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F - Food Poisoning
Food poisoning was a weird one, Kazuya mused, as he hurled another portion of his dinner into the toilet in front of him. He technically knew exactly what was wrong and why it was happening. Once everything left his system, he would recover - usually in less than two days. As a young, healthy man, Kazuya assumed it would not be especially dangerous. Sure, he had to drink enough water to somehow stay hydrated, but that was about it. There was nothing else he could do at this point. Apart from, well, aiming for the toilet, when another accident was about to happen.
Which led to this weird state of detachment from his body. There was no bad anxiety or worries for worse things accompanying the sickness. No fear of missing the next two weeks of training. Still, his body was breaking out in cold sweat, he was wrecked by shivers and he currently didn’t really want to stand up.
Next to him, young Kominato wasn’t any better off. When Kazuya, feeling already very sick, had stumbled his way to the bathroom, his underclassman had already been hugging a toilet. Now he could see Kominato lying on the floor in the next cubicle, eyes screwed shut and face ashen.
Food poisoning was kind of a team building exercise, Kazuya’s train of thought continued, when he heard the door open another time.
This time it was Okumura, clutching the bin from their room. Kazuya gave him a court nod, which made Okumura pale visibly and race to the next cubicle. The tell tale sounds followed shortly after.
At this point Kazuya was pretty sure it had been the salmon onigiri they had as snacks during today’s lunch break. Almost everyone had had some, and almost everyone was here.
The door swung open another time, this time revealing two figures.
“See, Kuramochi-senpai, you’re not the only one”, he heard the booming voice of his boyfriend. Kuramochi, who was being half-carried by Sawamura, only let out a weak grumble. Sawamura strode forward and deposited him in front of another toilet. Then, being the good underclassman he was, draped a blanket around his shoulders.
After that he walked over to Kazuya’s cubicle. Kazuya hadn’t bothered to lock the door, as to keep an eye on the bathroom, after all he still was the captain and somewhat responsible for everyone.
“Hey, how are you feeling?”, Sawamura said with a soft voice. He gently swiped the sweaty hair in Kazuya’s neck aside and gave him a small peck there. Probably the safest bet, as everything about Kazuya felt gross currently.
“Awful”, Kazuya replied with a rough laugh.
He was now very sure it must have been the salmon onigiri. After all, almost half the team was assembled here, sick, while Sawamura was still looking as happy and chipper as one could look after carrying multiple people to the bathroom - Kazuya had been the first. For once, Sawamura’s stubbornness and conviction to endure anything had saved him. At lunch, once his boyfriend had finally finished eating an onigiri with natto - everyone had laughed about him at that moment - all the salmon onigiri were gone. Fondly, Kazuya remembered how upset Sawamura had looked.
Now he was the only one spared.
They had been cuddled up in his bed, when Kazuya had started feeling off. An hour later he and most of the team were assembled in the communal bathroom.
“Do you need anything?”, Sawamura, still crouching down next to him, asked. He kept running his fingers through Kazuya’s sweaty hair, which felt amazing.
“Refill my water bottle?”, he asked and handed Sawamura the empty bottle.
“I’ll be right back”, Sawamura replied. He took the water bottle, walked over to the sink, and returned moments later. Once again he knelt down next to Kazuya and gave him another kiss on the crown of his head (another safe place). Kazuya was amazed how good Sawamura was dealing with all these bodily fluids. He himself got queasy every time he even heard someone else throw up. It really didn’t help at the moment, but then he felt so detached that he hardly even registered the others being sick.
“I should go and see if anyone else needs my help," Sawamura said, pulling Kazuya back to reality. Then he shrugged out of his training jacket and draped it around Kazuya’s shoulders. It was warm and soft and smelled slightly like his boyfriend.
“Thank you”, Kazuya replied, only noticing now that he had started shivering again. It came in waves.
Sawamura ran his fingers through Kazuya’s hair another time, then got up. While another wave of dizziness and then unexplainable heat hit Kazuya, he heard how Sawamura made his rounds through the bathroom, checking on every one of his team mates, before leaving again. Probably towards the dorms, to check if anyone else needed his help.
Kazuya smiled a fond smile - his boyfriend was one of the kindest people he knew. Taking care of all of them instead of sleeping, not minding the vomit and noises around him. While Kazuya had fitful fits of sleep here and there - at some point there was nothing left to throw up - Sawamura was around constantly. Helping Furuya out of his soiled T-shirt (he had been the next victim carried into the bathroom by Sawamura), handing out bottles of electrolyte drinks for everyone that he had gotten at the vending machine (Kazuya should probably pay him back, he knew that the southpaw didn’t get that much pocket money), getting blankets and jackets so no one was freezing on the bathroom floor. In between Sawamura always returned to his side, giving him small kisses and head massages. If he hadn’t felt this bad, Kazuya might have enjoyed it more.
At 3am he moved onto the toilet to empty his digestive track.
At 5am he felt like the worst was over.
When he stumbled out of his cubicle, he saw Sawamura sitting behind a half-dead looking Kuramochi, massaging his shoulders.
“Hey”, he greeted his boyfriend, who smiled at him.
“Hi, feeling better?”, Sawamura asked, the worry in his tone noticeable. He wondered how much love Sawamura even had to give.
“I think the worst is over”, Kazuya replied, “I still feel weak, but I might even be able to keep down some water now. But I’ll shower first…”
“I’ll get you some clean clothes”, Sawamura offered immediately.
“Bring some for me too”, Kuramochi joined their conversation, “I’ll join Miyuki and go shower.”
Kazuya felt his eyebrow twitch. So Kuramochi had taken advantage of his underclassman’s kindness and had gotten a back massage out of it. It irked him. Sawamura was his pitcher and his boyfriend. Kuramochi should go find his own!
“I will be right back”, Eijun jumped to his feet. Knowing him, Kazuya could see that under his chipper facade, Sawamura himself looked tired. Of course, while not being ill himself, he had spent the entire night caring for his fellow teammates. While Sawamura went off to fetch clean clothes and potentially more water for them, Kazuya and Kuramochi made their way over to the bath.
In the bath they were not alone. Right, teambuilding.
“Well, that was an unpleasant experience”, Kazuya said to Furuya, who was sitting on a stool next to him, rinsing down the sweat and disgusting feeling of the last couple of hours. Furuya, who still looked a bit dazed, simply nodded.
“Anyone want some pocari?”, Sawamura announced his return with a loud voice. In his arm he was carrying a whole bunch of bottles. Multiple of their teammates raised their hands, so he started distributing them, offering encouraging words and smiles along the way. Finally he crouched down next to Kazuya again.
“I left you some clean clothes in the changing room”, he explained, “I also woke the coach and told him about the issues last night. He told me to tell everyone that training today is cancelled for everyone who is sick.”
“Thank you”, Kazuya replied. He longed to kiss his boyfriend but would for sure only do so, once he had brushed his teeth and slept. Multiple times, for many hours.
“Alright, I’ll leave you to it”, Sawamura smiled, “I’m off to training, take care everyone.”
He waved, got back multiple thankful nods, and left. Kazuya sighed, he wished Sawamura would allow himself to rest after a night of no sleep, but he knew better. Hopefully tonight he would be well enough to wrangle his boyfriend into bed, cuddle up to him and sleep for another 48 hours.
After finishing a bottle of pocari sweat, drying off and getting dressed, Kazuya made his way to his bed. He was still awfully exhausted from the night of horrors. The day looked like it was going to be hot, but right now he felt so detached from reality, that he couldn’t find it in himself to care. He stumbled into the room, clambered into his bed, only noticing through a curtain of exhaustion that Okumura had also returned, and was out like a light before his head even hit the pillow.
Kazuya slept for five hours, drank some more pocari, went to the toilet (only to pee, thank goodness it was over), and then slept for another three hours. Only then he felt like he finally had a grasp on reality again. He even felt well enough for some light exercise or at least watching training.
He joined when training was well under way. Kataoka only gave him a stern glance and reminded him not to overdo it, before he focused back on the very decimated club before him. If Kazuya saw correctly it was only twelve club members in total training. He hadn’t realised how many people had eaten the onigiri. He counted six second string members, Maezono, Asada, Shirasu, Yuki jr., Yui and of course Sawamura. The coach was currently focused on fielding drills with all remaining players covered in sweat and dirt. Kazuya watched as Sawamura dove for the ball and completely missed it. He stayed laying in the dirt for a second before shaking his head and scrambling back to his feet. The coach barked out some instructions and Sawamura jogged off the field and over to Kazuya.
„Miyuki-senpai.“ He greeted, the exhaustion etched into his face. But as usual he was all smiles and sunshine when playing baseball. „The boss said you’re ok? Shouldn’t you be resting?“ He looked so worried for Kazuya‘s sake, that he started laughing.
„I spent the entire day asleep. I‘m fine. The coach allowed me to join.“ Technically he had only warned Kazuya, well aware at how difficult it would be to stop his players from playing.
„What do you say, should I catch a few pitches?“ He grinned and Sawamura eyed him suspiciously. „Are you sure?“
Kazuya nodded.
In the end they managed 10 pitches before Sawamura started stumbling too hard on the delivery and Kazuya barely managed to catch the wild balls. With a sigh he got up, a little lightheaded. Maybe it had been too early. But then sending Sawamura to him was probably the coach's way of getting two players better off resting to knock each other out. Like killing two birds with one stone.
„Let’s stop for today.“ Reminding his boyfriend to rest never worked, so he added. „I‘m still a little under the weather. Let’s go stretch and then take a bath.“
He met Kataoka‘s eyes and the coach nodded at him, a rare smile on his face. Oh, he really cared more than he would ever let them know. Kazuya placed a hand on Sawamura’s back. „Come on, indulge me.“ He winked back at the coach as he stirred his boyfriend away from the field.