Chapter Text
Jeongguk took a deep breath, his muscles tensing up under sheer exertion. He could feel every one of his own breaths, harsh and ragged, fighting their way out of his throat. His skates shredded the ice cleanly as he transited into the next jump sequence.
“Watch your approach on the quad lutz!”
Jeongguk inhaled sharply as he skated backwards in a curve. His weight on the left skate, he took off. The right toe pick aided his ascension, as he kept counter-rotating, one, two, three and four. Then he was back on the ice - gliding across the rink as his coach, Seokjin, clapped enthusiastically.
“That’s my boy! My baby seagull You did it! Look at you flying through all five quads in sync!” Seokjin grinned, handing Jeongguk a towel.
“Jin hyung,” Jeongguk hissed. “Not here. We’re at Worlds.”
Seokjin laughed and ruffled Jeongguk’s hair. “I raised you on my back, and I’m your coach, I can say anything I want even when we’re at the Olympics.”
“If.”
“When.”
Jeongguk ignored Seokjin, reaching for his water bottle. “I think I’m all good for today. I’ll hand the rink over to Hobi hyung now.”
Seokjin looked at Jeongguk quizzically. “Guk, really? We’re three days out. You don’t wanna give it another run?”
Jeongguk nodded. “Give Hobi hyung some extra time to do his full routine. Our timeslot tomorrow is early in the morning and I know he doesn’t like skating his whole programme when everyone’s watching.”
Jin nodded, waving to Hoseok as the other skater approached. Jeongguk smiled and waved as the older man skated over, just finishing up his round of warm-ups.
“Yo J-Dope!” Jeongguk yelled. “Did you see my quads?”
Hoseok chuckled. “I did. Going to beat my ass this year, huh?”
Jeongguk shook his head vehemently. “I won’t dream of it, Jay. Not this year.”
Hoseok smiled wistfully, nodding to Jin as he glided away. Jeongguk watched from afar as the older skater made his way around the rink, doing a final lap in his practiced, measured way.
Also known as J-Hope, Jung ‘Jay H’ Hoseok was three years older than Jeongguk, and had made an illustrious career for himself in the skating circuit, winning the world championships in both Vancouver and Beijing. He was retiring the next year, intending to bow out gracefully before old ankle and hip injuries impeded his performance more than they already did. Jeongguk knew it was Hoseok’s last professional skating competition - and he wasn’t intending to be that rookie skater who deprived America’s Hope of his final medal at Worlds.
The young skater scanned the empty arena, his dark eyes observing his surroundings as the practice session rolled on. As Hoseok’s music started (another anime soundtrack, the Haikyuu! OST this time), Jeongguk surveyed the stands, imagining them packed to the brim with figure skating fans, critics, and journalists. It had taken Jeongguk eight whole years of training to qualify for the World Championships in London, and if he medalled this time, his spot in the Olympics was pretty much assured.
In just 72 hours, he would be debuting on the world stage - and everyone would be watching with eager eyes. Jeongguk knew he wasn’t at his peak, but just making it onto the podium would be a blessing.
Not after what happened, Jeongguk said. It’ll be a miracle if I can do it, after that.
It was then that Jeongguk spotted a team of skaters decked out in white, red and blue gear making their way down the stands. From the distance, Jeongguk counted about five people in the entourage, two in black competition suits under their open jackets.
“Who are they?” Jeongguk asked, tapping Jin on the shoulder.
“Who?”
“The dudes on the stairs.”
Jin turned, and glanced in the direction Jeongguk was pointing at.
“Oh! It’s the Koreans, I think - oh, yes it is! That’s Min Yoongi, my old nemesis… I must go say hello,” Jin said, waving rather violently in their direction and hopping up and down.
“No - wait -”
“MIN YOONGI! You little tsundere bastard! Come to your hyung!”
Jeongguk stifled a laugh as the man leading the team, a short man with bleached blonde hair and a dark look on his face, covered his face in his hands. At this point, all the rink attendants had turned to look at Jin, who seemed blissfully unaware of the additional attention being directed to him.
Jeongguk sized them up as the team approached. Leading the team, head coach Min Yoongi, and bringing up the rear was Kim Namjoon, a strikingly tall young man with burgundy hair and deep, rather attractive dimples. And in between them - well.
On Coach Min’s left was Park Jimin, a skater two years older than himself who had come in second at Worlds the year before. Park had debuted with an extremely ambitious and athletic routine, but lost out to Hoseok with points taken off for technique and, believe it or not, lingering too long on the rink before commencing his free skate. Jeongguk surmised that his coach had something to do with that - he had quite the penchant for yelling out last minute hwaitings from the rink side, a little habit from which he had reportedly been advised by the committee to desist.
Jeongguk couldn’t quite place the tall blonde on Min’s right, but, oh boy, was he a looker.
At first glance, the other man seemed a little older than him, but he smiled at his American counterparts with a boyishly charming (and somehow boxy) smile. He was tall, with legs that went on for miles and a slim waist that his team jacket hugged very nicely. Kim, the jacket said
Kim, Jeongguk wondered as he observed the other man. Is it his first time at Worlds too?
Jeongguk realised he was staring when he met the skater’s chocolate-brown eyes. The other man was staring at him, rather amusedly. Jeongguk bristled.
What’s so funny? Jeongguk pondered, glaring at the other man a little.
“Hey, Jin,” Yoongi smirked, speaking to Seokjin in Korean. “Back at worlds with your little team?”
“Little?” Seokjin snorted. “Our team is the same size as yours!”
Namjoon laughed. “Boys. Let’s keep the dick-measuring contest to R&R time at 17:00 hours.”
Seokjin greeted Namjoon with a hug. “Oh well. I see you brought someone new this year! Introduce him to our Jeonggukie!”
The tall blonde skater bowed a little. “Hello, I’m Taehyung. You can call me Taetae, Coach Kim.”
Jin shook his hand. “Just call me Jin. Everyone here does, because they have no respect for their hyung -”
As Jin rambled on and Yoongi attempted to shush him, Jeongguk first greeted Jimin, before turning to the man he now knew as Kim Taehyung.
“Hello, Kim Taehyung-ssi,” he said, the Korean words coming out rather awkwardly. “I’m Jeon - uh, Jeon Jeongguk. Team USA.”
“Oh hi!” Taehyung grinned at him (with that annoyingly disarming smile) before enveloping him in a crushing hug. Jeongguk startled, awkwardly patting the other man on the back and attempting to subtly push him away.
“I’m Taetae! This is Chimchim!” The blonde said, a little breathless, grabbing Jimin’s arm and pulling him closer.
“Uh, ok.” Jeongguk said, eyeing the both of them.
“You’re Korean-American, huh? First time at Worlds too? Oh my god can we go see London together?” Taehyung rattled off in English, his pronunciation accented with a lilting Korean twang. “I heard the Worlds dormitory is really near a fantastic pub, we should go -”
“What?” Jeongguk stared at Taehyung, still a little discombobulated by the whole experience.
Jimin smiled kindly at him. “Hey, yeah. We both speak English. We trained in Vancouver for a year - Tae, you’re scaring the child.”
“I’m not a child!” Jeongguk said indignantly. “I’m twenty-one! I’m old enough to drink, drive and get married!”
Taehyung grinned mischievously, looping an arm around Jeongguk’s shoulders as he steered him away from the rink.
“Oh, my cute little one - you’re just a baby.” Taehyung said, whispering in Jeongguk’s ear. “And we - oh, we’re going to have lots of fun.”