ᴀʙᴏᴠᴇ ᴀʟʟ ᴇʟsᴇ || ᴍ.ʏɢ + ᴘ.ᴊᴍ ✔️

chapter eleven .

Namjoon retraced his steps until he was back at Yoongi's side. Throwing his arm around his friend's shoulders, he patted the boy's head and smiled reassuringly. Yoongi lifted his eyes. Jimin was smiling at him the same way. It was as if they were both saying silently, take it easy, there's no pressure. Yoongi still felt on edge with five pairs of eyes on him, but a little less so now. He intertwined his fingers and looked down at them.

"It doesn't matter to me," he said in a quiet voice. "This was Jimin's idea...he can choose."

"Really?" For some reason Jimin seemed happy at Yoongi's words. He dipped his head, trying to make eye contact with the mint-haired boy. "If that's the case, I wanna go to the arcade."

Jungkook made an instinctive ooh upon hearing that six letter word. Hoseok's face brightened up, too, and Taehyung seemed to be trying to act cool and unimpressed with the idea, even though he was probably the most excited out of anyone. Namjoon was all for it. Yoongi was indifferent.

"Shall we go?"

With the decision having been made, Hoseok rushed to door to hold it open for everyone. He was ecstatic, bubbling with energy, and Yoongi wondered if he ever exhausted himself being like this all the time--well, not all the time. He had seen Hoseok cry, so the boy was obviously capable of expressing sadness. Maybe he just had more reasons to be happy.

The mall wasn't overly crowded that day. If they had chosen to go on a Friday or Saturday night, things might have been different, so Yoongi was actually relieved that Jimin made plans for a Sunday afternoon, when things were mild. Especially the arcade. It was open, but not too many people were hanging out there, just a small handful of kids who had nothing better to do with their time on an off-school day. Stepping into the arcade, the group of boys were greeted by the repetitive gunshot noises of zombie apocalypse simulators, but that was pretty much it. All the other machines were unoccupied, meaning the boys were left to as they pleased without having to wait their turn.

Hoseok was beside himself with joy. His eager eyes hunted down the Dance Dance Revolution game. The rest of the group followed--Yoongi, reluctantly so. He didn't want to be dragged into dancing. Namjoon didn't really want to, either. Maybe if there were a Rap Rap Revolution, he would be more interested. Nonetheless, he joined the others and encouraged his unenthusiastic friend to do so as well.

"We should make this into a competition," Taehyung suggested. Hosoek, who was already in the process of inserting quarters into the machine's slot, craned his neck to look over his shoulder.

"A competition," he repeated.

Taehyung smirked, then glanced at Yoongi. "We'll take turns. The person with the lowest overall score has to do anything the winner says."

The mint-haired boy rolled his eyes. He wasn't sure why he let anything this guy said bother him, but Yoongi couldn't deny that subtle glance ticked him off a little. Almost enough to motivate him. But he crossed his arms and pretended to tune out everyone's voices.

"I like the idea," Jimin said. Jungkook also nodded in agreement.

Namjoon heaved a defeated breath. "I might as well toss my money in now," he whispered. Yoongi nudged him.

"If I have to do this then so do you."

"I never said I wasn't going to do it. I'm just accepting my fate."

"It's only Dance Dance Revolution. Much easier than Just Dance in my opinion."

Namjoon raised an eyebrow. "You've played Just Dance?"

"I was forced to by my cousins. It's their fault I've memorized the choreography of, like, three different Jin songs."

"Mhm, I'm sure." Namjoon bobbed his head. "I bet you studied the choreo yourself, you closet fan you."