YOONGI POV:
"Aren't you excited hyung??" Tae buzzes in my ear, vibrating off his seat with excitement.
"Yes! But you need to sit down the game's about to start." Lips twitching as he leans far over the edge of the barrier to peer down onto the rink, head twisting around to stare at me with disbelief.
"And miss Joon and Jiminie coming out onto the rink? The teams' sizing each other up is one of the best bits!"
"You just love screaming on the top of your lungs when they get into lineup."
"What can I say? I'm a cheerleader at heart. I know you are too hyung." gaze pointed, sly.
All but a few fractions of a second before his hand darts forward to twist into my jacket and yank me upwards beside him, my side pulled into the barrier with the force of his excitement.
"When they come out yell out their names as loud as you can."
"They're not going to be able to hear us-"
"Look! The teams are coming out!" hand shaking me with excitement, his loud hollers ringing in my ears as both teams come skate out slowly to line up behind their captains.
The other team's captain looks as if one shoulder-nudge from Joon will send him toppling; heavily overpowered by how huge Joon looks, height even taller with the skates.
I almost feel a pang of pity.
Almost.
"Kim Namjoon! Park Jimin! Kim Namjoon! Park Jimin-come on hyung!"
"Kim Namjoon... Park Jimin... Kim Namjoon-"
"Park Jimin I LOVE YOU!"
Drowning out my own cheers, Tae's proclamation sends a scatter of laughter and cheers around the crowd, seems to renew the cheering for the team with a louder, near deafening roar of hollers. Face split with his smile, eyes shining, cheeks already pink with cold and how he's buzzing with giddiness, leaning past to watch as the teams split off, captains handshake signalling them to line into their formation, spreading out across the ice.
There's a stiff, tightly-coiled alertness in the team's stance; recognising the look of nerves, of such a high stake match.
On or off ice the pre-game anxiety is always the same and I recognise the tightness in Joon and Jimin's spine as one I feel in my own bones as an echo of.
"You'll play great!" but the words are lost in the overhead echo of commentary beginning to list the line-up and the team's sponsors.
But Tae hears it.
"They will won't they? And then when they win one more match-they get to become the National team-"
"They have to compete for Nationals."
"Sure but they'll get it!" a whispered hush.
But it becomes apparent when the game starts that something's off about their gameplay.
The first few minutes seem to be a rushed blur of figures zooming across the ice, moves indistinguishable and the commentary blurring over my ears just as quick; a rapid fire of observations that I can't see and pick out myself with how hurried it all feels.
It's disjointed. Clunky. Awkward.
Their entire gameplay is off.
It's unlike theirs.
It's nothing like the way they usually play at all.
Hard on the offence, blindly trying to score goals, rushed and uncoordinated, the team out of sync with each other's moves.
YOU ARE READING
On Thin Ice
Fiksi PenggemarYou should always test the ice before you go to stand on it. You should test the limits and strengths of the ice before you entrust yourself to it. You should trust the slippery solidness of the ice before you become one with it.
