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It was just an unfortunate coincidence that the voting of the Marriage Amendment Act would be happening at the exact same time that the Tokyo Yakult Swallows had an afternoon, regular-season game against the Hiroshima Carps. The amendment had been passed through the House of Representatives and was now being voted on by the House of Councilors. The whole country was watching the vote. And among the whole country was Tajima Yuuichirou, third baseman and fifth-hole batter for the aforementioned Swallows, who was currently hunched over his phone in the corner of the Swallows' locker room. With him were a handful of teammates, including José, team captain and Yuu's favorite.
"You know, I was hearing on the news the other night," José was saying. "Even if the House of Councilors tries to veto this bill, the House of Representatives can still kick it through with a two-thirds majority. And they already passed it with more than that."
"Yeah I heard that too," Yuu said. José was trying to be comforting, so Yuu didn't bother mentioning that if the amendment got sent back to the House of Representatives, that would mean more waiting. And people were so sick of waiting. He was so sick of waiting.
"Hey, hey!" Coach called, clapping his hands. "Let's go gentlemen! We have a game to get to!"
Yuu cursed under his breath. The voting hadn't even started yet. The Speaker of the House was still giving a speech. But duty called, so he tucked his phone back into his locker. A folded sheet of paper fell out as he went to close it. Shit. Rather than putz with opening the locker again, he shoved it into his pocket and went to join the team huddle.
If the amendment passed, Yuu was gonna propose. Today. Tonight. He had it all worked out, Azu would be proud. They were going to dinner at the Tajima house tonight and Yuu had invited the Hanais over as well. Takaya was even going to be there, how great was that? The Tigers were playing the Giants over in the Tokyo Dome so he was in town. Azu and Takaya were still close, so of course Azu would be happy that he would be there.
Takaya was probably the person Azu kept up with most from high school, against all odds. They had a unique friendship. Takaya had once described it as, "We get together, we order take-out and we bitch about everyone we know." There was something to be said for a friendship built on pettiness and a pathological sense of professionalism, Yuu supposed.
"It's definitely therapeutic," Azu agreed. "And we don't run in the same circles these days so there's no chance of the people we're complaining about ever finding out."
"So you telling me you don't bitch about me?" Yuu had asked, serving Azu his most charming smile.
Azu had snorted. "Yuuichirou," he said. "If I wanted to bitch about you, I'd do it to your face."
A family gathering was the kind of place Azu would like to get proposed to, Yuu figured. Azu didn't like proposals with a ton of fanfare, always scoffing whenever Asuka was showing Yuu videos of like, people proposing in malls with flash mobs or whatever. "I hope they talked about that," he always said. "But I doubt it."
So yeah. That was why Yuu was keeping it small, just with a bunch of family around. He was gonna take Azu out into the fields behind the barn before they announced themselves at the house (Takaya would be okay to show up to the house separate; he'd already agreed). They could see Nishiura's ball fields from there, and it would be all nostalgic or whatever. He had notes for a big sappy speech he would make. He'd even found a poem to read. Maybe Azu would be so happy that he'd cry. If he did, Yuu would count it as a win. He wasn't good at talking about his feelings, but if he was gonna propose he wanted Azu to goddamn feel it.
A lesser man might have found that his impending proposal to his boyfriend of six years would put him off his game. Yuuichirou felt bad for that poor schmuck, whoever he was. Yuu was only gonna play better.
The Swallows were up to bat first. Azu was watching the game today, and Takaya said he'd be there too. He'd probably miss the first few innings though, since his game against the Giants was in the morning. Yuu didn't bother looking for them in the stands. Azu had a reserved box seat, so good luck seeing that from the field.
When he hit a double in the top of the third inning though, earning him two RBIs, he stared up at the box from 2nd base. Did you see that, baby? he thought with a wild grin. Did you see that? Betchu it's a good sign. Betchu that amendment's gonna get passed.
Then there came the crack of a bat and the grounder was hurtling between first and second and the base coach was yelling, "Go Tajima, go!" and he was off for third like a shot.
His whole team knew. He had started by telling some of the trusted ones, like José, and Yuu's agent Nakamura. And then, last year, after dutifully talking to the appropriate people about it (bleh) and especially talking to Azu about it, he'd made his post to social media. It wasn't accompanied by any kind of explanation, just a picture with an English caption; 'Hey baby ♡.' It was a pretty good picture, honestly. In it, he and Azu had their backs to the camera, holding hands and looking out over the city. The sun had even been setting. It was romantic as fuck.
His inboxes had blown up. Of course. Yuu had released the brief statement he and Nakamura had come up with beforehand that said, "Some people like both, and no I'm not telling you his name." The Swallows had released an accompanying one that was like, "Yeah, we know. Shut up. Obviously we're not firing Tajima Yuuichirou. Have you seen his batting average?" But like, in a polite way.
(Yuu hadn't really mentioned to anyone, not even Azu, that sometimes it felt like with the whole queer thing he was obligated to continue being a superhuman ball player so no one could have an excuse to fire him. If he could continue being exceptional, no one could complain about queer people in the locker rooms. He had a feeling Azu knew anyway. After a particularly hard loss, he always tucked Yuu against his chest and held on tight.)
José, as team captain, had given exactly one statement about it. It hadn't even been at an official press conference or anything. It was just on his own Twitter account. "Yeah I know who Tajima's boyfriend is," the tweet said. "And to everyone who's got a problem, trust me. He's way hotter than you."
It had made Azu's ears go red. Yuu had leaned over to kiss one and laughed and laughed.
Anyway, that had just been the initial wave. Things had calmed down since then and it was kinda old news these days. Yuu wasn't naive enough to think that no one had a problem with it anymore, but the majority of people now were over it.
During the seventh inning stretch, Coach approached him. "Tajima. Someone just told me the update."
Yuu perked, heartbeat loud. This is it, this is it, this is it—
"They passed it. The Marriage Amendment Act passed."
"Holy shit," Yuu breathed, desperate relief unspooling throughout his whole body. He laughed, bubbly and light-hearted for the first time all day. "Holy shit!"
"Damn, Tajima that's awesome!" Someone else's hands clasped on his shoulders. The news was spreading through the dugout like wildfire.
"What happened?"
"That amendment passed."
"For gay marriage?"
"Yeah, that one."
"Hey Tajima! Congratulations!"
José materialized from somewhere holding a Gatorade bottle. "Come on, we have to do a shot!" He opened the bottle as he spoke. "Real alcohol after the game, this is the best I could do right now, you know?" He poured a little Gatorade into the cap like a tiny shot glass. "À la mariage! As the French would say."
"Hey, thanks man. Kanpai," Yuu returned, accepting the cap as José handed it to him, and tossing the liquid back. "Gimme another," he said holding the cap out again. José poured the liquid out carefully as possible but some of it still sloshed over the shallow sides.
"Whoops," he said, grinning in apology.
"It's all good," Tajima assured him. Turning, he lifted his makeshift glass towards the box seats, up behind home plate. "What was it again?"
"À la mariage," José repeated. He had some kind of mind-boggling knack for languages and spoke Japanese almost without an accent. Yuu had to assume his French was the same.
"À la mariage," he told Azu up in the box seats. He took the shot.
When they won the game, 4-2, it felt poetic.
They were all clamoring to congratulate their pitcher on the final strike out. Someone was yelling, "Yo! Do we get to have a beer with Tajima now or what?" at the same moment someone else said, "Oh hey, what's going on over there?" A hand was pointing towards right field. Everyone turned to look. Gasps were going up from the crowd.
A small group of people had come up right to the ledge of the bleachers and had unfurled a long, white banner over the side. A banner that was clearly legible from the players' dugouts. The bottom dropped out of Yuu's stomach.
'Tajima Yuuichirou,' it asked, in full view of everyone. 'Will you marry me?'
Yuu had been the fastest player on every team he'd ever been on. He could run 100 m in 10 seconds flat. He made it to the right field stands in nine.
The crowd was going crazy, he could hear them as he ran. He could pick out the people holding the banner, adrenaline spiking all over again when he realized he knew every single one of them. There wasn't just Takaya, there was Ren, and Yoshirou, and fuck, was that Momokan? The whole damn team there. And there, standing at the center of the banner, knuckles gripping the side, leaning forward—
Yuu cleared the wall in a leap, taking it with all the ease of a hurdle-chaser. "What!" he demanded to Azu, who had tucked his hands under his armpits self-consciously. "What?!" he demanded again. People around them had their phones out, filming. "I don't get it! You hate public proposals!"
"But you don't." Azu's eyes were soft and beautiful. Fuck. Fuck, he was so beautiful. It hurt. Loving him physically hurt. "I hate not knowing if the partner wanted the public proposal or not, but I know you—"
"You are so fucking cute, fuck you," Yuu reached out, tugging Azu's hands into his own. "I had a whole thing planned! I—wait!" And he dug into his pocket, pulling out that folded piece of paper that had fallen out of his locker earlier. Unfolding it, he said, "I had notes! I was going to make this whole speech! And I found this poem for you, I had to go to a bookstore and ask the lady for help because I don't know shit about poetry—" He thrust the paper into Azu's hands, showing him.
Azu's ears had gone red. Fuck, even his blushes were pretty. His eyes flew over the page, taking in the short lines. Then he laughed, a delighted snort more than anything. It was so honest and giddy that Yuu felt giddy himself hearing it. "Was that winky face really part of the original poem?" Azu asked, holding up the page like it was something precious.
"Nah, I added it. S'flavor text or some shit." And he looked up at Azu expectantly as Azu's broad hands came to gently cup the sides of his head, the poem still tucked into his fingers.
"Yuu," Azu whispered. "Yuu." It was the quiet that made Yuu aware of just how many people could see them right now. His own hands came up to cover Azu's. "I've been in love with you for so long. Please marry me."
"Hell yeah I will!" Yuu shouted. He was springing forward before he even knew, wrapping his arms around Azu's neck, standing on his tip-toes as they clung to each other. Applause was sounding from the audience, raining thunderously all around them. Yuu was just glad for Azu's sake that there were no camera crews in the back of the outfield. The stadium was probably gonna get all this on audience cam anyway.
"Can I kiss you?" he asked against Azu's neck. Even if Azu did all this, this super fucking public proposal for Yuu's sake, Yuu wasn't gonna take more than he freely gave. And he definitely wasn't gonna do it by trying to make out with him on actual tv.
"You get one kiss," Azu said, like he'd been expecting the question. His hands were tingly on Yuu's waist, even through his uniform. "Make it good." His expression had gone steady and confident and kinda bossy. He was perfect.
Yuu sunk back down to the flats of his feet for a moment, took half a second to assess. Then he balled his fists in the front of Azu's shirt and rising up again, kissed him on the nose. It was cute as hell, and romantic as hell, and chaste as hell. It made a picture that would be the front page of at least two newspapers the following morning: "MARRIAGE AMENDMENT PASSES."
"Yeah? You sure you want that to be your one?" Azu murmured near the corner of Yuu's mouth. His fingers had laced together behind Yuu's back.
Yuu offered him his most feral smile. "Just wait till tonight," he promised.
He dropped back down once more, abandoning Azu to the blush blooming once more across his face. Turning, Yuu finally took in all the familiar faces. "Hey Nishiura!" he called, casting his delighted gaze over all of them in one sweep. He was aware, out of the corner of his eye, of Azu continuing to stare at him, all sweet and sappy. "You guys gonna come over for dinner or what?"
= =
O when the world's at peace
and every man is free
then will I go down unto my love.
O and I may go down
several times before that
;)
-Wendell Berry,
with an annotation by Yuuichirou Tajima