Archive of Our Own

"He went where?” Miyuki was fully aware that he was sputtering, making himself look like an idiot in front of one of the people he could least afford to, but damn it.

Kuramochi frowned. He slowly set down the controller and pulled the spoon from his mouth. “You know how he gets,” he said casually, but his eyes were sharp.

“Of course I do! And you know what I told him!” ‘No running tomorrow, under any circumstances. That’s an order!’

Kuramochi shrugged. “He got a grand slam hit off him. Did you really expect anything different?”

Miyuki grit his teeth and flung the door open. The dull, rhythmic thudding became an echoing roar and water streamed down from the eaves in torrents. The courtyard looked like a pond. “Yeah, I kind of expected something different this time,” Miyuki said, scorn dripping from every word.

"Shit," Kuramochi cursed, with feeling. He sighed uneasily. "Okay, so worst case scenario, he catches a cold. Right?"

"The field’s a goddamn death trap," Miyuki argued, fisting his hands so he couldn’t do anything with them that would further show his agitation—like pull out all his hair. "He could slip and sprain his ankle, or pull a muscle, or drown in a puddle for all we know because he’s a moron with the survival sense of an toddler!”

"Hey, hey, calm down. See, he took his cleats instead of his regular shoes, so he’s not planning on running long distance. Just wait for him to come back and you can let him have it."

Miyuki felt his fingernails bite into his palms sharply. “No,” he bit out. “I’m going to find him now.”

"Hey!" Kuramochi yelled as he stormed out of the room, not bothering to close the door behind him.

Miyuki seethed as he picked his way awkwardly over puddles, wincing when he felt moisture seeping into his shoes anyway. To think, he’d actually been feeling sorry for the idiot! Had been going to offer to train with him—indoors, of course—of his own accord. Eijun would be lucky if Miyuki didn’t ban him from the next practice match, now.

Annoyed, he whipped off his glasses and stuck them in his pocket. He had to squint to see, but it wasn’t any worse than squinting through water droplets. He thought he glimpsed a splash of red to the left, and altered his trajectory.

As he came closer, he made out an umbrella—the red—with a pink-topped figure underneath. Eijun was doing base sprints nearby. Base sprints in the pouring rain, on the slick muddy ground and Miyuki was going to kill him. He was dead.

"Why didn’t you stop him?" he said, hard and—even he was willing to admit—probably unfair, when he got close enough to talk.

Haruichi jumped, and looked him, then back. He didn’t seem all that perturbed by Miyuki’s foul mood. “You know how he is.” Why did people keep saying that to him? “If I hadn’t come with him, he’d just be out here alone. It was pure chance I saw him leaving on my way to breakfast.” Quieter, “He hasn’t been at it very long. It took us a while to get out here.”

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

Haruichi shrugged, and held out the umbrella. Miyuki shook his head, and he shrugged again and started walking away. Miyuki watched him leave, then turned his attention back to Eijun.

What was he going to do with this guy? He hadn’t looked up since Miyuki’d arrived; he probably didn’t even know he was there.

After observing for a few more minutes, letting his ire build up, Miyuki walked over and planted himself in Eijun’s path, arms crossed and waiting. Eijun slowed to a stop a few feet away, still not looking at him, wiping his dripping face. Miyuki couldn’t hear his breathing over the rain, but he could indistinctly make out his chest rising rapidly, and his open, gasping mouth.

Not being able to see was a pain. Standing in the cold rain was a pain. Sawamura-fucking-Eijun was a pain.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked eventually, curiously, like this was just another conversation.

Miyuki gaped. He could not, for the life of him, think of anything to say to that. They were soaking wet in the middle of a fucking tropical depression, Miyuki was angry enough to commit murder, and Eijun was acting like he was oblivious to all of it.

"You—! You!" Miyuki spat, and took a step forward, not sure what he intended to do, but absolutely sure it ended with Eijun in a body cast—and slipped. He flailed out, trying to catch his balance, latched onto Eijun who over compensated and also slipped, and they went down in a tangle of limbs and an oof! from Eijun who had the bad luck to land on his back with Miyuki on top of him.

Miyuki scrambled up onto his hands and knees, “Are you hurt? Shit, I’m sor—” Eijun’s arms came around his waist and pulled him back down. Miyuki tried to resist, but he couldn’t get any traction on the slick ground and he went back down with a grunt, “—ry? What the hell are you doing?” All at once, the reason they were out here in the first place came back to him, and Miyuki growled. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

Eijun giggled softly into his chest. “You always say so don’t you? I’m an idiot.”

"That—" Miyuki was going to wring his scrawny little neck, if he didn’t it would be a miracle of patience and Miyuki would immediately nominate himself as the next Buddha. He managed to raise enough that he could look Eijun in the eyes. “I gave you a direct order, Sawamura. What were you thinking?”

"I couldn’t stop playing it over in my head," Eijun said, looking off to the side. "I loaded the bases then I let that batter hit a home run off of me. I thought—I think better when I run, so maybe I could figure out what it is about me—"

"Us," Miyuki interrupted harshly. He slid his hands roughly into Eijun’s muddy hair and jerked his head around so he didn’t have any choice but to look at him. "He got the hit off us. I made the call, you obeyed. Your pitch was flawless, and he hit it anyway. Sometimes it happens. I thought you were done with this self-pity bullshit, or did I overestimate you?”

Eijun snarled, tried to lunge. “It’s not self-pity, jerk!”

"Then why are you running in this dangerous weather? If it’s not to punish yourself, then why?"

"Dangerous…?" Eijun blinked at him, anger bleeding from his face, replaced by confusion. He looked around. "It’s just raining," he said finally.

Miyuki’s hands clenched involuntarily and Eijun winced. “Ow, watch it!” Miyuki let go, honestly afraid he might just start bludgeoning him out of frustration.

"It is a downpour. The field is practically a pond by now, it’s muddy and slick and you could get hurt,” Miyuki said slowly, because he was more convinced than ever that he was talking to someone who was utterly, irretrievably stupid.

Eijun snorted, and for the second time that day Miyuki gaped. Eijun smiled a little as he said, “I grew up on a farm. Downpour or not, I still had to do my chores and the fields and animal paddocks were way more treacherous than this.”

Miyuki deflated all at once, collapsing and burying his red face in Eijun’s chest. All his leftover anger had nowhere to go, so he reached down and pinched Eijun’s hip sharply.

"Shit!" Eijun yelped, trying to jerk away. "Stop! That hurts you sadist!"

"Backwater idiot," Miyuki returned, but affectionately.

"It is not my fault that you’re a delicate city boy who gets scared of a little rain!” Eijun yelled and pounded his fist on Miyuki’s back. “You did that on purpose just to leave a mark, didn’t you?! You are such a freak! Get off of me!”

He was still shouting when Miyuki shoved up and kissed him, muffled invectives, and Eijun bit his lip twice before giving in and winding his arms around Miyuki’s neck. Eijun’s lips were chill and he tasted like rain and they were both covered in mud and loose grass, and nothing about the situation was exactly comfortable but it was somehow perfect anyway.

Miyuki slid his cold hands up Eijun’s torso under his shirt—how was he still so damned warm?—and he shivered, sighing into Miyuki’s mouth. Miyuki scraped his teeth across Eijun’s jaw, and Eijun left one hand on Miyuki’s neck while the other moved down to his waistband, slipping underneath…

"You had better not be doing what I think you’re doing."

They jolted, turning their heads at the same time to see Kuramochi, Maezono, Haruichi, and Kuramochi and Eijun’s new first year roommate standing a few meters away, all save Kuramochi desperately trying not to look.

"Um," Miyuki said.

"If you think I won’t drop kick you for defiling our practice field just because you’re the captain, you can think again!”

"Disgusting," Maezono said, face as red as Haruichi’s umbrella.

"I never knew you were so shameless, Eijun-kun," Haruichi murmured.

"Senpai…" the first year looked on the verge of tears.

"What are you all doing out here?” Eijun said, glaring at the intruders. Miyuki was a little taken aback honestly; every other time someone had caught them he’d been embarrassed.

"Oi, show some respect!" Kuramochi snarled. "Haruichi said he left you out here, and then you didn’t come back, so…"

"Aww, were you worried about us?" Miyuki asked, enjoying himself a little now. He picked himself up, and startled when Eijun groaned quietly with disappointment. He narrowed his eyes, trying to figure that one out.

"Sure, worried you killed him and dumped the body somewhere. You were pretty mad."

Miyuki felt his lips quirk as he pulled Eijun up. Seriously, was he pouting? What on earth? “Yeah, well…it’s just a little rain,” he said absently. “We should probably get back before we all catch colds, though.” A hot bath sounded really nice, actually. He shivered a bit.

"Rutting like animals a few minutes ago, and now he’s worried about the cold? Lunatic,” Kuramochi mumbled under his breath.

They all turned back to the dorm, but Miyuki used the excuse that he had to clean his lenses to keep the two of them back. The rain had died down considerably while they’d been…occupied. “What was that all about?” he whispered, when he was sure the others couldn't hear.

Eijun blushed, so he obviously knew what Miyuki was talking about. “I sort of have a bucket list for before you graduate. Of places I want to, uh, be with you. The baseball field is number one. Well, technically it was the mound but anywhere on the field is fi—whoa!”

Miyuki grabbed his wrist and jerked him to a halt, almost sending them both to the ground again. The others were far ahead, and didn’t seem to notice they were missing. “You’re serious?”

Eijun nodded, still blushing and still looking a little wistful. “What are the odds we’ll get a chance this good again, though?”

Miyuki took off again, in the opposite direction, pulling Eijun along with him. “Where are we—”

"We’re going to cross it off your list. You said the mound right? That’s your fantasy?"

"Y-yes…"

“Kinky,” Miyuki murmured quietly to himself. He very much approved.

"Where are we going?” Eijun said, just on the edge of a shout.

"Shh! Shut up, we aren’t that far away yet. We’re going to the third practice field. No one goes out there even when it’s nice, so there’s no chance anyone will be there today."

Miyuki glanced back and found Eijun grinning at him. Well, Miyuki couldn’t have him thinking he’d gotten away with everything.

"Also, I’ve thought of your punishment," he said.

"Punishment for what? I told you, I’m used to—”

"You still disobeyed a direct order from your captain, and that deserves punishment."

Eijun huffed loudly, and Miyuki could practically hear him rolling his eyes. “Fine. What’s my punishment?”

"I want you to tell me about this list of yours—in very fine detail."

Eijun squawked. “That doesn’t have anything do with the club or baseball!”

"Captain’s orders~" Miyuki sang.

"You’re rotten to the core! This is abuse of power!”

"Oh, but Eijun-kun," Miyuki crooned as they arrived and he pulled Eijun up onto the mound, circling his torso with his arms. "Won’t it be so much more effective having me work with you, than just waiting for chances to happen?”

Eijun pursed his lips. “I’ll think about it,” he allowed finally.

"Hey, I ordered—"

It was Eijun who interrupted with a kiss that time. Miyuki didn’t mind over much. He’d get it out of him sooner or later. For now, he’d go with later.

***

It turned out that Miyuki was the only one who ended up with a cold, but he would maintain until his dying day that it had been totally worth it.

And he did eventually manage to get that list out of Eijun, and they crossed off every last item.

…Some of them twice.