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“Up to bat for Kyoto is first batter, Yuuta Okkotsu!”
”Make us proud, Okkotsu!”
”Don’t you dare play unfairly just cause you’re from their school!”
”Yeah, yeah, you don’t have to keep tellin’ me that!”
The baseball bat feels light as a feather in Yuuta’s hands as he knocks it against his shoulder, kicking the toes of his cleat against the ground with a satisfied hum. Itadori calls out a soft hello to him from his catcher position, and Yuuta returns the favor.
“It’s kinda weird playing against you, Okkotsu-senpai.”
”Yeah, same to you.”
It couldn’t be helped, though. With Panda decommissioning Mechamaru, it left Kyoto down one player, and though that would have been a wonderful advantage for Tokyo, their teachers didn’t think it was fair. Oh well, it didn’t matter to Yuuta; he was just happy to be playing.
He’s been nothing but giddy since coming back, having to end his overseas training early at Gojo’s request. His former home room teacher thought Yuuta deserved a spot in the Sister School Exchange Event, and Yuuta wasn’t going to argue. He would have taken any excuse to go back home and see everyone again.
Especially someone in particular.
Yuuta swings his arms back and positions his bat, smiling at Maki across the field, who is doing anything but in return. They had all been very adamant when telling Yuuta that just because they went to the same school didn’t mean they were gonna go easy on him, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He wanted them to treat it like a normal game, it made things more fun.
“Itadori.”
”Senpai?”
”You're definitely going to lose.”
Itadori doesn’t get a chance to respond. The ball comes and then it’s gone, a loud craaaack bouncing from Yuuta’s bat as the ball flies across the field. While Tokyo scrambles to catch it, Yuuta races towards the first base and slides onto it, yelling out in victory.
“Okkotsu is safe! Next to bat is second batter, Noritoshi Kamo!”
Yuuta can feel his heart thumping in his ears, and it makes him feel on top of the world. There’s a light snicker from behind him and he turns around, smiling from ear to ear. “What are you laughing at, Panda?”
The cursed corpse snickers again, smacking the inside of his mitt with his free paw, stance hyperaware while simultaneously relaxed as he talks to Yuuta.
“You’re in a really good mood today, Yuuta. I didn’t know you were a baseball fan.”
Yuuta turns his attention to Kamo, who’s next to bat. He’s in the perfect position for a home run, it’s making Yuuta’s skin tingle with excitement. “Honestly, I would have been happy playing any game at all. It’s a lovely day, don’t you think?”
”Yeah…it’s pretty nice.”
”Stttrike one!”
Well that’s not good.
“Kamo-!”
”Stttrike two!”
Yuuta doesn’t even try to say anything this time.
“Stttrike three! You’re out! Change sides, kids!”
There’s a collective groan from the Kyoto school students as everyone repositions themselves across the field, and Yuuta can’t help but feel a tight disappointment as he moves from first base to the pitching field. Pitching was fun, but it didn’t quite fuel his adrenaline craze like running from base to base.
Maki sticks her tongue out at him as he takes over her spot, and he returns the favor automatically. She hands him her glove and ball, and Yuuta thanks her. Before she leaves she squints at him through her glasses, and it makes him cock his head to the side in confusion.
“Everything okay, Maki?”
”You're way too happy today, Okkotsu.”
”Am I? I’m just having fun.”
Maki doesn’t believe that’s the whole truth, Yuuta can tell, but she doesn’t say anything else about it. Just nods her head behind Yuuta and smiles. “Well, you’re about to have even more fun, Okkotsu. Enjoy pitching to him.”
Yuuta makes a confused noise as he whips his body around, and the sight in front of him makes his heart leap in his chest. Toge is slowly making his way towards the catcher, and he’s noticed Yuuta staring at him. The cursed speech user immediately gets into position.
”Toge! Hi, babe!”
”Konbu.”
”You look really cute in your uniform! Did I tell you yet?”
”About five times already,” Mai helpfully informs from somewhere off to the side. Yuuta just laughs.
“It’s true! You look so cute!”
”…ikura, Yuuta.”
Yuuta beams.
He pitches the ball, a little harder than he was trying to, but it’s nothing Toge can’t handle. He hits it without trouble, and Yuuta can’t help but watch it fly across the field with a wide smile on his face. His boyfriend did that, look everyone! Wasn’t that an amazing hit? He even made it to first base, too! Yuuta is swooning.
”Great job, babe! Nice pitch!”
”Don't root for the rival team, Okkotsu!”
“Nice pitch!
”Nice pitch, Maki!”
”Really nice pitch!”
”Nice pitch,” Yuuta can’t help but join in on the festivities, despite how bad he feels for Todo. The poor guy is laying limp in Itadori’s arms and everyone is just praising Maki for her pitching, but Yuuta still finds it kind of funny. Eventually, Todo picks himself up off the ground, and Nishimiya comes running to take his spot.
Yuuta fidgets in his spot as he looks behind himself, and once again catches Toge’s gaze. The blonde raises an eyebrow as if to ask what?, and then immediately signs it.
“Haven’t I seen you somewhere before? I think I’d recognize a cute face like yours.”
Yuuta smiles victoriously as Toge’s eyes widen, and he mumbles a sharp “Mentaiko!”, turning his head away, hiding his blush. “Aw, come on, Toge…I barely saw you during the exchange event, hun. Missed your cute face.”
“Sujiko.”
“I am paying attention. Your hair shines so pretty in the sunlight, Toge. So do your eyes.”
”…sujiko, Yuuta.”
”And your baseball uniform is so cute, you know cleats really suit you.”
”Yuuta-“
”Hey, Okkotsu! Momo hit the ball, that means you stop fucking flirting and run to third base!”
Ah. Ah, fuck. Yuuta shouts an apology as he launches himself from second base, a little upset at being away from Toge, but it’s alright. He’ll get a wonderful view of his beloved from third base-
“And that’s Okkotsu out!”
Yuuta stops in his tracks, and suddenly he feels a cold sweat run down his back. He can feel something pressed against his arm, and when he turns around and sees Fushiguro staring at him with a deadpan expression with his arm outstretched, he laughs nervously.
“Hello, Okkotsu-senpai.”
“…oh. I guess I wasn’t…paying attention…”
“Guess not. Your team doesn’t seem happy about it.”
And Fushiguro was completely right. Yuuta has to apologize about fifty times over before he’s forgiven.
“Toge…you look so cute in your uniform.”
”Okaka.”
”Yes you doooo~”
”Okaka!”
Yuuta grins, lazily messing with the loose strings of his catchers mitt. Toge is the closest one to him in the outer field, and Yuuta took that to his advantage, immediately getting as close as possible to his boyfriend. He’s barely paying attention to who’s batting and who’s pitching, because to him looking at Toge was way more important.
“Is this your first time playing baseball? It is mine. You’re really good at it, you know?”
Toge doesn’t respond, just side eyes Yuuta.
”While I was away, I didn’t think I’d get to come back home so early, or that it meant I’d get to see you in an adorable baseball uniform. It really suits you.”
”…shake.”
”So you do agree! I’m glad we both know how attractive you are, Toge.”
God, Yuuta really had missed him so much. All the days spent away from Toge had been torture, phone calls and text messages not even close to enough. So when he was told he could come back home for the exchange event, and that he was gonna get to come back home to his friends and to Toge, Yuuta had been more than thrilled. He had been absolutely ecstatic.
Their reunion was tearful, and they had both cried so much, holding each other in their arms so tight and for so long Yuuta’s legs had fallen asleep. Seeing him again after what felt like years felt really, really nice.
Admittedly, Yuuta was against playing against his school. He didn’t want to play with Kyoto, and he definitely didn’t want to play on the opposing team as Toge. But ultimately it wasn’t his decision, and he supposed they did need to have a fair game, so it was fine.
Romantic rivalry was kinda hot.
Yuuta’s about to ask Toge if he agrees, but karma comes to bite him in the dick. Karma is the only explanation he can think of, seeing as he had been laughing at poor Todo before. It takes the form of a hard baseball slamming against his crotch, and as it falls to the ground Yuuta falls with it, clapping his hands around his manhood and groaning in pain.
”Holy shit, Okkotsu, are you okay? That looked like it hurt!”
”My bad, senpai! You should’ve been paying attention.”
Yuuta can feel tears trickle down his cheeks, and he sucks in deep breaths, trying to relieve the pain. Toge runs over to him and drops to his knees, hesitantly reaching out to him. He’s too sweet.
”Yuuta?”
”Hnnngh…I-I’m okay-!”
”Mm, shake.”
And then Toge is standing back up, calmly walking back to his spot. Yuuta tries to pretend it doesn’t hurt more than the ball hitting his dick.
“Inumaki is safe! Itadori, you’re up to bat!”
It’s getting later in the day, and Yuuta is starting to get tired. He has enough energy left to play for another hour or so, but after that he feels like his body might tap out. It’s excruciatingly warm, he’s not sure how he didn’t notice before, and so far Tokyo’s the only school to make a point. When it happened, Yuuta tried not to show his excitement, but he couldn’t help himself. That is his school after all.
Yuuta can see Toge from his spot near second base, and what a refreshing view. He waves his arms in an attempt to get the shorter boys attention, and when it works, he waves more sporadically. He even makes a heart with his forefinger and thumb, which Toge glares at and returns with a rude gesture.
Yuuta’s mouth gapes open.
“Togeeeee,” Yuuta pouts softly, and Nobara snorts from where she is in front of him. “I can’t believe you’ve been doing nothing but flirting with Inumaki-senpai this whole game. You’re definitely not as competitive as him.”
”I didn’t realize he was being competitive.”
”Of course he is! We all are, but he is especially. It’s why he’s barely been giving you the time of the day, he’s too focused on beating Kyoto.”
Yuuta supposes that makes sense…Toge is competitive when it comes to a lot of things. Board games, finishing tests, killing the most curses during missions. In Yuuta’s case, initiating kisses, buying the other the most gifts, saying I love you. Yuuta thought it was really adorable, it’s honestly one of his favorite things about Toge. He loved seeing Toge get frustrated when he realized he wouldn’t win something; that cute little furrow in his brow and the pout on his lips and the way he crossed his arms always made Yuuta squeal in delight.
He loves Toge soooo much!
”Togeeee! I’m rooting for yoooouuuu!”
”Okkotsu, would you stop it! Did you forget you’re playing for-“
Di-iing!
The familiar sound of ball against bat echoes louder than before across the field, and Yuuta feels his jaw hit the floor when he sees the ball fly over all of their heads. Itadori screams in delight and races across the diamond, and everyone bounces into action. Yuuta sprints across the outer field towards the ball, it zooms past Nishimiya and comes falling back to earth, and Yuuta’s so close, he’s gonna catch it, he is-
Ah, but. If they get the point, Toge might be upset.
Yuuta let’s the ball fall to the ground with a resounding thud, and turns around. He gives everyone a shrug, and Tokyo erupts into shouts of delight as Itadori slides home. The Kyoto students bemoan over their loss and are the first ones to slump off the field. Yuuta runs back to his school mates, smile as wide as can be on his face.
“Toge! You played so well, that was amazing-“
“Okaka.”
Yuuta stops dead in his tracks, arms held out wide and empty from attempting to pull Toge in his arms. His boyfriend is glaring up at him, and the gesture makes Yuuta worry.
”Ah…great…game?”
“Okaka! Sujiko, ikura, mentaiko!”
”Toge-“
”Come on, Okkotsu,” Maki’s voice draws Yuuta’s attention away from Toge, and it’s just now that he’s noticing everyone frowning at him. What gives? “Be honest, you threw at the last second so we could win, right? You could’ve easily caught that ball.”
Oh. They caught that?
Yuuta laughs nervously.
”Uhhh…well, it’s just-I wanted to-“
”Trust me, we don’t care that you gave us the game,” Panda reassures. “It feels nice winning against Kyoto. But uh, Toge-“
”Inumaki-senpai is upset we didn’t win fairly,” Itadori is helpful to point out.
Oh.
Fuck.
”Uh…Toge, I’m sorry…I didn’t think it would upset you so much. I mean, I know you’re kinda competitive, so I just…”
Even with his collar up, Yuuta can tell Toge is frowning. But he hasn’t turned away or started ignoring him, so that means he has Toge’s attention. That’s good.
”..I didn’t want you to be upset if we lost, so I kinda…threw…”
Toge huffs.
”…mentaiko.”
”Yeah, I know, I’m a total moron. I’m sorry.”
Toge looks up at Yuuta with those pretty purple eyes of his, and he can tell the smaller wants to be mad with him, but when his shoulders relax Yuuta can tell Toge doesn’t have it in him to be genuinely upset.
”Sorry for flirting with you the entire game and distracting you, also.”
The rest of their school mates laugh or rolls their eyes, and Toge groans, but he’s laughing too, and it makes Yuuta’s heart swell.
Sister School Exchange Event
Day 2: Baseball
2-0
30th Annual Exchange Event
Winner: Tokyo High