Pokémon fankid week day 3: Hobbies
It starts, as most things do in Oliver’s life, with an apology.
“I’m sorry,” Madie quietly says, “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
The television is on, and she’s trying (but failing miserably) to complete a video game level. The best he can make out is it has something to do with levers, pulleys, and a series of movable platforms. It doesn’t look too complicated, thankfully, but he doesn’t understand why she’s struggling as much as she is.
Not until he notices that the platforms move from the system of pulleys and the main lever that moves it all is far away from the end goal. And that it’s clearly a puzzle directed toward two players, definitely not towards a single player who is exhausted.
“Do you want some help?” Oliver asks, pointedly ignoring Madie’s previous statement. She doesn’t need to know that he was awake for hours, staring at the ceiling of his room, waiting for sleep to come. Just like he doesn’t need to know why she’s awake (though he can guess that it has something to do with her unfortunate tendency to doubt herself).
“I’d like that.” She says, smiling and sinking into the couch. He nods and grabs the spare controller, and then sits down next to her. Oliver stares at the television hard, thinking about what actions would be the best to solve this puzzle that suddenly looks more complicated than what he first thought.
“You do the platforming and I’ll move the levers and pulleys?” He suggests, and grins when Madie nods.
It takes them five minutes to solve the puzzle and four hours to beat the game, and Oliver decides somewhere in those four hours that he loves video games.