A/N: I liked the idea of incorporating the rest of the Nishiura team into an Abe/Mihashi story. This will be a multi-chapter story, Abe and Mihashi's developing relationship through the eyes of their teammates. Set in the characters' third year. Please enjoy, and review if you'd like to see more.

Team Effort

1.

Abe likes Mihashi.

Oki isn't even sure where the thought comes from. One moment it's just any morning, watching the sunrise through the trees at the edge of the field while he lethargically rakes the line between first and second base, his eyes gritty and his oatmeal heavy in his stomach, marveling that even after three years he's never really gotten used to these early morning practices—and the next he's wide awake, this thought resounding in his head like a gong, as clear as if somebody shouted it across the field. He even glances over at Tajima, the only person on the team he could imagine doing that—but the third baseman's just hanging out in the dugout, joking around with some of the first and second years who idolize him because he's such an absolute natural. The team's gotten bigger over the years as they started putting Nishiura on the map, but Oki can still pick out each of his original nine teammates without even trying, his eyes drawn to them like beacons in the dusky light.

And maybe that's why, as he resumes raking, he finds his gaze moving to the pair inside the batting cage, Nishiura's one and only ace batting to the machine while his catcher watches from two steps back, arms crossed over his chest. Abe's become one of their most reliable hitters, but that's not why he's in there, Oki knows that. The first baseman watches him cross to shut off the pitching machine, jog back to adjust the pitcher's form with his hands on Mihashi's hips. Mihashi obliges, turns twice with his arms extended for an imaginary bat, his elbow brushing Abe's chest on the release.

It's not an unusual scene for them. Oki's never really understood how it started, but they've been inseparable since that first practice game against Mihoshi three years ago—and if that was a rocky road at first, they've got it down to an art now. Mihashi's still pretty flighty and Abe still has a temper, but more often than not, when Oki looks at them these days, he sees this: a seamless battery, two people who fit together like matched puzzle pieces. He doesn't even blink anymore when Abe jogs to the mound during a game and takes Mihashi's hand, just glad there's somebody on their team who knows how to calm Mihashi down with a single touch.

But somehow it's hitting him differently this morning.

The pitching machine is back on. Abe retreats to lean against the chain-link fence around the cage, and as he watches the catcher's face, those dark eyes never leaving Mihashi's form, Oki realizes that it isn't this moment he's really registering. It's all the little moments he's been noticing recently, the way Abe's gaze follows Mihashi as they all clamber onto the bus, the way their knees brush sometimes when they're sitting in the team circle, the way he's sometimes caught Abe watching Mihashi walk away at the end of practice with that look on his face, that look Oki sees all the time on his mother's favorite Korean dramas but never thought was a real look until he saw it on Abe of all people, and that one time he caught it in the mirror when he was thinking about Nishiura's third-base coach…

Oki turns away from the cage, focuses on his raking. It's not like he's going to say anything about it. He can't say he's never had a crush on a teammate. It's hard not to get a little infatuated when they spend fourteen hours a day together…

Mihashi's laugh drags his gaze back in time to watch the pitcher pull his helmet off and take his ball cap with it, fumbling as he tries to hang onto both. Abe grabs his hat out of the air and settles it firmly on his head, pushing it down with a smile. Oki blinks, swallows a little too hard, watches the pair slip out of the batting cage with Abe's hand pressed to the small of Mihashi's back.

Then again, there's always the possibility that this isn't a crush. It's a long shot, an outside pitch, but there's always a chance that Abe is really, actually in—

Oki turns away before he has to know for sure.