"Hey, what's up?" Sora grinned as she climbed up the stone steps, joining Hana, Areum, and Mika on the bleachers. It was a little windy, but it was warm enough for her to just wear her cheerleading skirt. "How are they doing?" She sat down beside Hana and glanced at the field and immediately spotted Mark's red hair – the boy had possession of the ball and was running down the edge of the field, Haechan running ahead of him, their checks following close behind.

"They're on fire." Areum giggled, sounding obviously pleased.

"Mark and Haechan play well together." Mika agreed. "Everybody else is pumped up because of their flawless strategy. Even Jaemin can't do much, now that we finally have a strong offense."

"Ew, that guy is still here?" Sora sighed, shooting Hana a glance. But the girl seemed completely fixated on the game. "What's the score?"

"Two-one for us." Mika said, a smug tone to her voice.

"Last year they lost though," Areum said, bewildered. "How come?"

"We didn't have a strong offense," Mika explained, pushing up her glasses as her brown eyes gleamed knowingly. "They have a weaker defense than we do, but with only Haechan, we couldn't get any goals. We were forced to defend ninety percent of the time, and in the end, Jaemin scored the tiebreaker. Three-two, or something like that."

"Ahh," Areum said in understanding, turning back to the game and promptly gasped as the whistle screeched. "Wow, did you see that?"

Sora glanced at the field and saw Mark and Renjun pulling a bunch of red-shirt guys away. Haechan wormed out from the middle and brushed the rubber field bits off his shirt. Coach Park, standing by the edge of the field, had stood up and was looking tense.

A couple blue-shirt boys came up to Haechan but he shook his head. The ref signaled for the ball, then waved at the opposition team to move aside and let Haechan stand in the center of the field to face the goalie.

"That was like, a tackle!" Areum said in awe. "I wonder if he's okay?"

"He's fine," Sora scoffed. "He's tough. Right, Hana?" She nudged the girl, smirking when Hana's face turned a little red. "Hey, you're quiet today."

"I'm concentrating." Hana said crossly.

"Mmm, look at all these hot boys." Sora agreed, turning her attention back to the field. Haechan had scored and they had resumed play.

The other team had stepped it up after the foul – Jaemin had switched to defense and was intercepting the ball every couple seconds, only to have it stolen back by Haechan. They continued like that for a long while, neither side gaining much ground. With ten minutes left in the first round, Mika had gone back to her homework, looking unconcerned, and Sora let out a loud yawn. She closed her eyes and was enjoying the sun breeze when the whistle screamed again and Areum squeaked loudly.

"Omygosh!"

"What?" Sora snapped back to attention and searched the field, noticing nothing in particular until she spotted Mark running to a boy that had fallen on the ground. "What happened?" She said, bewildered as she recognized Haechan.

"He fell," Mika said with a frown, brows furrowed in apparent confusion.

"I can see that," Sora said dryly. "Hey Hana, what happened?"

"I… I don't know," Hana stammered. "Haechan was passing the ball to Mark as he was being checked, and then he just… tripped, or something."

"Why isn't he getting up?" Areum said worriedly, hugging her bag. Haechan had gotten on his hands and knees but that was it.

Sora looked around and saw Coach Park walk onto the field. ", must be serious."

"It's a foul – he was pushed." Mika said suddenly, reading the referee's gestures. Jaemin was standing near his goalie, looking a little too delighted for the occasion.

"But how, Jaemin was checking Mark!" Hana said defensively, and they all turned to her in surprise.

"It wasn't Jaemin, obviously, but he's got cronies." Sora rolled her eyes. "Guys, I'm going down to get a better look." She stood up, lifted her bag over her shoulder, and headed rapidly down the stone steps.

"I said I'm fine," Haechan snapped for the fiftieth time, slapping Mark's hand away as he struggled to regain his breath. His head was spinning and his ankle burned, but it wasn't serious.

"You can't even stand up!" Mark protested, leaning forward again.

Haechan shoved him away with a snarl. "If you'd give me some room then I'd try." He said fiercely, pissed at his bad luck. He'd been pushed, not like he wasn't used to being pushed or anything, but he'd been pushed hard, and he'd slipped over the ball.

"Alright," Mark said reluctantly, taking a step back.

Taking a deep breath, Haechan pushed himself up on one foot. He touched his injured foot gingerly to the ground and felt jagged pain shoot through his leg. "Ow, !" Swearing, Haechan hopped around on one foot and grabbed the closest thing – Mark's shoulders – as he recovered his breathing.

"Haechan…" Mark's voice trembled, and briefly Haechan wondered why the boy sounded pained. It wasn't like he got hurt.

"Haechan, you can't play like this." Coach Park's deep voice sounded from somewhere behind them and Haechan pushed Mark away, hopping around to face his coach with a dark face.

"Just give me a second to recover!" He said indignantly. "It's not a serious sprain."

Coach Park shook his head. "Haechan, you can't do it and you know it."

"Let me take the foul shot," Haechan insisted, aware of Jaemin smirking in the distance. He gritted his teeth. "I'll show you I can do it."

"Don't waste the goal, give it to Mark." Coach Park snapped.

"Haechan," Mark pleaded. "Leave it to me."

"If I score, you keep me on." Haechan said breathily, stabbing his thumb into Coach Park's chest. "I'm Captain. The team needs me."

Coach Park's angry expression flickered, and he closed his eyes with a bemused sigh. "You're always being stupid like this, Haechan. I wonder if that's why I made you captain."

At that, Haechan felt a chuckle escape his lips. "Thanks, Coach."

Wincing, he hopped a bit then limped his way over to the referee, who had already set up the foul. Jaemin had one excellent player – a goalie who had joined the district team after one year on the team. Although he wasn't up to Jeno's level because he was a mid-fielder, not a goalie, he was still decent. Taking a breath, he picked a corner of the goal and concentrated. He took a step, kicked – and fell to the ground in agony.

"God damnit!" Haechan blinked as the sparkles in his vision cleared. Wrong foot!

"You okay?" This time Renjun helped him up, and Mark approached him hesitantly.

"Yeah," Haechan grimaced, hopping forward on one foot. "Okay, okay, bring a substitute for me." He flinched as Coach Park closed his eyes in a frustrated expression. "Sorry Coach."

"It's fine." Coach Park said tightly. "Have a seat. Mark, sub Chenle for mid. Chenle, you play forward. Jisung, get Haechan some ice."

"Sorry, guys." Haechan called, as Mark took over and helped him hop over to the track.

"You gonna be okay?" Mark asked, dark eyes gazing anxiously at him as he helped Haechan sit.

"It's just a sprain, I'm totally fine." Haechan said irritably, glad that his face was already red from all the running. "Go back and win. I'm counting on you." He said gruffly, avoiding Mark's penetrating gaze.

"Leave it to me." Mark murmured, and for a second he leaned forward. Haechan tensed, mind shooting off in all different directions as Mark hesitated. In that split second he could feel Mark's warm breath from his parted, moist lips, the droplets of sweat rolling down his nose as his eyes narrowed, cheeks flushed from exertion, the strong scent of deodorant, sweat, and Mint Essence shampoo flooding Haechan's senses. Then Mark bit his lip and pulled back. He stood up, nodded, and ran back to the field, shouting at the defense to pay attention as Jaemin took possession of the ball. Haechan, his heart pounding, stared at the tiny stain on his shirt where Mark's sweat had dripped.

Their game had been split into two rounds, forty-five minutes each, with a ten minute break in between. By the end of the first round, Jaemin had brought the score up three-two. Renjun then got possession and sprinted for the goal with Mark, but the whistle sounded and they were forced to give up the ball as the first round ended.

"Jeez, I hate sitting here doing nothing!" Haechan complained, raising his hand to high-five his teammates as they streamed past him wearily. He gave Renjun a nod and the boy returned with a sweaty smile, then turned his gaze distractedly to where Mika was seated in the bleachers. Haechan followed Renjun's look and smiled inwardly, then turned back and promptly received a high-five from Mark. Except Mark didn't let go of his hand.

"Sorry." Mark doubled over, panting, his fingers still twined with Haechan's.

"The point of a high-five is to make a loud sound," Haechan hinted, trying to pull his hand away. "You okay?"

"Not really." Mark huffed as he straightened, letting go of Haechan's hand and bending over the bleacher to grab his towel and water bottle. "I let him even the score."

"Relax," Haechan chuckled. "You're doing your best. Let the team help you."

"But I'm so angry." Mark said with difficulty, lifting his hand like he was about to make some sort of gesture. Instead, he seemed to end up confusing himself and took another gulp of water instead. "The guy who tripped you – I wanted to punch him."

"I did too, I did too." Haechan said airily, patting Mark gingerly on the shoulder. "Don't worry, we're still ahead." Instinctively, he glanced at the red team, on the other side of the bleachers. They were in a crowd and Jaemin was pointing at things on the bench. Is he come up with a strategy? Let's hope it doesn't work.

"Captain, we missed you out there." Haechan turned distractedly as he heard a gruff voice and saw Jeno coming up to them, his shirt pulled up as he wiped his to