3000 Stars

Fight Club

The fight club was so familiar. Taehyung breathed in the smell of sweat and smiled, stretching. Yes, he had missed this. He had--

No. He couldn't forget why he was really here. He had to keep Yoongi from reaching the top of the heap, had to make sure Yoongi could never win their bet. He had to make Yoongi give up.

But couldn't he lose himself in the memories for a moment?

When he spotted Dreyk, the air nearly left his lungs. Taehyung let his face split into a grin, folding his arms. He looked around for Yoongi and Namjoon and, seeing neither of them, felt a spurt of euphoria.

"Yah! Dreyk!" he called. "You up for a duel?"

Dreyk turned around so fast his hack glitched. Taehyung burst out laughing as Dreyk's eyes blurred and relocated to his stomach. He didn't care that Dreyk looked confused and Zen was groaning into his hands. It was hilarious. He pulled his mask down, then gave up and yanked it off entirely, whipping the hood of his hoodie off. "C'mon, let's fight!"

Dreyk stared at him, looking him up and down. "V?" he said.

"X," Taehyung corrected quickly. Realization dawned in Dreyk's eyes, and the man stormed forward, grabbing him by the collar.

"You think you can get away with stealing his hack?!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Zen began. "Let's be nice. You fought him once or twice, remember?"

"Yeah," Dreyk said. "But that doesn't give him the right--"

"I made it myself," Taehyung said. "V isn't coming back, is he? I figure he won't mind."

Dreyk threw him.

Taehyung activated his power, opening a shield underneath himself and using it to lower himself to the ground. "Aw, c'mon!" he said. "V said so himself. Let it go."

"Never," Dreyk said.

Taehyung froze, swallowing. The words hurt. He felt memories press at his mind and break through-- flashes of hands on his skin and being wrapped around another body. Then they were gone, and Dreyk was on him, fire blazing up around his hands. Taehyung lifted a shield and shoved, rolling back and watching Dreyk roll across the arena floor. This arena was more like the arenas he had fought in before, all hard ground and no boundary shields. Taehyung rolled to his knees and threw up a shield seconds before Dreyk rammed into him and they tumbled across the arena.

Dreyk was as rough as ever. Taehyung was glad. If Dreyk had been gentle with him it would have hurt. It was better to be here, fighting, slamming each other into the floor until their heads rang and their hearts beat too loudly to let them hear each other.

Eventually they found themselves lying side by side on the floor, panting. Taehyung groaned, throwing his hands over his head, and heard Yoongi ask, "What's with them?"

"Ex-lovers' spat," Zen said. "Happens every time they see each other."

Taehyung wished he could laugh, sit up, and yell 'surprise!', but he stayed down, breathing deeply and focusing on the tickle of his hack across his skin.

"You need a new hack," Dreyk said. "That one looks terrible."

"F*ck off," Taehyung said. "I'll wear whatever I want."

"You can't go around looking like V," Dreyk said.

"F*ck off," Taehyung said, then rolled over and got up.

"I missed you," Dreyk muttered.

"Yeah right," Taehyung said. He and Dreyk met eyes, then looked away. Taehyung felt a strong desire to laugh. If Dreyk had missed him he wouldn't have left their group. That told him enough. Dreyk had given up, just like he had. He had to focus on what he was here to do so he wouldn't have to wait long to escape.

That was what it was, he told himself. Escape.

He didn't really want to fight. It was just an adrenaline rush. Excess energy. He was lying to himself if he thought he'd stay once he convinced Yoongi to give up. Before the panic could rise and clog his lungs, he walked back to Zen, leaning on him, and looked Yoongi dead in the eyes.

"Hey," he said. "Wanna fight?"

Zen pushed him away, laughing. "You've fought twice today. You'll max out before you can enter the tournaments."

Taehyung rolled his eyes at him. "I could care less about the tournaments. I'm just here to fight."

A big, fat lie. But Yoongi seemed to buy it. Taehyung looked Yoongi up and down, noting his lack of a hack. So he wasn't a 10-K yet. He would have absorbed the culture quickly, if his obsession with V was anything to go by.

"V looked like you?" Yoongi asked.

Taehyung laughed, more out of shock than amusement. Talk about distracted. "He wore a hack like this, yeah," he said. "Why?"

Yoongi furrowed his brow. "Why would V wear a hack?"

"You honestly haven't seen any of his old videos?" Namjoon said. "I've failed you."

Yoongi whipped around, staring openly at him. "You didn't tell me there are videos of V!"

Taehyung rolled his eyes. "Newbie," he teased.

He was pleasantly surprised to watch Yoongi's ears turn bright pink. It was nice to be the senior for once, instead of having Yoongi look down on him. He caught himself thinking he could get used to it and squashed the thoughts, shaking himself. No. This was temporary.

He had to make sure it was temporary.