the bet | dojae

twenty one

everything had been set up perfectly. they wanted as many people as possible to come to the party, and taeyong was guaranteed to come. johnny kept telling people it was gonna be one of his biggest parties yet, but jaehyun doubted the validity of that statement.

knocking on the door, jaehyun waited until it opened, revealing doyoung. "is he—"

"no. i've been trying to get him out of bed for the last 5 minutes, and he won't budge."

doyoung stepped aside, and jaehyun walked in, going straight for the staircase. "taeyong!" he yelled. nothing. he went upstairs and into taeyong's room, turning the light on. taeyong was hidden under a mound of blankets on his bed. "taeyong, come on."

there was a muffled "no".

"come on! you promised you'd go!" doyoung was in the doorway behind jaehyun, and he sounded as disappointed as jaehyun felt. "this is your last chance to confess. you said you would."

"i said i'd try. there's a difference."

"you should still give it some sort of effort! at least you'll have even tried!"

the pair approached the blanket mound, starting to tug the blankets away. only one stayed, taeyong clutching it tightly in his hands. "no."

"taeyong, this is ridiculous. you had to drag me out of bed, too, remember?" taeyong kept his back to the two. "and look what came out of that ... now i have a boyfriend. at least give it a shot. please."

there was nothing. and then taeyong sighed, letting go of the blanket. he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and looked up at the two. "fine."

arriving at johnny's house, taeyong took a deep breath before knocking on the door. it swung open, the music pouring out onto the street as johnny waved. "taeyong! it's good to see you."

"you too, johnny," he said quietly.

johnny glanced at jaehyun, who gave him a look of encouragement. he stepped to the side and smiled at the trio. "come in! you didn't miss much, the party didn't start that long ago."

the room was packed, and jaehyun could barely hear himself think as they approached the drinks table. taeyong picked up a cup, then glanced at the other two before setting it back down. "i think i should be sober for this."

"hey, guys." they all turned as yuta waved at them. "taeyong! you made it."

"why is everyone so surprised?" he whispered, and jaehyun rose an eyebrow.

"you hid in bed until we dragged you here."

"okay? at least have some faith in me."

"do you guys wanna come upstairs and help me set up the game?" yuta asked.

doyoung and jaehyun agreed, but taeyong shook his head. "not right now, i need to use the bathroom. i'll, uh— be upstairs soon. have fun. see you. bye."

he practically ran to the bathroom, and doyoung frowned slightly. "he's jumpy."

"maybe it just set in that he actually has to confess tonight."

"how do we think that's gonna go?"

none of them said a word, and jaehyun realized they weren't expecting much from the situation. taeyong would either confess, or run out in a blind panic and shove his feelings down for the rest of his life. "what happens when he confesses?"

"well, johnny seems to like him, so i think they'll date."

"yuta, did you ever hear about the time they made out while they were drunk ... ?"

when they went upstairs, they went into the same room they had used the night the dare was made and found johnny, who was sitting on the floor with a cup in his hand. "are you okay?"

"nervous," he managed, taking a large swig of the alcohol. the trio all sat down, and yuta started pulling things out of his bag, setting the game up.

"now i see why taeyong didn't wanna come up here," jaehyun muttered. "he knew johnny was here."

"he's been confusing," johnny said. "he says he can't even face his crush, but he's been talking to all of us just fine ... except me, i guess. but it's not adding up."

"he could be trying to hide it so we don't find out who it is."

"but we already know."

"yeah, but he doesn't know that."

johnny went downstairs to make the game announcement, and when he returned, there was a flock of people behind him, everyone forming a circle on the floor. doyoung sat next to jaehyun, and taeyong sat next to doyoung; yuta and johnny were on the opposite side of the circle.

"most of you probably know how this one works, but for any newcomers, think of this as a spin the bottle/truth or dare hybrid. you spin the bottle, and you ask the person who it landed on truth or dare. if you complete the dare, or if they answer yes to a truth, you get one of these." yuta held up a slap bracelet. "the first person with 20 of these wins, so expect this game to take a while."

doyoung offered to go first, and the bottle landed on yuta. "truth or dare?"

"dare."

"i dare you to take one item of clothing off." yuta rolled his eyes, but examined his outfit and realized he was screwed. glancing down at his shoes, he hesitated before quickly undoing the laces and slipping them off, slapping a bracelet onto his wrist soon after.

the game went on for what felt like an hour, and everyone in the circle had gone at least once. jaehyun had 5 bracelets, but yuta had 7, and so far, he was in the lead. doyoung and taeyong had 4, and johnny had 6. it was taeyong's turn again, and he spun the bottle, watching it closely as it slowed to a stop on yuta. yuta smirked a little, and taeyong sighed quietly. "truth or dare?"

"hmm ... truth."

"uh ..."

taeyong went quiet, trying to think of something to ask, and yuta held his hand up, lowering his fingers one at a time until he hit zero. "time's up."

"i have a truth!" someone offered. his name was mark, if jaehyun remembered correctly. "taeyong, is it true that you have a crush on yuta?"

"dude!" yuta punched mark, and the whole group erupted into laughter, including jaehyun. he glanced over at taeyong and realized he was the only one who wasn't laughing.

"taeyong?" doyoung asked quietly.

"i, uh— i'm sorry." taeyong jumped up and swung the door open, running out of the room. the entire group went silent. jaehyun could see the disappointment on johnny's face out of the corner of his eye.

what the fuck just happened?