David couldn’t help but feel anxious about him and Davi after how their hangout had ended. While Davi was getting some stuff from his locker David admitted as much to the others,

“I just I dunno. I wanna make sure things are alright between us you know?”

“I doubt he holds you responsible for your dad being a dick,” Marcus said.

David narrowed his eyes at Marcus but said nothing, in this instance he wasn’t exactly wrong. His dad was a bit much at the best of times.

“You know what we haven’t done in a while? Arcade trip,” Shirley suggested as she slid into the shotgun of David’s car.

“Oh yeah, that’s true,” He was a little taken aback at Shirley being in front instead of Davi but no one else seemed to comment. Plus it had been a while since Shirley rode with them, so David supposed he could let it go,

“Can I come too?” Davi asked, luckily getting into the car just at the tail end of the conversation. It would have been mortifying if Davi had heard his whole anxious rant from earlier.

“No, I’m gonna put you in the trunk the whole time. Of course, you can come man!” When was Davi gonna realize he was just as much a part of the group as any of the others? Well, David supposed he’d just have to keep hammering the point home as long as he had to. Retrocity arcade was technically a little out of the way but it was a Friday afternoon so hopefully, it wouldn’t be a huge issue. David was a little surprised with how easy it was to find a parking space but there was one available pretty close to the arcade.

“You’ll love this place, Davi, it’s the best.”

Davi nodded, “It seems cool just from the sign,” He pointed at the bright blue sign depicting a purple cat playing an arcade cabinet game that had cartoon sharks on the side.

The gang descended upon the arcade. It looked exactly like a proper arcade should, with neon signs and game cabinets all around sitting atop a truly atrociously patterned carpet. The cashier recognized them at this point, he was a slightly pimply twenty-something with an ID tag that said “Clyde” he waved at the group as they approached,

“Oh, a new kid. Welcome to Retrocity arcade!”

David plopped his debit card on the counter, “I’m buying his tokens. My treat.” He winked at Davi.

“That’s, you don’t have to do that…” Davi looked a bit embarrassed.

“Yeah, but have you considered I want to do things for you?”

Davi’s face went pink, “In that case uh, okay.”

“Good I would hate to have to fight you before we even got any games going.”

“You know where to find me,” Shirley said as she beelined for the pac man-machine, her favorite game and arch nemesis at the same time. David snorted as she zoomed away,

“Yeah see you later too.”

“I want to try the claw machine,” Davi said, his eyes fixated on the cutesy-designed contraption.

“Dude those things are a total scam. They’re designed to make you waste tokens,’”

“I’m gonna try anyway,” Davi said as he went over to the machine.

David decided to hang back and watch Davi try. Shirley had already fucked off and Marcus was probably doing some Marcus thing, or buying an icee. Davi was staring at a fluffy blue bear with precision. His hand was clenched on the stick as he guided it to just over the bear. He clicked the button and the claw began its open-mouthed descent. It touched the bear’s head, holy shit maybe it was actually going to work? Then it kept sliding to the side and clenched on air.

“Damnit,” Davi said as he watched the empty claw drop disappointment into the prize slot.

“I told you the claw machine is a scam dude,” He shook his head a bit fondly,

“I know but still.”

“Do you want me to try for you?” He asked as he leaned on the machine and nodded toward the offending bear.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Davi jokingly batted his eyelashes at him, “Aww you’re gonna win a prize for me?”

David shoved his face away, “Quit looking at me like that man you’re gonna get me hard.”

“Promise?”

“Don’t make it weird man.”

Davi giggled a bit, not a normal laugh like a guy but an honest to god giggle like a cheerleader in a porno or something. He lightly pushed him out of the way and put a token into the machine. He had to put his money where his mouth was. He was determined to get that stupid blue teddy bear, it was a matter of pride now. He had paid attention to where Davi had dropped the claw and made sure to move it slightly more to the right. He had pretty decent spatial awareness. He waited a few seconds to make sure the claw had fully stopped swinging and pressed the button to begin its descent. He held his breath as the claw swayed and scraped down the bear’s face. It started to close and David was scared it was going to slip off one more time and he’d be in just an embarrassing spot as Davi except he’d made a whole big show of being better at it than him. The claw closed on the bear’s face and pulled it up. He swore to god if that thing slipped out he was gonna kill someone. The bear stayed true and only fell when the claw let it go into the prize chute. He pulled the bear out, fluffed up his face fur a bit, and held it out towards Davi,

“Your prize,”

Davi took the bear from him with one hand and pulled David into a one-armed hug with the other,

“Thank you.”

David patted his back awkwardly, “Hey, it’s no big deal man.”

Marcus approached the two of them, sipping on his usual arcade treat, a huge cherry icee.

“Hey, either of you wanna play Zombies, Die with me?”

Oh lord, not Marcus’s shoot-em-up game. David sucked major balls at that one. He glanced at Davi, he seemed intrigued,

“How about you two play and I’ll just watch?”

Davi put the bear in David’s hands and went over to join Marcus at the zombie game. He picked up the gun like a natural and cocked his hip to the side, some sassy little gesture. If he were a girl David wouldn't be able to stop staring at her ass. But he was a guy so if anything it was just incidental. Davi and Marcus started the game. It was technically two players but the scoreboard only put one name up on the leaderboard at the end. David was absolute ass at this game but it was one of Marcus’s favorites other than DDR, which the whole group always made a point to do when they were there. Shirley came over at some point and elbowed him with a smirk,

“Enjoying the show?”

“You know I suck at this game. I always like watching Marcus play it.”

She shook her head a bit, “That’s not what I- you know what, sure. Wait, what’s with the bear? You hate claw machines.”

“It’s not mine, I’m holding it for Davi,” He nodded towards Davi who was absolutely killing it at this game though David guessed that with Davi being a military brat he might have actually shot a real gun once or twice. Davide blasted Marcus’s old record out by at least a thousand points. The screen asked him to input his initials. Davide smirked and entered F-A-G. He turned to the group to show the new #1 spot. David felt his fingers twitching,

“That’s a joke, right?” He asked.

Davide stared him in the eye and very slowly and very decisively made a blowjob motion at him never once breaking eye contact. Marcus snorted, “Come on guys, let's have a DDR tournament.”

“Okay since Davi is the reigning champ of the day I think he should go first.”

“Who am I versing?” Davi tilted his head.

Shirley shoved David forward, “Battle to be the best Dave!”

David glared at her, Davi however seemed to be taking it in stride, “Hold the little guy for me?”

“Ugh seriously? Why am I on plushy duty?” Shirley complained as she took the bear.

“Because I’m your favorite,” Davi kissed her on the cheek. Oh come on did they have to flirt right where everyone could see them? David had to remind himself to focus, he couldn’t let himself get distracted by Davi and Shirley no matter how much the image of that annoying kiss was burned into his memory. He decided to let Davi choose the song,

“I haven’t played this before, here’s hoping I don’t embarrass myself.”

“Dude one time I tripped getting up here and broke my nose, you’ll be fine,” Shirley reassured him.

David beat Davi but not by much. They scored within a few hundred points of each other.

“Not bad considering it's your first time playing,” David reassured him, “Now make sure to remember your score because you might still be in the running.” It was mostly an empty platitude, but there was a chance Shirley would do worse than usual and Davi would move on to round two of the tournament. The two of them stepped off the glowing board.

“Alright, take your child back, my turn,” Shirley tossed the bear at Davi and made her way onto the DDR machine.

“You’re about to see how it usually goes down,” David stage whispered to Davi.

Shirley and Marcus started their match. Marcus was stiff from the waist up, like a steel rod was down his back. He moved mechanically but he was annihilating the combos. Shirley looked more like an actual human dancing and was doing pretty well, but she was still no match for Marcus.

“It’s always a race for second. I think Marcus is part robot,” David explained.

“So before I came around you and Shirley played to see who would go up against Marcus?”

“Yeah just about,” David nodded.

Davi stared at Marcus, “I can see why…”