EDITED: Again, to add more 'fucking.' Sorry fan-people, not the way you're hoping. XD

Under Par

Mamori's Stand-In

Sena took the thermometer out of his mouth and groaned. 38.1°C! That was higher than it was yesterday after the visit from…Sena cleared away the memory. It was still unbelievable.

He blew his nose and hacked up some phlegm. Urrgggh, Hiruma-san's going to kill me.

Then his cell phone began to buzz on his bedside table. A text from Mamori-nee?

Sena –
I told Aunty I'd come by today after school, since she said she had to run some errands and today was an early morning practice. See you then!
In the meantime, drink plenty of fluids and get lots of rest, okay?
-Love, Mamori

Following the sound advice, Sena popped in two pills, drained the rest of his glass of water and settled in for a quick nap. Hopefully he'd wake up in time to greet Mamori-nee at the door.

Somehow, the scene changes and Sena finds himself in the newly built club room, in his pyjamas, standing next to Kurita going ladle-happy with a steaming pot on a portable burner.

"Kurita-san, what's this?" Sena asks, jiggling a cupful of what looks like runny, green eggs, with sand folded in for the gritty texture.

"Hiruma gave me this great book on eating to build strength! It's full of protein and vitamins and it's supposed to help build muscle mass. Here, try some!"

"Errr, no thanks. I just had a snack. I'd, um, I'd hate to run on a full stomach. Sorry, Kurita-san!" Sena tries to back away from the concoction, hands up in front in a standard warding gesture. A kick from behind almost sends him head first into the goop.

"Fucking shorty, look at those scrawny arms. Drink up."

"H-Hiruma-san! I –"

Click. The safety's turned off.

"Hiiieeee!" Sena grabs the steaming plastic cup from Kurita's hands, holds his breath, and chugs. It feels like snot going down, with grainy bits scratching at his throat. His eyes begin to water and he fights his gag reflex once. Twice. Third time's the charm after he swallows a particularly gruesome chunk of something and –

Sena woke up groggily, his head hanging off the side of his bed. The back of his throat and his nose burned and he noted a vaguely sour taste on his tongue. So gross.

"…ing disgusting…"

"Nngh…?" Sena raised his eyes to the voice and promptly let his head flop back down. If he wasn't pale before, he certainly was now as he felt the blood quickly drain away from his face.

He was a dead man, having just thrown up.

All over Hiruma's pants.

As Sena was contemplating what firearm Hiruma would use to finish him, he didn't realize he was holding his breath until he was flipped over and someone slapped his cheek hard. "Oi, stop having a fucking panic attack and tell me where the washroom is."

Sena let out a whoosh of air and quickly said on autopilot, "From the stairs, take a right, the first door after the closet." Hiruma left shortly afterwards, after -- rather uncharacteristically -- making sure the vomit wouldn't drip down to the ground.

In the last moments of his life, Sena decided he felt pretty calm (probably because of the cold medicine). He glanced balefully at his empty cup, wishing he had more water to wash out his mouth. He picked up his cell phone and wondered if he would be able to send out a quick message before he died (Dear everyone, thank you for everything…), but figured he'd get about 3 characters typed before Hiruma came back. Eyeing the clock, he saw that it was almost 4 o'clock. Where was Mamori-nee?

As if on cue, he received another text from the Devil Bats' manageress.

Sena –
Sorry, there was an emergency honours society meeting today. I ran into Suzuna-chan and she said she would come visit you in my place. She's bringing some soup for your supper.
Hang in there!
-Mamori

Well, that explained her absence. But why was Hiruma here? Again? Sena heard the water running. His 'guest' was probably using the shower. His stomach grumbled. That soup would've been good right about now.

The water stopped and Sena began counting down. …24, 23, 22 –

Hiruma appeared in the doorway, wearing a baby blue towel around his waist. Sena's jaw dropped, apology forgotten, and after a second he blurted out the first idiotic thing that came to mind: "Where are your pants?"

Hiruma raised an eyebrow. "Soaking in a fucking bucket because of someone's fucking puke, yeah?"

Sena's nervous laugh was choked off when Hiruma went to reach into his duffle bag –

Only to pull out a pair of track pants and a thermos. My gosh, he's going to give me a heart attack with all this suspense.

"Here. Eat it." After throwing the container and a spoon at the star running-back, Hiruma left the room again.

…Poison? That was considerate. Not too messy for his mom to clean up. He twisted off the lid and sniffed. It definitely wasn't like the guck in his dream. Then he noticed the thermos itself, with happy little bear faces patterned all over it. What the heck? Wasn't this…

"Didn't anybody teach you how to use a spoon before?"

With a start, Sena sloshed some of the liquid over the edge and onto his hands. He withered under Hiruma's pointed stare.

"Fucking hopeless. Give it here before you fucking hurt yourself." The older boy grabbed the thermos and mopped up the spill with a damp towel. Then he sat down sideways on the bed, with one leg steadying himself on the ground. He scooped up a spoonful of soup and held it up expectantly.

Sena did a double take, and once he realized what Hiruma wanted, blushed a brilliant red. "I can eat by myself!"

"I need you in tip-fucking-top shape, and you spilling soup all down your front is not how we're going to get there. Open your mouth before I pry it open." Something gleamed in Hiruma's eye and Sena obediently did as he was told. Fifteen minutes later, the thermos was empty and Sena's face was still as bright as a tomato. Yet buried underneath the embarrassment was bewilderment at the situation. Why was Hiruma acting like it was a perfectly natural thing to be spoon-feeding him? Where did he get a hold Mamori-nee's soup anyway?

Hiruma left the dirty container on the table and picked up the booklet of running plays. Opening to a random page, he asked, "What would you do if I decided on play 13?"

Sena chewed on his bottom lip. Luckily he got through about a quarter of the book before falling asleep last night, otherwise who knew what would happen to him. "Feint a run and cut to the…left side of the field?"

Hiruma grunted and flipped to another page. "4?"

"Err, take the ball and head straight down the centre, because Kurita-san will have opened up some space there."

This carried on the same vein – sometimes with Hiruma threatening to pump him full of lead for not knowing the answer, and other times with a (rather gentle) 'good job' smack to the head – until Sena fell back asleep.