𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒂 | 𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒛𝒖𝒎𝒂 𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏

" 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆? " - 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒙 𝒅𝒚𝒍𝒂𝒏

Author's POV

- You should take Dylan too, we need to be as many as we can. Otherwise things could go downhill. Ichinose advised.

- Me? Why can't- Mark began to say but he was cut off.

- Mark please, we don't have time for this. Everyone is already at the airport. Please! Ichinose begged.

- Fine. Mark sighed. I'll see you soon!

Mark started driving to Dylan's apartment, he knew the route better than even Dylan did. Even if he hadn't been there for a while. Mark tried not to think about what happened many times but since he was already going to see Dylan he gave in.
He remembered the Football Frontier International's last game. Inazuma Japan won against Little Gigant. It was the best match Mark had ever seen, everyone was beyond stunned by it. There were parades everywhere, everyone was partying and playing matches for fun. They stayed a few more days to celebrate everything, even so Mark could only care about their last day on the island. The rest was blurry.

Dylan walked in his room without knocking, he didn't have to, he never had to. Mark was writing on his notebook and didn't turned around, he already knew who it was. Dylan sighed and walked towards him.
" What's up? " Mark muttered.
" We need to talk. " Dylan confessed.
" About what? " He finally looked up to see his best friend's red face.
" About us. "

They started dating after that day. Everything was perfect, until it wasn't. They started arguing about little things and at first Mark didn't payed much attention to it because he thought it wasn't important. Dylan did. Little things like those mattered to him and slowly they started drifting away from each other.
It started with not answering the texts from the other, to completely ignoring each other for days. He still had no idea why he let that happened. They separated completely during their last year of high school, when Dylan went to New York Soccer Academy and Mark went to study biology. They hadn't seen each other since Dylan moved back in the city.
Now Ichinose needed their support to fight Fifth Sector in Japan. He gathered the whole Unicorn team and were about to leave today. He just had to pick Dylan, it couldn't be that hard, right?

He parked his car in front of Dylan's apartment, took a deep breath and went inside the building. Mark saw Dylan's door and knocked. He made an effort not to think about his anxiety rising but as soon as Dylan opened the door and Mark met his eyes everything-

everything

Dylan wasn't wearing his glasses. Why wasn't Dylan wearing his glasses? He was almost blind. Why wasn't-

- Oh hi! I didn't know you were coming, Ichinose was very weird when we talked for some reasons. I just need to take my bag and we can go! Dylan spoke, smiling as if in front of his eyes was a very good friend, not his ex.

    His eyes.

     Mark would have loved to say that they were very good friends but they haven't spoken in such a long time.

- Why aren't you wearing your glasses? Mark asked without even thinking.

     Dylan looked at him a bit confused at first but then he smiled softly.

- I don't need them anymore. Mark looked into Dylan's reddish eyes, he could swear his heart stopped.

- Oh, ok!

     After Dylan took his bag both of them went to Mark's car.

- How have you been? Mark asked.

- Well, things are good. I mean the soccer team from New York is amazing, not to compare it with Unicorn of course! Their strategy wasn't fantastic but we won plenty of matches! Dylan sounded like he wanted Mark to ask him this question. How about you?

   Mark bit his lips.

- Normal I guess, nothing interesting happened until Ichinose called me to talk about going to Japan.

- Oh yeah, what's the whole thing about? I told you, Ichinose was weird.

- Soccer in Japan is controlled by this organization called Fifth Sector. Apparently they are arranging the matches, deciding the scores for everyone so every team is controlled by them. Mark explained.

- What the- How did this happened? Why nobody did anything? Endou? Kidou? Dylan was frowning.

- Endou and Kidou were in Italy, playing for some pro league teams. I don't know much about the others but this organization acts secretly so nobody knows about this. I guess they can't prove the whole thing. Ichinose decided to gather as many supporters as he could so we can overthrow Fifth Sector.

- How are we going to do that? Dylan muttered.

- I have no idea.

     Mark tried not to look at Dylan. Simply his voice made his heart beat faster. They had been best friends, why couldn't things just feel normal? Because you weren't always best friends. Why was the airport so far away?

     Dylan tried making conversation, first asking more information about Fifth Sector, then about Unicorn and lately about Mark's university major. He never understood why Mark choose biology, he was a fantastic soccer player. He could have played for a big team.

- You said nothing interesting happened... Dylan looked at Mark, trying to catch his gaze but Mark wouldn't take his eyes off the road.

- Exactly, things are casual.

- Not dating anyone? Dylan asked, raising one eyebrow.

     If Mark hadn't been a good driver he would have crushed into the front car. He couldn't believe what Dylan was asking. What would he even say? Why did Dylan cared? This question made Mark overthink Dylan's intention in a matter of seconds.

- No, not at all. Why-uhm-why are you asking? Mark blabbered.

     If Mark would have looked at Dylan he would have seen him smirking. Dylan knew he touched Mark's soft spot and he wasn't planning on giving up at all.
     The truth is, Dylan knew Mark was going to pick him up and he knew enough details about Fifth Sector, but he wanted to hear them from Mark.

- The airport is right there! Dylan tried not to laugh. He knew Mark was going to think about his question over and over again until he got an answer.

     And Dylan was going to give him an answer, very soon. But firstly he wanted to have some fun. Flustered Mark was his favorite thing after all.

     Thanks God Ichinose agreed to play his game.