Jongdae was on his way to Baekhyun’s place for a day of video games, movies, and all of that stuff. He was waiting to cross the road when he saw a flashing red screen out of the corner of his eye. It was one of those new pong games put on every busy street corner of Seoul. (They had been in Germany for a while, but this was new, although not many people cared to give it a second glance)



Apparently, there was someone on the other side who had started the game. Jongdae, not bothering to look up, began the game. His competitor was good, like really good. In the end, he lost, 5-7. What, how do you ing lose at pong of all things Jongdae? 



He looked up just as the other guy looked up. Their eyes locked on each other. Jongdae stole a quick glance at the traffic light. Still red. He sighed as he knew what he was going to get himself into -he knew himself too well to know that he wasn’t backing down without a fight.



The screen flashed red with two buttons, ‘end game’ or ‘challenge’. Challenge? Yes, please. He hit that challenge button so fast, you would’ve thought his life depended on it. Game on dude at street corner who apparently has nothing to do. 



Another game went by and this time, Jongdae lost 3-7. He did even worse! He was Kim Jong mothering Dae, and he was not about to let just some dude beat him in a game of Pong -which he had designed once in his programming class (which does absolutely nothing to how you play a game btw but apparently it mattered to him)-. Oh no, he was not about to let that happen. He looked up, and yet again, the guy was staring straight back at him. He seemed about average height, thick, black framed glasses, and a mop of hair that bounced all over the place. 





Challenge. Chanyeol looked at his screen. Really? Again. Dude. I’ve got places to be, people to see. 

He glanced up at the light on the other side. Sadly, it had just turned green, but the other on the other side had not realized. Alright, whatever, Kyungsoo can wait. He thought.





Jongdae was on the verge of tears from utter frustration as the score tied. 6-6. God damn it. AS he scored the winning point, Jongdae punched the air in victory. 



He threw a smirk to the other side, as he saw his confused look. Jongdae took another glance at the light. It was finally green. As he was about to leave the game, a flash of blue came onto the screen. Accept Challenge? 



I mean, I guess I can stay for a bit. Just to show this who’s the real master at pong. 



Well, that’s the end of that, as two competitive boys stayed on that street corner for the majority of that day.





It was about 3 hours later that Jongdae heard a cough behind him. He ignored it waiting for his game to end before turning around.



“Oh hey Baek. What are you doing here?” Baekhyun was clearly not amused with the frown on his face.



“What the hell, Jongdae?! You were supposed to be at my place hours ago. You weren’t picking up your phone, I thought something had happened to you! I was going back to your place when I found you playing that dumb Pong game with a stranger!” He exclaimed, letting out all of his anger out on the other boy.
movie. 



“I’m sorry, Baek. But, time got away from me. He kept beating me and asking for a rematch! I couldn’t let this dude just have the satisfaction of beating me every goddamned time!”



“Kim Jongdae! You are coming back with me, and we are going to have our movie, video game, whatever night!”



As Baekhyun was dragging him back to his place, he turned around to see the other man on the other side and gave him a glare making the “I’m watching you sign”.



Back on Chanyeol’s side, he was facing a similar problem, albeit with a rather annoyed Kyungsoo instead.





“Baek, I swear if I ever see that guy again, I am going to destroy him in Pong.”



“Dae. Shut the hell up. I can’t believe you chose a complete stranger whom you’ve never even talked to over me.” He huffed as Jongdae wouldn’t stop ranting about the Pong guy over the 




Jongdae was wiping down the counter of the coffee shop when a customer walks in. It was like 3pm and the shop was just about empty. 



“Excuse me?” Jongdae heard a deep voice coming from the other side of the counter.



“Yes. Can I help you?” He said as he was looking up and realized he was face to face with the Pong guy. “Hey! You’re the Pong guy!” 



“And you’re the guy that wouldn’t quit after losing for the first like 10 times!” The stranger shot back at him with a smile. “Uhm anyways, I actually came by to get a latte.”



Jondae looked down at his apron and hands. Oh right, he was still at work. “Right. Uhm that’ll be $2.49.”



Jongdae turned back and got working on his coffee. When it came down to the latte art on the foam, he would usually put something simple like a heart, cross stitched, or something along those lines. However, today he wanted to put something else on. He went with “rematch?” scribbled on in cursive.



He looked up once he was done and found the Pong guy sitting at one of the many empty tables on his phone.



He walked over to his table and sets it down. He lingers around waiting for Pong guy to notice the challenge scribbled into his coffee. 



Instead, Pong guy decides to just drink his coffee before he can even appreciate the art. Or, at least he tried since Jongdae’s exasperated screams stopped him going any further than his lips. 



“What? What’s wrong?” Pong guy asked with a worried expression.



“You can’t just drink that without appreciated the art on the foam!” He exclaimed, now moved closer to Pong guy. 



Pong guy looked at his coffee and noticed some scribbles. He had to squint in order to try to figure out what it said. “Does- does this say rematch?”



“Yup! I want a rematch because you cannot beat me in Pong, Pong guy.”



“It’s actually Chanyeol.”



“Well, I want a rematch, Chanyeol.”



“You want a rematch in Pong? Are you serious?”



“Yes!”



“No!”



“What?”



“Why don’t we play something else that I can beat your in. What about Mario Kart?”



“Excuse me? I’m like the Mario Kart champ. But, how the hell are we gonna play? I’m Jongdae by the way.”



“Well, Jongdae, I have Mario Kart back at my place. Do you want to come over and lose at different location then?”



“Oh you. You’re on. Just as soon as I finish my shift.” Chanyeol chuckled. Jongdae is actually really cute when he’s frustrated. 





When Jongdae had finished his shift, it was around 6pm. He tugged on his jacket and wrapped his scarf around his neck. “Alright, I’m done. Let’s go loser.” He said to Chanyeol who had been on his phone for the past 3 hours. 



“Lead the way!” Jongdae chuckled following Chanyeol out of the small shop.



Their walk back to Chanyeol’s place was quite interesting actually. There was never an awkward silence with Jongdae’s constant yammering and inquiries about Chanyeol. 



Chanyeol, being the nice guy that he is (or likes to think he is) entertains Jongdae with equally animated answers or comebacks.



They had gotten home at around 6:30 and Jongdae’s stomach began growling, as does Chanyeol’s. “Crap. We should’ve picked up some food.” Chanyeol mutters.



“We can order a pizza. Loser pays?” Chanyeol liked the way this kid thought.



They could not even go through setting up the wii without bickering. It’s playful bickering on Chanyeol’s side, but actual bickering to Jongdae. Again, Chanyeol liked teasing him even though, they had just officially met hours ago. He thought his reactions were adorable. 



Jongdae had gone with Yoshi (and Chanyeol had teased that he chose him since Yoshi looked just like Jongdae causing Jongdae to huff and smack Chanyeol on the back of his head.) and Chanyeol went with Luigi.



Their game of Mario Kart was a bit hectic with all the screaming and threats, but this is kind of how it went:



“Oh you ! That banana was a move!” -Jongdae after hitting Chanyeol’s banana



“ a Chanyeol! I hit you with a god damned green shell. Ha!” -Jongdae after surpassing Chanyeol



“ my  Jongdae. I have a red shell and you’re right in front of me.” -Chanyeol after getting a red shell



“Oh what the hell! Hacks! I call hacks!” -Chanyeol after missing Jongdae with a red shell since Jongdae had that 3 green shell thing surrounding him.



“ is that a blue shell? But I just got to first!” -Jongdae after seeing the blue shell close by



“Oh hell yeah! I’m in second!” -Chanyeol before realizing how close to Jongdae’s kart he actually was.



“.” -Jongdae as the shell is about to demolish him.



“WHAT?!” -Chanyeol after getting his kart destroyed by the blue shell too as he was just about to pass Jongdae, and gets hit with the collateral damage.



“ YOU PEACH.” -Both Chanyeol and Jongdae exclaimed as Peach passed them both, taking first place.



Jongdae sighed, watching the screen flash Peach Wins. “So, what now? We both lost.” 



Chanyeol’s eyes widened. He thought he was going to pay for pizza for coming in third when Jongdae was in second. “We could split the money.”



“Alright. We’ll split it.” Just then, the doorbell rings. “Pizza!” Jongdae exclaims. “I’ll get it!”He’s practically a little kid trapped in the body of an adult, Chanyeol thinks to himself.



Jongdae is back setting the pizza on the table and the receipt stuffed in his back pocket. “$50.” 



Chanyeol’s eyes widened. “What? Wait, pizza was $50?!”



“Oh no, pizza was $100. You said we’d split it though. So, you owe me $50.”



“There is no way the pizza was that much. Let me see the receipt Jongdae.” Chanyeol held out his hand for the receipt.



“He didn’t give me one.”



“Jongdae. Are you serious? I just saw you putting it in your back pocket.”



“What? You have no proof.” That almost caused Chanyeol’s eyes to twitch.



“Come here.” He muttered as he got closer to Jongdae and nearly wrestling the smaller boy to the floor. He was laying on his back and reached into his back pocket for the receipt. “Got it.” He uncrumpled the small paper and examined it. That pizza was $26.90.” Chanyeol says, as he’s sat perched upon Jongdae’s . 



From under him, Jongdae huffs. “Fine, alright so it was $30. You win, now will you get off of me!” He exclaims.



“Hm. No. I like this spot. It’s like the best seat in the house.”



“Chanyeol, you absolute .” Jongdae pushes him off and scrambles to get back up. 



Chanyeol just smirks in victory as he hands the boy $15 dollars, and to “keep the change” with a wink which only caused Jongdae to laugh.



Jongdae leaves promptly after the prolonged dinner with more competitions in between nearly each bite. 



That night, Jongdae falls asleep to images of Chanyeol in his mind. Chanyeol does the same. It was probably the most fun they’ve both had in a while.





The next time they see each other is three days after their initial meet. Chanyeol had gone to the coffee shop yet again for another caramel latte.



“Hey Jongdae.” He said walking into the shop.



“Hey.” Jongdae replied.



“Caramel latte please.”



“Alright. May I have your name please?” Jongdae smirked with his sharpie in hand, ready to scribble on the cup. Chanyeol looked around the store,



“There’s no one else here…” 



“There’s no one else here.” He muttered as he wrote it onto the cup. Chanyeol just sighed and took a seat. 



This time, Jongdae crosshatched the caramel syrup on the top and used chocolate powder to draw “$50”. “One caramel latte for a ‘There’s no one else here.’” He had moved to Chanyeol’s table and taken the seat across. 



This time, Chanyeol looked at his cup to check for any words, pictures, anything. “Jongdae, really?” He questioned, showing the shorter man his coffee. “$50 my . That pizza wasn’t even $30.” Jongdae had on his kittenish grin.



“Chanyeol.” He said to get the other man’s attention. “Rematch? Super Smash Bros?” Chanyeol nods. “Let’s get food before though.”



They do this again and again. Jongdae tells himself that he’s doing it because he has nothing else to do and Chanyeol is good company. 





“Hey Jongdae,” Baekhyun walked into the shop, laptop in hand. “So I’m nearly done with my thesis report and I need you to revise it for me.”



“Yeah sure. I just need to finish some of these pastries.” Baekhyun nodded and took a seat closest to the counter.



“Hey, Dae.” Chanyeol was next to walk in. 



“Hey loser.” 



Chanyeol frowned. “You need to stop calling me that.”



“The usual?”



“Yep.”



“Yo. Jongday. I’m done.” Baekhyun said his name with a weird accent. 



“Got it. Send it to me kay? I’ll do it once I finish up.” 



Baekhyun nodded back at him and went straight back to his laptop using the free wifi that came with the place. 



Apparently neither Chanyeol nor Baekhyun had noticed that the other knew Jongdae. They were both too into their phones or laptops. You can blame the internet for this.



“Jongdae, you free tonight? I have Cloudberry Kingdom.” Chanyeol took the game out of his bag to show the shorter barista.



“Yeah, sure. Another game for me to kick your in?”



“Hate to burst your bubble but this game is a team effort.” Chanyeol said at the same time Baekhyun said, “kick my in what Dae?”



Both boys were now looking back at the barista and all Jongdae could do was laugh because they were both so dumb. “Okay, Baek, this is Chanyeol. Chanyeol, this is my best friend/roommate Baekhyun.”



They both looked at each other in surprised and exchanged greetings.



“Baek, I won’t be home for dinner today, so eat without me.”



“Aw. Again? Where do you always go?”



Chanyeol was looking up at the two friends in amusement.



Baekhyun gasped in surprise as Jongdae looked down on the counter to try to hide the blush creeping on his cheeks. “Is it with that cute guy you always complain about? The one I had to physically drag you away from on the streets like two weeks ago?”



Cute? Jongdae thinks I’m cute? Wait are they even talking about me. did I just say that out loud?



Chanyeol looks up to see the other two boys staring at him.



“Yes, we are talking about you. Yes, I do think you’re cute.” Jongdae tells him with a lame tone as if he just couldn’t take how slow Chanyeol was. 



“Oh.” was all Chanyeol could say back. 



“Well, I’ve got class in about 10 minutes, so, I’ll see you guys later.” 



“What do you think about Chinese tonight?”



“That’s fine.”



Chanyeol was looking up some good Chinese take-out places while Jongdae idly fixes up behind the counter and occasionally makes a drink or two for a customer. Other than that, the store was barren. 



Taking the seat next to Chanyeol as he examines the Cloudberry Kingdom game, he asks, “What even is this game?”



“It’s sort of a platform game. I don’t actually know. My friend told me I should try it out, and so you’re going to test it out with me.”



“Alright. Do you think I can just close shop early? There doesn’t seem to be that many people today.”



“Actually, no. I’m gonna close it early.” He continued after little thought.



“C’mon Yeol. Lez go.”





Jongdae was used to always being at Chanyeol’s place now. He knew where almost everything was. It was as if he lived there himself. 



However, Jongdae felt gross. He smelled like coffee and pastries (although it’s not a bad smell) he feels like work and just wants to relax)



“Chanyeol, do you have some clothes I can borrow? I feel gross and wanna take a shower first.”



“Yeah hold on.” Chanyeol makes his way to his room, with Jongdae following not very far behind.




He throws the barista a t-shirt that was a bit small on him, however might still be a bit too big, and some pants that should be comfortable enough.



“Thanks.” Jongdae beams up at Chanyeol as he was thrown a towel.




As Jongdae walks out of the bathroom all dressed in Chanyeol’s clothing, he’s hit by a wave of cold air. He shivers, walking into Chanyeol’s room to take one of his hoodies. He put his clothes by his shoes to remind him to bring them home to wash, also he didn’t have a bag.



“Is that my hoodie?” Chanyeol questions.



“Maybe. It was cold.” Jongdae was dressed in Chanyeol’s white t-shirt, although that was covered by the red zip-up hoodie with sleeves that went way passed Jongdae’s fingertips.



“Scoot over.” Jongdae muttered, making his way to the couch. Chanyeol had also changed into more comfortable clothing. He was in a beige sweater with dark blue lines going across it. He had also gotten a small blanket that rested over his knees and feet.



They had gotten into their usual position by now. Food on the table in front of them, asses on the couch, and controllers in hand. 



“Well, this doesn’t look to hard.” Jongdae hopes the entire game won’t be like this.



“Jongdae, this is the first level.” Chanyeol replied.



“Are you saying that I’m going to regret saying that?”



“Probably. I just hope you didn’t jinx it.”



The rest of the game goes as follows:



“What the hell is that?!” -Jongdae after the 10th level.



“Jetpacks! Whoooo.” -Chanyeol during the jetpack level



“I hate jetpacks.” -Chanyeol after dying because his jetpack ran out of gas.



“Checkpoint!” -Chanyeol after getting the checkpoint and reviving Jongdae.



“Don’t celebrate! That just means it’ll get harder!” -Jongdae scolding Chanyeol for being happy about the checkpoint.



“...I regret everything.” -Jongdae after reaching the 79th level.



“What are we even meant to do there?!” -Chanyeol after losing for the 50th time on the same level.



“ing finally!”-Jongdae after having beaten the 79th level.



“...” -Jongdae after seeing the 80th level.



“Nope nope nope nopity nope.” -Chanyeol once he saw the next level.



They had promptly both dropped their controllers and raised their hands as if to say ‘i am never touching that controller again just so I don’t have to play this ing game.’ 



“Well, now what? We were playing for 40 minutes.” Jongdae tells Chanyeol as he leans back into the couch, pulling the blanket up to his chest.



“Do you wanna watch some movies? I have netflix.”



Jongdae nods, picking up the fried rice he never finished.



They were watching on Chanyeol’s laptop and decided on ‘The Avengers’.



Half way through the movie, Jongdae had fallen asleep and his head was leaning towards Chanyeol’s shoulder.



Coincidentally, Chanyeol had also begun nodding off. 



Chanyeol was later awoken by the sunlight peeking into his apartment. He felt a strange weight on his lap. Groggily, he looks over to see Jongdae.



He sees Kim Jongdae asleep on his lap and he just looks so vulnerable and innocent and cute. Jongdae’s lips were slightly parted. Chanyeol could see his chest rising and falling each time he took a breath. He thought Jongdae looked absolutely beautiful.



He glanced at the blanket that had somehow shifted down to his legs, leaving his top uncovered. His gaze moved back to his lips. His pink, slightly chapped lips. They looked soft and as his head moved down so their lips would meet, Chanyeol kept telling himself it was to see how soft they actually were.



Jongdae’s eyes fluttered open to see Chanyeol’s face right in front of his. Lips softly moving against his still ones. Without much thought, Jongdae closed his eyes and moved his lips along with Chanyeol.



Shocked at the sudden movement, Chanyeol’s eyes shot open as he jerked away from Jongdae. 



“J- Jongdae. I-I’m so sorry. I didn-” Jongdae moved to sit up. just as Chanyeol was about to get off the couch, but Jongdae was not about to let him. 



“Wait.” He grabbed his wrist and pulled him back onto the couch. “Why?” He inquired.



“I- I was just curious and your lips were like right there. I really just wanted to try it and-” Chanyeol was flustered, his face, red as a beet. He wasn’t looking Jongdae in the eye, but rather to the floor as he stuttered out his excuse.



Jongdae moved onto his lap, straddling him. He grabbed his face with both hands and pulled him in for another kiss. It was clear to Jongdae that Chanyeol did not just do that out of curiosity. Although, he was hoping that the other might have some feelings behind it.



Chanyeol was silent, clearly shocked as to what was happening.



“Since you were curious about my lips, I’m curious about another thing. It’s a question.”



All Chanyeol could do was nod in reply.



“Will you go out with me?” Jongdae asked, biting the bottom of his lips nervously awaiting Chanyeol’s answer.



Chanyeol’s head snapped up at Jongdae’s question. He was still in a state of shock, so he pulled Jongdae down by his waist and kissed him full on on his lips. 



“So, is that a yes?” Jongdae asked once his lips were free.


Chanyeol laughs and replies, “Yes.”