Chapter 83 - The Arcade (Dom and Kai)

Dom and Kai walked throughout the mall, separated from their friends. They never walked super close or even held hands due to how the mongoose was. By now, Legosi and Louis had left and Pina and Bill began exiting.

Kai looked around. "Yeah, I think we can say we've been officially ditched."

"Try texting them," Dom suggested.

"No, I mean, Legosi just texted me saying he and Louis are going back. And I don't feel like texting Pina. He and Bill are probably fucking in a dumpster somewhere."

"In a dumpster?" The bird blinked. "Kai."

"You're right. Pina would never get dirty." The mongoose puffed his cheeks out and swung his arms in a carefree way, looking around the mall.

Dom put his hands on his hips. "Yay!"

Kai turned around to face him. "Yay?"

"We can finally have a date!"

Kai looked down at the large winged hands on his small hips. "Um, I guess so, huh?"

"Yes!" He clapped.

The feliformia cleared his throat, his face on fire. They never really went on a date before. They never really did...anything before. He looked around some more. "Uh, wanna hit up that arcade we saw on the way in?"

"That sounds fun!" Dom smiled, blinking his long lashes at him.

"Haha, okay!" Kai, still blushing, headed in the direction of the arcade.

Dom had a skip as he walked alongside him. Kai was small so he had a crowded view of the mall, but thanks to the bird's long neck, he almost had a clear view of everything. They were so different.

"You seem happy," Kai observed.

Dom nodded. "We're finally having a date!"

"I mean, yeah. Sorry it kinda sucks."

"No, it doesn't!"

Kai blinked. "Oh. Is that...is that a snap then?"

"If you feel like it is."

Dom's boyfriend continued walking forward. "Have you ever been to an arcade before?"

"Not really...I haven't got out much."

"I used to go with my brothers and sisters a lot. They're a lot of fun." Kai now had a smile on his face.

"Is that how you became a little dork?" He pinched both his ears.

Instead of snapping like usual, Kai looked thoughtful. "...Oh my god, you could be right..." he said quietly, before laughing.

"H-hey, I'm my own man." Kai laughed even more.

"You make that very clear sometimes."

"Hm? What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing! Nothing!"

The small carnivore grumbled. "Ya weirdo." The smile was still on his face.

"Hehe~ I know~ Nerd~" They always called each other names, playfully, of course.

Kai pointed a finger at the peafowl. "Dorkus McDonglemier!" he said, with bravado in his voice.

"Yeesh! Sounds like you're the dork to come up with a name like that."

"Uh, really? Cuz that's your name. I didn't give it to you. Your parents did."

"Oh really, tiny meat boy?"

Kai did a double take of the bird and snorted. "Wh-what? What the fuck was that?"

"You're tiny and a carnivore!"

"Uh, I ain't ever eaten meat though!"

"You better not! I'll kill you myself."

"Yeah, I know. Don't worry, I'm not gonna be like Bill."

"It would probably take you forEVER to eat someone with that little mouth."

Kai laughed again. Only Dom could get away with jabs like this. And have Kai enjoy them, no less. "Yeah! Holy shit the herbivore would be like 'Um, can you hurry this up please?'"

"If you're not done in ten minutes I'm gonna get up and go."

Dom laughed as well.

Soon, the arcade showed up, the air inside cool and the blacklight accentuating all of the bright colors to make them glow.

The peafowl tilted his head. "Pretty dark in there."

"Yeah, cuz it's for the gamers. They don't like light."

"Neeeeerd."

Kai ignored him. "So, any game look good to you?"

"I don't really know games."

"Oh wait, we need to buy tokens first. I'll go get some while you look around and find one that looks good." The little carnivore ran off, oddly excited.

Dom smiled, using his bird qualities to look all around. "Hm..."

Kai soon found him again, procuring two plastic cards. "I called them tokens, but they're kinda just like credit cards you use only in this arcade. Guess I'm just too old school. Here."

Dom took it and looked. "Huh..."

His mate put his hands on his hips. "Find anything?"

"I don't really know what I'm looking for..."

"...You never, like, played any video game ever?"

"Not really."

Kai blinked. "How am I just finding this out about you? What did you do as a child, Dominic?"

"Not game. My family is a bunch of jewelers. We use our feathers and stuff when they shed, but they also make typical diamond rings and stuff. I always loved theater but I never thought I would fit as an actor so I just became a stage crew...kind of a mix of both."

Kai blinked. "But...why'd that stop you from playing video games?"

"Because we just didn't really have time for stuff like that."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! What about that racing game we played at Louis' and Legosi's that night? You beat me at it! No way you haven't played video games!"

"Oh, yeah! I must be naturally better than you!"

Kai squinted. "Okay, then, let's get you the basics. There's probably a Galactic Interloper cabinet around here..."

"Cabinet? We're gonna be inside something?"

"OH my god! Please don't say anything else I'm going to cry."

"My neck might not fit~" He winked.

"Alright, now you're just being a dick."

"How do giraffes even live?"

Kai shrugged. "I dunno, you want me to ask Mina when we get back?"

"Might offend her?"

"Then Zoogle it." the smaller animal's eyes narrowed. "Ah, there's one. Lucky there's no animals playing it, cuz it's old as fuck."

"Show me how to play," Dom grinned.

"Alright, let me get it going." Kai slid his card and spent a token. "See the joystick there? You tilt it left and right to move your little spaceship, and the button on top shoots." Large pixels made out the rudimentary shapes of everything on screen. "The aliens descend slowly, but there's a lot of them, and they can shoot back. There's some cover here, but they can be destroyed. Really simple stuff."

"So should I go first or you? Do you need a highchair?"

Kai glared at him. "Just for that, I'm going first. You can clearly see that I'm tall enough for this thing."

Dom loomed behind him, looking down to watch. "Alright, go ahead, small fry."

"Just you watch!" Pew pew pew pew. Kai made short work of the titular interlopers.

The bird crossed his arms and watched closely. "You sure this isn't for babies?"

"It's for animals that lived a bajillion years ago. I wanted to show you the basics."

"This is super basic."

"Here, you give it a go."

Dom stood to to the left of his boyfriend and reached over. "I'm gonna beat this first try."

"Yeah, you are. I'm breaking up with you if you can't."

"Good thing I have another guy lined up."

"...WHO?"

"Shhhh, watch as I win and keep you."

Kai looked back at the screen, suddenly on edge despite knowing the rules were fake and Dom was joking.

Kai watched the little blocky spaceship pan back and forth, firing its gun.

"Wow, look at the spaceman over here," Kai teased.

"Lucky me." Kai looked around again. "This game is boring, by the way. Let's see if they have Millipede." The small carnivore grabbed Dom's winged hand and led him around.

The bird let himself be led, squeezing his hand a bit. He loved the little mongoose but Kai would have a FIT if he ever said it.

"There!" His partner all but ran toward the new cabinet, whose controls consisted of a ball embedded into the counter as well as one button. "Okay, now this one is fun to control."

"Why's that?"

Kai placed his palm on the sphere and spun it. "This is how you control your dude!" He spun it more for emphasis, smiling like an idiot and showing his tiny fangs.

Dom reached forward and placed his hand on his.

Kai froze. "Uh...it's not a two player game?"

"I know."

Kai blushed. "Ah, your hand's warm..."

"I know." He moved his hand on his a little.

"Slide your card through so we can play, already..."

"Not yet. I have an idea."

Kai looked up at his tall boyfriend. "What's up?"

"Let's try playing it like this. Could be more fun." And more romantic...

"Huh, okay. Slide your card, then."

Dom moved forward and did so quickly, keeping his hand on Kai's smaller one.

"Alright, so there's gonna be a millipede crawling down at us, moving fast as all fuck. And you see there's mushrooms there that block your shots." Said bug appeared. "Oh shit, mov e the ball! Button shoots!"

The bird quickly moved his hand on his and began pushing the button quickly.

"Heh, die you buggy bastard! Glad Legosi's not here to see this," Kai giggled.

"Two gays playing Millipede."

"We're doing it!"

"I wonder if Louis would be all competitive against you. You guys are pretty similar there."

Kai scoffed. "Yeah, except he's a cheater."

"Oh, I KNOW."

"Not like me. I'm genuine. A gentleman."

"You get pissy if you lose."

Kai made a noncommittal 'ehhh' noise while his face looked like he was about to sneeze.

They kept playing the game couple-style and thanks to Dom's natural skill, they kept beating level after level.

"Yo what the fuck, this strat is tight," Kai gawked as they passed level after level.

"Power of the queers."

"Mostly from you."

"I'm just good! What can I say?"

Suddenly, Kai's ears perked up. "...Wait."

"Huh?"

Another ear twitch. "Do I hear fucking STARCRUSHER?"

Dom blinked and looked at him. "Huh?"

BLAM! They lost the game.

Kai ran off, still holding Dom's hand. They eventually came upon a much more modern game, consisting of an enclosed chair and a screen. Another animal was playing it at the moment, and Kai bounced on his toes. "Fuck, this is my favorite arcade game!"

"Then why are you surprised they have it?"

"It's pretty high end. I didn't think a retro gig like this would have it."

"Draw in a new demographic, I guess."

Kai continued to bounce as they waited their turn. "There's two seats in there, so we can both go in. God, it's so cool! It's like, a rhythm game and you're on a track with these stars on it, but you have to hit the stars on the beat, but some stars aren't actually on the beat, so those don't count as much as the ones that are on the beat, but there's also paths that you get extra points to stay on. There's a whole meta to it, really. Easy to play, hard to master."

"I'm going to pretend like I heard you and be good anyway." His smile never left his face, making him almost like a doll.

Finally, the skunk who was playing left, and the two waiting animals slipped into the comfy seats of Starcrusher.

Dom took out his card to swipe it. "Are they songs made up for the game or songs we'd know?"

"They're made for the game, and emphasize beat and rhythm. But honestly, I listen to these outside of the game." Kai drummed his palms on his thighs.

"Wait? You listen to the music outside of the game?" Dom asked.

Kai cocked his head. "Uh, yeah? You gonna roast me?"

"You're such a dork!"

"Whatever! Let's just play." Kai slid his card into the slot and the menu came up. He selected two players and the songlist came up.

Dom said, looking at the colorful screen; "Are my eyes gonna hurt after this?"

"I dunno. Do you suffer from visual epilepsy?"

"Then here we go!" The mongoose scrolled through the list, seemingly knowing what he was looking for. He picked a song that displayed three out of five stars in difficulty. "I could pick an easy one for you to start with, but I wanted to pick my fave first." After that he selected the two player option.

"Are we against one another?"

"Yyyyep." Kai looked over at him and smiled deviously.

The bird just looked forward with a smile.

The song started, and both boys were given a view on their screen akin to the start of a rollercoaster. The song started off slowly with a steady, predictable drum beat and some synth. Kai hit the appropriate stars on the beat, essentially an expert at this song, by his own accord.

Dom's eyes were quickly moving as the slow gradualness let him get used to the controls.

The path they were on suddenly dropped down as the song picked up in tempo and intensity, opening up into a more electronic and industrial sound. Kai was clearly into it, moving this way and that in his seat to control his ingame ship. A fan above the screen blew air into the boys' faces to sell the whole thing.

The bird quickly pressed buttons and his eyes moved quickly as he tried to keep up with the music, which was, mind you, not his kind of tune.

"Dahh, dede dahhh, deh deh duhn DUHN!" Kai energetically "sang" along to the music, eyes glancing up to the scoreboard periodically.

Dom blinked and leaned forward as he got more into it.

Kai let out an energetic chuckle as he noticed this. The track dipped down and then started climbing upwards, preparing for the big climax.

The peafowl smiled a bit as he saw his boyfriend get excited for the drop ahead.

Everything went silent, and then...

"BOOM!", the mongoose all but shrieked, moving his body this way and that to catch all the correct stars as the music unleashed itself fully.

"Yeesh..." Dom muttered as his hands sped up and his eyes darted around at each star they were crushing.

After much bombast, the song ended, and the screen displayed their scores. Unsurprisingly, Kai beat Dom by a wide margin.

"Hell yeah!" Kai leaned forward in his seat, and then turned to face his boyfriend, holding his hand up in front of him.

Dom high fived him. "Not surprised considering I don't jam out to that song every time I want to hear music, if you can even call it that."

"Where's the more cultural stuff?"

"What do you mean?"

"Not all this electronic music."

"Oh, hit the green button to go through genres."

He did so, looking around for something more contemporary.

Kai hummed beside him, watching the colors of the screen go by.

"How long can we be in here?"

"For as much money as we have. Or if there's, like, a line outside I think they tell us to wrap it up."

The bird glanced out of the curtain.

"Whatcha see?" the mongoose asked.

"No line. Probably because the genre selection is so limited..." his boyfriend mumbled.

"Well, what kind of music are you looking for?" Kai leaned forward and cupped his cheeks with his hands, giving them an adorable smooshed look.

"I told you, more cultural stuff!"

"They're not gonna have radio songs here, bro! They don't got the licensing!"

"What! No, not radio songs!"

"Well, all the music here was custom made for the game, so they all have emphasis on beat and tempo and stuff."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense...Here, you find a song I'll like."

Kai pressed his button a few times to change genres. "This is an easier difficulty song that's like, kind of basic rock I think." Kai pressed the preview button, and the music came out slow and steady, but with a noticeable beat still. He turned to the peafowl for feedback.

"Sounds good."

The mongoose selected it, and off they went. It was quite the stark contrast from the previous song, and probably would have been better to play first for Dom's initiation of the game.

The bird was much better at this one, finding he was able to keep up much easier. The tune was also much better.

Kai made different noises this time around, as he sort of stumbled with the song. "Gah, I'm not used to this easy crap anymore!"

"What? How often do you come to the arcade?"

"Like, all the time before I joined the drama club."

"You had the money for that?"

"Sure!"

"Where did you get it?"

"Odd jobs, favors, you name it. I'm good at freelancing."

"Huh? Just so you could come to the arcade?"

"I didn't use it all here. This doesn't cost as much as you'd think."

"That's good, at least. I'd feel pretty weird about losing all my money here when game systems exist."

"Oh, yeah don't worry, I spent a good amount of that money on game systems. Of course, this game is arcade only, baby!"

"You're such a geek!" The bird chirped as they kept playing.

It wasn't long before that song was over. Kai still won, but the gap was a lot smaller than before. Kai stared at the screen before turning to Dom. "Hey...you did pretty well."

His boyfriend turned his head. "I guess I'm just naturally good at stuff like this. I don't think I beat you, though." He looked to the scores. "Oh wait, I did."

"Wh-what?" Kai did a double take. "Oh, you liar!"

"Hahaha!"

The pair did a few more songs, with Dom actually beating Kai on the last one. They exited the game and got out of their chairs, the mongoose stumbling a bit as he did so. "Urrk, ugh, I forgot how weird it is to walk after you play that game for a while."

Dom felt a little strange, but not too affected. "I bet we spent all our money on that game, huh?"

"Hellll yeah! So, did you have fun?" Kai's eyes were all but spinning as he got used to the real world.

The peafowl chuckled, stretching his arms. "I did. The music wasn't really for me but you looked like such a dork doing it, I had a good time."

Kai made a strange, uncharacteristic squeaky sound as he quickly hugged Dom by the midsection.

Dom's eyes widened and he hugged back. "Something wrong?"

"Um..." His mate looked embarrassed. "I'm happy?"

The bird tilted his head and smiled as he often did. "Well...I am, too. Though I never saw myself being into a tiny carnivore...I always pictured a big, muscly guy who would sweep me off my feet."

Kai looked up at the bird, and then moved his arms to Dom's legs and his back, hoisting him up bridal-style. His legs shook a bit, obviously struggling. "Ghk, b-birds are light! No problem!"

"Kai! We're in public!" Dom shouted. They began to wobble.

The smaller animal set him down before a catastrophe could happen. "S-so? You doubted my strength!" The mongoose showed off his bicep for emphasis.

"I never said that!"

"Hmmmmm!" Kai squinted, as if scanning his memory. His expression softened and he gave his arm a quick snap with the rubber band. "...Sorry."

"Don't be." The music of the arcade still bopped around them. "Haha, when we leave we're gonna be blinded by the light."

"Oh, yeah. Usually I bring sunglasses when I go to arcades. Guess we're just gonna squint and look funny for a few minutes."

"Guess you'll just look funnier considering you already look funny."

Kai pouted. "You must think I look at least somewhat handsome." They began to make their way out of the arcade.

"Nah, I just like dating ugly guys, clearly."

"H-hey! Quit it!"

"Hmmm?~" They got closer to the entrance.

"You gotta think I'm at least somewhat attractive, right?" Kai looked down as they waked.

"You actually care about that?" Dom blinked, turning to his head to look at him.

Kai scoffed. "Fuck no. But I want you to be happy, at least."

"I am happy, Kai."

"I hope so..." It was quiet, but not unheard by the bird's ears. Kai held a hand up over his eyes as they exited.

Dom did the same. "Blegh...And anyway, I said yes to you!"

"Mm, yeah, but didn't you just...feel sorry for me?"

"What? No? I liked you first."

"Why?"

"Because...I just really like how you stayed with us...And your personality was cute. Even though it can get out of hand sometimes."

Kai gave him a sideways glance. "And you probably saw it as a challenge. Come reign in this weird spaz, yeah?"

"No? I don't know what it really was."

"Well! ...I don't know...sorry." Kai reached down for his rubber band and pulled it, but it suddenly broke in his hand as he pulled too far, a loud snapping sound shocking both of them.

The bird jumped. "H-has that ever happened?!"

"Ugh, no! Makes sense, though, since this is the same one I've been wearing down."

"You've never changed them?"

Kai looked down at his wrist, and then slowly back up at Dom. "...No?"

"Do you ever take it off?"

"I mean, yeah! I bathe!"

He leaned in and sniffed. "Sure about that?" He winked.

Kai waggled a finger at him. "Oh ho ho, don't you start with that! You damn well can smell the soap you bought me!"

"I knooow!"

They strolled about the mall some more, allowing their eyes to get used to the brightness again. Kai whistled one of the songs they had played in Starcrusher.

"Is it working out?" Dom asked.

"The soap? Oh yeah, love the stuff! Thanks again." Kai smiled, showing his little sharp teeth.

"That's not what I meant."

Kai blanked for a moment with his mouth open before fixing his attention back on the bird. "The rubber band."

"Yeah."

"Well, I guess I find myself saying less dumb shit. Also whenever I look at the rubber band I think of you, so that's nice." Kai looked down at his bare wrist. "Well, thought."

"You don't have to get another."

"Hm? Do I just flick myself then?"

"I shouldn't be forcing you to change."

Kai's ears twitched. "Huh? Wasn't it for the better, though?"

"Is it really helping your negativity?"

"...I think? I mean since Els...y'know...but before that I think it was."

"The world we live in..." Dom sighed, loudly.

Kai reached out and grabbed one of Dom's hands. "Well...let's go kick its ass."

Dom grinned. "Let's."