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Swish. The disc like puck hits the back of the net and the team cheers loudly, clapping Jeonghan on the back while their opponents slump in defeat as the obnoxious sound of the final buzzer goes off.
But the redhead is thinking of a different kind of swish. It’s not the swish of the net, or the swish of his teammates flying past him in hot pursuit of the puck. He’s thinking of the almost silent swish of his skates when they slice the air in a camel spin, and the swish of air that rushes by him when he executes a perfect triple axel.
But no one would understand. They’d tease him, laugh at him, mock him even, because that kind skating is for girls.
“Serves them right for trying to challenge the top college hockey team in Korea,” Seungcheol scoffs, and Jeonghan snaps out of his daydream only to hear his captain groan in pain when he slams into the barrier. Hard.
“Don’t be a sore loser!” Jihoon sneers, standing protectively over Seungcheol, who’s now just getting up dizzily, being careful to not get his fingers sliced off.
“That last shot was a goddamn foul!” the opponent’s captain, a Do Kyungsoo, snaps, towering over the pink haired ball of rage.
The fight is thankfully stopped before it can get any bigger, (as in fighting with fists and skates instead of glares and words), with Soonyoung pulling Jihoon back, and Chanyeol pulling Kyungsoo away.
Joshua watches the entire thing unfold with mild interest, rolling his eyes at the hatred practically rolling off the two players. His eyes trail across the ice, landing on his hockey-mate, Yoon Jeonghan. Joshua loves hockey, don’t get him wrong, but he just hates all the unnecessary testosterone that happens on ice, like well, now. He almost didn’t join the hockey team, but Jeonghan’s insistent whining and promises of dinner and laundry were too good to pass up. He notices that Jeonghan’s leaning on the barrier, but that isn’t the thing that catches his attention. He glances at the other players, and they’re all standing with their skates firmly on the ice, but Jeonghan has one skate … poised?
It’s not anything particularly different, seeing as Jeonghan has always been almost ethereally elegant despite also being the star of Pledis’ University’s Ice Hockey team, but it looks different somehow, and Joshua can’t put his finger on it.
“Hyung, are you still staring at Jeonghan?” Hansol nudges Joshua and he snaps out of it. “I get that he’s pretty, but dude, you gotta man up and ask him out. It’s been going on three years now,” he snickers, and Joshua flushes.
“Shut up Hansol. You’ve been doing the same thing with Seungkwan for how long now?” he wrinkles his nose at the younger, grinning in satisfaction when Hansol blushes and stutters out an excuse before running into the changing room, eyes anywhere but at the loud left winger.
“Hyung, come on, you can rest after dinner! We’re going for samgyeopsal,” the maknae, Chan, whines, tugging at Jeonghan’s sleeve.
“Yah, Channie-ah, I’m tired though,” Jeonghan dies inside a little at the lie, but manages to pull off a pout without anyone suspecting too much.
He would love to join them for dinner, but he also wanted to work on his routine. He needed to get it perfect. It wasn’t as if he was going to ever show anyone the routines, but he knew if he was ever brave enough to make the switch, he’d need one hell of a repertoire to prove to them that it wasn’t just a girl’s thing.
“Jeonghan hyung, join us, please?” Seokmin chirps, and he’s bombarded with pleas and even aegyo, all in an attempt to get him to join them for dinner.
“Fine, fine,” he sighs, ruffling Chan’s hair and mentally calculating the hours he has left.
Only two? Maybe I can sleep less, his nose wrinkles and he smiles at the rest of his team as he trails behind, thinking of how he was going to put in his practice time and not look like a zombie the next day.
Jeonghan sighs, dropping his skate bag on the empty benches, and sending a smile to the old night guard. He was the only other person who knew Jeonghan figure skated. Heck, the old man was the one who taught him to sharpen his turns, and gave him his love for figure skating.
“Late night tonight?” the guard asks, settling down to watch Jeonghan warm up on his figure skates.
“The boys wanted dinner after we won the game, so it’s a late night I guess, coach,” he teases, and the night guard laughs.
“Boy, call me coach again and I won’t teach you Yuzuru Hanyu’s 2014 Sochi Short Program performance,” the guard snarks, and Jeonghan pouts, pulling away momentarily to practice a triple axel and a camel spin.
“Extension! Your leg needs to be straighter,” the guard barks, telling jeonghan to repeat it until he’s happy with Jeonghan’s extension.
Joshua jerks awake, sitting up in bed and sleepily glancing at the clock, then looks over at the empty bed across the room in confusion.
“Please tell me he’s not still practicing his footwork on the ice,” Joshua groans, pulling on his sweatpants and a jacket, before heading to the rink.
“One more time Jeonghan, your full routine. If I’m happy with it then we can start learning a new routine,” he says, and Jeonghan huffs, taking a large drink of water and nodding, before heading to the center of the ice, shaking off his nerves.
Then, the music starts, and nothing else matters to Jeonghan, just the swish of his blades, and the movement of his body, fluid and languid in time with the music. He skates with a huge grin, feeling the music in his bones and the rush of exhilaration as he goes into a quad salchow, finishing with a death drop, but something, or someone, rather, catches his eye, and he stumbles to a horrified stop, much to the surprise of the guard.
No. No, please, no. Anyone but him.
“... Jeonghan, your full routine,” Joshua frowns at the muffled conversation. Routine? Since when do hockey players even haveroutines on ice?
He hurries up the steps, peeking into the rink, and freezes in shock, heart in his throat as he watches Jeonghan spin in the air, before landing into another spin gracefully. Jeonghan looks up and freezes, stumbling as his eyes meet Joshua’s.
The music’s still blaring through the speakers, but Joshua’s only focus is Jeonghan. It makes so much sense now as to how his turns are so sharp, and how he’s always so quick on his feet, and being able to outmaneuver practically anyone . He practically glues himself to the barrier, watching intently as Jeonghan restarts his routine, gracefully spinning and dancing on the ice, executing the same spin perfectly (to his untrained eye at least), and doing at least another 8 death defying spins and jumps before he finishes powerfully in the middle of the ice, right as the music cuts off.
“That was brilliant Jeonghan, well done. it’s late, get some rest, and tomorrow I’ll teach you another routine,” an old voice congratulates Jeonghan, and the door slams.
Guess we’re alone now, Joshua walks out from behind the stands, towards his crush, who’s looking at him completely terrified.
Jeonghan breaks the eye contact first, unlacing his skates nervously, spying Joshua from the corner of his eye as the younger neared him.
Is he going to out me to the rest of the team? Mock me? Call me stupid? Laugh at me? he gnaws on his lower lip and looks up when Joshua’s sneakered feet come directly into his view.
“I know a 24 hour coffee place, you wanna grab a cup with me?” Joshua asks, and Jeonghan nods mutely, hauling his skating stuff over his shoulder and following Joshua out of the rink.
They settle down next to each other, with Joshua’s hot Mocha, and Jeonghan’s Americano creating swirls of steam in the warm café. The silence is both comforting yet unsettling, and Jeonghan takes a sip of his drink, hoping to calm his nerves.
“So…” Joshua trails off, looking up at Jeonghan, who looks like he's about to run and cry at the same time.
“So…” Jeonghan echoes, looking at Joshua. “Are you gonna tell everyone? Let them mock me? Laugh at me? Because figure skating is for girls?” He sneers the last part and Joshua’s stunned into silence.
Idiot. What if he wasn't going to say anything? Now you've fucked up. In front of your crush too, Jeonghan scoffs to himself, internally mourning the loss of the opportunity to ask Joshua out.
“No. I was going to ask you if you could show the rest of the team the drills. For the footwork at least,” Joshua shrugs, smiling lightly at the redhead, but it falters a little when he sees Jeonghan flinch at the mention of ‘team,’ and doesn't bring it up again.
The second night Joshua sees Jeonghan skating, he offers coffee again, and Jeonghan tells Joshua he's worried about the mocking.
“They’ll just laugh at me. You’ve heard Seungcheol, and you know how the rest of the team agree with him. They'll laugh and mock and they won't-!!!”
“Good, it shut you up,” Joshua smirks a little at Jeonghan’s dazed expression and slightly swollen lips when he pulls away, and feels a shiver of happiness run up his spine that the long haired boy didn't push him away.
They spend that night staring into their coffees in silence, with shy glances and introspective thoughts.
The third night Joshua sees Jeonghan skating, he brings the coffee to the rink, knowing that he can't hold his tongue any longer.
“Look, they can't say anything about your figure skating. Your turns and maneuvering is out of this world. Even if they give you shit for it you tell them to lace up and see if they can beat you,” Joshua grips Jeonghan’s hands tightly, eyes sparkling with earnest pleading, and Jeonghan can feel his resolve slowly crumbling.
It goes on like this for the next few dates, (more like the next three weeks) until Jeonghan finally gives in.
“Fine. I'll do it. On one condition,” Jeonghan smirks, and Joshua leans in closer, happiness radiating from him that Jeonghan’sfinally agreed.
“You owe me a date,” he grins wider and Joshua rolls his eyes, silly grin growing on his face.
“Haven't all the late night coffees been dates?” He snarks, leaning into the redhead, who just hums contentedly.
It takes a day for the teasing to stop, a week for the team to realize how much quicker they’ve become, and another two to realize that they can win the Championship (and they do).
It takes another two months for the team to see Jeonghan in action, but it takes only one moment for Joshua to announce that he's gotten what he wants.
Jeonghan.