#my heart bleeds for eijun

[koushuwu]

as i am watching, i’m getting more and more annoyed with kazuya. i still love him. but damn boy.

[aerialflight]

Fic Recs (mostly Naruto cause I read too many good fics in the fandom and now I'm in hell)

[Naruto]

Spirit-Touched by phooykazooi

Once upon a time, the Haruno clan were priests. It was said that they were spirit-touched, and that they walked among the downtrodden and the poor, and did not bow to royalty.

Or, an AU in which Sakura can see spirits.

Part 1 of The Realms Between

(Really, and I mean REALLY fantastic Shikamaru & Sakura friendship! Fantastic, beautiful writing, and such good worldbuilding, god, and the Haruno family is so badass!! Sakura and everything she does makes me want to scream!! Please read!)

Final Evaluation by Do_the_Cool_Whip

Progress evaluations are one-on-one consultation meetings between academy students and their teacher. Their purpose is to inform academy students of their strengths and weaknesses and guide them down their ideal path to becoming a strong shinobi. Upon graduating the academy and passing their jounin-sensei test, new genin return to the academy for one final consultation. (Or: The story of what happens when Umino Iruka uses his final meetings with his students as way to send them off to become the best shinobi they can possibly be.)

(Iruka! Is! The! Best! Teacher! Ever! End of story!!! Great interpretation of all the characters and their capabilities and I am so so excited for the sequel that will undoubtedly come! XD)

Celestial Bodies by Oceanbreeze7

Sasuke looked at the fire, eyes glowing red as the mutated corrupted seal on his throat. "Amaterasu blessed me. I see things. Like you with two normal eyes and the Hokage. And Sakura with a seal on her forehead. And I run Chidori through Naruto's heart. I keep trying to kill him. Over and over. And that knuckleheaded idiot never gives up.”

(Don't you get it? I saw it. The moon will bleed, the nations will die. The world is going to end.)

Part 1 of Celestial Bodies and Anomalies

(I swear, this fic freaking elevated my expectations on Sasuke-centric fics in general holy hell. Also, read the fucking sequel after this cause EVERYTHING GOES NUTS AND THE PLOT GOES OFF AND I'M HERE FOR THIS SHIT. Fucking Uchihas man. Also, you wouldn't think this series is funny, but it is, and it's amazing.)

A step to the left (and right off the cliff) by weavingBlue

Team Seven starts off on a different foot and Sasuke's canonical journey to get stronger goes off the rails a bit. It all works out though. Probably.

(This fic went in a direction I didn't expect and it's GLORIOUS. SO FUNNY, I honestly was dying while I was reading this. Please give this a chance!!)

promises by BombsAreForBabies

It's her first kiss and Naruto's last. She promises him that she will bring Sasuke home. It's his dying wish, after all.

(Naruto bleeds out faster than the kyuubi can heal him.

Sakura learns that being a ninja is more than fancy jutsu and fun.

Sasuke does not know that he just killed his best friend and turned his most loyal comrade into his worst enemy.)

(Listen LISTEN I know this sounds depressing but the relationship developments and slow healing is EVERYTHING and I think it's absolutely worth it to read this. Sakura's characterization is so good and Kakashi makes me want to hug him. A lot.)

Fang Under Fang by Vroomian

"Are we sure he's really an Inuzuka?"

(The answer is no.)

-

Someone reborn as Inuzuka Kiba not only has to deal with bullshit ninja magic, but soulmates being A Thing.

(Really good self-insert fic and its platonic soulmates, not romantic! I am always here for a good Kiba-centric fic and I won't say who the soulmate is. It's unexpected but so, so good! Trust me!)

Haunt The Lonely by Tht0neGal666

(Series where Sakura can see ghosts and the Things she gets up to due to this ability. The fics are short but man, you can already see the shifting differences in Team 7's dynamics, it's great!)

Perception by Ellie_Enchanted

Naruto can sense auras, which throws everything off it's balance. Because really, with someone as open as Naruto running around and peering into the depths of people's souls, something is bound to change. In other words, sometimes all that's needed is a push. Also, Sasuke apparently glows.

(Naruto the empath changing the plot and making it Better and I am loving it!)

Crossfire by DejaVu22

Following the events of Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke never makes it to Orochimaru's hideout. Instead, he is waylaid by a one-eyed man named Tobi, a man possessing a Sharingan, a terrifying dual personality, a penchant for always being late, and a single-minded mission to stop the Akatsuki in their tracks. When Sasuke runs into Naruto again years later, he must ally with his old teammate in order to protect him from the Akatsuki, while keeping him out of the two man war Tobi and Sasuke have started against the dangerous organization.

(I honest to god can't stop cackling when I read this, the Sasuke & Obito dynamic is so freaking chaotic and Sasuke's characterization is the best thing I've ever read. This boi is a mEsS and I'm fucking rooting for him. He cares so much! There's secret identity shenanigans happening on sasuke's end and it's HILARIOUS! This is the duo I never thought I needed but here it is! *cackles insanely*)

-

[Diamond no Ace]

Echo in His Hands by SportRayne (rayningnight)

Ship: Miyuki/Sawamura

What does it mean, when you remember snapshots of your own future?

Is it your future at all, if you change it?

Would you even want to change it?

(Look I am WEAK for BAMF Eijun and time travel fics and Miyuki being a tanuki bastard, okay? Time travel fic where Eijun gets feelings of people he knew before in the future. Really good so far and am so excited over this fic!)

The path we walk by WindsOfTime

Ship: Miyuki/Sawamura

Eijun goggles at the magazine she just shoved into his hands. "W-Wakana!" "I know!" she says, beaming. "That's my soulmate!!" "I know!!" "My soulmate plays baseball!!"

(Became such an instant fave so fast it's unbelievable. I LOVE THESE IDIOTS SO MUCH! Best soulmate fic in this fandom, hands down!)

-

[One Piece]

switching places by fireflywitch

Zoro is 21 and wakes up in a desert they already saved, on a ship that they burned two years ago, and standing next to a man who is supposed to be dead. Except, that can’t be right, can it?

Zoro is 19 and wakes up on a ship that’s too big, next to a robot wearing a swimsuit, and he’s supposed to fight something called a Kaido. Also, he’s missing an eye, and no one’s even a little worried about it?

(or)

Time travel is a shitshow, and Zoro didn't sign up for this.

(FUCKING HILARIOUS ZORO IS THE BEST PERSON TO SEND BACK IN TIME CAUSE HE'D BE TERRIBLE YET FANTASTIC AT IT I CAN'T MAN FIEWNOPFEW)

No Time To Crank The Sun by VIKAN

He’s surrounded by strangers, but they’re all trying to convince him otherwise. Or, Zoro faces a mysterious and relentless challenge that he just can’t wrap his head around.

(This ripped my heart open, I cried reading this my god. Please read this, the pain is so worth it and Zoro and his relationship with his crew is so good here. This reminded me why I love the Straw Hats so much!)

-

[Fairy Tail]

to learn about a lucy (with a look into the future.) by るる凪 - nagi (arurun)

A watching the future fanfic.

It's currently X781, three years before canon. A group of Fairy Tail mages find themselves in a large building, with no known way out.

They sit down, and they watch the future.

(This is so much more fun than I thought it would be and I'm so happy I found this fic. This fic reignited my old love for this fandom and I hope it does for you too!)

-

[Harry Potter]

sunflowers by Marnie27

One day, a young girl sits on the edge of a well. On this day, she falls in. Then the next, she’s not even a ‘she’ anymore. He’s Peter Pettigrew — doomed to die at the hands of his (betrayed) friend’s son.

Peter is selfish, bitter and brash. He’s not some fairy tale hero, he doesn’t care if everyone around him dies, as long as he lives. The marauders are annoying and childish. Survival is his priority, and he can’t afford to face distractions.

This just makes the fact that soulmates are now apparently a thing all the more godawful.

(And then another day years later he falls into an entirely new impossibility, Remus Lupin in tow, right into the third book of Harry Potter. Smack bang on the other Peter Pettigrew’s grave).

It’s confusing and graceless, and entirely something that would happen to him of all people.

(Self-insert fic where a girl reincarnates into Peter Pettigrew! And there are soulmates! And it's angsty and hilarious and Peter is an Asshole (somewhat unintentionally lol). Always a fan of biased pov fics and characters slowly improving themselves and their mental health! Cause dying! Is! Traumatic! *smiley face* Please read!)

-

[Crossovers]

he's a killer queen, sunflower, guillotine by hoye

Fandoms: Fullmetal Alchemist, Harry Potter

He has to be the weirdest Hufflepuff Harry’s ever seen. Scratch that, he’s the weirdest Hufflepuff Hogwarts has ever seen.

(One thing everyone could agree on: NEVER call Edward Elric short.)

(This is peak Edward Elric and all the best things about him and I'm just having a Good Time. Friendships! Logical solutions! Marauder screentime! And so much More! *bright grin* It's a fun place here!)

[sportyclown]

how sawamura, miyuki, yuki, and kuramochi text (friends + s/os)

will most likely do a part 2 with more boys at a later date! these got freakishly long because i am, at my core, a very mad. also might revisit as i get re-familiar with the characters, i just had this idea floating around in my head. also the way these got pro

sawamura eijun

no matter who he texts, it’s always extremely extra. not only does he always give more information than you asked for – ex. if you text him wya? he will give you a play by play of his entire route or something

 he also uses tons of emoticons. and yes I do mean emoticons, baby boy has a flip phone. ifhe does eventually get a smart phone, then this boy overuses tf out of emojis. he’s the sort of person that sees someone use a combination of emojis he likes and then tries to copy them, but uses it completely incorrectly, but its v cute.

if you send him a meme, he will respond with an unnecessary amount of hahas. 

when he’s texting his lil bae, they’re always on his mind so he ofc texts them every thought that comes to his mind! when he sees something that reminds him of you, he won’t hesitate to share it with you. 

if you have been together for a long time, then we will definitely text you words of affirmation and be very honest/blunt about how he feels about you. he’s also always sure to ask you about your day - and he seriously cares. but i still i feel like with a s/o he would prefer facetime to texting just because he likes to see you :)

overall, a very adorable texter and his enthusiasm is just as contagious when texting as it is in person. he’s kind of clueless so he doesn’t pick up on subtext. so be blunt, just like he will be with you~

kuromochi youichi

my bias might be showing here, but I feel like he is one of the most well-adjusted boys in terms of being ready for a serious relationship tbh (at least post-high school). i mean we all saw that he regularly corresponded with wakana wish that were me lmao

i think he would most often use proper capitalization, but not to the point where he uses a period after every text

would send his friends news articles about his favorite fighting games where u like gaming or not

a meme fiend in general. the sort of person who uses reaction images of people he knows. (if you’re dating, he would still have a stash of funny pics/screenshots of you on ft, but he’d ofc only use them with you <3). his convos with his friends are rarely serious

 i don’t think he’d be the type to text haha out loud, but he does use LOL on occasion. with close friends/his lil bae he might send a voice memo of him laughing hysterically if you send him something REALLY funny. ugh my annoying king <3

unlike eijun he’s the king of being perceptive / picking up subtext. 

similarly, i do think he’s pretty reliable, but for friends i feel like he might make a lil bit of a stink lmao. like lets say a friend wants him to pick something up for them, he might play like he won’t do it then miraculously shows up with the requested item. its giving tsundere vibes on the low.

with his partner: i feel like he would use emojis when he’s trying to be ~cute~. i think with a established partner he’d be pretty flirty still but he’s v much whipped for his partner so its way more mushy than it would be early in the relationship.

yes your name has hearts/stars in his phone. mans is a SAP for you

his love language is more quality time imo, so I think he values time spent with you over texting time. so a lot of your texts might be asking you to come over to hang out / get a meal or vice versa

like eijun he wants to hear about YOU, and is very supportive and good at advice when he wants to be. he can be goofy but this is how he shows you he cares/sees you as more than a friend

he’s a blushy/shy boy with his s/o esp early in the relationship, so he might be hesitant or nervous to say “i love you” or anything like that outright, but you know anyway, which just makes the times when he does outright say it that much sweeter.

miyuki kazuya

i mean it goes without saying that this man is snarky. he’s not a meme king himself but he enjoys when people send them to him and will usually play off the meme to make his own jokes.

i feel like he also likes deep-fried memes or the very abstract, post-modern memes. miyuki is good at making other people laugh, but he has a generally very-off brand humor and the things that make him cackle hardest are either at someone else’s expense (very similar to kuramochi, so they bond a lot over that) or just indiscernible without access to a huge layer of context/background

saves the reaction photos kuramochi sends him, but doesn’t usually use them. but seeing an ugly pic of eijun yelling never fails to make him grin LMAO

i think he also texts A LOT about baseball, even more so than these other baseball dummies. texts his teammates a lot of articles he reads or clips from games/cool plays. this is mostly about texts, but in terms of social media I think miyuki uses twitter/instagram the most especially for baseball related reasons, while kuramochi uses snapchat the most. 

he probably texts a lot about baseball as well, both seriously and playfully

i can see him using hahas and LOLs in equal measure, but he would also utilize the haha reaction if he had an iphone. this boy does value his wit so he would definitely have commentary about any memes or jokes he’s sent

you won’t win a joke war against him, he will definitely one-up whatever you send him with either a one-liner or another joke. how tf does he do it?

definitely ignores people/conversations if he really wants to - but ofc he never does that to his BAE

if miyuki give you a dry one-line response...he’s not interested at all or he’s feeling frustrated about something else. but when he’s really happy? he will text his friends all the time and spam them! i see him as someone who enjoys texting when he has the attention span/state of mind for it. and when he’s texting his s/o his texting gets even more ~flavorful~

wit his lil bae: i don’t think miyuki would switch it up much w his s/o. is probably even more teasing with you over text than he is with his friends, which is saying something.

like talking with you just by nature of you being his partner. prob prefers texts to facetime because text kinda allows for maximum snark

he LIVES for you guys’ witty back and forth 

if he’s traveling for work or something, will definitely relish in you guys binge texting a tv show or something but just making funny commentary (or he’ll just send you funny commentary to get a reaction)

 he can dish it and he’s also not a super sensitive guy so he can take it tenfold from you as well. nothing y’all wouldn’t be used to when talking in person!

sometimes when texting him you’ll want to beat his a*s because he can be so cheeky but its endearing in a way. he definitely adds emojis to the end of his more annoying messages to give it that loveable vibe (and it works ofc, we love u miyuki)

he’s kinda clingy on the low so i think he’d prefer a partner that’s more open with their affection via text than he is. he would live for your random ilys or whatver throughout the day. also would not mind at all if you updated him on your actions throughout the day or sent him snaps - might not be able to respond to everything, but will react and appreciate it. very likely to make jokes about whatever you’re doing.

would also apologize over text. he’s not always used to apologizing can be awkward about it, so text makes it easier for him.

he would use emojis w you in a joking/ironic way. would absolute use those dumb but genius emoji combinations

yuki tetsuya

i’m literally cracking up thinking about texting him. he is one of my ultimate baes but im sorry i just know he texts dry asf. but its part of his charm!

has a flip phone. either never upgrades or gets the chunkiest most basic android if he is forced to

the thing is this man thinks that he is infusing all his texts with, like, tajin level seasoning, when in reality its pepper

uses punctuation. always. exclamation marks are used sparingly to express excitement.

but i can’t get the image out of my head of an upset tetsuya texting you a simple angry emoji (or the angry emoticon >:( LOL) if he’s reeeeeeally mad. but its v cute i can’t take him seriously. i just want to give him a hug <3

 but you know what he is so PASSIONATE about whatever he’s talking about that his passion bleeds into his text through sheer quantity of words and depth of thought. ultimately, all his conversations end up being extremely flavorful in terms of content. he is surprisingly good at having deep conversations over text.

he’s better at holding conversations with more extroverted personalities, truthfully.

he’s another one who sends random things to people when he thinks about them. miyuki of course gets so many texts/thoughts about shogi. if you get a random haiku, poem, or quote from testu, that means you’re blessed enough to be in his inner circle! he definitely thought of you when he read it and and wants you to respond!

with bae: he doesn’t really change up his texting style tbh, but he has a stronger outward reaction to what YOU text in response.

definitely the type to smile almost imperceptibly at his phone as he texts you, even if you send him something like “hey i’m at the store, want anything?”

he’s not great as verbal affection early in the relationship, so you’ll have to discern his love/affection. however baby boy is NOT afraid to just straight up say he loves you, he does it all the time and early.

he’s KNOWN for being reliable and responsible, so he will be at your beck and call when he’s able to for anything you need, but his heart is also warmed by the thought of you reciprocating that care. if your texts show him you’re thinking of him just like he does too. he’s very gentle and sweet, and checks up on you when he’s able to see if you need anything at all.

he might be reliable, but that doesn’t mean that he’s the quickest guy to respond to texts. he’s a busy guy, and he doesn’t think about his phone all the time, but he will always get back to you (bae does not play when it comes to completing things).

if they came up with a shogi game for gamepidgeon and tetsu had an iphone, your phone probably would be spammed with requests for games lol.

this is my first time doing headcanons like this so please let me know what you think or give me tips on how to improve! I really enjoying thinking about it so I hope to do more in the future <3

[musicprincess655]

Mei shows up way too early to his first practice with the new team and kills time by texting Kazuya.

>Any advice for starting with a Japanese pro team?

<You’ve been a pro for years. Also, it’s not even 6 am.

>Yeah, but not in Japan. And why did you answer me then?

<Sawamura Eijun is a mistake I can’t stop making.

>Gay.

<I’ve decided I don’t like you actually.

>Does that mean you’ll start being an asshole to me again? Because it’s honestly kinda weird that you’re being so nice.

<Teaches me to exert effort on you.

>My heart bleeds.

<I hate you.

Mei is still snickering when the first staff members show up and let him into the stadium. He’s already been here, already found his locker and stashed a few emergency candy bars in it, just in case. He leaves most of his gear in his locker after he changes out and heads up to the field.

For a moment, Mei lets himself take it all in. He looks around the stadium that will be his new home, breathing in deeply and letting his excitement build and then settle. It won’t do to look too eager, although Mei might have already ruined that by showing up so early.

“Mei-san?”

When Mei turns, he’s sure he hasn’t schooled all the excitement and wonder off his face just yet, if the way Itsuki’s eyes widen is anything to go by.

“Any chance I can rope you into pitching practice before everyone else gets here?” Mei asks.

“You don’t want to wait and introduce yourself to everyone properly before you start?” Itsuki asks.

“When have you known me to not want to show off?” Mei scoffs. “Besides, this’ll be a better introduction than anything I can say.”

Itsuki’s face shifts into an expression Mei never thought he’d see again. Exasperation, but fond. Itsuki wore it constantly in high school.

“Let me change out,” he says, and Mei stays rooted to the spot until he returns. He doesn’t know how this will go. Will it be the same as last time they played together, only briefly while Mei was still looking for a new team? Or will it be a repeat of the Olympics, a complete breakdown of any spark between them?

Luckily, though, as Itsuki rejoins him and lets them both into the bullpen to test themselves, it’s the former. They’re not quite up to where Mei thinks they should be, not back to where they were in high school even if the skill they’ve both gained over the years makes up for it. They might not have that magic that only truly belongs to high schoolers in the bloom of youth, but sparks of greatness only really belong to pros who built upon talent for years, and Mei and Itsuki both have done just that. The only thing left for them now is to put themselves back together.

“Hey, wanna see a new trick?” Mei asks. Itsuki’s already tested all of his old spots, and Mei feels properly warmed up.

“You have new tricks?” Itsuki pulls his mask up and jogs out to meet Mei.

“Obviously,” Mei says. “I haven’t been doing nothing for nine years.”

“Glad to hear it.” There’s just enough of an edge to Itsuki’s voice to warn Mei that he’s stepping close to dangerous territory, and Mei lets it go. So they’re not quite at discussing their time apart yet. That’s fine.

“There’s an update to the curveball,” Mei pushes on. “I can get it to break like a slider now. It’s called a slurve.”

“Slurve?” Mei nods in sympathy as Itsuki tries the word out. It sounds fine in English, but the combination doesn’t work quite right in Japanese. “Wouldn’t that break too wide? It’s basically the opposite of a screwball, right?”

“If it’s thrown out of control, yes,” Mei says. “Good thing my control is good.”

“So you’ve got a new one that starts as a strike and turns into a ball,” Itsuki muses.

“It doesn’t have to,” Mei says. “I can keep it in the strike zone.”

Itsuki is only half listening, considering the new possibilities. Mei leaves him to it, keeping his other new trick to himself for now. It’s the product of a late night drinking with his team that ended with them back at the field, and Mei had thrown something so terribly out that the batter didn’t even go for it.

Except it landed in the catcher’s mitt as a perfect strike.

One round of sobriety and a few test pitches later, and Mei found that he’d essentially taken the slurve to its most extreme conclusion, turning it into a pitch that breaks so sharply it’s basically a spiral. There’s almost no footage of him using it because he so rarely does. It can be a game changer, but it’s also hell on his arm to throw.

He’ll tell Itsuki about it later. He has to preserve some air of mystery, after all.

“I see you two are already hard at work.” Mei whips around to see his new bullpen coach staring at them both.

“Just making sure the catcher is up to snuff,” Mei says, grinning at Itsuki. Itsuki rolls his eyes, but he doesn’t look all that annoyed.

“And?”

“Exceeds expectations.” Mei grins harder when Itsuki’s cheeks flush at being praised in front of someone else.

“Come cool down and meet everyone else,” the coach says. “They should all be here by now.”

Mei already met most of the starters when he visited before, but now he has to introduce himself to the rest of the team. He lets his bravado settle over him like an old friend, wild grin that tells everyone he means business in place.  

“Nice to meet everyone,” he says. “For those who don’t know, I’m Narumiya Mei. I look forward to working with everyone.”

A younger version of himself would’ve gone on about something like how the team had nothing to worry about now that he was here, or that they would go to the top of the nation, but he holds that back. He tends to butt heads less if he gives everyone time to get used to his personality, and he’s putting in an effort to make this work. Not that it won’t work if he comes out swinging, but it’ll take longer, and Mei is now old enough that the time and effort of getting people used to him isn’t worth it if he can just tone it down at first and avoid that whole step.

Everyone is polite, if distant. That’s something Mei will have to get used to again. He’s sure they’ll warm up to him, in the way Japanese people do, but it’s a far cry from when he was eighteen and introduced with his coach’s arm around his shoulders and hands in his face for shakes.

Still, practice goes so well that Mei is practically vibrating with glee at the end. The best he thought he could hope for after everything was that he and Itsuki could get back to how they were in high school. Now, though, he’s sure they can surpass the battery they had back then. They can be better than they ever were.

“Let me buy you dinner?” Mei offers after they’ve changed out, shouldering their gear.  

“Where?” Itsuki asks, wet hair flopping in his face.

“You know the city better,” Mei says. “Your choice.”

Itsuki picks out a place that serves curry rice and fits in their meal plan, but only just barely. Mei happily chatters away at him about how practice went, how they can improve over time. He showed Itsuki the new slurve, the one that breaks like a spiral, too eager to show off, and Itsuki’s face when it landed right in his mitt was worth it. Itsuki already has ideas about how to use it in a game, even with the harsh limit it has. They talk baseball until the conversation lulls, and then Mei decides to take a risk.

“So, do you still like idol groups?” he asks, voice carefully kept just as casual as it has been all along. He treats it like it’s the same as any other question he’s asked, though the way Itsuki goes silent lets him know it’s anything but.

“I guess,” Itsuki says, suddenly cagey.

If Mei was a better person, he would take that as a signal to back off. But, despite recent efforts, he’s not, and while he’s more than happy to let Itsuki set the pace for them, for whatever it is they’re doing now, he can’t build anything with baseball alone. At least, nothing with staying power. They already tried it that way.

“I’m not trying to make fun of you,” Mei assures him. “I just want to get to know you.”

“We’ve known each other for ten years,” Itsuki scoffs.

“No, we haven’t,” Mei says. “We knew each other for two years in high school, and we haven’t spoken much since. I won’t pretend I think you’re the same person you were back then, so I have to learn who you are now.”

Itsuki lets the silence sit for long enough that Mei regrets his decision to push. It must be too soon. He hasn’t yet earned the right to anything but Itsuki’s baseball, hasn’t earned the right to truly be his friend just yet.

“Not as much,” Itsuki says.

“What?”

“I still like idol groups, but not the way I did in high school,” Itsuki says. “I don’t have the free time to go tracking down merch or go to concerts. I mostly just listen to the music now.”

“And that game you used to play?” Mei hardly dares push his luck more, but he almost can’t help himself.

“I still do,” Itsuki says. “Sometimes I play in their events. Sometimes I even get pretty high on the leaderboard.”

“Impressive.” Mei sits back in his seat, satisfied with this level of progress. It’s a new thing he can slot into the whole that is Itsuki now, and he revels in it.

“Baseball takes up most of my life now, though,” Itsuki says. “Being a pro isn’t easy.”

“No one ever said it would be,” Mei agrees. “Still, I didn’t think baseball would be the only thing you do, ever. Thanks for telling me.”

Itsuki blinks at him, apparently taken aback at being thanked for the small insight into his life. Mei wants to keep talking, because now that Itsuki has given him this one piece, maybe he’ll get more, but their waiter comes back with a check and an apologetic plea to let them close for the night. Mei keeps his annoyance in check, because it’s not the waiter’s fault they came so close to closing time, but he really does want to keep talking to Itsuki.

They head in the same direction as they leave, slowly picking the conversation back up, though it’s mostly about how much time baseball takes up now, and Mei doesn’t want it to end.

“Want to come back to my place?” he offers. “I don’t have much, but I should have some tea I can offer you.”

Giddy as he is on the high of potentially being friends again, Mei doesn’t realize his mistake until Itsuki stops dead.

“I don’t…” Itsuki starts, looking viscerally uncomfortable.

“Not like that!” Mei cuts him off quickly, waving his hand to dispel the suddenly tense atmosphere. Much as he’s excited to be back in his home country, years in America have changed him, and he forgot for a moment how that offer might sound. “It’s just…it’s not weird to have friends over at your place in America. I forgot that’s not a thing here. I’m sorry if that made you uncomfortable, but I didn’t mean anything by it, I swear.”

“Okay.” Itsuki doesn’t look happy, exactly, but the pinched, uncomfortable look has faded. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you,” Mei sighs, taking the out. The atmosphere isn’t tense anymore, but it also isn’t the easy almost-camaraderie it was before either. This is probably the best thing for both of them.

It’s progress, slow though it might be. Mei never expected to be Itsuki’s friend again overnight, and it’s not surprising that he overstepped tonight. He can only hope it’s not a setback, that Itsuki will still be willing to let Mei ask questions about his life now, and keep moving forward.

>So I might have fucked up.

<Fucked what up?

>I forgot friends don’t really hang out at each other’s houses here. I invited him over and it sounded as bad as you think it would.

<You fucked up.

>I could stand for you to be nice to me right now.

<It was an honest mistake, though? You weren’t actually trying to get him to sleep with you?

>No! Of course not!

<Then it’s probably fine? You’ll figure it out.

<Wait am I your conscience now? I don’t want to be your conscience.

>You’re the one who texts back.

<I’m finding a flip phone and buying that and you’ll have to email me if you ever want a response from me.

>Don’t act like I won’t.

<I hate being your conscience, and I am never being nice to you again.

>Noted. And thanks.

Mei turns his phone off and sighs. He just has to keep moving forward. That’s what he decided he’d do, and now that he’s taken the first steps, it’s all he can do.

And one day, maybe, he’ll have a friendship with Itsuki to go with the battery they’re already well on their way to forming.

[hayaku14]

I’ve been singing the second verse of ‘Dear Theodosia’ as ‘Dear Eijun’ since earlier last year and decided that I wanted everyone else to sing their love for Eijun with me! Here’s a full version of it (ง*`◇´*)ง

As usual, please forgive the average vocals and recording haha!

Here’s to another year of Eijun (and misawa)!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!! \(*`◇´*)/

[EDIT] Lyrics under the cut!

[[EDIT]] Link went to shit I think. Here’s a soundcloud link (x)

Lyrics: Dear Eijun, what to say to you? You have bright eyes, You have a pretty name. When you came into my world, I cried and it woke my heart.

I'm dedicating every day to you. Being a stan was never quite my style. When you smile you knock me out I fall apart And I thought I was so smart.

You will be an ace and inspiration. We'll bleed and fight for you, We'll draw and write for you.

And with just a little bit more patience, We'll see you starting games. We'll see you be the ace And you'll blow us all away.

Someday, someday, yeah, you'll blow us all away. Someday, someday.

Oh, Eijun when you smile I am undone, my son. Look at my son, pride is not the word I'm looking for. There is so much more insdde me now.

Oh, Eijun you outshine the morning sun, my son. When you smile, I fall apart. And I though I was so smart.

Some people may leave this town, Some people may leave this town. But I swear that I'll be around for you. I'll do whatever it takes, Even if you make a mistake, I'll make the world safe and sound for you.

You will be an ace and inspiration We'll bleed and fight for you, We'll draw and write for you.

And with just a little bit more patience, We'll se you starting games. We'll see you be the ace And you'll blow us all away.

Someday, someday, yeah, you'll blow us all away.

(hayaku14)

[koushuwu]

eijuns “there was no room for me in that game” hurts so fucking much.

not just because my heart bleeds for him. which is does. but also because that feeling is so real. not just in a team/game sense. but in life. it’s a feeling i’ve personally had so many times in my life, that “there’s no room for me in this scene.” and while that more often or not is anxiety speaking. it stems from somewhere right? idk, it was just a little bit painful. a bit too real. so thanks for that eijun.