****In The Morning****

Mihashi woke up to Abe gently shaking him and running his fingers through the blonde hair; he yawned and moved to get up, only to find his arms locked around Abe's torso.

"Wake up Mihashi, there's something going on at Tajima's tent."

The pitcher nodded dazedly and allowed himself to be led out into the bright sunlight over to Tajima's tent, where the cleanup with currently itching frantically, rolling out of his tent.

"It itches….so bad….have…to…scratch!"

Desperately, Tajima tore off his shirt amidst protests, which stopped immediately after seeing the white expanse of bandage that covered his torso. In a panic, Tajima began to rip these off in tatters, the sound of ripping barely heard as everyone gasped at the cut revealed. Once the bandage was off, Tajima began to claw at his skin.

"Make the itching stop! Make…it…stop…."

Coach and Abe grabbed Tajima's forearms, underneath his wrists, making sure not to touch his hands. Tajima struggled fiercely in their grip, his legs kicking furiously. Unable to itch, he began to wail.

"It burns! Let go!"

Hanai came running up, itching his hands and wrists. No one noticed him; all of them were too busy trying to soothe Tajima.

"What's going on? I came as soon as I woke up… what's wrong with Tajima?"

Oki looked back at Hanai, getting to reply with something about poison ivy, but stopped; he looked from Tajima to Hanai and back again, and then snickered, "Whatever's wrong with you."

Confused, Hanai looked at his wrists, which were sporting the same exact rash as Tajima's stomach, and maybe two and two weren't so hard to put together for all that he had asked Coach not to tell anyone, because Abe and Sakaeguchi and Oki and Mizutani were snickering, and Suyama and Hamada were blushing and looking anywhere but at him, and Izumi and Shino'oka were just outright laughing. Mihashi only looked on sympathetically, mirroring the look Nishihiro was giving him. Tajima was pinning him with this knowing look that had Hanai thinking the boy knew much more than he could know, and Coach was shooting him this smirk that said, see, I told you I wouldn't have to tell them.

Hanai blushed as Sakaeguchi came over and leaned on his shoulder with one arm.

"So, uh, what were you two doing yesterday that you have poison ivy on your hands and he has it all over his stomach?"

Hotly, Hanai replied, "Look, see that cut on his stomach? He can't exactly wrap it himself; I found him so I wrapped it."

Abe chuckled and asked, "So, yesterday, Hanai, your hands were all over Tajima," here Abe paused and gestured to Tajima's stomach, "here?"

Hanai swallowed hard and nodded, fighting his body's natural response to turn blush copiously. Tajima laughed out loud as he remembered something, and exclaimed (still fidgeting), "And you should have seen him. I guess the blood freaked him out or something, because he was in a trance."

"Now, wait just a minute, I was completely fi—"

"No you weren't, Hanai, you were so out of it I had to call your name to get your atten—"

"Only because it was you!"

Everyone's laughter halted at Hanai's sudden outburst. Sighing, Hanai continued with a pained expression, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I have a thing about my friends getting hurt, okay? I don't like it much, so I don't deal very well."

"Friends?"

Hanai looked sharply at a hopeful Tajima and scowled, "Yes. Friends. "

Coach cleared her throat and interjected as Hanai looked away angrily and Tajima visibly deflated.

"Hanai, you still have that poison ivy cream, right? Grab it for me."

"Hai."

As Hanai turned and ran off quickly, Tajima sank to his knees and sighed sadly, "I…I'll never get him to…"

Coach ruffled his hair and bent down on one knee, talking to him in a low, soothing voice as his eyes threatened to fill with tears. Abe could only look over at a slightly pink Mihashi and be grateful that his relationship was sorted; Mihashi saw him looking and blushed harder, his ears lighting up pink, but his look was also the same. Shino'oka didn't miss this, and covertly snapped a picture of them and added it to the collection as Mr. Shiga came back with Hanai and announced breakfast for those who didn't need treatment.

After breakfast was packing up; most of the boys had almost all their stuff packed, and the only things left to go were tents and sleeping bags. Soon, the camp was bustling as the boys made multiple trips back and forth to van to load up bags. Tajima managed to carry his bags without a problem; after all, his wound had been rebandaged. But putting them in the van was another challenge. Tajima was already kind of short, so when he opened the van's back and saw that a couple of the bags were stacked and he'd have to reach up high to get his bag in, he knew he was probably going to need another wrapping.

Steeling himself, Tajima stretched up high to place his bag, expecting any moment to feel that familiar rip and tear as his newly scabbed over cut came apart; but out of nowhere, bandaged hands lingered over his and then placed the bag in for him. Turning his head slightly, Tajima saw Hanai and quickly turned full front again, not ready to face him after what had happened. Hanai only laid his hands on the smaller boy's shoulders and leaned his forehead to the back of Tajima's head, breathing deeply as if trying to build up courage.

The cleanup waited as patient as he could for Hanai to do something (dare he hope for a hug, or even...), to say something, perhaps an apology, but when nothing was forthcoming, he pushed Hanai away with a despondent, "Thanks." He stalked off so quickly, he missed Hanai's grab for his wrist and the wild look in his eyes as he held out a hand towards a retreating Tajima, wanting to say something but not being able to.

The entire ride home was with a silent Tajima, and Hanai knew that the sun had disappeared from the cleanup's smile because of him, and just knowing that made Hanai want to cry; there was something very wrong with a world in which Tajima did not smile, laugh, or joke constantly. Very, very wrong. And knowing that was because of him that such a world existed? The captain was sure if you looked up self-hatred in the dictionary, it would give his biography.

...

...

Mihashi came through the doors smiling, leading Abe in by the hand.

"Mom, I'm home!"

Mrs. Mihashi came running down the stairs, arms outstretched for a hug. She grabbed up her son and hugged him tightly, making him scramble for his hat, then let him go and started to gush.

"Oh, Ren, I'm so glad you're home, I missed you so much! It was so quiet without you here and I had to invite the other team moms over to have someone to talk to, and I can't believe how much you've grown in two or three days, I mean, look at you! And so tan too, tell me, did you have fun? What did you do? Did you hurt yourself? Lose anyone in the woods? H—"

Mihashi chuckled nervously and tugged Abe a little closer, bring his mom's attention to their hands.

"Actually, mom, I wanted to tell you that, um… Abe and I….A-Abe and I, we…um.."

Abe snorted and then clapped a hand over his mouth, looking at his mother with a dazzling and what he hoped was a charming smile.

"Your son and I have decided we'd like to be in a relationship, if that's okay with you, ma'am."

She considered this for a minute, and then looked at Mihashi, asking him, "And you're okay? Nobody is forcing you, no one is telling you have to, nothing's wrong?"

Mihashi nodded and hugged Abe's arm, resting his head on the taller boy's shoulder.

"We just want to be together."

Mrs. Mihashi nodded and then looked at Abe gravely.

"You have to be with him, always. If you hurt him, I'll let Coach have you, and I won't know anything about it, understand me?"

Abe nodded and offered up a more timid, "Yes, ma'am."

She smiled at the how cute the pair was and dismissed them; as they ran up the stairs, she shouted after them, "Keep the door open! Nothing funny in there!"

A "Yes, mom," drifted down the stairs, and Mrs. Mihashi shook her head in amusement while she went to go make tea and call up Mrs. Abe; after all, she figured that her son's boyfriend's mother would probably like to know. Upstairs, Abe let go of Mihashi's hand to hug him fiercely; Mihashi grinned when Abe pulled away and kissed him soft and hesitantly. Abe laughed softly at the blonde's cautiousness and ruffled his hair. Turning, the catcher set down his and Mihashi's bags, and when he turned back the pitcher was sound asleep on the covers. Abe stretched out next to him with a grin of his own and laid down, their foreheads touching and the messy raven hair mixing with the blonde.

Mrs. Mihashi came back upstairs a couple minutes later to find them still like that, their foreheads touching, Mihashi's hands on Abe's chest and Abe's arms around her son's waist. She had half a mind to wake them up and separate them, but instead she took a picture and sent it to the Coach.

She figured it was only nice, considering the pictures Coach had been sending her and the other moms the past few days.

Fine

THANKS FOR READING, YOU WONDERFUL PEOPLE! And, if you're interested, I'm posting a Hanai/Tajima story as well, called The First Five Kisses.

I'm also considering doing an Izumi and Hamada fic...any ideas? :D