Two Extra Eyes
Chapter Ten
Arcades, Clowns, and Dolls
With the evil Izzy disposed of (for the moment anyway), Sam and Lars were free to enter Dream Park. They walked past several rides, the majority of which had huge lines full of sweaty and extremely thirsty people waiting to get on. The duo envied those that were on the fast rides like the roller coaster and Sky Torpedo. Those lucky people were able to get a major blast of air, which had to of cooled them greatly, even if it was hot air that was blowing in their faces. They would've given anything to be on those rides right now. Even Sam who normally hated fast rides wanted to get on the Sky Torpedo again, just to experience that refreshing breeze. But alas, they had more important business to attend to. Besides, there was no way they would've survived long enough in those immense lines.
Finally losing the light cooling effect of their ice cream, they reached the arcade, which (in Lars' opinion) was stupidly placed at the far end of the pier. They walked inside the main entrance, which was a pair of sliding doors. As soon as they were inside, they felt a cool, relaxing breeze wrap around them like a soft blanket. They smiled as they took in a deep breath. They exhaled in the form of a satisfied sigh. Then they faced each other.
"So what do we play first?" Lars asked.
"We'll play some video games to test your hand-eye coordination." The blond replied, walking forward. The brunet followed. "Then we'll take it from there." He looked back and smirked as he added, "I hope you brought plenty of quarters with you."
Lars stopped and gaped after the snickering boy.
'Please don't tell me I fell in love with a gold digger…' He thought, slumping after Sam.
And so the games began. Sam decided to test out Lars' coordination with a simple game. So they started off by playing Pac-man. The brunet didn't seem to have too much trouble playing. That may have been due to the fact that he only needed to hold the joystick to play. Sam was impressed at his crush's ability. Lars made it to the fifth level before finally getting a game over. The blond would normally only make it to the third level before losing. As they played a few more rounds, he vaguely wondered if his companion was really a beginner.
After blowing a good three dollars on the old school classic, Sam decided to step it up a notch by challenging his love to a little fighting game known as Street Fighter. Lars had a little trouble here. It was extremely hard to concentrate on the action onscreen while trying to figure out how to fight. Sam on the other hand, had no trouble executing punishing combo attacks and special moves. In one particular match, he spent the whole time making his character, Blanka (a green monster with red hair) zap Lars' character, Ken (a karate expert) with electricity. In short, poor Lars got schooled big time.
But eventually, he became used to how the machines worked. By the time they got to the third game, Marvel vs. Capcom (another fighting game), he was able to finally damage Sam. Hey, you try playing against someone like Sam! Anyway, after a couple of rounds in which he was trounced badly, Lars finally came back and crushed the blond's character, Spider-man with his fighter, Megaman. The blond gaped in disbelief as he watched the Blue Bomber pull off a massive combo attack that left the arachnid with just a sliver of energy. It only took a little love tap from the robot to fell the web slinger.
After several more successful bouts, Lars was feeling like he was on top of the world. Like Otto, he absolutely loved winning. The rush of adrenaline he got from destroying someone in a competition was empowering. Only one thing could make him feel better than he did right now! And he was standing right next to him. As they walked over to play some air hockey, he glanced at Sam and smiled. This boy meant the world to him and as he discovered yesterday, the feeling was mutual. He couldn't wait until the end of the day. He needed to get this off his chest as soon as possible.
They reached the air hockey tables and found a free one. After inserting a couple of quarters, they grabbed their paddles and started the game. As the brunet knew from playing so many street hockey games against the blond, Sam was no pushover when it came to protecting the goal. Whether it was street, ice, or air, he was a regular phenom. He was quick to block Lars' moves and even countered with some of his own. But the boy in the gray hat wasn't about to lose in a version of one of his favorite sports!
Both boys fought hard and long into the day, cleverly using their talents to their advantage. Sam's expert goalie skills defended him for the most part and even deflected a few shots right into Lars' goal! Lars' aggressive strategies were sometimes too much for Sam to handle. And a little cheating never hurt either. He mainly used the oldest trick in the book; telling him his shoelaces were untied. He also told the younger boy some person was giving out free soda, to which he almost always looked away. The brunet had a smug look on his face as his tactics won him victory after victory ('Heh, I may love him, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna cheat!').
Of course, it wasn't just Lars' tricks that were getting the best of Sam. Being across from the boy of his dreams and staring into his red eyes while Lars (occasionally) looked into his blue ones was simply mesmerizing. Like in the hockey game on that faithful day, Sam lost many points just because he couldn't keep his eyes off the brunet. Naturally, he would get back in the game when Lars, smirking mischievously the whole time, caught his attention by snapping his fingers after scoring several goals against him. The blond would play aggressively just to get back the points he lost, only to zone out again.
Once they finished playing a good twenty or so games (most of which Lars won), the pair walked around trying to find some other game to play. They passed lots of interesting, but crowded games. It seemed that most of the people they saw outside finally got the right idea and took shelter from the horrid sun. There didn't seem to be a single thing to play. They were about to head outside to battle the heat when they passed the prize exchange counter. Sam took one look at it and stopped dead in his tracks. Lars, watching some person play a 3D shooter, bumped into the blond.
"Ooof!" The brunet yelped, staggering backwards. "Hey! Why'd ya stop!.?"
"That…" Sam replied in a distant voice full of awe. He pointed towards the counter. Lars looked and raised an eyebrow.
On top of the shelf behind the counter was a huge doll that was shaped like Bowser from the Mario Bros. games. The fearsome plushy was at least as big as a small child. In its mouth was a piece of plastic shaped like a fireball. Presumably it was some sort of missile that can be launched. The brunet looked a little bit below and saw a sign that read, "100 Tickets." He looked at the drooling boy and held his chin.
"Hmmm…" He snapped his fingers. "Hey Sammy."
Sam shook his head and turned to Lars. "Yeah?"
"How about I try to win that thing for ya?"
The shorter boy's eyes brightened at that, but then he looked away. "Oh you don't have to do that…"
"Well too bad! I'm gonna do it anyway! Tchahahahahaha!.!.!" He laughed as he gave Sam a thumbs-up. He then looked around the arcade. Sam blinked and followed his gaze. A couple of minutes passed before the brunet found what he was looking for.
A little brown haired kid walking around with a paper bag full of tickets. He was wearing a yellow tank top, white shorts, and a blue baseball cap. He looked to be at least as tall as Lars' waist.
The brunet in the grey hat snickered evilly. "Jackpot."
"Huh?" The blond followed his line of vision and found his intended target. "Lars! You wouldn't!" He said with a gasp. The older teen could only grin in response.
"Oh yeah? Watch me."
With that, he walked over to the kid and, without warning, grabbed his arm and dragged him around a corner. Naturally, the boy tried to resist, but Lars, being much older and stronger, had no trouble carrying out his plan. Not even thirty seconds passed before loud crying was heard. Lars walked back to Sam, holding the bag full of tickets with an evil laugh. Sam however was not amused. He gave the taller boy a reproachful look as he crossed his arms. The brunet blinked in confusion.
"What?.?.?"
"You stole them from that kid."
"I didn't steal them." Lars defended. "I just borrowed them without asking."
Sam tapped his foot impatiently, causing the other boy to groan.
"Oh c'mon!" He opened up the bag and pulled out a wad of tickets. "There's way more than a hundred in here! He's not gonna miss 'em. We'll exchange them for the doll then give back the rest of them. Whaddya say?"
The shorter boy thought this over for a few moments before nodding.
"Alright, Lars." He said with a sigh. The brunet pumped his fist. "But you have to win at least one ticket fair and square."
"…" Lars shrugged. "Eh, fine. No prob."
With that, they walked towards a row of Skee-Ball machines. After locating the closest one, the boys stood in front of it and prepared to play. As soon as Lars put in his quarter, several small, but hard and heavy balls came rushing into the pocket on the right rim. He looked back to wink at Sam, who still seemed a little angry about his stunt. Gulping and hoping that the Bowser doll would make up for it, he turned and grabbed his first ball. He took a deep breath and sized up his target, the center hole at the end of the lane. He focused on only the hole. He wanted to get the best score possible to impress Sam. The only immediate way to do that was to win him that doll, and he intended to do just that in the most stylish way possible.
He brought the ball back and prepared to throw it…
°CHOMP!°
"YEOWCH!.!.!" Lars yelped, accidentally pitching the ball towards the holes. He snapped his head downwards to see the cause of his pain.
The little boy he snagged the tickets from was biting down hard on his leg! Lars glared at him.
"Hey! Get off!"
The boy looked up and released the teen's leg. He then fixed him with a glare of his own.
"You big bully! Gimme back my tickets!"
The ball sailed through the air.
"Ugh… I probably need to go see a doctor for this…" Lars remarked, looking at his hurt leg dismally.
"Hey! Didn't ya hear me!.?.!" The kid shouted, kicking him right where he bit him.
"OW!.!.!" The bespectacled brunet held his leg and hopped up and down to soothe the pain.
The ball rebounded off the hundred point hole's rim and headed straight for Lars' head.
"Lars, you'd better give him back his tickets…" Sam tried.
"No way! I stole these fair and square and I'm gonna—"
°WHAM!.!.!°
The next thing Lars saw was stars, lots and lots of stars, and the occasional sight of Sam a la carte before everything went dark.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Lars… Lars!" A heavenly voice echoed in the depths of the brunet's mind.
All that Lars saw though was darkness. It was pitch black all around him.
"Lars! Please wake up!" The voice was heard again.
Who did it belong to and why was it so loud? That was when he realized who it was.
'S-S-Sam…? Where are you?'
A low groan was heard. A gasp followed shortly after.
"C'mon… Get up…" Sam's voice pleaded.
'Get up…? Am I in a coma or something…?'
Far off in the distance, Lars saw a light. It was far and faint, but it was the newest and only thing that wasn't darkness, so he reached out for the light. It got somewhat bigger, but it was still a small glimmer. But as he got closer and closer to his goal, the light became brighter and brighter until it was as luminous as the sun itself. Speaking of which…
"GAH!.!.! My eyes!.!.! They burn!.!.!" He cried as soon as he opened his eyes.
"Lars!.!.! You're awake!.!.!" Sam cheered, hugging the taller boy, who was currently holding his eyes with one hand while the other gripped his glasses.
It took Lars a good few minutes to recover. As his eyes finally adjusted to the bright light of the outside world, he noticed how hot it suddenly got. It wasn't just because of the extreme heat outside but the fact that Sam was holding him. While he liked being held by the boy, now wasn't a good time! He also noticed that he was pretty wet, not just from his and Sam's sweat, but because drops of water kept falling on his shoulder. He was trying to figure out where those drops were coming from when he heard a sniffle coming from the blond.
They were tears.
'He's crying?' Lars questioned. 'What for?'
He grabbed Sam's shoulders and pushed him away from him. The younger one had a relieved smile on his face. His cheeks were red as were his puffy eyes. Tears were falling down his face. The brunet's eyes widened. Sam really was concerned about his safety. But what happened in the first place, and where was he anyway?
Well, he wasn't going to get any answers with the blond's waterworks. Blushing a bit, he held up a finger to Sam's eyes and wiped away his tears. Shocked at the action, the other boy stayed still until his face was dried. After wiping his hands on his already moist shirt, Lars smiled warmly at him.
"Feeling better?"
Sam nodded. "I should be asking you that." He said with a light chuckle.
"Eh, I'm fine, except that I'm burning again."
"Well it's starting to get cool anyway. It's close to sunset."
Lars raised an eyebrow. "Sunset?" Sam nodded again. "I was out that long? What happened? Where am I?"
"In this order. Yes, you got hit by that skee-ball while that kid whomped you—"
"Whomped me? You must be joking!" The brunet crossed his arms indignantly. "I coulda bashed that punk ten times before he hit the floor!"
"Yeah right." Sam countered, sticking out his tongue. Lars glowered before dropping the subject.
"Ok, that's two questions down. Where am I?"
"You're in the first aid tent."
Lars looked around himself. He was in a yellow medium-sized circus tent. All around him were charts and graphs. Some of them depicted clowns lying in a hospital bed with frowns on their faces while clowns dressed up as doctors tended to them. Others had teddy bears on them. Supposedly, they were used to calm down little kids who fell and hurt themselves. There were also shelves full of medicine, bandages, and other assorted medical supplies. He looked up and shielded his eyes from the sun, which was shining in through a skylight. Finally, he looked down and saw that he was lying in a bed. He quickly pulled up the covers and saw that he was still in his clothes.
He sighed with relief as he dropped them and felt his head. He wasn't wearing his hat, but his forehead was wrapped with gauze. He felt around, but cringed in pain when he touched the side of his head, where the ball must've struck him. He looked around for his hat, but to no avail. It seemed that it was lost. Growling, the brunet clenched his fists.
"Ooooh! When I get my hands on that little dork—!"
He was cut off when he heard snickering. He snapped his head towards Sam, who was holding his mouth.
"What're you laughing about Squid?.! That stupid shoobie stole my hat!"
The blond finally lost it. He busted out laughing at the other teen. Lars gave him a weirded out look.
"Uhhh… Yah…"
"He didn't take your hat!" Sam finally managed to get out.
The brunet blinked. "Then who did?"
"I did! Hahahahahaha!.!.!"
Sam launched into another giggling fit as he pulled out the gray beanie. Lars immediately snatched it, dusted it off, and put it on. He then glared at him.
"What's the big idea, Squid!.?.!" He shouted, crossing his arms.
"Aw I'm sorry." The younger teen said, recovering. "I didn't think you'd get so upset."
"Well yeah… I've had this thing since I was a baby." Lars explained. "It's precious."
"Oops… I didn't know…" Sam looked down. "I wouldn't have done that if I knew how much it meant to you…"
"Forget about it. At least nobody walked off with it."
"But still, I shouldn't have taken it from you. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you, let me know."
"Hmmm…" Lars held his chin as he thought of something the blond could do for him. He snapped his fingers and put on a devilish smirk. "Ok Sammy, here's what I want you to do."
"W-w-what…?" Sam gulped and shuddered. Clearly he was afraid that his crush would make him do something regrettable.
"Tell me how I looked."
"…" The shorter boy stopped shaking and raised an eyebrow. "What?"
Lars crossed his arms again. "Did I stutter? If ya took off my hat while I was knocked out, I wanna know how I looked without it on."
"Oh…" Sam blushed and looked away. "You looked handsome without your hat on. Your hair is so long and gorgeous. It was like you were a god and I was just your lowly servant. I felt like I could do anything for you, just for you and nobody else. You looked hot and sexy a-a-and…"
"Ok, ok! I get it!" Lars stopped him. His face was bright red after hearing all that. He held his nose for fear that he'd lose a lot of blood if he didn't. He knew Sam loved him, but that?.?.? He shook his head and cleared his throat to get rid of the blush. Sam then faced him.
"So why?"
The brunet gave him a questioning look. "Why what?"
"Why do you keep your hat on all the time? I mean…" He blushed again. "You know…"
"Oh." Lars shrugged. "That's exactly the reason. One time a couple of years back, my mom took my hat to get it washed, so I had to go to school without it. Long story short, by the end of the day, I was chased all over Ocean Shores by every freaking girl in town!" He shuddered at the memory.
"Ouch…" Sam cringed. "All because of your hair?"
The taller boy nodded. "Girls are crazy. Remember that and beware."
The shorter one chuckled. "Heh, will do."
"So when am I getting out of here?"
"Oh! That's right! I forgot!" Sam got up off the bed and walked towards another section of the tent. Lars followed his movements. "I was supposed to call the nurse over as soon as you woke up."
"And you forgot this why?"
Sam looked back. "Well, I was with you the whole time." He winked before leaving to get the nurse. Lars blinked and felt his face go red at that comment. He then sat up and punched his pillow in frustration.
'God! This day can't end any faster, can it!.?.! I wanna tell him everything and NOW!.!.!' He roared inwardly. 'Please let the day already!' He sighed and leaned back against the headboard of the bed.
Soon, Sam returned with the nurse, who was a clown. She looked Lars over and did a couple of tests such as asking questions to test his short and long term memory, hit his knee to test his reflexes, and stick a bright light in his eyes among other things. When it was all done, he was free to go.
Wondering who in the world ran the amusement park, Lars walked out of the tent with Sam. They noticed that the part of the sky over the hill was darkening for sunset, but it was still rather early due to the fact that it was still bright where they were. It also got considerably cooler since this morning just like Sam said. It was still humid of course, but there was a gentle breeze blowing. There were less people in the park now, so the lines became much smaller.
"So what do we do now?" The brunet asked.
"Well, you seem to be alright with your coordination so I guess we can have some fun now." Sam replied.
"Great! I'm in the mood for some high speed!" Lars started running towards the end of the pier. "Last one on the Sky Torpedo's a lame-o! Pahahahahaha!.!.!"
"Oy… Me and my big mouth…" The blond groaned, slapping his head. He ran after the other teen. "Lars! Wait up!"
So they spent the next couple of hours on the rides. Since the waiting times were actually bearable, they had no problems waiting to go at extreme speeds. Although they were sweaty, they were actually having a good time. They joked around in the lines and reminisced about how dumb Otto and Twister looked when they messed up a trick or did something really stupid. Their laughter was so loud that the other people in the lines complained and told them to quiet down, to which Lars threatened them with bodily harm. Thankfully, the people backed off, allowing the boys to go back to laughing.
When they finally got on rides, it was amazing. If they thought the people they envied earlier got cool winds blown at their faces, it was a downright gale for them! The high velocity combined with the cooling temperatures and sweat on their faces provided a great fan for them. They were having a blast. Surprisingly, Sam seemed to actually be enjoying himself. He thought he'd be screaming in fear while he was tossed around like a rag doll, but instead, he was laughing and screaming to go faster. He wasn't sure what it was, but he was sure Lars holding his hand had something to do with it. It was amazing how much Lars' hand could make him feel better. Sam had to giggle at the implications caused by that thought. When they got off their latest ride, the roller coaster, Lars gave him a strange look and asked what was so funny. Snickering, the blond told him nothing and moved on.
Soon, the sun started to disappear over the horizon, signaling the approach of night. As they got off the Gnarly Sea Monster ride, they noticed some stars appear in the sky. They both looked at each other with a mixture of excitement, nervousness, and love. They'd have to leave to go to Sam's house, where they both planned to tell each other the truth. They gulped at the thought and considered backing off, but they remembered what they said earlier today. They were going to do it.
"So…" Sam broke the silence. "Guess it's time to go home, huh?"
"Yeah…" Lars nodded.
"Erm… Did you still want to come over to my house?"
"Of course!" The brunet shouted confidently. "I've been burning all day! I gotta cool off!"
The blond grinned at him. "Ok! Maybe you can stay over for dinner too!"
"Heh, I'd love that." The taller one agreed with a nod. Sam blushed and turned away as they walked towards the park's exit.
They were almost out of the park when Lars looked to his left and grinned. There was a strength tester game nearby. It was a giant piece of wood that was at least fifty feet high. At the top was a bell while at the bottom was a seesaw that had a small weight on the side that the plank was on. A huge mallet was lying nearby as well as a big rack of assorted toys, one of them being the Bowser plushy he was trying to get for Sam earlier. He clenched a fist at his second chance and stopped the blond.
"Huh? What's up, Lars?"
"C'mon!" The older boy shouted, pulling Sam along. "I wanna play this one game before we leave!"
"Woah!"
Lars dragged him over to the strength tester and pulled out a couple of dollars.
"Yo!" He said to the man running the game. "I'll give it a shot!"
"Heh, whatever ya say, chief." The man said, smirking as he took Lars' money. "If you think you can handle it, that is."
The teen eyed him suspiciously. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, for someone with your…condition, it's not gonna be easy to win."
Lars glowered at him. "Condition? Hmph! Ya better watch it." He warned.
"Or what?" The man snickered. "You're just a nerd! There's no way you're gonna hit that bell! Hahahahahaha!.!.!"
Sam blinked and stepped back as Lars growled and gritted his teeth. He tightened his fists and was about to strike when he stopped and put an evil smirk on his face.
"Ya wanna bet on that?"
The game operator stopped laughing long enough to give the boy a smug look. "Ok, four eyes! How much do ya wanna bet?"
"Two hundred bucks and one of those dolls say I hit that bell. How about it?"
"Ha! Ya got a deal sucker! Hahahaha!.!.!" The operator laughed, shaking Lars' hand.
"Lars, what're you doing!.?.!" Sam cried out. "We don't have—!.!.!"
"Relax, Sammy." His crush waved a dismissive hand. "I got it taken care of. Just watch." He winked as he walked over and grabbed the mallet.
With a grunt, he picked up the heavy hammer. Smirking mischievously, he decided to play around and pretend to struggle against the weight. As expected, the operator and passersby laughed at him. Sam had a look of fear on his face. He was about to run over to help when Lars faced him and winked at him again. His eyes brightened when he realized what was going on and relaxed. Still faking it, Lars hoped over to the tester and stopped.
"Hurggggggghhhhhh!.!.!" He grunted as he lifted the mallet above his head. "HIYAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!.!.!" He delivered a great roar as he unleashed all of his energy into his swing. The hammer crashed into the launcher sending the weight up the plank at lightning speed. It kept going and going until…
°CLANG!.!.!°
The force of the crash caused the weight to actually get stuck in the bell! Lars leaned against the mallet with a teasing grin on his face. Everybody that was watching gaped in utter disbelief. Their jaws actually hit the ground at the spectacle of strength. He walked over to the prize rack and snatched the huge life sized doll Sam wanted.
"Here ya go, Sammy." He said as he presented it to a still shocked Sam. "This is the doll ya wanted, right? I got it fair and square."
"Y-y-yeah… I can see that…" The blond stuttered, taking the doll. "Th-th-thanks…"
"No prob. It's the least I can do." Lars said, turning away with a blush. When it went away, he stomped over to the operator, who was still in shock. "Alright! I won the stupid game! Now pay up!"
"H-h-h-h-here…" The man pulled out his wallet. "T-t-t-t-take it…"
"Hmph! Thanks." Lars snatched the wallet and put it in his pocket as he walked over to Sam. "C'mon Sammy, let's go."
With that, he took the amazed blond's hand and started towards the cul-de-sac.