Namjoon handed out their jerseys at the next practice. "They're surplus from two years ago, so if they don't fit perfectly, just make do with it since we don't have funding, okay?"
"They're awesome!" Hoseok shouted, and Jungkook winced. He was starting to become more familiar with the other boys, which meant he was discovering what he liked about them...and what he didn't appreciate so much. Jungkook made a mental note not to stand too closely to the over-excitable Hoseok, who was already stripping off his previous t-shirt and throwing the jersey on. "We're an official team now! It's happening!"
"This comes down to my knees," Yoongi said, holding the jersey in front of him.
"And mine looks like a crop top," Jin commented, copying Yoongi and holding it up in front of his elongated frame. He cast a frown before looking over at Yoongi. They both nodded before switching shirts.
"What fantastic problem-solving skills," Namjoon said with several slow claps of his hands. "Jungkook? Jimin? Yours fit okay?"
Jungkook looked away from Jimin's surprisingly muscular arms to find Namjoon looking at him, eyebrow raised. "Huh?"
"He got distracted by these," Jimin – now clad in his new jersey – said, flexing his right arm.
"Okay that is- admittedly impressive," Namjoon admitted, immediately regretting his words as all five boys began a flexing contest to see whom among them was the most swol. "Hey! Focus!"
They stopped. Ish.
Jin stretched his arms behind his back, making sure to accentuate his biceps, and Yoongi casually stretched his right arm over his left in front of his chest.
Namjoon just sighed. "Look, we have our first game coming up in two weeks and-"
"A game?" Yoongi said, eyebrows shooting up. "We're playing against other people?"
"That's typically what a game involves," Namjoon said dryly.
"So we're competing? Against other people in wheelchairs?"
"...Yes...that's sort of the whole point...Why do you look so surprised?"
"I just didn't know there were that many crippled people in the area," Yoongi said with a shrug of his shoulders.
Jungkook, catching secondhand social anxiety, tensed up at how casually Yoongi talked about what seemed to be a sensitive subject.
"Yeah, sometimes we all meet up and sit in a circle and cry about how unfair life is," Hoseok said. "We call it Cripples Anonymous."
"Only it's not that anonymous since our moms have to come and pick us up," Jimin added.
Jungkook couldn't discern whether or not they were telling the truth. He decided it was probably half and half.
"Enough chitchat," Namjoon cut in, blowing his whistle. "Let's get going!"
--
There were apparently a lot of rules to wheelchair basketball that Jungkook hadn't known. To be fair, he hadn't known much about basketball at all, so he was starting basically from scratch.
In wheelchair basketball, you were apparently only allowed two pushes before you had to dribble, pass or shoot. There was no foul for double-dribbling, Namjoon had explained, although Jungkook didn't know what double-dribbling was in the first place so he had ignored that bit. Every time Jungkook took a third push, forgetting to dribble again or pass, Namjoon would blow his obnoxiously loud whistle and tell them to start over. They weren't allowed to practice shooting at all; instead, they spent the entire game just practicing passing and dribbling.
It was exhausting, and by the end, Jungkook had a headache, accompanied by the shrill echo of the whistle that never seemed to fully go away.
The one consolation that Jungkook could take away from the practice was that at least he wasn't as bad as Yoongi. Namjoon had called him out almost every time he'd gotten the ball. That, of course, was because Yoongi refused to pass, instead focusing on driving towards the basket and being blocked by Hoseok – who was undoubtedly the fastest of all of them – every time. He grew more and more frustrated over the course of the practice, and when Namjoon blew his whistle to signal the end of practice, Yoongi got up and stormed off.
Jungkook put his wheelchair away before going back and grabbing Yoongi's.
"You don't have to do that, I'll get it," Namjoon said, looking up from his binder and tucking it under his arm.
"Oh...all right..." Jungkook hovered for a moment, switching his weight between his left and right feet. "Namjoon?"
"Yeah?"
"Why did you ask Yoongi to play?" Jungkook asked before hurrying on, afraid that his words sounded mean. "I just...I get that he was a hotshot on the basketball team, but it doesn't really seem like...you know..."
"Well, for starters, Yoongi is a really good player. If possible, I'd like our team to win a game or two. So that's my selfish reasoning as a coach," Namjoon began, setting his hand down on Yoongi's wheelchair. "Yoongi got kicked off the basketball team because he was too self-centered." Namjoon paused, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "And that just won't work in this game. This isn't a sport where you can win alone. It's just not possible."
"So the coach asked you to take Yoongi? To teach him how to play well with others?"
"No, I asked the coach if we could borrow Yoongi and maybe teach him a few things along the way," Namjoon corrected before giving Jungkook a smile. "You should head on home, Jungkook. Good work today," he said, giving a salute before beginning to push Yoongi's empty wheelchair toward the storage closet.
Jungkook watched him go for a few seconds, trying to figure out who exactly Namjoon was and what he was trying to accomplish before turning and heading out the gym doors.
-updated 05/14/20 (mm/dd/yy)-
