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"Let's play a round of Dare or Dare," Jimin suggested out of the blue, shoving four french fries into his mouth at once.
The four boys were currently digging into lunch (at 5 pm, because what even is a body clock when you're in college) at the American diner a couple of blocks away from their dorms. The place was way too brightly and boldly coloured, there were too many tacky decorations littered around and it always smelled way too much like cholestrol, but the cozy diner was a regular fixure in the quartet's lives; the food was delicious (and cheap), the portions were huge, plus the owner was super fond of them and always gave them free refills and free sides (Jungkook reckoned the woman, who was in her mid-forties at least, had a crush on Taehyung which is why she was so nice to them).
"Why now?" Jungkook whined immediately, knowing that the situation he'd been hoping to avoid for as long as possible had finally arrived.
Jimin took a huge sip out of his heavily sugary and incredibly unhealthy drink, "Because we haven't done one in a while," he shrugged. Jungkook really wished Jimin could keep his (big) mouth shut more often and didn't always voice out such bright suggestions.
"Whose turn is it this time?" Taehyung asked from his seat next to Jimin's, stealing a few french fries off his best friend's plate because he'd scoffed down all of his own twenty minutes ago.
"Don't look at me, I already did mine last time," Hoseok said quickly, having war flashbacks of the ridiculous dare he successfully pulled off last month. Without going into the details too much, it involved Seokjin, latex pants, fire and lots of screaming.
"That means it's Jungkookie's turn this time," Jimin concluded with a growing grin as he looked across the table. A grinning Jimin usually meant that things were very likely to go very bad very soon and Jungkook suddenly felt the need to flip the table over and flee.
The youngest at the table sighed, knowing that there was no way of getting out of this (well, there was actually, however, the one thing Jungkook could never abandon was his humongous ego and his gigantic pride), "Okay then, hit me with your best shot," he said, sprinkling as much confidence onto his words as he could muster.
"Let's see..." Taehyung trailed off, and Jungkook could practically see the gears in his head kick-starting into action.
An unsettling silence fell over the table as three boys ran over ideas while one boy prayed that he wouldn't embarrass himself beyond acceptable limits or end up in jail or something.
Jimin's eyes lit up a few moments later and Jungkook braced himself for the absolute worst, "Use a really cliche cheesy pick-up line -"
"That's weak," Jungkook scoffed, internally starting to thank all the gods above for being so good to him and instantly deciding that he seriously needed to start regularly going to church on Sundays and -
"I'm not done yet," Jimin said before Jungkook could finish breathing out his mental sigh of immense relief, "Use the 'I tripped while falling for you' one and actually fall at their feet,"
"Yeah!" Taehyung whooped, and Jungkook was somewhat offended by the amount of enthusiasm in his voice, he even felt a little betrayed that his potential suffering could bring such enjoyment to his friend, "And make it look as legit as you can," Taehyung added gleefully.
"You'll probably never see the person ever again," Hoseok stated in an attempt to calm the youngest down and make him feel better.
"Do it on the third person who walks in after we start," Jimin proposed, trying to make things even more fun than they already were.
"I can't even choose who I'm going to literally fall for? What if it's someone weird or highly inappropriate or something?" Jungkook groaned, sulkily dunking a chicken tender in ketchup before eating it in one bite.
"Suck it up and deal with it," Taehyung said, earning a glare from Jungkook.
"You'll be fine," Jimin smiled and placed his hand on top of Jungkook's in a gesture of assurance.
Jungkook wanted to strangle Jimin because he had the nerve to say words of support after coming up with this mess and shoving him into it in the first place. He yanked his hand away and rolled his eyes, reaching for another chicken tender with a pout on his face.
"Don't do it if you don't want to," Taehyung shrugged, but Jungkook knew that the game wasn't as easy as that.
"If I do it?" Jungkook asked, biting his bottom lip. The reward for mortifying himself to the point of wanting the earth to swallow him up better be a good one, he wasn't going to settle for anything lesser.
Taehyung thought about it for a couple of seconds, "I'll buy you lunch for a whole week," he decided finally.
Jimin raised his eyebrows in surprise and whistled, "Not bad,"
For a broke college student (like Jungkook), free food (heck, free anything) was literally the biggest and most precious gift, and the offer really did sound tempting, "If I don't do it?" Jungkook asked, wondering what he'd have to sacrifice (other than his reputation) if he backed away from the challenge (which he wasn't going to but still).
"You'll have to buy me lunch for a week," Taehyung said easily with a smirk.
It took Jungkook 0.4 seconds to completely make up his mind.
"If it's a middle-aged father of three or something, I'm going to kill all of you in your sleep," Jungkook muttered, taking a big angry bite out of his burger.
"Does that mean you're going to do it?" Hoseok asked, picking up one of the paper napkins lying on the table to wipe the sauce that had gotten smeared on Jungkook's cheek.
"I refuse to spend money on Taehyung's ass," Jungkook muttered, his words coming out muffled since his mouth was still quite full.
"Great, we start...now," Jimin announced, and thus the challenge officially began.
The group didn't have to wait very long until the first person walked through the doors. After about four minutes of nervous (only for Jungkook really) conversation, they heard the door and all of their heads whipped up as they looked to see who had walked in.
It was a plump woman with short grey hair and a kind smile (and an awesome perm), who couldn't be younger than 65.
"Thank fuck!" Jungkook cried out, one step away from actually physically crying as his friends burst into fits of laughter. They calmed down in a few seconds, but Taehyung looked at Jungkook and started dying all over again. The thought of pulling that pick-up line in front of someone who could literally be his grandmother made Jungkook shiver in repulsion, and he reached for the closest drink (which happened to be Hoseok's peach iced tea) and gulped it down in one go.
"Dammit, should've made it the first person," Jimin grinned, and Jungkook wanted nothing more than to jump across the table and pounce on him. Before he could think of more creative ways of murdering Jimin and getting away with it, the bell above the door dinged again.
All of them stopped in their tracks and glanced at the entrance quickly. It turned out to be Namjoon, one of the waiters who'd just clocked in for his night shift. Recognising the four regular customers, he sent a little wave in their direction before disappearing into the staff room to get changed. Jungkook lowkey wished Namjoon had been his target because the mortification would be minimal since he knew the guy at least and would be able to explain and justify his actions at least.
"Next person's yours, my friend," Taehyung said as he sat up straighter in his chair, and Jungkook was very sure that the older boy wasn't supposed to be this excited about losing a week's worth of lunch money.
"Why is this so fucking nerve-wrecking?" Jungkook grumbled, his fingers drumming against the table anxiously.
Jimin chuckled, and the sound further grated on his nerves, "Want to back out?" he asked, the taunting tone in his voice immediately making Jungkook shake his head firmly.
"Never," Jungkook's competitive streak replied, the uncertainty and suspense of it all making it a little difficult for him to sit still. Jungkook hated not knowing stuff, and he hated being stuck in uncomfortable situations even more. Now, he was suffering in the face of both of his top two hated things, and it was making him feel really restless and he could swear he wasn't aggressively shaking his leg on purpose.
"Chim, didn't you say your music class friend Yoongi was going to come along today too?" Taehyung spoke up suddenly, having just remembered that there was supposed to be one more chair at their table today.
Jimin's shoulders dropped ever so slightly at the question, "He was supposed to, but something urgent came up and he backed out last minute," he answered with a small frown, and his disappointment couldn't be any more obvious (neither could his feelings really).
"Are you sure he's just a friend?" Hoseok questioned with a teasing smile. Jimin blushed at the question, none of the quick retorts or smartass remarks to be found as he played around with the straw in his drink.
Hoseok and Taehyung were about to probe further (in normal circumstances, Jungkook would lead the probing but he was too busy losing his shit at the moment) when the shrill sound of the bell above the door echoed throughout the diner.
This time, it was Jimin who thanked all the gods above for distracting his friends and saving him from answering. Four eagerly anticipating gazes dramatically travelled towards the door, and Jungkook wanted to throw up when he spotted his target.
He couldn't believe his luck was so extremely awful.
Taehyung squinted after he felt a sense of familiarity wash over him when he looked at the person who had fallen victim to the dare, and then his eyes lit up in recognition after a couple of seconds, "Oh, that's Y/N, I know her,"
Jungkook was horrified as he inspected the girl he was going to make an absolute fool out of himself in front of, "We went to high school together, but she was in the other class," Taehyung explained, "She's really really smart and super nice too, and she was class president for like three years straight," he added, Jungkook's heart sinking deeper and deeper with every word of praise that left Taehyung's mouth.
"She's...very good-looking," Hoseok commented, nodding in approval. Jungkook thought it was an understatement; you were drop-dead gorgeous. He had never seen someone who looked so ideal. You were dressed in tapered trousers and there was a navy blue cardigan draped around your shoulders and glasses perched on your nose, and even though he wouldn't normally, Jungkook was really feeling the whole trendy chic nerd style (he had never realised that collared button-up blouses could look that hot).
"You should be thanking me for this," Jimin smirked, folding his arms across his chest and leaning back into his chair proudly.
"No I shouldn't, because I'm going to embarrass the fuck out of myself in front of a stupidly attractive girl!" Jungkook shrieked, faceplanting onto the table and wishing he could delete himself from existence.
"It'll be an unforgettable first impression?" Hoseok said unsurely, and it just threw Jungkook deeper into the fields of despair.
"She doesn't look like he's here to dine in, so you need to be quick," Taehyung said as he watched you finish paying for your order and head to the side of the counter to wait.
"I can't believe I'm actually going to go through with this," Jungkook muttered, wondering what he'd done in his previous life to deserve such shame and shit, "I fucking hate all of you," he grumbled, glancing at you and wanting to hide in a hole in the ground.
"Free lunch for a week, you can do it," Hoseok said encouragingly, patting Jungkook's shoulder comfortingly and making a mental note to buy three tubs of ice-cream on their way back home in case things went terribly downhill.
"I'm telling you, you're going to thank me later for this," Jimin insisted, but Jungkook was having none of it as he threw a mayonnaise-coated chicken tender at him.
Jimin narrowly dodged the meat aimed at his face, cursing as the mayo splattered over his shirt, "Get up and go now!" Taehyung hissed, worried that your food would be ready and you would be on your merry way before Jungkook could even begin to drag his ass out of his chair.
"Good luck," Hoseok said with one last pat on Jungkook's back, wondering whether he should get chocolate, coffee and vanilla ice-cream or chocolate, caramel and vanilla ice-cream.
Jungkook cursed his fate and his friends and all of his life choices as he forced himself to stand up and make his way towards his 'target'. He took a deep breath as he got closer to you, saying a quick silent prayer (he was really remembering God a lot today) before he plunged into action.
It's now or never.
Free lunch and utter humiliation, here I come.
You were stood near an empty table a few steps away from the counter, looking up at the menu and reading the names of all the items and their descriptions to pass the waiting time; it was futile really because you always ordered the same exact thing whenever you came here. Suddenly, a body of warmth crashed into you out of nowhere and effectively startled the living shit out of you, but you still instinctively reached out to grab it and steady it.
"Sorry," Jungkook apologized breathlessly as he ungracefully stumbled into you, every swear word he knew coursing through his mind. You looked up to identify the body of warmth, your heart hammering in your chest from the prior startlement as well as the new startlement of finding a very handsome stranger in your arms.
"What -" you began to say, trying to make sense of what had just happened and what was still happening, but you were instantly stopped in your tracks by the stranger.
"I tripped while I was falling for you," Jungkook yelped before he lost the little courage he had, holding onto you as he plastered a dazzling shit-eating grin on his face, internally wishing for death in all forms.
You stared at him for a few seconds, and you couldn't help but feel disappointed that the handsome stranger had turned out to be some kind of psychotic pervert, "What the actual fuck," you muttered, your face scrunching up in displeasure. You realised that the boy was still gripping onto your arms and you instantly pushed him away with a cough, your cheeks feeling like a furnace.
Jungkook sighed, he really couldn't do this anymore and he really didn't want you to look at him like that any longer, with contempt in your eyes and a disgusted frown on your cute face, "Look, I'm sorry, I'm not a creep like you probably think I am," he rushed to justify himself, hoping that his words wouldn't come across as bullshitty as they sounded. You were looking at him with zero signs of amusement on your face but you were silent and you hadn't moved away from him, so he took that as his cue to continue, "This was a dare from my friends," he explained, causing you to raise an eyebrow skeptically as you almost scoffed, "Please act like I didn't just tell you that and play along," he pleaded as soon as you were about to open your mouth, hoping you were as lovely as you looked and would cooperate.
You took a couple of seconds to assess the situation, not really knowing why you chose to give him and his questionable justification a chance. You immediately spotted a group of guys sitting at a table about six metres away, all of them averting their gazes and pretending they hadn't been blatantly staring just a moment ago as soon as you looked in their direction. You could swear the pink-haired one had been filming the encounter judging by how he'd hastily dropped his phone and it had fallen onto the table with a noisy clatter. You even recognized one of them, and you couldn't contain the smirk that your lips curved into even if you had tried.
Jungkook was really confused by your sudden change in demeanor when you turned your gaze towards him again, "You're lucky that Kim Taehyung's notorious reputation precedes him and that I believe you," you said, finally cracking a smile and Jungkook was awestruck for a second because oh my god she's so pretty I'm going to die.
A smile unknowingly made its way to Jungkook's lips too and he rubbed the back of his neck bashfully, "I'm really sorry for this, uh, you see, my name's Jungkook and my friend, Taehyung, he said he'd buy me lunch for a week if I did this and I'm a broke student so obviously I'd be down for it and..." he realised he was rambling so he instantly came to a stop and smiled at you sheepishly, missing you before he even left, "Sorry, I'm just going to, um, I'll go back to my table now," he mumbled awkwardly, throwing in a bow to be polite.
Jungkook turned around, his expression immediately deflating as his whole body cringed at the thought of what he'd just done. He was about to solemnly walk back to his asshole friends when a hand gently wrapped around his wrist, effectively halting him in his movements.
"Wait!" you called out, and Jungkook could swear he stopped breathing, don't tell me she's going to call the cops or something I don't want to go to jail. He spun around to face you again, ready to whip out the puppy dog eyes and beg for mercy, but he was surprised when it never reached that point.
You didn't know where the courage had come from or what had possessed you to be so...forward, but you unzipped the laptop bag slung over your shoulder and pulled out a marker pen from inside as Jungkook watched you, curious. His eyes widened comically as you pushed up the sleeve of his shirt and uncapped the pen, quickly scrawling something on his arm as he looked on in pure shock.
010-19970901. Y/N.
You looked up with a smile and it was so bright and blinding that Jungkook felt like he was staring right into the sun, "Here, now you can ask Taehyung to buy you lunch for two weeks," you chirped, suddenly feeling extremely shy about the bold move you'd just pulled. Jungkook blinked at you blankly, his heart galloping at a speed that definitely should have resulted in heart failure.
Fuck my entire life.
"Order 1306!"
You glanced at the counter as Namjoon shouted out your order number, both glad and sad about needing to leave, "You've got my number, so...do whatever you want with it," you grinned, trying to maintain the confident facade till the very end even though your insides were screaming bloody murder. You plucked your takeout bag off the counter and sent one final smile in a very dumbfounded Jungkook's direction before rushing out of the door.
When you left the diner and Jungkook got back to the table, the first thing he did was reach over and plant a slimy wet kiss on (a rather confused and extremely resistant) Jimin's cheek for making him do that stupid dare.
"Told you you'll thank me for this!" Jimin shrieked in triumph when Jungkook pulled his sleeve up and sent the entire table into an absolute frenzy.
"So how did you and Mom meet?"
Jungkook glanced at you and you glanced at him, identical smirks on your faces and amusement dancing in your eyes, "That's a really funny story actually..."