Twenty-Seventh
:Chapter Twenty-Seven:

     "A toast to Taehyung for stepping up and playing his heart out during the game a few days ago against the Red Knights!" Hoseok grinned ear-to-ear, his glass of Pepsi held in the air to represent his toast.

Everyone put their cups up, also smiling happily, all but one but that was expected.

Though, Jeongguk wasn't a total jerk, he picked his cup up and held it, just not high or with a smile on his face.

The table took a sip to follow the toast, setting their glasses down after they sipped collectively.

"And to Jeongguk!" Namjoon said once the glasses were placed down. He saw the bummed look a bit too late to hold the toast but at least he could still honor his friend.

"For what?" Yoongi questioned.

Namjoon frowned. "Well, Jeongguk's been quite hurt these past few days and he's recovering . . . Just thought he deserved a toast. He didn't need to be here at all but he came with anyways."

The table was silence and Jeongguk couldn't feel like more of an outcast than he did now. He sighed and looked down at the menu, trying to decide what he might want though he wasn't exactly hungry anymore.

"To Newbie and for recovering!" Taehyung was in a good mood and didn't want to have some mood-killer kill his vibe.

Jeongguk picked his head up when he heard Kim make a toast to him, everyone raising their cups once more and sipping afterwards.

It was surprising that out of everyone at the table, Taehyung had to initiate it for everyone else to follow through. Namjoon technically started it but after the table went silent, he fell flat.

Jeongguk still felt left out but the celebration wasn't really for him and he knew he shouldn't feel salty about it.

"How's your knee? Jihyun told me how you hurt it pretty bad during the game." Jimin asked, sitting beside the mentioned lady.

"It's much better, it's just sore but I'll be fine, thanks for asking." Taehyung said, looking down at the menu. "Does everyone know what they want?" He asked.

Everyone nodded or answered with a simple 'yes', causing Hoseok to call a waiter over.

Hoseok started off by ordering himself some rice noodles mixed with fried veggies, a side of cut up pork to go with it.

They all proceeded to order what they wanted after that, going down the line.

Jeongguk was last to order, sighing as he looked at the menu once more to clarify what he wanted to eat. "I'll just have fried veggies with a side of white rice." He handed over his menu to the waiter who nodded. "I'll bring it all  when it's ready." He told them and left to go take back the order.

     "When are you coming back to school?" The question was finally directed to someone other than Taehyung which made Jeongguk look up, seeing everyone look back at him waiting for an answer.

Seokjin was the one to ask.

Jeongguk cleared his throat and leaned back in his seat, humming in thought. "Uh, well, I wanted to come back on Monday." He announced, feeling a tad bit awkward but at least he was acknowledged.

"Really? Are you going to come by the baseball field at all?" Hoseok wondered, appearing to be excited for the younger's return.

Jeongguk hadn't really thought about it; going back to practice to watch his team. He knew he wasn't going to be back for two more games if he ever got better and that it was likely Taehyung would remain the pitcher from now until next season. It would hurt him having to watch someone else practice and play his dream position.

Then he realized that's exactly what he did to Taehyung. Taehyung had said how bad he wanted to be pitcher and how he'd been practicing but Jeongguk came in and took it for himself.

Not only did he take it, he used it against Taehyung, teased him about it, and rubbed it in his face that he didn't have the position. Jeongguk realized how much of a hypocrite he was for getting mad when he believed Taehyung did that back to him.

"Jeongguk?" Jeongguk blinked when he heard his name come from his hyung. "Oh, um, yeah." He nodded, rubbing the side of his neck. "I'll come by here and there, depending how I feel." He answered sheepishly, feeling his cheeks heat up in utter embarrassment.

"Great!" Hoseok grinned. "The team missed you, they were happy to see you at the game." The elder informed. Jeongguk saw Taehyung nod his head to agree but not look up.

It was most likely by second nature he tried to avoid making direct eye contact.

"What's nice about you playing baseball now is that there's a few baseball players on the basketball team." Yoongi decided to help make conversation.

"Really? Like who?" Jeongguk asked. He heard a ding at the table and checked his phone, realizing it wasn't his phone but someone else's. He could see Hoseok clear the notification without reading it, knowing much the boy wanted his friends to enjoy each other's company without electronics. It was just the type of person he was which was respectable, especially in a society like this.

"Minji, Seojun, and Chinhae." Yoongi listed. "Taehyung might play but I don't think you would be too excited to hear that much." It was pretty much everyone who knew about the conflict between the two youngest.

There was many more dings that went off, causing the table to fall silent after hearing about three to four more messages go off on Hoseok's phone.

The aforementioned huffed and pulled out his phone, deciding to open the message this time. He uttered words under his breath, becoming quite annoyed at whoever decided to spam him.

Everyone watched collectively; silently.

Jeongguk will never forgot the way Hoseok's face contoured multiple reactions to what he was reading. Shock, confusion, and soon worry.

Hoseok hurriedly pushed up and grabbed Taehyung's wrist, trying to pull him up. "We got to go," he said urgently, slipping his phone into his pocket with no explanation. He tugged on the younger's arm, trying to rush him out of his seat.

The table all had looks of confusion and concern themselves but no one knew what to say.

"What? Why?" Taehyung hesitantly stood up, brows furrowed.

"I-I'll tell you in the car, we don't have time to worry why." Hoseok looked like he had tears filling in his eyes, fear showing on his face. Taehyung decided not to ask anymore question, quickly grabbing his light jacket and phone.

"Are you guys okay?" Seokjin wondered, also slowly pushing to his feet. "Do you need help? Assistance maybe?"

"We can't sit here and talk about it until we know for sure. Please enjoy yourselves, we'll pay you guys back later." Hoseok said and dragged Taehyung out of the restaurant, keeping a tight grip to make sure Taehyung followed close.

Jihyun quickly pushed to her feet and chased after them, not wanting to leave her boyfriend alone.

     The table was quiet for a moment, everyone holding basically the same look of concern about what just happened.

"Should we go with?" Namjoon asked, looking around to see the answers from the remaining four, not including himself.

"No, it looked pretty- pretty personal. If he wanted us to go with, he would've dragged us out like he did to Taehyung." Seokjin said logically, minding working to think of what should be done next.

Jeongguk didn't say anything, not able to shake the way Hoseok looked absolutely petrified about what he read off of his cellular device. He wanted to go after them like Jihyun did but it wasn't his place and he wasn't going to pester the two if he wasn't welcomed.

Instead, he pulled out his phone and wrote a small message to Hoseok and Hoseok only. He would've sent a message to Taehyung even but he didn't have the boy's number for obvious reasoning.

Jeongguk:
I hope u two r ok. Stay safe

It was short and simple but it got the point that Jeongguk was worried for them and only hoped they would be okay.

Eventually, dinner ended. It wasn't as fun as it was when Hoseok, Taehyung, and Jihyun were here but they continued it since they had already ordered and there was nothing they could do. It was pretty quiet and very little talk during dinner, hearts in throats and thoughts taking over.

But regardless, Namjoon went with Yoongi and Seokjin as Jeongguk went with Jimin after it was all said and done.

     He currently was sitting in the passenger seat, eyes glued to his cellphone. He was waiting and waiting and waiting, wanting to see some sort of notification pop up.

His message was left delivered, it wasn't even read and Hoseok never seen it. It honestly put fear in his heart. What if's filled his head, piling  one on top of another.

"You should stop worrying." Jimin uttered, snapping Jeongguk out of his thoughts suddenly.

"What?" The younger switched his phone off, resting it on his lap. He directed his attention over to the elder who focused heavy on the road ahead of him.

"I said you should stop worrying." Repeated Jimin. "They'll be okay, they'll be just fine." It was clear that Jimin was also trying to convince himself of what he said, not wanting to let his mind fall negative. Practice what you preach.

Jeongguk then realized that his constant checking was only making Jimin more on edge and he too was worried. He could see the way Jimin tried to find things to distract himself but he only seemed more anxious. Jeongguk was sure the boy's anxiety was through the roof.

"You're right, I'm sorry." Jeongguk hummed. "Did you enjoy your food?" He asked, maybe he could help his friend; change the topic.

"Yeah," Jimin vaguely answered, biting down on his bottom lip. "No, yeah, I enjoyed my food, it was good. A bit over cooked but it worked out great." He reiterated, deciding he shouldn't give half assed remarks.

"As long as you enjoyed it, that's good." Jeongguk commented.

"You ready for school on Monday?" Jimin wondered, releasing a deep sigh he didn't know he was holding back. He looked over briefly before eyes going back onto the road.

Jimin was a real cautious driver, unlike Taehyung who was reckless. As long as it got you from point A to point B in one piece then who cares.

"Excited is a bit of an overstatement, more nervous than anything but if it becomes too much, I'll just say my head is hurting me and I would like to go back home." Jeongguk shrugged, looking away from the elder after a bit of looking.

"Why nervous?" The elder inquired. "I mean, what's there to be nervous about?"

"Just not ready to be crowded around and bombarded with work." The younger said lamely. "School is stressful as it is, teachers don't know when to give breaks and I'm not ready to turn in seventeen assignments for lessons I wasn't active in."

Jimin hummed as an answer, arriving up at Jeongguk's house, putting the car in park with the engine still running. There wasn't much of a conversation but both boys were both heavily occupied with what happened earlier and small talk only went so far.

When things fell silent, your mind couldn't help but to race back to what it was escaping from.

     Just as Jeongguk was about to get out, he heard his phone go off, making them stop in place and think for a moment.

Then, Jeongguk pulled his phone up and turned it on, looking at his newest notification but he sighed when it wasn't Hoseok getting back to him.

"It's just Jin hyung making sure we're okay." He huffed, texting a quick 'yeah' before putting his phone back into his pocket. "But get home safely, I'll see you on Monday." Jeongguk said before he got out, shutting the car door behind him. Jimin didn't have anything to say back, his mouth not allowing words to spill.

He walked up to his front door, hearing the car pull off somewhere behind him.

Jeongguk went up to the door and let himself in with his house key, still waiting on a message back from Hoseok but something told him he wouldn't get one for awhile.

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