believe me, yet?

The younger looked up excitedly toward Hwitaek. He was really eager, wanting to attend this party Hongseok had told him about. Hwitaek barely knew Hongseok, but he knew Jinho, who was now Hongseok’s boyfriend. They’d been best friends in college, as had Hyojong and Hongseok. And although those two were dating, Hwitaek and Hyojong were… not. Hwitaek held so many unrequited feelings for the younger, but Hyojong was content being friends, so Hwitaek was as well. He was content as long as he could be around Hyojong. He was like a happy pill.

“Please, hyung? Come on, it’ll be fun, I promise!” Hyojong begged, and Hwitaek could barely handle it. He was so excited and happy about it, it would be impossible to say no. Hwitaek sighed.

“Fine, Hyojongie, we can go.”

Hyojong nearly fell over when he backed away from Hwitaek, still shining a bright smile toward the older.

Hwitaek tried to cover up the fact that butterflies were entirely consuming his stomach.

The party was wild.

There were people making out everywhere Hwitaek looked. Tens of solo cups cluttered the floor and tables, the chips and dip was spilled on the counter in the kitchen of the house they were in. Every door in the house was open, including the ones upstairs where people were...getting it on.

To say the least, this was the last place Hwitaek wanted to be, especially sober. Maybe he’d enjoy it a bit more if he was drunk, but it still wouldn’t be his favorite place to be.

Hyojong… Hyojong was drunk.

He was contributing to the chaos, yelling about over the pounding music asking if anyone wanted to play a game of truth or dare. How cliche of him, Hwitaek thought, as he made his way over to Hyojong and affirm that, sure, he wanted to play, if he could get Jinho and Hongseok to as well.

Hyojong had to interrupt the two’s messy makeout session to ask. Jinho was clearly annoyed that Hyojong would pause them in the middle of what they were doing, but as Hongseok heard his suggestion he jumped at the opportunity to play. He called throughout the house to see if anyone else wanted to join in, getting a trio who hadn’t bothered to introduce themselves and a fully sober man, like Hwitaek, named Shinwon.

They made their way to sit on the deck right outside of the house in a circle. Hyojong had an empty vodka bottle in his hand, waving it around by the base with his eyes closed and his mouth formed in a drunken smile.

“Truth or dare, spin the bottle style?” He asked, slurring his words.

No one objected.

He placed it in the center and immediately spinned the bottle, landing on one of the trio. His name was still unknown, but he was slender and tall, with dark hair and big eyes. He seemed to be slightly tipsy due to his overreaction of the bottle tip landing on him.

“Truth or dare,” Hyojong said, rather than asked.

“Dare,” the black haired kid said.

“I dare you to,” Hyojong started, looked around, and paused on the smallest of the original trio, pointing, “make out with Hyunggu-yah.”

The tall kid didn’t even hesitate, and neither did the smaller. It sort of made Hwitaek uncomfortable to watch, they were so touchy and comfortable with one another. His heart ached watching this, and he looked over to Hyojong, who was still grinning as bright as ever. He seemed pleased with such a basic dare.

The tall kid spun the bottle soon after he wrapped up the makeout session, and the tip landed on Jinho.

Being the not-daredevil Hwitaek knew Jinho was, he said truth. The question was is if he’d ever considered dating someone in the room that wasn’t Hongseok, and he did say yes. Hwitaek was surprised to find this out, considering they were best friends and would tell each other almost everything. Hongseok also looked a little uneasy, awkward, grabbing Jinho’s hand for reassurance.

So Jinho spun the bottle, and it landed on Hyojong. He was clearly excited, same drunken smile still gleaming bright. He answered Jinho’s question asking for a dare, which made Jinho glance at Hwitaek for a second, making direct eye contact. He looked back at Hyojong with his head tilted slightly to the side.

“I dare you to make out with Hwitaek,” Jinho said.

Hwitaek felt his breath catch in his throat.

“Awh, hyung, that’s so unoriginal! Make it different, please, I already did that one to Wooseokie,” Hyojong complained, each word slurring into one another, but still clear enough to be understood.

“Fine, fine, I dare you to go have seven minutes in Heaven with Hwitaek.”

Hwitaek’s heartbeat sped up.

“That’s better!” Hyojong said energetically, grabbing Hwitaek’s wrist and pulling him back into the cluttered house without a second thought. He dragged him up the staircase into a bathroom and shut the door quickly behind them. Hyojong paused for a moment to rest his head against the door before turning around to look at Hwitaek, who could barely keep his heart from jumping out of his chest.

“So, hyung…” Hyojong started, staring at the older. Hwitaek could barely take it, this bold kid suddenly became extremely shy, and his heart wouldn’t stop pounding, “we don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to. It was just a dare, it’s not like Jinho-hyung will know if we did anything or not-”

Hwitaek’s intense stare cut Hyojong off, his face expressionless. Hwitaek took a deep breath.

“Hyojongie, do you want to kiss me?”

Hyojong looked at Hwitaek innocently and slightly nodded, and Hwitaek immediately moved forward to bring their lips together. They both didn’t move for a moment, Hyojong so in shock that he had his eyes wide open, not attempting to kiss back. It discouraged Hwitaek for a moment, but just as he tried to step away, Hyojong grabbed onto Hwitaek’s neck and pulled him back for a more chaste, passionate kiss, one he couldn’t have ever imagined he’d have with Hyojong. This time, Hwitaek was in shock, but it only lasted for a moment as he quickly gave in and started kissing back with just as much chaste and passion.

Hyojong was the first to pull away, mumbling that his feelings were dumb and he was drunk, that nothing mattered because Hwitaek didn’t like him like that.

But Hwitaek objected, and Hyojong looked up at him again, confused.

“Jongie, drunk or not, I have liked you like that for such a long time, but I’ve never been able to tell you because you were so okay with being friends. I was just happy I could even be around you. I do like you, a lot, Kim Hyojong, so please don’t tell yourself that I don’t.”

Hyojong only nodded, and sighed. He pulled his hand to his head and complained that it was pounding.

Hwitaek laughed at him, leaving a kiss on his forehead.

The next morning, Hyojong was absolutely hung over.

“I can’t believe I got so drunk, I don’t even remember what happened last night.” Hyojong said, one arm over his stomach, other hand on his forehead.

Hwitaek chuckled. “Yeah, well, you got a bunch of us to play truth or dare, and Jinho made us go up to the bathroom for seven minutes in heaven.”

Hyojong eyed Hwitaek closely. “Yeah, right.”

“I’m not lying, we kissed and all that. You passed out right after, and I drove us home.”

“I don’t believe you, hyung,” Hyojong said.

“Would you believe me if I kissed you right now?” Hwitaek asked, feeling bold.

“Maybe…?” Hyojong replied, and Hwitaek quickly made his way over to reach Hyojong’s, pulling their lips together.