breaking through my defenses

chapter 23

"You won't make me disappear if you glare hard enough." Sae asserted, walking over towards Yoichi who was sprawled over the floor, the wall supporting his back.

He had been watching Sae practice after he had thrown him out, taking occasional sips from the water bottle he held in his hand.

In reality, he hadn't been glaring the whole time; it was only when Sae glanced over at him, since he wasn't fine with being labeled as a love-struck, unlike to the boy who sat next him, and who took pleasure in boldly ogling him, the way he was doing as he was thinking.

Sae on the other hand, had indeed been comfortable with his gaze. He had come in terms with the fact that he was excessively fond of him, and no longer attempted to be subtle about it.

"How can you look so good after a whole day of training?" Yoichi muttered, after peering over him. He smiled wickedly at the statement, albeit having brought genuine glee upon hearing it.

"Well, God has his favorites." he sneered. Yoichi rolled his eyes dismissingly, since he did not deem an answer as worthy of wasting his breath over.

"You don't look that bad either." Sae added, in an attempt to return the favor, and gain back his attention.

"Thank you?" he answered, perplexed.

"Yeah, anytime baby." he answered, watching as Yoichi cringed at the nickname he was clear about not wanting to be addressed as.

"That really—was your idea of a compliment." he stated incredulously. Sae raised a confused eye brow.

"What else did you think?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it." he said, chuckling.

He had considered to ask, 'what's so funny?' but then decided against it, he would rather him laughing, than having to argue about the fact that he—was the joke.

"I won. I get the prize." Sae reminded.

He said, referring to when they played with Rin and Bachira earlier. Yoichi teamed up with Rin after he persuaded him with the idea using some stupid argument of prioritizing the person he played with most and bringing up the fact that Bachira was originally Sae's teammate. The outcome was their loss— obviously.

"You could have asked when they were still here. I won't pay for my and Rin's loss." he protested.

"I don't care. There's just one loser in front of me now. You better make it worth the three points difference."

"Shut up, I'm still trying to figure out why we lost." he spoke, his forehead furrowed.

"Because I'm better than you, as simple as that." he shrugged, yanking the bottle from his hand.

"We won against you before." he argued,

"You're still considering the U20 as a valid argument? Thought you were smarter than that."

"Oh shut up, you were totally in flow state when Rin fouled you." he shot back.

He tried not to wince at the mention of his loss, and to return the spotlight to Yoichi's instead. "Well, you teamed up with him, how'd that work out for you?" he sneered.

Annoyed, he stayed silent for a bit, then seemed to remember something else to shoot back.

"You still owe me an explanation for why you picked shidou."

"If I picked you, you would've hated me even more if the program stopped."

He squinted his eyes suspiciously, pursing his lips not to smile, then said, "not falling for that."