ACHOO! | tyunning.

I. TRANSFER STUDENT

Well, almost everyone.

꒰ ★☆ ꒱

"Taehyun!"

Messy, chestnut hair and a mischievous smile.

Beomgyu waved to his best friend, making his way across the soccer field.

It was the ungodly hour of five in the morning. Sunshine had not dared to tiptoe across the dewey mountains, ashamed to show its face, forcing a dull blue to fill the skies in its place. It was cold, and the air bitterly nipped at Taehyun's bare skin, chewing off the last of his drowsiness.

Beomgyu had his black duffel bag with BHS SOCCER embroidered on the front slung over his right shoulder. His usual red bandana was fastened around his forehead, nike slides at his feet as he shuffled over. "Did you get any sleep?" the boy asked, just loudly enough for the other to hear him. It was far too early to be more energetic than that. Then, he dropped his things off at the bench at the edge of the field. The other had already started stretching in his cleats.

Taehyun snorted. "It's five am, Beomgyu. Has anyone with a schedule to be up at this time ever gotten sleep?"

"Fair enough," the latter laughed.

Once Beomgyu had tightened the laces on his own cleats, he headed straight for Taehyun to join him in his warmup routine.

"How'd you even know I'd be out here?" Taehyun wondered aloud, stretching out his arms. Preseason games didn't start for another two weeks at least, and he didn't even hint at the idea of practicing early to his friend.

Beomgyu hummed in fake contemplation. "Oh—You know! Best friend telepathy. It's like my spidey senses or something."

Taehyun shook his head at that, coughing out a "Nerd" (which earned him a good shove on the shoulder.)

"But seriously, Hyun. Somehow, you always manage to find a way to push yourself even more than you already do." The brunet pouted. "Don't you think you should take some time for yourself more?"

Taehyun shifted into another stretching position and tugged at his right quad. "I don't know what you're talking about. It's not like a few extra practices are gonna hurt. There's no such thing as too much practice."

"Yeah, but there is such a thing as overworking yourself."

Taehyun shrugged and switched legs for his stretch. "Like I've told you countless times before, if i need a break-"

"-you'll take one yourself一I know! But Hyun, you have a lot on your plate and the last thing I want is for you to stress yourself out to the brink of exhaustion."

Taehyun's expression softened and he briefly put a hand on the taller's shoulder, giving him a reassuring squeeze. "I'll try to take better care of myself." He smiled; short and sweet. "I promise."

His words seemed to do the trick, as Beomgyu broke into a grin. "A promise from the Star Boy himself! However could I repay him." Beomgyu dramatically bowed.

"Oh shut up."

꒰ ★☆ ꒱

Taehyun managed to get to class just in time, his uniform perfectly creased. There was no trace of his rushed change because he and Beomgyu decided to do a few drills extra, and there wasn't even a bead of sweat on his palm from sprinting from the field to the lockerooms.

As usual, he was comfortably greeted by his classmates, only able to say he's actually talked to two or three of them. There was Yuna from choir, Jiheon from the dance club, Sanha from art, and—who is that kid again? The crowd around the soccer player wasn't abnormal. No matter where Taehyun had chosen to sit for the day they always found him. If he was the sun, they were his planets.