Endings and Beginnings
Summary: As Sawamura's first year is coming to an end, he realises that many of the members he grew so close to are about to leave. How will he pay his debts towards the team that had supported him through his rough start? [there's a pairing Sawamura x some guy]
A/N: lame title, but my track record on story titles hasn't been good so far...anyways, enjoy :)
Don't know where this story's heading...we'll see how it goes :/
Warning: Sawamura's gonna be paired with some guy, but won't get into any deep descriptions, just fluff.
Disclaimer: don't own anything related to DNA. If this plot already exists on (or is similar to another story), my apologies, I should just buy a lottery ticket and try my luck there instead :P
Chapter 1 - Working and Gaming
Practice ended as the sun vanished from the horizons. Everyone headed for the showers and ultimately to their dorms to relax before going to sleep.
Sawamura looked around to make sure no one was around before he jumped on his bike and rode off into the darkness. Having ran everyday and with a tire no less, Sawamura made it to his destination in no time. Parking his bike in the back alley, he reached to open the back door. A slight ring from the hanging bell was heard as the door opened, allowing the pitcher to enter.
"Sawamura-chan, good evening!" the manager of the cafe greeted him. "Tonight's special, it's going to be younger sibling night!~" a man said happily.
"Sounds fun manager!" Sawamura shouted back with a wide grin and eyes sparkling with joy. His hands were clutching the countertop in anticipation.
"You're so wonderful, so full of energy!~" The manager replied, also with the sparkle of joy welled deep within his eyes. "Your uniform's in the back, get changed and meet me back out here."
Sawamura ran to the back change room and found a butler like uniform. He loved his part time job. 'What can be better than making money while playing around...' he thought to himself as he quickly changed. But as he did, he heard the door open behind him.
"Manager, what's up?"
"I couldn't wait, I wanted to tell you now. Tonight, you're going to play the role of the shy little brother! Can you do it?" the manager, enthusiastic at the theme, asked the pitcher.
"Manager-onii-samaaaaaa...is...is this...what you're looking for?" Sawamura said in a kiddish whisper while putting his hands behind his back, head looking down towards his foot that was pivoting around one spot.
"WONDERFULLLL~" the manager almost fainted.
"IS IT?" Sawamura replied with more enthusiasm.
"I'm glad you came here looking for part time work!~~" the manager replied, before the two of them broke into laughter.
"Anyways, a group of guys came in, can you work with onii-chans?" the manager asked.
"Of course!"
"Great! Well, finish up in here and come out to greet your guests. Oh here's some menu's so you can head directly to them, they're on table 5."
"That's the bigger table...there's a lot of them then?"
"Yeah, there's seven of them, isn't that great?" the manager responded in his usual up tone voice.
"I'LL DO MY BEST, MANAGER!" Sawamura responded.
Back to after practice
"Yuki, isn't that Sawamura sneaking out?" Ryosuke asked the captain. Tetsuya, Miyuki, Chris, Jun, Masuko and Kuramochi all took a look at the location Ryosuke was pointing at.
"Yeah, what's that brat doing, going out this late at night?" Jun questioned.
"Kahahah, he must be meeting with that Wakana girl." Kuramochi replied. With that statement, they all looked at each other and quickly ran to follow the pitcher. They got on their bikes and followed suite, but the pitcher was fast.
"Damn he's fast..." Jun shouted as the seven put more strength into pedaling their bikes.
"Sawamura-chan has been running every day with tires." Masuko replied, which everyone acknowledged.
Eventually to their dismay, they lost sight of him as he disappeared around the corner.
"Ummm, it looks like we lost him..." Miyuki spoke the obvious.
"I saw him coming this way, he shouldn't be too far!" Kuramochi shouted.
"Let's forget about it, we probably lost him and it's dark anyways." Ryosuke noted.
As they started to turn around on their bikes, Masuko caught sight of the cafe.
"Since we're all out here, why don't we just go relax in that cafe?" Masuko calmly said.
Everyone looked towards Tetsuya, as if awaiting for permission. He stared back at them with his usual serious look.
"We have late practice tomorrow, so why not. We can't stay too late though." Tetsuya obviously wanted to visit the cafe, especially after losing out on seeing Sawamura's girlfriend, but had to keep up the captain appearance.
"Haha, you're the best Tetsu-senpai!" Miyuki shouted.
The group of seven headed into the cafe. As they entered, the bell to the door gave a little ring and they were met by an overzealous man.
"Good evening gentlemen! Welcome to my cafe, you're in luck today, we have a theme going on tonight!" the manager greeted.
"Really?" Jun stared down at the manager. 'Great, we should have gone somewhere else...' he mentally chastised their choice. He looked at the door planning his escape, but a hand over his shoulder stopped him. Ryosuke gave Jun a smile that emanated death if Jun were to ditch everyone.
"Yes! Our waiters and waitresses are playing the role of the younger sibling! If you don't mind, please write your name and how you'd like to be addressed on these name tags!" the manager handed out sticker tags to the group.
The seven of them stared at the sticker, obviously some awkwardness floating in the atmosphere around them.
'Whaaa, I'll just write my name on it...' they all thought in unison as they scribbled their names onto their sticker.
"Please show me your name tags." the manager requested with a big smile.
The baseball team members placed it in front of the manager, who gave a displeased look.
"Now now, you guys aren't fun, let me change it up."
First up was Tetsuya. "Hmmm Tetsuya is it..." the manager looked at the baseball captain.
"Oh his first name is Yuki." Ryosuke spoke up with a wide grin. Tetsuya gave Ryosuke a glare warning him to not mess around, but Ryosuke waved it off with a retorting smile.
"Excellent!" he manager scribbled a name on Tetsuya's sticker and handed it back to him. He then went through each person. "Please stick it on your shirt. I'm going to head back to get your waiter! Please have a seat while you wait!~" the manager scurried to the back of the cafe.
"Great, we have to play this stupid game." Jun stated as the group sat down at their table.
"This could be fun..." Chris calmly said, which shocked everyone as they all stared at him. Realising what he said, he immediately diverted his eyes away from the group.
"Yeah, let's just play along since we're here already?" Ryosuke questioned Tetsuya, which resulted in darts being fired at him from Tetsuya's glare.
Back at the cafe change room
Sawamura finished changing not long after the manager left. He was dressed in a butler's suit, but a bit ruffled, with half his dress shirt sticking out and buttons semi done. 'Hmmm I think this could do for the helpless little brother look.' He checked the mirror once more before heading out.
As he walked through the door, he had his head drooped down with the menus covering the front of his head. He had clear sight of the ground and started walking until he was in front of table 5.
"Ummmm..." Sawamura started, while still hiding behind the menus.
The whole table's attention fell on the waiter.
'Great...this lame game is starting...and we have this dumbass kid serving us...' Jun mentally screamed again.
'Haha, this is hilarious, is the kid suppose to be some helpless little brother?' Kuramochi thought.
"Ummmm...onii-sama...here's your..." as he put the menus down on the table, his sentence was interrupted by the sight of those in front of him.
"Waaaah..." the pitcher screamed realising it was the Seidou baseball team members as shock plastered into his face. This caught the attention of the whole cafe.
"Sawamura-chan...is there a problem?" The manager asked across the room as he made his way to the table. Sawamura turned around to look at the manager, his face full of fear.
"Now now Sawamura-chan, you don't need to be scared, your onii-samas are here to protect you."
At this moment, a few of the baseball members started to laugh.
"See your onii-samas are laughing, there's nothing to be scared of." the manager comforted the teen, while inwardly praising Sawamura for putting on the great act. 'Wow Sawamura-chan, you're good at this...' the manager thought in amazement.
'Managerrrrr...if only you knew what they're laughing at...' Sawamura thought as he inwardly cried. From the side vision, he caught a glimpse of Chris laughing too. 'Not you too Chris-senpai?!'
"Awww look how cute Sawamura-chan is...now now...greet your onii-samas properly." The manager commented harmlessly which caused Sawamura's jaw to drop. At this moment, the table erupted into a fit of chuckles as they tried to calm themselves down.
"O-o-onii-samas...here's your...menus..." Sawamura spoke up hesitantly as he handed the menus out while he tried to shy his face away.
"Sawamura...chan...is it? Shouldn't you greet your onii-sans one by one?" Ryosuke spoke up, obviously enjoying the show.
"Kahahaha yeah Bakamura." Kuramochi shouted.
Sawamura shot daggers into the two of them as he put all his might into not exploding at his senpais.
Glancing at the person to his left, eyes fixated on the name tag, Sawamura started his roll call.
"Chris-onii-san...here's your menu." Sawamura bowed as he handed the menu to Chris. 'Hmmm this isn't so bad...'
"Jun...a-aniki..." Sawamura stared at Jun confirming that the honourific fit him well.
"Ma...masu-onii-chan..." Masuko's lips went flat as he blushed from hearing Sawamura calling him.
"Miyuki-nii" Miyuki gave a big grin as if saying that he could get use to it.
As Sawamura was about to move on, Miyuki spoke up, "Sawamura-chan, I couldn't hear you."
Sawamura turned his head immediately at the offending words, face in displeasure. The pitcher grabbed the menu back from Miyuki, leaned over the table and pressed the menu against Miyuki's chest. "MI-YU-KI-NII..." he semi-shouted in the catcher's ears.
"Ouch Sawamura-chan, why are you so rough...you hurt Miyuki-nii's fingers...I think you should kiss it to make me feel better..." Miyuki continued to tease, the whole table erupted in the sight of Sawamura turning beet red from the comment.
"W-w-wh-wha-at..." Sawamura tried to say.
"Hahaha, I'm joking." Miyuki waved his hand up and down. "Please continue."
Sawamura cringed at what just happened. 'I'll get you back one day...' he thought as he moved onto the next person.
"Kura-onii-t...t-tann"
"That's right Bakamura!" Kuramochi repsonded.
"Ryo-nii-chan" Sawamura said this with confidence. 'At least Ryo-nii-san fits well here.'
Lastly, Sawamura looked towards the captain. "Tet..." he started off, but realised that wasn't what was written. "Yu..." Sawamura paused squinting his eyes to make sure he was reading the name tag correctly. "...Yu...ki...onii...ch-chama..." Sawamura broke into laughter with the rest of the table following him. The captain glared ice daggers into Sawamura, which caused the pitcher to immediately stop laughing.
After a minute, Sawamura took their orders and disappeared for a good while. Upon returning and giving everyone their drinks and food, he immediately turned around to step away.
"That's it otouto-kun, you're going to leave your onii-san here alone?" Miyuki spoke up in a sad sorrowful voice, while putting a piece of cake in his mouth.
"Miyuki!" Sawamura spoke up, until he saw Miyuki pointing to his name tag with a wide grin.
'So you want to play eh?' Sawamura cursed Miyuki in his mind. 'I'll play with you...'
"Miyuki-nii..." Sawamura corrected himself in a quite frail voice as he grasped his left hand on top of his right arm while looking down on the floor. "Don't pick on me..." he said, barely audiable, as his face started to become red, obviously still not use to playing the weak little brother in front of his senpais.
"Why are you shy in front of your brother's Sawamura-chan!" Jun scolded the pitcher. Sawamura shot Jun a glare.
"Now now Sawamura-chan, you shouldn't get mad at Jun-aniki." Masuko joined in.
"That's right Sawamura, you should apologise to Jun." Tetsuya spoke up, which immediately caused Sawamura to jump.
Standing there, at a loss for words from the tirade of criticism, he gave up and folded in. "I'm sorry...Jun-aniki..." Sawamura said in a meek voice, his head looking down as if he were a little kid regretting the wrong doings he just did.
"You don't seem sorry...do you want us to get mad at you?" Kuramochi interrupted.
'I'll show you all!' Sawamura thought as he stepped up his game.
*sniff sniff* Sawamura started to sniff as he bowed his head downwards. Then out of everyone's surprise and shock, Sawamura turned on the waterworks. His left hand went up his eyes and started to rub them, while his right arm wrapped around his abdomen, making himself look frail.
"Jun-aniki...Kura-onii-tan...Chris-onii-san...Masu-onii-chan...Ryo-nii-chan...Miyiki-nii...Tet...Yuki-onii-chama...Sawamura's sorry for being a bad little brother *sniff sniff* I won't leave you guys, so please don't be angry at me...*sniff sniff*...I...*sniff*...I just wanted to get some cookies so we can sit together and enjoy our time." tears started to drip down his face as he collapsed onto the floor, arm wiping the tears from his eyes.
Unbeknownst to the baseball members and Sawamura, the whole cafe was quietly watching the drama unfold. The seven baseball players were stunned; they didn't expect Sawamura to be able to pull something like this off.
"Onii-samas I'm sorry, don't hate Sawamura..." Sawamura said again in a weak trembling voice, but enough for the quiet cafe to hear. The pitcher looked up with a tear streaked face. As the attention of the whole cafe was closely watching the glistening teary orbs, Sawamura secretly slipped a small bottle of water, he used to fake the tears, into his pocket.
The manager quickly ran over to capitalize on the event. "Sawamura-chan, your brothers don't hate you. Why don't you give them each a hug and make up?"
'MANAGER! WHYYYYY...' Sawamura thought as he was stunned at hearing the suggestion.
"How about you start with Yuki-onii-chama?" the manager suggested as the manager helped the pitcher back onto his feet.
The whole table turned their gaze to Tetsuya.
As Sawamura and Tetsuya were about to object, the manager pushed the pitcher towards Tetsuya. Losing his balance, Sawamura fell forward, arms wide open and landed on top of Tetsuya with his arms around the captain.
Out of reflex, Tetsuya opened his arms to catch the falling pitcher, which ended up in an embrace as the two collided. Tetsuya was stunned, frozen in his seat as he felt the warm body hugging him.
Suddenly flashes were seen as a couple members took pictures of the moment.
Sawamura realised what was happening and immediately pushed himself off Tetsuya.
"Manager! That's not funny!" Sawamura chastised as he heard laughter coming from the manager and the other six baseball players.
"Yuki, I've never seen you so red." Ryosuke commented as he patted the captain's shoulders.
"Hahaha, did that feel good?" The team members all shouted as Tetsuya and Sawamura's face grew even redder.
"Calm down Sawamura-chan, see everyone's having fun, it feels like a family doesn't it?" the manager spoke in attempt to calm the jumpy teen.
"...family..." came a whisper out of Sawamura's lips.
Suddenly tears started to roll down Sawamura's face as sniffs came about.
"Oioi Sawamura, why are you crying? We're just joking around..." Miyuki realised that they may have gone too far.
"No...sorry...it's nothing..." Sawamura whimpered out.
"What do you mean it's nothing, there's obviously something wrong!" Jun pressed forward.
"No, it's just...what the manager said...it feels like a family doesn't it? Even though I've only been in the team for less than a year, it already feels like a family. Being able to play with everyone, to be on the same team, to depend on everyone...that's what family does right?" Sawamura started to rub his eyes clear of the tears. "But...but...you guys are about to graduate... "
It suddenly clicked in everyone's mind. 'He's the type that values his teams...that's right...I heard he cried as he left his old team behind...'
Miyuki got up and walked up to Sawamura. "Remember what I said?"
Sawamura looked at the second year catcher confused.
Miyuki then pressed his fist against Sawamura's chest. "It's what's in here that matters. As long as you remember everyone, the family will always be with you."
"Miyuki, when did you learn to talk like that? All this talk is making me feel sick." Jun said while diverting his gaze away.
" Sawamura-chan's just trying to tell us his feelings." Masuko replied.
"That's right Sawamura, we'll always be with you." Chris spoke up giving the pitcher a smile.
"Bakamuraaa, stop thinking too much, your brain's going to explode hahaha." Kuramochi.
The third years nodded their heads in agreement, but obviously what the pitcher said was true. Their time on the Seidou baseball team was coming to an end, but for the next couple months, they wouldn't let that bother them.
Sawamura, in a state of dismay, yet gratefulness scratched the thought out of his mind. 'Yeah...we'll always be a family!'
By the time they finished talking, they realised it was past midnight.
"It's this late already..." Tetsuya spoke up, looking at his watch. This gave everyone the hint to leave.
"Yeah it is...when does the cafe close?" Chris spoke up.
"Oh it closes 3am." Sawamura replied with a smile.
"Are you still working?" Ryosuke asked.
Sawamura realised his shift was ending in a couple minutes. "Yes I am, but I'll be ending soon."
With that said, everyone on the table pointed towards the sticker on their shirt.
"Shouldn't you greet us good night then, if you're ending soon?" Ryosuke asked pleasantly.
'You guys aren't serious are you?' Sawamura thought in shock. "But..." he replied, but was immediately interrupted.
"Aren't we a family Bakamura?" Kuramochi said.
"Ughhh...Good night onii-sama." Sawamura decided to just end it quick and forego calling each one. After his good nights, he immediately turned around to head to the back room.
"Hurry up, we'll be waiting outside for you Sawamura." Miyuki called out as the pitcher jogged to get changed.
"Manager, can we get the bill?" Ryosuke asked.
The manager walked over with the bill in hand. As the players reached into their pockets, they realised none of them brought their wallet.
"Oh great...what do we do now?" Jun asked.
"What if the manager forces us to work here?" Miyuki asked in concern.
At that instant, every had an image of themselves as the little feeble brothers in butler costumes.
"NO, no way I'm going to work here!" Jun said while crossing his arms.
There sat, the 7 baseball players, deep in thought, until a smile crept onto Ryosuke's face.
"Manager-san~" Ryosuke called out.
"Yes Ryo-nii-chan." the manager replied while walking over. This gave everyone on the table chills down their spines.
"Sawamura told us that he would take care of the bill." Ryosuke flatly stated.
The eyes of everyone on the table popped outwards as they realised what Ryosuke was trying to do. Yet everyone kept quiet, since they had no other cards to play.
"Really? Sawamura-chan did?" the manager was skeptical.
"Yeah, he said he'd take care of the bill cause he wanted to thank us, especially the third years for being with him this year, right?" Ryosuke turned to the others.
"Yeah yeah, we tried to tell him no, but you saw how he was and how much he valued our family. When he gave those puppy dog eyes to us, we just couldn't say no." Miyuki added.
"You know how it is when those puppy dog eyes come out..." Ryosuke added. The other members kept their mouths shut. They objected to this method, yet couldn't deny implementing it.
The manager was deep in thought and soon after, his stature melted. "I know what you mean, that kid has the purest heart, yet most devilish expressions. I understand, I can't deny him if he wants to do it."
Ryo jumped off his seat and put his hands on the manager's shoulders. "I know! Damn that devilish expression of his...my heart melted once I saw those eyes."
The manager vehemently agreed.
"Anyways, it seems you have guests, I think we'll wait outside for Sawamura so we don't bother you. Please tell him we're out there waiting for him ok?" Ryo added as he signaled everyone to get out of the cafe.
"Will do Ryo-nii-chan. Have a good night guys!" the manager stated before attending to the other guests.
"Manager, I'm going to leave now." Sawamura said as he came out of the back with his normal attire. He poised himself over the countertop awaiting his daily pay.
"You're such a nice boy Sawamura-kun! Paying for your senpai's. If only I had kohai's like you back when I was in school." The manager started to punch in numbers into the till. "That would be 43,000 yen, I'll round it to 40,000."
Sawamura stood there dumbfounded. He looked out the door and saw the group outside talking and laughing. 'I...I...' he didn't know what to think. He pulled out his wallet to only find 20,000 yen.
"Ummmm manager, I only have 20,000 with me, can you deduct the rest when I come work tomorrow?" He said meekly. He was fuming inside.
"That's fine Sawamura-chan!~ Well you better get going, your senpai's are waiting for you. Good nighttt~~" the cheerful man said.
Sawamura marched out the back door of the cafe, found his bike and started pedaling away. To his dismay, he had to ride by the front of the cafe, since there was no exit at the back, but he rode with all his might. He didn't want to see any of the people who ditched him with the bill.
"Hey Sawamura! Why are you riding away so fast?" Jun shouted.
The pitcher stopped with his back facing the group. "You think it's funny to have me pay the bill without asking don't you?" he angrily shouted with a hint of hurt within his voice. He quickly continued riding down the street, making a turn so that the group lost sight of him.
"Do you think he's angry at us?" Masuko asked.
But without a second thought, the seven of them started after the pitcher.
A/N: There we have it, Chapter 1. Going to have more chapters to this story (although I contemplated on making this a one shot)...this could be the start of a down fall to this story lol
Will update in a couple weeks.