“If you had to pick between coffee and me, who would win?” Ranze asks when he pulls away, nose scrunching while his taste buds process the bitter tang.
“Hmm,” Jin contemplates. “Which one has worse withdrawals?”
Kurona Ranze isn't much taller, around 5’3. She has a bob and bangs that she cuts herself and two long strands on each side of her face that she ties into braids when she's bored of whatever you're saying. She has shark teeth and braces with blue rubber bands to fix her overbite. She has a collection of cat and slogan t-shirts and fun colored thigh high socks that get covered up by the same dark blue shark sweatshirt and pair of brown boots every day. She carries around the same plastic water bottle every day and goes on rants about overconsumption killing the ocean. She paints her nails with sharpies and pens and doesn't know how to use makeup but still carries around a bag of dollar store eyeshadow and clearance aisle lipstick. Her favorite movie is one that aired on television 9 years ago and her favorite song is one she heard in a grocery store one time. She doesn't understand poetry that doesn't rhyme but likes stories of women falling in love with someone that might be a man. She imagines that it's not.
Kurona Ranze likes a girl.
Kiyora Jin was a solid 5 foot tall. Her hair comes down to her mid back and she pins it back with too many hair clips. She treats her wine lipstick as blush and eyeshadow and her mascara as eyeliner. Her skirts all come down past her knees and she's been wearing the same pair of converse since her first year of highschool. Her bag is tearing at the seams and her oversized shirts are all hand me downs from her sisters. She has a red pen that she uses to draw up and down her arms, doodles of stars and swirls and intricate patterns she’ll never be able to recreate. She carries around the same poetry book everywhere, it's tattered at its corners and no one is sure where she got it but Kurona knows. She likes statues of dead people and her interpretive dance class. She's the most interesting person Kurona has ever met.
She doesn't talk but if she did Kurona would listen to her all day. Kurona knows her favorite colors and the difference between her favorite songs even though they all kind of sound the same. Kurona Ranze has memorized Kiyora Jin the way Kiyora Jin memorizes poetry. She sees Jin when she closes her eyes and holds her hand when they cross the street even though Ranze was about 80 percent sure Jin doesn't like girls. Was.
“I like you.”
“I like you too, Jinnie. You're my best friend.”
They were at the library again, it was the only place in 100 miles that they could get away from the howling jocks and laughing hyenas that called themselves their classmates. They were half whispering even though they were the only people on the floor. Jin was reading the same poetry book that she had last week and Ranze had found a new shark book on the kids floor.
“No.” Jin's eyebrows were furrowed as she tried to find the words that she was looking for. Her brain thought in the form of the poetry she memorized and songs she vaguely knew the names of. It's hard to make your own sentence when all of the puzzle pieces are too big. She was searching her catalog of death themed rhymes and cryptic rhythms for romance, a genre that she never ventured into.
“Like Romeo and Juliet.”
“I don't want to be Romeo and Juliet.”
Jin whipped her head around, confessing was risky but the rainbow bracelets and pink and orange pins on Ranzes backpack made her feel safe. It was on a whim but she had been confident that she was right. Had she miscalculated? Or was the problem not that she was a girl but that she was her.
“I want to be Virgina Wolf. You can be Vita Sackville-West. She was a poet like you.”
“You almost killed me.”
“Sorry, sorry.” They were laughing now, and though she didn't like poetry Ranze could write a million pages about the way Jin looks and sounds and feels in her hand when she laughs.
“I like-like you too.”
“Like-like,” Jin mirrored back.
“It's one way to say it, it's clunky, clunky. They don't use it in poems.” but she said it again. “Like-like.” She was memorizing it. Memorizing Ranze like a synth wave song and Edgar Allen Poe.
“We should get married.”
“I have dance class later.”
“Not now.” Ranze laughed again, for as literate as she was she could be a little air-headed, she had her head in books and that's where it stayed when she closed the pages. “Just in general, like later in life, later.”
“Oh.” Jin thought about it, she imagined a wedding in a cemetery and shark themed cupcakes. In her head she started a new poem about white tulle covered in mud and frayed at the end by sea creatures made of bones and love.
Kiyora Jin didn't talk to people, it wasn't his forte. In his time in Blue Lock he hadn't managed to meet anyone he would really call a friend. There were a few that got close, but seeing them with their real friends, it was obvious he wasn't one of them. So now, standing at the bus stop at a random parking lot waiting for his parents to pick him up, he stood a safe distance away from the others. The sun was going down, and was starting to burn his eyes but still, with the crowd that was under the shaded area, Jin stayed standing.
Some of the Blue Lockers had opted to walk to a local train station and others managed to be close enough to walk, but as time went on, one after another cars pulled up. Parents wrapped their kids in hugs and pulled their luggage into the trunk, some waited around, meeting some of their kids' friends and chatting with Anri and other parents.
Suddenly, off in the distance he heard it. Alanis Morrisette’s Jagged Little Pill. His moms favorite album of all time. It was far, around the corner somewhere, but not once in his 17 years did he ever think he'd be grateful to hear the white woman's confusing lyrics being belted at the top of his mothers lungs. Looking around it looked like the others had heard it too, glancing in the direction and then back to their conversation when they didn't see anything. It took a moment but finally his family's van turned the corner, windows down, blaring the music that he had hated for the last 15 years of his life. Jin let out a sigh of relief upon seeing his parents' faces through the front window.
Any relief he had though, vanished as soon as the car got closer and his older brother rolled down the backseat window, and started leaning out, hands gripping on the door. “WOAH! Jin I knew ‘ya were a queer, but a whole 3 months with nothin’ but men?! Was ‘ya all dudes school not enough?!” His brother let out a fit of laughs upon seeing his younger brother's embarrassed face, falling back in his seat as his mother scolded him. The car wrapped around the lot again before parking in front of him, why couldn't you do that the first time? The passenger's seat door flew open and his mother practically jumped out, dontdoitdontdoitdontdoit, “Jin-bear!” his mother pulled him into a hug squeezing him so tightly his arms hurt when she pulled away. He could feel the other Blue Lockers staring but he didn't dare look to see if it was them making fun of him or not.
Anri swiftly got his mother away to sign some paper and tell her about when Jin would have to be back and Jin watched in horror as his older brother got out of the backseat. Mocking his mothers stance he stood arms open with a fake pout on his face, “Jin-bear!” As fast as it had come, the pout was replaced with a mischievous grin as he darted forward. Jin had attempted to run, successfully turning around but his brother had already wrapped an arm around him, locking him in a headlock and rubbing his knuckles into his hair. Suddenly his younger brother was in front of him punching into his stomach spewing some line from an anime he had been watching. He couldn't fight much against his older brother, but his younger brother was a piece of cake.
“You little-” Jin's arms reached out in front of him grabbing his younger brother's head on both sides. “Air control! Engine down! Emergency landing!” He gave his brother just enough time to react, a confused “what?” before he started making airplane noises and forcing his brother's head to the side and eventually pushing him down and onto the grass.
“Oh! Ho-ho-ho! Jin-bear got strong! What? Ya tired of the other kids ruffing ya up? Here” his older brother, Sakusa, let him go and presented himself in front of him. “Punch me in the stomach!”
Smiling, Jin backed up then threw his fist into his brother's gut as hard as he could, praying that his time in Blue Lock had given him a noticeable difference, and it had. Sakusa yelled out in pain, folding forward holding his gut, “Ahh… Fuck… You…”
Jin and Hiro, Jin's younger brother who was still laying in the grass, laughed at him. “That's what ya get for tearing my homework!” Hiro shouted, finally getting up.
If they weren't before the other Blue Lockers were definitely staring now. What a sight, the one kid that hadn’t spoken more than 2 words for the whole program, hand smiled the whole time, and definitely hadn't laughed was roughhousing with his brothers and laughing his ass off while doing it. What a sight.
Finally turning he heard his mother say something along the lines of “boys will be boys,” with Anri nodding along. Hearing the trunk close he realized his father had managed to put his bags in the trunk while he was beating up his brothers, “Boys! That's Enough! Get in!”
Piling in, Jin didn't bother looking back at the group, at least not after seeing the bag of snacks waiting for him in the back seat. He didn't care about any of them really, not in the way he cared for the bag of gummy bears and grape lollipops that were waiting to be eaten. With his mother waving goodbye to Anri, they pulled into drive before jin had managed to put his seatbelt on, although with how tight he was squeezed between Sakusa and Hiros' carseat it didn't make much of a difference.
“Jin, what do you want for dinner?” his father looked back at him in their rearview mirror. “Mcdonalds!” his older brother answered for him. “Jin,” his father repeated with more emphasis, “what do you want for dinner?”
“Jin, say Mcdonalds.”
“Taco Bell.”
“You are not being serious.”
“Taco Bell it is!”
“You are not being serious! Last time I got Taco Bell I barfed!”
Jin smiled and popped a gummy bear into his mouth, “lick it up,” earning a “you disgust me” from Sakusa.
As the drive went on Jin found himself happy that he was home, not physically, of course but with his family. The only people he let in. As he lied to Hiro about how they taze you if you made a mistake and kill you if you lost a memory popped into his head. All the times Sakusa lied to him as a kid, telling him about his grandparents house being haunted and the school having a secret floor, and all the times Sakusa didn't lie, like telling him what “a big farm far away” really meant for their dog. And the one time Sakusa had a heart to heart with him before he left for College, half apologizing as he sat on Jin's bed, but following it up with “it's what brothers do.”
Niko Ikkis room isn't very decorated. He's never been one to care about things like that, but the things he does have are unique and special to him. A twin sized bed sits in the middle of the room, adorned with not much more than a single pillow and light blue blanket. On the left of the bed closest to the door, is a small nightstand. In the bottom drawer is a number of gacha figures, keychains and small knick-knacks. In the top drawer is Nikos' collection of YU-GI-OH cards, along with everything he would need to play and trade them: photo sleeves, toploaders, cards and envelopes from Daiso. On top of the nightstand is a lamp that constantly stays on until Niko decides to sleep, from the base of which Niko has his phone charger plugged in.
On the other side of the bed is a tall shelf set, in its shelves are Nikos collection of manga and anime CD sets for his more favored series and a few school journals, with the exception of the center shelf holding an expensive Madoka Magica figure. Akemi Homura is hovering above the base plate in a sitting position with her legs crossed over each other as if she was in a chair. She's wearing a black dress, shorter in the front and spanning out in fabric and feathers in the back. Behind her are large black and gray wings whose feathers blend with that of her dress, spinning around in a tornado of shadow until it meets the base plate underneath her.
Across the room is a dark brown drawer with a small TV on top. On the left is a small figure, it's wonky, and half of the time Niko can hardly name the character from an anime he hadn't watched since he was 12 but his mother had got it for him on his birthday, so displayed it was. On the right is a small stack of manga pushed up against the wall, a laptop charger wrapped around itself, and a poetry journal that's gone untouched since he started playing soccer.
Pushed against the farthest wall, underneath a large window, is Nikos desk. A dark brown, matching the drawer set. On the left is a white pencil holder, filled with pencils and pens he's collected over the years, a light blue mousepad and white mouse. On the right is Nikos laptop, propped up on a stand, and another lamp, which was also constantly on. In the center is a small stack of school work, books, journals and homework with a stray pencil sitting on top. The desk chair, a dark blue fabric and wheeled, was a constant representation if Niko was home, wearing his school blazer when he was and bare when he wasn't.
The walls were basically white, with the smallest tinge of blue that made Niko wonder if his parents had meant to get pure white and didn't notice the true hue. There was a Death Note calendar above his desk next to the window, constantly opened to June 2019, displaying an image from the opening sequence of Light and L on top of two buildings, staring each other down.
Above his bed was a framed picture of him and his parents after he won his first large YU-GI-OH championship at the age of 9. He's holding a trophy plate in one hand and a large bouquet of flowers in the other and his hair is awkwardly pushed out of his eyes via his mother who insisted that ‘just for the pictures’ their matching eyes would be on display. His parents are behind him smiling excitedly and leaning down to match his height. Behind him are 2nd and 3rd place, a mildly annoyed acne riddled teenager and a royally pissed off middle aged, balding, fat man who ended up cussing the child out in the parking lot. Nikos thought about a million comebacks for that guy since, but that day he only hid behind his father who told the man to get a life.
Standing in his doorway, Niko drops his bag, after so long in Blue Lock Niko realized his bedroom wasn't too different to the prison-like dorms of the facility, and he lets out a “I need a poster,” under his breath. He couldn't help to imagine what the other Blue Lockers rooms looked like, were they as underwhelmed as he was? Or were their rooms covered wall to wall with posters, pictures and decoration. He tried to imagine what they would have, what did they like other than soccer? Did Kurona have shark posters? Would Reo have expensive paintings? Niko imagined Otoya’s wall covered in photos of him with all of his alleged girlfriends and let out a huff of a laugh.
Collapsing on his bed, Niko pulled out his phone, excited to catch up on what he had missed while in the facility and trying not to be sour about his lack of notifications. Nikos' phone answered his silent wish for him buzzing with a new notification. Maybe: Isagi xxx-xxx-xxxx
Maybe:Isagi: hey niko! it's Isagi!
Isagi: me and a couple of other blue lockers are gonna go out tomorrow! we're meeting at a cafe in shibuya and probably going to an arcade and maybe karaoke after, wanna go?
Niko: No, not really.
Isagi: oh okay !! no worries !! enjoy your break !!
Niko: You too.
That was a no brainer. Niko would rather be doing anything else than walking around a crowded city and being forced into doing karaoke by people he would hardly call friends. Isagi Yoichi means well, but he can mean well with his actual friends. Maybe this is why Niko didn't have any…
thanks for reading! i know its a bunch of nothing but i couldn't not post for nikos birthday :3
kiyora x rin (inspired by my kink is karma by chappel roan)
Voting ended onJan 30, 2024
im almost done with the kurona x kiyora one im currently working on (though it wont be out til valentines day) but i wanted a headstart on what i should work on next cause im indecisive hahah here are the blurbs for them ->
niko x rin
I (m15) have a crush on a boy in my class (m16) but i get too nervous to talk to him in person and hes probably the driest texter i've ever seen, how do i get to know him?
kiyora x rin
Kiyora Jins kink is karma and thankfully for Rin it seems karma has finally set her sights on their teams top player.
OR... Isagi Yoichi has the worst week of his life while Itoshi Rin has the best.
"Itoshi Rin is a terrifying figure to the other Blue Lockers, except for Kiyora, who knows him already. Itoshi Rin, itrin1@email .com, 4102 unused store points. A horror buff who came into Jin's work nearly everyday to rent a new movie."
no warnings, this was also posted on AO3! Leave some kudos here!
Kiyora had arrived early, a habit he had accidentally developed thanks to his older brother. Normally he was thankful for it but right now it was a little embarrassing. Sitting in a room staring at a silver eyed teen as he periodically shuffled and organized a set of cards. Something about it was extremely embarrassing. Jin almost audibly sighed when he heard the mechanical whirl of the automatic door- another player.
If the indication of another player relieved him to the point of sighing, realizing who the other player was, was enough to make him suck his breath right back in. He knew this guy. Itoshi Rin, itrin1@email .com, 4102 unused store points. A horror buff who came into Jin's work nearly everyday to rent a new movie.
“Returning this,” Rin had put a DVD case down on the counter, Clockwork Orange. “And renting these,” he set another 2 cases down next to it, Final Destination 1 and 2. Jin started at the cash register, running the return then clocking him for the rent, something he does so often he could probably do it in his sleep. For Rin especially, who comes in so often that Jin doesn't bother asking for his information anymore.
Rin has been coming into the store where Kiyora works for longer than he's actually worked there. A music store that doubles as a DVD rental shop, called AMITY. They sold well, had a solid circle of loyal customers, but those guys only came for the music, everyone only came for music. Kiyora wouldn't be surprised if Rin was the only reason that the owners haven't discontinued their rental service. Rin came in to rent once every other day, at least.
Jin had timed it, he'd watch one movie a day. If the two movies on the counter were anything to go by Rin wouldn't be back tomorrow, but the day after. It was routine for him, there was hardly a day where he wouldn't see rin. Despite that, Jin doesn't know if they've ever actually spoken, or at least if he's ever actually spoken. Does “returning this, renting this” count as a conversation? Probably not. Still despite their lack of words, Jins sure hes typed Rins email into the computer so often he'll remember it for the rest of time. Itd be a good password. Itrin1.
Kiyora had never seen a program like Blue Lock, and judging by how his team's first game was going, it was obvious why. With steaks so high it wasn't surprising that the players would get a bit barbaric. It was apparent to Kiyora at least that they would never make a goal like this. He’d tried to get the ball, but after a teammate “accidentally” elbowed him in the chest to get the ball, he had given up. As much as he wanted to score, he also wanted to live, and considering how quickly his teammates were willing to attempt on his life…it wasnt happening.
“Morons,” Rin's voice came from behind Kiyora, startling him in the process. “I told you to pass to me, you all are seriously pathetic.” Rin looked royally pissed off, running forward and stealing the ball from the group of teenage monkeys with ease. Like a pack of wolves both the opposing team and his own charged and howled after him. In an instant, Rin dodged one, then five, then fifteen players with ease, leaving each one in shock.
Itoshi rin was the highest ranker in their stratum, and it was obvious why, both to Jin and the rest of the players on the field. Standing eye to eye with the stunned goalkeeper, Rin spoke, “Stop wasting my time.'' He turned his body to the rest of the room, and Kiyora could see the violent teal of his eyes from the other side of the field. “You all play at such a low level, its actually sad. If i played that poorly, i would just give up. You obviously have no future here.”
Kiyora was stunned, but for an entirely different reason than the rest of his peers. Of all time he had ‘known’ Rin, he had never came across as outwardly rude as he was now. He had always been relatively polite to Jin, even when he had first started and would mess up often. Rin had always been patient and quiet, a bit of stone wall, sure but so was Jin.
Jin wasn't sure if he could even judge Rin in that aspect, or at all. Jin knew he wasn't exactly a ray of sunshine, but he wasn't rude, or at least he tried not to be. Had Rin always been like this? Why was he nice to him? Could the way he treated Jin even be considered as nice?
The shock must've been all over his face, cause walking back to his side of the field, Rin froze. After a few second of shocked eye contact, his cold, blank stare gave way for a mix of shock and guilt. Rin was the first to look away, keeping his head down as he continued to his mark.
Rin made 14 goals against the other team. The rest of the team had made none. Kiyora hadn't managed to get the ball.
Kiyora wasn't usually the kind of person to wallow, but after being violently humbled earlier he felt he had the right. Poking at his veggie stir fry and watching as his shower wet hair drip onto the table, Jin thought about Rin. Since the shock faded away he felt a little dense. Who would've guessed the guy who only got horror movies,and re-rented The Shining every Friday would have been an asshole? And who would've guessed the kid who barely practiced in favor of working and dancing would have sucked compared to 300 of Japan's best youth players?
Clank! Rin dropping his plate on the table scared Jin so bad he might as well have actually fallen out of his chair. If that wasn't enough of a scare, then Rin’s next move of sitting down directly next to him would've been enough to make his skin crawl.
Something about the way Rin moved was incredibly awkward. Like he was hyper-conscious of every blink and movement of his fingers. Still, as he moved he never took his blank stare off his dinner plate. “I used my goals to get my phone back.”
…Okay? What was Jin supposed to say to that? Was that cool? That he was so rude to their team that he made even the opposing team scared to get the ball? Oh my God, Rin! You’re so cool! I wish I was a douche!
“Okay.”
Rin paused for an awkward amount of time, leaving Jin staring at him. “Do you want to watch a movie?” Rin’s eyes stayed locked on his food. Is this Rins way of trying to be friends? Is that what was happening? Admitably, Jins never had many friends. So, if that is what Rin's doing, Jin wouldn't know.
Kiyora didn't have an answer. Well, he did, it was no. Jin did Not want to watch a movie. But he’d be lying if he had said he had never wanted to know more about Rin. This was his chance, and while you shouldn't talk during movies, This could open the door to actually knowing more about Rin.
Jin awkwardly forced himself to calm down, at least visually. Is this how Rin was thinking? Was this how he forced himself to move next to jin? If it was, he hoped he didn't look as awkward as Rin had. “Okay.”
The Shining was, in Kiyoras opinion, overrated. Or at least, not as good as he had imagined it considering how often Rin had rented it from AMITYS. “So,” despite the past 2 and a half hours they had spent together, Rin still wasn't really looking at him. Baby steps. ”What’d you think?”
Kiyora thought the cafeteria was a crummy place to watch a movie. Kiyora thought if he stood up from his chair now his legs might give out due to the irreversible damage the cheap chairs had done to his ass. Kiyora thought that getting to know Rin wasn't worth never dancing or playing soccer again.
“If you have the movie on your phone, why'd you rent it so often?” That was a thought that crossed his mind the moment the movie started. Rin spent $2.25 every week for a movie he already owned? It wasn't even a special edition or super cut or even a VHS. It was the same movie Rin had installed. Why pay for a movie you already have?
For the first time since that morning on the field, Rin looked him in the eyes. Shock. A brief horror. Then, disgust. “Mind your business.” The sudden hissing in Rin's voice startled him. Honestly, more than the movie he had just watched. Jin breathed out a displeased “sorry I asked,” as he collected his tray and left rin alone.
Jin never had many friends, and while he knew this wasn't the way to do it, if Rin was still talking to him like that despite their “history” (if you could even call it that) he probably wasn't worth being friends with. That sucked, sure, but at least he didn't have to wonder what Rin was like anymore.
Dumping his tray with the rest, Jin fought himself for a second before turning around towards Rin. Itrin1 felt like a whole chapter of his life, and if this was how it ended then Jin deserved an ending shot. An end credits scene, an extended cut that The Shining didn't have.
Rin had not moved, still in the chair, back to staring at his now empty plate. He stayed unmoving for a second before slamming his fist on the table, creating a sound so loud that it scared the few people still left in the cafeteria. Rin forcefully stood, his chair flying out behind him. He wasn't much kinder to the tray and if he had grabbed it any more forcefully the plate would have surely gone flying off.
Rin left out the opposite exit, not seeing that Jin had been watching for the entirety of his outburst. Had the question upset him that much? Or was he upset at his own response to the question, realizing he had most definitely fumbled a potential friend. Maybe he realized when he got out of here he probably wouldn't be able to go back to AMITYS.
Either way, he was pissed, and Kiyora was shocked. A simple conclusion ‘I Don't Want To Be Friends With This Guy’ had caused him to potentially traumatize the rest of the cafeterias patrons. Lovely. Jin’s cursing himself for not getting close with such a well tempered individual.
Jin's lone footsteps gave him lots to think about. Rin seemed to be as socially inept as he was, and he was an incredibly good player, he would have benefited from letting Rin fumble his way into a friendship with him. As selfish as that was. Rin didn't deserve that. Probably.
Jin's hair stuck to his face with sweat. He knew it was for nothing, training this hard when you're on a team with someone like Itoshi Rin was futile to say the least. But he didn't have anything else to do, Blue Lock took everything, and Rin cornered him so he couldn't get anything back.
“I went to see you.”
Jin must've jumped a whole foot off the ground. It was almost midnight and the rest of his team was asleep, or so he had thought. . Once again avoiding eye contact, standing in his pajamas, center field was Itoshi Rin.
Jin took a moment to breathe out the sudden jumpscare, “what?”
“You asked why I would rent when I owned the movie. I went to see you.” Rin was obviously uncomfortable and if Jin had learned anything from the past few days, he looked like he was gonna burst.
Jin felt his stomach churn, “why?” There it was. Rins face contorted till it settled on a look of anger and disgust. Jin had to admit, it suited him. “Why do you ask so many questions!?”
“I spent the first 3 months of knowing you asking for your name and email,” Jin turned away, maybe Rin didn't need to explain himself to Jin. “itrin1.”
“You remembered my email?”
“I stopped asking for the reason.” Rin stopped to think, had he seriously not noticed Jin would literally not talk at all during their interactions? “Right…”
“I’m sorry,” Rin cut him off, “for not being…nice... I'm trying.” Jin could think of a million different quips and reactions, but only one made it out of his head. “I can tell.”
They stood in silence for a minute, once again Jin is painfully aware how both he and Rin are bad at conversations. “Do you want to watch a movie?” Jin broke a tight lip smile and started towards Rin, “no. I don't like movies. Let's listen to music.”
Rin looked shocked at his sudden admission but held his tongue as Jin walked past him. Rin was bad at making friends, but even though it took a sudden confession, Jin was getting better.
"Monitor loops: a tool to help the blue lockers study specific plays by looping a selected 15 seconds. Monitor loops: Not for looping a clip of Itoshi Rin pushing his hair back and panting as the camera zooms in."
no warnings, this was also posted on AO3! leave some kudos here!
Kiyora had always been lonely. He had never been a talker, only ever conversing with his brothers but even then being met with “I didn't know you knew how to talk”’s and “and so he speaks”’s. He had his reasons of course, children had never been kind, and he had always been smaller than his classmates but as he grew older he often found himself cursing his own shortcomings, literally and figuratively. Especially now.
Blue lock was a beast in itself, one of the things you had to do to survive was make allies. As much as the four-eyed freak preached about egoism and playing for yourself, it was obvious that you needed friends to survive. Someone to pass to, someone to pass to you.
Bonding with someone was difficult to do when the last time you spoke anything beyond an “okay” was a goodbye to your family. Some people had made it easy: Kurona Ranze for one, was perfectly fine sitting in silence and carrying the conversation when needed, and Zantetsu Tsuguri had taken his silence as something intellectual and mysterious.
Others were difficult to bond with but were alluring nonetheless. People who, despite their outward demeanor, were almost captivating in the way they operated. Others like Itoshi Rin. The only person who had made it to the top without any allies.
Rin was, for all intensive purposes, like Kiyora. If he was more skilled, taller, fitter, more handsome, and overall better in every way…
Maybe Rin wasn't like him.
Or maybe he was. Maybe Rin thought about what it would be like if he got along with everyone. Maybe Rin looked in the mirror and saw someone he was not. Maybe Rin saw Blue Lock as a way to finally let that person, the one that wasn't in the mirror, out. Maybe Rin thought like him. Maybe Rin thought of him.
“Maybe” was something Jin thought about often. Maybe Rin thought about him. Or maybe he would, if he was taller, more skilled and better looking. Maybe Rin would be drawn to Jin the way Jin’s drawn to Rin. Maybe Rin would think of Jin the way Jin thought of Rin.
Doubtful. Rin had been ranked one from the moment he stepped into Blue Lock. Kiyora on the other hand had only managed to do what he's always done, fall into the shadows. He'd be surprised if Rin even knew who he was. Let alone if he cared.
JIn had managed to grow into a tall child, standing in the mirror cursing his shortcomings. Nothing has changed.
Now, sitting in a monitor room alone, he laments in it. A tall child… a child. A child sitting with his legs up to his chest in a monitor room. A child watching his crush on the TV with his face flushed. A child.
“There you are, Jin! Jin!” Shit. Kurona plopped himself next to Kiyora, “what are you watching?” Kuronas voice trailed off at the end as the video on screen looped. Monitor loops: a tool to help the blue lockers study specific plays by looping a selected 15 seconds. Monitor loops: Not for looping a clip of Itoshi Rin pushing his hair back and panting as the camera zooms in.
Jin picked up the remote and frantically smashed the buttons until the screen stopped looping, “nothing.” Now Jins face was flushed red for a completely different reason. His hands were clammy and his panting wasn't too different from what Rin was doing on screen. Kurona was silent for a while longer, staring at the screen in disbelief despite the fact that it was no longer looping.
“Rin’s kinda cool, I guess.”
“What?”
“He’s cool,” Kurona finally turned to look at him. “He's real good. I wouldn't mind passing to someone like him, but for now it's Isagi, Isagi.” Kiyora wasn't sure if the other boy was not understanding what he just walked in on on purpose, to save him from the embarrassment, or if he really just thought that Kiyora thought Rin was cool. He hoped it was the ladder. Could he not tell what Kiyora was doing? Or was he purposely being dense. Hopefully the former. But still, regardless would he tell anyone?
“You can't tell anyone.”
Kurona stared shocked at him for a second, that's the most he's spoken to Ranze. I'd be surprised too. “Tell them what?” Kurona broke a smile, putting his shark teeth on display, “that you were perving to a loop of Rin?” Kiyoras face contorted, if he was anyone else he would’ve shouted back the word “perving” at him. Then, Kurona laughed, throwing his head back, “I'm kidding! Kidding!” Kurona smiled again, a genuine tight lipped smile. “I won't tell anyone, promise” the boy stuck out his pinky, offering it to Jin. Kiyora locked their pinkies together, letting out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding in in the first place.
“I'm real good at keeping promises,” Kurona started, reassuring him. “Like, I've never told anyone about how Hiori has pictures of Karasu sleeping,” Kurona leaned back on his arms, proud of himself for keeping the secret so well.
The secret he has just told.
Kiyora stared in disbelief at the boy, waiting for him to realize what he had just done. It took him a second but Jin was able to see the exact moment he realized, proud smug suddenly dropping into a panicked realization. “Nonono- wait I dont- I didnt- wait, wait,” the frantic attitude coupled with how casually the secret had been told dispelled any trusting feeling Kiyora had for the other boy.
Hes gonna fucking tell.
Kiyora wasn't even in the mindset to unpack what Kurona had just said about Hiori, no, no Kiyora was far more focused on the fact that Kuorna was definitely going to tell someone. As Ranze frantically tried to start another promise for Jin not to say anything to Hiori, Jin's mind shot to what would happen if Kurona slipped up again, who would he tell? Hiori? Isagi? Isagi.
Isagi “sit down, Kiyora.” Yoichi. Isagi “whine and cry till you get your way” Yoichi. Isagi “talks too much on the field” Yoichi. They were going to play PXG soon and as a Professional Noel Noa Kiss-Ass, Isagi would most definitely be on the field. Maybe Isagi would use it against Rin, to distract and get the ball past him. Hey Rin! Number 69s a queer and has a fat gay crush on you! Hey, Rin! Ever kissed a guy? Wanna start? Number 69 probably has some fucked up fantasy in there somewhere! Hey, Rin!
“-And it's not like Hiori went up to his bedroom window or anything! Well, he did, but that was like-”
“Stop.” Kiyora swiftly moved to hold Kuronas hands in his, startling him into silence, “stop talking.”
“Okay,” Kuronas eyes drifted, “you're not gonna tell Hiori, right? Right?” Blackmail was a trick Jin had used on his brothers before, but normally that was over broken vases. This was new territory. “If you tell anyone, I‘ll tell Hiori everything.” Kuornas eyes widened as he nodded feverishly. “Okay,” Jin put himself back on his pillow and turned back to the screen.
“So, wanna get lunch? Or did you wanna keep watching Rin like he's an idol?”
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
I Know You (itrin1) on ao3 kiyora jin x itoshi rin
Itoshi Rin is a terrifying figure to the other Blue Lockers, except for Kiyora, who knows him already.
Itoshi Rin, itrin1@email .com, 4102 unused store points. A horror buff who came into Jin's work nearly everyday to rent a new movie.
How y’all THINK fanfic authors react when you send multiple comments on different fics: Ugh, another comment from them? Wow, I don’t appreciate how they enjoy what I write. :(
How fanfic authors actually react: OH MY GOD ANOTHER COMMENT? They must be on a marathon! I hope they read my recent whump fic and tell me what they think. Their kindness will be what drives me to finish my current WIP!!!! I WON’T FAIL YOU, NEW READER.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Blue Lock (Manga), Blue Lock (Anime)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Kiyora Jin | Seira/Itoshi Rin, Kiyora Jin | Seira & Kurona Ranze, Hiori You/Karasu Tabito
Characters: Kiyora Jin | Seira, Kurona Ranze, Itoshi Rin, Isagi Yoichi
Additional Tags: Crushes, Secret Crush, mentioned tabiori, One-Sided Attraction, hes a bit of a weirdo, but i cant apologize cause hes gonna get weirder, rins not actually in this one oopsies, kiyoras a isagi hater
Series: Part 1 of kiyorin
Summary:
Monitor loops: a tool to help the blue lockers study specific plays by looping a selected 15 seconds.
Monitor loops: Not for looping a clip of Itoshi Rin pushing his hair back and panting as the camera zooms in.
discoholicmusic
theartofmadeline
titsay
gracieabrams
kianamaiart
