Chapter Text
Finally, time to relax.
Practice had been grueling all week, trying to get ready for the fall tournament. And though the retirement game was fun, despite learning about the coach, they had played their hardest after a week of being pushed to the limit by the third years.
Kuramochi stretched and let out a sigh. He had the dorm to himself, opting out of joining Sawamura and the others in invading Miyuki's room. He turned his TV on, put in his favorite fighting game, and sat down, controller in hand, ready to unwind.
He loved baseball, probably now more than ever before. But a break was needed. Some time to clear his mind and do something other than the sport so he won't get burned out. The shortstop got comfortable on his cushion, the start screen appearing, and there's a knock. Just one loud knock. He looks back toward the door, unsure if it's just someone messing with him or maybe he was hearing things. He starts to turn his head back when several more knocks come, short and a little softer, one right after the other.
"Dammit, you idiot, I told you I don't want to deal with Miyuki anymore to- R-Ryo-san?"
Kuramochi's tirade ended once he opened the door to see his upperclassmen. The former second baseman looked disheveled, his hair mussed, and his cheeks slightly pink. He's leaning forward on the wall next to the door, one arm seeming to support him.
"Yo." Kuramochi blinked, Ryousuke definitely smelled like beer. He frowned and narrowed his eyes as the third year's smile grew. He let his teeth show, it wasn't his normal "I know something you don't" or "I'm up to something" smile. This was more...raw, uninhibited. This caused Kuramochi's heart to pound. "Can I...?" He didn't finish, his words slurred and his brain to fuzzy to even end the question.
"You probably should. What the hell are you thinking?" Ryousuke ignored him and slowly made his way over to the gaming cushion, as Ryousuke like to refer to it as, and sat down quite ungracefully. "Ryo-san-"
"You and Haruichi are good together. On the field." The older teen blurted, his smile different now, twisted.
"Thanks. But, Ryo-san why we're you drinking? It's pretty risky, yeah?" Kuramochi sat on the floor next to him, concerned.
"Didn't you used to be a bad boy? Jun got some and we drank a little. It's been a rough day. Our last game here, the coach..." His smile disappears completely. "We failed him. And we're done and you and Haru were just...perfect."
"Perfect? No way, he's good but there's still...wait, what does this have to do with anything? And quit saying it's the third years' fault for the coach leaving, it's not..." It couldn't be. He wouldn't believe that.
"...Haruichi will be perfect. He'll surpass me, and the iron wall will be stronger than before." He snorted a laugh that contained no mirth. "He gets everything I want...and I don't care anymore. I knew..." He struggled for words and the shortstop could only listen, shocked at how vulnerable the other was right now. "I've always known he'd surpass me, I'm proud. But I don't want him to have everything."
"You're a good player, Ryo-san..."
"I don't want him to have you."
"Have me? The hell?"
Silence. Ryousuke wouldn't look at him. Couldn't. Kuramochi was confused, trying to decipher his former teammate's drunken rambling.
"You don't want another short stop?" It wasn't the only thing he could come up, other than something that he hadn't quite named yet that made nervous.
There was an intake of breath, and the second year could almost feel as Ryousuke gave in. Opened, wide eyes shot up to his, a deep golden color that he can't quite remember seeing this clearly before.
"I'll miss playing baseball with you. I'll miss seeing you around after I graduate. I wanted to tell you...at Koshien, but..." He looked down again and Kuramochi had to force himself not to make the other look at him again, his hands clenching in his lap. "Yeah, I'm jealous that Haruichi gets to play with you. I'm more worried he'll find something else to like that I do and...he'll actually do something about it." He rubbed his neck. "Fuck, I need another beer...I can't..."
"Can't what? Ryou-san, just..say it."
He was granted sight to those eyes once again, but briefly, because the next thing he knew there was chapped lips on his own and a smaller body pressing into him. Though surprised, something felt right and he hastily returned the kiss, making Ryousuke gasp into him in suprise. He could feel the third year shudder against him and this, /this/ was that unnamed feeling he'd been having. The feeling he'd known at some level but didn't let himself see it. It was always pushed into the friendship category, or adoration, respect. And maybe or started that way however there was no denying now what it was.
"I love you too." Kuramochi whispered after breaking the kiss. Ryousuke pressed his face into Kuramochi's shoulder, his body slowly relaxing. "You better not be too drunk to remember this though." He was given a sharp poke to his side.
"Shut up."