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"I can't believe you're not playing here."
The disappointed voice of a boy echoes as he runs all over the orphanage’s basketball court with his basketball. He dribbles it almost professionally – to the untrained eye – and moves toward the hoop. He jumps, and the ball flies straight into the basket. Immediately, a surprised “oh!” is heard from behind, followed by applause.
“I don’t have anyone to play with…” Another boy replies quietly, sitting on a bench and watching the other play. He enjoys watching the energetic movements in front of him – too afraid to pick up the ball himself.
Another shot into the hoop. The ball bounces right into the player’s hands; he stops playing and finally directs his full attention to the person he’s talking to.
“I’ll play with you, Baekjin-ah!”
Baku flashes him his signature broad smile and tosses the ball his way, only to hear an unexpected yelp and the sound of rubber hitting skin.
Baekjin, now sitting with the ball in his hands, looks uncertainly at the boy in front of him. He touches the ball in his hands, feeling its texture and weight.
“Will you teach me…” Baekjin looks at Baku hopefully. Baku stands there stretching – bending to the sides, reaching for his toes, and then straightening up, placing his hands on his hips. “...how to play with you?”
“Of course I will! And we’ll play here every day, okay?” Baku laughs in response. What makes him happiest of all is that he’ll now have a place to throw his basketball when he doesn’t have basketball practice at school.
He walks over to Baekjin, grabs him by the wrists, and leads him to the center of the court. His hand smoothly snatches the ball from Baekjin’s grip and, out of habit, immediately starts bouncing it off the ground. Baekjin watches his every move intently, his mouth slightly agape.
“Here, watch.”
Baku gets into position: his feet are shoulder-width apart and his knees are slightly bent; his torso is leaning slightly forward, and his arm, bent at the elbow, is in front of his body. The ball drops from his hand to the ground and then bounces back into it, setting a rhythm. Up and down, up and down. The ball bounces confidently under his hand.
After a while, Baku straightens up, catching the ball in his hand. He scratches his nose with a satisfied look and turns to Baekjin.
“That’s the basic stance. It’s where it all starts,” the boy replies proudly. He tosses the ball lightly to his friend, “try bouncing it yourself.”
“Me?” Baekjin stares wide-eyed at the ball, then at Baku. He’d seen how naturally the other boy’s body bent and moved, and he knew full well that his own couldn’t do the same. “I don’t think I can do it.”
“It’s all about practice, Jinnie!” Baku says, puffing his lips.
He walks over to Baekjin and places his hands on the boy’s shoulders, pressing gently to help him get into position. And the younger boy’s body follows his lead.
Baekjin gets into the basic stance. The stance that looked so beautiful and natural on Baku, but looks so awkward and uncomfortable on him. His cheeks take on a pinkish hue from his own embarrassment. He turns his head, trying to shake off his awkward thoughts, and hopes that Baku doesn’t see any of this.
“Man, you’re so awkward,” booms a voice like thunder in a clear sky, shattering all of Baekjin’s hopes.
He immediately shakes off the hands on his shoulders and straightens up – there it is, his basic stance. Baku looks at the boy in front of him in surprise.
“What’s the matter? I used to be like that, too,” Baku tries to reassure the younger boy in front of him. He circles around Baekjin, trying to look at his face, which is so eagerly hiding from him as he twists and turns. He straightens up and awkwardly scratches his neck.
“Baekjin-ah, come on, let’s play already.”
Baekjin’s reaction was really funny, Baku thinks. His eyes, wide open, stare at Baku as if he were an alien, and his mouth trembles awkwardly.
“But I don’t know anything! I don’t know the theory, and I couldn’t get the stance right…” Baekjin tilts his head apologetically. He looks at the ball in his hands, “how can I play with you, Baku?”
“Come on, forget about the theory. I told you, practice is what matters.”
He carefully reaches for the ball and, out of habit, starts bouncing it off the ground again. After taking a couple of steps back, he and Baekjin are now standing a short distance apart, close enough to make perfect passes to each other. And that’s exactly what Baku does.
He tosses the ball onto the ground – so it bounces perfectly into Baekjin’s hands and he catches it. Baekjin looks at him with a million questions in his eyes, to which Baku waves his hand dismissively and motions for Baekjin to repeat exactly what he just did. The boy repeats the motion, and the ball returns to Baku’s hands. He smiles to himself.
The ball flew back and forth between them at a relaxed pace for several minutes, until Baku began to move slightly from side to side, forcing Baekjin to aim for where Baku would be in the next moment.
Back and forth, back and forth.
Without either of them realizing it, they had already started running all over the basketball court, passing the ball between themselves in different ways – sometimes high, sometimes low; sometimes fast, sometimes slow. Gradually, Baaekjin got the hang of it.
When they both reached the hoop, Baku suddenly passed the ball to Baekjin. The boy caught it and looked questioningly at the other.
“Go for it! Shoot, Baekjin-ah!” Baku exclaimed as if they were in a real tournament. He clenched his hands into fists and watched with eager eyes. Baekjin didn’t want to disappoint him at all.
He confidently shifted his gaze to the hoop. It wasn’t close, but it wasn’t far either – the distance was around the penalty line, slightly closer to the hoop. Clutching the ball in his hands, Baekjin tried to calculate the exact distance, trajectory, and wind, but his calculations were interrupted by Baku, who was fidgeting impatiently out of the corner of his eye. Deciding to go ahead without relying on math, Baekjin finally threw the ball.
Based on his quick assessment – he’d thrown it very well, quite accurately. Now it would fly straight into the hoop and fall triumphantly through it, rattling the old net, and–
The ball crashes into the metal shield with a loud thud and bounces off into the bushes. The loud sound rings unpleasantly in his ears.
“What? I missed?!” Baekjin exclaims in surprise. He’d measured the distance and trajectory – how could he have missed? Why didn’t it go through the hoop?
“Good throw! You just needed to use a little less force,” Baku explains, emerging from the bushes with the ball. “Then it would have bounced down off the shield.”
Baekjin thoughtfully looks at him. He wanted to say something else, but Baku resumed the game before he could open his mouth. The ball flies toward him again, and he catches it, this time with complete confidence. In one fluid motion, he turns toward the hoop and runs toward it, dribbling the ball in rhythm.
As he reaches the center of the court, he pauses for a split second and shoots the ball.
The ball crashes into the plastic shield and ricochets off the gym wall. Dissatisfied groans and the sound of footsteps echo through the gym.
“Warm up properly,” Gotak grunts, picking up the ball from the floor and returning to his position next to Baku. He shoves the ball hard into the other guy’s side, making him curse.
Baku reluctantly picks up the ball. For some reason, he starts examining it as if he’s seeing it for the first time, rather than every single day, morning and night. He throws it sluggishly into the air – toward the hoop, but not quite. The ball doesn’t even make it there. And Gotak groans in frustration again.
“Calm down, Gogo,” Baku stretches lazily. He turns his gaze to his friend. “We already warm up every day, but now I need to hold back my energy. I’ve been saving it up since last night.”
He proudly lifts his chin, looking at his friend from under his bangs, as if he hadn’t just said some complete nonsense. Gotak looks back at him with a gaze weary of his bullshit. He silently turns around and walks over to the bench where the rest of their friends are sitting.
Today, their gym will host a friendly match against a mixed team made up of players from three schools: Yeo-ll, Kanghak, and Yeonsung.
This team was formed because none of these schools focuses on sports as a main area of study for their students – they don’t have dedicated sports clubs, and students don’t receive any recognition for their athletic skills, if they have any. However, everyone wants to play sports, so they had to go to neighboring schools to ask if anyone would like to join one big team.
In the end, a large number of students from Yeonsung joined, along with a couple of kids from Kanghak and – most shockingly of all – one student from Yeo-ll, a school where they nurture future Einsteins, and where sports aren’t just nonexistent, but it seems the very word is forbidden.
This news stunned all newborn teammates, but not in a very pleasant way, because when you hear “Yeo-ll,” you immediately picture either total nerds or daddy’s boys – neither of which is welcome in sports. So when a student from there joins your team, you immediately picture someone who’s never even held a ball in his hands and for some reason, he’s come to play basketball. Imagine the surprise when it turned out he was also the top-ranked student in the entire school.
However, all that negativity and hostility vanished instantly when that very same guy showed everyone what he could do – he’s damn good at basketball!
Once the team’s lineup was set, the mixed team occasionally played against itself, gathering at the neighborhood basketball court, because – to everyone’s surprise – the class schedules at the three different schools were all different. They played with a full lineup even less often than that, and the main reason for this was, in fact, Yeo-ll school.
Upon hearing rumors about the mixed team from the three schools, Eunjang decided to take action or, more precisely, – Baku did, as the leader of the basketball team.
Eunjang was famous for being full of goofballs who were trying to make their way into adulthood not through good grades, but through sports – which is actually quite good and promising. That’s why it was the only school with a basketball team, even if it was a modest one but an official one nonetheless.
One day, while playing detective, Baku managed to catch them playing on the neighborhood court. There was a big crowd – there were even spectators, including other students, mostly girls, and elderly people who were bored with watching basketball games on TV.
Making his way through the crowd, Baku approached the court and its players with anticipation. He froze the moment his gaze met another – one that was painfully familiar. And Baekjin froze, too.
After the game, Baku suggested they play friendly matches from time to time, because playing against your own team gets boring very quickly, and his suggestion was accepted.
And on the way home, holding the other’s gym bag, Baku kept pressing Baekjin about what he was actually doing there, given that he was always so busy and kept turning down Baku’s invitations to meet up. He really did feel very hurt.
The response came in the form of his companion’s red cheeks and a very awkward whisper.
“I wanted to learn to play better for you.”
And Baku, unable to hide his delight at the answer, smiled broadly, draping his free arm over the other boy’s shoulder and pulling him closer.
“It’s about time I test your skills. What do you think, Baekjinnie?”
Baku was brought back from his pleasant memories by the sound of Suho, who had just walked into the gym. Like Gotak, he was already wearing Eunjang’s basketball uniform.
“The mixed team just arrived,” he said, pointing behind him toward the door he’d just come through.
At the mention of another team, Baku bolted out of the gym at lightning speed, running outside. Behind him, he could hear laughter and grumbling about how they could walk there on their own and there was no need to escort them every time, but as usual, that remark was ignored.
A crowd of students in various uniforms stood in front of the school, attracting a lot of attention not only from fellow students but also from ordinary passersby. Without missing a beat, many students called out to people to come watch their match and see how they would crush Eunjang.
“Who told you it wouldn’t be the other way around?”
The shouts and laughter stopped. The entire team turned their gaze toward the owner of the loud voice.
“You saying you got better at playing?” Seongje shrugs. He tosses his nearly finished cigarette on the ground and stubs it out with his foot.
Standing next to him was Baekjin, who, upon seeing Baku, mentally counted all the players and waved his hand, signaling for them to head inside the school.
The guys began to walk through the gate, shaking Baku’s hand or nodding to him. Seongje, despite his earlier remark, also shook hands with the leader of Eunjang. He glanced at Baekjin, who remained standing next to Baku, and chuckled at Dongha and Seongmok walking beside him.
“Thanks to Baekjinnie, we’re always greeted so warmly here.”
The other two guys looked back at the couple standing by the gate and chuckled too, adding a few teasing remarks of their own. The trio, without waiting for their fourth member, headed toward the gym.
Baekjin stood in front of Baku. The corners of his lips were slightly turned up in a calm, subtle smile. And Baku smiled back at him – broadly, with a sparkle in his eyes.
“Ready for today’s battle? We won’t go easy on you today,” Baku declared proudly, folding his arms across his chest.
Baekjin snorts in response, rolling his eyes. He slowly walked into the school courtyard, motioning for Baku to follow him.
“To be honest, I’ve been feeling a little under the weather since this morning,” Baekjin admitted, furrowing his brows slightly. Indeed, Baekjin looked paler than usual, which Baku noticed immediately. “I’m feeling better now. I think I’ll be able to beat you again without any trouble, Captain.”
Baekjin smirked, fixing his predatory gaze on Baku, sending shivers down his spine. But not out of fear. It was a slightly different feeling. And, damn it, he was sure the guy next to him had done it on purpose – to distract him from important matters.
“Are you sure you’re feeling okay? We can postpone the match–”
“That’s too much, Baku. I’m not the only one playing here.”
Baekjin walks over to the door of the locker room set aside especially for them. Voices and the loud laughter of his teammates can already be heard from behind the door. He stops in front of the door, his hand on the doorknob. He turns his head toward Baku. A reassuring smile plays on his face.
“It’s all good. Go get changed.”
The door slams shut in front of the anxious Baku.
He quickly returns to Eunjang’s locker room, where his friends are sitting, discussing something. Sieun is holding a notebook, poking at the circles and words drawn in it with his pen; around him are Gotak and Suho, listening intently to everything he’s telling them.
Baku takes off his school jacket and pulls off his shirt as he walks toward his locker.
“So? Did they get lost on the way here?” Gotak jokes, looking up from the notebook. He leans back slightly on the bench, stretching his legs out in front of him.
“Baekjin isn’t feeling very well.” Baku says, completely ignoring what the other guy said, and pulls his sports jersey over his head.
“Oh, thank God,” Gotak blurts out without thinking, and immediately catches himself.He turns to Baku, who looks back at him with confusion and a hint of anger. “No, I meant, thank God that today the difficulty level of the match from “Hell” will drop to just “Hardcore.” And I wish Baekjin health and happiness.”
Suho mutters “and love” under his breath, continuing to look at the notebook, occasionally poking at something in it with his finger.
Baku has already changed into his athletic shorts. He sat down on the bench next to Gotak to tie the laces on his sneakers. His gaze finally fell on the notebook in Sieun’s hands, and Sieun, as if sensing this, began to speak louder, addressing Baku.
“These are the tactics for today’s match, which I advise you to stick to. Here you can practice several new positions and formations at once. During the game, I’ll analyze everything and let you know when your play was most cohesive.”
Sieun looks up from the notebook, tucking it into his backpack along with his pen.
“Thanks for your work, Sieun-ah.” Baku ruffles the other boy’s hair and gets his hand slapped as usual.
Juntae walks into the locker room. He quickly scans the room, and when he spots Baku, who’s ready to play, he smiles.
“The gym is ready. The audience is heading in right now… There’s a huge crowd this time!”
The guys leave the locker room, chatting cheerfully, and head toward the gym. Along the way, they stretch and bend their torsos to warm up.
In the gym, they are indeed greeted by a large crowd. Of course, most of the seats are filled with Eunjang students, but a wide variety of school uniforms still catches the eye. Their matches have always been open to anyone interested in watching, but for some reason, there are more people than ever today.
Baku glances around the room and his gaze settles on the opposite side – where the door to the other locker room is located. Another team has already gathered near it, actively discussing something. Or rather, only some of them are, which leads Baku to conclude that they’re unlikely to be discussing the upcoming game. He wonders if Baekjin will be free afterward?
His gaze meets Baekjin’s, and it seems to him that the same question flashed through Baekjin’s eyes as the one he’d asked himself a moment ago. The thought made him smile involuntarily.
A whistle rang out across the gym, drawing the attention of both teams. The seats immediately came to life, with the audience shouting players’ names and stomping loudly on the floor. You could tell the game was going to be intense – which was hardly surprising.
When you come to watch the match between Eunjang and the mixed team of three schools, you should be prepared right away for the fact that standard basketball rules and the importance of following them take a back seat. Of course, the rules are there and are followed, but only to a very limited extent. The referee is needed here simply to blow the whistle and, very occasionally, make remarks – which, in most cases, are ignored by both teams. The most important thing here is enjoying the game, which leads to emotions taking over.
There’s often bloodshed – someone might get their knee scraped or get hit in the face with the ball, splitting their eyebrow open. In the past, Gotak walked off the court with a broken leg after a hard collision with Seonje during one such game; Seonje himself got off with just a sprain. For several weeks, he taunted Gotak by bringing him bouquets of flowers – first to the hospital and then to school.
So yes. Basketball games between these two teams are indeed very heated.
The starting lineups took the field, and the buzz in the arena grew louder. The players immediately perked up, starting to jump in place or shift from foot to foot.
Baku and Baekjin step into the center of the field. Both radiate a fighting spirit – their eyes are ablaze.
Baku extends his hand to Baekjin, who immediately shakes it, eager to start the game. Shouts ring out across the field again, but this time from the players themselves, greeting one another and wishing each other a good game.
Baku and Baekjin remain standing in the center while their teammates behind them spread out across the field, taking their positions. Baekjin closely watches where his teammates are positioning themselves – assessing the situation and planning his next move as soon as the ball is on his side. Baku, meanwhile, looks at him. He looks at his side profile – at the beautiful curve of his nose, which leads downward to his lovely, plump lips and upward to his elegant, deep-set eyes. He just can’t shake his nervousness.
Baku leans forward slightly, and Baekjin, noticing this, leans toward him with a raised eyebrow.
"Are you sure you're feeling okay?" Baku whispers, his voice audible only to the two of them.
Baekjin's expression turns irritated for a moment, but immediately shifts to a calmer, more serious one. He pouts slightly, feigning offense.
“I said I’m fine. Stop worrying and play your hardest, got it?”
Baekjin’s stern tone left no room for worry for Baku. A sick person wouldn’t have been able to answer him like that. He exhales with relief, narrowing his sly eyes.
"Well, that was your last chance to get a pass from Eunjang. Don't expect any mercy now, Baekjinnie," Baku says with a touch of too much smugness, drawing a muffled chuckle in response. And a smile spreads across his face from ear to ear.
The referee steps between them, forcing them to step back and stand up straight to prepare to intercept the ball for their teams. Silence falls over.
Next moment – the whistle blows, and the ball is in the air.
The match got off to a fiery start – Baekjin got the first touch of the ball, and the team immediately went on the attack, forcing Eunjang to fall back on defense.
Dongha dribbled the ball, quickly passing it back and forth with Seongmok, frustrating the opposing players. This duo has always annoyed Suho, which is exactly why he never takes his eyes off them, looking for the right moment to strike. And on yet another pass between the two, he manages to intercept the ball in the middle, breaking forward and drawing a wave of surprised and supportive cheers from the audience. Amid all this noise, can be heard Juntae’s joyful shout along with Sieun’s, who also manages to quickly jot something down in his notebook.
Gotak surges forward to create an opening for Suho to make a clear pass. He shouts Suho’s name, and Suho, without hesitation, throws the ball in his direction. Instead of catching the ball, Gotak took a sharp blow to the side – Seongje had crashed into him while intercepting the ball. Gotak manages to catch a smirk on the other guy’s face before he dashes off in the opposite direction.
Baku, meanwhile, remained an iron wall, shielding Baekjin from the rest of his team. Nevertheless, Baekjin still managed to catch the ball from Seongje as he sped toward the basket.
Baku himself rarely touched the ball, but when he did, it was precise – usually accompanied by a minute-long battle for possession of it against Baekjin, from which they emerged victorious an equal number of times. This time, luck was on Baku’s side, and he broke free with the ball from his opponent’s grip. This gave Baku a huge confidence boost, and he stopped at the one-third line to take a three-pointer – Baekjin was just a second too late to block Baku, and in the next moment, a loud thud of the ball hitting the shield echoed through the arena, followed by the rustle of the net, signaling a made shot.
Baku’s team let out a joyful cheer, and he himself pumped his fist energetically. He glanced over at Baekjin, who was panting beside him. Baekjin rolled his eyes in response but still patted Baku on the back, running forward to retrieve the ball under the basket, ready to continue the game.
The fans’ cheers grew louder and louder as the first 20 minutes came to a close, so loud that they could be heard outside the school, drawing even more people to watch. With no more room to spare, they were left standing in the gym doors.
A whistle echoes through the gym, signaling the end of the first half and the start of a 15-minute halftime break. The teams leave the court, each heading to their respective benches. The first half ended with a score of 15:12 in favor of Eunjang. Despite a strong start and Baku’s fancy moves, the mixed team didn’t fall behind – on the contrary, they only grew more furious, not giving Eunjang a moment to rest from the endless attacks.
Sieun called the guys over to him. He took a pen out of his pocket and began using it as a pointer. He traced it over his notes.
“You need to stop playing defense. They’re really hyped up right now, so they’re not very focused on defending their own hoop,” explained Sieun. He kept pointing at Seongje’s name, trying to get the guys to pay more attention to him. The duo of Seongmok and Dongha is also a nuisance. “There aren’t any problems with Baekjin today, though.”
Sieun casts a confused glance at Baku, who isn’t listening to him at all and is just sipping water from his bottle as if he’s tasting it for the first time in years.
“Baku, you mentioned that he wasn’t feeling well today…”
“Everything’s fine. Didn’t you see him running around the court?” Baku shakes his head, wiping sweat from his hair. He runs his hand back through his hair, combing it back. “He told me himself that everything’s fine. He’s probably just analyzing the game in his head so he can talk about it with his teammates later.”
After he said that, all the guys turned to face the opposing team.
Baekjin was sitting on a bench, leaning back against the wall. His eyes were closed, and he looked pensive. Standing next to him was Seongje, pouring water from a bottle over Dongha. The other teammates stood nearby, trying to catch their breath after the game.
“What’s the plan, Baekjinnie?” Seongje plops down next to him. He leans forward, resting his hands on his knees, and looks at Baekjin with interest.
In response, Baekjin utters a quiet “hm,” then opens his eyes to look at his friend.
“Since when do you care about any kind of plan? Keep running in circles around Hyuntak and have fun,” Baekjin replies with a hint of irritation, which his friend immediately picks up on.
Seongje turns more toward Baekjin, placing his hand on the back of the bench behind him.
“You said you were feeling better,” Seongje looks anxiously at the pale face in front of him. Baekjin’s response is a heavy sigh, and he begins to massage his face with his palms.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I said,” Baekjin retorts, straightening up. His expression has turned serious, and his posture is more confident. “Team, come here.”
Eunjang watched as their rivals abruptly formed a circle around their leader and began discussing something. At the sight of this, Baku smirked smugly, as if to say “I told you so.”
Another whistle blows, and the crowd erupts once more, cheering the teams back onto the game field. The lineups remained unchanged for the second half.
Baku and Baekjin faced off again at center.
The referee blows the whistle and tosses the ball into the air. And in the next instant, the entire gym descends into chaos.
The ball ends up on Baekjin’s side again, sending Seongje forward. This time, things don’t go according to the plan they’d discussed earlier – he’s met by Suho, who resolutely blocks his path. Seongje scoffs, offended, and turns serious. With a couple of feints, he gets past Suho, heading straight for the hoop, where he meets Gotak.
“How could you have ditched me, Hyuntakie?” Seongje pouts, dribbling the ball a couple of times right in front of Gotak, taunting him.
As soon as Gotak tries to steal the ball from him, Seongje spins past him and shoots the ball straight into the basket. A satisfied murmur rises from the audience. The mixed team pulls ahead by 2 points.
“This one could’ve been dedicated to you,” Seongje smirks and winks at Gotak before running off to the side, letting the opposing team take the ball.
"You're such a…" Gotak exhaled. He walks over to the ball and, without a second thought, throws it to his teammate.
Any reasonable person would think that the second half of the game would be boring and very sluggish, but they’d be wrong. In fact, the second half is the most energetic and intense part of the game. In a haze of exhaustion and adrenaline, the players stop seeing anything other than the ball and the opponent’s hoop. Their movements become sharper and more aggressive – by this point, the referee has usually left the court and gone to the gym teacher’s office to drink some tea and try to get a break from the students’ shouting. Everything is left up to the teams themselves.
There are 10 minutes left in the second half. The mixed team is ahead by 3 points, and Eunjang has no intention of giving up so easily. There’s a chance to force overtime if they can make a three-pointer to tie the score. And that’s exactly what Eunjang’s leader specializes in.
The plan is simple – the ball must be in Baku’s hands while the rest of the team clears a path for him. Covering Baekjin is the top priority. And while this sounds fairly simple in theory, Baekjin himself is far from simple; on the contrary, in the second half, if the opposing team has any chance of tying the score, he becomes a beast that only Baku isn’t afraid to face. But right now…
Baku is sprinting toward the three-point line with the ball – the entire opposing team is right behind him, and right beside him, breathing down his neck, is Baekjin, whom Gotak is trying with all his might to guard. The sound of sneakers scraping against the floor and the shouts of his name – it’s all weighing on his mind, and it’s becoming really hard to think straight. Baku feels Baekjin stirring behind him – he jerks in some direction, but Baku can’t tell exactly which one. All the sounds blend together, and Baku is disoriented by his surroundings, but he sees the hoop. He whips his torso around, grazing something with his elbow, and then spins back – jumping with the ball, aiming for the hoop. But just as a wave of gasps fills the air, the fog finally lifts from his mind. Without looking to see where his ball is flying to, Baku whips his head back in a flash and freezes.
Baekjin is on all fours, covering his face with one hand. Next to him, Seongje is kneeling, calling out to him repeatedly. Gotak dashes toward the exit, shouting for a medic.
Baku drops to his knees next to Baekjin and places a hand on his back. He tries to see the boy’s face, but Baekjin is covering it too completely with his hand.
“Baekjin? Baekjinnie, are you okay? Baekjin–”
Baku sees droplets of blood falling onto the floor from beneath the palm covering Baekjin’s face. He freezes in horror.
Baekjin is sitting on a bench with a bloodstained napkin stuffed up his nose; his head is tilted back slightly against the wall. His eyes are closed, and he’s breathing heavily.
“Please, I’m so sorry. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.”
Next to him, Baku’s pitiful voice can be heard. He, too, was benched after ruining the game for everyone by staring intently at the bench where the school medic was stopping Baekjin’s nosebleed. He was getting in the way, missing passes, and was simply an annoying obstacle on the court. Eventually, his team got angry and sent him to sit next to Baekjin, replacing him with another player.
Baekjin squints painfully. He slowly opens his eyes and sees Baku sitting halfway on the floor – his torso leaning too far forward in an attempt to get a better look at Baekjin’s face, one leg bent at the knee on the floor. His own face looked incredibly sad – he was practically on the verge of tears as he looked at the injured boy.
“Calm down,” Baekjin scoffs. “We both know you didn’t do it on purpose. And we’ve been through worse, haven't we?”
"Yes, but…" Baku bites his lower lip, and his eyes grow even sadder – just like those of an abandoned and beaten puppy. “This time I knew you weren’t feeling well, but I still didn’t go easy on you… I’m sorry–”
A hand appears on Baku’s mouth – silencing him. He looks questioningly at the face in front of him, which is frowning even more. The conversation is over, and Baekjin doesn’t want to hear him whine anymore.
In the end, Baku sits down fully on the floor and rests his head on the other’s lap, wrapping his arms around them. He’s already running through a bunch of ways he can make it up to the boy.
The match ends with a victory for the mixed team. Eunjang wasn't able to catch up to them, conceding the match with a score of 19:16.
Seongje and Gotak took on the leadership roles in the center. With wicked grins, they shook hands so hard that their knuckles cracked. It’s a familiar sight to everyone. Sometimes, for a bit of romance, they might even throw a punch at each other, but there’s been enough bloodshed for today.
Both teams bow to the audience and thank them for coming to watch. A huge crowd of people is making its way toward the exit, blocking the players’ path to the locker rooms and giving them a little more time to play with the ball.
“Hey, where’s…” Suho looks around in confusion, trying to find someone. “Where are Baku and Baekjin?”
“They probably went to see the nurse,” Gotak replies without even turning to face him, and shoots the basketball into the hoop.
In the dark hallway at the other end of the hall – next to the gym teacher’s office and the infirmary – the rustle of clothing can be heard, followed by a dull thud and, immediately afterward, quiet gasps.
Baku pressed Baekjin against the wall. They’d ended up here while on their way to throw away the napkin Baekjin had in his nose, but, as always, something had gone pretty much wrong, and the bloodstained napkin had been left behind on the floor.
Baku’s hands roam beneath the other’s shirt, squeezing and caressing every inch of bare, flushed skin. In response, he receives a moan against his lips and a whisper of his name, and it drives him mad. He presses his lips against the ones in front of him in a messy kiss. Baekjin’s hands find their way around Baku’s neck, pulling him even closer, bumping their teeth and drawing moans from both of them.
Baku’s tongue penetrates Baekjin’s mouth, exploring every part of it. He presses his body even closer, grinding his groin against the other’s, and Baekjin gasps into his mouth. Baku’s hands, which had been roaming all over the other boy’s body, came to rest on his slender waist – gripping it at the sides. At this, Baekjin breaks the kiss and throws his head back, his whole body trembling from the touch. Unconcerned by the absence of the other’s lips on his own, Baku began kissing the neck now exposed to him. He leaves wet kisses from Adam's apple to the jawline, lightly sucking. Baekjin’s fingers gripped his hair tight at his nape, and Baku groaned.
To Baku’s surprise, Baekjin pushes him away. His pupils are dilated, and his hair has completely lost its neat appearance. Baku unconsciously licks his lips.
“Give me a bloody nose again.”
Baku stares dumbfounded at the boy in his arms. He tries to process what he just heard. Baekjin looks at him with his eyes dark – his mouth slightly agape.
“…What?”
“Please, Baku,” Baekjin whimpers at the image that’s formed in his head, but which Baku doesn’t understand at all.
The older boy still feels guilty about what happened to Baekjin at the game, and now he's being asked this. He's completely lost.
”No, what are you even talking about? I can’t hurt you again! Baekjin, what’s going on–”
“Can I do it to you, then?”
Baku’s brain short-circuits. He can’t for the life of him figure out what’s happening right now or exactly what the younger guy is trying to achieve. At some point, he comes to the conclusion that Baekjin simply wants to get revenge on him – to hit back, just as Baku had accidentally hit him previously. It’s a strange thought, because Baekjin has never been like that, but for some reason, right now, he thinks that’s exactly what’s going on.
“Yeah, you can–”
Before Baku could finish speaking, he felt a sharp, intense pain in the bridge of his nose. The blow sent his head spinning to the side, and he let out a pained “oof.” Red fluid poured from his nose.
Before Baku could recover and wipe away the blood, his face was already cupped in hands and quickly pulled back.
Baku freezes the moment he feels Baekjin’s mouth on his upper lip, stained with fresh blood. He feels his lip being licked – the drops of blood being lapped away. He feels the other’s tongue move higher and lick away the blood just oozing from his nose. He wants to push Baekjin away, but Baekjin holds his face firmly in his hands.
“Baekjin, what are you–” A moan escaped Baku’s mouth as his upper lip was being hungrily sucked. Baekjin’s tongue takes advantage of this and works its way inside his mouth, drawing another moan from him.
Baku tastes his own blood in his mouth, but he also feels Baekjin and his heat all over his body. He returns the kiss, and the blood from his nose trickles down their lips into their mouths, staining them both dark red. Baku’s hands cup Baekjin’s cheeks and tilt his head to the side, deepening the kiss.
They pull away from each other as they feel themselves getting dizzy from the taste of iron in their mouths and the lack of oxygen in their lungs. They look at each other breathless. Baku unconsciously licks his lips again, tasting blood and smudging it even more on his face. He sees Baekjin watching him do it. He leans in to steal another kiss.
A loud thud of a door slamming against the wall echoes nearby, and they jump back from each other in horror. The gym teacher, – who had also been their referee during the match, – steps out through the wide-open door. He turns toward them and raises an eyebrow questioningly.
Silence falls between them. Neither Baekjin nor Baku knows what to say, and their mouths remain frozen, half-open.
“What’s going on here?”
The teacher walks slowly toward them. They both start shifting back awkwardly. If the teacher gets any closer, he’ll see the state they’re both in – both have red, swollen lips, their hair is tousled, and their clothes are wrinkled in questionable places. Not to mention how obvious it must be to an outsider just how tight their shorts are on both of them.
“Is that blood? Have you two been fighting out here, huh?”
A thought flashes through Baku’s mind – one that might just be it. He places both hands on Baekjin’s shoulders and smiles awkwardly.
“No, no, don’t worry! I just had a nosebleed too, and Baekjin decided to take me to the infirmary!”
Baekjin nods awkwardly – his whole face is red with embarrassment, but thank God the main lights in the hallway are off. Baku turns him around and pushes him forward toward the infirmary, saving them both.
The infirmary was empty. No wonder – the medic had left right after stuffing a tissue up Baekjin’s nose and giving him a couple of tips, saying that the infirmary would be open and, if he needed anything, he should just go and help himself. No other help will be provided.
The boys quickly went in and closed the door behind them. The atmosphere was a little awkward. Neither of them knew what to do next. They weren’t in the mood to keep going – especially here, since the gym teacher can check on them anytime now, and the blood from Baku’s nose had almost stopped flowing.
While Baku continued to fidget where he stood, Baekjin walked over to the cabinet and took out the first-aid kit. He opened it and laid out everything needed for disinfection on the table. His gaze met Baku’s curious stare, and he gently patted the chair in front of him, motioning for Baku to sit down. Baku obediently sat down on the soft chair, looking up at Baekjin. He gave him a sheepish smile, still feeling awkward.
Baekjin silently, but with gentle warmth, began treating the other boy’s busted nose. He gently ran a damp cloth from the older’s nostril to his lips, wiping away the blood that had already dried there, and then lightly applied a cooling cream to the bridge of his nose with his finger; Baku winced slightly when he felt the coolness. Baekjin’s hand paused, and he regretfully looked into the other boy’s eyes.
“I’m sorry for this,” Baekjin said, looking away. His hands clenched into fists. Baku looked at the younger boy’s face in confusion. He took Baekjin’s fists in his palms and gently pulled them toward him, urging Baekjin to turn his face back toward him. “I… got carried away. I didn’t even… hesitate for a second before hitting you… I wasn’t thinking clearly – forgive me. I’ll never do that again.”
Baekjin still refused to face Baku. With a slight smile on his face, Baku wrapped his arms around Baekjin’s hips and rested his face against his waist. Not expecting such a reaction, Baekjin let out a startled gasp and turned back to face him. Without realizing it, his hands fell onto Baku’s shoulders to steady himself. Baku looked up at him with his oh so broad smile, but there was something dangerous in his eyes.
“And you were so hot when you did that…” Baku sighed dreamily. He pressed his cheek more firmly against the other’s body. “Hey, Baekjin-ah, when we’ll be in bed, will you be like that–”
“Oh, please,” Baekjin covers his face with his palm, but despite that, you can still see the tips of his ears turning red. Baku grins smugly. Baekjin groans in pain, “Not now, and not here.”
He grabs a dry napkin from the table, quickly crumples it up, and shoves it into Baku’s nose, making him flinch in pain and loosening his grip on Baekjin’s legs. Baekjin turns away from Baku and begins gathering all the instruments back into the first-aid kit, ignoring the gaze that tries to make a hole on the back of his head.
When he’s done, he turns back and sees Baku in exactly the same position, but this time looking at him with sad puppy-like eyes. Baekjin crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow in silent question.
“What about a kiss? So it heals well and quickly,” Baku pouts childishly. He puffs his lips, showing exactly where he wants the kiss.
Baekjin rolls his eyes but leans in. However, the kiss lands not where the one who made the request intended, but on the bridge of his nose.
“I punched you on the nose, not the lips.” Baekjin says smugly. He walks toward the door without looking back, completely ignoring Baku’s indignant shouts. He hears a chair being pulled back sharply – perhaps it even nearly fell over, and quick footsteps behind him.
A bus was parked at the school gates – specially rented by students from three schools to make it easier to get home after late matches. A crowd of students from all four schools surrounded it. A friendly, relaxed atmosphere reigned among the students; everyone was chatting about something – some about the game that had just ended, while others were wondering aloud where they should have dinner.
Baku and Baekjin were the last to step out through the gates. They approached the crowd and apologized for keeping them waiting. Baekjin immediately began counting his players to make sure no one would be left behind in Eunjang for the night. He walked further into the crowd, leaving Baku with his friends.
“Where were you two–”
Gotak froze when he saw a slightly bloodstained napkin in Baku’s nose.
“What the hell? Did you guys get into a fight?” Gotak’s expression immediately turned serious as he shifted his gaze from Baku to Baekjin in the crowd and back to Baku. His whole demeanor made it clear that one word from Baku and Baekjin would have his other nostril smashed.
The rest of their group turned around at Gotak’s loud voice.
“No fucking way, Baekjin can actually fight back?” Seongje whistled, taking a closer look at Baku’s smashed nose.
Dongha and Seongmok stared in shock – first at the napkin in Baku’s nose, then at their team’s leader, who was calmly wandering through the crowd and continuing to count the guys. It felt as if he’d been counting them all for the 10th time already, unwilling to return to them.
Suho, meanwhile, couldn’t take his eyes off Baekjin. He and Gotak were ready to pounce on the opposing team’s leader at any moment. Sieun and Juntae were asking anxiously what on earth had happened between the two of them.
Baku waves his hands awkwardly, trying to reassure them that everything was fine and that it wasn’t at all what they were thinking. God, they weren’t even close to figuring out what had actually happened. And that thought made Baku’s cheeks start to flush. But none of them have a chance to comment on it, as Baekjin starts herding everyone onto the bus.
The students say goodbye to the Eunjang students and get on the bus one by one.
When it’s Seongje’s turn, he glances at Baekjin with a smirk.
“I’m waiting for the details, fighter.”
Baekjin hears Seongje’s muffled, obnoxious laughter from inside the bus and just rolls his eyes.
Once all the students had boarded the bus and only Baekjin remained standing next to it, he turned awkwardly toward Baku and his group. He noticed the murderous glares from Suho and Gotak and unconsciously took a small step back. He cleared his throat.
“I… I’ve already apologized for that. Thanks for the game. See you later.”
Baekjin bowed deeply and ran onto the bus, which pulled away immediately afterward. Through the window, the boys could see Baekjin sit down in the aisle seat next to Seongje, and Seongje’s head pop up right next to him, while Dongha and Seongmok stood up from the back seats with their mouths open, already bombarding with questions. Poor Baekjin does his best to pretend he does not notice the three guys hovering over him and tries to enjoy the ride – which, of course, he can't do at all.
Baku watches it with warmth. A wide smile spread across his face.
He stretches loudly, catching his friends’ attention.
“So, hot pot? I’m so damn hungry, it’s crazy!”
Baku pretends to cry, patting his stomach. And right after that, as if to confirm his words, his stomach growls loudly.
“Ya! Don’t change the subject, you hear me?” Gotak sighs irritably as Baku starts to walk away, ignoring him.
“Ah, I’m so hungry…”
All his friends sigh in exasperation. It’s just Baku and Baekjin – nothing serious could possibly happen between them. Most likely, it was just a silly accident: Baku bumped his head while opening the door to the infirmary, and ended up with a nosebleed too.
Yes, that’s probably exactly what happened. Baku’s just too embarrassed to admit it.
They all catch up to him, heading to the nearest hot pot restaurant to celebrate their defeat.