Eita thinks he’s having a stroke when he sees him. 

There aren’t a lot of things to do when you’re stuck in traffic on the way to the grocery store, so Eita spends most of his time people-watching. So far, he’s watched a group of kids skateboarding by, a mother chastising her toddler for throwing a tantrum, and several office workers chit-chatting on their way to lunch.

Because the streets are so packed today, he doesn’t really register it when a boy stumbles his way out of the neighbourhood playground. Sure, he looked a bit too old to be playing there—maybe around high school age—but Eita wasn’t about to judge someone for having fun. He did weirder things at that age, after all.

He does, however, have a mini heart attack when the kid turns and reveals himself to be the spitting image of his husband.

Eita rubs his eyes. He looks the kid up and down, taking in the sharp, dark hair that looked like it had never experienced a day without hair wax, as well as the beauty mark located below his left eye and he thinks—

What the ever-loving fuck.

Last time he checked, Tabito was still at home busy reorganizing their entire kitchen. Hell, the whole reason Eita was even outside in the first place was to give his husband the space he needed. There was no way he’d be out wandering the streets of Tokyo, much less while ten years younger.

And yet, Eita couldn’t shake off the feeling that the boy on the sidewalk was Tabito. He looked the same, his tracksuit sported the Bambi Osaka logo and worst of all, he looked terrified.

Wide blue eyes darted around in a desperate attempt to get a grasp of their surroundings, the white-knuckled grip around his backpack looking almost painful. The boy’s lower lip trembled with the weight of the tears he was trying to hold back, and though Eita may not know what Back-to-the-Future shit was happening right now, he knew enough that he couldn’t let Kid Tabito go through it alone.

As soon as the light turns green, he pulls up to park at the side of the road and rushes out the car.

“Hey, kid!” He calls out, speed-walking over to him. “Are you okay?”

The boy’s head snaps up, and at the sight of an unfamiliar adult his jaw tenses.

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.” Eita points out, slowing his pace to maintain a reasonable distance from him. The last thing he wanted was to scare the kid off.

“Yeah?” Kid Tabito scowls. “What do ya know?”

“I know more than you think, Karasu.” Eita replies evenly.

Karasu steps back in shock.

“How the hell do ya know my name?” He asks suspiciously, but the fear that flashes through his eyes is unmistakable.

(Call him crazy, but Eita didn’t think that telling a kid who was half his age, “Hey, I’m your future husband!” would go over very well.)

He takes a deep breath.

“Okay, this is going to sound crazy. But Karasu, we know each other. You just haven’t met me yet. In fact, teenage me is probably fucking around somewhere in Aichi right now. And I know this is a lot to take in, but—”

“What are ya even talking about? Yer not making any sense!” Karasu cuts in, visibly frustrated.

“Karasu.” Eita says firmly. “What year is it for you?”

That’s enough to give him pause. Karasu wasn’t stupid, even in his confusion he would’ve noticed the subtle differences in his surroundings.

“…2015.”

So he was fifteen. That left three more years before they would meet each other, a thought that made a knot tighten in Eita’s chest. He couldn’t imagine life without Tabito by his side now.

“Don’t freak out.” He says slowly, pulling out his phone to show him the date on his homescreen. “But it’s 2030 now. You’re in the future, Karasu.”

For an eerily long second, Karasu doesn’t say anything.

“I…” He swallows, voice barely above a whisper. “I overheard people talking about the Winter Olympics in France, even though it’s supposed ta be Russia’s turn now ta host.” He squeezes his eyes shut. “Shit.”

Eita’s heart broke a little at how helpless he sounded.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I promise I’ll do whatever I can to help get you back.” He says gently. “For now though, let’s get you to our—my place.”

Karasu nods numbly, but he stops short before joining him in the car.

“Wait.” He frowns. “How do I know yer really who ya say ya are?”

“Oh yeah, good call.” Eita makes an affirmative noise. “Stranger danger and all that.” He opens up his gallery, pointedly bypassing their wedding photos—He wasn’t sure if Karasu was out at this point yet, but he didn’t want to risk sending the kid into cardiac arrest—and landing on a picture taken during their days at Blue Lock.

In it, Eita has one arm slung around Tabito’s neck, the other raised in a peace sign as the other boy stared at the camera disapprovingly. Looking back now, it was hard to deny the sparks flying between them. Tabito’s cheeks were red enough to rival Chigiri’s hair, and Eita was doing a pathetic job at hiding his dopey smile. How they managed to dance around their feelings for so long really was a testament to teenage stupidity.

Karasu spends an awfully long time staring at the picture, the gears in his head no doubt turning as he processes the information.

“We’re…friends?” He asks, a hopeful undercurrent to his voice.

Eita covertly moves to block his ring from Karasu’s view.

“Even better.” He grins. “We’re best friends. Roommates, too.”

“Oh.” Karasu breathes out. “Does that mean I’ll get ta meet the older me?”

“Of course.”

“Okay.” Karasu says, and then again, with more conviction this time. “Okay. Let’s go.”

┊ⴵ┊

Before they leave, Eita makes a call. 

He tells Karasu to stay in the passenger seat as he steps outside, already dialling the number.

Tabito picks up almost immediately.

“Just in time. Hey asshole, ya know how many expired M&Ms ya have shoved to the back of the fridge? I told ya not ta buy so many—”

“Tabi, listen to me.” Eita butts in, keeping his voice hushed in case Karasu overheard. “I’m about to tell you something crazy, and you’re going to judge me like hell for it, but I swear on your mother’s ochazuke that I’m not losing my mind.”

“What? What’s wrong? Eita, are ya hurt—”

“I found you.” He blurts out. “Like, the teenage version of you on the streets. He’s somehow time-traveled here from 2015, and he’s lost and scared and I’m bringing him back home so we can figure this out together.”

Several beats of silence.

“Are ya high, Eita?”

He groans.

“I’m serious, Tabi.”

“No, ya just took a random kid off the streets. What were ya thinking?”

Clearly, this wasn’t working. Time for a change of plans.

“Remember at our wedding, how you vowed to always stand by me and love me through the good times and bad? How you said you’d kill yourself out of misery and never love again if I ever died before you?”

A choked noise rings out over the phone.

“I did not say that—”

“Tabito. I need you to trust me, please. We said we’ll always have each other’s backs, remember?” Eita pleads. “You know I’ve never doubted you, and I really need you to do the same for me now.”

There’s a deep breath that sounds more like a sigh than anything before Tabito speaks up again.

“Fine. Bring him home.”

┊ⴵ┊

Tabito is fully expecting the police to show up at his front door with kidnapping charges.

His husband was many things, impulsive being one of them. He would’ve been less surprised if Eita showed up at the door cradling a stray kitten and begging him to keep it, but a whole ass child? Tabito could only pray he’d get the kid back to school in time before suspicions were raised.

What he doesn’t expect though, is to lay eyes on the kid and know, instinctively, that it was him.

He freezes in place, and the kid does the same. Eita hangs about awkwardly in the doorframe before slipping past him to stand by his husband’s side.

“Tabi, meet mini-Tabito.” Eita says, gesturing to the boy. “He’s you, and you’re him, and I’m just gonna call him Karasu for the sake of everyone’s sanity.”

Tabito doesn’t acknowledge him straight away, gaze still glued to his younger self. It doesn’t escape him how Karasu mouths a quiet ‘Tabi?’ to himself, features scrunched in obvious confusion. 

…Ah. So Eita hadn’t told him about their relationship yet.

It was the right call, admittedly. After all, he had more things to worry about at that age than who his future partner was going to be.

“So, Karasu.” He starts, his own surname feeling foreign rolling off his tongue. “How old are ya right now?”

“Fifteen.” The boy answers, watching him intently like he’s trying to carve every detail of his adult face into his memory.

Fifteen, Tabito winces internally at his reply. He didn’t enjoy reminiscing about his childhood, and that extended to some of his teenage years too. Truth be told, it was hard to feel anything but resentment over a period of his life that was so full of transitions and uncertainty.

But then he turns and looks at his husband who, despite his carefree attitude and easygoing nature, has remained by his side for over a decade, anchoring him through life’s ups and downs.

Eita catches his eye and smiles.

Do what you have to do.

Tabito clears his throat.

“Why don’t we have a chat, kid?”

They move to the sofa and Eita slyly excuses himself to the kitchen, leaving the two of them alone for the first time.

Karasu sits, hands curled into fists on his lap as his eyes flit over their surroundings. He takes an especially sharp interest in the picture frames lining the walls, most of them showcasing the couple’s various achievements and holidays. There’s one of Tabito holding up a trophy with the rest of his team, grin threatening to split his face. And another one of Eita at the beach, posing playfully next to a heart drawn in the sand with the initials ‘T + E’ inside it.

But above all, those dark blue eyes linger on the one of Eita and Tabito walking down the aisle, twin smiles on their faces and matching bouquets in hand.

(At the very least, his younger self wasn’t an idiot. Tabito could take some solace in that.)

“I can tell what yer thinking.” He smirks. “Go ahead, ya can ask.”

“How long have ya—have we been…ya know?” Karasu trails off, mildly embarrassed.

Tabito hums, leaning back against the cushions.

“We’ve been together since we were eighteen and married for seven years, if that’s what yer asking.”

“That long?” Karasu whispers in awe. Tabito can’t say he blames him; Eita wasn’t exactly the poster child for commitment and yet here they were over a decade later.

“Hard ta imagine, isn’t it?”

Karasu nods slowly.

“I’ll be honest. I didn’t think he was our type.”

Tabito chortles. If he recalls correctly, he used to indulge in childish delusions where the love of his life would sweep him off his feet with their superior intellect and winning personality. Eita could not have been farther from those fantasies.

“Me neither, kid.” He pats his shoulder. “I know right now ya might not understand but trust me, you’ll know when ya meet him. Everything will fall into place.”

Karasu forcefully tears his gaze away from a photo of Eita looking radiant in his dressing room on their wedding day, the tips of his ears burning red.

“He is really beautiful.” He mumbles shyly.

Tabito has to fight back a smile.

For once, he was glad that Eita wasn’t with him. God only knows how inflated his ego would get if he saw how enamoured the kid was by him already.

(Not that he was any better. They were still the same person after all.)

“He’s gorgeous, isn’t he?” Tabito sighs wistfully. “I had ta pinch myself when I first saw him walk down the aisle. I’m telling ya, I’ll never forget that sight till the day I die. Sometimes I’ll wake up next ta him and wonder how on Earth I got so lucky.”

“How did we get so lucky then?” Karasu rushes to ask. “I mean,” He bites his lip, eyes downcast. “How did he fall fer someone like us?”

Tabito’s smile falters.

So this was it. He’d had a hunch that Karasu wasn’t here to just drop by, fifteen years into the future, to ask about his love life and be on his merry way. No, the issue went far deeper than that. It laid within years of name-calling and pushing around, within the kid who used to sit at the back of the class and pretend he wasn’t hurt by the lack of birthday party invitations. It laid within the confident facade he paraded around and parroted as his own—that, at the end of every day, would crack and reveal the helpless expression staring back at him in the mirror, desperately hoping for someone, anyone who would understand.

“Can I ask ya something first?” He asks gently. “How did ya end up here?”

Karasu ducks his head in shame.

“I was…on the swings.” He murmured.

The swings? Tabito arches a brow in question.

“I know, I know.” Karasu sighs, fists clenching and unclenching in his lap. “It’s lame and childish and I’m too old fer that kind of stuff.”

“I never said that.”

“I just needed ta clear my head, okay? Maybe I swung a little too hard, and then the next thing I know there’s a bright flash and I’m falling face-first into an entirely different world!” His shoulders slump. “Tomorrow…Tomorrow’s supposed ta be the day we submit our career forms and talk about which high school we wanna go ta.”

Understanding dawns on Tabito instantly.

“And yer worried that ya won’t fit in?” He asks, despite already knowing the answer.

“This is supposed ta be a fresh start. But I don’t know, I just can’t stop thinking about the worst case scenarios.” Karasu says miserably. “What if I can’t fool everyone? What if they recognise how mediocre I am? Is this going ta be another repeat of middle school? I—I don’t wanna go through that again.”

Tabito’s heart shatters.

“Kid, listen carefully because I’m gonna give ya some advice that I should’ve listened ta when I was younger.”

Karasu perks up at that, leaning forward with bated breath and every intention of hanging on to his every word—

—only to get rewarded with a harsh flick to his temple.

“Ouch!” He yelps, scrambling to cover his forehead.

Tabito snickers, because he never did outgrow that mean streak of his.

“Stop overthinkin’.”

“Hah?” Karasu splutters.

“‘Course, I’m not telling ya to abandon yer brain completely. Our mind is our greatest asset. Be smart about football and yer grades, but don’t get all in yer head over every little thing.” His gaze softens. “I know how hard it was when we were younger, and I know why ya feel the need to protect yerself, but things change. Yer gonna go on to meet new people, great people even. And those people don’t give a fuck about yer past. They’ll like ya for ya, and they’ll stand by yer side till the end of the line.”

When Tabito looks up, jade green eyes that remind him of home are already waiting for him.

“Especially the ones who matter.” He says thoughtfully.

Eita’s returning smile is near-blinding.

Karasu watches the entire exchange with rapt attention.                                            

“Things…” He hesitates, just for a second. But when he speaks again, it’s full of hope. “Things will get better?”

“The proof is sitting right in front of you.” Eita chimes in, finding his place next to his husband. He rests a loving hand against Tabito’s cheek, reveling in the small blush that spreads across his face. Even Karasu turns pink at the obvious display of affection.

“Tabito is one of the greatest midfielders Japan has produced in a long time.” He says, beaming with pride. “You should’ve seen the number of clubs fighting to sign him on. It was a bloodbath.”

“Yer exaggeratin’.”

Green eyes narrow, and suddenly that same hand that was tenderly cupping his cheek starts pinching it instead. “Are we or are we not teaching your younger self a lesson about believing in yourself and overcoming insecurities?”

That gets Tabito to shut up. Eita preens triumphantly. When they both turn their attention back to the boy, he’s instead staring resolutely at the floor.

“Midfielder?” He croaks.

“Oh shit.” Eita swears under his breath. Tabito sits up straighter, the gravity of the situation crashing down on him like a pile of bricks.

“I thought,” Karasu swallows, betrayal seeping through the cracks in his voice. “I thought we were gonna be a striker. That was our dream.”

“It was.” Tabito reassures him. He crouches down on the floor and rests his hands on the younger’s shoulders, forcing him to meet his gaze. “And it still can be. Karasu, this is the path I chose. It wasn’t easy and I worked like hell fer it, but I don’t regret it. And some day when the time comes, ya have to decide on that path by yerself.”

“And this is the correct decision?” Shimmering blue eyes search his in a desperate plea for answers. “The path that ya chose?”

Tabito gives his shoulder a comforting squeeze.

“There’s no right or wrong path.” He tells him truthfully. “This is yer life to live, kid. Do what feels right ta ya. And more importantly, do what makes ya happy. As long as yer happy, everything else will fall into place. I mean it.”

Karasu takes a minute to digest his words.

“Okay.” He says finally. And then again, with more finality despite the conflicting emotions swirling across his face, “Okay.”

“All good?”

Karasu nods. “I just have one last question.”

“Fire away.”

The boy looks at him expectantly. “How’s Hiori?”

“We see him every Thursday for dinner.” Eita replies. “If some of us can’t make it, we do it over video call instead.”

“And he’s doing okay?”  Karasu asks, trying not to look too eager. Because apparently, caring openly about your longest friend was the most embarrassing thing a teenager could do. If Yo was here, he’d have a hell of a field day with this.

“Better than ya could ever imagine.” Tabito grins. “He broke free from his shitty parents, for one.”

Karasu’s eyes go wide. “Seriously?”

“Yep. Cut them out of his life completely. Not a single yen from his paycheck goes to them.”

“That’s great.” Karasu breaks out into a genuine smile for the first time since he came here.

“Mhm.” Tabito hums. “He even has a fiancé now, can ya believe it?”

“No way.” The boy’s jaw drops. “Is it someone I know?”

“Not yet. But he’s a real piece of work, I tell ya.” Tabito huffs.

From beside him, Eita shrugs. “I like Rin.”

Tabito side-eyes him.

“Ya only like him because the two of ya like ta bully me together.”

Eita smirks, draping himself across his husband and tucking his chin into his neck. “That’s cause your reactions are great entertainment.” He teases. “So sue me.”

Tabito grumbles, but he leans into his touch nonetheless.

“Keep being a brat and I just might hit ya with a lawsuit.” He says with a flash of his crooked smile.

“Um. Are ya two gonna kiss?” Karasu shifts uncomfortably in his seat, looking every bit like an awkward kid who just walked in on his parents. “Because I can leave. Like, right now.”

Tabito snorts.

“Fat chance. Yer not leaving until we find a way ta get ya back home.” Blue eyes crinkle. “Luckily for ya though, I just might have an idea...”

┊ⴵ┊

Fifteen minutes later, they’re standing in the same playground Eita first saw Karasu pop out of hours earlier. 

“No better way ta get ya home than the way ya came, right?” Tabito announces with a self-satisfied air.

“It’s the best shot we’ve got.” Eita tilts his head at the teen. “So, you ready to go back, kid?”

Karasu looks at them. Really looks at them. At Eita, who he just met today but already feels like a piece of home. He briefly wonders about his own ninja counterpart, and the yearning that floods his chest almost instantly catches him off guard.

He then studies his older self, stronger and wiser beyond his wildest imaginations. The fine lines starting to settle into his face, the broad frame that betrays his years of hard work, the silver ring on his finger catching the sun’s rays—a life well-lived, fulfilled.

The kind of guy he’s always aspired to be.

Lastly, he turns his attention to the swingset a few feet away from him, and for the first time in his life no longer feels like he’s just barely keeping his head above water.

There’s a sunrise on the horizon, and Karasu can’t wait to reach the shore.

“I’m ready.” He answers firmly.

“Attaboy.” Tabito says, pulling him into a bone-crushing hug. Karasu returns it with full force.

“Listen,” The older man begins, words slightly muffled against the top of Karasu’s head. “I hated being fifteen too. Some days it’ll feel like the whole world is against ya, but always remember ta have yer own back. Got it?”

Karasu nods furiously against his chest, clinging to him even tighter.

“Alright, enough of that sappy shit.” Tabito ruffles his hair, chuckling when Karasu smacks his hand away and whines something about hair wax. “Get yer ass back home already. Ma’s probably waiting fer ya.”

“I’m going, I’m going.” Karasu sniffs, smoothing his hair back self-consciously before looking over at the other person who’d been left out of the conversation up until this point. 

“Bye for now.” Eita hums, bending down to press a gentle kiss against his forehead. Tabito nearly chokes on his own laughter when a high-pitched yelp tumbles out of the teen’s lips in surprise, but Karasu is too busy short-circuiting to really notice it.

Eita smiles fondly. “I can’t wait for us to meet.”

Flustered, Karasu averts his eyes and nods shyly. Deciding that his poor heart can no longer handle Eita’s soft smile and Tabito’s shit-eating grin, he turns on his heels and makes his way towards the swings.

He doesn’t get further than two steps in before Tabito is pulling him back by the sleeve.

“One last thing.” He says. “Three years from now, yer gonna get a real shady-looking letter from a place called Blue Lock. Accept it.”

“What’s tha—”

Tabito shakes his head. “Don’t question it. Trust me, kid. It’s going ta be the best decision of yer life.”

A little confused, he makes a mental note of the name anyway.

“Anything else?” Karasu asks.

“Yeah. On yer first day there, yer gonna run into this lanky-looking kid with an ugly green stripe in his hair and stupid sound effects in his vocabulary. Ya can’t miss him. He's a real weirdo.”

In the background, Eita makes an offended noise.

The corners of Tabito’s lips twitch upwards.

“Talk ta him.” He squeezes his shoulder. “Make the first move. Become his friend and I swear ta ya, you’ll feel happiness like ya never felt before.”

Karasu nods in understanding.

With one last pat on his back, Tabito leaves him to go stand by his husband’s side, their hands instinctively reaching for each other’s by some unsaid gravitational force.

Karasu’s own pulse thrums in his ears as he sits down.

He takes a deep breath and kicks his feet off the ground, and right as an overwhelmingly brightly light takes over his vision, he hears it:

“Chin up, kid. Ya got a bright future ahead of ya.”

Epilogue

Three months after his eighteenth birthday, Karasu receives a strange letter in the mail.

He signs the consent form without so much as batting an eye.

Before he knows it, both him and Hiori are on a bus being shipped off to the middle of nowhere. To the younger boy, it’s an escape from the oppressive nature of his household and a last-ditch effort to give up soccer. To Karasu, it’s a chance to see his friend flourish and finally come into his own as a big ‘fuck you’ to his parents, and maybe—just maybe, catch a glimpse of the elusive ‘Rin’ he’s been harbouring as a secret for the past three years.

He’s long since kept an eye out for any mentions of the name in newspapers and magazines, and his intuition proves correct when he finally spots him among the crowds. For a kid still so young, he emitted enough of an intimidating aura that other players were actively avoiding his gaze.

A real piece of work, indeed.

(Hiori asks him why he’s grinning all of a sudden.

Karasu tells him those video games must be rotting his eyesight.)

Though, he can’t help the small pang of disappointment when the one person he’s truly hoping to see is still nowhere to be found. Either he hadn't arrived yet, or he was really good at making himself unseen. Karasu could hardly believe someone with white-green hair could blend into the shadows so easily, but it’s not like his sharp eyes have ever failed him before.

In due time, chides a familiar voice from the back of his mind.

Right, he squares his shoulders and looks straight ahead. He was chosen here because of his skills, not to go wandering around searching for the supposed love of his life. Besides, there isn’t a lot of time for that anyway when the weirdest man he’s ever seen is walking onto stage and going off on a tangent about ‘diamonds in the rough’ and whatnot.

He’s still in the middle of processing this barrage of new information when the doors slide open and all at once, every player in the hall starts rushing in like a pack of single-minded buffoons.

Interestin’, he grins. He doesn’t have to think twice before his own feet are carrying him across the threshold. No point in turning back either when he trusts that Hiori will know what to do.

Once inside, his personal items are confiscated and he receives his bodysuit complete with a number that felt a little too low for his liking. While he wasn’t sure what dubious metric Ego used to rank him and the other 299 players, he decides to swallow his own bitterness first before jumping to any self-deprecating conclusions.

Progress, and all that.   

After finding his stratum and sparing a disinterested glance at his team of nobodies, he heads straight to the lockers and starts changing. He’s halfway through pulling the shirt over his head when he feels it—someone, a new presence, walking up to stand beside him.

It might’ve been any one of his teammates he’d seen earlier—he hadn’t heard anyone else walk into the room after all—but something within Karasu’s gut compels him to look up.

And when he does, he suddenly forgets how to breathe.

Standing before him, Otoya Eita looked as beautiful as the last time they met. Except he obviously wasn’t thirty this time, and his hands—long and delicate-looking as they were—were missing a ring. In an adorable twist of fate, he also appeared to be far shorter than he expected. Karasu is struck with the irrational urge to just pick him up and leave, but before he can say anything the other boy beats him to it.

“Dude.” Otoya voices out, jade green eyes piercing and suspicious. “Kinda creepy to stare, don’t you think?”

Karasu didn't know whether to laugh or burst into tears.

I found ya. He thinks, barely suppressing a smile. I finally found ya. Ya idiot, do ya even know how much I’ve missed ya?

The words from three years ago start echoing in his head, unprompted. 

“Make the first move.”

“Nice to meet ya.” He grins, holding out a hand. “I’m Karasu. I have a feeling we’ll get along great.”