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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Arriving at the ice rink with Jihee in tow, the two girls searched for a seat, managing to find one at the front again. Jihee was giddy with excitement - Hyerim was not.
"Stop moving around so much, jeez," Hyerim complained as Jihee jostled around, not being able to stay still in excitement.
"The hockey team has all the hot guys, I'm fucking excited," Jihee squealed out while smacking Hyerim's arm multiple times, the girl shouting out in protest.
They sat there, waiting for the arena to fill up, before Hyerim heard her name being called.
"Mark!" She smiled at the boy who walked over, taking a seat next to Hyerim. They greeted each other with Jihee looking curiously at the pair.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce her. Mark, this is Jihee, my roommate and friend. Jihee, this is Mark, a second grader. We've known each other since high school."
The two greeted each other, and while Mark was out of earshot, talking to one of his friends that came up to him, Jihee whispered into Hyerim's ear, "he's cute."
Hyerim rolled her eyes, shooting Jihee a look before the stadium lights dimmed, the crowd cheering in anticipation.
The thudding of doors sounded, and they swung open, the Yonsei university players coming out of them, and the opposite side of the stadium stood up, hollering.
After they had finished greeting the crowd, the other doors flew open, the Korea university players skating out. Jihee and Mark stood up on the benches, yelling loudly. Hyerim found herself being pulled up by Jihee, forced to stand on the bench.
Grumbling as they sat back down, Hyerim squinted her eyes at the rink where the players were getting into position. Haechan's purple hair stood out as he stood in the centre of the rink, knees bent as he was eye to eye with the opposing team's centre.
Haechan the ace.
She had missed seeing him in his zone. On ice, he seemed to transform into a completely different person - no longer the immature little highschooler she once knew, but a grown man. He was calm, in control, and exuded leadership although he wasn't the captain of the team as he was only a second-year.
The referee skated to the centre holding the puck, and the arena went silent as they waited for the puck to drop.
And as soon as it hit the ice, the crowd roared again. The game was reminiscent to the ones in high school, a sense of nostalgia flooding through Hyerim as she watched Haechan snag the puck first, dribbling it along the ice as he crossed it, dodging the opposition's attacks expertly before batting it to his teammate, immediately skating to a free spot to take the puck again.
No one was able to intercept him. He seemed unstoppable, predicting the opposition's defenders who swarmed to steal the puck. Haechan would always swerve them, or bat the puck to another player, only to have it batted back to him.
