TIMEOUT - Part Six
"I don't know what's gotten into the coach lately!" Jooheon shakes his head as Kyun and his friends walk down the corridor. "He's more pissed than usual. My entire body hurts, he's going overboard with the practice days..."
Kyun smirks. Seems like he isn't the only one scared for the team's success since he's out. The last matches without him were a disaster. The team is so used to the passing game, the wide balls Kyun used to catch. But with Emery's miserable play, they had to change their entire strategy. Which requires practice. And since they're focusing more on run-plays now, Jooheon, the Running Back, has to work a lot harder.
"You won the last matches by the skin of your teeth. You wanna get into the playoffs, don't you?"
Jooheon just whines while the rest of the team chuckles.
"Speaking of. Need to talk to the coach real quick!" Kyun says and nods over to his friends to signal them to walk ahead to the cafeteria. He wants to get the game-plan at least so he can study the plays as long as he's not able to practice the usual way.
Sunken in his thoughts he hobbles into the dressing room to take the shorter way to the coach's office.
"Kyun!" a familiar voice makes him turn his head and he sees Emery and a few others of the team changing after a shower.
"Hey!" he says curtly and is about to turn around as he hears his teammates whispering and laughing. He wants to ignore it but then Emery calls his name again.
"How much do you hate it?" He asks with a smirk on his face. Kyun tilts his head confused. "That you won't make it into a good college cause you got injured. And instead, I get the chance?"
The anger builds up in Kyuns gut. He's been thinking about this for weeks now. And instead of this dude being somewhat grateful, he provokes him?
Scoffing, he shakes his head. "You might be the one on the field but the scouts will see that you have no talent at all. It's a mystery to me how you made it into the team in the first place!"
Immediately Emery squares up in front of him.
"What did you just say?" his substitute asks and he can see his hands forming into fists.
"You heard me!" Kyun replies nonchalantly and is about to leave.
"I will rip you into shreds, Im!" he suddenly hears and turns around again. "Maybe a broken leg isn't enough... shall we take care of your ribs next?"
Kyun's jaw drops. He can't be serious. All the anger and the frustration bubble up and he walks as fast as his crutches allow him up to him. Before he can consider this, he grabs Emery by his shirt and pushes him against the lockers.
"You should know your place on this team!" he growls and for a moment, his teammate seems to panic until he remembers he's not alone. So he smirks and chuckles while shaking his head.
"And you should know yours! You're nothing, Im! When you can't even play you're just a stupid little boy that has nothing to offer!"
Kyun clenches his jaw.
"SAY that again!" he groans and pushes him harder against the locker. He's not even surprised, his teammates don't interfere. They probably incited Emery to this - a classic wolf pack behavior to see who's the strongest. And Kyun hates himself more than anyone else in this room that he let himself get provoked like this.
Angry, he lets go of his other crutch and he's just about to smack his fist into Emery's face as he feels a tight grip on it. Confused, he looks back and sees... you?
"Don't!" you say in a low voice, still holding his raised fist. "Changkyun, don't!"
Gulping he looks at you for a long moment. Why are you here and why don't you just let him beat up this asshole?
"He's not worth it!"
Slowly you let go of his hand before you bend down and collect his crutches from the ground.
"Here!" you say in a calm voice while he watches your every movement, completely baffled. He even forgets that one of his hands is still fisted in Emery's shirt.
"Come with me!" you whisper and take his arm after he let go of his teammate and supported himself on his crutches. Without a word, he follows you toward the door.
"Wow..." Emery suddenly laughs from behind the both of you. "Now you need a girl's protection? For real? How low can a dude sink?"
Kyun feels his body tensing again and you squeeze his arm before you let go of him and turn around. Without another word, you walk up to Emery and suddenly punch your fist into his face. Immediately he sinks to the ground groaning while Kyun rips his eyes open in shock. Their teammates immediately run over to him, throwing insults at you.
"You bitch!" Emery gasps on the ground. As if nothing happened, you walk back to Kyun and lay your hand on his back to signal him to move. And he does, while watching you shocked as fuck...
Carefully, Kyun holds your hand while putting some ointment on your red, swollen knuckles. Thousands of thoughts are running circles in his head. He can't believe you did this.
"You shouldn't have done that!" he scolds you, his eyes fixed on your hand. Scoffing, you shrug.
"Better me than you! They would've thrown you out of the team - for good!"
"And you?" he asks and shakes his head while looking at you. "For someone who made a hell of a scene for getting detention the other day, beating up this guy was pretty easy for you!"
Kyun can't hide that he's angry with you. Not for beating him up, even though he would've loved to do this by himself but you're right. He probably would've been suspended. But he's angry that you put yourself into this situation. You both could've just... walked away.
"You forget how Emery is..." you mumble while he wraps a bandage around your hand. "He's way too sexist to admit that a girl beat him up... it's awkward enough that your teammates saw it. He's probably threatened them by now to keep their mouths shut..."
"What makes you sure Emery won't come after you?" he asks worriedly and looks at you again. Suddenly you laugh out loud. "You don't really think this guy would beat up a girl? He wouldn't! Simply because I am a girl. He's a mysogynist. It's easy to work with them..."
Seems like you thought about this more carefully than it seemed at first. In silence, he fixes the end of the bandage, cuts the rest off, and sighs.
"Does it hurt a lot?"
Shrugging, you move your fingers and he can see you grimacing before you smile at him.
"It's okay!"
Kyun figures it was only a matter of time before this happens, considering how angry you were lately...
But he's scared. What if Emery will hurt you? He's sure he won't be able to control himself another time if this dude ever dares to touch you...
"Thank you!" he mumbles while avoiding your gaze.
"Thank you too!"
He feels your hand on his arm before you get up and walk out of the room. He can't help but worry. There are some things seriously wrong with you and usually, he would run away as fast as he can from a person like that... but with you... he just can't.
A few days later, Kyun sits in the cafeteria and pokes in his food. There are so so many things on his mind right now and he hates that there's not one that he can do anything about. Neither your strange behavior nor his injury is in his power to change. And that frustrates him so damn much that he feels the urge to flip the table and... scream his lungs out.
Suddenly everyone at the table falls silent and Kyun raises his head, confused to see what's going on.
"Y/n...?" Hayden whispers and Kyun's head shoots in your direction.
It's really you.
In the Cafeteria.
During lunch.
"Is everything okay?" Josie asks worriedly, already stood up, apparently ready to leave with you if necessary. But you nod shyly.
"Can I... sit with you guys?"
Immediately all of you agree happily and Kyun shoves Min ungently from the chair next to him. "Move!"
"Hey!" Min falls to the ground whining and looks at Kyun with a face ready to fight. The Wide Receiver couldn't care less. Surprised he looks at you coming closer.
"I'm sorry Min!" you say and look at him on the ground. Min returns the gaze and smirks before he pulls himself up again.
"It's okay!"
Kyun knows Min would love to make a scene now. But he also knows that Min knows that he behaved like an ass in this whole detention disaster. So he'd better keep his mouth shut.
"Y/n!" Shownu says after you sit down between Kyun and Hayden. "We were just talking about the party this Friday. Do you wanna come? We need our best flunkyball player!"
Everyone cheers joyfully and encourage you to come but you shake your head.
"Thank you! But no..." you say in a low voice. "Last time was an exception!"
Kyun can see it in your body language that you feel uncomfortable sitting here while everyone is looking at you. But he likes it a lot that you're trying.
"And only because Kyun passed the test?" Ki says and shakes his head. "Can't you make another bet like this?"
Snickering, you shake your head. "I would've never said yes to it... but I misjudged him..."
Your eyes meet his and Kyun smirks.
"A common mistake people make!" casually he lays his arm on the backrest of your chair and smirks conceitedly.
"No actually not!" you giggle. "You are a classic, stupid jock. I just forgot how competitive athletes are! Won't make that mistake again..."
By the smile and the half-serious undertone in your voice he realizes you wanna tease him again.
"Wow!" he says playfully. "So you saw me the past weeks improving myself, getting better and better grades and you still call me stupid? I don't know but to me, it almost feels like you're more stupid here..." he nods over the table to his friends. "And don't forget they you're basically surrounded by those 'stupid jocks'"
Kyun can't deny how much he likes this kind of interaction with you. It's so much fun.
"Yes but I barely know the others!" you smirk. "I know you, so I'm allowed to judge!"
Gasping, his eyes widen.
"So, this is a personal thing?" he shrieks and leans closer to you. "You simply don't want to admit that I'm not as horrible as you thought I was!"
For a long moment, you look at him until you shake your head. "No, I don't!"
Kyun bites his lip and nods. "Cool!"
"Yeah..." you say nonchalantly. "cool!"
Again you look at each other until you burst into laughter and you push him playfully. After you calmed down again, Kyun realizes that your friends are watching you, partly confused, party amused.
"What the fuck?" Hyungwon and pulls a disgusted face. "Is this always like this during your extra tutoring?"
Kyun chuckles and pushes you playfully now. "She just can't stop provoking me!"
"And you just can't stop acting like an idiot!" you rant and pinch his arm. Immediately he whines melodramatically and rubs his skin.
"Wow..." Min laughs. "$5 says they will have sex during the next lesson!"
Kyun isn't surprised at a comment like this coming out of Min's mouth but you shake your head irritated.
"Wh-what?"
"MIN!" Hayden rants and looks at him furiously. "Shut the fuck up!"
"Can't you, just once, think before you speak?" Josie asks, annoyed, and Kyun chuckles.
"Don't listen to him, he—" he stops as he realizes you're not listening to him.
"Minhyuk!" you say and smile at him. This smile is scary. "You have ten seconds to take this back and apologize for it or I will beat the shit out of you!"
All of them fall silent and watch the both of you, tense. Kyun knows it all stands and falls on how Min will react to this. He sends a prayer up above that he isn't stupid enough to provoke you again. It seems to work, Min immediately sinks into his chair, sheepishly.
"I'm... I'm so sorry! I really am y/n! I never meant to... say whatever it was that triggered you..."
For a long moment, you look at him until you sigh deeply.
"It's okay!" you whisper to Kyun's surprise. "I overreacted again. I'm..." a little helplessly you look at Hayden who looks at you compassionately.
"I'm sorry for everything in the past weeks..." you mumble whilst looking at your hands. "I never meant to freak out like this... I ... I don't know what's gotten into me lately. I'm sorry!"
With your last words you look at them and they all return the gaze surprised for a moment before all talking at once, telling you that it's okay and that everyone has bad days from time to time. Kyun just sits there, still surprised. If only he knew what's going on with you...
Gratefully, you smile at them before you stand up. "Excuse me for a second..."
Kyun watches you walking out of the cafeteria as he hears Wonho's voice whispering.
"She's trying, babe. Give her some time..."
What? What are you trying? To socialize? No! You were good at this. This isn't what you're trying...
"Hayden?" Kyun hears himself saying before he can reconsider it. "C-can I follow her?"
Hayden looks at Wonho, Shownu, and Josie before her eyes meet his.
"Yeah..." she says lastly. "Yeah, you can. I mean, of course, you can, I'm not her Rottweiler..."
"Yes!" Kyun smirks while lifting himself on his crutches. "Yes, you are. But that's okay!"
The friends at the table laugh before Kyun follows you.