Worst Behavior

03. consequences

[ 03. consequences ]
J E O N G G U K

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"Taehyung's got to be a fag."

Jeongguk chokes on water, the boy's fingers scrunches the plastic aggressively as liquid dribbles from his lips and onto his lap. He turns his widened gaze to his friend group (he doesn't quite consider them friends but people his parents have persuaded him to be around), shock riddling his features.

It's lunch, and the typical conversation between the group of four doesn't really stray towards gossip but sports, girls, or boring church conversations. It's a feminine thing, and most boys at Jeongguk's school would rather associate with masculinity than risk being called a queer for doing such girly things. However, it's not their gossip that catches him off guard, but the familiar name of a boy he was literally in the closet with a few hours ago.

"W-what?" Jeongguk wheezes, swiping at the corner of his mouth with the back of his palm much to the weird stares his companions are giving him.

"You heard me Jeon," Jason, the blonde haired one that always wears a letterman jacket to signify his importance as a football player, lets out an nasally laugh. "He's a fag."

"But you don't know him," Jeongguk counters, setting his waterbottle on his tray. Jason rolls his eyes, the corners of his mouth fluttering into a smirk.

"I don't need to know him to tell if he's a fuckin queer. Look, Brian, Steven, d'ya'll agree?" The leader of their group jerks his thumb to the two boys on their right.

Jeongguk spares a bored glance over at the two, Brian seeming to be occupied staring over at the cheerleaders' table, stuck in a dreamy haze filled with peaked, nude breasts while Steven's busy picking at his pulled pork with a look of pure disgust. It's not until Jason snaps his fingers do they listen, nodding along like they're totally listening in on the conversation.

"Sure, like, look at him bros," Brian, the other blonde that has a mullet and also sports a matching letterman jacket with his football number juts his chin to where Taehyung sits. Jeongguk doesn't really see anything wrong - there's just a lot of girls fawning over him at his table and some dudes he can only identify as popularity seekers. It's really nothing new.

"Dude, he's just another chink," Steven mutters underneath his breath, propping his elbow on the table and setting his chin on his palm.

He tosses Jeongguk a look realizing what he's said. He blinks slowly, then adding, "Jeon you're technically American so, uh, no offense."

"None taken," He bites back the anger riling up his throat at the slur, hiding it instead with a mere smile. He averts his attention back to Jason. "Are you afraid he's gonna overshadow you Jase? I mean, he has more popularity than y'all and y'all are football stars."

At this, both Steven and Brian seem to snort out, but Jason flashes them both a frown before forcing the edges of his lips into a fake smile directed towards Jeongguk. Jeongguk straightens his posture, eyeing the other with the same, forced grin splayed across his lips.

"No Jeon, I'm not scared of a little company," Jason says slowly, though he breaks their little stare-off to cast Taehyung another dirty look over his shoulder, though Jeongguk knows the other's probably too swamped in attention to care anyways.

"Then why call him a homosexual when you know that's gonna hurt his rep?" Jeongguk retorts, letting his smile fall into a frown as he shifts awkwardly in his seat.

He feels Brian and Steven staring at him, silently telling him to keep his mouth down. It's not every day Jason and Jeongguk fight, but when they do, it doesn't end so well. He observes as Jason rolls his eyes, pressing his arms over his chest, brows scrunching in irritance.