3000 Stars

Yoongi

"Alright," Hoseok said. "Do I need to stage an intervention?"

"For what?" Taehyung asked.

"For these!" Hoseok said, poking at the bags under Taehyung's eyes. "We're friends, aren't we? What's keeping you up at night? You know I'd help with any homework you need--"
"It's fine," Taehyung said, pushing him away. "I've just been a little restless lately, that's all."

Hoseok rolled his eyes, pushing Taehyung in retaliation. "Sure," he said. "Restless. That's totally why you're always over at Yoongi's when I call your parents."

Taehyung stiffened. "What?"

Hoseok smirked, digging his elbow into Taehyung's side. "Sleepovers, huh? Anything else I should know about, restless guy?"

"It's not that!" Taehyung protested, shoving him away again. "And don't you dare bother him about it."

Hoseok raised an eyebrow. "Are you suuure?" he teased. "It's awfully frequent."

Taehyung grimaced, speeding up and hoisting his bag over his shoulder. Hoseok followed, laughing, and Taehyung hoped he would let the subject go at that.

He didn't.

In class, during lunch, and on the way home from school, Hoseok dropped hint after hint in conversation, giving Taehyung significant looks whenever Yoongi did something he considered 'complicit'. Examples included accidentally bumping Taehyung's elbow, pointing out Taehyung's shoelace was untied, and asking Taehyung whether he remembered the homework, because both of them were apparently tired enough to pass out close to the end of the last class. By the time they arrived at Taehyung's house, Taehyung was ready to punch his friend in the mouth, trying to hide his alter ego or no. He had training as soon as he could get away from his parents, and then he would use Yoongi as an excuse again.

Maybe he shouldn't. The thought weighed on his mind as he tried to do his homework, growling in frustration with every new piece of knowledge he was somehow supposed to remember. He wondered if Yoongi's parents were as adamant as his about getting homework done before leaving the house. He hoped so, because it meant Yoongi wasn't getting any extra practice.

He grabbed his backpack on the way out the door, pausing only to call goodbye to his parents before wandering down to the train station. He arrived on the platform and was about to turn on his hack when he noticed Yoongi standing at the line, scuffing his foot on the ground.

Taehyung fumbled with his phone, dropped it, and bent to pick it up, tugging the hood over his head to hide his face. He wasn't looking forward to his fights that afternoon if he was already so clumsy. He turned his hack on and turned the phone off, groaning and rubbing his face with both hands. He was rank 998, and that was because 998 had made a stupid mistake that had gotten him disqualified from all three of his games. In short, it was luck, and Taehyung was not about to rely on luck to keep him from losing to Yoongi.

"Are you alright?" Yoongi asked.

Startled, Taehyung stood, cracked heads with Yoongi, and fell back, cursing. Their apologies layered over each other for a moment before they both got up, met eyes, and started laughing.

"Sorry about that," Yoongi said. "You seemed nervous."

"No kidding," Taehyung said, wishing suddenly that he had edited his voice editor to make his voice less deep. He didn't like the slight glint of suspicion in Yoongi's eyes.

"You headed to the arena?" Yoongi asked, taking in Taehyung's hack.

"Yeah," Taehyung said, rubbing the back of his head.

"I like your hack," Yoongi said. "I haven't decided on one yet."

"Then don't do one," Taehyung said without thinking.

Yoongi frowned. "Why not?"

"Waste of time," Taehyung said. "I edited a friend's base for this one." oooh, he was digging his grave too deep. "It was a bad idea. Should've spent the time training."

Yoongi nodded slowly; then his mouth fell open. "You're X!"

"Yeah, what about it?" Taehyung said.

"I'm Yoongi, remember," Yoongi said. "I'm in the rank above you. We have a fight today."

"Oh," Taehyung said. His heart began to pound. He had forgotten this. Of course Yoongi would have to fight him. No, no, no. Why had he fluked those battles? He should have taken the time to get ahead. If he failed now Yoongi would pull ahead of him, and he couldn't afford to have that happen.

He couldn't let Yoongi win.

"I look forward to seeing you on the battlefield," Yoongi said. "You're an amazing fighter."

Taehyung felt the heat rush to his face. He didn't know how he managed to keep his voice smooth as he said. "You too." He didn't know how he managed to smile. His hack would conceal his steadily reddening face, but he knew if Yoongi could catch him off guard like this here it would be worse in the arena. What if he started talking about V in the arena? What if he made another comment on Taehyung's hack?

This was bad. This was very bad.

The train pulled in, and they got on. Taehyung put distance between them as fast as he could, turning so Yoongi wouldn't see his face and fighting to regulate his breathing. He had to make sure Yoongi couldn't see he was flustered. Getting flustered was the worst thing to do right before a fight. He had to make sure he kept an even keel, no matter how bad the timing was.

He would defeat Yoongi. He had to defeat Yoongi.

There was no other way.