Honestly, this was churned out pretty last minute and I have no intention of saying anything about Kikwang’s soccer talent okaes, just please forgive me. And for those of you who watched the fanmeet fancams, you will understand all of the Dooseung thigh grabbing. LOL it was precious. 

21 years old, Soccer Match

Yoseob stared open-mouthed at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, the official stadium for FC Seoul, the professional soccer club Doojoon was playing for. The stadium stood proudly in all of its architectural glory, being the largest football-only stadium in Asia. The roof was designed specifically in the shape of a traditional Korean kite and the surrounding walls looked as if they were made out of traditional Korean paper. Truly, it was a majestic piece of architecture and Yoseob could not describe how proud he was that Doojoon was actually going to run around, chasing a black and white ball with nineteen other players (Yoseob did not count the goalies because they did none of the running).

He smiled as people chatted excitedly in groups, bringing flags of their favorite teams to show their support. Sport did get people together and Yoseob’s heart warmed at this notion, he grinned and was so immersed in the atmosphere when an arm slung around his shoulder.

Yoseob jumped a little but quickly smiled and relaxed into the body beside him, he smiled up to Junhyung. “Isn’t it breathtaking? This whole thing?” Yoseob asked, eyes trained to the scene in front of him.

Junhyung raised an eyebrow, “I’ve seen better.” He looked to Yoseob meaningfully and tightened his arm around the younger man. Yoseob rolled his eyes and shoved an elbow into Junhyung’s ribcage, “What did I say about being lame and cheesy.”

Junhyung grinned, “So where’s soccer boy?” Yoseob was suddenly excited at the mere mention of Doojoon, “He’s in the locker room. We are only meeting him afterwards for dinner.” He turned and grabbed Junhyung’s sleeve, “Oh, you won’t regret this, I promise. Doojoon is amazing!” Junhyung smirked but his eyes narrowed upon seeing Yoseob’s eager expression, there was something going on between him and this soccer boy. And Junhyung was ing curious as to how profound this something was.

But before Junhyung could even say anything – ask anything, interrogate anything – to Yoseob, there was a loud shout across the lawn.

“Yoseobaahhhh!!”

Both Yoseob and Junhyung turned around to see the source of the voice and saw a figure coming towards them. Soft brown hair, carefully swept above his forehead, a beanie covering mothe top part of his head, soft flawless skin – attractive, Junhyung thought – his eyes were round, almond shaped, clear and moist – pretty, Junhyung thought.

“Hyunsseungahh!”

Yoseob waved back, upon seeing Hyunseung jogged towards them, warm puffs of air escaped his lips – gorgeous, Junhyung thought – as he grinned and waved their tickets in the air. Upon nearing them, Hyunseung rearranged his beanie and shoved his hands deeper into his puffy coat. His face was hit with the cold freezing wind as he ran and it made him colder. He shivered lightly as he handed two tickets to Yoseob (one for Yoseob and one for Junhyung).

Junhyung kept his stare at Hyunseung and the latter finally looked up to him and raised an eyebrow, staring right back into Junhyung’s eyes, challenging him. When none of them blinked, Hyunseung grinned and said, “You’re cool. Yoseobah, he’s cool!” Hyunseung extended a hand, “Jang Hyunseung.” Junhyung grabbed the hand tightly and croaked, “Yong – Yong Junhyung.” There was a slight smile on Yoseob’s face.

Hyunseung’s phone rang and he cursed a little when he read the message, “, Dongwoon isn’t coming.” He quickly turned to the two boys and led them inside the stadium, “Come on guys, it’s starting soon.” Yoseob frowned and asked, “Who’s Dongwoon?” Hyunseung smiled and answered, “Ah, he’s Kikwang’s boyfriend. Kikwang is Doojoon’s teammate, he is as talented and from what I heard, when Doojoon got in because of pure genius talent, Kikwang might have some parental support behind him,” Hyunseung winked at him, “but Kikwang is totally cool. You’ll like him.”

Yoseob nodded and followed Hyunseung to their designated seats on the second floor. He wondered why he never heard of Kikwang or Dongwoon from Dooojoon before, why the older boy had never mentioned any of them. Yoseob wondered what else he did not know about Doojoon.

It was totally different inside the stadium when Yoseob finally took his seat. The majestic view of the crowd, of the big screen, of the huge field could not match the nervousness coiling inside Yoseob’s stomach. He was finally seeing Doojoon running on the field, grinning happily with his red and black striped jersey.

Yoseob thought that everything must be too overwhelming for his eyes, the red ocean must have made him seeing things, and the cold winter wind must have ruined his brain and his nerves because he saw Doojoon waving straight at him. All grins and smiles. Straight at Yoseob, happiness permeating from his eyes.

Hyunseung grabbed Yoseob’s shoulder and squealed in delight, “Did you see Doojoonie?” Yoseob nodded and grinned at the over-excited Hyunseung next to him. Hyunseung pointed at the shorter but more built guy in the middle of the field, “That’s Kikwang! Did you see him? Number 10!” Hyunseung was just too cute for words and honestly Junhyung kept staring at him, Yoseob mused. Yoseob turned his focus back to the field and saw Doojoon looking straight at him. He sighed, must have been the winter wind.

Yoseob was too excited during the match. The atmosphere was amazing, the spirit was amazing, the stadium was amazing. Doojoon was beyond amazing. He had never felt any of this before and it was just beyond incredible, and Yoseob had never enjoyed himself more in his entire life. And more than once, Yoseob noticed Doojoon was looking at him, making sure he was watching the older boy. But then, Yoseob shrugged, it could be just his delusional mind.

When the whistle rang clear in the air, ending the match with a tie, Hyunseung quickly led both Yoseob and Junhyung to the exit. He asked them to follow him wherever he went and Yoseob nodded, Junhyung just raised his eyebrow in amusement. Hyunseung descended the stairs from the second floor of the stadium and they were suddenly met with thousands of people in the stadium hall. Instead of exiting the hall and into the lawn, Hyunseung went around the hall to the back. It was slightly darker and the hallway in front of them was empty, far from the chaotic scene of the main hall. Hyunseung kept walking and both Yoseob and Junhyung followed closely behind him.

There was a blur figure leaning at the wall in the hallway and Hyunseung sped up. He grinned and hauled at the figure, “Yah Dongwoonah! What the happened?” Hyunseung had the other guy in a headlock as soft screams of pain escaped his lips. Yoseob was utterly confused, what is going on here, again?

Hyunseung looked up and stopped his torture on Dongwoon to introduce the latter to Yoseob and Junhyung. Dongwoon smiled, “Ah so this is Doojoon Hyung’s Yoseobie! Nice meeting you, Hyung!” There was something really sincere in his eyes, his sharp features were astounding, and Yoseob slightly swooned from the smile.

Suddenly the door at the end of the hallway opened and hectic sounds resonated in the quiet hallway. Yoseob jumped back and clung onto Junhyung’s hand in shock, as he saw both Doojoon and the Kikwang guy ran to them in full speed. Doojoon collided harshly into Yoseob and hugged him tightly, he lifted the younger guy slightly and Yoseob squealed, holding Doojoon’s neck tightly, shouting at him that he would be dead if Yoseob fell. The hug tightened as Yoseob’s feet was back on the floor, Doojoon’s nose was buried in the junction of Yoseob’s neck, inhaling the scent he had missed so much.

Kikwang mused, “Yah Doojoonah, I know you miss him and all, but you are totally chocking him.” Doojoon slowly let the gasping Yoseob go and turned to stare daggers at Kikwang. The shorter guy ignored it and walked towards Yoseob, “So this is the Yoseob we have all been hearing all the time.” Yoseob blinked but said nothing back, Kikwang extended a hand, “Lee Kikwang. Finally meeting you, Yoseobah.” Yoseob smiled and grabbed his hand, “Yang Yoseob, pleased to meet you too.” Kikwang's eyes curved into two crescent moons as he smiled. Yoseob thought that he was intensely adorable.

Yoseob squinted his eyes at Doojoon, “Everybody seemed to know me, why did I never hear of them before?” Doojoon chuckled, “I wanna talk about you not about them when I’m talking to you.” Doojoon hugged Yoseob again, “Gosh you are too precious, Yoseobah!”

It was chaos with lots of whistling and other sounds Yoseob could not decipher. Junhyung was finally introduced to the whole pack (Doojoon and Kikwang and Dongwoon) after the whole commotion had stopped and Doojoon had stopped chocking Yoseob in super tight hugs.

They were all supposed to go together for dinner, but Junhyung could not make it as he had some important dinners with his contacts and all of them brood at the news. Junhyung laughed – he truly loved this weird combination of strange people – but he left anyways, after the strenuous pulling between him and the others.

Yosseob did not want to sound whiny or difficult or petty or anything at all, and he swore to god he had no such intention. But when they all sat in a circle around the table, with chicken feet and bulgogi on the table, Yoseob could not help but felt kind of – only sort of because he could follow some of the conversation – a bit left out. These were what he had deduced himself from the conversations: Kikwang was Doojoon’s teammate (he was also the son of the Dongshim company, that explains the ‘parental support’ Hyunseung was talking about), Dongwoon was Kikwang’s boyfriend and they all met up a lot after practices and all other .

It was not that Yoseob did not talk to Doojoon, he did. In fact they talked quite a lot, but Yoseob wondered why Doojoon didn’t mention anything about Kikwang and Dongwoon whereas Yoseob told Doojoon everything. Junhyung, Phenomenon, his sold pictures, his unsold pictures, his journeys with Korea Tourism Board, even the orange juice that was always served when Yoseob visited Phenomenon, he told Doojoon everything. And Yoseob did not even know that Hyunseung and Dongwoon visited the stadium every time Doojoon and Kikwang had practices with the team, hence the knowledge around the stadium.

And then there was something about the way Hyunseung acted around Doojoon. The way Hyunseung grabbed Doojoon’s thigh the whole time, softly kneading it, resting his beautiful hand on it, rubbing it slowly up and down, lightly hitting it when something was too funny. It was Hyunseung’s hand on Doojoon’s thigh the whole ing time. And Doojoon did not even flinch, as if he was used to it. Yoseob noticed, but he tried so hard not to. It was even harder when Hyunseung leaned too close to Doojoon and started whispering. Doojoon did not seem to mind and Yoseob found himself chewing on his lower lip, trying hard not to notice.

At this point, the difference between their worlds grew and Yoseob realized that it was impossible to be with Doojoon the way they were before. He kept asking himself what else he did not know about Doojoon, and the answer would be Doojoon’s whole new world. Well, some things had got to give, Yoseob guessed.

Yoseob was not jealous, he was not clingy, and he made a friend already (Junhyung), but he felt suddenly sick in his stomach. It coiled around the lower part of his stomach and churned up towards his chest. So he excused himself to the washroom, went into a cubicle, and dialed Junhyung’s number. He knew that Junhyung was in a very extremely important dinner and was surprised when he answered.

“Yoseobah, what’s up?”

Yoseob was silent for a moment, “Uhh, Junhyungah, can you fetch me?”

There was worry in Junhyung’s voice and Yoseob could hear it, “Why? What happened?”

“I’m not feeling well.”

It was a lie and Junhyung knew it, “Okay, where are you?”

Yoseob bit his lower lip, “I’ll be at the bus stop near the place where we had that nice bulgogi.”

“I’ll be there in twenty.” With that the call was disconnected.

Yoseob went out and splashed his face with icy water, slowly wiping his wet face with soft paper towel. Suddenly the washroom door swung open and Doojoon strode towards Yoseob with a worried face. Yoseob jumped a little and Doojoon grabbed the younger’s shoulders, “What’s wrong?”

Yoseob smiled, “Nothing, nothing really.”

Doojoon winced, “Liar. What happened?”

“My tummy doesn’t feel right.” Yoseob clutched slightly at his stomach. Doojoon nodded, “Okay, let me send you home. I’ll talk to the – “

“No.”  Yoseob stopped him, “No, I’m not gonna ruin this. I’m fine, I’ll get a bus home. The bus stop is near anyway.” Doojoon’s stare to Yoseob did not waver, he knew something was wrong yet he would ask about it later. He nodded, “Okay, I’ll walk you to the bus stop.”

Yoseob shook his head, “No, please don’t. I’m not gonna ruin your bonding time with the guys.”

Doojoon narrowed his eyes, something was definitely wrong, “Yoseobah, I’m not bonding with them, I’m bonding with you. I want to introduce my friends to you.” Yoseob grinned at him, but again, the sparkle did not reach the younger’s eyes and Doojoon hated it, “I know and they are lovely bunch of kids, you should go back soon or they will worry. Tell them for me, ‘kay?”

Doojoon hugged Yoseob, “Call me when you are home. I missed you Yoseobah.” Yoseob hugged back, clutching at the back of Doojoon’s shirt, his smile fell, “Me too, Doojoonah. Me too.”

Doojoon could not concentrate on the boisterous conversation going on at the table. There were laughter and chuckles but nothing really went into his brain after Yoseob had gone home. Yoseob’s face was pale and Doojoon could not erase the sadness in Yoseob’s eyes from his brain. So he excused himself for a while and ran to the nearest tea shop.

It was cold, and Doojoon was walking towards the bus stop Yoseob was waiting at, a cup of hot Chamomile tea in his hands. He smiled as he saw Yoseob sitting on the long bench at the bus stop, shivering a little from the chilly night wind. He sped up, wanting to cover Yoseob’s shoulder with his arm, wrapping the younger’s fingers around the warm papercup, and scooted close to him, offering some warmth.

The smile fell as he saw a black car pulled up at the bus stop, the light inside the car lit up when the door was opened to welcome Yoseob in.

Junhyung was driving Yoseob home.

Doojoon turned, his back towards the road when the car passed by. He subconsciously fisted the papercup in his hand, the hot tea came flowing out of it. Doojoon could not feel anything at all. The hot water should burn his hand, it should sting.

But right now, nothing could overcome the pain clutching at Doojoon’s chest.