“No!” Seunghyun yelled involuntarily, standing up and putting his hands on his head in dismay. Strike! Had Daesung been practicing behind his back or was it just dumb luck? Or destiny working against him? Daesung shook his behind to and fro in a weird little celebratory dance. Seunghyun had to admit that his behind was pretty well shaped. It made it almost worth the lost points to see it in action. “Aaand that's how you do it!” Daesung practically sang at the top of his lungs as he passed Seunghyun to look at the screen. His eyes filled with pride as he saw the word 'Strike' flash on the screen. This was quite a lead he had already, since Seunghyun hadn't hit any pins yet.

Seunghyun worriedly picked another bowling ball since the black one had failed him. Now, they were officially on a date, so using a pink ball couldn't possibly make it any more gay, right? Since two guys on a date was already gay as hell. The pink ball was nice and light. Yeah, that would do. Seunghyun gave Daesung a scowl before heading to the head of the lane. This was it. A strike. He needed a strike. Or at least to hit some pins, that would be good too.

Seunghyun stuck his tongue out, aiming for the dead center of the foremost pin. Piece of cake, now that his ball wasn't the weight of a medium sized mini-van. That had definitely been the problem. “Oh kiss, just hang on for a few moments longer, I will be with you shortly.” Seunghyun whispered as he prepared to swing the ball. And there she goes!

And there she went alright. Seunghyun had miscalculated just how light the ball was, using way too much force. The ball flew through the air over half the lane. At one point Seunghyun was afraid it wasn't ever going to land, going on to smash the wall on the other side of the room. But land it did, only to head straight into the gutter. Again.

Daesung erupted with laughter. No worries. He still had one more try. He could still get a spare. He quickly picked a green ball, since careful selection of the ball had not helped him so far. It was rather heavy, but not too heavy. He decided not to psych himself out with some complicated strategy and thus took the shot without thinking twice about it. The ball rolled down the lane for what felt like forever. It looked like it was going to hit the pin beside the middle one. That would be okay. That could still result in a spare, or at least knock down a whole bunch of them. Go Greenie, go! Seunghyun had named it for good luck, although it wasn't the most original nickname ever. But luck didn't ask for originality, it.. what did it ask for? It just randomly picked people, that was why it was called luck. Why couldn't it randomly pick him. But he didn't really believe luck was random. It definitely had favorites and stalked some people more than others. For some reason, Seunghyun hadn't been struck by luck's cupid, so luck had no interest in him.

“No.. no no no..”. Without meaning to, Seunghyun started blowing at the ball to keep it from changing its path. Like that would help! Sure he could blow hard enough for his breath to still have some force left after a few hundred meters of travel, enough force to alter the path of a semi heavy bowling ball. There was always hoping! Daesung snorted, swallowing his laughter so tears came out. Oh, that rascal! He clearly thought he had already won. Seunghyun couldn't let him win, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. He wanted that kiss. Badly. And he was going to get it.

No matter how much Seunghyun huffed and puffed, the ball didn't falter from its path. Just before hitting the gutter, it slightly grazed the outermost pin. The pin wobbled a bit. Come on, you can do it! Seunghyun bit his lips, peering his eyes in anticipation. Fall.. fall... fall, god damn it! And fall it did, but in the wrong direction. It fell away from the other pins, leaving them in peace, healthy as ever. Those shiny white eyeless heads staring back at him, taunting him. Why were they against him? Did they think he wasn't good enough for Daesung? Okay, he knew they were inanimate objects without any power to influence the final outcome, but it still felt like everything was working against him. He just wanted Daesung to fall in love with him. He wanted it too much. The longing burned in every one of his cells, making him itchy all over. This wasn't going how he pictured it. He was beginning to fall into despair. What if all the dates in the world wouldn't be able to change Daesung's mind? He knew that was the likeliest outcome, but he just couldn't accept it. He couldn't consider it a possibility. Just thinking about it made his insides wither into a gaping hole, the life force right out of him. No. He couldn't go there. Some said putting positive energy out into the world would bring positive things, should he try that? Yeah. Stay positive, that was what he was going to do.

Daesung got two more strikes and a spare. Seunghyun never stood a chance. He felt like the world was going to collapse on him at any moment. “Oh, come on! It's no fun playing with such a sore loser!” Daesung nudged him kindly, trying to cheer him up a bit. Seunghyun knew he wasn't helping his cause by being so down, but he couldn't help it. He was scared of what would happen 9 dates from now. Would Daesung still want to be his friend? Would he be able to still be Daesung's friend? He could feel a storm coming, a storm of great change and it scared him to death.

“I did lose, didn't I?! So I have the right to be all bummed out about it!” Seunghyun retorted, trying to be playful but sounding more pissed off than anything. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. Maybe he should have left things well alone. He wished he could take it all back. He wished he could go back to the way it was before. But it was too late. The damage was already done. If he couldn't get Daesung to fall for him.. he didn't want to think that far.

The ride home was quite silent. Daesung tried to lighten the mood with a joke a couple of times and Seunghyun tried to laugh at them, playing along, but they could both feel how off the atmosphere was.

“Alright, so you won. What do you want as your prize, where will the next date be?” Seunghyun said as they pulled up to the dorm. He made an effort to sound light and it almost worked. Daesung's smile returned, though it was weaker than usual. “Mmmm... you're just gona have to find out!” he winked teasingly, giggling shyly. The heavy load that had been suffocating Seunghyun was lifted off of him in an instant and the knot in his stomach turned into butterflies, fluttering around excitedly, making him blush a bit. Hopefully Daesung didn't notice. What was he playing at? Was there a chance after all? Was he flirting with him? A million questions rushed through his mind, no one staying long enough for him to give it a serious answer.

“So.. I guess I should give you a consolation prize.. since you're taking the fact that you're a total loser pretty hard...” Daesung smirked, clearly getting a kick out of being so insolent. “Total loser?!” Seunghyun mimicked him in a loud voice, pretending to be over the top insulted. Daesung squeaked, it sounded as if someone had accidentally stepped on a squeaky toy. It was really the cutest of sounds. It tickled Seunghyun's heartstrings, spreading warmth throughout the whole of his body. Suddenly Daesung leaned closer to him, making his heart stop for a moment. It felt as if it was going to burst, pounding with all its might on his ribcage. He was worried it was pounding so hard that Daesung would hear it. It was all that he could hear. Boo-boom. Boo-boom.

Daesung's face was but two inches from his face, at most. Daesung was still for a moment, just watching him. Or so it seemed. He had caught him so off guard that Seunghyun didn't even dare look Daesung in the eyes. He tried to control his breathing. What was Daesung doing? Was he just trying to psych him out? Or rub it in that he had won and so Seunghyun would not be getting the kiss that he so longed for? Whatever it was, Seunghyun didn't care. It was enough to get to be this close to him. The air was electrified, Seunghyun was afraid that even the tiniest spark would set off an explosion of epic proportions. But that was precisely the atmosphere he needed. He hoped Daesung felt it too. He hoped that the electricity would jumpstart Daesung's heart, making it beat for him and him only. Syncing their hearts to the same frequency, beating together for eternity.

After a good long while, Daesung lunged forwards, giving him a tiny peck on the cheek. “Better luck next time.” he giggled as he rushed out of the car, disappearing into the darkness.

Half an hour later Seunghyun still sat there, staring frozen into the nothingness outside. He could still feel Daesung's lips on his cheek. He hoped the feeling would never go away. He didn't dare move in fear that Daesung's lingering lips would dissolve, leaving nothing behind but a vague memory.