The free cup of coffees eventually stopped appearing.

Taehyung almost expected it, though he would be lying if he said that he wasn't disappointed in the slightest. It gives him a bit of satisfaction though, finally confirming the identity of his anonymous coffee deliverer.

Jeongguk didn't even try his best at hiding this fact and really he couldn't be more obvious, not when Taehyung stopped finding coffees that are meant for him right after he suspected and asked Jeongguk if he was the one responsible for it. Though, Taehyung is still a bit confused and curious as to why Jeongguk even did it in the first place. The thought of his rival putting something in those drinks that might slowly kill Taehyung sends shivers down his spine.

Now, sprawled on his bed, dreading his lecture at ten in the morning, Taehyung stares up at the ceiling and thought to himself that a good cup of (free) coffee would be nice right now. Now that he really thinks about it, he shouldn't have said anything about the coffees so he could've continued getting them for free.

Taehyung, tracing patterns on the ceiling, jolts when he hears one, hard knock on his door. Glancing at it, he yells, "Who is it?"

"It's Jimin," says the voice from the other side of the door. "I'm about to leave for practice, just making sure you're awake. You have a class in half an hour, get your ass up!"

Taehyung groans at this, as he takes a peek at the time on his phone and sure enough it's 9:30. He begins grumbling to himself and was about to get up when he spots a notification on his screen. It seems to be an email from his professor, sent about two hours ago.

He raises his brows and ignores the pounding of his chest, anxious that the email is about him missing an assignment of some sort and tries to rack his brain of any missing assignments that he had forgotten to do.

Taehyung clicks on the notification then unlocks his phone. Reading through the email, Taehyung almost cries in joy and relief.

Taehyung exits his email and opens the messaging app to send Jimin a text.

To: Jiminie 🐶
my classes got cancelled 🤪

From: Jiminie 🐶
wtf
come to the studio then
we miss you here 👀

Taehyung scrunches his nose at the message, knowing well who he's going to see at the studio if he goes there. He's been avoiding the studio for a reason and now he has another reason not to go there especially after his rather awkward conversation with Jeongguk a couple of days ago about the free coffees.

To: Jiminie 🐶
no way in hell im going to see that devil spawn in this fine morning

From: Jiminie 🐶
ok rude

Jimin doesn't message him any further and Taehyung assumes that they must've started practicing.

Taehyung goes back to staring at his ceiling once again, contemplating whether to spend his free time by going back to sleep and take back all those sleep that he missed or actually do something productive just so he could feel good about himself. Or, he could do both, after all, he has the whole day off and it's Tuesday, which means he also doesn't have track practice to worry about.

Bored out of his mind, and it really is a shame that he couldn't seem to be able to go back to slumber, he tosses and turns on his bed, sending chains of sad and crying emojis to Jimin.

After several minutes without a single reply from Jimin, Taehyung can't help but think about Jimin's invitation to the studio. As much as he hates it, he can't seem to get it out of his mind and he's convinced that if he doesn't go to the studio for today, he won't be satisfied.

Getting up grudgingly, Taehyung goes straight to the bathroom and washes himself. When he finally looks decent enough, wearing a hoodie and a pair of grey sweats because it's chilly outside, he goes to grab his phone and heads towards the door. He thinks about eating first before leaving, and then remembers they don't have any proper food left, so he decides to grab a sandwich from the nearby cafe on his way to the studio.

After grabbing an egg sandwich, Taehyung quickly thanks his choice of clothing as he is not exactly freezing his ass off but it's still cold enough that he can't take off his hands from his pockets. So that leaves him without being able to go on his phone and keep himself occupied with his thoughts. He can't help but think about how stupid he is that he's actually willing to go to the studio even though he knows well that Jeongguk would be there. He hates it even more because they're currently at an awkward position after Taehyung indirectly finds out that it was Jeongguk indeed who has been mysteriously sending Taehyung some free coffees. At least this awkwardness is probably worse on Jeongguk's side and Taehyung can't help but feel happy and relieved about that.

Finally arriving at the studio, he suddenly hesitates at the door as he hears the faint sound of music from inside. Usually he doesn't care and doesn't let anyone (Jeongguk) stop him from doing something so he doesn't understand why he's being like this now. The way Taehyung despise Jeongguk this much even without a deep reason behind it never fails to amuse him.

Taehyung, after contemplating his choices for longer than necessary, finally pushes the door open and he's greeted with the dance club's members dancing to the music. There are a couple of dancers just sitting on the side and all of them looked at Taehyung while the others continued their dance so it's hard to tell if they noticed him too.

"Hyung!" Chan exclaims quietly after running towards Taehyung with a huge smile. Taehyung returns the smile and pats Chan on the back. Even though Taehyung is not part of the club, he gets treated like one. It's from all the time that he spends in the studio because of Jimin and Hoseok.

Chan leads Taehyung where he was sitting with a couple of others who Taehyung doesn't recognize, which must be new to the club. They offer him a friendly smile and Taehyung quickly returns them.

When the song finally ends, Jimin quickly turns around and runs towards Taehyung, engulfing him in a tight hug.

"Jesus christ, you literally just saw me this morning," Taehyung says but doesn't try hard to keep himself from grinning.

"Fuck off, I missed seeing you here," Jimin says, still clinging onto Taehyung as the rest of the dancers greets him and welcome him back. And that's when he sees him.

Jeongguk is standing across the studio, gulping down some water from his bottle, a white towel wrapped around his neck. He's staring at his fellow dancers as they hover around Taehyung and when they made eye contact, they gave each other a disgusted look before looking away.

"Man, the tension is strong between the two of you. I thought being in the track team and being gym buddies would make you guys civil with each other at least," Hoseok suddenly says and the other dancers began to look between Taehyung and Jeongguk in curiosity.

"Don't ever say that we are," Taehyung fake gags before continuing, "gym buddies."

Taehyung hears Jeongguk scoff from across the room and watches as the other walks towards them, all smug and looking exactly like someone that Taehyung would hate.

"Kim's right," Jeongguk begins to say as he reaches them, "I'd never have a gym buddy who's a wuss."

Taehyung begins to open his mouth, and say something completely insulting but Jimin suddenly positions himself in between them.

"Okay, okay, love birds, that's enough flirting for today," Jimin says with a chuckle and everyone else follows after him, everyone except Taehyung and Jeongguk who both just rolls their eyes at Jimin. "And Guk, stop being an asshole for once, would you?"

"Guk?" Both Taehyung and Jeongguk exclaims at the same time, offended, before glaring at each other.

Jimin puts his hands up in front of him as if surrending.

"God, chill," Jimin says with his brows raised in amusement as he looks in between the two rivals.

"Park Jimin we need to talk later," Taehyung says, almost threatening. Jimin? His Jimin calling Jeongguk with a nickname as if they are good, ol' pals? Total betrayal.

The crowd that was surrounding them finally dissipates and after Hoseok gathers them again and says a couple of things regarding their practices and possible performances in the future, he dismisses them.

Hoseok and Jimin are in the middle of shoving their stuff inside their bags when Taehyung suddenly appears to wrap his arms around their shoulders, making them look up to him briefly before going back to what they were doing.

"Hyung, you missed me didn't you?" Taehyung says, almost in a whine but keeps it quiet so only Hoseok and Jimin can hear. He can't risk having Jeongguk hear him talking like this, who is on the other side of the room doing his own thing.

"Tae, I just saw you last track practice, which was yesterday, but sure," Hoseok responds with a roll of his eyes. Taehyung scrunches his nose before grinning once again.

"Treat me some KBBQ then, m'starving," Taehyung says and at that, Hoseok quickly whirls around and gives Taehyung his raised brows.

"Do I have to treat you to show you that I missed you?" Hoseok asks, his tone dripping with amusement. Taehyung nods and beside him, Jimin, nods as well in agreement. If Taehyung gets to convince Hoseok to treat him, for sure Jimin would get to tag along with them, meaning free food for him as well.

"God, I hate you both but you know what, i'm feeling nice so okay let's go," Hoseok finally says after pretending to be thinking hard.

Taehyung and Jimin cheers and wolf whistles, dancing a little on their spot as Hoseok rolls his eyes at them but ends up grinning a little.

"But Jeongguk is coming with us."

At that, Taehyung and Jimin immediately stops dancing.

"What?" Taehyung asks in disbelief and glances towards Jeongguk, who is already looking at them upon hearing his name. He has his backpack slung on one of his shoulder and looks about ready to leave.

"What?" Jeongguk also asks after noticing all three of them looking at him.

"We'll be heading out for lunch. You should come with us, my treat," Hoseok explains, giving Jeongguk a sweet smile which makes Jeongguk look at him suspiciously.

All Taehyung could do is hope that Jeongguk would get the hint from Taehyung's threatening gaze when Jeongguk spared him a glance before answering. Taehyung almost felt glad when Jeongguk seemed to have gotten his message until the bastard flashed him his familiar smirk.

"Sure, hyung," Jeongguk finally replied, making Taehyung groan while Hoseok and Jimin cheers, both of which are probably happy because they have successfully ruined Taehyung's day and right before lunch at that. Yes, Taehyung would get free lunch but at what cost?

After gathering all of their stuff and organizing the dance studio before they leave, they finally got to head out and go to the nearest KBBQ place.

While walking towards their destination, Taehyung slows his pace to match Jeongguk's so they end up walking beside each other while Hoseok and Jimin walks in front of them. Jeongguk gives him an annoyed look and before he gets the chance to move away, Taehyung grabs his arm and speaks.

"Thanks, asshole. Now i'm stuck with you," Taehyung hisses, only loud enough for Jeongguk to hear. Jeongguk yanks his arm free from Taehyung's grip before making a show of dusting it off.

"Fuck off, I just wanted to piss you off," Jeongguk hisses back, looking equally annoyed so Taehyung hesitantly believes him. Still, he's pissed.

"Well, you've succeeded. So now, go and tell them you have somewhere to go to and leave!" Taehyung says. He knows he's being rude but he's also doing it for Jeongguk's sake, after all he for sure hates Taehyung's presence, so if he leaves it's a win-win.

"I leave while you get free food? Hell no. Why don't you leave?" Jeongguk shoots back and okay, Taehyung admits that he has a point. But.

"Well, i'm the reason in the first place that hyung is taking us out. I have more right to be here than you are. Hyung was just being nice to you that's why he extended an invitation that you weren't supposed to accept if you just took the hint from me," Taehyung says, frustrated now as the two of them seemed to have naturally fallen back to their usual arguing and bickering.

"It's fun to annoy you. Your face makes the ugliest expressions when you're pissed. It's quite entertaining," Jeongguk says, smirking again. Is that his job?

Before Taehyung could think of a response, Hoseok announces that they finally made it to the restaurant.

They quickly picked a good spot for the four of them but Hoseok suddenly pulled an extra chair for their table. Everyone gives him a questioning look.

"Oh, I called Jin hyung. He's on his way," Hoseok explains.

Jin is Hoseok's roommate so naturally, Jimin and Taehyung have grown closer to him and became a part of their circle of friends. They rarely see him nowadays because of how busy he is because he's in his senior year. But he never fails to send Jimin and Taehyung something that he cooked whenever he is experimenting new recipes or stress cooking.

"Jin hyung? I haven't seen him in forever," Jimin says and Taehyung nods to agree.

"Yeah, he's been busy, as usual. But after I told him it's free lunch on me, his schedule is suddenly clear," Hoseok says with a laugh and a fond look in his eyes. It doesn't go unnoticed and Jimin and Taehyung shares a knowing look. Jeongguk just looks lost so he decided to busy himself with the menu in front of him.

After ordering what they want, Jin finally arrives just as they started serving everything that they ordered. As soon as he grabbed the empty seat in between Hoseok and Taehyung, he takes the tong and starts grilling the meat. No one complains as they all collectively agree that Jin is the best one for that job. Jeongguk just lets everything happen in front of him.

When Jin finally notices the new face in the table, he quickly finishes putting the meat on the grill and looks up.

"Hey, i'm Seokjin," Jin introduces, extending an arms across the table where Jeongguk is sitting. Jeongguk accepts his hand for a handshake.

"Jeongguk," Jeongguk says, with a tight lipped smile.

"Jeongguk is new in the dance team," Hoseok explains as Jin nods along. "He's a good kid and he's pretty tight with Tae." At his last statement, Hoseok and Jimin chuckles while Jeongguk just rolls his eyes.

Jin turns to Taehyung.

"Oh?" Jin says with a teasing tone, making Taehyung groan.

"No, I hate his guts," Taehyung says. Jin doesn't comment but he lets out a laugh before he turns his attention back to the meat.

To Taehyung's surprise, the lunch went smoothly, even with Jeongguk's presence. All they really have to do is ignore each other but still, they couldn't avoid to bicker here and there but it didn't get any worse than that.

After their lunch, Jimin immediately has to leave, chasing after his biology class. The rest of them stays for a while, using the few minutes they have left until Jin also has to leave with Hoseok, who decided to go along with him.

Taehyung and Jeongguk looks at each other.

"What," Jeongguk says, his tone slightly annoyed.

"I feel like kicking your ass. The gym is gonna be open late tonight," Taehyung says, picking up his belongings as he stands up. Jeongguk mirrors his actions.

"Don't know why you sound so smug, Kim. You're just gonna lose as usual," Jeongguk says, a smirk appearing on his face. "Meet me there at nine or ten. Whatever. You better be there, pussy."

With that, Jeongguk turns to leave. But before he's out of earshot, Taehyung yells, "You're going down, Jeon! Making sure of it!"

Jeongguk turns around so he's walking backwards, that arrogant bastard, and gives Taehyung a smug grin.

"I'd like to see you try."