Kinda inspired by that Dingo video with Apink's Hayoung in it
Gender-neutral
Fluff
note: check out the drabble quotes bc I'm out of ideas
___
Loud noises and flashing lights.
It might be unpleasant at times, but with my girlfriend by my side, it was paradise.
Arcades weren't as popular as they used to be, but it's still a place her and I love to go to just unwind and have a good time. Racing games, fighting games, shooting games, all of it. We love going head to head and just having the time of our lives.
The two of us usually go after my part-time job.
Earlier today, I was sitting at the counter of the clothing store in a nearby mall, bored out of my mind. Slow was the only word that could describe today's activity at the shop. Traffic picked up a little bit when lunch rolled around, but that was about it. Probably just a few people who had some spare time on break.
It was nearing the end of my shift when the bell on the door rang. Who would be coming around at this time?
If I didn't recognize those eyes above her facemask or the white hoodie that once belonged to me but haven't had the chance to wear it since it became her favourite article of clothing, I would've grabbed the baseball bat underneath the counter in self-defence.
But I only know one person that could simply walk through the front doors of a clothing store and carry an aura that exudes brilliant confidence and an undeniable charm. I guess my girlfriend's practice finished early today, seeing as she hauled her pink backpack over her shoulder, which was probably carrying her shoes and change of clothes, here to the mall today. If she was just stopping by to say hello, she usually just leaves it at the practice rooms.
"Hey!" Sakura excitedly waved as she quickly walked passed the front doors and the racks of clothes to get to the counter I was standing at. "Are you almost done your shift?"
I gave her a hug over the counter and leaned back. "Yeah. Just waiting for Madoka to get here then I'll be out of here."
"Ah. I see I see. Have you had lunch yet?"
"Not yet. I am kinda hungry though now that you mention it." I placed my hand on my stomach as a small grumble resonated. "I could definitely use a bite soon."
A beautiful smile grew on Sakura's face as she excitedly clapped her hands together. "We can get something to eat when you're done. Then, I have a place I want to take you!" If there was anywhere she wants to go after practice, there's only one location I can think of.
The arcade.
It's become our sanctuary of some sort. When Sakura needs to wind down and de-stress, the arcade is the go-to place. If the two of us just want to have some fun and play some games, we'll head to the place that carries all of the games we love and more. We've even decided Saturdays are the designated arcade date day.
"I think I already know what's on your mind, Kkura. Don't worry, I'll beat you on Street Fighter again!" I jabbed a confident thumb at my chest, though while Sakura usually just pouts cutely, this time she wore a smug look. "What's that look for?"
"Oh, no reason~" She chuckled. "And there's the Ma-chan!"
Just like Sakura said, Madoka strolled into the store in her work attire. It was a good thing my girlfriend was pretty close to everyone that worked here since, if she wasn't, I'm sure she wouldn't get away with keeping my occupied while there were customers in the store. Sakura and Madoka, along with a few of the other employees in this establishment know each other from training as idols. Other co-workers simply know Sakura as my cheerful significant other and, more often than not, my better half.
"Hey Kkura, taking (y/n) somewhere later?" Madoka asked as she stood at the counter with Sakura and I, coffee in hand.
Sakura excitedly nodded. "Mhm!"
"Arcade?" I asked, hoping I could get some confirmation on my hunch from earlier.
"That's a secret~"
"Knowing Sakura, it's definitely an arcade," Madoka added. "If it's somewhere else, I'll be surprised."
Sakura opened her mouth to rebuttal but ultimately shut it without saying a word. She, along with everyone, knew that it was true. Gaming runs in her blood. Whether it be her gaming chair at home or at an arcade cabinet around town, in front of a video game was where she was happy.
"C'mon Madoka, Sakura is a gamer. She needs games to survive and I'm not here to stop her from surviving~" I gave my girlfriend a playful nudge as she looked away, slightly embarrassed.
"I know I know. I'm just messing with you Kkura~" Madoka joined in, poking at Sakura's pouty cheeks.
"Anyway, since you're here, I guess I'm heading out." I stretched my arms up in the air and let out a relieved sigh. "Gotta get some food. I'm starving!"
With Sakura in tow, I headed out of the store in some casual clothes. The work uniforms aren't overly stuffy or anything, but being in your own clothes is infinitely better than having to wear some getup for work.
"Anywhere you have in mind?" I asked Sakura as we aimlessly wandered the streets of Fukuoka.
Sakura tapped her finger on her chin for a few moments in thought. "Hmmm... Oh! How about that new ramen place that opened up not too far from here? Nako told me it was really good, though she has a tendency to say everything tastes good..."
"That'll work."
And just like she mentioned, it wasn't far at all.
A few minutes of walking later, we found ourselves sitting at the counter of a quaint ramen shop. Wood accented everything and the aroma of the broth made the place feel nice and cozy.
"Two pork ramens for the lovely couple!" The older man behind the counter boomed as he slid two big bowls of ramen in front of us, along with a few sides we didn't order. "And a little something something since you two look adorable together!"
I felt a blush rise on my cheeks and seeing Sakura in the corner of my eye, she was reacting the same way.
I managed to stutter out a quick thank you before the man simply laughed and made his way back to the kitchen to work on the next orders.
"So, what's the plan for later?" I spoke up, hoping to snap the girl beside me out of her embarrassed daze. Though, it didn't seem to be working much since she was still beet red as she stared down at the rich broth in the bowl that sat in front of her. "Sakura?"
"Hm?" She jolted upright, finally getting out of her trance. "Did you say something?"
"I was asking where we were going later." I chuckled at her cute and rather odd behaviour. "Also, eat up. It's going to get cold if you're staring at it forever."
Still a little flustered, Sakura fumbled around with her chopsticks for a bit before finally eating her ramen and once she started, she didn't stop. Like a hungry predator, she slurped up her ramen in mere seconds before proceeding to devour the sides at around the same time.
"Hungry?" I giggled as she calmly wiped her mouth with a napkin as if she hadn't just swallowed a meal in under a minute. When she starts eating, I swear, she doesn't stop.
"Maybe a little." Sakura proceeded to fold up her napkin neatly before ordering another serving of ramen.
Forty-five minutes and three more bowls of ramen later, the two of us left the ramen shop hand in hand. The man who ran the place was kind enough to put the other servings of the noodles on the house, having us only pay for the two bowls we had initially ordered.
"Wow, that was good..." Sakura patted her stomach, absolutely satisfied with lunch. She then proceeded to jokingly push out her belly. "Ugh! I think I might be pregnant!"
I placed a hand on her stomach and rubbed it. "Oh! I think I felt it kick!"
Laughter followed where we walked as Sakura guided me to where we were going to be hanging out today. I still have my money on going to an arcade, but the direction of the usual arcade we go to for dates was the opposite way.
The two of us were walking and talking for a solid twenty minutes and with no end in sight, I was starting to get a little confused. "Sakura, are you sure we aren't lost?"
"Don't worry about it!" She threw an arm around my shoulder and pointed ahead. "Just a few more blocks and we'll be there!"
The girl was extremely excited, clear by the adorable hop in her step and her little impatient tugs on my arm when she thought I was walking too slow. Though I was in fact walking slower than usual. I just wanted to watch my girlfriend happily skip around in front of me.
Her smile never left her face as she hurriedly tugged on my sleeve. "It's right around the corner! Are you ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be."
The two of us ended up walking a fair distance into a section of Fukuoka I never visited. It's not a bad area or anything, in fact, it's flourishing pretty nicely. A small university sat in the district's core and a lot of mom and pop stores were scattered around, along with the more well-known department and convenience stores. It's just not an area I would frequently walk though since I have no business here.
Today was different though since Sakura's excitement and eagerness brought me here. I couldn't fight it though. She's simply too cute to say no to.
"And here we are!" Sakura proudly announced as we arrived at the destination. Too absorbed in my thoughts, I didn't even notice the giant neon sign that jutted out of the building in front of me until Sakura pointed up at it.
Even in the daytime, the neon sign glowed a subtle blue and red, letting everyone passing by know exactly what this building was. "There was an arcade here?"
"Yup!" Excitement continued to ooze out of the girl as she pulled open the front doors and dragged me in.
Inside was exactly what you'd expect from an arcade, though it wasn't busy at all. The atmosphere though was still the same. Bright, flashing lights and the sound loud music and effects from the arcade cabinets filled the large room inside.
"How'd you find this place?" I asked Sakura. She wasn't one to go out and find places on her own. If anything, her daily routine consists of two locations: her apartment and the practice studio.
"We performed in the area not too long ago. Oh! Remember when I said something about Fukuoka being bigger than I ever thought?"
"Yeah. Is this what you meant?"
"Mhm!" Sakura nodded proudly. I can't tell if she's proud that she found another arcade to go to or just the fact that she went out to find a location on her own. "Oh! And Hirona found a really good udon place nearby! We should go there after we're done here for dinner!"
"Sounds like a plan."
After agreeing on our afternoon schedule, the two of us picked up a good amount of tokens from the person at the front desk and got ready for a fierce competition on every arcade cabinet in the building.
"Where do you want to start?" I asked Sakura as she attempted to balance the three cups of tokens in one of her hands.
"How about over there? I think I see a 'Guitar Freaks' cabinet!" If there was any type of game Sakura was good at, it was rhythm-based games. Guitar Freaks was the perfect game for her to start on since it meant the first game we play, she'll win.
"Sounds good to me!" A put a cheeky grin on my face as I made my way over to the cabinet.
"What's with that look?" Sakura pointed out. I guess she's used to me being rather reluctant to play these sorts of games since I'm historically terrible at them. What she doesn't know though is that I recently picked up Rock Band and have been practicing it in my downtime. Hopefully, those hours will translate to proficiency in Guitar Freaks.
"Oh, no reason~"
And turns out, those hours weren't enough.
The plan was to play a best of five and rather unfortunately, we played a grand total of three songs. Sakura ended up destroying me in two out of those three songs while I was a hair's breadth away from taking the win in the third.
Defeated, I put the player two guitar onto the stand and dramatically dropped to my knees in front of my girlfriend. "Oh, goddess of rhythm games, please show me your ways!" It's a good thing the arcade isn't busy right now, or else things would've gotten pretty embarrassing.
Sakura giggled and pulled me up onto my feet. "C'mon, you almost beat me on the last song. When did you get good at rhythm games? I thought this was going to be a walk in the park!"
"Yeah, remember when you were away for a while with performances in Akiba?"
Sakura nodded, not really knowing where I was going with this.
"I picked up 'Rock Band' and practiced the guitar on it so I could have a chance at beating you at 'Guitar Freaks', though I guess it wasn't enough just yet." I chuckled and rubbed the back on my neck. "Give me a few more weeks though, and you're definitely going down!"
Sakura stared at me for a few seconds without saying anything. Was she mad about it?
"You got 'Rock Band' and didn't tell me about it!?" It took a while for the girl to speak up, but when she did, Sakura exclaimed as she threw her hands up. "We have to play it sometime! I call dibs on the guitar!"
"Of course, Kkura. It's guitar or bust, right?" I chuckled at her excited behaviour. "Anyway, on to the next game?"
Since Sakura got first pick, I was given the opportunity to tie things up. Rhythm games weren't my strong suit, but I did have a leg up in racing games. Why? I have no idea. I guess it's just a strange talent I didn't know I had until I started going to arcades.
The two of us walked around until we stood in front of the two racing arcade machines with the words "Sega Rally Championship" written in bold font above it. I glanced over to Sakura and she gave me a sly grin. There was a strange fire in her eyes. Usually, she doesn't have this level of confidence when I decide on a racing game. Maybe she's got some practice lately and is confident in her skills this time around.
We took a seat in the white bucket seats and got ready for another fierce competition.
After three races on the forest, mountain, and desert maps, Sakura's cheeky grin was wiped from her face. Instead, a look of complete concentration replaced it as the two of us raced a full best of three. It was pretty tough, but I ended up on top, beating her time in the final race by half a second.
Relief spread as I threw my hands up over my head and a deep sigh left my body. "When did you get good at this game?"
"I might have been practicing when you weren't around." Timidly, Sakura pulled herself out of her seat and chuckled.
"You mean all those Wednesday nights you said you had practice until one in the morning even though your Wednesday practices end midday?"
"Yeah..." She nervously rubbed her arm. "Those days."
"I guess we've both been working hard to beat each other, huh?" I chuckled. "Just means more competition and more satisfaction when I beat you!"
"You aren't beating me that easily!"
"Then choose the next game so I can beat you!"
From there, we jumped from machine to machine, going head to head to see who's the best. Moving between games like Dance Dance Revolution to Street Fighter, the two of us consistently traded blows. Of course, Sakura won the rhythm-based games like Dance Dance Revolution, Chunithm, and Taiko no Tatsujin while I won the racing games I oddly had a leg up on like The Fast and the Furious, Initial D V2, and Wangan Midnight Maxi 3.
The games we went back and forth on were fighting games though. Street Fighter was a close bout with me getting the best of her and barely winning with my Balrog over her Ryu. The scenario was flipped on its head when we faced off at the Mortal Kombat 3 when Sakura edged out the victory with a vicious combo with her Smoke to drop my Sonya's life bar down to zero.
With the overall score being even after a ton of competitive games, Sakura and I moved on to the more cooperative games.
The on-rail shooter games were ones we enjoyed mainly because we were on the same team, though we definitely messed each other up quite often, either by tickling each other or otherwise. Now on the same team, the two of us stopped a terrorism plot in Time Crisis 4 and halting an army of zombies in House of the Dead 4. Together, we were basically unstoppable.
The last thing on our to-do list was to hit up the prize counter at the exit of the building. Knowing how much we played, we were loaded with tickets, making everything available to us.
"How about that one?" Sakura asked excitedly as she pointed up at the wall of plushies. The one that caught her eye was a giant cat that was set up high on the wall. With wide eyes, Sakura turned to me. "It's so cute! I should get that one!"
She may have asked for my opinion on it, but I knew she'd get it either way. "Too big." I said with a certain flatness to my voice.
Sakura immediately reacted with a cute pout.
"I'm kidding, love. Go get it."
And that's exactly what she did. She didn't even stop at the giant cat plushie. Two more smaller cat plushies, a penguin plushie, and a few smaller items were in her arms as she returned to me. It might have seen a little excessive, but the smile on Sakura's face would make anyone think otherwise.
We exited the arcade and back into the cool air of the night, hands full with the prizes we won. Sakura happily skipped around with the bigger cat plushie in her arms as I followed behind her with the rest of her stuff.
As promised, the two of us headed over to a nearby udon shop for dinner. Just like what Hirona had told Sakura, the place had really tasty food. From the udon soups to the small sides, Sakura inhaled the foods like a vacuum. How she manages to each that much after eating a ton of food for lunch will forever be a mystery.
Even after eating a meal capable of feeding three families, the girl was light on her feet. The two of us left the restaurant filled to the max with food. A walk was in order and on our way back to Sakura's dorm, we had a short stop at a quiet park.
We took a seat on a nearby park bench and simply sat in comfortable silence.
"So..." Sakura began, cutting the silence short. "What are you going to be doing next month? We're finishing this cycle of events this week, so I have the whole of next month off."
I let out a small giggle, confusing the girl beside me. Little did my dear girlfriend know, I had scored tickets to a Red Velvet concert that was going to be in the area just as her AKB unit was starting a resting period. She's loved Red Velvet for as long as I remember too. She'd rave about their leader for hours on end, showering her with compliments. Even better, it was going to be our second year anniversary together, so the stars had aligned for this to happen. With everything coming together, it had to be fate, right?
"I think I have plans for one of the weekends..." I noticed in the corner of my eye Sakura turn to me with a questioning look. She was the one in our relationship that would keep track of everything, so I knew she was thinking about the weekend of our anniversary. "I think it's the 14th."
"That's our anniversary! You can't have plans with someone else on our anniversary!" Sakura cutely clung onto her giant cat plushie, pouting really hard while doing so.
Another giggle left my lips as I turned to her. "I never said it was with someone else. Of course, it's with you."
"Oh!" The girl's face lit up once again at the realization. Her eyes scanned my face. "I can tell you're dying to tell me what it is~"
If there was something other than video games she was good at, it was reading people. Whenever I'd have something on my mind or if I'm just extremely bored, Sakura would know in an instant. Nothing can get by her and I guess my eagerness to tell her about the Red Velvet concert was no different.
Though should I tell her? Should I just keep it a surprise? I pondered my options for a second before deciding I could just tell her. She's bound to find out eventually anyway, right? "What if I told you I scored some tickets to a concert?"
Sakura furrowed her brows, not quite understanding what the surprise was. Though it didn't take long for her to connect the dots in her head. Her eyes widened as her expectations skyrocketed. I could see the excitement in Sakura's system reach the brim, ready to just burst out of her small body. "I'd probably be excited to go."
"And what if I told you it's a group you really like?"
"I'd be really excited to go!" Sakura's lips curved a little to form a smile she was trying to hold back. It was clear she was trying to keep her expectations in check, but when it came to the idea of seeing Red Velvet live, it was pretty hard for her to hide her emotions.
"And what if I told you it was going to be a really big Korean girl group?"
Sakura's eyes widened tenfold as her mouth hung open. She quickly hit me in the arm, clearly excited by where this conversation was headed. "You didn't!"
"Oh, but I did~" From my coat pocket, I pulled out two tickets to the Red Velvet concert, leaving Sakura speechless. Her eyes darted straight to the tickets and quickly yanked them out of my hand. She excitedly examined the two pieces of paper that would take Sakura to paradise.
"And a meet and greet!?" Sakura shouted in the empty park. If anyone was around, they'd probably be worried about the overly excited girl, but it was very very cute to see her react like this.
"Only the best for you, love."
I was immediately tackled across the bench in a big hug by my adorable girlfriend.
Maybe we couldn't settle on a winner at the arcade, but I think this was a win for both of us. She could see her favourite girl group in all of South Korea live and I could see her beaming with joy. She was happy and I was happy. I guess we were both winners in the end.
___
A/N
I couldn't think of a way to end the story, so I'm just gonna leave it like this for now. I might make a pt2 for this chapter about the concert itself. idk
If there are any requests for idols you want written about, let me know and I'll consider them. I have plenty of time since I have nothing to do every day. I'll consider males idol too tbh.
Stay safe, people <3 beware the corona man!
(Not edited)