Major tags: Referential to year 2 training camp spoilers Additional tags: Trans female character, Nonbinary character Word count: 730
Koga practiced often and he practiced alone.
It was no gift to have to bear, but it gave him something in return, however underhanded others may have called him if he had spoken, if they had the slightest inkling to look at him and question anything he ever did. Though that was the problem. If he was important enough to acknowledge any longer, he wouldn't need such devious intent. Aoyagi did not understand, either side, but she did not burden him with criticism and doubt.
On the other hand, Teshima understood perfectly.
That alone was reason enough for them to be his singular target.
However, when he can see how Onoda looked up to their weakness - how Imaizumi desperately tried to measure up to the false standard of captaincy they have created - how Naruko secretly fumbled between specialties under their clumsy advice - it became more than just a personal reason he had to remove them. If he never acted this, the entire team would rot from the inside out, and the new generation would be left to suffer.
Not as he did, he decided long ago, no others younger would have to suffer, because the roots of mistakes and failure were left to his own generation to fix.
When their final year began, they came back to the club room, late, long after everyone else had left, long after anyone but him would have the need to be there. Teshima practiced as late as he did, but it was rare that they were foolish enough to cross the boundary wordlessly set between the two of them.
He wondered, for one regretful second, if Aoyagi had told them to confront him first. If she had sold them out, flashing through his mind in one more moment of betrayal, before he could banish the thought. Teshima stood in front of him, with their arms folded in a picture of Kinjou had mastered and what neither of them had yet to attain, entirely because it was what they had to do. He knew better. She never wanted this battle to happen, to either of them.
"Did you have a mechanical issue you couldn't take care of on your own?" Koga had long since mastered polite aggressiveness, but his former friend's creased brow made it difficult to avoid speaking his mind. They didn't have a clue, the breadth of what it would do to the team, to themself, if they went through with this.
"No." Teshima strolled into the club house as though they truly were just a visitor. "No, no. I just wanted to make sure of something." Their hand brushed along the wall, peering at it as someone unfamiliar with a room characterized by its loneliness and distance, rather than its team. They stopped at his bike, fingers not daring to fully cross the distance, just as he would have warned them if there was any more reason for the two of them to speak. "You've really fixed it up, since then."
"I am the best mechanic the club has to offer."
They laughed, far too friendly for his tone. "That and more, right, Koga?" Their head tilted up, never facing him when they spoke. "You'll always have that, at least."
It was nothing that anyone should have ever dared to be jealous over. "And you'll go on as you have, with no victories?" He was cordial, his only regret. There was so much more he could say to them, that they both knew he deserved.
They hummed a response, alongside a chuckle, alongside a whisper, "Right? What a joke of a captain ..."
He dropped a wrench in more of a clatter than he wanted, pressing his hands to his knees, in some attempt at a calmer image. "If you came here for more reason to pity yourself, then I recommend you leave. There's no room in my team," and Koga paused, his smile all the more bitter, for his team of one, "For someone like that."
They turned back to leave, never once looking to him, until they paused at the door. "There are four members guaranteed, this year." He saw the way their knuckles paled, as they clutched the door. "I wanted to make sure you knew."
FILL: TEAM AOYAGI HAJIME/IZUMIDA TOUICHIROU, G
Additional tags: Trans female character, Nonbinary character
Word count: 730
Koga practiced often and he practiced alone.
It was no gift to have to bear, but it gave him something in return, however underhanded others may have called him if he had spoken, if they had the slightest inkling to look at him and question anything he ever did. Though that was the problem. If he was important enough to acknowledge any longer, he wouldn't need such devious intent. Aoyagi did not understand, either side, but she did not burden him with criticism and doubt.
On the other hand, Teshima understood perfectly.
That alone was reason enough for them to be his singular target.
However, when he can see how Onoda looked up to their weakness - how Imaizumi desperately tried to measure up to the false standard of captaincy they have created - how Naruko secretly fumbled between specialties under their clumsy advice - it became more than just a personal reason he had to remove them. If he never acted this, the entire team would rot from the inside out, and the new generation would be left to suffer.
Not as he did, he decided long ago, no others younger would have to suffer, because the roots of mistakes and failure were left to his own generation to fix.
When their final year began, they came back to the club room, late, long after everyone else had left, long after anyone but him would have the need to be there. Teshima practiced as late as he did, but it was rare that they were foolish enough to cross the boundary wordlessly set between the two of them.
He wondered, for one regretful second, if Aoyagi had told them to confront him first. If she had sold them out, flashing through his mind in one more moment of betrayal, before he could banish the thought. Teshima stood in front of him, with their arms folded in a picture of Kinjou had mastered and what neither of them had yet to attain, entirely because it was what they had to do. He knew better. She never wanted this battle to happen, to either of them.
"Did you have a mechanical issue you couldn't take care of on your own?" Koga had long since mastered polite aggressiveness, but his former friend's creased brow made it difficult to avoid speaking his mind. They didn't have a clue, the breadth of what it would do to the team, to themself, if they went through with this.
"No." Teshima strolled into the club house as though they truly were just a visitor. "No, no. I just wanted to make sure of something." Their hand brushed along the wall, peering at it as someone unfamiliar with a room characterized by its loneliness and distance, rather than its team. They stopped at his bike, fingers not daring to fully cross the distance, just as he would have warned them if there was any more reason for the two of them to speak. "You've really fixed it up, since then."
"I am the best mechanic the club has to offer."
They laughed, far too friendly for his tone. "That and more, right, Koga?" Their head tilted up, never facing him when they spoke. "You'll always have that, at least."
It was nothing that anyone should have ever dared to be jealous over. "And you'll go on as you have, with no victories?" He was cordial, his only regret. There was so much more he could say to them, that they both knew he deserved.
They hummed a response, alongside a chuckle, alongside a whisper, "Right? What a joke of a captain ..."
He dropped a wrench in more of a clatter than he wanted, pressing his hands to his knees, in some attempt at a calmer image. "If you came here for more reason to pity yourself, then I recommend you leave. There's no room in my team," and Koga paused, his smile all the more bitter, for his team of one, "For someone like that."
They turned back to leave, never once looking to him, until they paused at the door. "There are four members guaranteed, this year." He saw the way their knuckles paled, as they clutched the door. "I wanted to make sure you knew."
But if all went as planned -
"I'm aware."
He would have a true team of his own, soon.