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Juyeon couldn’t help the curse falling from his lips when he landed on the fiberglass rod for the fourth time in a row. It was uncomfortable between him and the thick cushioning mat beneath him, and he shook his head, brushing himself off once he was upright again. He pulled off his hoodie, the material easily up and over his head before it was falling to the dusty ground. He was never sure where the dust all came from since the field was mostly nylon astroturf and the rubber from the track. He shook his head, reaching for his water as he watched one of his best friends, Changmin, take off running across the field from him. He was timing his hurtles time, and Juyeon only smirked a bit at the huge smile on his face. He always wore it when he ran.
Juyeon pulled the hem of his t-shirt up to wipe his mouth after he set down the water again, wondering if he needed a break or to go back to a safer height for his bar. He didn’t like the idea of either of those options. He watched Changmin fly over his hurtles as he thought, the man almost floating, it seemed. He was always so fast, and the coach for their track and field team kept trying to convince him to do the straight 100m sprint, but he always refused. He liked to jump, but not in the way Juyeon did it. He liked his little hops, and he was content with that. He did usually run the basic 100 most of the time anyway though, the team never having enough sprinters.
“You done there, or are we gonna take turns?” A voice spoke up behind Juyeon and he tried not to scowl. He knew its owner, and he wasn’t someone Juyeon was particularly fond of either. He turned, seeing the American boy. “No, I’m done for today. Have at it.” He hadn’t set the bar up again yet, and he wondered if just walking off would be rude or if he should reset the equipment. He knew Eric would likely start off at a lower height, or he at least hoped he would, for the sake of his ego. He would go help Changmin with his timings if Eric was practicing his high jump.
It wasn’t that Eric had done anything to particularly annoy or piss off Juyeon, he didn’t really have much of a reason to dislike the younger man, but something about him just ticked the wrong boxes and Juyeon avoided him. He usually blamed the fact that he did the same event as him at their small university, and that they were pretty even in terms of skill.
Eric smiled widely and nodded, moving immediately to change the height of the uprights. “Awesome, thanks Juyeon.” He happily minded his own business as Juyeon scooped up his water and his sweatshirt, heading across the fake grass to sit and watch his friend a bit closer. Juyeon was glad he didn’t try for any conversation, still upset at his failure to jump heights he knew he could manage.
Juyeon waited patiently for Changmin to make his way over to him when he was done with a second go. Changmin was smiling, as usual, his ocean-deep dimple on display. He was laughing before he was even in speaking range.
“Did you really let him intimidate you away from your practice?” He shook his head and Juyeon scowled.
“Shut up, I just figured I shouldn’t hog it, you know? Others need a turn to practice.” He avoided eye contact and Changmin hummed, dropping the conversation quickly. He knew not to push on things like Juyeon’s ‘rivalry’ with the younger high jumper.
“Well if you’re taking a break, wanna help me? I know it’s easier to be timed by someone else, more accurate, you know?” He tilted his head in that cute way of his and Juyeon smiled, nodding. He couldn’t be upset around his best friend of five years, not for too long.
The rest of the afternoon had Changmin finishing his practice on the track and helping Juyeon with his longer dash runs. He really only did them if the meet schedules meant he would be done with his field event first, but it was good for him to be able to fill the spots of events they didn’t have specialists for. Even if he wasn’t the best at it, being able to place at all boosted their school, in his head at least.
As the sun was setting, Juyeon and Changmin helped clean up the field they were practicing at along with Eric, a long jumper Chanhee and a few other sprinters, Hyunjae and a Canadian boy, Jacob. They all headed off to the cafeteria when they were done, the boys all generally acquainted with one another if only because they were teammates. A few other boys joined them on the way, a soccer player named Sunwoo who was friends with Eric, and another Juyeon didn’t know. Another Canadian boy that Juyeon was confident was dating Jacob also joined them. The two of them and Eric often all chatted in English when they walked back to campus.
Honestly, Juyeon thought it cute that the skinny boy with seemingly no athletic abilities waited outside of the gym and field facility whenever they had practice, wanting to see Jacob whenever he was done. He was also at every one of their meets, and it made Juyeon feel kinda gooey inside. They were cute and he kind of hoped they really were dating. He sort of envied their dynamic and wished he had someone waiting for him after practice and who waved a banner with his name on it whenever he was competing.
“You think they have chicken strips tonight?” Changmin’s cute way of speaking brought Juyeon from the thoughts he was swimming in and he chuckled.
“Min, they have chicken every day, aren’t you sick of it?” He liked the changing menu and was happy to try new things, but the sprinter was attached to his chicken strips. Juyeon didn’t see the appeal of the same thing every night.
Changmin shook his head, his usual grin wide on his cheeks. “Nope!”
“Yo, chicken strips are where it’s at.” Eric, annoyingly, inserted himself into the conversation, and Juyeon held back a sigh. “If I could only eat one food for the rest of my life, it would probably be chicken strips.” He nodded as if his words were undeniable truth, and the man with Jacob started laughing.
“I think I’d have to go with bread, honestly.” He nodded the same way as Eric did, and then they were nodding together. Jacob, in between them, rolled his eyes and looked like he’d put up with too much of that sort of conversation. Juyeon hadn’t, but he understood the pain. Changmin was only giggling at them, the other boys having a conversation of their own, mostly about a meet up to play a soccer video game together.
Finally, they’d reached the cafeteria. Juyeon was thrilled for them all to split into their little groups, the soccer players with Eric, Jacob and his partner of some sort, and then Juyeon and Changmin. Chanhee and Hyunjae went off on their own, presumably to eat alone or with other friends.
As decided previously, Changmin got his chicken strips and fries for dinner and Juyeon got whatever it was the cycling menu had. He usually didn’t pay much attention to what it was, just tired after practice to eat and do homework on autopilot. They sat together, however they didn’t speak to each other, Changmin playing a game on his phone and Juyeon focused more on shoveling food into his body. He was making a list of the things he needed to do before bed, including schoolwork and a shower. His routine continued as it had for the few years he’d been at school now, and he didn’t mind it. He liked having a route to follow and to stick to daily, but he didn’t have room for a loud boy with no sense of self preservation.
It was as if Eric tried to provoke the upperclassman, Juyeon getting increasingly more and more frustrated with his antics. He wanted to scream after practice sometimes, and as the bigger meets came up, Juyeon was upset with how easily the man kept up with him. Juyeon would take hours of leg work and running and jumping to reach certain heights, and it would only take Eric a few times before he was soaring just as high. It upset Juyeon, it felt as if his efforts were fruitless, for someone to come along and do it faster and better.
If Juyeon hadn’t put years of effort and training and sweat and blood and tears into his sport, he knew he would have given up by now. He felt inferior to this man a few years his junior, and it frustrated him to new lengths. All the other boys knew, and especially his best friend. Changmin did everything he could to keep Juyeon sane, but he could only do so much.
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As far as Eric knew, Juyeon was just a tough nut to crack. He was sure he could be friends with everyone on the team, and Juyeon was the only one left. He found himself pushing the man with every interaction, flirting with every smirk he sent the man’s way. Juyeon was a stunning man, tall and handsome and fit, smart. It would take a fool to not know the man had a heart of gold and was dedicated to his art; that’s how he made his sport look.
To everyone who watched the man when he competed, the way he turned into the Fosbury Flop was more graceful than Eric had every seen anyone perform. He looked stunning when he ran, jumping and then turning his body in air, the one footed take-off standard but looking beautiful when he did it. Eric wanted to look like that when he jumped, but he was sure he only looked constipated when he was concentrating on his form. Juyeon managed to look ethereal where Eric was sure he looked like an absolute idiot.
Eric had a huge crush on the older high jumper; he did everything he could to try and get the man’s attention, and most of it was him showing off.
He didn’t know how to impress other boys, okay?
“You should just ask him out.” Sunwoo, who was over in Eric’s dorm as they both ‘studied’, was giving the barely younger advice regarding his thing for the drama-worthy upperclassman. He tilted his head back as he drank from a soda can, way too relaxed in Eric’s opinion.
“Yeah, like I could do that, he seems like the first move kinda guy, I don’t wanna mess that up. Besides, this isn’t LA, what if he finds a reason to get me kicked off the team if he finds out I like men?” Eric was extremely nervous about being a bisexual in Korea, and it was something Sunwoo thought was ridiculous. He knew that at least half of the track team was queer.
Rolling his eyes, Sunwoo finally stopped pretending to read his notes from class and closed his notebook, leaning forward. “That man is blind and cannot tell you like him, dude, just say something. The next time you’re alone, if you’re paranoid about the others hearing or whatever. He needs a push.” He was confident about his read of the statue-esq older man, his jaw one of the many perfect things about him. Even if Sunwoo only liked one man and considered himself straight otherwise, he could tell that Juyeon was a very pretty man.
Eric groaned. “God...fine. I’ll say something, or make a move, whatever. Next time we’re alone.” Luckily, that almost never happened, which meant Eric didn’t have to actually follow through, he thought.
Except the very next day, Juyeon was cornering Eric alone in the locker room.
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“Knock it off.”
“What?”
“Stop it. Trying so hard. You’ve got years ahead of you to make a regional team, just get out of the way.” Juyeon hissed at Eric, pressing the younger lightly against the lockers. They were painted such an ugly color, he thought.
Eric’s eyebrows pressed together and he shook his head. “I…what?” He was beyond confused at the elder’s actions and words. Juyeon thought he was trying to show him up?
“You’re keeping me from getting to go to the regional meet. Only one of us goes for high jump, and I’ve been working for this since high school. Please, Eric, just...step down, please?” Juyeon was pleading with the man, feeling guilty for sounding threatening. He was confused when Eric started laughing. He stepped back, and Eric was then pressing Juyeon to the lockers opposite.
“Yeah, I’ll step down. Dude, I was only doing high jump to be close to you and impress you.” He shook his head, adrenaline from a confession urging him to keep talking. “I wanted to hang out with you and be close to you, so I started doing the high jump to like...do that.” He smiled, pulling back, seeing how confused and pale Juyeon was at the words expressing infatuation.
“I...you...you were just doing it for me?” Juyeon blinked, trying to process the fact that Eric seemed to have some sort of feelings for him. The younger nodded.
“Yeah and I was kinda hoping you’d kiss me when you had me pinned just now.” He chuckled, embarrassment showing on his face and in the way he avoided eye contact. Juyeon definitely was shocked by that, words sputtering and falling in bits as he tried to string together a sentence.
“Wow, you... so you meant like that?” He looked like he’d never once considered kissing anyone and it had Eric amused.
“Yeah, and like... I was nervous to say anything, so I’m glad you cornered me.” He shook his head. “I was so nervous, dude.”
“Because this isn’t America?”
“Yeah, like...even though I was born here and go to college here now, I was still raised in American public school and I have a few different views and it’s weird to try and fit in here.” Eric shook his head, still admiring his feet. He missed the way Juyeon looked at him.
“You were born here?” He never really got to know the younger too much, usually just annoyed by him and not too interested in hearing about what he was talking about most of the time.
Eric looked up, humming, eyes wide. “Yeah? Did you think I was born over there?” He joked, lightening the mood a bit, and Juyeon nodded. He hummed. “Well...like I know you weren’t trying to get me into your pants now, so like...is there anything else you wanted to talk about?” He rocked back and forth on his feet and Juyeon chuckled, looking shy.
“I, yeah, no, I wasn’t trying to...do anything with you, but I... I had never really considered myself to be, uh, gay, or anything?” He hummed. “Let me think about things? And I can tell you if I’ll want to kiss you or not later, does that sound like a deal?” He punched Eric’s shoulder gently and the younger smiled.
“That sounds like a deal, and I’ll tell coach I only wanna do long jump for regionals.” He couldn’t help the goofy grin on his face as he considered that he might get to kiss the older man. He was excited, maybe even more at the idea that him being queer didn’t worsen his relationship with Juyeon, but rather made them friends, which they hadn’t been before.
Spoiler alert: he very much got his kiss after that. A lot of kisses.