Chapter Text
There is nothing more frustrating when your hard work isn't acknowledged by the people you worked hard for to help. At least that's what's running in Eijun's mind as he fixed the ice pack on his elbow.
It's ironic, see. They won the Fall Tourney and they're going to Senbatsu, but Eijun's mind is still under gray areas of 'that should be me', 'I want it to be me', 'I did my best' and million more that he could pile under the jealousy and envy category.
Still, as the air of joyfulness and relief- of still having Coach Kataoka all throughout- is still in the atmosphere, Eijun just sits there, deep in thought, unable to express his distaste of having been taken out of the game despite his momentum, because he knows the team deserves this chance to cheer for themselves because, duh, Senbatsu.
If he voiced his frustration, his teammates will surely view him as a petty person who couldn't accept the truth: he isn't the Ace.
"Eijun-kun?"
Eijun looks up and saw Haruichi and Furuya waiting on him by the door, their packs on their shoulders.
"Let's go," Furuya says with his quiet, airy voice.
Eijun nods, hurriedly putting on his jersey without buttoning it up before snatching his own pack and string bag on the bench beside him, following the other two who are, by the time Eijun has exited the locker room, almost by the stairs.
Eijun looks up and saw the number 1 decorating Furuya's back and there it is again. The depressing feeling that constricts Eijun's chest with this palapble excitement and anticipation.
"Furuya," he calls by the bottom of the stairs.
Furuya, from up above, looks down on Eijun.
"Watch me take that 1 off your back."
---
Mei, for the fifth time, has just finished posing for a picture, forcedly smiling for the sake of his fans, when another batch of girls walked up to him holding wrapped boxes, looking so shy.
Mei inwardly groaned.
Don't get him wrong, he loved the attention. He lives for it. He's a pitcher who is used to being watched and being cheered on by hundreds if not thousands of people live and on air.
He's thankful for their cheers. After all, the audience's cheers are encouragements for Mei and it fuels him forward, making him even more lit on the mound.
What he isn't thankful for are the fans like this one right here- and her friends behind her- who is confessing her apparent love for Mei.
As if she really knew him. As if she really cares about him. As if she will care about him. As if she just doesn't want to parade him to her friends. As if lust could be equated to love.
They had just gone down from the stands and were actually trying to escape the crowd by going by the back exits to get to their bus, but since Mei is that famous, they were followed.
Carlos quietly cleared his throat beside him and even if Mei doesn't see his expression, he knows he has this somewhat amused somewhat polite expression in his face. After all, Mei knows Carlos' kind and respectful personality; unlike Katsuyuki, who Mei could bet wears this glare that would explain why the girls are somewhat turning their body to the right as if averting from something really dangerous.
"What's your name?" Mei asks, cutting off the girl's tirade.
The girl, who's already red in the face, reddens even more, her shoulders rising past her ears, looking down on her feet.
If Mei would have his way, he'd get the gift from her and throw it away. He'll enjoy the despair playing out in her face, watching it like it's his favourite movie.
He doesn't like cowards like her. If she wanted to date Mei, she'd have to be a person who will jump a building or do something big to impress Mei. She'd have to be someone who will straight up say what she wants, looking directly at Mei's eyes.
But this girl right here couldn't even meet Mei's eyes. The previous people who asked for a picture and an autograph actually are bolder people who just straight up asked 'Mei-kun, can I have a picture/an autograph?'
Mei is tired of this sham, to be honest, and he wanted to get out.
"What do you want from me, then?" He asks, forcing a good-natured voice.
The girl extends her gift, looking at Mei through her lashes.
"If Mei-kun could just accept this gift--"
Mei narrows his eyes, leaning away with a fake smile.
"I have to ask if that is a token of your love with me--"
The girl nods and Mei inwardly cringed.
"-- then I won't accept it, because I can't hurt my princesses' feelings, can I?"
She snapped her head up to look at Mei, eyes wide and ashen-faced. Mei desperately held on to his urge to laugh at her face.
"W-why?"
Mei leans in to her, cupping his mouth.
"Because I'm actually in a relationship--"
"You are?" Yabe loudly asks, going as far as to yank Mei's shoulder to get a better look at Mei.
Mei turns to him, smiling steely even as he glares.
"Yes, I am," Mei softly says.
Yabe flinched, removing his hand on Mei's shoulder. Mei turns back to the girls.
"Yeah…" he says, nodding mockingly.
One of the girls at the back stares at Mei with a frown and a pout.
"That's a lie," she says, shaking her head. "Mei-kun wouldn't want to be hindered by a relationship. Especially with baseball taking up most of his time."
Mei's eyes widened, mouth falling open. Unable to control his emotions, he frowns at the girl, looking at her through half-lidded eyes.
"Who says it's a lie? I'm me, I know firsthand--"
"Who is it, then?" She asks, chin up, brow up, arms crossed, foot tapping on the ground.
It's at that moment Mei knew he's checkmated. It's like the moment of instant regret. The moment you knew you lost and you can't take back the move you made.
Being Mei, he'll kill himself before backing down. Of course since he's here, he's already unwittingly entangled in this situation, he'll just find a way to stand by his claim that he's not single anymore.
He grabbed the clothes of whoever is closest to him. Mei points, smiling victoriously at the girl, who has her face crumpled in surprise.
Mei will be okay. After all, this person will only be his teammate.
The girl who's originally confessing to Mei has her hand covering her mouth, teary-eyed. She points to Mei's new love.
"S-Seido's…?"
The thing is, Mei has no qualms faking a relationship with anyone in his team. After all, they could just pretend now and then they'll go back to being only teammates later.
Also, Mei almost knows who his teammates are. Especially the ones in the first string. If he has to pretend to have a relationship with Itsuki, it's fine-- Mei is actually acting like the kid's own son already. If it's Carlos, then it's better since he's kind enough to act a lie for Mei. If it's Katsuyuki, then… it won't be easy but it's not as if Katsuyuki would say anything if he caught on to what Mei's trying to do. The thing is, as long as it's Mei's teammate, it's fine, because they'll be on closed doors, no one would see them.
But if it's an outsider… just like this guy looking at Mei with his brows squished together wearing an opened Seido jersey so that it shows his bare chest in the open, it's a different story.
Mei remembers him. The one who struck him out, the one who threw a deadball at Katsuyuki, the one who brought back the momentum to Seido just now… he's Seido's own southpaw, Sawamura Eijun.
Behind him, Mei could see Furuya Satoru and their pink-haired friend who hit Mei's cutter last summer, Kominato Haruichi.
They both wore surprised faces. Kominato even let his bag fall on the ground. Furuya couldn't contain his surprise that he just let his mouth hang open.
Mei doesn't even want to look at his teammates' reactions.
Mei chuckles nervously, side eyeing the girls who now looks increasingly uncomfortable.
"It's S-Sawa… I mean, it's Eijun," he says, hoping his smile would look cool.
"What?" Eijun asks, already starting to pry Mei's clutch on his collar. "What do you mean?"
Mei tightens his clutch, yanking him closer. Eijun gasps, fighting against Mei's hold. Mei raised his right hand to bring his face closer, much to Eijun's ever growing confusion.
Mei can't blame him, after all he's thrown in this scenario without context.
"B-bub--" Eijun frowns at Mei's pout "-- I was just telling them we're dating--" Eijun's mouth slowly falls, gasping, looking around at the people gathered, "-- so that I can go and meet you quick! Good thing you're here!"
Eijun remained like that, dazedly surprised. Mei released his collar, his hand snaking up the back of his neck.
"Tell them, Eijun," Mei says, hoping he'll wake up from his shock. "Tell them we're dating--"
"We are?" Eijun quietly asks him, eyes still glazed.
Mei's eyes wandered to his teammates and saw their collective curiousity and disbelief. Some have their mouths opened, frowning. Some just stood, frozen while looking between Mei and Eijun. Some are actually looking amused.
Mei looks back at Eijun.
"We are, bub, what do you mean…?" Mei asks, whining. He lightly stomps his foot on the ground, desperate for Eijun to catch on.
He looks straight at Eijun's gold eyes, pleading with all his heart that he could catch on, but what stared at him are confused, glazed eyes and stuttering mouth.
Mei whines quietly, resting his forehead on Eijun's chin, hoping that he could just say yes, they're dating and then they could leave.
He slowly pulled back, pulled away from his surprisingly comfortable position, to look at Eijun's eyes.
Eijun looks at him with alert, squinted eyes, pulled down brows and hard mouth. Mei saw him take one look at the girls before staring back at Mei.
Mei is suddenly so scared. He didn't know Eijun's stand at righteousness so he didn't know if Eijun would berate him for using underhanded way such as this to get away with unwanted love confessions.
Eijun clears his throat as he looks at Mei, assuming a more relaxed stance. Mei could feel a light, hesitant pressure on his elbow, which lifted to rest on his forearm, then his arm, then back to settling on his elbow.
"I-I thought we want us private, b-bub?" Eijun asks and even on the outside, Mei could see him cringing on the inside.
Mei inwardly sighs as the girls' countenance changed dramatically to one that's defeated.
"But bub, I think it's fine," Mei says, shrugging. He turned to the girls, smiling. "It's just us, right?"
The first girl snapped alive, finally looking at Mei in the eyes.
"I-I'm sorry if I disturbed you," she says while looking between Mei and Eijun, worrying on the gift's wrapping paper. "I won't… come near you again!"
After saying that, she bowed before running off. Her two devastated friends took one look at Mei despairingly before running after her.
Mei sighs, before picking up his senses again that they're still aren't in the clear. He tightened his hold on Eijun, who grunted quietly, as he looks back to his teammates.
"G-guys, let me just congratulate Eijun by myself," he says, chuckling while smiling. "We'll excuse ourselves…"
They couldn't do anything but dazedly nod. Mei took a glance at the two Seido kids, smiling at them and they just stared, mouth wide open.
Mei turns to Eijun, smiled sweetly before releasing his head, his hand clutching on his arm immediately.
"Bub, let's talk somewhere quiet," Mei says, reaching out to fix Eijun's fringe. Eijun flinched, blinking fast. Mei smiled. "Bub, just the two of us, please."
Mei then proceeded to drag Eijun, who quietly squawked, toward the parking lot, looking down so that the cameras wouldn't catch him straight in the face. Mei looks to his side and saw Eijun dazedly looking around with his shirt still opened, flapping in the wind, so he reached up and forced his head down.
"Eijun, protect yourself," he says, while holding on Eijun's head. "And don't freak out now. I'll let you freak out later, when we're alone."
He could feel Eijun's nod, his pace of walking becoming faster that is even hard for Mei to properly match.
---
Eijun only noticed they've arrived behind an unmoving bus when Narumiya removed his hands off him. After that, Narumiya is feet away from Eijun, not unlike the 0-8 centimeters just like before.
Narumiya stands with his hands on his hips, slouching while looking at the ground, his lip between his teeth.
Eijun tried catching his breath, looking up at the sky.
Eijun could feel a build up of headache with the way his skin tingled and his frown returning even as he actively and consciously tried relaxing his forehead.
Eijun could also feel this oncoming mess he'll have to throw himself into with the way Narumiya blows a huge breath, mimicking Eijun's pose, looking at the sky.
When Eijun straightened up, Narumiya decided to straighten up as well, so that when they came to, they're looking at each other first thing.
Eijun raised a brow.
"So."
Narumiya nodded slowly.
"So…" he repeats.
Eijun tilts his head at Narumiya, letting his sling bag and string bag fall on the ground, crossing his arms. Narumiya narrows his eyes at Eijun, pursing his lips.
When he didn't speak, Eijun cleared his throat.
"So I'm your boyfriend now, huh? I didn't know…"
Narumiya huffs, rolling his eyes at Eijun.
"That's just… for now."
Eijun narrows his eyes, breathing hard.
He's been thrown into this confusing situation where Eijun just surmised Narumiya mistook him for a teammate. Then he heard the next words spilling out of Narumiya's mouth as if saying they're dating, which isn't the case at all, so judging by the girls' gifts by their hands, Eijun only rode the wave Narumiya made.
Eijun thought they're done after the girls ran away, but apparently, with how Narumiya dragged him here in a deserted space, they still aren't done.
"So what do you want to do, then?" Eijun asks, putting his hands inside his pockets.
Narumiya nodded once, standing tall.
"I want to continue this as it is," he says and Eijun frowns, mouth slowly falling. "Me–" points to himself "–you–" points to Eijun "– dating. Pretend, that is."
Eijun looks away, rubbing his nape as his mouth slackened.
He would've thought that Narumiya would somehow turn shy or uncomfortable or timid, but here he is, true to his image of a headstrong, brave person.
Eijun turns back to Narumiya, blinking.
"Pretend dating you?" He asks. Narumiya nodded, crossing his arms. Eijun points to himself. "You're okay with me?"
Narumiya looks at him from his feet, eyes roving slowly on his chest that Eijun wanted to cover himself, before his eyes lifted to Eijun's eyes.
Narumiya shrugs, nodding.
"It's a touch-move rule," he says.
Eijun chuckles, crossing his arms.
"What's it to me? Why should I do it? I'm not acquainted with you. We're not close. We're from different teams. So what's it to me?"
Narumiya pursed his lips, humming quietly as he look at Eijun.
Eijun isn't certain if he's truly hoping for Narumiya not to be able to answer so that he could go on with his life. This situation isn't even common in real life. It's like being in a manga or a play.
"You're a pitcher, too," Narumiya says, stepping closer to Eijun.
Eijun's fight or flight response automatically kicked in, as if telling Eijun whatever's coming near is dangerous.
He does suppose Narumiya's dangerous. Or that his ideas are dangerously idiotic or stupid or something.
"Yeah, so what?" Eijun asks, jutting his chin out.
"I'm the King," Narumiya continues, stopping just a foot away from Eijun.
Eijun scoffs, looking away as he chuckles.
"That means, if you train with me, you'll naturally become better," Narumiya softly says, tilting his head.
Eijun slowly turns to him, frowning, uncertain of what he's hearing and what he thinks Narumiya is suddenly implying.
"What are you saying…?"
Narumiya smirks at him, brows raised, eyes half-lidded.
"The deal is you should pretend to be my boyfriend in exchange for me helping you with pitching--"
"I don't need your help in pitching," Eijun deadpans.
Narumiya rolls his eyes.
"Come on, we're both southpaw pitchers and I can give you pointers," he says, widening his eyes at Eijun. "I'll train with you. I'll even… help you improve your change up. Maybe we could both develop some new pitches while we're together. So what do you say?"
Training with a fellow pitcher, and a southpaw at that, who is considered to be the number one in his generation is a foul move for Narumiya.
Of course Eijun couldn't help but be tempted to it.
Eijun looks away from his cold, demanding blue eyes to the rear of the bus in front of them, scratching his cheek.
Agreeing to it doesn't really have any disadvantage. They'll only be acting like they're lovers and after that, they'll go back to being nothing for each other.
Eijun turns back to Narumiya, who he noticed came closer again.
"So… who will help me practice pitches if I agreed?"
"Me and Masa-san," he immediately says in one breath.
"Only you? No one would see my pitches other than you? Why only you?"
Narumiya sighs, putting a hand on his hip.
"Because, Eijun, I'm not a catcher," he says, putting out one finger. He raised another. "If I catch your pitches, I could see their courses. Masa-san won't play you again, unlike Itsuki. Masa-san could use some practice for Nippon Hams."
This is like a convenient, win-win situation for everyone, Eijun couldn't believe it's not orchestrated. It's like fated or something. Right time, right place.
Maybe Narumiya will be the answer for Eijun's want to be acknowledged.
Narumiya bats his lashes.
"What do you say?"
Eijun clears his throat and nodded.
"Sure--"
"That's good," Narumiya says, nodding his head at Eijun condescendingly. "It's a win-win situation. Now remove those ice packs or you'll numb forever."
Eijun starts, gasping as he just remembered the ice packs. He removed his shirt in one fluid motion before working on his shoulder ice pack. As he started getting them off, he takes furtive glances at Narumiya who's just standing there, watching Eijun fumble.
Narumiya clears his throat, crossing his arms.
"Just so you know, ice packs should only be applied for thirty minutes, remove them for about five minutes, then reapply them for like ten."
Eijun looks at him and nodded.
"Right…"
Narumiya takes a half step toward Eijun, his hands hesitating in the air for a split second before grabbing on the ice pack on Eijun's elbow.
"Just so you know," he quietly says, hands deftly working on removing the ice pack. "This is how a Narumiya Mei would take care of his lover… so boast about me."
Eijun just thinks it's funny. But sweet in its own way. Like he's set apart from others. And although Narumiya just accidentally chose him, he still acts like this.
Narumiya successfully removed the elbow ice pack and he held it on the air as he waits for Eijun to remove the one on his shoulders.
"Practice calling me Mei," he says. "I wouldn't be caught being called by my last name by my lover."
Eijun chuckles.
"Listen, I think you're forgetting that I'm only a faker."
Narumiya looks around wildly, brows furrowing before leaning on Eijun.
"Not a word of that!" He hissed, leaning even closer at Eijun. "Listen, that's a secret, all right? Just to the both of us. If someone else knew of this, it could only be because I spilled it or you spilled it and no one should know about this."
Eijun stares at those thunderous blue eyes that seems to bore into Eijun's very soul that made him weak in the knees and succumb to his very wants.
Eijun looks away after a while, swallowing.
"Yeah, I'll tell no one," he breathlessly says, nodding. "Just us…"
Narumiya breathes heavily, relaxing. Eijun clears his throat.
"Now call me Mei and I'll call you Eijun," he says, watching Eijun wear his jersey. "I'll have to get your number."
Eijun looks at him, hands on his button.
"Hmm?"
Narumiya sighs, slapping Eijun's hands away to button up Eijun's jersey himself. Eijun took a small step back but didn't move, watching Narumiya button him up with rigid spine and shaky breaths.
"I said, call me Mei," he says. He took one look at Eijun before finishing up his work. "And give me your number. We'll set up a schedule to talk more into this."
Eijun will have to head to the doctor's later with the main agenda of asking him about skipping heart and his shortness of breath.
**