C21 - I won't stop wanting to be your friend
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"So what do you want to talk about?" I ask Yoongi who is slowly sipping his orange drink across the table and sending me smiles every so often that I find quite amusing, but unnecessary.
(Is he always this smiley, or – I don't mean to pry – is it because I'm around?)
I secretly glance down at the watch attached on my wrist to see what time it is now, to see if I'm late for my appointment with Jimin (and probably will get kicked on the ass if I really am).
There's still 10 minutes left so I sigh, letting my eyes dart ahead, to Yoongi who's still grinning from ear to ear.
"This afternoon," he says, "the boys are playing basketball." He shakes the drink in his hand and sips at the straw. "I'm just wondering if you wanna join us?"
I think for a bit.
"Basketball?" I ask myself, staring up at the ceiling.
To be honest, I've never played basketball or any sports at home before. I never had the chance.
But I watched some games on the telly so it's no new thing to me. I mean, I'm not really ignorant about it.
Yoongi is still looking at me with expectant eyes and anticipating fingers tapping patiently onto the table.
"Sure," I finally say, breaking out into a huge grin for him to see I'm serious. "That sounds fun."
He nods and removes the straw from his cup and drinks from it.
"It's a deal then," he says and stands, fixing his crumpled white top. "I'll see you this afternoon. And..." He shakes his head and chuckles. "... be really there."
I bite my lip, flashbacks of last night showing right before my eyes.
Of me ditching Yoongi.
I just nod and give him a thumbs up. "I will. I promise."
"One more thing," he says, turning on his white sneakers, looking over at his shoulder, "you're on my team."
"Okay," I say and nod again. "Who's our opponent then?"
He smirks and now looks ahead, back facing me, chuckling to himself.
"Hoseok's team," he replies that has my jaw dropping. Good thing he doesn't see me.
Why the heck is Hoseok gonna be our opponent?
Isn't he, like, Yoongi's cousin?
I close my mouth and pretend to laugh.
"Haha. That would be fun," I say with forced enthusiasm.
"I know, right?" Yoongi says and starts walking away, pocketing the straw in his left pocket. "See you."
I wave at him even though he can't see me.
"Yeah..." I say. "See you."
When he's finally gone, I slump back on my chair and fold my arms.
What do I know about Basketball?
What do I do during the game?
Sure, I should follow what I saw on the television, follow what those players did – dribble, pass, shoot.
But this is live; happening in my actual world.
And there's one more problem. Hoseok is on the opposite team.
I don't know if we can win against him.
Knowing him, he's a very competitive person.
And he might play dirty, right?
I just chuckle to myself, shaking my head in disbelief.
What have you got yourself into, Taehyung?
--
I almost fly, running as fast as I can to the gym to get to Jimin who is probably waiting for me and planning how I should die in his hands.
I'm late, yes.
I don't bother looking back at the people I've bumped with in the halls and just continue dashing to a certain entrance even when they tell at me to not run in the hallways. When I finally get inside the gym, my eyes instantly look around for Jimin.
There he is!
He's standing near the bleachers, beside some students, and wearing an unamused expression on his face, arms folded over his chest, shooting daggers at me.
"I'm sorry!" I mouth, running towards him.
He picks up a water bottle and unscrews its cap, gulping the contents down.
I just stand in front of him, guilty and afraid to move.
He unsticks the tip of the bottle from his lips and stares at me.
"You're five minutes late," he declares, eyes dark, digging a finger onto my chest.
"I know!" I almost whine, throwing an arm up. "Yoongi just invited me for a talk at the cafeteria. I couldn't say no, you know?"
"Wait, what?" he asks, surprised.
"Yoongi invited me to play basketball with him and the boys this afternoon," I say. "I'm on his team."
"That's exactly why I wanted you to come here!"
He puts an arm on my shoulder and starts shaking me.
I look at him and arch an eyebrow up.
"What do you mean?" I ask, pushing his hand off my shoulder.
"I wanted you to be on our team!" he replies, pouting. "Too bad Yoongi already had you. That idiot, stealing you from us!" He forms a fist and punches in mid-air. "What a snake!"
"Hey, hey, hey!" I almost shout. And this time I'm the one who has my hands on his shoulders, shaking him. "You are on Hoseok's team?"
His head bobs up and down repeatedly.
"I thought we were playing Tennis?" I ask in disbelief, crossing my arms.
"I said we're playing Basketball with Dennis!" he corrects me and smacks my arm.
"Ouch, that hurt," I complain. "I thought you said Tennis back at the dorm."
I clearly heard him say Tennis. I'm not deaf.
"You weren't listening earlier. Dennis is on Hoseok's team as me. You were supposed to be, too, but you already signed up at Yoongi's," he sighs and massages his temples. "I can't believe this. I'm going to be rivals with my friend."
I smack his arm playfully and he glares at me.
"What was that for?" he squeaks, pouting.
I roll my eyes.
"I'm practicing for later," I say and receive a playful punch on my chest from him.
"We're not joining boxing, Tae!" he laughs. "It's Basketball."
I just rolls my eyes again, already ignoring him as I sit on a bleacher.
"Whatever, Jimin."
--
After lunch Jimin dragged me to the boys' dressing room, for me to wear the jersey that had arrived. He said Yoongi left it for me.
It's blue (Blue Team's uniform) and I'm wearing it now, but I didn't change my pants like the others.
It turns out that what I thought was just a friendly, simple, and little Basketball game of the boys, is actually a game filled with dirty tricks and moves. Like, there are no rules at all. There is even not a referee in sight! You can use whatever move you want to use to block the opponent. Like what I'm currently watching now. Yoongi is freezing Dennis' shoes on the floor as he dribbles his way towards the ring, shooting the ball at it when Hoseok is still blocked by two of our members.
Yoongi scores two, and the boys beside me cheer in victory. The girls behind who are waving their hands are also screaming at the top of their lungs. I almost cover my ears because I'm not used to this, but then Yoongi points a finger at me and winks my way.
"Oh my God!" I exclaim, now panicking. I glance at a co-member beside me and ask him, "Am I next?"
He looks at me funny.
"No. You have to wait for the captain to say so," he answers and waved his hands on my face. "Focus on the game, dude."
I just stared at him as he looks ahead, my forehead furrowed in confusion.
Okay?
So why did Yoongi point at me after he scored?
I glance back at the boys playing in the court, sweating and jumping on their feet. Dennis, who has his feet still stuck onto the floor, is being pulled off by his members.
But then Hoseok, with his messy hair and wet jersey sticking to his skin that has the girls screaming, pushes some of the boys away from Dennis and does the trick himself. He merely stares at Dennis' feet and after a second the ice is already melting.
Dennis runs to the side along with the other three to block out Yoongi's teammates— I mean, our teammates.
I see from the corner of my eye that Hoseok jogs to another side to meet Yoongi who is grinning.
He blocks Hoseok who is doing the same to him and it seems that they're talking. I was too focused on the two that I didn't see that Red Team (Hoseok's team) already scored three points. Kudos to Dennis who shot a three-point.
Another round of cheers and applause is heard throughout the gym.
They boys have a high-five and get back to running. I even see Namjoon shamelessly pushing a member of our team to the ground and tackling him down.
Then suddenly I see that Hoseok is already exiting the court, yelling something at his members and Jungkook is already standing and replacing him, dashing his way inside the court and elbowing the first enemy he sees. The poor boy in blue he just attacked now lies on the ground, groaning in pain.
The game still continues like nothing has just happened.
I catch Jimin looking at me with a confused expression. I shrug at him and he shrugs back. Looking back at Hoseok who is already leaving through the door, I stand on my feet and pick my water bottle and sling the towel on my shoulder.
"Where are you going?" a member asks me, eyeing me up and down.
"Toilet," I bluff and show him my full teeth.
He just squints his eyes at me, mouth agape, completely horrified.
"I'll be back," I say before leaving through the gaping doors and running after Hoseok whose form in my eyes is now very tiny because of the distance.
Pumping my legs faster, I run after him and grip the bottle tight so it won't fall. I see him turn right, to the direction of the school park. I follow him until I'm not at the park, heaving deep breaths because I think I just came from a marathon, sitting at the nearest bench I see.
He doesn't see me because his back is facing me as he is sitting on a boulder near the neatly lined pine trees. He is soaking wet that I can already see his skin through his wet, thin jersey.
I stand on my feet, grab the bottle, and trudge my way towards him. As I get closer to him, I can hear him muttering curses. I hand the bottle over his shoulder which stops him and say, "Need a drink?"
He quickly takes the bottle with too much force and that's when I see.
His hand... it's blue.
I quickly get in front of him to inspect him as he drinks the liquid.
Both of his hands are blue.
"Why are your hands blue?" I ask him after he throws the bottle and melts it by just staring at it.
"My idiot of a cousin, Min fucking Yoongi might have just frozen the blood in my palms," he says and rolls his eyes, shaking his hands in the air. "Now I can't even create a single fireball. Fucker's afraid I'd burn his face. Ha ha!" He laughs dryly and wipes the sweat trickling down his face to his neck, to his choker.
I take the towel hanging from my neck and wipe his with it, making sure to catch every falling drop of sweat.
He stares at me suspiciously, but doesn't push my hand away.
"Why are you doing this?" he mumbles, almost inaudible.
"I'm wiping your sweat," I reply, not really listening to him as I'm too occupied with wiping his neck and his pale shoulders.
"Sometimes I wonder if you're really a descendant of Sherlock," he chuckles and grabs my hand, stopping me and dropping the towel to the ground. "I know what you are doing. I asked you why."
His red eyes are staring straight at my soul and I just can't help but gulp.
"I'm..." I stupidly trail off, internally smacking my head for doing so. "... being a good friend."
He tightens the grip on my hand and pulls it closer to him, making me bend even further, my face so close to his that I can smell his warm breath now. He smirks when he probably sees that my face is all red now.
"Are you?" he mutters in a low voice that has all the hairs on my back raising.
"I am," I manage to say even when he keeps teasing me by pulling me even closer.
He tilts his head to the side and my eyes widen at the action.
What is he doing?
(He's not going to kiss me, is he?)
"But you're not," he deliberately breaths the words out so that his breath tickles my nose.
He's really teasing me!
I try to hide my nervousness by closing my eyes.
"E-even if you d-don't want me to," I say, peeking from an eye, "I'll still be a friend."
I see his eyelids flutter for a moment, eyes slightly softening.
And just when I already feel the hope inside me, he suddenly pushes me onto the ground ass-first.
"You're really stupid. You know that, right?" he says, eyes now replaced with something dark, pursing his lips after.
I can only stare at him, balancing myself, arms slightly itching because of the grass.
He now turns on his heel to leave but he stops when I say, with all my heart and soul, "I won't stop wanting to be your friend, Hoseok."
He glances at me from his shoulder and smirks.
"Then I won't stop pushing you away," he says in a gruff voice, "Taehyung."
Then he leaves without another word.
I just stare at his retreating back and slowly get up, picking along the fallen towel.
I can't believe I just did that.
But I can't believe he just said that.
He said my name – finally.
But it was to hinder me from him; to keep me away from him.
Why is he like that?
I understand that he's hurt inside, that it's hard for him to adjust.
But why can't he accept a little friendship, a little care from me?
Why is he so difficult to tame?
I didn't know, but I'm already crying silently.
I wipe the stupid tears using the towel. And when I smell Hoseok's scent, I cry even more.
Stupid, Taehyung.
All you do are stupid things.
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A/N:
Poor Taehyung :(
What do you think about this chapter?
Of Yoongi?
Of Hoseok?
P.s. Taehyung is so oblivious of Yoongi's feelings for him LMAO