Thirty-Ninth
:Chapter Thirty-Nine:

     Jeongguk shifted, grunting lowly when he felt a tickle on his face, probably a piece of his hair.

     That's what he thought until he heard quiet giggling and quick movements. This surely awoke him since that in itself was suspicious enough. Who would need to be giggling so quietly at this time?

     His eyelids fluttered opened, his vision a bit blurry due to suddenly waking up. A small yawn left his thin lips and he pushed his body to sit up.

Taehyung and Jaeyong were staring at Jeongguk, both holding wide grins that complimented their features. It didn't help that they had scattered away faster than the speed of light.

     Jeongguk frowned once he got a look at them, noticing something hiding in Taehyung's hand. He then looked back at them and pulled his brows in. He had already figured out what they did while he was peacefully napping.

"You fuckers totally didn't." He uttered, taking his hand and rubbing it down his face before pulling it back and looking over it. There wasn't anything on his hands but perhaps the color had already dried down.

"Jae, doesn't it fit him? I think he looks great, right?" Taehyung smiled, nudging the younger kid who eagerly nodded his small head.

"Goo very handsome!" Jaeyong commented, clapping his hands.

Jeongguk's features sharpened, suddenly shoving himself to his feet in a single motion. "You pieces of shit," he uttered, walking a bit out of the living room to the dining room where they had a little circular mirror hanging on the wall.

     The raven-haired teenager got a glance of himself, seeing the black marker cover his face. He had a fake mustache, a circle around his left eye, and in big bold lettering, the word, 'Newbie' across his forehead.

A frown made its way to his face, seeing just how ridiculous he looked.

Taehyung and Jaeyong were standing in the doorway together, both giggling and making fun of Jeongguk's new and improved look specially done by them.

     "You— Ugh! I can't trust you fools for a second!" Jeongguk groaned, shaking his head. He then turned away and walked into the kitchen, grabbing some paper towels and wetting them.

Taehyung and Jaeyong followed, wanting to watch the teenager struggle with scrubbing off the black marker off his face.

     "What? You don't like it?" Asked Taehyung. "I think you look good with a mustache! It's fitting!" He added on, Jaeyong just agreeing by his side. "Very manly."

"Yeah right, can't believe you two." Jeongguk sulked, aggressively scrubbing his upper lip to remove the marker. His skin was definitely going to be sore and bright red after all of this.

Thankfully, the two used washable marker and not Sharpie so he didn't have to rub his skin totally off. He could see with each paper towel he used the black ink washing off, coating the tissue.

     "What? It's just a little fun. Not like we tattooed it on you, Newbie." Taehyung rolled his eyes, smile still lingering.

"Your point? You guys are ridiculous." Jeongguk uttered, soon moving to his forehead in hopes he cleaned off the mustache. "What possessed you guys to even do this?"

"Well, I knew you were sleeping way before Jaeyong did but when he found out you fell asleep, he gave the idea to draw on your face." Taehyung told.

Jaeyong gasped and looked up at Taehyung who snickered. "You tattletale!" He sucked his teeth, shaking his head with a pout.

Jeongguk rolled his eyes, side-eyeing his brother. "You suggested this? You trader, ever heard of blood being thicker than water?" He inquired, not surprised when Jaeyong shook his head.

He was four, why Jeongguk thought his brother might know what the metaphor was was beyond him.

"Did I get it all?" Jeongguk looked over at the duo, showing his face to them.

"What does it matter what I answer with? You're going to just look in the mirror anyways and see if I was lying or not." Taehyung responded, shrugging.

"Can't you just answer honestly? Why do you make shit so hard?" Jeongguk huffed and wiped another wet paper towel over his face one more time, to make sure he really got it all.

"Thought you hated me, how do I make it hard?" Taehyung wittily remarked, raising a single brow.

Jeongguk didn't answer, not getting the joke at first but then realization hit, making him freeze for a moment.

The younger teen slowly looked over, a look of disgust crossing his features. "Did you just . . . Make a sex joke?"

Taehyung too froze. "No." He uttered. "Just asked how I made things hard." He played off. "Nothing more but glad to know where your head is."

Jeongguk blinked. "Sure, but I know what I heard. Sex joke or not, pretty funny. Sounds like something Hoseok hyung would say."

"No, Hoseok would twist it so much and milk it until it was completely dry." Taehyung snickered, shaking his head.

Jeongguk didn't answer, just wearing a weak smile and shaking his head.

***

"You brought your uniform, yeah?" Hoseok asked, sitting across from Taehyung at the lunch table. "All your gear, gloves, bat, mitt?"

"Yes, mom, I brought it all." Taehyung rolled his eyes. "Want to check my locker just to make sure? You can bring your checklist."

"Don't give me that, you wanted to leave half your shit at home the last away game we had." Hoseok pointed out, looking at the younger through his lashes for a moment before returning to his tray of food, taking a bite of his noodles mixed with shrimp and vegetables.

Right as Taehyung was about to make a comeback, the two were greeted by someone. Newbie to be exact.

Not that anyone really cared, but Taehyung lowkey panicked internally, wondering why the hell Jeongguk thought he could come over and bombard the two.

"Hey, Jeongguk! Feels like it's been forever since you sat here with us! Why the sudden change?" Hoseok inquired, a grin plastered up on his face.

"Yeah, why are you here, Newbie?" Taehyung cocked a brow, scowling at the sudden appearance of his 'enemy'.

"Game day, figured teammates should sit together." Jeongguk shrugged, setting his tray of food down and taking his own seat.

"Didn't concern you any other time." Taehyung muttered, pushing around his food with his chopstick.

Hoseok ignored the previous comment made by Taehyung, attention focused on the youngest. "Think Coach will put you in?" He questioned.

Jeongguk hummed, plopping some chicken in his mouth, thinking while he chewed it down and swallowed. "His old ass made it more than clear that I won't be starting anywhere, especially since I've only ever played one position and that said position is occupied."

"Pitching?" Hoseok cocked a brow.

"What else?" Jeongguk said, looking up at his hyung. "He pities the current pitcher more than he'd like to admit."

"Whatever, you're mad that I'm starting." Taehyung didn't miss the insult, shaking his head to himself.

"Only starting because I got injured." Jeongguk retorted, everyone knowing just how true it was.

Taehyung scoffed. "Are you still injured? I think not, so my statement stands. Stay salty, bitch."

The youngest's lips were barely parted, eyes narrowed at the aforementioned who continued to eat his food. It was harsh compared to everything else that was said.

"Anyways," Hoseok went to speak again but Jeongguk wasn't done, feeling defeated at this point. He was too exhausted to try and stop them.

"He pities you, loser." Jeongguk said as if it were obvious.

"How so? If he pitied me, he would've put me in instead of you the games you weren't crying on the pitcher's mound." Taehyung spat back, setting his chopsticks down to get himself ready for some back and forth banter.

"Because you suck, I mean, that was clear when he had me starting." Jeongguk returns venomously. "As for crying on the pitcher's mound, you go ahead and take a line drive to the face, tell me how that works out for you."

"Well, you're perfectly fine now, and would you look at that! I'm still the starter!" Taehyung mimicked a teasing smile, doing jazz hands to really rub it in.

To Jeongguk, it didn't seem like a joke. This only pulled the corner of his lips further down, feeling his frown worsen. "Are you serious right now?"

"Why wouldn't I be, Newbie?" Taehyung inquired, tilting his head a bit to the left as he questioned Jeongguk back in return. The small, ugly, shit-eating grin was still painted on his face.

"Yeah, I'm not dealing with this." Jeongguk pushed to his feet. "Civilized my ass. Once a piece of shit, always a piece of shit." He grabbed his bag and walked away from the two, leaving the rest of his food untouched since he no longer had an appetite.

"Damn, I just got here too." Namjoon suddenly arrived. "What happened?" He wondered, seeing the steam basically whistling out of Jeongguk's ears as he stormed off.

"What do you think?" Hoseok sighed, shaking his head. He pushed his own tray away from him, bored of the bullshit.

Taehyung eyes stayed locked where Jeongguk left from, feeling a pang in his chest, as if he felt bad for his harmful words. He slowly turned back and looked at Namjoon and Hoseok who were already looking back at him.

"What?" He played dumb, looking between the two elder teenagers.

"Can't you guys just sit in peace for once? You literally don't have to talk to him whatsoever, just ignore him and stuff your mouth." Hoseok spoke first, looking a bit annoyed.

"You're fucking kidding me," Taehyung scoffed. "He started it! You know he did!"

Namjoon silently stood there, slowly easing himself into a seat. He didn't know what happened so he knew it was best for him just to stay quiet. He would just learn as the two went back and forth.

"And?" Hoseok cocked, waiting for a valuable answer, one he was willing to accept.

"Whatever, I don't want to sit here and be lectured." Taehyung sighed. "For some odd reason, you take his side over everything. I've been your best friend; your buddy; your pal for awhile but now that some Playboy model's here, you choose to act differently."

"That's not what I—"

"Sure does feel like it. He can start it but god forbid I add in my own two cents, then I'm pushing it." Taehyung was highly annoyed, feeling like it was utterly unfair. "Just learn to accept he's a crybaby and bitches about everything. He has stupid ass victim mentality and you feed into it."

"I don't know what happened here but maybe we should just drop it and move on, like any other day." Namjoon hummed, eating his food.

Hoseok sighed. "Sorry, Taehyung. I don't try to choose sides and if you were the one to walk away and Jeongguk stay here, I would've told him the same thing I told you." He claimed. "I think all of it is pretty pointless, it's a waste of energy going back and forth. I just know you know how to be a bigger person and let shit go, that's all."

"I think you all forget that he's around the same age as me." Taehyung uttered and pushed to his own feet. "I'm just going to head to my next period. I'll see you guys later on."

Taehyung didn't let either of them speak, deciding it was just better for him to leave and perhaps if he saw Jeongguk, he could apologize or something for his words.

He wasn't sure if he should or shouldn't but there was the little voice in his head telling him he should just be the bigger person and say sorry.

He knew it was a bit close to home when talking about Jeongguk and his injury but at the same time, Taehyung felt like the boy deserved it.

     The teenager huffed to himself, dragging himself to his next class.

Taehyung would make it a point to apologize whenever he seen Jeongguk alone. He knew it was the best decision, whether he wanted to or not.

________
A/N:

One step forward, three steps back. But, can we appreciate Taehyung's willing to apologize? Learn to love the little things!