Chapter Thirteen: A Day Out
Ivan and Yong Soo stood, both holding oversized plastic handguns, aiming them at hordes of zombies on the screen in front of them. Yong Soo's eyes were narrowed in deep concentration and he was lightly biting his lower lip. "Headshot!" He shouted abruptly as one of the zombies lurking behind a stack of crates had its head taken off it in a pixilated shower of poorly animated gore.
"It has me!" Ivan cried out suddenly as one of the zombies grabbed his character and began to gnaw on his neck and shoulder.
Yong Soo turned quickly and aimed his gun at Ivan's attacker, but the Russian's already low health bar flashed red and the words 'GAME OVER' soon sprawled across Ivan's half of the screen.
"Ack! Sorry, da-ze! Quick, put some more credits it!"
"A-ah, да!" Ivan dropped the gun, which swung lazily on its cord, while he took out the credit card-like device which, at the start of the activity, had been full of credits but was now dangerously depleted. As he fumbled with the card, he looked over at the Korean. Ivan couldn't get over how different of a person Yong Soo was while he was playing these games. He was serious, focused... intense. The way his eyes glinted and he stuck out his tongue when he concentrated sent shivers down Ivan's spine. And not in a bad way.
Ivan swiped the card, grabbed his gun, which hung low by his feet, and rejoined Yong Soo, determined not to let his new friend down again. Despite his resolve, however, Yong Soo had to rescue him several more times from attacking zombies and that dreaded message was soon written across his section of the screen again.
"Aw, man!" Yong Soo exclaimed, "My bad, da-ze! Just put in some more credits, okay? We're almost at the end!"
Ivan stood silent for a moment, afraid to upset the other, before he finally spoke in a soft voice, "But the credits are being gone..."
"Huh?" Yong Soo stopped and took his eyes off the screen for the first time since they started playing. "Oh." He paused for a second, then put the gun back in the mounted holster. "Just give 'em a minute to kill me and I'll grab my tickets and we can go play something else, okay?"
Ivan was about to protest, but without Yong Soo keeping them at bay, the hordes of zombie attackers soon swarmed his character and the ending message was displayed on his screen as well.
Yong Soo hummed happily as he tore the long line of tickets from the machine and shoved them in the bucket that the cashier filling their cards had provided on the Korean's request. He turned to leave, but a change in the screen caught his eye. "Oh, 야 호! I got a high score!" He spun around and quickly inserted the initials 'IYS', which then showed up at on the eighth line of the list. "Ha! I knocked off one of Kiku-hyung's scores! He's gonna be maaaad." Yong Soo sang out then laughed.
Ivan leaned forward to take a closer look at the screen:
High Scores:
1 HK 6,785,239 pts.
2 IYS 4,867,989 pts.
3 HK 4,819,645 pts.
4 WL 4,528,516 pts.
5 IYS 4,117,931 pts.
6 AFJ 3,942,670 pts.
7 HK 3,864,583, pts.
8 IYS 3,622,915 pts.
9 HK 3,605,777 pts.
10 WL 3,457,813 pts.
"That one's Alfred," Yong Soo said, pointing to the sixth name on the list, "but the rest are me, Lee, and Kiku-hyung, da-ze! It's my goal to beat Kiku-hyung's crazy high score, but I haven't been able to so far..."
"Do not vorry! I am being sure you can do it!" Ivan said confidently. "You-you are really good at game," he continued more softly, smiled, then embarrassed, pulled his scarf partly over his face.
Yong Soo smiled brightly. "Thanks! And you're right, I bet I'll do it soon! I mean, I practically invented high scores!" He laughed. "Oh!" He exclaimed suddenly, as if just thinking of something. "I know what we can play next! C'mon!" he grabbed Ivan by the arm, then, still jumping around excitedly, pulled him across the arcade.
Ivan couldn't help the silly smile that came across his face as he watched Yong Soo prance around and he just let the other boy pull him around. When they reached the next game, however, the smile left. "I do not dance, Yong Soo," he said with a tight-lipped frown.
"Oh, c'mon," Yong Soo whined. "Dance Dance Revolution is one of the dance games ever, da-ze! We'll do an easy song, please?"
"Не. I do not dance." Ivan's voice was stern, but grew soft as he looked down at his feet. "I am not good at the dancing. I vill just vatch you."
Yong Soo pouted and stared at Ivan for a moment, but stopped when he realized that the Russian wasn't going to be swayed. He sighed overdramatically and held out his bucket of tickets. "Fine, but you have to hold my tickets for me then, da-ze."
The Korean handed Ivan his tickets and hopped onto the dance machine. Ivan watched as he began humming an upbeat tune and flipping through the song choices. He was glad Yong Soo didn't seem too upset, but he just really didn't want to dance, especially not the kind of dancing Yong Soo probably wanted to do. He... wasn't exactly light on his feet.
Ivan's thoughts were interrupted when a fast-paced began playing and a happy-sounding, slightly high pitched woman started singing in a foreign language. He looked up and stared in amazement as Yong Soo moved his feet faster than Ivan had thought possible and twisted his torso in a manner that left Ivan blushing. Ivan couldn't help but agree with the announcer's declarations of "Perfect!"
By the time Yong Soo had gotten to the last song in a very complicated set, he was flushed a bright red, sweat ran down the side of his face and hit the collar of his over-sized, dark blue hoodie, and his lips were parted as he panted softly.
Ivan watched intently as his imagination ran wild to dark, shameful corners of his mind. Corners where Yong Soo lay flushed, sweaty, and panting beneath him, wearing significantly less clothing than he was now.
Yong Soo stepped down from the dance area and wiped the sweat from his brow, thinking that he probably should have taken his hoodie off before he started dancing. He looked over at Ivan, about to tell him that he was ready to go, but saw the vacant look on his face and raised an eyebrow. After a second, the Korean grinned. He knew what that look was. He laughed and dashed past Ivan, snatching his bucket of tickets on the way. He didn't even bother to shove the tickets from his round of DDR in with the rest and just clutched them in his other hand as he ran to the prize counter.
Ivan's mind snapped away from his shameful, but pleasing, thoughts when Yong Soo took the tickets from him. He watched, confused, as Yong Soo laughed and ran across the arcade. He followed at a more reasonable pace, coming up behind Yong Soo at the counter.
Yong Soo spun around just as Ivan arrived. "Taa daa!" he sang, holding out a medium-sized stuffed tiger toy with both hands. "It's a tiger, da-ze! They're the national animal of South Korea, you know."
Ivan stared at it. It was cute and seemed to suit the Korean in some strange way. It seemed to be a fairly well-made toy, with dark orange and black fur, black button eyes, and a long, fluffy tail. "Okay?" Ivan said, confused as to why the other boy was still holding it out.
Yong Soo pouted and hugged the toy to his chest. "You don't want it?"
The Russian looked up from the tiger, eyes wide, mouth open with surprise. "I-is for me?"
"Uh-huh!" Yong Soo smiled and shoved the tiger toward Ivan again.
Ivan's hands tentatively reached out to take the stuffed animal. He held it for a moment, gingerly, as if it might break if wasn't careful with it. A warm, fluttery feeling rose in his chest and he hugged the toy tightly. A present! Somebody other than his sisters gave him a present and, better yet, it was Yong Soo! He could barely believe it! "Спасибо. Thank you."
Yong Soo couldn't help but grin at the sight of the large Russian smiling and snuggling the stuffed animal. "You're welcome, da-ze!"
"I... do not think I am having enough tickets to get you something..." Ivan said sadly as the thought came to him.
"Oh, no!" Yong Soo waved his hands in front of himself, sleeves flapping wildly. "You just save those tickets up for yourself, da-ze! Besides, I've won everything I really want from this place. Anyway..." His stomach rumbled loudly. "All that dancing made me kind of hungry... Wanna go grab something to eat?"
"Да! Can... can I buy dinner?" Ivan asked shyly.
Yong Soo jumped up and down excitedly. "Really?"
"Да!" Ivan said, thrilled to be the one to make Yong Soo so happy. "Vill be vay to say thank you for tiger." He hugged the toy again as he and Yong Soo left the arcade.
-o-o-o-
Ivan and Yong Soo sat at a small table covered with an off-white tablecloth. A lit candle stood in the center, causing an orange glow to play lightly across their faces.
"Wow..." Yong Soo muttered breathily. "This place is so nice, da-ze!"
"Is not that nice," Ivan replied sheepishly, though he couldn't deny that he was pleased by the other's reaction.
"I don't really go out to eat a lot, at least not to places as nice as this." Yong Soo admitted. "Sometimes I'll run out with Lee and the guys to get some fast food, but mostly I just eat whatever Yao-hyung or Kiku-hyung cooks."
"That is-"
"Ve? Is that you, Yong Soo? Fratello! It's Yong Soo!" A young brunette boy with a vacant smile floated over to their table, followed by another darker-haired boy who was frowning. Both were dressed as waiters and the second was carrying a stack of menus.
"What's up, Yong Soo? I don't think we've ever seen you in Grandpa's restaurant before," said the darker-haired boy.
"Hey guys!" Yong Soo smiled excitedly. "I didn't know this was your Grandpa's place! Oh! This is Ivan." Yong Soo gestured to his companion. "He's the one that brought me here. Ivan, this is Feliciano and Lovino Vargas. They're my friends from school!"
"Oh... Привет," Ivan muttered, frowning. He wasn't happy about his time with Yong Soo being interrupted, no matter who it was he was meeting.
Feliciano whimpered and hid behind his brother. "Ve... Fratello, his face got all scary!"
"What? Oh! No, no!" Yong Soo protested. "You don't have to be scared of Ivan! He's cool, I promise da-ze!"
Ivan's chest felt all warm and he smiles. No one's really defended him like that before.
While Feliciano looked unconvinced, Lovino only looked upset. "Chigi!" He shouted. "I'm not afraid of him! What kind of idiota would be scared of that guy? Do I look scared to you?" He crossed his arms over his chest and huffed.
Yong Soo shrugged. "Well, not anymore-"
"Taci!" Lovino said curtly, frowning and hitting him on the head with the menu. He then dropped the menu on the table in front of him. He looked suspiciously at Ivan and, deciding it was in his best interest to be polite no matter what his friend said, silently handed him a menu as well. "Our special today is Pork Marsal with spinach. It comes with either breadsticks or salad."
"And you should get gelato for dessert!" Feliciano added enthusiastically.
"Well, that works for me, da-ze! I don't really know much about Italian food." Yong Soo laughed.
"I vill have that, too," Ivan said, handing the Italians back the menu.
"Sure, sure," Lovino took back the menus. "I'll be back with your drinks." He walked away, waving casually over his shoulder. Feliciano ran backwards after him, waving goodbye eagerly.
Yong Soo smiled and waved back, then turned to Ivan. "Thanks for taking me out, da-ze. I'm having a lot of fun."
Ivan blushed and looked down at the table. "I am having the fun, too," he said. The words were muffled by the scarf around his face but, judging by the way Yong Soo's smile grew, it was still loud enough for the other to hear.
-o-o-o-
With full stomachs and smiles on their faces, Ivan and Yong Soo walked up the porch stairs to stand in front of Yong Soo's front door. For a moment the two stood silently, neither wanting to be the one to end the night.
Yong Soo bit his lower lip. "So, Ivan," he asked softly. "This was kind of like a date, wasn't it?"
Ivan turned a bright shade of red and sputtered incoherently. "Vhat-"
"I wouldn't mind doing it again sometime," Yong Soo said shyly. He stepped forward, his body now mere inches from Ivan's. He rested his hands lightly on Ivan's elbows, which were raised from clutching the stuffed tiger and, standing on his tip-toes, lightly brushed Ivan's lips with his own.
Before Ivan's mind even had a chance to process the event that just happened, Yong Soo pulled away and ran up to the door. "안녕히 주무세요!" He shouted with a smile, then opened the door and ran into his house.
A/N: *cat calls*
P.S. If you want to check the progress of a story, I put what percentage of the current chapter is complete on my profile. Just to let y'all know.
Names on the High Score Table: HK= Honda Kiku, IYS= Im Yong Soo, WL= Wang Lee, AFJ= Alfred F. Jones
Translations:
Да- Yes (Russian)
야 호!- Yay! (Korean)
Не- No (Russian)
Спасибо- Thank you (Russian)
Fratello- Brother (Italian)
Привет- Hi (Russian)
Idiota- Idiot (Italian)
Taci!- Shut up! (Italian)
안녕히 주무세요!- Good night! (Korean)