Title: Novellus
Disclaimer: I do not own the series or characters involved in this story.
Warnings: AU, non-canon genders, gender-sliding, romance
Relationship: Hiruma/Sena
Summary: "I just want to play football." But when you're not the typical sort of football player – small, frail, and not-all-that male – things can be tough. Sena just might end up being the biggest football sensation, or the next failed celebrity.
Notes: Important - this is the updated 'Novellus', which is a completely different story than the original one posted. In this one, we have idol!Sena. This fic takes a lot of notes from other 'childhood' fics in which Sena has a completely different childhood and, as such, a different outlook on life. There will be minor OCs, in the form of the adults at Sena's company. The story takes place in Japan.
Sena's company, "Momo Productions", was given that name not after the OC from the first 'Novellus' but borrowed from Momo Kisaragi from Kagepro.
While this story will use she/her/hers pronouns for some of the story when referring to Sena, Sena is not a girl in this fic. Rather than going the route of the usual fem!Sena fics, Sena is outside the gender binary, choosing to be called 'daughter' and 'her' mostly for aesthetic purposes. You're going to see a lot of 'gender play' in this story, including dressing outside of the norm, refusal to conform with gender norms, etc. If you can't stand that, this isn't the fic for you. If you want a character that is either a boy or a girl, this isn't the fic for you.
Please read and review.
Chapter One
Sena Kobayakawa met the quarterback of Deimon High's football team when she was fourteen. Not properly, not face to face or hand to hand, but she had peered down from the stands, a hat obscuring her face from any unsuspecting fans, and watched with held breath as the Devil Bats took the field.
Her eyes had fallen to the tall quarterback immediately, his shockingly blond hair and pierced ears calling attention to him. He was cackling at one of his teammates and smacking the larger boy on the back, and his smile made him seem infinitely pleased to be on the field.
The Devil Bats were playing Ojo, however, so Sena wasn't quite sure why the team was in such a good mood. It was almost guaranteed they would be crushed until the Knight's steel boots.
"Ah, there he is," Mamori had commented under her breath. Sena looked at her older friend. Mamori's arms were crossed firmly across her chest at she stared at the blond man. "That's Yoichi Hiruma," she told Sena once she caught her curious look.
"He's the one that causes all the trouble?" Sena had asked, chancing another look at the devilish boy.
"You have no idea," Mamori sighed. She extended an arm and pushed Sena's hat down farther. "Keep that on tight. We don't want an incident."
Sena had held onto her hat and watched the Devil Bats get absolutely destroyed.
But she'd seen something that day that had made the low burn in her gut turn into a flickering fire.
There was no time to say anything to the Devil Bats as she raced down the field, steps ahead of Mamori. Ichiro and Haruto were waiting for her. But she made sure to get one last look at the team before they went home.
"Absolutely not!" her agent had exclaimed.
Sena sighed and slumped in her chair. One year of being Momo Production's biggest idol and model, and yet she was still getting bossed around. Two years of being Momo Production's only non-binary model, and yet they were still demanding she keep some appearance of femininity.
"Tanaka-san," she said, pushing off the chair and standing in front of her agent. He ran a hand through his short black hair and glared at her, which Sena thought was unfair. She wasn't being unreasonable. She was the most reasonable idol she knew. "Getting into sports would help with my image. Haruto - I mean, Sakuraba-kun plays!"
Tanaka shook his head firmly and placed his hands on his desk. His dark eyes met Sena's own. "You are absolutely not playing American football." He leaned back and broke his stare. Sena's shoulders fell, the bracelets on her arms clinking softly. "Why not…soccer?" he offered.
Sena frowned. "No, I want to play American football. Why," she began to ask. Tanaka just held up a hand, shaking his head again.
"It's too dangerous. It's rough around the edges."
"I can be rough around the edges!" Sena exclaimed. "Won't that improve my image with some of the fans?"
Tanaka watched her sadly. "Your image with the fans is fine." He stood. "Now, go to practice. You have a long night ahead."
That was every night, but she knew better than to snip about that. She just turned on her heel and walked to where the car was waiting to take her to dance practice, smiling to the exclamations of "Sena-chan!" and "Kobayakawa-kun!" that greeted her.
It didn't matter what Tanaka-san said, she decided during practice as sweat ran down her neck and her coach shouted at her to get in step, Sena was the lead, didn't they realize, if they couldn't keep up he should give it to someone who could. She was still going to enter into Deimon, and she was going to get on that football team even if it killed her. Even if it killed her career.
Was what she told Agon the next day, at least. Her childhood friend had slammed his drink onto the table and loomed over her. The full force of his fury, and the subsequent fear that flooded Sena's body, made her shake uncontrollably.
"No way are you joining that trash team," he hissed. "If you wanna play so badly join Shinryuuji."
"Agon," she'd whined, no longer shaking at the mention of his school. They'd had this conversation before. "Shinryuuji is a boy's school."
Agon sat back in his seat, grabbing his drink with more force than necessary and chugging the entirety of the soda down. Sena sighed. "That doesn't matter. Cut your hair short and start being a boy again."
"I'm not a boy," she said, her grip on her own drink tightening until her knuckles whitened. "You know that."
Agon looked at her from behind his sunglasses. "…I do," he eventually admitted. "But no way in hell are you joining Deimon's trash team."
"No way are you playing," Ichiro had said when she talked to him. "Football's too dangerous for someone like you."
"No way," Mamori had said. "Football isn't safe for you."
By the end of the week, her choreographer was seriously threatening to find a different idol to do the dance, all else be damned. Sena was crouched over, heaving breathes wracking her chest, sweat dropping in pools from her skin. Her hair was falling from her bun. She didn't even want to look up and see herself in the mirror.
"Kobayakawa-kun," her choreographer said, stepping in front of her. She dripped sweat onto his shoes. "We need to try this again."
She heaved another breath. "Kido-san," she said, shifting back into a seated position, "what do you think of…" She bit her lip. "Sports?"
Kido sniffed, tilting his head up in disgust. Sena felt her heart sink. "They're incredibly boring," he said. His bright eyes narrowed. "But if you like them…" he trailed off. He motioned for her to stand. "Dancing will help in whatever you decide to play."
Sena grinned and put all her effort in for the rest of the session.
It didn't matter that her friends disagreed. And her agent was all image, image, image! But she knelt in front of the shrine and lit incense and knew, beyond all of it, that she would get on that field someday.
