Chapter 1: Umbrella

A/N: Honestly, I originally didn't intend to write this out till I updated my ongoing fics, but this was bugging me so bad. Got a one-shot of Misawa out earlier and now I'm onto a two-shot (or a three-shot); they're an addicting couple to write, really!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ace of Diamond.

EDIT: This was inspired by a doujinshi named Singin' in the Rain. A big thank-you to Calico Neko who reminded me to add it in! It's a great doujinshi - if you haven't read it yet and is a huge Misawa shipper (like me, heh), you've got to check it out! If you aren't, just check it out, anyway, haha. (Cue Miyuki's adorable laughter) Will be posting up the next chapter hopefully by the end of this week!

Hope you enjoy!

Sawamura sat down on the steps, a little grumpy as he stared at the gloomy sky: it was already pouring and too late for him to make an attempted run to the clubroom without getting drenched. He had intended to make a dash for the field right after school for pitching practice, but he forgotten about his class duties and his classmates had to drag him back again. He huffed indigantly; like a little bit of rain could stop him! He would make it to practice no matter what!

He started tying his laces, pulling it tight, "Yosh! I can do - "

"You're still here?"

He squeaked - an instinctive action due to a certain catcher's usual antics - and whirling around, he spluttered, obviously flustered by Miyuki's sudden appearance, "M- Miyuki!"

The corner of the catcher's lips lifted slightly as he took his own pair of shoes out. "An ace can't be that timid."

"I am not timid!" Sawamura said defensively, folding his arms, "you just took me by surprise!"

"Sure, sure." He was still having that annoying smirk playing on his lips as he tugged his shoes on, then opened his bag and pulled an umbrella out. Sawamura eyed it for a moment, then huffed again and looked away.

Miyuki chuckled. "My umbrella is big enough, Sawamura."

Why the hell was he telling him the size of his umbrella? Weirdo. "Big enough? Of course it's big!"

The dark-haired boy stared at him for a moment, then started laughing. "God, you never fail to amuse me!" He pulled the clasp, pushed the button and the umbrella slid to the hilt to an open canopy. "Get under it, stupid."

Sawamura pursed his lips; Miyuki offering help just like this was too good to be true. What did he have under his sleeve? The catcher arched a brow, jerking his head to his direction. "Come on, I won't bite."

"Two guys sharing an umbrella is just weird," he protested, gesturing wildly with his arms in a pathetic attempt to emphasize his point, "people will say weird stuff about us!"

"Don't you want to practice your pitches?" Miyuki asked, grinning, "or do you want to allow Furuya to overtake you since he's probably already there?"

Oh, hell no! Sawamura was next to Miyuki in a flash. The latter looked ahead, though Sawamura could tell he was fighting back a grin. Ugh, he would never know what Miyuki was thinking - not that he wanted to; the catcher was one sadistic person, after all. "Come on, you've got to stand on my right. This way both our dominant arms won't be wet."

Sawamura did as he asked, and as they stepped out to the pouring rain and the rain splattered down on the roof of the umbrella, Sawamura allowed himself to feel the relief that Miyuki actually made his offer - then almost regretted it immediately. The remaining few students who were still in school - unfortunately, majority of it being females - squealed when they saw them walking past... sharing a damned umbrella.

"Baseball members have great friendship, don't they?"

- "Oh, look, they're sharing an umbrella! How cute!"

Sawamura fidgeted as his shoulder bumped the catcher's unintentionally, a scowl predominant on his face. "I told you, Miyuki. Look at what other people are saying!"

"I believe the right word would be listen," Miyuki said, making the pitcher splutter indignantly again, face red, "and it's fine - being seen with me is a privilege, isn't it?" At that, he turned and faced Sawamura, who stopped as well because of Miyuki's abrupt halt in his steps. The catcher's lips was tugging into a smug smirk as he leaned a few inches closer to the furiously blushing pitcher, "or are you embarrassed that what they're speculating is true?"

"W- what they are speculating!" He exclaimed, "I - no, I mean, what are they possibly saying!" He was now no longer under the protection of the umbrella, scrambling to make some distance between them and yelling at the amused bespectacled teen while jabbing his finger at him, "Shut up!"

Damn it, he hated how Miyuki can make him so embarrassed! He really didn't know what was going on in Miyuki's head half of the time.

Miyuki raised an arm up in surrender, though the grin was still playing on his lips, "I get it, idiot. Now get back under: you're going to get drenched."

Scowling and grumbling under his breath, Sawamura did as he asked. Their shoulders bumped together again, and Sawamura felt his stomach do a flip. For a moment, in the silence - other than Miyuki's not-so-subtle chuckles, Sawamura could focus on other things other than Miyuki's teasing. He suddenly realized how Miyuki was almost a head taller than him, how there were warm tingles spreading throughout his body where their shoulders touched, how he smelt of fresh lavender and a hint of spiciness - pepper? - and how...

...both the corner of his lips were lifting up to an arrogant grin. "My, Sawamura," he started cheerily, slinging one arm around the poor, unguarded boy who was far too shocked to retaliate, "I didn't know you like my looks so much."

Now that they were closer, the scent got considerably stronger and he felt his stomach clench again, though not uncomfortably; but it was too strange for him to handle. As quickly as he could, he managed to wrench himself out from under the firm hold, gasping, "Miyuki!"

"Now, where's the respect for me?" Miyuki asked as he grabbed Sawamura's wrist, pulling him back under the canopy. "And do you really want to get sick?" He didn't really answer; he was too fixated on trying not to notice the heat radiating from where the catcher had gripped him even after he had released his wrist. Sawamura was growing increasingly freaked. What the hell was going on?

"Oi, aren't you supposed to reply your senpai when he asks you a question?"

"You don't even act like a senior!" Sawamura shot back, eyes intent on the clubroom that they were finally approaching. Thank God for that; he would go insane if he had to continue staying under the same umbrella as Miyuki.

"You don't even act like an ace," Miyuki drawled, making Sawamura's mouth to drop open as the latter started making all sorts of incoherent shouts - and of course, he pretended to be oblivious to it and continued, "your pitches still lack a ton of control, Sawamura. You need practice. You can only throw a four-seam now, right?"

Sawamura stopped his obnoxiously loud protests and growled from beside him and Miyuki's eyes widen by a fraction as he dodged an oncoming fist, "Shut up, Miyuki! I will be the ace one day and you'll have to be catching my pitches then!"

Miyuki chuckled, "Haha! I hope I will still be there, Sawamura."

"You - you bastard!" Sawamura yelled, "I won't ever give up on becoming an ace!"

"And that's what makes you fitted for one."

The statement caught Sawamura by surprise and he felt his heart give a little jump. Ignoring the blood rushing to his cheeks, he recovered as fast as he could, declaring, "Wahahaha! Miyuki, I'm going to make you acknowledge me officially one day!"

Miyuki tilted his head towards him, and somehow, the smirk he sent him seemed to be full of implications and Sawamura felt his own breath caught in his throat. Slowly, he lifted his eyes to meet Miyuki's and there seemed to be something off with the way he was looking at him: his eyes were molten and dark and Sawamura felt himself not being able to breathe under his stare.

Miyuki's glasses glinted and he took a step closer to Sawamura, eyes still staying locked with him throughout; the latter was too shell-shocked to move or make any loud exclamations he usually did. His heart was beating abnormally fast with the catcher's face just inches away from his - and he had no idea why. What the hell was he doing anyway?!

A pregnant pause.

"I heard Sawamura's stupid laughter!" Kuramochi's yell was heard approaching them, making both of them snap out of their staring contest and Sawamura scrambled a few feet away from Miyuki for good measure. Kuramochi barreled towards him and pounced on his back, arm going around his neck and putting him in a headlock. "You're late, stupid kohai!"

"Ugh! Senpai, you're choking me!" As he struggled against his senior's hold futilely, he could see Miyuki closing his umbrella and bundling it up before he headed into the clubroom without another word.

"That's the point, Bakamura!"

Sawamura blinked, not really listening to his senpai's yells; what was that just now? He didn't know what exactly happened, but it sure didn't feel normal. Kuramochi finally released Sawamura out of his death grip and the pitcher coughed and took in a huge gulp of air,

"Kuramochi-senpai, were you trying to kill me?"

"Being rude again, aren't you?" Oh, crap. "Just you wait after practice." Kuramochi sent him a rather disturbing smile when Masuko was suddenly appeared behind him.

"Kuramochi, we've to practice," he said. He gave Sawamura a jerk of his head and the latter shot him a grateful look when Kuramochi wasn't looking. The two seniors finally left after the wrestler threatened the weary junior one last time.

He walked into the silent clubroom and threw his bag down on the floor carelessly. He absently noted that Miyuki wasn't in it anymore - probably off to find Furuya... he felt a bitter smile curling his lips. Well, he didn't have the ability to be the starter pitcher yet, right? He'd get the number one on his back soon, and Miyuki would have to catch for him, then!

As he rummaged through his bag for his towel, his thoughts started tracing back to earlier in the afternoon when they were sharing an umbrella - he shook his head. The warm tingles he felt was probably because of the chill of the cold weather and Miyuki's eyes were probably the result of the gloomy weather casting a shadow...

It was all the rain's fault; yes, that was right.

Sawamura yawned, stretching on his seat lazily as he took the upright book he had set up on his desk - not realizing that it was upside down - and stared at the prints for a moment.

Then he slumped back down on the desk, the teacher continued to drone on and on as he gave up on listening - he really didn't understand a single word. He heard a few groans from around him and his ears finally picked up on the drizzle. Curious, he turned to the window and realized it was starting to rain. He stared at the growing downpour for a moment, then realized in a panic that he forgot his umbrella again.

He was almost late this morning for practice after all, and he didn't have time to shove an umbrella into his bag. Damn it. This weather was reminding him of what happened a few days ago. He wrinkled his nose; he still couldn't comprehend what happened. After the incident, Miyuki was still acting like a usual jerk, so it must not be bothering him much - though Sawamura wouldn't know for sure. Miyuki was not that easy to see through.

The rain was making pretty streaks down the window panes and the cool waft of air that blew into the classroom from time to time felt so nice. He had no idea how long he had stared in the direction of the window with his book propped on his desk in a poorly-concealed effort to look like he was paying attention when his phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket, jolting him out of his admiration of the rain.

Brrrr.

He chanced a look at the teacher and then took his phone from his pocket.

Mail from Miyuki

He scowled; oh, what did that bastard want from him now? He opened the mail and felt his face flush red, though he didn't know why:

Hey, idiot. Brought your umbrella today?

Tch! None of your business, jerk! He quickly texted back and slid his phone back into his pocket. Poking fun of him seemed to be Miyuki's favorite pastime; and it wasn't really gratifying to be his target all the time.

Sawamura grumbled as he dashed down the stairs: he was late for practice again! He would have to spend more time with his tire later tonight to make up for the lost time. The teacher made him stay back to lecture him on how sleeping in class wasn't going to help his failing grades. Like he didn't know! Still scowling, he reached for his shoes -

"Why were you late?"

Whirling around, he found Miyuki leaning against the wall while spinning the umbrella in his hand leisurely.

"W- what are you doing here?"

Miyuki cocked his head to the side. "Waiting for you, of course."

Oh! He felt something warm spread in his chest. Was he offering to help with his practice today? "You aren't practicing with Furuya today?"

He was putting on his shoes in a hurry. It was rare that Miyuki could practice with him, after all. He loved having Chris-senpai catch for him - he was an invaluable friend and mentor he greatly respected, but playing with Miyuki gave him a different feeling. He still didn't know how to describe it.

There was a silence and Sawamura looked up from his shoes when he realized that Miyuki wasn't replying. "Miyuki?"

"...I am practicing with him," Miyuki said blandly. Sawamura felt his gut twist uncomfortably at his reply.

"Oh."

The atmosphere immediately became stagnant and heavy. Sawamura felt something in him churn, making him slightly queasy - he wondered why he even thought Miyuki was waiting for him. Tch! When would he be so good-willed, anyway? "So then, why are you really here?"

A curl of the catcher's lips. "I figured you didn't bring your umbrella."

"I - I told you it was none of your business!" He exclaimed, face red, though he felt strangely warm spreading in his chest, "and I could've brought it!"

"For an idiot like you, an umbrella would be hard to remember."

Sawamura's brow twitched. "You're a real jerk, you know."

Miyuki's eyes twinkled and his lips pulled up to a full grin. "Haha, thank you!"

"It wasn't a compliment!"

Miyuki didn't say anything in return and instead motioned for Sawamura to join him under the umbrella. This time, though with slight hesitation, Sawamura did as he asked without a word.

Miyuki arched a brow as they walked out of the school. "I thought you would protest more."

"You'd make me do it, anyway," Sawamura said, staring intently straight ahead, deliberately not looking the catcher in the eye.

Miyuki chuckled. "Haha! That's unusually perceptive of you."

Their shoulders bumped together as they made their way to the clubroom, with Miyuki's usual teasing and Sawamura's flustered retorts.

It was normal.

Everything could just be blamed on the rain; and at the moment, Sawamura was satisfied with his current explanation.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this! I'm still deciding between a two-shot or a three-shot; gonna see how this goes.. Do drop by a review to tell me your thoughts!

-mysticflakes