Chapter Text
It’s a generally accepted truth that as a high school baseball player, you will under those three years sacrifice all chances of a romantic relationship with another human being on the altar of the baseball gods. That may be the reason it takes so long for people to figure it out, though it’s not enough to excuse the two particular persons involved.
Chris is the first to notice, since his position on the team means that he is privy to a lot of the pitcher-catcher interactions. There isn’t a specific thing they do that makes it obvious; it’s rather a lot of small things that gradually adds up to one conclusion. When he gets it, he smiles and does nothing. It doesn’t have anything to do with him, really, and while he privately wishes them the best of luck he has his hands full with Sawamura.
Kuramochi is second, partly because of the time he spends together with Miyuki, and partly because he’s just observant. It’s not like either of them is particularly subtle, anyway. The grin he directs at Miyuki when he realizes it is full of evil glee, but he refuses to explain when Miyuki asks.
Ryousuke spends enough of his time with Kuramochi to get an idea, but it takes another Kominato bonding session for it to fall into place. It happens like this; Ryousuke makes an off-hand comment about the sad state of the Miyuki-Furuya battery, and Haruichi agrees that one-sided crushes are rather sad. It takes five more minutes for them to realize that they were talking about different halves of the battery.
As for Tanba, he pretends to be both blind and deaf to all things that so much as hints in that direction, not that it does him any good. Sometimes he feels sorry for Furuya and his utter lack of taste, but mostly he’s relieved that it has nothing to do with him.
As long as it doesn’t influence their playing the captain has no reason to get involved in the other players love lives. Still, during one of their shougi games Yuuki gives Miyuki an encouraging nod to show his general support of his happiness. Miyuki looks to the board to see where the satisfied look is coming from, and understands nothing.
Jun may be rather late in noticing, but he is by far the most supportive. When he walks up to Furuya, puts a hand on his shoulder and tells him “Good luck”, Furuya is confused, but mostly pleased.
By that time more or less the entire first string has noticed or been told by someone else. Practically the only people who haven’t noticed are the pair themselves. Well, Miyuki isn’t entirely in the dark. He can tell that there is something the others know that they’re not telling him, but while it’s annoying, he is content with waiting it out.
He doesn't have to wait very long. Someone on the team makes another smug comment about him and Furuya, and Miyuki, without thinking, says, “You make it sound as if I have a crush”, and laughs at the idea. No one else does, and the most uncomfortable silence in Miyuki’s life spreads in the room. Afterwards, he can only console himself with the fact that Furuya wasn’t there to hear it, and that their team members have no idea what they’re (not) talking about. None at all.
Unfortunately for Miyuki, he’s too smart for self-deception, so he accepts his predicament within twenty-four hours. This means that he spends the next weeks in a state of constant embarrassment, which is as unpleasant as unusual for him. No one was kind enough to tell him that they’re all sure that Furuya more than return his feelings.
Certain as he is that Miyuki's suffering is temporary, Kuramochi has no qualms whatsoever about indulging in some schaudenfraude. One day after practice Kuramochi slings an arm across Miyuki's shoulders, and says, “Well, you sure are lucky, being able to spend all that time together with the person you like." His voice is just a little too loud, and by the way Furuya freezes up in the middle of a step, there is no question that he heard him.
He’s not even the only one, and the next second Sawamura is asking about it. His tone of voice makes it sound like Miyuki feeling affection for another human being is slightly less probable than him being Satan.
Whatever answer Miyuki intended to make sticks in his throat. Before Sawamura can ask him again, Kuramochi takes pity on him and makes up an appropriately vague answer. Miyuki takes the first opportunity to run the fuck away and tries to not notice how Furuya stayed and listened.
The conversation leaves both Sawamura and Furuya with the impression that there is a girl in their year that Miyuki is in love with, but their reactions are entirely different. Sawamura thinks it’s hilarious, while Furuya… It’s kind of hard to tell Furuya's emotional state from his expression, but the fact that there is a non-stop fighting aura coming from the baseball grounds during the next few days makes it a little easier to figure out.
In the end Kuramochi takes pity on them (again), and informs Furuya that the person he has spent the week being insanely jealous of is himself. No one on the team knows exactly what is said in the ensuing conversation between Miyuki and Furuya following Kuramochi’s intervention, and they find that they are rather content with that. Between Miyuki, who’s always smiling, and Furuya, who never is, it’s kind of hard to tell, but they seem happy, and that’s enough.
The only one who doesn’t get it is of course Sawamura, but as long as his questions don’t get too awkward no one bothers to explain. And when they do, well, that’s what they have Chris for.