i'm hypnotized by the light in your eyes

[tire]

WHO: okumura koushuu (undergrowl) and sawamura eijun (tire)
WHERE: recolle high school, the bullpen of the baseball diamond
WHEN: 5/2
WHAT: the world's biggest misunderstanding, or, liking someone who is an idiot is suffering
WARNINGS: just eijun being a fool




[ getting okumura to go to prom has been kind of an undertaking. for starters, he's an underclassman, so technically, someone's supposed to ask him. and eijun doubted okumura was going to get asked by...well, anyone! and sure, though he and okumura don't always get along the best, they are a battery, and eijun knows for sure he wants him to be there!

so, with a little encouragement that it's okay to ask a friend to prom, eijun plotted and planned, and now he's got a pretty good way to ask. so after a lot of bothering, he drags koushuu to the bullpen for "just five more pitches, please, please". and it starts out normally, eijun pitching two or three before he gets into his usual rhythm. he's been having a good practice anyway, with koushuu signalling him numbers and him flying through them.

on his favorite--the crossfire cutter, a pitch unique to eijun--he scoops up the baseball he made talking to anya, with "catch you at prom with me?" written on. every side of it.

eijun's never been subtle. ]

Here comes a good one! Be ready, Okumura boy, it's the grand finale!

[ there's the windup... and the pitch! ]

Comments

[undergrowl]

[ Maybe if Koushuu thought this could be ironic, or funny, he would reflect on the fact that he literally talked to Yukine earlier about maybe going to prom stag. He wasn't really that interested in it, figured that there were other things he could be doing. Especially with this being the height of the baseball season.

As it is, though, the leadup to literally everything crashing down is actually spent rather obliviously. Sawamura manages to talk him into catching a few more pitches, exasperated as he is about it. But nowadays, even when they butt heads and don't get along, Koushuu wants to catch for him. This is theirs. They're a battery, and he's going to make sure they stay in top shape. ]

It really is going to be the grand finale.

[ They do have to, you know. Do other things, besides this, for as easy as it'd be to keep going, and going. But he adjusts his crouch, holding his mitt out easy.

Catching it is no problem. But he sees something weird about the ball right away, and once it hits the center of his glove with a satisfying sound, he shifts his weight back onto his heels and plucks it out. ]

Sawamura, what is th - [ He nearly bites his tongue as he stares at the writing. ]

[tire]

[ eijun is beaming after he throws the pitch. it's not the "i just threw a pitch i know is going to get you out" smile, but something totally different. he looks giddy, like an excited puppy about to go on a walk, and he's practically vibrating the seven feet across from okumura, bouncing up and down a little on his toes where he's settled standing.

it's hard not to be giddy! he's asking something important, after all, and he's got a great way to ask it! it's going to be fun to go to this together, he thinks, and it's way better than going alone!]

Read it! [ eijun chirps, punching his hand into his glove once, twice, an energetic gesture: clearly he can't even handle this happening at the moment. ]

[undergrowl]

[ His eyes snap up to Eijun where he's bouncing, eyes round and wide, every thought in his head having screeched to a terrifying halt on the tracks. It takes him a few seconds to actually process what's even really happening at the moment, and then Koushuu winds up looking down at the baseball again. It's his training that keeps him balanced and not falling on his ass, to be honest, because what the hell.

Eijun Sawamura is asking him to go to prom with him.

He is, arguably, going to die right now.

Color floods his face the second that the promposal - promposal - sinks in, and he has to duck his head to hide under the sweep of his bangs. He mutters under his breath a soft "merde," remembering who it is that threw the stupid thing.

Jesus. ]

[tire]

[ at this point, eijun's excitement is getting the better of him. he looks like he's going to explode, both with brightness at his awesome idea (thanks anya!) and while waiting for koushuu's reaction. he can't handle waiting! it's not like he and koushuu aren't a battery, so he's probably gonna say yes.

still! ]

Okumura!! [ he ends up chirping--he gives up on waiting and hurries over so they're closer, fists clutched in front of him. he still looks like an overly excited dog. ] C'mon, what do you say? You will, right, right?

[ and even eijun sawamura, a fool to end all fools, notices he's blushing a little bit. ]

[undergrowl]

[ Still ducked under his bangs, Koushuu... very slowly shifts up to stand properly. He's clutching the baseball a little, holding it close to his body like he's still processing, and he takes a deep breath if only so he can maybe exhale some of the steam that feels like it's built up in his chest. Why is this happening to him? He's not the nicest person in the world, sure, but he was pretty sure he wasn't awful.

Of course Eijun comes closer. It's his broken fight or flight instinct that has him staying right there instead of putting space between them.

But he takes his glove off, tucking it under his left arm against his ribs, and holds out his right hand. ]

Marker. I know you still have it, with how covered this thing is.

[tire]

[ eijun brightens up even further, if it were possible, when koushuu actually uses his words, because it's kind of rare. he immediately starts fumbling around his pockets, patting down his pants before he retrieves a sharpie from his back pocket. he did in fact even keep the cap on so there's no black stain on his pants, be proud.

he offers the marker forward. ] What're you gonna do--don't tell me you're gonna cross it out!

[undergrowl]

[ Koushuu shushes him - it's a shh instead of a shut up, for once - and accepts the sharpie, shoulders curling forward for a second as he uncaps it and turns the baseball over to find a blank space to write on. He doesn't need a lot, but it's difficult to focus when Eijun has literally written all over the stupid thing.

But he finds a spot, and he writes one word very neatly along the curve of the laces. Giving a couple puffs across the ink to dry it off, he caps the marker and then returns the ball to Eijun in an underhand toss.

... and then turns on his heel, going to collect his things and put his glove in his bag.

YES. ]

[tire]

[ yeah, koushuu has another thing coming if he thinks that eijun's just going to leave him alone after that. he does buy himself a little bit of time, if only because eijun pokes around the ball trying to find the spot where koushuu wrote on it. his handwriting is neat and tiny compared to eijun's, and he ends up lifting it and squinting before he sees it.

and then, almost visibly, eijun brightens up. he looks like an overly excited dog. ] --!!

[ in fact, he doesn't even make anything short of a noise. then, eijun squeezes the ball tight in his tired pitch hand and dashes to catch up with him, throwing his other arm around koushuu's shoulders with little to no regards for his personal space. ] Yay!! Okumura, awesome!! Now you've gotta go, no backing out, okay?!

[undergrowl]

[ He's not so naive as to think that Eijun isn't going to be immediately on him, but he figures writing the response small, and tossing it so he can't find it quickly, spares him long enough to get his things all together so he can get home as quickly as possible after this is over. He's going to die. Eijun is so dense and so - well, Eijun - that there's no way he's doing this promposal as anything but friends. So, hence, death.

He jolts a little when Eijun attaches onto him, his face still warm. The color in his cheeks and neck and ears still isn't going anywhere, and he can't help but damn his mother's pale skin being passed onto him, because there's no way to hide it, and his pitcher is too close for him to duck under his hair again. ]

I don't back out of anything, Sawamura. [ Mulishly, but he's not shrugging him off or growling at him, so. ]

[tire]

[ luckily for koushuu, eijun hasn't even noticed that he's blushing. he's just happy, excited to take someone who he was SURE wasn't going to go to prom! plus, they're a battery, and it's definitely important for batterymates to bond over things like this!

he does at least release him quickly, though, if only to go drop his glove in his bag and pick the ice sling up out of it. he's even doing his cool down!!! be proud of him!!!

(or just don't get to escape. sorry bud.) ] Hehe, that's definitely true! Like every time we face up with the scary pitcher from the school in the next city over. When he pitched all close to your face I really thought you were gonna die!

[ look at him just continuing on like nothing weird just happened. ]

[undergrowl]

[ Yukine was making a valiant effort to get him to go stag, but Koushuu had been... fairly resistant. It would have taken Anya and Yukine both to get him to go, if Eijun hadn't effectively bypassed them, completely taken him out at the knees with a stupid promposal. He figures this is going to be them going as a battery, instead of anything else.

It's not a date. God.

He goes and moves his bag, dropping it since Eijun has pulled out the sling. He was going to just - tell him to do it himself, but he makes a gesture for him to give it to him so he can deal with his shirt. Hell is real and Koushuu is living in it right now. ]

They were trying to scare me so I'd strike out. Lucky for me, that was a ball. [ Also lucky for you it didn't hit you in your damn face??? ] They learned better after that, and your changeup.