Headcanons: What's the relationship like? What are the dates like?

...

Four months in America had been some of the most exciting four months of his life. He hadn't wanted to leave, there was still another month of the semester left, but college in Japan started in the spring, unlike America where it started in the fall. At the same time, America was really confusing, and the students were loud, brash, and had so few inhibitions compared to most Japanese. (Though, not necessarily those of Sena's acquaintance…) He was eager to be home, to start college, to utilize the new skills that the four months playing with real American amefuto players taught him. Sena was excited to see his friends- Riku-kun, Monta-kun, Suzuna, Mamori-neechan, Kurita-san… even Hiruma-san… a little… sometimes. Not for very long.

But also, he couldn't help but be terrifyingly excited to talk to Shin-san again. Seijuuro.

His cheeks flushed even more than running usually caused and an extra burst of speed had him and his bag hurtling over a few crates sitting in front of a fruit stand. Enma's front gate loomed ahead and he let himself slow down at last. It took the work of a moment to find Kurita-san's large form and Riku-kun's bright ivory hair. Of course, they were on the amefuto field. He was so focused on them, he didn't even notice the crowds of people on the other side or take in just why they were wearing their uniforms.

"H-hey, guys. Sorry," he greeted, bent over at the knees and panting heavily. The eyeshield in his hand pressed sharply into his palm and fingers but he didn't regret the extra time it took to go back for it.

Until Kurita-san handed over his new uniform and told him they were having a game.

Why does this always happen to me? Sena mused, half-despairing, half-amused as he buckled on his helmet and let his eyes really look at the other team and the crowd slowly gathering on the bleachers. Mamori-neechan was waving happily from atop… what the hell was that?! And Hiruma-san was lounging back in the front seat of the truck, feet on the steering wheel, bubble blowing past his wicked and familiar smirk. He could see Musashi-san and all of the (somewhat dangerous-looking) Takekura team, the definitely spine-tingling fearsome Saikyoudai team, even Yuki-san and Takami-san of Shuuei Medical college. And of course, the large mass of silver and blue that made up the Ojou Silver Knights.

His heart beat faster, and maybe he ran faster, dodged quicker, tackled harder, knowing Shin was sitting among them. They decimated the Cupids or whatever the college team was named, an easy 110-0. Roars were louder than even the Cupids' wails, mostly because so much of the audience came just to see Enma play, despite being other schools. The first to coming running towards him, arms wide and grins wider, when the bows ended, were of course his team mates. He was laughing and blushing under their hugs and high-fives, and in Suzuna's case, a resounding kiss to the cheek that had him spluttering. Despite the almost something they'd had when he'd first met her, it had always been an almost that had ended a quick death when he realized his feelings for a certain Ojou Knight his second-year of high school. She was also dating Monta-kun of all people. So the kiss didn't mean anything other than Suzuna being Suzuna who loved making him blush and stutter like a first-year again.

Then, Mamori-neechan finally appeared, blue eyes glassy with happy, proud tears and an embrace that had the air squeezing out of him.

"You're finally back, Sena-kun! I've missed you so much. We have to meet up and talk about America and Notre Dame over cream puffs really soon!" she enthused, also kissing his cheek in welcome. He hugged her back just as fiercely even as he sweatdropped over the cream puffs offer.

"Yeah, of course. I missed you, too. I think the only reason I passed my entrance exams and my high school exams while in America was thanks to you and your emails and Skyping. You really saved me," Sena admitted with a laugh. She flapped her hand negligently.

"It was nothing. My pleasure," she answered in flawless English, eyes twinkling.

"N-Not n-nothing. M-my English until you so bad!" he stammered. She burst into giggles. Sena squawked in surprise as a foot kicked his butt squarely and knocked him into Kurita's large, cushion-y tummy.

"Your English still fucking stinks, fucking shrimp," Hiruma cackled. "It's great to have a real fucking challenge on the field again. All the halfway decent players are finally on the board again."

"Th-thanks?" Sena replied, twitchy and sweaty.

"Was that a slight against Ojou?" interrupted a deeper-than-remembered voice.

Unlike most of his friends who had sent him emails or Skyped him pretty regularly, the last four months had been almost completely Shin free. Sakuraba's emails had updates or small PS notes from Shin, but they weren't at the level of friendship that Skyping was really comfortable for them, and the emails had been few and far between as well. And Shin... Well, Shin still broke anything electronic he came in contact with, and apparently drove his professors mad with it.

That stern brown gaze met Sena's wide-eyed one and every knotted up, tense muscle in Sena's body relaxed seeing that look of approval resting in the softened curve of Shin's mouth.

"Did I stutter, fucking robot," Hiruma retorted dryly, gum bubble snapping. He rolled his eyes as Mamori turned on him to hiss admonishments.

Shin kept his gaze on the smaller, newly-arrived Enma student. "Welcome back, Sena."

Sena stood up straight, even as his knees quivered. "It's good to be back, S-S-Seijuuro," he managed to blurt.

Even Mamori turned to raise her eyebrows at Sena's dropping of the honorific and use of his first name. She wasn't even sure Shin's teammates called him by his given name. Sena, meanwhile, was currently finding it very hard to breathe. He had no idea what Shin was going to say. They'd made a pact that when Sena returned Shin would have a real answer for him. And as well as their private last meeting had gone (Sena blushed from head to foot thinking about it) there had been four months for Shin to change his mind, to decide eh, kissing was nice and all, but not with Sena.

Of course, the moment of insecurity passed too easily. The moment Sena had stuttered out the name, honorific missing, Shin's almost smile became a real one- tiny though it was- and his arms dropped from where they'd been crossed over his chest.

"You're still waiting?" Shin asked. The crowd around them frowned, though Suzuna was perked up, antenna twitching in their direction as her smile turned gleeful. Sena quaked at the attention.

"Y-Yeah, wh-whenever y-you're ready. Not that it has to b-be now!" Sena rushed to excuse, eyes darting around the group. Hiruma's fangy and devious smirk had Sena paling.

Shin never looked away from Sena's face, though. A broad hand fell on Sena's shoulder, bringing his attention darting back, as well as the blood rushing back to his head so fast he felt a little dizzy. "I like you, too. The same way." It was so simply said, with the meaning heavy between them.

There was a drop in noise around them, whether real or imaginary, but it was just the two of them in the world as Sena gaped up at Shin. Just like a shoujo manga, Sena thought dumbly as his slack-jawed expression became a grin.

Until he slapped so hard on the back, by about ten different hands, that he careened face first into Shin's chest. Both he and Shin grunted at the impact, but before Sena could really appreciate it- because he really did; Shin was a warm, solid wall of muscle that was really nice to be face-first in without a helmet on- he was yanked back. Suzuna had an arm wrapped around his throat, cutting off air, and both Monta and Riku were rubbing their knuckles into the top of his head painfully.

"Told you it'd be all right," Riku was laughing.

"Now you can stop sending me long emails about it, right?" Monta added. Sena sputtered indignantly.

"This is so cute! Wait till everyone finds out!" Suzuna cheered.

"I think everyone has," Musashi spoke up dryly from Mamori and Hiruma's side. Mamori laughed as Hiruma rolled his eyes. "Good game, Enma. You'll be seeing Takekura on the field in a couple weeks. Be ready for a better fight than today's."

"Right!" The Enma team chorused- Sena with a great deal of relief.

"I think it's time we all go out and celebrate! Both the amazing win and Sena's return. I hear there's an all you can eat at that meat place," Mamori suggested, hands clapping together. Even louder cheers met her words and finally the attention was totally off of Sena and Shin.

While most of the other players went back home, all of Enma and the original Deimon crew stayed gathered in a much bigger group of people than Sena would ever had imagined three years ago. Stuck in the middle, as one of the main attractions of the day, Sena got swept away too soon from Shin. He glanced back, anxious, only to smile in relief to see Shin walking along with the crowd, just a few feet behind. He was talking Musashi and Juumonji- well, as much talking as those three did.

Beside him, Mamori leaned down, her long hair brushing the side of his face. "It's all right. He'll be waiting for you, this time," she whispered with a wink at his blushing face.

Shin really did wait until the very end, just to walk Sena to his parents' home for his first night back in Japan.

Months later, Sena slumped into his dorm room. He was sharing with Riku-kun after a very intense online back-and-forth for months that was finally settled with a game of rock-paper-scissors between Monta and Riku. Monta managed to snag a room with Kurita, whose roommate had switched with the new year, barely squeaking out of sharing with Taki, who was sharing with Mizumachi instead. Sena would've been happy with either, but in moments like this, he was glad it was Riku. Solid, dependable, confident Riku. He never would've been able to have this upcoming conversation with Monta—at least not with the same kind of results.

"Riku-kun?" Sena started hesitantly. He was sweaty from his morning run, breath slightly labored, but desperate to get the words out before he lost courage. Riku looked up from his own morning routine that always ended in some jaw-dropping yoga. He hadn't realized how flexible Riku was until he walked in one some truly inconceivable poses held for an even more mind-boggling long time. Riku finished his count down and got to his feet with a simple stretch.

"What's up, little brother?"

"I'm not your brother," Sena replied on a sigh. "It's… have you ever dated?"

Riku blinked in surprise just before understanding dawned.

"This is about you and Shin, isn't it?" Riku stated simply. He pushed sweaty hair off his forehead and slumped into his desk chair. "Okay, shoot. What's the problem with robot-san?"

"He's not a robot," Sena sighed again. That nickname really needed to retire soon. "You didn't answer my question. I really wanted you to answer it."

"If I've dated?" Riku asked, eyebrows jumping high. "Once or twice, when girls asked and I didn't have a reason to say no. But never more than a more than a first date. Monta is actually dating Suzuna. He might be better-"

"No, I don't… I don't think so," Sena interrupted. "Whenever Monta messes up on a date, Suzuna usually finds a way to fix it. I've read her 100 or so emails of very detailed stories about their dates. Monta's a good boyfriend, but a terrible dater."

"I don't know how good I am. I've never gone on a second date with anyone."

"But the first dates, were they at least… bearable?" Sena winced as he said it.

A long silence followed.

"You're going to have to tell me what happened, Sena," Riku finally managed to choke out. Sena peeked up and saw how red-faced Riku had become, his mouth and whole body twitching.

"Go ahead and laugh," Sena sighed a third time in despair. Riku snorted and pressed his fist to his mouth.

"S-Sorry. It's just… the images. They're too funny. I'm sure it's not as bad as I'm thinking."

"We go out running together almost every morning, we go to each other's games and walk each other to the subway, one time… he held my hand. It was nice, but I thought, you know, we should do a real date. So I asked him to eat with me after an Ojou practice I went to a couple weekends ago," Sena explained wearily.

Riku nodded. "Yeah, right after our Zokugaku game, when we had the day off." Sena nodded despondently.

"We went to a cheap burger place. I ate them a lot in America, you know, and I kinda miss 'em, so I thought, why not? Everyone likes burgers, right?" Sena hung his head, shoulders slumping as Riku barely swallowed down another laugh.

"Everyone but Mr. Eats-Perfectly-Portioned-and-Balanced-Meals-At-Perfectly-Calculated-Times and probably hasn't had a WacDonald's meal since grade school," Riku concluded humorously.

"I figured, right after practice, at dinner time, it'd be fine. Surely he'd gone with his teammates before!" Sena all but wailed, burying his face in his hands.

"Wh-What happened?" Riku asked haltingly, concerned and trying so hard not to laugh.

"He stared at me the whole time." Riku snorted and looked away, fist to his mouth again. "He drank a water and just stared at me. I was so nervous, because I knew it was a date, but then I realized he didn't know, so I got all tongue-tied and nervous and I could barely even eat, so then he started talking about nutrition and eating habits and was I feeling sick because I didn't seem to have an appetite," Sena babbled on, eyes wide in remembered horror. "I ended up letting him buy me medicine and had to argue with him to stay at Ojou and get his own dinner instead of bringing me all the way back. He had to eat his dinner two hours later than scheduled because of me!"

Riku reached over to gingerly pat Sena's back. "I'm sure he didn't mind," he assured him, voice tight to hide the mirth building up in his throat.

"He didn't. But I was mortified!"

"You haven't tried to ask him out since, have you?" Riku realized, the hilarity finally dying down when he realized what Sena hadn't quite said yet. "It's been over a month."

"I know. Today, Seijuuro just outta nowhere says, 'it's been three months since you've been back' and just kept on jogging, as if he didn't just tell me he remembered our three-month anniversary and I didn't! I didn't even know he was keeping track!" Sena cried in dismay.

"I doubt Shin thinks of it as an anniversary? More like… just… a fact?" Riku tried to cajole with a sympathetic wince.

"You're probably right, but only because the only person worse at dating than me is Seijuuro. I have no idea what to do. Please, please, help me," Sena begged, actually tearfully.Riku's tan skin paled slightly.

"You want me to help you date Shin, Seijuuro?" Riku reiterated, nonplussed. Sena just stared at him, pleading and glassy-eyed. Riku caved within moments, sighing. "Fine. Well, obviously going out to eat is a no-go." Sena shook his head desperately. "A movie?"

Sena frowned thoughtfully. "I don't actually know if Seijuuro watches movies…"

"An arcade?"

This time, Sena barely managed to contain his laughter. "He breaks anything electronic he touches."

"Right." Riku rubbed his thumb to the side of his nose. "You could do the classic amusement park idea? You don't have to eat, or stay very long. Just spend an hour or two trying out rides?"

Sena blinked rapidly in surprise. "That might work."

"You're going to have to start out with this is a date, Seijuu-kun," Riku teased, voice going high and breathless and eyes wide and starry. Sena frowned as angrily as he could while blushing brightly.

"I do not call him Seijuu-kun!"

Riku burst into laughter, head tilted back and hands on his stomach. "Right, right. I gotta shower before class. You do, too. Text him and ask. I bet it'll be easier, and faster, than saying it to his face." He got up and grabbed his shower caddy, still laughing as he left. Sena watched him go, pouting in embarrassment, but knowing Riku was probably right on both the shower and the texting.

Well, calling. Since Shin didn't own his own phone. Still red-faced, he scrolled through his phone contacts to find the right number.

"Hey, this is Sakuraba! Sena-san, how are you doing?" the tall receiver greeted warmly and cheerfully.

"G-Good. Did Shin-san make it back yet?" Sena asked hesitantly. He flinched and fidgeted at Sakuraba's laugh.

"I thought you were calling him Seijuuro now? Yeah, he just got back, like, this second. I'll put it on speaker and leave the room.Don't you touch my phone, Shin!"

Sena groaned and slapped a palm to his face. There was a few moments of unintelligible sounds, probably Sakuraba setting the phone down and making Shin sit next to it before leaving the room. Finally, Shin cleared his throat.

"He just left. Did you forget to tell me something this morning?" Shin asked, confusion evident even with the muffled quality of his voice. He probably was sitting ramrod straight in a chair, staring intensely at the phone, without actually bending near it or raising his voice. Sena had in fact seen this very situation himself a week or two ago when his parents called while Sena was visiting his and Sakuraba's dorm.

"No, not really. But there's been something I've wanted to ask. For weeks actually," Sena confessed. He could feel the intensity increasing through the phone and grimaced.

"You can ask me anything, Sena. You should not be embarrassed with me."

Sena couldn't help but smile fondly, eyes on the wall where Riku and he had put up a corkboard covered in pictures and study schedules (that Riku had planned out meticulously). His toe scuffed the dingy tile of his floor before he took a deep breath.

"I know. I just… it's hard for me because… it's new for me, too. You and me, I mean."

"That we're dating."

"Yeah," he exhaled softly. "Only, I think we're kinda terrible at it."

"…"

"At dating. We don't really go on dates, Seijuuro," Sena clarified quickly.

"I thought that's what that burger dinner was."

Sena turned slightly blue as he side-eyed his phone. He knew it was a date the whole time?!

"Right, but that was only one time," Sena barely saved. "I was wondering… do you like amusement parks?"

"… I have no particular opinion, positive or negative, on amusement parks."

Sena almost felt like crying at how difficult this was. "Would you like to go to an amusement park with me?"

"I would like to go withyou. The location doesn't necessarily matter."

And then it got so easy again.

"Th-that's a really nice thing to say," Sena murmured.

"It's a fact. I will discuss this dating predicament with Sakuraba as well. He will be able to help me come up with other ideas for a later time." Sena laughed in relief, falling onto his bed and rubbing his hand through his hair.

"Yeah, I had to ask Riku-kun for help. I was worried I was messing everything up."

"… am I messing everything up?" Shin asked slowly and quietly on the other line. Sena's eyes widened in shock. It almost sounded like Shin was... unsure of himself.

"No! Of course not! I just overthink everything and make an idiot of myself, really. You're… you're a great boyfriend. I r-really… I r-really l-like you," he stammered, voice dropping as his eyes darted to the door.

"You're not an idiot, Sena. Perhaps you do tend to overthink yourself into a panic," Sena sweatdropped, "but you always manage to figure it out. You're better at… seeing that something is wrong and finding out how to fix it. You… you are better at these matters than I am. I never would have thought to change any aspect of our current relationship if you hadn't pointed out something was missing. Next time tell me so we can discuss it together."

His chest suddenly felt too tight and achy, and Sena pressed the heel of his palm to his painfully shuddering heart. "Okay. We'll meet up on Sunday? After our morning practices? I'll text Sakuraba the details later today."

"Should I get a phone?"

"… maybe a very cheap one."

Just barely, Sena could make out the low huffing sound of… a laugh?

"Our next date, you can show me how to use one."

Giddiness had Sena getting back to his feet to rock back and forth uselessly. He suddenly had the urge to start running again, an excess of restless energy surging through his legs.

"Yeah, sure. Maybe I'll find you one of those plastic ones they have for kids to practice with? N-Not that I th-think you're st-stupid or a little k-kid!"

That really was an almost-chuckle and Sena almost fell over again hearing it.

"It's a good idea. Phones are even more complicated these days. I can't see any buttons…"

Sena burst out laughing at that.

"You should get ready for class now, Sena. I have to, as well."

"Right, I still have to shower. Thank Sakuraba-san for me, will you?"

"I will. Sena… are you happy?"

The smile that spread over Sena's face was sure and fond. He wished he had waited to ask Shin in person, so he could touch Shin's hand, or maybe even kiss him. He still hadn't scrounged up the nerve to initiate a kiss himself. Not yet. But... "Yeah, I'm really happy," he said aloud.

Shin's soft, affirmative grunt signaled the end of their conversation. With a quick reminder not to touch Sakuraba's phone, Sena said good bye and ended the call. And like an idiot, he stood in the center of the room, body trembling with too much energy, phone pressed to his forehead. He'd lied just a little.

Because really, Sena wasn't just happy. He'd never been happier. He was a sappy mess.

Riku walked in, wearing a pair of boxers and flipflops while rubbing his mess of wet hair with his towel. He stared at Sena- who stared back with a deer-in-headlights expression on his face- and scoffed.

"Went well?"

"Maybe," Sena mumbled. He threw his phone to his bed, then grabbed his shower things and dashed out the door at the speed of light as Riku outright guffawed.

...

A/N: College BEGINS in April in Japan, like first semester of a year. And in the first installment of this series, I said he left just a couple days after Christmas. Which means, he should've been in America only 3 months? But let's say, cuz this is friggin Eyeshield 21 where very little is based in much fact (Hiruma's MULTITUDE of guns, anybody?) that Enma starts at the END of April instead of the beginning, so about exactly four months abroad. I had actually originally wanted him to leave right after summer vacation, but the manga said he was only in America for HALF of his third year, which in USA, the second semester starts after Christmas break. I shoulda stuck with him leaving in summer anyway. *le sigh* Anyway. I'm leaving this installment open ended for more chapters that answer these headcanons or others like it. Such as, the very next chapter which will deal with an amusement park date. (Stay tuned if you wanna see Shin EAT FOOD?!)