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Chapter 8: Stay

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“Thanks for lending me the money for this.”

“No problem. It was pretty cheap. Your iPhone is old now,” BamBam laughed as he handed me the charger in a plastic 7/11 bag, “Plus, I still owe you for defending me earlier.”

“You don’t owe me anything! I was just telling the truth.”

“Oh, he definitely owes us BIG TIME,” Yugyeom wrapped his arms around BamBam’s neck and gave him a noogie.

“How are you so tall? What did the zookeepers feed you? Also, my hair…”

We reached the air castle at about ten ‘til five.

Guess I’m already in the habit of calling it that.

The more I looked at it the more it did remind me of a castle.

Tall and regal and-

My thoughts were interrupted.

“Perfect timing. JB said to be here for the vote by five o’clock,” Yugyeom held the door open for us, and we hung up our bags on hooks by the front door, “Looks like everyone’s in the den.”

-full of princes.

“Almost everyone that is,” JB stepped out into the hallway to greet us, “Come on in. We were just talking about playing a game while we wait-”

“Wait for who?” Yugyeom interjected.

“Who do you think?”

“What are we playing?” BamBam lead us into the room.

“Spin the bottle… Oooo Oooo, STRIP POKER!”

“Jackson, we already agreed on truth or dare, you know, a normal game,” Mark casually looked up from his phone.

“Normal is boring! I want STRIP POKER!”

“You guys agreed we would play musical chairs next time,” Yugyeom muttered.

“Do you want to vote on that while we’re waiting to vote?” JB added.

“No, voting is even more boring. Truth or dare is fine with me,” Jackson sunk onto the couch and laid his head on Mark’s shoulder.

“Great, I’ve texted him eight times already, so if we finish one round and he’s still not here, we’re voting without him,” Mark set his phone down.

“Mark, you should go first since you picked this game,” Yugyeom suggested.

“Oooo Oooo, pick me! PICK ME!” Jackson shot up from Mark’s side and jumped up and down, flailing his arms, excitedly.

“Okay, Yugyeom, truth or dare?”

“Dare. I’m not afraid of you, hyung.”

“Okay, then, I dare you to upload a video of yourself dabbing for twenty minutes straight. No breaks.”

“But, hyung, my subscribers respect my dance videos. If I do this, I’ll never hear the end of it. Please, hyung, anything but this.”

“It’ll only get worse if you make me pick another one.”

Yugyeom sighed in resignation, “Fine, just let me film an apology video after.”

Mark set up his phone in front of Yugyeom to record with, “Oh, no, you thought it was so funny to embarrass us by dabbing before... Okay, whenever you’re ready I set a timer on here, but, first, pick the next victim.”

“I choose you, Im Jaebum.”

“Truth.”

“Awww, come on.”

“No way am I letting you dare me to pretend you’re older than me again.”

“Fine, then let me just ask the question we’ve all been wondering… Did you or did you not ever have a crush on Alice when you were kids… Wait, I take that back. I have a better one… Answer me truthfully, hyung, do you or do you not possess the magical ability to turn trash into cute girls?”

“Quit blabbing, and start dabbing,” Youngjae interjected from his spot on a lounger.

I smiled gratefully at Youngjae, but his eyes never met mine.

BamBam and Jackson started jumping around Yugyeom, hyping him as he dabbed.

“This is so tiring,” Yugyeom complained, barely a minute in.

JB ignored the madness and Yugyeom’s comment and calmly replied, “Some ignorant people may refer to it as magic, but I prefer to call it fate.” He looked up at me as he said this, and I felt like hiding under the couch.

“You know I can’t tell if you are charming or a total bullter,” Jackson stopped hyping, briefly, to add.

“A little bit of both,” JB winked, and I relaxed a little, “Anybody want snacks?”

He hopped up and swiftly exited the room, returning shortly after with several cans of soda and some family-sized chips.

“Has it been twenty minutes yet, hyung? I’m hungry.”

“Not even five,” Mark devilishly grinned.

“Okay, Jackson, truth or dare?” JB questioned.

“Truth.”

“Are you, or are you not secretly jealous that I am a few months older than you, so I get to talk down to you?”

“Oh, of course not. I completely and totally respect our less than three month age difference, hyung. You gained so much wisdom in those three months. How could I think of complaining?”

“Bullter,” JB added.

“Okay, I pick,” Jackson pointed his finger at Mark then quickly turned to Youngjae, “Youngjae.” He turned his head and stuck his tongue out at Mark, but Mark just pretended to be hurt.

Youngjae looked as if he was greatly dreading his turn, “truth.”

“Okay, oldie but goodie, who in this room would you date if you had to date someone?”

“Hyung, I’m going to pass out,” Yugyeom wailed.

“Twelve more minutes,” Mark chirped.

“No comment…”

“C’mon, Youngjae, you know the rules. If you don’t answer the truth, you lose your turn,” Mark argued.

“I still choose to not comment.”

Jackson saw what I saw in Youngjae’s eyes. Fear. He wasn’t going to answer this question no matter how much of a penalty they put on him, because for Youngjae this was