They don’t really bring it up for the rest of the week, and Yunho’s getting antsy. The more time Changmin spends thinking, the worse it’ll get.

So Yunho’s kind of staring out of the corner of his eye a little suspiciously at Changmin while the five of them are watching some airing of a talk show they did and Yoochun’s ditching popcorn kernels at Junsu.

Changmin notices, and he gets that ing twinkle in his eyes that Yunho is so fond of, yet so afraid.

“What?”

“You’re staring,” Changmin points out.

Yunho feels himself heat a little. “I’m just thinking.”

Changmin wiggles his eyebrows and grins. “About me?”

Yunho shoots him a withering look and pokes him in the forehead. He sinks back into the couch. “Yes. Kind of. I mean our…” he looks around to see if anyone’s listening. They’re not. “Our plan.”

“Oh,” Changmin says. “What about it?”

“When are we going to, you know, kick it off?”

Changmin takes a glance around the room. “Now. Right now.”

“Wha—“

“Cuddle me.” Changmin noses Yunho’s shoulder, and Yunho automatically lifts his arm and tucks Changmin under it despite the rush of the situation.

Jaejoong gags dramatically at the show of affection. “I’m going to be sick. Get a ing room.”

Changmin sticks out his tongue in retaliation and snuggles closer.

Yunho leans down close to Changmin’s ear and whispers, “what happened to subtlety?”

Changmin grabs Yunho by the back of the neck and keeps him there while he whispers, “whatever, we cuddle all the time.”

Yunho guesses this is true, but this feels strangely intimate with the whole ear whispering and Changmin holding the back of his neck.

But, intimacy is what they’re going for.

So Yunho guides Changmin’s head down to his lap and forces him to lie there, his hands through the younger’s scalp.

Changmin moans in appreciation and arches his back.

Yunho feels kind of strange about it.

“I am literally—Yoochun fetch me a bucket I can’t look at this anymore.”

Yoochun looks over that Jaejoong, mid-way to punching Junsu, and quirks his eyebrow. “What?”

He points to the ‘happy couple’. “Look at them. Getting all cuddly and married just because they made up from their fight. Why is no one cuddling ME?”

“Probably because you’re a whiny ,” Yoochun muses, fist that was paused mid-air crashing down into Junsu’s stomach.

Junsu lets out a squeaky cry.

Jaejoong mumbles something that Yunho thinks sort of sounds like ‘pot calling the kettle black’ before sinking down in his chair, arms crossed.

The show drones on and soon enough, Changmin is asleep under Yunho’s ministrations. He smiles at the kid fondly and shuffles him into his lap further, hooking his arm under his legs and around his shoulders.

He cradles his to his chest and lifts, carrying Changmin to his and Junsu’s shared bedroom. Changmin grumbles and shuffles in Yunho’s arm, but starts snoring loudly as soon as Yunho pushes the blanket over his chest. Yunho gives him one last scratch behind the ear before retreating to his own room.

Yunho really should have known that playing monopoly with Changmin was never going to end well.

He also should’ve known that making another bet with Changmin was a terribly terrible idea.

Yunho’s on a learning curve.

Changmin had won the game (obviously) and had only deigned to tell Yunho what the bet he had just lost was. Yunho had wanted to cry when he heard what it was.

Yunho’s woken up to something hitting him in the face. Turns out it was a pillow flung by Changmin across the room—Yunho should have guessed, and Changmin’s standing there with his hands on his hips looking really put out.

Dread falls in Yunho’s stomach and he lets out a weak laugh.

“Why did you lock your door?” Changmin huffs.

“Um,” Yunho says, “how did you unlock it?”

Changmin shakes his hand and head and says, “that’s not of importance. What matters is, you lost the bet and now you’re chickening out.”

“Ha ha ha,” Yunho tries to laugh. “I didn’t forget Changminnie, I just… was tired is all.”

Changmin gives him an unimpressed look. “Well they’re gonne be up in about ten minutes, so we better get this show on the road. We’re already late, thanks to someone.”

“Accident,” Yunho mumbles, even though it really, really wasn’t one.

Changmin crawls into Yunho’s bed and Yunho gets a horrid flashback from the night before.

“Ha!” Changmin cheers, pointing his finger at Yunho and laughing diabolically. “I win so you lose the bet.”

“Right,” Yunho says, “and what exactly is this bet?”

Changmin smooths one eyebrow out with his finger and smirks. Yunho’s gut coils and he looks to the sky for deliverance, suddenly remembering why he never made bets with Changmin. Because no matter what, Yunho would end up with the short stick.

“Tomorrow morning, I’ll wake up early and sneak into your bed.”

“Okay,” Yunho replied. “Okay, um, why?”

Changmin looks like he’s about to roll his eyes, but he stops and sighs instead. It’s long suffering and Yunho feels kind of guilty all of a sudden.

“The plan,” he says, and when Yunho just looks at him blankly, he tacks on, “the plan to make them think we’re dating? You know?”

“Oh. Right.”

“So basically they come in to wake us up and see us sleeping together, then I pretend to be all upset about being caught, and obviously they’re going to be a bit suspicious that I’m getting emotional over it, right?”

“Right.”

“Then if they ask, we can just say I had a bad nightmare, but make it sound like you’re lying. Actually wait, you’re good at that, you don’t even have to try.”

Yunho sighs and curses his life. On one hand he was interested in this bet for his own reasons, but on the other, he knows it’s going to be a handful. He has to carry it out though, because he has his own mission to attend to.

Changmin perks up. “They’re coming, quick, shove over!” he whispers. Changmin dives into the bed and pulls the covers around him snugly, like a koala, and Yunho has to admit it’s a bit cute. Well. It is until Changmin starts getting all up and personal with him, slinging his leg around Yunho’s—then it just gets awkward.

Just as they settle, Yoochun opens the door and yells, “Yunho, have you seen—“

Changmin pops his head out of the bed and Yoochun cuts off his sentence, his brow furrowing like he’s sure there’s something untoward going on, but he can’t quite put the puzzle pieces together. Changmin puts on his best ‘oh ’ face and bolts up, mumbling ‘ums’ and ‘ers’ before he toes out of bed and makes a run for it. Yunho stares after Changmin and follows his, as planned, Yoochun starting the whole time with, Yunho imagines, a series of question marks surrounding his head.

Changmin collapses into his own bed and Yunho shuts the door behind them, and when he takes a look at the younger boy, he sees him giggling into his pillow, his whole body shaking. The sounds are a mix between laughter and crying, and Yunho can’t help but start laughing too, approaching Changmin and putting his hand on the younger’s back. Just as he’s patting Changmin’s back trying to calm him down from his hysterics, Yoochun opens the door and looks at the two of them suspiciously.

Changmin switches from giggling to sniffling sounds, and Yunho puts on his best concerned face. They both make an excellent picture and Yoochun freezes for five seconds before saying, “the cars coming soon so uh… yeah.”

Once he leaves, Changmin has tears in his eyes from the laughter and high fives Yunho, rubbing his hands together like a greedy mouse that got the cheese.