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After double-checking the meetup spot, Y/N rounds the corner and looks up from his phone. Below the arcade sign, Jisung stands against a wall, trying to look cool, but he looks like just as much of a shy nerd as always. Not that Y/N would tell him that. He’d rather not have his friend write a disstrack about him, like he tends to do with all the people who bother him. For Jisung, writing lyrics is like journaling, but far more aggressive than Y/N thinks journaling is supposed to be.
Y/N pockets his phone and waves at Jisung as he approaches the younger boy. Jisung pushes himself off the wall and smiles at Y/N before looking around.
“I hope you don’t mind,” Jisung starts once Y/N is close enough. “I invited one of my hyungs to hang out today since he’s always so stressed with training.” Jisung explains, and Y/N nods along.
“That’s totally fine, Ji.” Y/N smiles and tilts his head a bit. “Is he here yet?”
Jisung shakes his head, “No, but he said he’s on his way.”
Just then, a boy in casual clothes and a baseball cap that barely hides his messy curls walks up and smiles at Jisung.
“Hey,” he says with a small, tired smile. “Did you have to wait long?” The boy asks as his gaze flits to Y/N. “Oh, hello. I’m Bang Chan. Just call me Chan, though.” He smiles politely at Y/N.
Y/N smiles back and introduces himself in return. Chan and Jisung talk for a moment, and Y/N takes that time to observe Chan’s features. He’s very handsome, Y/N notes, but he can tell Chan works a lot because of the dark circles under his eyes. Internally, Y/N vows to make today fun and stress-free for Chan.
As they head into the arcade, Jisung declares war on the two older boys. “I’m gonna beat both of you at every game.”
Y/N and Chan both scoff and laugh before looking at each other and laughing again. Clearly, this is neither of their first time at an arcade with Jisung. They know he won’t win a single game.
After they all pay for their cards, Jisung drags them to the Tekken machine. He brags about how good he is, causing Chan to scoff and step up next to him.
The two play multiple rounds, all of which end with Jisung losing. Chan and Y/N laugh as Jisung pouts and complains.
“Chan-hyung cheated!” Jisung accuses as he crosses his arms over his chest. “Y/N, play against him.” He huffs and steps away from the machine.
Y/N happily takes Jisung’s spot and he smirks at Chan. “I won’t go easy on you. I’m pretty good at this.”
“Oh, you’re on,” Chan challenges back with a confident smile. The competition is clearly helping keep Chan’s thoughts away from training and work, but Y/N can still see the tiredness in his eyes. Y/N makes sure to fuel Chan’s obvious competitive nature through bragging and teasing.
Each round is pretty even, and determining a winner only gets harder the more they play. Eventually, they decide to let Jisung pick their characters, and whoever wins that round wins their whole battle.
After a long 3 minutes, Chan ends up winning. Y/N whines and laughs lightly as Chan brags.
“See!” Jisung exclaims. “He’s definitely cheating!” He points at Chan as he stares wide-eyed at Y/N.
Y/N shakes his head and pats Jisung’s shoulder. “Maybe you just suck, Ji.”
Jisung gasps and steps away from Y/N. “You’re on his side now?” He proclaims with a hand on his chest and mouth agape.
Y/N shrugs playfully, “I’m on the side of whoever’s winning.”
They all laugh and playfully fight for a bit longer before Jisung drags them off to another game. This time, he picks the dancing machine, and he’s just as confident as last time.
“I’m an idol trainee, y’know.” Jisung steps up onto the platform and searches for a song.
“We all are, Ji.” Y/N laughs and leans over to Chan. “How good is his dancing?” He asks lowly, not wanting to doubt his friend’s talents, but knowing better than to trust Jisung’s ego.
“Well…” Chan starts and they both laugh. Chan’s laughter seems lighter now and not burdened by stress. Y/N, though, won’t deem his job done until Chan looks completely stress-free today.
Chan thinks for a moment before he shrugs. “He’s not bad, but definitely still learning.”
Y/N hums and nods as he turns his attention to Jisung, who is now trying to keep up with the high-paced song he chose.
Jisung doesn’t do too badly, but he still laughs and hides his face in embarrassment once the song ends.
“That was a lot harder than I thought.” He laughs and steps down from the platform.
Chan playfully makes fun of Jisung and they laugh together as Y/N takes it upon himself to choose a harder song than Jisung chose.
As the music starts, Jisung whips around and immediately complains. “Hey! Picking this song isn’t fair! You’re a dancer!” He whines, causing Y/N to laugh and Chan comments on how cute Jisung is acting
“You’re the one who was bragging, Jisung.” Y/N jabs back while trying to focus on hitting all the beats.
In the end, Y/N gets over double Jisung’s score even though he’s now panting slightly.
“I win.” Y/N declares as he leans on the railing with a smirk.
Jisung grumbles and rolls his eyes, but they know he’s not actually upset. He’s more just slightly embarrassed.
“I’ll go grab you water.” Chan offers as Y/N steps down from the platform.
Jisung grabs Chan’s shoulder and shakes his head. “No, you go have fun. I wanna get a snack anyway.” He insists sweetly. The other two are shocked at Jisung’s sudden switch to kindness before they see Jisung reaching for Chan’s wallet.
Chan clicks his tongue and shakes his head, but hands over his wallet anyway with a soft laugh. Jisung practically skips away as he goes to buy himself snacks. Y/N knows he won’t be getting that water any time soon, or maybe at all.
It’s awkward between Chan and Y/N for a moment, but Chan breaks the silence quickly. “Let’s go find some other games, yeah?”
Y/N nods and follows Chan as they look around the arcade. They have a hard time deciding what to do next, but eventually they settle on playing claw games until Jisung gets back.
Y/N excitedly starts walking toward a claw machine with cute plushies, but he stops when he sees Chan isn’t following him. He turns around to see Chan staring at the Pokémon plushies in one of the machines.
Y/N smiles and strides over confidently. “Don’t worry, I got this.” Y/N gently moves Chan out of the way as he taps his game card to the reader and starts up the machine.
He fails his first attempt, and Chan laughs hard. Y/N presses his lips together as he tries to hide his smile. “Alright now listen,” he laughs, “I just didn’t know which one you wanted.”
Chan makes fun of him for a few more moments before he points to a Lucario plushie that's in an unfortunately precarious position. Y/N sighs, but he’s determined not to embarrass himself more.
After only a few more failed attempts, he gets the plushie. He and Chan gasp in sync, and they jump in excitement. Y/N pulls the plushie out and hands it to Chan, who cheers happily.
“Aw, thank you!” Chan giggles happily with a bright smile.
All the embarrassment Y/N felt from the failed attempts fades away as he looks at Chan. He feels so accomplished just from seeing Chan smile. A smile of his own pulls on Y/N’s lips as he looks at Chan fondly as if they aren’t practically strangers.
Y/N wins a few more plushies and toys for Chan before Chan finally insists on returning the favor. At first, Y/N resists, but his gaze is drawn back to the claw machine he first headed to. Chan follows his gaze and instantly drags Y/N over to it with a big smile on his face.
The two have almost forgotten that Jisung has Chan’s wallet as they focus solely on each other and winning things for each other. Chan wins plushies for Y/N with far fewer fails than Y/N, which he brags about, of course, but eventually they both have armfuls of plushies.
“So, are you at JYPE?” Chan asks as they sit on a bench and talk while still waiting for Jisung.
Y/N nods and smiles. “Yeah, I’m still new, though. They have me doing a lot of vocal training right now.”
Chan nods and explains what his training schedule is like. At some point in their conversation, it dawns on Y/N that Chan is part of the 3RACHA group that Jisung has been bragging about.
“You’re such an amazing producer!” Y/N’s face lights up with excitement as he talks about the songs Jisung has been showing him. “You’re gonna be so famous.”
The two giggle together as Chan shyly tries to deflect the compliments. Without realizing it, the two scooted closer together to the point where their thighs are now touching. Neither says anything as they happily distract each other with pleasant conversation.
Eventually, Jisung walks up to them. He plops down on the bench next to Chan and hands his wallet back.
Chan looks at Jisung with a raised brow. “Did you have a good snack, Jisung?” He questions with an almost accusatory expression.
“Why, yes, I did.” Jisung smiles innocently and leans back against the wall. “I’m tired now.”
Y/N laughs lightly and stands. He stretches a bit and smiles down at the other two. “I guess it’s Jisungie’s bedtime now, so let’s get going.”
Jisung nods without complaint and starts heading towards the door. Y/N goes to follow him, but Chan stops him by gently grabbing his arm.
“Hey, uh…” Chan looks away nervously as he hesitates. He clears his throat and starts again. “Can I, like, get your number?” The tips of his ears burn red as he looks into Y/N’s eyes. “I wanna see you again.” He whispers softly with an almost desperate look in his eyes.
Y/N’s mouth falls agape and he feels his cheeks heat up and a shy smile pull at his lips. “Yeah. Me too.” He laughs softly as he pulls out his phone.
They exchange numbers right as Jisung calls out to them from the door and complains. Y/N and Chan laugh and exchange a soft, shy look before they follow Jisung out the door of the arcade.
Y/N would consider this mission a success.