Sae Distribution System
Itoshi Sae x reader (fluff) Bluelock Masterlist
Being chosen by Sae was like being chosen by the cat distribution system.
You met him when you were kids and he took a liking to you then, offering to play soccer with you (you tried, you really did - he looked so disappointed), taking you out to see the beach with his little brother while eating ice cream, and just chilling by your side like he belonged there (or was it that you belonged there?).
Honestly you had no idea why he chose you as a friend but since you could tell he actively sought you out with good intentions, you didn't seem to mind and just let him do what he wanted, which was just to hang out and chill in your presence.
He wasn't exactly the brightest kid, but he always did his own thing and had his own agenda to be the best striker in the world, and that fueled his desire to break free from the conventions of the crowd and be the person you knew him to be.
He was an interesting person, to say the least. It intrigued you how someone like him would take an interest in you. What was it that made him come to you? It didn’t really make any sense since there wasn’t much of an overlap in hobbies or anything.
It was merely a phase in your younger years. Good memories to look back upon after you grew up and started getting ready for university and your own career path.
Until Sae showed up out of nowhere in front of your house.
The first time you saw him again you just stood at your door frozen in shock, until he raised an eyebrow, "Aren't you going to let me in?"
Of course you let him in, served him tea and sat in silence for at least 10 minutes.
It was awkward.
"Your place hasn't changed much." Sae had a good look at your house having been there in his younger years, almost surprised it didn't change at all since the time he’d been away.
His eyes drifted to you, having a good look at you after a while. "You didn’t grow that much taller either.”
You paused, blinked a couple of times and then raised your brows, slightly flabbergasted at his comment. He was definitely taller than you but did he have to say it like that? You two were around the same height before he left!
Damn those Itoshi genes, even Rin was tall.
You clicked your tongue, having no good comeback to his words, wanting to add a bite to your words as a clapback, taking a piece from the Itoshi Sae handbook.
It was strange having him sitting in your living room, sitting like he owned the place. While now it was a rare sight, it wasn’t when you two were younger. He came over a lot to play when his parents had to go out. It was fun. You missed those times and in turn, you missed him.
Not that you would ever admit that to him, otherwise his ego would grow too much and you wouldn’t hear the end of it.
Instead, you breathed out a sigh, “It’s been a while. Welcome back, Sae.”
Sae took a sip of his tea and hummed in response. “Only temporarily. I need to get my passport renewed.” In his peripherals, he could see you shift in your seat, leaning forward slightly to get a closer look at him, it almost made him smirk. Almost.
“You’ll be going back soon?” You didn’t mean for your voice to sound so sad, but it came out that way and Sae made a mental note you missed him more than you let on. Since you were young, your voice usually gave away your innermost thoughts, however subconscious they were. It was one of the things he first noticed and a habit he had engrained in his memory, being able to pick up on small things like this was what made it easy to be with you.
He placed his cup down, meeting your eyes for a short moment, then stood up and beelined to your bedroom without a second thought, wanting to see if your bedroom changed too.
Once you realised where he was going, you jumped up and nearly almost threw yourself at the poor guy, grabbing both his waist and wrist as he went to open your door, trying to pull him back. Except he barely budged, looking down at you with an impassive expression as if wanting to say ‘what are you doing?’.
You forgot he was a soccer player and built like a wall, more so now that he’s older.
Damn these muscles!
He just gave you a pointed look while noticing the flush of your cheeks, the nervousness you looked at him with, your body against his, your hand becoming clammier on his wrist the longer he just stared at you. You kept trying to pull him away from the door, which ignited his interest with what was behind it.
Was it something incriminating? His eyes gleamed with an intent of finding out what was beyond that door you so desperately wanted to protect. It was the first time he’d seen you like this, but as good friends (or are you guys best friends? You don’t know), he’s somewhat entitled to this secret you have, one that he would eventually know.
You were sweating - he did not need to see what was behind that door. You would die from embarrassment if he ever found out, and honestly you hoped this day would never come. Especially not on the day he just came back from Spain.
He let out an amused huff at you before continuing to move with ease, not minding the extra weight on him as you tried to drag him away or at least slow him down.
When he opened the door, he took a second to take everything in, eyes darting around the familiar bedroom.
Except he saw his face in the corner near your desk stuck on the wall.
Sae malfunctioned for a moment, his brain short circuiting at his pictures stuck on your wall, wondering where you got them, why you had so many and why you were so intent on him not seeing them.
If you guys weren’t friends, then he would’ve called you creepy or like the rest of his fans, but since he knew you well enough and chose you, he thought it was cute. You were trying to hide this corner from him since you didn’t know how he’d react, and didn’t want to end up looking like a secret fan of his or having a secret crush on him.
He could somewhat see the reasoning behind it, but that didn’t mean you had to hide it from him. He would’ve willingly accepted this side of you as well. After all, they were pictures of him. It filled his pride and ego to know you did so willingly even as you two lost contact while he was in Spain.
Though, that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t tease you for it or bring it up in later conversations now that he knows about this.
You saw him become still in his spot for a while, which made your stomach drop and heat flood to your face, a mangled sound coming from your throat while he just stared from the door.
Sae didn’t say a word. Instead, he leaned down quickly and hooked his arm around your waist, brought you to his front and over his shoulder as he carried you into the room, right towards the desk.
You wailed in defeat, melting like jelly on his backside, held up in support by his arms as he just stared at your photo wall by your desk, holding you in place so you didn’t struggle. The last time something like this happened was when he carried you on his back after you sprained your ankle (though this situation is different).
His eyes darted to pictures from your childhood, ones where he was in it with Rin, or when it was just the two of you playing or when you failed in soccer and were crying on the ground and so on. Those were cute and reminded him of the times before he went on his trip, invoking a nostalgic feeling in his chest at how much he enjoyed those times.
When his eyes flickered to the newer addition, it seemed to be cut outs from magazines or newspapers, ones where there were articles of Sae and his achievements. He noticed you sometimes annotated them or highlighted certain parts of his interviews.
It seemed like forever until he was done looking, and halfway through he put you down onto your bed, claiming your chair as his own as he just continued looking.
“I’m almost 100% sure you have some interviews of me on your computer somewhere.” He sounded almost smug about it, making you cry out in weak protest. “You’ve been keeping tabs, huh…”
He didn’t know what to feel. On one hand, part of him was happy to know he was missed and you kept tabs. Especially knowing it was you. You didn’t seem to return any of his messages while he was in Spain so he was initially annoyed and borderline angry and sought answers, but seeing you like this now, he wondered if he made a mistake.
Maybe he should get to the bottom of it today.
“If you missed me so much, why didn’t you return any of my messages?” He spun around on your chair to face you, leaning on the back of your chair as he brought himself closer to you. His tone didn’t hold any accusations, it was merely a question by his standards.
You purposely ignored the first part of his sentence. You didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing you went specifically looking for stuff he was in. You would be able to give whatever excuse but you knew Sae would find out one way or another. Hell, he probably already knew considering how fast his brain worked.
“What do you mean? You didn’t send me anything.” You raised an eyebrow, almost sounding offended since you received nothing. He fished out his phone, going to your contact and showing you all the messages he sent you over the past few years, sliding the phone into your hands to take a look.
You looked through the one-sided conversation, seeing how he always updated you on something every week at around the same time, as if it was routine. You wanted to read them, but went to check the number to match it with what was on your phone first. There must be a reason you didn’t get these messages as your number was correct on his phone.
You realised the messages were coming from a Spanish number, so the first thing you checked was whether or not your spam filter blocked everything.
“Seems like the culprit really was my spam filter.” You showed Sae your phone, showing him all the retrieved messages. You went all the way to the first message, dated to the first few days he was in Spain. Reading the first few messages nearly brought tears to your eyes - he had said it was hot in Spain and that he had started learning some Spanish words just in case, and the visits to the soccer stadiums were grand.
“Read them later.” Sae felt a weight fall off his shoulders. Seeing you here almost responding to his probable 200+ messages in real time was a sight to behold (he didn't want to be there when you read them though, he would flush in embarrassment). It made him feel seen, and not ignored in the years he made an effort to reach out to you. He was sure you weren’t just going to brush him off, since you were usually really good with messages and getting back to him.
If he were a cat, he would be sitting next to you and his tail would be wrapped around your arm or any area his tail could wrap around, and a low purring would indicate his contentment. He’d also want to nuzzle his face against yours and curl up in your lap.
But he wasn’t a cat, and he didn’t show his feelings easily either.
Before you could apologise for having him wait so long for a reply, Sae stood up and pushed the chair off to the side, leaning his towering frame over you, forehead touching yours as you looked up to meet his eyes suddenly.
“Don’t ever ignore me again. Even if it’s not on purpose.”
You opened your mouth to say something, but he pulled away, fixing your hair quickly and darting out the door back to the living room.
Isn’t that unreasonable?
You couldn’t help but let out a sustained breath, having unknowingly held your breath when he got close. You were unsure of what that was? And why was your heart beating faster than normal?
Was Itoshi Sae always this bold?
You swore you saw his lips curl up slightly when he moved away from you. Or were you just hallucinating?
Now you knew, he never intended to let you out of his sight. Not even when he was in Spain. He knew what or who he was loyal to, and it seemed like you were one of the constants in his life he refused to let go of.
Not now, not ever.
Sae had chosen you and made sure you knew it.
“Hey, where’s your salted kelp tea?” You heard Sae’s voice from the kitchen, making you laugh lightly at how he fit so easily back in your life, like he’d never left.
It left almost a bittersweet taste in your mouth. There was a lot of time that passed, but it still seemed like Sae was still Sae.
Or at least, that’s what it seemed like on the surface. As much as he observed you and noticed your habits, you did the same, and so you knew something within him had changed. It worried you, and you hoped he’d eventually talk to you about it.
“I’ve probably got some here. I think this was the brand you liked?” You ducked under his arm and got to the cupboard in front of him. He naturally moved out of the way and carefully closed the cupboard above your head, hands covering the corner and the counter near your head to make sure you didn’t get hurt.
You took out the packet with a grin, beginning to make the tea as you usually did. He joined you in your activity and you made another in comfortable silence.
“So, are you going to admit you missed me?” Sae glanced over at you with a mischievous glint in his eyes, purposely wanting to elicit a reaction from you.
You pressed your lips into a thin line, “When did you become someone who teased their friends like this.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” If you blinked you would’ve missed it, but you saw a ghost of a smile on his lips as he stirred the tea, finally looking somewhat relaxed.
You stirred your tea and brought it up to your lips, debating whether or not to indulge him (highly likely to backfire on you later) since you haven’t seen him in a while. Eventually, you succumbed. In a small voice, you admitted, “I was sad I didn’t receive any word from you.” You didn’t have the guts to say that you missed him outright.
“Yeah, I know. You looked like you were about to cry. It’s obvious you missed me and you’re obsessed with me with how many photos of me you have in your room.”
“Itoshi Sae, I will never speak to you again.”
“Lukewarm answer, try again.”
