Ten tickets, five tickets, twenty tickets, one ticket. Jackpot games were so rigged. I wasn't sure how anyone could sit there and play the same game over and over again hoping to hit the slim chance of reaching pure gold. But at the same time, it was the most efficient way to win tickets. Most games in the arcade only gave out five tickets each round. There was no point trying to win from any of those, especially when you had a strategic genius working a jackpot machine.Sapnap had decided to go for the machine where the light spun around and around in circles and you had to smash the button as the light landed on the jackpot. It was close to mine, which was the fish game where you pulled a lever and watched the prizes spin like a slot machine. I could hear Sapnap's disappointed groans and the occasional cuss word slip.I swiped, already knowing we had lost. Neither Sapnap nor I had been able to get anything higher than fifty tickets per round. I pulled down on the lever and watched the screens spin. I watched it go around and around, taunting me with the opportunity to win one thousand tickets. Sapnap appeared right behind me.

"I'm all out," He said.

"Yeah, I am too," I said, watching the machine spin and land on five more tickets.

"But hey, we've got a lot of tickets, right?"

"More than Dream, I can guarantee," I said. "As long as he didn't get the jackpot, anyway."

"Hey guys." We look over to see Dream approaching us. His hands were behind his back and his head was down. I couldn't help but smile a bit.

"Did you get the jackpot?" I asked.

He looked up at me with only his eyes and ran his hand through his messy hair. "Does it look like I did?"

"No way! So we won?" Sapnap grinned widely. "That's twice in a row for me!"

Dream scoffed, "We? You guys worked together? That wasn't a part of the deal."

"You never said we couldn't though."

Dream shook his head and rolled his eyes, "Whatever. Let's see how much you beat me by."

We walked through the arcade that had become more crowded since we first arrived. We reached a row of machines where we were supposed to swipe our cards to see how many tickets we won. Sapnap went first. He had won three hundred and fifty tickets. I went next. My heart pounded as I swiped. It was always a good day when we beat Dream. Maybe it was because we lost so much. Now it was even better, though, because he would have lost twice today.

"Four hundred thirty-two. Added together that makes... seven eighty-two!" I exclaimed.

"Oh we won by a landslide," Sapnap said.

Dream chuckled, "Good for you guys. My turn?"

"Is there even a point? We won! You're so bad, Dream," I smirked.

Dream's small smile grew, and my heart skipped. "I still want to get something from the store." He swiped his card, and four digits appeared. Both mine and Sapnap's jaws dropped to the floor.

"You got the jackpot!" Sapnap screamed. "You lied to us!"

Dream wheezed, bending over just to contain himself. "I got you guys so good!"

Sapnap and I looked at eachother with the same look. I contemplated us running to the car while he was distracted and just leaving him there. But I needed that green card, and leaving him behind did me no good.

He printed out his receipt. "How are you guys so shocked?" He laughed. "Of course I got the jackpot. Have you met me?"

"Well you didn't have to lie to us about it," I said.

He bit his lip, "It was funny."

"Whatever, let's just get to the gift shop," Sapnap sighed.

"Wait, I have ten credits left. I'm using it real quick," Dream said, having the audacity to wave his stupid game card in the air before turning on his heel and leaving us behind. I watched him up until he turned a corner and disappeared behind a row of arcade machines.

"Dream is such a turd sometimes," Sapnap grumbled. "He always has to rub in how he's so much better than us."

I shrugged, "It's annoying, yeah, but what are we gonna do about it, right? For as long as I've known him, he's always been that way."

"I mean, yeah. I guess he has," Sapnap mumbled.

We walked up to the counter and handed over the receipts.

"We're combining our tickets," I said. "Sapnap, you go first."

I looked at the selection. Pretty much all of it were toys for little kids— which made sense as it was an arcade. Up on the wall they had plastic swords and foam pool noodles; Board- Games and giant bouncy balls; Giant stuffed animals and giant rainbow slinkies. Under the counter laid out in rows were small knick-knacks like wind up toys and plastic vampire teeth. They also had small candy like fun dip and laffy taffy.

I saw Dream approach, his eyes looking anywhere but at me.

"Have you guys bought anything yet?" He asked, looking under the counter and through the glass to see what was available.

"No," Sapnap said. "But you're using your own tickets, Dream. No sharing."

"Yeah, about that," He scratched the back of his neck. "Sorry for getting your hopes up. I didn't really intend to hurt you guys. It was supposed to be funny. Clearly it wasn't."

"It's fine, Dream," I said. "You do this all the time. We're basically desensitized from it at this point."

He laughed, "Well to make it up to you guys..." He pulled his receipt from his pocket and held it between his index and middle fingers. "You guys can spend it."

"Fuck yeah," Sapnap exclaimed, snatching the receipt from his hand. Judging by Dream's wide eyes, he was probably expecting more protest about it.

"Oh, and George," He held his hands behind his back in a similar way he had done when he had come up to us earlier. "I'm—uh—I'm also pretty good at those claw machines." He outstretched his hand to reveal a small stuffed blue alpaca. "I know you didn't really win anything today."

"Is that what you used the last ten credits for?" I smirked, crossing my arms.

Pink brushed against his cheeks and his ears flared red, "Maybe."

He gazed down at his shoes. I took the alpaca from his hand.

"Thank you, Dream."

He sheepishly smiled at me, "Think of it as a peace offering and-and a reminder of how bad you are."

I rolled my eyes, "You're such an idiot."

"Alright, George. Your turn," Sapnap said. I turned around to see him with an entire bag of candy as well as a plastic sword. I laughed and faced the woman behind the counter. I scanned the entire mini store carefully until my attention became drawn to a specific item.

                                               ************

"I can't believe that you had a thousand tickets and you spent it all on a giant stuffed panda bear," Dream lectured on the drive back home. His eyes were locked mainly on the road, but every so often he'd take a quick glance at me

"What would you have spent your two thousand on, huh?" I asked. "Probably something more stupid than a fluffy stuffed bear."

"I would have bought the nerf gun," Dream replied without a second thought. "It's nerf or nothing."

"I'm not mad," Sapnap said from the back. I turned around to see him laying down on the panda as he scrolled through his phone while pulling at a laffy taffy with his teeth. His seatbelt wasn't even on. "Checkers is hella comfortable."

"You named my Panda?"

"It's not like you were gonna."

Dream laughed, "Yeah! Name the alpaca too. Can I suggest Dream the second?"

"No you cannot," I said, dropping my eyes down to the vibrant blue alpaca in my hands. It stared back up at me with its plastic black eyes. "His name's Scotty."

"Scotty?" Sapnap said, sitting back up. "Where'd you come up with that?"

I shrugged, "It was the first name to pop in my head."

"Scotty?" Dream laughed. "That's so stupid."

"Hey! Scotty's sensitive." I covered the small ears of the alpaca with my thumbs.

When we arrived back home, I immediately stole Checkers back from Sapnap and dragged it up the stairs. This panda was absolutely huge. It was bigger than the largest stuffed animal that was held as a grand prize at carnivals.

"That's not gonna fit in my room, George," Dream said as he followed close behind.

"We'll make it fit."

"Him," Sapnap corrected behind Dream. "Oh Dream, can I talk to you?"

"What? Why?"

"Just come on." Sapnap grabbed Dream's wrist and dragged him back down the hallway and down the stairs.

The bed was a mess. It was the first thing I saw when I entered the room. Layers of blankets were tossed and thrown all around the bed. Most of it was on my side. I sighed and dropped both Checkers and Scotty on the ground and grabbed the sheets. I went one layer at a time. Dream, for some reason, just had to sleep with three blankets. The first layer was paper thin, the second was about the width of a middle grade chapter book, and the last one was so thick it was suffocating. It was like sleeping in a hotel with millions of layers that ,Dream for some reason, needed to fall asleep.

It was no wonder I was so hot last night.

I didn't quite feel like making the bed completely. I was more focused on finding a place for my giant stuffed panda. The bed ended up looking lumpy like snow.

Dream's room was so small. Checkers already took up the vast majority of the floor space that wasn't already taken up by the bed and the desk. I thought about fitting Checkers tightly between Dream's side of the bed and the wall, but Checkers was too fat to fit through the small gap that only the most microscopic insects could fit into. My eyes slowly drifted around the room before falling upon the one place I had yet to look into: the closet.

I contemplated it. Even though Dream had asked me not to open it, it was tempting. Checkers could definitely fit inside. All that should have been inside were hung up shirts and jackets.

But that would just be rude of me, huh? I ended up dragging the giant panda bear all the way down the stairs. I could hear the soft mumbles of Dream and Sapnap. Dream's back was to me, but I could tell he was embarrassed over something. The back of his neck was almost entirely beetroot red and he couldn't quite hold still.

Sapnap watched me enter and said, "It's okay, Dream. What do you need, George?"

Dream jerked around to face me, and his eyes were the widest I had ever seen them. It was as if I was actually some zombie chicken or something.

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked. "I was just coming down to say that Dream's right. Checkers doesn't really fit in our room."

"Our room?" Dream scoffed. "It's my room, George. And just give Checkers to Sapnap. Just for while he's staying."

"But it's my panda. I bought him with my own tickets," I pouted.

Dream crossed his arms. "My tickets, George. And as it was my tickets, I technically share custody of the bear. Give it to Sapnap. He'll take care of it and give it back when he leaves in November."

"November? I thought he's just here to be a witness at our wedding."

"Yeah."

"So why are we getting married in November? Why can't we just get married sometime this month?"

He shrugged, "I dunno. I was just thinking—you know— what's the rush?"

"My citizenship, Dream."

He laughed, "That's going to take another ten years, George. We're in no rush. Marrying the first week you get here won't change anything."

"Exactly, so what's the wait?"

"We were actually just talking about that," Sapnap cut in. "I was just asking him about it. He said that he thinks the government's on to you guys. When they find out you guys are only in it for the green card, they might just send you back. So using the ninety days will give the impression that you're actually planning one."

"Exactly!" Dream exclaimed. "Verbatim. Thank you, Sapnap."

They both smiled at me and it made my skin crawl. They didn't usually smile like a pair of psychopaths like the way they were now.

"Alright, whatever." I handed Sapnap the paw I had been holding on to. "Take good care of Checkers."

Sapnap swiped the paw with a large grin. "I won't let him out of my sight!"