Ascension│Bluelock x male reader

32. Friendly Faces

"Oh, hi." Through a small gap in his fingers, Y/N spotted the four players walking over to him.

Isagi looked excited to see him, leading with a big smile on his face. Barou had his signature death glare on, eyes fixed on Y/N. Nagi was slouched over, letting Isagi pull him along with his half-closed eyes. And Chigiri was grinning like he'd just won the lottery.

Y/N forced a smile as the boys got closer, looking up at them from his position on the ground. All of them had on boots and long socks, with their Bluelock training uniforms on. "Are you guys here to practise?"

Chigiri had held back just a little as the other three surrounded Y/N. He nodded, still with a huge smile on his face. "Yep. I lost in the 3v3 stage to Barou, Nagi and Isagi, and got chosen."

"Obviously." Y/N rolled his eyes, for a moment ignoring the irrational fear at the back of his head. Kuroi's left. It's okay. "Who wouldn't choose you."

Chigiri flushed, caught off guard by the compliment. "Well... yeah, we're here to train." He crouched to Y/N's level, flicking his pink hair over his shoulder. "Are you not training with your team?"

"Well, Rin doesn't wanna train with us. He always goes off solo." Y/N complained. "And Aryu does train sometimes, but mostly just fusses over his nails and hair. Bachira is the only one I can practise properly with, but he isn't here right now."

"Ah, I got it." Chigiri smiled. "Have you found someone to play the 4v4 against?"

"Not at all." Y/N replied, sounding annoyed. "Everyone's scared to play the Top Three, so they just chicken out and make an excuse."

"Alright!" Chigiri's smile didn't change at all. In fact, it grew, as the pink-haired boy talked with Y/N. "Wanna play us?"

Y/N thought for a second. All of them were watching him with expectant faces. "Sure, why not?" If he didn't play this team, then they'd never get the chance to move up to the next stage.

"Nice..." Nagi yawned sleepily, pretty much collapsing onto Y/N. The smaller boy found himself under 160 pounds of muscle, yelping with surprise.

"I can't wait to crush you, commoner." Barou could only see Y/N's head, poking out from under Nagi's shoulder. The white-haired boy had fully fallen asleep, head resting on the floor as he slept on top of Y/N.

"Nagi, get up!" Isagi took both of Nagi's shoulders, trying to roll him off of Y/N. With some effort, and Y/N struggling, they got him off. His limp body rolled onto the artificial grass, and Nagi grumbled in his sleep, curling up cat-like into a ball.

Y/N gave a sigh of relief. "So, are we gonna have the match tomorrow? I assume you want a little bit of time to practise."

"Yeah, that sounds good." Isagi grinned. "Meet you in the prep room?"

"Yeah."

"We're gonna go practice. What are you gonna do?"

"I... ah..." Y/N shrugged. "I guess I'll go back to the room. Or head to the gym room." Probably the latter. He didn't think he could head back to the room - it was incredibly boring.

"Cool." Isagi headed away from them, having sorted out their rematch with Rin's team. Barou hoisted Nagi to his feet, forcing the sleepy genius to walk on his own two feet after them. Chigiri stayed by Y/N's side.

He was a little concerned. It was annoying that Y/N had left them and joined another team by himself, but even though he tried to hide it, Chigiri could notice the tired, drained posture and see through the forced smile.

Chigiri pulled Y/N into a hug. "What happened? You seem a bit off."

Y/N blinked with surprise, caught off guard by the tenderness. "Oh, nothing. Just met some creep."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." Y/N lied through his teeth. He could force himself to be fine anyway, it wasn't a big deal. "It's fine."

He knew there was probably no fixing his mentality. Kuroi was right, as annoying as it was. Y/N's previous self had been completely obliterated, and anything left was all created by that monster of a man.

Still, though, Chigiri's worried expression, gentle words and touch managed to bring a small smile to his face, a genuine one this time. "If you say so." The princess smiled. "Alright, I'm gonna train now. You gonna be alright by yourself?"

Y/N nodded, making Chigiri smile. Under his breath, he whispered to himself. "Thank you, so much."

Pink eyes flickered to meet him. Chigiri stood up, beginning to walk away. But Y/N swore he caught a whisper back from the princess. "Anytime."

With that, Y/N was once again left alone, sitting on the artificial grass as he watched Chigiri's retreating figure. He smiled to himself, feeling a hint of warmth in his chest.

Slowly, taking his time, he stood up, heading out the room as Isagi picked up a ball to begin practising. They were doing a warm up when Y/N left the room, Isagi and Chigiri both waving him goodbyes.

Somehow, Y/N felt better than before. What happened...? Why am I so much happier now? Just a few moments ago I was on the edge of spiralling... But I'm okay now?

He headed for the gym room, following the signs at each intersection. They were stamped on metal plates, just like everywhere else in the building. Why do they even need so many corridors? It's like they make extra ones just to confuse us. That corridor doesn't even go anywhere!

Though, Bluelock's maze of identical corridors and rooms didn't look so harsh anymore, and he could actually remember the path from his room to important places like the cafeteria and the...

Just the cafeteria, actually. But could anyone blame him?