pairing: ChenLay
length: 1136 words

It was a lazy Saturday evening as two young college students lounged in a small apartment living room, mindlessly playing video games together with half-empty boxes of pizza scattered around them. With Yixing’s roommates out of town for the weekend, Jongdae had wheedled his way into being invited over with the promise of tasty food and fun vibes.

Perhaps his borne-from-grade-school crush on the older male had something to do with it, but Jongdae tried not to think about that too much, lest he spiral into disappointment when Yixing inevitably found someone else to date.

After a particularly competitive round of melee fights, in which Jongdae just barely eked out the last win over the older male, Yixing said, “Let’s take a quick break. My mother always said playing video games too much will rot your brain.”

“I dunno, I think it might be too late for that,” Jongdae innocently commented before cackling loudly and diving out of the way to avoid getting hit in the face with a couch pillow.

“Alright, then let’s play a different game,” Yixing proposed. “Let’s bet each other to do things.”

“Bet? Like bet money?”

“Nah, I’m too broke to do that. More of like a dare,” the older male explained. “You say something and if I accept, I’ll say, ‘Bet.’ And vice versa.”

“Okay, sounds simple enough.” There was a short pause before Jongdae asked, “You have pickle juice in your refrigerator, right?” After Yixing nodded, the younger male grinned and firmly said, “Go take a shot of pickle juice to start us off.”

“Bet.”

And within minutes, an empty shot glass sat on the table while Yixing smiled painfully as the sour taste coated his tongue. “My turn now,” he said, while whipping out a bowl of green grapes he had gotten while in the kitchen earlier. “Play Chubby Bunny with these grapes.”

“Bet.”

Jongdae managed to stuff his cheeks until they were chock-full like a squirrel’s and Yixing snapped several pictures of the younger male to keep for posterity.

After spitting them all out, Jongdae pointed jerked his thumb back at the kitchen. “Go and make yourself a hot sauce ice cream.”

“Bet.”

So Jongdae followed Yixing into the kitchen and watched him dole out a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream into a bowl before topping it off with several squirts of chili oil hot sauce. They both winced at the creation, but Yixing still bravely took a large bite and swallowed it whole. But not without groaning non-stop about the icky food combination that left his taste buds utterly confused.

Meanwhile, Jongdae pealed with laughter at the older male’s plight.

“I still have some ghost peppers in the kitchen. Why don’t you test your spice tolerance with those?”

“Bet. But why are we doing so many food-related dares?”

“There’s not much else we can do with only the two of us,” Yixing answered with a slight shrug.

And Jongdae had never regretted anything more in his life when five minutes later, he had salty tears streaming down his face like a waterfall. His mouth was in more pain than he could have ever imagined before this and his cheeks felt as though they would burn off of his face.

It wasn’t until Yixing generously served him several scoops of vanilla ice cream that he finally felt like a normal human being once more.

“You’re evil, you know that?”

“It’s your turn,” Yixing innocently reminded him.

“Okay… Now go express your feelings to the person you like,” Jongdae said, confident that Yixing would give up on this one. After all, they were adults. Perhaps not the most mature ones in town, but this would such a childish dare. Surely he wouldn’t stoop down this low.

“Bet.”

And without warning, Yixing leaned over and firmly planted his lips on Jongdae’s open mouth, causing the younger male’s eyes to widen comically before he closed them and tilted forward into the kiss.

It was short and sweet, barely lasting five seconds, before Yixing pulled away and sent the other male a triumphant smirk. “Told you I’d take any bet.”

“Alright… Then convince me to stay over tonight without explicitly using those words,” Jongdae dared as he reclined into the couch with a lilting smirk of his own.

“Bet.”

To Jongdae’s surprise, instead of going for the obvious answer—and the answer he was shamelessly fishing for—Yixing stood up and left the living room. The sound of cabinets opening and lots of riffling filled the air while Jongdae absentmindedly reached up and let his pointer finger lightly trace his bottom lip, which was still damp from the earlier kiss.

That feeling… That was something he could most definitely get used to.

While his head was still lost in the clouds, he suddenly felt a heavy weight land on his shoulders and Jongdae looked up questioningly when he registered that Yixing had draped a blanket over him.

“We won’t be sleeping until later, but I figured you could use some warmth since it does get chilly at night,” Yixing explained as he plopped down next to Jongdae and snuggled up next to him underneath the blanket.

“So I’m guessing the couch is my bed tonight?” Jongdae asked, gesturing to both the blanket and one of the couch pillows resting next to the right arm of the couch.

“Of course not,” the older male immediately denied. “What kind of host would I be, letting my special guest sleep on this old thing?”

“Well, to be fair, most house guests are relegated to the couch, so I’m not terribly offended,” Jongdae said with a laugh.

“But those are regular guests. You’re a VIP tonight and as such, you get to choose tonight’s movie and snacks.” Yixing held up his phone and added, “I have delivery ready on speed dial, so say the word and you’ll get whatever you want.”

“Since when were you such a cheese ball?” Jongdae commented as he reached over and selected several orders of spicy rice cake and fish cake for them to enjoy later on.

“I’m a man of many dimensions. Anyway, did I pass the test?” Yixing coyly asked as he confirmed the order and locked his phone.

“One hundred and ten percent. Great job on getting an A+, Mr. Zhang. I know those are few and far between for you, so keep up the good work,” the younger male joked while Yixing gently flicked his forehead.

“Don’t make me regret pulling out all the stops for you.”

“Will this make up for it?” And this time, Jongdae was the one to initiate the kiss as he cupped Yixing’s cheeks and pressed their lips together, reveling in the sweetness of their embrace.

Once they finally parted, Yixing grinned widely and nodded. “Shall we go again?”

“Bet.”

♈♈♈