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THIS IS THE LONGEST CHAPTER EVER! 10,822 words... :O
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Chapter Five: Promise
Eijun could tell there was something up with the catcher. Kazuya always seemed to have his eyes on him during practice and it was really starting to annoy him. Everywhere he'd go, the catchers eyes followed his every movement. Eijun often found it hard to concentrate on his pitching when the catchers eyes were staring directly on his ass when he raised his leg up in the air during his pitching stance.
"Can't you look at something else besides me for once?" He asked irritably as he threw the ball to the catcher who caught it easily in his glove. "That's too much effort. Besides, I like what I see."
Eijun felt his cheeks heat up as the catcher grinned at him from his crouching position. "Shut up." He couldn't deal with the catcher acting so damn affectionate towards him. It was really starting to make him wonder if the catcher had caught something.
"So Eijun, we should make use of the movie tickets Youichi gave me." Kazuya said, throwing the ball back to the red-faced pitcher. "When?" He didn't have any plans, other than finish up on reading his chapter of Kimi ni Todoke, so he was free anytime. "After practice; the tickets go bad by midnight."
"I guess I have time." Eijun mumbled, making the catcher grin in triumph. "Great! We'll make it a date then~" Kazuya chuckled, seeing how Eijun tried to cover up his embarrassment by pitching a few more times.
"That's enough for today, Eijun~ You better hurry or else you'll be late for our date." Kazuya remarked, causing the pitcher to glare at him in embarrassment. The others in the bullpen merely wished him good luck as the two left the bullpen.
Eijun fiddled with the hem of his t-shirt, trying to relax as much as he could. He'd never been on a date in his life, so he had little idea about how to make it successful.
"Eijun-kun, calm down. You're just going to the movies." Haruichi sighed, seeing how Eijun nervous was. Eijun had confided in Haruichi about not having dated, having the pinkette come to his room and help him get ready. "I know, Harucchi. It's just...this is the first time I'm going to be alone with Miyuki in public."
Haruichi chuckled lightly to himself, patting the pitchers back comfortingly. "Miyuki-senpai likes you a lot, Eijun, so he won't do anything reckless." Eijun was a bit oblivious to the type of like Kazuya had for him, so he shrugged it off as just a friendly senpai/kouhai like.
"I can't believe that he said it was a date. We're just friends, that's all." Haruichi frowned, seeing as how oblivious Eijun was to the fact that Kazuya wanted to be more than just friends with him. "You'd better get going, Eijun-kun. Miyuki-senpai's probably waiting for you."
Eijun looked himself over and thought that he looked decent enough to be seen out in public with someone like Kazuya. An old baseball t-shirt, faded out jeans, and a new pair of sneakers were all he needed to be comfortable.
As he waved goodbye to Haruichi, his mind swarmed with thoughts about the movie. Kazuya had promised him that they weren't going to be seeing anything horror related, since Kuramochi had said there was nothing good playing, so they would be seeing a comedy instead.
Kazuya had been waiting for him at the entrance and smiled when he saw the pitcher dressed casually. "I was wondering what was taking you so long. You look great in jeans." Kazuya commented as he looked Eijun over. In truth, he liked the way the clothes perfectly fit the pitchers body; not too lose or too tight. "T-Thanks..." Eijun mumbled, feeling his cheeks light up a bit.
Kazuya had just complimented his appearance...
As the two walked into the movie theater, Kazuya pulled him over towards the concession stands. "What do you want, Eijun? I'll pay for it." Eijun couldn't decide on what he wanted; the snack menu was endless, so he just went with popcorn with extra butter on it and a small coke.
"I'll hold the popcorn, Miyuki." Eijun said as he took the large popcorn from out of the catchers arms. Kazuya was carrying two, large drinks in his hands; Eijun really didn't want the catcher to drop anything, it'd be a complete waste of the catchers money. "That's nice of you, Eijun." Kazuya said as he smiled at Eijun warmly. Eijun couldn't explain it, but he felt his heart flutter ever so slightly when he'd received the smile from the catcher.
As the two found a spot in the middle of the theater, Eijun felt even more nervous. Sure, he was use to being extremely close to the catcher, but they weren't out in public then. They were always near the other guys on the baseball team. As the movie started up, Eijun tried to relax as much as he could, taking small sips from his coke to ease his mind. It didn't help that when he reached for the popcorn that sat in between them, his hand slightly brushed against Kazuya's.
Eijun knew that Kazuya wanted to hold his hand, since their hands kept brushing against each other's more than once to be called a mere coincidence, so he excused himself to go to the restroom to wash the butter off of his hands.
After washing his hands off, Eijun exited the restroom and was about to head back when he'd bumped into a group of guys standing outside the bathroom door. The words died in Eijun's mouth as he stared up at the group. Not even coach Kataoka came close to scaring him this badly; by their wild, punk-like appearances, these guys meant trouble. "Look at what we have here, guys." The leader of the group said as he smirked at the pitcher.
"Ohhh, the poor, little thing is shaking." Another one mocked, seeing how Eijun was trembling in fear.
"He sure is a cutie. Maybe we'll just have to break this cute, innocent face of his." Eijun felt every hair on his body stand up as the group towered over him like the giants they were. He was too scared to say anything as he was roughly pushed down on to the hard ground. Not even when he'd faced Azuma had he'd been this terrified.
Eijun shut his eyes tightly, hoping that whatever happened to him would be quick. To his surprise, nothing happened. Not even a single touch. Eijun cracked open an eye to see what the hold up was and noticed that the group had turned their attention away from him and towards someone else.
"Get the fuck away from him." Kazuya's tone dripped with venom as he stood his ground in front of the group; a dark, merciless expression etched out on his face. Eijun never seen this side of the catcher before; not even when he had accidentally insulted Chris in front of Kazuya.
"Oh shit, it's Miyuki Kazuya!" One of them exclaimed, fearful that if they stuck around any longer that they'd be in trouble. Kazuya was known to linger around town with some of the other guys on Seido's baseball team, if Kazuya was here, then the others were probably loitering around as well. "Shit, this kid must be his boyfriend or something, let's get the fuck out of here!" As the guys fled the scene in a cowardly manner, Eijun somehow managed to find his voice.
"T-Thank you, Miyuki." Eijun whispered, low enough so only Kazuya could hear him. The catcher sighed softly and bent down to look the pitcher in the eye. "Are you okay, Eijun? They didn't hurt you, did they?" Kazuya asked, worriedly, as he frantically looked Eijun over. There didn't seem to be any outer damage, but Kazuya was more worried about Eijun's mental state.
"I-I'm fine now." Eijun's shaky voice reassured him. It was just his luck to ruin their outing. It was supposed to have been a day just for the two of them to relax and have fun with each other, and Eijun had to go and ruin it for them completely.
Eijun hadn't expected to be pulled into a firm hug from the catcher. Being in the catchers arms made him feel safe and at ease. "I'm glad that you're safe. I was so worried when you didn't return back." Kazuya murmured, as he held on to the pitcher tightly. Eijun felt his lower lip tremble as he thought of what would have happened to him if Kazuya hadn't intervened. This was going to come back in his nightmares sometime soon.
He wrapped his arms loosely around the catchers back and let his tears fall to the ground, silently. "I'm sorry that I ruined our outing..." He apologized, hoping the catcher would forgive him. Kazuya shh'd him, stroking Eijun's hair in a comforting way as he tried to soothe the trembling pitcher. "Shhh...Eijun, it's alright. We'll do this again some other time."
No matter what Kazuya said to him, Eijun just couldn't help but feel terrible for the ordeal that ruined their outing. Even on the way back to Seido, Eijun clung on to the catchers arm, tightly. He feared that if he let go for even a split second, he'd run into the group again.
"Eijun-kun, are you alright?" Haruichi inquired, noting how Eijun didn't seem his usual cheerful self today. Eijun was too quiet for his own good; there was something that Eijun definitely wasn't letting him know. "I'm fine, Harucchi. Don't worry about me."
Haruichi frowned and walked closer towards Eijun, knowing there was clearly something wrong with him. "What's wrong, Eijun-kun?" Haruichi asked, worriedly, taking hold of the pitchers hands rough in to his own soft ones, giving them a light squeeze.
"I ruined my outing with Miyuki..." Eijun confided, feeling the tears well up in the corner of his eyes as he thought back to yesterdays events. Haruichi raised a brow under his hair, unsure of what Eijun could mean by that. "How so, Eijun-kun?"
Eijun took a deep breath before he told Haruichi all about the events of the earlier day, making Haruichi gasp a bit in shock. "Are you alright, Eijun-kun!? They didn't hurt you, did they?" Haruichi questioned him, making the pitcher shake his head, easing the pinkette of his worries. "No...Miyuki scared them off before they could do anything. But, I still feel bad for causing him so much trouble, though..."
Haruichi gave Eijun's hands another light squeeze. "If you really feel like it's all your fault, maybe you can just make it up to Miyuki-senpai?" Eijun seemed to brighten up a bit, eyes regaining their usual shine. "How?"
Haruichi thought to himself for a moment. "Hmmm...what does Miyuki-senpai want the most from you?" Eijun shrugged, unsure of what Haruichi was getting at. "My hands, probably. He always wants us to hold hands and it's really embarrassing."
Haruichi chuckled at Eijun's answer, finding it to be rather adorable that Eijun could think of something like that. "What else?" Eijun could only think of one other thing. "Cuddling, I think." Haruichi smiled warmly at Eijun, gently patting the pitchers left shoulder as he motioned towards the catcher on the other side of the bullpen. "Miyuki-senpai seems to be having a rough day today, so why don't you try to make him feel better?"
Eijun turned his head over towards the exasperated catcher, who was currently berating a bemused Furuya, and sighed to himself in defeat. "I guess that'll have to do. Thanks, Harucchi."
Afternoon practice ended and night time was falling rapidly. Kazuya had been in a pretty bitchy mood since he and Eijun had woken up extremely late that morning, not having made it to morning practice on time, and having to run laps around the field while the rest of the team practiced.
Kazuya had finished up the last of his homework, muttered a simple goodnight to the pitcher, and turned off the light before he climbed into his bed, ready to sleep off the aggravation from the days events.
Eijun took a deep breath, a bit nervous to wake the catcher up from his sleep. Kazuya was rather grumpy when awoken, and Eijun didn't want to worsen the catcher's mood more than it already was. "Miyuki?" Eijun softly called out in the dark, causing the catcher to turn over to face him questionably. "What's wrong?" Eijun clutched his pillow to his chest tighter? "Do you...want to cuddle?" Eijun was thankful for the darkness of the room so Kazuya couldn't see his pink-tinted cheeks.
"Yeah...come over here." Eijun got up from his bed and walked over to the catcher's before lifting up the covers and squeezing himself in next to Kazuya. Eijun could feel his blush spreading across his face as he laid next to the catcher in the small bunk that was only meant for one.
"Can I hold you?" Kazuya's husky voice murmured, causing the pitcher to slowly nod his head, giving the catcher permission to do so. Kazuya pulled the pitcher closer towards his chest, wrapping his strong arms around Eijun's waist and smiling to himself as he felt the pitcher slowly start to relax in the embrace.
Kazuya had fallen hard for Eijun. He wanted nothing more than to go further than being just friends; he wanted to sneak kisses with Eijun during practice; he wanted to hold him close to him; go on dates together, but most of all...he didn't want to worry about being in a relationship with Eijun and having his father find out.
The one thing that Kazuya feared the most was what his father would do to him once he found out that his son had fallen in love with another guy.
Eijun paced around the bullpen as he waited for Kazuya to show up for afternoon practice. When he finally did, Eijun knew there was no going back once he did what he about to do.
Kazuya forced a smile on his face as he stepped into the bullpen, stifling back a yawn behind his gloved hand. "Hey, Eijun." Kazuya's tone sounded tired and Eijun could tell he'd hardly gotten any sleep last night.
Eijun stepped forward and stood in front of the exhausted catcher. He was going to get Kazuya to admit that there was something wrong. Eijun thought back to how Haruichi would help him or Furuya admit that they had a problem. Eijun grabbed a hold of Kazuya's glove-less hand and held it in his own, much like how Haruichi would do with his or Furuya's.
"What are you doing, Eijun?" Kazuya asked cautiously, unsure of what Eijun was doing to his hand. "What's wrong, Miyuki?" Eijun asked softly, giving the catcher's hand a light squeeze as he looked directly into Kazuya's hazel colored eyes.
"Nothing's wrong..." Eijun squeezed a bit harder; he wasn't going to fall for Kazuya's bullshit lies. "We're friends, Miyuki. You can tell me anything." Kazuya stared at the pitcher for a moment before sighing in defeat. "You're right; we are friends...my dad's been given me hell lately and he wants to come to one of our games..."
Eijun could only imagine what Kazuya had to go through dealing with his father; there was only so much Kazuya could take of his father and Eijun knew it. There had to be something he could do to help the catcher out. "You need a break from all this, Miyuki." Eijun stated simply, causing the catcher to look at him confused. What did Eijun mean by "you need a break"? The whole baseball team had a break from practice a couple of weeks ago. "Didn't we just go to the inn for a week?" Eijun shrugged a bit, unsure of how he should put it. "I was just thinking that, maybe, we could go and visit my family out in Nagano, since we do have this weekend off from practice."
Kazuya smiled at him warmly, feeling a bit touched by the pitchers random act of kindness. "They won't mind?" Eijun shook his head with a goofy smile on his face. "Nah, my folks will love you, since you are all that I ever tell them about." Eijun hadn't noticed the slight blush that had appeared on Kazuya's cheeks as he'd said those words. Was he really that important to the pitcher? "Well, I guess that it wouldn't hurt to go meet your family, Eijun." Kazuya replied, his smile widening as he thought of what Eijun's family was like.
"Great! I'll let my parents know that we're coming to visit them!"
No matter how much Kazuya tried to push away the negative thoughts, his mind swirled around things relating to Eijun's friends and family.
'Are they nice? Will they even like me? What if they tell Eijun that I'm in love with him? Oh God, what if they're like dad and think that I'm some sort of freak? What if they-' Kazuya's thoughts were cut short when he felt a hand roughly land on his shoulder, snapping him out of his daze.
"Kazuya, what are you doing staring off into space like that?" Kuramochi asked with a light snicker as he sat down backwards in the chair, resting his elbows on the catchers desk.
"Hmmm...Eijun invited me to go spend the week with him out in Nagano and I'm not so sure if his friends and family will like me once they figure out that I like Eijun as more than just a friend." Kazuya murmured, staring down at the open score book out on his desk.
Kuramochi scowled and leaned in closer to flick the catcher in his forehead, ignoring the fake whine Kazuya gave him. "You're over thinking things, Kazuya. Wakana-chan is pretty nice, so I think all of Sawamura's other friends are nice as well. You make up most of the text messages that Sawamura sends out to her. They'll have to like you."
Kazuya felt a bit reassured, but he was still a bit uncertain that Eijun's friends would like him. "What are you doing for the weekend, Youichi?" A grin formed upon the shortstops face as he thought about his plans. "Ryou-san and I are going back to my hometown for the weekend."
Kazuya smirked mischievously at Kuramochi as his dirty mind processed the information he'd been given. "Oho, you're traveling to Chiba with Ryou-san, huh?"
A bright red blush formed upon the shortstops face as he realized what the catcher was implying. "I live in a fucking apartment complex, with the thinnest walls in the entire world, you ass! My folks have wanted to meet Ryou-san for a while, so we're heading down there, since his brother and Furuya are heading back to their home."
Everyone on the team knew that Ryousuke didn't like Seido's very own monster rookie dating his little brother. He was extremely opposed to it, often berating Furuya when Haruichi was completely out of earshot. It never helped the poor couple that Kuramochi often joked about them getting married and Ryousuke making the poor pitcher's life a miserable, living hell.
"So, what do you plan on doing with Sawamura down there?" Kuramochi asked curiously as he eyed the catcher. Kazuya could only shrug in reply, unsure of that himself. Eijun had only said they would be doing "country" things. "I don't know, really. But, knowing Eijun, we'll be doing something fun."
As their lunch break ended, Kazuya could only hope that what Kuramochi had said would be true.
Friday finally came and Eijun was ecstatic. He had texted his parents the night before about bringing home a friend for the week and they had agreed, saying they'd be preparing an extra spot at the dinner table just for Kazuya.
"Are you ready? The train leaves soon, Miyuki!" Eijun chirped, excited to finally be able to bring home a friend from Seido. It wasn't like he hadn't meant to, it was just that when he had off days like this, he liked to spend them at school, practicing his pitches, or at the arcade, in the city, with Furuya and Haruichi.
"I'm ready, but are you sure we need all this stuff? We're only going to be there for three days and two nights, silly." Kazuya remarked as he lifted the pitchers heavy bag up on his free shoulder.
"Of course! I'm taking you fishing, after all." Eijun replied with an enormous grin plastered out on his face. Kazuya could only chuckle lightly as he thought of himself fishing with the pitcher at a lake or small creek. How would that even work out for them?
"See ya on Sunday, Kazuya!" Kuramochi called out, waving a quick goodbye with his hand as he swiftly followed Ryousuke off campus. Kazuya could only smile and wave his hand back as he watched his best friend leave his sight.
"Bye, Eijun-kun. Have fun with Miyuki-senpai." Haruichi chirped, pulling a Furuya alongside him. "Bye, Harucchi! Furuya, you better not let him out of your sight, you hear me!?" Eijun exclaimed, hoping that the pitcher wouldn't ignore him. Haruichi was tiny, so it easy to lose him in crowds. The last time they'd lost Haruichi, the two pitchers had run a muck around the entire building - not wanting to go back to campus and face Ryousuke's wrath of losing his younger brother - until they had finally found Haruichi, still playing one of the video games he had yet to beat the high score of. T
Furuya's eyes widened as he thought of all the possibilities of Haruichi getting hurt and him having to feel the wrath of Ryousuke. Furuya instinctively wrapped an arm around Haruichi's tiny shoulder, causing the second baseman's face to turn as pink as his hair.
"Don't worry so much, Eijun-kun; Satoru-kun will be with me. I'll make sure to call you when we get to my place."
After saying goodbye to Haruichi and Furuya, Eijun looked at Kazuya and grinned. "Let's get going, Miyuki. my parents are probably waiting for us."
As Kazuya followed Eijun, he couldn't help but smile at the fact that Eijun was looking forward to spending time with him. He hadn't had the urge to cut, not since Eijun had moved in with him, brightening up his gray world with every little thing he did.
As they were sitting on the train, heading out towards Nagano, Kazuya noticed that Eijun had trouble sitting still for long periods of time. "How on earth did you make it from Nagano all the way to Tokyo anyway? You can't seem to sit still." Kazuya joked, causing the pitcher to pout a bit as he tried to ease himself of his extreme boredom. "I'm bored! I left all of my favorite manga series back in the dorm."
Kazuya snickered lightly at Eijun's pouting face, finding it to be irresistibly cute. "You're so adorable when you pout, Eijun." Eijun's face turned bright red and he swiftly turned his head away from Kazuya, thinking that he was just merely teasing him.
'Damn, Eijun sure is clueless.' Kazuya was pretty certain that he hadn't made it a secret that he was crushing hard on Eijun; pretty much everyone knew about it as well, however...Eijun was more oblivious to the catchers sayings and affections toward him that he just brushed it off as simple teasing.
'Eijun, you're really adorable, but you're so damn dense.'
When they finally reached their destination, Eijun and Kazuya stepped off of the train and into the crowded station. Eijun yawned loudly as he stretched his arms over his head, giving Kazuya a perfect view of the pitchers tan stomach.
"So Eijun, what's the first thing that you're gonna do when we get to your home?" Kazuya asked as they carefully weaved their way through the crowded station together; Kazuya allowing Eijun to guide him. "The first thing I'll do, huh? I'm not sure."
As the two walked down the paved road, Kazuya noted how much smaller Eijun's town was in comparison to the large, Tokyo city. It truly was farm country, after all.
"My home is just up ahead." Eijun pointed out as he picked up his pace, dragging the catcher by his sleeve. The first thing that Kazuya noted was that Eijun's family lived in a house on a farm, and not an apartment in the city, like how his father did back in Tokyo.
Eijun opened the front door to his home and called out a quick,"I'm home." before taking both his and Kazuya's bags upstairs to his room, leaving Kazuya standing alone in the doorway, feeling a bit nervous now that Eijun had left him.
"You must be Eijun's friend; Miyuki-kun was it?" Eijun's mother asked, smiling at how quiet he was. From what Eijun told them, Kazuya wasn't exactly the quiet, shy type of guy. "Ah, yes...that's me, Miyuki Kazuya." Eijun's mother invited him in, walking him towards the living room, where she introduced him to Eijun's father, Eiji, and grandfather, Eitoku.
"This is Miyuki-kun; he's one of Eijun's teammates." Eijun's father looked the catcher over from head to toe until he had come to a conclusion. "Eijun sure chose a good one. How long have you two been dating, Miyuki?" Kazuya was taken aback by Eijun's father's question, a bit embarrassed to be asked such a question. How was he supposed to answer that?
Eijun, who had overhead the question, slammed open the door to the room to the living room and glared harshly at his father. "Dad, what the hell is your problem!?" Eijun's father merely laughed as he shook his head. "There's no need to be shy about having a boyfriend like Miyuki, Eijun. You know that we'll support you, no matter if you like girls or boys."
Eijun's face flushed bright pink as he fumbled with words to say in retort to what his father had just said. "We are NOT dating!" Eijun's family laughed at his reaction. "Eijun dear, we love you a lot and we're glad that you found someone you're interested in. We really don't care that Miyuki-kun is a boy. As long as he treats you well and makes you happy, we're perfectly fine with it." His mother reassured him, trying to hold back her laughter at her son's retort.
Eijun's face couldn't get any redder then it already was, so he merely grabbed a hold of Kazuya's hand, getting a couple aw's from his mother and father, and pulled him out of the room, mortified that his family had just said those things in front of Kazuya.
"Your room is nice, Eijun." Kazuya commented as he sat down on Eijun's bed, observing the room covered in baseball posters and pictures of all his old friends. "Are you tired, Miyuki?" Kazuya smiled a bit, knowing Eijun had caught on to his fatigue from all the traveling. "Hmm...just a bit." Eijun looked at him for a moment before resorting his attention back to unpacking his stuff. "You can go to sleep on my bed if you want."
Kazuya's eyes widened; he was going to be able to sleep in Eijun's room? On his bed, too? "Really? I'm perfectly fine with-" Eijun's glare cut him off in mid-sentence. "My family seems to really like you, so I can't let you sleep on the couch." Kazuya had no complaints as he let himself fall backwards on to the bed.
"Are you sure you don't mind?" Eijun sighed, irritated by the catchers question. "Of course, I don't mind! You look like you haven't slept in days, so the least I can do is let you sleep on my bed."
Eijun sorted through their stuff and noticed that Kazuya hadn't packed a razor or any other type of sharp object with him. Eijun knew he was making some sort of progress with Kazuya as he watched the catcher sleep soundly on his bed.
'I'm glad that Miyuki is getting some rest for a change. He's been really out of it since we got back from the inn.'
Eijun carefully and quietly made his way out of his room, not wanting to disturb the catcher's sleep, and down the stairs to see if he could help his mother out with any chores that needed to be done. "Eijun, what are you doing down here?" His mother asked, surprised that he wasn't upstairs with Kazuya. Eijun shrugged, picking up the full laundry basket with ease, setting it atop the washing machine. "Miyuki's asleep, so I just came down here to see if I could help you with anything."
Eijun's mother smiled a bit as she pulled some clothes out of the dryer. "I would like to have you run to the store for me, but I'd also like to know more about your relationship with Miyuki-kun." Eijun knew his mother wouldn't give up the subject of him supposedly dating Kazuya.
"Mom...we are just friends, teammates, schoolmates, and he's my catcher...nothing else is going on between us." Eijun stated, a scowl permanently etched on his face. "You can't blame me for thinking that, Eijun. Miyuki-kun is such a good guy. He's the perfect guy that I'd be proud to say my son is in a relationship with." His mother replied with a small smile on her face.
Eijun rolled his eyes as he stepped out of the room to go run the errand his mother had requested. The grocery store wasn't too far walk from his home, so maybe he'd see a few friends while he was in town.
Kazuya woke up to the smell of freshly cut grass; it reminded him a lot of Eijun. Kazuya slowly opened his eyes to the late evening sunlight peeking in from behind the blinds on Eijun's window near the bed.
Kazuya sat up and rubbed the sleep from out of his eyes a bit to allow adjust them to the dimness of the room. He felt around for his glasses, finding them tucked underneath the pillow, and put them on. "Where's Eijun...?" He pondered aloud, searching around the room for the pitcher but found no trace of him being there.
Kazuya felt the corners of his mouth turn down, forming a frown. He stood up from the bed and walked over to the door, careful not to trip over one of Eijun's belongings. As Kazuya was about to open the door, he noticed something laying out on Eijun's desk.
Kazuya wandered over to it and noticed it was a baseball magazine, opened to a page all about him. "So, you really did come to Seido because of me, huh? I'm so flattered, Eijun." Kazuya chuckled, setting the magazine back down on the desk.
Kazuya walked out of Eijun's room and looked around the hallway, uncertain of where the pitcher was at. As he wandered around the second floor hallway, looking in every open room for Eijun, he had run into Eijun's father. "Ah, you're Eijun's boyfriend...Miyuki, right?" Kazuya felt a small blush creep up on his face; Eijun's father had just called him Eijun's boyfriend. At that very moment, Kazuya knew that he had found the perfect guy to fall in love with; Eijun had such a loving family.
"Um...we aren't dating sir..." Kazuya managed to say, hoping Eijun's father wouldn't question why. "Oh? But you do like my son, right?" Eijun's father had high hopes for his son, and he wasn't going to let Kazuya walk out of Eijun's life. "I don't like your son, sir..." Kazuya started, a wide smile forming on his face as he finished his sentence with,"I'm in love with your son~"
Eijun's father grinned as he placed one of his colossal hands on the catchers shoulder. "Welcome to the Sawamura family, kid! I, Sawamura Eiji , will be looking forward to the day when you and my son finally get together." Eijun's father announced, making the catcher grin.
"Thank you, sir." Eijun's father patted his shoulder a bit roughly. "You're a great kid, Miyuki. So, were you looking for Eijun?"
"Oh, yeah, I was." Eijun's father laughed a bit. "Eijun is running an errand for his mom in town, so he'll back soon."
Kazuya thanked him as he headed down the stairs to see if he could help Eijun's mother, or grandfather, with anything. As Kazuya turned the corner of the hallway, he had crashed into a certain pitcher.
"Ah, I'm sorry, Eijun." Kazuya exclaimed, noticing the spilled groceries on the floor. Eijun rubbed his sore forehead, waving off the catchers apology with his free hand. "It's fine, Miyuki." As Kazuya helped Eijun pick up the groceries from off the floor, their hands brushed against each others, sending shivers down Eijun's spine.
"I like your dad, Eijun. He's pretty cool." Eijun scowled a bit, knowing full well that his father had opened his big mouth had blabbered something he probably shouldn't have. "What did he say to you!?" Kazuya laughed as he thought back to the conversation he had had moments ago with Eijun's father upstairs. "Oh, nothing really."
Eijun didn't believe that it was simply nothing, but shrugged it off since he probably didn't want to know what their conversation had been about.
After eating dinner, Eijun dragged Kazuya out of the house to go meet his friends. Kazuya's stomach did flip-flops as he tried to keep up with Eijun's pace.
"Eijun, it's great to see you again!" Wakana exclaimed as she hugged Eijun. "It's good to be home." Eijun said as he grinned, widely. "Guys, this is my teammate, Miyuki-senpai." Kazuya was surprised that Eijun had added senpai to his name, but greeted everyone in the most friendly way possible.
Eijun's friends seemed to be curious about Kazuya as they questioned him endlessly. Eijun watched as Kazuya answered their questions in full detail, never leaving a single thing out.
As it grew darker out, Eijun noticed how Kazuya would try to stifle his yawns as he answered questions. "Guys, it's getting late out and Miyuki-senpai and I have to go back to Seido Sunday morning."
As Eijun said his goodbyes to his friends, he walked slowly by Kazuya's side, hoping that the catcher wouldn't fall asleep while they were walking.
When they finally made it back to Eijun's place, Kazuya rubbed his eyes, trying to stay awake as best he could. "You can just head on upstairs and go to bed, Miyuki. I'll be up in a few minutes." The catcher was too tired to insist on Eijun coming to bed as well, so he nodded his head and walked up the stairs to Eijun's bedroom. Kazuya changed into his sleepwear, a white t-shirt and his boxers, and climbed into Eijun's bed, slowly drifting off to sleep.
Eijun had just finished up showering and changing into his sleepwear when he stumbled upon Kazuya fast asleep in his bed. 'I can't kick him out...he's a guest and that'd be rude. Gramps would slap the shit outta me if I allowed him to sleep on the couch...' Eijun pondered over what he should do until he had come to a decision. 'I guess we'll just have to share...like we did that one time back at the dorm.'
Eijun slightly nudged Kazuya a bit to make him move over and crawled in to bed beside him. The catcher had nicely warmed up his side of the bed, making Eijun let out a slight sigh in content. "Goodnight, Miyuki." Eijun whispered, turning off the light and letting his head hit the pillow he was currently sharing with the catcher with a soft thud. "Goodnight, Eijun." Kazuya murmured back, turning over to face the pitcher.
"What the hell? I thought you were asleep." Eijun murmured, trying not to be too loud or it would give his family a reason to come upstairs to check on them. "I was, but you woke me up when you entered the room." Kazuya whispered, a small smirk on his face as he pulled the pitcher's body closer towards his own.
"I woke you up?" Kazuya sighed, closing his eyes as he nuzzled his face in the pitcher's brown locks. "You did, but it's fine."
As Kazuya drifted off into a blissful sleep, Eijun just couldn't fall asleep. 'Does Miyuki like me...? He's so damn affectionate...but I guess he's like this with people he's pretty close too.'
Eijun was a bit confused about his feelings for Kazuya; while he admired the catcher to no end, he also grew to like him more than he should.
'How do you know when you have a crush on someone anyways? I'll have to ask one of the senpais or Harucchi...'
The sunlight streaming in from behind the blinds woke Eijun up from his deep slumber and he noted that his head was laying on the catchers chest. Eijun could hear Kazuya's heart beating in his chest; it was a soothing sound, almost lulling him back to sleep.
Eijun felt a smile form on his face as he observed Kazuya while he was sleeping. Kazuya's light brown hair stuck out in random places and Eijun tried to hold back a laugh as he notes that Kazuya had terrible bed hair.
Kazuya had a tight grip around his waist, making it nearly impossible for Eijun to move. "Miyuki, let go of me." Eijun murmured, squirming to break free from the catchers hold. "Why?" Kazuya asked with a yawn, making Eijun scowl. "You're squeezing me and it hurts." Kazuya sighed and unwrapped his arms from around the pitchers waist and turned over to go back to sleep.
"I always thought you were a morning person, Miyuki." Eijun snickered, watching as the catcher snuggled deeper into the blanket. "When there's practice, yes. But since we don't have practice, I'm catching up on my rest."
Silence filled the room and Eijun decided to ask the catcher a question. "Miyuki, who's had the longest relationship on the baseball team?" A chuckle came from the catcher. "Obviously, Tetsu-san and Jun-san. I'm pretty sure that they've been together since their first year. Jun-san knows everything about Tetsu-san."
Eijun's eyes widened in surprise. "Seriously?" Kazuya turned over to face the pitcher and smiled, tiredly. "Of course." Before Eijun could say anything else, he felt the catcher's hand pinch his cheek a bit. "You're so adorable...you know that?"
Eijun almost fell off the bed in embarrassment. "W-what!?" The catcher laughed a bit. "You heard me, I said just you were adorable. But, I guess that all idiots like you are adorable."
Eijun scowled and stood up, gabbing his phone from off of the nightstand. "You're such a twisted person!"
As Eijun trudged down the stairs towards the bathroom, he decided to call Haruichi back since he had forgotten that the pinkette had called him.
"Harucchi, are you awake?" The voice on the other end of the line was a bit groggy, but still sounded happy to hear him. "Eijun-kun, how are you!?" Haruichi's voice on the other end chirped, bringing a grin to the pitchers face. "I'm great, Harucchi. How are you and Furuya doing?"
A giggle escaped Haruichi's lips. "Satoru-kun is busy with my parents. They've already met Kuramochi-senpai before, so now they want to get to know Satoru-kun."
Eijun could only imagine what the monster rookie was going through at the moment. "How is your brother and Kuramochi-senpai doing?" Haruichi sounded like he was trying to hold back laughter. "Aniki says that Kuramochi-senpai has some very nosy neighbors." Eijun burst out into a laughing fit, hoping he wouldn't wake his family or Kazuya up.
"I'm so glad that I live on a farm. We don't have any neighbors that close to us." He could almost see Haruichi smiling on the other end of the line. "I know what you mean, Eijun-kun. So, did you need something?" Eijun had almost forgotten what he had meant to ask,"Huh? Oh yeah...um...what's your definition of love?" Haruichi nearly dropped the phone in his hands.
"Love? Err, let's see...I think it's when they're the last thing you think about before you go to sleep and the first thing you think of when you wake up." Eijun nodded slowly taking a piece of paper and a pen to jot down what Haruichi's definition of love was. "Thanks, Harucchi."
As he hung up the phone, Eijun decided that he'd do something nice for the catcher since Kazuya was a guest in his household.
Kazuya woke up to the smell of something burning. At first, he assumed the house was on fire, before he noticed that the house was still standing. Kazuya grabbed his glasses and put them on as he headed out of the room to go investigate where the source of the burning smell was coming from.
The smell of something burning became more prominent as he neared the kitchen. When he opened the door, he was greeted with thick, black smoke. Once he saw the source, he felt the corners of his mouth turn up into a smirk. Standing in front of the stove was Eijun trying - and failing - to cook.
Kazuya crept over towards the pitcher and wrapped his arms around the pitchers waist, like how a husband would do to his wife as she made breakfast. "Eijun, what are you doing?" Kazuya's husky voice whispered lowly in the pitchers ear, causing him to jump and turn bright red in embarrassment.
"M-M-Miyuki...what are you doing here!?" Kazuya laughed a bit, leaning against the table as he tried to make out what exactly was in the pan. "The smell of something burning woke me up, so I came down here to investigate. If you really want to learn how to cook so badly, I'll teach you~"
Eijun couldn't look the catcher in the eye as Kazuya had just discovered that he couldn't even cook a simple breakfast. Eijun sucked at many things, but cooking was something he simply failed at.
Kazuya pinched Eijun's nose and laughed as the pitcher tried to swat his hands away. "Do you still think I'm adorable even though I can't cook?" Eijun mumbled, close to tears. He wanted to do something nice, since Kazuya was his guest, but it turns out, he just caused a major problem. Kazuya blinked, finding it hard to believe that Eijun was getting worked up over not being able to cook. With a warm smile, he gently wiped away the tears that had formed in the corner of the pitchers golden eyes with his thumb. "Don't worry, you still are, silly~"
Kazuya walked over to the stove, looking down at the burnt food in the pan, trying to decipher what it once had been. "So...were you trying to cook breakfast or something?" Eijun was a speechless for a moment until he finally admitted, in defeat, that he had indeed tried to make breakfast."Yeah...it was supposed to be for you, but..."
The catcher smiled and ruffled Eijun's hair with a laugh. "You're so considerate, Eijun. But next time, I'll do the cooking."
After a well cooked breakfast - courtesy of Kazuya - Eijun decided that he should take Kazuya fishing and see just how terrible he was at it.
"We're going fishing, Miyuki." Eijun exclaimed, grabbing a hold of the catchers arm and pulling him out of the house. "What are we gonna use for fishing?" Kazuya asked, unsure of what Eijun had meant by going fishing. He was a city guy, how in the hell was he supposed to even know how to fish?
Eijun stared at the catcher as if he had just admitted to murdering someone. "We're going to use fishing poles, what did you think we were gonna use? Our hands?"Eijun dug around in the storage shed until he found two fishing poles. He handed one over to Kazuya and lead him down the trail behind his house, down towards his favorite fishing spot.
Eijun's fishing spot was just a simple wooden bridge on the side of a big lake; a perfect spot to relax and fish. "Sit down, I'll help you bait your hook." Kazuya could only watch in horror and disgust as Eijun jammed the worm through his hook, not once, not twice, but three times.
Eijun handed the pole over to Kazuya who took it in his hands slowly, trying to grasp the basics of why he had agreed to do this in the first place. Eijun showed Kazuya the correct way to cast his line and the two soon just sat there, on the wooden dock, in silence; only the sounds of wildlife could be heard as they waited for the fish to bite.
Kazuya was beginning to drift off when suddenly-
"Holy shit, Eijun! Help me!" Kazuya had gotten a bite, panicking over how it was trying to tug him off of the bridge. Eijun struggled to help the catcher reel in the fish, resulting in Kazuya falling into the lake.
"Miyuki, are you okay!?" Eijun was about to jump in to rescue the catcher when Kazuya submerged from the water, coughing up the water that had entered his mouth and nose, soaked completely to the bone.
"I'm really sorry, Miyuki." Eijun called out, extending a hand to help the catcher out of the water. "Don't be, a little water never hurt anyone." Kazuya assured, grabbing a hold of the pitchers hand and pulling himself up on to the wooden bridge, shivering a bit from the wet clothes he had on.
"But you're soaked." Eijun remarked, eyeing the wet clothes with concern. "I can shower when we get back." Kazuya reassured him, removing his shirt in the process. Eijun was taken aback as he saw the catchers well toned, muscular body up close. If it weren't for the scars that lingered across Kazuya's wrists and arms, he'd be perfect for the cover of a men's fashion magazine.
"Like what you see, huh?" Kazuya asked, a devious smirk plastered on to his face as he caught the pitcher staring at his body. "W-What!?" Eijun stuttered out, mortified that he'd been caught in the act.
As they walked back to his house, Kazuya piped a question. "So Eijun, what's your dream partner like?" Eijun had to think long and hard on that. "I guess someone who's smart, nice, and gets me..."
Eijun finally worked up the courage to say the last part of his sentence. "Someone like you, Miyuki."
Eijun's mother was horrified when she saw the two return home; Kazuya dripping wet and having all those self inflected scars on his arms and wrists didn't help either.
"Miyuki fell in the lake, mom." Eijun explained, hoping she wouldn't question him about the scars. Eijun knew Kazuya was self conscious about the scars, ashamed of having inflicted them upon himself. "Oh Miyuki-kun, you poor thing. Go hop in the shower and I'll prepare some tea to warm you up."
Eijun sat at the kitchen table, watching his mother prepare tea for Kazuya. "Eijun, he's a really nice kid, you know that? His parents must be proud to have a son like him." Eijun could only nod, a frown prominent upon his face as he thought of what Kazuya's home life must have been like.
When Kazuya appeared in the doorway, Eijun could notice how he was still shivering, even after taking a hot shower and getting into warm clothes. "Here's your tea, dear. I hope it'll warm you up." Kazuya's hands shook ever so slightly as he picked up the cup of warm tea, bringing it up to his lips and taking a small sip out of it.
"Thank you, Sawamura-san." After a few more sips, Kazuya didn't want anymore, so he thanked Eijun's mother for the tea again and proceeded to head up to Eijun's bedroom.
"I hope he's not getting a cold." Eijun's mother remarked, worried about the health of her son's friend.
Eijun could only hope so as well.
Morning came and Kazuya looked horrible; his eyes were red and puffy; his nose was running, and his face dripped with sweat. "Miyuki, c'mon. We need to head back to Tokyo today! We have practice tomorrow morning, remember!?" Eijun exclaimed, frustrated by the fact that Kazuya had yet to get up.
"Ugh, leave me alone, Eijun...I feel like absolute shit." Kazuya's scratchy voice replied. He'd caught a cold from falling into the lake and felt absolutely miserable. Everything bright hurt his eyes and any sudden noises added on to the pounding headache he had.
Eijun somehow managed to bribe the catcher into getting up and dressed to go. As they were leaving, Eijun's mother handed him a bottle of water and medicine. "Miyuki-kun may develop a fever on the way back, so use this to bring it down."
As Eijun pulled Kazuya alongside him to the station, he only hoped that Kazuya would sleep through the trip back.
Eijun pulled the catcher down next to him on the seat and allowed the catcher to use his shoulder as a pillow. "I'm just ready to go back to Seido and sleep." Kazuya mumbled, feeling drained off all his energy.
As they traveled back to Tokyo, Eijun could feel the heat radiating off the catchers forehead, seeping into his neck. With a frown, Eijun pushed the catcher's bangs out of his face and felt how hot his forehead was. That was never a good sign. "Miyuki, wake up." Eijun nudged Kazuya, hoping it'd wake him up. "Hmmn...what?" Kazuya asked groggily, wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep.
"You may want to take this, it'll lower your fever." Eijun suggested as he dug around in his bag, pulling out a bottle of water and fever reducing medication.
"Fine, hand them over." Eijun carefully handed the water and medicine over to the catcher, who scrunched up his face as he took the medicine. "Blegh, who knew that pills could taste so revolting?" Eijun snickered lightly into his hand. "You should try to rest until we get back to Tokyo."
Kazuya complained for a good whole three minutes about not being sick and needing to rest until he finally wore himself out, ending up using Eijun's lap as a pillow. Eijun was too engrossed with a new app he'd downloaded that he didn't even notice the extra weight on his lap.
When they finally reached their stop, Eijun shook the catcher, who still sleeping on his lap, awake. "Miyuki, we're here. We have to get off, it's our stop." Kazuya groggily sat up, a bit delirious now that the fever medication had worn off.
As they walked out of the station, Eijun had literally had to hold on to the catcher's body to keep him upright. Embarrassing as it was, he didn't want the catcher to fall over and wind up in the middle of a street; Kataoka would surely get on his ass if he did.
Eijun was exhausted by the time they'd reached Seido. Kazuya wasn't exactly a lightweight, so he had mustered up all his strength to support the catchers weight on the walk back to campus.
It seemed that luck was on his side for once as he noticed Haruichi and Furuya sitting on the stairs. "Guys...help me...please!" Eijun pleaded in between breaths; the two looked at each other, sharing looks of concern, before they went over to help Eijun support the catchers weight.
"What happened, Eijun-kun?" Haruichi asked, draping one of the catchers arms around his shoulders as he helped Furuya out. "Miyuki fell in the lake when we were fishing and this is the result."
Eijun didn't feel like having his friends carry Kazuya up the stairs, so he decided to head back to his old room that he shared with Masuko and Kuramochi.
Eijun decided to knock first, to see if anyone was in there, and sure enough Masuko was there. "Welcome back, Sawamura-chan." Eijun smiled at his roommate's warm welcome. "Masuko-san, can Miyuki stay in here for tonight?" Eijun asked, knowing that his roommate would say yes. "It's fine by me, but you'll need Kuramochi's permission as well."
That would be hard, since Kuramochi and Kazuya did have a bipolar relationship. "Is Kuramochi-senpai even back yet?" Haruichi nodded as he helped Furuya carry the catcher inside the room, placing him down on Eijun's bed.
"Kuramochi-senpai decided to go batting with Aniki."
Just his luck. "Eijun-kun, we should try to bring Miyuki-senpai's fever down." Eijun was too worn out to move from his spot on the bed next to the catcher. "I gave him a fever reducer on the train, but I guess it wore off." Haruichi turned towards Furuya, ready to order him around. "Satoru-kun, will you go get a cold washcloth and ask Takashima-san for a fever reducer?"
If there was one thing everyone knew, it was that Furuya couldn't say no to Haruichi. As Furuya left to go gather the required items, Haruichi decided to use this time to make small talk with Eijun.
"How was your weekend with Miyuki-senpai, Eijun-kun?" Haruichi asked, sitting down next to the pitcher on the bed. "It was pretty fun. How was yours with Furuya?" Haruichi smiled as he thought back to his weekend. "It was amazing."
They sat there completely silent, unsure of what to say to say to break the silence. "So...Eijun-kun, why did you ask me about my definition of love?" Eijun stayed silent, worrying his friend a bit.
"Eijun-kun, did you...?" Eijun gripped the blankets on his bed, tightly, looking over from the sleeping catcher to Haruichi sitting next to him. "I'm not sure, really. I don't even know what love is..."
Furuya couldn't have arrived at a better time with everything Haruichi had requested. "Takashima-san says to call her if his fever won't go down, or if it comes back a day or two after going away."
Haruichi took the cool wash-cloth and handed it to Eijun. "Place this on his forehead, Eijun-kun." Haruichi explained, taking the bottle of pills out of Furuya's hand to read over the directions. Eijun carefully pushed the catchers bangs out of his face before gently placing the cool washcloth on his forehead.
"Eijun-kun, we'll be right back. We're going to see if the cafeteria will prepare something that won't upset Miyuki-senpai's stomach since he can't take this medication without a meal." Haruichi said as he got off the bed and joined Furuya in the doorway.
"Will you be alright here with Miyuki-senpai?" Eijun nodded, picking up a Shoujo manga from one of his manga stacks - that had long since toppled over - beside his bunk.
As Eijun read the fifth book of the manga series, he heard a small cough from beside him. "Ah, Miyuki! Are you alright? Do you want water?" Kazuya sat up, blinking a bit in his delirious state, and turned to look at the pitcher a bit confused.
"Eijun, is that you?" Kazuya asked in a raspy voice as he rubbed his eyes a bit. "Yeah, it's just me. Did you want water or something?"
Kazuya nodded; his throat was burning and the thought of having water to soothe his dry, aching throat sounded pleasant. Eijun sat his manga aside and grabbed the bottle of water that was sitting on the floor beside his bunk, uncapped it, and handed it over to the catcher who chugged half of the bottle down.
"Thanks. My throat feels a bit better now." Eijun sat the bottle back down beside his bunk. "Do you need anything? Do you need to go to bathroom?" Eijun asked, glancing at the catcher leaning on his shoulder. "I'm fine. But can you read your manga out loud?" Kazuya asked, smiling at the pitcher, tiredly.
"I'll start over at the beginning then." Eijun replied, marking his spot and flipping back to the first page. As he read, he felt the catchers warm breath tickle his neck. Kazuya had fallen asleep again. Eijun sighed and gently pushed the catcher off of him.
Haruichi and Furuya finally showed up, a small bowl of warm soup in Furuya's hands indicated that they had brought food.
"Sorry for the wait, Eijun-kun! There was a long line in the cafeteria and then when we finally got to the front, they were all out of soup...we had to walk all the way into town just to get some in a can, then come back here to find a bowl to heat it up in, and then wait for it to cool off." Haruichi explained, worn down by the adventure he and Furuya had been on just to get soup.
"Urgh, Miyuki already fell asleep." He mumbled, debating of whether he should wake the catcher up or let him sleep. "That's fine, we'll just leave this here. Do you want us to tell Kuramochi-senpai you're staying here?" Eijun shook his head. "Nah, that's okay, Masuko-san will probably drop in a word."
Haruichi and Furuya left him alone with the catcher once again. This was going to be a long night.
Kazuya had woken up and climbed out of Eijun's bunk, startling the pitcher. "Miyuki, what are you doing!?" The catcher raised a brow at the pitcher's outburst. "Going to the bathroom, why do you ask?" Eijun wanted to protest, but decided to keep his mouth shut.
"Fine, but don't take too long. I don't need coach getting on my ass for letting you pass out." Kazuya chuckled and walked towards the door. "I'll be back soon. Don't miss me too much while I'm gone~"
After Kazuya had left the room, Eijun sighed and picked up where he'd last left off in his manga. He didn't understand the warm, fuzzy feeling that bubbled up deep inside of his chest when he was with Kazuya of all people, but he wanted to know more about it.
It had been about five minutes and Eijun was growing worried; Kazuya had yet to come back. Eijun got up from the floor and was about to go out and search for the catcher, when the door to his room flung open.
"Sawamura, why the fuck did you get this bastard sick!?" Kuramochi barked, clearly pissed off by something Kazuya had done. "Hey, it's not his fault. I should have let go of the pole when I had the chance." Kuramochi scowled at Kazuya, obviously not liking that the catcher was staying in his room.
Eijun could only hope that Seido's first string wouldn't be down a catcher by morning.
Kazuya was very demanding when he was sick; often ordering Eijun to do things for him. "I'm tired of being your slave, Miyuki!" Eijun just wanted the catcher to hurry up and get better so he could be free from being ordered around. "Hahaha, I'll make you a deal, Eijun; when you get sick, I'll let you order me around, sound fair?" Eijun could only grumble in response.
Kazuya was in good spirits and hadn't had a fever in three days, but Kataoka had wanted him to take the rest of the week off, just to be safe and not have the catcher wind up overworking himself. "I'll be back at practice on Sunday, silly." Kazuya assured him, flashing him his all time killer grin. "You better be, I hate pitching to the net." Kazuya snickered into his hand he thought of Eijun pitching terribly into the net, grumbling all sorts of incoherent things.
"So Eijun, what do you think the freshmen next year will be like?" Eijun had hardly ever thought of what his second year at Seido would be like.
"Um...I dunno." Kazuya could hardly contain his laughter as he saw the pitcher thinking hard about the question. "Maybe we'll have another first year trio on the first string." Eijun stayed silent, he just couldn't imagine what the first string baseball team would be like next year with all new players.
"Yeah...maybe." Eijun, as much as anyone else, didn't want the third years to graduate and leave behind their baseball days at Seido forever. But, the one thing that hurt him the most, when he thought about it was Kazuya leaving him after his third year was done, he couldn't help but feel extremely melancholy.
"Why the long face, Eijun?" Kazuya asked, pinching the pitchers cheek a bit. "Nothing...i'm just thinking." Kazuya's eyes widened in shock at what had just come out of Eijun's mouth. Did he hear that right? Was his fever creeping back up on him once again?
"You? Thinking? Eijun, are you sure you're not getting sick!?" Eijun scowled at the catcher. "Why is it so much of a shock to you that I can think on my own, huh!? I'm not getting sick, I'm just thinking about next year."
Eijun flopped back on the bed and stared up at the bottom of the top bunk. "Well, whatever happens in the future, let's make sure to give it our best. I like being your catcher and I don't want that to change anytime soon, okay?"
Eijun nodded with a small smile on his face. "Yeah, that's fine by me." Kazuya grinned, ruffling the pitchers hair a bit.
"It's a promise then~"
Little did they know that their promise wouldn't be kept.
And that sums up chapter Five~
Holy shit, this chapter took a lot out of me! DX Like Jesus. U_U'
Next chapter is gonna have major MiyuSawa action in it. (The romance begins, haha.)
Regarding the ending of this chapter, ohhhh~ This little promise that will be broken has a major role in later chapters of the story. ^_~