One Hell of a Sport
Summary: Lucas has an extra ticket to the Yankees game and brings Maya along. Mucas, Maya x Lucas.
The game hasn't even started yet, but there's already a palpable tension in the air around her. She feels out of place surrounded by fans discussing players and stats and events she'd never heard of.
She didn't know why she'd decided to come. Sure, Riley was in Philly visiting her family and her mother was working all weekend, but she should've been able to find something else to occupy her time. This was her first time actually at Yankee Stadium, and she'd seen enough baseball on TV to know that the sport just wasn't for her. She could admit that the seats he'd gotten from his uncle were pretty great-they were only eight rows behind the batter's box-but the most exciting part of the game was watching the well muscled men in those tight baseball pants they had to wear and that wasn't nearly enough to hold her attention between watching and waiting for something-anything-to happen.
Something is suddenly shoved on top of her head, and the next thing she sees when she looks up is Lucas looking far too pleased with himself in his New York Yankees jersey as he settles in next to her. "I got you something."
She pulls the thing off of her head and stares at it. It's a very dark blue, almost black Yankees cap with the iconic logo stitched on it in white. It looks exactly the same as his own only stiffer and lacking the wear and tear that comes with overuse. "A hat?"
He grabs it from her hands puts it back on her head, and suddenly he's grinning at her in a way she hasn't seen before. "It actually looks great on you."
A vaguely uncomfortable feeling comes across her, and she quickly turns away to stare down at the field where the players are warming up. "I didn't know you were this into baseball."
He laughs then, leaning back in his seat to join her in observing the field. "You know what they play in Texas?"
She briefly remembers all of the sports movies and tv shows she's seen and smirks. "Football?"
"Exactly. Where I come from, you start playing Peewee as soon as you can walk. Football's fun and all, but this is America's sport. Baseball is about the history. Everything that happens here today matters, and we're a part of it. This is the only sport where anything can happen. There's no guaranteed wins, and on any given day the worst team in the league can beat the best."
She doesn't quite get it (and really doesn't every sport have its own history?), but he's speaking so excitedly and smiling so widely that she can't stop herself from smiling right along with him. She feels a bit guilty that only she's getting to see this side of him side since he's normally much more of a low key guy at school, but she doesn't have time to dwell on it as there's suddenly a loud cheer when the umpire shouts "Play ball" to signal the start of the game.
He's explaining the game to her so quickly that she's only catching half of it, but just listening to him speak is interesting in itself. She's pretty sure this is the most she's ever heard him talk, his cheeks flushed and eyes bright as he points out players and positions and historic events that have happened on the field almost since the sport began.
A loud crack draws her attention away from him again and though she's not sure what's going on, she jumps to her feet and cheers right along with the people around her, yelling at the top of her lungs and clapping her hands until they turn pink with the impact as the Yankees score their first point of the day against the Orioles.
By the time she's back in her seat Lucas is staring at her as though he's never seen her before in his life. "What?" She asks, adjusting the cap on her head so that it covers a little more of her eyes. She can barely see him as the sun is right behind his head.
"Well...you actually look like you belong here."
A smirk flitters across her face. "I'm a New Yorker, Sundance. Loving the Yankees is in my blood." And it's true, sort of. For as long as she could remember they've been a part of her life. On newspapers, on the clothing of her friends and classmates, on billboards and television ads...she couldn't get away from it even if she tried.
As the game goes on, she begins to see more of why he loves it so much. They get a couple of cokes and hot dogs and the old guy behind her lets him have his foam finger that she immediately uses to poke Lucas in the side of the head. She feels like a part of a huge family with the people around her swapping stories about the time Derek Jeter made his 3000th hit with a home run or the time Babe Ruth pointed to the center-field bleachers while he was at bat and then hit a home run to center field on the very next pitch.
She boos and hisses when the Orioles score, throwing out jeers and taunts to the opposing team's batter because she's only eight rows back and surely he can hear every word she's saying above the insults from the seven rows in front of her. She's surprised by the language Lucas throws out at every Yankee strikeout or foul ball, and for once she thinks that maybe he's not such a boy scout after all.
Eventually it's the bottom of the ninth, and she's amazed that she actually knows what's going on. The Yankees are down by two with two outs and Jeter is on third and Beltran's on second and Gardner is at the plate with two balls and two strikes. She holds her breath along with the crowd as the bat connects with the ball and her hand is gripping Lucas's tightly enough to leave imprints in his skin. Her eyes follow the ball and she stands, watching as it sails over the left field wall. An explosion of cheers and whistles erupts around her, and she's never been so happy that her mom had to work and Riley had to visit her grandparents in Philly and she suddenly gets the urge to grab Lucas by the collar of his worn Derek Jeter Yankees jersey and kiss him as hard as she can. So she does.
It barely registers what she's doing because holy shit that's two RBIs for Brett Gardner bringing his season total up to sixty and she doesn't know how she remembers that or why she cares but the Yankees won with a come from behind victory over the first place Orioles. By the time she lets him go people are already starting to file out of the stadium and even though she's not ready to leave just yet she moves to pick up her bag. A hand on her forearm stops her, and she turns to see the older woman who'd been sitting on her left smiling with an annoyingly knowing look in her bright blue eyes.
"You two are the cutest things I've ever seen. You know, my husband brought me here on our first date too and we've been married for thirty five years."
She blinks in confusion for a few seconds because this wasn't a date and what had they done that was so cute? And then the full force of what had happened hits her. She snaps her head up to look at Lucas who stares back at her with a dazed, somewhat goofy look on his face and her own face heats up and she's blushing and she knew this was a bad idea from the beginning and ohmygod she's a terrible friend.
"That never happened," she breathes, finally able to find her voice and glare up at him.
He shrugs and grabs her arm, leading her down the steps to exit the stadium. "What never happened?"
And then she relaxes, because he wouldn't say anything if and even if he did it didn't mean anything anyway, right? "Thanks for bringing me."
Surprise registers on his face, but just as quickly it's replaced with the wide smile she didn't know he could even make until today. "Thanks for coming."
She's aware of people staring at her as she walks into school the next Monday, but she attributes it to the fact that she's wearing Yankees a baseball cap which is not only technically a dress code violation but she also pretty much never did hats because why cover up the hair she's spent so much time and effort taking care of? At least until Riley comes stomping up to her with a look ranging between anger, amusement, and shock.
"You didn't tell me you went with Lucas to the baseball game!" she shouts.
Though she was a great liar, she could never get anything past Riley so she didn't even bother trying. Instead she asks the question that's burning at the forefront of her mind because if Bucky talked after he'd promised not to- "How did you know?"
A phone is shoved into her hands, and she glances down at the screen to see a Youtube clip of her and Lucas the previous weekend. Anyone who had cable and was watching ESPN Saturday night got a clear picture of them kissing after the game winning homer along with the announcer's commentary which was not helping the situation at all. At least that explained the funny looks she'd been getting all morning.
"Well?" Riley huffs, hands on her hips. Maya doesn't speak for a minute, and seeing how upset she4 appeared to be about what had happened, she sighs and leans in closer. "At least tell me how it was."
She's not sure what to say because does she mean the game or the kiss and to be completely honest she barely remembers the kiss What she does remember is the sound of the crowd, the taste of the hotdogs, and Lucas's wide smile as he describes the game and its players to her. She remembers the smell of the grass, the excitement of winning, and the feeling that she belongs. The corners of her lips curl up, and really, there's only one way that she can think to describe it all.
"Baseball is one hell of a sport."
AN: Why am I so terrible at ending stories. As a disclaimer I'm not a Yankee fan, so my knowledge of their players/stories/stats is based off of the ramblings of a coworker so blame him if anything is wrong. Idea loosely stolen from Fever Pitch.
I'm becoming a real fan of run on sentences since it gets my/their thoughts out easier without having to worry about that pesky punctuation. :P Still pushing for Mucas.
EDIT: Whoops, updated from Wrigley Field to Yankee Stadium. No idea why I made that mistake, what the heck. Thanks for pointing it out!