Bullpen Catcher
It had been a week since the night at the bar and Vi hadn’t heard from Caitlyn. There was a part of her that was getting extremely annoyed. The two women had shared a moment at both the café and the bar. Vi knows she felt it and based on how uncomfortable Caitlyn seemed when trying to apologize for “taking things too far”, she felt it too. Yet now, it was like Caitlyn just returned to her normally scheduled programming and Vi was left to figure out what the fuck was going on.
In the wake of the evening at the bar, Vander kept her busy by making her pick up a couple shifts to help him out. There were also plenty of workouts to be done at the gym. Still, Vi found herself waiting to hear a notification come through her phone. Each time it pinged only to not be Cait, she found herself disappointed.
At the start of the eighth day, Vi was brushing her teeth, prepping for a run when her phone buzzed alerting her of a text.
Hey, it's me. Want to meet for a bullpen session?
Caitlyn. Vi could feel her heart flutter just a tiny bit when the name popped up. The smile crept on her face before she could stop it. Immediately she scolded herself. She was upset at Caitlyn because she’d been ignoring her. Yet, they were teammates and hadn’t yet tested the waters as a battery. The catcher had been dying for the chance to see the highly touted transfer at work.
Guess you decided to finally take me out for a test drive?
Though her knees and back ached at night from spending countless hours crouched and getting beat up by pitchers, catching was what she loved to do. There was no better feeling in the world than putting on that gear like it was armor and striding out onto the diamond. Her mind knew this must be what it feels like for a warrior to enter a battlefield.
Got to prepare you for that drop ball. Meet me at campus at 10. Don’t be late.
- - - - - - -
Caitlyn had been trying for 7 days to figure out how to talk to Vi. All she could think about was the moment in her car. Before then, everything was perfectly fine. They’d spent the better part of the evening talking about their lives prior to college. Caitlyn learned that Vi and her sister had been orphaned when they were younger, their parents killed in a car wreck. The pink haired woman had even mentioned that it was not lost on her that vehicles seemed to take those whom she loved away from her.
Caitlyn talked a bit about Jayce and how he had entered her life. He had been an intern for her mother when he was a political science student at the university. Being 3 years older than her, Caitlyn was at a wild stage in her life when they met. Not going into detail about the adventures of young Cait, all she shared with Vi was it had been Jayce who helped her settle down.
Vander eventually switched Caitlyn to water, asking the pitcher to sober up so that she could ensure Vi made it home safely. The bartender also admitted that after the 5th glass of whiskey, he had started to water it down. What he couldn’t water down was the additional 7 shots of the awful smelling liquor Vi downed like they were shots of water.
As Vi grew increasingly drunk, she also became intensely more flirtatious. Every morally good part of Caitlyn’s brain told her to let the woman have her fun and just ignore it. However, the flirtier Vi got, the more Caitlyn loved it. Prior to the interactions with the catcher, Caitlyn couldn’t remember the last time someone made her feel attractive, let alone wanted. Heat had radiated through her whole body as Vi used words such as “sexy”, “beautiful”, “gorgeous”, and “hot”. Every teasing sentiment the other woman made caused Caitlyn to feel like she actually mattered to someone again.
Everything changed when they left the bar. Vi continued to make her flirty comments to Caitlyn as she drove the two of them back toward Piltover from Zaun. When they pulled up in front of Vi’s apartment, it was clear there was no way she’d make it up the stairs on her own.
Caitlyn had planned on walking her to her door, but they continued chatting. What exactly they discussed Caitlyn can’t remember because all she was focused on was the how their faces were getting closer to one other. Electricity seemed to crackle in the air. Caitlyn could feel Vi’s breath escaping her lungs. Before she knew it, she’d pushed her head forward and locked lips with her teammate. Vi initially accepted it and started to deepen it until something in her snapped and caused her to have a panic attack.
“Gods I’m such an idiot!” she shouted to herself as she sat alone in her apartment. “Just bloody text her.”
Hey, it's me. Want to meet for a bullpen session?
Never in her life had she been more anxious to receive a response.
Guess you decided to finally take me out for a test drive?
Seriously? This woman could not be real. Of all the ways she could have responded, Vi made a test drive reference. Of course she didn’t know about the kiss, but still. Caitlyn knew she had to tell her, but still hadn’t figured out how. Until she did, it would be strictly professional.
Got to prepare you for that drop ball. Meet me at campus at 10. Don’t be late.
——-
9:30 on the dot was when Vi arrived to the building. Since Kiramman wasn’t officially a student at Piltover, Vi knew she’d most likely have to let her in to the athletic complex. Rolling her catcher’s bag behind her, she sauntered down the sidewalk expecting to have to wait 15 or so minutes. However, in true Kiramman family fashion, Caitlyn was waiting outside the door.
“Well well well. Look who finally decided to slum it with a lowly non-national champ again.”
It’s the first time Vi notices Caitlyn flinch at one of her sarcastic jokes. The bodily reaction makes Vi extremely uncomfortable suddenly. All the work to build the bridge between them and whatever stupid thing Vi did that night at Vander’s bar fucked it all up.
“Hello, Vi. Nice to see you again.” Her words are tempered. All it does is increase the unease Vi feels and she hates it. Bound and determined to fix whatever happened, Vi decided she wasn’t going to let up.
“Damn. I’m getting the formal treatment today.”
Caitlyn doesn’t respond. Instead, she meekly smiles and picks up her bag she’d set off to the side while waiting. Rolling her eyes, Vi huffs as she slaps her ID badge against the card reader.
The duo walk in silence down the long hallway until they reach the locker room. Vi set her bag next to a cubby that has a picture of herself in full gear above it. Below the picture it reads “Lanes 12”.
“Why 12?” The questions comes out before she can stop herself. So much for professionalism.
“The ice thaws I see?” Vi smirks, but instantly gets serious. “I’ve worn 12 my whole life. When I got here, I had to pay off a senior to get it. It’s an important number to me. It’s how old I was when my parents died.”
Caitlyn nods her head and looks away, unsure of what to say. Mentally she tries to imagine a young Vi at that age, devastated about her parents, yet fiercely protective of her sister according to Ekko. Experiencing such a catastrophic event at such a young age seems insane. Then to be a young woman, on the verge of finding yourself in life and being convinced you’ve found your life partner only to have her ripped from your arms, Caitlyn can’t fathom it.
Vi, meanwhile, senses that Cait is 1000 light years away. The taller woman’s body is stiff and uncomfortable, like it had been the day she’d first met her in the coach’s office. Desperate to fix whatever mistake had happened, Vi does the only thing she can think of. She grabs Caitlyn’s hand.
“Cait, look, whatever happened..”
Caitlyn rips her hand away from Vi. It’s reactive, not voluntary. Hurt causes Vi’s eyes the darken from the silvery grey they usually are. It rips Caitlyn’s heart out of her chest.
“I see the ice isn’t thawed..” Vi holds her hand up as tho she’s surrendering to a firing squad. “My apologies, Ace. Strictly business from now on.” With that, she pulls up the handle and rolls her bag to the indoor cage.
———
After a good stretch, Caitlyn walks Vi through her warm up routine. Unlike Ionia’s catcher Sarah, Vi warmed her pitchers up in full gear. Sarah usually would wait until Caitlyn picked up some speed before adorning her catcher’s helmet. Vi made it abundantly clear once she stepped out of the dugout, it was all business.
Once Caitlyn felt she was fully loose and ready to go, the two discussed her pitches.
“My drop ball is usually my best pitch.” Caitlyn believes she’s finished the conversation and can start throwing when Vi alters her plans.
“No, it’s your backdoor curve.” Vi rebuttals flatly.
“No, it’s my drop. It’s my go to pitch when I’ve got to strike someone out.”
“No,” Vi’s voice is starting to sound angry, “it’s your backdoor curve. The only reason you think it’s your drop is because everyone has told you that. However, last year, you struggled to control it. You only threw that pitch roughly 12% of the time and it only got called a strike 56% of the time. You used your backdoor curve 23% and it was called a strike 79% of the time. Want to know your next highest percentage or would you like to shut the fuck up and show me what you’ve got?”
Caitlyn blows a gasket. “What is your problem? Are you so arrogant that you’re telling me, the reigning national pitcher of the year, how to pitch my game?”
Vi steps forward, removing her helmet. “Are you seriously peacocking me right now?”
Caitlyn scoffs. “It’s not peacocking if I have the shit to back it up. Which I do. You seem to forget why Sevika wanted me here.”
Vi throws her head back lets out a sarcastic laugh. “Oh, I am fully aware why she wanted you here so bad. Yet, I think you feel like your opinion is the only one that matters. Perhaps that’s because everyone in Ionia treated you like the princess you think you are. Here in the real world, however, we use our big girl words and actually discuss things as a team and stuff. So, I’m here to tell you, you’re wrong, and your fucking drop ball is not your best pitch.”
Caitlyn’s body moves forward closing the gap between the two of them. “It was obviously a mistake thinking this could work.”
Vi steps forward to the point where there’s no almost no open space between their faces. Caitlyn’s breath catches in her lungs. She can see the muscles in Vi’s eyes as she hyper focuses them on Caitlyn’s. “That’s not how you acted a week ago. You seemed to enjoy my undeniable charm a whole hell of a lot at that bar.”
Caitlyn’s walls tumble as she steps back. Her face suddenly softens and it catches Vi off guard. A sudden burst of anger cause the pitcher to chuck the ball at the net behind her. “That’s the bloody problem!”
Ragged breaths cause Caitlyn to look like a maniac. Her head turns to find Vi confused and what looks like a little afraid.
“Cait, it’s okay. I can leave you alone.”
“I kissed you. That’s what happened and that’s what’s wrong. I kissed and sent you into a panic attack. I couldn’t help myself. You just made me feel like an actual woman again.”
Speechless. Vi is left speechless. It’s why Caitlyn was adamant about not wanting to do anything to make her uncomfortable. Caitlyn tries to leave, but Vi runs after her. Even though she’s stopped the woman from running away, she cannot get Caitlyn to face her.
“It’s okay. I’m not mad. Honestly, I’m sad I don’t remember at least the kiss part.” A smug smirk attaches itself to Vi’s lips. Caitlyn doesn’t know if she should be furious or turned on.
“Then remember this.”
She opts for the latter and crashes forward into Vi’s lips. The kiss is rough, not at all like it had been in the car that night. Vi drops her helmet and wraps her arms around Caitlyn’s waist, pulling her in tighter. She feels her chest protector form to Kiramman’s body which causes the strap across her back to tighten. Vi pulls away long enough to rip the protective layer off and crashes back into to Caitlyn.
Caitlyn places her right hand on the nape of Vi’s neck to pull her deeper into the kiss. The other hand starts at Vi’s upper back and slides its way down and back up under Vi’s shirt.
Just as things seem to be taking a turn into even deeper territory, someone is standing at the door and clears their throat. The two woman frantically pull apart from one another to find their coach staring, watching them.
“Fuck’s sake, Vi. Kiramman has already committed. No need to add more incentives.”
The two women blush as Sevika admonishes them. Vi awkwardly picks up her chest protector and helmet. “Uh, sorry about that. Things got, uh, carried away, Coach.”
Sevika’s arms cross and her gazes hardens as the two shift uncomfortably. “Ma’am I’m the one who initiated. I don’t know what over came me.”
“Can it, Kiramman. I don’t give a shit who started it, I’m going to end it. Now, if this,” her hands wave in an all encompassing gesture, “is going to continue then it better not cause issues in my locker room. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, Coach.” The two respond in unison.
“Also, this is the last time anything like this occurs in my building. Is that clear?”
“Yea, coach.”
“Good. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go sign off on the final paperwork for Kiramman’s transfer. Vi, you are dismissed. Kiramman, why don’t you join me my office.”
Caitlyn tries to catch a glance at Vi, but the catcher just shakes her head. “Call me.”
Sevika rolls her eyes and walks out the door.
———
Neither Sevika nor Caitlyn have spoken a word since the door to the coach’s office closed. Caitlyn is looking everywhere but forward and Sevika is focused on Caitlyn. When Caitlyn does catch a glimpse of her new coach, she can’t tell if the woman is pissed or amused.
“Ma’am, let me…”
“Call me ma’am one more time and I’m going to run you until you throw up. It’s either Coach or Coach S. Never ma’am. Never Sevika. I am your coach, not a Piltie at a party.”
Caitlyn nods, afraid she may slip and call her ma’am.
“Look, Kiramman. I brought you here to Piltover because I want to see you break my record and I’d rather have you do it while you’re playing for me than against me. Whatever you do in your personal time is none of my business, just don’t bring it here, got it?”
“Yes, coach. I apologize. I never meant for it to go that far. At least not here.”
Sevika’s lip curls up on one side. “Yea nothing turns me on quite like the sight of catcher’s gear.”
Caitlyn chuckles and starts to relax. Just when she thinks the mood of the conversation is shifting into something friendlier, Sevika goes for the kill.
“Also, if you’re going to take this path with Vi you better be ready. Girl has been through it and she doesn’t need her heart shattered again. I played ball with her mom and promised Vander I’d look after her while she was here. Don’t make me regret inviting you here. Now, go enjoy the rest of your day. ”
Somehow that’s more menacing than the conversation about not making out in the practice building. Caitlyn nods and stands up because she desperately wants to run from the building. As she turns the knob and opens the door, she stops, feeling the need to say something.
“I know Vi’s been through a lot and the last thing I want to do is hurt her more. I can’t explain it, but there’s something there I want to explore. Also, I’m sure you think I’m some pampered Piltover councilor’s daughter, but I’ve been through shit too. I’m sure you know what happened because I know you asked Grayson the real reason I left. While your record is important, my goal is bringing a title here. Your program and this city deserve it. So before you judge me, just know I’m still getting over pain too but I want to be here to bring home some hardware. Also, who knows. May be Vi and I need each other to finally feel like humans again.”
With that, Caitlyn leaves Sevika to stew on her words.