'HE'S FAST,' y/n thinks when he sees a man wearing glasses score a goal. he glances at the purple-red snap hair clip in his hands, and caresses it as it shines beneath the fluorescent tubes' light. would he sneer at him if he told him someone may be faster than him?
the blowing whistle brings him out of his reverie. he blinks away his thoughts before glancing at the field before him, and catches seishirou and reo turning their heads towards the corner of the field. the scoreboard is up there, yet why do they keep looking at him each time the ball hits team y's net?
reo has his hands up in the air. y/n lifts a hand for a wave of his own. grinning even wider, reo gestures his index fingers on his lips to curve a smile. behind him, seishirou makes a wave of his own, albeit slower and quickly to let his hand fall to his side.
glancing back and forth between the cell thing and reo and seishirou, the fast guy looks at the two weirdly. y/n can't hear what he's saying to them, but he can only guess after seeing how fast reo's smile falters, dropping into a comical frown.
but just as reo opens his lips to retort, they get called for the play to be restarted with a kick-off.
reo glares at the guy, and snaps his head to grin at y/n again before finally grabbing seishirou's hand, and stomping over to the other side.
he's kind of silly, y/n thinks.
y/n's thumb goes back to rub itself against the hair clip almost mindlessly. the hair clip reflects the events of last night; how fast he ran to find the trinket last night, the way he clings onto the trinket when he finds it in his treasure box, the coldness of it piercing the warmth of his fingers the moment he touches it.
but most of all, the colour. a beautiful shade of crimson, the one a carnation in bloom can have, the one that feels like silk against his fingers.
the light illuminates the small scratch on the side of the magenta hair clip. y/n doesn't remember when it got there, and that clenches his heart a little more than it should.
he digs his memories for a clue, but all he gets are the small smiles that follow after someone when he snaps the clip on his fringes.
y/n wonders what he should do when he's not allowed another chance to be at the receiving end of those small smiles anymore.
sighing, he runs a hand through his hair as he glares at the hair clip. it's not its fault that things have come like this for y/n and him, in fact, it was one of the things that bonded them the most.
another sigh escapes him. the movement is all too familiar and light on his fingers as he snaps the hair clip open. he purses his lips before finally deciding on something, and snaps the hair clip on his hair.
he moves his gaze back to the field, and finds a bunch of bangs in the distance facing towards him.
y/n may not be able to see his eyes, but he can feel the judging stare from afar. and also an intense heat beginning to radiate from his own face.
in response to fight-or-flight, y/n skims his eyes across the faux turf, only to turn around and realise the exit is behind him.
he looks back at the guy staring at him, and the guy shakes his head so rapidly y/n is starting to worry that his bangs may be pushed away to reveal his eyes. y/n doesn't think the guy would want that, so he takes that as a cue to leave, and he has never walked out faster in his life.
the speed y/n rips the hair clip off his head the moment he's outside can be rivalled with the speed of the guy from before.
'none of this would've happened if i watched from the control room.'
why is it suddenly so hot here? what happened to the air conditioners? y/n feels like he's in hell right now. actually, hell sounds nicer than having the chance to see that guy again.
but he has to see that guy since he's promised reo and seishirou that he'll be rooting them on today!
y/n groans in his hands, before turning back and taking a peek through his fingers at the door.
should he? should he not? it's inevitable that he'll meet the guy even after this, but he's so embarrassed that he's not sure if he can face him now. but if he breaks his promise, reo and seishirou are gonna be so sad, and y/n doesn't want them to be sad!
y/n groans into his hands again. each stomp he takes to get back inside contains bits of his dignity, so reo and seishirou better win this.
☆✮☆
they won.
fortunately, whether or not team v knows it, y/n's dignity is saved by them for another day. hanging out with reo has been making him more dramatic.
a small huff escapes y/n's lips as he stands outside of team v's changing room. the snap hair clip feels warm from him holding it all day.
(all night, too. he held it close to his chest, and fell asleep with the thought of bright pink eyes, but was unable to dream of them.)
'team z's match is next.' y/n solemnly thinks, 'will he do well? i'm worried. after all...' he stops snapping the hair clip repeatedly, and clutches it in his palm.
'this is his-'
"y/n!"
the mentioned male flinches as reo throws an arm around him. since when were they done? he didn't hear the creaking of the door.
"what are you thinking?" seishirou says, his voice laced with more languidness than normal. he appears from y/n's empty side, grey eyes that always seem to be unblinking bore into him.
"right! you didn't turn to us the first time nagi called out to you! probably 'cause his voice was barely audible in the first place." reo pouts, muttering the last sentence. the smell of the facility's shampoo fills the air around y/n when reo leans his head into the crook of his neck. he makes a note to get reo his usual lavender cologne if jinpachi ever sends him to another errand.
"it's 'cause i'm tired. talking like this is taking my last bit of energy." seishirou sends a weak glare to reo's way, making the latter snicker and lean his head even further in. y/n can feel his jaw tickling from his curls.
'now that i think of it... his hair had grown when i saw his profile last night.'
"i'm gonna have to carry you back to our team v room after this then!" reo sing-songs, "though, with y/n here, it would be really~ hard to not ditch you and run away with him instead!"
'did he get new hair clips to hold his hair? they would get in his way if he doesn't....'
seishirou pouts with whatever facial muscle he has left. "you're saying that like he won't be carrying me with you guys. y/n's nice."
'maybe he tied them back instead. his sister would've taught him a few styles the moment his hair reached below neck length....'
"why would he?" reo teases, "when he and i will be going to a no-nagi-zone~?" he's been having a little too much fun teasing seishirou ever since that conversation in his apartment.
'but knowing him, he'd be too prideful for that....'
"the hell?" seishirou says incredulously, "what kind of zone is that?"
"i don't know, his bedroom?"
'i bet he swatted her hands away and ran to his room to watch youtube tutorials instead....'
seishirou's jaw hangs open. his pout turns into a frown when he says, "that makes no sense. why wouldn't he let me in?"
'and his sister would come in and teach him a few basics, not before laughing at him first, though.'
reo bites his cheek in an attempt to hold back a smirk, but it fails the moment he opens his lips to speak again. "why would he? when he and i are together? alone? in the anti-nagi room?"
'i bet he prefers braids. he would say they're more efficient when he really just thinks they're prettier on him.'
"i really don't like what you're implying." seishirou wraps his arms around y/n protectively, as if he's trying to release him from reo's hold. "it's illegal, by the way. you're minors."
"how is getting crab meat out of the shells in the 'peeling crab meat out of the shells' room that happens to be y/n's room illegal-" reo pauses momentarily before gasping dramatically, his free hand covering his mouth and eyes wide open and all. "wait, oh my god. don't tell me, you were thinking of...."
'but then again he might've changed, and say they're pretty when he thinks they're pretty.'
"huh? wait, um. what? no." seishirou stammers. "i mean that, no, you were the one to say... ugh. whatever. this is so annoying."
like the little devil he is, reo snickers. accustomed to reo's tendency to tease when it comes to y/n, seishirou sighs. "i can't deal with this anymore. i'm done. y/n, carry me."
seishirou frees y/n from his grasp to hold his arms out. reo is about to send a quip his way when they notice how he doesn't receive a response from the heart of their squabbling.
"y/n?" reo tilts his head up to the said male. simultaneously, seishirou drops his arms, and follows reo to tilt his head.
furrowing his brows, reo taps lightly on y/n's cheek. the gesture finally gets his attention back to them.
and as though he has been spacing out, y/n blinks at his surroundings before landing his gaze on reo, and then on seishirou.
"sorry, can you repeat that?" he says, an apologetic tone seeping into the monotone of his voice. he slips the hair clip into the pocket of his trousers.
"what are you thinking?" before reo can get a word in, seishirou beats him to it. "you've been out of it today."
"thanks for the concern, but i'm fine, really," says y/n, but only a ghost of a smile flits across his features.
reo unleashes his arm around y/n's shoulders as he stands in front of him. he then proceeds to give y/n a very, very serious look.
"mikage-san...?" confused, y/n questions in a small voice.
the hallway becomes silent enough that y/n can hear the thumping of his heart beginning to crescendo. until,
"sigh!"
reo sighs out loud. the raucous noise gets both seishirou and y/n to turn to him with widened eyes.
"what the—"
seishirou shrieks and nearly stumbles when reo jerks him to them just as he cries out, "group hug!"
closing his eyes in contentment, reo hugs them. the warmth of their bodies colliding with one another. y/n stiffens, and when he melts into the embrace, reo cups the back of his head gently. they huddle together like a cluster of stars; their own sanctuary in the vast galaxy.
"...group hug." seishirou repeats after reo in a daze. and as if he gets a sudden revelation, he follows to secure his arms around them the moment he senses what reo is about to pull.
reo grins, like he always does, before clearing his throat, and lowering his voice down an octave in an attempt to sound a declaration. "we, mikage reo and nagi seishirou, hereby declare that all worries and concerns dwelling within l/n y/n would now be ours to dwell on too!"
the corners of his mouth turn up again, his eyes crinkling and apple cheeks prominent. his voice goes back to the one y/n has grown fond of when he says, "so the aforementioned man can tell us anything!"
"and we'll give him lots of hugs," seishirou murmurs, his words nearly lost inside the crook of y/n's (notably heating) neck.
y/n wants to, really wants to thank them but he feels so warm all over that he thinks he's going to fly into the sun, and fight him for the hottest star position.
instead, he begins to open and close his mouth over and over, trying to get any word out but all that emerges are unintelligible sounds.
in the end, he opts to completely shut his mouth, and go back to lean into their affection. he bets they look silly in front of the cctv; three ridiculously tall men nestling closely together, as if they'll die if they were to be separated for more than five minutes.
...reo bets they can't last more than a minute, actually.
stealing another glance at y/n, reo grits his teeth in an effort to hold back a squeal when y/n surrenders into their embrace. after watching him stammer on for a solid minute, reo's hands are twitching and fighting for their lives to not just tilt y/n's head towards him, and pinch the living cuteness out of his cheeks!
as reo tightens his hold around them, he can feel seishirou's eyes boring into the side of his head. it's like he has senses for whenever reo's y/n cuteness aggression acts up.
they don't work 'cause the only thing stopping reo is y/n's comfort, anyway! it's not like seishirou has the balls to get y/n's permission too since he's in denial. whoops!
"...you." a whisper slices through the silence in the hallway. oh, right! they were supposed to get back to their team v room. though, hugging y/n like this recharges him more efficiently than any futon can.
"hmm? what was that?" reo leans closer to y/n. he sees seishirou doing the same in his peripheral vision.
"thank you. i was just thinking about..." y/n pauses, thinking of the right words to describe his relationship with someone. "... an old friend of mine. that's all."
and then, as if to reassure him, he nods in reo's direction, a small smile unfurls across the firm line of his lips.
and that's all it took for reo to combust.
throwing his head back with both hands covering his face, reo lets out an involuntary screech. fuck his cool but nice boy image, or whatever the hell the people think of him, he's risking it all for y/n right now.
seishirou brings y/n closer to him as they both stare at reo. the other doesn't fight against it, and lets him do what he wants. even if seishirou is literally breathing into his hair.
"i can't believe we're friends with him." seishirou whispers, concerned for reo's wellbeing and visibly judging his current behaviour.
"that's... yeah." y/n whispers back, touched by how moved reo was by his gratitude.
after taking a deep breath, reo is back to facing seishirou and y/n. red dusting his forehead from his fingers holding onto it when he covered his face. he looks a bit goofy, but it's okay. 'cause he has calmed down and is ready to speak to his friends like a perfectly fine human being again.
at least that's what he thinks until he sees y/n mildly furrowing his eyebrows. oh my god, is this his way of showing concern for reo?
reo can't take this anymore!
his fingers lunge to stretch the living stars out of y/n's cheeks, and the object of his aggression flinches from seishirou's hold. and reo honest-to-god squeals like he's not mikage reo, the heir of the mikage corporation. "seriously! who could get a dear like you to be brooding like that?"
if it weren't y/n tugging on his wrists to give him a chance to speak, reo would've kept going until seishirou got over his devastation (read: denial) and stopped him or something.
with his hands cradling y/n's face, reo admires him. he feels so high from positivity right now that he'll probably believe y/n if he says he was the one to hang the constellations.
"a dear like me..." y/n mumbles, and reo can feel him getting warmer under his palms. yes, y/n, a dear like you. "i don't think you've met him yet? he's someone from team z."
"yeah, we don't know him." seishirou goes back to inserting himself into the crook of y/n's neck, successfully getting one of reo's hands off of him with the interruption.
reo pouts, and pinches seishirou's cheek, making him whine from the pain. "at least give it a bit of thought first! but yeah, we haven't gone against team z yet."
"don't know, don't care- ouch!" reo pinches even harder.
"we don't know, but we do care! get it right, nagi."
"sorry, y/n."
"it's fine. his match is next actually." y/n ponders for a moment, before adding: "that's what i've been thinking."
"is that so?" reo says, breaking apart seishirou and y/n to link the three of their hands together. with reo in the middle, they walk towards where team v resides. "are you gonna watch?"
it's a wonder for y/n how their hands perfectly slot each time, but it's a convenience for reo.
"i don't know if i should. we didn't exactly end on... precise terms." y/n tears his eyes away from their hands, and settles them on the ground. "wouldn't it make him even more angry if i suddenly appeared in his life again? when i left without much of a word?"
"hmm. i guess it would." reo ponders. "but at the same time, he deserves an explanation of why you left him like that if you're gonna talk again."
reo smiles at him, his eyes crinkling a little when he does. "i know i would be mad if someone did that to me, i mean, leaving out of the blue and then trying to talk to me again as if nothing happened between us."
"oh." y/n has never thought of that. "maybe... i should watch from afar, like in the control room, to prepare the words i'll tell him before meeting him."
"yeah!" reo gives his hand a squeeze, fondness practically oozing from his gaze.
"i think i would be sad—or mad—too. i don't know. honestly, i'm struggling to keep my eyes open, let alone keep up with the conversation... so i- i can't help. good luck, y/n." with those last words, seishirou drops to the ground.
"nagi, hey! damn it!" hastily picking him up from the ground, reo throws an apologetic glance at y/n. "sorry, y/n! i'm gonna have to carry him to team v room before he actually dozes off on the floor! see ya! good luck! adore you!"
reo scurries off with seishirou draped by his shoulders in a fireman's lift. and it's only then does y/n notices the plastic-plated sun, the same one from the keychain y/n had given him, glistens in the fluorescent light on a string entwining around his wrist.
as the hair clip in his pocket numbs with cold, y/n can't believe he's friends with reo. and seishirou.
—ADDITIONAL TIME!
seishirou yawns as he sleepily blinks open his eyes. but even when they're open, his vision is nothing but darkness.
has he been kidnapped? no problem. reo would track his location, and y/n would save him, and then use his cooking as lethal poison for the kidnappers. after that they'll have a stereotypical hero and princess moment and-
right. he accidentally dozed off while conversing with reo and y/n.
might as well go back to sleep and dream of... his hypothetical scenario again.
•
•
•
the day after they found y/n again, during a night after training, reo carefully unwraps the sun from its silver chain. he cuts the cotton string he pulled from his sweater with his teeth before delicately putting it into the small hole the sun has at the top. as he wraps the string around his wrist, he doesn't forget to admire how the sun glistens under the bathroom light.
when he gets back, the sun, moon, and star orbit each other above the ocean's tides in his sleep. the warmth of his dream is now woven into the new bracelet on his wrist.
—✮
judging by how the control room only shows one match on the monitors, i'm assuming ego n anri schedule them one after the other instead of them being simultaneous. and with that assumption, i chose an order most plot convenient for me ^_^ ps. with finals over, i think i can push out chapters faster now !! yipee
update i actually dont know what i went on up there ^ but yeah im just balling the settings in blue lock bc idgaf this is MY series now i will fight you kaneshiro (for legal reasons this is a joke)