Title: Drunk.
Summary: Abe gets drunk off his ass on his birthday. Since when is he so flirty?!
Character(s): Abe Takaya, Mihashi Ren, Nishiura Team.
Pairing(s): AbeMiha.
"How did this happen?!" Mihashi exclaimed, tearing his hands through his already messed ginger hair nervously. He turned to look back at his teammates with an expression of utter exasperation on his face, any signs of his usual timidness absent from his worried features. "What did you guys do to Abe-kun?"
Tajima laughed sheepishly. "Ah, well, ya see... we decided it would be fun to take him out for his birthday, and things got a little, um... crazy after midnight." They all turned to look at the catcher in question, who was busy walking in lazy circles, giggling quietly and staring at a lightning bug that was perched on his fingertip, clearly drunk off his ass. The question was: "How did he get like this?"
Mihashi crossed his arms after asking with a worried shake of the head. "Never mind that: How many drinks did he have?"
"Ehh..." Mizutani frowned, slowly counting off on his fingers, clearly tipsy. Mihashi's face morphed into a look of horror when he reached his other hand. "Are you serious?!" He turned back to Abe—who had sat down and was hugging his shoe to his chest and sobbing—with a panicked wail. "W-what are we supposed to do? I don't k-know how to d-d-deal with this!" His stammer was back as he dissolved into a complete mess, wringing his shirt between his fingers anxiously.
Hanai—the only one seemingly still sober—clapped the ginger on the shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry, Mihashi; Abe will be fine, apart from a wicked hangover. He just needs to go home, drink some water, and get to bed."
"A-are you sure?" Mihashi pressed, glancing over at the intoxicated catcher disbelievingly. Abe looked like he would need a lot more than water in the state he was in... He was currently trying to stand up but he kept taking his hands off the ground at the wrong time and face-planting. No matter how many times he did it, he couldn't seem to correct his mistake and just kept trying again and again. It was like watching a baby deer trying to stand up for the first time, not to mention the shoe he'd been cuddling was discarded in a puddle of melted ice-cream a few feet away. Excellent.
Tajima, Izumi, and Sakaeguchi were snickering at the whole thing, filming him with their phones—no doubt to use as blackmail later. Hanai shot them all dirty looks but nodded at Mihashi nevertheless. "I'm positive. Just... you go and take him home. We'll cover for him with Coach Momoe so he doesn't have to go to practice tomorrow, alright?"
"Alright," Mihashi replied uncertainly. "But I'm really not sure—"
Before he could finish his sentence, the rest of the group had disappeared down the street, leaving Mihashi alone with his drunk burden. He stared after them helplessly, letting out a squeak as he realized they'd dumped their problem onto him: AKA Abe, who had collapsed on his back in the grass and was staring up at the sky with an awed expression. Mihashi wandered closer, eyeing the catcher warily, unsure how to approach the situation. "Um, h-hey, Abe-kun..."
The boy's eyes took a moment to focus on Mihashi as he turned to stare over at him. He looked completely confused, squinting up at him through the dark, even though Mihashi had moved closer to allow the boy to see him better. "Abe-kun, a-are you, um... okay?"
Abe blinked a few times at the question, brows furrowing as he continued staring at Mihashi like he was an alien. Finally, his eyes widened in what Mihashi hoped was recognition and smiled widely. "Are you an angel?"
"W-wh-what?" Mihashi stammered, taking a startled step back as Abe stumbled to his feet, tilting slightly as his balance shifted unsteadily. So much for the recognition theory. Mihashi stumbled backward as Abe careened over to him, stopping about a foot too close and leaning his head down so they were eye level. "Oh, 's you, 'hashi," he slurred in (finally) hazy recognition. "Where 'm I?"
"I-in the park," Mihashi stuttered in response, trying to regain his composure. It was hard with Abe so close. "U-um... you— you're drunk. I n-need to take you home, s-so..." He let out a strangled squeal as Abe fell against his chest, an arm snaking around his waist as the full weight of the taller boy pressed against him. "A-Abe-kun, w-wh-what— Eh, you're t-t-too close!" He pushed the catcher back with a cherry red blush dusting his features. "I r-really need to take you home now."
"Why?" Abe slurred with a drunken grin. "Are you go'ng to stay over?"
"EH?!" Mihashi covered his face with his hands, face burning. He could tell this was going to be a long night...
Abe woke with a splitting headache. Being nailed in the skull with a baseball would've hurt less than this killer migraine. As soon as he so much as tried to open his eyes, a fresh spike of pain stabbed his brain and Abe groaned, covering his eyes with the pillow and waiting for his nausea to die down. What happened last night? I can't remember a damn thing...
Struggling to hold in his vomit, Abe just barely managed to drag himself out from under the covers, shivering as the cold morning air hit his skin. He stumbled into the bathroom and collapsed against the sink, splashing cold water against his face repeatedly in an effort to both wake and sober up, but all it really did was make him cold, so he slunk back to bed with a groan. "I'm never drinking again..."
He collapsed across the mattress and tried to pull the blanket over his head, but it was stuck. He tugged on it stubbornly, but it still wouldn't budge. "What the hell." He turned to grab the blanket with both hands persistently—and nearly screamed when an arm fell across his lap. "Oh God no," he groaned. "Tell me I didn't sleep with a stranger last night..."
Holding his breath with a thin hope that it was just a cat or something that had somehow snuck into his room, Abe reached over and pulled back the blanket—and had a mild heart-attack. "Oh no..." He covered his face with his hands, shaking his head with the new hope that this was all just a dream and he would wake up, extremely hungover but alone, in a few seconds. "No no no no... Tell me I didn't!"
But the proof was—unfortunately—all there: Mihashi, curled up in one of Abe's shirts and a pair of his boxers, peacefully sleeping beside him. As if that incriminating evidence wasn't enough, Abe himself was only wearing underwear and socks, and Mihashi's neck was covered in what looked suspiciously (he hoped he was wrong) like hickeys.
Abe felt strongly like throwing up now. Oh God. I slept with my best friend.
The world was ending. Any second now, meteors would come crashing through the ceiling to end his miserable existence before his suffering could continue. What had happened the night before? Had Mihashi gotten drunk, too? Abe couldn't for the life of him remember anything past his second drink at the bar: Everything was fuzzy and distorted like static on an old TV. Anything could've happened.
Apparently, no gods were listening to his please, because—to make matters a thousand times worse—Mihashi chose that moment to wake up. He slumped into a sitting position against the pillows, letting out a loud yawn and stretching his hands above his head. The sleeves of Abe's shirt slid down and pooled around his armpits. God, he really is tiny. Everything he was wearing was huge on him, in fact, and all of it belonged to Abe, who was currently trying not to move or breathe as the boy in front of him shifted and rubbed his eyes tiredly.
He was debating whether or not to speak when Mihashi made the decision for him. He turned his head and started seeing Abe beside him. "Oh, Abe-kun, you're awake now!" He beamed happily, confusing Abe even more. "How are you feeling? Does your head hurt?"
"I'm, uhhhh... fine." He studied the pitcher as if he were a snake poised to bite. If what he thought happened had actually happened, Mihashi shouldn't have been this carefree. He's always nervous and flighty: there's no way he would act like this if we really... Abe's face flushed and he quickly looked away to hide it, his brain conjuring up an image he was definitely not drunk enough to handle. Exactly how much did I drink last night?
He didn't realize he'd asked the question aloud until Mihashi supplied an answer. "Oh, um, Mizutani-kun told me he stopped counting after ten..."
Abe's voice came out in a shrill crack. "Ten?!" He winced as the loud sound caused his skull to vibrate painfully. "Oh, Gooddddd, I want to die..."
"E-eh, I'll get you some water!" Mihashi yelped, stutter back as he leaped out of the bed and rushed out of the room. He was back and thrusting a half-full glass into Abe's hands a moment later, fidgeting nervously. "Here, i-it's from the tap, but it's, um, all I— I could f-find." His mouth had turned down into his typical stressed look as he shifted from foot to foot like a nervous child.
To appease him, Abe took a sip and instantly felt cool relief as his sore throat was soothed. He gulped down the whole glass, and another after Mihashi refilled it, before finally setting the glass on his side-table. "Thanks..." He stared up at the still-fidgeting Mihashi with a nervous look. "So... I guess we need to talk about what happened last night..."
Mihashi jumped. "Oh! Um, y-yes, I guess..." He squeezed his eyes shut and fell into an apologetic bow that caused Abe to jump back in surprise. "I'm v-very sorry!"
"Huh?" Abe shot him a look. "What the heck are you apologizing for?" He grimaced and ran a hand through his hair, not wanting to breach the subject that had been lingering in the back of his mind. "I should be the one apologizing... I'm sincerely sorry for whatever I did to you last night." He lowered his head in embarrassment.
The pitcher blinked at him, confused, "T-to me? Wha— What do, um, d-do you m-mean?"
"Huh?" Abe looked up at him again with a sliver of hope. "You mean... nothing happened last night?"
"Well... I— I wouldn't s-say that..." Mihashi stammered uncertainly, shifting from foot to foot again. "First I h-had to drag you— you back from the park, and th-then, on the way, you— you threw up all o-over me, so when we got here, I had— had to borrow your clothes, and these were t-the only ones I could find, s-so I put them on, and then wh-when I tried to— to leave, you gr-grabbed me and I— I fell and you wouldn't let me g-go, so I— I guess I f-fell asleep here..." He finished the rambling statement by bowing again. "I di-didn't mean to intrude..."
Abe felt like a tremendous weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He collapsed back on the back, throwing an arm over his eyes with a relieved laugh. "So we didn't do anything... What a relief."
Mihashi blushed. "We-well, um... You— you wouldn't stop, um, k-k-kissing me last night..." He covered one of the bruises on his neck with a shaking hand. "You w-were sleeping, and I— I di-didn't want— want to wake you up, so I l-let you do it..." He looked at his feet, face turning a brighter shade of red. "S-s-sorry... You're probably m-mad..."
Mad at myself, maybe. Abe felt like kicking himself. How could the boy have even thought he would blame him? He was a tremendous idiot—both of them were. "Mihashi, I'm so, so sorry. You should've woken me up! If I had known, I—"
"It's—" Mihashi interrupted haltingly. "It's, um, it's okay." He managed a wobbly smile. "It— It wasn't, u-um, that bad, r-really..."
Abe stared at him in shock, thinking perhaps his ears had malfunctioned. His brain certainly had. "It— it wasn't?" Surely this wasn't actually happening.
The pitcher shook his head, seeming to gain a bit more confidence. "It was— It was ac-actually— actually okay..." He swallowed hard and glanced down at his shuffling feet. "But I— I should probably l-leave now, if you're— you're o-okay on your own..." He started to backpedal towards the door, but Abe stopped him by grabbing his wrist. "Wait!"
He cleared his throat awkwardly as the ginger stared back at him wide-eyed, loosening his grip. "I— I mean, um... would you please stay?" He felt his face flush and glanced away in embarrassment. "My family isn't home and I, um, would like it if you stayed..."
For a moment, Mihashi just stared at him while Abe stared at the floor, but then his face morphed into one of his rare, bright smiles. "Of course!" His smile softened as his hand twisted to wrap around Abe's. When he spoke again, his voice held no hint of a stutter. "I'll stay with you however long you want."
