Chapter Text
The arcade was quite a magical place. Filled with neon lights, oversaturated games, and kids jacked up on pixie sticks, it was an environment that provided fun for all. However, the place was filled with its fair share of rigging. The strongest culprit of this was the claw machines. Despite the machine’s greed for money and the tears of children, 3 teens were drawn to one in particular.
“Yo, check it out. Squishmallow claw machine. Those things are hella popular.” Kris pointed out in a monotonous voice. Their finger pointed over to a machine filled with giant stuffed animals as they sipped on a soda. A high-pitched shrill was audible upon this discovery and it came from the girl with antlers upon her head. Kris didn’t bat an eye as Susie slightly flinched whilst hearing the screech.
”Squishmallows?!” Noelle jumped with joy as she bolted to the claw machine. She quickly skimmed the money-eating box to see if any stuffed animals caught her eye. As Kris and Susie slowly followed behind, they had their glimpse of what was in the claw machine. It didn’t take very long for Susie to see one that caught her attention.
It was a green dinosaur, a triceratops to be more precise. There was nothing too special about him. Except for the fact that Susie found him totally badass! At the same time, he looked soft and squishy. She couldn’t resist. However, she wasn’t going to let Kris and Noelle know that a stuffed piece of fabric was making her feel warm.
“You want it, don’t you, Susie?” Noelle asked inquisitively, shooting a smirk toward the purple monster. This resulted in the latter crossing her arms and huffing, “No, it’s just some stupid T-Rex.”
”Triceratops.” Noelle corrected.
”Triceratops.” Susie echoed back. “Look, even if I did have it, what would it even do? Sit there and collect dust in my shitty apartment?”
Noelle chuckled as she shoved her way to the front of the machine. “It’s a great cushion. I promise. Here! You’ll understand the hype.” The deer girl pulled out her card and swiped it, allowing her credits to be taken up.
She first started by picking her target, the green triceratops. She moved the claw to hover over her prey. Instead of hitting the button, however, she stepped away from the front. This earned her some raised eyebrows from the human and monster behind her, but she paid no mind. Noelle’s departure led her to the side of the machine. She squinted, carefully examining the claw’s position. As she muttered to herself about who knows what, then returned to the controls of the machine and made some adjustments. Before she pressed the button, she let out a breath and smiled. The claw lowered down, filling the antlered girl with anxiety. It grabbed onto the green triceratops. This was it! She was gonna get it. It started to slip down before being stopped by the tag and safely made its way to the machine’s hole. Noelle claimed her price and shoved it towards Susie.
”How did you…”
”I learn from the best! Despite how much they rig these things, my dad was always able to finesse the claw games here. He taught me everything I know!”
“You didn’t have to do that for me.” Susie chuckled, caught off guard by Noelle’s act of kindness. The purple monster looked back at the machine. “You could’ve gotten a…I don’t know…that deer in there for you!”
Noelle could only smile at her crush and answer, “Oh, Dawn? I have, like, 3 different sizes of her at home. Besides,” her eyes met Susie’s, “I really want you to have it. You should’ve seen the way your tail was wagging when you saw him, fahaha!” The reindeer teased, bringing her hand over her mouth.
Susie stumbled backward, shocked at what she just heard. As much as she wanted to fight that claim, Noelle had already seen her tail. Plus, she looked happy. Why ruin the moment? All she could do was laugh with the girl who gave her a gift. Kris stared at the girls, a deep satisfaction filling their chest.
Unbeknownst to the 3 teens, a classmate had been keeping a close eye on them. The blue gamer that they had come to know was about to attempt phase 1 of his plan, ‘Noelle x Kris 5ever!’. Or at least, that is what he had dubbed it. Dressed in a black cloak, Berdly honed in on his target. Taking his shot, he sprinted towards Noelle, swiftly making his way towards his friend. With feathered fingers, he attempted to push her into Kris, causing them to bump into each other. However, he miscalculated and ended up knocking Noelle into Susie. He did so with a little too much force as well.
Noelle was quickly caught off guard and toppled over Susie’s body. They both crashed into the floor as they collided with one another. Despite falling at such force, the girls seemed okay. The green triceratops had broken their fall.
Noelle’s face was nuzzled into Susie’s neck, ticking the latter as a result. The soft amount of contact was not acknowledged, however, as the purple monster was instead trying to puzzle together what had just happened. When she did end up realizing Noelle’s lips were practically grazing the skin on her neck, her eyes went wide. Her face burned with the heat of a hundred suns. A shiver went down her spine that was equivalent to the feeling of an ice bath.
The girl with the antlers seemed to notice this as well, quickly propping herself up to look at Susie. As she lay on top of her crush, a million thoughts swirled through her mind. She was embarrassed, but she was satisfied. She was flustered, but she felt like she was at home at the same time. The feeling of butterflies dancing in her stomach multiplied with every second. It didn’t take long for her to become undone.
Noelle and Susie gazed at each other in the eyes. It was as if the arcade had completely vanished. There was no sound, no games, no people. Just them. The girls were completely lost in each other’s eyes and couldn’t pull themselves out of this trance.
”Get a room!” Kris called, snickering after making that remark. Susie and Noelle snapped their necks around toward the human, and then back at each other. After a brief apology to one another, Noelle climbed off of Susie. Neither one of them knew how to break the silence. However, Susie had a realization.
”Hey, you were right!” Susie exclaimed, smiling at Noelle. All the deer girl could do was shoot a confused look.
”This does make a great cushion.” She held her Squishmallow up to her chest, giving off a cheeky grin. It earned her a chuckle in response as Noelle answered with a simple, “I knew you’d like it!”
”Come on, lovebirds. Let’s go play some Dance Dance Revolution or something.” Kris interjected, swiftly making their way to the dance machine.
Susie and Noelle could only awkwardly laugh before following their friend to the next activity.
As the 3 friends took turns playing with the DDR machine, Berdly gazed from afar. He squinted, trying to make out what they were doing. Unfortunately, he couldn’t tell what they were up to. He signed in frustration as he started speaking to himself.
”My plan failed…but that was only phase 1! I still have a chance to help my dearest friend with phase 2! She will finally be happy! Noelle will soon feel the warm embrace of Kris. They shall sail away on a boat to a place far away, holding on to each other lovingly. I can see it already and I can tell love is blossoming here, even if phase 1 was a bust.” Berdly monologue, filling himself with a great sense of pride during the process. This was short-lived as his eyes were hit with a bright light. A security guard had found him and was pointing at him with a tiny flashlight. The bluebird looked at the guard with fear, hoping he wasn’t in trouble.
“Kid, if you’re not gonna play games and just watch other people, we’re going to have to ask you to leave.”
”I’m so sorry, sir! I am such a fool for doing this. I shall be on my way,” Berdly said with a defeated attitude. As he approached the exit, he turned around to the security guard and chimed, “Good day.” And with that, he took his leave, planning on phase 2 of, ‘Kris x Noelle 5ever!’.
After doing a horrible dance number, Kris, Noelle, and Susie passed by a photo booth. They glimpsed at it without much thought. However, Susie wondered how those felt. What was the hype? Was it worth it? She didn’t ask too many questions as she passed by the booth.
“Y’know, I’ve never done one of those before,” Noelle claimed as she made eye contact with the floor. She twiddled her fingers as she didn’t know what else to do with her hands.
”Really? You seem like the type of person who has like…I dunno, a ton of photo booth pictures with their sibling or something.” Susie claimed, putting her hands in her coat pocket.
”Nope. That would be me.” Kris pulled a strip of photos with them and their older brother. “I know I may not seem like the sentimental type, but I carry this around with me. I kinda miss my brother so this just helps remind me of him.”
Susie and Noelle stared in awe, amazed that their chill friend had some sort of soft and fuzzy side. It was quite refreshing. At the same time, it seemed out of character for them. They continued to speak about the photo booth, “I can’t say that photo booths are the most exciting things in the world, but they do help store some good memories.” They look at the 2 girls and continued. “Why don’t just the 2 of you go in there and take some pictures? It will both be your first time in there. And what’s the harm anyway? You both get to keep a memory of this day forever.”
Noelle looked at Susie as she looked back. They nodded in agreement, seeing that this was an alright idea. “Sure, why not. Besides. we’ve almost done everything here.” The purple girl answered, looking to Noelle just to make sure she was okay with it as well. “I-I’d love to!” She stuttered, following Susie to the booth.
As they got there, Susie opened the curtain and bowed, saying, “Ladies first.” In a mocking, chivalrous tone. Noelle giggled and climbed in. Susie took her spot and they had begun with the session.
For the first photo, they just decided with a simple, happy one. Susie smiled with her eyes closed. Noelle grinned, holding up a peace sign for the camera to see. It wasn’t anything too extreme. This was only the first photo after all.
After that, they opted for a more goofy approach. Susie held up the prize that Noelle had won her as she made a shocked face. Noelle followed suit by pointing at it, marching Susie’s expression. They giggled after the picture was taken and switched to the next scene.
Noelle acted pretty of scared of Susie and held her arms toward her face to make it look like she was defending herself. Susie dramatically held her hands up and showed her claws. She grinned menacingly as she ‘attacked’ Noelle.
After they finished that photo, they were unsure what to do for the last one. They sat there frozen for a few seconds before Noelle had an idea. A risky idea. However, she knew it was now or never, so she decided to act on it.
”Do you trust me?” Noelle asked.
”What?”
“Do you trust me?”
”Yeah, I guess so.” Susie answered with uncertainty. Time was running out. Noelle had to accept that as an answer.
”Okay. Don’t move. Just…look at the camera. Don’t look at me.” The larger girl tried not to judge. She simply turned her focus to the screen in front of them. She observed Noelle and she was just sitting there. As the timer went off, Susie grew more anxious. She wondered what Noelle was doing. But she trusted her. So she sat still and looked at the camera as commanded.
3.
Noelle shuffled closer to Susie.
2.
Susie start sweating as the girl next to her moved her eyes toward her.
1.
Noelle’s lips were resting on top of Susie’s cheek. She held that position for a moment until the camera’s flash went off. Despite it only being a second, time seemed to stop in that short period. Susie’s stomach was churning. Her heart was doing flips. She had never been hit with these confusing feelings. She didn’t know what to feel or how to express it. All she could do was look at the screen as Noelle drew her lips away.
They both kept quiet, not speaking a word. The booth was silent. It was almost as if a tumbleweed had drifted through it. In unison, they shuffled out and grabbed a strip of photos each. Noelle and Susie refused to look at it. Both of them swiftly tucked their respective photos away in a place no one could see. Not even themselves.
Kris was waiting for the girls with their arms crossed. They were looking at the floor, not paying much attention to the chaotic energy of the arcade. As soon as they heard the curtain on the booth open up, they walked over to their friends with curiosity.
”How was it?” They grinned, hoping that at least one of them made their move. Fortunately for them, Noelle gave them the answer they needed. “I need to use the roombath! I’ll be back!”
The hoofed girl scuffled away, leaving behind a flustered Susie and an intrigued Kris.