Once the ball reached the apex of its trajectory Jin moved through the serve motion with practiced fluidity.
Coil.
Load.
Unleash.
*TWACK*
The ball cracked off his strings with a clean and satisfying sound. The ball then flew in a straight line powerfully, landing in the service box right on the T and skidding forward with respectable pace.
He turned slightly to catch the coach's expression– raised brows and a thoughtful nod.
Jin hit a small fist pump and thought 'Thank god that went in.'
Noah glanced over and whistled, "Damn that was a pretty good serve, are you sure you haven't had any formal training?"
Ren, still pissed, didn't say anything but his expression showed slight surprise.
Jin continued hitting serves and over 70% of his first serves went in for the next 10 serves!
The coach then jogged over, seemingly impressed at Jin's consistent and speedy serves.
"Great serves there Jin" said coach. "I can clearly see that you've put a lot of practice into your serves. However, I want to see a bit more bend in your knee. You're still leaving some power on the table."
"Yes coach!" Jin responded grateful for the recognition and advice.
"Good keep it up" said coach simply as he walked over to another player.
Jin riding on the high continued serving for the rest of practice only pausing briefly to refill the basket with balls.
Ren and Noah also continued serving along with Jin. Their serves were quite good as well however, the pace and consistency weren't comparable with Jin's.
Ren, noticing this, approached Jin and asked with the face of a saint "Jin think you could give me some tips? My serves aren't quite up to par."
Jin, still scared of Ren, was apprehensive, not fully sure what Ren would do.
But he couldn't just reject his best friend when he was asking for help right?
"Sure I'll help you out"
"Awesome, just stand next to me, I'll hit a serve and you can give me some pointers alright" said Ren.
"Sure…" replied Jin reluctantly.
Ren went up to the baseline bouncing the ball a few times before he tossed up in the air.
Almost immediately Jin noticed an issue.
The toss veered way too far to the left making Ren have to twist his body an unnatural distance.
Ren kept twisting and twisting until… he was facing me?
"Ah shit"
Jin immediately ducked as Ren blasted a ball right at Jin missing him by just a few inches.
Ren was grinning.
"Oops," he said, his voice thick with sarcasm. "My hand slipped."
Jin stared at him, wide-eyed.
This motherfu—
Jin, with barely controlled irritation, forced a calm smile. He wasn't about to escalate things… at least not yet.
"It's alright. Mistakes happen," he said, lips tight around the words.
Ren's grin widened. "Let me try again. This time I'll really try not to let my hand slip."
"Fine," Jin replied, voice dry. "But if your hand magically slips again, I'm never letting you have my mom's cooking again."
The color drained from Ren's face. He nodded solemnly, as if Jin had just threatened to take away his reason for living.
Ren returned to the baseline and went through his serve motion again.
This time, his toss was better—more in front, but still a bit short.
He swung and made contact cleanly, hitting the ball dead center.
It sailed... straight into the net.
Jin raised a brow. "Were you trying to hit a flat serve?"
"Yeah," Ren said, scratching the back of his head. "But it always ends up short or feels super weak."
"It's mostly two things," Jin began, slipping into tennis professor mode.
"First, your toss. It's way too low, which forces you to rush through your motion. That messes with your timing and makes your swings inconsistent."
"Second, your contact point. It's too low, and your elbow's still bent when you hit the ball. That causes two more issues."
He held up a finger.
"One: you lose height. Less leverage means less ability to drive the ball down into the box, and since you're on the shorter side, that height really matters."
He held up a second.
"Two: bent elbow means less power and less control. A more extended arm is firmer and transfers energy better."
Jin exhaled after his mini-lecture. "That's about it."
Ren blinked. "Wow. That was... actually really helpful."
Jin narrowed his eyes. "'Actually'? You little shit. We're even now."
"Fine," Ren said with a smirk tugging at his lips.
Ren returned to the baseline, ready to apply Jin's advice.
This time, his toss went noticeably higher, giving him more time to react. He used that extra moment to load up properly, coiling his body and preparing for the swing. As the ball reached the peak of his reach, Ren pushed upward, elbow fully extended, and made solid contact.
TWACK
The ball rocketed off his strings with surprising pace, clearing the net cleanly though it landed just a bit long.
Still, it was a massive improvement.
Ren stared at his hand, inspecting it like it had suddenly developed magical powers.
"Whoa… that made a huge difference. Thanks, Jin," he said, genuine appreciation in his voice.
"No problem," Jin replied. "Feel free to ask anytime—just don't try to kill me again."
Noah, having watched the whole exchange, walked over to Jin with a grin.
"Alright professor Jin, mind taking a look at my serve too?"
Jin chuckled. "As long as you're not planning to take my head off like someone else…"
Noah laughed. "No attempted murder, promise."
Jin watched as Noah went through his serve motion, then offered some of the same pointers. Toss height, contact point, elbow extension. Before long, Noah's serve was noticeably sharper, drawing a satisfied nod from all three.
They kept going, swapping tips and jokes between serves, until the coach finally called out that practice was over.
As they gathered the stray balls and packed up, Noah glanced at the two of them.
"Hey, you guys wanna stay and hit for a bit longer?"
"Sure, sounds fun!" said Jin and Ren in unison.
"Let me just text my mom real quick," they added, again in sync.
They looked at each other, blinked, then burst out laughing.
And just like that, an after-practice practice was underway.