Work Text:
“You’re fuckin’ awful at this, mon amour.”
Kakyoin gritted his teeth, smashing Continue—> before the result screen had a chance to reveal just how right Polnareff was. “I didn’t know the song!”
“Liar! It’s on the radio all the time, and I know you can hear me singing in the shower.”
“I swear it didn’t register half of my inputs, the button must be worn out or something.”
Polnareff shot him a scandalized look, complete with pearl-clutching dramatics, before he broke out in a fit of giggles. “Noriaki Kakyoin, you did not just blame the controller.”
Shame boiled in his gut and burned the tips of his ears. God, what a pathetic excuse! But it hadn’t been his choice to play this stupid game; Polnareff had been the one to drag him over to this half of the arcade, only to sit and watch him struggle like some sort of sadistic voyeur.
He’d played along out of love—he still couldn’t say no to that big oaf and his smile. Though now that he was embarrassing himself in front of his husband, Kakyoin wanted nothing more than to toss himself in front of some pixelated traffic.
“Here, lemme try.”
Noriaki turned to argue, only to come face-to-face with, well, Jean-Pierre’s chest. The older man beamed down at him with that same bright smile that had started this mess as he covered Kakyoin’s hands with his own.
3, 2, 1… Start!
Right off the bat Polnareff started tapping the control stick, even though the prompts hadn’t started. But they weren’t being counted as misses… in fact, they already had a combo. “Jean-Pierre, what the hell are you doing?”
“It’s called ‘gaming,’ babe.”
He had half a mind to smack him upside the head for that comment, but the tempo had increased, and their combo had reached the triple digits, and his annoyance was quickly being soothed by the comforting feeling of high-ranked, elite gamer performance. And of course it helped to have his husband's laugh tickling against his neck.
“See, now you’re getting it.”
Kakyoin couldn’t help but grin. Polnareff was doing all the work, but he didn’t mind taking the credit. He let himself get lost in the rhythm. The cabinet's lights flickered in time to the beat of their touch. Even English pop could sound good under the right circumstances.
CLEAR!
RANK: S
Polnareff immediately cheered in victory, hoisting Noriaki up into a hug which transformed into a kiss on instinct.
“Oi oi oi! No frotting on the machines!” A familiar voice cut through the moment and had them both dissolving into laughter. Polnareff yelled back, “Sorry, Rohan-sensei!” before he pressed another to Kakyoin’s cheek.
“Stop, stop! You’re going to get us in trouble!”
“What’s he gonna do, he doesn’t own the place.”
Kakyoin snorted, tracing a hand up to Jean-Pierre’s jaw as his gaze softened. “Hey, how’d you learn that?”
“What d’ya mean? That was pure skill, Noriaki~”
“You were hitting notes that didn’t even exist.”
“Oh, you noticed that?” Polnareff’s smile slipped into a grimace, the slightest hint of pink blooming up his neck. “I… might have slipped our pal Jojo Jr. ¥2,000 for a few pointers. Kid’s got too much time on his hands. But seems like he’s spending it well at least.” He winked, and Kakyoin craned his neck to catch a glimpse of Josuke hunched over a Pink Dark Boy- themed crane game while Rohan feigned disinterest from the side. Cute kids.
“So this was a set-up.” He smirked, “Got it. Well, in that case…”
Without so much as a flick of Kakyoin’s wrist, Heirophant unfurled like a ribbon and wound its way around the joystick. He kept Polnareff busy with another kiss while his stand maneuvered through the name entry.
“There.” He pulled back to admire his handiwork. Behind him, the leaderboard flashed 2. J P K. It took a moment for Polnareff to notice, but once he did, he turned as red as a rose.
“Bastard.”
“It’s your name, isn’t it?” Kakyoin matched their hands together, and an arrow of cruel charm pierced through Polnareff’s heart. “Now, how about we find someplace a little more private for round two?”