Defcon 4: divide and conquer approach; brothers in arms that is life and death
For some reason, unbeknownst to Gokudera, he always found himself gravitating toward Yamamoto after his practices.
Yamamoto in his commonly naïve way always passed off the extra attention as Gokudera’s way of just being overly friendly.
What he should have realized is that Gokudera in never overly friendly, or even friendly by any means; especially toward him.
Gokudera began going to a few of his practices. He stood far away but watched intently nonetheless. Conflicted and confused, Gokudera always pretended as if he were just passing by so that he could walk the local baseball star home.
He couldn’t understand what it was that kept him so captivated. He hated baseball.
Gokudera tried to ignore the dreams and the way his body reacted to Yamamoto on those hot days after practice. He got really good at playing off his nonchalance, not that Yamamoto would realize that anything was going on anyway. He never even questioned their coincidental meetings after nearly every one of his practices.
Gokudera was extremely bothered by his fixation on the other teen and after awhile things only got worse. What frustrated him the most was that he had subconsciously categorized Yamamoto’s practice schedule. He got less excited about batting practice, and his favorite practice days were when a large amount of laps were imposed on the players.
The sweat
The struggle
His tanned skin
And that breathy smile
All of this spurred him on yet he still didn’t know how to react to all of it. He could apply the quadratic equation and he could write fluently in Italian, Japanese, and English, but this? This he couldn’t handle empirically.
A part of him wanted it all to stop and another side got more and more excited as time went on.
A year went by and he started to get sloppy and stupid by his standards. They had both changed a lot since everyone returned from the future.
Yamamoto took up his favorite sport again and played as if he hadn’t taken any time off from the game. As far as Gokudera could tell, he’d gotten better.
Despite all of the things that had changed between them, Gokudera still tried to remain casual and he still made up excuses for the fact that he waited around until Yamamoto’s practice was over. Yamamoto was far more adept to what was happening around him now. The future had changed him a lot. Gokudera had to be more and more clever each day.
On a particularly hot day, Gokudera sat back in his favorite viewing spot and watched the team run laps. They had won their last game, however they were still getting punished for something. Gokudera didn’t understand it but his heart began to beat faster regardless.
His eyes never strayed from Yamamoto while he jogged amongst his teammates. He had to pry his eyes away just to tilt his head down to light a cigarette. When he lifted his head again to watch the practice he could have sworn that Yamamoto was looking directly at him while continuing his jog.
Nothing was said after practice ended and Gokudera walked him home all the same. The next practice mirrored the last but this time Gokudera noticed how often it seemed that Yamamoto was staring up toward him. Gokudera was older now, a year ago he would have gotten flustered and moved to another spot or even quit watching his practices altogether.
Instead, Gokudera just stared back. He kept up his usual routine and continued to smoke and watch. And still, he walked him home nearly everyday.
One day when their practice fell on an extremely humid and warm day Gokudera walked beside Yamamoto, one hand stuffed in his pocket and the other limply holding a cigarette. Yamamoto was happily talking about his practice and they both knew that his synopsis was pointless because Gokudera had been there the entire time.
Gokudera watched him out of the corner of his eye and excitedly followed a bead of sweat drop down his neck. He loved the way Yamamoto smelled after practice. That clean deodorant smell mixed with a hint of dirt and musk. He couldn’t seem to get enough of it and he moved to walk a little closer so that his smell could better embrace him.
The scent that pervaded his olfactory completely masked all of his other senses. He could no longer taste the bitterness of tar from his cigarette and his body became numb. His vision was pinpointed on Yamamoto and nothing else. All he could hear was the happiness in his voice.
At that moment, just like when he was younger, his body took over and he unthinkingly pulled Yamamoto into a long deserted alleyway he previously didn’t know existed.
In a flash he flicked his cigarette away and pinned him against the nearest mold-covered brick wall. He shifted his body weight forward and placed his lips over Yamamoto’s. He didn’t react at first, but as quickly as his previous movements, Gokudera found himself shoved against the opposing wall. His only thought at that moment was that Yamamoto was going to take a swing at him. He even moved his head to the side in hopes of a glancing blow.
Instead, he felt his head being tilted forward and Yamamoto kissing him back. The alley was getting dark but nothing mattered. Yamamoto was surprisingly rough and he continued to push Gokudera against the wall while he kissed him.
Yamamoto pulled back after awhile and looked at Gokudera.
“How long have you been watching my practices?” He asked calmly.
“About a year. Maybe more.” Gokudera responded through his heavy breathing.
Yamamoto nodded and Gokudera figured that he hadn’t known the exact amount of time before now.
Yamamoto dipped his head again and began a series of short kisses. He spoke around each kiss, “I hope I entertained you.”
“You are now”.
.........
Oh and by the way, I love Jim and Pam (as you can see by the song). I'm so happy they're together, let's see how long paradise will continue until the writers decide to fuck with these two beloved characters.