Chapter 44 Fletcher
FLETCHER
“Where are we going?” Sky asked, for the third time tonight.
“You’ll see.” Adam smiled at us in the rearview, his golden eyes twinkling with amusement. Sky and I sat together in the back. I held his hand, but he kept peering out the window nervously the farther we got from home.
I giggled. “Don’t worry, it’ll be fun,” I told him. “Trust me.”
I was surprised by how few cars occupied Tokenland’s lot when we arrived. “Wow. Usually, this place is pretty packed! Guess everyone’s too busy Christmas shopping to have fun.”
“Oh well. Their loss.” Adam killed the engine and pocketed the keys, then got out of the car. “Come on, let’s go. Everyone inside. It’s cold as hell out here.”
I opened the side door and dropped to the ground, careful not to slip on the snowy pavement. Sky barreled out behind me, not wishing to be left behind, and the two of us followed Adam into the large octagonal building with the bright orange and yellow sign reading “Tokenland” in big bold letters.
The minute we walked inside, a cacophony of senses greeted us.
Bright lights and loud, flashing arcade machines; kids running around, not using inside voices as they slapped buttons and aimed joysticks; tickets being spit from machines as colorful lights spun in circles, signifying that they had won.
The smell of buttery popcorn filled the air from the popcorn machine behind the counter.
Sky stumbled to a stop in the doorway, his eyes going round as saucers. “What is this place?”
I tried to stifle my laughter, to no avail. He looked so damn cute. “Tokenland! It’s one of our favorite places to go. We buy tokens from the machine over there, then use those tokens to play games and win tickets, and at the end, we exchange the tickets for prizes. It’s really fun.”
“Wow…” He looked like an awestruck child.
I bounced on the balls of my feet, grabbing Sky’s hand. “I’ll show you all my favorite games.”
Sky’s brow furrowed. “But…isn’t this like, a place for kids?”
“Look around,” Adam said, and I followed Sky’s gaze around the room.
There were adults playing old-school arcade and pinball machines, parents having fun with their children, teens gathered around kicking ass at rhythm games.
“Not just for kids. The prizes aren’t just for kids either.
I’ve won some nifty office nicknacks before.
Besides, who says adults can’t have fun?
” He grinned. “We’re the ones with all the money, after all. ”
Winking, he leaned in and kissed Sky’s cheek. Sky turned a charming shade of pink and stumbled over his words a bit before finally getting out, “Sure, I guess.”
Adam pulled out his wallet and began feeding crisp twenty-dollar bills into the small machine parked beside the entrance doors.
There was a soft mechanical whirring, and then shiny gold tokens came pouring out into a small basin underneath.
Adam counted them out into paper cups and handed one to me and one to Sky.
“Have fun,” he said with a grin.
I beamed. “We will. C’mon, Sky!” Excitement bubbling up, I grabbed my mate’s hand and dragged him along behind me, leaving Adam in the dust.
I stopped at a large, round machine with a wheel of colorful lights moving in a continuous circle and gestured towards it.
“This one’s one of my favorites. See the lone white light?
You’re trying to capture it in this small section here.
When the light goes around the wheel, and it lands in this area, you push this button. Like this.”
I waited until the light went around the circle twice, observing it. When it reached my spot, I slapped the big red button on top of the machine, successfully catching the light in the center of my target area.
Instantly, the machine lit up, flashing and playing music, and tickets came spitting out of the side.
I bent down and tore them off, showing them to Sky. “Voila! Tickets! Now you try.” He hesitated, uncertain, the cup of tokens gripped in one hand, like he wasn’t sure what to do with them. I reached out and brushed hair out of his face, offering a smile. “Hey, relax. It’s not gonna bite you.”
“I just… I feel awkward,” he admitted, glancing between me and the machine. “I’ve never done this before.”
“Well, no one’s judging you. Everyone’s too busy playing games. C’mon, how about I show you all my other favorite games and let you decide which ones you wanna try?”
“Okay,” he agreed. “That sounds good.”
We walked around the arcade, dodging little kids who ran around with laughter in their hearts and tickets gripped in their hands. I pointed out different machines and showed Sky how to play them.
Then we came to another one of my favorites.
“This one’s fun.” It was an oversized, creepy pirate head with a wide-open mouth, his gnarly old teeth just waiting to be knocked out.
“You gotta blow out as many teeth as you can with three balls. The gold one’s worth the most points, but it’s the hardest one to hit. Watch this.”
I sat down on the stool and loaded a token into the machine, and a sea shanty started playing. Immediately, the pirate mocked me, but I was quick with the gun. I aimed and fired three balls, knocking out a handful of teeth.
“Oi, ya got me, matey…” Tickets came spitting out the side. I tore them off and stood, then waggled them in Sky’s face.
“You’re up.”
He looked a little nervous, but I saw it—the gleam of curiosity and interest shining behind those heterochromatic eyes. He might not have gotten to play at an arcade as a kid, but Adam and I would make sure he got to play them as an adult.
And we’d bring our daughter here, too, when she got to be a little older. I smiled at the thought.
Of course, Sky missed all but one ball, knocking out a single tooth. The pirate responded by laughing at him. “Yar-har-har! Better luck next time!”
Sky laughed. “That was kind of fun. I wanna do it again.”
I patted his back. “Enjoy. I’m gonna go play something too. If you need me, I’m right around the corner.” I winked at him. “Have fun!”
After playing for a while, Adam waved us over to the token machine. He had a sizable wad of tickets in his hand, and a cup of tokens in the other.
Sky’s eyes widened. “Wow, you must be really good at this.”
Adam chuckled. “Oh, I am. I didn’t get to have fun growing up, so I take all the chances I can get to enjoy myself as an adult. It’s the little things.”
“Now…” His grin turned wolfish, and my stomach flip-flopped.
He was up to something. “I have a challenge for you. Hold out your cups.” We did, and he counted out twenty tokens into each one.
“Whoever can win the most tickets? Wins all of my tickets, and a blowjob.” He dropped his voice to a hush for that last part, thankfully.
Sky’s face flushed red at the same time I gasped, “Adam! God!”
“Sounds good?” He waggled his brows. “Good. On your marks, get set, go!”
I threw my head back on a laugh, shoulder-checking Sky who was still bright red. “Good luck, babe,” I teased, then took off.
We spent the next half-hour slapping buttons and aiming guns, playing Duck Hunt and arcade games while the machines flashed and chimed and doled out tickets like their mechanical hearts depended on it.
When my token cup ran dry, I returned to Adam’s side. We waited on Sky, who was still knocking the teeth out of the poor pirate.
I grinned up at my mate. “I think he’s getting the hang of it.”
“Good. It’s good for him to let loose and have a little fun,” he agreed.
Sky caught up with us about ten minutes later, his Converse scuffing over the worn carpet. “I’m pretty sure I lost, but hey, it was fun,” he said, offering his tickets to Adam, as if he expected him to count them.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” I murmured. Sidling over to Sky, I tucked my tickets into his hoodie pocket and kissed him on the cheek. “Well, would you look at that? We’ve got a winner.”
Adam smirked. “Guess we do. Congratulations, love.” He handed Sky his tickets. Sky looked confused for a moment before his face morphed into a look of glee. He giggled and gathered all the tickets up in his arms.
“Now what?”
“Now we go pick out your winnings,” I said. “To the ticket counter!”
We got in line to wait, and I watched a little boy of maybe six press his nose against the glass, leaving smudges behind as he whined at his mother for some candy. It made me wonder… Would our daughter be that exuberant? Perhaps a bit more well-behaved, though.
As we reached the ticket counter, the young man wearing the Ticketland badge weighed the tickets on a digital scale. “1,200 tickets,” he announced.
“Wow,” Sky said. “That’s a lot.”
“Look at all the things you can get.” I pointed out the different prizes—plushies of all shapes and sizes, nicknacks and statuettes, t-shirts and hoodies, all the way down to toys and candy for the kiddos.
Everything was labeled by how many tickets it cost, with the higher-priced things on taller tiers.
Some things cost over 10,000 tickets! That was a lot of gaming.
Sky looked around, studying the things on the shelves, but his gaze kept lingering on the small plasma ball, its little electric “fingers” dancing along the purple-tinted glass.
“That’s cool,” he said, pointing at it.
I grinned. “It’s only a thousand tickets.”
“I want that, then.”
“Sure thing,” the employee said. He snagged one of the boxes off the shelf behind the display item and handed it to Sky. Sky held it as if it were something fragile that might shatter at any given moment. “You still have two hundred tickets left. Anything else catch your fancy?”
Sky glanced over at me. “Fletcher?”
I gave my head a shake, still smiling. “I’m good, but thanks.”
“Adam?” Adam did the same.
Sky looked past us, to where the family with the little boy stood off to the side. His mother was chatting with someone—another mother, with a stroller and twins in tow—and the little boy wore a frown, his arms crossed over his chest. He never got that candy.
For a moment, Sky watched the boy scuff the toe of his shoe along the carpet, then he turned back to the guy behind the counter. He pointed to the candy behind the glass and said, “Give me however many suckers two hundred tickets will buy.”
The man nodded and used a small scoop to fill a paper bag with probably at least twenty small lollipops of varying flavors, each individually wrapped. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” Sky took the bag and, without hesitation, he walked over to the little boy and knelt down in front of him. “Hey. What’s your name?”
The boy made a face, obviously uncertain whether he should talk to strangers, but the paper bag in Sky’s grip had him curious. He tilted his head to the side, sizing Sky up. “Jacob. What’s yours?”
“I’m Sky. I heard you wanted some candy?” Sky’s lip curved into a small smile. “I had some spare tickets, so here you go. Merry Christmas, Jacob.” He handed him the paper bag, and Jacob’s eyes went wide when he peered inside to see all the suckers just waiting to be unwrapped and devoured.
“Wow! Thank you, mister!” he exclaimed, then ran over to his mom, tugging on her jacket sleeve. “Mom look! Suckers!”
His mother looked perturbed. “What? Where did you get those?”
Jacob pointed to Sky, who stood to his full height. “He did! He had extra tickets and bought me candy!”
Sky offered a hesitant smile. “I hope that was okay. It’s the holiday season, and I wanted to spread a little Christmas cheer.”
“Oh, yes, it’s okay. You didn’t have to do that, though, but thank you.”
“Merry Christmas. Hope Santa brings you awesome gifts this year, Jacob.”
“Thanks, mister.” Jacob had already unwrapped a lollipop and stuck it in his mouth, sucking away happily, a big smile on his face.
Sky turned and headed for the exit. Adam and I exchanged a look, wished the mother a Merry Christmas, then followed our Omega out into the cold. Snow danced from the sky, fluttering around us in little white flakes.
I caught Sky’s hand in mine. “Aww, look at you. Being sweet.”
“Oh, hush. I wasn’t gonna use the tickets and kids love candy. Besides, it’s the holidays. Thought I’d do my good deed, so Santa Claus will bring me presents.”
“You’re precious,” I murmured, meaning it with all my heart, but before I could make a move, Adam swooped in first.
He caught Sky by the back of the neck and kissed him, hard. Sky practically melted beneath it. Grinning, I grabbed him by the front of his coat and dragged him in for a kiss as well, tasting Adam’s breath mint on his tongue.
“Fuck,” Sky whispered.
“Let’s go home,” I suggested. “Someone’s earned himself a little fun.”
Adam’s laugh was rumbly and did all sorts of things to my insides as he stepped close and ran a hand down my back, leaning in. “I think we’re all going to get lucky tonight, but yes. Let’s go home.”
My heart skipped a beat. I couldn’t wait.