Sometimes, the journey and the friends made along the way were more important than the destination.

AKA

Join the author as they recount an expanded section of shenanigans detailing Baekhyun and Jongdae's slow, but steady fall into the pits of love.

Yeah, they never stood a chance.

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A/N: 

I have literally no self-control. I should be focused on my classes right now. I literally have a midterm next week. However, softball lesbians have a chokehold on me. Also, I am sick right now. The sores in my throat are killing me but it’s okay. I might as well get this out of my system before the pain. :DDD

Unlike my typical writing style, this will be a collection of vignettes or tidbits. I do not have the energy nor the time to churn these ideas out as full-blown ficlets. However, I thought that they were worth sharing regardless. You do not need to read these to understand the main fic. However, the contents of this fic might not make sense without first reading CATCH ME (BEFORE I FALL).

I had so much fun writing these. In fact, a lot of the softball-related shenanigans were based on personal experience… except I didn’t get a girlfriend from it. I mostly embarrassed myself but hey, that’s what writing fanfiction is for: living vicariously through your characters to make fun of yourself. Mostly.

As a reminder, anything written within this work DOES NOT reflect any real-life person or event. This is a work of FICTION. Any similarity is a coincidence. At the end of the day, please respect the privacy of all people referenced within this fic. Artistic liberties were taken for the ages of BBH and KJD's brothers. For simplicity's sake, I did not change the names of BBH and KJD to be more feminine. However, they are cisgender females for the purposes of this ALTERNATE universe.

Also, because I was impatient, this WAS NOT beta'd by H. If you notice any mistakes, please let me know! I read through it and applied spellcheck, but I definitely missed some things.

Without further ago, please enjoy!

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| meet the team | 

I couldn’t find a way to introduce the other players on the travel team without breaking the flow of the narrative. While I know this lineup would be highly unrealistic considering I didn’t write this story with South Korea as the setting, we shall attribute this to “artistic liberties.” Anyone else on the team is free for your imagination. 

TRAVEL TEAM STARTING FIELD LINEUP (IMPORTANT CHARACTERS TO NOTE)

• Kim Junmyeon | Captain, Shortstop 
• Byun Baekhyun | Pitcher 
• Kim Jongdae | Catcher 
• Park Chanyeol | First Base
• Kim Minseok | Second Base 
• Kim Jongin | Third Base
• Do Kyungsoo | Right Field [author played RF and CF back in the day haha. We love catching fly balls! Fun fact: during a game, a fly ball landed on my face but I still caught it with my glove when it fell. It beat out the time I caught the ball with my calf, leaving a dolphin-shaped bruise, BECAUSE IT DIDN'T TOUCH THE GROUND YET!]
• Oh Sehun | Center Field 
• Zhang Yixing | Left Field 

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| the fence incident |

After practice one day during high school (pre-dating era), a ball went over the metal fence into public property. Seeing as BBH and KJD were highly competitive, they egged each other on to retrieve the ball. Their high school captain and coach were too busy discussing “important softball business,” asking BBH and KJD to “please just help the others clean up.” Of course, the metal fence absolutely towered over them at 2m, but they refused to chicken out. 

“I’ll get the ball. I’m obviously a better climber than you.” 

“Says who?” 

“Says my height.” 

“You’re two centimeters taller than me!” 

“169cm still beats out 167cm.” 

“Yeah, and? I’m stronger than you. Have you seen your arms?” 

“My arms are toned, thank you very much. If you’re so strong, why don’t you get it?” 

“I think I will. We can’t dishonor the princess by forcing her to do manual labor.” 

With that, Jongdae stalked over to the fence, using her cleats to find a stable footing between the chain links. All things considered, the actual climbing of the fence was easier than the build-up. Upon reaching the apex, Jongdae swung her leg over the fence, effectively straddling it with barely any clearance under her crotch. With a smug look, Jongdae called down to Baekhyun, “I told you I was the better climber. Beat that, Princess!” 

Before Baekhyun could reply, her eyes widened as Jongdae lost her balance, falling off the fence and landing next to the lost softball. “, Jongdae! Are you okay? Did you break something?” 

Despite landing on her , the catcher started to stand up, laughing as she threw the ball back into the school field. “Only my pride- WAIT, CAP WE CAN EXPLAIN.”

“KIM! BYUN! WHAT THE HELL?” 

When Jongdae returned to the field (walking around the fence this time under Coach’s strict gaze), the two girls could barely keep a straight face, even when faced with Cap’s scolding and the punishment of more suicide drills the following week.

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| who put the wall there? | 

Of the two, Baekhyun was actually the better runner. At least, in terms of speed. This was great on the offensive. In fact, during tryouts, Baekhyun was only slightly slower than Minseok when timed for the distance between home and second. 

However, that wasn’t great when practicing indoors. Especially when you aren’t used to slowing down at a given moment. Baekhyun found that out the hard way when she smacked her face into the gym wall during a rainy day practice.

In her defense, running in socks on a slippery floor was never a good idea. 

Also, who in their right mind forced people to run in those conditions? 

“Princess, there was a carpet marking where we were supposed to run for traction. You literally slid off the carpet and kept going for another meter or so before the wall stopped you.” 

“WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND FORCES PEOPLE TO RUN IN THESE CONDITIONS?”

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| really? in front of my sunflower seeds? |

Contrary to popular belief, Baekhyun and Jongdae rarely flirted on the field. Bicker? Yes. Compliment? If “nice hit” counted, of course! But anything lovey-dovey was off the table. More often than not, the adrenaline rush while playing took their minds off of romance. There were some exceptions, however. Excellent moments of pure romantic teasing (or loving cringe according to their teammates.)

One time, Jongdae took off her long-sleeve undershirt, leaving just her jersey. It was the middle of spring, the sun beating down from above. Now, Baekhyun knew that her girlfriend had a nice body. The years of softball were extremely kind to her. At least, compared to Baekhyun. (She could not figure out why despite being a pitcher, her arms were noodles. Sure, if she flexed, you can see a slight amount of definition. However, she could not hold a candle to the masterpiece of Jongdae’s biceps.) But oh lord, she was not prepared to see the bulge of glistening muscle once her lover stepped up to the plate.

She was a respectful woman. She refused to think about how strong those arms were, how small she felt as they embraced, how she just wanted to take a quick bite, how- 

Oh no, she was drooling. 

“Yo, Byun you’re in the hole.” 

“She can fill my holes all day and I won’t complain.” 

“BYUN, STOP SIMPING FOR YOUR GIRLFRIEND AND GEAR UP. YOU USED UP YOUR SIMP PASS DURING THE FIRST INNING.” 

“As if you are better with SooSoo, Yeollie.” 

There was another time when Jongdae wolf-whistled as Baekhyun slid home, ultimately evening up the score with a tie. Brushing off the dirt off her thighs, she hid her blush as her baby yelled, “THAT’S MY GIRL. SHOW ‘EM YOUR STUFF, PRINCESS.” 

“KIM JONGDAE, CLOSE YOUR MOUTH. YOU’RE SPRAYING SUNFLOWER SEEDS ALL OVER MY .” 

“Boo. You’re such a killjoy, Minnie. Have a seed, it’s good for you.”

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| always family |

Jongdae found it surreal to see her girlfriend interact with her brother. Jongdeok never roughhoused with her over the last piece of chicken. He never goaded her into carrying all the grocery bags by herself in one trip. He especially didn’t blame her for eating the last pudding despite the evidence on his face when confronted by their father. (She technically doesn't have a father, but she digresses.) 

Despite still being salty over the ACL incident (“Jongdae, that was over two years ago.”), she quite liked Baekbeom. He was basically a male version of Baekhyun, complete with her stubbornness and sass! It didn’t help that they looked like twins, in spite of Baekbeom being roughly five years older. 

At the moment, Baekhyun and Jongdae were visiting Baekbeom’s apartment for League night. However, this soon turned into a spa night when the former mentioned how Sohee, Baekbeom’s now wife, felt ty during the last stretch of her pregnancy. It wasn’t easy to incubate a child from scratch. Honestly, Jongdae respected that. She didn’t know if she could handle it if put in that situation. 

When they arrived, the girls came prepared with face masks, nail polish, movies, and drinks (all non-alcoholic of course). At first, Baekbeom joined to ensure that his wife was having a great time, but that shifted once Baekhyun wrestled her brother into joining as well. She honestly didn’t know how Baekhyun goading her brother into a face mask actually worked. He even wore the slices of cucumber on his eyes, despite him sharing Baekhyun’s dislike of the vegetable. Off to the side, Jongdae was painting Sohee’s nails, following a reference image from Pinterest. She tried to focus on her task and the movie, but it was a better show seeing her girlfriend argue with the man about his taste in nail polish colors. 

“Of all the colors you chose, you chose tan? Baekbeom, that’s so boring!” 

“Hey! We agreed that I’d let you paint my nails if I chose the color.” 

“Before I realized that your taste of color was boring. How about a nice shade of baby blue to match my future nephew?” 

“Tan or the deal’s off.” 

“Okay, maybe not blue. How about white with a cool design in tan?”

“Just tan, Hyun. Final offer.” 

"You're no fun." 

As the siblings continued to argue, both Jongdae and Sohee glanced at each other, sighing with fondness. They were idiots, but they were their idiots. 

(“Oi! Princess! I get that you’re excited but don’t knock over my polish unless you’re buying me a new bottle!” 

“Yes, baby.”

“Haha, simp behavior.” 

“YOU LITERALLY HAVE A CHILD ON THE WAY.”) 

While Jongdae might never understand Baekhyun’s relationship with her brother, she doesn’t need to in order to bask in the latter’s utter joy in interacting with her family. One day, if Jongdae gathered the courage, she’ll make their connection permanent and she’ll enjoy the sight for the rest of her life. Jongdae beamed at the thought as she carefully traced the lines of Sohee’s nail art. 

She liked the sound of that.

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| outside perspectives |

One of my biggest gripes with the main story was the lack of time to develop Baekchen’s relationship with other characters, mainly the rest of the team. No matter how I tried to structure something short and sweet, I wasn’t able to fit how the rest of the girls reacted to them getting together.

Under the exasperation as they witnessed Baekchen’s chaos (which definitely worsened once they got together), the rest of the team was extremely happy seeing their teammates-turned-friends enjoy themselves.

They were unfortunate witnesses to Baekchen’s constant banter (read: flirting). Park Chanyeol, one of Baekhyun’s closest friends on the team, relentlessly teased the girl when noticing her stares during practice. It was an inside joke when Chanyeol asked the shorter lady, “So… How’s the view of the ‘ball’ treating you, ByunByun?” after the latter blurted that she was watching the ball like a good softball player during a scrimmage. If Jongdae happened to be in the line of sight, that was none of Chanyeol’s business.

At least Baekhyun was able to exact her revenge when she caught the beanpole making out with a certain right-fielder in her car on her way to practice. 

On the other hand, Jongdae’s best friend on the team was Kim Minseok. Jongdae and Minseok were actually maternal cousins, raised together once the former’s family moved in for a time after her father died. Even after Jongdae’s family moved out into their own apartment, they visited each other frequently seeing as they still lived in the same neighborhood. 

While Jongdae loved her brother, he was at a different stage of life. He was too worried about trying to help raise Jongdae along with their mother than to be a “typical” older brother. Minseok, on the other hand, was only two years older. She was there when Jongdeok moved back to Korea for university, consoling the younger as she sobbed for weeks. She was there when Jongdae first discovered that she might like girls more than boys. They were practically sisters. 

As sisters do, Minseok sensed Jongdae’s feelings for a certain pitcher before the latter even internalized it. She wasn’t fazed when the girl lamented her crush as they worked out. Jongdae was supposed to be doing her second rep of bicep curls, but somehow the topic shifted to the team, which naturally shifted to Baekhyun. “You can mope around when we get home. We’re almost done here. Besides, I think you’re overthinking this.” 

“Minnie! Chanyeol and Baekhyun pat each other’s butts for ‘good luck’ before they bat. THEY HAVE TO BE DATING. OF COURSE, I’M NOT HER TYPE.” 

“Mmhmm. Sure.” Minseok elected to not mention how Baekhyun offered to drive the catcher home every practice, and how they went on multiple hangouts (read: dates) outside of team bonding events. She especially did not mention how she overheard Baekhyun whining to the first baseman about how “cute” and “strong” her cousin was. Bleh. 

Jongdae will figure it out. Eventually. Even if she didn’t, Minseok would make her figure it out. She could only handle so much pining before it reached pathetic, rather than amusing, levels.

(If she cried during Baekhyun and Jongdae’s wedding ceremony, standing beside her cousin as her maid of honor, it was an eyelash. Definitely an eyelash. However, that scene would be beaten by Minseok’s first time holding her newborn niece, offering to watch the child as Jongdae ate some McDonalds her wife rushed to buy. She let the new parents enjoy their moment of peace, giving space for Baekhyun to fuss over Jongdae on the hospital bed. Minseok couldn’t blame her considering their stillborn last time and Jongdae’s rough labor this time. They deserved to rest and enjoy themselves. 

“Your mamas love you so much, Aeri. They’ve been waiting for you. You’re going to be the most spoiled baby in the world.” Of course, the bean was too small to understand, but Minseok pretended that her light sniffles and baby noises were her way of saying, “I know, auntie.”) 

fin

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ENDING NOTES: 

Thank you so much for joining me as I freak out over my softball girlies! I wanted to add so much to the main story, but I would never finish it if I did that so… (looks at BEFORE I LOVE YOU (GIVE ME TIME))

My mouth hurts so much right now from a viral infection (don’t worry, it isn’t COVID but it’s still unpleasant nonetheless). Writing this was a great distraction. Why think of mouth hurty when I can think about girls pretty? Exactly.

Anyway, please read the main fic, if you haven’t done so for some reason, for more baekchen!

With that being said, thank you so so so much for reading this! I appreciate everyone that takes the time to give my writing a chance. Comments and kudos are extremely appreciated! I try to respond to each comment, but please do not feel bad if I forget or take a while to respond :(( Even if you don’t, that’s fine! Giving a read or sharing with your buds is enough for me haha. I will always be here doing my part in spreading the baekchen agenda.

As always, see you in the next fic!