ᴄʀᴜᴛᴄʜᴇs || ᴊ.ᴊᴋ + ᴋ.ᴛʜ ✔️

twenty-four: what i would do for you

It was a relief to him that Taehyung agreed to playing soccer. Getting him out of bed, on his feet, and being active would be good for him. And of course, Hoseok made sure the boy ate something before leaving the house, because Taehyung was fully ready to just leave without even thinking about breakfast.

There was a park near to Taehyung's house. It was where the boy would go to practice soccer, which he started to do fairly frequently ever since he joined the team, and even more so since December 1st, the day his team lost their first practice match of the school year against another school, and when Tae felt he truly let Jungkook down.

This was just another of the many burdens he carried—though he considered it merely a responsibility, not a burden. He had taken Jungkook's place. Jungkook's irreplaceable place. It was only right he earned that title.

Everyone on the team noticed his improvement. So it wasn't for naught. Hoseok, especially, made frequent mention of his friend's admirable passion and dedication to the sport. Though it was hard to tell which was greater: Taehyung's passion for the sport itself, or his desire to make Jungkook proud of him.

Sadly, Hoseok strongly believed it was the latter. But at the same time, he knew Tae did love the sport. It was simply that the drive for growth had a different origin now.

The soccer field in the park was empty at this hour. According to Taehyung, it was often empty. Not many kids in his neighborhood played soccer, though occasionally there would be small groups of friends who would go there just to mess around and have fun.

Taehyung had brought along his own soccer ball. Purple and white, a gift from his grandparents for his birthday.

Upon their arrival to the field, Hoseok immediately jogged over to and positioned himself in front of the net. And he smiled, gesturing for Taehyung to try scoring on him.

The boy walked a fair distance from the net. He set the ball carefully on the ground, knocked it back and forth for a bit, then started off in Hoseok's direction, where he duped his red-haired friend before taking a firm shot for the right end of the net.

"Your accuracy is incredible, Taetae," Hoseok said, propping his hands up on his hips and he watched the ball sadly roll towards him after striking the back of the net. "Then again, I'm not really meant to be goalie, but still, that doesn't change my statement."

"Thanks, Hobi."

The redhead smiled warmly at his friend's soft-spoken reply. "Don't thank me," he said. "We'll be the ones thanking you once we win the finals in October 'cus of you."

"Oh, don't say that," Taehyung responded, shyly rubbing the back of his neck which amused his friend. "It won't be 'cus of me..."

"Nonsense. We've already secured a spot in the finals and everyone's openly acknowledged you have a lot to do with that, Taetae." He walked closer to Tae to put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Give yourself some credit. You've worked hard for us, for your mother, and for him."

He offered a slight smile of appreciation. "Thank you, Hobi. You've been working hard, too."

"Course I have." Hoseok beamed. "I gotta catch up with you now, ya skillful little devil, you."

Taehyung breathed a soft laugh at this. He didn't say anything, though, for his mind briefly became lost in thought, and Hoseok could so clearly see that. How a thin layer of something indescribable spread over the boy's eyes and stole his attention away. It was a worrying thing. It was always worrying when Tae fell silent.

Hoseok lifted his hand to smooth down a part of Taehyung's hair that was sticking up.

"You know, Taetae, I don't think I've ever told you this, but the way you play actually reminds me a lot of the way Jungkook used to play."