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At least once a year, Jihoon has to endure the cramped space of their University’s gymnasium and the mental pain of having to interact with athletes outside of his baseball team–arguably the only people Jihoon actually enjoys spending time with.
It was their university’s annual Athlete’s Synergy Surge–aka their university’s idea of a team building activity. Apparently, it was the Sports Committee’s idea of building unity amongst athletes and a ‘break’ from training. Jihoon thinks it’s bullshit.
“Registration over here!” a student volunteer recalls as Yena says into the microphone as she waves a blue and white flag in the air. Several students are seated behind the long table for registration, each with a list of athletes and a box of blank name tags to give out.
“Come on, Cap!” Shinyu, a rookie in their team, excitedly says as he drags Jihoon and Jeonghan, along with the rest of the team to the registration table. Jihoon gives a small groan, but nevertheless lets the younger one drag him to the table.
Jihoon’s glad his team is used to waking up early for training, having to avoid the burning heat of the sun in the baseball field everyday was a feat in itself. They arrived at the gym pretty early so the registration table isn’t too full yet. The other teams were still outside waiting for their other members.
“Hi-” Jihoon says to Yena “-uhh baseball team?”
“Of course! You can register over there with Hyewon!” Yena enthusiastically says, pointing at the female volunteer at the end of the table, which Jihoon slowly approaches “Hyewon-ah! Baseball team is here!”
“Oh my god, Yena it is 8:00 am you do NOT have to scream like a maniac every time a team arrives!” Hyewon rolls her eyes playfully and turns to Jihoon. “Hi! Just have you and your teammates sign beside your names, and I’ll be giving out your name tags.”
“Got it.” Jihoon nods and signs his name first, it being separate from the rest of the team’s with the word ‘captain’ written in italic font beside it. “Come on, guys. Just sign beside your names” Jihoon says and his team follows suit. Jihoon stands beside the list of names and watches each of his members sign.
“Hyewonnieee~” Yena suddenly says and Hyewon groans “Taekwondo team is here as well! You know what to do.” Jihoon’s ears perk up at the mention of the Taekwondo team.
“Alright!” Hyewon says as she counts the number of nametags in her hands. “Hey! Just sign here beside your names, and I’ll give you your name tags afterwards!”
“Sure!” a loud familiar voice behind Jihoon says and Jihoon can hear the scribble of the pen on the table. “Well, you heard her! Go on now!”
“Aye aye, Captain!” a member says, probably a rookie, Jihoon thinks.
“Heard that, Captain? The Taekwondo team is here” Seungcheol, Jihoon’s assistant captain and unfortunate best friend, whispers and wiggles his eyebrows at Jihoon as he signs his name.
“Shut up, Choi” Jihoon says and pinches Seungcheol’s side.
“Alright, here are your name tags!” Hyewon suddenly says and reaches out to hand over a pen and the blank name tags.
Jihoon looks up at Hyewon and gives her a small smile and nod of acknowledgement. He looks at his members while he reaches out to the nametags but is surprised when his fingertips do not touch the surface of sticker paper but grazes against smooth skin. Jihoon snaps up in surprise and sees that another person behind him has reached out to the nametags. He traces the hands down to the arms with his eyes and is met with the flustered face of the Taekwondo team’s captain – Kwon Soonyoung.
Their hands are touching. THEIR HANDS ARE TOUCHING. Jihoon feels a jolt of electricity course through his fingertips and his eyes widen in surprise. He lets go of the name tags immediately and he wishes his ears weren’t as red as they were hot.
“Oh, I’m sorry! I was talking to the Baseball team!” Hyewon interrupts “I’ll get to yours asap!”
“Right, sorry.” Soonyoung says sheepishly and scratches his nape in embarrassment. “Here you go, Ji” He says and hands over the bundle to Jihoon.
“That’s–uh–that’s fine.” Jihoon replies, not looking at Soonyoung at all. He clears his throat and takes the name tags from Soonyoung. “Thanks, Soonyoung”
He clears his throat and straightens his back, attempting to seem calm and collected. He doesn’t miss the knowing glance of Jeonghan though.
“Alright, take one and pass.” Jihoon tells his team and passes to Seungcheol the pieces of paper. “I’ll write my name first and pass on the pen. Youngjae-ah, make sure to return the pen to her after you’re done alright?” Youngjae gives him an obedient nod and Jihoon immediately writes his name, crouching down on the table.
Jihoon writes as neatly as he can a big “LEE JIHOON” on his name tag and passes the pen on to Jeonghan. Who does the same with his name. He then rises up from the table and moves out of the line as more teams begin lining up at registration.
Being an athlete requires him to have his nails short at all times. It’s for safety; he does, after all, play as catcher in the baseball field. Long nails could dig into his gloves and he can only imagine the pain and shivers if long nails graze over the baseball bat. Jihoon has never had a problem with his short nails, except now. Because why the fuck has he been trying to remove the adhesive backing of his nametag for a whole five minutes. He’s folded and creased every corner of his name tag but still his nails are too short to dig into and part the backing of his name tag.
“Fuck” He says for the nth time and sighs exasperatedly.
“Here, let me” Jihoon’s name tag is suddenly taken from his hand by someone and he looks up to glare at them but immediately freezes at the sight of Soonyoung who, in one go, manages to remove the backing and crumples it into his pocket. He hands over the freshly peeled name tag to Jihoon who shyly takes it.
He’s so cool, God
“Th-thanks Soonyoung.” Jihoon internally curses at himself for not managing to stay cool.
Soonyoung gives him a wide smile and Jihoon swears the gym is suddenly so much brighter. “Sure thing, Jihoon-ah” he says coolly and goes straight to his team.
Jihoon lets out a breath he had no idea he was holding and he clutches his chest as he feels his heart pounding. If it isn’t obvious enough, Jihoon may have a tiny (fucking massive) crush on Kwon Soonyoung. It begins their freshmen year on Rookies Night where each varsity team had to welcome their rookies as athletes–that is—forcing the rookies to perform the entire time. After a torturous and embarrassing performance as rookies of the baseball team, the Taekwondo team was next. Their performance, by tradition, was to dance through Taekwondo which Jihoon later finds out means incorporating their kicks and forms in dance. There were only three rookies for the Taekwondo team that year and they danced to ‘Eye of the Tiger’ which was both funny and pretty insane.
The Taekwondo team may have been laughing a bit at their rookies but Jihoon was staring only at the rookie in the middle of the performance, who was leading everything. Jihoon hears Seungcheol refer to him as Soonyoung, some athletic legend from Namyangju the university managed to recruit. Jihoon continues to watch their performance and Soonyoung’s moves were clean cut. His kicks were high and well controlled. Even someone who had zero know-how of Taekwondo could tell that his forms were elite and precise, his hands and legs moving like they had minds of their own and his eyes incredibly sharp and gazing. Jihoon’s eyes were so stuck on Soonyoung that when Soonyoung ended his performance with a wink, Jihoon knew he was in trouble.
“Yo, Cap! You good? Why are you all red?” Hansol suddenly says as he puts his arm around the shorter. Jihoon clears his throat and ignores Hansol’s questions.
His team is led by another student volunteer by the bleachers where a big sign saying ‘BASEBALL TEAM’ is perched up on the floor. The baseball teams follows the volunteer’s lead and Jihoon scans the area of the bleachers they were assigned. His gaze turns the side and his eyes widen in what he can only refer to as shock as he sees the big sign right beside their teams area: “TAEKWONDO TEAM”
Holy shit.
He sits down beside Seungcheol and the latter can feel his nerves.
“Dude? I can almost feel you shaking; are you okay? Are you sick?” Seungcheol asks but he glances up at Jihoon’s left side as another team begins to settle down beside them. He smirks and taps Jihoon on the shoulder. “Nevermind I got it.”
Jihoon knows that the Taekwondo Team sat beside them and are arranging themselves. Seungcheol wouldn’t have said that last part if they hadn’t.
“Boo! You guys are beside us!” Hansol says excitedly and approaches the Taekwondo team member. He presses a kiss against Seungkwan’s cheek and nuzzles his face into Seungkwan’s neck, causing the shorter to chuckle.
“Sollie!” Seungkwan says in reply and hugs the other by the waist. Seungkwan then looks at the Baseball Team and greets them “Hello, Jihoon hyung!”
“Hey, Kwannie” he simply says with a soft smile, not wanting to draw the Taekwondo team’s attention even more.
Jihoon takes a small glance at Soonyoung and he sees Soonyung’s brows furrowed–almost like he’s confused–and looks back and forth from Seungkwan and Jihoon.
Hmm… does he not know Kwan and I are close?
Jihoon doesn’t have time to wander in his thoughts because the hosts begin talking into the microphone and start the program. They ask each team to introduce themselves, including each of the members which JIhoon loathes. He knows as team captain he had to start it off.
After what seems like an endless roster of names and numerous practices of introducing the team in murmurs, Jihoon stands up and the Baseball Team is up. Jihoon respectfully takes on the microphone from the Fencing team captain, Jackson. Jihoon gestures for his team to stand up and they immediately do.
“Hello, everybody. We are Seoul University’s Baseball Team–the Blue Batters” They all say in unison, with Jihoon leading them with the microphone and bow respectfully.
“Hello, I am Lee Jihoon, team captain.” Jihoon says with a respectful bow and loud cheers from the athletes are heard. The team follows suit and the rookies also introduce themselves with the whole gym cooing at how cute they are.
“Thank you, Blue Batters! Let’s hear from the Taekwondo Team, shall we?” Jihoon turns to his left and passes on the microphone to Soonyoung, bowing down as respect and definitely not at all trying to avoid his gaze definitely not.
“Hello, everybody! We are Seoul University’s Men’s Taekwondo Team” Soonyoung leads his members and takes the lead in front. Jihoon can’t keep his eyes off him. “Hello! My name is Soonyoung and I’m team captain”
Even his voice is cool ugh
After all the introductions and formalities the hosts start on a few games. The point of Synergy Surge really was just to have Team Building activities for each team, which again, Jihoon thought they could’ve done on their own. They all train almost everyday anyway. He’s thankful, though, because his team has the energy to participate and even win them a few games. His rookies–Shinyu, Dohoon, and Youngjae–are particularly energetic and he’s glad to see them having fun, in contrast to their seriousness and focus during training. Jihoon even finds himself smiling at the rookies after playing a rough game of tug of war with the other rookies.
One particular game, quite popular for birthday parties, was to bring the hosts whoever the rookies felt suited the description in their team. Imagine the surprise on Jihoon’s face as he’s being dragged into the middle of the gym when the hosts asks for their ‘Coolest and most attractive member.”
“What is wrong with you guys why would you drag me for that?” Jihoon says with a small laugh, he doesn’t have it in him to really get mad at his rookies. This was, after all, just fun and games.
“Hyung! You’re selling yourself short! You are literally so cool! Have you not seen the amount of boys and girls that stare at your ass when you get into position for batting?” Dohoon says enthusiastically
“You little rascals!” Jihoon says as a blush creeps on his face.
“Well look who we have here!” the host says as they approach Jihoon. “The quiet and nonchalant captain of the baseball team!”
Jihoon chuckles a little and scratches his head.
“You know, Lee Jihoon-ssi, I’ve heard you have a lot of admirers, even some from the athletes in here” and an entire plethora of whistles and howls are heard throughout the gym. Jihoon can see in his peripheral vision some athletes being teased as well.
“Ahh, should I thank them?” Jihoon says jokingly “But no, that’s probably not true. If there are, I’m thankful then for the admiration.”
“So, Lee Jihoon-ssi, for the curiosity of everyone here, are you actually single?” a red hue tints his cheeks. No one has even asked that in private, how the hell were these hosts so blatant about this. Jihoon gives a shy nod and is again teased by the whole room of athletes.
“Well, does Lee Jihoon-ssi have a type?”
“Uhh, I’ve never really thought about that?”
“Well then, let’s ask his teammates, yeah?” Oh no. “Kim Dohoon-ssi, you probably look up a lot to your captain, right?” Dohoon nods excitedly “So what kind of guy would you like for him?”
“Ahh someone as cool as hyung! And someone who can calm him down when I strike out” He says sheepishly causing the hosts to laugh
“How about from the ones sitting by the bleachers, Yoon Jeonghan-ssi, why don’t you come here with us”
No, no no! Jihoon looks up at the blonde man walking towards them in horror. Of all the people these emcees could have chosen he picks out the son of Satan himself, the spawn of Lucifer and the imagery of all fallen angels on earth. Yoon Jeonghan may have looked like an angel and played like a pro in the field, but he was just the human form of a devil emoji. He had absolutely zero limits when it came to things like this.
“Hello! I’m Yoon Jeonghan! I’m the team’s pitcher!” He enthusiastically introduces himself and Jihoon sees Seungcheol standing up for his boyfriend. “Oh I have a lot to say about Jihoonie”
Lord Jesus God
“Go on then!”
“First of all, our Jihoonie is very independent! So he’s gonna need someone who won’t feel emasculated by Jihoonie not needing help!” Jeonghan starts, Jihoon is surprised with how genuine it sounds.
“Secondly! Our Hoonie is very smart! So he needs someone he can have a proper conversation with, especially about music! He is after all an Applied Music major.” Jihoon is still in shock at how honest Jeonghan sounds, and he’s actually making sense.
“Third! Jihoon likes funny guys! I hope he finds someone who can genuinely make him laugh!” Jihoon starts nodding and feels a flush of relief that Jeonghan is being rational this time.
“Lastly! If Jihoonie had a type, then there’s only one person–it’s definitely Kwon Soonyoung-seonsu of the Taekwondo tea-!” Jihoon’s hands move faster than he can think and pulls Jeonghan’s hair to headlock him in his arms. He crushes a laughing Jeonghan in his arms so hard as he hears the entire gymnasium roaring and howling louder than ever and the Taekwondo team jumping in excitement.
He takes everything nice he thought about Jeonghan back! Jihoon can feel the heat travel from his chest all the way up to the tips of his ears and he can almost see how red his entire body goes from the embarrassment. He hears the chuckles of Jeonghan below him and God does Jihoon wanna die right then.
Jihoon lets go once the emcees start talking.
“Well, isn’t that a revelation!” The emcees begin “Lee Jihoon-ssi you’re blushing! Why Kwon Soonyoung-ssi?” Jihoon takes a glance at surprised and dumbfounded Soonyoung and looks away immediately. He only smiles at the emcees and drags Jeonghan back to their seats.
Yoon Jeonghan, his fucking pitcher (who was definitely gonna be running 100 fucking laps on that baseball field for the rest of the year) just told people about his crush on Soonyoung.
Into the microphone.
In front of all these athletes.
In front of the Taekwondo team.
In front of Soonyoung.
Soonyoung knows. He knows about Jihoon’s crush on him.
God, the entire varsity community of their university knows.
Fuck me.
“Yoon Jeonghan, I am actually going to kill you.” he warns and all Jeonghan does is laugh.
“You will thank me Jihoonie” Jeonghan winks at him and Mingyu had to physically restrain Jihoon from attacking him.
-
After the heat of the revelation dies down and the teams are packing up, Jihoon stands up and starts cleaning around him. He picks up some pieces of plastic that held their food earlier on, and some of the pieces of papers they used in their games. Thankfully, Jihoon’s redness dissipated pretty quickly after the team was focused on another game.
Most of the teams have gone out by now and the only ones left on their side are the Taekwondo and Baseball teams. Jihoon avoided the Taekwondo team after Jeonghan revealed his crush on Soonyoung, though he sees the other glancing at him from time to time.
“Come on guys, no training tomorrow. We’re all pretty drained. I already told Coach Kang” Jihoon says and quiet cheers are heard from his members.
Jihoon picks up his gym bag and starts walking behind his team when someone pulls on his arm and calls him.
“Jihoon-ah!” He turns around and sees that the hand belongs to Soonyoung. Jihoon freezes and the humiliation of what happened earlier floods back his mind. Soonyoung let’s go and suddenly looks down shyly. “Uhh, hi”
“H-hi '' Jihoon says and clears his throat. He feels the gazes of both his team and Soonyoung’s team and feels the anticipation from the two teams. “Uhh Soonyoung-ah I’m sor-”
“I don’t know how true what Jeonghan-hyung said was…” Soonyoung begins and starts fishing for something in his pocket. “But here…” Jihoon looks down and sees a rectangular shaped card in Soonyoung’s hand. Jihoon’s brows furrowed in confusion and offense.
‘Room 1010, SOLO ROOM, Pledis Residences'
“Kwon Soonyoung-ssi.” He begins and the strict formality in his tone throws Soonyoung off. “I admit that what Jeonghan-hyung said was true. I do have a crush on you, there’s no reason to deny it by now but this–?” Jihoon grabs Soonyoung’s wrist to point out the keycard he just shoved at him. Soonyoung’s eyes widen at the keycard and looks at Jihoon in horror.
Was Soonyoung really giving him his apartment’s keycard? Does he think because Jihoon has a crush on him Jihoon would now magically sleep with him and throw himself at him?
“Is this some kind of sick joke? I don’t know what kind of guy you think I am, Kwon Soonyoung-ssi. But my crush on you does not mean you can blatantly invite me, right in front of your team and mine, to go to your room and expect me to throw myself at you or whatever it is you are trying to insinuate. Have some respect. Fucking asshole” Jihoon let’s go of his wrist a little roughly and turns his back to return to his team. “Let’s go”
“Jihoon-ah wait! That’s not what I–” Jihoon waves him off and walks a little faster to get away from him. Mingyu and Seokmin glare at Soonyoung before trailing behind Jihoon while the rest of the baseball team just give him disappointing stares, including Seungcheol. Even the rookies were taken aback by how bold and incredibly offensive that move was.
Jihoon stomps out in anger and his mind is clouded with thoughts of just killing Soonyoung. How could this cute and seemingly adorable little captain that he likes SO much be a perverted asshole? The audacity to even THINK that Jihoon would just go to his apartment and sleep with him without so much as asking him on a date. What kind of sicko motherfucker thinks he can just get into Jihoon’s pants solely on the basis that Jihoon has a crush on him.
Fuck you, Kwon Soonyoung, seriously.
-
“Stupid, stupid, stupid!!” Soonyoung screams into his pillow that night. Dreading the embarrassment and the implications of his stupid mistake.
Soonyoung hasn’t always been the smartest student-athlete, he can’t deny that. And he’s a lot of things–he’s clumsy, he’s loud, he’s obsessed with tigers, but what he ISN’T is some random pervert going around campus inviting people who have crushes on him to have sex in his apartment. He is not some deprived psycho who thinks with his dick. So the horror in his eyes when he realized that what he had taken out of his pocket was, in fact, not his cellphone, but the keycard to his apartment. He stares at the words on his keycard one more time and ponders about what happened earlier with Jihoon.
‘Room 1010, SOLO ROOM, Pledis Residences'
Soonyoung had a cute scene planned out in his head. Wshen Jeonghan had told the entire gymnasium that he was Jihoon’s type the only thing in his mind was a repeated thread of Jihoon likes me too. Jihoon likes me too. Jihoon likes me too. And he, honest to God, would have been able to do 200 roundhouse kicks successively at that moment because oh my god Jihoon likes him. THE Lee Jihoon likes him. That cute, cool, and fucking hot team captain of the baseball team that Soonyoung has been crushing on since their freshmen year.
He first saw the baseball and music prodigy when he was getting ready with Wonwoo and Jun for their performance for Rookies night. They were up next so they had to rush and go by the stage already. Immediately he hears the intro of a song he’s never heard of, but likes, nonetheless. He takes a peek at the performers and he couldn’t take his eyes off the cute little one. Soonyoung found him adorable with his pink beret, patterned denim jeans, and denim jacket. Soonyoung was in awe at how smooth and stable his voice was, despite all the jumping and dancing. He finds out through Wonwoo, who has a class with this cute rookie (lucky bastard) that his name is Lee Jihoon, a music major. He also learns that Jihoon wrote the song they were singing and dancing to and Soonyoung can’t help but be charmed. What catches Soonyoung’s attention the most, however, is the younger’s little bit at the end, which was apparently tradition for the baseball team. That year, Jihoon was deemed the star rookie, having been chased and recruited by numerous universities, so he had to do the bit. Jihoon walks across the stage with a baseball bat on his shoulders, looking like he’s about to beat the shit out of someone, and breaks a pinata hanging in the air which then releases an explosion of colorful confetti all over the stage and around it. Then Jihoon smirks, he fucking smirks at the crowd and Soonyoung is just a guy; so sue him for blushing.
Soonyoung groans in frustration and buries his face in his pillows for the nth time. He just lost his chance with Jihoon. Lee Jihoon. The one guy he’s had a crush on for God knows how long and the ONE chance he finally got he blows. Not only did he lose his chance with Jihoon, he thinks he’s a pervert and an asshole. Even his entire team thinks he’s an asshole and the worst thing about it is he can’t even blame them because he would react the exact same way.
“Soonyoung-ah” Wonwoo suddenly enters his room with Minghao and Jun. “You have some explaining to do.”
“Go away and let me die while my heart breaks and my head explodes from humiliation.” Soonyoung says, voice muffled by the pillow he had buried his face in.
“Hyung, what the hell were you thinking?!” Minghao screeches and pulls Soonyoung out of his pillows. “I know you are not some pervert so explain to us why the fuck you thought that was a good idea! You didn’t even ask us first if that was okay!”
“YA! That wasn’t what I was supposed to do!” Soonyoung repeatedly hits Minghao in annoyance. He sighs and explains more thoroughly. “I was supposed to give him my phone, okay?! I could’ve sworn I had placed it in my left pocket but it turns out they were my fucking IDs and my access card and I was just so nervous because this is Jihoon we are talking about!!!”
Realization hits and his teammate’s faces instantly change.
“I was supposed to hand him my phone, and then maybe cutely ask him for his number because I like him too. I mean holy crap you guys know how much I like him!” Soonyoung whines and whines and the others feel pity for him.
The one window of opportunity that opened for him to make a move on his longtime crush was shut back in an instant because he was being clumsy and stupid. He didn’t even get to gloat to his team members and maybe half the university that they’re not the ones Jihoon likes and that Soonyoung is Jihoon’s type.
“What do I do?” Soonyoung desperately says “He thinks I’m a pervert! His whole team thinks I’m a pervert! I didn’t even get to be all cute around him! He thinks that I think he is easy to get. I am going to die!”
Jun pats his back in pity and Soonyoung just leans his head on the former’s shoulder. “Do I still even have a chance? What if he doesn’t like me anymore?!” Soonyoung whines even louder into Jun’s shoulder
“Come on, Soonyoung. We’ll figure it out!” Junhui says, trying to cheer up their captain “Why don’t we try talking to Kwannie?”
“What about Kwannie?” Soonyoung pouts in confusion.
“He’s dating Hansol, right? Let’s see if they can help us, yeah?” Soonyoung nods weakly and just hopes they can.
–
“Wow, you’re really stupid.” Hansol says after hearing what actually happened from Soonyoung’s perspective.
After an entire night of moping and whining, Soonyoung receives a text from Seungkwan saying Hansol wants to talk to him. Although Hansol intended for it to come off as a warning, Soonyoung only saw hope from his text. Even though he was sure Hansol wanted to beat him up.
“Chwe Hansol! Be nice!” Seungkwan scolds his boyfriend who just shrugs and raises his hands in defeat.
“I’m sorry! I can’t help it! Do you have any idea how offended we ALL were when you took out your apartment’s access card?” He begins “Even Jeonghan-hyung was mad, and HE was the one pushing Jihoon-hyung to confess to you!”
Soonyoung whines, again, with no shame in front of Hansol because what shame can he still possibly have in his body when he’s offended an entire baseball team of men who knew their way around a big metal bat and could use Soonyoung’s head to play catch!
“Sollie, he gets it, okay! I told you, Soonyoung hyung is nice!” Seungkwan pacifies his boyfriend as he loops his arm around him. “Please help him, Sollie!”
“I mean, I guess I could try?” Hansol says and tries to reassure them, but then he looks at Soonyoung seriously and almost suspiciously “Do you ACTUALLY like Jihoon-hyung? I’m not going to help you if the only reason you’re gonna ask him out is because you know he has a crush on you.”
“I do!! I promise!” Soonyoung begs and looks at Hansol in the eyes, tears almost swelling in his eyes. “Ask any of them!”
“Sollie, I told you! We have ALL had to suffer his pining over your captain!” Seungkwan starts as he shows Hansol some old messages from Soonyoung.
“One time, Soonyoung-hyung made me repeat my poomsae forms nearly twenty times because he was mad you lost one game, AND IT WAS A PRACTICE ONE!” Kyungmin, one of the rookies, huffs.
“He probably knows all 50 songs that your captain has up on his soundcloud.” Chan bluntly says and leans nearer towards Hansol “He has forced, and I mean FORCED, me to listen to them so the streams go up.”
“Do you know that Daniel guy? From the other university’s team? Remember when he purposely threw his bat harder than usual over his shoulder? So he could hit your captain? Do you ever wonder why he had to sit out the rest of the season?” another rookie, Hanjin, perks up and points to Soonyoung with his eyes “Yeah, there’s a reason Sonyoung-hyung has been crowned MVP in Taekwondo for 4 years straight”
“Here” Wonwoo says and hands over his phone to Hansol “Listen to this pathetic man whining last night.”
Apparently, Wonwoo had started filming Soonyoung for fun, thinking it would be a funny video to post for his birthday greeting or for when Soonyoung wins another match. Of course, midway into filming Wonwoo realizes that Soonyoung was actually about to cry.
Hansol nods, finally convinced that Soonyoung actually likes Jihoon and that the confession was only a push towards him confessing and not the only reason he’s asking Jihoon out.
“Okay, a lot of those things were borderline disturbing, but I know you’re a good guy. I know you’re friends with him anyway so I’ll help you. But I have to warn you, Jihoon-hyung is…difficult. Especially when he’s been hurt.”
“Hansol, I’ll do anything!” Soonyoung desperately says. “I’ll book you and Seungkwan a trip to wherever you want–within reason!”
“Jeju” Hansol bluntly says. “Book us a trip to Jeju. Boo can rest with his family, and uh, we’ve been wanting to meet each other's parents sooo..” Soonyoung can’t help but soften and coo. He wishes he could have plans like that with Jihoon.
“Awww” Seungkwan gives his boyfriend a quick peck on his lips. “You’re so sweet, Sollie! Soonyoung-hyung, I’ll help too okay? Let’s get yo man!”
“Deal.” Soonyoung shakes Hansol’s hand firmly. “But please don’t kiss in front of me ever again” Soonyoung says and feigns disgust on his face and Seungkwan chuckles at that.
“Oh, and hyung” Hansol says at the last minute “Thanks for looking out for Jihoon hyung, and for appreciating him even if it is behind the scenes. He deserves it.”
Lee Jihoon, please wait for me.
–
Wooing Jihoon has proven to be a much harder feat than they had ever imagined, for all of them. It’s been roughly two weeks since their Synergy Surge and Soonyoung has not even gotten a glimpse of his crush. It seems Hansol was not kidding when he said that Jihoon was difficult.
Soonyoung isn’t exactly surprised. Hansol gives him a heads up that Jihoon might be deliberately finding ways to avoid him. He texts Hansol consistently but not even Hansol manages to coax the captain into meeting with him or anything of the sort.
Soonyoung, however, remains fervent and is not fucking giving up. He thought about giving flowers or maybe even cute notes or food to Jihoon, but his teammates advise him otherwise. The last thing Soonyoung needs is to unintentionally annoy Jihoon. He’s caused to much of a mess already.
“Hansol, anything?” he asks, sitting down in front of Hansol who was beside Seungkwan.
“I’m sorry, hyung.” Hansol apologetically says “I’ve tried everything! I even asked him if we could maybe make practice open so you could at least try and come, I used Boo as an excuse but I guess he could smell the possibility that you would join him.”
Soonyoung sighs and nods. He can’t really blame Hansol, not when he can sense how genuine Hansol wants to help. Soonyoung has long decided in himself that even if he can’t get Jihoon back he’ll book them that trip anyway. The lovebirds deserved it anyway.
It wasn’t a secret to Soonyoung, obviously, that Jihoon was avoiding him. But suspecting and even knowing something, is entirely different from witnessing it. Soonyoung finds himself and his team waking up at the ass crack of dawn one day because they had a practice match out of town. Soonyoung, despite his crazy dedication to try and talk to Jihoon, never jokes about training or even half-asses it. So to say that having to pass the baseball field to get to the bus was something that slipped his mind was pretty accurate.
As he was walking behind his team to get to the bus he catches glimpse of one person at the baseball field, the slight silhouette alone was already recognizable to Soonyoung. Soonyoung stares at his figure until he realizes that Jihoon has now turned around and sees Soonyoung. The surprise is evident in Jihoon’s face, which is fair, they haven’t seen each other since the Synergy Surge. But then, he sees the frown in Jihoon’s face and little curse he murmurs, and immediately Jihoon is walking away, the immediate disappointment and sting in his chest blooming away.
Soonyoung suddenly thinks he should just give up. For Jihoon’s sake.
So he tells Seungkwan and Hansol the next time Hansol picks up Seungkwan from his training.
“Give up?! No!” Seungkwan exclaims, almost slamming his head gear into Soonyoung’s face.
“I’m sorry, Kwannie.” Soonyoung says “Don’t worry, guys. I’ll still book you that Jeju trip.”
“Hyung, that doesn’t matter anymore. Do you think I’m risking getting beat up by my captain for that? Boo and I can save up for that no problem! But I genuinely wanna help!” Seungkwan nods furiously in agreement.
“It’s okay, Hansol-ah” Soonyoung dejectedly says “I’ve seen Jihoon avoid me already, I think that is enough indication that I should just stop. I don’t want him to hate me anymore than he does.”
“We need back up.” Hansol firmly says, ignoring the older’s sentiments. “The problem might be because I am the only one in the baseball team really helping you. I know who to talk to; less scarier than Jihoon-hyung. Just, a little crazier in the head. Both of them are.” Hansol says, trying come off as nonchalant about that last bit.
Both?
And this is how he comes face-to-face with Yoon Jeonghan and Hong Jisoo. Soonyoung gulps at the obvious distaste the two of them have for him after that incident. They weren’t particularly bad people, but everyone knows how headstrong these two are, and they were protective of their teammates.
Word got around earlier in the semester that some accounting majors pulled a prank on their rookie, Shinyu, so much so that the rookie almost couldn’t play, thus risking his scholarship. A few days later, the accounting majors were kicked out, not for the prank, no, but because Jisoo managed to find out they cheated on their midterm examinations and tipped off every terrorizing professor in the College of Business had. That, and Jeonghan sent threats every morning to the students that if they don’t get kicked out Jeonghan would make sure they drop out.
So when Hansol said they were a little crazier than in the head, he was understating it.
“Chwe Hansol, this better be fucking worth it.” Jeonghan says as he continues staring daggers at Soonyoung.
“It is, Hyung I promise!” Hansol begins, with Seungkwan right beside him. “Soonyoung-hyung, you know my teammates, right? Jeonghan-hyung and Jisoo-hyung?” Soonyoung nods, still frightened at the both of them.
“You know…” Jisoo begins, smirking at Soonyoung and leaning in across the table “I once broke someone’s nose because I ‘accidentally’ threw the ball back to 3rd base too hard.” Soonyoung downs the glass of coke zero he just ordered, causing the two baseball players to laugh.
“Hyungs, come on! You’re scaring him already!” Hansol whines and Seungkwan is starting to feel bad for his boyfriend.
“Serves him right! After offending Jihoonie and insinuating he was easy to get?” Jeonghan says and crosses his arms over his chest.
“That’s not what was supposed to happen, I promise!” Soonyoung says, leaning in towards the two. “Please, please give me a chance to explain!” Jisoo and Jeonghan give each other a look, and gesture for Soonyoung to continue.
So Soonyoung explains, as carefully and as elaborately as possible. He even shows them his phone, and his card holder, where he now stores all his credit cards, access cards, and membership cards and how close it is with his phone. He’s glad, though, because he sees reality dawn on them–Soonyoung likes Jihoon too.
“Okay, I believe you.” Jisoo says. “I wasn’t totally convinced you were some weirdo anyway, I have faith in Jihoonie’s choices.”
“Me too. I wouldn’t have blurted out Jihoon’s crush on you in front of everybody if I had an inkling of dislike” Jeonghan says “Plus, honestly you probably would have died the day after had I not given you the slightest benefit of the doubt.”
Soonyoung sighs and instantly feels a wash of relief enveloping his entire body; for both the belief and the fact that they didn’t kill him immediately.
“So…would you help me? Please?” Soonyoung looks at them, hopeful and pouting. Jeonghan and Jisoo smirk at him, though this time Soonyoung doesn’t feel the same fear he did earlier.
“We know just the thing.” Jeonghan smirks and raises his eyebrows.
–
Jihoon sighs as he reads a text from Seungcheol, informing him they all had a meeting at the baseball field at 6:00 P.M. tonight. He doesn’t understand why he’s being called for a meeting when he’s team Captain. He ignores his annoyance after Seungcheol tells him it’s urgent.
This better be fucking urgent.
So as a responsible team captain not wanting to be late nor seeing anything happen to his team, Jihoon sprints immediately from his studio to the baseball field. When he gets there, he sees his entire team huddled up at the corner of the benches where they place their gym bags.
Jihoon walks slowly towards them, wondering what they were looking at and why they all had on their intimidating stances. They only ever bring that out when they’re trying to intimidate their opponents on game days.
The closer Jihoon got to them, the more audible the conversation was, and one voice stood out to him–familiar, but not belonging to their team.
“Look! I promise you, it’s similar!” Jihoon’s chest pounds as he approaches his, team, slowly recognizing the voice of Kwon Soonyoung–the one and only. “I promise! I had no weird intentions! I am not a pervert!”
What the hell is going on?
He walks as silently as possible, making sure that his footsteps are unheard.
“So let me get this straight–” Jihoon hears Mingyu say “--when you went up to Jihoon-hyung, you were gonna ask for his number? But instead of giving him your phone, you got out your access card to your apartment?”
“YES YES YES!” Soonyoung exclaims. Jihoon freezes in his steps, a moment of realization kicking in; the horror on Soonyoung’s face when Jihoon held up the keycard in his hand, the attempt to pacify him that day, all those weird requests and questions from Hansol–Soonyoung only made a mistake. “I prom–”
“You what?” Jihoon speaks up, cutting Soonyoung off.
The entire team turns around and makes a small trail of visibility for Soonyoung. And Jihoon sees Soonyoung, sitting down on the benches, holding up a wallet and a phone, with teary eyes and blushing red ears.
Seungcheol suddenly clears his throat “I think you guys need to talk.” He says and taps Jihoon on shoulders before he leads the rest of team out of the field.
When Jihoon is sure that the rest of the team is out of eaershot, Jihoon sits beside Soonyoung and gestures for him to look at him.
“Jihoon, I–” Soonyoung begins, distress clear in his tone. Soonyoung pauses, fearing he might blurt out something wrong from all the nerves. Jihoon squeezes his thigh and looks at him reassuringly. A look he hopes conveys what he wants to--I got it, I’ll listen.
“I’ll explain, okay?” Soonyoung starts again, a boost of confidence arising from Jihoon’s touch.
“The day Jeonghan-hyung said that I was your type, I was ecstatic, you have no idea. I’ve had a crush on you for so long I didn’t exactly know what to do or if I should believe it. But I decided to let my confidence get a headstart and just go for it. So when I approached you, I was going in with full intention to ask you out on a date, a PROPER ONE! When I was rummaging through my big ass pocket, I was expecting to find my phone. I had a whole cute ass scene planned in my mind, that I give you my phone to get your number and then maybe when you type it in I call it on the spot and tell you ‘that’s my number, call me maybe?’ and then text you and flirt with you and all that but obviously I was being dumb and clumsy and yeah, you know what happened next” Soonyoung says almost in one breath he had to suck in a whole mouthful of air.
Jihoon remains frozen, unable to fully comprehend everything he just heard. Soonyoung likes him back. SOONYOUNG LIKES HIM BACK. THE KWON SOONYOUNG. This man who does 50 rounds of 45 degree kicks for fun, the guy he used to daydream about in class and the rookie who took his breath away freshman year.
He is, in fact, notsome asshole who wanted to sleep with him; he was just some clumsy, cute little athlete who wanted to get his number and ohmygod Jihoon wants to smother him in kisses.
“Uh…Ji? Can you please say something, I might actually die here.” Soonyoung nervously says. Soonyoung is immediately taken aback however, as Jihoon begins hitting him incessantly.
“Oh my god Soonyoung” Jihoon says “You stupid stupid stupid boy!! Do you have any idea how offended I was, how devastated I was because I thought my crush was some pervert!”
“I’m sorry, okay! You were so cute and I was so nervous and you’re you!” Jihoon crushes him in a tight hug, still under the haze and high of everything Soonyoung just said and Soonyoung hugs him back just as tight, as if Jihoon would suddenly run away.
Not only does Soonyoung like him back, he likes him so much that Jihoon sent him on a spiral of emotions and practically a nervous breakdown just for an attempt of asking for his number.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t listen, Soonyoung-ah, I was just so flustered at the time that my mind just–” Jihoon is cut off and Soonyoung pulls out from the hug to look at Jihoon.
“DO NOT APOLOGIZE!” Soonyoung sternly says “You had every right to feel that way! No one and I mean no one should ever feel like a crush can be a free pass to their pants!” Jihoon chuckles and leans his head on Soonyoung’s shoulders. Soonyoung does the only rational thing–he holds Jihoon’s hand, intertwining their fingers.
“By the way, just so we’re clear” Soonyoung says, not breaking away from their current position. “I’ve liked you for a while now, yeah? I didn’t ask you out only because you had a crush on me. It was a push, yes, but I’ve always liked you, maybe a little borderline obsessive even.”
Jihoon giggles. He fucking giggles and Soonyoung swears he could just bite the smaller’s cheeks. Jihoon, on the other hand, has never felt these butterflies in his stomach before, he’s not even sure if this is how butterflies should be given their gentle nature and pretty wings–he could swear wild animals were in his stomach because why does his heart feel so warm and so full and so crazy.
Suddenly Jihoon lifts his head, and takes Soonyoung’s phone from the bench where Soonyoung had placed it after explaining everything. He unlocks it with Soonyoung’s face, the owner still a little puzzled. He inputs his number and hands the phone over to Soonyoung.
“Soonyoung-ah, here’s my number. Call me, maybe?”