Chapter Text
Megan doesn’t know how this happened, can’t wrap her head around how or why she and Yoonchae were nearly nose to nose right now.
Pause.
Rewind.
“Hurry up!” Yoonchae called out, sparing a glance over her shoulder towards Megan who was a few paces behind. “I’m trying!” Megan replied, skin flushed and sweat dripping down the side of her cheek.
Yoonchae slowed down a bit, just enough to be vaguely side to side with the pink-bangs girl. “You’re so slow Megan-unniee.” She complained and heard a squawk of protest that caused her to stifle a giggle.
“Oh come on! You know that I just got done with volleyball practice, I’m soo tiiired. Cut me some slack, not everyone has your insane stamina.” Megan grumbled, trying to keep up the salty, scowling facade but the closer they got to the arcade the quicker it melted away. She was practically vibrating with excitement.
Grabbing Yoonchae’s arm, she quickly starts tugging her towards the entrance. “Come on! We have to go before some randoms occupy the dance machine!” She said, all but sprinting towards the dance machine. “Hold on Mei- we don’t even have tokens yet!”
Panting and mildly flushed, the two girls leaned heavily against the handle of the side by side dance machines. They- more so Megan than Yoonchae- had been more focused on striking silly poses than actually achieving a high score.
“I beat you by the way.” Megan said, breathless. Yoonchae side eyes their incredibly low scores- a personal record for the two of them- nearly the same except for the fact that Yoonchae’s was higher by a mere seven points.
Inexplicably, the Korean girl feels a warmth bubbling into her chest and translating into a bright laugh. Megan stared at her in awe, feeling an odd sense of accomplishment, before bursting into a wide grin.
“You know that I’m like, the absolute GOAT when it comes to claw machines, right?” The older girl asked after seeing the other stare at a claw machine filled to the brim with various plush toys inside.
Yoonchae raises an eyebrow, clearly skeptical but huffs out a laugh. “Oh really?” She prompts.
“Really! Tell me which one you want, I’ll catch it guaranteed.”
Yoonchae points at a large plushie of Doraemon, holding a lollipop and wearing a bright propeller hat on his head. Megan quickly inserts a token into the machine, moves around the joystick and then—
It actually lands. The claw nudging itself in between Doraemon’s hand and another plushie, a plain yet cute white cat with two black beady eyes and a pink blush.
Megan leans down and presents the two plushes with a large grin. “Told you I was the goat at claw machines.” She said proudly.
The younger girl rolls her eyes, a fond smile playing at her lips as she takes the plushes from Megan. “Thank you.” Megan’s grin impossibly widens.
“Seriously? The basketball game- come on! That’s basically like, a humiliation ritual for me and the easiest win for you.” Megan whined, staring at the hoop with disdain in her eyes.
Yoonchae smiled but conceded nonetheless. “Alright, we can play something else.” She murmured as she turned to look for another game.
Megan quickly darts her hand out to tug Yoonchae closer. “I was just kidding! I don’t really mind.” She did mind, quite a bit, actually. She wasn’t too fond of looking like the biggest loser ever. But Yoonchae’s resulting smile, bright and warm, was worth it.
The two play off and the scores are glaringly different. Megan - 7 points. Yoonchae - 82 points. Maybe Megan would’ve played better if she wasn’t all too distracted by Yoonchae’s bursts of laughter, or Yoonchae’s smile, or their looks towards each other every time they- mostly Megan- missed a shot.
“Hey, I just remembered, aren’t you supposed to like be at a party today? Adela’s, right?” Yoonchae asked with a slight frown.
Megan turned to look at her from where she was playing a random racing game, she paused the game and hummed. “Well I was invited, but I didn’t want to go.”
Yoonchae's frown deepened in confusion. Megan loved to party, and Adela was one of her best friends- also the girl who hosts the best parties in their entire school.
The Hawaiian girl looked up at her confusion and said softly. “I’d much rather hang out with you.” She turned away and clicked resume on her game.
Yoonchae pretends that that singular line didn’t play in the back of her mind for almost the rest of the day.
Megan points at the ticket spin wheel, lowest prize: 1 ticket, highest prize: 10,000 tickets. Yoonchae looks down at their remaining tokens, roughly a dozen, and gives the other girl a flat look. “You’re gonna lose.”
“Nuh-uh, I’ll get the jackpot. You have no faith in me.” Megan claims before inserting a couple tokens for a few spins.
One ticket- one out of five tokens.
Fifty tickets- two out of five tokens.
Three tickets.
One ticket.
…
Jackpot!
“See! See! I told you- I literally told you so!” Megan exclaimed, jumping and shaking Yoonchae by the shoulders in utter glee. They gather up the tickets with matching grins, arguing over who’s gonna carry them for the rest of the time in the arcade.
“Over there- come on come on!” Megan said, frantically mashing the buttons on the controller. They were playing some sort of alien shooter game.
Yoonchae yelped as she got surprised attacked, half of her health lost to a bright neon green alien with a laser blaster. “To your right-”
They both go quiet as the machine suddenly stops. A big yellow image with text flashing on their screens. “Please insert one more token to continue.” Megan lets out a loud groan and Yoonchae starts patting her pockets.
“I have one more token!” She exclaims and Megan perks up immediately, hitting her arm in light but rapid taps. “Hurry up!” “I’m hurrying!”
Megan beams widely as the game starts up again. “Focus- focuuus! I am- Megan Skiendiel- the absolute GOAT at alien killing. I was born, to kill aliens.” She says, all cocky as she spares a look to Yoonchae before focusing back on the game.
Yoonchae gets lost for about five seconds, staring at Megan’s lips- no- her smile. Before quickly looking away once she feels her own cheeks start to flush.
“It’s getting late, I should go home. Sophia-unnie’s probably worried.” Yoonchae murmurs, shifting her hold on the two plushies.
Earlier, they exchanged their tickets for matching bracelets. One cherry themed, Yoonchae wore it, and one seashell themed that Megan wore. Alongside two tickets for the photobooth, they both had photostrips on the back of their phone.
Megan hums in acknowledgement and starts to walk. “Where are you going?” Yoonchae calls out.
“Walking you home, duh, hurry up!”
Five minutes before the present time.
Yoonchae stares at a cotton candy stand. “Hold on.” She mutters, and Megan looks confused briefly before huffing and waiting like she was asked to do.
The Korean girl comes back with a flower-shaped cotton candy, pink and blue. She holds it out to Megan. “Huh? Why would you get cotton candy? I thought you hated how sweet it was?” She asked while popping a piece into her mouth.
Yoonchae looks shy for a moment before clearing her throat. “I mean yeah, but you like it. Also um, you have some sugar right-” She leans in before she can think of it properly, staring at Megan’s lip and gently brushing away the sugar at the corner of her mouth.
When she looks back up, she realizes there’s barely any distance between them. She can see Megan’s beauty marks clear as day, the ones on her neck Yoonchae always thought were so pretty. She watches the bob of Megan’s throat as she swallows.
They pull away with a laugh, a bit forced, and look the other way. “Ahha! Um- yeah, uh, l- your house is near already right? Let- um, let’s continue walking there.” Megan says with a helpless laugh.
They walk in half awkward half comfortable silence, finishing the cotton candy and throwing the stick in a nearby bin. Despite the odd tension in the air, they held hands all the way to Yoonchae’s front door.
“I’ll see you on Monday?” Yoonchae asked softly, looking unwilling to part. “Yeah, um, yeah of course- maybe just a little less though. I have volleyball training, we have a game soon.”
“I know, I’ll be there to cheer you on.” Yoonchae says with a smile, her eyes warm and curved up like crescent moons. Megan’s eyes brighten and her smile widens, heart skipping a beat then rapidly accelerating to make up for it.
“Thank you- um, bye Yoonchip.” She says softly, stepping off the front porch and taking a few steps back.
“Bye Mei.” Yoonchae replies, just as soft.