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“You do realize this is the stupidest idea you’ve had in a while right?” Kuramochi Youichi was sitting casually on the kitchen counter that separated it from the dining room, trying his hardest to appear uninterested in the happenings in front of him. “And that’s saying something, Sawamura.”
The pitcher whirled around, turning on him, driving the breath out of poor Nori’s lungs with the pull he’d given on the apron he’d been tying behind the older pitcher’s back.
“This is the greatest idea I’ve ever had, senpai.” Sawamura did seem truly proud of himself, the grin splitting his face not helping the ridicularity of the situation as he wore a puffy pink apron. “Now, would you mind scampering off my kitchen? Some of us plan to actually cook today.”
Youichi sniggered, but jumped off the counter all the same. Something about the sight of the three pitchers clad in aprons was strangely endearing. Furuya, unexpectedly looking somewhere between confused and bored; Nori, looking surprisingly eager to launch this endeavor; and obviously, Sawamura, the source of this whole damn mess.
“I’m actually kind of surprised you didn’t invite Tanba-san,” the shortstop commented as he rounded the corner into the dining room proper. “How lonely he must be feeling, knowing all his kouhai pitchers are having fun without him.”
“I’ll have you know, I did invite Tanba-san!” Sawamura looked truly proud as he replied. “He… Kind of didn’t seem interested.”
Youichi wasn’t exactly surprised at hearing that. If seeing Furuya in an apron in the middle of a kitchen was already shocking enough, seeing Tanba would’ve been that much more unexpected. In the same vein, seeing Tanba with one of those puffy aprons would have made his entire month.
“Now, senpai, please get out of my kitchen,” Sawamura reiterated, making a shooing motion with his hands. “And remember your very important mission!”
“I will, I will.” Youichi raised his hands up in mock surrender as he left the building, the cold February chill immediately biting into his skin, and he shoved them in his pockets. “But just so I can see Miyuki’s face later, kyahaha!”
Finally alone with his fellow pitchers, Eijun turned towards them as the door closed behind Kuramochi.
“So!” he couldn’t keep the excitement out of his voice. “Who’s ready to make the catchers’ day tomorrow?”
As Nori let out an excited “Yes!”, followed by Furuya’s much less hyped “...yes…”, Eijun considered what exactly had driven him to the campus kitchen on February 13th, baking implements scattered around.
It was actually quite simple. It was for the singular purpose of bringing Miyuki Kazuya down a peg.
It started almost a week ago, when Eijun had been practising on the indoor field with Kariba at night, the month of February barely started, cold and dark still.
“Guess Valentine’s coming up…” the catcher mentioned, a suffering sigh escaping his throat.
“Huh?” Eijun paused in his throwing motion, confusion clouding his features. “Why’s that relevant?”
“Oh, it’s not.” Kariba quickly waved his ungloved hand. “It’ll just be annoying, since we’ll be trying to practice and girls will be throwing chocolate over the bullpen fence at Miyuki-senpai the entire day. Miyauchi-senpai told me it was a right mess last year.”
For as much as it annoyed Eijun, he could very easily imagine the gaggle of fangirls that would occasionally follow Miyuki Kazuya around (seriously, couldn’t they at least develop a modicum of taste ) clambering at the chainlink wall and throwing their offerings at the catcher.
“I probably won’t get any chocolate this year either…” Another suffering sigh left the catcher. “It makes sense. Even if we’re part of the baseball team, Miyuki-senpai’s the only catcher anyone cares about.”
And that had been it for Eijun. If the damn girls of Seidou weren’t going to appreciate the baseball team’s catchers, then by God, the pitchers were going to do it themselves.
And so. February 13th. In the kitchen. With his fellow pitchers. Surrounded by chocolate and candy and all those things usually handled by girls during this season.
“So, Nori-senpai,” Eijun started, deciding that the more excited party was probably the best one to start with. “Have you ever done any kind of baking before?”
“Only bread, really.” He looked slightly deflated as he answered.
“Bread? That might not be a terrible idea, sweet bread with chocolate filling or something…” Eijun paused as he considered, before turning on his other teammate. “Furuya?”
“Hmm?” Furuya was looking at a candy mold, poking the heart shaped silicone with mild disinterest.
“Have you ever done any sort of baking?” Eijun asked again. It was doubtful, looking at the pitcher, but one never knew.
“...Mochi,” he answered at a barely audible volume.
As Eijun’s head was invaded with an image of lightning fast Furuya with fire in his eyes as he pounded at a mass of mochi dough, he sighed.
“You should’ve told us that two months ago, Furuya.” He shook his head. “In any case, mochi, huh? It’s a bit out of season, and I don’t even think we have any of the right ingredients.”
“Sawamura,” Nori asked, curiosity reflected on his face, "how exactly do you know so much about baking?”
“Oh, that.” He waved a hand dismissively. “Wakana used to drag me around before Valentine’s day to get supplies, and then we’d make chocolate together.”
A wry smile crossed his face. This would be the first year he wouldn’t get to cook together with his oldest friend. He made a mental note to send her a message with a photo of today’s results when he got back to his room.
“Okay, so, no more questions?” Eijun looked around, smile fully back on his face, hands on his hips. “Alright, guys, let’s do this.”
If you asked any of the many observers that popped by during the process (barring the catchers, whom Eijun had made sure were distracted by helpful teammates throughout the day), they would have described the scene as somewhere between a battlefield and a shoujo manga.
Haruichi, popping by shortly after they’d started, had almost immediately been conscripted into helping Eijun temper the chocolate, pouring milk inside the batter as the pitcher mixed it with a steady hand. He’d only managed to escape after Ryousuke had appeared looking for him, appearing extremely crestfallen that his brother wasn’t making chocolate for him.
Jun, apparently in search of Ryousuke and drawn in by the noise, arrived as they were mixing the chocolate pudding batter, Furuya and Eijun each mixing his bowl most furiously as Nori tried to calm them down, before a shout from the third-year stopped them. Apparently happy with their explanation of Ryousuke’s likely locale (helping Haruichi with batting practice), he’d left after sneaking a spoonful of batter and proclaiming it acceptable.
Rei, appearing as Furuya was furiously kneading the chocolate chip sweet bread batter, only looked around in surprise before letting her gaze fall on Eijun, telling him that he’d better have this place spotless before leaving. She did, however, also help him out with selecting some of the fillings for the chocolates, mirth reflected behind her lenses.
The coach appeared shortly after, assistant coach in tow, as Nori was gently separating the pieces of bread dough and wrapping them around a block of chocolate, singing along with the pop music that Eijun had playing on his phone. The coaches just shared a look before apparently deciding they didn’t want anything to do with the situation, and leaving as quickly as they’d come.
Masuko, arriving just as they were placing the individual pudding cups in the fridge and with too perfect a timing to be anything but a mysterious, pudding related sixth sense, had been impossible to get out of the kitchen until many promises of saving one for him had been made, and visible effort on the pitchers part to bodily push him out of the building.
The most stressing part of the day had been when Eijun, apparently also possessing a mysterious sixth sense, had looked out of the frosted kitchen window just in time to see the team captain, main catcher, and worst person on the planet to appear at that precise moment Miyuki Kazuya approaching the building.
Pulling his apron over his head and dashing out the door, all the while cursing Kuramochi because why’d he even asked him to keep an eye on Miyuki, Eijun managed to plant himself right in front of his catcher as he approached.
“Miyuki Kazuya!” he shouted, the cold bringing colour to his cheeks.
A pause.
“Yes?” A mirthful eyebrow was raised. “Was that the whole sentence, Sawamura?”
“No!” Embarrassment flooding him, Eijun floundered as he spoke. “I mean, yes! What brings you around here?”
“I was heading to the dining hall.” A smirk accompanied the words. “Everyone seems to be circling the place so much today, I’m interested to see what’s going on.”
“Y-you cannot!” Eijun shouted, before quickly waving his hands. “What I mean to say is, there is nothing going on!”
He didn’t even have to look at Miyuki’s face to know how little that had been believed.
“Obviously,” the catcher’s mocking monotone continued. “There is nothing going on, and that is why you’re not letting me into the hall.”
“I-I mean…”
Thankfully, Eijun was prevented from getting his foot any further into his mouth by the appearance of a timely Kuramochi.
“Miyuki!!” an angry shout tore from his throat as he all but jumped on the catcher, limbs wrapping around his torso. “I just went to the bathroom, you bastard!”
“So this was what you were trying to keep me away from?” For someone being currently used as a practice dummy for Kuramochi’s wrestling moves, Miyuki sounded surprisingly composed. “Such a good senpai you are, Mochi.”
“Oh, let’s just go, Miyuki, you just ran away because you don’t want to do your homework.” Leaping off of his friend(?)’s back, he started dragging the catcher away.
“I can’t wait to see whatever you’re cooking up, Sawamura!” Miyuki’s shout reverberated through the fields, and Eijun stalked back to the dining hall, barely managing not to slam the door as he walked back in.
He was surprised to find the dining hall slightly more occupied than when he’d left, Sachiko, Yui, and Haruno sitting around one of the tables with Furuya and Nori, papercraft materials scattered in front of them.
“Oh, Sawamura-kun!” Haruno smiled at him. “We saw you guys were making chocolate, so we decided to help with the packaging!”
Eijun had never been more thankful for the kind managers. Baking was one thing, but he was sure between the three pitchers, they wouldn’t have managed to churn out a single decent wrapping.
And so, with the six of them working together, they managed to have every treat ready and wrapped for the next day.
As Eijun got into bed, he hoped everything would go alright.
Furuya spent the day distributing his pudding cups to the catchers with little more excitement than one would show towards reciting a book passage. Kariba had been thankful, Miyauchi had been surprised to see the pitcher show up at his third-year class, Ono had been oddly touched, almost as if he expected to be forgotten, and Miyuki had told him that this didn’t mean he’d catch for him any more than usual. Chris-senpai had good naturedly ruffled his hair, thanking him for the kind gesture. At the end of the day, the only person who’d seemed truly thankful was Masuko, who’d called Furuya the best pitcher on the team before being smacked by Jun for showing favoritism over pudding.
Nori and his chocolate brioches had a slightly better run. Kariba, already touched by Furuya’s gesture, got teary-eyed at his senpai’s gift, who immediately got embarrassed because wow, this was much more awkward to actually do than Sawamura had prepared him for. Miyuki, seemingly already prepared when Nori walked in his classroom, all but goaded and prodded the gradually more and more embarrassed pitcher into confessing his apparent undying love for him, before he got hit over the head by Kuramochi. The shortstop got a bonus brioche out of the gesture. Ono, residing in the same classroom, had been a much easier target, thanking Nori for the gesture and hoping that they could partner up more often in the future. As closing pitcher and warm-up catcher, there was a certain wistful note in their voices as they chatted about it. Chris-senpai had laughed earnestly upon the appearance of the pitcher, thanking him and saying that he’d enjoyed catching his pitches when he’d had the chance, once again spreading a wave of bashfulness in the pitcher’s heart. Miyauchi seemed to just be having a really good day, with the underclassman visiting him bearing gifts, and all but crushed Nori in a bear hug that had probably dislocated his pitching shoulder.
Eijun’s day started off great.
Kariba, whom he’d approached during the morning break after seeing both Furuya and Nori deliver their parcels to, broke into tears at his desk, now piled up with enviable treats. Yes, maybe they’d come from fellow teammates rather than pretty girls, but judging by the smile on his face as he thanked Eijun through his tears, it seemed he’d succeeded in his goal of making the catcher feel appreciated.
He carefully looked around the second-year classroom before announcing his entry and desire to see Ono, no Cheetah- or Tanuki-senpai around to ruin his plans. The catcher, somehow still surprised by Eijun’s arrival even after Furuya and Nori had already come by, thanked him vehemently, patting his back with enough force to knock the breath out of him.
The entire contingent of the third-years had circled him as he made his way to Miyauchi’s classroom during lunch, seemingly having gotten wind of the chocolate offering pitcher situation. They did back down upon hearing that it was a special treat for their catchers, and that the leftovers were available to anyone who wanted some at the dining hall. There were a few grumbles of “but it’s meaningless if it’s not a gift” alongside snickers of “pitcher to catcher? Oh I see” and shouts of “goddamnit Tanba, you could be giving all of us chocolates right now too”, but Eijun paid them no mind as he threw open the door to the third-year classroom with probably more self-assuredness than he should employ in that situation.
Miyauchi however, didn’t seem to be phased, and accepted the box of chocolates graciously, adding it to the already sizable stack on his desk. It did seem like Miyuki wasn’t the only catcher on the team with fans to his name, after all.
Chris-senpai was harder to track down, but after Tetsu-san’s instructions to look in the library after school (which Eijun repaid with an extra box of chocolates, much to the glares of the other third-years), he found his upperclassman leaving it as he approached.
“Chris-senpai!” Eijun was slightly out of breath as he approached the catcher, who stopped to let him catch up. “I’ve-I’ve got something for you!”
Searching in his bag for the most pristine box, Eijun presented it to Chris-senpai, a grin splitting his face.
“So, huh, you probably already figured it out, but me and the other pitchers decided to get chocolate for all the catchers on the team, since you guys have to put up with us all the time, and we can be kind of a pain to deal with and,” Eijun realized he was rambling. “Anyway, happy Valentine’s Day, Chris-senpai! Thank you for always helping me out!”
He accepted the box, smiling, before taking a look inside.
“So, pudding from Furuya, bread from Kawakami, and classic chocolates from you, Sawamura?” He nodded appreciatively. “Who knew our pitchers had so many hidden talents?”
Eijun rubbed the back of his head, delighted at having been able to cheer up his mentor.
“So, you’ve already gotten around to all the other catchers? It’s almost time for practice, right?” Chris-senpai asked conversionatily as he slipped the box inside his own bag.
Eijun looked outside, where the sun was starting to set. February sucked with how early it got dark. Quickly, he recapped all the catchers he’d already given chocolate to.
“Oh, that’s good then.” Chris added as he turned around to leave, “Seems like that only leaves you with Miyuki. Good luck, Sawamura.”
As the catcher walked away, Eijun suddenly felt a gripping fear clutching at his heart. Certainly, he’d started this endeavor to get some of the attention away from Miyuki Kazuya during this chocolate-filled holiday… and he’d somehow completely managed to forget that he very much counted as one of the catchers Eijun would have to give chocolate to before the end of the day.
Apparently, when practice started, Miyuki would be surrounded by fangirls until its end, so that’d be a no, and Eijun didn’t really want to give him chocolate after every single girl in the school had.
He looked outside again towards the setting sun. He should hurry.
Kazuya sighed, a chill creeping up his spine now that the sun was abandoning the sky.
“Tell me again,” Kuramochi started next to him. “Why are we hiding on the roof?”
“I’m just not in the mood to deal with girls chasing after me right now," he grumbled in response. Yes, that was certainly part of it, having the classroom door thrown open every break for a girl to come in bearing chocolates had very quickly become boring.
“You know they’ll be there when we get to practice, right?” It was terrible when Kuramochi did things like make sense.
Kazuya sighed again.
“Are you sure this doesn’t have anything to do with a certain pitcher who’s most likely tearing the school apart looking for you right now?” God, he could hear the smirk in Kuramochi’s voice.
“You don’t even know if he’s actually looking for me," he countered.
It backfired.
“Ooooh, I see…” The grin spreading across Kuramochi’s features as he threw an arm around Miyuki’s shoulder made him think that the shortstop was probably not seeing anything at all. “That’s what you’re worried about. That Sawamura is going to give chocolates to all the other catchers and leave you hanging.”
“How would you even-” The second part of his sentence was stopped by the door to the roof bursting open.
“Miyuki Kazuya!” Oh no.
A very angry looking Sawamura was making his way towards the second-years. Kuramochi let go of Miyuki, quickly retreating to the safety of the school building.
Kazuya had half a mind to follow him.
“Hello, Sawamura.” He tried to plaster his best smile on his face, a nonchalant attempt to pretend like he didn’t at all care about the fact that the red-faced pitcher was suddenly alone on the roof with him on Valentine’s Day. “Guess it’s finally come to my turn, huh?”
“W-what do you mean, your turn?!” He seemed truly shocked at the fact that Miyuki had seen through his plan.
“C’mon, Sawamura, you and the other pitchers have been distributing treats to all the catchers.” He grinned. “After Furuya and Nori, it didn’t take a genius to figure out I’d be seeing you soon.”
“Well…” Sawamura looked a bit upset at the lack of surprise as he dug through his bag, presenting him with a small pink box. “It’s for you then.”
The sight of Sawamura Eijun holding out the small box, the other hand smushed into his pocket as far as it would go, a blush creeping up his cheeks as he very pointedly didn’t look at Kazuya… It was charming, honestly.
“That’s all you have to say?” Kazuya feigned hurt in his voice. “I’d have expected something a bit more heartfelt, given the date. This way, it makes me think I’m just another catcher to you.”
Something passed by Sawamura’s eyes, anger, perhaps.
“Y-you’re not.” He mumbled, still firmly looking anywhere but at Kazuya, cheeks still tinted a lovely red. “You’re the best catcher that there is in the world.”
He turned his eyes towards Kazuya, looking at him through his lashes, and the catcher felt his heart skip a beat.
“So… Catch for me lots more, okay?” And like he’d planned to do it all along, he actually threw the small box at Kazuya, who scrambled to catch it, as Sawamura turned on his heel and ran.
He sat down on the roof, back against the railing, slowly opening the package. The wind was blowing cold against his skin, and yet something inside him felt uncomfortably warm and gooey.
Several heart shaped chocolates were inside the box, nestled in crepe paper. Kazuya had never been a fan of sweet things, but he still took a bite into one, chocolatey sweetness immediately spreading across his mouth, somehow not too overpowering, the sugariness pared by something salty and chewy.
Maybe it was the occasion getting to him, but he couldn’t help but think of the pitcher who’d so earnestly made them for him. If Sawamura was the sweetness in this small confectionary, easily overwhelming in his single-mindedness, would Kazuya be the toned-down filling? He certainly felt syrupy and sappy enough, if he was even having these thoughts.
Kazuya smiled as he swallowed, getting up and turning around to face the fields towards which Sawamura had undoubtedly run. As captain, he should probably make his way there as well but…
Miyuki Kazuya hid his reddening face in his arms, hand still clutching the box of chocolates that’d started all this.
“Oh no.” He muttered, an inopportune realization blossoming within him. “Really? Sawamura?”
Well, he supposed this was always the way it would have gone, from the moment he’d first seen him and thought, ‘This is it. He’s the pitcher I’ve been waiting for.’ He considered it a blessing even, that it’d taken him this long to realize the road they’d been walking down with each pitch.
Kazuya sighed, turning around and heading back inside, closing the box he held once again and placing it inside his pocket. At least Sawamura had been considerate enough to do this on Valentine’s Day.
Miyuki Kazuya couldn’t have given a single shit about tradition, but right now the month-long buffer between now and White Day was his best friend.
After all, he had some planning to do.