Chapter Text
Sesame High School isn’t a prestigious high school by any means. The academics are only decent, the clubs are average, and the athletic programs and fields aren’t particularly well-funded. Very few students hated the school, but very few loved it either, so school spirit has always been pretty average.
Until Hanazawa Teruki joined the baseball team.
When he transferred to Sesame High his freshman year, it was like the prestige of the school had doubled. The baseball team won the national championship, he was an academic genius ranked top of the class, and he’s rumored to have gotten a new partner for every home run he scored in-game.
It’s a childish rumor, but it’s a great contributor to why today’s playoff game is such a big deal to the school. So many students wanted to be that lucky someone he chooses that the tickets sold out within the day. Regardless of the legality of gambling at school, there is also a betting pool on who he would choose if he were to score that infamous home run.
He personally doesn’t understand how or why that rumor came about, but he couldn’t say they’re completely wrong. He’s gone through his fair share of flings with both male and female classmates in high school, all of which he’s cut off due to a lack of interest. That may make him seem like a playboy, but he thinks that’s doing them a favor by not stringing them along.
But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t take a brief pause to listen to the way they squeal when he sends a wink into the stands on his way up to bat.
Bases are loaded, 11-11 is glowing over the outfield from the scoreboard the school had finally been able to afford.
This is the one, he can feel it. This is the one where he hits it over the fence and solidifies Sesame High’s place in the championship. He takes a deep steadying breath before strutting onto the field, touching the tip of his bat to his toes as he strolls over to the batting square.
The pitcher’s mound is a considerable distance, but Teruki can tell the pitcher is looking at the student section full of kids screaming Teruki’s name. He can’t help but grin at the visible sweat on the pitcher’s forehead.
You’re Teruki Hanazawa. They’re screaming for you…
The pitcher winds up. Despite the kid’s nervousness, his form is still pretty solid.
It’s gonna be a good one.
The ball might as well have left the pitcher’s hand in a cloud of smoke with how quickly it shoots down the lane. The other team’s coach definitely told the boy to go all out when pitching to Teruki.
But the coach missed one thing: Teruki performs best when he’s under pressure.
Hit it out of the park.
The thought only lasts a fraction of a millisecond. He swings the bat in a perfect arc, following through into a finishing pose that should have been photographed and immortalized into a renaissance painting.
Oh hell yes.
Teruki’s eyes don’t follow the ball. He already knows where it’s going. He can’t help but hum to himself as he skips his way past first base, then second, then–
A collective gasp resounds throughout the stands, soon replaced by an eerie silence. Teruki knows the hit was breathtaking, but why has the cheering stopped? He can’t imagine someone caught it.
When his eyes catch his coach in the dugout, the large man is swinging his arms frantically without any real message to his gestures, so Teruki just keeps running until he hits home plate.
There’s a handful of people giving muted applause at the completed home run, but there’s still an eerie silence gripping the crowd.
What the hell is going on?
Teruki turns his head towards the field, and his blood goes cold when he sees the reason for the crowd’s sudden withdrawal. Despite the group of medical trainers quickly blocking Teruki’s view, he catches a brief glimpse of the Sesame High uniform hugging the body of a kid lying crumpled in the grass.
Oh shit.
His ball had just hit someone? What the fuck? With a gulp, he wrenches his eyes away from the red soaking through more and more of the kid’s collar in favor of joining the other players on the field in taking a knee. He’s barely even cognizant of his teeth worrying at his lower lip.
This has never happened before. He’s never injured someone with one of his hits, especially not with one as golden as this one. Will that person be okay? Did he just paralyze someone? What if they have to drop out of school? What will happen to Teruki? Is this his fall from fame? Get a grip goddamn it, someone is unconscious on the ground!
His anxiety yanks on the piece of his brain that’s attached to his legs, and he stands back up to run over to his coach in search of answers. The look of shock on the man’s face isn’t really helping his already swelling anxiety.
“Coach, what do I do? Will they be okay?” He can’t stop the little bit of panic that trickles into his tone at the distant wail of sirens.
The cringe is still present on Coach’s face, confirming Teruki’s fear that the student is definitely injured badly, but manages to school it to a neutral enough expression to seem calm when he tells Teruki that he’ll drive him to visit the kid at the hospital when the game is over.
The hospital. Teruki just sent a kid to the hospital.
Even as the sirens get louder upon approach, they can’t compare to the roaring anxiety in Teruki’s mind at the thought.
With a grounding pat on Teruki’s shoulder, Coach stands back up to jog over to the group that just handed the kid over to the paramedics.
Teruki’s run had counted as the winning point of the game and Sesame High had officially achieved their victory, but the apprehensive expressions that remained on the faces of his previously adoring crowd told Teruki loud and clear that that wasn’t very important anymore.
He’s not religious, but he prays on his way to Coach’s car that the kid is alright and this whole thing will blow over.
––––––––
“You’ll be relieved to hear that the ball didn’t hit his head, but his shoulder. The impact had dislocated it. The shoulder's been realigned, but there may also be residual damage to his collarbone that we need to examine tomorrow, so he's on bedrest. He won’t take visitors outside of the family for now.”
Teruki breathes a heavy enough sigh to leave his body sagging and his temples aching. He only remembers to fix his posture when his coach places his meaty hand on Teruki’s shoulder.
“Have you been able to contact his parents?” Coach asks, carefully calm.
“No, but he has another emergency contact on his records. He’s on his way right now.” The doctor’s eyes haven’t left his clipboard once throughout the exchange, and Teruki’s honestly grateful for the lack of the tall man’s sharp eyes scanning over him and seeing how uncool he is right now. He’s idly picking at his thumbnail and shifting from foot to foot as if he’s a toddler who just pissed the bed and is preparing for the worst.
The kid’s injuries could have been worse, but the fact he was sent to the hospital at all already makes this whole thing messy. Could Teruki lose credibility with the school over this? He knows it was just an accident, but the possibility of the story being twisted into oblivion is never zero.
But Teruki has a pristine academic record and enough followers to make a conga line around the school building. There’s a quiet power beneath his exterior of confident charm and wit, so he could easily deal with a couple stray rumors– especially when so many students witnessed the truth for themselves.
Upon this line of thinking, the blonde finally manages a full, calming breath and tunes back into the conversation at hand.
“–yama-kun will be staying here for a bit, but we will likely have updates come tomorrow night.” The doctor looks up from his clipboard to hand Coach a slip of paper. “You can just give us a call.”
Using one hand to grab the paper, Coach uses the other hand on Teruki’s shoulder to angle him towards the door to make their exit. The humid, spring evening air is refreshing after being surrounded by the smell of antiseptic for hours.
Teruki flinches a bit at Coach’s heavy hand bearing down on his shoulder again. “I’ll drive you home, Hanazawa. Don’t worry about Kageyama-kun, the doctor said he will be better in no time.”
“Kageyama-kun?”
“The kid. His name is Kageyama Shigeo.”