hallmark level miscommunication

[Noah Sop]

Training with the Falmouth Falcons had proved to be much more time consuming and stressful than Noah could have ever imagined. A lot of the time he was left thinking if he had made the right decision - at least when he was home in Busan he was with Jimmy; they could leave practice together and get dinner, among other things. But here, he was worked so hard that he just wanted to go home and crash in his bed. It was usually what he ended up doing. But…not before penning a letter to Jimmy and sending it off with one of the owls at the post office. It became a bit of a habit, and while he wasn’t receiving any sort of letter back from Jimmy, he continued on with it anyway. Perhaps Jimmy was too busy. Perhaps he moved on.

Noah didn’t want either of those things to be the reason for them to not communicate. He had found himself a time or two outside Jimmy’s door, hand raised to knock a few times as he had many times before…but he couldn’t bring himself to actually do it. If Jimmy did move on, which was the leading contender for why he wasn’t getting back to Noah, he didn’t want to interrupt. He didn’t want to cause a rift between Jimmy and his new love. So he’d go back home, busy himself in plays and practice. Despite thinking that Jimmy had moved on, Noah was still goading for his bid - at least the offer would be there for him to come to the UK and be with Noah, and he could also not take it. Noah would then, of course, know for sure that things were over. And why couldn't he just bring himself to actually knock on Jimmy’s door…? He had no idea. Perhaps it was an underlying fear of rejection.

They had matches of course for the Korean National Team - the world cup was well on its way, of course. But it didn’t really give the two of them an opportunity to talk, since Noah was the seeker, and Jimmy was a chaser. He would watch how much fun he had playing with Timmy and Eddie, and how guilty he felt for wanting to take him away from that. Perhaps he was being selfish for wanting him to play for the Falcons with him. Perhaps that was another reason he didn’t bring anything up - he felt selfish.

Early December he received an owl from Cody - his teammate was getting married. Noah had met Alice a few times, and she was a lovely girl…not one that Noah would have expected Cody to fall in love with and let alone get married to - and he only thought this because he never thought Cody was the type to get married. But he was glad it was Alice - she brought a new light to him that didn’t exist before. A light that Noah thought he had kindled with Jimmy…but now…seemingly had gone out. He wasn’t jealous of Cody and Alice’s relationship, not at all. It just kind of made him sad to think that he wasn’t going to be able to have that. He had no interest in moving on at this point…and that was when he hatched the plan - David had told him there was no time like the present to tell him how he felt, and when he saw Jim at Cody’s wedding, he was going to tell him how he felt. It was only fair that he knew.

The wedding came, and Noah sat with Ashe and David, enjoying being able to just sit and enjoy his time without having to run here or there or what have you. Eddie and Timmy slipped in with Jenny and SuLi; Noah had opened his place up for people to stay if they wanted to, and so far it was Eddie and Tim. Not Jimmy. And when Jimmy finally walked through the door…it was like a halo of light cascaded over him. His hair was just as shiny, his lips curled into that same sweet, flirtatious grin, and Noah felt like he was locked in place, the only time he was able to look away was when Jimmy cast a glance in his direction; Noah averted his eyes to make it seem less like he was a creep, that he was staring at him.

Noah got up a few times to head over to Jimmy, to say hello, to talk to him. But the moment he actually got the nerve, there was a brunette sitting with him at the bar. Noah saw a light in his eyes, and the way she was animatedly talking meant she was probably into it. Noah’s heart sank. Perhaps this was the first time those two had met, but they were clearly hitting it off, and Noah tried to drown his sorrows in alcohol, seemingly the same thing Alvin Park, a friend of the bride’s, was doing right beside him. The two chatted a little - just small talk, and it seemed that perhaps Alvin was having similar feelings to the situation as Noah, as his glance shifted over to the flirtatious pair more than once, too. What had the two of them done wrong to deserve getting drunk alone at a bar during a wedding?

Noah didn’t last long. He wished the bride and groom well, and reminded Timmy and Eddie they were welcome to stay at his place; he had a couple extra bedrooms. A lot of space that he really didn’t need. He went home, and went to bed, wondering if he’d even want to go to breakfast the next morning, knowing that Jimmy had probably taken that pretty brunette from the bar home.

But, he did.

And…somehow, the two of them sat next to one another. Noah mixed his coffee with a coffee stirrer, watching the liquid spin around in the mug rather than looking at anyone else. Jimmy never showed up to stay, so he must have…It hurt to think about. And when the bride asked the brunette something about where she’d gotten off to that morning since she wasn’t home? It just confirmed it all. Noah had rested his hands in his lap as they waited for the food, and after a few moments of his insides just urging him to do something...his hand brushed lightly against Jimmy’s thigh, lingering for a moment midair before he brought his hand back to his lap. He didn’t look at his love to see if he reacted in any sort of way - he just stared at his coffee. And when breakfast was done, he’d just…go right back to what he’d been doing for the last few months, secretly hoping that Jimmy would follow him home, would ask him what for…something.

Anything.