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"Please tell me not to go // We've been here long before // I live under your eyelids // I'll always be yours"
⋆*⊹･꒰𑁬♡໒꒱･⊹*⋆
Kou Minamoto was very excited to be taking Sousuke Mitsuba on a date. Well, he called it a date, but the exact words he had said out loud were "hangout day."
He had the entire day planned, and he intended to gain the courage to officially ask Mitsuba out at the end of it. All he had to do was wait.
And then actually open his mouth and ask the question, but that was a problem for later.
The first stop on their list was the one that Kou was most excited for: a soccer game.
He was well aware that Mitsuba didn't know much about the sport, except for the fact that kicking the ball in the net counted as a goal. However, he tried his best to explain the rules to him before the game started.
Once he was finished, Mitsuba stared at him blankly. "What is offside again?"
"Dude, I already told you," Kou explained for the fourth time, "it's when a player goes past the last defender on the opposing team and gets passed the ball."
Mitsuba blinked. "Yeah, I still don't get it."
Kou sighed. "That's okay. You don't really have to." Most people didn't, anyway.
Mitsuba continued asking questions throughout the game, and Kou patiently answered them all.
"Your favorite player is the orange-haired one, right?" Mitsuba pointed out. "Number fifty?"
"Yeah, Rensuke Kunigami," Kou replied. "He's so cool."
"I kind of like the pink-haired one," Mitsuba told him. "Number four."
"That's Hyoma Chigiri. He's crazy fast, and his top speed is twenty-three miles per hour."
"You're such a nerd."
"Hey! What the heck, man!"
"Maybe it's that lame-ass earring."
"My earring is fine."
"Are you sure? I still don't see any traffic—"
"Ooh, the second half is starting!"
Mitsuba said nothing else, but Kou could hear his giggles from beside him.
He was sure they would have bantered until the sun went down, but his full attention was now on the game.
The team that he was rooting for, the one with Kunigami and Chigiri, was called Blue Lock. Right now, they were winning, and Kou hoped they would keep it that way until the final whistle.
There were two minutes left, and Kou was practically on the edge of his seat.
The opposing team was getting closer to the goal. Kou was sure that the player with the ball was going to make a cut and shoot, but they were stopped before they could. Chigiri had made a dash in front of them, taking the ball right from their feet. He sprinted away, passing the ball up the field.
And that was all that happened.
The whistle blew.
Kou jumped from his seat, cheering and yelling just as wildly as the fans around him. He was surprised when Mitsuba did the same.
He smiled. He was glad Mitsuba was having fun.
And he was glad that they were one step closer to the end of the day.
"I'll lay on your rooftop in the freezing cold // And I'll watch the sunset wearing all your clothes // I can feel you with me like I did before // Like when I sang you a love song by Norah Jones"
⋆*⊹･꒰𑁬♡໒꒱･⊹*⋆
The two of them had been walking around the mall and trying to decide what stores they wanted to explore when they saw a familiar pink-haired and orange-haired duo.
"Hey, weren't those the guys in the soccer game?" Mitsuba asked.
Kou looked to where he was gesturing, and when he saw them, his face lit up so bright it was nearly blinding.
"Yeah, it is!" he confirmed. He grabbed Mitsuba's hand without another thought. "Let's go say hi and congratulate them!"
And so they did.
"Hey, you guys are from the Blue Lock team! Kunigami and Chigiri, right?" Kou began.
"Yeah," the one with the orange hair, Kunigami, responded. "You a fan?"
Kou nodded ecstatically, basically bouncing up and down in excitement.
"I like your hair," Mitsuba complimented to Chigiri.
"I like yours, too," Chigiri responded. "Though the style looks a bit emo."
Mitsuba's jaw dropped, and it looked like he wanted to say something, but Kou stepped in.
"Chigiri, that steal you did at the end of the game was amazing!" Kou told them.
"Thanks," Chigiri replied, the hint of a smirk still on his face. "Do you play soccer?"
"No, I used to. My brother, Teru, and I tried it, but we weren't very good."
"Hang on, did you say Teru?" Kunigami chimed in. "As in, Teru Minamoto?"
"Yeah," Kou said slowly. "Why?"
Kunigami blinked, the gears in his head turning wildly. "We're cousins."
"We're…what?!" Kou thought he must have been dreaming. There was no way this was real.
"Yeah, it's a little distant, but Teru was going through some family history stuff and found a picture from a reunion a long time ago. I was just a baby, but it had all our names on the back. He took it upon himself to reach out to me a few weeks ago," Kunigami explained.
"I'm gonna have to make a call," Kou announced, still putting together the words that had just been said.
"We're gonna continue our shopping," Kunigami told him. "It was nice meeting you, Kou."
"Yeah, you too."
"What do you mean you just forgot to tell me?! How do you forget to tell your younger brother that he's related to his favorite soccer player?!" Kou shouted as quietly as he could through the phone.
"It must've just slipped my mind," Teru apologized. "It was cool that you met him, though."
"It slipped your mind?!"
Mitsuba was trying very hard not to laugh.
"Right, that's what I said," Teru assured. "Anyway, have fun on the rest of your date. Later, bro."
"Yeah, okay," Kou replied, attempting to fight the blush that dared to creep into his face as he glanced at Mitsuba. "Bye."
"Ooh, Sienna // Would've been cute // Ooh, Sienna // Would look just like you // I came clean // And it feels so good // If I feel seen, mm // Only through you"
⋆*⊹･꒰𑁬♡໒꒱･⊹*⋆
When they went out to eat, they chose a restaurant that was locally owned. Kou had heard good things about it, though he had never been there himself.
It wasn't surprising that the food was delicious.
"Could I get you anything else?" the server, who they had learned was also the owner, asked them.
"No, thank you," Kou answered.
They heard a faint, "Kojiro!"
"Let me know if you do." The green-haired man, who they now knew as Kojiro, turned and walked toward the pink-haired man who had called to him. "I'm coming, Kaoru! You're so impatient."
They ate in silence, both of them engrossed in their food. Kou decided to take in his surroundings, glancing around at the decor and how it—
He nearly choked on his food.
Mitsuba looked up from his plate, his eyes filled with concern.
Kou swallowed. "Kunigami and Chigiri are here."
"You mean your cousin?" Mitsuba reminded him, turning to follow Kou's gaze to the familiar duo a few tables away. "I still can't believe that happened. You should've seen your face."
"I still can't believe Chigiri called you emo."
"Shut up. I'm surprised they didn't say anything about your lame-ass earring."
"My earring isn't even weird! You just seem to have a weird fixation on it—"
"Hey, cousin."
Kou nearly jumped, immediately shutting his mouth when he heard Kunigami's voice.
"Uh…hey?"
"Wanna join us for some karaoke?"
"Oh! Uhm, are you sure?"
"Of course! Family bonding, am I right?"
Kou smiled. If someone had told him at the beginning of the day that he would be going to karaoke with his favorite player, who just so happened to be his cousin, he wouldn't have believed them.
It was even less believable when Mitsuba agreed.
"I'll wait here tomorrow, outside your door // Like I did in December, when you held me close // Coming up on your corner, pulling out my hair // Hear the creak in the floorboards going up the stairs"
⋆*⊹･꒰𑁬♡໒꒱･⊹*⋆
It was safe to say that karaoke went great.
They started off with popular songs that they all scream-sang together, then moved to songs from musicals. Kunigami and Chigiri began with "What Is This Feeling?" from Wicked, with Kunigami singing the part of Elphaba and Chigiri as Glinda.
Kou and Mitsuba watched them as they acted out the whole thing, unable to help themselves from laughing at the difference between Chigiri's somewhat-on-pitch singing and Kunigami's nowhere-near-pitch screeching.
When it was their turn, however, Kou chose "A Lovely Night" from La La Land. At first, Mitsuba protested, but Kou insisted that he was basically the perfect person to play Mia. Eventually, with Kunigami and Chigiri's peer pressure, he caved.
Kou thought they weren't going to be nearly as good as the duo before them, and he was half right. Kou sucked. But Mitsuba…it was like Kou was falling in love all over again. It didn't matter that neither of them could actually hit any of the notes—what mattered was how devoted Mitsuba seemed to his role. He played his part so well, and Kou swore that if he could see himself, he likely had stars in his eyes.
Once the song was over, Kou wasn't shaken from his stupor until Kunigami announced that he was singing "Helpless" from Hamilton and told everyone to assign themselves to a part. Kunigami was Eliza, Chigiri would be Alexander, Mitsuba excitedly claimed Angelica, and Kou became part of the background vocals. It became clear that none of them would be on Broadway any time soon.
After that, Chigiri belted out a solo of "Santa Fe" from Newsies. Kou watched for Kunigami's reaction when he was finished, and when he saw that he was tearing up, he snickered.
"Shut up," Kunigami seethed, but there was no bite to it.
Next was Kou, who sang "I'm Alive" from Next to Normal, with Kunigami as Dan Goodman and both Mitsuba and Chigiri as his daughter Natalie. They could barely get through one verse without bursting into laughter.
Lastly, Mitsuba surprised everyone by going crazy with "For Her" from The Great Gatsby. Kou had the exact same reaction that Kunigami did when he had watched Chigiri. It was still such an amazing experience to witness him do something he had never seen him do before.
Kou would have been lying if he hadn't said that he was disappointed when the song ended.
"Wow," was all Kou could say.
"Ooh, Sienna // Would've been cute // Ooh, Sienna // Would look just like you // With a temper like you, run around like you // Jumping in the pool, like you // Sing to all her pets in the way I did // Be sensitive like you"
⋆*⊹･꒰𑁬♡໒꒱･⊹*⋆
"I think we should all start heading home," Kunigami suggested. "It's getting pretty late."
"Yeah," Kou agreed. Then he remembered something very important that he was supposed to do. "Actually, Kunigami, can I talk to you real quick?"
Kunigami guirked a brow. "Sure."
As soon as they stepped out of the room, Kou was quick to get to the point. "Are you and Chigiri together?"
He had seen the way they looked at each other, because it reminded him of himself and Mitsuba. The glances they snuck toward each other, their reactions to their performances, and especially their bantering.
Kunigami's eyes widened for a second before he scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah…was it that obvious?"
Kou nodded.
"Man, we've been trying to keep it a secret from the team until the season's over. I'm sure that if you could figure it out, then our teammates will, too," Kunigami explained. "Why do you ask?"
"How did you do it?" Kou questioned quickly so he didn't lose his nerve.
"Oh, uh, it kinda just…happened." Kunigami breathed in before continuing. "I asked him out to dinner after a game, and we both sort of confessed, and then we kissed, and…yeah."
Well, Kou had already taken him to dinner, and nothing had happened yet, so he wasn't sure how exactly to pop the question.
"If you're worried about whether or not he's gonna say yes, I can tell you now that he will."
Kou let his mouth fall open. "I didn't say anything about him."
Kunigami chuckled. "Are you serious? Have you seen yourselves? The way you look at each other? Man, you thought we were obvious—"
"Okay, I get it!" Kou squeaked, shoving his face in his hands in an attempt to hide the blush that crept along his cheeks.
"Just ask him," Kunigami told him. "And then, when he says yes, you can consider me your favorite cousin. Deal?"
Kou removed his hands, finding within himself a newfound confidence.
"Deal."
"And I smile when I think of all the times we had // On the beach in the winter, when the waves were mad // Down by the water, crystal clear // See her face in the forest, then it disappears"
⋆*⊹･꒰𑁬♡໒꒱･⊹*⋆
Once they said their goodbyes, Kou's heart rate spiked. As he and Mitsuba walked, he thought about the various possibilities of how to approach the topic.
Maybe ask about how their date went?
No, that was stupid. It went great. They had met Kunigami and Chigiri and had even found out that Kunigami was Kou's cousin.
Okay. Maybe he could bring up doing this again sometime?
Kou wanted to slap his forehead with the palm of his hand. Nothing he came up with sounded right.
Until an idea crossed his mind that he had desperately wanted to avoid.
He could just ask.
Much like how he did when he asked Kunigami if he and Chigiri were together. Very blunt. Very straightforward. Without dodging the inevitable.
And so, steeling himself with a deep breath, he spoke.
"Mitsuba?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I tell you something?"
"…Sure."
Kou took another deep breath, the sound causing Mitsuba to pause. They both stopped, turning to face each other.
"I like you."
Mitsuba's lips lifted into an amused smile. "Well, yeah, how couldn't you?"
"Mitsuba, I'm being serious."
"Are you, Minamoto?"
They locked eyes.
"I love you, Sousuke."
The smile Mitsuba had been wearing disappeared. Kou took a step closer, placing a hand on his cheek.
"Could I…?"
The message was clear, and before he could react to the slight nod he was given, Mitsuba leaned forward. Their lips crashed together, though it was light and swift. Kou immediately wanted to reinitiate their contact once they pulled away.
Mitsuba's eyes were watering, though it was hard to tell through Kou's own clouded gaze. He silently moved Kunigami to the Favorite Cousin spot in his mind.
"I love you, too, Kou."