Work Text:
The timer is ticking but he’s almost there—can smell the goal. Sae is running to the only open spot near the net. The ball is sent his way and before anyone can block him and impede his shot’s path, he swings his foot out and connects it with the ball.
It doesn’t miss.
It makes a smooth arc before hitting the back of the net exactly where he aimed for. There’s a pause—then the whistle blows. Real Madrid has officially won the match against FC Barca.
Screams of Sae’s name echo throughout the stadium; repeatedly chanted over and over again as though fans were summoning some deity. He doesn’t personally care for it—he’s merely wiping away his sweat with the back of his arm and walking off the turf. Unifying himself with the other players from his team—they’re currently all reuniting with close friends and family who’ve come to support them.
Sae stands off to one side, patiently waiting—he could’ve sworn he saw his specific person cheering him on from the stands. But he could’ve also imagined it—used it as a drive to perform better. To give it his all. Maybe the other man was actually watching him from the comfort of his Paris apartment—having invited Rin over so that they could both squeal, gush, and scream over thee Sae Itoshi.
The redhead slightly smiles at the idea—that seems to be a reality since no one has emerged to greet him. He feels slightly devastated—all his teammates were being treated like real champions, and he was just standing there, watching and listening. Like an idiot. Like some loser.
Sae sighs. He begins to turn away when he hears some commotion behind him; there are loud shouts coming from the security surrounding the playing field. They’re seemingly holding someone back, telling them to calm down or get lost.
It catches Sae’s attention enough to make him stay in his place—is it who he thinks it is?
“Sae-Chan!”
It sure is.
Sae opens his arms out of pure instinct. Immediately he’s met with Shidou running up to him—embracing him, tightly. Pressing his nose against the crook of Sae’s neck. Breathing in his scent. Squeezing him harder, knocking the breath out of Sae’s lungs. They stay like that for a moment, before Shidou is rising to full height and pressing several kisses alongside Sae’s face.
Coating his cheeks. His nose. His forehead. Even his eyes—not the lips though, that’s only in private.
He’s speaking warm praise as he does so—muttering sweet words into Sae’s soft skin.
“You were so good out there, baby! You’re a fucking monster!” Sae hums along to Shidou’s compliments; they make him feel tingly. Actually fill him with that sense of victory he rightfully earned. He was going to try and say something, reciprocate the energy. But it’s then—leaning against Shidou’s chest, allowing the other to indulge him—that he realizes just how fucking tired he is.
He really wants to go home. Take the longest cold shower or warm bath known to mankind before falling asleep in the slot of Shidou’s arms.
“Tired…” Sae finally mutters out after being dead silent for majority of their interaction. Shidou hears it, even if it was in a low pitch not really meant to catch his attention. Rather than choosing the more rational approach of letting Sae go and walking off together hand-in-hand (which is usually how they exited), he pulls away.
It takes mere seconds for Shidou to wrap his arms around the meat of Sae’s thighs, hoist him up and place him over his shoulder.
Sae is protesting against it—mostly because they aren’t supposed to show these types of displays of affection in public. Their managers had forced them to agree that anything remotely physical, implying a more intimate connection, could not be shown.
At all.
Yet, Shidou didn’t care.
If they get in trouble, that’s fine. If tomorrow his manager is scolding the crap out of him for being so reckless, so touchy-feely, it’s cool. He simply wants to make Sae feel better after such a long game.
“Gonna give you a real reward at home, Sae-Chan.”
-
Sae watches Shidou prep his bath. The blonde is leaning over the tub—almost dipping into it if he inches closer—constantly adjusting the knob and feeling the water for its temperature. It’s getting slightly warm under his strung-out palm. He turns it. Now, it’s getting cold, increasingly dropping in degrees as it pours down. He turns it, again.
Warm.
Cold.
Shidou is grumbling both Japanese and French curse words under his breath because he wants to do something nice. Offer a sweet gesture to the most important person he’s ever met. But it’s not really working in his favor. His grasp on the bath knob is tight, knuckles practically white from the death grip he had on it. Sae notices the slight change in demeanor and decides it’s best to intervene—before Shidou does something stupid.
Sae gets up from where he was sitting on the toilet lid and pats Shidou’s back.
“It’s fine.”
“But it’s lukewarm—you like it just right.” Shidou says, only to receive a shrug in response. Sae doesn’t seem to care, like at all. He sighs, swallowing down his defeat and moving out of the way. Looking in another direction—giving Sae some privacy. Though he knows every square inch of his body.
Cubic centimeters, too, if he was to be far more specific.
Shidou clears his throat; trying to conceal his obvious amusement from the idea of Sae’s body. He turns back to see Sae leaning back against the bathroom wall. His eyes are shut, legs tucked in—because his limbs are slightly too long for the tub to accommodate—and mouth agape. He releases a drawn out sigh of pure relief. This is exactly what he needed.
“You want a bath bomb?” Sae peers an eye open, looking at, a surprisingly calm, Shidou. The other is at his side, still leaning over the edge of the tub. He’s staring at him with some form of awe. Sae shuts his eye once more.
“Do what you want. I don’t care.” And rather than making some sexual remark, Shidou is getting up to leave. Dusting off his knees. He says he’ll be back—but Sae doesn’t know how true that is. Not that it really even matters. He kind of likes the fact he’s being left alone.
The bathroom door shuts.
Sae sits up and begins to actually start his bathing process. He starts with his hair; grabbing a generous amount of shampoo and rubbing it into his scalp. Breaking away all of that unholy amount of hair spray he uses to keep his bangs out of his face. He cups water into his hands and pours it over his head. Doing this several times until all the suds are gone.
He repeats the process again, this time using conditioner—he only applies it to his ends. Washing it out by rubbing it off with his wet hands. At that moment, he overhears the door open up again.
He doesn’t pay mind to it; just keeps rubbing out the remaining soap suds. Pushing his hair back once he’s finished and looking at the new presence crouching down by his side.
“Want me to get the rest?” Shidou offers a smile. Sae narrows his eyes—testing to see if Shidou was trying to do more than wash him off—softening them once he realizes that Shidou is being genuine. He doesn’t say anything, only gives the ‘okay’ by making room for Shidou to squeeze in there with him. The blonde wastes no time in stripping—tugging off his replica of Sae’s Real Madrid jersey and random cargo shorts he paired with it.
He stays in his boxers briefs. Not wanting to take the risk of making Sae uncomfortable.
Shidou settles right in back of Sae; pulling the redhead closer to him and pressing open-mouth kisses against the nape of his neck.
“You were so cool today. Such a hard-worker. Best looking player, too.”
Sae hums. Relaxing against Shidou’s touch; it felt nice. Warm and secure. It urges him to readjust; the water swishes between the two of them as he moves to lay on his side. Sae rests there, simply allowing himself to shut his eyes. He almost ends up falling asleep.
Key word: almost.
“Whoa—no sleeping yet, gotta scrub you down love” Shidou is trying to gently get Sae up. However the other isn’t moving—seemingly getting more comfortable in his space—he sighs.
“Fine, you’ve got five minutes.”
Sae smiles.
He’s going to make the most out of five minutes.
-
They shift around in bed; finding the spot that is most comfortable for each of them. Sae scrunches his brows together, not feeling good on his back; he turns and chooses to lie on his side.
Shidou takes that as an invitation to lay right behind him. He’s wrapping his arms around the other’s waist. Ducking his head into the nape of Sae’s neck.
Originally, he had made plans. Wanted to give Sae a deep-tissue massage before he went to sleep—rub any ache or knot out. However, the moment they were done with the restroom, Sae practically crashed out. Too exhausted to even try and bear with rough hands on him.
It was fine.
Shidou very much preferred this instead. Clinging to Sae. Big spooning his precious little angel who had scored the winning goal for his team. It still never fails to amuse Shidou just the amount of raw talent and power Sae has; he was made for soccer. Made to be the best of the best. Wherever he aimed, he scored.
Goal after goal.
Only reason Sae didn’t show all of his passion—didn’t one up the other losers on his team—was because the ball was being kept away from him. Hogged majority of the time by other strikers; they wanted to score their own goals. And even when they were in a tight spot, they were still too scared to pass it to Sae because how dare they allow Itoshi Sae to outshine them? Not possible. Not going to happen.
Still ended up happening.
Was the best goal in the entire game.
It had been sudden and quick; Sae just took possession of the ball, ran with it, and scored. It still sent shivers down Shidou’s spine as he recalls it; he had chanted Sae’s name so loud. Grabbed his accompanying security guard and began shaking him while pointing in the direction of Sae.
“You saw that? That’s my fucking soulmate!” He had said before pushing his guards aside and running on to the turf. He had been so ready to lift Sae high in his arms but then actual security guarding the turf stopped him in his tracks. He doesn’t quite recall what exactly they were on about; he just remembers that his eagerness alarmed them.
They had also never seen him—weren’t familiar with who exactly he was correlated with. It was rare whenever Shidou got to visit Madrid and even rarer when he got to see one of Sae’s matches. Usually their schedules never correlated enough to allow him to do so.
Shidou huffs. His possessiveness momentarily taking over; why did he need to have permission to see what belonged to him? Sae was his. He should’ve automatically been allowed to see him.
Hold him.
He inhales deeply before exhaling.
It doesn’t matter. He still got to Sae. And together they got to share everything. The bed they were currently laying on. The sheets they were lying under. The entire room. The whole fucking apartment—anything else in between. It literally didn’t get any better than that. Except it did because they were also bound to each other for life. No matter what—it was always going to just be them. No other person besides each other.
Since he wasn’t going anywhere and Sae didn’t seem like he wanted to do so either.
Clearly, couldn’t.
Because he was asleep, snoring slightly. It was pretty cute—Shidou shut his own eyes but not without giving Sae a reassuring squeeze, adding on some kind words.
“I’ll spoil you more tomorrow.”
As in he’ll be making sure that he’s up first thing in the morning just so that he could make Sae breakfast. Greet him with a tray of toast, jam, fried eggs and rice, fresh orange juice too. Then he’ll give him more kisses. Until Sae has abandoned his meal because Shidou simply won’t leave him alone long enough to eat any of it. Once Sae’s all smiles and laughs—exclusive to Shidou’s eyes only—he’ll grab his palm, press it against his lips, kissing it and congratulating him on his win.
For right now.
He’ll let the other sleep and get the rest he deserves.
He earned it.