“Come on Hyunsoo! We’re already late!” yelled Hoseok, as he sped walked in front of her.

They had just gotten off the bus and were walking through their campus to get to the sport building. Today was the first badminton social game, which Hyunsoo and Hoseok had signed up for nearly over a month ago when they started their first year at the university.

“Hey, Hoseok! Don’t you dare leave me behind. We have to walk in late together!” Hyunsoo shouted back.

Hoseok and Hyunsoo had been best friends since their high school days. It never failed to surprise Hyunsoo how she got close to Hoseok. He was what most people would call a social butterfly. He was outgoing and liked to joke around with everyone. In contrast to him, Hyunsoo didn’t talk much and always seemed to give the impression of being reserved. They did nearly everything together, from hanging out to sharing interests and hobbies. Something they didn’t share however, was their course. Hoseok had chosen to do Performing Arts, and Hyunsoo settled on Fine Art. She thought Hoseok’s course suited his appearance a lot, especially since he had pink and ash brown hair, but mainly because his body was so flexible and made for performing.

“Look Hyunsoo, I can see other people holding their rackets! We’re not the only ones late!” Hoseok’s face broke into a big smile, as he looked back at Hyunsoo.

They had just reached the building and were making their way in, when unexpectedly someone pushed past Hoseok roughly. He was with someone, a friend Hyunsoo guessed, and he didn’t turn around to react or say anything. This rude act alone shocked Hyunsoo a little and she stopped in her tracks.

“You don’t think he’s going for badminton… right?” she asked, trying to cover up how inferior she suddenly felt.

“I hope not…” Hoseok spoke in a stronger tone than Hyunsoo’s.

Putting this thought to the back of her mind, Hyunsoo walked beside Hoseok as they entered one of the sport courts. There were five different badminton nets lined up besides each other, and some people had already started playing in teams of four.

“You there! Where are your rackets?” An older looking man, who was presumably the coach, walked towards Hoseok and Hyunsoo.

Hoseok immediately took out two rackets from the bag and gave one to Hyunsoo.

The coach nodded. “You can both team up, there were a pair of boys that just walked in before you. They are at the back, you can go play against them.”

Hoseok gave Hyunsoo a quick look before leading the way down to the end. They watched the other teams playing and making multiple mistakes, dropping the shuttle, though there was one group that was playing amazingly well from both sides. Even the coach was watching them carefully, completely ignoring the other teams that were making mistakes.

“Don’t worry, this is a social club. Not an actual competition,” said Hoseok, noticing Hyunsoo’s growing nervousness.

When they reached the end however, even Hoseok’s face revealed some concern, because standing in front of them was none other than the boy who had pushed past Hoseok outside.

“Oh, it’s them,” said the other boy, standing next to the rude one. They both looked at Hoseok and Hyunsoo. One of them had black hair, and the other rude guy had chestnut brown hair, both with fringes across their forehead. “You both play good?” asked the one with black hair.

Hyunsoo automatically nodded stiffly, whereas Hoseok was staring at the brown haired rude boy.

“They better do,” said the rude guy coldly, “I don’t enjoy playing with beginners.”

“We might even be better than you,” Hoseok finally spoke up. “Don’t go around underestimating strangers.”

“Oh?” he replied, raising an eyebrow and smirking, “We’ll see about that.”

Hoseok scoffed. “Come on Hyunsoo, let’s beat these guys.”

Hyunsoo took a step forward and got into her starting position for the game, while saying, “We’ll win. I bet they’re just all talk and no game.”

“Hyunsoo, is it?” The guy was still smirking. He seemed to be enjoying the situation. “Let’s see how good you are then.”

“Let’s just start this game already.” His friend looked like he didn’t care about anything or anyone. He only wanted to play badminton.

Hoseok got the shuttle ready and started to serve, aiming just across the net. One of the other guys swiftly jumped forwards and managed to hit the shuttle back towards Hyunsoo’s direction, which she also returned. The game kept going on like this for a short while. No one got any points, or even fouls, until the rude guy finally decided to jump up and slam the shuttle right down on the other side from him, earning his team the first point.

Hyunsoo sighed and took a deep breath to keep herself steady. Hoseok was also catching his breath from all the running he had done. The game continued, and soon both teams had earned a good number of points. It was a draw. Out of the corner of Hyunsoo’s eye, she realised that the coach was watching them intently. This somehow put pressure on her and she felt worried that she might make a mistake soon. Just then, the rude guy hit the shuttle going towards Hyunsoo’s direction. In an attempt to hit it back towards the other side, Hyunsoo suddenly stumbled on her own foot and fell down on the floor.

Hoseok came rushing towards Hyunsoo and helped her up. She had her head slightly down, trying to hide herself from the embarrassment, but she could clearly see the rude guy across the other side laughing very hard holding his stomach.

“Are you okay?” asked Hoseok, also looking at the guy across. “Ignore him. He’s just being a douche.”

Hyunsoo didn’t look away. “I think he did it on purpose.”

“What?”

“He knew I lost concentration for a second, and he took advantage of it.”

Both guys from the other team were walking towards them now.

The one with the black hair looked at Hyunsoo and asked, “What happened?”

“Uh, she fell down. Did you not see? It was so funny!” said the douche, as Hoseok had called him. Hyunsoo thought it was a good name for him, since she didn’t know his actual name, so decided to secretly call him that now.

“Hey, just leave us alone!” said Hoseok fiercely.

The black haired boy looked at Hoseok and said, “No need to shout.”

At the same time, the coach was walking closer to join the conversation and said, “That was an excellent game! Very well done! I think all four of you should sign up for the official badminton team, how about it?”

“That’s what I came here to do,” said douche’s friend.

“Hell yeah!” said douche himself, and then looking at Hyunsoo and Hoseok he added, “They want to join too."