HOME RUN (Jackson)

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Your mysterious signal,

Missed it, I keep swinging.

I don’t know where this will go,

You’re hard like a curveball

“What the hell happened here?”

Soo-Ah stared at the art classroom in horror. The huge banner, the one they had been relentlessly working on for the past week was completely destroyed. There was a huge tear down the middle, caused by an easel falling over on the hung banner and ripping it. The easel had also been holding a container of black paint, which had dripped all over the fallen banner.  

It was unsalvageable.

“It’s almost like somebody did it on purpose,” one of the girls whispered, her hand covering . They were all standing stock still, too horrified at the disaster before them, not knowing what to do. Their hard work was crumbling before their eyes. The broken easel, the culprit of the crime, was lying miserably on it’s side on the floor.

Soo-Ah took a deep breath and tried to cool herself. The other students looked extremely upset, and Mina was on the verge of tears. Soo-ah needed to take charge of the situation and handle things responsibly. Ignoring the horrified looks of her fellow Art club members, she leaned down and picked up the broken easel slowly.

“Looks like the easel landed on the banner and caused the damage,” Soo-Ah said, trying to stay calm. She stood the easel upright and then ran her fingers through her hair with a sigh. Soo-Ah glanced at the other members. “Who was the last one to leave the studio yesterday evening? Wasn’t it you, Mina?”

Mina’s eyes widened in horror. Her eyes were glazed over with tears. “Yes, but everything was fine when I left! I promise, unnie, it wasn’t me! I only cleaned up the glitter and hung the banner to dry before locking the room up. I left the key with the janitor like we always do!”

“I believe you,” Soo-Ah reassured her. She pointed towards the window that was right in front of the easel. It was half-open, and had clearly been open for a while. “We opened the window yesterday afternoon because it was hot, remember? Looks like the wind knocked the easel over. Nobody’s responsible for this.”

“What do we do?” one of the other girls whined.

“Let’s pick it up, first,” Soo-Ah said with a sigh. She waved over Youngjae, one of the few male members of the Art club. “Yah, Youngjae, help me pick it up. Be careful; we don’t need it to tear any more than it already has. Let’s spread it out on the table and see if we can repair the damage. Mina, get the double-sided tape from the supply room.”

Youngjae nodded and hurried to grab the fallen banner from the other end. He slowly lifted it, but something rolled out from underneath and hit his foot. He frowned, looking down at it. “What the… noona, somebody left a baseball lying around here. I could have tripped on that!” he whined.

Soo-ah frowned as she let the banner down slowly and picked up the baseball. It looked worn-out and used, with grass stains and dirt all over it. She had never seen it before and she stared at it for a long moment as comprehension dawned upon her.

Soo-ah looked at the open window calmly. There was only one place this ball could have come from.

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One, two strike,

If I lose you then it’s game over

Watch for the change,

I’ve got the feeling in my fingertips.

Yugyeom sensed danger.

He ran into the boys locker room, baseball cap lopsided on his head. “Hyung, hyung! It’s that scary noona from the Art club. She’s outside and she says she wants to talk to you. I think it’s bad, because Youngjae-hyung is there too, and he made eye contact with me and made this slicing motion against his neck so I think he was trying to tell me-“

Jaebum glanced up and frowned. “What?” he asked, unable to follow the younger boys’ frantic rambling. He dropped his baseball glove on the bench and then stood up, deciding to go see what the matter was for himself. He exited the locker room and found a couple of familiar faces outside. Standing at the front was Kim Soo-Ah, the President of the Art Club.

“Soo-Ah-ssi,” Jaebum greeted her politely. He had heard rumors about Kim Soo-Ah’s temper. It was said that she was fiercely protective over her club and it’s members, and that she had once beaten up a guy who had made fun of somebody for being in the Art Club. Those were only rumors, of course, but even Im Jaebum felt a little apprehensive when he saw the dark look in Soo-Ah’s eyes. “Um, we’re about to start baseball practice. Is there something I can do for you?”

Soo-Ah had her arms folded coolly across her chest. “I wish there was. I think the damage is a bit more than you imagined this time, though.”

Jaebum blinked. “Huh?”

 “Is this familiar to you?”

She held up the rogue baseball gingerly between two fingers, almost as though she was too disgusted to touch it. Soo-Ah dropped it quickly into Jaebum’s outstretched hand and wiped her fingers on her jeans.

Jaebum blinked down at the over-used baseball. “Um, probably. To be honest, we have a lot of these. Where did you find this one?”

“In our Art club room. Any clue how it could have gotten there?” Soo-Ah asked coldly.

Jaebum blinked, confused. “I don’t understand. Are you bringing this here because someone stole it, or…?”

Yugyeom, who was standing behind Jaebum and had been exchanging glances with Youngjae while the two leaders spoke, poked Jaebum in the back and leaned down to whisper in his ear nervously. “Hyung, it’s not that… yesterday evening… practice… Jackson’s home run… remember?”

Jaebum did. Before he could speak, though, they were interrupted by the sound of a slightly high-pitched, loud laugh coming from down the corridor. In a few seconds, Jackson Wang appeared around the corner. He was fully dressed in his baseball gear, cap pulled over his short hair and his baseball bat slung over a shoulder. He waved with a huge grin.

“Hyung! Sorry I’m late, that teacher held me back because I skipped her class again and- oh!” Jackson’s smile widened as he noticed their guests. “Soo-Ah! What are you doing near the boys’ locker rooms? Hoping to catch me changing?” he asked with a wink.

Soo-Ah closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her face flushed pink, partly because the idea of catching Jackson Wang changing wasn’t entirely without appeal. But mostly because he always managed to make her flustered. Jackson was loud, funny and charming. It was impossible not to fall for him. But Soo-ah had her dignity, and she refused to bend it, no matter how handsome or charming Jackson Wang was.

“Can you not interrupt when people are talking?” she asked him coldly.

Jaebum sighed. “Actually, it’s a good thing he’s here. Jackson’s the only one who hit a home run at practice yesterday and we couldn’t find the ball afterwards, so… here’s the ball’s owner,” he explained, giving the ball to Jackson.

Soo-Ah was unimpressed. “This ball flew in through the Art Club window and completely destroyed the banner that we’ve been working on for the past week. That’s tons of wasted paint, a broken easel, and our priceless hard work down the drain. So I’d like to know who’s going to take responsibility for this.”

Jackson frowned. “Really? It did that much damage? But, I mean, it was a pretty awesome hit, went sailing straight through the air until-”

“Are you proud of yourself right now?” Soo-Ah hissed.

“Whoa, hey, I’m sorry. Don’t be like that, Soo-Ah,” Jackson said, sounding slightly apologetic. “I mean, I’m really sorry that your work was damaged but it’s not like I intentionally aimed at the art club window or something, it just happened to be a really good swing. Which is expected, since I’m the team’s ace-“

“We’ve been working on that banner all week,” Soo-Ah snapped. She had managed to stay calm until then, but the sight of Jackson Wang’s unapologetic face was making her emotions rage. He was taking it so casually and light-heartedly, the way he seemed to take life in general. Soo-Ah hated people who couldn’t be serious and take responsibility for their actions. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to pour your heart and soul into a piece of artwork and then have it destroyed in front of you? Of course you don’t, you spend all your time rolling in the mud and swinging uselessly at balls, as if that’s ever helped anybody-“

Jaebum bristled. “I don’t think that’s necessary-“

“A lot of things aren’t necessary. Including, in my opinion, the existence of your useless club,” Soo-Ah declared. She snatched the ball out of Jackson’s hands and he jumped slightly as their fingers touched. She held it up in front of their faces. “I’m taking this to the Principal right now and you’ll be lucky if your bloody club ever gets any funds again.”

Jackson’s eyes widened. “Wait, what? Don’t do that-“

“See you in hell, Jackson Wang.”

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I’m not sure if I should react to your sarcastic comments,

Or I should pretend to be indifferent until your next sign.

This is the end of our never-ending mind games,

I have to be a man and face it head on.

“Drawing again?”

Soo-Ah stiffened slightly at the sound of Jackson’s voice over her shoulder. He somehow always popped out of nowhere and made her heart skip a beat. She stayed still, hoping that he wouldn’t notice how affected she was by his presence.

“Uh… yeah,” she muttered lightly, grabbing an eraser to rub off the little pencil sketch of a baseball she’d made on an empty page. She had been staring out of the window during class and had just begun doodling absent-mindedly. Jackson leaning over and peering at the picture made her feel a little flustered. “It’s just doodles, I couldn’t listen to Mrs. Jung and I was looking at the baseball field, so…”

“No, no, don’t erase it!” Jackson insisted with a grin. He grabbed Soo-Ah’s hand to prevent her from erasing the little baseball and beamed at her. “I think it’s cute. Can I have it?”

Soo-Ah rolled her eyes and tried not to look embarrassed. “Why?”

“Cause it’s a baseball and I play baseball,” he replied simply, as he cleanly ripped the page out of her notebook. “Like I said, it’s cute. You’re good at drawing.”

Soo-Ah scoffed. “I’m the President of the Art Club, of course I’m good at drawing-“

“I saw you scribbling serious during class so I thought you were actually taking notes during Mrs. Jung’s lecture. I came to ask to borrow them, but,” Jackson held up the paper with her drawing and chuckled. “This is even better, eh? Nice to know I’m not the only one who doesn’t pay attention in class.”

“I do pay attention!” Soo-Ah protested.

“Yeah, right. So do you have any plans next weekend?” He asked eagerly, placing his elbows on her table and leaning down close to her. Soo-Ah had to blink and lean back at his sudden proximity. She could only hope that her face hadn’t flushed red.

“Why?” she asked warily.

“Because it’s our first game of the season,” Jackson replied with a grin, gesturing to his worn-out baseball cap. “It’s a home game! You should come and cheer us on, it’ll be fun!” 

Soo-Ah flushed. “I don’t know anything about baseball-“

“Come on. You just drew a perfect baseball from imagination, I’m sure you’re not that clueless. Why don’t you come? Bring your friends? Please?” Jackson pouted slightly. When Soo-Ah merely shot him a disinterested look, he leaned back and sighed. His bright face fell. “Yeah, okay, I get it. You don’t want to come.”

“Don’t act so upset, you’ll have plenty of people to cheer you on.”

“You’d think, huh? It’s not like that, though. It’s been a couple of years since the baseball team won anything, so nobody bothers to come to our games anymore. Everyone’s hyped about the football matches. They’re the ones who bring home trophies.”

“Well, I won’t be going to either, so you can rest in peace,” Soo-Ah reassured him dully.

Jackson blinked down at her for a few seconds and then chuckled. “Yeah, okay. Fair enough. I still wish you would come if you have nothing better to do, though. It’s always been my dream to have a girlfriend come to my games, wear my jersey and cheer for me as I hit a home run.”

Soo-Ah closed her notebook and started to stuff it into her bag as she stood up. “I have to go to my Art club meeting. I pity the girl that has to put on your stinky jersey, Wang.”

Jackson laughed as he watched Soo-Ah exit the classroom, before carefully tucking the paper with her baseball drawing into his uniform pocket.

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It’s all right, I see your heart coming towards me

Oh yes, from now you’re my girl

You’re falling for me

Home Run!

They couldn’t fix the banner.

After spending about an hour trying to put it back together and cover the splotches of paint, most of the Art Club members agreed that it was hopeless. Even though they’d managed to make it one piece again, it still looked awful and was a complete mess. Soo-Ah kneeled on the floor next to the banner, staring at the ruined thing miserably. Her hair was a mess and her hands covered in paint from trying to paint over the ruined areas.

“Mina- listen, hand me that white paint there, we can paint over this part and-“

Mina looked down at Soo-Ah sadly and shook her head. “Unnie… leave it. It’s hopeless. Youngjae’s great at fixing messes and even he said that it’s never going to look the same again. Everyone’s gone home.”

Soo-Ah glanced back and noticed that most of the Art Club members had indeed left for home once it was clear that the banner couldn’t be fixed. She sighed and pushed her hair out of her face with the back of her hand. She just couldn’t leave the banner like this. They’d worked so hard on it. She glanced up at Mina with a forced smile. “Sorry, Mina. I’m keeping you back, right? Why don’t you go home, too? We’ll have a meeting tomorrow and discuss ideas for a new project.”

Mina blinked. “Will you leave with me?”

“I’ll stay here a bit longer and see what I can salvage,” Soo-Ah replied. “Maybe we can re-use some of the untouched parts in the future? You go ahead, I’ll lock up once I’m done. Go home safely!”

Mina nodded and left the room reluctantly after gathering her things. The room was plunged into silence and Soo-Ah sighed, looking down at the banner again. Tears were b at the edge of her eyes. It was the first time that something she’d put so much work into had been destroyed so effortlessly. She noticed the dimming sky and stood up to switch on the lights in the classroom. Then she stretched and cracked her knuckles. Some parts of the borders and the drawings in the corners were unaffected. If she cut these off, they could at least re-use them for a future project.

Soo-Ah had lost track of time. It wasn’t until the door to the classroom creaked open that she straightened up and realized her back was aching. She whirled around and spotted Jackson Wang standing hesitantly at the door. He was still in his baseball gear, only more dirty and grass stained than before. He was fiddling with his baseball cap in his hands.

“Hey…” Jackson said hesitantly, clearing his throat and stepping into the classroom. “Are you busy?”

Soo-Ah felt her stomach twist. She turned away from him and back to the banner. “Yes, I’m still trying to fix the mess you made with your oh-so-awesome home run. How hard did you hit the goddamn ball anyway?” she grumbled, as she continued to snip away at the banner with her scissors.

“I came to apologize for that. It was genuinely an accident, but it caused you guys a lot of trouble and I can’t imagine how much work you must have put into the-“ he trailed off, looking at the destroyed banner that Soo-Ah was snipping at. “Is that a sketch of a baseball?”

Soo-Ah froze. “It was.”

“That’s a bat. And a glove over there. And that’s our team’s mascot. Hold on, move aside so I can read what it says,” Jackson insisted, rushing over to kneel beside Soo-Ah and reading out the huge slogan that had been beautifully written on the banner. “Oh my God, this banner is for the baseball team? Really?”

Soo-Ah felt her cheeks flush red and she continued snipping. She avoided Jackson’s exited gaze. She already knew the sort of -eating expression that he would have on his face and she didn’t want to see it. “I told you, it was a banner for the baseball team. It’s unsalvageable. I’m taking it apart now, no thanks to you,” she mumbled. 

“You’ve spent the past week making a banner for the baseball team?”

Soo-Ah put the scissors down and glared at him. “Can you stop repeating that like it’s something shocking, I-“

She was cut off, by Jackson Wang wrapping his arms around her tightly. Soo-Ah froze in shock. He smelled like dirt from the baseball field and deodorant. Yet, there was something about his strong arms wrapped around her tightly and his cheek pressing into her hair softly that made her head spin. Jackson was warm and his arms were extremely comforting. Soo-Ah found her face pressed into the shoulder of his baseball jersey and she was still as his arms held her tightly.

“Thank you,” he muttered into her hair.

Soo-Ah felt her heartbeat thump. She jolted back to her senses and pushed him away lightly, trying to hide her blush. “Get off me, you smell like dirt.”

“Yeah? I landed in a bit of a mudpile trying to catch the ball earlier. Should probably have showered first, huh?” he asked sheepishly, letting go of her and running his hands through his hair with a hesitant chuckle. Soo-Ah looked up at him calmly. It was one of the rare moments he wasn’t wearing a baseball cap and she could see his angular face clearly. Jackson smiled. “I had no idea you were making a banner for us. You said you wouldn’t even come to the game.”

Soo-Ah flushed. “I wasn’t-“

“And you didn’t go the Principal about the ball, right? I mean, Youngjae told me you hadn’t, but the others insisted I find out and apologize anyway. I didn’t think you would complain about us. I told Jaebum not to worry about it.”

“You shouldn’t be so sure. I almost did go to the Principal.”

“You wouldn’t. You know that the baseball team is having a hard time, that’s why you made this banner to cheer us on in the first place. You wouldn’t have made things worse for us,” Jackson replied confidently. He gave her a small smile. “You’re not that kind of a person, Soo-Ah.”

“And how would you know-“

“Because I like you.”

Soo-Ah stared at him, her eyes wide at his sudden confession. Did he just? Jackson was grinning his usual wide grin, but it looked a little embarrassed now. He ran his fingers through his hair again and blinked. “Sorry. That was kind of abrupt, right?” he laughed nervously, his voice a little high. “I wasn’t going to tell you, but seeing the banner you made for me gave me a sudden boost of confidence, I guess?”

Soo-Ah’s heartbeat was thumping as Jackson smiled at her. She felt suddenly exposed, and tried to defend herself. “It wasn’t for you, it was for the whole-“

“I’m honestly really, really sorry about ruining the banner. I never meant to,” he apologized, cutting her off. He was suddenly digging into his backpack and Soo-Ah watched him silently. He pulled out a folded jersey and handed it to her quickly. “It’s my spare jersey. Since you don’t have the banner anymore, you can use it to support me on Saturday, instead?” he offered hopefully.

Soo-Ah stared down at the jersey. Her head was spinning. “Uh…”

“I mean, you don’t have to.” Jackson dug into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper with a grin, waving it in front of her. “I still keep the baseball drawing you made in class as a good luck charm. But it would be cooler to have you come in person. So please come?”

Soo-Ah blinked. “Y-yeah-“

“Great! I have to get back to practice or Jaebum will kick my , I just told him I was going to the bathroom. I’ll see you around,” he insisted, getting up. Jackson turned to leave but then glanced back at the destroyed banner on the floor. “Actually, do you mind if I take a picture of that?”

Soo-Ah glanced at it. “T-the banner?”

“Yeah. Before you throw it away. You put so much effort into it that we should remember it somehow,” he pointed out. Jackson fished his phone out of his pocket and clicked a quick picture of the banner before grinning at Soo-Ah. “Done. Thanks. Bye!”

Soo-Ah waved goodbye at him silently as he hurried out of the classroom. She could heard Jackson’s thudding footsteps fading away for a few seconds afterwards, as her head spun.

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Epilogue:

Soo-Ah couldn’t help but cheer as the final score revealed that Jackson’s team had won. Frankly, she hadn’t understood most of the first half and had to make Youngjae sit next to her so he could explain the rules of the game. But by the second half, Soo-Ah was cheering just as loudly as the next person and waving her arms in the air wildly. She had nearly put out when Jackson hit a home run. She could swear he had turned to look at her in the stands and shot a wink in her direction.

“Hyung! Hyung! Congratulations, it was awesome!” Youngjae cheered loudly, as the Art club members approached the tired but ecstatic baseball team after the game. He went over to congratulate Jaebum and Jinyoung. Soo-Ah stood still, having made eye contact with Jackson. He was carrying his helmet in one hand but he ran over to her with a grin.

“You came!” Jackson beamed.

“I did. Congratulations. I kind of enjoyed myself, surprisingly. Might have been cooler with the banner, though,” She said lightly.

“You saw my home run, right? I saw you cheering in the stands,” Jackson pressed with a grin. He looked down at Soo-Ah and his face fell slightly. “But you’re not wearing my jersey, huh? Now I’m kind of embarrassed,” he admitted, his voice going quiet.

“It smelled weird.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, I washed it a couple of times but that weird dirt and grass smell wouldn’t go away, I just couldn’t wear it. So I kind of made my own,” Soo-Ah explained. Her cheeks turned red as she turned around. She moved her hair on shoulder to reveal the backside of her slightly baggy t-shirt; she had painted Jackson’s name and number onto the back. It looked almost professional. “Not bad, right?” she asked, lightly.

Jackson wrapped his arms around her from behind, tightly. Soo-Ah stiffened slightly in the backhug, but then slowly let herself relax into his comforting grip. His grip on her waist tightened as his head came over her shoulder. “I love it,” he whispered into her ear softly, before pressing his lips to her cheek. He grinned and breathed out, “It’s better than my jersey.”

Soo-Ah felt her face flush. “I mean, it doesn’t smell as bad, so…”

“Hmm.”

“Do you plan to let go anytime soon?” she asked, suddenly aware that some of the baseball team and art club members were staring and giggling at them. “People are staring and it’s kind of awkward. Jackson. Let go. At least let me turn around so I can see you-“

Jackson hummed lightly. “I’ll let you go for two seconds if you promise that all you’ll do is turn around.”

“I promise. I just want to hug you properly.”

He beamed and removed his arms from around her. Soo-Ah turned and smiled at him, but then quickly slid out of his grasp completely and darted away. She laughed as she jogged away from him and out of reach. Jackson stared after her, a betrayed expression on his face.

“You promised!” he whined, letting his arms fall to his sides.

“That’s revenge for destroying my banner, Jackson Wang!”

This is my heart for you, This is my answer

Please reward me for my efforts,

Home Run!  

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Hey! So this is my first time posting for a group other than EXO and I have like one SHINee fic? It's not exactly that EXO is my bias group, I stan a lot of groups, but somehow I've always found them the easiest to write for. But Jackson was a lot of fun to write too!

Let me know if you liked it! I'm not sure who's next... maybe Youngjae or Jaebum? I haven't decided yet!