The Name You Call

+1

+1.

The revelation was so shocking that Eijun couldn't help but act awkward around Furuya for a while. He realized that he'd had these feelings for him for a while now without knowing about it, but being completely aware of them was a whole different thing.

Of course, Eijun would freak out a bit. It was only natural, right? After all, Eijun had never had these kinds of feelings for anyone before. Romance was for manga, was for television dramas, not something Eijun ever expected to experience himself, especially when he was one hundred percent only committed to baseball.

And that ended up with the other reason he was freaking out. He and Furuya were rivals. They were on much better terms with less conflict than they were when they were first years, they had settled into their dynamic, encouraging each other rather than being sucked in by nothing but frustration. But even so, they were still rivals. If he were to somehow confess his feelings that he just discovered to Furuya, wouldn't that just be too complicated?

Eijun didn't know what to do about these feelings. Should he just let them be, or should he actually do something about them? In a manga, Eijun would be cheering on the character to confess, but this wasn't a manga, it was real life, and Eijun had enough awareness to realize that at least. They were on the same team, same class, he would have no way to avoid him if he was rejected, or things went wrong.... Eijun might be impulsive and loud, but he also thought way too much, he had to consider every possibility.

The only time he managed to calm those thoughts down was when he was pitching, and when he was running. He was currently running his usual course during afternoon practice. He'd already gotten in some good pitching sessions with Miyuki, as well as getting some batting practice in, and now he had a lot of steam and excess energy he felt like he needed to run off.

Furuya wasn't running with him, because when Eijun was done pitching to Miyuki, Furuya took his place. It was for the best - Furuya had been really eating Eijun's brain lately and it really freaked him out.

Eijun, completely new to feeling like this, knew he was definitely acting strange, being louder than usual, being awkward and turning red for no reason, especially when around Furuya. He had gotten called out for it more than once by his teammates, and it really frustrated him even more that he couldn't just act as usual.

When Eijun was finally done running, it was time for dinner. Afterward, he went back out to the practice field since he felt the calmest there. Baseball was the thing he loved more than anything else, and Seidou had given him his dream. He loved admiring the grounds, the buildings, the sky from the view, it made him feel like it was his second home.

Eijun didn't move, he knew it would make him feel sick to run on a full stomach, so he just sat down on the staircase overlooking the field, watching as the sky got darker. He thought about so many things. His pitching, being the ace, his feelings for Furuya and just what to do about them... he was no closer to coming to an answer.

Eijun didn't know how long he was sitting there, but it must have been a while.

"Eijun." Eijun jumped at the sudden voice, letting out a yell as he turned around, his heart racing.

"O-oh, Furuya, it's just you," Eijun said, his voice was way more high pitched than he would have liked, "don't sneak up on people from behind like that!"

Eijun hadn't heard Furuya's footsteps at all.

"Sorry," Furuya said plainly, and then after a minute of a pause, "are you coming?"

"H-huh? Where?" Eijun wished he wasn't this flustered, but he really couldn't help it.

"The bath," Furuya said.