soccer

;

 

 

"What are we doing today?" asked Luhan after breakfast, legs dangling from his bed. He'd slept well the previous night, barely affected by the cold wind and he smiled at the recollection of waking up next to Minseok, whose body was radiating warmth. He'd woken up with his hair mussed up and with half-closed eyes, had sat in the same position for approximately ten minutes. When Minseok asked him what he was doing, he'd mechanically replied, "Waiting for Baekhyun."

 

Minseok had furrowed his brows at the unfamiliar name. "Who's Baekhyun?"

 

Luhan had then realised what he'd unintentionally let slip off, and a hand shot up to cover his mouth in horror. "Uh, just a friend I used to have," he answered perfunctorily.

 

"Why would you be waiting for him?" Minseok had asked dubiously. "Is he coming?"

 

"No... I don't know, his name just slipped from my mouth for some reason," Luhan had responded, shrugging apologetically. "Sometimes I do that."

 

"Oh," Minseok had uttered. He didn't ask more about that afterwards, which Luhan was grateful for.

 

"Well, to answer your question, we're free to do anything, actually. The headmaster doesn't really care, as long as we don't get into any trouble," Minseok replied, lying down on his bed and staring at the ceiling. 

 

"Don't you have lessons?" inquired Luhan, now missing more than ever the sound of Kyungsoo's voice and his wide, perpetually-shocked eyes. He even missed Baekhyun and Junmyeon, which he himself couldn't quite believe because seriously, Junmyeon? Maybe this two-week stint was going to make him miss every part of the palace. And Luhan didn't want that. The reason he got away from the palace in the first place was because he didn't want to think of it, not because he wanted to miss it even more. 

 

"Nope," answered Minseok, giving him weird looks. "Why would the headmaster want to waste money on education? It's not like we're gonna turn out to be anything better than peasant workers." His voice softened. "I do wish we had though."

 

Luhan sensed a tinge of bitterness in Minseok's voice. "I'm sorry about that," he said quietly, hand reaching out tentatively to touch Minseok's arm. The latter did not shrink back.

 

"There's no need to be," Minseok shrugged. "It's true anyway. I'm glad provided I don't have to live on the streets."

 

His words reminded Luhan of something that he really wanted to know. "Your... parents. What happened?" 

 

Minseok glanced sharply at him, and Luhan stuttered. "I—I mean, it's okay if you don't feel comfortable, I was just asking."

 

"They died of yellow fever when I was very young. I've been living here ever since," Minseok closed his eyes and swallowed. "I've been trying to think of this place as home. But somehow, I know it'll never be."

 

Luhan chewed on his lip. "I'm... sorry. I guess I am much luckier."

 

"Yeah, you haven't told me yet. Why did you come here?"

 

Luhan's brain reeled, trying to find something plausible to say. "Um... I ran away from home," he settled on giving that answer. It was partly true anyway. Minseok just didn't need to know the part about him being a prince.

 

Minseok blinked. "But why would you do that?"

 

"I felt that my parents were too overbearing. And they... they didn't care for my own thoughts or feelings, they just forced me to do whatever was in their interests."

 

Minseok nodded sympathetically. "That's not very nice," he agreed. "What did they ask you to do?"

 

Luhan briefly debated whether or not to tell Minseok the whole story, before deciding that it was okay to trust him. He figured that it was no big deal just as long as he kept his identity a secret. "They put me in an arranged marriage with someone I didn't even know. I haven't even met him before. And when I told them that I didn't want to get married just yet, they laughed it off and didn't care about what I thought."

 

Minseok's eyes widened. "That's pretty bad, I mean if I were you, I'd feel pretty upset."

 

"That's exactly how I felt," Luhan confessed, "Shocked and betrayed. So I ran away."

 

A few knocks sounded and interrupted the two of them from their reverie. The door opened and in came three boys. One of them had brooding eyes and looked like he was going to make mincemeat out of Luhan at any moment while the second one was smiling good-naturedly, revealing a dimple. Luhan took a liking to him immediately. The third was tall and exceedingly handsome, but there was something funny about his eyebrows. Minseok smiled wide at them and gestured to Luhan. 

 

"Guys, meet Xiao Lu. Xiao Lu, these are my friends—Wufan, Zitao and Yixing." Minseok introduced, grinning. 

 

A soft chorus of "hi's" were uttered back and Luhan found his eyes travelling from left to right of the group, trying to match the names to their faces. 

 

"We're going to play soccer." Wufan announced. "Xiao Lu, wanna join?"

 

"Soccer?" Luhan widened his eyes, bewildered. He'd heard of it before, yes, but he most certainly hadn't played it during the entirety of his princely existence.

 

"Yeah, soccer," Minseok repeated, and his eyes widened exponentially when Luhan's face remained dubious. "Don't tell me you don't know how to play it?" he gasped, positively horrified.

 

"I... I don't." Luhan admitted sheepishly. Minseok looked extra comical, with his mouth in a big "O" and eyes as big as saucers. While Minseok contemplated the astounding fact that there were people who did not know how to play soccer, Luhan gave a small smile, thinking how cute he looked.

 

"Soccer is the awesomest game ever," declared Yixing. "You have to know how to play."

 

"We'll teach you, don't worry," the one called Zitao said and Luhan found his smile spreading into a grin. 

 

"Okay.“

 

-

 

"Basically we are split into two teams, and we have to try to shoot the ball into the other team's net. And of course, you also have to prevent the opponent from doing so," Wufan explained, giving him a watered-down version of the game rules. They were now on the orphanage's playing field, which was wet and muddy because of the rain. 

 

"Actually, there is a more elaborate set of rules for the game, but we don't follow it because too many rules make the game boring," Zitao added. Luhan stared apprehensively at the field; he wasn't entirely sure whether he wanted to dirty his clothes.

 

"Why don't you watch us play first?" suggested Yixing, spinning the soccer ball effortlessly on the tip of his right finger. Luhan felt slightly envious, knowing that that was something he'd never be able to do no matter how hard he tried.

 

"We play this almost everyday," Zitao called out, walking to the far side of the field. "It's become a kind of ritual for us."

 

"Xiao Lu, just watch, okay? I'm sure you'll get an idea of the game fast enough," Minseok said gently, as the other three squabbled about where exactly the ball should be placed. Luhan almost couldn't hear him above all the din they were making.

 

"You call this the centre?" Yixing screeched, pointing at the ball in an expression of horror. "Obviously this is nearer to your side!" 

 

Zitao picked the ball up and shifted it a few centimetres. "Happy?"

 

Yixing shook his head as he moved the ball at least one metre towards his side, before nodding in approval. "Now it's exactly in the centre."

 

Wufan furrowed his brows. "Really, Yixing? Have you no sense of space?" He rolled the ball towards him with one foot until he deemed it to be in the correct position. "There," he declared.

 

Minseok shrugged apologetically as Yixing complained loudly about 'the woes of unfairness in the world'. "I'm sorry, they're always like that," he explained.

 

"It's okay, I like your friends. They're interesting," Luhan smiled. Minseok chortled as the sound of arguing in the distance faded away—the three had finally come to an agreement. 

 

"Why don't you start the game for us, Xiao Lu?" Minseok called out, as he jogged over to his starting place in the field.

 

Luhan hollered "start" and the four of them rushed out like mad lions, dashing towards the ball placed conspicuously in the centre. 'Centre' was a hard place to define, though, considering how much the two teams had argued before a consensus was made. Zitao, with his long legs, managed to get to the ball first, and dribbled it with lightning speed halfway across the field. Luhan was thoroughly absorbed in the game, brows furrowed and lips set in a thin contemplative line. He noticed how muddy the ball was getting even from just mere minutes on the playing field. And the four other boys were not any cleaner.

 

"ers!" Zitao teased, turning around to stick his tongue out at Yixing and Minseok. However, the moment of distraction was long enough for Yixing to run in from the side and steal the ball away from Zitao. 

 

"Ha! Who's the er now?" Yixing rebutted as he ran towards the other team's goal post, ball now in his possession. As he neared the goal post, Yixing paused to take aim and with one brilliant swift motion of his leg, the ball flew across the sky before going straight into the net, Luhan watching in fascination.

 

"Goal!" shouted Yixing and Minseok enthusiastically, jogging up to give each other a high-five. Minseok pushed Yixing slightly, and the latter retaliated by pinning his arms behind his back so that he couldn't move. As the two of them laughed and wrestled, Luhan felt a sinking feeling at the pit of his stomach. He didn't know why, but seeing Minseok being so close to Yixing made his stomach twist into tight knots. Why was he so uncomfortable? He knew they were friends. Luhan bit his lip and tried to ignore whatever it was that he was feeling. 

 

Wufan scowled and muttered something about "We'll get you next time", while Zitao gave a small pout. Minseok threw back his head and guffawed, eyes crinkling merrily.

 

"Sour grapes," he chuckled. Wufan threw him one of his trademark faces while Zitao smiled sympathetically and patted his back.

 

"It's okay, ge, we'll kick their asses this time."

 

"Yeah, you bet we will," Wufan said as he gave one last glare at the cheeky duo, who were now in the process of shaking their butts at him. Luhan found the corners of his mouth twitching up into a smile, because Minseok had a really cute —wait, what? He scrunched his eyes shut, mentally slapping himself for the highly inappropriate thought.

 

"Xiao Lu, get a gist of the game now?" yelled Minseok, both hands over his mouth.

 

"Yeah!" Luhan shouted back.

 

"Great! Join in then!" he called out, and Luhan quickly made his way over to the centre of the field.

 

"Whose team do I join?"

 

"Ours!" Both teams yelled at once. 

 

"Scissors-paper-stone!" Wufan and Minseok both put down their hands, and Luhan was pleasantly surprised to see that Minseok's paper had beaten Wufan's rock.

 

"He's with us!" Minseok beamed, dragging Luhan haphazardly in between him and Yixing. Luhan stumbled a little, but he couldn't keep from smiling as he felt the warmth of Minseok's soft fingers enclosed around his wrist. His grin grew even wider when Minseok then threw an arm around Luhan possessively, while a scowling Wufan looked on.

 

"Fine, I bet we'd kick your asses even with one less member," he muttered, trudging back to his starting position with Zitao in tow. Minseok, Yixing and Luhan returned to their starting places as well.

 

"Hey, you can do it," whispered Minseok, just as Wufan hollered to start. Before Luhan could respond, Minseok had already vanished ten paces in front of him, heading straight for the ball. Luhan mustered up all the energy he had and ran, as fast as he could, so that he could catch up with Yixing and Minseok. At first he was a little conscious of the mud, so he tried his best to not run into any of the mud pools, but no matter how hard he tried mud still oozed out from under his feet and splashed onto his legs. In the end, Luhan decided to throw all caution to the wind and just focus on the game.

 

This time, Minseok seemed to be performing well, moving faster than before. He got the ball first, and dribbled it across the field to near the opposing team's goal post. However, before he could shoot, Wufan and Zitao emerged from the sides and Wufan stole the ball before Minseok could even react. The two of them then moved in sync as a team, with Zitao supporting at the back as Wufan advanced.

 

With a surge of energy, Luhan started to gain speed—astonishingly fast, as he raced past Yixing, past Minseok and even Zitao. The ball was just within reach but Wufan was one step faster and kicked, the ball entering the net from the side.

 

"Whoo!" Zitao cheered and clapped as Wufan pumped his fist triumphantly into the air.

 

"The score's even now!" announced Wufan, smugly walking up to Yixing and Minseok. However, he was disappointed—neither was paying him any heed, both of them choosing instead to focus their attention on Luhan.

 

"Wow, that was amazing! I didn't know you were such a fast runner!" breathed Yixing, eyes shining.

 

"You were practically faster than the wind! You're like our dark horse," Minseok exclaimed. Luhan chuckled shyly and looked down, not sure if he deserved to be complimented by them, who were in fact more experienced. 

 

"You're a natural. I think with more training you'll be a superstar!" declared Minseok, patting Luhan's back.

 

Wufan coughed. "Excu—"

 

"Don't you think he's talented?" asked Yixing, turning to Wufan.

 

"Uh, yeah, but as a matter of fact, we scored just now so—"

 

"Fine, whatever," Yixing replied airily. "But with Luhan as our secret weapon, we'd beat you guys in no time!"

 

Zitao narrowed his eyes. "Is that a challenge?" 

 

"Only if you want it to be," Minseok piped in.

 

"Game on, then," Zitao answered, and they got ready again. 

 

This time, Luhan got the ball, and he agilely dodged Zitao's attempt to kick it away from him as he neared the goal post. He felt cool mud splash onto his face and trousers, but he couldn't care less. Before he could score a goal, though, Wufan had caught up with him and with a sneaky manoeuvre managed to kick the ball to Zitao. The latter's feet flew under him as he dribbled the ball at lightning speed towards the goal post. Seeing Yixing and Minseok near him from the corner of his eye, he got ready to shoot—but not before Minseok cleverly slipped past with the ball before him.

 

The grass squished under Minseok's shoes, both long soaked with mud, as he dribbled the ball toward's the goal post again. "Luhan!" he yelled, as he kicked the ball halfway across the field to Luhan who was at least fifty metres away from the goal post. Across Wufan's gasp of surprise, Zitao's yelp and Yixing's cries of "What the heck are you doing", Luhan didn't dribble. Instead, he kicked the ball with all his might, and everybody looked on as the ball flew in a perfect trajectory and landed directly into the net.

 

"Goal!" screamed Minseok and Yixing, running over to hug Luhan.

 

"Oof," Luhan felt the wind knocked out of him as their combined body weight tackled him to the ground, the damp mud seeping into his shirt. He had no time to think about how gross it was, because Yixing and Minseok were ruffling his hair, patting his back, smothering his face—Luhan was pretty sure every inch of him was covered in mud by now. But he didn't care, because Minseok, Minseok, was laughing heartily as he rolled around on the field. Deep, throaty chuckles that made Luhan laugh along as well.

 

"Look at you," Zitao observed smilingly. "You guys are all brown."

 

"I know!" shouted Minseok happily, rolling around some more. "Isn't it great?"

 

Bright peals of laughter could be heard as Yixing pulled Zitao down to join them. Wufan scowled because he would very much like to remain clean. But even he wasn't spared as the combined effort from the other four grimy boys sent him landing with a thud on the ground, splashing mud everywhere.

 

"I'm dirty!" he groaned exasperatedly.

 

"No one cares!" shouted Yixing, throwing fistfuls of mud at his face. 

 

"My face," Wufan wailed, "I shall never be the same again."

 

"Shut up, you big whiny spoiled brat," scolded Minseok as he wiped his hands on Wufan's shirt, colouring it with streaks of brown.

 

"You asked for it," growled Wufan, before he hurled a clump of mud and grass at Minseok.

 

"Ah!" Minseok squeaked as the clump landed smack in the middle of his chest.

 

"Mud fight!" shouted Zitao gleefully, as he tore up clumps of grass from the ground and flung them into the air. Most of them landed right back onto the ground, but one of them landed with a plop on Luhan's head. The latter looked up in mock anger at the grinning male.

 

"This is war!" he screeched, before sending a barrage of mud flying towards Zitao at high speed. Luhan was indeed talented, as the deadly mud projectiles hit their target. Beside him, Yixing, Minseok and Wufan joined in the battle with great gusto, bending down to pick up handfuls of mud and throwing them at each other. Their clothes were long gone, and everyone was the same shade of brown from head to toe.

 

Laughter rang bright as Yixing chased Wufan around with handfuls of mud, while Luhan smiled like it's the most fun he'd had in years. 

 

---

A/N:

Exams over!!! Yes \o/ I did okay, so I think my studying paid off! ^^

Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this update as usual, and thanks to all those commenters/subscribers/silent readers. I love you all! <3 And wow, a hundred subscribers already? >< I almost can't believe it. Thank you so much! /hugs every single one of you/

If you feel bored you can check out my Youtube account. I make parodies x3

See you soon! xD In the meantime, have a Lay to brighten up your day xP (my drawing skills are improving whee~)