#f: buzzer beater
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➠ word count: 22.0k
➠ warnings: cursing, mentions of drinking (there’s a frat party), everything i know about hockey is from internet research for this fic i’m sorry for any inaccuracies i tried
➠ genre: fluff, gets quite suggestive (a heavy makeout scene/near sex scene) but no actual smut, college au, hockey captain sungchan, chronically ill reader (chronic migraines), halloween-themed at the beginning, sungchan’s not a frat boy but he’s like... a frat boy by association
➠ extra info: the ages/relative ages of the members in here are whatever i want them to be, don’t read into it too much. this is a very usamerican take on a college au btw. also i call kunhang ‘hendery’ in here like it’s his government name for a one-line gag bc i think i’m hilarious
the reader in this has chronic migraines, which i have. when the reader’s migraines and thoughts/experiences as a chronically ill person are described, that is me writing directly from my own life. i am not generalizing the lives of all people with chronic migraines and chronic illness, but i am sending all my love to any readers out there living with a chronic illness, and here’s a reminder to go take your meds
➠ author’s note: hi so this has been a wip for like a year lol. this one long predates sungchan’s deneofication (and subsequent re-debut in riize), hockey player sungchan just lives in my brain rent free ok. anyway, i hope you like
➠ series masterlist
“You agreed to go to a frat party?” Chenle’s eyes were bugging out of his head as he sat across a high top in the dining hall from you. “Do you remember what happened last time, Y/N?”
“Hard to forget,” you snorted.
“And yet it seems you did, somehow, lost in dreamboat Jung Sungchan’s eyes.”
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24
“Now shoo!” Dr. Son waved the small group of you out of his dimly lit office.
It was Phantasmagorical Phriday, a time-honored tradition going back to your freshman year of university. Dr. Son had been intrigued by the four freshmen who were somehow in his third-year class on Gothic Fiction and actually seemed to “get it.” His “Phantasma Phour” as you dubbed yourselves (a nickname that got quickly worn out, persisting only as the title of your groupchat):
Wong Hendery, who ended up in the class accidentally due to an error on his academic advisor’s part (she had gotten him mixed up with a Wong Henry, a junior Literature major who actually needed to take Dr. Son’s class) and he subsequently changed majors at least three times to your knowledge, so you were genuinely surprised he was graduating on time—he finally settled on Communications;
Jung Sungchan, at the time a promising young rookie hockey player who had now blossomed into your school’s reliable team captain—Biology major, being an athlete meant he could pre-register for classes and he picked Dr. Son’s at random to fulfill a gen ed Literature credit;
Zhong Chenle, an honorary member of both Nu Chi Tau, one of the biggest frats on campus, and the hockey team, as somehow 95% of his social circle were Nu Chi brothers and/or hockey players despite Chenle being neither himself, your best friend and also sometimes you swear a demon sent straight from hell to kill you—Literature major, who bullied you into taking the class; and
You, Chenle’s best friend who used to hate anything and everything Gothic fiction that got bullied into taking it anyway and now adored the genre more than any other—Literature major, who took the last spot in the class on registration day.
Dr. Son would invite you all to monthly extracurricular workshops in his office that built up to this: Phantasmagorical Phriday, a writing competition to see which of the four of you could write the best gothic short story. The stories were actually submitted the prior week, but it was the Friday before Halloween that was dubbed the Phriday in question. The four of you were invited to his office that night after classes (and Sungchan’s hockey practice) to review your pieces: how he thought everyone had improved from last year, discuss the writing process, and to finish off the night, Dr. Son would announce his top two stories. Those in the top two had the chance to send him a persuasive letter about why they should win. They had to be sent to him that night because the next morning, your professor would email the top two individually with the results.
Since this was your last Phantasmagorical Phriday, Dr. Son pretended not to see when Hendery brought out four celebratory White Claws for you all. You still had your warm, unopened, orange-flavored seltzer in your hand as the small group of you left the Literature, Writing, and Foreign Languages building together.
“I still can’t believe you couldn’t find anything classier for our last Phantasmagorical Phriday, Hendery.” You shook your head. “Ever heard of champagne? Literally any wine?”
“So you’re not gonna shotgun that, Y/N, is what I’m hearing?” Hendery teased as you all stopped under the light post right outside the building.
“Is that a challenge or what, Wong?” You scoffed, handing it back to him. “But no, I’m good.”
Sungchan thankfully cut in and changed the topic of conversation, “So are you going to start writing your letter of reconsideration, Y/N?”
This year’s top two were you and Sungchan, the member of the Phantasma Phour you spoke to the least. Outside of the monthly “workshops” (which at this point with your differing majors were just get-togethers of questionable academic value), you never saw him. You obviously saw Chenle all the time, and despite the fact that you considered him a bit obnoxious, you were sort of friends with Hendery, joining him for lunch if you happened to see him at the student union or at the coffee shop on campus. Sungchan was perfectly nice and all, you just found that you never really talked to him like the other two.
You looked down at your watch, taking a quick inhale when you saw the time. You’d stayed in Dr. Son’s office a lot later than you’d realized.
“Oh, no,” you casually waved off Sungchan’s question, readjusting your tote bag on your shoulder. “I’ve got something more pressing right now. Anyway, see you guys. It was a good four years, I’m glad we got to do this.”
Lifting your hand in a wave of finality to the three men, you departed.
“She’s really not going to submit a letter?” Sungchan asked, still watching after you as your figure faded away in the distance.
“Nope,” Chenle shook his head, reaching for the spare White Claw in Hendery’s hand. “Y/N never does.”
“You didn’t know that?” Hendery questioned the hockey player, holding the drink away from Chenle.
“Why not?”
“She’s not in it to win really.” Chenle lunged for the can as Hendery jerked it away at the last second. “Just wants to make stuff.”
“So she was lying about doing something?”
Hendery and Chenle were now running circles around Sungchan in their game of keep-away with the seltzer.
“No.”
“What do you—” Sungchan sighed, yanking the drink from Hendery’s grasp and holding it high above his own head, well out of either of their reaches. “Hey!”
Now with their attention, the hockey captain kept his arm straight up as he returned to his question, “What are you talking about, Chenle?”
“Y/N does have something pressing right now. If I tell you where she’s probably going will you give me the White Claw?” Chenle bargained.
“You’d exchange your best friend’s location for an orange White Claw? Not even watermelon?” Hendery asked incredulously.
“It’s Sungchan, someone we’ve known for like four years, not some creep off the street who’s going to wear her skin.”
“No, Chenle, you don’t have to tell me that,” Sungchan shook his head, offering the can out for either one to take.
The Literature major was able to snatch it first, jumping up in celebration, “Suck an egg, Hendery!”
“I wouldn’t—” Sungchan’s words were too late though, as Chenle had already popped the tab, and the overly-shaken seltzer exploded all over all three of them.
“Zhong Chenle, I’m going to strangle you, you little weasel!”
“Ah! Sungchan, save me!”
“I would, except you got fucking orange White Claw in my eyes and I’m fucking blind now! Goddamn!”
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25
Rolling over in bed the next morning, you let out a big sigh and buried your face in your pillow, fully intent on going back to sleep. Saturday morning. No school, no work. Just you, your bed, and some much-needed sleep.
Then, the obnoxious blaring of your phone came from your nightstand. You groaned, reaching blindly for the object, and barely opening one eye just enough to snooze it. Damn, you really had slept in, to be woken up by your first medication alarm. Well, you weren’t going to die if you took your morning doses fifteen minutes later than normal. You were about to stuff your phone under your pillow when you briefly caught sight of your lockscreen after the alarm disappeared.
Text notification from Jung Sungchan?
Flopping onto your back and bringing your phone with you, you squinted against the harsh light of your screen to make sure you were reading that right. Yep, Sungchan had definitely texted you a few hours ago, separate from the Phantasma Phour chat. At almost 7:00 a.m., too. What the hell?
Curiosity won out over a need to sleep for fourteen more minutes, and you opened the notification.
[jung sungchan: Congrats, Y/N!]
You stared blankly at the text, your groggy mind desperately grasping around for any sort of context as to why Jung Sungchan would be texting you that at 7:00 a.m. on a Saturday. Then it struck you like lightning, and you let out an audible “Oh, duh!” as you remembered where you both were last night. Phantasmagorical Phriday. The writing contest. You and Sungchan were the top two. Dr. Son must have sent the email out already, and apparently you had won.
Normally, you wouldn’t check your school email on the weekend until Sunday night, unless you were waiting to hear back from a specific professor—and the Sunday night check was just to see if any of your Monday classes were cancelled. Lord knows you definitely wouldn’t have checked it at seven in the morning on a Saturday. You let out a snort of disbelief as you reread the timestamp on the text. But still, it was nice of him. A good show of sportsmanship, as one would expect from the hockey captain.
You quickly checked your own student email, and did in fact see an email from Dr. Son at the very top with the subject ‘PHINAL PHANTASMAGORICAL PHRIDAY RESULTS.’
‘Y/N and Sungchan:
Thank you again for your submissions. I enjoyed working with everyone these four years.
The winner this year is Y/N. Good job.
Dr. Son.’
An amused smile crept across your face at your professor’s usual blunt email style. But this was also some of the nicest feedback he’d given your writing, even when you had won Phantasmagorical Phriday in the past, or in classes that you’d taken from him over the years. Something about it truly did feel... final.
And so with an odd bittersweetness, you drafted an equally short and blunt email back to your professor.
‘Dr. Son:
Thank you for taking us on these past four years. I will never forget the experience.
Y/L/N Y/N.’
Then finally, you went back to the original reason that you were even doing this.
[you: thanks, sungchan!]
Then, your alarm went off again, making you jump out of your skin. Well, time for your morning meds.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 27
A tall figure was nearing the corner table you had claimed in one of the campus coffee shops the following Monday afternoon, and you looked up from your laptop screen, a little surprised at who it was. Jung Sungchan was standing at the end of your table, black flannel over a graphic t-shirt and dark wash jeans, one backpack strap slung over his shoulder. He had an iced coffee in one hand.
You paused the movie playing on your laptop, taking out both your headphones as you looked up at him inquisitively, “Uh hi, Sungchan.”
“Hi, Y/N.��
“Are you here to study or something?”
“Mm.” He couldn’t seem to meet your eyes. “Not really. Just grabbing a coffee and saw you. Do you mind if I sit with you for a bit?”
“Oh, sure. I’m waiting out the storm to leave,” you gestured to the near-constant downpour that had started right after you’d arrived over two hours ago. Noticing that some of Sungchan’s hair and shoulders were damp, you added, “The storm you apparently got caught in without an umbrella.”
“Oh, yeah,” he ran a hand through his hair to push some of it away from where it had been falling into his eyes.
“I don’t mind having some company while I wait.”
To your surprise, instead of sitting across from you, Sungchan plopped himself onto the same bench that you were on, one leg slung over either side so he could face you directly.
You picked up the mug in front of you, your second cup of your drink of choice. You’d gotten a refill after it became clear that the rain wasn’t letting up any time soon. Sungchan was already a third of the way done with his iced coffee as you blew over your hot drink before taking a small sip. He glanced up at you, and you felt like you were going to choke on the uncomfortable silence. So you took a gamble. Turning in your seat to face him as well, you hiked a knee up onto the bench, bringing your mug with you.
“Do you want to ask me something, Sungchan?”
The hockey player startled, having to catch himself from nearly choking on his coffee. Seems like you were right. Sungchan finally stopped sucking down his drink, setting it down on the table and wiping his palms on the knees of his jeans. “I heard that you never sent in a letter to Dr. Son. Any year you were a top two.”
“Oh, yeah, nah.”
“Why not?”
“Didn’t seem worth it,” you shrugged.
“What?”
“Every year I participated I wanted my work to stand on its own two legs. After the death of the author, that’s all that’s left, right? The work. It has to speak for itself.”
“Oh,” Sungchan nodded, then squinted his eyes, confusion entirely overtaking his features. “Wait, what?”
“Sorry, I don’t know how much Lit Theory you’ve done. Probably not a lot as a Bio major, huh? Death of the author is both literal and metaphorical. Removing what the author meant to do or say with a text from how you actually interpret the text as the reader. It’s a lot easier when they’re actually dead, but the abstract concept is practiced when they’re alive too. It’s… seeing the text as separate from authorial intent. Mind you, it’s only one tool in a literary critic’s arsenal, but I liked it for our Gothic fiction class. All the authors we read in that class, they’d been gone for a while, we had no way to know what they really meant when they wrote all that stuff. And it didn’t really matter for our purposes. All we did have was what they wrote, and that was enough for me. So the same should be enough for whoever reads the stuff I write. Even if it’s just Dr. Son.”
“Huh.”
“Though I guess I just explained myself a little, oops,” you laughed at yourself, taking another sip from your steaming mug. “I’m getting less and less mysterious by the second, aren't I?”
“Chenle made it sound like you didn’t care about winning,” Sungchan asked, cheek in hand.
You arched an eyebrow at this. “You asked Chenle about me?”
“W-Well you left so fast after we saw Dr. Son, and you two are you know...”
“Oh he’s my best friend,” you clarified for perhaps the ten-thousandth time in your life. “And while others may use any litany of swears for him and Hendery calls him a little weasel, I prefer ‘actual demon sent from Hell to kill me.’”
“What?” Sungchan’s eyes widened.
“He pushes me out of my comfort zone. In a good way, most of the time.”
“Got it. Then what do you do for him? If he’s your yang…”
“I’m entertainment?” You snorted, taking another sip of your drink. After setting it back down, you answered more sincerely, “I’m kidding. Sometimes it feels like that but I did ask him one time a couple years ago, when he was tipsy enough that I believed the words coming out of his mouth but not so drunk that it was unintelligible. ‘A safe place.’ And since then… I can see it in us. That’s my yin to him.”
He smiled softly at you. “That’s... really nice.”
“Sorry, what were you asking me before that?”
“Oh, uh— Chenle said you really didn’t care about winning Dr. Son’s contest, you just wanted to make stuff? That’s why you didn’t submit a letter.”
“Generally, sure. Winning would’ve been great, but I didn’t write what I thought Dr. Son wanted. I took all of his feedback with a grain of salt. Took stuff that I liked from him, took stuff I liked from other profs I had. Mixed and matched to make something that was mine.” You pressed your lips together, then leaned forward like you were about to tell him a secret, “I didn’t live for Phantasmagorical Phriday, Sungchan. You do know that, right?”
“Wow,” he blinked, seeming a bit disoriented. “I’ve never really thought about… you like that.”
“Well to be fair to you, you only ever knew me there and in Dr. Son’s class. Makes it hard not to think of me only through that lens. All you know about me is that I presumably like Gothic fiction and I’m a Lit major, right?”
“Right.”
“So what do you think I was doing here before you showed up?”
“…Reading Edgar Allan Poe.”
You couldn’t help but laugh at that, turning your laptop screen to show the paused movie to him, “I was watching Pacific Rim.”
His jaw literally dropped, and you felt the need to save him at least a little. Grabbing a book from your bag, you held it up, “I did come here initially to finish reading this new mystery novel I just got, but then the storm came and I had nothing else to do after I was done with the book.”
“But still… you’re so…”
“I have interests outside the one class we took together?”
“Smart,” he finished, an absolutely adorable expression of wonder across his face.
You weren’t expecting that, surprised giggles bubbling up out of you as you felt yourself growing warm under his awestruck gaze.
“Anyway, your turn,” you tapped his knee with your book before putting it back in your bag.
“For what?”
“To expand my horizons of you. All I know about you is that you’re the hockey captain, and a Bio major who took a gothic fiction class one time like three years ago. Show me you’re a multifaceted individual, too.”
“Uhm, that’s about it.”
“Oh come on, Sungchan.”
“No really, if I’m not on the ice, I’m in class; if I’m not in class, I’m with my team; and if I’m not with my team, I’m studying.”
“You’re here, right now,” you pointed out. “Last I checked I’m not on your hockey team, and we’re not studying. You have to do one thing that’s not for school or hockey. My thing was just watching Pacific Rim this one time, remember?”
“Alright…” he paused to think, fingers tapping along his thighs. “I used to play the piano.”
“Past tense, but I’ll accept it. When did you stop?”
“High school? Around when piano lessons and hockey practice started conflicting.”
“And you chose hockey?” You asked, hoping it didn’t sound judgmental. You really were just curious, trying to understand him.
“Actually, the choice was made for me.” He held his right hand out in front of you, and it was then that you saw his pinky finger was unnaturally crooked as he pointed to the digit. “I broke it in a game without even realizing it. Bruises and stiffness sometimes are normal so me and my parents didn’t know anything was up until weeks later when I was fucking up all the notes at my piano lessons because it still hurt. By the time I finally saw a doctor and got a splint on it, it set up wrong. All dexterity for piano out the window. Hockey on the other hand… guys have done a lot more with a lot less.”
You couldn’t help but curiously run a gentle fingertip over the crook in his pinky. “Does it hurt at all? Now?”
“Not really.” He went to bend and flex the fingers of his right hand, and you saw how the fifth finger didn’t curl up as much as the others. “It’s just a lot stiffer. Doesn’t bother me all that much.”
He brought his left hand up and wiggled the fingers on that hand. “Besides, I’m a lefty anyway.”
“So—apologies if this sounds like a stupid question to you, I don’t know anything about hockey—are there like, different hockey sticks for left-handed and right-handed players?”
Sungchan immediately broke into snickers, and you set down your mug to cross your arms over your chest indignantly.
“Hey, I didn’t laugh at you for not knowing what death of the author was—”
“I wasn’t making fun of you, I’m sorry,” he covered his mouth. “That was just… too cute. Uhm yes, there are lefty and righty sticks.”
You had to bite down your bottom lip to not smile at him calling you cute, and instead keep up your ruse of being offended. “I feel patronized.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” There was still a hint of a giggle in his tone, and you felt your self-righteous façade slip away as he continued, “You should come to a game, then, if you really want to broaden your horizons. The season just started. First home game is this Thursday, actually. 7:00 p.m. and students get free admission with your student ID.”
“Thursday?”
“Fridays are for basketball, Saturdays are for football.”
“Oh. Right.”
“You don’t go to those games either, do you?”
“Oh no, did I make it obvious?” You asked sarcastically.
“A bit,” Sungchan jested back.
Outside the window visible past Sungchan, the rain had let up a few minutes ago, and you briefly glanced over at your laptop for the time. Shit, your next alarm was going to be going off soon. If you left now, you should be home at roughly the right time for your next dose.
Clicking your tongue, you started packing up your things, “Well, looks like the rain’s finally let up enough to allow me safe passage. That’s my cue.”
“Oh.” The hockey player with you looked over his shoulder at the newly sunny day outside before turning back to watch you put your things away.
“Are you heading out too?” You nodded to his empty cup.
“I’ve uh, got some homework to do.”
“Guess this is where we part ways then.”
“Um, you didn’t say if you were going. To the game.”
You tucked your chin to your chest to hide your smitten smile as you put your laptop in your bag. Typically just asking for the details would’ve been taken for a yes, but Sungchan wanted extra confirmation. This boy wasn’t good for your heart, truly.
Turning back to him, you gave him a firm and nearly business-like nod. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”
A bright grin lit up his features. “Okay! Great! Uhm, feel free to bring some friends, I know just sitting in the stands by yourself might be lonely.”
“I’ll see if I can drag somebody else out. It’ll be a tall order, though. Literature majors, you know, we prefer our Shakesperean poetry readings.”
“Oh, well—”
“I’m kidding,” you laughed and stood then, slinging your tote onto your shoulder. “Honestly, have you seen Chenle at a rager? Boy can drink twice his body weight I swear. He shouldn’t, but he can.”
Before you could reach for your cup and saucer to buss your place, the hockey captain spoke up, “I’ll take care of your mug, don’t worry.”
“Oh, thanks, Sungchan! I’ll see you Thursday then.”
“Bye…” Sungchan trailed off, watching the door long after it had closed behind you.
He didn’t actually have any homework to do, and scrolled on his phone for a few minutes to make sure you were out of the area before leaving himself. He grabbed his long-empty plastic cup and your mug. His went in the trash, and as he went to put yours up with the other dishes and trays, his eyes were caught by the iridescent glitters left behind on the rim by your lip gloss.
[you: hey what are you doing thursday at 7:00?]
[chenle: depends on what weird poetry reading you’re trying to drag me to]
[you: not this time. Sungchan’s hockey game?]
[chenle: you want to go to a sporting event?? why????]
[you: i told him i’d go please don’t make me go by myself]
[chenle: did you offer to go or did he ask you to come?]
[you: he asked me to? i guess?]
[chenle: haha yeah fuck no i’m not going with you]
[you: why not????????]
[chenle: a guy invited you to one of his games? yeah no way am i coming with you]
[you: what difference does that make? you’re seriously going to make me go to a hockey game by myself?]
[chenle: i don’t know how to tell you this gently so: he wants to fuck you]
[you: bro???]
[chenle: especially hockey? caveman brain is activated, he wants to show off how big and strong he is for you over the other males]
[you: damn can’t believe i just blinked and woke up in 200 BC]
[chenle: i’m warning you, only go if you’re ready for the consequences. i.e., that]
[you: so you’re not coming with me]
[chenle: no <3]
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30
Your chronically early self had gotten there as soon as the doors opened to spectators in order to scope out the perfect spot for yourself. Somewhere not too close to any speakers, where you could still see what was going on, hopefully somewhere Sungchan could maybe see you, but you could make a quick escape if need be. A lot of parameters, hence the need to be early. That meant that you got to watch the visiting team warm up first, and now your school’s team was warming up before the game. Finally the stands started filling up, and you had to do a double-take at the newest figure entering.
“Zhong Chenle, you lying little bitch!” You cursed out your best friend who was approaching you.
He immediately went to defend himself as he plopped down beside you, “Look, I told you I wasn’t going with you, not that I wasn’t going at all. Come on, Lit major.”
He finished off with a solid knock on your head, which didn’t hurt all that much through the beanie you were wearing, but you still slapped his arm away with a glare.
“Are you sure you want to live until graduation day? I can’t tell sometimes.”
“Half the team are Nu Chi guys,” Chenle explained his being there, then waved at one of the players skating by, 23, who gave a salute back. “Jeno.”
“Oh.” You belatedly waved too, but your friend had already turned back to warming up.
Chenle then gave you the run-down on all your friends and acquaintances’ numbers as he spotted them.
“Goalie. Sicheng, 7.” He just blocked a shot from a familiar number, 23. “Already told you, 23 is Jeno. Right wing.”
“Does he always suck?”
“Here’s Ten, number 10. Right defense. He’s never told me which came first, his nickname or his jersey number.”
Sicheng blocked Ten’s shot.
“2 is Mark, center.” His went in.
“66, Donghyuck, center alternate.” His also went in.
“24, that’s Yangyang, left wing—and a miss!”
“This doesn’t bode well that so many of our players apparently kind of suck.” You muttered to yourself, well aware that Chenle was no longer listening to you.
Finally, the tallest of the team was skating up to take a shot. “And there’s your guy, Y/N. Number 27, Jung Sungchan, left defense, captain, your dreamboat—”
“If you don’t shut up—”
“Oh! All net!”
“Isn’t that a basketball—”
“Hey, you got your earplugs, right?”
“Yep, same ones for concerts,” you confirmed, reaching into your purse for them. You hadn’t been able to take your full tote bag into the school sporting event, so you had to condense the essentials into your smaller purse.
“Good, because uh, it’ll get loud.”
“I figured.”
“Yeah, remember how half the team are Nu Chi guys?”
Your eyes widened in realization, “Oh god.”
“Here they come!”
Whipping around to face the same direction he was looking, you saw a horde of about ten to fifteen guys storming the rink, practically shaking the audience section. They were all donned in blue and orange, your university’s colors, various hockey or Nu Chi merch and paraphernalia, and you would’ve absolutely bet money that at least three of them had Nu, Chi, and Tau symbols painted across each of their chests under their shirts. Chenle leapt up to greet them all, the volume of the area immediately rising tenfold at least.
You recognized most of the Nu Chi frat brothers, they were mutual friends or acquaintances of yours through Chenle over the years, and there were even some familiar graduated faces. Lee Taeyong was the first to pick up on your presence, squeezing past Jisung—a new pledge that had glommed onto Chenle in particular—to plop down behind your seat.
“What are you doing here, Y/N?” Taeyong asked you with a tilted head. “Not exactly a good place for you, is it?”
Taeyong was frat president for your first two years of college and his last two. You had an absolute disaster at a Nu Chi party in your freshman year that he was witness to. Ever since then, when you would see him in passing at other lowkey (or as lowkey as frat functions could get) Nu Chi events that Chenle took you to during those two years, you always got the distinct impression that he was keeping an eye on you during them.
“Could be asking you the same thing, Taeyong,” you countered, fully turning around in your seat to chat with the man. “Didn’t you graduate two years ago? You don’t have anything better to do on a Thursday night? Like your taxes or something?”
“Us old-timers who peaked in college like to come back and re-live our glory days vicariously for the first home game,” he entertained your jibe, making you giggle. “And somebody’s got to be these kids’ DD. They always go at it too hard after the first game. Win or lose.”
Johnny, another graduated Nu Chi brother, spoke up then, eyes laser-focused on you, “So Chenle’s finally dragged you out to a game, Y/N?”
You immediately looked at your friend with wide eyes, knowing what the answer was, and exactly what reaction said answer would garner. Chenle, on the other hand, seemed all too thrilled to join in, turning to face you with his hands on his hips and a knowing smirk on his face.
“Oh no, I didn’t bring Y/N. She actually didn’t know I was coming at all. I found her here all on her own,” he announced to all the guys, who were hanging on to every word he said. If literally anything else were happening, you might’ve laughed at how they were all wrapped around his finger.
“No offense, but you don’t really seem like you’re interested in hockey,” Jungwoo, a junior who you’d shared a couple literature classes with, said curiously.
You sighed, giving Chenle a frank look before admitting, “Jung Sungchan invited me.”
They exploded with various hoots, hollers, whoops, and whistles.
With a shake of your head, you turned back around to look back at the players on the ice, knowing full well that there was nothing you could do alleviate—or even really participate in—the absolute chaos that was happening behind you.
Eventually, the game started. Taeyong, who had moved to sit on your other side from Chenle, quietly explained the basics of what was going on to you: positions, plays, scoring, why the referee made certain calls. Chenle was caught between cheering along with the other Nu Chi guys and rattling off hyper-specific stats on individual players to you, so you were truly grateful to have Taeyong giving you your “hockey for dummies” tips and tidbits throughout.
You kept your eyes on number 27, as Chenle had pointed him out to you earlier. The gear made it somewhat difficult for you to really recognize any distinguishing features about Sungchan himself except maybe his height, made even greater by the skates he was wearing. But as much as the intellectual side of you might’ve hated to admit it, there was definitely some part of you that very much enjoyed watching him play; that got some kind of thrill every time somebody tried to check him and he didn’t budge—or when he checked somebody and they most definitely did budge.
Before you knew it, all three periods were over, and you were jumping to your feet along with the others, cheering wildly. Your school won by a landslide.
“Oh, they’re going to get plastered,” Taeyong murmured from beside you fondly.
All of you had been in the cheering section milled around in the ice rink lobby waiting for the team to get out of the locker room.
“That was fun,” you declared to Chenle as the two of you stood off to the side from the larger group of loud Nu Chi brothers.
“Yeah, you didn’t seem like you were listening to a word I said.”
“Because you were telling me sports stats, Chenle, I’m surprised my brain didn’t start bleeding out of my ears.”
“Well I’m surprised your nose wasn’t bleeding watching your dreamboat Jung Sungchan beat up all those other guys,” Chenle teased. “200 BC called, they want their cavewoman back—”
You lunged at him, managing to get an arm around his throat in the beginnings of a questionably friendly chokehold, “I’m going to kill you, you little—”
“No murder in the rink!” Came the chastising voice of Johnny Suh from afar, and you reluctantly let him go.
The players started streaming out of the locker room soon after, and you nervously scanned the crowd for Sungchan. Chenle was easily dragged into the chaos of everyone celebrating, leaving you standing off to the side waiting.
Finally, you spotted him. Sungchan was wearing a simple pair of black sweatpants and black hoodie with your school’s name embroidered across the front, his hair a bit mussed up. He was deep in conversation with Sicheng, brow furrowed. The goalie’s features were similarly serious as they gestured to each other. You stayed put, not wanting to interrupt. Taeyong had mentioned that Sicheng was sort of like a co-captain, you guessed they might be doing something important.
Then you’d suddenly made eye contact with Sicheng, who was facing you. He gave you a casual head nod, and said something to Sungchan you couldn’t quite make out. The captain whipped around, a bright smile coming to his face as soon as his eyes landed on you. You lifted your hand to give him a small wave and smile back.
Sungchan quickly ended his conversation with Sicheng, making his way over to where you were standing by a wall.
“Hey, Y/N,” he was still smiling down at you, his eyes practically glittering even in the harsh fluorescents of the lobby. “So you really made it out.”
“I said I would.” You fidgeted with the straps of your bag.
“And…?”
You tilted your head, “And?”
“What did you think? You know, are your horizons super broad now or something?”
You couldn’t help but laugh. His phrasing was funny, but also remembering how he played and was now giving you his undivided attention admittedly made your chest flutter.
“It was good, yeah. I had fun,” you confirmed. “You uhm, you played really good. I think.”
“Thanks,” Sungchan scratched at the back of his neck, and you swore the tips of his ears were pink, but that could’ve just been the cold. “Did you drive yourself?”
“Walked, my apartment is close.”
“Uh, so, we all go out to a bar after games usually. It’s kind of a sleazy dive bar, and I know it’s a Thursday, but I’d really like for you to come. I’ll buy you a dr—”
“I’m really sorry, Sungchan, but I can’t. I’d love to, but…” You trailed off, wracking your brain for some concise way to explain why he couldn’t buy you a drink.
“Don’t worry, it’s okay,” Sungchan assured you, and you winced at the way the hopeful smile fell from his face.
An awkward silence descended over the two of you. You were chewing on your bottom lip, desperately trying to think of something to say to gloss over your rejecting his offer. You didn’t want to end the conversation on such a sour note, nor did you want to leave him just yet either. Stealing a glance at the clock above you on the wall, however, you knew that you’d need to be going soon anyway.
The hockey player was the one who ended up breaking the silence, “Can I walk you home? It’s late for you to be out by yourself.”
A relieved smile overtook your features, and you hoped he could see the sincerity in it, “Sure, thank you. Let me let Chenle know he’s relieved of his man-shaped friend duties for the night, and we can go.”
You got on your tiptoes to look around for your friend, finally spotting him in a headlock by Jeno, with Yangyang giving him a noogie. They all seemed to be laughing, so it didn’t look too much like bullying that you felt the need to intervene.
“You know, I’ll just text him, actually,” you chuckled, bringing out your phone to do just that.
“Man-shaped friend duties?” Sungchan questioned as the automatic doors parted for the two of you.
“His words, not mine,” you snorted. “But you know, making sure a woman doesn’t walk places by herself at night, that kind of stuff. Having a man just with her makes her safer, as fucked up as that is. Chenle corrected it to be man-shaped since he’s not the manly protective type.”
“I see.”
“But it looks like you’re on man-shaped friend duties for tonight, Sungchan.”
As soon as the words were out of your mouth, you wanted to stuff them back in. Friend. God, that was absolutely not what was happening here and you knew it. Chenle’s previous texts flashed across your mind. You obviously knew why Sungchan would’ve wanted to invite you to his game, and you said yes purposefully. Friend. Foot, meet mouth.
Sungchan blinked down at you, but seemed to take it in stride, “Of course, Y/N. Anytime you need a man-shaped person at your side, just call me up. I’ll bring my hockey stick.”
He patted his gear bag that was slung over his shoulder, making you giggle.
“I’ll keep you on speed dial, then.”
It was a short walk to your apartment, and you and Sungchan mostly talked about the game. You asked him a couple questions that Taeyong hadn’t covered during it— which Chenle might’ve, except you had tuned him out. And as you came to a stop at your front door, you didn’t yet fish your keys from your bag.
“How often do you have away games?” You asked.
“They’re usually about half,” Sungchan shrugged. “It’s a bit annoying missing classes, and the bus is kind of rank on the trip back.”
“Ew…” You wrinkled your nose.
“But they’re always a lot of fun.”
“So, uhm, when’s your next home game?”
His face brightened as he seemed to realize what exactly you were asking, “Next week. Same time.”
“Okay, cool.” You bit your lip.
“Cool,” he echoed.
You looked up at Sungchan, catching his eyes for a heart stopping moment. Both of you were standing on your welcome mat, he was close enough that you could catch a faint whiff of the detergent from his clothes—a college athlete with freshly washed clothes? You might already be in love—and watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down as he swallowed. You had the urge to grab him by the front of his hoodie and yank him—
A garish, blaring ringing going off interrupted your split-second pros and cons weighing that had been going on. Sungchan startled at the noise, reminding you very much of a baby moose in the moment. You groaned as you reached into your bag for your phone.
“Oh my god, stop it,” you hissed under your breath as you snoozed the alarm that was going off on there. Once it was quiet, you looked back up at the man with you sheepishly, “Sorry about that.”
He joked, “Curfew?”
You laughed lightly, “No, just a reminder for something I have to do after I get home. It’s fine.”
“Well, before you go do that, can I ask you something?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Nu Chi and the team are hosting a joint Halloween party this year, and I’d really like it if I could see you there.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow, people will probably start showing up after like ten, eleven. It’s at the Nu Chi house, theirs is bigger than ours.”
“Fascinating phrasing,” you snickered.
“I know this is last minute, so I get if you have other plans or something.”
“I… can probably swing by for a bit, yeah,” you nodded.
“Great!” Sungchan beamed. “Oh, it is a costume party, by the way.”
“Costume?” You arched a brow. “What’ll you being going as? And please don’t say hockey player.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, “Definitely not… that would be lame…”
“You were planning on going as a hockey player, weren’t you?”
“Me and Mark have been putting all our spare time into planning this thing, I haven’t had any time to think about a costume.”
“Well you’ve given me 24-hour notice for a costume, so this is your 24-hour notice for one too. When I find you at the Nu Chi house tomorrow, I do not want to see a hockey jersey, Jung Sungchan. Any sports player is off-limits, understand?” You poked his chest with finality.
“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded in assent.
Just then, your alarm went off again, and this time you jumped out of your skin. Apparently, another 5 minutes had elapsed. With a sigh, you reached into your bag for your keys.
“I should let you go do that thing,” Sungchan chuckled. “Goodnight, Y/N.”
“Goodnight, Sungchan,” you unlocked your front door. “See you tomorrow.”
Sitting at your kitchen table a couple minutes later, you were looking down at the vitals displayed on the screen of your blood pressure cuff.
“Jung Sungchan…” you muttered to yourself as you added the reading to your digital record, noting how the line graph jumped up with the new data.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31
“You agreed to go to a frat party?” Chenle’s eyes were bugging out of his head as he sat across a high top in the dining hall from you. You two were grabbing a quick lunch between classes, and doing an obligatory catch-up on how your short but sweet walk with Sungchan went last night. “Do you remember what happened last time, Y/N?”
“Hard to forget,” you snorted.
“And yet it seems you did, somehow, lost in dreamboat Jung Sungchan’s eyes.”
You threw a fry from his plate at him, “It wasn’t like that!”
He ducked, letting it sail by his head and hit the wall behind him.
“Then what was it like?”
“It was more like a big puppy that I couldn’t say no to and—”
You were cut off by loud gagging noises from your friend, and went to kick him under the table, but missed and hit his chair leg instead. He still got the message, quieting down to let you continue.
“I told him I’d be able to just pop in for a bit. I’ll be in and out before it’ll get too bad.”
“Famous last words...”
“Hold on, LeLe,” you grabbed your friend’s arm to stop him on the sidewalk in front of the Nu Chi Tau frat house.
Taking another look into your tote bag, you made sure once again that you had everything you could possibly need tonight. Medications, snacks, water bottle, ear plugs, the usual. After closing the snaps on the bag, you nervously fidgeted with the hem of your costume. Generic witch, it was the last thing the costume store had in your size that wasn’t garishly scary. You understood well and good how college Halloween parties worked: you had to look hot, not terrifying. Not to mention that those horror show costumes were also much pricier than your “Sexy Witch” one.
“You look cute, Y/N,” Chenle reassured you, readjusting your witch hat for you. “Jung Sungchan won’t know what hit him.”
Chenle, on the other hand, was an almost scarily realistic zombie. If you hadn’t spent an ungodly amount of time hanging out on his bathroom counter this afternoon watching him apply the SFX makeup himself, you would’ve thought he had hired a professional makeup artist to do it. He’d always gone ham on Halloween since you two were kids, ever since he figured out how to make a Transformers costume out of cardboard boxes in primary school. You usually participated in partner costumes with him, but you really didn’t want him to make you a gross-looking zombie tonight.
“Thanks.” You gave him as confident a smile as you could muster.
Resecuring your grip on your go bag, you started up the walkway to the house with your friend.
You had been able to faintly hear the thumping bass of the music from outside, but once inside, you were almost immediately hit by a wall of music. Just inside the front door you were faced with a mass of people in bright costumes, flashing lights, corny Halloween decorations of cobwebs, spiders, ghosts, and pumpkins all over the walls.
Chenle looked over at you expectantly, “Y/N?”
“I couldn’t find my concert earplugs, only my noise canceling. I won’t be able to hear anybody unless they’re shouting at me if I put those in,” you replied, having to raise your voice to make sure he heard you. “I’ll be fine.”
“Okay…” He sighed and grabbed your elbow. “Come on, let’s find a quieter spot in the house then.”
You gave him a thumbs up and bright grin, already feeling your ears acclimate to the loudness. You could totally do this. It was one night, and you were just going to see Sungchan for a bit then go. Pop in then back out, just like you said.
You didn’t have to wait long to spot Sungchan. Chenle had barely tugged you into the next room over from the small foyer when a familiar head was visible over the crowd, his bright smile focused on you.
“Hey, Y/N!” Sungchan grinned down at you. He was dressed in a suit and tie, what you were guessing was probably his only set, and his hair was parted to one side, styled off of his face. The tie had already been loosened, and the tuck of his dress shirt wasn’t so crisp.
“Hi, Sungchan,” you smiled up at him, amazed that you could hear anything over both the music and now your heart beating so loudly in your ears.
“So you did find a costume.”
“Oh, yeah,” you messed with the hem of your skirt. “Last one at the shop.”
“You look great.” He was still beaming down at you, and you could feel your skin growing warmer. “I’m really glad you could make it.”
“Thanks. Uhm, so what are you? Funeral director?”
“What? No, I’m—” His sentence stopped in its tracks as he looked down at the front of his suit jacket. He started patting his empty breast pocket, then other jacket pockets, then pants pockets, then looked around on the floor. “Fuck.”
“What?” You looked around under your feet, but weren’t able to see anything other than the usual party debris. “Did you lose something?”
Sungchan looked back up at you, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. “Well, I was about to say that I’m Mulder from the X-Files. But I’ve apparently lost my fake FBI badge. So it looks like I’m a funeral director now.”
You giggled. “Maybe you can be Mulder when he retires and buys a funeral home.”
“Yeah, the perfect costume. Won’t take too long to explain to anybody, they’ll get it immediately,” he laughed.
“Hey, I’m just glad you didn’t wear a jersey.”
“I’m nothing if not a man of my word.”
“Oh, have you seen Chenle’s makeup by the—” But when you turned around to gesture to your friend, you found that he had disappeared, leaving you and the hockey captain all alone.
“Chenle?” Sungchan asked with a tilted head. “I didn’t even realize he was here yet.”
You shook your head fondly at your friend’s antics. Well, you’d have to thank him later.
“He must have gone to get a drink or something. Either way, it seems I’ve been abandoned.”
“Well, you can come hang out with me and some of the guys, if you want?” He offered.
“Yeah, I’d really like that,” you nodded, readjusting your bag to make sure it was pulled in tight to your body.
Sungchan led you through the frat house with a hand on the small of your back, and you snuck a glance up at him when he went to greet someone who had called his name as you passed by. He kept you tucked into his side as he slowed to give the guy a friendly slap on the shoulder. As soon as Sungchan had stopped to say hello, two more people appeared seemingly from nowhere, eagerly greeting him as well. You faintly recognized one, Jisung, a new Nu Chi pledge. He’d been at the hockey game you went to, and always found Chenle at Nu Chi events that you tagged along to. You looked up at Sungchan’s animated, handsome face again as he continued talking.
“This is Y/N.” Sungchan’s voice suddenly pulled you into the conversation. You snapped your focus down from his face to the other three that were in front of you, and realized that they all definitely knew that you’d been staring.
“Oh, hi.” You gave the three boys a nervous smile.
“Y/N, this is Jisung, Shotaro, and Renjun. Jisung and Shotaro are Nu Chi pledges, Renjun’s a sophomore brother, and he’s—you’re a Literature major, right, Renjun?”
“Yes.” One of them nodded.
“Renjun’s a Literature major too, Y/N,” Sungchan finished the introduction.
“Cool, cool,” you nodded. It had been Shotaro that called Sungchan over in the first place, you were pretty sure.
“Anyway, thanks for the offer, guys, but I already promised Hyuck I would, so we’ve got to go.”
Sungchan ushered you away to the tune of a chorus of disappointed groans from the three boys, and you wracked your brain to see if you could recall hearing any sort of proposition from them. But nope, between the loud music and your prior lack of attention to the conversation, you had nothing.
“What did they want?” You gave up and finally asked Sungchan.
“Beer pong. Hope you don’t mind that I declined. I’ve already had a couple and am not looking to get wasted quite yet.”
“Oh, no, not at all,” you shook your head. Thank god you didn’t have to deal with that yet. “Not really my thing anyway. Terrible hand-eye coordination.”
Sungchan seemed about to say something when someone walked by you with an exceptionally pungent cologne. The whiff shot directly to your head like a bullet, the sharp pain making you wince and hiss. It took everything in you not to cover your nose like Edward Cullen and instead shift to breathing through your mouth for a few moments.
“Y/N? You okay?” Sungchan’s voice was clearly concerned.
The sharp pain was gone just a couple moments after it had registered, and you opened your eyes up again, giving him a reassuring smile. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry, don’t know what that was.”
“Okay, good.” He squeezed your shoulder before dropping his hand back down to your back and continuing your trek through the Nu Chi house.
You and Sungchan finally made it to a room adjacent to the main living room, where there were a couple of beat-up old couches and lots of Nu Chi Tau paraphernalia. The bass of the music playing in the next room over would occasionally make the picture frames and plaques on the walls rattle, and you could hear every word of the songs crystal clear, even though the room that you were in was packed to the brim with partygoers as well. Sungchan stopped you at a group of people gathered around one of the couches, tapping the shoulders of two of them who had their backs to you. Donghyuck and Hendery turned around, immediately parting to make room for the both of you in the group upon seeing you.
Almost everyone in the group was familiar to you either as friends or acquaintances. Your social circle was big thanks to Chenle, who was friends with practically the entire hockey team and Nu Chi house, despite being a member of neither. But now you didn’t have your best friend at your side, just Sungchan and your tote bag, both of which you were keeping close to you.
“Oh shit, Y/N!” Hendery grinned, pulling you into a one-armed hug of greeting. “Damn, it really is you!”
“Yeah, I’m a witch, not a ghost, Hendery,” you retorted jokingly. He was dressed as Prince Eric, if you weren’t mistaken.
“Well, when Sungchan said you were coming, some of us were a bit... skeptical.”
Someone dressed as Venom cut in from Hendery’s other side sharply, “No, I believe you said ‘never in a million fucking years, loverboy.’”
The rest of the group erupted in tipsy snickers and ‘ooh’s, and you felt Sungchan jostle a little as someone had presumably given him a teasing shove.
“Alright, guys. You can cut it out now,” Sungchan spoke over them authoritatively. He then looked down to you, features softening. “Sorry. Anyway, this is Donghyuck, he’s on the team and in Nu Chi—”
He pointed to the boy right next to him, wearing a very classic vampire costume splattered with a little bit of fake blood or fruit punch (you couldn’t tell in the poor lighting), and you wondered if he had also gone to a Halloween store last-minute like you. You knew him both from the game, and from a couple times you’d seen him with Chenle outside of frat or hockey events.
“Mark, frat president and he’s on the hockey team—” He was next to Donghyuck, dressed as Spiderman. You were already familiar with Mark, both from the game, and a group project in a class last year. You wondered if Mark remembered that.
“Ten, hockey and Nu Chi—” Ten was reclined on the couch, a top hat that had presumably been on his head earlier now resting on his propped up knee. Between that and his eyepatch, he clearly was dressed as some character that you couldn’t identify in the moment. You knew Ten outside of hockey, the frat, or even Chenle. He was a Lit major, so you had shared classes and study groups over the years. He raised a friendly hand in greeting.
“Sicheng, my co-captain and he’s in Nu Chi, too—” He was on the couch with Ten, sequestered to one corner as his teammate was taking up most of the space with his legs. Sicheng was dressed up as an angel, fake wings, little halo, and all. And you knew Sicheng through Ten, they’d been roommates since freshman year and could often be found together around campus. He gave you a nod of familiarity.
“Dejun, Nu Chi—” Sungchan had finally reached the man who was dressed as Venom.
“And you of course, unfortunately, know Hendery, Nu Chi.”
“Oh, boo, Sungchan,” Hendery stuck his tongue out at the captain.
You smiled and nodded a little bit at everyone else, but you were finding it hard to concentrate with the music in the background. Did it really need to be that loud?
“Y/N?” The sound of your name snapped your focus up, and you looked around for the source.
A few of the guys had gone back to their own conversations. Sungchan was looking down at you, head tilted inquisitively. Presumably he had been to the one to say your name.
“Oh, sorry,” you tried to give a nonchalant chuckle, but it was getting harder and harder to even articulate yourself with all the stimulation. “The music...”
“Oh!” Sungchan perked up at this. “Do you want to go dance?”
He was offering a hand out to you, and you stared down at it, mouth opening and closing as your brain felt like it was moving through sludge. You quite literally could not process what that string of words actually meant for a good second, and then it took even longer for you to even tie together the right way for you to respond. Cognitive fatigue. Oh this was not good. You squeezed your eyes shut, then open.
You again gave him an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. I’m- I’m kind of light-headed right now. Could you get me something to drink?”
His features immediately turned concerned. “Of course. Do you need to sit down or a ride h—”
“Can you just get me a drink?” Your brain was stuck in a perpetual loop now that it had locked onto one task. It took all of your energy just to regulate your tone enough to keep your voice (hopefully) as sweet as possible, despite the fact that you had cut him off.
“Of course. I’ll be right back.” He squeezed your upper arm reassuringly before taking off.
Your eyes were fixated on the spot where he had just been, your vision seeming to continuously zoom in and past your head. Squeezing your eyes shut once more, you took a deep breath through your mouth to try to recenter yourself. But it didn’t help any. Your head felt like a balloon that someone was overinflating, and you knew exactly what was coming next. You swallowed thickly, taking a second to look through the crowd. Nope, you couldn’t wait for Sungchan. Not like you could even verbalize much of anything right now. You had to go take your medication.
So you hurried into the crowd, clutching your tote bag to your chest like your life depended on it—which it really did. Mumbling ‘excuse me’s to everyone you shouldered, bumped into, or stepped on the toes of, you finally made it to a door that you were pretty sure was a bathroom. You tried the handle first, and when it gave in, you still knocked as you opened it, just in case. It was miraculously empty. Maybe there really was a God. Then, the balloon started to deflate, the pressure in your head inverted, becoming a harsh, squeezing pain instead. Nope, nope, definitely not a God. Or at least not a benevolent one.
You locked the door behind you with clumsy fingers and shuffled over to the sink. The countertop was in good enough condition for you to toss your bag up there and start rooting around through it. Bottle after bottle after bottle, then you finally secured the right two. You shook out a pill from one, then a pill from the other. The lights above the mirror were becoming more insufferable by the second. You cracked open the fresh bottle of water you had stored in your bag too, and knocked both pills back in one big gulp.
Tossing the water back into your bag, you could fucking finally flip the switch and turn the lights in the bathroom off. After feeling your way along the wall, you eventually found the bathtub, and sat yourself down. The music was somewhat muffled in here, and you figured this was going to be the darkest room in the whole Nu Chi house. Right now, your plan was to wait in here for your medication to kick in and hopefully stop this migraine before it really got going. Then you could make your great escape, and send Sungchan some bullshit apology text later. After tossing your witch hat to the ground vaguely beside your bag, you gently rested your head against the cool tile of the shower with a sigh. Chenle was right, you shouldn’t have come. Cynically, you thought that you should have timed it. See how long you lasted before you got a migraine. You’d be surprised if that was even 15 minutes.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Sungchan returned to the group with your requested drink in hand and another for himself, frowning when he immediately noticed your absence. “Hey, where’d Y/N go?”
“Oh, shit, uh…” Mark looked around with a baffled look on his face. “No clue dude, she was just here a second ago.”
“I’m going to go find her. Here.” He shoved both drinks into Hendery’s hands.
“Sungchan, come on, take a hint, man,” Donghyuck sighed, patting the taller boy’s shoulder sympathetically.
“What?”
“She asked you to get her something to drink and then slipped away when nobody was looking.”
“Y/N’s not like that.”
“And denial’s a river in Egypt.”
“No, she hasn’t been feeling well all night. I think. I’m going to go look for her.”
“So you’re admitting that you make her physically ill.”
“Dude, you’re just asking to get your shit rocked, you know that, right?” Ten warned him.
“Hey, I’m standing up for women—”
Mark cut him off, “Hyuck, you’re on your own if Sungchan decides to fuck your shit up. I don’t care if you’re my little, I’m not—”
“Oh, wahhh, my big strong big won’t protect me.”
“Christ, I swear he’s only had like four shots and a couple…”
His friends’ voices quickly faded into the din of the party as Sungchan pushed through the crowd. He couldn’t spot you, but found maybe the next best thing.
“Hey, Chenle.” He grabbed him by the elbow, turning him away from the arm wrestling competition between Jeno and Yangyang that he was spectating. Or, he at least hoped this was Chenle, it was a bit hard to tell with the zombie makeup.
“Hey, Romeo!” Chenle greeted him jovially, punching him in the shoulder over-zealously. Okay, definitely him.
“Have you seen Y/N? In the past like, five minutes or so?”
“You lost her?” The zombie asked angrily, cheerful mood immediately soured.
“Uh, yes? Sorry?”
“No, I’m not pissed at you,” he shook his head at Sungchan’s apology. “You go check the bathrooms, I’ll look outside. Don’t bother calling her, she’s not going to pick up.”
“What’s—”
But Chenle was already gone.
You weren’t sure how long you had been sitting in there for, but you could feel some of the overstimulation from the party beginning to slide off of you. Which could be either a good or bad thing. Cognitive fatigue was usually a prodrome and postdrome for you. Regaining some clarity could either mean that your medication was working and the migraine was going away, or you were about to enter the proper migraine phase. The fact that the pain hadn’t gone away was worrying. But at least it was dark, and relatively quiet. Oh, quiet... you could put in your earplugs now too.
Just as you had gone to grab for your bag, there was a knock at the bathroom door. You froze. Shit.
“Occupied!” You yelled out hesitantly to them, wincing at the loudness of your own voice. Okay, ow.
The person knocked again, harder.
“Seriously! Busy in here! Puking my brains out!” You yelled even louder, hoping they got the fucking idea this time. There was no way you wanted to have to actually get up and deal with a drunk partygoer that needed to piss and/or puke.
“Y/N? That you?” A familiar voice came through the door. “It’s Sungchan, can I come in?”
“Oh, sure, hold on.” You clambered out of the tub as carefully as you could in the dim lighting coming from under the door.
Against your better judgment, you turned one set of lights on in the bathroom, then cracked the bathroom door open. Sungchan was in fact on the other side, and you stepped back to let him in. He looked around the bathroom, worry on his face.
You shut the door behind him, saying sheepishly, “So, I was lying about the puking my brains out.”
“But you don’t look okay.” He peered down at your face as you were still wincing against the bright lights. “You didn’t drink anything tonight, what’s wrong?”
You went to sit on the side of the tub, feeling a pain in your eyes now. You gestured to the light switch. “Can you turn that light off?”
“Uh, okay…” He obliged, and the room was dim once again.
Your eyes adjusted quickly, and you could still see the general outline of everything in the room. Sitting back in the tub, you pulled your knees to your chest. Well, no chance for your great escape now. Sungchan climbed into the dry tub with you, facing you. He didn’t fit great in the small space, all gangly limbs, and your knees bumped into each other. But he sat there with you quietly.
“I’ve got a migraine coming on, I had to get somewhere quiet and dark and take my meds.” You told him bluntly, opting to just take the plunge. Not like you could even attempt flowery language at the moment anyway. Sure, some of your speech capabilities were coming back now that there was less sensory input, but you weren’t going to be doing any soliloquies tonight.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Sungchan said quietly. “Do you want me to leave?”
“No, no. I actually- I actually don’t want to be alone right now, if that’s okay?” You surprised yourself with your answer.
“Yeah, of course.” He said reassuringly. “Do you want me to take you home?”
“I might not have drank but you did. I’ll be okay here, for the most part. I’m the one who came knowing that I get sound-induced migraines.”
“Wait, really?”
“Mm, yeah,” you pinched the bridge of your nose to alleviate some of the tension there for a moment. “Remember when I said Chenle pushes me out of my comfort zone in a good way most of the time?”
“Right.”
“One of the times it wasn’t... good was when he got an invite to Nu Chi’s Halloween party our freshman year, dragged me with him. And he always means the best when he does stuff like that. I hadn’t made any new friends at college, meanwhile he had a bunch, including some of the pledges at Nu Chi.”
“How he got the invite.”
“Exactly.” You needed to take a pause, resting your head against the cool tile again. After a few deep breaths, you pushed on in the story. “Anyway, we’d been there for a couple hours when the loudness and the music and everything finally got to me and I got a migraine. I had my go bag on me, and went to what I thought was an empty corner of the house to take my meds. But a couple other people saw me knocking back pills and wanted some. My head was hurting like a bitch, and they were trying to grab them from me and anyway, I spilled a bunch of them all over the floor, drenched myself with my water and their beer, and elbowed a dude and gave him a bloody nose.”
“Holy shit,” Sungchan breathed out.
You opened and closed your jaw a couple times to try to relax the muscles and joints there. “I couldn’t even open my eyes because my head hurt so bad. Chenle told me later I was screaming and Taeyong wanted to call an ambulance until Chenle ran up and explained what was happening. They put me, Chenle, and Jeno—turns out that’s whose nose I broke—in Taeyong’s room in the house for the rest of the night. Neither Chenle nor I were in any shape to drive ourselves home.”
“Wait is that how you met Jeno?”
“Yeah, and it turns out he wasn’t one of the ones trying to take my pills, he was trying to break up me and the people who were. Collateral damage.” You recounted it regrettably.
“When Jeno found out I’d invited you, he told me he’d keep his room clear in case we needed it. I thought he was just being a dick.” Sungchan sounded like he was having an epiphany. “Y/N, do you think you’ll be okay to move up a floor?”
The bass was thudding through the door, and you knew that if you stayed here when you transitioned into the throes of however bad this migraine fully got, you’d regret it. Grabbing your earplugs from your bag and putting them in, you gave him a thumbs-up and attempted a smile, but you knew it came out like more of a wince.
Sungchan kept you between him and the wall as you moved through the Nu Chi house, casting as much of a shadow against the garishly flashing lights as possible. Even through your earplugs, the music was raucous, people were practically screaming at each other, and you gripped one hand around his arm and the other onto his suit jacket to keep yourself balanced and to not lose him. When you got to the stairs, he fully wrapped an arm around your shoulders to jerk you out of the way of a drunk Nu Chi member stumbling his way down, and kept it there the rest of the way up. The noise was squeezing around your head like a vice, and you shut your eyes tight at the top of the stairs for a moment in an attempt to clear your head.
Sungchan’s voice was right beside your ear, muffled through the earplugs, “We’re almost there, Y/N, I’m sorry, come on.”
You were vaguely aware of the man with you feeling around on the top of a doorway before jiggling a doorhandle, and finally you were in a blissfully dark and quiet-ish room. Your head definitely hurt more than before, and you practically collapsed onto the bed.
“He was kind enough to stuff all his dirty clothes in the closet,” Sungchan muttered.
You managed a strangled chuckle at that, dropping your go bag onto the floor beside the bed. A moment of silence passed, and you could hear Sungchan awkwardly shifting his weight between his feet at the doorway.
“Sungchan,” you said his name, then patted the empty half of the bed beside you. “You can sit. I know Jeno doesn’t have any other furniture in here besides the bed and his PlayStation.”
“He probably only has a bedframe because it came with the room.”
You snickered, but were cut off by the squeezing pain turning to a sharp, stabbing pain behind your left eye, “Oh fuck!”
“Y/N?!” Sungchan was right beside you, and you felt the bed dip as he sat down beside you.
“Sorry, sorry, it feels like I’m getting an icepick lobotomy! Jesus!” You hissed, cupping a hand over your left eye as if that were actually going to do anything. “It’s normal, I’m fine. Relatively.”
“Okay…”
Still clutching your eye, you rolled onto your side and brought your knees up towards your chest. You blindly fumbled towards the head of the bed, and felt a pillow being pressed into your hand.
“Thanks,” you muttered, tucking it under your head.
“Do you want to lay under the covers?” Sungchan whispered.
“Do they smell like Jeno’s washed them in the past week?”
He laughed breathily at that, “Miraculously they do. I think he was planning on getting laid.”
“He gave up getting his dick wet for me. Jeno’s a real one,” you mumbled, feeling the covers that you were laying on top of being pulled out from under you.
Sungchan gently brought the sheet up to your shoulder, then a blanket too. The stabbing pain behind your eye was still there, and your stomach filled with dread as you acknowledged that your acute medication wasn’t going to be working this time. This was going to be a full-blown migraine, and who knew how many hours it would last.
“Thank you.”
“Is there anything else you need? Water?”
“No. Just uh, let me know when two hours have passed, I can take another dose of my meds that aren’t fucking working then.”
“Oh. Will do.”
You opened and closed your jaw, letting out a distinct groan. Another few minutes passed. Or, you think it was a few minutes, you couldn’t really check your phone for the time.
“Sungchan.”
“Yes?”
“You don’t have to stay. I’m sure the party is a lot more fun.”
“Do you want me to go?”
“…No.”
“I want to stay. I’m not going to have any fun out there knowing that you’re in all in this pain all alone in here.”
You squinted your right eye open, and had to crane your neck to look up at where Sungchan was sitting against the headboard. He had taken his suit jacket and shoes off at some point, now just in a rumpled dress shirt, loosened tie, slacks, and socks. He held your eye contact steadily, head tilted slightly and a frown across his handsome features.
Reaching your unoccupied hand up towards him, he watched it with confusion.
“What do you need? Your bag?”
“No.” You grabbed his hand, giving it a light squeeze.
“Oh.” An adorably radiant grin was on his face now instead.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1
Sungchan knew you’d finally fallen asleep when you stopped muttering swears and curses under your breath, the pained expression fell from your face, and your hand that was holding his went limp. He could still hear the party going strong outside of Jeno’s bedroom, and a glance at his phone told him it was just after one in the morning. He had no want to rejoin his friends, to leave you.
He took his tie all the way off, thinking to himself that if you were feeling better, you might have joked that he looked like Mulder the off-duty funeral director. And he would’ve laughed and watched the cute way the corners of your mouth quirked up when you said something that you thought was funny. He set the tie down with his shoes on the floor beside the bed.
Careful to stay on top of the covers that you were sleeping under, Sungchan shifted until he was laying down too, pillow tucked under his head, facing you on his side, hand still holding yours.
Like usual, you didn’t remember falling asleep, but you did remember shutting your eyes tight and wishing really hard for your head to stop hurting so bad. Or to die. Whichever the Universe felt like granting. And judging by the fact that you were now waking up without a migraine, it seemed like the former.
The first thing you were aware of before you even opened your eyes was that you felt like shit. Sure, your head didn’t hurt anymore, but jeez the morning after wasn’t much better. Tired, achy, and your brain felt like TV static.
The second thing that you were aware of, after opening your eyes, was Jung Sungchan just a few inches from your face. He was still asleep, soft bursts of air passing from his lips and mussing up strands of hair that were falling into his eyes. You didn’t quite have enough in you to coo over his bedhead, but you could give half of a fond smile as you pushed yourself into a sitting position, running a sleepy hand over one side of your face.
Only one of your earplugs was still in your ears, and you looked around the bedsheets for the other one. After securing it, you scooted over to the edge of the bed to put the plugs back into your carrying case before rolling back over and pulling the blankets over you again. You deserved this, honestly. Sleeping in late, a comfy bed, warm blankets, a cute boy next to you, nothing to—
Your happy thoughts were ripped away by the sound of a loud alarm. You shot up, scrambling towards your tote bag to grab your phone from the depths of it and turn your goddamn alarm off before it woke Sungchan up.
“Mm?”
Too late.
Sheepishly, you looked over at him, “Sorry…”
“‘S okay,” he mumbled, flopping onto his back and rubbing a hand over his face. “How’s your head?”
“Better. A lot better, thanks.”
“Good, good.” He yawned, “Morning, by the way.”
“Good morning.”
His eyes were closed as he laid there, a hand resting on his chest, and you weren’t sure if he had fallen back asleep.
“…Sungchan?”
“Hm?”
Taking his inquisitive tone as a sign that you could keep talking, you said, “Uhm, that was the first time I’ve had anybody around for one my migraines in a while. I’m sorry if it was… well, I don’t know. What was it like for you?”
He opened his eyes, rolling onto his side to face you and tucking a hand under his cheek, “Oh, uh, I mean, I wasn’t quite worried, since you seemed like you knew exactly what was happening, you know? But still, I… I was wishing there was more I could do. It was weird knowing that you were in pain but not being able to see where it hurt.”
“I should’ve figured that might be upsetting. Sorry about all that.”
“No, Y/N, it's okay. I get it, you just wanted someone with you when you were hurting.”
“Yeah, yeah, I did,” you nodded, curling one of your hands into a fist in your lap, digging your nails into your palm in an attempt to not cry at how easily he saw right into you.
“I was more than happy to sit with you.”
“I’ve had these stupid migraines for years now. Tried every treatment in the book, been on every regiment. And my friends and family, they don’t treat me like I’m made of glass or anything, which I’m grateful for. Everyone in my life knows I’m a pro at it all: I’ve got my go bag, all my meds, my alarms, I’ve been going to doctors’ appointments, testing, everything for years. But like... they still hurt. The migraines still fucking hurt.” Your voice cracked over the word, and your nails dug in deeper. “And I just… think they forget that part sometimes? I don’t know, I guess they hear the word ‘migraine’ thousands of times over the years it sort of loses its meaning. They kind of forget what one actually is. But it hurts Sungchan, my head just hurts for hours or even days, sometimes so bad I throw up from the pain. I can’t do anything but lay in bed in the dark and cry. Last night’s wasn’t that bad but still… thank you. I needed for it to all be real to somebody.”
Sungchan pushed up into a sitting position, and through your watery vision you could see that his brows were furrowed. You followed where his gaze was locked, and watched as he gently unfurled your fingers. You used the thumb of your other hand to rub at the divots that your nails had left in your skin.
“The migraines are why I’ve been all weird, by the way.” You added, trying to ignore the strain in your voice.
“What?”
“When you wanted to buy me a drink after the game. One of my migraine medications that I take, I can’t drink alcohol on it. It just felt like a weird and long explanation to have to give in the moment. And when you asked if I wanted to dance with you last night, the music would’ve made the migraine come on quicker than it did, but explaining it to you then, again it felt like it would’ve ruined the moment even more.”
“Oh… don’t worry about it.”
There was still one big thing you hadn’t smoothed over. But it looks like you’re on man-shaped friend duties tonight, Sungchan. Stupid, stupid.
Pushing through the discomfort prickling at your skin, you asked, “Sungchan, do you want to go on a date?”
“A…” He looked you dead in the eyes for a moment, mouth parted, and blinked once, twice before he was absolutely beaming at you. “Yeah, yes, I do.”
“Okay.” You couldn’t help but giggle, nerves buzzing through you as your chest was airy and you were lightheaded for two reasons now, “Okay, good.”
“Is it bad for me to say that I’m relieved? That you have migraines? Well, not that you have them, because obviously they hurt, but like, that this is what it was? I seriously thought I was being stupid, like mixed signals or something. Like, you came to my game but then you didn’t want to go to the bar.” He ticked the instances off on the fingers of one hand.
“Medication,” you nodded.
“Right. Then you let me walk you home after, but you called me your friend.”
“That was just plain stupidity,” you admitted with a groan at having to relive that moment again.
“And you said yes to coming to the party, but then you didn’t want to dance with me,” Sungchan had now run out of fingers and dropped his hand back down to the bed.
“The music...”
“And when you disappeared, I thought you left because you didn’t like me. I just… felt like I was going crazy.”
“It’s not awful of you to be relieved about this. I’m sorry, Sungchan. Migraines aren’t conducive to romance, apparently.”
“Oh, bullshit.” He pushed back immediately. “They’re just not conducive to drinking and loud parties. That’s not romance.”
“Alright, fair. I’m wont to agree with you.”
“And you need to stop apologizing for your migraines. It’s not like you’re doing it on purpose.”
“Well, I did come to a loud ass party knowing I’d probably get a sound-induced migraine.”
“Okay, aside from that— which, I’m very flattered by and will never ever ask you to do anything like this ever again.”
“Okay.”
Suddenly the door handle rattled, then there was a banging on the door. “Hey! Are you two done in there?” Jeno yelled through the wood. “You better not be having post-headache sex on my bed!”
“Seems like he didn’t get laid last night,” Sungchan muttered.
“If he keeps up that pounding I’m going to get a rebound headache and he’s going to wake the entire house, please let him in,” you groaned.
The boy with you quickly moved to do so, unlocking the door and throwing it open to whisper aggressively, “Jeno! Shut the fuck up! People are still sleeping!”
“Oh. You’re dressed.”
You rolled your eyes at your friend, “I don’t know what you think a migraine is like, but getting my back blown out is pretty far down on my to-do list for immediately after.”
“How are you feeling?” Jeno was nice enough to ask as he rooted through his closet.
“Like shit. While you guys nurse actual hangovers today, I get to nurse a migraine hangover. Same awful morning after without the fun night before.”
“That sucks.” He secured a rumpled shirt and inside out pair of sweatpants. “I told Chenle you were crashing here last night, by the way. He didn’t just abandon you for shits and giggles.”
“Oh, thanks. He was sober enough to drive?”
“Mark had a Breathalyzer and everything.”
“Wow…”
“Now I recommend you two get the fuck out before everyone else wakes up and sees you sneaking out together.”
“Right,” Sungchan nodded, sitting on the edge of Jeno’s bed and pulling his shoes on.
You quickly gathered your shoes, phone, witch hat, and go bag before giving Jeno a short goodbye and following Sungchan out. The Nu Chi house was thankfully quiet as everyone was still asleep in their own rooms, save for the partygoers and brothers who had passed out on the couches in the living rooms. Once you were on the front porch, the two of you dared to speak again.
“I’ll drive you home, Y/N,” Sungchan offered.
“Mhm, thanks,” you squinted against the bright sunlight, reaching into your bag for the spare pair of sunglasses you kept in there.
He gestured to your bag. “So what all do you have in there?”
“Everything but the kitchen sink.” You sighed, finally securing your sunglasses and putting them on. They did help, but you knew there was no way you were going to avoid a rebound headache today. Realizing that Sungchan might actually have been genuinely asking and wasn’t just trying to be polite, you decided to give him a sincere answer as well. “Uh, my meds, my blood pressure cuff, earplugs, sunglasses, some snacks, other miscellaneous non-migraine related stuff like an umbrella.”
“Blood pressure cuff?” He stopped in front of a sedan parked on the street, and opened the passenger door for you.
Even through your unpleasant migraine hangover, you couldn’t help the giddy smile that crossed your lips at the gesture.
Once the both of you were in the car, you explained, “One of my medications affects my blood pressure. I have to check it every few hours, or whenever I feel kind of funny. That’s partially what the snacks are for too.”
“Really?” He started the car and pulled out into the street.
“Most of my meds I need to take with food, so keeping snacks on me makes it easy. The sweet ones are in case my blood sugar drops though.”
“Blood sugar too?”
“A different medication affects my appetite, secondary effect is on my blood sugar. Fun fact, it’s the same one that keeps me from drinking alcohol. Anyway, if you’re ever craving something sweet, I keep gummies and stuff on me usually.”
Sungchan let out a deep breath. “Wow…”
“Oh and water.” You perked up as you realized you’d forgotten something, and reached in for said item. “I've got my water bottle. I need water to take my meds, obviously, but I also need to drink water to make sure I don’t get kidney stones from my medication.”
The car had stopped at a stoplight, and he looked over at you in disbelief. “What the fuck.”
“Hey, it’s this or be entirely unable to participate in society.” You explained. “I used to get five or six migraines a week, with really bad or mild headaches constantly in between. I couldn’t do anything, they were disabling. Clearly, they still are now when I do get them, but I only get one or two a month.”
“I can’t imagine— I… yeah…” He trailed off as the light turned green, a deep frown etching itself on his features as he clearly was trying to imagine what a huge shift in his life that would be. And was having a hard time doing so.
“People without chronic illnesses usually can’t, until they get one,” you shrugged. “I know I couldn’t imagine it either. Then I got my first migraine. Then my second, and my third. I think the ‘chronic illness’ part really hit for me when I had to order my first sharps disposal bin for the monthly injections I take.”
“You’re…”
“Do not say that I’m so strong or any live laugh love type shit right now.”
He laughed, shaking his head, “No, no, not what I was going to say. I was just thinking… you’re really cool.”
“I just info-dumped about my migraines, medication, medication side effects, and treatment to you for ten minutes straight and that’s the conclusion you came to?” You asked in disbelief as he pulled into your apartment complex, and it dawned on you just how long you had been talking about yourself for. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d been that detailed with someone other than your neurologist or your mom about your condition and treatment.
Sungchan put his car in park to turn and look you in the eye. “I’m looking at the bigger picture here: You’re a Lit major, you like Gothic fiction, you’re good at writing, you’re smart and know things like death of the author and stuff, you like Pacific Rim, you’ve come to one of my games, you’re funny, and you just info-dumped to me about something personal for ten minutes. So yes, I think you’re cool. Actually, cool might be an understatement.”
“Jung Sungchan, you…” Your cheeks were hurting with how wide you were grinning. Whether it was the migraine hangover or truly from how warm and happy his words made you, you couldn’t formulate a proper response, “Congrats, I’m speechless.”
“I think that's good?” He laughed again. “Anyway, you told Jeno earlier that you felt like shit, so I won’t hold you up anymore. Rest well today, Y/N.”
“Thanks. You too, Sungchan.” You wrapped your hand around the door handle but stopped just short of actually opening it. “Oh, and uhm, I don’t know if this too eager or whatever, but I’m free tomorrow.”
His face lit up with recognition at what you were implying. “Me too. But are you going to be okay? Like, recovered?”
“Yeah, I’ve got all day today to sleep it off.”
“Okay.” He grinned.
“Okay.” You repeated. “Text me?”
“Yes, yes. I will.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
And with that, you got out of his car, making sure to take your go bag that had been on your lap for the whole drive.
Halfway to your front door, you turned around to give Sungchan a final wave goodbye, and he waved back through the windshield. Once you’d finally disappeared into your apartment, he looked over at his now empty passenger seat. Well, not completely empty, he realized. Your witch hat was on the floor of the passenger side, you’d forgotten to grab it on your way out. He picked it up, gently setting it on the seat beside him. He’d just give it back to you when he saw you again for your date tomorrow.
“A date,” Sungchan sighed happily, feeling his chest swell and nearly burst with joy. “A date, a date, a date.”
Putting his car in reverse, he looked through the rear window as he muttered, “Suck an egg, Donghyuck. Man-shaped friend, my ass.”
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2
Sungchan picked you up at 7:00 p.m. on the dot for your first date. You made sure to take your nighttime meds early and silence your alarms so there was nothing to bother you that night. Migraines notwithstanding, of course. You still had to bring your go bag just in case you needed anything acute, but you didn’t think twice about leaving the majority of it in the car, tucking just a couple individually packaged tablets into your pocket before accepting Sungchan’s hand that he offered to you after opening your car door for you.
Walking into the movie theater with him after he bought your tickets, you were about to start off in the direction that the usher had pointed you when your date stopped you.
“You want anything from concessions?” He nodded towards the long line of other couples, families, and groups of friends.
“I’m not big on overpriced popcorn,” you shook your head with a smile. “Thanks though, Sungchan.”
“You sure you don’t want a soda or candy? How’s your, you know, blood sugar?”
It was then that your polite smile morphed into a genuine, touched one, and you squeezed his hand that you were holding. “I’m doing good, promise. I made sure I ate before. But thank you, seriously. You’re really sweet.”
“Okay, but let me know if you need anything.”
“Sungchan, can I tell you something?” You ducked your head in towards him conspiratorially.
“Yeah, of course.”
You gently shook one side of your jacket, and a muffled rattling sound came from within it. “I snuck a bag of Skittles in,” you whispered to him.
He chuckled as you dropped your jacket back down and smoothed over the inside pocket inconspicuously. “Two steps ahead of me.”
“I just didn’t want to ruin our date if I got low.”
“It’s very thoughtful, thanks.”
“So are you!” You tried to reassure him.
The two of you entered where your movie would be showing, and picked your seats. The previews had already started, so you had to drop your voices to whispers.
“But you’re going to be good with the bright light, and the sounds?” Sungchan double-checked with you.
You nodded insistently. “You’re the one who made me compile a list of stuff that I could do, remember?”
“I know, but you also came to that party knowing that it was like 100% guaranteed to give you a migraine. So I think I’ve earned some skepticism.”
“Okay, fine. You got me there,” you sighed. “But I get nothing out of suggesting things that will give me migraines other than cutting our time together short. Which I don’t want to do.”
Sungchan shifted in his seat, and when you looked over at him, you could see a small, bashful smile on his face. “Good. Glad we got that cleared up.”
The previews finally ended, and the entire theater quieted down, including you two. You settled in to watch the movie, scooting closer to your date, looping your arm under his, and resting your head on his shoulder. He hesitantly leaned his head against the top of yours.
As you left the theater hand-in-hand with Sungchan, you two were deep in discussion about the movie, and in the back of your mind, you realized with a panic that you had far too much that you wanted to say that wouldn’t fit into the short ride back to your apartment. Not to mention that you didn’t want your night with him to be over yet.
“Hey.” You called for his attention as he opened up the passenger door for you, stopping before you got in the car.
“Hey.” He offered you a lopsided grin, still holding the door open with one hand and now caging you between him and the open car door.
If the parking lot wasn’t literally swarming with other movie theater patrons, you swore you would’ve grabbed him and kissed him stupid right there and then. But a family of five walked by at that moment, so you swallowed down the itch.
“We should go somewhere,” you suggested, trying to sound equal parts nonchalant and hopeful. Which was a weird combination, you knew, but you didn’t want to come across as too desperate. Again, a ridiculous sentiment, but it was engrained in you with social conditioning or whatever.
“We just went somewhere,” he pointed out knowingly, and you swore that was a smirk that you spotted on his face in the shadowy lighting afforded by the parking lot streetlamps.
“We should go somewhere else.”
“Like where?”
“I don’t know,” you shrugged, despite how desperate you felt on the inside to just be around him right now. “Somewhere. Are you hungry?”
“Are you?”
You pressed your lips together in a thin line. “Well—”
Finally, he smiled, nodded towards the car, and said, “I know somewhere. Get in.”
Sungchan closed the car door after you before walking around to get into the driver’s side. He didn’t offer you any information or clues as to your new destination as he left the movie theater parking lot. The hockey captain drove with one hand casually holding the bottom of the steering wheel, the other tapping out the rhythm of whatever song was playing over his speakers onto his thigh. You dragged your eyes from his fingers to the passing scenery.
Honestly, you couldn’t remember the last time you’d been on a good date. Even the last date you’d been on was a distant memory. Lunch with some CompSci major your freshman year, a blind date set up by a mutual acquaintance. He just talked over you the whole time. You didn’t deign to go on a second date with him. It wasn’t that your migraines made it impossible to date—they hadn’t even come up at the date with the CompSci major (mostly because he didn’t give you the opportunity to say much of anything)—but you knew that it was always going to be something to get out of way. Either up front or at some point down the line. And it was exhausting enough for you to have to completely restructure your life around them, how could you really ask some stranger who barely knew you—or didn’t at all—to consider doing the same? It felt like it just made your dating pool even narrower, an added standard that you didn’t even get to pick.
But with Sungchan, it had happened in the worst way possible, you disappeared on him because you were having a migraine, without even having told him anything about them. And not only was he more than chill about it, he stayed with you through your entire full-blown migraine. Listened to you explain every ailment, medication, and medication complication that you have, and just tucked all that information away to keep track of your wellbeing. Taken it all in stride and made it look easy. And that was before your first date. It almost made you angry. Not at Sungchan, but at the fact that other people had ever made you feel like an inconvenience.
The car slowing to a stop knocked you from your thoughts, and you didn’t even realize that you had been silent for the entire trip. Sungchan didn’t seem to mind, though, as he hadn’t tried to start a conversation either. He put the car in park as you looked around, trying to gauge where exactly you were.
“Are we… on campus?” You turned to him with an eyebrow raised.
He was already out of the car, though, jogging around to get your door. As he opened it for you, he tilted his head innocently, “What was that?”
You stepped out, taking in your surroundings. “Are we at a campus parking garage?”
“Specifically, the top floor of Evergreen Parking Garage,” Sungchan clarified, rolling the passenger window down.
Evergreen Parking Garage was a commuter-only parking facility, meaning that this level was empty this late at night. It was also located at the furthest reaches of the north block of campus, which bordered a nature preserve, meaning that while on one side was your university campus, the other side was entirely evergreen trees. Hence the name.
Sungchan had parked on the side that faced the nature preserve, and as you turned to question your date as to why exactly he’d taken you to campus, you were instead greeted by the sight of him hunched over to lean into the open passenger window, seemingly messing around with the audio controls of the still-running car.
You tilted your head to one side, then the other as you just watched him struggle for a moment before finally speaking up. “What uh… What are you doing, Sungchan?”
He banged his head on the frame of the window as he went to stand back up. “Fuck! Ow…”
Covering your hand to muffle your giggles, you waited patiently for him to turn around and answer you.
Still clutching his head, he said with a sheepish smile, “Just give me a sec, sorry. Technical difficulties.”
And with that, he opened the door to properly sit in the passenger seat, futzing with his phone and the car radio. Finally, there was music playing from the speakers as opposed to the radio station ads, and he turned the volume up before getting back out of the car and shutting the door. With both the driver and passenger windows rolled down, you could hear the song clearly.
“I was originally going to try to take you to this lookout, but there were other cars there, so I had to keep driving by it and oh my god why did I tell you that—” He scratched the back of his head nervously. “Anyway, since we didn’t get to dance at the party…”
Sungchan offered his hand out to you, and you set yours atop it. The upbeat song that had been playing finished just then, switching to a much slower, softer one. You stepped in closer, smiling up at him as you looped your free arm around his neck. His other hand settled on your hip, and he slowly started leading you in an uncertain sway of sorts.
You let out an airy chuckle, “Was this really the kind of dancing you had in mind for a frat party?”
“Would you believe me if I said yes?” He questioned.
“Would you believe me if I said that I believed you?”
“No.”
You snickered. “Smart man.”
“But this is good, too. Better, even.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, there’s not a bunch of other drunk, sweaty, loud people everywhere knocking into us. I don’t have to worry about somebody spilling beer on me, or other guys looking at you, or the DJ picking something bad. Or you getting a migraine.” Sungchan slotted his fingers with yours. “I just get to think about you.”
You rested your head on his chest, eyes zoning out on your linked hands. It was his right hand, so his pinky finger couldn’t quite fold down along with the others. “Yeah. I like this, too,” you agreed softly.
A cool breeze gently blew across your cheek that wasn’t resting on Sungchan’s chest, and you were glad for the warmth of him pressed against your front. Your feet awkwardly bumped into each other, making you chuckle, and he apologized with a nervous laugh.
“It’s okay,” you reassured him. “I haven’t exactly taken any ballroom dancing classes. Have you?”
“Well...”
You jerked your head back to look him in the face. “You have?”
“You know how Greek life has those formals every year?”
“You’re not in a frat...”
“No, I’m not. But freshman year, Nu Chi had pitched in for this dance teacher and— God, I can’t believe I’m telling you this,” Sungchan said regretfully, tilting his head back to look up in embarrassment.
“Sungchan, come on!” You pleaded.
“Hendery swore me to secrecy...”
“Well now you have to tell me!”
“Hendery’s date couldn’t make it to one of the lessons, so he asked me to fill in for her...”
Your jaw dropped with delight, “Was his date an Amazon? How did that work? He couldn’t have possibly dipped you! Or twirled you!”
“She was taller than him, to be fair,” he admitted. “Nothing that couldn’t be adjusted for with some thick soles, but, you know...”
“You’re such a good friend, Sungchan,” you said through a couple of giggles, imagining the two of them attempting the aforementioned twirls and dips.
He dropped his head, shaking it. “Right, thanks.”
“So I guess I should be leading then, hm?” You teased, your feet bumping his again in that moment.
“I feel like you’d lead us over the edge of this parking deck, Y/N,” he joked.
Before you could make a retort, he stepped back from you to gently twirl you around by the hand, and a cross between a surprised yelp and a laugh tumbled from your mouth. As he brought you back into his chest, you could barely think over the joyful buzzing in your head that resonated out to every square inch of your body.
“Okay, okay, I guess you can lead,” you surrendered, looping your arm back around his neck again.
After some time, the songs had picked up tempo again, but you and Sungchan were long past actually dancing to them. You were more so just holding each other, leisurely swaying, and from here you got to listen to the sounds of his breathing. He’d taken to rubbing absentminded circles into your hip with his thumb, and the fingers of your arm that was around his neck had dipped below the material of his collar, resting on his bare skin.
“Sungchan?” You murmured.
“Yes?” He responded, his voice rumbling right under your ear.
“Thank you for not making me do this in front of a bunch of other cars at the other lookout.”
He let out a couple quiet laughs, his chest shaking with each. “You’re welcome. I figured all of the teens making out in their cars also didn’t want to watch us do this either.”
You mock gasped, pretending to sound scandalized, “You were going to take me to a lover’s lookout? On the first date? Jung Sungchan…”
“Who are you, my grandma? Nobody calls it that anymore.” He pinched your side. “And only because it’s actually got a great view over the city and—”
“I’m kidding, Sungchan.” You pinched him back, lightly, on the nape of the neck. “Besides, I wouldn’t have been opposed to a trip to a lover’s lookout with you anyway…”
You heard the breath hitch in his throat, then Sungchan swallowed and inhaled through his nose, before he finally spoke, “Really?”
His grip on your hip tightened, sending a bolt of electricity along your skin out from the contact point. You brought your head out of his chest and used your arm around his neck to draw him in even closer.
“Really,” you echoed, blatantly staring at his lips now that they were centimeters away from yours. “And it looks like we’ve got our own right here.”
Then Sungchan was using his hold on your hip to push you back step by step until your back was against the side of his car. Your own arm around his neck kept him anchored to you as he stood hovering over you, blotting out any light that would’ve come from the light post above you. Your noses were almost touching, your breaths mingling in the negligible space between your mouths. You were looking at Sungchan’s eyes now, usually a warm, deep brown, now all inky blackness in the dark of night, and staring down at your own mouth. Your tongue instinctually darted out to wet your lips, and that seemed to be the final straw.
His mouth on yours was desperate, but not desperate to get laid, like your previous lover’s lookout banter might imply. Like he was just desperate for you. He stole kiss after kiss from your lips, but never forced his tongue into your mouth, nor moved his hands anywhere else. Despite leaning more and more of his weight forward onto you, utterly pinning you to the car, he kept his bruising grip on your hip and never let go of your hand.
You parted your mouth with a bedraggled gasp of his name, and he finally took this as an invite to slip his tongue into the mix. You shifted to rest the hand that was laced with his above your head, on the roof of the sedan, giving his hand a squeeze. He squeezed your hand back.
Turning your head and breaking the kiss, you hoped he’d get the idea as you continued laying there half-spread out under him. He did, thankfully, kissing from the corner of your mouth across your cheek and down your jaw and neck.
“Sung…chan…” You breathed out his name, stroking the back of his head with your free hand as his lips latched onto a spot at the base of your neck.
Trailing your hand down further, you snuck it up under the hem of his shirt, feeling over the expanse of his chest and stomach. Oh fuck yeah, hockey players. You pulled the article of clothing up towards his head insistently, and he detached from your neck for the two of you to jointly strip him of it. Oh fuck yeah, hockey players. You truly didn’t know if he looked or felt better, but you couldn’t ogle him for long, because he was back on top of you as soon as he’d thrown the shirt into the front seat via the open passenger window beside you. His lips were so warm on yours, his skin even hotter under your touch now as you unabashedly felt up every inch of it and the muscles underneath.
But soon that wasn’t enough either, and you were fumbling at his pants button. He groaned into your mouth, the sound vibrating down into your own chest, as his hand snapped around your wrist.
“Ahh…” He hissed regretfully.
“What?” You looked up at him with wide eyes.
“I can’t get my dick out in public.”
You glanced at the car behind you, with its tinted windows, then back at Sungchan. He met your eyes, then shrugged. “That’ll work.”
It was a mad scramble to get the door to the backseat open, so much so that you accidentally smacked Sungchan in the leg with said door. After lots of apologies through giggles, both of you were in the backseat with the doors closed and locked. Sungchan had the task of awkwardly reaching forward over the console to roll the windows back up first, during which you made a couple observations about his backseat, which you hadn’t seen much of before. His practice bag for hockey was back here—which was different than his gear bag, as you’d already been told. The gear bag actually had his equipment that he needed to play with like mouth guards, sticks, and all of that, while his practice bag had more personal stuff like changes of clothes or hygiene products. You figured his gear bag was either in the trunk or at the rink, as he didn’t always need to carry it back and forth with him. But other than the practice bag and a couple of reusable grocery bags on the floor, the backseat was pretty clean. You were genuinely impressed, especially because he made it sound like he tended to chauffeur a lot of his teammates/roommates around frequently.
Sungchan eventually reentered the backseat fully, focusing a content, closed-lip smile on you. You’d taken it upon yourself to lay down on the seat, your knees propped up by your feet. He settled in to kneel on the same cushion as your feet, but just rested an arm on your knees and his chin atop that forearm to gaze down at you, still smiling.
“What? What’s that smile for?” You asked, starting to feel a bit self-conscious.
“Nothing, I just—” He reached both his hands out towards you, fingers spread, and you got the idea, linking yours with them. “I hope you don’t get the wrong idea. I want this to be a real thing, Y/N. Like, I don’t just want to sleep with you. I don’t even do this kind of stuff—car sex on the first date in a campus parking garage?—literally ever. I’m just kinda crazy about you. I know for most people usually it’s the opposite; you know, they save it for later for really important people. They try to make it special, but I know it’ll be special just because it’s you.”
“Sungchan... I’ve never done something like this either,” you admitted, squeezing both of his hands tight. “I think I’m just kinda crazy about you too.”
“Okay. Cool.” He beamed at you, and you felt your insides turn to mush in that moment. You didn’t think they’d ever un-mush again.
“Now can you please take my clothes off before I spontaneously combust?”
“Fuck. Yeah.” He nodded, immediately turning serious as his brow furrowed and he leaned forward to lock his lips with yours again, propping himself up with one hand to hover above you.
You let your knees fall apart to give him room to settle in between your legs. He pulled at your jacket first, and you sat up to help yank it off, dropping it to the floor with his practice bag. With you no longer laying down, he could use two hands to get the next part, your top. His fingertips skimmed along your skin as he grabbed the hem. You broke the kiss so he could start pulling the clothing up your body—
A loud knock against the driver’s side window quite literally made you scream, and Sungchan jerked up and hit his head once again, this time on the roof of the car. You tugged your shirt back down to cover you, ducking to lay flat on the seat as Sungchan looked at you with panic in his eyes.
Another knock came at the window, this time accompanied by a man’s voice, “Campus security! Roll the window down or I’m going to ask you to turn the car off and step out!”
“Just a second!” Sungchan yelled back, a noticeable crack in his voice. He had a difficult time maneuvering his lanky body over the console fully into the driver’s seat again.
“Now!” The man called out again. “Three! Two!”
Sungchan didn’t have time to put on his shirt before ‘one,’ and he rushed to roll the window down. A flashlight was immediately shone into the car, and you didn’t doubt your own visibility to the security officer. You were remaining laying down for your own mental wellbeing at this point. You didn’t think that you could deal with looking this man in the eye right now.
You didn’t know if it was wisdom or embarrassment that kept your date from saying anything, but he thankfully didn’t speak until spoken to, not offering up any incriminating information. After five entire seconds of silence, the officer let out an audible sigh.
“No overnight parking in this garage,” he said, his tone making it very clear that he knew that was not what was going on. “I’ll be back in five minutes and if you’re still here, you’re getting a ticket.”
“Yes, sir,” Sungchan replied.
“I’m sure that the captain of our hockey team wouldn’t want to get put on probation at the beginning of the season.”
“N-No, sir.” His voice cracked again.
The security officer grunted, but said nothing more. You heard Sungchan roll the window back up, then the sound of another car driving away. Slowly, Sungchan turned around to look at you over the console with wide, horrified eyes.
“He knew who I was…” He whispered. “That was the most terrifying 45 seconds of my life.”
“You’re famous, Sungchan,” you teased, sitting up in the backseat now that the coast was clear.
“Yeah, and fame has got so many perks so far.”
“Almost got into your first scandal already.” You clicked your tongue disapprovingly. “Caught with a girl in your backseat. What will the fans say?”
“Considering my fans are all frat bros, probably something along the lines of wolf whistles and incoherent, congratulatory lewd jeering.”
You couldn’t help but laugh, able to picture that perfectly considering you’d already gotten a taste at the first home game you’d gone to. “Sounds about right.”
“Anyway, I should take you home before that guy comes back.”
“Good idea.” You slipped your jacket back on.
“Are you going to come up here or am I your chauffeur?”
“I suppose I’ll sit up there with you,” you sighed, opening the backseat to get out and into the front normally since there was no security man around.
Back in the passenger seat, you handed Sungchan’s shirt back to him, “Here, have some decency. You’re the captain of the hockey team, you know.”
“I’m sorry, who was going to spontaneously combust if we didn’t get naked in the next 0.2 seconds?” He scoffed, pulling his top back on.
“I don’t recall.”
“Sure.”
“And who’s still hard in their jeans right now?”
“Don’t remind me, I have to drive like this,” he groaned, taking the car out of park with a shake of his head.
As Sungchan drove with one hand, the other reached over to take yours, lacing his fingers together with yours.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6
Just a few days later, and you were at the rink again, eagerly watching the hockey game in front of you. Chenle was beside you, continuing his constant sports commentary on every play that happened. You still mostly tuned it out, but you were pretty sure you at least understood most of the basic rules that Taeyong had explained to you before. You kept your eyes on Sungchan, cheering him on along with the other various Nu Chi brothers around you and other fans in the stands. It wasn’t as full of a house as it had been for the first home game, but you were perfectly content to have a slightly quieter environment.
Sungchan happened to skate by your section as everyone was resetting their positions, giving you a wave through the clear barrier. You gave him a slightly bashful but nevertheless bright grin as you waved back.
“So are you two like... dating now?” Hendery asked from your other side, leaned forward with both of his elbows on his knees as he watched the game. He looked back at you over his shoulder with a shit-eating grin, though, one that made you roll your eyes.
“I don’t know. We’ve been on a date. I mean, there was the Halloween party, but I got a migraine so I don’t think that really counts, so— I don’t have to explain myself to you!” You scowled at him, shoving him away by his shoulder.
He laughed as he let himself get jostled around in his seat from the push, holding his hands up in surrender. “Just curious. Unlike your bestie over there, I think you two are adorable.”
“What?” You looked over at Chenle, who Hendery had pointed at.
Chenle had apparently been listening enough to be able to jump in to defend himself. “It’s not what it sounds like. I think you two are great, promise.”
You turned back to your other friend. “Then what the hell are you talking about, Hendery?”
“He just doesn’t want to lose,” the Nu Chi member explained. “I pegged Sungchan’s huge crush on you on day 1 of Dr. Son’s class. Once the Phanta Phour stuff started, I knew that boy had no chance. Chenle just didn’t think you’d ever... hold on, how’d he put it... be into uh, ‘Neanderthal frat-bro-in-law types.’”
“I was maybe a bit tipsy...” Chenle added in.
“So you made a bet on if Sungchan and I would get together? In four whole years?” You looked from left to right between them.
“Loser has to buy winner a 12-pack,” Hendery confirmed with that same grin. “When Phantasmagorical Phriday ended this year, I really thought I’d lost. But then you turned up at the game last week and I figured Sungchan just might score himself a buzzer beater.”
“You two need to get better hobbies,” you declared with a snort.
“This so counts as sudden-death OT, but whatever,” Chenle scoffed under his breath.
You smacked him across the chest. “And don’t call my dating life ‘sudden death’ either.”
“Hey.” He said softly, grabbing your arm, and you turned your head to meet his gaze. “I really was worried about you going to the Halloween party with your head. I swear.”
“I know, LeLe,” you nodded, giving him a reassuring smile. “You did some great wingmanning once we got there.”
The brief flash of sincerity you got from your best friend was over as quick as it had come, as you heard the crash of helmets on the ice, and both your focuses were drawn back to the game. Two players had collided into each other and the clear barrier right in front of your faces. You grimaced sympathetically as you tried to identify the player from your team. 23— Jeno, ah, he’d be alright. And you were right, he took off almost immediately as the other guy was left behind still dazed.
At the end of the game, with the buzz of another win in your veins and the anticipation of seeing Sungchan thrumming along your skin, you bounced on your heels as you waited in the lobby. You weren't paying attention to the ecstatic, dramatic recollections that Chenle and the Nu Chi brothers were giving of specific plays around you, your gaze entirely focused on the locker room exit.
The very first player to leave was Sungchan, his eyes already scanning the crowd. Without a second thought, you darted over to him, ignoring the couple of whoops and whistles you two got from your friends.
Sungchan beamed down at you as he went to pull you into a hug, and you were immediately enveloped in the smell of the freshly washed clothes that you’d caught last time. This time, though, there was the distinct, crisp smell of ice rink ice under it as well, reminding you of when you’d go ice skating with friends.
“Hey,” you smiled up at him as he let you go, but didn’t step back very far. “You played really good again. I’m pretty sure. A bit more sure than I was last time.”
He was still grinning, looking down at the floor then back up at you before he responded, “Thank you. And I don’t really expect you to become a hockey pro or anything if all that doesn’t interest you. As long as you don’t expect me to remember what death of the author is.”
“This was only my second game, have some faith in me!” You cried out indignantly. “And no, I don’t expect you to become a full-blown literary critic either.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he apologized through a couple of poorly suppressed giggles. “I do believe in you. I just didn’t want you to feel like you had to learn boring sports stuff for me.”
“I do want to be able to follow the basics of a game without Chenle or Taeyong annotating it for me, at least.”
“Oh, yeah, you can definitely do that. Might need to come to a few more games, though...”
You nodded giddily. “Just let me know when the home games are and I’m there.”
“Yo!” A voice had called from the gaggle of guys heading towards the exit. You didn’t even realize that the rest of the team had left the locker room in the time that you’d been talking to Sungchan.
While you couldn’t tell who had gotten your attention, it was Donghyuck that asked, “Are you two coming or are you just going to keep making moony eyes at each other all night?”
“Yeah, Sungchan, you’re our ride!” Yangyang yelled out from somewhere.
“DD!” Jeno cheered.
“I’ll drive you two,” Mark offered with a shake of his head.
“Shotgun!” The two of them immediately dibs-ed in unison.
“Sorry, bitches, I’m his little,” Donghyuck declared. “That means eternal dibs on shotgun in Mark’s car.”
The frat president scoffed, “You only give a shit about that when it directly benefits you.”
“You guys go ahead,” Sungchan cut into their bickering. “We’re right behind you.”
After they had all filed out, he looked back down at you, a nervous smile worming across his face. “Sorry about that...”
“It’s okay,” you said. “So... you ready to go?”
The two of you had already discussed going to the after-game celebrations with the team before this. Sungchan texted you last night to check in and make sure you’d be okay with going from the loud game to a noisy bar/pool hall with a bunch of frat guys after. You’d assured him that you’d be okay as long as you sat away from any music speakers at the bar, and he’d in turn made you promise to tell him if you needed to leave early.
However, he now halted you as you were slowly turning towards the exit. “Wait, I want to try this again.”
With a sneaking suspicion of what he was about to do, you assured him, “Sungchan, you don’t have to—”
“Let me do this. Please.” He gave you those same eyes that had convinced you to go to a frat party in the first place, and you were squaring your shoulders back to face him, giving him a firm nod.
“Okay. Go for it.”
He asked casually, “So, did you drive yourself?”
You had to hold back a laugh, covering your mouth to straighten your face before replying coyly, “Oh, me? I walked. My apartment is close.”
“So, the team all goes out to this bar after home games. It’s a pretty sleazy dive bar, and I know it’s a Thursday night, but I’d really like for you to come with me. I’ll buy you a... soda.”
“I would love to come, Sungchan,” you giggled, adjusting your purse strap.
“Awesome,” he grinned, wrapping an arm around your shoulders.
As you walked up to the passenger side of his car with him, you suddenly realized something. “Wait, did you have your car last time, too?”
“Maybe?” He rubbed the back of his neck, reaching for the door handle to open it for you.
“Then why did you walk me home?”
“To spend more time with you?”
You stole a quick kiss before ducking into the passenger seat.
Squished into one side of a booth with Sungchan’s arm around you, you chatted happily with Chenle, Ten, and Sicheng, who were sitting opposite from you. The team and cheer section were spread out between a couple booths and tables near each other, a few of them up playing pool too. You sipped on your soda between discussions about tonight’s game, upcoming games, classes, or whatever else struck you all. Currently, you were locked in a conversation with Ten about the most recent assigned reading in a class that you two shared together this semester.
“I thought that scene had a lot of great allusions back to the earlier one with her mother and the pie baking,” you gushed.
“Really?” Ten tilted his head curiously. “I was seeing it more as a continuation of the cannibalism-sex-love metaphor, since they were eating figs, you know.”
You nodded knowingly. “That’s true. Everything’s about sex—”
“Except sex.” You two finished quoting your professor in unison.
“And then with figs, there’s the Bible interpretation, of course,” you continued.
“Always the Bible.”
“We can never escape what John Milton did for Christian fanfiction, truly.”
“But I do like the pie scene connection the more that I think about it, actually.” Ten knocked back the rest of his cocktail. “And, tying her mother into the cannibalism metaphor could be a fascinating angle, too.”
Your eyes widened as you were practically vibrating your seat with excitement now. “Yeah, her earliest memory being of food, parental love, and harm...”
“Anyway, I need a refill.” Your friend shook his glass of ice with a smile. “Be back. Good chat as always, Y/N.”
Chenle and Sicheng scooted out of the booth to let Ten out, the former heading off towards the restrooms while the co-captain followed his roommate to the bar, leaving just you and Sungchan. You continued musing over the new connections you’d just made in the text as you turned your gaze back over to Sungchan beside you. He was already looking at you, a fond half-smile on his face.
“Hi.” He said quietly.
“Hi,” you replied, just as quiet.
Sungchan took a swig of his drink, then eyed yours. “You haven’t drunk any water since we get here.”
He’d been sure to not only order your promised soda of choice, but also water, and as you now looked over at your two cups, you could tell that the water had not been touched at all while the soda was practically empty.
“Oh uh, I guess I haven’t.”
“Drink some.” He pushed it towards you insistently. “Can’t have you getting kidney stones on my watch.”
“Okay, okay.” You acquiesced easily, switching your straw over to that glass and chugging a quarter of it in one go. “Better?”
“Much.” He nodded in satisfaction. “So what were you and Ten saying about pies and sex or whatever? Sex isn’t about sex?”
“Oh, it’s just something one of our professors says a lot. ‘Everything is about sex except sex.’ For lit analysis. In literature, pretty much everything is about sex. Or can be. You can turn like, anything in a piece of text into an innuendo or euphemism if you wanted to. Except for sex. Like, if a sex scene is included in a piece of literature, it’s not actually about the sex that’s being depicted. The sex is meant to represent something else. Like politics, or social structures, or whatever other themes are present in the work. Unless you’re just reading porn. But even then, there’s artistic merit to erotica, and plenty to be learned about the social structures at the time it was written, too.”
Sungchan hadn’t blinked the entire time you’d been rambling on, and upon you finally stopping, blinked in rapid succession as he seemed to come to from a daze. “Wow. Uh, interesting. Filing that away with death of the author.”
“Sungchan...” You leaned in to whisper, placing a hand on the inside of his thigh, just above his knee. His leg jumped, knocking his knee into the tabletop. Your hand had narrowly avoided being smashed too, saved only by its position curled around his leg instead of directly on top. You didn’t move it up or down now though, simply tapping your index finger against the loose material of his sweatpants as you giggled. “What are you thinking about?”
He cleared his throat a couple of times. “How you still have three-quarters of that glass of water left to drink.”
You laughed, slumping to relax into his side and pulling your hand back up to a more casual position on top of his leg. With your other hand, you grabbed your water. “Alright, fine.”
Not too long after your water had been drained, Sungchan was driving you home. Some of your other friends had taken off as well, and you didn't put up too much of a protest when he offered. As your familiar building came into view, you suddenly remembered something.
“Oh, visitor’s parking is over there. Sorry, forgot to mention before.” You pointed to a few parking spots painted with yellow lines instead of white, further away from the apartment entrances than the resident parking. “They’re a bit picky. Chenle got towed after like, five minutes one time.”
“Got it. Thanks.” Sungchan smoothly turned the wheel to pull into one of the open visitor’s spots.
Your reason for showing it to him was two-fold. One, to let him know you hoped he’d be coming over more often, so he’d need that information for future reference. And two, for perhaps less innocent ulterior motives tonight. Truly, your apartment complex only towed people after dark. Overnight visitors. Chenle’s five-minute tow had been a fluke.
“I’ll walk you to your door,” he said with no prompting, and you had to hold in a sigh of relief.
Instead, you gave him a genuine smile. “Thanks, Sungchan.”
“I don’t think I thanked you for coming tonight. To the game.” He slowly meandered up the sidewalk with you, hand holding yours.
“Thanks for inviting me again. I had a lot of fun.” You squeezed his hand.
Your front door loomed in the not-so-distant distance.
“Uh, are you busy this weekend?” He rushed to ask. “I have Saturday morning practice, at 7:30, but it’s over at 9:00, and after that I’m free.”
So that’s why he had texted you at seven in the morning to congratulate you on winning Phantasmagorical Phriday.
“No, I’m not busy. I’d love to do something, just pick from the list I sent you. Surprise me, hm?”
“Will do.”
You were finally on your front welcome mat, and watched his face fall as he seemed to be drawing a blank about how else to prolong your night. But you had an idea.
You didn’t let an alarm or anything else possibly have the chance to interrupt you, grabbing the back of his neck and pulling his mouth down to yours. He stumbled forward at you suddenly yanking him off-balance, catching himself with one hand on your front door and the other on your doorframe. Then, he dropped a hand to the small of your back, drawing you in even closer as he tilted his head to deepen the kiss.
Disconnected just enough to murmur against his lips, you asked, “Do you want to come in?”
“Please?” He replied with a nearly sheepish chuckle.
“So polite,” you quipped.
You gave him one more peck before turning around to unlock your door and drag him in by the arm.
➠ sequel | series masterlist | blog masterlist
#sungchan x reader#riize x reader#sungchan imagines#riize imagines#jungsung#sungchan imagine#riize imagine#nct x reader#nct imagine#nct imagines#jung sungchan#i: sungchan#f: buzzer beater#s: buzzer beater#writing#text#mine#bias tag#*100#*200#*300#*400#*500#*600#*700
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2023 WNBA draft jumpers
1. Lou Lopez Senechal (G)- UConn
Without a doubt she has to be one of the biggest draft jumpers. Before this season many people hadn't even heard of her, now she's projected to possibly be a first round pick. Due to injuries to Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd, Lopez Senechal was thrust into a primary scoring option for UConn. She is averaging 15.7 ppg and shooting 43% from the three point line. Lopez Senechal has gone from not even being drafted to possibly being a first round pick.
2. Maddy Siegrist (F)- Villanova
Siegrist is leading the nation in scoring with 28.9 ppg. She doing it efficiently, averaging 51.8% from the field. She is also Villanova's all-time leading scorer, men's and women's. I don't think she gets the respect she deserves, and I think she can give any WNBA a big boost off the bench. I think there is a possibility she can be a lottery pick.
3. Diamond Miller (G/F)- Maryland
Miller is a 6'3" guard/forward combo. This season she's averaging 19.7 ppg 6.5 rpg 2.9 spg and shooting 47% from the field. She's hit many buzzer beater clutch shots this season and is a big reason why Maryland is doing so well despite losing Angel Reese and Ashley Owusu to the transfer portal. She was already considered by many to be a lottery pick, but she has jumped up to being a projected #2 overall pick.
4. Alissa Pili (F)- Utah
USC transfer Alissa Pili is a big reason why Utah reached the #2 overall team in the country for the first time in program history. She was also named the PAC-12 player of the year. She is averaging 20.3 ppg 5.4 rpb 1.0 spg while shooting 58.3% from the field. A problem I see with Pili is she is undersized at the 4 position, where she primarily plays for Utah. However, she does have another year of eligibility, but it isn't known yet if she will be returning to Utah for another season.
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FICS THAT GOT ME THROUGH NOVEMBER '21
under the cut is a compiled m.list of all the fics that helped me get through this gloomy rainy month. thank you to all the writers! ♡
(a)ngst — (f)luff — (s)mut — (sg)suggestive
A T E E Z
･ﾟﾟ･｡ot8
tongue tied (smau, f) - by @kyufiber
･ﾟﾟ･｡yunho
buzzer beater (series, f, a) - by @halaboyz
･ﾟﾟ･｡san
it’s a manual, obviously (sg) - by @vampireyeosang
･ﾟﾟ･｡mingi
iced tea (smau, f) - by @escapewriter
･ﾟﾟ･｡wooyoung
7:00am (f) - by @defjcm
S E V E N T E E N
･ﾟﾟ･｡jun
20:43 (f) - by @multi-kpop-fanfics
because i love you (f) - by @chocosvt
･ﾟﾟ･｡wonwoo
03:13 (f) - by @delicatewerewolfsoul
first time seeing snow (f) - by @treasure-hwa
･ﾟﾟ･｡dokyeom
decorating christmas tree (f) - by @treasure-hwa
･ﾟﾟ･｡vernon
08:32 (f, sg) - by @delicatewerewolfsoul
S T R A Y K I D S
･ﾟﾟ･｡ot8
stray kids & holding hands for the first time ! (f) - by @ahskz
･ﾟﾟ･｡minho
maybe tomorrow (a) - by @speckled-sunshine
harddom!minho (s) - by @hanjisbun
sorry, i love you (a) - by @seo--changbin
the tale of two lovers (a) - by @delicatewerewolfsoul
“you’re perfectly welcome to kiss whomever you wa–” (f) - by @delicatewerewolfsoul
･ﾟﾟ･｡hyunjin
skz as: kisses - hwang hyunjin (f) - @serialee
23:40pm (f) - @speckled-sunshine
･ﾟﾟ･｡felix
moments like these, with you (f) - by @wishingyouback
constellations (f) - by @sunbokie
･ﾟﾟ･｡jeongin
#c4cfff (a) - by @seungmoe
T H E B O Y Z
･ﾟﾟ･｡ot11
tbz reaction to you falling asleep on them (f) - by @moonandsunwoo
everlasting (smau, f, a) - by @kyswoo
jumpshot (smau, f) - by @deputyjuyeon
･ﾟﾟ･｡jacob
co-lover (f) - by @stealanity
･ﾟﾟ･｡younghoon
boyz over flowers (smau, f) - by @bbangsoonie
･ﾟﾟ･｡juyeon
surprise! ...or not? (f) - by @tsupuffs
23:15 (f) - by @changminurheart
･ﾟﾟ･｡kevin
distraction (f) - by @moonieric
･ﾟﾟ･｡chanhee
pretty in pink (f) - by @kurosism
･ﾟﾟ･｡changmin
2:14am (f) - by @cloudykyu
･ﾟﾟ･｡eric
suffocating (series, f, a) - by @hvae & @stealanity
T O M O R R O W x T O G E T H E R
･ﾟﾟ･｡ot5
things you do that make their hearts ache (f) - by @scintillasofbeomgyu
･ﾟﾟ･｡yeonjun
safe and sound (a) - by @kurosism
･ﾟﾟ･｡beomgyu
whisker dimples (f) - by @boba-beom
i’m grateful you’re mine (f) - by @boba-beom
looking forward for december! please feel free to send any recs! ♡
#november m.list#ateez scenarios#seventeen scenarios#stray kids scenarios#the boyz scenarios#txt scenarios
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May I request Yami meeting his S/O's parents? I just think that would be so chaotic but also kinda cute because I can see him getting nervous when meeting her father 😭.
AHHHH you guys are making my heart go UWU all the time!! I love the idea of this so much! ಥωಥ
Yami Sukehiro x f! reader
"Baby," you casually asked one day while you were both having your takeouts in the comfort of your shared room, "I'm visiting home next week, would you like to come?"
He almost choked on the ramen he was eating.
"What's with the random thought baby?" he coughed.
"well, whenever I talk about you, they'll ask me to bring you the next time and-"
"They know about me?"
"DUH??" you swatted his biceps, "are we in some secret relationship? We've been together almost a year now?"
He remained silent, deep in thoughts. He felt happy that you told your family about him, yet he found himself a little worried. He was usually not the one to be nervous but.. This was your parents you're talking about! What if they met him and didn't like him? He was uncouth, smokes, gambles, and he's a foreigner. What if...
"Hey," you placed a hand on him strong thighs, "you don't want to meet them?"
"No baby, it's not that I don't want to, but..." Yami took a deep breath and throw all his thoughts into the wind, "well, it's sooner or later that I'll meet them anyway, I guess. So, when are we going?"
--------------------------------------------
He tried dressing up for once, wearing a loose fit white mandarin collar shirt, his sleeves folded up to his forearms, and he put on a pair of dark grey slacks.
"Babe, is this ok?" he asked you, straightening out his shirt.
"I'm surprised you dressed up baby," you blushed a little at how hot your man looked in smart casual clothes.
"Do they drink?" he scratched his head, looking at his wine collection on the shelves.
"Er.. Just a little-"
"Great!" He grabbed a bottle off the shelves and held your hand and left for your home together.
-------------------------------------------
You both stood at the door of your place. You were about to open the door when Yami grabbed your hand, looking at you with a look of uncertainty.
"Babe, are you sure your parents will like me?"
"Oh baby.." Your brows lowered and your lips tugged up into an assuring smile, "I'm sure they'll love you, just as I do."
You gave his hand a squeeze and you pulled it behind your back, forcing him to lean into you so you could give him a kiss on his lips.
You opened the door to your home, taking a deep breath of the smell of your home, the smell of familiarity. "MOM DAD! I'm home!"
"Welcome home Honey, did you bring Y-" your mom stood root to the ground in the middle of the living room when she saw Yami.
She took one glance at him and her smile widened, "you must be Yami!"
"Er. Hi, Mrs L/n." Yami reached a hand out to shake, but your mom enveloped him in a hug.
Yami looked at you with widened eyes as you smirked at him, mouthing the words 'I told you so'
"What all the commotion about?" Your dad carried a pot of curry out with Thermal gloves and placed them on the little dining table.
"Hello... Sir" Yami extended his hand, "I'm Yami."
Your dad glanced up at him and even though Yami towered over him, he took his hand in a firm handshake, "Pleasure you finally meet you, young man."
Yami handed the bottle of wine to your dad with both arms, "so I heard you drink occasionally, here's a little something.."
"Oh my, you shouldn't have, Yami dear!" your mom exclaimed as your dad took the bottle from him and examined it.
"This is a nice wine," your dad's lips tugged up a little, as Yami's heart raced, it was like scoring a point during the buzzer beater moment.
"Can we all sit down and have dinner?" You exclaimed, wrapping your arms around Yami's biceps, "I'm starving!"
You all sat down as your mom gave everyone a wine glass and served everyone a bowl of rice, "Yami, we heard you came from the country of Hino, so d/n and I tried a few dishes from your country..."
Yami's eyes widened at the spread of food before him. There was Japanese rice and curry, and some tonkatsu, "Geez... it's been a long time I've had any of these..."
"I hope it's at least close to what it's like at home, son." your mom patted him on his back, "my my, what a huge muscular back.."
You rolled your eyes at your mom as you chuckled, "Mom, stop feeling people up when they're eating!!"
Yami's mind was still reeling from when your mom addressed him as 'son', "thank you for the food, Mr and Mrs L/n..."
"Come, don't be shy, let's eat," Your dad opened the wine and poured for everyone as you all tucked in to the lovely dinner.
You were glad that your parents could converse with Yami well, because Yami seemed more at ease than when he was back at the base. You could tell he was a nervous wreck, but you felt happy that he was nervous because he wanted to leave a good impression with your parents; the thought of that made the butterflies in your stomach flutter wildly.
You were on the 3rd bottle of wine, the one that Yami brought was long gone during the dinner. You were all relaxing at the back yard together, it was a nice breezy night.
Yami sensed that you were feeling cold, and he instinctively wrapped his arms around you.
"So Yami.." Your dad was getting a little tipsy, "Are you gonna take care of my baby girl?"
You leaned on Yami's shoulders as both of you exchanged soft glances at each other. "Yes sir, I sure will."
"Great~" Your dad sighed contently, the beam on his face getting wider as the night got late, "You seem like a really nice man and Hino seems like a great country, I do hope we could all visit someday."
Yami was beyond touched that your parents didn't look down on him as a foreigner, and even expressed genuine interest in his country. He wasn't so surprised actually, because you were exactly like the both of them; you loved him for everything that he was.
"Even if I move there and don't come back?" you teased your parents a little, enjoying the company of all your favourite people in the world together.
"We'll miss you of course," your mom patted your knees gently, as she glanced at Yami's arm wrapped around your shoulders and winked, "but we know you're in great hands"
-end-
Soft and nervous Yami!! (*ฅ́˘ฅ̀*) I'm sorry if it didn't hit the points that you wanted to see, I felt it wasn't as chaotic as you wanted it but somehow it turned out this way (ㅅꈍ ˘ ꈍ) I hope you enjoy it nonetheless! <3
#black clover scenarios#black clover headcanons#black clover imagine#black clover imagines#black clover fanfiction#black clover x reader#yami sukehiro x reader#yami black clover#yami x reader#black clover yami#captain yami#yami sukehiro
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I did it
I mean the reading goals that I’ve set for this year. I’ve read 30 books, and I’ve also completed the National Bookstore reading challenge.
It was almost a buzzer-beater. I finished my 30th book past midnight on December 31. I said almost because there was a time when I was still finishing a book hours before the New Year started—firecrackers were already exploding around the neighborhood.
Anyway, here’s the list of books I read for the National Bookstore challenge:
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Read a literary classic)
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (Re-read a childhood favorite)
The Toll by Neal Shusterman (Finish a Trilogy)
Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay (Read a book from a Pinoy Author)
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (Re-read a book that made you cry)
The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu (Read an award-winning novel)
Antigone Rising: The Subversive Power of the Ancient Myths by Helen Morales (Read a book about mythology)
Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur (Read a poetry book)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie (Read a controversial book)
Guantánamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi (Read a biography or memoir)
The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan (Read a book recommended by a friend)
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (Read a book recommended by a family member)
The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett (Read a book without checking its synopsis)
Flat Illustration by Carolina Amell (Read a book from a genre you wouldn’t usually try)
More Happy than Not by Adam Silvera (Read a book that is an author’s debut novel)
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (Re-read a book you didn’t like the first time you read it)
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (Read a book you randomly picked from the shelf)
The End Came with a Kiss by John Michael Hileman (Read a book from an author with the same first name as you)
The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis (Re-read the first book you got yourself)
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (Read a book that was released during your birth month)
Here are the other ten books that complete the thirty:
Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton
A Very Large Expanse of the Sea by Tahereh Mafi
Ghost Hunter by Michelle Paver
Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith
The Upright Thinkers: The Human Journey from Living in Trees to Understanding the Cosmos by Leonard Mlodinow
Sketch!: The Non-Artist’s Guide to Inspiration, Technique, and Drawing Daily Life by France Belleville-Van Stone
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
The Witch’s Vacuum Cleaner: and Other Stories by Terry Pratchett
Last Night I Sang to the Monster by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni
Well… there you have it. I’ll be posting the ten best books I’ve read this year in the coming days or so—one book a day, like a countdown. Please note though that I did not consider the books I’ve re-read for that list.
Have any guesses which books would get into my list?
Stay tuned!
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2019, a year in review: Superlative Edition
-Gareth Bill
Athlete of the year: Lamar Jackson - QB Baltimore Ravens. HM: Kawhi Leonard - SF Toronto/LA
Lamar Jackson came out of nowhere to light the league on fire in 2019 breaking Michael Vick’s all-time record for rushing yards by a Quarterback and redefining the position in the process. From his five touchdown performance in Miami to being the assumed MVP, there wasn’t a week where Lamar Jackson didn’t dominate headlines and he continues to show superiority as Baltimore has secured the Number 1 seed in the AFC. Honorable mention goes to Kawhi Leonard for producing the first ever buzzer beater in a game 7 in NBA history and for also bringing Canada their first NBA title. Even against a Kevin Durant-less Golden State Warriors team, Leonard stepped up and delivered when it counted most.
Song of the year: Lost Lately- San Holo. HM: Daemon Veil - EPROM & G Jones
Sander van Dijck, better known by his stage name “San Holo” surprised us with “Lost Lately” in June of this year. A melancholic and melodic ballad of discovery and feeling “lost in aftermath of a breakup” spoke to feelings of insecurity and extends a friendly hand to those in need. From an endearing marketing campaign featuring “lost” posters where fans could call a “helpline” to hear an exclusive sample of the song, to a music video taken straight from EDC: Bitbird executed an almost perfect build and drop for “Lost Lately.” Great followup work to last years “Album1” and I definitely am excited about his future projects for 2020. Honorable mention goes to the IDM monster “Daemon Veil” by EPROM and G Jones. Plain and simple, I loved this ear worm. There’s so much going on from the initial baseline drop to the stuttering minefield of drops and turns that follows before a calming conclusion. Every time I hear this track, I see it too: the flying snares, the zips, zooms and wubs, the story it tells me….its captivating and satisfying. While it isn’t as friendly for casual listening like my 2018 song of the year “Time” (also by G Jones), Daemon Veil is an IDM banger that I’ll continue to blast well into 2020 and beyond.
Album of the year: Good Faith- Madeon. HM: Hollywood’s Bleeding - Post Malone
This was a tough call for me, there was a lot of great albums that came to us in 2019 but Madeon’s “Good Faith” stands tall above the rest. From the initial singles of “All My Friends,” and “Dream, Dream, Dream,” to the unexpected bangers of “Miracle,” and “No Fear, No More,”: “Good Faith” makes a solid argument not just for album of the year but possibly even for the decade and I simply cannot recommend it enough. Honorable Mention goes to “Hollywood’s Bleeding” by Post Malone. Like many, I have thoroughly enjoyed the evolution of Post Malone from SoundCloud sensation to certified super-star, and “Hollywood’s Bleeding” continues to show us that this artist is just getting started. I loved “Goodbyes,” “Circles,” “Sunflower,” and many other tracks on that album, and I’m confident many others did as well. Rapper, Rockstar, Soul-singer and bro: best of luck in 2020 and beyond Post, we’re all eagerly watching.
Movie of the year: Its a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. HM: Avengers: Endgame
Easily the most contested category of the year and the hardest decision made in these superlatives. 2019 produced some awesome films but Tom Hanks’s take on Fred Rogers gave me chills that I hadn’t felt since seeing Christopher Reeve’s Superman as a child. Like Superman, his presence among adults and children alike would universally cause awe and calm, almost god-like tranquility through security. In a year that was defined by division, unrest, cruelty, and anger: Fred Rogers reminds us that there’s still a great deal of hope for humanity, and it all starts with being a good neighbor. Young, old and everyone in between can learn something from this deeply affecting story about humanity and connection. Honorable mention goes to Avengers: Endgame for managing to be the only major franchise ending this year (Game of Thrones, Avengers, Star Wars) that managed to do it with a consensus BANG! It was a 3 hour film that somehow felt like an hour and half, and when Captain America held Mjornir with every Avenger ever at his back and said “Avengers, Assemble!”, I couldn’t help but fist pump with a grin from ear to ear. Tony Stark’s dying words of “I am Iron-Man,” gave me goosebumps and Black Widow’s death made me feel genuine loss: The Marvel Cinematic Universe managed to execute a singular plan and vision over 23 films and that is truly exceptional.
Actor/Actress of the year: Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur/Joker. HM: Florence Pugh - Midsommar
Joaquin Phoenix’s long anticipated and controversial performance as Joker was the best singular work I saw this year. Authentic, gut-wrenching, thought-provoking, and anything but boring: Joker gave us the next step in comic book cinema and a new cultural icon in the process. Arthur Fleck is a poster child for mental illness, something that currently is at the forefront of our society and gave the general public a poster child for such conditions. Phoenix’s Joker will one day be recognized in the same light as we currently see Che: an underdog figure of resistance and revolution standing against a seemingly unstoppable status quo and inspiring the unseen masses in the process. Honorable mention has to go to one of my new favorites in Florence Pugh and her performance as Dani in “Midsommar”. Her pain, confusion, and ultimate triumph that unravels throughout a trip to a small village in Europe during their mid-summer festival is the stuff of “slow-burn horror” wet-dreams. There’s a scene early on where her character has to convey immense grief after suffering a personal tragedy and I can still hear that crying in the most haunting way. Pugh’s performance stuck with me in a year full of great ones, and I’m very excited to see her future work including “Black Widow” in May.
Television show of the year: Watchmen- HBO. HM: Good Omens - Amazon Prime
Watchmen blew my mind, and I the less I say about it, the better. A continuation of the story told in my favorite book of all-time, “Watchmen” managed to tie together many loose plot threads from that story while also moving the universe forward in new and exciting ways that matched the tone of the graphic novel. Regina King’s “Sister Night” was a complex, likable, and tragic protagonist uniquely qualified to walk us through this new chapter, and without spoiling things anymore than I already may have: YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS. Honorable Mention goes to Good Omens on Amazon Prime. To any familiar with the story or Neil Gaiman’s work in general, you know what to expect: deep stories, complex and likable characters, and witty dialogue that will make you pause and think or laugh feverishly in equal measure. Its only 5 episodes, so there’s really no excuse to not dive into this one and see how the world ends…..or rather was supposed to…
Game of the year: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - PS4/XboxOne/PC. HM: Apex Legends - PS4/PC/XboxOne
From Softwares’ “Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice” stands tall in a year that finally saw long awaited projects like Obsidian’s “Outer Worlds” and Kojima’s “Death Stranding” get long-awaited releases. An exciting and more stealthy evolution of the Dark Souls combat system made me feel like a real Ninja for the first time since Ninja Gaiden Black on my original Xbox. The demanding, but fair gameplay combined with a variation of environments including haunted Japanese forests, Sengoku Temples, Palaces and gory battlefields came together to give the most complete package I played in 2019. Just don’t be too surprised if the final boss gives you problems because that f***er can almost made me break a controller. Honorable mention goes to the game that managed to dethrone “Fortnite” as the most popular game for like a whole two months. Respawn entertainment developed the awesome Titanfall series that I personally enjoyed and rumors had been circulating for quite awhile that they were looking to expand Titanfall into the booming genre of BR or Battle Royale. Apex Legends is the answer to those prayers and still continues to push out new skins, content and weapons at a regular rate. Did I mention it is also completely free to play?
Story of the year: President Trump becomes the third President to ever be impeached 12/19
HM: Henry Nobrega wins the fucking BVN Football Fantasy Football title. 11/19
To be perfectly honest, this is the first category that really could have gone either way for me. President Trump becoming the third President in US history to be impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of congress was massive; regardless of how you feel about President Orangutan. His tenure as President has produced a number of newsworthy moments but this story stood out among the others for sheer importance and international embarrassment. Speaking of embarrassment, that’s essentially what my good friend Henry’s fantasy football team has managed to be every year that I’ve played with him. A perennial basement dweller that typically auto drafts due to some BS excuse, and a resident near the bottom of our power rankings but this year he flipped that script on its head. He managed to draft my Athlete of the year, Lamar Jackson, and the last great white running back in Christian McCaffrey. Not only did Henry surpass his preseason ranking of bottom, he managed to win both regular season and postseason titles and beat a solid team by Graham Heck in the process. I got love for you bro, but I’m still perplexed on how your season managed to be as dominant as it was. Sorry Greta Thunberg, but these stories had my jaw on the floor, maybe next year lil’ Queen.
Meme of the year: Baby Yoda of the Disney+ show “The Mandolorian”
Was there every really a doubt here? Baby Yoda or “The Child” as he’s known on the show is the biggest pop culture icon born on the internet in 2019. The gap between Baby Yoda and what I considered to be an honorable mention was so wide that he will officially stand alone in this category. Baby Yoda’s cuteness managed to melt even my stone cold heart this year and that is absolutely an achievement. What made this creature so endearing was the universal applicability though music, sports, culture, and food: Baby Yoda was everywhere and the internet found common ground and shared meaning through sharing little graphics everywhere prominently featuring him as the centerpiece. Well played Jon Favreau, we love this little guy and everyone thanks you for creating him.
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Early Lessons - Chapters 5, 6 & 7
Chapter 5: Linda, John and Butch
There was a sweet girl about my age working at BK at that time named Linda. She always seemed to smile through the grueling work and I had no idea how she managed it. I worked really hard, but I wasn’t particularly happy while doing it.
We ended a dinner shift together at 10pm and as we left, we headed down the same street. I offered to escort her home as we didn’t live in the safest of neighborhoods. She accepted, thanking me, and asked me in when we made it to her apartment.
We chatted and got to know each other better while sipping on sodas. She was a very warm and caring person. I suddenly had a strange urge and just blurted it out, “I’m gay.” I had never admitted this to anyone I wasn’t in love with. Her response was, “Wow, I’ve never had a gay friend before.” She called me a friend on our first meeting and it felt great. She seemed totally intrigued and asked me questions I hadn’t even considered and couldn’t really answer, given my limited experience.
She opened up to me too and told me she was almost 18 now and had been kicked out of her home for dating someone her parents disapproved of vehemently. The two were married in a civil ceremony 2 months later and shared this apartment. He worked construction on a 10 days out - 4 days in schedule. I really liked John when we met and the three of us would party together and shoot pool at a nearby hall.
Linda had already explained to John that she had a gay friend now and he took it in stride and never made any untoward comments about it. I really respected him for that. We were in Texas after all. The second time we met, John gave me a hug when he got home right after giving Linda a hug and a kiss. He thanked me for being a good friend to Linda. He said he felt better about leaving her alone knowing I would be there for her. It felt really good to have close friends from whom I didn’t need to hide anything about myself. It felt very liberating.
I soon met Linda’s ‘lover on the side’, Butch. He was a reform school kid about our age. He had a very lanky build, weighing barely more than I. He had reform school tattoos that looked horrible and a peculiar haircut with the straight bangs cut at an angle across his face, high to low. He was an exhibitionist as well and I ended up watching him plow Linda with his massive cock on the day we met. Massive didn’t cover it. His cock looked to be 14 inches in length and as thick as a can of beer. I’m not exaggerating. Linda had her head thrown back in a rapturous pose. Butch kept looking back at my awed expression and looked quite pleased with himself at my stunned reaction. Afterward, he would often come by my garage apartment on his own to chat and party and we had a decent friendship of our own going.
John’s current work project finished before the 10-day mark. He arrived home at mid-day unexpectedly and heard a huge commotion in the bedroom. Butch had barely scrambled out the 2nd story window leaving the screen in tatters. John pressed Linda for what was going on and why the window had no screen left.
I heard a knock on my door. It was John with Linda in tow. She was staring at the ground. “Did you just jump out of my bedroom window?” he asked, incredulously. Linda had fumbled for her explanation on his return and resorted to accusing me since John knew I would not have been screwing her behind his back. She really didn’t want to admit to the truth.
I answered, “No?” wondering where the question would have come from. Then the pieces fell into place in my mind. “You LIED to me!” he directed at Linda as she started to cry. “Who WAS it?!?”
I asked them to come inside and talk about it. I don’t know where I found the “wisdom” having no experience, but I sat them down and walked through having them explain what their needs and expectations were. I told them I could feel that they belonged together and that they should work on accommodating each other’s needs to make their marriage work. Otherwise, one or both of them would be suffering until they would inevitably have to break it off. They agreed and worked out a new set of boundaries that they could both accept so that they could remain together in a more honest arrangement. They both hugged me hard and thanked me before leaving for home, hand in hand. Who would have thought that an inexperienced, gay 16-year-old could be a successful marriage counselor?
Chapter 6: The Descent
At work, I continued to outpace every other worker with at least twice the production. I learned my work ethic with my first job at age 5 reclaiming salvaged bricks from demolitions with a hand hatchet and huge screwdriver for a penny a brick.
I had been closing on the weekends for 3 years now. I always hustled while others plodded overnight. I was a smoker and really needed at least a drag or two but wasn’t going to ask for a break. So, I had my smoke in my mouth and lighter in hand as I hustled out the back door with another full trash bin on wheels, headed towards the dumpster in the back of the parking lot. Without missing a beat, I lit the cigarette and enjoyed a partial smoke while quickly dumping the trash and bouncing back. I stomped the smoke out in stride as I hit the back door buzzer.
The closing manager was a tall, skinny Hispanic guy who really didn’t like me for some reason. I think it was straight up racism, but I had tolerated his “white boy” comments and extra assignments without protest. He called me into the tiny back office as soon as I cleared the door. “There was a District Manager parked down the block and he saw you smoking and told me I needed to fire you right now.”
It was 3:30am and I knew he was lying and that he had seen me go out prepped for my partial smoke and was just using the situation to harass me again.
“I know you’re a fucking liar, but here, let me save you the trouble.” I spit my words and pulled my dorky BK uniform off in one motion and threw it into his chest and left. I had another kitchen job in 2 days. Unfortunately, they failed to let me know it was only seasonal and would end with the University’s home-game football season. To my complete surprise, I was laid off in mid-December. This time the job market sucked and no one was hiring. I was set to lose my lease on New Year’s Day.
Chapter 7: Rock Bottom with Butch and Richard
When I let Butch know I was unemployed and about to be homeless, he talked with his roommate and benefactor Richard. Richard decided to take me in, as he had Butch, although neither of us had any resources. He said it would be fine. He laughed and told me I could ‘sing for my supper’ and sleep on the couch. He liked my jokes and loved to hear me play and sing. Richard was very average looking and about 23 years old, I believe.
I was wondering how he could be so generous on his meager salary as an electronics assembler at the Texas Instruments plant. He arrived home on the afternoon of our first Friday as a household grinning like the Cheshire Cat holding his $120.00 weekly paycheck. How could he be so pumped to be holding a weekly check that only covered a third of the rent on his 2-bedroom apartment? I soon found out.
“Come on!” he shouted on the way to his old beater of a car. We piled in and drove by the bank to cash his check then on to his “connection’s” place. With $100.00, he purchased 20 ¼ gram packets of what I later learned was some of the purest crystal meth to hit the city in ages. They called it ‘Crank’. I was clueless but didn’t let on. We sped over to Party A and quickly unloaded the stash for $200.00. We repeated the process, doubling up leaving Party A with $400.00. Back we went to purchase twice the volume then and headed to Party B. $800.00, then $1600.00. I couldn’t believe what I was a part of. I had seen the stuff being snorted at Party A, but at Party B the product seemed to disappear into a back room where the door was always kept closed. I found out later that the users in the backroom at Party B were injecting the stuff. 7 of the IV users migrated to Richard’s apartment to continue the action. I had been given lots to drink and smoke at these parties and was fairly well lit when we got home around 1am.
There was a guy that I was attracted to among the 7 tagalongs. Feeling very uninhibited, I was deep in conversation with him when Butch moved into my side with his back to me while grabbing my right arm off the back of the couch securing it out of my sight in front of him. I tried to finish a thought I was expressing to the cute chubby guy when I felt a sting at the crease of my elbow. Butch held my arm tightly so I couldn’t move. Without my knowledge or consent, Butch and Richard had just mainlined me with 5 of the individual user packets worth of the stuff prepped for a syringe, 1.25 grams. This was apparently my “cut” of the action, along with $50.00 cash.
Before I could get an explanation, the solution pumped through my heart and up to my brain. It felt like being strapped to a rocket. I could feel my rapid, pounding pulse at my temples, ears and neck. After maybe 15 minutes, the initial rush was replaced by a complete sense of euphoria that lasted the majority of 2 days before subsiding. Day 3 was HELL. Every cell in my body ached and yearned. I was grateful that the supply was exhausted or I would have begged, borrowed or stolen for another dose to regain the euphoric effect.
Butch and I were home alone having not slept or eaten yet on Monday, Day 3. That’s when I found out that Butch was Bi. He asked if I would have sex with him. He told me he had wanted to ever since his exhibition show with Linda. He had helped me out of a tight jam and I felt obligated but uninspired as I agreed to try. I warned him there was no way I could take it like Linda had. He assured me he didn’t expect that. Surprisingly, he wanted me to screw him. Try as I might, I couldn’t get my equipment to function for him in my compromised and unenthused state and he settled for a combination BJ and two-handed jerk. I could barely get the head of it in my mouth while guarding my teeth. The experience made me feel hollow inside. I vowed to never have that sort of sex again. Neither Butch nor Richard were my type and I figured they’d expect me to pay for my room and board by having sex with at least one if not both of them. I knew I couldn’t continue down this road. Staying with Butch and Richard would turn me into a meth addicted sex toy.
Stay tuned. More to come.
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buzzer beater ❧ teaser [sungchan]
❧ word count: 1028 | full fic: 22.0k
❧ warnings: just cursing for the teaser, everything i know about hockey is from internet research for this fic i’m sorry for any inaccuracies i tried not to put in a lot of specifics lmao
❧ genre: fluff, gets quite suggestive (a heavy makeout scene/near sex scene) but no actual smut, college au, hockey captain sungchan, chronically ill reader (chronic migraines), halloween-themed at the beginning, sungchan’s not a frat boy but he’s like... a frat boy by association
❧ extra info: the ages/relative ages of the members in here are whatever i want them to be, don’t read into it too much. this is a very usamerican-centric take on a college au (greek life, collegiate sports, etc.) btw. also i call kunhang ‘hendery’ in here like it’s his government name for a one-line gag bc i think i’m hilarious (and i am <;3)
the reader in this has chronic migraines, which i also have. when the reader’s migraines, experiences as a chronically ill person, and thoughts about being chronically ill are described, that is me writing directly from my own life. i am not a spokesperson for chronic migraines (lol) and am not generalizing the lives of all people with chronic migraines and chronic illness, as we are all different. but i am sending all my love to any readers out there living with a chronic illness, and here’s a reminder to go take your meds!!
❧ estimate release: saturday, october 14, 2023 2:00 p.m. eastern time
“Anyway, your turn,” you tapped his knee with your book before putting it back in your bag.
“For what?”
“To expand my horizons of you. All I know about you is that you’re the hockey captain, and a Bio major who took a gothic fiction class one time like three years ago. Show me you’re a multifaceted individual, too.”
“Uhm, that’s about it.”
“Oh come on, Sungchan.”
“No really, if I’m not on the ice, I’m in class; if I’m not in class, I’m with my team; and if I’m not with my team, I’m studying.”
“You’re here, right now,” you pointed out. “Last I checked I’m not on your hockey team, and we’re not studying. You have to do one thing that’s not for school or hockey. My thing was just watching Pacific Rim this one time, remember?”
“Alright…” he paused to think, fingers tapping along his thighs. “I used to play the piano.”
“Past tense, but I’ll accept it. When did you stop?”
“High school? Around when piano lessons and hockey practice started conflicting.”
“And you chose hockey?” You asked, hoping it didn’t sound judgmental. You really were just curious, trying to understand him.
“Actually, the choice was made for me.” He held his right hand out in front of you, and it was then that you saw his pinky finger was unnaturally crooked as he pointed to the digit. “I broke it in a game without even realizing it. Bruises and stiffness sometimes are normal so me and my parents didn’t know anything was up until weeks later when I was fucking up all the notes at my piano lessons because it still hurt. By the time I finally saw a doctor and got a splint on it, it set up wrong. All dexterity for piano out the window. Hockey on the other hand… guys have done a lot more with a lot less.”
You couldn’t help but curiously run a gentle fingertip over the crook in his pinky. “Does it hurt at all? Now?”
“Not really.” He went to bend and flex the fingers of his right hand, and you saw how the fifth finger didn’t curl up as much as the others. “It’s just a lot stiffer. Doesn’t bother me all that much.”
He brought his left hand up and wiggled the fingers on that hand. “Besides, I’m a lefty anyway.”
“So—apologies if this sounds like a stupid question to you, I don’t know anything about hockey—are there like, different hockey sticks for left-handed and right-handed players?”
Sungchan immediately broke into snickers, and you set down your mug to cross your arms over your chest indignantly.
“Hey, I didn’t laugh at you for not knowing what death of the author was—”
“I wasn’t making fun of you, I’m sorry,” he covered his mouth. “That was just… too cute. Uhm yes, there are lefty and righty sticks.”
You had to bite down your bottom lip to not smile at him calling you cute, and instead keep up your ruse of being offended. “I feel patronized.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” There was still a hint of a giggle in his tone, and you felt your self-righteous façade slip away as he continued, “You should come to a game, then, if you really want to broaden your horizons. The season just started. First home game is this Thursday, actually. 7:00 p.m. and students get free admission with your student ID.”
“Thursday?”
“Fridays are for basketball, Saturdays are for football.”
“Oh. Right.”
“You don’t go to those games either, do you?”
“Oh no, did I make it obvious?” You asked sarcastically.
“A bit,” Sungchan jested back.
Outside the window visible past Sungchan, the rain had let up a few minutes ago, and you briefly glanced over at your laptop for the time. Shit, your next alarm was going to be going off soon. If you left now, you should be home at roughly the right time for your next dose.
Clicking your tongue, you started packing up your things, “Well, looks like the rain’s finally let up enough to allow me safe passage. That’s my cue.”
“Oh.” The hockey player with you looked over his shoulder at the newly sunny day outside before turning back to watch you put your things away.
“Are you heading out too?” You nodded to his empty cup.
“I’ve uh, got some homework to do.”
“Guess this is where we part ways then.”
“Um, you didn’t say if you were going. To the game.”
You tucked your chin to your chest to hide your smitten smile as you put your laptop in your bag. Typically just asking for the details would’ve been taken for a yes, but Sungchan wanted extra confirmation. This boy wasn’t good for your heart, truly.
Turning back to him, you gave him a firm and nearly business-like nod. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”
A bright grin lit up his features. “Okay! Great! Uhm, feel free to bring some friends, I know just sitting in the stands by yourself might be lonely.”
“I’ll see if I can drag somebody else out. It’ll be a tall order, though. Literature majors, you know, we prefer our Shakesperean poetry readings.”
“Oh, well—”
“I’m kidding,” you laughed and stood then, slinging your tote onto your shoulder. “Honestly, have you seen Chenle at a rager? Boy can drink twice his body weight I swear. He shouldn’t, but he can.”
Before you could reach for your cup and saucer to buss your place, the hockey captain spoke up, “I’ll take care of your mug, don’t worry.”
“Oh, thanks, Sungchan! I’ll see you Thursday then.”
“Bye…” Sungchan trailed off, watching the door long after it had closed behind you.
He didn’t actually have any homework to do, and scrolled on his phone for a few minutes to make sure you were out of the area before leaving himself. He grabbed his long-empty plastic cup and your mug. His went in the trash, and as he went to put yours up with the other dishes and trays, his eyes were caught by the iridescent glitters left behind on the rim by your lip gloss.
⤷ blog masterlist
#sungchan x reader#riize x reader#sungchan imagines#riize imagines#jungsung#sungchan imagine#riize imagine#nct x reader#nct imagine#nct imagines#jung sungchan#i: sungchan#f: buzzer beater#bb: teaser#writing#text#mine#bias tag
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Baylor vs. Gonzaga 2021 live blog: Updates from men’s NCAA tournament championship
Follow along for updates on the men’s national championship game between Gonzaga and Baylor.
Gonzaga and Baylor have been the two best teams in men’s college basketball all season. The Bulldogs and Bears were supposed to play on Dec. 5, but the game was canceled due to Covid. On Monday night, they will square off in the championship game of the 2021 NCAA tournament.
Gonzaga is trying to become the first men’s college basketball team to end the season as an undefeated national champion since the Indiana Hoosiers did it in 1976. The Bulldogs needed a near halfcourt buzzer-beater from freshman star Jalen Suggs to beat UCLA in overtime two days earlier. Before they were pushed to the brink by the Bruins, the Zags had been rolling through the bracket with an average margin of victory of nearly 24 points per game.
The Zags have three AP All-Americans with Suggs in the backcourt, Corey Kispert on the wing, and Drew Timme at center. Redshirt junior guard Joel Ayayi, a 6’5 ball handler out of France, was also named an honor mention as an All-American. Gonzaga may play in a small conference, but their success is no fluke. This is the most loaded roster in the country, and deserves to go down as one of the best college basketball teams of the last 30 years should they beat Baylor in the title game.
Baylor threatened to go undefeated itself by starting the season 18-0 before pausing for Covid for three weeks. The Bears would eventually drop two games, but they have looked back to being a force of nature in the tournament. Scott Drew’s team blew out Houston in the Final Four, and has been winning comfortably throughout this tournament run.
The Bears have multiple All-Americans themselves with Jared Butler and Davion Mitchell making the teams while MaCio Teague was named an honorable mention. The three guards have been the foundation of Baylor’s success all year, and gives them a legitimate chance to knock off a powerful Gonzaga squad on the brink of history.
We’re going to be live blogging the national championship game all night long. This should be an amazing game.
Baylor vs. Gonzaga, NCAA Tournament Championship Live Blog
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enemies to lovers!au lai guanlin
both you and guanlin went to the same school and are both in the same year
y’all never really interacted much because he was the sports type of guy and even if you were into sports. you weren’t as focused on it like he was and both of you never had any classes together ???
both of you have been going to the same school since high school started but never got a chance to ever interact and you both didn’t mind. because how was knowing one another gonna benefit y’all anyways ??
so yes, he was the i love sports i BREATHE sports type of person who always joined the teams. volleyball, track, badminton ??? he was in it
cop: sir pull over
guanlin: pull over?💀😂 the season 🏀🏈 is never over 🙅🏿♂️🚫 ima grind 💪🏾💯 till the day I die 👻 💀 John 3:16🙏🏾🙌🏾
but of course his number one sport is … basketball
he’s been in it since he entered the school and boy never played it before but he found that he really enjoyed it and he got good at the sport so he was like uhhhh … ok i’ll just keep playing
his ability to learn sports easily just lead to his coaches recommending him to join the other sports and he cant turn down people so he was like okay i guess i’m just here to have a good time
so during the year before senior year, he’s became the captain for the varsity basketball team through hard work and patience with himself
and you ?? you’re just out here chilling with your studies and of course you’ve heard about lai guanlin before. who would you be if you haven’t??
everyday after a game everyone would talk about how he got the buzzer beater, about how amazing his layup was and you had nothing against him so you included yourself in the convo and would talk about how good he is even tho you’ve never seen him play at all
your friends knew that you were interested in the sport but never bothered to try out because you were too intimidated
you actually went on your first year of high school but you saw everyone who was trying out so you were like uhhh … gotta blast !!!
you were too intimidated and till this day you lowkey regret not joining because u could’ve been like guanlin where he worked hard and got the captain position
u were jealous but it was okay because it slipped out of your mind once school started becoming really busy
but anyways, senior year came around and tryouts for this seasons basketball team rolled up
your friends were like “yoooooo y/n ….. do you know what time it is?”
and you’re just like “no i’m not gonna try out !!!! its senior year so why would i try out anymore”
“exactly!! u said it urself!!! its senior year!!!!! just do it!!!”
you were like nuh uh that will never happen i’m just Busy with life right now!!! and you make excuses that you’re trying to focus on your studies so you can enter a good university but they pull out receipts of ur good grades and good attendances and youre just like “i’ll think about it, ok??” and they leave with a satisfied smile
because at least you were finally going to think about. they’ve known that you lowkey always wanted to be in the team but never done it because u were too scared
one day you were going home when you saw the tryouts poster, directing you to where it was and what time it was gonna happen
you sighed and said “fuck it” because the poster was right there and tryouts were the next day so you told yourself it might be destiny that this was happening to you
the next day you showed up to tryouts thinking that fuck it! its senior year and who cares if these underclass men judge me. i’m gonna graduate anyways
after the tryouts you come to school with your gym clothes because you didn’t bother to change out and your friends are like ??? uh wtf what did you do to become that sweaty and you’re like “tried out for the team!! surprise!!” and theyre like WHAT
the results would be coming out at the end of the day and you were scared and anxious because u don’t think u’d be able to make it with these god tier students also trying to be in the team
once the day of the day rolled up, you casually went to the bulletin board located at the gym and you saw guanlin standing there. looking at the results for both the girls and boys team. he seemed interested and you were lowkey scared to even go near it anymore but you were like whatever he doesn’t know me anyways lmao
when you went up to the board your name was there. y/f/n y/l/n in big black letters along with the other students that made it in but the reason why yours was in bold bc … surprise surprise …. you’re the senior varsity captain
you were so into the moment that you started hitting the person next to you out of excitement and oh no!! guess who you were hitting….lai guanlin
he jumps back in surprise and youre just like “oh!!! sorry!!!!” and you continue to apologize but he brushes himself off and says “are you y/n?”
and you’re just like uhh ya i am and ur a little bit shook because you didn’t think he’d know you because you were just a person in the sidelines and you never did anything in the school to put yourself out there
“we’ll be seeing each other often from now on. don’t do that again” and with that he leaves the gym and leaving you in a confused state
you went ahead and talked to the coach on why you were picked as the captain when all these girls have better experience than you but they said because you had the skill and they knew the background you had with playing basketball with a team that wasn’t your school
practices were 3 times a week, two in the morning and one after school
at the first few practices you weren’t used to waking up early but when you got into the routine you thought that huh. this wasn’t too bad
but shit got worse when the boys basketball team started practicing. they stole the gym from you guys like half the time and although you and your team have only been a team for a few weeks you had each others back and once you saw them getting irritated with the boys team you had to step up and discuss with them about the practicing sched because they were stealing your time!!! so of course you had to talk to captain
you got his number from a mutual friend named lee daehwi and he was surprised that you wanted to talk to him and you briefly explained the practice schedule
you texted guanlin and he replied with a “who’s this?” and you told him that you were y/n the one from the basketball team and you met up with one another to talk about the schedule
you met up at the schools football bleachers and you slowly approached him cautious because he looked like he was in a shitty mood
“hey. i came here to talk to you about the schedule?” you said timidly
“oh. ya you texted me about it, i know. we can’t anything about the schedule” and you were like ummm??? what?? why not??
“because that’s the only schedule that works for everyone in the team. if you don’t like it then change YOUR schedule.”
“the schedule that we have right now works with everyones schedule too so we can’t change it!!!!!”
“then i guess we’ll be sharing gyms then?? i don’t see what’s the problem with that, it just looks like you’re the one who’s complaining about this”
you were like WHAT THE FUCK because your team was the one who started using it first !!! and he shouldn’t have talked like as if he was the one who owned the gym
you left with a “fine.” and a roll of your eyes and he simply walked away, not caring
you told the team and they were heart broken but you continued to deal with the practice being both teams
it got annoying because the boys would steal the basketballs away from you guys, they would hog the gym with their own practice drills and it left your own team struggling to practice
when you and guanlin met eyes with one another you would glare at him and he would glare back at you. there was small tension between the two of you and the team were all like ….yikes i don’t wanna be part of this
although both of the teams disliked sharing the gym they didn’t hate it as much as you and guanlin did
every time something simple happened like a ball got into their side of the gym guanlin would be like “do you not KNOW how to throw a ball properly? hmm, as expected of someone who’s never been in a team before” and you would storm off and get another ball in the gym back room.
he always used you not being in the past years team against you and like…you were good from what he can tell when he actually paid attention to your practices but he never cared to admit it
the insults kept coming and coming and you brushed it off and threw an insult back but you were lowkey like damn .. what if he’s right about me? that i’m not even good enough to be in the senior varsity team??? am i good enough to be the captain ???
so you started practicing more and more, coming in the gym when you didn’t need to and you stayed up until like 10:00 pm sometimes just to at least improve a little bit
guanlin had other activities he needed to attend to that would sometimes end at around the time you leave the school gym and he would see you all sweaty and out of breath with a gym bag and water bottle at hand and he would wonder why you were still here but in the back of his head
he knew that you were to practice because he insulted you about your skills in the sport
he felt bad but it’s not like he can take it back anymore. both you and him have established this relationship where you’re just constantly throwing hateful words with one another and his pride is too big for him to apologize to you
so once the games started, you had no choice but to watch the boys because both teams would play at the same day
sometimes you’d watch guanlin and forget all about the little rivalry you both had. he played with precision and you admired it but once he would look back and wink at all those girls watching him… you’d be like yikes and you’d see the cocky and overly confident person
the season went by quickly and next think u know… its finals
you’ve been working extra hard for it even harder than before and guanlin would also come in and practice. at first you shared heated conversations with one another about how they were stealing their gym and ur gonna steal it again??? you told him to just suck it up and live you alone because all you had in mind was the game that you and your team wanted to win
so one day, you were making a shot when your feet fell in the wrong place and you fell down with a yelp. guanlin, being in the same room, heard the sound and was like ???? what the hell just happened
he saw you on the floor, hand on your ankles and he decided to help you because he knows what it feels like to be in that pain. he saw the look of defeat on your face when you fell and he saw himself in you. he’s also gone through the practice and failure before
he came up to you and you glared at him because you thought he was gonna say some insult to you again but all he did was quietly sit down with a first aid kit he found in the corner of the gym and started going for your ankles
you moved away and he was confused because was he that mean of a person to you that you don’t even want him to help with your injury?
“look, i know we’re note exactly on the best terms with one another but let me help you. just this once” you slowly agreed and let him take care of your injury and he knew what was doing
he made sure that you weren’t hurt while he was trying to fix you up and after he was done he stands up and says “don’t make me do that again, take care of yourself next time” and walked away
mean guanlin was back but he also told you to be careful so i guess he was also being nice ???
you got up, limping, and went home but you didn’t know that that night
guanlin made sure to stay back and watch to see if you were okay to go home by yourself
he stayed in the corner and told himself that if you were really struggling, he’d jump in and help but when he saw that you were fine, he left when you were out of his sight
after that day, guanlin seemed a little bit … nicer??? the insults from him went from 10 times a day to at least 2 and you found it a bit weird but you were just like i guess that its better this way ??? you were just confused on why it just suddenly started dying down
like you didn’t wanna overthink about it because you thought it was stupid but you would thought to yourself, “is it because he hates me to the point where he doesn’t even wanna waste time on me anymore???”
so when you had the practices with guanlin by yourself, he would sometimes come in with another bottle of a sports drink and leave it at your side of the court and you’d just be like ??? but also you’d slip in a small thank you and he’d just shrug and say that its because the machine gave him another one
hateful words that were thrown at one another 2 times a day has now turned into late night conversations at the gym floors (even tho it was dirty)
it started one night when you were sitting at the benches just sitting down, looking at your hands and playing with them
guanlin came in and he was usually met by the sound of the basketballs bouncing but he didn’t hear anything so he looked around the gym for you and he found you there, sitting at the bench
he asked what was wrong and that was when you broke down, telling him what you’ve been feeling. the pressure that came with being captain, the injury that’s been hurting your ankles, etc
he frowned and gave you advice, pushing out the tiny hatred he once had for you. like tbh, he doesn’t know why he started insulting you in the first place??
maybe its because when he saw your name as the captain of the varsity team, he was confused to why someone new was taking such a high place but once he saw how hard you worked throughout the season he gained admiration and respect for you but he hid it with his insults
but from then on, you would occasionally share your problems with one another but it never got too deep. it went from hating being in the same room to being fine with it and even smiling at one another when you met eyes. you’d slip in a playful insult once in awhile but it was never directed to be mean
once finals rolled up, your game was first and you were trying to calm down your nerves by just jumping up and down and guanlin comes up to you and touches your shoulders and he looks you in the eye and tells you that you were gonna do great, it gave you the energy that you didn’t have before
you played the game flawlessly and as you were about to take your last shot, your feet falls in the same exact way it did when you first got the first injury
you fall and guanlin is instantly by your side, asking you if you were alright and you say that you’re fine !!! you tell him to not worry about you and go play his own game
and once his game starts, it was intense and you could see how much stress guanlin was in. you yelled his name and he looked at you and he felt like everything was fine for just a minute and he had the energy to continue and play again
at the end of the game, guanlin gets the buzzer beater and honestly, you cheered the loudest in the whole gym LMAO
he was instantly bombarded with his friends and his teammates but throughout them hyping him up, he kept eye contact with you and you grinned and mouthed “good job!” in which he smiled even more wide. you threw in a finger heart there somewhere hoping he wouldn’t notice but…he did
once he broke free out his friends hugs and cheers, he instantly came to you and you welcomed him with a hug even though you both were sweaty and tired
“i know we started in a bad way but.. would you like to go on a date with me?” he says, as he pulls you closer to him
the answer is pretty obvious but in the background you could hear the audience cheering, his teammates cheering, basically the WHOLE SCHOOL cheering
imagine the basketball captains dating together like WOW GOALS
dating guanlin include: him letting you borrow his basketball hoodie that says his last name and first name. you say that you don’t need it cause you have your own but he gets pouty so you give in and wear it. when you wear it, he literally has the biggest grin and he gets so happy and giddy when he sees you in it.
late night dates at the basketball court where you 1v1 one another. you win like every time so you get kinda suspicious and he just shrugs and says that youre good and that youve always been better than him
one day u were like hey guanlin the machine never gave u extra drinks right ? and hes like ya it did??? and then ur like "the school never had machines that gave out sports drinks" and hes just like uhhh GOTTA BLAST
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Stephen F. Austin upsets Duke with stunning fast-break buzzer-beater
Stephen F. Austin upsets Duke with stunning fast-break buzzer-beater
Stephen F. Austin pulled off a stunning upset over No. 1 Duke on Tuesday, capturing a 85-83 overtime victory in an instant classic.
The Lumberjacks, who entered the game as 27.5-point underdogs, clawed back from a 15-point second-half deficit to shock a star-studded Blue Devils team. That comeback was capped with an improbable final play.
MORE: Georgia’s Anthony Edwards thrills NBA scouts, chills…
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Raptors Win First NBA Championship
After waiting 24 long years and enduring one of the most excruciating seconds imaginable, Canada finally got its first taste of NBA glory.
The Toronto Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors, 114-110, in Game 6 on Thursday, sealing the first title in franchise history and claiming Canada's first championship in a major American sports league since the Toronto Blue Jays won the 1993 World Series.
Kawhi Leonard, who posted 22 points, six rebounds and three assists, was named Finals MVP for the second time in his career, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James as the only players to win that award while representing multiple teams. The all-star forward, who sealed the title with three free throws in a surreal closing second, previously won in 2014 with the San Antonio Spurs, who traded him to the Raptors last summer.
“I wanted to make history here,” Leonard said. “A lot of people were doubting me. They thought I was faking an injury or didn’t want to play for a team. That was disappointing to me that it was out in the media. Going through that, I knew I had to make myself happy and no one else, and I had to trust myself. It doesn’t matter what anybody has to say about me. I know who I am as a person, and I know how I feel. I’m going to play the right way and not try to make headlines.”
Over the past two weeks, the Raptors and Warriors have navigated an ugly sideline confrontation, a gimmick defense cameo, a crowd etiquette controversy, Kevin Durant’s devastating Achilles’ injury and multiple tense endgame scenarios. Game 6, the Warriors’ final night at Oracle Arena after 47 seasons, was another high-intensity affair that saw Klay Thompson exit early with an apparent knee injury and that wasn’t resolved until the last moment.
The endgame madness was set up by a costly Danny Green turnover with less than 10 seconds left, which granted one last gasp for the Warriors. Stephen Curry got open for a three-pointer, but his attempt rimmed out, setting off a mad scramble for the rebound near midcourt. Draymond Green corralled the loose ball, and the Warriors signaled for a timeout without having any remaining, triggering a technical foul. Leonard converted the free throw, but the interminable final second was only just beginning.
Leonard was fouled immediately on Toronto's ensuing inbounds play, triggering a lengthy video review that resulted in two more free throws. He hit both to provide the winning margin and finally set off the celebrations.
The triumphant finish was made possible by a strong start from Kyle Lowry, who came out firing in what will go down as a career-defining performance. The longest-tenured Raptor hit his first four shots, including three three-pointers, to claim an early 11-2 lead. Lowry scored 15 first-quarter points, frustrating a rowdy crowd that loudly paid homage to Durant and to Oracle’s end, and finished with 26 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists.
“This is a great group of guys,” Lowry said. “This is crazy. This is awesome. Toronto, we brought it home, baby!”
Lowry's assertive early flourish — one game after his potential buzzer-beater was tipped well off course by Draymond Green — was characteristic of Toronto's tendency to respond well to adversity throughout the postseason.
After an opening stinker against the Orlando Magic in the first round, the Raptors responded by reeling off four straight wins. After a blowout loss in Game 3 to the Philadelphia 76ers, the Raptors won three of the next four — completing the second-round series victory with Leonard's four-bounce walk-off jumper. After looking overwhelmed in two opening losses to the Milwaukee Bucks, Leonard led the Raptors to four straight wins by locking up MVP favorite Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Against Golden State, Toronto twice suffered demoralizing home losses. In Game 2, the Raptors conceded an 18-0 run that might have broken a weaker team. Then, in Game 5, they built a six-point lead late in the fourth quarter before collapsing on both ends in a wild final three minutes.
"We bounced right back,” Raptors Coach Nick Nurse said. “That's what we have normally done in the playoffs. This is a strong minded, tough-ass group of guys. It really is.”
Indeed, the close out was a group effort. Pascal Siakam, benched by Nurse late in Game 5 for his poor defensive effort, scored 26 points and added 10 rebounds, hitting a key runner in the game's final minute. Backup guard Fred VanVleet, whose timely perimeter shots were a key source of offense throughout the postseason, added 22 points and hit five three-pointers, including a go-ahead shot with just under four minutes remaining.
Following the Game 2 loss, Nurse told the Raptors that their goal was to steal either Game 3 or Game 4 at Oracle. Leonard quickly replied: “F--- that. Let's go get them both.” By the time the champagne popped, Toronto had beaten Golden State in all three meetings at Oracle. As recently as two years ago, the Warriors were nearly invincible at home — going 36-5 during the regular season and 9-0 in the playoffs en route to a title.
But the 2019 Warriors were a diminished version of the 2017 Warriors because of Durant’s absence and a litany of injuries to DeMarcus Cousins, Kevon Looney and Andre Iguodala. Golden State was forced to utilize its fifth starting lineup of the series in Game 6 because of various injuries, and the defending champs managed to outscore Toronto in just five quarters in the entire series. Still, Golden State displayed remarkable resolve, with Curry scoring 21 points and Green notching an 11-point, 19-rebound, 13-assist triple-double.
“What I’ve witnessed over the last five years is an incredible combination of talent and character and commitment to each other,” Warriors Coach Steve Kerr said. “This just doesn’t happen. A group of guys like this doesn’t come around together and do what they did. I can’t tell you my gratitude to them.”
Thompson, who finished with a game-high 30 points, was the latest Warrior who fell by injury, falling hard to the ground after he was fouled on a dunk attempt by Danny Green late in the third quarter. The all-star shooting guard initially headed to the locker room with an apparent left knee injury, only to reverse course and return to the court to shoot his free throws. Thompson's brief return was met by the loudest applause of the night, but he returned quickly to the locker room and left the arena shortly thereafter on crutches.
“Tough way to go out,” Curry said. “A lot has been proven about who we are a team. The fight we have with all the adversity we had this season. With our DNA, and who we are, I wouldn’t bet against us being back on this stage next year and going forward. I definitely don’t think it’s over.”
Ultimately, the night belonged to the Raptors, whose fans serenaded them with “We the North” chants before the postgame trophy presentation and an “O Canada” singalong before the postgame trophy presentation.
“There’s a meaning to having one NBA team outside the U.S.,” Raptors president Masai Ujiri said, to loud applause. “We wanted to win in Toronto, and we have won in Toronto!”
Get tickets to see the Raptors play next season at home or in a city near you. Give us a call at 562-595-6510 or check out or website at www.coasttickets.com
#TorontoRaptors#Raptors#Canada#toronto#NBA#Championship#GoldenStateWarriors#Warriors#GoldenState#OCanada#Tickets#NBAFinals#Finals#LongBeach#CoastTickets
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Luka Doncic comes up clutch against Celtics with wild stepback 3-pointer at the buzzer
No moment is too big for Luka Doncic!
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With time winding down against the Boston Celtics and the score tied at 104-104, the ball was only going to one man, with the Celtics defence zoned in on Doncic.
The mercurial guard got to his spot on the left wing and despite the attention of three Celtics defenders, he let the stepback triple fly like he was messing around at a YMCA.
BANG!
“For one second I just stood there, I didn’t realise I made it,” Doncic said post-game.
“But it was amazing, you know? … I got to say I think I like the left foot on the 45 degrees. I think I like that spot, so I was going to that spot.
“Wins like this they just pump the chemistry, pump everything and I think this is a good win to move forward.”
Check out the reaction from the American Airlines Center crowd:
Former teammate Seth Curry was not surprised at all.
Doncic is making a habit out of these late-game heroics, with tonight’s game-winner the third buzzer-beater of his career.
He finished the win with a game-high 33 points, nine rebounds, five assists and a block on 12-of-21 from the field and 5-of-10 from the 3-point line.
Boston fought back from a 17-point half-time deficit and took the lead with 2:12 remaining in the game, thanks to a 3-pointer from Marcus Smart, before Kristaps Porzingis’ dunk tied things up to set up the final play for Doncic.
“I think everyone knew the ball was going to 77, and he delivered,” Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd said. “He loves that moment, his teammates know that, and I would say the opposing team knew the ball was going to Luka and there was nothing they could do.”
The Mavericks, who have now won three of their last four games, welcomed back Kristaps Porzingis into the starting lineup after missing five games, with the big man ejoying a productive outing, recording 21 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals on 7-of-13 shooting, including some timely plays down the stretch.
“He’s so clutch, it’s insane. It’s always so fun to watch him play,” Porzingis said of Doncic.
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still havent given up on u hockey player bf sungchan
#missing u now more than ever....#sungchan permanent unit where r u#why do i always bias sm's redheaded stepchildren#kun was on without you chn vers then actually debuted almost 3 yrs later#with less than 1 line total#and his permanent units debut song was literally a chn vers of another units title track etc etc the list goes on he is in wayv#poor jungwoo also debuted in empathy with .2 lines but he at least got put in 127 right after#and is now in djj with plenty of lines etc etc love that for him#but oh my god now sungchan 😭😭 my mans has been debuted but ALSO unemployed unitless jobless for 2.5 yrs now#with no word on an official permanent unit for him just vague promises of nct tokyo and were just GUESSING that hes gonna be in it#but we were also GUESSING that the april nct unit debut was gonna be nct tokyo w sungtaro sr22b and yuta but surprise it was djj????#so like 😭😭😭😭😭😭#god why do i stan flops (affectionate)#anyway look at my boyfie <33#talk#pic#mine#jungsung#bias tag#mel's unhinged moodboards#tag talk#f: buzzer beater
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College basketball’s 10 best games of 2019-20
Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images
A November thriller tops a list that should have been loaded with March classics.
March 2020 will forever be remembered — among many, many other things — as the month we were all robbed of madness. The wild comebacks, the dramatic upsets, the classic buzzer-beaters replayed for decades to come; none of it happened, leaving the 2019-20 college hoops season in a forever state of purgatory.
There is little doubt that had the final month of the season been played, this list would look dramatically different than it does. It wasn’t, and it never will be, so here are the 10 best games the season had to offer.
10. Saint Mary’s 51, BYU 50 (WCC tournament semifinals) (March 9)
Everyone inside the Orleans Arena in Vegas and everyone watching on TV from home knew Jordan Ford was taking the last shot. That knowledge did nothing to help BYU.
Ford’s cold-blooded jumper with 1.4 seconds to play lifted third-seeded Saint Mary’s to a thrilling 51-50 win over second-seeded BYU in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament in the wee hours of March 10.
JORDAN. FORD. AGAIN!!!
This game-winning shot sends Saint Mary’s to the WCC Championship for the second straight season. #WCChoops pic.twitter.com/uS5XBdDBUd
— Saint Mary's Hoops (@saintmaryshoops) March 10, 2020
Making the moment even more impressive was the fact Ford had just scored 42 points and played all 50 minutes in an 89-82 double-overtime victory against Pepperdine in the quarterfinals 48 hours earlier. The shot snapped BYU’s nine-game wining streak and set the stage for yet another Gonzaga-Saint Mary’s WCC title game a night later.
It was one of those brilliant late-night moments of early March that only makes you hungrier for the madness that’s on the horizon.
Alas ...
9. Penn State 89, Iowa 86 (Jan. 4)
The Palestra was the site for one of the most charged up atmospheres of the entire season as Penn State kicked off the new year with a thrilling 89-86 conference win over Iowa.
Hawkeye star and eventual First Team All-American Luka Garza scored 34 points, but he missed three key free throws in the game’s waning moments. Those misses allowed Lamar Stevens and the Nittany Lions to put the finishing touches on a monster win that sent the home crowd in Philly into a frenzy.
“My head is still spinning,” Penn Sate head coach Pat Chambers said afterward. “That was wild.”
The game marked the first time since 1996 that Penn State had played with a top-25 ranking next to its name. The win promised that the Nittany Lions were heading towards their first NCAA tournament appearance in Chambers’ nine seasons on the job.
8. Dayton 78, Saint Louis 76 (OT) (Jan. 17)
Dayton’s romp to a perfect 18-0 record in the Atlantic 10 was met with significantly little pushback from its conference brethren. The one exception was Saint Louis, which played the Flyers tight in both meetings, including this Friday night thriller at Chaifetz Arena.
The physical Billikens built a 55-42 advantage with just 7:40 to play in regulation before UD came storming back. Dayton’s efforts were aided significantly by a woeful 17-of-37 free-throw shooting performance by Saint Louis, which would ultimately finish last in the country in team free-throw percentage.
Though the season may have belonged to Obi Toppin, this particular evening belonged to teammate Jalen Crutcher. The junior guard scored a game-high 21 points and hit perhaps the most memorable shot of Dayton’s unforgettable 2019-20 campaign.
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Both of Dayton’s prior losses (ultimately, their only two losses) had come in overtime, which only made this conference road win that much sweeter.
“We said, not this time,” Toppin said after the game. “We’re done with overtime losses.”
7. Butler 72, Xavier 71 (March 7)
On the final Saturday night of the college basketball regular season — and what would prove to be the final Saturday night of the season, period — Butler and Xavier delivered a classic back-and-forth affair inside the Cintas Center.
Desperately needing a win to boost its NCAA tournament resume, Xavier had trailed for most of the evening before a 9-0 run late in the second half put the Musketeers in position to steal a victory. Momentum swung between the two teams several times before Butler found itself with the ball, down two and less than 10 seconds to play.
That’s when Kamar Baldwin, who already had an established reputation for being one of the best closers in all of college basketball, called game.
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Baldwin finished with a career-high 36 points, and the loss resulted in Xavier finishing with a sub-.500 conference record for the first time in 38 years. The Musketeers would lose to Dayton in the first round of the Big East tournament less than a week later. Whether or not those losses knocked them out of the NCAA tournament is something we’ll never know for sure.
6. Oregon 73, Arizona 72 (OT) (Feb. 22)
Both meetings between Oregon and Arizona this season resulted in one-point overtime wins for the Ducks. It’s the second of those two meetings, the one played in Tucson, that was so phenomenal that it demanded a spot on this list.
Eventual All-American Payton Pritchard played one of the best games of his career, pouring in a career-high 38 points. He made all eight of his free-throw attempts, drilled six three-pointers, and was the only player for either side to play all 45 minutes. Perhaps that last number is the reason why, in the game’s extra period, Pritchard’s shots suddenly stopped falling.
Thankfully for Oregon, Shakur Juiston was there to save the day. The senior forward scored 14 points on the evening, but produced all nine of the Ducks’ points in overtime. His layup with 1.4 seconds to play proved to be the game’s decisive bucket, but only after Arizona’s Christian Koloko missed a pair of free throws that could have extended the contest or won it for the Wildcats.
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“Might as well go play the lottery now,” Juiston joked after the game.
The win marked Oregon’s fifth-straight overtime win of the season.
5. Belmont 76, Murray State 75 (OVC tournament championship) (March 7)
Only 12 of college basketball’s 32 conference tournaments were played in full before the coronavirus brought the season to an abrupt end. Of those 12 tournaments, none had a higher-quality finish than the Ohio Valley, which gave us top-seeded Belmont taking on second-seeded Murray State in the title game for a third-straight year.
After falling to the Racers in the OVC championship game in both 2018 and 2019, Belmont (presumably) punched its ticket to the Big Dance on Tyler Scanlon’s layup with just three seconds to play.
Ohio Valley Champions! Belmont captures its first conference title since 2015 with annual nail-biter vs Murray State.
pic.twitter.com/C7nGcSHZFh
— CollegeBB News (@CollegeBBNCAA) March 8, 2020
Just because Rick Byrd isn’t calling the shots for the Bruins anymore doesn’t mean we should have expected anything other than a beautiful backdoor cut on the season’s most crucial possession.
“It was a play we practice all the time. With all that preparation in the final moment there were no nerves. It was second nature and just execution,” Scanlon said after the game.
This was the fifth time Murray State and Belmont have played for the OVC tournament championship since the Bruins joined the conference in 2012-13. Belmont has won three of the five meetings in what has become one of the best mid/low major rivalries in college basketball.
4. Stephen F. Austin 85, Duke 83 (OT) (Nov. 27)
Heading into this game on the Tuesday night of Thanksgiving Week, top-ranked Duke had won a nation’s-best 150 consecutive home games against non-conference opponents. The Blue Devils also hadn’t lost a home game against a non-ACC opponent since a loss to St. John’s all the way back on Feb. 26, 2000.
Stephen F. Austin senior forward Nathan Bain changed all that with a coast-to-coast buzzer-beater that might have provided the best finish of the entire season.
NO. 1 DUKE FALLS TO STEPHEN F. AUSTIN IN A STUNNING ENDING pic.twitter.com/x6xsdesWkL
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 27, 2019
This angle sustains my soul pic.twitter.com/ZEHgfAVQUB
— Bunkie Perkins (@BunkiePerkins) November 27, 2019
Stephen F. Austin would go on to finish the season 28-3 and appeared primed to be a trendy NCAA tournament upset pick, but no one knew the Lumberjacks were that strong at the time. They were coming off a 14-16 campaign in 2018-19 and had just been beaten handily by a Rutgers team that, once again at the time, was not highly thought of. The result of all this is that SFA was a 27.5-point underdog for this game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, which made this college basketball’s largest point spread upset in 15 years.
Perhaps best of all, word quickly spread after the game that Bain, a freshly-crowned American sports hero, was a native of the Bahamas whose family had lost nearly everything when Hurricane Dorian ravaged their home and Bain’s father’s church. A GoFundMe that SFA had launched to help Bain’s family and the rest of the Bahamas went from receiving little attention to raising more than $150,000 to help with the hurricane relief efforts.
3. Kansas 64, Baylor 61 (Feb. 22)
In front of a juiced up crowd in Waco, third-ranked Kansas exacted some sweet revenge over a then-No. 1 Baylor squad that had beaten the Jayhawks by 12 in Lawrence a month earlier. The KU victory in round two ultimately set the stage for Bill Self’s team to claim the Big 12 regular-season title and establish themselves as the front-runner to be the No. 1 overall seed on Selection Sunday.
This was Udoka Azubuike’s game from start to finish. Double-teams made no difference, and neither did Baylor’s attempts to attack the big man on the other end of the floor and get him in foul trouble. When the dust had settled, Azubuike had scored 23 points, grabbed 19 rebounds, and (probably) done irreparable damage to both of the rims inside the Ferrell Center. Of his 11 made field goals, nine were dunks.
In the first game between the two, Baylor limited Azubuike to six points on just six shots by fronting the post and always having a second defender within arm’s length of the big man. Kansas combated that in the second game by creating opportunities for Azubuike not through traditional post ups, but off of high ball screens and feeds from driving guards.
Azubuike is hoopin! Guy has 4 dunks already #Kansas pic.twitter.com/WPt9lF4sVf
— Evan Anderson (@Jordainian21) February 22, 2020
How would Scott Drew have countered in a much-hyped Big 12 title game rubber match in Kansas City? We’ll never know.
2. Duke 98, North Carolina 96 (OT) (Feb. 8)
Ten years from now, people are going to remember two things about the 2019-20 North Carolina Tar Heels. The first, obviously, is they went 14-19 and finished tied for last in the ACC, making them easily the worst UNC team of the Roy Williams era. The second, I think, is going to be the way in which they took their first of two losses to arch-rival Duke, a triumph for the Blue Devils that featured one buzzer-beater at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime, and another at the end of the extra period to lock up the W.
For most of the evening in early February, it seemed as though North Carolina would be able to salvage a satisfying win over their arch-rival without all that much drama. Then, as tended to be the case with this UNC team, the theatrics appeared out of nowhere. A series of Tar Heel turnovers and missed free throws allowed Duke to claw back to within striking distance, which then set the stage for Tre Jones to do this at the end of regulation:
TRE JONES. UNBELIEVABLE.
OVERTIME IN CHAPEL HILL ON ESPN pic.twitter.com/MEs38kKL5m
— ESPN (@espn) February 9, 2020
Understandably, the air went out inside the Dean Dome in the moments between the end of regulation and the beginning of overtime. Duke scored six of the extra period’s first seven points, and appeared poised to ride that momentum to a comfortable victory.
North Carolina super freshman Cole Anthony responded, hitting back-to-back jumpers and sparking a rally that put the Tar Heels ahead, 96-91, with a little under 20 seconds to play. Jones responded with an and-one, and when he missed the free throw that would have completed the three-point play, Wendell Moore Jr. was there with a putback that cut the Carolina lead to one.
That set the stage for a no-call/call that will be discussed on Tobacco Road and beyond for years to come.
10 seconds left, UNC up 1, no foul called here on the inbound. Duke gets ball and wins at buzzer #DUKEvsUNC pic.twitter.com/tJHt7ABayB
— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) February 9, 2020
No foul was called on Duke, and after a lengthy review, Ted Valentine’s on-court call to give the Blue Devils the ball was upheld.
A driving Jones was fouled by North Carolina’s Christian Keeling, sending the Blue Devils’ sophomore point guard to the line with an opportunity to put his team ahead by one. The only saving grace for UNC fans at the time seemed to be safety from having their hearts broken at the horn for the second time in less than 15 minutes.
You know what happened next ...
WOW! WHAT AN ENDING!
NO. 7 DUKE WINS IN STUNNING FASHION AGAINST UNC! pic.twitter.com/OZ50X9eQcF
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 9, 2020
A “Throw out the Records” game, in every sense of the phrase. @DukeMBB steals @UNC_Basketball’s thunder, 98-96. Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/pgmROl1q4t
— David Glenn Show (@DavidGlennShow) February 9, 2020
The first UNC-Duke game always seems to deliver the goods. Even in a season where North Carolina was historically subpar, that was still the case in 2019-20.
1. Kansas 90, Dayton 84 (OT) (Maui Invitational Championship) (Nov. 29)
A lot of times, we’ll look back at the highest-profile games of November through a different lens once the season has played out and those early season rankings look a little silly. This game was the opposite in that it only grew more impressive with time.
We were pretty sure during Thanksgiving Week that both Kansas and Dayton were very good. We didn’t know the Jayhawks were No. 1 overall seed good, and we really didn’t know that the Flyers were ultimately going to be poised to join KU on the top line come Selection Sunday.
Among other things, this game served as Toppin’s introduction to the front lines of the national player of the year conversation. Despite a somewhat slow start, Toppin finished this game with 18 points, nine rebounds, three blocks, and one of the most disrespectful three-point celebrations of the entire year.
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As brilliant as Toppin was, Kansas big man Azubuike was better. The eventual All-American finished with 29 points on 12-of-15 shooting from the field, as well as four blocks. Seven of those 29 points came in overtime, where his dominance inside proved to be the difference maker for the Jayhawks as they put the finishing touches on a Maui classic.
The only thing that could have made this game better? If it had been played in the traditional late-night Thanksgiving Eve time slot.
I’m not going to let this go. Do the right thing, Maui. Don’t let the fact you’ve had two classic championship games in the last two years distract you from the truth. The world hates the new title game tip time.
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