Hello! I'm back! Sorry sorry sorry. Didn't think it would take this long to get to updating. I've got a lot of stuff going on with sports and my stupid brother hogging the computer then 4th of July. Sorry again. Anyways, not sure if I promised this or not, but reviewers get shout outs so it's shout out time! Shout outs go out to gina, mela, ComradeYukitheBlackRussian, and BeyaondCosplay for reviewing. Love you guys. Anyways, here's the chapter. Enjoy :3
My first practice since my injury had just ended. Though all Mihashi and I did was run for conditioning and play a bit of catch, it was probably the most fun I've had. It had been somewhat refreshing to practice like that. Mihashi is looking good too. I can tell he's been practicing. With the way the team is looking, we could possibly win the fall tournament as well. The teams even seems closer. It looks like they're all becoming friends rather than teammates. Changing after practice was a bit rowdier than usual, but I guess that's what happens when Hanai lets Tajima do whatever basically. As I was changing, Mihashi stood beside me already finished. He looked nervous and was twiddling his fingers. "What is it? If you wanna say something then say it already!" I shouted. I scolded myself when I saw Mihashi flinch at my voice.
"I-I uh, I wa-wanted to ask y-you i-if you c-could h-help me tonight," he stuttered nervously. He looked at the ground ready to be yelled at more. I sighed.
"What do you need help with?" I asked.
"S-Studying," he said.
"Studying? You mean to tell me you haven't been studying properly?" I yelled. I stood and started grinding his head and he cried out. "What kind of an idiot are you?"
"I-I'm sorry! I am studying! It-it's just that I'm not learning anything!" he cried. I sighed and let him go.
"Alright, I'll help you tonight. Just let me text my parents," I said pulling out my phone from my bag.
"Whoa! Mihashi, are you studying tonight? Can I come? I need some help too!" Tajima said enthusiastically.
"Actually, Mihashi, if it's alright with you, I think another joint study session would be good," Hanai said joining the three of us. Mihashi stuttered about before nodding quickly.
"Th-That's fine. My mom is always saying that I should have all of you come over again," Mihashi said.
"Awesome!" Tajima shouted throwing his arm around Mihashi's neck. Tajima smiled and held onto Mihashi tightly. "Thanks, man! This is gonna be awesome!"
"Hey, you do know that this isn't a play date right? We will be studying because I know you're not studying at all, Tajima," Hanai groaned. Tajima stuck his tongue out at Hanai.
"Oh lay off it, Hanai! So what if I'm excited?" Tajima laughed following Hanai to continue their conversation somewhere else. I glanced back at Mihashi only to see that he was more nervous than usual. I grabbed my bag and walked over to him.
"Hey, if you didn't want the rest of the team over, then why didn't you say no?" I asked. Mihashi shook his head furiously.
"It-It's not that I don't want the team over..." Mihashi started.
"Then what is it?" I growled impatiently. He jolted and held up his hands defensively.
"I-It's nothing, A-Abe!" Mihashi stuttered. I sighed and grabbed his wrist.
"Then let's go," I said pulling him away. He quickly grabbed his bag and we left the field with the rest of the team. During the walk to Mihashi's house, Mihashi acted strangely. He looked around nervously and clung to my side closely. Was he expecting to be jumped or something? We made it to Mihashi's house before it got too dark. The sun was setting quite slowly today actually. We all came in and said our pardons to Mrs. Mihashi who looked surprised. She greeted us then went off to the kitchen to make dinner for us all. Mihashi led us back up to his room where Tajima immediately began looking around the room for anything Mihashi might have hidden. Hanai grabbed Tajima's collar and sat him on the ground in front of the table we used to study last time.
"Don't go causing any trouble!" Hanai scolded. Tajima pouted.
"But Hanai, I was only looking around for Mihashi's porn!" Tajima shouted.
"Mihashi wouldn't have anything like that! Only you would," Hanai scoffed. Mihashi was turning red at this. I sighed and grabbed his hand pulling him to sit down. I sat across from him and pulled out my notes from my classes. I could feel him staring at me, but I didn't say anything. Once I had all of my notes out, I stared at him.
"Well... Aren't you going to get your notes out too?" I asked.
"Oh right!" Mihashi said reaching into his bag. He fumbled through it until he pulled out his notebooks. Instead of putting them on the table, he outstretched them to me. "H-Here you go, A-Abe." I took the notebooks and flipped through them. Surprisingly, there were notes inside them but...
"What the hell are these? Didn't I teach you already how to take proper notes?" I shouted. Mihashi cringed and whimpered away from me. I sighed and handed him my notes. He calmed some and leaned forward to look at my notes. "See my notes? They're neat, organized, and cover everything important without going over the small things." Mihashi stared in awe at my notes. "What is it?"
"A-Abe, you're amazing!" Mihashi started. This again? "N-Not only are you the reason why I can pitch, b-but you're really smart as well! You're amazing, Abe!" We stared into each other's eyes, his filled with awe and admiration, mine filled with shock. I hid my guilt from him. I'm not amazing... I'm anything but that. I just broke our promise, and he's calling me amazing. Does he not see how much guilt and dread I feel all because one play, one lousy play where I was reckless. My recklessness caused him to cry. I caused him to cry, and he calls me amazing? I grabbed onto my pants, fisting them tightly and glared at the ground. I could tell Mihashi was worried by the way he stared at me and reached out to me. "A-Abe?"
"I'm not amazing, Mihashi. I'm no where being amazing," I mumbled. He looked at my questioningly, and I wasn't sure if he had heard me or not. I let go of my pants and looked up at him with my normal straight face. "Let's just start studying. This study time is going to be useless if we don't do any studying. Now what do you want me to help you with first?" He stayed quiet to think. "What's your next test on?"
"Um... Tomorrow I have a test in math... a-and then, W-Wednesday I have a test in English and literature," he said nervously. I grabbed my math notes and pulled them closer to me.
"Alright, what are you being tested on?" I asked. He stayed silent but flapped his mouth open and closed like he normally does. After a while I got impatient. "Are you saying you don't know! You're going to have a test tomorrow and you don't even know what it's on?" I banged my fist on the table gaining Tajima's attention.
"You're not picking on Mihashi, are you, Abe?" Tajima asked. I calmed down and glared at Tajima.
"No, I'm not picking him. You're in Mihashi's class. Can you tell me what your test tomorrow is on?" I asked.
"Sure," Tajima said standing up. He walked over to me and looked at my notes over my shoulder. "It's on this, and this, and this, oh and this too." Tajima started pointing excitedly at everything he remembered. I glanced over at Mihashi to see him sitting patiently, but there was a weird look in his eyes. It was different for him. I didn't know what it could be. After a while, Tajima left and I thanked him. I looked back at Mihashi.
"Okay, now that I know what to help you with, let's get started," I said. Mihashi nodded happily, and I couldn't help but smile. We worked on his math for a while. Mihashi has a problem with not focusing which is probably the reason he can't take very good notes. It's really problematic, but I can work around it. During our time for studying, I tried to not yell at him. My injury made me realize a few things. One, I can't be so arrogant or self-centered around Mihashi. It only leads to misunderstandings. Two, I have to be more patient with Mihashi. The more patient I am, the more we're able to talk. The more we're able to talk, the more I get to learn about Mihashi which isn't bad. Three, I need Mihashi just as much as Mihashi thinks he needs me. I can't control our battery just because I think he needs me and he can get no where without me. That's not how it works, and I see that now. My opinions aren't the only ones that matters.
The injury even stirred something up that I'm not sure what it is. I'm starting to feel differently around Mihashi. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but it's different. When I'm around Mihashi, even when I'm annoyed or not, I feel almost... lighter. There's also something in the pit of my stomach that bunches up almost like nerves, but it's not. I never get nervous, so it definitely is a new experience for me.
I'm not the only acting weird though either. Mihashi is acting strangely as well. I found him spacing out more than usual today and I also caught him staring at me a few times. I've also noticed that his face seems to be more red than usual. I've considered the possibility that he's sick, but he seems to have too much energy to be sick. Then again, it is Mihashi. The guy will do anything to play baseball. He did get sick over the summer tournament anyways. It wouldn't actually surprise me if he was sick.
"Hey, Mihashi," I called looking up at him only to stiffen. I didn't even notice when Mihashi got this close. He's right next to me with our faces closer together. He must have done it during the time I was thinking, but I don't know when. It startled me, but for some reason... I don't mind him being so close. I swallowed nervously while staring into his large golden brown eyes. They blinked and studied me closely.
"A-Abe?" he called. I could hear him, but I couldn't speak. I was frozen there, just to watch him. I was saved when Mihashi turned to the door when his mom entered the room saying that dinner was ready. Everyone quickly scrambled up and raced downstairs while I just sat there still in shock. Mihashi popped his head back in the doorway. "A-Abe? Aren't you coming?" I looked up snapping out of it and nodded. I stood silently and followed him downstairs.
My cheeks feel warm. Is it because of Mihashi? Or is it something else? Why do I feel so warm to begin with? As we walked on, my cheeks started to lose their warmth. If it is because of Mihashi, wouldn't I still be warm with him next to me? Next to me... I can have my chance to make him understand just how bad I feel about my injury. I reached out to grab his hand. He smiled and ran ahead into the kitchen since we were already downstairs. I stood just like that with my hand in the air for a while. Why is it, that I never realize what's truly important before it's too late? Hearing the team call for me, I put on one of my small smiles and walked into the room. I grabbed a plate and started serving myself.
"Hey, Abe, what took you so long? Did you get lost?" Sakaeguchi joked pulling a few laughs from everybody.
"I just didn't want to get caught up in your tirade for food, especially Tajima's," I said earning a few laughs and a pout from Tajima. I sat with everybody and started eating. I watched Mihashi closely. He was scarfing down his food, as usual, and seemed to be eating a bit more than usual. Even though it looked like he was eating normally, I could tell that something was off with him. I wasn't even aware of my own actions until I realized I was eating air. I looked down at my plate and saw that I had already eaten everything on my plate. I stood and cleaned up my plate before sitting back down at the table to wait for Mihashi.
Once everyone had finished eating, we all went back upstairs to clean up. No one was in the mood to study anymore, so they all had decided to do something else. I sat at the foot of Mihashi's bed and leaned back making myself comfortable. I didn't really care what they chose to do until they had actually decided to do something. "Let's play 20 questions where everyone answers!" Tajima shouted instantly gaining many murmurs of agreement. I sat up quickly and nervously. They had already formed themselves a large circle and had included me in it. I had another horrible feeling that something was going to go wrong. "Okay, first thing's first! Who was everybody's first kiss? Mine was with a girl named Chihiro!" Everybody in the circle answered even if it brought an embarrassed flush to their face. When it got to my turn, everyone stared at me expectantly. I sighed and felt my cheeks warm up.
"I um... I haven't exactly had... my first kiss yet," I mumbled. Everyone's jaws dropped in shock. Then the room was thrown into chaos. Everyone spoke at once, but I heard Tajima the most.
"What do you mean you haven't kissed anyone yet? Even Mihashi's kissed someone!" Tajima blurted out. I looked at Mihashi who avoided my gaze, his face redder than usual. I growled.
"Alright! I get it!" I shouted. Everyone in the room shut up. "I've never tried to have a relationship before, so I haven't kissed anyone before. It's not a big deal."
"And you call yourself a boy? How have you never tried to get a relationship before? Have you not fantasized about girls before? Not even looked at one porn magazine or anything?" Tajima asked dramatically clinging onto my shoulders. I tried to push him off.
"Get off of me!" I growled finally able to push him away. "I'm not like you! I don't do that kind of stuff!" Tajima sat back down next to Hanai and whispered something in his ear. Hanai nodded completely straight faced. I started to get worried.
"I get it Abe. It's okay if that's what you like," Tajima said.
"Huh?" I asked.
"It's okay. Hanai and I are okay with the fact that you're gay," Tajima smiled at me. I deadpanned at him and got a very strong instinct to kill him.
"I'm not into guys! I'm not gay!" I shouted. The team ignored me and clapped my back in comfort saying they support me. "But I'm not gay!"
"How would you know if you've never been in a relationship?" Tajima asked. That shut me up. I hadn't ever really thought about it... I was never really interested in starting relationships with girls and because of Haruna, I didn't really try to have much friends that were guys, so I could... No! I'm not gay. "Besides, with the way you treat Mihashi it's kinda clear to all of us." I glared up at him.
"Is there something wrong with the way I treat my pitcher?" I asked. I saw Mihashi stiffen.
"No, but you do dote on him a lot. You take extra care in stretching, you massage his shoulders, make sure he's healthy, and stuff like that. I've never seen any of my catchers do that for their batters," Tajima said.
"But Mihashi's just so reckless that I have to make sure he doesn't hurt himself!" I explained.
"Mihashi can more than take care of himself. He did just go two weeks without you and stayed perfectly fine," Hanai pointed out. I sat there in silence. He has a point. All of my actions before... were they unnecessary? Mihashi didn't seem to mind... But then again I did force it on him.
"A-Abe," we all looked up at this new voice. Mihashi fumbled around under all of our stares. Once he controlled his fidgeting somewhat, he looked back at me. "P-Please don't hate me, A-Abe." I felt heat rush to my cheeks but tried to force it down. Since he was right next to me, I reached out and playfully hit the top of his head. He looked at me in shock.
"I don't hate you. You're my pitcher," I said. The room filled with howls and cheers and I glared at them all. Hanai looked pretty agitated by it all as well. He stood up making everyone stop and look at him.
"Alright, guys. We'll have to finish this game another time. It's late so let's go. We don't want to overstay our welcome," Hanai said grabbed his bag. The team murmured some but didn't protest any. Soon enough they all left the room except for me, Tajima, Hanai, and Mihashi.
"Well, bye Mihashi! Don't get eaten by Abe!" Tajima called running out the door. I held out a fist to the door.
"I wouldn't eat anybody!" I shouted. Hanai sighed and waited in the doorway.
"Sorry about all this, Abe. I shouldn't have encouraged him, but it's okay to be open with us. We won't judge you," Hanai started.
"But I'm not gay," I denied.
"Alright, but if you ever have something to say in the future, don't be afraid to say it," Hanai said leaving. I sat there staring after him with Mihashi beside me. I'm not gay... am I?
"A-Abe?" Mihashi called. I looked back at him and he began fidgeting. "Um... A-Aren't you... A-Aren't you g-going to-"
"Just say it already!" I snapped causing him to fumble around more. I sighed and facepalmed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you. Just tell me what you want to say already."
"A-Aren't you going to go h-home? I-It's p-pretty late," Mihashi stated. I looked up at the clock. It was already past nine o'clock. I looked back down at Mihashi.
"Yeah, thanks," I said standing up. I gathered my things but left my notes for him. I started walking towards the door. "I'm leaving you my notes so you can study on your own. Just give them back to me at school tomorrow. Oh, and Mihashi," I paused to look back at him. He perked up and looked at me expectantly. "Don't take anything the guys said tonight to heart. I don't want you to feel awkward around me because of them." He nodded and I smiled starting to walk away.
"Um, A-Abe!" Mihashi called. I stopped and looked back at him. He looked away indecisively. "U-Um... I-It's nothing. Bye, A-Abe." I left his room and started for my house. I stopped at his gate and gazed up towards his room. He turned his light off. He must be asleep or somewhere else in the house. I turned back and kept walking. I glared at the ground deep in thought. What Tajima said is really getting to me. I'm not gay, but... Tajima really made me think differently. He had a lot of proof... but then again, not every man is perfectly straight. Not even Tajima himself is perfectly straight. I've seen him taking peeks at Hanai when we change... but if that's true then... No. Just don't think about it anymore. I don't want things to be awkward between me and Mihashi. It will mess with our battery. But I can't help but feel that... I may have already messed with it.
Alright! Second chapter down! Don't you just love Tajima? Him and his antics xD Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed that chapter. Review please. This chapter makes me nervous Dx Look forward to the next chapter coming soon! (hopefully it won't take as long as this chapter. You can blame insufficient computer time for the wait)
