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Norton swung his bat, hitting the ball and watching it soar in the sky before it fell many yards away in the grass. His forehead was sweaty and his raven locks were stuck to his head, his breathing was hard and he grinned.
“Never seen a hit like that before have you, Ellis?” Norton yelled as he watched his friend run to catch the ball.
William flipped him off before picking up the baseball and heading back to his position. The two were practicing on a hot Thursday evening. Their school districts own MLB event was coming up, and Norton being his school’s best batter, was practicing with his friend William.
William threw the baseball towards Norton again, watching it fly back towards his direction in the air as Norton hit it. Norton never ceased to fail a hit. He always smacked the ball at the right moment, sending it flying through the air at a record high speed.
Norton swung and hit the ball again, sending it through the air one last time before it landed next to someone’s foot. A certain someone that is.
Naib Subedar, a short heavily tanned beast, picked up the ball and smirked as Norton ran up to him. Naib’s brown locks were in a fight ponytail, with one strand of hair brushing against his forehead. He was wearing his signature green hoodie, the sleeves torn off halfway showing off the scars from dumb school fights from his past.
“Subedar,” Norton nodded, greeting his friend.
“Campbell, what a pleasure to find you here,” Naib winked, throwing the ball at William before waving his hand, telling him that he was taking Norton for the rest of the night.
William gave Naib a thumbs up and left, leaving the two alone in the field. “You’ve been avoiding me lately, Campbell,” Naib faked a pout, causing the taller man to blush and look away.
It was true. Norton was ignoring Naib. He couldn’t bring himself to talk to him after he realized he caught feelings bad for the midget. Really, really bad. Norton was head over heels for the man. However he knew that Naib would never feel the same way.
“I’ve just been busy lately, do you miss me, Subedar?” Norton winked, a grin stretched to the sides of his face, causing Naib to punch his arm.
Naib was a whole head shorter than Norton, and constantly had to look up just to make eye contact. He sat down on the grass, patting it to urge Norton to sit down too, he could talk to Norton at eye level now without any problems.
“Yeah, actually. I have missed you. It gets boring with just Jose sometimes. You’ve been hanging out more with William for the past month. You even stood me up after you agreed to go to the movies with me and Fiona,” Naib looked at the ground, fumbling with the grass, a hurt expression across his face.
Norton froze. Was Naib really that bothered by Norton avoiding him? Did he think Norton liked William? He didn’t think that him distancing himself from Naib would bother the small man so much, but now Norton’s heart hurt at the thought of Naib sadly watching a movie with Fiona that he was supposed to see with them.
“I’m sorry,” Norton muttered, looking up at the orange sky as the sun was setting.
“Well, sorry isn’t going to cut it, Campbell. God you’re so dense I hate you,” Naib snorted, getting up and storming off.
Norton watched him walk off, confused as to what he said that triggered such a reaction. He felt like he messed things up completely with Naib, he felt like something didn’t sit right with him.
By the time Norton got up to go after Naib, the long haired man was already gone. Norton sighed and pulled out his phone, opening up his messages and texting Naib.
You: Tomorrow after school. Meet me in the baseball field. I’ll explain everything. I know I messed up. I’ll fix it.
Norton turned his phone off and shoved it back in his pocket, rubbing his temple. Earlier it seemed like Naib wanted to say something to Norton but couldn’t muster the words to, and then with Norton’s bland replies it had ticked him off, making him leave.
Norton dragged his bat against the ground, making a clunk clunk sound as he left the baseball field. He heard a feminine voice shout his name and turned around, watching Fiona run up to him.
Her red braided hair waved in the wind as she finally caught up to him, putting her hands on her knees and trying to catch her breath.
“What.. did Naib... say to... you?” she heaved, wiping sweat off her forehead.
Norton looked at her confused. “Nothing really why?”
Fiona stood up and tilted her head back, a deadpanned expression on her face. She sighed. “That idiot!”
Norton raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Was he supposed to tell me something?”
“Yeah, well, no. I don’t know! He’s so weird about everything he does and so secretive too it’s always hard to tell what he’s gonna do,” Fiona groaned.
Norton chuckled softly. That sounded like Naib. Never doing things the right way, or doing them at all. God, he loved him.
Wait. Norton loved Naib? Did that even sound right? Was that even possible? The two had only been close for a few months, surely it would take years to actually love someone, right? And his small crush on Naib was completely harmless.
“I’ll talk to him tomorrow, I need to get back home. Do you need a ride?” Norton asked Fiona.
She smiled and nodded, following him to his car and climbing into the passenger seat. “How close are you with Naib?” she asked.
Norton backed out of his parking spot before answering. “I guess we are close enough. Like I’d tell him my crush and trust him not to tell anyone if you get what I mean,” he answered.
Fiona nodded and took out her phone, her fingers hitting the screen at a rapid pace. Norton soon dropped her off and then walked into his apartment. His mom wasn’t home, she probably wouldn’t be for awhile. He sighed and fell on the couch, rubbing his forehead and closing his eyes.
•
Naib never replied to Norton’s text message. He wasn’t even sure if Naib saw it. The anxiety had been eating him up all day and Norton could barely concentrate on his math test. His teacher tapped on his desk before raising an eyebrow.
“Is everything good, Campbell?” she whispered softly.
He nodded. She smiled and walked off to help someone who raised their hand. The period was almost over and he had four questions left. At this point he didn’t care if he failed this test or not, he just wanted the day to be over so he could see if Naib would come and see him or not.
The bell rung and Norton slammed his paper on the others before rushing out of the door, leaving the building and scurrying off towards the baseball field. There was no practice today and William was busy, so if Naib came they would have the whole field to themselves.
God he hoped he would come.
Norton waited on a bench for a good hour, getting up to leave in misery before a small figure made their way towards him. Norton’s eyes shined in hope as Naib made his way towards Norton.
“You came,” Norton closed his eyes, tilting his head and grinning softly.
“Like I would ignore you,” Naib huffed and say next to Norton.
They sat comfortably in silence for a good while before Norton cleared his throat. “About yesterday, is there something you wanted to tell me?” He turned and looked at Naib.
Naib immediately flushed and looked down at his shoes. “No, there wasn’t,” he fibbed.
Norton squinted and looked the other way. “But you said you had something to tell me, so maybe if you tell me there might have been something I needed to tell you yesterday,” Naib said more confidently.
Norton looked back at Naib in surprise.
Suddenly, Norton grabbed the sides of Naib’s face and leaned in, kissing his lips. Naib froze, shocked, before acknowledging Norton’s lips and kissing him back.
“That, that was what I wanted to tell you,” Norton breathed slowly, breaking away from Naib.
The smaller man’s face was as red as a button, and he didn’t look Norton in the eyes. Norton suddenly realized what he did and groaned.
“Naib I’m so sorry it’s okay if you don’t-“
Naib crashed his lips back onto Norton’s, cutting off Norton’s sentence. Norton melted under Naib’s touch as he felt the smaller man pulling him closer.
“God Campbell if this was why you were avoiding me you should’ve said so earlier,” Naib teased, resting his hand on the side of Norton’s face.
They looked at each other in the eyes in silence for what felt like an eternity. Naib’s eyes glistened in solitude, he felt like he was on cloud nine. The fact that Norton liked him. His heart wouldn’t stop fluttering.
“Go out with me,” Naib breathed against Norton’s lips, before covering them with his own.
Norton separated from his touch before grinning like a mad man. “Of course I’ll go out with you, but you gotta promise me something first,” Norton winked.
“And what would that promise be?” Naib asked.
Norton pinned Naib down on the bench, brushing their noses together, looking directly into Naib’s eyes. “Come watch me practice tomorrow. And maybe the days after that. I miss having you watch me,” Norton cooed.
Naib smirked before pulling Norton into another kiss. God had truly blessed him today.