GLOW-UP

31 | when disaster strikes

johnny seo was an asset to the college ice hockey team, and you could even say he was the star player on many occasions. he'd been playing ice hockey since he was young, and the sport had quickly become an obsession. he was the ace and everyone knew it.

but not today.

johnny missed pass after pass, even when jaehyun hit the hockey puck so perfectly in his direction. and when he finally caught a pass from yuta across the ice, johnny took a shot towards the goal... and missed it entirely. johnny knew he was off his game - everyone could tell. you didn't have to be a hockey expert to see that he was fucking it up for his whole team.

johnny just couldn't focus on the game, and the reason why filled him with a rush of anger.

he'd messed up - big time. shoot! and maybe it was better to just let taeil go instead of clinging onto a shread of hope that things could go the way he wanted them to. miss... again.

even yuta's groan of disappointment was audible, as much as he tried to hide it.

after twenty long minutes of awful game play on johnny's part, the whistle finally blew to signify the end of the first part of the game. the college team skated over to their defending goal for the intermission, all of them looking downcast and frustrated. more than a few irritated looks were thrown johnny's way.

"right," the coach sighed, "things aren't looking good out there and i'm going to be honest, they're battering us. you guys are all going to have to up your game if we want to win this one."

"some more than others," jaehyun muttered under his breath, looking exhausted already.

"alright, i get it, jae," johnny spat angrily, "we all know i'm playing like shit today, i'm sorry, jesus."

"hey," the coach interrupted with a frown, "less of the attitude, seo. you all need to pull together, not drive each other apart. take a breather and do better, okay?"

shaking his head, the coach wandered away from the team to collect his thoughts and leave them to discuss the first third of the match amongst themselves. mark leapt up from the substitute bench outside the rink, hovering around the team who looked pretty discouraged.

"guys," yuta spoke up, breaking the silence that hung in the icy air, "come on, it's not like we've never played badly before. we can bring this back!"

yuta's words and that smile of his brightened a few team members, but a few (including johnny and jaehyun) still held onto their deep frowns and stormy expressions.

"we'd be doing fine," jaehyun huffed, "if we didn't have one idiot ruining it for us. put mark on instead." he was looking pale now, beads of sweat standing out on his forehead, finding it difficult to recover.

"oh, fuck off already," johnny shot back, too caught up in his own frustration and shame to let it slide, "it's not like you're exactly man of the match today either."

yuta laughed nervously, eyeing the pair of them who were usually the best of friends. "uh... guys, come on-"

"shut up, yuta," they growled almost in unison.

"guys, you're back on!"

after a quick team talk with the coach which turned into a short yet grumpy strategy meeting, the team went back on for the second twenty minutes of game time. the match resumed, with the college team still holding in at a score far below their competition. but johnny's technique still failed to improve, and jaehyun continued to strain himself to try and make up for johnny's mistakes.

"johnny, pass!" he called towards the end of the second section of the game, breathing heavily from where he was skating past the opposing team members.