Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Eijun
Sawamura Eijun grew up knowing two facts:

1. He was going to be an alpha. Genetic testing had returned a 97% chance of him presenting as the superior gender once he reached maturity. Obviously he couldn't call it superior, since one of his best friends, Wakana, was an omega and she hit him whenever he announced something only slightly sexist. But he was going to be an alpha, which was good, since alphas got to play professional sports. Which led to the second fact:

2. Eijun was going to become a professional baseball player. A pitcher, to be precise. As an alpha pitcher he would dominate the field with his fastballs, impressing everyone around him. Even if the 2.5% chance of him presenting a beta would come true - which it was not, Eijun could feel it in his blood - he could still become a professional athlete.

Omegas like Wakana, on the other hand, well… Their sports career ended with their presentation. No professional team would risk having a weak link in their lineup. Though it was technically legal, thanks to some laws that passed a couple of months ago, no omegas were actually playing the sports. They were full team members in their own right, of course, often supporting the athletes as managers as Wakana was doing now.

But omegas were just not fit for the excitement and fight of a true baseball game.

And then he got offered a baseball scholarship at Seido! Of course he first turned this down, but after playing one round with one Miyuki Kazuya, his conviction wavered. And, as Wakana liked to remind him, it was incredibly rare that someone like him, a late bloomer (how Eijun hated that name, he was going to be an alpha, but a powerful one, so presentation obviously would take longer), was scouted. He knew he would only be able to play official high school games once he had manifested his secondary nature - the suppressants given to alpha athletes before games were too strong for juvenile pups - but his impressive 97% had obviously convinced Seido to take the shot.

And so, half a year after the offer, still unpresented, he made his way to Tokyo.

“A pup”, the green haired beta cackled, rolling on the floor. On his face white paint mixed with fake blood, slowly dripping onto his t-shirt. “They gave us an unpresented juvenile pup as a roommate. How are you doing, latie?”

Eijun bristled up. First his new roommate had scared him, now he was making fun of him. And he had left his friends at home for that!

“Just so you know, I'll be an alpha, thank you very much”, he barked out and kicked the teen who was currently still rolling on the floor.

“And how would you know that?”, the beta asked, once he finally managed to calm himself down. Honestly, it was a bit ridiculous making this much of a fuss, just because Eijun had not yet presented. A lot of people only presented in high school, there was nothing wrong with it. He hated being treated like a child just because he was not yet subject and slave to pheromones.

“Just so you know, I am 97% alpha according to the best genetics tests”, Eijun replied and crossed his arms. The beta starter cackling again.

“Still 3% chance of omega!”
His other new roommate, another large beta, elbowed the green haired one, but didn't say a word.

“Actually, 2.5% beta, 0.5% omega and that's just the uncertainty”, Eijun huffed. “Are you done making fun of me?”

“Alright, come on in”, the beta held open the door, “I am Kuramochi, a second year, this is Masuko, a third year. He currently doesn't talk, because he messed up a game.”

“Oh, uhm”, Eijun replied intelligently and shuffled inside.

The room was rather large, housing bunk beds, desks and a TV. Kuramochi gestured to one bed that was apparently unclaimed and he plopped his suitcase down.

The beta sauntered over to him and slung an arm around his shoulders. He was shorter than Eijun, as he noticed with some satisfaction.
“No worries, latie, you'll present in no time. Now, let's see, how good are you at video games?”

The next morning, Eijun overslept.
His new roommates were fun and quite friendly and they had spent the evening playing video games and getting to know each other. Kuramochi had a mean streak, so Eijun never really knew if he was being genuine or making fun of him. But there didn't seem to be any malicious intent behind it and Eijun was used to being teased. Wakana once said that he was just too reactive but she probably was just over-omega-oberservant.
However, not fun was the way they just made him oversleep.

Which brought him to his current predicament, crouched behind a shelter, looking at a way to sneak into the line where all new players were lined up in front of the coaching staff.
“Over here”, a voice called and he whipped around. Sitting behind him was no one else but Miyuki Kazuya, the alpha catcher he had met when he visited Seido. The reason why he was here.
He gave Eijun a quizzical look, then leaned forward and sniffed him.

“Hey”, he protested and flinched back. “That's just rude!”
He shoved the alpha away with a hand in his face.

“Ohhh, it's you! The pitcher pup from last summer”, the alpha finally concluded. He snickered. “Still not presented, I see!”
Eijun immediately went cat eyed. Why was that the very first thing everyone pointed out? He was very well aware, thank you very much.

“Stop laughing”, he snapped, but too late.
By now Miyuki was holding his stomach, laughing heartily and giving away their hiding place. He could already see some of his new teammates turning in their direction.

Eijun tried to shrink back, caught in the conflict of being caught and called out, or hiding and never even getting to be part of the team.
Miyuki seemed to have finally figured out the conflict and the mischievous blink in his eye couldn’t mean anything good. Before Eijun could even react, the catcher had grabbed his arm, pulling him out from behind the shed.

„Coach,“ he cackled. „I didn’t know we take pups and teach them how to play ball!“
He pushed Eijun in front of himself. „This one didn’t even find his way to the grounds, I had to rescue him before he got lost in the big scary dorms.“

Immediately, Eijun rounded on him and shoved him away. „Hey! I will be an alpha and I will be the ace of this team, just you wait!“

The rest of the team had been watching them in awe, some watching the coach who looked like he was about to burst a vein.
People started laughing and Eijun felt his face heat up. The coach was a tall, stern looking alpha with sunglasses. He managed to silence all laughter with a single stare. Scary.

„Miyuki, shut up. Both of you, start running. I will not have you interrupt practice with your antics.“
He just gave a court nod towards the field. With this they were apparently dismissed.

Bewildered, Eijun turned towards Miyuki, who had paled visibly. Apparently his plan had backfired, but he had taken Eijun down with him. So much to not making enemies on his first day…
„What does he mean ‚start running‘?“ Eijun asked as he jogged to keep up with the catcher.

Miyuki turned slightly and grimaced. „We will be running while everyone else gets to play.“

“But that's not fair”, Eijun howled, “I want to pitch!”

“Should have not overslept then”, Miyuki commented with a sleazy grin, “Also don't get your hopes up, pups always need to run.”
He started jogging faster, making Eijun run, so he could continue complaining in earshot of that stupid tanuki.

“Late and yapping indignantly, you really are just a puppy”, Kuramochi shouted, who caught up to them, Masuko following behind. It seemed like the coach blamed them for Eijun‘s tardiness.
Well, at least according to Kuramochi who himself continued to complain at him for the entire hour of training.

Miyuki, that bastard, had the nerve (and breath) to laugh at them for an hour straight.

For the next two weeks Eijun ran. Every day. There was no fielding practice, no batting practice, and, worst of all, no pitching practice. Well, technically everyone else was doing fielding, batting and, in cases, pitching practice. But whenever Eijun just looked the coach's way, Kataoka wordlessly pointed towards the field, sending him running.
On top of that, school had started and within his class Eijun was soon established as the stupid pup that wasn't even allowed to play baseball. It was incredibly frustrating.

“Why can't I join practice?”, Eijun whined at Kuramochi in the evening, “I want to pitch!!”
The other just shrugged and turned back to his video game. He didn't seem especially keen to talk and Eijun remembered there had been a game yesterday.

He didn't go there, as he was running and already felt like he was being left behind. But from what he heard, Seido lost, which explained the general air of frustration surrounding his upperclassmen.
“You know, you're not the only one working hard”, the green haired beta told him after a couple of minutes.

It was that evening that Eijun, on his way to run, discovered the unlocked equipment shed.
First he tried to ignore the half opened door but he kept seeing it from the corner of his eye. And the box of baseballs inside. Maybe he could take a look…
Bingo, a shed full of baseballs.
He continued running but his mind (and eyes) kept returning to the shed. He was alone on the field, everyone else already in the bath or at dinner.
Well, if no one was there to say no, he could just…pitch into a net? Couldn't he? This thought significantly improved his mood.
He rounded the field another time, formulating a plan in his head.
During morning training he would run, in the afternoon he would run, and when everyone else was in the baths or doing homework, he would sneak out and pitch into the net.

It worked for 3 days, then Miyuki Kazuya caught him red handed.

Kazuya

Miyuki Kazuya grew up knowing two facts:

1. People would always see the „alpha“ first before they even tried to get to know him. While his genes had been a bit unclear and some of his elementary school classmates thought he as a small kid was going to be an omega, his mother had always been sure and she had been right. He was what they called an early bloomer and presented right in his first year of middle school and that was that. Now he was the alpha and not just Miyuki Kazuya anymore.

2. He would make sure no one forgot the person behind the secondary gender. He didn’t care for the attention of others. He didn’t need to be liked. He was going to be known for being an extremely talented catcher and not that he had some physical benefits or anything. After all, the secondary gender did not affect the intellect and he was sure that his selling point was not his… ability to copulate.

It sucked how much everyone cared about genders. How many people tried to date him just because he was an alpha.
If he had to, he would push them all away and it worked in some areas.
In highschool he was known to only have one friend. And to only care about one thing - baseball.

Of course he‘d register the scent of others and sometimes he would even feel something stir deep in his gut, but he was quite good at ignoring those feelings.
Life got a lot more interesting when that weird pup whom he had caught for in his first year in highschool just to piss off Azuma (as alpha as one could be and always rubbing it in everyone's face) joined them.

Sawamura was exactly the opposite of Kazuya, still unpresented, still scentless, a late bloomer, a child.
He wore his heart on his sleeve and made wild announcements every single time he opened his mouth.
Of course the coach had sent him running to burn off that unnecessary energy and maybe push him physically so he‘d finally present, but for weeks nothing happened.

He knew Sawamura longed for him to catch for him again, but for now the coach had him running and Kazuya was busy anyway. They had games to play, games to which Sawamura never showed up. Games that kept him busy until they ultimately lost.

Then, one quiet evening, Kazuya was outside to practice his swings, he caught the pup pitching into a net.
It was the noise that initially alerted him. He knew the distinct sound of a fastball hitting a net.
And Sawamura shouting in glee in-between was even louder. Any subtlety was clearly lost on him. Curious, Kazuya crept closer to observe the pup.
He had to admit that his form was good and unpredictable, but it was incredibly obvious that he lacked any kind of formal training. The pitches were sloppy, some went wild and Kazuya winced every time he saw the first year's shoulder overextending.
Sure, he was flexible, but that just put unnecessary strain on his body. Maybe he needed to point the coach towards getting Sawamura someone to teach him properly, before he injured himself.

So he whistled a low whistle after Sawamura had returned to the net to collect the balls he had pitched. The pup whipped around and immediately dropped all of them.
“Miyuki Kazuya, what are you doing here!”, he shouted, pointing at Kazuya while at the same time trying to catch multiple stray balls rolling away.

Kazuya started laughing.
After making fun of him for some time (Sawamura dropped all of the balls three more times, when angrily waving his hands and then immediately started yelling again because he had to start over, it was peak entertainment), he finally got down to business.

„You know that you still lack some muscles to make sure you don’t hurt yourself when pitching?“ He asked, a sly grin on his lips.
Sawamura bristled up like an angry kitten and yowled something about no one teaching him, but Kazuya silenced him with a blank stare.

„You know I could rat you out to the coach?“ He continued and watched in amusement how Sawamura paled and almost dropped the balls again. He finally did the sensible thing and dropped them back into the box instead.

„You wouldn’t do that!“ He sounded almost as if he was begging and to Kazuya’s surprise it stirred something deep inside of him. Those alpha genes he tried to suppress so hard were crawling and he had no idea what set this of.

He only knew that Sawamura had a weird allure and that he needed to stay away if he wanted to keep his cool.
Was it that he was presenting soon and challenging him as an alpha?
Better pawning him off to Chris, then.

Eijun

Eijun couldn't sleep that night.
Everything had been going so well, he felt his stamina improve and he had fun pitching.

Sure, he longed for the company of others, a proper team, people he could care about and people that would care about him. But now even his private pitching fun was on the line, after Miyuki Kazuya. The alpha he had followed, who had inspired him, was actually just an asshole who liked to rile him up.

Maybe it was because he felt challenged by Eijun’s own alpha nature? He sure liked to rile him up every single time they interacted.
After tossing and turning and a pillow to the face by a frustrated Kuramochi, he finally fell into a fitful sleep.

The next morning, after very little sleep and a tired run, Kataoka called him over. Standing next to him was: Miyuki Kazuya. He had a bad feeling, after all the tanuki bastard always meant trouble. But it was the boss calling and he would answer!

Eijun walked over, bowed respectfully in front of the coach and strongly elbowed Miyuki's stomach while doing so.
“You called, boss man sir?”, he shouted. Next to him the catcher let out a low hiss, so for good measure Eijun also stomped on his foot.
Subtly, of course.

“Sawamura, Miyuki here let me know that you are getting nervous and difficult. Is the training not good enough for you?”

Nervous?
Difficult??

Eijun felt his stomach drop and his head heat up.
That bastard!
“Of course not, sir, I love running, my stamina is super impressive now.”, he shouted, “I would never dare to criticise your strict regime! Just…,” he lowered his gaze to the floor, avoiding direct eye contact. “I would love to pitch, sir, I am a pitcher and Miyuki Kazuya made fun of my form, sir.”
Kataoka just hmmed, then turned to Miyuki.

“Put on your gear, let's have a look at what we are working with,” he finally said.
Miyuki nodded and walked over to his equipment bag.
Eijun gawked at both of them. He would get to pitch!
He finally would get to pitch!

“Help me here, for a moment, lil pup”, the catcher called over to Eijun and he snapped out of his daze.
He immediately had a shouted reply ready but reconsidered, after all the coach was here.

See, Eijun was neither nervous nor difficult.

“Of course, Miyuki Kazuya”, he barked. While he was grabbing some of the gear and slamming it onto Miyuki's legs, fastening it maybe a bit too tight, the other leaned down.
“Snitching on me now, Bakamura?” He gave Eijun's cheek a pinch and when he yelped in pain, Miyuki the bastard just started laughing. Ugh, he was so irritable.

Finally Miyuki was all strapped up (Eijun saw with pleasure that he had to loosen a couple of the straps) and Eijun stalked his way over to the mound.
Miyuki did something weird with his fingers, but since he didn't know what it was, he just ignored that and threw a fastball down the middle.

Smack.

With a satisfying thud it hit Miyuki's catcher mitt.
Just… not exactly where Eijun had intended to. Instead the catcher had jumped sideways to catch his beautiful fastball that had suddenly decided to go wild.

His beautiful baby, straying off course.
The shame!
“I am sorry, sir”, he shouted towards Kataoka, “this is just the warm up!”

They let him throw a couple of pitches, Miyuki laughing every time a ball went a bit off and Kataoka just studying him with a growing frown.
“Enough”, he finally barked, when Eijun was about to wind up to throw another pitch.

“Thank you for your time, boss”, he shouted immediately but felt his stomach drop.
This hadn't been his best pitching and Miyuki's irritating laugh really set him off. And he had barely thrown more than 10 pitches.

But Kataoka just nodded and left. Eijun immediately whipped around to Miyuki, who was now taking off his gear again.
“What was that”, he shouted, “why did you have to go and ruin everything?”
Stupid alpha.

“Oh, calm down, puppy. The coach looked like he saw something interesting. Be patient, run a bit and maybe you'll get to throw some balls soon.”

Chapter Text

Eijun
In the end Miyuki was right. Two things were added to his training: a tire for running that Eijun immediately considered his new best friend (after all, tires could not insult him) and he was called in for another meeting.

This time, apart from Miyuki Kazuya there were two more people present: another unpresented first year (ha, Eijun was not the only one!) and an alpha third year that looked like he wanted to be everywhere but here. (Honestly, that was a few too many alphas for Eijuns liking, his own inner alpha immediately started protesting, that probably was why he was feeling so threatened).

“Sawamura, Furuya”, the coach started, “starting today you'll both be training as pitchers. Furuya, you'll be with Miyuki, Sawamura you'll be with Chris.”
Wait? He wasn't allowed to train with the stupid tanuki who got him into trouble? Who was the very best catcher that Eijun longed to form a battery with. Who even was that Chris guy?

“But I don't want to train with a random alpha”, Eijun protested, “I want to have Miyuki, let us switch!” He knew Miyuki was a good catcher and he wanted to show him, how much he could grow as a pitcher. And now that was just taken away from him?

“No”, Kataoka told him with the faint vibrato of a suppressed command. Eijun flinched back and lowered his head. Miyuki started laughing his obnoxious laugh, the one he always did when Eijun did something he found funny. Honestly, did the guy have no hobbies?

“Let's go, Furuya”, Miyuki told the other first year. Furuya just nodded and followed him, completely ignoring Eijun. Wait, they were both unpresented first years, shouldn't there be a bit more of camaraderie between them?

“But I don't want to train with him”, Eijun shouted and pointed towards the incredibly passive and uninterested alpha. He knew he shouldn't really point a finger at people, but he was frustrated.

“Listen up, pup. I don't want to train with you either, but the coach said so, so I will”, the third year alpha told him. “You can start running with your tire. I will let you know details of your training later.”
And while the other guy, Furuya, got to train with Miyuki and actually pitch some balls, the Chris guy just walked off and left Eijun standing there, in the middle of the field.

Instead of actually training with him, Chris made the managers hand Eijun scrolls with stupid body strengthening exercises.
What?
What was wrong with him?
Eijun was a pitcher. He wanted to pitch, not win some random body building competition.

First he ignored the instructions in favour of his favourite new friend the tire. Then, when he got bored of running, he took another look. It probably wouldn't hurt to do the exercises.

It did hurt to do the exercises.
One day in and his muscles were jelly.
Two days in and he was in full body pain.

Still, when he complained at the alpha the moment he showed his face at training and demanded to switch to pitching, Chris just told him to do the same exercises all over again and left. So he continued to do the exercises which proved a new form of torture. Especially after Chris kept adding more and more.

It was even worse when the next week, sore from yet another round of random exercises, Eijun and his tire spotted Miyuki and Furuya in the bullpen. The other first year was actually throwing pitches.

Grabbing his tire, Eijun marched over to confront the pair. If Chris wouldn't catch for him, then he would take matters into his own hands!

“Hey, catch for me, Miyuki Kazuya”, he shouted as he barged his way into the bullpen. (He left his tire outside). Both Furuya and Miyuki turned around.

“You're in the way”, Furuya finally said and shoved him aside. Eijun stumbled and tripped, landing face first in front of Miyuki. He got to his knees accompanied by the snickering of his senior.

“Move, Bakamura”, Miyuki told him, “go and find Chris-senpai if you're bored.” He moved his catcher's mitt slightly to the left and with a heavy swish and thump a baseball hit right there. Eijun had to admit it was fast and he might have flinched…a bit.

“Hey, that's dangerous”, he protested immediately.

“Sawamura, what are you doing?”, they were interrupted by the heavy voice of said senpai. Chris didn't look thrilled and there was the slight alpha vibrato in his tone. Great, now he had disappointed the guy who already hated him.

Eijun straightened up and marched out of the bullpen right where his supposed training partner stood. He stopped right in front of Chris, maybe a bit too close and stabbed his torso with his finger.

“You're not even letting me pitch!”, he let out his frustrations, “all you do is make me do stupid exercises and then just disappear. Do you even want to play baseball? What even is your problem?”

“Just do your exercises, they are there for a reason“, Chris replied, turned around and walked away. Oh no, not this time, Eijun decided.

“But I don't even know the reason!”, he shouted, frustration lacing his voice. Chris ignored him.
“Don't ignore me!!”

Before he even could do anything else, Miyuki had grabbed him by the back of his shirt and dragged him across the field, away from Chris who paid no mind to the commotion. Eijun was clawing at the catcher’s fingers, trying to get free, but Miyuki just shoved him into the practice shed with his stupid alpha strength. He leaned very close to Eijun’s face and let out a low growl.

“Learn some respect. You act like you know everything and deserve the world but you're just a stupid pup”, he snarled. Eijun shrunk back, he had never seen the other this angry and something inside of him reacted to the alpha's threat. Miyuki let go of his collar and with a huff Eijun landed on his butt.

“How can I know anything if no one even wants to teach me?”, he complained, fighting against the urge to bare his throat to the angry alpha in front of him. Angry tears shot into his eyes, this was humiliating! Just Miyuki wait till he presented alpha, then he wouldn't pull those dirty tricks on him anymore.

“Alright, come with, I'll show you exactly what Chris-senpai is up to while you can't even manage to do basic exercises”, Miyuki hissed and grabbed his forearm in a bruising grip. (At least, as a catcher he avoided his precious wrist, Eijun had to give that to him.)

“Furuya, go and run with the tire”, the alpha instructed the other pitcher, “your stamina needs work.”

“That's my tire”, Eijun protested immediately but was silenced by another angry glare from Miyuki.

The alpha pulled him along, first to tell Rei that they would be taking the evening off, then towards the underground, where he forced Eijun into one of the crowded cars of rush hour.

“Where are we even going?”, Eijun asked, pouting. He was pressed way too close to Miyuki for his own comfort, but there was no room to escape to.

“You'll see”, the catcher just spat. He was still obviously annoyed with Eijun. While he couldn't smell pheromones as an unrepresented pup, he noticed people giving Miyuki room. So he was angry enough to have lost control of them.

“Why isn't anyone telling me anything”, he mumbled just loud enough for Miyuki to hear.

“Patience.”
God, he hated that word. He had patiently waited for too many things, first and foremost his presentation. That still seemed far away and at this point he doubted if he would ever…no, that was stupid, he could wait. After all, it would be worth it.

Miyuki pulled him out of the underground at the next stop, once again an almost bruising grip on Eijun's forearm.
They stopped in front of a hospital. Finally, Miyuki turned to him, the light of the street lamps reflecting in his glasses.

“I once came to Seido for someone else”, he said in a toneless voice. He gestured for Eijun to follow him and both boys made their way inside. “That person was Chris. He was the most talented catcher I ever got to play against in middle school, so I followed him. Chris worked harder than everyone else and always wanted the team to succeed.”
Miyuki led him through empty corridors lit by artificial light. Eijun shivered, he had never liked hospitals.

“He took care of everyone. Everyone but himself. It was too late before we realised that he overworked himself into a bad injury.”
They came to a stop in front of one of the hospital rooms. Through the window Eijun could spy a person working out on one of the benches, their shoulder taped up with colorful tape.
Chris.

“He is in rehab and can't play himself. Not able to risk his career for high school baseball. When he leaves, he's here, trying to regain what he lost.”
Eijun shuddered and started to feel incredibly guilty. He had assumed…

“That's why he is giving you these exercises, so you can build muscle that prevents you from this fate in the long run.”, Miyuki gestured towards the window through which Eijun now saw that Chris had finished his workout. The third year was now talking to a blonde man, possibly his doctor?

Before the catcher could stop him, Eijun burst through the door, coming to a halt in front of Chris, where he collapsed to the floor in a deep bow.
“Chris-senpai sir, I am so sorry!”, he cried out.

“Who is that boy and why..”, the blonde man asked but Eijun didn't stop talking.

“I didn't know how hard you worked. And you are teaching this Sawamura Eijun on top of this. I am not worthy of your time! Please let me prove that I can do better!”
Chris looked very taken aback, with a slight flush covering his face.

“I am sorry, dad”, he turned to his father. Who actually beamed at him.

“Chris, did you find yourself an omega to help with your recovery?”, he shouted, excitedly. Both Chris and Eijun looked at him, puzzled.

“No sir, I am a pitcher under Chris-senpai’s guidance, sir.”, Eijun barked out from his spot on the floor.

“Please get up”, Chris muttered, still clearly embarrassed. He turned back to his dad. “This is Sawamura, one of the first years. He has yet to present.”
His dad looked disappointed. Why would he assume Eijun was an omega, he wasn’t especially small. It felt like an insult.

“Ahh, and here I thought you finally found an omega who could help you with healing”, he said to Chris.
“If you present omega, son”, a heavy hand landed on Eijun's shoulder, “please help my boy.”

Now it was on Eijun to be taken aback.
“What? How?”, then he shook his head, “I will present alpha, sir. 97% chance!”

“A pity.”, Chris’ dad sighed, then saw the overall confused looks.

“You don't know?”, he asked Chris, “What do they even teach you in school? While alphas are protectors of the pack and can command, omegas are the heart of a pack and can heal. To a certain extent. Only works for close connections though, otherwise omegas could be exploited.”

Both boys nodded. In a population that was 4% alpha and less than 1% omega a general healing ability would endanger the health of the few omegas.
“Cool, I need to tell Wakana, she's an omega”, Eijun muttered. Chris and his dad shot him a look.

“Not my girlfriend, just a childhood friend.”, he added with vigor. Living together with Kuramochi had made that a reflex answer. Really, why was everyone assuming? Sure, Wakana was an omega and he would be an alpha, so it was technically a good match. At the same time, Eijun had never thought of his friend that way.

“Well, you can go now. You're interrupting”, Chris' dad dismissed them. The impromptu lesson had ended, as had his interest in Eijun.

Miyuki, who had inched into the room at the end of their conversation, took pity on the still kneeling Eijun and hoisted him up.
“Let's go, Bakamura.”

Chris and Miyuki looked at each other, gave each other a nod and without any idea what the two were silently conversing about, Eijun was pulled from the room.

On the way back Eijun was silent. He had completely underestimated his senpai and his conviction. Had judged and misjudged him. He somehow had to make it up to Chris, hoping his senpai would still be kind enough to teach him.

The following days Eijun did everything Chris asked him to and then some. He would prove to him that he was capable, that he was able to do good. It actually scratched at a sore point in his soul how eager he was to please the alpha. That was probably his inner alpha longing for guidance, getting ready to present. Eijun smiled at the thought. It could be any day now!

Instead, Furuya came first, the bastard. Why did he always have to steal Eijun‘s spotlight? Plus he was younger than Eijun, so it really wasn’t fair he got to present first.

Eijun had been feeling confident about his form and Chris was finally allowing him to pitch. He had to admit that the training and the towel exercises Chris had introduced him to a few days ago helped him actually hit where he aimed. Which, at this point, still was the net. How he longed to have someone, preferably Chris, catch for him! Chris would teach him so much, he could feel it. Was he not catching for him because of his injury?

At least he saw his senpai smile at him for the first time today, when he presented him with some self made rice balls. They were a bit lumpy but made with all his admiration and enthusiasm. Chris even ate one and told him they were good.

Soon Chris would catch for him. Soon he‘d present and soon he’d be the ace. Finally life was going to plan.

And then Furuya presented.

They were in the bullpen, Miyuki catching for Furuya, while Chris was watching Eijun pitch into the net. Obviously, Eijun would have preferred to pitch to a catcher directly, but then again he didn’t want to alleviate Chris’ injury. So a net it was.

“Did you hear that one, it was fast!”, he called excitedly, when another pitch made a satisfying whirring noise before it was stopped by the net.

“It was still wild”, Chris remarked, “Try to send it directly into the middle, let’s not care about speed today!”

“But I like fast fastballs”, Eijun whined. He wiped some sweat from his face, it was a warm day and the repeated throws made him feel very hot. Furuya next to him was no better off, small droplets of sweat were running down his face that looked a bit flushed. Poor Hokkaido boy! At least Eijun was able to withstand the heat better.

Suddenly, the air thickened, which was weird. After all, they were outside. Thinking nothing of it, Eijun threw another ball into the net. This one was much better, so he looked to Chris for approval.
Instead, both Chris and Miyuki had turned away from Eijun and were focusing on Furuya, who was leaning against the fence of the bullpen, panting heavily and baring his teeth.

„I only told him his control sucked.“ Miyuki had his hands up in an apologetic gesture while talking to Chris. The older catcher was not quite focusing on Miyuki but rather on Furuya, who looked unnecessarily angry at the two of them.

Eijun crept closer. What was going on? Furuya was acting even weirder than usual. Miyuki took a step towards Furuya, which made the first year's face darken and a low growl sounded from his throat.

What?
Suddenly, there was a hand on Eijun’s neck, stopping him from moving closer to his fellow pitcher. It almost hurt, but when he turned, he saw Chris staring at him and Chris would never hurt him.
„Sawamura, you need to leave. He’s presenting alpha and this is not a place for a pup to be. Get the coach.“

And he shoved Eijun away with more force than necessary. Still, the weirdly intimidating atmosphere did the rest and Eijun stumbled out of the bullpen, before catching his footing and he started running towards the field where Kataoka was currently doing fielding drills with the third years.

He grumbled. So that was what a presentation looked like. Why was Furuya the first to present? To play in official matches both of them had to present, he knew that, but why Furuya first?
And from Miyuki‘s and Chris’ said he was an alpha, even though he was supposed to be a beta!

Unfair! Eijun had wanted to be first, just this once!

Nevertheless he had to fulfill his duty to prove to Chris that he was useful, so he interrupted practice just as the coach was about to throw the ball.
„Boss! Furuya is presenting! Chris-senpai says he’s an alpha.“ He shouted and inwardly congratulated himself on his clear way of communicating. Maybe Chris would even be proud of him. Kataoka dropped the ball and turned.

„Where are they?“

„The bullpen,“ Eijun provided and waited for further instructions. The coach only turned to the other players.

„Continue with batting. I will be right back.“ And with long strides he hurried towards the bullpen. Eijun trailed after him, unsure what to do and just a bit curious about the presentation. He wanted to prepare for when it was his turn! But before they even reached the bullpen, Kataoka turned to him. „Sawamura, go back to the field. Join the others in batting practice.“

With slight disappointment Eijun nodded and turned. It was a win though, he was finally allowed to do more actual baseball training.
The coach could have sent him running, but now he was apparently ready for batting! How exciting! Though he would have loved to get some more insights on what to expect for his presentation. He would probably have to talk to Furuya later and hope that the other was willing to share every single detail.

Furuya’s presentation was the talk of the baseball team as expected. There was general contempt with the pitcher presenting as an alpha. What better could there be than a pitcher with an incredible fastball who now turned out to be an alpha. How far could he go now that he was maturing and developing physically? Everyone was more excited than Eijun had expected. Oh, he couldn’t wait until it was finally his turn!

„So, Sawamura, how does it feel being the only baby on the team?“ Kuramochi asked over his third bowl of rice. Eijun was still struggling with his second, somehow the excitement had completely killed off his appetite. Had he been struggling earlier with finishing his food it now felt impossible. He just hoped no one would notice him only eating two bowls of rice. Honestly, he was a little jealous of how much Masuko-senpai could eat! And he wasn’t even an alpha.
With a sigh Eijun picked up his tray and carried it to the kitchen.

„Did you finish all your food, little pup?“ Miyuki enquired as he passed his table and Eijun only stuck out his tongue. He really wasn’t in the mood for teasing. But then he remembered, with Furuya out of the picture…

„Miyuki Kazuya, catch for me!“ He shouted, proud of himself for finding an opening in the helpless situation of being pawned off to Chris. While Chris was amazing and the best, he still remembered how it had felt to pitch to Miyuki properly (not those meagre ten balls to show the coach his worth) and that had been months ago!
By now the team was used to his loud voice, so no one even turned.

Miyuki, the bastard, just grinned at him. „No. I plan on using my free time on myself and those eligible to play in games.“ Ouch.
Oh, how much Eijun wanted to wipe out that satisfied smirk. Just Miyuki wait until he turned into a strong alpha, maybe even strong enough to challenge the catcher.

He didn’t really find a good reply, so he just gave him the stink eye and marched off. His trusted companion, the tire, always had time for him. Not like some stupid tanuki who apparently thought he was still a child and used every chance he could get to toy with Eijun.

Chapter Text

The next day, the news of Furuya’s presentation was already old news, as the coach announced that they would soon decide the new members of the first string.
At the same time he did add that Furuya, as a new alpha, would be one of these new members. Which left two open spots.

During breakfast Eijun was frowning into his bowl.
Furuya had made first string and he hadn’t. Furuya had presented alpha and he was still a pup. Maybe he wouldn’t even present in time to play in official games, no one would consider someone who was ineligible to play. The thought followed him for the whole day.

Still, at this point it would probably be best to continue with his current plan: win Chris over, become a better pitcher, make first string, maybe exhaust himself enough during that time so he forced his body into a presentation. At this point he would even take beta, even if that came without the added benefits of extra strength - strength that he lacked, according to… well… everyone.

He really should stop obsessing over that.

“Hey, Eijun-kun, are you excited for the practice games this weekend?”, Haruichi, a pink haired beta from his year, caught up to him while he was walking to practice. He looked suspiciously like Ryo-san from the first string, maybe brothers?

“What practice game?”, he asked.

“Did you not listen to the coach this morning?”, the beta asked.
To be honest, after Kataoka had announced that Furuya was going to join the first string, Eijun might have obsessed a bit over the fact in his head and had not really listened to anything else.

“My mind was occupied”, he protested, “Please share your wisdom with me!” Haruichi blushed and gave a short laugh.

“Everyone who is not on first string will be playing in multiple scrimmages this weekend to determine the last two members”, Haruichi explained, “So we still have a chance to make first string!”

“Oh, right”, Eijun said lamely. Why was Furuya first string without having to play? Was it because he presented alpha?

“Well, good luck”, Haruichi gave him a small pat on the shoulder and jogged off towards the batting cages, while Eijun continued to the bullpen, where Chris was waiting for him.
Next to him Miyuki was putting on protective gear. Did that mean…?
Bingo.

“Miyuki has volunteered to catch your pitches so you can pitch to a catcher before the weekend scrimmages”. Chris explained, while Miyuki sauntered over to the catching position.

“Thank you very much”, Eijun bowed towards Chris.

“I don’t get a thank you?”, Miyuki called. Eijun just turned towards him and struck out his tongue, which made the catcher laugh his annoying laugh.
Figures.

With Furuya out of the picture for the next two days, Eijun got the full attention of both Miyuki and Chris, which made him preen in contempt.
Well, apart from when both his senpais repeatedly told him that his control sucked and that he needed to work on almost everything. But those were semantics, after all he got to pitch in a game on the weekend.

On Saturday morning Furuya joined the first string members that were watching the game from the sidelines, while Eijun was warming up.
Inside him, two wolves were fighting. One of them really wanted to quiz Furuya about his presentation experience.
Had it been painful?
Had something cool happened?

Furuya looked a bit frazzled and out of it but that could also be because of the midday heat.
On the other hand Eijun was obviously still annoyed that the other pitcher had presented first and even as an alpha, even though he was supposed to be 80% beta.
And that he had made first string as a one trick pony that was just super strong.
Eijun, at least, had some stamina, he reminded himself to cheer up.

His day significantly improved when he saw Chris in sports gear.
“Are you playing, shishou?”, he shouted. Chris winced at his volume but gave a small shrug.

“That is up to the coach's decision. Though I am still eligible for first string and my shoulder is feeling better after rehab”, he explained. Eijun stopped in his tracks to process the information. Wait, did that mean?

“Can I form a battery with you, Chris-senpai?”, he asked, brimming with excitement.

“We will see”, Chris replied and sat down in the dugout.
Eijun bounced on his feet. So far he had forbidden himself from entertaining the thought of forming a battery with the most awesome and hard-working and talented catcher he knew (Miyuki did not count, he was lame).
But now…

The first scrimmage was rather disappointing, as Eijun didn’t get to pitch. Their catcher was a second year that he had interacted little with.
In the second game, they were three runs behind after four innings and the coach still hadn’t even looked his way.
Why was he ignoring him?

“I am ready to go any time, boss!”, Eijun shouted right when the current pitcher gave up another run. He swung his arm in circles to demonstrate how ready and warmed up he was.
Kataoka turned his head and gave him a once over.
Finally, he nodded.

“You’ll be going in next inning”, he decided.

“Alright!” Eijun pumped his fist. The game changed sides and he watched Haruichi hit a ball far into the left outfield.

“Let’s go, Harucchi!”, he shouted, remembering the encouraging words his fellow first year had had for him a couple days ago.
He was sure Haruichi would make first string - so would he and so would Chris. They’d have amazing games together. And go to Koshien, obviously.

A small voice in his head reminded him that…he just shoved the voice down.
And then it was finally time for him to pitch!

The catcher fumbled his first ball.
Or did Eijun pitch wrong?
He thought his control had improved, but this was giving him whiplash to his junior high days.
Laughters rang from the sidelines and the dugout and he was very sure Miyuki was one of them. He tensed up.

The second ball too went wild. Horrified, Eijun noticed the unimpressed expression of the coach.
Chris looked worried too.
Had all the training been for nothing?
He ended up walking the first batter.

What was happening, why was his pitching so off?

“Time out. Player change”, Kataoka announced.
Oh no, was his time already up? He hadn’t even shown the boss any good balls. Eijun whipped around to the dugout, where he could see Chris, hoping for a sign. Chris was in catcher gear!

“Chris-senpai”, he cried in relief, when the third year made his way onto the field. Chris took a couple of steps towards him, Eijun closed the rest of the distance by running over. He just about managed to stop before crashing into Chris.

“Sawamura. Focus on the batter, don’t let the pressure get to you”, he reminded him. Eijun nodded with a lot of enthusiasm. That he could do.

He nearly cried in relief, when his next throw hit Chris’ outstretched mitt accompanied by a satisfying “Strike!” He could do this!

It was as if a switch had flipped.
Suddenly there were lots of strikes.
Lots of outs!
Some hit pitches, but all of them went straight to the fielders.
Eijun ended the inning with no runs allowed.

“Good pitching”, Chris told him and Eijun beamed.

“Only thanks to you, shishou”, he shouted and bowed. It was true, Chris had managed to lead him well and caught every single ball that went wild.
At least the unpredictability of his pitches had struck out many batters.

“We’ll continue going with you next inning”, the coach announced as soon as they returned to the dugout.

“Thank you, boss, I will not disappoint”, Eijun shouted and gave another bow.
He continued to shout encouraging words at every single one of their batters. This obviously helped, as they managed three runs and set the scoreboard to a draw.
Then it was his turn again. Even though he allowed some hits, they still managed to defend well and ended this inning with no given up runs.
Which then meant that Eijun was allowed to continue pitching.

In their next offense Haruichi and Chris earned them another run, encouraged by Eijun’s enthusiastic support. He himself might have missed the ball in three generous swings, but really he was here to pitch, alright?

Two more innings to go.

In the next one he didn’t give up any runs either, though one time it got very close and they only managed to get the last out through an impressive play by Chris.
Eijun lowered his head in shame, as it had been his fault. But he couldn’t give up now, not when he was allowed to close the game with Chris as his battery partner!

The last inning came around with Seido still one point in the lead. He could do this, he could lead his team to victory - like very alpha should, Eijun reminded himself.

And he did!
Following Chris-senpai’s superior instructions they won. He ended the game with a beautiful fastball.

When he helped Chris take off his gear, he noticed how tense the catcher was.

“Thank you so much for your guidance, Chris-senpai”, he chattered while unstrapping the breastplate.
Suddenly Chris gave a low hiss and flinched.
Did his pitching hurt him?
Did Eijun hurt him?

“Sorry, Sawamura”, Chris said, “I think my shoulder might still not be up for long games.” He looked defeated, which in turn made Eijun feel awful. Chris had joined the game to help him and in return he had made the injury worse!

“I am so sorry”, he cried, “You should really have focussed on recovery, I did not deserve your help!”

“I wanted to play”, Chris gave him a small smile, “That last fastball was worth it.”

Eijun still shrunk back, wrecked by guilt. What if he had ruined Chris’ chances to play baseball again soon by being selfish?
Chris seemed to read his mind, as he ruffled his hair and gave him an encouraging smile.

“Really, Sawamura, thank you for giving me a chance to play today. And showing me my limits. Better now than any time later.”
Eijun felt like he was about to cry but swallowed his tears. He would be strong for both of them, he decided.
Chris stood up and walked over to the coach, where both of the alphas chatted in a low voice.

“You should ice your shoulder”, Haruichi interrupted Eijun’s pity party.

“Oh, right..”, he mumbled, feeling like he didn’t really deserve it. After all, he had only pitched 5 innings.
Still, he let the beta help him put on the ice packets and sat down in the shade. With the scrimmages done, they would announce the new first string members tonight.
And somehow he just couldn’t feel excited for that anymore, not after seeing Chris in pain.

He was still feeling a bit glum when they were called for the team meeting.
Kataoka was straight forward, thanked everyone for their hard work, then, without further ado, announced Haruichi’s name, then announced Eijun’s name.
Wait.
Wait.
Why was he on the first string and Chris wasn’t?
That wasn’t fair!

As quickly as they had assembled they were dismissed.
Around him people started chatting and Eijun couldn’t help but overhear the general discontent.

“Why is he on the first string, he hasn’t even presented!”

“He didn’t even pitch that well!”

Through all of it Eijun stood frozen in his place, while everyone else apart from the third years left. His eyes shot to Chris who gave him a small nod towards the door.

Right.

He should leave as well!

Still in a trance, he stumbled outside and leant against one of the walls.

“Oi Bakamura, why so glum?”, a kick against his shin. Kuramochi.

“Why me? Why not Chris-senpai?”, Eijun mumbled, looking at his feet.

“You should be happy, didn’t you announce you wanted to be the ace?”, Miyuki added. Eijun felt like he was caught in a trap of upperclassmen, his fight-or-flight instinct about to trigger. Before he could do anything he felt an arm around his shoulder.

“Don’t sulk, little pup”, Miyuki purred into his ear.
Fight it was, Eijun gave a screech and shoved his senpai off. A feral grin played around the corners of Miyuki’s mouth but for once he didn’t laugh. Before Eijun could react, they were interrupted.

“Leave him be, Miyuki”, Chris joined them.
Chris was here to save him! Apparently the third years had been dismissed.
“I told the coach myself that I won’t be able to play. We had a chat. I will supervise the pitcher training instead, that’s the best I can do for the team right now.”

“Oh”, Eijun said intelligently, then smiled, “So I still get to pitch to you, right?”

“Give me a couple of days of rest, then we can see”, Chris replied with a soft smile.

“Little puppy is not ready for what’s about to hit him”, Kuramochi laughed, “training camp starts tomorrow!”

“I will endure everything thrown at me in honor of Chris-senpais sacrifice”, Eijun announced with determination.

“Idiot”, Miyuki laughed ,”We'll see how enthusiastic you still are by the end of the week.”

“At least he's not sulking anymore”, Kuramochi added.
Eijun decided to just walk off and go for a run. Better to burn his energy with something productive than getting bullied by the stupid second years.

Eijun went to bed with mixed feelings that night, still feeling too guilty to celebrate his triumph, but giddy for what the future would bring.
Maybe, if training camp was that hard, maybe he would finally present.

If Eijun ever thought hours of running and Chris’ strict muscle exercises were exhausting, nothing had prepared him for the reality of training camp. By lunchtime his arms were hurting from swinging the bat (and missing balls, they just liked to avoid him). His formerly white pants were brown with mud and his legs bruised blue from hours of fielding practice. And when he thought they were done, he was sent to the bullpen.

With Chris supervising pitcher training, the four of them were put on a rotation of throwing to Miyuki and Ono, pitching into a net and technique coaching with Chris.
The dream!
If only Furuya hadn't been there. The young alpha kept ignoring Eijun, seemingly rubbing in his face how superior he felt now that he had presented.
Ugh, he'd show them all!

That evening Eijun just about passed out when he hit his pillow, only to be woken for morning practice by Kuramochi after what felt like minutes.
He gave a small whine when he stretched his sore muscles, maybe he should have soaked in the bath the evening before instead of opting for a quick shower.

After spending most of morning practice running, he nearly dozed off at breakfast. When he was about to faceplant into his first bowl of rice, his angel Haruichi gave him a small nudge.

“Already giving up, little pup?”, Miyuki cackled who sat down next to him. Eijun just huffed and continued eating, he honestly didn’t have enough energy to argue.
Which was a totally new experience for him.
Weird.

At least he was feeling better after a nap in class, he hoped no one had noticed. He would just work extra hard once training camp had finished, he decided.

The next evening Eijun felt both more sore than he had ever been but also a lot more satisfied. He could sense his pitching improving with Chris' strict coaching.
In fact, today Miyuki had actually complimented one of his pitches, though he wasn't totally sure if that had been sarcasm or an insult.

“You should join the upperclassmen in my room tonight “, Miyuki announced, as he sat down at their table in the cafeteria. In silent agreement and exhaustion, Haruichi, Furuya and Eijun had gathered around a table in the corner, all three of them fighting their way through the mandatory three bowls of rice.

“What are you scheming, you tanuki?”, Eijun asked him and squinted his eyes. Miyuki always had some kind of agenda and it often was to tease him.

“No need to be so suspicious”, Miyuki laughed, “we just gather there after dinner and as members of the team you should join as well. The people living off site are staying here this week, you know. So make an effort to get to know those defending behind you.”
Huh, that sounded surprisingly reasonable.

“Alright! We'll be there!”, Eijun announced for all three of them. After all, Haruichi and Furuya were a bit shy, so someone had to talk for them.

Which brought Eijun to his current predicament, where he was crouched in front of a shogi board with their team captain. At least he didn't have to massage Spitz-senpai like Furuya did, though he kept eyeing the shojo manga the third year was reading with interest. A man of culture!

A small huff from Yuki made him flinch and focus back on the board. Their captain had just made a move that made literally no sense. Seeing an opening to end the game quickly, Eijun moved one of his stones.

“Excellent move”, Yuki mused and went back to thinking long and hard about his response. Which again gave Eijun the opportunity to further watch the people in the room.
Haruichi had been roped into a video game tournament of some kind, where he was faring surprisingly well against Kuramochi and his brother. Furuya was still massaging Isashiki. Miyuki was sitting on his bed, reading something. Was that a baseball scorebook?

“Hey, first years, get us some drinks”, Isashiki announced, the massage seemingly finished.

“We are in the middle of a fierce battle”, Yuki replied with a straight face, then moved one of his stones directly into Eijun's incredibly obvious trap.
Eijun moved one of his stones to seal the deal.

“I admit defeat”, Yuki announced, “get us some drinks while I study this game.”
With that, Eijun was dismissed. He jumped to his feet, ready to leave the room in order to not have to answer any game related questions. Who had known that their captain was both this passionate about Shogi and this bad at playing.

“Let's go, Furuya”, he shouted. The alpha ignored him and continued noting down drink orders. Right, that was something they should do.

A couple of minutes later, Eijun and Furuya were standing in front of the humming vending machine.

“Sooo, how did your presentation go?”, Eijun asked. Furuya had still not answered any questions about it and it was driving him insane.
He just wanted to be prepared, okay?

“It went fine”, Furuya answered.

Was that it?

“And…”, Eijun tried to prompt him.

“...I presented alpha?” Furuya tried to answer his open question, he seemed a bit confused with the questions.

Eijun huffed.
“Like what were your symptoms? How long did it take? How amazing did it feel to be an alpha?”

Furuya at least seemed to give his questions some thought, while he collected another bottle from the vending machine.
“I could start to smell the others a bit before” he finally said, “then I presented, you were there. Then it's a bit hazy, then after three days I was allowed to leave the cycle room.”

Eijun scoffed, Furuya had given him about as little information as he could.
“That was the last one”, the alpha raised a bottle of melon soda, “we should go back.”

“This conversation is not over”, Eijun grumbled, “You need to give me more details to work with. You understand? More details! After all, I could present any day!”
Apparently for Furuya the conversation was over, because he just walked back to the room.
Eijun grabbed his own arm full of drinks and followed. There was no chance to continue the conversation as soon as they were back and met with demands and noise. Well, he would just have to hunt down Furuya again tomorrow.

The last day of training camp brought some scrimmages and Eijun even got to pitch!
Though everyone on the other team was giving him the side eye, seemingly because of his unpresented status, even though nothing had changed in this department. Well, at least that did not matter for friendly games… He tried his best, which was, well, better than before though he felt exhausted after a week of brutal training and senpai entertainment in the evening.

That evening Eijun fell asleep in the bath, only to be woken by nearly drowning.
“I could have died, you should have saved me”, he whined to Haruichi, who simply shrugged from his position draped over the edge of the bath.

“You seem fine, Eijun-kun”, he finally said. The exhaustion clearly getting to him as well.

“I am feeling a bit warm”, Eijun mumbled. His skin was tingling and his bones felt dead tired.

“Well the bath is quite warm”, Miyuki barged in on their private conversation. He was followed into the communal bath by Kuramochi.

“I am leaving!” Eijun announced and jumped up. He was too exhausted for more teasing.
The quick movement almost made him lose balance and he was feeling a bit woozy. He felt the edges of his vision creep in and his knees buckle, only to be caught by an arm around his waist.

“Careful, little pup”, Miyuki said, “don't overdo it.“ Then, as an afterthought he added, his arm still around Eijun’s very naked waist. „You do feel a bit hot.”

“Agh”, Eijun shouted indignantly and shoved his senpai off.
Honestly, what was with Miyuki?
His face felt on fire and he knew he was blushing all over.
Damn the hot water!

“Well I am off then”, he left the bath in a hurry, followed by the laughter of his upperclassmen.
Stupid Miyuki.
He would show them.

Once he was less tired.

Chapter Text

Eijun
“Wake up, Bakamura”, Kuramochi kicked him out of his bed. Eijun hit the floor with a muffled shout and winced.

“No need for violence, Kuramochi-senpai”, he complained and rubbed his head. Though his alarm clock told him he nearly overslept, he still didn't feel especially rested. Training camp had left him exhausted, even though the game the day before had been a nice break from the endless drills. He had already felt a bit off yesterday and now his guts were churning and his head felt warm.

Kuramochi crouched down next to him and took a long sniff.
“Ohhhh”, he said with a predatory grin, “you're starting to smell like something. Maybe your time has finally come, little pup.”

Eijun immediately sat up. Finally! Training camp had actually worked!
“Really??”, he shouted, “What do I smell like? Is it already like strong alpha?”
That explained the tingling in his stomach. His rut was about to start, finally no one would make fun of him anymore.

“Hmm”, Kuramochi took another sniff, “It's still faint, but I guess kinda like the oil my mom likes to use for cooking?”
Cooking oil wasn't really the scent Eijun had hoped to have, but it obviously was only the start of his rut. His scent would probably mature into something very baseball cool like leather or earth. As an unpresented pup he wasn't able to catch the subtle scents of pheromones, but he had been told that Miyuki smelled like leather-oil and sun. So he would be the other incredible smelling alpha on the team.

“How long does it take? Am I going into rut now?”, he excitedly asked Kuramochi who just raised his hands.

“Don't get to excited, it might take a couple of days. I am also not an alpha so I have no idea how it works for you folk”, he replied.
In the short moment of silence, where both were contemplating Eijun’s oncoming presentation, both of them glanced towards the clock. Which immediately ended any discussion, as they were almost late. Both students clambered to get dressed and ran out of the door.

While running, Eijun noticed Kuramochi’s uniform shirt was inside out, but they were too late to stop. Just seconds before Kataoka, both joined the line of students on the field, gasping for breath.

“That was tight, you ran faster than when trying to get on base”, Miyuki remarked with a chuckle and threw an arm around gasping Kuramochi's shoulders.

“Shut up, Bakamura made us late”, the shortstop gasped and shrugged off Miyuki's arm.

“Ohh, what did you do, little pup?”, the catcher leaned over Kuramochi's shoulder to peer at Eijun, who was still catching his breath. Running along by his cheetah-senpai had obviously taken its toll. Miyuki sniffed, as if he too could smell the pheromones that would come with Eijun’s presentation and his pupils widened.
“Is that…”

“Stop the chatter”, Kataoka interrupted them from across the field and all three students straightened.

“Yes sir, I am sorry, sir!”, Eijun yelled, standing tall. He couldn't help but grin. Soon he wouldn't be the unpresented pup anymore that everyone made fun of. With that mindset he went into morning practice and ignored all cramping in his stomach.

Afterwards, during breakfast he still felt a bit off, so even though he knew he needed the food, he just kept pushing the rice in his bowl around.
“Are you okay, Eijun-kun?”, Haruichi next to him asked.

“This Sawamura Eijun is more than okay”, he shouted and shoved his wrist under Haruichi’s nose, “here, smell me!”
Haruichi took a deep breath, then another one and started to smile.

“I am smelling a little bit of… maybe sunflower?”, he said, “So I assume you're going to present really soon.”

“Exactly“, Eijun slammed both hands on the table and stood straight. “I can't wait! Let me smell you, Harucchi, I want to know what your pheromones smell like.”

Before his friend could say anything, Eijun had grabbed his wrist and pulled it towards his nose. He took a deep inhale, trying to make out the differences to what he still smelt the day before, before he had started presenting. He felt a weak tug on his wrist, when Haruichi tried to pull it away. The beta was very red in the face and Eijun briefly remembered that it was supposedly impolite to just smell someone without consent. Well, it was too late now. He let go of Haruichi's hand and the other pulled it away, hiding it back in the sleeve of his baseball shirt.

“You smell like cherry blossoms and cotton”, Eijun decided and beamed, when Haruichi nodded.

“That's what others say as well. Seems like you really are presenting”, he said with a small smile, “When Furuya presented as an alpha we could already smell something for three days till the rut started, so don't get too impatient.”
Eijun let out a small whine. He had been patient his entire life, why was this taking so long. True, he only started feeling the symptoms yesterday evening, but he couldn't wait to properly present. And even less for what everyone would say when he, Sawamura Eijun, the laughed at late-presenting pup would finally be a full alpha.

The school day stretched like syrup and Eijun fell asleep multiple times during his lessons. This time, however, his teachers seemed to have mercy on him. Possibly they noticed his pheromones were slowly getting stronger.
This was confirmed when after his third period one of his teachers pulled him aside and suggested he should go and book one of the private cycle rooms for the next few days. She gave him a soft smile and he couldn't help but beam and shout an “Of course, I will do so immediately!”

He skipped his way to the infirmary, where he requested one of the private rooms for the next days. He did have to stop several times when stomach cramps made him curl inward. At this point he even was excited about stomach cramps if that meant he would finally present. The school nurse at the infirmary gave him a once over and confirmed that she would ready one of the rooms for him.

With a room key and a notice of absence for the next couple of days, Eijun left for practice. Since he was only experiencing first symptoms, he surely was fit enough to train and the planned pitching session with Chris-senpai wasn't something he wanted to miss!

“Good evening, Chris-senpai!”, he shouted as soon as he spotted the third year alpha, who was currently getting ready and kitted out for their training session. Chris gave him a short nod, then inhaled and stopped.

“Are you sure you feel up for this?”, he asked with a frown.

“Of course, this Sawamura Eijun would never miss a session with the great Chris-senpai!”, he bowed, then threw the first warm up ball. Chris caught it and nodded.

“Your pheromones have gotten strong”, he acknowledged and threw the ball back.

“Yes, I have had symptoms of pre-rut the entire day”, Eijun replied and threw the ball back with all force he could muster. Which caused the ball to uncontrollably break and miss Chris' mitt.
Chris walked over to pick up the ball. When he turned around Eijun noticed a small frown on his face. Chris inhaled again, smelled the air, then shrugged.

“Bad symptoms?”, he asked finally.

“Nothing I can't endure. I just feel a bit warm and itchy and have stomach cramps. What were your first rut symptoms? Will I get all snarly like Furuya did?”, Eijun answered.
Chris was an alpha, so he could probably give him more info on what was about to come. After all, Furuya had given him so little information when he asked.

Maybe he shouldn't have slept through most sex education, but Eijun assumed that his body would just know what it needed. He looked over at Chris, who wasn't throwing back but instead was frowning at the ball in his mitt.

“Not..that”, he finally answered.

“Let's continue, I want to pitch as much as possible before it starts”, Eijun shouted.

Chris threw him the ball, but when he stretched to catch it, his stomach gave a sudden painful lurch. Before Eijun could even react, his legs gave out and with a hard thud he fell.

“Sawamura”, Chris shouted from somewhere but all Eijun could do was curl in upon himself, when another shudder went through his body. The concerned face of Chris-senpai came into view, as he crouched down next to Eijun.

“I think.. it's starting”, Eijun pressed out, “was your presentation rut this painful?”
He let out a small whine. When he inhaled he could really smell Chris pheromones that smelled both like the alpha was distressed and like he was trying to calm him down. Eijun let out another whine, when he felt his face heat up and something…wet sliding down his legs. Had he pissed himself because of the cramps?

“Sawamura”, Chris took his hand, his pupils were blown wide and a muscle in his face was twitching. “This is not a rut. You're in heat.”
Eijun stared at him, trying to process what his senpai was telling him.
Heat?
But…

“But I'm an alpha”, he whimpered, “genetic testing said I'm 97% alpha!”

“That was the chance of you presenting alpha. I can assure you, you're an omega”, Chris said with a soft smile.
He crouched down and gestured towards his back. “Get on, let's get you to your heat room”, he told Eijun who was still looking at him, stunned.

Another cramp hit and Eijun felt his face heat up again. Tears were forming in his eyes but Chris was emitting a scent that calmed him down enough to not have a melt down right here. With heavy muscles he managed to climb onto the alpha's back and buried his face in Chris' neck, which smelled calming and soothing.

He felt himself losing strength almost immediately and his eyes were dropping. Small gasps of hot air left his mouth.
Chris stood up and walked over to the door. He grabbed something and threw it over Eijun. From the scent and the warmth he realised that it was his senpai’s jacket and he buried his face in the soft fabric.
Chris was moving somewhere, but everything would be okay, this was his trusted senpai and Eijun felt safe, completely surrounded by his scent.

There was only a small itch in the back of his mind telling him that this was not enough, that he needed more.

Kazuya

Had Furuya always smelled like this?
Carefully Kazuya tasted the air around him. It was saturated with an enticing scent that only seemed to thicken.
But Furuya smelled like mint, he knew that. If he correctly remembered this smelled a bit like how Sawamura had smelled this morning, though the smell on the pup had still been faint.
But Kazuya disliked the scent of most alphas…

Furuya seemed unbothered, but looked at him quizzically after Kazuya once again had to scramble for a ball. He never missed that many pitches in a row.
„Is something wrong, senpai?“ He asked.

Kazuya took another sniff. „Is that you or what’s smelling this good?“

Furuya followed his example and also sniffed. „It smells like a nice fried…“
He couldn’t finish, before the door to their gym was pushed open and the scent thickened.

Kazuya whipped around and came face to face with Chris, who looked a bit frazzled. He was taking deep, measured breaths and was carrying something - someone on his back.
The person was emitting the most enticing scent Kazuya had ever encountered and he felt heat pool low in his gut.

„I‘m sorry to bother your practice, but I‘ve got a freshly presented omega who will need some alpha-scented clothes to help him through his first heat.“
Chris was always so calm, but provided little of the really important information.

„Who?“ Kazuya asked and stepped forward, his alpha parts howling in excitement. He tried silencing his inner alpha, he just wanted to know.
Before Chris could react, he pulled the jacket draped over the person on his back down and came face to face with…

„Sawamura?“ Kazuya started laughing. „The born alpha?“ His voice was hitching as he tried to keep his cool, but bouts of laughter just kept coming.
This was hilarious. After announcing it to everyone who would listen or not the pup had finally presented and he was an omega.

Sawamura actually gave a small whine, when he heard Kazuya‘s voice, but other than that he barely reacted.
Right, freshly presented and he needed some alpha pheromones. Quickly Kazuya shrugged off first his training jacket and then, before he could even think about it, the compression shirt he was still wearing underneath. He dropped them on Sawamura’s head.

The omega didn’t react and wow did that hurt Kazuya‘s alpha in ways he hadn’t deemed possible. With a low growl he picked up his shirt again and shoved it between Sawamura‘s torso and Chris‘ back so that it came to rest directly under his nose.

Sawamura really looked out of it (and so so desirable), with his cheeks a deep red, his eyes half lidded and the sheen of sweat on his forehead, making his hair stick. Out of curiosity Kazuya pushed the locks away. Chris was right, Sawamura was burning up and smelling like the most delicious snack.
Sunflowers and honey.

„Do you also want my jacket?“ Furuya interrupted his train of thought.

„Yes, please.“
After retrieving the item from the pitcher, Chris once again readjusted the hold on Sawamura on his back and turned around. „I will get him to a heat room. Please let the coach and Rei know.“

Sawamura whined as Chris left the room that was now saturated with both alpha and omega pheromones.

Kazuya kept staring after them.
So Sawamura was an omega.
And smelled like heaven.
But he was an omega and usually omegas didn‘t play baseball on a competitive level. He doubted that Sawamura would back down, but it made him worry more than he would admit.

He turned back to Furuya, who had also watched the freshly presented omega leave.
After a few seconds of silence, the young catcher spoke. „So if Sawamura is an omega, does that mean he is going to lose his penis?“

Kazuya had expected a question like ‚will he stop playing baseball‘, but this was just too good.
Why did everyone say that highschool was something to survive? This was pure comedy. He started cackling.

„He will not.“ What did they even teach the kids in Hokkaido?

Chris had told him to tell the coach, but currently Kazuya was not wearing too many clothes, so maybe he should fix that. On the way to his dorm room he encountered Kuramochi.

„Why are you naked?“ his friend asked incredulously, while eyeing Kazuya. He knew he had a nice physique.
Cackling again he recounted the events of the last hour. „And then Chris showed up carrying someone smelling like a snack. And turns out Sawamura, Mr. 97% just presented as an omega. It’s too funny!“

Kazuya had to take a deep breath before continuing. „And then Chris asked for alpha-scented clothes and who am I if not a good senpai, if I don’t provide?“

Kuramochi surprisingly didn’t look like he found the story especially funny. He just huffed. „Poor guy.“

He then once again eyed Kazuya. „Weren’t you on your way to tell the coach?“

Before Kazuya could reply, Kuramochi had shrugged off his own jacket. „Put something on before you go.“
The jacket smelled repugnant compared to Sawamura.

Eijun

Eijun felt like he was on fire, literally.
He just about registered Miyuki Kazuya making fun of him (as usual) but everything hurt and he really didn't have the strength to deal with that right now.
In his head the words “you're in heat. you're an omega. you're worthless. you're weak” kept repeating and the only thing that helped was pressing his face into the clothing in front of his face and inhaling the scent of alpha.

He only briefly registered that instead of Chris earthy chocolate he was now smelling something leathery.
But it calmed his frantic mind. As did the soft words of Chris.
He was talking to someone…was he talking to him?
Through a thick and heavy curtain he heard something like “I'll put you down now. You're okay.” and he was somehow removed from the catcher's back, that he had plastered himself to.

Eijun let out a pitiful whine when he was laid down on something soft. With the loss of his full-body-connection to Chris came a bit of clarity. He now registered they were in one of the cycle rooms and Chris had sat him down on a futon.
In front of the omega was a pile of clothes. A pitiful small pile, though they smelt good and like alpha. Eijun grabbed two of the jackets and tried to arrange them like blankets, so he could feel the safety and warmth again.

A knock sounded on the door and Eijun peaked out of his rather sad attempt of a nest to see that Chris was talking to Rei. Both of them looked at him with worried glances, though Chris kept emitting a soothing scent. Rei walked over and crouched down next to him.

“Sawamura-kun, how are you feeling?”, she asked in a friendly tone.

How even was he feeling?
He tried some introspective, which, to be honest, had never been his best skill.

“Like a failure”, he mumbled and felt hot shame wash over him. This earned him a growl from Chris and he shuddered.

“You're not a failure because you presented as an omega”, his senpai told him in a stern voice.

“If you say so…”

“And?”, Rei kept prodding.

“I feel super hot and my stomach really hurts “, he whispered. Even admitting this made an anxious shudder rock him.

“Are you going to leave me?”, he then realised, “I don't want to be alone.” Something was running down his face, was he crying?
Embarrassed, he hid his face in the next piece of clothing, a compression shirt, and the scent of alpha immediately calmed him down a bit.
He pulled the next piece of clothing that he recognised as Chris' jacket closer and hugged it.
Better.
Rei ran a hand through his sweaty hair.

“The scent of close friends, especially alphas, will have a soothing effect on your heat”, she explained, “we'll get you more of these clothes. Can you try and tell us if there's any particular people you'd like to request clothes from?”

Eijun felt another stomach cramp coming up and buried his face in the compression shirt again.
His brain was feeling a bit less foggy now and he could recognise the scent as Miyuki's. ugh. It was like baseball all over again, he craved to be close to this stupid catcher.

“Sawamura?”, Chris now asked, “are you still with us?”

“Can I get clothes from Harucchi, Kuramochi, Masuko and Furuya please?”, he finally listed, then, hiding his face again, he mumbled the more embarrassing names into the shirt.

“Could you repeat that?”, Rei asked him, she now too was sending out waves of calming pheromones.

“Miyuki and Coach Kataoka”, he shouted and immediately buried himself under the pile of clothes he had.
Which weren't this many, but hiding his head and torso had to do.
He didn't see what happened in the room, but the rustling of clothes told him that both Rei and Chris were moving.

“We'll get these to you, please try and rest. If there's anything bad happening please alert the nurse”, Rei told him.

Eijun heard both of them walking away and he let out a pitiful whine. They did not have pity on him and he heard the door close with a click.

Kazuya

Word traveled fast in the baseball club and when Kazuya entered the cafeteria after informing the coach, he was met with a hundred questions.

„What does he smell like?“ Like heaven. Or more specifically like sunflowers and honey.
„How did he take it?“ He was not quite conscious, so Kazuya couldn’t tell.
„Did it affect you in any way?“ Kazuya had taken a short detour to his room and got rid of the arousal.

Of course he didn’t answer any of those questions.

He was not the most gentle senpai, not even a nice person, but sharing that kind of information would not help anyone.
Instead he just smiled.
„You can find it out yourself later, when he is back.“

While he settled down with his bowl of rice (No. 1), the door to the cafeteria opened and both the coach and Rei-chan stepped in.
They were wearing serious expressions, so it probably was about Sawamura.

„Silence!“ Kataoka‘s voice carried even more authority than usual and immediately the whole cafeteria became silent.
„I don’t like rumors to get out of hand, so I’ll make a few things very clear. As you have all probably heard already, Sawamura just presented as an omega. I do not plan on removing him from the team or his position on the first string. I will not tolerate any discrimination. If anyone has a problem with the situation, see me after training.“ He paused and eyed his team, most of whom looked slightly confused and taken aback by the direct words of their coach.
He gave a curt nod in Yuki‘s direction and then continued. „Kuramochi, Masuko, Miyuki, Kominato and Furuya, come see me after dinner.“

When he left, the room exploded in noise once more.

„Who in their right mind put an omega in first string?“
„That sounds like such a bad idea…“
„Maybe the managers can take Sawamura under their wing?“

Kazuya scoffed. Speaking to no one in particular, he announced, „You heard the coach! Leave Sawamura alone.“
Why did he feel that protective of the first year he shouldn’t care about at all? Of course Sawamura was one of the team's pitchers, but with Tanba, Furuya and Kawakami on the team, he wasn’t even that important.

With a huff he got up, ignoring that he had to eat a third bowl and headed to the coach‘s office.

Kuramochi caught up with him a few seconds later. “What do you think the coach needs from us?“
Kazuya shrugged. He had already handed Sawamura two pieces of clothing drenched in his sweat and by proxy pheromones.

Or did they need him to actually scent something? It made his alpha weirdly proud, even though he was not even certain if that was what the coach wanted.
They knocked and entered. Both Kominato jr. and Furuya were already there and just a few moments later, Masuko joined them.

Now that all were present, the coach finally explained.
„Miyuki, Furuya, I will need both of you to properly scent some blankets for Sawamura. He is struggling quite badly with his heat. He also requested items from Masuko, Kuramochi and Kominato, though in that case any unwashed laundry will do.“

Ah, the coach just like he knew him, down to the facts without further wishwash.
Kazuya felt his instincts stir, both delighted with the request and also somehow jealous of Furuya.
When had his alpha become that possessive?
What the hell?

Kazuya nodded and took the red blanket the coach handed him.
It was incredibly soft. He felt very self conscious as he scented it, Furuya to his right doing the same thing with a blue blanket.
He kept glancing over to Miyuki to see how to properly scent something, it was kind of endearing.

The others had disappeared to fetch the requested items.
After a few minutes they returned and Kazuya decided that the blanket was now saturated with his pheromones enough for Sawamura to use. He felt pictures rise in his mind and quickly tried to look somewhere else before he could imagine what Sawamura was going to use the blanket for.
Nesting. Sawamura was going to use it for nesting, he reminded himself.

He dropped it in the basket Rei-chan was holding and stopped for a second when he spotted the training jacket already inside the basket. When he looked up he could see Kataoka not wearing his and a sly grin spread across his face.

Cute.

Kataoka gave him a stern look.

Chapter Text

It got worse before it got better.

Or let’s say it didn’t get better at all.

Eijun was overheating, his gut was cramping something awful, his skin was itching and he couldn’t find anything to alleviate his pain.

It seemed like hours until the door to his prison cell opened once more and someone placed a bunch of fabric in front of him.
Currently Eijun was lying on his side, curled up and letting out a low whine ever so often. The fabric was pushed closer to his face and he caught a whiff of alpha. Eijun felt totally uncoordinated when he grabbed the nice smelling fabric and brought it up to cover his flushed face. He recognised one of the scents as Furuya, nice and icy, but somehow soft. Taking in measured breaths he felt like it was at least taking the edge off of his symptoms.

Why did anyone even want to be an omega?
He certainly didn't!
This was awful!
Pure pain and suffering.

The next hours he felt like he was drifting in and out of consciousness. He had managed to pull the clothes closer and managed to bunch up the red blanket that smelled like leather and beeswax to rest his head on. He would never admit it to anyone, but Miyuki‘s smell seemed to help a little more than the others.
Over time he had identified the remaining scented clothes carrying the grassy smell of Kuramochi, the burnt caramel smell of Masuko, the faint cherry blossom smell of Haruichi and (to his embarrassment and utter comfort of the omega side in him) the coffee and oak smell of Kataoka.

Moving hurt too much, so Eijun remained on his side, occasionally turning his head to get another whiff of alpha.
He pulled everything else closer to make some kind of makeshift pile on his futon.
His underwear was soaked with what he now knew was slick but he really couldn't get himself to move.

He didn’t know how much time had passed when someone crouched down in front of him and tried to talk to him. He didn’t recognise their scent and while it didn’t feel like the person would hurt him, he still shrunk back at the unfamiliarity. To his embarrassment he felt tears pool in his eyes. The person spoke to him, but Eijun couldn’t find the strength to listen. He just closed his eyes again and pulled the blanket smelling like Miyuki over his head.

Theoretically he knew that omegas could enjoy their heat, especially with a partner, but Eijun had been an unpresented pup until yesterday and he didn’t have the faintest clue about how to get his omega side under control.

How could anyone mate like that?
He was feeling restless and itchy and still he couldn’t even change his position to roll out of the puddle of slick. He feared that someone saw him like that, helpless and needy, but there was not much he could do.

The person placed a hand on his shoulder and Eijun sobbed. He didn’t want to be touched and still he craved it.

He needed this nightmare to end.
He needed his friends.
He needed Miyuki.

His brain couldn’t even process that foreign concept of yearning for the alpha.
Without the emotional capacity of dealing with this thought he shelved it under “things that are probably because he was an omega”.

Oh god, an omega, would they kick him off the team?
He shuddered and let out another whine.

The person spoke again but with the little strength he had he batted the hand away and turned on his other side.

They left. He was alone again but he didn’t know if that was better. New cramps pushed out more slick and he cried for some time before he drifted back to unconsciousness.

The next time he came to he heard familiar voices.
„Should we wake him, Kuramochi-senpai?“

„We have to. The nurse said he hasn’t eaten or drunk in the last 24 hours and they are afraid that they‘d have to get him to hospital if he doesn’t get any fluids anytime soon.“
At the sound of his senpai‘s voice Eijun whined.
Could they come closer, help him?

The cool hand on his forehead felt like heaven. Eijun leaned into the touch. It felt so so good.
„He’s burning up. And he’s still in his uniform.“ That was Harucchi‘s soft tenor.
Harucchi was his friend, he was safe, so Eijun tried to crawl closer. He buried his face in the warm shirt of the other.

„Sawamura?“ Kuramochi‘s voice. „I‘m going to take off your clothes.“
Ah, so they had noticed that he was awake. But when he tried to speak, his voice sounded raw.

„…Mochi-senpai…“

„Good.“ The older beta patted his head and Eijun‘s omega preened.
His friends were here and they didn't hate him.
They were going to end this nightmare, Eijun hoped.
While he was still processing the comforting presence of his team mates, Kuramochi started opening the buttons of the uniform he was still wearing.

„Can you help me here?“ Kuramochi pulled him upright and Eijun was putty in his hands. He felt completely boneless, all strength gone.
Now that he regained at least some awareness of his situation he noticed how Haruichi had pushed away the pile of clothes he had buried himself in and was currently helping him get out of the compression shirt he was wearing. He let out a soft whine, seeing the remnants of his scented nest in disarray. Not that they had ever been more than a pile, but now losing them felt like something he couldn't take.

The cold air that hit him both felt like heaven on his burning skin and made him shiver.
„I’m sorry, Eijun-kun. Hang in there.“

He would have preferred to be unconscious again when Kuramochi pulled down his slick-soaked pants and underwear.
This was really embarrassing, but Eijun had no strength left. The position he was now in made his stomach cramp even harder and he whined.

„Sorry.“
A second later he was completely naked. Haruichi started wiping him down with a cold rag and Eijun shivered even harder.
While it felt good, he felt really cold and vulnerable.

„Here, we had Chris scent this for you.“
Haruichi helped him into a soft, silky yukata that smelled really good. Immediately the crawling anxiety in his gut seemed to calm down a bit.

Meanwhile, Kuramochi was busying himself with a tray he had carried in. He returned to Eijun’s side carrying a cup of weird green liquid.
„The nurse said you have to drink this.“ Kuramochi guided the cup to his mouth.
It smelled awful.

Eijun shuddered and shook his head.
“I don't want to”, he croaked out.

“I am sorry, Eijun-kun, but you really have to”, Haruichi added, “it's nutrients for omegas that your body needs. It will make the cramps better.”

“It smells disgusting“, he whined. No one had told him that being an omega came with having to drink awful sloshy green liquids on top of… everything else.

Kuramochi squinted at him and seemed to think.
“You know, Bakamura, these will help you improve and Furuya already has a training advantage while you're out.” Eijun gulped, suddenly the liquid seemed to be less horrible.
“Also, the coach, Chris and Miyuki will be really disappointed if you don't drink this.”, Kuramochi added with a knowing grin. Eijun let out a stressed whine.

“Alright, give it, this Sawamura Eijun can endure the awful green smoothie “, he shouted and started coughing immediately due to his dry throat.
Kuramochi handed him the cup and he gulped it down in three gulps, trying not to throw up after every one of them.

“Very good”, his senpai told him and a warm feeling washed over Eijun. This wasn't too bad.

“Now that you managed this, I got another cup for you”, Kuramochi sounded awfully delighted for someone feeding him the devil's soup.
He presented Eijun with another cup of disgusting green stuff. The omega let out a distressed whine.

“If you drink this, I will steal some of Miyuki's sports clothes for you”, his senpai bribed him.
Was Eijun really this obvious?
Still, the offer was too good to pass upon, so he emptied another cup of omega poison.

“I got you something else to wash the taste away, Eijun-kun”, with a smile Haruichi handed him a bottle of pocari sweat.
Eijun let out a happy sound, his friend clearly was the best, thinking of him. Not like that two-faced bastard Kuramochi!
He grabbed the bottle of pocari and washed the taste of the green slushy of death away.

During all this he noticed that he was feeling less awful.
Sure his stomach still was doing funny things and he felt the heat creep up again, but being surrounded by friends and clean clothing had significantly improved his situation.

“I'm sorry but we can't stay much longer”, Haruichi said, “but I hope you feel better soon!”

“Don't leave me”, Eijun protested.
Why did they have to go?
They were betas so his heat shouldn't do much to them, right? (Not that he knew, after all sex ed period had been a very good and regular nap period, since he already knew a lot about alphas and figured anything else was just a bonus.) Though he had noticed that both of them were wearing masks, was his smell this unbearable?

“We have training, Bakamura”, Kuramochi told him, “You should be able to join soon if you continue to rest and drink this.” He gestured towards another two cups of green slurry.
Eijun whined, why was there more of this???

But wait, Kuramochi had said training.
“They're not kicking me off the team?”, he whispered, feeling tears welling in his eyes.

“Of course not, Coach already gave everyone the anti-discrimination shovel talk. Worry not”, his senpai told him and Eijun felt like something heavy was lifted off his chest.

“Can we take these?”, Haruichi asked and pointed towards his pile of clothes.
Eijun wanted to say yes but instead he let out a pitiful whine.

“Oh come on”, Kuramochi sighed, “we got you new stuff!” He gestured towards a bag they had left at the door.
Eijun considered his options.

Sure, he didn't want to part with his first nest but it was soaked in slick and probably disgusting and if there were more soft blankets in the basket….he gave a court nod.
“The trade is accepted”, he told them.
Kuramochi cackled when he threw him the new bag of clothes and Eijun immediately started shuffling through them.

When he caught a whiff of alpha scent so familiar he felt his eyes fill with tears again. It was a t-shirt of his grandpa!
Somehow word must have gotten to his family and they had sent clothes with their scent immediately.
His heart almost hurt. After arranging the clothes in a nicer pile, he slid underneath and felt his eyes drop.

“Okay, you can leave, I will sleep and come back as this world's best omega pitcher”, he decided and closed his eyes.
_______________

Another two days later the nurse declared his heat to be over and in the darkness of the beginning night he was allowed to finally leave.
He had spent the last days under a pile of delicious smelling clothes, the cramps slowly abiding and being replaced with a very foreign feeling of emptiness.

When he had been able to sit up on his own and drink some more of the disgusting smoothie, the nurse had provided him with brochures on heat care and he had grown extremely embarrassed reading about knot-dildos and spending time with an alpha.
It was bad enough that he had spent the last days cuddling Miyuki‘s clothes, even worse how the scent of his stern coach had been among those he yearned for.
Why couldn’t he settle on someone reliable like Chris?

The brochures had helped in providing information on how to alleviate the feeling of emptiness and Eijun had shyly tried out some of the suggestions that had worked way too well to even think about it. He flushed as he thought back on his final day of experimentation during his heat.

For now he felt dirty and so, before even returning to his room, he made his way to the communal bath.
He was glad not to hear any voices from inside, he wasn’t quite ready to face the team just yet. From the grounds bathed in cool blue light he could hear the metallic clang of bats colliding with balls as evening training had yet to end.

Hurriedly he undressed and, sliding open the door to the bath halted.
It felt like his smelling had improved during his presentation and now he could smell that he was not quite alone.
„Shishou!“ He positively preened when he spotted his senpai in the water.

Chris looked a little shocked to see him and Eijun could see his nostrils flare.
„Sawamura, I see your heat has ended.“ Chris' tone was leveled and he couldn’t quite meet Eijun’s eyes.

„Yes.“ He grew increasingly self-conscious as he felt the gaze of the alpha.
He had been so used to not having any pheromones that it came as a shock when Chris said, „you smell nervous.“

Eijun laughed awkwardly as he turned on the shower and positioned himself on the small stool, before picking up his soap.
To his newly sensitive nose it smelled a little off. Maybe he ought to invest in a new one.

„I‘m all new to this…“ Eijun’s voice displayed more of his emotions than he had intended.
Was he going to broadcast everything by scent now? It was a weird feeling when Chris‘ scent turned somewhat soothing and Eijun felt himself relax slightly.

„Thank you for taking care of me when I presented.“ Now it was him who couldn’t meet the other’s eyes.

When he finally looked up, Chris smiled at him softly. „I‘m glad you are okay. According to Kuramochi you struggled quite a bit.“

He laughed awkwardly again. „It was… not what I expected. You know… 97% alpha.“

Chris sighed and looked somewhat exhausted. „It was only a chance. I know that being an omega is all new to you, but you can always find me, when you struggle. I, however, recommend having a look at some resources.“

Eijun felt his eyes fill with tears. His soul still felt so raw and the kind words of his senpai once again pushed him over the edge.
He tried to lather himself in his own soap, but started gagging.
Why had he even been using this stuff? (The label said “Alpha strong musk - bring out your inner animal”. It smelled like construction works.)

He turned to Chris again. With reddened cheeks he asked. „Do you think I can borrow your soap and shampoo? This smells awful.“

“Feel free”, Chris pointed towards two bottles standing at the side. Eijun scurried over and gave them a long sniff.
It was a too long sniff, he immediately recoiled. That was even worse, how could soap smell this nice on his senpai but this disgusting straight out of the bottle?

“Uhn actually”, Eijun laughed nervously. He looked around, hoping someone else had forgotten something less disgusting.
Thankfully teenage boys were not the best at always keeping track of their things, so a rummage through some of the other soap bottles made him settle on “Mint 3in1” which he suspected was Furuya’s. Bless his rival who was using the most boring scent out of everyone.
Speaking of the devil…

“This is my soap”, the alpha in question suddenly stood next to Eijun who was completely soaped up in fresh mint.
The omega squinted at the shape reflected in the mirror behind him and immediately squaked an indiginfied “now I got shampoo in my eye“.

Furuya just grabbed his bottle and sat down next to him.
He mumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like “So he still has a penis” but honestly even Eijun didn't want to start this discussion.

After feeling a lot cleaner, Eijun slid into the bath.
And immediately jumped out again.
This awful heat reminded him vividly of what he had been through and his mind helpfully conjured up a couple of memories of the last days.

“Sawamura, I say this in the nicest way possible and in your best interest, you need to learn to control your pheromones”, Chris told him.

“It's like a live broadcast”, Furuya added from his stool.

“I am just going to leave, okay”, Eijun whined and grabbed his towel. “Thank you for the soap, Furuya, I'll get you a new one!”

He turned around and hurried towards the changing rooms.
As if to add insult to injury he didn't even make it that far before he nearly collided with Miyuki Kazuya.
He flailed and the alpha grabbed his arm to stop him from falling over.
“I see, our little omega survived his first heat”, the alpha grinned.

“Yes. I'll be playing in no time. Now I have homework to do, ok thanks bye”, Eijun tried to shrug his senpai off, who just narrowed his eyes and leaned forward.
He smelled the air. Great, it was as Chris said, he should really learn how to control his pheromones.

“Why do you smell like Furuya?”, the alpha asked with a subtle edge to his tone.

“I used his soap, mine smells awful now”, Eijun whined.
Stupid alpha! Stupid soap.
At least Miyuki let go of his arm.

“Next time use mine, mint doesn't suit you”, he told Eijun. Whose mind helpfully replayed some more memories for him.

“Will do”, he shouted and fled the scene.

A couple of minutes later he sat in the middle of his room, alone for now, confronted with another sad reality.
It wasn't only his soap, his deodorant and his body lotion smelled awful as well.
He had no choice, he would have to spend this weeks allowance on new products. Well, no time but the present, so he decided rather than being quizzed by his teammates, he'd rather make a trip to the closest convenience store.

He grabbed his backpack and immediately bumped into Haruichi, who was standing in front of his door, ready to knock.
Eijun let out a startled shout, was everyone out to jump scare him today?
“Hi, Eijun-kun”, the beta greeted him, “are you feeling better?”

“Harucchi”, Eijun fell into his friend's arms, “help me! I only own disgusting shampoo and I hate being an omega!”

“There, there”, Haruichi patted his back, “should we go and buy new soap?”

“Yes, please”, Eijun sniffed. Haruichi smelled pleasant at least, finally someone not stirring weird new instincts.

Just as they were about to leave the dorm, another figure peeled out of the dark.
It was embarrassing that Eijun knew it to be Furuya before the other pitcher had even stepped into the light.
„Do you need a bodyguard?“ He offered with a slight smile. „I heard omegas shouldn’t go out at night, alone.“

„It’s not the middle ages anymore, Furuya-kun“, Haruichi chided. „But you are welcome to join.“

So in the end the three first years made their way off campus.
Eijun would never ever ever admit it, but it felt nice having an alpha care for him.
Furuya stuck to his right side, while Haruichi was chatting along on his left. It felt like his beta friend was trying to make Eijun loosen up.

When they reached the closest Matsumoto Kiyoshi Eijun was amazed to find an entire aisle, no two dedicated to omega products. Most scents were described something floral, but with the help of his friends he managed to pick up some neutral smelling body products which were supposed to smell like amber.

According to Furuya it made Eijun smell like sunshine and who didn’t want to smell like a burning astral body about to destroy everything in their wake?

On the way back the other two updated him on what he had missed, but left out the reactions of his teammates to finding out about Eijun‘s new status.
It made him feel incredibly anxious.

„You need to stop doing that.“ Furuya huffed as he wrapped Eijun in a hug. „It makes me want to save you from the world if you smell like that.“
The alpha looked uncomfortable giving in to his instincts like that.

„Ah, they return.“ Miyuki‘s voice rang out from the balcony above them and the three first years froze.
Something akin to annoyance was wafting off of Miyuki and Eijun wondered if he was the only one having problems keeping his emotions hidden.
Usually Miyuki was so hard to read, but right now he seemed pissed.
He wondered what had set his senpai off.

Miyuki met them in front of Eijun’s room. He gave him a once over and then leaned in to… sniff at his neck.
It felt so intimate that Eijun stumbled backwards, his face heating up in a burning flush.

„You can’t just smell me like that, Miyuki Kazuya, you pervert!“ He screeched and slapped his hands over his neck.

„Ah, amber.“ Miyuki cackled. „You smell nice.“ He winked and disappeared, leaving a fuming Eijun behind.
His gut was stirring uncomfortably and he felt almost like during his heat.
That tanuki bastard!

Chapter Text

Kazuya
Life had gotten so much more interesting since Sawamura had presented. It made Kazuya all giddy with excitement for the new levels of bullying he could subject Sawamura to.
Now he could even smell the reaction, it was golden!
The only bad thing that had come out of this new situation was how suddenly both declared rivals in their pitching rally were now sticking to each other like glue. Furuya had grown extremely protective of Sawamura up to the point where it interfered with pitching practice.
Whenever Sawamura missed a throw he started emitting distressed pheromones and Furuya would drop everything (usually the ball he was just holding) to go over and hug him better.

It made Kazuya‘s gut churn uncomfortably.
It didn’t help that Sawamura smelled like Furuya all the time.
Sawamura was not supposed to smell like that.

It also made Kazuya worry about games.
If Sawamura displayed all of his emotions like that, the opponent could use it and it made Kazuya‘s game calling a lot more difficult.
It also worried him how much a single missed pitch was affecting the omega pitcher.

Up until now Sawamura‘s confidence had been unwavering, but now everyone could see through the facade and it both made Kazuya want to beat some sense into the younger and hide him away from the cruel world.

So, all in all, an extremely distressing situation. Especially as their first games were coming up.

In the end Kazuya decided that he needed to intervene and went to talk to Kataoka about his concerns.

He was present when the coach called Sawamura in to inform him about the decision made.
The young omega looked even smaller, when he sat down on the sofa, staring at the coach through big doe eyes.

„Sawamura, I know that this is hard for you, but until you can get a handle on your pheromones, I cannot use you in any games. At games will equip you with scent patches, but during training you really need to manage your emotions and pheromones differently.“
Sawamura, as expected, started bawling and letting off an extremely distressed scent. It took all of Kazuya‘s willpower not to react and a look at the coach revealed that he was also struggling.

„I will do my best, boss!“ He shouted, trying to reign back his distress and Kazuya felt a little proud at the sliver of control Sawamura seemed to regain over his emotions.

Scent patches were not foolproof, but they would make Sawamura usable if they were in a pinch. From sex ed class Kazuya knew that they also put a little strain on omegas, often leading to crashes after extended use, but for the duration of games it should be okay.

Eijun
“Miyuki Kazuya, catch my pitches”, Eijun hunted down the alpha after the meeting.

He was frustrated. On top of “please meet with the school doctor once a week so we can monitor how competitive sports impact you after a bad first heat” they now added this “you can't play unless you control your pheromones.”
Of course he understood that the coach and Rei were trying to protect and support him, after all they had also subjected him to the lengthy explanation how unhappy both of them were that omega performance in sports was so badly researched, so they had to monitor him to be safe.
But it was still frustrating to suddenly be a test subject and to follow different rules than everyone else.

After Miyuki had been the person to snitch on him, Eijun thought it was simply fair that the catcher helped him learn how to control his pheromones during pitching.
He also explained this to Miyuki who looked like he wanted to escape (maybe his explanation had been a bit lengthy as well) but in the end agreed to help him.
Now both boys were clad in sports clothes, getting warmed up for an evening round of pitching.

“I want to pitch too”, Furuya grumbled from the sidelines, where he and Haruichi were sitting, watching them.
Miyuki had decided that they would act as a jury, since Furuya had so little control himself that he reacted to any kind of distress signal from the omega.

“It's my turn. You had a whole week to train with Miyuki while I was in heat”, Eijun protested.

“Let's get started”, Miyuki reminded him, “20 pitches for tonight.”

“Alright”, Eijun shouted.
He had to control his scent, he reminded himself.
What if he just like tried to blanket his emotions?
He always felt excited and happy when he got to pitch, so if he couldn't stop emitting pheromones, maybe these were the emotions he should settle on. He tried to empty his head and just focus on Miyuki's signs.

“You're looking stupid”, the catcher laughed immediately and with that Eijun's concentration was gone again.

“Hey”, he protested, “Don't interrupt me, Miyuki Kazuya!”
He emptied his head again and threw the ball exactly where Miyuki had placed his mitt.
Well, to be honest, exactly where Miyuki moved his mitt to, but he would take that.
They tried a couple of pitches and Eijun managed to block out stress and bad emotions most times he messed up.

“Who said that this Sawamura Eijun had no control, I am perfect at controlling my pheromones”, he shouted.
Afterall, Furuya hadn't come to hug him even once. (Which was a bit sad. He liked the encouragement.)

“Well done, Eijun-kun”, Haruichi shouted.
Eijun preened, his best friend was just the nicest person.

“Your control is still weak”, that bastard Miyuki shouted.

“Hey”, Eijun protested. His next pitch immediately went haywire and he felt annoyed.
Furuya draped over his shoulder like a wet blanket.
Stupid catcher, why did he always have to be right?

In the end, Miyuki gave him a short nod.
“Your control is better now. Even though you make a stupid face”, the bastard snickered.
Eijun felt both humiliated and warm from the praise. Why did the catcher always have to be so abrasive?

“Catch for me again, tomorrow”, he demanded.

“No, I wanna pitch”, Furuya behind him complained.

“We'll see. Now go and wash up”, Miyuki told them and started to take off his gear.

It was only a week left until the start of the tournament and Eijun was giddy with excitement.
After a lot of training with Miyuki as his catcher and Furuya as his ‚pheromonometer“ as Miyuki called him, he felt ready to jump in at any second.
The only thing now standing between him and his first game was the doctor he had to see to get the all clear.
The evening before the appointment he was a little too anxious that even Kuramochi got upset by it and dragged him to Miyuki’s room.

„Here, you don’t have a roommate and I‘ve got a struggling omega who needs some nice and strong alpha musk to get him to sleep.“ And Eijun was handed over like some kind of pawn.

Now he was standing in the middle of Miyuki‘s room, clutching only the polar bear plushie Furuya had given him which he had been holding while trying to calm down and sleep.
He was clad in only boxers and a t-shirt and felt extremely vulnerable when the alpha looked him up and down.
He seemed to have gotten the approval to stay and Miyuki pointed towards the empty bed.

„Sleep.“ The short instruction felt like a command and immediately his eyes started to droop.
He barely made it onto the mattress before he dropped into a deep, refreshing slumber, laced with dreams about certain catchers.

„Why are they here?“ Eijun asked incredulously, pointing at Yuuki, Miyuki and Furuya who had piled into the car to his doctor's appointment together with Rei and him.

With a sigh she explained. „Yuuki-kun is team captain, so he should know all the relevant facts. Miyuki-kun will form a battery with you so he needs to be able to recognise distress in you if you don’t recognize it yourself. And Furuya-kun is here for moral support, the two of you seem like you're forming a bond.“ She smiled softly at the two teenagers.

The reactions of the two alphas was a little weird, Eijun mused.
Furuya just sleepily shook his head and Miyuki looked like he had just swallowed something sour.

The doctor was a nice omega (Eijun‘s inner omega preened at the thought of finally meeting another omega. Of course he knew Wakana, but that had been before he presented.) and led them all into a sterile office.

„Please undress.“ She told Eijun and he froze.
Of course everyone except Rei knew what he looked like naked as they all took baths together, but being the only naked person in a room made him very uncomfortable.

„Can they leave?“ He asked in a small voice.
He knew that his pheromones were broadcasting his stress judging from the tense expressions around him. For now he couldn’t care less.

The doctor regarded him for a second and sighed. „One of the alphas should stay, but I ask the others to wait outside.“

There was some kind of weird power display going on between Furuya and Miyuki but in the end his friend followed Rei outside and left him at the mercy of the worst person to comfort him like ever.
The doctor gestured to a small screen in one of the corners and with growing trepidation Eijun stepped behind the screen to only emerge in his socks and underwear.
He was not going to go fully naked until told so.

The doctor mustered him but signalled him to climb on the treatment table and started with a rather normal physical examination.
Then she asked him to remove his underwear.

Lying on his side, his boxers pulled down with Miyuki getting a front seat view of his behind was probably among the three most embarrassing moments of his life.

The first of course was his presentation.

“I am just going to have a short check if everything is in order”, the doctor explained and put on some gloves.
Eijun nodded and gave her the go ahead, after all he needed this so he could pitch.
What he did not expect was the doctor actually inserting a finger in his hole and Eijun whined at the unexpected intrusion and tensed up.

“Please relax, Sawamura-kun”, the doctor asked him, “it will not take long.”

Within a heartbeat Miyuki was at his head and ran a wrist over his neck.
Whatever alpha thing he was doing helped calm Eijun down, even though he had no idea what exactly the catcher had done.

Finally he was told to get dressed again and the other three were called back inside. Immediately Furuya hurried to his side, but froze a few centimetres from him and… sniffed.
He then shot Miyuki a dirty look.
Weird.
Eijun was feeling better than before. It was probably the stress of the upcoming examination subsiding.

The doctor turned to Rei as if she were his mother and explained. „All looks in order. His smell is still a bit all over the place, but I reckon that’s from the added stress of being here and his relatively recent late presentation. You have reliable alphas on the team, so support in this regard shouldn’t be a problem. The only thing worrying me is his blood works.“
Ah, Eijun remembered. The school nurse had drawn some blood and sent it to the hospital for testing the week before.
Was there something wrong?

„He’s lacking a few essential nutrients for omegas, so he will need to take supplements for a few weeks.“ Eijun hated how she didn’t talk to him but about him.
He felt like he was back at the pediatric clinic his mom had always brought him when he sustained another minor injury from climbing trees or tripping while on the hunt for beetles.

The doctor, still ignoring him, continued. „For games when he wears the scent patches, make sure to take them off after four hours, as they can get uncomfortable for omegas. And it would be good for all alphas on the team to be ready to scent him if needed.“

Scenting was, according to Eijun’s newest book, something very intimate.
He liked all of the alphas to a certain degree, but letting them scent him…Well, if that was what it took for him to play, this Sawamura Eijun would even let that tanuki Miyuki Kazuya scent him.

After Rei had asked some additional questions (Eijun was suddenly feeling very exhausted), they were finally let go.
On the way out of the hospital they stopped at the pharmacy and picked up his new supplements and then they were finally on their way back and Eijun would get to play his first official game!

Oh well, first Tanba-senpai and Furuya and Nori-senpai would play, but still.
He was cleared to play!

Eijun woke from hushed voices and the sound of a door.
He felt warm and comfortable and the remnants of his dream (about baseball of course) still lingered.
It even smelled like baseball.
He pressed his face into the soft and warm baseball smell.

Only slowly he started remembering more details.
They had been to the doctors office.
They had been in a cab and now it didn't feel like a cab anymore.
It felt very much…warm.

He opened his eyes and came face to face with a not-yet-known-and-he-never-wanted-to-know perspective of Miyuki Kazuya's chin.
Miyuki Kazuya who was carrying him. He immediately started squirming and the alpha tightened his grip.
“Ah, you're awake”, he said more to the person he was talking to than to Eijun.

“Let me down, you bastard”, he said in a very calm voice.
Kuramochi later said he shrieked, but Sawamura Eijun did not shriek.

“Oh calm down”, Miyuki sighed and placed him on his feet.
They were in front of Eijun's room and Kuramochi was holding open the door while laughing.

“Why were you carrying me, Miyuki Kazuya”, Eijun demanded to know.

“You fell asleep on the way back”, the alpha sighed.

“Well you could have just woken me”, Eijun shot back. He was wearing a warm jacket that smelled like baseball over his shoulders that he now recognized as Miyuki's.

“Believe me, we tried. You were out like a light. Honestly, a little bit of scenting and you just folded.”

“A little bit of what?” Okay, maybe this time he did shriek.

“I scented you, dummy. When you were freaking out at the doctor's.”

“Miyuki Kazuya, you bastard! My book says scenting is a very private thing to do! Don't make fun of it”, Eijun huffed.
The thought of Miyuki doing something so so private while he had a finger up his ass was mortifying!
Eijun felt his face heat up even more.

“Calm down. I am just laying out facts here”, Miyuki laughed. Great, the bastard thought this was funny.

“You're a shitty person and that's why I am keeping this jacket as a hostage”, Eijun declared.
He shoved Kuramochi (laughing) into the room and closed the door in Miyuki's face (also laughing).

Honestly, those two idiots deserved not having any friends, Eijun decided. He still felt sleepy, though, so he would do just that.
After washing up and brushing his teeth quickly, he slid into his bed. After all, he would play a game tomorrow and wanted to be well rested before.

“Don't forget your supplements”, Kuramochi reminded him just when he was about to fall asleep.

Great.

“How do you know about those?”, Eijun asked suspiciously.
Kuramochi hadn't been there.
He shouldn't know.

“Oh, Miyuki just texted you a reminder”, his senpai replied, holding up Eijun's own phone.
Why did he have his phone?
Why did he know his pin?
Honestly, Eijun was too tired to ask.

He found a bag with the logo of a pharmacy on his desk and opened it.
There were the damn supplements, packaged in neat little bags with an instruction to dissolve them in water. Eijun had a bad feeling about this.

“Enjoy your evening snack”, Kuramochi cackled as he saw his kohai eyeing a glass of bright green slushie with squinted eyes.

“I hate you”, Eijun shouted and downed the drink in one go.

Immediately afterwards, (still shuddering from the taste) he climbed into his bed and pulled the gifted (borrowed? stolen?) jacket over his head. It still smelled like Miyuki, but at least it blocked out Kuramochi's laughter.
Seconds later he was asleep.

The next day was a rather hot day. Eijun woke up surprisingly well rested, had a slushy (still disgusting) and enough rice for the day to get rid of the taste. Around him everyone was buzzing with excitement.

Furuya was starting, so even the alpha showed a degree of nervous energy that Eijun tried to calm with some calming pheromones. He might have overdone it, as in the end, he and Haruichi (yawning) had to half carry a sleepy Furuya towards their bus that brought them to the stadium.

“Hand him over”, Miyuki stopped them, “he's the starter today and I'll make sure he's ready as his catcher.”

Eijun thought he might get whiplash from the catcher's behaviour. Just yesterday Miyuki had seemed like he was bothered by Furuya’s presence.
Whatever.
With a shrug he handed over his friend, who now made an effort to straighten. Only to fall back asleep on the bus, as Eijun noticed from his seat next to Haruichi.

Once they arrived at the stadium, Furuya seemed more awake, so he decided that there was no reason to worry.
From what Eijun had heard, Seido was the favourite for this game. Still, they could only win if they played a clean game and he was ready to play.

While the alphas were sent off to get their dose of suppressants, Eijun followed an awkward official, who brought him to a dedicated omega nurse, who handed him scent patches.
They were supposed to be extra strong though Eijun mainly found them extra itchy.

And finally they were in the dugout.
Furuya headed to the bullpen with Miyuki to warm up, while Eijun… well, he just sat there, brimming with energy.

The way the game unfolded it was clear how big the power difference between the teams was with their senpai scoring five points even in the first three innings. The only problem was that Furuya, fully recovered now, was struggling with the heat.
Which made the coach send in Tanba, who fumbled a bit and then, during his batting, twisted his ankle, so now it was Kawakami‘s turn.
Eijun was on the edge of his seat, longing to play and finally the coach sent him to warm up.

„But keep your jacket on during warm up. I know it’s hot, but if we don’t use you, we don’t have to show the world that you’re wearing scent patches.“
Right, his status as an omega, while accepted by his own team to a certain degree, was still something painting a target on his back and Eijun felt his heart drop a bit.

„Yes, sir!“ He shouted and jogged out to warm up. It was indeed sweltering under the burning sun.
Especially since he had to keep his jacket closed all the way up to his neck.

It seemed like the mound was cursed, Eijun mused.
It almost made him afraid.

They were now in the seventh inning and Kawakami had just informed the coach that during his sliding he had injured his finger.
It was only a minor scratch, but was interfering with his pitching and they had a solid five-point lead.

In the end Kataoka had no real choice but to send Eijun up on that mound.

Oh, the excitement.

He beamed at the nearest person (Miyuki, sadly) and the catcher started laughing.

„Excited much?“ He asked and flicked Eijun‘s forehead. „Be glad that you're wearing those patches, otherwise your feelings would probably even reach the back of the stands.“
Eijun just stuck out his tongue and handed his jacket to a waiting, slightly recovered Furuya.

As soon as the change in pitcher (their third pitcher-change) was announced, everyone had their eyes on Eijun and he felt them focus not on him but on the skin-coloured patches on his neck, covering his scent glands. It was honestly amazing how fast humans would focus on something that was nearly invisible behind the turtle neck of his compression shirt.
He could hear the whispered, shouted voices.
„An omega? Is Seido this desperate?“
„Is this okay?“
„Will he even withhold the pressure?“
„Is this even legal?“
„The poor thing…“

„Hey, Sawamura! Show them what you've got.“ The familiar voice of his catcher brought him back to his current position.
He was finally standing on that mound. He could finally show them that he was more than just an omega.
The grin Miyuki gave him made his heart skip a beat and Eijun focused on the ball in his hand. He’d give it all he’s got!

What he got was apparently a ball.

He could still hear the voices from the stands, murmuring about his apparent display of weak pitching.
Omega pitching.

„Focus on the batter!“
Right.
He looked at the alpha, who gave him an encouraging grin.
Once again, Miyuki made him blend out everyone else, just like in practice, and this time he landed a strike.
Yes!

In the end he only gave up one run and they won (as expected, but Eijun was still giddy with relief).
He had played his first game!
He hadn’t fucked up (much)!
He could still be a pitcher and go to Koshien!

The team huddled together in a victorious pile and Eijun soaked up all the body contact he got from people he loved and admired.
„Here you go, Eijun-kun.“ And his sweet angel Haruichi peeled off the itchy scent patches.

He rubbed a hand over the slightly sore scent glands and felt everyone turn towards him. Okay, maybe he hadn't exactly tried hard to control his scent, after all the patches were blocking it.
Spitz-senpai let out a low whistle.

„If that’s the smell we get for victory, we have to win more often.“ Nii-san commented and Eijun felt his cheeks heat up with both pride and embarrassment at his own disability of keeping his emotions and pheromones under wraps.

Miyuki approached him and tried to sling his arm around Eijun’s shoulders, but with a cry he jumped back, slapping both his hands over the glands on either side of his neck.
„Don’t you dare!“ He howled.
He refused to have another embarrassing episode with the stupid tanuki.
Not here, not in front of everyone.

When Eijun got back to the dugout, Chris (his beloved Chris! Chris was calm. Chris was safe! Chris wouldn't try to embarrass him.) helped him out of his sweaty clothes and placed the ice pack on his shoulder. In the growing heat of the day it felt like heaven.
With a happy sigh, Eijun leaned back and closed his eyes. He was exhausted. Wearing those itchy patches was somehow extremely taxing, not that he would ever admit it. After all, without them he wouldn’t be able to play.

Absent-mindedly he rubbed at his scent gland and reminded himself to not “broadcast” as the team called it.
With a happy smile he took the cup of electrolyte drink one of the managers handed him.

Chapter Text

Today had been good. He had finally gotten to play in a real game and he hadn't disappointed anyone!

Soon enough, they had to leave the dugout to make room for the next team and one of the managers freed Eijun of the restricting ice packs.

„Where are we going?“ He asked Haruichi, who led him away from the bus and up a set of stairs. He thought they were going to head back. He had been looking forward to a lukewarm shower and a nap.

„We‘ll watch the next game.“ Haruichi explained with a smile. „The winner will be our next opponent, so this will give us a good chance to study them.“
Eijun gawked at him. Haruichi was so smart!

„Do we still have time before the game starts?“, he asked.
With all the excitement slowly ebbing away, he was coming to the realisation that he also had basic needs to take care of. And for now he really needed to pee.
Haruichi nodded and before he could inquire further, Eijun had hurried off, following the sign pointing him to the nearest toilet.

He was humming a happy tune while washing his hands when he heard the door click. Another person using the bathroom, he assumed until he could suddenly feel a presence in his back, just a bit too close for comfort.

When Eijun turned around he came face to face with a big guy dressed in the uniform of the team they had just beaten. With a startled yelp, he jumped back, bringing a bit of distance between them. He studied the other's face and uniform. From what he remembered the guy was one of the batters who couldn't land a single hit on him.
Oh, alright.
A satisfied grin spread over his face.
However, the guy was coming closer than Eijun was comfortable with, crowding the omega so that his lower back connected with the rim of the sink when he tried to take another step back. His grin was slowly fading into a puzzled expression.
What was the guy’s deal?

„Who do we have here? Isn’t that the bratty omega Seido decided to test out against us?“ The guy was leaning closer so that his hot breath ghosted over Eijun’s face and enveloped him in the scent of something rottingly sweet. He felt his throat constrict, his breath catch.

“Aren't you the guy who couldn't hit my pitches?”, he laughed nervously. Offense was supposed to be the best defense, but the guy's scent intensified and started to have an uncomfortable edge to it.
„Uhm, you’re a bit too close…“ his voice sounded more brittle than he had intended to. He was being enveloped in the sickening scent of the guy, clearly an alpha, and it made him weak in his knees. Hoping that the guy would let him go, he tried to duck out of the situation, only for the other to grab him by his left shoulder and slam him against the door with enough force that Eijun hit his head as well.

“Oi, that's not very sportsmanlike, okay??”, the pitcher whined, trying to sound unfazed, but he knew that his scent was displaying his fear and he could do nothing about it. He tried to wiggle free, but the others grip wouldn't budge. The predatory grin on the guy's face told him that he was clearly enjoying this.

Eijun decidedly was not.

„You’re hurting me.“ He tried again, giving his voice some strength.
He hated how his biology was making him weak in his knees, the omega side in him yowling to submit, submit, submit.
With all the strength he could muster, Eijun stomped on the guy’s foot and, when he pulled back in surprise, made a run for it.

“Fuck, you little…”
Eijun was not the fastest sprinter, but neither was the mean alpha apparently. His senses were clouded by panic as he sprinted down the empty hallway. He felt the other right behind him until he suddenly collided with someone firm.
A familiar scent. Eijun almost started crying in relief.
His shoulder, where the other had grabbed him, was throbbing in synchronicity with his heartbeat as was his head that had collided with the door.

„Eijun-kun!“ Oh sweet relief.

„Harucchi!“ He cried, his eyes now overflowing with tears while the person he had collided with, Furuya as he recognised now, was holding him tight to his chest. He felt Furuya‘s aura around him increase. He was probably emitting some kind of alpha pheromone.
Eijun didn’t care. He was finally safe!

With resolution, fighting against the power leaving his body completely, he turned around to send a death glare at the now retreating alpha.

“Do you want to tell us what happened?”, Haruichi asked carefully. He had placed a hand on Furuya's arm, as if to hold him back if necessary. (Eijun couldn't ever see it being necessary with Furuya, but you never knew.)

“Some idiot just tried to intimidate me”, Eijun complained, slowly untangling himself from Furuya who obviously wasn't happy to let go. “Alpha with no manners! It's not polite to threaten omegas, he should know better. He should do better!” He felt his friends tense up next to him.
“Can we just go and watch the game?”, he asked, trying to dissolve the situation.

“If you're sure you're okay and that's what you want”, Haruichi replied. Furuya just shrugged.

“Yes, let's just not make a deal of it, this is between us, okay?”, Eijun laughed. Better not to cause the team any extra trouble.

“You're hurt. Where are you hurt?”, Miyuki turned to him immediately as the three of them tried to slide into some seats behind their seniors.

“What, noooo, why do you think that?”, Eijun protested immediately, waving his hands.
And wincing, when he jostled his shoulder. Great way to drive a point home.
That perceptive tanuki bastard.
How did he even know?
Was his scent showing?

“He's hurt?”, Furuya asked Haruichi, “Did I hurt him?” Eijun sighed, his friend was not especially great at being subtle.

“No, you did nothing wrong”, Haruichi patted Furuya's back.

“I was just protecting him”, the alpha replied with an aura of contempt. Then he seemed to reconsider. “But why is he hurt then, was it that alpha?”

Eijun was currently considering 15 different ways to flee the situation, as he saw Miyuki's eyebrows rise higher and higher.
“It's nothing really, I just bumped into someone from the other team. Maybe a bit hard. That guy had no manners. Who goes and threatens omegas? If I were an alpha, I would never…” One look at Miyuki's face showed him that he too might have said a bit too much.

Their discussion had now alerted others, who were watching Eijun dig his hole deeper and deeper.
“Anyways, I am fine now. I will just go and wait at the bus, okay?” He jumped up and grabbed his bag, only to be stopped by a stern look from his captain.

“You should go to the first aid station if you're hurt.”, Yuuki told him.

“Actually, I will take Bakamura there myself”, Miyuki offered and slung an arm around Eijun's shoulder. He winced again as Miyuki brushed against the throbbing shoulder and his senpai immediately corrected his grip.
When had the guy even…maybe he should just accept that the tanuki moved in sneaky and unknown ways.

“Thank you, Miyuki”, Yuki told him and sent Eijun another stern captain's stare. Looking like this, the beta was no less scary than any alpha. Eijun shrunk back a bit.

“We should also go and talk to the coach”,Yuki added, “I feared that others might react badly. We need to make sure this doesn't happen again. For now, Sawamura, don't go wandering off on your own.”

“Aye aye, Captain”, he shouted. Which made him wince, as it hurt his head. Ugh. Maybe he should actually go and at least get checked out. Not that he had much of a choice at this point.

“We'll be back”, Miyuki told the others and steered Eijun towards the stairs.

After they were out of earshot, Eijun tried again.
„Really, Miyuki-senpai!“ Maybe using senpai would have an impact on the alpha? „I‘m fine. It's just a bit bruised, I don’t need to see anyone. We can just tell the captain that I was cleared and go back to the bus.“

„Are you like a special kind of stupid?“ Oh no, Miyuki sounded angry.
He also smelled angry, even though it was still subtle due to the suppressant he had received earlier. The omega side of Eijun was trying to get him to submit, appease the alpha.
It made him angry. He was not a needy little omega, he hated that others now had this effect on him and he hated that people could take advantage.
He was still strong despite being an omega. Or probably because he was an omega, those stupid alphas probably never had to even withstand a heat!

Eijun managed to wiggle out of the hold Miyuki had on him and turned so he could face the alpha. He crossed his arms and frowned.
„I‘m not stupid! I‘m fine! You’re all just exaggerating!“ He knew he sounded maybe a bit desperate, but he too was angry. He hated this! Why was he the one to be targeted? He hadn’t done anything but exist. (And pitch an amazing game, ha)

Miyuki let out an angry growl and Eijun shrunk back with a whimper, the omega rearing its head and taking over. Unconsciously he presented his neck to the alpha to show his submission. Miyuki immediately pulled back. He turned pale and slapped a hand over his mouth.

„I‘m so sorry!“ He really did sound apologetic. „I don’t know what came over me!“
It didn’t help. Eijun felt like he was responsible for the whole mess and for upsetting Miyuki. He furrowed his brows, thinking about what to reply.

And then Miyuki laughed a quiet little laugh. „Oh, Sawamura, you’re broadcasting again. I‘m not upset with you - only a little.“
He carefully wound his arm around Eijun once again and pulled him close in a half hug. „Come on, let’s get you looked at. If you say it's not bad, it probably isn't, but maybe you'll get some painkillers to help.“

The medic made him undress and perform a few basic movements before determining that it was only a minor bruise. He applied some kind of ointment smelling weirdly like Furuya and then gave Eijun another look.
„Does anything else hurt?“

He felt Miyuki‘s stare on him, so he nodded. Hiding it was pointless. „I hit my head when he pushed me against the wall.“

The medic felt for a bruise but didn’t detect anything. „I don’t think anything is amiss, I‘ll give you some medication for the headache, but if it increases, please let someone know. If you start experiencing additional symptoms such as nausea or visual symptoms, go see a doctor immediately.“

The medic took a look at Miyuki before turning back towards Eijun.
„Also, you smell distressed. As a young omega I can only imagine what kind of impact this has on you and I can still smell some scent of the aggressor on you. It would probably help to let a familiar alpha scent you.“

At the words of the medic, Miyuki‘s gaze darkened and hardened. He looked almost predatory. Scary!

Eijun froze.
Scent him? He was already tired and he didn’t want to miss the rest of the day!
With a shudder he remembered how he turned into a gooey helpless mess after being scented the last time.

„I‘m not distressed!“

Eijun was really distressed.

From his corner Miyuki scoffed, one eyebrow raised. „You’re broadcasting.“ He reminded him and Eijun felt his face light up.

Okay, maybe he was still a bit…uneasy. The subtle scent of the aggressive alpha clinging to his clothes was like annoying buzzing in the back of his mind. If Miyuki could help with that…
“Okay.” He averted Miyuki's gaze. „Can you at least wait until we’re on the bus? I don’t want to fall asleep here…“

With an evil grin, Miyuki rounded on him. „So you want everyone to witness me scenting you?“

Oh no, that sounded even worse.
What if he behaved somehow embarrassingly? He hadn't finished reading the chapter on scenting in his book on omegas so he wouldn't know!

Eijun pulled up his hands in defence and shouted, „Please scent me immediately, Miyuki Kazuya!“
Miyuki laughed and ruffled his hair. He leaned forward and started undoing the buttons on Eijun's uniform jacket, then slid it off his shoulders.

“Let's get rid of the other scent first”, he explained, then shrugged off his own jacket and gave it to Eijun. With a red face the pitcher slipped into Miyuki's larger garment that was just a bit wide on his shoulders but smelled a lot better than his own. Not that he would ever admit it.

“Would you like some privacy?”, the medic asked and gestured towards a bed behind a curtain.

“Yes please. Thank you very much”, Eijun barked, still a bit nervous. And scenting, after all, was supposed to be private (his how-to-omega book said).

“Come on, Sawamura, let's get you scented”, Miyuki held open the curtain. Behind it was a single bed. Instead of wearing Eijun's jacket he had just slung it over his arm, his compression shirt neatly showing off his muscles. Not that Eijun cared, he really didn't.
(He liked it.)

Both of them moved behind the curtain and Eijun sat down on the bed.
“Okay, I’m ready, do your thing.”, he told Miyuki and crossed his arms. The alpha nodded, clearly sensing his nerves. Eijun tried to dampen his pheromones a bit.

Miyuki stepped closer and nudged one of his legs between Eijun's, so he could get even closer. He pushed up the sleeves of his compression shirt, revealing nice forearms and strong wrists, then took his left hand and pushed down the collar of Eijun's own shirt that was half covering his scent glands. With a soft rub, he moved his wrist over the still slightly irritated gland on that side, making it tingle.
Eijun felt some of the tension leave his body and he let out a shuddering breath. Miyuki rubbed his wrist over the left gland a couple more times, then repeated the procedure on the right side. During this, both were silent and the only noises were the rustling of the fabric and a very quiet whine Eijun realised with horror he was making. His face was hot, as his muscles had once again decided to fully let go and he was now slumped against Miyuki's torso.

“Alright, done. Feeling better?”, Miyuki patted his back, then grabbed him and made him sit up again. Eijun let out another soft whine, he felt boneless and tired. That was until Miyuki pinched him into his side.

“Hey”, he protested, immediately more awake.

“Welcome back”, Miyuki snickered, “let's go or we'll miss most of the game!”

“Don't tell me what to do”, Eijun grumbled but followed his senpai on weak legs.
Stupid biology, stupid tanuki.
Well, he would just keep Miyuki's jacket as a payback he decided. It smelled nicer than his own anyways.

“Everything alright?”, Yuki asked them, when both slid into their respective seats again.

“Yes, just some minor bruising”, Eijun replied, “Nothing that will stop me from training or playing. In fact, once we're back, catch for me, Miyuki. You owe me!”

“Oh, do I?”, the catcher replied with a sly grin, “If I recall, I helped you…so technically you owe me.”

“Let's just watch the game”, Eijun huffed. Everyone focused back on the game which was at 0-0 after two innings. At least they hadn't missed much. Eijun was slowly sliding lower and lower in his seat, still feeling a bit boneless after being scented by Miyuki. Something soft was dumped in his lap.

“Here, you can have my jacket”, Furuya explained, “Miyuki's is too big on you.”
Both Haruichi and Eijun looked at him quizzically. Furuya’s jacket was in fact not smaller than Miyuki’s.
Still, Eijun's inner omega preened at the thought of having clothing of two alphas.

“Thank you, Furuya”, he smiled and just hugged the jacket. It would make a great makeshift pillow later on the bus.

Later that day, Eijun added the two uniform jackets to the growing pile of clothes in his bed.

“Damn, your bed looks like a laundry pile”, Kuramochi commented.

“Don't insult my nest”, Eijun snapped, “you're a beta so you wouldn't understand!” He pulled the Chris-scented yukata over him like a blanket and let out a soft sound of contempt. Honestly, being an omega wasn't too bad if that meant people kept giving him soft things.

Kuramochi stepped closer and pulled one of the jackets from the pile. Eijun let out a pitiful whine, as the beta started messing with his nest. Kuramochi just ignored him. He turned the jacket over and read the name tag.

„Miyuki.“ He announced and went to grab the next jacket.
„Takigawa.“
„Furuya.“
„Miyuki again.“
„Furuya again.“
„Uh, this is good, Sawamura. You still have Kataoka‘s jacket?“

Eijun felt decidedly uncomfortable, but since he was bone-tired he could do little but whine and try to grab the jackets from Kuramochi.
With a cackle his senpai placed the identical jackets back on his bed.

„If you ever need money you could sell them.“ He suggested. „Seido jackets are exclusive and not very cheap.“

In horror Eijun realized just how many clothes he had managed to accumulate in such a short time.
(Especially now that they were messed up from their initial lovely placement.)
And how much their respective owners must miss them. He curled up on the pile and pulled his favorite blanket over him.
He’d wash all the jackets tomorrow and give them back!

„Did you finally grow tired of Miyuki-senpai‘s scent?“ Furuya asked as he watched Eijun handing their catcher his jackets back.

„No! Eh… yes… no…“ Eijun was fumbling. „I just realized that I can’t just keep all your clothes.“
With a huff he dug through the laundry basket he was carrying and handed two of the jackets to Furuya.

It felt like amputating a limb, giving back all the good nesting materials, but Eijun was a strong omega!

„You smell funny,“ Furuya told him. „Do you need the jackets back?“

Eijun shook his head. „I already washed them.“

So far Miyuki had only been watching the two pitchers, holding his neatly folded jackets.
„I can always give you new dirty laundry.“ He suggested and started giggling at the mortified look Eijun shot him. Eijun himself was both disgusted and very very keen on that idea.

„You could also just scent some items for him,“ Haruichi, who had just joined their group, suggested.

Immediately Furuya rounded on him. „What should I scent?“

Eijun was growing increasingly uncomfortable. He didn’t want to burden anyone. „It’s really okay…“ His inner omega was now crying in distress because Eijun kept rejecting these offers. It made him feel almost schizophrenic. However, Furuya was offering, so he added. „You could re-scent the blanket you gave me for my heat.“

Furuya thought about it and nodded. „I will come by later.“ He pointed at the last remaining jacket in Eijun‘s laundry basket. „Whose is that?“

Eijun flushed bright pink and fled the scene, followed by the demonic laughter of his senpai.

Finally done with the mortifying ordeal of redistributing the laundry (his beloved nest), Eijun decided to go for a run.
Runs were a good way to call down, burn energy and clear his head.
Runs were usually also safe from Miyuki's or Kuramochi's teasing.

After a quick shower he felt ready for another school day. In the mirror he could see that a faint bruise had formed where the alpha had shoved him. Extensive poking and testing revealed that while it was a bit sensitive to touch, it didn't really impact his pitching.
Eijun would take that. His headache thankfully was gone, so overall he felt good.
Also, he had just pitched his first official game and it went well, so overall Eijun was pleased.

Chapter Text

The next days were rather quiet, training as always, drinking disgusting slushies (Kuramochi loved reminding him when he forgot), video game tournaments in the evenings, school work (ugh) and getting ready for the next game.

The quiet ended in the moment Ryosuke walked into the cafeteria and placed a magazine in front of Eijun, who was currently on his third bowl of rice.

“What's that?”, he asked, mouth still full of food. He swallowed and looked closer at the page Ryosuke had just opened.

“See for yourself”, his senpai said with a scary grin. In the corner of his eyes Eijun could see his team mates inching closer, clearly interested in what was going on. Eijun leaned over the magazine, only for Furuya next to him complain “Move, I want to read it too.”
After a small scuffle, Eijun, Furuya and Haruichi gathered around the magazine so they could all read together. Eijun's inner omega was happy, after all sharing was caring. (This obviously didn't apply to the mound, Eijun reminded himself.)

“Seido’s omega pitcher” he read out loud, “After having little success in the past seasons, we were all surprised to see how desperate Seido truly is.”
Some of the senpais started grumbling, Jun let out an annoyed “hey”. Einjun continued.

“During Saturday's game, the Tokyo based school cycled through four pitchers after an unlucky strike of injury. Their starter, first year alpha Furuya-kun demonstrated potential with impressive fastballs, while pitchers Tanba and Kawakami, who are known starters of Seido, both showed reliable pitching.”

“I like that”, Furuya helpfully added.
He was shushed.

“Therefore it came as a surprise when in the 7th inning the coaches decided to swap in another pitcher. Commotion arose within the stands when the pitcher swapped in was not only an unknown first year but an omega as well. One must wonder if bringing someone like that to the starting lineup is nothing but a cry for attention or is Seido truly out of options.”
This is where Eijun stopped reading, his gut was churning with anger. He knew he was emitting angry pheromones but couldn't care less. Kuramochi kicked him with a “continue.”

“Nevertheless, the pitcher, Sawamura, managed to withstand the grueling game, but gave up a run right after starting.”
“It was an accident “, Eijun grumbled, then continued.

“It is probably another display of skill by experienced alpha catcher Miyuki that he managed to lead an omega that well.”
Miyuki snickered and everyone sent him an angry glare.
“After the game all we have to wonder is if Seido is just playing the diversity card or if their new pitcher will survive as the first omega starter in the western Tokyo tournament.“

Eijun balked. So everything he did right was due to Miyuki‘s skill and everything else was pure luck.
It felt so wrong how little people, the press even, could see past his status.
Before the game the coach had warned him about media attention, but he hadn’t expected to be painted as a mere pawn. Eijun was torn between wanting to show them how wrong they were and curling up in his nest to never face the outside world again.

He hadn’t even noticed how Furuya had started running an absent hand through his hair, probably to reign in his raging pheromones and when he looked up he could see the stern expressions from the rest of the team. No one was saying a thing, but a general aura of upset was noticeable. It pleased Eijun's inner omega, to see how everyone seemed at least to some level protective of him or at least the team.

“Ignore them”, Chris said as he joined the group, he was holding his own copy of the baseball magazine, also opened at the same page. “We will show them Seido's game, anything else would only fuel the rumor mill.”

“Of course, Chris-senpai!”, Eijun shouted. He would just show them that he was not a diversity hire but a skilled pitcher.
And that his skill in game was not related to his secondary gender.

“However, I'm here to tell you, that the coach would prefer you to train indoors for a couple of days.”, Chris continued, then turned to the entire team. “There might be reporters around, please don't talk to them and refer them to the coach. Especially you, Sawamura.” He turned back to Eijun.
“I'll be in charge of further pitching training with you for the next week. We need to make the best of the situation.”

“Yes!” Eijun excitedly pumped his fist. If being locked indoors came with private Chris-senpai coaching, he would not complain.
After all, he was a pitcher and his favourite pastime activity was pitching.

If Eijun had thought the reporters were his biggest problem, he was sorely mistaken.
He had to deal with two new problems: One was that rumours were following him to school and the second was his own teammates, who were growing more and more protective. Not that Eijun minded the latter, but he wanted to prove himself without any help!

„Did you hear that that first year pitcher is an omega and was still allowed to play?“ Eijun was just on his way back from the toilet when he overheard two upperclassmen talking. He was already a little used to hearing people talk about his status (it still upset him), but he was also curious, so he stopped just before turning the corner.

„I know that standing up for the weak is a noble thing to do. But it was already a big risk to let him on the first string. There are so many talented players in the club that didn’t even get that chance.“
„Yeah, he’s loud and obnoxious and not even a good pitcher. That article was right - without Miyuki he would have not been able to strike out a single person.“
It hurt, but Eijun could do little else but to prove them wrong! He carefully crept back, when he heard a familiar voice.

“I didn't know you were interested in baseball”, Kuramochi-senpai’s voice sounded quite unhappy, challenging.
Eijun knew that tone, it meant trouble. “Hey Miyuki, have you heard that Sawamura can't strike people out without you?”

“That's stupid, I can't pitch and catch at the same time”, came the reply accompanied by steps. “Why? Is there an issue with Sawamura?”
So Miyuki didn't hear the initial conversation, Eijun assumed. He knew he shouldn't be eavesdropping on his senpais, but it was tempting and Eijun was a weak, weak person.

“I mean, don't you think an omega would be better suited to be like…a manager?” one of the two unknown guys asked his senpais.
Both Miyuki and Kuramochi started laughing.

“He would be terrible as a manager “, Miyuki finally wheezed, “Just imagine, Sawamura, a manager.”

“With your personality he would empty water all over you.”, Kuramochi added to Miyuki.
Eijun nodded, that sounded about like something he would do.
Maybe he should…

“No, I mean, he's not even that great a pitcher”, the other upperclassman added.
“He's a first year.”, Kuramochi replied, “would be sad if he was already perfect.”

“Also very boring”, Miyuki added.
Then he started laughing again. “Oh my god, Sawamura as a manager. You really made my day!” he gasped.
Eijun bristled up a bit hearing that - he wouldn't be that bad as a manager!

“Let's make this very clear”, Kuramochi was now cracking his knuckles, while Miyuki in the background still hiccuped some giggles, “If you have an issue with Sawamura being on the team, try running around the baseball field every day for 3 hours. Or more. Really, go touch some grass.”
After listening to his senpais, Eijun felt a bit better again.

“Oi Sawamura”, Miyuki shouted. Damn, he had been discovered. Why did that tanuki always realise he was near; he thought he had successfully suppressed broadcasting his emotions.
Well, too late now. He stuck his head around the corner.

“Hello Miyuki, hello Kuramochi-senpai”, he waved.

“Wanna play some catch later?” That was…unexpected. And surprisingly nice of Miyuki.

“Of course”, he shouted, “I am always ready!” Then he turned to the two upperclassmen that were still standing there, looking a bit taken aback. “Please come to our next game, I will do my best!”
He left, followed by the laughter of Miyuki and Kuramochi, feeling very pleased with himself.

The day after he had a planned indoor pitching session with Chris. Chris had even put on the catcher gear himself, which made Eijun very excited.
Still, he kept thinking back to the session with Miyuki the day before. While the alpha had been his usual, slightly abrasive and teasing self, he had also complimented Eijun and he couldn’t deny that that had felt good!
So being able to pitch to Chris today was an extra bonus. Eijun made sure to give it his very best, even if that meant his control went a bit off sometimes.

“Let's do 5 more and then we're done”, Chris called after an hour of work.

“I can do a lot more than 5!”, Eijun shouted, “I am still full of energy!”

“I can see that…”, Chris muttered, as he adjusted his stance.
There was a sudden spike in weird smelling pheromones and Eijun narrowed his eyes at his senpai.

„Chris-senpai, is everything ok?“ He was getting the feeling that there was something off, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
He still struggled to read everyone's pheromones. Which put him in the annoying position that he didn't know what people thought, but most could read him like an open book.

Chris gave him a gentle smile. „Everything is fine. My shoulder is just getting a little stiff.“
Eijun froze. He was putting his senpai‘s health at risk due to his selfish demands for training!

„We can also stop!“ He offered, carefully twisting the ball in his hand. He felt a little anxious at the thought of being responsible for Chris’ pain.
If only there was something he could do.

And then it hit him!
He remembered what Animal had told him weeks ago.
That omegas could heal to a certain degree!
Wasn’t that something that also applied to him? After all, he was an omega.
Animal had even asked him to...

“Chris-senpai, let me heal you!”, he shouted.

“Heal?”, Chris looked a bit confused, “you can't just heal…oh wait.” He too seemed to remember that conversation.
“You really don't need to”, he said, “it would be too much to ask of you.”

“It isn't, Chris-senpai does so much for me, let me give something back”, Eijun insisted.
Finally something he could do!
He felt his whole body vibrate with excitement and his happy pheromones seep out, trying his hardest to convince Chris of this clearly brilliant idea.

“Are you sure? Miyuki said you already reacted quite strongly to being scented. And this will be a lot stronger”, Chris rubbed the back of his neck, he was slightly flushed, apparently he found the whole idea a bit embarrassing. Was he embarrassed because of Eijun?

“I want to try. After all, you wouldn't let anything bad happen, you helped me when I presented”, the omega chirped. “Though…I don't exactly know how it works…”, he trailed off, embarrassed that he hadn’t even thought about that detail. What use was his supposed skill, if he didn’t even know how to use it.

Chris seemed to think for a moment and then nodded. „You still have that book on omega biology? Let’s check before we try anything, but if no big side effects or risks are mentioned, I might take you up on your offer.“ He seemed thoughtful and did Eijun detect hopefulness?
He beamed at Chris.
His senpai always had the best idea, why didn’t he remember about the book?

„That seems like the sensible thing to do, Shishou!“ He shouted and Chris‘ expression told him that he should have used his indoor voice.
But he was just so excited!
Finally his damn biology could help someone!

„Well, we can meet in my room after you take a shower.“ Chris offered. „Off you go!“
Eijun didn’t have to be told twice, he dropped the ball and was halfway out of the door when he remembered that he should probably help Chris clean up and returned to pick up the stray balls littered around the gym.

It took him a total of five minutes to shower and get dressed again and seven before he was standing at Chris‘ door, the book in his hands and a determined expression on his face.
In the door he came face to face with Kanemaru who was on his way out, carrying a bat.

„Good evening, Kanemaru!“ Eijun could hardly keep the excitement out of his voice. Kanemaru looked a bit taken aback.

„What’s got you this worked up?“ He somehow seemed suspicious of Eijun‘s good intentions.

He beamed. „I‘m going to help Chris-senpai!“

Before he could delve deeper into an explanation, Kanemaru pushed open the door and let him through, while shouting for Chris.
When he entered, he found his senpai seated on the edge of his bed, already in sweats.

„You‘re fast.“ Chris looked like he was sampling the air as if he was trying to smell if Eijun had in fact showered.
He felt a bit hurt at the thought. Just because relaxing in the bath was not his favourite hobby - way too dangerous, he nearly drowned multiple times - didn’t mean he wasn’t clean or thorough with his shower.

„Here you go!“ Instead of answering, Eijun presented him with the book.
Chris took it and pointed at the bed beside him, gesturing to Eijun to sit down.

It felt weirdly intimate to sit down on the bed so thoroughly soaked with the scent of the alpha. Still, Eijun took a second to soak in all those pheromones, his omega oddly pleased with the situation.
Meanwhile Chris had opened the book and was skimming through the glossary, his finger on the page (it was kind of endearing), until he stopped and flipped to a section close to the end of the book.
Eijun scooted closer and started reading over Chris‘ shoulder (he had to stretch a little).

As part of their nurturing nature omegas possess the ability to help and heal their close ones. The process works better the more familiar the omega is with the person they are caring for. The special healing powers come into play especially when omega mothers care for their children, but it is believed that as part of the evolution of the secondary genders omegas developed these powers to help the alphas who in general cared and provided for them.
The process itself is simple. The omega just has to keep prolonged body contact with the person they want to support.
While omega healing is not a remedy for everything, it can alleviate pain and speed up the healing process of injuries. Omegas will often purr and enter a trance like state.
Similar to scenting it will leave the omega exhausted. During the whole process, omegas will need to be protected.
It is advised to make sure that the process is interrupted if major symptoms of energy depletion in the omega are noted.
Well, that didn’t sound too bad!

Eijun voiced his thoughts and Chris nodded thoughtfully.
„I will make sure that you don’t overdo it.“ He decided.

„Does it say anything about direct skin to skin contact or should I just hug you?“ Eijun asked. Chris quickly scanned the next page.

His eartips turned a light pink when he explained. „It doesn’t have to be skin to skin, but it’s recommended that we lay down or get otherwise comfortable and basically cuddle.“
Now Eijun understood his embarrassment.

But this wouldn’t stop him!
With resolution and a little bit of courage he toed off his shoes and crawled on top of Chris’ oh so nice smelling blanket.
A small part of his brain reminded him that where Chris smelled amazing, Miyuki smelt even better.
He shushed it. He was here to help his senpai, no sexual thoughts involved.
Which reminded him that concerning Miyuki he might have indulged in those a couple of times during his heat. He shut that voice down again.

With a confident smile Eijun patted the bed next to him. „Are you up for some healing, Shishou?“

“Alright”, Chris sat down, then puffed up some pillows so both could half sit “Do you want to watch a movie? We can also watch a baseball game.”
Perfect. Eijun would heal Chris and he would get a free baseball knowledge lesson!

“Let's watch a game!”, he decided.
Chris got up again, grabbed his laptop, put on a game and joined Eijun again. Eijun decided they had stalled enough at that point and leaned into Chris' injured shoulder.
Maybe a bit too enthusiastic, as his senpai let out a small hiss.

“Sorry”, Eijun shouted and felt Chris flinch.
Ah yes, inside voice. “Sorry”, he whispered.

Both started watching the game, Eijun half plastered over Chris shoulder to maximise body contact there.
He watched the game for a bit and tried to relax more to speed up the process. The book said purring might help.
Others might have found it embarrassing to try purring, but not so Eijun. He would always do his best and then some more.
He tried to produce a rumbling sound in his throat and it sounded like a broken lawnmower. Chris turned his head and looked at him questioningly.
Eijun just pouted. He was trying things, okay?
In the end he settled on a low humming, this seemed less horrible and disturbing to the game.

He slowly felt himself become boneless and melt against his senpai. The humming resonated in his torso and his body felt weirdly buzzy and weightless. Chris' commentary of the game was shifting to simple background noise that he didn't really process anymore.
It felt good, he was fully enveloped in his senpai's scent. And he was doing something helpful!
The sharp tinge of pain that had lingered in Chris' scent (ha, see, Eijun could smell things if he tried) was slowly disappearing.
Eijun felt his eyes drop and he slipped into a state somewhere between being awake and asleep.

“Sawamura?” Eijun didn't know how much time had passed, when he felt Chris shaking his shoulder. He tried opening his eyes but he felt very tired and like he had just run a marathon.
He let out a pitiful “hnggg” which was about as vocal as he felt right now.
Chris moved and without his shoulder to hold him up, Eijun felt himself tilt sideways and faceplant into the mattress.

“Sawamura!”, this time Chris sounded a bit worried.
Why was he worried, Eijun was fine. He was just a bit boneless.
He wasn't worried, his bones and muscles would return when he needed them and right now he was not uncomfortable face down in Chris' bed.

“Hnm”, he hummed as he felt strong arms hoisting him back up into a sitting position.
He saw Chris' worried face and had to giggle slightly as he was slowly sliding sideways again, none of his muscles working. Zero strength left.
That's probably what they meant, when they said energy depletion.

“Sawamura, are you with me?”, Chris also smelled worried. (Ha, another scent he could clearly identify).
Eijun smiled.

“Did it work?”, he asked. At least his vocal chords were obeying now.
Chris let out a sigh, some of the tension in his shoulders ebbing away.

“Yes, the pain is gone and it feels less stiff”, he answered, “How are you feeling?”

“Tired”, Eijun replied, “and my muscles don't really work I think.”

“Yeah, I noticed that”, Chris replied, “you should probably eat and drink something.”

“I don't wanna move”, Eijun whined, “Actually, not sure I can.”, he added sheepishly.
This got Chris to act. The alpha fluffed some of his pillows and shifted Eijun so he was propped up slightly. He tucked Eijun underneath his blanket and the omega let out a content hum at this.

“I will get you something to eat and drink. After all, you helped me”, Chris smiled.

When Chris said he would care for Eijun now that he was just a weak sack of meat, the omega had not expected it to go like this.

“I don't like the evil green slushy “, he whimpered, as Chris held a straw to his lips.

“Kuramochi said you're supposed to drink these, as they contain important nutrients for omegas”. Chris had just returned from Eijun's room where he had grabbed his favourite blanket as per the omegas request, as well as some pocari from the vending machine.
That and the green monstrosity he was currently trying to feed Eijun.

“But it tastes disgusting”, Eijun whined, trying his best at making puppy eyes at Chris to convince him to have mercy.

“You can have some chocolate after this”, Chris tried himself at bribery. “I would really appreciate it if you could drink this first though.”
There was an edge of alpha in his voice and Eijun's omega wanted nothing more than to please.
He was weak and there was chocolate on the line, so with a scrunched up face, Eijun inhaled the green nutrient-slush. He ended up nearly choking on it which got him another front row seat at Chris' very worried face, as the alpha held him up and rubbed circles on his back.

“Chocolate”, Eijun demanded as soon as he stopped coughing.
He still didn't have enough strength to move, so Chris hand fed him small chunks. His inner omega was incredibly happy, being cared for by an alpha.
Eijun himself mostly wanted to sleep, ideally here so as not to be subjected to any more of Kuramochi's inquisitive wrestling.

“Can I sleep here?”, he mumbled, already feeling his eyes drop.

“Of course”, Chris replied. He spread Eijun's favourite red blanket on top of him. “I will talk to Kanemaru. Thank you for your help.”

“This Sawamura Eijun is always ready to help”, Eijun muttered, no strength left for a louder voice.
He fell asleep to Chris' soft smile.

After skipping his usual morning run and some more green poison Eijun felt completely fine again, though Chris seemed not quite as sure.
„Maybe you should sit out today's training…“ He suggested, but Eijun vehemently shook his head.

„I‘m completely fine!“ To demonstrate he swung his arm in circles. „And I‘m always ready to pitch!“
An evil laugh behind his back made him flinch. He turned around to come face to face with his least favorite senpai.

„What happened? No morning run today?“ He placed his tray beside Eijun and sat down, a little too close. Eijun just hoped that he had his pheromones under control, otherwise Miyuki might smell the slight tinge of exhaustion on him and he really wanted to pitch today.
Oh, wait, he had an amazing idea!

„I was afraid of the reporters…“ He put a bit of a whine in his tone. One could say a lot about his mean senpai, but deep down he was soft and would always protect Eijun (as he had shown before) so playing to that overprotective side of his was a very smart move!
Smart Eijun!

It worked. Miyuki scoffed. „Are there still reporters loitering around?“ He asked suspiciously. „Maybe the coach ought to check again.“

Oh no, he didn‘t want to make anyone work for his white lie. „I don’t know, I didn’t check.“ And for good measure he added. „I was scared to run into them alone…“
From across the table Haruichi shot him a look that told him exactly how believable his story was, but he didn’t interfere.

Miyuki picked up his chopsticks and started eating. He then once again turned back to Eijun. „You can always ask one of your reliable senpai to join you for your run.“

„I can also protect you.“ Furuya offered and squeezed in between Eijun and Miyuki. „I didn’t see anyone today on my run.“
Oh no, Furuya was getting ahead of him! Eijun really ought to get up early for running.

„Also,“ Kanemaru added from behind him and Eijun felt the cardhouse of lies tremble. „You fell asleep in Chris-senpai‘s bed yesterday so don’t make up any lies about being scared.“

Eijun was very thankful that Furuya could act like a buffer between him and Miyuki, who shot him a very angry look, his scent spiking slightly.
Oh no, he had done something wrong and Miyuki would never catch for him again!

The opposite was the case, as soon as training started, Miyuki pulled him into the indoor bullpen and made him practice pitching to the corners.
Pitching to Miyuki was so fun, though the alpha remained unreadable throughout the entire training. Only when they were getting ready to go to class, he finally spoke again.

„If training is so exhausting that you fall asleep in other people’s rooms, maybe you should cut back.“

Obviously that was not the reason, but Eijun couldn’t tell him that. He and Chris hadn't really discussed things and this felt like something he didn’t feel especially comfortable to share just now.
So, he just nodded and hung his head. „Maybe I need some different vitamins or supplements,“ he suggested, hoping to kill two birds with one stone.

Miyuki nodded thoughtfully. „I’ll talk to the coach to set up a meeting with a nutritionist.“ He eyed Eijun. „You look like you might have lost some weight, so I think it would be a good idea.“
His omega felt like it was melting into a puddle of joy at the attention and worry coming from his chosen alpha.
Wait, chosen alpha?
No way!
No!
That was just the omega in him talking and he usually liked to ignore that voice.

„Thank you.“ Eijun bowed and then, before Miyuki could see his reddening cheeks, hurried off to get to school.
No one had to know that he slept for another two hours during modern Japanese lessons. When he, still bleary-eyed, made his way to lunch, Miyuki was waiting outside his classroom.
Eijun jumped back, seeing the catcher leaning against the wall.

“Gah, what are you doing here, Miyuki Kazuya?”, he shouted and pointed at him.

“Awww, as always happy to see me, Sawamura”, the tanuki laughed and slung his arm around Eijun's shoulders. “I talked to the coach and he agreed we should check your blood work, so I am being a good senpai and am accompanying you to the school nurse.”

Eijun squinted at him. “You don't need to babysit me!”

“You can't blame a senpai for caring. Especially about my favourite pitcher”, Miyuki laughed.
His favourite pitcher?? Did Eijun just hear that right? He felt his heart beating erratic, unsure how to react.

“Let's just go, great catcher-sama”, he mumbled and turned away.
Stupid tanuki and his stupid careless words.

Chapter Text

Eijun looked at the slushy in front of him full of disdain.
His previous supplements had at least been green, green was a fun color. This was just…grey and tasted even worse than the green awful death drink.

His blood work had revealed that he still lacked nutrients and on top of that the physical exam had shown that he had in fact lost weight.
He wondered when Miyuki had gotten that perceptive or started to watch him close enough to even notice his weight loss (he had not noticed himself. He thought that his uniform had just stretched.) Not ideal for a still growing athlete.

The grey sludge was the solution. So on top of each meal Eijun had to empty one big glass of liquid concrete.
He took another sip through his straw and let out a pitiful whine. Why couldn't it at least taste good? He would gladly drink it if it tasted like, say, chocolate milk.
He whined again.

“That bad?”, Haruichi next to him asked and patted his back.

“Worse”, Eijun muttered and flopped to the side. Even with his head laying on the table the new perspective didn't make the drink more attractive.

“Come on, don't be dramatic”, Kanemaru told him.

“But it tastes awful!”, the omega exclaimed.
They had no business in judging, they had never had to drink that disgusting stuff.

“I can smell your despair through half the cafeteria”, with a small huff, Miyuki plopped down next to him.
Eijun just shot him a gloomy look, Miyuki was the reason why he even had to drink this. (He would never admit that it had been his own incentive that made the alpha notice.)
The alpha took another look at him, where he had laid his head on the table, tears in his eyes, while he eyed the still three-quarter full cup.

“You know, I presented super early and was very scrawny, so I too had to take supplements”, Miyuki told him, looking straight ahead. “The best way to get rid of the taste is by refrigerating them first.”

“Really?”, Eijun piped up.

“Yeah, you should try.” Miyuki sounded surprisingly earnest, so he was probably telling the truth.
Maybe he should start refrigerating his nutrition drinks.
The catcher continued eating, while Eijun continued eyeing the cup.

“Let's give you some incentive”, the alpha grinned, “If you can empty this cup in the next minute, I'll catch 10 of your pitches after dinner.”
This got Eijun's attention, he liked bribery.

“Alright, this Sawamura Eijun had survived the green death drink, he can also survive the calorie concrete.”
It was hard to keep the stuff down, but 55 seconds later the cup was empty.
And Miyuki was laughing at the look of pure disgust on his face.
But he did it! He slammed his hands on the table and stood up.

“Let's go and play catch”, he shouted.

“Let me finish dinner first”, Miyuki shot back and (way too slow) started on his third bowl of rice.

On his way back from the impromptu training session with Miyuki, Eijun bumped into Chris, who must have just finished rehab.
He was carrying his training bag on his left shoulder and smiled at Eijun, when he happily bound over.

„Chris-senpai!“ He shouted and the catcher winced. Right, indoor voice. „How is your shoulder?“

Usually Chris didn’t look too happy when Eijun enquired about his injury, but this time he smiled. „It’s feeling better today. You really helped, Thank you.“

The omega beamed. „I can do it anytime! I even got new supplements so I have more strength!“
At the mention of supplements, Chris flinched, seemingly remembering the state Eijun had been in after their healing session.

“Right, about that..,”Chris trailed off, now looking mildly uncomfortable.

“I am feeling super strong and I even pitched today, no need to worry about this humble omega!”, Eijun shouted.
There was no way he would not try to continue helping Chris.
After all Chris had taught him so much, not only about baseball but about his secondary gender.
Chris had been the one to take care of Eijun when he had first presented and Chris was the one guiding him when he felt insecure about his pitching.
Not like that tanuki who had stopped their session after only 20 pitches. Miyuki had said something along the lines of Eijun having to know his own limits. As if he didn’t, he was very much in touch with his body, alright!
He just had to get used to being an omega, that was all.
After all, he was the omega who would become the ace!
He didn’t have stupid alpha strength going for him like Miyuki had, so by definition he was stronger than any alpha.

He trailed after Chris who was headed for his own room. But just as he was about to slip into the room after him, Chris turned and glared at him.
It was seriously a little unsettling, he had done nothing wrong. The alpha towered over him and Eijun couldn’t help but shrink back.
He only wanted to help!

„Not now.“ Chris told him and shut the door in his face.
What?
Why?
Chris had said he felt better today, why was he suddenly shutting him out?

Eijun let out a dissatisfied whine. He knew his scent was thickening into something broadcasting his unhappiness, but for now he didn’t care.
He actually hoped his scent would inform Chris about his disappointment.
When Eijun tried the door, it was locked.
He huffed.
Why wouldn’t Chris let him help more?

The next day during training he was still upset. Furuya kept shooting him quizzical looks, then after a while, the alpha made his way over to Eijun and draped his own training jacket (Eijun already feared giving it back) over him, mumbling something along the lines of “This should make you feel better”.
It did.
Eijun was amazed how the alpha who had only presented shortly before him had already figured out how to deal with upset omegas. - He just wasn’t too happy about being the upset omega in question.

While Furuya‘s jacket helped a little, he still craved comfort from different (Chris) or unattainable (he wouldn’t think the name) sources.

But all he got was an angry coach.

Kataoka called both him and Chris to his office after training. When he stumbled into the office, still in sweaty training clothes, the coach shot Eijun a stern glance which made his inner omega whimper.
What had he done to upset the alpha?
He hated how much deeper the opinion of others, of alphas, affected him now that he had turned out to be an omega.
Stupid biology.

„Close the door.“ Even Kataoka’s tone was hard. So he was angry.

“Yes boss”, Eijun shouted and did as he was told. Door closed, he sat down on the sofa next to Chris, who wouldn’t meet his eyes.
The alpha was emitting a weird scent Eijun couldn’t quite place.
Was that guilt?
What exactly was going on here?
Had Eijun done anything to make the coach angry?
Did he mess up something during today’s practice? Well, he always messed up somehow, but usually…

„Sawamura,” Kataoka interrupted his train of thought, “Chris told me about your little healing session.“
Even though technically he had free will and no one had told him not to use his powers, Eijun suddenly felt like he had done something very forbidden.
Was he not allowed to access his powers?

They did not really talk about it after it and Chris had shut him out, so Eijun did feel a little self conscious about the intimate act of cuddling with his upperclassman even though it had had a higher purpose.
„Yes, I helped Chris-senpai so he can go back to catching properly as soon as possible“ he answered.
His inner omega made him unconsciously present the side of his neck to the coach to appease. Horrified he slapped a hand over his neck and sat straighter.
He had done nothing wrong, he didn’t have to feel guilty!

At the sight Kataoka let out a low sigh and took a measured breath. He seemed to compose himself before he continued in a levelled voice.

„While I can’t ban you from doing that, I really want you to think about who you want to be for the team.“ He stepped back so he came to rest against the desk and crossed his arms before continuing. „Do you want to aid the team as an omega? Or do you want to be a pitcher? If it’s the first, feel free to continue this act, but I promise you that we will also need to draw consequences for your own good. If it’s the latter, remember that you need your energy for playing and not fooling around.“

Eijun just stared up at the coach in surprise and felt his face heat up upon the implications.
There was no way he would ever give up pitching!

He shot a glance towards Chris, who had tensed up and looked like he had just bitten into something very sour.
His senpai had actually ratted him out!

„If I see your performance affected even the slightest by reckless behaviour, I will not hesitate to ban you from training to make sure that you don’t harm yourself.“
When he put it like that it sounded as if Eijun was sacrificing himself for the sake of his teammate.
But he had been fine!
Just a little more tired.
And now he had the calorie concrete, so he should be okay.

“Yes boss”, he barked, cheeks flushed. Kataoka just nodded and shot him another long look, which made Eijun sit up even straighter.

Then the coach turned to Chris. „If you continue this, it is your job as an alpha to make sure that Sawamura doesn’t go past his limits. You are the one to make sure not to use too much of his energy. As an alpha it is your duty to look after an omega in such a vulnerable position.“ He kept stressing the you in his sentence as if to get his point across.

The guilty expression on Chris‘ face probably matched his own.
Eijun felt like a preschooler being reprimanded for staying up too late.

„Sawamura, I know that this is all new for you. It’s also new for us to have an omega on the team. So I have to ask your forgiveness if we do you wrong in any way. It is of utmost importance that you don’t overtax your still growing and freshly presented body. I will continue to let you play, but we will continue to have you monitored for any ill effects on your health.“
Eijun nodded. He honestly felt a little scared and intimidated by the shovel talk they had just received.

He wanted nothing more but to appease the coach and to be allowed to continue pitching!
He would be the best omega they had on the team like ever!
And he really didn’t want to be pulled from the team, not after having played only in one game.

But then he also wanted to help Chris, who had done so much for him.

He took a breath, then another. „But if my performance doesn’t drop and we monitor it carefully, can I still help Chris-senpai?“
It was worth a try.

The coach sighed.
He seemed to think for a moment, then nodded. „This is your own decision. But if so, I will ask that I can be present the next time to see for myself how this works for you and help Chris figure out when you need to stop.“

Eijun smiled.
He could do that! Purring in front of the coach would be extremely embarrassing, but he wanted to help.

Still, Kataoka had a good point, and as he was an older alpha, very likely more experienced than both of them!
Eijun would show the world that he was more than just an omega.
He would train hard and become a reliable pitcher. The first omega ace!

„Thank you, boss!“ He shouted. „I will take care of both myself and Chris-senpai!“

Chris didn’t talk when they left the office. He still looked guilty and uncomfortable.
Even with Eijun‘s limited ability to identify emotions from scent he could clearly tell that Chris was not happy.
But he must have been the one to tell Kataoka! Why had he even done that?

“Why did you tell the coach and why are you upset with me?”, he finally asked the catcher. “I just wanted to help!”

Chris sighed and turned to him.
“I am not upset with you, Sawamura”, he explained, “I am upset with myself. I should have stopped you before you completely drained yourself. It was selfish of me to not consider your health as soon as I started feeling better.”

“Well, I should have stopped myself then, after all I pressured you into trying”, Eijun replied with an unhappy frown.

“That’s the thing Kataoka-san just explained”, Chris replied, “You couldn’t have stopped yourself. As an alpha it is my duty to do that for you in this situation. I am sorry for failing you. That’s why I told the coach.”

“Oh”, Eijun mumbled, surprised by Chris’ words.
But if he was right…well.

“But I am fine now, Chris-senpai, so next time you can stop me earlier and there shouldn’t be any issues.”, he said, smiling at his senpai.
He felt himself emitting pheromones to calm the upset alpha. After all, everything was fine and the coach had even allowed them to continue.
Plus Chris was feeling better now, so Eijun would bear drinking calorie concrete (was it even drinking, considering the density?).

“I don’t know if we should do it again”, Chris replied, “it helped for sure, but I don’t want to harm you in any way.”

“We can just do it before our next day off, then I can rest”, Eijun suggested, grabbing both his senpai’s hands.

Chris gave him a soft smile, he was looking a bit less stressed.
“Alright, but only if the coach will join.”

“Join what?”, a well known voice interrupted them.
Eijun immediately let go of Chris’ hands and turned around, bristling up at the sight of the alpha that had just stepped around the corner.

“Miyuki Kazuya, it is not polite to eavesdrop on conversations”, he huffed.

“I don’t need to eavesdrop on you, Sawamoron, you’re loud enough for everyone to hear”, Miyuki shot back. “So what are the two of you planning?”

“Chris-senpai just agreed to catch for me tomorrow”, Eijun replied.
There was no way he was telling the tanuki about another way to make him go all omega-gooey, scenting already gave him way too much power.
Thankfully Chris seemed to not be too eager to share the details of their conversation either, as he just nodded.

Eijun didn’t know if it was some kind of punishment or just bad luck, or if people were too concerned about his health, but he wasn’t on the mound at all during their next game.
Instead Furuya started and Kawakami closed. The game was called after 6 innings and all he could do was watch from the dugout.
The itchy patches he had to wear now felt like an extra insult and really not worth it.

“Next time I will pitch”, Eijun grumbled to Haruichi, who also hadn’t played but somehow was less upset about that - or showed it less.
Instead the beta had helped Furuya with his cooldown and had entertained a grumpy omega for the entire game. Honestly, Haruichi deserved a reward.
On top of that Miyuki seemed to be back to ignoring him.
Well, he wasn’t a valuable player, Eijun mused gloomily.
Maybe he should instead focus on healing the others rather than trying to stand on the mound himself.

“I will not yield the mound to you, so please stop sulking”, Furuya told him white they walked back to the bus. Eijun immediately bristled up.

“That makes no sense”, he hissed, even though in Furuya-logic it probably made a lot of sense.

“I know you’re upset, Eijun-kun”, Haruichi told him, “But it is not Furuya-kun’s fault.”
Eijun just huffed and curled up in his seat.
That evening, while everyone else was watching the game or celebrating, he went for some extra tire-sprints that left him sore but not especially satisfied.
He just hoped he was allowed to play the next game.

The healing session in front of Kataoka was scheduled for the day after and it was, to say it kindly, utterly and absolutely terrifying and embarrassing.
Eijun was nervous and struggled to get into the right headspace, especially as the couch in the coaches office was not nearly as comfortable and cozy as Chris’ bed.
Then, almost as soon as he started purring, the coach and Chris had interrupted him.

“That’s enough for today.”, Kataoka told them with a stern voice, then turned to Chris, “No longer than 15 minutes, you understand.”
Chris nodded.

“Even that helped”, he told Eijun, who might have looked a bit disappointed (and might have also emitted unhappy pheromones).

“I could have done more”, Eijun protested, “I am strong enough!”

“If you have enough energy to burn, I am sure you can find some useful training”, Kataoka told him, then got up.
He made his way over to the door, holding it open for Chris and Eijun, a clear sign that they were dismissed.

“Yes boss”, Eijun jumped to his feet and marched over to the door.
He would do exactly that, he decided, and with a nod to both Chris and Kataoka he made his way over to the weights room.
When he made his way inside, he bumped into Masuko who had just finished a session and gave him a friendly smile.
His senpai was the only person in the room and about to leave, which Eijun wasn’t too sad about. He wasn’t the biggest fan of weights and he liked it even less if someone watched him.

“Please close the windows, once you're done.”, Masuko instructed him and pointed to two of the opened windows.

“Of course!”, Eijun replied, making his way over to the bench press. He would start with that.

It only took him a couple of minutes to realize that even though he had felt fine after the healing session, his strength was lower than usual.
First he had needed longer to load the bar than he usually did.
Then the first set with easy weights had felt harder than usual. Which brought him to his current predicament, where he was stuck under said bar that had planted itself on his chest as soon as his arms had started to falter during his second set.
He knew that technically he shouldn’t have trained on his own or opted for something less taxing than a weights session. However, that didn’t solve the problem.

His options were:
a) somehow try to tip the bar off of his chest, which might work, or might be kind of dangerous. Especially if it rolled towards his neck and ended up choking him. Not ideal.
b) wait for Masuko to miss him and come back, which might take a while. If it even happened.
c) shout for help, but that was embarrassing.

Through all of this thinking the bar on his chest started to grow heavier. He closed his eyes, thinking hard about what option d) could be, when he heard footsteps.

“Oi, Bakamura”, Miyuki greeted him.
Why did it have to be Miyuki? Was there a way for him to maybe find some extra strength to…lift the bar (original plan), so his senpai wouldn’t notice that he was stuck?
That would solve everything.

“Good evening, Miyuki-senpai”, he greeted his upperclassman, trying to not sound as out of breath and desperate as he felt.

“Don’t stop on my behalf”, Miyuki told him and walked off to get some plates for the leg press.

Eijun gave the bar another press with no result. The weight on his chest grew even heavier and, as embarrassing as it was, he let out the smallest whine.
Immediately Miyuki whipped around, his eyes widening slightly as he realized which position Eijun was stuck in (was that… worry?), made his way over and with what seemed like zero effort grabbed the bar and lifted it off Eijun’s chest.
The omega drew in a deep breath and shuddered. That had been uncomfortable.

“Thank you”, he told Miyuki, turning away so the other wouldn’t see his embarrassment.

“Don’t train alone, idiot”, Miyuki replied. It sounded like an insult, but at the same time he ruffled Eijun’s hair, as if to reassure him that he was always happy to help. “Next time just let me know and I’ll go with you, before you injure yourself.”

“You don’t even have the time to catch my pitches”, Eijun mumbled (even though that technically wasn’t true, Miyuki had weaponized catching to convince him to do some things).
He sat up and started taking the stupid weights off the stupid bar trying to hide his stupid blush.

Miyuki just ignored that comment and went back to the leg press, where he continued to load up plates of what Eijun calculated as approx. double his own weight.
He didn’t know that Miyuki could easily press that weight, it was kind of hot. No, what was he thinking… Wait.

“You also shouldn’t train on your own”, he shouted, realizing that for once he could win the previous argument. And it wasn’t too late to do so.

“You’re here, right?”, Miyuki asked from his position and, muscles contracting nicely, pressed away the loaded sleigh.
Eijun tried his hardest to only subtly ogle the bulging muscles of his thighs - catchers, for sure, were something else. Miyuki kept looking at him quizzically.

“Right”, Eijun replied lamely. This was a grave he had dug himself.

Considering Miyuki had just started his workout and that Eijun didn’t want to end up in another embarrassing situation, he opted to just grab one of the yoga mats and stretch.
He positioned himself so that he could see his senpai from the side of his eyes. While stretching he kept sneaking glances at Miyuki, after all this was his chance to subtly check his senpai out.
Not that he would ever admit that.

Eijun was mid stretch, folded over his legs, hands grasping his ankles, when he felt a heavy and warm weight settle on his back.
He immediately folded down deeper into the position and let out a small noise when the stretch intensified. He had completely lost track of the alpha who was apparently now in a quite compromising position. The close contact made his skin tingle.

“Once you’re done, Sawamura, help me stretch”, Miyuki’s breath ghosted over his ear and Eijun shuddered involuntarily.
He immediately tried to compose himself, hoping that he wasn’t broadcasting his emotions right now or it could become very embarrassing.

“Alright, alright but get off, you’re heavy and sweaty”, Eijun huffed, glad that the catcher couldn’t see his face right now. His inner omega purred in contempt, engulfed by the strong smell of alpha.

“Okay”, Miyuki’s weight left his back and he almost made a sad noise due to the loss of the alphas' presence.
Only almost, thankfully.
It took all his willpower to reign in his pheromones.

After helping each other with some stretches (why was Miyuki so inflexible, like he couldn’t even touch his own toes??), his senpai dragged him into the bathroom.

“Just making sure you wash properly”, he explained when Eijun grumbled. „You know, washing properly, not like a little crow in a basin like you usually do.“ Eijun immediately fluffed up at the suggestion and started explaining that he was not dirty, while shrugging off his sweaty clothes.
He caught a whiff of his t-shirt which smelled strongly like Miyuki, the perfect addition to his nest!
He didn’t even have to steal the tanuki‘s clothes!

When they were both seated inside the bath, Eijun mused that this had been one of the most pleasant interactions he had with Miyuki so far.
Obviously, neither of them would admit that.

Chapter Text

The next week, the next game was scheduled and in the pre brief, Kataoka told Eijun to be ready to pitch!
Finally!

Additionally, Miyuki’s advice about refrigerating the concrete actually worked.
And while it left Eijun feeling cold and a bit ill after every portion, it seemed to help and at his last doctor’s appointment he was even told he could reduce the number of slushies per week. Something about his bloodwork and weight looking better now.

The start of the game itself went by in what almost felt like a haze.
Eijun had once again been equipped with scent patches that today were especially irritable.
While Furuya was struggling with bunts, Eijun was struggling with unpleasant sensations in the dugout. His neck felt like it was on fire and he felt himself choke up multiple times.
At the same time he was very conscious of not letting anything show, as not to endanger his potential pitching. Starting the warm up was almost a relief, because he had something to occupy his mind and hands that were itching to scratch the patches off.

With the game being equally distracting, Eijun managed to not let anything show till it was his turn to pitch.
During the innings he got to play, he could ignore the sensations.

And then they won and he was finally, finally allowed to get rid of the patches.

Most players had already left the dugout to go back to the bus, so Eijun thought it was safe to give in to the urge.
It was Kuramochi who noticed him frantically peeling the irritating fabric off in the back of the dugout.

“Ouuu, that looks painful”, he remarked, poking the skin of Eijun's neck. A sharp pain shot through his body and Eijun let out a shout.

“Don't touch them”, he hissed and pulled up the fabric of his compression shirt. He didn't want to make a fuss and just hoped the skin would calm down now that the patches were gone.
To Eijun's distress their interaction alerted Chris, who too fell into the category “way too perceptive” and had stayed behind, packing up his notebooks.
Maybe also waiting for them.

“Is there anything wrong?”, the alpha asked.

“Nothing, I am absolutely fine”, Eijun replied. Kuramochi, instead of answering, just grabbed his shirt and pulled down the neckline, exposing his scent glands.

“Sawamura, you should let this get looked at,” Chris sighed and pressed two fingers to his forehead. Eijun shrugged off Kuramochi and lowered his head.

“I don't want to be poked at even more”, he mumbled.
Honestly, being an omega was exhausting. People kept questioning his competence at every step, sports were considered more dangerous for him and every minor medical detail was examined under the microscope.

“It looks like you reacted to the suppressants, alerting the doctors right now will make them adjust your dose for the next time”, Chris explained. Which did make sense and Eijun wasn't especially keen to repeat the day's experience at the next game.
But why was this happening now, he had been fine if a bit exhausted by the patches the last games.

“Alright, I'm going.” Eijun announced, and, when Chris made a move towards him he raised his hands. “You don't need to come with me, I can do this alone!”

“If you say so, I'll let the coach know”, Chris replied.
Eijun sighed, at least Chris wasn't pushy and Kuramochi nodded as well.

So the three of them parted ways and Eijun made his way over to the medical office.
As the game was over, no one else was there apart from the medical staff, who looked at him curiously when he strode into the office.

“Sawamura-kun, how can I help you?”, the nurse who had handed him the patches recognised him.

“About those patches, they kind of hurt my scent glands…”, Eijun explained and pulled down the turtleneck of his compression shirt.
Maybe he should have looked at them in a mirror or something, he only knew that it “looked painful “ according to Kuramochi and that it felt warm and itchy. It probably wasn't too bad, after all he had been able to pitch as normal.

The sharp intake of air told him otherwise as the nurse examined his neck.
She tutted and carefully prodded at the edge of one of his scent glands. Another cold, sharp pain shot through Eijun and he barely managed to suppress a yelp.

„It looks like these kinds of suppressants were too strong for you,“ she finally said. „It looks inflamed and very painful. I can give you a salve, but other than that you’ll have to sit it out. You should see a doctor again if it’s not better in three days, though I have to warn you that suppressant overdoses can have adverse effects.“ She rounded him again, to speak eye to eye with him and it felt weirdly uncomfortable.
„You will probably experience minor flu-like symptoms like body aches or a low grade fever tonight. There is no real treatment, but some scenting by an alpha will help, if you have someone you trust.“

She turned around and busied herself looking for the salve. After rummaging for a few seconds she returned with a tub of orange ointment which she handed to Eijun.
„This also works better when applied by an alpha while scenting.“ She explained.

With hesitation Eijun took the salve and eyed it suspiciously. He hated how alphas seemed to be the only thing that could help him in like any kind of situation.

„I’ll make a note in your file that you need weaker suppressants.“
She handed him a note for the next game with the instructions to give it to Kataoka, before going back to do some paperwork.

With that it seemed like his treatment was finished and Eijun left.
He would ask Chris to scent him, he thought with resolution only for his inner omega to cringe at the thought.
Why?
Chris was perfect!

Maybe he should ask Furuya, though he doubted the other knew how to properly scent someone and he low-key feared Furuya touching his sensitive glands with his monster strength… He would never ever ever ask Miyuki!
His inner omega whined and it was a truly awful feeling, which on top of the pain and itchiness in his neck made him a little weak in the knees.
He needed fresh air. Not that idiot catcher!

Eijun pocketed the salve and pulled up his shirt, even though it felt awful on his inflamed scent glands. He would rather not have anyone else find out.
He would just turn in early for the night and ignore all symptoms - he might not even get them, after all it was only a possibility and he was stronger than getting knocked out by a little suppressant overdose.

Sometimes Eijun wondered if he had done anything to offend the gods, because of course when he reached the bus the only empty seat was right next to Miyuki.
It seemed like everyone had been waiting for him, some looking a little confused as to why their pitcher was late once again.
With his gaze glued to his shoes, Eijun climbed into the bus and handed the now slightly crumpled note to Kataoka.

When he finally reached that one empty seat, Eijun had come to the conclusion that asking an alpha for scenting was a mere suggestion and that he would apply the salve later on his own.
How bad could it get?

It turned out - quite bad.
The pain and itchiness seemed to be increasing even though he had gotten rid of the offending patches. It took all the willpower he had to not scratch his neck the whole time.
Also, Miyuki next to him kept eyeing him suspiciously and didn’t even talk to Eijun, which was weird. Their catcher loved every chance to tease him.

Eijun tried to focus on the cityscape outside, but they were stuck in a traffic jam, so nothing really changed outside. He barely managed to concentrate for more than two minutes.
He tried to ignore the alpha next to him who kept watching him as if he knew something was up with Eijun.

In the end it was Kuramochi who spoiled everything. His roommate was seated in front of them andnd when the bus didn’t move for some time, he climbed onto his seat and turned around so he faced Eijun. „So, what did the nurse say?“

He immediately felt Miyuki’s gaze and slapped one hand over his neck, waving the other one in a defensive gesture. „They‘ll adjust the dose of suppressants. Other than that there’s not much she could do.“
He omitted the fact that he was supposed to have an alpha scent him.
He would probably be fine without one, after all the nurse had just recommended it, not said it was necessary.
It didn’t help to have Miyuki this close, now completely turned towards Eijun.

„Your suppressant dose was too strong?“ He inquired and eyed him critically. „How did you find out? You’re usually not that in touch with your omega side?“

Ouch, that hurt!
Was Miyuki implying that he was a failure as an omega?
He barely managed to suppress a whine threatening to dislodge from his throat.
No, he was stronger than that!

Caught up in his own head and not answering made Kuramochi bug in again. „You should see what the scent patches did to his neck.“ The laugh he added sounded almost strangled.
Oh no, now he had the undivided attention of his desired alpha!
Wait!
Stop!

Miyuki had grabbed the fabric in his neck and pulled down, uncovering the angry and inflamed scent glands. He froze and then repeated Kuramochi’s actions from earlier, prodding one of the glands with a finger.
It didn’t feel as bad as when the nurse did it but hurt nevertheless.
Why did everyone think they were allowed to touch his scent glands?
Weren’t they like at least a little private?

He angrily slapped Miyuki‘s hand away and pulled his shirt up again. „Stop touching!“ He hissed through clenched teeth.

„It looks painful.“ Miyuki didn’t even sound like he was teasing, instead he looked… constipated?
What a weird expression.

Before Kuramochi could continue exposing Eijun, the bus jolted forward and the beta scrambled to stay upright.
Then, as the swaying didn’t stop, he turned around again and sat down, leaving Eijun at Miyuki‘s mercy.

After a few moments of awkward silence Eijun huffed, leaned back and closed his eyes, signaling that this conversation was over.
He was fine, he didn’t need an alpha.
It really sucked how many new problems came with being an omega. It didn’t feel like a secondary gender, more like an illness.
While being able to help Chris-senpai was nice, with this as the only benefit, his countless checkups and the looming threat of another heat in just some weeks time felt even worse.
Why couldn’t he have been an alpha?
He was supposed to be an alpha!

With a sigh Eijun ran a hand over his face and then, out of curiosity, carefully down his neck. The scent glands were swollen and hot to the touch, they might even be worse than before.
When he tried to scratch them it hurt too bad, so he stopped.
Maybe he should put on some of the ointment?
That much he could do on his own. Sure, the nurse had said scenting would help, but doing it without should also take the edge off, right?

He noticed that Miyuki was still looking at him, brows furrowed and jaw clenched.
As there was nothing he could do against that, Eijun just dug out the jar of salve and studied the pamphlet that came with it, which once again highlighted that scenting by an alpha would significantly help to reduce the symptoms.

While Eijun was studying the instructions he heard a small whine directly next to his ear and whipped around.
Miyuki had been leaning over his shoulder, reading the instructions as well and when Eijun now looked at him he actually looked miserable.
What?

“What?”, he repeated the question, slightly taken aback by the sight in front of him.

Miyuki shuddered, then straightened up.
“You know, as an alpha I really really dislike seeing an omega in pain”, he finally pressed out through clenched teeth.

Huh?

Eijun could feel some very upset pheromones coming from the catcher next to him.
Did that mean Miyuki also had some distressing side effects caused by his alpha nature?
He thought about it for a bit, then came to a decision.

“Here”, he shoved the pamphlet that Miyuki probably already had read under his nose. “You can help me and do whatever this says.”
Immediately the air of discomfort started to dissipate.

“Thank you”, Miyuki breathed and he actually sounded like he meant it.
Eijun looked at him from the corner of his eyes and was that a blush spreading across the alpha's face?
He could feel his own face heating up in return.

“This is me helping you, okay, Miyuki Kazuya?”, he hissed, “I am helping you.”

“If you say so”, Miyuki replied with a sly grin.
Ack, he was back to his usual teasing self.
Had the pitiful alpha act been a fake?

But then Miyuki's smile softened again.
“We're almost home, if you wait a couple of minutes then we can do this in my room”, he said, “which might be more comfortable.”
Eijun tensed, that was surprisingly…considerate.

“Alright. Though…maybe, can you still help me put on some before? Just no scenting.” He held out the jar towards the catcher.
With the unnerving soft smile still on his face, Miyuki took the jar from him and surprisingly gently applied a thin layer of salve to both swollen glands.
Eijun let out a soft noise, which made both boys blush and spend the rest of the journey in silence.

Before Miyuki could properly scent him, Kuramochi dragged both of them into the baths, arguing that he didn't want to room with a stinky first-year.
Which brought Eijun to his current predicament. He was slumped over the edge of the communal bath and very certain that he wouldn’t be able to get up on his own.

Sometimes between his quick shower and getting into the bath he had started to feel the symptoms the nurse had warned him about and now he was in pain, way too warm and didn’t even smell slightly like Miyuki anymore which was probably the most distressing part.
Said alpha had already left and informed Eijun that he would be waiting in his room.
Maybe he should have told him about the possible effects of his overdose.

With great difficulty Eijun struggled upright and on all fours (thankfully no one was here to witness this embarrassing display) scrambled out of the water.
He needed a few seconds before he could push himself up and, swaying slightly, made his way to the basket containing his clothes.
With a sigh he pulled the basket from the shelf and placed it on the floor, before his legs faltered and he ended up in a heap next to it. When he reached for his t-shirt, a small whine dislodged itself from his throat. The t-shirt he pulled out was slightly bigger than his and smelled distinctly like alpha.
He felt himself blush at the thought. Miyuki must have left it in here, knowing that it might help Eijun.
It was so thoughtful that Eijun actually felt tears welling up in his eyes.
He would never ever call Miyuki a bastard again, he was being way too considerate and nice.

Miyuki Kazuya was a bastard, Eijun decided.
He was currently lying on the bastard‘s bed, waiting for him to come scent and help Eijun, but when he had reached his dorm, all he found was an empty room (with a bed smelling deliciously like Miyuki).
Didn’t he offer earlier to help Eijun?
It had taken him significant willpower to even accept the help and now Miyuki was nowhere to be seen!

He buried his face in the pillow and took slow, measured breaths. The alpha pheromones helped a little.
By now he was experiencing the whole bandwidth of symptoms he had been warned about, starting with the incredibly annoying itching in his neck, whole body pains and on top of that he was feeling cold, indicating the beginning of a fever.
He didn’t even notice that he was whining, until the door finally, finally opened and Miyuki, looking slightly frazzled, started cursing and hurried over to his bed.

Kazuya

Kazuya felt weirdly proud at his idea of leaving his own t-shirt for Sawamura. Somehow (and he would never admit this to anyone) it made his inner alpha very content to see the omega clad in his clothes.
Granted, he had had to squeeze into the smaller shirt of said omega, which stretched tightly over his pecs, a little too tight and left not much to imagination. And he was somewhat excited to scent the omega again, to mark his territory.
He shuddered at the thought of Sawamura being scented by Chris or even worse Furuya (he really hoped it would never come to the point where the coach had to scent the omega…). But just as he was about to enter his room and get ready for their small session, one of the other club members told him that Kataoka wanted to see him.
He really hoped Sawamura would understand.

After a short meeting where Kataoka told him about Sawamura‘s suppressant overdose with the instructions to look out for similar symptoms during the next games as well as the discussion who would start against Yakushi, he was finally allowed to return to his room.

The scent that hit him when he opened the door was distressing to say the least.
Sawamura was lying on his bed, clad in Kazuya’s t-shirt and looked… actually quite miserable.

He let out a quiet string of curses before hurrying over to the bed.

The idiot had told him that he was only a little itchy, he hadn’t mentioned that he would become unwell.

Of course he should have expected Sawamura to lie by omission. The omega was surprisingly bad at being taken care of.
He felt like it was a weakness and so the moron, even though he wore his heart on his sleeve at the worst times, never mentioned when he felt unwell.

Which was, as Kazuya had already explained on the bus, a special kind of torture for his alpha side that he usually tried to ignore.
Back then, he had to fight down his instincts so he could talk to Sawamura instead of just grabbing the omega and shoving him into a bed. Not in the sexy way, sadly, just so he could rest and was safe.

Now he was feeling awful, seeing Sawamura in obvious distress and all of it just because he hadn’t been there, when the omega came over as Kazuya had explicitly requested him to.
Sawamura was letting out a quiet whine and Kazuya moved from the spot he had been frozen in with a curse.

“I'm sorry”, he crouched down next to the omega.
Sawamura’s scent glands were an obvious deep red against that was highlighted further by the white t-shirt he wore. His face was flushed and he was shivering slightly.

“First you ask me to come to your room and then you're not even there. I could have been in my nice and cosy nest instead of your stupid bed, you know?”, Sawamura complained.
Kazuya could hear the strain in his voice, where the omega - as always - tried to hide his own misery.

“I'm here now”, Kazuya snapped, annoyed with the non-existent self preservation skills Sawamura was displaying.
And annoyed with himself for being so careless.
Maybe the others were right and he was a truly awful person.

“Well then Mr. “I'm here now”, do your alpha thing”, Sawamura grumbled and pushed himself upright, outright pouting at Kazuya.
Which he deserved, he reminded himself.

Then Sawamura's eyes narrowed.
“Are you wearing my T-shirt?”, he asked suspiciously.

“Yes, I thought my pheromones might help you, but I also needed something to wear”, Kazuya sighed but shrugged the T-shirt off.
It was too tight anyways.

He grabbed the jar of ointment from the desk Sawamura had left it on, then tossed the shirt at the omega and climbed into his bed next to him.
Through the whole process Sawamura’s face had gotten redder, was it a fever?
Without further consideration he grabbed Sawamura's face and held him steady while leaning his forehead against the omega’s.
It was warmer, so his temperature was raised. Damn, suppressant overdoses were a nasty thing.

A small noise from Sawamura made him realise that he was still holding onto his face and Kazuya released him.
“You seem to have a fever”, he told the younger one who was even redder in his face by now.

“No shit. Now scent me and get this over with!”, Sawamura hissed. After being released he had shrunk back a bit. “Also put something on, stupid tanuki”, he mumbled.

Kazuya shuffled till his back was to the wall and his legs were splayed open. He ignored Sawamura's previous comment, after all skin contact should nicely soak the omega in his scent and that was helpful for his condition. Also a very satisfying thought for his inner alpha.
“Come here”, he pulled Sawamura so the omega was seated between his legs.

To his surprise Sawamura actually let him man-handle him without much resistance. Which made Kazuya realize that the omega was probably in worse shape than he let on.

“I will scent you now, then apply some ointment. You can sleep here after.”, he explained. From his position he couldn't see Sawamura's face but saw the omega nod. Being given permission, he started releasing calming pheromones while running his wrists along the swollen glands on Sawamura's neck. Once he was finished with those, he started massaging the salve into the swollen nubs.

Sawamura in his arms shuddered but didn't say anything, though, to his satisfaction, Kazuya felt some of the tension in his body ebb out slowly during the administration.

“Thank you”, Sawamura mumbled, his red ears hinting that his face was probably still flushed.
During the process he had started to lean back further and was now almost fully plastered to Kazuya's naked chest. Kazuya was thankful that the pitcher was still miserable enough that he didn't have any inappropriate thoughts.
Instead he just started to gently massage Sawamura's shoulders.
During this, both of them stayed silent.

After some time Kazuya felt more tension leaving Sawamura’s body and his breath evening out, indicating that the omega had fallen asleep.
Carefully he moved both of them to the left so they came to rest on their sides. Sawamura didn't even stir from the change in position.

Well, it probably wouldn't hurt if they just slept like this, Kazuya decided.
He himself was feeling sleepy and comfortable, so he moved his glasses to the nightstand, grabbed his eyemask and pulled it on. Then he tucked the omega under his chin, slid the eyemask into place and closed his eyes.
Seconds later he too was asleep.

Surprisingly, when Kazuya woke up the next morning, Sawamura was still where Kazuya had maneuvered him last night.
A bit of drool had pooled on Kazuya's chest but he couldn't find it in him to get annoyed. The soft puffs of the still sleeping Sawamura did weird things to his heart.

Usually the pitcher would have already gone for some stupid form of morning exercise like 5am tire sprints, so he was probably still suffering the lingering effects of the suppressant overdose.
At least Kazuya noted that his body temperature was back down to a normal level and his scent glands looked a bit less swollen and the redness had subsided significantly.
Gently Kazuya touched the scent glands, feeling for signs of swelling. This made the omega on his chest stir.

“Good morning”, Kazuya greeted him as one eye opened and looked at him. The eye closed again and Sawamura nuzzled further into Kazuya's chest.

When would he realise?

Kazuya could actually follow the slow connection of synapses as a tint of a blush first crept up Sawamura's neck all the way up to his ears.
Just in time he covered his ears, as Sawamura sat upright with a shriek and scrambled backwards.

Casually, Kazuya caught him by the front of his t-shirt, just as the omega threatened to fall off his bed.
Sawamura's face was bright red and he narrowed his eyes at Kazuya.

“Why am I in your bed?”. He gasped. “Did you do something…inappropriate?”
Honestly, no one should blame Kazuya for laughing, it was the only appropriate reaction to Sawamura's scandalised expression.

“Relax, we both fell asleep after scenting.”, Kazuya told him and slowly released his hold on the t-shirt.
Now that Sawamura was more awake and less startled he managed to not fall off the bed.

“Well, okay, well”, he tried to find an intelligent reply.

“Let's get ready for training. We don't want to be late.”, Kazuya explained. “Go and get changed, I'll meet you on the field.”

“Alright”, Sawamura jumped off his bed and left the room in a hurry. Kazuya let out a small chuckle, the omega was obviously still a bit frazzled.

It was only after getting changed himself that he noticed the small jar of ointment still sitting on his desk.
Sawamura must have forgotten it but from what Kazuya had seen that morning, it probably wouldn't hurt to apply more of it at least after training.

When he made it to the field, Sawamura was already running, pointedly ignoring him.

At least he also was ignoring Kuramochi, who was clearly trying to talk to him.

While it was funny to watch Sawamura flee from his roommate who was a faster runner, the tides turned soon enough as Kuramochi made his way over to Kazuya, who wasn’t quite prepared for this turn of events.

“What did you do to Bakamura?” Kuramochi demanded to know.
All Kazuya’s attempts to tactically retreat were in vain as the shortstop grabbed the front of his shirt, keeping Kazuya close.

Of course as a strong alpha he would have been able to shrug him off, but he kinda liked that shirt, so he just lifted his hands in defence and shot Kuramochi an apologetic smile.
“He needed an alpha to scent him to help with the suppressant overdose and asked me.”

Kuramochi narrowed his eyes at Kazuya and shook his head.
“No way you would do this without any afterthoughts.” He seemed to think for a second, but didn’t let go of Kazuya’s shirt so he was stuck watching Kuramochi ponder.

In horror Kazuya watched as a sly grin spread across Kuramochi’s face.
He let go of Kazuya’s shirt and pulled the catcher under his arm, which was an impressive feast given their height difference.

“So, when were you going to tell me that you’re courting Sawamura?”

Eijun

He had no idea what was happening with his two least favourite senpai, but from the side of the field, where Eijun was finishing his morning run (finally in peace), he watched how Kuramochi pulled Miyuki down and whispered something in his ear.
Miyuki went a truly impressive shade of red and shoved his roommate off, before bolting.

Eijun wondered what the hell was going on.

Chapter Text

Miyuki was avoiding him. At first Eijun had thought that the catcher was just busy with training, but after a couple of days he was quite sure.

First clue: instead of teasing him and scenting him again after morning training the day after his overdose, Miyuki just handed him the small jar of ointment with a simple “you forgot this in my room.”

Second clue: The catcher didn’t bother him at lunch anymore. Eijun hadn’t been aware but Miyuki had actually eaten at their table most days. Now his absence was noticeable enough that even Furuya first commented on it and then, the next day, sat down next to the catcher at a different table to demand he catch for him.
Eijun noticed this exchange with a frown, he too wanted to pitch to Miyuki.
With a huff he got up himself and marched over to Chris, asking (begging) him to catch for him.
Chris was better anyways.

Third clue: Miyuki didn’t say anything, when he went to Chris’ room after a session to help him with some minor healing. While it had seemed to bother him before, he now seemed indifferent.

He would have liked to say it didn’t bother him, but it did.
His inner omega was upset with the sudden cold shoulder the catcher was giving him.
Had he done something wrong?

And Eijun himself had other inconveniences stressing him as well:

Firstly: The game against Yakushi, who was a dark horse and actually from what he heard, quite scary. He didn’t even know if he would be allowed to pitch.
And the prospect of wearing scent patches again honestly scared him a bit, though he would never let that stop him. After all, he had already endured an overdose once, he could do it again.

Secondly: His upcoming heat (thankfully scheduled for just after the finals, so still some time to plan things) and the doctors appointments associated with it.
He was supposed to take strong suppressants, after all he had requested not to have another awful heat. But after his strong reaction to the suppressant overdose, the doctors had become rather cautious. He had a long discussion that left him rather upset, as one of the doctors had suggested that he should take a weak dose of suppressants to weaken the symptoms but ride out the heat.

Well and then the fact that Miyuki was somehow avoiding him.
And that right now he just felt very very stressed and didn’t know what to do about it.

Running didn’t help.

Homework didn’t help (not that he expected it to).

Scenting was not an option either.

And healing Chris till he passed out was also not an alternative to calm down, after all he wanted to be ready for their next game.

That was the moment he found a solution.
After spending what felt like hours flitting between homework and shojo manga (another upsetting matter he was dealing with, after all they were all alpha boy and omega girl mangas, so all his potential self-inserts were now skewed), he ended up skimming through the how-to-omega manual.
One sentence caught his attention:
“An alphas command can help ground an omega in situations of distress”

Wait?
He thought commands were only a mean alpha trick to make others obey them.
Interested, he started reading the entire paragraph.
Commands are a powerful tool alphas possess. Once an initial feat that would guarantee the alpha absolute authority over his pack, it is important to understand how commands should work in modern society. Omegas possess an especially high drive to follow an alpha’s command.
Commands should never be used carelessly and on people who did not consent. Similar to scenting, an alphas command can help ground an omega in situations of distress. On the other hand, for self protection, omegas should learn how to deal with commands.

Eijun scoffed.
Great, so he would basically fold as soon as some random alpha used a command on him.
And even though it was supposed to be frowned upon, Eijun really didn’t trust society and young alphas.
To be honest he was surprised that so far he hadn’t encountered this topic much.
He continued reading.

Omegas are encouraged to practice resisting commands. Only ever do this in a safe environment with an alpha you feel comfortable with.
He threw the book on the floor. That was enough reading for today.
Instead of offering him a solution, he had more worries to deal with now.
What if an alpha commanded him to do something illegal?
What if an alpha interfered with his pitching? - though the suppressants they got before games should take care of that, right?

Then again he needed to do something.
Maybe he should practice though, just in case.
And...maybe an alphas command would help relieve some of the tension he was feeling.

But who to ask?

Chris was reliable and helpful, but hesitant with experiments. And Chris would rat him out if anything went only slightly sideways.
Miyuki was out of the question, which left…

He found Furuya running on the field, pulling along Eijun’s tire.

“Hey, tire thief”, he called him out. The alpha tried to ignore him when Eijun started running beside him.
After two laps, Furuya finally looked at him.

“What do you want?”, he asked.
He stopped running and so did Eijun.
To be honest he was glad, discussing this while running didn’t sound all too fun.

“So, Furuya, you are an alpha..”, Eijun started.

“I know. Anything else?”

“Don’t interrupt me.”, Eijun scoffed, “You are an alpha, so you should be able to give commands. I am an omega and my omega book says I should learn how to deal with commands. So let's practice together. I bet your commands are super weak and easy to break, so they should be fine for some practice.”, Eijun explained.
Furuya looked at him as if he had just suggested they should run a marathon in full Tokyo-summer heat.

“No”, he answered and made an effort to start running again. Eijun stopped him by grabbing his t-shirt.

“Come on, see this is mutually beneficial. You can practice commands.”, he explained.

“Why?”, Furuya asked.

“It will make you stronger!”

Bingo.
The way Eijun felt his team mates pheromones flare up, he hit the nail on the head.

“Okay.”, Furuya agreed. “Now?”

“No time like the present!”, Eijun clapped his hands. “Maybe start with something easy.”
He looked around.
They should probably do this somewhere a bit more secluded than an open field. After all, if something went sideways he didn’t want everyone to see.
Though he expected that Furuya’s commands would be easy to refuse.

“Come on, lets go somewhere more quiet”, Eijun pulled him along to the practice shed where he made Furuya deposit the tire - Eijun’s tire - then ushered Furuya into the shed.
Honestly, the alpha was too easy to push around, maybe biology had made a mistake when making him an alpha and Eijun an omega.

“And now?”; Furuya asked when they were both seated on some boxes in the shed.

“You’re the alpha, you should do the commanding. Maybe do something standard?” Eijun suggested.
Honestly, maybe he should have read the full chapter on commands instead of tossing his book into a random corner of the room, but Furuya should know what to do, right?

He did not.

That much was obvious from how he stared at Eijun, curious but clueless.

Ah shit.

It seemed like his shojo manga knowledge would come in handy after all, since manga was the only really descriptive alpha-omega representation Eijun knew.
But “kiss me” was nothing he wanted to ever try with Furuya. And “sleep” would be a bit over the top plus if he failed to withstand at first try that was it with practice.

It needed to be simple and not harm Eijun, if he messed up or followed through.

“Maybe try something like “kneel” or “sit”?”, he suggested.
Furuya nodded.
He fixed Eijun with a stern gaze and said

“Kneel”

Eijun felt a little tickle in the back of his mind but really this wasn't too bad. He could easily stay standing.

“Hahaha I knew this Sawamura Eijun would withstand any command easily”, he boasted and crossed his arms. Furuya looked a bit troubled and like he was thinking.

“I don't think I got the tone right”, he finally replied. “Kneel?”
This one was even weaker than the first one and Eijun started laughing.

“Seems like you maybe suck at being an alpha”, he giggled.

Furuya seemed to take him up on the challenge as Eijun felt his presence and aura increase, as did his pheromones saturating the air.
His inner omega was already shrinking back and wanted to submit.
He tried to bare his neck to Furuya, just like he had previously done in scary situations and maybe this wasn't a good idea after all!

“Kneel!”

Before Eijun got around to saying anything the command hit him like a sledgehammer.
He felt his knees falter and he dropped to the floor with a thump.
Kneel.
His job was kneeling and just…kneeling right now.

“That felt different”, Furuya muttered and looked down at Eijun who had his head lowered.
He tried to raise his head but even that seemed nearly impossible.
Furuya kept looking at him, expecting him to do something.

He should get up.

He should break the command!

Why couldn't he get up?

His inner omega refused to let him regain control of his body.

“Uhm, Sawamura, you can get up now”, Furuya said, noticing that Eijun wasn't moving.
He tried again to no avail, his thoughts were sluggish.

But he needed to.

Needed to.

Break the command.

Why wasn’t it working, he had followed Furuya’s command and now it should be over, right?
Had the alpha done something wrong?

“Can’t”, he pressed out between clenched teeth.
Furuya crouched down behind him, grabbed him under his arms and tried to pull him upright, but his legs refused to unfold, his body tensed up. Eijun smelled the alpha’s pheromones going haywire. His inner omega cried in distress.
He had done something to displease Furuya.
He had pressured him.
He…

“And what exactly are you two doing here?”

“Miyuki-senpai”, Furuya breathed, his pheromones quieting down. In contrast Eijun felt himself tense up (innerly, his body still wasn't really obeying him). “Sawamura said he wanted to practice commands and I told him to kneel and now he can’t get up.”

Eijun, who now at least had enough control over his body to look up (the command was weakening?) saw a frown on Miyuki’s face.
Shit.
This was all his fault.
He had been careless.
Had he done something to endanger Furuya?

From the dangerous glint in Miyuki’s eyes it was obvious that he had messed up.
His inner omega was screaming in the back of his mind and he bared his neck to please the alpha. He didn't know what was happening.

Suddenly the tension in Miyuki’s shoulders ebbed away and he started laughing.
“God, you’re both too stupid.”, he said, “Your command was probably a bit strong and poor Sawamura is stuck. Just try relaxing and tell him he did good.”

Seeing his senpai laugh, Eijun himself calmed down a bit.
Furuya let go of his body and he smacked to the floor with a thud. His poor knees felt like they might bruise, but it probably wasn’t especially in Furuya’s nature to be gentle.

“Good job?”, Furuya said, more like a question. Still, it seemed to do the trick.
Eijun’s omega quieted down and he felt the command slowly ebbing away.
Finally he could clamber back to his feet.

“Ugh, that was something”, he muttered, feeling his face heat up.

“And you”, Miyuki turned to him. Damn, he thought he would get out of this without drawing much attention, “Are you like a special kind of stupid?”

“Stop being mean, Miyuki Kazuya”, he scoffed.

“Why would you want to practice something like this with a newbie alpha? Did you even think? Or is that something you still struggle with?”, Eijun couldn’t pinpoint if Miyuki was amused or annoyed. Likely both.

“My book said an omega should practice resisting commands with an alpha they trust”, he huffed and crossed his arms. “So I asked Furuya, no need to be mean.”

Miyuki looked like he had just bitten into something sour and emitted pheromones that Eijun decided were annoyance.
“You should have asked me”, he snapped. Was he…blushing?

“You were avoiding me”, Eijun shouted and raised his arms in exasperation, “you are so moody, and I don’t even know what I did.”
Interestingly the flush on Miyuki’s face got stronger, Eijun must have hit a sore spot.

Miyuki was saved by Furuya interrupting them.
“You can take over now, Miyuki-senpai. I don’t especially like commands.” And with that, Furuya the traitor, left Eijun at the mercy of his annoyed tanuki senpai.

Great, just great.

“So, why were you avoiding me, Miyuki Kazuya?”, Eijun decided that fight was a better option right now- plus he would shift the focus from his problems (did stupid stuff) to Miyuki’s problems (weirder than usual).

“I was busy”, the alpha brushed him off, then grinned his annoying grin that never meant something good “So, you said you wanted to practice commands?”

“Actually, I am fine. Thank you very much”, Fight didn’t work, flight it was.

“Stay”.
Eijun felt the vibrato of a command brush over him.

First he stopped dead in his tracks. His alpha wanted him to stay…then…he shrugged it off.
Simple as that.
Actually not really, his inner omega whined and clearly wanted him to stay, but Eijun was good at ignoring that inner voice nowadays.

“Commanding people without their consent is not cool”, he huffed and continued walking. He heard Miyuki laugh and whipped around.

“You’ll be fine, idiot.”, Miyuki told him, “Furuya went way over the top. Normal commands are easier to fight down. Don’t doubt yourself.”

He actually gave Eijun a surprisingly genuine smile and the omega felt something warm wash over him when he praised him. This time Eijun fled the scene.

He still didn't have answers why Miyuki was being weirder than usual, but he felt a bit less skittish. Maybe he should actually finish reading the chapter on commands.

The next day Miyuki was back to his usual, teasing self.
And promptly dragged Eijun into the bullpen so he could practice pitching before the game on the next day. The session however was frustratingly short, as Miyuki stopped throwing the ball back after just 15 pitches. Eijun could have gone for much more, he was still feeling quite restless.

“That’s enough for today, you don’t want to tire yourself out”, he called and got up.

“I can still pitch, I am not tired at all. I could actually go for another hour”, Eijun protested.
After all, with Miyuki avoiding him, this was his first session since the last game that he actually got to work with the catcher and it wasn’t enough.

“Are you still nervous about tomorrow's game?”, Miyuki asked him.
Actually, Eijun was, not that he would ever admit it. He would just go and run for a bit more to calm down.

As if he had read his mind, Miyuki placed a hand on his lower back, steering him away from the shed with the tires. “No more running. If you’re nervous and can’t sleep, I can scent you later”.

Eijun let out a scandalized gasp. “I am not nervous, Miyuki Kazuya. And you don’t need to scent me.”

“Ha, shame”, the catcher muttered.

Wait, did he want to scent Eijun?
Was he getting something out of it?

He remembered Miyuki saying something about his alpha side wanting to care for distressed omegas.
While he was for sure not distressed, he could at least be generous enough to help his senpai.
Miyuki’s hand was still on his back, warm and grounding and kind of distracting.

“But. If it will make you feel better, I will let you scent me. See how generous I am, I know all about alpha needs!”, Eijun boasted.

“Sure you do”, Miyuki snickered, his hand still remaining in place. All throughout their discussion he had steered Eijun away from the field and towards the communal bath and Eijun had let it happen.
It was kind of worrying how contempt that left him, even when Miyuki basically deposited him to wash up.
Though maybe, just maybe, there was a benefit gained by rest. Not that Eijun really needed it, his energy levels were always high!

Miyuki gave him a little push towards the changing rooms and his hand was gone. It felt like a loss. “Go wash up, I will come to your room later and scent you there.” Then he turned around.

“Where are you going?”, Eijun asked. He thought they were going to the baths together?

“Catching for Furuya, you’re not the only idiotic pitcher I need to babysit”, Miyuki called back over his shoulder. And then, before Eijun could even protest, he added “Go bathe, Sawamura, you’re done for today!”

Eijun tensed up, something akin to jealousy flaring up.
Why was he reacting this strongly?
Well, probably because Furuya was now gaining a training advantage over him!
With a huff he decided that since he was here now and Miyuki would obviously not catch for him anymore, he might as well wash up. Maybe read a shojo manga and ignore his homework afterwards.

True to his word, Miyuki did show up outside Eijun’s room just before bedtime.
It was Kuramochi who opened the door when he knocked. Once again Eijun could observe an interesting interaction between both of his senpais.

Kuramochi: “What are you doing here?”

Miyuki: “Here to scent Sawamura so he actually sleeps before tomorrow’s game.”

Eijun let out an undignified hiss at this comment. “I am actually helping Miyuki, he was the one who wanted to scent me. It’s one of his weird alpha urges.”

Both ignored him. He couldn’t really see what Kuramochi did, but Miyuki suddenly went quite red.
With a sharp glance over to Kuramochi as if to silence him (Eijun knew those glances, he personally liked to ignore them), Miyuki pushed past his fellow classmate to walk over to Eijun’s bed.

“Hey Mochi, how about you go and practice some swings or something for 15 minutes.”, Miyuki suggested.
Eijun gave him a thankful glance, he didn’t especially like the thought of someone being there.

“Nah, I’ll stay”, Kuramochi replied with a shit eating grin and sat down on the floor so he could exactly see what Miyuki and Eijun were doing.

“Scenting is private, Kuramochi-senpai”, Eijun now protested.

“I have seen you in heat.”, his senpai shot back.
And god, those weren’t memories Eijun wanted to relive anytime soon. He shuddered thinking about the state he had been in, when Haruichi and Kuramochi had cared for him.

“That’s different”, he snapped, “at least turn around. I am not your personal entertainment.”
Both his senpais started laughing at that and Eijun felt himself bristling up. It had been Miyuki and him vs. Kuramochi but now it felt like Miyuki had easily changed sides.

“Lets just get this over with”, Eijun huffed.
Better to have Miyuki scent him so he could sleep than to interact with those two any further. After all, he wanted to be in top shape for the game the next day.

He stretched out on his bed and offered his neck to Miyuki.
The alpha nodded and sat down on the edge of his bed, right next to his head. Almost gently he placed his wrist against Eijun's neck and ran it over the scent gland there a couple of times. It was kind of embarrassing how Eijun felt his tension ebbing away with just this small movement.
He smelled how his own pheromones mixed with Miyuki's, leaving him smelling like sun and leather, the distinct smell of …well…baseball. Now that he was a bit more used to the process of scenting, he used this moment to observe Miyuki.

Did it actually do something for the alpha in return?
In some of his mangas the omega scented the alpha as well, maybe this was a two way street.
Curious, he propped himself up a bit and reached for Miyuki’s own scent glands.

As soon as he touched them, a full body shudder ran through Miyuki and he let out a low sound.
Puzzled, Eijun looked at the catcher who had turned a bright shade of red.

“Actually, I don’t want to watch this”, Kuramochi interrupted them and got up. He left the room, leaving behind a confused Eijun.

“Lie back down”, Miyuki finally scoffed and pulled Eijun's hand off his scent gland.

“Why? Do you not like being scented, Miyuki Kazuya?”, he asked.
Ha, he had found a weakness in the catcher's tough facade. Miyuki’s grip around his wrist tightened.

“Let me finish scenting you, Bakamura”, the catcher replied, completely ignoring his question.

“Only if I can scent you in return, you seem like you need it, you seem awfully tense”, Eijun chirped, proud of himself. He, too, could use Miyuki’s words against him.

To his immense surprise, the alpha folded almost immediately.

Instead of letting Eijun touch him again, though, he just took Eijun’s hand he was still holding and used it to scent himself.
That’s at least what Eijun felt it was, as Miyuki rubbed his neck against his hand.

Letting go of Eijun’s hand, he went back to scenting the omega. It was a nice feeling and Eijun let out a small purr, letting himself slip into a nice relaxed state.

The good feeling of alpha against his glands ended before he could even really appreciate it as Miyuki jumped up, stumbled and then, with a “Sleep tight, big day tomorrow”, fled the room, leaving behind a very confused Eijun.

Before Eijun could mull over what just happened, he fell asleep.

Chapter Text

The scent patches Eijun had been given this time were less itchy and awful, so the doctor’s instructions had actually taken care of that issue (he hoped).
But once again he was stuck in the dug out, watching Furuya pitch.

Yakushi was a scary team with monstrous batters, which made Eijun both excited and nervous.
He couldn’t wait till it was his turn!

Which actually came sooner than expected.

Now, standing on the mound, he tried to empty his head and focus on pitching.
Still, his mind kept returning to the night before.
It had been actually nice to be able to scent Miyuki himself, he could still smell a small whiff of his own pheromones on the alpha and it pleased his inner omega.

“Sawamura, focus!”

Right.
He was here to pitch.
It was another chance to show his worth, to prove to everyone that he could do this.
Eijun gave Miyuki a short nod, then sent the first ball flying.

It actually seemed to…work.
Ha, he knew he could do it.
Despite the pressure, Eijun could feel himself enjoying the challenge, as none of the Yakushi batters backed down, and neither did he.
It had all been going too well until Miyuki signalled for a pitch and that one loud beta boy hit a home run off him.

A home run and Eijun almost cost them the game.

Shortly after, Eijun was removed from the mound.
But who was he even kidding, he deserved to be swapped out, his performance after had been shaky at best.

He only noticed that he was whining silently, when Haruichi sat down next to him, helping him ice his shoulder.
“You did well, Eijun-kun”, the beta reminded him, though right now he felt simply awful. “Let’s go watch the game and support our team.”

With some gentle coaxing, Haruichi finally convinced the omega to at least focus on the game rather than continue sulking in a corner.
Peeling off the itchy scent patches helped his overall well being, thankfully they had not caused any major issues that day, so the least Eijun could do was be as cheerful and supportive as he could for his team.

And honestly, Sanada, the new pitcher from Yakushi, was amazing!
Even though he was from the opposing team, Eijun couldn’t help but admire his pitching and self-confidence on the mound.

“He’s so cool”, Eijun told Haruichi, who was standing next to him.

“He’s like a better version of you, with control”, Miyuki joined their conversation.
Eijun scoffed and glared at him. Honestly, why was the alpha trying to rile him up again?

“I’ll be the ace in no time. You just need to catch more of my pitches.”

Then again Miyuki looked somewhat annoyed, probably because the game was not really working out in their favor right now, Eijun decided.
This meant he just needed to cheer louder.

His cheering clearly helped, as they won.
By a margin and it was stressful, but they won.

“I’ll just quickly go to the bathroom”, Eijun told Haruichi, when they were making their way back to the bus.
With all the excitement of the dugout he had almost forgotten his body’s needs but now was reminded.

“I’ll be coming with you”, his friend decided. So did Furuya and apparently Miyuki.
“Just making sure you don’t get lost”, he told the three first years.

“You don’t need to babysit us”, Eijun protested, because that was apparently exactly what Miyuki was doing, as he stayed outside the bathroom instead of using it himself, while the three first years made their way inside. Was he still worried about the last time Eijun had this run in with the alpha? Honestly, he was so much better at being an omega now and he had done okay in that situation as well!

Eijun took care of his business as fast as he could.
When he headed outside, Miyuki was talking to some people.

All alphas.
Eijun felt himself tense up, his stupid omega instinct made him shrink back when faced with multiple alphas. With an angry huff he shoved them down.
He knew those people, from their uniform they were Inashiro and he had overheard their pitcher being rude multiple times.

“I am done, Miyuki-senpai, thanks for waiting”, he barged in on what seemed to be a rather tense conversation.
Miyuki seemed to only notice him, when he entered their stupid little alpha-circle.

“Ahh, Sawamura, please meet Narumiya-kun. He’s a pitcher as well”, he wound an arm around Eijun's shoulders and introduced him to one of the alphas.
Miyuki’s voice sounded chipped and his arm around Eijun’s shoulders was tense. Yep, there was clearly some weird alpha posturing going on.

“Hi, I’m Sawamura Eijun”, he slipped out underneath Miyuki’s arm and stretched his hand out towards the Inashiro pitcher. “I am excited to beat you in the finals!”

“Ohh, so that’s Seido’s little omega pitcher”, Narumiya laughed, it sounded mean. “Hey, little omega, when you talk to your superiors you should knee...”

In retrospect Eijun didn’t know how he had reacted that fast, but when he heard the vibrato in Narumiya’s voice signaling a command, a command he knew well after his failed attempt with Furuya, and he had reacted almost instinctively -
And kneed the alpha in the groin.

Now Narumiya was on the floor, hissing and glared at him.
“You little..”, he gritted out between clenched teeth.

“What”, Eijun shot back, “You said “knee”, I did “knee”. You should tell me I did good. Didn’t I?”, he looked at Miyuki who had also doubled over.

Was the alpha hurt as well?

What?
How?

“Only you, Sawamura”, Miyuki wheezed. “Only you!”
Okay not hurt, just laughing.

“Tell me I did good. Also it is very impolite to command omegas, just so you know.”, Eijun scoffed at Narumiya who was slowly getting up, apparently still in some pain.
Well deserved, Eijun decided. He huffed and crossed his arms.

“You’ll regret this”, Narumiya hissed, “We’ll wipe the floor with your pathetic team.”
With that, apparently the alpha posturing session was over, as Narumiya turned around and left, followed by his team members.

“What happened?”, Haruichi and Furuya had emerged from the bathroom and looked at Eijun who was still agitated and Miyuki, who was still laughing.

“Sawamura riled up some Inashiro players, but they’re gone now.”, Miyuki explained after somewhat recovering.
Then he turned to Eijun, “Good job though.”

Immediately Eijun felt himself relax, as Miyuki’s praise washed over him.
His alpha thought he did good!
Wait no… he shook off his inner omega’s happy preening.
Miyuki had done nothing apart from laugh at him.

“Well he was just unfriendly. Also I didn’t rile them up, they started it!”, Eijun huffed. “Let’s just go back, okay?”

Eijun tried to not let the encounter bother him, but it did bother him… He had felt a strong pull from the command and that worried him.
What if they tried something funny during a game?

No, that’s why alphas got given suppressants, he reminded himself.
Still, he couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy.
He had never encountered as many alphas in one team as he just had in front of the toilet.

And he didn’t know if he could trust what Miyuki had said about commands, that they usually weren’t as bad as Furuya’s and that he would be able to shake them off.
What if someone went for a strong command?
Was there a way for him to know?

Narumiya’s command had surprised him and only knowing what he was about to say had saved Eijun from an even more humiliating situation.
Still, he had felt the dangerous tug of the command and even though it was over, he still felt a bit unsure.

“I can hear you think”, Miyuki next to him interrupted him.

“Stop listening to my thoughts”, Eijun snapped. He could only hope that Miyuki did not hear his thoughts.
Or was that an alpha power again? That would be awfully unfair!

Miyuki just chuckled. “Stop worrying so much and focus on the next game”, the catcher told him. “You can review the footage from today with me later. And see what you did wrong.”

“I already know I failed the team”, Eijun muttered, thinking back to the home run Raichi had hit off him.

“Stop being so melodramatic”, Miyuki sighed, “You did not fail the team. The home run was my fault, you just followed my signs. No one expects you to be perfect in games, but you can still learn from reviewing them afterwards.”
Eijun nodded, that did make sense.
His thoughts returned to the encounter with Inashiro’s alpha group and he shivered.
He really needed more experience with commands and how bad they could get.

“Here, take this if you’re cold”, Miyuki shoved his own jacket at Eijun.
His nice, warm, Miyuki-smelling jacket and honestly right now Eijun would take all the comfort he could get.

“I will keep this jacket nice and warm for you”, he declared and shrugged into the larger garment. It did help some of his anxiety, which again was stupid and probably only because he was an omega.
He returned to mulling over the command problem.

“Hey, Miyuki Kazuya”, he lowered his voice to a loud whisper and poked the alpha next to him who had closed his eyes in the meantime.

“What?”, the catcher asked and opened one eye.

“Practice commands with me. I don’t like being surprised by them”, Eijun demanded and blushed.
Miyuki should help him, after all he had told Eijun to come and ask him for stuff like that.
Plus, Miyuki had been an alpha for quite a while, so he probably knew things Furuya didn’t. “We can combine it with a catching session”, he added.
That was a great idea and made it less awkward.

“Ohhh”, Miyuki was suddenly a lot more awake, his grin almost predatory. Eijun felt himself shrinking back. “Well if you ask this nicely…”
Eijun just nodded and turned around, right now he couldn’t stand his senpai’s mischievous face.

“I just want to be prepared. For the next time”, he huffed. When they left the bus he just kind of forgot to give back Miyuki’s jacket.
Kind of.

Kuramochi reminded him that making a nest out of Miyuki’s jackets (how had he acquired so many this time?) could be seen as Eijun having a crush and Eijun spent the evening washing all of the jackets and returning them.

Eijun knew he had only two days until they faced their next opponent and only four until he would come face to face with the alpha-riddled team that was Inajitsu.
It still irked him how unhappy he had been with Miyuki talking to them.
Eijun was not known to be possessive! (He was.)

So while he really wanted to avoid Miyuki, there was no way around this, especially after he had asked him to help Eijun with commands.
The catching was an added bonus.

When his alarm rang the next morning just shy of 05:00 he was ready.

Now he just had to get Miyuki!
With resolution he made his way to the catcher’s room only to find the tanuki still asleep.

“Miyuki-senpai!” He shouted and pulled open all the curtains. “Rise and shine! Get ready for a brilliant training session with this amazing pitcher!”
Miyuki almost looked cute with his bedhead and without his glasses as he blinked up at Eijun.

He yawned. “What time is it?”

“It’s already 5 o’clock. We don’t have much time!” Eijun declared energetically.

Miyuki yawned again and then there was this unmistakable glint in his eyes again which Eijun had come to fear. “Well, let’s start training.”

Yes, right, perfect!

“Go back to sleep.”

Kazuya

Maybe Kazuya should have thought this through.
He had expected Sawamura to at least resist, but now he was wide awake and pinned to his bed by a heavy, fast asleep omega smelling like heaven. Not that he would ever admit that.

Morning practice would start in an hour and he really hoped he’d be able to wake the pitcher curled up on him in time.
After witnessing Narumiya trying to command Sawamura, which did something very ugly to the alpha side in him, he had to admit that having an omega on the team came with more unknown challenges than he had anticipated.
Especially if others weren’t playing fair and this had already been the second incident of exactly that.
He should probably inform the coach about the incident.

Well, if he managed to get up in time.
He had his alarm set, so closing his eyes for a second wouldn’t hurt.

“Miyuki Kazuya, you bastard!” That was clearly not his alarm. He must have fallen back asleep.
Kazuya stretched and yawned only to be hit with a pillow directly to the face.
He grabbed his glasses and pushed them on only to come face to face with a weirdly flushed, angry Sawamura.

“I thought you wanted to learn how to resist commands?” He grinned.

Sawamura fluffed up and continued in a screeching voice. “I wasn’t prepared! That was supposed to be practice! At least warn me!”

“Oh, so Narumiya will warn you next time?” Teasing Sawamura worked like a charm. The omega kept sputtering non-sense, but after a few seconds Kazuya noticed him shying away a bit too fast when he tried to grab the pillow Sawamura was still clutching.

“Good job.” He bit out and within a second some tension seemed to ebb away from the pitcher which only seemed to infuriate him further.

Of course they were late to practice. Kataoka didn’t look amused, but before he could start lecturing them, Kazuya interrupted.
No time like the present.

“Kantoku, can I talk to you for a second?” He asked and felt the stares of his team mates on his back as he followed the coach to the side of the field.
Kataoka crossed his arms and stared at Kazuya through his tinted glasses. He was obviously waiting for an explanation and probably suspected Kazuya of some kind of foul play.
Which, to be fair, was something he had done in the past.

“It’s about Sawamura.” He started and quickly added. “About the game against Inajitsu.”

“We still have one game left before we’ll face them,” Kataoka reminded him.

Kazuya waved his hand dismissively. “I know, I know. But we had a run-in with Narumiya and some other alpha members of the team yesterday and he tried to command Sawamura.”
The coach's stern face hardened even further.

“They should know that using commands is forbidden.” He declared.

“Yeah, Sawamura managed to react in time, but it worries me,” Kazuya admitted.
What if anyone tried to sabotage their omega? While they had a great arsenal of pitchers, they had needed Sawamura more than anticipated and he was afraid that this kind of foul play could greatly affect the omega.

“I will contact Kunitomo-san.” Kataoka decided, but didn’t elaborate further. “I trust you and Chris will keep an eye on Sawamura.”
Kazuya nodded, though it annoyed him how Kataoka had added Chris to the equation.
And it annoyed him even further how much he cared.

He later took it out on poor Furuya during pitching practice.

Eijun

After his last attempt of practicing commands, Eijun failed to approach Miyuki again before their next game. When Eijun wasn’t training, Miyuki was and vice versa.

Additionally Eijun was distracted, as Wakana had messaged him that she and his childhood friends would be actually watching the next game.
Friends he hadn’t seen since he presented.
And friends he didn’t contact enough. Eijun had never been especially great at messaging, his life was too busy with Baseball practice, school work and the hassles of being an omega (read: doctor’s appointments, being forced to sleep). He actually had only found out about Wakana’s message because Kuramochi had once again stolen his phone. Eijun had changed the code multiple times, so he didn’t even know how Kuramochi figured it out every time.

But even with being nervous he opted for a night of fitful sleep before the game instead of asking Miyuki for help.
No thank you!
He was yawning, when they got on the bus, but the excitement slowly but surely woke him up.

The opposing team’s pitcher was a tall beta. Of course they had known, but in reality it was always different than practice.
His senpais were struggling to hit, while Eijun was stuck in the dug out. Again with some itchy scent patches, but nothing as bad as two games ago.

“I wanna pitch”, he whined at Haruichi, who just sighed.

“You will, Eijun-kun”, he said, but looked a bit down himself.
Right, Haruichi hadn’t really gotten to play at all in this tournament.

However, before Eijun could offer his own words of comfort, he was sent to the bullpen to warm up.
Thankfully, now that people knew he was an omega, he didn’t have to close his jacket or anything. While warming up, he shouted additional words of encouragement at Tanba who was pitching.

And then Haruichi got swapped in to bat, finally bringing them into the lead, before it was Eijun’s turn to step on the mound.
He felt a weird surge of pride for the coach chose him over both Furuya and Nori.
It felt really good!

What did not feel good was instantly messing up and getting teased by Miyuki.
His inner omega whined, after all he wanted words of encouragement not whatever Miyuki was doing. Even though it worked, as he had to admit.
Stupid alpha.

“Stop sulking, I am ready to pitch, if you don’t feel like it” Furuya offered him what was apparently his version of words of comfort.

Eijun let out a huff and narrowed his eyes at Miyuki, who was just stepping up to bat.
Why did he always have to look so cool when playing baseball?

While Eijun had hoped he would get to pitch a little longer, it was Kawakami who closed the game in the end.
He didn’t feel at all happy about Miyuki’s “well done”, no, that was obviously some kind of insult in disguise.

This time, on their way back, he managed to avoid sitting next to Miyuki and instead chewed off Haruichi's ear about his friend's impressive batting.
Ha, at least Haruichi managed to hit not only when there were runners on base.

“Hey Sawamura”, Miyuki finally stopped him when they left the bus, “about your request the other day. Do you wanna practice now?”

“Now?” Eijun asked and narrowed his eyes. “Is that another of your schemes where you force me to sleep, Miyuki Kazuya?” The exasperated look on Miyuki's face told Eijun that he had absolutely hit the nail on its head. “Ha, I got you all figured out. This Sawamura Eijun is not that gullible. In fact I am absolutely fine without any alpha, you hear that, I am a strong omega!”

“Alright, Mr. strong omega”, Miyuki laughed, “go do your strong omega thing. It was just an offer.”
Wait, was Miyuki turning him down, after he offered to help him? That was not the plan.

“I did not turn you down, okay? In fact, I am ready right now.”

“Are you now?”, Miyuki grinned, his eyes gleaming dangerously like he was scheming something. But wasn’t he always somehow scheming? At least Eijun assumed he was.
Eijun’s inner omega shuddered in…excitement, because he was the centre of attention for this amazing alpha. “Alright, let’s meet in the training field after dinner, my suppressants need to wear off fully before I can properly command you again.”

“I will show you how good I am at resisting your commands”, Eijun shouted. The thought of spending more one on one time with Miyuki was both terrifying and exciting.

Command training with Miyuki was an especially torturous sprint training apparently.
Eijun would run, the alpha would command him to stop, to which Eijun would either continue running, stumble forwards, stop or faceplant into the dirt.
The most frustrating part was that Eijun couldn’t make out any pattern why he reacted strongly to some commands and was able to ignore some of them.
Similarly his inner omega was stressed out, because he wanted to follow the commands, please his the alpha by following the commands and at the same time impress his the alpha by resisting the commands.

When Eijun faceplanted into the dirt another time, Miyuki crouched down and offered him a hand.
“I think we're done here. Can't let you get injured before the big game.”

Eijun just scoffed, but took his hand.
Wasn't Miyuki going to…?

“Good job”. A hand in his hair and Eijun immediately felt some tension leaving his body.
“Are you hurt anywhere? That was a nasty fall”, Miyuki started dusting his clothes off, casually touching Eijun.
His inner omega was very happy with the attention and care. Not that he would ever display this kind of weakness.

“I have never been better. And I have a lot of extra energy to burn. Let's go and play catch.”, Eijun exclaimed.

“No.”
Well, it was worth a try. He felt his shoulders drop slightly as the tension started to leave his body.

“Let’s go and wash up, you're quite dirty and sweaty”. While Miyuki had not exercised at all, letting Eijun run circles and just calling commands, the omega was dusty, sweaty and more tired than he wanted to admit.
He struggled to suppress a yawn.

“I am only doing this because I want to”, Eijun replied and marched off towards the baths.

“Sawamura”, Miyuki's voice stopped him when he was halfway across the field.

“What?”, he turned around. The alpha was still standing where he had left him.
Miyuki raised a hand and ran it through his hair, in the evening sun his face looked kind of...red. “I'll come and scent you later. And maybe you can scent me again, okay?”

That was kind of endearing and embarrassing at the same time. Eijun remembered their last scenting session very well and he felt warm thinking back.
Miyuki probably wanted to help him relax before the game - a very nice gesture. And if he, Eijun, could use his powers to support his catcher, who was he to deny him?

“Well, if you need my help, I am always ready”, Eijun called back. His own face felt kind of warm, possibly because of all the running.
And actually, he looked forward to an evening scenting, not that he would ever admit it.
Though he hoped Kuramochi would not be there to witness it.

Just as he was about to round the corner, Miyuki called out again. „And wash up properly, I don’t want to smell that dirt on you!“

That stupid tanuki!!! Eijun didn’t have the energy for a good reply, so he just stomped off angrily.
Why did Miyuki always have to ruin what could be called a sweet moment?
Was he not capable of just being nice and asking for help once?

Chapter Text

When Eijun woke up, he was feeling nice and warm and his pillow smelled deliciously like alpha. He snuggled his face back into it, trying to get some more sleep.
Until said pillow moved. With a startled yelp he sat up.

“Go back to sleep, it’s still early”, Miyuki groaned.
Eijun flushed, he had been snuggling up to the catcher.
Why was he in Miyuki’s bed?
What was the tanuki scheming?
Only then he remembered the evening before.

After washing up, Miyuki had not come to his room, so Eijun had decided to take matters into his own hands and had marched over to the catcher’s room.
After all they had agreed on scenting to let their stupid secondary natures shut up and help them sleep.

He had caught Miyuki reading something, which he had, startled from Eijun barging into his room, kicked under his bed.
Eijun had gawked, after all, Miyuki had just treated a book carelessly, but the catcher had pulled him out from underneath the bed, when he had tried to rescue the book.

Very intriguing.

After some almost Kuramochi-style wrestling moves, Miyuki had wrapped himself around Eijun, who went annoyingly boneless thanks to the alpha scenting him.
This must have been how he ended up falling asleep on top of Miyuki. who still had his stupid warm arms wrapped around Eijun’s waist, keeping him from leaving the bed.
The alpha was wearing a sleep mask, which made him look like an idiot and was clearly not really awake.

Eijun wondered where his roommates had gone, but couldn’t figure out a real reason.
Maybe it was late already?

A glance towards Miyuki’s alarm clock told him it was only 5:15am.
A respectable time to get up, but they still had an hour till they needed to get ready for training.
Miyuki had apparently decided to go back to sleep, as Eijun felt his grip around his waist relax and his breath evened out again.

Alright!
This might be Eijun’s chance to satisfy his curiosity and save a poor, mistreated book….

Carefully he pried off the arm still wrapped around his waist.
Miyuki gave an unhappy grumble which made Eijun stop moving, after all he didn’t want to wake him again. He held his breath, hoping that Miyuki would fall back asleep.

And then, finally, the catcher turned onto his side, releasing Eijun.
He was free!

As silently as he could, trying not to disturb the mattress too much, Eijun climbed out of bed.
Ha, people underestimated him, when they said he couldn’t be sneaky.
He was a silent force of nature if he wanted to be.

Now on to his mission!
Crouching down, he spied the interesting book again right next to the wall underneath the bed. With the mattress dipping due to Miyuki still sleeping on it, Eijun had to get on his belly to slide underneath the bed.

He wiggled and stretched to get hold of the book, which disturbed some dust. His nose was starting to itch and Eijun had to fight down a sneeze.
Not now, he was almost there.
Finally, he managed to grab hold of the book - only for the urge to sneeze to overwhelm him.

It almost happened in slow motion: His whole body convulsed from the loud sneeze he let out, which made him hit his head on the bedframe.
This apparently woke Miyuki, as Eijun heard and felt some movement above him, while he was still holding onto his hurting head, letting out a small whimper.
Still, he had the book clutched in his right hand and it firmly remained there when someone - Miyuki- grabbed onto his legs and pulled him out from underneath the bed.

“What were you doing?”, Miyuki started his lecture, then saw the book in Eijun’s hand, first went deathly pale, then deep red and made a grab for it.
Immediately Eijun curled up to protect the book, it had already suffered too much abuse from the tanuki.

“Leave this poor book be, Miyuki Kazuya!”, he shouted. “What secrets do you have to hide?” He peaked at the cover.
Courting for beginners

Courting.

Why was Miyuki reading a book on courting?

“Do you have a secret crush on some girl? I knew you were a womanizer”, Eijun shouted.
At the same time he couldn’t help but feel weirdly…hurt.

Why would he feel that way?

Then again, if Miyuki was courting some girl from his class, would he still have time to catch Eijun’s pitches?
Would he still be free to help him, if he had some weird omega stuff he needed an alpha for?

Miyuki was surprisingly quiet and still quite red. He let out a nervous laugh and ran a hand through his hair, finally he sighed “Something like...that.”

Eijun felt like someone pulled a rug from underneath his feet.

So his fears would actually come true.

Miyuki was interested in someone and wouldn’t have time for Eijun anymore.
But who was he kidding, he knew that Miyuki was the perfect alpha and annoyingly good looking. He would easily manage to court someone.

He gently laid the book on Miyuki’s bed.
“I see”, he mumbled, “I will not disturb you any further. Good luck. I’ll see you at training.”
Miyuki didn’t say anything when Eijun fled the room.

During training Miyuki avoided him.
Or Eijun avoided Miyuki, he actually wasn’t too sure.
From the distance he observed Miyuki and Kuramochi having some heated kind of discussion. Now that he knew what was going on with the catcher’s weird behaviour, he assumed he knew what his room mate was teasing the alpha about.
Who even was the lucky girl?

Wait, did Eijun think “lucky”? Obviously, anyone courted by Miyuki was a poor girl.
After all, the tanuki was always scheming and teasing and riling people up.

Between training and avoiding interactions with the catcher, the day went by fast and it was soon time to get nervous for the final.
Ready, not nervous, Eijun reminded himself. He would be just fine, after all the alphas on Inashiro’s team could not intimidate him, he had already demonstrated that he was able to shake off commands most of the time.
And during the game he would be wearing itch-patches and the alphas would get suppressants, nothing to worry about!

He worried about it the entire night.

Not even being hit by Kuramochi’s pillow multiple times (“stop emitting stressed pheromones, just go to sleep!”) helped him calm down. Then again maybe he wouldn’t even get to pitch, that was another worry.

Eijun almost sobbed in relief when he was sent to warm up.
Finally something to do to stop his spiralling thoughts.
Furuya had done an amazing job of holding their opponents down and had connected nicely to Tanba, who, while struggling a bit in the beginning, showed his worth as the ace.
Eijun was really starting to feel both unwanted (Miyuki) and unneeded (the team), adding to his sour mood.

Of course he kept cheering, but he didn’t feel like he was in the necessary mindset.
He really longed to play, but felt a weird sense of dread, both at playing against that alpha-riddled team and pitching to Miyuki who was courting someone.

His thoughts were spiralling again and Ono, who had been catching for him in the bullpen, almost hit him with a ball when Eijun spaced out.
Not even the itchy patches could really help him hold it together.

Just as he was about to return to the dugout and feign some omega symptoms, Tanba started falling apart.
And he was up.

Miyuki looked so incredibly focussed, Eijun mused. He really had to keep up, to not disappoint anyone.
Even though he felt like he was losing the alpha fast, he still felt the need to impress him, turn the game, make everything possible.
He could do this!
He was an omega pitcher faced with countless alphas in the finals of the West Tokyo Tournament and he would show the world that he was good!

Miyuki called for the first ball, a pitch to the inside.
Narumiya didn’t even swing and boy did that feel good!
He had no need for Miyuki as an alpha as long as he could throw to him!
And even if Miyuki was courting someone else, at least he would still catch Eijun’s pitches.

It felt amazing, getting one out after the other and then they managed to turn the game.
Eijun could already see Koushien before his inner eye.
He smiled as he stepped up to bat.

In the end it was not enough to bring Miyuki home, but he had done good as the coach’s half smile told him.
Now it was up to him to finish this last inning.

But somehow Inajitsu must have gotten used to his style as soon enough they had advanced two runners, bringing Carlos, another alpha, to the bat.
Thankfully, he popped a fly ball. Eijun grinned, but his opponent didn’t seem too happy.

Just as he was about to return to the dug out he turned and shouted, “Stupid omega. You can’t even pitch right!”

Eijun froze.

He dropped the ball.

It felt like he had burned his hand on the small white object.
Dread was settling in his stomach.

Why were his legs shaking so badly?
What was this?
Was that a command?
But ... the suppressants?

Time stood still as he dropped to his knees, fumbling for the ball.
Then, just as he touched the ball, it slammed back into him. You can’t even pitch right. He whimpered and cradled the ball to his chest.
You can’t even pitch right.

He couldn’t pitch.
He needed to!
But he couldn’t.

Everyone was looking at him.
He heard the murmurs from far away.

His breathing was coming in gasps, his vision was blurry with tears.

His team needed him!

They were so close.
But he couldn't pitch.
He had failed them.
He had failed them because he was an omega.

A liability.

He tried to sit up, look for his team, but his eyes locked with Carlos'.
“Oh shit, I’m so sorry!” the alpha looked guilt-stricken.
He had probably not intended to command Eijun, relying on the suppressants given to him before the game.

You can’t even pitch right.

The game was stopped. When had it been stopped? Eijun's head was ringing.
There were shouts and the all encompassing voices from the spectators.

When he tried to look up again, this time his eyes found Miyuki's.
The catcher looked shocked.
Angry.
Disappointed.
Eijun had failed the team.

Someone helped Eijun stand and led him towards the dugout, past his teammates until he found himself in one of the back rooms, both the coach and the nurse eyeing him critically.
Kataoka was holding him up while Eijun's legs wouldn't really stop shaking.

He couldn't even pitch right.
He was a failure.

“He was hit by a strong command. Suppressant malfunction “, Kataoka explained, his voice sounded like he was far away even though he was standing right next to Eijun.

“Oh my”, the nurse sighed, “poor thing. A proper scenting will help him.”
She looked Eijun up and down and he couldn't help but shrink back. His knees buckled again and he would have fallen had it not been for Kataoka’s steadying grip.
“Do you have an alpha he trusts on the team? I’m afraid of him going into a drop,” the nurse explained and Kataoka nodded.
His stern face was even sterner than usual. Eijun hated how he and his stupid second nature caused the coach so much grief.
Maybe he really ought to drop out of the team!

“I’ll get Miyuki-kun.”
Not Miyuki.
Miyuki was courting someone.

Miyuki had to play.
The team needed Miyuki more than he did.
They needed him on the field to make up for Eijun's stupid mistakes.
Eijun couldn’t burden him anymore.

“Chris-senpai,” Eijun choked out. “Can I get Chris-senpai?”
Kataoka nodded and left.

Gently guided by the nurse, Eijun laid down on the bench and curled up on his side, hiding his face.

How had his life turned into such a disaster within a day?

“Sawamura-kun?”, the nurse asked. Eijun just shook his head, unsure what they wanted him to do. You can't even pitch right.
He let out a pitiful whine when he remembered the command.
Carlos was right, he was a failure.
A stupid omega.
He should have never pitched.

A few minutes later the door opened again and he caught a whiff of that calming scent.
He just started crying harder as Chris settled next to his head.

“Hey Sawamura, the coach said you asked for me. Are you sure you want me and not Miyuki?” His voice was soft and filled with concern.
Concern Eijun didn't deserve. Chris should be out there, supporting the team!
But now that he was here…

Eijun nodded. “Please, Chris-senpai. Help me!”
He was getting scared, the mention of an impending drop (he had not read that chapter yet, but he knew that a drop was really dangerous) made him tremble with fear which probably didn’t make it better.
Nor did his constant spiral of thoughts.

Somewhat reluctantly Chris ran his wrists over Eijun’s neck. It took the edge off, but it was lacking.
In just a couple of weeks he had gotten so used to Miyuki.
But Miyuki was playing.
And Miyuki was courting someone, Eijun was in no position to… Chris had to do! Chris was an amazing alpha who cared deeply for him and that should be enough.

Eijun closed his eyes and succumbed to exhaustion.

When Eijun woke, he felt like a freight train had run him over.
His entire body was tense and hurting and he had a pounding headache.
He only remembered snippets from what had happened after Chris had scented him. Someone had picked him up and carried him back to the bus.
Likely Chris, as he remembered his warm scent, that had stayed close the entire ride.
He remembered others looking at him with pity, glum faces all around, but Eijun had been too exhausted to talk to them.

However, as much as he liked to, he couldn't pretend to be asleep any longer, he had to face reality.
With a small whine he opened his eyes.

Too bright!

“Welcome back, Sawamura-kun”, their school nurse greeted him. Apparently he had been dropped off at their school's infirmary.

Eijun remembered seeing some of his senpai crying.
“We..lost? Right?” he choked out.

They had been in the lead.
They had just needed one more out.
Eijun had lost them Koshien, because he was an omega.
A liability.

“That is not important, Sawamura-kun, yesterday you were exposed to a strong, unexpected command and went into a bad drop. I am glad to see you're awake now. Your teammates were very worried.”

He was alone, no one was here.
They weren't worried, they were disappointed.

Eijun didn't know how he could face them right now.
But he had to.
He just couldn't give up baseball, he couldn't.
It was the one good thing in his life!

The nurse looked at him as if she expected him to say something.
Right, words.

“But I am okay now?”, he asked. He didn't feel especially okay, but he wasn't really sick, that he knew.

“Some exhaustion is normal, you should take it easy for a few days. Please come see me again, if you feel worse”, the nurse explained.

Eijun nodded and got up. His legs still felt weak but carried him.
So he started his walk of shame back to his room, hoping to see no one.
He made it back without encountering his teammates, overall it was eerily quiet. From the distance he heard some voices.

“Shame they lost, they were doing so well.”
“Only one more out needed. You can't really blame that omega but he lost his team the momentum.”
“Miyuki-kun was really affected, probably distracted. And honestly not Kawakami’s fault the two runners Sawamura let through made it home.”
“I mean I am happy that omegas are allowed to play, but maybe they shouldn't be used in critical situations.”

Eijun fled before he could hear more.
So it wasn't only his impression, everyone else also thought it was his fault.
With hunched shoulders he snuck back into his room.

“Oh, you're back”, Kuramochi greeted him from where he was sitting in front of the TV. A “you died” illuminated the screen.

“We lost, right?”, Eijun asked quietly.

Kuramochi just nodded, then turned his attention back to the game. “Masuko already moved out this morning”, he told Eijun without even turning around.
Eijun just nodded, he would really miss his older room mate.

“No training today?”, he asked.

“No training for the week”, Kuramochi replied, “though we'll have a team meeting tomorrow evening.”
Eijun sat down on his bed, looking at the floor.
He was hurting but he had to move forward.
He needed to get stronger so he wouldn't ever cost the team a victory again.
He needed to do something!

“I'm going running”, he announced to Kuramochi who just shrugged.

“Hey, Bakamura”, Kuramochi finally called after him when he had already opened the door. “It wasn't your fault. No one thinks so.”

“Okay”, Eijun just replied.
He knew his senpai only wanted him to feel better but they all knew it had been Eijun's breakdown that had cost them the game.

Everything was adding up. The others must have seen him running, but no one approached him.
It hurt how much the omega in him longed for connection and approval, things he hadn’t needed that much before presenting.
Why couldn’t he have been an alpha?
Had coming to Seidou been a mistake? W
ould he have presented alpha if he had remained in a calm environment and contact with an omega (Wakana), a possible mate?

He kept running until his legs couldn’t carry him anymore and collapsed on a bench hidden behind one of the equipment sheds.
From afar he saw some of his senpai swinging their bats. They were mere shadows against the mockingly bright sky and Eijun felt his body go numb.
He had been the one costing them their final tournament, the chance to go to Koushien.
He and his stupid second nature.

His breath was coming in gasps again and he longed for nothing more than anyone to come and comfort him.
But he wasn’t the only one hurting.
And he had caused all this pain.

And still, he wouldn't give up.
Couldn't give up.
Getting a better pitcher was the only thing he could do right now.

Touching a ball, however…he shuddered, the echo of the command still vivid in his memory.
He got up and his legs nearly gave out. Though he hated to admit it, he was done for the day.
Tomorrow a new team would form, they would announce a new captain, and training for the fall would start.

“Eijun-kun”, Haruichi called out to him when he tried to sneak by his team mates that were busy swinging their bats. The overall frustration everyone was carrying was obvious.
Eijun waved his hand weakly but didn't stop.

Haruichi didn't take his deflection and jogged over to him.
“I'm glad to see you're okay”, the beta told him, “we were very worried yesterday but Chris didn't let us wake you.”

Bless Chris protecting him!
Eijun didn't know how to face his teammates now and was truly thankful he hadn't had to yesterday.

“I'm fine now. Sorry for causing all this.”, Eijun tried to sound happy but his smile felt a bit brittle.
Out of the corner of his eye he had a short look around, no Miyuki.
He silently thanked the gods, he didn't know if he could face the catcher right now.

“You pitched incredibly well, Eijun-kun”, Haruichi told him. It didn't sound very genuine, just sad and tired.

“I need to improve”, he replied.
That's what he should be focusing on now, no more distractions from stupid tanukis and stupid hormones.

It turned out Eijun didn't have to worry about interacting with Miyuki, as the catcher kept his distance.
Freshly announced captain he had a lot on his plate and apparently was courting someone on top. Eijun briefly wondered how the girl would deal with Miyuki being even more absorbed by baseball than he had been before.
But that wasn't his concern, they would probably work something out.

Getting back to pitching was weird.
He still remembered the command ringing in his head and yet he seemed to be able to throw just fine.
At least in the bullpen Miyuki was his usual self, teasing him and riling him up.

The new team was slowly forming, centered around Furuya.

It was frustrating.
Eijun had wanted to be the person pulling everyone together but yet he was barely able to hold himself together.

He wasn't sleeping well, but he couldn't ask Miyuki to scent him, Chris had moved out and Furuya was too busy improving to even spare him a glance.
On top of it all his second heat was coming up and the doctors told him that with his history of reacting to suppressants, he would only be given a minimal dose to take the edge off.

Just when Eijun was on his way back to training from a meeting with the school nurse where they had booked a cycle room for his heat (a task he had been putting off, but Haruichi had reminded him) the team was called together.
A new assistant coach.
And to Eijun's big surprise he was an omega.

Compared to Kataoka who had been good enough he could have gone pro, this was a surprising choice.
But a small sliver of hope bloomed in his chest.

Maybe he would get some help with this second nature?

Maybe the new coach would know what training worked best for omegas?

Ochiai gave him a once over and then scoffed. Eijun immediately bristled up, what had he done to warrant this reaction?
Wasn't there supposed to be some camaraderie between fellow omegas?

“I will be helping build a strong team for the fall, centred around the strongest player”, with that, Ochiai looked at Furuya. The alpha looked very proud and determined and Eijun really wished that could be him.
Well, he had to work double as hard to prove he was worthy, but at this point he was used to it.
With as much enthusiasm as he could muster, Eijun joined fielding practice and pitched in the bullpen.
Ochiai didn't even glance Eijun's way once.

“Your frustration is showing”, Ono told him when he pitched another wild ball in the bullpen.
Next to them Miyuki and Furuya were executing one beautiful fastball after the other.
Unfair!
The fastball was supposed to be Eijun's special weapon.

“Hey Bakamura, if you just keep throwing garbage you might as well not train at all”, Miyuki added from the side.

Eijun huffed, just Miyuki wait.
Eijun would show him his worth!

Chapter Text

They had a couple of training games and while Furuya got a lot of attention, Eijun at least managed to pitch some of the innings.
Though he still felt weirdly off, probably because of his upcoming heat.
When a game against Yakushi was announced for the weekend, the new team got fired up.
Thankfully it was just before Eijun had to lock himself for a week so maybe he would finally be able to pitch normally again.

The game was taking place at Seido’s practice field and the sidelines were getting busy with spectators when Eijun made his way over.
Furuya was starting and he and Miyuki were already warming up, while Eijun was just going to warm the bench in the dug out.

“Sawamura-kun?”, someone stopped him. A friendly looking beta woman holding a clipboard, “Congratulations on a hard fought final. Could I ask you some questions about your last game? I am working on a season round up just before the next tournament!”
Ohh, out of all the players she was interested in him?
Eijun lit up, not Furuya, him!

“Of course. Though I don't have long, we have a game today and I will be pitching “, he shouted excitedly.

“So, Sawamura-kun, what did you think about the game against Inashiro?”
She looked weirdly predatory but Eijun shrugged this feeling off. There was no reason to be worried, she was just a friendly reporter.

“Well we gave our best. Next time we will win, just those alphas wait. I will show them”, Eijun exclaimed.

“Was it hard, being the only omega on the field?”

“Well this Sawamura Eijun won't back down just because he has to face some alphas”, he replied with a scoff.

“So about the situation with Carlos-kun. I understand his suppressants must have malfunctioned?”

Okay, now Eijun was getting a bit uncomfortable.

“That's what I was told as well. I…I wasn't feeling too well after so I can't give you any more details. I also need to go. Thank you for the interview and please cheer for me later.” Before she could ask him any more questions, Eijun jogged over to his team mates.

Ochiai was scowling at him as he was the last one to arrive at the dug out.
Ah damn. But he had been stopped, it wasn't his fault.

Furuya started and did well, though Yakushi was strong. Eijun could hear the excited voices from the sides admiring the alpha.
Their batters however were struggling, with the batting strength of the third years now gone, Seido had a hard time scoring.
Looking at the Yakushi batters made Eijun's gut churn, especially when he remembered the homerun Raichi hit off him. But then again, he couldn't show any weakness, especially not now that Furuya was doing so well. S
o he suppressed the clenching feeling in his gut when it was finally his turn to pitch.

“Are you okay?”, Miyuki asked him even before he stepped on the mound.
Was he sensing something off with Eijun?
He was fine, just a bit nervous and he could deal with that.
Instead of shouting he just nodded.

He took the ball, raised his leg and focused on the batter. He saw where Miyuki placed his mit, ready for his first strike.
Just when he was about to release the ball a jolt went through his body- You can't even pitch right.
The ball went wild.

Shocked, Eijun stared at his fingers that had just betrayed him.
He thought he was fine.
He had to be fine.

“Relax, relax”, Miyuki called from his position behind the plate.
Eijun tried to take a shaky breath, then another and sent the catcher a brittle smile.
Miyuki signalled another inside fastball, Eijun's favourite.

You
ball.
can't
runner on base
even
runners on second and third
pitch
another ball
right

homerun.

Not a single out.

Player change.

He deserved it. Everyone who couldn't throw strikes, couldn't even get a single out, should be swapped out.
Still, he couldn't stop the shame washing over him shown by tears streaming down his face, when he left the mound.
Something was wrong with him, he was useless, broken.
His ears kept ringing.
He hoped someone would comfort him and at the same time just wanted to disappear.
No one approached him when he was sitting in the back of the dug out, trying to make himself as small as possible while the tears wouldn't stop.

“Eijun-kun”, Haruichi finally approached him.
They had lost and he was the last person still sitting there.
He didn't even raise his head as his friend sat down next to him.

“The coach wants to see you.”
This was it, he was being thrown off the team.
A bitter laugh broke from his chest, at least now he didn't have to fear for the worst case anymore as it was already here.

Yips.

It sounded like such a silly word for all the emotions Eijun was feeling. For the echo still ringing in the back of his head.
Surprisingly, Miyuki was standing close to him, a hand on Eijun's back to support him.
Kataoka announced that he wouldn't be allowed any ball contact for the next week. As if he didn't even realise…

“That's not a problem” Eijun choked out, “I'll be on heat leave from tomorrow on.”

“Ah, part of today was probably because of pre heat symptoms”, Ochiai mused, “Omegas should be able to control those, but we already know he lacks control.”
It felt like someone stabbing him in the gut. Eijun felt Miyuki tensing up next to him, as if… No, that was just him being worried as a team captain.

“I am sorry”, Eijun shouted, “I will do better next time.” If there was a next time.

“Focus on your heat and recovery for now, we'll assess your problem afterwards”, Kataoka dismissed him.

Miyuki followed him back to the dorms, but didn't say anything.
Still, his presence was somewhat comforting but painful at the same time. Not ready to face Kuramochi, Eijun already started packing a bag for the next week, the nurse would surely let him into his room a day early, right?

“You don't need to supervise me”, he finally snapped at Miyuki, who was hovering in the doorway.
His face was more unreadable than usual, so Eijun knew he messed something up. Well, was there anything he hadn't messed up in the last days?

With a huff he turned around and continued packing his bag.
The omega book and some shojo manga. His grandfather's shirt, though the lingering smell was only faint at this time.
When he grabbed the blue blanket, the Furuya blanket, he let out a small sigh. They were friends but at the same time all this reminded him of the sudden weird distance that had come after the loss against Inashiro.
Under the watchful eye of Miyuki he didn't even dare to touch the one the blanket the catcher had scented last.
He crouched down and shoved the blue blanket in his bag, then added the yukata Chris had scented. With the extra suppressants he would be given this should be enough.

His gut clenched uncomfortably and he let out the smallest whine.
Immediately Miyuki was by his side.

“Do you need any help?”, he asked, his hand warm and comfortably on Eijun's back. And Eijun was a weak, weak omega and slouched against his side, trying to get some more body contact.

“I’m fine”, he sighed, but couldn’t help but let some unhappy pheromones leak out. Something that the alpha apparently noticed.

“I'll scent your blanket, walk you over to your room and will scent you there”, Miyuki announced, taking control of the situation at hand.
Eijun just nodded, not feeling ready to talk back anymore and happy to have someone else make the decisions.
It felt somehow good to have someone care for him, even if it was Miyuki in his somewhat abrasive, blunt way.
Still...

“Wouldn't that be unfair for the person you're courting?”, Eijun blurted out before he could think more of it.

“Don't worry your pretty little head about that, Sawamoron”, Miyuki laughed. It didn’t sound genuine and his ears were red, Eijun observed.
Miyuki let go of him and started scenting the red blanket, then draped it over Eijun's shoulders. Afterwards he picked up the packed bag and slipped an arm around Eijun's waist.

“You know, I am not an invalid”, Eijun protested weakly.

“Hmmm, you smell like you need a bit of comfort and like you are very close to your heat.”, Miyuki replied with a chuckle, “I can also carry you, if you prefer.”

“No, this is fine”, Eijun shouted and let himself be led towards the heat room.

The nurse looked him up and down, then looked at Miyuki. “Good that you came early, Sawamura-kun, from what I can smell your heat is due to start very soon, tomorrow morning it would have probably been too late to still safely give you some suppressants.”
She gestured towards a chair and Eijun sat down, Miyuki took a stand behind him.
The nurse opened a fridge and grabbed a small glass bottle, then got a syringe from a cupboard. “As agreed we'll give you a low dose that should help with the symptoms and shorten your heat.”

Eijun wasn't too fond of needles, but if that was what was needed to make his heat a bit more bearable…Miyuki seemed to notice his nerves and when the nurse took his arm to insert the suppressants, Eijun's face was suddenly pulled close to Miyuki's chest in a half-hug. The alpha smelled amazing and he let out a small whine.

“All done”, the nurse explained. Eijun hadn't even noticed the suppressants being admitted.
Miyuki released the hold he had on him and he sat up to take the key to his room from the nurse.

“As last time, please call me if anything feels wrong”, she explained. “You will be brought food and drink. Maybe Miyuki-kun could bring some more clothes from your close friends in a day.”

“Of course”, Miyuki replied smoothly. “Let's get you settled, Sawamura.”
The hand on Eijun's back was back and he was led to the room he already spent his last heat in.
Miyuki waited in the hallway while Eijun set up his nest, then stuck his head back in.

“Let's get you scented so you can sleep before the heat gets bad”, he said. He crouched down next to Eijun who had just changed into a comfortable set of pajamas.
Eijun noticed that Miyuki's face was quite red and the alpha seemed tense.
But he smelled so amazing!

But, he reminded himself, Miyuki was off limits, because he was courting someone and Eijun was no homewrecker.
Plus he was close to his heat so this weird way his heart beat sped up and he felt giddy around the alpha was because of that.

Still, maybe he could indulge a bit, after all Miyuki had offered to scent him.
The alpha gently ran his wrists over Eijun's scent glands, then let out a small huff and pulled Eijun into an awkward hug, directly rubbing the glands on his neck to Eijun's. Eijun felt the heat rise and he felt himself start slicking up.
How embarrassing! But Miyuki smelled so good and was so close.

“Alpha..”, he whined.

“Alright we're done here”, Miyuki almost shoved him off and jumped up. When he reached the door he turned around again, “See you in a couple of days, Bakamura.”

What had that been?
Eijun let out another whine.

But Miyuki didn't come back, so he buried his face in the red blanket and let his comforting scent wash over him.
Like that, he fell asleep.

If Eijun had thought his last heat had been bad, he had been thoroughly mistaken.
Yes, the suppressant took the edge of his symptoms, but this was so much worse!
He had been asleep, curled up in the red blanket, when the door to his heat room had opened, but instead of the nice nurse bringing him food it had been Coach Ochiai.
And now Eijun was sitting in his pitiful attempt of a nest as Ochiai had called it while the older omega lectured him on how to build a nest that wasn’t a pile of blankets.

“The key to proper nest building is aligning all the fabrics you gathered so that you can feel safe and every single one has its place. It’s NOT making a pile and burying yourself in it, suffocating yourself with the strongest smelling blanket you can find.”
Eijun nodded, face red from both the heat and the horrible embarrassment.
Ochiai explained how he was to arrange the fabrics so that the ones from close friends came close to his chest, the ones from his family and mentors behind his back and the one from his lover close to his face.
The lower part of the nest was meant to be easily washable, soft fabrics.
The mere implications in this explanation made him bury his face even further in the blanket to hide away from the world.

Physically, he felt way better than during his last heat, but this also meant that this time his mind was straying to the unthinkable ways of alleviating the symptoms way sooner.

“In order to get rid of the symptoms there are various ways. A knot dildo being the ultimate, but young omegas are usually not ready yet…”
He covered his ears. Reading those kinds of things had been bad, but now the new coach whom he didn’t even trust was saying them out aloud!

He hadn’t even noticed the whine he was emitting until Ochiai sighed and surprisingly gently petted his head.
He looked a little disgruntled, but his scent told Eijun that he cared a little and he felt even more embarrassed.
The coach was probably not doing this because he enjoyed educating him.

Thankfully, Ochiai let him be after half an hour and to his surprise the nesting techniques actually worked, it felt better than Eijun’s original nest.
Though placing the red blanket around his head made his heart hurt, because Miyuki wasn’t his to keep and he was probably just being a good captain.
After a few minutes he fell asleep again, completely spent from the minor amount of movement.

Kazuya

“You realize that courting someone also means that you need to inform the person about the courting?”, Kuramochi asked as he settled down on Kazuya’s bed, picking up the book that was now openly lying around.

“Shut it. I’ve got better things to worry about than courting a certain idiot,” Kazuya huffed and turned back to the scorebook he had been reading.

“Oh, yeah, right. Being captain.” Kuramochi didn’t sound convinced. “How’s that going for you?”

“Well,” with a sigh he turned back. “I have to focus on who will help the team the most and on which pitcher we can rely on and right now that is not Sawamura.”
He had to put his own feelings aside and focus on his new duties!
Also, besides scenting him there was nothing much he could do right now with Sawamura being locked away for his heat and not being able to pitch.

But he had smelled so delicious. Kazuya shuddered thinking back about the omega calling him “Alpha” and his pleading eyes.
He had almost cracked, but he couldn’t not right now.
Plus, did he even like Sawamura or did his alpha just want the closest available omega?
That was probably the case.
Then why was he dreaming of loud laughter, sunflowers and moving fastballs?
This was just so exhausting!

Of course there was nothing he wanted more than to fix the omega, but even he had to admit that having the yips, while it sounded so harmless, destroyed and ended plenty of careers.
And not everyone came back. S
ure, Sawamura was strong-willed, but he was also an omega and extremely emotional on top of that, so while it pained him, Kazuya wasn’t sure if there was a way back for him.
And he didn't know how to deal with anything that was not baseball.

“Now, can you go away?” He prompted Kuramochi. “I have more important things to do.”

With a sneer Kuramochi got up. “Abandoning a player will not help you become a better captain. Also, you can probably forget about courting him if he can’t play anymore.”
He picked up the book and dropped it in the trash can on his way out. A very passive aggressive way of telling Kazuya to fuck off.

He sighed. He needed to fix their pitcher, but there was just so much to do.
With a groan buried his face in his hands, rubbing at his tired eyes.
Maybe sleeping would help.

Eijun

The suppressants did help, as did Ochiai’s instructions and after only two days, his heat was over.
While one Sawamura Eijun would never talk about the unthinkable things he did to himself to satisfy his omega urges, at least it helped ease the discomfort.
Late in the evening of the second day he was free to go back to his room.

Kuramochi greeted him with a grunt from where he was sitting in front of the TV, playing some kind of video game.
Not feeling much like interacting either, Eijun went, took a shower and then, after returning, just went to sleep.

Kataoka greeted him the next morning, then immediately sent him to run.
Eijun was told he wouldn't be training normally just now, probably because he had messed up so badly a few days ago.
It was torture and relief at the same time, after all Eijun wanted to get better, wanted to be able to pitch again but also was scared of it.

Over the next few days he ran a lot. Though Eijun hated not being allowed to join the normal training, it helped to forget the pitiful glances his team mates sent him, it helped to forget that Miyuki was back to ignoring him (probably busy being captain and/or courting someone), it helped to at least give him a sliver of hope that the coach had not fully abandoned him and it helped to keep him away from everyone.
It also helped the inherent frustration that was building, especially when he saw how Furuya was becoming a better pitcher every day.

He didn't want to be left behind!
So Eijun did what he could and ran.
And ran.

Finally he was allowed to join fielding practice and demonstrated that he was awful in yet another thing, but at least it gave him something to do and improve.
And he got to throw the ball, even if it was just to a base.

When he walked into the cafeteria that evening, all voices stopped, which was weird. Similarly weird was the crowd gathered around one of the tables, looking at something on the table.

“What's going on?”, Eijun asked Haruichi, who was one of the people standing there.
The beta looked at him with a hint of …discomfort? but smiled.

“Nothing really important, Eijun-kun”, he replied way too fast. So something was up, even Eijun could sense that.

“There's an article on the Inajitsu game in the magazine”, Furuya explained, “they say I am an excellent pitcher with potential.”

“Ohhh”, Eijun perked up, “did they write something nice about me? After all, I also pitched!” Even though he had…failed the team.

“Nothing really important, I am sorry”, Haruichi said, again with a weird smile.

“They say omegas don't belong on a field and that you endangered Carlos' career”, Furuya said at the same time. Next to him Haruichi let out a very long, troubled sigh.

“They what?”, Eijun shouted. “I did nothing to Carlos, he…he…he tried to command me. I was not prepared. I know I failed the team but that's taking it a bit too far!”

“How many times do I need to tell you you didn't fail the team? Stop being so full of yourself, that makes it sound like you're way more important than you are”, Miyuki interrupted them.
He was the one sitting at the table, baseball magazine in his hands.
For the first time in the last days Eijun took a proper look at their captain, his hair looked a bit messed up and he had dark circles under his eyes.

“Give me that”, Eijun ignored him and made a grab for the magazine. Immediately Miyuki pulled the magazine out of his reach.

“Don't bother reading it, it's a whole lot of bullshit”, the catcher told him.

“It said I am an incredible pitcher”, Furuya muttered in the background.
Haruichi just gave him a pat on his shoulder.
“They are right about you, Furuya-kun, but they also say some very mean things that are not true about Eijun-kun.”

“You can't keep me from reading it”, Eijun scoffed and continued his efforts to get hold of the magazine. Miyuki kept holding him at an arms length, laughing stupidly while Haruichi was trying to pry him off the captain.

“What's going on here? Fighting instead of training?”, a voice interrupted them.

“Spitz-senpai!”, Eijun cried in relief, “There's a commentary on the finals in the magazine but cap here refuses to let me read it!”

Isashiki raised an eyebrow, then walked over to where they were gathered around a table and simply plucked the magazine from Miyuki's hands.
The catcher wasn't resisting at all, which made Eijun protest, that was simply unfair treatment.

“Let me see”, his senpai mumbled and started reading. Over the next seconds his face got redder and angrier, till he looked at Eijun with a scowl. “You should not be reading this, it's absolute crap.” and before Eijun could even react, he had tossed the magazine in the trash can. When Eijun dove to grab it from the trash, Kuramochi grabbed him by his collar and pulled him back.

“Really, Bakamura, we said don’t read it, so you should listen to your senpais.”, he scolded him. Eijun let out a whine. “And quit those pitiful pheromones, I thought your control was better by now”, his senpai snapped.

Eijun folded, maybe there was some wisdom in what they said. In him the omega urge to please his superiors was battling the uneasy feeling of anxious curiosity.
The whole article was probably written by the reporter that stopped him before the Yakushi game, she had seemed quite nice but had left an uneasy feeling with Eijun that he, back then, had attributed to his overall state of mind and the upcoming heat.

However, the thoughts about the magazine didn't leave him alone the rest of the evening, so when Kuramochi left to swing his bat, Eijun snuck back into the empty cafeteria and went for a rummage through the trashcan.
Maybe it was a mistake but he just couldn’t stand not knowing.

It was Chris-senpai who found him afterwards as he was angrily throwing balls into a net.

“Sawamura” Eijun whipped around at the sound of his name. He knew he was radiating distress and could feel the crusty track of drying tears on his face.
His eyes widened at the sight of his senpai, who was wearing a catcher's mitt.

“Chris-senpai”, he cried in relief. The alpha was here to help him of that he was sure.
Chris took off his mitt again and walked over to one of the benches in the indoor gym. He patted on the bench next to him, signalling Eijun to sit.

“How about you tell me what’s been going on and then we work on your pitching?”, he asked with a kind smile.

“Okay” Eijun nodded with vigor and sat down next to Chris.
As soon as he was sitting his shoulders slumped again and he felt the urge to make himself smaller than he was.
Chris gently laid an arm around his shoulders and pulled him into a half hug, just the right level of comfort!

“I mean, you probably all know that I currently fail to pitch inside..”, he mumbled, “and you have heard about my awful performance at the Yakushi game. Honestly, I was sure coach would take me off the roster. And then this reporter wrote an awful article. Apparently I am endangering alphas by tempting them on the field as if it is my fault when someone loses their temper. Can you imagine that? My fault??” Eijun had to remind himself not to shout.
He was brimming with frustration and he even had made everything worse at the Yakushi game.
He shuddered. “And with my bad performance I just proved them that omegas are too weak to perform well in sports. They‘re probably even right, if it hadn’t been for the command, maybe something else would have set me off.”

He couldn’t hold back his tears of frustration and hid his face in Chris’ shoulder. “I know I am useless right now, with no control and no inside pitch, but I just want to improve. I just want to play baseball and have fun.”

Chris ran a hand through Eijun’s hair, then picked up his mitt. “Alright, let’s get started.”

Chapter Text

Kazuya

It was an ugly feeling rearing its head in Kazuya’s chest as he watched Sawamura cuddle up to Chris.
It should be him sitting there, but he was not sure how to approach everything.
He felt completely incompetent as an alpha (when had that ever bothered him??).

That and simply..overwhelmed.
Not only did he not know how to deal with these lowly instincts telling him to claim Sawamura as his, but now he also had to deal with the idiot not realising Kazuya was courting him, the omega’s yips, not being able to help and suddenly being the captain of a team that still mourned the loss of their retired senpai.

In the end he had even caused the situation playing out in front of him by asking Chris to help Sawamura, because he wasn’t sure how to proceed with the omega himself.
Even if he had played it down in front of Kuramochi, he knew that they- that he- needed Sawamura on the field, but had no idea how to help him recover.
So now he was stuck hiding behind the door and carefully watching over the training session unfolding between their omega and his alpha senpai.

What if Sawamura chose Chris in the end?
Not that he thought Chris was especially interested, but you never knew. Sawamura was...weirdly attractive. And a sunshine. Also an idiot.
Kazuya barely managed to suppress a frustrated groan.

Meanwhile Chris had started to teach Sawamura how to pitch to the outside.
Even after watching only for a couple of minutes, Kazuya had to admit that the pitcher’s control was already getting better.
Still, it sucked how much this stupid incident at the Inashiro game still affected him.

Kazuya could only wish for Furuya, who was at this moment undeniably their upcoming ace, to reach this level of control (or self-awareness of his abilities).
Sure, the alpha’s fastballs were just too amazing to even think about not giving him the ace number, but he still had a long way to go. In a way it felt good that Kazuya might be the one to shape him.

Still, he wanted that same influence over Sawamura.
But here he was pawning him off to another alpha.

„What are you doing?“ Kuramochi’s whisper sounded like a shout and Kazuya jumped. He hadn’t noticed the beta creeping up on him.
He jerked his head towards the gym and Kuramochi carefully peered around the corner. He looked back at Kazuya, the hint of a smile tugging on the corners of his mouth.

„So you do care.“ He winked and Kazuya felt himself flush. Then Kuramochi shrugged and gave him a mean grin „Still, you know that Bakamura has no idea that you‘re trying to court him and by how this looks you might as well stop.“

Kazuya huffed. „I should focus on my job as a captain anyway.“
He crept back, careful not to make a sound and abandoned the gym containing the object of his affection.

„You know that you have vice-captains so you don’t have to shoulder everything on your own.“ Kuramochi shouted, ignoring the secrecy of Kazuya’s mission.

He flipped him off and left.

Eijun

Practicing with Chris gave Eijun more hope.
He just had to do what he could right now, trying his hardest to improve without letting his condition drag him down - he just had to compensate somehow.
Pitching low and away was perfect, he didn’t need to worry about the batter and while it felt somehow wrong, it at least didn’t feel right. (After all, he couldn’t even pitch right, ugh)

Interactions with Miyuki had become rather sparse, sadly.
Wait, did he think sadly?
Thankfully, interactions with Miyuki had become sparse. No one teasing him all the time, no one egging him on, no one smelling delicious.... no one scenting him.

“Is everything alright, you smell upset?”, Chris interrupted his thoughts. They were once again training his new pitch in the indoor area.

“Yes, do not worry!”, Eijun replied, “Are you ready for another amazing new super pitch?”
In reply Chris simply raised his mitt.

Way too early they stopped their training and while Chris went back to studying (probably, he had turned down Eijun’s offer of some healing), Eijun continued pitching into the net.
He remembered how one of the especially good pitches felt, so now he had to reproduce it and engrain it into his body!

Sweat was dripping down his forehead and Eijun took a slow measured breath before throwing the next ball.
His body was getting used to the feeling and he hadn’t even realised how much he needed to pitch.
Hopefully the coach would let him pitch more if he mastered the amazing things Chris taught him.
What a nice alpha! Unlike…

“You know that resting is part of training?”

With a shriek Eijun dropped the ball before rounding on the source of his surprise. “Miyuki Kazuya! Since when have you been here?”

Miyuki looked incredibly smug when he checked his forearm, of course without a watch. “Don’t know. Couple of minutes. Might have been hours.”

Eijun scoffed. “You should have warned me!”

Miyuki stepped closed and picked up the ball he had just dropped before presenting it to the flustered omega. “Cute how focussed you can be if you want to.”

“Ugh, leave me alone, stupid tanuki”, Eijun grumbled and turned away. There was no way he would show Miyuki how flustered his comment made him.
Miyuki calling him cute felt just…weird, knowing that the alpha was courting someone.
Or was he? Honestly, Eijun just couldn’t get a grasp on what his senpai wanted.

Miyuki didn’t leave him alone but rather kept observing him, which made Eijun fumble the ball multiple times.
“Okay that’s it for today”, Miyuki announced and stepped between Eijun and the net.

“I am not done yet”, Eijun replied and wound up. Miyuki didn’t move.

Did he want to get hit?
Eijun scoffed and when Miyuki didn’t step aside, he just took a quick side step himself (after all he didn’t really want to hit the catcher…) - only to slip on a ball he had perfectly hit with his foot and to go down in a flailing heap in front of the alpha, who immediately started laughing.

“I think you really are done”, Miyuki said, looking at the embarrassed heap of omega on the floor.
Eijun just flipped him off and got up.

Wow, he didn’t even ask if Eijun was okay. Thankfully he didn’t feel like anything hurt, but felt a bit shaken about slipping - as everyone would.
With an annoyed huff he dusted off his clothes.
Maybe Miyuki was right and he should stop for today.
He turned and grabbed the towel he had placed on the floor behind him to hide the tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

Miyuki was probably only here because he thought Eijun was usable again.
After all he had avoided him while he couldn’t pitch but now that Chris-senpai took pity on him he was suddenly back. - Back to teasing and annoying him.

The last days with these intense ups and downs turned out to be too much for his poor heart and he felt like crumbling.
He aggressively rubbed his towel over his face to get rid of any evidence of tears and started picking up the balls he had used.

Miyuki kept watching him, having stopped laughing, Eijun felt the eyes on his back. An awkward silence kept stretching between them.
When he had picked up the last ball, he bowed. “Good night, Miyuki.” Miyuki lifted his hand as if to hold him up, but Eijun fled the scene.

When they walked on the field the next day and the third years were there, it wasn’t only Eijun who was surprised.
Even more surprising was the scheduled game against their senpai for the weekend, just before the actual tournament would start.

Pitching against Chris as a batter was something incredibly special, especially when Eijun managed to strike him out low and away, it felt good.
It felt like he finally was in control of his pitching again.

“Good game”, Chris told him afterwards, “I am proud of how far you’ve come.”

Eijun couldn’t stop himself from smiling for the rest of the day.
He knew he still had a lot of work to do, but it finally felt like he had a chance to leave this slump.

To celebrate the occasion, he went for 10 extra tire sprints that evening followed by 100 pitches into the net.
He just had to engrain this feeling of controlling the ball through his fingertips somehow!
When he finally made it back to the room after a quick shower, Kuramochi looked up from his videogame and sent him a small smile.
Eijun knew that while he had finally had some success today, the game had shown his senpai where they lacked.
So he had expected Kuramochi to be in a worse mood right now.
Instead…

“Good job today”, his senpai commented, “you look like you’re doing better again.”

“Thank you very much”, Eijun shouted.
He felt the heat rising to his face, he hadn’t expected Kuramochi to compliment him, after all his senpai’s preferred methods of communication were wrestling moves and bullying.

“Don’t let it get to your head, you still have a lot to do.”, Kuramochi replied.
Ah, there it was. But Eijun knew he was right, it probably also was his job as vice captain to remind him of what he needed to do.

“Yes, Kuramochi-senpai”, he bowed. While he was still leaned over, a controller was shoved in his face.

“Now help me beat this boss”, Kuramochi replied.
A faint blush was tinting his cheeks, was he embarrassed to show some sympathy?
Since Eijun was no stupid teasing tanuki, he didn’t comment on his observation (ha, he sure was observant!) and instead took the controller.
It was a compliment in its own right, after all Eijun didn’t especially excel in video games (a fact Kuramochi mourned shortly after when they lost for a third time).

“So, what do you think of Miyuki as captain?”, Kuramochi asked him out of the blue.

“Huh?”, Eijun nearly dropped his controller.
Why were they suddenly talking about the catcher? It wasn’t like he had interacted much with Miyuki after their loss against Inashiro and his whole struggle with the yips - Apart from this awkward forced interaction the night before.
Why was Kuramochi asking him that now?
Was it a whole vice captain thing?
Was Miyuki okay?
Why was Eijun’s opinion suddenly important?

“He is probably the best fit for the position”, he finally replied carefully and narrowed his eyes at Kuramochi. “But he seems to be very busy. Being captain and courting some lucky girl. Wait, I didn’t mean to say lucky, I meant poor, after all that poor young lady will have to compete with baseball. And no one can compete with baseball! Even Miyuki’s looks can’t make up for his shit personality. Wait, did he make you ask me? Why does the tanuki want to know my opinion?”

Kuramochi started laughing, “He did not ask me. Also why do you think he’s courting someone?”
Eijun balked, wasn’t Kuramochi like Miyuki's only friend? Weren’t they close enough to talk about stuff like this?

“Well he had this book on courting he tried to hide from me”, he explained, “and when I asked him he said he was “kind of” courting someone. Do you think that’s why he doesn’t have time to catch my pitches or is it because I am crippled?”
Kuramochi looked like he regretted starting this discussion, but now that Eijun knew he might have some more infos on the alpha, he just couldn’t stop himself from being nosy.

“Don’t worry your little brain, Bakamura. Miyuki is almost as much of a hopeless cause as you are when it comes to anything but baseball”, Kuramochi finally replied once he stopped laughing.

“Oi”, Eijun immediately protested, it wasn’t like he was an idiot, alright, he just had his priorities set on baseball!

Kuramochi simply ignored his protest and gave him a nudge, “We still have a boss to beat.”

As number 18, Eijun reminded himself, he still had improved from the 20 he had been wearing last season.
Still, being stuck in the dug out was incredibly frustrating, whereas Furuya was once again dominating the mound.
They were playing Teito in the first round, an incredible team, and Eijun itched to play (as did the itchy patches, he ignored them, he was good at that by now).
Realistically he knew that if they lost here, he might not get to pitch at all in the fall tournament.

“Let’s head to the bullpen”, he finally told Ono, who humored him and tagged along. After all, he just couldn’t sit there and do nothing.
And with the ongoing heavy rain he wanted to do everything he could for the team!
Haruichi had told him that Furuya pitched better when Eijun was warming up, which was both motivating and frustrating, because it meant that usually he was stuck in the bullpen forever.

“I am ready to go any time”, he shouted into the rain and was met with the alpha on the mound ignoring him. (Similar to the alpha behind the plate). His inner omega whined, he just wanted some kind of approval, alright?
And both alphas on the team deflecting to ignoring him nowadays just wasn't an ideal environment for a young and growing (improving) omega!

“Stop shouting”, Ono told him and held up his mitt.

And then the game was stopped because of the rain.
Eijun had watched Furuya change his shirt multiple times after getting soaked out there and the others weren’t faring much better.
His own shirt was clinging uncomfortably to his skin, but he just had to keep moving to keep warm, then that wouldn’t cause him any trouble.
Furuya should be used to it, being from Hokkaido and all!

When he went back to the dugout to get some water, he observed Furuya standing close to Miyuki, who was handing him a shirt.

“You can have one of my undershirts, yours seems pretty damp. And we don’t want you to get cold and stiff”, the catcher explained while he changed into a dry shirt himself.
Eijun shrunk back, he felt like he had interrupted a private moment.

Thinking about it, wasn’t Miyuki spending a lot of time with Furuya right now?
They were both alphas, but nowadays secondary gender was not that important for relationships.
Was Furuya the person Miyuki was courting?
It would make sense, he was the ace and the most valuable player, while Eijun…he let out a small whine and immediately recoiled at his reaction.
This wasn’t his decision nor was he in a position to judge.

He was crippled and only worth as much as he could do right now.
Thinking about that, he really should get back to pitching and staying warmed up so he was ready once the rain stopped.
Thankfully the scent patches covered up any pheromone slip up, so no one could notice the sour tang to his scent.

“Don’t wear yourself out before you even get to pitch”, Ono reminded him when he tossed back a ball that Eijun might have thrown just a bit hard.
Some people in the stands were murmuring and pointing at the omega, who was the only person (apart from Ono, the best bullpen catcher in the world) who was on the field. Ha, he would show them just how much energy he had left.

“I am perfectly fine and ready to go any time”, Eijun exclaimed. He glanced over to the dug out, where Miyuki was forcing a towel onto a dazed looking Furuya.
Both alphas seemed tense, Furuya was apparently very unhappy that he had to wait till he could pitch and Miyuki was always somewhat tense since he became captain.

Maybe Eijun should offer to scent him.
Just a normal scenting between team mates, so the catcher could relax, after all that's why Miyuki had scented him in the past.
In fact, he would tell Miyuki right now!

“Where are you going?”, Ono called when Eijun marched over to the dugout, but the omega ignored him.

“Hey cap, you seem awfully tense”, Eijun called and put his hands on his hips, taking a wide stance. “Should I scent you tonight so you can relax?”

Miyuki dropped his water bottle and stared at him.
Actually, why was everyone staring at them?

“Stop being embarrassing, Bakamura”, the alpha finally huffed and crouched down to pick up his water bottle.

“What is embarrassing about scenting? Didn't you always scent me so I could relax. I am just offering you the same”, Eijun argued.
His logic was sound, he didn't understand what Miyuki's issue was.
Or was it because he was courting Furuya?

Actually, Eijun didn't know that and shouldn't jump to conclusions.
But he probably would ask Miyuki about that later, as a team mate, fellow pitcher and friend of Furuya he deserved to know.

Their conversation was interrupted by the announcement that the game would restart.
Immediately everyone was busy and Eijun was, once again, forgotten on the sidelines, after all he was just the sad excuse of a relief pitcher that couldn’t pitch inside.
Still, he would never give up just because of that, instead he dragged Ono back to the bullpen.
His damp clothes were already getting uncomfortably cold, threatening to impact his nicely warmed up shoulder.

It soon turned out that Furuya was…not okay.
His pitching that had been a demonstration of pure strength before the break, was now unstable and fickle.
This was his chance, Eijun walked over to the dugout where the coaches were starting to look worried.

“I am ready to go any time, boss”, he told Kataoka, who looked him up and down, “This Sawamura Eijun is fully warmed up and will do his best!”
Finally, the alpha nodded.
Yes!

Their situation wasn’t great and the rain was working against them, but still, Eijun would do his best.
Which right now was pitching low and away, something that seemed to work incredibly well against the Teito batters.

“Nice pitch”, Miyuki called as he threw back the ball after another out.
Eijun couldn’t help but beam at the compliment. He was doing his best and the results were showing.
Seido was slowly regaining momentum and it was all thanks to his pitching!!

He was still riding this high when he was back in the dugout after being switched out.
And then the sun finally came out, illuminating the damp field in a golden glow when they won.

When they huddled around for celebration, Haruichi flinched back from where he had touched Eijun’s arm.

“Eijun-kun, you’re ice cold!”, he announced.
Eijun shrugged, he hadn’t really noticed how cold he had gotten, still wearing his wet shirt.

“I don’t feel very cold, I will switch shirts in a second”, he replied.
Come to think of it, he didn’t even notice the itchy patches anymore, he must have gotten used to them or maybe the cold helped?
He did feel a bit chilly now that his friend had mentioned it, but knowing a nice warm shirt and his jacket awaited him, it didn’t really bother him. After all he was used to the cooldown of having ice attached to his shoulder after every game, so being cold after pitching was normal.
Haruichi still was shooting him worried looks when they lined up with Teito.

It was only when they were back in the dugout, packing up their stuff, that he realized his mistake.

“Hey, Harucchi”, Eijun whispered, “Do you have a spare shirt?” His own bag was…depressingly empty - in the hectic of getting ready in the morning he had apparently forgotten to pack spare clothes.

“I’m sorry, this is my last one”, Haruichi replied, pointing to the shirt he was wearing.

“Ah”, Eijun replied intelligently.
Well, there was nothing he could do, he just had to wait till they were back at the dorms.
At least then he could warm up with a hot shower and maybe a bath. Or he could just go running, that usually got him quite warm as well.

However, now that he was aware how cold he had gotten, Eijun struggled to ignore it.
He was shivering in his damp shirt and his fingers felt numb when he tried to peel off the soaked scent patches.

“Maybe Furuya-kun can give you one of his shirts?”, his friend suggested and elbowed the alpha next to him.

“I’m out as well. You also can’t have my jacket, because I need it to stay warm”, Furya replied.
Ah yes, Eijun remembered that the alpha wasn’t even wearing his own shirt, he could smell the faint trace of Miyuki on him.
Shame about the jacket though.

Still, Eijun couldn’t help but feel somewhat abandoned, hadn’t he done a good job and deserved some support?
At least he finally managed to rip off one of the patches, which had the immediate effect that both Haruichi and Furuya inhaled and looked at him suspiciously.
Furuya actually started opening his jacket, though he looked a bit pained, doing so. Was he...?
Quickly Eijun tried to reign in the distressed pheromones he had been releasing subconsciously.

“Come on, don’t be late again”, Miyuki called from the door, the rest of the team had already left and they were once again the last ones.
As if he sensed his upset (well, he knew he was broadcasting from Haruichi’s and Furuya’s reactions), the alpha narrowed his eyes at Eijun. “Sawamura, stop sulking because you were switched out for the last inning. You should be happy with how you pitched today.”

“I am not upset because of that”, Eijun called back and huffed.
Of course he would have loved to pitch till the end, but he could understand the reasons why they had swapped him out. At least Miyuki hadn’t noticed his tardiness about bringing spare clothes.

“You don’t happen to have another shirt? Eijun-kun has forgotten to bring spare clothes”, Haruichi betrayed him.
The alpha’s eyebrows shot up and momentarily Eijun felt fear that they’d jump right off Miyuki’s face.
Which of course was stupid.
And Miyuki would look stupid.
He grinned, though through his now chattering teeth it felt a bit silly.

With force he pressed his teeth together and looked down, avoiding the disapproving look surely directed at him.
After a few heartbeats he lost patience and lifted his head again only to be hit squarely in the face by Miyuki‘s training jacket his senpai had been wearing. It was embarrassing how even the smell helped calm him slightly.
Without sparing a second thought at the others surrounding him he peeled off the soaked shirt and slid into the jacket Miyuki had even warmed for him.
He was still avoiding looking at the alpha, but would probably have to sooner rather than later. He zipped the jacket close and revelled in the warmth and delicious smell for a second before finally speaking.

„Thank you, senpai.“ His voice sounded surprisingly brittle, giving courtesy to his aching heart.
Oh how much he longed to be the one being courted by the alpha!
There.
He admitted it to himself.
Which sadly didn't change his situation.

When he looked up, Miyuki‘s expression was unreadable. He looked almost predatory or possessive.
Weird.
Possibly also just annoyed that Eijun forgot his clothes, that was the most likely explanation.

„Try not to catch a cold, we need you.“ Huh, that had almost been a compliment.

Eijun beamed. „Thanks to your sacrifice I‘m all toasty now!“ He loudly exclaimed and as if to prove that he was all good now he picked up his bag, the wet shirt and started marching towards the bus.

Kuramochi just sighed and mumbled something about „dense idiots“ when he saw him.
Rude.

Later that evening Eijun was interrupted by a knock on their door. Kuramochi was faster to open it, as he was still wrapped in multiple layers of blankets to get warm.
While Miyuki's jacket had helped (he might have put it back on after his bath), he was still a bit chilly.
Maybe that also was an adverse effect of wearing the scent patches for quite a while today.

“Is Sawamura here?”, Miyuki's smooth voice asked.

“Yes, sir”, Eijun shouted from his bed. He sat up and the blankets that had been covering him slipped down.
Just a second too late he remembered he was, once again, wearing Miyuki's jacket, since he put it back on after his bath. He was a weak omega...

“I am claiming your room for tonight”, Kuramochi announced and showed his way outside, his shoulder bumping against Miyuki.
Which was weird, Eijun thought, why was Kuramochi leaving?
And why would he want to sleep in Miyuki's room?
Was Eijun emitting some weird omega scent?

“At some point I'll need my jacket back”, Miyuki told him. Damn, he had noticed. That was embarrassing! “But keep it for now.”

“Why are you here, cap”, Eijun asked.

“Did you forget you offered to scent me? Even announced it to everyone?”, Miyuki grinned. Ah yes, he remembered.

“You looked tense. Are you still tense?”, Eijun eyed his senpai who was clad in a baseball shirt and some trackies.
He didn't look especially tense.

“Yep”, Miyuki replied and plopped down onto Eijun's bed.

“Hey, you're messing with my nest”, he immediately protested. Since Ochiai had taught him, he actually had a well organised nest, where everything had its place!
And Miyuki was messing with it right now, one of Eijun’s favourite blankets crumpled under him.

“Oh, sorry”, Miyuki replied and sounded surprisingly genuine. “Is it alright if I sit here?”

“Actually no, get off, Miyuki Kazuya, off!”, Eijun gave him a small shove off the bed. “Give me a second and I will make sure you have a place in my perfectly organized nest. See, I am getting better at being an omega and I am a very gracious host.”
He started moving some blankets and pillows, so there was enough room for both of them to sit comfortably.
Throughout all of this Miyuki actually didn't say anything, not even when he must have spied one of his own shirts that Eijun might have collected from a laundry basket just before his heat.

“You can sit here, then I can scent you”, Eijun gracefully offered and pointed towards one of the pillows.
After all, he wanted Miyuki to be comfortable while he scented him, as it apparently left the alpha similarly tired and fuzzy as it did him.
The alpha carefully sat where Eijun had pointed.
Ah, this was a lot better than before when he had messed with Eijun's precious safe space.

Miyuki looked at Eijun as if he expected him to say something.
So Eijun blurted out the first thing on his mind.
“Are you courting Furuya?”

Chapter Text

Eijun was close to tears, close to shoving Miyuki out of his nest and close to never talking to that damn tanuki ever again, when the alpha finally stopped laughing.

“What’s so funny?”, he huffed and crossed his arms, as if this little gesture would protect him from the humiliation. His face was burning and he assumed he was red all over.

“Why would you think I am courting Furuya?”, Miyuki gasped, then started laughing again.
Bastard.

“You always catch his pitches, you whisper to him all the time on the field and you gave him your shirt today.”, Eijun listed, “That’s all courting behaviour. I know you are both alphas but non-traditional relationships are a-okay and should never be frowned upon. Here I am, offering my full support and you just laugh at me.”

“You realize I do the same for you?”, Miyuki finally replied. Eijun noticed he too was red in the face, probably from his laughing fit.

“Well yes but never without some secret captain agenda”, Eijun huffed, “You only ever catch my pitches to get me to do something I don’t like, like drinking the stupid calorie concrete. With Furuya you do it just because he asked. That’s a difference. And you only ever give me your stuff because I have some stupid omega thing that incapacitates me as a player.”

Miyuki’s eyebrows went higher and higher when Eijun listed those things.
But wasn’t he right? Miyuki just tried to make sure he survived as an omega on the team, since otherwise it would reflect on his captaincy.

With a sigh the catcher ran a hand through his hair, messing up the brown strands.
“No, I am not courting Furuya. And I also don’t plan to. That should answer your question.”, he replied. “Stop worrying your little head over stuff like that and focus on getting a better pitcher. You have many things you still need to improve.”
And with that the shit eating grin was back.

Still, Eijun couldn’t help but feel relieved about the whole courting thing. Furuya and Miyuki as a couple were something he had lowkey dreaded (okay, highkey), not even knowing really why the thought irked him so much.
Probably because it would have given Furuya another advantage over him. (He really wouldn’t mind Miyuki courting him….he immediately suppressed that thought.)

“Stop making fun of me”, he grumbled.

“But it's so easy”, Miyuki laughed.

“You just have the worst personality”, Eijun complained with a whine. Again, his disdain was met with a shit-eating grin.

“Well thank you.”

“That was not a compliment!” Why was he arguing with Miyuki in his nest when he was just supposed to scent the catcher and then kick him out of the room?
Even though it probably was awful for Eijun’s blood pressure and overall mental wellbeing, he did weirdly enjoy their banter.
At least it gave him some sort of excuse to hang out with his favourite alpha.

Did he say favorite? No, obviously Miyuki was the bottom of that list.
After all he knew Chris, the perfect nice, gentle alpha, Furuya, who despite being an annoying rival always was kind enough to give him some clothes and Kataoka, who actually taught him some omega stuff.

“Earth to Bakamura?”, a gentle nudge from Miyuki interrupted his train of thought and startled him.
When Miyuki finally stopped laughing for a second time - Eijun really didn’t think him getting startled and jumping with a small shout warranted that kind of reaction - he patted Eijun’s hair like he would pet a dog.

“You offered to scent me, right?”, the alpha said, his voice surprisingly gentle.

“I do not know if you even deserve a superior omega scenting”, Eijun whined.
He was made fun of and humiliated and in return the tanuki wanted him to scent him? “But, I offered and this Sawamura Eijun is a man of his word.”, he graciously replied, “Let me…”
Eijun clambered half on top of Miyuki to reach the alpha’s scent glands within the confines of his nest.
Miyuki went quite stiff, Eijun could really feel all the tension he was carrying. Ha, some good scenting would get him to relax, Eijun would make sure of it.
He started to run his wrists along Miyuki’s glands in a similar motion to what the alpha did when he scented him. It seemed to work, as Miyuki let out small huffs of breath, tension slowly ebbing away.

“There, all done”, Eijun finally announced and sat back with a self-satisfied sigh.
Miyuki’s face looked a bit red and his glasses were fogged up, probably due to the damp weather paired with the warm room. The alpha let out a long breath, then sat upright.

“Alright, your turn”, he announced and pulled Eijun closer again.
While that hadn’t exactly been the deal, Eijun couldn’t find it in him to refuse.
He still remembered Miyuki explaining to him that his inner alpha also had some needs to provide for him as an omega. And who would he be to refuse a perfect sleep drug after some stressful days?

Miyuki started massaging his scent glands that were again a bit irritated from the long duration he had had to wear the scent patches today and Eijun melted into his nest.
By now he knew that scenting would knock him out rather fast and just let himself succumb to exhaustion. After all, they had won and he deserved some rest. Training would start again tomorrow.

Miyuki must have fallen asleep as well, because when Eijun woke up for his morning run the next day, the alpha was still curled up where Eijun had told him his place in the nest was. It somehow filled him with warmth.
One of Miyuki’s arms was slung around Eijun’s waist, but he made quick work to shove it off. The alpha gave a small tired whine and turned onto his back, but didn’t wake up.
His glasses were still perched on his nose, somewhat askew. Since Eijun knew that glasses were expensive (see, observant omega) and he didn’t want the half-blind tanuki to suffer the loss of his vision-aid, he gently plucked them off his face and set them on the nightstand when he got up.

He had some training to get to and he wouldn’t compromise that for staying cozy in his nest, as tempting as it was. After all, he needed to work extra hard to make it as an omega on the team.

Apparently his little talk the night before had had an effect, because when they started the official session, Miyuki, who looked well rested for once, dragged him towards the bullpen and they had a productive session. At least that was what Miyuki said, neither Eijun nor Kanemaru, who had acted as their batter, were quite as happy.

Over the next couple of days Eijun felt like he was finally regaining some footing after the entire yips affair.
His pitches felt better and more controlled and even the coaching team had acknowledged his improvement, as he was told he would start in their next game.
His first time starting!

On the other hand, Miyuki was avoiding him again.
Or avoiding contact with others in general. Eijun heard some rumors that he got into a fight with some of the other second years but then again with his abrasive personality that was bound to happen.

On the day of the game he was normal again, so Eijun assumed it was not an issue.
The sun was shining again and Eijun couldn’t wait to play. He felt special, when he was the person to start warming up in the bullpen, his senpais gathered around him before even starting.
Honestly, he wasn’t used to getting that kind of attention and it for sure felt nice.

Kuramochi had offered to act as a batter for his warm up, while Miyuki was crouched down low. Eijun smiled, he would do his best and show everyone that even in crippled he could still support the team.
In his happy but relaxed state he didn’t even realize that he had thrown a straight inside pitch without freaking out. The voice of Carlo’s command in his head dampened to a whisper.

“Oi, Sawamura, it is too early to celebrate, this might have been a fluke”, Kuramochi called, a mean grin on his face.

“Celebrate what?”, Eijun asked, dumbfolded.
Only then he realized and started to grin. Instantly his neck started to itch more.
Ah, after wearing scent patches for many games now, Eijun was aware that the scent patches would be more bothersome if he didn’t control his pheromones. But the happiness was just trying to leak out of him.

“Nice ball”, Miyuki threw him the ball and he caught it.

“I’m off, continue warming up properly, Bakamura. And show us what you’ve got”, Kuramochi said and sauntered off to where the fielders were warming up on their own.

“Thank you for batting,Kuramochi-senpai”, Eijun shouted, even the short time he had been able to pitch to a batter in the warm up had felt special.

When Miyuki signalled for an inside pitch during the game, Eijun still couldn’t help but freeze up. He tensed and messed up, hitting the batter.

“Are you okay?”, Haruichi asked from behind him. Eijun looked at his hands.
Was he?

Thinking back though, he didn’t remember hearing…feeling the command.
He had messed up this pitch solely on his own.

On his own and not because of his yips!

“I am great. I am counting on you all to help me end this inning without further runners”, he shouted back.
Miyuki looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but Eijun just gave him a thumbs up.
He was fine, he had messed up on his own accord. And if he relaxed a bit more next time, maybe, just maybe he would be fine.

He was fine.

He was fine, he had pitched inside and they won!

A called game and Eijun had pitched all of it!

“I did an amazing job, right?”, he told Haruichi, who just shrugged, so he asked Kuramochi the same question and just got a kick out of it.

“Don’t be so full of yourself”, his senpai added and took him into a head lock.
Honestly, that was not the reaction Eijun had hoped for. Well, if no one else would cheer for him, he would cheer for himself, he decided, but still couldn’t shake off the feeling of just not being good enough.
Well, he just had to work harder and prove to everyone that he deserved his spot on the team.

So, after having another disappointing encounter with the team that had gathered to watch the video footage - everyone seemed to believe he was a fluke - he just went to pitch into a net.
Remember the feeling of control he felt on the mound that day.

His next days were filled with school work and training, leaving him little time to worry about whatever was going on between Miyuki and him.
The catcher was a constant mix between hot and cold, but more often than not, Eijun and him ended up sleeping in Eijun’s nest together after scenting each other.
It made Eijun’s heart beat a little faster and he didn’t really know what to do with the information.

One time it had been after a meeting between Kuramochi and Miyuki, where the captain had come over to their room, only to end up suggesting to scent Eijun and who was he to say no to free sleeping medicine.
He just didn’t understand what bothered Kuramochi so much about Miyuki hanging out in their room, weren’t they friends and co-captains?

Then it happened again after some catch in the evening - he had finally convinced Miyuki to help him.

And the most recent time it happened was before their game against Ugumori and that was just Miyuki being a good captain, making sure Eijun would sleep well the night before the game.
There had not been any indication about Miyuki courting anyone anymore and selfishly Eijun loved to have the attention of the alpha on him (mostly). (He still had to share him as a catcher, which was annoying.)

All in all, it was a quite nice, mutual scenting agreement.

When Eijun announced as much to Kuramochi the morning of the Ugumori game, when they were both shoveling in some breakfast before the bus had to leave, his senpai just took him into a headlock and choked him.

“Stop, what did I do”, Eijun protested and tried to escape, with very little success. Kuramochi sure had his technique down.

“Mutual scenting agreement is the biggest bullshit you have ever told me you dense brick”, the beta replied.
Eijun whined and wiggled to no avail, his throat was starting to hurt and he needed air!

“Oi, Mochi, stop choking Bakamura, we might need him later”, Miyuki called from the other side of the cafeteria. This didn’t impress Kuramochi at all, he was clearly on his own agenda of torturing Eijun, not that he had done anything to deserve that! “Now”, Miyuki growled, his voice was vibrating almost as if he was suppressing a command.
Finally, Kuramochi dropped him and Eijun coughed, trying to get some air back into his lungs.

“You nearly killed me”, he whined between gasps of air. Kuramochi, that heartless bastard, just shrugged.

“Mochi, we don’t hurt our pitchers here, even if they deserve it”, Miyuki lectured him, while rubbing Eijun’s back.
When did he get so close? Well, probably while Eijun was trying to regain his breath.

“I didn’t do anything to deserve that”, Eijun protested, “He was making fun of my omega urges.”

They were interrupted by Maezono, who shouted that the bus was ready, which got them to move.
With regret Eijun eyed the half bowl of rice he hadn’t managed to finish, but Miyuki had grabbed his hand to pull him along.
Behind them Kuramochi was talking to himself, mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like “Mutual scenting agreement my ass!”

At this point there was nothing stressing Eijun more than having to pitch to alpha batters.
Umemiya was one of them, he was intimidating, taller than Eijun, had only been interested in Furuya and had ugly hair.
He felt himself tense up just looking at him.

But this was his chance, their chance to advance. Not being able to play Inashiro had been both difficult - Eijun wanted to show them he was fine, alright - and at the same time less intimidating.
While Ugumori had Umemiya, their team apart from him was mostly beta and adored their ace.
How Eijun wished his team mates would put the same amount of trust into him. But again, he had messed up last time and he was the weakest link in their line up.

“Sawamura”, Miyuki called his name. He focused on the catcher, who gave him a sign and then called a “relax, relax!”

Eijun would do this, he had to earn his team's trust and every well placed pitch was a step forward.
And if there was one thing he was more afraid of than pitching here, it was failing again. He relaxed his shoulders, felt his muscles release and sent the next ball flying.
Umemiya swung and the ball bounced right back to him.

They had won!
He shouted in triumph and Miyuki was getting up, a smile on his face.
Eijun had done it!
He had closed the game and not disappointed anyone.
Maybe he could go as far as to say he even managed to please his alpha.
Wait, his captain, not his alpha…though he could still smell Miyuki's scent on him from last night.

“Well done”, the catcher greeted him and slung an arm around his shoulders. “Though you were a bit tense.”

“They were scary, alright”, Eijun protested, “but we did it!”

“Here, let me help you, I hate how these stupid things clog up your scent”, Miyuki told him, close to his ear.
Too close! Eijun felt himself tense up again and flush, as the alpha peeled off the scent patches.

“I could have done that myself”, he replied.

“Too bad. But you can have them back, if you desire so”, Miyuki laughed and shoved the crumpled patches at him.
With a crunched up face Eijun took them and tossed them into his bag - he would throw them away later- before he joined the group hug.
His inner omega purred in contempt, he loved group hugs.

Back at Seido it became obvious that Furuya had injured himself.
His ankle- just one funny step and the alpha was limping.
They were down their ace and Eijun didn't know what to do. He could, of course try to heal the alpha, but Furuya had become distant and a selfish little voice in Eijun's head said that this was his chance to really shine.

It seemed like the coaching staff was having similar thoughts, as Eijun saw Ochiai glare at both him and Kataoka.
As an omega he should know about healing and he knew about the friendship between their pitchers.

In the end, Eijun decided to flee the cafeteria and distract himself with some extra pitching.
That was where Ochiai found him.

"Your mind seems occupied, so you have thought about healing him, right?”, the coach asked, straight to the point. At least this way Eijun didn't have to say it. He just nodded.

“Well, for the team having their ace is more valuable than having you”, Ochiai reminded him.
Of course Eijun knew that.
Then the coach's face softened the tiniest bit. “But as a fellow omega I recommend you not to do it. Healing can go very wrong and you're still young.”

“Thank you for sharing your wisdom, coach”, Eijun shouted.

“What kind of wisdom?”, someone asked from the door.
Miyuki.
He was accompanied by Kanemaru and Haruichi, who both were carrying their bats. Apparently Eijun was not the only one who wanted to turn their tension into productive training.

“Please teach me more things, sergeant!”, Eijun turned to Ochiai. If he already had a coach and fellow omega here, maybe he could learn some more things. “What am I lacking?”

Ochiai gave him a once over and shrugged. “The most obvious thing is a breaking ball. I can teach you one.”

This caught everyone's attention. Ochiai looked at Miyuki “This should make your job easier as well.”

When Miyuki asked for the change up in the game, Eijun actually made his job harder by messing up, not that this wasn’t something he was used to.
So when he returned to the dug out after the first inning, two runs given up, he was a bit tense - which wasn’t good because he knew that his pitching suffered when he was tense.

“Hey, Sawamura”, Miyuki called him from the backroom, he had probably heard him pacing?
Hopefully he didn’t make anyone else nervous, that would be bad! So instead of running in circles, he walked over to Miyuki who was…half naked.
Why?
Wasn’t he up to bat soon?
What was he doing?

“Put this on”, Miyuki handed him his sweaty undershirt.

“Why do you give me your dirty shirt?”, Eijun asked and while he technically should have cringed in disgust, his omega instinct kicked in and he grabbed the shirt from Miyuki’s hand.
It was, as expected from the warm weather, slightly damp with sweat and smelled a lot like Miyuki.

“Can’t scent you now, plus with your tendency to fall asleep that would also be bad, but maybe this will make you less tense”, Miyuki explained.
He grinned, while Eijun struggled down his instinct to press his face into the delicious smelling alpha-shirt.

Oh god, what kind of pitiful and desperate creature had he become?
Was this because he now was accustomed to Miyuki’s scent due to their mutually beneficial scenting agreement?

At least Miyuki wasn’t pressing and had turned around to put on a new undershirt.
With a nod he walked outside, apparently it was almost his turn.
Which meant Eijun had to change fast! He shrugged off his own shirt and struggled into Miyuki’s. While larger than his own, pulling on damp clothes always came with a bit of struggle, especially form fitting ones like the undershirts.
He let out a quiet huff of contempt, giving in to his omega instincts, when he was fully engulfed in his alpha’s scent.
Not his alpha, he reminded himself, his captain, an alpha.

“Why do you smell like Miyuki?”, Kuramochi asked him, eyes narrowed.
Eijun feared that even now, during a game, he might not be safe from the ultra choke hold his senpai had developed and tested on him in the last weeks.

“Forgot my deodorant, borrowed his”, Eijun squeaked out a sorry excuse, Kuramochi’s raised eyebrows told him exactly how convincing it was.
He was saved from further questioning by the inning ending and being called to pitch.

It was honestly slightly infuriating, how well Miyuki’s little trick had worked. Eijun felt how much more relaxed he was which was immediately reflected by his pitching.
While the catcher was infuriating, loved to tease Eijun and had a shit personality and no regards for personal boundaries, he deserved Eijun’s trust, so when Miyuki signalled another change up, he did his best to deliver.
It worked - and with the timing of the opponent’s batters messed up and with his team scoring some runs, they advanced to the next round.

Eijun almost felt bad when he had to change out of Miyuki’s undershirt, but then again the shirt was now even sweatier and Kuramochi had warned him about wearing sweaty stuff in his vicinity.
It usually ended in some kind of wrestling. So, with a whine, Eijun pulled off the shirt and swapped it for one of his own, fresh shirts.
He walked over to where Miyuki was packing up his stuff.

“Here”, he shoved the shirt under Miyuki’s nose, “Thank you. It helped.”
Miyuki turned to him but didn’t take the shirt.
Didn’t he know how hard it was for Eijun as an omega to part with clothes given to him?
Why wasn’t he taking the shirt?

“You can return it, after you wash it. It stinks”, Miyuki replied.
Eijun shrunk back, was the catcher saying that while Eijun enjoyed Miyuki’s scent, the catcher disliked his?
Hadn’t he just said something different literally the game before?
Eijun gritted his teeth to try to suppress the whine lodged in his throat.
He would not show any distress upon the rejection, he was strong.
But maybe their scenting agreement was not mutually beneficial?

“I will wash my disgusting scent out of it before I return it then”, he huffed and turned around, shoving the offending garment into his own bag.
Miyuki didn’t reply anything, but when Eijun shot another glance at him, he was looking weirdly constipated and red.
If only Eijun knew what he was thinking, the alpha’s constant hot and cold was just torture.

Kazuya
Forcing his own shirt onto Sawamura under the sorry excuse to make him relax had been a bad move, motivated by some weird alpha urges Kazuya had been feeling more and more when interacting with the omega.
Now he was exposed to the constant sight of Sawamura wearing his clothes and it did weird things with him.

Ever since he presented, Kazuya had tried to shut down his lowly alpha instincts that wanted to control his behaviour.
And now he was unsure what exactly was happening.

Did he like Sawamura?

Or was it just his instincts forcing him to try to court the omega, make him his own, make it known to everyone that he was Kazuya’s.

Were his building feelings even real or was it just some kind of reflex?

Sawamura was wearing his shirt, right in front of everyone and it pleased his inner alpha to no end, Sawamura’s performance improving did the rest.
By the end of the game, Kazuya was ready to grab the dense omega and make him realize that Kazuya had been courting him and wanted him.

A horrifying prospect, he had never given in to the alpha urges and now they were almost overwhelming.

When Sawamura presented him with the shirt that now carried both their scents that formed an incredibly smelling combination of sun and leather, he had to grit his teeth to resist acting on instinct.
Instead he insulted the omega to make him go away, so he didn’t realize what predicament Kazuya was in right now, thankfully hidden behind his sports bag that he had strategically placed.
He almost felt bad when Sawamura left, looking sad and disappointed.
Hadn’t he gleefully kept or stolen Kazuya’s clothes in the past?

Should he even continue courting Sawamura?

Maybe the omega knew about his clumsy attempts at courting but didn’t like Kazuya the same way, wasn’t interested in him.
After all, he kept telling Kazuya he had a shitty personality and was an awful person.

Then again, Sawamura visiting him to get scented multiple times in the past days told him something else.

He had to be patient, which also gave him time to reconsider what part of his feelings was real and what part was just instinct.
As if to remind him, the omega’s sour scent drifted over to him; Sawamura had apparently removed the suppressant patches and now Kazuya could even smell his upset.

This at least sobered him enough that he could pick up the sport’s bag without showing anything inappropriate.

Just about in time…

“You coming?”, Kuramochi called from the door.