Man of Steel (Wool)

Luhan is a great shot, he really is.

He is strong and skilful and entirely careless, so it’s not a surprise to his teammates when he trips over his own legs from a tackle gone wrong and face plants on the grassy field with a wondrous thud heard on the bleachers.

The man was like a gazelle even as he ate dirt and spewed profanities at the hapless idiot that had the unfortunate displeasure of tackling the captain of his team with spikes exposed and now he was being berated by a very annoyed Luhan sprawled on the floor, hand clasp around his ankle and a scowl on his face.

By the time the rest of the team gathers around their star player, Luhan is lying flat on his back and biting back a grimace, and the apologetic offender is biting his nails in terror, jumpy as their couch turns sharp eyes on him.

Luhan sighs up a storm, but says forget it and Jongin is the only one that he lets help him up.

He makes a show of insisting that he is alright and made of steel and other ridiculous allegations into his greatness, which he regrets when his foot touches the ground and a sharp pain shoots up his ankle and he has way too much pride to cry like the that he really is.

Awwwwwwwww.

It hurts.

This he does not say though and pushes out of Jongin’s grasp, only to fall flat on the floor in weakness and hands find the injured area nearly instantly.

He groans into the ground as Couch Jung yells for someone to take him to the nurse.

Luhan refuses to go, quite content to lay first face on the pitch that he called home for years, hoping that sheer will power was enough to defeat busted skin and exposed nerves and maybe hairline fractures?

His pride is damaged and he refuses to face the world.

Coach Jung , bright smile and soft heart but wilful temper decides that he has no care for Luhan’s pride and so kicks him on the shin and sends him to the nurse’s office.

Luhan refuses of course. A man must stand up, or in his case lay on the active turf , for his pride.

Coach Jung waves back up over and that is the end of that.

He kicks a fuss when he is carried, literally carried by Minho and Jongin to the nurse’s office, insisting that he is made of steel and  in case they were too dumb to know this, steel was unbreakable.

 He chooses to demonstrate this by using his injured foot to kick Minho in the groin.

Minho yelps and threatens to drop him and he is in so much pain from the jerky movements that he has no choice but to obey.

The nurse, Luhan later realizes is an enemy sent to destroy his reputation.

She meanly presses down on his ankle and makes him cry, publicly.

Well, maybe not publicly, but did she really have to do it in Minho and Jongin’s presence? To their credit though, both men act as if she had just broken their ankle instead of his and cringe on his behalf, washed with so much sympathy that he could punch them both in the face.

He supposes it not their fault when he screams like a when the Beast, also known as the school nurse drags his ankle out and twisting it menacingly.

It’s not broken she says and he wants to kick her in the face, because it sure as hell feels like it is after that little display.

He flops onto the bed and refuses to move until the doctor got there. The one that the school pays a horrible sum of money to be on call for incidents like this, but never seems to know what he is doing if you asked Luhan.

He pulls and prods and examines, also known as making Luhan bleed, since he bit his lip so much to stop the pain, until the wounds caused by the spikes are cleaned and sutured. Luhan inquires whether or not Mr. Doctor knows what the he is doing and gets a glare that quiets even him and a hard pinch when Dr. Certainly Not McDreamy says no.

Luhan scowls.

He thus determined that the only way he would get through this horrid ordeal was to imagine a happy place whilst the doctor fixes him up or so he claims anyway.

He thinks about scoring a winning goal and then thinks about being kissed senseless by a dumb giant and he smiles.

By then the doctor has his foot stitched up and wants an X-ray. Luhan is loath to move, simply because he is pretty sure he can’t even if he wants to. He refuses to say this to the not so good doctor and gets an eye roll from the man.

He heard doctors are serious and professional but this one is even more childish than he is.

Scary Nurse comes back and helps him to the miniature machine on the compound and he waits patiently for it to be done, sitting with annoyance.

Eventually the doctor says there is no fracture that is discernible but he figures Luhan is in pain.

This Luhan vehemently denies this of course and gets another eye roll accompanied by a snort this time. Dr. Quack as Luhan as now dubbed him simply grabs Luhan foot and watches him yelp with a manic look in his nearly dark demonic eyes and grins.

“It’s probably just some minor bruising to the bone and a sprain I figure”

Like that helps Luhan any.

Rest he says is what is required and ice.

Luhan glares, but he is grateful when an ice pack is handed to him and he falls back on the bed tiredly.

*****

When he wakes up, despite having no recollection of falling asleep, his foot is wrapped in a bandage and hurts like hell, with a chocolate haired giant looking down at him with worried eyes and a stupid relieved expression on his face.

Luhan is all ready to tell him to fix his face because his eyebrows are super weird when they are twisted that way when large hands grab his face nearly forcibly and he is kissed instantly.

It reeks of worry and Luhan sighs into the soft lips against his even as he stifles the words on the tip of his tongue, melting into the gentleness of the soft brushes.

When Kris releases him, it’s with an air of resignation and worry, calmly pressing his forehead against Luhan’s, warm and sweet and Luhan’s stomach feels entirely queasy and just unfamiliar, never accustomed to such terrible cheesy displays of affection in his life.

He felt weird, but he sort of likes it too, which actually scares him.

He pushes Kris away as soon as he is able to and the tall man looks like a guppy when he steps away.

Luhan sighs in relief but he despises how his stomach twists.

He misses the warmth.

.

“Are you alright? They said you passed out” Kris nearly cries and Luhan laughs.

It’s just so ridiculous to see someone Kris’s size look so besides themselves, eyes red  from stress and it seems that his hair actually took a beating, Luhan amused initially that Kris’s normally pristine styled hair ruffled and falling to bits everywhere, until the meaning actually hits him.

He is the one that gaps at Kris and he is pretty sure he can’t breathe.

“Luhan! Luhan? Are you alright? Should I call the nurse? Xiao Lu?” Kris panics and rambles in Mandarin, unable to speak in Korean due to the stress of seeing his boyfriend? Non boyfriend? Whatever the hell Luhan was looking pale and mouth agape, shaking his shoulder frantically, his heart pounding in his chest and he is pretty sure he lost at least ten years of his life as he looks at Luhan, who  so far remains annoyingly unresponsive

Then Luhan laughs low and shrill and Kris wonders if the pain has gotten to him.

What if he has lost his mind?

He was already insane to begin with.

What the hell was he going to do?

Kris throws himself at Luhan comically, or it really would have been if he wasn’t built like a Greek God and Luhan wasn’t a tiny little deer, who in no way capable of holding onto someone of Kris’s size without dying.

Kris wraps his arms around him frantically, honestly running on instinct and likely not likely very conscious of the fact that he was likely suffocating the person he was pretty sure he was in love with, even though his common sense had spent an eon warning him that attempting to love an insane person like Luhan was like kicking himself in the groin, painful and if you weren’t careful could leave lasting disastrous effects.

Stupid ridiculous hearts did not care about pain apparently because so far it had been determined to lead him to the slaughter house, also known as Luhan’s presence.

And the creepy thing seemed to take joy in it too. Kris ought to be concerned, but by now he is too worried about Luhan to know this.

 Luhan’s laughter ceases as Kris draws his head and chest to his body.

The grip is stifling and Luhan rolls his eyes even as he is being suffocated. Kris was surely an idiot and Luhan hates that he is pretty sure now he is in entirely love with the jackass.

“It’s okay. You’ll be okay Baby” Kris says dumbly and yelps when Luhan basically head butts him, hands releasing Luhan as he falls to the ground.

He is flat on his back, completely disoriented and dazed, legs on the floor and he tries to figure out what the hell just happened, along with why on earth his back hurt so much.

He is pretty sure he banged his head on the floor too, a sharp pain, but all in all he figured he would live.

Luhan foot hurts like hell but he crawls over the bed to lean downwards, smiling boyishly at his entirely over protective worrywart of a boyfriend, looking slightly deranged.

Kris’s eyebrows furrow in concern and Luhan rolls his eyes.

“Would you stop doing that to your face? You look constipated or something” Luhan chastises with a  laugh, giggling happily when Kris pouts instead, lips pulling downwards and Luhan is just sorry he is in so much pain.

If he could move without wanting to cry he would have been on the ground kissing the idiot senseless.

“And yes I am alright” Luhan assures when it looks like Kris wants to ask again, picking himself up from the floor, groaning in soreness.

“But I will be a lot better if you came here” Luhan further directs when Kris stands, stretching out his hurt muscles and standing much too far from Luhan, who tries to get back on the bed properly, biting back the groan when his foot hits the mattress, pretty sure Kris would lose his again if he groaned.

“You didn’t have to push me you know” Kris pouts as he approaches, his back hurting like hell but it’s a small pain and he knows Luhan is hiding worse.

In retrospect he was probably hovering too much.

Luhan didn’t like to be babied, but Kris couldn’t help himself.

He had met Jongin in the library by chance. Apparently he came to tell Sehun that Luhan was in the  sick bay, Sehun at the time busy making himself appear attractive for Suho, who was hosting a study group a few feet away, fluttering eye lashes, long legs and a most alluring expression he could manage whilst fake reading some crap on history.

Jongin informed him out of courtesy and he had not even told the kid thanks, bolting down the hallways until he was at the sick bay, charming the nurse into letting him sit with Luhan since they were not allowed in that area for any prolonged period.

It took four eye smiles and three flirty lines for her to tell him that Luhan had passed out from the pain and was resting for now.

Kris had been sitting with him ever since, not sure what to do with himself. He had never been so worried in his life, not even that time he was lost in the forest when he was eight, clutching the pale man’s hand for dear life.

Rationally he knew it wasn’t life threatening, but damn, did it feel like hell when Luhan didn’t wake up, choking on his worry, not even speaking when Sehun had entered to check on Luhan, boasting that it took only two flirty lines from him, poking Kris on the forehead, before he said he would come back when Luhan woke up.

He is just so relieved that he doesn’t even know what to do with himself.

“You were suffocating me. I did what I had to do” Luhan doesn’t even apologize, shrugging his shoulders as he waited for Kris to get nearer, huffing when he stands a little distance.

“Yah! What are you doing so far away?” Luhan says quickly making grabby hands for Kris, who gives him a measured look.

He loves Luhan and all that, but those were concrete floors and it was very hard and he still can’t be sure the pain has not made Luhan even more insane. It was a risk to be near him on a regular day, so really he shouldn’t be taking any chances.

“Protecting my back” Kris admits honestly, rubbing at his tailbone for emphasis.

Luhan laughs gleeful.

He knew there was a reason he had such strong feelings for the oaf other than the fact that he was so freaking hot he gave the sun a run for its money.

Oh Dear God.

He needed something to wash the cheesiness from his mind and his blood.

Luhan shivers, grateful no one knew that he even thought something so lard filled, but that does not have the necessary effect to shut down his ridiculous desire to have six foot plus of gorgeous wrapped around his body.

His foot needs Kris, not him.

Honest.

“Oh shut up and come here” Luhan instructs irritably, hating the fact that his personal little helper, as he had now decided Kris ought to be, was at such a distance from him.

Did he not see Luhan’s perfect wonderful grabby hands?

Did the jackass did not realize what sort of honour it was to have Luhan make grabby hands?

The only things that had ever seen grabby hands had been Jung Yunho’s , Sunny’s melons [and sometimes Yunho’s too], TVXQ concert tickets and Boazi’s cheeks.

It was an honour!

Kris gives him a sceptical look and rues the fact that Luhan is so freaking cute as he steps closer, apologizing to his back for putting it in danger once more as he steps closer to Luhan, who looks gleeful, making Kris pale.

“Good boy” he pats Kris’s tummy and Kris feels as if he has just sold his soul to the devil.

If the devil looked like a fairy pixie cute button squishy little pouty deer.

Given’s Luhan’s personality, that may just be so.

Luhan then shifts around, groaning in pain at the stretch of his muscles and Kris immediately forgets his fear of death and spinal injury, fussing over Luhan like the mother hen Luhan didn’t know he was.

The sight of him warms Luhan’s belly in strange annoying fuzzy things that drive him crazy and let him know that he wants the man beside him once more.

He tugs on Kris’s hand and gets attentive eyes turned to him.

“Lay down with me” Luhan says nearly shyly.

This part is still so freaking new and strange to him.

He was fine with Kris’s face, but all this sugary gay stuff was ing strange.

He wants to claw his own eyes out when the words left his mouth and he knows he can’t take them back, can’t pretend that there is not a part of him that has the stupid belief that he would feel better if Kris was beside him.

It’s dumb actually.

Contrary to his flaky behaviour and flippant attitude, he was a good student. He was acing biology too and his bruise was certainly not gonna heal because his Adonis for a boyfriend was beside him. If it was boneless taunt hardened flesh he had a problem with, then he was certain Kris was more than enough to solve all of his issues.

For now though he looks away as if the dying plant on the table next to his bed is the best thing he has ever seen.

Though, really….who was dumb enough to leave a dying plant there? And if these quacks weren’t capable enough to take care of a plant, how the were they gonna take care of him?

All interesting questions that disappear from his mind when the bed dips and Kris wraps an arm around his shoulder.

“I am pretty sure we are not supposed to do this” Kris says conversationally, aware that as student council vice president he really should be a better example.

That was shot to hell though when he had let the little pixie drive him insane for him, so really what did it matter?

Luhan laughs simply because he could care less about butcher nurse and her unibrow.

He kisses Kris on the jaw and slides downwards, assuming that his boyfriend was smart enough to move with him and is truthfully somewhat shocked when it happens.

Kris was smart but he was pretty dumb too.

Luhan refuses to admit that he likes the dumb more than he should. A lot more.

Luhan groans once more as his foot bounces off the mattress and Kris looks worried, eyes darting about him but Luhan appeases with a weak smile, settling himself back against the pillows and this time he has with him Kris, who is entirely uncomfortable on the small bed that he was not supposed to be on and terrified that he would hit Luhan’s injured foot.

Luhan shakes his head at him and rearranges them, Luhan leaning against Kris’s broad chest and Luhan forbids himself from doing that little internal cheer he has each time he realizes that he had actually secured a man as perfect as Kris, gloating internally and likely publically when he next sees that that tries to flirt with Kris.

Disrespectful es had to be taught manners.

It was public service honestly.

Doing it without Kris noticing that he was a possessive psychopath was the hard part.

Kris is stiff as a board and not in the good way that Luhan grins about, but in that annoying way he has of being afraid to touch a grain on Luhan’s head, seemingly afraid that he would break him with his callous hands, too large and too strange to be with the little deer.

“Relax. Your angles are killing me” Luhan grumbles because he can and stabs Kris with his elbow.

Kris grinds his teeth and hisses, Luhan laughs because it had the desired effect. Kris is against the bed and Luhan does not cuddle up to him.

 He simple finds a comfortable position. That is all.

“What are you doing?” Kris asks, because, this was strange, even for Luhan.

“I am resting” Luhan shrugs and nestles himself under Kris’s chin.

His leg hurts from all the movement, but he places it on Kris’s shin and he thinks that’s elevation enough, but he grimaces anyway.

Damn! He was gonna break that kids face as soon as he could walk.

“Looks like cuddling actually” Kris points out gleeful.

So what.

His boyfriend is sick and wants to cuddle with him, since clearly Luhan thinks his presence is good for him. A man’s pride could thrive on things like that.

“You’re delusional” Luhan dismisses simply because he had no other response and he hated that.

Luhan did not cuddle when he was sick and certainly did not feel the beat of Kris’s heart under his ear and felt safe and warm and happy where he was.

He is just finding a comfortable less boring position to lay down in.

Kris laughs and Luhan scowls, but he doesn’t move and he may or may not have hummed when Kris his arm.

He feels light headed and tired, probably due to the lancing pain in his ankle, or maybe it was the scent of his boyfriend’s skin, but either way Luhan’s eyes close.

“Luhan-“ Kris begins, but stops when he feels the stillness of the body on him.

Luhan’s asleep.

Kris smiles like a freak, gums and all, until his eye catches the bandage and he frowns.

Luhan was going to make him old before his time he just knew it.

He looks down and knows he should leave, but he figures he can charm his way out of trouble when the nurse comes back.

For now he will play guardian angel.

He figured Suho wouldn’t mind for the day.

A/N: Seriously……I am sorry. I forgot to update this. Here we have Krishan –cuz they are still my OTP (as sad as that is). Next I believe is Baeksoo. Please do offer suggestions/ideas as to what couple you want next, since I need to start writing for this verse again. Enjoy.