A/N: Let it be known that Shin is a teddy bear and I love him. He's the cutest technophobe and I feel really bad for him in all honesty.
Shin Seijurou x Kobayakawa Sena
#21 - #40
21. Never Again
Sena nearly died of mortification when he saw what Shin had taken out of the boxes, in full view of both his mother and father.
"Shin-kun, you're not supposed to take those photos out—ever!"
22. Online
"When's the last time you've been on the internet?" Sena laughed, not being serious at all. "You're totally behind the times."
Shin frowned. "… I've never used the internet at all."
He paused.
"My parents have never let me touch a computer in the first place."
23. Failure
Sena's views on success were much different to Shin's views.
For example, Sena felt accomplished being able to bench-press 50 kilograms after two years of long and hard practice.
Shin, however, found that he felt rewarded when Sena finally trusted him change the channels of the television without supervision.
24. Rebirth
"Sena, if it were possible, I'd rather have been born differently."
"… Why's that?"
"Because I'd be able to call you, with my own phone, without any worries of breaking it."
25. Breaking Away
Sena, it appeared, was cut from a different cloth to most of the American football players that he knew. He'd broke away from the mould and showed people that you didn't have to be a certain way to be a good player.
26. Forever and a day
"S-Shin-kun… it's scary when you try to be romantic. Please stop it… i-if you don't mind."
27. Lost and Found
"Kobayakawa-kun, please remember to visit the nurse's office before you leave. He also asked me to remind you to label your property and collect it from the lost and found," the principal of Deimon had said.
That afternoon after practice was over, Sena blinked at the sight of Shin sitting in a box right outside of the nurse's office, and he wondered what in the name of Heaven was going on.
28. Light
Being put under the spotlight as the boy who'd dethroned the original Eyeshield 21, Sena found that he didn't mind the attention so much as long as he had Shin by his side.
Or rather, as long as he had Shin to hide behind.
29. Dark
Mihae would describe Shin as the dark and handsome sort, but Shuuma disagreed. He described Shin as the strange but good man sort. Sena would shrug and just say that Shin was Shin, and that was that.
30. Faith
Sena had wondered whether or not self-belief ever had a part in his growth as Eyeshield 21. After all, he had started off having been conscripted into the team thanks to Hiruma, and had stayed initially because of this niggling sense that he needed to belong to the team.
Never had he allowed himself to believe in his own strength—not until Shin had reminded him of the change that had taken place inside of him, and reminded him that it had been Sena who had become his true rival, his only rival. Shin had never considered anyone else, not even Yamato or Agon or even Panther.
It was then, and only then, that Sena realised that it wasn't his own self-believe that had helped him grow. It was the faith others had in him, the faith that Shin had within him.
31. Colors
Sena spluttered as a bouquet of colourful flowers was shoved at him, eyes wide as he stared at Shin.
"Sakuraba said that flowers are good for helping people heal faster after an injury. Heal faster, so that we may play together again." Shin stated, waiting patiently for Sena to take hold of the bouquet. It was only when bandaged hands had a secure grip on it that Shin gave him a curt nod, turning around to leave the hospital room… leaving behind him a blushing but confused Sena.
32. Exploration
"I wasn't expecting this when you invited me out to spend time together." Shin said with a confused look on his face. "Why are we here?"
"To explore your softer side!" Sena said in response, grinning as he pulled Shin out of the building and onto the field where seven energetic puppies awaited them. "Besides, I know how much you love dogs."
33. Seeing Red
Whenever Shin leaned in to kiss him, he couldn't help but note the charming flush of pink that would grace Sena's cheeks. It wasn't a red sort of pink, but it was more of a… pink sort. But Shin wouldn't really know much about colours: he wasn't an artist after all.
He just found it strangely… adorable.
34. Shades of Grey
Sena smiled up at Shin, reaching up to swipe his thumb across his cheekbone where a bead of sweat made its trembling way down his features. Shin's eyes – strangely silver in the morning light, when most of the time it would be a dark grey – were watching him carefully, considering his every action.
"It's time to head home now, Shin-kun."
35. Forgotten
Sometimes, Shin found it strange that people would pass over Sena to fawn over Shin's ability on the field, when it was obvious that Sena was the one to be admired and feared.
36. Dreamer
Sena finds it all too easy to remember how, just a year ago, he'd been a boy without any dreams or hopes for the future. He still can't believe that now, he's got more than enough dreams, more than enough hope to meet any challenge head on, with a smile and Shin by his side.
37. Mist
Misty-eyed, Mamori found herself laughing wetly as she watched Sena leave her side to run towards Shin, flinging wiry arms around the much bigger man and pulling him into a tight embrace.
Shin's arms soon wrapped around Sena, but they let go of each other soon enough to stare at each other for a long moment, mutually basking in their reunion.
Smiling through her joyful tears, Mamori turned her back on the emotional scene, walking away from the two. It was time that Mamori finally, truly, let go of her little brother and let him grow out of the image she'd made of him years ago. She knew that Shin wouldn't let her down and get Sena hurt.
38. Burning
They got on like a house on fire—though Sena personally thought that the idiom was rather misleading. They got on more so in a symbiotic manner: without the other, they wouldn't be able to… exist.
"Isn't that a bit drastic, Eyeshield?"
39. Out of Time
Shin was a man who didn't belong. He was too… well, Sena shouldn't say this considering how biased he was, but he was too perfect to belong to anything. He was exempt from everything around him, and stood as a solitude figure, displaced from society and time. But somehow, he'd looked at Sena and chose him out of everyone else, and Sena was all too thankful for that.
40. Knowing How
It wasn't as if either of them knew how relationships worked: Sena was too shy and too awkward to learn of these things, and Shin had never been able to empathise fully with anyone to the same extent as he had with Sena.
But it worked, anyhow.
Even if sometimes, Sena wanted to rip his hair out in frustration, and Shin was left speechless in confusion.
A/N: You can tell by just how much text I put here that ShinSena is one of my biases.