allijay + street fair?
set between s7 and s8!
“Jay, honey,” Allie says, leaning in close to Jaylen’s ear. “Don’t you think you’ve got kinda an unfair advantage here?”
Jaylen’s standing in front of a carnival games booth, eyeing up the knock-em-over games like the milk bottles are a batter and she’s still got debts to pay. She does, but nothing to do about that until the next season starts. A year and twelve lives paid has brought her from half-dead to mostly-fine, and today’s a good day, anyways; it doesn’t press on her mind.
She has bigger things to worry about: “You know they’re rigged anyway, right?” She looks over at Allie, bumping his shoulder with her own. “’sides, I know how you sound when you’re saying shit just to make sure someone says it. You care way more about me winning you a giant teddy bear than whether it’s fair for me to be playing this.”
“I can care about both,” he says, rolling his eyes. “And I want the big dog, not the teddy bear.”
Jaylen grins, hands the kid working the booth a $5 bill. Notices the way recognition flashes in their eyes, how they flinch back when she picks up a softball from the bucket, and maybe it’s cruel to laugh but maybe Jaylen’s a little cruel. “Chill,” she says to them, and she watches for a moment as they suddenly take great interest in arranging the hanging plush toys.
“Bet I can make it in one shot,” Jaylen says to Allie, cocky as she lines up her throw.
“You know they’re rigged, right?” Allie repeats, half-sarcastic with Jaylen’s words in his mouth.
Jaylen laughs, again, joyful instead of cruel this time. She throws the ball, a dead-center sinker that tumbles the bottles to the ground like they’re nothing, and walks away with a massive magenta stuffed dog under one arm and Allie’s fingers laced through her own.