NANA

ice skating

~In which everyone falls (except Namjoon, for once)~

"Yo, who thought this was a good idea?" Taehyung yelled as he slipped for the millionth time, landing straight on his ass.

Jimin giggled ("Jimin, why are you laughing at my pain?!") and made his way over to where his friend was attempting to stand.

"Hyungs, look at me!" Jungkook excitedly exclaimed, zooming past everyone. He was already well on his way to reaching Namjoon's level of expertise, despite having stepped in an ice rink less times than he could count on one hand. The others wouldn't put it past him to be doing elaborate tricks before the day was over. 

Yoongi was, in true Yoongi fashion, leaning against the railing cooly, refusing to budge. Hoseok, for all his efforts, wasn't strong enough on the ice yet, so his attempts at pulling the older off the wall were useless. 

"Hyung," Hobi whined, "come have fun with us~"

"I'm having fun watching you all have fun. Your joy is my joy."

This would've been a nice sentiment had it not been paired with the sounds of the members falling like dominoes behind Hoseok and Yoongi's fond smiles as he watched them crawl all over each other trying to get back up. 

Nana, either in an act of confidence or complete hubris, was challenging her fellow maknae to a speed contest. 

"I bet I could go faster than you, Koo."

"Hell no. You see these power legs? These rippling muscles? My dominance on skates–" Nana shoved him before he could continue.

"Uh, you see these rippling muscles? My power legs? C'mon bro, we all know I'd win any day."

"NOT TODAY!" He screeched in response, shooting off.

"Cheater, Jeon Jeongguk!" 

The hyungs watched them chase each other around the rink, almost cartoonish in nature. One second, Kook would have the advantage, and then, all of a sudden, Nana was pull him back by his thick jacket and race ahead. Apparently, winning was by any means, and nothing was below them. 

"Please don't mortally injure yourselves, kids." Jin warned. He was standing by Namjoon, clutching onto Joon's sleeve. The leader was reduced to guide dog of sorts, dragging the eldest member around with him.

Namjoon was content with his role, and chose to treat the eldest as a permanent listener to his babbles. 

("Hyung, have I ever told you that I skated for four years?"

"Only about a million times, but go on.")

It was honestly amazing watching Joon glide around effortlessly, considering he was possibly the clumsiest man on land. Although they were half-worried that the ice would just crack beneath his feet. 

Somehow, Jin managed to find his balance, and could totter along without help. He set his sights on Yoongi, who was still clinging to the rail, and made up his mind to drag the second oldest member out on the ice. Hoseok had long given up and was now messing around with Tae and Jimin in the middle of the rink. 

He set out on his journey, only slipping twice and interrupted once by Kook and Nana who were still racing each other, and managed to finally reach his destination.

He flopped his upper body over the rail, huffing and puffing. 

"Hyung, you are so dramatic." Yoongi deadpanned. Had it not been for the cold messing with his phone, he would've been out of there, sitting on the wooden benches just outside the rails. 

"You have no idea how much pain I have endured for your sake, Yoongichi."

Rolling his eyes, he asked, "so, what brings you to my corner of the world?"

"I'm here to drag you along with me so we can have fun and watch each other fail miserably. You up for it?" Jin lifted his head to look at his friend.

"...no."

"Sucks." And with that, Jin intertwined their arms and pushed off, pulling them both towards the center. Yoongi, for all his grumpiness, just let it happen wordlessly (though his sighs spoke volumes). 

"Perfect! Now tilt your head–no, the other way–and...wow!" Jimin had become Taehyung's personal photographer in the past few minutes, and they seemed to be having a photoshoot on the ice. 

"Wah~ Jiminie these look so good! I'm gonna post right now!" Tae exclaimed excitedly. He snapped a quick picture of them together and began typing on his phone rapidly. Jimin just giggled and went to talk to the older members.

"Ah, Yoongi-hyung. I see you finally joined us," he teased, poking at Yoongi's cheek. 

"Boy, if you don't..." Yoongi grumbled.

"Don't what, hyung? Do this?" he poked again only to get swatted at halfheartedly. He twisted his body away and started skating in small circles around Yoongi (and Jin, who was still attached to him). The more Yoongi reached out to him, the further he'd get, then he'd return seconds later. It was like the world's worst game of cat and mouse ever.

Yoongi huffed and gave up. Jimin pouted and said something about how he was no fun. 

And so the five of them played with each other, hardly moving from their safe spot in the center. Hobi had the bright idea to hold hands and form a circle so that they could support each other and avoid falling. Unfortunately, when they tried to move, they became unbalanced and ended up sprawling on the ground.

"Fools!" Joon shouted from across the ice, though he still skated over to help them up.

"You're really sending mixed messages, Joon-ah," stated Hoseok drily. Namjoon looked him in the eye and let go of the arm he was holding, letting him fall back down.

A small oof left his lips as he reconnected with the ice. 

"This is the timeline that God abandoned."

As a certified nice person, Namjoon was obligated to eventually help him up. His hand was met with indifference and a theatric "let me die here." 

Well, there was only so much he could do. So he let the others deal with his fellow '94-liner and whistled as he left.

"...I can't believe he just left me on the ground like that."

Luckily for him, Tae and Jimin came to his rescue and scooped him up. Then they left him to his mutterings of "coldhearted friend" and "how could he do this to me?".

~

The group had been there for quite some time. They felt it was a waste to leave early since the company had rented out the place for the day. But, as they noticed the sun dipping down, they decided that all good things must come to an end. 

That is, except for Jungkook and Nana, who were, surprisingly, still competing against each other. Sure, their skating had slowed considerably, but neither was willing to admit defeat.

"Maknaes! It's almost time to go!" Jin warned.

Now, this phrase lit a fire under them like no other. Their pace sped up and they became worryingly violent, shoving at each other in an effort to win.

Win what? one might ask. The answer was: nothing. Absolutely nothing but temporary pride that would be forgotten the next day. 

Of course, no competition would be complete without an accident. So someone pushed a little too hard, and the other skated a little too fast–what were they to do?

And that's how they all ended up in one big pile, with the exception of Namjoon, who had been peacefully gliding around the edges of the rink. 

(His loud guffaws as he realized what happened would follow them the rest of the day. "Now you guys know what it feels like!")

~~~

writing about ice skating while it's like hot as balls out here makes me yearn for the cold. cali is really having the weirdest weather rn, like 100˚ outside? lightning and thunder? rain? earthquake? this is that apocalypse atmosphere for sure. pray for me dear readers :)))