Chapter Text
The arcade was the place to be! Tommy knew this from first hand experience. In fact, he owned the place. The multi-colored patterns on the floor, the glow from the black light cause all the colors to come alive and dance, the crash of bowling pins and the smell of greasy pizza in the air--it was his home, where he spent all his time. It was his little pocket of colorful chaos.
Tommy was cleaning one of the arcade machines where someone spilled soda when the door swung open. Oh good! Some people! Today was a slow day though it was expected because it was midday on a Wednesday. A dark-haired man walked in with a small child that was the spitting image of him. Despite grey streaking his hair, the man looked to be in his late 20s or at most early 30s.
The pair approached the counter and purchased a bag of play coins for the arcade. After he passed the bag of coins over, he watched as the man ruffled the kid’s hair before dropping the bag into his hands allowing him to run off. Tommy let out a small chuckle at the kid’s excited reaction to the glowing lights he was so fond of. He saw the other man leaning against the counter, arms crossed looking affectionately at the kid.
Tommy thought that was a little atypical. Usually, most of the parents that came in anxiously hovered over their child, sometimes even taking the game from the child and playing for them basically taking all the fun out of the arcade and instead turning it into work.
Tommy straightened up and cleared his voice when the other man noticed his staring.
“Is that your son?” Tommy asked, slightly panicked.
“Yeah.” The other man said, nodding. The two glanced at the game the boy is playing--a cowboy themed one. “His name’s Joshua. He loves cowboys beyond belief. He wouldn’t stop bugging me to come here when he saw there was a cowboy game.”
“Yeah, cowboys are cool.” Tommy said, chuckling. “He must have bothered you pretty badly to make you come here on a Wednesday. Usually, most parents bring their kids on Fridays.”
“Hm? Oh, Joshie had a doctor’s appointment today and it’s a little too late to return back to school at this point.”
The two sat there in silence except for the noise coming from the arcade machines. Eventually, Tommy spoke up.
“Well, aren’t you gonna-- would you like to try any games, sir?” Tommy asked, beaming. “We got lots about space aliens and dancing.”
The other man shyly shook his head, a small smile crossing his face. A strand of hair once behind his ear fell to cover his face slightly.
“I haven’t really played any games since high school. Plus, I don’t wanna take the fun away from Joshua.” The man said.
“No worries, I can fix that!” Tommy said, grinning. “Watch this!”
Tommy leaned over the counter slightly, and brushed his hand behind Gordon’s ear, tucking the loose strand back into place. Then, Tommy pulled away to show that there was now a play coin within his hands.
“You had this behind your ear!” Tommy said, beaming. The man’s surprised face relaxed and he let out a chuckle, accepting the coin Tommy held out to him. He complimented his trick and asked how much the coin was for. “No worries, it’s on the house. Wednesday’s are the least active days so I can spare a few.”
“Well, thank you very much, uh, Tommy!” The man said, looking down at the dark purple apron the other man was wearing, the name tag pinned onto it reading ‘Tommy’. “My name’s Gordon by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Gordon!” Tommy said as Gordon’s son approached them again.
“Wow, out of play coins already bud?” Gordon said as Joshua handed him the empty bag. Joshua nodded and signed that he wanted more but to this Gordon shook his head. “It’s getting a bit late Joshie. Don’t wanna miss dinner do we?”
The boy looked down for a bit but nodded.
“Don’t worry, this ol’ place isn’t going anywhere!” Tommy said, smiling. “Hope to see you again soon, Mr. Gordon and co.”
Gordon smiled and walked out. Tommy was overall a really nice guy and Joshua seemed to really enjoy the place. Maybe they would return again soon.
Meanwhile, Tommy returned to wiping off the arcade machine, coming across two of his regulars-- Bubby and Dr. Coomer.
“Hey Mister Doctor Coomer!” Tommy called.
“Hello, my boy!” The man with the mustache replied, grinning as he carefully inched the hockey puck on the pac-man themed tabletop air hockey in between the magenta lines. That wasn’t the correct way to play air hockey--that wasn’t even the point of air hockey--but Coomer looked like he was having fun so Tommy let him make up the rules. It wasn’t like the two hadn’t already broken pretty much burned every rule to the ground and remade them for every game they played.
“How is it going?” Tommy said, setting down his rag to pick up a stray skee ball and rolling it up the bright green led lined path and into the blue LED lined 40 points hole. Though he was good at the game, he could never get the ball into the 100 points hole.
“You won’t believe what I just saw!” Bubby grumbled, knocking over his half-drunken can of Fanta to which Tommy promptly caught. “In the only decent casino around these parts, I saw a kid! What kinda establishment lets kids into a casino? They’re gonna get apple juice all over the machines!”
“Actually, this is an arcade.” Tommy said, tossing the can into a nearby trash can. The majority of the soda spills resulted from Bubby continually knocking over his soda either accidentally or on purpose much like a cat does.
“Really? Then what’s that gambling machine over there? It shoots money out when you get the combo right.” Bubby said, gesturing to the light blue and relatively plain machine (except for the jazz cup design sticker plastered to the side of it) it in the corner.
“...the ATM?” Tommy asked, baffled. He decided not to question it and dropped the topic right then and there. He picked up a new one as he noticed the amount of play coins Bubby had. Those were more than his usual amount and Coomer didn’t break any locks to the arcade machines again.
“Where did you get those?”
“Pawned them off of that kid! They’re gullible!” Bubby said, cackling at his genius.
“Dear Bubby is very smart!” Coomer said, wrapping his arm around Bubby and giving him a small pat. Tommy chuckled a bit. So that’s how Joshua managed to use all those play coins so fast. He thought back to his conversation with Gordon, smiling at his reaction to his magic trick. Usually, when he did that trick to anyone over the age of 10 they would look at him weird or just roll their eyes. It was nice to have a nice reaction.
Hopefully, Gordon would visit again.