So this was a prompt on livejournal somewhere, with the food- I mean LOVE chain going something like this:

Izumi - Mizutani - Shinooka - Abe (and I added in Mihashi, because that's like implied!)

Warnings: BL, I guess, but most people who are into this show prolly won't be deterred by that.

Disclaimer: I don't own this anime/manga. If I did, Kazuki & Junta would have WAY more screen time.

Summary: Izumi finally comes out to his crush; & naturally all of Nishiura's baseball team has to put their say in.

"I like you."

Mizutani dropped his batting gloves.

"Um, I like you too - as a friend, and all," Mizutani replied, flustered. Oh dear god, this is awkward. I hope he's not saying what I think he's saying.

"No, I mean I like you," Izumi stressed.

"Say wha?" was the redhead's clever response.

"I like you," Izumi repeated once more. "Would it bother you if I tried to kiss you?"

"Ummm, kinda?" He was having difficulty absorbing the statement Izumi had said so plainly. "Are you for serious, dude? Because that's kinda weird, and... Shinooka! I like Shinooka!" Mizutani defended.

"You don't have a chance with Chiyo. She likes Abe," Tajima pointed out, walking over to his locker like hearing his two male teammates discussing their sexuality was nothing out of the ordinary.

Mizutani's squeak of "Tajima! How much did you hear?" was drowned out by Abe's "What, seriously? I don't wanna deal with that."

"Deal with what, man? If ya don't like her, just tell her so," Hanai reasoned, nonchalantly joining the conversation as he donned his street clothes.

"Ugh, turning down girls is delicate enough, but the team manager? I'm really glad she hasn't confessed or anything yet," Abe sighed.

"Why wouldn't you like her? She's cute, right?" Oki joined in.

"Yeah, she's cute, I guess. Just not my thing," Abe replied. He stripped out of his practice uniform, oblivious to his teammates questioning stares.

"What, pretty girls aren't your thing? You realize how bad that sounds, right?" Izumi said.

"Well, I mean, baseball's more important, right?" Abe retorted, cheeks reddening almost imperceptively.

"I'm thinking Abe would rather spend a day with Mihashi than Chiyo," Tajima suggested with lecherous intent, which was lost on Abe.

"Well, yeah," Abe agreed, still slightly blushing. "What's Mihashi got to do with it though?"

"Either way, Shinooka's not interested in you, so how bout it?" Izumi prodded.

Mizutani's head was still spinning from Abe's unintentionally dropped hints. "Wait, so Izumi, you're gay, and so is Abe?"

Abe bristled at this. "What the hell gives you that idea?" but Izumi shrugged his assent. "Yeah, pretty much."

"I've jerked off to fantasies of Hanai, if that helps any with the statistics," Tajima added. ("You what?")

"So Izumi likes Mizutani who likes Shinooka who likes Abe who likes baseball and m-me?" Mihashi wondered, gulping out the last bit of his theory.

"Yeah, and Abe and Mihashi tie up the chain because they obviously like each other," Tajima explained. (("W-what's he mean by t-that, Abe?" "I haven't the faintest idea.")). "So it's your duty to take care of stuff at the bottom!" was Tajima's conclusion.

"That's stupid reasoning!" Mizutani yelped.

"What, do you not think Izumi's attractive?" Nishihiro questioned somewhat skeptically (because really, he at least was straight).

"No!"

"Come on, you're totally lying! He's all long hair and big blue eyes! No one can resist that," Tajima objected.

"Fine, he's cute, now will you leave me alone? And stop grinning, Izumi!"