Chapter Text
Taehyung had about four seconds before he died.
Three.
Two.
One.
“Kim Taehyung!”
Yup. This was it.
“Didn’t I tell you to work on your conditioning!”
He went running every day during the summer, not that Jimin would back him up on that, that traitor.
“Coach, I did,” Taehyung groaned out with his hands on his knees.
“Doesn’t look like it to me, so take another two laps before you join the rest of us in actual practice.”
Taehyung heard snickering behind him, and he didn’t have to look to know that it was Jimin.
(Some soulmate he was.)
Three hours was a brutally long practice when you were out of “Coach Sejin playing shape”, which essentially amounted to being able to sprint for three hours straight without stopping for a breath.
Only one person was able to meet all of Coach Sejin’s ideals of a perfect player—Seokjin. Taehyung and Jimin joked that the reason Seokjin was the favorite was the similarity of names when they were both bitter and hating the fact that they were more or less benchwarmers, despite all the three-hour practices and countless other hours practicing in Jimin’s expansive backyard.
Seokjin was one of those people who would bring a two-liter water bottle to class every day and brag that he finished it twice over before the end of the day. He used to tease both Jimin and Taehyung mercilessly before he started falling for one Kim Namjoon, a genius who identified more with people like Jimin and Taehyung than people like Seokjin. Namjoon and Seokjin were good for each other. Namjoon was more present when Seokjin was around, and Seokjin was less judgmental once Namjoon was in his life. Seokjin kept drinking his four liters of water though.
Taehyung hated to admit it, but he was extremely jealous of Seokjin’s life. He was the captain of the soccer team, had an amazing, loving boyfriend, and a stupidly (perfectly) handsome face. And Taehyung had front row seats to all of these milestones.
It was sickening.
Taehyung, on the other hand, was romantically loveless and would be lonely if his one and only friend ever abandoned him.
Right now, he was tired, sore, smelled horrible, and ticked off that his coach wasn’t seeing the hard work that he was putting in to actually see some playing time.
Someone slammed into him, almost knocking him to the ground.
“Tae Tae! I can’t believe that you had to run extra after all the work you put in this summer!”
Jimin was lucky he was Taehyung’s soulmate, or he would have killed him that very moment. Instead he just dumped Jimin off his back and ignored his offended noise, lengthening his stride to avoid Jimin.
“Tae! Wait for me!”
He’d catch up soon enough, but Taehyung wasn’t ready to listen to his teasing yet. Or ever.
What else did he have to do in order for people to start noticing what he was doing? Was there something wrong with what he’d done? Was there something wrong with him?
“Tae, I see that look on your face. You’d better quit thinking like that before I slap those thoughts out of your head.”
Taehyung sighed.
“But Chim, what else could I do? I have done everything that’s been asked of me and more!”
“I know, babe. You don’t have to tell me.”
“I know I don’t, but you seem to be the only one to see or even understand what I’m trying to do here.”
Jimin quickly wrapped around Taehyung for comfort, knowing that sometimes it was the only way for Taehyung to calm down.
“Baby.”
Jimin only called Taehyung that for two reasons. Either he was overwhelmed with love for the younger or he was trying to talk him down from a possible panic attack. Right now, Taehyung wasn’t sure which one it was.
“Baby, I love you so much.”
“I love you too, Chim.”
“Don’t interrupt me! I’m telling you something important.”
“Sorry.” Taehyung found himself smiling at his best friend despite how horrible he had been feeling and was still feeling. Jimin had that effect on people.
“Anyways, I was going to say that one day everyone is going to notice how much effort you’ve put in and they’ll be so amazed they won’t even know what to do with you, and I’ll be there to tell them I told you so.”
They laughed, still clinging onto each other. Jimin looked up at Taehyung’s big, boxy smile and was determined to keep his soulmate just like this.
“You smell.”
Maybe after they showered.
A couple hours later, Taehyung and Jimin were practicing in the latter’s backyard. Taehyung knew that if he could just improve his crossing that coach would have to consider him for some playing time. No one else on their team was that great. Taehyung would just have to become great.
“Tae, love, if I have to kick one more soccer ball, my leg is going to fall off. Besides we just finished Coach’s practice, so I don’t even know why we’re doing this anyways.”
Taehyung pouted at Jimin.
“Please just one more time! I swear I’m so close to getting this right.”
“No! I’m going to lay right here. When you’re don’t just wake me up.”
Jimin flopped down unnecessarily dramatic if you asked Taehyung.
Jimin knew Taehyung could get obsessive if he thought he needed to fix something, especially if it was something to fix in himself. He’d make Taehyung stop in a few minutes if he didn’t keep his word. It happened that way more often than not.
Taehyung was getting tired, and his aim was getting sloppy. He was frustrated and he knew that it was getting worse the more he continued, but he couldn’t stop. He kept feeling like the next one would be it. And if it wasn’t that one, it was the next one. He lined the ball up for a corner kick aiming for one of Jimin’s shoes about halfway across the yard. He’s only been able to hit it ten times out of the hundred times he’d kicked so far. He’s missed the last thirty kicks he’d hit. He’d do it this time. He could feel it. He took a deep breath and kicked, making sure to focus on the follow through.
And completely missed.
Instead of going towards the center of the yard, the ball took a hard left, straight into the woods. Taehyung screamed and he could hear Jimin laughing behind him.
“You’d better go get that, babe.”
“Jimin, please don’t make me go in there!” Taehyung begged with the biggest puppy eyes he could possibly make.
Unfortunately, Jimin had grown an immunity a long time ago.
“You’re the one who kicked it, so you’re the one who’s gonna have to go get it, love.”
Taehyung hated that forest. He didn’t want to go in there by himself. He hadn’t gone in there alone since the third grade. Jimin knew that he hated that forest, and Taehyung knew this was his way of punishing him for pushing himself so hard without stopping. He sighed, giving Jimin one last pleading look before stepping into the underbrush.
He must have kicked the ball really far, because he could not find it. It had been close to ten minutes and Taehyung was still looking. It was starting to get dark, shadows growing longer, flickering and moving between the trees. Undergrowth was scratching his bare legs and catching on his shorts slowing him down and hiding anything that could be on the forest floor. He was getting deeper into the woods and was starting to feel watched. It sounded like someone was following him, and he knew for a fact that Jimin hadn’t left the spot where he had left him like the great soulmate he was. He couldn’t tell if the shadows were just from the fading light or some kind of wild animal sneaking up behind him. He kept looking over his shoulder making sure he could see the edge of Jimin’s yard. He didn’t want to get lost—again.
Turning back to the forest, he finally spotted the bright yellow ball underneath a bush only ten yards to the left of where he was standing. Taehyung stepped over branches and bushes towards the ball. He had to bend down and stick half his body into the bush to actually grab it and bring it out, checking over his shoulder several times as he turned his back to the forest. Leaves covered his head and scratches covered his arms when he pulled out too fast, looking around at the darkening forest. He turned back towards Jimin’s house, picking his way through the same underbrush he had been stomping through for the last ten minutes. He wasn’t focused on the path, more focused on getting out of the forest as soon as possible. A large rustling to his right caused him to turn quickly and twist his ankle on a loose branch, the ball falling out of his hand and rolling under another bush. The pain in his ankle was quickly eclipsed by a searing pain in his thigh. A scream ripped its way through Taehyung’s throat as he looked down at the blood pouring out of the tear in his shorts.
“Taehyung, are you okay?”
Taehyung could hear Jimin yelling for him but couldn’t do anything but scream and stare at the blood making its way out of his leg to stain the leaves underneath him. Jimin’s hands came into Taehyung’s view, putting pressure on the bleeding wound on his thigh, saying something that Taehyung couldn’t hear. Jimin was wrapping his shirt tightly around his thigh and trying to lift Taehyung off the ground towards his house. Taehyung let Jimin help him up, let him start guiding him out of the forest. When he put weight on his sprained ankle he shouted in pain, leg buckling and taking Jimin down with him as he fell to the ground.
“Tae Tae, you’re going to be okay.”
Jimin was trying to pull both of them off the ground. Repeatedly tugging at Taehyung’s arms, trying to move them faster. He couldn’t move, fear and pain paralyzing him. He could feel his consciousness beginning to flicker, stars and galaxies inviting him into their embrace. Taehyung wanted to accept the offer of relief, but he couldn’t allow his best friend to drag his unconscious body through the woods while something was in there. He pulled himself away from the brink and helped Jimin to get him moving by shuffling on his good leg while Jimin took the majority of his weight. Jimin could have been talking him through the struggle of pushing through undergrowth, but Taehyung couldn’t hear anything anymore. He forced weight on his injured ankle, searing pain in every shuffle. He could see Jimin’s house which meant they were close to exiting the forest and Taehyung almost passed out in relief. They passed through the doors before Taehyung allowed himself the be swept up in the arms of a galaxy lonely enough to look after him.