GLOW-UP

38 | zero to hero

three minutes.

the score was close, almost level as the opposing team hit another hockey puck to the back of the net, and time was running out. the home team were just pulling ahead, but it would only take a penalty to cost them a secure win. everything seemed to move so fast in the final few moments, yuta dodging players at lightning speed and mark waiting for the right time to intercept a pass. yet it wasn't guaranteed that they'd be able to redeem themselves after the last disaster of a game they'd held on the college grounds.

luckily for the team, star player johnny seo was back in action.

with that flurry of negativity cleared from his mind, he was deadset on winning this time, and proving himself to the team - and more importantly the people around him. at a glance, he could see taeil sitting in the front row of the bleachers next to sicheng and ten, and jaehyun and doyoung seated beside them. if anything, johnny had to win for jaehyun, for all of the strain he'd put himself through for the sport.

and if that wasn't enough, he really wanted to see taeil's face light up when he scored the winning goal.

"pass!"

and the game went on.

"oh, pass the gummy bears?"

on the sidelines, taeil was trying to watch johnny play whilst being sandwiched between ten and sicheng. the chinese boy in question had lost all ability to hear any of the words coming out of ten's mouth, and this was making ten quite aggravated.

"don't act like you can't understand what i'm saying. your korean is better than mine, china."

taeil sighed. "he can't hear you," he told the thai boy on his left, "look at him - can't take his eyes off the game."

and he was right. sicheng was utterly absorbed in the game play, watching every move intently as if he was analysing it to write a match report. neither ten nor taeil could catch his attention.

"god, what a sports nerd," ten grumbled, snatching the gummy bears out of sicheng's hands himself and chewing on a mouthful while talking, "i mean, don't get me wrong, i like hockey too - but not that much."

taeil shrugged, eyes still on the game and the broad players chasing the hockey puck around on the ice. "he's been like that all morning," he murmured, thinking back to when he'd just gotten out of the shower that morning...

"remember your strategy, right, yuta-ge?" sicheng had said that morning, hyping the japanese man up in the kitchen, "you've got this."

"not without your help," yuta had grinned at him, "thanks for going over tactics with me, sichengie."

taeil had walked past in the direction of his bedroom to get dressed then, so he hadn't heard the rest of the conversation. but now that his head wasn't filled completely with taeyong taeyong taeyong anymore, he was starting to feel a little suspicious. (granted, his head was filled with johnny instead, but that wasn't such an alien concept and therefore wasn't a huge distraction.) sicheng had always seemed a lot closer to yuta and vice versa, and now that taeil thought about it they really did spend a lot of time together.

the last few seconds of the game ticked by and the crowd held their breath.

johnny went for what seemed like a difficult play, hitting the puck at the last second. the goalkeeper seemed confused as the puck flew past him into the goal, and the crowd went wild. score! pushing the team ahead even further, johnny had secured them a win, and every single team member went ecstatic.

"yes!" sicheng stood up in his seat, eyes gleaming with pride, "that was such a neat backhanded shot."

however his gaze wasn't trained on johnny, but yuta (something taeil failed to notice since his eyes were on johnny and not sicheng) and every muscle in his body was screaming out to go and embrace the japanese man and kiss every inch of his face in celebration. reluctantly, sicheng remained rooted to the spot.