Jungkook was taping his fist with hand-wrap, sitting in the corner of the Seoul University boxing ring. Namjoon leaned against the thick ropes next to him, finishing up a call.

Having introduced Jungkook to boxing as a way to cope with thirst when he'd first turned, Namjoon coached him anytime he visited with Seokjin. Jungkook liked to take advantage of the guys calm attitude and astute mind when he could. He was also in his off-season, boxing for the workout more so than for any strict championship, so Jungkook could afford the coaching switch up.

"Jin just called, he says he can't make it." Namjoon said as he handed Jungkook a water bottle. Jungkook placed it down by his feet as he wrapped his fist a little tighter.

He did a quick scan of who was in the gym. His opponent hadn't come yet, which was shit sportsmanship on his part since their match started in thirty minutes. The crowd was made up of a scatter of students, some younger boxers who wanted to watch the older kids fight, gym staff, and of course Namjoon too.

Like he said: off-season.

Jungkook poked his cheek with his tongue, ignoring the panic nestling into his stomach at the one face missing in the crowd he really wanted to see.

"What about Tae?" Jungkook asked and Namjoon sighed.

"They're both going to miss the match. Jin's meeting with the other vampire prince at some fancy restaurant tonight and Taehyung asked to come with him. Said he wanted a free meal."

Jungkook clipped the tape and pulled another strand with his teeth from the coil, starting to wrap his other hand.

"Oh." He just said, making a mental note to beat the unliving shit out of Taehyung the next time he saw him for choosing food over their friendship. "He didn't say anything to me about it."

"Yea Jin said Taehyung caught him walking to the car and just split second decided to come. You know Jin, he's never going to say no to either of you wanting to spend time with him."

"It's fine." Jungkook shrugged off, scanning the crowd again as Namjoon put focus mitts on his hands, stepping into the ring so Jungkook could start loosely warming up his reflexes.

Jungkook did another quick scan for Jimin in the crowd only to find empty seats. He poked his cheek again with his tongue, focusing on Namjoon's increased movements of varying hand placements and swiping above Jungkook's head so he'd duck.

"Stressed? I heard you're taking some hard classes." Namjoon said as he noticed Jungkook amp up the strength of his practice hits.

Jungkook just huffed.

"Yea, I have a really hard music theory class I'm taking and the TA isn't helping."

Namjoon nodded, flipping the focus mitts down so Jungkook could warm up his kicks.

"I get that, TA's really make or break a class. If you ever need help, just call me. I'm kinda a producer myself. I'm working on a little album thing - not to release obviously but I might be able to help you with your music stuff."

"Thanks Namjoon." Jungkook said as he went for a hit rotation. "It's called Indigo, right? Your album? I think we talked about it last time you came. Remember Tae got too drunk to feed so you and I had to wait at the club while Seokjin drove him home."

Namjoon laughed, "Yea, that was an interesting blood spree. I'm pretty sure Taehyung actually stole my car keys that night and tried to trade them for alcohol from the bartender."

Jungkook laughed, finally some tension leaving his shoulders before a whistle blew to get off the boxing ring so that it could be prepped for the match. Jungkook tried to stretch the disappointment out of his system, lifting his hands overhead and extended the tight muscles.

"I forgot to mention, I got another newbie vampire to come fight your match today."

"What? Who?" Jungkook blinked. "Kinda late info Joon."

"Sorry, I've been a bit scattered. Seokjin's concept of time is so off cause of how old he is. He's been taking me to every art museum in Seoul as if I'm going to wither and die tomorrow."

Jungkook cracked a smile at that. Must be nice, having a feeder he thought.

"Anyway, a feeder friend of mine in Busan owes me a favor. He runs a gym down there and said one of his kids is coming up to Seoul for a bit. Thought I'd call it in so you can practice with someone you don't have to pull punches with."

Jungkook nodded, despite his stomach knotting. Having never boxed with any vampire other than Namjoon, he was suddenly reconsidering inviting Jimin to the match. He did a final scan of the gym, holding his breath. But when his eyes landed on the new-comer at the gym doors, it wasn't Park Jimin who surprised him, but his opponent.

Walking in tight sports shorts and a muscle tee with a gym bag in an already wrapped hand, his blond coach only a step behind, was no one other than the guy from the bar. Choi San looked up then from his phone, a smirk on his lips as he recognized Jungkook right back and waved.

* * *

"Hoseok, you can't be serious." Jimin said as Hoseok pulled his car out from the parallel parking spot for the fifth time to restart reversing into it.

"Trust me Jimin, this times the charm. I can feel it." Hoseok said, biting his tongue as he reversed the car and started to repark. His head bobbed with the music blasting as if he had all the time in the world.

"See." Hoseok said as he shifted the car into park. "Told you."

"Ready to head out?" Jimin asked, making sure Hoseok didn't accidentally leave his keys in the car as his friend had a habit of doing. Hoseok smiled, making a show of putting them into the pockets of his fashionable brown trench coat. He shifted the thin black shades onto his eyes before opening the door and filing out of the car, still dancing even though the music shut off.

"So what are we doing here again?" Hoseok asked, eyeing the Seoul University Boxing Gym sign in front of them. Jimin grabbed two posters from the back of the car that Hoseok helped him scribble that morning.

"One of my students has a match. I told him I'd stop by." Jimin explained, closing the car door and starting to walk to the entrance of the building. Hoseok put a hand in his pocket, raising his brows but following Jimin inside.

"Bit out of your way for just a student." Hoseok said, but Jimin just shrugged.

"He's a favorite."

Hoseok barked a laugh before realizing the gym they'd walked inside was insanely too quiet for Hoseok's voice. The sound of sneakers echoed against the floor followed by the thump of contacted hits and grunts of focus or pain.

The boxing gym itself was pretty small with a locker room door to their left, punching bags further down, and a single boxing ring at the back where on a wall of benches sat multiple onlookers.

"Fuck, we're late. Come on." Jimin said, tugging on Hoseok's coat the second his friend noticed the concession stand.

"I don't know anything about boxing so hopefully we didn't miss the first - quarter? Or is it thirds? Home run?" Hoseok said as he followed Jimin's tug, the two men filing into the middle of the stands where a timer was currently counting down from a minute and a half.

"I think it's twelve three minute rounds, looks like we only missed the first too." Jimin said.

"So I wasn't that far off with my guess." Hoseok said and Jimin laughed as they filtered onto a bench.

"See the three guys with clipboards? They're the judges that are scoring them." Jimin said. "I googled boxing before this so I could pay attention, but they score them based off of hits and technique not just Knock-Outs."

"Do people cheer?" Hoseok asked in a hushed voice. The small crowd around them was pretty quiet. Mostly it was kids watching the match with awe in their eyes and some scattered public. "Jimin?"

But Jimin couldn't hear his friend as his eyes finally fell on Jungkook who was holding a defensive stance in the boxing ring with his opponents back to Jimin.

"Ah." Hoseok said, popping his lips. "I see why he's your favorite."

Jimin was too distracted to even blush. Hot wasn't the right word, Jungkook had always been hot, but more like Jimin was finally seeing Jungkook in his element. His thick hair was already sweaty, beads forming on his neck and bare chest while two arms wrapped in tape were raised to prepare an attack. His legs looked strong, digging into the mat with his heels to balance, as his dark eyes focused on his opponent with a burning fire.

When Jungkook swung, shifting forward suddenly and moving to hit the man's side, Jimin jumped. He watched his strong arm carve through the air so fast, Jimin would have called him out for using supernatural speed, as it landed a blow on the side of his opponent.

Jimin stood up in the stands and cheered. Hoseok whooped next to him, both of them grabbing the posters and lifting them. Jungkook looked over at the sudden noise, annoyance and fierce determination quickly melting into shock when his eyes landed on Jimin.

He grinned wide before Jimin heard him scoff at the posters they were holding. Hoseok's said: Grow an Ass to Kick Ass and Jimin went for the classic: Do What You're Best At: BEAT IT!!

Jimin grinned back, cheering again but the moment of distraction cost Jungkook as a powerful blow came at his waist causing Jungkook to kneel in pain before getting back on his feet.

He recentered himself, shifting from a defensive pose to an offensive one, a sharp grin plastered on his face as he went in for a strike of his own, aiming for his opponents sides and then shifting for a kick so strong air seemed to cut around it. Before it could land, Jungkook's opponent caught his leg between his side and his forearm and threw Jungkook off balance, throwing him to the ground with a thud loud enough to break bones.

Jimin slowly sat down, frowning.

"Hoseok, don't those hits look too hard?"

"I mean, boxing is a contact sport."

"No, I know, but I mean harder than normal?"

Hoseok frowned, putting the poster down to watch closer. Jungkook wiped some blood and sweat from his mouth as he kicked his opponent off of him, standing back on his feet. He glanced quickly over at Jimin who instantly yelled a cheer for him making Jungkook grin dangerously, striking his opponent in the shoulder before swallowing an equally strong punch in his own waist.

Neither boy was holding back, Jimin noticed, seeing Hoseok's brows relax as he did too. Which meant whoever his opponent was, he wasn't human.

* * *

Jimin made it. Jungkook thought as the round was up and a minute break timer began to count down above them. Namjoon was saying something about ducking more and that his left side was left open that entire round, but Jungkook couldn't hear him over the buzz of Jimin's voice cheering. He'd made a stupid poster too and despite the pain in Jungkook's left side from taking one too many hits there, he wanted to run from the ring, snatch the sharpied posters from Jimin and his friend's hands, and tape them to his wall forever.

"Jungkook. Focus. You're losing right now." Namjoon said and Jungkook shook his head, grabbing a towel to press against his neck.

Jungkook nodded, bouncing on his feet. Namjoon squeezed the back of Jungkook's neck before the time buzzed and the third round started.

He took an offensive stance this time, lowering his left hand so his forearm would cover his left side, as he circled San.

San grinned, fangs flashing as he beat Jungkook to the punch, literally, and swung for Jungkook's shoulder with a supernatural strength etched into the hit.

Jungkook hissed from the pain, immedietly swinging his own closed fisted punches and landed two extra-strong blows on San's sides.

"Weak for a vampire." San scoffed.

"Lucky me for finding one to box with."

Jungkook could hear Jimin cheer again, risking a glance at him and grinned when he saw him on his feet, jumping slightly with his friend equally excited by his side. Jungkook focused back on San, swinging but San blocked with his forearm, using his other hand to land a blow so hard on Jungkook's waist that Jungkook nearly spat blood.

"That your feeder?" San asked, obviously referring to Jimin.

"No." Jungkook replied too sharply.

"Good. Means you're not taken."

"Yay me." Jungkook said sarcastically.

San smirked. "Wooyoung and I are looking for a third." He explained, winking at his blond coach who instantly waved his hand for San to focus on the match instead.

Jungkook poked the side of his cheek with his tongue, shifting forward and landing two hits before getting his arm caught by San's forearm, locking it out of the way and landing two blows of his own on Jungkook's left side with enough strength that Jungkook had to laugh in order to hide just how badly it hurt. Yes Jungkook, let's have you fight a vampire. It'll be so easy and painless.

The whistle blew and the third round finished. This time during the minute break San came up to him, a water bottle in his hand. His coach leaned against the ropes on the other side, staring directly at San's ass with a tilted head.

"Alright beautiful, if I win the match, go out with me." San said, bringing Jungkook's attention up to him.

Jungkook coughed.

"Absolutely not." He said, glancing over at Jimin who beamed back. Jimin threw him an over excited thumbs up which then turned into a finger pointing at Jungkook, then pointing at Jimin's fist, then pointing at San behind his back, and pointing at his friends fist, and then animating the Jungkook-hand punching the San-hand multiple times. A slow grin spread on Jungkook's face as the Jungkook-hand started celebrating victoriously. Jimin tilted his head back laughing so hard he fell off his bench and his friend had to pick him back up by the waist.

"Why? Cause of the human?" San stepped closer, blocking Jimin from view. "They tell you the truth about feeders yet? Genuinely, they're not worth the risk." San said, flicking his eyes to Jungkook's neck and Jungkook covered it with his hand. "I promise there's ways only a vampire can make you feel good. Two of them, in fact."

Jungkook snorted. "Again. No."

San frowned, but his eyes danced with amusement that clearly mistook Jungkook's reluctance for teasing. He took a swing of his bottle and Jungkook nearly stumbled back from the strength of iron in the cup. When San lowered it, his eyes glowed gold and Jungkook nearly choked.

"That has to be the nastiest thing I've seen."

"What?" San said, "No, it's badass."

"You have blood in a bottle? Foul. Jesus how long has that been in there? Is it room temp? I'm gonna vomit. You put it in a cheap student org fundraiser cup too."

San flushed, "It's intimidating." He said, eyes ringing with gold. The bright light of the gym dulling their glow.

Jungkook just scoffed in disbelief as the next round started. "It's disgusting."

The blood definitely was a dirty trick, the hits coming at an even faster speed and a higher strength, but Jungkook had an ace of his own. He didn't need Jimin's blood to get stronger, just needed to listen to him cheer and suddenly he could take on any hit.

When the twelfth round finished, Jungkook managed to win more rounds than lose them. When his hands was raised as the winner, his smile was drunk watching Jimin shake his friend by the shoulders who was equally jumping on the bench with excitement. Jungkook would have laughed then, if it didn't hurt so much to even breathe.

"Find me when the feeder breaks your humanity." San had said as they shook hands after the match.

Jungkook just rolled his eyes. "Find me when you want your ass kicked again."

San laughed before immediately wincing. The Busan vampire grabbed a hold of his coach, giving Jungkook a nod, before Wooyoung helped him limp off into the locker rooms.

"YOU WERE SO COOL. HOSEOK AND I WERE GOING CRAZY." Jimin said as he ran up to the ring, nearly throwing himself on Jungkook to celebrate his win before thinking better of it when he saw the bruises all over Jungkook's chest and waist start to form.

"Does it hurt a lot?" Jimin asked, furrowing his brows as his energy simmered into worry.

Jungkook beamed. "It hurts so much." He said. Which wasn't a lie, it hurt like Hell, but he leaned into it so that Jimin would fret over him more.

"If you want to come over tonight we can try at home bruise remedies. Like cold spoons." Jimin offered and Jungkook cracked a smile so wide it nearly blinded the entire gym.

"I'd love that."

Namjoon came up to them then and Jungkook nearly threw his towel at him. Namjoon, completely oblivious to the fact that he was cock blocking, handed Jungkook a massive water bottle then ruffled his hair with the proudest dad smile Jungkook had ever seen.

Jimin nodded, taking it as his cue to leave. "I'll text you my address. Come over around ten thirty? So you have time to shower and eat?"

"Sure." Jungkook said and Jimin lingered before turning on his heel and heading back to Hoseok who instantly starting recounting the match with the most animated moves Jungkook had ever seen.

"You did well." Namjoon said and Jungkook would have laughed if it wouldn't break his ribs to do so. Jungkooks hands hugged his sides as if holding himself could stop the pain from spilling out of his sides and spreading everywhere else. There was blood still on his nose and lips. The sweat didn't help either, his hair was drenched and his chest covered in it, but despite how badly he wanted to shower, Jungkook couldn't even stand up.

Namjoon put his hand out and Jungkook grasped him by the forearm, the feeder helping him up to his feet. His arm instantly went to Jungkook's shoulders to hold him up as he hissed through the pain.

Jungkook watched Jimin's head swivel his way, the boy biting his lip with concern on his brow. It made a rush of warmth go down Jungkook's system and he found the strength to stand on his feet without Namjoon's help. He gave Jimin a reassuring nod and Jimin smiled back worriedly before returning to his conversation with Hoseok. Jimin caught Jungkook's eye again as they were leaving, waving and pointing at his phone, before he left the gym with his friend.

"Who's the kid?" Namjoon asked, finally noticing Jimin. For how smart the dude was, it was shocking what Namjoon managed to miss sometimes.

"Just a friend." Jungkook grinned, limping his way over to his gym bag and instantly checking to see if Jimin sent his address. If getting beat up was all it took for Jimin to ask him over, he'd make sure to get his ass kicked more often.

_______
A/N:
San's one of my best friends ults - so hey, this one's for you 🤌

Question: summer or winter?

- Violette