#fiig

“They—I think I’ve liked you from the start,” he admits. 

“Me too,” Willie nods. 

“Yeah, but, I—I wouldn’t admit it, because the guys were always pressing me about you and calling you my boyfriend before you were, and it… I wasn’t ready for it. Not like I am now.” Alex brings one hand up to caress Willie’s face. He leans in and kisses him gently, and when he pulls away, Willie nods for him to continue. “I’m… I’m worried if we tell them they’ll keep doing that, but make it more extreme.” 

“What do you mean?” Willie frowns. “We’re already dating, Alex.” 

Alex feels his face go red. “Like, comments about coming out and marriage and kids and—stuff that. We’re not at that point. And I… I love you and I want to head there with you but it scares me to think about all of that right now because, I. I still don’t know when I’m going to come out, and I know I’ll feel—“ 

“Alex,” Willie says. He presses up on his toes and leans in to kiss Alex. “I think I understand.” 

“You do.” 

“Yeah,” Willie nods. “I get it, just…” 

Alex blinks, takes a step back. “Just what?” 

Willie laughs and pulls him back in, pulls him even closer than they’d been standing a moment ago. He lifts his arms and wraps them around Alex’s neck and offers him a smile. “You love me?” 

Alex’s heart stutters in his chest. He stares down at Willie, wondering how Willie could have possibly gotten that out of his speech. Not that it’s not true, because it is, but Alex didn’t want Willie to know, not yet. It’s too soon, isn’t it? “How did you…?” 

Willie pulls Alex down and kisses him again. “You should plan your words a bit more carefully, babe,” Willie hums. “You just told me you loved me.” 

“What?” Alex asks, thinking back on his words. He rewinds the conversation, but he can’t get to where he said that he loves Willie—can’t think of where he said that he’s—oh. Yes he can. “Oh my god,” Alex breathes. “I—“ 

“Covie,” Luke calls, waving him over. Willie looks up from his locker and slips his glove into his compartment and heads over. Luke grins. “We were gonna head out for some dinner. Did you wanna join?” 

“Oh,” Willie says. He looks around. “Yeah, man.” Willie reaches a hand out to Reggie and introduces himself—“Hey, man. Sorry I didn’t get to say hi earlier. I’m Willie. Covington. Covie. Whatever you want to call me. I don’t really care.” 

“Awesome, man,” Reggie grins, shaking Willie’s hand. “I’m Reggie, though Wilson calls me Peters and only Peters, so you’ll get to know me by my last name too.” 

“’M Bobby,” Bobby waves. “No one calls me by my last name otherwise it’d get confusing. Being the coach’s son and all.” 

“Nepotism and all,” Reggie grins, winding an arm around Bobby’s waist. Bobby rolls his eyes at Reggie, but it’s fond. 

“Sweet.” Willie turns to Alex. “Mercer. Alex, right? I’m, uh. Willie.”

Alex narrows his eyes and shoves himself up from his locker seat. “Yeah,” he says. “It’s nice to meet you.” 

“You too,” Willie grins. “Happy to be on your team, man.” 

“My team?” Alex raises an eyebrow. 

“Yeah. Honestly? You have no idea how fucking thrilled I am to not have to pitch against you anymore.” 

Alex barks out a surprised laugh, not having expected that. “Probably about as thrilled as I am to not have to bat against you anymore,” Alex says, offering his hand to Willie. When Willie takes his hand, his nerves fly out the window, leaving him feeling relaxed and calm. 

“You got my back out there though?” Willie asks. 

Immediately, Alex understands what he means, and he nods. “Of course.” As an outfielder it’s his job to make sure balls get caught, to keep them from going over the wall, to get balls into the infield as quick as he can, to make sure Willie’s stats look nice. Of course he’ll be doing that, it’s his job.