Little by little [Sadie x Lars][Steven Universe]

Arcades & Rainy Days

Lars

Despite the events of that 'almost doomsday', our lives remained pretty much unaffected. Although, I guess I was less bored doing my job. Having the world almost seem to come to an end made me appreciate the regular calmness of everyday life. A few areas had been damaged from the falling debris, and had to be repaired, including the arcade, but they were easily fixed in only a few days time.

I was able to convince Sadie to come with me to check out the arcade again. We both hadn't been to that place in quite a while, so it was more for nostalgic purposes than for the games or tickets, but it was also partially so I could have an excuse to hang out with her. Sadie and I hadn't really talked about that day with the eye, and our conversations on other topics were a little awkward, so we weren't as close as we were before. We were both probably trying to forget about that day, so we distanced ourselves from each other. But here we were now, and there was no way I was gonna screw this up.

"Which game you wanna play first, P2?" I asked, the tokens carried in a bag in my left hand clinking together.

Sadie scratched her chin. "Hmm... Haven't been here in so long, I've basically forgotten all the games here."

"Well let's try something easy then- you up for Skee Ball? I bet I can get more points than you!" There's no way she would turn down a challenge.

"Oh yea? Your on!" She laughed. We walked to the Skee Ball machine, and I put tokens in two of the machines, one for me and one for her.

I should've guessed she'd beat me at this game too. Even when I tried to fake her out by distracting her, shouting random things, she managed to keep her aim true. It wasn't that I was bad at the game, she was just too good at these kinds of things, scoring the five hundred slot multiple times in a row.

"Man, your too good at this. Why couldn't you just let me win?" I gathered the tickets and teased her a little.

"Cause then that'd be cheating, duh. I'm just the queen of games obviously." She pretended to laugh haughtily, over over exaggerating the inflection of her voice.

"Hm.." I looked around the arcade for another game. There's got to be something I can win at, darn it. I spotted a racing game and a lightbulb went off in my mind. "Up for a little race then, oh queen of games?"

"Oh no my one weakness!" She said sarcastically. We both grinned and jogged to the racing arcade booth. I sat back in the large chair of one, the zipper of my open jacket clinking briefly against the thick plastic. Sadie seated in the one next to me and curled her fingers around the wheel. She had a red hoodie on, zipped up and the hood down. She put her feet in their positions on the pedals and we scrolled through the car select screen.

"Aw this one's cute!" Sadie pointed at a small red car who's round lights reminded me of a bug.

"But the stats are terrible, look at the turning." She always picked her characters on appearances, even in fighting games. I never understood how she kicked my butt with those characters.

"I know, but maybe it's lonely, cause it's not picked that often. Bad cars want to be played too." Sadie joked.

I moved my select screen to the same car and clicked accept. "There, now we both have terrible cars."

"Well aren't you sweet." She rolled her eyes.

I was surprised to win the match, and pumped my fist into the air in celebration. "Take that!"

"Oh no, I've been de-throned! Who shall rule the gaming kingdom now?" She said dramatically.

"I'll rule it with an iron fist, that's what!"

She challenged me to a 'final duel' at the one-on-one fighting arcade game in the back- best two out of three wins. I could already tell this wouldn't end well for me, but how could I refuse her? As expected, Sadie beat me easily, but she claimed I'd greatly improved, and supposedly had difficulty winning. Even though we weren't here for the prizes, we decided to pool our tickets together to get her a plastic gold crown for laughs. I told her the queen of gaming needed her crown, and she hid her face for a moment before turning and smiling.

On the way back, clouds began to form in the previously clear skies. They threatening to rain on us, so I ran to a nearby shop and bought an umbrella, since I'd neglected to bring one. The moment I got back, water drops began to fall and pattern the boardwalk's wood with dark spots wherever the water was absorbed.

"Aw man, the weather didn't say it was gonna rain." Sadie sighed.
I opened the new umbrella and held it up, offering to share it.

"Thanks." She tucked her hair behind her ear and slid a little closer to me to keep herself under the umbrella as we walked. My face started to feel warm, so I turned my head to look up and watch the raindrops patter against the top of the clear umbrella.

"Going back to the arcade brought a lot of memories back. It was pretty cool- Even if you kicked my butt." I laughed, trying to start a conversation as we walked.

"Definitely. I hadn't been there in years. It was pretty fun- Even if I kicked your butt." She added the last part in the same tone I had, causing me to smile more.

When we reached the parking lot, I looked down at her once more. Her eyes were filled with happiness, and her mouth was turned up in a smile. A stray drop of rain trickled down her cheek, which I raised my hand instinctively and brushed away. Her face turned red in a blush when I did, so I withdrew my hand quickly.

"Sorry, you had a little water on your face." I apologized. I guess I overstepped my boundaries or something.

"I-it's fine." Sadie stuttered. I felt a little bad for breaking her personal space. She told me once she was just shy when it came to her space, and said that's why she got nervous sometimes. I consciously tried to avoid touching her ever since, but every once in a while I'd forget.

I cleared my throat. "Drive home safe, ok? The rain can be a little hard to see in..."

Sadie nodded. "R-right, see ya tomorrow!" She waved and headed to her car.

"Later, P2!"