Curveball [BL]

10 || Carmen

A few days later, Carmen gets out of bed with a sigh. He mumbles quietly into the phone pressed to his ear while sliding his sweatpants on. He's sure not to wake the boys up, his phone barely showing it's just past three am. He should be sleeping, thoughts of fame and fortune bleeding into his dreams, but he's calling his mom instead.

She doesn't understand timezones. No- it's that she doesn't respect them. Business trip or not, she'll call him when she feels like. Her terms and her terms alone.

Irritation crawls up his throat but he swallows it back, too tired to argue with her so early. He mumbles yeah, yes, okay, and whatever else she wants to hear. He wants to say a lot more. He wants to say a hell of a lot more, but he sniffs tiredly and waits for her to stop lecturing him.

And then she hangs up. Not with love you or I'll call you soon, but with a sharp beep that interrupts his mumbling.

Carmen's mouth closes and his hand lowers, dropping his phone on his bed. His mouth feels dry as he wets his lips, and he knows he's not going to be able to go back to sleep. The lack of warmth in her tone still echoes in his head and almost makes him laugh.

He breathes out another sigh as he stands and finishes pulling up his sweats. He leaves his phone, grabs his room key and wallet instead, and quietly pads to the door. His eyes spare a small glance at Juda and sees him sleeping soundly. Nico's too high up for him to see.

The door silently clicks shut behind him.

Carmen wonders if he should consider this morning or night. Nico's alarm won't go off for another two hours, so maybe night is more suitable.

His feet drag over to the vending machine before he's feeding a dollar through the slot. A7, the most tolerable canned coffee. It's not good by any means, but it'll do for now.

He cringes as the bitter liquid runs down his throat. He considers buying a water too, but he pushes through and forces himself to keep drinking. Lord knows he needs it. His eyes flutter every few seconds, desperate for sleep, but his legs carry him away from his dorm and onto the field.

Carmen loves the night. Every little detail captures his attention and makes him fall even more in love with it. It's not the cool air, the overwhelming darkness, or the sleeping crickets that have him so taken. But the stillness of everything.

All day he's go-go-go. Barely ever having more than a few minutes of peace to himself. Baseball takes up most of his time and with what little he has left, all goes into school. If he's lucky, he can take a nap. 

He takes in a deep breath and tilts his head toward the sky. It's not a full moon tonight. The usual circle is broken and only a shadow of what it's meant to be. Cut in half and curving in the middle.