"Are you really sure we can afford to be here?" Jane asked, staring up at the flashing, neon sign of the arcade. Against the dark sky's backdrop, it did look pretty aesthetic. "We could be spending this money on, I don't know...next month's rent or something? Food?"
"Jane." Asuka turned with a huffed breath, holding her face in her hands and smiling what the American could only describe as creepily. "After the week we've had, we deserve this. I don't care if a little of my bonus goes to something really stupid. Asuka needs fun. You need fun. Got that?"
"Uhh. Ok?" She replied, confused as to why her friend was acting so strangely, but her roommate just patted her cheek and laughed, in a strangely good mood. She lead them both inside the establishment. "What's up with you?"
"Me?" She gave a noncommittal shrug. "I just got done filing the last of the tax papers for the year at work. Do you know how long those have taken me? I haven't done anything else for nearly a month. So...I'm fucking high on this freedom from bullshit paperwork that no one will ever look at or need ever again. Asuka is at her breaking point and needs to unwind."
"Ok..."
Jane decided not to press anymore, lest she break Asuka further. The woman was absolutely manic tonight. Too many questions bight be bad for her health. Following her roommate inside the sensory overload epicenter, they squeezed by people and other arcade-goers enjoying the games. It was packed.
Loud, dinging noises vied for Jane's attention at every point in the room. Colorful, flashing and twisting lights took up whatever space the sounds didn't. It was ridiculous in here, suffocating and just a bit too much at any given moment. She'd only ever gone once or twice before to one of these places while in college, but she was suddenly reminded as to why. Way too much going on for Jane's taste.
"I got us some tokens!" Asuka suddenly said, handing her a little bag with the chips in question. Jane hadn't even heard or seen her step away to do anything, but somehow she'd already set them up to play. "Let's go!"
If they were really gonna blow this money, then damn her, she'd have fun with it. Never mind the fact that they were two fully grown adults. Age was just a number, right? Asuka wasn't wrong. They deserved a little down time. "Alright, where do you wanna start?"
"You're going fucking down..." Jane muttered, eyes glued to her screen. She turned the wheel to direct her car through the winding and treacherous track, mindful of Asuka's position just behind her. She'd been riding her ass for most of the race, taunting the brunette to not slip up and let her pass.
"As if. Mario Kart is my whole childhood." She heard her roommate quip distractedly. In the seat beside her, she was just as invested in their race, determined not to be bested by the American.
"Mine too." Jane scoffed with a shrug, yanking the wheel to avoid hitting the opposite wall of the level, swerving way too far and allowing Asuka to gain the lead again. "Fuck!"
"No, yours was shitty music and cheeseburgers."
"Shut up, you're distracting me."
"Good!"
Pressing her booth's gas pedal all the way to the floor, Jane focused on catching up to regain her position of first place. They reached a bridge, and she sped through the rainbow box to grant herself a mystery item. It filtered through the options, playing the little jingle to tantalize her with whatever the outcome may be.
"I'm coming for you, bitch."
"You can kiss my ass from 3rd place, bitch." Asuka retorted with a confident chuckle, nearing the end of the level and the finish line. "Woo! Come to momma!"
Jane smiled, managing to pass the current second place NPC racer by cutting a corner on her turn. The mystery box finally settled, and her eyes lit up. Rounding the corner, she came up to the last stretch of the track, Asuka's cart not far ahead.
"You're gonna eat those words." The brunette slapped her item button and launched the dreaded blue shell towards her only competition. It shot forward at high speed, headed straight for the black-haired woman's cart.
"No, no no! No way you got that fucking lucky!" Asuka yelled, spotting the inevitable projectile coming her way from Jane's screen. "Ugghh!"
"Yeah, look at that!" Jane laughed, watching as the character's cart upturned in a backflip, stopping dead in it's place and allowing the brunette to zoom past with relative ease. Not two seconds passed before she was crossing the finish line. "Suck it, Asuka! Mario Kart champion!"
"Fuck you and your blue shell." Asuka banged the wheel with frustration, but was still smiling despite her mean words. "That was a fucking cheat and you know it."
"I got that blue shell fair and square."
"It's an OP item and does not belong in my game, thank you." Asuka stood from her seat, taking her bag of tokens to find another game to play. "I'm never coming to the arcade with you ever again."
"Uh huh." Jane flaunted, following after her friend with a laugh. "You're just a sore loser."
"Whatever." Asuka turned, walking backwards to talk to her friend. "Come play me at the jungle drums game and I'll whoop you six ways to Sund...Holy fuck!"
"What...what?" Jane asked, realizing that Asuka's eyes were wide with shock or fear or...something. Whatever it was had to be directly behind her.
"Jane?" The brunette heard, the tone familiar and amused.
Turning, she came face to face with a smiling Mic. A casually dressed one at that. His hair down and swept to one side out of his face, and without his glasses, he looked...fucking good. Shit. She'd really talked up how hard it was supposed to be to change her mind about him but...at this rate he'd make it really easy looking so hot.
"Mic?" She asked, not having expected to see him here. From his expression, he hadn't expected her here either. He looked past her with a quirked eyebrow, and she glancing back to see Asuka staring at them both with shock. "Girl, chill. It's just Present Mic."
"Just Present Mic?" Her roommate was looking more scandalized by the second. "Ok. You've got a shit ton to tell me later. But anyway, hi. Asuka. Nice to meet you. Big fan, by the way."
"Yo! Hey there, listener." He said, giving her a friendly wave. "You know Jane?"
"We're roommates." Jane explained, arms crossing. Then, her eyes narrowed with suspicion. "What are you doing here anyway? Are you following me or something?"
"No way! This is all a total, wacky coincidence, is all! I found myself with a night off for once and thought I'd come down and spend some time with a friend." His grin was infectious.
"A friend?"
Mic looked behind him and gestured for a black-haired and scruffy-looking man to join their little circle in the middle of the aisle between game machines. If there was someone on the planet who was the definition of an Anti-Mic, this would be the guy. He was so unlike the radio host that she really had to blink a few times to make sure she was indeed seeing him correctly.
"This is Aizawa, or Eraserhead if you wanna call him by his hero name."
"Hi." Jane greeted, and he nodded without a word, looking remarkably tired and not at all thrilled to be at an arcade this late. Asuka was uncharacteristically quiet. "Let me guess...you got dragged here too?"
"To put it simply." He said.
Mic chuckled, poking the man in the arm several times. "Come on, Eraser. You're having fun, aren't you?"
"Hina's the one who insisted we do something together." He said with a shrug. "But, I guess."
"That attitude just won't do!" Mic said, unperturbed by his friend's grumpy mood. Then, he turned back to the two females with a mischievous smile. "Well, since we're all here...wanna play some games together?"
"Umm-"
"Yes!" Asuka agreed with an unusual eagerness. "They're fine to join us, right Jane?"
The brunette gave her a curious glance, but something insistent in Asuka's expression made her nod, albeit with much confusion. "I mean...sure, I guess. I don't mind."
"Yeah! It'll be fun!" Mic said, holding up a thumb in support of the idea. "Stay right here, we're gonna go get some tokens."
So saying, he grabbed Aizawa's arm and practically dragged him over to where the exchange machines were. Left alone, Jane finally turned to Asuka, spotting the dusting of a blush on her cheeks. Ok. Wow. Weird.
"What's up with you?" She asked, and the woman smiled.
"I've seen...the man I've been waiting for my whole life. Did you not see how attractive he was?" Once the two were out of sight, only then did she turn away to look at her roommate. "It's like he came straight from my wettest daydream."
"Ok, ew..." Jane said, managing to suppress a shudder. "Mic's kind of attractive, but I wouldn't go that far-"
"Present Mic?" Asuka's trance was disrupted, and she shook her head with a frown. "No, no...fuck no. Not him. His friend."
"The tired one?" Jane asked, making a face.
Asuka's face cleared, and she smiled dreamily. "Yeah..."
She quirked a brow, seeing them on their way back over. "Ok, freak. Just don't be creepy or weird, got it? It doesn't even look like he wants to be here."
"I'll change his mind." She supplied confidently, shifting her posture when they came closer. Clearly she'd changed her goal for the night from 'fun with Jane' to 'score the hot dude.' So much for a girl's night out.
"So, which one of you thinks they can beat my table flip score?" Mic asked with a challenging grin.
"Hmm..." Jane pouted, seeing her character's score place her in 6th place. It wasn't like she was last. Aizawa, not really having bothered to try too hard, had come in 7th. Asuka was much higher, managing to snag 2nd place with her super competitive personality shining through. But they had all been creamed by the apparently super skilled Present Mic.
"What's with that face, Jane?" Asuka laughed, pointing to the icon of her racer on the list. "Someone a sore loser?"
"No, I was just distracted is all." She retorted pathetically, knowing it sounded lame but not caring. Her and the radio host laughed at the excuse, before they all stood up to choose their next game. Some of the crowd had filtered away the later into the night it got. It wasn't nearly as packed inside like it was when they first arrived.
"I think we've hit all the four-player games." Mic said, looking around at those that were available. They'd been there an hour and had stuck mostly to the group games, that way they could still all play at once and have fun. "Should we split up into two's?"
"Good idea! Mic, why don't you go with Jane? It looked like you had a lot to talk about earlier anyway. I'll keep Aizawa company." Asuka mentioned, boldly grabbing onto Aizawa's elbow and leading him away somewhere. Jane suspected it was shock that stopped him from outright refusing to let her drag him off somewhere. Or perhaps he really didn't care.
Mic and the brunette watched as their friends left them, leaving the two of them to stand next to each other. She gave a sigh, shaking her head. "Sorry about her...hopefully she isn't making your friend uncomfortable."
"How? She's been pretty nice." He asked, and Jane gestured to where the two had gone, indicating the way Asuka was trying her best to engage him in some sort of conversation. It was clearly not working, but she was going to try her damndest.
"That's her trying to flirt, believe it or not. She thinks he's hot."
"Oh!" He realized, then laughed with an amused grin. "That's alright. Aizawa's already in a relationship, though."
"I can tell her to stop. I don't want her to cause problems or anything." Jane offered with a worried frown, not wanting his friend to regret joining their group, but Mic shook his head.
"He can handle her. Plus, he's not the type to be unfaithful, so don't worry about that." He waved dismissively, following her to whichever game she decided to choose. "Come on, let's see if you can beat me on the drum game."
"I definitely can." She said confidently.
Mic grinned, and she had a hard time looking away from the sight. "Ooh, those are fighting words. You must be pretty good, then?"
"Better than you." Jane shrugged indifferently.
"Cool, then let's make a wager." He decided, watching her with a quirked brow and crossed arms. "Whoever wins the most games by the end of the night has to buy the other one food."
Well, fuck. Jane wasn't that confident, but she'd be damned if she was going to let him know that. Momma didn't raise no quitter. And hey, if she did get her ass beat by the celebrity, she could just claim that she was distracted by her worry for Asuka going too far. Yeah. That was a good plan.
Jane tried her best to smile as if she wasn't worried at all. "You're on."
Initially, Jane was feeling pretty good about their bet.
A lot of the games they started with were very familiar to her from back in America. Big brand names that had been westernized and commercially successful. As she won many of the first few rounds, he confidence grew. Of course, he might have been going easy on her without her even knowing, but she wasn't going to speculate on stuff like that when she was winning.
His cockiness never ceased, despite his repeated losses, promising that he'd catch up and make her eat her words. Jane found herself enjoying their shared competitive spirit.
Unfortunately, as the night wore on and they knocked out game after game, they started traversing into the unknown territory. The ones with a lot of complicated-looking lettering on the name plaque and within the game itself gave Jane a bit of worry. Mic didn't seem fazed by them as he inserted his coins, but Jane still couldn't read most kanji to the level that native Japanese could. Only some of the instructions made sense on the screen.
Too proud to ask for help translating, she said nothing and faced the consequences.
"Shit..." She muttered, pushing away with a sigh as Mic won the 3rd game in a row. Even without keeping score in her head, it would have been clear that he'd taken the lead in their bet.
"What happened, Jane? You were doing so well when we first started." Mic mentioned with a grin, poking her arm playfully. "You still intend to beat me, right?"
"Yeah. Just...distracted is all." She figured, ignoring the pointed brow quirk he directed at her. As if knowing that the way he looked was part of the problem. Damn him. "Plus, I'm not too familiar with these games. They didn't have ones like this where I used to live."
Mic shot her a strange look, before glancing at the machine. Realization struck him. "You can't read the kanji, can you?
She only shook her head in silence.
"Why didn't you say anything? I could have told you how to play." He stated matter-of-factly. Jane felt dumb for keeping her mouth shut now that the truth was out. What had she been so afraid of, him mocking her for her lack of language skills? Most people were very accommodating, as she'd come to learn living in Japan.
"Everyone knows not to take advice from their competition. You'd probably tell me the wrong things on purpose." She remarked with an eye roll, masking the embarrassment. She expected him to laugh, but he only shook his head. Which just made her feel worse.
"I wouldn't intentionally give you bad instructions, Jane. I'm not that cruel." His mouth twisted in a pout, hands on his hips. "Well, now I don't feel right counting those last three rounds..."
"It's alright-"
"No, no, we're doing those over! I'll show you how to play and then we'll do them again." He admitted, guiding her back to the machine she'd pushed away from. His hand on her back nearly set her face a bright shade of red. "Come on, it's fun when you know how to do it right. This is one of my favorites."
"Uh...ok." She reluctantly admitted, realizing that he was literally right next to her and she'd gotten caught up in his enthusiasm. He popped one of his own tokens into her machine and leaned in to see the screen. His hands had placed themselves on either side of the cabinet, enclosing her between them.
Jane could smell the scent of whatever shampoo he used for his hair, that's how close he currently was. She would have pushed him away if she thought it was an attempt to touch her without making it seem intentional. But the way he was focused only on the screen made her think twice. He seemed genuinely interested in teaching her
"It's all about the timing." Mic suddenly said, pointing at the screen. "You need to shoot the squares just as the outline shrinks in on it. You get more points the closer it is to being the same size."
"Ok."
"Here, hold it like this." He said, grabbing her hand and putting it on the joystick, his own covering her to demonstrate the right grip. "This button shoots and this one is your shield. You gotta time it right, too."
"Uh huh..." Damn his hands were warm. Gentle and strong. His thumb nudged her lower to indicate the right button for the game's weapon. But as to the rest of his explanation, it was really hard to concentrate because of the way she could feel him against her back.
He pressed the button to begin the game, and the colored squares began to appear again. Mic didn't let go, guiding her on the correct way to play, muttering advice in her ear. She shivered from the heat of each breath. Her eyes were on the screen, but her head was somewhere else.
What the fuck was she doing? Letting him get this close? Stupid, stupid idea. It still didn't matter that he was a celebrity, but it had everything to do with the fact that he was a man. A hot man. Very fucking attractive man. Right behind her, his hands gently guiding hers. Jane was mortified that she'd allowed this to happen on what was essentially the first date.
What happened to being notoriously stubborn? Damn her.
Mic finally released her hands and let her take over, but the rest of the game was essentially Jane running on autopilot while her brain took a backseat to organize it's scrambled thoughts. By the end, she'd at least managed a better score than her previous few rounds.
"Not so hard when you know what to do." Mic figured with a smile, then stepped over to his own machine. "Now I won't feel so bad beating you."
Jane was still terrible at the game, but the next three rounds of losing gave her time to recoup from when her shame decided to check out for a few minutes. By the time they'd finished the third round, her senses were back in place and she could at least function properly.
"Well, it was worth a try." She figured, stepping back after the last game. Mic gave her another smile.
"No shame in losing. Do you want to keep going? Maybe try to catch up and snatch the win at the last minute?" He suggested, obviously not opposed to the idea, but they both turned when they heard the sound of her name.
"Jane, are you ready to go?" Asuka called, an extremely exhausted Aizawa trailing behind her. Clearly he was itching to leave. "We've got work in the morning."
"Oh, right..." She replied, not sure whether to be disappointed or relieved that their time was up. All in all, she'd still had fun. "Looks like we don't have time for any more. Guess that means you win, Mic."
Jane hadn't really thought over the consequences of her loss until now. The guy was a celebrity. He probably only ate at expensive-ass restaurants, the kinds that required a reservation and a six figure salary to even get into. Shit. Her convenience store income didn't really leave many options for choices. Maybe another double shift or two could help that expense along.
"Don't look so down, Jane. You gave me a run for my money." He said kindly, and she smiled ruefully back. Probably a lie, but hey, she appreciated his intent. "Maybe next time?"
"Yeah. Maybe." She shot back, liking the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled. Stop thinking like that. Stop! "We'll see when random chance brings us together again."
"Or you could just call me." He offered with a chuckle, producing a white card from his pocket. Aizawa's quick glance at the blonde registered in her peripheral vision, but she didn't question it much. Her eyes widened a fraction, surprised that he'd suggest giving her his number. She reached for it, but he pulled it back a few inches before she could grab it. "Don't give it to anyone, alright?"
"I won't." She promised, not seeing why she would do such a thing. It'd be a major breach in privacy. As a famous person, she wasn't surprised that he'd cherish privacy so much. Mic searched her expression for a moment, then relented and gave her the little card.
"I'll let you know when I'm feeling hungry and need of some company." He said, pointedly ignoring his friend's stare. He gave the two girls a wave, wrapping an arm around Aizawa and dragging them towards the exit. "See you around!"
"Bye!" Asuka called, though made sure to wave at his grumpy-looking friend most obviously. The black-haired man winced and looked away quickly. When they were out of earshot, the weeb gave a sigh. "Ah, he really is a quiet guy."
"Yeah. And has a girlfriend." Jane added distractedly, staring down at the phone number written in the middle of the card.
"I know. He told me." She admitted with a little frown. "Figures. The hot ones all always taken before I can get to them."
"You weren't creepy, were you?"
"No! I'm never creepy."
Jane gave her a pointed look, walking them both out of the arcade. "You were totally being creepy."
Asuka rolled her eyes as they left the arcade building and began on their path home. "If I was, it was because he makes me lose all inhibitions."
The brunette shook her head, struggling to find the right words at first. "See, that's...what just came out of your mouth was creepy! You creep."
"You're the creep, letting Mic all up in your business like that." She shot back.
Jane frowned defensively. "He was showing me how to play!"
"Did that require practically hugging you the whole time?"
They both argued about which one of them was the creepiest the rest of the way home. There were probably plenty of strange looks from those they passed by, but neither was paying attention to much. Except for Jane, who could feel Mic's white card burning a hole in her back pocket the whole time.
They had yet to reach a verdict by the time they both went to bed.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
