Boston Reyes was sitting in the dugout at his school's baseball field, waiting for Coach Jenkins to address the team post-practice. Boston, the team's 6'1" 180 lbs Shortstop, was one of the team's best players despite being a freshman. Baseball ran in his blood, both his father and his uncle were longtime minor-league ballplayers and their father (Boston's grandfather) was a legendary high school baseball coach in their home state before his death a few years previously.
Even his name was inspired by baseball, as his father insisted on naming his first-born son after his favorite major league team, the Boston Red Sox. Actually, his father really wanted to name him Fenway after their home field but Boston's mother mercifully put her foot down, something which Boston was eternally grateful for. "What kid wants to be named Fenway," he always thought.
Boston always loved his name, it was relatively unusual but not unheard of or obnoxiously weird. He got told all the time by girls that they loved his name. Unfortunately, Boston had made the mistake of telling this story to his little league teammates when he was 12 years old and they had found the name so hilariously bad that they started calling him it. Ever since then, he's been called nothing but Fenway by his teammates and coaches.
Boston loathed the nickname, but admitting that would only make it worse so he never really complained about it. The only teammate he had that would call him by his first name is his best friend, Josh Nixon. Josh is a few inches shorter than Boston at 5'10" but he's stockier, packing 190 lbs onto his compact frame. Josh mainly plays at second base, but he's considered a utility guy that can play every infield position. His physical athleticism and speed even allows him to play in the outfield if the team is in a pinch as well.
While Josh is a little more of a physical specimen than Boston is, he's not a particularly talented baseball player. He's certainly good but is more of a defensive ace on the field while being a streaky batter. Boston, on the other hand, is considered a "five-tool" player, excelling in all areas of the field. Boston has serious major league potential while Josh could probably carve out a solid career in the minor leagues like Boston's father did if he chose to seriously pursue it.
The two eighteen year olds have been best friends ever since they first played together in little league when they were 13. The first thing about Josh that struck Boston was his bright green-hazel eyes. It made him feel bitterly jealous. He had inherited brown eyes (and pale brown skin) from his father's side of the family who were hispanic and he always thought brown was the most boring eye color ever. That combined with Josh's shaggy dirty blonde hair gave him a pretty boy surfer look and Boston had immediately written him off as one of those kids who only played baseball for the attention of girls. After their first practice together, however, he couldn't help but be impressed by how hard Josh worked and how athletic he was. It was after this first practice that Josh had approached him.
"Is your name really Fenway?" he'd asked Boston curiously.
By this time, Boston's nickname Fenway had already been solidified and that's all anybody ever called him at the ballfield, including the announcers.
"No, my name is Boston but they insist on calling me Fenway because that's what my fool of a father had originally wanted to name me," Boston had explained a little irritably.
"Oh, he must be a Red Sox fan...well I'm just gonna call you Boston man, that's way cooler," said Josh brightly with a smile that was contagious even back then when he wore braces.
Boston found that really endearing and from that point on, the boys became inseparable. Boston had two siblings but he was the oldest by 7 years and Josh was an only child so they really took to eachother like the twin brothers they never had. They even chose to attend the same university together. Boston had earned a scholarship offer thanks to his talent on the field but Josh was a walk-on player at their school, meaning his parents would be paying his tuition.
Boston had actually received over a dozen scholarship offers, including from several high-profile elite universities but he made it a stipulation that the school he committed to reserve a walk-on roster spot for Josh. As a result, he wound up at a mid-major division 1 school willing to acquiesce to his request but Boston didn't care. He was happy he got to give his buddy the chance to play D-1 college ball. Beyond that, if he was being honest with himself (which he never would be), he was rather attached to Josh and Josh to him as well.
The tuition cost was expensive for Josh but that was fine since his parents were both from affluent families and could afford it. Despite this, Josh was determined to earn a scholarship before his freshman year was over. He wasn't the kind of guy that rested on the comforts that his privileged background afforded him. Therefore, he'd been working extremely hard, even harder than he normally did. As a result, he had already earned the trust of the team and an assurance from Coach Jenkins that he would receive significant playing time as a walk-on freshman which is rare at the D-1 level. He wouldn't be an everyday starter but he'd still start when other players needed a rest day or were injured.
So as Boston sat in the dugout a sweaty mess, Josh was naturally seated right next to him also drenched in sweat. Boston was wearing his team baseball cap and his jet black hair was almost dripping in sweat. Josh had his arm resting on the bench, his hand behind Boston's head absent-mindedly fiddling with his buddy's hair that stuck out from the bottom of his hat and curled slightly upward.
This wasn't unusual for them and Boston didn't care, that's just how Josh was and he didn't mean anything by it. And it really was tame compared to how Josh acted when they were alone. No, the two friends weren't sexually involved or anything like that. They were just extremely close and Josh had little understanding of what "personal space" meant or rather what it meant when it came to Boston in particular. None of it fazed Boston though, it was just part of the dynamic of their friendship and he actually rather appreciated Josh's friendship and everything that came with it.
When Coach Jenkins walked into the dugout, Josh stopped what he was doing and everybody sat up a little straighter. Coach gave them a big speech about their first exhibition game of the season coming up in two weeks and how he expected the team to approach it like it was a regular season game that actually counted. It was pretty typical coach speak, telling the team to work harder, take the fielding drills more seriously and things like that before dismissing the team for the day. Boston and Josh headed back to their dorm room.
They lived together in a dormitory that was mostly occupied by other freshman and sophomore student-athletes. As such, their dorm was one of the nicest and newest at the university. The rooms were alot closer to a decent-sized motel room than a traditional dorm room, with two full-sized mattresses along with an attached bathroom. They had two small dressers, one upon which sat a 42' inch TV and an Xbox with two controllers while the other had a microwave atop it. The boys had a mini-fridge that also functioned as a bedside table between their beds and kept a large bluetooth speaker box in the back corner of the room.
"Bro you have got to start cleaning up after yourself," said Josh with a laugh as they walked in. The contrast between the two sides of the room was almost comical. Boston had dirty clothes all on his bed and floor along with a few empty drink cans and food wrappers on top of the fridge between their beds. Josh's side, on the other hand, was spotless with his bed made up as always.
"Now why would I do that when I know you'll eventually get sick of it before I will and then clean it up for me," replied Boston cheekily as he started taking off his dirty practice uniform.
Josh just laughed, there was no point disputing that fact. They'd been rooming together for a month at this point and Josh had already cleaned up Boston's side twice when it finally got too messy for him to deal with.
"Yeah well you're gonna run out of clean clothes soon and then you're gonna be walking around school in dirty 'drawls'," teased Josh.
"I ran out of clean underwear three days ago and you never noticed so I think I'm fine," replied Boston with a smirk, before adding, "I'm gonna go take a shower real quick." He gave a t-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts he'd already worn multiple times the smell test before grabbing a towel and heading into the bathroom.
Josh laughed and watched him walk to the bathroom and close the door. He shook his head smiling as he quietly started gathering up the trash on Boston's side and throwing it in the trashcan before tying the bag shut and setting it by the door. Then he gathered up his friend's dirty laundry and threw them in their clothes hamper that already contained some of Josh's own clothes. He then headed downstairs to take the trash out before heading to the laundry room on the bottom floor.
Josh might complain about it and nag Boston about things like this but he genuinely didn't mind. It was thanks to Boston that he got the chance to play D-1 baseball and he was extremely grateful for him. True as that may be though, Josh had always done stuff like this. He was always helping Boston with his chores when he went over to the Reyes' family home. This was one of the reasons that Boston's mom loved Josh dearly. He even would get on to Boston whenever he talked back to his mom or just wasn't doing what she asked him to do.
Boston's hispanic grandmother lived with them as well and she absolutely doted on Josh as well. She even gave Josh his own term of endearment similar to how she does for all her grandchildren, calling him "mi ángel." She says she calls him that because it only makes sense that "mi cielo" (or my heaven, which is what she calls Boston) would bring such an angel into their lives. Josh would also play with Boston's little brother and sister all the time. They were 11 and 9 and always got excited when Josh spent the weekend over there because they knew Josh would make Boston play with them.
Even Boston's father, a notoriously tough man to impress, was fond of Josh. He always raved about Josh's work ethic on the field and encouraged Boston to treat Josh as a measuring stick for how hard he should be going at practice. Boston had such god-given talent on the field but Mr. Reyes always stressed to his son that talent does not mean he can slack off and take shortcuts in practice. His father always says, "If Manny Ramirez had Josh's work ethic, he'd be the greatest player of all time!"
