Eunhyuk cheerfully walked to the grocery store, realizing this morning that he was out of rice and would need to buy some if he wanted to eat tonight. As he walked towards the entrance, something to the right caught his eye. Turning and looking, his first thought was something along the lines of wow, that guy is so hot. And then he looked closer. Cowboy clothes? Really? That's so…lame. That's when Eunhyuk realized yes, he was an idiot, and yes, that was a machine. He made his way over to the man/machine and eyed it warily. It was so…lifelike. Brown, wavy hair peeked below the wide-brimmed cowboy hat, and brown eyes started blankly ahead. Eunhyuk slowly examined the rest of it. Flannel shirt, huge western belt buckle with a oh fuck, it's a button I want to press it. Wait, a button on his crotch?! I can't touch that, it's embarrassing…fitted blue jeans and worn, brown cowboy boots completed the look. Eunhyuk spotted the platform it was standing on. It read "GUNFIGHTER". He looked back up quickly and eyed the cowboy hat in the machine's left hand, and the toy gun it carried in its right. A large grin broke across his face. "I love these games!" he exclaimed before shuffling to the coin box to the gunfighter's left. He didn't see any amount labeled on the box. After a few moments of scowling and biting his lip in thought, Eunhyuk remembered the button placed on the good-looking it's a machine, it can't be good looking! machine's belt buckle. He moved to stand in front of the man/machine and started intently at the button. His neck heated up and his face flushed. It's so…awkward! I can't just randomly go and touch a button so close to…Eunhyuk, don't be a stupid moron, it's just a machine. A machine. It doesn't have one of those.
He surreptitiously whipped his head around, checking for an audience, before hesitantly but firmly pressing the red button. He jumped, no, it was a cautionary step back, when the man/machine opened his mouth—his MOUTH?!—and in a monotonous voice said "please insert twenty-five cents".
"Ah," said Eunhyuk, and dug into his pocket. He pulled out a quarter and put it in the machine. After a moment, the man/machine started moving, mimicking a walk, and starting singing in tempo. "So you wanna be a gunfighter, do ya, do ya," Eunhyuk's grin felt like it was going to split his face in half. "YES!" he yelled childishly.
"First you take your hat,"—Eunhyuk took the brimmed hat from the left hand—"Then you take your gun,"— he did so enthusiastically—"take ten steps and may the best man win". Eunhyuk laughed freely and boasted "I will, hot-machine man," no longer caring if passer-bys gave him weird looks. The man/machine started counting and Eunhyuk turned around, taking large, exaggerated steps in a swaggering motion in time to the counting:
"1…
2…
3…
4…
5…
678910BANG!!!"
Eunhyuk whirled around indignantly when the machine stopped. "Hey! YAH! You cheated!" he yelled, stalking up to the machine and glaring at it, flourishing the gun at the still figure. "Yah," he said again.
He felt no hesitation this time as he forcefully pressed the red button on the gunfighter's belt. "Please insert twenty-five cents," said the sensual-NO! bad Eunhyuk! voice. Eunhyuk scowled and dug into his pockets again. "Thank God I have change," he muttered angrily. He pulled out another quarter and shoved it in. there was pause before the hot man machine!!! started singing again, feet marching in tempo.
"So you wanna be a gunfighter, do ya, do ya?"
"Oh ya" Eunhyuk muttered.
"First you take your hat—"
"Ooh, I've got it," Eunhyuk said and smacked the side of the hat with his left hand.
"—then you take your gun—"
"Way ahead of you, buddy," and he shook his right hand, toy gun snug in his grip.
"Take ten steps and may the best man win."
Eunhyuk turned around and walked in even steps away from the machine.
"1…
2…
3…
4…
5…
678910BANG!"
The man/machine "shot" Eunhyuk and froze again, silent. Eunhyuk gaped for a moment before scowling deeply. "Hey! You…stupid...cheating…aarg!" He stormed forward again, almost incomprehensible as he muttered foul language at the good-looking oh alright, it's weird, but it's still hot man/machine. He thrust his hand into his front pockets, and finding no change, he moved to the back ones, digging around furiously. "Ah-ha!" he called out triumphantly as his fingers hit metal. He pushed the quarter into the slot and stood tensely, challengingly at the machine.
Nothing happened.
Eunhyuk relaxed his stance.
Still nothing.
He scratched his head.
Nada.
"Yah!" he yelled and jabbed the red button so hard, he swore the man/machine flinched.
"Please insert twenty-five more cents," the gunfighter said.
"What?!" Eunhyuk exclaimed. "How does that even work, you extortionist?!" Nonetheless, Eunhyuk had been challenged, and he refused to back down. However, he soon encountered a problem—he had no more quarters! He whipped his head around and conveniently spotted his friend Eeteuk leaving the store. "Hyung!" Eunhyuk called, running over to the beautiful man.
"Ah, Eunhyuk, what brings you here?" Eeteuk's dimple flashed as he greeted his flushed friend.
"Hyung!" Eunhyuk exclaimed loudly in Eeteuk's startled face. "I need twenty-five cents! My pride as a man is at stake!" Eeteuk blinked at Eunhyuk's intense expression.
"Um…ookaaay…" He slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out a quarter. "Here—"
"Thanks, hyung!" Eunhyuk yelled as he snatched the quarter and ran back to the gunfighter. Eeteuk stared at his friend's back as he ran away. He was pulled out of his contemplation as a smooth voice sounded behind him.
"Ah, Teukie, I thought you were going to the car. Oh, is that Eunhyuk playing with that kiddy machine? Hey…that looks like—" Eeteuk smiled and turned around, kissing Kangin's check and silencing him. He began to walk to the parking lot. "Don't worry about it, dear. Let's go home, I was promised dinner." Kangin grinned predatorily and hastened after his lover, skipping dinner in his mind and moving straight to dessert.
Eunhyuk pushed the borrowed quarter into the machine and crowed, "Come on, cheater, let's dance!"
"So you wanna be a gunfighter, do ya, do ya…" as the machine continued it's spiel, Eunhyuk wiggled, stretched, and cracked his neck.
"Oh, it's on this time," he jeered at the marching figure. "I don't care how sexy you are, I'm gonna kick your ass, cheater!" Finally the gunfighter started counting:
"1…
2…
3…"
Eunhyuk took minimal steps backwards, eyes fixed firmly on the mechanical figure in front of him, gun arm extended.
"4…5…………6….." the machine began slowing, voice dropping. It droned a slow "8…" and died into silence.
Eunhyuk started at the still machine.
Blinked.
Stared.
"Hey," he called. He walked up to the man/machine and pushed on its shoulder. That's weird. It's warm… But Eunhyuk had more important things to think about than a sun-soaked machine. "Hey!" he tried again. "…seriously?" Eunhyuk stared helplessly at the sill figure in front of him. "Aw, man," he whined. "Stupid machine! Probably American made…" he stared despondently at the frozen gunfighter a couple more moments before pouting and throwing his hat and gun to the ground. He made it a few steps away from the machine when he heard
"8910BANG!"
Eunhyuk whirled around to see the man/machine "shoot" him before going back to its stationary pose.
"AAAAAAAAH!!" he yelled and grabbed his hair in his fists. "I hate these things!!" he exploded and stormed into the store, fully intent on buying strawberry milk and going home to dance out his frustrations.
The next day found Eunhyuk making his way back to the store. He had gotten so caught up playing with the stupid, fucking dumb, abnormally sexy machine, he forgot to buy rice. He had to call for take-out last night, and blamed the loss of his money on the gunfighter.
As he walked to the entrance of the store he passed by the gunfighter and glared at it for good measure. What he saw made him pause before exclaiming, "What the hell, you're not sexy! Where'd the hot gunfighter go?!"
"Uh…" began a voice behind him. Eunhyuk turned around, ready to defend his sanity to the stranger who interrupted his confused revelation. When he faced his companion, however, the words stuck in his throat and he choked on his spit, coughing furiously for a few seconds.
The handsome, familiar-looking brunette in front of him started concernedly and patted his back. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"you—" Eunhyuk gasped. "you…"
"Yes," laughed the cute boy in a familiar voice, "I'm the gunfighter from yesterday".
"YOU CHEATER!" Eunhyuk yelled, finally catching his breath. "Wait—that's not important. You're real? What's going on? Am I hallucinating? Dead? Dreaming? Ohmygod, what if something's wrong with me, the machine's talking, it's real, you're real and—"
Eunhyuk was cut from his rambling by a soft hand pressing against his lips. He stared wide-eyed at the decidedly NOT-machine in front of him.
"My name's Donghae," the boy said. "You're not crazy or dreaming. I filled in yesterday while the real one was getting fixed. My erhm…boss, Heechul, didn't want to lose money so he forced me into it. Sorry I cheated, by the way. You were just so cute, I..." he swallowed, "I didn't want you to go".
Eunhyuk realized he had stopped breathing when Donghae had touched his mouth and gasped loudly as his lungs so kindly reminded him that yes, he did need oxygen to breath. Donghae took his soft hand from Eunhyuk's mouth and Eunhyuk quickly decided that he wanted that hand back and touching him again.
"Um," Donghae stuttered suddenly, confidence fading at Eunhyuk's prolonged silence. He dug into his pocket and pulled out four quarters, holding them out in his palm towards Eunhyuk. The boy in question was still staring at the fucking hot man in front of him, and belatedly cast his gaze down to the quarters.
"What…" he began confusedly, staring blankly at the coins in Donghae's outstretched hand.
"Um…they're yours. I didn't want to cheat you out of your money".
"No!" Eunhyuk stammered, face heating up furiously. "It's fine, um…shit!" He took a step away from Donghae and stared wide-eyed at him. "I'm so sorry! I touched your button! I—I called you cute! And the whole time you were real!"
Donghae chuckled at the outburst. "Please," he said, "let me make it up to you. Can I…" he paused and licked his lips, and Eunhyuk stared at them longingly for a moment before realizing his missed the rest of Donghae's request.
"I'm sorry," he said dazedly, "what?"
Donghae grinned cutely, and Eunhyuk swore the sun was shining from his face. "Can I take you out tonight?" he asked again.
Eunhyuk grinned widely, and as the two exchanged phone numbers, Eunhyuk thought to himself: this is the best game ever!