Chapter Text
"You? Soccer? Are you feeling okay?"
"I don't want to play, I just want to…watch."
"You've never shown any interest in-"
"Does it matter? Will you let me come with you or not?" Key sighed, looking exasperated.
Minho was standing there almost in shock, "I mean, if you're that set on it, go ahead I guess."
Key started pulling on his jacket as Minho watched on in surprise, "Let's go then.” And that was it.
Key hated sports. He especially hated how much Minho loved them. It was one of many, many things they had differing opinions on. He was almost suspicious at Key's sudden interest, was he trying to prank him?
But still, minutes later Kibum followed Minho out of the dorm and down the stairs, out into the cold of the evening.
The walk was quiet. Neither of them said much. Key mumbled something about Minho being embarrassing when he started to stretch on the way. Minho tried to prompt Key into divulging why he was tagging along, but to no avail. Key would just shrug or reply "felt like going out".
Kibum was enjoying the twilight walk. The streets were quieter, people walked slower, the atmosphere was different. The cool evening breeze rushed past his ears as he watched the gentle sway of the trees they passed. He could get used to this. Time to be in his own head, in a good way, away from the chaos their lives had become. He could almost understand why Minho insisted on soccer and basketball and running; it was slices of what 'normal' people did on a daily basis. They didn't get much chance to be 'normal', always under the scrutiny of the public. But this was time away from that, to just be Kim Kibum or Choi Minho, not SHINee's Key or Minho. Back to the way things were before.
They arrived at the park and Minho's friends were already warming up, so he quickly pointed out a bench Kibum could sit on and ran to join the others after dumping his bag with Key. The bright fluorescent floodlights surrounding the pitch cast tall shadows behind the boys as they warmed up, breath forming clouds in the cold night air. Key pulled his jacket closer. On the other side of the pitch in the other area of the dark park there was an older man walking his dog. Key wondered what his reason was for choosing this hour to do. Was it the quiet? The lack of judgement from others? Or something else. Why did the other boys Minho played with enjoy coming out so late at night to play? And what was it exactly Minho saw in this game?
Key didn't notice when Minho pointed to him and told his friends he'd come to watch. He barely even noticed when the game started, caught in his own thoughts, but soon the loud shouts in front of him bought him back to reality. He watched Minho chase the ball up and down the field, dodging the others, shouting strategy to the players on his team, calling for the ball. He was quick, and not just on his feet, he was a quick thinker. He seemed to anticipate the others team's moves and position himself accordingly. He was skilful in dribbling the ball around defenders, passing to just the right person for a point to be scored. Key tensed up as Minho suddenly gained possession of the ball and appeared to make his way toward the goals. He silently shouted his support, watching on as he passed one player, another, and another until he was in front of the goal. He pulled his leg back and swung it toward the ball, sending the goalkeeper hurling himself into the trajectory of the ball, but the ball didn't leave the ground. Minho tricked him and instead gently kicked the ball to the opposite corner of the goal, easily sending it into the back of the net. Kibum would never admit it, but he had to suppress a celebration. Even as someone as uninterested in sport as him, it was impressive tactics. Minho celebrated and ran back toward his teammates, arms held high, grinning. Key smiled too.
Soon, the first half of their unofficial game ended, and they all dispersed for a break, Minho jogging toward Kibum. He was sweaty, hair plastered to his forehead, but smiling ear to ear. Key held his drink bottle out for him. "What do you think?" Minho painted when he came to a stop in front of him.
"You're not half bad." It was as close to a complement as Key could deliver. But Minho could read between the lines.
"Thanks Bummie!" He skulled half his drink bottle.
"Careful, you'll make yourself sick," Key scolded, pulling Minho's towel from his backpack and passing it to him.
"I'm good. I do this every week, remember?" Minho patted himself down. It was nice having an audience watching him play, even if it was an audience of one. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't trying to impress Kibum, just a bit. He knew he was good. But he wanted Kibum to think he was too.
One of the other boys called out for them to start again, so Minho placed his towel and water bottle down, starting to jog back to the field, before turning around to call to Key, "My next goal's for you Bummie!"
Key rolled his eyes and stifled a smile. God, he was a dork.
The second half was a lot more intense than the first, and Key got a lot more into it. He sighed when the other team scored and clapped when Minho's team sent one into the net. Key could appreciate the strategy behind the game, there was skill involved for sure. It took him back to his water sport days in school. It wasn't too dissimilar, he supposed, other than being an individual sport rather than a team one. There were basic skills, dribbling and kicking correctly rather than keeping balance and holding the rope correctly. There was tactics, how to get around the other team and make the right passes to get the ball closer to goal rather than decide how long to hold different positions or travel in different directions. Then there was the fancy stuff, ball tricks and mind games, Key hadn't been too bad at tricks himself, though he'd never liked the whole 'psyching out the competition' thing that used to happen before someone would go in the water to compete. That wasn't his style. He was a nice person, he played fair. But he could see the advantage in this sport. It was interesting to observe his own interest and engagement in the game grow as it went on, passersby payed no attention to the game or to him, just another group of boys playing soccer, not a group with two idols in the mix. He felt his heart rate increase when Minho's team made a good attack on goal or defended their own well. He was strangely proud when Minho was assisted in a goal or made a good tackle. It wasn't what he'd expected from the outing.
With only 3 minutes left of the game, Minho's team captain (Key assumed) called a timeout and the two teams huddled at opposite ends of the pitch. At this point, the teams were tied. Another goal would win someone the game.
Play restarted, and both teams were aggressive on the attack. Tackles got a bit more messy, bold kicks were made, people changed position on the field. It was almost hard to keep up.
With 90 seconds left, Minho's team gained possession and started passing and dribbling their way up the field. Failed interceptions did nothing to stop them, they bypassed almost the entire opposition. Finally, the ball was passed to Minho. The other players shouted for him to go for goal. Minho bolted with the ball at his feet toward the final defender and the goalkeeper. Key clenched his fists, craning his neck to see properly.
Minho expertly dribbled his way past the defender, seemingly with a sudden burst of speed. The goalkeeper readied himself. This time, there was no tricks in Minho's shot. He pulled his leg back and kicked the ball hard, sending it off the ground and toward the far corner of the goal.
Key stood up a little.
The goalkeeper dives and stretched his arms out.
The ball passed by his fingertips by the tiniest amount, just out of reach.
It slammed into the top right corner of the net, and the field went crazy.
Key stood up and cheered, clapping. Minho was running, arms outstretched, shouting, his teammates following him. But Minho ran straight past them and toward Key. He lifted his arms up and Key couldn't help but smile, assuming he was going for a double high-five, but instead, Minho crashed into him and wrapped his arms around him, nearly knocking Key off his feet.
"Minho, what the-"
"Told you I'd score one for you! We did it, Bummie!"
Key laughed, "You did well, dork, go celebrate with your team, not me," he gently pushed the grinning Minho off him and toward his friends.
Finally, the celebrations died down, the players shook hands and agreed it was time to go home. Key had only just started to notice how tired he was as he gathered Minho's bag for him. It was late now, usually by this hour Key was happily in bed and would wait to hear Minho quietly shuffle into the dorm before trying to sleep.
"You must be our good luck charm, Kibum, we haven't won a game in a while!" Minho smiled as they made their way back to the dorm building.
"Not like I did anything, I just watched. But you played well, Ming."
"Did you enjoy it?" Minho had a definite spring in his step as he walked next to Key.
"It wasn't too bad, I guess," Key shrugged.
"Come on," Minho skipped a step ahead of Key, walking backward, "Admit it, you had fun."
"I'm not sure fun is the right word," Key rolled his eyes, inwardly admitting to himself if had been enjoyable, "but it was interesting."
That was close enough for Minho, he fell back in step beside him. "Really, tell me, why did you want to come tonight?"
Key was quiet for a few steps, "I guess… I just wanted to understand why you enjoy it so much. You're so passionate about sport it's basically part of your personality and it's a part I didn't understand. I suppose… I kind of get it now."
"Would you play with us sometime?" Key didn't need to look at Minho to know he had that twinkle in his eye that he always had when he got excited about something.
"That might be going a bit far, I'm not an athletic person, but I don't mind watching, I guess," Key shrugged.
"Want to come next week? I'll introduce you to everyone. I figured you probably wanted to just be by yourself tonight so I didn't introduce you."
Minho knew Key valued quiet, alone time. Even in the situation of the game, Key did prefer to be a solo spectator. At least, the first time. He didn't know how to talk to sporty people, except Minho. But he was still a shy person at times, he wasn't sure about meeting all of Minho's friends.
"Taemin might come, he likes to watch sometimes. When it's not a school night. The guys all know him already. I can ask, if you want?"
Kibum could tell that Minho knew he was worried about talking to all his athletic friends that could definitely be very energetic and had very different personalities from Key. Minho wanted him there, it was evident in the way he spoke, like he was begging for Kibum to agree to come again, like he'd do whatever it took to make it less of a spectacle for Key to come watch.
"Alright, if you want me to," Key agreed and saw in the corner of his eye Minho quietly celebrate.
They were nearly back at the dorm now, could see the lights of the building not too far away.
"I… I really appreciate you coming tonight, Key. I know it's not your thing but… you making the effort to understand why I like soccer is… it's nice. Thankyou." Minhos voice was quiet, but sincere.
"If I'm gonna be stuck with you long term, I'm going to have to learn to put up with your weird passion for sports, so it made sense. Not a big deal, Ming."
"It is to me."
Jinki had been shocked when Key had told him he was going to ask to go with Minho to his game, but he hadn't pushed to find out why. He had just said "I'm glad you two are getting along now. Have fun." He could see that it was a big deal. Key had tried hard for them to start getting along after a bumpy start to their friendship. And this was another step, a big one, in the right direction. Clearly, it had meant a lot to Minho. It was nice for Key to see him so happy.
"Don't make a fuss, it was just a soccer game," Key replied as they entered their building.
"Now that sounds like normal Kibum.”