InsaneJournal

Who: Setsuna Mudou and Tim Riggins
What:Football in the park
When: First week of August
Where: Random park
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete



The thing Tim hated about training was that it was mostly drills. Drills that he didn’t want to do. All Tim wanted to do was play football. There were times he wanted to just walk off the field. If he was back in high school he probably would have, hell he had done so a few times. But now he could get kicked off the team. And Tim wasn’t about to risk that.

However, after training he and some of his teammates would get together in a park near campus and play, just for the fun of it. Which was way more Tim’s style. They had been playing for almost an hour when one of the guys threw the ball a little too far.

Setsuna didn’t have much else to do with his life but apply for jobs and wait for answers, so instead of becoming nervously ill, he would walk around the parks, watch people, animals, and try to keep to himself.

He had never actually played football, but knew of it, enough to know the ball coming his way was a football. It was a thoughtless effort as he reached out and caught it before it hit him. Part of him insisted he should be annoyed, but really, he wasn’t. He just had to throw it back, not actually interact with anyone.

“Hey, this yours?” Setsuna asked as he raised the ball and nodded his head in the direction of a random guy playing.

Tim ran after the ball just in time to see some other guy catch it. Effortlessly at that. Of course it was something he saw all the time at practice. But it wasn’t exactly something he expected to come across with a random person in the park. “Yeah. Thanks,” Tim said raising his hands to catch the ball. He wanted to see if this guy could throw too.

Setsuna definitely had a slight build that was better suited to soccer, but being active as he was, he still had a compact strength to him. Easily, he threw the ball Tim’s way, not even understanding the arch he gave it set on a decent trajectory. It was different than throwing a basketball, that was for sure.

“No problem,” he said back. See? Easy. Throw the ball back, and walk away.

Tim caught the ball easily, impressed with how the guy threw it. He didn’t exactly look like the typical football player, but he clearly had some type of skill. And Tim could use a few more players. They definitely didn’t have enough for a full game but they had enough to run some plays. Still more would help out.

“You want to join?” Tim asked nodding back at the group he was playing with.

Instead of just saying no, Setsuna answered with, “I don’t really know how to play.” It was a big give away, even to him. He regretted it, and told himself he should have just said no. Why didn’t he?

He felt almost shy, which wasn’t like him, and he couldn’t deny there was a pull. The chance to play with other people?

The shock on Tim’s face was evident. He didn’t understand how people simply didn’t know football. It was such a huge part of life back in Texas. And while here people still seemed to care about it it wasn’t the same.

“No shit, really?” Tim questioned still in a bit of disbelief. “We can show you,” he added nodding back at the other guys.

“Yeah, really. It’s not all that!” Setsuna insisted, trying to sound more annoyed than he did. It just came out in a playful angry tone. He was almost aggravated with himself, but once Tim had the other guys involved, Setsuna forgot all about his crusade to push the world away and figured, what the Hell. It was just a game, right?

“You guys so good you can train someone like me?”

Tim would have taken his insult to football a lot more seriously if he had actually sounded serious. And if he hadn’t followed it up by asking a question about being trained. It may have been on the sarcastic side but Tim figured he wouldn’t have asked if he wasn’t interested.

“Yeah,” he replied with a shrug. “We play on a team so we could probably teach you.”

Tim was right, and Setsuna wouldn’t have minded trading snide comments, but he felt a little hopeful at being told he could be trained.

“Well, let’s give it a shot, then.” He almost wanted to make an arrogant remark, for fun, but kept it to himself and decided to just have fun. Probably not supposed to plan on fun like it could be forced, but that was working for Setsuna, at the moment.

“One thing, though,” Setsuna said with a realization; “Name’s help on teams. Setsuna Mudou. I go by Mudou. What’s yours?”

Tim was all about having fun, all the time. There wasn’t much he took seriously. Football included. Of course he wanted to win but for the most part Tim just enjoyed playing.

“Tim. You can call me Riggins.” He liked it when people went by their last names. Given Tim usually called everyone their last name anyway.

He led Mudou back over to the group. After announcing to the team he’d be joining they got back to playing.

Before Setsuna could reign in his damned emotions, his lips curled up, and he nearly beamed. This guy so easily went with the last name thing? Just like that? But he didn’t feel distant, either. It was, unexpectedly comforting.

“Got it, Riggins!” he said, almost good-naturedly for the first time in a while, eager to learn, and especially run.

The game went pretty well. Mudou caught on fast. Yeah maybe he wasn’t quite on the rest of the guys level, but he ran fast and was able to catch the ball. That was good enough for a game in the park.

When the game ended and the guys went their separate ways Tim jogged over to Setsuna. “You sure you never played before?”

“Yeah,” Setsuna said with a shrug, sweaty but grinning. The exertion felt fantastic, and working with a team had actually been more fun than he remembered. “I play basketball and soccer a lot. Well, it’s been a while. But I like running a lot.”

He didn’t mention all of the fights, which is where his impulsive eagerness came from. This seemed a far more productive outlet for those aggressions.

“There is a lot of running involved,” Tim commented. His favorite part was blocking, but he didn’t mind the running. As long as it was actually during a game. He wasn’t a fan of the running he had to do for training. “Football is better.” he added in reference to the other sports. Though it was actually good for getting out aggressions too. That’s how Tim got his out most days.

“Basketball is more fun!” Setsuna teased, not remotely serious. For a moment, he forgot he was supposed to be pushing the world away. “But I definitely like this. And would gladly join you again, if your group likes.”

That was also the most sincere offer he had made in a while. He could handle all the running!

Tim wasn’t sure how many games in the park they would be playing once training was over and actual practice started up, followed by the season. But there might still be a few who wanted to play for fun. Tim knew he sure as hell would.

“Yeah,” Tim said grabbing his phone and handing it over. “What’s your number? I’ll shoot you a text next time we are in the park.”

Setsuna gladly entered his number, and gave Tim a real smile.

“Feel free to. Any time. I should get going, but you have a good evening. And thank you!”