shot clock || na jaemin (the court series #1)

quarter two: minute five

going to school had never been easy, but now, jaemin felt like it was the single hardest thing on the planet. it had been easy to put on his uniform, hands moving on autopilot to casually leave the shirt unbuttoned, leaving the white shirt he was wearing on display, just the way he always wore it. it had been easy to grab a quick breakfast (a banana milk from the fridge), ignoring the fact that the house was empty, just like usual. his father was too busy at the hospital once more to see jaemin off to school. 

he got on the motorcycle as usual, the car being used by his father, pulling up to jisung's house as normal. he waves goodbye to mrs. park, allowing jisung onto the back of the motorcycle. neither of them say a word all the way to school.

but now that he's here, standing next to his parked motorcycle, ignoring the whispers and superficial comments that he used to love so much, it all feels too stupid. as if he were supposed to be somewhere else. doing something else. with someone else. 

it's all too suffocating and now jaemin can't breathe, and jisung's looking at him worriedly and renjun is calling his name and haechan is talking to sooyoung and oh fuck - sooyoung.

her eyes are red-rimmed, her usually pristine air of self-confidence is wilted and she looks like a goddamn mess. sooyoung, the girl who was so calm and poised all the time, wore her grief plainly on her face, raw and emotional. 

it felt as if for the four of them (jisoo included), the entire world had changed, even if everything was the same. and although jisung, renjun, haechan, and chenle had came to the funeral, they didn't understand. they couldn't understand. 

they didn't have scars on their feet from running barefoot. they weren't in the room when mrs. park died. they weren't there for the moments where the three of them felt like the walls were closing in on them. which wasn't really their fault; they really did try their best. they did everything they were supposed to do as friends: they came to the funeral, they directed people to the correct areas when jeno and sooyoung couldn't find the words to say anything, and they were managing the entire team on their own. their coach, manager, captain, and ace were all knocked out for three weeks. 

they were the ones who had continued to play games and lead their school to victory again and again, forcing themselves to ignore the glaring absence of jeno's gentle smile or jaemin's whoop of victory. of coach lee's proud gaze, and even serena's calculating one. 

it felt empty. 

they all felt empty. 

and that's how it was for the next couple of days. the boys would show up at practice, coach lee would be absentmindedly listing off drills, serena would watch them with a keen eye but with little feedback to offer, and jisoo would sit on the bleachers, watching the worlds of four young adults turn upside down.

and she couldn't just stand by and watch it happen. what happened to jeno and sooyoung's mom was a pain she could never understand, never fully heal, but she was damn sure that she wasn't going to let it become something that would consume them. any of them.

so she meets up with the rest of the dream team (jisung, renjun, haechan, and chenle, who was practically on the team at this point) and decides to stage an intervention.

deciding to stage an intervention regarding some of the most brilliantly stubborn idiots she had ever met was jisoo's first mistake. her second one was deciding to consult the brilliantly stubborn idiots' best friends.

it was just gonna be a small get together, the eight of them and a late night drive to the beach, but of course, of course, everything had gone wrong.

jisoo and the dreamies wanted to surprise jeno, jaemin, and sooyoung - which meant there was lots of sneaking around, private conversations that jeno watched on with a tongue in his cheek, and too many instances of almost being caught. 

which resulting in jeno getting jealous, jaemin feeling left out, and sooyoung getting more and more suspicious of jisoo. 

not good.

and as if things couldn't get any worse, the van they had decided to rent, the only car that would actually fit all eight of them in one place, was no longer available to them because someone was using it for a funeral. a funeral.

and as her luck would have it, she was at jeno and sooyoung's on speaker phone, when they told her that the van had now become a hearse.

which led to not only more questioning, but more withdrawal from all the lee's. even coach.

"this is not working," jisoo huffs, dropping her backpack on the bench. jisung rolls his eyes.

"you're telling me? jeno's been giving me the stink eye for the past three days because he thinks i'm fucking his girlfriend! me! i'm jeno's favorite," jisung exclaims, accepting the lollipop chenle extends. renjun kicks at the gravel, the five of them waiting for haechan's arrival to finally commence the light night drive plan. 

"why didn't we just tell them we were planning all this again?" chenle asks, sticking a blue raspberry into his mouth. the four of them pause, looking at each other.

"i know this was supposed to be a surprise and all, but wouldn't it have been easier if we just, i don't know, told them? i mean, why were we so insistent on making this a surprise anyway?" renjun muses, examining his root beer lollipop. 

"because if we didn't, they would never agreed," says a voice approaching them. jisoo looks up to see haechan looking a little frazzled, hair mussed and buttons on his shirt done haphazardly.

"you seriously kept us waiting because you were getting some?" renjun deadpans, just about ready to sock haechan in the stomach. haechan glares at him and shakes his head.

"no, no. i had to talk to coach lee. i know we're doing this whole intervention thing for jeno, jaems, and serena, but i don't know...coach lee just lost the love of his life. for the second time. he doesn't seem okay..." haechan trails off, fixing the buttons on his shirt. 

"and that's why you look like you just made out with someone?" chenle asks somewhat sarcastically. haechan flips him off, eyes flitting to jisoo before opening his mouth once more.

"coach lee wanted to give the title of team captain to me. he thinks jeno isn't in the right state of mind to continue being captain. obviously, i managed to convince him that jeno was more than good enough to be captain, but he made me run laps," haechan says with a sigh. sitting down on the bench besides jisoo.

the four of them are stunned into silence.

sure, jeno wasn't playing up to his regular standard but he had just lost his mom after finding out that she came to korea for the sole reason of making things right with him.

that's a lot of pressure on a kid.

taking away his captainship would be like taking away the only anchor jeno had tying him down to his peacefulness, instead of letting himself fly away into the depths of his anger. it was a lot of pressure, but it was also one of the best things in his life. jisoo would know.

it was one of the things that made her fall for him in the first place.

and then it strikes her.

"i know what we're going to do for our intervention. we're going to help all of them by doing what they do best," jisoo says, getting up excitedly. she starts to run in the direction of the gym before realizing the boys weren't following her, sharing confused looks.

"come on! we're gonna play ball!"

+++

a/n: i promise, all the angsty is finally coming to an end. tbh, i was not expecting this book to take this kind of turn at all. i was gonna make it all wattpad-y, with a bunch of cute little anecdotes and a huge focus on the actual basketball component but i think i like how this turned out. it's so much more realistic! but that being said, after the half-time chapter, which is in like three more chapters, the book takes a much more light-hearted turn.

what do you guys think of this chapter? is coach lee okay? what exactly is jisoo's intervention? 

i hope you guys have a great day today lovelies! mwah 💋