Chapter Text
—- —- 1) To insure you his property gets sleep before an important match —- —-
Budum
Budum
Budum
No matter what Nanase did he couldn’t stop his heart or mind from racing. He hadn’t been sleeping well the past couple of nights but at least he could fall asleep. With every beat of his heart Nanase was overwhelmed with a singular thought.
What if I don’t make it on the U20 team?
He tried and tried to ignore the possibility but it was hard to disprove a notion that was so far true. He could hope and pray all he liked but he never cracked the top 23 in any of the rankings. The closest he got was his current rank 24. If he didn’t play better than he’s played in all of the NEL he could kiss all the months of Blue Lock and years of soccer training goodbye.
“Rin, are ya awake?” Nanasae asked Rin fully expecting him to either already be asleep or just straight up ignore him. Rin replied in an annoyed tone “What do you want this time Bumpkin?” Nanasae hesitantly responded “How do ya fall asleep when ya nervous ‘bout a game?” Rin asserted “I don’t get nervous before games.”
After a brief moment of silence Rin ordered “Come here.” Nanasae asked “Why is standing at da foot of ya bed gonna help me?” Rin turned over and tapped the spot in front of him and ordered again “Come here.” Nanasae walked over to sit on Rin’s bed. Rin commanded “Put your back to me.”
When Nanasae did as he was told, he felt a strong pair of arms gently wrap around him and a faint breath on the nape of his neck. Even though his heart rate wasn’t slowing down nearly fast enough, he found paying attention to the rate at which Rin’s heart rate and breathing were slowing down to be quite comforting.
Whenever he thought Rin was finally asleep, he felt a gentle grip on his hand. Rin whispered in Nanasae’s ear “You will qualify for the U20 World Cup because you’re MY property.” Nanasae couldn’t help but to smile and thank Rin. Luckily for Nanase, that one bit of encouragement was just enough to calm his nerves enough to sleep.
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—- —- 2) When he has to play on the same team as his brother —- —-
The hatred for the concept of Buratsuda 3 was one of the few things the whole U20 team could agree on. However, that hatred did not apply to the idea of playing on a team with Sae Itoshi. Having another strategist and all rounder midfielder was something that was seen as a net positive for the team. At least that was the majority sentiment.
Rin detested the idea that he would ever have to play on the same team as his brother ever again. He even went as far as to tell Ego not to play him in the Spain game. Ego said “Rin, I will accept your choice to not play in the Spain game under one condition. You will not be touching the pitch for the whole two days I have allotted for Sae formations.” Rin agreed “deal”
The first day was surprisingly productive for Rin. As soon as his anger about the mere sight of his brother somewhat settled down, he found viewing his team from an outsider's perspective quite useful. Ego fed into this by asking him questions like “What should I tell him about the play that he made?” and “What would you have done differently in his shoes?”
The second day, however, was a different story. It was Isagi teams day. Seeing Isagi not just effortlessly adapting to Sae’s play style but challenging him, made Rin go mad. Isagi ordered Sae “Stop silently staring into our souls and tell us what’s on your mind.” Sae replied “If I did that we’d be here all day. If you insist I’ll give you my thoughts on this play.” Sae then proceeded to thoroughly dig into all 22 players on that pitch for 10 minutes before Ego cut him off “This is not the time for long lectures. It’s time for soccer. We don’t have all day.”
Something about Isagi getting his brother mildly fired up was the last straw. Rin turned to Ego with all encompassing determination in his eyes and demanded “Put me on that pitch right now.” Ego responded “If I put you on that pitch you’re going to be playing against Spain.” Rin insisted “If that’s what it takes then I’ll crush Spain with my own two hands.” Ego replied “That’s what I thought you would say.”
At lunch that day, Chigiri got a notification from his phone reading “delayed start tomorrow at noon”. Chigiri took a long dramatic sigh and said to Isagi, Bachira and Reo “We have a noon delayed start tomorrow.” Bachira responded “Yay!” Chigiri clarified “That means we’re probably gonna play into the wee hours of the night.” Bachira responded “Yay! Hopefully we get to play outside.”
Reo said “Honestly I’d like a morning off.” Chigiri responded “I would too but I don’t think my knee will like playing too many hours in the same day.” Bachira responded “Oh yeah, I forgot about that.” Nanasae walked up to the table as Isagi wore a maniacal smile and commented “So he finally broke.” Nanasae jumped slightly and let out a slight “eek” before quickly stabilizing his lunch tray. Nanase said “Ya gotta stop sayin’ creepy stuff like dat when I approach da table wit food.”
Isagi apologized “I’m sorry I wasn’t trying to scare you. I just get in my head sometimes.” Chigiri asked “What do you mean he finally broke?” Isagi responded “I’m pretty sure Rin finally got tired of sitting on the sidelines and is finally gonna play with his brother.” Reo added “That would explain why practice today is getting extended. I had a theory that the reason why Ego allotted only 2 days for Spain training is because Sae could only fit 2 days into his schedule to play with us. This further proves my theory.”
Isagi’s theory was quickly proven true whenever Rin was center forward in the afternoon formation. Isagi teased Rin from the other side of the pitch “Welcome back, Genius.” Rin scoffed at him and ordered “Shut up wannabe demon king. If I were you I’d be preparing to get your ass beat.” Isagi replied “In your dreams.”
The chemistry between Sae and Rin was just as predicted, extraordinary in the most dysfunctional way possible. Sae took Isagi’s and Ego’s advice in the most toxic way possible, by giving some pointers to his other teammates and opponents while absolutely tearing into every single play Rin made.
After Nanase assisted Rin with a goal he celebrated with a small “Yay” and a small pull down of his fist. Before Nanase could congratulate Rin with his goal, Sae scolded “Number 17 (Nanasae’s number) you need to stop relying so much on making eye contact with Rin whenever linking up with him. Skilled defenders can pick up on that. Try to instinctively follow him so you can limit your eye contact.” Nanasae nodded and thanked Sae “Thank ya fa tellin’ me. I’ll work on it...”
Before Nanasae even finished Sae had glared at Rin and rhetorically asked “Now you, where do I begin?” Rin snarkily replied “calling me by my name is a good start.” Sae ignored him and continued his lecture “Your defense was extremely sloppy. It was too hyper focused on Isagi that you didn’t notice the opportunity that I had to utilize to gain possession. Your positioning wasn’t terrible if the blue haired one was the midfielder but the pass you made me give to you was an insult to my talent as a midfielder. Don’t get me started with that shot. It was way too risky and it was just an excuse to prove yourself in front of me.”
Rin responded with a nonchalant “Kay.” However, it was obvious Rin was anything but nonchalant. Getting torn into bits after every single play was hard enough for any player to handle but especially when that brutal criticism came from the family member that the player claimed to hate.
After a couple of plays Aiku asked Ego “Sae is going too far don’t you think?” Ego responded “Probably, but this is what Rin needs to grow. He’s a very extrinsically motivated player. Everything he does traces back to what his brother thinks or what he thinks brother thinks. Even his goal of beating Isagi is tied to that goal because he sees Isagi as a benchmark to beating his brother due to Sae’s newfound interest in Isagi.” Aiku responded “I see. I’ll try to stay out of it then.”
Almost everyone didn’t stop playing practice matches until 10:30 PM. Chigiri and Yukimiya were the only two players that got out of the last formation because Ego didn’t want to risk putting too much strain on their previous conditions. Bachira asked everybody “You all want to tell ghost stories and play games on the outdoor field.” Shidou responded “Fuck yeah! I’m game! Sae you should join us!” Sae coldly responded “I’d rather kill myself and I have an 8 AM flight to Madrid tomorrow.”
Isagi replied “That sounds super fun, but I don’t have any ghost stories.” Karasu assured him “Don’t worry I have enough to go around.” Chigiri responded “I’d love to but because I missed night practice, I don’t get the delayed start.” Reo wished “Good night Chigiri. I’ll make sure to come in quietly to not wake you.” Chigiri thanked Reo.
Nanase asked Rin “Is it ok if I go hang out wit dem a bit?” Rin answered “Do whatever you want.” Nanasae said “I just wanted ta make sure ‘cause I didn’t wanna wake ya…and…” Rin cut him off “I’m fine. It’s not the job of property to care for his master.” Nanasae smiled and replied “Ok lemme know if there’s anythin’ I can do fa ya.” Rin looked away with a slight blush and responded “kay.”
Nanase only made it to about 12:30 till his body was too tired to continue. He crept in only to notice that the lamp light was on and Rin was still awake. “I’m back” Nanasae announced as he awkwardly shifted back to his normal posture. Rin commanded “come here.” Nanasae complied with the order and asked “Are ya ok Rin? I’ve neva seen ya up dis late.” Rin ordered “Shut up.”
The difference between his current situation and the night before the U20 game was like night and day. Rin gripped Nanase with so much force that Nanase almost cried from the pain. Rin’s heart rate and breaths took what seemed like forever to slow down. Rin’s grip took even longer to fully loosen. It was truly a miracle Nanasae was able to get any sleep that night.
Beep
Beep!
BEEP!
The sound of Nanasae’s alarm rang through the room as Nanasae slowly mustered up the energy to turn off the alarm. He laid in bed for a bit longer until Rin ordered “Get up you Bumpkin. You’re going to be late for practice.” That was the push Nanasae needed to sit up. After a couple minutes of dissociating and a couple of glares from Rin, he finally started to get ready.
Whenever he took off his shirt, he realized the true extent of how badly Rin had squeezed him last night. He was covered in multiple long bruises. Nanasae was not the only one to notice. Rin ordered in a more stern voice than usual “What the hell happened?” Nanasae immediately averted Rin’s gaze and shyly admitted “Well ya see…last night…” Rin cut him off “spit it out already.” Nanasae continued “ya kinda squeezed me a little ta hard.”
Rin asked “Why didn’t you say anything?” Nanasae responded “Cause ya told me not ta say anythin.” Rin sighed and defended himself then ordered “That’s not what I meant when I said that. Come here.” Whenever Nanasae complied, Rin pulled up his shirt and told him “Let me look at it.” Nanasae blushed a bit and responded “ok”
Rin stared for quite a long time until he started to run his fingers along Nanasae’s bare chest. Rin ordered “Tell me when it hurts.” Nanasae responded “Got it.” At first Nanase felt a little bit ticklish and nervous but things slowly started to change. He started to notice how smooth Rin’s fingers were gliding across his skin and how warm his breath felt against his chest.
Nanase slowly covered his face with his shirt as his thoughts started to places it had never been around any one let alone Rin. He thought ‘Why does this kinda feel good ‘n why am I startin’ ta feel so…hot inside.” Whenever Rin started to press with more force, he had to bite his lip because he knew the noises that would come out of his mouth wouldn’t come from pain.
After what felt like a confusing horny eternity, Rin finally stopped and commented “You didn’t say anything,” Nanasae responded “It hurt a bit but it wasn’t too bad.” Rin said “If you say so. Just be careful about questions you might get in the locker rooms.” Rin’s tone turned threatening as continued “What happens in this room stays in this room. Got it.” Nanasae immediately replied “Of course. I won’t tell a soul. I’ll say I was tryin’ some new things in solo practice.”
After the bruising incident Nanasae and Rin didn’t do anything that would be considered beyond platonic. That was until after the U20 World Cup where they both ended up playing on the same pro team and living in the same apartment…