Work Text:
Day 3: Videogames/Pining
"Alright, so, hear me out, Nick-"
"Whatever it is that you are about to beg me for, the answer is 'No', Maya."
Maya stood in front of Phoenix's desk with her cheeks puffed out and her small fists to her side. "You haven't even heard me out, yet!" she complained with a whine.
Phoenix gave her an exasperated look. "When you start your sentence with, 'Alright, hear me out, Nick' I just know it is going to cost me some sort of amount of money," he explained to her, pinching the corners of his eyes.
The medium gave a small grimace while she gave the "so-so" hand gesture. "But I swear it's not a lot!" she promised. "The arcade by the high school has just got the new 'Steel Samurai vs. Evil Magistrate - Deluxe Battle for Neo Old Tokeyo: The Arcade Game'!"
Phoenix's jaw dropped. "Why… is the title so long…?" he asked her, completely perplexed.
"It just is!" she vaguely replied.
Phoenix gave a loud sigh. "So… what, is this an arcade game based on the movie you made me go see with you a few weeks ago…?" he questioned her.
Maya scoffed, "Uh, NO!"
"Oh."
"It's the arcade game based on the home videogame version that is based off of the movie!" she told him. "Duh!"
The attorney rolled his eyes. "Of course," he slowly said, over-acting his words. "Silly me, how could I have ever mistaken that…?"
Maya stuck her tongue out at him. "Well, why are we still sitting here!?" she demanded. "We need to make our way down there and get our gaming on!"
Phoenix rolled his eyes. "Maya… I have paperwork to finish up…" he informed her. "And besides, the last time I played any sort of video game was back in grade school."
Maya's mouth dropped. "WHHHHAAAAAT!?" she nearly screeched. She immediately ran around the desk and grabbed his hand, forcing him to drop his pen. "C'mon, Nick! We need to get you a dose of gaming!"
The attorney's face fell, looking completely exasperated and beaded with sweat. With a sigh, he got up from his desk and began to follow Maya out of the office, his keys in hand to lock up behind him. The Spirit Medium smiled with victory as she waited for him to lock the door and they headed for the nearest bus stop.
**
"Wow… this place is packed…!"
"Well, Maya, it is a little after three in the afternoon on a weekday, so the school just got out," Phoenix pointed out to her. "And you said the game is brand new to the arcade… of course these kids are going to want to play."
The other games in the arcade were completely abandoned, but the "Steel Samurai" game was crowded with onlookers and a line. When Maya managed to push her way through the onlooker crowd, it seemed the two people who currently playing were playing as two players - the main character of the "Steel Samurai" himself and the secondary character, the "Pink Princess". It seemed that the duo's streak was long - they had been playing since they got there, feeding the machine constantly with quarters to keep their lives up.
"Aw, Nick… they're not letting anyone else play…!" Maya complained to him when she sulked back.
"Can’t be helped, Maya," Phoenix shrugged, not particularly caring. "They got here first."
"There has to be some kind of law they're breaking by hogging the game!" Maya pouted, her cheeks puffed out.
The attorney gave a small chuckle, "Unfortunately, no… there is not. Unless they assault someone over the game, or breaking one of the arcade rules, they are there to stay."
Since they were there at the arcade, Phoenix figured he would cheer Maya up a bit by playing some games with her since they were all free. She had given him a small nod and the two went off. Maya couldn't help but laugh at how odd Phoenix looked in his suit playing a racing game with her.
"You didn't give me time to change…" he had complained to her. "And you're one to talk with your robes!" The proper response was Maya beating him in the race.
The next game they played was a zombie shooting game where they took plastic guns and shot at the screen. It had cheesy dialogue, and it was something that Maya knew by heart as she was reciting the lines with poor voice acting along side them. Phoenix was a little more decent at the game as it was an updated version of a similar game he played as a kid on a console.
After an hour of them playing around, they had won a decent number of tickets, but Maya still wanted to at least try to play the new "Steel Samurai" game. The crowd had since dispersed, but it was still the same two people at the game. Upon further inspection - they weren't high school students, but college kids that seemed to not have classes that day and were just playing at the arcade all day.
"Hey, do you mind if we can have a chance to play?" Maya asked politely, her hands clasped together.
"Buzz off," one of the players replied, a taller lanky guy with dark blonde hair wearing a red beanie with the local community college logo on it.
"Yeah, we've been here since the arcade opened," the other replied, him with brown hair with a few streaks of blue, wearing a red hoodie from the local community college.
"We're trying to find every Easter Egg in the game since we already beat it a few times," the first one followed-up.
Maya's jaw dropped. "A few times!?" she nearly shouted. "Okay, I get playing while the kids are at school, and you don't have classes or something… but let others have a chance after the fact!"
Phoenix pinched the edges of his eyes. "Maya, we can come back another day…" he told her.
The second player laughed, "Yeah, try to be here when we aren't, I dare ya! Listen to your Sugar Daddy here!"
Phoenix's face fell. "I am anything but that…" he grumbled.
Maya puffed out her cheeks in anger. "Oh, you guys are jerks!" she shouted at them. "Hogging the game from a bunch of kids and kids at heart!"
"I have no idea why I'm being lumped into that latter category…" the attorney sighed.
"We are paying customers, girlie!" the first player told her. "We can do what we want!" He then eyed her up and down. "I'll tell ya what, you can sit on my lap and watch me play, you're pretty cute." He then waggled his dark blonde brows at her.
Maya's face twisted with disgust. "Um… no thanks…" she muttered, her crossing her arms.
"Only way you're going to be able to play…" the guy told her in a sing-song voice.
"Talk to her like that again and there will be suit filed for sexual harassment faster then you pressing one of those damn buttons on that console," Phoenix then growled, his dark blue eyes narrowed at him.
The man gave a chuckle. "Oh, what are ya, some kind of lawyer? That why ya wearing a suit and tie?"
"As a matter of fact, I am," Phoenix smirked. "And I personally know a couple of prosecutors who would love to make sure your asses get in jail."
The second player paled slightly. "Hey man, we were just messin'…" he insisted, his voice cracking.
"One has a whip," Phoenix continued, not caring. "And believe me, she just loves to use it… and get your head out of the gutter, not in that way."
The second player then got up from the game, the continue screen counting down. He pocketed whatever quarters he had left. "All yours, miss…" he told Maya. He then gestured to his friend to get up.
"Dude, what the hell!" the first player shouted at him. "You pussy, he's just bluffing!"
"Am I?" Phoenix countered, tilting his head to the side slightly and rubbing his chin.
With a scoff, the first player relented and got up from the game as well, pocketing his leftover quarters as well. He then bumped into Phoenix's arm as he stalked off, muttering incoherently. The second player trailed off after him.
Phoenix let out a long sigh, which was cut off by a startled grunt as Maya threw her arms around his torso. "M-Maya…!?" he squeaked out.
"Thank you, Nick…!" she said to him. Was the sniffle he heard from her?
Bashfully, Phoenix scratched behind his head. "Eh… it's no big deal…" he replied offhandedly.
"You looked like you wanted to deck him though," Maya smiled up coyly at him.
"I mean… he was…"
Maya gave a giggle, "I would never dream of sitting in another man's lap!" She then realized what she said, and her face turned into a bright crimson, practically glowing.
"What was that, Maya…?" Phoenix pressed lightly, trying to hide his grin.
"N-Nothing!" Maya squealed, throwing her hands out in front of her to push her away from him. "Now let's play some of the game! I call the 'Steel Samurai'!" She sat in the one chair and put a quarter in to select the chosen character.
"Wait… I have to be the 'Pink Princess'!?" Phoenix said to her, clearly shocked.
"Yes!"
"OBJECTION!"