Malec Week - Sports AU
I absolutely love malec week and seeing what other writers, artists, and other creative people can do.
*
Alec loved nothing more than to watch his son play baseball. The bat was too large for his body, even if it was designated as a child’s; the helmet - that all the other players had to wear - was snug and made his head appear twice as large; and he tried to the best of his ability. One game, Max had swung his bat so hard that it made his entire body turn in a full circle. It almost made the boy barf, but they talked about how they won that particular game the entire ride home.
Alec never really knew why Max had the sudden desire to play the sport. The burst came in the middle of one of their favorite dinners - macaroni and cheese - and every meal since then Alec never heard talk about anything else. He signed him up a week later.
Max has significantly improved since the first day of practice. Then, he could barely pick up the bat, and now, he could run to first base faster than most of the other boys on his team. Amazing, Alec prided himself, but it was hell when he used that speed to avoid doing his chores around the house.
Alec cheered from his high spot in the bleachers. It allowed him the best view of the field and baseball diamond without having to sit among a sea of single moms trying to squeeze his biceps. Max was in the field amongst his fellow players, practicing throwing and catching the ball with another boy, Jacob.
A cool breeze in the spring air pushed the shrill sound of the umpire’s whistle towards the sidelines. Alec pulled down further on his Alicante Angel’s cap to keep the wind from pushing his hair around frantically. It also proved to be an excellent barrier against every unwanted conversation.
“Is this spot taken?”
Almost every conversation, he corrected. Alec looked up at the figure who was speaking to him. The sun made the man appear to be one massive black blob with a strange height to his head. There were plenty of other spots scattered around the bleachers, and several sideline shots for those who brought their own chairs or blankets, and yet this man had to choose the spot directly beside him.
No, was the thing he wanted to say. “Sure,” was the word that left his lips.
The man uttered a soft thanks before taking his seat. The Angel’s coach barked out the first batter of the afternoon – Jacob. His fellow teammates, Max especially, cheered for him as he took his spot beside the home plate. Alec cheered as well alongside other parents.
“Is that your son?” the man beside him asked.
“What? No. Mine is fourth in the line. Blue socks,” Alec noted, because all the other boys have black socks. “He never takes them off.”
The man chuckled. “That’s cute.”
Jacob missed the first throw. The crowd groaned.
“Focus, Frazer. Focus. Eye on the ball,” Coach ordered. “Focus.”
Alec shook his head. “He doesn’t respond well when he does that,” he said, and Jacob missed the second throw.
“Think you can do better?”
Alec gestured to the boy. “He needs to choke up on the bat. He can’t swing the whole length of the bat and it’s affecting his game. He’s also too far back in the batter’s square. Any coach should know that.”
“Strike three – you’re out!”
Alec turned to the man beside him. The sun hit his eyes just right that set the gold flecks on fire. “I know I can do better.”
“I’m Magnus.”
“Alec. Baseball-Dad extraordinaire.”
Magnus chuckled. “I can believe that.”
The second batter was a taller boy, David. He was good at hitting consistently, but his field work needed improvement. He got the Angel’s onto the board at second base. The crowd went absolutely wild.
“Where’s your son?” Alec asked finally.
Magnus creased his brow. He arched to see over the wall of hair in front of him – his fault for getting there after the women did – and eased back into his seat, unsuccessful. “He’s somewhere on the field. Opposite team unfortunately.”
Of course, he thought. “Then I wish your team the best of luck.”
Magnus’ mouth dropped in feigned awe. “Confident, are we?”
“Always.”
The man hummed in what Alec could only call approval. A sudden heat shot through his spine and it had nothing to do with the sun. “We’ll see about that.”
Tavvy took the plate next, and got onto first. David stayed on the second base when running to third was not the best move. The next boy, number seven – Alec couldn’t remember all the boys’ names, pushed all three of them into having the bases loaded.
Max was next in the batting line.
Alec had full confidence that Max could bring in at least one of the boys for a run point. They had practiced plenty of times in their local park batting and aiming for weak points in the field.
“C’mon Max. C’mon,” he muttered behind his clasped hands. Full faith, he reminded himself. What he lacked in hitting, Max made up with speed. He could do this.
Max’s bat hit the ball with a sickening crack, flying high enough in the air that the boys went scattering just trying to see it without looking straight into the sun. It was too sharp of a hit, Alec immediately noticed, but Max was already sprinting. The ball came to the ground amidst the panic and the boy protecting first picked it up, tagged Max an inch before the bag, and swung it towards home before David could get there.
Double-play.
“Shit,” Alec couldn’t help swearing, in awe. “That was… amazing.”
Max stood beside first, stunned. He rubbed the back of his neck, a mirror image of his father no doubt in that moment, and took his seat among his fellow teammates as they switched positions on the field.
From his side, Magnus was smiling. He cheered with the other parents of the opposing team, shouting names and numbers of the team.
He turned, facing Alec with a face full of pride – merely bravado. “Still feeling confident?”
“Yes,” Alec found Max on the field, waving from his spot in the center. “Yes, I am.”
Alec unknowingly battled Magnus the whole game. When Magnus cheered for every run scored by their team – the Edom Hellhounds – Alec scoffed so only the man could hear. He shouted louder whenever his team caught the ball and earned an out.
It was clear for Alec to see that the star of the Hellhounds was number two, the same boy who made that amazing double play on his son. He has racked up a total of five runs and ten outs – practically unheard of in little league baseball. Unfortunately – fortunate for them – he was the first batter of the eighth inning.
Alec hated himself for grinning when the boy missed the first ball thrown at him. He missed the second one too. Magnus slumped further beside him, and it was worth the slouch. This was the worst the boy has performed by far. The third ball flew straight down the middle of the plate and cracked loud and hard against the metal of his bat. That thing went flying across the field, further than any of the boys had prepared – all except Max.
Max had read the field, just as Alec had told him to do, and drew further than his fellow teammates. The ball was sailing right down his path, and with extended hands, landed perfectly into the palm of the young boy’s glove.
“Yes!” Alec jumped up.
Max waved the ball in his hand before tossing it back towards the pitcher. The batter took his spot beside his team, stunned as Max had been with his out, and the game resumed.
The next few outs weren’t as exciting as the rest of the game. Every boy was quick with the snap of their wrists and push of their feet. Alec would definitely join Max in the discussion of this game on their way home.
A sharp shrill of Magnus’ phone interrupted the last few moments of the game. Ignoring the first few rings, the call tried again and Magnus was forced to answer it. “Sorry,” he mouthed, raising to take the call somewhere beyond the dozens of ears that surrounded him. “This better be good…”
Alec drew his attention back to the game. They were tied, and the Angels only needed a single run to win. A boy was on third, and the final boy, number eleven, took stance. His first swing was a foul, sending the ball straight into the arched cage above them and getting stuck. Alec put all his energy and hope into the second throw. The boy swung, and hit it towards second – where number two was waiting.
The boy was a step beside the ground ball. He dove, digging his knees into the gravel to scoop the ball into his glove and throw it towards first. The boy had made it, and so did the one on third – earning the Angels their victory.
Alec, and the others, went crazy, as did the boys on the bench. The teams finished their final play, and then met in the center for their meet and greet. Although Alec did find Max first, his attention as turned back towards Hellhound number two. The boy was at the very end, limping – and trying to hide the fact – through the entire act.
Instinct driving him, Alec rose and made his way through the sea of standing and moving parents and towards the field. Max, who was also at the end of his line, clasped the other boy’s hand and murmured something to him. Alec could hear the two boys exchange greetings, followed by a curt, “Good game.”
Alec approached the pair. He ruffled his son’s hair, then turned to the Hellhound. “Are you okay?”
The boy kept his face blank. “I’m fine.” His bottom lip tucked behind one of his teeth indicated he was definitely not fine.
“Sit down. Let me have a look.” Alec led the young player towards the empty bench of the bottom bleacher. He reluctantly took a seat.
“I’m fine,” the boy tried again. His face twisted into a tight wince when Alec prodded the fabric above his dirt-ridden knees.
“I’m going to roll up your pants, okay?” The boy nodded. Alec took his time to carefully roll back the fabric. He loosed a relief breath at the sight of perfectly skinned knees rather than full blown injuries. “Max, can you bring me your bag? Thank you.”
Alec always made sure his son’s bag had a simple first aid kits for things like this. Granted, Alec thought it would be used on Max rather than other children, but having it on hand proved useful. Alec pressed the crisp band-aid onto the slight cut at the base of his knee.
“Rafael, are you okay?”
Alec recognized the voice – the man that sat beside him on the bleacher. Magnus.
“I’m fine, papa,” Rafael huffed. “Promise.”
“I leave for two seconds…”
Alec knew where Magnus was already going. He remembered talking in circles about himself when Max first started playing too. “Rafael is going to be just fine. It should be healed in a day or two, and then a bruise for longer. Nothing a little care and whimsical storytelling can’t fix.”
Rafael looked up, intrigued. “Storytelling?”
“Sure. Tell your friends that you fought of ninjas or kicked a shark.”
The boy scoffed. Alec was only trying to be helpful, lighten the mood of the child and redirect the attention off of any pain – “Ninjas. As if. It’s gotta be pirates all the way.”
Alec smiled. “Sure thing.”
“I like pirates,” Max contributed, sparking an entirely new conversation with the other boy about who the best captain would be and what ship would sail fastest.
Alec turned at the warm touch on his shoulder. “Thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me,” Alec shook his head, looking back towards their two sons talking away at a hundred words a minute, “I’d want the same for my son.”
“I want to.” There was a sense of longing behind his voice, and Alec truly wanted to see the man again. “When can I see you again?”
Alec gulped. “Well… The next game is in three weeks, I think. Same place. Same time.”
Magnus chuckled. The glimmer in his eyes was back, sparkling brighter than before. “I was hoping before then.”
“Oh.” Alec’s cheeks flared with a sudden heat. His brain became a muddled mess of words, noises, and unattained desire – but all Alec could do was wrestle through Max’s bag for what he needed. When finished, he straightened, set his face, and gave Magnus a baseball.
With his number on it.
“Call me,” Alec choked out. “Or text. I don’t mind. Whatever. Use it?”
“I can do that.” Magnus’ smile, chuckle, everything were things Alec wanted to see and hear all the time. “Are you always so straightforward?”
“And confident.”
Another dazzling smile. “I never doubted you.”
Someone cleared their throat from behind them. “Can we go home now, papa?”
There were no other parents or teammates anywhere remotely near the baseball diamond. It was already flooded with the next pair of teams.
It was Magnus’ turn to blush. The pink color only darkened the tanned skin of his cheeks. The embarrassment, however, had reached his eyes. “Of course. Thank Alec for helping you.”
“Thanks, Alec.” The quip of his name shot straight through Alec’s chest and killed any fire burning there – if there had been one in the first place.
“We’ll see you soon,” Magnus winked, and Alec all about fell to the group in a puddle of mixed emotions.
The pair weren’t even out of earshot of the Lightwood boys when Rafael asked, “Is he gonna be your boyfriend?”
Alec couldn’t hear what he had said, but Rafael could be heard clearly over anything else. “But he’s on the other team!”
Magnus stopped, bent his entire body over and laughed. Alec couldn’t help it either. Rafael wasn’t far off from the truth.
Max poked his father. “Can we go now?”
Alec ruffled his son’s hair, pulling his under his arm before kissing the top of his head. “Sure, blueberry. We can go.”
