Luhan loved Saturdays.  They were one of the few days he got to sleep in since he had class at 8:00 a.m. all week.  (Not by choice by the way, but when that’s what is available and you need that class to graduate, you take it.)

Of course, he must have forgotten to mention this fact to Minseok because otherwise, there was no reasonable explanation for his phone to be ringing at 7:30 in the morning.  In fact, he probably would have ignored the call if it was anyone but Minseok, but it was Minseok, and Minseok had never called him before, and Luhan knew that anybody who is up and calling someone at 7:30 has a good reason, so he answered it, albeit, with only the barest minimum of coherence.

“What?” he mumbled out, holding the phone to his ear sloppily as he laid on his side in his bed.

“Did I wake you up?” Minseok asked, tone worried.

Luhan groaned.  “What do you think?”

“Oh, sorry.  I figured you’d be used to waking up early, what with all your early classes and all.”

So he hadn’t forgot to mention that.  Minseok better have a damn good reason for calling then.

“No, I sleep on weekends.”  Luhan said, struggling to keep a light tone.  He really did want to be asleep.

“Yeah, um, well I guess I should let you do that then.  Sorry for—“

Luhan sighed and sat up, feeling bad for making Minseok sound so unsure of himself.  “It’s fine, “he said, readjusting the phone and stretching out his back with a yawn.  He may have heard a pop or two.  He really should take Lay’s advice and get a mattress pad for his bed.  “You had a reason for calling right?  What is it?”

“It’s fine.  If you’d rather sleep—“

“I won’t fall back asleep anyways so just tell me what it is.”  It was an annoying habit, but he really probably wouldn’t.  His body had always tended to stay awake once he woke up the first time, no matter how much more he’d like to sleep.

Minseok sighed.  “Okay, but I am really sorry, alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, I got that.  Now what is up?”

Minseok sighed.  “Well, um, I was calling because you mentioned you played soccer in high school, right?”

Luhan offered a quiet “hmm” of confirmation, which Minseok took as reason to continue.

“And well, one of our players got hurt last night and I was wondering if you could sub in.  I know you said your ankles were bad, but I was kind of hoping they were good enough to hold out for a game or two…”

Luhan was silent as he processed those words, realizing that his little lie from earlier had come back to bite him because, sure, like he had said, he had had ankle issues and that was why he had stopped playing, but it wasn’t exactly as simple as he had made it sound. 

You see, Luhan had not stopped playing because of chronic ankle sprains or something like that, no Luhan had stopped playing because he had torn his Achilles, and even after surgery and physical therapy, he had never been brave enough to get back out on a field and try it out again.

It had helped that the injury had occurred in the last game of his senior year season.  Instead of having to admit he was scared about playing again, he could just give up soccer like a lot of other guys did when they got to college, and whenever anyone asked about it, he just usually stuck to saying his ankles were bad.  They weren’t exactly, but they were the problem in a way, and that was far easier than trying to explain that getting hurt again was just a little too intimidating and he didn’t know how to get back on the field.  Not to mention he didn’t like the pitying looks that conversation usually gave rise to.

Of course, some of Luhan’s closest friends knew this, or had figured it out.  Lay for example, who had been trying for over a year to convince Luhan that he should try soccer again and just see what happened, but Minseok didn’t know.  He couldn’t know, and now he was asking Luhan to play soccer.  What was he supposed to say to that?

“I don’t have any shoes or shin guards.” Luhan finally offered.  Perhaps there was a way out of this that didn’t involve him having to share his entire life story.

“I have a spare set of guards, and it’s indoor so you only need sneakers”

Perhaps not.  “I don’t have a way to get to the field either…”  It wasn’t a lie, his car was currently out of commission, getting repairs at the dealership because of a parts recall.  He’d dropped it off on Thursday, and it wasn’t supposed to be ready until Monday.

“I can get us there.  I just need to know if you think you can do it.  I really will understand if you can’t. I know this is kind of short notice.  I can call someone else.  You were just the first person to come to mind, and I hoped…”

It was short notice, and it was early, and it was Minseok, and perhaps for all those reasons, but especially the last one, Luhan found himself saying something he would not have believed possible the night before.  “I can do it.”

“Really?” The surprise in Minseok’s voice made Luhan smile.  He tried to focus on that rather than the part of him that was screaming he was crazy.

“Yeah really.  I’ll need socks too though.”

Minseok laughed.  “I’ve got those too.  This is great.  The game's at 9:30, so if you just meet me outside around 8:45 we should be able to get there with plenty of time to warm up.”

“So that’s why you had to call so early.”

“Yeah” Minseok said with a laugh. “Whatever happened to N happened late last night, and I didn’t even find out about it until he called me at 7.”

“N?” Luhan asked confused.

“He’s the one that got hurt.  You’ll meet him later.  He’ll probably still come for moral support.”

Luhan laughed despite himself.  Ever since he’d said he’d do it, Minseok had been talking faster, his tone light and clearly excited.  It was a nice sound to hear, even at 7:30 in the morning.  “Okay then.  I don’t need to wear a jersey too, do I?”

“Nope, we just do pinnies v non-pinnies in this league.  It’s cheaper.  So just wear a white shirt and you’ll be good.”

“Cool.”  Luhan answered with nod into his phone.

“Oh and there are showers there. So if you’d like to get cleaned up afterwards you can.  If you’re comfortable that is.  The rest of us usually do.”

Luhan laughed into the phone again.  “Shouldn’t it be you guys who are uncomfortable?”

Minseok laughed right back.  “It’s not like you are going to jump a random guy in the shower.  Besides, even if you tried, Leo’d probably kill you before you managed to do anything.”

“Leo?”

“Another teammate you’ll get to meet.  He’s rather…. Protective of the things he cares about.”

Luhan laughed.  “Sounds like a good friend to have.”

“He is…” Minseok said, going quiet for a second before suddenly returning back to his chipper demeanor and saying, “So, I’ll see you at 8:45 then, right?”

“Yup.  I’ll be out there, bag in tow.”

“Great, I’m looking forward to it.”

“Me too,” 

Luhan hung up his phone, wishing those final words were a little less of a lie.

---

By the time he needed to head down stairs to meet Minseok, Luhan had whiplash from the emotional rollercoaster he’d been on since he hung up his phone.

First, he’d been in denial.  He refused to believe he had somehow just agreed to play soccer at 9:30 in the morning after not playing for years, but the call record was still on his phone, and the text from Minseok telling him to make sure to wear pants and a warm jacket were clear evidence that he had agreed to do so.

After that came the stage of him pacing back and forth across his room, trying to figure out how to get out of it.  He could call Minseok back and just tell him he tripped in the shower and hurt himself. 

No he couldn’t.  Minseok had sounded so happy when he’d said he’d do it.  He couldn’t back out of it with a lie.

He could tell the truth.  Minseok would understand. 

Yeah, he could do that, but he didn’t want to.  He didn’t want to admit he was that weak, not to Minseok, and besides, even if he’d understand, Minseok would still be disappointed, and Luhan didn’t want that either, which led to the third stage level of Luhan’s emotional journey, accepting that he was going to be playing soccer in a few hours, for better or worse.

Surely it wouldn’t be that bad.  Luhan had played for years.  It wasn’t like he would have forgotten how, and it wasn’t like people tore their Achilles playing soccer all that often.  ACL’s were much more common. 

Not helpful brain.

At this point, Luhan flopped back onto his bed, having managed, in the midst of his pacing, to also get on the required clothes.

He was going to play soccer.  It was scary.  What were you supposed to do when you were afraid of something? 

Rely on others.

Luhan rolled onto his stomach with a huff.  Minseok didn’t even know what was going on, how could he possibly rely on him?

If it was anyone else would you have even said yes?

Luhan rolled back onto his back with another sigh. 

The answer to that question was most definitely no, which hopefully meant the answer to the former was because he is Minseok.

Minseok’s wide smile as Luhan appeared in front of him outside his building’s front door made him feel just the tiniest bit more certain that answer was correct.

---

When Minseok had said that he could supply Luhan with the necessary transportation, he had forgotten to mention that they’d be traveling by bike. Luhan supposed, as Minseok walked up to the motorcycle and popped open the seat to pull out a spare helmet, that he should have figured it out with the text about wearing his warmest jacket and a pair of warm pants, but he hadn’t, and now he found himself facing down his second mental crisis of the morning, albeit, a slightly less terrifying one.

 “You’re not afraid of bikes are you?”  Minseok asked, a hint of worry in his tone as he took in Luhan’s troubled expression.

Luhan shook his head with a nervous laugh.  “No, they’re fine.  Um, do you want me to take that?”  He pointed towards Minseok’s bag that was flung over his shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m going to need you to hold onto this, otherwise it’d be pretty hard for you to hold onto me.”

Luhan greeted those words with another nod before taking the bag from Minseok’s outstretched hand, refusing to listen to the part of his mind saying it was going to be hard to hold on regardless of whether there was a bag in the way. 

Luhan flung the bag over his shoulder with a grunt before taking the helmet as well and jamming it onto his head.   “How far do we have to go?”

Minseok smiled as he pulled on his own helmet before moving to straddle the bike.  “About ten minutes.”

Luhan nodded before crawling on behind him, arms moving to grip the sides of Minseok’s shirt until Minseok’s hands were suddenly moving and pulling them around his waist.  “I like to go fast.”  He explained as he linked Luhan’s hands together.

Luhan nodded against Minseok’s back, not trusting himself with words as he fought down what he was sure wouldn’t be his last blush as he found his body now flush with Minseok’s own. It was going to a long 10 minutes.

---

Minseok did indeed like to go fast, and it occurred to Luhan that he maybe should have mentioned that the only other “motorcycle” he had been on was a scooter that maxed out at about 30 miles per hour. 

On the bright side, it only took Minseok gunning it on the freeway for Luhan to completely forget about being self-conscious about being so close to Minseok.  He was too distracted by holding on for his life.

His distraction lasted until they were pulling into the parking lot of the facility, at which point Luhan was quick to establish a bit more distance between his and Minseok’s bodies even before Minseok brought the bike to a stop in front of the door.  Once the bike was stopped, it also took only mere moments for Luhan to get off the bike and put his feet back on solid ground as he let a sigh of relief past his lips.

Minseok followed after with a laugh.  “I thought you said you’d done this before.”

“I have, at much slower speeds.”  Luhan responded.

Minseok laughed again.  “You’ll get used to it after a while.  Now come on.  We should get inside or else we’ll be late.”

Luhan nodded dutifully and followed after Minseok, wondering how often Minseok intended for him to ride his bike just so he’d get used to it.

 ---

Upon entering the building and following Minseok towards the bleachers outside the artificial turf, Luhan realized that telling himself he was going to play soccer while lying on his bed and actually playing soccer were two different things.  His heart rate picked up slightly, and his hands shook just the tiniest bit as he sat down and took shin guards and socks from Minseok’s outstretched hands. 

It took him forever to get the socks over his feet and up his calves, and he even had to retie his shoes twice because the first time they were too loose and the second time he overcompensated and they were too tight.  By the time he finally started getting it right, Minseok was standing in front of him with his hands on his hips.

“Are you always this bad at tying your shoes?”  He asked, amused.

Luhan, concentrating on finishing off the final loop, let honest words fall past his lips.  “I’m just nervous okay?”

“Nervous?”  Minseok asked confused.

Luhan’s head snapped up, realizing what he had just admitted as his mind scrambled for an answer.

“Yeah, I haven’t played in years.  I’m wondering if I even remember how.”  It wasn’t a lie.  It wasn’t exactly the truth either, but it wasn’t a lie.  It’d have to do.

Once the words were past his lips, Luhan returned to finishing tying his shoes even as Minseok let out another amused laugh.

“You can’t forget how to play soccer.  It’s like riding a bike.   A normal one that is.”  Minseok said, smile in place.

Luhan stood from the bleachers, dusting phantom dust off his shorts as he nervously surveyed the artificial turf.  “I sure hope you’re right.”  He said softly.

“I know I am,” Minseok said confidently, moving to open the door so that they could enter the enclosure.  Luhan didn’t follow.

Minseok glanced back at Luhan, who was frozen in place.  He smiled teasingly and said, “Come on, even if you did forget, it won’t be that bad.  I’ll even hold your hand if you want.”

Luhan’s head snapped away from the field to Minseok’s eyes.  “Would you?” 

“You actually want me to?” Minseok asked, confused.

Luhan was suddenly shaking his head.  “No, I’m fine.  You don’t have to.  Just—“His eyes went back to the field and he stopped talking, at which point, Minseok made a decision.

Suddenly, Luhan felt a hand slipping into his and tugging him forwards, through the little gap in the wall that surrounded the field and onto the turf.  Minseok didn’t let go until he had pulled Luhan all the way to the center circle, and Luhan couldn’t find a word to say for or against it.  He just let himself be pulled along.

“See,” Minseok said as he dropped his hand once they were in the middle of the field.  “That wasn’t that hard was it?” 

“No,” Luhan responded as he looked around himself, then down at the turf beneath his feet. 

It hadn’t been that hard.  It hadn’t necessarily been easy, but it hadn’t been that hard.  He could do this, maybe. 

“Good,” Minseok said, “Now, let’s go meet the others.  You’re going to need to know who you are supposed to be passing the ball to.”

“Besides the wall?”  Luhan said with a smile, slowly becoming more comfortable. 

“See, you do remember.”  Minseok said with a laugh.  “Now, come on.”  Minseok set off in the direction of the guys who had waved as they had walked in earlier, not that Luhan had paid them much mind then since he was more distracted by other things.

Now however, Luhan took a moment to appraise his new teammates.  He was quick to voice his first thought to Minseok.  “Did your team application have a height requirement?”

Minseok laughed.  “No.  I wouldn’t be on the team if we did.  They’re just all unfairly tall.”  He finished as they reached the guys who had stopped passing around the couple of balls they had out to come over to greet him and Luhan.

“No, you’re just short.”  One of the guys said with a laugh.

Minseok shook his head, not deigning that with a response and instead opting to run down the line, listing off names.  “Hyuk, Hongbin, Ravi, Leo, Ken and N.”  He redirected a hand towards Luhan.  “Luhan.”

“Nice to meet you.”  Luhan offered with a wave.

“You’re cute, but can you play soccer?”  The one called N, who was on crutches, asked with a critical eye.

“I’ve played before, if that’s what you’re asking.”  Luhan answered automatically.

“Good.  I was worried Minseok might have taken to drafting a random guy off the streets.”

“And when did I ever do something like that?”  Minseok asked.

“When you dragged me onto this team.”  Hyuk offered.

“You were hardly random.”

“I don’t think the fact that I was Hongbin’s friend counts, and besides, wasn’t Hongbin only dragged in by Leo?”

“We needed more members, didn’t we?”  Minseok said with a shrug turning to Leo.

He offered a nod in response before turning around and returning to the soccer balls behind him, flicking one up and starting to juggle it by himself.

Minseok shook his head for a bit before turning to Luhan.  “Don’t mind him too much. He doesn’t like talking with new people.”

Luhan nodded slowly, unsure.  Leo had been staring at him pretty critically throughout their entire conversation.  It was… unnerving.  Pretty soon however, the same sentiment, that Leo just didn’t like meeting new people, was being echoed by a small chorus of voices before they were breaking up to start passing soccer balls around to warm up, and Luhan let the look go as he focused on remembering how to kick a ball without hyperventilating. 

Looking at Minseok helped with that.  Looking at Minseok helped with a lot of things.

---

The game itself passed in a blur for Luhan.  Right before the ref blew the whistle to start the match, he found himself feeling nervous again, but a quick glance to a smiling Minseok had him looking forward and tapping the ball over. After that, well, if you actually are focused on playing, soccer doesn’t allow much room for thinking about anything else, and surprisingly, Luhan found he could do just that.

Like breathing, soccer came back to him in an instant.  Sure if he was being 100% objective, he had lost a few steps, and some of his touches lacked their previous finesse, but on the whole, he played very well, and for the entire hour of the game, Luhan found himself not thinking about how he might get hurt, but rather about how he might get the ball passed up to a waiting Minseok so they could score.

This held true even when he took an unexpected tumble over the outstretched leg of one of the opposing players.  Minseok seemed to be over top of him in an instant, and Luhan found himself laughing as Minseok helped him up while asking a ton of worried questions.  It took a good thirty seconds for him to reassure Minseok he was fine, which was rather funny considering, if Luhan was being completely honest, he was even more than fine. 

That was because, for the first time in a long time, he was playing soccer, and he loved it.  It made him feel alive.  He now knew he was a fool for avoiding it for so long.  A complete fool. 

He didn’t plan to remain one.

After, the game was over, he asked Minseok if he could join the team on a permanent basis.  Minseok said yes with an even wider smile, and yet again, Luhan felt himself the object of a critical stare.  He looked up to find Leo looking away, and Luhan wondered how long it would be before he’d no longer be a “new person.”

When he voiced that question to Minseok, he just laughed.  “Just give it a few weeks.  He’ll come around.  More importantly, are you going to shower?  I am.”

“Yeah, I brought my stuff.”  Luhan answered. 

“Cool.  The locker room’s this way.”  Minseok lifted his bag up off the ground and flung it over his shoulder, making his way towards a door along the far wall.

Luhan followed after.

---

It wasn’t like Luhan had never been inside a locker room before.  He had been in one for four years in high school, and contrary to popular belief, a locker room wasn’t some kind of gay male’s paradise. 

Luhan didn’t really care to check out his teammates or friends while they were .  Beyond that, he was usually too distracted by getting his own stuff together to pay much attention to anyone else.

He had assumed that even with Minseok, this would hold true, and it did, for a while.  Then Luhan left the showers with a towel around his waist and saw Minseok standing in front of a mirror with nothing but a towel around his own waist as he dried his hair, and yup, Luhan wasn’t too distracted to not notice that Minseok’s arms and chest were nicely toned before Minseok glanced up and, misinterpreting his gaze said, “Do you need to borrow this?”

Luhan took the offered out, relieved.  “Yeah.  Thanks.”

He moved forward to take the dryer from Minseok’s outstretched hand, fighting back another blush as Minseok moved past him to go change his clothes back among the lockers. 

This time, Luhan made sure to take long enough to dry his hair that by the time he emerged to change his own clothes, Minseok was sitting on a bench, fully clothed and waiting for him.

Luhan stepped out of his line of sight and got dressed quickly, using the final moments to mentally prepare himself for the ride home.

As he did so, his phone buzzed.  He picked it up to find a message from Lay.

Where are you?

Minseok invited me to his soccer game.  Luhan decided to leave out the fact that he had played in said game.  Lay would make a much bigger deal of that than he’d like to deal with.

And you got up early to go? 

Luhan held back a sigh.  Lay knew how much he liked to sleep on weekends.  Of course he’d hone in on that detail, and his mind running low on viable explanations, Luhan went with the truth.  He asked me to.  We are heading back to campus soon.  Want to do lunch? 

You have a problem my friend, and sure, how long do you think you’ll take? 

Lay’s response had Luhan rolling his eyes.  Yeah, he knew he had a problem.  A huge, Minseok has very nicely toned arms and chest muscles problem.  He didn’t need to be reminded of that.  Therefore, he just moved on.

15 minutes, if I survive.

If you survive?

Minseok drives a motorcycle.

Oh… good luck.  Don’t touch anything I wouldn’t touch.

Luhan rolled his eyes again.  Not helpful.

:P

“Are you almost ready to go?” Minseok called out, popping his head around the end of the row of lockers as Luhan tossed his phone back into his bag, annoyed.

“Yeah,” he answered, turning to face Minseok.  “Lay wants to do lunch, you interested”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

“Cool. Then let’s get going.  I told him we’d be there in fifteen.”

“I could get us there in five.”

“Please don’t try.”

Minseok laughed.  “Don’t worry.  I wouldn’t let you break anything.”

Luhan was hardly reassured, which he clearly demonstrated by letting his arms go around Minseok’s waist without hesitation as he climbed onto the bike behind him.

His grip further tightened the instant the bike revved because his survival was indeed far more important than whether or not clinging so closely to Minseok was a good idea.

He could worry about that, along with the still un-faded image of Minseok’s bare chest, later.

---

Minseok and Luhan met Suho and Lay at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the dining hall cafeteria on the second floor.  They all headed up the stairs together before dispersing to the various food lines to grab their preferred meals for lunch.  Then, once they’d managed to each find something they were happy with, they regrouped and found a table for four.

“So,” Lay asked as they began to eat.  “How was the game?”

Before Luhan could answer, Minseok began to respond.  “It was great.  Luhan helped me score twice.”

Lay, who had been listening to Minseok with a smile on his face, whipped his head around to Luhan after those words passed his lips.   “You played?”

Luhan nodded, hoping Lay would drop it, and Minseok wouldn't notice how surprised he sounded.

“Is it that shocking?”

No dice

Lay turned back to Minseok as he began an explanation.  “I've been trying to get him to play soccer for a year.  He never would.  Ever since he—“

Lay let out a yelp as Luhan kicked him from under the table.

“Ow, what was that for?”  Lay complained.

“He doesn't need to know about that.” Luhan said firmly, leveling his gaze on Lay.

“About what?” Minseok asked, confused

Luhan sighed, turning to Minseok with a reassuring smile.  “It's nothing really.  Don't worry about it.”

“How is the fact that you haven't played soccer since tearing your Achilles nothing?”  Lay cut in.

“Lay!”  Luhan exclaimed, turning back to him, but it was too late.  It’d already been said, and Minseok was already freaking out.

Lay shrugged, and Luhan turned back to Minseok to try to run some damage control.

“You tore your Achilles?”  Minseok asked, wide eyed.

Luhan sighed and leaned his head into his hands for a second before responding.  “Yeah, I did.  Last game of senior year.  It's better now so there's no need to look so worried.”

“But I just asked you to play again like it was no big deal and—“

“It wasn't really.”  Luhan said, cutting Minseok off mid-sentence, who looked unconvinced, despite Luhan’s words, and then, it was Lay's turn to kick him from under the table, and Luhan realized getting out of this wasn’t going to be that simple. 

He reached down to massage his shin with a grimace before he continued speaking.  “Okay so maybe it was a big deal, but I could have said no.  It just turned out that all I needed was an excuse to be brave enough to go back out there though.”

“And I couldn’t provide that?” Lay asked, indignant.

“You don’t play soccer.” Luhan said simply before he was redirecting his gaze to Minseok.

The expression on his face was one Luhan couldn’t quite make sense of, but then Minseok was quietly echoing Luhan’s words (“An excuse to be brave”), and Luhan abandoned trying to understand it in favor of reassuring him.

Luhan nodded firmly. Those words fit.  He was certain they were true.  “Yeah I just needed a reason.  You provided that, so thanks.  I had a lot of fun today.  I had forgotten how much fun it could be actually.”

Luhan smiled at Minseok as he finished, and slowly Minseok’s face shifted to match his own.  “I guess I'm glad I could help then.”

“You should be.  It wasn't something you even really needed to know about but somebody couldn't keep their mouth shut apparently.”  Luhan finished, turning an accusatory gaze on Lay.

“I'm sorry but if you've been ignoring my attempts for a year but suddenly go because of him, I'm going to say something.”  Lay said defensively.

“And I'm sorry, but if you keep revealing all my secrets, I'm going to show Suho what happens when you drink too much and there's a pole on the bus.”  Luhan countered.

“You said you deleted that.”  Lay responded, face pale.

“From my phone.  It's still on my laptop buried in subfolders so well that you'll never find it.”  Luhan said with a smirk.

“What did you do with a pole?”  Suho asked, confused.

Lay put two hands on Suho’s ears.  “I get it.  Can you stop?”

Luhan nodded as Lay dropped his hands at which point Luhan said, “It's nothing you need to worry about.”

Suho clearly didn’t believe him, but he let it go, and Lay let his body sag slightly in relief.

Luhan smiled even wider at that before glancing over at Minseok again.  His face was back to that expression Luhan didn’t understand, but when he noticed Luhan’s gaze he offered up another tiny smile.

Luhan met it with his own.

---

Sorry if you don’t like fandom crossover, but Minseok needed a soccer team and six is a lot of OCs and Vixx just had a comeback, so yeah... they won’t factor in majorly, but Leo will play a small part, just a warning.  Oh and we will get back to yoga eventually ^^

Also 50+ subs!?  Wow guys, thanks for all the love, especially those of you that commented <3

oh you want to know what happened on the bus? Find out here: If You Give A Drunken Dancer A Pole