Against Our Demons

Fourteen

Sae wouldn't say that the initial interactions with the team left a bad taste in his mouth, because he was wholly indifferent to it, but after the first practice had let out, he was feeling better. He always did after a whole day of showing people up in terms of physicality and skill. Especially those that made it so blatantly obvious that they didn't like him.

Shidou, on the other hand, felt like he was just itching for a fight.

As far as he was concerned, this team and everyone on it was bullshit. He would readily admit that he didn't have much professional football experience, or any really, besides his short stint on Japan's U-20 team, but it hardly mattered to him. These lot were a bunch of idiots. Of that, he was sure.

His reasoning behind this train of thought was due to the fact that everyone was acting like it was their god given right to size them up like they were a couple of nobodies who'd been plucked straight from the sticks and expected them to prove themselves. Which was maybe true for himself, but that was hardly what offended him. He knew his perception of Itoshi Sae was augmented, but why should it not be? He'd been chosen by him. Outside of that, he knew who he was and everyone else should too. Members of a team that had also been more or less chosen, or accepted by him at the very least, should grovel for the chance to play with him.

He wanted to bash Hunt and Hanover's skulls in. He really did. If he could of and gotten away with it without fucking up his priceless opportunity, he probably would of. He was already barely resisting the urge. It was really those two he hated so much, with their snide comments and under the breath laughter and side eye glances that he could tell Sae was only pretending not to notice. Everyone else was just kind of lumped in with them and guilty by association.

Junior, though, he hated for an entirely different reason. Shidou would readily admit that it was jealousy. He wasn't ashamed of it. Junior was probably a good guy. In fact, Shidou knew he was. He hated him because he was the one person on the team, besides himself, that Sae seemed to tolerate. That, in turn, was intolerable.

On the first day, he'd committed an unforgiveable crime against him and solidified his position in Shidou's informal hall of hatred. During a water break, he'd gone up to Sae and gave him a pat on the back while he said something or other to him. It was quick, but it made Shidou's blood boil. What made him near feral was how he'd gotten no type of don't touch me. Actually, Sae's mouth turned up at one side ever so slightly as he answered him. Between that and the first name basis they were on, Shidou wanted to bash his skull in too.

Sae didn't pick up on any of Shidous animosity, but he did notice that he was kind of quiet and keeping his distance from him after practice. He thought he'd be grateful for it, but given everything he'd seen from Shidou so far, it kind of put him on edge in an entirely new way. He tried to push it out of his mind as he changed and got ready to head back to the hotel, but it was easier said than done.

He found it really weird that after all the bullshit he'd been putting Sae through since the U-20 game, that he was going out of his way to avoid him in the change room of all places. He figured this would be one of the places Shidou would be most likely to strike with his aggressive affection. Sae then found himself wondering if Shidou was pissed at him. For a single second, before he became horrified with himself and shook it from his head. If that was the case, it was hardly his issue, because he hadn't done anything to him, and even if he had, what the fuck would he care?

When Junior made the move to head over to Shidou to chat him up, Sae found himself listening in, just in case it provided context clues.

"That was some practice," Junior told Shidou. "We're lucky to have you, dude."