~~~

For a brief moment, there's nothing but silence and Jongin wonders if he managed to scare Minseok away with his awkwardness, something that makes the former panic internally, and Jongin is about to hang up when he thankfully hears Minseok's voice again.

"You what?" Minseok asks, more surprised than weirded out, much to Jongin's relief. 

Clearing his throat, Jongin nods and mentally punches himself when he realizes Minseok can't see it. "Yeah," he says dumbly, shoving his free hand in his pocket while he leans against the wall. He suddenly feels a lot better about everything, for some odd reason. "I did."

"Are you serious?" Minseok sounds overly shocked and Jongin doesn't know if that's a good or bad thing. One thing the brunet does know, though, is that Minseok's voice has gotten significantly (as in, a lot) deeper since they last talked. "When'd you do it? Jesus Christ, do you have recess right now? My Math lesson ended twenty minutes ago and training starts in half an hour so maybe we could talk," he adds and Jongin nearly collapses in relief because Minseok definitely doesn't seem to be affected by the fact that they haven't said (or texted) a word to each other since eighth grade. 

Figuring he probably shouldn't say how it really is, as in, 'I chose to drag myself out of the house and force myself to school solely to rejoin the team and nothing else', Jongin is silent for a few moments before he continues. The weight in his chest is gradually beginning to disappear, and he can finally breathe a little easier. "Uh, I don't have a lesson-"

"Wait!" Minseok exclaims, nearly scaring the brunet to death. "Have you talked to Coach about it?"

Jongin blinks. He bites his lip because now that he thinks about it, he hasn't. "Uh, no," he mumbles, running a hand through his hair. "I talked to the Principal, but I he said I could rejoin," he adds lowly, suddenly feeling awfully unsure about the whole thing.

"Hm," Minseok hums, apparently deep in thought. Jongin hears the sound of murmuring in the background, closely followed by the sound of a door closing. "You should probably talk to Coach about it since we're playing a match soon," he says and Jongin blinks in surprise.

"Soon?" Jongin repeats and, for some reason, a feeling of excitement seeps into his system. "How soon?"

"We're playing against this other school in a few weeks, which is why you should probably talk to Coach about it, even if you've already discussed it with the Pricipal," Minseok grunts and Jongin assumes he's in the process of putting on his skates. "But hey, I highly doubt he'll deny you a spot since, y'know, I'm pretty sure he's missed the best player on the team," he adds in a sincere tone when Jongin doesn't say anything for a while. "I know I have."

Jongin blushes, a warm feeling erupting in his chest because it's like no time has passed whatsoever, and he could leap and cry for joy. Not wanting to embarrass himself by shouting 'Oh my God, thanks so frikkin' much!' at the top of his lungs, he opts to keep his composure, even though it's proven to be awfully difficult.

"Gee, thanks," Jongin mumbles, feeling his cheeks grow hot. "You're probably moving up on Coach's list of his favorite players on the team, you probably already are," he murmurs, because it's a hundred percent true. Now that he thinks about it, Minseok is, and has always been, the best player on the team, no matter how many times the latter keeps telling Jongin how he's the best every chance he gets. "Uh, what are you doing right now?"

Minseok hums something in reply. "Tying my goddamn skates, which is impossible to do while holding my phone, but hey, I managed, somehow," he mumbles. "Christ, though, I really didn't expect- God damn, we really need to catch up like, as soon as possible," he says excitedly and Jongin nearly laughs out loud because if he knows anything about Minseok, it's that the latter is the king of babbling. 

Feeling himself smile impossibly wide, Jongin tightens his grip on his phone. "We really should," he hums and it's not until he hears a locker, a locker belonging to the changing rooms he remembers all too well, slamming shut in the background that a wave of nostalgia hits him. He suddenly remembers the times when he'd stumble into the changing rooms with a bruised leg after getting struck in the shin on multiple occasions, and how he'd always choose to put his things in the locker marked '94' for whatever reason (that reason being that he thought it'd bring him good luck, which was soon proven to be half right, at least), while Minseok would pick locker number 93 and Yixing number 92. He has to clear his throat before his brain becomes overflowed with memories. 

A thought suddenly hits Jongin and he presses his lips together. "Where's...where's Yixing? Is he there with you?"

Minseok is silent for a while. "Yeah, but he's in the bathroom washing a giant stain off his jersey, not to mention he lost one of his socks yesterday so I had to give him one of mine," he huffs. "I'll make sure to tell him you called, though, I'm sure it'll brighten his day," he adds joyfully and it's not until the brunet hears a very, very familiar voice in the background shouting something along the lines of 'Seok, get over here and help me with my elbow pads!' that Minseok sighs in exasperation.

"Sounds good," Jongin replies, trying not to chuckle when he hears Minseok shout 'Put 'em on yourself, lazyass!', because if there's another thing he remembers about playing hockey, or, to be precise, his team, it's Yixing and the latter's fantastic ability to lose just about anything, especially his own equipment. Come to think of it, Jongin is at least 99% sure the reason he ended up with a near-shattered shin all those years ago was because he chose to be a good sport and let Yixing borrow his shin pads just that one training session, something he sort of regrets. "What else has he lost?" he adds with a small chuckle, feeling his mood skyrocket.

"Speaking of absolutely nothing, are you still a giant?" Minseok asks, and Jongin nearly cackles out loud. "Anyway, Yixing had to persuade Coach to buy him a new frigging neck guard last week since he lost his, that freaking fool," he adds, clearly embarrassed. "Can you believe it?"

Definitely. Jongin rolls his eyes in amusement. "Seok, I'm still 6'2," he chuckles, his laughter only growing louder when Minseok squawks in surprise. "I haven't grown an inch since like, ninth grade so relax." When he hears a classroom door opening a few feet away, he hurries down the hallway, towards the exit, still holding his phone close to his ear. "When does training start?"

"In like, ten minutes," Minseok replies. "And dude, I'm still 5'8, so shut your piehole," he adds sourly, much to Jongin's amusement, although the latter doesn't dare laugh because Minseok can be real feisty when it comes to (his) height. Real feisty.

Jongin bites his lip. A longing feeling suddenly settles in the deepest parts of his gut and his fingers itch to pick up his hockey stick. He can practically hear the sounds of sticks hitting pucks from and feel the slippery surface beneath his feet from where he's standing, and he curses himself for not talking to his coach earlier. On the other hand, he seriously hopes his coach will let him in despite there only being three weeks left until the game. He's promptly snapped out of his trance when he hears Minseok's voice again.

"Sorry, I gotta go, Yixing's having one of his godawful tantrums again," Minseok huffs and Jongin chuckles (he knows all about Yixing's meltdowns over not being able to find his things well before training starts). "Not to mention it's a lil' hard to talk on the phone with a helmet on your head, so I'll see you on Monday, alright? I don't know if you know but they've moved the training sessions to another rink, for some reason, but it's a lot better than our previous one."

"Wait, where're you guys training now?" Jongin asks in confusion. "And I was thinking of bringing my stuff over to you guys later tonight, but I mean..."

"Like, right by the local library there's this giant building, a sports hall," Minseok says, "and right behind it there are either two or three fields, I can't quite remember, where the footballers regularly train. I can text you the directions later tonight if you want me to, because there's a smaller, white building next to one of the fields where the rink is, you'll see it when you get there. Oh, and I suggest you refrain from actually playing until you've talked it out with Coach beforehand, no offense or anything."

Jongin blinks. "O...kay, you're definitely gonna need to text me the directions 'cause I didn't pick up a word of that," he half lies and he knows that if Minseok were right here, the latter would slap him in the arm. "But anyway, yeah, I'll see you on Monday, I guess?" he adds, suddenly feeling awkward because if there's one thing he knows about himself, it's that he's never been good at ending conversations, especially over the phone. Well then. 

"Roger that!" Minseok exclaims. "Wait, can I ask you something?"

Jongin had been so busy mentally rehearsing his goodbyes that it takes him a minute to realize Minseok asked him a question. Typical. "Yeah?"

"Why'd you decide to come back? You know, all of a sudden, out of the blue like this?" Minseok asks casually and Jongin thinks he hears the sound of the former placing his stick down on the bench. "Not to sound -y or anything, it's just that...yeah," he adds sheepishly, although his voice is just as friendly and polite as it always is.

Mentally blanking out, Jongin bites his lip as he tries to swallow the lump in his throat. "Well," he mumbles, not knowing what to say. "It's uh...it's complicated, really," he says after a few seconds of carefully choosing his words (or rather, combusting on the inside). He internally panics when Minseok doesn't reply. "Seok-"

"I see, I see," Minseok says simply and, being the polite person he is, he chooses not to pry any further after sensing the brunet's discomfort (Jongin wonders how on Earth he does it). "Anyway, Yixing's face is turning red so I'mma go give 'im a hand, talk to you next week!"

"See you," Jongin says before pressing 'End Call', just in time to hear Yixing shouting incoherencies at the top of his lungs in the background, and shoving his phone in his pocket. Good ol' Yixing.

One half of Jongin wants to go down to the rink and watch Minseok and Yixing play, but something tells him he'd most likely get lost and he'd rather not have to deal with that right now, and the other half of him says he should probably go talk to his Literature teacher about the exam he missed yesterday, but he decides against that, too, because doing that means he'll have to pass the hallway to his locker, which in turn means he's at risk of bumping into certain people he'd give an arm and a leg to avoid the heck out of as of right now, so Jongin mubles a low 'Fuck that' before zipping his jacket up to his chin and turning on his heel. Not to mention his shoulders and back still ache like crazy, so he makes a mental note to ask Jungah for a massage the second he walks in the door later.

3:23 PM

"Ow," Jongin huffs, squirming a bit when a sharp sense of pain surges through his shoulder. "Take it easy," he grumbles, grabbing the remote and lowering the volume of the movie that's playing in front of him. He's been sitting on the couch for nearly two hours and stuffing his face with caramel ice cream, chocolate and chips, nearly boring himself to death with a handful of crappy movies he's already forgotten the names of. His shoulder is in even more pain after Jungah forcefully shoved him onto the couch the moment he opened the front door, and Jongin clearly recalls how she had a minor mental breakdown while supplying him with a pile of (romance, surprisignly) movies and dumping more junk food than he could carry in his hands. In all honesty, Jongin wanted nothing more than to run upstairs and take a nap and forget about the world for a little while, but the look Jungah gave him when he proceeded to decline her offer of "making him happy again" was more than enough to make Jongin shut up and go with it. As long as she agreed to massage his neck, back and shoulder(s) for fifteen uninterrupted minutes, of course. 

"It's not my fault your body's got weird lumps in it," Jungah retorts as she whacks Jongin upside the head. "Focus on the movie instead," she adds, pointing to the screen. "And by the way, you better finish all of this or else I'll force feed you, just making that clear."

Rolling his eyes, Jongin shoves a handful of chips into his mouth and begins chewing, all while trying to give the movie that's currently playing in front of him, which he's already forgotten both the name and plot to, his complete and undivided attention. To be completely honest, Jongin has absolutely zero idea how some people can take to watching sappy, over-romantic love stories right after a bad breakup, because, in truth, watching the main leads screw each other silly before him is doing very, very little to rid himself of the pain in his chest and, if he could - if it wasn't for Jungah, he would turn his face away and choose to stare at the chipped paint on the wall until the movie ends.

"You know," Jungah starts, practically digging her long nails into Jongin's skin, making the latter emit a loud cry of pain, "for someone who eats so much crap, you sure are in good shape." She briefly pauses her massaging, much to Jongin's relief, to grab the remote and increase the volume. "You're feeling better now, though, right?" she asks, obviously referring to the brunet's meltdown earlier.

Jongin shrugs. Now that he thinks about it, another thing he doesn't get about love is people's constant need to remind, in this case him, about it. He figures it's just him, but in Jongin's humble opinion, heartbreak should be kept private and not talked about. Jongin really doesn't get how reminding somebody about their sadness is supposed to make them feel better in any way, but he figures Jungah is much too young to understand that. 

"I guess," Jongin mumbles, scooping up a considerable amount of ice cream with his spoon. The lewd noises emitting from the speakers nearly makes him vomit, which he seriously hopes he doesn't do, because he figures it would take at least a week to clean everything up afterwards. So he holds it in. "Seriously, I'm fine," he huffs when he can practically feel Jungah's disbelieving glare burning holes in his already aching back.

"You looked like you were dying, I thought you were for a second," Jungah says, eyes glued to the screen as she watches intently, as opposed to Jongin, who is looking the opposite direction. "But I'm glad you're okay," she adds sincerely when the brunet doesn't reply. "Okay seriously, I'm done, my hands hurt."

Turning around, Jongin grabs Jungah's wrist right when she's about to remove her hands from his shoulders. "We agreed on fifteen minutes!" he practically whines and nearly jumps for joy when Jungah resumes massaging with a dramatic eyeroll. In all honesty, he guesses he should be worried, since you don't experience panic attacks for over an hour in a bathtub everyday, but he can't bring himself to be bothered for whatever reason. He blames it on the fact that he must've blanked out mentally which resulted in his brain permanently wiping everything from his head.

"What an ," Jungah mutters, mainly to herself, and Jongin cries out in pain once more when she digs her nails into his shoulder again when she balls her hands into fists in anger. "I seriously hate him, that lowlife, that idiot, that imbicile." She stops massaging Jongin's shoulders so she can lean over and pick up a CD. "I haven't watched this one since I was like, six, we should watch it," she says excitedly, apparently throwing all her rage aside in a heartbeat.

Blinking at the sudden subject change, Jongin turns around slightly and raises an eyebrow. "'Beauty And The Beast?'" he asks, reading the title. "I really don't like Disney," he mumbles, mainly because he's never even seen a single Disney film, but also because Disney reminds him of Jongdae, and Jongin really, really doesn't want anything to do with Jongdae as of right now, neither physically nor mentally (on the other hand, he'd rather watch a Disney movie than two crappy actors having ruthless and mindless any day). Not to mention Disney as a whole reminds him of a particular nickname that he'd rather not think about right now, or ever.

Jungah nods, practically jumping up and down in excitement. "Yeah, Disney! I don't remember a thing of what happened, so maybe this'll revoke some memories!" she squees and Jongin fights the urge to remind her that they're doing this whole thing for him. "Hey, it kinda makes me think of you and Sehun, you know, since you're the beauty and he's the awful jerk; the beast, doesn't that make a whole lot of sense?" she adds with a chuckle, briefly removing her hands from the brunet's shoulder to hop off the couch and insert the CD. However, she stills when the room goes awfully quiet and she bites her lip when she sees the sullen look on Jongin's face. "Sorry. I'm sorry."

"It's uh, fine, I just ate too much ice cream," Jongin mumbles, feeling himself getting sick. He didn't think it was possible to eat so much in one sitting and he hurries to put the nearly empty tub of ice cream aside. Even though the crestfallen look on his face is due to his stomach overflowing with sugar, he won't lie that majority of it is due to the fact that Jungah just compared Sehun to a beast, because Sehun is not a beast. Sehun is caring, loving, and as far from an ugly, unattractive hairy monster as one could possibly get.

"Sehun is a beast, Jongin."

Jongin flinches. "What the-"

"Don't lie to yourself, Kim Jongin," Jungah says sternly as she removes her hands from his shoulders and sits down next to him. "Fifteen minutes are up."

"How did you-"

"Don't lie to yourself, Jongin," Jungah repeats, lightly whacking Jongin in the arm as a means of knocking some sense into him. "And don't you lie to me, either. He was an , plain and simple, and you'd be talking out of your own if you said he wasn't." She shrugs unapologetically. "He doesn't deserve you nor your time, remember that."

Jongin swallows. He never expected to get lectured by his own little sister, let alone about love, of all things. Speaking of which, he suddenly feels his heart start to pound and he honestly doesn't know if it's an ice cream induced heart attack creeping up on him or because of the weight of Jungah's words. He settles for the latter. "Um."

"I'm just trying to make you feel better, you know," Jungah says, playing with the CD in her hands, and quite frankly, Jongin was feeling absolutely fine - maybe even better, before she decided to bring up Sehun. He doesn't comment on it, though, and she huffs when he remains silent. "For God's sake, Jongin, he used you! He shoved you; he pushed you, he said he didn't know you and that you weren't together," she says in exasperation, putting emphasis on the last sentence, all while staring Jongin dead in the eyes. "Honestly, I'd happily sit here all night and hear your reasons as to why you, and I, for that matter, should be defending this prick." She her head to the side. "Go on."

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Jongin fights the urge to grab the nearest pillow and cover his face with it, partially because he feels like a deer caught in headlights under Jungah's gaze, but mainly because the lewdest noise he's ever heard in his life just emitted from the TV and he really doesn't want Jungah to see him blush. That'd be goddamn embarrassing. "Could you uh...could you turn the movie off, please?"

Jungah blinks. "Don't change the subject."

"I'm serious," Jongin squawks when the same noise fills the air and when he doesn't see a pillow anywhere, he grabs the blanket draped over the back of the couch and covers his head with it, ignoring how foolish he must look. In his defense, however, he's at least 101% sure that 'Fifty Shades of Grey' isn't the best thing to watch while trying to get over a broken heart. Not only that, but watching it together with your (female) sibling is a tad bit...Jongin doesn't even want to think about it. "Jungah, switch it off!"

"Fine, fine, Jesus," Jungah huffs in annoyance before grabbing the remote and turning the TV off, promptly silencing the lewd moan emitting through the speakers, and she rolls her eyes when an audible sigh of relief is heard from underneath the blanket. "You're so frigging gay, you know that?" she mutters, tossing the remote aside.

Throwing the blanket off his head when the stuffiness becomes unbearable, Jongin whacks her in the shin. "You're saying it like it's brand new information," he retorts, sitting back down and nearly crying when he accidentally sits right on top of a half empty bag of chips. "."

"Gay men can enjoy watching straight people have , you know," Jungah says casually and jumps a little when Jongin emits a loud squawk of surprise. 

"That's not what I meant- Jesus Christ, stop talking like that," Jongin squabbles, fighting the urge to pick up a chip and throw it right in Jungah's face. "Damn it, Jungah, who taught you-"

"Whatever you do, don't be like those people," Jungah says, and Jongin raises a questioning eyebrow. "You know, the ones who go around sleeping with random people after a bad breakup, don't be like that, if you please," she adds. "Seriously, I'm super terrible at remembering names, so please, for my sake, do not." She shoots Jongin a thumbs up before stuffing a handful of chips in .

Jongin clears his throat awkwardly. He's well aware that those types of people exist, however, he's never even thought about doing something like that. With an awkward cough, he sits up and lets his eyes roam around the living room. Well then. "Are you-"

"Do you think Christian Grey's attractive?" Jungah asks between chews, a chip falling right out of , but she doesn't even bother picking it up. When the brunet squirms, she rolls her eyes. "It's a simple question! Wanna hear what I think? Yes, I think he's awfully attractive, so now it's your turn," she says in exasperation. "Seriously, if you don't say anything I'm turning the TV on again, just so you kn-"

"Yes," Jongin blurts out before sighing in exhaustion and mild annoyance. He runs a hand down his face. The mental images from what he watched less than ten minutes are burned into his brain and he nearly cries. "I do, now please-"

Jungah's face turns smug. "Would you have se-"

"Jungah, what the , shut up," Jongin babbles, waving his hands in all directions as he scooches further away from Jungah. What on Earth are they teaching her at school? he thinks before shaking his head in disbelief. He doesn't even remember what the so-called Christian Grey man looked like, given that he barely even paid the movie any attention, but he figures he must've looked decent, at least, since Jungah finds him attractive, since she's the pickiest person he knows when it comes to looks. He puts up a hand when she opens to speak again. "I swear to God that I'm outta here if this is another one of your-"

Jungah closes and blinks in surprise. "No, actually," she says slowly and Jongin exhales in relief, although his happiness is short lived when she speaks again. "I was gonna pick up from where I left off. You know, Sehun." She crosses her arms and shoots Jongin a look that can only be interpreted as one of her 'Now there's no getting out' looks. "So please, tell me."

Suddenly feeling extremely small again, Jongin swallows. "Tell you wh-"

"Do you hate Sehun? Why or why not?" Jungah asks, leaning in and staring at Jongin intently. "Don't be afraid to say you do, by the way, since you already know how I feel about him," she adds when the brunet doesn't say anything, and she opens and proceeds to pretend to choke on her own finger. Jongin can't stop the small chuckle that escapes his lips.

Jongin shrugs, fidgeting with the blanket. "Can't say I don't, but...I don't know," he says in an honest tone. "I mean, he never said-"

"He never said the words 'I'm using you' to your face, that doesn't mean he still can't use you, which he did," Jungah interrupts, running a hand through her hair. She suddenly furrows her eyebrows. "How can people be so stupid."

Jongin stills. His brain is so full of Christian Grey related thoughts that it takes him a while to adjust to the subject change. He emits a series of loud 'um's as he racks his mind for a reasonable reply. He comes out empty handed, though, and he watches as Jungah clenches and unclenches her fists in fury in front of him. He's suddenly hit with a wave of both nausea and fatigue for reasons he's much too tired to care about. "I mean...he was so sweet and kind and real," he murmurs, mainly to himself, and misses the way Jungah chuckles at the last word. "I just...I don't know, damn it."

"Real," Jungah repeats in a snarky tone. "Right, that's why he refused to introduce you to his friends, avoided you like the plague 24/7 except outside of school, barely even bothered to text you, ing pushed you so hard you needed massage therapy afterwards, while literally saying that he didn't know who you were and that you weren't together. How real, how frikkin' kind," she adds, tutting angrily. 

Not knowing what to say, because quite frankly, his brain is dangerously empty right now, Jongin bites his lip. As much as his chest and stomach constrict upon hearing Jungah's words, and the hatred lacing them, he doesn't find himself disagreeing or even feeling the need to protest, which he finds peculiarly odd. Regardless, his head is hurting and he just wants to sleep, and the pain in his head only gets worse when Jungah leans in alarmingly close to his face, and Jongin fights the urge to lean away.

"Tell me, is a man who hurts you, both mentally and physically, and who publicly humiliates you while also going out of his way to ignore you and only hangs out with you for his own personal benefit, a man worth keeping?" Jungah asks in a dead serious tone, a tone Jongin hasn't heard her speak in before, and her stare only hardens when the brunet turns his face away. "Is he a man worth having? Is he?"

Jongin curses under his breath. In truth, he'd much rather be strapped to a chair while being forced to listen to and watch every single 'Fifty Shades of Grey' movie in existence than discuss...whatever this is, with Jungah (or anybody, for that matter), and he curses himself for not making an effort to seem more interested while they were discussing Grey's attractiveness a minute ago. 

Even though his heart is threatening to burst, Jongin realizes he's got absolutely nothing to say against what Jungah just told him, and he sits glued to the sofa, not knowing if he should cry or cry a lot. In fact, he probably would've sat in complete and utter silence forever if it wasn't for Jungah's petrifying glare, so Jongin swallows before shaking his head ever so slightly, both hoping Jungah will and won't notice. 

Jungah, inevitably, does notice and her gaze immediately softens in relief before she reaches out and ruffles Jongin's hair. "Before you ask, he probably has his," she briefly stops to mouth the word 'ty', "reasons, however, he's still ing awful and the fact that he's been in our house; under our roof, makes me wanna spray the entire place with air freshener."  She chuckles humorlessly before looking at Jongin again. "Now, I'm obviously not saying you need to go up to him and yell ' you' right in his face, even though the urge may be stronger than ever, and I'm not saying you'll heal in the blink of an eye but just...let time do its deed, okay?"

Feeling like a student in the midst of one of his therapy sessions, Jongin nods before exhaling deeply. All he wants to do is sleep. He nearly, along with Jungah, nearly jumps out of his own skin when he hears the familiar sound of their Father's car pulling up in the driveway outside. Jongin doesn't even need to spare their surroundings a second glance to know that if his Father were to walk in, only to be greeted with the mess on the floor, soda and coffee table, the brunet might as well say his final prayers. 

Immediately forgetting his train of thought, Jongin and Jungah jump off the sofa with inhuman speed before proceeding to pick up as much of the food, half eaten or not, as they can carry, and high-tailing it upstairs.

~~~