After eating dinner alone, Chanyeol trudges upstairs, his mood ruined. Why am I always alone?

He picks up the guitar that sat in the corner of his room. Barely anyone knew that he played. The giant was worried that he would seem dorky if he told anyone, so he kept his mouth shut.

Even if music was his greatest passion.

***

"Jongdae? What's wrong with you and Minseok?" Luhan inquires as he slips on his basketball shoes. The entire team had decided to practice in the morning, before school started, so that they could get a little better.

"Um, nothing." Jongdae rubs his lips unconsciously.

"You sure?"

"It's fine."

"If you say so." Luhan exits the changing room.

Jongdae sighs. I'm such an idiot. Now Minseok won't even talk to me.

The dino-boy couldn't come up with an answer last night, so he ran. This morning, he had run into Minseok at the bus stop, and the boy wouldn't even look at him. When Jongdae had tried to start a conversation, Minseok would always look uncomfortable. What have I done?

He walks into the gym, spotting Sehun, Luhan, and Minseok having a conversation. As he nears the trio, Minseok notices and walks away quickly. Luhan turns around and gives Jongdae a look, then goes back to being sweet with Sehun.

"Jongdae!" The dino-boy turns around at his name. He sees Chanyeol jog up to him.

"Have you seen Jongin? I'm-" He ducks out of the way of a stray basketball that Yixing and Junmyeon were tossing around.

"Oops! Sorry!" Junmyeon runs after the orange ball.

"Sorry, I don't know where he is." Jongdae shrugs.

"Alright." The giant walks away.

"Watch out!" Before Jongdae can duck out of the way, a basketball comes hurling at his face. He slams into the ground, sliding a little. Jongdae automatically puts a hand to his face.

"Yah!" Jongdae hears Minseok's voice as he comes running by. "Why were you standing under the basket anyways?"

Jongdae grunts as he pulls his hand away from his face, his fingers smeared with red and a metallic tang flooding his nose. As expected.

"Oh my goodness!" Minseok pulls a wad of tissues out of his pocket and holds it to Jongdae's nose. "Come on, let's go to the nurse." He helps Jongdae up and leads him out the door.

On the way to the infirmary, Jongdae can't help but fidget a little at their proximity. Minseok's fingers occasionally brushed his lips as he readjusted his grip on the tissues.

Minseok tells Jongdae to hold the tissues on his own as he went in search of an ice pack. When the older returns, he sits next to Jongdae and carefully treats him, tenderness shining in his eyes.

"Minnie? Why were you ignoring me today?" Jongdae flinches a little at the sharp  coldness of the ice.

"I was confused. I guess I still am." Minseok sticks out the tip of his tongue as he concentrates. Jongdae finds the gesture adorable.

"I'm sorry. I guess it was a bit impulsive of me." Jongdae blows out some air. "But I'm not sorry for liking you."

Minseok's eyebrows twitch, but he stays silent.

"Minnie? Say something."

"What am I meant to do? You're my best friend. Isn't it kind of strange? You were my first kiss, by the way." He smiles wryly.

"Do you regret that? Do you regret inviting me out that night?"

"I...I...don't know."

"Yes or no?"

"I-"

"Yes or no." The words leave Jongdae's mouth as a statement.

Minseok looks up, apprehensive. "..."

***

"Sehunnie!"

The tall blond looks up, the ball clanging on the rim and rolling in. "Hm?"

The team's point guard retrieves the ball and dribbles over. "Where's Jongdae? And Minseok?"

"I dunno." Sehun playfully nabs the ball from his boyfriend and shoots without dribbling. The basketball clangs on the rim and bounces out.

"Tsk." Luhan chases after the projectile. "I expected more from you."

"You did?" Sehun runs after Luhan and wraps his arms around his boyfriend's waist from behind. He nuzzles his face into Luhan's neck. Luckily, neither of them had broken out into a sweat yet.

"Yes I did. What happened to all of my training?"

"Aish, why are you so harsh today? It was from outside the three point arc."

Luhan's face softens. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding." He quickly pecks the blond's cheek. "How was that for some acting?"

"Seriously."

"Yeah. It worked, didn't it? You bought it."

"Maybe."

"Hmph. Now scoot." Luhan pushes Sehun slightly with the ball and takes the shot with his boyfriend's arms still around him. The ball bounces of the backboard and drops in.

"Wow. Talent." The pair turns around to see Jongin walk in, a dumb smile on his face.

"What happened to you? Why are you so happy?"

"What? What's wrong with being blissful?"

"Nothing. I'm just saying. And you're kinda-not-really late."

"What? Have we started?"

"Well, we would have by now, if Jongdae and Minseok didn't disappear. And-"

"Hey, Jongin! I need to talk to you!" Chanyeol jogs over and pulls the newcomer away.

"Look, we need to get started soon. If Jongdae and Minseok don't show, then they don't show. We need to hurry if we're going to do anything today."

"See? And this is why we can't self-govern."

"Sehun, not now. I love you to death, but not now." Luhan hits the blond on the shoulder.

"Why are you trying to injure your teammate? And your boyfriend, might I add."

"'Cause I can."

"Mm-hmm."

"Yeah yeah."

"But you have to hurry things along."

"I know, I know. I'm not captain for nothing."

***

After practice, the eight boys (Jongdae and Minseok were still nowhere to be found) ran for the showers.

Upon getting to class, Chanyeol mood drops as he sees Baekhyun in his seat. Just great.

Just the brunet's presence annoyed the giant to a unreasonable extent. Chanyeol didn't really know why.

Byun Baekhyun. The giant shivers. Bleh.

- § -

Wow, this chapter was all over the place.

I'm practically falling asleep as I type this...

I basically wrote this chapter in one sitting. That was not smart.

I've been so busy this week, my school has an event that I'm doing stuff for. I've gotten five hours of sleep a night, and that's at the urging of my mom.

So I noticed that I was meant to publish today, yesterday.

And then realized I basically had nothing done. :l

Yeah... I don't know about you, but I don't feel like writing 2,000+ words in the span of a hour and a half. Not happening.

So just pick a book and rolled with it...

So no update for 'Remembering Again' today... :(

I feel guilty. :l

On a more positive note, 'Unable' hit 10K recently, and I did a special chapter for that.

I also did a thank you notice in my rant book. And it seems like no one has seen it? Did you guys get the notification? Wattpad was being funky when I tried to publish it. :l

<3

I want to sleep now...

Bai!

020918