Four

The entire school was buzzing about the win the next day. Many people had come to watch the game, and Jongin was getting a lot of attention for his amazing pitching skills.

Jongin of course remained humble, thanking people with a shy smile, denying some compliments.

Kyungsoo gave a wistful sigh, resting his cheek on his palm as he looked across the cafeteria to where Jongin sat, smiling, with his friends.

"Have you ever considered, I don't know, confessing to the guy?" Of course, Baekhyun had to pull Kyungsoo from his fantasy.

Shooting a glare at the other male, Kyungsoo dropped his gaze to his food in front of him, which was mostly untouched. Sighing, he picked his chopsticks up, shoving a piece of kimbab his mother had packed for him into his mouth. Once he was finished chewing, he sighed. "No. Why would I do that?"

"Because you like him," came Jongdae's obnoxiously obvious answer.

"It's not that simple, okay?" Kyungsoo sipped on his milk, daring another glance up at the object of his affection.

"You all know Kyungsoo's far too shy to do that," Joonmyun reprimanded, placing a protective hand on Kyungsoo's arm. "He's not like you, Baekhyun. I can barely get Kyungsoo to talk to him, let alone muster the courage to confess to him."

"Besides..." Kyungsoo said sadly, "What if he doesn't like boys? I mean. Not many do, right?" Kyungsoo never really had to "come out" to his friends. They seemed to just kind of know, and they were okay with it. Supportive.

"You'll never know unless you try to find out," Baekhyun advised with a secretive smile. "How else would I have learned about Chanyeol? I made my move."

"I didn't need to know that," Joonmyun said with a frown, shaking his head. Baekhyun only smiled wider in response.

"Besides, even if he was, he's Kim Jongin. And I'm just...Kyungsoo. I'm just Do Kyungsoo."

Now Baekhyun was frowning. "Don't say it like that, Kyung. You're not 'just' Do Kyungsoo. You're Do Kyungsoo. Don't do that to yourself. You're pretty great."

"Yeah," Joonmyun agreed with a soft smile. "You're amazing, Kyungsoo. You're smart and kind and gentle, not to mention adorable."

Kyungsoo blushed at that last one but sighed. "Yeah, well when it comes to Kim Jongin, I don't think 'pretty great' and 'amazing' are going to cut it. I'd have to reach god status to be on his level." And with that, he rested his head on the lunch table, praying his friends wouldn't try to in.

But that was a lot to ask.

*     *     *

It was time for practice yet again, and after seating himself at the bench in the dugout, Kyungsoo got out his thick math book and attempted to begin working on the problems. Baekhyun playfully called Kyungsoo a nerd before going to talk to Chanyeol while the tall male finished lacing his cleats.

Kyungsoo was furiously punching numbers into his calculator, getting annoyed at a problem, when he felt a shadow over him. Glancing up with one eye closed against the sunlight shining towards home dugout, he saw Jongin standing in front of him with a sheepish smile. "Hey, Kyungsoo. Could you help me put the sunscreen on my neck? I'll make a mess if I try it myself, and I didn't get burned last time you helped me so..." He trailed off, giving a smile that could rival the sun.

"Y-yeah, of course," replied the shorter, cheeks light pink from embarrassment. He carefully placed his textbook, notebook, pencil, and calculator on top of Joonmyun's bag. Standing, the shorter took the bottle from Jongin,