“Hey, Minseok hyung.” The senior quickly turns around when he hears his name being called.

“Oi, Minho.” He replies as he sees the junior, who happens to be captain of the football team as well.

“I heard your little team’s having a dilemma.” Minho corners Minseok on his locker with a playful glint in his eyes while his other boys flank him.

“Problems of the basketball team does not concern you.” The smaller bites back against gritted teeth; the retort seems foreign against his always calm demeanor.

“Oh but it does. You see, our coach told us that if the basketball team doesn’t get the team members they need by the end of the month then the team will be disbanded. That means, no more basketball team.” Minho says with a mock empathetic look on his face; shrug, pout and all that jazz.

“So?” Minseok raises a brow as if the news doesn’t hit him hard. He wasn’t a basketball kind of guy at first but the football team didn’t accept him when he tried out during his freshman year. He then tried his luck in the basketball team and they accepted him. Since then, he’s grown from the shy freshman to the very sociable hyung that everybody seems to get along with.

“So, I’m offering you a spot on my team. With your speed and agility, we can win more games quickly. Wouldn’t you rather play for a decorated team than a team that has nothing to show for itself?” It’s been three years since the basketball team scored a championship and the football captain knew he hit a sore spot. He points to the try-out paper pinned to the announcement board as he keeps his eyes on Minseok.

“You don’t even need to try out.” The paper has names filling it up; names of people who want to be part of the high school’s most favored sports team.

“Like you said, your team is already decorated. I don’t see why you need me there when you have people like them,” he points to Doojoon and Kikwang, “who can run the field for you. Excuse me. I’ll be late for my math class.” With that he pushes his way against the captain into the halls; not minding the curious eyes of his schoolmates.

“H-hey Minseok.” He bumps into his classmate who wears framed glasses matching his light brown hair. He was just a few feet away from Minseok’s locker when he heard of Minho’s offer to him and the smaller’s words bloomed in his heart before lighting it up with a spark. His loyalty for his team was definitely unrivaled and it made Lu Han rethink his decision to try-out for the football team.

“Oh, Lu Han.” Minseok awkwardly steps back when he sees big doe eyes looking at him. “Hi. Sorry, didn’t see you there. What’s up?”

“I’m…uh…w-want to try-out f-for the basketball team.” Lu Han doesn’t even know what overcame him when he was, minutes ago, decided on trying out for the football team.

“No way.” Minseok’s known that Lu Han loves football but the Chinese boy never got to try-out because he was never able to get over his shyness.

“Really?” The doe-eyed male nods frantically at the question as if Minseok will not believe him with just one.

“Great! We could use your help.” Minseok’s not really sure if Lu Han has an idea of what basketball is but he seemed enthusiastic enough to Minseok that he couldn’t help but pat him on the shoulder.

“Thanks Lu Han! I’ll see you at the try-outs then.” Minseok gives him a gummy grin and a wave of good bye and those were enough for the other male to muster up the courage to write his name on the paper. He then winces when he realizes he’s the only one on the list. If nobody else signs up then he would have thrown away the chance to join the football team but then he remembers Minseok’s face and all is well again. Lu Han runs to his next class before he actually changes his mind and erase his name on the paper.

Basketball Try-Outs

~*~

“Hyung!” Jongin shouts as he runs to where Kyungsoo is standing in front of the announcement board.

“Where the hell were you?” The older snaps out when the tanned male is already close enough to hear him without having to rais ehis voice too much.

“Sorry, I was just showing the new student where the teacher’s office is. What’s with the long face? Are you jealous?” The teasing lilt in Jongin’s voice does it and the older had to turn away because he knows he had to hide the blush tinting his cheeks or else there will be more teasing in store for him.

“Why the hell would I be? Look at this,” Kyungsoo shoves the piece of paper to Jongin’s face in an attempt to change the subject, “we have only one person and it’s Lu Han, another senior. We need new blood in our team. Guuuuh!” Jongin manages to get the paper from Kyungsoo’s hold and he makes sure to put the paper high above his head because he knows Kyungsoo will rip it apart on