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Jeon Jungkook runs the fastest. He beats everyone in his grade at races—and he loves it. Jungkook is the smartest, he scores the highest on all his tests and he loves it. Jungkook is the King of the Playground and everyone listens to him, even the Big Kids, and he loves it.
“Hey! No fair!” Park Jimin stomps his feet and curls his fingers into fists. Jungkook sticks out his tongue and tosses the rubber ball up into the air, catching it again.
“Not my fault you weren’t tall enough.”
“But I had the ball first!” Jimin stomps his foot again and Jungkook rolls his eyes in exaggerated fashion, lodging the ball between his arm and his hip. Off to the side, a gaggle of girls is giggling and pointing from the top of the monkey bars, their skinny legs swinging in tandem, all pink skirts and tanktops and whispers behind hands that the whole school will know by the end of the week.
“But then I got the ball cause you let it go.”
“It’s still my ball!” Jimin makes a grab for it and Jungkook holds it over his head, giggling as he watches Jimin struggle, till Jimin lets his arms fall to his side and gives Jungkook one last glare before stomping off towards the edge of the playground, where he curls into himself, hugging his knees to his chest.
For a second, Jungkook pauses and quirks his head, the ball falling from his grasp. For a second, he takes a step forward before a chorus of voices call him back—Jungkook-ah! Come play with us! The girls are laughing from the top of the monkey bars and Jungkook spins on his heels, jogging towards them. One last look over his shoulder at Jimin; he could have sworn he saw Jimin’s shoulders shaking.
Something clunks around inside Jungkook’s stomach, even as he smiles 100 watts for all the giggling girls and tosses the ball up to them. Something stretches its barb-wire wings inside his chest as he tries to breathe and his lungs sting with his every move. Something eats at him even as he passes the ball back and forth among his friends, all eyeing the girls from the corners of their eyes.
Something keeps him back as the rest of the kids wave goodbye and the ball bounces lower and lower and lower. Something creaks on the darkening playground and Jungkook swivels around. Jimin is sitting on the swings, a foot pushing him back and forth, his head still low. Jungkook jogs over, plopping down on the swing next to him, bouncing the ball between them.
“You can have it back now,” he says, voice lofty.
“Don’t want it,” Jimin mutters, fingers curling around the metal chain of the swing.
“We were just borrowing it,” Jungkook says, digging his heels into the dirt, glancing at Jimin from the corners of his eyes, “not like we were stealing it or anything.” He bounces the ball twice and holds it out to Jimin.
Jimin eyes it for a whole 30 seconds before shaking his head and turning away.
“Don’t want it.”
Jungkook scoffs and sets the ball down, sitting down on the swing proper, swinging himself up till Jimin is watching him.
“Swing with me, c’mon,” Jungkook’s voice spins above the wind and Jimin sighs, slowly following suit. He can’t swing as high and Jungkook laughs, dragging his feet along the ground till he slows enough to hop off, running behind Jimin’s swing to give it a push.
“Ah! I’m gonna fall!”
“You’re not!” Jungkook gives him another push and Jimin swings ever-higher, fingers tight around the metal chains. “You know, mama said that if you swing high enough, you can kick holes in the sky and that’s what the stars are.”
Jimin laughs, “No they’re not—papa said that stars are just giant balls of gas a longggg way away,” he cuts off as Jungkook gives him another push and Jimin yelps. The swing pauses at the top, just a second, and Jimin feels the world fall away.
“Give it a kick! Go on!” Jungkook’s voice echoes up from the ground.
And Jimin does. He kicks his feet high and feels the wind rise around him, warmth pooling from the summer night, holding him still, buoying him up till he’s face to face with the Moon. Then he’s falling back down to Earth, breathless, with a handful of night sky.
“Didya do it?” Jungkook asks as he catches Jimin’s swing and pulls it to a stop. Jimin nods, grinning as wide as silver and Jungkook smiles too, offering Jimin a hand. Jimin’s grin fades as he eye’s Jungkook’s hand, shoulders hunching over again.
“I… I’m sorry bout taking your ball… it wasn’t nice,” Jungkook says, his voice small. Jimin shrugs and doesn’t answer.
“But all the pretty girls were watching…”
“Well I like you better when the girls aren’t watching.” Jimin crinkles his nose and shuffles his feet and refuses to look at Jungkook. Jungkook stares, his head quirking to one side. “You’re nice when the girls aren’t watching.”
“But girls like manly men, so I gotta be manly.” Jungkook puffs out his chest and pats it with a fist.
Jimin rolls his eyes, “Well I like nice people.”
“I guess… I could be nice too.” Jungkook tugs at a strand of his hair and pouts his lips and tries not to notice the smile spreading across Jimin’s lips.
“I’ll let you borrow the ball if you promise to be nice,” Jimin says, picking it up and holding out.
Jungkook nods, eager as sweeping spring, “Deal.”
And they shake on it.
At sixteen years old, Jeon Jungkook is the most popular boy in school, and he loves it. He’s slotted for Captain of the basketball team and a favorite to make it into the SKY colleges; he’s skipped a grade and all his teachers adore him. At sixteen, Jeon Jungkook is on top of the world. And he loves it.
“Here are the physics notes for the quiz next week,” Jungkook says, plopping down onto the cafeteria bench next to Jimin, a notebook dropping all too close to Jimin’s plate.
“Thanks, my mom’s literally going to kill me if I bomb this quiz.” Jimin cards a hand through his hair and flips through Jungkook’s notes, skimming through the scrawling diagrams and notes. Smart as Jungkook is, Jimin is the only person to date who can decipher Jungkook’s sprawling mess of shapes he calls handwriting. He gets to type up all his in class essays.
“If you just studied a little harder,” Jungkook chides, nudging Jimin’s head with a finger.
“If you weren’t such a shitface about how smart you are,” Jimin bites back, shoving a bite of sandwich in his mouth as he drops his eyes to the physics notes again.
“What’re you gonna do when placement tests come up?” Jungkook asks, voice dropping as he watching Jimin frown over the notes, turning the book this way and that before Jungkook rolls his eyes and sets the book straight in front of him and points at the diagram, “it’s just circuits, easy shit, just think of like boosting the electricity and like connecting it and stuff, and you’ll get it.”
“Wow, you should become a teacher,” Jimin says, fixing Jungkook with a look.
“Fuck off, I’m letting you borrow my notes, aren’t I?”
“And you kept me up till ass o’clock in the morning helping you practice layups for the game next week.”
“Love you, dude,” Jungkook grins wide and slings an arm around Jimin’s shoulders, nuzzling into his cheek.
“Ew, don’t make it weird.” Jimin gives him a shove but laughs anyway. It trails off as he sighs, shoulders slumping. “I dunno what I’m gonna do about placement exams… dunno what I’m gonna do if I don’t get into one of the Top Three.”
“Hey, hey,” Jungkook shakes him by the shoulders, “you’ve got me. I’ll help you.”
“Yeah, big help that’ll be when I gotta take the actual tests. Not like you can take them for me.”
“Nah, but I can help you cram for it till the last minute.” Jungkook gives Jimin’s hair and affectionate ruffle and Jimin smiles despite himself.
“You’re too nice to me,” Jimin says, sighing and leaning back to stretch his arms. Jungkook steals a bite of his sandwich and swallows, tapping his finger against the notes.
“We made a deal, remember?”
“Right.” Jimin hunches back over the notes and Jungkook tries to explain circuits in a language that Jimin can understand.
“Three more weeks till the exams,” Jungkook tosses a rubber ball against the back of Jimin’s head and it bounces off. Jimin shakes his head and heaves a long breath.
“You’re gonna kill all my braincells,” Jimin says, feet digging into the dirt of the old playground.
“Not like there was much to begin with.” Jungkook gives Jimin a lopsided grin as he plops down on the swing beside Jimin.
“Hm.”
Jungkook blinks. “Uh, this is the part where you tell me to fuck off, or like to shove something really unpleasant up my ass, or—”
“Not in the mood.” Jimin cards a hand through his hair, eyes trained on his feet as he pushes himself back and forth on the old swing. Jungkook stares at him for five more second before he drops the ball and flips over his swing, rounding to stand behind Jimin, wrapping both his hands around the metal supports and pulls back, pushing hard.
“Fuck!” Jimin clutches at the swing as he goes flying, Jungkook’s laugh bubbling up around him. “Shit gimme a warning next time you giant asshat!”
“That’s more like it,” Jungkook gives him another push and Jimin goes flying up again.
“Is this some weird—ancient meditation thing—to get my chi going to help me think or something cause it’s—really not—doing much!” His words are punctuated with deep breaths as he hits the peak of the swing’s arc and comes back down, gravity pulling at this stomach, stealing his voice.
“Nah, I just like being verbally abused.” Jungkook gives him another shove before sitting down on his own swing and working his way up till they’re swinging on a parallel.
“You’re makin’ it weird,” Jimin tosses back, through a laugh of his own.
Their feet stretch out in front of them, kicking at the sky.
Jungkook phones Jimin 25 times in the span of 30 minutes, pacing up and down in front of the playground. It goes to voicemail 24 times. The last time, Jimin picks up.
“Holy shit, answer your fucking phone you—”
“I got into Korea University.”
Jungkook almost drops his phone. “No fucking way.”
“Hell to the yeah fucking way.” Jimin’s voice statics through the phone, too loud, too bright, too high, too close. A rubber ball meets the back of Jungkook’s head and he really does drop his phone this time.
“Shit,” he swivels around and Jimin smirks as he shove his phone back into his pocket, a distinctive strut to his walk. Jungkook jogs over and hugs Jimin so hard his feet leave the ground.
“Dude. Put me down,” but Jimin is thumping him on the back.
“You got in! You fucking got in!” Jungkook sets Jimin down and shakes him by the shoulders. Jimin rolls his eyes and swats him away.
“Wouldn’t have been able to if you hadn’t helped me cram. But which one are you going to?”
Jungkook blinks, “Korea University.”
“Wait, I thought you got into all three.”
“I did.”
Jimin frowns. Jungkook shoves his hands into his pockets and digs his heels into the ground, turning so Jimin can’t see his face.
“You didn’t…”
“Don’t flatter yourself.” Jungkook scoffs, sitting down hard on his swing.
“Oh sweet mother of dicks, you did.” Jimin sounds more gleeful than he had when he’d answered the phone.
“Shut up before I shove an entire textbook up your ass.” Jungkook’s cheeks are parrying the sunset bleeding across the horizon. Above them, the first star blinkers into existence and a sliver of the moon grins down at them, watching with knowing eyes.
“Metaphorically, you already did that, last week, when you were helping me cram,” Jimin says, sitting down on his own swing, swaying back and forth.
“Now who’s makin’ it weird?”
“You did it first.”
“I can’t believe I’m going to the same college as you. God I have so many regrets.” Jungkook buries his face in his hands and Jimin laughs.
“Well, you still have a chance to choose somewhere else,” Jimin says, before the both of them go quiet and Jungkook lifts his head. Jimin take a breath and holds it in.
“I could,” Jungkook lets his voice float up above their heads, spiraling into the darkening sky.
“You could,” Jimin echoes, careful, still swaying.
“But I don’t think I could do the whole… life thing without you.” Jungkook glances over at Jimin who shudders.
“Okay, now you’re makin’ it really weird.”
Jungkook punches Jimin on the shoulder.
“Everybody knows I’m an asshole,” Jungkook starts.
“True,” Jimin nods. Another punch to the shoulder; Jimin glares—case and point.
“But I’m not that bad when I’m with you, so… you gotta be there to make me… less asshole-y.”
“So I’m your filter to the rest of the world,” Jimin says, cocking an eyebrow.
“Yep, basically.” Jungkook nods, grinning wide.
“Great. I should put that on my resume—making sure Jungkook doesn’t offend the entire universe.” Jimin pushes himself into a light arc with his feet, working till he’s swinging properly. Jungkook joins him in a few minutes, whooping as they kick up their feet towards the sky and the stars appear four by four, two for each.
“You really think we’ll be okay?” Jungkook asks, glancing over at Jimin as they both hop off their swings and Jimin picks up the rubber ball. Jimin tosses it to him and Jungkook catches it in his chest.
“You’re still borrowing that right?”
Jungkook looks down at the ball and gives it a bounce, “Yeah.”
Jimin grins. “Then yeah, we’ll be alright. We’ve punched holes in the sky, dude, we’ll be just fine.”