ᎡᎬᎠᎪᎷᎪNᏟY ( pjm ♡ jjk )

iv

it was the middle of the match, and things were looking good for snu. they managed to easily take the first set and were leading by five points. jeongguk panted, breathless, as he switched out with yoongi.

"water," he gasped, eagerly gulping down the bottle soobin handed him. but it wasn't enough for the parched middle blocker. "more."

soobin immediately started looking for the second water bottle jeongguk always brought to games.

"sorry hyung, i'll find it before you need to switch back in."

jeongguk nodded and tried to catch his breath. he wiped away the sweat from his brow and closed his eyes.

"jeonggukkie!"

he turned to face jimin, looking absolutely tiny in his jacket.

"wah, you're so cool! completely stopping their ace's spikes! so strong and muscular, jeonggukkie!" jimin smiled at him tenderly. jeongguk's heart skipped a beat.

"i..." he gulped before speaking again. "i'll shut him out again. for you."

jimin blinked, red tinting his cheeks.

"o-oh. for me?"

jeongguk nodded.

"for you."

soon enough, he swapped back in, eyes narrowed after the other team's libero received the ball. it was match point for snu, so they were probably getting desperate.

"youngjae! cover!"

"right!"

their setter positioned himself under the ball. jeongguk waited to see who he'd set it to. he noticed his gaze flit to their captain, but something didn't seem right.

namjoon and hoseok ran over to him without even thinking about it, but jeongguk remained behind. he trusted his instincts.

and sure enough, the ball flew towards their ace on the opposite side of the court.

"go, jackson!" the other team cried as his hand made contact with the ball.

but then jeongguk was there and he denied the powerful spike, a smirk curling at the corner of his mouth as he made eye contact with the opposing wing spiker.

"good game."

the ball bounced against the floor.

snu won.

the first thing he did was turn to face jimin, who was jumping up and down and screaming enthusiastically. even as jeongguk was being tackled by his elated teammates, he still only looked at the older. his face was flushed pink from the yelling, the same color as his hair. and his lips.

jeongguk smiled and closed his eyes.