Hey, hey, hey, heeeey~ Thank you all soooooo freaking much for your reviews, faves, and follows. :') They mean the absolute world to me. :3
I have school starting back up soon, so chapters will take longer to put out. :( But I will update as much as I can. :)
Remember to R&R~
Chapter Six: Feelings
Eijun could tell there was something up with the catcher. Kazuya always seemed to have his eyes on him, and it was really starting to annoy him.
Eijun could swear that Kazuya had been staring at him, hardly blinking, for a good ten minutes as he practiced with Chris. "Quit staring at me, Miyuki! you're making me paranoid!" Kazuya snickered as he resorted his attention back towards catching Furuya's pitches.
"Hey Eijun, when Chris-senpai graduates, I'll be your catcher~" Kazuya stated, a smile on his face as he caught Furuya's forkball with ease. "I'd rather you not." Eijun retorted as he tried to concentrate on his own pitching.
"Miyuki-senpai, how are you going to catch for three, or more, pitchers if you only have one glove?" Furuya stated the obvious question that even Eijun himself wondered. "Hmm...take turns?" Eijun and Furuya exchanged looks of outrage towards the catcher.
"Miyuki, there may be a catcher next year that could have both Sawamura and Furuya's full attention, you know that right?" Eijun looked over at Chris, a bit shocked that he had spoken up.
"Not gonna happen, senpai~ These two practically fight tooth and nail over me just to be their catcher for practice." Eijun felt his embarrassment grow more and more as Kazuya informed Chris of Eijun's childish behavior like how a teacher would to a parent. "Shut up, you damn four eyed catcher!"
Eijun wanted to spend as much time practicing with Chris as he possibly could before the third years retired, but Kazuya was making it rather difficult. Eijun hadn't been pitching very well, due to the catchers random snarky remarks, and ended up having Chris call it a day.
"Sawamura, I think it's better that you take a break from pitching." Chris said as he pulled off his helmet. Eijun pouted a bit at being told he couldn't pitch anymore. "Why! I was pitching so well!" Chris could only sigh and shake his head. "Your control was far worse today than it ever has been..." As Chris lectured him about what he had done wrong, Eijun could only pout as he saw the other catcher laughing at him.
"Chris-senpai, what are you gonna do after high school?" Eijun asked as he followed the older catcher out of the bullpen, not wanting to stick around near Kazuya any longer. "Work on getting my shoulder back into shape and then head to America to play baseball."
Eijun could only listen silently as he thought of the short amount of time that he'd spent with Chris. "I'll miss you, Chris-senpai." Eijun murmured as he tried hardest to fight back tears.
"I haven't gone anywhere yet, Sawamura. Just because we third years are graduating doesn't mean that we're going to give up on baseball forever. It's dimply the start of a new beginning for all of us." Chris explained as he patted the pitchers shoulder gently.
"Besides, you'll still have Miyuki here as your catcher." Eijun's mouth formed into a frown. As much as he liked Kazuya, he and Chris were different people; Kazuya was rather playful and rather touchy-feely with him, while Chris, no the other hand, was more serious and hardly touched him unless it was to correct his pitching stance. "But I want you! Don't get me wrong, Miyuki is a great catcher, but he's just not you." Eijun exclaimed, hoping that Chris would understand how he felt.
"Sawamura, Miyuki has long since surpassed me as a catcher." As the two walked back the dorms, Eijun could only stay silent.
"Sawamura, keep a close eye out for Miyuki." Was all he got from Chris as they departed ways. "Urgh, why did he tell me to keep a close eye out for Miyuki? It's not like he'll do anything reckless." Eijun mumbled to himself as he unlocked the door to his dorm.
Eijun had just about had it with that stupid, warm, fuzzy feeling that bubbled up inside of his chest whenever he was anywhere near Kazuya. The catcher had merely brushed past him to retrieve a stray ball and yet Eijun felt like his heart would literally rip right out of his chest with how fast it was beating.
Eijun wanted to know what the feeling was, so he figured it would be best to ask his senpais about it.
Eijun took in a deep breath before he knocked on the door to Jun's room. The voices muffled inside weren't hard to figure out; Tetsu and Jun were probably playing shogi together. The footsteps neared the door and the sound of the doorknob turning was heard. "Tetsu, guess who's here? It's the southpaw brat, Sawamura." Jun exclaimed which caught Tetsuya's full attention. "Let him in, Jun." Tetsuya ordered as he saw how the center fielder tried to intimidate the first year pitcher.
Jun scowled, but stepped aside so that the pitcher could enter the room. "Um...Isashiki-senpai, Yuki-senpai, I have a question to ask you two..." Eijun gulped a little and hoped that his words wouldn't fail him. "Sit down, Sawamura. We will listen to you." Tetsuya shot Jun a warning glance before he focused his full attention back towards the pitcher.
Eijun hesitantly sat down next to Tetsuya and felt his stomach do flip flops. "Tell us what's wrong, Sawamura." Tetsuya remarked as he observed how nervous the pitcher looked in their presence.
"When you fell in love with Isashiki-senpai, what did it feel like?" Tetsuya's eyes widened in surprise; he hadn't expected Eijun to ask them for love advice.
"I think that I will let Jun handle this question; I'm not so very good at this." Jun sat down on the opposite side of Eijun and cleared his throat. "You better not repeat this to anyone else, brat. When I fell in love with this airhead over here, I couldn't stay mad at his stupid sayings or mistakes and generally found myself seeing him...differently."
Eijun listened to every word seriously; he could relate on a personal level to everything he was being told. "Eventually, the knot in my stomach grew bigger and one day, we wound up-" Tetsuya cut Jun off to keep from ruining the pitchers innocence; he didn't want Jun to explain things to the pitcher and have him try to test them out. God knows what the southpaw and his curiosity could lead him too.
"Why did you ask about falling in love, Sawamura?" Tetsuya asked as he kept his hand over Jun's mouth. "I-I...I think that I might have fallen in love with Miyuki..."
Jun's eyes widened as he tried to pry Tetsuya's hand from off of his mouth. "I wish you two the best of luck then."
Eijun got up and thanked the two for their time before he headed out to give the two time alone to discuss what had just happened.
"You're one strange brat, Sawamura." Kuramochi remarked, raising a brow at the pitcher begging him for help.
"Kuramochi-senpai, please help me!"
Kuramochi shot a glare at a snickering Ryousuke, who sat beside him on the floor, and sighed. There was no way in hell Ryousuke would let him live this down if he didn't help Eijun out. "Alright. The thing I think of most, when it comes to love, is giving someone the power to destroy you, and just simply trusting them not to do so."
Eijun made a mental note of that. "Really!?" As Eijun thought about the meaning of it, his mind flashed with images of Kazuya; how they first met, discovering the catcher's imperfections, and the awful scars... "So, why do you even like Kazuya anyways? I thought you said that he was a just a selfish, four-eyed asshole." Kuramochi asked as he picked up the controller to un-pause his video game.
"I...don't know, really. He's just really special to me." Eijun mumbled with a blush. Kuramochi snickered to himself as he started his game up. "Seems to me like you'd be willing to commit a crime just to be with him."
"So...Kuramochi-senpai-" Kuramochi already knew what the pitcher would ask, so he cut him off with,"I told Kazuya I wouldn't ruin your innocence, so I won't tell you anymore about my love life with Ryou-san other then it happened during my first year of high school."
Even though Eijun was curious, Kuramochi knew Kazuya would kill him if he told Eijun more than what he needed to know at the moment.
Eijun stood outside the door to Chris' room arguing with Kanemaru to let him in. "C'mon, what have I ever done to you!?" Eijun cried, pounding his fists on the door. "For fucks sake; Chris-senpai isn't here!" Kanemaru's muffled voice retorted from behind the door, making Eijun even more frustrated."Then where is he!?" As Eijun fought with Kanemaru through the door, he hadn't noticed that Haruichi and Furuya were watching him from in front of Haruichi's dorm.
"What do you think Eijun-kun is arguing about with Kanemaru-kun, Satoru-kun?" Haruichi asked as he stared at his best friend, a bit worried that Eijun had lost his mind.
"It must be something important." The two winced as the door flew to Kanemaru's dorm opened and hit Eijun in the face.
"Now do you believe me!?" Kanemaru asked, annoyed by the pitchers presence. With a pout, Eijun walked off, mumbling about how unfair Kanemaru was to him.
"Eijun-kun...what are you doing?" Haruichi asked as the pitcher walked over to them. "Hmmm...I'm trying to figure out what love is, but everyone just has a different definition of it." Haruichi took Eijun's hands into his own and smiled at the pitcher warmly. "Eijun-kun, did you fall in love with Miyuki-senpai?" Eijun couldn't explain what he felt for the catcher in words, but his heart could.
"Like I said, I'm not sure if it's love or not, but...I want to be with Miyuki as more than just friends. I wanna be there for him when no one else can..."
Furuya and Haruichi glanced at each other and smiled. "Go talk with Miyuki-senpai about it. I'm sure he feels the same way, Eijun-kun."
Furuya wrapped an arm around Haruichi's shoulders and smiled at Eijun for once. "Don't rush into things if you're not ready yet. Miyuki-senpai will understand if your uncomfortable with doing something."
Eijun felt a smile creep up onto is face and pulled his best friends closer to him. As he nearly smothered his best friends with a bear hug, he thanked them, endlessly. "You guys are the best."
After Eijun let them go, Haruichi and Furuya exchanged mixed glances; while they were happy that Eijun had finally come to terms with his feelings, they still couldn't help but feel worried that something bad would happen.
"Satoru-kun...I'm worried about Eijun-kun." Furuya pulled Haruichi closer towards him and looked off in the direction where they'd last seen the pitcher.
"I just hope he knows what he's getting himself in to."
Eijun took in a deep breath before he walked into the bullpen where Kazuya was practicing with Kawakami. "Ah, hey Eijun, I'll be done here in a minute~" As Kazuya finished up catching for Kawakami, they went over the usual stuff about what he'd done well and what he needed to improve on before they departed ways.
"So...what brings you out here?" Kazuya asked as he took off his helmet. Eijun felt his cheeks heat up as he tried to avoid saying anything embarrassing. "No reason." Kazuya smirked as he pulled off the remainder of his gear.
"Ohhh, is there something that you want to tell me, Eijun~" Kauzya knew he'd hit the nail on the head as to why Eijun was acting so strange around him.
"There's nobody here but us, so you can tell me anything." Kazuya insisted as he stared into Eijun's golden eyes for an answer.
Eijun fiddled with the hem of his shirt and tried to avoid the catchers gaze as his cheeks turned bright red. There was no going back once he did this. "I-I...I think that I might be in love with you...Miyuki."
Kauzya stood there with Eijun in shock, his mind swarmed with thoughts about how he should handle the situation without making Eijun more uncomfortable than he already was.
"I love you too, Eijun. I've liked you since the day we first met and gradually allowed myself to fall in love with you over time." Kazuya smiled at the pitcher and pulled him closer. "So, do you want to be more than just friends with me?" As he awaited Eijun's response, he tried to block out thoughts of what his father would do to him once he found out about Eijun.
"Yes." Eijun replied after what had felt like an eternity. It was a simple, sweet reply, but it was still better than a no. "Great~" Kazuya leaned in towards Eijun's face towards his lips, though Eijun held up his hands and gently blocked the catchers lips from touching his own.
"I-I'm not...ready for kissing just yet." Kazuya chuckled lightly as he carefully pulled Eijun's hands off of his mouth. "Can I kiss you elsewhere?" Kazuya wouldn't rush things if Eijun wasn't comfortable. If that meant putting off kissing until later, then so be it.
"I...haven't had my first kiss yet, so..." Eijun trailed off, hoping Kazuya would understand. It wasn't like he didn't want to kiss the catcher, he just didn't feel the urge to kiss him. "It's fine~ I can wait. Now, come closer." Eijun moved a bit closer to the catcher and felt Kazuya's lips brush against his forehead.
"How's that?" Eijun touched the spot where he'd been kissed and looked up at the catcher shyly. "It was nice, I guess."
Kazuya looked up into the sky and noted how dark it had become. "Come on, let's get back or we'll be the last ones eating." Kazuya held out his hand for the pitcher to take and smiled as Eijun shyly took hold of it.
Kazuya didn't intertwine their fingers as they walked back, knowing it'd make Eijun uncomfortable and probably cause him to squirm and let go, but he was happy with taking things slow, since there was no need to rush things.
As the two walked into the cafeteria, almost everyone had gotten their food and were either too busy eating, engaging in conversation, or just didn't care, as the pair walked in, hand-in-hand. "Are you okay, Eijun?" Eijun was a bit shocked that they hadn't gotten any strange looks from the others. It wasn't like they were the only same-sex couple; he just hadn't expected anyone to just blatantly ignore it when it was right in front of their faces.
"Don't worry so much, Eijun. Nobody cares whether or not you're in a relationship with another guy." Kazuya assured him as they walked to get their food. Grabbing their trays, the two got their food and searched for a place to sit among the crowd.
"Kazuya, Sawamura, over here!" Kuramochi's boisterous voice called out as he waved at the two. "C'mon, Eijun~" Kazuya and Eijun carefully weaved their way through the crowd of students and over towards Kuramochi's table.
"So, give me the details." Kuramochi smirked as he looked over at Kazuya. "Bullpen." Kazuya answered simply, causing the shortstop to grin. "Anything else?" Kazuya sat down his bowl of rice and shook his head. "Nope. Just confessions, a simple forehead kiss, and we held hands on the way back."
Kuramochi grew bored with the lack of juicy details and went back to his meal.
Eijun yawned a bit as he struggled to stay awake to finish up the rest his math homework. "Tired already?" Eijun tried to deny it, but a yawn cut him off. "I have to finish this tonight or my math teacher will yell at me." Kazuya sighed and got up from his bed, looking over the little amount of work Eijun had done. It was no use keeping him up any later; Eijun was tired and needed to rest.
"I'll talk to him tomorrow and see if we can get this done during our lunch break." Kazuya pulled the chair the pitcher occupied out from under the desk a bit and lead Eijun over towards his bed.
"Get some sleep now, Eijun." Kazuya covered the pitcher up and kissed his forehead, making the pitcher laugh a bit. "What's so funny, Eijun?" He asked as a smile formed upon his face as he saw Eijun happy.
"I'm just happy that you're really considerate towards me." Kazuya chuckled and pinched Eijun's nose a bit. "Why wouldn't I be? I want you to be comfortable in our relationship, so I won't force you to do something you don't want too." Kazuya got up from the pitchers bed and walked over towards his own, saying a goodnight and turning off the light before he fell asleep.
Eijun snuggled deeper under his covers as he thought back to today's events. 'Part of me feels lucky that I have an amazing boyfriend, but the other feels like I don't deserve to have him.'
Kazuya had miraculously managed to convince Eijun's math teacher to extend the time Eijun had to complete his homework. As the two sat in Eijun's classroom, Kazuya explained step by step how to work out each problem until Eijun felt confident enough to work them out on his own.
"Are they correct?" As Kazuya checked over Eijun's work, he gave the pitcher a thumbs up. "It's all correct." Eijun beamed with joy as he thanked Kazuya for his help.
"Thank you so much, you're the best, Miyuki." A few people in Eijun's class murmured about how someone like Kazuya could have ended up with someone like Eijun, who hardly ever put any effort into his schoolwork.
Eijun knew he didn't deserve to have Kazuya as a boyfriend; he was smart, handsome, thoughtful, and well known for his baseball skills. Eijun knew that he was just a country bumpkin who didn't fit in with the other students.
"Miyuki...I'm sorry for making you do this. I'll try harder next time." Eijun's cheery mood had been ruined by the gossip, making it difficult for him to keep positive.
"Don't be sorry, Eijun. I love spending time with you no matter what we do." Kazuya stated as he wiped away the tears that had started to form in Eijun's eyes. Eijun crying always hurt him inside; it was never a pleasant sight to behold.
"You're perfect just the way you are, Eijun. You make me smile more and brighten up my day with little sayings that may not be funny to other people, but I still find them to be hilarious." Kazuya confided, patting the pitchers head, gently. Before he'd met Eijun, he'd been stuck in a depression that he had trouble breaking out of, resorting to cutting as a final option. When Eijun appeared out of the blue suddenly, it was as if he'd brought along the light with him.
Kazuya had thought of something he knew was crazy, but couldn't help but say it anyways. "If you can hit at least one pitch during one of our games, I'll prove to you just how much you cross my mind on a daily basis."
Eijun let his head collide with the desk out of pure agony. He sucked at batting; he could bunt, but he couldn't bat worth life. "You know that I can't bat worth life." Eijun mumbled, causing Kazuya to chuckle.
No matter how hot it was, Kazuya was still uncomfortable wearing short sleeves during school. "Don't you get sweaty wearing that?" Eijun slowly lifted the sleeve to Kazuya's uniform up to make sure that he hadn't reopened his scars. To his relief, the scars had healed up nicely and hadn't been messed with for awhile.
Kazuya had fallen silent; Eijun thought he'd said something wrong before Kazuya forced a smile upon his face. "It's sweet to know that you care Eijun, but I'm alright."
He hated to lie to Eijun, but he didn't want to ruin their relationship by having Eijun constantly worrying over him.
School had ended fifteen minutes ago and Kazuya still saw no signs of Eijun. 'Where is he?' Kazuya tried to stay calm as he thoroughly searched through all of the first years in the heap of students exiting their classrooms for any sight of Eijun, but there were no signs of him anywhere.
As Kazuya walked out of the school to get ready for practice, he wondered to himself where exactly Eijun could have vanished too in such a short period of time. Eijun was forgetful, yes, but he always waited for Kazuya after their last classes ended.
After Kazuya had changed into his uniform, he walked out of the locker room to get his gear on and noticed a certain brunet holding a baseball bat in his hands; a loud string of curse words coming from his mouth.
Eijun was trying to bat as best he could, but he always kept missing the ball. Kazuya chuckled at the sight and decided to be of use to the pitcher. "Here, bend your knees a little so you don't feel stiff."
Kazuya helped correct Eijun's pose and wondered just how little Eijun knew about batting. "Say Eijun," the pitcher looked at him out of the corner of his eye as he waited Kazuya's question. "How long have you been playing baseball without proper instructions?"
Eijun shrugged, unsure of how long it had been since he had a proper baseball coach. "Err, I think since I was around nine or ten years old." No wonder Eijun had trouble batting; he hadn't been taught the correct way at all.
"I'm surprised people say you suck at batting when you've never received proper instructions on how to actually bat." Kazuya stood behind Eijun and carefully corrected the pitchers stance into the proper way.
"Alright, now slowly swing the bat." Eijun was a bit of a slow learner, so Kazuya often had to correct him or re-show him the correct way to bat. He didn't mind it though, he actually felt useful for once in his life.
"Okay, I'll toss the ball to you and lets see if you can hit it." Kazuya sat down on the crate and picked up one of the stray baseballs that had rolled over and tossed it to Eijun. Even though Eijun swung at the right time, he'd still missed the ball. Eijun felt discouraged that he hadn't hit it even though Kazuya showed him the correct stance and the correct way to hold the bat.
"Don't get discouraged, Eijun. You're doing fine, just step in a little bit further next time." No matter how many times he'd swung, he'd missed the ball every single time. Eijun was frustrated with himself for not being able to hit such easy tosses that everyone else seemed to be hitting with ease.
Kazuya wrapped an arm around the pitchers shoulders and smiled at him. "Hey, don't beat yourself up over this. We'll try it again tomorrow."
No matter what Kazuya said to him, Eijun felt even more discouraged over his lack of batting skills.
"Eijun-kun, what's wrong?" Haruichi asked as he noticed the pitchers sullen look. "I can't bat worth life and stupid Miyuki is all,"Don't get discouraged over it" how can I not when I can't even hit the damn ball!? I'm such a let down."
Haruichi knew Eijun had poor batting skills from lack of proper instruction, so he was determined to help Eijun out as best as he could. "I'll help you out, Eijun-kun."
As they finished up dinner, Haruichi pulled Eijun around campus to find a good batting area. The only good spot he could find was occupied by four others; Kuramochi, Ryousuke, Tetsuya, and Jun, to be precise. "Haruichi, what brings you here?" Ryousuke remarked as a smirk formed on his face as he noticed Eijun standing next to his brother.
Haruichi was about to reply when Kuramochi's laugh cut him off,"Kyehaha, maybe Furuya finally took the warning to heart, Ryou-san." As the two smirked at each other, Haruichi felt his face heat up, mortified that his brother and Kuramochi were referring to his relationship with Furuya.
"Aniki! We weren't even doing anything!" Ryousuke shook his head disappointingly. "I'm truly saddened by the fact that you chose him of all people, Haruichi. Even Sawamura - when he was still single, that is - would have been better than Furuya. But, then again, you've always had a weird taste in men." Ryousuke said as he swung his bat, making a swoosh sound.
"Aniki..." Haruichi could only hope Eijun wouldn't say anything that would give his brother any ideas.
"Sawamura, if you weren't dating Miyuki, between Kuramochi and Furuya, who would you pick as the better boyfriend?" Jun butted into their conversation, making Eijun panic a bit inwardly.
"Um...well...I don't know." Eijun mumbled, unsure of how he should answer the question without offending either one of the Kominato brothers with his answer. Truthfully, he couldn't pick; he had devoted himself to keeping his eyes only for Kazuya, so dating anyone else was out of the question.
"Oho~ Jun, since you're so intrigued in our conversation, between Tetsu and baseball, which do you love more?" Ryousuke smirked mischievously, knowing full well Jun wouldn't be able to answer the question.
"Kuramochi, between Ryousuke and Wakana-chan, who's your favorite?" Tetsuya asked as he set his bat aside to stare at Jun, awaiting an answer that would decide whether he would stay the night with Jun or go home to clear his head.
"Of course it's me, right Youichi?" Ryousuke opened his fiery pink eyes fully to stare into Kuramochi's, ready to commit treason if Kuramochi didn't answer yes.
Eijun stood off to the side with Haruichi, watching the two couples bicker with one another until Tetsuya picked up his bat and walked away from his fuming boyfriend, who was still arguing with Kuramochi and Ryousuke over how unfair they were being.
"Jun, I'll be staying at my place tonight." Tetsuya said as he walked off, leaving Jun to fumble with his words.
Eijun and Haruichi stood there in shock, unsure of if they should stay and watch or leave them to fight in peace.
"Eijun, seriously...stop running off without telling me." Kazuya exclaimed, a fake pout on his face as he walked over towards the pitcher. "Geez, what's with those three? They're acting like teenage girls on their periods." Kazuya said with a slight shake of his head at how childish they were being, wrapping his arms around Eijun's waist, resting his chin on the pitcher's shoulder.
"Oh, you do know that Furuya's looking everywhere on campus for you, Kominato?" Kazuya's warm, minty breath tickled Eijun's neck, which made him laugh a bit. "That tickles." Kazuya smirked and raised Eijun's shirt up a bit, exposing his stomach.
"What are you-" Eijun couldn't finish his sentence when he felt the catcher start to tickle his stomach, causing him to laugh until his sides started to hurt.
"Eijun-kun, do you want to try this again tomorrow?" Haruichi suggested as he grabbed his wooden bat. "Sure thing, Harucchi."
Even though Eijun had laughed rather loudly, the three never stopped their bickering. They just turned and told him to shut up before picking up where they had last left off in their argument.
"I forgot that Yuki-senpai lived off campus." Eijun said as he crashed down upon his bed, exhausted by all the training he'd done.
"He stays with Jun in his dorm most of the time, but when they argue, he tends to go home. Jun always goes to apologize first thing in morning, though." Kazuya explained as he collapsed onto his own bed.
Eijun shyly let his eyes wander over towards the catchers well toned body and could hardly take his eyes off of Kazuya. Even with the self inflicted scars that loitered his writs and arms, Eijun still believed that a shirtless Kazuya was truly a magnificent sight to behold.
"Like what you see, huh?" Eijun grabbed a hold his pillow and held it close to his chest as he nodded at the catcher. "Maybe." Kazuya wanted nothing more than to go join Eijun in his bed, but it was far too hot in the dorm room and he didn't feel like moving from his position.
"I can't wait for winter." Eijun blinked, confusedly. "Why?" The catcher grinned,"Well, it's my favorite season and also, because I can cuddle up with you in bed without us getting too hot."
Eijun rolled over onto his other side to face the walk and sighed. 'I really don't deserve to have such a great boyfriend like Miyuki.' He wanted to improve his pitching and batting just to show Kazuya that he was indeed trying to become the ace with his help.
"Ya know, you're gonna be a great senpai to the freshmen." Kazuya commented, solely drifting off to sleep. "How so?" Eijun asked as he turned to face the catcher.
"You make people smile even when their life is just complete shit."
And that concludes chapter 6~ ^~^
Will Eijun be able to hit a pitch? :o Find out in the next chapter~ ;)
Remember to R&R~