Chapter Text
“Jisung.”
Jisung peeled his eyes open, little black dots dancing in his vision as he wiped the sleep out of his eyes. He was so dizzy, vertigo slamming into him as he tried to lift his head. He immediately put it back down, groaning as he felt a hand slide onto his shoulder.
He leaned into the touch, knowing Minho would take care of him if he was sick - he was probably there with a coffee and ready to walk with Jisung to class.
He opened his eyes again to Hyunjin staring down at him, worry creasing his face.
“Jisung?”
Jisung stared up at him, swallowed down the sob that tried to strangle him as he remembered that Minho wouldn’t ever be waking him up and walking with him again. “Yeah?”
“Coach is worried about you,” Hyunjin said, voice quiet as he ran a hand through Jisung’s hair. “She said your professors told her you’ve missed class the last three days - and Lia told her you haven’t been to practice at all either.”
Jisung truly couldn’t remember the last time he even got out of bed. His roommates had been kind and ordered him some delivery for dinner the last few nights. They had even piled their bags with snacks and soda from the dining hall and stored it in their dorm room for Jisung to have something to eat.
He peered over his shoulder at the pile of food that he’d barely touched.
Ah, that was probably why he was dizzy.
“I’m fine,” he said, looking back at Hyunjin.
“Jisung,” the other said sternly, eyebrows pinching together, “you are very, very obviously not fine.”
“I feel like I’m allowed to be sad about my breakup.”
“Of course you can be,” Hyunjin nodded, “but sad and depressed aren’t the same thing - sad means you still get out of bed and go to class. Depressed means your roommates called me and said they didn’t think you’d eaten anything in days.”
Jisung scowled - fucking traitors.
“So,” Hyunjin continued, “we either get you up, get you down to the dining hall to eat some actual food, and get you feeling like a human again - or I call the campus mental health facility and see what they’ll do to help.”
Jisung let Hyunjin pick out an outfit for him, pulling it on obediently and following the other to the bathroom his floor shared to brush his teeth and hair. He couldn’t remember the last time he washed his hair, so pulled a beanie on before walking with the other down to the campus dining hall.
He let Hyunjin get him a plate of food - mostly protein and carbs to get some energy into him - and sat down with him at their normal table. He shoveled the food into his mouth on autopilot.
“Do you struggle with depression?”
Jisung glanced up at him, chewing for a few moments before shaking his head, “not really - only depression brought on by anxiety. So, it’s not actual depression, more just a very extended anxiety attack.”
“Why didn’t you ask us for help?”
“Can I please not be interrogated right now?” Jisung snapped.
He immediately felt bad, but didn’t apologize as he finished off his plate of food and stood up to grab himself another.
As much as he appreciated his friends for caring about his well being, Jisung was very irritated with them by the time Friday rolled around.
They seemed to have come up with a schedule to make sure Jisung was never alone. They swapped off walking with him to class, sitting with him at the dining hall, and even hanging out in his dorm room. Jisung felt like he was going to rip his hair out if he didn’t get a moment by himself soon.
“Are you good for the game tomorrow?” Felix asked him as they walked through campus. “It’s a home game, so at least we don’t have to travel anywhere for it.”
“Yeah, I’ll be there,” Jisung muttered.
“Great! Maybe we can go out afterward? Go to a party or a club or something?”
“Sounds good,” Jisung said, not at all believing his own words.
“Where are we even going, by the way?” Felix said, looking around.
Jisung paused his steps, blinking, as he considered the question himself. He realized he had been walking toward the library. “The library.”
“Oh,” Felix peered at him curiously, “did you need to study?”
Jisung nodded after a few moments, “yeah, I go there to study on Fridays.”
He tried not to break down crying when they slid into him and Minho’s normal study booth. He pulled out his laptop and opened it, staring at the screen blankly. He wasn’t even sure what homework he had.
Felix didn’t seem too concerned about him, though. He pulled out his own laptop, slid his headphones over his head, and began tapping away at whatever it was that English majors did.
Jisung had just started going through his professor’s websites - a full twenty minutes after they sat down - and was trying to write down the assignments he had missed, when he saw Felix flinch in his seat, eyes going wide. Jisung looked up, blinking at his reaction, before turning around to see what the hell he was looking at.
“Wait, no-!”
Minho was staring at them. He was dressed in his typical all black with a coat pulled around his throat and a beanie covering his head. One of his hands clutched the strap of his backpack as he looked like he had stopped dead in his tracks, body turned in the direction of their table.
Jisung flinched just as hard as Felix had as he locked eyes with that cold gaze.
He hadn’t gotten one of those looks from Minho in months - even when he was stressed and pissed in their hotel room last weekend, his eyes had still held something that Jisung recognized. Now, they looked dead - the walls were back up.
He watched Jisung for a long moment, eyes flickering over his face and down his body to take in the oversized sweatshirt and pants he had thrown on that morning, before locking with Jisung’s gaze again.
He couldn’t look away from him. He had realized a while ago that Minho’s eyes were brown - a brown so deep that most people thought they were black. He sometimes couldn’t tell where Minho’s pupil began or where it ended - but he had learned that they were actually quite warm and sparkled when Minho got excited.
Now, Jisung couldn’t see the brown in them - just the black that everyone else saw.
“Jisung.”
He snapped around to look at Felix who had reached out to grab his hand.
“Do you want to leave?”
Jisung swallowed thickly but shook his head. He pulled his knees up onto his chair and tugged them to his chest before looking back at his laptop and trying to ignore how he could feel Minho behind him.
Jisung didn’t go back to the library after that.
The semester passed far too quickly. Jisung didn’t see Minho on campus again after their run in at the library, but, unfortunately for both of them, they had to see each other nearly afternoon - at least in passing - as both the lacrosse team and cheer squad had their practices at the same time. Jisung would flinch whenever he accidentally came across the other in the locker room or they passed each other on the field - maybe this was why people said never date your coworkers or people in your class, it was fucking awful having to see him so constantly.
Awful enough for Jisung to start making up excuses as to why he couldn’t make it to cheer practice.
Going five days a week and a game on the weekends slowly turned into four practices, then, three, then two, and then he was skipping games entirely. By the time March came to an end and Spring was desperately trying to shove through the snow, Jisung was showing up for their weekly team meetings and that was about it.
Hyunjin, Felix, and Jeongin looked concerned each morning when they asked him where he had been the evening before, but Jisung just shrugged them off - saying he was tired or didn’t feel well or had too much homework, but they all knew the actual reason.
They had convinced him, practically dragging him out of his bed and across campus, to go to their last home game before the finals.
Because the Wolves had been destroying their post-season.
The semi-finals were rough, and everyone was tense and nervous about the last game that would determine if they got the chance to play in the finals.
Jisung had let them shove his uniform on and drag him out onto the field where he just looked around - he had no idea what the cheer squad’s routines were any more considering they prepared new ones constantly.
The girls looked shocked to see him, wandering onto the field behind the other boy cheerleaders.
“Jisung,” Lia called, walking over to him, looking nervous. She glanced around, looking at the other cheerleader boys for a moment before saying to Jisung, “can we talk for a minute?”
Jisung nodded, letting her lead thim off the field and over to one side. He was ready for a scolding, or Lia’s concern, he wasn’t prepared for her to say, “Jisung, you’ve been cut from the team.”
Jisung stared at her, blinking, not fully comprehending what she said, “what?”
Lia sighed, looking at Jisung with genuine apology, “I know you’ve been going through a rough time but… there are rules when it comes to staying on the team. You’ve missed way more practices and games than we could defend for you - I… I was going to tell you the next time you showed up but then,” she shrugged helplessly, “you never showed up. And I didn’t just want to text you.”
“Okay,” Jisung whispered, nodding. Of course he knew there were rules, but it didn’t help how heavy his gut felt.
He had joined the cheer squad because he had needed to be on a team for his major, but he had quickly learned to love the team. He enjoyed spending time with the girls and had even learned to love their chants and routines. He didn’t ever think he’d enjoy cheerleading - but he did. And now that was being taken away from him too.
“You can try out next year,” Lia said quickly, “you can come back if you want to in the fall.”
“Okay,” Jisung mumbled.
Lia reached out, squeezing Jisung’s bicep, “I’m sorry, Jisung.”
“Okay.”
He didn’t bother to tell the guys he was leaving - or about what had happened - he just wandered back to the locker room to take his uniform off and grab his bag.
“Jisung?”
He turned, eyebrow raised. “Hey, Chan.”
“Where have you been?” the lacrosse captain asked, walking over to Jisung and looking him over, concern etched onto his features. “I haven’t seen you in weeks.”
Jisung just shrugged, “yeah, well, you won’t be seeing me again either - I got kicked off the cheer squad.”
“What?” He looked genuinely shocked - but what did he expect? Like he said, they hadn’t seen Jisung in ages. “Why? Because you missed some games?”
“Yup,” Jisung hummed, popping the ‘p’ on the word as he closed his locker and hiked his bag up onto his shoulder. “It’s fine though, I understand.”
“You were with us all last season,” Chan argued, “they should be more understanding if you were sick or something.”
“I wasn’t,” Jisung shook his head, “I was just being a depressed bitch and a coward ‘cause I didn’t want to see Minho’s face ever again.”
Chan watched him cautiously for a second before reaching out and squeezing his shoulder - people really liked to just touch Jisung without him saying they could - before muttering, “he’s been upset too, ya know. Maybe you two could talk?”
Jisung shook his head, smiling tightly, “thanks for trying, Channie, but I don’t have anything to say to him. We didn’t break up because of anything fixable.”
“I’m going to talk to the cheer coach,” Chan said suddenly, face hard, “you shouldn’t be kicked off the team without a warning.”
“It’s fine, Chan,” Jisung sighed, reaching up to rub at his neck, “you guys only have one more game if you win this one - the season is almost over anyways. It’s not a big deal.”
Chan sighed but nodded, “I’m sorry, Jisung.”
“It’s fine,” Jisung whispered back before walking past the other and out of the locker room.
He never planned on going back to the lacrosse field or the athletes locker room. He was fully prepared to never see any of the lacrosse boys ever again - the idea of Chan graduating that May made him sad, but not enough to reach out to the older - and had even been prepared for the inevitability of the cheer boys fading away from him.
But, of course, he got a text from Lia saying he needed to return his uniform - his actual jersey but also the girls’ uniform he had been given for Halloween.
He trudged over to the athletics building after his classes one day - the weather was finally nice enough that he didn’t want to die from the cold every time he stepped outside - so the walk wasn’t too bad with the sun shining down on him. The Wolves had won their semi-finals game and were in the midst of the two weeks in between that game and the finals. He knew he’d hear the sounds of practice going on when he walked over - they were going to be practicing basically nonstop until the last game - but he still wanted to cover his ears and ignore it completely.
He took a deep breath, anxiety crawling up his throat at the idea of having to speak to his ex-coach. Lia had told him the hours she was at her office so he could drop by, and he could see the light on in her office. He was frozen in the spot though, trying to psych himself up - maybe even apologize and say he’d like to try again next year.
Or, maybe the year after, when the junior lacrosse players would be graduated and gone.
Just as he took enough of a breath to get his feet to drag him down the hallway, he realized he could hear voices behind the door. He frowned as he got closer - but he couldn’t see anything through the glazed-over window of the office.
He sighed shakily and leaned against the wall, resigned to wait for whoever was talking to Coach to finish up.
He wasn’t expecting Minho to be the one coming out of the office, throwing the door open so hard it slammed against the brick wall.
Jisung jumped about a foot in the air at the loud, sudden ‘bang,’ staring at the lacrosse player with round eyes.
He’d never seen Minho startle before - but the other jumped just as much as Jisung did when he turned and saw him leaning against the wall beside the office. His eyes went round for just a moment before he schooled his expression and stared at Jisung blankly.
Jisung stared right back.
The goalie said nothing as he walked past Jisung, making the younger let out a shaky breath. He didn’t let himself glance over his shoulder and watch Minho go - he needed to fucking get over him. It had been months - he was sure Minho had moved on.
He peeked into the office, his ex-coach looking frustrated as she organized a few papers on her desk. He knocked quietly, but the woman still startled, looking up at Jisung in surprise. “Oh, Han Jisung - hey. Do you have your uniform?”
“Yes,” he mumbled, walking into the office and tugging his backpack off. He rummaged through it before pulling out the two uniforms and placing it on her desk. “I’m really sorry about this season and I’m really hoping the cheer squad will have me back next fall,” he said all in one breath before he could scare himself out of it.
The coach eyed him warily before nodding, “you’ll have to try out just like everyone else.”
“Okay,” he whispered, nodding.
He fidgeted under her gaze, wondering if he should just turn around and leave, before she said, “Lee seemed pretty pissed that you got cut.”
Jisung blinked at her, “Lee?”
“Lee Minho,” she said slowly, nodding at the door that the goalie had left through. “He came in here all angry, yelling at me to add you back to the squad.” She shrugged, “I told him what I just told you - that you’ll have to try out and see.”
Jisung’s heart rate had picked up - he could feel his pulse in his throat as he swallowed around the anxiety in his throat, “oh.”
“Are you two still dating?” She asked.
Jisung shook his head, “we broke up a while ago.”
“Well,” she hummed knowingly, “it doesn’t seem like he’s over it. Did you break his heart, Han?”
Jisung just shook his head again, “I didn’t mean to.”
“Well,” she sighed, grabbing Jisung’s uniform and tossing it onto a table behind her, “hopefully I’ll still see you at the final game, yeah?” Jisung stared at her silently. “You should still come support your boys - the lacrosse boys but also Hyunjin, Felix, and Jeongin. It’d mean a lot to them if you come to cheer them on.”
“Okay,” Jisung nodded, “I’ll be there.”
***
Jisung genuinely wanted to turn right around and head back to his dorm, crawl into bed and pretend like the entire campus wasn’t at the boys’ lacrosse finals.
But, the day was nice - sunny and not too hot - and he had already gotten dressed and walked all the way down to the stadium. He also had promised Hyunjin, Felix, and Jeongin that he would be there. But, just standing in line, feeling the press of bodies around him and fans already shouting and cheering while waiting to go into the stands, was making Jisung want to throw up. He didn’t mind crowded parties and dance floors, especially when he was with his friends - but here, he was fidgeting, by himself, and trying to not get beer spilt on him.
He pulled his sunglasses from where they were resting in his hair onto his eyes, trying to look indifferent rather than terrified as he moved up in the line.
He managed to get a spot in the front row on the home side, meaning he was as close to his old squad as possible.
“Jisunggie!”
Jisung forced a smile onto his face as he jumped up from his seat on the bleacher, going over to the railing and waving at his friends on the field below. “Are you guys ready to win?” He shouted back, putting a fist over his head and pumping it in a quick cheer.
“Hell yeah!” Hyunjin yelled back, jumping up and down with his pompoms.
“Come down here and sit with us!” Felix pouted.
“Not allowed,” Jisung shook his head. “It’s fine, I got a seat right here.” He clapped a few times, grinning, “I’ll be cheering you on while you cheer on the lax bros.”
“You’re coming to the party afterwards,” Hyunjin said, not a question, as he pointed at Jisung sternly.
Jisung put his hands up in surrender, “fine, fine, I’ll come.”
“Want us to toss you up some pom poms?” Jeongin offered, holding up a spare pair.
Jisung laughed and shook his head, “nah, I’ll just be a normal fan today.”
He appreciated them being so normal and trying to make the situation fun, but the smile instantly fell from his face as he went to sit down again, waiting for the game to end even before it started.
The crowd was so much louder than Jisung had ever heard it before. Every time they cheered, Jisung felt himself jump in his skin, but he made sure to join in any time he saw his boys turn around to check on him. He refused to let them be worried about him when they should be paying attention and having fun.
He stood up, genuinely cheering, as the Wolves took the field one at a time as the announcer introduced them. He ‘whoop’ed and yelled for Chan who got the loudest of the cheers as captain, but he made sure to also give as much love to Changbin and Seungmin. He even clapped as Minho took the field, walking unhurriedly to his spot in net.
He glanced over at the section one over, the one that was taped off for the player’s families, and watched as they cheered the loudest out of everyone. It wasn’t hard to pick out Minho’s family in the crowd - his mom grinning and clapping for each of the boys’ and his father scowling, the same face Minho normally made.
Jisung pointedly angled his body away, hoping the two of them didn’t notice him - they would be paying attention to the game, not him.
They were up against the Pirates - a team that had to travel all the way from the West Coast to face the Wolves on their home turf. From what Jisung remembered from the meeting where the lacrosse coach had gone over their schedule and the teams in the championships, the Eagles were a bit of an underdog in the brackets. No one had expected them to make it to the finals - meaning they were even more intent on winning it all than the average team.
They seemed like they were going to be pretty evenly matched - same number of subs on the bench, neither team had any members that were absolutely massive or terrifying, and they were both known for their charismatic team captains and wall-like goalies.
The whistle blew, signalling the beginning of the game, and Jisung was up, out of his seat, like the rest of the front row, running to lean against the railing like it was barricade at a concert.
Maybe Jisung cared a little bit more than he wanted to let on.
It was expected of the final game, but it started immediately with a bang. Every player on the field seemed to mvoe at once - not even thinking of saving their energy as the attackmen fought over the ball. Everyone was ready to jump into action - for a pass or to defend their side of the field.
Jisung was gnawing on his thumb the entire first half, physically cringing at every check that had someone on the ground, yelling with the rest of the crowd at each foul, and cheering with each goal. He shouted the chants and cheers with the cheerleaders, pumping his fist in time with them and encouraging the rest of the stands around him to join in as well.
The stands were so loud, Jisung didn’t know how the boys on the field focused at all.
But, they obviously were, as the score at the half was 7-5, Wolves’ favor.
The stands all seemed to take a collective breath, relaxing back into their seats as both teams left the field for their break. Jisung was the only one who stayed up at the railing, clapping along and grinning at his cheer squad as they went through their routine.
Jisung really wished he was down on the field, wished he could grip Hyunjin or Jeongin’s hand as the end of the game got closer and closer. He could see his friends huddled together, looking just as nervous as he felt, but he had to settle for wrapping his hands around the railing so tightly his knuckles turned white.
They had kept a lead for most of the half, but the Wolves either got too cocky or just had a series of unfortunate events that had them falling apart.
By the time the last few minutes were on the clock, the Pirates were only a single point down.
“What happens if they tie?” Jisung called, getting Felix’s attention who walked over to speak to him.
“Overtime - so two, four minute halves. And if no one scores during that, then a shoot out,” Felix yelled up at him. Jisung could see the nerves in his eyes. “They’d each get three shots on net - whoever has the most, wins.”
“Fuck,” Jisung hissed through his teeth, shifting his gaze back to the game.
Jisung physically winced when the buzzer went off, announcing a goal for the Pirates only a minute from the end of the half. He stared up at the scoreboard - the Wolves just needed to keep them out for another minute, and then in overtime. He was confident that their players could win in a shootout.
The four minute halves were brutal - every player was exhausted from the two hours the game had already been going on, and were definitely losing steam by the time overtime began. The desperation made both teams messy - balls getting knocked from nets and easily-avoidable fouls getting called.
Neither team was even getting close to the net on either side - both goalies were twitching with nerves, stepping side to side in the crease to follow the ball as it flew back and forth between players.
The first four minutes ended so quickly, Jisung was sure the time hadn’t passed at all.
The second ended soon after.
Jisung watched as the buzzer went off and the Wolves all collectively collapsed from exhaustion. Chan was doubled over, hands on his knees, trying to breathe, while Changbin had laid down entirely on the field. Several players had sat down or kneeled where they stopped, wiping the sweat off of their necks and looking to their coach for guidance.
The coaches both had gone over to speak with the ref who was quickly going over the rules for the shootout.
“Bang, Kim, Chu, you three are taking the shots,” their coach announced, pointing at each of them in turn. Chan and Seungmin glanced at each other while the second attackman groaned, getting back onto his feet.
The players all moved slowly like they were wading through molasses - most of them moving off of the field while the three shooters and one goalie from each team took up their positions on the field.
“Jisung!”
He startled, looking down at Hyunjin who had yelled at him. The cheerleader was making grabby hands at him, “get your fucking ass down here, I need an emotional support boy and Jeongin and Felix are unhelpful.” Jeongin was crouched down, looking just as anxious as Jisung felt, and Felix had gone over to the lacrosse boys - helping pass out water and trying to keep morale up.
Jisung glanced at their cheer coach who looked properly distracted by the game at hand, before racing toward the steps leading off of the stand.
Hyunjin opened the door to the field for him, letting him sneak in without anyone noticing, and gripped his hand. The taller hauled him over to the sideline just as their shooters were lining up.
They had to line up on the center line and run down the empty field to take the shot - if they somehow lost the ball, their chance was up. It gave the goalie more of a chance as well, being able to watch the person before they were on top of them.
The attackman - Chu - who Jisung wasn’t as familiar with, went first. He ran down the field, not even bothering with any type of fancy maneuvers or footwork, and shot the ball at the goalie’s non-dominant side.
Jisung groaned as the goalie practically punched the ball away, it rolling away harmlessly as Chu swore and ran back to the centerline.
Seungmin lined up next, looking nervous as hell underneath his helmet.
“Yes!” Jeongin shrieked, jumping to his feet as the ball bounced right at the goalie’s feet and flew into the net behind him. The crowd cheered, the Wolves on the sidelines all chanted for the midfielder who ran back to the centerline before doubling over, holding his chest.
No one had any doubts Chan would make his goal - and with finesse. The attackmen practically spun in the air as he winded up and slammed the ball right past the goalie’s head.
“Okay, okay, okay,” Jisung breathed, “so what if the other team also makes two points?”
“They just keep going back and forth until someone wins,” Hyunjin whispered back, voice low as though scared to speak it into existence.
Minho set up as the opposing team’s shooters got to the centerline. Jisung watched him knock each side of his net with his stick before getting into a ready position. He did this several times as though to triple check where the net was - it was a nervous habit Jisung had picked up that the goalie had pretty quickly last season.
“Oh shit,” Jisung breathed, staring at the first shooter. “He’s a leftie.”
He watched Hyunjin’s lips pull up in a knowing smirk, “so is Minho.”
Jisung raised an eyebrow, “no he’s not.”
Hyunjin looked at him curiously, “he’s ambidextrous - he can switch depending on who he’s up against.”
Hyunjin was right, he watched as Minho quickly noticed the position of the shooter and swapped his stick to his other hand - looking just as confident with the new hold as he was before.
Jisung was sure his grip on Hyunjin’s hand had to hurt as the shooter started down the field. He sucked in a breath, holding it as he watched Minho tense as the man got closer.
The crowd erupted in cheers as Minho caught the ball as easily as if it was being passed to him. He tossed it to the ref casually, as though it was nothing.
“He fumbled that,” Hyunjin laughed at the attackman who was trudging back to the centerline.
The next shooter was better, and Jisung shouted in shock as the ball barely avoided Minho’s helmet before slamming into the net behind him.
“So, if he saves this we win?” Jisung breathed.
“Yeah,” Hyunjin nodded, “but, it’s okay - if he doesn’t, they tie so we just start the shootout over again.”
Jisung clenched his teeth hard to keep from gasping as the shooter started running.
The entire crowd was on their feet, angry, shocked shouts directed at Minho, as the goalie bolted forward as well.
“What the fuck is he doing?” Jisung heard the coach yell - but, as Hyunjin said: if he doesn’t save it, they’re still fine. Obviously, he was trying to take the attackman by surprise.
Which, he very much did.
The attackman’s feet slowed, the man even glancing over his shoulder at the ref as though to see if this was even allowed, and Minho was on him a second later, slamming his stick into his and making the ball fly.
Everyone froze for a moment, all eyes on the ref.
The man nodded once, putting his hand up and blowing the whistle to say that the play was fair.
The Wolves exploded into chaos - screaming and grabbing each other into embraces. The three boys on the field were running at Minho who was standing there, speaking with the opposing attackman who clapped him on the shoulder - looking like he was complimenting the shorter man. Chan grabbed Minho and probably would have picked him up and shook him if Minho would have let him.
Jisung was instantly struck with deja vu as it seemed like everyone was swarming the field - the coaches, the cheerleaders, the Wolves, and even their family and friends from the stands. Hyunjin was bolting from his position beside Jisung and racing after Jeongin who was already grabbing Seungmin for a hug.
Jisung just stood there for what felt like forever, watching the celebrations around him. He watched the lacrosse players all pull their helmets off to be able to hug their families and grin at each other. He saw Chan had tears on his cheeks as Hyunjin held him, kissing his forehead - Jisung vaguely wondered when the hell that had happened, but also, he’d been a pretty shit friend recently, so he couldn’t be mad about it.
For a moment, he realized how much he had isolated himself in the last few months - he didn’t even know who to go to to share in the excitement.
His gaze locked on Minho - his eyes always seemed to search for the other, even after months of trying to train himself away from the habit - and saw the goalie hugging his parents. He couldn’t believe the other wasn’t smiling - wasn’t giddy from winning the team the championship. He was just nodding and letting his mom cup his face, obviously telling him how proud she was. Even his dad was squeezing his shoulder with pride.
Jisung wondered if Minho had the same habit as him - being able to find him so easily even in a crowd - because, only a moment after Jisung had found him, Minho’s eyes were raising and locking with his.
The goalie must have been a hundred feet away, but Jisung could see his expression change - his eyebrows climbed higher on his forehead that was covered in sweat, his hair shoved back, his eyes going round and wide, and his jaw dropping open just slightly. Jisung sucked in a deep breath as he watched Minho pull away from his parents, turning on his heel to be able to walk toward Jisung.
He was ready for an argument - was ready for Minho to yell at him, tell him off, and demand an apology from him.
He wasn’t prepared for the older to break out into a jog, and very quickly into a run, dropping his helmet and stick as he went.
Jisung felt like he got hit by a wall, a quiet ‘oof’ leaving his lips as the wind was knocked out of him as Minho slammed into him.
He was just dazed enough to not react for a moment, just felt Minho’s hands on his waist, crushing him against the older. He opened his mouth to question why the other was hugging him, when his feet lifted off the ground, making him squeal.
“Put me down!” He shrieked, “I don’t like being lifted!”
Once Minho was done swinging him around like a rag doll and set Jisung on his feet, he didn’t give the other even a moment to speak before he wrapped a hand around the back of his neck and pulled him forward.
Jisung had almost forgotten what kissing Minho was like - forgot how soft his lips were, and how he tilts his head in the opposite direction than every other person Jisung had ever kissed; forgot how he always pressed so hard at the start before easing back and letting their lips move together almost lazily; forgot how Minho’s fingers felt curling into his hair; forgot how desperately he never wanted their kisses to end.
Jisung let himself kiss back, let himself wrap his arms around Minho’s neck and tangle his fingers in his hair, let himself mold his body against the older’s. He let himself kiss back until he remembered where the fuck they are.
He pulled away instantly, eyes round as he stared at Minho - the noise from the crowd around them filtering back into his ears. “Why are you kissing me?” Jisung whispered, knowing Minho would understand what his words truly meant.
“Because I fucking missed you,” Minho whispered back before pulling him forward and kissing him again in front of the entire stadium, in front of his parents, in front of whatever coaches were in the stands.
“My birthday is October 25,” Minho suddenly said against Jisung’s lips, voice breathless.
“Wh-what?”
“My favorite color is purple, my favorite types of movies are romcoms and musicals, and I’m currently watching Heartstopper cause that show is fucking adorable.”
“What the hell are you saying-?”
“What else do you want to know about me?” Minho mumbled, pressing their lips together for a moment before continuing all in one breath, “I’ll tell you anything - everything you want to know. I’ll tell you now.”
Jisung shook his head, a laugh bubbling up on his lips when he realized the older was answering the questions he had asked him the day they broke up - ones even Jisung had forgotten, “you’re insane.”
“I’m ambidextrous cause I was born a leftie but broke my hand as a kid,” Minho continued on, “I got stung by a bee when I was twelve and refused to go out the rest of the summer because I was too scared-”
“You live on a farm how would you not go outside-?”
“-I go to the cat shelter whenever I’m home and play with the cats there so the workers can clean up. I actually prefer tea to coffee but I’m addicted to caffeine so I drink coffee every morning. I listen to audiobooks about history. The first concert I ever went to was one direction-”
“How the actual fuck did your parents not realize you were queer?”
“-I was on the chess team until I was sixteen. I never learned how to swim. I’ve never gotten an A in any class in my life. I hate the heat. My favorite season is winter-”
“Minho!” Jisung laughed, grabbing his face and forcing his jaw closed, “I get it!”
“But the most important thing you should know about me,” Minho went on, “is that I’m fucking head over heels in love with this absolute menace of a guy.” Jisung went silent, eyes round at the words. Minho ran his thumb over his cheek as he went on, “he’s on my school’s cheerleading team and loves causing problems on purpose. He loves horror movies and stupid brown sugar oatmilk lattes and hates lacrosse boys. He’s probably the smartest guy I’ve ever met in my life, but also has absolutely no survival instincts.”
“Minho-”
“He’s the most wonderful guy I’ve ever met and I was fucking stupid for actually letting him go.”
Jisung covered his mouth with his palm, staring at him for a long moment before breathing, “you love me?”
Minho tugged his hand from his mouth and nodded, “yeah, I love you, Han Jisung.”
“You’re crazy,” Jisung whispered.
“You fucking make me crazy,” Minho mumbled, tugging him back in to kiss him so hard, Jisung was worried his lips would be bruised. He let the older lick into his mouth, so rough and desperate - he could feel Minho’s hands shaking where they still clung onto his hair. He pulled back just enough to speak, his lips still against Jisung’s, “take me back?”
“Okay,” Jisung replied immediately, breathless.
He squealed as Minho grabbed him by the waist again and his feet were off the ground. He grabbed Minho even harder around the neck as he swung him around, hanging on for dear fucking life.
When he was placed on his feet, he finally glanced around, realizing the absolute spectacle they were making and the amount of people watching them - the guy who had just won the Wolves the championship, who is apparently queer, and his boyfriend. Jisung cowered slightly into Minho, trying to shield himself from the stares, until Minho laughed. “They’re not mad, Jisung.”
And he was right, the majority of the people they had gotten the attention of were either looking at them fondly or cheering and clapping for them - mostly the cheerleaders and lacrosse boys, but several of the boys on the other team were also shouting for them.
“I feel like we’re at the end of some sports romance movie,” Jisung muttered, looking back at Minho who laughed.
“I like romcoms.”
“Yeah, we need to talk about that - musicals? Really? Why?”
Minho shrugged, “I just like them.”
“So, I’ll be in charge of picking out movies and music,” Jisung hummed, nodding to himself.
Minho’s eyebrows furrowed together, “when?”
Jisung grinned at him, “forever.”
“That’s not very fair.”
“You can’t be trusted.”
“Asshole.”
***
“Hey, Jisung?”
Jisung hummed, looking up from where he was tracing shapes into Minho’s naked chest. They had just been laying together for the last several hours, quietly chatting or just sitting in silence. Jisung’s back was pleasantly sore, and he was satisfied where he was curled around Minho’s side, half on top of him, with the older’s hand running through his hair.
“Yeah?”
Minho’s lips tilted upward as he gazed down at him, “you did it again.”
Jisung blinked in confusion, sitting up slightly, “huh?”
Minho leaned down, kissing his cheek before mumbling, “I told you I love you.”
Jisung nodded slowly, “yes, we’ve made that very clear. My dick heard it loud and clear after orgasm number three.”
Minho laughed at that, head tilting back as his eyes turned up. He took a moment to continue. “I told you I love you,” he hummed, smile still playing on his lips, “and you didn’t say anything back.”
Jisung sat bolt upright, staring at him, jaw dropped open, “yes I did!”
“No, you didn’t, Princess.”
“Yes I did!” Jisung got onto his knees to grab Minho’s shoulders, shaking him as he whined, “don’t gaslight me!”
“No, I swear you didn’t say anything back,” Minho insisted.
“I need proof - where’s the transcripts?”
Minho laughed before going quiet, pulling Jisung down to cuddle into his chest again, the younger grumbling to himself as Minho’s hand found its way into his hair again. He massaged his scalp soothingly for several long minutes before whispering, “It’s okay if you don’t love me back yet.”
“Minho!” Jisung whined, staring up at him. He sighed heavily before turning again, crawling on top of the other and straddling his waist so he could be at eye level with him. He cupped Minho’s cheeks in his hands, making the other look at him as he said, “I love you. You fucking idiot, I love you so much.”
Minho’s face broke out into that grin only Jisung ever got to see, “you do?”
“You’re the one who always said ‘don’t ask stupid questions’ - take your own advice.”
“Say it again,” Minho hummed, trailing his hands down Jisung’s hips to grab his naked ass.
Jisung put his face as close as physically possible to Minho’s without completely headbutting the other, “I love you.”
“Again.”
Jisung laughed, kissing Minho’s cheek, “I love you.”
“Again.”
He bit the older’s shoulder brattily, “I love you.”
“Again.”
“Minho!” Jisung whined, pouting. But, he still leaned down and kissed him once, “I love you.”
Minho kept asking him to say it again, and again, and again, his smile getting wider and wider each time, and Jisung decided that he would say it as many times as he wanted if it kept that smile on his lips forever.
“Finger Lickin’” Extras:
First, some logistics, because I’m genuinely not sure if I ever actually explicitly said half of this:
The boy’s majors:
Jisung - Kinesiology
Minho - special education
Hyunjin - nutrition dietetics and wants to work at an ED facility
Felix - english literature to become an editor
Jeongin - theater to become an actor
Chan - finance and business to take over his father’s business
Changbin - exercise sciences on a track to get his doctorate for physical therapy
Seungmin - physics on a track to get his masters in nuclear physics
And their years are:
Freshmen: Jisung, Hyunjin, Felix, Seungmin, Jeongin
Sophomore: Changbin
Junior: Minho
Senior: Chan
Where the ‘couples’ end up
Minsung get married DUH
Hyunjin and Chan get together officially but do break up in the future
Changbin and Felix never do get together cause Changbin really did only have a crush on Hyunjin
Jeongin and Seungmin form a pact that if they don’t have sig others by the time they’re 30 they’ll get married and Jeongin tells him that’s pretty gay and Seungmin goes eh and Jeongin is like ??? are you gay and Seungmin is like eh so Jeongin literally almost combusts because “why the fuck didn’t you sAY SOMETHING SEUNGMIN?” and they also end up together and get married and adopt two kids
Next up my Minsung head canons which, I’m the author, so that makes them canon:
Minho’s parents do eventually accept the two of them - especially after seeing Jisung bawl his eyes out at Minho’s graduation and sob about “what am I supposed to do for two years without you here?” “babe, we literally got an apartment together.” “But you can’t walk me around campus! You have to go to work!” “find a new scary guard dog then”
When they get their first apartment together, jisung does a ton of research and builds one of those fucking walls with all the little obstacles and ledges for Minho’s cats to jump and play on since it’s such a small space and “I feel like they don’t get enough exercise, Min.” Minho didn’t know it was possible to fall in love even more but he does
Even though Minho doesn’t like dogs, he gets Jisung a puppy for his graduation - Jisung sobs
“Would you ever want kids?” “Jisung, we’re both men.” “I know! But! In the future! Adopting?!?” “I work with kids for eight hours every day - no, I’m good.” “oh thank god cause I hate kids.” “... you’re lucky I love you”
Minho sends “I’ll be Back” from Hamilton to Jisung and jokingly says “this is how I feel about you” and is horrified that Jisung has never watched Hamilton (“you’re a HAMILTON GUY? Minho you never told me tha-” “we’re watching it. now.”) and forces him to watch it while pausing every 5 minutes to explain everything going on and the backstory on every single character and their actor and basically the history of broadway and he scream-sings every song so loudly they have to rewind it so Jisung can actually hear what’s going on (Jisung’s favorite song is “wait for it” and asks if he’s allowed to find Aaron Burr hot)
Their couples Halloween costumes always slap - Jisung knows how to sew, so they win every costume contest they enter every single time
Minho attends Jisung’s 5 year high school reunion with him and gets the cops called on him cause he punched several men in the face because they harassed Jisung when they were in school
While getting wedding stuff ready, they argue the whole time: “you’re the bride” “nuh huh, you are!” “Jisung, you’re obviously the bride” “we’re both guys!” “yeah but you’re-” “don’t you dare fucking say I’m a sub.” “a bottom.” “i’m also not that!!”
They do a destination wedding with just a handful of their close friends - Minho cries, Jisung laughs at him as he wipes his face of the tears as Minho really fucking tries to get through his vows and looks absolutely pissed while sobbing and their friends are both terrified and worried but also find it the cutest most endearing thing ever
Jisung makes them renew their vows every 10 years because it’s an excuse to throw a party with all their friends and remind the entire world how much they love each other - Minho cries at the vow reading every single time.
Minho head canons:
Minho would consider Changbin his best friend
Minho doesn’t go pro - he gets an offer but decides to become a teacher instead
Minho’s favorite anime is naruto (“maybe I should get into One Piece so we can be rivals” “I’ll break up with you.” “minho-” “don’t test my love of naruto”) ((Minho also definitely makes Jisung sit through the entirety of Naruto at one point in their relationship and Jisung quickly learns that Minho knows Japanese 100% from watching too much anime))
Minho gets voted captain when Chan graduates and just goes “no” so Changbin becomes captain instead
Minho still really struggles with opening up to people who aren’t Jisung and is still very cold and rude a lot of the time - though Jisung tries to make him work on being nicer (and offers kisses as rewards)
Jisung head canons:
Jisung is on the cheer squad for the rest of college, and Minho comes to every game even after he’s graduated to cheer on his favorite boy (Jisung also “forgets” to turn in his girl’s uniform at the end of his senior year) ((his coach knows he didn’t forget but let’s it slide))
Jisung is one of those guys who are absolutely insanely genius without ever trying. Even during the spring semester after The Break UpTM, he has nearly perfect grades (“why are you all upset?” Jisung, banging his head on his desk, “i got an A-” “... are you kidding” “Minho, that’s awful!” “remind me to never show you my report cards)
Jisung would rather die than drink dunkin donuts coffee - he’s a starbucks bitch ride or die
Jisung is closest with Hyunjin - they text every single day even if it’s just a meme or a photo of their dogs. They’re close with the other boys, but the two of them are BESTIES
Jisung ends up going on to become a physical therapist like Changbin and joins his practice - this is also where Chan ends up after his professional lacrosse career
Head canons for the other boys:
Chan is the only one of the Wolves to go pro in lacrosse
The “chick” Chan fucked in Australia that people heard call him ‘daddy’ was 100% a guy
Felix and Jeongin at some point: “Wait, what were we actually betting? Like what do we win - cause Minho and Jisung fucked AND Chan and Hyunjin” “we never actually came up with a dollar amount” “motherfucker- I would have been RICH”
As stated above about where the couples ended up, Seungmin was bi this whole time lol, Changbin was the only fully straight guy (even though he was questioning a bit because of Hyunjin, he did come to the conclusion he only likes women)
Minsung 100% babysit Jeongin and Seungmin’s kids and steal them to go on adventures to be the “cool uncles”