“And now, we’re back at the auditorium. Please go ahead inside so that you can take your math placement exams and audition for chorus, orchestra, or band if you wish to,” Kyuhyun smiled at the short little incoming freshman as he held the door open for them with his foot. Once the hallway was emptied, save for his partner in crime, he swung his foot back around so that it was next to the other. “Well, that was more tiring than I expected. Those kids were brats.”

“Hey, be nice,” Ryeowook rolled his eyes. “Then, should we return this stuff to the teachers?”

Kyuhyun looked down at the clipboard and sign that he was carrying. “Oh. I almost forgot. Main office?” Ryeowook nodded. “Alright, then.” They started to walk away from the auditorium. “So, are you heading home after this?”

Ryeowook shook his head, “No, I’m going out to get lunch with Bum, Siwon, and some of my junior friends. You wanna come?”

“…Which junior friends?”

“Oh, just a couple of the soccer guys. Donghae and Eunhyuk – you know them?” Ryeowook pulled open the door to the main office, letting Kyuhyun through before following behind.

“I think I’ve heard of Eunhyuk before,” Kyuhyun said before he was distracted by the task of greeting the teacher and giving back the orientation materials and such. They made some small talk about the incoming class and general school events – of which there were very few since school hadn’t officially started yet. It was mostly to do with the school sports teams, none of which were ever particularly promising anyways. Before the conversation became too painfully long, the lady was called in to help the principal with something, so Ryeowook and Kyuhyun made their escape.

“Anyways, who’s Donghae?”

“Oh, you probably wouldn’t know him. He just moved to this school about halfway through last year,” Ryeowook blinked for a bit, “Actually, he doesn’t really talk to that many people. Pretty shy. Though he dances everywhere.”

“Dances?” Kyuhyun raised his eyebrows.

“Everywhere. Literally. If there are earphones in his ears, he’s dancing. I had to keep him from spinning into people in the hallway a few times…” A look of concern crossed Ryeowook’s face, “I wonder how he does when none of his friends are around to keep him from hitting people…”

Kyuhyun laughed, “I’m surprised I haven’t seen him before, then.” He thought for a moment, “Actually, now that I think about it, that is kind of funny. Maybe I have run into him before, and just never realized…” He must not be very memorable, then…

“Yeah, probably,” Ryeowook shrugged. “So, are you coming with us?”

Kyuhyun checked his phone, “Nah, my parents are supposed to come pick me up in twenty minutes. I live pretty far away, so they’re probably on the way over already, so they’ll get pissed if I change the plan on them now.” He shrugged and put his phone away.

“Oh? Well, then, you should just come with me to watch the soccer practice, then. It’s actually just about to end in twenty minutes,” Ryeowook suggested. “Who knows. Maybe you’ll find some cute guy.”

“Sure, why not.” Kyuhyun shrugged and grinned, “And Yesung is okay with your hanging out with these guys?”

Ryeowook laughed and shook his head. “He’s not the jealous type. Besides, I’m pretty sure all of those guys are straight. Well, Donghae’s a bit questionable. And, well, Siwon – seriously, is it even possible for a guy to be that perfect and be completely straight?”

Kyuhyun laughed, “True, true.”

The two walked down the stairs and through the gates to get to the turf area. They climbed up to the top of the bleachers, finding an empty space away from the junior varsity players – who were apparently on some sort of break. There were some girls there too, probably managers or something, and three girls who looked like they came from some other sport – volleyball, Kyuhyun believed – that were sitting up on the top row. The varsity players were, Kyuhyun assumed, arranged to be in three teams, white shirts, red jerseys, and skins.

“Okay, let’s see…” Ryeowook leaned back on the bench behind him, “Hyuk is over there – white shirt team, bright red shoes. Donghae is sitting down – skins, neon green shoes.” Kyuhyun followed Ryeowook’s gaze to the boy, somewhat disappointed to see that he was facing away from them. Ryeowook noticed the disappointment pretty quickly, “Don’t worry. Look, I think they’re switching the teams that are playing right now. I’m sure you’ll get your chance to see his face.”

“…It’s too far. I can’t really see anyone’s faces from here,” Kyuhyun complained.

Ryeowook shrugged, “Then, I guess you’ll just have to wait until practice is over.” He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and pressed the center button, checking the time. “Should be in about ten minutes.” He looked back to at the field to see that the guys were doing some final suicides and warming down.

Before long, they had finished their stretches and had a quick huddle before they all broke off and went to change their equipment.

“Oh, let’s go. They’re done,” Ryeowook stood up, grabbing Kyuhyun’s arm and dragging him down the bleachers. He leaned over the edge of the gate and called, “Bum! Hae! Hyuk!” Kyuhyun assumed a position right next to him, crossing his arms and leaning against the gate as well.

The three soccer players turned their heads and waved at Ryeowook. Kyuhyun took a quick glance at each of them, his gaze staying for a second longer on the one he didn’t recognize, and then looked down at the ground, a small smirk appearing on his face.

Wow.

“Ah,” Kyuhyun muttered at the feeling of vibrations in his pant pocket. “Parents are here. I’ll see you later.” He then leaned in and whispered, “Introduce me to him next time.”

“I got you.” Ryeowook nodded. “Later.”

Kyuhyun slipped his hands into his pockets, smoothly descending down from the bleachers. “Hey, Kyu,” the sound of Kibum’s voice interrupted him.

“Ah. Hey.” Kyuhyun said with a quick wave, “Sorry, I, uh…gotta go, so…”

“Yeah? See ya.”

“Bye.” With one last, quick glance at the kid from before – what was it, Donghae? – Kyuhyun walked out of the gate, up the stairs, and to the parking lot, where his dad was waiting for him.

- x -

Kyuhyun leaned back in his seat, his left hand’s fingers continuing to tap on the keyboard as his right hand reached over for his phone. He flipped through his phone book, and pressed the call button.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Hey, Ryeowook,” Kyuhyun said as his character on the screen killed off the last monster in the area. “I was wondering, you think it’s too late to become a manager for soccer?”

“…You want to manage for soccer? Is it for…um…Donghae…?”

“Yeah. What’s wrong?”

There was a pause on the other side of the phone. “Um…I dunno. Isn’t it a bit weird for a guy to manage for guys’ soccer? All of their managers are girls…And it’s not like you know a lot of the people on the team.”

“…I’ll use the community service hour excuse.”

“Can’t you manage for something else? Girls’ soccer? Oh, I think a lot of the girls’ volleyball players are pretty close to the soccer players. You can build up connections that way.”

“Right,” Kyuhyun sighed, “Fine. Do you know when they start practice?”

Ryeowook sighed, “I’ll ask someone and get back to you. I know they end at like, twelve, though. That’s an hour before soccer practice ends, so they probably start an hour earlier, too. Nine o’clock, I’m guessing?”

“Right. Thanks. OH THAT’S A BOSS.”

“Gaming?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll leave you to that, then. I’ll text you if it doesn’t actually start at nine.”

“Got it. Bye.”

“Bye.”

- x -

“Yeah? Sure, you can manage for us,” the volleyball coach said. She was a short, blond lady who looked quite sporty. “Do you play at all?” Kyuhyun shook his head, “Well, that’s okay. You don’t have to come to all of the practices if you don’t want to – the games are more important. Most of the other managers just come to play. Then, I’ll introduce you to the girls today.”

Kyuhyun nodded, opening the door to the gym. Just as he opened it a full foot and stepped in, he heard a loud sound and saw some sort of projectile charging straight at him. He leaned his upper body over just in time to dodge the bullet.

“LYNN. LOOK, YOU NEARLY JUST KILLED SOMEONE.” Kyuhyun looked up to see a short, Asian girl with her long hair tied up into a ponytail telling at her partner, a much taller girl who was also Asian. They were two of the three volleyball players who had been watching the soccer practice the day before.

“Yeah, yeah,” the taller one – Lynn, he supposed – shrugged. “It wasn’t that hard. I missed the ball.”

Wasn’t that hard? Oh dear god.