Another Story: After Autumn (Attack on Titan AU)

Their History - Part II

The sun was glaring hot that day.

Zeke shaded his eyes with a hand as he craned his neck, feeling the sweat starting to trickle down his temple. Drabbles of conversation and outside noise mixed into the air, a humming excitement and enthusiasm rippling across the players on the field as both teams got into position. Rows of audience sat around them on the bleachers, and he could hear a few chants of cheering from two different sides.

He often played in games like these, feeling hot under the sun, subjected under the cheers and yells of the audience, but for some reason, that day he felt.. off.

Suddenly, the sun was a bit too hot. Suddenly, the crowd was a bit too loud. And suddenly, his uniform felt a bit too tight. Everything felt off, odd.. uncomfortable.

"Looking nervous, Yeager," a teammate remarked, playfully slapping Zeke on the back. "Someone didn't get a good sleep, looks like."

Zeke shrugged his hand off and forced a nonchalant look. "Says the guy with sleep still in his eyes."

His teammate paused for a bit, then wiped his eyes with a hand, trying to get the sleep off. Zeke chuckled and teared his eyes away from him.

Zeke Yeager halfheartedly scanned the crowd. Calls of his name echoed some parts here and there, and if he were to take a guess, they were probably from school. He didn't think too much of it, until his eyes landed on her.

Isanna always attended his games. Even though there were times he had to pester her into coming and she'd just roll his eyes and pretend as if she were dragged, Zeke knew she wouldn't miss his game for the world. Yet, seeing her there and then after he tried to make a move on her the other day was still a bit unexpected.

She was sitting on the second row so she was fairly close to the field, leaning forward in a languid slouch as she rested her elbow on her knee. Her eyes were glued at him. And then when he caught her staring, he saw her flinch and avert her eyes, suddenly finding another area of the field interesting.

A warm, fuzzy feeling spread in Zeke's chest. He knew he already apologized, but he had to make sure to apologize to her again after the game. Maybe, he'd even take her out to her favorite café down the block. It never failed to lift Isanna's mood whenever she took a bite out of their cheesecake.

He was called out of his thoughts when their coach called the rest of the team to gather round. After a few more words and reminders, they went to position. Their team was batting for the first-half of the first inning, and Zeke is usually their cleanup hitter so he waited at the back in their dugout.

And then, the discomfort returned.

Zeke's vision blurred for just a moment, and he had to blink away the distortion and squint to try to strain his vision clearer.

He saw the pitcher of the other team walk up to the pitcher's mound while their batter took his spot beside the home plate. Zeke watched their batter heft the bat in his grip, taking an alerted stance. The pitcher positioned himself, eyes strained on the batter, then towards his teammate catcher. Then he slowly did a pitching form and launched the ball at breakneck speed.

PING!

Their batter managed to hit the ball, sending it flying towards the left field. He immediately dropped the bat and sprinted towards the first base. The opposing team's left fielder couldn't retrieve the ball in time so their leadoff hitter managed to dash straight through all bases and managed a home run. Zeke's coach nodded in approval.

My head's killing me..

Zeke thought with an inward grumble as he held his temple, head feeling a bit too heavy to be satisfied at their good opening.