Sixty-First
:Chapter Sixty-One:
Bonus Chapter

"Oh, come on now, you can't be late to the first day of practice, dude." Jeongguk nudged his boyfriend who was laying flat on his bed, face buried into a pillow.

The elder whined, shimmying a few inches away from Jeongguk, just wanting to sleep a little bit longer.

He and Jeongguk had stayed up late last night playing UNO and watching movies together. It wasn't until the early hours of the morning when they had finally decided on going to bed.

This was the price each of them were paying.

"Tae," Jeongguk huffed, getting off of his bed and picking up one of his loose pillows. He then proceeded to hit the back of the older with it, trying to get him to get up and out of bed. "We're never staying up late again. This is too much."

Taehyung only grunted as a respond, not even flinching at the pillow that was being smacked off his back.

Jeongguk shook his head, walking away from Taehyung and even leaving the comforts of his bedroom. The older boy didn't know where he was going but he continued to lay there, wishing he could sleep for a few more hours.

It was the very first day of baseball practice for their senior year. It had flew before their eyes, coming quicker than they each anticipated.

As thrilling as it was, it was also quite sad. Hoseok, Yoongi, Seokjin, and Namjoon graduated and all went to college. Namjoon and Hoseok ended up going to the same college together so it was nice they had each other.

Rumor has it that Taehyung cried like a baby when his best friend graduated. He knew it wasn't a goodbye but it sure did feel like it to Taehyung in that moment.

As for Jeongguk and Taehyung, they were still together. They were actually really happy and even in love.

They told their friends when they finally made things official but they didn't go around telling the entire school. They still wanted some sort of privacy to their relationship.

Not much in appearance had changed for them. Jeongguk grew out his raven locks. They were so long, soft, and even had a wave to them. Taehyung loved his hair so much and would often find himself playing with it.

As for Taehyung, he had let his natural brown hair come out and cut out all the blond, officially being a brunet again.

     Moments later passed and the door budged open, revealing a an adorable little five-year-old who ran up to the side of the bed, instantly climbing on top.

Jaeyong's love for Taehyung never died out. He still cherished the teen like no other, adored him with an insane amount of affection.

It was severely endearing if you were to ask Taehyung, disgustingly annoying to Jeongguk. Jeongguk just wanted time with his boyfriend and it was most of the time where Jaeyong tagged along or interrupted the two.

Anyway, moving on.

Jaeyong sat on Taehyung's lower back, patting away at his back. "Taehyungie, get up. Gooie said it's time for practice!" He giggled. The child finally learned how to say Taehyung's name, not only that, but he gave him a nickname. Jaeyong's nicknames somehow always ended in an 'ie'. All of them.

Taehyung grunted and slowly turned his head. "Fine," he said with hints of irritation.

The smaller Jeon crawled off of his back and sat beside him, smiling hugely.

Jeongguk just stood by the door, leaning on the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest, hair falling slightly to the side. He didn't say anything, just allowing his brother to handle what he could consider 'light' work. Ironic because he failed to get his boyfriend up while his brother only took about thirty seconds at tops.

"Jaeyong, tell your Gooie he's a butt-face." Taehyung said, moving his hand over to ruffle Jaeyong's black locks, his hair going in multiple directions.

Jaeyong obeyed immediately, turning his attention to his older brother. "Gooie, you're a—"

"I heard him, Jae." Jeongguk chuckled, shaking his head. "Why don't you go downstairs awhile? Me and Taehyung will be down shortly . . . Hopefully if he gets up."

Jaeyong nodded, slipping off of the side of the bed and taking his exit out of the room, leaving the teenage boys alone.

Taehyung rolled onto his back, staring at his boyfriend who stared right back at him.

"What?" Jeongguk uttered, pushing himself off of the doorframe and making his way over, taking a seat on the foot of his bed.

"Nothing," claimed Taehyung, slowly pushing up. "Do we really have to go?" He whined, leaning forward and placing his forehead on Jeongguk's broad shoulder.

"What happened to the boy who was obsessed with baseball? The boy who hated my guts because of it?" Jeongguk rolled his eyes, placing his head on top of Taehyung's.

The elder scoffed. "I didn't hate you because of baseball, you know that, loser." He uttered lowly. "I'm just sleepy. Sleeping in bed all day sounds so much better than conditioning in cold, breezy weather."

"While that does seem enticing," Jeongguk lifted his head and pulled back, turning so he was facing his boyfriend. "Our team needs their captain their first day of practice. There's going to be newcomers and someone needs to be that welcoming face, much like Hoseok was when you and I joined."

Taehyung just looked back and forth between Jeongguk's beautiful brown eyes, a subtle pout on his lips. Though that was pretty sweet of him, Taehyung couldn't help but to shake his head and roll his eyes. He got out of Jeongguk's bed, stretching out his limbs.

"We both know I'm not a welcoming person." He said. "If I recall correctly, I'm the uptight asshole everyone had to put up with."

"Yeah, well, if I said that, you wouldn't have gotten out of bed." Jeongguk admitted, a goofy grin plastered across his pretty face.

"Whatever," Taehyung replied sourly, leaving the comforts of the bedroom to go use the restroom, leaving Jeongguk by himself.

Jeongguk's silly smile only slipped into one more soft and sweet. Words couldn't describe how in love he was with that boy. Something about his sarcastic personality filled with misery yet something humorous always brought a sort of joy to Jeongguk.

They were pretty opposite and maybe that's why they worked out so well together. Sure they bumped heads before, constantly bickering, but that was the beauty in everything.

Who knows where they would've ended if they actually started off as friends.

     Jeongguk stood up and grabbed a hold of his jacket, slipping it over his body to try and keep some warmth over himself. He went over to his nightstand and picked up his phone off the charger.

     When doing so, his screen lit up, revealing his lock-screen with Taehyung on it. It was an off guard photo Jeongguk had snapped away. In the picture, Taehyung was taking a huge bite of ramen, filling his mouth with the noodles in casual clothing and his baseball cap worn backwards. He just so happened to look up through his lashes when Jeongguk took the picture which made it so much better.

Noodles hanging from his lips with doe eyes directed right at the camera, perfect. Taehyung had expressed to Jeongguk numerous times he found the photo embarrassing but nevertheless, the raven-haired teenager kept it and cherished it.

It always made him smile.

That wasn't the only thing on Jeongguk's lock-screen though. No, there was a fresh notification that must've came through when he was trying to get Taehyung up.

It was an email.

     Jeongguk clicked on the notification. He didn't usually get emails, not even spam ones so to see it was rather shocking. He figured it was maybe the coach getting a head start and sending them their schedule.

He was wrong.

     At the top, in the subject line, it read out, "Congratulations, Jeongguk. You've been accepted!"

The email continued to go into detail below that, making Jeongguk's smile fall into parted lips.

     "We are pleased to inform you that we, University of North Carolina, have accepted your application! You have been given this opportunity in recognition your personal, scholastic, and athletic performances. Not only that, we were immensely impressed with your application that we would love to offer you a full ride! We look forward to seeing you this fall! Have a great senior year!
- sincerely,
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill."

     Jeongguk was looking for some sort of implication that this was a sick joke and that he wasn't really accepted into his dream school. He applied to the school as a joke; on a whim. He never believed in a million years he would really be accepted. He wasn't aiming for that, he just thought it would be a 'why not' moment and went for it.

     The boy jumped when Taehyung returned from the restroom, quickly switching off his phone and looking back at his boyfriend.

     "Startled much?" Taehyung chuckled. The aforementioned then took a second look over Jeongguk, frowning subtly. "What's with your face? You look like you just saw a ghost." He commented.

Jeongguk thought for a second if he should announce the news but in a quick second, he decided against it, shaking his head. He would deal with it later. Not now.

     "Just waiting on you to finish taking your shit so we can finally leave." Jeongguk played off, putting his phone in his pocket. "I started to feel sick with your awful fumes."

That caused Taehyung to roll his eyes, shaking his head with a soft smile. "Mhmm, whatever you say, loser." He spoke before grabbing his own jacket. "Let's get going now before you get your brother on me again."

"It worked, didn't it?" Jeongguk gulped, feeling a pit in his stomach as he followed behind his boyfriend. He played off everything but he internally was freaking out.

"Sure," Taehyung said.

     The two left the comforts of Jeongguk's room and soon left his house. It was the first practice for baseball of their senior year. Their last first practice before they would graduate and move on to the next chapters of their life.

     They would go on to have an amazing season, making it to the championship once more but losing by two mere points.

The two would go to prom together, officially this time. Jeongguk ended up winning prom king, not caring that he did but Taehyung congratulated him a thousand times.

They would graduate together, each looking as handsome as ever as they walked across the stage.

Then, they would start their last summer before they would go off to college. All while Jeongguk hid the fact he got accepted to his dream school in a completely different country.

For some reason, he couldn't open up about it and every single time he did, it felt like the conversation would get sidetracked or they would be interrupted. Jeongguk felt like there was never a good time to reveal his secret.

He would only reveal it once it was too late.

_______
A/N:

If I decide to make a book two, which seems a bit drawn out and unlikely as of now, it would pick up right where this chapter left off.

I forgot I had this chapter as a bonus and never finished it but now you guys can enjoy the secret last chapter. Feel free to leave your thoughts! And, if you guys don't mind, may you go back and reread it or leave a vote on the chapters? It helps boost this story and provides me with feedback if I should make a sequel! Thank you!