Work Text:
Even with the evening breeze, the humid summer air is stifling. Hideaki wishes he’d been able to change out of his work suit before coming, but he’s already running late, thanks to an awful budget meeting that ran overtime. He’s not even the one in charge of budgets, but he somehow got roped into this project on top of his regular workload.
Hideaki dreads the report he’s going to have to start in the morning, but not even an endless spreadsheet of meaningless numbers can dampen his excitement to see his friends and former teammates. Although it can get loud and chaotic at times, Hideaki thinks these get-togethers are always a nice way to reminisce on their glory days at Seidou as they catch up with one another.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, he pushes his way into the izakaya— a simple, family-owned place in Ikebukuro with amazing okonomiyaki. Tetsu-san used to gather everyone here when he was playing for the minor leagues.
Even after Tetsu signed a contract overseas, joining Chris on the best baseball team in the MLB, it remains a tradition for Seidou alumni to gather here to celebrate important moments in each other’s lives. It’s getting more difficult to bring everyone together as their careers and families grow, but they all make an effort to come to at least one of these gatherings a year. After all, it’s difficult to say no to Sawamura’s pleading in the Seidou LINE chat.
Today, they’re celebrating a key win for Tetsu and Chris’s team, which brings them one step closer to making the postseason playoffs. Both Japanese and American baseball forums are on fire with commentary about how formidable Tetsu and Chris are. Through his job, Hideaki has even looked into rumors speculating over them both being possible candidates for MVP awards this year. Seeing his senpai reach these heights makes immense pride swell in his chest, and he feels so honored to have once shared a baseball field with them.
The unmistakable booming voice of Sawamura Eijun tips Hideaki off to where he needs to be. Loosening his tie, he makes his way through the crowded room to the bar counter.
The first person he sees is Kuramochi-senpai, whose vibrant tattoo sleeves stand out against the beige tones of the wooden bar counter. Hideaki bows and takes a seat next to his senpai; he needs to rest for a minute before he dives into whatever chaos Sawamura has started at one of the other tables.
“Glad you could make it,” Kuramochi greets, sliding a full stein of his favorite draft over to Hideaki’s waiting hand. The condensation from the glass feels nice on his overheated skin.
“It’s always nice to see everyone,” Hideaki responds with an earnest smile before taking a sip of his frosty drink. “How has the shop been doing?”
Kuramochi grins, the silver ring on his lower lip glinting under the fluorescent lights. “Just signed the lease for a new studio in Ginza.”
“That’s amazing, senpai.” Hideaki holds out his glass, and with a soft laugh Kuramochi raises his as well. As the clink of their glasses rings out in the room, they both take a healthy swig of their drinks.
“I didn’t tell anyone else that yet because Sawamoron’s over there pretending to be Jun- san’s therapist.” Kuramochi rolls his eyes and nods in the general direction of the table Sawamura’s at, where several people are standing around a phone and buzzing with excitement.
Hideaki smiles, pleased to be the first to hear about this exciting news. Through being such good friends with Sawamura, Hideaki has also grown much closer to Kuramochi over the years. They’re even planning on coaching an intramural little league team together next season, which Hideaki’s looking forward to. “Your brand has really taken off. I’ve been seeing a lot of your tattoo work on my social media feed lately.”
“A few veteran tattoo artists reached out about wanting to work with me, so I decided it was time to expand. And with the new location opening soon, I’m also gonna take on an apprentice or two.”
Kuramochi stretches his arms behind his neck, and his intricate tattoos almost seem to dance with the flex of his triceps. Shinji has gotten a couple of incredible tattoos from Kuramochi, and Hideaki was by his side for support through every painful session. Hideaki admires the dedication and attention to detail that Kuramochi has for his craft; and if he didn’t hate needles so much, he’d let Kuramochi give him a tattoo, too.
“That’s enough about me for now. How’s everything going for you, mister hotshot editor?”
“Busy,” Hideaki sighs, his shoulders slumping as snippets of his most recent meeting flash in his mind. “On top of covering Koshien, I also got dragged into an administrative project for the magazine.”
“That’s rough.”
They both raise their glasses once more, this time in solidarity.
Kuramochi sets his now-empty glass onto the counter. “Didja see the grand slam Tetsu-san hit in that last game? It was insane.”
“They have the playoffs in the bag now. Chris-senpai really knows how to draw all of the potential out of their bullpen. It’s tough to tell whether he or Yuuki-senpai will get this year’s MVP award.”
Before Kuramochi can respond, he’s cut off by a jarring “Shut up, Miyuki Kazuya!”
Hideaki angles his head and raises an eyebrow at Sawamura, who’s waving his hands wildly in front of a table. Someone's phone is face-up in the middle of the table on speaker mode, surrounded by drinks and half-eaten bowls of edamame. Tanba-san’s now speaking into the phone, though he looks ghostly pale and nervous. Beside him, Kominato Ryousuke smiles shrewdly, without a doubt enjoying the chaos around him.
“Takako-san just went into labor, so Jun-san’s freaking out,” Kuramochi explains. “He sent at least three hundred messages to the LINE chat within the past hour.”
Hideaki's phone battery died at lunch so he hasn't checked it since then. Now, he’s a bit more afraid of the onslaught of notifications that await him. In the background, Miyuki’s braying laughter clashes with Sawamura’s indignant yelling.
“Guess it’s time to babysit Sawamura,” Kuramochi sighs, twisting around in his seat. “Miyuki’s been relentless with teasing him this whole time. Probably tryin’ to get under his skin before their big match next week.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.” Hideaki has penned plenty of articles highlighting the hottest batterymates-turned-rivals in Tokyo, so he knows all too well about how their teasing looks to the public eye. Their banter actually hasn’t changed that much since Seidou. Sawamura even continues to badger Miyuki to catch for him after they all meet at the izakaya , to which Miyuki always responds, Thank you for the offer to share all of your team’s secrets, Sawamoron!
Rolling his shoulders, Hideaki stands up and follows Kuramochi over to the table.
Sawamura must’ve just come from practice, because he’s still wearing his training clothes. He continues to gesture animatedly at the phone, as if Jun could actually see him on the other line. “Fear not, for this Sawamura Eijun is well-experienced in parenting! I will take it upon myself to make sure you are prepared for fatherhood, Beard-senpai!”
“Just because you have a dog doesn’t mean you’re an expert on parenting, Sawamoron,” Miyuki points out, snickering as he reaches over the phone, plucks a piece of edamame from one of the bowls, and pops it into his mouth.
“I thought I told you to be quiet,” Sawamura grumbles, pointing a finger dangerously close to Miyuki’s nose. “And for your information, the joys of parenthood know no bounds! I am highly qualified for this task!”
“All right, I’ll leave you to it, then.” Miyuki cedes, backing out of his chair and holding his hands up in a placating gesture. “I’ll go see what the young ones are up to, instead.”
On the other side of the room, Okumura and Seto stand together with their drinks in hand, watching the postgame commentary on the widescreen TV. Miyuki flashes Sawamura a final smug grin before sauntering over to his two unsuspecting kouhai.
Both Hideaki and Kuramochi keep their watchful gazes trained on Miyuki, mostly out of concern for the fallout of his actions. As soon as Miyuki slings his arm over Okumura’s shoulder, the air in the izakaya turns frosty. Hideaki hopes those two don’t start another incident, which is slightly less likely since Seto is here to keep Okumura tamed.
Hideaki doesn’t envy Seto. A few years ago, he was stuck in the middle of a strange feud between Miyuki and Okumura. At first, Hideaki thought it would be a nice idea to have a joint interview with Okumura and his senpai catcher from high school in an article about the upcoming NPB draft. He quickly realized what a terrible mistake that was when they were both seated in his office and Okumura revealed on-record for the first time that he would be declining his offer to go pro to instead pursue a career in architecture.
In the end, Hideaki ended up writing an article about Sawamura Eijun and Amahisa Kousei going from rival pitchers in high school to friendly teammates in the major leagues. Ironically, the resounding success of this article is what helped get Hideaki promoted to the head editor of his department.
“Excuse me.”
Tanba reaches across the table to retrieve his phone from Sawamura, drawing Hideaki's attention back to the Jun-senpai baby drama.
“Since Jun is clearly incapable of taking care of himself right now, let alone a newborn baby, we’re going to go to the hospital.” The way Kominato’s face darkens contradicts his serene smile. “To provide moral support.”
“See you later, aniki,” Haruichi says with a wave. “I’ll stop by your place later with those books I borrowed.”
“Still doing research for the new game?” Hideaki asks, though he and Haruichi both keep their eyes trained on the older Kominato.
On his way out the door, Kominato delivers a swift, but effective karate chop to both Miyuki and Okumura. Hideaki and Haruichi both snort at the sight.
“Yeah.” Haruichi replies, still laughing behind his hand. “Our crowdfunding reached all of its stretch goals, so the entire team is working even harder to make sure everything is perfect. I want the world designs to have a lot of depth, so I’m using aniki’s horror novel collection for inspiration.”
“Good luck with everything. I’m sure you already know this, but if you need help with advertising, Shinji said he’s happy to do what he can.”
“Thanks,” Haruichi hums. “By the way, why isn’t Kanemaru here?”
A phone call with Shinji that ate up all of Hideaki’s lunch break is the reason why his phone battery died earlier today. Shinji’s computer program kept crashing, and he thought Hideaki would be able to magically fix it. Even though Shinji knows Hideaki doesn't work with the same computer software, he still calls during his breaks to ask Hideaki to troubleshoot all of his technical issues anyway. The tech support line is never helpful, he claims. Hideaki isn’t sure that’s really the case. Because he’s a good friend, Hideaki pulls up his search engine on his phone and uses the help of the internet to finesse his way through Shinji’s problems.
Hideaki sighs. “He's coming close to a deadline at work and has been struggling with...technology issues.”
“Ah.”
Haruichi nods in understanding. Hideaki doesn't doubt that Shinji has reached out in desperation to Haruichi for help with his technology issues, too. At least asking Haruichi makes a little more sense, since his expertise is in computer programming and design.
“Looks like Yui was able to make it, after all,” Kuramochi notes, nodding in the direction of the izakaya’s entrance.
Yui Kaoru weaves effortlessly through the tables. He’s wearing a pressed charcoal suit, which Hideaki saw him wear on TV earlier today for the Yakult Swallows pre-game commentary. The game Yui was reporting on went into extra innings, so Hideaki didn’t expect him to show up tonight. Hideaki’s office and the sports broadcasting network that Yui works for are located within the same building complex; they often get lunch or coffee together when their schedules align.
Seto greets Yui as he walks by, a little desperate to get Miyuki and Okumura away from each other. As good-natured as always, Yui waves and all four of them make their way over to the table.
“Alright, I think it’s time for some real food.” Kuramochi flags down one of the staff. “I’m in the mood for hot pot.”
“I want yakiniku,” Sawamura interjects, slamming his drink back down on the table with enough force that some of it sloshes out.
“We went with your pick last time, Eijun-kun,” Haruichi points out with a mild smile. “Maybe we should let our senpai pick today.”
Sawamura’s face scrunches as he considers this. “Fine, this Sawamura Eijun will defer our meal choice to the ever-reliable Cheetah-senpai!”
When the server comes over, Sawamura also orders more pitchers for the table, calling it his service for the evening.
As soon as the waiter sets down the pitchers, Sawamura whips out his phone and takes a picture.
Miyuki arches an eyebrow and leans over Sawamura's shoulder to peek at his phone. “What are you doing, Sawamura?”
This could end badly. Hideaki is glad that Kuramochi is sitting next to Sawamura to prevent any major drink spillage, at least.
“I’m sending pitchers to the pitchers,” Sawamura explains, as if this is the most obvious thing. “Sanada-san and Amahisa-senpai are sad that they can't be here. So this one is sharing a picture so they can enjoy the moment, too!”
Miyuki absently strokes his goatee. This has become something of a habit since he first grew the beard out a year or two ago, Hideaki has noticed. Shinji tried to grow a beard around the same time, but said it was too itchy and ended up shaving it all off.
“You three still use that group chat from high school?”
“See!” Sawamura waves his phone in front of Miyuki’s face, completely ignoring Miyuki’s question. “Sanada-san says he’s grateful that I’m including him in this momentous occasion, unlike his anti-social tanuki batterymate!”
“It’s rude to be on your phone in front of everyone like that, Sawamura-senpai, ” Okumura notes in a flat tone.
Miyuki leans forward on the table, resting his chin on his hands. “It’s also rude for a kouhai to completely ignore his wonderful senpai’s request for a drink.”
This comment earns him a scowl from Okumura.
“Kominato-san told you two to behave,” Seto interjects. “And he put me in charge of making sure you two don’t cause any trouble. I don’t plan on being on the receiving end of a Kominato chop any time soon, so...”
“Fine,” Okumura grumbles, before walking away to obtain whatever drink Miyuki requested.
An awkward silence falls over the group in Okumura’s wake, and Hideaki scrambles to bring back the usual cheerful atmosphere. He exchanges a look with Haruichi. “You know, I think you may be onto something, Sawamura. Why don’t we take a selfie to send to the group chat so those who couldn’t make it feel included, too?”
Yui nods. “I think that’s a great idea, Toujou-senpai.” Hideaki makes a mental note to buy Yui’s coffee for him the next time they go out together.
“Tetsu-san and Chris-san would like that a lot,” Mochi agrees.
After adjusting the settings on his phone, Hideaki holds it out and tries to get everyone in the frame.
“Yes, we should show our respect to the honorable Chris-senpai!” Sawamura agrees, finally shoving his phone back into his pocket. It'll probably end up on the floor at some time tonight. Hideaki will have to keep an eye out for it before they leave so Sawamura doesn't accidentally leave it here again. He's sure Haruichi will do the same.
Sawamura bursts into a full-bellied cackle, loud enough to echo throughout the crowded space. They're going to have to apologise to the servers again later. “After all, it’s because of Chris-senpai’s careful guidance that I went from but a small sprout to the hearty and unstoppable ace in front of you today!”
For a moment, Miyuki’s mouth hangs open. Hideaki can see the turmoil in his eyes from the other side of the table. “Oi, what about all those hours you and I spent perfecting your Numbers?” Miyuki points out. “We won Koshien together.”
“But there’s a difference between Miyuki Kazuya cool and Shishou cool.” Sawamura punctuates his statement with a sage nod.
“What does our coolness have to do with your performance on the mound?” Miyuki snickers, back to his usual snarky self. “This is a whole new level of idiot logic.”
Sawamura’s hands twitch on the tabletop, no doubt itching to grab Miyuki by the collar and shake him. “I’m not an idiot!”
“You definitely are.”
“Alright,” Kuramochi interjects, placing a hand on Sawamura’s shoulder before he can grab Miyuki and cause more of a scene. “That’s enough. And for the record, you’re both idiots.”
The group settles into pleasant conversation after Kuramochi’s intervention. Miyuki calls Okumura over to bring him some fancy beer, and Sawamura jumps right into Haruichi and Yui’s discussion on statistics.
“I'm going to take the selfie now, everyone,” Hideaki announces after accepting Kuramochi's phone and pulling up the camera app.
The chatter from his friends and former teammates blurs into the background as Hideaki focuses on getting them all in the picture. Hideaki has always been a little bit of a perfectionist, so he does his best to make sure everyone is included in the shot.
However, certain people at the table keep moving, making it harder for Hideaki to get a good frame. He decides that maybe it's okay if things look a little bit messy— after all, they've spent countless hours together covered in dirt, sweat, and grass under the sweltering Tokyo sun.
“Three, two, one...”
