prologue

~four years ago~

       The moment I wake up, I already know that today is going to be no different for me than the day before despite being a monumental day that most people look forward to. Maybe I'll end up having a great day, but I know it won't be because of my family's contribution. If anything, it would be because of my best friend and other friends.

       I debate whether or not I should just say in bed. I reach for my phone to check the time. Eleven in the morning. Daisuke is at work right now, so I will probably just stay in bed until he gets off of work.

       At least, that was my plan until my stomach growled. I sigh, not particularly wanting to get up, but I also don't want to stay hungry. I slowly pull myself out of bed before I head down the stairs to look for something to it. I'm not really in the mood to make anything, so I just pour myself a bowl of cereal.

       At I'm eating my breakfast at the kitchen table, I hear the loud noise of someone coming down the stairs with something dragging behind them. I look over, seeing my parents walking downstairs with their suitcases wheeling behind them.

       I furrow my eyebrows, lowering the spoon in my hand. "Are you going somewhere?"

       "Yes," Mom says. "Your father received a substantial bonus at work so we're going to spend it at a cabin for the weekend."

       "This weekend?" I ask. "And you're leaving now?"

       "That's why we have our suitcases," Dad says. "I also had some personal time off I haven't used yet, so I'm taking today and Monday off. We'll be back Monday night."

       "It had to be this weekend?" I ask. "Why couldn't it be next weekend?"

       "I don't see why it has to be next weekend," Mom says. "We have nothing going on this weekend, so we might as well go as soon as we can."

       "Right..." I say. No surprise there.

       I've completely lost my appetite at this point, so I take my bowl and spoon to the kitchen sink, setting my dishes beside it.

       "Oh, Kelly will be gone all weekend too," Mom says. "She's going to a concert tonight, so she's spending the weekend with her friend in the city. Just in case you're wondering why you're home alone. We won't have reception, so call Lance if you need anything."

       I don't bother replying as my parents leave the house with their luggage, closing the door behind them. They didn't even wish me a happy eighteenth birthday.

       I'm not sure how much longer I can live like this. I'm tired of feeling like an afterthought in my own family, in my own home. No matter how many times I told my family that I hate feeling this way, they would ignore me or tell me that I'm overreacting. They just don't care.

        Then it hits me. I'm eighteen today. I can move out. It might take some time to find a place, but at least I can start looking.

       I grab my cell phone and hesitate before I call Daisuke. I know he's at work, but he also said I can call him whenever, knowing how shitty my home life is. I don't think he'll get mad at me for calling him at work since this isn't something I want to wait to talk about.

       Daisuke answers almost immediately. "Hey," he says. "Happy birthday."

       I smile softly. "You already wished me a happy birthday at midnight."

       "I know, but I thought I would say it again," Daisuke says. 

       "Well, thanks, again. Sorry for calling you at work..."

       "No, don't worry about it. I'm actually on a short break right now because one of the deliveries is falling behind and hasn't come here yet. So what's up?"

       "It's just... Remember how we talked about finding a place together as soon as I turn eighteen. Well... I'm eighteen now so... Can we start looking at places now?"

       "Of course," Daisuke says. "But why are you calling me to ask? We already talked about doing it. You don't have to ask again."

       I sigh. "I just don't want to live here anymore. I'm tired of being forgotten, Daisuke. I mean, my parents decided to go on a weekend trip to a remote cabin without any reception, and they didn't wish me a happy birthday when they left. Kelly is spending the weekend with one of her friends in the city because she's going to a concert tonight, so she won't be home eight. And Lance... Well, it's Lance. I highly doubt he's going to come over, let alone wish me a happy birthday. I hate feeling this way, Daisuke. I really, really hate it. Even looking for places right now might make me feel better, knowing that I'll soon be gone from this cursed home."

       "I have a better plan," Daisuke says. "Pack your stuff. I'll come pick you up after work, and you can stay with my family until we can find a place of our own. We don't know how long it will take to find a place, so I'd rather you get out as soon as you can."

       "I can't ask that, Daisuke."

       "Mason, come on, you know my parents always welcome you. They know you hate living with your family. They would be more than happy to let you live with us for the time being. We've got the space for you."

       I know that Daisuke won't take no for an answer. In fact, if I keep saying no, he would probably just show up to my house and pack my stuff for me. I always just feel like I'm intruding on Daisuke's family whenever I stay for a night or two, even if they tell me every single time that they'll always be a place for me at their house.

       So I just say, "Okay."

       "Okay. I'm off in about two hours, so I'll text you when I'm done. I'll just have to go home first to see if I can borrow my dad's truck or Aoi's van."

       "Thank you so much, Daisuke."

       "Of course, Mason. You know I would do anything for you."

       Hearing him say that sends a slight sting to my heart for two reasons; one, my best friend would do anything for me whereas my family does nothing for me. Of course, I am so happy that Daisuke will do anything for me, but I wish that at least one person in my person would.

       The second reason why my heart stings upon hearing Daisuke say that is because I know he means it in just a platonic way, but God, I wish he meant it romantically. Every single day, Daisuke does something that makes me fall even more in love with him. But it has been three years since I first fell in love with him so even though I wish he felt the same way, I got used to the idea that he doesn't.

       And even though it hurts, I'm also okay with it. Because I would much rather have Daisuke in my life as just my best friend than to never have him at all.

       The only person who knows about my feelings for Daisuke is my friend, Ray. I only told him because Ray was struggling with his feelings for his own best friend, so I was able to give him some comfort by relating to him in some way.

       Sure enough, Ray's best friend feels the same way and they've been together for just over a year. Of course, this has convinced Ray that one day, Daisuke will feel the same way as me, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

       Before going to my room, I go into the storage to grab some empty boxes. I don't have many things, so it won't take long for me to pack. If anything, I'll probably end up finishing packing my stuff before Daisuke even gets here.

       I had just finished taking my clothes out of my dresser and putting them into a box before I hear the front door open and close. I leave my room and walk down the stairs to see who's hear, only to be disappointed. Of course, it's the last person I want to be here.

       "What are you doing here?" I ask Lance as he opens the fridge and grabs a bottle of beer. "Don't you have your own home?"

       "I do, but I figured I could have this place to myself with Mom, Dad, and Kelly being out of town," Lance says as he walks over to the couch, flopping down onto it and grabbing the remote to watch TV.

       "Except I'm here," I point out.

       "Right, so make sure you keep it down."

       "Whatever." It's not like I'm going to be here for much longer.

       I head back upstairs to my room. Sure enough, I do finish packing my stuff before Daisuke even gets off of work. I don't have many things after all. So I just spend the time lying on my bed, just scrolling through videos on my phone.

       Just after one, Daisuke texts me to let me know he got off of work and will be there soon once he changes vehicles since we probably can't fight the boxes in his car. About twenty minutes later, he texts me to let me know he just pulled into the driveway with his sister's van.

       I go downstairs to let Daisuke into the house. As soon as I open the door, Daisuke gives me a hug, knowing that I desperately need one. "Thanks for helping me get out of here," I say.

       "Of course," Daisuke says. "And I already talked to my parents. They're more than happy for you to stay with us."

       I lead Daisuke to the stairs to get the boxes but before we can even start going to my room, Lance says, "Uh, you shouldn't have friends over when Mom and Dad are out of town."

       "And you shouldn't be drinking Dad's beer," I shot back before I head upstairs with Daisuke following. 

       Daisuke notices I've already finished packing, so he grabs two boxes stacked on top of each other to bring out to his sister's van. At least him helping me move my stuff to his house means I can check out his muscles because man, does he ever has muscles.

       I'm only able to grab one box at a time and there are four in total, so I'll have to come back for it.

       Lance sees what Daisuke and I are doing once we're both back downstairs. "Uh, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

       "None of your business," I say.

       "Like hell it isn't my business," Lance says. 

       "Then I'm leaving."

       "You can't just leave."

       "Okay."

       I don't know if Lance is too shocked to do something or just doesn't care, but he doesn't follow me and Daisuke out of the house to try to stop us. I set the box on the ground, telling Daisuke I'll go get the last one.

       I go back inside, and that's when Lance decides to follow me upstairs and to my room, now seeing that everything except for the furniture and bedding is packed away.

       I grab the last box, hoping Lance would leave me alone, but he doesn't. "This is serious, Mason. You can't just move out when you want."

       I ignore my older brother and start to head down the stairs, only for Lance to roughly grab my arm, causing me to drop the box. It falls all the way down the stairs, spilling some of the contents onto the ground.

       I immediately notice that one thing that fell out of the box was my favourite baseball trophy, seeing that the force of it failing caused it to break.

       "No no no," I say, hurrying down the stairs to pick up the trophy, feeling my eyes water. This was my favourite not just because of the achievement, but because of the memories behind it.

       Lance walks down the stairs and scoffs. "You're really crying over the crap? It's just a trophy."

       I wipe my tears away as Daisuke walks back into the house, crouching down beside me. He sees the broken trophy in my hands and says, "It's okay. Aoi can fix it. She loves fixing things."

       "But it won't be the same," I say.

       "I know, but it will be better than staying broken," Daisuke says. He gently takes the broken trophy from my hands and places it back in the box. He helps me stand up before he picks up the box to carry for me.

       "Mason, I swear to God, if you step out that door, I will call the cops on you for running away," Lance says.

       "Go ahead," Daisuke says. "They'll laugh at you once they figure out that Mason is allowed to move out."

       "Uh, no, he can't," Lance says. "He's only seventeen. He's a minor."

       "I'm eighteen, you asshole," I say.

       "Since when?" Lance asks.

       "If you have to ask that, then you clearly don't deserve an answer," Daisuke says before gesturing for us to leave. I go first with Daisuke walking behind me, just in case Lance tries to stop me again.

       He doesn't.

       Daisuke closes the door behind us, then carries the last box to the van. Once the backdoor to the van closes, I can feel the tears in my eyes start again.

       Daisuke notices almost immediately and pulls me into a tight hug. I hug him back, saying, "I just want them to love me."

       "I know," he says softly. "I know."

___________________

mason :(

so if this is the first book you're reading about my baseball boys, welcome! i'm so excited to write this book.

if you've read the previous books, you'll know that mason was basically dubbed as "the mom" of the team, and this is a huge reason why. he doesn't want anyone to be treated the way his family treats him, so he ended up becoming such a nurturing person :(

anyway, i'm really excited to give mason and daisuke, mason especially, some time to shine since the other three books were mainly about ray and archer. chapter 1 will start off four years after this prologue where daisuke and mason are now engaged and so close to their wedding <3

i might have to write some bonus chapters eventually about how mason and daisuke got together and how they got engaged. (btw, daisuke was already in love with mason at this point so mason was wrong about daisuke not feeling the same way)(mason did fall first but daisuke fell harder oop)

i hope you enjoy this book!