Chapter Twenty Five: Playing Dirty

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Tom's POV:

Whatever that was that happened with all those clones was soon forgotten, as the alcohol slowly began to take over. I had my bottle of Smirnoff in hand, and Tord had selected a few beers for himself. 

"So... Come here often?" I ask generally curious and then realizing how it sounded. I decided to play it out as a joke even though I had originally meant for it to be a legitimate question. I even followed it up with an eyebrow wiggle. Sensing the joke at the end there, Tord laughed a bit before responding. 

"Heh, well, when you lead an army, you don't have much time for arcades, but I have made sure it was maintained in case. I do come on occasion, I guess." He shrugged with a hint of laughter seeping into his answer. "But now, we drink!" He lifts his beer in the air triumphantly, his teeth shining through his wide grin. "A toast!"

"To what?" I ask curiously, raising an eyebrow and tilting my head. He pauses, considering for a moment as his face softens slightly. A genuine smile creeps across his lips, replacing the grin he always had to cover up everything else.

"To us." He lifts his drink in the air more gesturing for me to toast. I comply and finish the gesture off with a satisfying clink. We both tilt back our drinks, each taking a big swig to commemorate the moment. The pleasant burn of the alcohol felt warm and familiar as it went down, even if it was a little strong. Tord suddenly looked up, returning his full attention back to me.

"Well, we are at an arcade..." His eyes lit up with excitement as he scanned the room. He looked like a kid in a candy store almost, but his excitement would put any kids excitement to shame. Tord was beaming, and it was nice to see him happy. "Let's play some games!" He grabbed my arm, practically yanking me out of my seat. I stumbled behind him as he pulled me to, who would have guessed, the nearest shooting game. 

"What a surprise," I chuckle, rolling my digital eyes. 

"What can I say," He picks up the red plastic handgun with a cord coming out of it, connecting it to the machine. It reminded me a lot of the gun that plugs into my visor. Except this gun was obviously fake. "I like guns." He gives a wicked smile, pointing the plastic toy to the screen and triggering a comical gun noise that seemed to be music to his ears. I copy his actions, selecting the blue player two gun. He smirks at the action, obviously loving the challenge. In acceptance of the challenge, he hits the rectangular button in the middle of the system labeled with a flashing "start." 

"Oh, it's on witness." Tord declares, focusing on the machine as the game starts up. It comes to life, casting a white glow on Tords face. The light evened out his skin color hiding the scars, and from this angle, I only saw the half of his face that was mostly normal. It made him look younger, more attractive even. Even with the scars, though, he was still rather handsome, I will admit. I still didn't fully understand the nickname, but I smiled at it anyway. It was still something we shared. 

"Yeah, let's go commie." I smiled. A genuine smile. It was one of the biggest ones since I woke up. Tord seemed taken back. Stunned almost. He had completely turned away from the game. He, too, smiled a small and cute smile. It almost seemed sad? Longing, perhaps. 

"Go!" The game yelled, and I snapped out of it, turning and quickly shooting at the targets popping up on the screen before me, my visor still focusing in definitely giving me an accuracy advantage. 

"Huh? Eh! No fair!" The threat of losing shook him from his trance, and he too began to focus on the game. 

"How is it unfair? What did I do?" I laugh over the cartoon like gun sounds. 

"Heh, classic stupid Tom.... You're cute, you know that?" I he a smirk form on his face out of the corner of my vision.  

Cute? I'm not - He thinks I- 

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