if i can't have you || rini au

36. my stuffed elephant

"-stop blocking the screen!" the brunette girl giggled as she tried batting away the boy's hand but he kept grinning and moving closer to the screen

"you're winning!" he exclaimed in defense

"exactly why you should stop!" she laughed as she tried to move her head catch a good view of the game.

ricky and nini were currently at the arcade, playing guitar hero and - he did not want to admit - ricky was losing terribly.

they had been here for an hour or so, playing a bunch of different games together; some that nini would drag him towards so that they could win tickets to try and get a prize at the end before they leave.

"i win!" nini squealed, jumping up in excitement as she took the guitar strap off of her and put the plastic instrument away

ricky sighed "okay, how many is that now?"

"hm...maybe about thirteen games that i've beaten you in." she grinned, nearing closer to him as he shook his head

"yeah, i do suck at these games..." he admitted with a breathy laugh, nini giggling

"okay, now what do we do?" she asked, clapping her hands together before gasping "oh! there's this sort of water gun stand that if you win you can get stuffed bears but i saw a stuffed elephant there too and it's just absolutely adorable so-"

"let's go then," he told her, taking her hand as she smiled brightly and followed him through the arcade past the different games and to the water gun stand.

"welcome you two," the woman at the stand said brightly "want to play a game?"

"yes please!" nini exclaimed excitedly, sitting at the stool as ricky chuckled and sat down next to her

"alright, ticket?" the woman asked

ricky nodded, handing her one as they both got ready and played the game

nini laughed and tried to distract the boy who was clearly winning easily; and when the game was over she groaned

"nooo!" she exclaimed with a dramatic frown, dropping her head on the table as ricky just chuckled

"congrats sir, what would you like?" the woman at the stand asked

"that one." he said, pointing to the very stuffed animal nini had so excitedly spoken of earlier and the brunette lifted her head as she looked at the boy taking the stuffed elephant in his hands as he showed it to her

she smiled sheepishly and shook her head "you could have gotten something you wanted..."

"wanted this for you." he said simply, standing up as she followed him with a suspicious look

"ratatouille ricky, what are you doing?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, folding her arms

ricky grinned and held the bear up to his face "ricky would like to ask something."

she giggled with a shake of her head as she stepped towards him "ricky!"

the boy chuckled as he kept the elephant away and she reached forward, moving her arms around to try and take it from him before he took a deep breath

"he'd like to know if you'd be his girlfriend."

nini stopped suddenly, her mouth parting as she looked up at him with the stuffed animal now in her hands while ricky returned her gaze with an eager expression, waiting for her answer

"your...your what?" she asked quietly in disbelief

"my girlfriend...?" he said again with hope and she held the stuffed animal against her chest

"l-like...like boyfriend and girlfriend? where...where you'd take me out on a real date and we'd hold hands everywhere we go and everyone would call us a couple and we'd cuddle and be together all the time?" she asked breathlessly rocking back and forth with suppressed excitement in her eyes as ricky's smile grew wide with every word she said

"yeah..." he breathed "will you-"

he got cut off by the girl jumping into his arms as he held her and she giggled over his shoulder while feeling him twirl her around

"yes." she whispered "yes yes yes."

ricky laughed softly before putting her back down the girl jumping happily

"so that's a yes?" he asked with an amused eyebrow raised while nini nodded brightly

"absolutely." she breathed "boyfriend." she grinned

ricky looked at her adoringly, holding her hand and playing with her fingers aimlessly "girlfriend."

nini giddily beamed at him as she jumped before gasping "can we get ice cream??"

ricky shook his head with a breathy chuckle and nodded "sure."

"yay!" she squealed, pulling him by the hand "and while we get our ice cream you can explain halloween to me."