the bet | dojae

seven

thank you for 1k reads !! it's insane to see this book have so many, i'm grateful for all of u and i'm glad u like it <3

jaehyun felt dread settle into his stomach like a ball of lead. he hadn't anticipated that reaction from doyoung, and he wasn't sure why he was even reacting that way. it was normal to still be a virgin, wasn't it? "what do you mean, the virgin one wasn't the lie?"

"well, i've never smoked weed, so—"

"jaehyun, i thought you already lost your virginity! you seemed so confident before, how did you—"

"does confidence immediately mean i can't be a virgin?"

"yes! when you're confident you can take my virginity in a week, it does!" the pair fell silent, realizing they were still in public; they had nearly started yelling at each other, and yelling about sex in a park wasn't ideal for either of them.

jaehyun stood up, picking up the nearly empty paper bag and motioning for doyoung to follow him. as he turned, he saw doyoung stand out of the corner of his eye, but forced himself to look ahead and began walking back to doyoung and taeyong's house.

this was the worst possible note to end a date on.

he assumed doyoung finally realized where they were going, because he was the one to break the awkward silence. "wait, why are—"

"i didn't think you'd wanna do the rest of the date after ... whatever that was."

"oh."

jaehyun turned to look at doyoung, who looked ... disappointed. he wasn't even trying to hide it. "what, do you wanna keep going?"

"well, i mean, kind of? what else did you have planned?"

•••••

the aquarium.

jaehyun had only been to the aquarium a few times before, but he remembered taeyong mentioning that it was one of doyoung's favorite places to go, when he had the time. "i haven't been here in weeks," doyoung said quietly as they walked through the halls, occasionally stopping to observe the fish. there weren't as many people as jaehyun expected.

"weeks?"

"well, yeah. i've been busy with school and stuff. i haven't had the time to, until today."

"i haven't been here since i was a kid."

"that long?" doyoung looked at jaehyun, dumbfounded. "how could you go that long without ever coming here?"

"i dunno. i just never had a reason to, i guess. the aquarium's cool and all, but it's not a place i would wanna go to all the time."

"i'll start dragging you here more often, then, so you can learn to appreciate it," doyoung said with a slight grin.

jaehyun rose an eyebrow at him, but was unable to suppress his own smile. "is that a threat? are you threatening me with aquarium dates?"

"they don't have to be dates! but yeah, maybe i am threatening you."

"can you two please, for the love of god, cut it out?" the pair jumped and turned around, spotting taeyong standing at a tank a few feet away from them.

"how long have you been here?" jaehyun asked.

taeyong smirked. "the entirety of your conversation. so, aquarium dates, huh?"

"why are you even here, taeyong?" doyoung asked, sounding exasperated.

"what? can't a guy just hang out at the aquarium and then coincidentally run into his friends while they're flirting?"

"we're not flirting!" the two said simultaneously, then glanced at one another.

"sure, sure. i might as well stick with you two, now that you're here."

the trio went through the rest of the aquarium, admiring all the wildlife that they saw. taeyong kept them all laughing with his abrupt jokes, and although jaehyun was too scared to comment on it— maybe even out of fear of scaring doyoung ...

they had been holding hands nearly the entire time.

it wasn't until they made it to the exit that doyoung realized they were holding hands and quickly let go, giving jaehyun a nervous and apologetic smile.

they all walked back to taeyong and doyoung's house, and when they finally arrived, taeyong unlocked the door and stepped in, but began to shut it. "i'll leave you two out here to say your final goodbyes," he said simply, giving the pair a thumbs up before pushing the door shut.

doyoung rolled his eyes and turned to look at jaehyun. "well, uh ... thank you for today."

"of course." they both stood there awkwardly, jaehyun's palms getting increasingly sweatier as he suddenly got one of his worst ideas. it was risky, but maybe it would pay off. he wouldn't know unless he tried it.

leaning over, he gently kissed doyoung's cheek, then smiled at him and waved goodbye before stepping away from their house and walking back to his own.

behind him, doyoung stood completely frozen, his face as red as a tomato as taeyong had to open the door and yank him inside.

maybe this wasn't completely hopeless after all.