Sixteenth
:Chapter Sixteen:

Their second game came quicker than anyone could anticipate.

This time, they were going against the Blue Bridge Wildcats, one of the lesser known high school baseball teams out there.

Like the Panthers, they had one loss to their name. One team was bound to get a win here today.

Taehyung was running a bit behind, however. The team was gathered on the field while Taehyung was nowhere to be seen.

"Roll call!" Coach called, not noticing the lack of presence he had from the captain. He was having the team gather around to hear their names be called.

Hoseok looked around, frowning to himself. "Minji," he called, walking over to the short stop who was talking to Chinhae about some random topic Hoseok was unsure of or cared about.

"What's up, hyung?" Minji hummed, the elder stopping in front of them.

"Have you seen Taehyung at all? Anywhere?" He asked, watching Coach get the boys lined up, walking with Minji over to the Coach so they could listen out for their names.

Minji shook his head. "Nah, haven't seen him." He shrugged. "Maybe he got in trouble or some shit."

"Can't be, Jeongguk's still here." Hoseok said more as a joke but the aforementioned was indeed here. He was cleaning off his bat (per usual), minding his own.

"Jeon!" Coach called, picking his head up.

"Here," said Jeongguk.

"Jung!"

"Here." Hoseok sighed, shaking his head. Taehyung was fucking himself over.

The Coach continued, calling Leehyun and Seojun. Then, it came to Taehyung.

"Kim!" Coach called out, waiting a second but then picked his head once he didn't hear a response. "Taehyung!" Again, no response. "Any eyes on Taehyung?" He asked around.

Hoseok decided to speak up. "He said he was going to be running late, something came up last minute." He wanted to be there to defend Taehyung but there wasn't much he himself could do.

"He should've told me that." Coach said and continued with calling out the other teammates by last name.

The elder huffed, shaking his head to himself. He went to where Jeongguk was, helping the pitcher set up after he was finished cleaning off his bat. He really took care of that thing like it was his pride and joy.

"So, where's Cap? We have a game to play." Jeongguk told, turning his head each side in order to crack his neck. He picked up the bat bag and set up the bats along the fence, Hoseok lining up the helmets beside the now placed bats.

"Hell if I know, it's whatever Coach wants to do at this point. I tried." Hoseok commented. "All I know is he better hurry his-"

"I'm here! I'm here!" Taehyung's hurried voice made itself clear to the players, all looking back to see their captain rushing over. His hair was a mess and he looked awfully flustered.

Coach called the first basemen over, looking irritated. Taehyung walked over, hands running through his blond locks, putting it in some type of style.

Hoseok, as the rest of the team, watched Coach and their captain talk, seeing all types of emotions being spilled. They could see Coach wasn't having it and his brows pulled in, scolding the captain for his latency.

When Taehyung turned, everyone looked away as if they weren't even listening to begin with.

Taehyung had his brows narrowed, stomping over to the dugout. He threw his bag down, crossing his arms over his chest with an angry huff.

Jeongguk hid his smirk, turning his back but listening in. He wanted to hear on exactly what happened to cause Kim's misery since he wasn't the one to do it this time.

"What did he say?" Questioned Hoseok, walking over with caution. "Must be bad if you're acting like this."

"He fucking told me I can't play this game! All because I was late!" Taehyung said. He honestly wanted to cry but he couldn't. Not here. Baseball was so much fun and it was his love so being told he had to sit out was heartbreaking.

His girlfriend and adoptive parents were also here so they were going to all be very disappointed when he didn't go out at all.

Hoseok paused, taking in the information. "That sucks. I tried to help but there wasn't much I could say." He said.

Taehyung just rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He dismissed the conversation from furthering, not in the mood to talk about how he wasn't going to play.

The elder had other plans however. "Why were you late?" Hoseok inquired, taking a seat to the left of Taehyung, leaning back.

"I had schoolwork to catch up on and then I met up with Jihyun and we just got caught up." Taehyung answered lamely, keeping his eyes down. He didn't look at anyone.

Hoseok's lips parted. "Were you two going to fuck right in school?"

"What?" Taehyung snapped his head up. "What are you talking about? No, we just were talking and playing around." He was honestly offended Hoseok thought the two would put up such a risk.

The senior hummed, nodding. "Ah, well, just check the time more. You should've been prepared to be out here."

"I know, I know. I don't need another lecture about how a clock works." Taehyung looked back down, shaking his head more to himself.

Jeongguk walked over, tapping Hoseok's shoulder. "We have to go warmup." He told him, waiting for him.

Hoseok nodded and stood back up. "Well, maybe he'll change his mind and put you in throughout? You don't know, he has a special place for you in his heart, I'm sure." He said, waving off Taehyung before he took his leave with Jeongguk who couldn't hide his smile for the life of him. He was sure Taehyung seen it at some point and he was perfectly okay with that.

The first basemen sighed, letting them go. He sat there with his head down, not wanting to even watch his teammates play, let alone practice without him.

This was utterly embarrassing to say the least. He's gotten into fights with a teammate but being late seemed to have a worser punishment for some odd reason. He had hurried as fast as he could, thinking he could be let off the hook, maybe sit out the first two innings before being put back in but nope.

Coach had other plans and told him he was sitting out for the entirety of the game.

For the record, he did tell Taehyung that he was being sat out for multiple reasons and not just for being late. Reasons like causing fights with Newbie, being late, and starting arguments consistently after being told to cut it out.

Apparently, the team had told Coach that Taehyung started majority of the issues - not all of them, but most of them when it came to the pitcher.

Coach had mentioned how fed up he was with it and he was finally punishing Taehyung for his poor behavior.

Taehyung personally believed the punishment was a bit overkill but he honestly was in no position to argue with the old man so he took the punishment after a few huff and puffs and sat his ass down in the dugout.

"He really got it this time, huh?" Jeongguk said, a proud smirk playing his lips.

"I don't want to hear it, Jeongguk. Woohoo, something else you can tease him for." Hoseok rolled his eyes. "Let's not worry about him and let's worry on doing our drills and winning this game, yeah?" Hoseok nudged the younger, pulling on his mitt.

Jeongguk didn't say anything. It wasn't fun when Hoseok didn't want to add his little bit of spice. He just sighed and nodded. "What are we doing first? Soft toss?"

"That's what the rest of the team looks like they're lining up to do. Let's just hurry on over and get caught up." Said Hoseok and so they did.

***

     "Yes! Good job team! A great win!" Hoseok said to all the players, patting them on the back. "You guys did great out there, we crushed them!"

Everyone was cheering and happy to win a game. Everyone but Taehyung who took this as a loss since he couldn't participate whatsoever. He was over it.

He stood and grabbed his bag. He had already slipped on slides so he didn't need to walk around in cleats.

Taehyung wasted no time and left the dugout, a salty look on his face. He didn't wait for Hoseok, didn't congratulate his team, he didn't want anything to do with them right at this moment. It wasn't any of their faults but he was going to snap.

He didn't grab any of the equipment to take back. He didn't play so he didn't think he had to do anything to help the team pack up. So he didn't.

Instead, Taehyung walked off the field and up the steps where he was greeted by a very confused Jihyun.

     "Taehyungie, what happened? Why were you sat out?" She asked, standing close to his side. Jihyun had a soft frown on her plump lips, wanting to comfort her boyfriend.

Taehyung picked up his head and looked at his girlfriend, seeing his reflection in her beautiful brown eyes. "Coach didn't put me in." He said simply, being very vague.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Jimin, Yoongi, Namjoon, and Seokjin standing together. He guessed they were waiting to congratulate the team so he grabbed his girlfriend's smaller hand and pulled her along, not sparing a glance over at his friends and Seokjin (because he doesn't know too much of Seokjin).

Jihyun hummed, giving Taehyung's hand a light squeeze. "Want to come over to my house later? I can make us some chicken nuggets and we can continue our drama?" She wanted to make it up to him somehow, someway.

That didn't sound too bad to Taehyung if he were being honest so he agreed, really glad he had a girl like Jihyun; so sweet and kind.

She was too good for Taehyung, way too good for him. She didn't deserve to be treated like a second priority to a sport. Jihyun always made sure Taehyung was doing okay and if he wasn't, she always tried to help him feel better.

__________
A/N:

1. Hopefully this is still a good chapter!
2. It rains before there's a rainbow
3. Is this the first book you read from me? If not, what is? If so, will you check out my other works?