hopeless purpose (dreamnotfound)

adjusting

a/n: a little karlnap pog moment for u

the town arcade. a classic hangout place. it was a walk-in building with a large, open entrance where anyone could waltz in at any time they pleased to play around with the multitude of game machines. the interior design and games featured in the place could only be considered as outdated, but it didn't matter to them. none of them ever went for the amazing food, rigorous gameplay, or outstanding, one of a kind prizes.

they went for the pure nostalgia. the rainbow flickering strobe lights, obnoxiously loud noises of fake laser beams, toy guns, and machine blips, or the pathetic tootsie rolls that you could win only after you spent 50 hard-earned tickets. the nostalgia included the dank smell of sweaty young children, and their drunk, careless parents who would let their kids roam free while they sat on their asses at the bar area upstairs. the especially cherished parts of the arcade were each of the boys' memories of middle aged, pedophilic, perverted adults attempting to catcall or molest their younger selves. yes, nostalgic.

the group of boys all followed each other along like little ducks trailing their mama across the different sections and corners of the arcade. currently, each of them was having a dance battle on the 'dance revolution' machines. the game was quite simple, consisting of each player having to jump, stomp, and shimmy your way onto various shapes stuck to the ground, thus creating a very awkward, scripted looking dance. but for them, it was so much more than a game. no, this was rivalry.

karl was currently in first place- ahead of the rest of them by over 300 points. each boy was breathlessly jumping around with intense gazes onto the screen ahead of them, as if staring impossibly harder would help them focus more.

"just admit defeat! i'm gonna win!" karl shouted, laughing with pride.

sapnap smiled at the boy's statement, and without tearing his eyes away from the screen, he held a stiff side arm out over karl's chest to try and throw the boy off of his balance, but karl caught on too quickly. instead of falling, he yanked the arm in front of him to pull the attached body onto his own dance mat.

karl kept his gaze on the screen to purposefully annoy sapnap, acting entirely oblivious to the fact that he'd just ruined any and all chances at him winning. sapnap merely gawked at the boy, deciding that if he couldn't win, then neither could his perpetrator. sapnap tackled the boy into a bear hug with a faux-ferocious roar, forcing his feet to come stumbling off the mat in a high-pitched shriek.

the rest of the group heard laughter stemming from the commotion behind them, but refused to lose their focus, seeing as though they now each had a fair shot at winning. bad was now in first place with only 30 seconds left in the final match, and only then did each of the boys silently question what happened to sapnap and karl.

the laughter had faded out at some point without them noticing, and neither one of the pair had ever came back to their mat. getting curious, bad briefly focused his gaze into the reflection of the screen ahead, rather than the shapes popping up onto it. that's when he whipped his head around with surprised eyes, causing his feet to trip up and lose his point streak on the game.

bad had seen a kissing, intermingled karl and sapnap. the sudden clattering of noise caused both the boys to quickly disconnect from each other, now looking at bad with alarmed expressions. dream interrupted by screaming out an all too aggressive, "LETS FUCKING GOOO! SUCK MY DICK BITCHES!", as he threw his flexed arms into air and performed muscle poses. assumingly, he'd won.

the rest of the defeated group was huffing and rolling their eyes, slowly turning towards the three having a tense, wordless staring contest. karl subtly brought his index finger up to his own lips, and both boys shook their heads to the side, silently signaling for bad to not mention a word about what he saw. bad gulped nervously, knowing that he was never one for lying or keeping secrets, but shakily nodded nonetheless.