Prompt: “It will be fun, trust me”  

(pairing: seulgi (red velvet)/mark (got7). genre: au, comedy. rating: pg. words: 479) 

Mark Tuan isn’t really a carnival kind of guy. Something about the unholy amount of bright lights, stark smells and overall atmosphere of the 1980’s just doesn’t come off as appealing to him, and so he usually steers clear of such shenanigans – a feat that has become increasingly harder during the past few years, what with Jackson and his new girlfriend (“friend who happens to be a girl. With a winning personality and looks to match,” is Jacksons own definition) dragging him with them every time they go out to have fun. Sometimes it’s because they want to set him up, other times it’s because he’s been holed up in his tiny little dorm room for more than 48 hours and has – again, by Jackson’s definition – started to look a little bit like the leftovers in a noodle dish. Other times again, Mark suspects, it’s because Jackson just really wants to be annoying. He succeeds, but that’s not because Mark is easily affected: It’s just because Jackson is... Well, Jackson.  

Jackson’s girlfriend is called Irene, and she is both very nice and very pretty, he’ll give her that. She also has a friend – a very nice friend, right babe? - who looks up at him like she’s about to crack in two from smiling so much, with bright yellow-dyed tips of hair that fly around her shoulders every time she moves her head (which she does a lot. She’s like a kid in a candy store, and Mark can’t quite tell if he finds it endearing or quirky). Her name is Seulgi, and Seulgi has challenged his disdain for carnivals more than he’d ever care to admit, just by walking next to him, snickering and rolling her eyes at Jackson’s hilariously corny jokes.  

He has to refrain from making a verbal comment of disdain when they, the merry band of brothers that they are, end up at the water pistol shooting range. It's all very generic, there’s an array of cardboard cut-out clowns with wide grins, water guns in bright neon colors and a stuffed teddy bear roughly the size of a 12-year-old, waiting to be won. Jackson, of course, is ecstatic. Irene likes the thought of beating him at something, and Seulgi has this almost child-like wonder and optimistic perseverance that makes her grab onto two of the toy weapons, and hold one out to Mark without bothering to ask him to join her.  

“You shouldn’t teach people how to handle weapons,” is his initial comment, and it’s universally very true, but both he and Seulgi seem to know that it’s not the reason why he’s not jumping at the opportunity. She just pushes the damn thing into his hand, and offers him another award-winning smile (one that could easily rival Irene’s. Not that he’d ever say that out loud). “It will be fun,” she says. “Trust me.”  

And Mark does.