Garfield bounded into the darkened interior of the arcade, pulling Raven along behind him, Victor right on their heels.
"You are very close to losing your hands," Raven snapped, yanking her hand out of his grip as he came to a stop, severing the electrical current of excitement and enthusiasm rushing into her veins.
She rubbed at her face, her heart racing, the world slowly calming back into place around her.
The mad dash through the crowds of the mall had actually helped with the sensory overload bombarding her, the emotional auras around her passing by too quickly for any of them to have a chance to affect her.
And after the crowded, brilliantly white, sunlit interior of the mall atrium, this darkened, near empty space felt like a haven.
Gar completely ignored her threat, long arms hanging limply at his sides, mouth open, gawking out at the arcade.
A kaleidoscope of colorful lights flashed at them from every direction in the dark, labyrinthine space, the black carpet splattered with little neon stars and planets, every possible surface encrusted in vibrant colors and eye-catching graphics. Discordant trills and beeps and chimes filled the air, the games all calling out in overlapping voices.
The boys both shot forward, glee palpable in the air around them, eyes racing around the room, trying to take everything in at once.
She followed grudgingly, heading towards the wide counter directly across from the entrance, trying to fix her bangs back into place across her forehead.
A very bored-looking, pimply, twenty-something-year-old guarded the counter, shelves packed with a display of brightly colored toys and random objects stretching upwards towards the ceiling on the wall behind him.
"Twenty tokens for ten dollars," he intoned listlessly, his chin propped in his hand. He scrolled absently through his phone, not even looking up at the three of them as they approached.
"Sweet," Gar said happily, leaning forward over the countertop to get a better view of the shelves. "Check out the prizes!"
Raven rolled her eyes, letting out a soft groan of annoyance.
"Oh come on," Gar pointed up excitedly at the collection of junk displayed on the wall, trying very hard not to laugh at the look on her face. "Look at those awesome stuffed animals." He waggled his eyebrows. "You know you want one."
She scowled at him, then up at the row of ridiculously oversized, plush fabric creatures sitting on the top shelf, their big plastic eyes staring innocently down at her.
"A giant chicken? Seriously? Why would you even want—"
"Really?" Gar twisted to grin at her in surprise, eyebrow raised. "I would've thought you'd go for the dragon, but if you like the chicken—"
Her frown turned into a full-on glare, making Vic chuckle softly into his hand. "Do you realize how much money you have to spend to win one of those things?" she snapped. She shot another glance up at the offending row of stuffed animals, to the neon orange plaque hanging just under the stupid two-foot tall chicken. "20,000 tickets? That's ridiculous, you'll never be able to get that many."
The arcade employee finally looked up from his phone, blinking languidly at Raven from under greasy black hair. "Hey, I don't make the rules—"
"Challenge accepted."
Garfield slapped a twenty-dollar bill down on the counter with a loud smack. His grin turned positively evil, his eyes dancing as Raven looked at him in surprise. "Before the day is out," he said threateningly, "you will have your giant chicken, Rae."
She groaned, closing her eyes, not sure if she wanted to punch him or burst out laughing. "I don't want the—"
"Nope, too late! No take backs!" Gar snatched the plastic cup filled with golden, coin-like tokens out of the employee's hand before he could even place them down on the counter, and bolted back off towards the games. "Come on!"
Vic bounded after him, leaving Raven standing at the counter, gaping after them.
The employee stared at her for a moment, eyes slightly unfocused, then went back to his phone.
She snapped her mouth closed and stomped off after the boys, winding through the haphazard rows of chirping, beeping games after the sound of their excited voices.
"Yo, they have those basketball games!" Vic called out, "Gimmie a token!"
Raven found them at the side wall, standing in front of three long, narrow lanes. Waist-high counters blocked off the fifteen feet of net covered space in front of them, the back wall of each lane covered in bright, flashing lights around a diamond-shaped arrangement of hoops of various sizes, each ring becoming progressively smaller as they neared the top.
The highest target hung nearly ten feet up off the ground, the number 100 painted in neon orange numbers in a circle behind it.
"No way you can make that," Gar scoffed, looking up at the top hoop.
He held out the cup of tokens, and Vic grabbed the required three, popping them into the slot in the game mechanism in front of him.
The lane flared to life with a blare of tinny, musical notes, the tiny lightbulbs covering the back board all lighting up for a moment in a dazzling pattern. A yellow ball rolled out from the front panel—barely small enough to fit through that top hoop.
Raven leaned against the counter of the identical game on Vic's other side, her arms crossed over her chest.
Victor narrowed his eyes up at the tiny target, lining up his shot. His left eye twitched strangely, the spell distorting around the inhuman movement of his cybernetic implant.
He threw, tossing the ball in a seemingly effortless motion, and it smacked into the inner edge of the hoop as it passed through, making the ring bounce wildly with a loud twang.
The game exploded into a triumphant cacophony of sound and color, the lights blinking like mad as the ball dropped down into the netting and rolled back into the machine, the little screen on the console in front of Vic flashing his score. The slot by his knee dinged and spat out a long string of connected orange tickets that coiled out onto the floor.
"Booyah! First try!"
The lit number on the panel at the top of the station changed from three to two, and the machine spat out another ball.
Gar scooped it up, shoving Vic out of the way with a laugh.
He stuck his tongue out, narrowing his eyes in concentration as he took aim, then jumped up, tossing the ball at that same target.
It bounced off of the back board a good foot and a half away from the hoop, and fell into the netting, rolling back into the innards of the machine.
The game let out a depressing warble, and Gar's shoulders slumped, his breath blowing out in an exaggerated exhale.
"Oh, ouch." Vic patted his back, chuckling softly. "With those kinds of skills we're gonna need a lot more tokens." He smirked, taking a step back, and tugged a small, matte black card out of his sweatshirt pocket, waggling it in the air in front of the other boy. "Good thing Boy-Wonder gave me one of his fancy-pants Wayne Enterprises credit cards."
"What?" Gar frowned at the card, the subtle, embossed 'W' on its surface shining under the lights. "Why didn't I get one?"
"Because, obviously, I'm the responsible one."
Raven rolled her eyes and Gar snorted. "Psssh, neither of us are responsible, we're trying to win a giant chicken here." He made a face and poked Raven gently in the shoulder, "He should have given it to Rae, she's the smart one."
She swatted his hand away, but he just grinned.
"Play nice," Vic said, pointing a finger warningly at Gar as he took a backwards step towards the prize counter.
"What? Me? I'm a model citizen!" Garfield turned to Raven in affront, one hand pressed to his chest.
She gave him a flat glare as Vic disappeared from view. "You're an idiot."
His grin popped back into place, stretching even wider, unrepentant. "It's one of my many charms."
She let out a soft snort of laughter, and his whole face lit up with glee. A soft wave of warmth washed against her skin.
"Here—" Gar grabbed the final of the three balls from the machine and tossed it lightly to her. "Your turn."
She caught it purely out of reflex, surprised, then narrowed her eyes at him. "How many tickets do I get for hitting you?"
"You can hit on me any time you want—kidding, kidding!" he laughed, holding his hands up quickly in surrender at the murderous look on her face. He hopped up nimbly to sit on top of the counter of the next game and jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the hoops displayed on the back wall. "See what you can get."
She let out a huff of breath, casting an annoyed glance up at the wall.
But she didn't make any move to throw. She just stood there, staring out at the game, her body tensing, shoulders slowly creeping up.
She dropped her eyes down to the ball clutched in her hands, the cheerful background chimes and beeps of the arcade fading into hollow silence, suddenly unsure of what to do with her arms, her legs—any part of her body—a sinking, empty feeling eating a hole through her chest.
Because she couldn't remember…the last time she had done something like this.
Something just…just for the fun of it.
Her whole life had been spent learning how to keep herself under meticulous control. How to keep herself still and silent and uncaring as the world moved and lived and…and felt…around her. Because anything else, any slip, was dangerous. Deadly.
She had never been allowed to just…play.
Gar leaned forward as the energy in the air suddenly changed pitch, the skin at the back of his neck prickling, hair standing on end as the shadows around them darkened. Bright hazel eyes fixed on Raven's face, the green in them much brighter without the normal verdant tone to his skin, colorful lights glinting off his golden hair.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't...I'm not…" She trailed off, her voice going very soft, and his ears strained to hear her over the jumbled sounds and music.
Her shoulders curved inwards. "I'm not good at this," she whispered.
"Good at what? Hand-eye coordination? Neither am I." He chuckled, a lighter, easy sound, pointing up to the target he had just missed.
Raven's eyes flicked up to him, filled with despair, but the strange pressure in the air lessened. "No—I mean, I don't…" She sighed, shaking her head.
"What?" he peered down at her, one eyebrow quirking up, head tilting to the side in an exceptionally cat-like motion.
"I don't know how…how to be…normal," she muttered.
Gar let out a burst of laughter, making her head snap up towards him in surprise. "And, what? You think I do?" He jumped down off of the console to stand next to her, facing the game, and waved his hand through the space between them with a bright smile. "I'm green, remember?"
He nudged her playfully in the side with his elbow.
A small spot of warmth flared to life in her chest.
Gar grinned at her, still chuckling, his eyes crinkling with mirth, and she slowly relaxed, the tension in her body falling away, her shadows melting back into the natural darkness.
She smiled softly back at him.
Then she schooled her face back into neutrality, her expression going blank, a tiny flicker of silent laughter sparkling in her eyes.
"Pointy-eared freak," she said darkly.
Gar gasped, stumbling back a step and clutching his chest as if she had hit him, his joy a glittering warmth in the air. He reached up to the tips of his ears as his smile broke through again, fingers seemingly floating in mid-air over the rounded edges formed by her spell, then pointed back at her in accusation. "Hey, you know what, chicks dig the ears!"
She rolled her eyes, trying very hard not to grin back as he burst into laughter again.
"Go on," he said encouragingly, bumping her shoulder gently with his. "Give it a try."
She faced back to the targets on the back wall.
She took a deep breath, and her eyes narrowed, her pale fingers flexing for a moment on the little ball. Then she raised it up, mimicking the motion she had seen Gar make, and tossed it up in a graceful motion at the topmost hoop, at the same target he had missed.
A flicker of black traced the ball's outline as it arced through the air, barely discernible in the dark lighting, and it passed clean through the dead-center of the ring.
The station lit up again with a flare of trumpeted notes and bright flashes, another string of tickets coiling out onto the floor.
Garfield gaped up at the tiny hoop, then back at Raven as she stooped down to collect the tickets. She turned slightly away from him, trying to hide it…but he caught a flash of the tiny, satisfied smirk on her face.
His mouth fell open.
"Did you just…cheat?" he asked in an astonished whisper.
She froze, her face going completely blank.
Slowly, she straightened back up to face him, bright orange strips of paper clutched tightly in one pale hand.
Gar studied her intently, eyes flicking back and forth between hers, trying to see past the impenetrable mask that she had locked in place.
And then an enormous grin slowly spread across his cheeks.
He let out a loud cackle of laughter, throwing his head back towards the ceiling, sharp canines on full display, and a pulse of pure, electrified excitement shot off of his skin.
The space around him exploded with effervescent warmth, the gold in his eyes glinting mischievously as he grinned back down at her.
"Oh, this is going to be fucking awesome!" he hissed.
Violet eyes flashed, her lips twitching, and the blank expression on her face cracked. The corners of her mouth twisted up into a tiny, wicked smile.
It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life.
Gar leaned in towards her, still grinning like an idiot, entranced, and for the first time, she didn't shy away. She felt herself almost leaning in, drawn in like a moth to flame, the warmth and light radiating off of him intoxicating as it tingled against her skin.
His eyes flicked over her shoulder, and his grin sharpened.
"Play along," he muttered out of the corner of his mouth.
"Wha—"
"What's so funny?" Vic boomed, marching back over to their corner of the arcade, a cup full of tokens clinking in his huge hand. His eyes narrowed on the two of them in suspicion.
Raven quickly stepped to the side to put some space between her and Gar. She tucked her hair behind her ears, needing to do something with her hands, the effect of his aura tingling against her skin.
"Oh, we got a lucky shot." Gar drawled.
He slouched casually back against the waist high counter of the game, his wild grin vanishing behind an easy smirk, and reached out to flick the tickets sticking out of Raven's hand. Vic blinked in surprise.
"Sooo…" Gar continued in that same care-free tone, "how would you feel about a little competition?"
Raven shot a look at him, and he turned his head slightly towards her—hiding the side of his face from Vic—and winked.
"You wanna compete against me, pipsqueak?" Victor scoffed, crossing his arms.
Gar shrugged, his usual, cheerful smile fixed firmly back in place. The picture of playful nonchalance. "Sure, why not? It'll make this more fun."
"And what do I get when I win?"
"Hmm…" Gar pursed his lips, thinking. "Loser does dishes for a week."
"Oh dude, you are so on."
"But—" Gar held out a finger, stopping Vic as he jumped forward to put his tokens into the other game— "I get Raven on my team."
"No way! That's not fair—"
"Oh come on, it's more than fair, Mr. varsity sports teams!" Gar rolled his eyes, making air quotes at the title, then grinned like a shark. "What, don't think you can beat us?"
Vic's eyes narrowed again, his gaze jumping back and forth between Gar and Raven. Trying to tell if he was being played.
She just raised her eyebrows slightly, trying to look as bored as possible, not giving anything away.
Vic bought it.
His face contorted back into that confident smirk, thick arms crossing over his chest. "Oh, I know I can," he crooned. "First to 10,000 wins."
"Deal!" Gar scooped up the cup of his tokens and jammed another round of the gold coins into their game while Vic did the same on her other side.
Both stations lit up, loud chimes overlapping each other, the first balls rolling out of the machines.
Vic scooped his up and tossed it easily, making the shot through the top-most hoop. The machine let out its victorious trill of notes, the little light bulbs around the hoop flashing, tickets curling out onto the floor.
"Ha! Beat that Green-Bean!" Vic looked over at the two of them smugly, already reaching for the next ball.
Gar rolled his eyes and reached out to grab the ball out of their game. He took a step closer to Raven, plucking the tickets she had won out of her grip, and pressed the ball into her hands, his thousand-watt smile never dimming.
He arched a dark blond eyebrow playfully, hazel eyes twinkling.
"Care to kick some shiny metal ass?" he whispered.
She laughed. Just a small, dark chuckle, but the sound rang through the air like a bell.
Gar's ears perked up, his smile somehow brightening further.
She pointed to the third game in the row, "you take that one."
"Yes ma'am!" Garfield snapped a sharp salute, his face pulled into a serious frown for half a second, then furiously started shoving tokens into the console next to hers.
Raven lobbed the ball underhanded through the air at her target on the middle lane, barely even looking at the back wall.
It sailed in a perfect arc and dropped through the tiny top hoop again without touching.
Gar grabbed the ball from his game and pulled his arm back to throw, his eyes narrowed in concentration, tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth. He jumped, tossing it up, aiming for one of the lower scoring, larger hoops instead, but the ball changed course mid-air, arcing higher, the sphere encased in flickering darkness, and fell through the top ring in another perfect shot.
Gar threw his hands up in the air with a whoop of triumph, spinning to face Raven.
Vic gaped up at their games, his mouth hanging open. Then he looked back at the two of them—at Gar—murder in his eyes.
"You little shit."
Garfield burst into laughter, doubling over and clutching his stomach.
"And you!" Vic pointed an accusatory finger at Raven, then smacked his hand dramatically over his heart, the thunk of metal on metal muffled by the fabric of his sweatshirt. "Raven, how could you?"
She snorted, unable to stop herself, the euphoria sparkling through the air around her making her almost giddy. Her eyes narrowed, and she reached up to tap at the corner of her eye, staring him down, smiling wickedly. "Like you don't have a guidance system built in."
Garfield gasped, dragging himself out of his fit of laughter. He pointed back at Victor, face contorted in accusation. "Oooh, you tried to cheat us first! You're going down Chrome-Dome!"
Vic scowled at both of them. "You never said anything about which games we had to play, and I can kick your scrawny green ass up and down this arcade on those video games."
"In your dreams!"
Vic tossed the second ball from his game, making the shot again easily, and pointed up to the hidden cybernetic half of his face with a nasty smirk as the game exploded with light and sound again. "My processing speed is way faster than those crappy systems, you won't even know what hit you."
"Yes, but I have a secret weapon—"
Victor threw his hands up. "What happened to model citizen? I leave you alone for five minutes and you convince Raven to cheat for you! You evil little gremlin—"
"Nah-ah, I didn't do anything!" he chirped back gleefully. "Raven cheated all on her own!"
Gar beamed at her, then threw his next ball with a flourish, his face lit up with anticipation.
The ball smacked into the back board without touching any of the hoops.
"Hey!" he pouted at Raven in disappointment.
She put her hands on her hips, glaring at him.
Vic pursed his lips, trying desperately not to laugh. "Think we could throw him through one of the hoops?" he asked her darkly.
"We can try."
Shadows flickered at Garfield's feet, crawling up over his shoes with little zaps of energy, and he yelped, jumping backwards.
Vic let out a bellow of laughter, leaning forward to brace his hands over his knees. He shook his head as he struggled to catch his breath, looking up to give Raven a contemplative once over.
"Damn girl, I wouldn't want to play poker against you, that's for sure."
"Dude!" Gar's mouth dropped open, pointing at Victor and then at Raven, "YES! You have the best fucking poker face I've ever seen—" He rubbed his hands together, his grin turning positively feral. "We'll take Robbie for everything he's got—"
Victor's next ball bounced off his head.
Raven groaned, rubbing her hands over her face to smother her smile, and Gar laughed, chucking the ball back at Victor, who snatched it out of the air easily and tossed it at the targets on the back wall, scoring another hundred tickets.
A sudden, sharp ringing pierced through their laughter.
Raven looked down in surprise, the noise emanating from the front pocket of her hoodie, momentarily forgetting about the phone Dick had given her.
She pulled it out and stared blankly down at Dick's name displayed on the lit screen, holding it awkwardly in her hands like she had no idea what to do with it.
Vic plucked the phone out of her fingers with a chuckle as it continued to ring. "Raven's phone," he answered sweetly.
She snatched it back from him, fighting the embarrassment that threatened to burn across her cheeks. "What?" she snapped into the phone.
"Raven?" Dick asked desperately. "Star—wait!" he yelped. "Shit—you have to help me!" Dick's voice pitched higher, becoming almost panicked on the other end.
"What's going on—"
"She found a—a lingerie store! I can't go in there!" he hissed.
Raven just blinked, her eyes going wide.
