Pepero
> Genre: Light smut, fluff
> Pairing: Hoseok x reader (You)
> Word Count: 2.4K ish?
> Rating: 18+
> Synopsis: Basically a Pepero challenge gone wrong (or right, in this case)
> Warnings: kissing, drinking, I think that’s it???
> A/N: Yeah, I have no clue. I wrote this really late so if it feels rushed that’s why. Anyways, I’m a sucker for anything Hoseok-centric and I was a little bummed seeing so few Hoseok fics that I decided to ATTEMPT to write my own. Soooooo, enjoy! It’s incredibly unedited, so I apologize in advance.
“I dare you to…”
Jimin’s eyes roam around the room dramatically slow, a sly smile threatening to peek out from the corner of his lips. He doesn’t bother masking his mischievous grin as his eyes settle down on you, tipping the bottle of soju he’s holding towards you, the product of his final choosing.
You narrow your eyes, trying to decipher what trap he’s trying to goad you into this time. To be fair, you didn’t know how it all came down to this. What started as drinks between friends suddenly turned into a game of truth or dare with an empty soju bottle acting as a spinner between you and your friends.
You’ve known all six of them through Hoseok, who happened to be your childhood friend ever since you moved to Gwangju at the age of 5. Hoseok was the first one to introduce himself to you at the playground. Having moved to a completely new country without being entirely fluent in the local language was scary, so imagine your fear when an outgoing boy suddenly started to ramble on in a language you didn’t understand while you were just minding your business alone on the swings. To your 5 year-old self, he was scary and just like any other 5 year-old, you started crying for your mom, who was sitting on a bench a few feet away. The moment you started crying, the little boy whom you later learned was Hoseok, froze in place with his eyes wide, unsure of what he’d done to make you cry. He tried his best to make you stop crying, hands reaching out to comfort you, just as he’d seen his parents do it to him when he was upset, but that made things even worse.
You don’t remember much of what happened that day, pretty much crying through the whole confrontation. All you remembered was your mom trying to comfort you while speaking to Hoseok in her semi-perfect Korean, attempting to diffuse the whole situation. Next thing you knew, another woman came over (who turned out to be Hoseok’s mother) and… everything else was blurry. According to your mother, Hoseok simply wanted to ask if you wanted to play because you looked lonely by yourself, which made you feel extremely guilty for the way you overreacted to the whole situation. From then on, every time you went to the playground, you made sure to seek out Hoseok, who was more than happy to have a playmate. He taught you basically everything; from classic Korean games, to Korean slang, to helping you ask out your crush (who ran away when he saw you and Hoseok coming, rambling some useless excuse with wide eyes to which you were still confused at to this day), to helping you learn how to dance — which was an epic fail, considering you were convinced that you were born with two left feet. Hoseok, however, begged to differ, advocating that all you needed was to practice everyday and you’d turn out just like him. You stopped listening after mulling the idea of exercising everyday, preferring to stick to video games and books.
Which brings you to the present, you with Hoseok and all his friends from his dance crew. Celebrating their first win at a dance competition in your apartment (it was bigger, so says Taehyung). You couldn’t be more proud of them, offering to buy at least two cases of soju and some snacks as a gift. You should’ve known, though, they were chaotic. The moment the first round of bottle caps were opened, all hell broke loose.
At first, it was a simple round of drinks, then Jungkook made a wise-crack joke to Seokjin which ended up in an arm-wrestle in which Jungkook won with a smug look on his flushed face, which then led to Seokjin wanting a rematch but with a different game, claiming that the alcohol threw his arm game off. That’s how you ended up here. First case of soju emptied and the second case almost halfway finished. Everyone more and so buzzed, except you and Hoseok, preferring to be the mediators between your friends in case anything spirals out of hand, like last time that ended with Namjoon in the ER with glass shards in his hands from God-knows-what game they came up with that time.
“I have a feeling I’ll regret picking dare,” Hoseok mutters under his breath from beside you, releasing a regretful sigh.
You snicker, nudging him with your shoulder from your cross-legged position. “Maybe you should try drinking. You won’t even remember about picking dare.”
Hoseok scoffs, turning to look at you with a raised eyebrow in disbelief. “Do you want me to remind you what happened last time when you were the only one sober?”
You shiver, sudden flashbacks playing in your head of keeping Jimin and Jungkook from wrecking your couch from wrestling, Yoongi from blasting out drunk confessions to no one and everyone in the room, and your attempts to keep Jin and Namjoon’s drunken banter to a reasonable volume so your neighbors wouldn’t complain. If that wasn’t bad enough, Hoseok simply looked depressed in the corner of your living room, looking up at you with empty eyes as you pleaded for him to help you with your friends.
“I think I still have nightmares from that day,” you say, looking around the living room. For now, everyone looks pretty… intact. They’re all paying attention to the game, at least. Well, all eyes are on Jimin right now.
“Can we hurry up?” Taehyung whines, pouting in his seat on the floor. “I haven’t had a turn in forever!”
Jungkook laughs, downing another gulp of soju from his almost-empty bottle. “It’s not our fault you had to go to the bathroom and missed your turn.”
Taehyung scoffs and sticks out his tongue in retaliation. Jungkook does the same and starts to open his mouth before Namjoon intervenes with a wave of his hand, pulling Jungkook back to his seat by the back of his clothes.
“Okay, okay. Let’s get on with it before these two break something again.”
Jimin releases a happy sigh, leaning back on his elbows with a grin. His eyes fall on you, twinkling with mischief. “I dare Hoseok-hyung to do the Pepero challenge with Y/N.”
A wave of ooh’s and aah’s sweep across the room as you feel your face flush with heat. Was that Jimin’s plan all along? Suggesting a game where the possibility of two people kissing was extremely high? No, no way would Hoseok go along with this, you think to yourself, subconsciously shaking your head. He probably thinks of you as a sister and not in… that way.
That’s all there is to it. For all of the years you and Hoseok have known each other, he acted like a protective brother, maybe too protective when it comes to boys. He never really expressed or said anything to suggest otherwise, even though you had a massive crush on him when you two were in middle school. But that was years ago, and you’re pretty sure Hoseok doesn’t reciprocate and plus, you’re pretty certain you’ve moved on from that silly crush. At least you think you did.. So it surprises you when you him say:
“Okay. I’m down,” Hoseok turns to face you, demeanor chill and eyes assessing yours with an emotion you fail to interpret. “. . . o-only if you want to, Y/N.”
“Wha— I,” you fumble, flustered as you stare at Hoseok, fingers sweating as they gesture incoherently in the air. “I mean, I, um, I guess?”
Hoseok releases a sigh and a small laugh, sitting up and turning his body halfway to face yours. All of a sudden his right hand is tucking a strand of hair behind your ear delicately before trailing his fingers down your jaw, resting your chin on the pads of his thumb. You watch him, speechless and flush, how his eyes follow his fingers, casting a brief glance to your lips before they ascend upwards to meet yours.
“It’s a yes or no, Y/N,” Hoseok reiterates, eyes looking into yours with a serious tone this time. His eyes never waver from yours, and you start to wonder if this is all part of the game.
Looking into Hoseok’s warm, chocolate orbs, you’re reminded of your middle school self. How everytime you would look at him, you’d have to look away because he just had that effect on you. Now, here you are, years later, except you can’t look away, and for some reason, your throat is dry and… and… goddammit since when did Hoseok get so damn attractive? And so close to you? You mentally berate yourself on the inside for the words you whisper in approval that had Hoseok smiling more than usual.
Everything happens in a blur. You could hear cheering from the boys and some rustling and before you know it, Hoseok is appearing in front of you with a chocolate Pepero stick in his mouth, holding out the other end for you. You’re still in a state of shock, trying to process the whole situation and how it escalated to this, when you felt Hoseok’s thumb caress your jaw, bringing you back to the present and to the situation you somehow ended up in.
“Hey…” Hoseok whispers, dropping his head lower until he is eye-level with you. A soft look crosses his features as he removes the Pepero stick from his mouth with his other hand. Your eyes follow his every movement and snaps up when Hoseok starts talking. His eyes dig deep into yours, safe and warm, like how you remember them. “We don’t have to do this, you know? I’m not going to do it if you don’t feel comfortable.”
Upon hearing his words, your hand immediately covers his hands caressing your jaw. “No, no, I want to do it!” you quickly tell him, flushing with embarrassment afterwards at your choice of words. “The g-game, I mean. I want to do the game, not you. No, wait, that’s not what I mean. I want to play the game--”
Hoseok chuckles at your rambling, successfully leaving you speechless again as he places his thumb on your lips to stop you from speaking. Your cheeks redden, maybe even more than before. Does Hoseok notice it? How you’re a fumbling, rambling, flustered mess in front of him? If he does, he doesn’t seem bothered by it. It’s almost quite the opposite. As if he enjoys it…
Before you can think any further, Hoseok’s poking your lips with the edge of the Pepero stick, nudging them open. You oblige willingly, and almost whine when he removes his hands from your jaw to scoot closer to you. Your worries are put to rest when he cups your jaw again, biting into his end of the stick. He attempts to smile, which makes him look silly and draws a small smile from your lips.
Your heart is racing and you don’t even hear Jimin yelling for silence from the crowd and Jungkook hollering, “Start!”
The only thing you’re focused on is how Hoseok is getting closer and closer to you, giggling as he bites down bit by bit. It occurs to you that you should probably move too and you do, your slightly competitive nature taking over. You bite bit by bit, looking up frequently through your own small giggles and smile at Hoseok, challenging him to chicken out first. He doesn’t and as time passes by, you’re getting closer and closer to each other.
It’s just a game, you remind yourself. You can’t afford to lose to Hoseok. If anything, you were going to make Hoseok chicken out because you were just that damn competitive. If you chicken out, he would never let you live this down and you’ve had a losing streak with him when it came to Just Dance, earning him complete bragging rights to remind you of how you lost to him every single chance he gets.
However, as seconds tick by, your strong mindset falters bit by bit because Hoseok has no intention of chickening out. In fact, it almost seems like he’s racing to close the distance, which is where you two were at right now. There’s about an inch of Pepero stick between you and Hoseok. By this time, it was your turn to make a move.
You do your best to swallow and chew the chocolatey biscuit in your mouth before your eyes look up into Hoseok’s chocolate one. So close, you thought for a brief moment, assessing how your knees are touching and your hands are slightly overlapping his left hand on the floor. But you still weren’t going to back down. Smirking, you bite 3/4 of the stick, bringing you a quarter of an inch away from Hoseok’s face. He has to chicken out now. There’s no way for him to go.
There’s a moment of silence, one in which you felt slightly proud to celebrate your future victory. You try to stare Hoseok down, maybe intimidate him to chicken out. For a split second, it seems that maybe your technique worked. Hoseok’s eyes seemed unsure, uncertain, almost nervous with the way he kept looking from the stick to your eyes.
Then it happens.
Hoseok’s posture straightens and the grip he has on your jaw tightens a bit as he closes the gap between the two of you. The look of future victory was replaced with a look of pure surprise as Hoseok’s soft lips consumed the remaining Pepero stick and slotted against yours. You can feel him chewing and swallowing the rest of the stick and before you can do something, Hoseok pulls his hands and himself away from you to sit back on his heels. He’s breathing a bit heavily, looking at you with a fragile look, trying to decipher what you’re feeling or thinking, or both.
Your mind is blank and before you overthink, your eyes snap to him and you’re moving of your own accord. As if your body has a mind of its own. You grip the front of his shirt and pull him forward, crashing your lips into his. Hoseok lets out a surprised yelp but he’s quick to get the memo. His hands come up to cup the back of your neck as his mouth moves against yours.
Around you, you could hear whoops and cheers from the boys, hollering ‘Finally!’ and ‘About time!’ along with other things you didn’t bother to keep track. You felt Hoseok smile against your lips, a teasing swipe of his tongue against your lips before he pulled away, forehead against yours. You’re both breathless and you can’t help the smile that’s forming on your lips as you two share a knowing glance between each other, a hidden message sacred to only the two of you.
Yeah, some game this is.
