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“Whoo!” Bridge chuckles. He’s so excited for today.
He finally, finally got Sky off work, Jack to admit he’s a nerd, and Z and Syd to just come along to the arcade with him!
Even Kat and the commander came along, because they all needed a break.
Round 1 is awesome. The day they opened one near Newtech might have been the greatest day of Bridge’s life.
Syd’s about to start murdering all the rhythm games, and Bridge heads over to an adorable Miku figure that he wants to win, but then he freezes.
He sees a flash of blonde standing in front of a claw machine.
She’s with a few people, all standing around her, and Sam drifts over to them.
“Sophie…” He whispers, and that gets Z’s attention.
“Sophie’s here?”
“Sh-She’s here with her friends.” Bridge stutters, and Syd walks over to him.
“What’s she trying to win?”
Bridge walks past her, and he notices there are a bunch of giant Kirby plushies in the machine.
A ‘drop me in the chute to win’ machine.
But it doesn’t seem like it’s hitting payout, and after five tries, her head drops and she steps back, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
A man she’s with pats her shoulder.
“You’ll get ‘em next time, Soph.”
“I know, it’s just… Hah, it’s so cute!”
He leads her away from the machine, and Jack pops up next to him.
“What are you waiting for? Win that plush.”
“Huh?” Bridge says, and Jack sighs.
“Come on. You saw, she looked heartbroken. Win that plush for her, and you’re her hero.”
“What’s going on?” Commander Cruger asks, and Jack smirks.
“Bridge is trying to impress a girl.”
“Sophie’s here?” Sky cuts in.
“She wanted a plushie from that machine, but she couldn’t win it. She looked sad, so…” Syd starts, and Kat purrs.
“He wins it, he’s her knight in shining armor.”
Bridge wraps his hand around his card.
He steps over to the machine, and he swipes the card.
Okay, easy enough… he just needs to drop the claw, and…
…It barely even picks it up.
“This machine’s nowhere near payout.” Bridge sighs. “It’s going to be hard to win.”
“Think about her.” Syd starts. “Think about how pretty Sophie’s smile would be if you handed her that plushie.”
“I-I can’t do anything about the payout rates!”
“Payout rates are usually anywhere from 20-25 tries, right?” Sky says. “Sophie did five, you did one. We can wander around until someone else does a bunch of tries, or you can spend… about 196 credits until we have a chance at payout?”
“Why do you know this stuff?” Jack asks, and Sky points to Bridge.
“I live with him, remember?”
“That’s still most of my credits…” Bridge mutters. “I was going to try for those Miku figs…”
“Is a beautiful woman not worth the spoils of war?” Commander Cruger asks. “If you truly love her, she is worth anything.”
“I mean, my parents love each other, but also their Round 1 winnings are sacred.”
Syd sighs.
“Look. I love Miku. But wouldn’t she be the first one to tell you to put her aside and give a beautiful girl a Kirby plush?”
Bridge stares at the machine.
“…Yeah. She would be.”
And Bridge swipes his card again and tries for the Kirby.
And he does it again.
And again.
And again.
Until he’s lost track of how many tries he’s done and then the damn claw actually holds.
And it drifts over to the end.
And it…
It drops right into the chute!
Syd runs off to get the guy to unlock the machine and hand him the fluffy Kirby plush, and Bridge holds the spoils in his hands.
“Still have enough for a couple of tries on the Miku figs too.” Bridge chuckles, and he steps over to the skill cranes.
One Miku’s pretty easy, but the other…
“Out of credits.” Bridge sighs, and Jack pats his shoulder.
“You’ll get ‘em next time, buddy.”
But then there’s that flash of blonde again, and there’s synthetic breath hot on his ear.
“Boo.” Sophie chuckles, and Bridge spins on his heel and turns to her.
“Wh… what?” He gasps, and Sophie just smiles at him.
“I came back down here to stay at the academy and do some training for a week, but my brother and his friends came by to see me and we said we’d go to the arcade since Dax and I love it so much and we don’t exactly have Round 1 out in the Theta Quadrant. I didn’t expect to see you.”
And then Sophie points to his shirt.
“Love the Zelda shirt by the way.” She teases. “Do you like what I’m wearing?”
She spins around, and she’s in these flats with a green skirt and a Pokemon graphic tee.
And her ears…
“Are those D20 earrings?” Bridge asks, gently reaching over to them, and Sophie laughs.
“Yep!”
She leans in a little closer, and Kirby is shoved into his arms by… the commander, he thinks?
And then he holds the prize out to her, and she puts a hand to her mouth.
“I-I saw you trying to win this!” Bridge finally manages to force out. “So I… I won it for you!”
Sophie’s thumb grazes across her lip, and she looks like she doesn’t know what to say.
But then she reaches into a bag that she's holding, and she pulls out the Miku fig Bridge was just trying to win.
“We had the same idea.” She breathes. “I remembered how much you liked this fig when the insta posted the new prize announcement. So I got her for you.”
Bridge almost drops the Kirby in shock, but luckily Sophie takes him out of his hands and hands him a stunning Miku figure.
Sophie clutches the Kirby close to her chest, and she starts giggling.
It’s a stunning sound. Clear and bright.
“I love him.” Sophie whispers. “I think I’ll hold him every night when I get back to the Theta Quadrant.”
And then she leans in.
Their faces are so close, and Bridge suddenly almost forgets how to stand.
And then she kisses his cheek.
“And I think I’ll do that too.” She breathes, before turning on her heel and running back to her brother and his friends.
“…That was worth every credit.” He gasps.
Then he collapses back, and Jack and Sky barely manage to catch him.
“Ah, young love.” The commander chuckles. “It’s a wonderful thing, Cadet Carson. You remind me of me and my wife when we were your age. I almost collapsed the first time she kissed me too.”
“Hey, don’t get too excited.” Sky cuts in. “Sometimes they’re nice and then they shoot you in the wrist.”
“Sky, leave him alone.” Jack responds. “Not everyone is Dru.”
“Also Dru wasn’t nice to your friends.” Syd says. “He hated me and Bridge.”
“He was nice enough!” Sky snaps back.
“I mean, he did once drag me to Kat when everyone else was too drunk to notice that I had alcohol poisoning.” Bridge said. “He wasn’t always bad. But that’s not the point, Sophie hasn’t faked her own death!”
“Not yet.” Sky grumbles darkly, and Z lightly smacks him upside the head.
“Let him have this, Sky.”
Bridge sighs dreamily.
“I feel like… warm and fluttery in my chest.”
“You sure it’s just in your chest?” Jack teases, and everyone facepalms.