Hyunwoo watched as Yoseob sat on the floor. The younger man was panting, gulping too much water from his water bottle at one time. Hyunwoo winced at the sight, afraid that the water would go down the wrong pipe and drown Yoseob’s lungs and the idol star would meet a horrible death… He shook his head, clearing his thoughts from the morbid imaginations.

Hyunwoo slowly approached the younger man, who was now laughing with his boxing partner for tonight, the half Shihyuk. The agents had all warmed up to Yoseob, even including him in their conversations, asking him out for drinks, but it was as clear as the day that Shihyuk was trying hard to impress the idol – his smiles were too wide, his eyes too bright, his words too sweet, and the worst thing was that Shihyuk was always half around Yoseob, parading his abs and toned chest – did he expect Yoseob to like men or something? Hyunwoo scoffed as he heard the two of them laughed.

Hyunwoo cleared his throat deliberately loud, and both Yoseob and Shihyuk turned their heads simultaneously to see Hyunwoo standing awkwardly beside Shihyuk (Yoseob was still sitting on the floor, too tired to stand up because his feet felt like jelly).

Yoseob stared coldly at Hyunwoo, “Hi, Hyunwoo-sshi. Can I help you with something?”

Instead of looking at Yoseob, Hyunwoo stared at Shihyuk and raised his eyebrows menacingly although his voice was calm, “You should shower and get dressed before you fall sick, Shihyukah.”

Shihyuk answered with a smile, “No, I’m okay. Actually we were just – “ But upon looking at Hyunwoo’s cold stares and scary eyes, the smile quickly fade from Shihyuk’s face. He stopped talking midway, turning his attention to Yoseob, “Yoseobah, I’ll go shower now. I talk to you later, okay?” Shihyuk smiled to Yoseob, before he scampered off to the available shower stalls.

“What the hell was that?” Yoseob glared at Hyunwoo.

“Why did you partner up with him?”

There was a pause as Yoseob narrowed his eyes in annoyance and answered, “Because I was late and you were already partnered up with someone else. And Shihyuk was the closest to me at the moment, he was convenient.” Yoseob shrugged.

“He was convenient?” Hyunwoo asked, suddenly enraged. “Are you that easy, Yoseob-sshi? Wanting someone that was convenient?”

Yoseob stood up in a flash, his face was pink from exertion and anger, how dare this man shouted at him. He was Yang Yoseob, he was an idol, he dined with the President and other prominent figures, half of the population in the world knew him. How dare this Hyunwoo guy raise his voice at Yang Yoseob. “What the is wrong with you. I could partner up with whomever I wanted to. I told you I was late. Would you appreciate it if I disturbed your partner time with Sooyeon Noona? I’m giving you time with her. What is your ing problem?” Yoseob was seething, trying hard to restrain his anger.

Hyunwoo was as calm as the ocean, “Your lateness never stopped you before. You were late a few times and you shouted to the whole gym you wanted to partner with me. What happened?”

Yoseob scoffed at that, he crossed his hands in front of his chest and tilted his head in a challenge, “Nothing. You looked so cozy with Sooyeon Noona and I did not want to disturb. That’s all.”

“What happened, Yang Yoseob?” Hyunwoo insisted, not budging from his position in front of Yoseob.

“Calling me by my name now, huh? Why do you even care anyway? I’m just a stranger, Hyunwoo-sshi.” Yoseob drawled out his answer, taunting the older man.

Hyunwoo visibly relaxed, “Ah, so that’s what happened. I apologized before. I told you I’m sorry and I already said you were not a stranger.”

Yoseob waved a hand dismissively in the air, “Oh, it’s okay. I realize that I am a stranger, even to myself. It’s fine, really. Sometimes, I need a slap of reality to my face.” Yoseob looked up at Hyunwoo and smiled. A sad, sad smile, and Hyunwoo’s heart clenched when he realized that aside from all the fame and wealth, under all those clothes and make up, behind the cheerful smiles and witty comments, Yang Yoseob was a lonely little boy. He was so afraid of rejection, afraid of loneliness. Yang Yoseob was as human as Hyunwoo was, a mere mortal just like everyone.

“Do you want to go with me to soccer practice?” Hyunwoo blurted out. He widened his eyes when he realized he just asked Yoseob to go with him for soccer session with his high school friends.  

Yoseob frowned, “Huh, what?”

Hyunwoo was quiet as he pursed his lips.

“You want me to go for soccer practice with you?” Yoseob asked, confusion clear on his face.

No one moved and no one said anything. After a long, awkward silent, Hyunwoo nodded. Slowly.

“When?”

“I’m not sure if it clashes with your schedule and I’m not forcing you to go – “ Hyunwoo rambled nervously.

“When, dammit.”

Hyunwoo stopped talking and frowned at Yoseob, “You should watch what you are saying, Kid, it’s not like – “

Yoseob rolled his eyes, he was back as the Kid now, “When?”

“Wednesday next week at 4. I’ll pick you up from your dorm.” Hyunwoo rushed his words. Yoseob nodded, remembering the date and timing for soccer practice with Ahjussi. He should check his schedule with his manager though, but he would try his best to get out of anything on next Wednesday.

Even before Yoseob finished compartmentalizing his thoughts, Hyunwoo had bolted out of the gym to the parking lot with his head down (he could feel warmth creeping over his face) and his heavy, black backpack strapped onto his strong back. Yoseob quickly ran over to the parking lot, catching Hyunwoo squatting down to fiddle with a white bicycle.

Yoseob frowned, “You cycle?”

Hyunwoo turned his head and looked up at Yoseob, he nodded at the question.

“Wow.” Yoseob’s eyes widened, “Why?”

Hyunwoo turned back to his bicycle and shrugged, “Because I enjoy the weather and the view. It’s healthier and it helps in keeping my carbon print low.”

“Wow.” Yoseob breathed out. “You lost me somewhere in there but still… Wow.”

Hyunwoo scoffed and shook his head at the younger man’s cluelessness. He sat on the black saddle and started cycling away from Yoseob. “I’ll see you, kid.”

“Wait! You still remember my address?” Yoseob shouted at Hyunwoo’s back, a silly grin on his face.

“Yes. Bye, kid.” Hyunwoo called out without turning back to look at Yoseob.

Yoseob was grinning like a fool as he shouted back excitedly, “Bye, Ahjussi!” All of his previous anger and hurt was gone in a blink of an eye.

Yoseob could not see it. But Hyunwoo certainly, definitely, obviously smiled a little too wide when the younger man finally called him Ahjussi again. 

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Yoseob gawked at the group of rambunctious men hugging and hitting in each playfully in front of him. He was not used to this. He was never used to this. He was the little master in the Yang mansion before he was an idol and currently after he became one, he was the unreachable idol whom no one could touch, in case he would get hurt or break apart like a sand statue. Of course, he did interact with Dongwoon and Kikwang – and Hayoon Noona before they broke up – but these men were trying to kill each other playfully and Yoseob took a few steps back. He wished he could just hide inside Ahjussi’s car and waited for the older man to finish his soccer practice.

Hyunwoo was laughing – Ahjussi was laughing and Yoseob would definitely mark his calendar for it – at the sight of his noisy group of friends. Half of Hyunwoo’s face was covered by large black shades but Yoseob could see the faint wrinkles at the side of the older man’s eye when it was pushed up by laughter. Yoseob grinned, Ahjussi was old and it was absolutely adorable.

Hyunwoo walked slowly towards the bunch with Yoseob trailing behind, and it needed just one guy to shout his name out loud before the whole group of guys charged towards Hyunwoo and piling on top of him with affectionate hugs and strangles, “ITS’ HYUNWOO!! HYUNWOO-YAH! HYUNWOO-YAH!!”

By this time, Yoseob was absolutely terrified because this whole chaos could hurt him and he would hear no end from his manager about cancelling his schedules and getting hurt from it.  It took a while for the rowdy boys to show their welcoming gestures to Hyunwoo before their attention finally shifted to Yoseob. Suddenly, all of them were eerily silent as they let go of a disheveled Hyunwoo.

The silent was awkward as it was deafening. The pregnant pause was so uncomfortable that Yoseob squirmed both of his big toes inside the soccer shoes.

“Is this…?” A huge guy with small eyes pointed at Yoseob hesitantly and tilted his head in confusion.

“Could it be… Yang Yoseob-sshi?” Another guy asked. He was quite handsome with clean shave face and black strong eyebrows.

Again, silence followed and Yoseob wanted nothing more than for the ground under his feet to split open and swallow him whole. Then, Hyunwoo cleared his throat, “Guys, this is Yang Yoseob-sshi,I am not so sure how many of you know him. But he is here today to play with us. I hope that’s okay.” Hyunwoo let out a heavy breath and his lips nervously.

“You are not sure how many of us know him?” The guy with the small eyes scoffed. “He is Yang ing Yoseob! How can we not know him. OH.MY.GOD! IT REALLY IS HIM!” Then he shouted to the rest of the men, “GUYS IT’S YANG YOSEOB! CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS!”

Suddenly, chaos ensued and everything centered on Yoseob, a swarm of guys charged towards him and Yoseob was absolutely scared for his life right now. He wanted nothing more than to apologize to his manager and get back to his schedules – his safe schedules.

There were loud shouts and hoots, and Yoseob could hear his name a few times as he saw a few men running towards him. He closed his eyes, gearing himself to be knocked to the ground, but it never happened. Instead he felt nothing at all.

“Um, Yang Yoseob-sshi, why are you closing your eyes?” A soft voice spoke to Yoseob and he opened his eyes slowly to see a group of guys waiting politely in front of him. It was the clean shaven man who asked him. Yoseob’s eyes darted warily left and right, everyone was a stranger and he needed Hyunwoo to save him from this mess.

Hyunwoo walked through the crowd and said, “Yah, break it up you guys. He is scared right now.”

One of the men pouted, “But we only wanted to shake his hand.” He immediately swooned, “Shaking Yang Yoseob’s hand… my girlfriend must be so jealous of me right now. Can I have a picture with you too? And an autograph?” He pleaded his with puppy eyes.

Yoseob was truly taken aback, he thought Ahjussi was weird, where in fact his friends were all weirdos who acted like fangirls in front of him. “Y – y – yeah… sure, I guess we can arrange that…” Yoseob stammered out his answer.

Hyunwoo sighed at the sight of a terrified Yoseob, and he clapped his hands authoritatively, “Okay, you guys line up! Line up now! Whoever wants whatever from Yoseob-sshi line up now! One straight row. Come on!”

Yoseob turned his head to look at Hyunwoo and stared incredulously at him. Was he asking his soccer friends to line up? This was ridiculous, and Yoseob mouth dropped when he saw the group scrambled into one straight line in order to be able to shake hands and take pictures and whatever with him.

Yoseob gaped at the ridiculousness of the situation where men lined up like a bunch of kindergarten girls and he tried to keep his laughter from howling out. They were all weirdos and Yoseob really liked them. Each and every one of them.

Turned out that soccer with Hyunwoo was more than just a play-and-practice affair. These guys were all high school friends and they also used soccer practice as a meeting platform for them to catch up. The lining up for handshakes proven to be a great way of introducing Yoseob to the whole group, and there was a whole lot of them. Yoseob learned that the guy with small eyes was called Jinwoon and he was such a soft-hearted giant, and the clean shaven handsome man was called Lee Wan Hyung, and the team captain with godly skill called Junsu Hyung, and of course there were other guys as well. They called their team the F.C Men which had Yoseob snorted and laughing for a full three minutes.

Yoseob had so much fun in the field. Running freely without any fans lurking around was new to him, and for these guys to treat him as equal – as a friend – instead of some revered idol star was absolutely thrilling, some of them even treated Yoseob like a younger brother and he loved it. Another thing that he loved about this whole soccer was the carefree Ahjussi. Hyunwoo was dressed casually in blue sweatpants and white baggy tee shirt, his soft hair messily blown by the wind, and the constant happy smile on his face. Yoseob mused, this was how Ahjussi looked like when he was happy.

When the soccer practice ended, Yoseob was ready to go back home and brag about this to Dongwoon and Kikwang, before Seulong (another one of Hyunwoo’s friend) asked if he and Hyunwoo would be coming with them for a few drinks. Yoseob quickly stared at Hyunwoo to plead out, and Hyunwoo nodded slowly as he answered, “We’d love to but we can’t, Hyung. Yoseob needs to cover the schedules he cancelled today by tomorrow, and he’ll be exhausted. I’m going to drive him home.”

Seulong pouted in disappointment but nodded in understanding nonetheless and waved them goodbye before he joined in with the other guys for a drink or two. Yoseob widened his eyes in shocked, he wanted to not go but he did not want Hyunwoo to not go too, “No, I’m okay. You can go with them. I’ll get my manager to pick me up. Go.”

Hyunwoo shrugged and said, “I told your manager I’ll get you safely home. There’s no way I’m going to let you stay here alone and wait.”

Yoseob grinned at the older man, strangely happy at the attention. His stomach suddenly growled. Yoseob was starving, he had burned much more calories than his usual dancing routines. He clutched his stomach and smiled sheepishly up at Hyunwoo.

Hyunwoo laughed, loud and uninhibited, and Yoseob loved the sound of it, “Come on. Let’s have dinner before we got back.”

Yoseob smiled as they both walked towards Hyunwoo’s car.

“So… uh… do you like it?” Hyunwoo asked.

“Soccer? Yeah, I like it. I just don’t really play it often so I kind of look like an idiot out there. Sorry if I embarrassed you.” Yoseob scrunched up his face when he remembered how he was easily outrun by Jinwoon. Yoseob was irritated and he even came up on an evil plan to trip that soft-hearted giant in the field.

Hyunwoo ruffled Yoseob’s hair, “You were great! Everyone loves you apparently.”

Yoseob stopped walking, he was stunned as Hyunwoo continued walking to the car, oblivious to the shocked Yoseob. Hyunwoo asked softly, “Kid, would you want to come again two weeks from now?”

It seemed that the night now turned brighter to Yoseob. He stared at Hyunwoo’s back as the older man climb onto the driver seat of his car. “Yes Ahjussi!” Yoseob answered loudly. He ran to the passenger seat and sat down quickly. He buckled his seat belt and looked out the window as the car started moving. He looked at his reflection on the window glass and saw that a wide smile was etched on his lips. Gingerly he brushed his hair, remembering the feel of Ahjussi’s hands ruffling his hair.

Yes, Yoseob confessed, he was smiling idiot right now.

Little did he know that on the driver seat, Hyunwoo was smiling throughout the drive too.