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“Abe?”
Only seconds after being caught out and returning to the dugout, that timid, trembling voice drifts towards him. Abe turns his head and spots Mihashi curled up in the corner of the dugout, hugging his knees and crying.
Without saying anything, Abe walks over and sits beside his pitcher. Mihashi shuffles closer, so weak and pitiful Abe knows exactly what is wrong.
“Look, you’re not the only guy who’s been struck out every time he’s gone up for bat, Mihashi,” he says, and Mihashi flinches like Abe just read his mind. He sighs. “It’s okay.”
Mihashi sniffs. “So… nobody’s mad with me?”
Another sigh, not directed at his pitcher but instead at the bastards who bullied him. “No,” he says, forcing himself to sound as calm as possible. “Nobody’s mad.”
“Abe?”
“Yeah.”
“Can we cuddle? W-We don’t have to, though…” Mihashi mumbles, remembering that Abe gets embarrassed by public displays of affection.
“No, it’s fine,” Abe says, fine to hug in the privacy of the very back of the dugout, surrounded by teammates who support their relationship.
“Really? Thanks, Abe.”
And Mihashi wriggles closer and pulls Abe into an awkward hug, and Abe finds himself rubbing Mihashi’s heaving back.