The arcade was a neon soaked fever dream of 8-bit music, screaming kids, and the smell of buttery popcorn.

Silas wasn't even pretending to play fair. He was currently hunched over a "High Speed Hoops" machine, but he wasn't shooting basketballs. He had the front panel partially pried open with a silver pocket tool, his tongue poked out in concentration. Every time he flicked a specific wire, the machine let out a pathetic, digital chirp and spat out a string of tickets.

"Almost... there...mi cielo," Silas muttered, his Cuban American lilt thick with a suppressed, mischievous giggle.

He shot a look at you over his shoulder, his silver tooth cap glinting under the blacklights. You were standing there with a plastic bucket that was already overflowing with red paper tickets. You had pointed at the prize wall ten minutes ago, specifically at the human sized, fuzzy brown teddy bear that cost a staggering 100,000 tickets. Silas had just winked and told you to "hold the bucket."

"Silas, the manager is literally right there," you whispered, nudging him with your elbow as a bored looking teenager in a striped vest walked past.

Silas didn't even flinch. He just leaned his heavy shoulder against you, pinning you playfully against the machine. "Relax, mi cielo. I’ve drifted through police blockades; I think I can handle a nineteen year old named Kyle."

With one final, aggressive click of his tool, the machine hit the motherlode.

The ticket dispenser didn't just beep, it started screaming. A continuous, never ending stream of red tickets began shooting out of the slot like a paper waterfall. It hit the floor, coiling around Silas’s boots, piling up around your ankles until you were both standing in a literal nest of 100,000 tickets.

"Jackpot!" Silas cheered, throwing his hands up in a victory dance. He didn't care that people were staring. He grabbed the long, trailing lines of paper and started draping them around your neck like a giant, expensive boa constrictor.

"Look at that! We’re rich!" He was laughing, that loud, barking sound that always made Rafe’s eye twitch.

He didn't wait for the staff to come over and count them. He just scooped up the massive pile of paper in his arms, grabbed your hand, and marched straight to the prize counter. He dumped the mountain of red paper on the desk, nearly burying the clerk.

"One bear," Silas commanded, his grin wide and predatory. "The big one. The one that looks like it eats smaller bears for breakfast. Now."

Once the massive, five foot tall plush was shoved into your arms, making you disappear behind a wall of fluff, Silas let out a satisfied huff. He leaned in, his face inches from the side of the bear’s head, looking at you with eyes that were soft, golden, and completely unrepentant.

"See? Math is easy when you just break the calculator," he whispered, his thumb grazing the back of your hand. He looked at the giant bear, then at you, his smirk turning into a dorky, proud smile.

"Now let's get this thing in the Murciélago. Say we go get pizza at your favorite spot and pretend we didn’t just r0b an arcade.”