"Okay. Line up." Namjoon huddled the team for a short instruction before starting their final practice for tomorrow's game.

"Since coach isn't around today, as the team captain, I prepared a set of routines for us to follow." He uttered, making everyone groan.

"Please don't be too hard on us." Jackson commented.

Namjoon chuckled. "Don't worry. We're just going to have couple of laps around the field. After that, we'll be putting emphasis on the basic."

"Yes!" Soobin beamed.

Namjoon shakes his head. "However, I need to personally look over our bench players. We're competing against a very physical team. There might be substitutions during the game."

"That means you'll be doing a lot of things today." Hoseok uttered, making Soobin pout.

"I'll let Jimin take charge of the main players. Okay, dismiss." Namjoon instructed.

The rest of the team dispersed under Namjoon's signal while he attended to the bench players.

Taehyung was busy tying his shoelaces when Jin came to his side.

"Did you finish our activity in Statistics?" He asked, looking at the brunet in the face.

Taehyung shakes his head. "No. I still have three questions to answer. Ask Namjoon later. I overheard he's already done with it."

"Okay. Thanks." Jin hurriedly ran toward the direction where Namjoon was currently helping the younger members of the team.

"I said later!" He called out, but the man was already away.

"This hyung.." He shakes his head, smiling to himself. He looked around and saw most of the players already in the middle of the field.

He rushed over them, seeing Jimin leading the team.

"Okay. We'll run around the field in two lines." Jimin instructed.

The players quickly lined up, finding their pair before the start of the run.

Taehyung quickly stood next to Yoongi, however, Jimin was quick to shove him away.

"Yoongi is mine." Jimin said. "Why don't you go move back a little." He uttered, winking at him.

Taehyung groaned, moving a step back. He looked at his right, eyes turning wide to see Jungkook next to him.

He turned around, wanting to find someone else to run with, but all the players were already settled.

"Okay. Let's get moving!" Jimin signalled as they began to run around the field.

The two of them were silent while Jin and Hoseok were too loud behind them.

"Bro I'm telling you, they're dating." Jin said.

"Really? I thought they're just best friends?" Hoseok asked in disbelief.

"Best friends could turn out to be lovers, Hobi. It's not new." Jin retorted back.

Hoseok shakes his head. "How could you be so sure?"

Taehyung couldn't help but listen to the two as they continue to run in a slow pace.

"Dude. I saw them kissing." Jin whispered, making Hoseok gasp.

"Kissing?!" He blurted out.

Taehyung's eyes widened. He turned around, making the two look at him.

"W-who?" Taehyung asked, running backwards.

Jin and Hoseok were startled as they stared at him for a moment, seeing the concerned look on his face.

"Uh..." In his peripheral vision, Taehyung could see Jungkook look at him.

"Don't mind me." Taehyung immediately turned around, the action making him lose his balance.

He tripped, clashing to Yoongi who's in front of him. Both of them fell to the ground with a loud thud. Taehyung's left knee fell hard and grazed on the rough surface. All his weight was placed on his knee when he fell, making the pain unbearable.

"Shit!" He cursed, feeling a seeping pain from the impact. He checked on his wound in a rush only to see his skin scraped.

"What the fuck, Tae?" Yoongi groaned, standing back to his feet with a small cut on his palm.

"Sorry." Taehyung weakly smiled, aiming to stand.

"Hey, you okay?" Jimin went to his side while the rest of the players stopped from running.

"Yeah." He uttered as he tried standing but felt the pain as soon as he put pressure on his left leg.

"Just a small cut." He smiled, not wanting to show the others how painful it really is.

Jimin sighed. "Get it cleaned up." He pats his shoulder before instructing the players to go back to running.

Taehyung sighed as he tried walking without limping. He winced, enduring the pain.

He hadn't gotten three steps when he felt an arm on the back of his waist, supporting him.

"Place your arm on my shoulder." Jungkook uttered.

Taehyung panicked. "No.. I'm okay.. It's just a scrape." He responded, trying to move away from the ravenette.

"Really? Let me see you walk, then." Jungkook challenged, making Taehyung gulp.

He looked down, stepping his left foot without wincing but failed.

"See? You must've sprained it after the hard fall." Jungkook rested his arm on Taehyung's back.

"Don't be stubborn or else I'll carry you bridal style. Which one do you want?" He warned, making Taehyung gulp.

He quickly placed his left arm on Jungkook's shoulders, his weight on him as they walked out of the field.

Taehyung lifted his left leg, not wanting to put pressure on it as per Jungkook's instructions.

Both of them were silent as Taehyung had the chance to carefully look at the ravenette.

His heart did a flip, seeing Jungkook's handsome face up close once more. He quickly looked away, preventing his heart from beating erratically.

Jungkook helped him going to the infirmary where the university physician immediately looked at his injury.

He thought Jungkook would leave, but to his surprise, he stood there, leaning on the wall, arms crossed over his chest as he stared at him while the physician cleaned his wound.

"You must've fallen hard." the physician commented in which Taehyung nodded his head.

He took a good look at his wound, noting it to be patellar contusion.

"I'll be giving you painkillers but make sure to put cold compress on the area every 3 hours for 20 minutes as well."

Taehyung nodded his head. "How long will it take to heal?" He asked, concerned about tomorrow's game.

"If you won't put much pressure on it and wear knee brace starting today, it'll heal for a couple of days or within a week." the physician smiled before going out of the room.

"A week?" Taehyung groaned in disappointment.

"I'll tell coach to bench you in tomorrow's game." Jungkook uttered, making Taehyung vigorously shake his head.

"No..please. I want to play tomorrow." Taehyung stared at the ravenette who now has a scowl on his face.

"No, you won't." Jungkook walked toward him, stopping in front as he ducked down to level their faces.

"I'll tell coach, and you can't talk me out of this, Tae." Jungkook firmly said as he stood.

He was halted when Taehyung gripped his arm.

"Jungkook, please. It's not a serious injury. I'll just wear knee brace for tomorrow's game. I can still play." He reasoned out.

The ravenette sighed, getting impatient from his stubbornness.

"I'll-"

"If you tell coach, I'll hate you." Taehyung mumbled, making Jungkook stop.

He stared at the ravenette for a long time, determined of what he wants.

"I'll play tomorrow. If it gets too painful to bear, I'll immediately ask for a substitute." Taehyung said firmly.

Jungkook gazed at him for a long while, face void of any emotion.

He sighed, shaking his head as he turned his back on the brunet.

"Fine. Do whatever you want." Jungkook muttered.

"Wait here. I'll get you a knee brace." Jungkook quickly walked out of the room.

Taehyung smiled as he looked at the closed door. He checked his bruise, carefully putting pressure on his left knee as he tried to stand.

He was about to take a step when the door opened once more, revealing Jungkook with a knee brace in hand.

"This stubborn -" Jungkook trailed off, immediately pushing him down to sit on the edge of the bed.

"I don't know what to do with you anymore." Jungkook shakes his head, slowly kneeling down on the floor.

He carefully lifted Taehyung's leg, wrapping the knee brace around his knee. He slowly placed the cold disk inside, just above his knee cap before securing the brace.

Throughout the process, Taehyung was just staring at the ravenette like a man under a spell.

He could feel his heart beating loudly in his chest with the way Jungkook tenderly hold him.

"It's done." Jungkook uttered, lifting his gaze only to see Taehyung deeply staring at him.

He stopped, seeing the look in the brunet's eyes that made him harshly intake a sharp breath.

Both of them were caught up in each other's eyes as the feeling of longing passed through them.

Slowly, their faces inched closer.. and closer.

Taehyung felt his breath hitch when their faces were leveled. His hands began to sweat when they moved closer until their noses touched that brought electricity to his whole body.

They were so close, lips almost in the verge of touching when Jungkook suddenly stopped and turned away as if he had broken out of trance.

Taehyung blinked, face hot and flushed when Jungkook slowly stood.

An awkward silence followed, both of them not knowing what to do until Jungkook decided to break the ice by clearing his throat.

"We better get going." Jungkook scratched his nape, feeling awkward.

"Yeah." Taehyung tried laughing off the feeling in between disappointment and relief.

He tried standing on his own, but Jungkook was quick to support him. He flinched at the touch but quickly covered it with a laugh.

"I could handle myself, really." He assured, but Jungkook ignored his protest as he helped him walk out of the infirmary.

--------

"What happened to you, baby?" Tessa quickly helped Taehyung sit on the couch.

Taehyung rolled his eyes as he scoffed. "Mom. It's nothing serious."

"He had a hard fall during practice." Jungkook responded, making Tessa gasp.

"I told you to be careful." Tessa uttered.

Taehyung chuckled. "Mom. I'm okay. Don't get too worked up." He carefully lifted his leg on the couch, aiming to remove the brace and take out the cold disk that's no longer cold.

However, even before he could touch it, Jungkook is already on the couch, carefully removing the brace for him.

"He needs to get cold compress every 3 hours for 20 minutes." Jungkook informed Tessa who nodded her head.

He handed her the disk. "Place this in the freezer for 90 minutes to make it cold before placing it back inside the knee brace."

Tessa was confused, not fully understanding what to do. "How do I put that knee brace? Do I just wrap it around like that?" She asked in total confusion.

"Mom. I'll just do it myself." Taehyung butted in, but his words were muffled down by Tessa's sudden remarks.

"Maybe you should just sleep here and help me out, Kookie." Tessa suggested, making Taehyung's eyes grew large.

"Uh no need!" He quickly interfered, but nobody paid him attention.

"Okay." Jungkook agreed to Taehyung's horror.

He looked at him with wide eyes, but the ravenette wasn't looking at him. He gulped, feeling a lump in his throat at the idea of him and Jungkook sleeping together.

He shouldn't panic. They used to do that before, so it's fine.

Is it really?

------------

Love you 💜