i heart u. | TK. ✔️

race.

jungkook waited under the tent, not watching the other swimmers get out and race, but the face of a particular boy. he liked that his plump lips were pressed in a red frown. he liked his big eyes searching. he liked the earbuds stuffed in his ears, the tilt of his head, the yawn of his mouth, the toss and pass and fidget of his phone. he liked knowing that tae, taehyung, kim taehyung, was hoping for him. for jeon jungkook.

"kookie, what are you looking at?"

a girl had entered his tent. her tawny hair was wet and strings stuff all over the place. her tech suit, a bright orange that matched her hair, was wet and sticky. 

"nothing."

"ahha! kookies in love!" she screeched in a singasong voice, dropping her towel and clutching her heart dramatically.

"stop nabi..." jungkook whined, but secretly he enjoyed it. nabi always thought he was in love, but now it was real.

fuck.

it was real.

suddenly jungkook went through a twirl of pain, of euphoric pain. nabi's voice could still be heard, but just a buzz through jungkooks head. tae. taehyung. a flash of his rectanguler smile. a glimpse of his sweet texts. the photos of everything he sent, from gardens to his own musty sneakers. it was all real. it was his heart that had butterflies, not the cage from the seoul zoo taehyung went to visit, then spammed jungkook at two in the morning with pictures. it was his own unravel of joy that sprang from deep inside, not taehyungs ramble about jung hoseok. it was he himself and not any other boy, not any other one, in love with kim taehyung. 

there was a swell of sweet, almost childish, delirium-tumbling through his throat and it seemed to puppet his own mouth, pressing a natural smile. it seeped into his already damp head, clouding his thoughts, drowning his jitters, and in replace was that face, those messages, those images-his clothes, his poetry, his eyes. him. oh, him!

he should have felt afraid. this foriegn drop of love, fogged away and he had stepped right down, he had jumped from his rotting cliff and danced easily, silently into a pool of hearts and laughter and texts and taehyung. the touch of that pool tinged him, trickled into his veins, poisoned him with heaven-dear god taehyung was taking over his mind.

jungkook was more excited than afraid.

"kookie. i'd hate to interrupt your love but your event is next."

jungkook looked up. he almost had vertigo, the intense lower to the floor he had masked on physically-hiding away his delighted dreams of that boy-had burned his eyes. nevertheless, he stood up, ignoring the slam of ache in his upper thighs. "yeah. thanks noona."

"whatever jeonie. go get 'em for me."

jungkook nodded an absent goodbye, exiting his tent and striding toward the blocks. a strange eagerness bubbled deep in him. it made him feel weird-bold and free. taehyung was going to watch his race. he ducked under a row of chairs, reserved for the officials and referees, then placed himself some feet from his lane, bouncing on his heels. 

jungkook fished out his phone

you:

jungkooks going soon.

tae👰‍♂️:

ik 🤩

you:

are u excited?

tae👰‍♂️:

to get of of here??

YES SIR🥹🥹

jungkooks event is last 

i cant wait to see u 😋

you:

no dummy💀

to watch jk race

tae👰‍♂️:

im nervous for him

you:

u will cheer for him??

tae👰‍♂️:

well, my favorite (after u!!) guy is swimming

in lane 4...

you:

ah

"favorite guy?" jungkook said out loud. the mumble of adrenaline and anxiety swarmed back to his mind.

curiosity.

or was it envy?

"event fifty-seven, boys 14 and over, fifty meter freestyle."

jungkook cursed, shaking off his parka and stretching down his swim cap, snapping the goggles tight against his eyelids. it was the pound of his heart and the letters typed from taehyungs own hand that raged him. he stood behind his lane, lane stupid stupid five. why couldnt he be four? stupid, stupid.

"yo, your in my lane."

"what?" jungkook swerved around, nearly whipping a shorter, more muscular man in the face.

"im lane five."

"i thought-" jungkook looked down at his arm, the strokes of sharpie his unnie applied for him hastily. it was a graph displaying all his information, "lane five" stamped neat. 

nevermind. nabi wrote in the most ugly, most chaotic cursive to exsist. he shuffled himself to lane four.

lane four.

"hey, is this my lane? jeon jungkook." he asked the lady timing behind him.

she gave a quick glance at her paper. "yeah. good luck."

"uh huh. you too." jungkook said, barely above a rasp.

lane four.

later, after he climbed out the pool with a half second drop and a record for his school, jungkook did not remeber anything but the swift image of taehyung sitting at the bleachers, his eyes ablaze and almost encouraging, his hands folded in his lap, a pout in his lips. and also the flicker of joy that rushed through him, powered him, energized him.

taehyung, huh.

---

i literally stalled this chapter for like one week so