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"Itoshi, would it kill you to smile a bit?" Isagi moved his head back from the camera lens in front of him to look eye-to-eye with the man he'd addressed: Itoshi Rin, ace of the Japanese national football team. The man was a brilliant athlete, and also happened to be unbelievably stubborn.
"Shut up. Just take the damn photo and stop wasting my time."
Isagi was unmoved by the rude remark. He was more than used to dealing with bratty rich people at this point in his career, and this guy was hardly the worst he'd ever encountered.
"Listen. You're making this harder than it needs to be. Maybe try and smile, relax a little. Stop touching your neck like that. Fix your posture and look at the camera, please."
He positioned his face back behind the camera, gazed through the eyepiece, snapped a few photos, and shuffled through them to check how they looked on his laptop.
"Seriously. You look like you have a stick up your ass." Isagi backed off from his work, then made his way over to the stubborn striker. "Let me show you a couple things. I was hired to get some good photos here, and that's what I'll do." He nodded his head and addressed the rest of the team around him, "Let's take ten," he announced to them.
After the team had dispursed, the photographer fixed his eyes back on the man next to him. Itoshi Rin was tall, well over six feet, sporting a pair of sharp and sophisticated teal eyes, and was probably one of the best looking men Isagi had ever had on the other side of his camera. He was determined for this guy to look good in their team photos.
"This is a waste of my fucking time," Rin mumbled under his breath.
"If you'd listen to me and do what I say, this would go a lot quicker, and I wouldn't have to waste any more of your precious time at all."
The taller man placed a hand on one hip and shifted his weight over to one leg, narrowing his eyes as he did so.
"Alright, Itoshi—"
"Rin."
"... Ah?"
"The back of my jersey, idiot. I don't go by my family name."
"Right." This was a fact Isagi was actually familiar with. Both the Itoshi siblings seemed to prefer going by their first names. Isagi was in habit of referring to everyone he met by their surnames not only out of respect, but specifically because athletes preferred to go by their surnames.
"Okay. Sorry, Rin. First thing," Isagi jabbed a finger between Rin's shoulder blades and watched as his upper body and neck straightened out. "Your posture is absolutely horrible. Release that tension here and relax. Another thing. Keep your hands down. Stop touching your neck, okay? You might not be comfortable in front of the camera, but you need to try and relax. Take a few deep breaths if you have to."
Isagi reached a hand up and adjusted Rin's bangs for him as well. "That looks nice, you can see your eyes better like that. Can you smile for me? Just a little?"
Rin's expression remained unimpressed as he brushed a hand back into his bangs, zmoothing them over to their previous position.
"Tsk. Don't touch my hair."
"Alright, fine. Could you at least smile a little? Just a teensy little bit? Please?"
Isagi watched as the corners of the football player's mouth twitched up ever so slightly. It was... Certainly a start.
"That's, umm... Well, it's... A smile." Isagi had to suppress the urge to laugh at Rin's attempt.
"Hah? Maybe I won't listen to you after all."
"No, no... Sorry. Just a little more?"
The smile that resulted from Isagi's request was a little unnerving, but it was still a smile nonetheless.
"That might be a little too much... Okay just a little less..." he watched the player's face change again, "Yeah, that's perfect."
"This is a fucking pain."
Isagi chuckled at this. "Honestly, smiling does look painful for you. Like physically painful. It's a shame because it does suit your features nicely," Isagi noted the other players slowly rolling back in and taking their places around them. "Alright. Got everything?"
Rin grunted once.
Isagi positioned himself back behind his tripod setup and peered through the camera lens, hoping for the final time that he'd get some decent photos.
"Alright everyone. Get ready." He counted down and snapped a few photos. As he shuffled through the results, Isagi felt quite pleased. His eyes travelled over to where the ace striker with his jersey number 9 stood, and he smirked. Then, he took a few more photos for good measure.
"Nice work everyone. These should be good enough."
The players rolled back into the dressing rooms, and Isagi packed up and followed suit with his camera and laptop bags in hand, in search of that one person.
As it would happen, Isagi Yoichi was a bit of a football nut. He loved the sport dearly and watched every match of every league he could possibly fit into his spare time. The Japanese national team was decent enough, but that one key player they currently possessed elevated the team much higher above its usual level: Itoshi Rin. Isagi didn't exactly specialize in taking photos for sports teams, but he couldn't turn down this one chance he had to meet the guy in person. It was a bit funny to him that the Japanese national team's key player on the field happened to be their greatest hindrance in their photoshoot that day.
"Great job, Rin. We got some nice photos." Isagi stood beside the player as he opened his locker and pulled his street clothes from inside.
Rin paused what he'd been doing and glared sideways at the photographer. "Who cares. This is all pointless drabble to me."
"Well, having good team photos is important. Your team will look more professional without you looking like a bashful little puppy dog up there."
"Whatever." Rin slipped his jersey shirt off and snatched his street shirt, sliding it skillfully over his torso.
Isagi reached into the outer pocket of his laptop bag, grabbed a business card, and handed it over to Rin.
"Eh? What's this?"
"My business card. I have a bit of a selfish request for you, if you don't mind."
Rin snatched the card from Isagi's hand and glared down at it.
"I want to take some more photos. Action shots of you. So, would you indulge me?"
The striker's eyes narrowed and moved up to meet Isagi's.
"More photos? Why would I waste my time with more photos?"
"You don't take many photos, do you? Well, I want to change that. I want to capture your football with my camera. I want the world to see the beauty of Itoshi Rin's football in my art form, not just through a flat screen TV."
"The hell do you mean by that?"
"Well, just like I said. Action shots. Just you, me, and the camera. Well, what do you say?"
Itoshi Rin yanked his jeans up around his waist and zipped them shut. He took another quick look at Isagi's business card and shoved it into his pocket.
"Whatever. Isagi Yoichi." Was the last thing he said before taking his leave. The photographer stood solitarily afterwards.
He took my card and read my name off it. He'll definitely call me.
And sure as the sky was blue, Itoshi Rin reached out to him. A few days later, when Isagi read the mysterious message he'd received off his phone screen, he immediately knew who it was.
> idiot
> rin? is that you?
> what do u want
> ? why would you ask that, you already know. let's meet at your favorite outdoor practice spot
There was a pause here. Then, Isagi recieved a pin. He grinned down at it and started typing.
> tomorrow 5 pm?
The message was read, but Isagi didn't recieve a response. He wasn't entirely surprised by that, though, and was more than sure Rin would be there at that pin tomorrow at 5 PM.
*
"Thanks for indulging me." Isagi watched as the football player dropped both his dufflebag and ball bag into the grass beside him and slid his cleats onto his feet.
"You'd better be quick," Rin grumbled.
"Just go about doing some shooting drills. The only thing I ask is that you do different styles of kicks and different angles so I can get a good variety of photographs."
Rin grabbed his ball bag off the grass at his feet. He briefly looked at Isagi before quietly heading over to the net, taking his place at the penalty line and dropping the balls at his feet.
"Not gonna waste my time with coaching this time?"
Isagi placed himself prone in the grass, checked his distance and angle in the lens of his camera, and shuffled back a little to get the perfect perspective for his shot.
"You don't need to be coached by me on how to shoot. Your form is spectacular as it is."
Rin's eyes narrowed into a glare that was directed right at the photographer in the grass, before he looked away towards his target. He did a few things to warm up, then started his drills.
As the striker moved with utmost efficiency and precision, so did Isagi catch each moment flawlessly with his camera. Over and over again Rin shot, changing up his form, distance, and angle slightly between shots, and each moment was captured by the photographer who watched him. Once he'd taken a sufficient amount of photos, Isagi simply lay there on his stomach watching the pro player shoot. Again. And again. And again. It was three more rounds of shooting before Rin noticed that Isagi had ceased taking his photos.
"Are you done?" Rin asked, seemingly annoyed.
"Well... Yeah. Sorry. I just wanted to admire you for a bit." Isagi motioned to Rin with one hand and pulled his camera strap off from arouns his neck. "Come look at what I've got."
The pair sat quietly, gazing down at the results of Isagi's photoshoot while he scrolled through his photos. The photographer was certainly pleased with the outcome.
"What do you think?" Isagi gazed over at the man seated next to him and examined his demeanor. The eyes were carefully fixed on Isagi's camera screen, but they didn't belay Rin's feelings. "Should I pull these up on my laptop so we can look at them closer?"
Rin shrugged.
After Isagi had connected to his laptop, they sat watching the screen as he tapped the next button, scrolling through the photo gallery. Each photo was beautiful and unique in its own way, and somehow, Isagi found each image brought a different feeling of excitement to him.
"These are perfect. You're incredible, Rin."
Rin, beside him, felt warmth pricking at the edges of his ears.
"Whatever."
"Not whatever. Give yourself some credit. Your football is a work of art."
The ever silent Itoshi Rin felt his heart skip a beat in his chest.
"Anyways. I think I've got all the photos I need. I'd like to meet up with you in another few days, though, once I've picked the best ones and edited them."
"... Fine."
Damn. No resistance from him this time?
"Alright. I'll reach out when the photos are ready, then."
Later that night, Rin arrived back at his apartment, dumped his dufflebag and ball bag down beside the door, and hung his jacket. He collapsed into his mattress and pulled his phone from his pocket.
Isagi Yoichi. The name was spinning round and round in his head like a merry-go-round.
Rin found himself opening Instagram and searching the name, for some reason beyond his comprehension. He tapped his finger on the first search result and was met with Isagi's photography page. 207k followers. He seemingly specialized in creative and motion photography in the cityscape, mostly involving vehicles alongside elegant models or dancers of sorts. There was a photo of Rin posted on that same day, and he opened it semi-excitedly. The caption read:
The beauty of the parabola.
Rin's eyes followed the path of the parabola that his foot drew and found the ball he'd kicked nestled comfortably in the net. Despite the fact that he was famous and had been watched by millions on national television, there was something very intimate about the photograph he was looking at, something that made him feel a little embarassed. He navigated back and
scrolled to the top of Isagi's photography page, then tapped on the link to Isagi's personal Instagram account. His eyes rested on a picture posted about a week prior: Isagi sitting at a table in a coffee shop artfully posed artfully like some influencer. Rin stared at the photo for some time, then, found his fingers pinching in to zoom into the the bare ring finger of Isagi left hand.
He shamefully snapped his phone screen off and dropped the device into his bed beside him.
*
A few days later, Isagi had reached out, and the two met in a quaint little coffee shop.
"Check these out." Isagi slid a small folder across the table between them. Rin grabbed it and pulled the contents out, carefully sweeping each photograph. They'd been edited to perfection, and each picture he looked upon was utterly eye-grabbing and jaw-dropping.
"Well?"
Rin dropped the stack of photos back onto the table. "The hell do you want me to say?"
"Tell me you see it. The beauty that the world sees in your football."
"Beauty? What a lukewarm sentiment."
Isagi's gaze steadily meandered back down to the stack of photos on the table. Then, back up to Rin.
"Really? You don't see anything? Nothing artistic or thought-provoking whatsoever in these photos?"
"No."
Isagi snatched the photos off the table between them. "Fine. Have it your way, then."
"My way?"
"Your way. Persist in your beliefs that football is a chore. That it's ugly, boring, and unbearable." Isagi stuffed the photos into his bag and bowed forward slightly. "Thanks for indulging me, ace," he said curtly to Rin before exiting the coffee shop alone.
The beauty the world sees in my football...
What does that even mean? Rin found his mind wandering back to that single photo Isagi had posted on Instagram, and a gentle pink flush rose on his cheeks.
Beauty.
As Rin sat there by himself with his coffee, he found himself impulsively navigating back to Isagi's photography page and was staring at that photo.
Beauty, huh?
His eyes lingered pensively on the enigma of this photograph.
Rin leaned himself to one side and planted the side of his cheek squarely into the palm of his hand. He groaned under his breath, turned his phone screen off, and downed the rest of his coffee.
*
> tomorrow 7 pm
Tap to see location.
Isagi glared down at the text message from the stubborn striker Itoshi Rin. He was almost certain that wasn't going to be the end to their interactions the day before, and so found himself smirking at the correctness of his assumption. As such, he had a surprise prepared for their next meeting.
Wonder where this pin location is...
He tapped the pin and grinned down at what popped up on the screen.
The following night Isagi arrived at his destination and took his place on the barstool beside Rin.
"Well?"
"Show me those stupid photos again," Rin demanded without looking at him.
Sure enough, Isagi had brought the photos with him. He slid the envelope across the bar towards Rin, and nodded.
"You can keep them. I've got something else here, too." He pulled the single sheet from his jacket and placed it down beside the photos for Rin to see. Rin plucked the sheet off the surface in front of him and stared at it.
"What is this?"
"Do I even need to say what it is?"
Rin's eyes swept the sheet again in disbelief.
"A magazine cover. I'm going to send that photo in and try to have it published as a magazine cover. I had someone edit it so you can see what it'll look like. I do need your permission to go through with it, though."
Itoshi Rin, ace striker for the Japanese national football team, one of the top football players in the world, found himself feeling a little embarassed. Embarassed that someone would go to these lengths just for him to see...
What, exactly? Beauty?
Rin silently waved the bartender over and gave his order. "Make it two," Isagi said from beside him. Rin continued to hold the single sheet in front of him, staring at it in disbelief.
"So?"
A moment of hesitation, then, Rin's response was uttered: "Do what you want." The statement brought a cheeky smirk to Isagi's lips.
As their drinks arrived, Rin promptly took a sip of his and shuffled through the stack of photographs. Isagi quietly watched him, eyes fixed on the subtle gestures Rin's face that indicated his interest in what he was looking at.
Isagi took a sip of his own drink, face puckering a little at whatever the hell it was. He was glad Rin wasn't looking at him and didn't notice this.
"I hope you're starting to see it," Isagi said as Rin slid the photos back into their envelope.
Rin was simply silent. Isagi gazed over at the person next to him, the eyes, those beautiful eyes, and the hand, which tapped gently on his glass in front of him. The photographer found his heart fluttering in his chest, and he took another sip from his drink.
"Let's meet again. Maybe next time I pick the bar." Rin's eyes travelled over to meet Isagi's when he heard the sound of his voice, and his eyebrows raised ever so slightly in surprise.
"That's a conflict of interest."
"Probably," Isagi said, grinning, "Maybe not if nobody knows about it."
Later that night, Isagi was scrolling his personal Instagram looking at photographs from his favourite photography pages, as he did most nights. When he checked his notifications, one thing popped out at him:
Ito.R.9 started following you.
He tapped the profile, one that he was already following, and smiled. The guy had like 1.2 million followers and only seven photos posted. Isagi's eyes landed on the most recently posted photo, the only photo of Rin on that page, a photo that Isagi had posted on his photography page a few days earlier. He opened the captionless photo and smiled at it. It was definitely his favourite photo he'd taken that day: the lighting was perfect, the angle and position of Rin's body was dignified and fluid, his jersey number 9 was clearly visible, the blurred arc the ball traced into the net was thoroughly satisfying to look at, and those beautiful eyes could be seen clearly, focused intensely on the spot the ball had landed in the net.
They met up a week later, this time, at Isagi's chosen spot. Things felt a little more awkward between them, as the meeting wasn't intended so much as a professional meeting, but more of a personal one. Isagi fidgeted a little as he looked for a subject of conversation.
"I have to come clean. I'm a bit of a fan of yours, Rin."
Rin sipped from his drink, his eyes flicking to the side. "Lukewarm," he grumbled, "That's easy enough for me to see, stupid."
Isagi blushed a little at the statement. He started to talk about Rin's football, then found himself rambling about it, the words pouring out without an ounce of control. He wanted to praise every single beautiful thing about Rin's football while the striker was there next to him.
After a few minutes of this, Isagi realized he hadn't given Rin so much a moment to talk, and looked over at the other man nervously. He was only met with a calm pair of turquoise eyes that were seemingly watching him as he talked.
"Ah... Sorry, I'm rambling here. You probably hate how people only want to talk about football with you, huh? Let's changed the subject..."
Rin's gaze momentarily lingered. Then, he took a deep sip from his cup. "I'm used to it," he mumbled after placing his glass back down on the bar.
The pair were at the bar for a couple of hours, awkwardly fumbling through conversations. Isagi struggled to find things to bring up that didn't involve football, and Rin just wasn't really good at conversing at all. Near the end of their time that night things did become a little more natural as Isagi found a few subjects of interest: they both loved painting and art in general, and so discussed their favourite artists and art pieces. They both loved autumn and taking quiet walks by themselves to view the leaves. Isagi was surprised that Rin didn't seem interested in talking about his brother at all, and when he asked why, he was only met with a disgruntled "drop it", which he did.
As the evening drew to its conclusion and they closed out their tabs with the bartender, the pair walked into the street outside. Rin had ordered himself a cab, and Isagi intended to take the subway, so they stood beside eachother wrapping up their conversation for the night.
"Anyways. I'm taking the subway home." Isagi's eyes were panning their surroundings, sweeping from side-to-side in the dim lamplight.
"What are you doing?" Rin asked, confused.
"Just checking."
"Eh? Checking what?"
Isagi, who'd finished what he was doing, wandered his gaze up to meet Rin's. He took a step in closer. Closer. Closer. Before Rin had any time to be suspicious, Isagi's hand had already made it's way up to the back of his head, and had pulled him in, their lips meeting in a soft and short kiss.
"Checking," Isagi breathed quietly as their faces parted slowly, "You know. Making sure nobody is watching us."
The normally stoic-faced striker now stood with his mouth hanging slightly agape, cheeks blushing with a gentle shade of red in the tender touch of the streetlamps that illuminated his face. The look on Rin's face brought an immense amount of satisfaction to Isagi, and he chuckled under his breath.
A few months later, Rin was with his team in Europe at a football camp. He opened his locker and turned on his phone after a long day of practice, brushing a towel across his forehead as he checked his phone. There were a lot of missed notifications, basically all of them were swiped away and ignored, except for one: a picture message from Isagi. He tapped the message and opened it, eyes widening slightly at what he saw.
It was a selfie with a magazine.
The cover of said magazine contained a photo Rin was quite familiar with. That photo. That one photo that had swayed Rin's heart ever so slightly, which had changed the way he saw his football, which had gently nudged him towards the path he'd sought his entire career. His entire life. A path he now walked, one that he never though he would walk, especially not with someone else at his side: the path toward self-love.
"Idiot," he whispered tenderly down to the person on his phone screen.