Seven // Neon Hearts

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One day and two weeks

You’d gone to this arcade before. But you had to admit you were excited that this time you’d be taking a date (and all of his brothers but you weren’t about to leave them alone at the house every time you went to do something).

The five of you walk to the arcade as it was only a few blocks away. When you arrive you can’t help yourself, your grin grows. The bowling alley carpeting mixed with the bright neon lights and the whirring sounds of 53 years of arcade games made your head spin.

It was glorious.

Handing out five dollars in quarters to each brother, you watch as they run off. Then your eyes fall to Leo, he seems as in awe of the place as you are. You take his hand and start off, chatting a little as you walk. Eventually Leo pauses and takes you over to one of those arcade basketball games. You playfully scoff at him.

“What?” He says as you laugh a little.

“I just knew you were gonna wanna play this one.”

You both load up fifty cents and start playing, Leo starts making basket after basket, whereas you look around to see if there’s an employee nearby.

There isn’t.

You climb on top of the machine, walking up to the basket and simply pressing the mechanism. Leo starts yelling at you about how that’s cheating, but he eventually starts laughing at your ‘this is a diabolical plan’ face, and little maniacal giggles.

The game ends and you slide down the machine, a proud smile on your face at the machine's new high score. Your tickets piling up behind you as you stand confidently. Eventually breaking out into a fit of laughter. The two of you collect your plethora of tickets and throw it into a mini back-pack you had grabbed to carry your things. Stuffing the small yellow papers into your bag, you both smile, and you make eye contact with the Mario-Kart machines. You look up at Leo with a mischievous smirk. All he can think is ‘uh oh’ before you practically pull his arm out of its socket while getting him over to the machines.

You play quite a few games, including pinball. Cheating any time you can. What? They’re rigged so you would lose. You had to find some way around it.

Leo laughs every time. You found the most odd solutions to everything. Pinball? Kick the legs instead of tilting the machine, it’s less obvious. Coin-dropping game? Tilt the machine just a little and it's raining coins and tickets. The only one you didn’t know how to cheat at was the claw machines. Leo however, had an easy fix.

He creates a portal into the machine, grabs the plush you want, and hands it to you. You smile and load a few more coins into the machine. You may be a cheater, but that doesn't mean you aren’t gonna pay for the ability to cheat.

Hugging the turtle plush, you took Leo’s hand. Hearing a low gurgle, you laugh.

“You hungry?”

You playfully said, leading him towards the food.

You order the both of you a cheese pizza, and ask for two cups for water. As you make your way to the soda fountains, you watch as Leo, instead of getting water, smugly gets root beer. The two of you as a dynamic duo generally broke every social norm in the arcade for the rest of the night. It was your day off so you and the boys stayed as long as you wanted. Which was until the arcade closed.

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