The flashing lights of the arcade blurred into a vibrant kaleidoscope as Jongseob and I navigated through the crowded space.
About fifteen minutes had already passed with no sight of Martin, so we decided to head inside.
And those fifteen minutes were obviously excruciatingly awkward. It consisted of silence and me constantly checking my phone for notifications from Martin.
God I wish Haerin was here
As soon as we walked in, the sound of screaming children could be heard along with the songs of the arcade games.
We find our way to coin exchange, I put in a twenty for now not wanting to use all my money-knowing I definitely will
The arcade is loud and distracting, perfect to subside the once silent awkward atmosphere
"So where do you wanna start?" Jongseob asks, his voice barely audible over the noise.
I scanned the room, my eyes landing on a dance machine pulsating with vibrant colors. "How about that?" I suggested, pointing towards it.
I start off a little awkward, overly aware of every movement I’m making but as the game begins to speed up I could feel myself getting more comfortable
“Cmon y/n I thought you were good at this”
I scoff, offended so I playfully try to push him to get him off track
Before I could successfully push him he grabs my hand to stop me, his hand engulfing my wrist keeping it in his hold so my movements are restricted
“Hey Jongseob, that's not fair!” I try to wiggle my hand out of his grip instead his hold tightens and he laughs at my frustration
The music goes off signaling the end of the round. My score was embarrassingly lower than jongseobs.
“Jongseob, that totally wasn’t fair, you cheated!” I begin arguing my frustration
“To be fair you tried to push me”
“Okay but I didn’t actually get to do it, you’re just mad because I would’ve won”
He scoffs at my claim, “let’s go another round then.”
Before he could put more coins in there’s a voice calling our name, “yo y/n and Jongseob I’m here!”
Martin walks up to us with a big smile on his face, his eyes quickly looking down at where jongseobs hand is still around mine
I didn't grab my hand away immediately, not wanting to draw attention to it
“Why did you guys start without me?” Martin puts on a fake pout
"You took forty minutes when you said you would take twenty." Before he could defend himself, we hear another voice.
I gasp at the surprise guest, not expecting him to be here. My eyes darted between Martin and Yechan, even Martin seems surprised he’s here
"Yechan? What are you doing here?" I asked, my voice laced with confusion.
Jongseob finally let go of my hand, and I subtly rubbed my wrist, trying to ignore the lingering warmth.
I move from my spot to let Yechan start the next round. Martin pushes Jongseob out of his spot to take it, causing him to stumble back a bit.
When Jongseob regains his footing he starts rapidly typing on his phone
“Wanna go get some ice cream?” The thought of the cold dessert did sound really good.
As we waited in line, one of the claw machines caught my eye. There was a black cat with a grumpy looking face sitting perfectly on top of the other squished stuffed animals.
I leave my spot in line, immediately heading towards it. I suck at claw machines but I have to at least try
My first attempt, failed, second, failed, third, failed
Jongseob walks up behind me holding an ice cream cone in each hand. I stand up, my knees sore from the crouching in front of the machine.
I take the ice cream from his hand, “how did you know my favorite ice cream?”
He shrugs and disregards my question, “which one are you trying to get?”
I look back and the machine pointing to the black cat, he hands me his ice cream “let me try.”
His first attempt was failed but on his second one the claw finally captures the fuzzy cat fully before moving towards the chute
As it successfully reaches it, I quickly hand Jongseob his ice cream back before swinging the little door open and grabbing it
“Thank you so much Jongseob, omg I would’ve never gotten it on my own!”
His smile reaches his eyes as a blush paints the apples of his cheeks
“It even kind of looks like you, let me take a picture.”
Jongseob awkwardly poses with the cat in one and and his ice cream in the other
I look at the photos I took, Jongseob having the same expression as the stuffed cat
I realize what I said after the words leave my mouth and of course I have to make it worse
“like the fact that you guys look alike-not like I’m calling you cute-not saying that you're not cute- but you know”
I let out an awkward laugh at the end of my tangent, Jongseobs still clutching the cat in one hand as his face reveals his amusement
“So I’m cute but I’m also not? Haven’t gotten that one before”
"Okay, okay, let me rephrase," I said, trying to salvage the situation. "The cat is cute, and it also happens to resemble you, which, in turn, makes the picture cute. No implications beyond that."
I cringed internally. Why was I making this so complicated? It was just a simple compliment, or at least, it was supposed to be.
Now, I was just digging myself deeper into a hole of awkwardness.
Jongseob chuckled, finally taking a lick of his ice cream. "I get what you mean," he said, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "Thanks, I think?"
Of course the only way to get myself out of an awkward situation was to ignore so I suggested another game“You want to go play that zombie game over there?”
He started walking towards the game, and I followed, clutching the stuffed cat tightly in my arms.
As we walked, I couldn't help but steal glances at Jongseob. The way the arcade lights reflected in his eyes, the curve of his smile, the slight blush that still lingered on his cheeks.
He really was cute, I thought, but I quickly pushed the thought aside. We’re friends- well barely but still I can’t make it weird.
As the night went on the once awkward atmosphere seemed to disappear. We got along really well, we’re a lot more alike than I anticipated
The hours seem to pass, no sight of Martin or Yechan. Leaving it as just Jongseob and I to continue to play arcade games
Jongseob was sweet- and a lot funnier than I expected, he even won me a couple more stuffed animals
One being a shark and the other a cupcake, which I insisted he kept for himself since I have the cat that looks like him, he’ll have the cupcake that he claimed looked like me
I needed to win at something, with Jongseob winning at the dance game and being the only one to be able to get anything from the claw machines
An idea strikes me, something Jongseob definitely wouldn’t win at
Jongseob tried to back out, but I wouldn’t give in. I needed to win something and if there was anything I could beat Jongseob at it would be anything sport related
As the game begins, Jongseob is immediately off to a bad start. He hadn't made a single one in, claiming he was close to making it in multiple times.
This one particular bad shot he shoots and it hits the rim before coming back and hitting him right on his head.
He crouches over clutching his head as I topple over in laughter. As he recovers, his face is flushed out of embarrassment, his hair is slightly messy in the spot that he was hit.
Without think I reach out my hand to smooth out the one messy spot before retracting my hand backwards realizing what I did
A tiny, awkward silence hangs in the air, my heart does a weird little flip-flop in my chest. I can feel the heat rising on my own cheeks, mirroring his.
He nods, the flush on his cheeks deepens a little, but he manages a small, slightly lopsided smile. "Yeah," he says, his voice a little rough. "Just a minor setback. Clearly, the basketball gods are not on my side today."
He chuckles, a low sound that's more relieved than amused.
As we continue playing, the dynamic has subtly shifted. It's less about trying to beat each other and more about the playful jabs, and the occasional lingering glances.
He misses another shot, but this time it's a really bad air ball
I can't help but let out a small snort of amusement. He catches my eye and throws his hands up in mock surrender. "Alright, alright! I get it! I'm officially retired from shooting." He grins, and this time it reaches his eyes, crinkling the corners.
We decide to retire the basketball and play a couple more games before spotting a Photo Booth so of course I drag Jongseob with me
The booth is crammed, Jongseob and I trying to get into a comfortable position were we weren’t constantly bumping into each other
As we get situated I feel Jongseobs hand on my lower back to hold me in place
The time on the screen begins to countdown, urging us to find a pose
We settles for a simple peace sign for the first one
The second one we put our fingers in upside down triangles to resemble cat ears
Than the third one, unsuspecting I feel the weight of his chin begin to lay on my shoulder
I feel his breath tickle my neck as I try to recollect myself as I quickly rest my head slightly on his just in time as the flash goes off
The flash-his hand still on my lower back-the weight of his head on my shoulder- and the faint feeling of his breath ticking my neck has me a little overwhelmed
I let out an awkward laugh as I lift my head off of his, for some reason flustered
I quickly get up opening the curtain, his hand sliding off in the process
That was weird right? Or no?
Maybe it’s not, it was just a pose
A pose in a Photo Booth where his hand was on my waist
And his head on my shoulder
The photos seem to print excruciatingly slow as I feel Jongseob eyes burn into the back of my head
Why am I being weird about this
I’m acting like I’m in middle school again and the boy I liked looked at me as I passed in the hallway
Meaning Jongseob is that boy
But he’s not cause I don’t have a crush on him
I hand him one of the photo strips, I can see him in my peripheral vision staring down at the photo in his hand
As we catch up with Martin and Yechan again we play a couple more games all together
As Yechan and Jongseob play one of the racing games I continue to look at the photo strip
Specially the last photo on it
There’s a slight flush on both of our cheeks, evidence of our bantering through the day
My cheek is slightly squished from being pressed up against the top of Jongseobs head
His left cheek squished from his face laying on my shoulder causing his lips to slightly pucker and one of his eyes to slightly close
I feel martins nosy ass hover over my shoulder to look at the same picture I’m looking at
He grabs the photo strip from my hand closely inspecting it “you guys look cute” I was expecting him to tease me but it seemed genuine
He hands it back without saying anything else but I could still see a ghost of a smirk on his face
Weird, he’d usually take any chance to make fun of me especially with something like this
And I could’ve sworn I seen him run away from me earlier when I tried to wave at him but instead he grabbed Yechan and drug him into one of those shooting games, he’s kinda acting weird today but then again when is he not weird
Eventually we all agreed it was time to head out, the late hour catching up with us. As we walked towards the exit, Jongseob lingered beside me, the cupcake plushie still in his grasp
“I think I still owe you a rematch in the dance game,” he said, his voice soft.
As Jongseob's words hung in the air, a warmth spread through me, a feeling that had nothing to do with the flashing lights of the arcade or the sugary sweetness of the ice cream.
"You definitely do," I replied, my voice light. "I can't let you get away with that rigged win." A playful glint danced in my eyes as I bumped my shoulder against his, the plush cat clutched securely in my other arm.
He chuckled, his smile widening. "Rigged? I think you're just making excuses for your lack of dance skills." He paused for a moment, his gaze meeting mine, and the amusement in his eyes softened into something a little more tender.
“That’s totally not fair, you’re the professionally trained idol, so I’m sorry if my skills are not on your level” I replied in a playful tone
As we stepped outside, a cool breeze swept through the parking lot, carrying with it the scent of rain.
The sky was a canvas of deep blues and purples, dotted with twinkling stars. Martin and Yechan were already a few steps ahead, engrossed in their own conversation.
"Hey, uh," he began, shuffling his feet a bit, "if you're serious about that rematch, maybe we could, you know, exchange numbers?" He pulled out his phone, a nervous energy radiating from him. "Only if you want to, of course."
My heart skipped a beat. I hadn't expected him to suggest that. "Oh, uh, sure," I stammered, fumbling in my purse for my own phone.
The simple task of unlocking it suddenly felt more nerve racking than it definitely needed to be. I managed to open my contacts and handed him my phone.
He carefully typed in his number, his fingers lingering on the screen longer than necessary.
"Perfect. Well, goodnight, y/n.
"Goodnight, Jongseob," I replied, a smile tugging at my lips.
We finally reached Martin's car, and after a round of goodbyes, I slid into the passenger seat, the plush cat nestled beside me and the photo strip still in hand
As Martin pulled out of the parking lot, I glanced at my phone, Jongseob's contact now saved in it.
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an: wow finally some progress sorry my updating has been so inconsistent I’m so busy with school rn😤but anyway Martin lowkey being a good homeboy ayyyyy
taglist- @seonghwaswifeuuuu @httpstaeyaki @jongseoberry @mimisboard
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