dicey ↬ nomin

Ch.25

It was Day Two of the sports festival, yesterday having concluded with the five-hundred-metre sprint and the partnered long jump. The first competition of the day was a doubles soccer match and Chenle and Jisung were gearing up. The younger was wearing a sports band to keep his pink hair off his face and Chenle was wearing a few bobby pins to pin back his fringe.

"Let's do well," Chenle smiled cutely and adjusted one of the pins as he jogged on the spot.

Jisung nodded and cracked his knuckles. "Our teamwork is pretty good for two guys who weren't overly close before. I think we'll win." He examined the miniature soccer field that had been marked up with a really bad paint job. The two were standing by their goal to prepare while the other duo they were competing against were doing the same.

Chenle nervously raised his hand for a high five, not knowing if Jisung was the type to return them. Thankfully, Jisung thought the boy was very cute and returned the gesture. "I'm so nervous," Chenle whined as his hands shook and his heart pounded. He knew that a lot of eyes were going to be watching him since there were only four people on the field per round. It made him self-conscious.

The taller boy - having noticed the unease - slipped Chenle's hand into his and gave it a gentle squeeze. He fixed one of the stray pins after noticing that it was allowing Chenle's fringe to fall onto his face and offered an encouraging smile, garnering a tentative one in return and a gentle squeeze back. "It's okay if we don't win."

Chenle nodded and looked down at their connected hands, noticing how Jisung adjusted it so that his hand was the one behind. He had suspicions about this pink haired taller boy, but if he was correct, then he didn't know how to help or what to do. He'd leave that discussion for another day, though. "It's starting now," he ushered and they let go of each other's hands, walking to the middle of the field and giving a generic 'good luck' to the other two boys as a sportsmanship gesture.

The game began and Jisung snatched the ball confidently. He dribbled it up towards the goal, dodging a few intercepting legs and swinging it across to Chenle, who was able to carry it the rest of the way. He was faster than his marker, making it an easy steal when the ball slid ceremoniously into the unguarded goal with a swift kick. The net swished with the impact.

"Well done!" Jisung grinned and gave a quick high five before running to mark his player.

The other team alternated their possession of the ball, passing across the goal line to tantalise the pair and annoy them. As they were about to shoot, Chenle slipped his foot in and stole the ball, quite surprised with himself. In his surprise, he nearly stopped moving if not for Jisung who was coaxing him to run quickly. Instead, he just passed it to him, afraid that he'd lose possession of it if he dribbled.

"Go Jisung!" He called happily and tried to keep up with him. Their opponents were running after him too, still a bit slower than Chenle, but nearly closing the distance. Jisung shot into the goal, giving them a two-point advantage. "Awesome!" Chenle beamed and patted his partner's back affectionately.

"At least neither of us have two left feet," he joked and wiped a sheet of sweat off his forehead, panting. He was a good sprinter, but not the best. His adrenaline usually enhanced his speed.

"Let's go," the Chinese boy mused and gestured to the other team, who were getting ready to kick off the play. He caught his breath before jogging over to his marker to defend. Unfortunately, the other boy received the ball, leaving Chenle to pursue him on quick feet. He could catch up to him fine but he struggled to tackle, opting to psych him out instead by gentle driving him to step over the side line mid-sprint. The boy slowly felt the pressure Chenle was putting on him and only realised when it was too late that he had gone too diagonally to recover, stepping over the side line and deeming the ball out of his possession.