When Hyerim signed up for her school's newsletter club and was placed in charge of sport photography, she didn't expect to form an unlikely friendship with the captain of the ice hockey team, Lee Haechan.
❆ High School Sport AU
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Hyerim woke up in the morning to the buzz of her alarm on her nightstand. Groaning, she rolled over to tap on her phone, hoping to hit the snooze button somehow, but to no avail. She sat up properly this time, taking the phone and turning off the alarm, before sitting there, staring into space.
It was only then that she was acutely aware of the stench of alcohol and weed that lingered on the top that she was wearing. Looking down, she realised that she was still wearing the graphic shirt from last night, but with a pair of her safety shorts instead.
She had a fuzzy memory of Haechan carrying her to her room, helping her take her makeup off and getting her to change into pajama pants. Mentally, she noted to herself to buy him a meal one day to thank him.
Hauling herself up from her bed, she started getting ready for the day.
❆
Hyerim walked towards her locker, spotting a familiar mop of dirty blonde hair waiting there for her, a gigantic smile on his face.
"Good morning," Haechan happily chirped, leaning against the locker beside hers as she put her stuff away and got ready for her first class.
"Hey," Hyerim greeted, giving him a small smile as she busied herself.
Even though she wouldn't admit it, she was grateful for the boy's company. Being a massive introvert who was painfully shy, she was never the type to purposefully approach people to start conversations or friendships. And even though Haechan was annoying sometimes, she was thankful that he looked out for her, and made time out of his schedule to hang out with her.
Hell, he had even sat with her a few times during lunch instead of with his usual table of noisy, rowdy, loud hockey players.
Hyerim could tell that he liked attention, as did all other men at the ripe age of 18. But he was different with her - quiet when he needed to be, careful not to put the spotlight on her as he could tell she didn't like it. It was like he could read her like an open book.
She snapped out of her thoughts, realising she had been standing there unmoving.
"Thank you for last night, by the way. You really didn't have to do all of that, I must've been heavy," she bit her lip, feeling bad that the boy had heaved her all the way from the car to her bed.
Haechan shook his head. "It's all good." He gave her a smile, leaning his head on the locker while he watched her grab her waterbottle. "I'll walk you to class. C'mon, you're gonna be late."
The two teenagers walked side by side to the humanities department, pace slow and steady.
"By the way, how did you know the code to my door?"
"You tried to type it in, like, 10 times the other day, and I guess I just kinda memorised it."
"Ohh, I see," Hyerim mused. "Man, you must be experienced at this. Even knew to take off my makeup and everything. How many girls have you done this to?" she joked, but deep inside she secretly did want to know.
