Scrapes and Bruises

Author's note: Sup. This is just some good ol' fluff really, not too much else to add. Welcome to a paring I have done a solo thing for yet but I love them so much because just...yes. Ryouskue gay panicking gives me life so here, take it. Please feel free to write a review and let me know if there is any grammar/spelling I need to fix. Have fun reading!

Paring: Kuramochi x Ryouskue

They were having a great day. It seemed as if they were in perfect sync, never once missing each others' movements.

"Wow, Incredible play from the shortstop and second baseman! That's three outs, switch!" an announcer yelled over a loudspeaker. Ryouskue shot a grin at Kuramochi, who gave him a thumbs up and a wink. This was definitely the best they had ever played in a game together.

Everyone sprinted across the field to line up for batting. Ryouskue's eyes fluttered over Kuramochi as he lifted his bat above his shoulder with a wicked grin. He licked his lips excitedly and his eyes glimmered with anticipation. He looked like an animal about to pounce on its prey. Ryouskue admired Kuramochi for a minute before stopping and smiling to himself. He knew he shouldn't be checking out his crush in the middle of a game but...oh well, he couldn't help himself.

The opposing pitcher wound up and launched the ball through the air.

"BALL!" yelled the announcer. Kuramochi snickered. Looking for all the world like he was going to pass out, the opposing pitcher gulped and caught the ball his catcher threw back at him. He wound up and threw again.

"BALL TWO!" yelled the announcer.

"If you walk me on balls I'm gonna be so pissed," Kuramochi breathed. Damn, was he fired up.

The pitcher threw again and Kuramochi's bat finally made contact with the ball, a satisfying clinck sounding along with it. Kuramochi took off faster than lightning to the cheering of the crowd and his teammates.

"TRIPPLE!" called the announcer.

The opposing picture looked as if he were going to be sick and Kuramochi stood smug at third base, giving his teammates a sly grin.

Damn, he looks good right now, Ryouskue thought. The sun was glinting off his hair, making it shine a metallic green. He had a fist raised up in the air and a spark in his eyes. Not to mention his goddamn grin that was definitely doing things to Ryouskue.

Seido scored three runs that at-bat, breaking the long-running tie they had for the whole game. Harucchi brought Kuramochi home with a double (Ryouskue may have screamed a bit too loud for his little brother, heh) and Miyuki hit a home run taking both him and Harucchi home. The total score was 5-2 with Seido leading at the top of the ninth. Now it was their turn in the field again.

Everyone ran to take up their positions in the field. Sawamura was pitching in this game which meant he would rely on the fielders as always. It wasn't only Kuramochi and Ryouskue who were having a good game, (though they were most noticeable) Sawamura seemed to be playing well today too. His pitches were fast and direct, Miyuki seemed to be pleased with his performance as well.

"All we need is three outs, we got this guys!" Sawamura cheered. Everyone rolled their eyes and shook their heads at Sawamura's usual loud antics but prepared to take the last three outs.

Ryouskue watched Sawamura wind up and let the ball fly from his fingertips. It sailed straight into Miyuki's glove.

"STRIKE ONE!" called the announcer. Sawamura yelled excitedly. Resting the bat on his shoulder, the batter gave a disgruntled frown.

"STRIKE TWO!" shouted the announcer, as Ryouskue watched the ball travel through the air and skate right past the batter's bat. Now looking worried, the batter prepared to hit again. Ryouskue smiled and whispered, "come on, just one more!"

The ball left Sawamura's hand and made perfect contact with the batter's bat.

"OHHHH A LINE DRIVE TO SECOND!" exclaimed the announcer.

Ryouskue jumped into action. The ball landed a few feet in front of him and he skidded on the ground, picking the ball up and throwing it to Kuramochi in the process. Ryouskue was hoping Kuramochi could get the ball to first base in time but since he threw the ball from his position on the ground, his aim was off.

Ryouskue heard a yelp and turned around just in time to see Kuramochi just barely catch the ball extremely close to his face and whip it blindly towards first base. By some miracle, the first baseman was able to catch the ball and slam his foot down on the base.

"OUT AT FIRST, GAME SET 5-2! SEIDO WINS!" yelled the announcer. The team erupted in cheer and celebration but something was wrong. Ryouskue was staring at Kuramochi, who had dropped to his knees on the field and had a hand clutching his right eye. A faint trickle of blood could be seen through Kuramochi's fingers.

All Ryouskue's thoughts of winning immediately left his head. All he could focus on was Kuramochi on his knees, in pain, and bleeding on the field. He sprinted over to Kuramochi and knelt down next to him.

"Are you ok, are you hurt badly?" Ryouskue asked frantically.

"The ball nailed me right above my eye, I don't think it's too bad," Kuramochi said through gritted teeth, "hurts like a bitch though."

Ryouskue gently took hold of the hand Kuramochi had clutched over his eye and pulled it away to take a look at his injury. He had a bloody gash right above his eyebrow and a bruise forming all around it. He was going to end up with a black eye.

Ryouskue couldn't believe it. His shitty throw had caused Kuramochi, his motherfucking crush, to get hurt.

The rest of the team had realized something was up and were running over to join Ryouskue in the outfield. They buzzed around the two of them, asking Kuramochi what had happened and how hurt he was, before a cool voice cut through the noise.

"Let me take a look," Coach said as he and a medic knelt down by Kuramochi. The medic pulled out a first aid kit and began to clean the cut above Kuramochi's eyebrow. The medic asked a few questions and checked Kuramochi's eyes to determine he didn't have a concision.

"It appears to just be a cut. Expect some headaches, dizziness, and bruising in the near future but other than that you should be ok," the medic explained calmly. Kuramochi thanked the medic and Ryouskue and Miyuki helped pull him off the ground and walk to the dugout.

"Dude, I'm just impressed you were able to throw that ball as well as you did back there," Miyuki said, affectionately nudging Kuramochi in the ribs. Kuramochi laughed weakly, "you and me both," he muttered. Ryouskue wasn't paying much attention to the banter. All he could think about was the fact that this was his fault.

He could have attempted to throw the ball to first himself, he could have managed to catch the ball in the first place, hell he could have even just held onto the ball and given up first base! Ryouskue shook his head.

"I'm so so sorry, this is my fault," he murmured to Kuramochi. A look of confusion flashed across his face.

"What do you mea-" Kuramochi started to say before he was interrupted by a loud, indignant screech.

"HOLY SHIT ARE YOU OK?" Sawamura yelled as Kuramochi sat down in the dugout. Kuramochi slammed his hand over his ears and shot Sawamura a dirty look.

"My head hurts enough as it is, I don't need your yelling to make it worst" Kuramochi grunted.

"OH, I'M SORRY!" Sawamura continued to yell.

"This was gonna be a loooong day," Ryouskue thought.

Later that night Ryouskue found himself sitting on Kuramochi's bed, keeping him company as he rested. They had managed to kick Sawamura out of the room and were enjoying the peace and quiet it brought.

Ryouskue glanced down at Kuramochi, who was idly chatting away and felt a small smile spread across his mouth. Kuramochi's features had been softened by tiredness and even though part of his face was covered in bandages. he still looked adorable. Ryouskue shook his head. "Now was not the time to be thinking like that" he chided himself, "It's your fault he got hit by that ball in the first place." God, he needed something to do to distract himself, even if only for a minute.

"Hey, we should probably change your bandages, the doctor said to do it twice a day," Ryuoskue gave Kuramochi a smile while internally panicking. Why had he just said that? He needed a distraction from Kuramochi, this was definitely not one!

Kuramochi sat up from his bed and nodded.

"Ok sure, you gotta help me though," Kuramochi shot Ryouskue a wink. Ryouskue giggled at him then quickly turned the other way before Kuramochi could see just how much he was blushing. His gay panic intensified.

Ryouskue tried to act as calm as he could while he strolled over to the box of bandages on the dresser and picked them up. He walked back over to where Kuramochi had moved from off his bed and was now sitting on the floor. Ryouskue carefully knelt down in from of him and began to take off the old bandages, clean out the cut, and put on fresh bandages.

It was nearly torture. With him touching Kuramochi's face like this all Ryouskue wanted to do was run his hand through Kuramochi's hair, to brush his fingers against his cheek, to just straight up (heh straight, no definitely not straight) kiss him. He could feel Kuramochi's breath on his hand and when Ryouskue looked away from his task at hand, Kuramochi was blatantly staring at him.

"I cannot function with him looking at me like that, he's just too fucking cute," Ryouskue panicked. However, a wave of gild washed over him as he remembered how he even got in this prediction in the first place. This was his fault.

"I'm sorry," Ryouskue whispered to Kuramochi. Kuramochi cocked his head in confusion.

"What are you apologizing for?" he asked.

"Well, it's my fault you got hit with the ball, I made a bad throw and you had to pay the price," Ryouskue murmured. Kuramochi grabbed Ryouskue's hand away from his face and held it in his own.

"It's not your fault," he said softly, "you made the best play you could at the time and I was the one he caught the ball so close to my face so really it's my fault."

Ryouskue laughed quietly. "It's ok I know it was my fault, just tell me how mad at me you are," Ryouskue looked into Kuramochi's eyes.

"I'm not mad at you at all!" Kuramochi's eyes widened, "like I said before, you did the best you could with the given situation." He shook his head. "Plus, I don't think I could ever be mad at you," Kuramochi whispered under his breath. Ryouskue felt a blush creep onto his cheeks. "Especially not after a game like that! We played perfectly together." Both Ryouskue and Kuramochi laughed.

"Yeah, that was one hell of a good game," Ryouskue unconsciously leaned closer to Kuramochi and they locked eyes.

"Yeah," Kuramochi repeated quietly. Ryouskue watched his eyes trail down his face before coming to rest, staring at Ryouskue's lips.

Before he had any time to process what he was even doing, Ryouskue had leaned in even further and was kissing Kuramochi. They only stayed like that for a moment before Ryouskue reeled away, completely in shock with himself.

"Did-did I just do that? like did that just-just happen?" he stuttered out. Kuramochi grinned.

"Yeah it did," he snickered.

Ryouskue began to launch into a long-winded apology before he realized something... Kuramochi was smiling, hell he was laughing...could this mean..?

"Hold on, your..." Ryouskue let his words trail off, the meaning of his sentence abundantly clear. Kuramochi laughed again.

"Yup, I'm hella gay and I've been in love with you since the moment I met you!" Kuramochi said with zero shame. Ryouskue stared at him slack-jawed.

"Why the hell has it taken us so long to realize this?" Ryouskue deadpanned after a moment to process what the fuck had just happened.

"God, I have no clue," Kuramochi murmured while pulling Ryouskue into another kiss.

"You do have to finish up putting on my bandages," Kuramochi whispered against Ryouskue's lips. Ryouskue pulled away slightly to look Kuramochi in the eyes.

"Really right now?" Ryouskue asked.

"Yup," Kuramochi said with a sly grin.

"I hate you ya'know,"

"I know!"

"My god, fuck you!"

"Please do."

Ryouskue elbowed Kuramochi in the ribs for that horrible joke but grabbed the box of bandages again. Once he was all done Kuramochi stood up to look at himself in the mirror.

"Damn, I look like how I did back in middle school," Kuramochi laughed while messing with a bandage.

"Eh, that's fine I think it's kinda cute," Ryouskue sighed while resting his head on Kuramochi's shoulder. Kuramochi snickered and ran a hand through Ryouskue's hair.

"Good," he murmured.

Ryouskue hummed in agreement and leaned up to kiss Kuramochi again. They both locked eyes and giggled again. Who knew hitting your crush in the face with a baseball could turn out so well!