PAPER CUTS .. ljn（✓）

→ seventeen

"coach, what are we gonna do?" a semi-conflicted, semi-worried mark asked as he gripped haechan's hand in his own. sicheng's hard gaze remained on the floor, brows furrowed and clasped fists brought to his lips.

without jeno, they were beatable. the team had barely won the previous game, making many simple mistakes without their captain to lead them on, and word seemed to spread quickly to other high schools.

"he'll be back soon, right?"

"what if he never comes back?"

"we should forfeit now before we embarrass ourselves further—"

"quiet! all of you!" every mumbling member of the hockey team sealed his lips and snapped his attention towards the now standing coach.

they were still huddled in the locker room of the gym, where they were having a meeting to discuss the extent of jeno's injury, which had to be reported to the board. the higher members gave sicheng and ten some time to think about their position in the finals, and if they wanted to stay in the game.

"we're going to be just fine. we've trained for this, and don't say he won't call back. we don't need a jinx." the loose, lopsided tug of the coach's lips made the boys relax a bit. "we won, didn't we? we can do this, boys—"

sicheng froze. "well well, if it isn't the gators." the rival coach, jeong jaehyun, spat distastefully, arms crossed over his chest.

the younger's grin hardened into a sneer as he eyed the person who used to be his high school best friend. they'd also just finished winning their own game, which was practically a blowout.

"dragons." sicheng greeted coldly, icy gaze trained on their smirking coach.

"where's your ace?"

haechan's hand was pulled from mark's as he was shoved to the side by a bigger player from their rival school. "medical leave." someone chimed as yangyang helped the golden-haired boy back up.

"oh, i heard you and your team pushed the poor boy to his limit. suicide, huh? tough—" before another one of his students could be pushed or looked down upon by the other players, sicheng snapped.

without a second of hesitation or ten holding his back, winwin grabbed the purple collar of jaehyun's team jacket and slammed him against the lockers behind them.

"don't you ever come into my school and talk about my boys like that again. do you understand me?"

after a few seconds of challenging glares between both parties, the younger released jaehyun. to his surprise, the latter chuckled. "makes sense now. i'd rather die than deal with yo—"

before he could finish, sicheng spun back on his heel so quick some players missed his flying fist until jaehyun's head snapped to the side from impact.