"Heads up captain! Fastball coming at you from six o'clock!" A tall student pointed out from Jihoon's right side as a baseball came flying towards them. It hadn't been the fastest pitch the short baseball captain had ever seen, nor did it catch him off-guard, but it was still irritating to have had to deal with especially since it wasn't the first time he had been pitched towards.
Being the catcher, and now captain, on their school's baseball team led to everyone in their grade greeting Jihoon by throwing all types of things at him so that he could catch them. He could only guess that they all thought it was cute to do; greeting a catcher by making them catch something every time you saw them was so obviously clever, they most definitely deserved awards for their sophisticated senses of humor.
That was basically why Jihoon hadn't been caught off-guard by the sudden pitch; That and he spotted Seokmin inching towards him and the other seniors on the baseball team with a baseball in hand.
Just seeing Seokmin in his peripheral vision made him suspicious of the brunette and his suspicions came true the moment Seokmin took his pitching stance in the middle of the hallway.
While the other students around them awed at Seokmin's form and Jihoon's quick reflexes that allowed him to catch the baseball, an unimpressed expression formed on the short senior's face. "Stop throwing baseballs at me in the middle of the hallway. You're going to get suspended and then killed when I throttle you for getting yourself kicked from the team." Jihoon sighed before lightly tossing back the baseball he caught to Seokmin. The tall junior fumbled with the round ball before finally grasping it in his right hand.
"However aggressive he may be, Jihoon has a point Seokmin. We can't have our pitcher being suspended from the team. It's bad enough we're missing outfielders, we can't lose our star pitcher as well." The student on the left of Jihoon, Minhyun, spoke in a scolding yet soothing tone as he furrowed his eyebrows at the tall student on JIhoon's opposite side who congratulated Seokmin for his pitch.
Baekho was always enthusiastic, particularly when it came to baseball, and tended to get over excited about everything about the sport. This side of him hadn't failed to show up this time as he ran over to share his glee with Seokmin, all while earning a sharp glance from Minhyun who remained by Jihoon's side. "and Baek, please don't encourage this behavior."
"I'll stop, but only until we get to the field. I'm so excited for this season! I can tell it's going to be a good one!" Seokmin pocketed the round baseball he had thrown at Jihoon after the short baseball captain decided to return it to him. While Seokmin did tend to get really enthusiastic about the things he loved, he still was a pretty obedient member of the team and therefore he listened when Minhyun and Jihoon felt the need to boss him around.
The same couldn't be said for Baekho though, who was a stronger and more dominant figure than the whimsical brunet. Contrary to how Seokmin acted, Baekho often did mock Minhyun for his parental role on the team to the extent to which the latter couldn't help but wonder why he even was friends with such a rambunctious character.
"You and me both Seokmin! Just wait until the other teams get a load of what we're made of this season! Sure we're short a few players, but you and I are here to make up for it!" Baekho slapped Seokmin on the back with just enough strength to make the junior stumble forward. Sometimes Baekho didn't know how to hold back with his power, he usually complained that it was both a blessing and a curse to his close friends who paid no attention to him at all when he acted so shamelessly. There really was no doubt about it though: Baekho was one of the strongest members on the team.
And although that power came in handy on the baseball field, it did prove to be quite disruptive and overwhelming anywhere outside the field. Why, Seokmin even feared the powerful senior when he had first met Baekho on his first day of baseball practice back during his freshman year of high school. It only took him a week though to figure out that the cold, hardened exterior to the senior was just a cover-up. Baekho acted nothing how he looked; where he looked intimidating he was instead charming and generous.
He was especially generous with himself at times, but he always made it a point to encourage those around him. It was safe to say that Baekho was one of the reasons why Seokmin pushed to work so hard to stay on the baseball team during freshman year, and why the brunet had earned the title of being Pledis High's pitcher during his junior year. "More so me than you, but hey we all contribute to the team somehow right? Right! Let's get moving already, we're burning precious sunlight here just blabbing about how great I am!"
The two baseball players ran ahead, leaving their counterparts strolling casually behind them as they made a sprint towards the back door of their school that led to the baseball field. The smell of the fresh Spring air resonated with both Baekho and Seokmin as they laughed out loudly and rushed onto the empty field that awaited the rest of the team's arrival.
It wasn't long before Jihoon and Minhyun reached the back door. Unlike the two that ran ahead out of sheer excitement, Jihoon and Minhyun calmly entered the fenced, diamond shaped baseball field. The first thing they did was go down to their team's pit in search of their baseball equipment. Each player tended to store their own baseball gloves in the pit, which was like a small bench area where the inactive players sat during their games, every morning before school started and collected them by the end of baseball practice every evening.
Being the responsible figures on the team was left up to both Jihoon and Minhyun, two of three of the seniors who were actively on the team (with Baekho being the third). The rest of the baseball team was either made up of juniors or, well, vacant positions.
Despite not having enough members to hold a fully functional practice, the four baseball players were still willing to make do with what they did have which consisted of the following: a catcher, a pitcher, the second baseman, and a shortstop. Really Jihoon wanted to wait until he had a full team so that he could conduct practice in an orderly manner, but both Baekho and Seokmin insisted on holding an unofficial practice without their manager today.
It wasn't like they even had a manager, or an active coach to begin with. The Pledis High baseball team was infamous for being the worst baseball team in Seoul due to the fact that they didn't even have proper leadership to guide them from their school. The best they could do was provide the school's gym teacher as a coach, and it just so happened that she didn't know anything about baseball at all other than that it involved hitting a ball.
That left everyone on the team depending on Jihoon for guidance. He was just a mere catcher last season who barely conversed with the rest of the team, apart from Seokmin who Jihoon was close to, and now the overwhelmed captain was in charge of the entire team. There were so many different personalities he needed to tend to, so many players to take care of already without having to worry about promoting the team enough to get additional members.
The only thing he was certain about was himself; he knew just about all there was to know about the other high school baseball teams, so Jihoon knew when it came to those statistics and facts he could carry the team. He wasn't so sure about anything else though, including if he could even lead the team as well as the last captain, Choi Seungcheol, did.
"Why are those two so energetic all the time? Just thinking about having that much energy is exhausting." Jihoon mumbled while sliding his baseball glove onto his non-dominant hand. He then clutched Seokmin's light brown baseball glove in his right hand, which greatly contrasted his black and blue glove, while waiting for Minhyun to grab his own glove.
"Managing them along with the rest of the team is going to be a handful. Luckily I'm not the captain this year. I sure do feel sorry for the poor soul who is- hey I'm talking about you Ji." Minhyun spoke in a teasing manner. The mischievous expression on his face dropped though when he realized that Jihoon hadn't been listening to his joke, but was instead zoned out while keeping his gaze fixed on the ground.
The tall shortstop paused while recognizing that Jihoon only seemed so distracted because he had internal concerns about the team dashing in his mind.
"That is if there is a team this year. I didn't want to tell the others yet, but coach said if we don't get enough members to play they're going to cancel our season." Minhyun's eyes widened at the revelation. He knew that they were starting off the season in rough shape, but the idea of the team being forced to disband because of their flaws didn't occur to him at all. Jihoon spied on Minhyun's face, catching the way that the corners of the tall brunet's lips fell into a downward frown.
He had reacted the same way that the shortstop had when their coach called him into the gym to discuss the matter a few days prior to today. "We have until tryouts in two weeks to get people on the team, otherwise it's game over for us."
"We're going to have to get busy recruiting then," said the shortstop who tried not to stay too hung up over the disappointing news. It was exactly like Minhyun to want to find a logical way out of their issues. This was why out of their entire team of six, so far, Jihoon couldn't help but depend on the responsible senior.
Minhyun always proved himself to be one of the more rational team members on the team; Whereas the other younger baseball players, including Baekho, tended to act before thinking he did quite the opposite. "We can make posters to advertise tryouts, and maybe we can use our connections to get others to join. Baekho is pretty popular in our grade, I'm sure he knows at least one person who might be interested in joining. We shouldn't fret about this yet Ji."
"You're right. There's no point in worrying when we still have time to change our fate." Jihoon exhaled with a hint of relief in his breath.
Thinking about the possibility of not being able to play this season was far worse than being able to play and continuing the team's pattern of countlessly losing to every team they matched up against. And since he was informed about the path they were going down at this rate, Jihoon fell victim to the suffocating pressure that came with being the captain of an otherwise struggling team.
Yes things did look bad for them all and yes it was easy to just feel overwhelmed, but Minhyun was definitely right. They needed to work towards getting past this bump in the road.
"That's the spirit." Minhyun spoke calmly to match the tranquil nature to which Jihoon upheld himself to as they walked onto the field to meet with their counterparts. That was when the two realized that the loud shouts in the background that originated from both Baekho and Seokmin messing around ceased to exist.
The shortstop sighed, knowing exactly what the two were up to when he heard the slight sound of Baekho's sneakers squeaking right behind him. "You both do realize I can see and hear you sneaking around behind me right? I wasn't born yesterday, unlike you Baek."
"Screw you and your freakishly amazing hearing. You're no fun at all Minhyun." grumbled Baekho as he bitterly frowned at his best friend before standing beside him. A large smile returned to his face, spreading itself so that it spanned from ear to ear when Jihoon threw his glove to him.
He caught his dark blue glove easily, while Seokmin fumbled with his own, causing the three seniors to laugh softly at the younger pitcher. Their laughter died down when they started to casually throw and pass a baseball around amongst themselves.
Things got pretty serious after about ten minutes had passed since they started practicing. What once was a casual, friendly hangout turned to be a battle between the four baseball players as they each challenged the others to catching their strong throws.
Minhyun and Jihoon collectively took a step backwards once they realized that Baekho, who was pumped up, had the ball and was winding up his right arm in preparation for pitching. While being a second baseman didn't really mean that Baekho needed to be skilled at pitching, he definitely still did have quite the mean pitch which was something both Jihoon and Minhyun acknowledged.
They weren't surprised when Seokmin failed to receive Baekho's pitch, instead toppling over in the grass with a loud grunt of both pain and frustration. Minhyun sighed at the second baseman who laughed out loud out of happiness. Seeing Seokmin fail to catch his powerful pitch made the dark haired baseball player feel confident, if he wasn't already confident about his own abilities.
What did surprise the two though was how Seokmin stood up, resilient as ever, and responded to Baekho's unnecessarily cocky pitch with one of his own. It flew by Baekho who was silenced by the incomparable natural talent for pitching Seokmin possessed, talent he was jealous of, all the way to the bare outfield.
The tall junior twinkled proudly at his display of power before sprinting off to collect the baseball while the other three seniors looked towards the desolate outfield with sadness in both their eyes and their hearts.
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