chenle fiddled anxiously, creating a rhythm of dribbling the ball through his legs as he waited for his phone to ding. he'd put the ringer on as loud as possible so that he wouldn't miss a message from soyi, but couldn't just sit around and wait.

he got the notification a little after 5 and quickly called his manager to give the okay to let soyi and miles in. when the pair came through the court doors, chenle couldn't hold his laughter back.

the duo was dressed in black basketball shirts with bright red atlanta hawks jerseys. not a favorite of chenle's but he guess it made sense since much of miles's american family was in atlanta.

matched with their clothing was large black sunglasses that definitely didn't need to be worn inside. soyi's hair was tied up with a red bow to match her shirt, and the ends of miles's gelled hair was painted crimson.

when chenle finally caught his breath, there were tears in his eyes and his stomach ached. wiping any remaining liquid form his cheeks, the idol straightened his shoulders back and gave the two a round of applause. "bravo!"

they posed together, showing three different moves each, before chuckling at their own dramatics and walking over to chenle.

"have you been here long?" soyi asked while tightening her bow. "we wanted to be here early, but somebody got red paint in their eye."

miles nodded firmly. "so if i lose badly tonight, i have an excuse. temporarily blurriness in the right eyeball."

chenle snickered, tucking the basketball firmly beneath his arm. "jisung asked me to go easy on you tonight, anyway. i'm still not letting you beat me, though, so don't get too excited."

a sarcastic pout fell on soyi's lips, and she waited for chenle's eyes to wander toward her mouth before leaping forward and smacking the ball out of his hands.

she scrambled for it, but the idol was quicker and grabbed it firmly with two hands. he smirked at her when he caught her glaring. "nice try, doll."

soyi faked a gag at the nickname, but chenle saw the tiny smile she tried to hide by tucking her chin.

"okay!" miles yelled with the clap of his hands. "2v1, let's go!"

—

soyi and miles laid on the cool wooden panels of the floor, foreheads misty from sweat and chest heaving in exhaustion. checking the giant clock on the wall, soyi groaned when she realized only 45 minutes had passed.

"another break?" chenle asked cheekily as he expertly dribbled the ball around his friends' sprawled limbs, careful not to hit them. "come on, guys. i'm going easy on you!"

apparently "easy" meant beating them by 38 points, but who was counting?

soyi propped herself up with a groan. bits of her long, dark hair had come free from her ponytail and were sticking to the sweat on her face and neck. glancing over at miles, who had his eyes closed, soyi decided to give him a smack on the thigh.

"ow!" miles complained, shooting upright to smack her in the arm. "what was that for?!"

soyi pushed him back for whacking her, and soon the two were slapping like children. chenle stood in front of them, now holding the ball between his arm and the side of his torso.

he was amused at first, but grew bored after a couple of seconds. not spending too much time thinking about it, chenle flung the basketball at miles's chest, and the boy went down again with an audible "oof!"

soyi turned to face the idol with a small look that she often gave him when he teased her. "not nice," she said before standing, but her face didn't show any signs of actual disappointment or annoyance.

she leant a hand to miles, who was still clutching his chest, and pulled him up. as she moved to turn, chenle realized just in time that she was going to make a move for the ball, and swiped it so that it was under his other arm.

unfortunately, soyi failed to catch herself in time and tumbled to the ground, throwing her hands out to catch herself. she did, but winced loudly when her bare knees skidded on the wooden floors.

chenle dropped the ball immediately and knelt to her side, placing a gentle hand on her back. "hey, you good?" he asked, his brows knit slightly in concern. he'd fallen plenty of times in this gym and knew how much the floors could hurt.

soyi sat on her side with a pained expression but tried her best to mask it, nodding that she was fine. chenle grimaced when he saw her burned knees, the skin raw on both with little prickles of blood peeking through.

"here," miles handed chenle a first aid kit, and the idol decided now was not the best time to ask where he'd found it. he took it and picked through until finding some alcohol wipes and bandages.

chenle began wiping one of soyi's knees, earning a hiss from the girl. he tutted at her and poked a soft spot on her calf, trying to lighten the mood. "it's not that bad. come on, we probably won't even have to amputate it."

thankfully she chuckled at that, and tried to keep the wincing to a minimum as chenle finished cleaning her cuts. once he was done, he placed a butterfly tattoo and a transformers tattoo on either knee and helped the girl to her feet.

"better?" he asked as he went to retrieve the ball. she followed, nodding her head.

"you know, all of this would have been avoided if you'd just let me have the ball."

chenle snickered and quickened his pace to scoop the ball up before her. "i promised to go easy on miles, not you. nice try, though."

muttering some choice words under her breath, soyi clapped her hands to check chenle in, and the game continued.

elly
hi jisung! did you guys get home
safe last night? i'm having some
trouble reaching chenle

jisung
eem
message deleted!

jisung
hi

jisung
chenle is busy
with friend

jisung
a friend*

elly
oh okay! well i was just checking ☺️
how are you feeling??

jisung
well, thank you

jisung
um what about you?

elly
i'm good!

elly
hey so i know we made plans
for tonight as well

jisung
we did what 😃😃😃😃|

elly
but i'm actually going to be touring
the city with a new friend i made at
the airport!

jisung
oh

jisung
is that safe ? 😂😅

elly
probably!
i hope!

jisung
okayyy

jisung
don't stay out too late

jisung
or wander off on your own🙃🫠

elly
hahaa will do! thanks for the heads up!!

jisung
no problemo

eunjin
HEY GIRL

eunjin
ready to go????

elly
YESSSSS

elly
what is you friend's name again??
i want to be prepared!

eunjin
lol npp
her name is lin!

eunjin
technically that's her surname but
she says it's easier to pronounce

elly
oh, that's okay!

elly
btw if you'd prefer to call me elly
(my english nn) then you can!

eunjin
nahh i like ailian 👽

elly
haha okay great!

elly
you have the address to
my cousin's place right?

eunjin
yep! we're right around the
corner in a black suv

elly
ooooo fancy ?!?!

eunjin
ik LMAO lin's boyfriend
likes to spoil her 🙄😂

elly
awww that's so cute!! tell her
to lock him down! 😆

eunjin
tell her yourself. we're here 😎

•
idk what to put here so how are you doing todayyy?