Cedar and Finn

Chapter 8

Finn hopped out of Cedar's car happily, excited to head into the arcade with them, reminding himself that this was in fact not a date. This was two friends hanging out. Cedar followed behind him, walking up to the counter to pay their entry. "For the two of you?" Finn was about to cut in, letting the person working the counter know that they were separate, but Cedar got to it before him.

"Yeah, the two of us. I'll pay with my debit," Cedar said, pulling out their wallet, holding their card out to tap on the payment machine. Finn looked up at them, blushing softly, not expecting Cedar to pay for him. "No receipt is fine, thanks," Cedar said and put their card back in their wallet as they walked into the retro-style arcade. It was being maintained by a few local video game enthusiasts who wanted to maintain and restore retro games.

"You didn't have to pay for me, you know that right? I could have covered myself," Finn said with his cheeks slightly pink. He felt special to have Cedar cover for him.

"It's not a big deal. I figured you were probably broke since you spend all of your free time at my work, that you didn't have a job for yourself." Harsh. Finn started to pout, until he realized that Cedar didn't seem to know he did in fact have his own part time job.

"I have a job. I work at the grocery store. Just a few shifts a week, but my mom sends me an allowance for school stuff and living expenses. She worked hard to save a ton of money so I could be comfortable while I was at school," Finn explained his situation to Cedar, who didn't seem fazed by the comment. They looked down at him before cracking a small smirk.

"Oh, you thought I was serious? I was joking. Sorry I didn't make that clear. I knew you had a part time job. I've been at your apartment when you aren't home with Vega," Cedar said, chuckling softly after they realized that he thought they were serious. Finn was blushing as he admired the way they looked smirking at him, ignoring the sadness he would normally feel hearing that they were over when he wasn't around.

The two looked around the arcade, trying to decide which game they were going to play together. They decided on a shooter, both picking up on of the guns. "You know, surprisingly, I haven't been here before," Cedar admitted while they held the gun up, ready to shoot enemies.

"Really? This seems like a place you'd like to go. I'm sort of shocked," Finn said softly, holding his own gun. Cedar shrugged and started to shoot when the enemies showed up. "And with how good you are at this, I'd think you come all of the time."

"Yeah, well, this isn't very hard." There was a silent between the two of them as they continued to play the game. "I never went out because I had no one to go and do shit with. That's why I've never been to places like this. No motivation to go out, no one to make me go out. My free time is spent in my dorm, binging TV and playing video games. Or getting high so I can just sit and do nothing. Well, it was, before you and Vega decided to shove your way into my life."

Finn looked towards Cedar, blushing softly, admiring them. After the game ended, they looked at Finn, blushing a bit, not expecting him to be staring at them. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Finn blushed more, realizing he'd gotten caught and quickly looked away. They continued to stare at him for a moment, turning into admiring him.

The way his freckles dusted over his face, the pink he got on his cheeks sometimes and how bright his eyes shined. He was incredible, adorable, even hot? Oh God, what was happening? Their heart skipped a beat when they realized that they let it happen again. They had fallen for Finn. "Are you okay Cedar?"

They came back to reality, their heart racing and their whole face turning a bright red. They looked away from him, staring back at the game, attempting to keep it together. "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Uh, let's play Dance Dance like you wanted to," Cedar said, faking it as they put down their gun, grabbed Finn's gun to put away as well, and took his hand, dragging him towards the Dance Dance machine.