Chapter Text
i. shidou ryusei
Contrary to popular opinion, Shidou is, in fact, not an asshole.
Sure, he can get intense during a match, energy pouring off him in waves of crackling electricity that have him ripping through the field like a wild, savage demon, heart pounding, blood pumping, eyes blazing, his cells exploding with euphoria, uncaring of whatever or whomever he destroys in his relentless pursuit of a goal.
And, okay, so sometimes he makes suggestive comments, poking and prodding at people’s sense of propriety on a whim, flat-out ignoring any notion of boundaries because ‘why not?’, refusing to concern himself with another person’s comfort since, really, it’s not like it’s his job to worry about an up-tight jerk’s delicate sensibilities.
And yeah, he’ll admit he’s also a bit of an instigator, loving the challenge of getting under someone’s skin and coaxing out the fiercest, funnest, most passionate, most genuine reactions from even the most inexpressive people, the uncontrollable urge to start a fight simmering within him like an irresistible itch that can’t be scratched.
But aside from all that, Shidou’s a pretty reasonable guy! He gets along well enough with others. He’s always willing to give credit where credit’s due. He even knows how to ask for help when he needs it, unlike some people he can name (cough, Itoshi Rin, cough).
Case in point. Isagi Yoichi.
Not only does the little firecracker have an explosive play style, he’s also somehow managed to crack the Itoshi code. Against all odds, despite a 99.99999% chance of failure, Isagi Yoichi successfully roped Itoshi Rin into a relationship. Rin, the most uncharismatic, unromantic, undateable person Shidou has ever met. Mr. ‘Relationships are stupid, I’d rather stick my dick in a soccer ball.’
That Rin. Yeah, Shidou can’t believe it either.
Truly, it’s nothing short of a miracle. And what’s more, Isagi seems to have ol’ Rin-Rin wrapped around his little finger, able to persuade him with a look or calm him with a gentle touch, nag him without losing a limb and make him blush a bright, crimson red with only a sweet smile and a flutter of his lashes, his head tilting just so to accentuate his doe-bright eyes.
It’s this last skill that Shidou finds himself particularly interested in as he saunters his way through Blue Lock’s winding corridors towards Isagi’s room. From experience, he knows it’s damn hard to get an Itoshi to drop their cool composure, to elicit any emotion from them that isn’t anger or annoyance or raw, unbridled angst. Shidou himself has only managed it a handful of times with Sae—a mildly impressed hum when he scored his two super-mega-awesome goals during the U-20 match, reluctantly affectionate sighs when he wraps his arms tightly around Sae’s waist in an enthusiastic hug, an amused snort or two when he shit-talks the ass players on his team during their nightly FaceTime calls. But he’s never actually made Sae blush. Not once. Not yet. And the more Shidou thinks about it, the more certain he is. If he can fluster Sae, catch him off-guard, make his heart skip a beat—go doki-doki or whatever the fuck it says in his little sister’s shojo mangas—he can take their sexy situationship to the next level: an even sexier relationship.
Ahhhhh, just thinking about it sends a delighted shiver down Shidou’s spine, giddiness fizzing and popping in his veins like soda bubbles. Who knows? Rin might just be more pathetic than Sae, but there’s got to be some kind of trick to it. A trick Shidou suspects Isagi is aware of , considering how effortlessly he can get Rin’s entire face to heat up so much, Shidou could probably cook an egg on his forehead. So, it’s settled. Shidou is going to convince Isagi to divulge that sweet, sweet secret to him. If not, then he’ll just beat it out of him. Either way, Shidou will get what he wants, it’s just a matter of whether Isagi wants to make it easier for himself or not.
Huh. Maybe he is kind of an asshole…
…Oh well!
Shidou eventually arrives at Isagi’s room, rapping his knuckles against the door in a very polite, very friendly knock.
Tap, tap, ta-tap, tap! Tap, tap!
Then, he graciously waits for Isagi to open the door, demonstrating his exemplary patience that should totally be rewarded with willful cooperation and minimal resistance. He rocks back and forth on his heels as the seconds drag on, the corners of his mouth quirking up in the beginnings of a gleeful grin as he imagines how stunning Sae will look with a pretty pink coloring the apples of his cheeks, a lovely red tinging the tips of his ears. It’s only when a full fifteen minutes pass—okay, maybe more like a minute and a half, but same difference—that Shidou’s smile dims a little, his eyes narrowing dangerously at the still-shut door.
He knocks again, a little more insistent this time, a little less friendly.
And again.
And again.
And again.
Shidou has just decided to take a step back to consider how much force would be necessary to kick the damn door down when finally , finally, it opens. Halle-fucking-lujah.
“Isagi-channnnn~” Shidou immediately slips back into his irresistibly charming, impossible-to-say-no-to persona, flashing the boy a wide, closed-eye smile. “Long time no see! How ya doing? Good? Great, wow, amazing. So, lookie here, I need a tiny favor from—”
“What the fuck are you doing here, roach?”
Shidou’s eyes snap open. He stares, momentarily bewildered, at the sight of Itoshi Rin standing in Isagi’s doorway. The younger boy’s face is twisted into a dark scowl, his eyes squinting at him in irritation.
“Oho?” Shidou’s gaze roves over Rin’s bed-ruffled hair and rumpled Blue Lock-issued clothes, his grin slanting up into something more sinister and predatory. “Better question is what are you doing here, Rin-Rin? Having fun with your cute little boyfriend?”
Rin doesn’t outwardly react much, but Shidou still notices the way his jaw twitches with annoyance. Ha. Score 1 for him.
“You’re not welcome here. Leave,” Rin says, his words clipped and cold, moving to shut the door in Shidou’s face. But Shidou’s too quick. He lunges forward and slams a hand on the door before it can close.
“Last I checked, this ain’t your dorm, dipshit,” Shidou counters snarkily, peering over Rin’s shoulder to see if he can find Isagi. He manages to catch a brief glimpse of a curled-up lump on the bed, wrapped in blankets with a tiny tuft of blue-black hair poking out, but then Rin bodily shoves him backward and blocks his view, his brows furrowing in anger.
“He’s asleep , idiot. You wake him, you die.”
Shidou snorts. “Kitty can take his cat-nap after he helps me out with something first. Yo, Isagi!”
“Shut the fuck up, lousy insect!” Rin hisses out from between gritted teeth. He tries to slap a hand over Shidou’s mouth, but Shidou ducks under his arm, making it halfway past the arrogant asshole before Rin shoulder-checks him into the door frame. Shidou lets out a breathless oof! as his body collides with the hard edge. It’s enough. The lump on the bed stirs.
“Hmmngmmngngnnnhm w’ass’at?” Isagi emerges from his nest of blankets, soft and sleepy-eyed, a pinkish-red pillow crease mark on his cheek. He blinks blearily at the sight of Rin and Shidou wrestling on his doorstep. “Rin?” He rubs his eyes to wipe away the drowsiness, then blinks again at the two boys as if needing to confirm what he’s seeing. “Shidou? What…?”
“Hey there, Is~ A~ Gi~ Chan~!” Shidou sing-songs pleasantly. Well, as pleasantly as he can with Rin’s arm around his neck trying to crush his windpipe. “I need your help with something. Think you can lend me a— God, fuck off, Underlashes Junior!”
Isagi lets out a long-suffering sigh, sliding off the bed to pad over to them. In the meantime, Shidou busies himself with elbowing Rin hard in the stomach, loosening his grip enough to slip out of his choke-hold. Despite clutching his middle, Rin still plants himself between Shidou and Isagi like some kind of feral guard dog, eyes aflame as if he thinks Shidou’s going to attack the guy. Which, seriously, dude needs to chill out. Shidou hasn’t tried to do that since at least the end of Second Selection.
“Rin,” Isagi murmurs, and the name becomes something soft and sweet when he says it like that. Isagi wraps both his hands around the crook of Rin’s arm, tugging him back gently. “Let me just hear what he has to say. Then we can go back to sleep, okay?”
Rin’s rigid shoulders relax slightly, though his stance is still defensive, his gaze no less sharp, unwavering as it bores into Shidou’s skull, an unspoken threat. Isagi tips his head thoughtfully for a moment, then rises up on his toes to place a chaste little kiss on Rin’s cheek.
Now, Shidou is a lot of things, but he’s no coward. He’s been staring straight at Rin’s murderous expression this entire time, refusing to back down. Which means he has front row seats to watch, awestruck, as Rin’s face reddens in real time, the flush starting at the tips of his ears before creeping over his cheeks and spreading across the bridge of his nose. The boy blue-screens, his intimidating scowl dropping in an instant as the look on his face spasms into something surprised, embarrassed, flustered.
Damn, Rin-Rin, it was only a peck, Shidou marvels. Guess the Great Destroyer Itoshi Rin is down bad more horrendously than Shidou could’ve ever expected.
Unceremoniously, Rin spins on his heel, shrugging Isagi off before stomping over to his bed with a disgruntled huff, shoulders hunched up to his pink ears. “ Tch, whatever,” he grumbles, flopping down on the mattress, his back propped up against the headboard, “Just get it over with already.”
Isagi rolls his eyes affectionately, giving Shidou an apologetic smile. “Sorry about him, you know how he is. What was it that you needed help with?”
“That.” Shidou points at Rin, who’s valiantly trying to pick up the shattered remnants of his nonchalant, disinterested facade by pretending to scroll on his phone. As if his face isn’t still a blotchy red. “I need you to teach me how to do that.”
Isagi follows Shidou’s finger, glancing over at his boyfriend, then back at Shidou. He blinks, confused. “You want me to teach you how to kiss Rin?”
Shidou snickers at the way Rin’s neck nearly snaps with how fast he turns his head to glare at them. “Ha! He wishes~!” Shidou teases, shooting Rin a flirty smile. Rin’s mouth twists like he’s about to puke. “But, no. Wrong brother. I just need you to tell me how you make Rin-Rin blush like that.” Shidou levels a significant look at Isagi. “What works with one Itoshi might work with another, you feel me?”
Isagi’s brows raise, his lips pursing like he’s trying not to laugh. Rin’s phone slips through his fingers and clatters to the floor, utter horror draining the color from his face.
“Ohhhhhh, I see.” Isagi can’t mask his amusement, eyes twinkling with mirth. “What’s in it for me, then?”
“Isagi,” Rin says tersely, a warning in his tone.
“Quid pro quo,” Shidou replies smoothly, tucking his hands into his pockets. “Do me a favor and I’ll do you a favor. Cash it in whenever you like.”
“Hmmmmmm…” Shidou fights the urge to fidget as Isagi hums pensively, seeming to evaluate his options. His head tilts in contemplation, nose scrunching, fingers holding his chin as he looks Shidou up and down. Then, he smiles, deceptively benign, as he comes to a decision. “Okay. Deal.”
“Isagi,” Rin protests again, sitting up straighter on the bed.
“The secret,” Isagi continues, completely ignoring Rin, his voice dropping into a dramatic, mock whisper as he leans in closer to Shidou, “...is casual intimacy.”
Well, this was a bust. “You’re saying I’m not being intimate enough?” Shidou deadpans.
Isagi clicks his tongue impatiently. “I’m saying there’s a difference between your…” Isagi waves his hand vaguely at Shidou. He wonders if he’s being insulted right now. “...more sexually-charged intimacy and what I’m talking about. Casual intimacy. Like, casual casual, y’know?”
Shidou does not know. Shidou is beginning to think the ‘beat his ass’ option is looking mighty appealing. “What, like, holding hands and shit?”
Isagi nods enthusiastically. “Exactly! See, you can’t fluster an Itoshi by being too… I guess, intense, because they’re already intense enough on their own. You need to be subtle with it, casual, closeness that’s intimate, but not necessarily sexual.”
Shidou considers that for a moment. “Okay…”
“Stop talking about us like we’re exotic animals,” Rin snaps, abandoning his efforts to look uninterested in their conversation, his arms crossing over his chest petulantly. “And that’s factually inaccurate, by the way.”
“Oh hush,” Isagi dismisses easily. He lifts up a single finger like a teacher about to give an important lecture. “Observe.”
Shidou does, skeptical yet still curious as Isagi sidles up to Rin. The younger boy stiffens, his gaze stubbornly trained on the opposite wall.
“Hi, Rin,” Isagi says, simple and sweet. Shidou can’t quite see his face from this angle, but he bets his entire salary that Isagi’s mouth is curved up in one of those cute, boy-next-door smiles.
Rin, predictably, doesn’t respond. Isagi, predictably, doesn’t let him get away with it.
The little minx crawls up on the bed, turning his body so he’s facing Shidou, before plopping his ass down on Rin’s lap without hesitation. He leans into his boyfriend’s chest, seeming to not mind the barrier of Rin’s crossed arms between them. “Rinnnnnn~” Isagi drags out his name just a little, a hint of a whine in his voice, the slightest bit of a pout on his lips. Despite himself, Rin’s gaze darts down to Isagi, eyes narrowing, supremely unimpressed. Isagi grins. “Hi.”
Rin clicks his tongue, his expression sour with exasperation. Shidou idly realizes Isagi must’ve picked up that little quirk from Rin, and Rin must’ve picked up that quirk from Sae. Holy shit, it’s like they're a family or something.
“Whatever you think you’re doing,” Rin growls threateningly, “Don’t bother. It’s not going to—” Isagi interrupts him with a tiny peck on the tip of his nose. Rin falters. “What the fuck.”
Isagi giggles, winding his arms around Rin’s shoulders. He swoops down and presses his lips to the underside of Rin’s jaw, then the corner of his mouth, the apple of his cheek, the crease between his brows, a series of light butterfly kisses that makes Rin’s previously waning blush grow incrementally brighter and brighter. Shidou’s jaw slackens with disbelief.
“Stop,” Rin demands, his face the color of a tomato, “This won’t work. I know what you’re doing.”
“Oh, you do, do you?” Isagi muses playfully, wiggling his way into the circle of Rin’s arms. The taller boy’s hands clutch at his waist, the fabric of his shirt crumpling under Rin’s fingers. Isagi doesn’t gloat about how his trick did, in fact, work, Shidou notes, probably to let his boyfriend save a little shred of his dignity.
Rin mutters something unintelligible under his breath—an insult, most likely—but Isagi just laughs, snuggling in closer to nuzzle his cheek. Rin shifts to hide his burning face in Isagi’s neck, his nose tucked into the curve of his throat. Isagi shoots Shidou a triumphant smirk. “See?”
Shidou feels his lips curl into a toothy, megawatt smile. “Holy shit.”
“Use this knowledge wisely,” Isagi says, sage-like, his hands coming up to gently brush his fingers through Rin’s hair, “And don’t forget about our dea— Rin that tickles!” Isagi bites off his own sentence with another laugh as Rin kisses the soft, sensitive skin in the crook of his neck and shoulder.
Shidou doesn’t pay them much attention, his mind already racing, trying to figure out how he can reformulate what he’s learned here into something that’ll work on Sae. Hmmmm, little kisses on his face might work, but Shidou knows for a fact that Sae has a thing for his hands, as much as he tries to act like he doesn’t. A touch to the small of his back, then. Knuckles brushing softly against his cheek. Fingers caressing his thigh, his arm, the nape of his neck. Affection that’s casual and intimate and effortless.
Loving an Itoshi like it’s second nature. Maybe that’s the real secret behind Isagi’s trick. Huh. Guess this whole thing was a bust after all. Because Shidou does that already. Has always done that. From the very beginning, like it’s the easiest thing in the world. He supposes that means he would’ve successfully flustered Sae on his own eventually. Damn. Could have saved himself the trouble of coming all the way over here. Well, but he guesses he can at least expedite the process now that he has a better understanding of—
“Ow—hey! Rin!” Isagi’s yelp breaks Shidou out of his thoughts. The blue-eyed boy squirms in Rin’s lap, trying to push his boyfriend’s face away when he nips at the tender flesh at the base of Isagi’s throat. It’s Isagi’s face that’s pink now, rapidly reddening as Rin sinks his teeth in and sucks.
Shidou catches a flash of teal eyes, a sideways glare leveled at him. He gets the message loud and clear.
Chuckling, Shidou raises his hands and backs away, swiveling on his heel as approaches the door. “Whoops, guess that’s my cue to leave!”
“W-Wait! Shidou! Where are you— Ow! Rin—!”
Shidou pays him no mind, head already swirling with thoughts of Sae-chan~! and pink and pretty as he exits the room, Isagi’s futile complaints muffled by the door as it swings shut behind him.