ISAGI YOICHI Can Sometimes Be The Meanest Guy On The Field, But Once All Is Said And Done, He’s Putty

"do you remember the time?" - itoshi rin

you were a blur in his memories. he remembered the traces, the faint shape of your familiar face, but your features were blurred, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember how you looked like, the face he once adored with all his heart.

lights flashed in his eyes, blinding, but recently, one thing had been on rin's mind. he had a lingering feel in his heart, one he couldn't pinpoint the source of. soccer was his number one priority, when he was younger he abandoned the others. recently, he had a guilty feeling he'd abandoned something far more important than a mere numbered priority.

"itoshi rin! have you ever loved someone before?" a voice behind the bright flashing lights of the countless cameras surrounding him questioned. his first love? rin's mind wandered, his eyes misty, trying to find the reason why his heart was overcome with a strange feeling, a mix of guilt, regret, and -.. hope?

still drenched with sweat from the soccer match, his wispy bangs covered his face as he looked down. why was this so familiar? this was especially weird, he'd forgot almost all of his childhood since making soccer his dream, his comfort. something clicked in him, he remembers.

-maybe if he didn't, he would have avoided it-

rin never answered the question. ignoring the reporter, he sent a cold and unwelcoming gaze to all that were in front of him, trying to take pictures, trying to get him to answer them. "maybe if you all weren't so desperate, you'd actually get ahead in life." rin bluntly stated, classic of him to rudely dismiss others.

a trip back to kamakura, his hometown, could do him some good. he'd gotten a break since his recent match, but all that occupied his mind was the itching feeling that what he was looking for was here.

the atmosphere was cold, white mist floated into the air when rin breathed out. the swing he sat on was old and rusted, it creaked whenever he swung his legs in the slightest. but he was here, waiting, for someone.

for you.

and there he saw it, his heart swelled at the sight of you, a scarf covering your chin, carrying a guitar case on you back, with a plastic bag full of snacks in one hand. your hair moved with the wind that blew past, and small exhales that you made produced white mist. internally, his arm reached out to you, trying to grab you and communicate with you.

rin muttered your name, unaware of it's volume. your head turned to the familiar but faint sound of your name being uttered. one glance of his wispy bangs that covered his eyes, one that you used to complain about since you could barely see his eyes, the eyes that used to look at you with so much warmth and comfort, once looked at you to with a sharp, disregarding touch. one that made you feel worthless. this time, his teal eyes were full of hope and desire, your breath hitched seeing that.

"rin?.." your mouth was parted, and your hair blew in your face due to the wind. that didn't matter right now. what did, was that he was here. how could he just show up here, after he told you that you were nothing to him, that he only led you on as he "didn't want you to realize early" that the spark between you two was long gone.

you two were presently at the ripe age of 21, but when you were in your teenage years, you loved each other. but one day, rin told you the words that haunted you till now.

"i really did love you, but eventually you grew to mean nothing to me."

he told you that he wanted to focus on soccer, that you were dragging him down and slowing him. he told you that he really did love you, he told you that you were a dead weight on him. and then he acted like you never existed. after that, he just left this town behind, left you and his ties with you behind. so why is he here now, asking to talk again?

"rin, why are you here?" your tone became more serious, as the anger towards him that grew over time, started spilling out. you'd see him on television, he made a name for himself, you hated him. you hated what he did to you, and how he threw away everything so easily. but you couldn't bring yourself to pull away from him. you'd thought that it was just a teenage relationship failure, that you could get over it. but it clung to you, haunted you.

rin bit his bottom lip, nails digging deep into his palm. "i..i.." stuttering out of anxiousness, he knew you hated him for what he'd done, and he hated how he got rid of any memory, any remnants of the love you and him once shared, just to focus on soccer. he'd hated how he completely forgot about you. and he knew you did too.

"someone asked me if i'd ever fallen in love before," rin gripped the rusty chains of the swing tightly before letting go and walking towards you. "i thought of you."

soon, he was in front of you, towering over you. frustration built up inside you, but you couldn't resist the look of his eyes, one that pleaded to just listen to him.

"you threw away everything we had, you completely forgot about me. how can you just simply say that you thought of me when you did all that?" the frustration slipped through your voice, revealing itself. you don't know why, you said you were over it, that it would never hurt you again, but tears spilled from your eyes. it fell down your cheeks, as the rims of you eye slowly became redder.

you were on the verge of breaking down completely, crumbling into the shards of your raw emotions. rin could see this, and guilt overtook his heart. your voice shook and quivered, but still, you stood strong, desperate for rin to understand what he put you through, the countless nights of crying in your room, curled up like a ball on the floor, wondering what you ever did so wrong that he had to leave you.

his bottom lip quivered, and he wanted to deny everything, but he knows he can't. "you said you really did love me. then why did you just leave?" your eyes filled with rage, stared at him, asking for a reason.

"i did. i did love you. but i loved soccer more then."

this earned you a scoff. "doesn't give you an excuse to just forget everything, to just throw everything away." poking a finger at his chest, you glared up at him. "rin, i'm done. you left me first, but you came back first. it's my turn to leave you now." with an extra sharpness in your tone, you turned to leave, but rin held your wrist.

"please, please, really just, listen to me."

maybe you shouldn't have, then you would have avoided it.

you stayed.

"i know i hurt you, i know it was uncalled for, and just horrible of me. i threw away everything i ever had for soccer, including you. but i didn't know you were more important to me than 'just a distraction'. i thought about you from time to time, but eventually forgot about you, i was too focused on soccer, on beating my rivals."

rin's eyes stared at you with longing, hoping you would understand what he was trying to tell, that you would hear him out. no matter how hard you tried to resist against the mental restraints on you to leave and never turn back, you couldn't deny.. you missed him.

"i'm sorry. please, give me another chance. i promise, i'll treat you better then i did before, you'll never be a 'distraction' anymore, i'll never throw what we have away."rin's eyes bore into yours with determination, the eyelashes you used to get jealous of complimented it even more.

eyes really were the window to the soul, huh?

"i didn't want to say this, but," rin's ears and cheek turned a faint pink, blush tinged his ears, covering his face with his hand. "i love you. i really do, i miss you."

i missed you too.

you muttered the words so lightly, but rin still caught it. his eyes seemed to have gained a spark, and he looked at you with so much hope in his eyes.

"can we try again?"

rin gripped your wrist tighter, anxious for your reply.

"do you remember the time when we fell in love?"

rin nodded, the slightest smile making its way to his face. "i loved you with all my heart. i've only noticed now, but i still do." your hair framed your face perfectly, and rin couldn't keep his eyes off you. you were gorgeous. "so, you haven't answered my question."

"promise you won't repeat it again."

"i promise."

you reciprocated his action of gripping onto your wrist, only now gripping his hand tighter than ever. rin's hands made way to your face, his face leaning in closer to yours, till your noses touched. he let out a smile, the sweetest one you'd ever seen in you entire life. both of you chuckled, and your lips made contact. he smiled into the kiss, and held you face so gently, but with the intention of never letting you go. your arms wrapped around his neck, ruffling his hair as you two shared a kiss filled with hope, and a promise sealed with it. you two loved each other, if you'd never confessed the love for him that was hidden deep in your heart under all the hatred you had, maybe you wouldn't be drawn back to him.

maybe this could work out again.

Reo should pass to Chigiri to end the match but we all probably know that's not gonna happen because Nagi needs this character development in this arc and the Reonagi situationship needs to evolve or some shit like that.

5 things itoshi sae will do.

he will make you cry.

intentional or not, this man has the magical ability to turn the faucets behind your eyes. the once warm salty tears running down your cheeks become cold the moment they make contact with that one spot below your eyes.

he will force you to attend his games.

you’re immediately obligated to attend his matches as soon as you two make it official. he’s not embarrassed about you watching his matches like at all because he’s quite confident in his abilities. you technically get dragged into the stadium by the team’s guards who escort you to your seat.

he will let you see him walk around with his fuckass bangs down without any hairspray.

he’s quite shameless when he’s alone—except he isn’t, he’s in the room with you . . . but you don’t count as someone to be wary about. so when he first came to you with his bangs down, you almost squealed. it’s somewhat of a reward when you see it. he still looks like he came straight out of the photos his mom sent you from when he was younger.

he will tolerate your touches.

nope, he is not known for his affection. even with you, he doesn’t initiate it. not like it would kill him to do so, he’s just . . . clueless—you could say. but when you wrap your arms around him, hover your hands over his body, entangle your fingers with his hair, touch his face, kiss him—he’ll accept them.

he will leave you on seen.

yup. either one : he doesn’t know how to respond so he just looks stares at your text like a clueless child—debating whether he should send a stupid millennial gifs or not respond at all. or two : he’ll respond you when he meets you. “i’ll buy you dinner.” “what?” “that text. you asked what you should get for dinner.” “sae, that was 4 days ago.”

5 more things itoshi sae won’t do.

he won’t let you cry in front of him.

he’ll turn you away or he’ll walk away. look, he’s trying to give you some space but honestly, it isn’t helping. it’s not that he doesn’t want to comfort you—he just doesn’t know how to handle his own feelings, let alone yours. so he’ll leave you alone. however, when your tears dry up, he’ll come back to you and pray to God that you don’t hate him.

he won’t lie to you.

even white lies. it just isn’t part of his vocabulary. but it does come in handy—for example, when you see an article about some stupid ship between him and another celebrity, he shuts it down and you know he’s telling you the truth. then there’s the down side . . . “do you think this shade suits me?” “no. you should find another one.” he finds there is just no use in coating lies.

he won’t put you above soccer.

it sounds harsh but he doesn’t expect you to expect him to give up his livelihood for a relationship and neither should you give up yours for him. he’ll love you to the end and back—soccer isn’t on his love spectrum, more like his obsessive spectrum. so yeah, he’ll love you more than soccer but he doesn’t put you above the sport.

he won’t hide you.

it’s actually futile to get him to listen to his PR team. no, he is not ashamed going to an event with you in hand. no, he is not ashamed with keeping one highlight of you on his inactive instagram account. no, he is not going to entertain other set-ups. no, he won’t give a fuck.

but he won’t ever hate you.

don’t even try because it won’t happen.

sticky note. ARLENE IS BACK??? this week has been crazy as fuck like hello? i need a whole separate post to talk about it but you guys BETTER promise me you WILL read it.

Rin

There are no slow mornings in your household. No waking up to strong arms slung around you, or at least a good dose of morning breath.

Rin is a morning person. He runs before the sun is up, takes a shower, stretches, meditates if he has the time.

Breakfast is usually ready by the time you slip out of bed and you always feel a little like a fish out of water standing next to him, with your bed head and your sleepshirt askew, with your morning breath and body odour next to his freshly showered beauty.

Today, though, you wake up to his face pressed against your stomach.

"Who are you?" You ask, a little out of the loop still, one hand moving through his hair to identify him. Rin's hair is silky and cool to the touch - he loves when you point out that he's got the best hair of the whole team - and it's still a little damp today.

"Shut up," he grumbles quietly.

"Wow, so it is you," you snort, waking a little. "Back already?"

"Hm."

"Did you slip in the rain and come back inside?"

"It's not raining."

"Did you catch some weird flu?"

"I'm perfectly healthy," Rin points out, his words ghosting his hot breath over your skin. "I can come back to bed when I want to."

"You can. But you never have."

"I know."

"Are you feeling guilty?" You blink down at him. The lack of response is a response. "You are."

"You said it yourself," he grumbles, "Last week. How you feel like we're living different lives. I don't want to live a different life."

"Oh, baby," you slide your hands through his hair and move his head so that you can see him, so that you can lean down and kiss him. It's awkward and stiff and your back protests, but you manage, his lips cool against yours. He tastes like toothpaste.

"You're a morning person. You can stay a morning person. I love you for the fact that you're willing to slip back into bed, but if you promise to kiss me at the kitchen table every morning, you can do your stuff until I feel ready to wake up."

"Every morning," Rin points out, shuffling around until you're face to face. "Staring today." He slips out of bed with a kiss to your temple. "I'm making breakfast."

for anon

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