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Carlos knows he's fine and gorgeous. He knows he's kind enough and could take care of people. His father owns a booming Brazilian restaurant and his mother could hold her own in the kitchen whenever they're having their home cook-off and Carlos is confident he inherited those skills from his parents.
So why is it that the two most obnoxious and cunning friends he had snagged partners--no no, looking at them now they're less than partners and more as--lovers before him?
He's here, almost invisible as he munched his oyaki Eijun brought them, sitting in-between the obnoxious pair and the cunning pair each doing their own sweet things--if it truly is sweet, seeing as Mei had Eijun in a staredown, but Carlos still thinks it's sweet because they're doing footsies under the table and they're looking smug and alike and in love and ugly and it pissed Carlos off; Katsuyuki, on the other hand, kept flicking his bangs while talking almost sweetly and Carlos definitely think this is sweet because Katsuyuki couldn't know what to do with his hands and he looks like an idiot with the way he kept showing his forehead.
((*))
It all started when they accidentally met Sawamura Eijun with his pink-haired friend in the shopping center.
"Oh?" Mei exclaimed as he abruptly stopped, Carlos bumping on his back that caused Mei to scoff and elbow him in the stomach.
"Aw!" He said, rubbing the spot. "What's that for?"
But it's clear Mei's attention isn't on him as his eyes are squinted on a stationary window. Following his gaze, he saw Eijun twirling his fingers through the pink hair of a boy, whose back's turned to them.
Carlos' eyes widened.
"He's not cheating on you, is he?" He asked Mei.
Carlos saw Katsuyuki look at Mei's face with a poorly suppressed derisive expression.
Mei rolled his eyes.
"Don't be stupid, that's his best friend," he said as Carlos look back in time to see the pink-haired boy raise his hand to chop Eijun's head. "See? That's Harucchi."
Carlos could feel the sting even when he's not on the receiving end of it and Eijun shows just how much it hurts because he writhes and holds his head. Carlos saw almost all the patron look at the racket and the pink-haired boy, Harucchi, must have noticed because he hurriedly picked up a book to cover Eijun's face to stop him from his noise.
"Ooh," he heard Katsuyuki mutter quietly.
Carlos didn't think more of it because Mei marched up the street to the stationary shop, causing the two to follow, in time for Eijun and his friend to exit the shop.
"Oh? Mei-senpai?" Harucchi called.
Kid only got a half-hearted nod because Eijun loudly announced his presence.
"Mei?!" Eijun said, his nose red and he's massaging his forehead.
To which Mei replied,
"Hi, baby~" with a sweet smile and a huge hug, which Eijun is quick to return.
Carlos turned to Katsuyuki so they could cringe together, like they're used to doing recently whenever Mei talks about his baby, but found him already in conversation with Harucchi.
Carlos endured thirty minutes of quietness.
By that he meant that he's quiet because no one talks to him after general introductions; they're all busy with their own conversations.
The only instance he's allowed to talk is when Eijun said,
"Kamiya-san, why don't you sit down?"
Carlos happily opened his mouth to say, 'It's fine if you call me Carlos'
But Mei interrupted to say,
"Oh, just Carlos is fine with him."
Eijun looks at him for confirmation, his eyes wide and strong that Carlos stuttered,
"Y-yeah, Carlos is fine."
Eijun smiled at him, then, and Carlos definitely kicked himself mentally because he couldn't even reply coolly. What must these newly introduced kouhai make of him now?
"Why don't you sit down, then, Carlos?" Harucchi asked, looking up from his conversation with Katsuyuki.
Carlos almost flinched when he saw Katsuyuki look at him with baneful eyes.
"Yes, Carlos, why don't you sit down?" He said, before engaging Harucchi with another conversation, leaving Carlos to himself.
Carlos dolefully looked at the four-seater table before asking another patron for an extra chair to wedge in between the tiny space not occupied, facing the window overlooking the streets.
How's it fair?
He felt most alone when they said their goodbyes:
Mei and Eijun hugging for minutes while whispering what must have been sweet promises that Carlos couldn't bear to listen to because he'll be jealous. Or that he'll be forced to admit it to himself that he's already jealous.
Eijun only smiled and said 'bye, Carlos, it's nice making your acquaintance' to which Carlos smiled a bit smugly before Mei snatched Eijun's attention again loudly.
While Katsuyuki and Harucchi just spoke quietly, not sparing their companions a glance even if it's hard to when the two southpaws were loudly making plans for their next tryst.
Harucchi only spared him a bow and a 'nice meeting you, Carlos' to which he smiled and nodded. He was about to say it's nice meeting you, too but saw Katsuyuki glaring at him so he dropped it and just continued stiffly smiling. Harucchi only looked at him as if he's expecting more but Katsuyuki is quick to divert his attention from Carlos and they talked as if Carlos never happened.
Seriously, how is that fair?
*
He almost forgot about that afternoon because they were back to normal during the bus ride back, but he's violently reminded of it when one evening, Carlos felt the tenseness of the team.
Like they're all walking on eggshells.
Except for Mei, that is, who happily chirped away in his phone, talking to Eijun as he did his new personal training regimen, together with Eijun.
(Which is good, to be honest, since Mei never approached practice with enthusiasm and when Mei showed him the training menu Eijun gave, he noticed it's centered in the core muscles to prevent injuries... so it's good.
It's good.)
There are very few reasons the Inashiro kids would be like this queazy: one would be because of a lost game, second would be Mei's temper, third would be Katsuyuki's temper, fourth would be the Coach's temper.
They won all their practice matches last week and they didn't have any this week, so the first reason is out.
The second reason is out seeing as Mei is happily running with Eijun, doing some extra training outside.
They had a fruitful practice that the Coach only commended them and gave some more advice to make their plays better, so the fourth reason is out.
So Carlos concluded it could be because of the third reason.
He decided to test his idea by elbowing his friend as he set his tray down.
If he's on a fine mood, Katsuyuki will only glare, but if he's in a prickly mood, then he will click his tongue, glare and his eyebrows will mash together.
As what happened now.
"What's gotten into you?" Carlos asked after making sure the chopsticks Katsuyuki's holding isn't gonna dig in his arm.
Katsuyuki only rolled his eyes and stabbed his salmon rather furiously, his chopsticks bending and bits of sauce flying everywhere.
"Seriously?" Carlos gestured toward the mess.
Katsuyuki only stared.
Carlos is an empathic person in a sense that he understands the mood of people and that he would most likely be affected by that mood directly afterward.
Right now, Carlos knows Katsuyuki's trying his best to reign in his temper but Carlos is becoming increasingly angry.
Katsuyuki sighed and brought down his chopsticks, but his nostrils are still flared and he squeezed his eyes shut forcefully.
"Mei is always on the phone," he finally said.
Carlos looked at him. Katsuyuki is mental if he only realized that just now, seeing as Mei is doing just that for half a year already.
"... Yes," Carlos nodded, unsure. "Do you... I mean, he won't stop calling Eijun, but maybe he'll bring it dow--"
"Eijun-kun is always answering him," Katsuyuki continued as if Carlos didn't speak at all.
"So... You're calling Eijun Eijun-kun now..."
"Eijun-kun is always answering him," Katsuyuki continued and Carlos jumped when he brought down his fist on the table furiously where he continued growling silently.
Then he noticed Katsuyuki's phone light up. To distract him from his glaring, Carlos brought it to his attention.
"Your phone..." He said, pointing uncertainly.
Now, Carlos thought he's experiencing déjà vu when Katsuyuki's frown disappeared and he picked up his phone calmly.
It's like watching Mei grumble about upstart first years before picking up his phone happily because Eijun texted him, frown gone.
Same as now.
Katsuyuki, with a noticeable small smile, answered a text before picking up his chopsticks and continued eating rather gratefully.
Carlos needed time to look between the phone his friend just set down and his friend, incredulous that he's actually giving a small smile that he rarely does and he's using his phone and that same phone brought back his friend's fine mood.
It's not an exaggeration to say that Carlos could hear the team, sans Mei, let out a huge mental breath.
"So... Do you... I mean, do you want to talk about it? Who's that? Do you have a problem?" He asked, looking back and forth to Katsuyuki and his phone.
"That's Haruichi," Katsuyuki simply said. "And I don't have a problem except for those people treating practice like it's nothing serious."
Carlos' spine tingled when Katsuyuki glared at someone behind him and he could hear someone choking on their food.
"Haruichi? You mean Eijun's friend, Harucchi?"
"Do you know someone else named Haruichi?" Katsuyuki mockingly asked and if Carlos isn't used to Mei and him being prima donnas, he'll definitely smack him in the head right now.
"So you're in contact with Harucchi?" He asked.
"Obviously," Katsuyuki said.
"When di--"
"Just eat your dinner, why don't you?" Katsuyuki insisted, looking at him most exasperatedly.
Carlos raised his eyebrow at him, smirked just a bit before picking up part of his fish to mockingly chew slowly at Katsuyuki's face.
*
Because Carlos isn't an idiot. He knows his friends.
Most especially if they have secrets, see.
When Mei sneaked out to meet Eijun just a bit, before the Invitational, of course he followed. Mei's been acting weird all morning and come afternoon that they're allowed outside and he bolted, Carlos knew he's up to no good.
It's fine if it's just him who left, really. If it's just him who played stalker and followed Mei and made sure he didn't do anything bad or big or something that'll bring trouble to Eijun and himself.
But Katsuyuki jumped the wagon.
Which is a little surprising because he is the type to be unbothered, really.
They followed Mei and naturally, Eijun.
He could tell Katsuyuki lost interest when they entered a soba shop, really, but in the middle of their recon mission, they noticed they're not the only one watching.
Someone else entered the ice cream shop they were in, just overlooking the soba shop the two southpaws were.
It's Kominato Haruichi.
He took the table nearest to the windows, that means just a table away from them, took off his hat and scarf to put it rather forcefully on the table while still looking like a hawk at the soba shop.
"Oh?" He muttered when Katsuyuki all but stood up fast and approached Harucchi.
Carlos couldn't even follow because Katsuyuki looked like he's doing well and having fun conversing with Harucchi, who looked like he's not angry anymore. At least that's what Carlos assumed.
Only when Harucchi looked back at him did Carlos stood up to say hello.
"We're going to the batting center," Katsuyuki declared as he came close, not even giving him enough time to greet.
"What? What about," he said, gesturing to the soba shop.
"You can follow them," Katsuyuki said.
"Wha--uhm, I--"
"It's fine, you can do it," Katsuyuki insisted.
"You can come with us if you want," Harucchi said and Carlos smiled gratefully, having a kouhai invite him like this.
Carlos learned two lessons that day: one is that Mei and Eijun are quite mature in their relationship and doesn't really need chaperone when going to dates; second is that listen to Katsuyuki's glare when it clearly said don't come.
Because it doesn't really feel good to be third wheeling, watching the two talk in their own world about things Carlos doesn't want to hear, because he's... too polite to listen in or something.
*
Carlos watched Mei get these ridiculous packages almost weekly, so it's not like he isn't used to it.
He even helped deliver some to Mei, himself, excitedly waiting for Mei to open it because Eijun always gives food to Mei in large servings of beef or chicken and very rarely does he only gives Mei material things like books for violin lessons or new gloves or the elastic bands Mei has taken to using during training or when Mei turned eighteen, he received sparkling juice from Eijun.
When Carlos looks at Mei, with his childish smile and unsympathetic ass, he always asks himself how is it fair that someone like Mei got someone as generous, kind, innocent person as Eijun, so whenever Mei asks him which food or drags him around to pick things to deliver to Eijun, he's encouraging.
He's used to it.
What he's not used to is when it's Katsuyuki who asked him.
"Is it a tradition that when someone from the baseball club likes someone, they'll just send foods or what?" Sakuya, his father's favourite staff, asked one day when both Mei and Katsuyuki decided to buy dishes from their restaurant to send to Seido.
It's not like Carlos doesn't have an inkling of what's going on because he went through the situation when it's Mei, just that, he hasn't asked Katsuyuki, but if they're at the stage of giving gifts and packages, then...
"Oh, just them," Carlos answered because his friends are eccentric and one of a kind.
*
"Did you know Katsuyuki likes Harucchi?" He asked Mei one time, after their baths.
Mei looks at him with unbelieving smile and wide eyes.
"Seriously?" He asked and Carlos isn't surprised he didn't know, because as long as he's performing well and talking to Eijun fine, Mei doesn't care about anything most of the time.
"I mean, it sure feels the same, when it was you," Carlos shrugged.
Mei scoffed at that and rolled his eyes.
"Hey look, speak of the devil and he will come," Mei said, licking his lips like he's about to slaughter someone.
Looking ahead, Carlos saw Katsuyuki exit the cafeteria, data sheet on hand.
Mei marched toward him and Carlos followed, thrilled of what's gonna happen, because he just heard Mei mutter something like 'tell him how he told me'.
"Oi," Mei starts, standing in front of Katsuyuki.
Carlos really admired this trait of Mei, his fearlessness that even when faced with someone taller than him sporting a furious frown and a natural glare, he wouldn't back down, just like a true King.
"I heard you like someone," Mei continued. "And that someone's name is Harucchi."
Katsuyuki's frown disappeared and a challenging fire danced around his eyes.
"So?" He asked.
Mei opened his mouth, momentarily shocked before smiling and laughing. Even Carlos didn't know how to respond.
"So you already knew?" Mei asked.
"I'm not an idiot like you," Katsuyuki said, pushing past Mei and Carlos.
They followed.
"Did you tell him?" Mei asked.
Katsuyuki looked back at them, causing them to stop. He nodded.
Mei gasped.
"What did he say?" Carlos asked, unable to hold his tongue.
"Tell us!" Mei shouted.
Katsuyuki looked them up and down, but they're used to that, so it only have little to no effect on them.
"We decided to give it a shot," he said before walking up the stairs to his room.
Of course they followed. What with Mei's shameless nature to pester and Carlos' natural curiosity.
"So? When was this?" Mei asked.
"Weeks ago," Katsuyuki said, turning to them when they reached the landing.
"You've--you've been--"
"That's why he's even more motivated and ruthless in practice," Mei noted, his voice full of wonder.
"Speak for yourself, monster," Katsuyuki said before briskly walking to his room.
Carlos followed.
"Monster?" Mei asked, appalled. "Did he just called me mons--oi! Wait up!"
"He meant King," Carlos muttered when they caught up with Katsuyuki who's trying to lock them out of the room. "Help me here, will you?"
Mei watched him struggle opening the door.
"Nah," Mei said and Carlos deflated, Katsuyuki overpowering him and he heard the lock click. "Gotta call Eijun. This is a big gossip, okay? I'll have him ask Harucchi."
Mei left after that.
Carlos is left alone with deserted dorm hallway and a locked door as his companion.
Seriously, how is it fair?
*
The first time he fifth wheel officially, it happened intentionally.
(Intentionally because he chose it himself.)
Mei saying he'll go out for movies with Eijun one Sunday morning, just after his personal training, and Katsuyuki jumped after hearing that.
Mei looked at him, a smile slowly creeping up his face.
"What, do you want to come?" He asked Katsuyuki, who nodded.
Mei smirked and nodded at Carlos.
"You?"
Carlos doesn't even have to think; which he later regretted.
"Of course," he said.
An hour later, they're all in front of the movie posters, choosing which movie they'll watch.
Carlos has Mei and Eijun in his right side, Eijun resting his head on Mei's shoulder as he hug him from behind. In his left, he didn't even dare to look because he feels this raging aura, are Harucchi and Katsuyuki.
"Horror, definitely," Carlos said, upon seeing a musical and cheesy romance movies among the choices.
Katsuyuki and Haruichi affirmed.
"Nope," Mei smacks his lips at the 'p'. "That's out of the question, we can't stand it."
Eijun smiles apologetically at them.
"It's better not," Eijun said, motioning toward Mei and making this neck slitting motion.
Carlos isn't the only one looking at Mei cheaply.
"It's not just me," Mei defended. "Eijun couldn't stand it as well!"
"Wha--remind me, you almost killed me back then! And you only heard the steps!"
"Shh! Eijun, look, we promised Moulin Rouge, let's just watch that," Mei said, motioning to this bizarre poster for the musical.
Eijun smirks at him as he mockingly shake his head, pointing to the bottom of the poster.
It says R-18.
"One miscalculation, Mei, sorry, I'm only sixteen," Eijun said, unflinching even when he's at the receiving end of Mei's glare. "Maybe next year?"
"This is different from that," Mei whispers, testing.
"What is?" Harucchi asked when the two southpaws stare each other down.
Eijun smiles and shakes his head and Mei directed his furious eyes at Harucchi, who fairly received it.
Eijun sighs.
"Look, I think you're the only eighteen here--"
"We're all eighteen, except you and Harucchi," Mei intercepted.
"And see, the horror movie is actually R-16!" Eijun continued.
"I never knew," Mei sings, smiling convincingly at Eijun as he started pulling Eijun away from them. "I could feel like this, yeah?"
Carlos knows Eijun will lose in this argument the moment Mei opened his mouth to sing.
How did Carlos knew?
Some nights after his training with Eijun, Mei will join them to study--when it's not their own private study time to prepare for college, as Mei said. Mei will leave just before eleven in the evening, already fiddling with his phone and calling Eijun just to say 'want me to sing?' without so much as a good night to Carlos and Katsuyuki.
Eijun groaned and rolled his eyes, but they could all see his smile.
Carlos knew it, even before he sees the full blown smile on Eijun's face or the pride in his eyes, that Eijun will succumb to Mei's request.
"Like I've never seen the sky before," Mei continued. "Want to vanish inside your kiss."
"I don't think they'll like it," Eijun weakly reasoned.
"Oh no, no no, it's fine if it's just us," Mei assured, knowing he already won. "We'll just text them when we're done."
Carlos frowned at that but didn't have the time to complain because Mei already dragged Eijun away.
Eijun only have the time to nod at them and gesture a phone with his hand before disappearing from sight, Mei getting them their tickets.
Carlos looked at the remaining party beside him only to find them already lining up the horror movie booth.
Carlos didn't know if he should follow Mei and Eijun or if he should stick to the less troublesome Katsuyuki and Haruichi.
Either way, he found himself sitting alone, in between the two sets of lovers as they eat their snacks, talking to no one after their respective movies.
Carlos is certain no one would be interested in the cheesy romantic-comedy movie he saw alone, anyway.
((*))
This is Carlos' fourth official fifth wheel date and he doesn't even know why he kept coming with them because he already knew the two pairs will end up splitting from him and he'll end up alone most of the time.
Maybe because he get the VIP seat to Mei's and Katsuyuki's love life or that it's actually entertaining or the thought that if a childish Mei and a cunning Katsuyuki got loves, maybe he, too, will find a love.