[Yoban Saado] Innings 4-6 (of ?)
Okay. It's been verified. Icka can't think in Linear Lines, much less Linear Time Lines. Innings to be re-organised later when we figure out what the hell these guys are doing.
Warnings for some nudity as well as The Chibi and The Ahou Comedy Team!!! ... No yaoi warning.
Con't from here
+++ Fourth Inning +++
The first sign that something was up was when Nagashima stepped out of the showers, towel around his waist and no one was shouting anything in the locker room. Usually it was a chaotic mess of noise and bodies, but today everyone seemed to be more interested in changing clothing than rough housing.
The second sign that something was up was when his towel disappeared from around his waist.
The third sign that something was up was when he made a mad dash for his locker and discovered a news crew standing right in front of it. A smirking news crew who -leaning- against his locker, looking like they were waiting for him.
He didn't have to turn around to feel the rest of his team mates block the path to freedom behind him.
Screwed. He was completely screwed.
He desperately glanced around and grabbed the first thing that came to hand to cover himself; a baseball cap. He supposed it could have been worse, he could have been trying to preserve his modesty with a baseball bat. Or worse yet, someone else's glove.
Exits blocked, cameras in front of him, team mates behind him, Nagashima did the only thing he could.
Blush bright red, set his chin, squared his shoulders, took a good grip on the cap covering his dignity and greeted the media.
They were polite as they interviewed the new rookie of the team, the camera very conscientiously staying above waist level. They asked the usual questions he'd anticipate, what he felt about the new team, was he eager to play, and so on and so forth.
The interview was over fairly quickly, but Nagashima could honestly say that it was the most embarrassing five minutes of his life.
His team-mates didn't seem to think so. They cheered and hooted as the camera was turned off and the reporter thanked him for the interview. Nagashima thanked them back and fervently hoped that there would never be a repeat occurrence.
A towel hit his head and he glanced over to find a very smug Inao --arms crossed over his bare chest, a towel firmly wrapped around his waist-- talking to the catcher. The larger man was shaking his head even as he clapped Inao's shoulder, commenting that he owed the pitcher a beer later.
"I..." He hastily wrapped the towel around his waist, fumbling with the hat. It was his own, so he put it on his head. "What?"
"Ritual." The Short-stop patted Nagashima's head. "Got to know how yer gonna respond under pressure."
"I said that ya wouldn't run." Inao's smirk grew slightly. "Earned quite a few beers. Thanks."
"Welcome?" Nagashima scratched the short hair at the back of his head. It made sense, in a strange sort of way. No one really knew how a new person was going to react, so you put them in a position that they'd have no choice but to react.
But still...
"Could be worse." The Centre Fielder patted his head as he walked by to his own locker, the players settling down as they resumed getting ready to leave. "Some teams make the rookies wear dresses for their rookie initiation."
"Dresses?" Nagashima echoed.
"The entire day." The Short-stop agreed gleefully, rubbing his hands together. "During practise and drills."
"Ugh." Best to get it over with quickly then.
Inao gave him a pleased smirk as he walked by. "Welcome ta the team, kid."
"... Thanks."
+++ Fifth Inning +++
"Did ya ever see him again?" Inao surprised him by asking one day while they were waiting the dugout for their turn to bat during practise. "That Old Man."
Nagashima didn't have to ask which 'Old Man'. There would only ever be one 'Old Man' for the two them. The Old Man who had given them the Babe Ruth's Bat and Sawamura Eiji's Glove. "No." He shook his head. "You?"
"No." Inao stared out into the green, his face impassive. Nagashima nodded, figuring that would probably be the end of the conversation.
It was, for several minutes.
"Do you think he's still around?" Inao mused. Nagashima briefly wondered if Inao wanted to make another deal with the Old Man, then dismissed the idea. Inao didn't need Sawamura Eiji's --or anyone else's-- glove. He had his 'Cannonball Arm' and was well on his way to becoming a legend in his own right.
Sometimes he wondered if that had been the purpose of the bat and the glove. It wasn't so much as they granted their wearers their namesake's skills, but brought out their own potential. Showed them what they could do, who they could could be and gave them the confidence to get there.
"I don't know." Nagashima admitted. He scratched his head, thinking it over. The shop hadn't held only baseball equipment, there had been a kaleidoscope of various sports paraphernalia in there. "Sometimes. There's that one guy in the Tokyo Spirits..."
"Akagi." Inao nodded, knowing exactly who Nagashima was talking about. "Akagi Hideo. He has that look to him."
"Yeah." That glow about him, like he had been brushed by something. Kami-sama, fortune, magic, something other than the mundane world that everyone else saw. Hard work was what would get him far, but that something else had given him the push, that polish, that he needed to shine.
They had it too, Inao and himself. That shine. They'd been touched and he didn't think that either of them could ever go back to what they were before meeting the Old Man. They probably could have gotten here on their own, through their own perseverance, but it wouldn't have been nearly as interesting of a trip.
And he probably wouldn't have met Inao, if it hadn't been for that Old Man and the history between the two items they'd had. That would have definitely made his life less entertaining. A good rival was hard to find.
"You know, I still carry a 1000yen note in my back pocket when playing." Nagashima confessed quietly. "For luck." And to remind him how he got here.
Inao glanced over, a slightly curious smirk on his face and Nagashima wondered if Inao still carried around the credit card that he had used to pay the Old Man. He debated asking for a moment, then decided against it. This was baseball, they all had their own superstitions that kept the game alive, like how no one would step on the foul line when taking the field.
Nagashima grinned back, slightly embarrassed. Inao snorted, his smirk growing into a proper smile as he looked back out over the green.
They lapsed into silence again, annoying their team-mates by not letting them in on the joke.
+++ Sixth Inning +++
Nagashima looked around as the team came in from practise. He and Inao tended to be the first one on and the last one off, not necessarily together, but it was odd not to see the pitcher walking towards the locker rooms. It had been a good hard practise and he was feeling it.
"If you're looking for Inao." The left-fielder grinned at him, motioning towards the foul pole by first base. A couple of people were leaning over the railing, talking to the pitcher. "Looks like he's got himself a few fans."
He blushed slightly, he thought he hadn't been that obvious that he was looking for the pitcher. "Thanks." The left-fielder chuckled and patted his shoulder before heading in for the showers. Nagashima shot one last glance over his shoulder and was surprised to see that Inao had turned around and waving him over. He blinked, pointing to himself, just to make sure.
Inao made a gesture that clearly read 'who else, ahou?' before turning back to the fans. Nagashima blushed again and trotted over, wondering if he was intruding, it almost looked like one of the people and Inao were flirting with each other.
"-spring preliminaries, eighteen innings of overtime with Teitou High." A dark-skinned guy about their age was saying in a thick Kansai accent. "I couldn't believe it."
Inao chuckled, a grim sound. "I don't know if it's lucky or not that in professional baseball, if it goes up to twelve innings, it's declared a draw." He commented as he rotated his shoulder. He glanced over at Nagashima as he slowed to a stop. "Hey."
"Hey." Nagashima greeted him, glancing up at the teenager's shadow. A small glasses wearing boy was standing on the wall to peer over the railing. "I know you. You were the kid trapped in the Tokyo Tower when someone tried to blow it up. And aren't you the one that chases the Kaitou Kid? Eko... Edo..."
"Edogawa." The boy volunteered in a bright voice. "Edogawa Conan, Detective."
The dark-skinned guy laughed, draping an arm over the boy. "He's aimin' ta become the next 'Detective of the East'." Edogawa smiled cheerfully back, casually shifting his weight to grind his heel into the teenager's foot. The teenager grimaced, hopping up and down slightly, muttering through gritted teeth about 'Kudo' and 'Atomic Wedgies'.
"This is Hattori Heiji." Inao motioned to the still cursing guy. "The Teenage Detective of the West. He's kinda well known in my area."
"Like Kudo Shin'ichi was in Beika before his disappearance." Nagashima nodded to Hattori. "Nice to meet you."
"Pleased ta meetcha." Hattori grinned, setting his sore foot down. "Saw you and Inao at Koushien a while back. You're damn impressive."
"Thanks." Nagashima rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. He still wasn't sure how to respond to complements, even after all these years. Inao nudged him, handing him a marking pen and an autograph board, with his signature already on it. Nagashima blinked, holding them.
"Tell ya what." Inao smirked, passing back a blank autograph board. "Nagashima and I'll autograph this one, you two autograph that one and we'll trade. Come back after practise again sometime and we'll do it again."
"So we each get two autographs! Right, Heiji-niichan?" Edogawa grinned as Hattori took the offered board. Nagashima nodded, uncapping the pen with his teeth and putting his signature next to Inao's. The two overlapped on a few characters, but he didn't think anyone was going to mind. Inao nodded as he capped the pen and took the board back, Nagashima passing Edogawa the marking pen before the kid fell over the edge of the rail.
Hattori stole the pen from Edogawa, scribbling his signature with maniacal energy. He paused, looking askance at the smaller detective and then wrote something with a great deal of concentration on the board. Edogawa looked at him suspiciously, attempting to see what Hattori was doing but his lack of height worked against him.
The Kansai Detective finished with a flourish and handed it over to Edogawa, radiating gleeful mischief. Edogawa looked at the board, then at his larger friend, turning the board so that they could see a magnifying glass doodled in one corner. "Your artwork sucks, Hattori." Edogawa muttered as he retrieved the pen and added a scribble of his own to it. Nagashima almost expected Hattori to take offence to casual use of his name, but the dark-skinned teenager seemed to find it more amusing than anything else.
"Almost feel like I should have added a drawing of my own." He commented to Inao.
One of Inao's eyebrows rose under the long fringe that hid his eyes. "You can draw?"
"Not very well." He admitted. A three year old could draw better than he could. Attempting to draw baseball was even worse, his balls and bats somehow ended up rather... rude looking, never mind what the gloves looked like. "You?"
"Not a chance." Inao deadpanned. Nagashima nodded. Perhaps that should be something he worked on, if he was going to be signing autographs. Didn't some players draw bases with their number in it?
"Done!" Edogawa announced, passing them the autograph board before Hattori could snatch it away and continue drawing on it. The boy had added some dark footprints along the bottom border, Hattori's magnifying glass inspecting them.
Inao looked amused as he looked over the doodle. "Ya do realise yer gonna have ta draw that next time." He pointed out, passing them their autograph board. "So it's fair."
"We'll remember." Hattori assured him gleefully, taking the autographs. Edogawa rose up on his toes to peer at their signatures, a grin on his face as well.
Inao nodded back. "We'll hold ya to it."
"See you!" Edogawa waved. Nagashima waved back, he and Inao turning to walk towards the showers. The pitcher looked at the autograph board and chuckled. It wasn't very often that a baseball player got a minor celebrity's autograph in return, after all.
"Think they'll be back?" Nagashima questioned, glancing back to see the pair bickering at each other as they walked out of the stadium.
"Yeah." Inao nodded, looking it was foregone conclusion. "He's got that fire in his belly. Ya want this one or the next one?"
"I'll take next one." Nagashima shrugged. He wasn't quite sure what to do with an autograph, really. This would give him time to think about where to hang it. "And thanks."
Inao nodded, tapping Nagashima's head with his glove as if to say that it was a matter of course. "You're welcome."
+++
Warnings for some nudity as well as The Chibi and The Ahou Comedy Team!!! ... No yaoi warning.
Con't from here
+++ Fourth Inning +++
The first sign that something was up was when Nagashima stepped out of the showers, towel around his waist and no one was shouting anything in the locker room. Usually it was a chaotic mess of noise and bodies, but today everyone seemed to be more interested in changing clothing than rough housing.
The second sign that something was up was when his towel disappeared from around his waist.
The third sign that something was up was when he made a mad dash for his locker and discovered a news crew standing right in front of it. A smirking news crew who -leaning- against his locker, looking like they were waiting for him.
He didn't have to turn around to feel the rest of his team mates block the path to freedom behind him.
Screwed. He was completely screwed.
He desperately glanced around and grabbed the first thing that came to hand to cover himself; a baseball cap. He supposed it could have been worse, he could have been trying to preserve his modesty with a baseball bat. Or worse yet, someone else's glove.
Exits blocked, cameras in front of him, team mates behind him, Nagashima did the only thing he could.
Blush bright red, set his chin, squared his shoulders, took a good grip on the cap covering his dignity and greeted the media.
They were polite as they interviewed the new rookie of the team, the camera very conscientiously staying above waist level. They asked the usual questions he'd anticipate, what he felt about the new team, was he eager to play, and so on and so forth.
The interview was over fairly quickly, but Nagashima could honestly say that it was the most embarrassing five minutes of his life.
His team-mates didn't seem to think so. They cheered and hooted as the camera was turned off and the reporter thanked him for the interview. Nagashima thanked them back and fervently hoped that there would never be a repeat occurrence.
A towel hit his head and he glanced over to find a very smug Inao --arms crossed over his bare chest, a towel firmly wrapped around his waist-- talking to the catcher. The larger man was shaking his head even as he clapped Inao's shoulder, commenting that he owed the pitcher a beer later.
"I..." He hastily wrapped the towel around his waist, fumbling with the hat. It was his own, so he put it on his head. "What?"
"Ritual." The Short-stop patted Nagashima's head. "Got to know how yer gonna respond under pressure."
"I said that ya wouldn't run." Inao's smirk grew slightly. "Earned quite a few beers. Thanks."
"Welcome?" Nagashima scratched the short hair at the back of his head. It made sense, in a strange sort of way. No one really knew how a new person was going to react, so you put them in a position that they'd have no choice but to react.
But still...
"Could be worse." The Centre Fielder patted his head as he walked by to his own locker, the players settling down as they resumed getting ready to leave. "Some teams make the rookies wear dresses for their rookie initiation."
"Dresses?" Nagashima echoed.
"The entire day." The Short-stop agreed gleefully, rubbing his hands together. "During practise and drills."
"Ugh." Best to get it over with quickly then.
Inao gave him a pleased smirk as he walked by. "Welcome ta the team, kid."
"... Thanks."
+++ Fifth Inning +++
"Did ya ever see him again?" Inao surprised him by asking one day while they were waiting the dugout for their turn to bat during practise. "That Old Man."
Nagashima didn't have to ask which 'Old Man'. There would only ever be one 'Old Man' for the two them. The Old Man who had given them the Babe Ruth's Bat and Sawamura Eiji's Glove. "No." He shook his head. "You?"
"No." Inao stared out into the green, his face impassive. Nagashima nodded, figuring that would probably be the end of the conversation.
It was, for several minutes.
"Do you think he's still around?" Inao mused. Nagashima briefly wondered if Inao wanted to make another deal with the Old Man, then dismissed the idea. Inao didn't need Sawamura Eiji's --or anyone else's-- glove. He had his 'Cannonball Arm' and was well on his way to becoming a legend in his own right.
Sometimes he wondered if that had been the purpose of the bat and the glove. It wasn't so much as they granted their wearers their namesake's skills, but brought out their own potential. Showed them what they could do, who they could could be and gave them the confidence to get there.
"I don't know." Nagashima admitted. He scratched his head, thinking it over. The shop hadn't held only baseball equipment, there had been a kaleidoscope of various sports paraphernalia in there. "Sometimes. There's that one guy in the Tokyo Spirits..."
"Akagi." Inao nodded, knowing exactly who Nagashima was talking about. "Akagi Hideo. He has that look to him."
"Yeah." That glow about him, like he had been brushed by something. Kami-sama, fortune, magic, something other than the mundane world that everyone else saw. Hard work was what would get him far, but that something else had given him the push, that polish, that he needed to shine.
They had it too, Inao and himself. That shine. They'd been touched and he didn't think that either of them could ever go back to what they were before meeting the Old Man. They probably could have gotten here on their own, through their own perseverance, but it wouldn't have been nearly as interesting of a trip.
And he probably wouldn't have met Inao, if it hadn't been for that Old Man and the history between the two items they'd had. That would have definitely made his life less entertaining. A good rival was hard to find.
"You know, I still carry a 1000yen note in my back pocket when playing." Nagashima confessed quietly. "For luck." And to remind him how he got here.
Inao glanced over, a slightly curious smirk on his face and Nagashima wondered if Inao still carried around the credit card that he had used to pay the Old Man. He debated asking for a moment, then decided against it. This was baseball, they all had their own superstitions that kept the game alive, like how no one would step on the foul line when taking the field.
Nagashima grinned back, slightly embarrassed. Inao snorted, his smirk growing into a proper smile as he looked back out over the green.
They lapsed into silence again, annoying their team-mates by not letting them in on the joke.
+++ Sixth Inning +++
Nagashima looked around as the team came in from practise. He and Inao tended to be the first one on and the last one off, not necessarily together, but it was odd not to see the pitcher walking towards the locker rooms. It had been a good hard practise and he was feeling it.
"If you're looking for Inao." The left-fielder grinned at him, motioning towards the foul pole by first base. A couple of people were leaning over the railing, talking to the pitcher. "Looks like he's got himself a few fans."
He blushed slightly, he thought he hadn't been that obvious that he was looking for the pitcher. "Thanks." The left-fielder chuckled and patted his shoulder before heading in for the showers. Nagashima shot one last glance over his shoulder and was surprised to see that Inao had turned around and waving him over. He blinked, pointing to himself, just to make sure.
Inao made a gesture that clearly read 'who else, ahou?' before turning back to the fans. Nagashima blushed again and trotted over, wondering if he was intruding, it almost looked like one of the people and Inao were flirting with each other.
"-spring preliminaries, eighteen innings of overtime with Teitou High." A dark-skinned guy about their age was saying in a thick Kansai accent. "I couldn't believe it."
Inao chuckled, a grim sound. "I don't know if it's lucky or not that in professional baseball, if it goes up to twelve innings, it's declared a draw." He commented as he rotated his shoulder. He glanced over at Nagashima as he slowed to a stop. "Hey."
"Hey." Nagashima greeted him, glancing up at the teenager's shadow. A small glasses wearing boy was standing on the wall to peer over the railing. "I know you. You were the kid trapped in the Tokyo Tower when someone tried to blow it up. And aren't you the one that chases the Kaitou Kid? Eko... Edo..."
"Edogawa." The boy volunteered in a bright voice. "Edogawa Conan, Detective."
The dark-skinned guy laughed, draping an arm over the boy. "He's aimin' ta become the next 'Detective of the East'." Edogawa smiled cheerfully back, casually shifting his weight to grind his heel into the teenager's foot. The teenager grimaced, hopping up and down slightly, muttering through gritted teeth about 'Kudo' and 'Atomic Wedgies'.
"This is Hattori Heiji." Inao motioned to the still cursing guy. "The Teenage Detective of the West. He's kinda well known in my area."
"Like Kudo Shin'ichi was in Beika before his disappearance." Nagashima nodded to Hattori. "Nice to meet you."
"Pleased ta meetcha." Hattori grinned, setting his sore foot down. "Saw you and Inao at Koushien a while back. You're damn impressive."
"Thanks." Nagashima rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. He still wasn't sure how to respond to complements, even after all these years. Inao nudged him, handing him a marking pen and an autograph board, with his signature already on it. Nagashima blinked, holding them.
"Tell ya what." Inao smirked, passing back a blank autograph board. "Nagashima and I'll autograph this one, you two autograph that one and we'll trade. Come back after practise again sometime and we'll do it again."
"So we each get two autographs! Right, Heiji-niichan?" Edogawa grinned as Hattori took the offered board. Nagashima nodded, uncapping the pen with his teeth and putting his signature next to Inao's. The two overlapped on a few characters, but he didn't think anyone was going to mind. Inao nodded as he capped the pen and took the board back, Nagashima passing Edogawa the marking pen before the kid fell over the edge of the rail.
Hattori stole the pen from Edogawa, scribbling his signature with maniacal energy. He paused, looking askance at the smaller detective and then wrote something with a great deal of concentration on the board. Edogawa looked at him suspiciously, attempting to see what Hattori was doing but his lack of height worked against him.
The Kansai Detective finished with a flourish and handed it over to Edogawa, radiating gleeful mischief. Edogawa looked at the board, then at his larger friend, turning the board so that they could see a magnifying glass doodled in one corner. "Your artwork sucks, Hattori." Edogawa muttered as he retrieved the pen and added a scribble of his own to it. Nagashima almost expected Hattori to take offence to casual use of his name, but the dark-skinned teenager seemed to find it more amusing than anything else.
"Almost feel like I should have added a drawing of my own." He commented to Inao.
One of Inao's eyebrows rose under the long fringe that hid his eyes. "You can draw?"
"Not very well." He admitted. A three year old could draw better than he could. Attempting to draw baseball was even worse, his balls and bats somehow ended up rather... rude looking, never mind what the gloves looked like. "You?"
"Not a chance." Inao deadpanned. Nagashima nodded. Perhaps that should be something he worked on, if he was going to be signing autographs. Didn't some players draw bases with their number in it?
"Done!" Edogawa announced, passing them the autograph board before Hattori could snatch it away and continue drawing on it. The boy had added some dark footprints along the bottom border, Hattori's magnifying glass inspecting them.
Inao looked amused as he looked over the doodle. "Ya do realise yer gonna have ta draw that next time." He pointed out, passing them their autograph board. "So it's fair."
"We'll remember." Hattori assured him gleefully, taking the autographs. Edogawa rose up on his toes to peer at their signatures, a grin on his face as well.
Inao nodded back. "We'll hold ya to it."
"See you!" Edogawa waved. Nagashima waved back, he and Inao turning to walk towards the showers. The pitcher looked at the autograph board and chuckled. It wasn't very often that a baseball player got a minor celebrity's autograph in return, after all.
"Think they'll be back?" Nagashima questioned, glancing back to see the pair bickering at each other as they walked out of the stadium.
"Yeah." Inao nodded, looking it was foregone conclusion. "He's got that fire in his belly. Ya want this one or the next one?"
"I'll take next one." Nagashima shrugged. He wasn't quite sure what to do with an autograph, really. This would give him time to think about where to hang it. "And thanks."
Inao nodded, tapping Nagashima's head with his glove as if to say that it was a matter of course. "You're welcome."
+++