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“Nice shoot, Someoka!”
Endou smiled as he patted the ball he just stopped.
"You're definitely getting stronger, that's great!"
"Of course I'm getting stronger!" Someoka said, smirking as he faked a prideful laugh. "Wouldn't want Gouenji to think he's the only star of the team."
The few Raimon members that stayed close to the goal after trying to stop Someoka’s shoot laughed, and a little further away Gouenji chuckled as he rolled his eyes.
It was a great afternoon, perfect for practice. Everyone was energetic and the school day had been pretty light. It was those kind of days where life felt great, where the wind flowing through your hair felt like a blessing, where schoolwork didn't feel like work and where soccer practice was just a light-hearted activity with friends.
"Okay, let's give it another go!" Endou said as he threw the ball forward, lending directly in Kurimatsu’s feet. He tried to pass it to Gouenji, but the ball was quickly intercepted by Kidou who kept running to the right side of the pitch.
"Ah- oh no!" Kurimatsu exclaimed, surprised that his pass failed, as Gouenji just smiled at Kidou's action.
Handa was the one to directly run after him, determined to take the ball back. As he was getting closer to Kidou, both of them were approaching the extreme right side of the field, where some small puddles of water were still present from the rain they had this morning. They were getting closer and closer to a particular puddle, and Kazemaru, from his position near the goal, seemed to be the only one to have noticed it.
"Hey, be caref-" he tried to warn, but it was too late for Kidou, who had already slipped on it.
Luckily, he was able to efficiently catch himself, landing just one knee on the ground, still taken aback.
Handa wasn't so lucky, as his efforts to stop himself were vain, he slipped too and fell heavily on Kidou.
"Argh, I'm sorry!" Handa said, quickly getting off Kidou, trying to steady himself. "You okay?"
"Yes, yes, don't worry, I am." He just said. His hand was on his face.
Handa gasped, and the other members were surprised as well, realizing that his hair wasn't in a ponytail anymore. On the ground, next to him, laid his hair tie that was now snapped.
He stood up, dusting the dirt off his shorts. He was keeping his left hand on his face to keep his glasses in place, since they couldn't stay still on his head now that his hair was loose.
"And you? Any hurt?" He looked at Handa who just shook his head, still looking a bit ashamed.
"No, no, I'm good." He looked at the puddle they were in a few seconds ago. "Guess we'll have to avoid this part of the field for the rest of practice."
"Wait, no!" Endou shouted from the goal he was still in. "That could make for a good challenge!"
Kazemaru raised a brow at him, unsurprised. "Are you sure about that?"
"Yeah!" The Captain smiled at him, excited.
The rest of the team laughed at his reaction as Kidou excused himself.
"Continue without me, I'm just going to look for a hair tie, I think I have spare ones." He walked towards the club room, after Handa slightly bowed as an ultimate apology.
"Alright!" Endou said, waving to him. He then clapped his hands together. "Let's resume!"
It was ten minutes later that Gouenji finally had the chance to shoot, with a Fire Tornado that Endou was unable to stop, the ball striking the goal's nets.
Endou had fallen on the ground trying to stop the ball, and was looking at it, amazed.
The whole team congratulated Gouenji for his hissatsu, but Handa, looking a bit guilty, kept staring at the club room.
"He's taking a lot of time in there. I hope he's not hurt?"
"Maybe you killed him." Matsuno said casually. "Maybe he is lying lifeless on the ground as we talk." Kageno nodded, and Handa quickly turned to Matsuno, yelling.
"Hey! Don't say that!"
Matsuno just stuck out his tongue to him.
"He said he was fine." Kazemaru intervened before the two started bickering. "Maybe he’s still looking for a hair tie?" He turned to Endou, who was being helped up by Gouenji. "I'll go check on him, I have spares."
Endou and Gouenji shared a look, and nodded.
He walked towards the club room as the rest of the team started another mini-match. As he put his hand on the handle, Matsuno’s words came to his head. Fortunately, when he entered the room, no one was lying lifeless on the ground.
Kidou was still there, crouching on the ground, searching in his bag.
Both of his hands were busy taking out diverse school books, so none were currently holding his glasses on his face. They were hanging from his neck, shining a bit under the late afternoon sun. When he noticed Kazemaru, he lifted his head to look at him.
“Sorry, it’s taking longer than I thought.” He just said.
It felt weird, being able to see those reddish eyes like that. Kazemaru almost wanted to look somewhere else, as something at the back of his head made him feel like looking at the others in the eyes, his actual eyes, was an extremely intimate action. He kept eye contact.
“It’s okay, I just went to check on you. Are you looking for a hair tie? I can lend you one, if you want.”
Kidou’s eyes widened a bit and he straightened up. At this angle, the sun was hitting his face just like it was on his glasses earlier, making his eyes shine a bit as well. The thing at the back of Kazemaru’s head screamed again, but this time to tell him to absolutely not look somewhere else because he had to enjoy his current privilege.
“If you have any,” Kidou answered. “And if it’s stretchy enough.” He said with a small smile, shaking his head as if to point at his hair.
Kazemaru smiled as well. “I think I might have this.” He searched through his bag before taking out a small box full of hair ties. Kidou looked surprised at that. “Mine don’t snap often,” He says to explain himself, “But when I was in athletics half the members of the club always forgot their hair ties, so…”
He took out a thick, dark hair tie before holding it out to Kidou.
“Is this okay?”
“Mmh.” He took the tie between his index and his thumb and stretched it out a few times, looking pensive. “I don’t usually use those ones.”
“I think it’s the only one I have that would keep your hair in place. But, hum, we can try another one if you prefer?”
Kidou shook his head and smiled. “If you say this one is good, I trust you.”
For some reason, this made Kazemaru finally look away as he shyly smiled back.
Kidou put all his fingers through the tie before extending them, making it fall on his wrist. He then proceeded to gather his locks in his left hand and lifted them up.
Kazemaru was looking at him again.
As much as he stretched it with his whole hand, Kidou was struggling to fit all his hair inside the hair tie. After a few long seconds, Kazemaru finally dared to ask.
“Do you want me to do it?”
Kidou looked at him, surprised. “Hum,” The slightest shade of red tinted his cheeks. “Yeah, that would probably be faster.”
He gave the tie back to Kazemaru before choosing one of the club room’s stools and sitting on it. The defender followed and placed himself behind him.
His hand hovered above the locks.
“Are you sure it’s okay?”
“Yes.” Kidou answered, and even if Kazemaru didn’t see his face he could hear that he was smiling a bit.
He used his two hands to gather the other’s hair, keeping the tie between his lips. He stayed slow and soft, enjoying the situation and hoping Kidou was enjoying it too.
He wondered if Kidou felt the same way as he did, right now.
A lot of times he had wondered if he was supposed to feel awkward about him, or about their situation. Them having the same partners, but not being together themselves. There was no jealousy, not at all, but sometimes he wondered how he should act around the other. Nothing forced him to try and get together with Kidou just because they were sharing a polycule. Not even Endou and Gouenji were pressuring either of them to be together or just like each other, as it was none of their business.
They were currently having a very cordial relationship- Kazemaru would even say they were pretty good friends. Nothing forced him to try and get together with Kidou.
But maybe he wanted it a little.
As he tightened the hair tie, he took the opportunity to slightly stroke the other’s scalp, in what he hoped would be relaxing movements.
Maybe, if Kidou was going along with the whole situation, just maybe, he wanted it a little bit too.
“Here. I hope it’s not too tight?”
“Oh, not at all.” Kidou chuckled. “Actually, can you tighten it more?”
“What? But isn’t it gonna hurt?”
“No, don’t worry, I’m used to it, I don’t feel pain in my hair.”
Kazemaru raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah but if you constantly keep your hair tightly tied up, it’s gonna hurt your scalp.”
He walked around the stool to position himself in front of Kidou before bending forward to inspect the roots of the hair on his forehead. He decided to ignore the color on Kidou’s cheeks as he did that.
“Yeah, your skin looks like it’s screaming for help.”
“R-Really?” Kidou was half confused and half flustered, which was pretty funny to see.
“You really should not tie your hair this tight. Also I’m amazed that it doesn’t hurt you. The lightest tug makes me feel like I’m dying…”
Kidou sighed a bit. “I’m sorry, I don’t really know how to really deal with it. I just tie them like that because that’s the only way it stays in place when I play soccer.”
“It’s probably also the reason why it snaps so easily.” Kazemaru said.
“Mh.” Kidou made, as if realizing that his hair tie budget could have been a bit lower all this time.
“You know what,” Kazemaru said as he took something out of his bag. “Let me try something.”
He went back behind Kidou and started fiddling with it again. This time, he added a few pins in what he considered strategic points.
“Here!”
Kidou looked at him, surprised, as he didn’t feel the pins in his hair.
“What did you do?”
“I added a few pins. It’s not perfect, but it should do the trick at least until the end of practice. All of that without having to strangle your hair!”
“Oh.”
There was a short silence, and Kidou finally stood up.
“Well, if you say it’s gonna work. Thank you.” He smiled at Kazemaru and slowly put his glasses back on, much to the disappointment of the latter.
He walked towards the door and the defender followed silently.
Kazemaru was eager to return to practice, too, but he realized he didn’t want this moment to end so soon. It had to, though, as there was no reason to stay in the club room now.
“Also,” Kazemaru said, without really thinking about it. Kidou turned to him. “I better not see you with your hair tied extremely tight anymore.” He tried to look cocky.
Kidou chuckled. “I don’t think it can be helped. I’m really not used to tying them any other way or even using pins.”
“Mmh. Then,” There was his chance. “How about I show you sometime? I can take you where I buy mine- The store should be open next wednesday!”
Kidou opened his mouth, then closed it. He stayed silent, but his expression clearly meant ‘ Is that a date? ’
It clearly was a date.
He turned his head, avoiding Kazemaru’s gaze. Then, with a small blush creeping on his cheeks, he answered: “Let’s say wednesday, then.”
Kazemaru’s face heated up a bit as he smiled.
The team was taking a break when they got out of the club room. Everyone was near the bench, drinking in their bottles. Handa noticed them first. Kazemaru was still too far to hear him, but he could guess by his face that he was relieved no one had died. He turned to Matsuno to playfully hit him.
As Kazemaru and Kidou were getting closer, Kazemaru could see Gouenji looking at them, then smiling, then elbowing Endou who was still drinking. The captain first frowned at the water falling on his chin, before looking at them too, and smiling as well.
Kazemaru didn’t seem to be the only one to want it a little.