GO-GETTER!
p1honey.
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Matthew looked down at the flier in his hands with a small frown on his face, the disappointment he felt was as clear as day. The Canadian boy was trying to convince his soccer player friend to accompany him to the bimonthly Basketball game that would be happening later on that day.
"Taerae, you're sure that you don't want to go?" he reiterated the aforementioned soccer player's answer the way he'd perceived it, slightly offended that his friend didn't want to join him. It seemed as though he were the only boy in the entire school who didn't play a sport anyway!
"Matthew-hyung, it's not that I don't want to go, 'cause I do! I just can't..." Taerae tried once more to get his intentions through to his friend who appeared as though he didn't want to hear any of it. "My mom would kill me if I left my sister home alone while she was at work. I'm really sorry." he frowned after explaining his reason for bail, a genuinely pitiful look on his countenance.
Matthew sighed as a non-verbal response to the younger male's apology before thinking of what else he could do. He didn't want to go alone, but he didn't want to make Jiwoong sad by not supporting him. Who else would be up for a Basketball game?
"Ah! It's fine, Taerae! I know just who would love to go!" As if he weren't disappointed in the first place, Matthew smiled brightly, holding a finger up as though he'd made a revolutionary scientific discovery for the first time in a century. One may have heard him whisper 'Eureka!' if they put their ear in.
"Really? Who?" Taerae was taken aback by the sudden resolution. As much as he loved his friend, he didn't really care for the answer–he was more intrigued by the fact that he'd managed to escape Sad-Seok for the first (and last) time in forever.
"Gyuvin! He's probably too stupid to understand the first thing about how Basketball works, but I'm sure he'll learn a thing or two!" Matthew looked way too excited for a self-proclaimed NBA wife. At least that's what Taerae thought.
"Okay! You go do that..." Taerae didn't want to imagine what Gyuvin would look like after being slapped in the face by a Wikipedia-esque explanation of Basketball and its rules, so he waved and took his leave as soon as the thought began rendering in his head.
"I will! Bye!" Matthew waved at the frame of his friend (which became smaller and smaller as he walked down the mildly crowded hallway) and took in a deep breath of determination and watered-down confidence. This can't be too hard...
He'd barely begun walking to his locker when he'd gotten caught up with the fruitless interaction between him and Taerae, so it took a bit longer than he'd anticipated to reach his locker. Sometimes, he really regretted choosing one of the longest hallways to grab a locker in.
"At least the passing period is longer since it's Varsity game day..." he whispered to himself, basking in the light of game-day benefits.
He wasn't able to bask in that light for long, though, because he was very quickly distracted by Gyuvin practically banging on what seemed to be his locker. He almost dropped the flier at the sight, but luckily managed to keep his jaw from going slack amid the chaos.
"Gyuvin, what the hell are you doing?" he exclaimed in English, the shock reaching his brain before his sense of surroundings could. He pulled the human Bambi off of the rack of lockers and held him by his shoulders, expecting a less-than-rational response from him.
"Hey, you can't blame me!" Gyuvin whined, pointing at the locker he'd been attacking as if it had attacked him instead. "I tried putting in my combination almost 10 times and it still won't open! If anyone knows my combo better than me, it's still me!" complained the loud boy, his frustrated gaze still glaring at the locker's combination lock.
Matthew took a closer look at the locker that the latter was glaring lasers into, his thoughts unraveling as he managed to recognize the horribly familiar locker.
"Are you dumb?" Matthew scoffed, taking his hands off Gyuvin's shoulder harshly to get the message through. "This is my locker, smartass!" he insulted in a stern yet humorous tone, a small laugh leaving his lips. Did the other boy seriously get mad at a locker that he didn't even occupy?
"O-oh..." stuttered the boy in question, his face almost instantaneously growing a bright shade of red as he scratched his neck awkwardly. "You still can't blame me! I've been super stressed lately!" he tried defending himself helplessly as he turned to the correct locker which happened to be below the one that he'd beaten to a pulp. Matthew rolled his eyes at the defense strategy before biting back with an equal amount of ridicule.
"Super stressed? Are you leaking the next NewJeans song, my little bunny?" teased the Canadian, his hand going up to squeeze Gyuvin's facial cheeks in a humiliating manner. Gyuvin groaned at the parental action and smacked the aforementioned boy's hand off, rubbing the part of his face he'd pinched with an offended look on his features.
"Hey!" Gyuvin pouted, proving that Matthew's teasing had done the job. "I'm not your little bunny! Go run back to Jiwoong, you wannabe NBA wife!" he returned with just as much sass, scrunching his face up at the term 'NBA wife' to show how ridiculous it was that Matthew would consider himself as such when they weren't even in the States.
"That's Jiwoong-hyung to you! And hey, I can be an NBA wife if I want!" Matthew soon realized that, as much as he loved endlessly bickering with the younger, there was little to no time before the bell would ring for the next period. The suspiciously long passing periods didn't last forever, so he'd have to get a move on if he wanted Gyuvin to tag along.
"Why does it look like the cogs in your mind are twisting and turning as we speak?" Gyuvin whispered eerily, squinting his eyes to get a better look at the expression on Matthew's face. He flinched roughly when the other seemed to come back to terms with reality after his short visit to the factory workers in the depths of his brain.
"Speaking of NBA wives... Do you want to come with me to the game today? You won't regret it. Plus, you have to come and support Jiwoong now that you two are mutually connected to me!" Matthew's habit of bribing people before they had a chance even to decline snuck into his offer. He almost facepalmed right then and there because of how silly he sounded saying that sentence.
"That's the silliest thing I've ever heard you say," Gyuvin spoke as absolutely zero emotion shone through his conventionally bright facial features. "I guess I can go... Kinda weird that you only think of me as a connection though. Call me Verizon with the way my connection is so stro–"
"Okay, great! Here's the flier–" Matthew cut off the other boy before he even had a chance to finish his cheesy yet somewhat humorous joke. He slapped the flier onto his face and resumed his unfinished sentence right after: "–Meet me at the yard 5 minutes before entry."
Gyuvin ripped the paper off of his face (carefully, to not actually rip it...) and stared at Matthew's descending frame as he skipped through the crowd of high schoolers. He took one look at the flier before sighing–Now he has yet another thing to be stressed about.
🏀
If Gyuvin knew anything about Basketball, it was that most of the people who came to watch the games were either girls who had delusion-based crushes on the players or stone-faced boys who thought they knew all there was to know. Gyuvin was glad to fall into either of the two categories.
So, there he was, staring into the sea of people, all of whom matched the stereotypes in his head, who were presumably waiting for gymnasium doors to open. He had yet to find his energetic, fox-like friend and was very close to losing his mind.
"Gyuvin! Over here!" Gyuvin was torn away from his mental crisis as soon as he heard a loud yell coming from the other side of the hallway. Oh God.
Now he was faced with the task of politely shoving through the crowd (with approximately 5000 'excuse me's, 'coming through's, and 'sorry's) to reach his friend. Why he'd decided to stand so far from the entrance was beyond Gyuvin's knowledge.
Thank God for his height, though, because he was able to pass through the human sea without too many issues. He was sure he'd stepped over some girl's gift (probably for her boyfriend on the team who she'd inevitably get heartbroken by sooner or later) or a short guy's white Air Force 1s, but he couldn't bring himself to care. As long as he managed to reach Seok Matthew and harshly pat him on the back for giving him such a hard time, he'd be okay.
"Matthew-hyung, why do you do this to me?" groaned the Bambi boy as soon as Matthew's shining face was in his field of view. Matthew only chuckled at the question, choosing to not reply for both his and Gyuvin's safety.
"Don't dwell on it for long." Matthew gave Gyuvin a small side hug to apologize for the annoyance he must have felt. He soon noticed that the doors were opening and looked up at his ridiculously tall friend to make that fact known in his brain as well. "Cheer up, they're opening the doors. Let's get a good seat!"
🏀
To say that Gyuvin was mesmerized was an understatement. To be honest, he had absolutely zero idea what was going on—he had a lot of things on his mind, like trying to figure out why people were cheering when a particularly muscular boy made a decent shot.
Nonetheless, he found himself looking down into the court as though he'd been a fan for years. Their school had 2 sports teams so far, Seoul Varsity, the beloved basketball team, and Seoul of Soccer, which, as one can assume from the name, was the highly regarded soccer team. He'd never been to a single game out of the fear that he'd accidentally cheer for the wrong team or the wrong reason, but he now felt like he'd go to every single one.
One thing that caught his eye throughout the entire game wasn't the muscular boy that everyone had been ogling over or the well-known captain who always passed the ball perfectly, but the blonde-haired boy who shot the ball through the hoop as if it was the only thing he knew how to do.
Not only was he good at playing the sport—at least through the eyes of a noob like Gyuvin—but he was ridiculously good-looking too. Gyuvin may have caught himself staring for a bit too long sometimes, so much so that he'd forgotten to cheer when Matthew did. He was sure Matthew wasn't too different from him, though. He definitely had his eyes set on Jiwoong the whole time.
After a few minutes of misery and a burning desire to learn even just the name of the handsome boy, Gyuvin tapped Matthew's leg to get his attention. It was significantly hard to do so as he was laser-focused on Jiwoong (he had the ball in his hands and appeared to be struggling to pass it) instead of Gyuvin's tapping.
"Matthew!" Gyuvin whisper-yelled for some reason, somehow thinking that that would be more impactful amid the screaming and yelling of girls and boys in the crowd alike. He rolled his eyes under closed lids at Matthew's engrossed state and tried again, this time with a louder voice and harsher tap. "Seok Matthew!"
As if fate decided to give him a chance, Jiwoong managed to pass the ball to someone else and Matthew finally tore his eyes away from the game displayed before him (though with slight hesitation). He looked at Gyuvin with slight concern, wondering why the latter was yelling his name out.
"Who's that guy?" Gyuvin pointed at the court very vaguely, not giving Matthew any hints as to who he was intrigued by. Matthew sighed loudly, wordlessly telling him that he'd need a better description than that. "The blonde one," he added not too long after.
"Oh! That's Ricky!" Matthew exclaimed, glad to know the person that Gyuvin was questioning. He knew that Gyuvin would want to know every detail about him, and, luckily, he had as many facts as Gyuvin would want.
"His actual name is Shen Quanrui, but everyone calls him Ricky. He's the center on the team and he's known for always making perfect shots. People on opposing teams are scared of him because of his dark aura, but Jiwoong says that he's not too scary during practice. He takes photography classes outside of basketball, but that's only because Jiwoong forced him to." One of the many pros of dating a basketball player was that you instantly knew anything and everything about the others on the team, even if you didn't necessarily want or need the information.
"Woah..." Gyuvin's eyes followed Ricky as he ran across the court, shooting yet another beautiful shot that made the entire crowd swoon. Gyuvin himself had to cheer; how could he not? The boy was extremely talented.
"Why do you ask? I thought you weren't interested in the 'jerks on the varsity team'." Matthew cited Gyuvin's previous words with a teasing tone. Before the game that day, Gyuvin hated everyone on the sports teams other than Taerae and partially Jiwoong. The only reason he'd even tolerate Jiwoong was because Matthew started dating him for some unknown reason.
"Hey, maybe I've changed my ways," Gyuvin spoke in a whisper that did not go unheard by Matthew. "He's really good looking..." he added. That was probably said from the heart, though, because he quickly slapped a hand over his mouth and turned his head to see if Matthew had heard him. Surely enough, he did.
"Okayyyy!" Matthew clapped enthusiastically with a smirk on his face. Gyuvin was not one to compliment anyone who wasn't himself, much less someone on the basketball team. As someone who'd been trying to get Gyuvin to come out of his self-absorbed shell for years, Matthew saw that as an absolute win.
"Don't get too excited... It's not like I can do anything about it anyway." Gyuvin sighed, looking down into his lap as the happiness he'd felt from watching the game slowly slipped away.
"You know," Matthew began, leaning in as though he were about to tell Gyuvin some top-secret information. "that boy over there, Keonhee. He's transferring schools over the weekend, so there will be an empty spot on the Basketball team. Maybe you can ask Hao-hyung to put in a good word for you." Matthew winked after he finished speaking, knowing that he'd sparked an idea in Gyuvin's mind.
"That's not half bad..." Gyuvin nodded whilst pursing his lips in thought. "But I don't know how to play basketball. Or even hold a basketball, at that." he frowned, bringing his gaze back to the court just in time for the opposing team's third goal of the evening. The score was 9 to 3, and it wasn't looking too good for the other team.
"I don't think it'll matter, really. I mean, look at them! The other team is ass." Matthew whispered, afraid that he'd accidentally say the truth in the presence of a stan. "You'll be fine." he nodded his head with an assuring smile on his face, giving Gyuvin just the tiniest bit of confidence in his lackluster "skills".
"I'll think about it. When should I ask?" Gyuvin turned his body to face Matthew as soon as the whistle for halftime blew. He was way too deep into the idea now, and he wasn't going to back out. Not when a boy as handsome as this "Ricky" fellow was on the line.
"Since he's transferring over the weekend, it would be smart to ask on Monday. I'm pretty sure their schedule alternates between Mondays and Wednesdays one week and Thursdays and Fridays the next. You'll have at least 2 days before you get a response." Matthew used his fingers to create a mental plan, looking as though he were Iron Man utilizing J.A.R.V.I.S.
"Okay. I'll do that." Gyuvin nodded affirmatively, turning back around to look at Ricky and his teammates talking with one another during the small halftime. Their school didn't believe in breaks, so the halftime was insanely short, especially for a sport as rigorous as basketball.
"You should probably learn the names of everyone else if you don't want to be exiled on your first day," Matthew spoke amidst the silence rendering between him and Gyuvin. He doubted that Gyuvin would last long on the team, but he hoped that Hao's word and Jiwoong's support would get him through at least a month.
"Who's that muscular dude? Everyone keeps cheering for him. I don't get the hype." Gyuvin muttered, glaring at the back of the muscular boy in question's head with unreasonable hatred.
"That's Gunwook." Matthew introduced the boy, ignoring the implicit insult for a few seconds before adding "You'll get the hype when you see his face up close. He's pretty good-looking for someone who's your age. Same with Ricky."
"Ricky's my age?!" Gyuvin exclaimed, suddenly sitting up straight and fixing his hair. "He looks so much older than me!" he added, looking back at Ricky with even more admiration.
"He's a few months older than you, but he's in the same grade," Matthew confirmed, moving his gaze toward his other friend, Hanbin, who had the entire group in a huddle. "And that's Hanbin. He's the captain of the club but the Point Guard of the team. It's pretty confusing, but the school thought he was of too much quality to not be a leader." Luckily for him, Gyuvin didn't appear bothered by the description of Hanbin.
"Is he the one who'll decide whether or not I get into the team?" he asked, surprising Matthew who thought he wouldn't give a second thought about the aforementioned captain. He recovered from his shock quickly to respond to Gyuvin's inquiry, though.
"Yeah, I'm assuming Hao-hyung will talk to him after you ask," he answered curtly, his interest returning to the game after the whistle blew once more. "Pay attention now. I'm sure Ricky will bring in a win like he always does."
🏀
"Oh, I'm so glad our school won!" Gyuvin sighed with relief, a hand on his heart. Matthew stared at him weirdly, finding his celebratory manner to be unfamiliar yet heartwarming. "Hopefully they'll still be as good if or when I join," he added, the relief on his face almost immediately being replaced by a frown.
"Don't be so downhearted. I'm sure Jiwoong and the others will be kind enough to teach you." Matthew patted Gyuvin on the back, something the two did to each other way too often.
"You're just saying that because you hope Jiwoong will be nice enough. If he weren't your boyfriend he would probably kidnap me and, I don't know, exorcize me for my horribleness." Gyuvin pouted, looking down at the sidewalk as the two walked home together. If it weren't obvious, the game had finished with a final score of 68:55. Seoul Varsity had won by a landslide, as expected.
"Okay, that's just you being dramatic." Matthew scoffed, putting his hands in his pockets to protect them from the somewhat chilly air of late November. "Seriously, don't worry. Hao will sort everything out." he continued, his comforting voice contrasting the annoyed tone he'd used just seconds ago.
"I hope so," Gyuvin murmured in response, too engrossed by the images in his mind to give a proper, well-thought-out reply.
All that had been playing in his mind, on repeat and without rest ever since the game had started, were thoughts of the blonde boy–the center of Seoul Varsity; Shen Ricky.