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“And look at that fucking bag. It’s falling apart.”
“Is that…,” an annoying pause just to make the retched “mold?” even more dramatic.
“I told you, Minhyun, my cousin's school is for the damn rats.”
The voices were grating and they had been clawing at his brain like nails on a board for the last few minutes. Go Nam Soon would have laughed at the situation just a week ago. Nothing would have been funnier than turning around and giving these two dimwits the time of day by kicking their asses. Let them see that street rats bite and carry nasty diseases, too. There was even an alley nearby that he knew for a fact was populated by actual rats. Just imagining the looks of horror he was sure to get from these posh assholes if they saw a real life rodent was hilarious. Or, it would have been. Had it been a week ago.
The fact of the matter was that it was already April now and the end of March had seen Heung Soo forbidden from playing his team's Semi-Final for sporting a black eye. Which had made no sense at all, since it had not even been swollen and therefore would not have impacted his performance at all. And anyway, Nam Soon huffed internally, Heung Soo would still be leagues above all these bumbling kids even with a broken leg. Nam Soon had a nagging feeling that the whole ordeal had been more about him than Heung Soo anyway.
Coach Choi had threatened to bench Heung Soo several times when he had shown up a bit banged up, but never actually done it. He had probably finally gone through with it, because Nam Soon had refused to accept that he was banned from watching the games. It was ridiculous, nobody else was forbidden from watching! Some of Heung Soo’s teammates had baby siblings, who cried through half of the game. How was him cheering on his friend and maybe cursing at the referee for very wrong decisions regarding Heung Soo worse than that?! Heung Soo himself had grumbled something about Coach Choi thinking him being there disturbed team morale and that the others were scared of Nam Soon. For what reason, he could not figure out. He had never even so much as greeted them so how could that be interpreted as a threat? The team morale thing was even more confusing, but Heung Soo had refused to comment on it.
Safe to say, Nam Soon had ignored the ban and just shown up anyways. And what would you know, the first time Heung Soo had been a tiny bit bruised afterwards, he got banned as well.
Heung Soo had mostly clenched his jaw while Nam Soon had tried to get past him to see whether that damn Coach was out of his mind. His friend would not let him near the rest though and had dragged him off. He had at least been allowed to attend training sessions, which Nam Soon had skipped out of precaution.
The next game was tomorrow though so Nam Soon had spent the last few days practically trembling with pent up energy. It had mostly been alright. The two of them had quite the reputation at school, going so far as calling Nam Soon Tsunami, so they were left alone. Until those damn assholes from the rich people school had shown up.
His muscles were so tense it hurt, but Nam Soon kept walking like he didn't even hear anything. In an act of nonchalance, and to hide his fists, he put his hands into the pockets of his uniform trousers and trotted on without so much as looking at them. Heung Soo kept throwing him agitated, confused glances as he looked back and forth between those two bastards and him, clearly not understanding why they weren't putting them in their place. Nam Soon knew though. He knew that Heung Soo only ever fought with him. As long as he didn't start a fight, Heung Soo wouldn't have to finish it. The soccer season only lasted one more month. Nam Soon would just have to deal with only letting out the anger constantly thrumming through his body while his friend was at practice.
“Nam Soon,” he finally hissed, “those bastards des-”
“Do you smell that one? It's like he fell into a damn pool of soju.” The cackles got even louder at that, grating into his mind.
Nam Soon couldn't help the flinch shaking him for a millisecond. The call from the bar around the corner had come at 4am and there had been no time to take a shower before school after he had managed to get his dad home and onto his stomach so he wouldn't choke on his vomit while he was away. It shouldn't bother him. It didn't bother him! What, did those babies still get a kiss goodnight from their mum before bed? Tsk, he was too old for that.
“Look, he's too wasted to even walk straight. Or do you think that's the brain damage?”
Whoosh. The steady presence next to him was gone in a second as Heung Soo turned around with war written on his face and his fist raised in a fight. Nam Soon didn't allow the warm feeling at the sight to spread, before lurching forward to grab Heung Soo’s arm. The other looked at him in shock. “Nam Soon, what the fuck are you doing?,” he growled. “Those bastards are asking for a beating!”
Nam Soon risked a glance at the two of them, who had gotten awfully quiet the second Heung Soo had turned around. They probably had not noticed how much taller they were and how much bigger Heung Soo's shoulders were. Even if the difference in size hadn't been so severe, the murder on his face would have probably done the job of making them shit their traps. How badly he wanted to bash the point home right into their snotty faces, but he could see Heung Soo's soccer shoes dangling from his bag and was brought right back down to earth.
With more force than necessary, he yanked his arm down and took his wrist in a vice grip, dragging Heung Soo down the street with him wordlessly. He knew he would have struggled every step of the way had Heung Soo done something like this to him and he did feel the tension in his muscles, how his body didn't want to cooperate, but he let himself be pulled step after step.
Even the reasonable part of their duo had his limits though. Three streets over, he swung his body around into an alley. Nam Soon, whose hand was still firmly attached to his wrist, stumbled after him. His head hit his shoulder with a bong. Nam Soon clutched at it with both hands and had to let go of Heung Soo in the process. He glared up at him - the fact that his growth spurt was late and he was currently a couple centimeters smaller annoyed him to no end - but looked back down sheepishly as soon as he saw the look on Heung Soo’s face.
“Care to explain why the fuck we let those assholes talk shit like that?” He had his arms crossed over his chest and would almost look like a funny disapproving parent if it wasn't for the storm clouds practically chasing thunder and lightning over his face.
Nam Soon just shrugged and tried to brush it off by leaving, but Heung Soo pushed him back into his previous position. He didn't seem to trust that he would stay judging by the hand that kept the grip on his shoulder. Nam Soon tried a couple more shrugs and indecipherable grumbles. It predictably did not work.
He didn't know why it even made him so antsy to admit why he was acting weird. It wasn't like he was doing something bad. Quite the opposite actually. Still, they didn't say things like this out loud. When he pretended to be asleep at his place and Heung Soo played along, they didn't talk about it. When he got Heung Soo those disgustingly expensive vitamin shots before games, he just put them in his bag and they didn't talk about it. When he copied Heung Soo's maths while Heung Soo copied his biology. They didn't talk about it. Why did Heung Soo suddenly need him to say it?
After three pinches to his wrist, Nam Soon shrugged the shoulder that wasn't burning under a rough hand. “Coach won't let you play tomorrow if he sees you got into a fight.” The ants running from his chest up his throat wouldn't let him keep his head still, but no matter how much he looked around he refused to look at Heung Soo.
The silence he was met with was unbearable. Heung Soo had forced him to say it so why couldn't he say anything back? Bastard…
He forced down the weird crawling sensation all over his skin and moved to grab the hand on his shoulder so they could finally leave this whole embarrassing situation behind. When he touched the clammy skin though, another hand caged his own in between them.
The shock made him look up to finally meet gazes with Heung Soo. It was one of the very few times he could not read him. Usually he was like a book written for preschoolers to him, but there had been a few times, mostly after his mother had gotten her diagnosis, where it was like Heung Soo's body didn't just speak another languages but seemed to be from a whole different planet. It unsettled him even more and the ants were making the slightest reappearance. It only lasted a second.
Suddenly, Heung Soo started grinning. “Bastard,” he laughed and quickly got him into a headlock. Nam Soon, too shocked to act quick enough, struggled in the iron grip with loud complaints.
“Stop! Stop, you bastard!” His yells fell on deaf ears. Heung Soo probably couldn't even hear him through his laughter. Only when Nam Soon stole it from him with a punch to his stomach that got an “Oof” out of the other did Heung Soo let go.
Running from him with Heung Soo hot on his tail with a litany of curses and quite a few adults stopping to give them disapproving looks, Nam Soon completely forgot those ants and felt absolutely invincible again.
•°•°•°•°•°•
Heung Soo won the game. Of course he did. Scored both goals like it was nothing. And he would have done it with a black eye, too!
Before the referee even blew his whistle to signal the end of the game, Nam Soon jumped over the metal railing to run across the field. He tried to lift Heung Soo in celebration, who tried to throw him in the air instead. The two of them ended up tumbling into the grass, heads banged against each other and limbs tangled. Laughter turned to loud groans as his brain felt like it had just been flung at a concrete wall.
“Coconut head,” they moaned out at the same time.
Nam Soon looked over at Heung Soo, who was sprawled over his right arm and saw the red mark already forming on his forehead. His friend looked over at him and must have spotted the mirror image on his face and they couldn't keep themselves from bursting into laughter again.
He had practiced such restraint just for Heung Soo to end up bruised anyways. Nam Soon risked a glance at Coach Choi, who was standing a few metres to their left with the rest of the team and not paying any attention to them. As long as he wasn't angry or counted this as a fight, they were okay.
It looked like the team was getting debriefed though so maybe Heung Soo was needed? Nam Soon usually didn't pay attention to this kind of thing and just ran off him with as soon as the team won. Were they supposed to stay together afterwards? Was that what the Coach had meant about Nam Soon disturbing team morale?
It wasn't ants that took over his throat this time. Instead it felt like snakes were coiling around his chest, making it harder to breath.
They were gone quickly when warm arms of Heung Soo tightened around him. “Did you get snacks?,” he asked, still a bit breathless from the game and their collision. He looked like he had forgotten about his team the second the whistle blew, just like Nam Soon had.
With a smile, Nam Soon shook his head. “Nah, that grandpa from the shop wouldn't even let me go in. He said I was banned from entering the premises. What the fuck is that about?!” His grumbles were muffled by the Heung Soo's jersey when he relaxed into the embrace, but he seemed to have understood well enough.
Heung Soo sighed in defeat. “Figures he would get sick of you at some point. Let's go to 7/11.”
Just one more squeeze and Heung Soo untangled their limbs to stand up and offer Nam Soon his hand to pull him up as well. As Heung Soo did his best to brush grass and mud from both of their clothes, mumbling about not getting entry if they looked like this, he did not look at the Coach or his team mates even once. Nam Soon couldn't help but preen.
•°•°•°•°•°•
He had been waiting for 10 minutes already, the rain drizzling on his hair and messing with it. Nam Soon never carried an umbrella with him. Heung Soo grouched about it all the time, but he never had one himself and he suspected he was just pissed he couldn't steal his. For a moment he had entertained the thought of just taking one from the kids passing him by. It was too early for that though. He had only gotten a couple of sleep before his dad had come back from the bar and made a huge ruckus for hours. Nam Soon was lucky the man hadn't noticed him being home. He did not know where his dad thought he spent half his nights. Most likely, he did not care.
Another annoyed sigh ripped from his throat. He was sick of standing around like an idiot. One considering glance up the street towards school ended with a shake of his head. No chance in hell was he going there without Heung Soo. So he began his track down the street instead. His phone still hadn't beeped, which didn't stop him from checking it one more time. No answer. Heung Soo must have overslept. It suited him just as well, if he was being honest. At this point they would be late either way so it was better to just skip and not face the wrath of their teachers.
The thought of napping with Heung Soo in a bit made him quicken his sluggish steps. In no time at all he arrived at the door. Nam Soon considered ringing the doorbell or calling Heung Soo to let him in, but Mrs. Park was probably sleeping right now and he didn't want to disturb her so he pulled out the keys he had been given a couple years ago and let himself in. With as little noise as possible he toed off his sneakers. As he passed by the closed door to Mrs. Park, he bowed quickly even though she wouldn't know. Maybe Heung Soo and him could get some fresh peaches from the market for her today. He had no idea whether the would help her any, but his own mother had been on his case about eating veggies and fruit to be strong in kindergarten. Or at least he thought she had. Maybe it had been Mrs. Park.
Nam Soon opened the last door on the right with a mischievous grin on his face. He was prepared to jump on Heung Soo to wake him in the most annoying way possible. His phone with the song Heung Soo hated so much already cued up in his hand, he slipped inside. As soon as he turned around he was left baffled. Heung Soo was not sleeping soundly in his bed. In fact, he wasn't in the room at all. His brows furrowed as Nam Soon turned around a few more times like he would suddenly spot him if he just looked enough. He looked at the chat he had with him one more time. The last message was still him asking where the hell Heung Soo was.
Dumbfounded he let himself fall onto his mattress. Heung Soo used to have a proper bed, but the two of them had gotten rid of the frame years ago when they had gotten too big to fit in it together. The blankets were still rolled out next to the mattress in case Nam Soon decided to sleep over. He fidgeted with the blankets restlessly for a lack of any other ideas.
Without him noticing, he had fallen asleep. The squeak of a door made Nam Soon sit up ramrod straight, hair sticking up in every which direction.
“Heung Soo?” His voice was scratchy from sleep. It had acted sooner than his brain, too, which only just now registered said boy standing in front of him.
Heung Soo looked at him in shock for a second before his features turned blank. This time though, the blank page didn't matter. His lip still trickling blood steadily said enough. “What happened?” Nam Soon’s voice had recovered from sleep, but he found it coming out smaller than usual regardless.
His blood should be boiling at someone daring to mess with Heung Soo. He knew though. He knew that if this had been done to him, Heung Soo would already be complaining about it. There would be no reason for him to try to hide this from Nam Soon.
Heung Soo seemed to get to the same conclusion judging by the way he clenched his jaw and the fists by his side before relaxing with a sigh and roll of his eyes. “Scoot over.” He let himself fall down almost on top of Nam Soon's lap, their legs touching and stilling both of their bodies.
Wordlessly, Nam Soon pulled the antiseptic Heung Soo had next to his bed closer. Heung Soo let himself fall back onto his back with a groan and closed his eyes. Nam Soon leaned over him. He didn't bother telling him that it was going to sting, they had both been on the receiving end of first aid enough times. All he did was wrinkle his nose at every hiss Heung Soo let slip. Thankfully the cut wasn't big. He sealed it up with a band aid. Once he was done, Heung Soo opened his eyes back up. They didn't speak for a while, just looking. Nam Soon was busy making sure that no other part of him had gotten a scratch. Heung Soo's gaze was contemplating.
“They were dumb enough to wear their uniforms on Tuesday. Their school isn't even that far away.” His voice sounded too casual to sell the nonchalance he was clearly going for.
Nam Soon's head tilted to the side in confusion. And then it dawned on him: Those posh bastards the day before Heung Soo's game.
He opened his mouth to protest. To make it clear that it had not been worth it. Especially days later when he barely even remembered them. And most importantly with the season still not at its end.
“It’s fucking done, so save it.” This time, the casual tone was better, albeit not quite there yet. “I’ll just tell Coach Choi I got herpes or something. The next game is 9 days away anyways.”
Nam Soon wanted to say something. Scold him for being reckless. Tell him to let Nam Soon handle assholes like that or at least call him next time so they could sort them out together, but Heung Soo pulled him down to lie next to him and draped the stupidly soft and warm blanket over the two of them. The mattress was a ridiculously tight fit for two growing boys and at least a third of his body was hanging off of it, but he was nevertheless so comfortable, he already felt sleep grasping at him.
“We should get your mum peaches later,” was all Nam Soon managed to mumble before he drifted off to sleep.