"It's too loud," Jimin said, fighting the urge to put his hands over his ears, but his words were drowned out by the roar of bells and whistles.

"WHAT'S THAT?" Namjoon yelled, leaning closer, and Jimin just shook his head, sinking down slightly and giving in, clamping his hands over his ears.

As part of their reintegrate-Jimin-into-society mission, they'd decided to take him to every young boy's favorite place: the arcade.

Only Jimin was immediately certain that he liked the aquarium much better because the loud noises hurt his ears and the bright flashing lights hurt his eyes and there was altogether too much stimulus to process. All he ended up with was a headache, and he hadn't even been standing inside the door more than five minutes.

"C'mon!" Jin yelled, grinning and grabbing Jimin's hand, forcing him to uncover his ears, before dragging him deeper into the overwhelming nest of chaos. "This game is my favorite!" Jin said before sitting down in the seat and shoving coins into the machine while Jimin frowned at the screen, blinking and squinting in an effort to not hurt his eyes.

"What is it, hyung?" Jimin asked, frowning at the screen as Jin hit the flashing START button. "What is that sound?"

"It's called Pac-Man, Jimin, and that's just the sound the game makes," Jin explained while fighting for control with the joystick.

Jimin frowned. "It sound like a siren," he mumbled.

"Oh, yeah, maybe," Jin said, but he was too distracted by the game to really process Jimin's words. "Aw, man!" he yelled after dying before turning around to smile at Jimin. "How about you give it a try?"

Jimin tried to protest, but Jin was already getting up and shuffling him into the seat. Jimin cautiously set his hand down on the joystick and waited for some sort of a sign.

"Now! Jimin, you have to move or they'll get you!" Jin yelled, and Jimin looked over, confused.

"Wait, it started?"

"Yes! Didn't you hear the song start over? It's okay, just hurry! Don't look at me! Look at the screen!"

Jimin looked back at the screen, confused, but he obeyed Jin and pushed the joystick to the left, watching the yellow circle move and eat the dots. Then he ran into a wall and frowned.

"A different direction! Choose a different direction!"

"Oh," Jimin mumbled before moving the yellow circle up and hitting another wall before slowly turning right. "Wait, do I need to use turn signals?" He stopped to look at the sides of the machine. "I don't see them, how am I supposed to-"

"No, you don't need to use turn signals, Jimin! It's a Pac-Man, not a car!" Jin shouted, watching the screen intently. "Hurry! Go down! Pinky is going to get you!"

"Pinky? Is that the pink thing?"

"Yes, now hurry up and go down!"

Jimin did as asked. "So, is the red one Reddy? And is the blue one Bluey? And is the orange one Orangey?"

"No," Jin said, looking at Jimin as though he had suggested something ridiculous. "The red one is Blinky, and the blue one is Inky."

"Oh. Well, what about the orange one?"

"His name is Clyde."

Jimin just blinked. "I don't understand that."

"You don't have to understand, just- TURN LEFT!"

Jimin winced at Jin's volume and turned, but he saw the pink one closing in and he panicked, getting stuck in a corner. He physically flinched as though struck when Pinky got him before standing up quickly. "Y-you can play," Jimin said, and Jin nodded shortly before jumping back into the seat, not even noticing as Jimin wandered off.

He tried to find a dark, quiet corner, but there were none. Still, he went to the least-populated area he could find, subconsciously avoiding people because he still didn't like crowds, and it was then that he saw Taehyung sitting at a machine. He was about to go over when he saw someone sitting next to Taehyung, playing with him.

Jimin hesitated. He didn't want to spy on Taehyung, but he'd also never seen Taehyung with a friend before, so he was curious. He crept a little bit closer and stayed out of Taehyung's sight.

"Um, thanks," the unknown boy said while turning the game's steering wheel to drive his car around a tight corner. "For yesterday."

Tae just nodded and kept driving. "I didn't really do anything."

"But you did," the kid said, wincing as his car bounced off a building. "He would have punched me if you hadn't stopped him."

"You mean if Jungkook hadn't stopped him," Tae corrected calmly, driving off the road and into a lake.

"He wouldn't have come if you weren't there."

"Probably."

"Not probably. Definitely not. Especially since I'm...Well, you know. Thanks anyway."

"Since you're what?" Taehyung asked somewhat disinterestedly. He still wasn't sure if he wanted to open up more or keep shutting everyone else out, and he didn't want the kid to think that he was ready to be friends or anything.

"Well, because of who I am."

"Why would that make any difference?" Tae asked, finally coming out on the opposite shore of the lake and getting back on the road, second to last place. He couldn't tell if the boy next to him was taking last on purpose to fulfill some contrived notion of being nice or if he was just really a horrible driver.

"Well, you know why. Maybe you didn't think it's all that big of a deal but I know Jungkook does because he told me a while ago and I feel bad about it and..."

The conversation faded as Jimin moved farther away, feeling guilty. He didn't want to eavesdrop on a personal conversation, and from the two boys' tones, he was getting the feeling that maybe it was a conversation he shouldn't be hearing.

He started to head back to find one of his other brothers when he heard a noise in the arcade that wasn't supposed to be there. Underneath all the bells, whistles, dings, clicks, and buzzes, he heard a thump.

He turned around to see the unknown boy lying on the ground as though he'd fallen out of his seat. Then he noticed Tae standing up, his hands clenched by his side.

Maybe the boy didn't fall. Maybe...

Maybe he was pushed.

Before Jimin could decide whether to intervene or pretend that he'd never seen it, Yoongi pushed past him and stopped in front of Tae.

Tae looked up at Yoongi, challenge in his eyes, daring Yoongi to scold him, but Yoongi was silent, just thinking with a hand on his chin and the other hand on his hip.

"Eight out of ten," Yoongi finally said. "Five points for energy, two points for effort, one point for force. Negative two points because you didn't break the skin."

Tae opened his mouth, but Yoongi was already turning to the boy, who was just starting to sit up.

"I don't know what you did to piss him off, but it had to be something stupid. As a result..." Yoongi narrowed his eyes before turning to the screen and plopping down in the chair. "I'm playing out the rest of your game."

"But-"

"Relax, kid. You're down a quarter but you're also getting out without a hefty bruise on your face, so leave before I decide to change that."

The kid hesitated, his mouth open slightly as he looked to Tae, but Tae just turned back to the screen and took his seat.

The kid turned around, looking lost and hurt, but when he accidentally made eye contact with Jimin, he turned pale and quickly ran out of the arcade.

"I'm in last place?" Yoongi said grumpily. "Maybe I should have punched him for doing such an awful job."

Taehyung cracked a small grimace but stayed silent.

He didn't know if Yoongi let him win (comparatively, that is; he still came in second to last, but he beat Yoongi) because Yoongi was trying to be nice or just because Yoongi was as awful as a driver as the previous player.

But when the game was over, they both sat in their seats, quiet.

"Relax," Yoongi finally said, ruffling Tae's hair without looking over at him. "I'm not going to tell Dad."

Tae let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding in.

"Now," Yoongi commanded. "Put in another two quarters so I don't come in last because some idiot before me drove like his child was in the front seat."

Tae smiled impulsively before handing over two coins, and Yoongi inserted them.

Yoongi took first place in that round and didn't hesitate to rub it in Tae's face, but Tae couldn't help but be happy because he knew what it meant, that Yoongi had purposely let him win.

***

"Do we have everyone?" Namjoon asked, counting heads. "One, two, three, four, five, six, sev- no, wait, that one's not mine...one, two, three, four-"

"We're all here, Dad," Jin interrupted, and Namjoon sighed before dropping his hand.

"Wonderful. Let's get out of here. This place gives me a headache."

Jimin grinned and hurried over to Namjoon so he could hold his hand on the way out.

happy spontaneous update because i couldn't fall asleep during my nap

also

yoongi + tae is a thing

mainly tae being done with yoongi

and idk what jungkook is doing in one of these pics but here