It was another Friday night at Loen Sports Bar & Restaurant, and Jiho had finally managed to gather the whole crew together—including the recently engaged Yukwon and Sunhye, even. Stressed from their respective weeks of work and school, it went without saying that all of them were ready to let loose and get the weekend officially started.

All things considered, they were definitely a mismatched group; a collection of coincidences and mutual acquaintances having brought them together. And through the years of busier personal lives and fewer chances to hang out, they always made sure to make their time together feel like a celebration.

Upon entering the bar area and taking their usual table, the bartender greeted them cheerily. “Yo, just in time, guys! Game’s about to start any minute now!”

“Hell yeah, Rhymer! You really think we’d be late to this game?” Jiho chimed as he dropped his keys on the table and made his way over to the bar counter. Taeil trailed after, watching as the man on the other side skillfully and precisely poured their usual drink orders.

“I dunno, you’ve never been that great at keeping to a schedule,” he replied, grabbing another glass to fill with a cheshire-like grin on his face.

Jiho ‘tsked’ and brushed the comment aside while gathering three of the drinks. Taeil chuckled to himself and grabbed the rest, following Jiho back to the table while trying to kick at the back of his shoes. As they neared, Kyung popped out of his seat and snatched his drink from Jiho’s grasp, making sure to flick the bill of his best friend’s team-decorated snapback.

“This guy here sure is eager to watch his team lose~”

“Hey, hey! Shut the hell up—they’ve won three games straight now, there’s no stopping ‘em!!”

Minhyuk was handed his drink, almost spilling it from laughing at Jiho’s outlandish confidence in the new underdog team. “That’s only ‘cause the teams they’ve been up against so far have been absolute crap.”

“ you guys, seriously! You don’t know what you’re talking about at all!”

“Oooh, Jiho sure is full of himself tonight! Maybe we should make a bet!”

“Ah, —”

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Not having had the chance to properly celebrate their friend’s birthday during the week, Namjoon and Seokjin, with the help of the others, made sure they had a great weekend planned for the now twenty-one year old Jungkook. Sure, they had their fair share of parties and kickbacks over the years, but they all knew how eager he was for an ‘authentic legal experience’. Earlier in the day though, Taehyung and Jimin discovered and relayed that Jungkook refused to do any crazy bar hopping—so they replanned to instead start things off with grabbing some food and watching the game at Loen.

Seokjin had just finished giving the group’s food and drink orders to the waitress from a booth nearby the table where another group of guys just began settling in, loud and already grabbing mixed drinks from the bartender. The other table’s rowdy, buzzing energy found its way into the the younger boys at their booth, punching and making lewd comments at each other more so than usual.

Yoongi rolled his eyes, looking up at one of the many television screens as he adjusted his backwards-turned team hat. Namjoon and Hoseok had given him crap about it before they met with the others, though Yoongi managed to shut them up with a few genuinely irritated glares. However, upon overhearing the jeering conversation from the other table and noticing that one of them was wearing the only other similarly coloured hat, Namjoon lost all ability to keep his big mouth shut and started up about it again. Only this time it was worse because he actually called out to the other table.

“Ey— if you guys’re betting, count us in!”

Hoseok bounced in his seat a bit, raising a hand to point out Yoongi to the turning heads. “This guy was talkin’ way too much after last week’s game. We’ve been tryina come up with some way to teach him some humility!”

With a radiant smile stretched from ear to ear, he pat Yoongi on the back and laughed along with the other table as they agreed to have them join in. Yoongi, meanwhile, was sinking lower and lower in his seat, face and ears burning with embarrassment.

“What should it be then?”

“Oh! Oh! I know!!” Taehyung shouted. Jimin and Jungkook, on either side of him, winced from his unnecessary volume and smacked him hard on each arm. “Ow—what the hell?!”

Before he could get the chance to go on with whatever off the wall idea it was that he had, Jimin interrupted with a sing-song voice, “Ooo~ How about if they lose, they pay for all the drinks~”

Everyone erupted in agreeable ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’, except, of course, Yoongi and Jiho.

“Hold up—”

“No way in hell...”

“— gotta be ing kidding!”

The two were quickly quieted into compliance when the others questioned their previously unwavering certainty, and when Jungkook decided to pull the birthday card, saying they had no choice but to take the bet.

The rest of the drinks and both group’s appetizers arrived while in the middle of moving the table closer to the booth to better enjoy the game together. Once finally situated, all glasses rose in a chorus of ‘Happy Birthdays’ to Jungkook, followed shortly by loud shouts of “Fighting!!” as a shrill whistle and far-off cheers from the television indicated the beginning of the first quarter.

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Despite the underdog team being severely outmatched in terms of individual player’s skills, they were holding their own surprisingly well. It was the most riveting game thus far in the season as reflected by the noise and overall energy of the whole bar, in which all but two were cheering for the favored team. No one seriously expected the game to go into overtime, so when it did, everyone almost lost it entirely.

Yoongi slammed his palms on the table in excitement and began his rapid-fire trash talking again, words slurring together and face flushed bright red. Jiho practically jumped out of his chair and right over Jihoon to stumble his way over to the bar counter to order another round of shots for him and his new friend, a huge -eating grin plastered on his face. He leaned his forearms against the the edge of the bar top to steady himself as Rhymer pulled out the shot glasses and got to mixing.

Just as Jiho was about to grab for the shots and attempt to somehow maneuver his way back to the others, Yoongi slid in beside him.

With a sickly sweet (and obviously drunken) grin, he took one of the shots, raising the glass up to Jiho. “Fighting!”

Jiho let out a wheezy laugh, raising his own glass to clink them together. “Fighting!!”

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Though they ended up losing, Jiho and Yoongi’s spirits were high and thoroughly inebriated. And so following the loud, awfully sung chorus of “Happy Birthday” that spread throughout the entire bar, the two split both parties’ checks without complaint.

Conversations lingered for quite some time until the crowd began to thin out. Before finally parting ways for the night, the new friends quickly exchanged numbers and made promises to meet up sometime soon and maybe play some basketball.