shoulders and shrugs.
Ugh, whatever. Chigiri’s fucked but he’s too tired to care at this point. Oh well. There's really only one thing to do.
Chigiri takes his phone out of his pocket and snaps a picture of the hotel for Instagram Stories.
lol the field’s not the only thing burning up 🔥
Kunigami’s chin lands on his shoulder, "You're posting that?" He snorts, but then stands back up and turns to Aiku;
"Do you have any idea what happened? I thought I smelled something but it seems fine."
Aiku casts a sideways glance towards Itoshi Rin and Sae nearby on the lot, then back at the two of them. He lowers his voice with a too-smug smirk.
"Rumor is that it's the Itoshi brothers. Rin tried to make microwave popcorn cause he got hungry, didn't read the instructions properly, and.... boom."
He makes a little explode-y motion with his hands, and Chigiri raises an eyebrow. All of this, just because Itoshi Rin couldn't read some stupid instructions?
“Are you kidding me?” Kunigami snaps, “How stupid are they?
"And now we're all out here at ass o' clock just because?"
Aiku laughs but doesn’t add anything else and oh, Chigiri's mad mad now. He has half a mind to stomp on over to yell at Rin, but he's too fucking exhausted. Instead, he buries his face in Kunigami's chest, wrapping his arm around his boyfriend's waist. That will clearly make him feel better.
Kunigami sighs, seemingly relaxing as he pats Chigiri on the back, leaving his hand there for some kind of comfort. It works, and they stay like that for a couple minutes before Chigiri turns out so he doesn’t end up getting melted to his boyfriend in the late night Dallas humidity.
Bachira and Isagi find them now, in their pyjamas. Or at least, Isagi is: Bachira's wearing a neon yellow bathrobe and Chigiri doesn't want to think about what he is, or isn't wearing underneath. Bachira approaches them, staring Kunigami up and down, and raises a hand like he's in school.
"Hey, hero. I've got a question for you," Bachira says, joking, trying to lighten the mood. "Are those rug burn marks on your knees from sucking cock?"
Chigiri looks down at Kunigami’s knees, which are indeed red and a little scratched up, but honestly that could be from the games as much as anything. Isagi and Chigiri both give Bachira a flat, annoyed look, because who would ask such an intrusive ques--
Kunigami replies completely deadpan.
"Yeah, obviously."
Isagi chokes on nothing, Aiku snorts way too loud, and Bachira freezes with his goofy smile dead in place. And Chigiri… Chigiri’s too exhausted and annoyed to even react to Kunigami announcing that he sucked Chigiri’s dick in front of God and everyone. Of course Kunigami sucks dick, they’ve been together for at least four years at this point. Chigiri looks up from Kunigami’s chest and doesn’t say anything about it, his gaze drifting towards the hotel door where…
“The fire department showed up?” Chigiri says, letting go of Kunigami with shock. True enough, some firemen are running into the hotel and a fire truck is parked outside. All this over microwave popcorn? Really?
"Did they actually burn something down...?" Kunigami wonders, and Chigiri groans. He’s so, so glad that he isn’t playing tomorrow, because the South African and Portuguese teams look pissed. Regardless of whoever loses, they’re going to be blaming it on the Itoshis. Which is kind of funny.
Actually, this will all probably be kind of funny in a couple of days. But right now, all Chigiri wants is to be allowed to go back to his hotel room, snuggle with his boyfriend to try, and get even the tiniest bit more sleep before they fly back to Nashville.
Thankfully though, they're only outside for another twenty minutes before the fire department says they can all go back inside, but to not use any of the microwaves in the building. Well. That all but confirms that it was Rin and his popcorn, and Kunigami laughs at Chigiri’s side as they make their way back inside.
"How bad do you think Rin is gonna get yelled at tomorrow?" He asks through a yawn as they go into their room, the two of them tossing off their jackets and shoes so they can fall right back into bed.
"I hope Rin gets eaten alive," Chigiri says before passing right out.
Rin, unfortunately, is not the one that gets eaten alive the next day.
Most reputable sports outlets report on the Japan v. Netherlands draw. That's to be expected. However, the tabloid media gets wind of Chigiri's Instagram Story about the fire alarm going off, thanks to it being screenshotted and uploaded onto Twitter and TikTok. As a result, the entire Internet is talking about the W Hotel's fire alarm, making memes about it and laughing about the situation.
Which wouldn't normally be a problem, but it seems that Ego Jinpachi is not happy that Japan's excellent play is not the talk of the town. Chigiri would also say Ego looks tired, but he’s never seen Ego without twenty pound eyebags in his life.
"Hello, worms," Ego says, in front of them all in the hotel restaurant before their flight. "It seems that some of you have been displaying some uncalled for behavior while representing our country."
He glares directly at Chigiri. Chigiri blinks back, taking a bite of a banana. Him?
"I don't give a fuck about what you're doing in your private life. However, by putting it ON DISPLAY like SOME PEOPLE in this team are... You know I will not hesitate to field you no matter how many hickeys you have on your stupid thighs. If you want to be the laughingstock of the Internet, so be it."
Chigiri crinkles his nose.
What's the feeling of being negative horny? That's how he feels right now.
Kunigami on the other hand, must be pissed about getting this heat as he speaks up; "Excuse me, what about people burning food in the microwave?"
Ego's stare shifts to him, looking even angrier, but Chigiri knows his boyfriend well enough to know that one, he certainly is sick of Ego’s shit, and that two, Kunigami has limited patience after they were all woken up by someone else being an idiot at 3 in the goddamn morning. Still, Chigiri places a hand on Kunigami's when Kunigami snaps back at Ego. Ego is an asshole, but trying to fight their coach doesn't seem worth it at this point in time, especially when he really just wants to get through this morning without suffering any further humiliation.
His savior arrives in the form of Sae Itoshi waltzing to the hotel restaurant, making an announcement like he’s reading the local news:
"Someone let me use your bathroom. Rin won't stop shitting."
Chigiri blinks up at Sae, clueless. Why did he have to bring it up at all--
"I told him not to eat the burnt popcorn."
Time to take their opportunity for an escape. Chigiri gets up and waves his room key.
"Come with us to our room," Chigiri says. "Kunigami and I are almost done anyway, so we were going to go up and grab our stuff before heading out."
Dealing with Sae is way better than dealing with Ego.
They're in the elevator when Kunigami just can't help but ask, "You just let him eat burnt popcorn?"
Sae shrugs. "He needs to learn his lessons the hard way."
Chigiri whips around, eyes wide. What the hell is wrong with Itoshi Sae?
"And you just... Let him do it?" Chigiri asks, incredulous.
Sae hums, looking askance at Chigiri. "Let me guess. You're the baby brother or an only child."
"I have a big sister," Chigiri says. He's been told that he has "younger sibling energy" a lot in the past. He's pretty sure that isn't a compliment. The elevator arrives at their floor, and the three of them step out of it. Sae blinks back at him.
"Should have guessed that by looking at you. Anyway, here's a tip: unless you have a younger sibling? You will never understand."
Chigiri grimaces, and Kunigami beside him snorts. Actually, this might be universal. "My sister made me eat wasabi once. She told me it was matcha ice cream." The biggest difference was that he'd been six and she'd been thirteen at the time.
"That reminds me of the time I let my little sister eat whole bird's eye chili.” Kunigami says with a smile, like he’s remembering a fond memory, “She was convinced it wasn't spicy."
Sae laughs and nods, like he gets it, and Chigiri suddenly realizes is trapped in this hotel room with two absolute nutjobs. What does Kunigami mean, he let his little sister eat a whole bird's eye chili? He gapes at them in disbelief as Kunigami taps his room key on the door. Maybe there's something about being an older sibling that rearranges your brain chemistry, but Chigiri wants absolutely nothing to do with it.
Though unfortunately, he supposes he's stuck dating one forever now. At least Kunigami was humbled by his older sister, if the stories Kunigami's told mean anything. And despite this cursed knowledge, he still does want to be with Kunigami - forever, if he can.
The moment the door is open, Sae beelines for the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. Ah. Chigiri wonders how long he's been waiting to use the bathroom, if Rin was that messed up.
He goes to his suitcase to finish packing the last of his clothes into his bag - and doesn’t get very far before the sounds of Sae on the toilet echo into their hotel room. Chigiri looks up at their ceiling, and thinks for the hundredth time that America is most definitely cursed.