Wild Pitch

Wild Pitch

Chapter 7

“Say, Ryuuji…” Ayumu hummed as the two freshmen put on their practice outfit. “Do you ever…”

“Hmm?” Ryuuji raised his eyes to his friend. “What?”

“Never mind…” Ayumu sighed. He watched as the last of the older boys left the dressing room, leaving the two of them alone.

“Ayumu, you’re acting so strange lately.” Ryuuji picked up his shoes. “Is something wrong?”

“Do you masturbate??” Ayumu suddenly asked loudly, in one breath, making his friend nearly fall over.

“Ehhh? What’s with this question all of a sudden?” Ryuuji blushed and messed up with his shoelaces.

“I was just wondering…” Ayumu mumbled. “If you get… you know… you know… and wet dreams and stuff… you know…” he stuttered.

Ryuuji continued fumbling with his shoelaces. “That’s embarrassing!” he whispered. “Why are you asking anyway?!”

Ayumu leaned back against the wall and sighed. “Because… well, because… it’s natural isn’t it? For teenage boys? I mean… why do we even have a penis…”

“Ayumu!” Ryuuji raised his voice. “We’re late for practice, is it really the time to talk about… about… this?”

“Just tell me that having a wet dream is normal!” Ayumu insisted.

“Fine, it’s normal!” Ryuuji finally finished tying his shoes and got up. “Can we go now?”

“You didn’t really mean it…” Ayumu huffed. “Have you ever had one too?”

Ryuuji blushed and looked away as he mumbled, “No, but sometimes… in the shower… I touch it…”

“Hmmmm…”

“Just forget about this and get going already! Get up!” Ryuuji yelled at him and gave him a little kick. “We’re late!”

“Ouch, okay, okay!” Ayumu jumped to his feet. “You’re so violent…”

If Ayumu had hoped getting a confession from his friend would reassure him, he quickly realized it wasn’t going to happen. His mind was so plagued with thoughts; his performance during practice left something to be desired.  

“Ayu-chan.” Kaji smiled tightly at him and waved his hand. “Come here.”

Unwillingly, Ayumu dragged his feet over to the older boy. “Yes, captain?”

“What is it? You seem so distracted.”

Ayumu lowered his eyes. “I… it’s just… I’m sorry…” he mumbled.

“Do you have any problems?”

“No!” Ayumu hurried to say. “I’m sorry, I’ll focus now.”

Kajihara let out a laugh and patted the boy’s head. “It’s not good to keep things bottled inside. If you have any problems, you can talk to me. It’s the captain’s responsibility to take care of the team.”

“Ah…” Ayumu blushed. “It doesn’t have anything to do with the team, so let’s just forget about it…” He tried stepping away.

“Wait.” The older boy grabbed him by his collar and pulled him back. He handed him a little note.

Ayumu looked at it in confusion. It had an address scribbled on it. “What’s that?” he asked, raising his head to Kajihara.

“Your official game uniforms have arrived. Go to the store to pick it up, along with the rest of the things we’ve ordered for the club.”

“Ah…”

“Take Fujisaki with you.” Kajihara tapped on his glasses. “Hm, can you do this simple task? Maybe I should send one of the juniors to come with you…”

“I’ll go.” Suddenly Naoya stood at their side.

“Oh, Takai?” Kajihara turned to him. “Are you sure?”

He shrugged. “I have to buy new shoes anyway.”

Ryuuji was excited to hear they were going to pick up their uniforms. Ayumu just walked by his side in silence.

“What’s up, Ayumu?” Takai stepped next to him. “You don’t look as energetic as usual.”

“I’m not always energetic!” Ayumu growled at him. “Mind your own business!”

The tall pitcher frowned at Ayumu’s snappy attitude. Ryuuji quickly came between them. “Oh don’t mind Ayumu, he’s just spending all of his free time and his allowance at the batting center because of you…”

“Oh?” The older boy hummed, without looking at his younger teammates.

“And then last night he had a wet dream, so—“

“SHUT UP!!” Ayumu blushed furiously and jumped on his friend, covering his mouth.

“Eh?” Naoya looked at the two with confusion.

“That has nothing to do with YOU!” Ayumu pointed his finger at him. “Got it?”

Naoya smiled. “Well, at least now you’re energetic again.” He started walking faster and the two boys followed him quickly with Ryuuji trying to avoid Ayumu’s kicks. Ayumu calmed down only after getting on the bus.

The Matsukan sporting goods shop was conveniently located in the main street, just a couple blocks away from where they got off. Naoya led the way and they entered the shop after him.

The shopkeeper recognized their school uniforms immediately. “Ah, Seibu boys! Please follow me, follow me!” He urged them with a cheerful voice and attempted to start a polite chat with them.

“Go to the counter for your uniforms,” Naoya told them and headed to the shoes section.

While Ryuuji exchanged some polite words with the friendly shopkeeper, Ayumu looked around the store. He glanced down at the form the captain had given him with the checklist of the items they had to pick up for the club. He gave it to Ryuuji and decided to inspect the shop a little closer. It wasn’t a big shop, but it was known as the best in the city.

He ran his fingers over a coarse basketball as he passed by. He loved the smell in the shop. It was kind of like sniffing leather.

As he crossed the pathway from the accessories to the dressing zone in the shop he suddenly heard Naoya’s voice. When he walked past the racks with clothes, he saw the back of the older boy, who was sitting on the bench, in front of the wall of shoes. His long legs spread forward as he was talking to one of the assistants. Strangely, Ayumu felt his heart skipping a beat as he watched the jet black locks tickling the pitcher’s tanned neck.

“Do you need help?” the assistant suddenly lifted his eyes to Ayumu and he blushed furiously, feeling as though he was caught red handed. Naoya also turned around.

“Ah, Ayumu…” He leaned back on the bench, bending his arms slightly. “What are you up to?”

The boy just gulped, still feeling embarrassed. Thankfully, Naoya didn’t seem to notice. He simply waved at him to come closer. “What do you think of these?” He raised his legs off the floor a bit, to show the shoes he was trying on.

Ayumu had to lower his eyes from Naoya’s loose necktie that left his collarbone all exposed and just nodded. “Uh, it’s nice…”

The assistant bowed and excused himself, leaving the two alone. Ayumu stepped closer and sat down on the bench. Naoya scooted over to him and Ayumu shifted uncomfortably.

“What?” Naoya lowered his eyes to his junior. “Are you mad at me or something?” he paused a bit. “Is it because you saw me with your sister?”

Ayumu stiffened and blushed even deeper, feeling the tips of his ear burning. It seemed Naoya noticed because he continued, “I’d never thought you had a sister complex.”

“I do not!” Ayumu grumbled. “But keep your dirty hands off of her anyway!”

Naoya chuckled and leaned back. “You know, I didn’t even want a girlfriend – I was, no, I am, too occupied with baseball… since I want to go pro. But your sister came to me…”

Ayumu raised his eyes to watch him as he spoke about Ayumi.

“She’s not pushy and she’s cute, so I figured we could try this…” Naoya lowered his black eyes to Ayumu again. “I really like her, and I’m not using her, so don’t worry so much.”

Ayumu huffed. It was not a real surprise that Naoya aimed to become a pro player, but he still wanted to inquire more about it so he opened his mouth to ask. “Do you masturbate?” he blurted without even blinking.

It took him a split second to realize what he had just said and he wanted to bury himself. “Ah, I meant—!” but it was too late to take back his words.

“Eh?” Naoya raised his eyebrow.

“I’m sorry; it’s totally not what I meant to ask…” Ayumu lowered his head, thinking he was going to spontaneously combust with the heat that flushed his face. He made such a big idiot of himself.

Naoya laughed and hit Ayumu’s head playfully with his fist. “What kind of things are you thinking about?!”

“I’m sorry…” Ayumu mumbled in defeat. “It was an accident.”

“Ah, it’s okay…” Naoya laughed. “We’re both boys…”

Ayumu sighed in relief. Naoya forgave him for the stupid slip, but he must get his head out of the gutter and fast, before he did something even more embarrassing.

“So what Ryuuji was saying about your wet dream was true?” Naoya asked as he leaned down to take off the shoes he was trying on.

“Geh…” Ayumu made a face. He really didn’t want to be reminded of that.

“Don’t feel so bad; growing boys have a lot of wet dreams.” The older boy grinned.

The assistant soon returned with another pair of shoes for Naoya to try on and Ayumu sucked in breath, hoping he didn’t overhear them. He continued to watch Naoya, who seemed completely undisturbed by the topic, as he discussed the shoes with the assistant.

 

Later that night Ayumu was busy throwing balls at a makeshift strike zone board in the back yard. Or he was trying to. While his speed was pretty impressive, his control was lacking badly. Sometimes he didn’t even hit the board.

“I didn’t know you’re aiming to be a pitcher.” He heard his father’s voice coming from the porch. He lowered his arm and looked at his father.

“I’m not. Well, the coach thinks I have potential so he wants me to practice pitching. But I’m pretty awful.” He rubbed his head.

His dad sat down on the porch. “I’m sure you’ll do fine, you always do when you put your heart into it.” He smiled. “But try to make it to family dinner sometimes; you know it’s getting rare that we all sit together.”

“I’m sorry.” Ayumu sighed and stepped over. “Dad…”

“Hm?”

Ayumu sat next to him. “Have you ever… I mean, before you married mom…” he started to mumble.

“What?” his father threw him a side glance.

“Like… have feelings towards someone you shouldn’t…” He scratched his hair. “Like, uh, someone else’s girlfriend… like a close friend’s girlfriend…”

“Ehh?” His father looked at him. “You do?”

“No!” Ayumu hurried to say. “I mean, it’s my friend. He thinks he might be in love with another friend’s girlfriend. I don’t know what to tell him.”

“Well… I can’t say it had happened to me, but it sometimes happen. We can’t control who we fall in love with… love is an illogical emotion.” His father rested his hand on Ayumu’s head. “The real question is what we do with it. It’s a tricky situation. I think your friend shouldn’t rush into anything and just wait to see where the relationship is going. In your age nothing is serious anyway, is it? Maybe his friend will break up with the girl soon.”

Ayumu sighed and received another pat on the head.

“But I’m really surprised Ayumu,” his father said with a smile. “I thought you only had baseball on your mind!” He got up and turned towards the house. “It’s good to broaden your horizon.”

“Dad!” Ayumu got up and caught his father’s attention again. “What if it’s not a girl?”

“Huh?”

Ayumu fumbled with the ball in his hands nervously. “What if he has feelings towards another guy?”

His father walked over to his side again. “Well, there are a lot of feelings that we can confuse with love, even between two men. Are you talking about someone from the baseball club?”

Ayumu nodded silently.

“See? A team full of boys, lots of rivalry and intense emotions.” He patted the boy’s head again. “It’s probably nothing. Don’t think about it too much.”

“I guess…” Ayumu looked at the ball in his hand and then threw it into the yard before following his father into the house.

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