Their third game was on a Friday and was another away game. They loaded up on the bus as usual, and Namjoon started driving them to the school, which was closer than before. The ride was quiet on the way there; Jungkook didn't know what everyone else was thinking about, but he was staring out the window, running through everything Yoongi and Hoseok had taught him. At best, he'd been dead weight in the past few games; at worst, he'd been the reason they'd lost. He didn't have the drive that Jimin and Hoseok did, and he wasn't naturally gifted like Yoongi. He thought that maybe he and Jin were in roughly the same boat; neither of them seemed innately suited to the game, but they were both interested in improving. He wanted to do better than Jin at least.

Only Jungkook got the feeling that Jin was doing this for Jimin since they were part of the buddy program together, and Jungkook knew he was really just doing this for himself. To get the court mandate signed, to absolve himself of guilt. Which made him feel really shitty, but not doing well wouldn't be of service to anyone.

Namjoon parked the bus in the school parking lot, meaning that they didn't have to walk a mile to the court this time, thankfully. Yoongi and Jungkook hopped off the bus first, and Jin worked with Namjoon to assist Jimin and Hoseok. Eventually they had all unloaded. Since their wheelchairs folded up, the walking members of the group decided to just carry them since it felt strange and somehow appropriating to use them outside the game itself.

"Listen up," Namjoon said once they'd gotten into the gym and settled on the bench. The other team was already warming up; there was no way of really telling which of their players were truly paralyzed and which were just sitting in for the game like himself, but Jungkook saw how fluidly most of their team moved around on the court and decided that most of them had been at this for some time. "You guys have been doing really well in practice lately. I know I haven't been able to make every day, but from what I've seen, you're all making more shots with a higher degree of accuracy. All I want to see you guys do is play to the best of your ability, and that means enabling other teammates to play to the best of their ability. I want to see passing. I want to see assists. If the game were meant to be played by only one person, then we wouldn't have five on the court. Understood?"

Everyone nodded, and Namjoon stood up, satisfied. "All right. I really think you guys can win this game. Not that it's all about winning – pardon my fragment – but I think you all deserve a little bit of validation for your efforts."

He was looking at Jungkook when he said that, and it made Jungkook wonder if Namjoon knew about them staying late for extra practice. It didn't really matter whether he knew or not, but a small part of Jungkook wanted to be recognized for the extra work he'd put in.

Namjoon had a few other pieces of advice to present based on an analysis he'd compiled on their opponent, and he assigned each person an opposing player to guard for situations when they went man-to-man. "Any questions?" There were none. "Great. Now get out there and win for once, please."

They headed out onto the court and proceeded to actually play basketball. Jungkook couldn't exactly define the difference between this game and their previous ones; his father hadn't shown up unannounced, so that was one clear difference, but with that glaring exception, it wasn't something he could pinpoint. Just, before it felt like they were rolling around on a court, sometimes throwing the ball at the basket, sometimes throwing it to other players. But today, it felt like they were playing basketball, and that made all the difference.

Jungkook felt light on the court. He wasn't fast per se – Hoseok could still lap him easily – but he didn't feel like an elephant on roller skates anymore. He could keep up with the other players, even dodge past a few of them on offensive runs. His teammates actually passed to him this game because he managed to sink a few baskets – his first points in any game. It had taken him a month, but he'd finally put a few points on the board.

Jimin and Yoongi made up the brunt of their offensive force, together totaling 42 points. Jungkook, surprisingly, came up third with 12 points. Hoseok and Jin each had 4, but it wasn't because they couldn't shoot, just that they had other primary functions. Hoseok had sort of unknowingly slipped into the position of point guard because he could get off quick passes and make himself open as an easy out for players under defensive pressure. Jin was two for five on baskets, but he mostly hung around near the paint to scoop up rebounds and funnel them out to the guards. In the end, they beat the opposing team with a score of 62 to 54.

They had made their first win.

There was an unfamiliar giddiness among them all as they reloaded the bus. Even Yoongi was chattering with the others, going over several plays they'd made in a sports announcer voice and even pantomiming the gestures.

"And-" He paused. "What's your last name?"

"Jeon," Jungkook offered up.

"And Jeon Jungkook shoots past his defender, stopping just short of the three-point line. Hoseok passes to him from half court, and Jungkook pushes back once-" Yoongi mimed pushing on the handrails before throwing his hands up in a shooting stance. "-takes the shot, and- it's in! The shot is good, and three points are thrown up on the board! They take the lead, 41-38, with just a minute to go in the third period."

Jungkook laughed, feeling sort of shy at the attention from Yoongi of all people. The only time Yoongi had given him attention before was of a considerably more negative sort. "I only made the shot because you helped me practice."

"I will take my credit where it is due," Yoongi responded, turning up his nose in the air. "But that doesn't discredit what you did." He paused, tapping at his head. "Hey, this is your first time scoring points, right? How's it feel?"

"Pretty good," Jungkook admitted as Hoseok began singing "Zero to Hero" from inside the bus in an overly loud voice. Namjoon stepped down from the bus, letting Yoongi past to get on.

"Good job today," Namjoon said, adjusting his glasses as he came to stand beside Jungkook. "It looks like you're really taking this seriously and putting in a lot of effort. I'm happy to see that."

"Thank you," Jungkook said, feeling slightly odd. He didn't understand why he felt bad about being called out for doing well, but he realized a second later that Namjoon's words had been phrased as though he hadn't expected Jungkook to be serious about helping the team, that he hadn't expected Jungkook to put in substantial effort.

"It also means that I can sign your form now," Namjoon said, and Jungkook looked over immediately, feeling panicked for some reason.

"You can sign it today? But- it's only been..."

"It's been a month," Namjoon said. "There isn't a specific time limit identified on the documentation. They left that up to the discretion of the supervisor and indicated that I could sign off on the forms when I had confirmed satisfactory contribution on your part to reflect on your actions and participate in the community."

"But..." Jungkook hesitated, feeling apprehensive all of a sudden, almost like he didn't want Namjoon to sign the form. But that didn't make sense to him. And how was Namjoon to know whether or not Jungkook had 'adequately reflected on his actions'? How could Namjoon possibly determine that? "Can we-"

"What form are you talking about?" Hoseok called down from the bus window, and Jungkook froze up, having forgotten that Hoseok's window was open.

A quick look at Namjoon told him that he was on his own – that he could dig himself into a hole or dig himself out of one, but he was going to be the only one with a shovel either way.

"Yoo hoo, up here," Hoseok said again after Jungkook hadn't responded. "Did we need to get something signed for this? Like a permission slip or something? Because I didn't get anything."

"This form only concerns Jungkook," Namjoon said calmly, which only seemed to expose Jungkook further.

"Why does he need a form?" Hoseok asked, tapping against the window to try and snag Jungkook's attention, but he was panicking, his brain crashing down. "Jungkook?"

"I'm sorry," Jungkook said after a long moment, unable to meet Hoseok's eyes, so he just stared at the harsh yellow of the school bus. "I made a mistake, and I got assigned to this program as a result."

"Oh..."

Before Hoseok could ask for more information, Jungkook cleared his throat. "We can talk about it later, Namjoon," he said. "For now, let's just get back to the school. Their parents might be waiting to give them a ride home."

Namjoon just nodded, unaware of how Jungkook's voice had grown a little shaky and how all of his muscles had locked. "All right, go take your seat, I'll make sure the back is locked up."

Jungkook nodded and got up on the bus, passing Hoseok's questioning stare in favor of a seat in the back.

Was it wrong to want to keep this a secret?

Even if it was, Jungkook avoided meeting any of their eyes for the entire ride, just hunkered down and stared at the back of the seat in front of himself.

If they found out, they would hate him.

He couldn't let them find out.

--updated 08/05/20--