"Alright I win, so you owe me a kiss!"
Abe didn't flinch so much as cringe. A huge reaction wasn't necessary; this was not the first time this had happened. And every single time, it was more and more appealing – appalling.
Right before every single game this season, Fumiki Mizutani would stroll up beside Abe, hit him on the back and say:
"If we win this game, then you owe me!"
The first time, it didn't make any sense. He asked him exactly what he meant by that, but every single time, Mizutani would just laugh some sort of dirty laugh and run away from him across the dugout. Admittedly, the command sat on his shoulder for a while, but Abe eventually shrugged it off – his focus was on the game, not whatever the idiot left was up to. Leaving that behind, the game went according to plan for the most part, and they won without any extra innings.
After the field was cleaned, the teams were sent on their way. Abe grabbed his catcher's gear, ready to walk it across the foreign campus back to the bus when Coach Momoe called out to the rest of the team.
"Hey! There's no reason the catcher should have to carry his own gear! Somebody take that from him so we can speed this up! We have some work to do after this, and we're going to need all the training time we can get!"
A red head called out in a voice Abe could only describe as annoying, "I've got it coach!"
And so, Mizutani trodded over to the catcher and took his gear. It looked normal enough from afar, however Mizutani was awful close. He stood close enough for his elbow to rub slightly against Abe's, and the catcher's bag on his shoulder to continuously bump onto the catcher's thigh, then his own hip, over and over again.
Abe stepped a bit away from him.
Mizutani sidestepped even closer than before.
"What are you doing?" Abe suddenly asked, annoyed by the predicament.
Mizutani jumped in front of Abe, walking backwards and keeping pace. "Well? You owe me. Now pay up."
Abe frowned. "Owe you what?"
"A kiss, obviously!" Mizutani replied, scoffing as if it were the most apparent thing out there, turning back around.
Abe continued walking for a moment until the statement set in. Then he frowned, paused, furrowed his brows, and squinted a bit.
"What?" He asked the air, seeing as Mizutani ignored (or didn't hear?) him. "HEY!" He yelled, trying to get the red head's attention.
The taller boy glanced over his shoulder, a blank look on his face. He pointed in the direction of the bus. "Hey, our ride is still kind of far. Doubt they are driving up here for us."
Abe caught up to him. "What did you say just now?"
"About the bus or the kiss?"
"The kiss!"
Mizutani shrugged, starting to walk again. "I decided that if we won the game, you'd have to kiss me. And we won so… you have to kiss me."
Abe was taken aback by the demand. "But that isn't a reason for me to kiss you!"
Suddenly interested, Mizutani leaned into Abe's personal space a bit more. "Are you suggesting that if I had a legitimate reason, you would kiss me?"
"No! I'm just saying that no matter how you say it, none of that makes any sense!"
Mizutani folded his arms then, raising an eyebrow. "Are you just too shy? I understand. But I'll have to keep count I you don't kiss me now. And they will start to pile up eventually."
Abe grimaced at that one. "Don't bother. I'm not kissing you. Ever."
"That's what you say now, tough guy!" Mizutani yelled fussily.
Abe gave the boy a glare that had him making a mad dash to the bus before he said anything else.
o-o-o
What annoyed Abe the most about this situation weren't necessarily the kisses. It was more as how public Mizutani liked to be about it. Nearly every time he brought it up, he was getting more and more obvious about it. He found ways to apply it to any random situation he could think of. Mizutani found literally any excuse to add another kiss to his list. It was to the point where he would shout out a number at random, and Abe immediately knew what he meant. And what with being so obvious, it only took a matter of days for Hanai to figure it out. Then Tajima, Izumi, Mihashi… the entire baseball team was in on this joke in less than a week.
The boys had seriously considered teasing them about it. However, Mizutani was the one that had initiated the plan, and he was the reason the whole team knew. That boy had no shame on the situation. In Abe's case… well for one, half the team was scared of him whenever he tried to talk to them. And with the other half, all you would get was a death threat, or he would ignore them completely. So where was the fun in mocking someone if they couldn't care less about what you said? However, they could still get a laugh out of Mizutani's random reasoning and outbursts.
"Alright! You owe me again, you are now up to eighteen~!"
"But it was just eight yesterday!"
"Yes, well you see, I got a ninety on this test, but I was expecting an eighty. Ten more points, ten more kisses."
"It isn't my fault you aren't as dumb as everyone else thinks you are!"
"So? And also, nineteen now to make up for that insult."
Abe jumped from his desk at that. "What? Mizutani, why can't you just find someone else to pull this on?"
There was a pause, then Mizutani turned and put one hand on top of Abe's, holding it tightly. (Cue the pink background, roses blooming, glitter everywhere and tears turning into sparkles)
"Th-that's because… it's because Abe-kun is…! Abe-kun, you're m-my… my special someone." He pouted lightly, staring at their intertwined hands. "Don't you get it, Abe? I… I only want kisses from you!"
"Shut up. You make me sick."
o-o-o
The game had definitely taken many twists and turns unlike the Nishiura team had expected, but no matter – they were able to score two more runs in the final inning to give them a two run lead. And that was the game, with a shocking 6 – 4, Nishiura. And so of course, Mizutani needed a kiss. He barely waited for the game to be over, and Abe barely had the rake in his hand to clean the field before Mizutani dashed all the way from the outfield to yell at him.
"Alright, that's twelve!"
Abe narrowed his eyes angrily. He had been reviewing the game and what they could improve on, only to be interrupted by the idiot left who had cost them a run this very game.
"Could you shut up about that?"
Mizutani shrugged, putting his hands on his hips and leaning back as he continued mumbling.
"I know what you're thinking; it was eighteen yesterday! But due to dire circumstances, that number has been decreased greatly."
"What part of 'I am never going to kiss you' do you not understand?" Abe snapped
"The never part. Take that out and we are golden." Mizutani replied.
"No!"
"Yes!"
"Oh would you just give the boy his kisses already?"
Coach Momoe strode up to the arguing boys without either of them noticing, shocking them both when she spoke. She seemed annoyed, but had a slightly amused smirk on her face all the same.
"Wh-what? Coach!" Abe tried to defend himself against that demanding face, but he couldn't speak.
Momoe shook her head sadly.
"Oh come on, think about this poor boy here. He missed a catch in this very game because he was too busy wondering why one of his best friends wouldn't give him something as simple as a kiss, but would easily give his time to study with him."
"She's right!" Mizutani yelled, putting on a sad face to match.
"Look Abe," She patted the catcher on the back. "If you keep leading him on like this, he's going to be all over the place all the time. Not only will this mess up the games, but his grades, and his social life, and most importantly, the games."
"But I..?"
She put a threatening hand on Abe's head.
"Are you arguing with me?"
"NO I just..!"
But quickly, Mizutani grabbed both of Abe's hands, restricting him and forcefully kissed him on the lips. Although it was technically a kiss, it was more of a 'semi romantic looking struggle' as Mizutani and Momoe both held the fighting boy down. Then, as quickly as it happened, Mizutani jumped back, prepared for an attack and Momoe let the boy's head go, stepping backwards and chuckling as she did so.
"Well, I'll be leaving this to you boys. But you do have to help cleaning the field." She said walking giddily back to the dugout.
Mizutani stared at Abe, then laughed nervously as he averted his eyes to… nothing. "Sooo..."
"I will kill you." Abe sighed loudly. "I will give you ten seconds tops to run."
"Now now now let's be calm about this!" Mizutani held his hands up in front of him, anxious. "I think it would be a better idea to just get it over with while we're in the mood! You do owe me twelve kisses after all, if you're going to be this nervous all the time, it will take you forever to finish them!"
Abe looked shocked for a second, but for an unexpected reason. "What the hell? It was twelve before the game even started! I just now kissed you we're down to eleven!"
Mizutani smiled shyly, shrugging. "Well no, I kissed you. I don't think it counts."
"Oh so I have to actually kiss you to shut you up about this?"
"Yes!"
"You should have specified these things in the first place!"
"I thought it was relatively obvious..!"
And out of the blue, Abe socked Mizutani in the stomach. He stomped on his foot, and then grabbed his face in both hands, squeezing it tightly. And easily, effortlessly, slid into a slightly more tasteful kiss.
Perhaps it would have been romantic if Mizutani couldn't feel his stomach caving in.
As they parted, Mizutani was slightly dazed as he tried to imagine something clever to say.
"What will your mom think?"
"She doesn't care as long as Shun comes out okay."
"Well what will your dad think?"
"I would rather not think about that." Abe raised an eyebrow, wondering about something. "So what happens when I reach zero?"
"That is never going to happen."
