Hongbin couldn’t even get up early enough, today was Leo’s football match. So he was sporty, the brown hair grinned as images of the black haired chasing after a ball followed him on his morning routine. The most he had seen Leo move was when he was punishing N or trying to get away from the loud hyung. Giggling, Hongbin pushed the gate shut and started to make his way to school, he saw a familiar figure ahead of him. Maybe I should surprise him, he quickly shook that thought from his head, no nono he definitely would hate me for that, I don’t want Leo to hate me. The other had sports shoes slung over his shoulder and a very heavy looking bag, which probably had his football uniform inside, Hongbin guessed. Should I offer him to carry it, that thought tickled Hongbin’s mind, no, he was carrying that bag with such pride, he shouldn’t touch it.

Apon entering the classroom, Leo placed his bag on the table, looking at it lovingly, it had been a gift from his parents and was very important to him. He hardly noticed the figure that had sat itself down next to him, his mind was at football... it was going to be great.

“Good morning, Leo” said person was ripped out of his thoughts however as his neighbor spoke a cheerful greeting. Leo acknowledged him with a small inclination of his head. Does he know I’m coming to the match, Hongbin wondered, N must have told him, right?

Wrong, at the same time in N and Ravi’s classroom:

“You invited Hongin?” N nodded.

“To Leo’s match?” N nodded again.

“To Leo’s football match?” N nodded a third time.

“You invited Hongbin to Leo’s football match and didn’t tell him, right?” Ravi had his arms crossed and was standing in front of his hyung. “Ya,” the grey haired slammed his hand on the table, “I know what I’m doing, Hongbin is our new friend! He is kind and sweet!-“ “Leo is going to kill you…” Ravi interrupted the other, N groaned and flopped on the table in defeat, “Don’t tell me… I know… but it is for the greater good, Leo and Hongbin will get closer and my precious Leo baby will learn to open up to other!”

Smiling at his adorable boyfriend, who was currently and picturing the death Leo would bring him, Ravi stole a quick glance around the class to check if anyone was looking, then took his hung’s chin and  gently lifted his face up so he was looking right at him. “Sweetie, I will put you back together no matter what Leo does to you. You are always looking out for him, so I have to look out for you,” he whispered before swiftly planting a kiss on the elder's forehead and making him blush a deep red.

“Ya, people are here!” Embarrassed N covered both his cheeks with his hands, eyes wide. The urge to wrap him up in his arms and cuddle him was so large, Ravi had to use every last drop of self-restraint he had to prevent that from happening.

That lunch, the group met in the cafeteria, Leo had accepted the fact that Hongbin would just follow him quietly, wearing that never disappearing smile. Leo had all his bags with him but as they arrived he had put them under the table, leaving space for Hongbin to sit next to him, it seemed normal. Hongbin’s eyes widened as he noticed this, and felt honored.

“You are leaving right after lunch right?” N asked bubbly as always, as reply he received a glare, why was he talking about this whilst Hongbin was sitting here? Ravi, Hongbin and N all took that for a yes, “So you have warm up, and then the match, if we leave early we could get the second ha-MY LEG!” N clutched his injured limb, doubling over in pain, Leo shrugged and pulled his leg back. Ravi patted the grey haired with a expression that should have been sympathy but looked an awful lot like a I knew this would happen look.

Hongbin had to watch Leo leave the school and return to an empty seat next to him, but later, later will be a lot of fun, he swore to himself.

As he reached the football field, Xiumin and Luhan, his teammates were there to greet him at the gate. “Hey, our lion is here! Guys we can call the match! We won,” they joked around; Leo shot them a mildly amused look as they made their way down to the locker rooms. The others were already changing and starting to enter the field, the three of them quickly hurried to follow. It was a clear afternoon, good weather for a match.
“Right, team,” Choi Minho entered last, “Time to get those legs of yours warmed up! Stretching, let’s go!” Leo’s mind found peace as his body fell into the routine warm up, this was what he enjoyed most, next to singing.

Half way through the usual warm up, the other team arrived and joined them, they were from the other side of town, the most notable players were Taecyeon and Nickhun, they had really powerful kicks and deadly aim. Realizing he was looking forward to the match, Leo let himself smile a little before finishing off the last exercises and heading back into the locker room.

They had a little prep talk with the trainer, Leo’s mind had turned to football mode and focused on the tactics they had spoken of. He was to be the top stiker with Luhan and Xiumin by his sides, their defense was strong and goalie ready. The game couldn’t start soon enough. Soon afterwards they were in their positions and the game started.

It was going well, both teams were testing each other, Xiumin shot the ball to Leo and he tested how far he could come before the other teams defense shut him down, then he’s shot back to the rest of his team and they would play it down. As the other team got the ball, the striker duo Khun and Taec bolted for the goal immediately, Leo had to marvel at their speed, however the defense of Leo’s team skillfully stole the ball back and shot to Luhan, Luhan put his right hand to his head and dashed off, twirling around the opposite players with precision only he had. Leo knew the sign and jogged his way towards the goal but not enough to be off side, Xiumin was close behind him.

Luhan glanced up and: a quick shot to Xiumin, who immediately passed on to Leo and GOAL! There was cheering from the sides of the football field, it was a big field for such a suburb and lots of people knew and liked to watch the high school football teams.

The game continued, Leo helped Luhan shoot the second goal, and in turn Taec and Khun had created an amazing tactic to avoid the defense and had shot a goal themselves. Before the players knew it, the first half was over, Khun made his way over to Leo, and patted his back, “You, sire, have an amazing kick! I cannot wait for the second half!” Leo had to smile proudly in return.

In that moment Luhan and Xiumin came and flung their arms around him, “He is ours, Khun, keep your fingers to yourself.” Khun laughed, “You can keep your lion. He is really as formidable as the rumors say.” Leo glowed proudly inside, he did however wriggle his way out of his fellow teammates hold and made a dash to the locker rooms. “Ya! He escaped! Lion on the loose!! Mayday! Mayday!” The funny hyungs yelled and chased after him.

Second half time, Leo scanned the audience before kickoff, no sign of N and Ravi, maybe they are running a bit late, he wondered. Focusing his mind back to the game, he forgot about them for a bit, as he was making a run for the goal, Luhan had the ball and was close on his heels, ready to pass to him, one of the opposing players stuck one of his feet out in an desperate attempt to stop Luhan, only that his foot met Leo’s suspended one, and he took a tumble.

It did hurt, but it wasn’t that bad, Leo picked himself up, understanding in a way why it had happened. But what he wasn’t prepared for was, “YA, THAT WAS MY BABY! HOW DARE YOU! IMMA GONNA COME DOWN THERE AND TEACH YOU A LESSON!” There was no chance in a world of his real mother would do that, so as he turned to look for the source of the ruckus, he rolled his eyes and he saw the familiar grey hair of N. Ravi was busy holding him back along with Minho and a few players, seeing as N was already half way over the fence.

And the brown hair next to Ravi looked too familiar and that smile….! N wouldn’t have dared…!

Without saying a word Leo took the ball from the other player, the one who had tripped him and was now staring in fear at the crazy guy trying to climb the fence to get to him, put it on the ground, took aim and fired.

It hit its goal fair and square, N never saw it coming.

The audience fell silent and all eyes turned from the now unconscious crazy grey haired guy to the scary black haired player on the field, Leo shot the referee a deadpan look, who was staring at him with mouth open, and said softly, “We need a new ball…” That was true, the ball, Leo had hit N with, had rolled off out of the field and was lost somewhere in the audience. As the referee shook himself back to reality, he nodded and called for a new ball.

Meanwhile Xiumin and Luhan were standing together whispering, “Is he dead?” “Na, N takes a lot of Leo’s anger.” “But did you see the speed of the ball?” “It’s N we’re talking about” “But he could be-“ “Oh no, here we go, he is alive!”

N had sat up and shooting Leo a insulted look, which didn’t compliment the circular red mark that covered half his face. Leo’s eyes went to Hongbin and back to his hyung, N’s expression turned to guilt as he knew what had caused Leo to do what he did, he tried looking innocent but Leo had just been handed the ball, and that turned his attention back to the game.

The game ended, three to one for Leo’s team, he had shot a goal immediately after the N incident, the other players had become a bit scared to approach him after that. Khun and Taec had congratulated him after the game and gone to their respective locker rooms. “Wow, Leo, what a shot!” Luhan was babbling, XIumin nodded, “It was brilliant!” “Face shot!” “He didn’t even see it coming!” Slowly Leo was feeling guilty for hitting his best friend, but he had deserved it. Huffing, he silently got changed and nodded in goodbye to his teammates.

To his surprise he found Hongbin outside the exit of the football field, he shot him a confused look. “Ravi took N home, he wasn’t feeling so great,” Hongbin answered his silent question, Leo winced, “No hard feelings, he should have told you I was coming!” Nodding unconsciously, Leo made a note to call Ravi and check if his hyung was still alive later. “Want me to take your bag?” Hongbin couldn’t stop the question from leaving his lips, Leo shot him an angry look and tightened his grip on the bag, oh boy, he blew it, “No, no, just that after such a match, maybe you need help!” Leo’s gaze softened and he shook his head, “No thank you, I’m fine.”

The other froze, had he… had he just spoken!? Hongbin stared at him as if he was a different person, Leo rolled his eyes and started heading towards home. After waking up from his shock, the brown haired had to run to catch up with Leo.

“You live near my place, right? Since you know your way around, I’ll just follow you home, okay?” the silence that followed let Hongbin know Leo was okay with the request. Happily he walked next to the silent one, watching him play football had been ecstatic, amazing, he couldn’t even find the words to describe how he felt.

“You play really good! You must love football,” Leo smiled at compliments of the other, causing the one speaking to falter in his steps, feeling giddy at the sight of the rare smiles. After such a match, Leo could care very little about his plan of avoidance and ignoring; he was tired and had to admit that the company on his way home was quite nice, afterall all he wanted to do was go home, shower and sleep. They walked in pleaset silence for the rest of the way.

“Here is my stop,” Hongbin pulled Leo out of his thoughts and he saw the other pout at the sight of his house, as if it was fault for disturbing the silence. His heart felt like it was going to spring out of chest. “Good night, Leo. Do you want to walk to school tomorrow together?” The pout disappeared and was replaced with a glare. “I take that as a yes!” the younger decided and laughed as Leo’s face darkened even more.

“Don’t go making those decisions by yourself…” Leo said softly, but meant as fun, “I’m going to leave normal time… it is up to you to wake up on time.” Hongbin almost fist pumped the air, yes! He was going with Leo to school. It wasn't like a date, they were really just walking to school together but Hongbin felt as though he had won the lottery.
They said their goodbyes and the older one headed to his house, wanting to bang his head against every flat surface he saw, he was going to regret this so badly.

As Hongbin lay in bed still smiling at the events that happened, his phone rang and he saw the called was Hyuk, he immediately picked up.

“Hi, Hyu-“ “Hyung!” His brother sounded like he was in tears, Hongbin sat up, “What is it? What’s wrong?” “Hyung, I have a problem…can you come help…? I am so sorry… hyung please help…”

Hongbin's smile disappeared.