Taemin and Jongin are infamous for one thing (alright, two, but nobody talks about the other one, unless they wish for an unwanted visitor in the middle of the night): dares.

Whenever one dared the other, it was impossible to stop them. The school still remembers the day Taemin ‘accidentally’ dropped his lunch all over the 4B homeroom teacher. Or when Jongin brought his two dogs during class and never cleaned after them. The fact that these two es hadn't been kicked out is a miracle. There have been rumors that they are from a rich family, or that one of them has a relative among the teachers or that they do not exist. Like, they are creatures of the underworld meant to prank the Hell out of everybody that crossed their path.

Either way, there came the day when one dare made Taemin think twice about his life choices. Not only was Jongin standing proudly in front of him with a grin, but he was also pointing at the colorful poster in the lunch hall. It advertised the coming crossdressing contest (more exactly, that Friday) where all male students could change their gender and let loose for an evening (while performing some kind of girl group song because where’s the fun in only being pretty?).

“I dare you to join the contest.”

It only took Taemin a fraction of a second to answer.

“No.” There was absolutely no way he was going to shake his in front of the school for entertainment. The poster banned pants, so he was sure he’d be forced into showing off his hairy legs in a skirt or dress. At least heels were optional, but why in the world was he even thinking about it when he didn’t even want to join? Taemin mentally slapped his brain and focused again on his best friend. Jongin's Cheshire grin was creeping him out .

“Is that a no I hear?” Jongin wiggled his eyebrows for effect and came closer.

“No, I mean, yes, I mean,” Taemin’s tongue twisted before he finally formed a coherent word. “WAIT!” Taemin put his hands up and himself between the poster and Jongin. "How about we pass this one?"

“I knew it!” Jongin scoffed and pushed Taemin aside. “You're too chicken to join the contest.”

“Am not!” Taemin glared and tried to cover the poster with his body again.

“Do you accept our agreement of dare then or do you not?” Jongin flicked the poster with his fingers. His expression changed to that of a dignified gentleman.

Taemin analyzed his options again because he wasn’t stupidly going to dive into a dangerous dare. He knew when a limit shouldn't be crossed. Messing with the teachers? No problem, they’d forgive him later. Messing with his academic life? No problem, he’d fix that too somehow. However, messing with his popularity? That was something he couldn’t picture. If he stepped on that stage dressed as a girl, he'd be the laughing stock of the entire class, not to mention the school. The image of him in a pink outfit complete with pink made him gag. At the same time, he didn’t like the way Jongin . He was not the type to back away because of a challenge.

“What's the punishment in case I don’t want to do the dare?”

Jongin's grin reappeared with the force of a thousand suns.

“Oh... you know,” he wiggled his eyebrows again, “that.”

“That?” Taemin paled. Anything but that. It was way worse than what a little bit of crossdressing could do to him. It was so dreadful that everything turned black and white, and the only color he could see was that of the poster announcing the event.

“That.” Jongin nodded and placed his hands on Taemin’s shoulders. “So?”

“Fine.” Taemin’s cheeks recovered some blush. He flipped the long locks he didn't have. “I'll do it.”

Jongin clapped like a seal and laughed in that instant. His back hit the poster and he laughed some more. He couldn’t believe that Taemin actually said yes.

---

Taemin enlisted the help of Jongin's twin sister.

While Soojung and Jongin weren't the best sister-brother duo in the world, they did have something in common, other than blood: Taemin. It was mostly because they grew up together, so it came naturally for Taemin to ask an actual girl on how to handle the dare without embarrassing himself too much. Soojung was also the only girl Taemin could get advice from without earning a chuckle or a weird look. What he forgot was that Soojung shared her brother’s mischievous ways. Therefore, when Jongin came home on Thursday evening and caught her giggling on the sofa, he had to investigate. Jongin’s head poked from behind with shifty eyes. His nostrils flared as he scanned the object of his sister's amusement, namely, her phone.

He spotted the source of her melodious sounds: photos of a wannabe woman during a middle-age crisis. Also known as Taemin. He had red lipstick smudged all over his mouth, only one eye covered in mascara and a frizzy wig. Soojung flipped through the same three pictures of Taemin looking defeated, about to murder someone and faking happiness in that exact order while wearing a white spaghetti strap dress that reached above his knees.

Jongin's first reaction was to burst into laughter and beg for copies. Yet, a lump in his throat prevented it. His second reaction came in the form of daggers aimed directly at Soojung's phone. He grabbed it, raced to his room, slammed the door shut, locked it and then deleted every single one of those horrifying photos.

That was right after he saved them on his phone for future blackmailing. With Taemin, that meant the following Tuesday when they served pizza and Jongin really wanted more slices than they allowed per person. Sure, he also wanted to annoy Taemin and see that cute scowl of his, but at the end of the day he was still his best friend and he'd be damned if he popped before the public looking like crap. Mostly due to Taemin's image mirroring his, so if Taemin became the school's loser, he'd be a loser too by association.

Jongin dramatically gazed at the walls and ignored Soojung's yells from the other side of the door.

He wouldn’t become a loser.

---

Speaking of losers, Taemin was surprised to see Jongin.

He abandoned homework in favor of some quality time with movies and nachos since it was too quiet without his parents. On Thursdays, Jongin had cram school until late in the evening, so he’d rarely bother him too. He barely moved when Jongin pushed him inside the apartment and shoved a heavy black bag to his chest.

“Are your parents home?” Taemin felt too lazy to answer. Instead, he stared bored at Jongin, head tilted slightly to the right, and waited with the bag at his chest. Jongin waited too. A minute passed in silence. “Right. Move your to your bedroom.”

“Why?”

Taemin did move his to the bedroom but refused to sit on it until Jongin explained why in the world he was taking out cosmetics, razors, dresses, skirts, tops, bras and two wigs, one blonde and one black, out of the bag.

“Alright, I saw the photos from Soojung.” Oh. Taemin tried to come up with an excuse, but nothing crossed his mind. Instead, he plopped on the bed and pulled the empty bag over his head in shame. “I know.” Jongin took the bag away from Taemin before he’d suffocate. He gripped his shoulders and shook him lightly. “I know how to make you fabulous. Will you let me?”

“But I thought I was the one entering the competition, shouldn't I do it alone?” Taemin prayed for Jongin to stop shaking him, he wasn't a baby, why was he shaking him damn it.

“Dude,” Jongin shook him. “We're in this together. I’ll help you bring out the amazing woman in you.”

‘Charming’, Taemin thought. Jongin finally let go of the boy. “Fine.” Taemin then pointed at the mess on his bed and smirked. “I dare you to join me in the contest then.”

“What? It doesn't work that way.”

“It just did.”

“No way, I dared you first.”

“And I dare you back.” Jongin did bring two wigs. There were enough items for both to use. He was manlier than Taemin though, there was no way he’d be ready until the following evening. There wasn’t enough time for him to prepare for the contest. There was nothing that could convince him otherwise, not even a suitcase of money. “ got wet?”

Of course that Taemin proved him wrong.

“I bet I can dance better than you on stage!”

“Bring it on!”

---

The two shaved each other’s legs before they’d try anything else (and somehow avoided any cuts). Taemin was the first to try on the tight clothes Jongin stole from his sister. While Jongin looked over makeup tutorials on Taemin’s laptop, the other returned with a sulky face. He placed his hands on his waist and showed off the glittery skirt.

“This won’t work.” Jongin glanced at Taemin and returned to the laptop. It took him half a minute until he turned fully to Taemin in shocking realization. “See?”

“I can see.” He also wished he added a bottle of bleach to his essential crossdressing kit because Taemin’s bulge stained him for life. He covered his eyes with his arm. “Couldn’t you like… choose something else?”

“It’s not my fault I pack heavy.” Taemin strutted next to Jongin. “Still, this is important. What happens if it says hi during the show?”

“Could you get some pants on first?”

“No, now answer me.”

“Get some pants on.”

“No. It’s kind of nice with a little breeze in here.”

“Lee Taemin. Pants. Now.”

“It’s not like you have never seen my bulge before.”

Jongin removed his arm. “That was an accident!”

“Well, think how it’s going to be if that accident happened on stage in front of the entire school.” No matter how absurd it sounded, Taemin was right. They were exposing themselves to a bunch of former victims, just eager to eat them alive. He sighed and switched to a new tab in the browser.

“Is googling how to hide my good enough?”

“Try?”

After countless of useless articles and some links, they changed their tactic from hiding the bulge to fixing their clothes. The DIYs weren’t any better. It was almost 10 PM and Taemin was still in that glittery skirt as he was watching random youtube videos, while Jongin tried on one of the wigs. They were a lost cause and none wanted to quit because it was their pride at stake. At least, what was left of it.

Then, Taemin had a revelation. “Dude. How do drag queens hide their bulges?”

“They don’t?”

“No, look here.” Jongin placed his chin over Taemin’s shoulder and watched the video. “There’s nothing.” Jongin didn’t really feel like staring at guys’ crotches but he did it anyway. They were indeed rather flat.

“Special clothes, maybe?”

“I know! Let’s find a drag queen in town and ask for tips.”

Jongin pulled away and stared at his friend.

“That’s the most stupid idea you have ever come up with.”

---

They quickly found a drag show in Itaewon.

Two problems - 1. it was around midnight, 2. it was in a gay club. Thoughtfully, it was a problem regardless of the club’s theme or clientele. They couldn’t get in without some major ninja skills and they knew that waiting until the show was over was futile since they couldn’t possibly recognize the performers out of the staff. Their asses would have frozen up by the time they all came out from work too.

Taemin and Jongin exchanged glances in front of the screen. It was too much for a pair of teenagers, minors on top of that, to deal with on a Thursday night. It was all for a show they’d experience in a flash, so it wasn’t worth the trouble. They should just it up and present their bulges as Mother Nature intended. Standing across the street from the club, freezing as predicted and exchanging glares instead, started because of Taemin’s mouth: “I dare you we go there and get help.”

“How do we get inside anyway?”

They had been waiting for ten minutes. Both already knew what kind of gestures the bouncer made whenever someone was accepted or rejected. Taemin also couldn’t stop remarking the egg like shape of his head while he chugged another soda. Jongin was at his second bag of chips. They’d been there far longer than they should have. He was running out of money too since he spent almost everything on snacks (Taemin dared him he didn’t have enough money for soda and chips) and successfully filled the trashcans behind them.

“We could pretend we work there?” Taemin suggested after he his fist in Jongin’s bag and searched for the last piece of potato chip. Jongin tugged the bag away . The last potato chips were the crispiest, so, the best. His friend had a thing with stealing the last bite of everything: chocolate, cakes, soups – you name it. Taemin was always somewhere behind Jongin like a ghost whenever he was about to finish his meal.

“Or we could pretend our mothers are inside and see if the bouncer lets us in.” Taemin pulled his hand away and wiggled the chip in front of Jongin’s face before he threw it in his mouth. Jongin huffed and he puffed, and crumpled the bag because he couldn’t crumple Taemin’s smug expression.

“It’s dudes only, won’t work.”

“Well, how does he know our moms aren’t guys?”

“Cause they aren’t, .” Taemin his fingers like he had eaten the most expensive dinner in the world. Jongin huffed and he puffed again, and carelessly tossed the bag over his shoulder. He knew it’d hit the trash anyway.

“Okay, then how about we pretend we’re inspectors?”

Both weren’t aware of the shadow growing behind them. Not even Taemin, the stalking master.

“Yeah, because authorities now hire teenagers to do their dirty work.”

It slowly took shape as it became larger.

“Teens are dirty, wouldn’t you hire them?”

“It won’t work, dude. Can’t we just go ahead and explain the situation? Maybe they’d sympathize with us or something.”

“Yeah because they’ll totally believe us.”

It grew and grew until it boomed in a deep voice.

“You boys are out littering the streets, looking for trouble?”

Taemin and Jongin snapped at the voice. It didn’t take long for both to understand that getting busted wasn’t on their bucket list and the officer behind them seemed rather pissed to meet two kids at that hour. They also had no need for a cue when they dashed across the street with the man yelling after them. Before any could talk about an escape plan, Taemin went ahead and entered the narrow alley that separated the two club buildings. He stumbled upon an open door. With the officer tailing Jongin instead, Taemin entered the building. He ran through the dark hallway, tripped and fell face first over Hell knows what. He lift