Jeongguk hardly got to even wish his boyfriend a very happy birthday, what with the practice becoming more rigorous with the match date nearing.
And all for what?
They lost the match and the entire team lost the chance for the scholarship.
Jeongguk heard of it during their lunch break, long before the team actually arrived back at the school, but he only finally got to look at Taehyung when he was busy getting his notebook corrected by his bully in his cabin, two periods after the break.
His bully, as usual, had a lot of comments to make about his handwriting and he was silently wishing for the time when Mr Kim avoided him to come back.
After Seokjin made him and Mr Kim sit and chat in the living room one Sunday afternoon when Jeongguk's parents were out, the awkwardness between them finally died and Mr Kim comfortably got back to bullying him. The only upgrade this time was the fact that Jeongguk could now call him 'Namjoon hyung' outside school. Jeongguk couldn't get that out of his lips, however. It was impossible for him. Still, he tried.
"Seriously, a chicken could scribble better than you, Jeongguk, am I even supposed to understand what this word here means? It's like a school kid's handwriting!!"
'Huh? I AM a school kid, though?' Jeongguk wanted to say, but he knew better than to do that.
"Oh, god. If only I could grade you guys based on your handwri-"
There was a knock on his door, cutting him off, much to Jeongguk's inner peace and sanity.
"Come in," Mr Kim called out and the door slowly opened. Jeongguk didn't pay much attention to the newcomer until Mr Kim's pen froze and he cleared his throat.
"Jeongguk, you can come back late-"
Jeongguk was already nodding and reaching for his notebook when the voice of the person who cut Mr Kim off made him freeze.
"It's okay, he can stay," the unmistakable voice of his boyfriend said, making him look up at the said boy.
His heart dropped to his stomach at the devastated look and tears on his boyfriend's face. And his entire body itched to reach forward and give him a hug, but he couldn't do it in Mr Kim's presence.
However, his eyes narrowed when he noticed that Mr Kim didn't scold Taehyung for commanding him in his own cabin and speaking so informally. Instead, the said man got up, sighed an 'oh, Tae,' and walked around his table to engulf Taehyung in a warm hug.
"H-Hyung," Taehyung stuttered as he sobbed onto Mr Kim's shoulder, and Jeongguk could only ogle dumbly as Mr Kim rubbed Taehyung's back comfortingly and then placed a long kiss on his forehead.
"It's okay, it's okay, there are many more chances, we'll figure something out," Mr Kim said and it was then that Jeongguk finally figured out that Mr Kim was his boyfriend's brother.
The one that was paying for Taehyung's training and helping him keep his sanity through high school.
It took some time for Taehyung to pull himself together, but when he finally did, he pulled away from his brother and looked over at Jeongguk, who was still staring dumbly at the Kim brothers.
All he had to do for Jeongguk to get out of his trance, however, was to open his arms, because the next second, Jeongguk realized that their relationship wasn't a secret to Mr Kim. Without a second thought, he leapt into Taehyung's arms, squeezing hard to give him as much comfort as he could physically give.
After a few seconds, however, Mr Kim joined the hug as well, putting his arms around both of them, which finally brought Jeongguk back to his proper senses.
The fact that Mr Kim was Taehyung's brother, that he had known about Jeongguk's crush on Taehyung, that he had probably been bullying him this entire time because he had a crush on his brother, that he was his own cousin's boyfriend, that Taehyung had purposefully left out this detail while telling him about his brother...
Just the fact that Mr Kim already knew that Jeongguk and Taehyung were in a relationship made Jeongguk wonder if the two brothers had had a good laugh behind his back about the same.
Taking a sharp breath, he took a step back and blindly reached for the door handle, hardly being able to see because of the tears that were pooling up in his eyes. Without giving a damn about his book, he sprinted out of the cabin, right to the rooftop, the one place that always gave him some inner peace.
This time, however, he couldn't find that peace.
He couldn't help but feel like he got played. Fooled. Mocked.
Who knew what else the Kim brothers had been ridiculing him for behind his back?
Suddenly, the fact that Taehyung had fallen for him after watching a video of his own brother making fun of him in his class suddenly didn't sit well with him.
What if all of this was an elaborate joke between the brothers? What if Mr Kim had told Taehyung about his crush during his freshman year itself? What if they had laughed about all the times Mr Kim had made fun of him in his cla-
A familiar girly giggle cut his thoughts off, but before he could even turn around to face that person, that person exclaimed 'oh?!' loudly.
"Oh, Gguk, what are you doing here?! The basketball team is back, go and meet Taehyung oppa," the person said and Jeongguk didn't have it in him to turn around and show that person his teary face. He didn't even remember when the tears fell out of his eyes.
"Gguk?" the person asked concernedly, and before Jeongguk could wipe his tears away, he was engulfed in a hug, the familiar scent of Jeongyeon infiltrating his nasal glands.
"What happened?" it was her boyfriend who asked him that. He wondered what Jimin was doing here when the basketball team was back, but then realized that Jimin probably already knew that Taehyung was going to need his brother more than his friends at the moment.
Again, the thought of Jimin and Hoseok already knowing that Mr Kim was Taehyung's brother made him bitter. Did Jeongyeon and Yoongi know about it as well?
"Ggukie, what happened?!" Jeongyeon asked, sounding frantic when he cried harder. She still didn't let go of him. Between his sobs, he explained what happened, what he saw, what he was scared of, what he hated in the entire situation and how he felt.
After a while, Jeongyeon let go of him and sat in front of him cross-legged. She looked deep in thought for quite a while.
Jeongguk was sure she was going to spill a hundred profanities about the Kim brothers when she finished collecting her thoughts, but what she said when she finally opened her mouth had Jeongguk's heart sinking further.
"Oh, Jeonggukie, you toad!!"
Because yes, he was in for a Jeongyeonian lecture.
