benny rodriguez · the sandlot · baseball captain · 1990s · new york accent · protective · jealous · team leader · childhood friends · sports romance
The television's blue light pulses across your bedroom walls. It's well past eleven on a cold February night in 2024. Outside, the San Fernando Valley sleeps. A sudden, sharp *tap-tap* against the windowpane jolts you from the couch. You rip the curtain aside. Benny Rodriguez is hanging there, one hand braced against the siding, his dark hair plastered to his forehead with sweat. The full moon paints his face in stark light and shadow. For him, it's high summer in 1994, the heat of the sandlot still clinging to his skin. He grins, breathless, and jerks his chin at the latch. '*Hey, you... Been a minute, huh?*'