A/N: To fully enjoy this story, please pretend that GOT7 are good at sports lol :D

“All right!” Jackson said, solemnly clasping his hands together on the table and looking at each person assembled in front of him with a grave expression. “May the team meeting commence.”

“Question!” Yugyeom said immediately, his hand shooting up.

“Ask away.”

“How can it be a team meeting if our team captain isn’t present?”

“Because we totally can’t have a team meeting where we talk about Mark behind his back if he’s in here listening to everything we’re saying, duuuuuuh!” Jackson sassed.

“You can’t just start the meeting like you’re some kind of stodgy politician only to shift into pretending you’re a valley girl,” Jaebum said. “And I’d like to mention that I’m this team’s vice-captain, so I don’t know why you didn’t ask me to be in charge of this meeting instead of assuming power you don’t actually have.”

“I don’t think we should talk about Mark behind his back,” Youngjae said, joining everyone else in ignoring Jaebum’s comment. “It’s rude.”

“He’s the one who ate the extra slice of pizza you had dibs on,” BamBam informed him.

“Then screw him. Let’s talk some !”

“No, no, we’re not talking about Mark,” Jackson said patiently. “We’re here to lovingly show our appreciation. Via this.” His whipped a form out from under the table and held it aloft so everyone could see. “The World Cup Send Off Party.”

“Ehhhh?” Yugyeom groaned. “The whole thing is already going to be a massive fan dedicated to Mark. Why do we have to do something special for him?”

“Maybe because he’s half the reason we’re going to the World Cup in the first place,” Jaebum pointed out.

“I’m the other half, and no one’s doing something special for me,” BamBam protested.

“Dream on.” Youngjae rolled his eyes. “You’re our designated bench warmer.”

“Say that again?”

“I said, you’re a BENCH WA-”

“What if I said it would involve playing an itsy bitsy, teensy weensy joke on him?” Jackson yelled over Youngjae. Everyone fell silent.

“Explain,” Jaebum said.

“OK, you know that really hokey segment where they invite a singer or a girl group out to ‘learn soccer from the pros’? The part that usually descends into some kind of uncomfortable drool-fest on the part of the players over the latest entertainment goddesses who are selected?”

“Yeah, and some of us were actually looking forward to that in an entirely non-erted way,” BamBam said.

“I asked the program PD, in Mark’s presence, if we had vote for a female act,” Jackson continued. “And he said we could vote for whoever the hell we wanted. I then peeked over Mark’s shoulder to see who he had scribbled down, and guess who his vote was for?”

“Park Jinyoung,” everyone at the table said in unison. “Duh,” Yugyeom added.

“And it got me thinking that even though he voted for Jinyoung, he probably realizes there’s no way in hell anyone else would vote for him, right?” Jackson glanced around the table as everyone nodded. “So wouldn’t it be hilarious if we all voted for Jinyoung too, and Mark got shocked on national broadcast by the presence of his little celebrity crush?”

Everyone digested this for a moment. “I dunno, though,” Youngjae said. “I thought we’re playing a joke on him. Wouldn’t that be more of a reward than a prank?”

“You gotta think about it harder,” Jackson insisted. “Mark is the absolute worst when it comes to social situations. Especially when he’s caught completely off guard. And then there’s the fact that he prefers to pretend that he totally isn’t even as obsessed with Jinyoung as he is.”

“So he’ll be caught between freaking out around Jinyoung and pretending like he isn’t freaking out at all,” BamBam mused. “That could be funny.”

“And it’ll be on national broadcast,” Jackson reminded him.

“It could work,” Jaebum said slowly. “I like that it’s not really a mean prank, considering we’ll be helping him meet the guy he likes and all.”

“Exactly,” Jackson said brightly. “We can entertain ourselves watching him lose it, but maybe Jinyoung will think it’s cute and it will all work out. And I bet his fangirl squad will love him even more for adoring a dorky ballad singer over a y girl group and worship even harder. Everyone wins.”

“We’re going to relentlessly about it, though, right?” Yugyeom asked.

“Of course,” Jackson said. “Relentlessly. So, are we in agreement? We’re all going to vote for Park Jinyoung?”

“Aye!” everyone said.

Jinyoung was zoning out on the couch when his manager burst into the office. “Look alive!” he said. “A new PR opportunity of a lifetime is knocking at our doors!”

Jinyoung looked up at him sluggishly, not feeling terribly optimistic. The last time his manager promised a ‘PR opportunity of a lifetime’ was when he’d gotten Jinyoung a CF for acne removal. “What is it this time?”

His manager didn’t seem at all bothered by Jinyoung’s indifference. “You know the men’s soccer team? The one that’s gloriously representing our entire nation at the World Cup in a week?”

“Yeah, everyone knows them. It’s all anyone will talk about anymore. Soccer, soccer, soccer.”

“Right, it’s the national obsession. Everyone in the country has their eyes turned to them.” His manager grinned. “Which means everyone’s eyes will also be on you when you appear as the celebrity liaison at the World Cup Send Off Party airing in two days.”

Jinyoung blinked. The World Cup Send Off Party was one of the most watched features on TV outside of the World Cup itself. It was an hours-long special on the team that highlighted the players, gave a behind-the-scenes view of their training and practices, detailed the brackets and competition, and ended with a massive send off for fans to attend at the soccer pitch before the players flew out to their first game.

There was also that one section where a celebrity or singing group was invited out to meet the players, exchange autographs, and learn a few soccer moves from them with typically hilarious results. The team decided who would be selected to come out by majority vote, so in most cases it would be an actress or girl group, and the team would wind up spending the segment starry-eyed and hormonal. Sometimes it was cute depending on the behavior of the team and their guest, but sometimes it came across as creepy.

It didn’t seem possible at all that Jinyoung would be chosen to fill the role of this celebrity guest. For one, he was a mid-tier solo singer that had never debuted higher than #40 on the charts. For two, he was also not a girl, giving the testosterone dripping athletes not much to fawn over (unless they didn’t mind who a particularly well-formed came attached to).

“How did you manage to swing that?” Jinyoung asked, eyeing his manager suspiciously.

“I didn’t,” his manager said, waving his hands. “The World Cup team unanimously voted for you.”

“What?”

“You heard what I said.”

“Why?”

“Funnily enough, I had the exact same response when I received a call from the team’s manager. He didn’t really have a direct explanation for me, other than that the team captain usually insists on playing your latest single in the locker room before a big game. I guess the team uses your music to amp up, or something?”

“Team captain? As in Mark Tuan? As in the number one ranked hottest athlete by online voters of both genders for two years running? That team captain insists on blasting my music before big games?”

“Sounds about right.”

Jinyoung shook his head, unable to believe it. “But…all my songs are ballads. How can he amp up the team to ballads?”

His manager shrugged. “Maybe that’s his sense of humor.”

Right, Jinyoung thought. It would only make sense if it was a joke. And the reason the whole team wanted to invite him out was an extended part of that inside joke of being the quirky ballad team who jammed to obscure singers instead of mainstream trends. It would help them stand out in the press, and win them points with their legion of female fans who might be disgusted by the slightly y standard girl group invite. And Mark Tuan, the biggest media darling of them all, was all about making the men’s soccer team media darlings.

“I don’t mind doing it,” Jinyoung said finally.

“Of course you don’t!” his manager said, smacking him on the back. “You’ll get publicity, finally! And lots of it! Your star will rise, and I will be the manager of the second coming of Rain, and all the other managers out there will cry and beg me to tell them all my secrets, and I’ll just shrug and say, ‘My client is the muse of a soccer team, no big deal.’”

Jinyoung rolled his eyes. “You’re enjoying this.”

“You’ll enjoy it, too. I have it on good authority that the soccer team are stellar individuals. They’ve made the whole world fall in love with them—mark my words, you’ll probably fall in love after meeting them, too.”

There was a makeshift tent set up for Jinyoung on the soccer field to keep his presence hidden from the soccer team when they arrived. Even though they knew he would be coming given the obviously organized unanimous vote, the PD wanted to play up the surprise reveal to full effect, especially since it would be a huge surprise to the audience, who would be expecting someone like last time’s winner, Suzy, to walk out.

Instead, they would be treated to the rare athleisure version of Jinyoung, his standard conservative long sleeves and dress pants uniform replaced with sneakers and loose gym shorts over form fitting jogging leggings. Jinyoung could envision all the male viewers wrinkling their noses and changing the channel, screaming “Where is Twice?” into the abyss of their apartment. Having seen them recently at a broadcast station, Jinyoung knew that Twice had in fact been thrilled not to go and were gleefully taking the day off from being easy ogle fodder for that exact audience.

A cameraman dipped into the tent and reported that it was almost time for him to come out. Jinyoung lingered near the flaps of the tent so he could hear what the show MC was saying by way of an introduction.

“Right now, the number one question in the nation is who is inside that tent,” the MC was saying. “The last time the World Cup came around, it was Suzy. Ahhh, Suzy.” A longing sigh. “Is it even possible to one-up that? Mark, do you think the person or group you voted for will be chosen?”

“No,” a voice, likely Mark’s, responded. “I’m not really interested in idols, so I didn’t vote for one.”

“Oh? Not an idol fan?”

“The ones who do their own writing and composing are fine sometimes. I really like music which tells a story. Their real story and heart, not just a rehash of love tropes that have been done to death, you know? So I really like listening to singer-songwriter and music when I’m training. And ballads.”

And there he is, emphasizing the ‘we’re not like other soccer teams’ angle, Jinyoung thought. Still, he was mildly impressed. He was used to seeing Mark plastered across the media for his gorgeous good looks and healthy body, but when he spoke, he came across as a lot more intelligent than you would expect from the nation’s jock.

“What about the rest of the team?” the MC asked. “Is there anyone you’re dying to see walk out of that tent?”

“It’s a mystery!” one of them said, voice deliberately enigmatic.

“We voted keeping in mind the whole team,” someone else said. “Not just picking people we individually liked, but someone our whole team can get excited about and have fun with.”

“And who is this person our World Cup team shares such a strong enthusiasm for?” Jinyoung could hear the MC’s voice getting closer. “Is Blackpink in our area? Will I and you be hanging out with IU? Is Jun Jihyun this team’s muse? It’s time to find out!”

The cameraman gently pulled Jinyoung away from the tent flaps. “Walk out when the MC opens the tent,” he said quietly. “The team is going to act surprised, so play off that.”

“Got it,” Jinyoung said. He could hear all the drama building outside and took a breath. He was just going to live in the moment and take the opportunity for what it was. That was all this was really supposed to be.

The tent flaps opened, and Jinyoung walked out. Almost immediately, there was a loud outburst of “OH MY GOD!” so unforced and genuine that Jinyoung stopped in his tracks, trying to figure out where it came from. Two of the team members were holding hands and doing a little dance, and two of the others seemed to be smirking, holding back laughter, and one was doing the expected “oh, wowwwww, it’s Park Jinyoung” routine. But the one in the center had his hand clapped over his mouth, his body partially doubled over, visibly looking like he was struggling to breathe.

Jinyoung recognized him immediately from hundreds of magazine covers and news stories. So either Mark Tuan was the best actor in the world or he was really, truly shocked that Jinyoung was standing in front of him.

“Are you OK, Mark?” one of the team members, who Jinyoung recognized as Jackson Wang, asked, rubbing Mark on the shoulder.

“Is that really Jinyoung?” Mark asked in a quiet voice, ducking behind Jackson as if to hide himself in this overcome state. It didn’t really work since Jackson wasn’t tall enough to form a barrier, so Jinyoung could see Mark tentatively peeking at him over Jackson’s shoulder and turning a vibrant shade of red. A second later, Mark had popped back out from behind Jackson, deliberately acting all cool and nonchalant in spite of his still red cheeks.

“Ohh, is Park Jinyoung one of those singer-songwriters Mark is a fan of?” the MC asked hammily, eating it up. “I was surprised it was a male singer, but is Mark perhaps a big fan?”

“We all listen to Jinyoung,” the team vice-captain Jaebum said quickly, but Jinyoung could tell he was struggling not laugh at Mark’s reaction. “But Mark was the one who introduced us to his music.”

“I-It’s good,” Mark said with effort. “H-His lyrics. Good. Yes.”

“Jinyoung, you seem struck speechless,” the MC said, looking amused. “Did you not know the World Cup team were fans?”

“I knew they listened to my music before big games,” Jinyoung said. His eyes were fixed on Mark, who seemed now incapable of looking back and was instead staring at Yugyeom and mouthing what looked like “what do I do?” in English. “But I didn’t know the team captain would be this cute in person.”

“Ah!” Mark seemed to choke out involuntarily. This time, he sank into the ground in a crouch, bowing his head towards his knees so his expression was hidden. The other team members laughed and started either whacking him on the back or chanting “you can do it!”

“So even soccer champ Mark gets star struck,” the MC said, impressed.

“I’m just surprised,” Mark said, quickly getting back to his feet, again trying to look deliberately nonchalant. “I voted for him, but I didn’t think anyone else would.”

“We all voted for him,” Youngjae said in a chipper voice. “He may not be an idol, but Jinyoung is this team’s idol! You raised us on him, Captain!”

Mark looked momentarily like he wanted to strangle everyone around him. Jinyoung was both surprised and amused by the whole thing. It was nice to have someone like Mark as a very genuine fan, but also quite unexpected that Mark was to the point of emotionally yo-yoing over him. As a non-idol and a not very well-known ballad singer, he was used to even his more dedicated fans (mostly middle-aged women) reacting quite calmly to him.

“I’m really grateful,” Jinyoung said. “I didn’t know I had such famous fans. I really like and support the World Cup team, too, so I’m honored to be here and cheer you on and learn from you.”

“Ahhh, Jinyoung is well-spoken!” the MC said. “Of course, I see it now, this kind of guy is really the popular kind with everyone, after all. Even men will like someone like Jinyoung. He might not be a girl group, but he’s handsome, yes?”

Mark nodded enthusiastically, which stood out since none of his other teammates did. He flushed again, biting his lip.

“I think Mark is also that kind of guy,” Jinyoung said. “All of Korea is his fan, so it’s hard to believe someone like that could be a fan of me.”

“But you’re amazing, too,” Mark protested quietly, still attempting to partially hide behind his team members as he said it.

“Ah, there’s no need to be shy here!” the MC interjected. “You’re both fans of each other, you can be natural! Mark, Jinyoung, you should shake hands and be friendly so you aren’t needlessly nervous.”

Jinyoung stuck out his hand. Mark approached it a bit tentatively, as if unsure of its realness. He seemed to gasp as he at last touched Jinyoung, wrapping his fingers around his. They met each other’s eyes briefly,  before Mark doubled over into an incredibly low bow given that Jinyoung was both younger than him and less established as a celebrity. Which meant Jinyoung had to bow even lower than him, leaving him feeling dizzy when he straightened up and looked Mark in the eyes again. He really was seriously good looking. But Jinyoung liked his lack of pretensions even more. The media frenzy surrounding him could have given him the nation’s biggest ego, but here he was, completely bowled over by a singer whose ballads he happened to like a lot.

“OK, Mark, you can drop his hand now,” the MC said as the rest of the soccer team applauded this momentous handshake. Mark did so abruptly, as if he’d suddenly realized he was holding onto a scorching hot coal. He looked so embarrassed that Jinyoung felt tempted to a little.

He turned to the MC. “Ah, I don’t want to wash my hand now,” he said, mimicking the kind of thing a fangirl might say. “It’s been touched now by handsome Captain Mark, so it’s like a valuable treasure.”

“Oooooooohhhh,” the team (sans Mark) hooted in unison (Mark was too busy hiding his expression with both of his hands). Jackson stepped up to clap Jinyoung on the back. “I like this guy!” he said enthusiastically. “World Cup Mascot forever!”

“Hand~some Cap~tain Mark!” Yugyeom said in high pitched sing-song.

“Ah, everyone likes teasing the captain, don’t they?” the MC laughed. “Mark, you’re making it too easy on them! Everyone will misunderstand!”

“I’m fine!” Mark said, dropping his hands and morphing back into his easily collapsible calm mode. “I’ve never met someone who I was a fan of before. Jinyoung, I really like your music, and your songs are very motivating to me. Thank you for all your music, and I’m glad we get to work with you, today.” He addressed all of this to Jinyoung’s feet.

“I should thank you,” Jinyoung said. “Thank you to all of you for having me here. I’m excited to learn from you.”

“And the World Cup team is excited to teach you, right?” the MC asked.

“Right!” the team barked back.

“Let’s start with the team maknae and goalie Yugyeom. What would you like to teach Jinyoung today?”

“Blocking,” Yugyeom said. “Come on, Jinyoung, let’s go to the goal.”

Once inside, Yugyeom walked Jinyoung through the proper hand technique to best block shots without injuring yourself. Once Jinyoung had mimicked it a few times, they had the other team members kick balls towards the goal for Jinyoung to block. Jaebum and BamBam’s easily sailed right past him, so Youngjae must have felt sorry and kicked him an easy shot, which Jinyoung finally smacked away. Jackson told him outright he was going to kick really hard but straight down the middle, so Jinyoung was able to block that one, too.

Last up was Mark. “Mark,” the MC said. “It’s Jinyoung’s first time in the goal, so you might want to go easy on him. But also, the nation is watching and loves your famous power kicks, so wouldn’t it be fun to see if Jinyoung could block it?”

Mark shook his head. “He could hurt himself. Jinyoung needs his hands for writing.” He placed his foot on the ball. “Jinyoung, please take care of your hands today.”

It was kind of sweet, Jinyoung thought. Especially considering that Yugyeom had suffered a broken finger or two in his career. “I’ll be careful,” he called back.

Mark delivered a curving kick which Jinyoung had no shot in hell of blocking, though he put up such an impressive attempt that he earned applause from the team in spite of the miss. Mark was practically beaming, as if Jinyoung’s surprisingly not terrible abilities were a special treat for him to see.

Next, Youngjae taught Jinyoung how to head the ball, and Jackson and Jaebum taught him how to scissor kick. BamBram practiced shooting the ball into the goal with him and teaching him tactics he could use to keep the goalie from easily intercepting it.

Finally, it was Mark’s turn. Jinyoung could tell right away that he was in his determinedly calm and collected mode based on the fact that he was speaking coherently but yet not looking him in the eye. “I’m going to teach you about juggling a soccer ball,” Mark said. “It’s a good skill for showing off, right?”

“Yeah, I’d love to try.”

“OK. We’ll practice the body movement at a slower pace to start.” He lifted up his knee. “We say ‘juggle with your knees,’ but it’s actually ‘juggle with your thighs.’ So we’d want to drop the ball in the middle of your thigh, right about here-” he pointed to his own thigh. “We want the ball to naturally go in the direction of your other thigh, and the best way to do that is by practicing like this.” He dropped the ball on his left thigh, and it went off at a wrong angle. Mark quickly caught it. “See how that didn’t go the way I wanted? So I know that I need to change my positioning in how I’m dropping the ball or how my leg is moving when I drop it.” He dropped the ball on his left thigh again, and this time it went towards his right. He immediately lifted his right leg and bounced it off his thigh before catching it again. “Just like that. Now you try.”

Jinyoung tried, but got it wrong the first three times. “You’re holding your leg too low,” Mark explained.

“Where about should it be?” Jinyoung asked.

“Get it into position for him!” Youngjae yelled.

“Touch his body!” BamBam added, doing the SISTAR dance.

Mark glared before turning back to Jinyoung. “Um,” he said, staring at Jinyoung’s legs.

“It’s OK if you want to adjust me,” Jinyoung said. “I don’t mind.”

Mark’s cheeks immediately darkened. “All…all right.” He carefully placed his hand below Jinyoung’s thigh and pushed it up until it was at the right level. “T-That should be good,” he said, quickly pulling his hand away. “Now try.”

Jinyoung did, and this time the ball went in the right direction. He forgot to lift his right knee and attempt to juggle it, though, so Mark caught the ball for him.

“Really great,” Mark said. “Let’s practice the juggling part, now.”

Eventually, Jinyoung got the hang of it and manage to juggle the ball four times before losing control of it. Mark grinned at him so ecstatically that Jinyoung had to fight off the urge to ask for a congratulatory hug. He was pretty sure Mark would die if he did, though, so contained himself and settled for smiling back instead.

“Jinyoung, you’re quite good at this,” the MC commented. “Maybe you can shift your career to soccer now?”

“I think I’ll leave it to the pros,” Jinyoung said. “But I really learned a lot from you guys. Thank you.”

“Now that we’ve seen the singer play soccer, how about we have the soccer players show some singing? Can we hear the World Cup team challenge one of Jinyoung’s songs?”

“No one knows the lyrics better than Mark,” Jackson said quickly. “Come on, Mark, hit us with it!”

“I can’t sing in front of Jinyoung!” Mark said, sounding horrified.

“Don’t you want to market his music?” Yugyeom asked.

“Come on, Jinyoung’s song will hit the top of the charts if the world hears Captain Mark singing it,” BamBam urged.

“It’s not like you don’t sing it in the shower after practice every day,” Youngjae added. “We’ve all heard it.”

“Mark, I would love to hear you sing,” Jinyoung said earnestly. “I’m sure you’re better at it than I was at soccer."

Mark’s lips quavered, and then he was singing the first verse of Jinyoung’s latest single. His voice was incredibly wobbly, most likely due to his embarrassment, but Jinyoung could hear some promise to the quality of his voice buried underneath. Jinyoung nodded at him encouragingly, and Mark sang the next few lines a little bit stronger. When he reached the chorus, Jaebum and Youngjae supported his voice with really beautiful and professional sounding harmonies, and the other three clapped along.

“Wow, the World Cup team is accomplished at everything,” the MC said once the chorus had finished. “What did you think, Jinyoung?”

“I thought it was beautiful,” Jinyoung said. “I can really tell you guys feel the lyrics. It makes me so happy to know that this song inspires you to do well while you’re playing. And Mark?”

“Y-Yes?” Mark stammered a little.

“If you lead the team to victory, maybe I’ll dedicate a song just for you as a thank you from our country.”

The other guys looked at Jinyoung as if he was a divinity among them. “Well, that settles it, we’re absolutely winning now,” Jaebum said. “Forget getting our army service excused, Mark is 100% going to want that song.” Mark just stared at Jinyoung blankly, as if he couldn’t comprehend the words he’d just said.

“What a challenge!” the MC said. “Korea has to win now! Jinyoung, all our hopes are on the World Cup team, so along with you, we’ll await a victory. Team, it’s time for Jinyoung to go now, so let’s thank him and say our goodbyes for learning from you so well.”

Jinyoung and the team bowed to each other. When Jinyoung straightened up, he met Mark’s eyes. It was a familiar kind of look, one that reminded Jinyoung of the end of the encores of his shows when the fans eyes seemed to plead with him not to leave. Something about it made his heart ache, and though he’d gone into the event thinking of it as a job for publicity, he suddenly didn’t want to leave either.

It really is a shame he’s going overseas for a while, he thought to himself. I wonder how much he’d blush if I said I wouldn’t mind doing more than just dedicating a song…

Three months later…

“All right!” Jackson said, solemnly clasping his hands together on the table and looking at each person assembled in front of him with a grave expression. “May the team meeting commence.”

“Once again, I’m the vice-captain,” Jaebum said. “I should be the one-”

“Ignoring that,” Jackson interrupted. “I would just like to remind one and all that this whole thing was my idea, so basically you all owe your lives and souls to me. You may approach and kiss my ring, or prostrate thyselves before my wonderous person. Whichever.”

No one did so, but Youngjae flashed him a thumbs up, which Jackson decided was a good start.

“Gotta hand it to you,” BamBam said. “Enlisting Park Jinyoung was a genius plan.”

“We got to embarrass Mark a little and help him win over his crush in the process, and as a reward we only won the ing World Cup, that’s all,” Yugyeom said with a grin. “Who knew the village idiot could come up with such a profitable plot?”

“Jinyoung owes us now, too,” Jaebum said. “Imagine what we can get out of that.”

“Ballads?”

“More opportunities to make fun of Mark?” BamBam added.

“More World Cup trophies?” Youngjae guessed. “I mean, next time the cup rolls around, we can just have Jinyoung withhold or something unless Mark wins.”

“Truly devious, but I wonder if Mark is even capable of scoring the way he is now,” Jaebum pointed out.

“ or goals?”

“, obviously. He just spent an entire World Cup bracket proving he could score goals. He’s so pitiful around Jinyoung, he’d probably pass out if Jinyoung did so much as roll up his sleeve.”

“Nahhhh, I know he has no game in person, but they totes ing,” BamBam said. “Did you see that pic he posted last night?” He opened Instagram and showed the pic in question. In it, Mark was holding up his World Cup trophy and Jinyoung was holding up his Perfect All-Kill Certification for his new single “You, In the Language of Flowers,” also known as the South Korean Soccer Team World Cup Victory Song.

“So?” Jaebum asked. “It was posted to the official team account, as a cute follow up to the whole broadcast thing. What does that have to do with it?”

“Look at the background. Does that look like a safe and neutral company headquarters location to you?”

“That’s Jinyoung’s house,” Jackson said. “I recognize it from those cover videos he posted on YouTube before each of our big games.”

“Don’t remind me,” Yugyeom groaned. “I still can’t get Kiss from a Rose out of my head.”

“Blame Mark for that,” BamBam said. “Cuz I totally caught him ordering roses to be delivered to Jinyoung’s agency every other day with these disgustingly cute messages like ‘There may be many flowers in one’s life, but only one rose’. He put Jinyoung’s fan club as the sender, but Jinyoung’s not that dumb. Hence all those rose-related song covers. They were flirtingggggg.”

“Aww. Eww, but also aww.”

“Anyways, that bookshelf in their Instagram two-shot is definitely the same bookshelf that’s in Jinyoung’s flirtinggggg videos,” Jackson said. “Meaning that Mark was 100% at Jinyoung’s late last night.”

“They inggggg!” Yugyeom and BamBam yelled in unison.

“They better not have done anything with the trophy while they were at it!” Youngjae said. Everyone turned to stare at him with wrinkled noses. “What?”

“Moving along from THAT disgusting thought,” Jackson said. “Gents, I’d say hoorah for a job well done. And prepare yourselves for ‘You, In the Language of Flowers’ all day, every day in the locker rooms.”

“To be fair, it is a good song,” Jaebum said. “I’m fine with him remaining our team’s muse, personally.”

“But now that we’ve gotten their hookup out of the way, can we vote for Suzy next time?” Youngjae asked.

“Actually, next time can we vote for my celebrity crush, since this was all my idea and y’all owe me?” Jackson butted in.

“No,” four voices said in unison.

“Ungrateful peasants!”

“How about whoever does the best job at the relentlessly teasing Mark gets to win the vote next?” Yugyeom asked. “Because I really have a lot to say about the mobile Jinyoung shrine that came along with us during all our games.”

“Yeah, it’s really not fair if he’s on lovey dovey cloud nine all the time,” Youngjae said. “Let’s make him suffer at least a little. Sound like a plan?”

“Aye!” everyone said.

A/N: I'm back(ish!) Sorry for going so long without posting anything new, but I definitely wasn't about to miss my own fic writing anniversary!

Authornim has a new, more demanding job now, so writing at my old pace probably isn't going to be easy anymore, but I hope I can still set aside time to write a few more things for you. I hope you enjoy this one :P I wanted to write shy, fanboy Mark again lol