The first inning was exactly what Jihoon expected it to be, but worse. He determined that when he realized that not only his outfielders seemed to be having an off day, but his pitcher was too.

Joshua and Ren were doing the best they could with receiving and passing the baseballs being batted towards them. Joshua was slightly better than the blue haired right outfielder, having actually caught more hits than Ren had (Jihoon knew this because Jun wouldn’t stop cheering every time Joshua did something impressive), but the two definitely needed to work on their technique more. 

Jihoon wasn’t surprised to see that Eunwoo wasn’t doing well; the middle outfielder had been overly nervous and seemed like he was going to fall apart at the seams before the match started. It was only expected to see him act the same way, if not more, when the game did start.

Eunwoo was more experienced than Joshua or Ren, because he knew the basics of baseball (since he was a big fan of the sport) while the two seniors knew little to nothing about the rules of the game. However, Eunwoo didn’t perform as well as the two did, as he fumbled every ball that came his way and dropped every catch he tried to execute. The short captain made a mental note to work on Eunwoo’s apparent fear of performance after their game was over. 

Jihoon saw no need to work about his three basemen because Chan, Baekho, and Mingyu were polished in playing their positions after years of being on the team. Minhyun, the shortstop, was never someone Jihoon had to worry about. The short captain knew that Minhyun would take care of himself. Even if the shortstop made mistakes during the game, he was quick to adapt and fix them during the game so that he wouldn’t make the same error twice.

What caught Jihoon off-guard though was his pitcher, Seokmin. He didn’t think that the tall brunet had to be worried about since he already knew how to play and because he was pretty darn good at pitching. That proved to not be the case though, because Seokmin seemed distracted.

His eyes always trailed off to the bleachers, as if he was looking for someone. As a result, the brunet’s pitches were a bit off. Jihoon actually found it difficult, as the catcher of the team, to receive any of Seokmin’s pitches because of how stray they were. It was because of the pitcher and his clouded mind that the Starship team was able to walk multiple bases, scoring at least five points before they struck themselves out. 

It was when they switched from defense to offense that Jihoon discovered yet another problem, one that this time was to blame on him. The short captain realized quickly that they also had to work on their offense, because their batting wasn’t at all at the same skill level as Soonyoung’s team was.

Anyone could learn to catch and pass a ball across the field, but learning proper batting techniques took time, time that Jihoon didn’t really utilize during their practices. It didn’t stun him at all to see Eunwoo strike out all three times against the Starship pitcher, Hyunwoo, because the tall junior hadn’t done so well at playing the outfield either. 

There was still hope though, because Jihoon had faith in his good hitters. Baekho, Mingyu, and Minhyun were there to make up for the recruits and their poor batting skills, scoring a total of three points for the team before they were forced to switch again from batting to playing defense on the field.

The second inning came and went in a flash of light, with the Starship team only scoring two more points to add onto their existing score of five as Joshua and Ren grew more accustomed to their roles as the left and right outfielders. It was what Jihoon hoped for, for the recruits to learn first-hand how vital their positions were rather than just having them run countless drills during their after school practices. 

The third inning was the Pledis High team’s last chance to really score, and with the Starship being ahead of them by four points Jihoon still remained confident that his team would at least close the gap between the score differences.

He didn’t want Soonyoung, the Starship captain, to win because he was sure that the redhead would take his bragging rights as the captain of the winning team too far. The redhead was already too excited, Jihoon could tell from where he stood behind home plate as Soonyoung jumped up and down and high-fived every one of his teammates (only those who agreed to high-five him though). Minghao and Seungkwan were quick to shut down their captain’s burst of energy though as they both nagged at him about how responsible captains don’t act like complete lunatics.

“We’re doing alright for the first time we’re playing all together. Even if we don’t win, I’m proud of you all for trying so hard.” Jihoon spoke as enthusiastically as he could to the team huddled around him. Minhyun smiled proudly, patting the back of Ren who had been sweating from running around on the field the whole afternoon.

Within the outskirts of the huddle, Eunwoo looked down in disappointment for he wasn’t doing as well as he wanted to; he felt like he was bringing down his team. The tall junior glanced upwards when he heard light chuckling coming from the center of the huddle. “But then again, I would enjoy a win against that idiot so let’s end this stronger than we started it.”

The Pledis High team dispersed onto the field when they got the signal from the other team, showing that they were ready to start the third and last inning of their exhibition match. Seokmin stood tall on the pitcher’s mound, taking a deep breath before surveying the bleachers where now only Wonwoo sat.

The brunet assumed that Jun had gone off to use the restroom, but he was way more concerned about why there was no Jeonghan. He told himself that it was because the dark haired senior was probably busy, to deny the truth that Jeonghan most likely didn’t care enough to show up. 

“Seokmin, you’re off your game. I don’t know what’s bothering you, but can it wait until after the game ends? We could use some of your powerful pitches right about now.” Jihoon mumbled to Seokmin as he passed the pitcher's mound. He gave the pitcher a large frown, one that told Seokmin everything he needed to know about how his performance was affecting the game.

“My bad Jihoon, I just-” Seokmin’s voice trailed off when he saw the sight of someone approaching Wonwoo on the gray bleachers. His heart fluttered for a second at the possibility of seeing the dark haired senior cheering him on for the final inning, but he felt letdown when he realized it was just Jun. That made the brunet grasp how distracted he really had been throughout the game, which sparked a change in his attitude for the last inning. “Nevermind. I’ll show them hell, don’t worry.”

Jihoon nodded before returning to his position behind home plate. He slid his catcher’s mask over his face before placing his baseball glove on his left hand and looking up at the next batter, which happened to be Soonyoung. The redhead cheekily grinned at the short captain who rolled his eyes at the batter before glancing at Seokmin.

The brunet scratched the left side of his nose, a secret message the two had come up with so that the pitcher could let Jihoon know what kind of pitch he was throwing next. The catcher then nodded and smiled proudly when a fastball came flying past Soonyoung before the redhead could even register what just happened. 

“Woah, so we’re going serious now huh? Let’s go, hit me with your next one Seokmin!” The redhead felt not discouraged, but pumped up to hit the next fastball he was sure could come his way. The Starship team quietly watched as Seokmin winded up his arm, smirking at Soonyoung with the intent to make the red haired captain strike out on his batting turn.

The other Starship players were astonished by how intense Seokmin had gotten, like a switch flipped on in his mind. Even Jun stopped midway to his seat next to Wonwoo on the bleachers so that he could watch the tension on the field play out before him. 

“Wow.” An equally as surprised voice spoke next to Jun, evoking the purple haired male to turn to face its source.

He recognized the student with dark hair to be Yoon Jeonghan, the new transfer student that was in the same Physics class as him and Joshua. He occasionally saw the senior sitting in the back of the Physics classroom, when he wasn’t busy flirting with Joshua in the front of the classroom (it was one-sided flirting since Joshua never really returned any of his advances, in public at least). 

“Oh Jeonghan? Are you here to watch the game too? It’s just about to end, Wonwoo says there’s one more inning whatever that means.” Jun asked curiously after noticing the way Jeonghan kept his eyes on Seokmin and the way the brunet pitched the baseball in his right hand. “Do you want to join us?”

“No it’s fine, really. I was just passing by.” Jeonghan lied, having been near the bleachers for quite a while now. He had heard about the exhibition match from Seokmin and Mingyu early in the morning, and no matter how much he told himself that he didn’t want to visit and see the junior in action, he couldn’t deny his curious mind.

Jeonghan didn’t even realize he was heading towards the baseball field after he finished his last class until he found himself standing in front of the bleachers, watching Seokmin pitch. “Seokmin is really good at pitching though, it’s kind of amazing.”

“He’s always been really good at throwing stuff, sometimes too good.” Jun added onto Jeonghan’s observations as they both viewed Seokmin throw another pitch, with Soonyoung failing to hit it. The redhead grumbled as he desperately wanted to see the ball go flying into the outfield from where it would hit his wooden baseball bat.

“Once Seokmin threw my phone down a set of stairs.” Wonwoo was looking up from his book to talk to the two seniors standing in front of him. He didn’t show it visually, but he was overjoyed that the two were paying attention to him as he found it was too often that people ignored or spoke over him. The black haired male continued to speak nonchalantly before Jun scoffed and rolled his eyes at his best friend. “He claimed it was an accident, so I accidentally threw him down the stairs to get it for me.”

“Yeah that’s a good example. Very appropriate timing Wonwoo.” Jun sighed as his best friend beamed proudly at his small joke. Wonwoo was funny like that, in the way he tried to cut into conversations to share small anecdotes and unfunny puns. 

“Thanks.” Wonwoo looked upwards from his book with a small smile. He panned over to where Mingyu was standing at third base, observing the tall junior as he stretched his arms on the field while waiting for the next batter to step up to home plate.

The brunet didn’t return Wonwoo’s smile or gaze, seeing as Mingyu still felt hurt by their small quarrel, but it didn’t bother the black haired senior too much because he knew Mingyu would eventually come around. Chan returned Wonwoo’s small smile with a large, wide grin and a tiny wave in his direction though, so that made the senior feel nice.

At the same time, Seokmin winded up his right arm and released yet another fastball. This time, Soonyoung adjusted himself based on his previous failure and hit the ball. It didn’t go in the direction he wanted it to go in, but the redhead was just content with hitting the ball at its fullest speed. Chan was startled by the sound of the ball being hit, and nearly fell over while trying to catch it because he was so occupied with waving to Wonwoo, which made the senior laugh as he went back to burying himself in the words written in the book in front of him.  

“He really is amazing though. It makes even someone as unathletic as me want to go on the field and play against him, just to see if I can hit it, you know?” Jun watched, mesmerized by the way Seokmin continued to intensely serve pitches to the next batter at the home plate. 

Jeonghan observed the brunet as well, not even paying attention to the rest of the game but only to the brunet who pitched ball after ball at consistently fast rates. For the first time in a long time Jeonghan felt captured once again by the sport. Watching the brunet pitch made Jeonghan want to be the one standing at home plate, holding a bat and preparing himself to hit the fastballs over the gray fence surrounding the field. 

The dark haired senior was reminded of how happy he felt every time he hit a really difficult pitch, and of how fulfilled he felt when he turned those difficult, tricky pitches into soaring home runs that went flying across the fields of his dad’s team’s home baseball field. Jeonghan felt both inspired and downcasted by the game in front of him; he wanted so desperately to just jump onto the field and bat against Seokmin’s pitches while at the same time the fact that he also wanted to restrain himself doing so made him feel conflicted.

On one hand Jeonghan stubbornly refused to give into his inner voice, the one that told him to just go after what his heart was seeking. On the other hand, Jeonghan's heart ached for the exhilarating feeling that the ball sport left behind every time he played it. No matter what he felt, there was one indisputable fact: Jeonghan missed playing baseball. “Yeah, I do know how that feels.”

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