Status: In Progress
First Base
III- Captain
That Monday as school begins Alex feels like a new man. He made the baseball team and Rian genuinely enjoys being around him. He’s practically skipping along to chemistry. He takes his seat behind Rian absently tapping his fingers against the table and reads the day’s agenda. ‘Partner project’, it’s the perfect opportunity to spend more time with Rian without seeming as desperate as he is. As soon as the teacher announces it Alex leans back in his chair and sends Rian a pointed glance. Rian nods back at him. The deal is set in stone. When the teacher’s introductory statement is over Rian and Alex have been assigned a study on pineapple enzymes.
“We could make a model but I feel like that’s a lot of extra work when we could just make a poster and do a better job.” Rian nods.
“Do you like pineapple?” Alex laughs.
“Are you even listening to me? Yeah, I do but sometimes it kind of stings and I only really like it if it’s fresh.”
“I’m pretty much the same way.”
“I have some of those sticky poster letters at my house so if you want to come over after school?” Alex’s sentence trails off.
“Sure, I’ll text my mom.”
“Alright, that’s settled then.” Alex pulls his goggles on and places a section of pineapple into the solution below. “Let's analyze this pineapple.”
The rest of the day passes quickly and Alex finds himself in his PE clothes as Nano meticulously measures his ankles.
“Don’t you feel kind of ridiculous?” Alex asks as Nano wiggles around on the ground.
“Oh absolutely, I don’t really need any of these measurements. I just right that you’re a medium but the longer this takes the less conditioning we have to do.” Rian groans at the sound of this.
“Don’t even talk about it. I’m already sore thinking about conditioning.”
“What even is conditioning?” Nano just rolls his eyes but Rian is kind enough to answer.
“The worst thing. Before we actually get to play we have to just like strength, agility and flexibility stuff. We run so much.”
“Yeah, they try to get us to lose all the weight we gained over the off season. It’s hard for Rian.” Alex glares at Nano.
“Hey,” Alex chastises Nano for the comment. “I like Rian how he is.”
“We all do,” Nano clarifies, “but Coach doesn’t.” Nano moves on recording more sizes but conditioning inevitably strikes. Alex seems relatively healthy to the outside viewer but his cardiovascular system is “fucked” as Nano says running beside their team captain, Matt, during their warm-up lap. Rian seems to be in prime condition.
“Wow,” Matt claps slowly. “It looks like somebody is actually prepared this year.” Rian looks down at his feet. They’re sent quickly on their way after that completing a circuit of a number of activities twenty times. At the end Alex totally understands what the big deal was, he feels like he spent 3000 years embedded in a vat of molten iron. Rian looks very proud of himself and Matt gives him a friendly pat on the back. Nano looks very surprised by that gesture.
“I cannot believe Flyzik actually touched you.” Nano exclaims during a water break. Rian beams back at him.
“Me neither. This is the greatest I’ve ever felt.”
“I’m sure this a very big deal to you two but may I ask why?” Alex interjects as politely as he can, not wanting to invalidate Rian’s happiness.
“Our team captain James Matthew Flyzik is a stone cold bitch.” Nano states. “He has exhibited exactly no affection to anyone, ever. Ri called him Matt once and ever since then he’s had to be extra careful because Flyzik would call him out on his every move.”
“Okay, so don’t call him Matt?”
“Nope, never refer to him as anything other than Captain or Flyzik.”
“Gotcha. Why?”
“Beats me, but don’t get us wrong, we adore him. Everybody on the team has a huge crush on him, us included, he’s the best batter in the league.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, it’s super impressive because he’s only a junior.”
“And he has such nice eyes,” Rian adds and Nano nods vigorously.
“He really does.” Part of Alex wishes he’d never started this conversation but he can’t help but agree with them. They do another shorter round of circuits and then a “cool down” lap. Which Alex is pretty sure is not a real thing because it just makes him hurt more. By the end of practice, all of them are sluggishly rolling around on the grass as Flyzik smiles down at them. Nano tells him about “groundhog day.” At the end of the first day of conditioning, Flyzik determines how long they will continue if for. It can range from a single day to 2 whole weeks. He clears his throat and they all turn to him in anticipation.
“3 more days of winter.” Nano practically jumps for joy.
“That is not bad at all. Last time we had to do a week and a half.” Rian winces at the memory.
“That was so awful.” Rian goes home with Alex so they can work on their science project. Alex skips up the stairs to his room and Rian is quick to follow.
“Sorry, it’s a mess. I would have cleaned up if I knew you were coming.” Alex rocks on the balls of his feet anxiously. Rian just laughs and pushes past him into the room. He follows Rian in. He sets his backpack down on the floor at the end of his bed but is quick to leave the room again going down to the basement to get some poster board. Rian sits down looking at his room his comforter is a mellow green but below it, his sheets are decorated with characters from Star Wars which seems very fitting. His bedside table was littered with PS4 games and a Blink-182 poster hung above his dresser. He has a small desk with books about outer space on it. There are some clothes on the floor but Rian would not consider it in any way messy. Rian sits on the edge of the bed for a minute before slipping off his shoes and digging through his backpack for the notes he’d taken on their tests earlier that day. Alex slides across the hardwood floor and into the room displaying the poster board dramatically to Rian. Rian bows and takes it.
“My lord,” Alex curtsies back at him and turns to retrieve the poster letters from a drawer in his desk. Rian pulls a marker from his bag and get’s real close to beginning their poster when Alex stops him
“What on god’s green earth do you think you’re doing?” Rian looks up at him.
“I'm starting the poster.”
“If we start in marker it will end up a mess. We have to plan it out and then write in pencil to get the spacing right before we can go over it in marker.” Alex states grabbing the marker from Rian’s hand. “It has to be pretty.” Rian reluctantly complies and in the end, he's glad he did because it looks nice even if it took them the better half of an hour to settle on a color scheme.
“Nano and I aren't going to be at practice tomorrow. We've got some crazy field trip. I'd figure you'd like a heads-up you're going to be alone.” Rian says as he's leaving. “Stick with Flyzik.” Alex nods and gives him a hug.
“Thanks for telling me. Goodbye!” Rian waves at him and gets into his Mom's car
School the next morning is boring without them. Jack tries to cheer Alex up but he's too nervous for practice without Rian and Nano. He floats through the day as his usual silly self but he’s completely focused on the quickly approaching practice.
When it does arrive Alex does as Rian told him and sticks with Flyzik. Flyzik eventually catches on and introduces himself, offering Alex a hand. Alex feels a little starstruck but shakes it.
“I’m Matt but you can call me Matty or Flyzik.” He says matter of factly.
“I’m Alex and I received specific instructions to only refer to you as Flyzik. Was I being messed with,” he pauses trying to read the conversation, “Matty?” It feels weird, like calling your Mom bro, but Matt smiles at the sound of it.
“Probably not. A lot of the underclassmen think I’m kind of mean which I guess is my fault. I can’t be sweet and retain their attention as a team ya know?” Alex nods vigorously drinking in every word Matt’s saying. Nano’s previous statement about the whole team having a crush on him makes a whole lot of sense when you’re staring up at the man. “I guess it’s sort of a baseball persona,” Matt concludes chuckling to himself. “Well,” he returns his attention back to the matter at hand. “Yes, you can absolutely call me Matty but we have some baseball to get to.” Alex groans at the thought of another day of conditioning.
“Here we go.” Matt laughs at him.
“If it makes you feel any better, I hate it too.”
“Not really,” Alex frowns, “but I appreciate the thought.” Practice passes sluggishly but Alex grows more acquainted with Matt who is kinder than he could have hoped and gives him all sorts of helpful advice. He runs beside Alex and enthusiastically encourages him as they complete innumerable rounds of circuits.
When Alex gets home he doesn't know if he should text Rian and Nano about his incredible connection with Flyzik. He decides to keep it as his little secret for the time being and surprise the two of them tomorrow.
Alex is changing out of his uniform when his phone starts to ring. He flips it over to read the name as he opened the buttons on his shirt. Rian's name is displayed on the screen and Alex almost squeals at the sight of it. He answers the call, tucking the phone between his shoulder and his ear so as to continue unbuttoning his shirt.
“Hello?” Rian asks hesitantly over the unintelligible voices in the background.
“Hey, Ri.” Alex smiles at the sound of his voice. “What's up?”
“Nothing really,” Rian says reluctantly. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay after practice without us.” Alex knows he meant this call as a cute, kind gesture but he'd be lying if he didn't say it irked him.
“Don't be silly.” Alex's voice is thick with sarcasm. “Why wouldn't I be okay?”
“I don't know.”
“I'm not a baby Rian.” It takes Rian an uncomfortably long time to respond.
“We'll I'm glad it went well.” By this time Alex manages to slip his shirt off so he lays back on his bed.
“It really did,” Alex says. “Thank you for calling Rian.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.” Alex really did appreciate the gesture but the tone Rian had taken was patronizing. Alex was willing to admit he wasn’t as knowledgeable about baseball as Rian was but that didn’t give Rian the right to assume Alex would be lost without him. That being said, a considerable portion of Alex was willing to curl up in Rian’s kind words the second he began to speak. He goes to bed mulling over the conversation.
When Alex hangs up the phone Rian screams quietly at Nano.
“That was, the worst.”
“Talk about yikes.”
“He fucking hates me.”
“Sure does sound like it.”
“That was the wrong thing to say.”
“Yeah, sorry.” Nano sighs. “I swear I hate being you two because I could be so helpful but I don’t want to be that bitch who reveals other people’s secrets.
“Understandable.”
“I can tell you right now. If you sincerely apologize he’ll be all over you again.” The school bus rolls to halt and they climb out.
“I will but talk to him a little bit for me. I’m awkward.” Nano slaps him on the back and jogs in the direction of his dad’s car.
“I got you,” Nano assures him. When he settles into the car he pulls out his phone to text Alex only to see he has already received a text from the man himself.
From: Gay #2
I done fucked up.
To: Gay #2
You sure did. What were you thinking?
From: Gay #2
I! Don’t! Know! He just made me feel bad.
To: Gay #2
How so?
From: Gay #2
He’s just so strong and good at baseball and I am so bad at everything and I just feel like he’s rubbing that in my face all the time.
To: Gay #2
Um? I love you but? You’re a goddamn idiot?
From: Gay #2
Dare I say? How So?
To: Gay #2
HE’S TRYING TO IMPRESS YOU?????
Alex is typing for a while but when his answer comes it is short and to the point.
From: Gay #2
Fuckk
Nano puts his phone down and hangs his head. His dad looks at him.
“Everything alright?” He asks Nano keeping his eyes on the road but glancing in his direction.
“Yeah, my friends are incredibly stupid.” His dad laughs nervously.
“Oh.” Nano doesn’t have the heart to answer.
From: Gay #2
So much makes sense now. Thank you for blessing me with this wisdom.
Nano just goes to bed.
“We could make a model but I feel like that’s a lot of extra work when we could just make a poster and do a better job.” Rian nods.
“Do you like pineapple?” Alex laughs.
“Are you even listening to me? Yeah, I do but sometimes it kind of stings and I only really like it if it’s fresh.”
“I’m pretty much the same way.”
“I have some of those sticky poster letters at my house so if you want to come over after school?” Alex’s sentence trails off.
“Sure, I’ll text my mom.”
“Alright, that’s settled then.” Alex pulls his goggles on and places a section of pineapple into the solution below. “Let's analyze this pineapple.”
The rest of the day passes quickly and Alex finds himself in his PE clothes as Nano meticulously measures his ankles.
“Don’t you feel kind of ridiculous?” Alex asks as Nano wiggles around on the ground.
“Oh absolutely, I don’t really need any of these measurements. I just right that you’re a medium but the longer this takes the less conditioning we have to do.” Rian groans at the sound of this.
“Don’t even talk about it. I’m already sore thinking about conditioning.”
“What even is conditioning?” Nano just rolls his eyes but Rian is kind enough to answer.
“The worst thing. Before we actually get to play we have to just like strength, agility and flexibility stuff. We run so much.”
“Yeah, they try to get us to lose all the weight we gained over the off season. It’s hard for Rian.” Alex glares at Nano.
“Hey,” Alex chastises Nano for the comment. “I like Rian how he is.”
“We all do,” Nano clarifies, “but Coach doesn’t.” Nano moves on recording more sizes but conditioning inevitably strikes. Alex seems relatively healthy to the outside viewer but his cardiovascular system is “fucked” as Nano says running beside their team captain, Matt, during their warm-up lap. Rian seems to be in prime condition.
“Wow,” Matt claps slowly. “It looks like somebody is actually prepared this year.” Rian looks down at his feet. They’re sent quickly on their way after that completing a circuit of a number of activities twenty times. At the end Alex totally understands what the big deal was, he feels like he spent 3000 years embedded in a vat of molten iron. Rian looks very proud of himself and Matt gives him a friendly pat on the back. Nano looks very surprised by that gesture.
“I cannot believe Flyzik actually touched you.” Nano exclaims during a water break. Rian beams back at him.
“Me neither. This is the greatest I’ve ever felt.”
“I’m sure this a very big deal to you two but may I ask why?” Alex interjects as politely as he can, not wanting to invalidate Rian’s happiness.
“Our team captain James Matthew Flyzik is a stone cold bitch.” Nano states. “He has exhibited exactly no affection to anyone, ever. Ri called him Matt once and ever since then he’s had to be extra careful because Flyzik would call him out on his every move.”
“Okay, so don’t call him Matt?”
“Nope, never refer to him as anything other than Captain or Flyzik.”
“Gotcha. Why?”
“Beats me, but don’t get us wrong, we adore him. Everybody on the team has a huge crush on him, us included, he’s the best batter in the league.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, it’s super impressive because he’s only a junior.”
“And he has such nice eyes,” Rian adds and Nano nods vigorously.
“He really does.” Part of Alex wishes he’d never started this conversation but he can’t help but agree with them. They do another shorter round of circuits and then a “cool down” lap. Which Alex is pretty sure is not a real thing because it just makes him hurt more. By the end of practice, all of them are sluggishly rolling around on the grass as Flyzik smiles down at them. Nano tells him about “groundhog day.” At the end of the first day of conditioning, Flyzik determines how long they will continue if for. It can range from a single day to 2 whole weeks. He clears his throat and they all turn to him in anticipation.
“3 more days of winter.” Nano practically jumps for joy.
“That is not bad at all. Last time we had to do a week and a half.” Rian winces at the memory.
“That was so awful.” Rian goes home with Alex so they can work on their science project. Alex skips up the stairs to his room and Rian is quick to follow.
“Sorry, it’s a mess. I would have cleaned up if I knew you were coming.” Alex rocks on the balls of his feet anxiously. Rian just laughs and pushes past him into the room. He follows Rian in. He sets his backpack down on the floor at the end of his bed but is quick to leave the room again going down to the basement to get some poster board. Rian sits down looking at his room his comforter is a mellow green but below it, his sheets are decorated with characters from Star Wars which seems very fitting. His bedside table was littered with PS4 games and a Blink-182 poster hung above his dresser. He has a small desk with books about outer space on it. There are some clothes on the floor but Rian would not consider it in any way messy. Rian sits on the edge of the bed for a minute before slipping off his shoes and digging through his backpack for the notes he’d taken on their tests earlier that day. Alex slides across the hardwood floor and into the room displaying the poster board dramatically to Rian. Rian bows and takes it.
“My lord,” Alex curtsies back at him and turns to retrieve the poster letters from a drawer in his desk. Rian pulls a marker from his bag and get’s real close to beginning their poster when Alex stops him
“What on god’s green earth do you think you’re doing?” Rian looks up at him.
“I'm starting the poster.”
“If we start in marker it will end up a mess. We have to plan it out and then write in pencil to get the spacing right before we can go over it in marker.” Alex states grabbing the marker from Rian’s hand. “It has to be pretty.” Rian reluctantly complies and in the end, he's glad he did because it looks nice even if it took them the better half of an hour to settle on a color scheme.
“Nano and I aren't going to be at practice tomorrow. We've got some crazy field trip. I'd figure you'd like a heads-up you're going to be alone.” Rian says as he's leaving. “Stick with Flyzik.” Alex nods and gives him a hug.
“Thanks for telling me. Goodbye!” Rian waves at him and gets into his Mom's car
School the next morning is boring without them. Jack tries to cheer Alex up but he's too nervous for practice without Rian and Nano. He floats through the day as his usual silly self but he’s completely focused on the quickly approaching practice.
When it does arrive Alex does as Rian told him and sticks with Flyzik. Flyzik eventually catches on and introduces himself, offering Alex a hand. Alex feels a little starstruck but shakes it.
“I’m Matt but you can call me Matty or Flyzik.” He says matter of factly.
“I’m Alex and I received specific instructions to only refer to you as Flyzik. Was I being messed with,” he pauses trying to read the conversation, “Matty?” It feels weird, like calling your Mom bro, but Matt smiles at the sound of it.
“Probably not. A lot of the underclassmen think I’m kind of mean which I guess is my fault. I can’t be sweet and retain their attention as a team ya know?” Alex nods vigorously drinking in every word Matt’s saying. Nano’s previous statement about the whole team having a crush on him makes a whole lot of sense when you’re staring up at the man. “I guess it’s sort of a baseball persona,” Matt concludes chuckling to himself. “Well,” he returns his attention back to the matter at hand. “Yes, you can absolutely call me Matty but we have some baseball to get to.” Alex groans at the thought of another day of conditioning.
“Here we go.” Matt laughs at him.
“If it makes you feel any better, I hate it too.”
“Not really,” Alex frowns, “but I appreciate the thought.” Practice passes sluggishly but Alex grows more acquainted with Matt who is kinder than he could have hoped and gives him all sorts of helpful advice. He runs beside Alex and enthusiastically encourages him as they complete innumerable rounds of circuits.
When Alex gets home he doesn't know if he should text Rian and Nano about his incredible connection with Flyzik. He decides to keep it as his little secret for the time being and surprise the two of them tomorrow.
Alex is changing out of his uniform when his phone starts to ring. He flips it over to read the name as he opened the buttons on his shirt. Rian's name is displayed on the screen and Alex almost squeals at the sight of it. He answers the call, tucking the phone between his shoulder and his ear so as to continue unbuttoning his shirt.
“Hello?” Rian asks hesitantly over the unintelligible voices in the background.
“Hey, Ri.” Alex smiles at the sound of his voice. “What's up?”
“Nothing really,” Rian says reluctantly. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay after practice without us.” Alex knows he meant this call as a cute, kind gesture but he'd be lying if he didn't say it irked him.
“Don't be silly.” Alex's voice is thick with sarcasm. “Why wouldn't I be okay?”
“I don't know.”
“I'm not a baby Rian.” It takes Rian an uncomfortably long time to respond.
“We'll I'm glad it went well.” By this time Alex manages to slip his shirt off so he lays back on his bed.
“It really did,” Alex says. “Thank you for calling Rian.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.” Alex really did appreciate the gesture but the tone Rian had taken was patronizing. Alex was willing to admit he wasn’t as knowledgeable about baseball as Rian was but that didn’t give Rian the right to assume Alex would be lost without him. That being said, a considerable portion of Alex was willing to curl up in Rian’s kind words the second he began to speak. He goes to bed mulling over the conversation.
When Alex hangs up the phone Rian screams quietly at Nano.
“That was, the worst.”
“Talk about yikes.”
“He fucking hates me.”
“Sure does sound like it.”
“That was the wrong thing to say.”
“Yeah, sorry.” Nano sighs. “I swear I hate being you two because I could be so helpful but I don’t want to be that bitch who reveals other people’s secrets.
“Understandable.”
“I can tell you right now. If you sincerely apologize he’ll be all over you again.” The school bus rolls to halt and they climb out.
“I will but talk to him a little bit for me. I’m awkward.” Nano slaps him on the back and jogs in the direction of his dad’s car.
“I got you,” Nano assures him. When he settles into the car he pulls out his phone to text Alex only to see he has already received a text from the man himself.
From: Gay #2
I done fucked up.
To: Gay #2
You sure did. What were you thinking?
From: Gay #2
I! Don’t! Know! He just made me feel bad.
To: Gay #2
How so?
From: Gay #2
He’s just so strong and good at baseball and I am so bad at everything and I just feel like he’s rubbing that in my face all the time.
To: Gay #2
Um? I love you but? You’re a goddamn idiot?
From: Gay #2
Dare I say? How So?
To: Gay #2
HE’S TRYING TO IMPRESS YOU?????
Alex is typing for a while but when his answer comes it is short and to the point.
From: Gay #2
Fuckk
Nano puts his phone down and hangs his head. His dad looks at him.
“Everything alright?” He asks Nano keeping his eyes on the road but glancing in his direction.
“Yeah, my friends are incredibly stupid.” His dad laughs nervously.
“Oh.” Nano doesn’t have the heart to answer.
From: Gay #2
So much makes sense now. Thank you for blessing me with this wisdom.
Nano just goes to bed.