Updates: 4/29/2013

17. Going the Distance

The series continued, close-fought and intense. Yusei refused to give an inch, making spectacular plays in the field and batting a spectacular .600 or so, so far. Jack pitched a shutout in the fourth game, turning it into a 8-0 laugher.

Still, Yliaster managed to eke out three games, forcing a seventh and deciding game.

It was good to be back in Neo Domino, despite the pressure of a tight series. The team had to attend a mandatory press event the morning of the final game. It would be brief, but it was still a bit of a distraction from getting ready for the game. Yusei could tell that Jack was anxious to get back to his game routine. Still, Jack was a natural show-off and handled the press with such ease that Yusei wished that he could do the same. He could only try to remember the answers that the press agents had coached and not say too many stupid things.

"Yliaster's a tough opponent. We have our work cut out for us," he found himself saying at one point. It was true enough. Thank goodness it was a home game, and thank goodness their ace was closing out the series.

Thank goodness it was the last game. Yusei had personal reasons to be glad that the season was ending. He and Jack had only had the one night together so far and that had been a while ago now. Yusei was beginning to feel the strain pretty intensely now.

After all, a new relationship needed, er, maintenance.

Yusei was pretty sure that Jack felt the same way, too, judging by the glances they shared every time they could be sure no one else would notice.

Plus, they hadn't even had time alone together to catch up or make plans. It was frustrating beyond words. All they could do was wait for the end. A seven-game series! Why couldn't they have swept it!

Just one more game. Let's make it a good one! Yusei thought.

At last the press event ended, and he walked out, drifting close to Jack on his way. "Ready for this?" he asked.

"What do you think?"

"Why do I even ask?"

As they neared the door, Jack suddenly looked to the side and said, "Carly? What are you doing here?"

"I have press credentials, and I have news for you. Maybe you'd be interested too, Yusei."

"What's the scoop?" asked Jack.

"Well, remember how we saw Jose yelling on the dugout phone back before the first game?"

"Vaguely."

"Yeah, well, your friend Kiryu and I thought that was a little weird, so I had that reporter I've been working with look into it." She smiled broadly. "It's turned into the sports story of the year! Just between you and me, we break this story, you don't even have to play this game."

"What are you talking about?"

"I think" said Yusei, "that she's saying that Yliaster's involved in the fix."

"What?"

"Exactly," said Carly. "Guess who on Yliaster is represented by none other than Rex Godwin?"

"Not—"

"Aporia and Placido Primo, their center fielder."

"No kidding!" breathed Yusei. "I didn't realized that. Why, isn't Aporia rated second this year?"

"He would have been rated first if Jack had been banned."

"Don't break the story until after the game!" whispered Jack urgently.

"But—"

"I want to pitch this game."

Yusei shrugged. "You heard the man. He wants to play."

"OK. But these guys are—" she lowered her voice, "cheaters."

"Well, let's deal with that later, one way or the other."

"I'm not losing to a bunch of … you know." Jack lifted his head and stalked off.

Yusei and Carly stared at each other for a moment. "Well, you know him. He'd rather take matters into his own hands no matter what," said Yusei. "You can save him if he loses, but … I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen even if I have to field every hit ball myself."

Carly laughed. "I can't believe you two. You have enough determination to carry the entire team. Never mind, though. We can hold the story until after the game. No one else knows the facts."

As Yusei walked out, he heard Carly on her cell.

He agreed with Jack, though. He really didn't want to win by default, that would be lame. They'd never hear the end of it in the press. It would be a black eye to both teams even though the Dragons were faultless.

Still, he didn't want the rest of the team to know. They were nervous enough. Of course, for Jack, it didn't matter. Additional pressure only seemed to make him that much more determined to win, and now, ever since Yusei and he had gotten together, Jack had seemed determined to win as though that were some sort of proof of his worthiness of that bond.

Yusei smiled. As though that mattered. He just loved Jack. He tried to put these thoughts to the side and concentrate on the game.

Interestingly, he got a close-up look at Placido when he had to apply a tag on him in the first inning at second base on a short hopper to Crow. Placido slid and Yusei made sure to apply the tag firmly so that he could lean in and relay a message.

"Hey, Placido," he said. "Send my regards to your agent."

Placido stood up and brushed himself off without saying anything, but on his way back to the dugout, he couldn't help looking back over his shoulder.

Yeah. Nervous. Yusei gave him a knowing smile.

Placido turned a little too quickly and got back into the dugout. Yusei saw him talking with Aporia, who trained his eyes on Yusei.

The next inning, Placido dropped an easy fly ball for an error.

Maybe this would be easier than he thought.

Jack poked him in the ribs as they sat in the dugout and asked, "What's with Placido Primo today? He doesn't usually play like that."

"Dunno, guilty conscience?"

"Wait a minute. Did you say something to him when you put him out?"

"Nothing special."

Jack shrugged.

Aporia seemed to hold up better, but seemed more nervous than usual. He started having a few control problems, genuine ones this time, and fell apart in the sixth.

"Seriously," Jack said, sitting in the dugout in the bottom of the seventh, "What did you say to Primo?"

Yusei raised an eyebrow. "Really, nothing. I just asked him to give my regards to his agent."

Jack threw back his head and laughed, garnering odd looks from the entire dugout. "I didn't know you had it in you, Yusei. Honestly, for a nice guy, you sure can be a stinker."

The remainder of the game went remarkably smoothly, leaving Dragons fans cheering and Yliaster fans crying in their beer.

The party lasted a long time … all too long, as far as Yusei and Jack were concerned, but they were two of the biggest heroes of the series, Jack having won three games and Yusei having racked up amazing stats, so they couldn't very well sneak out early. The team barely allowed Jack his warm-down.

When Jack rejoined the party, it had moved to the Heart of the Plate. He spotted Yusei hanging with Crow, Aki, and Kaz in a corner booth and headed in that direction.

"Jack! I'm so happy you won!" Carly bounded over to him and grabbed him by the arm.

"You didn't have to wait up for me," he said. "This is awfully late."

"Well, I wanted to, and the game was late anyway …" she looked up at him, eyes shining. "Of course I'd want to celebrate with you, Jack."

"Of course." He gave her a small smile. "Let's sit with my teammates."

Jack didn't like to sit with Yusei in case his having Carly with him offended him, so he started to veer over toward the pitchers, but Yusei called out, "Come on over here, Jack!"

"Let's," said Carly.

Jack wondered a little if Yusei was trying to remind him that it was time to break things off as he walked over to their table.

Kaz handed him and Carly each a glass of champagne. "So, what are your plans for the off-season?" he asked.

"Hadn't really thought about it. Probably the usual. You know, hiking, biking, conditioning, surfing … whatever catches my interest," he glanced at Yusei a moment. "I'll be hanging around my place probably."

"You need a room for next year? I'll still have a spare."

"Thanks for the offer. I haven't decided what I'll do."

"You know … I have a spare room too," said Yusei. "And Crow's right next door. It would be three of us in the neighborhood that way. That is … if you refuse to buy in Neo Domino."

Jack sighed. "I suppose I could get a condo. You know, they have some that are right near the stadium."

Yusei frowned. "What? You never leave here as it is."

"My point exactly." Jack took a sip of champagne and grimaced. "Didn't anybody bring any beer to this shindig?"

"Of course they did," said Yusei. "Let's both get some."

As the two rose, Jack asked if Carly wanted any. "I think I'll stick with champagne," she said.

As the two headed toward a huge ice chest filled with a selection of bottled beers, Yusei said in low tones, "The season's over."

A hint of a smile played at the corner of Jack's lips. "Are you talking about Carly? I can't exactly talk to her right here. That would be kind of rude. As much as I want to get this over with." When they got to the cooler, he took the opportunity to look into Yusei's eyes. "Are you in that much of a hurry?"

"It feels like I've been waiting forever, Jack. It feels like the series started a year ago. I want—"

"The same thing I do." Jack's hand twitched as though wanting to move toward Yusei, but instead picked up a Samuel Adams out of the ice. Yusei sighed and fished out a Tsingtao.

The curl at the corner of Jack's lips intensified. "Glad to see your tastes are improving even if you can't appreciate a fuller-bodied beer."

"Give me a little time, Jack."

"Ha, ha. I thought you were the one rushing. So you really want to offer me your guest room, huh?"

"I like having you around. Actually, it's getting so I hate not having you around."

But they were getting close to their friends now, so their conversation trailed off.

"What were you talking about back there?" asked Carly.

"I'm trying to broaden Yusei's appreciation of beer," said Jack. "I've been working on him all season."

"I'll say," said Crow.

Aki elbowed him in the ribs rather hard at that.

"Ow! What was that for?! Jack messes with all of us."

"What? I just try to improve your game and get you to notice the finer things, that's all." He leaned back. "So are you two planning on making it official now that you have a few months off?"

Crow blushed profusely, while Aki beamed. "Well, we were planning on waiting a couple of days before announcing, but if you promise not to tell—"

"Are you kidding? You're talking to Jack!" interjected Crow.

"—yes, we're thinking of a holiday wedding."

"But why listen to me? Go ahead, be my guest."

Congratulations and back-slapping burst out at the table. "Well, I guess we know what you're doing during the off-season," said Yusei. "How about you, Kaz?"

"I don't know. I haven't really thought about what I want to do after I retire, so I thought I'd look into the possibilities. I was thinking of maybe something in law enforcement."

"What? For a millionaire? That doesn't make much sense, Kaz," said Jack.

"Well, I want to do something to help people." He scratched his head. "Maybe run some sort of foundation, then. Huh, maybe something with an overseas emphasis …"

"Now you're talking."

"How about you, Yusei?" asked Carly. "What are you going to be doing?"

A smile sparked across Yusei's face. "I …" he started. "I'm going back to school," he said shrugging, the smile never fading.

"Yah! I've never seen anyone so happy about school!" grumbled Crow. "Of course, he was always good at it. … Though I don't remember him being this crazy about it … Ow! Aki … watch your foot."

The group continued like that for a while over champagne, beer, and hors d'oeuvres until Carly borrowed Jack for a walk.

She led him all the way out onto the stadium field. "This is the place you love best, isn't it, Jack?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"You guess? When have you ever been indecisive?"

"You're right, this is my favorite place."

"But …" she sighed. "You've been trying to figure a way to break things off, haven't you?"

Jack started opening his mouth, but Carly stopped him.

"You don't have to say anything. The distance between us has been growing." She shook her head. "You're great, Jack. I wish I were the girl for you, but … I've had the feeling for a long time that you've just sort of been waiting for a chance to let me off easy. I guess … I probably shouldn't have asked you to wait until after the season, should I?"

"Carly … I—"

"Don't apologize."

"No, wait. I wish I could have been a better boyfriend, but it couldn't work out between us. You should know that. I've known it … well, I've known it for a long time and I should have let you know right away."

"No, I think I get it. I know it's none of my business—"

"You're my girlfriend—"

"You know that's not really true, Jack. I love you, but, really, I'm your friend." She reached out and took his hand. "Your friend, who stopped by that day …"

"Yusei?"

"Right. He's more than just … a friend, right? I know, it's none of my business …"

Jack looked down. "He's everything to me … and …" he scowled, hating the emotion he heard in his voice, "if the media got our story—"

"I know it …"

"I know we're flying high, but … this sort of story, no one wants to hear about a ballplayer. It's … infuriating."

"It's your career, Jack. And his."

"It could be a huge story for you, Carly. How can you be so understanding?"

She smiled ruefully. "I've already cried it out, Jack, don't worry. What good does it do to be upset? I still care about you. I'd be pretty awful to hurt someone I love so much that badly."

"Carly …"

"Hey, if everything's OK, is it all right if I accept Kiryu's invitation?"

"What? Kiryu?"

Carly blushed a little. "He kinda said that if you got stupid and broke up with me, he'd like to take me out to the movies."

"Oh … so is that why you're breaking up with me …?"

Carly's blush deepened to red and Jack hugged her. "I—" she started.

"It's OK. It's not like this wasn't inevitable. Kiryu … Well, I kind of blurted it out to him just before the series. It's weird. Hardly anyone knew and now there are already several people. I must be losing my touch. I'm becoming far too trusting." Jack frowned. "I'm seriously going to have to pull myself together."

"Jack, I think you're great no matter what."

"Carly, that might qualify as a personal shortcoming. Do you want to go back to the party? Or should I take you home?"

"If you don't mind … Can you tell everyone that I was called away on a story? I'd kind of like to be by myself for a while, and I came in my car …"

"I guess so, if you think you'll be fine …"

Jack walked Carly to her car. "Jack …" she said, looking up at him.

"Yes?"

Quickly, she stretched up and kissed him. "Goodbye, Jack," she said, then ducked quickly into the car.

Sighing, Jack headed back to the party in a more somber frame of mind. On his way there, he ran into Yusei, looking for him in the darkened corridors.

"Thank goodness, I thought you had left with Carly," he said. Looking carefully down the long hallway in both directions, he pushed Jack to the side and leaned up to kiss him.

Disengaging, Jack said, "Did you miss me?"

"Jack … I've been missing you for days. I've hardly had a chance to talk to you. What did Carly want to talk about?"

"A couple of things. Breaking up, mostly."

"Oh, really? The great Jack Atlas has been dumped?"

"It was mutual, I'll have you know."

"By the way, I thought you should know that the party's breaking up."

"I thought it would never end. Let's get out of here."

"Is Kaz expecting you?"

"He might expect me to leave with Carly, the way things are going."

"And if he hears about the break-up?"

Jack shrugged. "I was depressed and decided to stay out drinking."

"Convenient."

"I want to be with you. Let's go to my house."

"In Satellite?"

"It's not that far away."

"I don't know if I can wait that long," he said, checking the hallway again and pressing against Jack to prove his point.

Jack stifled a moan and grabbed Yusei's arm. "We don't have to pack up until tomorrow, so let's bug out—" before I lose it. He was sorely tempted to drag Yusei into the nearest men's room or storage closet, but he refused to stoop to that level. Letting his hand slip down to Yusei's, he fairly pulled him as he strode out to the area where the ballplayers parked.

"Ah, Baby!" he said, greeting his monowheel.

"I thought you weren't supposed to be riding her yet."

"Well, I kind of cheated on that ever since our little misunderstanding. It was only for those four home games during the series, after all!" He hopped on and patted the spot behind himself. Plenty of room behind me," he said. "You don't have a problem with that, do you?"

Yusei shot him a grin. "Not at all, although I would have thought you'd insist I get in front."

"Funny …"

Yusei slipped in back as Jack revved the engine, wrapping his arms around Jack's torso. Jack sped way too fast over the bridge and to the seaside in Satellite. Yusei hated having to wear a helmet because he wanted to press his cheek against the broad back in front of him. Just having his body molded around Jack's, his thighs on either side of his narrow hips, was driving him crazy. If I had to drive with these thoughts going through my mind, Yusei thought, I'd crash for sure.

The area Jack lived in had a beautiful ocean view.

"I thought Satellite was all industrialized," Yusei said as they pulled up. He took his helmet off and looked around, peering into the darkness at the sparkling water.

"Not all. There are areas that are being reclaimed, like this one. You should see it during the day. The surfing is pretty good." He hopped off, tossed his helmet aside, and lifted Yusei off onto his feet. Jack didn't bother taking his hands off Yusei, instantly claiming him in an embrace and pulling him into a deep kiss. It was hard for Jack to stop there, his hands roaming over Yusei's body, earning an immediate and avid response.

When they finally broke away, Yusei said, "Aren't you worried someone will see?"

"Not so much. The neighbors are pretty distant, it's dark, and, well, I haven't been here for weeks. But let's get inside unless you want things to really get embarrassing."

"Let's."

Jack showed Yusei in through the door and managed somehow to lock it, but at that point, Yusei threw his arms around Jack. Somehow they made it to the living room couch, leaving a trail of clothing in their wake.

Much later, Yusei squinted to make out Jack's somnolent face in the darkness. After the full game and this additional effort, he was completely exhausted and out cold on the couch. Yusei felt a little guilty that they didn't make it to Jack's bed, especially since it would be almost impossible for him to carry Jack there. Thankfully the couch was a generous size, chosen with Jack's proportions in mind. He certainly had no plans on leaving him to himself tonight.

Plus, it gave Yusei an excuse to snuggle in more closely to his lover. He smiled at the thought. I can think of him this way now.

My lover.

Several days later, Yusei sat cross-legged on the stretch of beach in back of Jack's house. A large book, well highlighted, lay all but forgotten on his lap as he looked out over the ocean, enraptured by the view. The dark waves sparkled beneath the azure sky as they crashed in … not bad surfing at all. It was perfect, fall breathing out the last few sighs of the dying summer, unwilling to give in to the onset of winter just yet.

That was just it, in fact. Yusei felt compelled to drink it all in while he could. The long, toned legs, the sculpted abs, the broad chest and back of his beautiful lover would be covered soon enough by a wetsuit when he surfed. But now, Jack was out in all his glory, wearing only trunks, his toes clinging to the edge of his surfboard, body flexed and taut, arms held out for balance, hair tails flying …

It was almost as good as watching him pitch …

Hm … I wonder if I could get him to pitch in his trunks sometime …

Yusei imagined what that would look like for a moment, then put his book down. He needed to take a dip right away and cool down before things got seriously out of hand.

It wasn't as though Jack seemed to mind the occasional interruption, but this looked like it would be one of his last good days of surfing.

But tonight, he was going to keep Jack up working off all this excess tension, that's all there was for it!

They had certainly kept busy enough getting things in order since the season ended. Jack had switched to Yusei's agent and switched all his accounts over, plus retained an attorney to ensure that everything in the transfer went smoothly and that his interests were taken care of.

Jack had insisted on meeting his impostor and, after speaking with investigators, it seemed very likely that they were related and might even be identical twins. As Yusei put it, though, for Jack's benefit, "For identical twins, you're sure not that much alike!"

Not when it came to work ethic and success, anyway … as far as Yusei was concerned. He thought the guy was a bum. Prince, hah!

As far as living arrangements went, they decided to play it by ear to start with. They'd pretty much decided that Jack would take Yusei's spare room during the season and Yusei would hang out a lot with Jack training with him and enjoying his ocean view in the winter.

Thinking about all this, Yusei walked in from his little dip and settled on his towel. Looking up, he noticed Jack walking in from the surf. "Getting much studying done?" he asked.

"Not today."

"What's the problem? I left you alone just the way you wanted."

"It's not your fault. It's just that the view's a little too nice. It's distracting." He took his time looking Jack over. "Yeah," he said, "really distracting."

Jack knelt down on the towel next to him—not that there was a lot of room—and detached his surfboard line. "You find me distracting?"

"As you well know, Jack," he said, pulling him in for a kiss. "Salty. That's how I got pulled into this whole mess in the first place, isn't it?"

"Oh, I'm a mess, now, am I?"

"Yeah … I'll say. Look at all the crap you've gone through, just in one season. Hit by a line drive, framed for gambling by your agent—with your long lost twin brother involved, no less—breakup with your girlfriend … what more can I expect?"

"Well …" he said, allowing an arrogant grin to spread across his face, "I'll admit that's a lot to live up to, but I'll try to keep your life exciting in the future!"

"Jack …"

"Yusei … there's one thing that happened to me this season that you didn't mention. The most important thing." He ran his hand through Yusei's hair. "I found someone special … really special."

Yusei had wanted to keep this light, but found himself melting, looking into Jack's gleaming, violet eyes.

"Let's go inside," said Jack.

"Don't you want to take advantage of the nice weather?"

"Yeah, but … there's something else I want to do right now that's even better, and … you said you were distracted." Jack stood, pulling Yusei onto his feet after him. "Unless you'd rather study."

"I can't study now." Yusei leaned up against Jack, closing his eyes and yielding at last to the urge to wrap his arms around Jack and touch as much of his body as he could. "You know, anybody could see us …"

"I don't see that stopping you, but … at this moment, I don't really care." He began walking toward the house, Yusei leaning heavily against him. "All I care about is you. I love you, Yusei."

Author's notes:

4/29/2013: Removed extraneous "a"; corrected italics. ... Note: I just finished going through this entire story, knowing that there were some interrobangs and italics that needed fixing (actually more interrobangs and fewer italics than I expected). I caught a number of weird errors that never should have gotten through in the first place, but on the other hand, I had a chance to look the story over and say, "Huh, did I write that?"

Gee, sorry it took so long to get this out, seems like it's been forever. But this is the final chapter! Thanks for sticking with the story all this way, and thanks to everyone who reviewed! The support, all the follows, faves, and reviews, mean a lot!

I am currently working on Puzzle, Cipher, Key over in the Yugioh! category and then, maybe, finally back to Where There's Fire. After that, good question. I've put out a little poll on my profile page in case anyone wants to help me decide, plus I have some info about some of my ideas (it's sketchy, yes, but I don't want to give away a lot, either), so feel free to PM me if you have any strong preferences.

Gah, my laptop may have died. The display is out and that might be it. It's getting looked at, we'll see. Fortunately, I saw it coming, backed it up and put all my important stuff on a flash drive, but I still lost one day's work. Annoying, but a lot of people have been dealt worse fates, so I'm counting my blessings. Sigh, I may be working from my little netbook for a while. At least I have a netbook to fall back on ...

Going the distance: A pitcher who goes the distance pitches a complete game.

shutout: Doesn't allow a run by the opposing team.

seven-game series: The modern World Series is best of seven. There were a few in the early days (including the Black Sox scandal) that were best of nine.

Samuel Adams and Tsingtao: Haha ... plugs for a couple of my favorite brands of beer ...

Just a (rather verbose!) note about the state of the acceptance of homosexuality in pro sports: I wish I could write that even MVP-level players like I've made Jack and Yusei out to be could proudly come out and own who they are without fear of compromising their careers, but sadly that is not the case in the real world of pro sports. Brendon Ayanbadejo, Ravens linebacker who has vocally supported gay marriage on the basis of equal rights, has recently had a politician ask his employers to prevent him from voicing his support. But apparently there is hope because he says he has received support from within football as well as without. I only hope that the trend toward tolerance and acceptance may continue. Meanwhile, I didn't feel that it was realistic to have these two announce their relationship, even though it would have been satisfying to write it that way. I hope that it worked out for you, kind readers.

Well, that's it for this story! Hope you liked it to the not-so-bitter end!

'Til next time, DD