Title: Third Strike
Fandom: Daiya no A
Pairing: Chris/Eijun
Rating: M
Summary: Eijun was just as unlucky in love as he was in getting the ace number.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Daiya no A and its characters belong to Terajima Yuuji-sensei.
For Eijun it first happened when he was in junior high.
He had had more than a few crushes when he had been in elementary and maybe more than a couple in his first year in junior high. But most of them fell under the category of 'She's pretty", 'She smells nice' or 'She has pretty hair'.
It wasn't until he hit his second year in junior high, when a substitute teacher fresh out of university temporarily replaced his homeroom teacher who was on maternity leave, that he found out that there was actually a deeper kind of like that could leave you breathless .
Eijun had bumped into him before class had started and the young man had simply smiled at him and helped him up, even ruffling his hair a little when he finally mustered up enough courage to mumble "I'm sorry." Maybe he wasn't the most attractive man that Eijun had ever seen but it was a fact that all of the girls in his class managed to have a crush on him at one time or another.
The teacher had been kind, smart and understanding. So when he started blushing and stuttering around the older man he thought it was simply because he was a little intimidated with how accomplished he was when he was so young. But that didn't explain his desire to always go near the teacher and asking questions about lessons after class just to get to spend a little more time with him. It left most of the other teachers and most of the students raising their eyebrow at the unusual behavior.
It went on for a little more than two months before Wakana, his childhood friend, had cornered him one day and tried to make sense of his actions. It was in that momentous conversation that thirteen year old Eijun Sawamura discovered that he was gay. Wakana had promised to keep it a secret and Eijun didn't hear any rumors and feel any malicious glances that indicated that she had gone back on her word.
A week later Eijun had his heart broken when he found out that his first love was already engaged to a beautiful woman and scheduled to be married in a month. For the first time in his life he had shut himself inside in his room and cried on his pillow.
The teacher left in a couple of weeks and Eijun didn't join the other student in wishing him luck .
When he went to Tokyo with Takashima-sensei to get a feel of Seido's baseball club he fell for a second time. The boy had introduced himself as Miyuki Kazuya and his confident smile as he politely told Kiyokuni Azuma to get off his high horse left Eijun a little breathless. Eijun had been the one to unwittingly challenge the monster and he hadn't expected anyone to stand up for him.
That day Eijun had pitched eleven balls to Miyuki. His skill as a catcher and his arrogant charm made Eijun think 'This might just be it' for his baseball and his personal life. It had been enough for him to be convinced to transfer to Tokyo even though he cried for the friends that he betrayed.
Once he entered the club though, things didn't turn out the way that he had expected. He had been prepared to encounter older pitchers that Miyuki would be paired up with, but Furuya had been a curveball that had thrown a wrench to all his daydreams. Furuya, who was also attracted to Miyuki and didn't even try to hide it.
The monster first year had been assigned to Miyuki and Eijun had been paired up with the lifeless Takigawa Chris Yuu. His second love couldn't end this way surely. He had been pretty sure that Miyuki had been a little interested with his pitching in the beginning, but with the monstrous pitching that Furuya displayed he could slowly feel the slight interest the second year had on him waning.
In a panic he blurted out. "This isn't fair! I want to be paired up with Miyuki-senpai as well!"
The strong grip that Chris had used to force him in a handshake made him realize a little too late how rude it was to exclaim something so selfish in front of the third year. "What a coincidence. I don't want to be paired up with you either."
His calm voice contrasted with what he said next and Eijun had the sinking feeling that he had ruined his first meeting with the older boy. "I'm Takigawa Chris Yuu. Nice to meet you, loser pitcher."
It had been a disastrous first meeting.
Chris made a habit of leaving training early and he never caught any of Eijun's pitches beyond their first meeting when he told the younger boy that he would never trust him to be the ace of the team.
There had been awful rumors about Chris, about how nobody survived a battery with him and how he allegedly went crazy when Miyuki took his first string position from him, but Eijun had never been one to easily listen to rumors. He judged people based on how he saw them act. From what he saw, Chris was unmotivated and possibly lazy.
Though Eijun had to admit that he made the effort of creating a daily menu for him to follow. The older boy never personally gave him the scrolls and made Yoshikawa and Haruichi his messengers. It was Kuramochi who had enlightened him on the purpose of the exercises. They were for conditioning core and inner muscles to prevent injuries. He had been touched, maybe there was something in Chris after all.
In the Kanto tournament, watching Furuya get consecutive batters out, Eijun finally snapped at the older boy. Chris had complimented Furyuya's pitching and finally told him that he would never be the ace as long as Furuya was in the same grade as him.
"What about you? You're a second-string like me. Aren't you frustrated that you lost to a second year? You finish practice so early. If you want to go up, shouldn't you practice harder than anyone else?!" It was like word vomit and Eijun couldn't find it in him to stop. Not when Chris had put him down so easily when he just saw how much raw talent Furuya had in him. "You've just given up on getting better! I don't want you talking like you know anything! No matter how high the obstacle I never want to be like you! I'll never give up on aiming higher!"
He had expected Chris to snap back at him but he was surprised when the other boy only answered with his usual even tone. "Give up on aiming higher? For the idiot that you are, you're sharp."
The older boy had turned around and Eijun was left feeling more frustrated than when he started hurling insults at his catcher. "Don't end up like me, Sawamura."
Eijun's fielding was horrible and the older second-stringers made sure to yell it to him any chance they could get. Takashima-sensei had informed him of her expectations with his battery with Chris. It seemed impossible that she actually expected Chris to teach him anything when the older boy barely tolerated him.
In the middle of their conversation Miyuki had come in and laughed upon seeing him kneeling in front of Takashima-sensei. Takashima-sensei shared his problems to Miyuki and the boy only said something about Chris not getting along with anyone recently.
They were trying to tell him how Chris was the most knowledgeable in baseball in their team. Takashima-sensei continued telling him Chris' good points but he didn't want to hear anymore. His dissatisfaction with the older boy bubbled up to the point where he bitterly took out his frustration on both of them.
"I want to pair up with you!" he shouted at Miyuki.
"Well, don't be so impatient." Miyuki said, kneeling in front of him. There was a small pleased smile on the boy's face at his confession. "If you do as he says you'll definitely improve."
"No way! I don't want to pair up with someone so unmotivated! Why is he still on the team? If he doesn't like to practice he should just quit." He was whining, and in front of Miyuki too, but how was he supposed to improve and be paired up with Miyuki when his current partner did nothing but hold him back?
The sudden pain of his back connecting to the wall was nothing to the pain in his chest when Miyuki viciously glared at him and defended the older catcher. Miyuki got up and spat how Eijun 'ruined his good mood', almost leaving the younger boy in tears. Any hope of actually getting Miyuki to look at him just died a swift and horrible death and he didn't even know why.
Then Takashima-sensei explained and he actually saw first-hand how hard Chris had been working. Injured? Chris had been injured all this time? He watched how Chris lifted the weights as sweat dripped from his face and how he gritted his teeth in determination when the pain was obviously holding him back.
Guilt and shame welled up in him and the tears that he held back with Miyuki came pouring down. "Why? Why did you let a stupid first year like me mouth off to you and not say anything? Damn it! I look like a moron now!"
The tears that he held back when Miyuki got angry at him came pouring down. "Maybe it's a waste of time for someone like you to practice with someone like me. But please, please…Please teach me baseball!"
Eijun could be very tenacious when he wanted something. And what he wanted now was for Chris to teach him. There was nothing and no one getting in his way, not even Chris.
He approached the problem the same way that he approached a difficult batter in baseball, head on without any hesitation. When he had been assigned to help in serving the food he gave Chris more portions than anyone else, when he arrived in practice Eijun greeted him with his head bowed, when he took baths he volunteered to wash the older boy's back and when he went to take a dump Eijun made sure that there was enough toilet paper for him.
Perhaps it was too much, a complete 180 from how he treated Chris before. There were already new rumors spreading about Chris and his new follower but Eijun was an idiot. He would show Chris his sincerity even if others misunderstood.
Unexpectedly, Chris gave him his first advice when Eijun was kneeling on the third year's floor. Eijun grinned widely. Chris was a tough nut to crack but he was finally starting to notice Eijun.
It had been happening so gradually that Eijun wasn't really sure when it started. Even when Chris did nothing but insult his pitching he could admit that the catcher was quite attractive, more attractive than most on the team anyway, which wasn't really saying much considering how brutish most of the Seido players looked.
With Eijun finally admitting that he was the one in the wrong both he and Chris finally started to correct the rocky start their relationship was based on. Chris was more patient with his babbling and Eijun started trusting more of Chris' demands even without the catcher explaining his intentions.
Eijun's constant stalking had also graced him with the opportunity of seeing Chris in various states of undress and Chris' morning look was definitely his favorite. His hair wasn't slicked back and there were hints of stubble on his face. There were slight curls that went on his forehead that Eijun was tempted to brush away. If they looked as soft as he imagined he could keep on brushing them all day. It was so different from his usual clean image that the first time Eijun saw it he had stared rudely for almost a minute.
Unlike most players that stink after practice, Chris never smelled bad even after his rehab. Eijun had been very particular about body odor ever since he was young, confusing his parents and grandfather. He was a boy, 'It's normal for boy to stink sometimes' his mother explained. But he had maintained his stance and when he entered the junior high baseball team with his friends he was strict with proper hygiene. It was probably why he mostly liked girls up until the start of middle school. Now that he thought about it Miyuki never really smelled bad either.
Dear God, was he a pervert? Being attracted to a person because of body odor?
One thing was for sure. He was attracted to Chris.
Completely and utterly attracted, the kind of attraction where his pants had an upsetting tendency to be a little tight when he even thought of the older boy. As if on cue, the thought of Chris, with his gentle smile and firm hands, had his blood pooling south. Eijun hit his head on his desk with a solid thump that had his classmates casting worried glances at him.
Fantasizing about his crush in the middle of a lesson was stupid. Fantasizing about the catcher he respected was stupid. How was he supposed to act now?
It didn't help that when he actually thought about it, Chris still fell under the category of 'He's pretty', 'He smells nice' and 'He has pretty hair'. Seriously, didn't he grow up at all?
He was screwed.
A/N: Okaaay. I just found out about this amazing baseball anime a few days ago and I haven't been getting much sleep trying to catch up to the recent RAWS. It's absolutely amazing! The heart pounding kind of amazing and it's been years since I've been so excited! Maybe I've been watching too much Ookiku Furikabutte but I see all baseball players in anime as gay now.
The teacher in the first part was a total ass-pull from me by the way. I mean, I couldn't just have Eijun suddenly discovering he's gay in high school. Too much work there and there's even the possibility that he and Chris wouldn't end up together - and I'm a lazy author-yada yada yada.
There's very little yet in this fandom and I'd like to throw my contribution in. Personally I prefer Chris rather than Miyuki for Eijun. Miyuki gives of the 'cheater' aura too much for my peace of mind. Please inform me of any mistakes. This will probably only be a two-part story.