Chapter Text
Isagi panted heavily, sweat trickling its way down the side of his face. “Is that all you’ve got?” he breathed, his eyes locking onto the teal ones in front of him.
A smirk. “You think you can handle more, Isagi?”
Isagi’s eyes darkened at the challenge. “Definitely.”
Rin didn’t hesitate, just surged forward with ferocious intensity. One moment, Isagi was carefully tracking his movements, trying to predict his next move. The next moment, he was just… gone. Isagi gritted his teeth and spun on his heels. Rin tore down the pitch, dribbling the soccer ball effortlessly as he went. With a frustrated grunt, Isagi took up the chase, his cleats tearing up the dirt beneath him as he pushed his muscles to move harder, faster. But he was already too far behind…
Rin kicked the ball with such intense power; it seemed to almost disappear for a moment before it crashed violently into the goal netting. Isagi watched with a tinge of awe, but mostly straight disbelief.
Rin turned back towards him; a confident smirk plastered onto his face. He pulled the collar of his shirt up, wiping at the sweat-dampened skin of his face. “Too slow, Isagi,” he taunted.
Isagi huffed in defeat, leaned his hands on his knees and hanged his head, letting the sweat drip from his nose and into the grass. “You’re a monster, Rin,” he breathed, catching his breath and trying to slow his erratic pulse.
An impressed whistle sounded from beside them. “Not bad, Mr. Number One,” Kaiser Michael sauntered towards them, bringing his hands together in a slow clap, “Almost good enough to give me a challenge.”
Rin’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Anytime, Kaiser. Or maybe you haven’t challenged me yet because you know you’d lose.”
Kaiser pointedly ignored Rin and swaggered over to Isagi, draping his arm over the player’s sweaty frame. “And you, Yo-i-chi,” he sung the name, “Why don’t you come play with me instead. You’re wasting your talents with him.”
Isagi gritted his teeth and shrugged off the other striker. “Shut up, Kaiser. You always have so much to say, yet none of it means anything.”
Kaiser grasped at his shirt over his heart dramatically. “Oh!” he wailed, “How you wound me, my dear Yoichi!”
“Fuck off, Kaiser,” Rin growls, heading over to the bench.
Isagi rolls his eyes and follows Rin, reaching for a towel and pulling it down over his head. But Kaiser isn’t done toying with Isagi. As Isagi grabs his water bottle and tips the drink into his mouth, Kaiser is there again, slinging his arm over his shoulders, effectively caging him in once more. It shouldn’t bother Isagi at this stage, but it does. His shoulders tense and he feels unease curl in his abdomen.
“Don’t be like that, my little Yoichi,” he purrs in his ear, “I just wanna play a little.”
Isagi turns to glare at the other striker but finds his face just inches from his own. The intensity of Kaiser’s stare boring into him makes his pulse jump again, his breath hitching in his throat.
“Don’t you wanna play with me?” Kaiser says, his breath warm against Isagi’s cheek, his eyes darkening.
“For God’s sake, leave him alone,” Rin huffs, throwing Kaiser’s arm from Isagi.
Isagi shakes his head, breaking himself out of his paralysis. He follows Rin as he stalks away towards the locker room. He doesn’t see the simmering rage in Rin’s eyes as he marches away. He also doesn’t see the hunger in Kaiser’s as he watches the two of them go, the thrill of the chase lighting up his features.
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In the locker room, Isagi peels his jersey over his head, throwing it into his locker with a sigh, leaving his chest bare.
“Yo, Yo-chan~!” Isagi turns as Bachira skips over, placing his hands on Isagi’s shoulders and jumping, his whole weight rocking Isagi.
“Meguru,” Isagi acknowledges, “You stayed late after practice too?”
Rin, on the other side of the locker room, scoffs.
Isagi and Bachira glance at him once. What’s his problem?
But they both turn their attention away. Rin being Rin. The thought crosses both their minds and they exchange a knowing grin.
“ANYWAYS,” Bachira continues, grinning from ear to ear, “You wanna come over tonight? There’s this new movie that I’ve been wanting to watch but it’s a horror and I don’t wanna be alone!”
Isagi chuckles lightly. “You’re an adult, Meguru. Surely you can watch a horror movie on your own.”
The other striker pouts, his eyes widening. “No way,” he says, his voice breathy, “I definitely need you there.”
Rin stalks over and puts an arm between the two other players, his palm leaning against the door of Isagi’s lockers. “Take the hint, weirdo,” Rin snarls, “Isagi is busy tonight.”
Bachira’s pout disappears, replaced with an emotion close to… was that annoyance? He let’s out an indistinct grumble and retreats. “Whatever. See you tomorrow, Yo-chan!”
With that, Bachira sulks out of the locker room, taking his bag with him.
“Rin,” Isagi sighs, “What was that for? I don’t have any plans tonight.”
Rin stared down at Isagi, anger still simmering in his eyes. “I don’t care.” He huffed and pushed off the locker, retreating to his bag of things and packing up.
Stepping out of the training facility, Isagi takes in a deep breath of fresh air. Rin is still stuck to his side which Isagi found… unnerving. He would usually part ways with Isagi by now when they stayed back to practice. His closeness had a shiver of anxiety running down Isagi’s spine.
“Hey, Isagi!” A voice called. Off to the side of the parking lot, under a streetlight stood Reo, waving him over. Next to him, perched on a pathway railing was Nagi, tapping away on his phone. Isagi lifted his hand to wave at the pair and stepped forward to greet them.
As he moved to take a step away, a hand grasped his collar, tugging him in the opposite direction. “Rin!?” Isagi gasped as he tripped backwards, his back hitting Rin’s chest.
“Are you always this popular?” Rin scowled, “Come on, let’s just go.”
“Uhh,” Isagi stammered, “Where are we going?”
“Somewhere else.”
Ok… Isagi thought to himself… This is weird.
He reluctantly followed Rin across the parking lot, throwing an apologetic wave back to Reo and Nagi. He didn’t see the twitch of annoyance in Reo’s eyes, or the way Nagi lowered his phone to glare at the back of Rin’s head as he herded Isagi away. The pair exchanged a knowing look.
Isagi and Rin walked together in silence, Isagi slightly confused by the way the evening was unfolding. He subconsciously started walking in the direction of his apartment but couldn’t help but wonder why Rin was blindly following him.
“Uh, Rin?” He finally spoke, “What are you doing?”
Rin paused and turned his head to lock Isagi in place with a cold stare. “I-“
A sharp ringing noise pierced through the air and Isagi swore. Flustered, he dug into his pocket and pulled out his ringing phone. He answered it in a hurry, not taking note of the caller ID. “Hello?”
“Isaaaaagiiiii,” A voice drawled through the other end of the line, the familiar lull of alcohol slurring their words. There was the distinct clatter of glasses in the background, the steady thumping of music and the low undercurrent of voices murmuring around the person on the other side of the call, “Where are yo-oouuuuu?”
“Uhh, who is this?” Isagi muttered back. The voice was familiar…
“HAH? You don’t have my number saved?!”
“Uhhh…” Isagi panicked and brought the phone away from his ear as he checked the caller ID. “Oh,” he sighed in recognition and brought the phone back to his ear, “Chigiri. Why didn’t you just say so.”4
Rin glared pointedly at Isagi, gesturing for him to hang up.
There was a faint shuffling on the other end of the call, and a new voice floated through the speaker. “Isagi,” Kunigami’s voice came through, much more composed than the obviously intoxicated Chigiri. “I thought you would be at this party tonight. Where are you?”
“Oh,” Isagi checked the date on his smartwatch, “I totally forgot about that, I’m sorry. Tell Naruhaya happy birthday for me. I, er…”
Rin snatched the phone away from Isagi and lifted it to his ear. “He’s busy,” he muttered, “Stop trying to weasel your way into his life. It’s pathetic.”
With those cruel words, Rin hung up the phone and threw it back at Isagi. Isagi caught the phone clumsily and gaped at Rin. “R-Rin!” he gasped, “You can’t say that! They’re my friends…”
“Tch,” Rin huffed, “They aren’t your friends, Isagi. They’re only after their own goals.”
Isagi just gaped at Rin, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to figure out what to say. “Y-you…”
Rin just rolled his eyes and kept walking. “Are you coming?”
Isagi hesitated for a moment but eventually fell back into step with Rin. The silence continued, and Isagi fiddled with the buttons on his collar nervously. After a while, Isagi finally scrounged up the courage to speak. “Rin – what are you doing?”
Rin slid his eyes to Isagi, no hints or emotions in his gaze. “We’re here,” is all he said.
“H-here? Where?” Isagi looked around, realising with a start that we were at his apartment building.
“Goodnight, Isagi,” Rin said shortly, turning on his heel and walking back the way they had come.
“W-wait!” Isagi called, but Rin seemingly ignored him and kept walking until his figure was nothing more than a shadow in the dimly lit streets.
Shaking his head with confusion, Isagi reluctantly headed inside his building. He didn’t know what had gotten into Rin, but he resigned himself to having to ask him at practice tomorrow.
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24 hours earlier, in the Blue Lock training facility locker room…
“I’m just saying,” Bachira chirped happily as he pulled on his street clothes, “None of you understand how perfectly in-sync me and Yo-chan are. Have you seen our passes? We would be unstoppable together.” He sighed happily, imagining a distant future where he walked hand-in-hand with his Yo-Chan.
Isagi had left practice on time for once, leaving everyone a little confused, but eager to talk about their beloved striker without worrying about him overhearing them.
Chigiri huffed in annoyance. “Isagi needs someone who can keep up with him physically.”
Kunigami scoffed, “And you think that’s you?”
Chigiri’s cheeks turned a light pink. “Obviously! His spatial awareness and my unmatchable speed make the perfect combination.”
“What a hassle…” Nagi droned from the corner of the locker room, absent-mindedly tapping away at his phone. “My abilities are more suited to his playstyle.”
“Besides,” Reo chimed in, “Why would he settle for one of you when he could have me and Nagi?”
There was an outburst of rage as everyone retaliated to the heated suggestion.
A low chuckle, scarily calm, cut through the chaos of the room. All eyes turned to Kaiser, who leant against his locker with a distinct cocky aura swirling around him. “It’s cute how any of you think you have enough game to pull Yoichi.”
He was met with icy stares of annoyance at his comment – not just from the arguing group, either. He felt the weight of Karasu’s dark stare, Otoya’s cold eyes not hidden by a casual smile. Even Barou had frozen and watched the German player with a menacing eye.
“Now, now,” A light voice of reason cut through the tension in the room. Yukimiya held up his hands in a peace-promoting gesture, “There’s no need for everyone to be so heated. I, for one, think it’s lovely how much you all seem to care for our talented Isagi-kun, and-“
“Oh, shut up,” Kaiser drawled, “I don’t care about Yoichi. I want to own him.” A devilish smirk dominated his face as he said the words.
Yukimiya’s face fell, but he seemed to be at a loss as to what to say in response.
“And that’s exactly why he’ll never fall for you,” Came a smaller, yet firm voice. Hiori fixed Kaiser with a challenging gaze.
“HAH?” Kaiser roared, taking a menacing step towards the blue-haired player, “What did you just say to me?”
“He’s right,” Chigiri butted in, “You act like you’re some kind of sex God, but you don’t know the first thing about Isagi, and it shows. You’d never stand a chance.”
A vein ticked on Kaiser’s forehead as he worked to maintain his composure. “I guess we’ll see then, Princess. I’ll show you all how it’s done – just watch and cry yourselves to sleep as I make Isagi my personal whore.”
At that, shouts and disputes rang out throughout the room. “I’ll be the one to win over Isagi, you pompous German asshole!” Chigiri seethed.
“Isagi belongs with me – I’ve always been his best friend!” Bachira whined.
“You guys don’t stand a chance if Nagi and I played seriously,” Reo fumed.
“Isagi would objectively look the best as my personal pillow,” Nagi sighed, his phone discarded on the bench beside him.
“You’re all delusional,” Kunigami muttered.
“You’re all disgusting,” Karasu muttered, earning him an elbow to the ribs from Otoya.
“Come on, Assassin,” Otoya smirked, “As if you haven’t thought about it.” Karasu’s cheeks turned a bright red and he broke eye contact with his Ninja counterpart.
“Shut up.”
Rin watched the display from the other players, something cold and furious taking root in his gut. He made no external declarations, but internally he thought to himself, I’ll never let any of them touch you, Isagi.