the remaining four killed their time at the claw machines while waiting for the others to return from their mission of getting food.

"GUYS!!", chenle yelled from behind and drew renjun's and jaemin's attention, making the two older boys turn around.

renjun and jaemin gaped at the youngesters, shocked. the sight of them left them speechless and surprised.

"i— what did you guys do—", the pink haired boy questioned, bewildered when jisung showed up with numerous soft toys in his hands whereas chenle was empty-handed.

"how on earth—", the chinese muttered, blinking several times in disbelief while watching jisung struggling to wave at him with his hands full of plushies.

"YOU WON'T BELIEVE ME WHAT HAPPENED", the orange haired boy began in a high-pitched but excited tone, "jisung is a GOD of claw machines! he has won every single time when he had played."

chenle pointed to the countless plushies that his best friend carried. jisung smiled sheepishly at his mention while holding proudly his numerous prizes.

jaemin and renjun gasped in astonishment, not wanting to believe it that the youngest had so much luck and skills to win that many soft toys in such a short time.

"meanwhile, i am the worst at it! i totally suck at it. i've lost every single time... they scammed me and took all my money", the sophomore complained sulking and side-eyed the claw machines.

"i'm so unlucky... i'm envious of jisung's skills and luck", he added pouting, causing the three boys to chuckle.

"aww lele...", the ash haired boy cracked a little smile before glancing shortly at his rewards, having decided something.

"you know what?", the freshman started  looking up to face his best friend with a bright smile, "take the hamster plushie, i'll gift it to you."

chenle gasped in shock, covering his mouth in disbelief. "no way bro... but you love hamsters. you can't do that... you wanted to win the hamster plushie so bad."

"i don't care about that. you should take it", jisung insisted, wanting him to acceot his gift.

"besides, the hamster should remind you of me so you never forget about me", he added shyly, feeling embarrassed about his own words.

"AWWW, JI", the orange haired boy responded happily and was touched by his action and words. he wanted to tackle his best friend in a hug and was ready to attack and jump on him, however, jisung quickly denied it and backed off.

"NO, NO, NO, IT'S FINE LELE. MY HANDS ARE FULL OF PLUSHIES. I CAN'T HUG YOU AND CARRY THEM ALL AT THE SAME TIME, DUMBASS", he explained panickedly, concerned about his soft toys.

chenle bursted into laughter, finding it hilarious how his best friend reacted.

"you idiot, you could've asked me to help you carry them", chenle bickered with his best friend as he took some of his plushies to help him out.

jaemin and renjun smiled at the two youngsters and found their friendship super adorable.

"WE'RE BACK WITH FOOD, BITCHES", haewon announced shouting and approached the little group, followed by the rest of the drama club members.

"cotton candy for my nephews", donghyuck added jokingly and raised his hands that were holding pink cotton candies before passing them to the duo.

chenle's and jisungs face beamed at the sight of the treat as they thanked him for that.

"the best uncle ever", the orange haired boy mentioned smiling before eating a piece of the cotton candy.

mark chuckled behind donghyuck, holding his sunflower plushie in his hand as the purple haired junior was busy holding and delivering the sweet treats for the youngsters.

"wassup bros", yejoon greeted renjun and jaemin with a grin on his face. "i've brought waffles for renjun van gogh", he began and handed the mentioned food to the chinese.

"and cotton candy for cotton candy boy", the sophomore added winking and gave jaemin the treat.

the two of them thanked him as well as the friend group started to eat all their little treats and snacks.

chenle and jisung excitedly bragged about their wins (or more like about jisung's wins) while renjun told yejoon the story of the cat plushie.

"yo guys, what should we do next after we are finished eating?", jeno wondered while consuming his churros, having drawn the attention of everyone.

"what about visiting the haunted house?", sooyun recommened before eating a piece of her strawberry skewer dipped in dark chocolate.

donghyuck immediately hummed in agreement as he was fond of her request. "definitely. we're going there no matter what."

"definitely no", jisung whispered in fear and let out another tired sigh, "if i don't make it alive out there, y'all are at fault."

"come on, the haunted house will be sooo fun. i promise!", chenle tried to persuade his friend but received a glare from his best friend while the rest laughed.

"haunted house with you crackheads... oh lord, it's gonna be crazy", renjun remarked and lifted his eyebrows, not knowing how it'd turn out.

━━━ ☆★☆ ━━━

"oh my god, i'm nervous. i think i'm gonna throw up", yejoon muttered anxiously, feeling his body being tense as soon as it was their turn to enter the haunted house.

"hell no, you ain't gonna vomit here. don't you dare spilling all your eaten corndogs here, dumbfuck", renjun replied tiredly and walked calmly, showing no signs of fear compared to his friend.

"but what if—"

"no."

"jaemin! renjun's being mean to me!", yejoon whined and grabbed the pink haired's arm, yearning for protection, security and comfort.

jaemin giggled at their little banter and yejoon's behaviour as he let the younger one hold his arm. "it's okay, yejoon. i'll be there for you, just hold onto me", he offered kindly and flashed him an adorable smile.

yejoon mirrored his smile and held softly his arm, feeling at ease and reassured after hearing those words. "thank you, jaemin."

"i regret going in there, i so regret it", jisung mumbled behind them, holding tightly his best friend's hand who found the situation way funnier than him.

"ji, it will definitely be fun! we're together in this and you're not alone, i'm always right by your side!", chenle reminded him in a cheerful way, squeezing softly his hand as a smile was plastered on his face.

the younger boy glanced at the chinese who was beaming joyfully. "you're glad that i love you", jisung sighed and gave him a little smile, "but you better keep your promise of buying me pizza for lunch for a week."

"you can count on me, ji."

"hey sooyun", the purple haired boy was right next to the female junior, walking behind the youngsters in the dark hallway.

"what's up?", sooyun asked and turned to face him, tilting her head.

"if you need your lovely, awesome, marvelous, stunning, handsome, fearless boyfriend to protect you from the dangers in the haunted house then just let me know", donghyuck offered jokingly, wearing a smug grin on his face.

"hyuck, i wouldn't have gone into the haunted house if i were scared", the female junior responded nonchalantly, "let alone suggesting to go in there in first place, dummy."

"oh... right. oops—", the purple haired boy apologized in embarrassment, wanting to facepalm himself.

his pretend girlfriend saw him feeling ashamed, causing her to chuckle sweetly. "but i appreciate your offer, thanks."

donghyuck smiled back, feeling his heart warm up. "no problem. always here to prote- AAAAAA—"

the purple haired boy screamed when a ghost popped off right next to him, startling him immediately and making him hold onto sooyun's arm.

the blonde girl was taken aback at first, not necessarily because of the sudden appearance of the ghost but rather because of hyuck's scream and him getting clingy.

"you want to protect me, scaredy cat? i think it's the other way round", she teased him and laughed afterwards, observing her fake boyfriend blushing embarassedly and letting go of her arm.

"it caught me off guard, alright? it's nothing se- OH MY GOD, WHAT IS THIS MONSTER- THIS UGLY ASS BITCH JUMPSCARED ME."

"it was just a puppet."

"A CREEPY PUPPET THAT CAME OUT OF NOWHERE. HOLY SHIT, LET ME BREATH."

the purple haired boy wanted to act all tough and cool but well... it didn't work out as well as he wanted it.

donghyuck, jisung and yejoon were the one's who screamed the most and most scared during their visit in the haunted house.

the purple haired boy screamed his soul out with jisung whenever something spooky and paranoid happened. their poor hearts — they had been going through much. also, poor ears of the rest of the friend group — they had been going through a lot too.

while those two were fearing for their life, sooyun and chenle had the time of their life watching them and laughing at them. nevertheless, they continued being their emotional support and never left their sides.

yejoon was shouting as well as he was easily scared too. he never let go of jaemin, always holding him to reassure himself.

the pink haired boy was amused by his behaviour. he wasn't necessarily scared, he was just surprised by some jumpscares or by yejoon's screams.

"jaemin...", the sophomore whispered in angst, looking hurriedly around, "w-where is renjun? i don't see him anywhere."

"he should be next to us and—", the pink haired boy answered but stopped mid sentence when he noticed renjun's absence.

"huh? where did renjun go?", jaemin wondered in confusion, furrowing his eyebrows, "he's gone..."

"oh god, i'd never expected to miss that short-tempered small bean with anger issues who calls me a dumbfuck... but where did my pookie go? i miss him...", he added gasping, making jaemin snort.

"if renjun would hear this, he would kick your ass", the pink haired commented snickering.

yejoon let out a soft chuckle but turned quickly serious. "no but real talk, where is renjun? was he kidnapped without us noticing that? were those creepy figures behind it??", he asked nervously and started to overthink.

"oh my god, will that happen to us too?? what if we— WHAT THE FUCK", the sophomore questioned but started to scream when he felt two hands fiercly grabbing his shoulders from behind.

the boy with curly brown hair turned around to spot the person behind the jumpscare.

"FUCK YOU, RENJUN. I REGRET MISSING AND WORRYING ABOUT YOU."

"glad that my surprise attack worked on you", renjun smirked mischievously in satisfaction, "i mean it wasn't hard either."

jaemin was surprised as well, however, bursted out in laughter along with the chinese.

"shut up, rudejun", yejoon mumbled and showed him his middle finger, "very rude of you, asshole."

"that's what you get for gossiping behind my back."

━━━ ☆★☆ ━━━

in the meanwhile, the rest of the group who didn't join the others in the haunted house strolled peacefully through the theme park.

jieun didn't want to do any more scary and extreme stuff for today. the roller coaster ride was already enough for her which is why she refused to go in the haunted house.

haewon, the sweet friend (and simp) she was didn't want to leave her alone  and decided to be her company.

mark and jeno weren't joining either as they had no interest in the haunted house. thus, they joined the two girls.

they passed by some booths, stalls and attractions, however, they all came to a halt in front of the high striker.

"wanna try this out?", jeno suggested and glanced at his friends.

"looks like fun! let's try it guys!!", mark agreed cheerfully while haewon didn't share his enthusiasm.

"nahhh, let's move o-", the female senior wanted to reject the idea, however, jieun interrupted her mid sentence.

"oh my! there is such a cute prize!", the younger girl exclaimed happily and pointed at the pink teddy bear on the shelf next to the high striker. the owner stood right in front of the shelf, rearranging all the rewards.

"nevermind, let's go for it", haewon corrected herself, trying to sound as casual and cool as possible.

nonetheless, jeno and mark caught her switching her opinion for the younger girl and exchanged meaningful looks.

therefore, the group approached the attraction and paid for playing a round.

jieun was the first one to hit with the hammer, however, she didn't score high, making her sulk a bit.

the female senior was in awe when she saw her pouting, causing her to chuckle amusedly. "you wanted the pink teddy bear, right?"

the younger girl nodded and looked up to haewon, tilting her head. "why are you asking?"

"you'll see", the older one replied smirking as she took the hammer out of jieun's hand and positioned herself in front of the high striker.

haewon raised the hammer before hitting strongly and fiercely the pad. the weight jolted upwards the scale and hit the bell on top of the striker.

"oh my yikes!", the owner of the high striker whispered in shock, gaping at haewon. "i have barely seen anyone hitting the bell! you're strong for your age, young lady!", the older woman praised, making haewon feel flattered.

"thank you, ma'am", the female senior responded grinning before looking at her friends who were wearing a proud smile and giving her an encouraging thumbs-up.

"you can choose your reward, young lady", the owner commented happily, pointing at the shelf full of various prizes.

haewon nodded but turned around to face the younger girl. "jieun, you decide. it's your prize now", the female senior offered kindly and saw how shocked jieun was.

"what? no! haewon, you've won and it's your prize", jieun protested, however, the older girl shook her head in rejection. "nope, sweetheart, it's yours", haewon didn't give in and smiled softly, "you wanted the pink teddy bear, right?"

"...yeah but you don't have to-"

"i'll get it for you. no discussion."

"haewon!"

"ma'am, could i get the pink teddy bear, please?", haewon ignored jieun's protests and turned to the owner, giving her a warm smile.

the older woman nodded chuckling as she took the soft toy from the shelf, handing it over to haewon.

"here you go, cutie", the female senior grinned proudly and gifted the plushie to the younger girl.

"thank you, haewon", jieun thanked sincerely, a genuine smile was plastered on her lips as she hugged the teddy bear.

"you two make a great couple!", the older woman commented smiling, causing the two girls to widen their eyes in shock (while jeno and mark gasped loudly).

"we're not a couple!", jieun and haewon exclaimed in panic at the same time, sending the shivers to jeno.

"IT HAPPENED AGAIN, MARK. THEY SAID THE SAME THING AT THE SAME TIME AGAIN. WHAT ARE THE ODDS??", the blond haired boy cried out dramatically.

"it's okay, jeno... calm down, maybe it's a canon event that we cannot stop", mark responded softly, patting his shoulder.

"damn okay, miguel o'hara."

"dude, miguel seriously?? if i'm someone from spider-man, then i'd be spider-mark!"

"that was a bad pun."

"ouch... i thought we were bros and would team up, jeno??"

"sorry, bro. my bad habits of roasting my friends are showing."

"i get hyuck now...", mark muttered in disappointment, hearing his friend snicker.

the owner of the high striker laughed gently at the reactions of the girls. "you can admit it, girls. i'm not homophobic", she added calmly and raised her hands.

"we aren't, we're just friends", jieun declared awkwardly and laughed in embarrassment.

"just friends. ouch.", haewon thought to herself when she heard that, feeling her heart being shot for a moment. "well, for now at least", she tried to cheer herself up, putting on a little smile.

"oooh, i see. sorry for assuming that, you two just seemed so sweet together and i'm just a little bit curious", the older woman apologized awkwardly before moving on and facing the males.

"now boys, who wants to try it out?", she offered cheerfully.

"me!", mark answered enthusiastically and raised his hand, smiling joyfully as he walked to the high striker.

"bet you can't hit the bell", haewon teased her best friend, smirking mischievously.

the male senior gasped in offense and shook his head disappointed but not surprised. "okay, what are we betting on?"

"the loser has to do the winner's homework for a week", haewon suggested amusedly.

"alright, bet", the canadian agreed grinning as he grabbed the hammer. he took in a deep breath before hitting the pad.

all eyes followed the weight that moved upwards the scale. haewon was confident that her best friend would lose while mark hoped to win.

the anticipation grew as the weight almost reached the bell on top the striker. mark held in his breath, praying that it would touch the bell.

and it did. the bell started to ring as soon as the weight reached the top of the high striker, causing mark to jump in excitement with the brightest smile on his face.

"GUYS, I WON!! DUDE, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!"

mark jumped around and held hands with jeno who cheered for him in the same energy.

"well, fuck", haewon commented unamusedly and let out a loud sigh. she glanced at an imaginative camera, questioning her whole life and regretting her decisions.

"it's okay, haewon", jieun giggled and patted softly haewon's back, "at least you are making him happy. look at him jumping around like a puppy!"

"you're right... but damn, it hurts my pride", haewon responded dramatically and put her hand on her heart, pretending to be extremely hurt, "i hate doing homework. and now, i have to do that for two people. damn, that sucks..."

after mark and jeno had calmed down from celebrating the canadian's victory, the senior claimed his reward which was a watermelon patterned blanket.

"okay, dude. now it's your turn to show off", mark encouraged the blonde boy, shoving him towards the high striker.

jeno nodded as he took the hammer in his own hands. "i'm not the best at it, guys", the male junior remarked and positioned himself in front of the high striker.

"nahhh, you will easily hit the bell", haewon stated grinning and gave him a confident thumbs-up.

"yeah! you can do it!", jieun added joyfully, "always think positive!"

"embrace your strengths and believe in yourself", mark reminded him with a warm smile, refering to that one time he had once said those things to him when they went ice skating the other day.

"okay, i'll try my best", jeno replied nodding, raising the hammer as he put power into his hit and applied force on the pad.

everyone's eyes widened in shock when the weight shot up quickly and hit the bell, resulting the bell ringing. no, actually, he hit past the bell.

due to jeno's immense strength the weight flew away from the striker and landed harshly on the floor where luckily no one was.

"what the hell, dude...", mark whispered in disbelief, eyes wide open as well as his mouth.

"have you just... catapulted the weight and destroyed the high striker?", haewon inquired gasping, blinking several times to process the situation.

meanwhile, jieun was overwhelmed and so was the owner. the proprietor was at loss of words.

jeno couldn't believe it himself that he had accidentally damaged the high striker. panic and guilt took over his body as he turned to the older woman.

"ma'am, i'm so sorry for damaging the high striker! i will pay compensation for it!", the blonde haired boy offered apologetically and bowed politely, wearing a sad smile.

the owner was still in shock but shook her head. "it's okay...", she mumbled, remaining silent to collect her thoughts

"in all the years i've worked with the high striker, i've never seen anyone before who was capable of not only hitting the bell but hitting past it and destroying the high striker."

the older woman let out chuckles, her face was at ease, surprising jeno as the boy thought she would be mad at him and demand money.

"you're a highschooler, right? save your money for college and save your power to protect the one's in need", she mentioned kindly, "besides, the high striker was old anyways and i'm retiring soon too. don't worry too much, young man."

jeno's heart warmed up at her sweet words as he bowed down, showing her respect. "thank you so much for your kindness", the blond haired commented gratefully and gave her a genuine smile.

"don't mention it, young man! now choose your prize", the older woman changed the subject, shifting her eyes from him to the shelf before looking back at jeno.

however, the blonde haired boy shook his head, refusing humbly with a sheepish smile.

"no, please, you can keep the prize for yourself after all you've done for me", jeno rejected kindly before putting his hand into his jacket pocket and pulling out his tiny purse.

"besides, please accept this as compensation. that's the least i can do, ma'am", he added politely and held out a little sum of money in his hand, "i believe that the money comes in handy for you!"

jeno flashed her his known eyesmile, hoping that she would accept it.

"okay, fine. you're a kind young man. how can i turn down your offer after that?", the proprietor gave in grinning, cherishing to see good-hearted young people in this day and age.

━━━ ☆★☆ ━━━

[ author's note ]
part 2/3 of amusement park chapters!!

drama club members love language = gifting and winning plushies for others
that's actually so cute :(

funfact: it was unintentional to let them gift each other / win for each other soft toys but well happens HAHAHAH

AND OMG GUYSSS I WILL SEE THE DREAMIES AGAIN AKDKSKSB
the dream show 3 i'm coming 🫡

no realtalk, i'm so grateful and happy to be able to attend their concert :(
i missed them so much 😭

also, stupid cupid by nct dream is hella nice omg i love the bridge soooo much

ALSOOO WAYV SLAYED WITH "GIVE ME THAT" like why is the chorus SO DAMN CATCHY (stuck in my head fr)

stream give me that by wayv 🗣‼️🔥
also, listen to stupid cupid and moonlight by nct dream ‼️💯🙏