rent me || nomin au

39

The arcade was fairly empty as it was still late afternoon. Jaemin, eager to look around, was about to enter but Jeno stopped him and pulled him to the front desk.

"I take it you've never been to an arcade?" Jaemin shook his head with sparkling eyes and Jeno laughed. "Well you need a card to play the games. I'm getting you one right now."

Jeno probably saw Jaemin's slightly confused expression and smiled. "My friends and I always hang out here," he explained. "We each have a card for playing."

"Oh ok," Jaemin pulled out his wallet and handed a $20 to the man behind the desk. He watched as the man punched in something on a screen, scanned a card, then handed Jaemin the card. Jaemin thanked him, still new to everything, and Jeno lead him inside.

"Which do you want to play first?" Jeno asked.

Jaemin pointed to one to the left, a racing game. "Have you tried that before?"

They made their way to the game Jaemin picked, and Jeno explained to Jaemin how the card scanner worked. Jaemin was amazed at the new advancements in technology and Jeno found it slightly amusing to see.

To both Jaemin and Jeno's surprise, Jaemin was not bad on his first try. He came in close behind Jeno, who had played this game countless times before.

"You're a natural," Jeno marveled. "Slightly unfair but that's okay," he said, pretending to be wounded by the fact that he didn't win by a landslide like he thought he would.

"Of course," Jaemin grinned, getting his competition on. "I'll let you pick the next game."

They played for hours, trying almost every game available. As it got darker outside, more people came in and soon the place was packed. Jaemin won some and lost some, overall proud at how good he was at the games just from the first day.

"We should get dinner," Jeno said after their millionth round. "It's 8PM and my stomach's been growling for a while now."

Jaemin didn't realize how hungry he was until Jeno mentioned food, and his stomach rumbled in response. "Yeah," he called over the sound of the games.

The two of them got ridiculously overpriced hot dogs that were selling in the food court, then found an empty table to sit at. Once they sat down across from each other they immediately started eating, not bothering to talk until they were finished.

"The hot dog would've tasted better if it wasn't so expensive," Jaemin sighed.

Jeno laughed. "Very true, my wallet cries every time I come here."

After they finished they went back to the game area, this time deciding to try the dance game. They hadn't gone there earlier which was a mistake, because by now there was a line of people waiting to play. In line, Jaemin checked his messages, responding to some stuff Chenle and Jisung had sent to the group chat earlier.

"Hey cutie," a female voice called out in their direction.

Jaemin looked up, wondering who that cringey greeting could possibly be for. To his shock, next to Jeno was a pretty girl batting her lashes at him. Jeno was frozen, not knowing how to act, and Jaemin watched in disgust as the girl clung to Jeno, hands trailing along his chest. Jaemin's face wrinkled in discomfort; he decided that this girl was either drunk or overly desperate.

"Can you please. Get your hands off me." Jeno said, his expression stone cold.

The girl stopped groping Jeno's sweater for a moment to look at Jeno. "What's wrong?" She asked with puppy eyes and head tilted to the side. "Do you not like this?" Her fingers grazed along Jeno's collarbone and wrapped around the base of his neck.