"No way." Tao gasped out, his voice surprised. The manager nodded, his face holding a small smile. "EXO-K, they actually, they're coming to Korea?" Lay stuttered. Another nod. Excited chatter filled the room. Xiumin couldn't help but smile at the members' excitement. It had been 2 months since they had seen EXO-K; the video calls didn't really help. The manager had called them together for an important meeting and then proceeded to announce that EXO-K would be coming to China for a week, for promotional purposes of course, but they would still be here. 

Xiumin himself felt excited. He couldn't wait to see the boys, he had missed them a lot. He glanced over at Luhan, who was excitedly talking in Mandarin with Tao. Xiumin smiled and leaned back on the couch, feeling happy and content. The promotions were going well, he hadn't even messed up or said something weird. His pronunciation had generally been acceptable. Although Xiumin had reassured Luhan that he was fine and could listen to the translations, the boy would always whisper in his ear during the interview. However, most of the time, Luhan wouldn't say anything important or related to the interview, he would say something random like 'Christiano Ronaldo is better than Messi'. It was distracting at times, but generally, Xiumin didn't really mind. 

Anyway, everything was going really well. Xiumin felt more confident about everything now, it was completely different from the mess that had been their debut. He closed his eyes and sighed, relaxed. He stayed like that for a while, even after the manager left and the chatter went down; just resting. He felt someone poke his nose. He scrunched it up. "Ya, Minseok-ah, get up!" He heard Luhan's voice say. Xiumin opened his eyes. "I wasn't sleeping. What happened?" He asked Luhan. "Do you want to go play football? I heard their's a pitch near here, we won't be interrupted if we book it." Luhan suggested. "Everyone else is coming as well."

Xiumin nodded, smiling. "Sounds great!" He said getting up. Kris groaned. "Do we have to go?" He disliked anything that required physical activity. "Yes." Tao and Chen chorused. Lay laughed. Kris grudgingly smiled before getting up to go to his room. 

Xiumin grabbed a football from the kitchen. It was time for football.

~

He didn't know why he started playing football. Xiumin had never been the sportiest or most active boy out there, but he had somehow got into the game. His parents, delighted that he was interested in a sport, had signed him up for trainings and the football club at school. All he knew was that one thing led to another and soon, he became one of the best footballers in his hometown. He knew that if he hadn't joined SM, he would have trained to become a professional footballer. 

Ever since their debut, Luhan and Xiumin had played soccer together. Whenever they had time, they would pick up a soccer ball and go out to play. Sometimes, they just passed it around to each other. They would try tricks, they would play games. It didn't matter. It was just the feeling of kicking the ball with your feet. That's all that mattered. 

The field that they were playing at was uneven and muddy. The grass needed a trim and the two goal posts at either side had holes in their nets but Xiumin thought it was perfect. "Let's have a match!" Chen eagerly suggested. "Two teams then?" Lay immediately backed Chen up. "I'll be with Xiumin." Luhan said, walking over to Xiumin. Xiumin smiled and nodded. "No, that's not fair. You both are too good! You can't be in the same team!" Tao whined. Xiumin frowned. "That's right." Kris agreed. Xiumin nodded. "Oh well." He said shrugging at Luhan. Luhan frowned but nodded. 

"How about Lay, Luhan and Kris against Me, Chen and Tao?" Xiumin suggested. Everyone nodded. "Kris, be goalkeeper." Luhan ordered, taking over the role as captain immediately. "Why me?" Kris asked. "You're tall." Luhan said as if it were obvious. "How is that even related to- Whatever." Kris sighed before walking to the opposite end, muttering about discrimination against tall people. "What about us? Hyung, where should we go?" Tao asked. "Uh, Chen, you goalkeep. Tao can be striker with me. Is that okay?" Xiumin said. Chen gave a thumbs up before jogging over to the post. 

They took up their positions and the captains met at the middle of the field to see who would get the ball first. "Fighting!" He heard Chen's yell from behind him followed by a "Jia you!" from Tao. Luhan's teammates also yelled words of encouragement to which Luhan replied with a loud "Fighting!" 

"Okay, let's get this over with." Xiumin said. "Why do you hate stone paper scissors so much?" Luhan asked him, laughing. "Because I at it." Xiumin said. Luhan nodded. "That's true." Xiumin smacked his arm. "You're supposed to comfort me!" He said. Luhan just stuck out his tongue in response. "Oh my god, get a move on!" They heard Chen's obnoxious call. "OK, let's do it before he explodes. 1, 2, 3." Luhan said. Xiumin decided to go with paper but of course, he lost. Luhan threw scissors. Xiumin sighed. "Okay, you get the ball first." He said, putting the ball on the floor in front of Luhan. 

~

They were tied 2-2. Everyone was muddy and panting heavily. Luhan's legs were killing him and he was going to get bruises from Tao's wushu kicks but he didn't care. All throughout the game, Xiumin had been defending Luhan. This meant that Xiumin would be close to Luhan. At times, their hands or feet would collide. Luhan literally lived for those moments. 

They had agreed, at halftime, that they would play for only half an hour more. Time was running out, only 4 minutes remained. During the game, the boys had all shown their competitive side. Chen had impressively saved 3 shots and Tao had attacked mercilessly. Xiumin had stolen the balls easily and used textbook technique when kicking the ball into the goal. Lay had been unusually loud, yelling for Luhan to pass the ball, yelling words of encouragement, even getting pissed when Kris missed. Even Kris had smiled when saving a goal, yelling "Who's the man?" in english before doing an overexcited chest bump. And Luhan, well, he had been running for the entire game. 

Luhan managed to evade Tao and passed the ball to Lay. Lay recieved it well but Xiumin managed to steal it from him. Luhan immediately ran back to Tao and blocked the pass. Tao kicked Luhan's shin while trying to get the ball back from him and Luhan bit his lip to stop himself from crying out. Another ing bruise. Great. 

He decided to run for it. He ran with the ball straight towards the goal. He heard Tao's surprised yell as he tried to run after Luhan but it was in vain. Luhan was going way too fast for anyone to stop him now. But Xiumin tried. The boy managed to close the gap between them pretty quick but wasn't able to get closer than a metre. Luhan was at the goal now. Chen was ready, a bit nervous but ready. The younger boy had never been a goalkeeper before but he had been doing a great job. Luhan was about to kick the ball, knowing exactly where to hit so that Chen would be unable to get it when he saw Xiumin's face. 

The boy had a sad look on his face, resigned, accepting his defeat. He was scratching his head, his head tilted slightly downwards. Luhan froze and on an impulse kicked the ball pathetically, straight towards Chen. The boy blocked it and looked surprised at the bad shot played by Luhan. "Hyung..?" He heard Chen say but Luhan could only look at Xiumin. The boy's face had lit up and he was talking excitedly with Tao, no doubt discussing strategies when the time ran up at that moment. "Ugh, no way, what a cliche." Chen said getting out of the goal post. "It's a tie." 

"Yah, Luhan, how'd you miss it?" Kris asked angrily. Luhan just shurgged. "Lost my rhythm." He lied. Lay rolled his eyes. "Uh huh." He said giving Luhan a don't-even-try look. Xiumin and Tao came over as well. "That was fun!" Xiumin smiled. "You were going to lose." Kris teased. "Ugh, that would have . Who knows how long I would have to put up with you teasing me about it." Xiumin retorted, a smile on his face. Tao was unsatisfied. "Shouldn't we have penalty shots?" He suggested. Xiumin shook his head. "I'm not that good at shooting, I've always been defense. And you're a beginner. Luhan would definitely shoot it in, it's better to not take the chance." He said. "Hey, we're right here, you know!" Luhan laughed. Luhan would definitely shoot it in. Wow. Xiumin had complimented him. 

~

It was later, back at the dorm that Lay approached him. 

He smacked Luhan's face with a pillow. "Ow!" Luhan protested. "What was that for?" 

"This isn't a drama. Stop trying to be the male lead. Letting their be a tie when you could have made us win. Idiot." Lay said, disgust in his voice. Luhan blushed. "I didn't do it on purpose." Lay just raised his eyebrow. "It doesn't matter anyway, it's just a game." Luhan shrugged it off. "Today, I found $60 in my jeans. During halftime, I bet $60 on our victory. Now, Chen has that money." Lay protested. Luhan rolled his eyes. "You bet money?" Lay nodded. Luhan just shook his head. "Idiot." 

"Hey, I'm not the one who has a picture of Minseok hyung in his wallet." 

" you."

~~~

Ugh. So sleepyyyy. 

Gramatically, probably filled with mistakes. Too rushed, again. Kkaepsong. 

Thanks for the comments and subscribers, much appreciated.