Not-Sunday not-snippet
Jun. 4th, 2021 08:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nnozomiI actually did some good revision work on my original thing today, and rewarded myself with a bit of Guardian AU silliness; this was inspired by the weather today, not surprisingly, and comes from the baseball AU clevermanka and I were playing with a while back. I don't think there's any other context needed...
Zhao Yunlan slides hard into third and almost goes flying on past, underestimating how wet the field is. He comes up spitting dirt, eyelashes muddy and the front of his uniform a disgrace. The third baseman gives him a disdainful look worthy of Zhu Hong, but she’s not that much better off; her big ponytail is a rain-soaked mess half obscuring the DN ZHANG on the back of her uniform blouse. Zhao Yunlan grins at her, breathless, and resettles his cap to check the rest of the diamond. Guo Changcheng’s well and truly out, of course, but it was a halfway respectable sacrifice bunt and he can see Xiao Guo being brushed off and cussed out with rough solicitude by Lao Chu on the bench, all good.
Two outs and a man on third in the bottom of the fifth. With the rain coming down this hard, there’s a damn good chance the game will be called after this inning—Zhao Yunlan can see Manager Li and his counterpart, Acting Manager what’s-his-name, conferring with one of the umps now, huddled into waterproof windbreakers.
Two outs and a man on third, behind one to nothing on the scoreboard. If Zhao Yunlan gets home this inning, they earn a tie. If the next batter gets home too—
Zhao Yunlan chews on the collar of his uniform, wishing lollipops were allowed on the field. If it were Lao Chu, their big gun, he’d have a good chance of strolling home while the ball sailed into the stands. Or even Lin Jing—his average isn’t as good as Chu Shuzhi’s but when he connects it’s bigtime. But the next batter up is Shen Wei.
Shen Wei is a singles hitter. He has a catcher’s ability to read the pitching and ride with it, his average is pretty good considering how much of his mind is on calling the game, but he’s not a homerun batter, not naturally.
The opposing pitcher bends over to finger the rosin bag again, flicking purple-dyed hair off his face under his cap. There’s mud on the J ZHU on the back of his uniform. He rocks a little on his feet, eyeing Shen Wei’s batting stance.
Shen Wei’s eyes flicker to Zhao Yunlan; his chin comes up just perceptibly, a nod no one else will see, the battery’s understanding. Zhao Yunlan grins at him, feeling the mud on his face crack.
The pitch comes down.
Hit ‘em where they ain’t, Zhao Yunlan hears, in his father’s voice. Shen Wei’s ground hit sweeps neatly between the infielders and trickles out into right field. Zhao Yunlan loses track of it there, too busy running like hell, kicking home plate hard and just managing not to plow straight into the opposing catcher (just as well, Ya Qing is one of Zhu Hong’s exes and he’s heard the stories). At least they’ve tied the game—
Shen Wei is at second base, taking advantage of the infielders’ confusion. The right fielder gets to the ball, grabs it, throws to third to cut Shen Wei off—
--slips on the wet grass, the ball going wildly off into foul territory—
Shen Wei takes off. Their cool, collected Hei Pao Shi runs the bases like someone’s life depended on it; he doesn’t slide—not hard to guess why, not the way Zhao Yunlan has seen him press an absent hand to the small of his back as he stands up from the catcher’s crouch—but he’s fast. Zhao Yunlan is yelling “Come on, come on!” to him without even realizing it, just far enough away from home plate to avoid obstruction, watching Shen Wei get closer—
--and then the bench is cheering and the run is scored and Shen Wei is in his arms.
Be safe and well (and dry and not muddy).
Zhao Yunlan slides hard into third and almost goes flying on past, underestimating how wet the field is. He comes up spitting dirt, eyelashes muddy and the front of his uniform a disgrace. The third baseman gives him a disdainful look worthy of Zhu Hong, but she’s not that much better off; her big ponytail is a rain-soaked mess half obscuring the DN ZHANG on the back of her uniform blouse. Zhao Yunlan grins at her, breathless, and resettles his cap to check the rest of the diamond. Guo Changcheng’s well and truly out, of course, but it was a halfway respectable sacrifice bunt and he can see Xiao Guo being brushed off and cussed out with rough solicitude by Lao Chu on the bench, all good.
Two outs and a man on third in the bottom of the fifth. With the rain coming down this hard, there’s a damn good chance the game will be called after this inning—Zhao Yunlan can see Manager Li and his counterpart, Acting Manager what’s-his-name, conferring with one of the umps now, huddled into waterproof windbreakers.
Two outs and a man on third, behind one to nothing on the scoreboard. If Zhao Yunlan gets home this inning, they earn a tie. If the next batter gets home too—
Zhao Yunlan chews on the collar of his uniform, wishing lollipops were allowed on the field. If it were Lao Chu, their big gun, he’d have a good chance of strolling home while the ball sailed into the stands. Or even Lin Jing—his average isn’t as good as Chu Shuzhi’s but when he connects it’s bigtime. But the next batter up is Shen Wei.
Shen Wei is a singles hitter. He has a catcher’s ability to read the pitching and ride with it, his average is pretty good considering how much of his mind is on calling the game, but he’s not a homerun batter, not naturally.
The opposing pitcher bends over to finger the rosin bag again, flicking purple-dyed hair off his face under his cap. There’s mud on the J ZHU on the back of his uniform. He rocks a little on his feet, eyeing Shen Wei’s batting stance.
Shen Wei’s eyes flicker to Zhao Yunlan; his chin comes up just perceptibly, a nod no one else will see, the battery’s understanding. Zhao Yunlan grins at him, feeling the mud on his face crack.
The pitch comes down.
Hit ‘em where they ain’t, Zhao Yunlan hears, in his father’s voice. Shen Wei’s ground hit sweeps neatly between the infielders and trickles out into right field. Zhao Yunlan loses track of it there, too busy running like hell, kicking home plate hard and just managing not to plow straight into the opposing catcher (just as well, Ya Qing is one of Zhu Hong’s exes and he’s heard the stories). At least they’ve tied the game—
Shen Wei is at second base, taking advantage of the infielders’ confusion. The right fielder gets to the ball, grabs it, throws to third to cut Shen Wei off—
--slips on the wet grass, the ball going wildly off into foul territory—
Shen Wei takes off. Their cool, collected Hei Pao Shi runs the bases like someone’s life depended on it; he doesn’t slide—not hard to guess why, not the way Zhao Yunlan has seen him press an absent hand to the small of his back as he stands up from the catcher’s crouch—but he’s fast. Zhao Yunlan is yelling “Come on, come on!” to him without even realizing it, just far enough away from home plate to avoid obstruction, watching Shen Wei get closer—
--and then the bench is cheering and the run is scored and Shen Wei is in his arms.
Be safe and well (and dry and not muddy).
no subject
Date: 2021-06-04 12:29 pm (UTC)Shen Wei’s eyes flicker to Zhao Yunlan; his chin comes up just perceptibly, a nod no one else will see, the battery’s understanding.
YESSSSSSSSSS Oh my gosh my dad had the best stories about when he didn't listen to his catcher and regretted it later. That communication is crucial and amazing.
and then the bench is cheering and the run is scored and Shen Wei is in his arms
All the warm fuzzy feelings!!!!!
no subject
Date: 2021-06-04 10:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-06-04 11:14 pm (UTC)But my favorite story was during a college game (most of his best stories were college ball, playing pro didn't agree with him) and he was feeling arrogant or something and shrugging off his catcher's pitch suggestions. Well, they had a good lead and my dad was really into himself and disagreed again with the call so threw something the catcher wasn't expecting. The batter didn't connect, but they almost lost a base because the catcher fumbled the bad pitch. My dad gets back on the mound, nods at the next call, throws--and gets knocked on his ass by a straight shot right at him. The ball glanced his shoulder and took him out for the rest of the game. The catcher just watched him exit the field and my dad swears to this day the catcher set him up for that. And he agrees he deserved it.
My second-favorite story is much shorter so I'll share that, too. His team was at the College World Series(!) and he accidentally threw the rosin bag instead of the ball. I don't remember if it was a pitch or a throw to base, but he would laugh until he cried, remembering that.
I'm so glad you're finding this AU soothing, yay! I love what you're doing with it.
no subject
Date: 2021-06-05 04:12 am (UTC)I'm so glad you're finding this AU soothing, yay! I love what you're doing with it.
<3 <3 <3
no subject
Date: 2021-06-04 04:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-06-04 10:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-06-06 05:37 pm (UTC)Yay! \o/
What an action-packed snippet! You know a lot about baseball. <3
no subject
Date: 2021-06-10 10:28 am (UTC)