#captiuncula

[autoacafiles]

[keyswordthing]

♛ quarterless

in the dimmed lighting of the arcade, a figure could be seen hunched over an older model of pacman near the back of the building, sounds of loud button tapping and grunts of victory and relief filling the air around him. the few customers there walked passed the teenager, newer visitors glancing nervously in his direction while the regulars paid no mind to him; at 3:45 pm everyday, sora's noises join the clangs of pinballs colliding and retro video game music in the background.

for the umpteenth time that thursday afternoon, the pacman's losing sound effect rang out, competing with sora's angsty groan. with an impressive score of 43,360 flashing next to his name on the player screen, the option to continue blinked across the screen in big, mocking, red letters. 

the boy scoffed at it, making haste as his hands dove into his pants pockets in search of a quarter to continue his unfairly ended game -- and then to his back pockets. and then to his jacket pockets. he patted all over for the feel of the rounded coin that should've always be on him, but to no avail. by this time, continuing was no longer an option, much to his dismay. with a pained cry, dropped his face to his hands, elbows landing on the surface of the machine with a hard thud. a good fifteen minutes of his life had been spent on that last round. his determination to beat his previous score of 79, 429, the current highest score, had begun to run thin. a strangled noise left his throat upon accepting his defeat.

then, an genius idea involving another genius he knew struck him. lightbulb clicked on, sora dialed up the only contact on speed dial. it took one ring for the other line to pick up -- that nerd probably had his phone right next to him, waiting for sora's call of the day. 

❝ heeeey, zexion! wanna do me a solid? ❞

[keyswordthing]

"I already regret this."

and there they were, standing at the top of the biggest hill in the whole, entire city, one foot on the ground while the other is on their bike's pedal. the sidewalk below is filled with nicks and bumps and everything else that could result in terrible crashes. even so, sora stands straight, drunken on the excitement with adrenaline already pumping through his veins -- while zexion is clearly shaking on his. sora can feel the straight a student's glare of death burning into the side of his face, but he's too pumped to care. with a final inhale to fill his lungs, sora turns to face the bookworm, glee lighting up his hues as he strongly advises, 

❝ don't back out now. do it for the vine, zex. ❞

and there's a moment where zexion simply rolls his eyes, which, sora takes as the signal to push his bike down the hill, before following. their screams, the crashes, the flurry of swears directed at sora are all heard and recorded by sora's videocamera at the base of the hill.