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THEY FIRST MET on an airplane, and for Itoshi Sae, it was the closest thing to love at first sight he would ever experience.
"Sorry, just need to squeeze by." The soft announcement caused Sae to glance upwards, catching sight of a [h/c] girl making her way to the window seat besides him.
He watched as she sat down, loosening the scarf around her neck with a quiet sigh. A light scent of perfume tickled his senses, and he subconsciously relaxed at the pleasant smell. She must have been running to catch the flight, given her flushed features and late arrival; but oddly enough, she appeared not the least bit out of breath.
His green eyes studied her curiously and it wasn't until they locked eyes that he realized he was staring at her the entire time.
Before he could turn away, a small smile had already tugged at her lips as she introduced herself, "I'm [y/n]. Guess we'll be seat mates for the next 12 hours."
"I'm Sae," he responded, his gaze softening despite finding her smile more contagious than what he was comfortable with. A foreign feeling of abashment caused him to, almost robotically, shift himself so that he faced forward instead of being so obviously angled towards her.
His gaze, however, trailed to the side, feeling an inexplicable sense of disappointment when [y/n] pulled out her phone, mistaking his sudden movement as a sign he didn't want to converse. He was stuck as the observer once again, unable to tear his eyes away as she stuffed the item back into her pockets and settled into her seat with a yawn.
Sae scoffed at the ridiculous feeling tickling his chest, closing his eyes as he waited for take off.
...
Several hours into their flight, Sae had fallen asleep right besides [y/n] and was woken up by a gentle nudge. Groggily opening his eyes, he glanced over to the side with a hard glare, ready to chew out whoever woke him.
However, his annoyance was soon replaced with fluster when he found a pair of [e/c] eyes on him.
"Food service," [y/n] whispered after seeing his confusion, her close proximity leading him to involuntarily shiver. Following her gaze, he saw a woman standing next to their aisle with an obviously forced smile.
He tiredly grabbed a few snacks, not caring enough to give more thought to the matter. However, he did note the odd look [y/n] gave the flight attendant.
"Just saved your neck," the girl mumbled catching his attention, but she was in her own world thinking about the scary expression the older woman sported. [y/n] was actually planning to let Sae starve, but seeing how the flight attendant looked like she was having a terrible day and ready to wring the boy awake, the younger girl decided to do him a favor.
Brushing off the weird encounter, the [h/c] girl slipped her headphones back on, ready to continue watching soccer compilations when she was once more interrupted.
"You're into soccer?" Sae asked, his voice slightly raspy from sleep.
[y/n] looked at him questioningly and momentarily glanced to her screen, pausing the video. "I guess you could say that," she shrugged, "You too?"
"I play it," he answered, feeling the slightest bit smug when she leaned closer full of interest.
Her eyes studied his face slowly and with such intensity that the young prodigy found himself heating up. His heartbeat rang loudly in his ears and Sae suddenly felt self-conscious under her clear [e/c] gaze. Clearing his throat, he was about to speak when she beat him to the punch, "you're Sae Itoshi!"
Sae nodded apprehensively. He could've sworn her expression seemed more mischievous than admiring, but her tone left him confident it was the latter, "so what's it like playing for Real Madrid?"
His blinked slowly, popping open a bag of pretzels before answering. As their conversation continued, what initially was just him entertaining her questions became an exchange of stories. The auburn haired genius didn't know at what point he began gauging her reactions and embedding extra details in hopes that she'd laugh. He also couldn't explain the weird flips his stomach did whenever her eyes sparkled from his attempt at humor.
"You definitely deserved a red card for that."
"I did not," Sae protested, his breath lightly fanning [y/n]'s skin causing her to pull back slightly, not realizing how close they were. Despite her best efforts, she failed to escape the midfielder who instinctively moved closer in response.
However, it didn't bother her nearly as much as it did Sae, who had been operating with an abnormally higher body temperature the entire time.
Before long, the plane landed and they both moved to grab their carry-on bags, somehow still completely immersed in conversation through the whole off-boarding process.
It wasn't until [y/n] took the initiative to break away that Sae noticed they were no longer on the plane but in fact at the Tokyo airport. He silently watched as she pulled her suitcase handle up with a click, finding that he didn't want to part ways so soon.
He secretly hoped she felt the same.
Feeling his expectant stare, [y/n] spoke, "I have to get going, but it was nice talking to you Sae." Her words shot through him like an arrow, and he was unable to hide his crestfallen expression.
The girl lightly tapped the back of his hand, leaning down slightly to catch his downward gaze. "I'm sure we'll somehow meet again in town," she said assuredly, stepping away just as their eyes met.
"Yea," Sae half-heartedly agreed, but his frown only deepened when she started to walk away. It had completely escaped his mind at the time to ask for her number, but perhaps such a mistake was inevitable.
After all, he already become hopelessly speechless when she turned back to wave with a smile so lovely it burned his face a scarlet red.
