A/N: Who's the teen that Miyuki has his eyes on? We shall see...
Thanks a lot for the reviews + favourites!~ Got a good idea from the reviews, but it'll come at later chapters :P
Chapter 2: Who is it
The teen scurried off with the bucket of toiletries he just dropped. He was profusely blushing, obviously so, as he thought he made a foolish scene in front of all the guests. 'Baka...baka...baka...' was all that coursed through his mind as he rushed to the back, which surprisingly, was a long trek that bypassed various patrons who were snickering and smiling at the blushing teen.
'Calm down...recompose yourself...it's not the end of the world...yet...' he was jumpy, as he should be, since he was working at a relatively well known and popular ryokan, which had a name to uphold. He felt that each and every one of his moves were being watched and evaluated by both peers and customers, especially customers. He was warned by one of the waiters, Kai, that if he screwed up, it would be the end of the world.
"Eijun! Why are you so jumpy? Relax!" The chef shouted out from the kitchen as Sawamura ran by.
Sawamura immediately stopped in his tracks and moved back to peek his head through the door.
"I'm not jumpy! I'm perfectly fine." Sawamura gave a big grin trying to show otherwise.
"Liar..." Kai said while walking by with a tray in hand.
"I'm not lying!" Sawamura turned around to look at Kai with a pout.
"Haha, I was joking about people criticizing everything you do...did you really believe that your mistake would actually cause the collapse of this inn? If anything, they probably thought it was cute how you scurried to pick everything up while blushing like a ripe tomato." Kai started poking fun at Sawamura. The two had a great relationship. Kai made fun of Sawamura every chance he got. Sawamura on the other hand naturally fought back. The waiter was older than Sawamura, but by only a few years.
"WHAT?! But you said..." Sawamura's mouth was gaping wide.
"And you believed..." Kai slyly remarked with a tone that questioned the pitcher's intelligence as he pressed his index finger against the pitcher's lips to prevent the younger teen from speaking.
"..." Sawamura stood there speechless. "That's not funny..." he retorted after swatting away Kai's hand.
"Haha, tell that to the group of us who made bets on how long you'd be screwing up for...of course, all bets are off cuz you've made too many mistakes from being too nervous..." Kai then leaned in towards Sawamura's ears to whisper. "By the way, I bet you would keep screwing up until the last day..." Kai pulled back and started to chuckle.
"It's not funny!" the pitcher pouted giving the angry little brother look.
*Groooowl* A sudden noise came from Sawamura's stomach. Both the pitcher and waiter blinked as they stared at the origin of the noise.
"Did you eat lunch?" Kai asked flatly.
Sawamura looked up at him with a meek smile, "Ha...ha...I completely forgot..."
"Baaaaaakaaaaa..." Kai walked into the kitchen, grabbed a bun, walked back out and shoved it into Sawamura's mouth. "Make sure you don't overwork yourself." the waiter sighed.
"Phank...yoo..." Sawamura said while his voice was muffled behind the bun.
"Anyways, for dinner tonight, you're going to be watching someone serve in the guests' room, cause you're going to be doing it starting tomorrow morning." Kai said while ruffling the pitcher's hair.
"Whaaa!" Sawamura almost choked on the bun after hearing his fast paced job change.
"Ba I jes..." Sawamura started to rebut with the bun in his mouth.
"Don't talk with food in your mouth..." Kai said as he pulled the bun out of Sawamura's mouth.
"But I just started..." Sawamura started again, but was interrupted when Kai shoved the bun into his mouth to stop the pitcher from speaking.
"Well...apparently someone requested you serve them...and we agreed, it'll be a good experience for you, and I heard the person doesn't mind if you screw up." Kai smirked.
"Uhhh..." Sawamura knew he had no choice. 'Let's hope the customer is forgiving...'
For the rest of the evening, Sawamura shadowed someone watching meticulously at how everything was done. He watched carefully, mentally nothing everything. Sawamura went back downstairs to the employee's area thereafter.
"So you think you can handle it?" Kai asked as he saw the pitcher walk into the room.
"I should be able to!" Sawamura replied with high spirits.
"Good, I'm sure you'll be fine."
"YOSH!" the now reenergized pitcher shouted.
"Well we gotta clean up the place tonight." Kai said as he handed a brush and bucket to Sawamura. "But go eat your dinner first...baakaa..."
'Grrr you're as annoying as Miyuki...' Sawamura thought as he stared death daggers into Kai.
"Now now, your killing intent is spilling out of your pores." Kai nonchalantly said while ruffling the pitcher's hair.
- Later that evening -
The inn was situated mountain side and had an abundance of hot springs, both big public ones open to all guests in the inn and private ones that come with a price. Some of the hot springs were situated outside engulfed and integrated in with nature.
The night was calm and cool. A breeze blew, wafting the fragrant scent of flowers throughout. The moon shone bright as it basked the surface in a radiant glow. Sawamura glanced outside and took a deep breath before picking up his broom for a late evening cleaning.
He was scrubbing down the showering area and surfaces around the onsen. He diligently cleaned every inch of the shower, ensuring that the moon's glow would shine with greater brilliance off the floors after he was done.
"Pfff..." the pitcher was getting tired. 'This is harder than training...I wonder how Kai, uncle and aunt does this...' Sawamura thought as he continued scrubbing.
*SPLASH* the sound of water being poured came from next door.
'Oh, someone's using the bath next door...' Sawamura thought as he slowed down. 'I guess I'll slow down a bit...have to wait for the guest to finish before I can clean the next room...hmmm I should take a look to see how many people are there...maybe I won't be able to clean it tonight...'
The pitcher placed the broom against the wall and made his way towards the fence. 'It should be fine to take a look...this whole section is for males only...' Sawamura thought as he found a hole in the fence to take a peek from. He was lazy, he didn't want to walk all the way to the next room, although it was a short walk.
Squinting through the hole, he saw a single male step out of the shower area.
'MIYUKI?! What's he doing here? He seems to be all alone...' Sawamura thought in shock as he backed away momentarily from surprise.
'Maybe I saw wrong...' Sawamura couldn't believe his eyes, so he peeked through the hole again. As the figure walked closer to the hot spring, the image of the male got clearer for the peeking pitcher.
'Miyuki...' Sawamura was more accepting at the fact that it was the catcher he saw. But now, his undivided attention was captivated solely by what he saw and not the worries he had a minute ago.
The moon's light hit the catcher and reflected every crevice of the perfectly toned body. From head to toe, Miyuki's body seemed to glow. To Sawamura, it was the perfect body. The pitcher's eyes moved up and down scanning every inch the catcher's body, capturing the breathless image. He was captivated so much, that everything else around him didn't matter, it was a new feeling he got, none that he had ever felt.
Sawamura took a gulp. He felt his heart racing and his body getting hot. His hand went up to touch his face as it got flushed. 'I'm blushing...' he thought as he felt the heat his face radiated. He continued standing there watching as the catcher made his way into the hot spring.
'Eijun! What are you doing...Miyuki's a guy! Stop checking him out...he's a guy, you're a guy...this isn't happening! Miyuki doesn't even see you in this manner anyways! WAIT, you don't even like guys, so why are you looking?! ' his conscious was yelling at him, but his body was more truthful as his eyes couldn't stray away.
Sawamura continued watching every part of the body, especially the package that now caught his eyes. Miyuki, being the only person using the onsen at the moment, decided to not cover up at all, so his friend down south was free to move around. Sawamura's eyes fell onto that and captured every frame of its existence. His heart continued to beat faster, excitement coursed through his body as breathlessness drowned him.
Suddenly Miyuki looked up towards the fence and a smirk appeared on the catcher's face.
'Shoot, did he see me?! Did I get caught?!' Sawamura immediately backed away from the fence and looked around to see if there was gap where Miyuki could have seen him from.
'I should leave, get out of this area now...' the panicked pitcher thought, and duly so as he was doing something indecent. As he turned around, he saw Kai walking out from the shower area, of course, still clothed.
"Ei..." Kai started but Sawamura sprinted over and clasped a hand over Kai's mouth.
"Shhhh!" Sawamura's heart was jumping fast, it felt as if it were about to burst through his chest. 'Oh no...did Kai see me peeking too?! I gotta get him out of here...can't let Miyuki hear my voice...'
"What's wrong Eijun?" Kai whispered in curiosity, but with a hint of annoyance.
"Oh...ummm..." Sawamura was stumped on what to say, but the occasional brilliance deep within the pitcher surfaced. "Oh, there's a guest using the onsen next door, we shouldn't make a ruckus here, anyways I finished cleaning this area too, we should leave..."
"Oh sure, I was just checking if you need help finishing up, anyways, we probably can't clean the one next door if it's being used, so let's call it a night...what say you we go take a dip?" Kai asked with a big smirk as he knew Sawamura loved hot springs as well.
"Sure!" Sawamura said hastily with the ultimate goal of leaving the area. As he walked into the brighter shower area, Sawamura suddenly realised something bulging out from down under. Although his yukata was loosely fitted, the unwelcomed guest was still prominently in view.
'Ahhhh, I can't let Kai see this...' The pitcher inwardly screamed as he looked around. Seeing a clean towel on the shelf, Sawamura quickly ran over, grabbed a towel and draped it in front of him. He grabbed another towel as well as he headed towards Kai.
"Here's a towel for you..." Sawamura handed the second towel over, so that Kai wouldn't get suspicious.
"Eijun...your face is really red...are you ok?" the older teen asked.
"Huh? Yeah yeah...of course I'm ok...now let's hurry, I can't wait to finish off the day with a dip!" Sawamura started to push the other teen out.
- At a private onsen -
Being an employee and of course the nephew of the owners of the ryokan had its perks. Sawamura was allowed to use any room, given they were free, in the whole place.
Sawamura sat in the hot spring, head half submerged with a wet hand towel on his head.
"Eijun...are you ok? You look a bit down..." Kai asked as the pitcher was silent ever since getting into the hot spring.
"Whaa? Oh I'm fine..." Sawamura answered meekly as if all life had been siphoned out of him. He was still trying to sort out what happened a while ago.
"No you're not...I know the look you get when you try to..." Kai searched for a word to best describe it, "...think..."
"Hey! What's that suppose to mean!" an angry pitcher shouted as he was reanimated with Kai's comment.
"There we go...that's the Eijun I know...so what's bothering you?"
"Well...ummm...I was just wondering..." Sawamura started.
"Well, don't...your head's going to explode..." Kai started, but got a dirty glare from Sawamura. "Continue..."
Sawamura contemplated for a second, but decided to continue, "...if you look at someone...and you heart starts beating fast and..." Sawamura was hesitant to continue.
"Does Ei-chan have a girlfriend?!" Kai shouted with joy. "When you going to introduce big brother here to her? Don't be shy!" Kai wrapped an arm around Sawamura's shoulders to pull the pitcher closer to him as he asked the questions.
"I don't have a girlfriend!" Sawamura retorted angrily. '...girlfriend...that's the least of my worries...'
"Fine fine...anyways, so hypothetical question on feelings you get when you look at someone...lets say the heart is beating fast?" Kai started to list.
Sawamura nodded in response, avoiding eye contact.
"You feel warm everywhere?"
The pitcher continued to nod.
"Breathing irregular?"
More nods came.
"I assume staring at the person too and unable to divert your gaze?"
Also confirmed by a nod. 'Kai's gotten all of it so far...' Sawamura thought in surprise.
"Your little buddy down below waking up?"
Sawamura subconsciously nodded without thinking. "WAIT! What?!" Sawamura quickly turned his head to look at Kai as the question clicked in his head.
"Hahaha, I'm just joking about the last one..." the older teen laughed upon seeing Sawamura's reaction.
"Grrrr...it's not funny..." Sawamura found himself saying that line quite a few times to Kai.
"Well, you like the person...that's all I can say..." Kai responded straightly. "Bring her here and introduce her!"
"I told you, I don't have a girlfriend!" Sawamura retorted as he threw the wet hand towel into Kai's face.
"You're gonna regret that!" Kai shouted playfully as he pulled Sawamura into a head lock.
The two got out of the hot spring shortly afterwards and headed for their separate rooms for the night.
Sawamura laid down staring into the dark ceiling contemplating the conversation he had with Kai.
'It can't be...Miyuki's a guy...that's not happening...plus...there could be a lot of other reasons for having those symptoms...it's probably from being around hot springs too much all day! Yeah that's right! Don't think too much Eijun...now let's get some sleep...' Sawamura happily convinced himself.
'I can't wait for tomorrow...' Were the last thoughts from the pitcher as he drifted to sleep, but unbeknownst to him, what was in store for him tomorrow would make him take back his last thoughts.
A/N: Oh snap! Who's this Kai person he seems really close to Sawamura...is he gonna get in the way Sawamura's new found feelings? :O
And what is this new found feeling that Sawamura has?!
Next update potentially in a couple weeks (or as fast as a few days...hitting a writer's block...but have some milestones in mind...but getting there is another story :/ )