“Faster. I want to see your chins hitting the grass, boys!” Xiumin wailed, spit flying from his mouth with intensity.

Sehun was more exhausted than he had ever been in his life. Half of the guys had already been cut or walked away, looking like they were going to pass out. Sehun had somehow survived the sprints and now it was time for core strength training. This made little sense to Sehun because they were already half an hour into the try-out and they hadn’t even seen a football yet. The anticipation was actually slightly motivating.

“It’s better if you think about your body as a whole, rather than just wrenching yourself up and down by your arms.” Luhan whispered to Sehun.

Sehun thought about the advice for a moment and then made the adjustments accordingly. He pictured his whole body working in conjunction instead of just lifting himself up by his skinny, pathetic arms. The first few times felt extremely awkward but if Sehun really concentrated, Luhan's suggestion made it much easier to get his body closer to the ground and then back up again.

“Good form, new guy.” Xiumin complimented Sehun in passing.

Sehun smiled appreciatively over at Luhan. Luhan returned the look with an amused smirk. Then it struck Sehun, why did he suddenly want the approval of Xiumin? This should be a painful experience not one that he is working at. It’s an obligation not an opportunity… or is it?

“Alright, time for skills.” Xiumin announced and unleashed a mess of footballs from a mesh bag.

The students who were the most eager, darted toward them, looking for the ‘perfect’ ball. Sehun held back, while the rest of the competitors essentially devoured the slew of balls. He was surprised to see Luhan staying back from the brawl as well.

“Why aren’t you in there?” He inquired, regretting the words as they passed through his lips. The last thing he wanted to do was bug Luhan.

Sehun winced and slowly took a peek at Luhan. He was shocked to see that Luhan was blushing slightly.

“Its dumb, but I like to wait for whatever is left over because I usually find that the ‘right’ ball just comes to me.” Luhan responded, kicking at the grass.

“How Zen of you.” Sehun assured him, with a small smile.

Luhan looked back up at Sehun with a spark of … something unreadable in his eyes. “It’s like… the underdog theory. The ones that people don’t pick right away seem to work the best for me. Their flaws are what make them work so well.” He continued.

Sehun’s breath hitched at the intimacy of the idea that Luhan had shared with him. Sehun suddenly realized that he was getting attached to the idea of having Luhan as a new friend.

Luhan was intelligent, humorous and most importantly, didn’t take the football thing too seriously. He might just be the perfect answer to making the athletic requirement less painful for Sehun to endure.

“Guess it’s time.” Luhan prompted, nodding to the bag of footballs that finally had a clear path in front of it.

The selection had definitely dwindled as the bag had been picked through but with Luhan’s idea in mind, Sehun set out to find the ball that seemed to be set out for him. He looked over the slew of options and in the very bottom corner of the bag, he found the one.

He reached down for it, essentially blocking out the rest of the world as he connected with his clandestinely chosen ball.

Crack!

Luhan and Sehuns’s heads made contact as they both grasped for the same football at the bottom of the bag. Sehun tumbled backward, unused to the contact of his head against object. Luhan on the other hand was dazed for a moment but that was because he was more used to the idea of ‘heading’ the ball.

As Sehun whirled backward, he slipped on a patch of wet grass and smacked his head on the cold field as he fell. He choked back the involuntary tears that sprung to his eyes because of the impact.

Once Luhan realized that Sehun had fallen, he rushed to his side.

“You okay?” He asked, his brow furrowed in concern.

“I guess that I shouldn’t have followed your advice if this is where it got me.” Sehun joked, slowly sitting up.

“Whoa, slow down there, bud. You could have a concussion. And maybe this was how it was supposed to go. Things always happen for a reason.” Luhan stated and somehow that comforted Sehun.

“Coach!” Luhan called and Xiumin jogged over. “Xiumin’s a paramedic in training at uni, hopefully he’ll be able to determine your diagnosis.” Luhan explained as Xiumin knelt down.

“What happened?” He demanded, looking accusingly at Sehun.

“It was my fault, Coach. I took my usual amount of time to choose my ball and we reached for the same one…” Luhan recounted the accident to Xiumin as Sehun rubbed at his throbbing head.

“Damn it, Luhan. I never did get why you always stuck with that stupid ritual. Look what it’s done now!” Xiumin scolded as he knelt down toward Sehun to make his examination.

Xiumin lifted up a finger and told Sehun to follow it. Sehun did so without fault and Xiumin quickly stood to his feet. “He’s fine, just a little bump.” Xiumin determined, talking to Luhan. 

“You ok to do the rest of the try out?” He asked, holding a hand out to Sehun. Sehun took it and hesitated for a moment.

“You think that’s a good idea? I mean… I don’t know if there’s really a point…” Sehun muttered, looking down at his converse (which was the perfect example of why he wasn’t meant to be there).

“No, you’re decent. I would’ve cut you already if I didn’t want you here. You’re nimble and have pretty good endurance for someone with little to no muscle mass. I want you to stick around for ball skills, I can tell in your eyes that you’re a quick learner.” Xiumin answered curtly, before turning away and returning to the rest of the potential players.

Luhan nudged Sehun in the ribs with his elbow supportively. When Sehun looked his way, he gave him a subtle thumbs up. Somewhere in the mess of put downs that Xiumin had dished his way, there had been some compliments. Sehun felt a flicker of excitement and hope somewhere deep inside.

Luhan picked up the ball that Sehun had hurt himself over and handed it to Sehun.

“Really?” Sehun asked, a skeptical look on his face. Luhan was practically giving him a gift.

“Totally. You’ll need it more than I will for this next part.” He explained, picking up another ball and running back toward the group.

Sehun ignored the impending doom of the skills section and breathed in the inspiration that the ball was breathing into him. It was time to kick some .