The next morning Minho woke up to the soft warmth from the sun coming in through the window on his face. He groaned and blinked rapidly to adjust to the light as he opened his   eyes. He groaned and looked around him. The other couple boys who had stayed over were gone from their positions they had fallen asleep in the night before, and Minho began to wonder where everyone was. All the bedding that they had been using had  

He pushed off the floor, and groaned as his bones cracked into place. After a quick survey of his surroundings he heard soft singing from the kitchen. With a raised eyebrow he slowly walked toward the room. As he got closer he heard the scrapping of plastic against metal, the gentle hiss of a fire. When he turned the corner a man came into his view.  

The man turned, "Good morning!"  Jinki's huge smile was so warm, Minho almost was taken aback. Who in the world was that chipper this early in the morning? "Why don't you take a seat? Do you like scrambled eggs?" 

Minho shuffled to the stool and laid his head on his arms. His mind was still a little fuzzy from sleep, and he may or may not have understood everything Jinki had asked him, "Eggs? Why are we rambling about eggs?" 

Jinki's sweet laughter was hidden behind his hand, at least a little bit as he walked over to the other side of the counter and gently pushed the eggs onto the plate. "No. Scrambled." Minho blinked at them for a moment before a soft oh flew past his lips. "Go on. Try them." 

Maybe he shouldn't have started to talk with his mouth full, "Where are the other boys?" 

His cheeks tinted in embarrassment as Jinki's eyes crinkled and the boy pointed at the eggs that had fallen off his lip and onto his shirt. "They left earlier."

"What time is it?"

"Almost 11."  

"11?!"

Jinki's eyes widened. "Well I mean you just kept sleeping and I thought you'd want to so I told the others to be quiet and stuff. They ate and left about an hour ago."

"And you just let me sleep?"

Jinki's lips moved slightly, but the words were mumbled and Minho only heard bits of it. He was about to ask if the boy could repeat it but Jinki was smiling up at him and offering him a glass of juice. "I'm sorry if that's not what you wanted, but eat up and I'll take you home okay?"

Pancakes were placed before him, and a little thing of syrup. He's never had pancakes, but they seemed okay. "Thank you."

"Can't send you home hungry."  Jinki smiled, but his face fell when he looked at his phone. "I have to go change. If you'd like to take a shower go on ahead. It's upstairs 4th door on the left. You can use my shampoo."

Minho nodded but the boy was already jogging up the stairs.

 

                        ----- 

 

Minho decided that a shower was a great idea. He usually took a shower after a game, and even though he rinsed off last night in the locker room, that didn't really do the job very well. He tried not to think about Jinki as he shed his pajamas and stepped into the warm water of the shower.  

He sighed as he closed his eyes and let the water fall over his face is warm streams. It felt so amazing. He hadn't know that his muscles    could ache so much, but as the water fell over his body all the stress and pain from the game the previous night drained away.

He quickly squeezed a little bit of shampoo into his hand and lathered his hair fairly well. He didn't want to take too long because he had no idea where Jinki had to go and he didn't want to make him late. Once finished he quickly dried off and pulled on the change of clothes that he had gotten from home the night before. Before he knew it he was walking out of the room with his bag over his shoulder and a small towel gripped in his hand to wring out his damp hair while he waited for Jinki. 

He didn't mean to snoop. He knew that it was disrespectful, and he never wanted to be such to Jinki, but he heard it and he found himself standing frozen in the hallway. 

"How is he?" 

"That's great. Really great."

"I'll be there this afternoon."

"Yeah. Just make sure its sugar cubes okay?" 

"Alright. I'll see you later. Tell him I love him okay?" 

The older boy sighed deeply, "Yeah yeah I know. I just had to say it."

Minho finally forced himself to move from his spot. It wasn't just the words said that hit him, but the deep sad tone in which they were said. He quickly rushed down the steps as quietly as he could and launched himself onto the couch.

                         -----

Jinki came down a couple minutes later. There was a bright smile on his face, but Minho could see something was off. It wasn't the normal smile the boy always had spread across his face. He was dropped off with the same smile as a tiny sliver of paper was placed on his thigh. When he looked down he realized it was a phone number.

"It's mine. Text me whenever you want to go practice, or hang out or something okay?" 

He mutely nodded and quickly got out of the car. Jinki lingered for a moment before pulling out of his driveway. Minho stared at the phone number in his hand for a good 5 minutes before rushing into his house and up into his room to call Taemin to tell him all about it.

                        ----- 

 

Monday morning he caught sight of the older boy at his locker. Jinki flashed him a smile, but it didn't make Minho not notice how the boy's eyes were tinted pink as if he'd been crying. As quick as the smile was there he was waving goodbye and rushing down the hall in the other direction with his bag hurriedly thrown over his shoulder.

Minho wasn't sure what the twisting feeling in his chest was.

But he didn't like it one bit. 

 

                        ----- 

 

He hadn't used the number that Jinki had slipped into his hand the Saturday before mainly becuase he was way too nervous to press the send button on the number of messages he typed out, but after seeing the pink tinted eyes of the older boy that morning and then not seeing him at lunch Minho finally had the courage to send the message.

 Hey Hyung.

It took  a moment for a reply and he began to become nervous, but it did come eventually. Minho? 

Yeah :) I didn't see you at lunch.

 Oh sorry about that. I was helping Jonghyun out with something.

Oh no need to apologize... uh would you be up to helping me shoot after school? We don't have practice.

:) sure. Meet you at field at 3?

Perfect :D

Now pay attention in Geometry. I don't want to have to tutor you too.

Minho honestly had no idea how Jinki knew that 5th bell was his math class, but he slid his phone away with a smile. Finally feeling happy and less worried than he had the entire day.

                    --------

 

When he walked out of the locker room the sun was bright in the sky above him. His backpack and other things were back in his locker, locked away and safe so they just weren't laying out on the field. When he had gone into the room there weren't any other boys, but he did see that Jinki had come into the room just by the how his locker was only half way closed. As if it was stuffed to the brink and only faith was keeping it from exploding onto the floor.

Jinki was exactly where Minho expeted him to be. The older boy was slowly dribbling the ball up the field toward the goal.  He watched quietly as he walked toward the field. His cleats cracked and creaked against the pavement, and soon enough Jinki was lifting his head to look over at him. 

The smile on his face was warmer and happier than it had been the morning before. Minho found it quite easy to return it. "Heads up." 

Minho's hands rushed up out of habit, but no ball hit against his palms. He lowered them slightly and looked over to see Jinki smirking with the ball snug in his arms. "You're a jerk."

"A lovable one." Jinki smiled and tossed the ball in front of Minho's feet. "Come on. Time to practice." 

The ball was gently kicked between them as they walked closer to the goal. Once close enough they sat and began to stretch. Minho hadn't been able to get the image of Jinki helping him stretch out of his mind for weeks now. He didn't understand why it was such a hard thing to forget, but no matter how much he tried to the image of Jinki standing above him pushing his leg back with his hands wouldn't go away.  

When Jinki smiled over at him Minho felt like maybe things were okay still. 

    
                            -----

"Okay so first lesson is to assess the goalie." Jinki began softly, his hands on his hips as he stopped the ball with his right foot. "Most good goalies have fast reflexes and can go both ways in a split second decision, but that doesn't mean that they don't favor one side over the other."

"Like they usually go one side more than the other?" 

"Something like that." Jinki bent forward and picked the ball up before walking towards the goal; motioning behind him for the other boy to follow. "Jonghyun for example is a great goalie, but he favors his left more than his right."

"Really?"

"Yep. He broke his arm in the 5th grade saving a ball toward the right. He still practiced, but moved to use his other hand more. It just kind of stuck with him." Jinki shrugged. "Now I mean not every goalie is weird like Jonghyun, but you can see which way they are most likely to go. Just like I can with shooters." 

Minho's eyes were almost comical. "What?"

Jinki smirked. "Thought I just moved to the right direction out of pure luck?" Minho shrugged and Jinki continued, "Most players don't switch it up enough. They have the same form every time they shoot, and like most schools around here there are usually a select few that shoot all the time. I can tell by the way their support foot is where they are aiming."

"Seems complicated."

Jinki shrugged. "Saves me from diving my back out again."

"Again?"

 "That's a story for another time." There was a wide smile before the ball was being launched at Minho's face. "Lets try it."

                        -------

 

He knew that something was wrong the moment Jinki offered him a ride and he slid into the passenger seat of the car. The older boy was off. He was way different as he placed their bags in the trunk than he had been not even 20 minutes before on the soccer field. The trunk was slammed a little too hard than probably necessary, and Minho tried not to jump out of his skin at the loud bang as it closed.

Jinki seemed tight, as if he was a rubber band pulled taunt as far as it could go. The key was still gripped in his fist, which laid on his thigh, and Minho wasn't sure if the boy was going to put it in the ignition or bend the metal with how much force he was putting on the poor keys.

Jinki let out a deep breath, which sounded as if he emptied his entire lung capacity with it, and Minho finally forced his voice to work as he reached over to gently place his hand on the older boy's thigh.  "Are you.. okay Hyung?"

Jinki's head snapped up, strands of hair damp and not flying up too. His eyes were soft, lips slightly parted, as he looked at him. He seemed to think about how to answer for a moment, but then his head fell again and soft words flew past his lips. "No Minho. I'm not."

A huge amount of relief washed over him, along with some guilt for feeling relieved at the boy's expense, that he didn't offend Jinki by asking something such as that. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Jinki's face rose - a soft, sad, almost mocking smile adorned his face- "It would be nice too, but that is a story too long and deep for a single car ride home." Minho watched the boy's teeth cut into his bottom lip harshly, "But I could show you. If you'd like."

 Minho's voice was lost at the other's tone and how Jinki's fingers wrapped around his own gently, but he managed to nod. The older boy's eyes showed his sincerity as he turned the key, and Minho didn't even mind that Jinki hadn't let go of his hand.

That the grip got tighter.

                            -------