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Upon Ego’s assistant releasing Shidou from the straight jacket, he slid out the room like he was sneaking out rather than being escorted. Sae hardly felt the other man slink around him, as if he wasn't there in the first place. Teieri made a small noise of alarm, fretting with the straps.
“Shidou, come back—please?” Her voice wavered, obviously terrified. The handcuffs she poorly hid shook in her hand. “You can’t just walk around after what you did t—”
“Gotta take a shit,” Shidou called from the hallway. The sound of his cleats clicking against the linoleum grew farther and farther. Teirei gawked at Sae with a hopeless look in her eyes.
“He’s gonna hurt someone,” She whispered like she was hiding from somebody. “Your brother, probably.”
Sae huffed in annoyance, both by the inconvenience and her lack of backbone. She murmured a small apology, “Yeah, I’m sorry.”
Her phone began to ring and her panic grew tenfold. She looked at Sae again like she was looking for an answer, his eyebrow involuntary twitched. No wonder the JFU wanted this shit shut down.
“Remind me why I even bothering paying—,” a nasally voice gritted from the speaker. She seemed to shrink three time smaller, plugging one of her ears and tucked herself into the corner to take the lecture. Sae checks his watch, taking upon himself to handle Shidou alone.
He turned heel and stepped into the facility. The blinding white lights reminded him of a ward, fitting for the oppressive atmosphere. Shidou was about halfway down the hall, heading towards the compound door while cracking his neck and shoving the padded vest off.
“Come back,” Sae called out, voice echoing down the white hall. He didn’t feel like raising his voice at Shidou, he knew the other man would come to understand their contract. He anticipated the resistance. After all, no dog shows its stomach to the first hand that gives it food. Plus, he doubted the other could make it through the door without access anyway.
Shidou tossed the vest across the floor and tucked his hands into his pockets. He threw a glance over his shoulder, rolling his head and leaning on his hip.
“Thought you were freeing me,” Shidou smiled as sweetly as he could manage, like he rubbed sugar over his teeth. “Just let me get this off my plate and then I’ll do whatever you want. Promise, mister.” He enunciated the last bit with fake authenticity, akin to a child promising not to misbehave.
A blatant threat. Shidou was obviously used to forcing his will through fear, Sae could almost picture him hovering over defenseless classmates threatening to crack their jaws. He wasn’t moved.
“I promise to give you much more fulfilling things to do than beating up some half-rate like him,” Sae chooses his words carefully, because unlike the mouth breathers running this place, he gets what Shidou wants.
Shidou’s saccharine smile dropped, slowly replaced by a neutral expression that felt more exasperated than disinterested. He fully turned around, eyes never leaving Sae’s.
“Name?”
“Itoshi Sae.”
Shidou’s blonde eyebrows shot up. Whatever tangent he was going to waste breath on seemed to dissipate into thin air. It’d been a minute since someone associated him through another facet of his life besides his career.
They stood still for a second, staring back at one another letting the new information process. Shidou cartoonishly squinted and leaned forward, silence growing louder than the murmuring from Teirei’s phone. He cocked his head to the side, face scrunched.
“You’re serious?”
Sae breathes out the closest thing to a laugh, “Duh.”
Shidous eyebrows furrowed as brought a hand behind his neck, walking toward Sae like an art snob critiquing a student's work.
He wasn’t more than five centimeters taller than Sae, but it felt like a lot more face to face, the cleats didn’t help either. Shidou leaned in close, almost nose to nose to give a Sae hard stare. His slitted pink eyes darted around his features, as if he were looking for change in a junk drawer.
Sae knew the resemblance he bore with his brother wasn’t uncanny but it wasn’t obvious either. Anyone could tell after a good look or four in Shidou’s case.
For good measure, Sae decides, Shidou gives him a slow once over. It’s the one time Shidous eyes leave him and Sae’s allowed to play voyeur for a few seconds.
He follows the smooth ridge of his convex nose up to his bleach blonde brows and eyelashes. They’re natural but thick, similar to the false ones actors wear. He never really got a good look at his face in retrospect. He already knew everything about Shidou’s body for the most part. One-hundred eighty centimeters of lean muscle all maintained by martial arts, rare meat, and junk food.
He’s handsome, Sae notes. He knew before, obviously. He’d spent the better part of two hours staring at his body and form. But his eyes, bleeding and outlined in black, paired with his deep tan, had Sae idly brushing a stray strand of his bangs back where they belong.
Studying Shidou felt like an indulgence, but there’s only so much detail a computer model can give. Having him up close felt like an earned victory. Sae wonders what else the computer couldn’t capture.
They make eye contact again once they’re finished, and Shidou gives him a lopsided smile.
“You’re not lying. ‘Think I remember you, actually. Alright, Itoshi Sae,” He says Sae’s name pointedly, smile stretching wider. “What’s your deal?”
“I already told you, idiot. I want your ego,” Sae crosses his arms, Shidou mirrors him. “Play for me against Blue Lock, against Japan’s U20, and show me what a real striker looks like.”
Shidou squints his eyes, “Against Blue Lock?”
“I picked you to play with me because you’re above the rest. U20’s strikers are a bunch of jokes and Blue Lock’s a cavalcade of fuck ups,” Sae watched as Shidou’s smile and ego increased with every word. “The only reason you’re number two here is because Rin cooperates, you don’t. Nobody in this for-profit knows what to do with you, I do.”
“Okay, and what do you want to do with me?” Shidou’s fully grinning now, wide and stupid with endless curiosity in his eyes. Sae doesn’t miss the way he subtly leans in and stays planted.
There’s a lot of things Sae wants to do with Shidou. He felt compelled to study him under a microscope. Everything from his hair to his eyes to his legs needed to be properly assessed in his brain. It wasn’t severe enough to be an obsession, but it wasn’t passing like a spike of adrenaline.
“Put you to work,” Sae answers. He hears the slight tightness in his voice and narrows his eyes to refocus. “Number one midfielder,” he points to himself, then at Shidou, “—Number one striker. I only want the best.”
Shidou doesn't back away. Some part of his gaze feels more focused now as if Sae unlocked some level to the Demon’s psyche. Shidou clutches his own arms and breathes out a laugh, massive smile never wavering.
“‘Kay, I’ll bite,” Shidou backs off coyishly.
The tension between their foreheads melts away but the feeling washes over Sae’s brain. The blonde adjusts his shorts, sticking his hands below the waistband, just resting them there.
Gross, Sae thinks while burning the image into his brain. He turns around knowing Shidou will follow. They walk back down to the other side of the hallway where Sae initially entered. He can feel Shidou’s eyes tracking him like he was waiting for something, an opening for more.
He looks back, trying to look casual, “What were you gonna do to Rin if you got through the door?”
“Beat his head bloody with a dumbbell.”
“Hm.”
Shidou giggles, scrunching this nose at Sae, “Cool, right?”