Eijun and Miyuki: Eye of the Storm

The Same Day - 12:00 PM

'Don't overthink it. If you can't do it sincerely, keep it short and simple. No need to make him feel uncomfortable.'

Tanba gritted his teeth as Chris' words echoed in his mind. With classes out for lunch, he awkwardly maneuvered through the heavily saturated crowd of students in search of Furuya. He had finally worked up the resolve to properly apologize to him for the mean-spirited words he dished out the night before.

As much as he wanted to stand his ground and turn round, he knew that Chris was telling the truth. Whether he liked it or not, Furuya deserved all the reassurance and security he could possibly get, and what better person to receive those from than the ace himself?

Tanba felt the anticipation building within him as he spotted Furuya exiting his class, Haruichi behind him.

"Furuya!" he called out.

Furuya stopped his conversation with Haruichi as he looked up and saw Tanba approaching them, a nervous look on his face.

'I hope he hasn't come to apologize,' he thought.

"See you downstairs," Haruichi said as he read the situation and headed for the staircase. "I'll let Eijun-kun know you'll be a while."

"Alright." Furuya turned back to Tanba and gave him a questioning stare. "What brings you down here?"

"I wanted to t-talk to you for a sec. Let's go out to the field."

"Are you planning on apologizing?"

"Yeah, but I want to do that outside—"

"Save it," Furuya said firmly, tightening his grip on the strap of his bag. "I don't want an apology from you. There's no need to recant what you said. You seemed confident in what you told me last night. Sure, it was a bit surprising coming from you, but I've gotten over it. Chris-senpai probably coerced you into doing this, right?

"I appreciate the effort, but since I can already sense that your apology isn't coming directly from your heart, it's meaningless. All I wanted from you was support. If I can't have that, then you're unimportant to me. Protect that mound with your life because I won't be coming for it anytime soon."

Before Tanba could even squeeze a word in, Furuya bowed briefly and jogged down the stairs.

--

12:05 PM - Cafeteria

"Wait, where the hell are you going?" Miyuki whispered harshly. "You are not just gonna leave me like this."

Kuramochi sucked his teeth. "Back to my room, duh. You dug yourself into this hole and now you gotta dig your way out of it, which I highly doubt will happen 'cause you fucked it two months ago. I honestly don't care if Bakamura blows up in your face. You deserve it. I'd laugh. You don't deserve him after what you've done, so break a fucking leg, because I hope you do."

Miyuki's jaw dropped as Kuramochi grabbed an umbrella from the entrance of the cafeteria and walked away in the rain.

'Come on,' he thought in exasperation.

Feeling that it was either now or never, Miyuki swallowed as he entered the cafeteria and scoured the area for Eijun.

From the farthest table from the door, Haruichi looked up and caught the catcher's wandering gaze. "I think Miyuki-senpai's looking for you, Eijun-kun—oh, here he comes. Please, whatever you do, not here."

"Yeah, whatever," Eijun mumbled as Miyuki slid in front of him. He continued picking at his fish, feigning obliviousness to his presence.

Miyuki sighed in defeat. "Hey," he said. "It's fine if you don't wanna talk to me; I wanna talk to you. I'm not forcing you to, but I would like it if you came to my room so we could do this in private."

Eijun snorted as he downed his soup and got up. "Like how you kept everything private? Funny. Let's go." He slammed his tray on the counter and stormed out of the cafeteria.

"Two questions, Kominato," Miyuki said as he stood. "Assuming that you already know, how's he faring and how screwed do you think I am?"

Haruichi shrugged as he chewed on his rice. "Not well, and for the love of all things peaceful, please don't make things worse. You've really messed this one up."

"Tell me about it." Miyuki swallowed once more as he followed Eijun to his room.

As they left, Furuya grabbed a tray and sat next to Haruichi. "Judging by what I just saw, I think they're going to talk things out? That can't possibly work in Miyuki-senpai's favor."

"Yeah. I could tell Eijun-kun was holding his frustration in when we were having our conversation. It's only a matter of time before he explodes."

Haruichi piled the remainder of his rice into Furuya's bowl.

Furuya rose a brow. "You've barely eaten it. Why are you giving it to me?"

"Um, don't tell me you forgot you have a baby to feed?"

"Oh. Right. Thank you."

"No problem. How'd your conversation with Tanba-san go?"

Furuya separated his chopsticks and fished in his soup for any unwanted vegetables. "I refused his apology. I know he didn't want to do it in the first place, so I simply saved him some time. He meant what he said last night and he shouldn't recant it because he thinks he hurt my feelings.

"I'm fine. If he thinks I'm jeopardizing my chance at becoming the next ace, then that's fine as well. Giving up baseball does hurt, but I know I'll be happier when I give birth."

Haruichi couldn't help but smile at Furuya's defined bravery. Time and time again he was proving that he could hold his own, and even at a young age, he could already picture him as a resilient mother.

'Seven more months, huh? I truly hope he makes it.'

--

12:25 PM

The silence would have been unsettling if it weren't for the sounds of vigorous rainfall and thunder outside coupled with heavy gusts of wind that rattled the door to Miyuki's room.

Eijun sat on the edge of the bed, legs crossed, as Miyuki took a seat at his desk. Neither of them had spoken for approximately ten minutes, and it was better off that way if they wanted to retain their sanity and emotional stability, but Miyuki knew he had to follow through with his plans. As long as they could come to a mutual understanding of some sort, he would be well beyond relieved.

Psyching himself up, Miyuki turned around in his chair. "Can we talk now?"

Eijun looked up and smiled dryly. "Oh, I dunno, can we be honest and stop messing with my emotions now? Because that's clearly what you've been doing this entire time."

It was the first time Miyuki had properly seen Eijun's face after last night. His eyes were sunken into his face and shrouded in a dark shadow, the whites of his eyes tinted with a murky red. Puffy bags were beneath them, followed by cracked lips, oily skin, messy hair, and an overall devastating appearance.

It was an unsettling sight for Miyuki. His bright and bubbly Eijun had been replaced by barely a shell of who he once knew, a broken shell with an aura that was diminishing with each passing second. Deep in his heart he already knew the dreaded outcome, but he constantly wished that it would never become his reality, and now was his chance to make it so.

"Let's calm down first," he said carefully, avoiding the brunette's eyes. He couldn't look at them. They stung. "I just wanted to tell you that…I'm sorry for keeping everything that happened a secret. I couldn't bring myself to tell you no matter how hard I tried. It was a mistake on my part and on behalf of my drunken state, and if I could go back in time and reverse things, I would. That's how much I love you."

"Nothing you're saying makes sense, Kazuya," Eijun whispered, digging his fingernails into his calves. "I know I'm borderline brainless to you guys, but you'd think I'd understand what you're trying to tell me. I don't, though. Why? Because you're lying through your pearly white teeth."

Miyuki squinted his eyes in what he perceived to be genuine disbelief. "What makes you think I'm lying? You think I wanted any of this to happen?"

"You like seeing me suffer, don't you?" Eijun asked, pulling his lips into a pained grin. He could feel tears beginning to well up in his eyes, tears he thought he lost the ability to shed a long time ago. "I put everything I had into this relationship. It's only been two months, but I fell in love with you, Kazuya. I fell hard. I was obsessed with you.

"On the first day we met, ever since you caught my pitch, I felt special. It was like something in me had awakened. I knew that you were the one for me and I convinced myself that you felt the same. You showed me nothing but love and happiness and I wanted it to stay that way forever. But then…you messed it up.

"You screwed it up big time, Kazuya. Where do I even start? Oh, yeah. You kept Furuya's pregnancy a secret from me and thought it was the right thing to do! You've basically cheated on me! I thought you would have the balls to tell me something like that since I suck on them every night, huh?"

Miyuki rolled his eyes. Eijun could be insufferable sometimes.

"I hate how everyone seems to forget that I was piss drunk. I was wasted, and I know that I should've drunk a bit more responsibly, or not at all, but I wanted to have fun. Furuya was never supposed to be involved in that fun. I didn't know what I was doing and I hate myself for it when I see you like this. You look terrible and it's my fault. I want your smile back."

"My smile is long gone," Eijun said, sniffling. "You're just spitting out any excuse you can think of because you're cornered. I don't care if you were drunk or not. I honestly couldn't care less. What really hurts me is the fact that after you made sweet sweet love to my freaking rival, you innocently carried on being with me as if nothing happened. You mentioned absolutely nothing to me. You crawled back into my bed, fucked me to sleep good and hard, and that was that. You succeeded, right?"

"You have no idea what was going through my mind when that happened, so don't get it twisted!"

"Don't FUCKING yell at me!" Eijun shouted, banging his fist against the bed frame. Tears rapidly poured from his eyes as he scratched at his arms uncontrollably.

"You have no right to yell at me, so I don't wanna hear it! I should be yelling at you because my heart is broken! You've broken my heart! I can't feel anything other than despair just staring at you! Everything you're saying is a damn lie and we both know it! Stop acting as if you've ever had feelings for me because it's not true! You only used me for sex and I dealt with it since I didn't wanna lose you!"

Miyuki leaped from his chair and pulled Eijun's hands away from him, for his arms were starting to turn red with scratch marks. He could feel the brunette trembling in his hold, and he wanted nothing but to wrap him in a warm embrace, but he knew he would be rejected. He held Eijun's wrists down with one hand and grabbed his chin with the other, turning his face towards him.

"Look at me," he said. "Look at me, babe."

"Don't call me that, you liar!" Eijun cried, struggling to free himself from Miyuki's grip.

The feel of his skin sent shivers throughout his body, knowing that those same exact hands had explored Furuya's body in ways he couldn't stomach to imagine.

"You've lied this entire relationship and I'm not gonna take that shit from you anymore! I gave you everything I had to offer and there you went, looking for more. What is it that you want, Kazuya? Is a drunk person easier to have sex with because it gives you more power over them?"

"Why are you only obsessing over sex like that's the main issue here?!"

"Because I willingly gave my body to you!" Eijun broke free of Miyuki's hold and shoved him away. He clutched his chest as he patted the bed twice. "I lost my virginity on this bed right here. To be honest, I didn't want to do it at first since we had only been dating for a few weeks at the time and I was still uncomfortable, but why not? What did I know about relationships?

"Absolutely nothing, so I took your word for it and spread my legs like the whore you wanted me to be. I grew to love it, but then it spiraled out of control. I let you fuck me in places I thought were crazy, not thinking much of it because I followed your definition of love. In the locker room, the bathroom, the bathhouse, the dugout, the school staircase, the roof, literally everywhere!

"Every time you invited me to your room, I thought we were finally gonna spend some quality time together and watch a movie, play video games, or even review some game footage, but no. You would fuck me until I went numb and whisper sweet things I wanted to hear so I wouldn't doubt you.

"You're smart Kazuya; I'll admit that. You had me wrapped around your finger and enjoyed every second of it because you were in complete control of me and my body. I did things I would never do for anybody else, and now I just feel so sticky and disgusting. I let you walk all over me and I had zero clue. How could you?"

Miyuki exhaled sharply as he tried to make sense of what Eijun was saying. Not a single word was what he wanted to hear. He scrambled his thoughts together before making eye contact.

"Eijun, if you felt that we were having too much sex, you could've said something. You acted completely fine whenever we did it in spontaneous places, so I assumed you had nothing against it."

"And you should've just told me that you cheated on me."

"Let me finish, damn it. I let you have your paragraph; it's my turn. I want to debunk your whole argument—I do love you. I had no intention of making you think I was only using you for sex. Since the day I met you, I knew you'd be a great partner, both on and off the field. You complemented me and vice versa.

"You have to believe me when I say that having sex with Furuya tormented me. The morning after, I couldn't look you in the eye or smile. I don't know if you remember how miserable I was that day. I couldn't bring myself to tell you. I knew you'd be distraught, but I didn't wanna see you cry just when our relationship was beginning to take off.

"I wouldn't have been able to handle it and I'm not handling it well right now. I'm really not. I loathe seeing you cry. It makes me feel like shit and then some because I'm the root cause of it. I fucked up hard and I know it. Please…please accept my apology."

Eijun slowly got up from Miyuki's bed and walked over to him. He crouched in front of him and cupped his cheeks in his hands.

"I don't want your apology," he said bitterly. "I want you to feel the same hollowness I feel knowing that I'll never forgive you. I want you to sleep at night and cry about how I'll never sleep next to you on your bed again. I want you to crave the taste of my body and know that you'll never be inside me again, moaning about how good and tight I feel. I want you to wear your catcher's gear and know that you'll never catch my pitches again.

"I can't stand you. You're so selfish. Here you are, trying to save your own ass with words you don't even mean. You almost had me, I won't lie. Your…sort of sad face that will forever stay disgustingly handsome almost made me melt. Almost.

"You were so close. A few more words and we would have been having 'I'm sorry' sex right now. However, you're two months too late and you've ruined everything. We planned our entire future together, Kazuya. Don't you remember? Look."

Eijun vigorously turned Miyuki's head to face the bed. "Look at it!" he continued tauntingly, his voice quivering as another wave of tears trickled from his crazed, dilated eyes. "Look, Kazuya! Look! That one night, when we were laying in each other's sweat and cuddling and talking about our plans after high school.

"You were going to wait for me on the other side, we would go pro, get rich, live together in a house so big it would take us a whole week to have sex in each room, probably get a dog or two, and live the high life! Wasn't that great?! Wasn't that a great night we shared?

"At that point, I thought we were finally getting serious. I was enjoying being Miyuki Kazuya's boyfriend, the boy all the girls wanted a piece of. I had the entire cake, eating my delicious fill until I got sick. I regret every single thing now. How do you feel?"

Miyuki's eyes fluttered behind his glasses as he rubbed Eijun's hand that was on his cheek.

"Like crap," he said, voice barely above a whisper.

"Beautiful."

Eijun moved closer, their faces no more than an inch apart, Miyuki's warm breath evaporating onto his skin from his full lips. On separate occasions, this would send a flash of heat coursing throughout his body, wanting to ravenously tear off the catcher's clothes and feel his warm breath on every sensitive crevice of his naked being.

That was old news.

"I'm so close to you I could kiss you," Eijun said, "but I still suck at it so you wouldn't enjoy it very much. Maybe you can find someone else who can kiss better than me, and get them pregnant while you're at it, since that's what you like doing in your spare time. Enough about my whiny little immature self. What are you gonna do about Furuya?"

"What do you mean?" Miyuki questioned, peering into Eijun's eyes that were gleaming with an eerie light. "What about Furuya?"

Eijun quickly went from crouching to sitting with his legs crossed, hands still on Miyuki's face.

"I'm supposed to be the dumb one here, not you," he chuckled. "You're a father now. Earlier, Furuya said you wanted him to get an abortion. Ding! Wrong! That's not how this is supposed to go, Kazuya. Who cares if it ruins your career? Who cares if it ruins your ru…ri…reputation? Yeah, that's the word!

"You weren't worried about ruining this relationship, so I don't see the issue. I think you'd make a great daddy. I already call you that in bed so it should be the same thing, kinda. Man up, Kazuya. Grow up! You did what you did and you can't run away from it.

"This is sorta like baseball. All bases are loaded and you're trapped with nowhere to go, nowhere to hide."

"Furuya plans on raising the child alone so he obviously doesn't need me—"

"You shut the hell up when I'm speaking to you!" Eijun demanded, furrowing his brow. "Let me have power over you just this once, damn it. That's all I'm asking for. Anyway, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, Furuya only said that because you refused to acknowledge that it was your child.

"If you had acted maturely about it when he first told you, he would have gladly thought about raising his baby with you. But, no. You panicked and hurt him, like how you hurt me. Do you get off on hurting people? Does it rile you up? Turn you on? Get your cock hard and swollen? I bet it does, right, Kazuya? Hmm? Babe?"

Having had enough of staring at Miyuki's putrid face, Eijun dropped his hands. He sauntered towards the window and gazed outside, marveling at the chaos the weather was causing.

"Ah, I feel so relieved!" he expressed, stretching. "I've been withholding that since last night, and I still have so much more to say, but I don't wanna waste another breath on you. My words probably went through one ear and flew straight out the other.

"That's not a quality a future captain should have, Kazuya. Captains need to listen and take good care of their teammates, which you obviously have no clue how to do. Anything you wanna say before I leave? I won't be entering this room ever again."

Miyuki stood up and readjusted his glasses. "So, in essence, have you broken up with me?"

"If that's all you got from me pouring my heart out to you, then you bet your ass that's the case. You can keep my dignity and my virginity since that's all you've ever wanted. Lunch is over, so I'll let you get ready to go back to class. I know I'll see your handsome face again, but I love a dramatic ending.

"From now on, you're nothing to me but the catcher from the magazine I once admired. Bye, Kazuya."

EIjun slipped on his shoes and opened the door.

"Dry your eyes on the way out," Miyuki advised. "I don't want anyone seeing you cry."

"The rain will handle that for me."

"And your umbrella?"

"Keep it. You're the one that bought it for me."

With that, Eijun walked out and slammed the door behind him, vanishing into the storm.