Tongue Tied

Three

A few days later, Shidou was thrilled about something. He'd texted Sae earlier that day saying he had really good news, and Sae found himself wondering about it during various points in his day. The possibilities he'd landed on had included the Paris team winning a game, or Rin embarrassing himself somehow. While the former was more likely, Sae secretly hoped for the latter.

"Check it out," Shidou told him on the call later. He looked exhausted. His hair was fighting against the gel, and his eyeliner was smudged under his eyes. They had won their first game against Italy, he'd informed him, but that wasn't the good news. He shook the wire trailing down from the headphones stuck into his ears. "I got a hold of some of these bad boys, so now we can talk more often."

Sae almost laughed to himself about this so-called good news. Shidou had been very concerned about whether or not people in Blue Lock could hear them speaking to each other. Sae didn't really care, or he didn't think so anyways, but he found it amusing nonetheless.

"You stole those, didn't you?" he asked.

"Pfft," Shidou said. "I traded them."

"I don't believe you."

"You know me so well." Once again, muffled voices came from Shidou's end. Sae waited, watching as Shidou looked up, rolled his eyes, and looked back at the screen. "The rest of the team has it in their minds that I fake these phone calls to get out of socializing with them."

That made Sae smile. It also confused him.

"Not that I would need an excuse to ignore a bunch of half-developed specimens," Shidou said, louder. It made Sae laugh. "God, your laugh is so pretty, you know that?"

Sae pursed his lips, trying to stop it. He liked the compliments, but they also made him uneasy. He was pretty sure he liked the overwhelming feeling Shidou brought out in him, but he hadn't really gotten used to it yet.

"Still talking to your fake boyfriend?"

That time, Sae heard it. And he recognized the voice. The overwhelming feeling dissipated, and it was filled with just annoyance. That, and feeling bad for Shidou. "Is that Rin?"

"That's really between me and my fake boyfriend, Rinrin," Shidou said, answering both of them at once.

My fake boyfriend. Sae knew logically that Shidou was just being snarky, but still. The overwhelming feeling was back. Shidou looked back at the screen and rolled his eyes again.

"Sure is," Shidou said, answering Sae directly. "And yes, he's still as annoying as you remember."

"Tell him to fuck off for me, would you?" Sae said.

"You can tell him yourself," Shidou said. "If you really want."

Sae paused. Shidou had been so weird about their calls being in private since going back to Blue Lock for a reason he'd never really understood. He hadn't been shy about being all over him during the U-20 game. But if he didn't care, Sae didn't either, he decided.

"Sure," he said.

He watched Shidou unplug the headphones and turn the phone until Rin was in view. Not only him, but he caught a view of a number of different of extras in the blur. They must be in some type of communal team space or something.

His brother looked as irritatingly pathetic as when he'd last seen him, which is to say when he'd insisted on rubbing salt in his wound and telling him that Isagi had been the star striker that Japan had been able to turn out. He'd enjoyed that, and he'd enjoy this too. Rin's face fell before Sae even said anything.