Work Text:
“Ugh, it fell again!” Somber trumpets sounded as the mechanical voice echoed from the claw machine, signaling a failed attempt. A sigh followed by a shout of self-encouragement, then an additional deeper voice chuckling.
Avery narrowed his eyes, staring at a red octopus plushie that lay next to the barricaded square hole. He felt around beside him, trying to find more tokens to insert into the slot. He was only met with the plastic bottom of the container.
“Oh mein gott,” He shook the container frantically, “We’re out already?” Avery searched his pockets for his wallet, fishing out a couple of crumpled notes. “I’ll be right back! Just wait here okay? I’ll get us some food too.” With that, he left, taking the box heading to the counter and out of D3rlord3’s sight.
D3rlord3 glanced at the plushie Avery wanted, hands still in his jacket pockets. Should I? He did a quick sweep of the room, trying to spot Avery. The slime was nowhere to be seen. While watching Avery play, D3rlord3 noticed a glint on the floor and bent down to pick the item up. It was a token, still shiny and new. He had placed it in his pocket, contemplating if he should give it to Avery once the tokens were used up.
Thank you my knight in shining armour!
No, Avery wouldn’t say that. He shook his head. He had let his imagination run wild, going places even he didn’t know existed. D3rlord3 fiddled with the token, taking a second look around his surroundings and stepped towards the claw machine. Inserting the token into the slot, the game started up.
Whilst Avery was busy trying to score the prize, he was observing how the whole game worked. Firstly, claw machines were rigged. He knew this and tried to persuade Avery from playing, but it was futile. D3rlord3 used to work odd jobs here and there, and he had serviced claw machines before, though his memory of it was foggy — like a lot of things were after the incident.
There is a board inside the claw machine with either dials or dip switches. Changing the settings on them allows the owner to change the claw grip, speed, how much the claw closes, how much it will support and the increment of how much all these traits will increase for each game played. Usually, these have a linear regression to them so eventually it gets easy enough for just about anyone to win.
D3rlord3 took a deep breath and positioned the claw over the royal red octopus before starting to spin the joystick in circles. Consequently, the claw followed along, turning round and round. He pressed the drop button, the still-spinning claw fell down and clutched the prize in its grip. It slowly raised up, swaying side to side. He looked up at it, waiting. Eventually, the claw lessened its grip and flung the red plushie into the prize chute.
“I’m back!” Squeaky noises emitted from behind D3rlord3. The sounds of squelching came closer. He knelt down, yanked the plastic cover open upwards and stiffed the plushie up into his jacket, making sure that it didn’t bulge out.
Standing up and turning around, he was met face-to-face with Avery. “Hey man, I got some corndogs for us!” Two steaming hot corndogs slathered in mustard and ketchup and some secret third sauce, that D3rlord3 didn’t want to know the identity of, were held in Avery’s hands, slime dripping onto the floor from the heat. D3rlord3 tilted his head, pointing at the snacks.
“I kinda gave up on getting the plushie…” Avery let out a soft laugh, grinning. “I was spending wayyy too much anyways.” The humanoid slime handed a corndog to D3rlord3 as he bit into his own.
“Let’s find a seat.”
The two settled down on a bench outside the arcade, enjoying the hot corndog in the cool winter breeze. The winds blew around them, carrying withered leaves as it flowed past. Soft whistles tickled their ears, whispering its secrets before dancing away. Coldness embraced the pair, kissing their exposed skin, tinting their noses red — or for Avery, a lighter shade of green. It was a peaceful moment, sounds of distant cawing filled the air, echoing in the silence.
“Aves, I have something for you.” D3rlord3 spoke softly, his words almost lost in the air. Hot puffs of mist forming in the winter day. Avery stopped what he was doing for a second, pausing to calm himself down. He had cocked his head to the side, his tongue sticking out and rubbing the corndog stick between his gloved hands aggressively. He peeked at D3rlord3 for a moment before returning to his own devices, giving a slight nod of the head. “Give me a second, I’m trying to see if I can start a fire with this.”
D3rlord3 waited.
When Avery was unable to start a fire after multiple attempts that included asking D3rlord3 for his stick and twisting the two sticks in every possible way while rubbing them together, he proceeded to sigh, get up then throw the two sticks into a nearby rubbish bin. When he got back, D3rlord3 was positioned on the bench facing him, his head down and hands wrapped around his stomach. Avery chuckled nervously, scratching his blob head. “What’s up, man? You doing good?”
D3rlord3 said nothing, merely motioning Avery to sit down. So he did, and stared at D3rlord3 the whole time, slowly moving to the bench and very slightly tilting his head to see D3rlord3’s face. D3rlord3 would not allow it and kept turning his head further and further from Avery. Finally, Avery sat down on the bench. D3rlord3 was hunched over, covering his midsection still but this time, he met Avery’s gaze. The slime turned pink, looking away, embarrassed by the sudden eye contact. Avery heard D3rlord3 unzipping his jacket, then rustling fabric. He cleared his throat before tapping Avery on the shoulder.
Avery creaked his head around, avoiding eye contact with D3rlord3 by looking straight down. And that’s when he saw it. The deep red octopus plushie that had the most serious expression ever along with a green flower on its head. The same octopus he had failed at capturing. D3r had gotten it for him. He didn’t know how to react, going bright pink as he stared at the plush in shock.
“You tried really hard to win it, so I thought I’d get it for you as a surprise. Surprise?” D3rlord3 clutched the plushie in both hands, its face getting squished. He gently placed the toy in between them, pushing it ever so slightly towards Avery’s hand. D3rlord3 let out an awkward chuckle at the sudden uncomfortable silence.
“Actually…” Avery took the soft toy in his hands, shifting his body to face D3rlord3. He placed the plush down again, slowly and hesitantly as if unsure how to proceed. He inched his hand over D3rlord3’s and held it in his. He could feel D3rlord3’s warmth seeping into him, he could feel D3rlord3’s heartbeat, he could feel how D3rlord3 shivered, but D3rlord3 didn’t let go and Avery didn’t want to let him go either.
“I wanted to get this octopus for you, but I didn’t expect—” Avery giggled midway, placing a hand over his mouth as his laughter started to get louder and louder and more hysterical in nature. He cackled, snorted and wheezed. D3rlord3 stared at him silently, the tips of his ears a bright red, hidden underneath his helmet.
“Sorry for the surprise!” Avery teasingly continued, giggled bursting into his sentence, interjecting themselves between words. He held the octopus plushie in his hands, moving its arms around in a cheeky manner. “In my defense, it really reminded me of you. Stoic, serious and your favourite colour is royal red!”
“So here, for you.” Avery pushed the plushie onto D3rlord3’s chest, snapping him out of his thoughts.
“Thank you.” D3rlord3 held the plushie in his hands, staring at it in something that Avery was unable to decipher. Yet, he felt the same feeling blooming inside himself. The sun was setting, causing an orange-pink gradient to fill the sky. Avery flushed pink once again, hoping the light would help hide his blush as he played with his hands. The two sat in a comfortable silence, enjoying each other’s quiet company, watching the day pass.