[FF] From Zero to One
Title: From Zero to One
Characters: Kris/Chanyeol
Genre: Sports!AU
Rating: PG-13
Summary: 947 words. How Chanyeol started basketball (A back story to One on One.)
Note: Part of Bluestanista's 100 Days with EXO Challenge for exo_days Week 2: Sports.
Chanyeol did not like sports as a young teen. He had never liked doing something that would make him sweat; he had always been uncomfortable with the feeling of drenched clothing sticking against his bare skin. The smell of perspiration was not the most pleasant kind for his sensitive olfactory senses as well.
But all these vain concealments put aside, the main point was just pretty simple: sports never appealed to him.
He was at the stage where most boys of his age would start talking about how they wanted to be part of South Korea's Red Devils when they grow up, if not debating on who the best team in the NBA was. But Chanyeol preferred anything over sports - television, anime, and even books because although he didn't seem like one, he was actually a wide fiction-reader.
And the closest thing he'd get to sports was Slam Dunk for basketball, Striker for football, or Knock Out for boxing. And his Physical Education class, of course.
But this did not mean Chanyeol sucked at sports. He was good at them-excellent to the point where most sports clubs in his school had been trying to recruit him into their teams. But he just didn't really like sports. Although some talent was given naturally, who said you had to like something to be good at it?
Nothing is permanent in this world, change happened. No, unlike the typical “he-grew-out-of-it” stage, there was another external factor that brought about it.
Let's just make it cheesy as it should sound and say it involved fate.
The first time Chanyeol took the alternate road home from school, he had discovered a park that housed a small basketball court, enclosed in frames of grilled aluminum fence covered in wild green vines. Curious and observant, he noticed that there was a hole - a forced entrance probably - near the leftmost corner bottom of the fence that had been cleared out of weeds. Peeking through it, he realized that for a supposedly abandoned basketball court, the concrete floor looked like it had been swept clean of dried leaves.
He had confirmed his suspicions the second time he passed by that same alternate route. There was a tall blond teenage boy with a ball in his hand, clad in a white shirt with sleeves folded up and royal blue jersey shorts. Not wanting to appear rude and creepy, he had kept himself hidden, watching from a distance. It only took a few seconds for him to become conscious about closing his mouth when the blond boy gracefully executed a perfect lay-up shot. He did not even notice he had been holding his breath.
It had become a sort of a routine for him after that - taking the longer way home, passing by the secret park, and hoping to catch a glimpse of the blond teenage boy while making sure to stay covered; he didn't want to seem like a stalker, although he wouldn't admit it was a bit similar to that.
Once, the blond boy had been doing free throws and Chanyeol couldn't help but admire how accurate and calculated the shots were. There might be something in the way how the blond boy flicked his wrist, or how he had seemingly memorized the concept of projectile by heart.
The other time, the blond boy had been doing jump shots. He wasn't just playing basketball on the ground, because the moments of what seemed like pauses on air were better in Chanyeol's opinion. Those were the moments he wished he could take pictures of to preserve as a beautiful memory.
However, one day, the blond boy wasn't in the park. The boy was never late, always arriving minutes before him. He waited for a few minutes, thirty minutes, an hour, and two. But the boy did not arrive.
The day after that, he still didn’t.
And the day after, and the day after.
Chanyeol had stopped taking the alternate route home too.
But this story would not end here-it had been a start of something new.
He heard a lot of scandalized gasps from his classmates when one day, he showed up in class with an application form for the basketball club in one hand. He continued this new-found hobby of his in high school, even taking home the championship for the school during his senior year. The memories of his after-school secret adventures remained etched in his heart; it wasn't just a motivation, it was an inspiration that kept him moving.
Chanyeol found the blond boy again years later on television, finally putting a name to the face he had always admired from afar as a young boy, playing for the Blue Assassins of the Intercollegiate Basketball League of Korea. Kris Wu, Number 14 of the Blue Assassins.
Because to say that the blond boy was able to tick Chanyeol's interest in basketball would be an understatement; the blond boy led Chanyeol to Kris himself and he could wish for nothing better.
They would finally meet in a bar again years later, when Chanyeol was about to enter university. With his new found confidence -- more mature, more mischievous, more daring -- Chanyeol would use this opportunity to his advantage and catch Kris Wu with himself as the perfect bait. They would soon put aside the fact that they play for two rival schools and develop a unique relationship after that.
Chanyeol still did not like sweating. But if it involved Kris and things that could happen in a cramped locker room with two growing men with needs, he could probably make an exemption.
Characters: Kris/Chanyeol
Genre: Sports!AU
Rating: PG-13
Summary: 947 words. How Chanyeol started basketball (A back story to One on One.)
Note: Part of Bluestanista's 100 Days with EXO Challenge for exo_days Week 2: Sports.
Chanyeol did not like sports as a young teen. He had never liked doing something that would make him sweat; he had always been uncomfortable with the feeling of drenched clothing sticking against his bare skin. The smell of perspiration was not the most pleasant kind for his sensitive olfactory senses as well.
But all these vain concealments put aside, the main point was just pretty simple: sports never appealed to him.
He was at the stage where most boys of his age would start talking about how they wanted to be part of South Korea's Red Devils when they grow up, if not debating on who the best team in the NBA was. But Chanyeol preferred anything over sports - television, anime, and even books because although he didn't seem like one, he was actually a wide fiction-reader.
And the closest thing he'd get to sports was Slam Dunk for basketball, Striker for football, or Knock Out for boxing. And his Physical Education class, of course.
But this did not mean Chanyeol sucked at sports. He was good at them-excellent to the point where most sports clubs in his school had been trying to recruit him into their teams. But he just didn't really like sports. Although some talent was given naturally, who said you had to like something to be good at it?
Nothing is permanent in this world, change happened. No, unlike the typical “he-grew-out-of-it” stage, there was another external factor that brought about it.
Let's just make it cheesy as it should sound and say it involved fate.
The first time Chanyeol took the alternate road home from school, he had discovered a park that housed a small basketball court, enclosed in frames of grilled aluminum fence covered in wild green vines. Curious and observant, he noticed that there was a hole - a forced entrance probably - near the leftmost corner bottom of the fence that had been cleared out of weeds. Peeking through it, he realized that for a supposedly abandoned basketball court, the concrete floor looked like it had been swept clean of dried leaves.
He had confirmed his suspicions the second time he passed by that same alternate route. There was a tall blond teenage boy with a ball in his hand, clad in a white shirt with sleeves folded up and royal blue jersey shorts. Not wanting to appear rude and creepy, he had kept himself hidden, watching from a distance. It only took a few seconds for him to become conscious about closing his mouth when the blond boy gracefully executed a perfect lay-up shot. He did not even notice he had been holding his breath.
It had become a sort of a routine for him after that - taking the longer way home, passing by the secret park, and hoping to catch a glimpse of the blond teenage boy while making sure to stay covered; he didn't want to seem like a stalker, although he wouldn't admit it was a bit similar to that.
Once, the blond boy had been doing free throws and Chanyeol couldn't help but admire how accurate and calculated the shots were. There might be something in the way how the blond boy flicked his wrist, or how he had seemingly memorized the concept of projectile by heart.
The other time, the blond boy had been doing jump shots. He wasn't just playing basketball on the ground, because the moments of what seemed like pauses on air were better in Chanyeol's opinion. Those were the moments he wished he could take pictures of to preserve as a beautiful memory.
However, one day, the blond boy wasn't in the park. The boy was never late, always arriving minutes before him. He waited for a few minutes, thirty minutes, an hour, and two. But the boy did not arrive.
The day after that, he still didn’t.
And the day after, and the day after.
Chanyeol had stopped taking the alternate route home too.
But this story would not end here-it had been a start of something new.
He heard a lot of scandalized gasps from his classmates when one day, he showed up in class with an application form for the basketball club in one hand. He continued this new-found hobby of his in high school, even taking home the championship for the school during his senior year. The memories of his after-school secret adventures remained etched in his heart; it wasn't just a motivation, it was an inspiration that kept him moving.
Chanyeol found the blond boy again years later on television, finally putting a name to the face he had always admired from afar as a young boy, playing for the Blue Assassins of the Intercollegiate Basketball League of Korea. Kris Wu, Number 14 of the Blue Assassins.
Because to say that the blond boy was able to tick Chanyeol's interest in basketball would be an understatement; the blond boy led Chanyeol to Kris himself and he could wish for nothing better.
They would finally meet in a bar again years later, when Chanyeol was about to enter university. With his new found confidence -- more mature, more mischievous, more daring -- Chanyeol would use this opportunity to his advantage and catch Kris Wu with himself as the perfect bait. They would soon put aside the fact that they play for two rival schools and develop a unique relationship after that.
Chanyeol still did not like sweating. But if it involved Kris and things that could happen in a cramped locker room with two growing men with needs, he could probably make an exemption.