Author's note: Somebody requested some White Knights loving and although it isn't a personal favorite when it comes to pairings, it's not something I actively dislike.
They had a history of making things awkward because they didn't know how to do things right. Sakuraba avoided Takami and Takami ignored how everyone else saw that something was wrong.
What's worse is that Takami knew that it was his fault but refused to admit it. He tried to convince himself it was because he was too proud to do it but he knew that was an outright lie.
"It's because you're tall." Takami had said in too blunt a manner a few days ago when Haruto asked him why he cared so much about him and his performance. Takami didn't think it was an inappropriate answer; It was a fact after all and that's what made them so good. Sakuraba was tall. Takami was also tall.
Those two things alone made them a team that no one else within the league could dare take on alone.
But that wasn't what Sakuraba wanted to hear, not by a long shot. He didn't ask it because it was a question of strategy or because he needed to know why he was a necessity for Oujou to succeed. It was a question of why, at the end of the day, it was all worth it. Was The Christmas bowl really worth quitting a successful career, losing his fans and all the adoration, beating himself up day in and day out trying to break himself to improve when it just seemed too fucking hard?
Takami just didn't know how to answer Sakuraba then. Wasn't what he said the truth? Wasn't that enough?
For 3 years, the only thing that Ichiro Takami's ever wanted to do was prove that even with all the cards stacked against him, it wasn't going to change the end result. He will bring the White Knights to the Christmas Bowl. He will take the trophy home to Oujou, proving that they were more than a second rate batch of players living under the shadow of previous legends.
And he will, without a shadow of a doubt, bring that infernal trophy back with the entire team knowing that they did it together, not riding on the back of an ace or any single man.
They were the Oujou White Knights and their glory was to shine for the kingdom and not for its king. No matter who he may be.
But now, he wasn't so sure. After all, how could he bring something home when the things that really mattered were leaving him like so many tears over failed dreams?
Now, all he wanted to do was bring Haruto Sakuraba back. Not because strategically, they wouldn't stand a chance against the others but because it would not be worth the pain and suffering if he brought the trophy home without the person who made him a better man. Takami realized that plays are to be left on the field and height has nothing to do with how he felt for the blonde receiver. Sakuraba brought out the best in him and he knew that he did the same.
Alone, Takami sighed as he leant against the lockers, wishing that it was easier to just admit he loved someone than it was to run beyond the limits of his destroyed leg.