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Despite what he told his friends, Jimin didn’t even like the arcade all that much. He would even go as far as to say he hated it. The flashing lights on all the games were overwhelming, the sounds of children screeching were borderline unbearable, and the floors were always weirdly sticky. Yet Jimin still found himself spending half of his paycheck there every single month, all just for the chance to talk to the beautiful cashier at the prize counter.
˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
The first time he’d seen him, Jimin had been hanging out with his friends.
After the end of a long and exhausting exam season, they’d all finally had time to hang out as a group again. Jungkook had been insistent on them going to the arcade, claiming he wanted to beat the Street Fighter highscore now that he was free from assignments for a while. With the rest of the group being out of fun ideas, they’d all agreed without much complaint. Jimin wasn’t particularly excited, he’d never been very good at arcade games, but it had been a while since the last full group hangout and he missed everyone too much to kick us a fuss.
When he arrived at the arcade, still tired as a result of many all nighters pulled trying to cram for exams, Jimin had immediately been seized by Taehyung, who seemed unusually chipper for such an early morning. The boy was notorious for hating mornings; and he and Jimin had bonded over it when they’d met in their 9am Art History class.
‘Good morning Tae, as glad as I am to see you, I’d appreciate it if you could lessen your hold.’ Jimin yawned, stumbling slightly as Taehyung dragged him over the rest of their friends.
‘Sorry Jiminie, but a long day of you losing to me awaits!’ Taehyung smiled, a boxy grin taking over his face. Jimin sighed out a laugh, knowing that despite the fact his best friend was only teasing, he was also right on the money.
The group finally entered the arcade, after a lot of rowdy laughter and shoving as they all greeted each other. Jungkook made a beeline towards Street Fighter as expected, whilst Namjoon and Taehyung made their way to the air hockey table; muttering about forfeits for whoever lost. Without a vested interest in any of the games, Jimin meandered aimlessly, finally deciding on an old pac-man machine. From here, he could hear Hobi and Jin screeching slightly from some kind of Walking Dead shooter game they’d decided to play.
After hours of the group playing different games, they all had a decent collection of tickets each, even Jimin, thanks to many attempts on Flappy Bird. The six of them slowly made their way to the ticket desk, Jungkook and Taehyung whispering about a teddy bear that they thought they had enough for, as long as they pooled their tickets together.
They reached the desk, and Jimin looked up from his ticket receipt, scanning the shelves to see what prize he could afford. The only thing he had enough tickets for was a box of Pepero, and the only flavour left was white cookie. Great. All his money gone for a snack he didn’t even like. He’d just give it to Jin-hyung, he reasoned, he knew that his hyung enjoyed them. He stepped up closer to the desk, about to show his ticket and ask for the chocolate sticks when he finally looked up.
In front of him was the prettiest man Jimin had ever seen. He wasn’t even exaggerating, the man had catlike features, and the cutest nose that Jimin just wanted to pepper kisses on. After a nudge from Taehyung, who furrowed his brow, Jimin realised he’d just been standing silently gaping at the mint haired man in front of him. Yoongi, his name tag read. Pretty name for a pretty boy, Jimin mused, before trying to shake himself out of it finally, handing over his ticket receipt.
‘Uh, could I have the Pepero sticks please?’ Jimin mumbled, avoiding eye contact and fiddling with the sleeves of his oversized sweater. Yoongi hummed quietly (the noise sounding not unlike a cat purring, Jimin thought to himself) before turning to grab the candy behind him and putting it in a bag.
‘Thank you, Yoongi-ssi.’ Jimin murmured with a slight bow, grabbing the bag and scurrying over to where Jungkook and Taehyung were taking a picture with the bunny teddy that they’d won.
‘Didn’t know you worked here hyung!’ Namjoon smiled, walking over to the desk after coming back from the food stand- his forfeit from Tae after losing the air hockey match. He handed the hotdog to Taehyung before making his way back to Yoongi. The mint haired boy looked up from where he’d been not-very-secretly scrolling on his phone. Jimin didn’t blame him, other than the group of six, the arcade was practically dead.
‘Unfortunately. Gotta pay for food somehow.’ Yoongi grunted. The two chatted for a little longer, talking about some project in their shared music production class that Jimin didn’t really understand fully, and lost interest in quickly. Except then, Namjoon made a joke and Jimin was suddenly blessed with the sight of Yoongi smiling. God, that smile. Jimin wasn’t new to beautiful boys with beautiful smiles, but this smile. This smile was otherworldly. He could feel himself flushing just from a glimpse at it. Jimin turned to face the others, hoping to ease the flustered blush that was surely lighting up his face, and was rewarded with a nudge from Tae.
‘Why do you look so embarrassed? What happened?’ His best friend questioned, brow furrowed once more.
‘It’s nothing, just warm in here I think.’ Jimin chuckled, the laugh sounding fake to his own ears. He glances over at Yoongi one more time, trying to commit his face to memory. Pointless, he thinks to himself, he’d never forget a face that perfect.
Tae’s face lit up, and Jimin realised his error immediately. Taehyung was his platonic soulmate, they could practically read each other's minds, there was no way he wouldn’t instantly put two and two together.
‘So Chim,’ the boy said with a huge grin, ‘you’ve got the hots for Namjoonie-hyung’s friend hm?’
‘Okay first of all, nobody has used that phrase in 10 years. Secondly, no way. I just thought his hair looked cool.’ Jimin defended, his fast paced rambling giving away the lie.
‘My angel. My soulmate. My beloved. The beanie he’s wearing covers most of his hair. You can’t lie to me. I know you too well.’ Tae smugly giggled.
Jimin sighed, knowing he was certainly caught out. Before he had a chance to reply to Taehyung, probably with some snarky remark, Namjoon finally rejoined the other five. ‘Sorry, that’s Min Yoongi. He’s in my music production class, and there’s this assignment we’re paired up for. Had to organise time to meet up.’ Namjoon said, rubbing the back of his neck slightly in apology.
‘No need to apologise Joonie-hyung, isn’t that right Jimin-ah!’ Taehyung shouted, chuckling as he shook Jimin’s shoulders gently. ‘Shut the fuck up Tae.’ Jimin grumbled, shaking Tae’s hands off him.
Namjoon shrugged, not in on the joke and not willing to interrupt whatever the two were fighting about. They all separated to make their way to the parking lot. Jimin had caught the bus to the arcade, because even after all the relentless teasing from his friends, he still hadn’t got his license yet. And to make matters worse, he’d been running late that morning, and told his friends he’d meet them there. Thankfully though, Jin offered to drive him home. The group said their goodbyes, separating into the two cars to head home after the long day, and Jimin got into Jin’s sleek black car.
Before heading into his apartment, he reached into the bag to hand Jin the Pepero he’d won, and his hand brushed against something else. Confused, Jimin opened up the bag properly to see what the mysterious object was, and saw a little puppy keyring. It was white with a yellow hood on, and quite frankly adorable. Jimin didn’t understand. He’d won a measly 100 tickets, there was no way he had enough for this. Nor did he ask for it. Yoongi, he thought. Yoongi gave him a keyring. An extremely cute keyring. Fuck, Jimin was so gone for him already.
‘Jimin-ah?’ Seokjin said with his brow raised. ‘Not that I don’t love your presence, but are you good? You’ve just been staring into that bag for a good minute now with some weird look on your face,’ he added.
‘Ah sorry Jin-hyung, got lost in my head for a sec!’ Jimin smiled. ‘I didn’t have enough tickets for a different prize, and I know you like these, so here you go hyungie!’ he giggled, handing the chocolate over to Jin.
‘Yah, you’re too kind for your own good Min-ah.’ his hyung whined, ‘thank you though, I’m gonna demolish them the second I get home.’
‘You’re welcome hyung, had to pay you back for the lift home. It was nice to hang out as a group again, but I’ve gotta go now, my eomma will be calling soon and she’ll never forgive me if I miss it.’ Jimin laughed with a slightly strained smile, feeling guilty for the lie; but he really wanted to go home to see the keyring in detail.
‘We’ll plan something again soon, go call your eomma. Bye Min-ah!’ Jin waved.
Jimin waved back before scurrying through the lobby, raring to make it back to his apartment. After fumbling with his keycard, he finally made it inside, and immediately took the keyring out of the bag. He was almost embarrassed at his eagerness over what was probably a very cheap gift, but Yoongi gave it to him. He chose this exact keyring, and he chose to give it to him specifically. For the millionth time today, Jimin realised he was fucked.
˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
After that, Jimin went to the arcade almost every day for a week and a half, hoping to see Yoongi again. He wasn’t exactly sure what his plan was, he wasn’t brave enough to ask why Yoongi had given him the keyring; and he wasn’t confident enough to try and flirt with the guy, but he just had to see him again. And finally, on a Saturday, after Jimin had spent way too much money on the basketball machine, he finally saw him at the desk again. He got his ticket receipt from the machine, and headed over to the desk.
‘Hello Yoongi-ssi!’ Jimin said cheerily, happiness at Yoongi finally being back overtaking his nerves.
‘Hey Jimin, I see that you’re glad to be free from the hell of exam season,’ Yoongi smiled, that beautiful gummy smile. Jimin was about to melt.
‘You uh, you know my name?’ Jimin questioned, trying futilely to stop his cheeks from flushing.
‘You’re friends with Joon right? He mentions you and your friends sometimes. D’you want the Pepero sticks again?’ Yoongi murmured, hands hovering near the white cookie sticks.
‘Yes please! Thank you Yoongi-ssi.’ Jimin grinned. Yoongi handed over the bag, and Jimin wasn’t sure if he was imagining it, but he was sure he saw a matching blush on Yoongi’s face. ‘Have a good shift Yoongi-ssi!’ Jimin chirped as he walked away.
Even though the interaction was only a few minutes long, Jimin spent his walk to the bus stop smiling like a fool.
˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
The next time Jimin saw Yoongi shockingly wasn’t at the arcade. Not because he’d stopped going to the arcade, no, Jimin still went there daily. The next time Jimin saw Yoongi was at a small party Namjoon had been throwing. Party might not be the right word, it was a small gathering with Jimin’s friend group, and also Yoongi. Taehyung had teased Jimin about his little crush on Yoongi again when the group were out for dinner, and Namjoon had overheard and cheekily grinned down at his steak. Jimin should’ve seen this coming really, his friends were pests. Of course they would try to play matchmaker.
Jimin arrived at the apartment eager and ready to get drunk, and binge takeout food with his best friends. He walked in, after Hobi greeted him at the door with a big smile and an almost bone crushing hug. The pair chatted randomly as they walked into the living room, where Jimin's jaw immediately dropped. He was here. He was here. Sat on the couch with Namjoon. Why was Yoongi here? Jimin always took good care of his appearance, but he was hardly looking his best right now. He had thought this would just be a chill get together with his friends, stuffing their faces and watching some Netflix show that none of them were all that invested in. Had he known that Yoongi would be here, he would’ve at least styled his hair!
He greeted everyone quickly, and scurried off to the kitchen to make himself a drink. He was certainly going to need it tonight. After pouring a touch too much vodka into a cup and mixing it with some lemonade, he took a breath and walked towards the living room again.
Of course. Hobi took the only empty seat on the armchair. Namjoon looked up after noticing Jimin walking back into the living room, and grinned that cheeky, dimpled smile. ‘Min-ah! Glad to see you,’ he cheered, before looking around and feigning shock at the lack of seats. ‘Not to worry, you can sit here, me and hyung can make space.’ he giggled, clearly already a decent way to being drunk. He shoved himself against one side of the couch, leaving a gap for Jimin to sit between him and Yoongi.
‘Ah it’s okay hyung! I can sit on the floor.’ Jimin chuckled nervously, before starting to make his way towards the carpeted floor.
‘Jimin.’ Yoongi called, and Jimin’s eyes darted to him immediately, as if on instinct. ‘Just sit here, the floor in this apartment is hard as rock’ he mumbled in that deep rumbling voice of his.
‘Okay, if you’re sure, Yoongi-ssi.’ Jimin whispered, settling himself down into the small gap on the couch.
Despite the nerves thrumming through his bones, Jimin slowly found himself relaxing as the many drinks throughout the night took effect. Yoongi fit into their group perfectly, his blunt humour making them all burst into giggles. They finally put on some anime that Jin and Jungkook were insistent that they watched, Hunter x Hunter, Jimin thinks it’s called. He’s not too sure, he was too busy thinking about the heat of Yoongi’s thigh against his.
They were a few episodes in when Jimin felt himself getting sleepy, losing focus on the show before him.
‘You tired?’ Yoongi grumbled next to him, his head dipped down slightly so his voice only reached Jimin’s ears.
‘Hm? No, I’m good, think it’s just the alcohol.’ Jimin whispered back, turning his head to look into Yoongi’s eyes. They were so deep, so beautiful.
‘Noticed the keychain you had on your bag, you liked it then?’ Yoongi questioned, a sweet smile on his face.
‘Oh so we’re talking about it then hm? Yeah, he’s adorable. Thank you Yoongi-ssi, I’m very grateful for him.’ Jimin grinned, his eyes crescenting.
‘I’m glad. Adorable keyring, for an adorable boy.’ Yoongi grimaced after saying it. ‘Sorry, I’m not very smooth, that was terrible.’
Jimin giggled at his apology. ‘It’s okay Yoongi-ssi, I thought it was endearing.’
‘Hyung.’ Yoongi grunted.
‘Hm?’ Jimin queried.
‘Call me hyung. Seems like Namjoon’s set on integrating me into the group, and you guys aren’t so bad I guess’ Yoongi sighed with a fake eye roll, grinning afterwards.
‘Risking your job to give a present to someone who’s not so bad is crazy work, hyung’ Jimin giggled, pushing Yoongi’s shoulder lightly.
‘Alright alright, caught me in a lie. But I wouldn’t have lost my job, no way they could get someone else to cover the Saturday shift in that hellhole.’ Yoongi mumbled with a frown. Jimin didn’t blame him, he doesn’t think he could handle a shift full of screaming kids and over enthusiastic teenagers making out in corners.
‘Do you only work Saturdays? I went to see you after the first time we met and you were never there.’ Jimin mumbled, alcohol loosening his lips more than he’d like.
‘Stalking me are you, Min-ah?’ Yoongi smirked, the smug look on his face making him look all the more handsome. ‘But yeah, I work Saturdays at the arcade, and the rest of the week at a cafe on campus.’ he added, playing with a strand of Jimin’s hair nonchalantly.
‘It wasn’t stalking! I just wanted to thank you, and maybe I wouldn’t have minded seeing you again.’ Jimin sighed looking down at his lap in embarrassment.
‘Well know you know my schedule, feel free to stalk whenever you want.’ Yoongi winked, clearly enjoying Jimin’s embarrassed flush.
‘Hyung!’ Jimin whined, before being interrupted by Tae on the other sofa.
‘Can you two stop flirting for a few minutes? This is my favourite arc and all I can pay attention to is you two being seconds away from jumping each other's bones.’ Taehyung grumbled, throwing a pillow at Jimin.
The two boys flushed again, Yoongi with a slight smile on his face, Jimin looking down at his lap once again.
As the night drew on, Jimin finally found himself almost giving into the sleepy haze. Namjoon was already snoring next to them, and Hobi looked seconds away from joining him. He felt Yoongi nudging his shoulder gently, and turned to face him.
‘I’m gonna head home, want me to drop you off on my way?’ Yoongi whispers, clearly trying not to rouse the others.
‘Are you sure hyung? I can take a cab, or just stay here, Joonie-hyung wouldn’t mind.’ Jimin mumbles back.
‘I don’t mind, you look exhausted.’ Yoongi uttered, getting up and stretching after being sat for so long.
‘Wow hyung, tell me how you really feel.’ Jimin giggled, getting up to join him. ‘But yeah, if you don’t mind I’d be very grateful.’
‘Don’t pout Jiminie, was only teasing. Even exhausted you’re still beautiful as ever.’ he said, his gummy smile making an appearance and almost sending Jimin spiraling again.
˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
The drive wasn’t that long, Jimin not living all that far from Namjoon’s apartment. Him and Yoongi had been joking and flirting throughout the short journey though, and Jimin found himself wishing he lived on the other side of Seoul, because he wasn’t quite ready to give this up yet. As Yoongi pulled up outside his apartment, Jimin sat in the passenger seat fidgeting with his sweater sleeve once more. Finally, he unbuckled his belt, Yoongi following suit and they both exited the car.
‘Thank you for driving me home, Yoongi-hyung. I had a lot of fun tonight, even though I don’t remember a single thing from the show we were watching.’ Jimin grinned, looking up slightly at Yoongi.
‘I did too.’ Yoongi said shortly. He looked down at his feet, hands in the pockets of his olive bomber jacket. He looked like he was fighting an internal battle, before finally looking up again, jaw clenched slightly. ‘Forgive me if I’m way off the mark here, but uh, do you wanna go out sometime? Just me and you, for dinner maybe. Or something-’
‘Yoongi hyung.’ Jimin interrupted his rambling, noticing the flush on his hyung’s face, and the awkward way he’d been rubbing at the back of his neck.
Yoongi looked towards Jimin, the burgundy tinge on his cheeks darkening further.
‘I’d love to go out sometime, just us, for dinner or something.’ Jimin teased, mimicking Yoongi’s nervous rant.
‘Don’t tease Min-ah, I was nervous. You’re so beautiful and I didn’t wanna get it wrong and make you uncomfortable, but I also couldn’t let you go without asking first.’ Yoongi pouted.
‘You could never get it wrong. You could’ve asked me to go on a date at that shitty arcade and I’d have agreed because it’s you. Gimme your phone.’ Jimin smiled, endeared by Yoongi’s cute nose scrunch as he pouted.
Yoongi handed over his phone so Jimin could put his number in, and then paused and smirked. ‘Shitty arcade huh? Bold words coming from someone who went there almost every day for over a week.’
Jimin blushed. God, how was he supposed to cope with this newfound.. whatever it was.. with Yoongi, when he couldn’t make it five minutes without blushing.
‘I think we established I only went there in hopes of seeing you. Lot of good that did me, you were barely there. All that money wasted on Flappy Bird.’ Jimin sighed before giggling.
‘No need for Flappy Bird anymore, I’ll make sure to plan something far away from the arcade.’ Yoongi said with a small smile. ‘Now, you look like you’re about to fall asleep standing up, go to sleep Jiminie. I’ll text you in the morning, hm?’ he added, brushing a strand of Jimin’s hair out of his face gently.
‘You’d better. I’ll track you down otherwise. You’ve already given me your schedule. Don’t think I won’t.’ Jimin teased.
‘I’m sufficiently threatened, goodnight Jimin-ah.’ Yoongi whispered, shivering slightly from the brisk cold of the night.
‘Goodnight Yoongi-hyung.’ Jimin whispered back, quickly kissing his cheek gently, before scurrying into his apartment lobby.
By the time he’d reached his apartment door, his phone chimed with a text. One single word, from an unsaved number.
02-312-3456
Cute.
Jimin grinned and giggled almost embarrassingly softly. He saved the number, and sent a cute selfie back.
Despite his intense dislike for the arcade, he can’t hate it too much. It gave him his Yoongi hyung after all.