Archive of Our Own

He turned to look at the grinning woman who had just entered the bullpen and was approaching them. At first, Mei mistook her for one of the more crazed and adventurous fans (fans weren't allowed in thr practice area) since he wasn't informed they'd gotten any new managers and their team was strictly an all-male team.

Crouching across him, Kazuya took off his mask and stood up to place an arm around the woman's shoulders to give a her what Mei supposed was a hug.

"I thought you had practice today?"

"Misa's water broke so practice was cancelled. She gave birth on third base and everyone's cooing over the baby so I figured I'd come here for a little work out!"

"Did you jog all the way here?"

"Of course!"

"Honestly, you should be more careful of yourself."

"You worry too much."

"It's normal!"

Mei still hadn't connected the dots though he felt some irritation that Kazuya had another pretty lady under his list of women. They weren't actively competing since Kazuya didn't want to, but Mei kept score. He had more women, though.

"Miyuki, stop messing around and catch my balls!"

Kazuya sighed, "fine--"

"Narumiya Mei!" The woman grinned and pointed at him.

Then it hit Mei like a ton of bricks. The woman was none other than Sawamura Eijun, the unattractive tomboy who defeated him in high school. He didn't expect the tomboy to turn into such a looker, though.

"S-Sawamura?" He gaped at her, not really meaning to but the changes were really great. She no longer looked so dirty and scruffy. "Well, shit. You don't look like a boy anymore." A beat then he shamelessly added, "we should get together for drinks sometime."

Sawamura laughed, quickly agreeing to the proposition while Kazuya gave him a dark look. Mei grinned smugly, knowing that they'd been together since high school because of course Kazuya would stick to the one girl stupid enough to fall for him. Well, not for long though. Anyone was fair game--

"She's married--"

"Yeah, right! As if I'd fall for that excuse."

"--to me." Kazuya finished, face deadpan as he placed an arm around Sawamura's shoulders.

Well. Sawamura's off the table, then. But that only meant he couldn't sleep with her, a little flirting would hurt anyone except it would annoy the hell out of Kazuya.

"Oh, even better since you'd know I wouldn't do anything to your wife," Mei smiled, "as pitchers we have a lot to talk about!"

He really did take Sawamura out for drinks when Kazuya was stuck at practice. It was at a nearby bar that was classy, chic and Mei's thing. Sawamura stood out from the crowd but the place seemed to suit her, or so Mei thought. They first started talking about Miyuki and his quirks as a catcher before they began to talk about baseball and their pitches. They'd lost track of time and Mei brought her home late before heading home himself.

During the morning news, a picture of the two of them laughing over drinks and leaning close to each other flashed on the television screen. Mei laughed, hard.

"And for this morning's top of the line celebrity buzz, who was spotted last night sharing not one, not two but three drinks? Well, it certainly isn't a pair we haven't guiltily thought of before: ace pitcher Narumiya and rising ace pitcher Sawamura!" The news anchor smiled, her voice just oozing with suggestion, "according to our reports, both arrived at the bar together and sat in a corner together for the rest of the night. And get this, guys--Narumiya couldn't keep his eyes off her and allegedly, he brought her home. Not his home, to her home right across town. Quite the distance from his own residence. And if that isn't alarm bells enough then I don't know what!"

Mei was nearly in tears at just how ridiculous this was. He couldn't wait to get to practice and see Kazuya's face. This was too rich.

Kazuya was glaring at him and Mei laughed.

"Oh god, you're face! It's hilarious!"

Kazuya clicked his tongue, "the only reason I'm not hurting you is because my wife would kill me if I lost my baseball career."

"Yeah, well, no one in the world believes your married so, come at me, bro!"

Mei cackled as he watched Kazuya struggle with not physically assaulting him.

He called Sawamura later, during break and of course, not in front of Kazuya.

"Please tell me he didn't hurt you."

"Aw, I'm touched by how much you care."

"Please, he might injure his hands and lose his career."

"Wow, he was right," Mei laughed. He supposed they were good for each other, he'd only realized Sawamura was a catch and well, too bad he didn't see it earlier. He wasn't the type to go stealing married women and Kazuya knew that, but his jealousy was fun to poke at. "So there's this place, it's nice and it has a baseball cake. We should eat there sometime."

"You smooth motherfucker. Okay, what time?"

NARUSAWA SHARE CAKES AND BASEBALL

Kazuya ripped the offending newspaper to pieces as Mei pranced around with five more copies. There was a photo, too. Where Mei was feeding the other pitcher cake and looking damn smug about it.

"I will hurt you." Kazuya was seething, "someway, I will hurt you."

"Like you said, Eijun is my shield."

"Eijun?! Since when was she Eijun to you?!"

"Since we shared a cake, duh. Did you not read the fine print?"

Kazuya grabbed his mitt and threw it at the pitcher, hitting him on the chest but Mei just laughed. It was the most damage Kazuya could do to him.

A week after, Kazuya and Mei headed out the bullpen for a late lunch break. They were on their way to the cafeteria when they heard their names being called and turning to the voice, they saw Eijun sitting at the bleachers waving at them with a wide grin.

"Didn't you have practice?" Kazuya asked once Eijun was standing beside them.

"It's her day off, Kazuya, you should remember your wife's own day offs," Mei snickered.

"Stop you," Eijun scolded lightly before raising a couple of packed lunches, "anyway, I was bored so I tried to cook."

"Babe--"

"The house is fine. And I think this is my breakthrough dish."

"Yeah, it would breakthrough my stomach and kill me. Babe, you can't cook, four years with you and you can't fry an egg."

"You just have no faith in me, Kazuya."

Mei laughed at the banter and took one packed lunch from Eijun, "yes, Kazuya. Have a little faith in your wife! Meanwhile, I'll be taking your share to lunch."

Kazuya glared the pitcher and watched him leave with a skip to his step and Eijun's homemade lunch.

Mei was out from practice for three days after eating whatever crap Eijun had him eat. The lunch wasn't anything special, it was your normal Japanese packed lunch and it smelled good. But it gave him the worst stomach pains and diarrhea that he couldn't get out of bed and to practice.

After he'd spent nearly an hour on the toilet cursing life and the couple of married idiots, he called Kazuya. The first thing he heard was the catcher's laugh.

"How's your stomach?"

"I hate you."

"I said I'd hurt you, here is the hurt. Does it hurt?"

"How dare you--"

"Come on, you should've seen it coming. The only thing my wife can do is me and baseball."

"I-- oh crap."

"I hope you mean that literally."

"Miyuki Kazuya, I hope you die!"

Omake

Kazuya had enough. He knew it wasn't real, he had absolute faith in his wife but this was Mei. And it was frustrating to hear everyone talking about Mei and Eijun as a thing, the end to Mei's womanizing ways. Bull and crap.

Getting up from bed, he pressed a kiss to his wife's temple and slowly left the bed.

I love you but I'm going to use you to hurt Mei.

He knew Eijun had the day off, which was why she was sleeping in and as much as he'd wanted to lay in bed with her (like he usually would, screw Mei and the rest of the team), he had a plan to execute. After taking a quick shower, he went in the kitchen and made eggs for breakfast, packing Eijun's share for when she would wake up.

Then he left a note on the refrigerator:

Babe, sorry couldn't make more. Only had time for eggs. Early and late practice.

Then he took out a cook book and innocently left it lying on the kitchen counter. He knew his wife better than she knew herself and he didn't want to use her like this but he had no choice.

Eijun would have too much time on her hands today and knowing that he still made her breakfast despite early practice would tug at her heartstrings. The cook book would give her the idea of making lunch and when he'd refuse it in front of Mei, the pitcher would gladly take it and be sick.

"The things you do for love," he sighed to himself and went to check on his wife one last time before leaving.

"Babe, heading out," he said to her, earning a small groan as she cuddled closer to his pillow and he thought this is mine.