****Clean-up Tajima and Captain Hanai****

Hanai sat on the railings of the dugout, his feet digging into the clay. He watched the infield and outfield go over their drills, occasionally shouting to people to fix their stances, to throw with more power, or to throw properly with their whole bodies. Tajima leaned over the rail, his hands dangling down to touch the dirt and his hat on backwards, a cheeky grin on his childish face as he turned towards the taller boy.

"Oi, Hanai."

Hanai ignored him; he was too tired to battle words and spaz outs with Tajima today. Not to be deterred, Tajima put his feet on the lower railing, stood, and started to poke Hanai repeatedly, calling his name in a singsong chant. Still, Hanai was able to stick to his guns and pointedly ignore the interruption until the smaller teen wrapped his arms around Hanai's neck, laughing.

"Hanai!"

The captain immediately turned his head to look at the younger boy on his back. He was apparently standing on the low rail still, and he was tapping a beat against Hanai's collarbone with one hand, his eyes full of laughter.

"W-What are you doing, Tajima?"

Instead of answering the question, Tajima stuck out his tongue and grinned, "You're blushing, Captain."

"S-Shut up and get off of me, Tajima, before I make Coach bench you, understand?"

Tajima squeezed a little tighter and pulled at Hanai's cheek, trying to make him smile. Whining, he said, "No, please! I only wanted to ask you something but you were ignoring me and I promise I only wanted to ask a question, strictly!"

Hanai rolled his eyes in mock annoyance at Tajima's use of strictly.

"Fine. What do you want?"

Tajima sobered up quickly; looking at the pitcher's mound he asked, "Have you watched Mihashi and Abe together lately?"

"What are you talking about, Tajima?"

In truth Hanai had been too tired to captain properly, let alone pay individual teammates any spare thought. Exams were wearing hard on him this semester due to advanced classes he was in. Still, he peered at the two pitching and throwing together on the field.

"What about them?"

Tajima sighed in annoyance, and knocked at Hanai's shaved head, pushing him forward. Hanai turned to complain, but Tajima only put his hand over his mouth and turned his attention back to the team's battery.

"Hanai, look! Don't you see anything? Anything at all?"

At that moment, Abe pushed up his mask and jogged over to mound. Mihashi cowered a little until Abe smiled wide at him and put a hand on his hat, pushing down the brim. Mihashi laughed and blushed. Abe came over and rotated Mihashi's shoulder, putting one hand on his waist and the other on the top muscle of his shoulder, describing how to do a certain pitch at full speed. Mihashi nodded his consent and then stretched out his shoulders with a slight wince. The catcher looked at him, concerned, and started to rub at the boy's shoulders. Mihashi blushed and stared at the ground as Abe lectured him on pitch count. Nothing too out of the ordinary; everyone was used to babying Mihashi, and everyone was used to Mihashi not paying attention to his pitch count. But the way Abe was handling Mihashi….gently, softly…

Hanai turned to Tajima bright red, shocked. If this meant what he thought it meant…

"You mean?"

Tajima nodded, an evil smile gracing his face.

"Exactly."

Hanai looked at Tajima helplessly, his eyes wide with shock and his mouth open. Was Abe really… Hanai really would never have pinned the catcher as that type of a guy….but then, he was willing to bet that Abe himself hadn't thought of himself like that either. Did Abe even realize?

And then, looking thoughtfully at his captain, Tajima mused, "That's the way you treat me when I can't bat right, Captain."

The captain in question scowled, pushing Tajima off him and onto a bench in the dugout, still blushing but now angry as well. He might be a little gentle when dealing with Tajima, but that was only because…because, well, the younger boy was like a child who knew how to hit really, really well. That was the only reason.

"You don't know anything, Tajima," said Hanai with a glare as he walked away.

Tajima smiled and settled comfortably in the dugout, propping his feet up on the opposite bench and taking a swig of water.

"I think I know quite a lot."