A/N: Ah! Guys! I'm SO beyond sorry that I've taken so long to update this fanfic ! Uni work and my part time job have been piling on and I've only recently acquired a new laptop! I've managed to complete all my essays and revision notes so I've found time on my day off to complete this fic once and for all! I hope you all will be satisfied with the ending, everything ties up in this chapter and sorts itself out ! I'm glad you've all enjoyed this fanfic, I've adored writing it-I just love this series so much! Thank you for reading, I love you all!
Mihashi sat nervously in class; he was angry and frustrated at himself for letting Tajima do that—for not realising in the first place Tajima's feelings. He couldn't blame the boy for doing what he did, he wasn't necessarily angry at Tajima, he just wished with his entire being that Abe didn't have to see that.
The look on Abe's face said everything. He had such a pained expression, as if everything he could ever want was just taken in the space of a second. The pitcher never wanted to see that look on his catcher's face ever again. He knew he needed to make amends and he would do just that as soon as the bell for break would ring.
"Mihashi translate what I just said into English!" Mihashi looked shamelessly up into the hard stare of the teacher, he could feel his cheeks turning painfully red as the class turned around to look at him.
"I-I'm sorry, I wasn't pa-paying attention" Mihashi choked out, completely humiliated. The teacher sighed and shook her head.
"I'm afraid you'll have to stay behind at break" Mihashi nodded glumly in response, his heart sinking as that meant even longer time to wait before he could apologise to Abe.
Tajima eyed Mihashi carefully, he had originally wanted to apologise to Mihashi first however he couldn't if Mihashi was in detention. When the bell rang he sighed and made his way out of the room with one last glance at the miserable Mihashi. The freckled boy made his way to Hanai's class, knowing full well that Abe would be there.
He braced himself before entering the open door, he caught Hanai's eye and his chest thumped with a strange feeling—perhaps it was embarrassment of having Hanai see him in such a state earlier. Hanai smiled at him reassuringly and that strange feeling occurred once more—much stranger this time. Huh, weird.
Tajima made his way confidently to Abe's desk and caught the catcher's gaze, Abe's eyes stared painfully cold into his own and he was honestly incredibly intimidated at the boy's hard glare. Tajima drew up the courage to speak—Abe's eyes continued to stare into his own.
"About what happened earlier—" Tajima was cut off by a sharp blow to his left cheek, his head jerked to the side at the impact of the hard punch. Tajima's hand flew to his cheek—attempting to somehow stop the pain with his hand. He glared at Abe in both surprise and pain.
"You think you can take the only good thing in my life away from me and just like that I'll accept it and get on with my life!" Abe yelled loudly at the other boy—his chest heaving from pure anger. Hanai had stood up in an attempt to stop whatever was about to happen, the rest of Abe's class had stopped to watch the commotion unfold.
"You think he's only important to you?" Tajima spat back, his hand still cradling his cheek in an attempt to soothe the pain. "He's important to me too, more than you will ever know!" Tajima shouted, Abe still glared silently at the freckled boy. "I—I love him so much I don't know what to do anymore" Tajima felt his voice crack, he tried not to look at all the inquiring stares—he focused purely on Abe, who looked surprised. "You weren't meant to be the one who confessed first" Tajima continued in a quieter voice. "But it's inevitable" He darted his eyes quickly to Hanai who smiled and nodded encouragingly. "That's why…"
Tajima stood up straight and faced Abe fully. "I'll give up on Mihashi, I'll let him talk to you before I tell you why" Tajima stuck out his hand. "I'm sorry Abe, I was jealous, Mihashi doesn't feel the same way about me and I don't blame him. I'm sorry." Tajima bowed his head down, he felt Abe grab his hand and shake it slowly.
"I overreacted" Abe replied, embarrassed to admit that. "I just thought—when I saw you two kissing, I've never felt that bad before." Tajima nodded in understanding and gripped Abe's hand hander.
"Treat him good, okay?" Tajima asked the boy. Abe smiled softly and nodded. "He's in detention right now, he wasn't paying attention in class—I guess that's my fault." Tajima admitted with a laugh. "He should be out soon—you should go see him." Abe nodded, muttered a thank you and ran off in the direction of Mihashi's class.
Tajima turned to find Hanai standing next to him—his hands in his pockets and looking slightly uncomfortable.
"You can cry, if you want to." Hanai stated, Tajima's face twisted into an odd expression before he shook it off.
"No" He said as he stood his ground. "I'm done crying." He turned and smiled genuinely at Hanai who blushed a crimson colour. "I like me better when I'm smiling anyway" Hanai couldn't help but smile at this.
"Yeah" The captain stated as they both looked into the direction Abe ran to. "I like you better when you're smiling too" Tajima eyed Hanai quickly, his heart thumping loudly in his chest for some reason.
As soon as Abe turned the corner to arrive at Mihashi's class the bell rang for break to end, the catcher stood firm—there was no way he was missing his chance. He felt someone pat him roughly on the back, with surprised eyes he turned to face the culprit. Tajima grinned at him.
"Go get him" Tajima urged reassuringly. Abe bit his lip and nodded, his stomach feeling oddly queasy as he followed Tajima into the classroom. Mihashi's classmates were all at their places now, the teacher at the desk and sorting out the lesson plan, Abe spotted Mihashi still sat at his desk looking like the epitome of misery. Abe made his way over to the small pitcher, ignoring the glances from students, the confused gaze of the teacher, he stood in front of his pitcher's desk.
"Mihashi" Abe said softly, his eyes trailing down Mihashi's saddened features—his heart leaped when Mihashi slowly looked up into his eyes, a faint blush of confusion on his cheeks.
"A-Abe kun?" Mihashi whispered, not quite believing his eyes—did this mean that Abe wasn't mad at him anymore? His eyes darted to Tajima who smiled softly back at him, did Tajima speak to him?
"I love you" Abe stated, his voice full of confidence and reassurance. "I love you and only you, I don't care about what happened yesterday, it's been cleared up" Abe smiled quickly at Tajima and then brought his focus back to Mihashi. "I'm sorry I rushed to conclusions, I should have known that you weren't like that Mihashi" Abe continued, he knelt on the ground so that he was now eye level with his pitcher. "I love you more than I've ever loved another person before, you have to believe me Mihashi. What happened yesterday doesn't matter anymore, don't beat yourself up over it." Abe remarked, his eyes never leaving the watering blonde boys'.
"A-Abe kun…" Mihashi started, his voice sounded choked. Before Abe could register what was happening the blonde boy's lips were pushing timidly and shyly against his own, they felt warm and just so right. Abe pushed his lips back against Mihashi's in response and they pulled away quickly, soon aware that the entirety of class nine were giving them strange looks. Izumi rolled his eyes at Hamada who was whispering "I told you so!" to the freckled boy, Tajima smiled softly—finally accepting that Mihashi is Abe's now and that's the way it should be. Abe grinned sheepishly at a reddened Mihashi.
"Are you two quite finished?" The teacher stated, Abe flushed red and nodded slowly, without uttering a word. Mihashi stayed silent in shock and embarrassment. "Abe san if you would kindly make your way back to your own class, you and Mihashi san can catch up after school hours" The teacher smirked at the boy, Abe nodded and turned to look at Mihashi once more.
"Wait for me after school, yeah?" Abe asked, Mihashi nodded in reply and Abe smiled softly and planted a kiss on the smaller boy's forehead before leaving the room—the smile never leaving his face. However he stopped when he got to Tajima's desk, he placed a hand on Tajima's shoulder causing the freckled boy to look up at him.
"Thank you" Abe whispered to the other boy, "Oh, and Hanai wants to talk to you after school" Abe added, Tajima raised an eyebrow at the sly smirk Abe gave him—he could feel his cheeks heating up. What did Hanai want to say to him which he couldn't say before?
Abe returned back to his classroom, Hanai smiled at the ecstatic atmosphere around the catcher.
"It went well then, huh?" Hanai asked, Abe grinned in response.
"We kissed, I told him I loved him more than anyone and he kissed me" Abe stated happily, Hanai grinned at him and high fived him. "When are you gonna tell Tajima anyway?" Abe asked, the captain flushed in response.
"I—uh, after school hopefully, I'm still not sure whether it's the right time or not, he just got over Mihashi. I'd feel like a rebound" Hanai admitted, Abe nodded—it made sense, Tajima was irrevocably in love with Mihashi just ten minutes ago.
"You'll know what to do when you see him, Hanai" Abe said reassuringly, placing a hand on Hanai's shoulder, the captain smiled—he had a lot of thinking to do.
The day went by quickly, before the four boy's knew it the end of the day had arrived. Mihashi and Tajima made their way to the front gate, talking just like they used to. When Tajima put his arm around Mihashi in his usual fashion his heart didn't thump, he didn't feel embarrassed or awkward to do that to Mihashi anymore.
"Oiii! Abe, Hanai!" Tajima yelled cheerfully, waving his arm in the air. Hanai smiled softly and genuinely at the shorter boy, absolutely relieved that they had the old Tajima back. Mihashi blushed as they made their way over to the catcher and the captain.
Abe reached out his hand to take Mihashi's own in his. "Hey" Abe stated lamely, Mihashi blushed up at his, could he call him his boyfriend yet?
"H-hi" Mihashi stuttered in response, his hand gripping Abe's and his heart thumping. Abe grinned and pressed a soft kiss against Mihashi's lips which Mihashi responded to straight away.
Tajima looked up at a blushing Hanai intently.
"W-what" Hanai asked, his cheeks flushing red. Tajima raised an eyebrow.
"You wanted to talk to me?" Tajima asked, Hanai shot a glare towards Abe who shrugged back at him and smirked.
"Y-Yeah I guess" Hanai stated, his hand rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, Tajima studied the captain's expression, his lips curling into a devious smile as the blush on Hanai's face said it all. Tajima turned to Abe and Mihashi.
"Hey could you guys start walking? We'll catch up!" Tajima shouted over at them, Abe grinned knowingly for a moment then pulled a confused Mihashi away.
"Hanai, you don't need to say anything" Tajima told the flushing boy, Hanai merely gave the clean up hitter a confused look which grew all the more confused as soon as he felt the freckled boy's lips attacking his own prominently.
Hanai groaned into the kiss, his eyes watering as the one thing he truly had been wanting for too long now was finally happening. Tajima was kissing him—with all he had, Hanai wrapped his arms around the smaller boy's waist and pulled the boy flush against him—he could feel Tajima's grin against his lips. Nothing felt more right.
Tajima pulled away with a grin still plastered on his face. Hanai blushed, the thumping of his heart noticeable by both him and Tajima.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Tajima asked the captain.
"You were in love with Mihashi, I couldn't do that to you." Hanai stated, his eyes absorbed in Tajima's. Tajima bit his lip and looked incredibly guilty.
"All that time, while I was crying, while I was saying how much I loved Mihashi and you—you were in love with me the whole time." Tajima whispered, Hanai smiled softly at him, his fingers tracing the younger boy's hips. "I'm sorry" Tajima said quietly, a lot like he did when they had that phone call the other day.
Hanai rolled his eyes and placed a chaste kiss on the freckled boy's lips.
"It's okay, I love you, it's okay." Hanai whispered, Tajima sniffed and nodded.
"I think I'm falling in love with you Hanai" Tajima admitted, the captain blushed deep then beamed at the smaller boy.
"Well you're in luck because I'm already in love with you and I have been for a while now" Hanai admitted, Tajima sighed in content and leant his head against Hanai's chest.
"Looks like we have a lot of catching up to do in our relationship then" Tajima stated with a wink, Hanai blushed and decided not to think too deeply about what Tajima just said. Instead he gripped the clean up hitter's hand and pulled him along after him—walking towards Mihashi and Abe to catch up.
The four boy's left for home, hand in hand, each one happy and content in their newly formed relationships.
END. Okay so that ending, I admit, was a bit rushed but I hope you guys enjoyed this fic ! Once again i'm sorry that I've taken so long to update it !