Hide & Seek

☀ Notice

Freshman year, June.

"Damn, Daehyun seriously sucks at soccer."

Jaehyo stretches himself, the whole team watching Daehyun scamper off to a corner to get the ball. Yongguk squints as Daehyun slows down, head lowered, and picks up the ball.

Hongbin scratches his head, muttering to himself, "He was pretty good the other day. No kidding; we were all telling him to join the soccer team."

"Let's just not have anymore soccer bonding sessions, Changmin-hyung. All we've been doing is waiting for Daehyun to pick up the damn ball," Jiho laughs.

"Yeah, captain. Man, if I was that guy at the end, I'd be laughing my ass off," Jongin scoffs, grinning as he wipes away the trail of sweat down his neck.

Yifan elbows him in the ribs, snorting. "The weather's perfect and you're still sweating like a f**king whale."

The two get into a half tussle, yelling at one another and tumbling across the field. Yongguk leans against the goalpost, carefully inspecting the boy in the corner. It'd been the third time Daehyun had kicked the ball all the way out of the field, towards the same direction. All three times, it landed somewhere near the left side of the stands, where a student has been sitting for a while.

Yongguk peers harder, unable to recognise the boy in the far end corner, engrossed in his laptop. Daehyun pauses in his run, picking up the ball after a short while and jogging back.

"Sorry," Daehyun mumbles. He kicks the ball towards the middle of the field, them resuming their game.

About fifteen minutes in, Daehyun kicks the ball out again. He sheepishly runs a hand down his neck while Yifan knuckles him on the forehead, pushing him towards the ball. The ball goes further this time, hitting against the stands and startling the boy sitting there. He stands, peering at the ball, and ambles down the steps. Daehyun instantly stops in his tracks.

The boy scrunches up his nose, kicking the ball lightly to Daehyun with a smile.

"Hyung!" A sudden voice has the team turning their heads towards the entrance, Jaebum sprinting in with the store keys in his hand.

"I checked the notice. Three day return for the strings, thank god," Jaebum breathes a sigh of relief, dropping the keys into Yongguk's hand.

"You're lucky," Yongguk chuckles, ruffling the boy's hair. "Are you gonna join us?"

Jaebum shakes his head, jogging off the field. "I can't; my friend's been waiting for me since forever, hyung. Bye guys!"

He dashes towards the boy in the corner, yelling his head off. "Youngjae! Youngjae!"

"Im Jaebum, do you want the whole world you hear you?" The boy, presumably Youngjae, shoots back with a laugh and is tugged into a headlock. The pair walk out of the field, hearty chatter dwindling away.

"Ah, the innocence of little freshmen," Changmin sings, digging his shoe into the mud. "Wait till you get to senior year. That's when the hell comes."

Daehyun stands motionlessly with one foot on the ball, glancing at the two distancing figures.

"Daehyun."

The boy snaps his head towards Changmin who is staring at him quizzically. Yongguk furrows his eyebrows, noting the look of distraction on Daehyun's face.

"Oh, right." He rolls the ball towards Jaehyo, sauntering back onto the field.