When Shunpei Sanada asked Raichi Todoroki to be his boyfriend, his intent was to keep their relationship on the down-low until they got a little more serious. However, the loud-mouthed Raichi proved incapable of putting a filter on his displays of affection and it didn't take long for the entire Yakushi baseball team to find out about them.
But there was still one person that remained oblivious.
Raichi's father somehow managed to find an excuse for everything his son and his team's ace did together. A couple days after Raichi and Sanada started dating, Raichi approached his father during practice and requested that he be paired with Sanada and only Sanada for batting practice. Raizou hardly had a problem with this arrangement. To him, it seemed logical that Raichi would want to bat with someone with a variety of pitching styles. He simply guessed that Raichi had grown infatuated with his senpai's unique form; which was true, except what he didn't realize was that Raichi was infatuated with more than just Sanada's pitching.
As his father, and also the one that caused his incessant hunger, Raizou knew better than anyone that Raichi was extremely protective over his food and always made sure to eat every last crumb. That being said, he should have deterred that there was something strange about Raichi suddenly making a habit of sharing his food with Sanada. Normally, if anyone so much as glanced at Raichi's food for more than a couple seconds, he would transform into a ravished beast and swallow the rest of his plate in one gulp. Yet lately, after taking a few bites of his meal, he would offer the rest to Sanada before eating any more.
Instead of wondering why Sanada was receiving preferential treatment from Raichi, Raizou interpreted this new habit as an act of courtesy toward his upperclassman. Proud of his son's assumed kindness, he even started giving him extra lunch money so he could treat the team's ace to a better lunch.
Even when Raichi got caught sneaking out of Sanada's dorm in the middle of the night, he still wasn't even remotely suspicious. Clearly, this should have been a cause for concern; what could he possibly be doing in another boy's room so late at night? When the dorm advisor informed Raizou that his son had done this, he asked Raichi that very question. "...uhh… He was... helping me study!" Raichi blurted, clearly nervously.
Either Raizou truly had no idea that his son's study habits always had been and always would be awful, or he was a terribly gullible man. "Studying, huh? That's my boy! Doing good in school might help you." He beamed at him and gave him a proud pat on the back. Raichi said nothing in response, stunned that his father actually believed his blatant lie. Surely he had some inclination that something suspicious was going on between his son and his ace… Surely he had to realize that he was only making excuses for clearly strange behavior...
Really, it was only a matter of time before he ran out of excuses.
He finally seemed to notice that something was a little questionable after practice one evening. As he watched the team put away their equipment and head back to their dorms, his eyes stopped briefly on Sanada and his son. They looked ready to leave, but before they started walking, Raizou watched as they smiled at each other, and then embraced. He raised his eyebrows at this strange spectacle. Raichi wasn't a hugger: he had never even hugged his own father, not even as a child! Being so affectionate with another person was very unlike him. Perplexed, Raizou continued to watch the pair.
When he saw them link fingers and leave the field hand-in-hand, a red flag went off in his head.
Looking around to make sure the team could wrap up on their own, the coach hurried after Sanada and Raichi. He followed them (at a reasonable distance) all the way to the dormitories, and after several minutes passed he began to feel slightly ridiculous. It was only natural for the coach's son to be friends with the team's ace, and it made perfect sense for friends to walk each other to their rooms. The hand-holding was a little odd, sure, but maybe teenagers these days were just a little more intimate in their friendships.
However, just as he was considering turning back and heading to bed himself, Raichi and Sanada arrived in front of the dormitory building and stopped walking. They dropped each others' hands, and moved them into different positions: Sanada's around Raichi's waist, Raichi's pressed against Sanada's chest. And then, they kissed.
Raizou's eyes bulged and mouth fell agape. All of the interactions between them that he had dismissed as casual and friendly suddenly had a completely different meaning.
Before any of them knew it, Raizou, fuming with rage, was standing between the two boys, grabbing them by the shoulders and ripping them apart. He didn't know who to be mad at: his idiot son for defiling their precious ace, or Sanada for being intimate with said idiot son; or both of them for not only distracting each other from baseball, but also for being gay. "What the hell is going on?!" he boomed.
Raichi quickly recovered from his brief moment of shock after having being pulled away from his kiss, and he scowled. "Sanada's my boyfriend," he snapped matter-of-factly.
Raizou looked utterly horrified and disgusted. "Your what?! But you're a BOY! Are you gay or something?!"
Now it was Raichi's turn to gape; although he looked more offended and incredulous than revolted like his father did. "What the HELL, Old Man? You KNOW I'm gay! I've told you this before!" he shrieked.
The disbelieving terror in Raizou's face continued to grow. "I thought you were joking!"
Raichi was quickly growing angry. "Does this look like a joke to you?!" he demanded, wrapping his arms tightly around (a dazed and baffled) Sanada's waist. He stood on his toes and closed his eyes tightly, going in to kiss his boyfriend, but Raizou immediately grabbed his son by the shirt and tugged him away.
"...I can't believe this…" Raizou spat, keeping a tight grip on Raichi's shirt as he thrashed about, attempting to wriggle free and return to Sanada's side. A terrible thought suddenly dawned on him. "Do you two have sex?" Even saying the question out loud made him want to vomit and bash his own head in- or Raichi's head.
Sanada's eyes widened and he looked awfully embarrassed, while Raichi only pouted. "Well, not yet," the latter told him.
Raizou choked. "You plan on it?!"
Raichi chomped down on his dad's arm and broke free of his grasp. He hurried back to Sanada and crossed his arms defiantly. "I dunno, maybe! What's it to you?! You don't even like me, why should you care where I stick my-"
Sanada promptly covered Raichi's mouth with his hand. "Sir, I apologize for not asking for your approval ahead of time," he interrupted calmly. "But I care about your son too much to break up with him now." Raichi peeled his hand away from his mouth and grinned up at him adoringly. Sanada flashed him a slight smile.
Raizou was simultaneously enraged and at a loss for words. He couldn't severely punish Sanada and Raichi: they were both too valuable to the team to have them on bad terms with him. He was completely NOT okay with this situation, but, as long as it didn't affect their performance in baseball… Boiling and reluctant, he decided he would have to let this slide.
Things were quiet for a moment. It seemed as though Raichi had calmed down; but then he grabbed Sanada's hand and suddenly shouted, "I'm gonna suck Sanada-senpai's banana, and there's nothing you can do about it, Old Man!" Before his father could change his mind about dismissing this relationship of theirs, Raichi dashed away, laughing boastfully and pulling Sanada behind him.
Raizou ran a hand over his face, feeling disgusted and defeated. "...I need a beer," he grumbled.
