Hey, hey, hey everyone~ \^0^/
I've been writing this chapter for the longest, due to school taking up most of my time. I'm going to go back and edit the first 7 chapters due to the spelling errors and whatnot, but I have started work on the beginning of chapter 9~ ^_~
Anywho, enjoy this long ass chapter (8,256 words) and remember to R&R~
Chapter 8: Just Between Us
Eijun stared down at the open textbook on his desk, completely unfocused on the topic of human geography. His mind still replayed the events of morning practice in his head on repeat, causing him to be distracted from his studies.
"Sawamura-kun? You do know that it's lunch time, right?" Haruno asked him gently, worry lingering in her tone as she looked at Eijun worriedly. Eijun had been quiet all class period and hadn't slept once; everyone - including the teacher - was worried that Eijun might be sick, not warning to get sick themselves though, they made sure to be extremely cautious around him.
"Yoshikawa-san?" Eijun looked up at her confusedly before he glanced up at the clock on the wall; lunch time was truly here. Eijun had hardly any appetite for food at the moment; he didn't think he'd be able to stomach it.
"Sawamura-kun, are you feeling alright?" Eijun nodded, knowing that it was a lie. He didn't want to worry Haruno, fearing that she'd tell Haruichi, Furuya, or the upperclassmen about his lack of concentration. The words he'd been told that morning had stung his heart and replayed through his mind on a constant loop.
After the last class of the day ended, Eijun didn't bother to wait for Kazuya, knowing he'd be too busy with his job as the team captain to walk back to the dorms with him. The walk back to the dorms was lonesome and silent for Eijun; he figured that if he took the long way back - away from the crowd - it would ease his mind.
The dorm was silent; Kuramochi and Kazuya hadn't come back at all, probably busy meeting with coach Kataoka or planning out new tactics for any upcoming games. Eijun hated the silence; he felt that it betrayed him by allowing the voices in his head to grow stronger.
Eijun sat down on his bunk and furiously wiped at his eyes, trying his hardest to fight the tears forming in his eyes. "I'm such a wimp..." He mumbled to himself, his voice cracking as he chocked back a sob. If Kazuya were here, he'd wrap his arms around his waist and allow Eijun to let his emotions pour out and never leave his side until he was feeling up to talking.
Kazuya nowadays was far too busy with his role as team captain to find enough spare time to spend with Eijun. There was no way he'd be able to see that there was something hurting Eijun inside.
Eijun tried to compose himself, but couldn't find the strength to move from his position on the bed. Every part of his body ached and the tears flowed freely down his face like a waterfall.
"Miyuki-senpai doesn't deserve to be seen with such a stupid, loser, pitcher like you, Sawamura. It's just...unnatural. Miyuki-senpai probably just felt sorry for you since you're nowhere near Furuya, Tanba-san, or Kawakami-senpai's level. You're just letting yourself be fooled by your obliviousness, thinking that it's truly love when it's not. Now that he's captain, Miyuki-senpai probably doesn't even bother give a shit to care about you anymore. Grow up, Sawamura. You're just holding Miyuki-senpai back."
It hurt him deeply to know that he was nothing more to Kazuya other than a weight he could just simply drop whenever he was done with it and that it was himself holding Kazuya back. If he truly meant nothing to Kazuya, he'd simply just stay as far away from the catcher as possible.
"Eijun, since I'm free right now, I'll catch your pitches if you'd like." Eijun bit down on his lower lip, trying his hardest to keep himself from spilling his thoughts to Kazuya. Eijun avoided Kazuya's eyes as he slowly said,"Sorry, but I already asked Ono-senpai to catch for me. You can go ahead and catch for Furuya or Nori-senpai if you'd like..." He didn't even have to look at Kazuya's face to know that he had hurt the catcher.
"Really? Too bad, because I really wanted to catch for you." The hurt lingering in Kazuya's tone was evident, but Eijun chose to ignore it. He couldn't hold Kazuya back from preforming at his best. As Eijun trudged off, he could have sworn that he'd heard Kazuya mumble something under his breath.
It had been four days and Kazuya still hadn't been able to catch for Eijun. He knew that being captain meant putting aside personal duties outside of baseball, but Eijun was worrying him senseless. Eijun refused to speak to him, nonetheless even look at him. "Shit, I did something wrong, didn't I?" Kazuya tried to be patient when it came to figuring out what was wrong with Eijun, but his patience was wearing thin.
"Eijun...what's wrong with you?"
Eijun had woken up to Kazuya's arms wrapped tightly around his waist, rendering him immobile. It wasn't everyday that he got to wake up to Kazuya still sleeping next to him. All Eijun wanted to do was snuggle deeper into the catchers chest and sleep for the rest of eternity.
They had a game today and Eijun was feeling a bit under the weather. He had tried to clear his head by going out for a late run last night, but it had rained heavily upon him just as he made his fifth lap around the field.
Eijun carefully coughed into his hand, making it as muffled as possible. If Kazuya or Kuramochi found out that he was sick, he wouldn't be pitching in the game at all; instead, he'd be stuck in bed, bored completely out of his mind.
He would just have to suffer it out.
"Eijun, are you sure that you're alright? Your face is really flushed." Kazuya exclaimed as he put on his catchers gear. Eijun's face was flushed red, sweat dripped down from his forehead, and his eyes remained unfocused.
"I'm fine, Miyuki. You worry too much." Eijun hoarsely replied; Kazuya wasn't too convinced that Eijun was fine, but he was needed on the field to catch for Furuya. Kazuya gently pulled Eijun closer towards him and delicately placed a kiss on Eijun's burning hot forehead.
The heat that was radiating from Eijun couldn't be ignored. As Kazuya opened his mouth to question Eijun about it, Furuya had cleared his throat to announce his presence.
"Miyuki-senpai, you're needed on the field." Furuya said stoically as he shifted his gaze from the catcher over towards the southpaw. Kazuya was a bit reluctant to leave Eijun alone, but he knew that he had no choice; the team needed him.
"Eijun, don't push yourself too hard, alright? If you don't feel like you can pitch today, just sit back and take it easy." Once Kazuya had stepped away to start warming up, Furuya took the opportunity of being alone with Eijun to his advantage.
"Eijun, you should really sit this game out." Furuya stated bluntly, trying to show that he actually did care about Eijun's wellbeing, even if they were rivals. Eijun, on the other hand, took it as more of a challenge than Furuya being considerate towards him.
"And let you and Nori-senpai have all the fun? No way!" Eijun exclaimed, regretting raising his voice as he coughed harshly into his hand. Eijun hated being sick; he felt that it would make him look weak in the upperclassmen's eyes if he told them that he was feeling under the weather.
Furuya sighed and rubbed his temples to relieve a headache that had already started to form. Haruichi was always the more level headed and caring one when it came to the southpaw. Furuya tried to think of something that Haruichi would do to make Eijun think about things rationally.
"If you collapse on the mound, then what? What do you think Miyuki-senpai will do? Just because your relationship doesn't apply to you on the field, it doesn't mean that Miyuki-senpai has stopped caring about you." Furuya stated bluntly, turning away from the southpaw to go join Miyuki and the others on the field.
Eijun let the words that Furuya had told him sink in to his mind. While Eijun was still pretty new to the concept of love and dating - another guy to be precise - he didn't want to alarm Kazuya by suddenly blacking out...but he also didn't want to sit out and miss a game either.
Seido was down by three points; Furuya had pitched to his limit, giving up three runs in the process. Coach Kataoka called in for a pitcher change, substituting Eijun in for Furuya. Eijun had been told he'd only be pitching for two innings; Kazuya having informed coach Kataoka about Eijun's condition.
"Remember, don't push yourself too hard." Kazuya said as he helped Eijun warm up. Eijun nodded slowly, not really having heard what Kazuya had said. As the two took up their respective positions, Eijun felt the dizziness hit him like a brick, making his vision blurry.
He was able to send the pitch to Kazuya as best he could as he fought the dizziness; hearing the sound of the ball hitting the mitt allowed a smile to form upon his lips. Even if he was sick, he was still going to pitch to the best of his ability.
He'd struck out the batter and could already feel the nausea creeping up on him. He had hardly been able to stomach breakfast that morning and was already feeling it churning around inside of his stomach, ready to come up at any given second.
As he'd struck out the next batter, Eijun placed a hand on his stomach, cringing as his breakfast threatened to come up and ruin the entire game for him. Kazuya instinctively called for a timeout, running over to the mound hastily to check up on Eijun.
"Eijun? What's wrong?" Kazuya eyed Eijun from head to toe, awaiting a response from the southpaw. Eijun gripped his stomach and grimaced. "Miyuki...I feel really nauseas." Kazuya turned towards the dugout and felt the intense gaze of coach Kataoka burning into him as he called for a change in players; not just for Kawakami to substitute in for Eijun, but also for Ono to substitute in for Kazuya.
Eijun lay on his bunk, huddled up underneath piles of thick blankets, reading a Shoujo manga. He now understood why Kazuya had had so much fun ordering him around when he was sick; ordering people around was too much fun.
Kazuya entered the room, a small bowl of soup in his hands. He grinned at Eijun and carefully made his way over towards the pitchers bunk and sat down on it. "How are you feeling?" Kazuya asked as he placed the bowl of soup down on a small, portable table that sat on the bunk. Eijun smiled tiredly at the catcher as he opened up the lid to the soup bowl, allowing the steam to come out of it.
"I feel better than I did yesterday, but I'm still pretty tired." Eijun hadn't been able to keep anything down the past two days, but today he'd managed to keep his breakfast and lunch down. Taking the spoon, he carefully places the spoon in the bowl, allowing the soup to fill up on it. Bringing the spoon up to his mouth, Eijun took a small sip of the warm soup, eyes widening at how delicious it was.
"How is it?" Kazuya asked, neatly organizing the manga's that Eijun owned. He hadn't bothered to wait for the cafeteria workers to fix a bowl of soup for Eijun, noting how long it had taken Haruichi and Furuya just to get soup for him when he was the one who had fallen ill.
A quick run to the convenience store to pick up a can of soup and twenty minutes to make the soup tasty enough for the pitchers taste were all he needed. Cooking was a great skill to have when most of the boys on the baseball team had no idea how to even use the stove.
"It's good." Eijun loved the taste that the soup had; no funky aftertaste or weird vegetables mixed in made it more delicious than it already was. Eijun quickly scarfed down the rest of the soup, having it sit nicely in his stomach.
"Miyuki?" Eijun called, resting his head against the catchers back, closing his eyes and inhaling the lingering smell of Kazuya's cologne. Upon hearing his name, Kazuya turned his head to look at the pitcher. "Hmm? What's wrong?"
Eijun shook his head, not up for engaging in conversation since his throat was hurting. "Nothing. I'm just glad that you're here." Kazuya smiled and gently pushed Eijun back down onto the bed, covered him up with the thick blankets, and then lightly kissed his forehead. "Try to get some sleep now, Eijun. I have to go see Youichi about something, so feel call or text me if you need anything."
Kazuya stood up from the bunk and waved his goodbye to Eijun as he stepped out of the dorm. 'Youichi said that he had something important that he wanted to talk to me about. Damn him and his vague words.'
Kazuya climbed the stairs and walked down the corridor towards Zono's room. All he had gotten from Kuramochi was to meet up in Zono's room so they could discuss something important. Kazuya knocked on the door and waited for it to open.
To his surprise, Haruichi opened the door, inviting him inside to join the others. Kuramochi sat on one of the bunks, arms wrapped around Ryousuke's waist, head resting on one of his shoulders. Zono occupied the other, arms crossed, and a permanent scowl etched upon his face.
"What did I do now?" Kazuya inquired, sensing how tense the mood was in the room. "Haruichi here has overheard some very interesting gossip about Sawamura that you should hear about, Miyuki." Ryousuke said sharply as he turned his attention over towards his younger brother.
"Um...well...when I was walking to practice with Satoru-kun, Kanemaru-kun, and Toujou-kun, I overheard a bunch of guys talking rudely about Eijun-kun..." Haruichi nervously fidgeted in his spot, trying to avoid having Kazuya lash out at him. Kazuya simply raised a brow, curious as to what kind of gossip Haruichi could have overheard.
"Haruichi told us that they had said some pretty nasty things about Sawamura. Saying how you don't deserve to be seen with such a stupid, loser pitcher like him; you probably just felt sorry for him, and that you probably don't even bother give a shit to care about him anymore." Kuramochi's voice was like a knife stabbing into the catchers body. Kazuya could feel his blood boil inside of him. Whoever had the nerve to talk about his boyfriend must have thought they could say whatever they felt and not go unpunished.
"Who the fuck says shit like that? Eijun is one of the best damn things that's ever happened to me in my shitty sixteen years of life." Kazuya bellowed as he plunked himself down on the bunk besides Zono, irritated by what he'd just been told.
"That's probably what was eating him up. Eijun tried to avoid being anywhere near me because of what some assholes said to him." Kazuya sure as hell wasn't going to let them go unpunished for hurting Eijun's feelings. Eijun could be loud, childish, and obnoxious from time to time, but he was still a very sensitive person.
"Miyuki, before you do anything rash, you better think things over. Would Sawamura want you to go and fight someone, only for you to get your ass in trouble instead?" Zono's irritated voice questioned him. Kazuya dug his nails into the sheets, gritting his teeth as he tried to think of another way to go about the situation without resorting to physically hurting someone.
"What can I do then, Zono? It's not like I can just go up and tell them to lay off Eijun. Even if I do, it would only end up causing more problems than needed." Kazuya wanted to go out and find the guys who thought they could hurt another fellow teammates feelings and go unpunished for their actions. Kazuya wasn't exactly a violent person, but if someone happened to aggravate him enough, he would snap.
"Haruichi, go downstairs and see how Sawamura is doing." Ryousuke ordered, not wanting his younger brother to be around if Kazuya suddenly snapped and became violent. That was the last thing he wanted.
Haruichi obeyed his older brothers command without hesitation; stepping out of the room and shutting the door behind him without complaint, leaving the upperclassmen to their discussion.
Haruichi had never walked so fast in his life; while he was glad to get out of the room, he was worried about how Kazuya would take care of the situation. Haruichi had been so wrapped up in his thoughts that he'd accidentally missed a step.
Haruichi's eyes widened under his bangs as he felt his body falling forward. Haruichi braced himself for impact with the hard, cold concrete, but it never happened. Feeling someone's strong arms around his small figure, Haruichi slowly opened his eyes, coming face to face with a complete stranger.
"Are you alright?" Haruichi nodded slowly, feeling a blush creep up onto his face. The stranger was much taller than him - like most people his age - and was also a bit intimidating. He strongly resembled somebody Haruichi knew, but he couldn't quite place who it was.
"I am Yuki Masashi. Who might you be?" Haruichi shyly looked down at his feet; not like Masashi could see even his eyes that were hidden behind the long, pink bangs that he'd grown out over the past few years. "I am...Kominato Haruichi." Haruichi said softly, fidgeting with his hands as his extreme nervousness took over.
"There's that little shit, Tetsu!" Jun's loud voice boomed from across the courtyard. Jun was the first to arrive on spot, giving Masashi a terrifying death glare. "You little fucking shit! You snuck off on your older brother and me on purpose, didn't you!?" Tetsuya pulled Jun away from Masashi by the back of his shirt. Obviously not impressed by either his boyfriend or younger brother.
"Masashi," Tetsuya's calm, deep voice sounded like that of a father reprimanding their child for leaving their side. "If you wanted to go off on your own so badly then you should have told me."
Haruichi took the time to carefully observe Masashi. He was much taller than Jun and had about five inches to Tetsuya. Unlike Tetsuya's messy, black hair, Masashi had a very closely shaven haircut. If Jun hadn't said anything, Haruichi would've assumed that Masashi was Tetsuya's older brother.
"Forgive me, brother. But since you were extremely busy trying to rip Isashiki-san's pants off, you simply forgot that I existed." Tetsuya was unaffected by Masashi's words, having heard them more than once, but Jun, on the other hand, looked ready to commit treason.
"You damn brat. You're really working my nerves." If it weren't for the strong hold that Tetsuya had on Jun's arm, Jun would have made Tetsuya an only child.
Haruichi quickly slid away from the group as the door to Eijun's room opened up, revealing the dazed pitcher who had come out to see what all the noise was about. "Harucchi? What's going on?" Haruichi waisted no time in gently pushing his best friend back into the room, stepping inside, and then shutting the door behind him.
Eijun rubbed his eyes, yawning a bit as he sat on the bed next to Haruichi. "Eijun-kun, how are you feeling today?" Haruichi smoothed down some of the pitchers wild bed hair and chuckled lightly to himself as Eijun swatted his hand away.
"A lot better than I did yesterday." Eijun beamed at his best friend, flashing his teeth in the process. Haruichi looked over the manga's Eijun had, feeling an urge to straighten the stacks up neatly.
"Where's Miyuki? Is he still busy?" Eijun inquired out loud, causing Haruichi to stiffen. Haruichi smiled at Eijun, setting aside straightening up the manga's to sit down on the bunk besides Eijun. "Do you need something, Eijun-kun?"
Eijun stuck out his lower lip like that of a small child. While he knew Kazuya was busy, being the captain and catcher, he wanted to at least spend more than just a couple of minutes a day with him. They were supposed to be dating after all. "No. I'm just bored being in here all by myself, that's all."
Haruichi patted Eijun's back lightly, seeing how down his friend was about being sick. "Well, I'm here now, Eijun-kun. I'll stay here with you until Miyuki-senpai comes back." Eijun was his best friend, so of course he was going to stay with him...and God knows all the stupid things a sick, bored Eijun could do while he was alone and awake.
Eijun eased himself up from off of the bed, settling down on the ground to play one of Kuramochi's video games with Haruichi. "Which one would you like to play, Harucchi?" Haruichi took the spot next to Eijun, looking over each one of the games intensely and frowning at the genre. "I'm not really into combat games, Eijun-kun..."
Eijun shrugged it off and simply dug around through more of his roommates game collection. "No problem, Harucchi. Kuramochi-senpai has far more where those came from." Haruichi and Eijun continued to dig around through the collection, often disagreeing over a game; it was either far too violent for Haruichi's liking, too scary for Eijun, or had too many questionable, adult themes that both were far too innocent minded to even think twice about playing.
"I had no idea that Kuramochi-senpai had a Mario game." Eijun said, astonished by his discovery. Haruichi looked over the game and gave a thumbs up for approval that the game looked interesting enough for them to play together.
Kazuya had finally come up with a better solution than physically attacking the guys responsible for hurting Eijun's feelings. "I'll just inform coach Kataoka about this whole bullying situation and let him decide on what their punishment should be. Sound humane enough?" It had taken them over an hour to come up with a humane solution to the problem, and they had finally come to an agreement.
Kazuya checked his phone, reading over a text that Eijun had sent him. "I'm heading out now, Eijun needs me." Kazuya exited the room, walking down the narrow passage that lead to the stairs, he checked his phone once more to make sure he didn't have any unanswered texts or calls.
Opening the door to Kuramochi and Eijun's room, he was greeted with an adorable sight. Eijun lay sprawled out on the bed, holding on tightly to Haruichi's tiny figure, fast asleep with a bit of drool coming out of his mouth as he dreamed pleasantly. Kazuya held up his phone and zoomed it in closer towards the two and snapped a picture of them sleeping soundly. While it could be used for potential blackmail against Eijun, he could also use it to make Furuya work extra harder at practice.
Kazuya gently pried Eijun's arms and hands off of the smaller boy and lifted Haruichi up onto his back. Eijun didn't stir; he simply turned over onto his side, still fast asleep. Kazuya walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him softly. Haruichi wasn't that light, so going up the stairs would be a challenge.
An epiphany struck Kazuya; Furuya was only three doors down from Eijun and Kuramochi's. As far as he knew, Kuramochi wouldn't be coming back tonight and would be keeping Ryousuke "occupied" for a while, so it wouldn't be entirely wrong of him to leave Haruichi with Furuya, Ryousuke's least favorite person on the baseball team.
Kazuya knocked on the door, tapping his foot as he waited for either Ono or Furuya to answer the door. The door finally opened after two minutes had passed, revealing a disheveled, half-asleep Furuya. "Miyuki-senpai, what are you doing out here?" He yawned, leaning against the doorframe rubbing his eyes to remove all traces of sleep.
"I brought you something that you might like~" Kazuya turned around, allowing Furuya to observe Haruichi's sleeping figure on his back. "Is it really alright for him to be here with me?" Furuya questioned, raising a brow at the catcher. If Ryousuke found out that Haruichi had spent the night in his room, Seido would be down a pitcher come morning.
"Ryou-san's gonna be pretty occupied with Youichi tonight, so I doubt that you have anything to worry about~" Kazuya explained, sensing the ace pitcher was worried that his life was endangered. When if Furuya simply glanced at Haruichi, he could almost feel Ryousuke's breath on his neck, sending shivers down his spine.
Furuya pried Haruichi off of Kazuya's back and held the pink haired boy in his arms. Haruichi was a deep sleeper; never one to stir at noise or by being moved. Furuya carefully laid Haruichi down on his bed, earning a small whine from him in the process.
"I'll leave you two alone then~ I gotta get back before Eijun wakes up." Kazuya chuckled lightly as he shut the door behind him, leaving the couple alone. The weather was starting to get chillier each night, reminding them that summer was going to be over very soon and that fall was beginning.
Kazuya shivered a bit in his hoodie, looking forward to getting inside the warm dorm room and snuggling up beside Eijun on the bed. Opening the door, Kazuya stepped inside, shutting it behind him, and smiled at Eijun still sleeping soundly on the bed.
Kazuya sat down on the bed next to Eijun and rubbed his back a bit, waking the pitcher up from his sleep. "Hey there, sleepy head." Eijun didn't respond, instead he closed his eyes and tried to fall back asleep. Kazuya's smile turned into a frown as he received no reply or reaction from Eijun.
"What's wrong, Eijun? Still not feeling well?" Kazuya brushed Eijun's dark bangs out of his face as he placed one of his cool hands on Eijun's forehead. Eijun was running a fever again. Kazuya cursed silently to himself as he removed his hand from Eijun's forehead. "Have you been running a fever this whole time?" Eijun nodded slightly, covering his face up with his blanket to avoid Kazuya's gaze.
"Eijun, I don't think this is just a common cold. Did you get a flu shot last week?" Kazuya asked, wiping away sweat that formed on Eijun's brow. Eijun scrunched up his face and shook his head. "I don't really like needles, so I never got one..." Eijun murmured as he sat up and leaned his head on Kazuya's shoulder. Eijun had never been too big of a fan of needles, or doctors in general.
"When your fever goes down, I'll have Takashima schedule you an appointment to get a flu shot." Eijun frowned and shook his head, not too fond of the idea of having to get a shot. "Will you go with me, Miyuki?" Eijun murmured, hoping Kazuya would say yes and relieve him of his nervousness.
Kazuya wrapped an arm around Eijun's waist, pulling him in and lightly kissed his forehead. "Of course I will, silly." Eijun smiled at Kazuya's words, feeling his eyelids grow heavy, he yawned slightly and closed his tired eyes, his head still on Kazuya's shoulder.
"Let's get some sleep, Eijun." Kazuya flopped back onto the bed, holding onto Eijun as he fell asleep, nuzzling his head into the crook of Eijun neck, he fell soundly asleep as he listened to Eijun breath in and out.
"Alright sweetie, this may hurt a bit." Eijun bit down on his lower lip, grabbing ahold of Kazuya's hand and squeezing it tightly as the doctor inserted the needle into his left arm. Eijun had his eyes shut tightly, still squeezing Kazuya's hand, as the doctor retracted the needle, placing a red bandaid over the puncture wound. "Alright, we're all done. You're free to go."
Eijun opened his eyes and looked over at Kazuya. The catcher smiled warmly at him, helping him down from off of the table. "Thanks, doc~" the two waved goodbye to the doctor and headed down the hall to the waiting room to leave.
Kazuya had managed to convince Takashima to let them do a bit of fall shopping in town as the weather had started to become colder as summer ended. The two walked through town together, laughing and joking around. As the wind blew, Eijun shivered and rubbed his bare arms as the goosebumps formed on them. He had forgotten to bring a jacket or a hoodie along with him and was regretting it as the cold wind blew harder.
"Miyuki, can I wear your hoodie, please?" Eijun pleaded with puppy dog eyes. Kazuya couldn't say no to Eijun; pulling off his red hoodie, he handed it over to Eijun, who put it on swiftly, having the hoodie fall directly above his knees.
The sight of Eijun wearing his hoodie was enough to cause Kazuya to take out his phone to and snap a picture of it. This was going to be his new wallpaper for sure. As Eijun kept pulling the sleeves of the red hoodie up, Kazuya couldn't help but smile to himself.
"You're honestly too cute in that hoodie, ya know?" Kazuya commented, trying to find a long-sleeved shirt that would fit Eijun's tiny form. While Eijun had a muscular figure, he was still skinny and short. Eijun blushed a bright red as he glared at the catcher. "Oh, shut up."
"I can't find anything that would fit you, so let's just call it a day here." Kazuya said as he wrapped an arm around Eijun's shoulders. "What about the money?" Kazuya grinned at him mischievously. "Let's go get ice-cream, Eijun. My treat~"
Eijun and Kazuya walked back to the dorm, holding onto their ice-cream cones as they laughed at something only they found funny. "When we were first years, Youichi fell asleep in class once, so I drew facial hair on his face with a sharpie and he didn't even notice until he was getting dressed for practice and Ryou-san was like,"Youichi, are you trying to prove something?" And then everyone in the locker rooms just stopped and stared at him, and then they just started laughing."
Eijun laughed loudly, thankful that he had ice-cream to soothe his sore throat. Kazuya had been generous enough to buy them ice-cream cones; chocolate for Eijun, and vanilla for Kazuya. "That was hilarious. Do you have anymore stories?" Kazuya smirked mischievously at Eijun. "Now, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't have any good blackmail stories about my classmates and senpai?"
As the two settled down on the stairs, Kazuya licked his vanilla ice-cream cone and stared up at the setting sun in the orange colored sky. The two of them had been granted one more day off from practice by coach Kataoka and they were going to use it to their advantage by telling each other stories. As Kazuya begun to tell another story, Eijun had stuck his ice cream too far up, getting it on the tip of his nose.
"Ah, it's cold!" Eijun cried out, nearly dropping his ice cream cone in the process. Kazuya chuckled at Eijun's action as he took one of the spare napkins and wiped the chocolate ice cream off of Eijun's nose.
"Miyuki, do you love me?" Eijun murmured, staring at his ice cream cone with teary eyes. He hadn't forgotten about what the other first years had said to him; their words stung in his heart. Kazuya moved closer towards Eijun and pinched his cheek with his free hand. "Of course, I do. You're my adorable idiot."
Eijun had fallen silent. Kazuya knew he would have to persuade the pitcher to tell him what was on his mind. Kazuya wrapped an arm around Eijun's waist and pulled him closer, letting Eijun's head rest on his shoulder. "What's wrong, Eijun? You know you can tell me anything." Eijun still wouldn't speak to him. Kazuya hated the silence that grew around Eijun; it just wasn't the same Eijun that he'd fallen in love with.
"Please Eijun, just tell me what's wrong." Eijun looked down at his ice-cream once more and back up at Kazuya's hazel eyes. The tears from Eijun's eyes had started to overflow and his bottom lip trembled as he choked out what was on his mind. "Miyuki...my classmates...they don't think...that I'm good enough for you...and that I'm holding you back..." Kazuya rubbed Eijun's back gently as the sobs Eijun had held back came out. It never ceased to hurt him whenever he saw Eijun cry. No matter what he said to try and soothe Eijun, he just continued to cry even harder until he'd completely worn himself out.
Eijun had grown silent, exhausted from all the crying he'd done. Kazuya lifted Eijun up into his arms, carrying him back to the dorm. After placing Eijun down on the bed, Kazuya settled down next to him and wrapped his arms around the pitchers body tightly.
"Why did you keep this a secret from me?" Kazuya murmured, staring into Eijun's golden eyes as they lay in the darkness of the room. Eijun burrowed his face into the catchers chest, hoping Kazuya wouldn't notice that he had started to cry again.
"You're always so busy with your role as captain that I didn't want to bother you..." Eijun's response was muffled as Kazuya held onto him tighter. Kazuya knew being team captain kept him occupied with trying to make the new Seido baseball team as powerful as the old one, but he honestly couldn't understand why Eijun hadn't come to him sooner.
"I wanted to tell you, but...I was scared that you'd just laugh at me." Eijun choked out, his throat was becoming dry and his voice hoarse from all the crying he'd done. Kazuya's hold on him never loosened.
"Why would you think that? I'm pretty sure that Youichi told you that I was bullied in middle school, right? I don't want you to ever feel like you can't come and talk to me if you have a problem."
Eijun drifted off to sleep that night, a small smile on his face as Kazuya held onto him while they slept. Somehow Eijun knew that by tomorrow morning, things would be alright.
Eijun had woken up a bit later than usual, shivering to himself a bit as he walked towards the field. To Eijun's surprise, the guys that had been bullying him weren't anywhere to be seen. It struck him as rather peculiar. Eijun shrugged it off, wandering around the field until he found Kazuya waiting for him by the bullpen.
"Hey Eijun, how are you today?" Eijun smiled brightly as he nodded at the question. "I'm fine, just a bit chilly."
Kazuya smiled warmly at him as he opened the gate to the bullpen up, allowing Eijun to go in first. "If you're cold Eijun, I'll warm you up." Kazuya said as he crouched down, holding out his mitt for Eijun's pitch. "Thanks..." Eijun mumbled as he gripped the ball in his left hand. It had been days since he'd last touched a baseball or even practiced with Kazuya like old times.
Eijun released the ball, seeing it fly towards the catchers mitt. The sound of the ball hitting the mitt echoed through the bullpen, causing a bright smile to form on Eijun's face. Kazuya threw the ball back towards him, a smirk forming on his face.
"I hope those days off didn't make you too rusty, Eijun~" Kazuya laughed, seeing how Eijun pouted at his statement. Teasing Eijun was a lot of fun; the pitchers facial expressions never ceased to amuse him, even in the roughest of times.
"Is that the best you got? C'mon, Eijun! I've seen you throw better pitches than that!" Kazuya grinned, trying to hold back a fit of laughter as he watched Eijun glare at him. Eijun gripped the ball even tighter, sending it flying towards Kazuya even faster than before. Kazuya easily caught the pitch that the scowling pitcher had sent with ease.
Their practice was cut short when one of the first years called from behind the fence,"Miyuki-senpai, the coach wants to see you." Eijun frowned slightly, not wanting Kazuya leave while they were still in the middle of practice. Walking over towards Kazuya, who was trying to remove his gear, Eijun figured he could make himself useful and help out.
As Kazuya fiddled with his chest protector, Eijun pulled the helmet off of Kazuya's head, letting the catchers bangs fall freely across his face. "Oh, you want to help?" Kazuya asked, smirking at Eijun who had started to blush from the catchers words. "M-Maybe..." As Eijun helped Kazuya remove the shin guards, he could feel Kazuya's warm breath against his neck; it made every hair on his body stand up.
"I'll see you later, Eijun." With a quick peck on the cheek, Kazuya was out of the bullpen before Eijun had time to form words. Eijun pouted slightly to himself; he had just gotten better and rejoined practice, but there went Kazuya, leaving only after they've started.
Eijun flopped down onto the ground and threw the ball up into the air, catching it just as it fell towards the ground. He knew that he could always just go and ask another catcher to catch for him, but the feeling he got when he practiced with Kazuya or Chris differed from when he practiced with other catchers.
Eijun threw the ball up into the air once more, but didn't bother to catch it as it fell back down. It had been ten minutes and Kazuya still hadn't returned. Eijun groaned as he allowed his body to fall backwards onto the dusty, hard ground.
This morning practice was going to be long and boring.
Morning practice had long since ended. Eijun had gotten tired of waiting around in the bullpen for Kazuya to return. When Haruichi had come by and offered to help Eijun improve his batting, the pitcher hadn't hesitated to take the offer up.
Eijun walked along the trail towards the bath, hoping that there would be someone else besides him in the bath. Every time he thought back to the time he'd ended up with Kataoka in the bath, he could feel every hair on his body stand up and it sent shivers down his spine.
Eijun opened the door to the bath, noting that he was the last one to bathe. Eijun pulled off his shoes, pushing them aside, before removing his smelly, white socks. Eijun slowly pulled off his sweat drenched t-shirt over his head, tossing it into one of the baskets. The last few clothing pieces that went were his pants and boxers.
Eijun wrapped a clean, white towel around his waist, tying it in a loose knot. He picked up his personal hygiene bucket that contained his soap, washcloth, and shampoo, before heading into the bath.
Eijun sighed to himself as he entered the empty bath, relieved that Kataoka wasn't sitting in the bath, watching his every move from behind his shaded eyes. Eijun often wondered why Kataoka wore sunglasses, even in the bath of all places. What startled him the the most was that Kataoka's sunglasses never fogged up from the steam.
Removing the towel from around his waist, Eijun stepped into the lukewarm water, sighing from the comfort it provided him. The warm water never failed to help him relax and temporarily ease him of his problems. Eijun slide back, allowing his head to rest against the back wall as he thought of what he would say to Kazuya when he saw him again.
Eijun sat up a bit when he heard the sound of footsteps coming closer towards the bath door. To his luck, it would possibly end up being Kataoka. Once was mortifying enough, but a second time...?
Eijun huffed in a bit of air, causing his cheeks to puff out like a chipmunk - or better yet, Kawakami's cheeks - as he let his body slide underneath the water as a possible attempt to hide himself. While he knew it was childish, it was the only plan he could resort too without being mortified for a second time.
Eijun was running low on breath. He knew he couldn't hold his breath underwater forever, but if he came out, then Kataoka would surely be facing him. Eijun felt like his lungs were burning, obviously begging for air. Eijun inwardly said his prayers as he sprung up from the bath, gasping for air.
To his surprise, and initial shock, Kataoka hadn't been the one to join him in the bath... "Eijun, what do you think you're doing springing up out of the bath like that, I almost had a heart attack!" Eijun felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment as he tried to avoid looking downwards at Kazuya's towel-less figure sitting on the ground.
"Uh...um...I'm really sorry, Miyuki." Eijun stuttered out, avoiding any sort of eye contact with Kazuya. Eijun couldn't explain why, but he was a little shy about being in the bath alone with Kazuya. They had taken baths together before, but that had been long before they had gotten together. It didn't matter if they were both guys; Eijun still felt shy being around Kazuya in the bath.
"Don't worry, I'm not hurt or anything. I just didn't expect to see you here." Kazuya said as he eased himself up from off of the cold, slippery bath floor. Kazuya had wanted to rid himself of the sweat that he'd worked up looking around the whole campus for any sign of Eijun, who'd up and left the bullpen.
"Have you washed your hair yet?" Kazuya's voice asked, causing Eijun to peer up at him, feeling a bit awkward in their current situation. There were so many things that could happen to them while they were alone in the bath together. Eijun shook his head, unable to find his voice as he tried to shake away any embarrassing thoughts that filled his head at the moment.
"Come out here and I'll wash it for you." Kazuya said casually, pulling up a bath stool near the shower. It was a good thing Kazuya had terrible vision; Eijun wouldn't be able to explain why he was blushing so hard. "Are you coming out or not?"
Eijun cast his eyes downwards towards his reflection in the water. Eijun knew Kazuya would laugh when he heard what Eijun was about to request. "Miyuki...can you close your eyes for a moment?" There was a light chuckle that escaped from the catchers mouth as he looked over at Eijun. "Are you really that shy around me, Ei-chan? You've really changed a lot since we've started dating." Kazuya remarked as he covered up his eyes with his hands, a smirk still evident on his face.
Eijun stood up and stepped the tub carefully, trying to avoid slipping on the wet floor as he grabbed ahold of his towel and wrapped it tightly around his waist as he strode over towards the bath stool. "Is that a bad thing, Miyuki?" Eijun pondered out loud, sitting down on the stool and turning on the water.
"Hmm? Nah, I actually like this side of you. It's really cute to see you get flustered up over little things." Kazuya chuckled, removing his hands from his eyes as he pulled up a nearby stool. Kazuya sat down on the stool behind Eijun, grabbing ahold of the shampoo bottle and pouring a decent amount into his hands.
"Close your eyes tightly." Eijun shut his eyes tightly, hoping that Kazuya would be gentle when he started to wash his hair. Eijun could feel Kazuya's hands on his head, lathering his dark brown hair with shampoo. Kazuya's fingers started to run through his hair gently, removing any tangles. Kazuya slowly begun to scrub Eijun's scalp gently, as if he were washing a small child's hair.
Eijun admitted, it felt pretty good to have someone else wash his hair for once.
Kazuya had insisted on walking him to class, due to Eijun being a first year, his classes were all on the first floor. Many of the first year girls, some of whom had major crushes on the catcher, gasped in delight as Kazuya walked by them.
It was no secret that Kazuya was dating Eijun; the catcher never ceased to state they were in a relationship just as clear as day. Eijun found it to be embarrassing having everyone know about them, but at least he had no competition for Kazuya's love.
"We're here, Miyuki." Eijun mumbled, tapping his foot in annoyance. Kazuya was still standing next to him, observing the first years in Eijun's class with great interest in his eyes. While he had indeed been a first year last year, part of him still liked walking and picking up Eijun from his first and last classes just to reminisce.
"Fine, fine. At least let me walk you to your seat." Kazuya said, earning a very loud protest from a red faced, embarrassed Eijun. Many of the first years turned their attention towards the two, chuckling slightly at them before resorting back to their conversations or work. They had gotten used to seeing Kazuya and Eijun together in the mornings before classes started and in the afternoon, after classes ended before baseball practice started.
The bell for class would be ringing soon, and Kazuya had yet to even say goodbye to Eijun. Eijun had given up on trying to convince Kazuya to leave, knowing it was futile. Taking his seat in front of Kanemaru's desk, Eijun pulled out his notebook, pencil, and textbooks, ready for class to start.
Since the fall tournaments were coming up in just a matter of weeks, Eijun had shifted gears, putting forth his best effort and fully undivided attention during class. If his grades and tests scores were low, he wouldn't be allowed to participate in the fall tournament at all; instead, he would stuck in school taking makeup exams.
"Aren't you supposed to be in class?" Eijun asked as he slightly pushed the catcher away from him. Kazuya shot him one of his famous grins, obviously having nothing to worry about. "You're so cold, Eijun. But, I'll leave you be...for now~" Kazuya picked up one of Eijun's hands in his own and kissed the top of it, earning him a slap from the embarrassed pitcher.
Kazuya chuckled to himself as he left the first years floor, nurturing his sore, reddened cheek. Reaching his classroom, Kuramochi looked up at him from his spot, lips turning up into a smirk. Kuramochi was ready to start joking even before Kazuya could sit down.
"Kyehaha, what the hell happened to your face!?"
With a boyfriend like Eijun and best friend like Kuramochi, who needs enemies?
And that concludes chapter 8~ ^_^