Luhan’s number burned a hole in Sehun’s pocket as he tried to distract himself from his excitement of seeing his team mate after school.

When the bell rang, Sehun ran down the front steps and sprinted toward his dorm room. Once he got there, he quickly changed into his gym clothes and pulled on his converse. He hustled to the field and Luhan waved him over to join the group.

“You’re late.” Xiumin barked at him, scowling. He was in his usual lovely mood.

“Sorry, coach, I had to get back to my dorm room and change.” Sehun explained, meekly.

“That’s what the showers are for, idiot.” Xiumin responded and most of the team rolled their eyes at Sehun’s rookie mistake. Luhan gave him a supportive clap on the back.

Sehun sure felt like an idiot, and his cheeks grew hot with embarrassment. Great way to make a first impression at his first official practice. He really knew how to screw things up when they came his way…

“Don’t worry, he just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, as usual.” A guy with darker skin whispered to Sehun.

Sehun had to cover his mouth to stifle his laughter. But he appreciated the camaraderie of the kind stranger.

“Keep your smart comments to yourself, Kai.” Xiumin called out and Kai just shrugged innocently.

Sehun noticed that the guy was wearing a different outfit than the rest of the team, and then it hit Sehun: Kai was the team’s goalie.

“Alright, now that everyone’s here, let’s get started. Welcome to Busan Prep's Senior Varsity team. You have earned your spot but now, you have to keep the good work up, or you will be cut. If you miss a practice, without a valid reason, you are cut. If you are late, you are cut. If you talk back to me, I will not hesitate to kick you to the grass.  Now that everything’s clear, let’s do this boys!” Xiumin announced and Sehun paled at the reality of how serious the team actually was.

“I promise his bark his bigger than his bite.” Luhan assured him as they took off into a sequence of conditioning drills.

Sehun noticed that every so often Luhan would look over to the bleachers, where Minji was sitting and wave to her. She would wave back encouragingly and return back to her schoolwork. It was disgustingly adorable. It just fueled Sehun’s fire to work harder.

Halfway through practice, Minji was joined on the bleachers by nothing other than Do Kyungsoo. He didn’t actually sit with her but he did make his presence known. He had a flask in one hand and in the other waved a ‘Let’s go Busan Prep’ flag.

“Let’s go Sehun, let’s go!” Kyungsoo cheered from the stands and Sehun just wanted to go die in a hole.

He tried to wave Kyungsoo off, but Sehun’s number one fan was relentless.

“Looks like we both have our own personal cheerleaders.” Luhan teased, as he ran past Sehun during a scrimmage.

Sehun decided to accept the fact that Kyungsoo wasn’t going anywhere, and soon was used to hearing Kyungsoo's chants of encouragement.

“Oi! Sehun! Who’s that?” Kai asked, his eyebrow arched in interest.

Sehun almost ran into the goal post in surprise. Kai knew his name without Sehun even introducing himself. Sehun smiled at the idea that he was no longer a ‘nobody’.

“Sehun?” Kai called him back into reality.

“Oh, uh, sorry! That’s Kyungsoo. He’s my roommate and best friend. It’s a bit embarrassing, really.” Sehun explained, looking over at Kyungsoo who was waving frantically from the bleachers.

Kai and Sehun both waved back but when Kyungsoo saw a stranger waving back, he ducked his head and skittered away.

“Sorry about that, he’s a bit shy…” Sehun excused the innocent guy of his odd habits.

“Understandable. If I had someone cheering me on like that, I would always be in the zone. I don’t think it’s embarrassing at all.” Kai expressed. Sehun could see that some sort of wheels were turning in the goalie’s head.

“Kai! Sehun! For Christ’s sake, this is not a social gathering! Let’s go!” Xiumin screamed from across the field.

Sehun really didn’t know how Xiumin didn’t burst a blood vessel with the amount that he yelled.

“See yah later.” Sehun greeted as he ran back to the side of the field that actually had the ball.

“Making friends with Kai, are we?” Luhan asked as Sehun ran over to where the ball was.

“He’s a cool guy. Why, you jealous?” Sehun teased, kicking at the football that Luhan was currently passing between his own feet.

“I can’t have someone stealing my new best mate.” Luhan retorted, winking at Sehun.

Sehun laughed but then it was back to business. He kicked the ball from between Luhan's legs, and began to dribble it down the field.

Luhan watched, dumfounded, as Sehun rocketed down the field. The guy really could move. Sehun passed it to another player on his team and the guy scored.

The rest of Sehun’s half of the team ran toward him and congratulated him on his steal and breakaway. Luhan just smiled proudly.

“Good move, rookie, that might just make up for you tardiness from earlier today.” Xiumin called to him encouragingly.

Sehun felt like he was walking on air again. He was playing football and playing it well. Luhan gave him a thumbs up from across and Sehun was glad that the distance between them masked the stupidly gleeful face that he sported because of the gesture.

As the practice progressed, Sehun's feet began to hurt more and more. The converse really weren’t doing the trick. When Xiumin blew his whistle to signal the end of the practice, Sehun limped over to the bleachers where he had left things while the of the team headed toward the locker room.

Luhan turned and stopped to see Sehun collapse on the bleachers, clearly in a lot of pain. He hesitated for a moment, wondering whether he should go over and help or not. He looked up to Minji who impatiently tapped on her watch to signal that they were, indeed, on a schedule. They had a student council meeting to get to. Luhan sighed, feeling guilty leaving his friend alone to deal with his hurt feet but he turned and ran toward the locker room anyway.

Sehun pulled off his converse and saw that blood had seeped through his socks. When he peeled them off, his feet were covered in blisters. They ached immensely. He got to his feet and found Kyungsoo hiding behind the bleachers.

“You ok?” Kyungsoo asked, looking at his friend’s swollen and bloody feet.

“Better than you look.” Sehun teased. Kyungsoo scowled before throwing at arm around Sehun to help his friend back to the their dorm room.

The next morning…

“Sehun! There’s a package out here for you!” Kyungsoo announced and Sehun just pulled the covers further over his head.

Kyungsoo, ever spritely, pounced on his friend’s bed and placed a package in front of him. Kyungsoo tickled Sehun until he finally gave in to waking up. Sehun sat up, rubbed his eyes and then let them focus on the odd thing in front of him.

“What’s this…?” Sehun asked, poking at the wrapped box.

“OPEN IT!” Kyungsoo squealed, like an excited child on Christmas. He was literally bouncing up and down with excitement.

Sehun tore the simple brown wrapping back to reveal a box of football cleats.

“Wow…” Kyungsoo murmured, peering over at the unwrapped gift. “Who’s it from?” He asked Sehun.

“All it says is ‘from someone who’s thinking of you’.” Sehun said, reading the card.

Oh Sehun had a secret admirer…