Little Bahng (STRAY KIDS FF)

{Chapter 7}

The rest of the week was busy for both Maximus and Stray Kids. Everyone had early mornings so all eight members got to say goodbye to Max before he left for school. Getting ready for his first game at his new academy Max was working hard to the point of continuing to practice for hours after everyone else stopped, leading him to not get back to the dorm until around ten o’clock at night then would work on his footwork for another hour around the dorm before starting his homework. Chan and the rest of the band didn’t know about Maximus overworking himself since they were also arriving back to the dorm late, around one o’clock in the morning. For the first few days Max would already be in bed before the band got back, but then school work started getting piled up to the point that Maximus was still up at the kitchen table or passed out on the couch with papers and books under him. Chan would either carry Max to bed or wake him up but he was a little worried about Maximus not getting enough sleep, constantly yawning and starting to develop dark bags under his eyes by the time Friday came around.

The band decided to end a bit earlier Friday night around ten o’clock so they could get up for Max’s game the next morning. When the van carrying the eight members arrived at the dorm building they were met with a sight they didn’t expect, a black van just pulling up in front of the building and Maximus getting out to head inside. “Why is Max just now getting back to the dorm at ten o’clock?” Changbin questioned out loud before turning to Chan, “Did he tell you he was going to be late?” The rest also looked to Chan. “No, not that he told me. His practice is supposed to end at about seven everyday.” Chan answered, suspicious of what his brother was up to. “Maybe since there is a game tomorrow practice ran late or maybe he wanted to hangout with his new friends for a little while?” Felix suggested, wanting to believe Max was just doing normal teenage things and not something bad. “Maybe. Let’s go inside and I’ll talk to him about it while you guys go shower.” Chan said before opening the doors for everyone to climb out.

To say Maximus was surprised at his brother and bandmates walking in minutes after him was an understatement. The members walked by him one by one giving him a pity look that he wasn’t understanding, that was until they all went to different rooms leaving just him and Chan. He was in trouble about something he just didn’t know, but he was fixing to. “So, how was your day?” Chan asked, sitting down in a chair next to Maximus. “Good, lots of work but nothing I can’t handle. How was the day for you guys?” Max tells Chan, quickly looking up at his older brother to shoot him a quick smile. “Good. We just spent the day going over the set list, making sure everything was in place for tomorrow night’s concert.” Chan tells his little brother. “How was your practice?” Chan then questioned. Now Maximus was getting suspicious of why his brother was asking so many questions. He put his pencil down on the table and turned to his big brother, “Fine, why are you asking me so many questions? Is something wrong?” Max now questioned Chan.

“Nothing, but I do have a hypothetical question for you.” Chan told him. “Ok?” Max said, confused. “Why would an eleven year old whose soccer practice ends at seven o’clock and should be at his big brother’s dorm by eight at the latest not get to the dorm until past ten o’clock at night?” Chan finally asked the question he wanted an answer to. “What are you talking about? I got here a little after eight.” Max acted confused, shrugging his shoulders as he got back to his homework. If there is one thing about Chan it is that he hates being lied to. Chan grabbed Max’s pencil from his hand and put it down harshly on the table, “Want to try that answer again?” Chan asked for the last time, giving Max a look that meant he was done messing around and wanted the truth. “Chris, I have a lot of homework to do and not a lot of time to do it. Can you stop?” Max said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Well I don’t have time to continue to try to pull information out of you nicely. So I will ask one more time and I want the truth. Why did you not get back here until after ten o’clock at night?” Chan said getting worked up. “I don’t know what you’re talking about! I got here over an hour before you did.” Max said, sticking to his lie, not wanting his brother to worry about him when he was already so busy but unknowingly causing Chan more stress. “Stop lying!” Chan finally yelled at Max, taking both brothers by surprise at the outburst, unknowingly scaring the others in the dorm who were hiding behind the wall of the hallway to listen in on the two brothers.

Chan took a deep breath to calm down before continuing, “We saw you get out of the black van that takes you back and forth from school when we got home tonight. It was past ten and you were just getting back. Why did you not get back to the dorm until almost three hours after your practice ended?” “Ok. Ok. I stayed longer after practice ended. During the team practice I only made one goal and was constantly hitting the crossbar. So I stayed longer to keep shooting.” Max told Chan, finally telling at least a half truth, but Chan believed him mostly. “Then why did you keep trying to lie to me?” Chan asked. “I don’t want you to tell mom or dad. They would think it's too hard here for me and make me go back to my old academy in Australia. There everything was too easy, I basically ran circles around the other teams, here I finally have a challenge. I was honestly fixing to quit when I got the offers because it wasn’t fun or exciting anymore. I just want to be able to love playing again Chris. Please don’t tell them!” Max begged his brother with tears in his eyes.

Chan grabbed Max into a tight hug and promised not to tell as long as he takes care of himself properly and doesn’t overwork himself. Max promised but Chan knew he would need to keep an eye on the younger to be sure he followed through. The band members came out slowly to not be obvious that they were eavesdropping and Jeongin asked if everyone wanted to watch a movie in the living room together. Max was fixing to say he still had homework but Chan spoke first and said yes for them both meaning the homework would have to be done between the game and concert the next day or at the last minute on Sunday.

The next morning the dorm was in chaos. Some members were throwing around clothes trying to get dressed, some taking up the only two bathrooms either for extra showers or worrying about their hair, and others were tearing apart the kitchen looking for food to devour. Max just put on his team jump suit and brushed his fingers through his hair ready to go so he was just sitting on the couch playing on his phone as the chaos continued all around him.

Somehow all eight members and Max were walking out the door on time. Max, Chan, Felix, Changbin, and Han in one van while Seungmin, I.N., Lee Know, and Hyunjin were in the second van. Luckily Max’s first game was a home game at the academy’s playing field. The ride was spent with the four members trying to hype Max up for the game and saying, more like yelling, how they were excited to watch him play in person for the first time.

Upon arriving at the separate game day building Max and the members had to go their separate ways. Chan and his “kids” followed the signs to the home team side of the stands. Climbing up the stairs they were shocked with how many people were already sitting around talking, waiting for the game to start. Maximus on the other hand followed the other signs going to the game day locker rooms where he was met with the teammates he had been training with all week. Everyone was at their own spots talking with each other, just overall having a good time as they got ready. Max greeted the other players as he passed them to his own locker with his practice uniform and started to get changed.

After a few minutes the coach and assistant coach walked into the locker room to go over different plays one more time before the team went out to the pitch to get warmed up on one half of the field and the other team did the same on the other half as the people in the stands cheered. While stretching Max looked over at the stands to the crowd, he got a little nervous since there were at least double the amount of people he was used to playing in front of, but those nerves went away almost instantly when he saw the eight goofballs in the stands waving wildly at him making more noise than everyone else. It made Max smile, probably the biggest smile the band had seen on his face all week. He even waved back at them letting the band know that he loved having them there to support him. The team continued warming up by taking free kicks, juggling the balls on their feet, and running passing drills before it was time to head back into the locker rooms to change their shirts into their game jerseys.

When the teams went back out onto the pitch to line up with the refs the crowd was even louder than before. Both teams, with refs between them, stood as South Korea’s national anthem played followed by the teams slapping hands. The two team captains shook hands with the refs and each other before returning to their own teams on the side lines.

The coaches talked with the starting players one more time before sending them on the field to have the game begin.