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[thetoadghoul]

Volunteering: (Ohtani x Reader) <333 (Part - 2)

part 1!

plot: Wednesday’s game arrives which Ohtani invited you to, some bonding time before the first pitch <3 slowwwburn, long cause idk details are fun lol

Wednesday quickly arrived, made much faster by the crazy amount of work you were required to do for your ‘actual’ job. The last three days had been spent with you running around the LA area, as well as cyberspace, to serve your role as interpreter. It was hell, for more reasons than one. The biggest of all being that even though you were not in Japan at the moment, you were still required to wear a proper suit. That meant a tight navy skirt, stockings, and some blasted heels. Sexist men, long meetings, and endless paperwork aside, you enjoyed your job for the most part - but this aspect really wore on you. However, the pain in your feet wouldn't damper your excitement for tonight’s game. Today you were not actually volunteering at the Angels stadium.

The day before yesterday, when you were actually volunteering, a bashful Ohtani had tapped you on the back while you were picking up baseballs from the batting cages. When you turned around the giant man was holding out a lanyard with an attached document, marked ‘VIP Guest of Player’. It took all you had not to let your hands shake with nerves as you reached out and grabbed it gingerly.

“Uh, see you on Wednesday.” The man looked to the side awkwardly, running a hand through his hair.

“...Yeah.” You responded with a small smile, feeling stupid, but it was all you could think of.

“Well, uh, I better go...” He motioned behind his back with a lazy thumb, staring to jog backward.

You nodded quickly, rushing to go back to picking up balls before you said something super lame, or weird.

It wasn’t till you were on the way home did you take a look at the back of the stadium pass. It read ‘Guest of Shohei Ohtani’. So he had put in the request for you, that was just like him, so kind. It would be an understatement to say you weren’t excited for tomorrow.

-----

Currently, your heart was still racing, but for another reason other than a certain super cute and insanely talented baseball player. It was because it was almost three-thirty in the afternoon and you were running around your company-provided apartment, trying to get ready as fast as you could. Ippei let you know you should get there around four-thirty, by then the team would have been done warming up and starting to enjoy a pregame meal while the away team got the field to themselves. From that point onwards, pretty much everyone was free to relax in the clubhouse till just before the first pitch.

With little time to consider, not even enough time to take a shower after having just got off work, you went with an oversized red T-shirt, baggy jeans, and some cool Jordan’s. This was your go-to, and it was comfortable. You don’t have many clothes anyway, living out of a suitcase.

Right as you were about to run out of the door you remembered to grab your standard Angels cap, it had been provided to you as part of your volunteer uniform a while back, slipping it on over your tight work bun. You would let your hair down later.

All right, everything was in order, Uber scheduled, lanyard secured.

It took about half an hour to arrive at the stadium, and once it came into view, you instructed the driver to let you out in front of the ballpark entrance. It had been a long time since you got to go through the gates as a member of the audience, it actually gave you a wave of nostalgia seeing everyone in their gear, so hyped up for the game, tailing gating outside for what was probably hours.

Once you were through, you started walking through the concession stands and various other stalls, dodging around the fans that were already inside watching the warm-ups, as well as hanging out drinking and eating. There were pictures of Ohtani everywhere, people taking turns snapping pictures of each other in front of the various cutouts of him. The air was buzzing with energy, and it seemed like all for that guy. Honestly, you had worked for a couple different teams over the years, but you had never seen hype like this. It was surreal, seeing a legend in the making.

You smiled, gripping the lanyard around your neck, making your way through the stadium. Shohei was super nice to do this for you, really, you should show him your support. Maybe a quick peek in the team store would do? Plus, you deserved to spend some money on yourself. After all, this was the first time you had really been ‘out’ in the almost three months you had been in California. Your free time was either working, volunteering, video games, or sleep.

You took a couple moments in the Angel's merch shop, quietly perusing the aisles, keeping an eye out for any Ohtani-themed items. Unfortunately, there weren’t really that many, probably sold out by the fans. What was there, was way too small for you.

“Y/n, you here to watch the game?” A young voice sounded.

When you turned to see who addressed you, a familiar girl was standing there grinning.

“Hey Jordan! I didn’t know you were working tonight.” You grinned back.

Jordan worked at the store as a stock manager, she was close in age to you so the two of you often hung out. You had invited her over a couple times, both bonding over your love for crappy reality TV, beer, and of course, baseball.

“Yeah it was last minute, a girl was feeling sick and there wasn’t anyone else cept’ me.” She sighed.

“Bummer, text me if you need help?” You offered, to which she waved you off.

“Nah, you enjoy being here and NOT working.” She chuckled, walking over to organize a messy shelf.

“So, you looking for something in particular?” The girl glanced over her shoulder.

“Uh yeah, you recommend any cool Ohtani stuff? Or is there any at all... seems wiped clean in here.” You said while looking around.

“Ohtani? You here to cheer him on too then. Wanna catch his eye.” She teased.

“Don’t say it like I’m just here for my like, prince charming.” You snapped back playfully, but, maybe a little too fast.

“Aren’t you?” She pressed with an eyebrow.

“Okay, I’m leaving.” You pouted, fake walking away.

“I’m just kidding, actually, stay here for a second I might have something you’ll like.” Jordan yelled as she jogged off to the back room behind the counters.

You did as you were told and when she came back there was a large white Angels jersey in her hands.

“Ta-da!” She grinned, twisting it around to show the player’s name on the back.

“Oh, it’s in Kanji? That’s cool, I didn’t know these existed?” You questioned, running your finger over the ‘tani’ character of Ohtani.

“It’s the last one on the floor, had to grab it off the mannequin. Hope it’s not too big? It’s XL?” She questioned, passing it to you to hold.

“Nah it’s perfect, can’t you tell.” You joked holding the jersey next to you, while you showed off your oversized clothes.

“Figured it'd be fine, wanna get rung up? I’ll give you that ‘good good’ employee discount. But, don’t tell anyone.” She smiled, heading to the register, to which you nodded and jogged after her.

After you finished your purchase and waved bye to Jordan, it was time to head to the clubhouse. It was around five, so you were later than you planned but Shohei usually practiced batting in the cages a little while longer while everyone headed in. Slipping the plastic shopping bag into your purse, and ripping the tags off your new jersey, you slipped it on over your T-shirt, smoothing out the material as best you could. It felt great to finally have some real merch from the team, and part of you sort of wondered what Ohtani would think when he saw you. Hopefully, it wasn’t too much to just show up in his gear after he pretty much randomly invited you, let alone in the stadium-specific one, as you just learned from your colleague.

After you got to an employee-only doorway, you pushed on it hoping it was actually open. Ippei had also let you know via text that it would be unlocked for you. Another kindness of Shohei, not just inviting you, but making sure you had access to all the catering and AC inside the resisted area of the building. You slipped in and locked the door behind you, not wanting to encourage some intoxicated fans to follow. The hallway was empty and cool as you started making your way to the clubhouse.

You were admittedly a bit nervous by the time you got to the doors, feeling a bit awkward about strutting in as anyone other than a volunteer for the first time. Carefully you pushed open the door, making sure not to hit anybody. The room was full of chatter, some players eating, some playing cards, others watching TV on the room's monitors. You looked around for Ohtani, but he wasn’t there yet apparently. No matter, you strolled in and went for the snack area. Truthfully you hadn’t eaten since that morning, and that was just a toasted bagel. Turning your back to the rest of the room, you began filling up your plate with cocktail shrimp and grapes.

“Nice jersey.” Ippei said, coming up next to you, grabbing small sandwiches for his plate.

“Is that sarcastic?” You questioned with a smile, finishing your plate.

“Nah, I’m sure he likes it.” Ippei jerked his head to the left.

He? You leaned back to see around the man, meeting Shohei’s surprised face almost immediately. Had he been standing there the whole time? He had obviously been staring at your back, at his name, bashfully looking up to your face when you moved, blinking a couple times to clear his eyes.

“I uh, got it ten minutes ago.” You grinned awkwardly, pointing your thumb proudly at the jersey, hoping he wouldn’t think you were a weirdo.

The large player didn’t say anything, blinking more slowly this time before opting to just nod gently, with a quick “thanks for your support”, hurriedly leaning forward to start filling his plate with all kinds of foods.

—-

Once everyone had their food the three of you found a place to sit while you ate, it was at the back of the room away from the noise, and where the two usually sat before a game anyways. A small conversation started while the three of you ate calmly.

“Why... do you only have grapes, and shrimp?” Ohtani questioned suddenly, looking at your plate baffled. You looked down at it as well, pausing for a moment trying to find out what was so weird about that.

“Uh, well, it’s because... these things are... super expensive in Tokyo. It’s like a rich person food to me.” You smiled, eating a couple shrimps happily.

“Wow. That’s so sad.” Ippei chuckled before taking a bite of his sandwich.

Shohei on the other hand burst out laughing at your response, making you laugh a bit too at your pitiful confession.

“Seriously, I feel like a mega-rich, and very posh, Ginza lady right now - eating nothing but shrimp and fruit. So fancy right? ” You exclaimed, popping a grape in your mouth.

The Japanese player laughed even harder, tears building up as he wiped his eyes.

“Those people wouldn’t touch that stuff with a three-meter stick.” Ippei stated, letting out a small laugh.

“Just let me have my moment.” You pouted through a smile, shoving more shrimp in your mouth.

The other man calmed down finally and was now sitting there smiling while he ate.

“So, fancy y/n, are you okay to sit in the dugout tonight. Not too unrefined for you?” Ippei questioned with a smirk.

“That’s, allowed?” You asked, surprised.

“Yeah, if you want to. Can’t stay there the whole time, but.” The man responded nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.

“It’s the best place to hear, ‘the surprise’.” Shohei added, food in the process of being shoved in his mouth.

“Well, doesn’t seem like there’s any other option.” You smiled at the player, who nodded in acknowledgment.

“He’s batting first tonight, you won’t have to wait long.” Ippei spoke, starting on the next sandwich.

“Hope me being in there won’t be bad luck.” You joked.

“You believe in that?” Ippei smirked.

“My family ingrained it into me, wasn’t allowed to watch a single super bowl game in the living room till I literally moved out.” You frowned, stabbing a grape.

“Harsh.” The man smirked with a small laugh under his breath.

“You will be good luck, for sure.” Shohei leaned forward in a hunch to take another bite of food, smiling sincerely at you as he looked up from his food.

“Then, I will see to it that will become a very good omen. Please believe in me.” You responded in the highest form of keigo you knew, bowing rigidly from your seat for comedic effect. Since you never studied that level of grammar, it was really freaking bad, causing the two men to laugh again.

“You’re funny.” Ippei chuckled.

“Yeah, and your Japanese is so good though?” Shohei exclaimed, eyebrows raised, eyes wide.

“Nah it’s pretty bad, I fell off the study wagon a long time ago.” You laughed awkwardly, waving a hand in front of your face.

“You’d be there forever if you stayed on.” Ippei chuckled again, while Shohei nodded in sullen agreement.

“Writing would be nice though, having to look up every other kanji at the doctor's office, or like city hall makes me literally sweat, like, a lot. Buckets. But when I look around, I'm the only one.” You giggled.

“You’re so honest.” Shohei chuckled, wiping his mouth with a napkin, still leaning forward in his chair, you grinned back at him. Your eyes locked for a while, you had never noticed, but his eyelashes were sort of long.

At that moment Ippei had to take a call, letting the two of you know he’d be back in a bit, walking off. The two of you looked away and finished eating in silence.

When you looked up from your empty plate, the large player was now staring at you with a soft expression. The warmth in his eyes made you blush, he didn’t even break his gaze once he was caught like he usually did. You responded back to him simply with a shy smile, before being the one to avert your own eyes to the floor again.

Thankfully at that moment, a group of Angels came over, slapping the Japanese man on the back, starting up a conversion. They were going over strategies for the game and overall just getting hyped up. You didn’t have much to input, so you just kind of sat there enjoying the excited chatter. Shohei smiled merrily the whole time, inserting little jokes, completely affected by their excitement. The way he carried himself really reminded you that the essence of baseball was really just about having fun with your teammates and giving it your all. He looked simply happy to be there, and it made you smile too, just watching him goof off. It was charming to see his duality of being a just big kid with endless laugher, versus the super-serious, and seasoned player he was on the mound.

You were really trying hard not to but, you were rapidly developing feelings for Shohei. The last three months of volunteering here, you of course thought he was really cute and kind, classic boyfriend material. A simple crush, like many of the girls working around him, surely had as well. However the possibility of you two actually dating had always been a foreign concept, one which stopped you from even considering it, at all, you just didn’t know if you even could. With you both traveling for work, how would there be time? Plus, what about the media? His family? Yours? All those things seemed unscalable walls, that is, until this moment, when you could feel his gentle eyes on you once again.

Maybe, there was something? Or maybe, he was just a super nice guy, and you were treated no different than anyone else.

When you snapped out of your thoughts, Shohei was starting to stand up, grabbing everyone’s empties plates. He reached his hand towards you, asking for the one in your hand with a tiny nod of his head, to which you thanked him, stood up, and handed it over.

Well.

Either way, you were so screwed.

-------

Hope you enjoyed! <3

[thetoadghoul]

ヤバ

© rob tringali

[thetoadghoul]

Volunteering: (Ohtani x Reader) <333 (Part - 1)

Summary: LONG. First notable interaction with Ohtani while on break as a volunteer. <3 Super slow burn, Ohtani likes Jujutsu Kaisen so cute

(note at bottom about general plot)

-----------

Currently it was break time for you and the other volunteers, as well as the players and the coaches. It was around noon, judging by how intense the California sun was beating down on the Angels Stadium, roasting everyone inside.

Days like this were truly cruel.

After you carried out the chilled waters you were supposed to and stored them in the dugout, you literally plopped down on the wooden bench, beyond grateful for the shade, wiping the sweat from your lip as you leaned back against the wall. Another volunteer was next to you and next to them were a couple players conversing quietly. There were other staff members chilling in the shade, standing idly around. Everyone was on their phone, for the most part, enjoying the first break of the day.

In the comfortable silence, Ohtani strolled into the dugout as well, snatching a water on his way. He plopped next to you, since the space was open, repeating your previous action of wiping his lip and then took his hat off, running his hand through his hair.

You got out your phone, opening Twitter, and while doing so noticed Ippei wasn’t with him - after a quick side-eye of course. You figured it was since there was really no need at the moment. Most training days didn’t tend to have many interviews, meaning he really only had to help Shohei out when the coaches or players wanted to address strategies or complex topics, the rest of the time he was trusted to be left to his own devices. Sure Ippei still hung around a lot, since he was close to Shohei, but he just wasn’t expected to be glued at the hip to the Japanese player.

“Hi.” You smiled, addressing him with a small head bow - then returning to your phone after waiting for his response.

“Hello.” He smiled back with the same head nod, pulling out his phone as well once you looked away.

Some time passed as you lazily scrolled through Twitter. After a while, a tweet about the new Boku no Hero movie caught your eye. Oh yeah! It was Sunday in the states, so Jump would be out by now. How could you forget? Your fingers quickly typed in the search bar of YouTube after you opened the app, finding this week's manga to read in video form. Ideally, it would be nice to be back reading them in person, but you’d have to deal with it when you were abroad.

Your eyes rested on the slowly scrolling pages of One Piece, it was first in the lineup this week. Even though you were not a big fan, you tended to read it anyway since you had been keeping up with it since you were pretty young. Next up was Black Clover, which you also didn’t really care for that much, but opted to lazily glance over it anyway since you didn’t have anything better to do. Now your eyes were taking in the first page of the new Jujutsu Kaisen chapter, finally something good, unconsciously bringing it a bit more towards your face to take in the details. You really enjoyed the manga, especially the artwork, plus it was at a super hyped part. Literally, sometimes it was the only thing getting you through the week.

However, after you shifted, you felt the squeak of wood as the man next to you moved a bit closer to you. When your eyes glanced over you saw that he was leaning down a bit, large shoulders hunched, his eyes glued to the screen in your hands. You gathered he was reading with you. Casually you raised your hand holding the phone so that he could see better, without having to crane his neck so far down. After you were the one that moved, the man's shoulders tensed. When he realized he had been caught, Ohtani quickly looked up at your face with wide eyes. Like a deer caught in headlights. He stared for a bit longer at your friendly face, filled with an uncomfortable smile. Did you do something wrong? He was still blankly staring at you as if trying to figure out his thoughts.

“It is, in Japanese?” His voice sounded finally in English, softly murmuring his sentence in chunks.

He looked at you with wide eyes, a finger now pointing at your phone. You weren’t sure if it was a rhetorical question or not but decided to answer anyway.

“Ah, yes? I don’t like the English translations.” You responded back in English, trying to be slow enough that he could process.

His eyes immediately went to the side as if looking for Ippei, biting his lip, before turning back to you with a lost expression.

“Uhhh...” 「日本語は話せる？」　Shohei voiced after a few seconds, watching your face for any clue you understood what he just said.

You blinked before looking back at him.

「日本語は大丈夫ですよ。 英語の翻訳が好きではないと言っていました。」 You responded cheerfully, repeating what you said earlier for him, while also letting him Japanese was fine with you.

「わあ、すばらしいね。」　The man out a bark of laughter, seeming not only surprised but genuinely pretty stoked you could talk to him in Japanese.

You met his sheepish smile, completely understanding his relief. You figured it must be hard for him to navigate around with limited English, definitely, you remembered the constant headache and loneliness of your early days in Japan before you could really understand the language. Alright, unless he asked otherwise you figured you would just speak in Japanese for him when he was around from now on.

“So do you keep up with Jump from here?” You questioned, pausing the video and rewinding it to where you both stopped watching.

He let his gaze go back to the phone in your hand while continuing the conversation. Definitely, the tension was dissipating once he could speak freely.

“Ah, yeah, I try to, but... it’s a bit hard sometimes. Everything is different here.” Shohei sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You miss konbini too? It’s such a struggle not having them right? It’s the biggest thing I miss when I travel back here.” You giggle and he laughed back, nodding his head in agreement.

“It was my ritual to go to konbini every Sunday night to catch Jump right when it hit the shelves. I feel like I'm falling behind.”

“Me too! I feel the same, like a traitor.” You exclaimed, using to hands to emphasized your response.

“Oh really?” He questioned back.

“Yeah, I always got stared at by the other guys there though, not sure if it was because I was a foreigner or female - or both.” You joked, once again not paying attention to the phone.

Other than Ippei, there weren’t many people you knew around you that could sympathize with life in Japan. It was nice Shohei might be a possible candidate to relate with, maybe even complain to about having to drive or miss gyuudon together.

“Hmm, yeah I don’t think I remember seeing either one when I used to go.” He raised his eyes up to gaze out onto the field, lips perused, as if racking his brain for any standout examples.

“Guess it is truly a strange thing for me to do then, my assumption was right.” You smiled sheepishly.

“No no, it’s a good thing.” Ohtani turned his head enough so it tilted towards you and smiled back, this time intending to meet your eyes as he looked down at you.

It caught you off guard, to be honest, usually, he didn’t make much direct eye contact. You nodded quickly acknowledging his response before shyly breaking his gaze and looking back at your phone, which you realized you had to pause, again. Christ, he was actually really handsome, you could feel your heartbeat a bit faster.

“What are you reading recently? In Jump?” The man’s voice chimed, he was now leaning a bit closer.

“Ahhh, definitely My Aka and Jujutsu Kaisen! But if I’m being honest, Jujutsu Kaisen is the one I’ve really been looking forward to.” Your eyes lit up, losing the shyness in an instant.

“Do you watch the anime?” He questioned back.

“Yeah of course! It’s so good! It’s hard waiting for it to be released on Netflix every week. I had to leave to come here halfway through the season, I miss staying up on Saturday to watch it.” You frowned.

“Then did you notice?” Ohtani’s expression turned a bit boyish.

“Notice what?” Your head tilted to the right, were you missing something?

“Hmm, make sure to watch me bat on Wednesday’s game.” The man stayed amused, clearly enjoying knowing whatever you didn’t know.

Your eyes scanned his smiling face, searching for any clues as to what he was hiding.

“Oi! Ohtani! Coaches want to see you!”

Both you and the man in question turned your heads unanimously to see Ippei strolling over with his hand in a waving motion. You stood quickly up with Shohei, knowing that probably meant break was over and it was time to get back to work. Luckily, after the morning sessions, you got to go inside and predominantly work on your laptop.

The other man strolled into the dugout, causing a bit of a stir as the other people started bustling about getting ready to start working again as well.

“Guess I’m the bearer of bad news.” He joked with a small chuckle as he came up to you both, referring to the people now leaving.

“Yo.” You chirped, stuffing your phone back in your pant pocket, Shohei doing the same, adjusting his workout shorts.

“Sup, didn’t know you guys chilled?” He responded back in English.

“Oh, this is the first time I’ve really talked to him.” You responded, looking over at the other man who raised an eyebrow in a ‘huh?’ fashion.

“Well you should more, I’m sure he’d appreciate it.” Ippei spoke, leaning down to grab the player's untouched water.

“Oi Shohei, you should drink this.” Ippei nagged in Japanese, tossing the bottle to the large player who caught it with a guilty grin, nodding his head in quick thanks.

“Guess he got distracted, wonder by what.” The shorter man said sarcastically, eyeing you with a small smirk.

This made you giggle, swatting your hand in a ‘no way’ motion in front of your face. As if.

“Oh Ippei, by the way, Ohtani said that I should watch him bat on Wednesday, any idea why?’ You teased switching back to Japanese. You knew that Ohtani was listening as he was now checking on his shoes and whatever else, probably wondering what you were talking about.

“Oh probably because he recently changed his walkout song to-“

The larger man stepped up to you both quickly in two large strides, letting his hand rest on his interpreter’s shoulder with a firm ‘be quiet’ squeeze.

“Don’t ruin the surprise y/n san.” Shohei grinned, faking a threatening expression, but it was really easy to see through to the sheepish grin underneath. Does he ever stop smiling?

“Okay okay, well, I’m looking forward to Wednesday then. You can release the hostage.” You responded back with a small smile of your own.

Ippei, who had been standing there with an eyebrow raised, sighed with a huff of a chuckle, patting the Japanese player on the back before turning them both to lead them both out of the dugout.

“See you later y/n! Don’t get in trouble for slacking.” Ippei teased while Shohei simply looked back with a quick nod and small smile.

“Oi!” You chirped at their backs.

The two men waved as they walked off, conversing with each other across the field. You watched them disappear before starting to make your way to the indoor sitting area you tended to reside in for the afternoons.

The handsome Japanese player’s face flashed in your mind, making your heart beat a little faster again and a smile come to your face. Ohtani was really a nice guy, you could see why he was so adored by not only the fans but the team as well.

-------------------------

Hello!

This is my first time posting this sort of thing, hope you enjoy it! I have sort of a storyline for the 'you' character, I'll update when I can.

Probably I'll jump around a lot in the timeline.

For now, I'll just say they work for an American design company living in Tokyo for half of the year, and then travel to the states the other half of the year to be translator/assistant for the Japanese workers there. Age is around 25, been living abroad in Tokyo since about 18? Went to college there. Anyways they have a lot of free time while abroad, so they like to volunteer for baseball teams since they enjoy the sport in the states and also in Japan. This time it is in California, working for the Angels.

<3

[thetoadghoul]

Literally just having fun w/ baseball