The Meaning of Family: The Collections

Welcome to the Jungle

Requests:
"Kortni's and Tae's relationship is fun XD I would love to see more of them and Jimin and Jennie."
"Do Jimin and Jennie become an official thing? Because they need to lol."

Notes:
This takes place at the beginning of the school year after the original fic ends.

Ages of the Characters:
Jin - 35
Namjoon - 34
Yoongi - 18
Hoseok - 17
Izzy - 17
Jimin - 15
Taehyung - 15
Jennie - 15
Kortni - 15
Jungkook - 13

"You know," Jennie spoke up as Taehyung dealt the deck of cards he was holding to begin another round of Go Fish. She and the twins were sitting on the floor of the band room after school, her on Jimin's lap, none of them feeling like going home after school just to come back for the football game. "This will be my first time ever going to a football game."

"Really?" Jimin inquired, holding his cards at an awkward angle so the girl in his lap wouldn't see them.

"I was never really interested in all the school spirit stuff." Jennie tilted her head to see Jimin's face. "But I guess I have to go now."

"Don't sound too excited~" Jimin teased, pressing his lips to her cheek until Taehyung started making gagging sounds.

"Can you, like, not do that in front of me?" Taehyung asked, fixing his cards in his hand so they were all turned the right way.

"If you don't like it then why don't you go and find Kortni? I heard that she spends every day after school at whatever area of the school she can find to work on her soccer skills."

"I'd rather not~" Taehyung commented, setting his cards down, and Jimin immediately regretted bringing Kortni up. "Did you know that not only is she in my French class again, but now I also have to deal with her in History? Like, can I not learn about white people ripping land out from under the Native Americans without her presence distracting me?"

"But do they really teach that anyway?" Jennie commented, and Jimin giggled. "I thought you were in World History this year."

"Not the point here, Jennie!" Taehyung exclaimed. "I just can't catch a break!"

"Excuse me~" The group of 15-year olds looked up as one of the band directors spoke to them. "Taehyung, you can stay, but you two need to go. Band students only in here after school hours."

"Oh, sorry~" Jennie muttered as she stood up from Jimin's lap as quickly as she could.

The man walked away as the two boys stood up from the floor. "I'm surprised he didn't say anything before now." Taehyung commented, looking at his watch to see that it was nearing 5:00.

"I should probably go get changed and meet with the rest of the team anyway." Jimin said as he shouldered his dance bag and backpack, giving Jennie a quick kiss before leaving the band room to head to the fieldhouse.

"Great, just leave me alone~" Jennie called out quietly, not really caring if he heard her or not.

"Just because I'm allowed to stay in here doesn't mean I'm forced to." Taehyung commented. "I'm gonna go ahead and change into my band uniform in the bathroom, but if you just wait outside at one of the outdoor tables, I'll be out in a few minutes." After changing in the bathroom of the music complex, Taehyung walked outside, making sure his royal blue and white polo was tucked into his black pants properly. He froze as he heard a familiar laugh joining Jennie's. "Kortni Stephens."

The blonde girl stopped her conversation with Jennie as she turned to face the boy. "Taehyung Kim." She gave him a onceover. "I didn't know you were a band geek." She smirked at him. "I hope it doesn't get in the way of soccer or academics. It wouldn't be quite as satisfying if you weren't at the top of your game."

Taehyung rolled his eyes. "You wouldn't be satisfied anyway~" He challenged, and the two fell into a stare down, a common event for the two of them.

Jennie whistled awkwardly. "Okay, the tension here is way too thick. I'm just gonna go down the street to Chick-fil-a and get a bite to eat and hopefully this...whatever this is will be resolved by the time I get back." She left the pair, but the two of them didn't even shift their glances the slightest bit.

***

"Oh good, we're not late." Yoongi said as he sat next to his family in the bleachers, his hand intertwined with Sophia's.

"We wouldn't have even had to worry about being late if you hadn't insisted on taking a nap as soon as you got home from class." Sophia grumbled as the family greeted each other.

"Speaking of class..." Jin stood up and zoomed in as far as he could with his phone camera, trying to snap some pictures of Taehyung in the band bleachers, having already taken a multitude of photos of Jimin stretching on the track below, "how are yours going, Sophia? Are you enjoying them so far?"

"Are you not going to ask me, your oldest and favorite son, about mine?" Jin quickly shushed Yoongi as he sat back down, turning to Sophia to await her response. It was no secret that Jin was very excited his former student had followed the same path as him in pursuing a career in childcare.

"There's a lot more work than I expected, especially with all of the observations I have to do." Sophia answered, nudging Yoongi's side as he was slightly pouting now.

"Have you gone anywhere yet?"

"I went to the ABC school in Morrilton yesterday to observe there, and it was really nice, I liked it. I haven't done any of my other observation hours yet."

The conversation was stopped from continuing further when a deep sigh left Hoseok, who was staring down at the area of the track where the dance team was preparing for the game. His gaze set on one specific member. "Hobi," the 17-year old's attention was grabbed when Namjoon spoke. "You know you could have stayed home tonight, right? We wouldn't have forced you to come."

Hoseok shook his head slightly, sitting up straighter and finally removing his gaze from his ex-girlfriend. "No, it's Jimin and Taehyung's first high school game, I need to be here for them." His gaze was brought back to the girl as she walked closer to the bleachers to grab her pompoms from where they were lying on the ground. "I think I'm going to head down to the concession stand. Anyone want anything?"

Everyone shook their heads except for Jungkook, who asked for a bag of popcorn, and Jennie, who didn't acknowledge his question at all. "Jennie," Jungkook elbowed her, which brought her out of her daze, as she had been too into watching Jimin doing his stretches. "Do you want anything from the concession stand? Some water, perhaps?"

Jennie narrowed her eyes at the 13-year-old. "No, I'm fine, thank you." She returned her gaze to her boyfriend down below, ignoring the teasing she was receiving from the younger male next to her.

The concession stand line was already fairly long, so by the time Hoseok returned with his Sprite and Jungkook's popcorn, the opening notes to 'Welcome to the Jungle' were already ringing through the stadium as the high school football team ran onto the field, and the family prepared themselves for the first football game of the season.