[Belated Gift] really, really belated -insert fail sign here-
Title: Baseball Lingo
Characters/Pairings: Ryohei, Yamamoto / Ryo80
A/N: Short is short, but oh well~! This is pretty much for
rai_kai_lai because I really did owe her a birthday fic. And, hey, considering the pairing - think it worked out kinda well to be posting it around Yamamoto’s birthday. Haha, I … fail pretty hard when it comes to writing on time, so I hope she forgives me for that and the fact that it’s so short, but I wanted to show somehow how much I appreciate my favorite writing pal.
… Enough of my babbling, though~!
--
It was like trying to reach out and grab something with your hands tied behind your back, difficult but not impossible. Struggling to say what you meant and not only what you wanted to say was even harder than trying to walk down an unfamiliar path blindfolded. “I like you,” Yamamoto Takeshi admitted at last, hands laced behind his neck to keep them from shaking and giving his nervousness away. “I like you a lot, senpai.” Confessing wasn’t nearly as easy as girls made it seem. Then again, it was more than likely they were just better at hiding their fear of rejection. Pride was on the line when it came down to it, but Takeshi figured half the battle was the actual confession and if he could get through that, what was a little wounded pride in the end? It had started out as a crush, a harmless crush, and yet here he was attempting this confession business for the first time and steeling his nerves already for the expected rejection that would be sure to come.
“Huh?” Sasagawa Ryohei, for his part, looked rightfully confused. Takeshi didn’t blame him. “I like you too.” The pitcher imagined, for a fleeting moment, that the sudden fluttering in his stomach had something to do with those butterflies Haru was always talking about when she was with Tsuna. “You know that, don’t you? You’re my friend!” That was until he realized the up-and-coming boxing star was speaking generically at best. That’s not the kind of like I’m talking about, senpai. “You’re one of my most extreme friends, Yamamoto, of course I like you!”
Disheartened, but not willing to give up just yet, Takeshi reworded what he had been trying to say and started again. “You’ve got it wrong, senpai. To me, it’s not just about … friendship, I guess? It’s about how you, er, how you kind of make me …” Rewording wasn’t getting him very far, though, so he stopped trying and went with something easier to explain. It was his fall-back, his default for everything when life turned a little too hard, a little too fast. “Haha, guess what I’m trying to say is … to me you’re like a homerun pitch straight down the middle.” That left Ryohei possibly more confused than he had originally been, but Takeshi was glad he had been able to explain it in the simplest way he could - at least to him, if not to Ryohei. “Sorry,” Takeshi apologized, regardless, the blank look he was getting far more discouraging than even the ‘friends’ speech from earlier.
“Sorry for what?” Was it just him or did Ryohei actually sound a little taken aback? “I don’t get what you’re talking about to the extreme, but explain and I’ll try and figure it out! Stop with the extreme sorry already and explain.”
Takeshi took a moment to stare, much like the boxer had done, but he didn’t waste a further second as he started in on what could have been his second worst explanation in the world. “Like hold-handing and things, senpai. What … what couples would …” He flushed slightly, not sure how to continue. If this had been baseball, he would have stepped up to the plate by now, given himself a chance to get it right - he had three tries - and most importantly, he wouldn’t have given up this early in the game. “I like you as more than a friend, Sasagawa.” There, he had said it - that was the pitch; nothing else to do but wait and see if it was a strike or a hit.
“Why didn’t you say that in the first place?” And apparently it was a blindingly close call of sorts; the throw hit straight back to the pitcher. “That makes more extreme sense!” For whatever reason, the return wasn’t as expected as it should have been, surprise winning through before the pitcher could even attempt to catch the hit that would have surely been an out. “Hand holding is extreme training, right?” Surprise turned into shock and the what-would-have-been out slipped away, flying right over the other’s head all together.
“Senpai,” Takeshi started warily, unsure how to go about this exactly, “I think you’re misunderstanding again.” Anything else that would have been said to correct his upperclassmen’s mistake was erased from his mind as quickly as it had appeared when Ryohei reached out, a bandage hand wrapping around his wrist and tugging him closer. Being at arm’s length was apparently too far away for what Ryohei had in mind. His heart was beating wildly in his chest, faster with each moment, now that he was closer than he had ever been to the boxer. He hadn’t really thought confessing would lead to this, but he wasn’t protesting. Except, as soon as he was close enough to feel breath against his skin, it was gone as fast as his heart could race - and that was pretty fast, considering it was almost on par with running a full homerun and hearing the 'safe' before the crowd roared to life.
Ryohei had only intertwined their fingers in the end, though, tugging him along - side by side - to go watch his latest practice match. It was worth it to have the other Guardian’s attention, but he still had to wonder if Sasagawa Ryohei would ever understand what he was talking about when it came to Ryohei being his homerun pitch, the one he would watch fly. Then again, a homerun pitch wasn’t meant to be caught. He would have to settle for watching as it soared higher and higher for right now. Later that evening, however, when he was at his own practice and running late because of the boxer, he made sure to push himself harder when it came to his fielding. Jumping higher, throwing faster, catching each pitch he could; because one day he wanted to catch that particular pitch, the one he would keep chasing after no matter what, even if he had to practice for years to get there.
Characters/Pairings: Ryohei, Yamamoto / Ryo80
A/N: Short is short, but oh well~! This is pretty much for
rai_kai_lai because I really did owe her a birthday fic. And, hey, considering the pairing - think it worked out kinda well to be posting it around Yamamoto’s birthday. Haha, I … fail pretty hard when it comes to writing on time, so I hope she forgives me for that and the fact that it’s so short, but I wanted to show somehow how much I appreciate my favorite writing pal.
… Enough of my babbling, though~!
--
It was like trying to reach out and grab something with your hands tied behind your back, difficult but not impossible. Struggling to say what you meant and not only what you wanted to say was even harder than trying to walk down an unfamiliar path blindfolded. “I like you,” Yamamoto Takeshi admitted at last, hands laced behind his neck to keep them from shaking and giving his nervousness away. “I like you a lot, senpai.” Confessing wasn’t nearly as easy as girls made it seem. Then again, it was more than likely they were just better at hiding their fear of rejection. Pride was on the line when it came down to it, but Takeshi figured half the battle was the actual confession and if he could get through that, what was a little wounded pride in the end? It had started out as a crush, a harmless crush, and yet here he was attempting this confession business for the first time and steeling his nerves already for the expected rejection that would be sure to come.
“Huh?” Sasagawa Ryohei, for his part, looked rightfully confused. Takeshi didn’t blame him. “I like you too.” The pitcher imagined, for a fleeting moment, that the sudden fluttering in his stomach had something to do with those butterflies Haru was always talking about when she was with Tsuna. “You know that, don’t you? You’re my friend!” That was until he realized the up-and-coming boxing star was speaking generically at best. That’s not the kind of like I’m talking about, senpai. “You’re one of my most extreme friends, Yamamoto, of course I like you!”
Disheartened, but not willing to give up just yet, Takeshi reworded what he had been trying to say and started again. “You’ve got it wrong, senpai. To me, it’s not just about … friendship, I guess? It’s about how you, er, how you kind of make me …” Rewording wasn’t getting him very far, though, so he stopped trying and went with something easier to explain. It was his fall-back, his default for everything when life turned a little too hard, a little too fast. “Haha, guess what I’m trying to say is … to me you’re like a homerun pitch straight down the middle.” That left Ryohei possibly more confused than he had originally been, but Takeshi was glad he had been able to explain it in the simplest way he could - at least to him, if not to Ryohei. “Sorry,” Takeshi apologized, regardless, the blank look he was getting far more discouraging than even the ‘friends’ speech from earlier.
“Sorry for what?” Was it just him or did Ryohei actually sound a little taken aback? “I don’t get what you’re talking about to the extreme, but explain and I’ll try and figure it out! Stop with the extreme sorry already and explain.”
Takeshi took a moment to stare, much like the boxer had done, but he didn’t waste a further second as he started in on what could have been his second worst explanation in the world. “Like hold-handing and things, senpai. What … what couples would …” He flushed slightly, not sure how to continue. If this had been baseball, he would have stepped up to the plate by now, given himself a chance to get it right - he had three tries - and most importantly, he wouldn’t have given up this early in the game. “I like you as more than a friend, Sasagawa.” There, he had said it - that was the pitch; nothing else to do but wait and see if it was a strike or a hit.
“Why didn’t you say that in the first place?” And apparently it was a blindingly close call of sorts; the throw hit straight back to the pitcher. “That makes more extreme sense!” For whatever reason, the return wasn’t as expected as it should have been, surprise winning through before the pitcher could even attempt to catch the hit that would have surely been an out. “Hand holding is extreme training, right?” Surprise turned into shock and the what-would-have-been out slipped away, flying right over the other’s head all together.
“Senpai,” Takeshi started warily, unsure how to go about this exactly, “I think you’re misunderstanding again.” Anything else that would have been said to correct his upperclassmen’s mistake was erased from his mind as quickly as it had appeared when Ryohei reached out, a bandage hand wrapping around his wrist and tugging him closer. Being at arm’s length was apparently too far away for what Ryohei had in mind. His heart was beating wildly in his chest, faster with each moment, now that he was closer than he had ever been to the boxer. He hadn’t really thought confessing would lead to this, but he wasn’t protesting. Except, as soon as he was close enough to feel breath against his skin, it was gone as fast as his heart could race - and that was pretty fast, considering it was almost on par with running a full homerun and hearing the 'safe' before the crowd roared to life.
Ryohei had only intertwined their fingers in the end, though, tugging him along - side by side - to go watch his latest practice match. It was worth it to have the other Guardian’s attention, but he still had to wonder if Sasagawa Ryohei would ever understand what he was talking about when it came to Ryohei being his homerun pitch, the one he would watch fly. Then again, a homerun pitch wasn’t meant to be caught. He would have to settle for watching as it soared higher and higher for right now. Later that evening, however, when he was at his own practice and running late because of the boxer, he made sure to push himself harder when it came to his fielding. Jumping higher, throwing faster, catching each pitch he could; because one day he wanted to catch that particular pitch, the one he would keep chasing after no matter what, even if he had to practice for years to get there.