[Summer; American Football] Champions; The Injury
Title: Champions: The Injury
Author: taemkerbell
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: K-pop (EXO, Lu Han, SHINee, Red Velvet)
Pairing(s)/Focus: mostly general football bro interactions with slight Sehun/Joy, Jinki/Victoria, Joonmyeon/Irene, bffs!XiuHan
Length: 2,206
Summary: Football AU/Slice of Life. Five games into a so-far perfect season, an unexpected injury throws the Wolves into uncertainty.
Warnings: game related injuries with blood involved, vomiting.
Notes: This is an AU and I have taken extreme liberties with the process of college football games and the injuries involved. However, I did try to write the game play sequence as accurately as possible. I hope it is coherent enough for those who may not have knowledge of the game. Enjoy!
They break from the huddle with a clap, Chanyeol’s call still ringing in their ears. They’re only down by three points, but with only three and half minutes left on the clock, it’s a gutsy call. They need to get to the 30 yard line for a first down. It’s third down now, third and seven. Even if they can’t get to the 30, two more yards to put them at 35 will give Jongin more than enough room to nail a kick to even the score and send them to overtime.
Sehun lines up wide, Taemin in the slot, Baekhyun at tight end to round them out on the left. Jongin is far right, with Minho in the slot. Chanyeol steps back, alone in the backfield, his eyes moving over the line in front of him before he glances at the play clock. Minseok is already starting to set, Luhan and Jinki on his left, Joonmyeon and Yixing to his right.
It’s like a bomb goes off when Chanyeol calls for the snap.
Minho and Taemin shoot off the line, headed for a crossing route a few yard out across midfield, defenders closing on them quickly. Jongin and Sehun run the sidelines, both wide open for the moment and waiting for Chanyeol or the opposing team to notice.
Amidst the heavy breathing and the sharp sound of helmets and pads slamming together, Chanyeol notices the whole line shifting to the left, an end, a tackle, and two linebackers trying to break through. He curses under his breath, his plan to get a short pass to Baekhyun completely blown as he sees Baekhyun step toward Jinki, holding the pocket for Chanyeol. The shift to the left leaves Yixing and Joonmyeon handling the right.
Chanyeol steps up, secure in the pocket as he spots Sehun, wide open on the left sideline. He pulls back, planning to let it fly. There’s no one within ten yards of Sehun, a miracle with the way their opponent has been playing pass coverage tonight.
Minseok goes down, his cleats slipping in the mud, and the other defensive tackle pushing between Minseok and Joonmyeon just has the ball starts to leave Chanyeol’s fingers. It’s too late, he can’t pull it down and tuck it under his arm. Baekhyun isn’t expecting a pass now so he’s not going to look back.
The only thing Chanyeol can do is close his eyes and wait for the impact.
It’s a hard hit, clean, and he meets the ground hard enough for it to knock the breath out of him, the defensive tackle scrambling over him on his knees chasing after the fumble.
The screaming starts then.
Sehun sees the play fall apart right before his eyes, and shakes his head, running back toward the line to offer a little help with defense if he can. He sees Baekhyun on all fours, fingers pulling at the strap of his helmet before he can yank it off. “Hyung! What are you doing!? The play’s not dead! Ge-”
Baekhyun vomits the second his helmet clears his head, blue Gatorade and whatever else splatters over the yard lines. “Oh my god,” he says repeatedly, and Sehun can barely hear it over the sound coming from the line of scrimmage.
Sehun sees a flag thrown onto the field from the corner of his eye, a whistle sounding finally, probably because of Baekhyun pulling his helmet off mid play. Taemin runs up to them. “What the hell is-Jesus, Baekhyun!” He gags at the sight.
Normally, Sehun would laugh at the sight of someone having sympathy vomits, but this isn’t normal.
The sound that is coming from the pile of bodies on the field is anything but normal.
“I heard it,” Baekhyun says, staggering to his feet. “I heard it, but I didn’t see until I went down and I-” He gags again, his face gone stark white under his bangs. “Lu Han, he, I don’t know, I don’t know what it was, but Lu Han-” He turns and vomits again, this time on Jongin’s cleats as he runs over and stops next to them.
“Oh my god, that’s disgusting. What happened? What is that sound?” Jongin asks, shaking his feet to get the worst of Baekhyun’s stomach’s contents off.
The sound is coming from Lu Han. None of them are sure what to say about it other than it is the most ungodly and pained scream any of them have ever heard in their lives. The opposing team clears away and they can all see Minseok on his knees, pulling Lu Han’s head onto his thighs as the team doctors stream onto the field.
“Someone get his arms! Hold him down!” Minseok yells. Joonmyeon and Jinki scramble over, pulling Lu Han’s hands away from his facemask and pinning him to the ground. Minseok manages to get Lu Han’s helmet off and puts a gentle hand over Lu Han’s eyes.
“Don’t look, Han, for god’s sake, don’t look at it,” they all hear Minseok say just as Minho joins them.
“It hurts,” Lu Han screams, his body twisting against the ground and his teammates. “It hurts!!!”
The receivers and Baekhyun look on in horror as Chanyeol moves to grab Lu Han’s left leg and hold it down so he can’t move anymore. The team doctors are the only one’s daring to touch Lu Han’s right leg and even then they only put enough pressure on his thigh to keep him from flailing as they examine the injury.
“Oh god,” Taemin says, turning away quickly at the sight.
It’s bad. They can all the see sliver of bone that has ripped through the skin a couple of inches below Lu Han’s left knee, blood from the wound being soaked up by his sock.
There are tears running down Lu Han’s face as they load him onto the cart to take him off the field, his eyes wide and frightened.
“We’ll be right behind you,” Minseok says, clinging to his hand. “As soon as the game is over, we’ll all be there, okay?” The rest of them nod in agreement, faces pale and solemn.
They all drift off the toward the sideline as the cart heads toward the field house. The fumble was recovered by the other team, and though the penalty for Baekhyun’s helmet removal gave them good field position, they managed to hold them to their three point lead.
--
All of them quickly shed their uniforms before rushing to the hospital, hoping to make it before the doctor took Lu Han back for the surgery their coach informed them would be taking place as soon as possible.
Lu Han looks so small lying on the bed in the pre-op room, his skin nearly matching the sheets. He’s a little drugged, a sad goofy looking grin crossing his face when they all filed into this room, each of them leaning over the bed and avoiding the IV stand as they hug him before the doctors take him away.
It’s been a couple of hours and it’s nearly midnight. Four hours later, the time is nearing midnight. The whole team has set up camp inside the waiting room outside the local hospital’s operating room. The room is eerily quiet considering how rowdy fourteen college boys can be on a regular basis.
The cheerleaders had been kind enough to bring food for all of them. Joonmyeon and Jinki had bowed and thanked the co-captains, Irene and Victoria, so profusely and yet none of the other boys cracked a smile at their antics.
Even when the girls took their leave, asking someone to call and let them know when Lu Han’s surgery finished, and Sehun and Joy shared a quiet hug, the usual kissy kissy~ taunts from Taemin, Jongin, and Baekhyun were silent.
Now, the youngest boys are piled onto a couch. Jongin fast asleep with his head pillowed on Taemin’s thigh, Sehun sleeping on Taemin’s shoulder while Taemin himself has his head tipped back onto the cushion, mouth open as he sleeps
Kyungsoo, Jongdae, Jonghyun, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun are flipping through the few channels on the TV trying to find something to keep themselves awake.
Yixing and Minseok are on speaker phone with Lu Han’s family, speaking quietly in Mandarin while Minho and Kibum wait for Minseok to translate for them.
Jinki and Joonmyeon have put themselves into the farthest corner of the room, watching over the rest of them. They’re exhausted as well, and unfortunately, some things need to be discussed quickly between the captains.
“You know we have to do something,” Jinki says quietly.
Joonmyeon heaves a sigh, wiping a hand over his face. “I know. I thought we’d be done with all the bad shit when we had to boot Yifan and Zitao during preseason.”
“Me too,” Jinki agrees. “With Lu Han out though, we really don’t have anyone else we can move to the line. He was our best. The easiest replacement is Baekhyun.”
“But we can’t lose him at tight end. Chanyeol relies on that option so much in a pinch and it works nine times out of ten,” reasons Joonmyeon.
“You’re not moving me.”
The captains look up to see Baekhyun and Chanyeol making their way over. The quarterback turns, dropping to the floor, folding his long legs up as he tucks himself between Jinki and Joonmyeon’s knees.
“He’s right. You can’t have him,” Chanyeol says, reaching up to tug Baekhyun down beside him.
Baekhyun leans against Joonmyeon’s knees, looking up at him and Jinki. “You can’t break up the dynamic duo.” He yawns, clinging to Joonmyeon’s legs.
“You could always ask for walk ons.” Joonmyeon looks up to see Taemin dropping down into the Baekhyun and Chanyeol pile at their feet, the youngest leaning into Jinki’s legs.
“Did you guys forget that we are the captains?” Jinki asks with a gentle smile, looking over to the spot Taemin vacated, and seeing Jongin and Sehun curled around each other like sleeping puppies.
“Nope,” Jongdae pipes up, pulling a chair over to the little group in the corner. “We just like to provide suggestions from time to time. And walk ons aren’t a bad idea.”
Taemin nods. “I told you. I even know some guys that wanted to go out for the team but we’re recruited, Moonkyu and Yoon San.”
“Oh yeah! Moonkyu definitely got the build for line, and would help make up for Yifan’s loss of height too,” Chanyeol agrees. He whines when Jinki, Joonmyeon, and Baekhyun all reach out to pinch him. “I’m just saying!”
A nurse opens the door to the waiting room then, a surprised look on her face at the amount of people in the room. “Lu family?”
Everyone jerks upright, even Jongin and Sehun who rub sleepily at their eyes.
Jinki and Joonmyeon stand. “We’re his teammates. His family won’t be here for a while. They’re in China,” Jinki says.
The nurse looks a bit taken aback with all of the attention on her. “Your coach?”
“He stepped out for a bit, family matters, but he’ll be back within the hour,” Joonmyeon says. He can’t fault the man for going home to change after the game and see his tiny new baby for a bit. They’d all be lying if they said they hadn’t nearly pushed the man out the door.
Minseok and Yixing step closer. “We have his parents on the line now. His mother will be here late tomorrow evening. She’s catching the first flight out of Beijing. If you’re willing to give us the update, we can translate for you?” Minseok offers.
“I’m not supposed to-Not without family consent-”
Yixing fires off a question in Mandarin and there’s a quick response from the phone. “She gives consent. You can tell us.”
The nurse must be able to hear the apprehension in Lu Han’s mother’s voice because her face softens. “He’s out of surgery. He’s doing perfectly fine, just sleeping now, and we have him on painkillers. We can’t let any of you in to see him since it’s after visiting hours, but you can come back first thing in the morning.”
Yixing translates for Lu Han’s mother quickly.
Everyone shuffles around the room picking up their belongings while Yixing and Minseok continue to act as the middlemen between the nurse and Lu Han’s family.
Jinki and Joonmyeon tell everyone they’ll text them about the Sunday team meeting later, getting nods and yawns in reply. Everyone thanks the nurse as she leaves the room.
Minseok tugs at Joonmyeon’s sleeve as they start out of the room. “Han’s mom asked the nurse if it was okay for me to stay with him tonight. She doesn’t want him to be alone when he wakes up,” he says, a little laugh bursting out of him at that. “Like he’s a little kid.”
Joonmyeon smiles. “That’s good then. You can skip the meeting tomorrow if you need to. Try to get some sleep though, okay?”
Minseok gives a little salute and waves as they all head down the hallway.
The question is on everyone’s mind is the same: Even though Lu Han is okay, is the team?
--
Author: taemkerbell
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: K-pop (EXO, Lu Han, SHINee, Red Velvet)
Pairing(s)/Focus: mostly general football bro interactions with slight Sehun/Joy, Jinki/Victoria, Joonmyeon/Irene, bffs!XiuHan
Length: 2,206
Summary: Football AU/Slice of Life. Five games into a so-far perfect season, an unexpected injury throws the Wolves into uncertainty.
Warnings: game related injuries with blood involved, vomiting.
Notes: This is an AU and I have taken extreme liberties with the process of college football games and the injuries involved. However, I did try to write the game play sequence as accurately as possible. I hope it is coherent enough for those who may not have knowledge of the game. Enjoy!
They break from the huddle with a clap, Chanyeol’s call still ringing in their ears. They’re only down by three points, but with only three and half minutes left on the clock, it’s a gutsy call. They need to get to the 30 yard line for a first down. It’s third down now, third and seven. Even if they can’t get to the 30, two more yards to put them at 35 will give Jongin more than enough room to nail a kick to even the score and send them to overtime.
Sehun lines up wide, Taemin in the slot, Baekhyun at tight end to round them out on the left. Jongin is far right, with Minho in the slot. Chanyeol steps back, alone in the backfield, his eyes moving over the line in front of him before he glances at the play clock. Minseok is already starting to set, Luhan and Jinki on his left, Joonmyeon and Yixing to his right.
It’s like a bomb goes off when Chanyeol calls for the snap.
Minho and Taemin shoot off the line, headed for a crossing route a few yard out across midfield, defenders closing on them quickly. Jongin and Sehun run the sidelines, both wide open for the moment and waiting for Chanyeol or the opposing team to notice.
Amidst the heavy breathing and the sharp sound of helmets and pads slamming together, Chanyeol notices the whole line shifting to the left, an end, a tackle, and two linebackers trying to break through. He curses under his breath, his plan to get a short pass to Baekhyun completely blown as he sees Baekhyun step toward Jinki, holding the pocket for Chanyeol. The shift to the left leaves Yixing and Joonmyeon handling the right.
Chanyeol steps up, secure in the pocket as he spots Sehun, wide open on the left sideline. He pulls back, planning to let it fly. There’s no one within ten yards of Sehun, a miracle with the way their opponent has been playing pass coverage tonight.
Minseok goes down, his cleats slipping in the mud, and the other defensive tackle pushing between Minseok and Joonmyeon just has the ball starts to leave Chanyeol’s fingers. It’s too late, he can’t pull it down and tuck it under his arm. Baekhyun isn’t expecting a pass now so he’s not going to look back.
The only thing Chanyeol can do is close his eyes and wait for the impact.
It’s a hard hit, clean, and he meets the ground hard enough for it to knock the breath out of him, the defensive tackle scrambling over him on his knees chasing after the fumble.
The screaming starts then.
Sehun sees the play fall apart right before his eyes, and shakes his head, running back toward the line to offer a little help with defense if he can. He sees Baekhyun on all fours, fingers pulling at the strap of his helmet before he can yank it off. “Hyung! What are you doing!? The play’s not dead! Ge-”
Baekhyun vomits the second his helmet clears his head, blue Gatorade and whatever else splatters over the yard lines. “Oh my god,” he says repeatedly, and Sehun can barely hear it over the sound coming from the line of scrimmage.
Sehun sees a flag thrown onto the field from the corner of his eye, a whistle sounding finally, probably because of Baekhyun pulling his helmet off mid play. Taemin runs up to them. “What the hell is-Jesus, Baekhyun!” He gags at the sight.
Normally, Sehun would laugh at the sight of someone having sympathy vomits, but this isn’t normal.
The sound that is coming from the pile of bodies on the field is anything but normal.
“I heard it,” Baekhyun says, staggering to his feet. “I heard it, but I didn’t see until I went down and I-” He gags again, his face gone stark white under his bangs. “Lu Han, he, I don’t know, I don’t know what it was, but Lu Han-” He turns and vomits again, this time on Jongin’s cleats as he runs over and stops next to them.
“Oh my god, that’s disgusting. What happened? What is that sound?” Jongin asks, shaking his feet to get the worst of Baekhyun’s stomach’s contents off.
The sound is coming from Lu Han. None of them are sure what to say about it other than it is the most ungodly and pained scream any of them have ever heard in their lives. The opposing team clears away and they can all see Minseok on his knees, pulling Lu Han’s head onto his thighs as the team doctors stream onto the field.
“Someone get his arms! Hold him down!” Minseok yells. Joonmyeon and Jinki scramble over, pulling Lu Han’s hands away from his facemask and pinning him to the ground. Minseok manages to get Lu Han’s helmet off and puts a gentle hand over Lu Han’s eyes.
“Don’t look, Han, for god’s sake, don’t look at it,” they all hear Minseok say just as Minho joins them.
“It hurts,” Lu Han screams, his body twisting against the ground and his teammates. “It hurts!!!”
The receivers and Baekhyun look on in horror as Chanyeol moves to grab Lu Han’s left leg and hold it down so he can’t move anymore. The team doctors are the only one’s daring to touch Lu Han’s right leg and even then they only put enough pressure on his thigh to keep him from flailing as they examine the injury.
“Oh god,” Taemin says, turning away quickly at the sight.
It’s bad. They can all the see sliver of bone that has ripped through the skin a couple of inches below Lu Han’s left knee, blood from the wound being soaked up by his sock.
There are tears running down Lu Han’s face as they load him onto the cart to take him off the field, his eyes wide and frightened.
“We’ll be right behind you,” Minseok says, clinging to his hand. “As soon as the game is over, we’ll all be there, okay?” The rest of them nod in agreement, faces pale and solemn.
They all drift off the toward the sideline as the cart heads toward the field house. The fumble was recovered by the other team, and though the penalty for Baekhyun’s helmet removal gave them good field position, they managed to hold them to their three point lead.
--
All of them quickly shed their uniforms before rushing to the hospital, hoping to make it before the doctor took Lu Han back for the surgery their coach informed them would be taking place as soon as possible.
Lu Han looks so small lying on the bed in the pre-op room, his skin nearly matching the sheets. He’s a little drugged, a sad goofy looking grin crossing his face when they all filed into this room, each of them leaning over the bed and avoiding the IV stand as they hug him before the doctors take him away.
It’s been a couple of hours and it’s nearly midnight. Four hours later, the time is nearing midnight. The whole team has set up camp inside the waiting room outside the local hospital’s operating room. The room is eerily quiet considering how rowdy fourteen college boys can be on a regular basis.
The cheerleaders had been kind enough to bring food for all of them. Joonmyeon and Jinki had bowed and thanked the co-captains, Irene and Victoria, so profusely and yet none of the other boys cracked a smile at their antics.
Even when the girls took their leave, asking someone to call and let them know when Lu Han’s surgery finished, and Sehun and Joy shared a quiet hug, the usual kissy kissy~ taunts from Taemin, Jongin, and Baekhyun were silent.
Now, the youngest boys are piled onto a couch. Jongin fast asleep with his head pillowed on Taemin’s thigh, Sehun sleeping on Taemin’s shoulder while Taemin himself has his head tipped back onto the cushion, mouth open as he sleeps
Kyungsoo, Jongdae, Jonghyun, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun are flipping through the few channels on the TV trying to find something to keep themselves awake.
Yixing and Minseok are on speaker phone with Lu Han’s family, speaking quietly in Mandarin while Minho and Kibum wait for Minseok to translate for them.
Jinki and Joonmyeon have put themselves into the farthest corner of the room, watching over the rest of them. They’re exhausted as well, and unfortunately, some things need to be discussed quickly between the captains.
“You know we have to do something,” Jinki says quietly.
Joonmyeon heaves a sigh, wiping a hand over his face. “I know. I thought we’d be done with all the bad shit when we had to boot Yifan and Zitao during preseason.”
“Me too,” Jinki agrees. “With Lu Han out though, we really don’t have anyone else we can move to the line. He was our best. The easiest replacement is Baekhyun.”
“But we can’t lose him at tight end. Chanyeol relies on that option so much in a pinch and it works nine times out of ten,” reasons Joonmyeon.
“You’re not moving me.”
The captains look up to see Baekhyun and Chanyeol making their way over. The quarterback turns, dropping to the floor, folding his long legs up as he tucks himself between Jinki and Joonmyeon’s knees.
“He’s right. You can’t have him,” Chanyeol says, reaching up to tug Baekhyun down beside him.
Baekhyun leans against Joonmyeon’s knees, looking up at him and Jinki. “You can’t break up the dynamic duo.” He yawns, clinging to Joonmyeon’s legs.
“You could always ask for walk ons.” Joonmyeon looks up to see Taemin dropping down into the Baekhyun and Chanyeol pile at their feet, the youngest leaning into Jinki’s legs.
“Did you guys forget that we are the captains?” Jinki asks with a gentle smile, looking over to the spot Taemin vacated, and seeing Jongin and Sehun curled around each other like sleeping puppies.
“Nope,” Jongdae pipes up, pulling a chair over to the little group in the corner. “We just like to provide suggestions from time to time. And walk ons aren’t a bad idea.”
Taemin nods. “I told you. I even know some guys that wanted to go out for the team but we’re recruited, Moonkyu and Yoon San.”
“Oh yeah! Moonkyu definitely got the build for line, and would help make up for Yifan’s loss of height too,” Chanyeol agrees. He whines when Jinki, Joonmyeon, and Baekhyun all reach out to pinch him. “I’m just saying!”
A nurse opens the door to the waiting room then, a surprised look on her face at the amount of people in the room. “Lu family?”
Everyone jerks upright, even Jongin and Sehun who rub sleepily at their eyes.
Jinki and Joonmyeon stand. “We’re his teammates. His family won’t be here for a while. They’re in China,” Jinki says.
The nurse looks a bit taken aback with all of the attention on her. “Your coach?”
“He stepped out for a bit, family matters, but he’ll be back within the hour,” Joonmyeon says. He can’t fault the man for going home to change after the game and see his tiny new baby for a bit. They’d all be lying if they said they hadn’t nearly pushed the man out the door.
Minseok and Yixing step closer. “We have his parents on the line now. His mother will be here late tomorrow evening. She’s catching the first flight out of Beijing. If you’re willing to give us the update, we can translate for you?” Minseok offers.
“I’m not supposed to-Not without family consent-”
Yixing fires off a question in Mandarin and there’s a quick response from the phone. “She gives consent. You can tell us.”
The nurse must be able to hear the apprehension in Lu Han’s mother’s voice because her face softens. “He’s out of surgery. He’s doing perfectly fine, just sleeping now, and we have him on painkillers. We can’t let any of you in to see him since it’s after visiting hours, but you can come back first thing in the morning.”
Yixing translates for Lu Han’s mother quickly.
Everyone shuffles around the room picking up their belongings while Yixing and Minseok continue to act as the middlemen between the nurse and Lu Han’s family.
Jinki and Joonmyeon tell everyone they’ll text them about the Sunday team meeting later, getting nods and yawns in reply. Everyone thanks the nurse as she leaves the room.
Minseok tugs at Joonmyeon’s sleeve as they start out of the room. “Han’s mom asked the nurse if it was okay for me to stay with him tonight. She doesn’t want him to be alone when he wakes up,” he says, a little laugh bursting out of him at that. “Like he’s a little kid.”
Joonmyeon smiles. “That’s good then. You can skip the meeting tomorrow if you need to. Try to get some sleep though, okay?”
Minseok gives a little salute and waves as they all head down the hallway.
The question is on everyone’s mind is the same: Even though Lu Han is okay, is the team?
--