Work Text:
Renjun's summer break has officially started last week, in terms of finding something to do so he won't rot in his bed, a light bulb lights up in his head as he gains an idea and he thought, "Oh, I should get a summer job."
And that's exactly how he finds himself behind the tokens and prize claiming counter of this arcade that he didn't even know existed until he needed a job.
It was a decent arcade, it doesn't look too sketchy or worn out, there seems to be new selection of games on some sides while some are barely even working as he observes the possible players just scowl when they realized that the game ate their token with no signs of ever giving them a chance to try its game.
He toys with the token in his grasp as he watched someone kick one of the claw machines, arcade as a hangout place sounds fun and all but after sitting his ass on this metal stool for at least 2 hours as he is starting to feel his back pains slowly tickle his spine, he comes to the realization that arcade as a workplace isn't thrilling as he imagined it to be.
A week into this job, he thinks he's just too pessimistic for this in the first place.
Sure, he doesn't enjoy back pains but that's all on the metal stool to blame, he can probably snatch one of his mom's sofa pillows to lean on during his shifts. He thinks he should probably do that next time.
A part of what seems so interesting to him about this job is observing the different players in this place.
Sometimes, he grimaces at how hard a person can kick a metal piece and walk out with their tokens wasted on a machine that is seemingly rigged, or at how he smiles along with the person who lucks out at this rigged machine and wins it. Maybe he also enjoys the twinkling eyes that looks at him that usually belongs to the younger arcade gamers as they hand him their tickets excitedly pointing at the prize they want to claim with their hard earned ticket.
However, he is especially fixated at a duo who seemingly has made the arcade their home for as long as Renjun started working here.
Everyday without a fail they will come, sometimes both of them are clad in their leather jackets that at sight, Renjun slipped his elbow on the counter which made his head drop as he flails around in order not to fall off this stupid tall metal stool ('Oh my god', he never thought how attractive a leather jacket could look until he saw them).
Other times, they would be a complete 360 of their biker aesthetic and go for pastel colored sweaters that makes him sweat just at the sight of it, just how they survive with that on in this summer heat is a mystery to Renjun. He thanks the fact that the arcade has a good air-conditioning so he doesn't have to fan himself like a madman.
They also have another eye-catching feature to them that Renjun takes as a usual telltale sign that they were here just at a glance.
He spots them, 'oh today they're by the claw machines', he notes maybe they're bored of the Tekken which they took over completely last week. It was such a distinct color mint green and pink that Renjun can see if he peeks hard enough from his counter.
He was suddenly caught off guard when he sees that they both turn around to him he was stunted for a few seconds as the mint green ponts towards him and he feels his ears turn red at the fact that they might have caught him staring at them.
He screws his eyes shut, mumbling at how he should stop this weird habit he has developed while working when he heard a voice,
"100 tokens please." He falls forward as he flailed around, fuck, he really should stop rocking this fucking metal stool.
He holds onto the counter and sits properly just to meet eyes with the person on the other side of the glass that separates them and, 'holy shit, he's so pretty?!'
The boy's eyes showed concern for him but all Renjun could focus on was his cotton candy pink hair and how his eyelashes fluttered against his cheeks, did Renjun hit his head on the glass hard that he's hallucinating of a pretty boy in the middle of his shift?
"Hey, are you okay?" Oh, that's a voice, and he's back to reality and definitely still sitting on this shitty metal stool that almost made him fell earlier.
Mentally, he feels like slapping himself at how stupid he probably looks right now that it's actually concerning. "Yeah, I'm fine. 100 tokens was it?" He doesn't meet the pink haired boy's gaze and sets his eyes on the tokens that were placed under the counter as he looks for the sign that says "100+20".
There was laughter behind the glass and Renjun wishes he could cry due to the embarrassment surging in his veins at the very moment, "Here's your 100 tokens and extra 20."
He slides the tokens out the small hole on the glass and finally looks up at the boy, he thinks he saw the sun finally shine right through this dark neon themed arcade when he saw the boy smile. ('Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, he might actually be an angel.' Renjun thought.)
"Thank you, oh by the way you're cute." And with that, the token on the counter was gone (Renjun might be too) and the boy left a flustered and dumbfounded arcade clerk behind the counter as he walked towards the mint green haired boy who appears to be whining at him to move faster.
(He thinks that the amount of claw machine plushies the duo got should be concerning but that isn't Renjun's job to think about so he just watches the two, who seems to be engaged in some kind of bet who takes the most plushies but he think it's more like who empties that claw machine first.)
Next time, the one who took the tokens for them was the mint green haired boy except his hair wasn't mint green anymore it was a vibrant orange.
Renjun was arranging the teddy bears on display when someone said a soft "excuse me?" and he already loved this person for abiding by the sign on the glass that says 'Do Not Knock!!!'.
"Yes?" He catches the boy's attention which seemingly keeps going back to the big pink teddy bear Renjun was handling.
"200 tokens please." He ducks down taking two 100 tokens and plopping it on the counter before he slides it toward the boy who finally meets his eyes.
'Oh, he's cute', Renjun concludes. The boy smiles at him before he walks towards a blue hair and it clicks to Renjun that oh, this was the other boy of that arcade duo.
(He watched them again for his whole shift as they try to sabotage each other on that zombie shooting game that came yesterday and Renjun thinks he sees a faint hint of crushing on the blue boy's face as he purposely let the orange boy win.)
Maybe observing this monster arcade couple has been the most interesting part of Renjun's work, (or partly, because if he remembers there's also this interesting troublemaking duo that keeps getting chased out by his manager when they come by and there's also this one awkward boy that keeps on coming to the counter to count his tickets that are barely even enough for a piece of an eraser in the prize selection.)
They were by the basketball section now and the blue hair boy, who he caught the name in the passing was Jaemin, is letting his companion win again. Renjun knows if he tried as hard as the orange boy he can come close to his score but Renjun is having fun looking at his pinning ass so he doesn't mind it.
(Once, Renjun heard them when they were by that game where you keep on feeding the machine tokens until it magically pushes out candies and when the lollipops drop, the orange haired boy who was Chenle, that he just got to know like a few days before, asked Jaemin something so loud that if Renjun was once again rocking his stool he would have fell backwards with a loud thud.
"Nana hyung, do you like me?" )
He thinks they're officially a couple now, not that it was his business or something but he observes the changes that followed that confrontation.
They walk into the arcade hand in hand now, Chenle also once came earlier than Jaemin to spend his 2 hours on the games that produced tickets just to proudly smile at Renjun as he points at the big fluffy pink bear behind when his ticket count hit 10k.
(Renjun honestly fears Chenle, how does one even manage to get that much ticket in 2 hours? But seeing how these two are like robots built to smash arcade games, he doesn't ponder about it too much.)
The smile Jaemin had when Chenle gave him the pink teddy bear was so soft and warm, maybe it melted his heart as well when he saw the scene unfold in front of him.
Chenle received a bear hug and Jaemin's tiny kisses and wouldn't stop giggling at his boyfriend's antic that Renjun just had to cough and look away at the public display of affection that made him feel lonely and awkward.
And that's how the once duo turned to a couple who seemingly lived their summers in the arcade started spending less time in it, he sees them like at least twice a week and he would like to think that they're going on lots of dates hence the decreased arcade visits.
Maybe he finds working on the arcade fun, sometimes when the place isn't as busy he would take his manager's extra work and walk around the arcade checking the games out if they're near their replacing era or if they're working just fine. He feels a smile creep onto his face when he sees Jaemin and Chenle on the top 2 of the arcade games yet shivers when he sees that small space between that one basketball machine and the zombie game knowing that the two made out there.
The neon glow of the games has never felt more familiar to Renjun than it does right now as he settles behind the counter and sees the familiar shade of blue and orange coming into view, maybe he should dye his hair as well? A purple or blue would be cool, he had the whole summer to waste anyway.