#i still voted on the right bracket luckily but i can believe i forgot i went to the peppa pig world

[btsburgh]

Chapter 8 - The Five Dates (Part 1)

Date 1 (Kobi)

The movie theatre Tawni spoke of was approximately 18 hours away from West Minster. This is the closest civilized area to the College that is also outside of the Amish Circle. It seems logical for them to have to drive this far because The Amish don’t believe in movies and therefore having a movie theatre so close to the inhabitants would be deeply disconcerting. After the day’s journey they arrived, none the wiser, and with no horse and buggy in sight.

Kate parked her car and hopped out, Hobi and Tawkie in tow. They chatted excitedly about which movie to see together. The options were pretty sparse since it’s 2017 and the world officially ran out of ideas the minute that they decided to go ahead with a fourth Transformers movie. However there were a couple options:

Paranormal Activity: The W8ing room. Which was the 8th installment in a riveting series about ghosts dragging various people down several flights of stairs.

Boats: the much awaited additions to the Cars franchise.

The Gorgeous Spider-man: a reboot of the spider-man series starring an actual infant.

and Justin Bieber: Never Say Rehab, a long awaited straight to DVD concert that Justin Bieber put on after successfully completing rehab for the sixth time. It was never actually run in theaters but one of the employees had a DVD so they decided to run it off a projector that afternoon.

Obviously, there was a heated debate about which one to watch. Tawni desperately wanted to see Paranormal Activity but nobody else seemed keen, meanwhile Hoseok thought Boats would be an easy watch after their flight and not too time consuming. Nobody else cared. Kate was more interested in Spider-man, but it seemed everybody else was too attached to Tom Holland or the superior actor Andrew Garfield to give this new guy a chance.

Eventually, they decided to split off and deliberate separately for a moment before coming back to make a final decision.

As Kate and Hoseok split off, they immediately forgot about what they were supposed to be doing because they were both really ADHD and bad at things like this. Instead they started to wander the illustrious mall.

And got a touch lost.

“Haven’t we passed two Starbucks?” Hobi asked cautiously.

“I think the first one was just a place to change your screen if you cracked it.” Kate offered in response.

They pressed onward, looping back around to try and find the theatre. Yet, everything looked different. No two stores were alike and if they were, they seemed to have changed positions. Honestly, that Victoria’s Secret was definitely next to FYE … right?

After too long of wandering Kate sighed. “We should find a directory.”

“I haven’t seen any. Let’s ask an employee in here.” Hobi pointed to an arcade not too far away.

They entered into the flashy room full of pings and buzzers and sounds and lights. There were lots of people playing arcade games, but no employees in sight. Both halves of Kobi shrugged, deciding to look around for them, and passing a DDR machine in the process.

“I love DDR.” Kate commented. “Especially the Korean ones.”

“Shouldn’t I be the best at Korean DDR?” Hoseok joked.

“Psh, as if. It’s not real dancing, Hobi.” Kate said assuredly.

“Wanna bet?”

They both looked at each other, but knew what was about to happen.

Thirty minutes later they had only completed a few rounds and were sweating their asses off, all muscles on fire as they were not going to let the other one win.

“Giving up?” Hoseok panted.

“I’ll give up when Ariana Grande puts out good music.” Kate rolled her eyes.

A voice from the side broke their banter. “You guys are good.”

They looked over to see a tall bald man with his arms crossed and wearing dark athletic clothing. They exchanged glances before nodding at him thankfully.

“We try.” Kate smiled.

He didn’t smile back. “You here for the tourney, then?”

“Tourney …” Hoseok repeated, squinting his eyes. “I don’t think-“

“He’s scared I’ll whoop his ass.” Kate informed the bald man.

“Am not.” Hoseok defended. “No way. Hell yeah, I’m here for the tourney.”

The guy just nodded in response. “This way.”

They gave each other taunting looks as they followed the stranger to a door not too far from the DDR machine. The minute they crossed over the threshold, they knew they were in over their heads. A short hallways lead to a huge room. How on earth it fit into the confines of the mall they had no idea, but it looked more like a club than an arcade. Rich looking people and toned muscular ones were walking here and there in the flashing lights and sounds of tens of DDR machines running. There were too bars, lots of couches, and a layout that generally lead to a huge bracket in the center of the room.

Now hushed and bewildered, the couple followed the bald guy all the way to the bracket where he scrawled both of their names in different spots.

“You ready?” He asked gruffly. “The short girl is up first.”

———

Date 2 (Tawkie)

Okay, so there was no way Kobi was showing up. Getting stood up by your date is one thing, but getting stood up by the other couple in a double date is another. It had been almost an hour and most of the movies were starting their one matinee for the day. The movie theatre only really ran 2-3 showings of a movie a day. Anything more than that was a lot of like effort and cleaning and employees aren’t about that nowadays while making $7.25 for their work.

“I guess their votes are useless. Justin Bieber it is.” Tawni turned to the box office window. “Two for Justin Bieber.”

Jungkook did a mini-celebration with himself over this as the elderly looking woman slowly took Tawni’s money and placed it into the register. She very carefully laid each bill in its slow before closing the register.

She then looked back up and smiled.

After a couple of seconds Tawni said something, “Uh … so my tickets?”

“Yes. This is where you get tickets.” The woman responded, her gummy smile showing through.

“I …” Tawni looked back at Jungkook, “I know. Girl, I just paid for them. Can I get my tickets?”

“Oh, dear me. I’m sorry. Ever since Trump got elected I’ve been too excited to hear anything. What movie did you get tickets for?” She asked.

Tawni laughed nervously. “Justin Bieber.”

“Alright then.” The woman gingerly reached over and picked up two blue raffle tickets that were sitting beside her computer monitor. She slipped them through the opening in the glass.

There were no marking besides the numbers on them and the word TICKET.

“Uh …” Jungkook hummed.

“It’s fine. Just, take it and go.” Tawni pushed him along into the movie theatre.

Once they were seated in the chairs that had no cupholders and were in various states of disrepair, the movie began to roll, only featuring a short reese’s cup commercial at the beginning that had no sound and very little imagery in a orange void before flashing the logo.

The projector clicked to life, opening with a lot of shots of Justin Bieber and booming through an obviously blown out speaker. The narrator explained Justin’s rise back from rehab and his concert, lots of images of fans waiting flashing by as it went.

After about ten minutes, Jungkook glanced over at Tawni who seemed entirely enthralled in the documentary, taking in each detail with unblinking eyes. He shifted in his seat a little bit before yawning and stretching his arms out wide above his head. As he finished his stretch, he came down in an arc, very very very gently laying his right arm over the back of Tawni’s seat and letting his fingertips rest against her shoulder.

“Hey!” a voice from behind them yelled. “Move your arm, bitch. We’re not all tall like you and I can’t see.”

“Oh.” Jungkook looked back apologetically before recoiling his arm into his seat and sitting like a stone statue for the rest of the movie.

———

Date 3 (Namdan)

“So you’re saying that they just … have entire festivals full of just food trucks?” Namjoon asked, walking through the area next to Jordan.

Jordan nodded. “Yes and it’s wonderful. I’m poor and don’t have the money to afford these, but luckily some blind rich person in Mt. Lebanon tipped me a $100 so I have a little money to spend.”

They didn’t spend long walking around and looking at the food trucks. Most of them were pretty boring minus the Po Boy Truck which is the best food truck in Pittsburgh and I’m still really mad they weren’t at the pierogi festival because tbfh I really wanted a po boy and life just isn’t fair I know that but don’t say you’re going to be at a festival then not show up Iw anted to eat fucking po boys I don’t deserve this treatment.

Anyways, they decided to eat at Oh My Grill, a very delicious food truck that grills bread and cheese together. It’s extremely effective.

Namjoon got something that had like a lot of meat on it and began eating it right away. Meanwhile Jordan got something that had like lettuce on it because she thinks she’s a rabbit and kind of picked at it.

They were sitting on a little bench between some of the trucks, the umbrella set above it doing nothing to shade them at all as most umbrellas above tables are apt to do. This meant that they spent a lot of time trying to shield their eyes from the sun when they looked at each other.

“And that’s how I got my name Rap Monster.” Namjoon nodded.

There was no response from Jordan who had her eyes on her phone.

“Jordan?” He asked.

“Sorry.” Jordan looked up then back down. “Jin is asking me what sock and tie combo would be good for Yoongi’s date.”

“Ah.” Namjoon put his grilled cheese back in its little dish. “Well, I suppose that’s pretty damn important.”

Jordan laughed. “He’s never coming back to America, is he?”

“Oh no, literally never.” Namjoon joked back.

———

Date 4 (Minten)

Min Yoongi was not a man of complexity. He liked to pick one thing and continue to say it over and over again until people thought he was funny. Mainly Hoseok because he was obsessed with getting validation from that man.

He was otherwise a pretty grumpy fellow who only wanted to go back to bed at any given point in time. Really, if Jimin and Taehyung hadn’t already booked him a ticket then he wouldn’t have even come in the first place. Staying in the dorm with nobody else there sounded like an absolute dream to him

But nope.

Here’s a list of things Yoongi is not:

In his bed

Sleeping

In sweats

Wearing a face mask

Making fun of Jimin

Having fun

Her’s a list of things Yoongi is:

Waiting for his blind date to arrive

In a suit

At a restaurant

One that he didn’t pick out

Number 4 applies to numbers 1,2, and 3.

Having no fun

The waitress passed by again, “Are you sure you don’t want to go ahead and order?”

“Ah, can I get a drink actually?” He asked.

“Sure. What do you like: cocktails, wine, beer?”

“Yes.” He nodded.

The waitress stared at him for a couple of seconds before deciding it wasn’t worth it and slowly retracting her presence from the table.

Once she was gone Yoongi picked up his phone and dialed Jin.

“You’ve reached Mr. Worldwide Handsome. How can I direct your call?”

“Yeah, how fucking long do I have to wait until I can go back home?”

“It’s been 14 minutes, Yoongi. There’s a thing called traffic.”

“It’s like 8 PM fuck traffic I want to go home.”

“Give it six more minutes and then if she isn’t there I’ll come pick you up.”

Yoongi rolled his eyes. “Fuck. Fine.”

And then, as if on cue, Bria appeared. She was looking pretty dope as per usual dressed in all black. She sat down across from him and picked up a menu, gently grazing over the options. Yoongi watched in anticipation for a couple of moments, unsure of whether he was supposed to say something or not.

“You’re Bria?” He asked.

“To some.” She responded to the menu. “I have many names. Depends who’s asking. Who are you?”

“Uh, Min Yoongi to most … Suga to a lot.” He frowned. “Agust D as well.”

“Interesting.” Bria picked up and sipped on a glass of wine that had not previously been there. “I heard that you’re often called Slug.”

Yoongi furrowed his brow. “Who told you that?”

“I know a guy.”

“Yeah okay.” Yoongi sighed, tapping at the menu. At least now he could order his food and get this over with. But on some level, he felt an obligation to keep the conversation up. Jin would probably kick his ass if he didn’t try at least. “So are you into music?”

“Into music.” Bria put the menu down, sipping at her wine again. “Into is a weak word. I find most of the music today very limiting in terms of creativity. Therefore I think into is the wrong prepositional phrase.”

“Totally.” Yoongi nodded, “It’s the same with kpop. Everything is the same. Nothing heavy hitting. All saranghae hajima so beautiful I’m the lucky one.”

“American music isn’t that different.” Bria sighed. “But honestly it’s just so boring.”

“Everything is boring.” Yoongi stated, glancing up at her briefly. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be a downer. I didn’t exactly want to go on a date tonight.”

“Me either, but I know Taehyung from my international animal recuse squad so I owed him one.” Bria explained.

Yoongi slid the menu forward a little bit and tipped himself back in his chair. This place looked a little too expensive for his liking. Not that he didn’t have money, it’s just that he despised over paying for food that was going to be bad and small portioned.

“Let’s go then. Neither of us want to be here at least we can do something fun and tell Tae and Jin we just sat here all night.”

“I’m down.” Bria finished her glass of wine. “What did you have in mind?”

“Don’t you guys have a theme park or something?”

Bria shrugged. “Yeah but it’s closed.”

“Fuck.”

“But I know a guy.”

Yoongi raised his eyebrows. “Alright. Now we’re talking. Let’s go.”

———

Date 5 (Vean)