Luhan and Minseok ended up cutting their practice short after Luhan had them untangle their arms from their seated twist so that they could both rush back to the dorms to get showered for the basketball game that night.  Early arrivals got free chicken sandwiches, and neither of them wanted to miss out on that, not to mention that there was still the matter of being able to witness Baekhyun in pink. 

In fact, everyone wanted to see that, and since it also was the last home game of the season, the entire group from Sunday and Minseok’s soccer teammates gathered between the two dorm room buildings to head to the stadium together.

Luhan couldn’t see Baekhyun as he approached, but he saw Minseok, who was talking to Leo, who looked... annoyed?  Worried?  It was hard to tell.  Luhan still hadn’t mastered the art of reading Leo’s face. 

Regardless, it didn’t really matter because the second Leo saw him, he gave a small nod and Minseok was spinning around and quite literally bounding over to him.

“Fancy seeing you here.”  He said with a laugh as he slid up beside Luhan.

“You too,” Luhan said with smile.  “Is Baekhyun out yet?”

Minseok shook his head. “Apparently Chanyeol and Chen had some additions they wanted to make.  They just texted Suho to say they’d be out soon.”  He turned in the direction of the building doors.  Luhan did the same.

“That cannot be a good thing for Baekhyun.”  Luhan observed as they stared at the softly illuminated glass.

“I’d have to agree with that sentiment.”  Minseok said with a nod.

They fell into silence for a few seconds, and Luhan, in search of conversation, and answers, decided to ask a question.  “What were you and Leo talking about?”

“Huh?”  Minseok asked, head turning in Luhan’s direction.

“You guys were talking just before I got here.  I was curious what is was about.”

Minseok’s eyes widened slightly.  “Why are you curious?”

Luhan shrugged, trying to keep the atmosphere relaxed.  “I’m trying to learn how to read his face.”

Minseok blinked once in confusion, then laughed.  “Yeah, good luck with that.  I still mess it up.  As for what we were talking about, it was just some personal stuff.  Nothing you need to worry about.”

Luhan was silent for a couple seconds after Minseok finished his answer off with a smile that was probably supposed to be reassuring, but Luhan had seen enough of Minseok’s smiles at that point to know the difference between a real one and a fake one.  The problem was, there wasn’t much he could do about it, or was there?

“I could still do that though.”  Luhan said quietly.

“Do what?”  Minseok asked, confused.

“Worry about it.  If you’d let me.”  Luhan said, finding Minseok’s eyes.  They were back in dangerous territory.  Luhan knew that, and the way Minseok’s eyes widened and his not so real smile faltered let him know Minseok knew it too, but then, Minseok was shaking his head and looking back to the door.

“Everything’s fine, really, and look, isn’t that them?”

Luhan resisted the urge to sigh as Minseok pointed towards the door, effectively ending their conversation as Chanyeol and Chen stepped through the front door, dragging a reluctant Baekhyun along between them.

Chanyeol and Chen’s modifications to Baekhyun’s punishment were extensive.  Bright neon pink knee high socks complimented light pink basketball shorts, a pink shirt with the promised “I at fantasy football” scrawled across it, a bright pink clown wig, and the hello kitty towel fashioned into a cape.  A pair of dark round sunglasses finished off the look, and considering it was already sundown, Luhan wondered if Baekhyun could even see.  He wasn’t the only one

“Can you even see?” Suho asked, trying hard to not laugh too much.

“I don’t want to see.”  Baekhyun responded instantly.

“Yeah, he added those on his own.”  Chen said with a laugh.

Suho just shook his head.  “Well, I’m not helping you get to the stadium.”

“Don’t worry, I already have a plan for that.”  Baekhyun responded.

“You do?” 

Baekhyun nodded.  “I do.” 

“And what is that?”  Chanyeol asked, amused.

Baekhyun smirked.  “You.”

“Excuse me?”

Baekhyun laughed, and then before Chanyeol could react, he was on his back, arms latching on so tight, Luhan was fairly certain no one would be able to get him off.  “Charge!”   

Chanyeol, for his part, managed to only stumble forward a few steps before asking, “What am I, your dog?”

“No, then I’d say mush.”

“Ha-ha.”  Chanyeol responded, already walking forward.

“How far do you think he’ll get?”  Minseok asked, leaning over to Luhan.

He shrugged.  “Who knows?”  It was a good fifteen minute walk to the stadium.   The likelihood of Chanyeol making it the whole way didn’t seem high.

“It’ll probably depend on if today was leg day.  ” Suho chimed in from behind them.

“You act like this happens all the time.”  Minseok observed, looking back.

“At least once a week.”  Suho confirmed.

“Well that explains a lot.”  Luhan observed.

Suho nodded.  “Pretty much.”

“Are you guys coming or not?”  Baekhyun yelled from down the path where Chanyeol had paused in his trek towards the stadium.

Suho laughed.  “Come on, let’s go.”

Everyone began to make their way down the path, Luhan and Minseok side by side, watching as Chanyeol continued to soldier on with his bright pink, human backpack.

It was after they’d made it about half way and Chanyeol was still going that Luhan observed with a low whistle.  “I can’t believe he’s still going.”

Minseok nodded in agreement.    “It’s pretty impressive.  How far do you think you could carry me?”  He asked with a turn of his head.

Luhan laughed.  “What, tired already?”

“Well, I might have been forced to do extra work by my yoga teacher today.”  Minseok said with a smirk.

“Forced?  I do believe you were the one who asked to practice.”  Luhan countered.

Minseok shrugged.  “If you’re saying you can’t do it…”

Luhan let out an annoyed sigh.  He could see the hook in the bait, but he was still going to take it.  “I never said I couldn’t do it.”

Minseok smirked.  “Exactly.” 

Luhan just braced for impact.

 “Oh god.  How much do you weigh?”  He asked as Minseok settled in on his back, allowing Luhan to get his arms beneath his legs to hold him up.

“This from the guy who stood on my back less than an hour ago.”  Minseok observed with a laugh.

“You didn’t have to walk.”  Luhan complained as he started forward.

Minseok laughed.  “You don’t have to either.”

“Then we wouldn’t get anywhere.”  Luhan observed as he continued his slow trek forward.

“You act like that’s a bad thing.”

“Well, don’t you want to see the game?”

“Yeah, I suppose that’d be nice.”  Minseok said, voice mockingly contemplative.

“Then I have to walk.” 

Minseok laughed again.  “Yeah I suppose you do.”

“Already knew that.”  Luhan said, breathe a little shorter.

“Tell you what, if you make it to the next building, I’ll carry you as far as I can on our way back.”  Minseok offered.

“You act like that’s a reward.”  Luhan huffed.

“It is.  There aren’t many people I’d be willing to carry on my back.  You should be honored I like you enough to offer.”  Minseok teased lightly.

“No, you should be honored that I liked you enough to not drop you the second you hopped up here.”  Luhan responded with a laugh even as his chest twinged just a little bit, certain Minseok had meant one thing with his sentence, and he, he had meant something entirely different.

Luhan was also certain that while the prospect of Minseok giving him a piggyback ride wasn’t all that appealing, if he failed to reach the next building, Minseok would never let him live it down.  Therefore, he continued on, reaching the next building before dropping his hands from beneath Minseok’s legs and letting him carefully slide of his back.

Minseok laughed as he went.  “See, that wasn’t that hard.” 

“We’ll see if you say the same when you carry me.”  Luhan responded, starting to walk forward again towards the stadium, pace a little quicker as they had fallen somewhat behind the group.

Minseok laughed again as he jogged a few paces to catch up and walk alongside him.  “I bet I’ll make it farther than you.”

“And if you don’t?”  Luhan asked.

Minseok let out a low hum for a couple seconds before saying, “I’ll let you know when I come up with something.”

“What it is better not be dependent on whether you succeed or not.”  Luhan responded.

Minseok laughed.  “I assure you, whatever it is I come up with, I’ll pick it before I start, deal?”

Luhan nodded.  “Deal.”

---

As usual the line to get in wound its way away from the entrance towards the sidewalk, but it was far from the mass of students that would assemble for fall football games, which made sense.  Comparatively speaking, Luhan and Minseok’s school was far better at football than basketball, which was why, as they walked in through the door after their student IDs were scanned, they were handed their promised chicken sandwiches.

They made their way across the stadium to where the student section was located behind the net.  Since they were relatively early, the lower seats were still free, and Baekhyun made a point of getting in a position where he could be easily seen beneath the net by the free throw shooters.  That way, at the very least, his embarrassment could serve some sort of purpose.

The others filled in around him, taking up three rows of six seats each.

Luhan and Minseok ended up in the back row, Lay and Suho on their left, Leo and Ken on their right.

Once seated, they all proceeded to unwrap their free sandwiches.  It was after Minseok took his first bite that he offered his first observance of the evening, “You know, I don’t get it.  Why do these sandwiches always taste so much better than the ones I buy myself?”

“Perhaps because they are free?”  Lay offered from his spot besides Luhan.

‘You have a good point my friend.”  Minseok agreed with a nod of his head, leaning forward around Luhan to see Lay’s face.

“I know.”  He said with a smirk.

Then Minseok leaned back, and Luhan could breathe again, which Lay noticed, of course.

“So, you still sure he’s not interested?”  He leaned in to ask as Minseok turned to respond to a comment made by Ken.

“Yes,” Luhan said through a grind of his teeth. 

“And you are?”

“Also not interested.”  Luhan responded.

“Uh huh.  So, if this is how you act when you’re not interested then what are you planning on doing when you are interested?”

“Interested in what?”  Minseok asked, returning his focus to Luhan and Lay.

“Nothing, nothing.”  Luhan responded, pushing Lay’s face away.  “Remind me, who are we playing today?”

Minseok laughed.  “You don’t even know?”

“I forget.”  Luhan responded, and really, he didn’t remember in that moment, not that he hadn’t known before, but right then his brain probably wouldn’t have known the answer to 2+2, let alone who the opponent was.  That last moment had been too close.  Way too close.

“It’s Mississippi.”  Baekhyun said, turning around in his seat to look at the two behind him.

“Thanks,” Luhan responded automatically.

“No problem,” Baekhyun responded, turning back around in his seat.

“Wait,” Luhan said, noticing the scrawl of team names across the back of the shirt because the towel had been transferred off Baekhyun’s back and onto Chanyeol’s lap so that it could also be waved around to cause more distraction during free throws.  “Are all those names written in marker?”

Baekhyun groaned as Chen laughed.  “Of course they are.  What else would we use?”

“But then has that thing ever been…”

“Washed?  No.”  Chen said with a smirk.

“And how old is it again?”

“Going on three years right?”  Chen asked, looking up to Suho as Baekhyun groaned again.

“Please don’t remind me.”  He pleaded as Suho nodded with a smile.

“Three glorious years.”

“I’m beginning to understand why nobody wanted to wear it.”  Minseok said with a laugh as he and Luhan leaned back in their seats as debates about whether the no washing rule really should be kept began for what Luhan was sure wasn’t the first time.

“So am I.”  Luhan agreed.  He’d be avoiding it next year for sure.

---

It wasn’t long after that the teams came out on the courts for warmups and conversations turned to debating their odds of success in their last home game.  They weren’t bad.  Mississippi was an okay team, but no Kentucky, they could win if things went well.

Perhaps for that reason, and also because it was the last game, and therefore senior night, the stadium was slowly filling in towards a respectfully large crowd actually in the correct colors.  (Unlike when Kentucky had visited, and the stadium was full, but also completely blue, a far cry from their school’s red and black.)

The cameramen were enjoying the crowd, broadcasting various waving faces onto the big board for the whole stadium to see, including Baekhyun who found himself waving his arms at the behest of insistent tugging courtesy of Chen and Chanyeol while Minseok and Luhan laughed in the background.

This went on for several minutes until the teams left the court, the lights went out and the entrances began.  As usual for the last game, seniors were announced with the requisite amount of pomp and circumstance.  Then the anthem was played, and things began with the ref throwing the ball into the air for the opening tipoff. 

The game was, as expected, pretty good, having enough back and forth action to keep things interesting.  The hello kitty towel even rose to the occasion as Mississippi continued to miss free throws late in the first half, allowing their team to go into the locker rooms up at the half.

“Good game.”  Minseok observed as the half time entertainment, a quick change magic act, began. 

Luhan nodded in agreement, eyes watching the couple on center court that was somehow rapidly changing their outfits every couple seconds as they moved about the court.  He still didn’t understand how they managed it, even after seeing a similar display last year.

“It’s pretty crazy that they can do that so quickly, don’t you think?”  Minseok asked.

“Yeah,” Luhan agreed.  “I still can’t figure it out.”

“Neither can I,” Minseok echoed, eyes also trailing the pair as they concluded their show in the middle of the court decked out in the school’s team colors.  “I suppose that makes it more impressive.”

Luhan nodded in agreement.  “It probably does.”

“So, what do you think they’re going to do for the next five minutes to keep us distracted?”  Minseok asked.  As usual the on court display had ended several minutes before the end of halftime, which meant something would be done to keep them from getting too bored.

“Hard call.”  Luhan answered as the cameras again began to film the crowd to be broadcast up on the video board again.

“My money’s on kiss cam.”  Lay offered from his spot, “You know, for all the cute couples.” 

Luhan resisted the urge to roll his eyes.  Lay was in perfect form, as usual, and offering him reactions in public could only make it worse.  Luhan could always get his revenge later by…

“It looks like your right.”  Minseok said, cutting off Luhan’s train of thought.

“Told you.  They always do this when they have time.  The reactions are always funny.”

“Especially when they pick a pair who isn’t a couple.”  Suho added.

“Exactly.”  Minseok agreed with a laugh, watching as one such embarrassed pair dragged in the correct people on either side of them.

“My other favorite part is when they pick two guys.”  Suho added, offering up another comment from around Lay.

“That’s always entertaining too,” Lay agreed.

“Yup,” Luhan offered while glaring in their direction, hoping it was possible to shut people up just by looking at them.

Apparently not.

“Especially right now.”  Lay continued, twinkle in his eye as he pointed at the board, tone filling Luhan with dread as he redirected his gaze to the screen, and yeah, it was official, Luhan wanted to die.

There he was on the screen with Lay on one side and Minseok on the other, the cameraman apparently having decided to target the after seeing their banter back and forth behind the bright pink beacon of Baekhyun’s hair.

If Luhan hadn’t been so busy being completely mortified at the sight of the three of them on the board, he probably would have noticed the way Lay had made some motions to Minseok, who while also seemingly surprised to find himself up on screen, was quicker to recover from his initial shock.

And if Luhan had noticed that, then he might have been able to avoid what happened next, but as it was, he just sat in shock as he found himself on the receiving end of two pairs of lips, one set on each cheek.

Luhan’s immediate reaction as they both pulled back and the camera zoomed away to find another unsuspecting pair was to frantically raise a hand to each cheek and begin to rub them violently because one, he had no interest in remembering the feeling of Lay’s lips, and two, he definitely didn’t want his brain to manage to form a memory of Minseok’s either.  That would simply be providing it with way too much ammunition for any number of thoughts.

“What is wrong with you?”  He whined at Lay as he rubbed his cheeks.

“It was funny.”  Lay said with a smile, refusing to be ruffled by Luhan’s clear annoyance.

“It was not… argh… you’re impossible.”  Luhan huffed as he dropped his head into his hands.

His reaction was met with laughter from his surrounding observers as Lay eventually offered what Luhan would guess was probably one of the least sincere sorry’s he had ever heard, but as the amusement died down and attention was redirected towards the start of the second half, he was surprised by a gentle poke in his side.

He looked in its direction to find himself face to face with Minseok, who looked far more apologetic than Lay as he softly said, “Sorry.  Lay just pointed, and I did it without thinking.”

“It’s not that big of a deal.  It was funny.”  Luhan responded instantly, suddenly feeling bad for his reaction before because, in normal circumstances, such a scenario would have been funny.  It was just that Luhan’s current circumstances were far from normal.

Minseok shook his head.  “Still, it’s not like its fair for us to have just done it without asking, or I guess warning you first.”

Luhan shook his head.  “It’s not like you had time to ask, and besides, I would have done the same.”

It was a dangerous admission, to be sure, but Luhan was careful to keep his tone light.  Minseok didn’t need to know the real seriousness behind the words.  Still, they seemed to catch him off guard.

“You would have?”  Minseok asked, eyes wide.

Luhan nodded, tone still light and matter of fact as he continued.  “Of course.  Between turning down one of Lay’s suggestions and kissing you, I’d pick you.  It’s the far better option.”   It might not have been a couple weeks ago, but lately, crossing Lay seemed a dangerous prospect considering all the secrets he knew.  (Of course, that only applied to Minseok’s cheek, most definitely not his actual soft… no, not soft lips.)

Minseok eyes widened more as he blushed and shook his head.  “There are far better options than me for you to kiss.”  He murmured softly.

“What?”  Luhan asked confused, not expecting that of all comments.

“Nothing, nothing.”  Minseok said with how own wave of his hands as he redirected his gaze back towards the court.  “Do you remember how tall they said number 23 is?” 

Luhan followed his gaze, eyes resting on a guy that was a good few inches taller than most of the others down below the rim.  “No, but it’d be in the program.”  He responded.

“Ah, true.”  Minseok said, reaching down to the floor to pick up the little booklet and quickly becoming engrossed with its contents.

Luhan leaned back in his chair as he let out a small mental sigh.  Clearly that conversation was over, which meant he had another thing to add to his list of strange things Minseok said.  The list was getting longer than he would have liked he thought as he glanced over at Minseok who continued to be engrossed in reading roster lineup stats.

Minseok was leaning forward in his seat to do so, which was why, as Luhan looked, he became aware of one more thing.  Leo was looking at him, no them, again, and he looked… Luhan still wasn’t sure, concerned perhaps, yeah concerned.

---

They ended up winning the game, but it was close, keeping everyone in their seats until the last minute when Mississippi started fouling incessantly in an attempt to make up a 6 point deficit. 

“I hate when the other team makes the last minute take forever.”  Minseok complained as they started to make their way back towards their dorms.

Luhan nodded in agreement.  “Considering how often teams do it, you’d think it was actually effective.”

“Well, it does work sometimes.”  Minseok conceded.

“Yeah, but the number of those times is hardly high enough for me to want to sit through it.”

Minseok nodded in agreement, “Definitely.”

They walked a little while in silence before Minseok darted out an arm to grab Luhan’s arm.  “Did you forget our deal?”  He asked with a laugh.

“What deal?”  Luhan asked, confused.

Minseok pointed to a familiar building beside them on the sidewalk, at which point Luhan knew what he was talking about even before the words passed his lips.  “The one where I have to try and carry you now.”

Luhan laughed.  “You still want to do that?”

“If I don’t, it’s like saying I don’t think I can.” 

Luhan nodded.  “Okay.  Did you decide what your punishment will be?”

“My punishment?  Who said I was losing?”

Luhan smirked.  “Well, it’s not like you are going to win.”

“Oh, I’m going to win, and when I do, you are going to owe me dinner on Friday night.  I’m tired of dining hall food.”

“It’s a little early to be sick of dining hall food already.  I mean it’s only February.”

Minseok nodded in agreement.  “I know.  That’s why I need you to pay for my intervention.  Now get on.”  He continued as he lowered himself down to the ground.

Luhan laughed again to soothe his nerves as he moved into position behind Minseok.  It was no closer than he’d had to be when they were on Minseok’s bike together.  No closer, he repeated. 

“If you drop me, can I pick a really expensive place?”  He asked as he surveyed Minseok’s back, granting himself a few final moments to mentally prepare himself.

“Oh ye of little faith.  I’m not going to drop you.”

“You can only say that now because I’m not on yet.”  Luhan said with a grunt as he climbed onto Minseok’s back, arms going around his neck so that he could link his hands together as Minseok’s arms went beneath his legs to hold him up.  Once he was securely in place, Minseok stood with a small groan, bouncing him up a few more inches before starting to move forward at a slow and steady pace.

It was as this happened that Luhan became aware that this was different, very different, from clinging close to Minseok on bike rides.  On the bike, he was pressed up against Minseok, but Minseok wasn’t moving, save to lean left or right.  Comparatively, Luhan was now very aware of every step Minseok took as his body bounced against Minseok’s own, forcing him to try to hold on tighter, which only further enforced the second big difference in comparing being carried by Minseok to riding behind him. 

When they rode the bike, they were both wearing helmets, and Minseok’s was one that enclosed his entire head, meaning that when Luhan got closer, his face hit hard plastic, not the back of Minseok’s neck and hair, which smelled pretty nice, something Luhan had, of course, not known before.  It was also something he was pretty sure he didn’t want to know even now, but he knew he was going to be stuck on Minseok’s back until Minseok saw fit to let him off, which meant he was just going to have to get used to it.

Get used to it…  About the only thing Luhan was getting used to with Minseok was that Minseok was constantly giving him things to get used to.

“You okay up there?”  Minseok asked, distracting Luhan from his train of thought.

“Of course I’m fine.  It’s you that’s doing all the work right now, remember?”

Minseok laughed with a huff.  “Pretty hard to forget that.”

“Well, you were the one who offered, remember?” 

“Didn’t forget that either.  Just know, you are about to owe me dinner.”

“You’ve still got a good 10 yards to go.”  Luhan observed.

“I’m going to make it.”  Minseok said firmly.

“Not if I sabotage you.”  The idea was tempting.  It’d end his “Minseok smells nice” torture a little earlier.

“If you did that, you’d still lose.”

“And why is that?”

“Cause that’d be cheating.”

“We didn’t set any rules when we started though so technically…”  Luhan trailed off.

“You’re paying for my dinner and that’s final.”  Minseok declared as he made it past where he had jumped onto Luhan’s back before.

Luhan sighed in relief as he slid of Minseok’s back.  “Just don’t make it too expensive okay?”

Minseok shrugged as they started out on their way again.  “I’m not making any promises.”

Luhan could feel his wallet crying already.

---

“So, if I hopped on your back, how far would you carry me?”  Lay asked as they entered their shared dorm.

“I’d drop you in a heartbeat.  No scratch that, I’d flip you over my back and onto the ground in front of me a ’la WWE.”

“Ouch.” Lay said in mock hurt.

“Just be grateful you’re not dead already.  A kiss, really?”

Lay shrugged.  “Somebody’s got to move this relationship along.”

“How many times do I have to tell you, there is no relationship to move?”

“And yet you are going on a date together Friday night.”

“It’s not a date.”  Luhan denied immediately, refusing to entertain the notion.

“It’s dinner and you’re paying.  Sounds like a date to me.”

Luhan sighed at Lay’s persistence as he flopped down onto the couch.  “Why do I tell you anything?”

Lay laughed.  “Who knows, but I’m glad you do.”

“Can’t say I share that sentiment.”  Luhan huffed.

Lay sighed and walked over to stand above him.  “You know it’s for your own good right?”

“How is this torture for my own good?”  Luhan asked critically.

Lay sighed again.  “Because I’m tired of watching you be alone.”

Luhan refused to be touched.  He refused.  “And you think Minseok can fix that?”

“Maybe.  I can’t be 100% sure either, but I’d like to think he could.”  Lay said honestly.

“And what if he can’t and all your “help” causes disaster?”  Luhan asked.

“Then I’ll help you to pick up the pieces, but you can’t break anything unless you start something first.”

“I’m not so sure about that.”  Luhan whispered.  His heart was doing a fairly good job of breaking off little pieces of itself all the time as far as he was concerned.

“Just think about it okay?”  Lay insisted.

Luhan nodded, rolling onto his side to face into the couch.  “Okay.”

---

Proof reading is hard...plot progression decisions are harder...and finding reasons to avoid tax research is way too easy ^^

And as usual thanks for your subs, upvotes, and comments.  They keep me writing. <3