Curveball [BL]

11 || Nico

The rest of the week blurs by for Nico, until it's the night before their first game. The first game of the season. Practice is harder, more time consuming, and absolutely brutal. Coach is drilling every last technique he can into them before the big day.

They've been practicing for three hours now, and Nico can't see Coach dismissing them anytime soon. It's going to be a long night, he realizes.

Coach barks for the second string and non-starters to get off his field around the four hour mark, leaving only the starting players of first string. They're all breathless, all panting for a desperate breath of air, and all barely able to stand up straight.

But Coach doesn't stop. He stands at home plate, tosses a ball in the air, and swings his bat as hard as he can. The ball goes digging into the ground, right between second and third where Carmen's supposed to be.

Carmen's not there, though. He's still covering third after Roman ran back to catch Coach's previous ball.

It's intentional, Nico realizes, turning to watch Carmen run and dive for the ball. It bounces off the edge of his glove before rolling onto the ground. "C'mon, Carmen! I thought you were quick on your feet!"

Carmen picks himself up, breathing heavily as dirt stains most of his uniform. The original white and red is colored orange with the occasional streaks of green.

Nico wants to say something encouraging, something that'll make Carmen smile even just the slightest, but Coach is just as much on his ass as he is everyone else's. It's not time for playing around like they usually do during practice.

It'll be the first game of the fucking season. Spectators are going to be judging their first game on how the rest of their season will go. Essentially, it can make or break them.

Coach spends all of sunset like this. Focusing on each position, making their life hell for as long as he deems fit, before moving onto the next player.

The outfield doesn't have it any easier than the inner. The amount of times Nico's seen Jax dive for the ball is enough to make him cringe. It's a lot of space to cover back there for only three people, and Coach is deliberately hitting it in harder places for them to catch. 

Nico's impressed by his aim, and he mentally thanks whatever greater power over and over that he'll never have to face off against Barrel on the field.

Eventually, Coach cuts them loose. It's not with praise or satisfaction that he dismisses them, but because they need every hour of sleep they can get. He grunts for them to remember how they feel right now and fix it in their sleep.