13 – V focus

2:30 pm. Time for athletics. Taehyung had been dreading this at the start of the day but now, he couldn't wait. More time spent with Jeon Jungkook? Yes, please. Taehyung had gotten to know Jungkook better and knew he was a really cool person to hang around with. He was beginning to get paranoid, however, that Jungkook would somehow discover his secret, but there was time to worry about that later.

They were sitting and talking by the side of the track during the sprint events but it was so much harder without Jimin around. Taehyung was fine when he felt like he had a support system with him, but this time, he was on his own. He thanked God there was something they could distract themselves with to fill the silences that were becoming slightly more common between them. Jungkook didn't look as comfortable when it was just Taehyung and Taehyung wondered if he had done something wrong. He hadn't left yet, though.

The call for the 400m rang out and Jungkook stood up. Taehyung stayed, anxiously tearing at the grass and said,

"Good luck!" Jungkook turned around and smiled before jogging over to the start line. Taehyung watched from a distance as they were all divided into two groups of six – three participants from each house. Taehyung felt his heart lurch in nervous excitement for the boy as he took his place on the start line. The gun went off with a loud crack and Taehyung's nerves dissipated completely.

Jungkook was fast. Really fast. He finished miles ahead of everyone else and had barely broken a sweat in the process. Taehyung watched in awe. It had taken him one minute exactly to complete two circuits of their track and Taehyung was astounded. Was there anything this kid couldn't do? The second heat lined up but Taehyung wasn't watching. None of them could compete with Jungkook.

After what seemed like forever, Jungkook was back on the start line and ready to go. A gasp went up in the crowd as someone made a false start. Idiot. It was Jungkook. It's just nerves, you're okay, Jungkook. The gun went off for real and the runners jumped off the starting block and ran like fire. Taehyung was so hypnotised that he almost missed what happened next.

It happened in slow motion. Jungkook was neck and neck with another racer and Taehyung could see the strain it was putting on both of them as they shot past. When they were about 50 metres or so past where Taehyung was sitting, Jungkook tripped and fell. Taehyung reacted instantly, like an instinctual urge pushing him onto his feet and making him run. The track was clear by this point, so Taehyung sprinted into Jungkook's lane and slid to his knees beside him.

"Jungkook?! Are you okay? Sit up for me, can you?" Taehyung held Jungkook's hand, still only acting on instinct and concern, while the injured boy groaned and rolled into a sitting position. Jungkook was covered in dirt and his knee was bleeding, badly. The dark liquid percolated from a, thankfully, relatively shallow gash and was smeared all over his leg and hands. Taehyung wasn't afraid of blood. Jungkook's blood, however, panicked him severely. Only the feeling of Jungkook's hand in his kept him calm enough to speak normally.

"Jungkook? Do you think you can stand up for me?" Jungkook grimaced but nodded slowly. Taehyung carefully helped him to his feet, treating him like a delicate, wounded animal. They limped to the side of the track where they were joined by about nine members of staff, one of whom being the invigilator. He looked at Jungkook's leg, which was webbed with streams of blood and dirt, and said,

"I'm sorry, Jeon, we can't let you race like this, I'm afraid you're out of the final heat." Jungkook looked panicked and heartbroken. A fresh wave of sadness washed through Taehyung as he looked on. Jungkook cleared his throat.

"Please, sir, can't someone take my place? I really don't want to let down my house." The invigilator pondered this for a second and had barely nodded before Jungkook asked, "Taehyung? Would you run for me?" This caught Taehyung by surprise.

"Me? I'm a distance runner; I can't sprint to save my life," he argued, and Jungkook looked back at him with a doubting expression.

"Are you kidding? After I fell you were next to me in about 6 seconds flat and besides, I can rope Seokjin into running in place of you. He holds the school record for the 1500m and he's in our house. Please, Taehyung?" Taehyung took one look at Jungkook's pleading eyes and knew that he would never be able to say no to them. Taehyung sighed,

"Fine. Yes, of course, I'll run for you, Jungkook. I'm nowhere near as fast as you, but I'll give it my best shot. Now go clean up your leg before it gets infected, okay?" Jungkook's eyes lit up and he hugged Taehyung so warmly that he didn't want to let go. But the medics pulled him away and Taehyung was called to the start line.

What had he been thinking? When Taehyung had said he wasn't a sprinter, he meant it. The whole thing with Jungkook was just a fluke. Maybe the knowledge that Jungkook was counting on him was enough to make him faster. Taehyung very severely hoped so.

The other runners lined up. The gun went off and Taehyung ran. The others were fast. It put things into perspective about how fast Jungkook really was. But Taehyung could feel himself slowing down. That was when he saw the boy, with whom Jungkook had been tied, make an attempt to trip up one of the other racers. So he had tripped Jungkook. And Jungkook hadn't said anything. Sure he was probably older, but that pissed Taehyung off more than anything; he found energy from some hidden place and put on a sudden burst of speed. He was surprised at his own strength and overtook three other racers with ease. He had to push himself further. He had to. For Jungkook. But his body wouldn't let him.

He crossed the finish line in third place and dropped to his knees in extreme fatigue. Despite this, he remembered his motive and approached his nemesis, hitting him hard on the shoulder. The student turned around to face a fuming Taehyung.

"You tripped my friend. You hurt him," Taehyung didn't know where this threatening side of him came from, but he didn't object to it. The boy smiled innocently. Taehyung recognised him as a 1st grader and knew he was about to teach this cocky son-of-a-bitch a very important lesson: don't fuck with Kim Taehyung.

"Me?" the boy asked, still smiling, "But I haven't done anything." There was an evil glint in his eyes that Taehyung was going to enjoy extinguishing.

"Listen here, you little prick, I can make your life a living hell for the next two years and trust me, I'm really not a person you want to have against you," Taehyung knew that was a lie, but he was liking the power stance, "so unless you want to go crying for your parents to walk you home, unless you want to lose all of your little friends in a day, unless you want to finish this semester with the wrong number of fucking teeth," the boy looked sufficiently guilty and Taehyung grinned, "you're going to apologise to Jungkook and stay the fuck away from me. Got it?" The boy nodded silently and Taehyung patted him on the head. "Good boy." He walked away feeling slightly remorseful, but someone was going to have to teach him a lesson sooner or later.

Taehyung smiled, feeling that justice had been done.