Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

If he had a choice, this wouldn’t be happening.

What wouldn’t be happening? Well let me explain.

Min Yoongi grew up in the town of Daegu- yes, we are going that far back.  Yoongi was basically a superstar among his peers, even back then.  He was the star point guard on the school’s basketball team, which gave him so many advantages growing up.  Honestly, Yoongi was the most popular kid in that school, simply because of his place on the team, which sparked one of the worst times in his young life, his teenage years.

He let it all get to him and it changed him for the worse.  He became cold and started to expect things from people.  He was never a bully persay, he just didn’t give anyone the time of day if he didn’t want to.  He was only really a bully in the fact that he ignored people constantly, unless he could see it benefitting him. Every Friday after the game he always found himself at some party getting drunk off his ass.  He didn’t care about anything and people could tell.  He became the badass popular guy that ruled the school simply because he just didn’t care.

It was a surprise that he even made it out of there.  He skipped class at least once a week and when he was there, he would usually just block out everything around him and sleep on his desk.  He wouldn’t have passed if it wasn’t for his coach who insisted that his teachers let him retake some of their tests.  Yoongi was very smart though, and if he was there to take a test, he always got good grades.  Their teachers were always baffled when it happened, but eventually just learned to live with the situation. After all, he was the MVP of the basketball team, and he got their school put on the map surprisingly enough, leading their team to championships year after year until he graduated.

There was only one class that he actually made it a point to go to regularly and that was his music class. He never participated in the concerts or anything like that.  Mostly, he just went to class, sat at the piano, and played.  It was always his last class of the day and sometimes, when he didn’t have practice, he would just stay there playing anything his mind could think of.  Their teacher definitely had a soft spot for him, even though that was the class that he got the worst grades in.  But really, what did he expect when he never showed up at any of their concerts. 

To say that he was thankful that he was leaving that place for good after graduation would be a huge understatement. Everyone knew how much he hated it and nobody was shocked when he started yelling on a lunch table in the cafeteria a few days prior about how he was never coming back to this place.  He had been scouted out back then for his basketball skills, so when he graduated, he immediately went on to play for the professional team in Seoul, successfully leaving that life behind him.

Which brings us to now.

Yoongi had been playing for the Knights for a little over 10 years now.  He had made his place on the team fairly quickly and was proud of all of his accomplishments.  He was the starting point guard on the team and was pretty famous in the world of sports. 

He had made a real name for himself and he was proud of it.  It wasn’t anything like the black hole that he dug himself into in school. This time, he had actual friends that were there for him even in rough times, which Yoongi admits he had quite a few of since he started playing for them.  They were some of the best things to ever happen to him and he was happy that they could put up with his naturally grumpy and sarcastic attitude.  When took it too far, they didn’t hesitate to put him in his place.  He was truly lucky to have them.

He had a pretty great life and he couldn’t really complain. Except for now.

The owner of the Knights decided it would be a good publicity stunt to have a few of the players teach a basketball summer camp for kids, because “people love children”.  He always wanted to be the best, which was understandable, but he wanted the Knights to be the best in everything, including being giving.  Their rival team had recently made a large donation to a charity of some sort that helped children in need, so he felt the need to try and do something just as nice.  It was a nice thing to do and surely it would give them a lot of good publicity (maybe not feeding hungry children publicity, but he was trying).

Here’s the problem with that. 

The owner is from Daegu as well.  You wouldn’t think that it would have anything to do with this situation, but it does, because while Yoongi was completely miserable during his time there, he had the time of his life, always referring to those as his “glory days”. That was the main reason why he ended up picking that school to have the camp. 

They decided on only having three of the players go, and of course he just had to be chosen as one of them.  Yoongi definitely did not want to go back to the place that he hated so much, and he tried to make that case.  After complaining non-stop for the rest of the season, Yoongi finally lost out on that battle, the reasoning being that he should support the place he grew up, and that he was the MVP of the season, so it would make them look even better if he was one of the ones to go.

So, that brings us to now, where Yoongi is trapped in a car moving closer and closer to the one place that he never wanted to go back to.  School.

The camp is going to last for two weeks, which means two weeks away from his bed (although the hotel he was staying at was the nicest one in town, so it was bound to be pretty good), two weeks away from his girlfriend (who he never really spent much time with, since she was a successful model and always seemed to be working when he wasn’t), and two weeks away from his friends (who were going on vacation anyways, but he needed some reasons to complain more).

While he was in self pity mode, they pulled up to the building.  It wasn’t that Yoongi was dreading coming back here (he was), but he was feeling increasingly annoyed at this whole situation.  It just had to be Daegu.

Yoongi took a deep breath and got out of the car.  The walk to the front door of the school was way too close for Yoongi’s liking and he was silently thankful that he’d decided to come early, so that he could work up to it.  He was about to start moving when he heard something behind him.

“Min Yoongi?” someone slightly familiar said as they approached.

Yoongi turned to the voice and he saw the smiling face of one Jung Hoseok, or Hobi as everyone called him.  He was the smiles and sunshine of the school in high school and he actually got along with everybody, Yoongi was no exception.  They weren’t necessarily friends, but they were acquaintances, talking to each other if they had a class together and occasionally if they saw each other at one of the many parties that Yoongi attended.

“I never thought I’d see the day that you came back here,” he said with a smile.

“Hi, Hobi.  Long time,” Yoongi said in reply.

“Yeah, it has been,” he nodded, still smiling, but with a little glint of disbelief in his eyes. “They said you were coming, I guess it’s just different seeing it.  So, how’ve you been?  I mean other than the fame and fortune,” he teased.

Yoongi chuckled a little, “Okay.  Not really looking forward to coming back here, but my life is good.  How’s yours?”

“Oh, I’m good,” Hobi said and he lifted his hand. “I got married.”

Yoongi looked at the ring, “Yeah, looks like you did.”

“His name is Seokjin,” he said smiling, not even caring what Yoongi would think of him marrying a man. To be honest, though Yoongi couldn’t judge.  After all, he himself was bisexual, so it didn’t seem at all out of the ordinary.  “We have a son, too.  He’s one and we named him Junghee.”

Yoongi smiled at Hobi, “I’m happy for you, Hobi.  Seokjin is a lucky guy.”

“Thanks,” Hobi said, slightly blushing at the thought of his beautiful family before looking toward the building, Yoongi following his gaze.  “You gonna go in?”

“Yeah, I probably should, shouldn’t I?  What are you doing here though?” Yoongi asked curiously.

“Oh.  Since it’s a couple of weeks before school starts, the teachers tend to use this time to get things prepared for the kids.”

“So you’re a teacher?” Hobi nodded. “What do you teach?”

“Literature and Writing.”

“Sounds…” Yoongi started trying to think of something to say.

Hobi laughed, “You don’t have to say it, hyung.  We all knew how you felt about school.”

“Sorry,” Yoongi said sheepishly.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for.  I like my job, you like your job…” Hobi said looking at Yoongi for confirmation, and Yoongi nodded. “See, we’re both happy now.”

“Yeah…” Yoongi said trailing off.  

Was he actually happy, or was he just satisfied?

Hobi looked at the elder and could tell he was thinking too hard about it.  He decided that that conversation was for another time and not for when they just saw each other again after so many years.

“Come on, hyung.  Let’s go inside,” he said grabbing Yoongi’s hand and almost dragging him into the school.

When they finally walked in the building Hobi dropped his hand. Yoongi looked around, “This place really hasn’t changed at all.”

“Nope not really. Well, I mean there are some changes, mainly the staff, but it looks just the same.”

“Are any of them still here?”

“There’s only one left.  Mr. Lee the math teacher.”

“Wow, so you really weren’t kidding.”

“Nope. Should I show you around for old time’s sake?” Hobi asked.

There was still plenty of time until the kids and his two other teammates showed up, so he shrugged his shoulders, replying, “Why not?”

The tour was simple and oddly kind of pleasant.  They went into a couple of classrooms and while Yoongi could actually see the small changes, it was still the school that he grew up in.

By the end of their tour there was only one classroom left and he could hear the kids starting to fill the gymnasium, but that all could wait, because he was actually curious to see how much this room changed from the last time he saw it.

“Here we are. Last stop down memory lane.”

“You sure the teachers don’t mind us going in their rooms?”

“I wouldn’t have their keys if they weren’t okay with it.”

“Good point.”

“Besides, these are all of my friends, so if anything did happen, they would know where to find me.”

They both chuckled a little and Hobi reached for the door in front of him. “Don’t you need the key?”

“Nah, Taehyungie’s been here since this morning and he never locks his door until he leaves for the day,” Hobi replied, opening the door in front of them.

Yoongi walked in and, while the other rooms had at least changed a little bit, this one was exactly the same.  The same chairs, the same stands, the same podium, even the same old piano. It was nostalgia at its finest for Yoongi.  He took one look around and a small smile formed on his face. Then his eyes focused on the piano.

Hobi looked to where the elder was focusing and smiled. “You can go play it if you want to.”

“I probably shouldn’t. I wouldn’t want the new music teacher to come in and kick me out.”

Hobi laughed, “Taehyungie would probably be upset if you didn’t, actually.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.  He really has a passion for all of this.  Music is his life, and he tries to encourage it as much as humanly possible, which is a lot, if you were wondering. So, seriously, go ahead.”

Yoongi turned to the piano and made his way over.  He ran his fingers over some of the keys before he started playing.  It was something that he had actually written all those years ago, etched into his memory.  It felt nice to have feeling of the keys against each of his fingers, it was one of the most pleasant things he remembered from being here. He was lost in his own little world filled with notes and melodies. He let his eyes fall closed at that and he played with his whole soul.

A couple of minutes passed, and the notes slowly faded out until Yoongi let go of them.  He let his hands hover for a second before he heard some clapping behind him, but it didn’t sound like just one pair of hands.  He turned and saw Hobi standing by a surprisingly attractive man.  They were both smiling wide, Hobi’s heart-shaped and the other man’s box-shaped.  They stood there continuing their enthusiastic standing ovation as Yoongi approached them.

“Wow, hyung, didn’t know you had that in you. That was amazing,” Hobi said.

“Thanks, Hobi,” Yoongi replied, eyes sliding over to the dark-haired boy next to Hobi.

“Oh, I almost forgot.  Yoongi hyung, this is Kim Taehyung.”

“Hi, Taehyung-ssi.”

“Hello,” he smiled cheerily, in a voice much deeper than Yoongi was expecting.  “I didn’t really believe them when they said you were coming.”

“I know right?” Hobi exclaimed, before Yoongi could even process anything that they were saying.  Taehyung must be a fan of him or something.

“Well,” Hobi said again.  “I should get going to my classroom and you should probably get to the gym.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Yoongi said as he trailed behind Hobi, heading for the door.

“Bye, Taehyungie!” Hobi yelled from the door.

“Bye, hyung!” Taehyung yelled.

Yoongi was about to walk out the door when he stopped himself.  He turned around and saw Taehyung messing with some papers he’d picked up. “Hey,” he called out, getting the apparently younger man’s attention. “Thanks for letting me play.”

“Don’t worry about it.  It was nice to hear that song again, so really I should be thanking you.”

“What?” Yoongi asked, not expecting that.

“What?” Taehyung asked back.

“Do I know you?”

“No. Why?”

“How do you know that song?”

Taehyung smiled, “Just because you don’t know me doesn’t mean that I don’t know you.”

“That’s cryptic.”

“Well, if you think about it, you were actually the most popular person in the entire school, so it would be weird if I didn’t know who you were.”

Yoongi nodded looking down at his feet, “I guess you’re right.”  He turned to the door and almost walked out when Taehyung called out to him.

“See you around, Yoongi-ssi!”

Yoongi smiled, not stopping or turning back.  He started walking toward where the bouncing of basketballs could be heard.  He stopped right outside of the gym, took a deep breath and entered.

The whole gym was filled with little children ranging from about 5 to 10 years old.  Eventually, through the many children that apparently signed up to come to this thing, he spotted his two teammates, speaking to a couple of the parents. He jogged over to meet up with them, and by the time he got through all of the kids, the parents were dispersing, some telling their children goodbye and some heading straight for the door that Yoongi just came in through.

“Glad to be back here Min?” Changmin said.

“Oh, yeah.  Just thrilled,” he sarcastically replied.

“Ah cheer up, Yoongi.  It won’t be as bad as you think,” Jinwoon said from the other side of him before he very loudly blew into his whistle. 

“Everybody! Gather around over here!” Jinwoon yelled getting the attention of all of the children and causing them all to run toward them. 

Yoongi took this opportunity to get rid of his jacket that he had been wearing, so now he was sporting a similar outfit to the others, being sweatpants, a long sleeve shirt and a t shirt over that, plus his own whistle that was just slightly different from the ones that the other two had.

By the time Yoongi turned around, the kids were quietly sitting around his teammates, waiting for further instructions. 

“Okay everybody, we are going to be splitting you all up into three groups and those groups will be your teammates for the rest of the camp,” Changmin started. “One of us will be in charge of each group, so make sure to listen to us and follow the rules, okay?”

The children all nodded their heads, which Changmin took as a sign to continue, “Alright then, we are going to split off into groups depending on age, so if you are 5 or 6 years old, go sit in that corner of the room and wait until your group leader comes.” Changmin pointed to the corner opposite of where they were standing and some of the little ones took off running.

“If you are 7 or 8 go into that corner,” he pointed to the corner just to the right of them. “And if you are 9 or 10, stay here.”

While the kids were separating off into their respective corners, the three players, turned toward each other. Jinwoon was the first to speak up, “Alright, I was thinking that we could also do this by age, meaning that Yoongi, you can take the youngest kids. Changmin you take the 7 and 8s.  I’ll take these kids, sound good.”

Yoongi wasn’t going to say how nervous he felt at the prospect. Even being around these kids in general was a little frightening for him, but he wasn’t going to say that out loud. But, seeing as his manager and best friend Namjoon had a daughter around that age and he was fairly accustomed to being around her, he was a little more at ease with taking the younger kids, so he agreed.

They each went in their respective directions and the kids, who had previously been playing with each other, stopped playing and waited for their group leader to approach them.

“Alright, kids, go ahead and take a seat,” Yoongi said and all of the kids immediately sat down around him.  He got down and joined them on the floor so that he was sitting opposite of them. “So, first, we have to get to know our teammates.  We’ll go around one by one and everybody say your name and one thing you like.”

Yoongi started with himself, showing the kids how to do it and them he pointed to a little boy sitting at one end to continue.  All of the little boys and girls excitedly followed until they were on the last little girl, whose smile brightened tenfold at being able to have a turn.

“My name is Jiwon and my favorite thing in the whole wide world is my papa.”

It was, honestly, the sweetest answer that anyone had given and Yoongi couldn’t help but smile a little bit, before he clapped his hands together. 

“Okay, so, everyone spread out,” he said holding his arms out from his sides. “Make sure that your hand doesn’t touch somebody else’s hand, okay? You need plenty of room, so we can all stretch.”

They spent about 30 minutes where Yoongi was teaching them all kinds of different stretches that basketball players needed to do to be ready to play the game.  After that, in order to get them all warmed up, and to hopefully wear them down a little from their excessive amounts of energy that they currently possessed, Yoongi suggested that they all play some tag, to which they all let out excited yells.  Yoongi set down a few ground rules, like no hitting and be nice, along with the rule that they had to stay in their part of the gym, to make sure that the other groups could continue with the lessons that were given to them.  Luckily the gym was big enough to have plenty of room for the children to run around, Yoongi keeping an eye on all of them. 

About an hour and a half later, halfway through their first day of camp, Yoongi blew his whistle and told all of the kids that they were going to take a little break.  He made them file into a line and led them through the halls to where the bathrooms and water fountains were located and the kids all did what they needed to.  After counting that all 21 kids were back with him they all went back to the gym to actually start learning.

There was a limited amount of basketballs that were left after all of the older kids each had theirs, so Yoongi had to think up a plan to handle all of this.  He decided the best way to do it was to pick seven people at a time, teach them a move, let them practice it for a couple of minutes, and then switch off.  This way he could see how each kid was doing and they all got a chance to learn.

He taught them how to dribble for this first day, knowing that it would be best to focus on that very important part of the game and to make sure that they could all do that before moving on to something else. They learned how to dribble with one hand, then the other, and then how to switch from one hand to another hand, ending on how to walk while dribbling.  He knew that this method would probably take a little bit longer, but they had two weeks and he wanted to actually be able to teach these kids something.

It was actually not as bad as he thought, teaching these kids the very simple basics of the game.  He figured it might get boring, but he enjoyed getting to help them figure out how to keep the ball bouncing and how to keep the ball staying in front of you without it running away and having to go chase it.  Maybe these next couple of weeks wouldn’t be as bad as he originally thought.

By the time they all finished learning about the basics of dribbling, the parents of the children were starting to show up.  One by one, the parents came to gather their children until there was only one of Yoongi’s kids left.

“Yoongi oppa?”

Yoongi crouched down to her level and looked at her, “Yes, Jiwon?”

“Are you going to be here tomorrow, too?”

Yoongi smiled at her. He was already developing a soft spot for this adorable little girl, with her cute little pig tails. “Do you want me to come back tomorrow?”

She smiled big and wide and nodded her head furiously.  Yoongi chuckled at the sight.

“Well, that’s good, because I will be here for the rest of this week and for next week.”

Her eyes widened in delight, her smile still the prominent feature on her face. “That’s a long time.”

“You’re right, it is a long time.  Think that’s okay with you?”

She nodded once again before they heard someone yelling from the gym door, “Jiji!”

They both snapped their heads to the door and Yoongi was surprised at who the voice belonged to.  Taehyung was looking around the gym, through the large amount of the older kids that were still there, when his eyes landed on Jiwon. “Papa!” she shrieked and darted off toward Taehyung.

Papa?

Taehyung’s arms spread wide as she approached, and she jumped right into them, almost knocking him off balance before he caught himself. Yoongi got up and approached the two of them as they broke apart, huge smiles on each of their faces.

“Did you have a good day, Jiji?”

“It was so fun, papa! We got to say our names and what our favorite thing was and then we got to play tag and then Yoongi oppa taught us how to bounce the ball with one hand!” she emphasized.

“With one hand?” Taehyung asked, feigning surprise.

“Yeah! It was so much fun, papa! And Yoongi oppa said that he’s going to be here for the whole rest of this week and next week!”

Taehyung and Yoongi both chuckled at her enthusiasm, “Well then, I guess we will just have to keep coming back so you can see him.”

“Yep,” she said with a big grin.

Taehyung looked up at Yoongi who was standing over them, smiling. He turned his attention back to Jiwon, “Why don’t you go ahead and get your bag while I talk to Yoongi oppa real quick.”

“Okay, papa!” she said, and she started walking over to the other side of the gym to get her sparkly pink bookbag.

“We meet again,” Taehyung said dramatically with a smile on his face.

“I guess we do,” Yoongi chuckled.

Taehyung smiled, “I just wanted to say thank you. She tends to get nervous with new people and I’m not really sure what you did, but she already seems to like you, so thank you.”

“It’s no problem. She’s a sweet girl.”

“Yeah, she is,” Taehyung beamed.

Before Yoongi could ask anything else, Jiwon ran up to them, immediately grabbing onto Taehyung’s hand. “Ready to go, sweetheart?”

She nodded turning to Yoongi quickly, “Thank you, Yoongi oppa.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

She smiled, nodding excitedly once more.  “Bye Yoongi-ssi,” Taehyung said turning to Yoongi once more. He gave a small grin and waved them goodbye.

After spending years of his life avoiding this place completely, not wanting to come back as long as he was still breathing, it wasn’t as bad as he expected.  In fact, it was almost fun being able to teach these kids something that had such a big part in his life and who he was. It was still terrifying and Yoongi was still unsure of whether or not he should be back, but now, he was more intrigued than anything. 

He wanted to know how much had actually changed in this town that seemed to stay constant. He wanted to know Hobi for who he had become, and he wanted a chance to show him this better version of himself.  And most of all he wanted to know the beautiful enigma that was Taehyung.

Chapter Text

The blare of the alarm rang out throughout the hotel room, reminding Yoongi just exactly where he was and what he was doing.  He groaned and reached out blindly, hitting his hand against the side table until it found the alarm clock’s snooze button.  When the ringing stopped, he groaned, turning around so he was now laying on his back, and looked up at the ceiling.

It wasn’t like he hated teaching those kids about basketball.  On the contrary, he actually enjoyed himself.  Seeing the happy faces of the kids running around chasing their basketballs and having fun, it was quite a sight.  When they would get excited about doing something right, it made Yoongi’s heart flip a little with pride for the youngsters.  Although, he kind of wished he was at home, doing as little as possible in their break, this experience was beginning to slowly find its way into his heart.

Suddenly, his phone started ringing, bringing him out of his head enough to register that his girlfriend was calling. 

“Hey,” he answered, voice clearly still gravelly from sleep.

“Hi, babe. I didn’t realize what time it was there. Did I wake you?” she asked.

“No, you’re fine.  I actually just woke up.”

“This whole time-difference thing really does seem to be getting the better of me, but I’ll get used to it soon enough.  How are things going? Is it as bad as you thought it would be?”

“Actually, no.  It’s surprisingly okay.”

“Really? I was under the impression that even the thought of Daegu was torture for you.”

“It was.  Don’t get me wrong, I still hate the time I spent here in high school, but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be.”

“Well, that’s good then.  Listen, I have to get going, but I’m glad you’re doing okay. Bye, babe!”

“By-” he started before being cut off by the call ending.

He looked at his phone, pulled up on the contact photo of his girlfriend and let out a sigh.  He can’t actually remember the last time they had a full conversation.  The last time they had one face to face was a distant memory.  He knew she was busy and that she had been gaining attention recently, causing her to travel abroad almost constantly, so he understood.  But still, he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if she wasn’t always so busy.  If he could have someone not just be his significant other, but have them actually be with him as well. 

He shook off the thought, pretending like he never even had it as he finally got out of bed and started getting ready for the day.  Luckily, being as it was summer and he didn’t really have to look especially good for any reason, he was quick to get ready for the day.  By the time he finished, he had plenty of time left, so he decided to use the opportunity to go down to the café a few doors down from his hotel and get some coffee. 

After he got his coffee and quickly ate a pastry, he ordered an Uber to come pick him up, not quite ready, but ready enough to start a new day.

You would think that pulling up to the building would be easier than it was the day before, but you would be wrong.  It would probably take some time to get over this feeling, but for now he would just have to push it aside and face it.

Taking a deep breath, he started toward the front door, jitters only slightly smaller than the ones from the day before.  That seemed to all float away into curiosity when he walked in and instantly heard the sound of music being played.  Well, it probably wouldn’t be considered music at this point, just sounds coming from instruments all clashing with one another.  It was truly a cacophony that had him wanting to shut his ears just the slightest bit.  He forgot how much the halls seemed to echo.

He obviously knew where the music was coming from, so he decided to go investigate who was playing such a horrific sound.

When he got to the door of the music room, which was already open, he decided to make his way inside, now having to shield his ears with his hands to muffle the loudness.  He was surely going to get a headache if they continued playing the instruments this way much longer, but the sight that he was met with when he walked in made him think that the headache would probably be worth it.

Kneeling on the piano bench, Jiwon was smiling from ear to ear, giggles constantly wracking her tiny form as she gently smashed down all over the instrument.  It was clear to see that her dad taught her to be gentle even when playing around.  Sure, she was still playing crazy notes, letting her tiny hands reach over as many keys as she could at once, but it was much more delicate than you would expect from a girl her age just playing around. 

When he turned his head, he saw Taehyung on the Timpani banging away in no particular pattern, smile wide on his face as he looked at his little girl.  His gorgeous face was completely glowing, adoring the beautiful little girl, somehow making him even more handsome than before.  How, exactly, was that possible with a guy that already looked stunning? It’s a mystery that may never be solved, but Yoongi sure is witnessing it right before his eyes.

The whole moment that Yoongi was intruding on, was perfect.  The way that Jiwon adores her dad so much, and Taehyung adores her even more. They are the perfect little family in his eyes right now and he can’t look away.  Yoongi looks at this perfect picture and is envious.  He may be well of and satisfied, but he can’t remember there being a time where he was as happy as these two.  Maybe someday he’ll get to experience that, too.

While stuck in his thoughts, Taehyung notices him standing by the door and stops playing, which both he and Jiwon notice immediately, both of them looking over at him and Yoongi seeing that he’s staring directly at him.  He thinks he sees a little gleam in his eye as he smiles over at him, but it was most likely just the light.  Not that Yoongi would want to see a gleam in his eye or anything.

Jiwon follows Taehyung’s stare and squeals in delight before jumping off of the bench, nearly tripping onto the concrete floor, which has both Yoongi and Taehyung, letting out a small gasp, before she recovers. 

“Yoongi oppa!” she yelled, running over and hugging Yoongi’s legs, which honestly, made him want to melt. “Papa, Yoongi oppa came back! Just like he said he would!”

Taehyung chuckled as he approached the two and Yoongi ignored the slight flutter he felt at the sound.

“Yes, he did, sweetie.  And he’s gonna be teaching you some more basketball stuff later.”

She gasped, “So I get to do more bouncing and learn new stuff and be with Yoongi oppa?”

“You sure do,” Taehyung smiled, kneeling down to her level and kissing her on the forehead.

He then looked up at Yoongi, who, honestly, felt kind of like he was intruding on their family time right now.  But then Taehyung smiled at him and he felt that stinking flutter come back to betray him, making him completely forget about that. While his brain was temporarily short-circuiting, Taehyung leaned toward Jiwon and whispered something in her ear, prompting her to look up with wide eyes at Yoongi.

“Yoongi oppa! Papa said you played the piano, too!”

He chuckled and leaned down to get on the same level as the other two before answering, “Yeah, I actually do know how to play the piano.”

“Will you play something for me and papa?” she asked, sweetly, her wide puppy eyes being hard to resist.

After a few moments of consideration, Yoongi looked over at the piano and back at the two of them and smiled, he knew just what to play.

“I think I can do that.”

She squealed and jumped up and down before grabbing Yoongi’s hand and pulling him toward the piano with all she has, which he was not expecting and promptly tripped, his way to the piano, both Taehyung and Jiwon laughing a little at him.

When he was fully seated at the bench and the two had finished their not-so-sneaky giggling, Taehyung looked at him and asked, “What are you gonna play for us hyung?”

“It’s a surprise,” he replied mysteriously.

His hand glided over the keys once before he started playing an intro.  One that isn’t exactly included in the song, but it helped keep the suspense up. When he finished his intro after a few seconds, he really started drawing out the first three notes of the song. 

And then he started playing.

Recognition flashed through Taehyung in almost an instant and he couldn’t stop the bellowing laughter that came out of him, Yoongi smiling at the reaction.  It took a few more seconds for Jiwon to get it, but as soon as she did, she got up and started jumping up and down.

“It’s the Chicken Dance!” she screamed, which Yoongi let out a small chuckle to.

Then, prompted by Taehyung of course, the two of them started dancing as Yoongi continued playing.  There were giggles and smiles and, of course, dancing and it was amazing. Yoongi kept speeding up the song, which made the two speed up their dancing and by the end, when Yoongi did his last little flare for effect, both Taehyung and Jiwon collapsed onto the floor, breathing heavily between giggles.  Yoongi couldn’t help but smile down at the sight.

“Thank you, Yoongi oppa! That was really fun!” Jiwon said, grinning nice and big.

“You’re welcome,” he replied, softly.

“Gotta say, I wasn’t exactly expecting the chicken dance, but thank you for that,” Taehyung added in.

“Hey, the Chicken Dance is a classic,” Yoongi defended teasingly. 

Taehyung sat up, chuckling and putting his hands up in surrender, “I never said it wasn’t a good surprise.”

Yoongi gave a small smile to that, to which Taehyung returned immediately before looking over at Jiwon, who was already standing up.

“Jiji,” he started whining. “I need help up.”

He reached out his hands to her, which she gladly took and, though Yoongi didn’t understand why Taehyung would ask his small child to help him up at first, he caught on pretty quickly.

She pulled with all of her might, Taehyung getting up a little more slowly, and then, he got himself on his feet, making it seem like it couldn’t have been done without her. It was amusing to watch him overdramatize the whole situation, but he knew both he and Taehyung would agree it was completely worth it.

“Thank you, my strong little girl,” Taehyung said. “Why don’t you go get a drink and come back so we can get you ready for practice.”

“Okay Papa,” she replied before running out the door and to the water fountain a little distance away.

As soon as she was gone, Taehyung looked over to Yoongi, who was now standing beside the piano.

“You’re winning her over, Min Yoongi.”

Yoongi smiled. “I think she’s winning me over.”

“Not a kid person?”

“It’s not that.  It’s just this has been… kinda fun. I can’t really remember the last time I felt that. And, to feel it here, of all places.  Never thought I’d live to see the day.”

Taehyung was clearly confused by the comment at the end, but didn’t push it, which Yoongi was thankful for.

“So,” Taehyung paused before turning and smirking at the elder. “The Chicken Dance?”

“Yup. You guys were having so much fun when I got in here.  Although, I’m pretty sure my ears were bleeding a little.”

“We like to do that sometimes,” Taehyung smiled cheekily.

“I assumed that,” Yoongi teased, which only brightened Taehyung’s smile up that much more. “But I have a friend that has a couple of kids her age.  They always get a kick out of it, so I thought maybe she would too.”

“Well, thank you, again.”

“No problem.”

As they stood for a few moments in silence, Yoongi started hearing the familiar sound of basketballs bouncing, taking that as his que to get to the gym.

“Looks like the kids have started showing up.”

Taehyung nodded. “Looks like they have.  You don’t want to be late coach,” he said with a teasing lilt to his voice.

Yoongi smiled bright, before composing himself ever so slightly and replying, “Shut up.”

The two of them walked over to the door, Taehyung stopping at the threshold while Yoongi kept walking and without turning back he called back, “See you after practice.”

Thankfully for Yoongi, Taehyung wasn’t able to see the smile on his face as he walked toward the gym.

Today, since everyone already had their teams, Yoongi only had to wait until he had all of his kids before he could start his practice.  Since he had the youngest, most of the parents were adamant about being early, so their team got to start earlier than the rest of them, giving them at least a little chance to get more of the basketballs.

They started off with their stretches, which took a little less time with them already being taught how to do them all yesterday.  Thankfully, by the time they finished, only the oldest of the kids had grabbed their basketballs, so there was still plenty for them to have.  However, he would still need to plan this out, so the middle group would still be left with some to practice with. 

“Okay, everyone. I need everyone to pick a partner.”

He knew that there would be a bit of a dilemma with the groups, since he had an odd number of kids, but he decided that they would switch partners every so often, giving the kids a chance to make some friends on the team and make sure that they don’t feel left out.  The one that was left in each one, he would partner up with.  He really didn’t want any of them to feel left out.  He knew what that felt like as a child and he didn’t them to have to feel that way, too.

As soon as they each had their partners, Yoongi looked around and the only one who was seemingly still looking for someone was Jiwon.  He couldn’t help but feel his heart drop a little at the sight of her looking sadly around her to see if anyone still needed a partner.

He walked up to her and kneeled to get onto her level.

“Jiwonie, would you want to be my partner for a while?” he asked sweetly.

Her eyes lit up just the slightest bit, hope seeping through them. “Can I really be your partner, oppa?”

“Of course, you can,” Yoongi smiled wide, holding out his hand for her to take, which she gladly did.

Yoongi got up and walked in front of the group. “Okay, everyone.  Each group needs to have one ball, so one partner will need to go over to the rack and get a ball.  Only one, though. We still need to leave some for the big kids.”

The kids started toward the ball and Yoongi looked over at Jiwon. “Do you wanna go get the ball for us?”

She nodded enthusiastically, her pig tails bouncing along with her bobbing head, before she turned and darted to join the other kids in getting a ball.

As soon as they were all back, each team line up in a straight line in front of them and, one partner at a time, they practiced the dribbling skills that they had learned the day before.  It, too, took less time to finish, thanks to the larger number of basketballs that they had, so Yoongi was fairly quick to switch to the next part of the game, and the part that they would be working on for a much longer time, it being a crucial part of the game.  That would be the passing.

One partner got into one line and faced the other partner who was a little way away from them.  First, they started with bounce passes, putting a bit of their dribbling knowledge into bouncing the ball just right, in theory. The balls, however, weren’t all staying between the partners, most over bouncing to the point of their ball flying off and them having to go get it, or their balls would under bounce and the kids would have to run up to get it. It truly was a sight to see, but after a little while, the kids were starting to get a hang of the thing.  A much smaller amount of the balls were flying all over the place and that was what he called progress.

He spent longer on that than he had be expecting, so, he decided that it was a good time to take a break.  He took the kids to the bathrooms and to get a drink before coming back into the gym and getting right back to where they were, but not before shifting one partner to the right, giving the kids a chance to be in a different group for the rest of the time that they had left. 

After that, they moved on to regular passing, Yoongi teaching them the right form and helping one group turn into a group of three so he could watch each kid individually and help them.  The kids were all having a blast and Yoongi was very satisfied with his work.

As their final thing for the day, the kids put their skills to the test.  Yoongi wanted them to bounce the ball two times and throw it to their partner, by either doing their bounce pass or regular pass. That way they could work a little more on the action of switching between those two skills they’ve learned.  It did take a bit of time for them to get used to it, but they were very slowly starting to.  Before they knew it, they were out of time and their parents started showing up. 

Yoongi was becoming pretty attached to the little sweethearts and the fact that he helped in putting those smiles on their faces to show their parents how much fun they had- it was amazing.

One by one, almost all of his kids left.  All except one.

“Jiwon, where’s your papa?”

She shrugged, “Is he in the musical room?”

Yoongi looked around, double checking to make sure that all of the other kids of his were gone before he offered to take her to go check, holding her little hand in his. 

Exactly when they reached it, the door to the music room flew open, revealing a flustered Taehyung.  He immediately spotted Jiwon and smiled at her.

“I’m sorry, little bug. Papa was working too hard and he didn’t see the time.”

“It’s okay, Papa.  Yoongi oppa brought me here,” she smiled

Taehyung looked up at the elder smiling, albeit, a little embarrassed, “Thank you for bringing her over here. I’m going to try not to be late to pick her up anymore.”

Yoongi waved it off, “No worries. I know how it can get sometimes.  I’m fine with bringing her over here as soon as all of the other kids leave if you want me to.”

“Oh no, I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“It’s really no problem.  And, besides, I could use the exercise,” he teased, both of them knowing that the walk down the confusing hallway hardly could count as any form of exercise.

Taehyung looked at him chuckling, “Oh, yeah, I’m sure.  It really is a trek isn’t it.  A professional basketball player such as yourself could use all of the exercise he can get.”

Yoongi smiled, “Exactly! See, you understand!”

Taehyung couldn’t help but laugh at that. “If you’re sure it’s not a bother, though, I might take you up on that offer.  I have a lot to get ready for the students to come and I kind of get lost in my work a lot.”

“Like I said, I completely understand.  And it’s definitely not a problem at all.  Besides, she’s very precious and I’m pretty sure I’m growing attached.”

“She does have that affect on people,” Taehyung smiled.

“I wonder where she gets it,” Yoongi teased, earning a light shove from the younger. Little did he realize that the statement had some truth to it.  Taehyung had started off a complete enigma to him.  So many unanswered questions he had about him, but today showed him a new side.  One much softer and loving than the mystery of before.  It was very intriguing and endearing, making him want to learn even more.

“Well, I better get going.  Leave you two to the rest of your night.”

Taehyung nodded and Yoongi looked down at Jiwon before kneeling to her level. “See you tomorrow?”

She nodded excitedly before she jumped on him, giving him a big bear hug.  At first, Yoongi didn’t know what to do, but the warm feeling bubbling up inside of him made him hug her back.  How could such a small little girl make all of his thoughts fly away simply by hugging him.  It felt like a missing piece was slowly starting to become uncovered and he smiled.

“Thank you, Jiwon.  I think I needed that,” he smiled, feeling adoration for this small little girl in front of him as she returned the smile.

He stood and looked up at Taehyung who was trying to hide his big smile with his hand and failing miserably.

“Bye,” he waved to the younger man, who returned it quickly, finally uncovering the beautiful masterpiece that he had been hiding.   Yoongi turned and walked away, grabbing his phone and ordering an uber as he made it outside. 

He was ready to go back to his hotel and rest, but all in all, this trip hasn’t been all too bad.  It had definitely been much better than he had made it out to be in his head.  Maybe it had a little something to do with a beautiful man and his charming little girl. But, no matter what, he was actually almost excited for tomorrow to come.