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Today they’re in another practice session with the rest of the team. Jonghyun train normally as usual, but since he’s also the captain of the team he tends to stop for a moment to just observe the progress of his teammates. The coach would approach him occasionally and they discussed some stuff they observe.
At the end of their practice session, they will usually practice their penalty shoot. Jonghyun still in his full focus mode, waiting for his turn within the line. But then someone props their chin against his shoulder from behind him and start whispering really close to the side of his face.
“Hey, Jonghyun. Let’s bet on how many shoots we can make in a row. If the goalkeepers catch it, we’re starting again from zero.”
That’s Minhyun, the star of the team and one of his best friend from back when they were still in the academy. While Minhyun is not one of those naturally gifted stars, but he’s very well known for his hard-working attitude. As a captain and his best friend, Jonghyun is glad that he never lost that one quality that delivers him to where he is right now.
People always see Jonghyun and Minhyun as one package. They offer a different kind of flavor to the team, but you can't have them separately. While Jonghyun is the one that inspires everyone with his leadership, Minhyun provides some balance alongside him with some gentle, encouraging motivational words. Most of their teammates always assume Minhyun as their unofficial vice-captain. Naturally, their teammates would also joke around declaring Jonghyun and Minhyun as the dad and mom of the team.
“Easy for you to bet on this. You’re a forward and you score a lot of penalties too.”
“That’s true but your passes are usually accurate. This could be easy for you too. So what do you say?”
Jonghyun snaps his fingers in front of Minhyun’s face. “Hey. Focus, alright. If you wanna go home fast, you better finish your training session properly.”
“Come on, Jonghyun. It’s not like we’re going to mess around or anything. We’re just gonna make our usually dull practice to be somewhat fun.”
“Practice is never meant to be fun. We practice because we have to, in order to be the best at what we’re doing. Besides, your bets usually involved doing something really stupid. We don’t have the time for that. Tomorrow we still have another practice session.”
“It’s a harmless one, I swear. The loser has to buy the winner a full set dinner meal, whatever they want. Sounds good, right?”
Jonghyun didn’t say anything for a moment. He’s truly considering it. He’s never one to fool around during practice, but Minhyun somehow always manage to drag him to whatever mischief he’s up to. But today he’s in a fairly good mood. Besides, Minhyun is right, they’re not exactly messing around.
“Alright. Done. I’m gonna choose the most expensive meal and you can’t say anything about it.”
“Bring it on, captain.”
None of them missed any of their shoots and that’s to be expected as well. In times of need, one of them would take the shoot in behalf of the team. Granted, they still have their failures every now and then but as the time goes by, they’re now the more experienced and develop players as of today.
“Alright, we’re done for today. Go hit the shower now, go home, get some rest and we’ll see each other again tomorrow. Good night.”
Jonghyun caught up with the coach before he leaves the pitch, asking if he and Minhyun can stay a little bit longer to practice.
“Well?” Minhyun asks after Jonghyun back.
“He let us stay but we must keep in mind to not overdoing it.”
“Easy. Oh, wait, but the goalies had gone home too. Do you think you can ask one of them to stay for a bit?”
“Let’s just keep this between us. We don’t have to drag the others into our stupidity. I guess we’re just gonna have to take turns.”
“Okay, okay, fine. I’ll go borrow the gloves first.”
No one really wants to give in. Since they're not trained to be a goalkeeper, they did concede goals from each other but then they quickly made up for it when it's their turn to shoot. They keep doing this until their legs decided to finally give up. They laid on the ground, panting through their breath.
"Jonghyun... Let's go one more time..."
"Dammit, Minhyun... We've been at this for hours... Just gave it up..."
"We have to decide the winner..."
"Screw the winner!" Jonghyun exclaimed as he throws his arms up and then letting it flop on the ground. He takes one of his arms up to and rests it over his eyes. "You can claim this stupid bet if you want. I'm done."
Minhyun crawl from his spot below the goalpost to laid beside Jonghyun. He takes off one of the gloves and then he throws it to land exactly on Jonghyun's face.
"Oh my god! What is wrong with you!"
Jonghyun throws the glove away with clear annoyance on his face. Minhyun laughs really loud and it can definitely be heard from any side of this huge facilities. Jonghyun lightly hit him on his stomach to make him stop.
"I know you're supposed to be the captain, but you really should've lightened up a bit. You don't have to constantly put up this scary captain image. This team needs to see more of your goofy and playful side. I've seen it before and it's really adorable."
"Can you shut up, please. I'm so exhausted. And stop calling me adorable."
The only voices that can be heard at the moment are just a faint noise of the bustling nightlife from the distance and the sound of their breathing starting to sound more regular.
"I think we must be the only people left here," Minhyun said, breaking the silence.
"Shocker. It must be around 9 pm now or something. I know I shouldn't agree to this. We still have another practice session too- Oh crap..." Jonghyun suddenly face-palming himself. "The board also wants to have a meeting with me as well, very early in the morning. I'm doomed."
"You said I can claim this as my victory, right?"
"Go right ahead, I don't really care. Just tell me what you want for dinner."
"I can do that, or I can use my victory as a chance to take you to dinner as in a date."
Jonghyun looks up at him for a moment before he gets up, sighing. Minhyun follows after him.
"I thought you have given up about this matter," Jonghyun said, barely above a whisper. "Minhyun, look... I... We can't date each other..."
"You see, you never really gave me a really clear answer on why we can't be dating. You did say you didn't have any problem that we're both men. Then why? What is the reason? Because we're both on the same team? Should I request my transfer first in order for you to be able to date me?"
"Minhyun, no, you're missing the point. You want me to give you a clear reason? Fine, here's why. First of all, I'm the captain of this team-"
"You're afraid that our teammates will be jealous of us?"
"There are reasons why some companies include no dating rules within the office in their policy. Especially in our case, you're currently the star of this team and me as the captain also have a really close relationship with a lot of important people from the board of this club. Do you see now what am I getting on here? Am I afraid of anyone in the squad will be jealous of us? Yes, for this exact reason. They probably don't give a crap if we're just normal players with no close ties to anyone. But with our position, they're gonna see it as cheating, let's just put it that way."
"What that has to do with anything? We can just keep our relationship to ourselves. Nobody has to know."
"You really need to be more aware of your surrounding, you know that. These guys are sharper than you thought. Sooner or later, they will find out. If any of us start to perform bad but the coach still put us in the starting line-up, they're gonna think we're using our position to convince the board and the coach that they always have to put us on, no matter how badly we perform on matchday. I can always say more of the reason but we will be here all night, but I think you get the point already. Well... I hope you are."
For a moment, Jonghyun can see the slight look of hurt spreading all over Minhyun's face before he starts to chuckle.
"Why is this conversation suddenly turn so heavy? It's not fair I'm getting the captain's talk all by myself. We're just gonna get some dinner, right?" Minhyun offer his arm to help Jonghyun get up.
"In that case, I guess I have to pay for the dinner then."
"No, no. Let me do it. Since I'm the one who made us stays here until this late night."
"I'm the one who said you can claim your win and since you did, I have to do it. As per our agreement."
"Alright. Are we gonna eat at your place or my place?"
"I think we should just eat outside."
Jonghyun looking at Minhyun almost apologetically, which made Minhyun scoff.
"Jonghyun, come on. Don't give me that look. Let's just clean up now."
Minhyun went to the goal to gather all of the balls they kicked on earlier, while Jonghyun picking up the rest of their equipment and then arrange them neatly on the furthest corner of the pitch. As soon as he's done, he saw Minhyun pushing a basket towards his direction. Jonghyun walks back inside the pitch to pick another equipment before Minhyun grab his right arm.
"Oh, by the way, I'm not going to give up on you. I will say this, like many times before, I really do like you a lot, Jonghyun. Today is just... another day of Minhyun's failed attempt to woo the stone-cold captain." He said this as he stares deeply into Jonghyun's eyes.
"You're not going to get me." Jonghyun doesn't even know why he feels like he had to hold his breath back at that moment.
Minhyun finally letting go of his arm. "We'll see about that. I'm gonna take a shower now."
Jonghyun blinks as he watches him walk across the field until he disappears inside the building. He takes a deep, long sigh as he keeps shaking his head with a smile on his face. If he keeps this up, he's going to get me soon enough.