Chapter Text
Aside from you and Vance, the Grab N Go was empty. Even the woman behind the counter had retreated into the back to attend to other tasks. Normally, the woman wouldn’t dare to leave Vance unattended in the store, but seeing him with you quelled her anxieties. Over the months you two had been coming here together, you had proved to be quite successful at keeping Vance’s more wild side at bay.
Vance stood hard at work, eyes laser-focused on the pinball machine in front of him. You stood beside it, leaning against the adjacent window. You watched both the machine and Vance, looking between both subjects. The metal ball bounced around the machine, dinging as it hit the sweet spots. Vance’s eyes followed it religiously, his fingers posed ready on the buttons on either side of the machine.
You could see him stick his tongue out of the side of his mouth slightly, deep in concentration. You fought to keep your laugh at bay, not trying to break his concentration.
“Am I almost there, Y/N,” he asked quickly, breaking his concentration for only a second to speak. You peered up to the score reader.
“Almost, V. Got about 400 points before you’re there,” you replied. You could feel Vance’s excitement radiating off his body. He’d been working to beat his high score for months. Before, the closest he had come was 1,200 points, so the stakes felt high. Although you could see the temptation in his eyes, Vance was determined not to cheat. He wanted to earn this.
With a couple more dings of the ball hitting targets, you laughed triumphantly. Vance smiled widely, understanding your laughter, but kept playing. He kept going until the ball fell in between the flippers and ended the game. Vance smiled widely at the scoreboard before bursting out in happy laughter.
“2,000! I beat it by 2,000!” He looked so excited. “Son of a bitch, I fuckin’ did it!” His right hand grabbed your left and shook it in the air triumphantly.
“Make way for the pinball champion,” you smiled at him, sharing in his joy.
“Damn straight,” he nearly shouted, letting go of your hand to punch the air above him.
“You know what we gotta do now,” you said, crossing your arms happily. He looked down at you with a grin everyone else would read as threatening.
“The one thing in life I do know,” he laughed. “Milkshakes.”