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surgicalfocusTitle: Tilt!!
Length: Oneshot
Genre Romance, fluff, humour, arcade gaming AU
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Baekhyun/Chanyeol
Disclaimer: Any song lyrics used belong to their respective owners. Characters don't belong to me, just the story.
Warnings: Language, sexual references
Summary: Chanyeol has only three words for the mystery person who keeps beating his pinball high scores – game on, bitch.
Word Count: 9500
A/N: I think most people will be familiar with the games and machines mentioned in this story, but just in case you don’t know what a Stacker machine is (otherwise known as ‘the bane of my existence’, ‘that piece of shit’, etc.), it is sort of like the equivalent of a poker machine for kids, in the sense that it is addictive, and your chance of winning one of the big prizes is probably one in a bajillion.
Also, the ‘Hadouken’ is a special attack from the Street Fighter games.
Enjoy xx
________________________________________
Chanyeol closes his eyes and inhales deeply. Then he exhales. Then he does it again. Inhale, exhale.
He stretches his arms high above his head, then out in front of him, clasping his hands together.
He cracks his knuckles, his wrists, his neck, his shoulders, and finally, the joints in each thumb.
“Alright,” he whispers, to no one in particular since he’s on his own. “Let’s play ball.”
He walks down the aisle lined with pinball machines, affectionately trailing his fingers over each one as he passes – over Indiana Jones, Spiderman, Pirates of the Caribbean, Shrek, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and a host of others, each of them flashing their lights at him invitingly and calling out to him with a silent song that’s impossible to resist.
Which will he start with first?
With a quick game of eenie-meenie-miney-mo as the decider, Chanyeol is left pointing at Star Wars.
Star Wars it is. A very good choice, Chanyeol thinks to himself as he inserts a coin into the slot. Star Wars is his favourite.
Now that that’s sorted, it’s time for his pre-game ritual.
Chanyeol’s pre-game ritual is a meticulously carried out process that always begins and ends the same way. The only variable is the theme music running through his head during the procedure, which largely depends on which machine he’s standing in front of at the time.
With Darth Vader’s theme as his imagined soundtrack – he’s in a bit of a badass mood today - Chanyeol lifts the index and middle fingers on his right hand to his lips. He kisses them - once, twice, three times. Then he does the same to his left hand. Then he repeats the process once more on his right hand, just for good measure. It’s his dominant hand, so he likes to show it a bit of extra love.
Eventually Chanyeol’s fingers come to rest on two white plastic buttons on either side of the machine. Each one has a concave surface, and he traces around the indentations in a circular motion - once clockwise, twice counter-clockwise, and clockwise once more.
Then he pulls the plunger, and all hell breaks loose in a blitzkrieg of buzzers and bells.
Chanyeol is in his ‘zone’ and firing on all cylinders the very second that tiny silver ball goes zinging into the field. He doesn’t see all the flashing lights right before his eyes. The cacophony of sound from the machine goes in one ear and shoots right out the other. It’s like he’s in some kind of vegetative state where the only parts of his body that continue to function are the ones necessary for the game. When he’s like this, you could pull his pants down or throw a chair at him, and he probably wouldn’t react. His friends can vouch for this, because they’ve experimented with both of these methods before.
There’s only one person who can bust him out of his ‘zone’, and that’s Joonmyun, who seems to have worked out a way of tuning his voice at a special frequency that can pierce right through the impenetrable walls of Chanyeol’s skull.
“Park Chanyeol, what are you doing playing pinball when you’re supposed to be working..?”
Joonmyun, the owner and manager of Neverland Amusements, is something of a father figure to Chanyeol. He’s generally easy-going and insists on being called hyung, even though he’s probably more of an ahjussi to Chanyeol and his friends.
Joonmyun likes to think that being the owner of a games arcade keeps him young. It does keep him young to a degree, but it doesn’t keep the odd grey hair from sprouting, as Chanyeol often likes to remind him.
Joonmyun’s response to this is usually to point out that Chanyeol’s probably the reason he’s going grey in the first place.
“Relax, I’m just having a quick game..” Chanyeol replies casually. He’s lucky that Joonmyun thinks he’s generally a good employee, otherwise he’d have probably been fired for his impudence long ago.
“Not on my watch, you aren’t,” Joonmyun replies, waving a mop at him, “now, there’s Coke all over the floor near the air hockey table, and I don’t fancy a lawsuit if some kid slips on it and breaks his leg..”
“Alright gramps, don’t get your tits in a tangle..” Chanyeol replies as he steps away from the machine. He’s not all that bothered about having to walk away mid-game – he holds the highest all-time score on every single pinball machine anyway, and has done so for quite some time.
“That’s it, Chanyeol – new rule. Henceforth, for every time you address me as ‘gramps’, I’ll be docking 1000 Won from your next paycheck and putting it directly into my monthly Botox fund..”
“You wouldn’t do that, gramps,” Chanyeol grins, “you love me too much..”
Joonmyun tries his absolute hardest to maintain a stern expression but he can’t help smiling a little at Chanyeol’s antics. He’s got a big soft spot for the kid; after all, Chanyeol’s been a Neverland regular for the past ten years. Now he’s seventeen, as tall as a house, and unfortunately clever enough to enjoy taking advantage of Joonmyun’s fondness for him from time to time.
“Cheeky bastard. Now go on - get back to work.”
“Okay gramps, I’ll get right on it.”
“You’d better. Pretty sure I can feel another grey hair growing..” Joonmyun sighs as he hands Chanyeol the mop.
“That’s ‘cause you’re old,” Chanyeol replies cheekily, and he grabs the mop and darts away before Joonmyun has a chance to whack him on the rear end with it.
* * *
When he’s not working the odd shift at Neverland on weekends, Chanyeol often spends his time there after school, with or without his three best friends in tow. None of them seem to share his passion for pinball, but it’s never really bothered him. Each to their own and all that.
“What's the point of playing to beat your own high score?” Kris asks as Chanyeol inserts a coin into the Spiderman machine. “Isn't it just a waste of money..?”
“Well no one else is beating them, are they?” Chanyeol replies, “besides, I don’t usually have to use many coins. That’s what free replays are for..”
Kris watches him play for a while before leaving to join their other friends Jongin and Jongdae elsewhere, and as usual Chanyeol is so wrapped up in the game that he barely notices.
Eventually he runs out of games and his brow furrows when he’s prompted to enter his initials.
He’s in second place. Not first.
‘PCY’ is no longer the top scorer on this machine. Someone with the initials ‘BBH’ is. He hadn’t even thought to check who the top scorer was when he’d first got there, because he’d just taken it for granted that his initials would be at the top, just like they always are.
Or always were, anyway.
BBH? Who the fuck is BBH?
Chanyeol’s heart suddenly sinks into his stomach as he moves to the next pinball machine to check the current highest score.
BBH.
And the next machine. BBH.
Then he comes to the Star Wars machine and is so relieved to find he’s still the top scorer that he almost pees all over the floor, but this provides little in the way of consolation when almost all of the other machines have BBH listed in first place.
Chanyeol suddenly finds it hard to breathe. It feels just like the time he woke up from that terrifying nightmare where Jabba the Hutt was sitting on him.
But that was just a dream, and this is very real.
* * *
The discovery, however unsettling, doesn’t really faze Chanyeol for very long; he’s a little too cocky for that. Being on top for an extended period of time will do that to you.
After a while, he comes to the conclusion that it doesn’t really matter who BBH is. The only thing that matters is that Chanyeol has three words for him or her, and three words only.
Game on, bitch.
It’s with this renewed sense of determination that Chanyeol makes his way through the arcade in long, overconfident strides, and he can feel the wind blowing through his hair. It's probably just Joonmyun blasting the air-conditioning again, but that's hardly important, because Chanyeol’s in a good mood today, and he's going to kick some BBH arse – whoever the hell BBH is.
His heart nearly leaps out of his chest when he arrives at the pinball section, however, because there’s someone else standing at the Star Wars machine at the other end of the aisle – someone Chanyeol’s never laid eyes on before – and something deep down tells him pretty much instantly that it’s him. Call it a gut feeling or whatever, but it’s got to be him, because apart from Chanyeol and a few others, not many people play the pinball machines when there are so many fighting, driving and shooting games they could be playing instead.
It’s BBH in the flesh. It has to be. And he’s in front of Chanyeol’s favourite machine, much to the latter’s indignation.
There’s only one thing that’s not consistent with the image Chanyeol created of the guy inside his head. Far from being the imposing figure he was imagining, BBH is shorter, delicate-looking, and has a head of shiny dark-purple hair. Although Chanyeol can only see the boy’s profile, he also looks to be rather cute, and he’s wearing a uniform that belongs to one of the other high schools nearby.
Chanyeol watches the boy silently from a safe vantage point, sneakily edging his way in a little closer from time to time. BBH doesn’t appear to have a pre-game ritual as elaborate as Chanyeol’s; instead, he merely stands there staring at the machine in front of him for what feels like ages, apparently oblivious to the fact that he’s being watched.
Perhaps he’s meditating, Chanyeol thinks. What a freak.
Then long, slender fingers slide sensually over the plunger before the boy gives it an abrupt tug, and all of a sudden Chanyeol is thinking of things he probably shouldn’t be thinking about while watching someone else play pinball.
Especially when that someone else is clearly male.
Chanyeol finds himself wondering what else those incredible hands can do, but he quickly shakes the thought away before it gets any weirder.
He’s enthralled by the way the guy handles the machine. Like any seasoned player, BBH only flips when necessary, but when he does, his fingers are so lightning-quick that they almost disappear in a blur of movement. After a while, it becomes almost impossible to tell if he’s playing pinball or if pinball’s playing him. He’s lost in the game, the look in his eyes so intense that Chanyeol almost expects the 300-pound machine to buckle and collapse beneath the weight of that stare.
And then without fair warning, BBH turns and directs that penetrating gaze in Chanyeol’s direction, and the latter’s knees almost give out right where he’s standing.
The other boy’s eyes widen a little in surprise and he turns back to the machine, only to realise he’s lost the ball.
“Ah, shit…”
“I’m sorry…” Chanyeol pipes up sheepishly as he cautiously approaches the boy, “did I distract you from your game..?”
BBH gives him a small but nonetheless friendly smile. His eyes are subtly lined in black and his lips curl up a little at the corners when he smiles - or perhaps it's more of a smirk, Chanyeol can't really tell. Whatever it is, it makes him look strangely feline.
“No, it’s alright,” he replies airily, “I didn’t realise I had a one-man fan club over on the sidelines..”
Chanyeol can feel his face burning a little when he realises the guy is referring to him.
“Sorry… it’s just, I’m a huge pinball nut myself, and I’ve never seen anyone play with such skill and intensity before. Do you mind if I watch...?”
BBH shrugs and smiles again. “Not at all. Go for it.”
“Ah. Right. Cool. I’ll, uh… I’ll just stand over here so I don’t throw you off.”
“Don’t worry, it’ll take a little more than that to throw me off..” the boy replies, and he pulls the plunger a second time, launching his next ball into the field.
They carry on that way for some time, with Chanyeol standing mesmerised on the spot by the magical pinball boy’s unmatchable skills. He scores so many replays that it feels like an age has passed and yet he’s still on the very same coin he inserted initially. Eventually BBH runs out of balls, but he takes out the former highest score – Chanyeol’s former highest score – and enters his name in the number one spot.
Chanyeol cranes his neck in an attempt to read what’s on the screen, and his heart drops into his guts when he sees the very same initials he’d been expecting all along, glaring back at him in bright orange dot-matrix characters.
BBH.
“Wow. You’re really good..” Chanyeol breathes, trying his hardest to sound more awestruck than depressed. “What did you say your name was..?”
“I didn’t,” the boy replies, “but I’m Baekhyun. Byun Baekhyun. And you are..?”
Right. So that’s what ‘BBH’ stands for.
“Uh… Chanyeol. Yeah, Park Chanyeol. That’s my name.”
“Had to think about that for a moment, did you..?” Baekhyun replies with a mischievous smile.
“Sorry.. I’m still trying to recover mentally after watching you play..” Chanyeol laughs nervously.
“That good, huh? Well, I’ve loved pinball ever since I was a kid, so I guess I can chalk it up to years of practice, patience and persistence. And a shitload of spare change, of course.”
“But you must play all the time to be so good. How come I’ve never seen you around here before..?”
“I only started playing at this arcade recently. The one I used to frequent closed down a couple of months ago.”
“Oh…” Chanyeol replies, and his face softens a little. “That’s pretty sad..”
“I know, right? I always loved that place,” Baekhyun sighs wistfully. “I loved everything about it; the shitty old carpet that stuck to your shoes, the noises and flashing lights, the soggy fries and dodgy-looking hotdogs they sold at the snack bar… hell, even the body odour that permeated the entire complex – I loved it all. It always felt like a second home to me. I was absolutely gutted, seeing such a longstanding symbol of my childhood just… shut down like that. And the worst part is, they replaced it with a fucking Dunkin’ Donuts, of all things..”
“I don’t know what I’d do with myself if this place closed down…” Chanyeol admits thoughtfully. “Probably sit at home, twiddling my thumbs… possibly crying…”
“Yeah, well, I sure as hell felt like crying, I’ll tell you that much..” Baekhyun replies somewhat bitterly, “but my old hangout was smaller than this, and had fewer games, so I guess they weren’t really rolling in the dough anymore… especially now that many people have all the latest consoles at home and can satisfy their gaming needs without leaving the house. But I dunno, I’ve always preferred arcade games, you know? It makes an essentially solitary activity feel just that little bit more social. You don’t get that kind of atmosphere when you’re playing all alone in your room..”
“I definitely know what you mean. I’ve spent many an hour with friends here after school. This place is the reason I’m such a mediocre student,” Chanyeol laughs nervously.
“Yeah, me too,” Baekhyun replies with a smile as he slings his schoolbag over his shoulder. “Anyway, it’s been nice meeting you and all, but I’d better head home. I’ll probably see you around, though. I’m here fairly often these days..”
“Okay. See you.”
As soon as he sees Baekhyun exit the arcade, Chanyeol quickly returns to the Star Wars machine, inserts a coin and tries to beat the other boy’s high score.
Needless to say, he fails miserably.
* * *
At school the next day, Chanyeol walks around looking like he’s going to a funeral.
In a way, he is going to a funeral – his talent for pinball being the newly deceased.
“Yeesh, what’s up with Chanyeol’s face?” Kris asks as he takes a seat next to Jongdae in homeroom. “Did someone die..?”
“In Yeol’s own words, some magical sparkly fairy guy suddenly appeared at Neverland and beat all of his pinball high scores..” Jongdae replies in a bored tone.
“Ah,” Kris nods sympathetically. “Tough break..”
“Yep. Try to avoid mentioning it, though. You’ll never hear the end of it, otherwise, and neither will I..”
“Thanks for the tip.”
Chanyeol’s long-suffering friends never end up hearing the end of it anyway, because he brings it up again in the cafeteria at lunch.
“It's just so infuriating, you know? This dude just suddenly waltzes in on my turf out of nowhere and takes out all of my high scores like it’s the easiest thing in the world. And the worst part is, he's a really nice guy and I can't even fucking hate him for it..”
“Chanyeol, can we please talk about something else now..?” Jongin whines, “this is getting really old..”
“You guys wouldn’t understand anyway,” Chanyeol mutters as he pokes disinterestedly at his food. “You’re not serious gamers like I am..”
“Oh, here we go with the ‘you’re not serious gamers’ bullshit again..” Kris replies with an exaggerated eye-roll.
“You know what? I’ve just come to a very important conclusion,” Jongdae suddenly pipes up, “and it is that Chanyeol will never, ever get a girlfriend. Ever.”
“Hey!”
“Pfft. Yeah,” Kris chuckles, “or a boyfriend, for that matter..”
“Anything with a heartbeat is pretty much out of the question,” Jongdae continues, “in fact, his first time will probably be with one of the machines at the arcade.”
“Haha, that’s brilliant,” Jongin replies, clapping his hands in appreciation. “Currently taking bets on which one it will be..”
“You’re all a bunch of dicks,” Chanyeol mumbles, and as he lets his head fall onto the table, he briefly wonders if Baekhyun’s friends are as shitty as his.
* * *
“Woohoo!”
“Oh yeah, that’s the good stuff..”
“Woohoo!”
“Just one more.. Go on.. That's good.. So close…”
Then Chanyeol hits the button and misses. The block drops, and the Stacker machine utters a comical "uh-oh!" sound.
Game over.
“No dice,” Jongdae says monotonously.
“Ahh, fuck..”
“I swear we were just coming around the corner and it sounded like you were doing something suss with that Stacker machine,” Jongin remarks as he and Kris make their way over to join the other two. “Even more worryingly, it sounded like the machine was enjoying it.”
“I thought I was actually going to win this time..” Chanyeol sighs. “I think this machine sends out subliminal messages that compel you to keep putting money into it. Or maybe I just like hearing the little ‘woohoo!’ noises it makes. I really don’t know anymore..”
“Why are you even playing Stacker, anyway?” Kris asks, looking at Chanyeol like he’s an imbecile. “Everyone and their mum’s dog knows that Stacker’s rigged.”
“I have no idea why I waste my time on this piece of shit, to be honest..” Chanyeol replies wearily as he leans his head against the machine in defeat. “Probably because I'm a masochist..”
“I wouldn’t let Joonmyun hyung see you leaning on that,” Jongdae warns him. “He hates it when people leave forehead prints on the glass. I once saw him chase this poor kid out of the building with a bottle of Windex.”
“You know what? Going back to our discussion on bets earlier, I’ve just decided I'm betting 5000 Won on Stacker being Chanyeol’s first lay,” Kris announces, “he clearly already talks to it, so they must be building some kind of rapport by now. It's also got a nice big prize collection area for him to stick his junk into.”
“Chanyeol doesn’t need a nice big prize collection area. All he needs is a coin slot and he'll be good to go..” Jongdae replies drily. “Now, knowing Yeol, he'll lose his V-card to one of the pinballs, because they were his first love and he's a sentimental arsehole.”
“I see your 5000 and raise you another 5000, Kris,” Jongin joins in, “my bet’s on Street Fighter though, because I have this sneaking suspicion that Chanyeol secretly likes a bit of joystick action..”
“If the three of you are going to bet on which machine I’m going to have sex with, can you at least wait until I’m no longer present?” Chanyeol splutters in exasperation.
“10,000 it is,” Kris replies, ignoring him. “Jongdae, you still in?”
“Oh, it's on. It's on like Donkey Kong.”
“Shut up, or I'll Hadouken every single one of you right in the solar plexus.”
“See? What did I tell you? Street Fighter’s the way to go,” Jongin says matter-of-factly.
Chanyeol merely rests his head against the glass of the Stacker machine with a groan, until Joonmyun finally walks past and loses his shit over it.
* * *
The next time Chanyeol sees Baekhyun at the arcade, he doesn’t actually realise it’s him.
He’s just finished his Saturday shift and is surreptitiously watching a blonde in skintight black jeans doing her thing on one of the Dance Dance Revolution machines, shaking her cute little posterior like nobody’s watching. She’s matching all the steps and pulling off multiple combos like a pro, displaying more grace and co-ordination in her left foot than Chanyeol possesses in his entire gangly teenage-boy body.
The game ends on a near-perfect score and she wipes the sweat from her brow as she turns around. And then Chanyeol realises it’s not actually a cute girl with a pixie cut at all, but Baekhyun with a new blond dye-job.
“Oh, hi Chanyeol,” Baekhyun greets him, looking a little surprised at his presence. “I didn’t see you back there..”
“Uh… hi..” Chanyeol answers hesitantly, trying not to think about the fact that he’s just spent the last five minutes admiring the arse and thighs of his self-appointed arch-nemesis. “I didn’t even recognise you out of uniform. And you’re, uh… you’re blond now, I see..”
Bloody hell, he's even good at DDR. What a dick.
“Yeah, I had it done the other day on a whim,” Baekhyun replies casually as he steps off the platform. “Still not sure how to feel about it...”
Chanyeol shrugs. “It suits you, I reckon.”
“Thanks,” Baekhyun smiles sweetly. He gestures towards the DDR machine behind him. “Were you waiting your turn..?”
“Oh, no.. no..” Chanyeol laughs nervously, “I suck really hard at DDR. I was just passing on my way to the pinball section and stopped to admire your, um… skills.”
“Oh I see. Do you mind if I watch you this time? I’d like to see what I’m up against,” Baekhyun replies, and he gives Chanyeol a friendly wink. There’s hardly anything competitive in his tone at all, but Chanyeol is secretly dying inside nevertheless, because Baekhyun is brilliant at pinball and he feels so mediocre by comparison. He just wants to play without the added pressure of being scrutinised by someone so talented.
"Uh, sure. I guess that's cool.."
Baekhyun follows him over to the Star Wars machine, and Chanyeol decides to skip his pre-game ritual this time. The other boy would surely think he was a little bit nuts if he started kissing his fingers and muttering to himself.
To be fair, Baekhyun probably thinks he’s enough of a weirdo as it is.
For some reason, being in the presence of such a pinball master psyches Chanyeol out something terrible. Every time he attempts to nudge the machine, he takes it a little too far, and the TILT! warning illuminates the screen.
That’s two tilt warnings. One more and it’s game over.
“Dammit.. Sorry, I don’t know why this keeps happening..”
“Aww, is my presence making you uneasy?” Baekhyun laughs.
“Uh, haha… a little…” Chanyeol replies nervously.
He never tilts usually. Well, hardly ever, anyway. But Baekhyun increases his heart rate and makes his palms sweaty, and it’s throwing him off for reasons he can’t quite explain.
God help me, I think I have a thing for you.
I also want to shove your face in my armpit and hold it there until you stop breathing, but that’ll probably pass.
“Hey, hey. Relax..” Baekhyun says gently, “you just need to be softer on the nudges. Here, I’ll show you..”
Before the taller boy has a chance to utter an indignant remark about being perfectly capable of managing on his own, Baekhyun positions himself behind Chanyeol, almost leaning flush against his back. Chanyeol’s eyes widen as he feels Baekhyun practically breathing down his neck – or at least he would be, if he were a little taller.
“Launch the ball,” he says gently, placing his hands over the flipper buttons, and Chanyeol swallows nervously as he pulls the plunger and stands a little to one side.
“A pinball machine is a bit like a woman, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun explains while he’s playing. “You can’t just slam her all over the place, and then expect her to warm up to you and give you what you want. You've gotta be easy with her. Give her the gentle touch you know she likes, and only when she wants it. And if you just spend a bit of time listening to her, and getting to know her a little better, you’ll know when to do so..”
Each time Baekhyun nudges the machine, Chanyeol is barely able to notice it, but it seems to send the ball in all the right places.
“I don’t even know where that analogy came from,” Baekhyun chuckles absently, “I’m probably the last person who should be giving you lady advice..”
Chanyeol suddenly hears bells ringing in his head at the implications of Baekhyun's words. Then he realises it’s not inside his head at all; it’s just Baekhyun scoring points on the machine in front of them.
“There you go… I just scored you a replay,” Baekhyun pipes up cheerfully, and Chanyeol's heart is thumping hard, but he doesn't know if it’s the thrill of the game itself or if it’s because of Baekhyun.
Either way, the whole world feels like it’s tilting on its axis, and Chanyeol doesn’t know if he likes it.
* * *
“Ah, yeah… just a bit lower… a little to the right… that’s good…”
The big metal claw successfully latches onto the large unicorn plushie near the back, and Chanyeol almost shits himself with excitement.
“Yes, oh come on, yes. Come to daddy..”
He’s in the middle of the delicate process of manoeuvring the claw towards the chute when it suddenly opens and drops his would-be prize amongst the rest of the stuffed toys.
“Ah, fuck, you fucking piece of… argh…”
Chanyeol slams his hands on the glass and rests his head against the machine. The buttons are probably going to leave imprints in his forehead, but he’s past caring at this point.
“Do you always talk to the claw machine..?”
A startled Chanyeol lifts his head to see where that familiar husky voice is coming from. His heart deflates a little when he realises it’s none other than Baekhyun.
“Uh… how long have you been standing there…?”
“Long enough,” Baekhyun replies, biting his lip to hold back his laughter. “I didn’t know unicorn plushies were your thing..”
“Uh, they’re not, really…” Chanyeol replies slowly, “I was trying to, uh… win it for my girlfriend.”
Baekhyun raises his eyebrows. “You have a girlfriend?”
“Well, not exactly… but maybe a girl would want to be my girlfriend if I gave her a big fluffy unicorn..”
Baekhyun laughs and shakes his head.
“I think you might need to work on your pulling strategies a bit more, Chanyeol; or, at the very least, expand on your understanding of women. Anyway, I was just thinking of going for a milkshake. You want one? My shout."
Chanyeol sighs and reluctantly peels himself away from the claw machine.
"Sure. Why not.."
They’re sitting in the café next door sipping their milkshakes and Chanyeol is daydreaming about nothing in particular, when Baekhyun suddenly shatters his reverie with a probing question.
“Do you ever think about anything apart from Neverland, Chanyeol?” he asks curiously, and Chanyeol has to think about it a little before he responds.
“Yeah.” Kissing your pretty lips.
“Like what?”
My tongue in your mouth.
“Sometimes I think about... food.”
Baekhyun raises a skeptical eyebrow. “And..?”
My hands on your bum. Can’t say that out loud, though, can I?
“Uh...naked ladies..?”
Nice one, dickhead.
Baekhyun only laughs and shakes his head.
“I think you take all that shit a little too seriously, Chanyeol.”
Chanyeol stops blowing bubbles in his milkshake and looks up at Baekhyun quizzically.
“What do you mean?”
“It's not all about high scores and bragging rights, you know,” Baekhyun replies matter-of-factly. “If you think it is, you're missing out on the true joys of arcade gaming. It's about the whole experience, and being a kid again and all that junk. Do you feel me?”
“Yeah, I feel you…” Chanyeol mumbles, absently chewing on his straw.
But not in the way I want to. Shit, what am I even thinking..?
Baekhyun smiles and returns to his drink. His lips are like cherries – rosy pink and slightly glossy, and Chanyeol can’t help being fixated on them, admiring the way they wrap snugly around the candy-striped milkshake straw as he takes a long sip.
"What's up?” Baekhyun suddenly asks, “don't you like your milkshake?"
“No, no, it's great,” Chanyeol insists, “sorry, I was just a little distracted.."
Baekhyun gives him a knowing smile, almost as if he’s aware of why Chanyeol’s getting all worked up.
Then he winks, and Chanyeol nearly spits a mouthful of choc-malt across the table.
You should be illegal. And I'm pretty sure the things I'm thinking about right now are too. Thank God you're not a mind-reader..
Almost as if on cue, Baekhyun runs a pink rose-petal of a tongue across those luscious lips, slowly licking a bit of vanilla-flavoured froth from them. He maintains steady eye contact throughout, and Chanyeol is on the verge of having a coronary.
He knows, he thinks in a panic as the valves in his heart constrict and his pants begin to tighten, he knows I'm thinking sexy thoughts. Abort mission.
Abandon milkshake.
"I, uh... just remembered I had to do… a thing. But I'll see you around, yeah? Cheers for the milkshake.."
Baekhyun doesn't have the time to push a bewildered “what-” through his delicious-looking cherry lips before Chanyeol's already out the door and halfway down the street - although not without nearly stacking it several times on the way.
Those mile-long legs had to be good for something.
* * *
Chanyeol soon arrives at the realisation that he’d be better off avoiding Baekhyun as much as possible, so he makes a conscientious effort to steer clear of the pinball machines for a while.
In the meantime, he starts turning to other alternatives to get his gaming fix, but nothing seems to do it for him like pinball used to, and eventually he decides he simply has to play again, no matter what it may cost him.
Besides, if he so much as looks at another joystick, he’s in danger of snapping it off and shoving it up someone’s arse.
And so Chanyeol finds himself standing in front of his beloved Star Wars machine after what felt like an eternity spent pining for her. After speeding through his pre-game ritual – and getting the order all wrong – he impatiently pops a shiny new coin into the slot and rubs his hands together in anticipation before pulling the plunger. Then he waits. And waits.
And waits.
The ball is stuck. Of course the ball is stuck.
Frustrated, he slams the front of the machine. It sets off the slam tilt sensor.
Instant game over.
“Fuck!”
Chanyeol drops to the floor and starts to take stock of his situation.
Pinball used to be the simplest thing in the world. Even when nothing else made sense, it was always there for Chanyeol to fall back on. No joysticks, no guns, none of that complicated shit… just a spring-loaded stick and two buttons. Simple.
Then Baekhyun shows up like nobody’s business and suddenly pinball is a convoluted mess of anxiety, conflicted emotions, inaccurate timing and never-ending tilt warnings. Chanyeol can’t play the game without thinking about him. He can’t get into his ‘zone’ – whatever that even is anymore, because he’s sure as hell forgotten what being in the ‘zone’ even feels like. He keeps choking, time and time again – and it’s all Baekhyun’s fucking fault.
And so when a poor unsuspecting Baekhyun rounds the corner a few minutes later, looking to play a game or two of pinball himself, Chanyeol lets him have it.
“Hey, Chanyeol. Long time no see.”
Chanyeol looks up at the other boy with eyes like daggers.
“You.”
Baekhyun blinks down at him, wide-eyed and innocent.
“Um. Me..?”
“Yes. You. This is all your fault.”
“Chanyeol, what are you talking about..?”
“Pinball was my only outlet, and you’ve wrecked it for me,” Chanyeol snaps, “it was my thing. Why can't you get your own.. thing..?”
“Okay, firstly, I’ve probably been playing pinball longer than you have,” Baekhyun retorts, “and secondly, you're playing for the wrong reasons, Chanyeol. You're playing to win. You should play because you love it. It's as simple as that.”
Chanyeol sighs.
“Whatever, I’m going. You can have your stupid pinball. You can have all the high scores and all the glory and whatever it is you started coming here for. I just know I can’t handle this anymore..”
He slowly gets to his feet and starts to walk off, but then Baekhyun calls out something to him that makes him stop in his tracks for a moment.
“This isn't really about pinball, is it..?”
Chanyeol isn’t quite sure how to respond to that, so he keeps on walking. He figures Baekhyun can probably draw his own conclusions from the increasing distance between them, because it stopped being about pinball a long time ago.
* * *
After his confrontation with Baekhyun, Chanyeol’s longtime love for Neverland begins to sour a little, and he decides to take a break from the place for a few days. Baekhyun texts him once during that time to ask if he’s okay after his little hissy-fit, and he responds with an abrupt ‘I’m fine’ and leaves it at that. The other boy doesn’t probe him any further, and Chanyeol thinks it’s probably better that way.
He doesn’t return to Neverland until Saturday, and even then, it’s only because he’s obliged to show up for his usual weekend shift. As soon as he arrives, Joonmyun beckons him silently behind the front counter. It’s still early in the morning and the arcade isn’t open yet.
“There’s something we need to discuss Chanyeol,” he says, and his tone is worryingly sombre. “Please have a seat.”
A confused Chanyeol silently does as he’s told and waits for Joonmyun to speak with unexplained feelings of dread stirring deep in his gut.
“I know this is going to come as a huge shock to you, Chanyeol,” Joonmyun says as he paces around the room anxiously, “but business hasn’t been very good lately. In fact, it’s been so bad that I’ve decided my only real option is to close Neverland permanently.”
Chanyeol just looks at Joonmyun, expecting his boss to suddenly come out with a “haha, I’m joking, you big idiot!” but the punch line never comes, because Joonmyun isn’t joking.
Chanyeol can't explain how he feels, but he thinks it’s probably a bit like being on the receiving end of fifty Hadoukens in quick succession. Somehow he's still standing, but his life bar is virtually drained and he's about two seconds from K.O.
“But… you love this place,” he says as soon as he’s recovered enough to actually speak. “We love this place..”
“I know…” Joonmyun sighs as he sits himself down opposite Chanyeol, “but I simply can’t afford to keep Neverland open anymore. People just don’t go to arcades like they used to, and it’s not making anywhere near as much money as it once made. If anything, I’m barely breaking even these days..”
Chanyeol has to rest his head on his knees to stop it from spinning.
“They're not gonna put a Dunkin’ Donuts here are they..?”
“I'm not sure what they’re planning to do, Chanyeol. It all depends on who they lease this place to next.”
Chanyeol eventually lifts his head. He’s surprised that he isn’t crying, but he thinks that maybe he’s just too numb to cry.
“I honestly never thought I’d see the day when Neverland wouldn’t be here anymore. I really believed it would be here forever..”
“Nothing lasts forever, Chanyeol. But we've had a good run, and I'm really thankful for everything you've done for Neverland and for myself. I really wish I didn't have to do this to you, but that’s just how it’s meant to be. It’s time to let go, I think.."
“But what about you, Joonmyun hyung?” Chanyeol asks quietly. “What’s going to happen to you..?”
Joonmyun only gives him a weak smile, but he looks emotionally and physically drained, and for the first time Chanyeol starts to notice all the tiny wrinkles forming in the corners of his eyes.
“Don’t worry about me, Chanyeol. Gramps will figure something out. Everything’s going to be fine, I promise.”
Joonmyun slowly stands up from his seat and walks over to Chanyeol, where he rests a comforting hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“I still remember the first time you walked through those doors, you know. It feels like such a long time ago," he says, smiling and ruffling Chanyeol's hair affectionately. “At least one of us has grown up.”
Chanyeol watches the other man in silence as he retreats to his office and shuts the door behind him. Although the slight crack in his manager’s voice leaves him less than convinced, he tries as hard as he can to believe that things really will be okay, for Joonmyun’s sake.
* * *
Chanyeol doesn’t really know how to process the news of Neverland’s impending closure on his own. His friends are naturally saddened too, and are sympathetic to the best of their ability, but they also seem willing and able to accept the situation much more easily.
In the end, Chanyeol realises there’s really only one person who knows just how he feels. With this thought in mind, he dials Baekhyun’s number and waits for an answer.
“I’m really sorry for going off at you the other day,” he says apologetically when Baekhyun answers, “it was totally uncalled for. I just haven’t been myself lately, I guess…”
“That’s alright, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun replies, and he doesn’t sound in any way like he’s bearing a grudge. If anything, he sounds happy that Chanyeol’s calling him. “How have you been?”
“That’s a good question. Did you hear Joonmyun’s closing down the arcade..?”
There’s a long moment of silence before Baekhyun responds.
“No, I haven’t been there since last weekend.. Shit. Did he say why..?”
“It’s just like what happened to the arcade you used to go to. The place isn’t bringing in enough money, and he can’t afford to keep it open anymore. So he’s not renewing the lease, and he’s going to sell off all the machines and everything. It’s like my worst fucking nightmare…”
“I see. When does the lease run out?”
“In a couple of weeks.”
“Fuck. Poor Joonmyun… Chanyeol, I’m so sorry..”
Chanyeol has to pause to take a deep breath, because he really does feel like he’s going to cry now.
“Baekhyun.”
“Yeah.”
“We’ve got to make the most of Neverland while it’s still there. Before it’s gone forever.”
When he says those words, Chanyeol can hear his voice crack audibly just like Joonmyun’s did, and when he hears the same in Baekhyun’s reply it only makes him feel even worse.
“We will, Chanyeol. I promise.”
* * *
And so they do make the most of their remaining time at Neverland, spending almost every free hour they’ve got playing games, annoying Joonmyun and enjoying each other’s company. For some reason, however, Chanyeol just can’t bring himself to play a single game of pinball during that time. The thought alone makes him feel utterly miserable.
“You have to play at least one last game,” Baekhyun insists, but Chanyeol is reluctant.
“I just don’t think I can do it, Baek. Those machines are like my big, metal, 300-pound children. Having to let them go is killing me enough as it is..”
“Well, if they’re your children, they deserve a proper goodbye, Chanyeol.”
Chanyeol thinks it over for a moment.
“Mmm… No thanks, I’ll be right.”
Baekhyun, however, is too stubborn to let it slide. For some reason, it’s really important to him that Chanyeol plays one last game, and the latter can’t help wondering why.
“Come on. If you play just one more game, I’ll give you something awesome. And if you beat one of my top scores, I’ll give you something even more awesome.”
“…It’s not a wedgie, is it..?” Chanyeol asks warily, “because I beat Kris at air hockey once, and that was what he gave me. He also slammed the puck right into my knuckles twice during the next game..”
“Nah,” Baekhyun laughs, biting his lip naughtily. “It’s something good, I promise.”
Chanyeol’s in the middle of wondering what’s on Baekhyun’s mind when he suddenly feels cool fingers brush his hair away from his face, and then a pair of soft lips against his cheek.
“Who knows where the next kiss might be if you play..?” Baekhyun whispers teasingly, and Chanyeol nearly chokes on a mouthful of air. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time.
Okay. I can do this.
“Fine,” he sighs, “but I’m not doing this just to get a kiss from you, just so you know…”
“Sure,” Baekhyun laughs as he follows Chanyeol to the pinball aisle, “whatever you say..”
Chanyeol walks over to the Star Wars machine and almost chokes up on the spot as he pulls a coin from his pocket and stares at it for a long time. Then he looks up at the screen and blinks at it in disbelief.
Those initials next to the highest score…
“They’re mine… those are my initials. Baekhyun, why are those my initials..?”
Baekhyun doesn’t say anything, but the look in his eyes speaks volumes. Without missing another beat, Chanyeol moves from one machine to the next, checking all of the top scores.
On every single machine, the initials in first place are not BBH, but PCY.
“Baekhyun…” Chanyeol says quietly as he walks over to where the other boy is standing, “did you go and beat all of your high scores and then credit them to me..?”
Baekhyun is silent for a moment longer before he ventures to reply.
“Yes, I did. You’re the one who loved these machines the most, Chanyeol. They should leave here with your name in first place.”
“But why..?” Chanyeol begins, completely lost for words.
“Because I’ve been where you are before,” Baekhyun replies, his eyes never leaving Chanyeol’s, “so I know how you feel. And I’m not gonna lie to you, because I see no point. I really, really like you, Chanyeol. The only thing I don’t like is seeing you sad.”
Chanyeol doesn’t have any words with which to respond, so he simply takes Baekhyun in his arms, holding him tight. Then he feels Baekhyun’s head resting against his chest as the other boy holds him back, and the world starts to feel a little more upright again, if only for a moment.
* * *
Their first kiss happens unexpectedly, in one of the Purikura machines, of all places.
“How should we pose?”
“I don’t know,” Chanyeol replies, “but I want there to be at least one nice photo of us.”
The photos all turn out to be pretty spur-of-the-moment and silly, with lots of peace signs and duck faces. Then they’re down to their last shot, and before Chanyeol has time to strike a killer pose, Baekhyun pulls his face towards him and kisses him full on the lips.
The machine finishes snapping the last photograph but neither of them seem to notice. They merely separate and look into each other’s eyes for a long time in silence.
“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun finally whispers, “will you go out with me?”
“Yeah,” Chanyeol whispers back, and he pulls Baekhyun into a long, tight embrace. “Of course I will.”
They then proceed to decorate their photos, which mostly involves Baekhyun drawing love hearts and suspiciously phallic-looking objects all over the place in pastel colours. Once the photos have finished printing, Chanyeol picks them up and looks at the last one where Baekhyun kissed him.
His eyes are still open in the shot because he hadn’t had any time to prepare himself, but Baekhyun looks great. Not that Chanyeol had expected otherwise.
“Pretty kawaii desu, ne?” he smiles as he shows them to Baekhyun.
“Yeah. Even with cocks growing out of you in all directions, you’re still a cutie, Chanyeol.”
Chanyeol laughs. “I’ll go get some scissors from Joonmyun so we can split these up..”
“Don’t worry about splitting them up; you can keep them all. Just as long as you think of me whenever you look at them,” Baekhyun smiles. He’s blushing a little, and Chanyeol nearly faints because it’s so adorable.
All of the Purikura photos later end up inside Chanyeol’s wallet, where he looks at them fondly whenever he has the chance.
* * *
In the days following Neverland’s closure, Chanyeol thinks it’s lucky he’s got his first date with Baekhyun to look forward to, otherwise he’d probably be spiraling even further into a never-ending depression.
Baekhyun insists on planning everything for the evening, and although he’d have liked to do something romantic too, Chanyeol lets him do so.
He does have one thing up his sleeve, however.
“I can’t believe you actually won it,” Baekhyun laughs as he accepts the unicorn plushie from Chanyeol.
“Yeah, it took me the better part of an afternoon, but I finally owned that stupid claw machine..”
Baekhyun turns the plushie around in his hands and admires it.
“Thank you. That was very sweet of you.”
“I think I deserve a kiss for all the effort it took me to win that thing,” Chanyeol smiles as he pulls the other boy closer.
“I think I can manage that..”
Baekhyun gives him a soft, chaste kiss on the lips, and it makes Chanyeol feel like he’s got a thousand pinballs zinging around in his stomach. Although foreign, he decides it’s a nice feeling.
“How are you holding up?” Baekhyun asks him a little later over pizza, and Chanyeol puts down his slice and stares at it numbly.
“I don’t know. Not so good. I already miss seeing Joonmyun all the time, and I feel like there’s this weird Neverland-shaped hole inside me that I’ll never be able to fill…”
As soon as he says those words, Chanyeol realises that Baekhyun looks a little sad, and he suddenly feels really guilty.
“…Not that I’m saying you can’t fill my Neverland hole, because you can, and… I’m sorry, that came out really weird…”
Baekhyun looks at him oddly for a moment, but then he laughs and Chanyeol feels slightly better.
“I think I just need a little time, that’s all,” he says quietly when the giggles have all died down. “I’ll be able to let go eventually.”
Baekhyun reaches across the table to grab a hold of both of his hands, and Chanyeol feels a bit of electricity run through him when they touch. It’s a little like the zapping feeling you get when you walk across a carpeted room and touch a metal doorknob, only less hair-raising.
“You will,” Baekhyun says gently, “of course you will.”
* * *
The dinner is followed by a movie, and despite Baekhyun’s questionable choice of a somewhat lame romantic comedy, Chanyeol finds himself getting pretty wrapped up in the storyline. But then he feels a soft hand toying with his fingers. And then those fingers are laced together with his, and Chanyeol has to internally beg his palms to stop sweating, because his hand must feel like a Slip n’ Slide right now. Baekhyun, however, doesn’t seem to find it off-putting at all.
Chanyeol does his best not to react to Baekhyun’s fingers, which are now stroking the palm of his hand, tracing little circles agonisingly slowly and trailing along the creases in the skin. He can feel Baekhyun looking at him intently, waiting for him to cave in and turn his head so that they can make eye contact, but Chanyeol is reluctant to let that happen because he can only imagine where it might lead. He clears his throat nervously and stares straight ahead, looking at the screen but not really seeing what’s going on. He’s far too distracted with trying to look like this isn’t bothering him, but he has a feeling Baekhyun would probably smell his nervousness a mile away.
After some time, a clearly impatient Baekhyun stops stroking Chanyeol’s hand and reaches over to forcefully turn his head. Chanyeol finds himself locking eyes with the other boy, and before he has time to think about the meaning behind that worryingly intense gaze, Baekhyun’s lips are on his.
“Baek I kinda.. wanna watch the mmh-”
“Shut up…” Baekhyun breathes before reconnecting their lips, giving Chanyeol a mouthful of his tongue to silence him.
“Baek, can’t this wait until later..?” Chanyeol whispers when the other boy eventually moves his lips to his neck.
“Nope. Wanna kiss you now, not later..” Baekhyun replies abruptly, barely giving Chanyeol the opportunity to mumble a quick “okay..” in response before he’s back at his mouth again.
It’s nothing like their comparatively tame first kiss inside the Purikura booth. Baekhyun is handling him expertly just like he would a machine, pushing all the right buttons at the right times, and Chanyeol can barely hold in the moans threatening to spill from his lips. It’s a good thing they’re in the back row and there aren't too many people around, or else they’d probably be in danger of being thrown out for public indecency.
He can tell it’s going to be painful to stop, though, because Baekhyun's lips feel really nice, and the way he’s shamelessly manhandling Chanyeol feels even better.
Then Baekhyun brazenly positions himself on Chanyeol’s lap, straddling him and kissing him with even more gusto, during which Chanyeol finally manages to get his hands on that glorious derriere and Baekhyun only seems too happy to let him. For once, Chanyeol decides to switch his overactive mind off and stop thinking. It's the sort of moment that's better left to the feelings, he thinks.
“I'm bummed about Neverland, but I'm glad I met you, Baekhyun,” he whispers, “…really glad. You're definitely my top score to date.”
Baekhyun only laughs in response. “Baby, I'm the best score of your fucking life..”
Chanyeol doesn't dare argue with that, because he knows it's true.
“I just want you to know, you'll always have me, okay?” Baekhyun whispers between kisses. “And I’ll do my best to fill your Neverland hole, as well as any other holes you have that might need filling.”
Chanyeol laughs. “Okay.”
“And you can ring my bells and pull my plunger anytime you like.”
“Sweet. Do I have to pay to use you?”
“We’ll come to an agreement later.”
“Okay. We might need to come back and watch this movie again.”
“It’s alright,” Baekhyun laughs, “I picked a shitty film for this very reason.”
“You are the sexy spawn of Satan..”
They spend the rest of the film making out, and Chanyeol ends up not really caring that he’s missed the entire thing.
Baekhyun looks beautiful when they leave the cinema together, his face all flushed and hair tousled, and lips pink and puffy from all that kissing. It makes Chanyeol think that maybe he's okay with finally trading in the cheap thrills of his childhood after all this time, just as long as he can spend his last few years of relatively carefree adolescence with Baekhyun instead.
* * *
“We’ve got one more place I want to take you tonight,” Baekhyun announces once they’re outside the cinema.
“Oh? Where to?”
Baekhyun stands on his tiptoes to whisper in Chanyeol’s ear.
“There’s a love hotel around the corner I’ve been wanting to check out…”
All of the colour promptly drains out of Chanyeol’s face.
“Excuse me..?”
Baekhyun can barely hold in his laughter at Chanyeol’s panicked expression. “I was joking, you big idiot. We’re just going to the noraebang down the road..”
“Oh, right..” Chanyeol replies, internally breathing a sigh of relief.
“We’ll save the love hotel for the second date..” Baekhyun adds, winking suggestively at him, and he whisks Chanyeol away by the hand before the latter can protest.
He practically drags Chanyeol down the street and through the front door of the noraebang, and the taller boy nearly coughs up a lung as soon as they walk into the foyer, because next to the front desk is a Star Wars pinball machine.
The Star Wars pinball machine.
“Baek… is that…?”
Baekhyun doesn’t give an astonished Chanyeol the chance to finish his question.
“Yeah, it is. Like I said, I know what it’s like having something that means so much to you taken away like that. So I wanted to give you a part of it back.”
“But… how…?”
Baekhyun shrugs. “I knew the Star Wars machine was your favourite, and it was the machine I was playing on when we first met. With those things in mind, I went and asked Joonmyun hyung if he would consider selling it to me for cheap so I could give it to you as a gift… but he insisted on giving it to me for nothing instead, saying that you almost single-handedly kept him in business over the past ten years. He said you should consider it a parting gift for your services as a customer, employee and friend.”
Chanyeol doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“Oh god, I have to thank him…”
“Don’t worry, I thanked him a million times on your behalf,” Baekhyun laughs. “Anyway, I had nowhere to put the damn thing, and Joonmyun came up with the brilliant idea to ask the owners of this noraebang if they would consider having it in their foyer, given that they would be profiting from its presence. They were only too happy to oblige. So now we can come and play on it whenever we want, and so can anyone else.”
“Baek, I don’t know what to say…”
“You don’t need to say anything,” Baekhyun replies quietly, and he holds out a coin with a gentle smile gracing his lips. “Just play.”
“But don’t you want to have the first go? You’re the reason it’s here in the first place..”
Baekhyun only shakes his head and steers Chanyeol in front of the machine. “Nuh-uh. This one’s all on you, big guy..”
Chanyeol leans over to softly kiss Baekhyun on the corner of the mouth as he accepts the coin and pops it into the slot, and his heart thrills at the satisfying sound it makes when it rattles into the machine. Once again, he doesn’t bother with his pre-game ritual; the warm arms wrapped around his waist are all the luck he needs.
He turns around to give Baekhyun one more sneaky kiss, just because he can, and smiles as he pulls the plunger.
* * *
Oh Sehun really likes pinball. Every time he walks past the old Star Wars pinball machine in the foyer of his favourite noraebang, he can't resist popping a coin in the slot and giving it a whirl, much to the annoyance of his companions.
“Come on, Sehun,” his friend Luhan whines, “everyone else is already in the room waiting for us. You're cutting into our singing time..”
“Alright, relax, I'm coming...” Sehun mutters, “just let me quickly finish this game, I’m on a roll over here..”
Luhan groans but lets his friend finish the game in peace. It doesn’t last very long, because Sehun’s an impatient player, and he manages to get three tilt warnings within the first few minutes.
Game over.
“Hah. Good job..”
“Meh, the tilt sensor on this heap of shit is more sensitive than most,” Sehun grumbles, “and I've been trying to take out the top score for ages now, but this guy is fucking impossible to beat..”
“Sounds frustrating,” Luhan replies as they make their way down the hall to join the rest of their group. “Who's the top player, anyway?”
“I dunno,” Sehun sighs. “Some dude called 'B4C'..”
~
These days, Park Chanyeol still has only three words for Byun Baekhyun.
‘Bitch’ is definitely not one of them.
____________________________________________________________
Length: Oneshot
Genre Romance, fluff, humour, arcade gaming AU
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Baekhyun/Chanyeol
Disclaimer: Any song lyrics used belong to their respective owners. Characters don't belong to me, just the story.
Warnings: Language, sexual references
Summary: Chanyeol has only three words for the mystery person who keeps beating his pinball high scores – game on, bitch.
Word Count: 9500
A/N: I think most people will be familiar with the games and machines mentioned in this story, but just in case you don’t know what a Stacker machine is (otherwise known as ‘the bane of my existence’, ‘that piece of shit’, etc.), it is sort of like the equivalent of a poker machine for kids, in the sense that it is addictive, and your chance of winning one of the big prizes is probably one in a bajillion.
Also, the ‘Hadouken’ is a special attack from the Street Fighter games.
Enjoy xx
Chanyeol closes his eyes and inhales deeply. Then he exhales. Then he does it again. Inhale, exhale.
He stretches his arms high above his head, then out in front of him, clasping his hands together.
He cracks his knuckles, his wrists, his neck, his shoulders, and finally, the joints in each thumb.
“Alright,” he whispers, to no one in particular since he’s on his own. “Let’s play ball.”
He walks down the aisle lined with pinball machines, affectionately trailing his fingers over each one as he passes – over Indiana Jones, Spiderman, Pirates of the Caribbean, Shrek, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and a host of others, each of them flashing their lights at him invitingly and calling out to him with a silent song that’s impossible to resist.
Which will he start with first?
With a quick game of eenie-meenie-miney-mo as the decider, Chanyeol is left pointing at Star Wars.
Star Wars it is. A very good choice, Chanyeol thinks to himself as he inserts a coin into the slot. Star Wars is his favourite.
Now that that’s sorted, it’s time for his pre-game ritual.
Chanyeol’s pre-game ritual is a meticulously carried out process that always begins and ends the same way. The only variable is the theme music running through his head during the procedure, which largely depends on which machine he’s standing in front of at the time.
With Darth Vader’s theme as his imagined soundtrack – he’s in a bit of a badass mood today - Chanyeol lifts the index and middle fingers on his right hand to his lips. He kisses them - once, twice, three times. Then he does the same to his left hand. Then he repeats the process once more on his right hand, just for good measure. It’s his dominant hand, so he likes to show it a bit of extra love.
Eventually Chanyeol’s fingers come to rest on two white plastic buttons on either side of the machine. Each one has a concave surface, and he traces around the indentations in a circular motion - once clockwise, twice counter-clockwise, and clockwise once more.
Then he pulls the plunger, and all hell breaks loose in a blitzkrieg of buzzers and bells.
Chanyeol is in his ‘zone’ and firing on all cylinders the very second that tiny silver ball goes zinging into the field. He doesn’t see all the flashing lights right before his eyes. The cacophony of sound from the machine goes in one ear and shoots right out the other. It’s like he’s in some kind of vegetative state where the only parts of his body that continue to function are the ones necessary for the game. When he’s like this, you could pull his pants down or throw a chair at him, and he probably wouldn’t react. His friends can vouch for this, because they’ve experimented with both of these methods before.
There’s only one person who can bust him out of his ‘zone’, and that’s Joonmyun, who seems to have worked out a way of tuning his voice at a special frequency that can pierce right through the impenetrable walls of Chanyeol’s skull.
“Park Chanyeol, what are you doing playing pinball when you’re supposed to be working..?”
Joonmyun, the owner and manager of Neverland Amusements, is something of a father figure to Chanyeol. He’s generally easy-going and insists on being called hyung, even though he’s probably more of an ahjussi to Chanyeol and his friends.
Joonmyun likes to think that being the owner of a games arcade keeps him young. It does keep him young to a degree, but it doesn’t keep the odd grey hair from sprouting, as Chanyeol often likes to remind him.
Joonmyun’s response to this is usually to point out that Chanyeol’s probably the reason he’s going grey in the first place.
“Relax, I’m just having a quick game..” Chanyeol replies casually. He’s lucky that Joonmyun thinks he’s generally a good employee, otherwise he’d have probably been fired for his impudence long ago.
“Not on my watch, you aren’t,” Joonmyun replies, waving a mop at him, “now, there’s Coke all over the floor near the air hockey table, and I don’t fancy a lawsuit if some kid slips on it and breaks his leg..”
“Alright gramps, don’t get your tits in a tangle..” Chanyeol replies as he steps away from the machine. He’s not all that bothered about having to walk away mid-game – he holds the highest all-time score on every single pinball machine anyway, and has done so for quite some time.
“That’s it, Chanyeol – new rule. Henceforth, for every time you address me as ‘gramps’, I’ll be docking 1000 Won from your next paycheck and putting it directly into my monthly Botox fund..”
“You wouldn’t do that, gramps,” Chanyeol grins, “you love me too much..”
Joonmyun tries his absolute hardest to maintain a stern expression but he can’t help smiling a little at Chanyeol’s antics. He’s got a big soft spot for the kid; after all, Chanyeol’s been a Neverland regular for the past ten years. Now he’s seventeen, as tall as a house, and unfortunately clever enough to enjoy taking advantage of Joonmyun’s fondness for him from time to time.
“Cheeky bastard. Now go on - get back to work.”
“Okay gramps, I’ll get right on it.”
“You’d better. Pretty sure I can feel another grey hair growing..” Joonmyun sighs as he hands Chanyeol the mop.
“That’s ‘cause you’re old,” Chanyeol replies cheekily, and he grabs the mop and darts away before Joonmyun has a chance to whack him on the rear end with it.
When he’s not working the odd shift at Neverland on weekends, Chanyeol often spends his time there after school, with or without his three best friends in tow. None of them seem to share his passion for pinball, but it’s never really bothered him. Each to their own and all that.
“What's the point of playing to beat your own high score?” Kris asks as Chanyeol inserts a coin into the Spiderman machine. “Isn't it just a waste of money..?”
“Well no one else is beating them, are they?” Chanyeol replies, “besides, I don’t usually have to use many coins. That’s what free replays are for..”
Kris watches him play for a while before leaving to join their other friends Jongin and Jongdae elsewhere, and as usual Chanyeol is so wrapped up in the game that he barely notices.
Eventually he runs out of games and his brow furrows when he’s prompted to enter his initials.
He’s in second place. Not first.
‘PCY’ is no longer the top scorer on this machine. Someone with the initials ‘BBH’ is. He hadn’t even thought to check who the top scorer was when he’d first got there, because he’d just taken it for granted that his initials would be at the top, just like they always are.
Or always were, anyway.
BBH? Who the fuck is BBH?
Chanyeol’s heart suddenly sinks into his stomach as he moves to the next pinball machine to check the current highest score.
BBH.
And the next machine. BBH.
Then he comes to the Star Wars machine and is so relieved to find he’s still the top scorer that he almost pees all over the floor, but this provides little in the way of consolation when almost all of the other machines have BBH listed in first place.
Chanyeol suddenly finds it hard to breathe. It feels just like the time he woke up from that terrifying nightmare where Jabba the Hutt was sitting on him.
But that was just a dream, and this is very real.
The discovery, however unsettling, doesn’t really faze Chanyeol for very long; he’s a little too cocky for that. Being on top for an extended period of time will do that to you.
After a while, he comes to the conclusion that it doesn’t really matter who BBH is. The only thing that matters is that Chanyeol has three words for him or her, and three words only.
Game on, bitch.
It’s with this renewed sense of determination that Chanyeol makes his way through the arcade in long, overconfident strides, and he can feel the wind blowing through his hair. It's probably just Joonmyun blasting the air-conditioning again, but that's hardly important, because Chanyeol’s in a good mood today, and he's going to kick some BBH arse – whoever the hell BBH is.
His heart nearly leaps out of his chest when he arrives at the pinball section, however, because there’s someone else standing at the Star Wars machine at the other end of the aisle – someone Chanyeol’s never laid eyes on before – and something deep down tells him pretty much instantly that it’s him. Call it a gut feeling or whatever, but it’s got to be him, because apart from Chanyeol and a few others, not many people play the pinball machines when there are so many fighting, driving and shooting games they could be playing instead.
It’s BBH in the flesh. It has to be. And he’s in front of Chanyeol’s favourite machine, much to the latter’s indignation.
There’s only one thing that’s not consistent with the image Chanyeol created of the guy inside his head. Far from being the imposing figure he was imagining, BBH is shorter, delicate-looking, and has a head of shiny dark-purple hair. Although Chanyeol can only see the boy’s profile, he also looks to be rather cute, and he’s wearing a uniform that belongs to one of the other high schools nearby.
Chanyeol watches the boy silently from a safe vantage point, sneakily edging his way in a little closer from time to time. BBH doesn’t appear to have a pre-game ritual as elaborate as Chanyeol’s; instead, he merely stands there staring at the machine in front of him for what feels like ages, apparently oblivious to the fact that he’s being watched.
Perhaps he’s meditating, Chanyeol thinks. What a freak.
Then long, slender fingers slide sensually over the plunger before the boy gives it an abrupt tug, and all of a sudden Chanyeol is thinking of things he probably shouldn’t be thinking about while watching someone else play pinball.
Especially when that someone else is clearly male.
Chanyeol finds himself wondering what else those incredible hands can do, but he quickly shakes the thought away before it gets any weirder.
He’s enthralled by the way the guy handles the machine. Like any seasoned player, BBH only flips when necessary, but when he does, his fingers are so lightning-quick that they almost disappear in a blur of movement. After a while, it becomes almost impossible to tell if he’s playing pinball or if pinball’s playing him. He’s lost in the game, the look in his eyes so intense that Chanyeol almost expects the 300-pound machine to buckle and collapse beneath the weight of that stare.
And then without fair warning, BBH turns and directs that penetrating gaze in Chanyeol’s direction, and the latter’s knees almost give out right where he’s standing.
The other boy’s eyes widen a little in surprise and he turns back to the machine, only to realise he’s lost the ball.
“Ah, shit…”
“I’m sorry…” Chanyeol pipes up sheepishly as he cautiously approaches the boy, “did I distract you from your game..?”
BBH gives him a small but nonetheless friendly smile. His eyes are subtly lined in black and his lips curl up a little at the corners when he smiles - or perhaps it's more of a smirk, Chanyeol can't really tell. Whatever it is, it makes him look strangely feline.
“No, it’s alright,” he replies airily, “I didn’t realise I had a one-man fan club over on the sidelines..”
Chanyeol can feel his face burning a little when he realises the guy is referring to him.
“Sorry… it’s just, I’m a huge pinball nut myself, and I’ve never seen anyone play with such skill and intensity before. Do you mind if I watch...?”
BBH shrugs and smiles again. “Not at all. Go for it.”
“Ah. Right. Cool. I’ll, uh… I’ll just stand over here so I don’t throw you off.”
“Don’t worry, it’ll take a little more than that to throw me off..” the boy replies, and he pulls the plunger a second time, launching his next ball into the field.
They carry on that way for some time, with Chanyeol standing mesmerised on the spot by the magical pinball boy’s unmatchable skills. He scores so many replays that it feels like an age has passed and yet he’s still on the very same coin he inserted initially. Eventually BBH runs out of balls, but he takes out the former highest score – Chanyeol’s former highest score – and enters his name in the number one spot.
Chanyeol cranes his neck in an attempt to read what’s on the screen, and his heart drops into his guts when he sees the very same initials he’d been expecting all along, glaring back at him in bright orange dot-matrix characters.
BBH.
“Wow. You’re really good..” Chanyeol breathes, trying his hardest to sound more awestruck than depressed. “What did you say your name was..?”
“I didn’t,” the boy replies, “but I’m Baekhyun. Byun Baekhyun. And you are..?”
Right. So that’s what ‘BBH’ stands for.
“Uh… Chanyeol. Yeah, Park Chanyeol. That’s my name.”
“Had to think about that for a moment, did you..?” Baekhyun replies with a mischievous smile.
“Sorry.. I’m still trying to recover mentally after watching you play..” Chanyeol laughs nervously.
“That good, huh? Well, I’ve loved pinball ever since I was a kid, so I guess I can chalk it up to years of practice, patience and persistence. And a shitload of spare change, of course.”
“But you must play all the time to be so good. How come I’ve never seen you around here before..?”
“I only started playing at this arcade recently. The one I used to frequent closed down a couple of months ago.”
“Oh…” Chanyeol replies, and his face softens a little. “That’s pretty sad..”
“I know, right? I always loved that place,” Baekhyun sighs wistfully. “I loved everything about it; the shitty old carpet that stuck to your shoes, the noises and flashing lights, the soggy fries and dodgy-looking hotdogs they sold at the snack bar… hell, even the body odour that permeated the entire complex – I loved it all. It always felt like a second home to me. I was absolutely gutted, seeing such a longstanding symbol of my childhood just… shut down like that. And the worst part is, they replaced it with a fucking Dunkin’ Donuts, of all things..”
“I don’t know what I’d do with myself if this place closed down…” Chanyeol admits thoughtfully. “Probably sit at home, twiddling my thumbs… possibly crying…”
“Yeah, well, I sure as hell felt like crying, I’ll tell you that much..” Baekhyun replies somewhat bitterly, “but my old hangout was smaller than this, and had fewer games, so I guess they weren’t really rolling in the dough anymore… especially now that many people have all the latest consoles at home and can satisfy their gaming needs without leaving the house. But I dunno, I’ve always preferred arcade games, you know? It makes an essentially solitary activity feel just that little bit more social. You don’t get that kind of atmosphere when you’re playing all alone in your room..”
“I definitely know what you mean. I’ve spent many an hour with friends here after school. This place is the reason I’m such a mediocre student,” Chanyeol laughs nervously.
“Yeah, me too,” Baekhyun replies with a smile as he slings his schoolbag over his shoulder. “Anyway, it’s been nice meeting you and all, but I’d better head home. I’ll probably see you around, though. I’m here fairly often these days..”
“Okay. See you.”
As soon as he sees Baekhyun exit the arcade, Chanyeol quickly returns to the Star Wars machine, inserts a coin and tries to beat the other boy’s high score.
Needless to say, he fails miserably.
At school the next day, Chanyeol walks around looking like he’s going to a funeral.
In a way, he is going to a funeral – his talent for pinball being the newly deceased.
“Yeesh, what’s up with Chanyeol’s face?” Kris asks as he takes a seat next to Jongdae in homeroom. “Did someone die..?”
“In Yeol’s own words, some magical sparkly fairy guy suddenly appeared at Neverland and beat all of his pinball high scores..” Jongdae replies in a bored tone.
“Ah,” Kris nods sympathetically. “Tough break..”
“Yep. Try to avoid mentioning it, though. You’ll never hear the end of it, otherwise, and neither will I..”
“Thanks for the tip.”
Chanyeol’s long-suffering friends never end up hearing the end of it anyway, because he brings it up again in the cafeteria at lunch.
“It's just so infuriating, you know? This dude just suddenly waltzes in on my turf out of nowhere and takes out all of my high scores like it’s the easiest thing in the world. And the worst part is, he's a really nice guy and I can't even fucking hate him for it..”
“Chanyeol, can we please talk about something else now..?” Jongin whines, “this is getting really old..”
“You guys wouldn’t understand anyway,” Chanyeol mutters as he pokes disinterestedly at his food. “You’re not serious gamers like I am..”
“Oh, here we go with the ‘you’re not serious gamers’ bullshit again..” Kris replies with an exaggerated eye-roll.
“You know what? I’ve just come to a very important conclusion,” Jongdae suddenly pipes up, “and it is that Chanyeol will never, ever get a girlfriend. Ever.”
“Hey!”
“Pfft. Yeah,” Kris chuckles, “or a boyfriend, for that matter..”
“Anything with a heartbeat is pretty much out of the question,” Jongdae continues, “in fact, his first time will probably be with one of the machines at the arcade.”
“Haha, that’s brilliant,” Jongin replies, clapping his hands in appreciation. “Currently taking bets on which one it will be..”
“You’re all a bunch of dicks,” Chanyeol mumbles, and as he lets his head fall onto the table, he briefly wonders if Baekhyun’s friends are as shitty as his.
“Woohoo!”
“Oh yeah, that’s the good stuff..”
“Woohoo!”
“Just one more.. Go on.. That's good.. So close…”
Then Chanyeol hits the button and misses. The block drops, and the Stacker machine utters a comical "uh-oh!" sound.
Game over.
“No dice,” Jongdae says monotonously.
“Ahh, fuck..”
“I swear we were just coming around the corner and it sounded like you were doing something suss with that Stacker machine,” Jongin remarks as he and Kris make their way over to join the other two. “Even more worryingly, it sounded like the machine was enjoying it.”
“I thought I was actually going to win this time..” Chanyeol sighs. “I think this machine sends out subliminal messages that compel you to keep putting money into it. Or maybe I just like hearing the little ‘woohoo!’ noises it makes. I really don’t know anymore..”
“Why are you even playing Stacker, anyway?” Kris asks, looking at Chanyeol like he’s an imbecile. “Everyone and their mum’s dog knows that Stacker’s rigged.”
“I have no idea why I waste my time on this piece of shit, to be honest..” Chanyeol replies wearily as he leans his head against the machine in defeat. “Probably because I'm a masochist..”
“I wouldn’t let Joonmyun hyung see you leaning on that,” Jongdae warns him. “He hates it when people leave forehead prints on the glass. I once saw him chase this poor kid out of the building with a bottle of Windex.”
“You know what? Going back to our discussion on bets earlier, I’ve just decided I'm betting 5000 Won on Stacker being Chanyeol’s first lay,” Kris announces, “he clearly already talks to it, so they must be building some kind of rapport by now. It's also got a nice big prize collection area for him to stick his junk into.”
“Chanyeol doesn’t need a nice big prize collection area. All he needs is a coin slot and he'll be good to go..” Jongdae replies drily. “Now, knowing Yeol, he'll lose his V-card to one of the pinballs, because they were his first love and he's a sentimental arsehole.”
“I see your 5000 and raise you another 5000, Kris,” Jongin joins in, “my bet’s on Street Fighter though, because I have this sneaking suspicion that Chanyeol secretly likes a bit of joystick action..”
“If the three of you are going to bet on which machine I’m going to have sex with, can you at least wait until I’m no longer present?” Chanyeol splutters in exasperation.
“10,000 it is,” Kris replies, ignoring him. “Jongdae, you still in?”
“Oh, it's on. It's on like Donkey Kong.”
“Shut up, or I'll Hadouken every single one of you right in the solar plexus.”
“See? What did I tell you? Street Fighter’s the way to go,” Jongin says matter-of-factly.
Chanyeol merely rests his head against the glass of the Stacker machine with a groan, until Joonmyun finally walks past and loses his shit over it.
The next time Chanyeol sees Baekhyun at the arcade, he doesn’t actually realise it’s him.
He’s just finished his Saturday shift and is surreptitiously watching a blonde in skintight black jeans doing her thing on one of the Dance Dance Revolution machines, shaking her cute little posterior like nobody’s watching. She’s matching all the steps and pulling off multiple combos like a pro, displaying more grace and co-ordination in her left foot than Chanyeol possesses in his entire gangly teenage-boy body.
The game ends on a near-perfect score and she wipes the sweat from her brow as she turns around. And then Chanyeol realises it’s not actually a cute girl with a pixie cut at all, but Baekhyun with a new blond dye-job.
“Oh, hi Chanyeol,” Baekhyun greets him, looking a little surprised at his presence. “I didn’t see you back there..”
“Uh… hi..” Chanyeol answers hesitantly, trying not to think about the fact that he’s just spent the last five minutes admiring the arse and thighs of his self-appointed arch-nemesis. “I didn’t even recognise you out of uniform. And you’re, uh… you’re blond now, I see..”
Bloody hell, he's even good at DDR. What a dick.
“Yeah, I had it done the other day on a whim,” Baekhyun replies casually as he steps off the platform. “Still not sure how to feel about it...”
Chanyeol shrugs. “It suits you, I reckon.”
“Thanks,” Baekhyun smiles sweetly. He gestures towards the DDR machine behind him. “Were you waiting your turn..?”
“Oh, no.. no..” Chanyeol laughs nervously, “I suck really hard at DDR. I was just passing on my way to the pinball section and stopped to admire your, um… skills.”
“Oh I see. Do you mind if I watch you this time? I’d like to see what I’m up against,” Baekhyun replies, and he gives Chanyeol a friendly wink. There’s hardly anything competitive in his tone at all, but Chanyeol is secretly dying inside nevertheless, because Baekhyun is brilliant at pinball and he feels so mediocre by comparison. He just wants to play without the added pressure of being scrutinised by someone so talented.
"Uh, sure. I guess that's cool.."
Baekhyun follows him over to the Star Wars machine, and Chanyeol decides to skip his pre-game ritual this time. The other boy would surely think he was a little bit nuts if he started kissing his fingers and muttering to himself.
To be fair, Baekhyun probably thinks he’s enough of a weirdo as it is.
For some reason, being in the presence of such a pinball master psyches Chanyeol out something terrible. Every time he attempts to nudge the machine, he takes it a little too far, and the TILT! warning illuminates the screen.
That’s two tilt warnings. One more and it’s game over.
“Dammit.. Sorry, I don’t know why this keeps happening..”
“Aww, is my presence making you uneasy?” Baekhyun laughs.
“Uh, haha… a little…” Chanyeol replies nervously.
He never tilts usually. Well, hardly ever, anyway. But Baekhyun increases his heart rate and makes his palms sweaty, and it’s throwing him off for reasons he can’t quite explain.
God help me, I think I have a thing for you.
I also want to shove your face in my armpit and hold it there until you stop breathing, but that’ll probably pass.
“Hey, hey. Relax..” Baekhyun says gently, “you just need to be softer on the nudges. Here, I’ll show you..”
Before the taller boy has a chance to utter an indignant remark about being perfectly capable of managing on his own, Baekhyun positions himself behind Chanyeol, almost leaning flush against his back. Chanyeol’s eyes widen as he feels Baekhyun practically breathing down his neck – or at least he would be, if he were a little taller.
“Launch the ball,” he says gently, placing his hands over the flipper buttons, and Chanyeol swallows nervously as he pulls the plunger and stands a little to one side.
“A pinball machine is a bit like a woman, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun explains while he’s playing. “You can’t just slam her all over the place, and then expect her to warm up to you and give you what you want. You've gotta be easy with her. Give her the gentle touch you know she likes, and only when she wants it. And if you just spend a bit of time listening to her, and getting to know her a little better, you’ll know when to do so..”
Each time Baekhyun nudges the machine, Chanyeol is barely able to notice it, but it seems to send the ball in all the right places.
“I don’t even know where that analogy came from,” Baekhyun chuckles absently, “I’m probably the last person who should be giving you lady advice..”
Chanyeol suddenly hears bells ringing in his head at the implications of Baekhyun's words. Then he realises it’s not inside his head at all; it’s just Baekhyun scoring points on the machine in front of them.
“There you go… I just scored you a replay,” Baekhyun pipes up cheerfully, and Chanyeol's heart is thumping hard, but he doesn't know if it’s the thrill of the game itself or if it’s because of Baekhyun.
Either way, the whole world feels like it’s tilting on its axis, and Chanyeol doesn’t know if he likes it.
“Ah, yeah… just a bit lower… a little to the right… that’s good…”
The big metal claw successfully latches onto the large unicorn plushie near the back, and Chanyeol almost shits himself with excitement.
“Yes, oh come on, yes. Come to daddy..”
He’s in the middle of the delicate process of manoeuvring the claw towards the chute when it suddenly opens and drops his would-be prize amongst the rest of the stuffed toys.
“Ah, fuck, you fucking piece of… argh…”
Chanyeol slams his hands on the glass and rests his head against the machine. The buttons are probably going to leave imprints in his forehead, but he’s past caring at this point.
“Do you always talk to the claw machine..?”
A startled Chanyeol lifts his head to see where that familiar husky voice is coming from. His heart deflates a little when he realises it’s none other than Baekhyun.
“Uh… how long have you been standing there…?”
“Long enough,” Baekhyun replies, biting his lip to hold back his laughter. “I didn’t know unicorn plushies were your thing..”
“Uh, they’re not, really…” Chanyeol replies slowly, “I was trying to, uh… win it for my girlfriend.”
Baekhyun raises his eyebrows. “You have a girlfriend?”
“Well, not exactly… but maybe a girl would want to be my girlfriend if I gave her a big fluffy unicorn..”
Baekhyun laughs and shakes his head.
“I think you might need to work on your pulling strategies a bit more, Chanyeol; or, at the very least, expand on your understanding of women. Anyway, I was just thinking of going for a milkshake. You want one? My shout."
Chanyeol sighs and reluctantly peels himself away from the claw machine.
"Sure. Why not.."
They’re sitting in the café next door sipping their milkshakes and Chanyeol is daydreaming about nothing in particular, when Baekhyun suddenly shatters his reverie with a probing question.
“Do you ever think about anything apart from Neverland, Chanyeol?” he asks curiously, and Chanyeol has to think about it a little before he responds.
“Yeah.” Kissing your pretty lips.
“Like what?”
My tongue in your mouth.
“Sometimes I think about... food.”
Baekhyun raises a skeptical eyebrow. “And..?”
My hands on your bum. Can’t say that out loud, though, can I?
“Uh...naked ladies..?”
Nice one, dickhead.
Baekhyun only laughs and shakes his head.
“I think you take all that shit a little too seriously, Chanyeol.”
Chanyeol stops blowing bubbles in his milkshake and looks up at Baekhyun quizzically.
“What do you mean?”
“It's not all about high scores and bragging rights, you know,” Baekhyun replies matter-of-factly. “If you think it is, you're missing out on the true joys of arcade gaming. It's about the whole experience, and being a kid again and all that junk. Do you feel me?”
“Yeah, I feel you…” Chanyeol mumbles, absently chewing on his straw.
But not in the way I want to. Shit, what am I even thinking..?
Baekhyun smiles and returns to his drink. His lips are like cherries – rosy pink and slightly glossy, and Chanyeol can’t help being fixated on them, admiring the way they wrap snugly around the candy-striped milkshake straw as he takes a long sip.
"What's up?” Baekhyun suddenly asks, “don't you like your milkshake?"
“No, no, it's great,” Chanyeol insists, “sorry, I was just a little distracted.."
Baekhyun gives him a knowing smile, almost as if he’s aware of why Chanyeol’s getting all worked up.
Then he winks, and Chanyeol nearly spits a mouthful of choc-malt across the table.
You should be illegal. And I'm pretty sure the things I'm thinking about right now are too. Thank God you're not a mind-reader..
Almost as if on cue, Baekhyun runs a pink rose-petal of a tongue across those luscious lips, slowly licking a bit of vanilla-flavoured froth from them. He maintains steady eye contact throughout, and Chanyeol is on the verge of having a coronary.
He knows, he thinks in a panic as the valves in his heart constrict and his pants begin to tighten, he knows I'm thinking sexy thoughts. Abort mission.
Abandon milkshake.
"I, uh... just remembered I had to do… a thing. But I'll see you around, yeah? Cheers for the milkshake.."
Baekhyun doesn't have the time to push a bewildered “what-” through his delicious-looking cherry lips before Chanyeol's already out the door and halfway down the street - although not without nearly stacking it several times on the way.
Those mile-long legs had to be good for something.
Chanyeol soon arrives at the realisation that he’d be better off avoiding Baekhyun as much as possible, so he makes a conscientious effort to steer clear of the pinball machines for a while.
In the meantime, he starts turning to other alternatives to get his gaming fix, but nothing seems to do it for him like pinball used to, and eventually he decides he simply has to play again, no matter what it may cost him.
Besides, if he so much as looks at another joystick, he’s in danger of snapping it off and shoving it up someone’s arse.
And so Chanyeol finds himself standing in front of his beloved Star Wars machine after what felt like an eternity spent pining for her. After speeding through his pre-game ritual – and getting the order all wrong – he impatiently pops a shiny new coin into the slot and rubs his hands together in anticipation before pulling the plunger. Then he waits. And waits.
And waits.
The ball is stuck. Of course the ball is stuck.
Frustrated, he slams the front of the machine. It sets off the slam tilt sensor.
Instant game over.
“Fuck!”
Chanyeol drops to the floor and starts to take stock of his situation.
Pinball used to be the simplest thing in the world. Even when nothing else made sense, it was always there for Chanyeol to fall back on. No joysticks, no guns, none of that complicated shit… just a spring-loaded stick and two buttons. Simple.
Then Baekhyun shows up like nobody’s business and suddenly pinball is a convoluted mess of anxiety, conflicted emotions, inaccurate timing and never-ending tilt warnings. Chanyeol can’t play the game without thinking about him. He can’t get into his ‘zone’ – whatever that even is anymore, because he’s sure as hell forgotten what being in the ‘zone’ even feels like. He keeps choking, time and time again – and it’s all Baekhyun’s fucking fault.
And so when a poor unsuspecting Baekhyun rounds the corner a few minutes later, looking to play a game or two of pinball himself, Chanyeol lets him have it.
“Hey, Chanyeol. Long time no see.”
Chanyeol looks up at the other boy with eyes like daggers.
“You.”
Baekhyun blinks down at him, wide-eyed and innocent.
“Um. Me..?”
“Yes. You. This is all your fault.”
“Chanyeol, what are you talking about..?”
“Pinball was my only outlet, and you’ve wrecked it for me,” Chanyeol snaps, “it was my thing. Why can't you get your own.. thing..?”
“Okay, firstly, I’ve probably been playing pinball longer than you have,” Baekhyun retorts, “and secondly, you're playing for the wrong reasons, Chanyeol. You're playing to win. You should play because you love it. It's as simple as that.”
Chanyeol sighs.
“Whatever, I’m going. You can have your stupid pinball. You can have all the high scores and all the glory and whatever it is you started coming here for. I just know I can’t handle this anymore..”
He slowly gets to his feet and starts to walk off, but then Baekhyun calls out something to him that makes him stop in his tracks for a moment.
“This isn't really about pinball, is it..?”
Chanyeol isn’t quite sure how to respond to that, so he keeps on walking. He figures Baekhyun can probably draw his own conclusions from the increasing distance between them, because it stopped being about pinball a long time ago.
After his confrontation with Baekhyun, Chanyeol’s longtime love for Neverland begins to sour a little, and he decides to take a break from the place for a few days. Baekhyun texts him once during that time to ask if he’s okay after his little hissy-fit, and he responds with an abrupt ‘I’m fine’ and leaves it at that. The other boy doesn’t probe him any further, and Chanyeol thinks it’s probably better that way.
He doesn’t return to Neverland until Saturday, and even then, it’s only because he’s obliged to show up for his usual weekend shift. As soon as he arrives, Joonmyun beckons him silently behind the front counter. It’s still early in the morning and the arcade isn’t open yet.
“There’s something we need to discuss Chanyeol,” he says, and his tone is worryingly sombre. “Please have a seat.”
A confused Chanyeol silently does as he’s told and waits for Joonmyun to speak with unexplained feelings of dread stirring deep in his gut.
“I know this is going to come as a huge shock to you, Chanyeol,” Joonmyun says as he paces around the room anxiously, “but business hasn’t been very good lately. In fact, it’s been so bad that I’ve decided my only real option is to close Neverland permanently.”
Chanyeol just looks at Joonmyun, expecting his boss to suddenly come out with a “haha, I’m joking, you big idiot!” but the punch line never comes, because Joonmyun isn’t joking.
Chanyeol can't explain how he feels, but he thinks it’s probably a bit like being on the receiving end of fifty Hadoukens in quick succession. Somehow he's still standing, but his life bar is virtually drained and he's about two seconds from K.O.
“But… you love this place,” he says as soon as he’s recovered enough to actually speak. “We love this place..”
“I know…” Joonmyun sighs as he sits himself down opposite Chanyeol, “but I simply can’t afford to keep Neverland open anymore. People just don’t go to arcades like they used to, and it’s not making anywhere near as much money as it once made. If anything, I’m barely breaking even these days..”
Chanyeol has to rest his head on his knees to stop it from spinning.
“They're not gonna put a Dunkin’ Donuts here are they..?”
“I'm not sure what they’re planning to do, Chanyeol. It all depends on who they lease this place to next.”
Chanyeol eventually lifts his head. He’s surprised that he isn’t crying, but he thinks that maybe he’s just too numb to cry.
“I honestly never thought I’d see the day when Neverland wouldn’t be here anymore. I really believed it would be here forever..”
“Nothing lasts forever, Chanyeol. But we've had a good run, and I'm really thankful for everything you've done for Neverland and for myself. I really wish I didn't have to do this to you, but that’s just how it’s meant to be. It’s time to let go, I think.."
“But what about you, Joonmyun hyung?” Chanyeol asks quietly. “What’s going to happen to you..?”
Joonmyun only gives him a weak smile, but he looks emotionally and physically drained, and for the first time Chanyeol starts to notice all the tiny wrinkles forming in the corners of his eyes.
“Don’t worry about me, Chanyeol. Gramps will figure something out. Everything’s going to be fine, I promise.”
Joonmyun slowly stands up from his seat and walks over to Chanyeol, where he rests a comforting hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“I still remember the first time you walked through those doors, you know. It feels like such a long time ago," he says, smiling and ruffling Chanyeol's hair affectionately. “At least one of us has grown up.”
Chanyeol watches the other man in silence as he retreats to his office and shuts the door behind him. Although the slight crack in his manager’s voice leaves him less than convinced, he tries as hard as he can to believe that things really will be okay, for Joonmyun’s sake.
Chanyeol doesn’t really know how to process the news of Neverland’s impending closure on his own. His friends are naturally saddened too, and are sympathetic to the best of their ability, but they also seem willing and able to accept the situation much more easily.
In the end, Chanyeol realises there’s really only one person who knows just how he feels. With this thought in mind, he dials Baekhyun’s number and waits for an answer.
“I’m really sorry for going off at you the other day,” he says apologetically when Baekhyun answers, “it was totally uncalled for. I just haven’t been myself lately, I guess…”
“That’s alright, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun replies, and he doesn’t sound in any way like he’s bearing a grudge. If anything, he sounds happy that Chanyeol’s calling him. “How have you been?”
“That’s a good question. Did you hear Joonmyun’s closing down the arcade..?”
There’s a long moment of silence before Baekhyun responds.
“No, I haven’t been there since last weekend.. Shit. Did he say why..?”
“It’s just like what happened to the arcade you used to go to. The place isn’t bringing in enough money, and he can’t afford to keep it open anymore. So he’s not renewing the lease, and he’s going to sell off all the machines and everything. It’s like my worst fucking nightmare…”
“I see. When does the lease run out?”
“In a couple of weeks.”
“Fuck. Poor Joonmyun… Chanyeol, I’m so sorry..”
Chanyeol has to pause to take a deep breath, because he really does feel like he’s going to cry now.
“Baekhyun.”
“Yeah.”
“We’ve got to make the most of Neverland while it’s still there. Before it’s gone forever.”
When he says those words, Chanyeol can hear his voice crack audibly just like Joonmyun’s did, and when he hears the same in Baekhyun’s reply it only makes him feel even worse.
“We will, Chanyeol. I promise.”
And so they do make the most of their remaining time at Neverland, spending almost every free hour they’ve got playing games, annoying Joonmyun and enjoying each other’s company. For some reason, however, Chanyeol just can’t bring himself to play a single game of pinball during that time. The thought alone makes him feel utterly miserable.
“You have to play at least one last game,” Baekhyun insists, but Chanyeol is reluctant.
“I just don’t think I can do it, Baek. Those machines are like my big, metal, 300-pound children. Having to let them go is killing me enough as it is..”
“Well, if they’re your children, they deserve a proper goodbye, Chanyeol.”
Chanyeol thinks it over for a moment.
“Mmm… No thanks, I’ll be right.”
Baekhyun, however, is too stubborn to let it slide. For some reason, it’s really important to him that Chanyeol plays one last game, and the latter can’t help wondering why.
“Come on. If you play just one more game, I’ll give you something awesome. And if you beat one of my top scores, I’ll give you something even more awesome.”
“…It’s not a wedgie, is it..?” Chanyeol asks warily, “because I beat Kris at air hockey once, and that was what he gave me. He also slammed the puck right into my knuckles twice during the next game..”
“Nah,” Baekhyun laughs, biting his lip naughtily. “It’s something good, I promise.”
Chanyeol’s in the middle of wondering what’s on Baekhyun’s mind when he suddenly feels cool fingers brush his hair away from his face, and then a pair of soft lips against his cheek.
“Who knows where the next kiss might be if you play..?” Baekhyun whispers teasingly, and Chanyeol nearly chokes on a mouthful of air. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time.
Okay. I can do this.
“Fine,” he sighs, “but I’m not doing this just to get a kiss from you, just so you know…”
“Sure,” Baekhyun laughs as he follows Chanyeol to the pinball aisle, “whatever you say..”
Chanyeol walks over to the Star Wars machine and almost chokes up on the spot as he pulls a coin from his pocket and stares at it for a long time. Then he looks up at the screen and blinks at it in disbelief.
Those initials next to the highest score…
“They’re mine… those are my initials. Baekhyun, why are those my initials..?”
Baekhyun doesn’t say anything, but the look in his eyes speaks volumes. Without missing another beat, Chanyeol moves from one machine to the next, checking all of the top scores.
On every single machine, the initials in first place are not BBH, but PCY.
“Baekhyun…” Chanyeol says quietly as he walks over to where the other boy is standing, “did you go and beat all of your high scores and then credit them to me..?”
Baekhyun is silent for a moment longer before he ventures to reply.
“Yes, I did. You’re the one who loved these machines the most, Chanyeol. They should leave here with your name in first place.”
“But why..?” Chanyeol begins, completely lost for words.
“Because I’ve been where you are before,” Baekhyun replies, his eyes never leaving Chanyeol’s, “so I know how you feel. And I’m not gonna lie to you, because I see no point. I really, really like you, Chanyeol. The only thing I don’t like is seeing you sad.”
Chanyeol doesn’t have any words with which to respond, so he simply takes Baekhyun in his arms, holding him tight. Then he feels Baekhyun’s head resting against his chest as the other boy holds him back, and the world starts to feel a little more upright again, if only for a moment.
Their first kiss happens unexpectedly, in one of the Purikura machines, of all places.
“How should we pose?”
“I don’t know,” Chanyeol replies, “but I want there to be at least one nice photo of us.”
The photos all turn out to be pretty spur-of-the-moment and silly, with lots of peace signs and duck faces. Then they’re down to their last shot, and before Chanyeol has time to strike a killer pose, Baekhyun pulls his face towards him and kisses him full on the lips.
The machine finishes snapping the last photograph but neither of them seem to notice. They merely separate and look into each other’s eyes for a long time in silence.
“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun finally whispers, “will you go out with me?”
“Yeah,” Chanyeol whispers back, and he pulls Baekhyun into a long, tight embrace. “Of course I will.”
They then proceed to decorate their photos, which mostly involves Baekhyun drawing love hearts and suspiciously phallic-looking objects all over the place in pastel colours. Once the photos have finished printing, Chanyeol picks them up and looks at the last one where Baekhyun kissed him.
His eyes are still open in the shot because he hadn’t had any time to prepare himself, but Baekhyun looks great. Not that Chanyeol had expected otherwise.
“Pretty kawaii desu, ne?” he smiles as he shows them to Baekhyun.
“Yeah. Even with cocks growing out of you in all directions, you’re still a cutie, Chanyeol.”
Chanyeol laughs. “I’ll go get some scissors from Joonmyun so we can split these up..”
“Don’t worry about splitting them up; you can keep them all. Just as long as you think of me whenever you look at them,” Baekhyun smiles. He’s blushing a little, and Chanyeol nearly faints because it’s so adorable.
All of the Purikura photos later end up inside Chanyeol’s wallet, where he looks at them fondly whenever he has the chance.
In the days following Neverland’s closure, Chanyeol thinks it’s lucky he’s got his first date with Baekhyun to look forward to, otherwise he’d probably be spiraling even further into a never-ending depression.
Baekhyun insists on planning everything for the evening, and although he’d have liked to do something romantic too, Chanyeol lets him do so.
He does have one thing up his sleeve, however.
“I can’t believe you actually won it,” Baekhyun laughs as he accepts the unicorn plushie from Chanyeol.
“Yeah, it took me the better part of an afternoon, but I finally owned that stupid claw machine..”
Baekhyun turns the plushie around in his hands and admires it.
“Thank you. That was very sweet of you.”
“I think I deserve a kiss for all the effort it took me to win that thing,” Chanyeol smiles as he pulls the other boy closer.
“I think I can manage that..”
Baekhyun gives him a soft, chaste kiss on the lips, and it makes Chanyeol feel like he’s got a thousand pinballs zinging around in his stomach. Although foreign, he decides it’s a nice feeling.
“How are you holding up?” Baekhyun asks him a little later over pizza, and Chanyeol puts down his slice and stares at it numbly.
“I don’t know. Not so good. I already miss seeing Joonmyun all the time, and I feel like there’s this weird Neverland-shaped hole inside me that I’ll never be able to fill…”
As soon as he says those words, Chanyeol realises that Baekhyun looks a little sad, and he suddenly feels really guilty.
“…Not that I’m saying you can’t fill my Neverland hole, because you can, and… I’m sorry, that came out really weird…”
Baekhyun looks at him oddly for a moment, but then he laughs and Chanyeol feels slightly better.
“I think I just need a little time, that’s all,” he says quietly when the giggles have all died down. “I’ll be able to let go eventually.”
Baekhyun reaches across the table to grab a hold of both of his hands, and Chanyeol feels a bit of electricity run through him when they touch. It’s a little like the zapping feeling you get when you walk across a carpeted room and touch a metal doorknob, only less hair-raising.
“You will,” Baekhyun says gently, “of course you will.”
The dinner is followed by a movie, and despite Baekhyun’s questionable choice of a somewhat lame romantic comedy, Chanyeol finds himself getting pretty wrapped up in the storyline. But then he feels a soft hand toying with his fingers. And then those fingers are laced together with his, and Chanyeol has to internally beg his palms to stop sweating, because his hand must feel like a Slip n’ Slide right now. Baekhyun, however, doesn’t seem to find it off-putting at all.
Chanyeol does his best not to react to Baekhyun’s fingers, which are now stroking the palm of his hand, tracing little circles agonisingly slowly and trailing along the creases in the skin. He can feel Baekhyun looking at him intently, waiting for him to cave in and turn his head so that they can make eye contact, but Chanyeol is reluctant to let that happen because he can only imagine where it might lead. He clears his throat nervously and stares straight ahead, looking at the screen but not really seeing what’s going on. He’s far too distracted with trying to look like this isn’t bothering him, but he has a feeling Baekhyun would probably smell his nervousness a mile away.
After some time, a clearly impatient Baekhyun stops stroking Chanyeol’s hand and reaches over to forcefully turn his head. Chanyeol finds himself locking eyes with the other boy, and before he has time to think about the meaning behind that worryingly intense gaze, Baekhyun’s lips are on his.
“Baek I kinda.. wanna watch the mmh-”
“Shut up…” Baekhyun breathes before reconnecting their lips, giving Chanyeol a mouthful of his tongue to silence him.
“Baek, can’t this wait until later..?” Chanyeol whispers when the other boy eventually moves his lips to his neck.
“Nope. Wanna kiss you now, not later..” Baekhyun replies abruptly, barely giving Chanyeol the opportunity to mumble a quick “okay..” in response before he’s back at his mouth again.
It’s nothing like their comparatively tame first kiss inside the Purikura booth. Baekhyun is handling him expertly just like he would a machine, pushing all the right buttons at the right times, and Chanyeol can barely hold in the moans threatening to spill from his lips. It’s a good thing they’re in the back row and there aren't too many people around, or else they’d probably be in danger of being thrown out for public indecency.
He can tell it’s going to be painful to stop, though, because Baekhyun's lips feel really nice, and the way he’s shamelessly manhandling Chanyeol feels even better.
Then Baekhyun brazenly positions himself on Chanyeol’s lap, straddling him and kissing him with even more gusto, during which Chanyeol finally manages to get his hands on that glorious derriere and Baekhyun only seems too happy to let him. For once, Chanyeol decides to switch his overactive mind off and stop thinking. It's the sort of moment that's better left to the feelings, he thinks.
“I'm bummed about Neverland, but I'm glad I met you, Baekhyun,” he whispers, “…really glad. You're definitely my top score to date.”
Baekhyun only laughs in response. “Baby, I'm the best score of your fucking life..”
Chanyeol doesn't dare argue with that, because he knows it's true.
“I just want you to know, you'll always have me, okay?” Baekhyun whispers between kisses. “And I’ll do my best to fill your Neverland hole, as well as any other holes you have that might need filling.”
Chanyeol laughs. “Okay.”
“And you can ring my bells and pull my plunger anytime you like.”
“Sweet. Do I have to pay to use you?”
“We’ll come to an agreement later.”
“Okay. We might need to come back and watch this movie again.”
“It’s alright,” Baekhyun laughs, “I picked a shitty film for this very reason.”
“You are the sexy spawn of Satan..”
They spend the rest of the film making out, and Chanyeol ends up not really caring that he’s missed the entire thing.
Baekhyun looks beautiful when they leave the cinema together, his face all flushed and hair tousled, and lips pink and puffy from all that kissing. It makes Chanyeol think that maybe he's okay with finally trading in the cheap thrills of his childhood after all this time, just as long as he can spend his last few years of relatively carefree adolescence with Baekhyun instead.
“We’ve got one more place I want to take you tonight,” Baekhyun announces once they’re outside the cinema.
“Oh? Where to?”
Baekhyun stands on his tiptoes to whisper in Chanyeol’s ear.
“There’s a love hotel around the corner I’ve been wanting to check out…”
All of the colour promptly drains out of Chanyeol’s face.
“Excuse me..?”
Baekhyun can barely hold in his laughter at Chanyeol’s panicked expression. “I was joking, you big idiot. We’re just going to the noraebang down the road..”
“Oh, right..” Chanyeol replies, internally breathing a sigh of relief.
“We’ll save the love hotel for the second date..” Baekhyun adds, winking suggestively at him, and he whisks Chanyeol away by the hand before the latter can protest.
He practically drags Chanyeol down the street and through the front door of the noraebang, and the taller boy nearly coughs up a lung as soon as they walk into the foyer, because next to the front desk is a Star Wars pinball machine.
The Star Wars pinball machine.
“Baek… is that…?”
Baekhyun doesn’t give an astonished Chanyeol the chance to finish his question.
“Yeah, it is. Like I said, I know what it’s like having something that means so much to you taken away like that. So I wanted to give you a part of it back.”
“But… how…?”
Baekhyun shrugs. “I knew the Star Wars machine was your favourite, and it was the machine I was playing on when we first met. With those things in mind, I went and asked Joonmyun hyung if he would consider selling it to me for cheap so I could give it to you as a gift… but he insisted on giving it to me for nothing instead, saying that you almost single-handedly kept him in business over the past ten years. He said you should consider it a parting gift for your services as a customer, employee and friend.”
Chanyeol doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“Oh god, I have to thank him…”
“Don’t worry, I thanked him a million times on your behalf,” Baekhyun laughs. “Anyway, I had nowhere to put the damn thing, and Joonmyun came up with the brilliant idea to ask the owners of this noraebang if they would consider having it in their foyer, given that they would be profiting from its presence. They were only too happy to oblige. So now we can come and play on it whenever we want, and so can anyone else.”
“Baek, I don’t know what to say…”
“You don’t need to say anything,” Baekhyun replies quietly, and he holds out a coin with a gentle smile gracing his lips. “Just play.”
“But don’t you want to have the first go? You’re the reason it’s here in the first place..”
Baekhyun only shakes his head and steers Chanyeol in front of the machine. “Nuh-uh. This one’s all on you, big guy..”
Chanyeol leans over to softly kiss Baekhyun on the corner of the mouth as he accepts the coin and pops it into the slot, and his heart thrills at the satisfying sound it makes when it rattles into the machine. Once again, he doesn’t bother with his pre-game ritual; the warm arms wrapped around his waist are all the luck he needs.
He turns around to give Baekhyun one more sneaky kiss, just because he can, and smiles as he pulls the plunger.
Oh Sehun really likes pinball. Every time he walks past the old Star Wars pinball machine in the foyer of his favourite noraebang, he can't resist popping a coin in the slot and giving it a whirl, much to the annoyance of his companions.
“Come on, Sehun,” his friend Luhan whines, “everyone else is already in the room waiting for us. You're cutting into our singing time..”
“Alright, relax, I'm coming...” Sehun mutters, “just let me quickly finish this game, I’m on a roll over here..”
Luhan groans but lets his friend finish the game in peace. It doesn’t last very long, because Sehun’s an impatient player, and he manages to get three tilt warnings within the first few minutes.
Game over.
“Hah. Good job..”
“Meh, the tilt sensor on this heap of shit is more sensitive than most,” Sehun grumbles, “and I've been trying to take out the top score for ages now, but this guy is fucking impossible to beat..”
“Sounds frustrating,” Luhan replies as they make their way down the hall to join the rest of their group. “Who's the top player, anyway?”
“I dunno,” Sehun sighs. “Some dude called 'B4C'..”
These days, Park Chanyeol still has only three words for Byun Baekhyun.
‘Bitch’ is definitely not one of them.
