Summary: There are relationships that are borne of instant attraction. Or those that are borne of a shared experience that draws people together. But the relationships that grow from a friendship can sometimes be all that's needed.
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Nori knows he has to thank the first year who stood between him and Azuma-senpai. The pitcher with blazing golden eyes.
34. please don’t do this - NoriSawa? (Also heya Nico!!)
helloooo friend shocking you would send an angsty one with such a soft ship… imma do my best :)
He takes in the bags with wide, fearful eyes. Part of him doesn’t understand how it’s come to this, but there’s a whisper - a voice - at the back of his mind telling him this is no surprise. This has been weeks and maybe months in the making, but it still hurts.
“Nori…?” His voice comes out weaker than he intended and just a little bit broken. Nori keeps his back to him, but Eijun can see the way his shoulders sag in exhaustion. “Where... are you going?”
Finally, his boyfriend turns to him, but there’s so much sadness in his eyes that Eijun’s heart falls. He knows they’ve been distant lately. More than usual at least, but he really had thought they were going to be okay. But he knows that’s wrong. They’ve been fighting more often than not. The last over Nori staying late at work, which Eijun had been warned days in advance.
We’ve been falling apart.
Nori readjusts the strap of his duffel bag. He’s avoiding Eijun’s gaze and looking around their shared apartment. There are memories embedded in every nook and cranny, and Eijun knows that once Nori walks through that door the memories will haunt him with what could have been, should have been, and how they could have fixed it all.
“You know, Eijun,” Nori says just as quietly, but his voice is steadier than Eijun’s. He probably knows that at least one of them needs to be strong and Eijun’s always been one to let his emotions get the best of him. “We talked about this...”
Nori’s right. They have, but Eijun didn’t think it was going to happen so soon. “So... you’re leaving?” Eijun asks. “Now?” Nori nods. The silence that follows is deafening and it leaves Eijun with a sinking feeling. “Where will you go?”
“Shirasu is letting me stay at his place for a few nights until I find somewhere more permanent.” Eijun nods. “The lease here won’t be up until next month, so you’re welcome to stay like we discussed.” Again, Eijun nods. “I’ll come back later for everything else.”
He hates this. He hates this so, so much. He doesn’t want Nori to leave, but he can see in the other’s eyes that he’s made peace with this decision. A decision they both made. Before he can say anything else, Nori’s phone rings, sounding absurdly loud as it echoes through the silence. “That’s Shirasu,” Nori says without answering.
Eijun watches as Nori gathers his two suitcases. He turns and walks towards the door. “Please don’t do this,” Eijun whispers in a last ditch effort to make Nori stay. The only sign that suggests Nori heard him was the slight pause in his steps, and he still walks out the door. Alone in the silence, Eijun let’s the tears go as he falls to his knees. Where did we go wrong? He wonders as he chokes on his sobs.
Stepping onto the field he had to hold up a hand to block the sunlight from his eyes. He was early, wanting to get his warm-up in before the coaches and team showed up. Placing his water bottle down on the side, he tightened his laces and took off. He knew that using some of his nervous energy up with a run would only help him later on in the day. Even with it being years since that first day at Seidou he still cringed slightly at his behaviour. For all that he was glad he stood up to Azuma, it was still an incredibly ill-advised decision.
It wasn’t that he was particularly different since then, but the years had helped. Even Miyuki wouldn’t be able to say he was the same idiot he was then. A different brand of idiocy perhaps.
He began to slow his run down a bit as he saw people arriving, and when he noticed the coach and head manager stepping onto the field, he headed over. Stopping in front of Coach Ito, he took a moment to recover his breath before bowing. “Good morning shogun! This Sawamura Eijun is reporting for his assignment.” In some ways, Miyuki had rubbed off on him a bit as he found himself enjoying the bewildered looks thrown at him by everyone within the vicinity, and how the manager muttered “shogun?” to himself. He held back any laughter as he rose from his bow.
“Sawamura?”
A familiar voice from behind him rose over the general clamour of the field so he turned around. His eyes lit up and he bounded over to his old senpai. “Nori-senpai! It’s so good to see you again!” He had known the other pitcher was on the team after all, who didn’t know of the Lion’s closing Ace, so he hadn’t been surprised at seeing Nori. But, based on the surprise on Nori’s face, the same couldn’t be said for his draft. He bit back the sarcastic remark that threatened to appear and instead let the pitcher have time to work through his surprise.
When the requisite amount of shock had worn off, Eijun shot a brilliant grin towards Nori before turning back to the coach. He had missed his old senpai, and when he had the time later he would realize that the amount of missing was a tad more than expected. But for now he wanted to impress Ito. He continued on to greet the entire coaching staff, loudly answering any questions the staff or nearby players had.
“I just finished at Keio University,” at the question of where he had played last.
He shook his head, “I got a sports scholarship but also got a degree in Literature.” For all his obsession with baseball, Eijun spent much of his downtime with his head buried in a book. It paid in university.
“I was the Ace for my last two years at Keio! We won Sōkeisen my last year, and won the Big6 my second year.” His voice was filled with pride as he bragged about their hard earned accomplishments. Noticing a Waseda alum hanging around the back of the crowd of players near them, he couldn’t resist the chance of a snub. “Beating Waseda both times with a no-hit game was a pleasure I’ll struggle to replace.” He snickered at the twisted look on the player’s face. And hearing Nori laugh behind him made his grin just a bit more shit-eating. Miyuki had seriously rubbed off on him, to think they hadn’t gone to the same university. He glanced back at Nori, his manic smile softening as he looked at the other pitcher.
When his name had been drawn and the Lions had selected him, he’d held onto a small spark of hope. In his first year of university, Eijun had taken a psychology course which taught him about the different types of intelligences. Intrapersonal and Interpersonal had both stuck with him. He had taken the time to assess himself, realizing how his volume and shouting had been desperate pleas for help; Miyuki’s sarcasm had the same function. He’d looked back at Furuya’s ups and downs and understood his fellow pitcher’s dedication. Harucchi’s one-directional focus on his brother had made sense once he’d taken the time to put himself in a younger sibling’s perspective. It hadn’t taken him long to look at Nori and realize that his own feelings clouded any judgement around the pitcher.
The minute Eijun had received confirmation of his draft onto the Seibu Lions his heart had leapt into his throat. He’d been with his family in Nagano watching the draft. The shouts of his grandfather and father had faded into the background when he’d realized that he would be on the same team as Nori once again. Wakana had yet to stop teasing him for the sudden red blush that covered his face.
Eventually Coach Ito managed to wrangle the curious team up and send them off to practice. Eijun complied as well, moving off to the side to begin his stretches after being told to warm up and head to the bullpen. As he began stretching out his hamstrings, Eijun felt someone come up to stand behind him.
“It’s good to see you as well Sawamura.”
Eijun turned his head around slightly to acknowledge Nori and wait for the other pitcher to complete himself.
“It’s been a long time, a couple of years since Kuramochi’s birthday party right?” Nori looked nervous, his fingers were twisting into each other and his cheeks were suffused with a red colour. Stepping out his stretch, Eijun faced Nori fully. He tilted his head silently, noting that Nori seemed to want to say something else. “I’m glad you joined this team. I watched the draft once I knew you’d decided to join.”
Eijun felt his own face warm up slightly, “really?” His voice squeaked before he quickly cleared it,”you watched it because of me?” He took a deep breath in, before reaching out and grabbing Nori’s restless hands. Loosening the fingers from each other, Eijun grasped the fingers on Nori’s right hand. He was anything if not blunt in his affections, and even being nervous would not hold him back. Squeezing gently he looked straight on at Nori’s face, even as his face became redder. “I’m glad.” Clearing his throat again, Eijun stepped a fraction closer. They were now nearly chest-to-chest, and it forced Nori to look up at him. “I’m glad you watched it for me. I...uh...I was hoping I would get drafted to the Lions.”
Nori’s eyes widened and Eijun tried to step back frantically, thinking that he’d crossed a line of some sort. But before he could Nori pulled him closer with their joined hands. Their noses brushed against each other and he felt his eyes flutter close of his own volition. Their lips brushed against each other’s gently at first, before pressing harder. Eijun grinned into the kiss before pulling away.
Tightening his hold on Nori’s hand, he muttered, “yeah, definitely glad I joined this team.” Nori laughed.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Rating: General Audiences
Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: Gen
Fandom: ダイヤのA | Daiya no A | Ace of Diamond
Relationship: Kawakami Norifumi & Sawamura Eijun
Characters: Kawakami Norifumi, Sawamura Eijun, Kanemaru Shinji
Additional Tags: Daiya RP Week, Introspection, Nori loves his kouhai
Language: English
Words: 667
Chapters: 1/1
Summary: As they return to Seidou after the Yakushi game sated and victorious, Nori thinks about the guys who helped get them there. In particular, the one currently drooling on his shoulder.
Notes: The prompt was: 'afterglow' or ‘the things I thought while you were sleeping.’ It's kind of both, though.
The bus is strangely quiet as they leave the stadium after their victory over Yakushi, but Nori doesn’t mind the silence. Not for himself, and not for the snoozing ichinen with his head resting on Nori’s shoulder.
The little trickle of drool tracking down Sawamura’s jaw and onto Nori’s sleeve doesn’t do justice to the power and the aura housed in that small body. It’s so beyond Nori’s reach that he can’t even covet it; he can barely understand it.
Sawamura and Furuya both are special breeds. The same ilk as Miyuki and even Narumiya. They’re born to do what they do as well as they do it, and something that would destroy another player — the yips, being shunned by teammates, playing through an injury — only adds fuel to that fire burning just beneath the surface instead of smothering it.
But Sawamura especially is something for Nori to behold, because he does it all with a grin that could melt the sun.
