His nose was terribly itchy.  

But the looks and stares people were giving him were even more bothering than his crushed bone.  

The hit must have been brutal, he thought, water pooling around his tightly closed eyes. He fisted some grass between his fingers, anger, embarrassment and sadness mixing together in his torso.  

“Are you alright?” the same comforting tone reached his eardrums, and Seugnam shivered, suddenly cold.  

“Y-yes, everything top notch,” he muffled against his mask, the fabric becoming damp because of his blood and his sweat.  

The murmurs were way too loud.  

A touch made him immediately turn his head, his eyes meeting Taewoon's.  

“Sorry, bro. I'm taking you to the infirmary. You should get rid—” 

“I-I told you already. I'm fine,” the boy repeated, fear making him dizzy.  

But strong arms lifted him instead and he squeaked, his beanie slipping on his hair. He struggled a little, a hand slowly positioning itself on his bum. 

“W-what are you doing?!” he yelled on top of his lungs, trying to punch Taewoon away.  

Girls whined and fangirled loudly around them, and both men cringed, a scowl on their faces. 

The prince hushed him by pushing one of his palms against his mouth, mumbling under his breath, 

“Just bear with it a little longer. Please.” 

Seugnam didn’t know how to react to that sentence, and so he kept his lips sealed, trying not to panic and have a heart attack. The duo went across the football field, the crowd and the players from each team completely observing them without any shame. Taewoon pushed Seugnam's head against his collarbone, and the latter felt like drowning, questions invading his mind.  

The coach from Sangik's team went to them in a fraction of seconds, his hands moving from right to left.  

“Taewoon? There are people here for that job! You have a huge role in this game and we absolutely need you!” he exclaimed, throwing spit with all his madness.  

“Job? I hit him. Therefore, it’s my job to go to the infirmary,” the male growled, his breath landing on Seugnam's cheek.  

Ignoring the sport teacher, Taewoon walked with determination towards the high school's main building.  

Soon, both boys were quietly inhaling, adrenaline still in their veins.  

“I'm sorry,” the younger huffed, tightening his grip. 

“I-It's okay… I g-guess,” Seugnam mumbled, teror slowly fading away. 

Without saying a single word, the black-haired student decided to pull on one of Seugnam’s mask strings, but got slapped on the hand instead.  

“Ow. What was that even for? You’ll need to get rid of it if you want the nurse to clean your nose.” 

“I’ll clean m-myself. I’m not a small child, you know.” 

“Yeah. You’re a ball of fluff,” Taewoon deadpanned, rolling his eyes with a tiny grin on his face.  

“W-what?!” Seugnam sputtered, confused and embarrassed. 

Still against the smaller's shoulder, he puckered his lips, his cheeks slightly puffed.  

“You're kinder than I thought,” he admitted, madly blushing. 

Taewoon scoffed. 

“I have to act like the ‘typical jackass jock' just for attention, while actually I’m... um…” 

“You’re what?”  

He seemed to hesitate, his ears redeeming.  

“A softie?” 

The green-haired boy couldn’t help but explode in laughter, his sounds lightly muted by the fabric covering his mouth.  

“Seriously, you need to take this off,” Taewoon argued, his face still showing an uncomfortable expression. 

“Yeah, yeah. When I’ll be by myself.” 

Taewoon shook his head from left to right, then opened the door that presented itself in front of them, entering the room discreetly.  

“Hello?” 

Nobody answered.  

Taewoon shrugged, then put Seugnam on one of the beds, withdrawing the curtain and sitting on the chair beside the mattress.  

“Take it off.” 

“Please, stop it. You are weird,” he said, pushing his glasses away. 

“And you? You refuse to take off a simple mask! Are you that timid?” 

Seugnam sighed, strangely tired. He wished with all his heart it would work out and seem normal to the other’s eyes.  

“Alright.” 

Taewoon lit up, then sat straight up. 

What the hell, Seugnam thought, wanting to chuckle so bad. He looks like a cute little hamster. Although he’s big, tall, and has lots of muscles and— 

What the hell?!  

Feeling hot all over, he touched the elastic an pulled on it delicately, the tissue tickling his nose, and he clenched his teeth when he felt the sticky substance glued to his skin.  

“It’s better than what I was expecting,” Taewoon remarked, admiring the mess made of blood and snot.  

He opened the drawer that was next to him and rummaged through its content a little, finally putting his hands on what he was searching for. He picked up the bottle of alcohol and a few small cotton puffs. He put some of the liquid on one of the puffs and smudged it on Seugnam's nose, without forgetting to be extremely careful.  

"Does it hurt?" 

"Not at all. Seems like the pain disappeared." 

"If it does, tell me right away, okay?" the athlete whispered, noticing how the patient was flushing.  

He smiled to himself, getting rid of the blood on his protégé's face. Seugnam closed his eyes, and exhaled calmly, his mask tucked in his hands, close to his heart. Taewoon put every dirtied puff in the trash can and replaced the material in the drawer, sitting on the wooden seat. 

The door opened, and both of them stilled. 

“Who is there?” a voice exclaimed, uncertain.  

Taewoon was on his feet in less than a second and he opened the curtain, hiding Seugnam with his tall figure. 

“Lee Taewoon from class B-2 and…” he said, turning and meeting his comrade’s eyes. 

“Kang Seugnam, C-3,” Seugnam muttered with guilt, gulping. 

“Seugnam?!” 

Taewoon got pushed in a second, and said man tried to regain his composure, tormented and lost.  

A short and chubby-cheeked student wearing a white coat jumped on Seugnam's bed, his hands automatically touching his forehead. 

“What are you doing here? What is wrong? Where are you hurt? What is he—” 

“I crushed his nose with a soccer ball,” Taewoon explained, his eyes dark and his brows furrowed.  

The other male processed his words and glared at him. 

“You what?” 

“M-Minjae, calm down, I'm okay,” Nam said, defending the captain.  

Without even expressing a single sentence, Minjae got up and closed the curtain, clearly not interested in becoming friends with the star of Sangik High.

“Minjae! That is not respectful! Taewoon actually brought me here and apologized already!”  

He added, in a hush, 

"He was the one who cleaned everything." 

He pointed to his nose, and closed his eyes, feeling his eyelids fidgeting.  

"I'm sorry, um, Seugnam. It was nice to meet you, and... See you later," Taewoon stammered, turning towards the door.  

When the structure slammed, Minjae grinned evilly.  

"Lee Taewoon. Don't you know how greedy for fame he is? He's a jerk," he hissed. 

"He helped me, Min'! You're the nurse, you're supposed to be open-minded and... Where were you, by the way?" 

Minjae looked away, uncomfortable.  

"Um... I went to the bathroom. Just... a little pause, you know?"  

Seugnam slapped his own forehead, his heartbeat thumping.  

Taewoon's smile popped in his mind, and he grumbled, pushing his face in the infirmary's pillow.