Disclaimer: Standard Applies.
Rating: K+
Words: 1,536
Inspiration: TV show, baseball proposal~

Suprise
Authored by: CanalaveCoast

It was an early morning, very much like any other, that Mihashi entered the pitch with a sigh. He'd woken up late for practice again but somehow managed to still be one of the first at practice. Perhaps it was due to the close proximity in which he lived relative to the pitch, or maybe it was something else, but he disregarded the thought: it's not like it mattered really anyways.

Sitting in the dugout staring at the ground, Mihashi let his mind wander to the recent happenings and twists his life had taken in the past months, the most notably and evidently felt of which was Abe's loss. It had only been nine weeks since the catcher had transferred schools, and along the way, switched teams—but everyone felt the difference, Mihashi most heavily of all. Tajima had tried endless tactics to cheer him but nothing seemed enough to work the pitcher out of the slump he'd fallen into and it had begun to show in his game focus, or rather, lack thereof.

The recent loss had also started to affect the pitcher's already rather unstable eating patterns until it reached the point where he ate so little that it not only worried Momoe and the team, but also some of his teachers had begun to comment and his family at home to wonder about a doctor or even so far as calling a psychiatrist. Nobody could understand why, though, Mihashi was behaving like this. He'd become engulfed by a never-ending wave of impending sorrow and seemed to entrench him in a state of self-pitying regret. There were even rumours amoung the team that some feared he would soon be trapped in this terrible state of doom-and-gloom forever more, unable to move on. Mihashi heard and saw none of this though; he only reflected his behavioral patterns on how he felt and became even more unsettled and socially awkward, seeming to take a step back in all the progress he'd made since his first arrival at Nishura High.

As teammates began to trickle in, the pitcher was started violently out of his reveries as Hanai entered the dugout and rummaged for a water bottle he'd left behind the day prior.

"Morning," he greeted. Mihashi gave a quiet nod and tremor before popping up as the lithe figure of their new catcher entered the premises, mask on and ready for business.

Stepping towards him, Mihashi settled himself at a comfortable distance and began throwing practice warm-up throws as he did each morning, but today, more than usual, his mind was elsewhere. Their new catcher seemed irritable but oddly tolerant until finally Mihashi threw a careless pitch out of range.

"Hey!" the catcher snapped, getting to his feet. Mihashi was jolted back to reality and in response trembled, clutching his mitt tightly to his chest.

"S-sorry!" he stuttered anxiously, eyes growing wide. The catcher growled something and threw his own mitt down before starting towards the now terrified pitcher. There was something in his stride that intricately indicated his manner as perceived to be very, very pissed off and Mihashi felt the impending urge to flee strike him. What to do, what to do!

"I-I'm sorry! I-I don't know what got into me!" he gushed as the catcher loomed closer and closer. "I-I promise it won't happen again! I'm trying I really am! I-I know you told me yesterday before bed t-to forget about Abe—but!"

The catcher froze a stride or so away.

"What?"

There was a pause in which Mihashi seemed to solidify amid his blubbering: that tone, that voice! It was familiar, too familiar to be anyone but…

"A-Abe?"

The catcher removed his helmet and there, glowering back at him like countless times before, was Takashi Abe, his catcher, his real catcher. For a moment the shock rendered the red head utterly immobile before the most unusual sensation of relief and happiness flooded through the small pitchers system. Just as quickly, all else vanished aside from a dreadful drop in his stomach and an anxiety that would have made a cat bald upon realization. Abe was angry with him. Very angry.

"Yeah it's me you idiot! What the hell! What'd you mean this guy told you to forget about me! Son of a bitch, I leave for nine freaking weeks and I come back and he tells you to forget about me!" the boy cried out furiously, rendering his pitcher mute and putting him in a state of utter terror as he quivered in place. I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I didn't mean it! Mihashi trembled, visibly shrinking back as the catcher's anger seemed to wear on him like a hundred pound weight.

When he'd said his piece, Abe scowled and finally turned, chucking his helmet down with a violent blow like the other had never seen before and began to storm off the field in a huff. Mihashi watched him go with a growing sensation of dread gathering within his thin, fragile person. What should he do, what could he say? What was there to say?

His feet seemed to know the answer as his brain struggled to catch up because before he realized it, Mihashi was already half-way across the field in pursuit of his catcher.

"A-Abe, wait!" he called out. The catcher for his part seemed deaf to all calls only turning, finally, as he approached the gate and Mihashi reached out gingerly to stop him. "W-wait, Abe," he whispered again in fright. "I didn't forget about you! Honest! No matter what anyone said I could never forget! I practiced every day after you left so I could get even better! Because one day, if you ever came back you could see how hard I worked and see how much I could accomplish with the help you gave me! P-please don't be mad!" he rambled, petrified out of his own skin.

Abe seemed to sizzle down a little at the reassurance he'd not been forgotten but he still fumed a bit with a very cross look on his face as Mihashi finished. He duly noted that in fact, his leave seemed to have had the opposite effect. He opened his mouth and began raging that Mihashi's throws had grown lazy and uncalculated and that this new catcher must have been so terrible that he'd have to start all over in retraining the pitcher before the new season! Mihashi fidgeted from foot to foot, fiddling with his mitt as Abe ranted and finally, when the other was quiet, he whispered:

"I missed you Abe, that's all."

The catcher was silent, a small blush creeping into his features.

"Yeah well, I missed you too." He mumbled. "It's why I transferred back to Nishura. That and their pitcher sucked."

Mihashi smiled and before he realized what he'd done, he lifted himself onto his tip-toes and reached over towards Abe gently, tenderly, pressing his lips against the other's. There was a stunned silence resonating from the catcher's body before a light, melting sensation, something so close to fragility that he'd never before seen in the raven haired, greeted the pitcher and left him slightly baffled. None the less, he smiled against his catcher for a moment before pulling back, blushing to the roots of his hair, once again embarrassed and flustered.

"I-I'm sorry Abe! I dunno what came over me! I-I didn't mean—"

"O-of course not! It was nothing! Don't mention it!" the other stuttered back, also slightly peachy.

There was another pause before both reverted back to their normal characters and Abe sighed, grumpily, before turning back to his pitcher.

"Look, your throws are all wrong! I don't care if it's 'cause you missed me or what but I'm not going to have it! Go stand on the mound and we'll practice a few curveballs! I don't want any more of your stupid lazy pitches!" he exclaimed, heating up once more. Mihashi nodded rapidly and scampered off to the mound, that goofy, triangular grin stretched across his face again. After nine weeks of frowns and pouts, it was a relief to smile again, even if it was a nervous, determined little thing.

Later in the locker room:

"Mihashi, what the hell was that idiot catcher doing in your bedroom last night anyways?"

"H-hm? O-oh! Sohma was just calling to make sure I didn't fall asleep with my baseball again and come in with the laces marked."

"What happened to the one I gave you?"

"M-my dog found it and sh-she took it. I-I don't know where it went."

"YOUR DOG TOOK IT! YOU LET YOUR DOG TAKE IT! YOU REALLY WHERE TRYING TO FORGET ABOUT ME WEREN'T YOU! WELL IM GONNA MAKE SURE AS HELL YOU NEVER TRY THAT AGAIN! JUST YOU WAIT! FOR THE NEXT FEW WEEKS IM GONNA BE GLUED TO YOUR SIDE SO THAT YOU CAN'T EVEN SO MUCH AS BREATH WITHOUT ME NOTICING IT! AND WE ALSO NEED TO WORK ON THAT DIET OF YOURS! LOOK AT YOU, YOU'RE SKIN AND BONES! OBVIOUSLY NOBODY ELSE CARES ABOUT HOW MUCH WEIGHT YOU LOSE, I MEAN HONESTLY!"

And it continued on from that day forth, once and for all, as normal as can be.

fin.