Lifetime (Taekook)

~Part 1~

Jungkook was 7, and Taehyung was 9.

Jungkook was a shy little boy who found it hard to interact with new people. Whereas, Taehyung was the complete opposite. He loved to talk to and interact with new people. Taehyung brought out the playfulness and confidence in Jungkook. As long as Taehyung was there, Jungkook could talk to and play with most new people, but he primarily always wanted to play with Taehyung the most.

The two boys were childhood friends and neighbours in a quaint little village by the coast that was almost in the middle of nowhere. Their village consisted of an old stone church, a few supermarkets, cafés and shops, a small primary school and nursery, a park with an outdoor pool and football pitch, and a secret hidden cove that only the locals who lived in the village knew about.

There wasn't much in the village, but the village was home to the two young boys who had lived there and known each other their whole lives. Or in Taehyung's case, he'd almost known Jungkook his whole life. He's known Jungkook as far back as he could remember.

Taehyung could still remember the day he had first laid eyes on the tiny little baby who had been crying and screaming in his mother's friend's arms; his mother gently pushing him forward to greet the baby, while reassuring him that it was alright to do so.

Taehyung had gripped his mother's hand nervously and approached cautiously, finally looking down on the baby who was no bigger than his favourite teddy bear. The baby's toes and fists were curled as they thrashed around the air in distress, as he continued to wail with his eyes scrunched up tight. Taehyung found something so fascinating about the sight of the little baby that he couldn't stop his hand from slowly reaching out and gently taking hold of one of the curled up fists.

The baby having sensed the presence of someone new, had stopped crying and let curiosity get the better of him. He slowly opened his eyes and looked up at the face of the stranger looking down on him, mesmerised by the new face.

Taehyung was as equally mesmerised by the little baby boy, as he looked back into the baby's bright dark eyes that were staring right at him.

"Meet Jeon Jungkook." Jungkook's mother had said softly as she smiled brightly at Taehyung.

That was the day Taehyung had first met Jungkook. The boys had been together ever since; always going round to each others houses to play, or to the park.

At the bottom of Jungkook's garden in the fence between his and Taehyung's garden's, was a hole. A small gap in the fence that hid behind the apple tree and was just big enough for a small 7 and 9 year old to squeeze through. The two boys loved it. It was their secret passageway, that they thought was their little secret. They treated it as if only those two knew about the gap in the fence and as if their parents didn't realise when they ran into each other's garden's to play spies, or something of the sorts. But their parents didn't mind them doing this, and found the playfulness of the boys too sweet to ruin by fixing the hole.

Every day, around 4pm, with the weekends being the only exception, Jungkook would head outside and crawl through the gap in the fence, before jogging up to Taehyung's backdoor and knocking lightly. And every day, Taehyung would open his back door with his wide rectangle grin, already in his shoes, having been stood waiting for his best friend to come knocking.

Today was no exception. It was a bright and sunny Friday afternoon, despite the downpour of rain they had had earlier that morning, and the boys had finished school just an hour before.

Jungkook bounded down the stairs after finishing the little bit of homework he was given for the weekend, and changing out of his uniform into some comfier and more casual clothes, choosing to wear some jogging bottoms and a plain t-shirt as it was still a bit muddy out from the earlier rain.

His mother who had heard him coming, suddenly appeared at the bottom of the stairs, blocking his path.

"Did you finish the homework?" She asks, her tone slightly stern, but the look and smile she gave him was one that Jungkook knew would mean that she wouldn't stop him from leaving either way.

"Yes, Mummy." He beamed.

"Ah, that's my golden boy." She beamed back, giving his head a pat. "Remember, dinner is at-"

"Six o'clock sharp," Jungkook interrupted, "I know, Mummy. I'll be back for dinner."

Jungkook ducked past his mother and reached for his trainers, putting them on quickly and rushing to the back door.

"Hey! Jungkook! No running in the house! You know the rules!" His mother called after him. "And be careful not to slip on the mud and hurt yourself!" She added, knowing how reckless her son could be.

"Sorry, Mummy! I'll be careful! Bye!" He called back as he exited the door, his last words fading as the door shut behind him.

Jungkook, immediately forgetting his mother's words to be careful, ran across the muddy grass in his rush to see Taehyung and almost slipped as he reached the apple tree. He gripped the trunk of the apple tree to stop him from slipping, and dropped to his hands and knees, ignoring the mud. He crawled behind the tree, and ducked through the gap. As he stood up, he brushed his hands off on his thighs, before taking off again and reaching Taehyung's back door. He gave it a light tap, and not even half a second later, Taehyung opened the door grinning.

"Tae-Tae!" Jungkook giggled, eyes full of adoration for his best friend, and he wrapped his arms around the boys waist, tucking his head into his chest.

"Hello, Kookie!" Taehyung giggled back and scruffed up the younger boys hair. "Let's play!" He said as Jungkook removed himself from his waist.

Jungkook nodded, and Taehyung grabbed his hand, pulling him behind him as he ran outside.

~AN~
So I've had this fanfic (along with a few others) sitting in my drafts for just over a year now. I started writing this on holiday with my best friend a year ago, and I've just come back from being on holiday again this year with her which inspired me to finally do something about this fanfic again 😂

I actually currently have 9 parts of this fully written and I'm working on the 10th. I was unsure about whether I should post this fic or not because it always takes me so long to write things and I wanted to finish it before I started posting so I wouldn't keep people waiting for months.

However, as what always happens when I try to write anything that isn't a one shot, or is longer than about 5,000 words, I stop before I finish. I've never actually been able to complete a story...

But as much as I dislike this story and feel compelled to delete it, I've grown super attached to it. This is the longest and furthest I've ever gotten through a story, which makes me feel proud, and makes me want to finish it more than delete it.

So this is why I'm here, right now, posting this very first chapter, and maybe a couple more very soon, to hopefully compel me to write more and finish this story 😂

If you read all of this, thank you for your time and let me know if you want more. The encouragement might help me actually get to the end 😂