The Sexual Habits(or Lack Thereof) of Teenage Boys

While it was common knowledge that Takami Ichiro's first love was American Football, it was also common knowledge that the sports obsessions of teenage boys were not usually the best things to build your life around. So while Takami devoted as much of himself to football as he could, he also set aside some small part of his mind to something else… something more substantial, something he could see himself having a future in. Something like psychology. And, yes, he knew he was young, and his life plans might change in the course of graduating and going to college, but the field truly held immense fascination for him.

So Takami considered himself very fortunate indeed that his football team was rife with intriguing case studies. Ootawara, for instance, was a fabulous example of nature versus nurture. Was he that stupid because he was born that way, or was he stupid because he had never had to be anything else? Sometimes Ootawara would say something that, while outwardly simplistic, would make Takami pause after half a second because underneath the idiocy there was something that might actually be called profound. And Ikari… whenever practices turned to the more tedious sorts of exercises, Takami always had a lot of fun diagnosing what disorders Ikari may or may not have. And then there were Sakuraba and Shin. Shin and Sakuraba. For as long as any one on the team had known them they had been together, and exempt from the times when Sakuraba was modeling/ slacking off/ etc and Shin was training/ training some more/ developing new training routines, they were never very far from one another.

"Hm? Me and Shin?" Sakuraba blinked at the question, when Takami asked him about it one day over cafeteria lunches. "I guess it's just because we've known each other for so long."

"Shin and I," Shin corrected from his usual seat beside Sakuraba, and even though Takami knew that Shin was smart, it nonetheless always surprised him whenever Shin made an intelligent comment that didn't have to do with football.

"Not much longer then I've known you both. Since middle school started, right?"

"Yeah." Sakuraba's face screwed up in concentration, just a little bit, as he tried to remember the event. "Shin was assigned the seat next to me, and we just… hit it off, I guess."

"Sakuraba was taller than any one else," Shin added, "so it was easier for me to tell him apart from the others."

"Of course," Takami responded, because Shin would use something like body mass to choose his friends.

Well, Shin was an interesting study in human behavior just by himself, but Shin and Sakuraba together was more than doubly so. They had always struck Takami as such opposites. Shin was as anti-social and awkward as Sakuraba was easy to talk to. Shin was as dedicated and hardworking as Sakuraba was likely to skip practice under false pretense, much to Takami's chagrin. But then, that was just at first glance. Years of observation had led Takami to believe that, in Sakuraba's own theoretical sort of way, Sakuraba was just as dedicated to the sport as Shin was. They were similar in that neither of them really gave much thought to anything outside the realm of American football. And that fact led to That Other Thing that they both had in common. While at an age when most boys were preoccupied with girls, Takami had never seen either Sakuraba or Shin even glance at a member of the opposite sex. It was downright… suspicious.

Shin he could understand somewhat. Shin was oblivious to the world as people knew it, and would probably be as good with girls as he was with technology. Sakuraba, though, seemed like your normal run of the mill adolescent. But maybe he was scarred from all those girls who were constantly chasing after him. Or maybe he was just as oblivious as Shin. Or maybe, with those two, it was something else entirely… at any rate, Takami had only once seen anything that even resembled a hint of any kind of sexuality from either one of them, and that had started, oddly enough, with a conversation about Eyeshield 21.

"Who knew that Eyeshield 21 was such a cute little boy," Takami had said, saying 'cute' with the same inflection one might use when describing a friend's puppy.

"Is he?" Shin had countered. "I suppose because his body is so tiny and delicate."

"… That's not exactly it, Shin…"

"I guess he's pretty cute," Sakuraba had added, "but nowhere near as cute as Shin used to be."

"Shin used to be the cutest little shota," Sakuraba continued, with a semi-nostalgic, mostly affectionate, slightly lecherous gleam in his eyes that made Takami think that he was, in fact, a bit of a pervert. Sakuraba's possible shota-con tendencies aside, though, the boy didn't really seem interested in all things romantic or sexual.

Shin and Sakuraba were, Takami deduced, simply asexual.

But then, yesterday, Takami lost his temper (and how he regretted it) and Sakuraba disappeared from practice, only to come to school that very next morning with Shin, in Shin's clothes, which were immediately distinguishable because, for one, they were too short to fit on Sakuraba correctly… that and Shin didn't exactly have the most versatile wardrobe. Which led Takami to think… maybe one of his initial theories were correct… maybe Shin and Sakuraba weren't so much asexual as they were mutually involved.

He could hear bells now, coming from the vicinity of the school's steeple and alerting every one to the fact that it was eight o'clock. It was the second to last time the bells would ring today; time to leave the school premises, they said, go home. Most of his teammates had already left, and he was checking to make sure all his things were in his duffel bag when he heard a sound from behind him, nylon moving against nylon. He turned and Sakuraba smiled at him, in the process of packing up his own bag. Much to Takami's comfort, he had long since changed out of Shin's clothes and into his own gym clothes.

"I didn't know you were still here," Takami said.

"Yeah. I wanted to get in a few more reps before going home."

Silence, comfortable and familiar, and then Sakuraba's voice breaking it.

"Sorry, you know, about yesterday."

"Shouldn't I be the one apologizing to you?" Takami asked. "I shouldn't have hit you."

"It didn't really hurt. I know how much you've worked over the years, how important it is to you to have a receiver who can compliment your height."

Oh. So Sakuraba had overhead Takami talking with Shougun.

"It's not just about the height," Takami started, but then the bells were ringing again, five past the hour, a last reminder.

"I guess we should get out of here."

So they packed up, headed out, in companionable stride beside one another. And then, because he couldn't resist…

"What happened to you yesterday? You just disappeared from practice."

Sakuraba laughed a little bit, though there was no humor in it. "Miracle Itou tried to abduct me."

"I see," Takami replied, pushing up his glasses as he hid a small chuckle. "I take it his plan didn't work."

"Nah."

But that didn't really explain what Takami wanted it to explain, and, more than a few steps later, he still wanted to know. "Did you… meet up with Shin afterwards?"

"Hmm?" Sakuraba blinked, possibly confused, before realizing that most people had already surmised that he had spent the night at Shin's place. "Oh, yeah. I ran into him when I was coming back, and… well… I guess you could say that I had a bit of a nervous breakdown. So he ended up taking me home, and I had dinner with his family and slept over at his place."

"Was he any help?"

"Help?"

"With your episode."

"Oh…" and here Sakuraba appeared, at least a little bit, sheepish. "You know Shin. He's not very empathetic, just sort of matter of fact about things… but, yeah, actually, he did help a little bit. He pretty much told me to stop being a crybaby and keep training."

"In different words, of course."

"Of course."

Takami was about to say something else, but then he saw Sakuraba's eyes catch on something around the corner, and an expression of surprise settle onto his features.

"Oh, man," he grabbed Takami's arm, pulling him quickly towards the hedges in front of a small fast food restaurant near the school. "It's Shin!"

Takami was about to ask why seeing Shin was such a surprising occurrence when he happened to look up, into the small outdoor seating area in front of the restaurant. There Shin sat, at a small table for two, sipping on a glass of water as Wakana chatted animatedly in front of him, her fries untouched on the table.

"Oh, man, when Shin told that reporter his ideal girl was 'some one who can take pride in being a part of the team', I thought he was just being clueless and reciting the qualifications for being team manager, but that really is what he goes for!" Sakuraba was practically suffocating trying not to laugh.

"You mean…" and Takami's jaw almost dropped with the realization… "Shin's on a date?"

He looked again. Wakana had a big smile on her face, and she was leaning towards Shin just the tiniest bit as she babbled on about whatever it was she was talking about. Shin, for his part, seemed to be responding with nods and occasional 'yes's. He looked… not unhappy. Which was, for Shin, probably the closest expression to 'content' as he could get.

"I can't believe it…"

"Come on." Sakuraba muffled another laugh before pulling Takami away. "Let's leave them alone. You know, I thought he might be interested when he told me that he thought she had a nicely athletic build and an impressive knowledge of football. I just never thought he'd actually do anything in his free time besides train, let alone date girls."

Takami let Sakuraba pull him along, the blond boy stopping every now and then to let out another chuckle. Takami had to admit, the thought of Shin on a date was just a little bit funny, if not utterly unbelievable. They were about a block away from the restaurant when Sakuraba let go of his arm, and Takami wondered why he had only noticed the warmth of the other boy's fingers as they were leaving. He looked over at Sakuraba, and a smile was still on the other boy's face, probably from the novelty of seeing Shin Seijuro do something not sports-related.

Takami was struck, for the umpteenth time, by Sakuraba's height… there wasn't much of a difference between them, and looking at Sakuraba was one of those rare occasions when he didn't have to look down to see some one. This was the other reason he liked Sakuraba's height, the reason outside of football. The fact that Sakuraba's eyes were on level with his eyes, that Sakuraba's hands were on level with his hands. When he turned, Sakuraba was just… there.

"Do I have something stuck on my face?"

"Huh?" Takami, struck out of his reverie, blinked at Sakuraba's slightly confused expression.

"It's just that you were staring at me."

"Oh, no, I was just thinking."

"About what?"

Well, if he was ever going to resolve the issue of Shin and Sakuraba, he might as well just ask. "It's just that you and Shin never seemed interested in girls… I've never seen you so much as glance at one. So I thought, maybe, you two might be dating each other."

"What? But we're both boys," Sakuraba replied, and his expression was almost too scandalized.

Quickly, "I don't have a problem with that."

"Oh." Sakaraba all of a sudden relaxed, even if it was a minute difference, the scandalized look from before gone. His eyes, when they looked at Takami, were now searching, and when he said more his voice was still a little bit unsure. "I don't either."

"So there's nothing going on with you two."

"No." Sakuraba smiled then, completely back to normal. "You know, you don't look at girls either."

The comment made Takami stop in his tracks, and Sakuraba took a few steps forward before realizing and turning back to look at him.

"I do look at girls."

"Only in that way you look at everyone, when you're psycho-analyzing them. So, what is it, do you have a girlfriend that the team doesn't know about?"

"No…"

"Then what?"

Takami opened his mouth, closed it, then started walking again. "Maybe I'll tell you one day."

"You should just tell me now."

Takami thought about it, smiled a little. "I'll tell you… when you officially resign from your modeling job."

Sakuraba laughed a little at that. "You know, that might be sooner then you think. Oh, hey, this is where I go."

Sakuraba pointed down the branch street that Takami knew led to his neighborhood, and they exchanged good byes before Sakuraba turned and walked away. Takami watched him, for a little bit, before starting on the rest of his path home, a smile still on his lips.

Maybe, if he was more honest with himself, Takami would admit that love of psychology wasn't the only reason he was so intrigued by Sakuraba Haruto.

.end.