Abe Takaya always considered himself to be a pretty smart person. He made decent grades in school and teachers found him to be very studious. When it came to baseball, Abe was a bit of a genius. Now he wasn't Tajima level genius (because seriously, the kid was great. Now if only he could learn not to blurt out everything he thinks, he'd be even better.), but when it came to understanding baseball statistics and reading batters while they were at bat, almost no one could top him.

But don't be fooled, Abe has many faults. His most prominent faults are his apathy and his anger issues. Now his apathetic attitude doesn't stem from him being a mean-spirited person (though some people might beg the differ), but he actually doesn't really understand the feelings of people outside of baseball. This in turn causes him to sometimes not understand his own feelings.

When it comes to his anger issues, though, that's a little more complicated to explain. Abe was normally a calm person who often had a face of indifference. It just that baseball or anything baseball-related brings the bad side of him out. Combined with his naturally loud voice, Abe can come off as a very intimidating person.

Now these problems really didn't concern Abe. He knew, like everyone else in the world, he had faults that were a part of who he was. Besides according to him, his faults weren't that bad (though he doesn't acknowledge that he has anger issues, no matter what his father says). So overall, Abe Takaya thought he was still a decently smart person.

But his perspective slowly changed as a result of meeting one person.

Mihashi Ren.

Abe's first impression of Mihashi was that he was a crybaby. A good pitcher with spectacular control, but a crybaby nonetheless. Seriously the kid cried about two or three times the first day the whole team met. And the kid even had the nerve to say he didn't believe that they could ever make it to the Koushien Tournament. But that was okay. After all, Mihashi was just a puppet for Abe to control. As long as Mihashi followed his signals, everything would be okay.

It took a few weeks for Abe to toss away that way of thinking. Sure Coach Momoe had called him out on his lack of understanding of what the role of the catcher was, but it took seeing Mihashi shivering in the fetal position after Hatake, Mihashi's former catcher, threaten the nervous boy. Abe finally realized that Mihashi wasn't stubborn; he just didn't have any confidence. So right then and there, Abe finally connected with Mihashi. He promised himself that he will do all he could to help Mihashi to be the awesome pitcher he knew Mihashi could be.

Little did Abe know how hard he had to work.

Because you see, Mihashi was a very sensitive person. And Abe is a not-so-sensitive person. One glare from Abe could easily bring the pitcher to hysterics. But it was just so hard not to make Mihashi scared. And Abe could do it even when he was trying to be nice.

"Mihashi, I heard you have a math test in a few days. Did you take clear notes?"

"Wait why do you look nervous? I'm not angry; I'm just concern so stop shivering already. Now I am kind of getting angry, so stop-wait, what? I'm not YELLING AT YOU!"

"Stop bullying Mihashi, Abe!"

"Shut up Tajima! No one ask your opinion. Besides I'm not bullying-STOP CRYING MIHASHI NOW YOU REALLY ARE PISSING ME OFF!"

It was instances like that that made people think that Abe had anger issues. Or had out for Mihashi, either or. But Abe actually had Mihashi's best interest at heart. He just had a weird(and angry) way of expressing it.

So when Abe started to have 'feelings' (you know those kind of feelings) for Mihashi, his way of expressing them was to be in total denial.

In retrospect you can't entirely blame Abe for not immediately noticing his own feelings. It kind of snuck up on him instead of it happening gradually.

It started after Nishiura lost to Bijou University in the Summer Tournament. Mihashi, Tajima, and Sakaeguchi had stopped by Abe's house to see how he was doing. After Sakaeguchi left early and Tajima went off with Abe's younger brother to practice a bat swing, Mihashi and Abe had a talk about their pitcher-catcher dynamic. They both realized that it was toxic for them to let Abe do all the work. They came to agreement that they work together as a true battery. The conversation finished off with Mihashi giving Abe a warm smile for the first time since they met.

It was right then and there when something resonated in Abe's heart. Something that made his stomach fluttery. And as far as Abe was concerned, it may or may not have been the food they all pigged out on later on.

Unfortunately for Abe, he couldn't blame food anymore for the feelings inside his stomach. It happened too many times without the present of food for him to put blame on. And it didn't help that as days went by the butterflies started whirling around faster. It couldn't be helped, after all Abe and Mihashi spent a lot time together during summer training camp. Cooking food for the rest of the team (thankfully they had Shinooka helping them or else Nishiura may had lost a few members.), having conversations without Abe yelling or Mihashi crying, and Abe feeling annoyed (jealous) every time Tajima and Mihashi paired up since he was still nursing his knee injury.

Abe was convinced that those 'feelings' he had were just the happiness he felt since Mihashi and him were becoming good friends.

Apparently no one has told Abe that denial was not just a river in Egypt.

Abe's idiocy about his own feelings finally hit a breaking point during his second year of high school.

Why? Because of one person: Miyamoto Hayato.

Entering in its second year of existence, Nishiura's hardball team gained five more players. One of which was Miyamoto Hayato, an exuberant freshman. He was a pitcher, but was nowhere as good as Mihashi when it came to control, but he had good speed for a first year. But that was not the problem Abe had with the guy. The problem was the first year practically worshiped the ground Mihashi walked on.

"Mihashi-senpai you're so awesome. I wish I had your control over my own pitches."

"Mihashi-senpai does Abe-senpai always yell at you? Don't worry, I'd never yell at you."

"We should eat lunch together sometimes, what do you think Mihashi-senpai?"

The guy practically followed Mihashi around like a lost puppy. And apparently Abe was the only one on the team that had a problem with it. Everyone else thought it was good for Mihashi to have someone that openly admired him because seriously, if anyone needs a confidence boost its Mihashi. Though Abe agreed with that point, it still annoyed him. But not because he was jealous or anything. The guy himself was annoying and Abe didn't see why Mihashi put up with him.

At least that's what he told himself.

And he kept telling himself that up until a practice game the team had. It was the bottom of the 7th and Mihashi was pitching with perfect control. Abe had a small smile on his face since the game so far had been a shutout. His smile would have been bigger if Abe wasn't slightly annoyed at Miyamoto's cheering from the dugout. The opposing teams clean up stepped up to plate ready to swing. Abe wasn't worry, though, they've gotten him out before and they would do it again. The clean-up favored the outside due to his long arms, so any pitches on the inside were hard for him to hit. So Abe signaled for a fastball, inside, low. But Abe miscalculated something. That something was the clean-up's personality. The clean-up was the type of batter that got antsy if he hasn't hit anything in a while. This causes him to be wild with his swings and swing at practically any pitch. So when Mihashi released the pitch Abe signaled for, the clean-up went for it.

The bat connected with the ball and due to the angle at which it was hit and the speed, the ball ended up beaming Mihashi on his side. Mihashi fell down with a firm thump, clutching his bruised side in pain. Without a second thought, Abe rushed from home plate towards the mound where his sat in pain. He wasn't the only one that ran up to the mound to check on Mihashi; almost everyone on the team left their positions or the dugout in worry. That included Miyamoto.

"Mihashi-senpai are you okay? Don't worry I'll help you up." Miyamoto reached out to grab Mihashi but was intercepted by Abe's arm. Everyone who was crowded around Mihashi gave him a strange look, except Tajima who just smirked knowingly.

Abe eyes widened as he finally realized what he just did and why he did it. Because he was jealous; because he wanted to be the only one to take care of Mihashi. He crouched down near Mihashi and looked him straight in the eyes.

'So that's why I've been annoyed.' Abe thought as he put his arms around Mihashi shoulders and waist to help him up. 'That's why I worry so much.' He and Mihashi started walking slowly to the dugout.

"A-Abe-kun?" Mihashi stared at Abe confusedly

"Don't worry everything will be alright." Abe assured Mihashi with a rare, warm smile. Mihashi eyes widened and a small, nervous smile appeared on his ruddy face.

"O-okay." And with that they continued their walk towards the dugout.

Meanwhile back at the mound…

"What's with Abe-senpai?" Miyamoto questioned Tajima. "I was just trying to help."

Tajima let out a loud laugh and flung his arm around Miyamoto's shoulder. "Abe just finally stopped being stupid."

Please review and remember, constructive criticism is welcome. First fic and I edit this myself so constructive criticism really is welcome.