Title: Free Throw

Word count: 2600

Summary: Joonmyun’s scared of failing PE. Luckily, she has Kris to help her.

“Look at them. Pathetic.”

Jongin snorts at Sehun’s comment, making Kris frown at her phone screen.

They’ve just finished their practice and Kris had to stay a tad longer, just because she promised to meet Zitao on the bleachers. Lu Han left first to meet Minseok, leaving Kris with Sehun and Jongin. They’re an annoying pair of brats, but Kris is either stuck with them, or with Baekhyun and Jongdae currently sitting on very top bench. Kris doesn’t have anything against the pair, but they’re very touchy whenever they’re together and Kris doesn’t feel like dealing with them right now.

Jongin and Sehun aren’t usually a bad company, but for some reason they decided to be extra annoying today. Kris doesn’t catch Sehun’s next comment, but whatever it is, it makes Jongin fall from her bench and roll on the floor laughing. Kris looks up from her phone screen and at whatever made Jongin like that.

The sight that greets her makes her annoyed expression disappear and replace with the one of worry.

Kris recognizes the younger of the two as Kyungsoo, a second year and a very close friend with the other girl currently standing under the basket net. Kyungsoo is saying something to her in a mess of hand gestures and hurried words. Kris can see the other girl nod her head and then run to the free throw line.

Baekhyun yells “you can do it unnie!” and the girl only gives a thumbs up at that. The ball in her hands in held so tightly, Kris can actually see the rubber dip under her fingers. Kyungsoo yells something to her and the girl bends her knees a bit. The determination in her eyes is so hard, Kris feels so bad for her when she throws the ball and it doesn’t even get half way to the basket. Kyungsoo facepalms. Jongin and Sehun are both on the floor now, laughing.

The girl’s face falls. Kris can see she’s close to tears and Kyungsoo runs to her side, trying to coax her in a hug. The girl pushes Kyungsoo away and runs towards the exit. Kyungsoo doesn’t follow her. Kris takes it as a chance to stand from her seat and head down the stairs, right where the girl ran a couple of seconds ago.

“Where are you going? What about Zitao?” Sehun shouts at her. Kris turns around, takes out a notebook from her backpack and throws it at Sehun. Sehun catches it on time and throws a questioning look at Kris.

“Give it to her. I forgot this umm… thing in the classroom.”

“Thing?” Jongin whispers to Sehun and the other girl only shrugs her shoulders.

“Just give it her,” Kris says, her voice going unnaturally deep whenever she’s upset. Jongin visibly flinches, but Sehun only rolls her eyes. Kris takes that as a promise.

The inside of the gym is not complex, so it takes Kris only a minute to find the person she was looking for. The girl, who was “playing” basketball minutes ago, is now walking towards the exit. She doesn’t notice Kris going down the stairs.

“Joonmyun,” Kris calls. The girl turns and Kris’ heart clenches when she sees Joonmyun’s eyes are swollen. She sniffs quietly and bows her head slightly.

“Kris,” she says. Kris knows Joonmyun’s probably embarrassed because Kris saw her like this, so she opens her arms, and Joonmyun doesn’t hesitate when she runs to Kris and right in her arms.

Joonmyun isn’t crying anymore. She sniffles quietly against the hoodie Kris’s wearing over her uniform. Kris tightens her arms around the smaller girl, making Joonmyun look up when Kris kisses the top of her head.

“Please tell me you haven’t seen me over there,” she pleads and Kris only hugs her tighter.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” she says. Joonmyun grimaces and buries her face back in Kris’s sweatshirt, making the taller girls chuckle. She moves her hands from Joonmyun’s back, so she could grip Joonmyun’s shoulder and make her step back. Joonmyun still has her eyes glued to the ground and Kris tips her chin with her index finger.

“Hey, what’s the matter? Is the teacher bothering you again?”

Joonmyun’s eyes are still a bit red, her cheeks and nose the same. Her lips turn in a pout when she nods her head, making her brown bangs fall in her eyes.

“She said it doesn’t matter if have the best grades or if I’m the class president, because she’s going to make me fall PE if I continue like this.” Kris thinks that “like this” probably means what she saw in the gym a couple of minutes ago. “And I don’t know what to do, Kris. You saw me, right? Then I have nothing to explain to you.”

She looks so sad, it makes Kris hug her again and Joonmyun do the same.

“Do you want me to talk to her?”

The woman, who runs the school’s basketball team, is also the one who teaches Joonmyun. Kris knows the woman has a soft spot her and she knows it won’t take much persuading to make her leave Joonmyun alone. Then again, Joonmyun had always been against anything that’s not, well, fair. That’s why Kris’s not surprised when Joonmyun gasps and steps away from Kris embrace.

“Absolutely not!” Joonmyun says, making Kris frown. “I’m going to work hard and earn my grade like everyone else, even though I have no idea how am I going to accomplish that, but I’m going to do it!” She finishes with a hand across her heart and Kris only rolls her eyes good-naturedly. Her girlfriend’s stubbornness had always been amusing.

“So, what are you going to do now?” Kris asks, tucking her hands inside her pockets. She fishes a lollipop and hands it to Joonmyun, but not before unwrapping it and giving a small . Joonmyun makes a face, but takes it anyway. 

“I was thinking something,” she says as she walks to the staircase, and sits on the lowest stair. Kris tries to ignore the flash of baby blue under the plaid skirt, as Joonmyun closes her legs and gives Kris a questioning look. “Come over here, I’m not going to yell for the whole gym to her.”

“Oh, right.”

 Kris ignores the blush that’s creeping on her cheeks when she walks to her girlfriend. She doesn’t sit next to her. She keeps on standing, hoping she gets lucky again. Joonmyun gives her a confused look.

“You were saying?”

Play it cool, Kris.

“Ah, right! So I was hoping you could help me with it,” she says around the pink lollipop in .

“Uhh…”

Focus!

The lollipop’s still in , pink tongue twirling around the candy, when she says, “We could practice together after school.”

Not on that!

“What do you say? I know you have that history paper to finish, but I promise to do it for you if you help me.” She pulls out the lollipop out with a loud pop and Kris’ brain explodes.

“Kris, are you even listening me?”

“Uhh… yeah?”

“So you’re going help me?” Joonmyun asks, her eyes sparkling like in those manga Sehun liked to read.

“Yeah,” Kris croaks and Joonmyun beams.

“Great!” she says. She jumps from her seat and gives Kris a kiss on the lips. “You’re the best. I have to go home now, but I promise we’ll start tomorrow after school.”

Kris nods her head dumbly when Joonmyun goes for another kiss, puts the lollipop back in and runs down the hall with her skirt hitching up and baby blue flashing underneath it.

“Wait, tomorrow after school? What’s tomorrow? Joonmyun wait, I have a history paper to finish!”

~

“Okay, so where do we start?”

Kris guesses the whole deal they made yesterday had something to do with how Joonmyun was dressed at the moment – perfectly ironed white top tucked in red gym shorts and her long hair pulled in a neat ponytail. The white sneakers Joonmyun wears make an awful squeaking noise against the parquet as she throws the ball between her legs in a fail attempt to dribble. Kris at least thinks she’s trying to do that.

The ball suddenly falls from Joonmyun’s small hands and straight to her feet, making her kick the ball with her toes and fling it in the direction of Kris’ stomach. Kris makes a quiet ‘oof’ sound, dramatically falling on her knees.

“Oh ,” Joonmyun yells, biting her lips the second she realized she cussed, “are you okay?” She drops next to her girlfriend and offers a helpful shoulder for Kris to stand.

“May I know what’s all this about?” Kris asks, now back on her feet. She gestures to Joonmyun’s outfit. Joonmyun makes a face and Kris immediately flinches. It was the face she made whenever Kris would forget something important.

“Kris,” Joonmyun says, no, warns. Kris grimaces and right in that moment, through the fog of last night anime, lollipops and baby blue , Kris remembers.

“Basketball, right!? I promised – you’ll fail PE, right, right,” she says with enthusiasm she never realized she had, and regrets it the second Joonmyun’s eyes fill with tears. “Oh baby, I didn’t mean it like that! I’ll help you.”

Joonmyun sniffs quietly. “You will?”

“Of course I will,” Kris says. She goes for the ball that managed to roll a couple of meters from them, taking her blazer off in the process. She was still in her uniform, since she wasn’t aware of Joonmyun’s plan (curse the baby blue !!!), but this wasn’t the first time she played basketball in her white shirt and plaid skirt.

When she reaches the ball, Kris takes it in her hands and throws it at Joonmyun’s direction without a warning. Joonmyun screams in terror, shielding herself with her arms around her head. The ball falls right in front of her feet and Joonmyun yelps when the ball barely touches her toes. She kicks it, her hands still blocking her vision, and the ball hurls at Kris again, this time missing her head by a millimeter.

Kris tries really, really, hard not to glare.

With a deep sigh, Kris grabs the ball and walks to Joonmyun, who’s still trembling like a scared animal.

“Joon,” Kris says as she touches her girlfriend’s shoulder, “we’ll take this slowly, okay?” Joonmyun nods her head behind her hands. “There’s no need to be afraid. Come on now.” Kris nudges Joonmyun, making her drop her arms by her sides and walk closer to the net.

“We’ll start with free throw,” Kris explains as she passes Joonmyun the ball, this time more carefully from the distance of barely a meter. “First, show me how you do it.”

Joonmyun puffs her chest, gripping the ball tightly in her petite hands. She bends her knees a bit and it’s like déjà vu when she throws the ball with all her mighty, and it falls not even a meter from her. Joonmyun turns to Kris with an apologetic smile. This time, Kris glares.

~

It could’ve be an hour, five hours, the whole day, a week, since they started the practice - Kris thinks the spider web in the corner of the gym wasn’t there when they started – and the number of points Joonmyun managed to score? Zero. Out of two hundred and fifty seven attempts. Kris counted.

And all Kris knows right now is that Joonmyun needs to score six out of ten, just to pass the subject.

“Bend your elbows more,” Kris shouts from her seat on the bench. Joonmyun obeys, but the ball doesn’t even reach half the distance it’s supposed to.

Kris rolls her eyes. She walks to Joonmyun’s side, and waits for her to pick up the ball and stand on the white line. “You need to focus more,” Kris says.

“Focus, focus, focus,” Joonmyun mumbles. She gets in the position and throws the ball. Kris facepalms for the hundredth time.

“I don’t understand,” Joonmyun yells in frustration. “How do those boys in the movie we watched last week do it?”

“Wha-“

“It’s not fair that main guy can be so good at everything, and I can’t.”

“Joonmyun,” Kris says carefully, “are you seriously comparing yourself to Troy Bolton?”

“How does that song go?” Joonmyun gestures with her hand for Kris to help her. Kris only stares at her in disbelief. “Getcha head in the game? Right?”

“Joon, please tell me you’re joking,” Kris pleads, but Joonmyun’s not listening to her. She’s definitely angry by now. The perfect ponytail on her head is now a messy bun, her cheeks are flushed an angry red and the white sleeves of her shirt are rolled so her biceps are revealed. Kris gapes. Since when does Joonmyun have muscles like that?

“Is that what I need to do? Get my head in the game?” she yells in accented English.

“Joon, calm down-“

“ARGHHHHH!”

With the strength Kris never knew the other girl possessed, Joonmyun throws the ball with only one hand. The last thing Kris remembers before her vision blackens is Joonmyun screaming “score!” and a flash of pink under the rim of red gym shorts.

~

“Is she dead?”

Is that Minseok?

“Don’t worry, I learned how to perform cpr.”

Lu Han?

“I don’t think she needs cpr, she’s still breathing. See?”

“I think we need to take her to the ambulance.”

Joonmyun, oh Joonmyun. This must be heaven if Joonmyun’s here. But, if it’s heaven, why is Lu Han here?

“Okay, we’ll pick her up together on three… One, two- Lu Han!”

Something hits Kris’ head and everything goes silent again.

~

There’s something touching Kris’ forehead and it’s awfully persistent. With a painful groan, Kris opens her eyes, only to be met with worried eyes of her girlfriend.

“You’re awake,” Joonmyun whispers with a bright smile.

“I guess I am,” Kris says. She goes for her forehead, only to be stopped by Joonmyun.

“It’s only a wet rag. It will ease the headache a bit.”

Now that she mentioned it, Kris feels a headache in a form of thousand tiny needles splitting her head. She tries to look around the room and she’s only met with white, white and white. It must be the school ambulance.

“What happened?” Kris asks. Joonmyun blushes.

“Well, you remember my outburst and how I threw the ball?” Kris nods, waiting for her to continue. “Well, it may have hit the board, your head and then the board again. You fainted, so you didn’t get a chance to see how it fell through the loop.”

She looks so proud, Kris can’t absolutely get mad at her.

“Luckily, Minseok unnie and Lu Han unnie were in the area. They were the ones who helped me carry you to the ambulance.”

And she even carried her to the ambulance. How could Kris ever get mad at her?

“Also, if you find a bruise somewhere on your body it’s because Lu Han dropped you accidentally.”

But she can sure as hell get mad at Lu Han.

Kris gives her a tight smile. With a help of Joonmyun she sits in the bed, dropping the wet rug on the side table. “Well, you only scored once. You only need five more.”

“About that,” Joonymun starts. Kris raises her eyebrow. “The teacher saw us practicing. She says she never saw someone so persistent and determined. She’s going to let me off without having to play in front of her.”

“Joon, that’s great,” Kris says honestly. She lets Joonmyun fall in her arms and cuddle against her side. It’s only now when Kris notices Joonmyun’s still in her white t-shirt and shorts.

“I’m sorry for hitting you,” Joonmyun mumbles.

 Kris leans so she can plant a kiss on the tip of her girlfriend’s small nose. “And I forgive you.”

They lay in silence for minutes, Joonmyun small and soft against Kris’ side, when Kris finally remembers what was on her mind the whole time.

“Joonmyun?”

“Hmm…”

“Promise me you’ll never watch High School Musical again.”

a/n:

i relate so hard to joonmyun lmao

and i have no idea how to handle basketball terms in my language, especially english, so please let me know if there are mistakes