Chapter Text
Bottom of the 9th inning. Down by one. A runner on second, in scoring position. 2 outs.
His breath a bit shaky. Hands sweaty, grip tightening around the handle of his bat. Cole puts one foot into the batter's box, then the other. He lives for moments like this. Where all the pressure is on him. A shiver runs up his spine, he's nervous. The good kind of nervous you feel when you're right on the edge. His eyes forward, ears deaf. All of his focus steady on the guy in red and white on the mound.
Kai Smith. Red and white pinstripe uniform, such a contrast to the simple black Cole is wearing. Silver chain around his neck, and signature red arm sleeve.
Best high school pitcher in the city, scratch that, in the country. Cocky bastard throws absolute gas, 90 mph fastball, and a knee bending curve ball right along with it. His arrogance annoys Cole to no bounds, but then again, if Cole could throw 90 consistently he'd brag about it too. Cole's gone 1-3 against him today. Two groundouts, and a single. Not his best day, but this last at-bat can salvage it all.
A base hit to tie…a homerun to win…
A home run to be the hero…No.
Cole shakes his head. He can't be selfish. Not now with the state title right in his hands. All he has to do is a job, groundball up the middle, guy on second scores easily. Games tied.
But Cole can tell Kai has other plans.
Kai eyes Cole, his smug smile proof for there being not a single humble bone in his body. His eyes start at his stance, close to the plate and wide. Cole scoffs at the feeling of Kai eyeing him down. Guy's been strutting around like he owns the place, Cole wants to see him lose more than he even wants to win.
"Strategize all you want…I know what you're throwin'." Cole thinks to himself. "Wherever you put it…I'm gonna hit it. No matter what."
Kai must've gotten the memo. The arrogant look on his face deepens. Then he winds up. Leg held high, head down, then he strides out.
"Here it comes…"
The second his foot touches the dirt, Cole can see the ball in his hand, then the pitch. As if everything is in slow motion. The ball practically shoots out of Kai's hand, hard and fast, and coming towards the inside of the plate. If Cole didn't see it coming he would've froze. But he saw this coming from a mile away. Cole rears his hands back, quirks his hips and the bat meets the ball. Too early.
He ends up pulling it foul down the line.
"Tch. Got excited."
"0-1!" The umpire says the count. No balls. One strike.
Cole steps out. Takes a deep breath. And steps back in. He needs to stay calm, keep his head in the game. The only thing stopping him is the look on Kai's face. So unserious, so cocky, so….irritating. As if he's taunting him.
"Bring it." His eyes say. The two of them caught in a silent battle, somehow reading each other's minds. Cole wastes no time getting back into his stance. His brain races to predict what Kai will throw next. Fastball. Slider…Curveball.
His second best pitch. Not as fast but the break on it is so pretty.
Kai winds up again, same delivery as before. He's good, his pitch delivery doesn't change no matter what he throws.
And this pitch is different from the last. The downward break catches Cole off guard momentarily, he recovers when he realizes the break is too much.
"It's low…" He doesn't swing. The ball goes right to the ground.
"1-1!" The umpire says. One ball. One strike.
This time Cole fuels the fire. Head tilt, cocky smirk too sent Kai's way. He doesn't usually do this but the look on Kai's face makes it worth it.
"You thought I'd fall for that? Ha, yeah right." Kai picks up his message, no longer unserious but there's still a grin curling on his lips.
As the at-bat goes on Cole can feel his heart pounding, so hard it might fall out of his chest. Blood rushing through his veins, he feels high on adrenaline as he fouls of another inside pitch. He hears nothing. Not the crowd cheering their names. Not his teammates cheering him on. Only the voice in his head guiding him on. He sees nothing else either. Only the ball and the boy in red. It's as if nothing else exists outside of this moment.
It's just him and Kai.
Stress aside this is the most fun Cole has had in his life. He can tell Kai thinks the same too. the pitcher huffs, out of breath but so much fire left within him even at the end of the game.
Kai throws another ball. Just barely off the plate. The umpire holds his hands up."3-2. Full count!"
Full count. Either a walk. Or a hit. No other options for Cole. He cannot strike out.
"This is it. This is where I put you in your place." Cole stands ready. "Throw your worst."
"You want it that bad? Then I'll give you what you want." Kai winds up again.
The final pitch isn't his worst. It's Kai's best. The best pitch he's thrown all game. Cole can tell through the way he throws his body, Kai put everything into the high, inside fastball that's hurling straight at the corner of the strike zone.
High and inside is Cole's weakest pitch to hit. It's simply too fast.
But not today.
Cole opens his hips, making space for his hands, his body reacting on instinct. He could end the game here if he swings his hardest. Could put it all on the line. And yet…
The barrel of the bat meets the ball, almost at the right time.
The ball flies into the left field gap. High, but not enough to go over the fence. Instead it hits it. As Cole runs to first he starts to think this is enough. His teammate on second should run home and score. It'll be tie game. But as he rounds first he sees how quickly the outfielders get the ball in. How swift the shortstop turns to throw home. And the perfect tag the catcher puts down as his teammate slides into home.
The umpire throws his fist.
"Out!"
And that's how this ends.
How Cole's senior season ends.
Watching Kai celebrate with his teammates for winning the state title. As the other team dogpiles he walks back to the dugout, with his head hung low. Anger boiling deep within. Frustration pouring out when he balls his fists. He did all he could and yet….
In the line to shake hands, he tries to fix his face. Tries to make it seem like he isn't feeling an immense amount of envy.
"good game…" he mutters to every player. Their happy faces making him feel sick to his stomach. He thought having to shake Kai's hand would be the final nail in the coffin. Yet when he sees his face it's…disappointed?
"What?" Cole thinks. "Why does he look like that…?"
When Cole's hand shakes Kai's, Kai doesn't say good game.
"I'll face you again." He mutters instead. But that's only half of it.
"I'll face you again. And next time I'll win."
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"I'm sorry son. You and your team worked so hard to win it all this year." Cole's dad says as he drives them home. Cole stares out of the window, trees passing by. He feels numb almost. Tired mostly, but now it feels like nothing else matters. Just an hour ago Cole was caught in a moment that felt timeless. A moment of rivalry, heat and fire, where he wanted to stand his ground. Where he wanted to win.
"Yeah dad…" He mutters weakly.
"And the other teams pitcher? Gosh I hated him. He was good but who wants to root for someone like that? Someone so cocky." Cole's dad rolls his eyes. Cole whole heartedly agrees. But he can't bash him. Kai was the best pitcher he's faced in his life. He pitched like he had no control, threw everything with pure emotion, and it worked. Although technically between the two of them…Cole won in that moment.
"I'll face you again." Is that what he meant when he said that? Was Kai frustrated that he lost in that moment, even though he won the game? Cole doesn't know how to feel. On one hand there's so much privilege in being mad after winning a state title. But on the other…Cole wants to give Kai a bit of respect.
"There's a reason he's committed to the number 1 college for baseball dad." Cole sighs.
His dad makes a noise of indifference. "His ego is already big enough. They could use someone like you instead son. You're calm, grounded, humble, and really really talented." Cole can tell his dad is trying to make him feel better about losing, but it isn't helping.
"Yeah well they didn't pick me dad, they picked him. Besides I like where I'm going. It's close to home and the team is pretty good there too."
"I know son. Just don't let this get you down. There's so much more ball to play!"
Cole nods his head in agreement. His dad is right, there is more ball to play. But will anything compare to way it felt today?
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Move in day. The day Cole has been counting down since the beginning of the summer. Sure summer break was nice, so was summer ball and hanging out with his dad, but Cole's ready for change. Ever since the loss he's been…off. He wants to forget about that game and start a new. Start moving forward.
Cole gets the key to his room, puts the key in, twists it and hopes his mystery roommate hasn't moved in yet. When he opens the door he finds…an empty room. Great, he gets first pick for which bed. He ends up picking the bed on the right side since it isn't in front of the door. He has a weird superstition about bedroom arrangements.
Cole starts to bring in all of the boxes he's packed. On the way down the stairs he starts to scroll through Instagram on his phone. His feed full of baseball related posts, a few from some soft rock bands he follows, but mainly sports news pages. He's mildly paying attention to where he's going until a certain headline catches his attention.
"Star high school pitcher decommits from-" Suddenly he bumps into a person, whom he ends up falling on top of.
It feels like the world is spinning for a second. "Ugh…my bad I-"
"Dude you're like really heavy." A familiar voice strains to say.
Cole sits up and so does the person he bumped into and-
Wait.
Any apology Cole was about to say died on his tongue. At first he thought his eyes deceived him. There's no way this is who he thinks it is.
Red hoodie. Silver chain. Ridiculous hair. And smug smile.
"You have got to be kidding me." Cole says.
"You bumped into me- wait…do I know you from somewhere?" Kai scratches his head, really trying to put a finger on where he's seen Cole. "You were an extra in some singing group right?"
"Oh c'mon quit pretending you don't know me. State championship, remember?" Cole scoffs. Just when he thought his life was gonna take a turn for the better, this guys just has to show up.
"Ohhh right…it's you." Kai's voice so sour. "Mr. serious face."
"Serious face?" Cole says so confused.
"Yeah was a joke with the team, you always looked so serious-"
"First off. Fuck you. Second. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at-"
"The best school in the country? Any place but here? Yes. But there were some…complications." Kai says sheepishly. The two of them stand to their feet and Cole realizes the small height advantage he has over Kai. He looks taller on the mound.
"Complications?" Cole's not convinced. "Lemme guess. They saw your cocky attitude and took it all back right?"
"No that is definitely not what happened. I just decided that school was way too serious. Not much room for fun. So I said deuces and the coach here gave me a offer." Kai shrugs as if what he's saying isn't outrageous. "The real question is what are you doing here?"
"Me? I picked this place first." Cole crosses his arms.
"Why? You could've did so much better." Kai doesn't mean it as an insult but Cole takes it as one.
"If you don't like it you can leave."
"Nah, no way. I'm here to stay so why don't you leave?"
"Cause I was here first."
"Was not!" They're face to face now. How Cole gave this guy any respect before is a mystery to him.
"Whatever. Just stay out of my way." Cole brushes by Kai back down to his car.
"I can't believe this! What are the odds that asshole now goes to the same college as me?" Cole gets some more boxes from his car, takes them back up to room. Before he pulls out the key however, he sees the door is already half way open…
"Weird. I didn't leave it open."
He steps inside and…
"Why are you on my bed?!" Cole drops the boxes. Kai is in his room, on his bed nonetheless.
"Uh this is my bed. You must have the wrong room." Kai sits up on the sheetless bed Cole hasn't cleaned yet.
"There's no sheets that's gross. And no, this is my room." Cole points a finger to his chest.
"No it's mine. How are you already getting lost?"
"I'm not lost! 451 is my dorm number." Cole shouts frustrated with Kai's antics.
"No, 451 is my dorm number." Kai stands up.
It takes them both a few seconds to realize the situation here.
Not only does Kai now go to the same college…he's also now his teammate…and roommate.
"Someone kill me."