Work Text:
APOLLO HIGH SCHOOL VS ARTEMIS HIGH SCHOOL
40 : 46
The LED sign board taunts Jay as he jogs away from the hoop, going back to the edge of the court. Sunghoon pants beside him, falling in step with the older boy.
“Can’t believe we’re fucking losing,” Jay grumbles, shaking the sweat out of his hair.
Sunghoon frowns as he dodges the flying droplets. “Dude, come on, don’t be gross.”
Their high school gym looks even more daunting as the stands are filled with students from both schools. Cheerleaders and band kids gather around the two sides of the gym, loud music and chanting piercing through the air. The spectators, a healthy mix of mostly students and family members, sit as they cheer for their home teams. Some are holding onto nicely decorated banners while others smear school pride colours on their cheeks and arms.
Everything makes Jay feel more alive as the adrenaline rushes constantly in his veins. This whole atmosphere - the loud music, the cheering from the spectators, the skidding of shoes against the wax floor - it lights up a fire he only feels when he’s on the court.
He feels everything more intensely, so the frustration that builds up within him begins to overflow when his best friend stands next to him.
"Where the hell did they find that tall ass kid?” Jay continues to whine, paying no mind to Sunghoon’s disgusted glare. His eyes quickly follow the 6’1 blonde teenager, who despite his obnoxiously tall height, looks no older than fifteen. ‘Nishimura’ is printed boldly in all caps on the back of his uniform.
“Must be a freshman or a transfer,” Sunghoon mumbles back. “I’ve never seen him before.”
Jay squints his eyes, boring holes into the guy’s back. “What kind of fucking freshman gets on the varisty team?”
“Apparently the 7’0 kind.”
The game continues as Jay pulls in every last strand of strength that he can, not wanting to slow down even though he feels like his legs are on fire. He misses the chance to get the ball three times, all because of the stupid not-so-little varsity freshman defender. Jay reminds himself of the golden word - sportsmanship. This kid was definitely not stupid if he’s able to block literally every single one of Heeseung’s passes. But Jay’s temper flares when he misses the throw for the fifth time that night, and he swears if he wasn’t suddenly caught off-guard by him, he would’ve squared up to the kid already.
The person who saves Jay from a red card is someone he’s never seen before.
His anger instantly vanishes when he lays his eyes on him and it’s as if everyone else in the world stops moving - it's just that boy and him at that very moment. Jay swears the lights in the gym go out as one single spotlight shines on the stranger. There’s a hypnotic pull that Jay feels himself surrender to, his heart nearly bursting out of his chest when the boy’s lips tug into a smile.
The boy has the deepest set of dimples imprinted on the cutest, roundest cheeks Jay has ever seen in his entire life. His light brown hair perfectly compliments his milky skin, an adorable cut that makes this boy look more round than he already does. His eyes are slanted into thin crescents as his smile takes over his face.
Frankly, Jay has never seen anyone so angelic before.
And the boy is looking right at him. The stranger tilts his head a little, the grin not leaving his lips.
It takes a few more seconds for him to process the blue paint stripes on the boy’s cheeks - not the bright orange colour that Jay’s uniform is made out of. By the time Jay makes the connection that oh God, this angel is from Artemis High, he feels someone knock into him.
“Jay-ah,” the sharp smack across the back of his head startles him back to reality. “Focus up! What are you doing?”
Heeseung throws a warning look towards his direction, the captain clearly already agitated by their impending loss.
“Sorry,” Jay apologizes sheepishly. He shakes his head and tries to regain all the focus that he lost, but it’s nearly impossible when he can feel the boy’s gaze stuck on him. It sends all kinds of tingles up his arms as he runs around the court, trying to seek the best opportunity to shoot.
This must be some kind of strategy from the Artemis team - get an attractive person to stare at Jay the whole time and eventually, throw him off his game. Jay’s not gonna lie, it’s kind of working. His cheeks are flushed pink and it’s definitely not just because of how warm the gym is.
But if there’s anything stronger than Jay’s libido, it’s his competitiveness.
The guy is cute, so fucking cute but there’s no way in hell Jay is going to let his school win.
Jay shoves every single distracting thought of his head as he slaps himself on the cheeks, forcing himself to focus. He tunes out everything that isn’t the basketball, his screaming coach or his teammates. For the last five minutes - he’s going to put his everything into this game. He is not losing to the Artemis team, not when they’ve never lost a game against the rival school in five years.
With a newfound bounce in his step and a surge of energy from his teammates, his team manages to bag two more baskets. Jay is responsible for both, the blazing fire of passion burning brighter in his heart as the clock counts down to one more minute.
They need this final basket - only then can Jay’s team finally win this game.
Sunghoon’s approaching Jay’s side of the court, the basketball bouncing fiercely against his palm and the ground. He runs faster than anyone can catch him, effectively blocking out anyone who tries to snatch the ball away. Picking it up, he yells out a ‘hyung!’ before tossing it over to Heeseung, who pulls a trick pass as he calls out for Jay.
Catching the ball safely in his hands, Jay does a quick-step move he’s been keeping at the back of his pocket and hurls the ball towards the hoop.
It dances around the large ring for a few seconds as everyone holds their breath.
The ball falls swiftly into the hoop and screams of joy erupt from the crowd.
Jay is instantly surrounded by his hollering teammates, squished in between a tight group hug. He struggles for air as he pumps his fists excitedly in the air, joining the cheers. Someone hoists him up on his shoulders and Jay does another victorious yelp. He clings onto who he finally recognizes as Heeseung hyung, letting his teammates toss him up and down a few times.
He looks back out into the crowd and Jay’s eyes instantly flicker over towards the dimpled stranger.
The boy is still standing at the same spot on the stands as he claps slowly, that same grin still etched on his face. Jay doesn’t look away this time though - instead he stares back at him with curiosity dancing in his eyes.
That seems to fluster the boy, because his smile cracks as pink hues dust over his round cheeks. The boy breaks their little stare off when someone shakes his shoulder beside him.
Jay is finally put down onto the floor, his teammates slapping him on the shoulder in congratulations. He nods and thanks his members too, but he can’t help himself from tiptoeing over their shoulders just to catch another glimpse of the boy.
“Jay-ah,” Sunghoon grins at him. “You badass!”
They do their little bro handshake as Jay finds the boy again - the dimpled stranger deep in his own conversations with the other Artemis students around him. Someone must have said something funny, because the boy is tilting his head back and giggling out loud as he covers his mouth with his palms. Jay can hear his laughter all the way from his side of the court and it makes the butterflies in his stomach flutter.
“Hello?” Sunghoon snaps his fingers impatiently, his Korean slipping out whenever he gets agitated. “Yah, did you hear me? Tell me I did well too, come on!”
“This guy keeps looking at me,” Jay blurts out before he can stop himself.
“Who?”
“The guy with the dimples and the grey hoodie,” Jay points out. “Light brown hair? Cute bowl cut? Round as fuck cheeks?”
“I mean, I’m fine with it because he’s cute,” Jay continues, not noticing how Sunghoon’s playful smile dropped.
There’s an eerie silence between the two of them as Sunghoon’s eyes stop trailing all over the crowd. He pauses.
“You mean the guy with the blue paint on his cheeks?”
Jay nods.
Slowly, Sunghoon turns his head to face Jay. His eyes are slanted fiercely into a squint as Sunghoon frowns deeply at him.
“Dude, what the fuck? That’s my little brother.”
The blood in Jay’s veins runs freezing cold.
For all the times Jake has been present in his life, Jay has never been more grateful for his existence than right at this moment - because Sunghoon looks like he’s five seconds away from punching Jay when Jake bounces over to them.
“Sunghoon!” Jake’s voice brings them out of their staredown. “Babe, you were so fucking good!”
Almost immediately, Sunghoon’s death glare drops and is replaced by a tiny smile, one that makes Jake pat his cheeks affectionately. Jay doesn’t even have time to heave a sigh of relief because his mind is reeling, a thousand thoughts flying at him at once.
I’ve known Sunghoon for two years now. When has he ever mentioned a brother? He’s definitely never mentioned a brother! They can’t be related because how does someone so cute looking and angelic be related to whatever the hell Park Sunghoon is?
Sunghoon smiles down at his boyfriend, his eyes twinkling. His hands plant themselves on Jake’s waist, fiddling with the edge of Jake’s cheerleader uniform. “I did well, right?”
“Fuck yeah you did,” Jake reaches a hand out to brush some hair out of Sunghoon’s eyes. “I was watching you the whole time.
“Shouldn’t you be focusing on the girls you lift up every five seconds?” Sunghoon teases.
“Nah, I’d rather watch my cool hot jock boyfriend pass around a ball for an hour.”
Jay watches with a funky mixture of disgust and envy. God, they’re annoyingly cute.
“I’m so proud of you, Hoon-ah,” Jake whispers, enveloping the taller boy in a hug.
Jay sidesteps quietly away from them, squeezing away from the crowd of players and cheerleaders. They have to break it up soon for the award ceremony anyways, so Jay lets his tired legs bring him over to the Apollo benches. He desperately needs some water and a seat.
A few cheerleaders run past him, calling out to Jay and congratulating him on the win. He accepts their greetings with a bright smile, waving them off as they join the crowd in the middle of the court.
Jay is halfway through cracking open a new bottle of orange soda when he hears someone shout something at him from the stands.
“Hey, Number 20!”
For a second, Jay forgets that he has a humongous ‘twenty’ printed on the back of his jersey. He picked that number because that was the date he got selected to join the varsity team.
Jay stays rooted to the ground when he sees him.
The dimpled boy - Sunghoon’s brother - is leaning against the railing of the stands, his palms perched calmly on the orange painted bars. He’s tilting his head down a little to look down at Jay, his eyes dancing with mirth.
“You were really good out there,” the boy says, as if it’s the simplest thing in the world.
But Jay’s stomach is churning and his heart is practically melting out of his ears.
“O-Oh,” Jay stumbles to get the right words out of his mouth. He’s too busy trying not to lose his shit because holy shit, this guy is way more handsome up close. His cat-like eyes and perfectly shaped - just the right amount of pink - lips are enough to make Jay want to dunk his head into the ice cooler beside him.
Everything explodes within Jay, as if his insides were the fizzy drink he was holding in his hands and this cute stranger was the one shaking him vigorously. The boy notices Jay staring and he tilts his head shyly.
“You okay?” His voice is sweet and unlike anything he’s ever heard before. It welcomes this sense of warmth underneath Jay’s skin.
Oh, right.
“Thanks,” is Jay’s magnificent reply. He itches to say more, he wants to ask for his name.
But the boy sends him one last smile and nod before he leans back, sliding himself back into a conversation with his own friends. Jay doesn’t get to say anything else as the stranger begins to walk away, making his way out of the stands.
Oxygen floods right back into his lungs and Jay gulps.
Holy shit?
There’s a Pizza Hut not too far from the Apollo High School campus, just two blocks away on the outskirts of town. On game days like tonight, the small building with worn-out booths and peeling wallpaper would be filled with noisy victorious students.
Jay sits next to Heeseung, munching on some pepperoni pizza as everyone around the table listens intently to Beomgyu’s story. It was some anecdote about how he’d gone skiing in Korea and ended up accidentally causing an avalanche. The story sounded so fake that it was believable, which was honestly very Beomgyu.
They’re all sitting right next to the giant glass window near the entrance of the Pizza Hut - the same spot they always reserve during their after-game celebrations. Jay leans back on the booth, content with how full he was from all the pizza and pasta he just had. He listens to Jake mansplain some Physics theory to the rest of the table when Jay sees him through the window.
The dimpled stranger is here again.
Just like how he had left Jay alone at the gym stupefied with his little comment, the boy isn’t alone. He’s sitting with his friends along the pavement, right in front of a pop-up kebab shop. They’re all just as rowdy as Jay’s friends and he can practically hear their laughter from the Pizza Hut building.
Jay can’t help but stare as the boy chews on his food, his cheeks all puffed up from the spoonfuls of meat he’s shoving into his mouth. The paint on his face had faded a bit, but they still stain his rosy cheeks.
There are a few boys sitting around him, one of them being the annoyingly tall new player Jay wanted to fight earlier. Now that they’re not in the middle of a high-tension basketball game, the kid actually looks super innocent with his pouty lips and wide eyes. He’s holding a kebab in his hands as he explains something animatedly, waving his arms around vigorously. A pink-haired boy beside him cackles and smacks his arm harshly, eliciting a loud ‘twhip’ that Jay could hear.
Sunghoon’s brother grins again.
Oh.. he’s kind of beautiful?
As if on cue, the dimpled stranger drags his eyes away from the two bickering friends beside him to the window Jay was leaning on. His eyes meet Jay’s - and it’s like goosebumps simultaneously erupts on Jay’s skin.
He sits up straight when the dimpled stranger doesn’t look away. Jay can feel his ears go red as he blinks, pretending to be looking elsewhere as his eyes flicker away.
Oh my God, you fucking creep.
But Jay can’t help it - it’s like the stranger compels him to go against everything in his head, the want to just know more about the boy growing stronger than anything else. He glances out the window again and this time, catches the boy already looking back at him.
He smiles again and Jay feels his insides rotate vigorously like an over-enthusiastic washing machine.
“Are you following me?”
The words echo through the dull Seattle night, startling Jay out of his little trance as he blinks at the dimpled stranger next to him. A bus pulls up in front of them but they continue to stand still at the station, a whole two meters apart. The boy has his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his hoodie as Jay gawks at him, his fingers gripping the straps of his duffle bag tightly.
“No, I’m not!” It comes out a little too loudly, prompting a middle-aged lady to glare questioningly at them.
“Really?” The boy raises his eyebrows. “You could’ve tried to be more subtle about it.”
“I-I’m,” Jay starts to stammer, completely baffled as he gestures wildly with his hands. “I swear I’m not- Look, I take the bus home too, okay? It’s just a coincidence!”
The boy hums, clearly unconvinced even though his eyes twinkle with a mischief that Jay has never seen before. “Uhuh. So all that staring you did today was just a coincidence too?”
Jay feels his cheeks heat up.
“What staring? I didn’t stare.”
The tremor in Jay’s voice betrays him.
“You know, it would usually be really off-putting,” the boy slowly stalks over to Jay, a small smile on his face. “But I was already looking at you before you saw me at the game, so. I guess we’re kind of even.”
Good lord, this kid is gonna kill him. “You.. You were?”
“Yeah.”
In hindsight, Jay might practically be blinded with little love hearts clouding his mind, but the boy does sound and look genuine. He’s biting on the bottom of his lip gently yet anxiously, as if he knows that the confident demeanor he’s putting up in front of Jay is merely a front.
Jay blinks. “But why?”
The boy shrugs slightly. “I don’t know. I just want to be friends with you, I guess.”
“Me?” Jay jabs a finger onto his own chest.
“Did you think I was talking to that lady over there?”
His heart really shouldn’t flutter at such a playful tease, but it does anyways because Jay has lost every single ounce of common sense already. It’s hard not to - not when this boy is smiling up at him with the cutest dimples and the roundest cheeks and the twinkliest eyes. Jay feels an overwhelming sense of joy crash over him and he swallows hotly, trying to remain his composure.
“Yah, stop it,” Jay chuckles sheepishly, his Korean slipping out before he could stop it.
The boy’s eyes light up at Jay’s words. He perks up a little bit. “Oh? Can you speak Korean?”
“Of course I can. My last name is Park.”
“I didn’t want to assume anything!” The boy says defensively, albeit the smile is still plastered across his face. “You’re older than me, right? You’re Sunghoon hyung’s friend?”
At the mention of his best friend, Jay instantly pales.
(“By the way,” Sunghoon says as he’s slipping out of his basketball jersey. “If you try anything with my little brother, I’ll kill you. Got it?”
Jay nervously laughs. “What do you mean? I didn’t even know he existed until twenty minutes ago.”
“Good,” Sunghoon shuts his locker with a bit more force than needed. The sound rings out through the changing room as Sunghoon tilts his head to look at Jay, a threatening simper stuck on his lips. “Keep it that way.”)
The boy’s shoulders slump when he sees his expression.
“Ah. Did Sunghoon hyung threaten you?”
An unsteady giggle rolls out of Jay. “How did you know?”
“He texted me to not talk to you, but he’s not my mother so I’m going to do what I want. I don’t need whatever protection he thinks he’s doing for me.”
Holy fuck, Jay thinks to himself. That’s kinda hot.
“That’s nice,” he nods feverishly, fidgeting with the strap of his duffle bag. “Park Sunghoon doesn’t pack as strong of a punch as he’d like to think anyway.”
The boy laughs again and it’s genuinely the single most wonderful thing Jay has ever heard in his entire life. He wants to hear it again so badly and he wants to see the boy’s eyes crinkle and his dimples poke through his skin so deeply again.
“You’re funny,” he giggles. “I like you already.”
Jay thinks his legs might turn to jelly. “That’s good. I.. I like you too?” It comes off as more of a question because hell, Jay doesn’t know anything beyond that either.
The boy grins, looking satisfied with Jay’s response. They’re quiet for a while as Jay rocks back and forth on the back of his sneakers.
“So,” the boy breaks their momentary silence. “Unless you want me to call you Number 20, do you want to tell me your name?”
“My name’s Jongseong, but you can call me Jay hyung. If you want.”
Another dimpled smile. The walls in Jay’s heart get knocked down one by one, each smile demolishing the little barriers. Everything with this boy just seemed so easy and simple.
“Jay hyung,” the boy says slowly, as if he’s testing them out. “Oh, that’s a cool name.”
The lights above them flicker - a sign of how worn out the bus stop truly was. But it doesn’t bother Jay as he can still see every single detail of the boy’s face in front of him. He’s mapped out all the perfections in his head already and Jay realizes that he’s never met anyone like him in his entire life.
“I’m Jungwon. Yang Jungwon.”
Jay considers this moment his second win of the night.