Author's Note: I caught sick over the weekend, and I still am as of this typing. Last night (or very early this morning, I guess), I was unable to sleep, and so I wrote down whatever ideas came to mind on my iPhone. The result: CRACKSHIP HELL. I hope you enjoy this, regardless or because of the ship in question.

Jean-Pierre is walking home from school when he decides to drop by the shopping area. It's a longer route than he usually took, but he's had his eyes on a new pair of shoes for so long, and he has some money saved up, so he might as well buy them now while they're available. Skipping along happily down the sidewalk, humming a silly and catchy tune he heard the other day, he enters and leaves the store, feeling on top of the world.

On the way home, however, something else catches his attention. A short, blue-haired boy, his one eye in a perpetual glare, stops to inspect his surroundings, then enters the dark alleyway across from where JP is standing. He can recognize that grumpy kid anywhere. "Kaiser?"

His curiosity takes over, leading him down the shady-looking alleyway, dominated by thugs, nerds, and other outcasts in society. Though this has not been his first time down this alley, it still sends chills down his spine, especially now that he's alone.

As he progresses, he can hear muffled thuds, followed by foreign swearing (or what he assumes is swearing, judging by the angry tone the voice takes on). Part of him is beginning to regret going down this path, but the part that recognized the boy coaxes him into moving forward. Soon enough, he finds him, surrounded by cardboard boxes.

"Dammit," the boy mutters as he kicks one of the boxes aside. "I'll never be any good at this rate!" JP warily approaches him, but is interrupted before he can utter a word. "Oh, it's you. Come to mock me yet again?"

"What? I never—"

"Forget it. Just leave. Go back to your little rabbit hole with your happy friends and family."

After processing his words, JP says, "No. I want to help."

"I don't need it."

"I don't care. I'm staying."

A long pause, then a sigh. "Alright. If you insist. Help me pick these up."

With their cooperation, the boxes are stacked in short time. The stack itself is taller than the two of them combined-not that either of them have much in the way of height, especially JP. When the other proceeds to pick it up and carry it back and forth, he finally realizes what he's up to. "Oh, you're training!"

"Ja, what else does it look like? You think I pick up heavy boxes for amusement?" As if on cue, a couple of them fall to the ground, causing him to utter some more swears under his breath.

"Oh, you did really good there! This exercise is not very easy at all, so that was an especially good effort."

"I could do better than that. Well, sometimes. That's been the best I could do since... well, forever." He sits on one of the boxes, which bends slightly under his weight.

"But you only just started. You can't give up!"

"Why shouldn't I? Sherwind, Victor, even you have Fighting Spirits. Everyone's always talking about how great you guys are, but what about the rest of us? At least Riccardo and Roma have reasons to be as strong as they are, unlike the rest of you newbies."

JP bites his lower lip. Kaiser certainly has a knack for not mincing words. "You know, for a while, I was right where you are now. Always wondering what's so great about me, how I could contribute to the team. Before I found out about my Spirit, I thought I was already at my peak, that there's nowhere else to go. But then Sam started training me to be a goalie, and... I just got lucky."

"Lucky rabbit indeed." Kaiser's expression has changed into a rare one: sadness. "Lady Luck's never been friendly with me. Maybe she's trying to tell me something, but I'm just too much of a Dumbkoff to notice."

Jean-Pierre is at a complete loss for words. Despite being teammates for so long, he never knew much about Kaiser off the pitch. Not his personal life, nothing. Yet here he is, spilling his innermost thoughts and feelings—which, judging by his discomfort, isn't something he does very often at all. Is there a side to him that perhaps he keeps even from his friends?

Before he notices what he's doing, he rushes over to embrace Kaiser, the two of them falling over to the ground in the process. "You're not an idiot. You're stubborn and rude and even cruel, but you're not stupid. So quit thinking you can't do better because I know you can! You don't need a Fighting Spirit to play football. When you have strength inside and out, that's all you really need."

Kaiser's lips open slightly as if to speak, but says nothing. Instead, he closes his eyes, and—in an odd moment of character—reciprocates. Not tightly, but just enough for JP to notice. The gentle tremor of his heartbeat puts him at ease, and part of him wishes it could last forever.

"Alright, that's enough of that," Kaiser says as he shoves JP aside and gets up. "I'd better get back to training. You should go home before it gets dark."

"But what about you?"

"I'll be fine. As a matter of fact, I'm feeling pretty lucky tonight." He smirks, though unlike usual, there appears to be a genuine kindness hiding behind it.

As the taller boy starts stacking the boxes, JP blurts out, "Hey, once you're done here, maybe you can come have dinner at my house. Maybe?"

He sets down the box, as an awkward silence begins to loom over. Then he turns around, a barely visible flush of pink on his cheeks. "Actually, let's head out right now. I haven't had lunch today."