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Chk-chk-chk-chk went the ticket dispenser as Lee collected his winnings.
“Nice one, Lee!” Tenten cried, slapping him across the back. The arcade rang loud with the beeps and chimes and whistles of the many machines. Lee’s feet stuck to the tacky patterned carpet as he stepped back from the machine, blinking to clear his eyes of the LED haze. All around him neon lights flashed; he had completely lost any sense of how long he and his friends had been inside - the interior of the arcade was a liminal space, timeless, windowless, and tucked away from the outside world.
“Thank you,” he said. He folded his tickets up and hastily tucked them in the pocket of his dark green letterman jacket for safekeeping. “Have you seen Neji?”
Tenten’s answer was lost to the ringing of a game’s bell and the glimpse of red hair out of the corner of his eye.
“Here’s what I normally do, squirt,” someone said to Lee’s right. Standing in front of the prize counter was a boy in an oversized black hoodie. The hood was pulled up, obscuring his face, but his voice was loud enough to pierce through the ambient noise of the arcade and make it to Lee’s ears. “I pick out whatever prize I’m shootin’ for, and then I play until I have enough tickets to get it.”
Standing next to the boy in the hoodie was a shorter boy with bright red hair. Lee could only see his face in profile, but he was immediately entranced by his features: a tiny button nose, thin lips, and the most piercing green eyes Lee had ever seen. He was dressed overly formally for an arcade - his dark jeans neatly cuffed over dark brown loafers and his shirt French tucked. His collared shirt was patterned with tiny cacti, Lee realized upon second glance - cute.
Lee tried to pretend he wasn’t leaning in to eavesdrop on their conversation.
“Oh,” said the boy with red hair. “I like … that one.” He pointed to the upper corner of the prize wall, where a giant stuffed bear was hanging. “Don’t you think he looks like Mr. Teddy?”
“I guess, but the stuff on that part of the wall is usually kinda-”
“Excuse me,” the boy said, leaning over the prize counter. “How many tickets is that bear?”
The bored-looking employee behind the prize counter popped her gum loudly. She didn’t even turn to look at where the boy was pointing, just flicked her long, blonde hair over her shoulder. She idly scratched her exposed midriff and the many bangles on her arm clanked. Lee was quite sure she was not supposed to have her uniform t-shirt rolled up like that.
“Everything in the top left is ten thou,” she drawled.
Lee (who definitely wasn’t staring) noticed the corners of the boy’s mouth dip down in what could charitably be called a pout. The boy crossed his arms, exposing slender biceps under his rolled sleeves.
“Is that a lot?” he asked the taller boy next to him. He looked up earnestly - his eyes were darkly hollowed but his green irises flashed with the neon lights overhead. Lee felt himself entranced.
“Eesh, yeah, that might be a bit of a stretch for your first time here,” the guy in the hoodie said, stretching his arms back behind him so his shoulders made an audible pop. “Don’t worry, though, kiddo. We’ll win ya something.” He reached over and ruffled the other boy’s red hair - it was already disorderly, and the agitation did it no favors. The red-headed boy ducked his head between his shoulders with a wince.
“Okay,” he said quietly, but all Lee could hear in his voice was dejection.
Lee, struck with a sudden bolt of inspiration, leaned over to Tenten.
“Hey,” he said, as softly as his naturally booming voice would allow, “do you think I could win ten thousand tickets?”
“Oh, you’re done ignoring me now, are you?” she said, pretending to be very interested in studying her nails.
Lee’s cheeks went hot.
“I didn’t mean to-”
“It’s fine, Lee,” she said, looking up at him with a grin and a roll of her eyes. “I know you can’t resist a handsome face and a sob story. But I dunno. It sounds pretty tough. What have you got so far?”
Lee dug through his pockets and held out a fistful of crumpled tickets. She snatched them from his hand and made quick work of counting them.
“This is only fifty-five,” she said. “I don’t think you stand a chance.”
“Even better!” Lee cried, slamming his fist into his open palm. “I will earn nine thousand, nine hundred and forty-five more tickets and present that young man with his desired prize, or I will come back next week and win twenty thousand tickets!”
Just then, someone hit the jackpot on the coin push machine, sending hundreds of tokens falling down the inside of the machine.
“You’re lucky that guy walked away before you started yelling,” Tenten said over the clatter.
Lee slapped a hand over his open mouth, face reddening further. Over Tenten’s shoulder, he saw the two boys from the prize counter making their way to the claw machines.
“Also, I don’t think you have the budget for that,” Tenten said with a grimace.
“Then I must succeed today!” Lee hollered, and started running towards the racing games.
Tenten followed him with a look of chagrin.
They ended up at the machine next to Neji, who had beelined straight for the Whack-a-Mole the moment they entered the arcade.
“Hi Neji!” Lee cried, as he saddled up on his plastic motorbike. “I’m working on a self-challenge!”
“That’s nice,” Neji said, without breaking his intent stare at the bouncing mole heads. “I’m working on the Whack-a-Mole high score.”
“Lee has a cru-ush!” Tenten said in a sing-song voice, jumping on the motorbike beside him.
“I do not!” Lee said hotly, crossing his arms. “I just want to help someone else achieve their dreams!”
“Try not to get your heart broken,” Neji said, hammering away.
“I won’t!” Lee said. He dropped a couple tokens into the machine’s slot and revved the motorbike’s throttle. “Do you want to help me?”
Neji rolled his eyes.
“I don’t know if you noticed,” he said, “but I’m very busy right now.” Neji looked Lee dead in the eye just as he slammed his mallet hard into the head of a mole. The mole gave a mournful, mechanical cry. Lee cringed in sympathy.
The computerized announcer on the racing machine shouted, “Gentlemen, start your engines!” and with that, they were off. Tenten egged Lee on as he careened his way around corners and through the checkered flags.
“I’m hot on your heels!” she yelled, gunning her bike next to him.
“I won’t give up first place that easily!” Lee shouted back as he took a corner at full speed.
Just as he was entering the turn, the red-headed boy and his friend passed behind the machine. Lee looked up from the screen just for an instant to watch them pass. The red-headed boy had a soft smile on his face, sorting through the tokens in his hand as they approached the pinball machines.
As Lee looked back down at the screen, the little cartoon character representing his bike skidded off the track and into the animated stands. A series of screeching and crashing noises resounded from the game.
DISQUALIFIED!! the screen blared in red text. PLAYER TWO WINS!
Tenten’s bike sailed through the finish line with her little rider’s fists held high over its head. Tenten cheered and hopped off her bike.
Lee’s shoulders slumped while she gathered her tickets.
“Not the most auspicious start,” she said, punching Lee in the shoulder, “but there’s plenty more games out there!”
Lee felt a tugging at his jacket and looked down. Tenten was stuffing her winnings into his pocket.
“What are you doing?”
“Helping you, dingus!” She rumpled his hair and he hastily smoothed it back down. “What, you thought I was gonna let you go on your love quest all on your own?”
Lee felt his eyes well up with tears.
“Thank you, Tenten!” he shouted, throwing his arms around her in an impulsive hug.
“Yeah, yeah,” she said, rather muffled, into his armpit.
“But now you won’t have the chance to win a prize for yourself!” he cried, still weeping profusely.
“I decided I don’t need any more plasticky crap.” She patted his back perfunctorily as he heaved through a few more melodramatic sobs. “Now let me go, I can’t breathe.”
Lee released her and looked up. Across the arcade, pointing in his direction, was the boy with the red hair. For a brief second they met eyes, and Lee mustered up a meek wave. The other boy didn’t wave back, but Lee could have sworn he tilted his chin up in acknowledgment.
“C’mon, Lee,” Tenten broke the spell. “Let’s go play Zombie Shooter. And after all this, you better buy me some cheesy fries.”
He called his goodbyes to Neji (who didn’t look up or respond) and let Tenten drag him off across the sticky carpeted floor.
They passed the next few hours like that - Lee being dragged from machine to machine by an effusive Tenten, always craning his neck over his shoulder for a glimpse of red hair or a hint of green eyes. Tenten was incredible at anything requiring accuracy - Skee Ball, Mini Basketball, Duck Hunt: she won them all, and stuffed her tickets into Lee’s jacket pocket until it overflowed. Lee found himself to be surprisingly good at the strategy games, and racked up pocketful after pocketful of tickets at Donkey Kong and Snake and Galaga. They rounded the arcade, trying their hand at every game they walked past, their tokens rapidly dwindling.
“We’ve got to be getting close, right?” Tenten asked Lee. They were almost back to the racing game they had started at.
“I hope so,” Lee replied, patting his pockets. “But I want to make sure!”
“Are there any games over here with good ticket payouts?” Tenten asked, cracking her neck. “I’m running low on tokens.”
Just then, Lee heard a familiar strain of music ring out. His head whipped around instinctively. There, in the back corner of the arcade, were two red metal arches side-by-side, speakers booming out behind platforms flashing with neon arrows.
“Look, DDR!” Lee exclaimed, his feet already carrying him ahead. Tenten’s hand on the collar of his jacket brought him up short.
“Wait your turn!” she scolded him. “Someone’s using it.”
Lee’s excited eyes found focus on the two figures already on the machine: a now-familiar hoodie and a tousled head of red hair.
He hurried to a stop behind the machines and folded his hands behind his back, assuming a look of feigned nonchalance and whistling tunelessly. Tenten looked at him askance, one eyebrow cocked in silent judgment.
The guy in the hoodie was clearly fairly skilled at the game, his feet flying across the platform, his sneakers almost invisible beneath his baggy pants and his hands not even touching the metal bar behind him. His red-headed friend was not quite so talented. The boy with the red hair was gripping the grab bar with two sweaty hands, his feet stumbling on the lit arrows. The song that pounded through the speakers was a slow one, and a glance at the screen confirmed Lee’s suspicions: he was struggling with Beginner mode, judgments of Miss! and Poor! flashing on the screen every time he failed to step on the target button in time.
Lee bit his lip to contain his amusement - despite his clear inexperience, the boy was dogged, a focused grimace on his face as he tripped his way through the final bars of the song. A neon blue FAILED lit the screen as the song came to an end, and the boy sagged over his knees, panting.
He wiped his perspiring forehead with the back of his arm and glanced over to meet Lee’s eyes.
“Sorry,” he said. His voice was a low rasp in between haggard breaths. Lee leaned closer to hear him. “Did you two want to play?”
“It’s fine!” Lee called, holding his hands up. “We can wait until you’re finished.”
The red-headed boy’s knees shook.
“I’m definitely finished,” he intoned. “Kankuro, hop off. Let these two play.”
The boy in the hoodie - Kankuro - looked over his shoulder and shoved his handful of tickets into his hoodie pocket.
“Givin’ up already, Gaara?” he said archly.
Lee couldn’t help but grin - Gaara, such a lovely name! He rolled it around in his mind: Gaara, Gaara, Gaara. The name was as perfect as the boy dripping sweat onto the arcade’s carpeted floor in front of him.
“Yes,” Gaara said simply. He crossed his arms, but Lee noticed his pale fingers trembled before he tucked them under his elbows.
“Have at it, sis,” Kankuro said with a gesture to Tenten, and made to get off the platform.
“Oh, I’m not playing,” Tenten said with a laugh. “I’ve got two left feet. And Lee would demolish me anyway.”
Lee looked at her questioningly. She winked back at him.
“You pretty good there, bean pole?” Kankuro asked Lee, looking him over skeptically.
“I don’t know about good, but this is my favorite game in the whole arcade!” Lee said, brimming with enthusiasm as he assumed his position atop the platform. The grab bar was still a bit slippery from Gaara’s sweat and he discreetly wiped it with his jacket’s sleeve.
“You up for a little one on one?” Kankuro said. A sharp-edged grin cut across his face.
“Absolutely!” Lee replied. He sealed the deal with a beaming smile and a thumbs up.
“Awesome,” Kankuro said. They each dropped their tokens into the machine. “Don’t feel bad if I wipe the floor with ya.”
“Of course not,” Lee said, still smiling. His shoulders prickled as if he were being watched. He shook the feeling off and began scrolling through the selection screen. “Do you have a preference of level? I normally play on Expert or Demon, but I’ll defer to you.”
Kankuro blinked twice, head canting back.
“Demon, huh?”
Lee nodded the affirmative.
“You’re a bold one, I’ll give ya that. Let’s do it. Demon it is!” Kankuro slapped the buttons definitively and the intro to the song started counting down.
Lee brought himself up straight, positioning his feet squarely as the first notes of the song rang out. He blocked out everything but the sound of the song and the scrolling arrows on the screen and began. His feet flew under him; he felt weightless, joyous. His smile never left his face as he hit Perfect! after Perfect! rating.
One song rolled over into the next with their feet never pausing, pounding across the arrows. A Full Combo! flickered across Lee’s screen and he grinned harder. As another, faster song queued up, Lee heard the dissonant tones of a few missed beats coming from Kankuro’s machine beside him.
“Your friend there isn’t half bad!” Lee heard Tenten say from behind them. He needed to focus on the game, but he couldn’t help but devote half a listening ear to Gaara’s response.
“Kankuro’s my older brother,” Gaara replied. There was a moment of quiet where all Lee could hear was the rapid beat of the song and the clattering of his and Kankuro’s feet across the platform. “Your friend Lee is … impressive,” he said, so softly that Lee wasn’t quite sure he understood it correctly.
The back of Lee’s neck heated up, but he couldn’t let his feelings distract him. He let the compliment spur him on, urging his feet ever faster, a look of determination on his face. Gaara was watching him, cheering him on, even! He pushed up his jacket sleeves and bore down on the platform, sweat dripping down into his eyebrows as his feet moved almost without his influence.
From his left came another series of trailing beeps - Kankuro must have missed another few steps. Lee didn’t let it phase him; he kept his focus razor-sharp, drilling through to the end of the song. Full Combo! flashed across his screen again and he heard Kankuro give a groan of frustration.
“One more?” Lee called, not even turning his head from his focus on the screen.
“You’re on!” Kankuro shouted, slapping the Start button hard as the next song began with a blistering pace.
Lee sailed through it, the peppy tones of the singer’s voice and the rapid electronic beat carrying his feet as lightly as if he were stepping on air. He didn’t feel the fatigue in his body or the sweat in his eyes, all he was aware of were his feet’s rapid movements and Gaara’s eyes on the back of his neck. Tenten yelled out some words of encouragement, but it barely registered. He cared about only one thing: winning (and showing off for Gaara).
Beside Lee, Kankuro continued to falter - he heard the game’s simulated announcer calling out missteps as they approached the end of the song. Lee intensified his speed, bringing his feet into perfect alignment for the final steps. The last notes of the song rang out and Lee finished them perfectly.
WINNER!! his screen blared.
Kankuro gave a moan of defeat and slumped over the bar on the back of his machine, his hands dangling down to the dingy carpet. His back heaved with labored breaths.
“Shit, man,” he grumbled. “You ain’t half bad.”
Lee shouted a victory cry, one fist punching the air. Chk-chk-chk-chk went the game machine, spitting ticket after ticket at his feet. He quickly gathered them up, beaming. He turned around to see Tenten giving him twin thumbs up.
Gaara stood beside her with a disquieted expression on his handsome face. His eyes were fixed on the tickets in Lee’s hands. The smile on Lee’s face wavered, then fell.
“Sorry, squirt,” Kankuro said, head hanging low as he dismounted the platform. “Guess we’re not gettin’ you that bear after all. C’mon-” He threw his arm around Gaara’s shoulder and began steering him to the prize counter. “- I’m sure we can find you something else you’d like.”
“No,” Gaara said quietly, shrugging his shoulders until his brother’s arm fell back to his side. “It’s fine. I’ll just save them for next time. Let’s go.” He turned and started heading towards the exit. Lee’s heart dropped to his toes.
“Oh no!” Lee moaned. “Tenten, they’re leaving! Do we have enough?”
“Only one way to find out,” she replied, clenching her fist in determination. “To the prize counter, quick!”
They skidded to a halt in front of the prize counter, shoving their spools of tickets to the long-haired girl manning the register. She gave them a dead-eyed stare and started methodically feeding the tickets into the ticket counting machine. Lee could barely keep still, shifting back and forth on his feet as he glanced between Gaara’s retreating back and the slowly increasing number on the counter’s display screen.
“Please hurry!” he hissed urgently.
The girl behind the counter cracked her gum in her mouth.
“What’s the rush?” the girl asked, looking as if she had no interest in the answer whatsoever. The tickets click-click-clicked into the machine.
“Please, it’s just very important that you-“
“Oh, would you look at that,” she said, tapping the display with one lacquered acrylic nail. “Nine thousand, one hundred, and twenty-two tickets.”
Lee groaned, dropping his head to the plexiglass counter. They were over 800 tickets short. Lee’s few remaining tokens clinked lamely in his pocket. There was no way that they had enough time (or money) to make up the difference.
“I’m so sorry, Lee,” Tenten said sadly. She rubbed his back in reassurance. “Better luck next time.”
Just then, a hand landed on Lee’s shoulder.
“Please add these to the total,” said a familiar, refined voice.
Lee looked up to see Neji standing just behind him, a roll of tickets in his outstretched hand.
“But Neji, your Whack-A-Mole high score-!” Lee blurted.
“What kind of friend would I be if I abandoned you in your hour of greatest need?” Neji asked, a smirk growing at one corner of his mouth.
“Thank you!” Lee cried, tears starting to twinkle at the corner of his eyes.
“If you cry, I’ll take them back,” Neji warned.
Lee dabbed at his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket as the girl behind the counter snapped her gum and began feeding Neji’s tickets into the machine too.
“Uh, guys?” Tenten interjected. “I hate to ruin this tender moment, but they’re almost out the door…”
Lee paled.
“We have to stall them!” Lee shouted. “Neji can you-”
“What do you expect me to do?” Neji yelled back, his hands coming up in front of his chest defensively.
“I don’t know,” Tenten said, but she was already pushing Neji towards the door. “Make something up! Flirt with the tall one!”
Lee watched Neji awkwardly cross the room and lean in mock-casualness against the plate glass door. Kankuro scratched the back of his neck and looked chagrined. Even from the ticket counter, Lee could see Neji’s face growing bright red.
“Your total is ten thousand, four hundred and fifty tickets,” droned a bored voice from behind Lee.
He wheeled around and looked at the green digits blinking beneath the plexiglass.
They had done it! Ten thousand tickets!
He gave a whoop and threw his arms around Tenten, who was bouncing on the balls of her feet.
“Do you, like, wanna pick your prize, or... ?” the girl said, her upper lip raised in a sneer.
“Oh!” Lee had almost forgotten himself. “Yes, we would like that bear!” He pointed decisively to the plush bear in the upper left corner of the prize wall.
“Ugh,” she said, clicking her tongue. “I’m gonna have to go get the hook. Wait here.”
Lee couldn’t help but look back over his shoulder as the girl walked away from the counter. Whatever Neji was trying at the door, it seemed to be working. Kankuro was rocked back on his heels, his hands thrown cockily behind his head. He seemed to be grinning.
“Uh…” said a voice behind him. Something soft brushed his hands. He spun back around: the girl behind the counter had the bear held out to him. Up close, it was even larger than it had appeared on the wall, almost completely obscuring the top half of her body. Lee snatched it from her hands and hugged it to his chest: it was perfectly plush and soft.
“You still have a little over four hundred tickets left,” she said, one eyebrow raised at Lee’s impulsive display.
“There’s no time!” Lee shouted. “Tenten, please pick whatever you like!” He started running for the door.
“Lee, I said I didn’t need any more plastic crap-!” Tenten called after him, but he ignored her.
Lee jogged up to the trio by the door just as Kankuro cracked the punchline to what was no doubt some lascivious joke. Neji’s ears were turning pink behind his long hair. Gaara looked simultaneously bored and slightly nauseated, but Lee wouldn’t let himself be deterred.
He licked his lips nervously and cleared his throat. Three sets of eyes turned to look at him, but he only cared about one green pair.
“Hello again!” he said, not a bit awkwardly. He had to crane his neck to look over the bear’s massive, fluffy head. “I hope this isn’t too odd, but I overheard you by the prize counter earlier, and, well…” He thrust the bear out towards Gaara. “I won this for you!”
Gaara’s face flushed attractively pink. He looked down at his hands, then at the bear, then at Lee’s face.
“Pretty damn odd, if you ask me,” Kankuro muttered out of the corner of his mouth, but Lee and Gaara both ignored him.
“For me?” Gaara asked, his voice shaky with disbelief.
Lee nodded enthusiastically, grinning. “For you!”
Gaara took the bear in gentle hands and examined its features: its sewn, smiling mouth and black button eyes, the bright red ribbon around its neck. Tentatively, he reached one hand up and stroked the fur between its ears.
“Thank you,” he said, after a long moment, looking Lee straight in the eyes. Lee’s heart thundered in his chest. “It looks just like one I had when I was younger.”
The smallest hint of a smile graced Gaara’s thin lips. Lee felt like the floor had dropped out from under him and the room had started spinning all at once. His legs shook like he had just run a marathon.
Neji coughed something into his hand that half sounded like Get on with it, and Lee startled.
“Um, my friends and I were going to get some cheese fries and play air hockey. We could use a fourth and an alternate, if you two would like to join us?” Lee asked with a wobbly grin. His legs still hadn’t regained their stability.
Gaara looked over at his brother. There was a long, silent moment where they seemed to exchange some wordless communication with glances alone. Then, Kankuro shrugged.
“I would like that,” Gaara said. He reached over and touched Lee’s elbow. The heat of his hand traveled up Lee’s arm and squeezed around his heart.
“Great! Let’s go!” Without really thinking about it, he slung an arm around Gaara’s shoulder and began steering him to the snack bar. He might have been imagining things, but it felt like Gaara’s shoulders fit perfectly under his arm.
Kankuro and Neji followed them, Kankuro’s loud voice carrying another terrible joke. Lee didn’t understand it, and he didn’t care, either - the back of Gaara’s neck was turning pink and Lee couldn’t think about anything else.
Tenten was already waiting there for them at a high table, a huge tray of cheese fries in front of her and a pair of plastic deedle-boppers in one hand.
“Here’s your punishment for making me pay for the fries,” she said genially, plunking them onto Lee’s head and utterly destroying any illusion of suaveness he might have hoped he maintained. She started passing around orders of fries while Neji went to the counter to order drinks.
The yellow smiley faces on the ends of the antennae bobbed when Lee tilted his head.
“Well, Gaara,” he said, crossing his eyes and making a goofy face. “What do you think?”
Lee couldn’t see Gaara’s mouth behind the teddy bear’s head, but the corners of his eyes crinkled in a smile.
“I think they suit you,” he said, and snagged a fry from Lee’s plate. Lee’s heart soared. He hardly even noticed Neji returning from the bar with drinks in hand.
“So,” Kankuro said, leaning over into Neji’s space across the greasy table. “I hear you’re pretty good at Whack-A-Mole. Wanna try your hand against a real master?”
He puffed his chest out and jabbed his thumbs into his pecs. The effect was a bit lost when his hoodie slipped down and exposed a head of brown hair even more unruly than Gaara’s. It looked like he’d never seen a comb in his life.
Neji merely raised an eyebrow and took a slow sip of his Pepsi.
“Didn’t Lee decimate you at DDR earlier?” he asked.
“Yeah, yeah, old news. Whaddya say to a little mano-a-mano?”
Neji drained his cup with a slurp.
“Fine,” he said, slamming his cup to the table. The ice cubes left in the paper cup clinked together. “You provide the tokens.”
“No problem, hot stuff!” Kankuro replied, jumping to his feet.
Neji strode off towards the Whack-A-Mole machines, nose raised imperiously, Kankuro hot on his heels.
Neji utterly destroyed him.