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37. SWEET TOOTH 甘い歯
APOLLO'S PLUMP CHEEKS rounded in a smile, dimples deepening as he shook his head at his excited girlfriend. cathryn dragged the tan skinned boy by the hand before knocking at the door.
it was opened almost immediately and a grinning jungkook stared back at them. "you're here!" lia peeked out from his side, smiling from ear to ear. "hey, guys!" apollo waved. jungkook returned the gesture. unlatching one arm from around him, lia waved back as well.
"why the hell are you attached to jungkook like a growth?" cathryn's brows shot up, eyes on the way her friend had arms around his middle, face pressed to his side. "namjoon. this is his fault." jungkook answered. apollo cocked a brow, following his girlfriend in. "how?" he asked as jungkook shut the door. the boy sighed, glancing down at the girl who held on to him like her life depended on it, and reminding him of her little twin brother and sister.
"if i do this for the next hour, he has to buy me food for the next week, whenever and wherever i want." lia replied with a toothy grin. jungkook found himself smiling at the sight of her crooked tooth and how cute she looked smiling like that.
"damn, i want free food too!" cathryn looped her arm through apollo's. "namjoon!" she yelled before walking into the living room.
"i didn't do anything!" the boy in question yelled back, causing everyone to burst out in laughter. "nobody said you did." jungkook responded, taking lia along with him to a spot on the floor as she cuddled him like a koala.
"that's a guilty conscience speaking. i say he did." hodan remarked. "did you break something?" jimin looked at him seriously. "i came here to have a good time and i honestly feel so attacked right now." the boy remarked, pressing a palm to his chest in a dramatic gesture.
everyone laughed again, kash patting his shoulder comfortingly, despite the fact that she was clearly struggling with holding back her amusement.
there was a knock and the room went quiet, all the attention drawn towards the door. every pair of eyes turned back to kash who instantly looked flustered. "what?"
"go get the door." lia spoke up from her place next to jungkook. the girl in question looked to jimin and he raised a brow in response. "you've spent time with him by yourself." he stated before she could say anything. her lips puckered, eyes going big in an innocent look. "please?"
jimin let out a deep breath. "the things i do for friendship." he mumbled. "oh, but when i do it, i look stupid." jungkook commented as he watched jimin get on his feet and offer kash a hand. "yes!" namjoon, hodan and jimin yelled in chorus. "i want a refund on my friends. all the ones i have are cruel and heartless." jungkook piped. chuckling, lia gave him a subtle squeeze.
jimin and kash reappeared seconds later, kaleb tyler-holmes in tow. "hey, guys!" he waved excitedly when he saw everyone. equally enthusiastic replies were sent his way and he grinned happily.
the smile fell off his face when he caught sight of something on the table. "no," he shook his head, eyes wide. "not those damn devil jelly beans." he turned to jimin with big eyes. "it wasn't my idea." the blond answered with a shrug. "i'd rather play russian roulette with guns than with those jelly beans."
"are they really that bad?" cathryn snorted. kaleb's brows danced higher on his face, "you haven't checked the box to see the flavours, have you?"
• • •
gagging, hodan raised her hands in surrender. "i'd rather drink an entire bottle of vodka than ingest another one of those godforsaken jelly beans. and i don't even drink." she declared, downing a glass of orange juice to numb the taste of stinky gym socks on her tongue.
"this is a bloody scam. there isn't a single normal tasting bean in that box." apollo added, hand over his mouth, face in a grimace. cathryn wiped the tears out of her eyes when she finished off her juice. "we were definitely beanboozled." she glared at the boxes on the table.
"i'm suing." lia remarked, face contorted as though she was seconds away from throwing up on jungkook. the boy in question had his head down, staring at lia's arm wrapped around him. he hadn't said a word since he'd picked a stink bug flavoured bean, confident that it'd be toasted marshmallow only to be grossly mistaken.
"i've tasted death." kash buried her face in her hands, sounding as though she was just about ready to cry. "you and me both. suddenly the war that is uno doesn't seem so bad." jimin had both hands over his mouth, unable to stand the taste and smell of dead fish.
kaleb picked up five blue jelly beans out of the box and threw them in his mouth, the taste of mint toothpaste bursting on his tongue. "i will happily eat toothpaste right now."
namjoon reappeared from the bathroom, leaning against the wall. "jungkook, just so you know, you're out of mouthwash." he announced, earning a chorus of complaints in reply.
"dude! i need that!" jimin yelled, voice muffled by his hands. "just eat the toothpaste jelly beans. that's your only hope." kaleb answered. everyone rushed for the blue beans, except jungkook who seemed to have been stunned silent.
looking at him worriedly, lia pressed two blue jelly beans into his mouth. "eat it, it makes it better." she told him sweetly. he chewed slowly. "okay, this is your house, so you can at least brush your teeth. let's go." she struggled to pull them both up. "i think jungkook is broken." kaleb remarked, eyeing him with worry as lia led him away.
"he was like this the day namjoon tricked him into drinking tonic water too. he just needs a little time." jimin explained, reaching for another blue jelly bean. "why would you even do that?" hodan shot namjoon a look as he settled down next to her. "i didn't think it was that bad!" the boy answered defensively.
kash raised a brow. "but everyone knows it's hella bitter." she stated. "i was only trying to raise his resistance but it backfired, okay?" namjoon pouted. "in his defence, it was innocent. neither of us was expecting that reaction." jimin chipped in for his friend who smiled gratefully. "guess that's why he has such a sweet tooth."
"wow." apollo blinked, leaning back against the sofa. cathryn took in a breath, folding her arms over her chest. "kaleb really was right about these things." she glared at the boxes again. "these are some damn devil beans."
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this chapter is such a mess oof. i find it hard to deal with too many characters at once, idk how people manage it. i usually avoid it but i wanted more group activitiesand ended up with this garble but i'm frankly too lazy to find a better way to write this right now. i mean three updates in like the first ten days of one month is actually a teddy bear miracle. three updates in a month ordinarily is a big deal for me. especially in between work. i surprise me like damn. and whoa! thank you for 100k reads, butterflies omg! wow i jus- wow btw thought it might interest you to read kaleb's initials, bye!
