Ascension│Bluelock x male reader

15. You're Blind

That night, Isagi went walkies again.

Y/N heard him sit up in bed, his mattress creaking a bit as the blue-haired boy exhaled sharply. Without making noise, he rolled over a bit, spotting Isagi as he stood up, rubbing at his forehead and stretching a bit.

It wasn't much noise, but it had still woken Y/N up. He was a light sleeper, and he hated it - during Ascension, between the little allotted sleep they did get, and the constant noises of people he shared rooms with, he barely got any rest.

"Isagi...?" He croaked out.

Isagi jumped a bit at the noise, turning slightly till he saw Y/N. The boy had propped himself up on one of his elbows, resting his head on his hand as he looked up at Isagi with half-closed eyes. "Oh, hey Y/N. Couldn't sleep?"

His voice was quiet, trying to not wake up anyone on Team Z. Y/N sighed, pulling his legs to his chest. "You actually woke me up." He admitted shyly, glancing away awkwardly.

"Ah..." Isagi flushed red. "Sorry about that."

"No problem," Y/N smiled sweetly, though he was a little annoyed. "I'm used to it by now."

Upon seeing Y/N's smile, Isagi's cheeks only grew redder. Y/N tilted his head with mild confusion, meeting Isagi as the other boy openly stared at him. "So, why are you up so late?"

"I couldn't sleep." Isagi mumbled out. "Too hyped from the goal."

Y/N laughed gently, lowering his head slightly as he did. "I guess it was an alright goal." He sat up in bed, using both arms to prop himself up. "I mean, it won us the game."

"Yeah..." The blue-haired boy stood up. "I'm going to head to the observation room. Want to come along?" He sounded hopeful.

"Sorry," Y/N declined, internally wincing as Isagi's face fell. "I've got to wake up early tomorrow, I actually have something to do."

He hadn't forgotten about his promise to Niko. He was going to help the boy, train him enough to stay in Bluelock and be successful. Really, there wasn't a reason to do it, but Y/N was oddly protective of the younger boy. Maybe because he's young enough to be my little brother...

"Alright." Isagi hesitated a bit as he walked over to the door, looking back at Y/N who was still sitting up. "Goodnight."

"Night." Y/N let himself fall back into bed, snuggling under the meagre covers as the noise of the door opening signalled Isagi's leaving.

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"You're blind."

Y/N plainly stated, rubbing at his own eyes tiredly. He'd barely gotten a few hours of sleep, and yet again was functioning much worse than usual due to it. Niko sighed.

"Are you really okay? If you're tired, we can do this another time." They both stood in a small practice room, with the field completely empty besides the two of them. Niko had his bangs brushed to the sides for once, exposing both of his wide eyes.

"Nah, I'm good." Y/N positioned himself in front of Niko, kicking a ball over to the younger boy. "Alright, so we'll start with a small exercise. Try and get the ball past me." He drew an invisible line in the field at his feet with a finger.

"That's it?" Unsure, Niko rested a foot on top of the ball.

"Come at me."

Niko pushed the ball to one side, attempting to go around Y/N's right side. His dribbling wasn't the worst, with the ball close to his feet and ready to switch directions at a moment's notice.

Y/N's eyes followed his movement even before he had taken the first step. He watched as almost in slow motion, Niko's centre of weight shifted to one side, and he leaned to his left. It looked effortless as he walked in the same direction, blocking Niko. A single foot forward sent the other boy backwards as Y/N read him like a book.

"Notice how I'm not even running?" Y/N spoke as they moved back and forth, Niko unable to get past at all. "It isn't speed, nor strength that prevents you from getting past me. It's my eyes."

"I see..." Niko stopped his efforts for a second. "What are you doing with your eyes?"

"A lot." Y/N chuckled. "You already have mediocre spatial awareness, correct?"

"Yeah." Niko sighed. "Though, Isagi still beat me."

"It isn't good enough just to predict a player's movements on the ball. You have to watch what they're doing off the ball, as well as try and get inside their heads. What do they want to do next? Predict it all." Y/N darted forwards, stealing the ball from right under Niko's feet.

"The best soccer players all use their eyes to their maximum potential. It doesn't matter what position you're in, the best of the best will do everything." As Niko turned, Y/N kicked the ball back to him, raising a hand to list things off.

"Analyse the entire field at once. Analyse both your teammates' and enemies' weapons and skills. Find out their max potentials. Take information from the entire field real-time, concentrate on every single bit of information going into your eyes. Positioning, plays, stats, everything. Think of what your opponent wants to do."

Y/N took a deep breath. "And then you'll be able to rule the field. It's like being able to read the future, you know exactly what is going to happen and how to deal with it. Nobody I've seen so far has that kind of vision."

Niko nodded sincerely, staring at Y/N with those innocent eyes of his. "That sounds so cool... Like an anime character."

"Yeah," Y/N grinned widely. "I call it the Eye of Providence. A skill that allows you to watch over the entire field, like a god. All the best pro players use it."

"It even sounds cool..." Niko eagerly looked around the field, probably trying to do what Y/N had said. His face scrunched up with confusion after just a few seconds. "I can't see you."

"Hmm?"

"It happened during the game against you as well." Niko frowned. "I could read the space around the entire pitch, and I saw everyone. But when I looked at you, I couldn't see any weaknesses, any strengths, I couldn't predict anything."

"Ah." He patted Niko on the shoulder. "That's one of my weapons. I'm a sort of... destroyer of vision." Cringing a little at the wording, he rushed to clarify.

"Nobody knows what I'm going to do. Nobody can predict what I'm going to do, and nobody can control or manipulate me." Y/N flushed. "It sounds kind of weird, but in short, trying to predict what I'm going to do would simply take too much energy. There's too many variables."

"That's so sick..." Niko gaped at Y/N. "Do other people have the same ability? To destroy people's vision of the field?"

"Not that I know of." Y/N scrunched his face up. "It's just me."

They spent two hours there, Niko gradually learning how to use his eyes. It was high pressure - Y/N would reprimand him if he did wrong, and constantly reminded him that it was his entire soccer career on the line.

He was gradually improving, actually a lot faster than Y/N had expected. Niko tried incredibly hard, following Y/N's instructions to the letter as Y/N pushed him on. It was difficult for him to gauge his overall progress, considering Niko's eyes were useless on Y/N, but it was clear he was making progress.

Eventually, Niko began slowing down. His movements grew sluggish, and between exercises Y/N would catch him rubbing at his eyes. He didn't complain, though, until Y/N finished.

"That's enough for today." Y/N murmured.

Niko flopped to the floor, eyes clenched shut as his head pounded painfully. It was only eight in the morning, but he felt like he'd been training for a whole day because of how much he hurt. "Thank you, Y/N-san."

"No need for honorifics." Y/N replied, a bit surprised. "Just treat me like a friend."

He offered a hand to Niko, pulling the younger boy to his feet without any difficulty. One of his arms went around Niko's shoulders, and he laughed quietly as he led the other boy off the pitch.

"Let's get some breakfast, yeah?"