truth and dare ; day6 jaepil

viii

setting his cup of coffee down on the small table, wonpil leaned back on the living room couch, eyes fixed on the bottle of sweetener. ever since his huge realization after his conversation with sungjin, his mind had been running to the point where the only thing that will stop it was looking at it further, even if it meant going on a whole night without sleep.

he looked at every detail of the bottle with one hand while fiddling with the small slip of paper that he hid under his keyboard with his other hand. even though he knew he was going nowhere with it, he still kept looking.

he knew it wasn't a coincidence—how jae suddenly turned all soft and sweet towards him the day after he added a single drop of that sweetener in his glass of cola. plus the suspicious words on the piece of paper—"use only on your crush". why didn't he mind it before?

as his hand became exhausted of holding the bottle, he laid it on his lap and leaned his head back on the couch. staring at the blank ceiling, he remembered all of the moments that happened between. from the hand holding to the hugging...

strangely, he bit his lip, trying his best not to let it curve into a shy smile. sure, sometimes, this version of his oldest hyung was irritating, but... it was also pretty cute.

even then, he knew he wanted the original one back. that's why he needed to know how to reverse the effect of the potion.

right when he was about to return to looking at the bottle, wonpil's ears perked up at the sound of a door opening. he immediately kept the bottle in his pocket as well as the piece of paper, then took his mug and pretended that he was watching something in the television, which, the author forgot to mention, was turned on for the whole time he was there.

"wonpil?"

speaking to the devil.

"oh, jaehyung hyung," wonpil said, looking up to see a sleepy jae with messy hair and rapidly blinking eyes hidden behind his pair of glasses that were balanced unevenly on his nose.

"why are you still awake? it's one in the morning," jae pointed out, walking towards wonpil and sitting down on the couch beside him. "is that coffee?"

"yeah," wonpil muttered, setting the mug down. "i couldn't sleep."

"and you thought coffee would help you sleep?"

"well, no."

jae uttered a sleepy chuckle, turning to the television. wonpil did the same, but after a few seconds of nothing but silence, he couldn't help but side-eye his hyung.

he thought about how he had no idea about what's really going on with him, that he most likely doesn't mean what he does... and that thought really brought his heart down lower than his feet. all this time, all jae was doing was only because of a potion.

"wonpil?" wonpil looked at jae, who was looking back at him with a worried expression etched on his unenergetic face. "you don't look happy. what's wrong?"

"oh, it's nothing, hyung," wonpil lied with a slight stutter. "just thinking."

jae simply hummed in response. they both turned to the television once again. wonpil heard the dialogue and sound effects but he wasn't listening as he had something occupying his mind. a single question.

do you really like me, hyung?

"huh?"

oh, no.

"wonpil—"

wonpil felt his cheeks turn into a high temperature. "oh, my god. hyung, hold on. don't mind what i said— oh, my god—"

wonpil was about to ramble on when he saw the smile on jae's lips. why was he smiling.

"ah, you're such an idiot, piri," jae said after a short laugh. he reached his hand out and ruffled wonpil's hair. "a cute one. of course, i like you. i thought that was already obvious."

"ah, well, it was," wonpil stuttered shyly. "but... i just needed to be sure. i mean, who knows? maybe my mind was playing tricks on me, or maybe you are playing tricks on me, or maybe something is playing tricks on you so you could play tricks on me—"

"wonpil," jae said, earning wonpil's attention. he stood up from the couch and walked over to him so that he was right in front of him, completely blocking the television. "i like you, you big baby. i always have. i know that sometimes i tend to be annoyed by you, but it's all a huge act. i just really wanted you to be with me."

wonpil looked up at his hyung, shocked. "seriously?"

"seriously. nothing or no one is playing any tricks." jae leaned down to wonpil and planted a soft kiss on his forehead. "it's the truth and nothing but the truth. understood, wonpil?"

"understood," wonpil responded, feeling like his chest is about to burst due to the action.

jae shone a sincere smile at him before stepping back. "go to sleep soon, okay? or else, sungjin will get mad at you again. good night, piri."

wonpil watched as jae walked out of the living room and back to his bedroom. once the latter was out of sight, the former stared at the television, still trying to sync in what just happened.

his lips broke into a really big grin. his stomach twisted and turned, feeling all fluttery and the like. he heaved a dreamy sigh.

what a strange set of days.

he shoved his hand in his pocket and took the first thing that it could take. he took it out and saw that he had picked out the piece of paper from the potion. as he fiddled more with it, he realized that he somehow unfolded it.

holding it carefully with his two hands, he pulled the paper closer to him and read out loud whatever was written on it.

"a truth potion. lasts for a day and a half."