SeVen Uncaged

5: For Every Action, There's a Reaction

False Impression:

/ /

Noun:

A failure to understand correctly.

Scream lodged in your throat, your heart thudded to a stop as you stared stunned into golden orbs. Towering over you was a man haloed by hall light in an ominous glow. After several beats, you realized you were staring into the blown-out pupils of Taehyung.

Before you had a chance to relax, fingers warm enough to brand grabbed your shoulder from behind, scaring you out of your skin as the scream you held back was torn from you. Everything that followed happened too quickly to truly follow. There was a beat of a moment when Taehyung’s head snapped up with a ferocious snarl, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks. Then, he lunged.

Your arms went up defensively, another scream—yours—tearing through the apartment as you were thrown to the floor, skidding across the tattered rug. A fury of snarls and snapping teeth cut through the dark as you curled into a ball over the folded fabric, pain and fear radiating through you from the fall.

Inches away, Namjoon rolled with Taehyung, locked in a ferocious battle of snapping teeth and swiping claws. Nearly missing each other’s necks as their growls rumbled through the room.

The cold seeping claws of horror dug firmly into your stomach at the sight, terrified they would kill each other. “Stop! Stop it!” You screeched, voice muted under the sounds of mayhem as they thrashed around, knocking over and breaking pieces of furniture and decor in their wake.

A roar bent the air as Taehyung landed a solid punch to Namjoon’s jaw with a crack of flesh before he reared back for another strike. Grabbing the tiger by his throat, Namjoon rolled; his cheek barely being grazed by claws in a near miss as he slammed Taehyung to the wooden floor with a resounding snap.

Shaking and wobbly, you clambered onto weak legs before darting for the bathroom, running past an alarmed Jimin while calling for Seokjin. You hoped another big cat could help, but in the meantime, you grabbed your mop bucket from the cupboard beneath the sink, using the tub to fill it.

By the time you managed to hobble the bucket out, the hall was half full of concerned hybrids, their eyes wide in panic while muffled sounds of the fight reached your ears.

"Move!" You warned, pushing through the gathered crowd.

As soon as you breached the door, you swung the bucket as hard as you could, chucking ice cold water onto the cats. With a curse, Namjoon jerked away from the tiger instantly, hopping backwards on a foot to the other side of the room until his spine was pressed to the far wall.

Taehyung on the other hand, remained where he was, merely swinging his tail back and forth and shaking the beads of water from off his head, completely soaked. “Tigers like water,” Seokjin whispered from around the door frame as everyone watched and waited for a reaction.

“Well,” you breathed, relief washing over you as the fury seemed to drain from the tiger’s face. “It worked, didn’t it?” Your voice shook, nerves still raw as you glanced over Namjoon.

With a string of curses, the lion sent water droplets flying from his hair in several wrist flicks before brushing a thumb through crimson blood smearing his swollen lips. “We’ll call this a draw,” he panted, not even earning an ear twitch from Taehyung.