Work Text:
“Sick?”
“Yeah, sucks to suck. How do you even get sick in a place like this? We’re practically no contact with the outside world,” Yukimiya mulls. He’s cleaning his glasses with a disgusting amount of focus.
“Maybe it’s from stress? He does the yoga stuff so.. probably something he ate,” Hiori says.
“Are we allowed to sue if they served us spoiled food, food?”
They’re all lazing around the Bastard Munchen stratum, barely alive from the PxG match they just won. The Neo-Egoist League was finally over, with their team powering through undefeated. Team-wise- not in cases like Michael Kaiser where Isagi Yoichi completely humiliated him.
Grinning from the wonderful memory, Isagi stands up and stretches. “Well, one thing for sure is that he’s definitely fuming. I'm heading off.”
“To sleep?”
“No, no. The viewing room,” Isagi grins even wider. Unfortunately for him he’s surrounded by bums because shortly after, a chorus of sarcastic groans echo throughout the room.
“You’re too diligent, Isagi. We just ended!”
“Yeah, come be lazy with the rest of us…”
“Are you sure you want to stay up late? We have that event tomorrow at 9AM.”
Isagi smiles abashedly and waves them off. “Nah, it’ll probably be called off anyway with that beast being sick. Plus, how else am I going to maintain my spot as Number 1.”
—-
Isagi’s about to take the final corner before reaching the viewing room until up further ahead, where he sees a much more interesting sight.
“Piss off.”
“Rin, please!” He hears someone like Anri exclaiming. “This is a detriment to your health, you must rest immediately!”
Looks like Rin got caught trying to sneak in some yoga time. It’s not like she’s in the wrong trying to get Rin to actually better his health. Isagi’s pretty sure anyone in the entire world but Rin would agree to that statement.
He looks back at Anri, who’s basically scrambling to get Rin into any sort of bed. Isagi always feels bad when he looks at the red-haired woman, so he decides to go help. Even if it meant sacrificing some studying time and dealing with a monster called Rin.
“Yo, Anri-san. Did you need some help?”
“Ah! Isagi-kun!” Up close, Anri is practically sweating; she’s out of breath and looks absolutely done. “Yes, please- Rin here is very sick and must go to the infirmary.”
“You -Cough -stay out of this, lukewarm,” Rin rasps. Isagi cringes at the noise his cough makes- it’s those wet, crunchy type ones that little toddlers get. He must be really sick.
Isagi wonders how he’s going to deal with this because Rin is as stubborn as it gets. Some bribery?
“Rin, if you just go to the infirmary I promise I’ll never bother you when you’re doing yoga again!”
“Hah?” Okay, maybe not. “Did you -Sniff -think your lukewarm attempt at bribery would work on me? Get lost.”
Looks like Isagi needs to call in the big guns.
“Ego!”
—
The infirmary in Blue Lock always seemed to have a draft, paired with the fluorescent lights that gave everybody in there a drilling headache. It just wasn’t an ideal place to be in; Isagi always made sure to minimise any injuries out on the field. Even if he did get one, a stripe of his tongue or running water never failed him.
That being said, it was none of those two things that was bothering Isagi right now. One- he was supposed to be a hundred steps ahead of everyone in the viewing room where he would be analysing every single play from the past 5 games, fueling his psyche and paving the glorious way to be the Number 1 Striker. Two- Itoshi Rin is in front of him with a dripping red nose and livid eyes, acting like it’s Isagi’s fault he fell sick.
The sick man is hunched over in the infirmary bed going through every stage of grief. Isagi can’t help but feel bad. You know, because he's well and able enough to further his Striker career while Rin’s sulking and sneezing.
“You know it’s only right to stay here and get better… but I don’t see how I’m the one supposed to be playing nurse!” Isagi whines as he leans back further in his chair.
“No one’s forcing you to- ACHOO! - ugh, stay here.”
“But Anri-san told me to. She said she’s coming back soon with some food, but in the meanwhile…”
Isagi makes his way towards one of the cabinets above the sink where he retrieves a cloth with the Blue Lock emblem on it. He runs it under cold water before awkwardly standing beside Rin.
“Uh, y-you can lay down,” Isagi mumbles, way too sheepish to look at Rin. He’s expecting some backtalk, but instead hears shuffling of bedsheets.
Rin’s bangs are way too long so Isagi has to brush it upwards where he can more clearly recognise that the sick man’s eyes have been gazing at Isagi this whole ordeal. Pursing his lips, Isagi gingerly places the wet cloth atop Rin’s forehead.
“Does that feel better?”
“Tch. Sniff- I guess,” Rin grumbles.
Hmm..
Isagi heads towards the cabinets once again, clearing out what seems to be every single one until he finally finds it. He smiles at himself, pleased.
“Look! You’re gonna thank me,” Isagi exclaims proudly, presenting the mini container above Rin’s eyes.
“Huh? Ointment gel?”
“Yeah. Whenever I got sick when I was younger, my mum used to rub this on my chest to get rid of the coughing and stuff.”
He can sense Rin’s furrowed eyebrows and overall distaste towards Isagi, but he presses on.
“Trust, man. It might not be the same brand but it’ll probably have the same effects.”
“Cough- You. Want to rub the ointment gel on my chest?”
Okay, when Rin puts it like that. “Yeah? Uh- wait- No?! It’s not that I want- I just think it’ll help that’s all! Just do it yourself then!”
Rin closes his eyes and there's a beat of silence before he slowly takes the cloth off his head and raises. Isagi thinks that he’s going to scold him, tell him to get lost where he can finally get drunk off scrutinising different soccer plays and forget about all of this.
Instead, the sick man strips his shirt off and places the cloth back on his forehead. A play not even the most efficient of metavisions could predict.
“Uh, s-so you gonna do it yourself?.. Do I leave?” Isagi asks abashedly.
Rin huffs as if the answer is the most obvious one. “I don’t know how to use the ointment gel nor the most effective techniques to ensure- Cough, cough -maximum healing.”
Whatever that means.
Isagi unscrews the lid and scoops a generous amount on his two fingers. The eucalyptus oil slightly stings on his skin.
Pfft, Isagi’s mum has done this so many times before, so why the hell is he so anxious right now? It takes like 1 minute tops, not even a scrape in time. 1 minute.
Isagi leans over Rin’s resting form, where he can see the rise and fall of his chest. 1 minute. He sucks a deep breath in and reaches out.
The initial contact freaks him out a bit, the pad of his fingertips touching the flesh of the sick man’s pec, but it’d make the situation a whole lot weirder if he flinched away. No going back now. Isagi starts doing the same thing his mum would do, a simple circular motion. His fingers glide around and Rin’s pec would sink where he manuevered them. He knew Rin worked out. And he’s seen his body countless times before, even in settings where he’d be in close proximity like this from teaching Isagi about different yoga poses. But this was different somehow
It seems like Isagi’s metavision activated for this single moment, because his focus was entirely lasered on Rin's chest. People really underestimate how long a minute could be. His own fingers are hypnotising him- no this whole scene is. The shiny trail that’s left of the ointment gel, the tenderness, the way he can feel Rin’s heartbeat start to-
“Isagi-kun! Thank you for watching over Rin, there’s so much to do about this event tomorrow ugh- anyways, here’s the food,” he hears Anri place down a metal tray behind him, “I really have to sort this stuff out for tomorrow- you can leave now if you want to. Thanks again!”
A blanket of silence suffocates them for a good minute. People really underestimate how long a minute is. He can tell they’re both tensed up from Anri barging in like that unprompted.
Why wasn’t Isagi able to hear her beforehand? And even if she did ‘catch’ them… was there really anything to be embarrassed about? He’s just helping Rin is all…
Isagi stands up abruptly and turns around anyways. “Well, there’s your ointment and your food Anri said I reallyshouldbegoingnow-”
“Isagi.”
The said man is gritting teeth and praying to the soccer gods that the floor swallow him whole. “Yes?”
“Sniff- Are you gonna bring me my food?”
Of course.
Isagi promises to himself that this is the last thing he’s doing before bolting out of this place. The tray feels heavy in his hands. It’s nothing special; ochazuke for the throat, honey ginger tea for nausea, some leftover rice porridge with egg and oh, some medicine tablets.
Isagi places the assortments on the bedside table and takes one last drink of Rin. He’s still shirtless for some reason, and the ointment gel on his chest lingers where the fluorescent light hits it perfectly. Damn, these lights are really starting to give him the headache now, haha…
“So, you’re all set?”
“Mmm- Cough.”
Finally. The steps to freedom. Until, the flash of a memory with his mum appears in his mind. No. How awful it was trying to eat on his own, the ache. No, no. How nice it was when his mother assisted him. No, no, no! The words that stuck with him when she said:
“Caring for others is an expression of what it means to be fully human.”
Ugh.
Sitting back down he takes the ochazuke from Rin’s hands, takes a spoonful and it holds up.
“Cough- What the hell are you doing?” Rin croaks.
“Dont worry about it. It’s for my mum, not you.”
Rin looks at him like he’s grown five heads and eight eyes. He stares at the spoonful of ochazuke, before looking away and taking a bite. Like actually enclosing his mouth on the spoon. Isagi was expecting Rin to slap it out of his hands then slap him next
“I-Is it good?”
Rin coughs back in confirmation.
And it just stays like this. Isagi mechanically feeding him spoonfuls of food. Occasionally it’d misalign and Isagi would make the brave decision of swiping his thumb over the corner of his mouth. Just some lost crumbs. No biggie.
Rin stops before taking another bite of the rice porridge. Isagi practically forced him to finish the leftovers after he said he was done after the ochazuke. But instead, Rin looks up straight into Isagi’s eyes.
“Why?”
Isagi tilts his head. “Why what? I-I told you I’m only feeding you for my mum!”
“No,” the sick man shakes his head. “Why- Sniff- are you doing all of this? You could've just left when- Cough- I was brought here.”
Why was Isagi doing all this? No one told him to place a wet cloth on his forehead, rub ointment on his chest, though, his mother did tell Isagi to feed Rin so there’s that.
“Well, obviously because I… didn’t want my rival to be in a state like this,” he finally says matter of factly.
This guy must have super sickness because his face is bright red. It’s starting to get visible on his neck and chest.
Rin reaches over for the medicine tablets and tea, downing both in a split second. He lays back down and flips over to where his sculpted back is facing Isagi, not before wheezing out:
“Piss off.”