CHAPTER TWO→ a twelve hour bet

"Wow! I can't believe you actually managed to get something!" Lee Chaerin, the senior who had dared Jaemin to steal an object, expressed her shock at his return.

"Yeah, one of the students left their dorm room open so I slipped in and grabbed it," Jaemin blatantly lied. They didn't need to know where he'd actually gotten it.

A smattering of applause arose throughout the crowd of student's at Jaemin's apparent success. Meanwhile, his friends stared at him, suspicion evident in their gazes.

"Jaemin, honey. You don't expect us to believe you actually got away with stealing that thing, right?" a certain Nakamoto Yuta spoke once the general attention had turned from Jaemin back to the game of truth or dare.

"What are you saying? Of course I stole it. You underestimate my sneakiness, friend," Jaemin replied, hoping the unsure tone in his voice would give away much.

Yuta shrugged. He wasn't one to argue about it. Instead, he turned his thoughts elsewhere, and walked over to the snacks table for some chips.

"So Jaemin, do you know who your roommate is yet? We did just move in here today, after all," Renjun asked, glancing around at a few of the other students who were standing and talking.

"Yeah, I'm roommates with Chenle. You?" Jaemin answered.

"Lucky, you got Chenle. I'm roommates with that guy across the room, says his name is Kim Donghan," Renjun said, pointing off towards some other student at the party. Jaemin shrugged. At least the guy seemed nice.

Jaemin almost jumped as his phone suddenly went off, alerting him of a new message. 

—

New Message From: Lee Jeno♡ 

You ready to come back and give me my plant yet? It's been a whole ten minutes already...

—

Jaemin held back a smile as he typed a response.

—

New Message To: Lee Jeno♡

Already? Listen, people will have questions if I randomly leave. Tomorrow's a Sunday, I'll come over then.

— 

Jaemin shut off his phone, shoving it back in his pocket. 

"Hey Jaemin," Chenle came up to the boy, casually putting an arm around his friend's shoulder, "Should we go up to our room? The seniors are getting drunk and I don't want to deal with them," he proposed, offering a sensible reason.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Should we tell the others we're leaving first, or...?" Jaemin trailed off as Chenle shook his head.

"I already told them we were gonna leave. Let's go," he spoke, stepping away from Jaemin and motioning for him to follow him to the dorm's elevator.

Once they had arrived on the correct floor and walked to their room, Chenle got out the room key, fumbling with it for a bit before managing to unlock the door. 

"You know, we should invest in buying some houseplants for this place," Jaemin said, thinking back to Jeno's dorm room.

"Can't we just keep that one that you–" "No. I'm not gonna keep this one, I'm gonna... do things with it. Yeah, anyway, either that, or we buy some of those string lights," Jaemin continued, momentarily shutting out Chenle's ideas.

"Whatever you want, man. Just don't mess with my stuff," Chenle said, flopping down on his bed, smartphone in hand. Jaemin sat down on his bed as well, still looking at Chenle.

"I bet Renjun would really like it if we were to have some fairy lights in here," Jaemin said, watching as Chenle paused and looked up at him from his phone.

"Why do you always use Renjun to try to get me to do things?" Chenle questioned, setting his phone next to him on the bed.

"Because you like him and it works," Jaemin replied, a mischievous look on his face. Chenle glared at him.

"Do not. That'd be gay," Chenle stated, ignoring how Jaemin rolled his eyes at him.

"Of course it would be gay, you yourself are gay," Jaemin said as Chenle picked up his phone once more and proceeded to ignore him.

Knowing he couldn't get Chenle to talk at this point, Jaemin stood up and wandered over to the light switch, flicking it off. The room went dark, besides the faint light emitted from Chenle's phone.

"Well, goodnight. Don't wake me up, or you're a dead man," Jaemin warned, hopping onto his bed and snuggling into the massive pile of blankets.

"Night weirdo, I won't wake you up even if there's a fire," Chenle replied, turning down the brightness of his phone screen as to not bother Jaemin.

Thus the first night in the dorm passed, and it soon became a Sunday.

The alarm went off at 7:30, Jaemin promptly waking up to shut it off. Chenle, knowing that it was Sunday, begrudgingly woke up, questioning why Jaemin would even set the alarm to such an ungodly hour.

"Why? 7:30 on Sunday? Just why?" Chenle questioned, covering his face with a pillow.

"No reason. I'm going to go out and... exercise. Go for a morning jog, you know," Jaemin said, ignoring Chenle's annoyed groaning.

"As if you'd actually do that? What's wrong with you?" Chenle replied, slowly sitting up and watching Jaemin hop out of bed and run over to grab some of his clothes.

After putting on a random pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, Jaemin grabbed his phone and dashed over to the door, picking up his room keys and Jeno's houseplant on the way over.

"Woah woah, where are you going?" Chenle said, now standing up. Sure, he'd rather be sleeping, but Jaemin was acting so strange that he just had to know what was happening.

"Didn't I tell you already? I'm being healthy, I'm going out for a morning jog. Bye man," he said, smiling as he quickly slipped out the door.

Chenle stood for a moment, comprehending what had just occurred. He decided he could just ask questions later– for now, he would just get back in bed.

Jaemin, however, was surprisingly awake. He probably hadn't ever been more motivated to get up and do something so early; seeing Jeno had a weird kind of thrill that he couldn't explain. 

When he arrived at the West Dormitory, he was thankful that not many people were awake yet. In reality, even if there had been many, no one would have recognized him anyway, being a new student and all. Nonetheless he kept the positive thought on his mind.

He found himself on Jeno's floor soon enough, and by memory, walked over to the room he'd visited the previous night.

Eagerly, he knocked on the door. No reply came.

While Jaemin was debating whether or not to call him, the door swung open, revealing a disheveled Jeno, obviously having just woken up.

Jeno took a moment to process who exactly had arrived, before gaining a flustered expression.

"Ah, Jaemin! You're here so early, um, I just woke up..." Jeno said, trying to subtly adjust his clothes and stance as to look less messy.

Jaemin, however, was loving it. Jeno's slightly ruffled hair, along with his simple pajamas of a loose t-shirt and shorts were absolutely endearing. His poor gay heart could barely handle it.

"No no, that's fine! It's okay, you look great," Jaemin said, placing his hands on Jeno's shoulders supportingly.

"Ugh, you and all your compliments. Stop saying I'm handsome when the cute one is obviously you," Jeno replied, reaching over and squeezing Jaemin's cheek.

"Mm, so I brought your plant back," Jaemin brought up, gesturing to the potted flower he had set on the floor just a few minutes earlier.

"Oh, thanks. Now, uh, you don't have anything else to do today, right? I was wondering if maybe you wanted to..." Jeno went quiet as Jaemin held a finger up to his mouth, smiling.

"Whatever it is that you're asking, the answer is yes," Jaemin answered, taking his hand away from Jeno.

"What if I was going to ask you to spend the whole day with me, hm?" Jeno teased, playfully poking Jaemin in the chest. 

"That's an offer I'd take. I already told you, the answer is yes," Jaemin said, crossing his arms. Jeno smiled, taking a step back into his room.

"I have to get changed first, I'll only be a couple minutes," Jeno said, gesturing for Jaemin to come into his room and wait. After walking over to his closet and grabbing an outfit, he walked over to the bathroom to change.

"Why do you have to go into the bathroom to change when you live alone?" Jaemin questioned, having already noticed that Jeno didn't have a roommate.

"I don't usually," Jeno replied, glancing at Jaemin, "it's because you're here."

"Aw, why, am I scary?" Jaemin asked teasingly. Jeno paused, thinking of a response.

"No, it's just that I can't change around attractive guys," Jeno said, smiling sheepishly as he stepped into the bathroom and shut the door. Jaemin blinked, sitting quietly for a moment before springing up and dashing over to the bathroom.

"Ahh! Lee Jeno, you are such a tease!" he shouted, banging on the locked bathroom door. He heard Jeno laugh from inside, clearly not regretting any of his actions. 

After a few minutes, Jeno stepped out, no longer wearing the pajamas he'd opened the door wearing. Picking up whatever he needed for the day, he stood near the door, waiting for Jaemin to collect himself and follow him.

"You ready to leave?" he asked, watching as Jaemin slowly made his way over to him.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Jaemin replied, thinking. 

"What was the deal again? I have to spend all day with you?" Jaemin mused, eyeing Jeno, "That doesn't seem so hard."

"Hah, I bet you'll be tired of me before noon," Jeno spoke, facing Jaemin.

"You bet? This is a bet now? Okay mister, if I successfully do not get tired of you within twelve hours, you have to take me to dinner– and pay," Jaemin declared, Jeno staring at him with a mixture of amusement and disbelief.

"Alright. And if you do get tired of me before twelve hours, you have to buy me whatever I want for a week, regardless of cost," Jeno stated his terms. 

For negotiation purposes, Jeno and Jaemin shook hands, just to make the areement seem a little more official.

"I'm gonna win the bet, you know that," Jaemin stated calmly. "Yep, I hope you do," Jeno agreed, eye smile still prevalent on his expression.

"Let's get going then. We've got twelve whole hours to waste," Jaemin spoke abruptly, taking a hold of Jeno's arm and marching out the door.

Let's be honest here; both sides wanted Jaemin to win.

CHAPTER TWO→ end.