Chapter Text
“You’re literally ridiculous.”
“Stop whining, and just do it! What are you, a chicken? A turkey?”
The following chicken noises—which were a far cry from the real sound but similar enough that you knew what they were meant to be— grated on your nerves like nothing else. The urge that rose within you to plant your fist in the middle of Hoseok’s smug, mocking face was not one unfamiliar to you. You were going to have to start charging it rent at this stage, it spent enough time lurking in your subconscious. Nonetheless, you remained strong and resisted the urge. Succumbing to the clucking of a child was the mark of a fool.
“I like you so much better when you’re a fox,” you muttered forlornly, using your fork to push a small cherry tomato across your plate.
“Hey!” Hoseok let out an indignant noise that reminded you, ironically, of a squawk. “That’s slander and I won’t have it in this house!”
“We’re in a cafeteria you absolute egg,” you said, unable to help rising to even the smallest bit of bait. “Also, don’t make me muffle you.”
Your words hinted at the latest spell you’d learnt, in a desperate bid to soundproof the walls of Hoseok’s room—you could only take so much screaming as he and his friends watched movies or played games— and at the mention the fox’s face paled slightly. Your first attempt at the spell had led to a misfire of sorts and Hoseok had spent the afternoon unable to utter a word. Heaven, for you personally, but he’d beg to differ.
“You wouldn’t…” he murmured, squinting at you as though to assess whether you were bluffing. You were, for now, but you were sure that if he kept blaring each sentence out like a foghorn for all the ears in the cafeteria to hear, that would be inclined to change. He seemed to come to the conclusion that you weren’t bluffing. He sat back, crossing his arms, and sent you a glare at the ‘stalemate’ he suddenly found himself in. An idiot, your familiar was an idiot. Stupid, dumb, absolutely endearing idiot fox. You wanted to ruffle his hair.
The male sniffed, turning his head to the side as his nose followed a particularly enticing scent. Hoseok let out a long, tortured groan.
“Someone is eating an apple turnover,” he nearly sobbed, head dropping onto the table. You focused on your attempts to spear the remaining tomato as he continued morosely, “And someone else has butter chicken…. My god, someone has lamb skewers—”
The sudden, sharp CLANK of your fork finally spearing through the tomato and hitting the ceramic plate beneath had Hoseok jumping nearly a foot in the air. He yelped, quick to glare at you and save face, and you grinned widely at him as you plopped the fruit into your mouth.
“Who’s the turkey now?” you mocked, grinning evilly when he glared and sputtered.
“Not me, because I’m not the one chickening out of an actual dare!” Hoseok jabbed a finger at you, voice dropping. “You…. are the turkey here. Do the dare.”
“No,” you refused instantly, stabbing your fork into a juicy piece of lettuce. “I’m not five years old, Hoseok, and I also have dignity.”
“Where?” the shifter snorted, and you almost flicked your fork at him. Thankfully, from the amount of times you’d brought Hoseok to your campus, the occupants seemed somewhat used to his volume level. “Also, it’s not that bad—it’s not even the worst dare I could have given you! You should be thankful I’m such a benevolent companion.”
“You are the biggest little shit I have ever met—” you cut yourself off, pointing a fork at him. “Hey! We were never playing truth or dare in the first place, why are you giving me dares?!”
“Because it’s boring here, obviously,” Hoseok slumped dramatically onto the table. “My favourite teacher of yours left, Taehyung isn’t even here, and you told me I couldn’t play with Jungkook—”
“Because him and Seokjin are studying and practicing something important for an exam,” you cut him off, turning back to your meal. “Which is exactly why we can’t go and bother them. I’m not doing the dare.”
Hoseok huffed, and silence drifted between you for a few moments. You relished the fact the only sound you could hear was your own chewing and the chatter of students around you, but a part of you wondered exactly why your familiar had fallen silent now of all times and how long it was going to last.
The answer was, apparently, not long at all.
It was soft at first, so soft it was almost imperceptible and you had to strain your ears to be sure you heard it. Then, it grew in volume, and you were slamming your fork down as Hoseok clucked loudly, arms at his sides in the form of chicken wings.
“That’s it!” you burst, reaching for the wand you required for finer enchantments. “I’m muffling you—”
“NO!” Hoseok cried, lurching across the table to grasp your wrist and halt your hand in its journey. “Look, Seokjin and Jungkook are over there getting food! You can do it now! I’ll shut up if you do the dare!”
Your head swung around as he pointed, despite the distant thought that you should keep your eyes on the cheeky fox, and to your surprise you found he wasn’t actually fibbing for once. Jungkook and Seokjin stood by the dessert section of the cafeteria, the young familiar bouncing on the balls of his feet with his hands clutched together in excitement as he stared at the churro currently being wrapped and passed to him. Your momentary shift in attention was broken by what you quickly discerned to be soft chanting from Hoseok’s side of the table.
“—Do the dare, do the dare, do the dare—”
You swivelled back around to send him a borderline murderous look. There was no way you were doing it, and you were quick to tell him as much. The shadow of embarrassment that resulted from the mere thought of it had your cheeks flushing slightly.
“No!” you refuted once more, smacking your palm lightly on the table. “Stop attempting to bully me, it won’t work! Why do you want me to do this stupid dare so bad anyway?”
Hoseok cut his antagonistic chanting off to grin at you, dimples making an appearance. “Because I’m bored, and it will be funny! Just do it. You know you want to. I dare you!”
“I really don’t,” you denied, although a small niggling thought in the back of your mind brought your attention to the fact that if you didn’t do it, it was probably going to bother you. Your honour, your integrity… were they really at stake here if you refused to follow Hoseok’s childish urging?
“Don’t be a party pooper, oh witch o’ mine!” Hoseok leant forward, resting his chin on fingers he’d threaded together, his elbows on the table. He wagged his brows, the familiar glimmer of mischief in his eyes. “Do it. Or do I have to…”
He’d trailed off, the act somewhat threatening, and you hated the fact that you knew him so well you were already expecting the following noises before they even began to leave his mouth.
“Buck…. Buck-bck…. Bck-bck-buck!”
You stood suddenly, nearly falling over the seat that was fixed to the ground, and were quick to step over it. Hoseok was too shocked to stop his clucking as you sent him a filthy look before turning on your heel and marching over to the desserts section where the poor victim of your dare still remained with his familiar.
You cursed the fact you were really carrying out this childish dare. Perhaps the clucking had gotten to you a bit more than you’d thought. You should have known better than to think you could resist it—you were just a fool, a fool in a woman’s size 9 boots that were clacking loudly as you marched across the cafeteria.
Devouring his churro as he was, for once Jungkook wasn’t the first to notice your approach; Seokjin sent you a surprised look before a grin tugged his lips. “Oh, y/n—well, well, well… Look who finally remembered the way back to campus.”
You offered him an annoyed look in response as you closed the remaining distance between you, and the male erupted into a bout of loud laughter that almost brought a smile on your own face. Jungkook shoved the rest of the dessert into his mouth and finally noticed you now that his distraction was gone. “Oh, hey y/n. What are you doing on campus?”
You spared a watered-down version of the look you’d give Seokjin for the younger shifter, and simply turned your attention back to the witch before you. A pair of eyes burned into your back and you knew your familiar was watching expectantly.
“I’m really sorry for what I’m about to do,” you winced, apologising in advance. “Hoseok dared me and he called me a turkey.”
Seokjin blinked, confusion clear in his gaze and furrowed brows, but you didn’t give him time to question it before you took another step forward and grasped his face. You just managed to catch the bewildered expression crossing his features before you turned his head and leaned forward to smack a big wet kiss on his cheek. It lasted about a split second before you were whipping your hands off of him like they’d been burned and were waving frantically, entire body cringing in on itself from sheer embarrassment. Your feet were helping you make a quick escape before you even had to tell them to, your next words called over your shoulder as you fled.
“Good seeing you two, bye!”
With that, you left the two males staring after you in bewilderment as you scuttled back across the cafeteria from whence you came.
Hoseok sat, features frozen in the expression they’d been in before you’d pressed a kiss to Seokjin’s cheek as he’d dared you to do in front of the whole cafeteria. He could hear some people whispering, but that wasn’t what had frozen the glee in its path across his features.
No, it was the sudden, foreign feeling that was pressing against the confines of his chest, insistent in its attempts to break free. He didn’t think he’d ever felt it before—it was heavy, icky, made his thoughts go jumbled and his shoulders hunch. He’d expected to be over the moon, cackling at the obvious show of embarrassment you’d make at being dared to do such a thing, but instead…. Instead he felt like this, and he didn’t know why. He struggled to school his expression as you made a beeline back for the table, entire face flushed and eyes glaring daggers into him. He had half a mind to be scared but couldn’t muster the attention to it.
He mightn’t know what that feeling was, or why he was feeling it, but he did know that for whatever reason, despite his initial thoughts, he didn’t like the image that had burnt itself into his mind. Your hands cupping Seokjin’s face, your lips brushing his cheek—no, he didn’t like it at all. It was this, that he was left puzzling over for the rest of the day.