Thirty-First
:Chapter Thirty-One:

Jeongguk was sitting in the dugout, watching his teammates practice ahead of him. He felt pretty useless to his team since he was still considered injured and was ineligible to play.

But, he was here since Hoseok was finally back. The aforementioned was gone for three days in total due to his late friend.

With Hoseok being back, that meant Taehyung was also back.

Jeongguk didn't really care that he was back but he was dreading what was to come after practice.

Because the teenager loved his younger brother oh so much, he was willing to invite Kim over to his house. Just the thought made Jeongguk get chills and made his stomach churn, and not in a good way.

His brother was infatuated with Kim and his company, he loved spending time with him and rarely believed the two were already best friends. Jaeyong adored Taehyung so much, way more than his other friends.

It was mind boggling to Jeongguk, he knew he wanted Jaeyong to not get to know Taehyung for a reason, even if the reason was because Jaeyong would grow to like Taehyung.

     "How you holding up?" The question pulled Jeongguk out of his thoughts, turning to look at his hyung, Hoseok.

He straightened his posture and shrugged lamely. "Pretty boring just sitting here and doing nothing." He answered, watching as his friend took a seat beside him, pulling his bag up onto his lap.

"Yeah, I'm sure it is. I hated it when I still came when I was injured." Hoseok told, not looking up since he was still digging in his bag for whatever he was in need of.

"You were injured?" Jeongguk inquired. Disregarding their topic of conversation, the younger teenager noticed how timid Hoseok was. He wasn't surprised or was going to force Hoseok to lighten up when his friend recently passed away.

     "Yeah, my freshman year. I was on third base, watching the batter and he hit the ball up. I then began to sprint as fast as I could, running from their base to home. I knew the ball was in the air and I was the first target so I slide but I ended up sliding wrong. I broke my ankle when it collided and had to sit out." Hoseok answered, pulling out his batting gloves. He began to pulled them over his fingers.

"What did your friends do?" Jeongguk asked, interested in the conversation.

Hoseok pulled the glove over his pull hand and strapped it in, looking to his right at Jeongguk who looked back expectantly. "I didn't have friends when I joined. I wasn't really liked or cared about on the team. So, when I got hurt, no one cared or checked up on me. They didn't care about me. It sucked, too, because I still came to practice and cheered them on though they didn't like me and no matter how hurt I was."

Jeongguk frowned, hearing the way Hoseok was treated broke his heart. Someone like Hoseok never deserved to be treated the way he was. "Damn," he breathed. "That sucks."

"Yeah, it got bad and I was so close to quitting but then Changmin transferred and we got close. Then, the next season came around and Taehyung was playing now. It was really just the first half of that first season that was bad for me." Hoseok explained and pushed back up to stand.

Jeongguk listened intently, his frown prominent. He really felt bad.

"Sorry, I talked your ear off. Just know I know sitting here and watching isn't fun." Hoseok said and began to walk away but Jeongguk stopped him with a call of his name.

"Hyung, I'm really sorry . . . About everything." Jeongguk had apologized so many times even though he didn't do anything wrong or malicious to hurt Hoseok. "You don't deserve what you received."

Hoseok looked at him from over his shoulder and weakly smiled, nodding. "I know," he said. "But I rather it be me to go through those things than any of your guys. That's why I always made sure the new comer had a friend right there with him, just so he didn't feel the way I did when I first joined."

Jeongguk wanted to say more but Coach had called Hoseok away, leaving Jeongguk to his lonesome self.

It didn't matter, however, practice was over and Coach just needed Hoseok to discuss something irrelevant and to go over some batting with the elder.

This was the opportunity, though. Taehyung would be packing up, people would be leaving, Jeongguk could catch Kim and no one pay much attention to what they were doing.

With those thoughts, the black-haired teen pushed to his feet, adjusting his black bucket hat, and soon leaving the dugout.

He watched as Suwun picked up the bag full of helmets, Seojun right behind him to help since the bag was so heavy.

Leehyun and Chinhae grabbed the buckets full of baseballs that were used for practice. They were walking with Minji, having a little bit of small talk as they were taking their equipment back.

Jeongguk then watched Taehyung picked up the bat bag, slinging it over his shoulder. That's when he began to walk over, feeling his heart thump just a bit harder against his chest.

Hoseok was walking with Coach so Taehyung was alone for the most part.

He walked a bit faster until he was directly behind Taehyung, words caught up in his throat.

"What do you want?" Kim suddenly asked, looking over his shoulder to see Jeongguk behind him. The younger wasn't exactly quiet about it and Taehyung knew someone was behind him.

"Oh, um," Jeongguk wanted to respond with a smart remark just by second nature but he opted not doing so. "My brother, your new bestie, he wants to know if you can come over and hang out with him." He tried to make himself sound bored instead of nervous. He didn't want to seem like it was him asking.

Taehyung kept walking, shaking his head. "You're kidding, right? I'm sure this is some joke or you trying to be slick."

"Trust me, if I wanted to be slick, I'd embarrass you in front of everyone and not wait until they were ahead." Jeongguk rolled his eyes but he knew Taehyung wasn't going just to act like they didn't have an issue between them. "I don't want you over but I'm not going to just not ask because of how I feel, it's my brother that enjoys your company for some reason."

The elder sighed and stopped in his place right before the steps. He looked back at Jeongguk, dark bags under his eyes and a messy look accompanying his usually healthy features. He almost looked sick. "What time?"

Jeongguk gnawed on his bottom lip, a small shrug following. "It, uh, it doesn't matter what time. Maybe after you're done cleaning yourself up at your house."

"Ah, sure." He then continued up the steps. "I'll be over then, does he want any snacks?" Kim questioned, keeping his head facing forward.

Jeongguk's thin lips dropped into a frown, humming. "He's good, he has a lot at home but thanks for offering." He uttered, stopping there and letting Taehyung walk right through the corridors, disappearing before anything more could be said.

Jeongguk really wanted to say more but he had no idea what he could say, feeling like there was something blocking his vocal cords. He closed his mouth after having his lips parted, shaking his head to himself, and walking away.

***

"Guess what, Jaeyong?" Jeongguk pushed his little brother's door open, immediately leaning on the doorframe.

Jaeyong was building with some legos, sticking them together to build a little house for his lego people. "What?" He paused mid build, looking at his brother who forced a smile.

"Kim agreed to come over to play with you." He said, seeing Jaeyong take a moment to figure out who Kim was since he referred to his bestie as 'Taerung'.

"Taerung?" He gasped, eyes opening a bit wide.

Jeongguk nodded, not saying any more.

"Really? Yay!" Jaeyong quickly stood up, picking up his blocks. "I got to clean, he can't come in to a dirty room!" Claimed the younger boy.

His room wasn't dirty, he just had toys laying around on the floor but Jeongguk chuckled and shook his head. He turned away and pulled the door shut behind him while his brother 'cleaned' up.

Jeongguk was about to hide away in his room until Kim got here but his father had other plans.

"Jeongguk," called the aforementioned's father, making the teen stop in his tracks.

"Yes?" He looked over by the steps where his father stood, hand on railing.

"I have to go help your aunt, I'll be back in a bit. Can you stay downstairs in the living room and just watch your brother until I get back?" The boy's father asked.

"Oh, yeah, sure," Jeongguk said and pulled his door back shut. "How long will you be?"

"I can't say for sure, probably an hour since she lives far. Is that okay?" He asked his son.

Jeongguk nodded, not seeing any issue with babysitting his brother. He has before and has for longer times so an hour was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Thank you," he smiled, his wrinkles showing through in his said smile.

He turned and walked back down the steps, Jeongguk right behind his father to shut and lock the door behind him.

Once his father had left, Jeongguk was greeted with silence, slowly striding towards the sofa where he took a seat, not bothering to turn on the TV.

He figured Kim would be here in a bit so there would be no need for him getting too comfortable where he sat.

He was anxious about his arch nemesis coming over for some odd reason. Jeongguk hated the idea but he really didn't want to make Kim's life harder than what it has been.

Sad to say, he wanted to make sure Kim forgot his troubles while he was over spending time with Jeongguk's younger brother.

Sometimes, he wished he was just a bit more heartless so he could just tell Jaeyong no and tell Kim to fuck off and get a life.

But that wasn't his person and he wouldn't ever become such a person for three solid reasons. His brother, his dad, and his mom.

     A steady three knocks pulled Jeongguk from his thoughts, making him realize that Blondie was here to have his play date with his brother.

The black-haired teenager pushed up to his feet and walked over to his oak door, sucking in a sharp breath before he placed his hand on the door.

Jeongguk sighed and pulled the the door open, revealing Cap who held a bored look.

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A/N:

The progress is really kicking in! Enjoy, loves!