the bet | dojae

nine

jaehyun was abruptly woken up from his dream by the sound of his alarm blaring from his nightstand. groaning, he blindly reached over in the dark and grabbed his phone, straining his eyes against the light of the screen as he turned his alarm off. it was 6:30, the usual time he woke up, and as he heard rustling next to him, he realized he had no idea if that was when doyoung woke up, too. "doyoung?" he whispered into the darkness, getting a small groan in response.

"what?"

"are you awake?"

"now i am. what time is it?"

"6:30." jaehyun turned on his bedside lamp and sat up, watching as doyoung buried his face into the pillow and groaned louder. "do you get up later?"

"no, it just takes me 10 minutes to get out of bed," he replied, his voice muffled by the pillow. jaehyun threw back the covers and got out of bed, stretching before heading into the bathroom.

he flicked the light switch and examined himself in the mirror, messing with his hair a little before poking his head back out. "do you wanna shower first or can i?"

"it's your house, you should shower first," doyoung mumbled.

"okay, but like i said last night, you're the guest."

"just take the goddamn shower."

after they had both showered and eaten breakfast, they left the house, deciding to wander around a little before their first class of the day. walking side by side, jaehyun absentmindedly avoided the cracks in the sidewalk as doyoung started talking. "can we go to target?"

"target? why?"

"i don't know. we don't have anything better to do."

the pair walked through the red automatic doors, jaehyun following behind doyoung as the latter wandered to the snack section, making sure to grab a basket at the front. he began grabbing things from the shelves and throwing them into the basket, and jaehyun stood a couple of feet away, his eyebrow raised. "how do you plan to pay for all of that?"

"easy, i get you to pay."

"hey, wait, that's not—"

"if you pay, i'll handle the rest of our dates and you won't have to spend another penny on them."

jaehyun's mouth pressed into a thin line as he sighed through his nose. "fine."

"thank you." when he finished filling the basket up with half the aisle, doyoung grabbed jaehyun's hand and dragged him to the register, putting everything on the conveyor belt. jaehyun pulled his wallet out and waited for the cashier to finish scanning, wincing at the price. dejected, he swiped his card and watched as the total dropped down to zero.

grabbing the bags, they both said goodbye to the cashier and dropped the basket off before exiting the store, jaehyun giving doyoung a sour look. "you owe me big time for that, you know."

"yeah, yeah, don't worry about it." as the pair continued down the sidewalk, jaehyun couldn't help but notice how ... different doyoung was, compared to when they had first met and he didn't leave the house often, nor did he actively like talking to people. the most confusing part about it all was that it had only been four days since then. maybe sharing a bed had some sort of effect on him.

"hey, about last night—"

"what about it?"

doyoung turned his head to look at jaehyun, who was baffled. "you're not ... worried?"

"worried?"

"i don't know, we slept in the same bed and—"

"jaehyun, we're gonna have to have sex in a few days, this is tame compared to that." jaehyun's mouth clamped shut as he nodded, muttering a quiet apology.

•••••

when doyoung and jaehyun made it to campus after dropping their stuff off at jaehyun's house, doyoung spotted taeyong and johnny and dragged jaehyun over, making jaehyun nearly trip at the abrupt force. taeyong looked over and froze, opening his mouth to say something when doyoung held a finger up. "nope. i don't wanna hear it."

"but—"

"taeyong, i don't think he wants you to explain what we did last night," johnny interjected, slapping a hand over taeyong's mouth. "we were drunk and stupid. that's all."

"stupid? stupid? you asked me out afterwards, was that you being stupid, too?"

"we'll just go," doyoung said nervously, pulling jaehyun away from the scene as the two began arguing. jaehyun's mind was still stuck at what johnny had said; what the hell had they done the night before?

"so they're ... dating now?" doyoung's voice dragged jaehyun away from his thoughts, and he realized they had stopped in the middle of a random hall.

"i can't tell if they're actually dating, or if they were just really drunk last night."

"if they're actually dating, i'm not the only one who thinks it came out of nowhere, right?"

"right."

jaehyun looked down at their hands, which were still intertwined, and suppressed a smirk— not well enough, because doyoung noticed it. "what?"

"are you gonna let go of my hand?"

"wh—" doyoung's cheeks began turning red as he realized what jaehyun meant and immediately dropped his hand, shoving his hands into the pocket of his hoodie. "whatever. i'll see you later."

"yeah, see you, sweetheart!" doyoung punched jaehyun's arm and walked away, but jaehyun had caught a glimpse of the grin on his face. his words from earlier bounced around uncomfortably in jaehyun's head. they only had a few days left, and it was starting to feel more and more like they wouldn't be able to do it ... no amount of careless flirting could prepare them for it.

it wasn't too late to call it off, was it?

heading back down the hall, jaehyun saw taeyong and johnny again and walked over, waiting for them to notice his presence. when they finally did, taeyong was the first to speak. "where's doyoung?"

"he went to class, i'm guessing."

"why didn't you walk him there?"

"are we dating? no. therefore, there was no reason for me to."

taeyong narrowed his eyes at him before changing the subject. "so me and johnny talked about it, and dating doesn't feel right because we don't really ... have feelings for each other."

"so friends with benefits, then?"

"what? no," johnny scowled. "we're just gonna stay friends. last night was a one-off thing, and if it ever happens again, it'll be for the same reason."

"right. by the way, can i talk to you about the dare?"

"are you having second thoughts?" taeyong asked.

jaehyun glared at him. "somewhat. a part of me doesn't want to call it off, but it's also really awkward because we both keep mentioning how little time we have left. and i don't think either of us are confident we'll be able to do it."

"okay, what if i gave you a motivator? if you guys actually fuck before midnight on friday, then i'll be a cat for a week," johnny offered. "and i'll get taeyong in on it, too."

"why the hell are you dragging me into this?" taeyong asked, staring at johnny.

"because. it's gonna be boring if i have to do it alone. plus, you could never say no to me."

johnny smirked at him, and taeyong opened his mouth before closing it again, glancing over at jaehyun, who was trying to pretend he didn't know what johnny meant. "fine. does that help any, jaehyun?"

"somewhat. i'll tell doyoung about it when i see him again." jaehyun began walking off, but stopped, turning around to face the pair again. "by the way, don't flirt in front of me ever again."

"you—" he was already gone.