#baseball au

Craig, who tries to keep the game as stress-free as it can be for Tweek. He'll be an anxious mess regardless, but if he can take away the pressure of them being down in runs, it could be great.

Can you see Tweek freaking out because they are behind since he gave up two runs in their last inning. Craig can't have that, of course, so he'll gain those runs back.

And how perfect is it that the two batters before him managed to get on base when he lands a perfect home run? He hits it with such a blank expression that the other teams wonder if he even feels anything about doing it. As he runs the base, he stays expressionless, until he looks back at the dugout, where Tweek is standing, looking at him. This causes Craig to point at him and wink; a loud "GAH!" is heard from people sitting near their dugout.

Thanks to that, Tweek does pitch relatively alright for someone who gave up their leads earlier. It's good that his catcher and boyfriend has his back like this <3

Some extra extra thoughts

But what if the only reason Craig keeps playing is that Tweek is on the team? He's considered a good catcher and isn't doing too badly in the batter's box either. Their coach really wants him to stay on the team, especially since he's the only one who can really work with Tweek in the first place.

Maybe one day in high school, Tweek confesses that he's absolutely tired of baseball, and it stresses him out way too much. He is just being forced by everyone to keep playing, and in true South Park behaviour, no matter what he says, it gets understood as him wanting to keep going or some shit.

"It's okay, honey, we can find something less stressful to do," Craig simply replies calmly, offering a rare smile.

Eventually, maybe Tweek leaves the team first and finds a gardening club or something. Maybe being somewhere quiet where he cares for plants that aren't too demanding is good for his nerves.

Catcher Craig who's the only one on the team that really knows how to handle pitcher tweek. Everyone just feels so ??? As they watch the guy who can't stop tweaking all the time and who jumping at the slightest of thing, who struggled to pitch properly in the bullpen, suddenly now landing pretty good strikes with him. Though his pitches stay a bit unpredictable the more stressed he is because sometimes it doesn't go quite where he wants it. But that's okay, Craig is used to it and manages to catch them, he's just happy they are not all balls.

Imagine Tweek being able to hit a home run by accident pretty regularly, getting spooked and hitting it deep into or over the fences. Now he's even more stressed out because their coach wants him to keep doing that lol

And that's what I was think the most about here, but Craig just supporting his boyfriend from where he is at the plate. He can feel his pitches coming in a little too high with his nervouness and he just tries to be soothing. "Good pitch honey, a little lower next, I know you can" and while everyone in south park knows about them, not everyone in the state does. Imagine how shocked batters are at the catcher so casually calling his pitcher "honey" "sweetheart" "babe" as if its the most normal thing to do (because it is).

Someone makes a bad remark about Craig, and he doesn't bat an eye, but the moment someone makes a bad comment on Tweek, a ball whizzes past their face real close, too high to be a strike. Just a little warning that his babe is throwing ball at them and the one making the call is Craig who very much hears them.

this is actually a mellie lemontarto torontonian reveal...

tella friend to tell a friend... SHES BACKKKKKKK (my puter)

I'm so glad we agree. this is so self indulgent to me specifically as someone who enjoys baseball, but is very much not an expert. and also Cat Sebastian's "You Should Be So Lucky" (highly recommend btw). that, and I tried to think about what the most inconvenient career to have as a vampire, and I came up with sports in general. also the movie/book "Caught Stealing" for its SF Giants connections (basically a guy gets into a car accident, loses his friend and his baseball dreams, and it spirals from there into a gangster comedy). also I know quite a bit of SF history, and the 80s were interesting but also so devastating for SF. The AIDS epidemic hit SF so hard in so many ways, and I'm also thinking a lot about that in the context of The Lost Boys in general.

but essentially, the SF Giants started doing their spring training in Scottsdale (Phoenix suburb). idk if they recruit from the local area for their main team or minor league teams, but we shall pretend they do! Michael plays for their triple-A team (highest minor league), the Phoenix Firebirds, which was in fact the real team within the Giants' farm system. The farm system is basically how in baseball, players often first play in the minor league teams of an MLB team to train, and hopefully get promoted to the main MLB team, in this case the Giants.

In this au, Michael gets promoted to the roster for the SF Giants, and in the process, meets David, Star, and the Lost Boys. Maybe this happens at a concert Michael happens upon? Michael is too important of a person to be just any old snack, but thats what makes him even more enticing. And baseball games are a night time affair on weekdays so...

He also may or may not have used that baseball bat for something other than baseball back home in Phoenix. Who's to say!

Meanwhile Tommy is a catcher for the Dodgers. His favorite pastime is harassing the shit out of Eddie when he’s up to bat. About how he’s gotta be protected, wouldn’t want any balls to hit Pretty Boy in the face.