Chapter Text
It was now past closing time in the Hinobi store proper, and Zahra was doing final checks of the games on shelf, as well as the store tills. Sales had been good today, with nothing stolen, which meant that all that needed to be taken care of was organization and paperwork, under the store's half-dimmed lights.
It had taken a full half-hour of performing soothing, routine tasks for Zahra to finally calm down. Though, even now, the back of her mind—and the front of her mind, and everywhere in between—reveled in low-key chastising herself for how she'd handled things earlier.
Miko had just wanted to show appreciation for Zahra's company. She'd hardly been the first, either. So why was Zahra always so bad at accepting it?
Ugh. Miko had to hate her by now, and Zahra couldn't blame her one bit.
As she alphabetically shelved a final pile of game boxes scattered by customers over the course of the day, she heard the fwash of a portal in the room behind her. She glanced back to see who it was.
Speak of the devil. Zahra forced a small smile. "Well, now you're definitely going to get in trouble with your mom. It's super late."
"Yep," Miko replied, vaulting over the checkout counter and bouncing over to Zahra's side. "I am officially dead. Look for me in the back of the papers tomorrow. Worth it though—got up to mission 8, all S-Ranks!"
"Eight-mission perfection?" Zahra whistled, unable to stop her impressed expression. "Whoa! Nice job!"
"Thanks! Yep, I may be grounded for life, but at least I've got Smokin' Sick Style." She walked back to and sat on the counter, hesitating before speaking, kicking her legs as she glanced away at an angle, towards an imaginary fly on one of the game shelved. "Um… so, hey. Sorry I made things awkward back there. I really didn't mean to, I swear."
Zahra turned her back to Miko, towards the pile of games she'd been shelving—but didn't pick any of them up. She closed her eyes and sighed. Leave it to Miko to leave no stone, or embarrassing moment, unturned.
"You… didn't 'make' things awkward," she said. "Truth is, I came with Awkward preinstalled, plus its expansion pack. But everything you said? Actually made me really happy."
She heard Miko stifle a gasp. "Really?"
"Yeah. I'm just bad at reacting to that kind of stuff." Zahra shelved a copy of Kung Fu Creatures On The Rampage III. "Spent a lot of my life in my room, with no siblings, friends at a premium… I guess I just didn't get a lot of practice showing appreciation and stuff. Or learning how to handle it. But it wasn't your fault at all. It was mine."
"Oh…" Miko said, with a bit more silence as Zahra's words sunk in. "Oh. Wow. Zahra, I totally get that," she went on, bounding off the counter and running up to Zahra. "I get that super hard! To the point where… I think i'm jealous."
Zahra turned around. "You're jealous?"
Miko scoffed, holding up her hands. "I've got as many siblings as I've got fingers! In my house, you have to fight to be listened to, never mind for the controller. It was one of the reasons playing with you tonight was so much fun. I didn't have to force myself to get a turn—and you're the first Player Two I've had in forever who knows how to let people hear themselves think." She giggled. "Even Five can't manage that."
Zahra giggled back in spite of herself. "Seriously?"
Miko jazzed her hands. "Hi_5: Nicest boy in the universe—and, when he gets going, also squealier than both us at the same time would be if we suddenly won tickets to a Bravestone orchestral concert."
Zahra exhaled, staring into space as her eyes sparkled at the thought. Attending one of those concerts was one of her dreams in life—so far she'd had to settle for video streams of past events, and that hardly captured the atmosphere of really being there. "That's… pretty squealy."
"Heh. Yeah. So, yah, if it's okay…" Miko bound her hands together, swaying and kicking at the floor. "I was hoping I could… try again?"
Zahra blinked. "Try what again?"
Miko stepped in front of Zahra. "What I tried back in HQ. But with real words, this time."
Zahra did everything in her power to ignore her body heating up, and also everything she could to make a show of her not caring very much. "Uh, s-sure. I-if it'll make you feel better, I mean."
Miko grinned. "Don't think I'll be the only one."
And then, just like before, Zahra felt Miko's hands holding her own. No plushie, no arcade rival, no fanboy or fangirl, and certainly no online commenter, had ever brought about this feeling, and she hated being barely able to handle it just as much as she loved being a part of it.
"Thanks, Zahra," Miko said. "For not making fun of me when I was having trouble back there, or for playing Bravestone IX wrong—"
"You didn't play it wrong," Zahra cut in, "you just played it to the fullest and you did it your way aaaaaand whoop, sorry, you were totally in the middle of something big just now, right. See, this is what I mean at how bad I am at this…"
Miko laughed, her blush matching Zahra's. "Nah, it's okay, I promise. But yeah, in my gaming spaces, everything's skill skill skill and compete for all the things. It's like that offline with my sibs, and online, forget about it. What I'm trying to say is…"
Miko looked up at Zahra, serenity washing over her face. "Support classes are hard to come by. But I've always felt that… we don't crack the codes of life unless we work together, you know?"
Zahra's burning nervousness slowly gave way to an inner sunshine.
"That's really profound, Miko. And I totally agree. Being a gamer's about the love. Not just for games but for your fellow gamer."
"Hah! Now who's being profound?" Miko wandered over to the stack of games, picked up a copy of Brawling Monarchs, then casually tossed it to Zahra, who put it on the shelf in short order. "So, question: is this your only night this week on closing duty?"
The back of Zahra's mind (which had been very busy tonight, yes) clicked on something that Miko might have been getting at, but Zahra decided she didn't want to jump the gun. "I usually do about three nights a week. Why do you ask?"
"Well… I game in arcades, and I stream, and now I've got the ultimate ARG going with this Glitch Tech stuff. But my labbing seshes, or my just-for-fun game time? Usually pretty lonely. Usually no choice in that matter, either, 'cause…"
Miko hesitated, before turning around, walking to the counter, bracing herself on it with both hands, and finishing her sentence with a sigh. "Friends, especially girl friends, came at a premium for me, too. Long story, but, uh, mistakes were made not long after I moved here. Just like you, I never was great at the whole 'people' thing. Heck, becoming a Tech was probably the best social thing that ever happened to me.
"So, yeah. Thanks for letting me game with someone who gets me. If just for a little while."
Zahra looked at Miko, who was now staring in space in the same way she had just a couple of minutes ago. If someone were to walk up to Zahra and tell her that she and Miko were sharing the exact same brain and heart right now, she would have completely believed them.
She walked up behind Miko, tapping her on the shoulder. When Miko turned around, she held out her phone.
"Guess we keep that train rolling," Zahra said, reveling in seeing Miko light up at the words. "Toss me your number and 'tag."
Miko grabbed Zahra's phone, typing away until a new saved contact was on it. Afterwards, Zahra sent a text to the new number, which Miko added to her own phone, accompanied by a muted squeal. Zahra then walked over to one of the shelves, and grabbed a packaged controller which was compatible with the console that they had been using downstairs.
"Just so you know: BST has a co-op mode, and I'm pretty sure I still hold the all-time leaderboard record. If you want to keep going with the game, I can keep showing you the ropes, plus toss in some min-maxing and optimization tech."
"Yes, please," Miko said, with raised, excited fists, and eyes that Zahra could swear were sparkling.
"One catch, though," Zahra continued. "Bravestone Tactics is a 70-hour game, and that's just going critical path only. If we're going to play this together and not have it take a million years…" She made a show of checking the time on her phone in front of Miko, then stepping up and looking into her eyes. "We'd need to make this a regular thing."
Miko looked back into Zahra's eyes—and where there was once apprehension and nervousness for both girls… there was now, at last, happiness, as wavelengths aligned.
"I'd like nothing better."
~Game Over~
~Thanks For Playing!~