Ascension│Bluelock x male reader

2.3. Manipulation

"See! Pretty!"

Y/N proudly displayed his drink. He'd replaced the gin with soda water, and the champagne topping with Coca-cola, laying the drink out with hibiscus flowers, cranberries, and lemon slices. "Compared to you lot, this looks better, no?"

He hadn't spoken much to the team - even though that was the sole reason for their visit. Y/N had made a beeline for a table, looked up a recipe, and completely ignoring what the session leader had to say, decided to make his own drink.

Sae sat nearby, watching him with drawn eyes. "Sure."

"You don't think so?" With a flourish of his hands, Y/N showed it off to Sae, smiling brightly.

"It's alright." It was actually pretty good. For someone who couldn't even drink, the mocktail looked well made. Sae didn't know about the taste, though... "Have you tried it?"

"I wanna take a photo first."

"Then do it."

"Can I use your phone? I forgot mine."

Sae groaned. "Sure." He passed his phone across, and Y/N snapped a few pictures of the sushi. The teenager tossed the phone back, and immediately grabbed his drink. He raised the drink to his lips, draining a good quarter of it in one go. Sae just sighed. "Is it good?"

"Pretty good." Y/N passed him the glass. "Try."

Sae hesitated. He glanced down at the liquid, but Y/N's expectant eyes eventually convinced him to take a sip. Y/N grinned. "How is it?"

Boy, was it bad. Sae choked on the sheer sweetness, and the sort of cloying, slightly off-putting taste of cheap soda water. He had no idea what Y/N had done to it, but it tasted like he'd added an entire pot of sugar. The taste of cranberry and lemon were completely lost in the sugar.

"You..." Sae placed the glass on the table, looking around for some water. "You said pretty good?!" It was the first time Y/N had seen him show surprise.

He immediately began laughing, scooping up his drink to have more of it. "It is, isn't it!" Y/N happily drank more, just the sight making Sae's mouth taste sweet.

"It tastes like... like...."

"Like what?"

"Like you dumped straight sweetener into my mouth." One of the Japanese U-20 members hurried over, passing Sae a bottle of water. He was relatively short, with spiked up blonde hair and a bright smile on his face.

"I'm Neru Teppei." He quickly greeted Sae as the prodigy gulped down water. "Is it really that bad? It looked pretty, so I thought it would taste nice too. I mean, isn't that how things work? Maybe not, actually."

The man spoke fast, like an excitable puppy. Sae leant back against the wall, already fed up with socialising. "Maybe."

"Oh, cool!" Neru spoke even faster. "Would Y/N let me? I heard you say his name before, is that right? It does look pretty sweet, though. But I like sweet, so it'll be fine. Except, if you didn't like it, maybe it's not for me. But I guess we have different tastes anyway!"

Sae met Y/N's eyes, and gestured for him to give Neru the drink. He mouthed, silently communicating. Please shut him up.

Y/N did as he was asked, passing Neru the drink. The hyperactive man drank a little... then upturned the glass and drained the entire thing, finishing with a little burp. He grinned, and before Sae could excuse himself, began talking even faster.

Sae leant his head back against the wall, already wishing he wasn't here. I could be training right now... I could be on a run right now...

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