Breathless at the Ballpark (Undrafted)
Rating: T
Word Count: 1,405
Summary: Maz ignores the signs of an oncoming asthma attack and worries his teammates.
It was a warm summer day when Maz pulled up to the ballpark, the pollen visible in the air as he wrinkled his nose up in disgust. He’d woken up in the middle of the night having an asthma attack and ended up only getting about four hours of sleep. Taking a wheezy breath, Maz dug through his baseball bag for his inhaler and frowned when he pulled it out, noticing that the device had only five doses left.
Letting out a heavy sigh, he shook up the medication and brought the inhaler up to his lips to take a breath before he shakily exhaled the bitter medicine. Hearing a knock on his window, Maz looked up to see Pat peering at him in concern and unrolled his window to smile at his best friend.
“Hey, what's up?” Maz asked curiously as he quickly shoved his inhaler back into his bag, hoping the other male wouldn’t ask about it.
“Not much. You feeling okay?”
There was a nod to his now-closed bag as Maz gave Pat a look that pretty much said ‘drop it’.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.”
“Hey, if you’re not feeling up to playing today, no one is going to be upset with you.” Pat’s brows were drawn close in concern as he eyed Maz, noting his slightly labored breathing in addition to the way his shoulders were heaving with each raspy breath.
“I said I’m fine, now drop it,” Maz finally snapped with a glare to Pat, the outburst shocking his friend.
“Okay, calm down. You’re really fucking pissy this morning,” Pat snarked right back as he turned to head down to the dugout, shoving past Dells as he got to the field.
“What’s wrong with you?” Dells asked curiously as he looked over where Pat was fuming at the end of the bench, throwing his bag into the corner with a glare.
“Fucking Maz. His fucking asthma’s acting up, but he refuses to take the game off,” Pat huffed out as he turned to aim his glare at Maz, who was setting his bag down next to Fotch.
“Tell Ty? Maybe he’ll force Maz to sit on the bench this game,” Dells offered with a shrug, not really sure what else to say as he turned to watch Maz as well.
“He won’t listen and you and I both know Ty won’t bench our best fucking player,” Pat snapped, his worry coming out more as anger as he sat down with a huff.
Maz ran a hand through his hair as he sat down next to Fotch, letting out a wheeze filled breath as he pulled a water bottle out of his bag to take a swig, not noticing when his inhaler fell out into the dirt.
Fotch raised an eyebrow at the blue object and reached down to pick it up, frowning at the low counter. He gently nudged Maz before handing the object to him. “Hey, you feeling okay kid? You’re wheezing pretty badly.”
Maz sighed heavily as he took his inhaler from Fotch and took another dose of it, shaking his head as he took another swig of his water. “Not really, but what choice do I have, everyone is counting on me.”
“You could sit this game out if you’re really feeling this awful, but I’m not going to push you. I’m guessing your stubbornness is the reason Murray is currently throwing a fit?” Fotch asked, a slightly amused smirk on his lips as he glanced over at where Pat was still huffing on the bench.
“Most likely. But I know my symptoms and I know when I need to take it easy. I just wish he trusted my decisions more, ya know?” Maz sighed, shoving the inhaler back in his bag as Ty came into the dugout to give them the lineup for the game.
--------------------
Maz was honestly surprised that his lungs had held out until the fourth inning. Though the longer he was out in the summer humidity, mixed with the high pollen count, the more he could feel his breath start to catch more as he got ready for his up to bat. He couldn’t remember the last time his allergies had made his asthma act up this badly, and he knew that he was definitely going to need his inhaler again once he was back on the bench.
“Maz, you’re up,” Ty snapped as he looked up from his clipboard to watch Maz approach home plate. Dells had already told him about Maz’s condition and he’d been keeping a very close eye on the shortstop throughout the first half of the game. So far, he wasn’t too worried about his teammate, but Ty had noticed how labored Maz’s breathing had become after his last at-bat.
Maz closed his eyes to refocus for the pitch before he stepped into the batters' box. He watched the pitcher intently before swinging on the second pitch and running for first. Smirking when he was counted safe, Maz reached down to adjust his batting gloves before he turned to watch Barone strut to home plate. Coughing into his elbow, Maz winced a little at the tightness that clenched his chest before he focused on the next pitch, taking a few steps towards second base.
The next pitch was quick and Maz grinned when Barone hit it over the fence, running past second and around third before he ran back to home plate and turned to high-five Barone as the other man rounded third to head home, oblivious to the fact that he suddenly couldn’t catch his breath. Barone quickly returned the high-five before he surprised Maz by tugging him into a tight hug, only pulling back when he heard the harsh wheezes coming from his teammate.
“Maz? You okay? Breathe,” Barone frowned as he pulled back from the hug, narrowing his gaze at the other man, gently setting his hands on Maz’s shoulders.
“Fuck, it’s his asthma. Someone grab his fucking inhaler!” Pat yelled back to the dugout as he jogged over to Maz and Barone, gently setting his hand on Maz’s back to lead him to the benches.
Turning his head to look at Pat, Maz leaned slightly against him and reached up to press a hand to his heaving chest, panic starting to rise as he was led to the dugout and sat down.
“I’ve got his inhaler, sit him upright,” Vinnie stated as he tossed the inhaler to Pat before digging through his own bag for an extra bottle of water. “Should we call an ambulance?” he asked nervously as he watched Maz gasp the medicine in.
“Shut up, give it a minute to kick in. Maz, you feeling better?” Pat asked gently as he opened the bottle of water to offer to Maz, his brows creased in concern.
Maz squeezed his eyes shut, letting the medicine sit in his lungs for a few seconds before he shakily exhaled and reached for the water Pat was holding out. “Th-thanks, I’m okay,” he wheezed out as finally opened his eyes to look at the faces of his worried teammates.
“Good, now why the fuck didn’t you say that your asthma was acting up?!” Pat finally snapped with a frown to Maz.
“I dunno, I guess I just didn’t want to let you guys down. You’re always counting on me.” Maz admitted as he looked nervously back down at his inhaler, avoiding everyone’s gaze once more.
“Hey, it’s okay to ask for help. Sometimes you need a reminder that we care more about your health and wellbeing than we do about the score of a game. You can’t score a run if you can’t breathe,” Fotch said as he settled a hand on Maz’s shoulder, causing the shortstop to look up in surprise. “Now, I think we all can agree that he’s done for the day, right Ty?”
“Yeah. Maz, you’re benched for the rest of the game, Barone, you’re in for Maz,” Ty agreed as he wrote the change on his clipboard.
“Of course, I’ve got you covered Maz.”
“Now, let’s get back to the game,” Ty huffed as he grabbed his helmet and bat to head to home plate.
Smiling slightly at the eccentricities of his teammates, Maz settled back against the wall of the dugout as he watched Ty walk onto the field, glad that the D-Backs always had his back.
A/N: You can also read this fic on Ao3 here.
