[Fic] Double Play
Jun. 20th, 2009 06:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coley_merrinTitle: Double Play
Author: Coley Merrin
Rating: G
Pairings: Kibum/Donghae
Genre: AU, baseball
Summary: On the field, they were a team... Off the field, it's anyone's game.
Fic Archive
***
Part One ** Part Two
***
Baseball was a serious game. Intense, pensive. It could also be equal parts gleeful and competitive. The team rose and fell together... As a team. They had their own places, things they were better at, and he didn’t know anyone on the team that didn’t love the game. There were rhythms to baseball, a logic to baseball. It was luck and talent, heartache and fun.
It was their game.
Some loved it more obviously than others, though. Donghae, who was his other set of arm and glove, was not shy about showing it at all. During practice rolling in the short grass with a belly-shaking laugh, sending Kibum wide grins in the middle of games as something went their way. Sometimes he seemed sixteen rather than twenty six. In the dugout, Donghae sat at his knee as they waited, their places in the lineup far enough apart that they had time to discuss the previous inning, and any plays. He saw enough of those smiles in the months since he had joined the team that he could probably count Donghae’s teeth just by closing his eyes.
He was not the first player out of the dugout when they won a close game, as the crowd around them cheered or dripped with discontent. He wasn’t the first player into the mob when they got the last out and men churned around each other like ants on food as they celebrated.
It took him a while to realize, as he was patted and buffeted, and smiles broke out all around - it felt great to win! - that when he turned his head to see who had squeezed him into the crush, who had yanked him into the celebration, that it was almost always Donghae’s smile he saw. Even if they were separated by ten whooping men, it seemed their eyes caught, Donghae’s alight as though he were shouting, Kibum, isn’t this amazing?
He loved baseball, he accepted the fame, and he worked hard. Donghae loved it, but where Kibum was quiet and did what he needed to do... Donghae was tireless, fearless. As short stop he leaped after balls he had almost no chance of getting, and sometimes... He got them. But to his own detriment. Kibum had stopped counting the number of scrapes and cuts he’d watched being bandaged up, as the trainer clucked at him. Kibum had begun to feel it every time he watched Donghae’s shoulders thud into the dirt, watching a ball triumphantly emerge from Donghae’s glove, and arc into Kibum’s waiting one as though there was a string between them that guided it.
People chattered that they were the best active team in baseball. The double plays they turned were flawless. They covered the middle of the field with deceptive ease. An asset to the team.
It was like being complimented for breathing. They could be worse, but there was always, always room to improve.
But the word ‘active’ was key. And it was never so clear as they heard the crowd hush with concern, Donghae’s chest against his arm as they watched Zhou Mi being led off of the field with his injured arm cradled to his chest. A good team was broken just that quickly. It didn’t take physical injury to do it, either. Strife between second baseman and short stop, that distracted from the game, from their goals... It could be devastating. He had learned not to pull away quite so far, so that even the illusion of closeness between them was preserved for Donghae, who seemed to crave it.
“Hey, partner!” Donghae bubbled into his ear, his sunglasses propped on the brim of his cap. “Ready?”
When a ball was screaming through the air, a line drive off of the bat that was heading straight at him, he had no time to think. There was reaction, or there was nothing.
Sometimes he wondered, as he turned to check that Donghae was ready on the field. He wondered if his heart hadn’t reacted for him.
***
Author: Coley Merrin
Rating: G
Pairings: Kibum/Donghae
Genre: AU, baseball
Summary: On the field, they were a team... Off the field, it's anyone's game.
Fic Archive
***
Part One ** Part Two
***
Baseball was a serious game. Intense, pensive. It could also be equal parts gleeful and competitive. The team rose and fell together... As a team. They had their own places, things they were better at, and he didn’t know anyone on the team that didn’t love the game. There were rhythms to baseball, a logic to baseball. It was luck and talent, heartache and fun.
It was their game.
Some loved it more obviously than others, though. Donghae, who was his other set of arm and glove, was not shy about showing it at all. During practice rolling in the short grass with a belly-shaking laugh, sending Kibum wide grins in the middle of games as something went their way. Sometimes he seemed sixteen rather than twenty six. In the dugout, Donghae sat at his knee as they waited, their places in the lineup far enough apart that they had time to discuss the previous inning, and any plays. He saw enough of those smiles in the months since he had joined the team that he could probably count Donghae’s teeth just by closing his eyes.
He was not the first player out of the dugout when they won a close game, as the crowd around them cheered or dripped with discontent. He wasn’t the first player into the mob when they got the last out and men churned around each other like ants on food as they celebrated.
It took him a while to realize, as he was patted and buffeted, and smiles broke out all around - it felt great to win! - that when he turned his head to see who had squeezed him into the crush, who had yanked him into the celebration, that it was almost always Donghae’s smile he saw. Even if they were separated by ten whooping men, it seemed their eyes caught, Donghae’s alight as though he were shouting, Kibum, isn’t this amazing?
He loved baseball, he accepted the fame, and he worked hard. Donghae loved it, but where Kibum was quiet and did what he needed to do... Donghae was tireless, fearless. As short stop he leaped after balls he had almost no chance of getting, and sometimes... He got them. But to his own detriment. Kibum had stopped counting the number of scrapes and cuts he’d watched being bandaged up, as the trainer clucked at him. Kibum had begun to feel it every time he watched Donghae’s shoulders thud into the dirt, watching a ball triumphantly emerge from Donghae’s glove, and arc into Kibum’s waiting one as though there was a string between them that guided it.
People chattered that they were the best active team in baseball. The double plays they turned were flawless. They covered the middle of the field with deceptive ease. An asset to the team.
It was like being complimented for breathing. They could be worse, but there was always, always room to improve.
But the word ‘active’ was key. And it was never so clear as they heard the crowd hush with concern, Donghae’s chest against his arm as they watched Zhou Mi being led off of the field with his injured arm cradled to his chest. A good team was broken just that quickly. It didn’t take physical injury to do it, either. Strife between second baseman and short stop, that distracted from the game, from their goals... It could be devastating. He had learned not to pull away quite so far, so that even the illusion of closeness between them was preserved for Donghae, who seemed to crave it.
“Hey, partner!” Donghae bubbled into his ear, his sunglasses propped on the brim of his cap. “Ready?”
When a ball was screaming through the air, a line drive off of the bat that was heading straight at him, he had no time to think. There was reaction, or there was nothing.
Sometimes he wondered, as he turned to check that Donghae was ready on the field. He wondered if his heart hadn’t reacted for him.
***
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no subject
Date: 2009-06-21 01:59 am (UTC)<3 this very, very much !!!
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Date: 2009-06-23 06:53 am (UTC)Thanks so much! <3
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Date: 2009-06-21 03:09 am (UTC)But I was talking about how much I loved your ShiHan and Qmi and was wistfully hoping you'd write Kihae some day because I adore them and would've loved to see you try your hand at them and laksjflsk YOU DID. I know so very little about baseball but it won't stop me from enjoying this fic - or the other pairings that may crop up. SO SUFFICE TO SAY I AM SUPER EXCITED FOR YOUR BASEBALL ARC.
Your Kibum and Donghae make me ♥, at their differences, at Kibum's heart making decisions without him, and Donghae's smiles. (And a little bit of horrified ;o; at Zhou Mi.)
Looking forward to more! :D
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Date: 2009-06-23 07:14 am (UTC)...I will skip to the Kihae before I make a fool of myself. XD
This is the second time I've written Kihae (first of which was smut and therefore, not quite the same), and though I just adore reading about them, I'm still searching for that sense of...knowing, I guess? So I'm so happy that it worked in any way. *__* Zhou Mi... Setting up for the KyuMi. ^_~ All will work in the end. I'll be excited to start getting into it as well. :D
...And to keep myself from flapping about any more, I'll stop. XD; So glad you enjoyed! <3
Thanks so much! <3
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Date: 2009-06-23 07:16 am (UTC)publicmy consumption?And eee always excited and supportive over Qmi. :)
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Date: 2009-06-23 07:27 am (UTC)Oh Zhou Mi. <3 And Kyu. And..sigh.
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Date: 2009-06-23 07:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-29 04:52 am (UTC)so.. you probably don't remember me, but I was an active commenter of For Always in its earlier chapters. But then I became silent about midway through.. I really didn't think the comments that I wanted to leave did the story justice, so I just silently read every week. I just want you to know, that For Always was amazing, and you're an amazing writer ♥
I also read your latest SiHan fic, and I should've commented on that too, but then I felt bad about commenting on SiHan but not on the beauty that was For Always, so I never did D: But that, as well, was wonderful.
and no, I'm not just saying this so you'll send me KiHae xD
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Date: 2009-06-21 05:37 am (UTC)You made me interested in baseball. D: Which is already a feat within itself.
XD ♥
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Date: 2009-06-23 07:15 am (UTC)*gets out my little flash cards to corrupt you* Muahaha...
....
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Date: 2009-06-23 08:37 am (UTC)-swat- confidence!
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Date: 2009-06-21 06:25 am (UTC)ur so good showing their emotions with ur words
thanks for writing this!!! XDDDD
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Date: 2009-06-23 07:52 am (UTC)Thanks so much! <3
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Date: 2009-06-21 09:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-23 07:53 am (UTC)Thanks so much! <3
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Date: 2009-06-21 05:24 pm (UTC)This = ♥ and win and WONDERFULNESS!!! I adore it!! They work so well together as teammates and partners and it's only natural that they are together, even if not as a couple, cuz they just WORK. *flails*
Love it!
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Date: 2009-06-28 04:20 am (UTC)<3 Thanks! :D:D
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Date: 2009-06-21 11:31 pm (UTC)Or in any other situation/place, actually.
They just fit together *___*
And this fic shows it perfectly >3
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Date: 2009-06-28 04:21 am (UTC)Thank you! <3
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Date: 2009-06-24 09:41 am (UTC)So I admit ignorance when it comes to baseball, but from what I can understand, Kibum is on second base and Donghae is...on first? ...I think I'll go visit wikipedia for more information on who does what. -_-; I want to understand what you mean without you having to say it directly!!!
Nevertheless! Kihae~ Donghae's enthusiasm is having an effect on Kibum, eh?
He had learned not to pull away quite so far, so that even the illusion of closeness between them was preserved for Donghae, who seemed to crave it
It seems so cold, but we now know that Kibum is semi-consciously interested in Donghae. That should bring them closer, right? I hope we get at least one more peek at their developing relationship!
D: for Zhoumi! He's put out of commission?! I wonder where Kyuhyun fits in all of this...
So, totally looking forward to more baseball fics~ You can expect me to come armed with a bit more wisdom towards baseball next time~! (I actually quite like baseball, ever since I studied abroad in Nagoya: I went with some friends to a game, and I also learned how to play catch~♥ But the terms/jargon and the details of the game are over my head)
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Date: 2009-06-28 04:24 am (UTC)Kibum is at second base, and Donghae is at short stop. :) :)
For Kyu, we'll see... XD XD
Baseball can definitely be fun! I'll just hope I'm not overdoing the jargon and leaving people with blank eyes. This is why I'd probably never write a lot of games. People would start fading out. XD
Thank you! <3
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Date: 2009-07-04 02:29 pm (UTC)love kihae + baseball <3