Fair Territory
Grand Slam
When it comes to Jack, Alex is a little bit blind and a little bit biased. They’re sort of…in the honeymoon phase of their relationship and he’s the happiest he’s ever been because seriously – he’s practically on a vacation with his boyfriend. They wake up together, go to the stadium together, watch one another work, and then go back to the hotel and make out and go to bed. And then repeat. So needless to say, he’s not exactly thinking about much other than Jack.
“Okay, so what happens if I’m drafted? Like, do I have to try out, or…what?”
Jack shakes his head and sits back on the green grass of the baseball field. He leans forward and grabs onto his left foot, stretching out his muscles before he has to do some laps. “You’d get drafted into the minors, and you’d get checked out by everyone – and I mean everyone. Other teams will be looking at you too.”
“Oh,” Alex frowns, “So if they get a good enough offer, they’d trade me?”
“Well duh. Unless they really, really think that you’re going to help the team. And if they’re drafting you out of high school, then they probably do think that.”
“Now I’m nervous,” Alex admits, tossing the baseball in his hands from one to the other. “Do you think that’ll happen? That I’ll get drafted after I graduate? I mean, I think I’m pretty decent and I know people have come to see me play I just…I just hope I get drafted to Trenton. And move my way up to you.”
Jack grins, “That’d be nice. But come on, Alex. Even if we’re not on the same team, it’s not going to make me love you any less.” He leans in and gently grabs Alex’s face in his hands, pulling him closer and kissing him.
“No making out on the field!” Their manager shouts from somewhere close behind them and Alex is quick to pull back, not exactly in the mood to get into trouble with Pete.
“I’m going to go help Brendon organize bats,” Alex tells his boyfriend, pushing himself up from the field. “Make sure to take your shirt off when you run so I can admire you,” He winks and then he’s running back towards the visitor’s dugout, leaving Jack laughing behind him.
Alex finds Brendon sitting in the dugout, writing names on post-it notes and sticking them on the bats that the players use during each game. “About time you came back to help me,” He complains, and Alex is pretty sure he’s not even playing around.
“Sorry, I got distracted by Jack.”
“Of course you did. Because Jack is perfect and wonderful and doesn’t do anything wrong. Got it.”
The words coming from Brendon are anything but playful and joking as they usually are and it makes Alex freeze in his movements, hand outstretched towards one of the bats. What the hell did he do to make Brendon act like this?
“Are you okay?” he asks softly, trying not to cause a scene. Martin and John are at the other end of the dugout, whispering to each other about something or another and Alex doesn’t want to distract them. “Did I do something?”
“Oh, no,” Brendon says quickly, “Nope. You didn’t do anything.”
“Brendon…You’re clearly pissed off with me and if you don’t tell me what I did then I can’t fix it.”
Brendon gets up and puts the last bat away, pressing the sticky note down and shaking his head. “Until you wake up and realize Jack’s not perfect, I don’t think you can fix it. Don’t you think it was an asshole thing of him to do? Not defending Martin? Letting John take the fall and taking his position as captain?”
Alex opens his mouth to respond but Brendon clearly doesn’t want to hear it. He rolls his eyes and stomps back into the locker rooms, probably to finish gathering up the batting helmets and to whine to Ryan about whatever he’s pissed about. It’s what he usually does when he’s pissed off with everything else, so why change now? Alex shrugs to himself and goes about sorting the baseballs and figuring out which ones will go to the bullpen and which will stay here. Brendon is just acting like a teenage girl on her period. He didn’t really mean what he said about Jack. Besides, it’s not Jack’s fault that he’s captain now. So there really should be no issue here. Brendon will be over it by the time the game starts.
“He’s actually not that out of line, Alex,” comes a voice from behind him and Alex knows who it is without having to turn around. He sighs and continues gathering up the baseballs to take to the bullpen and feels Flyzik come up behind him and assist him, tossing them into the bucket by the bench. “Think about it – John defends his teammate and gets demoted, and Jack, who didn’t do a thing to defend Martin, gets his place? It’s a little screwed up, you have to admit.”
And okay, if you look at it that way, then yes. Okay. It seems a bit stupid. But Jack didn’t ask to be made captain. Pete gave it to him. It’s not Jack’s fault. “Whatever. It doesn’t have anything to do with me so I don’t know why everyone seems to be so pissed off.”
Flyzik keeps quiet while he picks up the last few baseballs by the steps to the field. Alex notices that he doesn’t look nearly as upbeat as he normally does. Apparently Alex isn’t the only one with issues today.
“You might not have anything to do with the captain thing, that’s true,” Flyzik agrees when all the balls are back in the buckets and the team is starting to come in from the field. “But you definitely have a better position than any of us to talk some sense into Jack and at least make him see what he did wrong.”
All the players are leaving the field, coming down the steps and heading into the locker room. Flyzik joins up with Gabe and Caleb and Kyle as they come in, talking about their stretching routine and how early they should get to the stadium later tonight to run a few extra laps. Both Martin and John are still sitting at the opposite end of the bench, both with their eyes on Alex. He knows they probably overheard the entire conversation between him and Brendon, and then the one between him and Flyzik. And he should probably really consider taking what the both of them said to heart. But then Jack is hoping down the steps and wrapping his arms around Alex from behind and all Alex can do is smile and pretend everything’s perfectly fine.
-&-
“Do you think if I came up with my own ‘7th Inning Stretch’ dance they’ll put me on TV?”
“Gabe…you’re already on TV,” Ryan points out. “We are all on TV. At least twice a week.”
Gabe frowns. He’s been sitting at the small desk in the hotel room in front of his laptop for twenty minutes, looking up YouTube videos of baseball players dancing in-between innings. Brendon’s just wondering when he’ll realize his phone has been going off in his bag with incoming calls from his boyfriend.
“Exactly. Twice a week. Maybe if I do something cute and funny during the stretch, they’ll make me famous! I’ll make William teach me some moves – he knows how to move his hips and seduce people with his dance moves.”
Brendon thinks that Gabe could probably get away with it – he has a good body and fans already think he’s one of the most attractive players on the team right now. He doesn’t really blame the guy for wanting to increase his fan following.
Ryan laughs from his spot on his bed where he’s re-lacing his cleats. The shoes are covered in dirt from practice earlier and Brendon wants to tell him to get them off the bed. “You should start a YouTube channel. Post a video of yourself dancing once a week. The chicks would dig it, man.”
“Don’t go giving him ideas,” Brendon warns him, curling up on his own bed and focusing on the small TV across the room. It’s playing Sports Center, as usual. The next story has to do with Pete Wentz and his ‘struggling team of misfit Yankees’. Brendon can’t deny the fact that he’d like to watch that.
“Well before you go creating an account, we should probably talk about what an asshole Barakat is and how we’re going to go about getting John his captain title back,” Ryan suggests, and that has Gabe slamming his computer shut and mumbling obscenities under his breath. “I mean, that was absolute bullshit. He’s the least deserving of that position and he’s the only one who doesn’t realize it.”
“Neither does Alex,” Brendon points out. He’ll admit, he’s a little bit pissed off at his fellow bat boy.
Ryan gives him a sympathetic smile. “Don’t be pissed at Alex. He has nothing to do with it. He’s just the one caught up in it. So don’t be a little bitch.”
“Leave Alex out of it. I overheard John on the phone with his girlfriend earlier. He’s pretty upset over it. Not that anyone would know, considering he’s the most selfless person on the entire team. But I guess selflessness means shit when you’re not Pete Wentz’s favorite player. Barakat is a total suck up. He doesn’t care what happens to this team. He just wants to go back to the big leagues where he didn’t belong in the first place.”
“Harsh,” Ryan states, “But accurate.”
“And Martin doesn’t deserve to be demoted. Sure, he’s sleeping with Merrick but whatever; he can stick his dick wherever he wants. It’s none of our business as long as he isn’t giving away our game plans and telling him every secret we have. And last I checked, the kid would never do that.”
“This wouldn’t have happened if Squire were still manager,” Brendon points out. “And I really don’t understand why Butch replaced him with Wentz. Sure, we were losing but every team has a rough patch.”
Gabe shrugs. “We’ve had a few of those. He got fed up. I’m surprised it didn’t’ happen earlier, to be honest. But let’s be real – we can’t do anything about Pete being manager now. That’s the way it is. We have to focus on either making Jack realize what a shithead he is. It sounds impossible, considering the guy’s ego is the size of the Empire State Building, but I think it’s possible.”
Ryan opens his mouth to say something in return, but the reporter on ESPN is starting to lead into the story about Pete and there’s no way Brendon’s letting them miss this. He ups the volume and sits up on the bed, crossing his legs and waits to hear what the outside world really thinks of the team he’s been working for.
-&-
Grieco was still at the stadium when the reporters ambushed Jack for an interview. He’s not entirely sure where John snuck off to, but he’s thinks he must have already left in fear of the same thing happening to him. Everyone’s going to want to know his reaction to having the captain title stripped away from him. He’d be smart to avoid that as long as possible. But of course Jack is all ready to be praised on his new title. Because he totally earned it. He makes Grieco sick.
As he walks past the large group of people surrounding Jack, Grieco overhears him talking about how excited he is for the opportunity to lead the team to the playoffs and to stop this losing streak. He notices Alex is across the room, frowning to himself as he puts batting helmets on shelves. Maybe Alex is starting to realize what a jackass his boyfriend is, too.
By the time he’s made it into the parking lot where the shuttle bus to the hotel is supposed to show up, he’s heard enough out of Jack to make him feel justified enough to break his nose. He’s in the middle of planning exactly how to do it when he realizes that Matt is waiting for shuttle bus with him. He pauses, thinking maybe he should pretend that he left something in the locker room and go back and miss the next bus, therefore avoiding an awkward bus ride with his still pissed off boyfriend. But Matt smiles where he’s sitting on the bench and moves down, making room for both Grieco and his bag. So there goes that plan.
“From the disgusted look on your face, you either really don’t want to sit near me or you overheard Jack’s interview in the locker room. Or, it could be a combination of both,” Matt jokes, but he sounds sad. And Grieco knows their fight has really gone on for a little too long now.
“It’s definitely because of Jack,” he says quickly, dropping his bag by his feet and lessening the distance between him and his boyfriend. “Remember when he used to be tolerable and the only thing wrong with him was his inability to keep his anger in check?”
“It’s a little fuzzy, but I think I remember.”
Grieco smiles when Matt doesn’t try and increase the distance. “I mean, I know he’s not purposely being this way. His just blinded by the idea of finally being captain and doesn’t realize what a shitty person he’s being.”
“I think we’re the only two who actually like Jack,” Matt laughs, “I think he’s a good guy. He gets caught up with being great too much. That’s all.”
Grieco hums in agreement and then the silence falls between them. He knows that just because they’re having a civilized conversation, they’re not okay. It’s easy to get lulled into a false sense of security when it comes to relationships but they’re not stupid. Talking it out is the only way they can go back to normal. And Grieco is pretty certain they can handle that.
“If it’s alright with you, I was thinking I could sleep in our room tonight,” Matt says when the shuttle bus pulls up. “No offense to Gabe or Dallon, but they both snore way too loud. I haven’t slept in two days.”
Grieco is quick to smile and nod. “That’d be fine.”
-&-
Over the course of the road trip, Martin spends most of his time on his phone, texting Zack and complaining about life and figuring out exactly how this demotion is going to pan out for them. He knows he’s going to have to find a new place to stay, considering the tem he’ll be playing for doesn’t play in the same city, and they’re going to have to figure out what to do with Kona, because it would be ridiculous to think they could hip her back and forth between apartments like they’re divorced and she’s their kid. This entire situation is really becoming very inconvenient and Martin is seriously considering retiring from the stupid sport and finding a new career. But Zack will never let him even consider it. This is just ‘a bump in the road’ according to him. Yeah, okay. More like a mountain.
“Don’t worry, you’re not getting demoted,” John tell him in the middle of the fourth inning during the game in Arizona. The road trip is coming to an end, with only four more games along the west coast to play. “I’m not letting that happen.”
“You don’t exactly hold much authority anymore,” Martin points out, giving John a ‘sorry to remind you’ smile. “It’s no big deal. Whatever happens, happens. I’ll come back from it.”
“That’s great positive thinking,” John praises, “But I’m serious. I’m going to figure out a way. I’m going to talk to Jack. Maybe he can talk to Pete and we can work this out. You’re not going anywhere.”
Dallon and Gabe are both leaning against the dugout railing, watching the field. But after John’s bold statement, they both turn and nod in agreement.
“Nobody’s letting you go anywhere,” Gabe says quietly, eying Pete at the other end of the bench. “Not unless he wants us to make a scene out of it.”
Dallon gestures over his shoulder towards home plate, where Jack is currently up at bat. “And none of us really even want Jack as our captain. I’m not even going to acknowledge him.”
It’s a nice gesture, really. And Martin appreciates it. It’s nice to know that your teammates don’t actually hate you like you thought they did. But he’s pretty certain that his fate has been sealed. Pete Wentz is powerful – he has a lot of pull in this industry. If he wants someone gone, Martin thinks he’ll be able to get it done without much of a scene. And Jack? Jack could probably care less about the entire thing. As long as the title of captain still applies to him.
-&-
The only thing that would make Jack’s life better right now would be a promotion to the big leagues. But that’s not happening yet (however, it’s in the near future), so he’ll take what he has and run with it. He’s the captain of his team, he’s batting four for four tonight and he’s got the most adorable boyfriend on the planet. It’s not bad being Jack right now.
That is, it’s not bad being Jack until everyone in his life suddenly turns on him.
“Why is everyone acting so weird?” he asks Alex during the seventh inning stretch. He’s adjusting his cleats and watching the other end of the dugout make fun of Gabe, who’s dancing on the top step of the dugout. “Nobody will even respond to me when I talk to them.”
Alex shrugs. “That’s weird.”
“I don’t get it. Did I do something? Did any of them mention something to you? I mean, I can see why John wouldn’t want to talk to me but-”
Finally Alex looks up at him, eyes narrowed and disbelief painted all over his face. “You seriously don’t get it, do you?”
Jack blinks. “Get it?”
“You’re actually so oblivious to this entire thing,” Alex laughs, getting up from his seat next to Jack, “I’m not sure if that makes it better or worse.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Jack, everyone is pretty pissed off at you right now. And by everyone, I mean everyone. I’m the only person who wants to talk to you. And you don’t even know why?”
“…No?”
He really doesn’t. He’s trying to think back over the past few days, trying to remember if he said or did anything to offend someone on his team. But there’s literally nothing that he can think of. In fact, he feels like he’s only been extra nice these days, thanks to his good mood. Actually…it could be that time the other day when he told Brendon he was stacking the helmets wrong?
“Does this have to do with me criticizing Brendon’s bat boy techniques?”
Alex looks disappointed by his response. “No, Jack. That’s not it. Maybe you should really think about everything that went down the past few days and then rethink your ability to be captain. That might point you in the right direction.”
And Alex disappears for the remainder of the game. At first, Jack just shakes it off. Alex was a little overdramatic, that’s all. Jack hits another double in the ninth inning, and they win the game by two runs, which definitely helps ease Pete’s mind a little. He’s been stressing over their record lately, and over the fact that they’re in danger of finishing last in the league. But things are looking up now.
But when Alex tells Jack he’s going to be rooming with Brendon and Ryan until Jack gets his act together, that’s when Jack realizes he might need to have little self-evaluation and figure out what everyone is so pissed off about.
“Okay, so what happens if I’m drafted? Like, do I have to try out, or…what?”
Jack shakes his head and sits back on the green grass of the baseball field. He leans forward and grabs onto his left foot, stretching out his muscles before he has to do some laps. “You’d get drafted into the minors, and you’d get checked out by everyone – and I mean everyone. Other teams will be looking at you too.”
“Oh,” Alex frowns, “So if they get a good enough offer, they’d trade me?”
“Well duh. Unless they really, really think that you’re going to help the team. And if they’re drafting you out of high school, then they probably do think that.”
“Now I’m nervous,” Alex admits, tossing the baseball in his hands from one to the other. “Do you think that’ll happen? That I’ll get drafted after I graduate? I mean, I think I’m pretty decent and I know people have come to see me play I just…I just hope I get drafted to Trenton. And move my way up to you.”
Jack grins, “That’d be nice. But come on, Alex. Even if we’re not on the same team, it’s not going to make me love you any less.” He leans in and gently grabs Alex’s face in his hands, pulling him closer and kissing him.
“No making out on the field!” Their manager shouts from somewhere close behind them and Alex is quick to pull back, not exactly in the mood to get into trouble with Pete.
“I’m going to go help Brendon organize bats,” Alex tells his boyfriend, pushing himself up from the field. “Make sure to take your shirt off when you run so I can admire you,” He winks and then he’s running back towards the visitor’s dugout, leaving Jack laughing behind him.
Alex finds Brendon sitting in the dugout, writing names on post-it notes and sticking them on the bats that the players use during each game. “About time you came back to help me,” He complains, and Alex is pretty sure he’s not even playing around.
“Sorry, I got distracted by Jack.”
“Of course you did. Because Jack is perfect and wonderful and doesn’t do anything wrong. Got it.”
The words coming from Brendon are anything but playful and joking as they usually are and it makes Alex freeze in his movements, hand outstretched towards one of the bats. What the hell did he do to make Brendon act like this?
“Are you okay?” he asks softly, trying not to cause a scene. Martin and John are at the other end of the dugout, whispering to each other about something or another and Alex doesn’t want to distract them. “Did I do something?”
“Oh, no,” Brendon says quickly, “Nope. You didn’t do anything.”
“Brendon…You’re clearly pissed off with me and if you don’t tell me what I did then I can’t fix it.”
Brendon gets up and puts the last bat away, pressing the sticky note down and shaking his head. “Until you wake up and realize Jack’s not perfect, I don’t think you can fix it. Don’t you think it was an asshole thing of him to do? Not defending Martin? Letting John take the fall and taking his position as captain?”
Alex opens his mouth to respond but Brendon clearly doesn’t want to hear it. He rolls his eyes and stomps back into the locker rooms, probably to finish gathering up the batting helmets and to whine to Ryan about whatever he’s pissed about. It’s what he usually does when he’s pissed off with everything else, so why change now? Alex shrugs to himself and goes about sorting the baseballs and figuring out which ones will go to the bullpen and which will stay here. Brendon is just acting like a teenage girl on her period. He didn’t really mean what he said about Jack. Besides, it’s not Jack’s fault that he’s captain now. So there really should be no issue here. Brendon will be over it by the time the game starts.
“He’s actually not that out of line, Alex,” comes a voice from behind him and Alex knows who it is without having to turn around. He sighs and continues gathering up the baseballs to take to the bullpen and feels Flyzik come up behind him and assist him, tossing them into the bucket by the bench. “Think about it – John defends his teammate and gets demoted, and Jack, who didn’t do a thing to defend Martin, gets his place? It’s a little screwed up, you have to admit.”
And okay, if you look at it that way, then yes. Okay. It seems a bit stupid. But Jack didn’t ask to be made captain. Pete gave it to him. It’s not Jack’s fault. “Whatever. It doesn’t have anything to do with me so I don’t know why everyone seems to be so pissed off.”
Flyzik keeps quiet while he picks up the last few baseballs by the steps to the field. Alex notices that he doesn’t look nearly as upbeat as he normally does. Apparently Alex isn’t the only one with issues today.
“You might not have anything to do with the captain thing, that’s true,” Flyzik agrees when all the balls are back in the buckets and the team is starting to come in from the field. “But you definitely have a better position than any of us to talk some sense into Jack and at least make him see what he did wrong.”
All the players are leaving the field, coming down the steps and heading into the locker room. Flyzik joins up with Gabe and Caleb and Kyle as they come in, talking about their stretching routine and how early they should get to the stadium later tonight to run a few extra laps. Both Martin and John are still sitting at the opposite end of the bench, both with their eyes on Alex. He knows they probably overheard the entire conversation between him and Brendon, and then the one between him and Flyzik. And he should probably really consider taking what the both of them said to heart. But then Jack is hoping down the steps and wrapping his arms around Alex from behind and all Alex can do is smile and pretend everything’s perfectly fine.
-&-
“Do you think if I came up with my own ‘7th Inning Stretch’ dance they’ll put me on TV?”
“Gabe…you’re already on TV,” Ryan points out. “We are all on TV. At least twice a week.”
Gabe frowns. He’s been sitting at the small desk in the hotel room in front of his laptop for twenty minutes, looking up YouTube videos of baseball players dancing in-between innings. Brendon’s just wondering when he’ll realize his phone has been going off in his bag with incoming calls from his boyfriend.
“Exactly. Twice a week. Maybe if I do something cute and funny during the stretch, they’ll make me famous! I’ll make William teach me some moves – he knows how to move his hips and seduce people with his dance moves.”
Brendon thinks that Gabe could probably get away with it – he has a good body and fans already think he’s one of the most attractive players on the team right now. He doesn’t really blame the guy for wanting to increase his fan following.
Ryan laughs from his spot on his bed where he’s re-lacing his cleats. The shoes are covered in dirt from practice earlier and Brendon wants to tell him to get them off the bed. “You should start a YouTube channel. Post a video of yourself dancing once a week. The chicks would dig it, man.”
“Don’t go giving him ideas,” Brendon warns him, curling up on his own bed and focusing on the small TV across the room. It’s playing Sports Center, as usual. The next story has to do with Pete Wentz and his ‘struggling team of misfit Yankees’. Brendon can’t deny the fact that he’d like to watch that.
“Well before you go creating an account, we should probably talk about what an asshole Barakat is and how we’re going to go about getting John his captain title back,” Ryan suggests, and that has Gabe slamming his computer shut and mumbling obscenities under his breath. “I mean, that was absolute bullshit. He’s the least deserving of that position and he’s the only one who doesn’t realize it.”
“Neither does Alex,” Brendon points out. He’ll admit, he’s a little bit pissed off at his fellow bat boy.
Ryan gives him a sympathetic smile. “Don’t be pissed at Alex. He has nothing to do with it. He’s just the one caught up in it. So don’t be a little bitch.”
“Leave Alex out of it. I overheard John on the phone with his girlfriend earlier. He’s pretty upset over it. Not that anyone would know, considering he’s the most selfless person on the entire team. But I guess selflessness means shit when you’re not Pete Wentz’s favorite player. Barakat is a total suck up. He doesn’t care what happens to this team. He just wants to go back to the big leagues where he didn’t belong in the first place.”
“Harsh,” Ryan states, “But accurate.”
“And Martin doesn’t deserve to be demoted. Sure, he’s sleeping with Merrick but whatever; he can stick his dick wherever he wants. It’s none of our business as long as he isn’t giving away our game plans and telling him every secret we have. And last I checked, the kid would never do that.”
“This wouldn’t have happened if Squire were still manager,” Brendon points out. “And I really don’t understand why Butch replaced him with Wentz. Sure, we were losing but every team has a rough patch.”
Gabe shrugs. “We’ve had a few of those. He got fed up. I’m surprised it didn’t’ happen earlier, to be honest. But let’s be real – we can’t do anything about Pete being manager now. That’s the way it is. We have to focus on either making Jack realize what a shithead he is. It sounds impossible, considering the guy’s ego is the size of the Empire State Building, but I think it’s possible.”
Ryan opens his mouth to say something in return, but the reporter on ESPN is starting to lead into the story about Pete and there’s no way Brendon’s letting them miss this. He ups the volume and sits up on the bed, crossing his legs and waits to hear what the outside world really thinks of the team he’s been working for.
-&-
Grieco was still at the stadium when the reporters ambushed Jack for an interview. He’s not entirely sure where John snuck off to, but he’s thinks he must have already left in fear of the same thing happening to him. Everyone’s going to want to know his reaction to having the captain title stripped away from him. He’d be smart to avoid that as long as possible. But of course Jack is all ready to be praised on his new title. Because he totally earned it. He makes Grieco sick.
As he walks past the large group of people surrounding Jack, Grieco overhears him talking about how excited he is for the opportunity to lead the team to the playoffs and to stop this losing streak. He notices Alex is across the room, frowning to himself as he puts batting helmets on shelves. Maybe Alex is starting to realize what a jackass his boyfriend is, too.
By the time he’s made it into the parking lot where the shuttle bus to the hotel is supposed to show up, he’s heard enough out of Jack to make him feel justified enough to break his nose. He’s in the middle of planning exactly how to do it when he realizes that Matt is waiting for shuttle bus with him. He pauses, thinking maybe he should pretend that he left something in the locker room and go back and miss the next bus, therefore avoiding an awkward bus ride with his still pissed off boyfriend. But Matt smiles where he’s sitting on the bench and moves down, making room for both Grieco and his bag. So there goes that plan.
“From the disgusted look on your face, you either really don’t want to sit near me or you overheard Jack’s interview in the locker room. Or, it could be a combination of both,” Matt jokes, but he sounds sad. And Grieco knows their fight has really gone on for a little too long now.
“It’s definitely because of Jack,” he says quickly, dropping his bag by his feet and lessening the distance between him and his boyfriend. “Remember when he used to be tolerable and the only thing wrong with him was his inability to keep his anger in check?”
“It’s a little fuzzy, but I think I remember.”
Grieco smiles when Matt doesn’t try and increase the distance. “I mean, I know he’s not purposely being this way. His just blinded by the idea of finally being captain and doesn’t realize what a shitty person he’s being.”
“I think we’re the only two who actually like Jack,” Matt laughs, “I think he’s a good guy. He gets caught up with being great too much. That’s all.”
Grieco hums in agreement and then the silence falls between them. He knows that just because they’re having a civilized conversation, they’re not okay. It’s easy to get lulled into a false sense of security when it comes to relationships but they’re not stupid. Talking it out is the only way they can go back to normal. And Grieco is pretty certain they can handle that.
“If it’s alright with you, I was thinking I could sleep in our room tonight,” Matt says when the shuttle bus pulls up. “No offense to Gabe or Dallon, but they both snore way too loud. I haven’t slept in two days.”
Grieco is quick to smile and nod. “That’d be fine.”
-&-
Over the course of the road trip, Martin spends most of his time on his phone, texting Zack and complaining about life and figuring out exactly how this demotion is going to pan out for them. He knows he’s going to have to find a new place to stay, considering the tem he’ll be playing for doesn’t play in the same city, and they’re going to have to figure out what to do with Kona, because it would be ridiculous to think they could hip her back and forth between apartments like they’re divorced and she’s their kid. This entire situation is really becoming very inconvenient and Martin is seriously considering retiring from the stupid sport and finding a new career. But Zack will never let him even consider it. This is just ‘a bump in the road’ according to him. Yeah, okay. More like a mountain.
“Don’t worry, you’re not getting demoted,” John tell him in the middle of the fourth inning during the game in Arizona. The road trip is coming to an end, with only four more games along the west coast to play. “I’m not letting that happen.”
“You don’t exactly hold much authority anymore,” Martin points out, giving John a ‘sorry to remind you’ smile. “It’s no big deal. Whatever happens, happens. I’ll come back from it.”
“That’s great positive thinking,” John praises, “But I’m serious. I’m going to figure out a way. I’m going to talk to Jack. Maybe he can talk to Pete and we can work this out. You’re not going anywhere.”
Dallon and Gabe are both leaning against the dugout railing, watching the field. But after John’s bold statement, they both turn and nod in agreement.
“Nobody’s letting you go anywhere,” Gabe says quietly, eying Pete at the other end of the bench. “Not unless he wants us to make a scene out of it.”
Dallon gestures over his shoulder towards home plate, where Jack is currently up at bat. “And none of us really even want Jack as our captain. I’m not even going to acknowledge him.”
It’s a nice gesture, really. And Martin appreciates it. It’s nice to know that your teammates don’t actually hate you like you thought they did. But he’s pretty certain that his fate has been sealed. Pete Wentz is powerful – he has a lot of pull in this industry. If he wants someone gone, Martin thinks he’ll be able to get it done without much of a scene. And Jack? Jack could probably care less about the entire thing. As long as the title of captain still applies to him.
-&-
The only thing that would make Jack’s life better right now would be a promotion to the big leagues. But that’s not happening yet (however, it’s in the near future), so he’ll take what he has and run with it. He’s the captain of his team, he’s batting four for four tonight and he’s got the most adorable boyfriend on the planet. It’s not bad being Jack right now.
That is, it’s not bad being Jack until everyone in his life suddenly turns on him.
“Why is everyone acting so weird?” he asks Alex during the seventh inning stretch. He’s adjusting his cleats and watching the other end of the dugout make fun of Gabe, who’s dancing on the top step of the dugout. “Nobody will even respond to me when I talk to them.”
Alex shrugs. “That’s weird.”
“I don’t get it. Did I do something? Did any of them mention something to you? I mean, I can see why John wouldn’t want to talk to me but-”
Finally Alex looks up at him, eyes narrowed and disbelief painted all over his face. “You seriously don’t get it, do you?”
Jack blinks. “Get it?”
“You’re actually so oblivious to this entire thing,” Alex laughs, getting up from his seat next to Jack, “I’m not sure if that makes it better or worse.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Jack, everyone is pretty pissed off at you right now. And by everyone, I mean everyone. I’m the only person who wants to talk to you. And you don’t even know why?”
“…No?”
He really doesn’t. He’s trying to think back over the past few days, trying to remember if he said or did anything to offend someone on his team. But there’s literally nothing that he can think of. In fact, he feels like he’s only been extra nice these days, thanks to his good mood. Actually…it could be that time the other day when he told Brendon he was stacking the helmets wrong?
“Does this have to do with me criticizing Brendon’s bat boy techniques?”
Alex looks disappointed by his response. “No, Jack. That’s not it. Maybe you should really think about everything that went down the past few days and then rethink your ability to be captain. That might point you in the right direction.”
And Alex disappears for the remainder of the game. At first, Jack just shakes it off. Alex was a little overdramatic, that’s all. Jack hits another double in the ninth inning, and they win the game by two runs, which definitely helps ease Pete’s mind a little. He’s been stressing over their record lately, and over the fact that they’re in danger of finishing last in the league. But things are looking up now.
But when Alex tells Jack he’s going to be rooming with Brendon and Ryan until Jack gets his act together, that’s when Jack realizes he might need to have little self-evaluation and figure out what everyone is so pissed off about.
♠ ♠ ♠
oh my god??????one year later
this sucks
i'm sorry omg i just thought i should probably post something
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
ok
THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU WHO STILL READ THIS!
<3