“Get out of your head,” his trainer tells him, and he tries, pushes himself until all he can focus on is his body trying to fight him, then pushes even harder, until it obeys him.

He gets a clap on the back at the end of the day, a ‘good work’, and he manages to summon a smile.

The smile has long since faded by the time he’s showered, changed. He checks his phone to see if Jake’s texted, even though he doesn’t expect to see anything. There is one, and he starts to smile again, unforced, but then he reads it.

u left a sweatr here tryn to figure how to get it to you, Jake’s sent, and David recalls that in movies, television, when people break up, they collect their personal effects. Not that this is a movie. Not that they’re a couple, really.

Returning David’s sweater is hardly time sensitive. David’s sure Jake could just wait until they next saw each other, but then, there certainly would be no good reason for Jake to show up after a game with an article of David’s clothing, and Jake might not want to see him anyway.

His phone buzzes again.

omg what is up with the bluejays? Jake’s texted, then, i wrote bjs to save time but it looked sooo dirty ur welcome

David blinks. He doesn’t believe this is part of the standard protocol for cutting off contact.

What about the Blue Jays? he responds after a moment.

check the score!!!!!!! Jake replies immediately.

He checks the Blue Jays score, and winces. 16-2 is not a score you often see in baseball, certainly not one you ever want to see, unless, he supposes, it’s your team with sixteen runs.

Ouch., He texts, chewing his lip and trying to decide whether it’s an acceptable response, then sends it.

i no rite??? Jake responds, and David exhales, starting to think that maybe he was mistaken.

*

He was. David doesn’t like to be wrong — he doubts anyone does — but for once, he’s grateful to be. Jake calls him the next day, and when David hangs up at the end of the call, phone hot in his hand, he’s surprised to see they talked for over an hour. He doesn’t even remember what they talked about, really — training, that Blue Jays loss, what David had for dinner. Little things. Certainly not anything that should take an hour.

David goes to charge his phone, touches his ear where it’s sore from the phone pressed against it, as burning hot as a blush.