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A week before Seollal, Kyungsoo finds himself sitting at a table with Baekhyun and Chanyeol at that arcade/bar place. He hasn't seen Chanyeol in two months and he can't stop remembering the latter's roundabout confession now that he's sitting in front of him.

Then, he remembers how sad Baekhyun got after that day and frowns before looking up as a waitress arrives with their menus. They all greet her politely and she asks the standard How's everyone doing? before asking if they want any water while she hands them their menus. After only Kyungsoo requests for a glass of water, she tells them that she'll be back when they're ready to order before walking away.

"Whew." Baekhyun wears a sleazy smirk on his face and switches to Korean for a moment. "That though, amirite?"

Chanyeol takes a look at their waitress' retreating bum and curses in appreciation and Kyungsoo shakes his head at their antics before looking down at his menu. It's weird to him but sometimes it's like nothing even happened between them.

But then, as those two look down at their own menus and Baekhyun subsequently points something out, Chanyeol lets out a Hm? and leans in to see what he's talking about. And Kyungsoo immediately notices how shy Baekhyun looks all of a sudden.

Feelings don't just magically go away, even after a rejection--Kyungsoo knows that first-hand. But knowing Baekhyun, Kyungsoo's kinda scared that his best friend is gonna pine forever and never get over Chanyeol's lanky .

But then, as if reading his mind, Baekhyun playfully shoves Chanyeol away and tells him to look at his own menu. Chanyeol grins, making Kyungsoo squint his eyes at him a bit, before he goes back to choosing what he should eat for himself. And after another moment of watching them, Kyungsoo looks down at his own menu again with his lips pushed out and blinks in awe at some of the choices that he sees.

"That burger looks good, right?" Baekhyun says to him with a smirk of a smile.

Kyungsoo looks up at him with raised eyebrows and lifts his glasses higher onto his nose with an index finger. "Which one?"

"The barbecue one...I think I'mma get it."

"Agh, look at the strips though," Chanyeol butts in and the two turn to look at him. "And holy hell--they have piña coladas?"

"Piña coladas?" Baekhyun echoes, confused.

Chanyeol lets out a Yeah and leans back into his seat, letting out a groan. "Ugh, how the am I supposed to choose between this ?"

"This good sh--" Baekhyun interjects, turning to look back at his own menu. "--holy !"

Kyungsoo's and Chanyeol's eyes go wide and they ask what's wrong before Baekhyun shows them a picture of a neon glowing drink on the menu. With matching awestruck faces, Chanyeol and Baekhyun decide that hell yeah, they're trying that, but then, Kyungsoo being the food connoisseur that he is, notices that the drink's apparently made with vodka and they change their minds in less than a second.

" vodka," Baekhyun practically hisses and Chanyeol shakes his head solemnly in agreement.

-------

"Wait--wait, you're not coming?" Sehun asks Junmyeon around the same time.

Junmyeon's just currently lying down on his bed, on the phone with Sehun. At first, he was all about going downtown to have some fun, but then he woke up and had so much to study for and errands to do and...okay, it sounds like excuses even to his own mind.

"Come on, Junma," Zitao whines in the background. "We're not even there yet--you can still make it."

Then, a new yet familiar voice starts whining with him. Jongin. "Yeah, come on, man."

"Like seriously. Don't let that loser dictate what the you do."

A pang then hits Junmyeon's stomach as Zitao has easily figured out why he's not in the mood to go anywhere right now. He ended up telling him and Sehun about how his ex is texting him again and afterwards blocked his number at their beckoning. So, it's not like his ex is actually directing him on what to do...it's just...he guesses he's in a mood today. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed and all that.

Then as Zitao starts ranting about how he deserves better, Junmyeon smiles while letting out a hollow laugh before he hears Jongin softly tell Zitao to leave him be and in the next breath asks for the phone.

"Jun," Jongin says, sounding like he has the phone to his ear now. "I'm not about to BS ya, 'cause you know I'm not like that. But, for once...I agree with Tao."

In the background, Zitao lets out a Hey! at that and Junmyeon smiles more genuinely.

"You deserve better, but, I know it won't be easy to just, well, get over him just like that. But, um, when you wanna hang out, there's this uh putt-putt place we could go to off o'--" He names a specific street in another city and Zitao instantly complains about the distance which Jongin ignores. "Like, you said you like golf, right?"

Junmyeon lets out a laugh at that. "Mini-golf's not golf, Jongin."

"Haha it's close enough though, right? So...is that a yes then?"

Junmyeon takes a second to mull it over (with the others chanting Come On's in the background) before he agrees. Miniature golf does sound fun, spectacular even. Soon, after a bit more chatting with them, Sehun grabs the phone again and tells him that they're gonna go for now and Zitao and Jongin chorus out Bye's (and then Jongin says Love ya, Jun) in the background.

"I'll call later, 'kay?" Sehun says, and Junmyeon lets out a hum before the call ends.

-------

Several minutes after the vaguely scheduled time of Eh, six-ish or whatever, a slowly grinning Jongin leads the way towards the trio at the booth area who just ordered (with Sehun, Zitao, Minseok, Luhan, and Jongdae following behind).

As soon as the trio notices them coming closer, they all greet each other happily; Jongin and Kyungsoo hugging and smiling all cutely, Baekhyun talking animatedly to a bright-eyed Minseok and a frowning Luhan, Sehun and Zitao breaking away from the group to pay for some game cards, and Jongdae answering a phone call from Soo-jung.

Soon, they all settle into the booths again, and Baekhyun wonders aloud where the heck the others are, only for Kris to finally arrive like a half-hour past the 'set' time. And surprisingly (to most of them anyway) with Amber and Soo-jung in tow.

"Fashionably late as always, eh?" Baekhyun chides with a wry grin.

Kris adjusts his sunglasses so that they're on top of his hair and winks. Then, the newcomers greet them and vice-versa (and Jongdae looks at Kris with awe as he and the other two settle into the booths near theirs).

Amber fist-daps Zitao and Sehun as he slides into the seat across from them, Soo-jung greets Baekhyun, Kyungsoo and Jongdae with a lazy smile as she sits next to Amber, and Kris plops down into one side of a new booth with his legs stretched out to the other side before he turns around to look at the others as they all chat.

After the trio's food arrives, Sehun watches with a slight smile on his face as Kyungsoo offers Jongin some of his fries. Jongin's cheeks raise as he blushes and he thanks him while the others chat about this and that.

At least half of them ate food before they got here and so a few soon watch the others contemplate over what they wanna do first while some talk about wanting to play a specific game or head over to the bar. With their hands intertwined, Sehun and Zitao listen to Amber tell some random tale about this dude that he saw on the bus.

"Yo, so like I got on after him, right? And he had like these spikes all over his in' face with like the sickest electric strapped around his back, and I was like--"

Sehun ends up tuning him out though and listens to the conversations that the others around them are having. That Chanyeol guy and Baekhyun are talking about some new Ethiopian food-place that's opening up nearby, while Luhan and Minseok's friend are arguing over whether or not cashew apples are a real thing.

With furrowed eyebrows, he's just about to join in on the latter conversation when Baekhyun suddenly asks for everyone's attention. They all turn to face him (