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Having been invited to many of the Z-Team's weekly celebrations, Herman never knew exactly what to bring. He stared at his backpack, praying it would give him answers. It didn't.
To celebrate the end of a particularly harsh week, Alice had suggested that they go to her place for a "house party." House party. Yes. Herman knew what a house party was. He'd been to many of those before. Totally.
As far as the team goes, really anything could happen there. They could all crash there, move to the bar across the street and crash somewhere else, or they could honestly leave the place by eleven. Nobody ever knew what to expect and it tended to give him anxiety sometimes.
But this was a "house party." So, he was definitely going to a house. What was he going to do in the house? Was he going to end up crashing there? Should he bring anything at all that wasn't alcohol? He decided to throw a pair of his pajama pants (they were workout pants that were somewhat water resistant) and his Nintendo Switch in his bag and call it a day. If he got too overstimulated he could find a corner and nerd out for a minute; it was already connected to Alice's Wi-Fi anyway.
It was no secret that he was bullied almost all of his school years; and what do kids that are victims of bullying do? They become cops, or they become gamers. Herman certainly wasn't a cop, but he definitely spent many hours of his youth playing CoD and Minecraft instead of doing his homework. Slipping his bag over his back, which also had various snacks and a bottle of cheap Vodka that he threw in last minute, he made his way to Alice's.
@)---'--,---
He barely had a chance to knock at the door before Alice opened it for him.
"H-Hi! I am… here!" he said, already overwhelmed. He could tell everybody else from the team were already there.
"Damn right you are! Get in here, Herman!" And then he could tell everybody else from the team had already been drinking. Hell, he might join them in a minute. He shuffled in.
If there was one thing Alice could do, it was host a house party. In the kitchen he could see several pizzas, random snacks, and a giant pitcher of something pink that would probably explode if someone lit a match by it. There were various other sodas by the pink pitcher, so he decided to set his vodka bottle by those. He set his backpack on the counter, attempting to take it out without slipping and breaking it.
Courtney was suddenly behind him, solo cup in hand. "Damn, boy, we almost didn't think you'd make it- hey wait, is that a Switch?" He successfully put the bottle near the other sodas despite nearly jumping out of surprise. "You got Mario Kart 8?" She gave him the solo cup. He took a sip and it tasted like gasoline.
Not only did he have it, he nearly had every track and statistic memorized. For some added social points, he figured he'd leave out that fact. "I, uh, I do!" Taking out his switch, he looked up at her, hoping he wasn't seeming too excited that another human would game with him. "Do y-you, do you- uh, if you-"
"Fuck yeah, I want to play. Good thing I brought mine, too." She then rather abruptly took him by the wrist, leading him to Alice's living room. She snatched the remote from Robert who was trying to find some decent background noise. "Move aside, losers, we're playing Mario Kart!"
Within about three minutes, the entire Z-Team had gathered in the living room, cheering when Courtney had figured out how to display her switch. To be honest, he thought they were just going to play quietly in a corner somewhere, so now he was incredibly nervous. She set up a lobby set at 200cc for him to join, and within minutes there was already a betting pool. There were sitting in front of the TV, sitting crisscross next to each other.
Wait. There was a betting pool. And nobody here knew he was a chronically online gamer.
Herman got a really, really mean idea.
"Who's addin' to the bettin' pool? We got nobody on Herman's side!" came a shout from Colm, who seemed to be in control of the pool.
"I don't think I've seen anyone beat Courtney at Mario Kart," said Malevola, adding her share to her pile.
"We're playing the special cup," she had decided, choosing Cloudtop Cruise. Herman smiled to himself and also chose the track. Catching a sneak back, he saw that there were now a few dollar bills on his side. Whoever was betting on him was going home rich at the end of the night. "Whoever wins Rainbow Road at the end is the winner!"
The track loaded in, and he got a look of Courtney's character. She was apparently a Daisy main, while he was a Shy Guy main. The timer counted down, and they were off.
Cloudtop Cruise was not his favorite track, but it was alright. The first two tracks, he decided, were going to be for observation. For example, he observed that Courtney was really into Mario Kart, and was already getting competitive. He hung behind her, dodging most of her shells, and taking a few to encourage the team to bet against him. She was an incredibly defensive player, which was great, because Herm was a very offensive player.
For a short three minutes, the team basically only rooted for Courtney. At least none of them were necessarily rooting again him. He came in second, but definitely not by a long shot. He took another sip of his pink gasoline.
"Dude, you're pretty good at this," she said, selecting Bone-Dry Dunes next. "Most people can't hang with me."
Herm gave her a smile. Honestly, he really was having fun. He made a mental note to bring his Switch to more places. "Th- thanks! Thank you." She flashed him a smile back. And then the track loaded in, and she immediately went back into competition mode.
The timer went off again, and he continued a second round of observation, slightly sticking out his tongue in concentration. She had stopped using items immediately after getting them, which meant she was also taking this seriously. He had chosen not to use any shortcuts yet.
He trailed a little closer to her than last time, driving and drifting in a steady, comfortable pace. He made mental note of every item she got and how she used it. She was still defensive, but seemed to be more concentrated. He glanced to look at her face, and she was fully absorbed in the match.
Again, he landed in second, but this time he was right behind her as they finished. "Jeez, you nearly got me," she mumbled under her breath. He was starting to reconsider his decisions. They both took a sip of their drink. It was time to get serious.
"Anymore bets for the third race?" rang out Colm's voice. At that, Herman turned around briefly to make eye contact with Robert. As Robert, who seemed oddly invested in this, gave him an eyebrow raise, he gave him a wink and a smile. He turned around, hoping he got the message.
"I'll bet on it," Robert had suddenly said. As the two selected Bowser's Castle, the room immediately went silent. The two players turned around to look at the betting pool.
Colm had set up a makeshift stand, with two red solo cups acting as the betting pool. One was overloaded with cash with "COURTNEY" scribbled on it, and the other labeled "HERM" had next to nothing, except for one thing. There was a crisp one hundred dollar bill sticking out the top. The madman had just bet $100 on Herman's success in a Mario Kart game, of all things.
Immediately there was chaos. As the track loaded in, the rest of the team temporarily forgot about the match as Herman and Courtney readied up for the third match. Now it was time.
Out of the gate, he was immediately in front of her. As the team behind them were arguing on whether to accept the $100 bet or not, the two were battling it out. Shells were flying, bombs were being tossed, and coins were collected. He wasn't even using any shortcuts. He glanced at her, and saw she also had about just as much concentration on her face as he had. About halfway through the race, people were starting to notice the change in competition.
"Is he… is he winning?"
"What's happening!?"
"Did we just get hustled by fucking Waterboy."
And as Herman crossed the finish line just in front of Courtney, the room went completely wild. People were rushing to either double down on their bet, or frantically bet on him.
"You know the rules!" Colm shouted above the chaos. "No taking back your bets, you cowards!" Neither of them spoke to each other as they chose the Special Cup Rainbow Road track, the final track for everyone's bets. Now he was to pull out all the stops and give it everything he's got.
The timer counted down, and they were off for the final time. Side by side, the two were sweating, both desperate to win. He pulled off as many shortcuts as he could, rationing his items to use for defense.
Halfway through, the room was in complete shambles as everyone cheered (rather screamed) them on. A good half of the room had doubled down on their bets, while the other half were now betting on him. They were drifting into oblivion, and all Herm cared about was his hope that he'd still be alive after this.
The race ended, and it wasn't even close. Herman had won by a landslide. There were screams and shouts all around them, with most of the team accusing Robert of screwing up the whole bet with his $100 bill. Robert didn't seem to care, happily splitting his earnings with the other bidders.
He slowly and cautiously turned to Courtney, who was staring at him in disbelief. "I, uh, I play- I really o-often… play Mario Kart…"
Her stare turned into a devious smile. "Wanna go again?"
He returned the grin. "A-Absolutely."