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𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 — 𝟓:𝟓𝟔 𝐩𝐦
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it was like a robot. the way the man walked up and spoke the recited words in such a practiced tone using both professionalism as well as that personality he feigned. jungkook had a personality, that's for sure, but it's the kind smile and optimism that he was portraying that would be categorized as feigned by anyone who really knew him.

taehyung was one of those people, and he was doing that right as he watched him talk. the announcements were longer tonight, each competitor getting a more personalized introduction based on their training and success so far. jungkook was doing his best to not sound biased, and he was doing a lot better than taehyung would have. the younger couldn't help the way his nose scrunched when a certain males name was mentioned.

"you remember everything right?" jimin was pestering his friends brother instead of listening to the introductions, holding a water bottle between his hands until the man needed it. "go right, don't hesitate, push him left since he's weak there-"

namjoon chuckled and cut the boy off by placing both hands on his upper arms. jimin immediately froze and felt his face warm from his cheeks all the way up to his ears and down to his toes if that was possible. "calm down," the older grinned that famous smile, bright and shining despite the circumstances. everyone seemed to be more nervous than the male actually going up to fight in a few minutes. namjoon hugged the shorter boy, feeling how tense he was. "i got in under control, i'll remember my part and you just remember to hold that sign up high, okay?" he pulled away and saw how jimin was blushing and now clutching onto the glittery sign he made.

"for sure." jimin grinned, holding the sign and watching as namjoon pulled further away to take his place up in the ring.

those hands were replaced by his best friend nudging his arm, "let's go sit." taehyung said, smiling small. their hands intertwined and they made their way to the bleachers, tonight was way more packed and another set of seats was brought in earlier that day. they were now arranged in a pentagon form around the ring, people even standing around the bottom to watch tonight's finale.

it was weird how a place could be so loud, so many voices and feet stomping that drowned out your own thoughts due to the intensity, yet taehyung sat and looked at the two males in the ring and he heard nothing. it was a drowned out blur of nothing.

and then a hand was on his thigh, one that was attached to an arm with black ink swirling around in pictures and doodles, attached to a strong shoulder supporting such a handsome head smiling over at the younger. "he's prepared." jungkook said quietly, his thumb going back and forth over the boys thigh.

taehyung just nodded, and he looked back at the two guys already on their toes and just waiting for that sound to set it all off. jimin was biting his thumb nail, such a nervous habit he had. he was too busy staring at his crush and thinking of all the worst things. he certainly wasn't expecting a tattooed hand to reach up and pull his own from his mouth. jungkook smiled a bit at him, "hold up your sign, that will keep your hands busy." he told jimin.

the boy didn't think the tattooed male would be nice or kind to him, not necessarily mean but mainly neutral. jimin just nodded with a small smile and picked up his sign, holding it up high and not caring who's vision he blocked. it only mattered that namjoon knew he was holding it for him tonight.

the whistle blew, and it was a choreographed dance of destruction that followed. their faces were unreadable, no fear and no invitational smirk. namjoon didn't need to send an invitation, he knew what he was doing and he knew where he was going.

jungkook could help it, the way he leaned forward and watched so intently, dark eyes following footsteps and mentally calculating the moves of each competitor. he only felt a little calmer when a gentle hand placed itself on his back, rubbing back and forth through the fabric of his shirt. taehyung smiled small, and kept his hand on the olders back.

no one even heard the first punch that was thrown, because it didn't connect with anything but air. namjoon knew it was coming because he knew seojoon would do that, so he was able to lean back just in time and counter it with a more forceful punch knocking the guy in the side of the head.

taehyung held his breath, and his hand stopped rubbing over jungkooks back as he too sat forward more. it was hardly a win, a single punch meant so much yet so little when the round just started. jungkook felt him tense beside him, and soon their hands were together again. "he's paying attention, see how he's purposely moving towards his right so seojoon has no choice but to adjust to his left?" jungkook spoke quietly, pointing out the thoughts going on in the fighters heads.

taehyung never knew fighting was this so strategic. he just assumed people put on gloves and whoever swung harder was the winner. there was more practice and skill that went into it when it came to calculating your opponents moves and maneuvering them in a way to expose their weakness. that's why seojoon was now struggling to adjust his hands, one positioned to protect his face while the other was forced to attack, despite that one being his less dominant arm considering the way namjoon was making him step around the ring in a slow circle.

another attempted punched, blocked with the olders forearm and used as a distraction while namjoon swung again, this time connecting with his ear and causing red to spill.

the cheers spilled from lips as blood spilled from broken skin and painted gloves. it was all a blur still to taehyung, no sound or feelings of shock and excitement filling the large room. he could only sit and wait to see who'd fall. as good as it seemed so far, namjoon was landing a lot of punches and seemed to be stronger, but seojoon was leaner and faster. he got a fair share of hits in to bruise the taller males body.

taehyung didn't like fighting, he never had and he doesn't expect he'd ever will. that might be an issue considering he's fallen in love with someone who surrounds himself with it as a profession. he did like art, and painting, and anything pretty of the sort. maybe that's why he looked away when a particularly hard punch landed against his brothers face, and he couldn't help but busy his mind by tracing one of the tattoos on jungkooks arm.

it was a snake, some scarier looking one that was black and scaled all around from the tip of its tail to the body wrapping around a muscled forearm to the top of its viper head sitting on top of an inked skull. taehyung traced the body, something scary looking beautiful.

that's what had him looking back up at the match, only six minutes in but it felt like forever. taehyung saw the snakes, creeping around like a blur of black scales and their red tongues darting out across the boxing ring floor, licking blood and waiting for more to fall. their punches seemed to slow, like taehyung was watching a video and decided to reduce the speed again and again.

until it was almost frozen. the snakes licked up the last amount of blood, just to wrap themselves around the man that fell and constricting his body until no more energy or fight to continue remained.

people stood from their seats, arms in the air and mouths open to scream. taehyungs hand was ripped from jungkooks when he was amongst those that stood as well, the bias clearing showing alongside his best friend that was waving the sign even more vigorously.

then it all hit him like a punch of his own, personalized just for him and knocking all feeling back into the boy. taehyung heard all the screams and the stomps and soon jungkook was lifting him from his seat to join in on the celebratory cheers filling the warehouse and bursting the seams of the building to erupt into the night and tell the stars that kim namjoon won the final tonight.

taehyung couldn't keep back the grin on his face as jimin turned to him and they held hands, jumping up and down and just yelling because they could.

it's like all their emotions and worries were being released right then in shouts and yells, just a river of feeling spilling from their chests and finding a refuge here in the warehouse, because none of them were going to be taking those feelings back home with them.

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