(no subject)
The pounding of blood, accompanied by the euphoria brought on by both the adrenaline and the cheering of the crowds was what kept Hyukjae upright as he grinned up at the crowd made up of high school students; the exertion of his final sprint across the field making itself known through the sweat coursing down the sides of his face and neck, causing the jersey of his uniform to stick to his skin. He stuck his fist into the air, coughing a bit as his lungs try to force more air into him than what he can take at one time. Junsu catches him around the waist, the midfielder grinning into Hyukjae's shoulder.
"I can't believe you actually made that shot! We've won the game, Hyukkie!" Junsu shouts over the fans in the stands, and Hyukjae cuffs his best friend in the shoulder.
"Of course I made it, I am the best player on this team." Hyukjae says, calming down slightly from the euphoria, but the grin growing no smaller as Junsu rolls his eyes.
"Still, you kicked the ball through five opposing players and straight into the goal, from half-way across the field. That’s not an easy feat." Junsu replies, letting go of Hyukjae to let the other players have their turn congratulating him. Hyukjae didn't hear a word that was said after that, his eyes following a figure clad in dark blue jeans and an almost teal loosely cut shirt, as it left the crowd, without a single glance back at the field.
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"Congratulations on the win. It was well earned, although it probably would have been easier if you had gone another ten meters up and shot to the left, instead of the right." A decidedly male voice says, and Hyukjae turns around, the tie of his school uniform hitting his arm, since his blazer isn't buttoned up.
"Thank you, but easier isn't much fun. I'm Hyukjae." He smiles at the boy, a light blue shirt just visible underneath the schools uniform, similar to the teal shirt he was wearing at the game yesterday.
"I know, my name's Donghae, we have a couple classes together." Donghae replies, and Hyukjae nods in recognition.
"I've seen you before, you're one of Heechul-ssi's friends." Donghae smiles and nods, seeming happy that Hyukjae recognized him.
"Well, at any rate, you should get to class, I've got an appointment with the counsellor to get to, Hyukjae-ssi." Donghae says, waving at Hyukjae as he races off in the opposite direction that he had been going earlier.
Hyukjae stood in the hallway, blinking as he tried to comprehend what had just occurred.
"But Donghae-ssi.... the counsellor’s office is the other way...."
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He was not spying. Absolutely not.
"But Hyung, I swear I didn't mean to be late to the counsellor’s appointment! I got lost on my way there!" Donghae all but whines to Heechul, who simply crosses his arms.
"You've been attending this school for almost four years Donghae, how did you get lost?" Heechul says disbelievingly, eyebrow raised to emphasize his point. Donghae looks down and scuffs his foot abashedly on the floor, something that Hyukjae found absolutely adorable. Donghae mumbles something that Hyukjae doesn't quite catch, and Hyukjae leans closer to be able to hear the other two better, moving a library book further down the shelve so as to see more clearly as well.
"You're telling me that you like the guy that much, that when you talked to him you basically forgot everything else? What are you, a girl?" Heechul scoffs, and Donghae looks up, a frown on his face as he pouts at his hyung.
"I am not a girl. I just like him that much, and it was my first time talking to him in the three years I've known him! I was excited!" Donghae exclaims defensively, a small smile coming over his face in the silence that follows, and Hyukjae irrationally feels a small curl of jealousy in his stomach over the thought of the person that could make Donghae so happy with just a thought.
Tightening his grip on the bookshelf, he leans a bit more forward, his face almost inside the hollow bookshelf. Shifting his weight to the other side, he lets out a gasp as his foot hits a stray book on the floor, causing him to slip and nearly bring the bookshelf down on top of him, a couple books falling down in the process. Hyukjae scrambles up in embarrassment, ignoring the stinging on his head from where a hardcover book hit him in favour of rushing out of the library, not seeing a concerned Donghae following his movements with his eyes.
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Hyukjae leans over the sink in the schools restroom, watching a bit of blood gather out of the cut on his forehead from the book, before dabbing at it with a bit of wet paper towel, wincing as the water stings the cut slightly.
"Such an idiot, Lee Hyukjae. Now he's going to think you're some creepy stalker. And on top of that, you hurt yourself, and made a big mess in the library for the poor Librarian nuna to clean up."
Blinking furiously as bloodied water gets into his eye, mixing with the tears of embarrassment that were already gathering in his eyes, he drops the wet tissue into the sink to wipe at his eyes, trying to clear them while holding back frustrated tears.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself he jumps as a light pressure is applied to the area just around his wound. Opening his eyes, he lets in a small intake of breath through his teeth seeing Donghae standing in front of him, eyes concentrated on the small wound above Hyukjae's right eyebrow.
“You should be more careful Hyukjae-ssi.” Donghae states softly, dabbing the blood away from the wound without applying enough pressure to make the bloodied water run into Hyukjae's eye.
“I'm a soccer player, injuries come with the job.” Hyukjae replies shortly, averting his eyes to the mirror, trying not to notice the smile tugging at Donghae's lips, lighting his face briefly.
“I suppose it would mean you're not used to handling books, now wouldn't it?” Donghae asks, the grin getting wider. Hyukjae frowns slightly, his eyebrows pulling together, which causes him to hiss as the cut gets pulled at.
“Are you calling me stupid?” Hyukjae asks, causing Donghae to chuckle, before he takes Hyukjae's chin and forces the slightly taller boy to look at him.
“Were you spying on me in the library?” Donghae retorts, and a light dusting of pink settles over Hyukjae's cheeks before he pushes the other away and walks out of the bathroom.
“What did you do to your forehead Hyukjae?” Hyukjae sighs as he removes his shoes and looks away from his worrying mother.
“I dropped a book on my head when I was at the school library today.” Hyukjae replies, shifting the backpack on his shoulder to prevent it from falling off.
“You actually go to the library? What would you do there? Spy on some girl?” Sora laughs as she looks at him over the back of the kitchen chair.
“I was not spying on some girl!” Hyukjae retorts, keeping the part where he was spying on a guy, Donghae no less, to himself.
“Go change and do your homework then wash up, supper will be ready in an hour, Hyukjae.” His mom says, shooing him upstairs. Hyukjae sighs before trudging upstairs, tossing his bookbag onto his computer chair, closing the door and removing his uniform, slipping on a pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt, before sitting down and taking out his books to study.
It wasn't until the third time that he had caught himself drawing chocolate brown eyes that he gave up and went to shower instead.
It's the second last game of the season, and both teams are tied, with less than ten minutes until full-time.
Hyukjae runs down midfield, looking back and to the left to signal to Junsu to pass the ball to him. Watching as the ball arcs neatly towards him, he buffers it with his chest, before taking off at a full sprint with the ball to the other goal. Shifting his weight to his left leg, he pulls his right one back to deliver a powerful kick to the ball to send it to the high left end of the goal post. Just as his foot connects with the ball, sending it flying, he feels something akin to a train hitting him from behind, followed by a loud cracking sound and intense pain in his arm as he hits the ground.
“Hyukkie! Wake up, are you ok?” Junsu's voice sounds from above Hyukjae, who clenches his eyes shut tighter in response to the burning, throbbing pain in his arm that hit as soon as he was partially conscious.
Hyukjae groans, attempting to reach over to hold his hurting arm, only to find it being held down by something. Opening his eyes and looking over, he sees Donghae holding his arm down, giving him a watery smile.
“Hi Hyukjae-ssi, there's good news and bad news. Good news is that we've won, bad news is it seems you've broken your arm.” Donghae says, biting his lip as he looks worriedly at Hyukjae, who just groans and slams his head back into Sungmin's legs, where his head was being cushioned.
“What do you mean I can't take part of next week's game? I'm a forward, I don't even use my arm!” Hyukjae shouts, his left arm cradled in a cast on his chest, a sling keeping it up. The coach sighs, pinching his nose.
“Hyukjae, the broken arm puts you at a disadvantage and at a further risk for hurting yourself. I can't let you keep playing.” The coach replies. Hyukjae huffs and puts his good hand in his pocket.
“We don't even have any back ups left, they're all either unavailable the night of the game or else already on. Who are you going to get to replace me?” Hyukjae challenges, and the coach glances behind Hyukjae, keeping his eyes on whatever had caught his attention as he replies to Hyukjae.
“Junsu suggested someone that he knew who could play soccer well enough.” He says, gesturing to the person behind Hyukjae to come forward. Hyukjae turns around, his eyes widening briefly as he sees a loose teal shirt and the pants of the school uniform.
Donghae grins at him,
“Hi Hyukjae-ssi. I'll try not to let you down, ok?”
Hyukjae and Donghae leave the coach's office, Donghae trailing slightly after an angry looking Hyukjae.
“Hyukjae, slow down for a second will you! I can understand why you're a bit angry, I mean, I'm not even on the team or anything, but I'll try my best!” Donghae exclaims, stopping as Hyukjae stops abruptly and turns around, a look of anger evident on his face.
“That's the thing Donghae- you're not on my team, I've never seen you play, and I don't know if your best is enough!” Hyukjae shouts, stepping over to Donghae, his casted arm just brushing against Donghae's chest. Donghae looks at Hyukjae, not seeming to mind the slight height advantage that Hyukjae has over him.
“Then train with me.” Hyukjae grins suddenly, and Donghae has to phsyically repress the feeling of dread that threatened to overcome him suddenly.
“You'll regret that.” Hyukjae says before leading Donghae out to the field.
Three hours later, true to Hyukjae's word, Donghae was definitely regretting it. Hyukjae had kicked the ball at Donghae so many times, from so many angles, that it felt like he would be turning black and blue.
Hyukjae tossed Donghae a water bottle, and with a grin turns to walk away, looking at the bent over Donghae, who is currently gulping down water at an alarming rate, and states,
“See you here same time tomorrow, Donghae-ssi. Miss it and you'll regret it.”
Donghae groans before collapsing onto the grass in a huff, staring up at the sky slowly turning black with night.
A week later finds Hyukjae down in the bleachers, waiting with the rest of the student body for the game to start. Watching with anticipation as his team emerges from the locker room to the cheers of the fans, Hyukjae grins as he sees Donghae in the middle of the group, a brand new uniform on him, and Hyukjae decides that he looks good enough in the uniform that he may just consider talking with the coach about making Donghae a permanent member of the team.
The game starts shortly after the teams emerge, with Junsu scoring the first goal about ten minutes in, a quick goal from near the goalie post, achieved by a light kick to the right, wherein the goalie accidently hit the ball wrong, bringing the ball into the goal by accident.
As the crowd goes crazy, Hyukjae watches Donghae jump up and down from his position in the right field cheering just as loud as the fans. As the goalies throws the ball back in, Donghae quickly sprints after it, using the speed that Hyukjae had helped him develop over the past week to catch up to the ball and steal it from the opposing forward.
Half an hour later, the game has a score of three to four for the opposing team, and with only five minutes left in the game, and the ball in the capable feet of the opposing team, things aren't looking good. Hyukjae shifts a bit, and bites his thumb in concentration, watching as two of the forwards from the opposing team pass the ball back and forth in a dead sprint towards the goal. Kyuhyun rushes at them from the left while Jungsu does the same from the right, distracting them while Donghae steals the ball from the other two, kicking it to Junsu, who in turn passes it to Siwon, the teammate closest to the goal. Donghae jumps up and down again as Siwon successfully ties the game.
In the end they have to extend the time to determine a winner. Hyukjae watches as Donghae jogs over to the team huddle, before getting up himself and walking over. The coach pauses in his pep talk to look at Hyukjae before nodding and continuing.
“While you're all tired and worn out, just remember, the other team is just as worn out. You guys can do this. Fifteen more minutes, that's all. Scoring even just one goal will win us the game. Keep the ball as far away from out goal and we should be fine.” The coach says, and Hyukjae puts his good hand on the coach's shoulder to lean in and make sure everyone can hear him.
“Guys, their right defense is weak. Have Siwon in the left forward position and Donghae in the right. Concentrate on getting the ball to them. Siwon, if you get the ball and the shot isn't clear, pass the ball to Donghae, he's quick and will be able to get it, and break through their defenses better than you. Their defense is built to handle your strength, but Donghae can slip under them. You guys can do it.” Hyukjae says, before going back to his spot on the bleachers.
Almost as soon as the ball is in the game, Kyuhyun has it in possession and is passing it to Siwon. Siwon runs towards the goal before passing the ball onto Donghae, who had just run up behind Siwon. Donghae ducks under the arms of an incoming midfielder, before kicking the ball around a second one towards Junsu, who passes it back as soon as Donghae is clear for the shot. The stands explode as soon as the goal is announced, the grin on Hyukjae's face matching the one on Donghae's.
In the end, that's the final goal of the game, with the score ending 5-4. The entire team carries Donghae to the locker room on their shoulders, and Hyukjae gets up to follow, grinning as he watches Donghae grab onto Jungsu's head to steady himself.
Inside the locker room is almost as chaotic as outside, with the team too busy celebrating to think about getting changed, Hyukjae ducks into the room, hugging each of the team members in congratulations as he joins the crowd.
“Pizza tonight! Coach is buying!” Junsu shouts out, and the coach groans from his chair in the corner.
“You promised us at the beginning of the season, that if we won, you'd buy us pizza!” Junsu exclaims smugly, the rest of the team taking up the chant for pizza. Hyukjae grins, his gaze meeting Donghae's from across the room, and he jerks his head to the entrance, leading the way out of the place. Donghae jogs slightly to catch up with him, as Hyukjae walks away from the crowd, stopping by a big oak tree just away from the soccer field.
“I don't have to worry about you hitting me to death with soccerballs, do I?” Donghae jokes, still grinning from the euphoria. Hyukjae laughs hard, almost bent double from it. Donghae leans beside Hyukjae against the tree. The remnants of his laughter still in the air, Hyukjae turns towards Donghae and pins him against the tree with his body, his good hand settling by Donghae's head.
“I think I'll skip that part today Donghae.” Hyukjae mutters before claiming Donghae's lips, using his good hand to pull Donghae's head closer. Hyukjae grins against Donghae's lips as Donghae's arms wrap around his neck, pulling the other closer to him. Hyukjae breaks the kiss gently, leaning down to leave a butterfly kiss on Donghae's neck, grinning still as he pulls back, looking into a slightly dazed Donghae's eyes.
"I think I've fallen in love with you, Donghae." Hyukjae states, and Donghae snaps back into focus, grinning as he pulls Hyukjae in for another kiss.