A/N: Hello! Yes, I came back fast with a new story! As I said, I have a few finished stories that just need editing. This time, I'm tackling a new pair, Minty and Swizzle! Inspired by TheBlueJetpack's Extreme Hearts (check it out!), I decided to do my own take on the pair. Please enjoy!

Chapter 1

Somewhere not too far from the racetrack, a medium-sized bright green house stood in the middle of many tall green candy apple trees. The house was shaped similarly to a twisted candy wrapper. Its body was a square, but the left and right edges were curved outwards. At each side were two pastel green extensions of the house that mimicked the twisted ends of a candy wrapper. The left twist was a garage, home to the Veloci-Wrapper, while the purpose of the right side was unknown. The roof was an orange-yellow color and sat flatly on top of the house.

There were two circular yellow-framed windows; one on the left, and another on the right, which also had a mini balcony. Through this window was the mint racer's room. The girl herself laid down on her stomach on her large circular green bed. Right next to it was a small bedside drawer holding a dim yellow cylindrical lamp. There was a dresser and closet on this side as well, matching the color of the fully green room. On the right corner was a mini seating area with two single light green sofas, and yellow and orange pillows resting on them. The bright green color of the room with yellow accents brought about an uplifting and content vibe, quite the opposite of that of the green-haired girl.

Minty's face was lying down on a yellow pillow for a while now. Unfortunately, she did not make it in the top nine in the Random Roster Race yesterday, making her unqualified to play today with the players. The girl loved racing with all her heart, and not being able to race was killing her on the inside.

She let out a frustrated sigh into the pillow. Minty was not the kind to cry over these things, but rather get irritated and angry. Sometimes when she didn't win a race, she would go into a rage fit due to her short temper. This especially happened when she lost due to an opponent's power-up or a careless mistake on her end.

Turning onto her back, the racer stared upwards. Zig-zag patterns decorated the ceiling, serving as a reminder of her zig-zag racing technique she would use when the road became cluttered with other racers. Using it would help her find a way out of the cluster and into the open track. It's a trick she loved doing, and it never failed her yet.

The happy memory should have brought her joy, but it only got her more upset since, again, she couldn't race today. Minty covered her face with her hands and let out a loud groan. Of course, there were other days she would be able to race, but she still hated missing them.

Suddenly, banging came from her front door, startling her.

"MINTYY!" a loud male voice called.

She knew that voice from anywhere. The green-haired girl groaned again, this time because of the owner of the voice. She took the pillow from underneath her head and placed it on her face, hoping the person would go away if she stayed quiet.

"MIN-TYY!"

That didn't work.

"I know you're home! I can see your kart in your garage!" the boy continued to yell.

Fudge. Thought the young racer. She regretted not closing it yesterday.

Minty got up and marched towards the balcony, having an angry expression on her face. She looked down, already knowing who it was at her front door.

"What do you want Swizz?!" she yelled back at him.

The racer looked up to see his friend and smiled. "Can I come in?" he asked in a softer voice but loud enough for her to hear.

Minty got more angry. "What? Why?" she asked.

"Pleaseee?" he begged her.

When the female racer looked at the boy carefully, he was holding a plain blue box. She wondered what he was planning. Why out of all the days he would come today when she was not in the mood to see anyone?

"Can you please leave me alone?" she pleaded, not having the energy to query about the item he had. "I don't want to see anyone right now."

"Except me?" Swizzle asked with a smirk.

Minty didn't expect that answer. Her dumbfounded expression caused a mischievous smile to appear on the green-haired boy.

The mint racer shook her head. "It includes you," she replied. "Especially you!" she pointed a finger at him.

"Mints c'mon, please!" he pleaded again. "I'll literally scream if you don't let me in!" he began to pout.

"You wouldn't dare," Minty watched him sternly. It was like a mother warning a child not to throw a tantrum in public. Though no one else was nearby, she knew Swizzle could be loud.

It looked as if he was preparing to scream. Clearing his throat was enough to make the girl give in.

"Alright fine!" she said, disappearing back into her room.

Swizzle smiled to himself at his victory. He usually won against Minty in situations like these. The male racer always tried hard to get what he wanted and never took no for an answer; unless it was the president, of course. But he would still try to get his way if he could.

Footsteps were heard coming down the stairs in the house. The sound of the door unlocking led to the reveal of an irritated mint racer, with a hand on her hip. "You're really annoying you know that?"

"I try," he said confidently while walking in, causing the girl to step aside. Swizzle was the kind of boy who wouldn't wait for an invitation to do anything, nor really ask for permission. If he wanted to do something, he did it without hesitation. He was just like that when they first became friends. Unlike others who would bond for a little while before establishing a friendship, Swizzle just straight up walked up to Minty and acted like they were already friends. Instead of asking if she would like to hang out with him, he would literally announce where they were going and pull her along without hearing an answer. Back then she hated it when he did that, but they did have some really fun times together. She got used to his personality now, so it didn't bother her as much as before. But now was a bad time for him to be doing something like this.

Swizzle walked into the living room and placed the box on the green hard candy coffee table. It stood on a large circular green mat with yellow swirl patterns. Just like the bedroom, other parts of the interior were green. The living room contained two single sofas at the side and a double sofa in the middle behind the coffee table. Facing the couch set was a medium-sized TV, which sat on another table against the wall.

The 'intruder' (as Minty would currently call him) glanced over at his friend who angrily had her arms folded while staring him down.

"What?" He asked, but already knew why she was pissed.

"What do you mean 'what'?" Minty asked with more rage in her tone. "Don't act like you didn't do anything wrong."

Swizzle gasped dramatically, placing a hand on his chest. "You're accusing me?" he asked pretending to be shocked and hurt. "Of what? I'm an innocent man."

"Don't be like that!" the female racer shouted, walking up to him. "What do you want from me anyway?"

The boy turned his attention to the box and opened the lid. But before Minty could have peaked inside, she was handed a white game controller.

Minty looked at the item confusingly. "What is this?" she asked gesturing to it.

"This...is a controller," he told her slowly while holding another of the same item in his hand. "...and we use it for video ga-"

"I know what it is!" Minty replied angrily. "I mean what are we gonna play?" she then rested the game controller on the table. "I'm not even in the mood to play video games right now Swizz," her expression started getting softer and sadder.

Swizzle picked up on this. He knew she was upset about not racing today. But he also knew that deep down, she was really depressed too. That's why he was here. He didn't like his friend being sad. So, after the arcade closed, he brought something to distract her.

He took up the black gaming console box and placed it on the table with the TV. He plugged in the necessary cords and came back to sit on the couch. Next, he took Minty's hand and gently pulled her down to have a seat, which surprised her. Handing her the controller again, he spoke calmly, "At least give it a try. It's a fighting game. Your favorite."

Minty looked at it, but she still refused. " I don't know," she said looking away sadly.

The girl rarely showed sadness to anyone, but there were times she would to Swizzle. The first time she did it was against her will. She was feeling down one day and hid it from the male racer. But for some reason, Swizzle knew something was wrong with Minty. Instead of just letting it go, hoping she would feel better, he literally pestered her to tell him what was wrong, which made her reveal her emotions to him. She guessed the boy wasn't going to move on unless she was okay. He always did that; tried to make her happy. And she didn't know why. It wasn't like he was going to get something out of it. So why did he still try so hard to make her feel better?

Swizzle then spoke up, snapping the girl out of her thoughts. "It's alright," he said putting her controller back in the box. However, he still turned on the game, which showed the title screen on the TV: Sweet Fighter 6. "I understand if you're afraid of losing."

Minty quickly looked at him surprised, which Swizzle knew she would. "What?!" She exclaimed. "That's not true!"

"No, no, Mints. I get it," he told her, clicking the two-player option on the screen which she didn't notice. "It's obvious that I'm gonna beat you anyway, so why bother?" His tone was very relaxed and casual, as he began to choose his fighting avatar.

Minty's face turned red with anger. "I'm not gonna lose!" she said and looked at the controller. "Gimme that."

Swizzle handed it over to her. He knew her well like a player knowing all the shortcuts and cheat codes of a game. He was probably the only racer who fully knew how Minty worked.

The boy smiled to himself as he saw the girl clearly looking distracted from her sorrows. That was what he wanted to see.

"You're so going down!" she told him being pumped up for the game as she chose her avatar.

"We'll see about that," he replied with the same attitude. And a voice in the game shouted "GO!"

A/N: Thanks for reading! Next chapter coming soon!