eye rolling counts as exercise too
day6/got7 ft. jimin
9216w, pg-15
aka the longest ten days of park sungjin's life. (volleyball/haikyuu!! au)
a/n: written for kisoap ! hope you enjoy this mess bb <3
i. bump
“Now kids,” Sungjin points to the diagrams drawn on the whiteboard behind him. Brian stands quietly to the side, his hands behind his back and rocking back and forth on his heels. Sungjin half-wishes he’d just stand still. “If we can just practice these formations today, I’ll be really -” He tries to keep from rolling his eyes when Jae and Jackson throw a hand in the air at the same time.
“Can’t we just practice blocks today?” Jae asks as Jackson yells “I NEED TO PRACTICE MY ROLLS” and promptly jumps to his feet, dives for an imaginary ball, rolls across the ground and jumps back up. Dowoon, Yugyeom and Youngjae clap with stars in their eyes as Jackson thumbs his nose and points his chin up in the air with a smirk. Sungjin sighs.
“Look, I know you all want to do your own thing but we are a team and we have a practice match coming up against SM next week so can we just -”
“Ow, JACKSON YOU DUMB SON OF A BITCH!” Jinyoung yells as a ball sails out of nowhere and smacks him on the side of the head. “Don’t you dare join in, Bambam,” he throws out a warning finger as their newest team member half moves to get to his feet. Behind them Jackson is already running laps around the court, his shoes squeaking against the floor.
“Aww, but...,” Kunpimook - Bambam - pouts and crosses his arms across his skinny chest but does what he’s been told. Jinyoung gets up instead to chase after Jackson.
“Jinyoung,” Sungjin pinches the bridge of his nose, “get your ass back -”
“Cap, we should go for a run instead so we can build stamina,” Wonpil puts up his hand. “I heard the SM kids have tons of it, they can probably have normal conversations while playing or something.” Mark nods along but Sungjin is sure he only half knows what’s going on.
“Actually the SM kids are super coordinated with each other, which is why we decided to practice our formations instead,” Brian steps in, waving a hand at the whiteboard. Sungjin gives him a grateful glance. “I stayed up the whole of last night thinking of the best positions for each of us and I came up with these so can we just…” He trails off when he realizes that none of them are listening to him, opting instead to watch Jackson skillfully evade Jinyoung’s fingers at every last second.
“Uhh, guys…” Yugyeom starts uncertainly when he feels the fiery glare of their captain boring into the back of his head, but it’s already too late.
“Get them, Jaebum,” Sungjin throws a finger forward.
Jaebum nods, gets to his feet, and brings Jackson down in 10 seconds flat, dragging him back to the group by the scruff of his t-shirt collar and dumping him unceremoniously at their feet before proceeding to sit on him. Jinyoung follows, looking a little shamefaced at his failure, and resumes his place next to Wonpil. Bambam noticeably sits up a little straighter.
“As I was saying,” Sungjin tries to keep from hissing. “If we could all just -”
The gym doors fly open with a loud bang and Sungjin closes his eyes and counts to five before turning to see who the bloody hell decided to gate crash on their club time like they had some kind of death wish. He’s a little bit shocked to find a girl standing in the doorway, multiple piercings on her ears and hair dyed a bright red. “Volleyball club?” she asks without introducing herself, only giving a slight nod to Sungjin as she steps in front of him and faces the team with her hands on her hips.
Who the hell is this? Sungjin mouths to Brian, who shrugs. “Who the hell are you?” Bambam asks outright, earning himself a pinch from Jaebum.
“I’m Park Jimin,” the girl grins (a little evilly, Sungjin thinks) at them. “And I’m your new manager slash coach. Nice to meet y’all!”
All eyes turn to Sungjin, who in turn looks again at Brian, who again shrugs. Oh boy.
“Let me get this straight,” Sungjin stands beside Jimin as the boys begin hitting straights with Jinyoung and Brian setting on each side. Jae stands on his other side, clutching a water bottle in one hand. “You’re a first year? And you’re coaching us?”
“Yup,” Jimin nods, her eyes narrowing slightly as Mark jumps and hits a perfect straight down the court. “You guys were advertising for a manager so I went to see Mr. Ok and I told him that I basically grew up around volleyball and he let me be coach too.” She turns to him. “Is this because I’m a girl?”
“No,” Sungjin deadpans. “It’s because you’re a first year. He sighs and rubs the back of his neck. “Mr. Ok didn’t tell me anything about this, are you sure he sent you?”
She smiles at him. “Maybe he didn’t think you were worth telling.” Jae chokes on his water and descends into a coughing fit beside him.
“She’s a real firecracker, that one,” Sungjin mutters to Brian later, nursing the sore spot in his ego where she socked him one. Brian pats his back sympathetically and hands him a water bottle.
Jimin turns out to be strict as hell but at least she actually manages to get the second years to calm down (mostly Jackson) and the first years to do as they’re told (mostly Bambam). She also seems to actually know what she’s doing, which takes a huge burden off Sungjin’s mind as most of the time he doesn’t, even with Strategist Extraordinaire Brian Kang Younghyun by his side.
“I think that was one of the best training sessions we’ve ever had,” Sungjin hears Youngjae remark to Dowoon as they’re cleaning the gym. Jimin is writing something in her notebook with the utmost concentration, the tip of her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth, and Sungjin wonders how the hell anyone who just made them do 3 sets of 20 court runs, 20 sit-ups and 10 push-ups can sit there and actually look kind of cute.
“She’s actually in my class,” Yugyeom joins in, the net a tangled bundle in his arms. “I’ve never really talked to her though.”
“Why’s that?” Bambam asks, leaning against his broom.
“She kind of scares me,” Yugyeom admits sheepishly.
“Yeah…” the other first years sigh collectively, a sudden gloomy cloud hanging above their heads. Sungjin swears he sees a few goosebumps raise on Dowoon’s skin.
“Hey, Captain!” Jimin suddenly yells, and the first years jump violently before scurrying back to their assigned jobs. She gestures furiously at Sungjin and he goes over, super aware of the fact that he’s feeling a mixture of dread and slight (okay, maybe more than slight) fear at the thought of talking to a 16 year old girl. He turns to look for Brian and spies the other third years across the gym, giving him sympathetic looks. He glares at them. They pretend to look in other directions.
“Okay, so I’ve assessed all the players and I’ve decided on a starting team for your practice match on Wednesday,” Jimin tells him when he sits down beside her. “Tuan is your ace, isn’t he?”
“Pretty much,” Sungjin nods.
“Yeah, we’ll have Tuan playing left,” she indicates to a diagram in her notebook. “I want to put Park Jin -.”
“Wait,” Sungjin stops her. “I think Brian should be here to hear this too, he’s our prime tactician and he knows all the team’s strength and weakness.” Jimin shrugs and Sungjin waves at Brian to come over. He shakes his head violently and starts backing away until Jae pushes him forward, whereupon he saunters forward with his hands in his pockets, looking as cool as a cucumber. Sungjin rolls his eyes.
“So yeah, we’ll have Tuan and Im as left wings, Choi as right, Bhuwakul and Kim as middle blockers, Park Jinyoung as setter and Wang as libero as our starting team,” Jimin points to each circle on her drawing of the court as she speaks. “Cool?”
Sungjin and Brian exchange glances. “That sounds about right, but Youngjae is a little…” Brian trails off and scratches his head, trying to think of a more diplomatic way of saying not quite up to standard yet. He comes up with nothing.
“Oh?” Jimin cocks her head to the side. “He seemed alright during practice just now. What’s his problem?”
“Nothing, he’s just not strong enough yet,” Sungjin tries to explain as quietly as he can so the other kids can’t hear him. “He does well in practice but in matches he can’t seem to keep up.”
“But it’s a practice match anyway,” Jimin raises an eyebrow. “The only way anyone is going to improve is by playing lots of matches. Do you not want him to improve?” Brian opens his mouth to rebuke her, but Sungjin steps on his hand.
“We’re just saying that maybe Wonpil would be a better candidate,” he suggests. “I mean, obviously we want Youngjae to improve, but maybe it’s too soon to have him playing matches.”
Jimin screws up her mouth as she considers his suggestion, her eyes flitting between Youngjae racing Bambam with the brooms and Wonpil as he helps Jinyoung with the net poles. Sungjin feels incredibly guilty about pulling Youngjae out of the lineup, but he has his pride to think about. JYP has yet to beat SM in a practice match, and with interschool tournaments coming up soon he really has to boost their morale with a win. Jackson has been especially rowdy lately, and it’s beginning to rub off on the first years. Sungjin’s been counting on this to rope all of them back together.
“No,” Jimin announces finally. Sungjin’s stomach drops. “We’ll go with Youngjae. Okay, gather them over and we’ll go through the formations.”
Sungjin glances at Brian, who only shrugs.
“Wonpil,” Sungjin taps him on the shoulder in the club room. All of the first years have left, Jackson and Jaebum with them. Jinyoung is fixing his hair in the mirror and the third years are discussing their new coach. “Don’t feel too bad about not being in the starting team this match, okay?”
Wonpil slings his bag over his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it Cap,” he smiles his usual reassuringly even smile. “It’s just a practice match. Anyway, it’ll be good for Youngjae to get some practice in.” He pats Sungjin on the arm and indicates to Jinyoung, who turns from the mirror with (as per usual) the most perfect hair anyone could ever have after training. “See you all on Wednesday!” Wonpil calls out as he and Jinyoung leave. “Thanks for the hard work!”
“Wonpil is the angel we don’t deserve,” Jae pretends to wipe a tear away as Sungjin sits down at the low table set in the middle of the floor.
“Tell me about it,” Sungjin says, staring at the door. Brian nudges him.
“Don’t worry about him,” he pushes a juice carton at him. “He’ll be fine.”
“I hope so,” Sungjin sighs, taking a sip of juice and preparing himself for a long rant session.
“Do you think I can do it?” Youngjae asks Dowoon as they unlock their bicycles and push them to the school gates.
“Yeah, just work hard,” Dowoon shrugs. Youngjae is about to reply that that is the worst advice anyone could ever give when someone throws an arm around his shoulder and pulls his head into a headlock.
“What are you scamps talking about huh?” Jackson grins wolfishly. “Is it already getting to your head about being on the starting team Choi Youngjae?” He chuckles as Youngjae struggles against him, trying to free his head.
“Get off him, you’re gonna suffocate him,” Jaebum appears out of the shadows, hands in his pockets. Dowoon hurriedly assumes a bow, which Jaebum waves off. “Don’t worry about it, Dowoon.”
“Yeah, we don’t go for that whole sunbae thing,” Jackson adds as Youngjae lets out of a yelp of frustration and manages to push Jackson away. “Well JB does but he’s trying to be the cool senior in front of you guys. He’ll bitch about you later.”
“Shut up,” Jaebum rolls his eyes as Dowoon suddenly looks uncertain. “Anyway, Youngjae, it means something that you’re gonna be starting so just try your best, okay?” Youngjae starts to look relieved, but Jackson butts in with an “I mean, we haven’t beaten SM for ages and Wonpil was really looking forward to it this time but no pressure or anything.”
“Seriously, shut the hell up,” Jaebum clocks Jackson on the arm as a mortified expression crosses Youngjae’s face. Dowoon notices his knuckles whiten as he grips the handlebars of his bicycle. “Don’t listen to him, Youngjae, he shoots his mouth off without thinking,” he slaps a hand over Jackson’s mouth and starts dragging him away. “In all seriousness though, just practice extra hard so we can have a shot at winning, yeah? See you guys Wednesday, get home safe.”
“Are you alright?” Dowoon asks as they turn the corner and disappear. Youngjae sinks to the ground, still hanging on to his bicycle handlebars. He mumbles something unintelligible and Dowoon bends over to hear him better, cupping a hand beside his ear.
“I think I’m gonna throw up,” Youngjae says miserably.
“You sure you’re alright with not starting?” Jinyoung asks Wonpil as they’re walking down the street, cicada songs filling the air as the sun begins to sink into the horizon. There are still a few weeks to summer, but the days have been uncharacteristically warm. Jinyoung adjusts his glasses with one finger, keeping one eye on his friend and the other on the road. The backstreets of Insa have become more pedestrian-friendly over the last few years, but there is still the occasional bicycle hit and run (which has happened more than a few times to Jaebum).
“Honestly it kinda sucks,” Wonpil replies easily. “But if it’s what the coach wants then I guess it just means I’m not good enough.” He shrugs.
“Don’t say that,” Jinyoung frowns. “You’re plenty good. She picked out the starting team after just one training session; she hasn’t even seen what you can do yet.”
“Yeah, but obviously she saw something in Youngjae that she can’t in me.” Wonpil glances at Jinyoung and grins. “Don’t worry about it, seriously. It’s just one practice match. I’ll just work a ton harder to show her that I can do it.”
“It’s pathetic as hell that we even have to prove ourselves to a first year,” Jinyoung deadpans, pausing when Wonpil stops at a vending machine.
“Yeah, but if she’ll help us beat SM then maybe it’s not such a bad thing,” Wonpil pulls a can of grape and pear juice from the dispenser and offers the grape to Jinyoung, who takes it.
“Will you stop being so damned optimistic about shit?” Jinyoung asks as he and Wonpil clink cans. Wonpil just laughs and drains the can in one shot.
ii. set
The next two training sessions pass without incident (unless you counted Jaebum accidentally spiking a ball straight into Youngjae’s face, or Jae and Bambam colliding when they jumped for a block which almost resulted in a sprained ankle for Jae) and Sungjin breathes a little easier at the end of Friday when everyone starts to pack up.
“Hey Sungjin, want to help me with serves tomorrow?” Jae lopes up, a towel around his neck. Sungjin eyes him a little warily. Park Jaehyung, one of the tallest in Jongno, probably one of the tallest in Seoul, as gangly and thin as an uncooked strand of spaghetti and also a notorious talker. After the worst week of his life dealing with Jimin, Sungjin isn’t sure if he can take much more talking. From anyone.
“Did I hear someone say serves?” Jackson appears out of nowhere. “I could do with some receiving practice.” He looks around and catches Youngjae around the scruff of his collar. “Youngjae could also do with some serve receiving practice,” he announces. “Since he’s going to be our next defense specialist.”
“Are you?” Sungjin asks Youngjae, who gives an awkward nod-shake with the most miserable expression on his face.
“Well that settles things then,” Jae looks enthusiastic. “I’ll drag Mark along, he should be working on his jump serves too. Sungjin can you get the key from Mr. Ok for the weekend?”
“Can’t you just practice in the outdoor court?” Sungjin frowns.
“Nah, the SM kids might have spies running around, we definitely don’t want them to see what I’ve been working on,” Jae flexes his skinny arms and pats an almost non-existent muscle. “We’ll shock them out of their stupid pink uniforms, mark my words.”
“You’re not even st -,” Jackson starts, but Sungjin cuts in with a slightly harried Hey Jackson why don’t you go check with Brian if he wants to practice tomorrow too, you’ll probably need a setter before he can finish. Jackson runs off eagerly and Sungjin breathes a sigh of relief. Park Jaehyung, probably one of the tallest in Seoul, also probably one of the weakest egos around. Sungjin suddenly has a bad feeling about this weekend’s practice session.
“Oh shiiiit, hold the line! A Flareon just appeared somewhere around here, I’m gonna find it!” Jae suddenly yells, and takes off through the doors holding his phone in front of him like a beacon of hope. Sungjin sighs.
“Something wrong?” Mark flops down beside him, skin glistening with sweat. “You look worried.”
“I feel like I’m doing some sort of disservice to the rest of the guys for not fighting for them to be on the starting team,” Sungjin admits, watching Wonpil throw a towel in Jinyoung’s face. “Nobody joins a sport to be left on the sidelines.”
“You’ll be on the sidelines too,” Mark points out, pouring a bottle of water over his head. He shakes his hair out, spraying Sungjin with droplets.
“Yeah, but I’m their captain, I’m supposed to be supporting them. It doesn’t matter if I don’t play, I just need to make sure they do.” Sungjin pushes his hair back with a hand and glances at him. Mark Tuan, one of the shortest on the team but also the most powerful jumper and hardest hitter. They might have a lot of strong players on their team, but everybody agrees hands down that Mark is most definitely their ace.
“Sounds like a huge burden,” Mark remarks offhandedly. “Sometimes I’m really glad I’m not captain. The amount of things to worry about, whew. I’d grow old before my time.” He stares out over the court, watching the younger ones laughing and chattering as they go about cleaning up.
“You could help me once in a while, you know,” Sungjin raises his eyebrows at him.
Mark grins. “Nah, it’s easier to just let you and Brian work through the problems and then go with whatever you guys decide.” He laughs at the expression on Sungjin’s face. “Anyway, stop worrying about it. They’ll be alright. Wonpil’s played in heaps of matches before this and Jae is secretly glad he won’t have to face Kim Minseok again. He thoroughly crushed him the last time, remember?”
“I remember,” Sungjin winces as he recalls the last practice match. “Did you seriously just try to give me advice though?”
“Hah yeah,” Mark rubs the back of his head. “That was totally weird, don’t expect any more of that for the next few weeks.”
“I’ll remember that,” Sungjin pulls him to his feet as Jimin calls for a team meeting. “Time to go face the grim reaper.”
“I heard that Park Sungjin,” Jimin yells. “20 court runs! Stat!”
“Remind me to never get on her bad side,” Yugyeom whispers to Bambam as they watch their captain run back and forth across the court.
“Brian, do you think I’m a bad player?” Jae asks as he and Brian begin setting up while they wait for the rest of today’s practice team to arrive. Brian pauses as he gathers the net, trying to think of a way to reply without being too nice and too mean. Despite his beanpole giant exterior, Jae is an extremely fragile human being (human bean, Brian almost smirks) underneath, and dealing with him requires delicate precision. “And don’t sugarcoat it for me.” Damn. Brian settles for the truth.
“You’re not bad,” he says carefully, straightening with the bundle in his arms. Whoever did the nets yesterday didn’t roll them up properly and now they’re a tangled mess. He has a niggling feeling it was Bambam. “It’s just that once you make a mistake it gets to you and screws you up for the rest of the game.” He holds his breath and waits for Jae to slump.
“It’s pretty obvious isn’t it,” Jae sighs sitting down on some rolled up gym mats. Brian half wants to tell him that they only have the gym for two hours before he has to return the key to security and they really should start setting up, but decides against it. “I dunno, it’s just so hard, like I know I’m supposed to be one of the best on this team and it’s just so much pressure. Plus Bambam and Yugyeom are just so much better than me, and they’re just first years and I’m supposed to be their sunbae but they’re overtaking me and it sucks.”
Brian sucks in a deep breath and prays to the god of patience. “Look, yeah, maybe Yug and Bam are on the starting team this time but it doesn’t mean it’ll always be like that, okay? Sure, Yugyeom is strong and Bam is naturally talented but they’re both leagues behind you in experience. Jimin probably put them in so they don’t mess up if they get subbed in during Interhigh, so stop thinking about it, okay? You’re a good player, you just need to toughen up and not let things get to you.”
“Yeah but -,” Jae looks at his hands.
“Don’t ask me how,” Brian tells him, hoisting the net further up in his arms. “You’re just gonna have to tell yourself to toughen up. I know I’m supposed to be a problem solver and shit but you’re the only one who can help yourself. Now stop moping and help me set up so you can practice the hell out of your serves and kick ass when we need you to, okay?”
“Jesus,” Jae gets to his feet and putting up his hands in surrender. “I think I finally get why you’re vice-captain. Also you get really scary when you stop being diplomatic.”
“Well it worked with you, didn’t it?” Brian asks dismissively. Jae grins.
“Yeah, I feel like I might be able to catch a Mewtwo today, I’m so pumped up,” he whoops, throwing a fist into the air. Brian groans and dumps the net on the floor to start untangling it.
“Are Jaebum and Jinyoung close friends?” Jimin asks Sungjin during training on Monday. They’re playing against each other today, with Dowoon acting as libero for the other team and admittedly doing an okay job at it. Sungjin downs half a bottle of water and passes it to Yugyeom, who hurriedly goes off to fill it.
“No, they only met in high school,” he huffs and blows up into his fringe. “Wonpil and Jinyoung are the childhood best friends. Why?”
“They have great teamwork,” Jimin says almost distractedly. “I thought they might have a close personal relationship. Jinyoung seems to toss to Jaebum a lot more than the others. Has he always done that?”
Sungjin chuckles. “Compared to Brian, Jinyoung is a lot more calculated, and because he’s pretty much always been paired with Jaebum he knows his playing style the best. Brian tries to give everyone a fair go so they don’t feel left out, but that’s his biggest weakness. Jinyoung tosses to whoever he thinks will get the point, and that’s almost always Jaebum.”
“Interesting,” Jimin muses. “What about Wonpil?”
“I think Wonpil’s style speaks for himself,” Sungjin indicates with his chin as Wonpil, Jackson and Jinyoung start hitting crosses to warm themselves up again. Wonpil runs up and jumps so lightly it almost looks as though he’s flying, before slamming the ball down into Jackson’s waiting arms. “He’s very… how do I describe this… floaty?”
“Yeah, I get it,” Jimin consult her clipboard. “What does that have to do with how he and Jinyoung work though?”
“Wonpil’s a lot slower than Jaebum,” Sungjin recalls the fight he’d accidentally stumbled upon in the corridor last year when Wonpil pushed Jinyoung up against the wall and accused him of abandoning him for Jaebum. “And Jinyoung works best with faster attacks. Jaebum plays every match like he’s out to win it and yeah, Wonpil’s got a lot of skill, but for some reason he and Jinyoung just can’t seem to sync.”
“That’s interesting,” Jimin rubs her chin. “That’s very interesting. By the way, why do we only have one libero? I was sure before I joined people were always talking about a third year libero and I’m sure it wasn’t Jackson.”
Sungjin’s mood immediately plummets. “He left,” he says shortly, then runs out on the court to resume the match.
“Hey, wanna watch a movie tonight?” Wonpil nudges Jinyoung as he does his hair in the tiny club room mirror. The first years are chattering away as per usual, the softer voices of the third years providing a lower undercurrent. “I heard the new Star Trek movie is supposed to be really good, and it has that Cucumber guy in it.”
“Cucumber…?” Jinyoung blinks. “Oh. You mean Benedict Cumberbatch.”
“Cucumber, Cumberbatch, same thing,” Wonpil says dismissively. “So you up for it? We can drag Jackson and JB along. Then we can get the caramel and the plain popcorn.”
“Uhh,” Jinyoung looks a little guilty. “JB and I were actually going to work on our quicks at Old Man Cha’s place.”
“Oh,” says Wonpil. He tries not to let the disappointment show on his face, because he and Jinyoung have worked past this stage. He isn’t supposed to get jealous about the fact that Jinyoung always tosses to Jaebum and that Jinyoung always practices with Jaebum, but he does. It bugs him that people always put Jinyoung and Jaebum as a pair and he can’t imagine what it’ll be like next year when Jaebum will probably be captain and Jinyoung will probably be vice. “No worries,” he says with a grin. “We’ll just go another time.”
“I’m really sorry,” Jinyoung grimaces slightly. “But you know, with the game and all coming up… Jaebum is super determined about winning and since we’re both gonna be starting I thought -”
“Yeah, I know,” Wonpil tries to wave it off. “The game is important. I know. Don’t worry about it, Jinyoung.” He slings his bag over his shoulder and walks away before Jinyoung can say anything else. “I’ll be off now!” he calls out. “See you guys on Wednesday!”
“See ya Pilimili!” Jackson yells as the others call out their goodbyes. Wonpil pretends not to notice the hurt look on Jinyoung’s face as he closes the door.
“… so then I was, like, bitch do you not know who I am? And she just laughs and goes “what, am I supposed to?” and I’m like, dude, you don’t even know who you’re talking to right now…” Bambam stops talking when Youngjae and Dowoon step out of the toilet. “Oh hey, Youngjae, Dowoon, I was just telling Yugyeom about how I just got detention from Miss Yenny. Wanna hear it?”
“If you called her Miss Yenny I’m surprised you got off with just detention,” Dowoon winces, thinking about Miss Park, the youngest (and fiercest) English teacher in school.
“Hah, yeah,” Bambam gives a goofy smile. “She would’ve whooped my ass if it wasn’t illegal.”
“How old is this guy again?” Youngjae asks Yugyeom, who just grins and shrugs.
“Did I hear something about detention?” Jackson thunders down the stairs, his shirt untucked and hands in his pockets. “Who got detention? Own up, ya cheeky scallywag.”
“Me,” Bambam says a little sheepishly, putting his hand up.
“Alright!” Jackson lifts up his hand for a high five, which Bambam returns with a hint of bewilderment. “Detention is the key to a fulfilling high school life, my friend,” Jackson points finger guns at him and winks. “Were you guys gonna grab a ball for some lunchtime practice?”
“Yeah,” Yugyeom says enthusiastically. “Wanna come?”
“Are you kidding me?” Jackson loops an arm around Youngjae’s shoulders and drags him along. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” They’re just about to step into the gymnasium, hearing the sound of a volleyball slapping against someone’s hand when Bambam stops, peering at something in the distance.
“What’s up?” Dowoon asks, looking in the same direction.
“I thought I saw someone looking in,” Bambam narrows his eyes. “He was tiptoeing and everything. Do you think he’s a spy from SM or something?”
“During school hours…?” Yugyeom starts, but Jackson gives a growl.
“Wouldn’t put it past those dirty bastards,” he licks his lips. “Yug, go give Sungjin a call. He’s probably inside. I’ll try and catch the bastard.”
“But he’s already gone,” Youngjae objects as Bambam and Yugyeom hurry into the gym.
“You forget, my young padawan, that I’m the best libero in Seoul,” Jackson grins and thumbs his nose. “I can catch anything.” And he shoots off in the direction Bambam was looking in. Youngjae sighs and decides to stick around just to see what happens.
Of all the strange things Park Sungjin has come across in his life - and he has been in some really weird situations in his days - rounding the corner with the rest of the team hot on his heels to find Jackson Wang sitting on a masked student has got to be the strangest.
“What…” he starts, as Jackson grins and flashes a peace sign.
“Told you I could catch anything!” he calls out to Youngjae, who looks awed and uncomfortable at the same time. “I waited so you could unmask him, didn’t want to keep all the fun to myself.” He gestures as his captive wriggles beneath him.
Sungjin nudges Brian, who pinches him back. Sungjin curses him under his breath, then steps forward and pulls the ski mask from the boy’s head. There’s a collective gasp from the second and third years when they see who’s under the mask, and the first years exchange confused looks. Jackson abruptly jumps to his feet with a yell of surprise, and his captive scrambles to his own and makes to escape.
“Junhyuk,” Sungjin says in a voice that he reserves for the first years (and Jackson) when they absolutely refuse to listen to anything he has to say. On cue, Jackson shuts up. Junhyuk stops and turns, resolutely avoiding his eye. “What the hell are you doing?”
“I was just checking up on you guys,” Junhyuk mutters resentfully. “Just to see if you needed me. Judging by how easily Jackson caught me, you clearly don’t.” Jackson immediately looks ashamed of himself.
“Come on Junhyuk,” says Brian, stepping forward. “You’re being really stupid about this, you know.”
“Yeah, we never wanted you to leave,” Jae adds. “Plus, wearing a ski mask in the middle of a school day is just a dumb thing to do if you didn’t want to be seen.” Mark coughs and digs an elbow into his side.
“You didn’t have to leave,” Sungjin says quietly. A slow burning rage is beginning to flow through him, and he clenches his fists to keep himself in check. “You didn’t have to make it look like we didn’t need you.”
“Please,” Junhyuk narrows his eyes. “What would’ve happened if I stayed? Would I be allowed to play? I’d probably still be sitting on the bench, waiting for Jackson to fuck something up just so I’d be allowed to touch the ball.” Sungjin notices a collective discomfort flow through the team. Not something he’d wanted to happen a day before their practice match. “I heard you two got taken off the starting team,” Junhyuk addresses Wonpil and Jae. Brian makes a slight move as if to shield them. “I guess they don’t need you guys anymore either, huh?”
“Shut up,” Sungjin growls as Wonpil colours. “If you came to pick a fight then you should just fuck off out of here.” Junhyuk gives a scoff and shakes his head.
“You of all people know what it’s like to sit on the sidelines,” he says, his eyes locked on Sungjin, and Sungjin feels the rage course through his veins. “So why do you keep telling me I’m wrong for not wanting to feel useless? Are you just trying to justify it to yourself?” He shakes his head again. “Don’t tell me to come back just so you can have someone else to warm the bench with you, Park Sungjin,” he spits.
Brian has enough foresight to grab on to the back of Sungjin’s shirt as he launches himself at Junhyuk, yelling at Jackson and Jaebum to help him. Jae and Mark push Junhyuk away as Sungjin yells incoherently and kicks out at him, trying to free himself from Brian and Jaebum’s grasp. The bell goes for the end of lunchtime, and Junhyuk pushes Mark and Jae away from him.
“I didn’t think that even you’d stoop so low,” Mark says quietly to him. Junhyuk glares at him but doesn’t say anything. He gives one final look at Sungjin, then turns and leaves.
“You really lost it there,” Brian remarks as Sungjin wrenches himself free from his grasp and runs a hand through his hair, breathing hard as he watches Junhyuk’s retreating back. Jinyoung and Wonpil start ushering the bewildered first years back to their classrooms. “Are you okay?” He tries to squeeze Sungjin’s shoulder, but Sungjin shrugs him off. Mark and Jae watch him warily.
“That guy really pisses me off,” Sungjin grits his teeth, straightening his tie. He huffs and runs his hands through his hair again, trying to hide how much he’s shaking. He can still remember the day Junhyuk literally threw in the towel and stormed out of the gym, just before the first years came in. He can still see the horrified look on Jackson’s face, the bewilderment on Brian’s. He can still feel the shock running through him because that was the day they made Junhyuk vice-captain. And he threw it back in their faces like it meant nothing.
“I really thought we were friends,” Jae says almost sadly, looking deadly serious.
“Yeah,” Sungjin runs his tongue over his teeth. “I thought so too.” He’s dreadfully aware of how every single word that Junhyuk spat at him had held nothing but truth.
“So…” Bambam bites his lip as they make their way back to class, “when do you think will be a good time to tell them that I got detention until the end of the week?” He tries for a relaxed laugh and ends up sounding panicked.
“Dude,” says Dowoon as Youngjae groans and Yugyeom covers his face with his hands. “You’re so dead.”
“Don’t think too much about it,” Jinyoung cautions Wonpil before they part ways for class. Jackson had disappeared into his own classroom without even saying goodbye, and with Jackson that was a dangerous thing. “He was just trying to rile Sungjin up.”
“Yeah?” Wonpil asks distractedly. “So why was it that I agreed with everything that he said?” He keeps cracking his knuckles, something Jinyoung knows that he always does when he’s upset.
“You’re not useless, Wonpil,” Jaebum puts his hand on his shoulder. “We really need you.”
“For what?” Wonpil flinches slightly away from his touch, and Jaebum withdraws his hand. “I’m just a sub now. Youngjae’s sub. You,” he addresses Jinyoung. “You’re always going to have a fixed position and Brian is nice enough to let you have it. And you,” he looks at Jaebum. “You’re already gearing up to be our ace when Mark leaves. Will I have to wait til next year to be on a starting team again? Or will more first years who are better than me keep waltzing through the door?”
“You aren’t Youngjae’s sub,” Jinyoung objects. “Youngjae isn’t even as good as you are. It’s just one practice match, why are you letting this get to you?”
“Shut up, Park Jinyoung,” Wonpil snaps at him. “You wouldn’t even give me a toss if you had a choice.” He walks into the classroom and sits down violently, folding his arms across his chest.
“Well fuck me,” Jaebum exhales and runs his hand through his hair in a way oddly reminiscent of the way Sungjin does when he’s stressed, and Jinyoung tries to forget the hatred in Wonpil’s eyes as he takes his seat behind him and stares at the back of his best friend’s head.
They don’t look at each other for the rest of the day.
iii. spike
Sungjin turns up outside Jimin’s classroom as the bell goes for the end of the day. Yugyeom gives him a questioning look, but Sungjin shakes his head at him and beckons to Jimin. The other girls immediately begin whispering as she exits the classroom, rolling her eyes.
“What’s up, cap?” she asks, leaning against the wall.
Sungjin moves aside to let a male student through, trying to ignore the whispers and stares of the first years around him. “I’m going to give you fair warning right now,” he starts, then takes a deep breath to prepare himself for what he’s predicted will come next, “but the kids’ morale is at an all-time low and I have a feeling we’ll lose tomorrow’s match. Badly.” He flinches, expecting Jimin to jump on him, but there’s nothing.
“I heard what happened from Yugyeom,” Jimin says thoughtfully. Sungjin blinks and rights himself. “I guess that Junhyuk guy was your libero who left, huh?”
“Yeah…” says Sungjin uncertainly, wondering if Jimin always had this calm side to her. He certainly hasn’t seen it before. “So what should we do?”
“What?” Jimin snaps her head to him so fast that he flinches again. “What do you mean what are ‘we’ going to do about it?” She tosses her hair over her shoulder. “This is between you and your team and it sounds like you really lost it back there. You’re the captain, and if you can’t boost your own team’s spirits then maybe you’re not fit to be one.”
“Wow,” Sungjin reels back, a hand over his heart, feeling as though he’s been punched in the head. “Who taught you to talk to people like that?”
“My mum has a wonderful way with words,” Jimin rolls her eyes. “But that’s beside the point.” She pokes a finger into his chest, and he hears several girls behind him gasp. “The point is, you need to pull yourself together first if you want to have any hope of getting your team back together. You’re supposed to be one of the top teams in Seoul, remember? Have a night time rendezvous or something, whatever weird things that you boys do to make yourselves feel better, you just need to set things straight before the match starts tomorrow or we’ll never win.”
Sungjin chews on his bottom lip. “I really fucked things up,” he admits. “With Junhyuk. With everyone.”
“I know,” Jimin says dismissively. “That’s why you’re the only one who can fix it.”
Sungjin sighs and rakes a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe I let things turn out like this.”
Jimin socks him one in the stomach without warning, and several people around them gape at the sight of a first year girl punching a senior. “And I can’t believe that you actually had to have me tell you all these things. Me, a first year.” She shakes her head as he leans back against the wall, feeling slightly winded. “You knew all this before I even told them to you, didn’t you?”
Sungjin grins despite the fact that his eyes are watering. “I had to hear it from my coach.”
Jimin rolls her eyes again but she laughs like she means it, and Sungjin thinks that in that moment she has never looked more like a teenager. “You have until the end of the school day tomorrow,” she deadpans suddenly, and sticks a finger into his chest again. “If not I’ll do more than just punch you in the gut.”
“Yes ma’am,” Sungjin salutes her, one arm still crossed over his stomach.
He calls Brian and tells him to get the keys from Mr. Ok for that night.
“But we aren’t -“
“Tell him if he doesn’t help us this time I’ll tell Jae to upload the video of him dancing to the Wonder Girls,” Sungjin seats himself on the staircase just outside the teacher’s office. “And tell him I mean it this time.”
“He’s never gonna take you seriously if you keep using that line,” Brian sighs. “Call you back.” Sungjin watches him knock on the door and enter the office. He comes out less than 3 minutes later, swinging the keys around his finger. Sungjin whistles and he comes over, shaking his head.
“Works every time,” Sungjin winks.
“What are you planning?” Brian asks him warily. “Did you go see Jimin?”
“Yeah,” Sungjin rubs his hands together. “And I think I have some kind of plan. Oh, and also,” he grimaces slightly, “be ready to squash any dating rumors that might be swirling around tomorrow. First years spread things like wildfire.”
“Jesus, I told you to talk to her not make out with her,” Brian breathes, and earns himself a shove.
Everyone gathers in the gym at 9pm sharp, which is nothing short of a miracle when they’re always late for practice. Sungjin supposes that Jaebum must have threatened Jackson with something serious, and the first years are now too intimidated to try anything else. He sighs. He hadn’t quite wanted to rule through fear.
“Let’s just get to the point,” he starts when they’ve all gathered in front of him. Jinyoung and Wonpil are standing on opposite ends of the group, he notices. That can’t mean anything good. “I’ve called all of you here because I think there are some things that we need to iron out before the game tomorrow. Am I right?” The first years nod a little timidly, the second years refuse to look at each other. “Us third years decided to come up with this exercise to help us unburden ourselves. Which is why,” he nods at Brian, who gives him a thumbs up, “we’re all going to be spiking tonight.” Jinyoung raises a skeptical eyebrow.
“Before you spike we want you to say anything that’s bothering you or something that’s scaring you at the moment. Or something that you wish for,” Jae explains, pushing his glasses up his nose. “Think of it as smashing that issue right in the gut.” He mimes jumping up and spiking. “Mark will go first to demonstrate.”
Sungjin notices Jimin slide into the gym just as Mark is placing the water bottle on the other end of the court. He nods at her. She nods back.
“I’m afraid of flying cockroaches,” Mark says soullessly, taking his position in the back court. Brian deadpans at him from his position as tosser, catching the ball that Jae throws at him instead of setting it.
“Are you being stupid on purpose?” he asks. A few chuckles and grins break out among the others. Mark smiles widely.
“That’s what I wanted to hear,” he cups a hand over his ear. “Okay. I’m afraid that we’re going to get our asses handed to us tomorrow. I’m afraid that we won’t be able to get our act together when Interhigh comes around and I’m afraid that Sungjin over here will grow old before he even turns 20.” He looks at Brian. “Good enough?”
“I think that was the longest speech I’ve ever heard from you,” Brian grins. “Go.”
Mark brings down the ball with so much force that the bottle completely crumples. Luckily Brian has enough fortitude to have brought one for each of them.
“I’m afraid that I’ll never be able to stop myself from breaking,” Jae announces. Spike. He hits the bottle.
“I wish I knew how to handle situations better,” Jaebum says. He casts a look at Wonpil, who resolutely looks away. “And I’m afraid I’ll never really know how to work in a team.” Spike. The bottle crumples.
“I wish I was stronger,” Yugyeom flexes his hands (“Are you kidding me, you’re like the Hulk!” Bambam calls out amongst other voices of dissent). “I wish I was more capable.” Spike.
“I’m afraid I’ll never be as good as Junhyuk,” Jackson yells with his eyes closed. “And I’m scared that when it comes down to it, it was really my fault that he left,” he adds in a softer voice. Brian tosses with the most somber expression on his face. Spike.
“I wish I wasn’t so relieved to be in reserve,” Dowoon announces. Spike. He misses, but no one says anything about it.
Wonpil steps up to the T. “I’m afraid that I’ll never be good enough to play again,” he says to the ceiling. “I’m afraid that I’ll always be second best. And I’m afraid that one day I’ll get used to the feeling of being second best.” He spikes in absolute silence.
“I wish I wasn’t such a dickhead sometimes,” Bambam sighs when it’s his turn. “And I’m afraid of what Jimin is going to do to me when she finds out that I’ve got detention after school until Friday.” He spikes just as Jimin yells “WHAT?!” and thunders across the floor. Bambam hides behind Yugyeom as Sungjin stops her from jumping on him and pounding him to a pulp, trying to keep from laughing.
“I wish everyone would stop telling me how much they want to win tomorrow,” Youngjae admits dolefully. “And I’m afraid that I’ll never feel like I belong to this team.” Spike. Mark and Jackson ruffle his hair when he joins them, and Dowoon loops an arm around his shoulder.
“I’m afraid that I’ll always let Wonpil down,” Jinyoung announces. The first years turn to look at Wonpil, who colours and looks away. “I’m afraid that I’ll always put winning over friendship.” Spike. Perfect hit. He joins the others on the other side of the net. Wonpil still doesn’t look at him.
“I wish I wasn’t so nice,” Brian says. “Shut up,” he laughs as the third and second years boo at him. “No, really. I wish I had a colder heart so I can think about the good of the team rather than the good of the person. I wish I was a better setter.” He spikes the toss that Jinyoung sends him. It hits the bottle dead on. “Let’s go captain,” he says pointedly to Sungjin when he lands.
Sungjin closes his eyes and inhales. Exhales. “I wish I was strong enough,” he proclaims. “I wish I was strong enough to convince Junhyuk to stay. I wish I was strong enough to not let him get to me. I wish I had the power to let you all play as a starting team.” He looks around at his teammates. “I’m afraid that I’ve failed as a leader. I’m afraid that I’ve broken this team beyond repair. And I’m afraid that I won’t be able to fix it.” He nods at Brian, who nods back, and hits the hardest spike he’s ever hit this year. “Whoo, that felt good,” he breathes, looking at his stinging palm. He thinks he feels a little lighter.
Jimin claps from the side.
“Group huddle!” Jae yells suddenly, throwing his arms around him and Brian. “Get over here, Jimin!”
“We’re going to kick SM’s ass tomorrow!” Jackson bellows as they place their hands on top of each other’s in the middle of the circle.
“We’re going to prove that we’re still one of the top teams in Seoul!” Brian yells.
“And we’re going to crush anyone who stands in our way,” Sungjin manages. He looks around at the fresh, overeager faces of the first years, at the more sober second years (minus Jackson), and finally at his friends. Jae waggles his eyebrows at him as Mark grins wider. “Together!” he adds.
“TOGETHER!” the boys bellow.
Sungjin and Brian have to endure a 5 minute lecture from the security guard on why just because yelling in an empty school at 9.30pm isn’t against the rules doesn’t mean they can do it, but they think it was absolutely worth it.
Jae ends up taking Bambam’s place in the lineup. Youngjae is so nervous that Sungjin has to take him outside for a while to calm him down and Jackson ends up riling up SM’s middle blocker before the match even starts so Brian has to take him out for a good talk.
“You’re the coach?” SM’s coach addresses Jimin with some disbelief. “Aren’t you still a student yourself?”
“I’m sure you’ve heard of Park Insung?” Jimin tosses her hair behind her shoulder.
“The coach of the national team? Who hasn’t heard of him?”
“He’s my dad,” Jimin smiles. “I heard the national team is going to be scouting in Seoul soon. I’m sure he’ll be really interested to know the standard in high schools these days.” She shakes the coach’s hand. “Let’s have a really good game.”
“What the hell,” Jaebum says when she rejoins the group, the third years trying to pick their jaws up from the floor. “You didn’t tell us that your dad was the national team coach.”
“What does it matter to you?” Jimin eyes him. “You’ll never make it in the national team.” Jackson pats Jaebum on the back as they watch his soul leave his body. “Okay kids, let’s get into positions. I have complete faith in you, okay? Except maybe Youngjae.”
“Don’t say that!” Youngjae wails. Jimin laughs. “Let’s kick ass!” Sungjin hollers, and the boys cheer as they throw their hands into the air.
They win the first set a little too easily thanks to Jackson’s taunting of Park Chanyeol, who loses all concentration every time Jackson so much as grins at him. Chanyeol repays the favour by trash talking Jae throughout the second set. Jimin uses both timeouts as Brian and Sungjin try to keep Jae from breaking, but they lose the second set anyway when the middle blockers start targeting Jaebum, forcing Jinyoung to toss to Youngjae or Yugyeom instead. It doesn’t end well.
They end up winning by the skin of their teeth in the third set when Jaebum’s back court spike gets blocked and Jackson saves it with an out of control roll that trips Youngjae up. Jinyoung dumps it only to have it be saved by SM’s libero Kim Jongdae, and SM’s ace Kim Minseok comes up for the kill only to be blocked by Jae, who jumps higher and more ferociously than he ever has before. The force of the spike makes the ball ricochet off the tips of his fingers into the spectator stands, giving them a one point lead. Brian and Sungjin jump to their feet, cheering. Jae looks more than a little proud of himself.
Mark scores the final point to make it 26-24. Sungjin hugs Brian so hard he thinks he cracks a few bones.
“I wanna ask you something,” Jaebum sits down beside Jinyoung as he removes his court shoes. “Why didn’t you toss that last point to me?”
Jinyoung pauses, pursing his lips. “I dunno, I just felt like, at that moment, that Mark was in a better position to kill it.”
“I was wide open,” Jaebum objects.
“Are you seriously going to get mad at me for tossing to the ace?” Jinyoung throws his slippers on the floor with a slap and shoves his shoes into his bag. “I know you always want to win and all that, but don’t you remember what you said last night about working in a team? That means you’re not always going to get the ball, you know.”
“I know but…” Jaebum runs his tongue over his teeth. “Next year you better toss to me the way you toss to Mark. Like you’re tossing to a savior.” He punches Jinyoung lightly on the arm and grins.
“Hey,” says a voice, and they both turn to find Wonpil standing awkwardly above them. He hurriedly drops to a squat. “That was… you guys… good game,” he catches Jinyoung’s eye, and looks away. “You both played really well.”
"I'm sorry," Jinyoung pats him a little awkwardly on the knee. "I'll try to get better."
“Awww, is our married couple getting back together?” Jackson careens out of nowhere and knocks himself into Wonpil, who falls straight onto Jinyoung. “It’s a love fest! And guess what, you guys?” he throws himself across Wonpil, who groans from the weight. “We won! Which means we’re definitely going to kick ass at Interhigh!”
“Only if we practice a lot more,” Jinyoung winces, Wonpil’s head digging into his chest.
“Keep practicing hard, Youngjae!” Jaebum yells across the gym, trying to avoid Jackson’s kicking legs. “I really want to win Interhigh!”
“SHUT UP!” Youngjae howls just as Bambam rushes into the gym, demanding to know the score. The second years burst out laughing.
“Okay, so I’ve analyzed the way you all played during yesterday’s game and I have to admit I’m kinda impressed,” Jimin sits in front of them, Sungjin and Brian on either side. “Especially with you, Jae, that last block was really ace,” she gives him a thumbs up. Jae pretends to faint.
“Obviously we’re still a long way from achieving SM’s crazy ass coordination,” Jimin continues, “and we still have a lot of weak spots in our defense,” she shoots a look at Youngjae, “but I think if we just train really hard and play a lot more practice matches we should be good to go at Interhigh! I’ve actually arranged for a match against Sevit for next week,” she grins.
“SVT?” Bambam looks ecstatic. “I can’t wait!”
“You’re seriously something,” Sungjin shakes his head. “Let’s thank the coach, everyone!”
“THANKS COACH JIMIN!” the boys jump to their feet and bow to her.
“Ah stop it, this is weird,” Jimin waves a hand at them, but Sungjin doesn’t miss the faint blush on her cheeks. “So to start of this training session I thought we could do a nice 3km run.” She grins evilly as they start groaning and Jinyoung starts protesting. “Let’s go team!”
“Let’s go!” Sungjin gets to his feet. “I’m really proud of you guys, you know,” he adds. The boys jump to their feet and race outside with noises of disgust before he can get any cheesier.
“You good?” Brian asks as they walk to the door. He slings an arm around his shoulder.
“Yeah,” Sungjin grins back. “We’re all good.”
9216w, pg-15
aka the longest ten days of park sungjin's life. (volleyball/haikyuu!! au)
a/n: written for kisoap ! hope you enjoy this mess bb <3
i. bump
“Now kids,” Sungjin points to the diagrams drawn on the whiteboard behind him. Brian stands quietly to the side, his hands behind his back and rocking back and forth on his heels. Sungjin half-wishes he’d just stand still. “If we can just practice these formations today, I’ll be really -” He tries to keep from rolling his eyes when Jae and Jackson throw a hand in the air at the same time.
“Can’t we just practice blocks today?” Jae asks as Jackson yells “I NEED TO PRACTICE MY ROLLS” and promptly jumps to his feet, dives for an imaginary ball, rolls across the ground and jumps back up. Dowoon, Yugyeom and Youngjae clap with stars in their eyes as Jackson thumbs his nose and points his chin up in the air with a smirk. Sungjin sighs.
“Look, I know you all want to do your own thing but we are a team and we have a practice match coming up against SM next week so can we just -”
“Ow, JACKSON YOU DUMB SON OF A BITCH!” Jinyoung yells as a ball sails out of nowhere and smacks him on the side of the head. “Don’t you dare join in, Bambam,” he throws out a warning finger as their newest team member half moves to get to his feet. Behind them Jackson is already running laps around the court, his shoes squeaking against the floor.
“Aww, but...,” Kunpimook - Bambam - pouts and crosses his arms across his skinny chest but does what he’s been told. Jinyoung gets up instead to chase after Jackson.
“Jinyoung,” Sungjin pinches the bridge of his nose, “get your ass back -”
“Cap, we should go for a run instead so we can build stamina,” Wonpil puts up his hand. “I heard the SM kids have tons of it, they can probably have normal conversations while playing or something.” Mark nods along but Sungjin is sure he only half knows what’s going on.
“Actually the SM kids are super coordinated with each other, which is why we decided to practice our formations instead,” Brian steps in, waving a hand at the whiteboard. Sungjin gives him a grateful glance. “I stayed up the whole of last night thinking of the best positions for each of us and I came up with these so can we just…” He trails off when he realizes that none of them are listening to him, opting instead to watch Jackson skillfully evade Jinyoung’s fingers at every last second.
“Uhh, guys…” Yugyeom starts uncertainly when he feels the fiery glare of their captain boring into the back of his head, but it’s already too late.
“Get them, Jaebum,” Sungjin throws a finger forward.
Jaebum nods, gets to his feet, and brings Jackson down in 10 seconds flat, dragging him back to the group by the scruff of his t-shirt collar and dumping him unceremoniously at their feet before proceeding to sit on him. Jinyoung follows, looking a little shamefaced at his failure, and resumes his place next to Wonpil. Bambam noticeably sits up a little straighter.
“As I was saying,” Sungjin tries to keep from hissing. “If we could all just -”
The gym doors fly open with a loud bang and Sungjin closes his eyes and counts to five before turning to see who the bloody hell decided to gate crash on their club time like they had some kind of death wish. He’s a little bit shocked to find a girl standing in the doorway, multiple piercings on her ears and hair dyed a bright red. “Volleyball club?” she asks without introducing herself, only giving a slight nod to Sungjin as she steps in front of him and faces the team with her hands on her hips.
Who the hell is this? Sungjin mouths to Brian, who shrugs. “Who the hell are you?” Bambam asks outright, earning himself a pinch from Jaebum.
“I’m Park Jimin,” the girl grins (a little evilly, Sungjin thinks) at them. “And I’m your new manager slash coach. Nice to meet y’all!”
All eyes turn to Sungjin, who in turn looks again at Brian, who again shrugs. Oh boy.
“Let me get this straight,” Sungjin stands beside Jimin as the boys begin hitting straights with Jinyoung and Brian setting on each side. Jae stands on his other side, clutching a water bottle in one hand. “You’re a first year? And you’re coaching us?”
“Yup,” Jimin nods, her eyes narrowing slightly as Mark jumps and hits a perfect straight down the court. “You guys were advertising for a manager so I went to see Mr. Ok and I told him that I basically grew up around volleyball and he let me be coach too.” She turns to him. “Is this because I’m a girl?”
“No,” Sungjin deadpans. “It’s because you’re a first year. He sighs and rubs the back of his neck. “Mr. Ok didn’t tell me anything about this, are you sure he sent you?”
She smiles at him. “Maybe he didn’t think you were worth telling.” Jae chokes on his water and descends into a coughing fit beside him.
“She’s a real firecracker, that one,” Sungjin mutters to Brian later, nursing the sore spot in his ego where she socked him one. Brian pats his back sympathetically and hands him a water bottle.
Jimin turns out to be strict as hell but at least she actually manages to get the second years to calm down (mostly Jackson) and the first years to do as they’re told (mostly Bambam). She also seems to actually know what she’s doing, which takes a huge burden off Sungjin’s mind as most of the time he doesn’t, even with Strategist Extraordinaire Brian Kang Younghyun by his side.
“I think that was one of the best training sessions we’ve ever had,” Sungjin hears Youngjae remark to Dowoon as they’re cleaning the gym. Jimin is writing something in her notebook with the utmost concentration, the tip of her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth, and Sungjin wonders how the hell anyone who just made them do 3 sets of 20 court runs, 20 sit-ups and 10 push-ups can sit there and actually look kind of cute.
“She’s actually in my class,” Yugyeom joins in, the net a tangled bundle in his arms. “I’ve never really talked to her though.”
“Why’s that?” Bambam asks, leaning against his broom.
“She kind of scares me,” Yugyeom admits sheepishly.
“Yeah…” the other first years sigh collectively, a sudden gloomy cloud hanging above their heads. Sungjin swears he sees a few goosebumps raise on Dowoon’s skin.
“Hey, Captain!” Jimin suddenly yells, and the first years jump violently before scurrying back to their assigned jobs. She gestures furiously at Sungjin and he goes over, super aware of the fact that he’s feeling a mixture of dread and slight (okay, maybe more than slight) fear at the thought of talking to a 16 year old girl. He turns to look for Brian and spies the other third years across the gym, giving him sympathetic looks. He glares at them. They pretend to look in other directions.
“Okay, so I’ve assessed all the players and I’ve decided on a starting team for your practice match on Wednesday,” Jimin tells him when he sits down beside her. “Tuan is your ace, isn’t he?”
“Pretty much,” Sungjin nods.
“Yeah, we’ll have Tuan playing left,” she indicates to a diagram in her notebook. “I want to put Park Jin -.”
“Wait,” Sungjin stops her. “I think Brian should be here to hear this too, he’s our prime tactician and he knows all the team’s strength and weakness.” Jimin shrugs and Sungjin waves at Brian to come over. He shakes his head violently and starts backing away until Jae pushes him forward, whereupon he saunters forward with his hands in his pockets, looking as cool as a cucumber. Sungjin rolls his eyes.
“So yeah, we’ll have Tuan and Im as left wings, Choi as right, Bhuwakul and Kim as middle blockers, Park Jinyoung as setter and Wang as libero as our starting team,” Jimin points to each circle on her drawing of the court as she speaks. “Cool?”
Sungjin and Brian exchange glances. “That sounds about right, but Youngjae is a little…” Brian trails off and scratches his head, trying to think of a more diplomatic way of saying not quite up to standard yet. He comes up with nothing.
“Oh?” Jimin cocks her head to the side. “He seemed alright during practice just now. What’s his problem?”
“Nothing, he’s just not strong enough yet,” Sungjin tries to explain as quietly as he can so the other kids can’t hear him. “He does well in practice but in matches he can’t seem to keep up.”
“But it’s a practice match anyway,” Jimin raises an eyebrow. “The only way anyone is going to improve is by playing lots of matches. Do you not want him to improve?” Brian opens his mouth to rebuke her, but Sungjin steps on his hand.
“We’re just saying that maybe Wonpil would be a better candidate,” he suggests. “I mean, obviously we want Youngjae to improve, but maybe it’s too soon to have him playing matches.”
Jimin screws up her mouth as she considers his suggestion, her eyes flitting between Youngjae racing Bambam with the brooms and Wonpil as he helps Jinyoung with the net poles. Sungjin feels incredibly guilty about pulling Youngjae out of the lineup, but he has his pride to think about. JYP has yet to beat SM in a practice match, and with interschool tournaments coming up soon he really has to boost their morale with a win. Jackson has been especially rowdy lately, and it’s beginning to rub off on the first years. Sungjin’s been counting on this to rope all of them back together.
“No,” Jimin announces finally. Sungjin’s stomach drops. “We’ll go with Youngjae. Okay, gather them over and we’ll go through the formations.”
Sungjin glances at Brian, who only shrugs.
“Wonpil,” Sungjin taps him on the shoulder in the club room. All of the first years have left, Jackson and Jaebum with them. Jinyoung is fixing his hair in the mirror and the third years are discussing their new coach. “Don’t feel too bad about not being in the starting team this match, okay?”
Wonpil slings his bag over his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it Cap,” he smiles his usual reassuringly even smile. “It’s just a practice match. Anyway, it’ll be good for Youngjae to get some practice in.” He pats Sungjin on the arm and indicates to Jinyoung, who turns from the mirror with (as per usual) the most perfect hair anyone could ever have after training. “See you all on Wednesday!” Wonpil calls out as he and Jinyoung leave. “Thanks for the hard work!”
“Wonpil is the angel we don’t deserve,” Jae pretends to wipe a tear away as Sungjin sits down at the low table set in the middle of the floor.
“Tell me about it,” Sungjin says, staring at the door. Brian nudges him.
“Don’t worry about him,” he pushes a juice carton at him. “He’ll be fine.”
“I hope so,” Sungjin sighs, taking a sip of juice and preparing himself for a long rant session.
“Do you think I can do it?” Youngjae asks Dowoon as they unlock their bicycles and push them to the school gates.
“Yeah, just work hard,” Dowoon shrugs. Youngjae is about to reply that that is the worst advice anyone could ever give when someone throws an arm around his shoulder and pulls his head into a headlock.
“What are you scamps talking about huh?” Jackson grins wolfishly. “Is it already getting to your head about being on the starting team Choi Youngjae?” He chuckles as Youngjae struggles against him, trying to free his head.
“Get off him, you’re gonna suffocate him,” Jaebum appears out of the shadows, hands in his pockets. Dowoon hurriedly assumes a bow, which Jaebum waves off. “Don’t worry about it, Dowoon.”
“Yeah, we don’t go for that whole sunbae thing,” Jackson adds as Youngjae lets out of a yelp of frustration and manages to push Jackson away. “Well JB does but he’s trying to be the cool senior in front of you guys. He’ll bitch about you later.”
“Shut up,” Jaebum rolls his eyes as Dowoon suddenly looks uncertain. “Anyway, Youngjae, it means something that you’re gonna be starting so just try your best, okay?” Youngjae starts to look relieved, but Jackson butts in with an “I mean, we haven’t beaten SM for ages and Wonpil was really looking forward to it this time but no pressure or anything.”
“Seriously, shut the hell up,” Jaebum clocks Jackson on the arm as a mortified expression crosses Youngjae’s face. Dowoon notices his knuckles whiten as he grips the handlebars of his bicycle. “Don’t listen to him, Youngjae, he shoots his mouth off without thinking,” he slaps a hand over Jackson’s mouth and starts dragging him away. “In all seriousness though, just practice extra hard so we can have a shot at winning, yeah? See you guys Wednesday, get home safe.”
“Are you alright?” Dowoon asks as they turn the corner and disappear. Youngjae sinks to the ground, still hanging on to his bicycle handlebars. He mumbles something unintelligible and Dowoon bends over to hear him better, cupping a hand beside his ear.
“I think I’m gonna throw up,” Youngjae says miserably.
“You sure you’re alright with not starting?” Jinyoung asks Wonpil as they’re walking down the street, cicada songs filling the air as the sun begins to sink into the horizon. There are still a few weeks to summer, but the days have been uncharacteristically warm. Jinyoung adjusts his glasses with one finger, keeping one eye on his friend and the other on the road. The backstreets of Insa have become more pedestrian-friendly over the last few years, but there is still the occasional bicycle hit and run (which has happened more than a few times to Jaebum).
“Honestly it kinda sucks,” Wonpil replies easily. “But if it’s what the coach wants then I guess it just means I’m not good enough.” He shrugs.
“Don’t say that,” Jinyoung frowns. “You’re plenty good. She picked out the starting team after just one training session; she hasn’t even seen what you can do yet.”
“Yeah, but obviously she saw something in Youngjae that she can’t in me.” Wonpil glances at Jinyoung and grins. “Don’t worry about it, seriously. It’s just one practice match. I’ll just work a ton harder to show her that I can do it.”
“It’s pathetic as hell that we even have to prove ourselves to a first year,” Jinyoung deadpans, pausing when Wonpil stops at a vending machine.
“Yeah, but if she’ll help us beat SM then maybe it’s not such a bad thing,” Wonpil pulls a can of grape and pear juice from the dispenser and offers the grape to Jinyoung, who takes it.
“Will you stop being so damned optimistic about shit?” Jinyoung asks as he and Wonpil clink cans. Wonpil just laughs and drains the can in one shot.
ii. set
The next two training sessions pass without incident (unless you counted Jaebum accidentally spiking a ball straight into Youngjae’s face, or Jae and Bambam colliding when they jumped for a block which almost resulted in a sprained ankle for Jae) and Sungjin breathes a little easier at the end of Friday when everyone starts to pack up.
“Hey Sungjin, want to help me with serves tomorrow?” Jae lopes up, a towel around his neck. Sungjin eyes him a little warily. Park Jaehyung, one of the tallest in Jongno, probably one of the tallest in Seoul, as gangly and thin as an uncooked strand of spaghetti and also a notorious talker. After the worst week of his life dealing with Jimin, Sungjin isn’t sure if he can take much more talking. From anyone.
“Did I hear someone say serves?” Jackson appears out of nowhere. “I could do with some receiving practice.” He looks around and catches Youngjae around the scruff of his collar. “Youngjae could also do with some serve receiving practice,” he announces. “Since he’s going to be our next defense specialist.”
“Are you?” Sungjin asks Youngjae, who gives an awkward nod-shake with the most miserable expression on his face.
“Well that settles things then,” Jae looks enthusiastic. “I’ll drag Mark along, he should be working on his jump serves too. Sungjin can you get the key from Mr. Ok for the weekend?”
“Can’t you just practice in the outdoor court?” Sungjin frowns.
“Nah, the SM kids might have spies running around, we definitely don’t want them to see what I’ve been working on,” Jae flexes his skinny arms and pats an almost non-existent muscle. “We’ll shock them out of their stupid pink uniforms, mark my words.”
“You’re not even st -,” Jackson starts, but Sungjin cuts in with a slightly harried Hey Jackson why don’t you go check with Brian if he wants to practice tomorrow too, you’ll probably need a setter before he can finish. Jackson runs off eagerly and Sungjin breathes a sigh of relief. Park Jaehyung, probably one of the tallest in Seoul, also probably one of the weakest egos around. Sungjin suddenly has a bad feeling about this weekend’s practice session.
“Oh shiiiit, hold the line! A Flareon just appeared somewhere around here, I’m gonna find it!” Jae suddenly yells, and takes off through the doors holding his phone in front of him like a beacon of hope. Sungjin sighs.
“Something wrong?” Mark flops down beside him, skin glistening with sweat. “You look worried.”
“I feel like I’m doing some sort of disservice to the rest of the guys for not fighting for them to be on the starting team,” Sungjin admits, watching Wonpil throw a towel in Jinyoung’s face. “Nobody joins a sport to be left on the sidelines.”
“You’ll be on the sidelines too,” Mark points out, pouring a bottle of water over his head. He shakes his hair out, spraying Sungjin with droplets.
“Yeah, but I’m their captain, I’m supposed to be supporting them. It doesn’t matter if I don’t play, I just need to make sure they do.” Sungjin pushes his hair back with a hand and glances at him. Mark Tuan, one of the shortest on the team but also the most powerful jumper and hardest hitter. They might have a lot of strong players on their team, but everybody agrees hands down that Mark is most definitely their ace.
“Sounds like a huge burden,” Mark remarks offhandedly. “Sometimes I’m really glad I’m not captain. The amount of things to worry about, whew. I’d grow old before my time.” He stares out over the court, watching the younger ones laughing and chattering as they go about cleaning up.
“You could help me once in a while, you know,” Sungjin raises his eyebrows at him.
Mark grins. “Nah, it’s easier to just let you and Brian work through the problems and then go with whatever you guys decide.” He laughs at the expression on Sungjin’s face. “Anyway, stop worrying about it. They’ll be alright. Wonpil’s played in heaps of matches before this and Jae is secretly glad he won’t have to face Kim Minseok again. He thoroughly crushed him the last time, remember?”
“I remember,” Sungjin winces as he recalls the last practice match. “Did you seriously just try to give me advice though?”
“Hah yeah,” Mark rubs the back of his head. “That was totally weird, don’t expect any more of that for the next few weeks.”
“I’ll remember that,” Sungjin pulls him to his feet as Jimin calls for a team meeting. “Time to go face the grim reaper.”
“I heard that Park Sungjin,” Jimin yells. “20 court runs! Stat!”
“Remind me to never get on her bad side,” Yugyeom whispers to Bambam as they watch their captain run back and forth across the court.
“Brian, do you think I’m a bad player?” Jae asks as he and Brian begin setting up while they wait for the rest of today’s practice team to arrive. Brian pauses as he gathers the net, trying to think of a way to reply without being too nice and too mean. Despite his beanpole giant exterior, Jae is an extremely fragile human being (human bean, Brian almost smirks) underneath, and dealing with him requires delicate precision. “And don’t sugarcoat it for me.” Damn. Brian settles for the truth.
“You’re not bad,” he says carefully, straightening with the bundle in his arms. Whoever did the nets yesterday didn’t roll them up properly and now they’re a tangled mess. He has a niggling feeling it was Bambam. “It’s just that once you make a mistake it gets to you and screws you up for the rest of the game.” He holds his breath and waits for Jae to slump.
“It’s pretty obvious isn’t it,” Jae sighs sitting down on some rolled up gym mats. Brian half wants to tell him that they only have the gym for two hours before he has to return the key to security and they really should start setting up, but decides against it. “I dunno, it’s just so hard, like I know I’m supposed to be one of the best on this team and it’s just so much pressure. Plus Bambam and Yugyeom are just so much better than me, and they’re just first years and I’m supposed to be their sunbae but they’re overtaking me and it sucks.”
Brian sucks in a deep breath and prays to the god of patience. “Look, yeah, maybe Yug and Bam are on the starting team this time but it doesn’t mean it’ll always be like that, okay? Sure, Yugyeom is strong and Bam is naturally talented but they’re both leagues behind you in experience. Jimin probably put them in so they don’t mess up if they get subbed in during Interhigh, so stop thinking about it, okay? You’re a good player, you just need to toughen up and not let things get to you.”
“Yeah but -,” Jae looks at his hands.
“Don’t ask me how,” Brian tells him, hoisting the net further up in his arms. “You’re just gonna have to tell yourself to toughen up. I know I’m supposed to be a problem solver and shit but you’re the only one who can help yourself. Now stop moping and help me set up so you can practice the hell out of your serves and kick ass when we need you to, okay?”
“Jesus,” Jae gets to his feet and putting up his hands in surrender. “I think I finally get why you’re vice-captain. Also you get really scary when you stop being diplomatic.”
“Well it worked with you, didn’t it?” Brian asks dismissively. Jae grins.
“Yeah, I feel like I might be able to catch a Mewtwo today, I’m so pumped up,” he whoops, throwing a fist into the air. Brian groans and dumps the net on the floor to start untangling it.
“Are Jaebum and Jinyoung close friends?” Jimin asks Sungjin during training on Monday. They’re playing against each other today, with Dowoon acting as libero for the other team and admittedly doing an okay job at it. Sungjin downs half a bottle of water and passes it to Yugyeom, who hurriedly goes off to fill it.
“No, they only met in high school,” he huffs and blows up into his fringe. “Wonpil and Jinyoung are the childhood best friends. Why?”
“They have great teamwork,” Jimin says almost distractedly. “I thought they might have a close personal relationship. Jinyoung seems to toss to Jaebum a lot more than the others. Has he always done that?”
Sungjin chuckles. “Compared to Brian, Jinyoung is a lot more calculated, and because he’s pretty much always been paired with Jaebum he knows his playing style the best. Brian tries to give everyone a fair go so they don’t feel left out, but that’s his biggest weakness. Jinyoung tosses to whoever he thinks will get the point, and that’s almost always Jaebum.”
“Interesting,” Jimin muses. “What about Wonpil?”
“I think Wonpil’s style speaks for himself,” Sungjin indicates with his chin as Wonpil, Jackson and Jinyoung start hitting crosses to warm themselves up again. Wonpil runs up and jumps so lightly it almost looks as though he’s flying, before slamming the ball down into Jackson’s waiting arms. “He’s very… how do I describe this… floaty?”
“Yeah, I get it,” Jimin consult her clipboard. “What does that have to do with how he and Jinyoung work though?”
“Wonpil’s a lot slower than Jaebum,” Sungjin recalls the fight he’d accidentally stumbled upon in the corridor last year when Wonpil pushed Jinyoung up against the wall and accused him of abandoning him for Jaebum. “And Jinyoung works best with faster attacks. Jaebum plays every match like he’s out to win it and yeah, Wonpil’s got a lot of skill, but for some reason he and Jinyoung just can’t seem to sync.”
“That’s interesting,” Jimin rubs her chin. “That’s very interesting. By the way, why do we only have one libero? I was sure before I joined people were always talking about a third year libero and I’m sure it wasn’t Jackson.”
Sungjin’s mood immediately plummets. “He left,” he says shortly, then runs out on the court to resume the match.
“Hey, wanna watch a movie tonight?” Wonpil nudges Jinyoung as he does his hair in the tiny club room mirror. The first years are chattering away as per usual, the softer voices of the third years providing a lower undercurrent. “I heard the new Star Trek movie is supposed to be really good, and it has that Cucumber guy in it.”
“Cucumber…?” Jinyoung blinks. “Oh. You mean Benedict Cumberbatch.”
“Cucumber, Cumberbatch, same thing,” Wonpil says dismissively. “So you up for it? We can drag Jackson and JB along. Then we can get the caramel and the plain popcorn.”
“Uhh,” Jinyoung looks a little guilty. “JB and I were actually going to work on our quicks at Old Man Cha’s place.”
“Oh,” says Wonpil. He tries not to let the disappointment show on his face, because he and Jinyoung have worked past this stage. He isn’t supposed to get jealous about the fact that Jinyoung always tosses to Jaebum and that Jinyoung always practices with Jaebum, but he does. It bugs him that people always put Jinyoung and Jaebum as a pair and he can’t imagine what it’ll be like next year when Jaebum will probably be captain and Jinyoung will probably be vice. “No worries,” he says with a grin. “We’ll just go another time.”
“I’m really sorry,” Jinyoung grimaces slightly. “But you know, with the game and all coming up… Jaebum is super determined about winning and since we’re both gonna be starting I thought -”
“Yeah, I know,” Wonpil tries to wave it off. “The game is important. I know. Don’t worry about it, Jinyoung.” He slings his bag over his shoulder and walks away before Jinyoung can say anything else. “I’ll be off now!” he calls out. “See you guys on Wednesday!”
“See ya Pilimili!” Jackson yells as the others call out their goodbyes. Wonpil pretends not to notice the hurt look on Jinyoung’s face as he closes the door.
“… so then I was, like, bitch do you not know who I am? And she just laughs and goes “what, am I supposed to?” and I’m like, dude, you don’t even know who you’re talking to right now…” Bambam stops talking when Youngjae and Dowoon step out of the toilet. “Oh hey, Youngjae, Dowoon, I was just telling Yugyeom about how I just got detention from Miss Yenny. Wanna hear it?”
“If you called her Miss Yenny I’m surprised you got off with just detention,” Dowoon winces, thinking about Miss Park, the youngest (and fiercest) English teacher in school.
“Hah, yeah,” Bambam gives a goofy smile. “She would’ve whooped my ass if it wasn’t illegal.”
“How old is this guy again?” Youngjae asks Yugyeom, who just grins and shrugs.
“Did I hear something about detention?” Jackson thunders down the stairs, his shirt untucked and hands in his pockets. “Who got detention? Own up, ya cheeky scallywag.”
“Me,” Bambam says a little sheepishly, putting his hand up.
“Alright!” Jackson lifts up his hand for a high five, which Bambam returns with a hint of bewilderment. “Detention is the key to a fulfilling high school life, my friend,” Jackson points finger guns at him and winks. “Were you guys gonna grab a ball for some lunchtime practice?”
“Yeah,” Yugyeom says enthusiastically. “Wanna come?”
“Are you kidding me?” Jackson loops an arm around Youngjae’s shoulders and drags him along. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” They’re just about to step into the gymnasium, hearing the sound of a volleyball slapping against someone’s hand when Bambam stops, peering at something in the distance.
“What’s up?” Dowoon asks, looking in the same direction.
“I thought I saw someone looking in,” Bambam narrows his eyes. “He was tiptoeing and everything. Do you think he’s a spy from SM or something?”
“During school hours…?” Yugyeom starts, but Jackson gives a growl.
“Wouldn’t put it past those dirty bastards,” he licks his lips. “Yug, go give Sungjin a call. He’s probably inside. I’ll try and catch the bastard.”
“But he’s already gone,” Youngjae objects as Bambam and Yugyeom hurry into the gym.
“You forget, my young padawan, that I’m the best libero in Seoul,” Jackson grins and thumbs his nose. “I can catch anything.” And he shoots off in the direction Bambam was looking in. Youngjae sighs and decides to stick around just to see what happens.
Of all the strange things Park Sungjin has come across in his life - and he has been in some really weird situations in his days - rounding the corner with the rest of the team hot on his heels to find Jackson Wang sitting on a masked student has got to be the strangest.
“What…” he starts, as Jackson grins and flashes a peace sign.
“Told you I could catch anything!” he calls out to Youngjae, who looks awed and uncomfortable at the same time. “I waited so you could unmask him, didn’t want to keep all the fun to myself.” He gestures as his captive wriggles beneath him.
Sungjin nudges Brian, who pinches him back. Sungjin curses him under his breath, then steps forward and pulls the ski mask from the boy’s head. There’s a collective gasp from the second and third years when they see who’s under the mask, and the first years exchange confused looks. Jackson abruptly jumps to his feet with a yell of surprise, and his captive scrambles to his own and makes to escape.
“Junhyuk,” Sungjin says in a voice that he reserves for the first years (and Jackson) when they absolutely refuse to listen to anything he has to say. On cue, Jackson shuts up. Junhyuk stops and turns, resolutely avoiding his eye. “What the hell are you doing?”
“I was just checking up on you guys,” Junhyuk mutters resentfully. “Just to see if you needed me. Judging by how easily Jackson caught me, you clearly don’t.” Jackson immediately looks ashamed of himself.
“Come on Junhyuk,” says Brian, stepping forward. “You’re being really stupid about this, you know.”
“Yeah, we never wanted you to leave,” Jae adds. “Plus, wearing a ski mask in the middle of a school day is just a dumb thing to do if you didn’t want to be seen.” Mark coughs and digs an elbow into his side.
“You didn’t have to leave,” Sungjin says quietly. A slow burning rage is beginning to flow through him, and he clenches his fists to keep himself in check. “You didn’t have to make it look like we didn’t need you.”
“Please,” Junhyuk narrows his eyes. “What would’ve happened if I stayed? Would I be allowed to play? I’d probably still be sitting on the bench, waiting for Jackson to fuck something up just so I’d be allowed to touch the ball.” Sungjin notices a collective discomfort flow through the team. Not something he’d wanted to happen a day before their practice match. “I heard you two got taken off the starting team,” Junhyuk addresses Wonpil and Jae. Brian makes a slight move as if to shield them. “I guess they don’t need you guys anymore either, huh?”
“Shut up,” Sungjin growls as Wonpil colours. “If you came to pick a fight then you should just fuck off out of here.” Junhyuk gives a scoff and shakes his head.
“You of all people know what it’s like to sit on the sidelines,” he says, his eyes locked on Sungjin, and Sungjin feels the rage course through his veins. “So why do you keep telling me I’m wrong for not wanting to feel useless? Are you just trying to justify it to yourself?” He shakes his head again. “Don’t tell me to come back just so you can have someone else to warm the bench with you, Park Sungjin,” he spits.
Brian has enough foresight to grab on to the back of Sungjin’s shirt as he launches himself at Junhyuk, yelling at Jackson and Jaebum to help him. Jae and Mark push Junhyuk away as Sungjin yells incoherently and kicks out at him, trying to free himself from Brian and Jaebum’s grasp. The bell goes for the end of lunchtime, and Junhyuk pushes Mark and Jae away from him.
“I didn’t think that even you’d stoop so low,” Mark says quietly to him. Junhyuk glares at him but doesn’t say anything. He gives one final look at Sungjin, then turns and leaves.
“You really lost it there,” Brian remarks as Sungjin wrenches himself free from his grasp and runs a hand through his hair, breathing hard as he watches Junhyuk’s retreating back. Jinyoung and Wonpil start ushering the bewildered first years back to their classrooms. “Are you okay?” He tries to squeeze Sungjin’s shoulder, but Sungjin shrugs him off. Mark and Jae watch him warily.
“That guy really pisses me off,” Sungjin grits his teeth, straightening his tie. He huffs and runs his hands through his hair again, trying to hide how much he’s shaking. He can still remember the day Junhyuk literally threw in the towel and stormed out of the gym, just before the first years came in. He can still see the horrified look on Jackson’s face, the bewilderment on Brian’s. He can still feel the shock running through him because that was the day they made Junhyuk vice-captain. And he threw it back in their faces like it meant nothing.
“I really thought we were friends,” Jae says almost sadly, looking deadly serious.
“Yeah,” Sungjin runs his tongue over his teeth. “I thought so too.” He’s dreadfully aware of how every single word that Junhyuk spat at him had held nothing but truth.
“So…” Bambam bites his lip as they make their way back to class, “when do you think will be a good time to tell them that I got detention until the end of the week?” He tries for a relaxed laugh and ends up sounding panicked.
“Dude,” says Dowoon as Youngjae groans and Yugyeom covers his face with his hands. “You’re so dead.”
“Don’t think too much about it,” Jinyoung cautions Wonpil before they part ways for class. Jackson had disappeared into his own classroom without even saying goodbye, and with Jackson that was a dangerous thing. “He was just trying to rile Sungjin up.”
“Yeah?” Wonpil asks distractedly. “So why was it that I agreed with everything that he said?” He keeps cracking his knuckles, something Jinyoung knows that he always does when he’s upset.
“You’re not useless, Wonpil,” Jaebum puts his hand on his shoulder. “We really need you.”
“For what?” Wonpil flinches slightly away from his touch, and Jaebum withdraws his hand. “I’m just a sub now. Youngjae’s sub. You,” he addresses Jinyoung. “You’re always going to have a fixed position and Brian is nice enough to let you have it. And you,” he looks at Jaebum. “You’re already gearing up to be our ace when Mark leaves. Will I have to wait til next year to be on a starting team again? Or will more first years who are better than me keep waltzing through the door?”
“You aren’t Youngjae’s sub,” Jinyoung objects. “Youngjae isn’t even as good as you are. It’s just one practice match, why are you letting this get to you?”
“Shut up, Park Jinyoung,” Wonpil snaps at him. “You wouldn’t even give me a toss if you had a choice.” He walks into the classroom and sits down violently, folding his arms across his chest.
“Well fuck me,” Jaebum exhales and runs his hand through his hair in a way oddly reminiscent of the way Sungjin does when he’s stressed, and Jinyoung tries to forget the hatred in Wonpil’s eyes as he takes his seat behind him and stares at the back of his best friend’s head.
They don’t look at each other for the rest of the day.
iii. spike
Sungjin turns up outside Jimin’s classroom as the bell goes for the end of the day. Yugyeom gives him a questioning look, but Sungjin shakes his head at him and beckons to Jimin. The other girls immediately begin whispering as she exits the classroom, rolling her eyes.
“What’s up, cap?” she asks, leaning against the wall.
Sungjin moves aside to let a male student through, trying to ignore the whispers and stares of the first years around him. “I’m going to give you fair warning right now,” he starts, then takes a deep breath to prepare himself for what he’s predicted will come next, “but the kids’ morale is at an all-time low and I have a feeling we’ll lose tomorrow’s match. Badly.” He flinches, expecting Jimin to jump on him, but there’s nothing.
“I heard what happened from Yugyeom,” Jimin says thoughtfully. Sungjin blinks and rights himself. “I guess that Junhyuk guy was your libero who left, huh?”
“Yeah…” says Sungjin uncertainly, wondering if Jimin always had this calm side to her. He certainly hasn’t seen it before. “So what should we do?”
“What?” Jimin snaps her head to him so fast that he flinches again. “What do you mean what are ‘we’ going to do about it?” She tosses her hair over her shoulder. “This is between you and your team and it sounds like you really lost it back there. You’re the captain, and if you can’t boost your own team’s spirits then maybe you’re not fit to be one.”
“Wow,” Sungjin reels back, a hand over his heart, feeling as though he’s been punched in the head. “Who taught you to talk to people like that?”
“My mum has a wonderful way with words,” Jimin rolls her eyes. “But that’s beside the point.” She pokes a finger into his chest, and he hears several girls behind him gasp. “The point is, you need to pull yourself together first if you want to have any hope of getting your team back together. You’re supposed to be one of the top teams in Seoul, remember? Have a night time rendezvous or something, whatever weird things that you boys do to make yourselves feel better, you just need to set things straight before the match starts tomorrow or we’ll never win.”
Sungjin chews on his bottom lip. “I really fucked things up,” he admits. “With Junhyuk. With everyone.”
“I know,” Jimin says dismissively. “That’s why you’re the only one who can fix it.”
Sungjin sighs and rakes a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe I let things turn out like this.”
Jimin socks him one in the stomach without warning, and several people around them gape at the sight of a first year girl punching a senior. “And I can’t believe that you actually had to have me tell you all these things. Me, a first year.” She shakes her head as he leans back against the wall, feeling slightly winded. “You knew all this before I even told them to you, didn’t you?”
Sungjin grins despite the fact that his eyes are watering. “I had to hear it from my coach.”
Jimin rolls her eyes again but she laughs like she means it, and Sungjin thinks that in that moment she has never looked more like a teenager. “You have until the end of the school day tomorrow,” she deadpans suddenly, and sticks a finger into his chest again. “If not I’ll do more than just punch you in the gut.”
“Yes ma’am,” Sungjin salutes her, one arm still crossed over his stomach.
He calls Brian and tells him to get the keys from Mr. Ok for that night.
“But we aren’t -“
“Tell him if he doesn’t help us this time I’ll tell Jae to upload the video of him dancing to the Wonder Girls,” Sungjin seats himself on the staircase just outside the teacher’s office. “And tell him I mean it this time.”
“He’s never gonna take you seriously if you keep using that line,” Brian sighs. “Call you back.” Sungjin watches him knock on the door and enter the office. He comes out less than 3 minutes later, swinging the keys around his finger. Sungjin whistles and he comes over, shaking his head.
“Works every time,” Sungjin winks.
“What are you planning?” Brian asks him warily. “Did you go see Jimin?”
“Yeah,” Sungjin rubs his hands together. “And I think I have some kind of plan. Oh, and also,” he grimaces slightly, “be ready to squash any dating rumors that might be swirling around tomorrow. First years spread things like wildfire.”
“Jesus, I told you to talk to her not make out with her,” Brian breathes, and earns himself a shove.
Everyone gathers in the gym at 9pm sharp, which is nothing short of a miracle when they’re always late for practice. Sungjin supposes that Jaebum must have threatened Jackson with something serious, and the first years are now too intimidated to try anything else. He sighs. He hadn’t quite wanted to rule through fear.
“Let’s just get to the point,” he starts when they’ve all gathered in front of him. Jinyoung and Wonpil are standing on opposite ends of the group, he notices. That can’t mean anything good. “I’ve called all of you here because I think there are some things that we need to iron out before the game tomorrow. Am I right?” The first years nod a little timidly, the second years refuse to look at each other. “Us third years decided to come up with this exercise to help us unburden ourselves. Which is why,” he nods at Brian, who gives him a thumbs up, “we’re all going to be spiking tonight.” Jinyoung raises a skeptical eyebrow.
“Before you spike we want you to say anything that’s bothering you or something that’s scaring you at the moment. Or something that you wish for,” Jae explains, pushing his glasses up his nose. “Think of it as smashing that issue right in the gut.” He mimes jumping up and spiking. “Mark will go first to demonstrate.”
Sungjin notices Jimin slide into the gym just as Mark is placing the water bottle on the other end of the court. He nods at her. She nods back.
“I’m afraid of flying cockroaches,” Mark says soullessly, taking his position in the back court. Brian deadpans at him from his position as tosser, catching the ball that Jae throws at him instead of setting it.
“Are you being stupid on purpose?” he asks. A few chuckles and grins break out among the others. Mark smiles widely.
“That’s what I wanted to hear,” he cups a hand over his ear. “Okay. I’m afraid that we’re going to get our asses handed to us tomorrow. I’m afraid that we won’t be able to get our act together when Interhigh comes around and I’m afraid that Sungjin over here will grow old before he even turns 20.” He looks at Brian. “Good enough?”
“I think that was the longest speech I’ve ever heard from you,” Brian grins. “Go.”
Mark brings down the ball with so much force that the bottle completely crumples. Luckily Brian has enough fortitude to have brought one for each of them.
“I’m afraid that I’ll never be able to stop myself from breaking,” Jae announces. Spike. He hits the bottle.
“I wish I knew how to handle situations better,” Jaebum says. He casts a look at Wonpil, who resolutely looks away. “And I’m afraid I’ll never really know how to work in a team.” Spike. The bottle crumples.
“I wish I was stronger,” Yugyeom flexes his hands (“Are you kidding me, you’re like the Hulk!” Bambam calls out amongst other voices of dissent). “I wish I was more capable.” Spike.
“I’m afraid I’ll never be as good as Junhyuk,” Jackson yells with his eyes closed. “And I’m scared that when it comes down to it, it was really my fault that he left,” he adds in a softer voice. Brian tosses with the most somber expression on his face. Spike.
“I wish I wasn’t so relieved to be in reserve,” Dowoon announces. Spike. He misses, but no one says anything about it.
Wonpil steps up to the T. “I’m afraid that I’ll never be good enough to play again,” he says to the ceiling. “I’m afraid that I’ll always be second best. And I’m afraid that one day I’ll get used to the feeling of being second best.” He spikes in absolute silence.
“I wish I wasn’t such a dickhead sometimes,” Bambam sighs when it’s his turn. “And I’m afraid of what Jimin is going to do to me when she finds out that I’ve got detention after school until Friday.” He spikes just as Jimin yells “WHAT?!” and thunders across the floor. Bambam hides behind Yugyeom as Sungjin stops her from jumping on him and pounding him to a pulp, trying to keep from laughing.
“I wish everyone would stop telling me how much they want to win tomorrow,” Youngjae admits dolefully. “And I’m afraid that I’ll never feel like I belong to this team.” Spike. Mark and Jackson ruffle his hair when he joins them, and Dowoon loops an arm around his shoulder.
“I’m afraid that I’ll always let Wonpil down,” Jinyoung announces. The first years turn to look at Wonpil, who colours and looks away. “I’m afraid that I’ll always put winning over friendship.” Spike. Perfect hit. He joins the others on the other side of the net. Wonpil still doesn’t look at him.
“I wish I wasn’t so nice,” Brian says. “Shut up,” he laughs as the third and second years boo at him. “No, really. I wish I had a colder heart so I can think about the good of the team rather than the good of the person. I wish I was a better setter.” He spikes the toss that Jinyoung sends him. It hits the bottle dead on. “Let’s go captain,” he says pointedly to Sungjin when he lands.
Sungjin closes his eyes and inhales. Exhales. “I wish I was strong enough,” he proclaims. “I wish I was strong enough to convince Junhyuk to stay. I wish I was strong enough to not let him get to me. I wish I had the power to let you all play as a starting team.” He looks around at his teammates. “I’m afraid that I’ve failed as a leader. I’m afraid that I’ve broken this team beyond repair. And I’m afraid that I won’t be able to fix it.” He nods at Brian, who nods back, and hits the hardest spike he’s ever hit this year. “Whoo, that felt good,” he breathes, looking at his stinging palm. He thinks he feels a little lighter.
Jimin claps from the side.
“Group huddle!” Jae yells suddenly, throwing his arms around him and Brian. “Get over here, Jimin!”
“We’re going to kick SM’s ass tomorrow!” Jackson bellows as they place their hands on top of each other’s in the middle of the circle.
“We’re going to prove that we’re still one of the top teams in Seoul!” Brian yells.
“And we’re going to crush anyone who stands in our way,” Sungjin manages. He looks around at the fresh, overeager faces of the first years, at the more sober second years (minus Jackson), and finally at his friends. Jae waggles his eyebrows at him as Mark grins wider. “Together!” he adds.
“TOGETHER!” the boys bellow.
Sungjin and Brian have to endure a 5 minute lecture from the security guard on why just because yelling in an empty school at 9.30pm isn’t against the rules doesn’t mean they can do it, but they think it was absolutely worth it.
Jae ends up taking Bambam’s place in the lineup. Youngjae is so nervous that Sungjin has to take him outside for a while to calm him down and Jackson ends up riling up SM’s middle blocker before the match even starts so Brian has to take him out for a good talk.
“You’re the coach?” SM’s coach addresses Jimin with some disbelief. “Aren’t you still a student yourself?”
“I’m sure you’ve heard of Park Insung?” Jimin tosses her hair behind her shoulder.
“The coach of the national team? Who hasn’t heard of him?”
“He’s my dad,” Jimin smiles. “I heard the national team is going to be scouting in Seoul soon. I’m sure he’ll be really interested to know the standard in high schools these days.” She shakes the coach’s hand. “Let’s have a really good game.”
“What the hell,” Jaebum says when she rejoins the group, the third years trying to pick their jaws up from the floor. “You didn’t tell us that your dad was the national team coach.”
“What does it matter to you?” Jimin eyes him. “You’ll never make it in the national team.” Jackson pats Jaebum on the back as they watch his soul leave his body. “Okay kids, let’s get into positions. I have complete faith in you, okay? Except maybe Youngjae.”
“Don’t say that!” Youngjae wails. Jimin laughs. “Let’s kick ass!” Sungjin hollers, and the boys cheer as they throw their hands into the air.
They win the first set a little too easily thanks to Jackson’s taunting of Park Chanyeol, who loses all concentration every time Jackson so much as grins at him. Chanyeol repays the favour by trash talking Jae throughout the second set. Jimin uses both timeouts as Brian and Sungjin try to keep Jae from breaking, but they lose the second set anyway when the middle blockers start targeting Jaebum, forcing Jinyoung to toss to Youngjae or Yugyeom instead. It doesn’t end well.
They end up winning by the skin of their teeth in the third set when Jaebum’s back court spike gets blocked and Jackson saves it with an out of control roll that trips Youngjae up. Jinyoung dumps it only to have it be saved by SM’s libero Kim Jongdae, and SM’s ace Kim Minseok comes up for the kill only to be blocked by Jae, who jumps higher and more ferociously than he ever has before. The force of the spike makes the ball ricochet off the tips of his fingers into the spectator stands, giving them a one point lead. Brian and Sungjin jump to their feet, cheering. Jae looks more than a little proud of himself.
Mark scores the final point to make it 26-24. Sungjin hugs Brian so hard he thinks he cracks a few bones.
“I wanna ask you something,” Jaebum sits down beside Jinyoung as he removes his court shoes. “Why didn’t you toss that last point to me?”
Jinyoung pauses, pursing his lips. “I dunno, I just felt like, at that moment, that Mark was in a better position to kill it.”
“I was wide open,” Jaebum objects.
“Are you seriously going to get mad at me for tossing to the ace?” Jinyoung throws his slippers on the floor with a slap and shoves his shoes into his bag. “I know you always want to win and all that, but don’t you remember what you said last night about working in a team? That means you’re not always going to get the ball, you know.”
“I know but…” Jaebum runs his tongue over his teeth. “Next year you better toss to me the way you toss to Mark. Like you’re tossing to a savior.” He punches Jinyoung lightly on the arm and grins.
“Hey,” says a voice, and they both turn to find Wonpil standing awkwardly above them. He hurriedly drops to a squat. “That was… you guys… good game,” he catches Jinyoung’s eye, and looks away. “You both played really well.”
"I'm sorry," Jinyoung pats him a little awkwardly on the knee. "I'll try to get better."
“Awww, is our married couple getting back together?” Jackson careens out of nowhere and knocks himself into Wonpil, who falls straight onto Jinyoung. “It’s a love fest! And guess what, you guys?” he throws himself across Wonpil, who groans from the weight. “We won! Which means we’re definitely going to kick ass at Interhigh!”
“Only if we practice a lot more,” Jinyoung winces, Wonpil’s head digging into his chest.
“Keep practicing hard, Youngjae!” Jaebum yells across the gym, trying to avoid Jackson’s kicking legs. “I really want to win Interhigh!”
“SHUT UP!” Youngjae howls just as Bambam rushes into the gym, demanding to know the score. The second years burst out laughing.
“Okay, so I’ve analyzed the way you all played during yesterday’s game and I have to admit I’m kinda impressed,” Jimin sits in front of them, Sungjin and Brian on either side. “Especially with you, Jae, that last block was really ace,” she gives him a thumbs up. Jae pretends to faint.
“Obviously we’re still a long way from achieving SM’s crazy ass coordination,” Jimin continues, “and we still have a lot of weak spots in our defense,” she shoots a look at Youngjae, “but I think if we just train really hard and play a lot more practice matches we should be good to go at Interhigh! I’ve actually arranged for a match against Sevit for next week,” she grins.
“SVT?” Bambam looks ecstatic. “I can’t wait!”
“You’re seriously something,” Sungjin shakes his head. “Let’s thank the coach, everyone!”
“THANKS COACH JIMIN!” the boys jump to their feet and bow to her.
“Ah stop it, this is weird,” Jimin waves a hand at them, but Sungjin doesn’t miss the faint blush on her cheeks. “So to start of this training session I thought we could do a nice 3km run.” She grins evilly as they start groaning and Jinyoung starts protesting. “Let’s go team!”
“Let’s go!” Sungjin gets to his feet. “I’m really proud of you guys, you know,” he adds. The boys jump to their feet and race outside with noises of disgust before he can get any cheesier.
“You good?” Brian asks as they walk to the door. He slings an arm around his shoulder.
“Yeah,” Sungjin grins back. “We’re all good.”