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“Here comes your lover boy~”
“He’s not- we’re just friends.” Juho started, giving Sanghyuk a kick in the knee-pads.
“But you wish you were more- agh, so violent! These are precious legs, I’m gonna get your national call-up retracted when I tell Coach Im you’ve been hacking away at the knees of your libero!”
Juho ignored Sanghyuk’s dramatics and empty threats in favor of greeting the so-called ‘lover boy’ with a raised hand.
Kim Seokwoo waved back and broke out into a big grin from across Jangchung Arena, Seoul’s volleyball stadium, where the national team were gathering for their last practice before the Olympic Games began.
While he wasn’t Juho’s lover boy by any means, Seokwoo was surely one of the nation’s current loves with plenty of adoring eyes on him heading into the games. He was everything: tall, handsome, well-spoken, and a bonafide star for the first men’s squad competing in the Olympics since 2000.
He was also Juho’s closest friend on the national team, the pair having played volleyball in college together before being drafted a couple years ago to different V-League teams. They had been practically inseparable in school together (and unstoppable on the court) and sometimes Juho missed having someone who seemed to know him intuitively just a very long arm’s length away at all times. But they made up for that by having fun together when they were called up to the national team’s practice, and that’s why some people (Sanghyuk) got the impression that they were more than just very good friends.
But that’s all they were. Very good friends. And Juho hadn't realized he wanted to be more until they had already signed to teams on opposite sides of the country.
“By the way, aren’t you in talks to sign with Incheon once your contract with us runs out so you can play with him again?” Juho and Sanghyuk played together for the team in Daejeon but it was true, Juho’s contract was expiring over the off-season and if he decided to move Incheon was one of his top choices, for.. various reasons.
“It’s not because of him, I want to be closer to my family in Seoul.”
“Why don’t you just tell him? He clearly likes you too.”
Juho sighed, giving up the pretense. “He doesn’t. And isn’t it pathetic to move clubs just to be with him?”
“I think it’s cute!”
“If I tell him it’s gonna come off as desperate. He’s doing fine without me, obviously. If I do sign with Incheon I'll tell him after the deal is done, but I don't want him to think I'm pining after him or something if I tell him now. You don't see him hitting up our recruitment staff in the offseason.”
“You’ve been doing fine too, I mean, you’ve been a regular on the national team just like him. Just because he’s playing good volleyball doesn’t mean he doesn’t miss playing with you.. and probably more.” Sanghyuk wriggled his eyebrows. Meanwhile Seokwoo finished having a couple words with the coaching staff and started bounding over to where Juho and Sanghyuk were standing. "I think you should just tell him! And the Olympics are the perfect time to do it."
“Yeah, okay, sure, I'll think about it, now shut up.” Juho hissed. For once, Sanghyuk listened.
“Hey.” Seokwoo said as he came up to them.
“Hi,” Juho replied.
“Bye,” Sanghyuk said, backing away. “I’ll warm up in a different part of the gym and let you two complete the weird reunion ceremony you do every time the national team comes together.” He made his grand exit.
“We should warm up too,” Juho said, pointing to the ball under Seokwoo’s arm.
“Okay, but first,” Seokwoo dropped the ball and went in for a big hug. Juho wrapped his arms around Seokwoo’s waist and just enjoyed the feeling, because their time together on the national team was all he had.
“I missed you. Looking forward to playing on the same side of the net as you again,” Seokwoo mumbled.
“Me too.”
It was easy to get back into the routine of spending every waking second with Seokwoo. Dragging themselves to breakfast in the cafeteria, nagging each other about breaking their nutrition plans, heading to practice, consulting with the team’s PT, and then lounging around in their dorm sending each other power-ups on their current flavor of the month mobile game before lights out- it was the exact same rhythm of coexistence they’d established in university.
As he pushed Seokwoo down the hall by the small of the back, trying his best to make sure his half-awake friend wouldn’t topple over, Juho entertained the fantasy that this could once again become their daily reality. He could transfer to Incheon, move in with Seokwoo, and go back to how things were a couple years ago, greedily lapping up every crumb of intimacy he didn’t know to savor the first time around.
“Oh! Sashimi!” Seokwoo perked up when he got a good look at what they were serving from the Japanese section. The cafeteria served cuisine from all varieties of nationalities to keep athletes as comfortable as possible while they stayed in the Olympic Village.
“For breakfast?” Juho objected. He tried to steer Seokwoo towards the rice porridge a couple stations down but Seokwoo persisted in turning back towards the raw fish. Deciding he had to take matters into his own hands, Juho pushed Seokwoo into the nearest teammate (Inseong). “Make sure he gets to the tables, please.”
Seokwoo allowed Inseong to herd him away while Juho grabbed two trays and filled them up with more breakfast appropriate food. Juk, toast, eggs, and a couple pieces of fruit, a very familiar meal. He seasoned Seokwoo’s juk the way he remembered he would eat it in college, assuming his preferences hadn’t changed. He liked it with a dash of black vinegar, kind of Chinese style, for reasons Juho would never understand.
By the time Juho tottered towards the volleyball team’s table balancing two full trays, Seokwoo seemed to have woken up. In fact, he seemed to be fighting for his life over some type of argument or topic of conversation. His back was turned to Juho but his hands were flailing everywhere as the rest of the team gave him skeptical squints.
“What’s got your panties in a twist,” Juho grunted as he plopped Seokwoo’s tray down in front of him. He took the seat next to his friend, which their teammates had left empty while they filled up the rest of the table.
Seokwoo whipped his head around with a guilty look.
“Nothing!” Inseong said quickly.
“Yeah, nothing,” Seokwoo agreed. He slapped a smile across his face which Juho guessed was supposed to look innocent.
“He even fills your tray for you,” Taeyang said to Seokwoo.
“Quiet,” Seokwoo hissed.
Juho surveyed the faces at the rest of the table searching for a clue as to what he was missing, but everyone just blinked back at him innocently. Except for Chani who was all the way at the other end of the table, face-down in his waffles.
“Do I want to know?” Juho asked.
Before anyone could answer, a hand darted in front of Juho and snatched a piece of fruit off his plate. He rolled his eyes and turned to see Seokwoo’s cheeky grin. What a mooch. Some things never changed.
“You even eat off each other’s plates?” Sanghyuk exclaimed.
“So?” Juho and Seokwoo, heads swivelling in Sanghyuk’s direction as they replied in sync.
“He eats more than me anyways,” Juho said with a wave of his hand. “I’m used to it.”
“Oh! You remembered the black vinegar,” Seokwoo said. He had taken the first bite of his juk and was beaming at it in delight.
“They’re like a married couple already,” Sanghyuk griped under his breath, unheard by the two taller players. “Why can’t they see what’s right in front of their noses?”
“Man, this guy is a beast,” Juho said with a mix of admiration and trepidation as he kept his eyes fixed on the screen on his laptop.
“His right swing looks nasty,” Seokwoo agreed as he popped a homerun ball snack into his mouth. (One of the perks of the games being held in Japan, they could still indulge in their precious asian snacks.)
Juho and Seokwoo were stretched out on a row of four tiny Japanese issue cardboard beds pushed together. The beds on their own were pathetically deficient in the length department when you were a six-something volleyball player, but the four combined were just good enough for two giant men to lounge around on. Their fellow national teammates Sanghyuk, Jaeyoon, and Taeyang were huddled on the floor trying to follow a long statistical analysis of the top hitters in the tournament as explained by Inseong. The whole team was busy cramming last minute knowledge of the competition into their brains in their down time, and Juho and Seokwoo were no exception. They were reviewing tape of some of the Polish players they would be up against in Pool A of the tournament.
“And I’m gonna be on the block against himmm,” Juho whined, stretching his arms out in front of him and rolling onto his back and into Seokwoo.
Seokwoo snorted. “Yes, and he’s got almost a foot on you. Don’t worry, I’ll be right there with you.” He gave Juho a push and started rolling him to the other side of the beds.
Juho let out an ‘oof’ once his back hit the wall. “I already feel short when I hang out with you.”
Seokwoo laid down on his side with his hands held to his chest. His loosely permed hair stuck out from his hoodie and came down in waves over his forehead. For such a huge body, he acted so cute. “Aw, you mean you don’t like hanging out with me?” His smile betrayed that he knew otherwise.
Juho tugged at the drawstrings around Seokwoo’s hoodie until he could barely see his friend’s face. “Hey-!” Seokwoo squawked and squirmed around on the beds like a huge worm.
“I don’t even like seeing your face,” Juho teased.
“Take that back!”
Before Juho could blink there were homerun ball snacks being flung into his face. “Ahgh!!” He picked some up and threw them back, not caring about smashing some in his hand in the process.
It turned into a full blown war and when the two finally declared a cease-fire, Seokwoo groaned. “There are crumbs all over now.”
“You were the one who started it! And we forgot to pause the tape and now we don’t know where to go back to.”
“Whatever,” Seokwoo said, reaching for the laptop and draping his entire body (and weight) over Juho in the process.
“Ugh.” As much as Juho protested, he was enjoying himself. Sometimes when they prepped for matches together in a hotel room for the national team, it reminded Juho of their days sharing a dorm room back in college. “I missed this.”
“I know, college was good times” Seokwoo agreed as if reading Juho’s mind. “Remember when the team stayed overnight in Busan for an away game and we prank called the captain’s room pretending to be the hall monitor back in our school dorms? We told him his door had gotten vandalized by the swimmers while he was away and he almost fainted from screaming. It was so funny.”
"Ugh, that's all they talk about when they're together." It was Sanghyuk, giving Juho a significant look. "I have a girlfriend and they make even me feel single!"
"Maybe we should give them some alone time?" Taeyang asked, sensing an opportunity. Without waiting for an answer he stood up. Sanghyuk and Jaeyoon caught on and rose too, happy to escape Inseong's impenetrably dense lecturing.
"Wait, I've still got two more spreadsheets to go through!" Inseong cried, snatching his laptop up and bookending the procession out of the room.
Juho and Seokwoo looked at each other after they were gone. There was a beat of silence.
"Have you got a girlfriend?" Seokwoo asked out of nowhere.
"No," Juho felt heat rising to his face. "I'd tell you if I did. You?"
"Of course not, I'd tell you," Seokwoo sputtered. Apparently he hadn't expected the question to be turned back on him. “I mean, we tell each other important stuff, right?”
“..Right.” Juho answered.
The air was charged as they both stared at Juho's laptop, where the video had already finished playing. Juho would have given anything to know what was going through Seokwoo's mind at that moment.
Finally Juho broke the silence with a sigh. "I guess we should just watch it again from the beginning."
ACE, ACE! ACE, ACE!
The customary music for announcing a point from service rocked through the ceilings and floorboards of Ariake Arena. The stadium was empty of fans but still filled to the brim with blistering tension as Juho roared and joined his teammates in the huddle, receiving several smacks to the back in celebration of his ace serve. With their scoreline against Venezuela now at 24-20 in their favor and Korea leading two sets to one, Juho had taken his team to match point. If they won this match, they would secure a 2-2 record going into their last game of pool play, and more importantly a berth to the quarterfinals.
Team Korea’s huddle dispersed and one last resounding smack to the ass from Jaeyoon sent Juho on his way back to the service line. He palmed the ball in his hand as he stared with laser-like focus past the readied stances of his teammates and into the back court of the Venezuelan side. The plan going into the game was to serve their #12, an offensive player who their coaching staff perceived to be the weakest hole in the defense.
He hit the ball twice hard against the floor of the gym, settling into the zone. Sweat gathered at the tips of his fringe, forming little black knives over his eyes. His whole world narrowed to the feel of synthetic leather leaving his palm, the stretch of his body as he reached his serving hand backwards, and the whistle of wind as he snapped forward and struck the ball.
A shower of tiny droplets of sweat exploded from his hair as the ball left his palm with a crack and sizzled over the net. As Juho ran to the net next to Seokwoo to be ready for a block, #12 popped the ball up and wide, sending Venezuela scrambling out of rotation to set it up. There was only one place for the Venezuelean offense to go, and Juho and Seokwoo read it easily, moving with an instinctive mutual understanding to defend the attack. When the Venezeulan hitter leapt to spike the ball, Juho and Seokwoo were hanging above the net with an enormous block. The ball ricocheted off Seokwoo’s forearm and the Venezueleans had no chance of getting to it before it hit the ground.
As soon as Seokwoo hit the floor he detonated a roar of celebration, bouncing off the floor to jump into Juho’s arms. Juho caught him and they pulled each other into a hug before their teammates got to them, piling on with jubilation at having locked in a spot in the top eight.
“We’ve still got it,” Seokwoo yelled past the celebrations of their teammates. “Just like back in college.”
Juho nodded. Damn right they still did. A move to Incheon was starting to feel more and more right.
After securing their spot in the quarterfinals, spirits were high amongst the Korean squad. Just making it out of group stages was a triumphant success after two decades of missing the Olympics entirely. They were all playing at their best, and none better than Juho and Seokwoo in combination at the net.
Presently they were packed on a bus heading to the venue to face off against number two seeded Poland. Someone had put on a girl group song that Juho didn’t recognize (he mostly listened to SoundCloud rappers) but the rest of his teammates clearly did and were giggling and singing along. Seokwoo was practically blowing his ear off from the seat next to him. Eventually the song changed to something that evoked less of a response and the bus quieted down.
In the row in front of Juho and Seokwoo, Taeyang turned around and popped his head over the seats, grinning. “Juho, I heard you were thinking about transferring to Incheon?”
Juho froze. For one long moment all he could hear was blood pounding in his temple.
“You are?” Seokwoo’s voice brought him back to real life.
“You didn’t know?” Jaeyoon’s head popped out from the seats in front of them next to Taeyang.
“ You knew?” Seokwoo threw back. He turned on Juho. “How come you didn’t tell me?”
“I-” Juho panicked. “I’m not-” He was going to kill Sanghyuk and his big mouth.
Seokwoo’s eyes narrowed. “Are you or aren’t you?”
“I don’t know! I might!” Juho burst out.
“And you didn’t think to tell me? Your best friend? I play there!”
“I just wasn’t sure yet- I’m still not sure-” Juho could feel the situation spiraling out of his control and there was nothing he could do about it.
“But it was okay for you to go around telling the entire team about it- did you keep it from me because the rest of the guys told you that I-” Seokwoo cut himself off, glaring.
“I didn’t tell them, okay? I was trying to keep it to myself because- wait, told me that you what?”
“Forget it,” Seokwoo said, turning in on himself towards the window stonily.
“No, what were you saying about the reason you thought I would keep it from you? I swear I wasn’t trying to keep you in the dark-”
“I said, forget it,” Seokwoo repeated, icy cold and without sparing Juho a glance.
Juho fell quiet, deflating into his seat. Fuck. When he got his hands on Sanghyuk there was no telling what he would do. But speaking of his other teammates, he realized the entire bus was blanketed by a suffocating silence. Obviously everyone had heard their exchange. Juho let his head tip back as he stared towards the ceiling. Great. Just fucking great.
All of the studying in the world couldn't help them from being steamrolled by the Polish team in three sets. It didn’t help that Juho and Seokwoo’s chemistry on the court had suddenly gone from one hundred to zero. Juho filed into the locker room with the rest of the team as they each reflected quietly on what they would take away from the match and what they would forget before the knockout rounds. The only player who remained out on the court was press darling Seokwoo, answering questions for the media.
Juho was still in a daze when the rest of his teammates began clearing out. Realizing he’d somehow completed his post-match routine and shoved himself into sweats and slides, he followed them towards the exit. Before he reached the door though, the somber face of their caption, Youngbin, interposed.
“Look,” Youngbin began. “I don’t know what exactly happened on the bus, and I’ll pretend to not know what’s going on between you two personally, but it’s clearly affecting the team’s performance.” He didn’t even have to name names.
“Stay here and clear the air after he comes back from his interview.” Youngbin said. “I’ll make sure everyone else gets out. I want this resolved sooner than later.”
The order was given with such authority that Juho felt a salute would be more appropriate, but he simply responded with: “..Okay. I’ll try.”
Youngbin made good on his promise. The locker room cleared quickly after their words and Youngbin flipped the lights off with one last look at Juho before he left. Juho was left sitting on one of the narrow benches in the middle of the room, staring at his freakishly long toes poking out of his slides and waiting with a pit of dread in his stomach.
After what felt like an eternity the door swung open, spilling light into the room. Juho had to squint as he looked up guiltily at Seokwoo, who had frozen with an ambivalent expression on his face.
“Youngbin told me to talk to you.” Juho said.
“Oh, so you’re only here to talk to me on captain’s orders?” Seokwoo replied with a raised brow.
“No!” Juho said quickly. “I’m here because I need to apologize to you and clear up the misunderstanding that happened on the bus.” He could feel himself flustering again. Being on the receiving end of hostility from Seokwoo was a foreign feeling that took him completely out of his element.
“I don’t really see what there was to misunderstand,” Seokwoo crossed his arms. “You kept your transfer plans away from me which is- I’m upset , I feel betrayed, but that’s been said and done. I just wanna know why. Do I not matter to you anymore? Are we not close anymore?”
“I was gonna tell you, I swear, I was just waiting until the move was confirmed.”
“Then why did Taeyang know? You barely talk to him.”
“Seriously, the only person who knew was Sanghyuk, because we play for the same club team. But you know how much he gossips, he must have told everyone else.“
“Everyone else but me?”
“Because he knew that it was important that I tell you myself-” Juho hesitated, realizing he was talking himself into a corner. The only way he’d be able to explain himself was if he just came clean about his feelings. But maybe that would take a weight off his shoulders.
Seokwoo was staring at him, unconvinced. Finally he dropped his shoulders with a sigh and walked over to his locker to pull on sweats and start packing his bag. “You don’t have to lie to me. I get it. I shouldn’t have believed now that we’re pros that we’d still be the same as we were back then.”
He continued packing his things and Juho remained frozen, unable to lift his gaze from his feet. His throat felt like the Sahara Desert. Why was it so hard to open his mouth?
It wasn’t until Seokwoo shouldered his bag and started walking towards the door that a surge of panic pushed Juho to his feet and words tumbled out almost without him knowing:
“I like you.”
Seokwoo stopped. When he turned around, his mouth was slack and his lips parted slightly. “You what?”
Juho dug his fingernails into his palms and his toes into his foamy slides. “I. Like. You.” It was now or never. He could feel the bile rising in his throat but he continued on. “You know why I was considering a transfer to Incheon in the first place? Because of you. I didn’t tell you because I was afraid you’d see right through me and realize I just wanted to be closer to you again. I’m sorry you had to find out like that from Taeyang.. I’m sorry about all this. I won’t go through with the transfer if you don’t want me to-”
“You like me?”
“Yeah,” Juho swallowed. “Sorry. I just do.”
“Don’t be sorry. I like you ." Seokwoo replied. For a moment Juho doubted his ears and yet there was a waver of nervousness in his friend's voice that was unmistakable.
But even more unmistakable was the soft press of Seokwoo’s lips against Juho’s mouth. It was gone in a moment, and when Juho opened his eyes (when had he closed them?) he found Seokwoo staring back at him through the dimness of the locker room with a dumbfounded look that must have mirrored his own.
“Sorry-” Seokwoo started, beginning to look doubtful. “I-”
Juho didn’t need to hear whatever his friend thought he needed to say. He took a small step forward to close the remaining distance and pulled Seokwoo in by his jersey.
It felt so right. No words needed to be said to communicate their feelings. This moment was years in the making, Juho realized, even if he hadn't known it back then. Seokwoo's mouth was warm, lips plush but firm and moving against his. Juho draped his arms around Seokwoo's neck while Seokwoo's brought his hands to his hips. Embracing like this was so familiar and yet so different from the hugs they'd shared as friends. They’d always been like two puzzle pieces made for each other, and now they were just discovering they could fit together in new ways.
Juho could feel Seokwoo beginning to smile even before they pulled apart. When they did, his best friend was smiling that gorgeous smile of his, the one that made his eyes crinkle and cheeks round up and glow even in the low light. Juho realized belatedly that he was giving a full-mouthed smile in return. It was just automatic.
"How long- since when?" Seokwoo asked.
"What?" Juho replied, still caught up in his smile.
"When did you start liking me?" Seokwoo said, a hint of shyness creeping back into his voice at having to reiterate himself. It was the kind of cue that most people would miss but Juho could read like an open book, and Juho felt like smacking himself because how many other signs had he failed to read just because of his own doubtfulness?
"Probably half-way through our first season after turning pro," Juho said. He remembered seeing Seokwoo again for the first time in months at their first national team call up after graduation and becoming hyper aware of the then-new thump in his chest.
"Halfway through our first pro season?!" Seokwoo said. "I was halfway through our first season of college ." He stooped to hide his face in Juho's neck.
Juho felt himself laughing in disbelief. They had both been so stupid. He already knew that he would be needling Seokwoo to tell him more later but, "We're here now," he said.
Seokwoo turned his red face upwards, looking for Juho's lips. When they kissed again it was slow at first, both of them taking their time to learn the sensation. But then Seokwoo straightened and the angle changed and Juho had to crowd in so that their chests bumped. The mood shifted into something hotter and more hungry before Juho could even blink. Following his instincts, he bit his teeth into Seokwoo's full lower lip and swiped his tongue across the seam of his mouth. Seokwoo made a deep sound and responded with a surge of uncharacteristic desperation that made Juho's pulse jump. He opened his mouth so that their tongues could meet and grabbed Juho's hips to walk them backwards. Seokwoo's back hit the lockers with a solid thump as Juho kissed him back as if he was starving.
Suddenly they were plastered against each other, as if neither of them could get enough. Juho felt all of his bottled up frustration pouring out as he balled up Seokwoo’s thin jersey in his fists, emboldened by the revelation that somehow Seokwoo had wanted him first. His handsome, talented, goofy, perfect best friend had fallen for Juho first. Nevermind that they’d just been demolished on the court, Juho felt like he’d won the lottery in this life and saved a nation in his previous dozen.
“Juho,” Seokwoo whined, coming up for air. Their breaths in the space between their lips were hot and heavy. Seokwoo smelled like sweat, skin, and traces of citrusy cologne and it was just too erotic. Juho wanted to get down on his knees right then and there in the locker room and give Seokwoo a blowjob that would have the whole city of Tokyo knowing Juho’s name.
Seokwoo grabbed Juho’s ass and pulled their hips flush together. Desperate moans echoed against the pristine walls of the new facility. It was built specifically for the Olympics and the sanitation staff had taken great pains to keep it just as clean as it had been on Day 1 of the games. Juho didn’t give a fuck. He and Seokwoo were about to christen it.
Juho was about to slither down Seokwoo’s body and get to it when there was a sharp rapping on the door. Seokwoo and Juho froze in each other's arms and looked first at the door, and then at each other.
“Time’s up, we gotta be out of the venue before the next teams come to warm up for their game. Covid protocol.” It was Youngbin.
Juho looked at Seokwoo, who had a vaguely disappointed expression on as they peeled themselves apart and began straightening themselves out.
“Hurry up!”
“Yeah, yeah,” Juho muttered.
“Coming!” Seokwoo shouted. They locked eyes for a split second and Juho knew that what had just transpired was far from over.
When the pair stumbled out of the locker room, duffels hanging off their shoulders and still not completely composed, they were met with Youngbin’s appraising stare.
Slowly their captain smiled. “I’m guessing that went well. Good. We need you two operating at peak chemistry for the quarter-finals.”
It was a completely innocuous, professional, captain-like statement on paper, but the way Youngbin delivered it still managed to make Juho feel like he’d been caught sneaking porn mags into his room by his mom. And that was really impressive coming from Youngbin.
Beside Juho, Seokwoo cleared his throat. “We should go.. right?”
“Yeah, let’s book it. The bus was already running when I came back to fetch you two.” Youngbin said.
The Serbian and Turkish women’s team’s were already milling around the entrance to the venue, obviously waiting for them to clear out when they emerged. Juho felt a tinge of guilt at that, but he was still kind of disappointed that the passion of the moment in the locker room had been cut off without a conclusion. Seokwoo must have felt the same because he kept a light hand on Juho’s hip while they walked behind Youngbin, who gracefully was not looking back at them.
When they reached the bus, Youngbin boarded first, poking his head inside and giving a thumbs up sign. As Juho and Seokwoo got on after him, the bus exploded into cheers as loud and raucous as if they’d won their match today. Oh, great. Juho threw a middle finger up as they did the walk of shame down the bus aisle to an empty row. Seokwoo, for his part, was looking kind of bashful, which Juho found very cute. He would be in the same boat if he didn’t still have it out for Sanghyuk the village gossip.
Speaking of, Juho grabbed Sanghyuk’s collar as they passed, giving him a good shake and hissing, “We are going to have a long talk later.”
Sanghyuk didn’t appear intimidated in the slightest, smiling like a loon. “A long talk where you thank me and sing my praises? It all worked out in the end didn’t it?”
“Ugh!”
As Juho stomped into the seat and threw himself up against the window, he spotted Taeyang and Chani grudgingly handing stacks of won over to Youngkyun, who looked absolutely delighted. The kids had bet on them!? Juho’s hitlist was growing larger and larger.
“Hey,” Juho felt a poke against his bicep. He had crossed his arms unknowingly. One look at Seokwoo’s sweet expression and Juho couldn’t stay mad about the situation, but he tried his best anyways.
“I can’t believe these guys,” Juho tried for angry and came off as pouty at best. Seokwoo looked at him in awe, like he’d just hung the moon from the downturned corners of his mouth, and Juho’s heart thumped harder than an ace serve.
“Look on the brightside, we’re heading back to the village now. I don’t think the guys will go anywhere near our room if they know what’s good for them.”
It was a positive thought for sure. Juho felt his frown beginning to thaw. “We have a lot of catching up to do.”
“No need to rush it though,” Seokwoo said, stretching his arms above his head.
“Why’s that?” Juho asked.
“Because we’ll have all the time in the world together once you come to Incheon, right?” Seokwoo even had the gall to wink as he said it. And then he dropped his arms, wiggled in his seat, and made himself comfortable for the ride ahead.