Jeonghan knew he was being a jerk to Joshua. Choosing Seungcheol over him consistently was a douchey thing to do, but Joshua always waved it off like it was nothing, just comedic humor for the fans. And fan service. Dear lord, the fan service they delivered. Since Seungcheol and Jeonghan were the stereotypical “dad and mom” of their band, it was only natural to ship them, right?

Jeonghan shook his head. Fans and their delusions.

In truth, Jeonghan was confused about his own feelings. He didn’t really like Joshua that way, yet somehow he felt jealousy when he saw Joshua get really friendly with another member. He would tease and put down Joshua, then pull him back easily with a sweet word or two. He contradicted himself all the time, and it was driving him crazy.

Jeonghan lived in a world where the use of magic was common. Maybe magic could explain his feelings. He watched Joshua in a daze, silently yearning for something that could straighten this all out for him.

Suddenly he felt a rush and his vision darkened. He panicked, trying to find a way to see again. Then it was all gone and he was back where he was sitting, Joshua still in sight. 

“Shua,” he said, grasping at his head. “My head suddenly started spinning…”
Joshua turned to him, surprised. “Really? Was it a spell maybe?” Jeonghan shook his head. When you’re under a spell, you don’t remember it happening. 
Joshua turned back to Seungcheol, whom he was chatting animatedly with. Seungcheol seemed extremely interested in what Joshua had to say, leaning closer and grinning. Jeonghan’s breath hitched in his throat as he realized Seungcheol’s eyes were locked on Joshua’s lips hungrily. He definitely wasn’t seeing things. 

Jeonghan instinctively reached out and grabbed Joshua’s arm, startling the younger.
“Shua!” he said urgently. Joshua turned to him in surprise.
“Yeah?”
“Um-uh-”
Ok, how the hell was he going to explain this?
“Um-there was a bug on your shoulder…”
Joshua smiled. “Really? Is it gone now?”
Jeonghan nodded, reluctantly releasing Joshua who went back to talking to Seungcheol.

Then, to Jeonghan’s disbelief, the two stood up and Seungcheol picked up Joshua. Picked him up! Bridal style! Jeonghan’s mouth fell open as he and a few other members watched the older walk around with Joshua in his arms. Joshua was blushing. Blushing! Finally a haughty Seungcheol put Joshua down, grinning. 

“He lost a bet,” Seungcheol explained to the confused members. Joshua pouted and crossed his arms.
“I’m never agreeing to this again,” he declared. But his face was still beet red and it was annoying the hell out of Jeonghan for some reason.

“God, those two are so close I’m surprised they haven’t made out yet,” he heard Minghao mutter. Jeonghan’s head snapped towards Minghao, not believing what he’d just heard.
“What?” Jeonghan sputtered.
Minghao raised his eyebrows at Jeonghan’s sudden burst. 
“Coups-hyung and Joshua-hyung were always really close since predebut, so I’m surprised–never mind,” he cut off, seeing Jeonghan’s expression. Minghao quickly hurried away before he could get attacked.

Jeonghan stood there dumbfounded. Was Minghao blind or something? Jeonghan and Joshua were well known to be the two closest predebut. Maybe he was just pulling Jeonghan’s leg. 

He glanced up at the pair, where Seungcheol was trying to get Joshua to listen to what he was saying, Joshua trying to hold back a smile but failing. There was no way, right?

The vocal team stayed in a room together, which gave Jeonghan the opportunity to talk to Joshua.
“Hey, so what was that about?” he asked lightly. Joshua groaned.
“Cheollie bet me that this guy from an anime was actually evil and he was right. So that was the punishment.”
Cheollie? Anime? Does not compute. 

Jeonghan was bewildered beyond belief. 
“Since when did you start calling him Cheollie?”
Joshua looked at him in surprise.
“I’ve always called him that. You never noticed?”
Jeonghan shook his head. And Seungcheol watching anime? No way.

Still, either Joshua was an impressive liar (yeah right) or he was telling the truth and something was definitely missing from Jeonghan’s memory. 

He noticed Joshua staring at his phone, smirking slightly before putting it down to go use the restroom. Jeonghan took this as an opportunity to check to see what Joshua was looking at. He lifted up the phone and saw that Joshua had been texting Seungcheol. 

Cheollie😇: anime marathon tomorrow its our free day
You: no bets this time
Cheollie😇: ok no promises tho
You: cheollie…
Cheollie😇: what? i cant help myself besides u look really cute when u lose
You: ……
Cheollie😇: jk jk love u 💕
You: lol fine ttyl

Jeonghan nearly threw up from the cheesiness of the conversation. And what the hell? Wasn’t Jeonghan supposed to be saved next to the angel emoji? He quickly checked to see what Joshua saved him as.

Jeonghan: Where are you?
You: Sorry, took a quick detour to the restroom. I’ll be there in 5.

Jeonghan scrolled through the chats. There was very little and all of it was formal. Jeonghan had no recollection of any of these chats and vaguely wondered if this was all one elaborate prank. But the phone number was definitely his. So something else was going on here.

He decided to investigate.
Through YouTube, obviously.

He searched up their ship name, Jihan, because why not. They were one of the most popular ships, after all.

To his shock, there were barely any videos. He clicked on one and the clips were all vague, little to no interaction. So Jeonghan tentatively typed in Cheolsoo, Seungcheol and Joshua’s ship name.

Wow.

His mouth dropped open again at the sheer number of videos. They were all relatively intimate clips, and even one where they did the pepero game. Jeonghan couldn’t believe his eyes. What was going on exactly?

The reversal curse.

Jeonghan had heard of it but never expected to have to experience it. But now he was starting to realize that this was the reversal curse, a curse that flipped some things upside down, transporting your mind to an alternate dimension. Especially relationships. It must have been that weird feeling he’d received earlier.

Great. Now what was he supposed to do?

Joshua finally got out of the restroom. Jeonghan looked at him.
“Shua, um…you know the reversal curse, right?”
Joshua looked at him. “Yeah…?”
Jeonghan bit his lip. “Do you know how to undo it?”
Joshua raised his eyebrows. “Are you under the curse right now?”
Jeonghan nodded.
Joshua sighed. “That means I’m not real then, huh. Anyway, whatever, let me show you how to undo it so you can go back to your real life.”
Joshua explained to Jeonghan the words and timing necessary to escape. Jeonghan thanked him and got to it.

“Oh, and Jeonghan?”
“Yeah?”
“What’s the me like in your world?”
Jeonghan smiled. “Just like the you now, except…we’re the closest pair in Seventeen.”
Joshua raised his eyebrows again. “Really…”
Jeonghan smiled even brighter. “And…I love that Joshua. A lot.”

Yes, that was it. It all suddenly made sense. 

Joshua smiled. “You better tell him that then, because he’s really clueless when it comes to that sort of stuff.”
Jeonghan nodded, and they parted ways.

He repeated what Joshua had told him to do. He suddenly felt his world sway and looked around.
“Jeonghan?” Joshua asked, looking at Jeonghan who was now lying in a bed.
“Shua…”
“Are you alright? You suddenly said you were sick and-” 
He was cut off when Jeonghan threw his arms around Joshua.
“Wha-”
“I love you Shua,” Jeonghan murmured quietly. “I really really do.”

Joshua remained silent as Jeonghan finally pulled away.
“A-are you feeling okay?” Joshua finally asked weakly.
Jeonghan beamed. “More than okay. I’ve been in love with you so long and I didn’t realize. So now we both know.”
Joshua’s face turned red as he coughed. “I-I see-um-”
Jeonghan looked Joshua in the eyes. “What’re your feelings towards me?”
Joshua blushed even harder. “Th-that’s not important,” he stuttered.
“It is to me. I like you. So I want to know if you do too.”
Joshua ducked his head shyly. “I-you-I…you too-I mean, I like-you too.” 
Jeonghan chuckled. “Maybe try again?” he suggested.
Joshua cleared his throat. “I like you too,” he said softly, his lips trembling slightly. Jeonghan’s eyes were distracted by those damn lips.

He leaned closer.

“Perfect,” he said huskily as his lips traveled to meet Joshua’s. The latter’s eyes fluttered shut as they kissed, and Jeonghan couldn’t help but feel how perfect this really was. They were interrupted, however, when Minghao entered the room, and flew apart.

“Hey hyung-oh sorry, am I interrupting something?” he looked questioningly at the two flustered members, who quickly denied it.
“Okay, cool. Anyway, you two need to come down, the manager wants us all to get prepared for something.”

 They headed down, and on their way, Minghao pulled up next to Jeonghan. 
“Took you long enough. I was starting to wonder if the reversal curse was still not enough. Jeez.”
Jeonghan’s mouth dropped open for the nth time that day as he registered what Minghao was saying.
“You-!”
Minghao snickered and flounced away. 
“Just so you know, I preferred the other Minghao more!” he called out, leaving a confused Joshua to wonder what was going on.
Jeonghan turned to Joshua suddenly.
“I love you, you know.”
Joshua smiled. “Yeah, I know.”