“Jagiya have you seen my “Be the Reds” tee shirt?” YunHo called you from the bedroom. You were in the living room flipping through channels, vaguely wondering why he was tear assing around the house like evil kenvil.

“Which one?” you called. He did have three of them after all. The red one with “be the reds” on the front, the white one with the korean flag and be the reds across the bottom, and then the other red one with dates of the world cup and so on. Soccer wasn’t really your thing. You paid attention to the teams when they were in the world cup, only because YunHo made you stay up till all hours to watch it with him, but other wise you didn’t really care.

“What do you mean which one? How many do you think I have.” he asked a bit snippy. You put the remote down and proceeded to rattle off all the Be the Reds shirts he had, and then the other soccer shirts he had that were just team shirts.

“So, now that you know your inventory of shirts sir, could you kindly specify which one you’re looking for.” he turned red with embarrassment but smiled.

“You are remarkable.” he said flopping on the couch next to you and gathering you up in his arms. “No one could keep track of me and my things as well as you can. I don’t know how you do it.”

“They could, if they cared to. I care to, that’s all. And most of you soccer shirts are folded up in that small suitcase in the bottom of your closet. You had me iron them and then fold them so when world cup time came around again you’d know just where they were. So much for that idea hmm?” you asked looking up at him. He smirked down at you, his perfectly lined teeth glinting in a row. He was handsome as a greek god, but secretly, sometimes, you missed his little gap toothed grin he used to have. You’d never tell him that though.

“That’s right. So are you coming with me?” you groaned.

“You know I don’t like Soccer.” you sighed at the pouty face he gave you. 

“But Jagi.. it’s our countries team! Besides, after that I’m going to play soccer myself. I was hoping you would come watch me and cheer me on like a girlfriend is supposed to. Don’t you love me enough to cheer for me? To keep my spirits up?”

“Oh don’t you dare try to use some guilt tactics on me YunHo! You know very well I cheer for you in everything you do.” you said sitting up and folding your arms at him in slight resentment.

“But Jagi..” he started moving towards you, “you know there’ll be a lot of Cassie’s there and I was hoping that my girlfriend could out cheer them all. I know you want to prove yourself to them.” he snickered.

It was true. Cassie’s had been very reserved in judgement about you and YunHo’s relationship. You’d been threatened, talked about in forums. Your body size had been under scrutiny. Everything about you from your head to your toes had been called fat, fake, to big, to small, etc. If you hadn’t been as old as you were, and had your self confidence built from the ground up, you would have cracked by now. But you were as old as you were, and you knew who you were and what kind of person you were, and you were going to be damned if some bunch of obsessive teenagers took away the only person who had ever made you this happy. 

“Oh alright. How much time have we got before we leave?” you asked shutting the tv off.

“About two hours. Will that be enough time to ify yourself, not that you need it.” he asked wrapping his arms around your waist and holding you to him.

“I could do it in ten minutes YunHo and you know it. Now go find your shirts and I’m going to go shower.” you walked off towards the drawer of clothes you always kept at his place and picked out something nice to wear. 

You showered and changed and had to smile at yourself in the mirror at how well YunHo could play your emotions like a harp. He knew you well enough to get you to do what he wanted, without trying to hard. He was dangerous like that. Your ability to  say “no” to him had been weakening over the last few months that you had been together. You used to have a back bone and could say no to his face and then relish in the look of disappointment and his puppy dog eyes. Now, you couldn’t bear to see him upset. You must have been getting soft in your old age.

You all piled in the van. You turned and bowed and then chatted for awhile with ChangMin who was sitting behind you about the match. He was just as excited as YunHo was for this. You felt non patriotic at your lack of enthusiasm for this sport. But sports were just not your thing. You were athletic and everything, sure. But soccer worried you. You had seen a special on tv once about the injuries that soccer players suffered while playing. The images of snapped bones sticking through skin was enough to make you lose your lunch. Maybe that’s why you didn’t like the sport all that much.

You all turned in your tickets, suspiciously, Yunho had three in his hand, meaning he knew you were coming before hand. Damn him. You took your seats and thankfully, everybody was to busy cheering for the team playing rather than worrying about who YunHo and ChangMin were. You couldn’t keep track of who was winning or losing, but you clapped when YunHo clapped and cheered when the crowd cheered just to participate. YunHo kept an eye on out out of his side vision and smiled every time you showed the least bit of emotion. He was so happy that you were there and taking part in something that meant a lot to him. He liked sports, and even though you didn’t play very many, just that you were there, in public, together meant a lot. 

It was a successful match and the team you had been rooting for had won by 3 pts. Not a huge landslide but it was enough to satisfy the crowd. You, YunHo and ChangMin scurried to the van before people started to recognize you all, and after dropping ChangMin off, you and YunHo headed for the park he was going to be playing at. You had brought a fleece blanket with you, and a lunch bag of snacks, and drinks, because knowing YunHo, he’d be out there until stupid o’clock. He was just that into the sport. 

You got out of the van before him and walked to the park bleachers and found a seat. You were really early, there were only one or two other players on each team on the field but you knew the minute the “idols” arrived, the whole place would be swamped. You tucked yourself in and putting a ipod ear bud in your ear, turned your music on and waited. 

You were surprised that not only was YunHo playing, but also JunJin Oppa from ShinHwa. He’d been a part time coach for the Dori kids team a couple of years ago and proved he liked the sport as well. He and YunHo would be playing on opposite teams. You had to laugh. They were both really good players. You had watched them battle each other when both DongBangShinGi was still 5 members and Shinhwa was still part of SM Town. Their matches between members of all groups had been hysterical to watch. Friendly competition and nothing more. But now Shinhwa was making their own label, and YunHo was still one of the surviving two members of DBSG. There was no company loyalty. You wondered how it would pan out. 

Half way through the match and YunHo’s team was losing, badly. JunJin Oppa’s team had some really good players, not that YunHo’s team didn’t, but they weren’t AS good. By the end of the match, and your last bag of Cheetos, YunHo’s team was handed their rear ends on a silver platter and he came to you looking defeated. 

“You played well, why are you so upset looking?” you asked him. He smirked.

“One of these days I’m going to beat JunJin hyung!” he declared.

“Yah, fat chance.” a heavy hand came down on the back of YunHo’s neck causing him to turn and see his hyung standing there.

“Hyung, this is my girlfriend _______, _______ this is JunJin hyung.” you bowed a 90 degree bow of respect towards JunJin and smiled. Shinhwa had been one of the first groups you had listened to a lot. Again, you’d never tell YunHo that. 

“Ahn young hae say yo JunJin Oppa, it’s a pleasure meeting you for the first time. You played very well.” you complimented. He smiled and nodded at you.

“I’ve had a lot more practice than YunHo-ya has and so that’s why he’ll never beat me.” he boasted.

“Never say never Oppa. If YunHo has taught me anything in our time together it’s that things never stay the same. Not that I doubt your skills at all, but never become complacent. He’ll find whatever edge he can, and you’ll have lost before you started.” you warned. JunJin threw his head back and laughed loudly. 

“She’s a little spitfire isn’t she?” he asked YunHo as if you weren’t sitting right there. 

“That she is, but she does speak the truth hyung, your days as top soccer player are numbered!” he grinned.

“Yah, Yah.. we’ll see. Well I’ve got to get going. It was good seeing you again YunHo-ya, and _______-ah, it was a pleasure to meet you. Hopefully I get to see you both together again down the road.” he bowed his head, waved his hand and headed for the mass of fans waving their pens and pads at him for an autograph. 

“Well, ready to go home Jagi?” you nodded and taking the back way out, you headed with his manager hyung to the van and started off home.

“YunHo..?’ you started, after you had come in the front door and put your dirty dishes in the sink.

“Yeah?” he asked heading for the shower with a towel.

“Do you think you could maybe explain soccer to me, like how the game is played and that, so maybe I could cheer and understand why I’m cheering and exactly WHAT I’m cheering for?”

“I thought you didn’t like soccer, why the sudden change. I had to guilt trip you for almost a half hour to get you to go.” he grinned.

“AHA so you do admit to guilt tripping!” you whacked him lightly on the chest, he caught your hand and kissed your knuckles. “Well the reason I ask is because you support everything I do with gusto. You cheer the loudest at my performances, you’ve never missed one yet, which is a feat in itself. So, I was thinking while I was sitting there eating my cheetos and freezing my tooshie off, that it’s only fair, I support you like that. So maybe if I understood how the game is played, I could wipe those injury pictures from my mind, and not worry about it so much. Who knows I might actually enjoy the game.” 

YunHo looked at you and smiled that big mega watt smile that caused fangirls around the world to faint, or keyboard smash, or both. He tried to pull you close for a hug but you shrieked and pulled against him.

“Ewwww NO YunHo you’re all sweaty and you stink, go on take your shower and then we’ll cuddle.. Nooooo get off!!!” you managed to get out of his iron grip and he chased you around the kitchen table. 

“Just give me a kiss and I promise I’ll go shower.” he said. 

“Alright, but across the table, I don’t trust you when you get that evil glint in your eye.” you said shaking a finger at him. He pouted but agreed and leaned over to half way across the table. 

You evilly thought for a second about darting to the bedroom and leaving him there like that. But that would be so evil and he’d have to find you sooner or later. What if he started that tickle fight again. That wouldn’t be good at all. He opened one eye and saw you smiling wistfully at his face and closed it again, knowing his kiss was coming soon. And it did, you leaned over your half of the table, and kissed him gently. He strained against the table restriction, trying to capture more of your lips, your kiss, your affection to no avail. When you stood back up he actually whined at you.

“Not good enough.” he protested. 

“Then go take your shower, and then come get another kiss from me, I’ll be on the couch waiting.” his eyes grew dark and evil and he smirked. You walked away from the kitchen heading for the living room and you felt him smack you lightly on the rear.  ”REALLY!?! How barbaric.” you muttered but smirked as you heard him laughing down the hall to the bathroom.

“You liked it.” he called before shutting the bathroom door.

And it was true. You did.