Chapter Text
The day was almost over, sun setting and getting dimmer as it disappears over the horizon. Isagi and his teammates found themselves at a mini training camp, which was more like a field trip considering the unseriousness of most of his comrades, but Isagi still worked himself to the bone. He had an unexplainable passion for soccer, though he knew there was very little chance of going professional he still held his hopes high!
After staying to practice on his own, he left Field B and strayed to the changing rooms- he, however, had not quite figured out where they could be. He quickened his pace as he heard strained breaths and the somewhat familiar sound of footballs slamming into the net in Field A, wondering if he could inquire this guy where the damn changing rooms could be.
Instead, a boy with something between deep olive green and black hair entered his peripheral. Isagi couldn’t tell if he was older or younger than himself at first glance, but his form was utter perfection as he launched an effortless gyro shot towards the nett that looked like it would give out any minute due to the sheer force used to collide the ball into it.
His posture is nothing short of flawless and that shot… maybe I want to play for a few minutes longer.
As soon as Isagi set foot on the pitch the other boy swung his head round like an owl as Isagi approached him but his stature still stood tall. As Isagi got closer the other boys face became clearer to him, making it more obvious the boy was younger than him but the boy stood near a similar height as him- perhaps a centimetre or two taller.
“Hello?” The younger boy had a soothing voice and held a neutral face that peeked a slight bit of curiosity.
Isagi already forgotten what he was going to question the boy on as he looked at his face.
His jaw is both soft and sharp just like his nose, but his eyes feel like they could pierce through my soul. The colour is so intense the cerulean blue edging on turquoise looks even stronger when surrounded by the long eyelashes framing his eyes, oh god his eyelashes, his bottom-lashes had to be one of his best features if not his soft pink lips… WHAT AM I THINKING.
Isagi snaps his head from his thoughts on the other boys beauty suddenly remembering one of the reasons he seeked out the boy.
“HELLO,” God Isagi why are you yelling you sound stupid, he thought looking at the face of the other boy who seemed quite taken aback by his sudden outburst, “I’m Isagi Yoichi and I’m currently here with Ichinan High from Saitama on training and… I WAS WONDERING IF YOU COULD TEACH ME THAT COOL SHOT YOU DID JUST NOW!”
More shouting… really Isagi?
The other boy scanned his frame with a glint of hesitation, but after zeroing in on his football boots, “Oh. You play football too?” The boy seemed like he was holding back a smile in the new found information of another person wanting to play with him, “I’ll show you how to do it but I can’t promise you’ll learn it so easily! After all my awesome nii-chan taught me it.” He said with admiration clear in his voice.
“THANK YOU!” Isagi bowed slightly after hearing the boys words affirming his appreciation, “May I ask your name?” He relayed awkwardly after realising he had no way to address the (presumably younger) boy.
The boy’s eyes gleamed slightly meeting Isagi’s eyes with his own beautiful turquoise ones, “My name is Itoshi Rin, but you can just call me Rin. I’m in middle school… my third year.”
AH! I WAS RIGHT! Jeez I take too much pride in guessing one person is younger than me…
“I’m in my first year of highschool.” Isagi specified meeting the Rin’s carefree smile with his own wider one, pointing at his Ichinan football uniform .
Hm, Itoshi sounds familiar… do I know him from somewhere? Isagi let his thoughts wonder momentarily, Nah I’d definitely remember someone like him.
For the next hour they continuously played football, Isagi admired the sheer skill of the boy a year younger than himself, hoping this day would never end. That neither would need to leave. Unfortunately their bliss was broken by one of Isagi’s teammates retrieving him as it was nearing eight o’clock, lights out. Before leaving Isagi wanted to ask Rin for his number to be able to communicate with the young prodigy after this training camp was over with, but realised he didn’t bring his phone with him when leaving for extra practice. So he casually walked to Rin to ask for his phone.
”Oi, Rin!” Isagi offhandedly yelled to him.
Rin’s eyes immediately moved towards him as he continued packing his sprawled out equipment into his bag, “Yes Isagi-san?”
”Could I borrow your phone for a second?” Isagi asked, a warm smile on his face.
Quickly, Rin rummaged his bag for his phone finding it after ten seconds, “Here Isagi-san!”
Isagi’s nimble fingers typed his number as a new contact, simply naming it Isagi, then handing the phone back to the curious owner, “It’s my number! Be sure to text me later. Also, as cute as I find it, you can drop the san… it feels too formal.”
”Oh.” Rin muttered as a light red took over his cheeks and looked up to see the his new friends walking away, “I’LL BE SURE TO TEXT YOU THEN ISAGI!”
Only when he was too far from Rin did he remember he did not ask where the locker rooms are.
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For the remainder of Isagi’s short stay he would often find himself going to Field A to see if Rin was there, he was most days of the week- if not all of them.
So on his last day he spent the maximum time he could on the field with Rin. Although, they exchanged numbers and already had quite a decent text chain, Isagi’s hometown, Saitama, was around 1 hour 30 minutes by car to get here, where Rin lives in Kamakura City. So you better believe Isagi was milking every minute he could get with this fellow soccer freak.
He and Rin were laying on the AstroTurf admiring the vast amount of clouds after many hardcore rounds of football when he told Rin this was his last day and he was to be leaving early next morning, Rin looked at him with something close to sadness, “Sorry, Rin, but we can always talk on the phone. And I promise to try and visit!”
Rin averted his gaze as he looked like he was about to confess his biggest sin, which was really his greatest sadness, “It’s not that… well it sort of is.” Isagi looked at him as if wanting him to elaborate but not wanting to push him into telling him, afraid of pushing the dark-green haired boy away. “I mean, you remember how I told you my brother taught me that totally awesome move right?”
Isagi peered at him with slight confusion but slowly nodded, “Well he left to Spain a while ago to pursue his football dream further, and I’m like really proud of him, after all he’s a step closer to fulfilling our dream!” Rin’s giddy smile died down almost immediately, “But, I don’t know. I guess I feel kinda lonely. He was kinda my only friend… other people don’t like me too much, maybe because I focus on football too much? I mean my school team gets on with me well but now brother’s gone it’s hard to speak with them. Anyway, you were kinda my only real friend I guess even if it’s only temporary.”
“Don’t worry Rin, I’ll always be your friend!” Isagi rolls over while speaking, wrapping his arms around the others waist for a quick yet comforting hug, as quick as it was Rin seemed to miss the touch, rolling to the side so he can place his head on the others shoulder once he straightens out. They both lay in comfortable silence with red dusting their faces, awakening new feelings forgetting about anything and everything else until Isagi picked up his bags and bid his farewell to Rin as he paced back to his teammate who came to retrieve him. As he, once again, lost track of time with Rin.
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It had been a while since Rin and Isagi had last met, something over three months and they had kept in constant contact. Isagi would often facetime Rin just to check in on him and keep him company, not out of pity but because he was concerned for him- he found out from Rin on an earlier call that his father travelled for work and his mother worked until late leaving him alone at home or on the soccer field. Concern wasn’t the only reason, alternatively, he enjoyed spending time with him, they had a lot in common as they both enjoyed soccer. Well that’s all they really enjoyed that they had in common but it was enough to convince the both of them they could be in each others company for a lifetime.
He recently learnt that Rin was a fan of horror so they sat in a slight silence watching a horror movie as Rin shared his screen so they could watch it together. Suddenly, Rin paused the movie, alerting Isagi’s attention, “Rin? What is it?”
”Um…” Rin shifted his gaze to the left and hesitated before continuing, “Well my father is going to a business meeting in Saitama and I’ll be going with my mother to see a relative in the break… so could I…”
As Rin trailed off his sentence Isagi took over, finishing his thought after chuckling at the flustered boy, “So you would like to come to my place?”
Rin immediately flared up further and looked straight to the camera with dialated eyes, “Only if I’m not a bother-“
”YOU WON’T BE AN INCONVENIENCE RIN! Plus my mum is would love to meet you. After all, we’ve been talking very often Rin.” His face morphed into a soft smile, ensuring Rin he was welcome in the house, “When is your break?”
”Next week…” Rin tried his best to look straight at the boy but felt an air of awkwardness around him- quickly dispersing when he sees Isagi’s comforting smile. While Isagi looked confident, he was somewhat panicking.
Rin is coming next week… and I may or may not have the biggest crush on him, so lame! I mean it would be criminal not to like a boy like that; his perfect eyes framed with those long under-lashes and soft, plump lips that trembled when he was nervous, not to mention his dark seaweed hair which framed his head while looking too soft and silky to be real. Ok he has a HUGE crush on him, so sue him, but Rin is just unexplainably perfect.
To alert Isagi, Rin let out a small cough and tilted his gaze down ans Isagi spaced out, “I need your address…?”
”SORRY RIN, of course you do…” Isagi trailed off as he hurriedly equipped his phone and his fingers nimbly typed his address to the other boy after clicking his contact, Isagi looked back up to Rin’s face on his screen displaying a warm, fond smile as he observed him open the text. Rin’s mouth slowly turned up as he looked back at Isagi meeting his gaze. They maintained the eye contact before Rin resumed the movie.
All Isagi could focus on was how, if Rin were in his room, he could wrap his arm around the younger’s shoulders, pulling him in closer. Maybe Rin would even reciprocate and nuzzle into him as he did on the field. Isagi knew he could spend a lifetime with the boy. He just wonders if the boy would say the same.
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Isagi-san asked me to his house… well more like allowed me but maybe I can tell him how I feel about him. But he might be weirded out, maybe because I’m a guy but also because we’ve only known each other a short time. Rin shifted on top of his sheets, his stomach now pressing the warmth and his face digging into a pillow his arms held around his body, like a koala as he started rotating round. Well maybe I should stay focused on soccer to fulfill my promise with nii-chan. Hmm should Isagi-san and nii-chan meet? I think nii-chan would like him, as long as he doesn’t try to take Isagi-san away from me… ugh I sound like a girl.
A loud knock announce its presence at Rin’s door as he heard his mother’s voice boom while she entered the room, “Rin! Have you packed yet?”
Rin sat up on his bed with his torso still wrapped around the crumpled pillow as he hummed in assurance. He saw his mother’s eyes scan across the room’s clean floors until they met the green bag packed neatly with Rin’s essentials and miscellaneous items for the week long journey.
She smiled at Rin in acknowledgment and started her retreat out of the room when Rin nervously yelled, “WAIT,” her gaze swept onto Rin as she elegantly slid fully into the room approaching until she stopped next to him and seated herself on the bed, “Okaa-san I have one question about the journey…”
Rin’s mother was a beautiful woman. It’s a plain fact, she still held a youthful appearance and build, she gave the Itoshi brother’s their sharp yet delicate features.
“What is it Rinrin?” Rin felt embarrassed at the nickname as usual but held it back after seeing the smile his mother offered him.
“I made a friend a few months back… he came here while he was on a football training camp. And he lives in Saitama. I wanted to know… if we could visit him.”
His mother calmed and looked at him with a semi-serious face, “And you’re sure this isn’t a random guy you met online?”
”Yes Okaa-san, I’m sure.” Rin looked away from his mother who was on his left and looked forward while curling into his pillow a slight bit more, “He’s the nicest guy I’ve ever met..”
His mother felt suspiciously quiet so he shifted his eyes to the older woman again. She was just smiling at him, looking at him knowingly somehow, like she knew something Rin did not.
“Of course, Rinrin.” She slowly moved to exit the room looking back at Rin once before leaving.
Rin fell back against his bed, nothing short of excited for the upcoming week.