For You ↠ Alice Cullen ✓

14 ; strike, you're out of time

"Here's the thing about baseball.."

Tate blurred out Emmett's words, walking side by side with the male onto the barren field a few miles away from the Cullen's home. The grass was soft underneath his Converse, crunching in a way that brought Tate strange satisfaction.

"You have to hit it just right...."

Like Alice had said, it wasn't raining. Instead the clouds were just a deep color, like a fresh bruise that had blood bubbling at the surface. Tate ignored how that mental image made his stomach ignite with a deep hunger.

"Also, you have to run...."

"He's not listening," Rosalie's voice cut into Tate's inner monologue, her voice light with teasing. She was standing beside Jasper at the side-lines, hands stuffed into her blue vest's pockets as she watched them approach.

Emmett turned towards Tate, "You weren't listening?"

"I know how to play baseball," Tate replied, rolling his eyes. "Hit, run, catch, slide - blah, blah."

At Tate's description, Emmett looked horrified. "That's not what baseball-"

"If I promise to play will you let this go?" Tate interrupted, giving Emmett a small smile to take away the harshness in his words.

"Only if you're on our team," Was Emmett's quick reply.

"Why your team?" Tate asked, fixing the loose shirt on his body.

It had a generic red color on the sleeves, while the middle of the shirt adorned the Washington Nationals baseball team logo. The shirt went well with his blue jeans, which were loose enough for running, and were Jasper's. Tate regretted letting the two male's choose his clothing for the outing, since he now had to run around with a giant, curly 'W'  on his chest.

"Because we'll have the winning edge," Emmett said, giving a brief grin. "If we have you on our team then we won't have to worry about the chance of not winning."

"Isn't that just cheating too?" Tate asked, eyebrows creasing together. Despite his face not giving him away, Tate was slightly amused by how much his "gift" affected Edward and Jasper without him having to use it.

A laugh was Emmett's only reply before he turned toward Rosalie and began whispering things in her ear about her outfit that Tate instantly diverted his attention away from. So, he naturally found himself standing beside Jasper, who was throwing a ball back and forth with Esme.

"Are you joining our team then?" Jasper asked after flinging the ball in Esme's direction.

"I'm not sure yet," Tate said, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm still trying to decide."

At this, Jasper simply grinned. "Don't tell me you're not curious to see how much the other team struggles playing against you."

"I think you're family is just unreasonably competitive," Tate replied, smirking slightly.

"They're your family too." Jasper quipped back, before he was jetting across the field to converse with Carlisle.

Standing there for a few moments, Tate tried to understand how he felt about Jasper's comment. He wanted to ignore it, but he knew deep down that he couldn't deny the way the Cullen's made him feel like he belonged. He was completely different than all of them, yet they all cherished and tried to include him in everything they did.

Tate loved all of them so much more than he'd originally thought.

"Deep in thought?" Alice's voice rang out from behind him.