Title: Bribery.

Summary: Tajima is a dangerous person when he has two-thousand yen and an idea in his head.

Character(s): Abe Takaya, Mihashi Ren, Tajima Yūichirō, Haruna Motoki.

Pairing(s): AbeMiha.


"Oi, Haruna!" At the exclamation, the Musashino pitcher turned around with a raised brow to find Tajima Yūichirō running up to him with a wide grin on his face. "Uh... hey." Haruna was unsure why the tiny cleanup was talking to him. He didn't think they'd ever spoken more than two words to each other before this. "Can I help you with something kid?"

The boy stopped in front of him with a mischevious smirk. "Actually, you can... I have a little favor to ask. You know Mihashi, right? Our pitcher? You guys are sorta friends, aren't you?"

"Um, yeah, I guess so..." Haruna scratched the back of his head, unsure where this was going. "I give him pointers sometimes. But what's he got to do with this 'favor' you want to ask?"

Tajima grinned devilishly, making even Haruna a little nervous. "Well, see, it's really more of a business proposition..."

"Oh?" Haruna had to admit, he was intrigued now. "And what might that be?"


Several Days Later...


Abe leaned his elbows against the railing of the dugout, watching the other team across the field. They were getting ready for a game against a group of Juniors, so Abe was a bit wary. "Hey, Mihashi!" When the pitcher didn't immediately appear beside him stuttering out a nervous response, Abe turned around with an annoyed Tch and glanced sharply around the dugout.

Spotting Tajima leaning against the bench drinking some water, Abe yelled over to him, "Oi, Tajima, where's Mihashi run off to?"

The propped his leg up on the bench, resting his elbow on his knee. "Oh, I think he's in the bathroom. He was saying something about feeling a bit hot, so he went to splash some cold water on his face."

"What?!" Abe exclaimed, pushing past him with a scowl. "Why didn't he tell me?!" He stormed towards the bathrooms, muttering to himself angrily. "I swear if he's got heat-stroke and he didn't tell me... Damn Mihashi." He pushed the door open and stomped inside, his eyes sweeping the room for the familiar head of ginger hair.

He paused, eyes narrowing in confusion as he caught sight of two figures standing up ahead. He recognized both of them, but his brain was struggling to analyze the position they were in. One with dark hair had cornered the other against a wall, resting a hand beside his head. Abe let out a strangled noise, his brain finally catching up to his eyes, and pointed an accusatory finger at the dark-haired boy. "Haruna, w-what the hell are you doing?!"

The tall pitcher turned to glance back at Abe with a smirk on his face. "Oh, hey, Takaya! What's up?"

"Don't 'What's up?' me!" Abe yelled. "What the hell is going on? What are you even doing here? And why do you have Mihashi pinned against a wall?!" He narrowed his eyes. "You're not threatening him, are you?"

Haruna pushed himself away from the wall and held up his hands. "Hey, relax, I'm not threatening him."

"Then what are you doing?" Abe asked suspiciously, edging closer to them. He eyed Mihashi, who was still pressed against the wall, looking terrified. "Mihashi, you okay?"

"He's fine," Haruna scoffed, crossing his arms. "Geez, Takaya, relax." Glancing at the clock on the bathroom wall, he yawned. "Anyway, I better get going. See you guys around." He took a step but paused, as if remembering something, and turned back to whisper something to Mihashi.

Abe stiffened as Mihashi turned his face away, stammering something unintelligible. Haruna moved away and walked past Abe with a nonchalant wave. The catcher watched him go warily before turning around and rushing over to Mihashi, who looked shell-shocked. "Mihashi! Mihashi, you okay?"

Mihashi stammered out a response that Abe couldn't understand, which just made him worry more. "Hey, what did he say to you?" He gripped Mihashi's shoulders tightly. "He didn't do anything to you, did he?!"

"N-n-no," Mihashi stammered. "He— Take me— His place—" He covered his face with his hands, while Abe struggled to decipher his broken speech. "What? Mihashi, you're going to have to be clearer than that." Mihashi shook his head quickly. "I— C-c-can't. You— Him— Ask—"

Abe let out an annoyed breath. "Ask Haruna? Fine. You stay here and cool off." He stormed out, looking around for signs of Haruna. He was going to kick his teeth in when he found him. To make Mihashi so nervous, he must've threatened him in some way. That was the only explanation.

Finally, he caught sight of Haruna up ahead. He was about to call out to him, but he paused when he saw a familiar person talking quietly to the Musashino pitcher; Tajima. Pausing with his brows furrowed, Abe pressed against the wall and edged closer to them, until he was within earshot.

"—do it?" Tajima was asking. Abe frowned and leaned closer.

"I did it alright." Haruna shook his head. "You should've seen Takaya's face."

"What line did you use?"

"Psht, I didn't use a line," Haruna said dismissively. "I just invited him over to my place for, ah, ya know, a little horizontal dance. I think it did its job just fine, though the poor kid probably won't want to speak to me ever again, so thanks a bunch for that."

Abe made a noise in the back of his throat, his face reddening. Haruna did what?! He covered his mouth afterward, but it was too late. Haruna and Tajima turned around, and Abe flopped on the ground before they could see him. It worked, but Abe felt his fists clench in anger. Why would Haruna say something like that to Mihashi? He gritted his teeth, his eyes dark. I'm going to kill both of them!