Chapter Text
Michael Kaiser has never believed in running out of time.
Time is for people who need excuses.
There is always another match. Another season. Another goal. Another record waiting to be broken by someone arrogant enough to believe they deserve it.
And Kaiser has never had a shortage of arrogance.
At twenty-two, he is already standing where most footballers would spend their entire lives trying to reach. The world knows his name. Clubs know his name. Crowds know his name.
And somewhere above all of that, there is one name Kaiser refuses to leave above his own.
Noel Noa.
The Bastard München striker had won his first Ballon d'Or at twenty-three years and seven months old.
Kaiser had done the mathematics more times than he would ever admit.
A year.
A little more than a year, depending on how the seasons fell.
That was how long he had.
An expiration date.
Ridiculous, really. As though greatness were a carton of milk sitting forgotten in the back of a refrigerator. This is why he never likes milk.
But Kaiser liked deadlines.
Deadlines gave ambition something to bite into. To gnaw. To reach. To take. To work for. And he's all for the thrill of taking.
So he trained.
He scored.
He won.
He watched the others struggle, rise, fall, reinvent themselves and claw their way back up.
Yoichi was still busy trying to drag his country beyond the same miserable wall they had been crashing into. The other members of the New Generation World XI have their own careers, their own clubs, their own ambitions and their own ridiculous problems. Lorenzo has been slow with his memes lately, Sae just watches from the sidelines. Loki still believes he's above ground when Michael is here. The God among humans. They're all faceless obstacles in Kaiser's grand life.
And none of them mattered. Not when you're above everyone. Why would God bow to peasants anyway? The thought alone makes him laugh.
But really. They could fight over whatever scraps of glory they wanted. Kaiser had already decided what belonged to him.
The next Ballon d'Or.
And then the record.
And then Noa.
Simple.
Everything was going exactly according to plan. Which was why Kaiser had never bothered questioning the one thing that had remained beside him through all of it.
Alexis Ness.
Ness had always been there.
At training.
At matches.
In the changing room.
On flights.
At his side when the cameras were watching and behind him when they weren't.
He knew Kaiser's habits better than Kaiser cared to acknowledge. He knew which boots Kaiser preferred for certain pitches. He knew when Kaiser wanted silence and when he wanted an audience. He knew exactly how much praise was acceptable before it became irritating and exactly how much criticism Kaiser would tolerate before somebody regretted opening their mouth. Even after their last argument during Blue Lock's Neo Egoist League, the omega never left his side. Not entirely. Even when Kaiser tries to push him away, he keeps coming back like a lost puppy.
It was useful.
That was all.
Useful.
Ness was loyal. Reliable. Predictable.
And perhaps a little too obsessed. But obsession wasn't exactly unusual in football. People became obsessed with winners.
They wanted to touch greatness. Stand beside it. Be remembered as someone who had been there when history was made.
Kaiser understood that.
He simply didn't see why Ness had to make it so personal.
It had always been there in the little things.
The softness in his eyes.
The way his expression changed whenever Kaiser entered the room.
The way Ness looked at him sometimes as though Kaiser had personally dragged the sun across the sky that morning.
It was embarrassing.
Endearing, perhaps, if Kaiser were the sort of person who found such things endearing.
He wasn't. The thought of being of anything that soft makes a bile rises in his throat. His hands itching to squeeze the airway tube until he's wheezing from lack of air. Because that's such a stupid thing to do. Him? Being soft? Hah. That's almost as laughable as Japan winning World Cup.
And yet, for years Kaiser had allowed it to continue because it didn't interfere with anything important. Ness never made a scene. Never confessed dramatically. Never demanded anything.
He simply remained.
And Kaiser, in turn, never asked him to leave. Except once. But even then Ness refused to leave his side. So that arrangement had worked perfectly well.
Until recently.
The hints had become more frequent.
Small questions.
Casual remarks.
Half-finished sentences.
Ness had always been careful, but Kaiser knew him too well to miss what was happening.
He was testing the water.
Seeing whether there was anything beneath it.
Seeing whether Kaiser might, perhaps, someday—
No.
Kaiser had no intention of allowing that thought to finish.
So when Ness finally asked, it was almost a relief.
They were sitting together after training, the room quieter than usual.
Ness had his phone in one hand, scrolling without actually looking at whatever was on the screen.
Kaiser was stretching lazily, more out of habit than necessity.
For several minutes, neither said anything.
Then Ness spoke.
“Say…”
His voice was quieter than usual.
Kaiser glanced over. It makes Ness hesitated for approximately 3 seconds. Before Kaiser began to get impatient and glares at him, his scent souring at the prospect of waiting for whatever Ness is stalling. And Ness, ever so loyal, eventually pushed through the nervous bile in his throat and croaks out-
“Do you ever think of marrying someone?”
And there it was.
Simple.
Almost harmless.
Except Kaiser knew Ness.
He knew exactly what that question meant.
Why it took so much to say it. Why he's playing with his fingers nervously now, looking like a pathetic weasel regretting his own words while waiting for the final verdict in a courtroom. Phone left forgotten on the side. Eyes anywhere but at him.
It wasn't curiosity.
It wasn't some idle conversation about marriage.
It was a question dressed up as something smaller than it really was.
And Kaiser knew what would happen if he gave him a vague answer.
Hope.
Ness would take the smallest crack in the door and build a cathedral around it. If Kaiser said maybe someday, Ness would hear maybe with you. If Kaiser said I haven't thought about it, Ness would hear there's still a chance. If Kaiser laughed it off, Ness would probably wait. And Kaiser had seen that kind of waiting before. He wasn't interested in creating another version of it.
So he scoffed.
“Huh?”
He turned toward Ness with a look of genuine incredulity.
“Are you stupid?”
Ness' expression faltered.
“Me? Marrying someone?”
Kaiser laughed under his breath.
“As if.”
He leaned back, crossing his arms behind his head.
“Love is distracting.”
The words came easily.
Too easily.
“I have no time for that.”
There.
Simple.
Clean.
No ambiguity.
No hope.
He had done Ness a favor.
At least, that was what Kaiser told himself.
For a second, Ness simply stared at him.
Then he smiled.
It was small.
Polite.
Wrong.
“Right,” he murmured.
Kaiser noticed the difference.
Of course he did.
He noticed the way Ness' fingers tightened around his own fingers now. Probably stopping himself from shaking. From reacting too much to something that never mean anything.
He noticed the slight trembles in his shoulders.
He noticed the light disappear from his eyes.
He noticed the bite of Ness' lower lip, too. But Kaiser didn't say anything.
Because it was there only for barely a second.
Then Ness hid it.
He was good at that.
And Kaiser was good at pretending not to see.
So they continued their evening as though nothing had happened.
And after that, Ness never brought up marriage again. Not even once as a joke.
Kaiser didn't mind.
In fact, he preferred it.
The subject disappeared.
So did the problem.
Or so he thought.
---
A few months later, Kaiser had a strange dream.
He couldn't, nor want to, remember most of it. Not properly. Dreams were like that. Always like that.
Fragments stitched together without logic. A place he couldn't identify. A warmth he couldn't explain. Someone sitting beside him. A hand moving slowly through his hair. The touch was strangely gentle. Almost reverent. As though Kaiser were something fragile. That alone was absurd enough to make him want to wake up. He won't allow it if he's truly awake.
But he couldn't.
He couldn't see the person's face. Every time he tried, there was only a blur. A shape. A familiar presence without a name. For a fleeting moment, he almost thought his mother had found her way back to him. Back to them. Perhaps regretting leaving him and his shitty excuse of a father. But even that sounded impossible, even for a dream.
Yet somehow, impossibly, Kaiser knew them. Not his mother. But he knew this person.
Maybe not their face. He can't see it. Or remember it.
Not their voice. He barely hear anything in his sleepy jumbled mind. He's always been bad at waking up in the morning after all.
But something deeper.
Something instinctive.
Something that made his chest ache with a feeling he couldn't place.
The person spoke.
"Mi- Kaiser...."
The voice sounded distant.
Broken by something he couldn't understand.
“I'm getting married…”
Kaiser tried to move.
Couldn't.
The hand continued stroking his hair.
“My parents…”
The words blurred.
“They're marrying me with someone.”
There was sadness in the voice.
Fear.
But underneath it was something else.
Something almost apologetic.
“They say it's for the best.”
Kaiser wanted to ask who.
He wanted to demand an explanation.
But the dream wouldn't let him.
The voice continued.
“They're trying to fix me again.”
A pause.
“Telling me my dream is impossible.”
Another pause.
Then, softer—
“But I know it is.”
The hand in his hair tightened slightly.
“You showed me what I believe in is right.”
Kaiser couldn't understand.
Didn't know what this person was talking about.
And yet some part of him wanted to reach out.
Wanted to keep them there.
Wanted—
“I'll come back.”
The voice was barely a whisper.
“I promise that.”
Then Kaiser woke.
He stared at the ceiling.
For several seconds, he didn't move.
His breathing was steady.
His room was quiet.
Morning light spilled weakly through the curtains.
His hair is messed up as always. Sticking everywhere that has nothing to do with gravity.
Nothing was wrong.
Nothing had happened.
Just a stupid dream.
Kaiser rubbed his face and sat up.
His hair was sticking everywhere. Again. Annoying. He thought about cutting it short. But against it like any other day before.
His throat was dry. He needs water. Maybe milk. Even though he hates the color milk shows him.
But today... For some reason, his chest felt strangely heavy. Maybe that's why he's feeling for something he doesn't usually have preferred...
He frowned.
Pathetic.
He didn't have time to be disturbed by dreams. Or think about milk. Or soft hands in his hair. Or voice calling for him.
He had training.
So he got dressed. Albeit reluctantly. Everyone knows by now how much of a disaster he is in the morning.
Then left his room.
He never noticed that his dormitory door had been left slightly ajar from night before. Not by him.
---
At training, something felt wrong.
Kaiser couldn't immediately identify what it was.
The pitch was the same.
The weather was fine.
His body felt sharp.
His shots were clean.
Everything was normal.
Except—
“Kaiser.”
He looked toward the coach.
“Ness is taking a few days off.”
Kaiser stopped.
“What?”
“Family matters.”
The coach shrugged.
“He'll be back when it's sorted.”
Kaiser stared at him.
“Ness?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Family matters.”
“I heard you the first time.”
The coach gave him a look.
“Then stop asking.”
Kaiser clicked his tongue.
Ridiculous.
Ness hadn't mentioned anything.
Not last night.
Not this morning. In fact he hasn't come to bother him yet this morning. Kaiser should has noticed how weird it is but the dream last night-
No.
Kaiser stopped himself.
Why would Ness need to tell him? It wasn't as though Kaiser was responsible for his schedule. Ness was an adult. He could handle his own family.
So Kaiser nodded, reluctantly. His disgruntled look didn't get past anyone. If something Kaiser is transparent about, it's always his displeasure.
“Fine.”
And that was that.
Except it wasn't. Because for the first time in years, there was nobody beside him. Nobody carrying the spare equipment. Nobody reminding him about the schedule. Nobody quietly complaining when Kaiser skipped a meal. Nobody hovering nearby with that irritatingly devoted expression. Nobody saying his name every five minutes.
Nobody.
The silence was supposed to be pleasant. Kaiser had wanted peace. He had always said he wanted peace. So he can focus more on being best. No pest buzzing around him. He should be relieved.
So why was it irritating?
---
The next day he's fine. He told himself that. Everyone else believed otherwise.
By the second day, he was snapping at people.
By the third, he was playing more aggressively than necessary.
No one know what to do with it. All they can do was endure the emperor's wrath until the royal knight arrived back to save them. And even then, no one know when Ness will be back. Not even the emperor himself.
By the fourth, even his teammates had apparently slowly losing the endurance battle.
Then there's a gossip going around. Something apparently hot enough that they're huddling together like a flock of seagulls finding leftover bread by the shore. Those idiots never put more than two braincells into football and somehow a random gossip took more from them. Pathetic.
“What?” Kaiser finally barked.
The room went quiet.
Several players looked away. Slowly the crowd dispersed.
One of them coughed.
“Nothing.”
“Then stop fucking acting like school girls sharing gossips. Get ready for practice, fucking useless.”
“... We're not” "We're just..."
They try to explain their selves. But their inability to form a simple full sentence is already drilling into Kaiser's non-existent patience.
“You were.”
“No, we weren't...”
Kaiser narrowed his eyes.
"Then what are you idiots are looking at?"
They were hiding something.
Idiots.
All of them.
He could practically smell the gossip. Something stupid enough that makes all of them simultaneously avoid his eyes. Damn headless chickens...
“Say it.”
He growls out. Yet nobody answered.
Kaiser stood.
"Say it."
He repeats. Slower, lower. Dangerous this time. Each of them gulps and exchanged glances with one another.
Then, reluctantly, someone reached for the tablet. The very source of the gossip.
“You haven't heard?”
“Heard what?”
Kaiser growls again. He hates being the last one to know things. To be kept in the dark when he's the one keeping everyone on this team moving. When he's the only reason why Bastard Munchen even functioning.
The player turned the screen toward him.
A news article was open.
Kaiser glanced at it. Taking the tablet harshly.
Then frowned.
The headline was in bold.
For a moment, his brain didn't process the words.
His eyes moved over them once.
Twice.
His expression changed.
Very slightly. To him. To everyone present, it was catastrophic. He went from being livid to stunned. Enough for the room to go completely silent.
The article was about Alexis Ness.
About his family.
About a private announcement that had apparently been made several days ago.
About a ceremony that was already being prepared.
About—
Kaiser's eyes stopped.
He read the headline again.
Then once more.
His fingers slowly tightened around the edge of the tablet. His impressive grip nearly made the device creak before he caught himself.
No.
That... This... This couldn't be right.
He looked down at the screen.
Then back at his teammates.
Nobody was laughing anymore.
Nobody looked amused.
They were watching him carefully.
Almost cautiously.
Kaiser swallowed.
The room suddenly felt too quiet.
His mind went back, unwillingly, to a few months ago.
Do you ever think of marrying someone?
And his own voice.
Love is distracting.
I have no time for that.
Kaiser stared at the screen again.
The headline remained unchanged.
Alexis Ness was getting married.
And for the first time in a very long while, Michael Kaiser had absolutely no idea what to say.