A/N: I think most people will be familiar with the games and machines mentioned in this story, but just in case you don’t know what a Stacker machine is (otherwise known as ‘the bane of my existence’, ‘that piece of ’, etc.), it is sort of like the equivalent of a poker machine for kids, in the sense that it is addictive, and your chance of winning one of the big prizes is probably one in a bajillion. It looks like this.

Also, the ‘Hadouken’ is a special attack from the Street Fighter games.

Enjoy xxx

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Chanyeol closes his eyes and inhales deeply. Then he exhales. Then he does it again. Inhale, exhale.

He stretches his arms high above his head, then out in front of him, clasping his hands together.

He cracks his knuckles, his wrists, his neck, his shoulders, and finally, the joints in each thumb.

“Alright,” he whispers, to no one in particular since he’s on his own. “Let’s play ball.”

He walks down the aisle lined with pinball machines, affectionately trailing his fingers over each one as he passes – over Indiana Jones, Spiderman, Pirates of the Caribbean, Shrek, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and a host of others, each of them flashing their lights at him invitingly and calling out to him with a silent song that’s impossible to resist.

Which will he start with first?

With a quick game of eenie-meenie-miney-mo as the decider, Chanyeol is left pointing at Star Wars.

Star Wars it is. A very good choice, Chanyeol thinks to himself as he inserts a coin into the slot. Star Wars is his favourite.

Now that that’s sorted, it’s time for his pre-game ritual.

Chanyeol’s pre-game ritual is a meticulously carried out process that always begins and ends the same way. The only variable is the theme music running through his head during the procedure, which largely depends on which machine he’s standing in front of at the time.
 

With Darth Vader’s theme as his imagined soundtrack – he’s in a bit of a badass mood today - Chanyeol lifts the index and middle fingers on his right hand to his lips. He kisses them - once, twice, three times. Then he does the same to his left hand. Then he repeats the process once more on his right hand, just for good measure. It’s his dominant hand, so he likes to show it a bit of extra love.

Eventually Chanyeol’s fingers come to rest on two white plastic buttons on either side of the machine. Each one has a concave surface, and he traces around the indentations in a circular motion - once clockwise, twice counter-clockwise, and clockwise once more.

Then he pulls the plunger, and all hell breaks loose in a blitzkrieg of buzzers and bells.

Chanyeol is in his ‘zone’ and firing on all cylinders the very second that tiny silver ball goes zinging into the field. He doesn’t see all the flashing lights right before his eyes. The cacophony of sound from the machine goes in one ear and shoots right out the other. It’s like he’s in some kind of vegetative state where the only parts of his body that continue to function are the ones necessary for the game. When he’s like this, you could pull his pants down or throw a chair at him, and he probably wouldn’t react. His friends can vouch for this, because they’ve experimented with both of these methods before.

There’s only one person who can bust him out of his ‘zone’, and that’s Joonmyun, who seems to have worked out a way of tuning his voice at a special frequency that can pierce right through the impenetrable walls of Chanyeol’s skull.

“Park Chanyeol, what are you doing playing pinball when you’re supposed to be working..?”

Joonmyun, the owner and manager of Neverland Amusements, is something of a father figure to Chanyeol. He’s generally easy-going and insists on being called hyung, even though he’s probably more of an ahjussi to Chanyeol and his friends. 

Joonmyun likes to think that being the owner of a games arcade keeps him young. It does keep him young to a degree, but it doesn’t keep the odd grey hair from sprouting, as Chanyeol often likes to remind him. Joonmyun’s response to this is usually to point out that Chanyeol’s probably the reason he’s going grey in the first place.

“Relax, I’m just having a quick game..” Chanyeol replies casually. He’s lucky that Joonmyun thinks he’s generally a good employee, otherwise he’d have probably been fired for his impudence long ago.

“Not on my watch, you aren’t,” Joonmyun replies, waving a mop at him, “now, there’s Coke all over the floor near the air hockey table, and I don’t fancy a lawsuit if some kid slips on it and breaks his leg..”

“Alright gramps, don’t get your in a tangle..” Chanyeol replies as he steps away from the machine. He’s not all that bothered about having to walk away mid-game – he holds the highest all-time score on every single pinball machine anyway, and has done so for quite some time.

“That’s it, Chanyeol – new rule. Henceforth, for every time you address me as ‘gramps’, I’ll be docking 1000 Won from your next paycheck and putting it directly into my monthly Botox fund..”

“You wouldn’t do that, gramps,” Chanyeol grins, “you love me too much..”

Joonmyun tries his absolute hardest to maintain a stern expression but he can’t help smiling a little at Chanyeol’s antics. He’s got a big soft spot for the kid; after all, Chanyeol’s been a Neverland regular for the past ten years. Now he’s seventeen, as tall as a house, and unfortunately clever enough to enjoy taking advantage of Joonmyun’s fondness for him from time to time.

“Cheeky bastard. Now go on - get back to work.”

“Okay gramps, I’ll get right on it.”

“You’d better. Pretty sure I can feel another grey hair growing..” Joonmyun sighs as he hands Chanyeol the mop.

“That’s ‘cause you’re old,” Chanyeol replies cheekily, and he grabs the mop and darts away before Joonmyun has a chance to whack him on the rear end with it.

* * *

When he’s not working the odd shift at Neverland on weekends, Chanyeol often spends his time there after school, with or without his three best friends in tow. None of them seem to share his passion for pinball, but it’s never really bothered him. Each to their own and all that.

“What's the point of playing to beat your own high score?” Kris asks as Chanyeol inserts a coin into the Spiderman machine. “Isn't it just a waste of money..?”

“Well no one else is beating them, are they?” Chanyeol replies, “besides, I don’t usually have to use many coins. That’s what free replays are for..”

Kris watches him play for a while before leaving to join their other friends Jongin and Jongdae elsewhere, and as usual Chanyeol is so wrapped up in the game that he barely notices.

Eventually he runs out of games and his brow furrows when he’s prompted to enter his initials.

He’s in second place. Not first.

‘PCY’ is no longer the top scorer on this machine. Someone with the initials ‘BBH’ is. He hadn’t even thought to check who the top scorer was when he’d first got there, because he’d just taken it for granted that his initials would be at the top, just like they always are.

Or always were, anyway.

BBH? Who the is BBH?

Chanyeol’s heart suddenly sinks into his stomach as he moves to the next pinball machine to check the current highest score.

BBH.

And the next machine. BBH.

Then he comes to the Star Wars machine and is so relieved to find he’s still the top scorer that he almost pees all over the floor, but this provides little in the way of consolation when almost all of the other machines have BBH listed in first place.

Chanyeol suddenly finds it hard to breathe. It feels just like the time he woke up from that terrifying nightmare where Jabba the Hutt was sitting on him.

But that was just a dream, and this is very real.

* * *

The discovery, however unsettling, doesn’t really faze Chanyeol for very long; he’s a little too cocky for that. Being on top for an extended period of time will do that to you.

After a while, he comes to the conclusion that it doesn’t really matter who BBH is. The only thing that matters is that Chanyeol has three words for him or her, and three words only.

Game on, .

It’s with this renewed sense of determination that Chanyeol makes his way through the arcade in long, overconfident strides, and he can feel the wind blowing through his hair. It's probably just Joonmyun blasting the air-conditioning again, but that's hardly important, because Chanyeol’s in a good mood today, and he's going to kick some BBH arse – whoever the hell BBH is.

His heart nearly leaps out of his chest when he arrives at the pinball section, however, because there’s someone else standing at the Star Wars machine at the other end of the aisle – someone Chanyeol’s never laid eyes on before – and something deep down tells him pretty much instantly that it’s him. Call it a gut feeling or whatever, but it’s got to be him, because apart from Chanyeol and a few others, not many people play the pinball machines when there are so many fighting, driving and shooting games they could be playing instead.

It’s BBH in the flesh. It has to be. And he’s in front of Chanyeol’s favourite machine, much to the latter’s indignation.

There’s only one thing that’s not consistent with the image Chanyeol created of the guy inside his head. Far from being the imposing figure he was imagining, BBH is shorter, delicate-looking, and has a head of shiny dark-purple hair. Although Chanyeol can only see the boy’s profile, he also looks to be rather cute, and he’s wearing a uniform that belongs to one of the other high schools nearby.

Chanyeol watches the boy silently from a safe vantage point, sneakily edging his way in a little closer from time to time. BBH doesn’t appear to have a pre-game ritual as elaborate as Chanyeol’s; instead, he merely stands there staring at the machine in front of him for what feels like ages, apparently oblivious to the fact that he’s being watched.

Perhaps he’s meditating, Chanyeol thinks. What a freak.

Then long, slender fingers slide sensually over the plunger before the boy gives it an abrupt tug, and all of a sudden Chanyeol is thinking of things he probably shouldn’t be thinking about while watching someone else play pinball.

Especially when that someone else is clearly male.

Chanyeol finds himself wondering what else those incredible hands can do, but he quickly shakes the thought away before it gets any weirder.

He’s enthralled by the way the guy handles the machine. Like any seasoned player, BBH only flips when necessary, but when he does, his fingers are so lightning-quick that they almost disappear in a blur of movement. After a while, it becomes almost impossible to tell if he’s playing pinball or if pinball’s playing him. He’s lost in the game, the look in his eyes so intense that Chanyeol almost expects the 300-pound machine to buckle and collapse beneath the weight of that stare.

And then without fair warning, BBH turns and directs that penetrating gaze in Chanyeol’s direction, and the latter’s knees almost give out right where he’s standing.

The other boy’s eyes widen a little in surprise and he turns back to the machine, only to realise he’s lost the ball.

“Ah, …”

“I’m sorry…” Chanyeol pipes up sheepishly as he cautiously approaches the boy, “did I distract you from your game..?”

BBH gives him a small but nonetheless friendly smile. His eyes are subtly lined in black and his lips curl up a little at the corners when he smiles - or perhaps it's more of a smirk, Chanyeol can't really tell. Whatever it is, it makes him look strangely feline.

“No, it’s alright,” he replies airily, “I didn’t realise I had a one-man fan club over on the sidelines..”

Chanyeol can feel his face burning a little when he realises the guy is referring to him.

“Sorry… it’s just, I’m a huge pinball nut myself, and I’ve never seen anyone play with such skill and intensity before. Do you mind if I watch...?”

BBH shrugs and smiles again. “Not at all. Go for it.”

“Ah. Right. Cool. I’ll, uh… I’ll just stand over here so I don’t throw you off.”

“Don’t worry, it’ll take a little more than that to throw me off..” the boy replies, and he pulls the plunger a second time, launching his next ball into the field.

They carry on that way for some time, with Chanyeol standing mesmerised on the spot by the magical pinball boy’s unmatchable skills. He scores so many replays that it feels like an age has passed and yet he’s still on the very same coin he inserted initially. Eventually BBH runs out of balls, but he takes out the former highest score – Chanyeol’s former highest score – and enters his name in the number one spot.

Chanyeol cranes his neck in an attempt to read what’s on the screen, and his heart drops into his guts when he sees the very same initials he’d been expecting all along, glaring back at him in bright orange dot-matrix characters.

BBH.

“Wow. You’re really good..” Chanyeol breathes, trying his hardest to sound more awestruck than depressed. “What did you say your name was..?”

“I didn’t,” the boy replies, “but I’m Baekhyun. Byun Baekhyun. And you are..?”

Right. So that’s what ‘BBH’ stands for.

“Uh… Chanyeol. Yeah, Park Chanyeol. That’s my name.”

“Had to think about that for a moment, did you..?” Baekhyun replies with a mischievous smile.

“Sorry.. I’m still trying to recover mentally after watching you play..” Chanyeol laughs nervously.

“That good, huh? Well, I’ve loved pinball ever since I was a kid, so I guess I can chalk it up to years of practice, patience and persistence. And a load of spare change, of course.”

“But you must play all the time to be so good. How come I’ve never seen you around here before..?”

“I only started playing at this arcade recently. The one I used to frequent closed down a couple of months ago.”

“Oh…” Chanyeol replies, and his face softens a little. “That’s pretty sad..”

“I know, right? I always loved that place,” Baekhyun sighs wistfully. “I loved everything about it; the ty old carpet that stuck to your shoes, the noises and flashing lights, the soggy fries and dodgy-looking hotdogs they sold at the snack bar… hell, even the body odour that permeated the entire complex – I loved it all. It always felt like a second home to me. I was absolutely gutted, seeing such a longstanding symbol of my childhood just… shut down like that. And the worst part is, they replaced it with a ing Dunkin’ Donuts, of all things..”

“I don’t know what I’d do with myself if this place closed down…” Chanyeol admits thoughtfully. “Probably sit at home, twiddling my thumbs… possibly crying…”

“Yeah, well, I sure as hell felt like crying, I’ll tell you that much..” Baekhyun replies somewhat bitterly, “but my old hangout was smaller than this, and had fewer games, so I guess they weren’t really rolling in the dough anymore… especially now that many people have all the latest consoles at home and can satisfy their gaming needs without leaving the house. But I dunno, I’ve always preferred arcade games, you know? It makes an essentially solitary activity feel just that little bit more social. You don’t get that kind of atmosphere when you’re playing all alone in your room..”

“I definitely know what you mean. I’ve spent many an hour with friends here after school. This place is the reason I’m such a mediocre student,” Chanyeol laughs nervously.

“Yeah, me too,” Baekhyun replies with a smile as he slings his schoolbag over his shoulder. “Anyway, it’s been nice meeting you and all, but I’d better head home. I’ll probably see you around, though. I’m here fairly often these days..”

“Okay. See you.”

As soon as he sees Baekhyun exit the arcade, Chanyeol quickly returns to the Star Wars machine, inserts a coin and tries to beat the other boy’s high score.

Needless to say, he fails miserably.

* * *

At school the next day, Chanyeol walks around looking like he’s going to a funeral.

In a way, he is going to a funeral – his talent for pinball being the newly deceased.

“Yeesh, what’s up with Chanyeol’s face?” Kris asks as he takes a seat next to Jongdae in homeroom. “Did someone die..?”

“In Yeol’s own words, some magical sparkly fairy guy suddenly appeared at Neverland and beat all of his pinball high scores..” Jongdae replies in a bored tone.

“Ah,” Kris nods sympathetically. “Tough break..”

“Yep. Try to avoid mentioning it, though. You’ll never hear the end of it, otherwise, and neither will I..”

“Thanks for the tip.”

Chanyeol’s long-suffering friends never end up hearing the end of it anyway, because he brings it up again in the cafeteria at lunch.

“It's just so infuriating, you know? This dude just suddenly waltzes in on my turf out of nowhere and takes out all of my high scores like it’s the easiest thing in the world. And the worst part is, he's a really nice guy and I can't even ing hate him for it..”

“Chanyeol, can we please talk about something else now..?” Jongin whines, “this is getting really old..”

“You guys wouldn’t understand anyway,” Chanyeol mutters as he pokes disinterestedly at his food. “You’re not serious gamers like I am..”

“Oh, here we go with the ‘you’re not serious gamers’ bull again..” Kris replies with an exaggerated eye-roll.

“You know what? I’ve just come to a very important conclusion,” Jongdae suddenly pipes up, “and it is that Chanyeol will never, ever get a girlfriend. Ever.”

“Hey!”

“Pfft. Yeah,” Kris chuckles, “or a boyfriend, for that matter..”

“Anything with a heartbeat is pretty much out of the question,” Jongdae continues, “in fact, his first time will probably be with one of the machines at the arcade.”

“Haha, that’s brilliant,” Jongin laughs, clapping his hands in appreciation. “Currently taking bets on which one it will be..”

“You’re all a bunch of ,” Chanyeol mumbles, and as he lets his head fall onto the table, he briefly wonders if Baekhyun’s friends are as ty as his.

* * *

“Woohoo!”

“Oh yeah, that’s the good stuff..”

“Woohoo!”

“Just one more.. Go on.. That's good.. So close…”

Then Chanyeol hits the button and misses. The block drops, and the Stacker machine utters a comical "uh-oh!" sound.

Game over.

“No dice,” Jongdae says monotonously.

“Ahh, ..”

“I swear we were just coming around the corner and it sounded like you were doing something suss with that Stacker machine,” Jongin remarks as he and Kris make their way over to join the other two. “Even more worryingly, it sounded like the machine was enjoying it.”

“I thought I was actually going to win this time..” Chanyeol sighs. “I think this machine sends out subliminal messages that compel you to keep putting money into it. Or maybe I just like hearing the little ‘woohoo!’ noises it makes. I really don’t know anymore..”

“Why are you even playing Stacker, anyway?” Kris asks, looking at Chanyeol like he’s an imbecile. “Everyone and their mum’s dog knows that Stacker’s rigged.”

“I have no idea why I waste my time on this piece of , to be honest..” Chanyeol replies wearily as he leans his head against the machine in defeat. “Probably because I'm a masochist..”

“I wouldn’t let Joonmyun hyung see you leaning on that,” Jongdae warns him. “He hates it when people leave forehead prints on the glass. I once saw him chase this poor kid out of the building with a bottle of Windex.”

“You know what? Going back to our discussion on bets earlier, I’ve just decided I'm betting 5000 Won on Stacker being Chanyeol’s first lay,” Kris announces, “he clearly already talks to it, so they must be building some kind of rapport by now. It's also got a nice big prize collection area for him to stick his junk into.”

“Chanyeol doesn’t need a nice big prize collection area. All he needs is a coin slot and he'll be good to go..” Jongdae replies drily. “Now, knowing Yeol, he'll lose his V-card to one of the pinballs, because they were his first love and he's a sentimental arsehole.”

“I see your 5000 and raise you another 5000, Kris,” Jongin joins in, “my bet’s on Street Fighter though, because I have this sneaking suspicion that Chanyeol secretly likes a bit of joystick action..”

“If the three of you are going to bet on which machine I’m going to have with, can you at least wait until I’m no longer present?” Chanyeol splutters in exasperation.

“10,000 it is,” Kris replies, ignoring him. “Jongdae, you still in?”

“Oh, it's on. It's on like Donkey Kong.”

“Shut up, or I'll Hadouken every single one of you right in the solar plexus.”

“See? What did I tell you? Street Fighter’s the way to go,” Jongin says matter-of-factly.

Chanyeol merely rests his head against the glass of the Stacker machine with a groan, until Joonmyun finally walks past and loses his over it.

* * *

The next time Chanyeol sees Baekhyun at the arcade, he doesn’t actually realise it’s him.

He’s just finished his Saturday shift and is surreptitiously watching a blonde in skintight black jeans doing her thing on one of the Dance Dance Revolution machines, shaking her cute little posterior like nobody’s watching. She’s matching all the steps and pulling off multiple combos like a pro, displaying more grace and co-ordination in her left foot than Chanyeol possesses in his entire gangly teenage-boy body.

The game ends on a near-perfect score and she wipes the sweat from her brow as she turns around. And then Chanyeol realises it’s not actually a cute girl with a pixie cut at all, but Baekhyun with a new blond dye-job.

“Oh, hi Chanyeol,” Baekhyun greets him, looking a little surprised at his presence. “I didn’t see you back there..”

“Uh… hi..” Chanyeol answers hesitantly, trying not to think about the fact that he’s just spent the last five minutes admiring the arse and thighs of his self-appointed arch-nemesis. “I didn’t even recognise you out of uniform. And you’re, uh… you’re blond now, I see..”

Bloody hell, he's even good at DDR. What a .

“Yeah, I had it done the other day on a whim,” Baekhyun replies casually as he steps off the platform. “Still not sure how to feel about it...”

Chanyeol shrugs. “It suits you, I reckon.”

“Thanks,” Baekhyun smiles sweetly. He gestures towards the DDR machine behind him. “Were you waiting your turn..?”

“Oh, no.. no..” Chanyeol laughs nervously, “I really hard at DDR. I was just passing on my way to the pinball section and stopped to admire your, um… skills.”

“Oh I see. Do you mind if I watch you this time? I’d like to see what I’m up against,” Baekhyun replies, and he gives Chanyeol a friendly wink. There’s hardly anything competitive in his tone at all, but Chanyeol is secretly dying inside nevertheless, because Baekhyun is brilliant at pinball and he feels so mediocre by comparison. He just wants to play without the added pressure of being scrutinised by someone so talented.

"Uh, sure. I guess that's cool.."

Baekhyun follows him over to the Star Wars machine, and Chanyeol decides to skip his pre-game ritual this time. The other boy would surely think he was a lit