shot clock || na jaemin (the court series #1)

quarter one: minute five

jaemin is nervous. it's terrifying because jaemin doesn't do nervous. he doesn't do the sweaty palms and quick breaths that come with nerves. it's just not his vibe. 

turns out that the '70's had turned into serial killer because they had successfully killed any good vibes jaemin had today about the game. he is tired, sore beyond belief, and coming up with ways to hide serena's dead body and get away with murder. 

renjun gives him a sharp glare and nudges him with his shoulder when he hears jaemin's sentiments, nodding at jeno. right. because suddenly, jeno and serena were best buddies. god. jaemin didn't get drunk very often - he didn't like the feeling of loosing all control - but at this point, jaemin was considering seriously going down the path of alcoholism because he was way too sober to deal with all of this.

"hey, you okay?" speak of the devil. jaemin stares at serena dumbfounded, as if she had just asked if he was willing to drown a puppy. 

"no!" jaemin hisses, lowering his voice when he realizes that other people were looking at them. "no, i'm not okay. i finally get why they call those things 'suicides', at least."

serena coughs away the laugh that creeps into her throat, shaking her head in both amusement and the sort of patience that a parent listens to a ranting child with.

"i'll tell you what, jaemin. let's make a deal." jaemin pauses at that, stopping in the middle of the courtyard that they had been walking across to get to jeno's car to their individual classes. serena looks at him with her arms folded across her chest and easy smile on her face. but jaemin knows that smile. it's his smile. the one that he uses right before some unsuspecting guy or girl finds themselves pressed against the doors of a classroom and lips pressed against lips.

it's beautiful on her. 

"what deal?" no, no, no. this is not how this goes. jaemin is supposed to be the one suggesting a deal or making all the aggressive moves. she was a girl. a girl that had demolished him in the very thing he was good at, but a girl nonetheless. 

"a deal that if you don't find yourself thanking me by the end of your game, i will step down as team manager," serena says, shrugging slightly. jaemin can see the slightest glimpse of doubt that dances in her eyes but it disappears quickly and he's back to looking at the most stubborn person he has ever met. and he was best friend with lee jeno. 

"what if i do ending up thanking you?" serena's eyes flash with promises of something dangerous. something that jaemin would get addicted to, fiend for, and ultimately lose himself fighting for. something hauntingly and bone-chillingly beautiful.

"you have help me get jeno to talk to my mother."

na jaemin is stuck between a rock and a hard place. now, if this was a matter considering hyunmin, he would prefer that that was a quite literal description of his situation. unfortunately for him, however, no amount of barely concealed euphemisms were going to save him from his situation.

namely that jaemin is nervous. and not just because he's about to go play one of the biggest ball games of his life in a less than ideal condition. but because he has a feeling that he's gonna need to make good on a deal at the end of the night. and something tells him that he isn't going to be on the winning side of the deal.

"number twenty-three! na jaemin!" the speaker announces and jaemin has to shake off all unnecessary distractions. right now, it was time to play ball. 

he runs onto the court, waving at the people in the stands, as he always does, but this time it's different. this time he doesn't run on waving and basking in the attention that's usually so prevalent. no, this time, the screams and the words of enchanting praise are mere whispers in his ear. distractions. 

he's too tired to really focus on the shouts. no, all he wants to do right now is play a good game and get out of there. and then it hits him.

this is what serena wanted. she wanted him to show the scouts his game, not his glamor. she knew that if jaemin didn't have the energy to show off, he wouldn't give the scouts any reason not to recruit him into yonsei. because he would just be the phantom.

huh. for a seventeen year old kid who had severe daddy issues, this serena girl wasn't all that bad. not that bad at all.

after the national anthem has been played and all the players have been introduced, the game officially begins. 

it's blatantly obvious that the crowd isn't used to this kind of game. jyp prep had been expecting a very catty game, with cocky plays and manipulative shots. unfortunately, sm's team had always been somewhat known as the team who wasn't afraid to play dirty and honestly, was pretty damn good and blurring the lines, which meant that the sm audience had that much more fun on home games but the game itself was never that great in neither skill or showmanship.

but this was different. jeno was calling shots which were a little less showy but a lot more effective. jisung's moves were quicker, sharper, and a lot more controlled. of course, none of them were perfect. they had only been training with serena for a week and a half, after all, but they were well on their way to becoming a respectable team. not just a good team. but the thing that shocks, and even sort of impresses (although she already knew the outcomes of her own advice), serena the most is jaemin.

for the first time since she's seen him play (including the games she watched in advance to prepare herself for this team), jaemin proves why he's called the phantom.

he's everywhere but nowhere, always forcing the poor guy defending him (serena thinks his name is felix or something), into a frenzy trying to find the guy he was supposed to be guarding. he was a little more winded, which meant he could neither do flashy dunk shots nor could he cherry pick nearly as much as he wanted to. but that was all part of the plan.

if jaemin was too tired to play in his flashy style, it meant that he could only focus on shots that he knew he could make and make it well. it also meant that he was forced to pass a lot more often than he normally would. serena made sure that jaemin wasn't the only one shining, instead leveling out the playing field a little bit.

she made a group of really good players a team.

the game ends with the usual pomp, however, when the scoreboard turns from sixty-six to sixty-nine after a beautiful three-pointer from jeno. serena sighs and shakes her head when jisung clamping a hand over haechan's mouth to keep him from making a sexual innuedo, only to see jeno shrugging and laughing along.

boys are idiots. but even serena can't keep the grin off of her face. 

"sixty-nine to thirty. sm has won the first game of the season!" 

it's all chaos after that. jaemin and jeno are shaking hands with the yonsei representatives, haechan is pretending that renjun is coach lee and chasing him around. jisung has found chenle and is laughing at something he says, serving as bodyguards to keep the fangirls off of the court in mock seriousness. 

jaemin catches her eye from where she is standing next to coach lee, a bright twinkle in her eyes that seems as if it can never be put out.

"thank you," he mouths, a soft tilt of his lips suggesting his sincerity. serena just smiles.

if she closed her eyes, she could almost pretend she was in america again. she could almost pretend she was home.

+++

a/n: hEHEH because what kind of wattpad book would this be if there was no bet involved??? anyway i hope y'all have a fantabulous day :)) 

i just found out i made it to internationals for a competition so my day's been pretty darn great :)