Chapter Text
The late Autumn afternoon weather is almost perfect. The sun shines over the field but it’s not too hot, thanks to a gentle breeze that will keep them cool during practice. The team makes their way out to start stretching, Bae among them. She’s full of energy and ready to throw some balls around.
She partners with Gigi for some of the stretching exercises and idle chatting while they’re warming up. That’s about one person whose energy she can match. Well, almost – Gigi’s on a whole other level. Still, the two make a pretty good team. Kronii vouched for that.
It’s easy to fall into the routine of their practice sessions, and once Bae locks in there’s nothing that can distract her from it.
Except lately her attention would waver occasionally, and today’s no exception. Far off on the other side of the field, she catches the faint sound of laughter over Kronii’s explanation of plans for today.
The cheerleading team. Once a week for a short while they end up having practice at the same time. They’ve never gotten into each other’s ways though, but lately Bae’s gaze ends up wandering towards the group of pretty girls when they enter the field.
One of them to be more specific. And she finds her easily – among the tallest members Irys stands out in the small group, long magenta hair tied up into a high ponytail.
They share a few classes together as well, but Bae hasn’t paid much attention to her until she met her through Calli when she organized a small get-together with her friends for her last birthday. Bae didn’t want to intrude on their hang out too much, but it was the first time she met Irys and the two had a fun back and forth. Ever since then she’s noticed her more, especially during practices.
As if knowing that there’s a pair of eyes on her, Irys turns her head. Their gazes meet from afar, and after what feels like a long time she waves at Bae. She does a little wave back, smiling stupid to herself. She can’t see it from this far away, but she can picture Irys smiling too.
That’s how it’s been lately. Just exchanging glances and smiles, hoping she doesn’t get caught acting all stupid.
Unfortunately she’s too obvious most of the time, and a sudden ball to her chest snaps her out of it. She manages to catch it, letting out a wheeze.
“C’mon Bae, get your head out of the clouds.” Kronii scolds, instructing Bae to follow the rest of their teammates. Bae’s ears burn, but at least she’s safe from teasing. She turns her head to look at Irys one more time, but the cheerleader’s already back to chatting with her friends.
Determined and energized from the short exchange, Bae runs over to join her team.
—
Bae hisses and curses internally. Her eyes are fixated on the field and her teammates while she's stuck on the bench watching her teammates. She rubs her calf in hopes it'll make the cramp go away faster.
She doesn't get it. She's never had a cramp so bad before, did she push it too hard recently? It doesn't make sense in her head. Nor does it matter, but she's still frustrated with being stuck on the side while her team does their best. With the next game approaching, every second she's not practicing is a big loss.
Too busy beating herself up, Bae doesn't realize she's got company. The familiar voice makes her jump.
“You guys are really going at it, huh?”
Her eyes widen upon realizing Irys has been standing next to her for probably a while. The girls left the field and headed to the changing rooms about the time Bae was pathetically limping her way over to the bench five minutes ago, yet here she is.
She's still in her cheerleading outfit, a light jacket with their school logo draped over her shoulder. The fringes of her hair stick to her forehead, a sign of a good day of practice, but she still looks pretty when she smiles at Bae.
“Uh. Yeah.” Is all Bae musters, awkwardly shifting her gaze back to her team. All too aware that Irys is staring at her.
“I don't know if you're allowed to be here?” she points out, an octave higher pitched than usual. Very smooth.
But the cheerleader just giggles and presses a finger to her lips, as if it's a secret. As if nobody could tell she's just standing around if they looked her way.
“C'mon, I'm not some spy~ we're on the same team here. It's cool watching you guys play during the actual game but I've always been curious about how things go down at practice!”
Bae chuckles, amused by the genuine curiosity in her voice.
“It's not much different. Just less brutal tackling and name calling.”
“Really?” Irys cocks her head, eyes dropping to Bae's leg she's still clinging onto. “Does that mean you're okay, or…?”
Realizing she must look pretty pathetic and vulnerable, Bae retracts her hands off of her calif like she got zapped by static. “I'm okay! Just a cramp, nothing bad.” She threads her fingers through her hair and pushes her hair back to look more natural. Instead it’s painfully obvious like she's forcing herself to look cool. If Irys thinks it’s cringe she doesn’t voice it.
“Had waaay worse. I was gonna keep practicing, it's the coach who advised me to take a break actually. I don’t think it was necessary, but I trust her.”
“Is that so?” Judging by her giggle, Irys isn't buying it. “Well I hope you can get back in soon, I'd like to see you catch some balls before I get kicked out.”
It throws her off guard how forward she’s being. But Bae does her best to play it off cool. “Hah, my bad. But at least your time’s not being wasted,” she nods her head in the direction where Kronii is, “the star player is over there. She’s the one everyone wants to see play.”
Irys’s gaze follows Bae’s. Her hands swing at her sides in thought and she hums, then clasps them together behind her back with a hum.
“Sure, Kronii’s cool and all. But I said I wanna see you play.” when Bae gives her a baffled look, Irys smiles and elaborates. “It’s just, like, you’re so small. Smaller than most football players I’ve seen but you make it work! Like,” her body moves stupidly cute to mimic dodging, “you duck and weave between everyone and it’s kinda really cool to watch. Coupled with your sick rushing, I think it’s really cool.”
Bae’s mouth hangs open and her cheeks flush in embarrassment. She’s not sure what baffles her more, the fact Irys is giving her genuine compliments or the the thought of Irys actively watching her like that. She averts her gaze but her stupid tail wags while it hangs off the bench.
“I… are you insulting me or complimenting me?” Bae asks teasingly through a nervous laugh. Irys pretends to ponder about before shrugging again. She wears a stupid grin to match the football player.
“I was trying to compliment, but whatever fits your shoe.”
“That’s… not how the saying goes, nor the right context for it.”
“Hey, it’s close enough!”
“Hakos!” Another voice interrupts the two’s laughter, causing them both to jolt. Bae instinctively hops onto her feet to face her coach who’s standing not too far from them, with the rest of the team all the way in the back pretending they’re not curiously staring at them. “Is your leg feeling better?”
“Oh,” Bae gives it an experimental shake, then steps harder on that foot. Then she nods and shouts back, “Feeling better, coach!”
Pleased with the answer, she beckons for Bae to come rejoin the practice. “C’mon, stop wasting time loitering around then. We don’t have much daylight left to spare.”
“Aye, aye.”
Bae glances back at Irys real quick. The cheerleader is still grinning, giving an encouraging nod. “Get out there, Hakos.”
“I have a name.”
She giggles behind her hand like Bae’s the funniest person she’s encountered. “Get out there, Bae.”
Nodding, she rejoins her team, welcomed with bumps to her shoulder and pats on her back. It’s painfully obvious they’re holding back on asking any questions, which just means it’ll be hell when they make it to the locker room. Bae’s gonna have to prepare mentally for that, but first she has practice to focus on.
She glances one last time to the bench where she spoke to Irys. The girl is gone. She swallows her disappointment and catches the ball, heading to her position.
Little does she know Irys was still watching, just out of her sight where she wouldn’t be a distraction.