A/N: Just as promised, here is the second update! 

“He knows, Sehun,” Luhan stated without emotion.

“He knows what?” Sehun asked and approached the back of the sofa.

“….He knows about us.”

Luhan hadn’t known what Sungjae had meant at first, but when he placed it together on the spot, it wasn’t that hard to figure out. Luhan had froze for a moment, but then nodded, finding himself to be the one unable to meet the other’s eyes.

“So that’s why you’ve been acting this way,” Luhan responded calmly.

“Yes,” Sungjae had replied, “I know what I’ve been doing has  been childish, but I just……” He needn’t explain from that.

“Its understandable,” Luhan reasoned, “to do what you did, but why didn’t you just come to me?”

“And say what?” At the  time the two of them had undecidedly begun to walk to the locker room.

“You could’ve told me what you told me now.” Luhan rubbed his sore back as they had traveled down the brick hallway, “It would’ve saved us both some frustration if you had.”

“I know,” Sungjae twitched in regret, “I’m sorry.”

With that the two of them continued to go to the locker room in silence. They had both entered, grabbed their stuff, and were going to part ways to leave the training facility. Luhan, however, stopped Sungjae before he headed off, even though Sungjae was probably trying to get out of there as quickly as possible.

“Sungjae,” As most secrets go, there is always the question, “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

 Sungjae discontinued his escape at the locker room door. He swung his bag over his shoulder and offered a shrug.

“Not sure. It didn’t seem like the right thing to do.”

Luhan had wanted to smile, but couldn’t even manage a humorless chuckle, “And you won’t tell, right?”

“As long as you don’t try to hit on me,” Sungjae’s attempt at lightening the mood fell a tad short.

“Don’t worry,” Luhan replied back good naturedly, “You’re not my type anyways.”

Sungjae was able to form a half smile. With that he left, leaving Luhan relieved, but also worried at the same time.

Sehun settled down on the white leather sofa next to Luhan. He placed a hand on Luhan’s back, making Luhan look up from his intertwined hands that were resting on his lap. Luhan looked worried, almost defeated, and it was present in his posture and face. Sehun, who just listened to what had happened, chose this time to put in his opinion.

“It’s good that you found out the source of the problem, but how is that going to affect you from now on out?”

Luhan nodded, twiddling his thumbs together while picking out a response from in his head.

“Not really sure. What my major concern is, is that Sungjae isn’t the only one who knows.”

“But,” Sehun tried to hide the nervousness setting in, “you can trust everyone on your team, right?”

Luhan didn’t respond, and calmly picked up the television remote. With a light tap the TV flashed on and sports commentators’ voices filled the silence. Luhan set the remote down and turned his head at Sehun to smile.

“I think I can.”

Sehun breathed out, “For the love of bubble tea, thank god!” And with that Sehun literally slid from the arm of the sofa horizontally onto the sofa, his stomach on Luhan’s lap. Luhan laughed and slipped a hand into his hair, tousling the soft locks.

“Bubble tea?” Luhan questioned, “You really have an obsession with it, don’t you?”

“How can someone not?!”

Luhan continued to play with Sehun’s hair, pulling and teasing  in soothing motions, “I guess so.” He said softly, and his hard eyes locked on to the flat screen.

As much as Luhan wanted to be truthful with Sehun, he couldn’t. He just had to lie. The team was rostered  with 30 players, only 22 could the club allow to suit up for each game. With that many players comes competition, and with competition sometimes comes the occasional nut jobs that would do anything for a starting spot……anything. But, he couldn’t trouble Sehun with that information. It wasn’t his battle to fight. As much as Luhan would like to think it will be ok, there was a sick feeling spreading from the pit of his stomach.

It wasn’t going to be fine at all.

Nearly a week had passed since the Sungjae incident, and there was nothing out of the ordinary, thank god. Luhan went about practice with the team like normal, and none of the players acted suspicious in any way. Actually, some of his teammates  were a bit skeptical about Luhan’s and Sungjae’s situation, finding out all of a sudden that they were cool again. Luhan, the better liar of the two, nonchalantly explained it was because they had said some things to each other in the heat of the moment on the field of their last game, which had made things tense. They easily accepted that answer.

As Luhan scuffed the tidy grass with the bottom of his cleats and walked aimlessly, he realized that Sungjae wasn’t to be found. He was busy observing his teammates, and Sungjae was the only person missing. It was odd since Luhan had only seen him a minute ago before practice ended. Shrugging it off, Luhan veered back to the bench to collect his things and meet Sehun had the steps to the stadium. 

Luhan walked along the asphalt lining the field, then down the tunnel of the stadium to the exit. As he made his way, he heard a faint voice calling his name. Looking past his left shoulder, he could see the outline of a figure that looked to be Sungjae. It was hard to tell with natural light as the only illuminator, and the darkness of the tunnel interfering with it. Upon reaching Sungjae, Luhan could see a nervous visage take form, which made Luhan’s stomach quiver uneasily.

“Sungjae?”

“Hello, Luhan.” The voice, a deep baritone, did not come from Sungjae. Another figure, on the smaller side, came from the shadows. The tanned man with a body built like a forward had a crooked smile on his face, which curled his thin mustache up threateningly.

“Han Keun-Ho?”

“Hi there buddy,” Keun-Ho’s voice didn’t match his body at all. Keun-Ho was a few centimeters shorter than Luhan, but he made up with that height in muscle, which he seemed to have twice of just on his calves.

“Luhan, I-” Sungjae’s eyes pierced Luhan’s desperately.

“Save it,” Keun-Ho dismissed him. Sungjae immediately shut up and looked at his feet. Even though Keun-Ho was Luhan’s and Sungjae’s superior by age, Luhan still didn’t like the way Keun-Ho was ordering Sungjae around.

“Sungjae, the little blabber mouth over here,” Luhan’s jaw hardened at the tone of Keun-Ho’s voice, “seems to have spilled your secret.”

“Secret?” Luhan pretended to play the innocent role, but Keun-Ho’s words were a swift kick to the stomach. He knew that this would eventually happen.

“Oh come now!” Keun-Ho’s chuckle was underlined with a hysteric tinge, “You know, there’s no use in trying to cover up you and your boy toy’s acts.”

“Don’t refer to him as that!” Luhan glared. He didn’t appreciate the way Keun-Ho referred to Sehun as a ‘boy toy.’……he was nothing of the sort…

Keun-Ho smirked, and Luhan spit back, “So, it’s true. What are you going to do about it?”

“Well, my first intentions were to blab it to the press, but then I had an idea,” Keun-Ho gestured as if he were the smartest man in the universe, “I decided that in return for keeping my mouth shut, you would give me something.”

Luhan didn’t like where this was going, “What do you want…?”

“Your position.” Keun-Ho said darkly.

“My position?!” Luhan gritted his teeth, “I’ve worked so hard to be the starter, I’ve earned it!” The rage was building higher and higher inside of him. He’s been beaten down numerous times since the time he began competitive soccer, he’s clawed, he’s scratched, he’s cried…….. It was too unfair.

“Ah, but life isn’t fair, isn’t it?” Keun-Ho tutted, “Now, Luhan. You have a decision to make. Either you abide by what I say, and save you and the kid’s image, or you can ignore this proposition and eventually be kicked off the team, disgracing the name of FC Seoul.”

Luhan ascended the steps to his apartment, his head hanging low and feet equated to the weight of bricks. Keun-Ho’s words still rang in his head. Could he give up everything that he’s worked for, for a single person? The idea seems idiotic when he’s spent nearly his entire life focusing on his soccer career, but………….

He found himself in front of his door. His gaze lifted to the chrome handle. With a sigh, he unlocked the door and stepped inside. What Luhan didn’t expect, was a certain someone to be there, waiting. Luhan knew something wasn’t right when Baby didn’t come to greet him as she usually did.

“Baby? Baby!” Luhan called, but no orange fluff ball came. He set his bag down and surveyed the common area and kitchen, but the dog was nowhere to be found. Sighing again, he made his way to his bedroom. Moving the sliding, tinted glass door out of the way, he found this person, and his dog.

“Ah, welcome home!” Sehun greeted with a grin. Luhan’s boyfriend was lying underneath the covers, reading a novel by the lamp light. Baby jumped up from Sehun’s feet and wagged her tail and Luhan in hello.

“Sehun?” Luhan cocked his head to the side, “What’re you doing in my bed? More importantly,  how did you get in to my apartment?” 

“Oh, you showed me where the spare key was, remember?” Sehun set down the book after dog-earring a page.

“Yes, but that key was only in case of emergencies! What was the emergency?”

“Uh,” Sehun’s cheeks faded to a pink, “The uh, emergency was that…..I uh,” Sehun coughed, “Missed you and uh…..” Sehun fiddled with the edge of the covers.

Luhan’s heart strings pulled. Sehun, how he could make Luhan turn into a pile of mush with words like that was beyond him. Luhan shrugged off his jacket, letting it drop to the floor, and crawl his way on the bed to sit on Sehun’s waist.

“I’m sorry we haven’t been able to see each other these past couple days,” Luhan murmured, “I missed you too.” He cradled the side of Sehun’s cheek and kissed him on the forehead. Due to their busy schedules, Luhan and Sehun had barely been able to see one another, and only for minutes in person and on the phone when they could.

Luhan admired Sehun’s features, his eyes tracing each crevice and curve. Just his presence was calming enough to Luhan. He wanted to be lost in the younger, but the thoughts of earlier that day lingered in the background. Sehun remained still while being not so much inspected…..but more like being absentmindedly examined. To Sehun, though, the older man was touching him different, more carefully, and he knew this wasn’t an absentminded gesture – Luhan was in deep thought about something.

Sehun’s hands locked on the small of Luhan’s back, and he asked gently, “Kiss me?”

Luhan smiled slowly with his line of sight focused on Sehun’s fingers. Luhan removed his hands from Sehun’s to comply. They both knew that this request would lead to other things besides kissing…..

Luhan was now looking up at Sehun, who was leering above him on all fours. Maybe it was the light streaking out from the window onto his form, or the situation at the field, but his current view of Sehun decided the ultimate question for him. Luhan’s eyes fluttered closed upon feeling Sehun’s lips gently at his neck. Luhan’s heart felt like it would burst,

“You are the most important thing to me,” He whispered.

“Luhan! Luhan!” His teammate called. Luhan’s head snapped up to see one of the other forwards trailing towards the back post. With the target in mind, Luhan put his head down and drove towards the near post with the ball, readying to slide it across the three and then -! The ball shanked off his foot and spiraled out towards the 8, where there was no one there to follow up. Luhan heard a couple of “it’s ok’!” and “unlucky” from some teammates, but it really wasn’t ok……Luhan was playing bad. Correction, he had been playing bad…..for the past week.

It wasn’t on accident, obviously……he had to follow through with what Keun-Ho said. Luhan retrieved the ball and took it back into the drill line with the other forwards. Keun-Ho, the next forward up, did the exact same thing as Luhan did, but crossed it perfectly to the right-outside-forward’s forehead – goal. Everyone else was working harmoniously, except for Luhan. What made these practices the worst, though, was seeing Keun-Ho’s smug face, hearing all the praise for Keun-Ho and how much he’s “grown as a player,” and then seeing the disappointed look on the face of their head coach.

The head coach had always been supportive of Luhan, and admired his style of play and skilled touches, but that admiration was now fading. The coach did not know of the corrupt bargain going on behind the scenes, but he did see every single mistake that Luhan made. It was only a matter of time till Luhan received the “talk” as many players do when they are not up to par.

At the end of practice, the coach and assistant coaches talked about the strategy going in to play Busan the next day, as well as the lineup.  Fortunately, it was not announced in front of everyone, and would be later e-mailed tonight to each player. With the meeting done, and practice over, the team split off to go home. Luhan, though, was pulled aside.

“Yes, coach?” Luhan faced the head coach with so much dread in his stomach that he might throw up. The coach sighed heavily and rubbed his chin. His small, black eyes flashed a sympathetic expression.

“Listen, Luhan, I know you’re a hard worker; you’ve always been. Not to mention you’re one of the players that I regard with the highest expectations……however, you’re play has been off, from what I’ve observed….the other coaches agree as well.”

Luhan swallowed heavily and blinked back tears. This was killing him.

“I know, coach. I have.”

“Is there a reason why? Injuries? Outside problems?” The coach didn’t really know what to say.

“No, just…….” Luhan didn’t know what to say as well, “I’m probably just in a slump….”

The coach nodded, “Well, as much as I understand, being an ex-player myself, I think you also know what I’m trying to say.”

“You’re going to replace me for tomorrow’s game, “ Luhan stated, his legs quivering slightly.

“Yes….I’m sorry Luhan, but I have to put my best men out there, and at the moment, it seems to be that one of the bench warmers is.” The coach didn’t have to say Keun-Ho’s name for Luhan to know it would be that man who would fill in his spot.

“I understand,” Luhan’s fists balled up tightly. This may be more painful than rehab was for his knee. No, this was ten times worse than rehab. The head coach’s hand patted him on the shoulder encouragingly:

“Get back into it, ok? If you do, you’ll still have your spot for the game the following week.” With those final words, the head coach left Luhan alone.

Later that night, when opening up his e-mail, Luhan saw the roster. It popped up on his screen with a shaky click of the document, and his eyes were met with what he expected. Every single name on that list was the same……except for his. Han Keun-Ho’s name seemed to stand out in comparison to everyone else’s, even though the words were all in the same font, size, and color. He couldn’t take it anymore.

Luhan’s head banged onto the keyboard repeatedly as he wailed loudly. Everything he had worked for was now being jeopardized because of one evil man. He had purposefully, and against his own will, made himself look like an unskilled player without any capability of carrying the team, as he was expected to do. Tears left their wet residues on the keys, and the only thing that could be heard was the sound of gasping and hiccups. He had made it so close, he had thought he was right where he was supposed to be, and yet –

“Sehun,” Luhan mumbled miserably, “Why?”

At this point, all Luhan felt was defeat. He no longer felt angry or upset……just defeated. He couldn’t even put up an act for the rest of his teammates, so he just let them see his misery. It was a selfish thing to do, but he couldn’t put up a phony act with Keun-Ho standing in the starting lineup formation on the field, singing the national anthem with the rest of the team. Sungjae, not a starter, stayed by Luhan’s side the entire time.

The game against Busan began with a sharp whistle, and Keun-Ho rolled the ball off to start with the other forward, Shin Chi-Woo. Minutes passed, and FC Seoul seemed to have most of the possession. Keun-Ho was playing fine, but Luhan knew he could execute everything the other man was doing with better skill and precision.

Sungjae was searching the stadium, and jolted once he saw the scoreboard. He cupped his hand hesitantly, and placed it between his mouth and Luhan’s right ear.

“The camera’s on you,” Sungjae whispered. Luhan only nodded in acknowledgement, and didn’t look up at the screen. If he truly was, then there was no doubt that the sports commentators were commenting on his absence from the starting line-up. That, and there was someone else who could see what was happening at the moment…..

Sehun paused in confusion on the couch. Baekhyun, who was wearing a matching jersey with Luhan’s name on the back, looked at him with unsaid questions. Chanyeol didn’t know what to say as well. Sehun’s heart squeezed, and his hands were shaking terribly. He muttered in distress,

“W-why isn’t he playing?”