shy captain | s. mingi
word count: 3.6k (oof) Genre: fluff, college au (+ attempts to be funny?) Pairing: shy basketball captain! Mingi x college student! reader Requested: yes and thank you!! A/N: oh boy, it’s bad. I don’t know anything about basketball, I really tried my best, I really hope this is what you had in mind. And Mingi is such a sweet bub he’s a tol cutie, thank you for having requested something for him!! :(( Warnings: none (maybe some inconsistencies and not as well written as I hoped but yeet)
“Are those credits really unavoidable?” you asked your friend as you counted the number of credits you earned for the past two years. “Yeah,” she answered and you huffed. “If you don’t take part in any extracurricular activities, you won’t get enough credits to pass the year. It’s written in the rules.” You nodded and thanked her as you took a sight at the paper in front of you, your head still filled with doubts.
To get your degree, of course, you had to follow academic classes, but you also needed to attend extra activities, an artistic one and a sporty one. The education officer of your college had this mindset that it is essential to keep the students creative and healthy. You would’ve actually enjoyed taking those classes if they weren’t marked with credits. It felt more like a chore than a hobby or a way of destressing from the constant pressure you felt in college.
You still had a year left, but you couldn’t see yourself taking some time for those extra classes next year. You knew that your last year will be hectic, so you didn’t want to add even more pressure. Your friend’s brother was a year above you two and he is taking those extra classes now, but he deeply regrets it. Your hands clenched around the paper they were holding, and you stopped listening to your friend. Earlier in the day, at lunch, you spied the notice board and saw the basketball manager hanging a piece of paper and left as quickly as he came. You immediately rushed to the board and read the paper. They were looking for a new team manager since the former one had graduated at the beginning of this semester. You shrugged and unpinned the paper, bringing it back to your table, where your friend was waiting for you with a frown on her face. You indeed left her without warning her, and she was explaining to you something rather important.
“Is really that piece of paper more valuable than what I was telling you?” she crossed her arms on her chest and you grimaced. “I'm sorry, I just need to find every opportunity to earn those damn credits.” You answered as she took the paper from your hands. “The basketball team?” her eyes widened, “but do you know anything about this sport? I thought you only knew about volleyball.” “I do, but I asked my friend and the place is already taken. And no, I don’t know anything about this sport, but hey, gotta have those credits.” You sighed and looked over your friend’s shoulder. The basketball team’s table. They were all eating and laughing together, minding their own business and not caring about anything else than their jokes. You discreetly observed them and you started to imagine what it would look like to be friends and cooperate with them.
Over there, the boys were having a good time at lunch. They had a pretty big match coming up in the next few weeks and they weren’t trying to think too much about the intense workouts that were impatiently waiting for them.
Mingi, the team captain, noticed his coach pinning a piece of paper but didn’t really pay attention to it. What caught his eye was the silhouette running to the spot where his trainer was moments ago. His heart skipped a beat when he noticed that it was you. You were quickly reading the paper and you looked around you as you took the paper off the board and rushed back to your table without sparing anyone a glance. Mingi focused back on his friends when you were out of sight and Hongjoong was mischievously smirking at him.
“What?” Mingi asked, taking a spoonful of his fruit salad. “Oh nothing,” he said, looking behind Mingi’s shoulder. “Just next time, when you stare at your lovely Y/N, try to keep your mouth closed. You were practically drooling.” Mingi frowned and wiped his mouth out of instinct and Hongjoong shook his head while chuckling. Was he that obvious?
Here you were at the library with your friends and you decided to stop complaining about those credits. You stood up and walked towards a computer to know the section of a book you needed for an assignment. As you arrived in the aisle, you noticed a tall figure, a finger trailing against the books, as if he was looking for something. It was Mingi, the captain of the basketball team. Because of his soft features and choice of clothes, it was hard to believe, but he was apparently a good captain. You didn't really know how to make yourself noticeable to him, so you decided to clear your throat and greet him. “Hi Mingi,” you whispered, anticipating his fright because he looked deep in thought. This is exactly what happened. Mingi jumped in fright, the book he was about to put back on the shelf escaped from his grip, landing on the floor after bumping on the poor boy’s head. “Ouch! Oh… hi, hi Y/N. What, what are you doing here?” He managed to say before rubbing the spot on his head where the book landed. You smiled and picked up the book, handing it to him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” You apologised, noticing his pink cheeks. “I’m just here because I need to find a book for my assignment.” “Ah, hem, that’s… nice, I suppose.” Mingi mentally slapped himself for being such an awkward person in front of you and tried to smile at you. “It could be better if I were completely honest with you,” you giggled and looked at the bookshelves next to you. Mingi swore his heart skips a beat when he heard your soft giggle and suddenly felt even hotter. He needed to get out of here as quickly as possible to not make a fool of himself even more. As he tried to come up with an excuse to leave, you look at the books’ titles, eyes squinting.
The young boy took a glimpse of your profile and put the book back on the upper shelf, trying to hide his flushed cheeks. You emitted a little “oh” before grabbing a book, a smile on your face. You hugged the volume to your chest and turned to Mingi, who was still thinking of a way out. “Do you need—” “Gotta go, it was nice to see you. Bye!” his loud voice surprised you as he paced to the end of the aisle and left, earning side glances from the people who were quietly studying near the two of you. You came back to your friend, confused about his behaviour and you started to gather your things, getting ready to leave.
“I’m going to sign up for this,” you whispered to her as you put your phone in your pocket, trying to be quick to catch Mingi before going to class. “Really? But wh—” “There’s no but, I need to get those credits this year. See you in class.” You sent her a flying kiss and you hurried out of the library, unintentionally slamming the door. You didn’t manage to find Mingi to talk to him about the manager thing, so you went to class, pouting. Once your lecture was over, you hurried to the sports hall, hoping that the entire team would be practising already. And they were. When Hongjoong notices you timidly peeking through the door of the hall, he passed the ball to Mingi to catch his attention and gestured him your presence by a nod towards you. Mingi caught the ball and froze. He ran to his other teammates and started practising his set shots, trying to focus on something else than your presence.
The sound of balls slammed against the hard floor resonating in the hall was quite impressing. Everyone was focusing hard, jumping, blocking, screaming, cheering, it was quite familiar to volleyball but way more intense. Some players started to acknowledge your presence. A few heads turned to Mingi, and some to the coach. A player smaller than the rest of the team walked to the coach and pointed your presence out to him. You awkwardly swung on your feet and you heard the coach whistling, indicating to the players to keep on training.
“Y/N, I didn’t expect to see you here! Can I help you?” You didn't recognise him at first, but you were happy that it was him since he was your former volleyball coach. “Coach? It’s good to see you again! Maybe you can,” you smiled as you shook his hand and started explaining your interest in becoming the manager of the team. Your former coach was nodding at your words as he kept an eye on his team. “I can see that you are still very invested in sports and that’s fantastic to know.” He smiles and blows into his whistle again. “I’ll talk with the team and the other coaches about your application after practice. You can put your application in the mailbox of the sports teams, I'll make sure it's getting picked up before tomorrow. Come back here at the same time and we will talk about it.” He says as the team starts to gather around you. “Do you think I have my chances or—” “I’ll do everything to make it happen." He smiles and gets a bit closer to you. "If I were you, I wouldn’t apply somewhere else.” He grins as you thank him. You waved at the team and leave with a huge smile plastered on your face.
The following day, you were a real dynamo, impatient to be in the afternoon. You made your way to the coach a bit more confidently than yesterday and the entire team smiled and greeted you when you arrived. They were a bit too friendly to your liking, so you started to think that they were trying to make you feel better about not getting the job. Your insecurities disappeared as soon as you see the coach’s huge smile, Mingi walking next to him. He scratched his neck and shyly smiled when the coach laid a hand on his shoulder. “I will let our captain announce you the great news,” the coach said and someone pushed Mingi closer to you. He reluctantly looked into your eyes and redness rose to his cheeks. “Welcome to the team as our new coach?!” He said in one breath and the team cheered. You smiled and clapped with them as you thanked them. “I’ll try my best!” You said with a smile and they clapped even louder.
You were taking your job very seriously. You spent hours in your free time during the past three weeks to learn the rules and the vocabulary, as well as the strategies of this sport. You kept a good eye on the team when they are practising, writing down details and small mistakes that the coach might have missed. They were all extremely good, you didn’t know that Hongjoong, who was the smallest in the team, was such an essential element to the team. If he wasn’t there, the team was a bit uncoordinated, but they still managed to do a great job.
You stood next to the coach, who had a serious look but a bright smile decorating his lips. He chuckled and you turned your head to him. “What’s so funny, coach?” you asked, and he crossed his arms on his chest. “Mingi. He has never been so invested in the practices before,” he explained, and you nodded. “I decided to put him as the captain to make himself stand more in the team and it seems to work.” You noted that information at the back of your head and focused back on the boys. “Or else,” he lingered, “he has someone to impress.” He smiled while looking at you. It takes you only seconds to realise what he was implying. “What? Me? Do you really think he wants to impress me?” You frowned, confused. “I don’t know,” he laughed, “he’s behaving like that since you arrived in the team, so it could be the case. But it's just an impression.” You looked at your coach with suspicious eyes and he joined his hands behind his back, feigning innocence. When you looked back at the boys, your eyes were drawn to Mingi and you start to wonder. Did he really have a crush on you? But why? Maybe this could explain his behaviour at the library and why he can’t look at you straight in the eyes.
Practice ended and you threw bottles of water to the players, each catching it with ease. Mingi almost missed it and it made you smile, but you didn’t let it show. You had to admit that he’s quite endearing when he’s all shy and clumsy around you. Sometimes, he looks at you during practice to see if you look at him back. Okay, most of the times it makes him miss, but he’s super proud of him when he scores or he manages to dodge one of his mates when he knows you're watching. However, when you catch his gaze and encouragingly smile at him, he immediately looks away to hide his red cheeks from you. It makes you laugh, and you tease him by doing so a few times per practice. You can see that he gets frustrated whenever the ball doesn't go through, so he trains harder, and he becomes even better than he already is.
This morning looks and sounds very stressful. The players were stressed, they were practising a bit to warm up and focus because the huge game they’ve been training for so long was finally taking place this afternoon. The reputation of the college was at stake, and it’s like that in every sport. You felt like you were reviving your days back when you were playing volleyball, the pressure was the same and you weren't even playing. You tried to comfort the players the best you could and gave them encouraging words.
The game wasn’t going according to plan. They made quite a lot of small mistakes in the first 20 minutes and you could see that the players, as well as the coach, you and the substitute players, were starting to get nervous and mad. Your coach asked for a time-out and you were quick to deliver smiles, towels and water. The players needed encouragement and sympathy, so you tried your best not to let your worry show on your face.
“Y/N, something to add to the strategy?” Your coach asked, everyone now staring at you. “No,” you shook your head as you grab another water bottle from the cool box, "apart from trying to stay calm and composed. It’s a tough match but you trained for it, it’s not like you to make mistakes during a match. Try to focus as much as you can and work in a team, that’s the most important part. Listen to each other too, you’ll get even better.” "Let’s go boys!” The coach yelled and laid a hand on Hongjoong’s shoulder. You smiled to the boys as you saw the timer of the break running out.
Mingi stayed a bit behind, patting his forehead dry with a towel and you walked up to him with the bottle of water he asked for during the match. He looked so nervous that you started to feel bad for him. He took the bottle without a word and gulped some water without breathing. “Mingi, look at me,” he stopped drinking and briefly looked at you before staring at the court. You grabbed his arm and settled yourself in front of him, forcing him to look at you. “Mingi, you got this. I know it’s a lot of pressure to be the captain of a team and manage it, but I also know you are capable. Remember, you trained so hard these past few weeks, you did your best and you’re still doing so. Listen to your teammates, do not hesitate to give orders or make yourself stand on the court. You’re a great player, Mingi, I know you can carry your team and make it through the finals, alright?” You squeezed his forearm and he nodded, gulping a last sip of water before shyly smiling at you and handing you his stuff. “Make me proud.” You whispered as the buzzer resonated in the hall and he went back on the court, your last words trotting in his head.
“What did you say to our lovely captain? He looks boosted again.” The coach said as he sat down next to you on the white bench, looking at the time on the huge clock on the wall. “Just some words of encouragement from a captain to another,” you said as you focused on Mingi playing with a soft smile on your face. “Nothing else.” The boys were doing better than before, but you could see that they were giving their best for the last ten minutes. Their opponent team was pretty tough, this college was hard to beat in every sport. Your boys managed to get back up on their feet and were scoring more and more as the time passed by. You nodded to Mingi every time he crossed your gaze and it did nothing but boost his confidence. You really started to believe the coach’s remarks from a few weeks ago; you were Mingi’s motivation.
The stress was almost unbearable. The time was starting to run out and they still had 4 points to catch up with. Two minutes from the end game, Yunho managed to score, making the scores 131-129 for the other team. “They can’t lose for two points,” you mumbled to yourself through gritted teeth. The coach was nervous too, but he remained stoic. Just like when you were losing during volleyball. He never let his emotions surpass him. “Two points away from going to finals, ten seconds left, it’s impossible,” you watched the opponent team engage and one of the players winked at you with a smirk as he started running, dribbling. You frowned and you felt your body fulminate at his insolence. He was about to shoot from the three-point line but Mingi blocked him, grabbing the ball and throwing it to Yunho near their three-point line and shot. Yunho didn’t move from his spot as everyone watched the ball fly. The time was running, and you were holding your breath, your eyes going from the timer to the ball and vice versa, waiting for the buzz to go off before the ball could even pass the loop. You closed your eyes and heard the buzz indicating the end of the match as you took your head in your hands. However, you flinched when you heard the coach yell and stand up with his arms in the air. You looked at the score.
131-132.
You joined your coach by screaming in happiness with him, clapping as you watch the boys meet in a hug. You stopped clapping for a second, making eye-contact with the insolent boy from before and you just shrugged. You smiled and cheered for your team as they came to you. You hugged them even if they were drenched in sweat and you congratulated them. “Good job boys! Let's go to the finals!” You yelled and the only thing you could hear was the audience filled with parents and students from your college clap and cheer for your team. After celebrating for a while and shaking hands with the sheepish opponent team, the boys went to shower and you start cleaning while your coach talked to some parents. Mingi and Yunho were the first two to get out of the changing room, freshly showered, dressed in their everyday clothes. Yunho jogged to the coach and hugged the woman, who seemed to be his mom. You watched and smiled at their interaction but someone behind you cleared their throat, making you turn around.
“Mingi,” you said with a smile, correctly putting the lid back on the cool box and locking it. “You played well,” you got closer, your hands awkwardly joined behind your back as you smiled. “It’s… it’s all thanks to you,” he mumbled but you were close enough to catch it. “Me? But I didn’t play, you should be proud of yourself.” “I am but-- I wouldn’t have been able to go back on track without… you a-and your words.” He said, scratching his neck while he stares at the coach behind your shoulder. “You really helped me, y-you gave me energy and… yeah, thank you for that.” You both smiled at each other and stayed like that for a couple of minutes, not really knowing how to keep the conversation going.
“Do you…” Mingi started, “do you happen to be free th-this weekend?” “Hum,” you thought, “not on Sunday, but yeah I’m free on Saturday!” “Will you go on a d-date with me, then?” He says, playing with the strap of his gym bag, looking rather nervous. “I’d love to" you answered, beaming, eyes filled with tenderness. His eyes widened and his mouth slightly stood agape. “Really?” he breathed, his cheeks becoming furiously red as he started to laugh nervously. “Yeah!” you giggled and started to walk out of the gym hall along with Mingi, who wasn’t scared to be this close to you anymore. You bid farewell to your coach and Yunho and you took the opportunity of you and Mingi's hands resting not too far from each other to link your pinky with his, a big smile forming on his lips as he met your eyes.