The Great and Noble Sport of Skee-Ball
by Cryptographic DeLurk
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AN: Includes some internalised homophobia and misogyny.
Happy Femslash February! Big thanks to nolifepoints (on tumblr and ao3) for beta-ing!
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"It didn't mean anything," Anzu said for the sixth time.
Mai crossed her legs under the table.
She wasn't sure if it was irritation that made her do so, or if she was finally capitulating to the reason Anzu had dragged her out here.
Mai collapsed her shoulders forward, and leaned her torso back into her seat, drawing Anzu's eyes in between her corset, and into the depths of her bosom.
"You know what, hon? I don't think so," Mai said impatiently. "In fact, I'm more inclined to believe it does mean something, the more you tread over this tired old story."
Hearing about Anzu's failed tryst with a female college friend had been, well, not exactly fun the first time. But Mai had accepted it as par for the course. She smiled and winked and flipped her hair and pretended not to be bothered. She listened to Anzu's complaints, and decided to let it go when Anzu tried to paint the whole event as a drunken whim – something to make herself seem fun and spontaneous, rather than scared to death about her future.
And Mai had tried to change the subject another eight times. And Anzu had eight times drawn it back, sounding less fun-loving and more desperate with each turn. And Mai had had the woman's name burned into her head at this point – Laura, who had dormed down the hall – and Mai was furious at the girl for hurting Anzu. Almost as furious as she was at Anzu herself, for being so goddamn clueless.
And maybe Mai was a little upset with herself, too, for not having made a move sooner. For allowing Anzu go off alone to her third year at college, and fall for other people and make her own mistakes.
It occurred to Mai – perhaps Anzu would not let the subject go because she wasn't getting the reaction she wanted.
"I think it meant something to you. About you." Mai let the slightest hint of accusation burn into her words.
The climate in the room didn't change, exactly. But, for a moment, Anzu was struck silent.
Anzu laughed nervously. "Wha- I mean, what would it even mean?" She didn't give Mai an opportunity to answer – rushed forward. "It's not like I've made a habit out of it."
"Maybe not," Mai wasn't going to let her acquiescence escape without a tiny bit of doubt. "But you came to talk to little old me – someone with quite the bit of experience when it comes to lusty encounters. And you don't seem all that interested in talking about anything except your Laura, with the tacky undercut and the tongue that won't quit."
Mai leaned forward and propped her head up on her hand. "You know, experimenting straight girls don't obsessively relive and analyse their drunken tête-à-têtes."
Anzu crossed her arms over her chest. She sat up straight in her chair, tall and imperious. Mai found it more cute than intimidating.
"You know that from your time abroad?" Anzu asked.
"I know that from experience." Mai arched an eyebrow.
Mai had barely gotten the words out, before Anzu spoke again.
"I'm not a lesbian," Anzu insisted.
"Oh, hon," Mai pouted. "I didn't say you were. Buuuut, I bet if I did this~"
Mai blinked heavily. She pressed her index finger and her middle finger to her lips, dragged them softly down to press to the top of her right breast, and then pressed her hand softly down her chest and waist and hip, before letting it fall to her side.
She looked back at Anzu. Even half-lidded, in a play of seduction, she knew her eyes would appear piercing and all-knowing to Anzu. And, sure enough, Anzu's eyes were wide and caught. Her face and neck had flushed a rosy shade of pink.
Mai turned her head down into her chest and let her lips curl into a smug grin.
"See~" Mai said happily. She couldn't help but bask in the attention.
Anzu only flushed harder. "I'm only embarrassed by how loose and shameless you are." She turned to look away.
"Sticks and stones, hon," Mai trilled.
Anzu pursed her lips. "Your lipstick smeared," she quipped.
Mai coloured this time. She rocked in her barstool. Leaned forward to grab a couple napkins from the dispenser. She rubbed the glossy red off her fingers, and dabbed at where some had rubbed off where she had touched her chest. Before rubbing it across her lips.
After a minute, Anzu stopped pretending to look away. She watched Mai and frowned cutely.
"I don't like girls," she reiterated.
"Well, I'm sorry-" Mai tossed the dirtied napkin down on the table with a flippant flick of her wrist. "I just don't believe you, after I've listened to you tell your story about this girl half a dozen times… We'll just have to agree to disagree."
"No!" Anzu protested hotly. "That's not good enough!"
"Oh?" Mai smirked. She had counted on Anzu not being able to accept that. "Want to put your money where your mouth is, then?"
Anzu looked curious in spite of herself.
It was the middle of the day, but the arcade had the disco ball on, spinning above them at the food court. It threw pale patches of red and purple lights across Anzu's face.
"Kiss me," Mai demanded. "Kiss me, and I'll be able to tell," she smirked, "if you like it or not."
"How is that- That has nothing to do with money!" Anzu protested. "And why would I agree to that?!"
Mai shrugged. "Well, you're certainly not going to prove anything to me by not agreeing to it."
The illogic of this sat oddly between them. Anzu didn't even seem to know what to say.
"I'll tell you what," Mai allowed. "We can play a game. The winner earns the right to a kiss from the loser, if they should so choose to request one."
Anzu fidgeted in her seat.
Mai shrugged. She stood up from the table, and walked away, leaving her empty smoothie cup, and the other trash at the table. She let her hips sway as she walked off, towards the centre of the arcade, and she didn't look back.
She heard Anzu clamour to her feet. There was a thump as Anzu threw the paper tray into the trashcan, and ran up. Her ponytail and skirt bobbed, and she rolled to a stop at Mai's side. She hunched over in her sweat jacket. It was embossed with the logo for NYU.
"What should we play?" she asked. "DDR?"
"Aw, hon, give Mai-sama a fighting chance of beating you~"
Anzu considered this. "Skee-ball?"
The lanes were an offensive brown colour, next to the multi-coloured madness of the rest of the arcade. Mai leaned over to feed each machine a set of coins, and watched the column of balls roll down to each of them.
"Alright," Mai said, grabbing two of them, and lifting them up in the palm of one hand. She caressed their bases lovingly. "If you're so straight, prove that you know how to handle a pair of these."
Anzu grimaced. "Yeah, you'd know all about that, huh?"
Mai giggled and threw the balls up the lane, one after the other. She managed to score fifty and ten.
She waited as Anzu set up her rolls precisely, and swung her whole body into her throws. Even in the most platonic of senses, Mai did feel there was something admirable about Anzu's commitment to her physical form. She hoped she'd have a chance to see Anzu dance on stage, some day.
Anzu scored twenty and fifty on her first two rolls. She turned to Mai with a slick smile.
"Let's take turns rolling," Mai said. "It'll be more fun that way."
It was fun. Mai bent over into her throws, and wiggled her butt. And Anzu was precise and passionate about the competition of the game. And it was easy to joke about balls, and talk about the times they'd found themselves playing all manner of games before.
"Duellist Kingdom was fun," Anzu said. "When we played a match there."
Mai tossed the ball against the lane. It swung up into the scoring bracket. She managed thirty points, not as much as last roll.
"Oh, yes," Mai smiled to herself. "Le Petit Ange, Shining Friendship, and Happy Lovers." Mai crossed her arms. "You duelled very well, of course," she said, with a jilted hint of pride, like she was very magnanimously allowing a transgression against her.
Anzu giggled. "You wanted me to 'win' those star chips for Yuugi." She rolled her own ball. "You let me win, and you know it."
"Ah, well, you put on a beautiful performance, at least," Mai cooed. "That's what you're good at, no? Being on the stage? Performing?"
Mai took her turn. She scored only ten points, this time.
"A talent both of us share," Anzu agreed, in a sombre undertone.
Anzu scored a hundred points on her next roll, after rolling her ball into the upper right bonus corner. That left the score at one hundred ninety to two hundred eighty, in Anzu's favour.
Well, Anzu was pretty far ahead. But they each had three balls left to roll, and Mai hadn't exactly been playing seriously. Not so far.
It was time to stop messing around. No teasing. No flirting. Mai aimed and shot, and scored fifty points each on her next two rolls.
Anzu's good luck seemed to have run out, in the meantime. She fumbled the next two rolls, and only scored twenty points between them.
"Ah, last one!" Mai held up the final ball, and shook it back and forth in her hand, with a glint in her eye. "Can't let you get away without a fight~"
Anzu didn't seem receptive to the comment, so Mai turned away. She glared at the skee-ball lane – her persistent enemy, and took aim for the most difficult place on the score bracket. She rolled the ball.
And there it was – one hundred points. She had maxed her score out at three hundred ninety.
Anzu was at three hundred, so she'd have to score a hundred herself this last turn to win.
"There you go," Mai preened. "One more roll and then-" She pursed her lips. "Kissy-Kissy… Or not~"
Anzu looked rather pale, but she took a deep breath. She drew the last ball out of the frame. She aimed for a long time, before she flung it up the lane.
She had clearly been aiming for the hundred points, but she overshot it, and hit to the centre by a noticeable margin. The ball rolled down to the bottom and registered no points at all.
Anzu looked down, crestfallen. The scores flashed above the lanes, and the machines beeped happily. The winner was clear.
"You're just not on my level yet, huh?" Mai tisked. She crossed her heels over each other, as she walked up to Anzu's side. "It's alright," she soothed. "Someday you'll catch up. Maybe in your next life."
This did not seem to cheer Anzu up.
Mai hated this. They'd had fun there, with the game for a while. Reminiscing and trading sly smiles. And now they were back to the unbearable discomfort of Anzu talking about her college fling. Except now Anzu wouldn't say anything at all.
"I wish I had a victory cry, you know?" Mai said. "Harpie Lady, attack with Rose Whip!" she imitated. "Except about skee-ball," she laughed.
Anzu still wouldn't look at her.
"You're gonna kiss me, right?" Anzu asked.
Mai didn't realise until Anzu sniffled and brought her hand up beneath her bangs, that Anzu was crying.
"Oh, no-no, hon," she pleaded. "Honey, I'm sorry. It was all just fun and games. I wasn't actually planning on making you kiss me. Especially since it's so distressing to you."
Mai didn't actually know if this had been true, before deciding it in just this moment. But it seemed like the only decent thing to do or say. She gripped Anzu's shoulder and squeezed. Massaged it gently.
"I just wanted to spend some time with you talking about something other than your-"
Ex-girlfriend.
"-other than your friend from college," Mai soothed.
Anzu's shoulder hadn't relaxed.
"I was just a little jealous, okay?" Mai scoffed. "It was just me being a little silly. You don't owe me a kiss. You don't need to worry about anything at all."
Anzu sniffled again. She didn't turn up to look at Mai, but leaned back into her arm, and back further so her shoulder fit neatly into Mai's chest.
"I lost on purpose," she sniffed.
Mai studied the way Anzu's hair whorl turned across the top of her head.
"I bowl with Yuugi all the time," Anzu explained. Wiping at her eyes. "I mean- I don't really know that I would have won, if I had been trying. But I didn't try."
"Oh, honey," Mai sighed.
She was suddenly very aware of where they were. The arcade wasn't full, but there was someone over there with the Taiko Master drums. And there was another person at the crane machine. And somebody racing against the computer in a plastic car seat. Was it really okay, to hold Anzu against her like this, in a public place in the middle of the day?
"How messed up is that?" Anzu sniffled. "I could have won, and demanded a kiss from you myself. But I wanted you to win, and force me into it. So I'd have an excuse. So I could pretend it wasn't my fault, and that I didn't really want it."
"Oh, honey," Mai sighed. She wrapped Anzu into a loose hug. "It's not that bad. It's okay. It's going to be okay."
"How do you know?" Anzu grumbled.
Mai pressed away, and held Anzu at shoulder length.
"Look at me," Mai said, searching for her eyes. "Look at me… I'm going to kiss you now, okay?"
That got Anzu to meet her eyes.
"What-?" she startled.
Mai leaned forward. She pressed Anzu's bangs out of the way, and pressed warm lips to her forehead.
Anzu stilled. Then she leaned forward, and finally seemed to relax.
When Mai broke the kiss, Anzu's watery eyes met her this time. Mai tugged at Anzu's bangs and gave a puffy smile.
"It's going to be okay," Mai promised.
"You're shameless, you know that?" Anzu huffed.
But she leaned forward, and hugged Mai back.
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