Zephyr {Sae Itoshi x Reader}

Late Night Drives

"Sae! Sae wait!"

The boy dragged me through the parking lot back to the valet I had spoken with earlier. He wasn't listening to anything I said, but it wasn't like he was ignoring me, it was more like he couldn't hear me.

"Mr. Itoshi, sir. Would you like me to pull your car around front?" the man asked politely.

"Yes, please," Sae responded, not entirely unkind. I could feel the anger in his voice, but it wasn't targeted towards the valet. It wasn't targeted towards me either, but I was still unsure of what I should say.

He finally let go of my arm and began pacing back and forth. I saw the white lights of Sae's car shoot on and I knew the valet was pulling it around. What about my car? Knowing Sae, I'd probably ride with him anyways.

I placed my hand gently on his shoulder. He stopped pacing only for a moment, but still didn't look at me. The wind was blowing softly, making the air cool—almost as if intentionally keeping the boy from overheating.

"What can I do for you?" I asked softly.

Sae heaved a sigh and finally looked at me. There were no tears in his eyes, but a sensitive piece still remained. "I'm not sure. I'm sorry."

The valet pulled the car over to us and tossed the keys over to Sae. "I'll take you home."

"No need," I said. "I have my own car."

"Are you sure?" the boy hung his head a bit, like he was guilty for snapping. "This may be...insensitive, but I don't really want to be alone tonight."

"Alright then, hop in my car. I'll drive us around."

Sae snorted. "You'd probably be the worst fucking driver ever. I'll take us."

I laughed as Sae opened the door to his car for me. I'll get my car later tonight, I decided. Sae rolled the windows down and I felt the peaceful breeze enter the car. He began playing music, but I didn't know the songs. Or the words. They were all in Spanish, which I should've expected from the boy who played in Spain for a billion years.

"Are you fluent?"

Sae looked over at me. "What?"

"In Spanish. Are you fluent?"

The boy shrugged. He casually leaned one hand out of the window, catching the wind, as he answered, "not quite. I still know a decent bit, though."

His voice had gone back to gentle. If I didn't know him, I wouldn't have guessed he was fuming inside. There was a part of him that felt so genuine when we were in moments like these, like anything in the world could be shared between us. It was that feeling which was like no other—and a bond I don't think I've shared with anyone before.

It was beautiful.

"Is it alright if we head back to my apartment?"

"What?" I asked, my voice raising a pitch.

Sae glanced over his shoulder as he merged lanes, catching my eye on the way. "Don't feel like you have to. We could just watch a movie. I don't feel like extending this evening even further into adventures. I'm more of a homebody anyway."

I smiled to myself. "Me too."

And off we went to Sae's apartment.

I was expecting something grand and magnificent due to his wealthy financial standing, but it really wasn't much. He had everything one needed to survive and be comfortable, but there was barely a trace of home anywhere. Despite the cream-colored walls and white furniture, the apartment could've been completely empty with all the lack of decoration.

There were two things, though. A poster on the wall of Sae's Spanish team. He stood near the center and gave a blank face, as always, but he looked happy. Even in a photo I could see that.

The next object was barely noticeable. It was a small picture frame on a table by the entryway of two little boys hugging eachother in front of a soccer ball. One had messy red hair, while the other had crisp black. They both had enormous grins on their dirt-covered faces, evident they'd just played a muddy game of soccer.

"Is this your brother?"

Sae didn't even glance over. "Yeah."

"The one you played against?"

"Yeah."

I got the feeling he didn't want to talk. I remembered at the Blue Lock game they weren't especially friendly with each other. Tonight probably wasn't the night to pry. Sae already had too much going on in his head to tak about something else he could've had issues with.

In addition to the pictures, there were also quite a few shelves on the wall stacked up with books. It was a miracle they didn't collapse. I recognized a few books out of the thirty he'd bought during my library sale, and I couldn't help but smile. In each and every book I saw sticky notes hanging out, and several highlighters and pens were strewn across the shelves as though there for immediate convenience.

I sat down on his couch, which was parked in front of the TV. The curtains were open and it was practically pitch-black outside. I noticed Sae also had a balcony leading outside, which would've been the perfect view to watch the stars. I would've went, but my thoughts were interrupted.

"Do you like butter on your popcorn?"

Sae had popped out from the kitchen, a massive bowl held in his hands.

"Lots," I assured.

The boy came over and sat next to me. "Good, because I already put a ton on before I remembered to ask you."

I chuckled, passing him the remote that laid beside me.

"Any preference as to what we watch?"

I shook my head, and Sae took that as an invitation to scroll through his Netflix account. "I'm assuming along with your bad taste in books is a bad taste in movies, so I might need to educate you here, too."

We began watching...what was it again? I couldn't even remember. I hadn't thought the night exhausted me, but before I realized it, my eyes were closed and I was fast asleep.