Seeing this, Steve let out a sigh of relief, trying to calm his beating heart. He knew Ken could be scary, but he thought that he might have died earlier if he didn't do as he was told.
"Here, have some Tacos. I got these 3 for you." Ken offered, his tone back to being jovial.
"Ah, thanks man. I knew you were too kind to hold such a grudge." He said, smiling softly.
But just as he was about to reach out for a taco, Ken cleared his throat, "Ah, sorry. I forgot to put some sauce on these ones. Let me do it for you."
Ken pulled back the tray of food and reached for the hot sauce. It was fire red, with a warning sign on the side of the bottle.
"Oh, no thank you." Steve said politely, however Ken simply ignored him.
Twisting off the bottle lid, Ken was extremely generous in serving the condiment. By the time he was done, each of the tacos were essentially swimming in the lava-like sauce, looking extremely unappetizing.
Wearing a satisfied smile, Ken pushed the tray slowly towards Steve and gestured for him to eat. "You must be hungry, help yourself man."
Steve knew exactly what was happening, but there was absolutely nothing that he could do to prevent it. This punishment wasn't as bad as eating the corn suggestively, but it still wasn't far off.
Gulping hard, Steve shakily reached forward and grabbed the closest taco, watching the sauce ooze off it and onto the tray. His face looked as if he was walking to the galley's in order to be hanged.
His eyes moved to Ken who was still wearing a friendly smile, yet he could see a threatening gaze within his eyes. Left with no choice, he took a bite of the crunchy taco and instantly felt his tongue about to burst into flames.
"How is it? Quite delicious right?" Ken asked warmly.
"Mmmph." Steve nodded vigorously, while trying not to cry.
"Good. See? I'm a reasonable person." Ken reached out and pat his friend's shoulder, wearing a satisfied expression.
The next 20 minutes, Steve was forced to eat all 3 of the spicy taco's before Ken was satisfied. He had learned a valuable lesson today, one that he would not forget for a very long time to come.
Thankfully for Steve, the restaurant sold milk, which he had used his own pocket money to purchase. Even 40 minutes later upon arriving back at East Cobb fields, he was still suffering.
Ken felt satisfied that the punishment had been dealt, so he dropped the entire matter. He knew that Steve was the mischievous type who would pull such pranks, but with this fallout, the guy was sure to think twice before involving Ken in such shenanigans.
Coach Wyatt had witnessed the entire thing take place and felt even more worried about offending Ken. He vowed to do his best to start Ken as pitcher from this point forward in any upcoming tournaments.
'Too scary…' He thought, watching Ken's figure walk away from the bus.
"Man… My mouth still stings." Steve complained, chugging down some milk as he walked next to Ken.
Ken smiled, "It'll sting later tonight as well." He said off-handedly.
"Huh? What do you mean?" He retorted, only for his face to show despair.. His hands instinctively moved to his backside, knowing what was to come.
"Hahahaha."
Ken couldn't help but let out a hearty laughter, feeling the situation was quite hilarious. He had already decided not to punish Steve any more than usual in training, so the guy had dodged a bullet there.
"We've got one more game, you better be on form." Ken stated, his face turning serious.
"Mmm don't worry. We'll be able to make it through even with your limited pitching arsenal." Steve said, trying to send a small verbal jab back to Ken.
"Hmm? Oh crap…" Ken's face changed as he quickly brought his hand up to his face.
Back when he'd first tried out for the team, he'd told Steve that he only knew the fastball, changeup and curveball. This was because his system had just come back, so he didn't want to risk messing up.
'I was wondering why he only ever called for those three balls…' Ken mused, feeling a little embarrassed.
Seeing Ken's reaction, Steve raised his eyebrow. "What is it?"
"Well you see… I actually know a slider and forkball as well." Ken admitted.
"Oh okay…" Steve nodded, "WAIT WHAT!?"
Steve's jaw almost dislocated after hearing the admission from Ken. At first he didn't believe it, but the sincere expression on Ken's face mean that he was likely telling the truth.
"Y—You bastard. Here I was having to work overtime and plan out all my leads around those 3 pitches, but you actually have more!?" Steve was worked up, feeling his heartbeat rise steadily.
Ken raised his hands, "Sorry man I just forgot—"
"You forgot!? Is your brain broken? How the hell do you forget that you can throw a forkball and slider!?" He asked incredulously.
Ken's expression changed to one of annoyance, "I forgot to tell you." He stated icily.
"Ahem…" Steve cleared his throat, realizing that he might be going a little far. Remembering the punishment he'd received not even an hour ago, he decided to change his tone.
"So… You have 2 additional pitches that you never told me about and we're about to head into the finals of the WWBA National Tournament. Does that sound about right?"
"Yes."
"Do you think it might have been better to tell me beforehand, so that I could get a gauge on these 2 pitches?"
"Yes."
Steve let out a deep sigh, feeling a headache coming on. While it was good that Ken had more of a repertoire than he first thought, he didn't like the fact that there was so little time before the match.
"Let's go practice in the parking lot quickly then." He said, drooping his shoulders.
"Sounds good." Ken said, letting out a small chuckle.