A request from lcnpher: "how abt the game they always do: whos cooler, whos ier, who can make the other more jealous, they always onl same time."

I did not follow some of the details on the request. Hopefully, it ended up okay, for you guys. Here it goes. 

“Do you not find it exhausting?” Her roommate since college asks as she places some cereal on her bowl. 

“Find what exhausting?” Amber hands over a spoon to Ailee, who her roommate insists on calling her. (“It is not Amy anymore, Ailee. A-i-l-e-e. Okay?” Amber just nodded her head. “Do not give that look, Amber Josephine.” “Shh… people could hear you.” They were at a crowded coffee shop. “Okay fine. Why would I call you by that name then?” “It is my stage name, when I get famous. People will know me by that name.” “Exactly, when you get famous. During in this lifetime?” “Shut up!” Ailee threw her washcloth towards Amber.) 

“Who is better in this and that game you always do with Henry.” 

Amber eyebrows furrowed. “Excuse me?” 

“You two always want to win against each other. You know, the one is better than the other.”

“Pss. We do not.” She replied as if what Ailee is mentioning is very ridiculous. 

“Sure, Amber. Sure.” 

“Okay, give me an instance.” She eats her last piece of pop tart. 

“When we guys planned to meet up that one time. And you got mad that he was wearing the same thing you were wearing. Head to toe.” 

“Well, he was a copycat. And I wore it better than him.” 

“See what I mean. And Honey, he looked good on that outfit, while you are kinda meh. Borderlining to fashion terrorist, just a bit.” Before placing the bowl near , to sip on the remaining milk. 

“Who is your best friend here, Ailee? Who?” She pushed the bowl upwards. 

“Hey! I was just kidding!” 

“You are making a mess, Ailee.” A finger already placed on her nose. (The thing they do who would do chores like sweeping the floor, doing the dishes, etc.) “Your turn to clean up. Thanks. Love you.” She even gestures a flying kiss towards her roommate's direction. 

“Yeah. Whatever.” Ailee wipes the milk on her chin. 

-x-

They see each other at the parking lot, getting out of their cars. Both presses a button on their car keys, locking their cars, and double checking if the door is really locked.

“Hey, it is Eric!” Sh points at a random direction. And Henry takes the bait as Amber runs towards the atrium of the mall where they decided to meet up with the gang - Jackson, Eric, Ailee, and her look a-like, Luna, and her model boyfriend, Yury with a Y as he introduced himself to them few months ago.

As expected, Amber reaches the area first, by a good ten seconds. “Number 1!” She throws her cap on the floor as the others see Henry fast approaching, celebrating her victory.

“You cheated!” Henry accuses Amber upon arrival, out of breath though.

“Oh hell no!” 

“You called out for Eric.” 

“Is he here now? And I actually saw him still in his car, parking, and surprisingly with Ailee on the front seat. Weird. Hey, Luna, I saw Ailee...” Luna approaches her.

“Do not change the topic, Liu.” He says seriously. Yup, he is really mad. She figures. 

“Okay, I...I am sorry. I have taken it a bit too far this time.” She did not mean to hurt his feelings. They are just joking around. She thought it was okay. 

“Told you she will believe me.” Henry then high fives Jackson and Yury. “I am that great of an actor.” They hand over two dollars each to Henry. And that earns him slap on the back of his head and a kick to the shin. “Christ, Amber!” 

When Eric and Ailee “unsuspiciously” try to appear they arrived separately, Ailee asks why Amber is being carried by Henry on his back.

“Op.” Amber stops Luna from answering. “Henry, tell her why.” 

“Because she is my master, and I will do anything she tells me.” 

“Amber!” Ailee taps her on the shoulder. “This is too much.” 

“What? Just for tonight, Mom.” 

“You seem heavy for him.” Ailee notices. “So get down this instant.” 

“No, he is light as a feather.” As sweat builds up on his forehead and arms. 

“Are you strong enough Henry?” Amber teases, though she is really trying not to be that heavy for him. 

“I am. For you.” He looks at her, and winks. 

And that earns a round of laughter from the others, as they see Amber’s smittened reaction. 

“Put me down. Now.” Amber is irritated. And the others stop laughing. 

“O...kay. As you wish.” Henry follows as instructed. “We are just having fun, Amber.” 

“Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. So…” To clear the tension. “Where you guys want to eat?” Amber is good at changing topics. 

As the other walk to the restaurant they chose, “So we good?” Henry waits for Amber who decided to walk behind the others. 

“I don’t know.” She laughs, and stuck your tongue out at him, and finally walks faster towards her friends. 

-x- 

After eating, they decided to go to the arcades as they passed by it on their half an hour drive to Henry’s apartment a.k.a their hangout spot to which Amber argues that her and Ailee’s place is way better and cooler, but it is way too small for them. They are nearing or at their mid-20s and they are still are going to the arcades like teenagers. 

The two rush to the ticket and token booth. “Amber! Henry! Be careful!” Their “Mom” Ailee warns them because actual children are also running around. And eyes Jackson who wants to join Amber and Henry. He joins them anyways because Eric lets him as the “Dad” of their group. (Actually Eric appointed himself.) 

Jackson and Eric are joined by who else than the very competitive couple, Henry and Amber who are busy bickering who will win this “competition” - their first stop, the basketball area. 

Jackson are being cheered by Luna and Yury. Ailee is cheering for Eric, which Amber and Luna look at her with smirks on their faces, to which earns them a middle finger. And Henry laughs at them, “So you and Eric huh?”.

The buzzer starts. The counter already moves for Amber. “Woohoo!”. But Jackson is way ahead by five points compared to the others. 

The loser for this round will do push ups. And he is not planning to do that. And it is funny to see Eric do push ups. Well, a push up. Eric will fail miserably. And Ailee will find it adorable. He will be a great wingman for his awkward bro. And the other two are sore losers. So yeah, that is the motivation he needed to win. 

As the timer nears its end, Jackson, Henry and Amber were 58, 55, and 55, respectively. While Eric quitted in the middle because his arms hurt and let Luna’s boyfriend play which cost him time, and scored only 45. And technically Yury is not playing their friendly competition anyways.

“As decided before the game, the loser, well in this case, losers,” Jackson looks at Amber and Henry, “will do push ups in 60 seconds.”

“Or let me make it more interesting,” Henry suggests, “While you guys time us, I will count how many push ups I could do. Then, Amber will do the same. Who has the lower number is the real loser. Liu, has already the ‘Lo’ part covered.”

“You are going down, Henry. I am stronger than you even before you have your six pack abs and muscular arms.”

“Wait, what?” Eric comments as her statement.

“You, Amber, the way you describe Henry’s body…” Luna teases, as Ailee’s turn to smirk at Amber.

“Shh. Guys. We are doing push ups here.” Jackson, the athlete in him is showing, is already holding his phone as the timer. 

Henry is out of breath as he looks at Amber who is now her turn to do the push ups. Luna and Ailee take the chance to , “Nice view?” And that earns a laugh from him, as he does when he does not know what to reply.

“75!” Amber finishes counting, and trying to show she is just slightly out of breath. “I won! Told you!” She faces and points Henry. 

“Kinda out of breath there, huh, Amber?” Henry pulls out a handkerchief from his  back pocket. 

“The , why you carry a handkerchief? You are old but not that old.” She still uses it to wipe her sweaty forehead. “Thanks” She smiles. 

“You two look like an old married couple, exercising at the nearby park near their retirement home.” Ailee describes them. As Eric and Jackson agree. “Really, guys. Really look like one.” Jackson pockets his phone after replying to his text messages. 

Amber wants to throw her shoe at them, but contemplated because it is way too expensive shoes. Like really, it amounted to almost half her paycheck as she eyed it and its price tag at the display of the shoe store last month. Henry bought it for her though. She should take good care of it.

-x-

Luna and Ailee are not good in playing the shooter games so they just watch at the sidelines. And Eric is still tired from shooting hoops, stands beside Ailee. Yury stays beside Luna, arm on her waist, pulling closer to him. Jackson sees that and plans that Eric should do that too to Ailee. As the best wingman he considers himself to be, he stands beside Eric, moves closer to him for Eric will be forced to squeeze closer to Ailee. So Eric places his right arm on Ailee’s shoulder. And Ailee does not mind. Perfect! Jackson is so proud of himself right now. 

So Amber and Henry are the people who decided to turn this into a competition, as usual. 

“Ready?” 

“Was born ready” 

Both aim at the screen. 

Henry got distracted when girls in shorts passed beside them. Legs are his kryptonite so to speak. And Amber notices. “Henry, they are like two years younger than you. It is creepy. Creepy!” Still focused on the game not like Leg Boy here.

“You jealous?” He shoot the one of the two remaining men on the game. He mistakenly thinks that is the last of the men. 

“In your dreams!” She shoots the last one. “Yes! Winner! Booyah!” As the screen shows she still has one life left compared to Henry who lost one life due the fact he got distracted by legs. 

“Just admit it, you are kinda jealous” He elbows Amber. And almost earns him a hit to the head with the toy gun. 

“Do not worry Amber, you are also same age as those girls and your legs are hella ier compared to theirs.” That statement heard by the others. And teases them as Henry smirks. He won finally basing on how Amber could not react afterwards. “And as if I did not notice you earlier eyeing that poster of a football player on that sports and gear shop.” He wiggles his eyebrows.