Falling Comets (Jungkook Fan fiction)

Chapter 39

Since that day outside the library, Hyunsoo and Jungkook had begun warming up to each other little by little. Every time they saw each other, they would share a smile or a nod as a way of greeting, before they said anything else. Although, instead of things changing between them completely, it stayed the same as it normally was before. The teasing, annoying moments, competitiveness in badminton, and sarcastic comments were all back. Hyunsoo was glad the blanking phase they had was all gone now. The only big difference they had between now and before the roof incident was that they considered each other as friends.

During one of their badminton practices on Monday, Jungkook came right up to Hyunsoo after their training and challenged her to another match between just the two of them, since the last few times she had lost.

"You wanna try beat me this time? Or will you lose again?" asked Jungkook. Then, he laughed and added, "Better yet, you could stumble and fall down, the way you did on try outs!"

Hyunsoo was swinging her racket with confidence that she didn't actually have in that moment. "You just wait till you lose and we'll see who's laughing then. I've practiced hard only to see your face after the loss."

They stood on either end of the net, preparing to start the game. There were many others teaming up or playing one to one matches. This was usually how their practices went, starting with hardcore training by the coach about different techniques, attacks and defences. After that, they would move on to putting all of that into practice and just play. Their coach always told them, practice is everything. Without it, there's nothing they can do to win no matter how much theory they may have learned.

It was a pretty long match between Hyunsoo and Jungkook — theirs usually was. At one point a few other people, who had finished their own matches, started gathering up by the side and watched Hyunsoo attempting to smack the shuttle down on Jungkook's end, who in return was doing the same except he actually succeeded.

Just when Hyunsoo was about to jump forward to stop Jungkook earning another point and winning, she caught Jimin's eye and ended up stumbling, luckily not falling on her face or anything. Still, she knew Jungkook definitely noticed and wouldn't let it go so easily now. This was going to become his new favourite moment to tease about. She hoped not too many people saw. Why did she have so many embarrassing moments with Jungkook? She also hoped Jimin didn't see, because it was from their eye contact that she nearly fell, though it was obvious he must have as he had been watching her after all.

She hadn't been too far off from winning this time. Hyunsoo was improving and Jungkook could see it. He gave her a secret thumbs down at her performance, before throwing his hands up and telling everyone how he knew he was always going to be a winner. He sounded a little out of breath this time, last time he wasn't. That little detail made Hyunsoo happy.

"I'll never lose to you," said Jungkook, when he got to her after all those people congratulating him. "And you'll never stop doing at least one stupid thing in every match."

When did he get so popular amongst their badminton team? Wondered Hyunsoo. "Oh don't worry, there'll be a day when you have to look at yourself and finally face the fact that you lost. You should start preparing for that moment when you say 'I'm a loser'."

Jungkook had a smug look on his face. "You'll hear that all right, just with your own mouth instead."

Hyunsoo scowled and lightly punched him on the arm just as Jungkook swiftly moved back to avoid it. At that same moment, someone coughed loudly. Hyunsoo turned around and found herself looking at Jimin.

"Could I talk to you quickly?" he asked, looking at Hyunsoo with a straight face. There was no hint of cuteness in his body language, no charm in his eyes, or not even an inviting smile. He looked different, and she couldn't figure out what was wrong.

Hyunsoo suddenly felt a little awkward standing between those two. She didn't know why but she couldn't help but feel like she needed to do something to make their relationship better, even though it was none of her business. Now that she was friends with both of them, this feeling had gotten a little stronger and closer to the nagging end of her brain. In spite of that, she couldn't get herself involved just because she felt like it, she would have to ignore this feeling instead.

Jungkook didn't really react. He took one look at Jimin and walked away to talk to Yoongi, who had only just finished a fierce match of his own. Jimin kind of stared after Jungkook when he left, but focused back on Hyunsoo quickly. There was a short silence as both hesitated to say something. Hyunsoo was worried so wanted to ask if everything was alright, but since Jimin was the one who came to talk to her, she wanted him to say something first.

"I've noticed you and Jungkook back to being normal with each other, even friendlier actually," started Jimin. "I hope you're happy at the moment, that's all I care about to be honest for you."

She didn't expect this topic to come up. "I'm happy, you don't need to worry," she said, giving him a smile. Was that why he looked strange? Was he worried for her too?

"I do need to worry, because I know Jungkook. And this is not coming from someone who doesn't even get along with him anymore, this comes from Taehyung and Yoongi too." Jimin looked a little upset at this point. "We've spoken together about him, even though Yoongi is still kind of against me, like Jungkook, but he's talking for the sake of his best friend." Jimin took a deep breath. "We think Jungkook is in deeper trouble than anyone thought."