Sungmin wiped his palms on his jeans and laughed nervously. “Um. Okay. Okay, for how long?”

“One minute.” Sunny offered.

“No, two -- two minutes,” Jessica put in eagerly. “One minute, that’s too easy. Has to be at least two.”

Sunny nodded slowly. “Right on. Two minutes it is. Starting as soon as we’ve got lips touching lips, and you don’t stop until we say so.”

Sungmin shot a look at the girl he’d been trying to impress all night. Okay, was this a really good way to get Sunny’s attention, or a way to up any chance of ever getting with her? She sure seemed eager to see him make-out with Donghae , had been looking them both up and down with heavy-lidded eyes ever since someone else had suggested the dare, so . . .

good thing? But then in the no-way corner, there was the fact that he would have to kiss Donghae -- which, hello, so not with the s or softness or any of the other things Sungmin preferred in a make-out partner. And if it had to be a guy, did it have to be Donghae ? The boy who had stolen his lunch money for eight years running, and then had pretended he didn’t know Sungmin ’s name once they hit high school despite the fact that they lived two houses away from each other? Still, two minutes -- not like it was a really long time. And what could go wrong? Okay, fine. He could smooch Donghae , completely unenthusiastically and barely-touching-lips, for one hundred and twenty seconds.

No problem.

“Fine, yeah,” Donghar said,dropping his empty beer can on the corner. “Two minutes.”

“Yeah,” Sungmin said, clearing his throat. With a shrug, he leaned forward and --

“Not like that, you idiot,” Donghae bit out, and Sungmin blushed.

“What? I didn’t even--“

“If we’re going to do this thing,” Donghae explained slowly. “Then we are going to go to the bedroom, lie down, and do it properly.”

“All right, all right,” Sunny murmured, standing and holding her hand down to pull Jessica up along with her.

“Let’s go.”

“The bedroom?” Sungmin asked. “Uh . . .” But it was too late to protest, because the other three had already headed off in that direction like it was the most logical thing in the world.

Sungmin picked up a can or two of beer before finding one half-full, and took a hearty swig. “Two minutes . . .” he muttered to himself as he started up the stairs after them.

* * *

“Come on, Sungmin oppa,” Jessica said impatiently as Sungmin hesitated at the edge of the bed. Donghae was already sprawled out on it, his booted heels digging carelessly into what was probably someone’s mom’s favorite coverlet, resting his head on his hands laced behind his neck.

He nodded in reply and clambered up onto the mattress.

“Um, so . . . how do you want to . . . uh, I mean . . .”

Donghae rolled his eyes. “You have kissed someone before, haven’t you yunjin?”

“I -- yes!” Sungmin exclaimed. “And so there, you do know my name,” he added senselessly.

“Any time you’re ready, boys,” Sunny cooed from her position kneeling on the floor with her chin resting on folded arms, watching them with a half-smile on her face. “On your mark. . . get set . . .”

“Go, go, go,” Jessica said with a grin.

One more moment to wonder if he should back off, hit the stairs running, and fearlessly wear the label of Loser Boy Who Couldn’t Take a Dare, spending the rest of his high school years sitting at home with his mom Friday nights watching made-for-tv movies, and Sungmin took a deep breath and laid down next to Donghae , tentatively lowering his head.

“Don’t forget to keep track,” he said at the last minute just before their lips met, and the other three groaned aloud.

“Got my watch all set up and everything,” Sunny said in an amused voice.

“Get on with it, will you?” Donghae said, apparently utterly bored by any further attempt at stalling. “Sooner this is over with, sooner we can go back downstairs, see if we can break open Yesung hyung ’s father’s liquor cabinet.”

“Geez, okay,” Sungmin said in an aggravated voice.

One more beat, and he twined his fingers in Donghae ’s hair, and brought their mouths together with force. And . . . Donghae ’s lips were way softer than they looked, and Donghae's hair was soft, and Donghae ’s body has more muscles than his.

Sungmin wanted to pull back, just go ahead and ditch the entire idea, because . . . why again? Oh! Because this wasn’t supposed to be real, it was supposed to be . . . oh . . . Donghae ’s hands on his sides, just above his hips, and as their lips continued to slide and slip, mouths just barely parted, trading breaths and brushes and quiet sounds as they kept going.

And hey, Donghae could really kiss, better than any of the girls that Sungmin had made out with, from Jessica when they were six years old, to other girls during spin-the-bottle and dares, to the one or two dates and awkward goodnights that had seemed to end everything.

Sungmin sighed, pressing his lips against Donghae ’s mouth and at the edges of his lips while Donghae slipped his fingertips just under Sungmin ’s t-shirt, pulling it out of his jeans. Somehow Donghae’s legs had moved apart, and Sungmin was no longer half-on, half-off his body in a nervous gesture at closeness, but serious now, in between those legs, one hand moving down to grip and massage Donghae ’s hip.

Sungmin wondered wildly for a moment how long it had been, and then thought it would be cool if he had some kind of super power to stop time to make it last. No, not to stop it, because wouldn’t he and Donghae freeze along with the rest of the world, mid-kiss, Donghae ’s hand now kneading at the small of his back, at his skin, as Sungmin ’s tongue darted between Donghae ’s lips and they both groaned with Donghae on it, hard? Just freeze everyone else, maybe, bring all the rest of it to a halt so that he could keep doing this, keep kissing Donghefor the allotted time that would last . . . forever.

One hand next to Donghae’s chest, bracing his weight on it so that he could give in to the urge to roll and twist his hips against Donghae , gasping as he felt the hardness meeting his own, as Donghae reached to grab his and pull them even closer.

“Time’s . . . up?” he heard Sunny say distantly, and he pulled away, his lips and running a hand through his hair.

“Uh, okay,” he said, looking around the room quickly.

Jessica ’s eyes were wide, her jaw hanging open, and Sunny had her hand on , absently as she kept her gaze locked on Donghae and Sungmin .

“Okay,” Donghae said softly, and Sungmin looked back at him. Lips gone from pink to red, swollen from kissing, eyes dazed and . . . oh god, so clearly hard, pressing against his jeans.

“Okay,” Donghae said more firmly as he stood up, and Sungmin half-cringed, not wanting to hear what he’d say next. He’d done the stupid bet thing, made out with Donghae , made it through the entire designated time, and now he pretty much wanted to get out of there.

“Right," Donghae told the girls. "Been a great party, lovely time, compliments all around, but have to be leaving now.”

The other three nodded at him, and Donghae paused at the door.

“You coming, Sungmin?”

“What?” Sungmin asked in shock. “Um, uh . . . yes?”

“Brilliant.” Donghae grinned at him. “Want back at those lips of yours, under you again. Off the clock this time, though, okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Sungmin said, feeling himself redden. “Uh . . . great party, guys,” he said to Jessica and Sunny by way of goodbye.

“Best ever,” Sunny agreed, handing Jessica a cigarette and leaning over to light it.