FSE

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_ Blind Date _

A wave of noise and a blast of heat crashed into me the moment those automatic doors slid open.

I ducked my head to dip inside and escape the gloomy, late-November cold, allowing this new 'VRcade' place I'd been invited to fully hit my senses. And hit them different.

Most arcades, _regular_arcades, all had plenty of music, no shortage of activity, just as I'd found here at this place.

What differed at this 'VRcade', however, jam-packed wall to wall with folk, was how everything felt like it'd been dialled up to eleven.

A clash of aggressive basslines and unending sound effects, joined by the thumping feet of a few dozen players dancing and jumping around in their headsets, all radiated out from no short number of games sitting under neon blues and purples.

They all rattled right through me from my teeth to my toes while the bright, searing lights and big, colourful screens of the machines themselves made it tough to look anywhere without squinting.

On first impression... I sure wasn't vibing with Martin's idea that this'd be a good place for our first in person meet-up.

Too bad the tickets I wanted to get for the Kosilny Comedy Festival, something we were _both_keen on, ended up falling through...

I stepped away from the doorway, taking shelter in a side section of the entrance area filled with vending machines offering all sorts of drinks and snacks. There, I could blink my eyes clear and take a second or three to find myself within the chaos.

Like I mentioned, it was Martin who'd invited me to head into town and come along to this place. The two of us had spoken more and more often over, then outside, the dating website we'd found each other through.

And honestly, with how much I'd enjoyed playing games and streaming shows with him, and how easy he was to talk to, I didn't need much convincing to move things offline a couple of months later.

But, with us only having a handful of profile pictures of each other to work off, and with how rammed full of people this place was, I started to wonder how easy it'd be to pick Martin's face out from the crowd.

Especially given that he was a Maleni...

I took a look around this rest area from my natural vantage point, paying most attention to the raised, scaled-down section near the arcade's Maleni-sized entrance. Logically, if Martin were already here, then that'd surely be the place he'd be waiting.

"Grey jacket," I half-thought, half-mumbled to myself, remembering what Martin said he'd be wearing when we last spoke the night before. Not the most unique of outfits, but I hoped it might still help while I scanned the crowd of smaller folk, massing around their paw-sized seats and grabbable vending machines.

But, following my quick check of that little wall-mounted deck, I couldn't find any marten, nevermind one wearing a grey jacket. Nor could I find any on the walkway leading off into the Maleni-sized area of the arcade next door.

I reckoned I'd checked enough to assume I'd been the first of us to arrive. Plus, I figured if I searched for much longer, hovering and looming high over that whole area as I was, I'd freak the smaller peeps here out in no time flat.

"Probably for the best," I growled in another part-internal, part-external thought. Me myself should've been easy to spot. Y'know, the big, even bigger than most, polar bear. The tallest guy there by far... as usual. Filling up the place all by my lonesome... as always.

A few hurried steps carried me across the carpet and over to some of the full-sized plastic chairs next to the soda machines.

Full-sized, maybe, but still pretty stingy when it came to capacity...

I squirmed and settled down into the one closest to the Maleni area, glad to be the only person sitting there considering how much of the next seat I ended up pouring into.

While I waited, hunched forward to keep from having too much of the backrest's edges jabbing and digging into my hips and lower back, the intense busyness of that place continued hammering at my head.

Sure, this arcade was brand new in town, both newly opened and like nothing else around for miles, but I swear you'd find less space than people packed inside. Packed enough for the chill in the air outside to become a memory while I slipped out of my jacket.

All that meshed together nearly proved enough of a distraction to derail my thought train, barrelling along the tracks as it was, from reaching a genuine worry over putting Martin off our date... uh, meet-up... whatever.

Of course, I reminded myself, for the hundredth time since leaving the house, that Martin would totally be expecting the Visoka polar bear he'd been speaking with online to be on the bigger side.

Just maybe not quite _this_big... Taller than any of the arcade's machines, and its sliding doors while standing, _and_still large enough to loom over the thigh-high Maleni entrance area even when sitting.

On reflection, I probably should've been fully honest with my dating profile. It didn't feel like a huge deal back when I signed up. In fact, putting what I did seemed for the best, but...

Bah, whatever the case, I'd left it far too late to change anything at that point. The only thing I could do was wait there on that narrow-ass seat, try not to spill over it too much, and hope that everything would go as well and as smoothly as I believed it would.

Either that, or I could duck my way back through those sliding doors and head on home.

No! No... I couldn't do that. It'd be way too mean to stand Martin up.

And, when everything was said and done, after all our talking and hanging out online... I couldn't bear the thought of passing up the chance to finally meet him in the fur.

"Hey, Ben."

After a certain number of minutes spent pretending to myself that I wasn't borderline panicking, a new yet familiar voice cut through my thinking and brought me back into the stuffy, noisy arcade.

"Ben?"

I turned to the Maleni area and peered downwards, towards that voice, fast finding a slender, brown-furred marten in torn, suitably skinny jeans and a grey fleece jacket looking up at me from behind the guardrail.

The only person among twenty or thirty not racing around that little platform like their life depended on it.

"That is you, right?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah!" I pushed forward from my seat so fast that I left it creaking and crackling behind me. "It is."

Standing up, way up to my full height, leaving Martin and the barely knee-level Maleni area far, far below, was about the time I realised what I'd just done.

"Hey, Mart-ah..." I shifted and shuffled on my feet, bending and unbending one knee, then the other, barely bringing myself back down anywhere close to his level. "H-How's it going?"

"Uh, hey..." He took a step back, then another, eyes wide, mouth slack, paw reaching to run claws through fluffed-up, maroon-highlighted, black-dyed head fur. "Hi, Ben... woah."

As shocked as Martin so clearly was, that feeling wasn't his alone.

For sure, I might've been looking at him from a fair distance above, but still, even for a Maleni, even for a marten, he seemed... small.

Smaller than the mouse that passed by him on her way out of the arcade, and barely even shoulder-height to the wolf that strolled in off the street a moment after.

Man, I reckon I could've fit him in my palm with ease. Maybe even wrapped my whole paw around him...

No wonder I had him standing there gawking up at me like I did.

I waved a paw and showed Martin the smile I'd wanted to show from the moment I first saw him. A step back helped me see the one he offered in return from beneath my midsection, and also helped me ease my straining neck muscles a tad.

"Glad you made it," I said, shuffling a little further away, my knees still desperate to bend towards him. "Should I sit down?"

"I... don't really mind what you do-"

"Yeah, I'll sit down."

I parked myself back into the same chair as before, hunkering down low, teeth clenching at all the squeaking and squealing that Martin couldn't have possibly missed.

Now that I'd settled, leaving him standing around about hip-height, I had a clearer view of just how... short Martin was.

"Better?" he asked with a small snort.

"Uh, yeah..." The edges of the seat were digging right up into me. I decided against another loud shift to try and get comfy. "I think so."

"You sure?"

"Sure, yeah, absolutely." I took a breath and pushed my discomfort aside. Better that than still being way up towards the ceiling. "It's nice to meet you. In person. To put a name to the face that's not a photo."

"Good t'hear, but uh... wanna try telling your face the same thing?"

"Hmm?" The snappy bite in his reply sent me leaning back far enough to ease the chair's digging. "What?"

"Sittin' there looking like someone's swiped your dinner, is all." As cutting as Martin's words sounded, they were sent out with one-half of a smile. "Good to meet you, too, though."

We stayed there in place for a minute or two, quiet other than the idle little questions we rallied back and forth to each other.

'How have you been?' and 'Did you make it here okay?'. Polite half-inquiries like that.

We'd both been fine, and we'd both made it downtown without issue. Quiet almost grew into silence as I gave in and shuffled in my cramped seat, and as Martin gazed down at and rocked on what I figured were equally uncomfortable feet.

"So, what d'ya reckon of this place?" I asked, not exactly sure what detail of 'this place' I was referring to. "Like, uh... It's... Busy, ain't it."

"More than a bit." His rocking stopped. He started to find me more interesting than his little brown ankle boots. "Not shocked at it, mind. I checked out the VR arcade over in Koprovice a few months back, not long after it opened, and it was a similar picture."

"Oh, right..."

"I'm buzzing that these are opening up outside the big cities, finally. Figured this'd be a cool place for us to meet at. Play some games together in person instead of online for a change."

"Yeah, yeah..." My attention wandered away from Martin down on that platform, back towards the bright lights and heavy thumping in the main area of the arcade. "This place sure does look like something."

"Huh?"

Back to him, and this rest area, I returned, finding his tiny self wearing a small yet firm frown.

"What d'ya mean by that?"

That caught me very much off-guard. "Uh, well... I mean, this place... it's majorly intense, is all."

"Intense?"

"Like, yeah, it's busy... but real loud... and with way much more going on. More than at a regular arcade."

"Well, yeah..." Martin's smirk put so many little teeth on show. "Comes with the limbs and all flying about the place."

The way he spoke left me reeling. All the confidence in his jabbing back at me... Acting just like he would've been if we were talking and joking around online.

On one hand, in the flesh and fur, he was putting me very much on the back foot.

But on the other, his confidence raised _my_confidence that seeing me in said flesh and fur hadn't discouraged him.

"Nah, listen," he said, gesturing to the room in general. "These places are a real fun time, I'm telling you. About time they brought them over from Polcia for us to enjoy this side of the water."

"No doubt, no doubt," I replied, leaning back in my squeaky seat with paws raised. "I'm not saying this place doesn't look like fun."

"...You holding a 'but' back there?"

"I just, uh..." The chair stopped whining, but its edges and corners carried on their digging, stabbing into my legs and back. "I hope that the games, their equipment, play areas... that I'm not too... big."

"Ahh, nah." He batted that away with a small but certain hand. "If it's anything like in Koprovice, it'll be totally fine. You had everything from mice to bears, Maleni and Visoka, all gaming together there."

"Bears... That's good to know."

"Yeah..." Martin's head dipped way down towards my waist, then craned all the way back up towards my face.

Was he... sizing me up?

"Not gonna lie, though," he said, that air of certainty he had about him turning a little less... well, certain. "Even for a bear, you are... tall."

My whole body tensed until it started to numb; good thing considering how hard I reeled back in my crunching seat. "Y-Yeah I s'pose but I can't lie you're kinda smaller than I was expecting too."

His mouth dropped like I'd insulted his family.

My arm loosed up enough to let me raise a paw and throw it over my eyes.

Gods, how, _why_did I go and blurt that out at him?

"Well... What can I say? I reckon that makes two of us that lied about their height on their dating profile."

I heard his hackles rising loud and clear. Sneaking a peek through my fingers, seeing his mouth all twisted with the bad taste I'd left behind, only confirmed it.

"I'm closer to a Maleni five-foot-three than five-eight," he said. "But then I hoped you might not've noticed from all the way up there... However tall way up _there_actually is."

Right there, right then, I felt anything but tall. "About... seven... a shade over a Visoka seven-foot."

"And how much is 'a shade'?"

"Like... Seven-foot-two... three-ish."

"Well fuck me," he growled. "And you put six-foot-eight on your profile."

"Yeah..." For the first time in my life, I found myself on the wrong end of a staredown from a Maleni. "But in my defence..."

His mouth twitched. Brow raised.

My thoughts dissolved into nothing. "...I suppose I don't have a defence, but... you could say we _both_exaggerated by about the same amount. Five or six... or seven inches or so-"

"_You_could say that, but _I_wouldn't."

"Hey now, hold on just a sec-"

"Hold on, what?" Martin's snappiness had a few other Maleni glancing at him, then up at me. "A Visoka inch and a Maleni one's not exactly one and the same." He looked me up and down again, then let out a half-laugh, half-scoff. "That much is _very_clear."

There in that crowded, non-stop hive of activity, me and Martin had ourselves our very own moment of silence.

What a fantastic, first-class start to this first meet-up. I don't think it could've gone any worse if I'd walked in and fell on that whole Maleni platform he was standing on.

For sure, I don't think that could've got him any more freaked out about my size.

Fortunately, at least, me and my oversized ass hadn't scared him away. Yet.

I waited for a coyote who'd wandered over to the soda machine closest to us, taking another moment to try and gather as much of myself into my skinny seat as possible. A hopeless task, to be honest, and one I gave up on around about when the guy's ears, and eyes, flicked towards the cracking plastic pop I created.

My face went warm, and stayed warm all while the soda that guy selected clattered and dropped its way downwards.

He couldn't bend down to grab it fast enough for my liking, and for damn sure, I couldn't wait for him to slink away and leave us alone.

Not that turning my full focus back towards the marten and his very crossed arms proved a more comfortable experience.

Good gods, this date, meet-up, thing, needed dragging out of the fire and then some.

It needed to start going like it was just another one of our evening voice chats.

Friendly. Relaxed. Like friends simply hanging out together.

As hard as that might've been for me to fake and go along with.

"So..." I sucked in air until my quivering breath settled, shining the biggest, calmest smile I could scrape together. "Introductions outta the way, how 'bout we go check out some of these VR games you've tried selling me on."

Martin's face fell back towards normal.

Good start.

His arms followed, loosening and dropping down to his sides. "You mean you're still not?"

"Ah, ah." I leaned over and jabbed out a finger. "Hey, is that there a smile I see?"

"I'm shocked you can see it," he shot back, finishing with the sort of humoured snort I'd got familiar with during our voice chats. "Damn near headbutting the ceiling like you are, even when sitting."

Those words entered my ears and flowed on downwards, stabbing at my chest and sending a chill running through my blood. I did my best to hide how much that cut with the quickest response I could manage. "I, uh, got myself some good eyes, me."

Success, I think; Martin kept on smiling from behind the guardrail. "How about you put those good eyes to good use then and get us over to the games?"

Phew. Crisis averted. I'd helped reduce what had all the signs of a disastrous head-on collision into an unfortunate fender-bender.

I just needed to make double-sure that I thought twice about everything I said or did from that point onwards.

No big deal...

Under his waiting, expecting gaze, I started a slow, cautious rise up out of my chair.

The creaking I kept to a minimum amid the frantic noise still rolling on around us.

Either that, or my constant up and downing had made that seat creak all it could creak.

I didn't quite make it up as far as I could've towards the ceiling, what with my knees still intent on bending, and now with my back also refusing to straighten beyond a slouch.

"Can I catch a lift?" he asked with a confidence I wished he'd share. "Save me having to dart about these walkways down here."

"Uh, sure..." My paws were ready and willing to reach down for him, but I absolutely had to ask, "but do you mind being lifted up all this way?"

"Well, if I go getting a nosebleed, you'll be the first to know."

I froze up for a second, initially uncertain whether to take that as a yes or a no.

"That sound good, Ben?"

Huh. Seemed like it was a 'no'. No, he didn't mind. "Yeah, gotcha. Sounds good."

Martin stepped back from the railing, watching me and my hovering hands with a patient expectation. And, more importantly, a smile bold and true.

My size, I figured, wouldn't be a hard stop on this meet-up of ours after all.

"Well?" He turned his palms to the ceiling and cocked his head. "I'm waiting."

"Okay, then!" I got myself unstuck, bending down and reaching out towards the Maleni entrance area I'm sure I'd started to overshadow. "Let's do it."

With paws cupped, I hovered, watching Martin take a few small steps towards me. They looked normal, confident, without any sign of hesitation as he strode up onto my finger.

That confidence remained while he grabbed my thumb, using it like a support rail to pull and hurl himself into a seat nestled between my palm pads.

Having, holding the marten there in my hands... served as another reminder of just how tiny he was.

I wasn't wrong, I really could have held him with one paw alone, and likely wrapped the whole of it right around him.

I wondered if he realised that, too.

As I watched and waited for him to adjust and get comfortable, his gentle warmth seeping into and spreading through me, something inside told me to steepen my paws. To raise these new, white-furred guardrails and to start my pads reshaping around him.

"Ooh," he muttered, surprised, placing and wrapping a hand around the outside of where my index finger met my palm. "A little on the cosy side here."

"Oh... Is it?"

"Yeah..." His little hand stayed in place. I felt him rest back against each and every one of my fingerpads. "We going, or what?"

I kept my grasp firm, bringing Martin closer to my chest before setting off out of that rest area and into the arcade proper.

He bobbed as I did, upon and between my pads with each step, almost as if this was one of the games on offer.

The last thing I wanted was to hold onto him too tight, and, as far as I could tell, he didn't seem to mind all that movement.

What's more... I kinda liked the way that he and his soft, fuzzy tail felt brushing against me.

As for the arcade, the time I spent hunkered down next to that soda machine hadn't changed much, still a mess of people milling around a bunch of games they heavily outnumbered.

If the space and room to breathe amid the ear-pounding noise and fast-flashing lights had come at a premium before, then that premium must've at least doubled once Martin and me joined the party.

"What d'ya wanna play?" he asked, peering up from his seat.

"Uhm... Ain't sure." I held that thought, or lack of it, focusing instead on squeezing my way through these narrow aisles running between so very many different games.

"Anything catching your eye at all?"

The never-ending crowd of people, mostly. My gods, I had to do my absolute level best not to bump or barge into anything or anyone.

On more than one occasion, I failed.

Like when I hip-checked a seat on some VR racing game, and by extension, the headset-wearing canid of some description sitting in it.

Or when I headbutted a chain-mounted sign pointing towards some virtual pool tables, damn near tearing it clean off the ceiling.

"Oof, I heard that," Martin grumbled. "You okay up there?"

"Yeah..." If I had a free hand, I'd have rubbed the sore spot on my forehead. Instead, I gritted my teeth and tried to grimace the pain away.

"You sure?"

"Mhmm." I kept on walking, doing my best to blank out the upwards looks and stares from those not currently occupying a game machine. "Have _you_seen anything you wanna play?"

"Seen a couple of games jump out at me... but not all too sure if they're right."

We approached a couple of guys decked out in computer kit on a dance machine, drawing a crowd both to them, and to their characters busting matching moves on a big screen. All those watching were nodding, swaying, even dancing away themselves to the fast, blaring music, sucked in completely, like they were at an actual show.

I wondered whether VR was really necessary for a game like that... until I fully processed what Martin had last said to me. "What do you mean by 'right'?"

"What?" He pointed and pushed an ear towards me. "What d'ya say?"

"I said..." I lifted my paws up towards my ducking head, then repeated, "What. Do you mean. By 'right'?"

"Oh!" His yell, loud enough to be heard, sent vibrations all through my paws. "I mean something that's the right fit for us."

"Fit?" The pounding drumbeat, bassline, and moving feet from the dancing game pulsed deep into my skull. Made it tough to think straight. "And what do you mean by 'fit'?"

"Something we'll both enjoy. Like, I remember you saying you like your RTS games and all, but we're not gonna find much like that around here."

"...No. Probably not."

"What did ya think I meant?"

"Uh... Nothing."

I stopped to have a closer search around the place, hoping to get a better grasp on the sorts of games on offer. No doubt I stuck out like a big, sore thumb while blocking that whole aisle. The only person there not rushing or bouncing around like they'd binged on an entire case of double-strength energy drinks.

From high above the crowds, I did spot a few more simulators of various flavours: car racing, jet flying, as well as a few different shooters complete with prop pistols and machine guns. All were fully occupied, with all their occupants moving and yelling as if they were experiencing the real thing through their headsets.

A bunch of sports games were here to be found, too, all providing some equally convincing experiences judging by those currently playing. In particular, the tiger strapped into some rushball game had been pulled well into it, ducking and darting about atop an all-direction treadmill like he was dodging past actual defenders.

It looked... cool... but I wondered just how convincing it'd feel if one of those defenders actually clattered into him.

Then, I remembered not wanting any further part in anything rushball-related.

"Oh, hey," Martin called from my paws. "Wanna shoot some hoops?"

I followed his pointing with my gaze, soon locating one of the few machines in the place not occupied: a basketball game, nestled in the rear corner, near to where the restrooms were.

"Looks like it might be fun."

The game seemed... bare-bones. No hoops, no balls. Just a pair of headsets, gloves, and another big screen at the edge of the play area. "Yeah... might be."

"Don't sound too keen."

"No, yeah, I am... Definitely."

Martin looked at and saw right through me. "...But?"

Gods, I really couldn't get anything by him. "...It doesn't look all that."

"How d'ya mean?"

"I mean it's... Most of the other games here have got props. Big platforms with space to move. Stuff like that."

"Game critic now, are we?"

"Nah, it ain't that! It's... just-"

"Relax, I'm just messin' with you," he said with a big smirk and a Maleni-sized nudge of his elbow against my finger. "It's one of the earlier VR games, but still fun to play."

I looked over and beyond a dozen heads at least towards the machine again, still unused, still abandoned at the rear of the arcade. "...I'll take your word for it."

"Good." Martin flopped back to retake his relaxed seat within my hands, watching me with a newfound brightness in his eyes. "C'mon, man. I'm game if you are."

Being 'game' might've been generous, but for sure, I had a certain curiosity about it.

What's more, it was the only game I could see that didn't have someone currently playing.

I started my way over, slow, small steps taking us closer to the crowd clogging up the already narrow aisle to watch that eye-burning, ear-splitting dance game.

None of them noticed me, even after I'd made it close enough for their flailing arms or bopping heads to almost slam back into my stomach or chest, their full focus on that big, flashing screen ahead.

And if they couldn't see me, then for sure, none of them would hear me say, "Excuse me," or, "Could I get on by, please?" above the music.

So, just like before, when we first made our way into the arcade, it'd be me working double-time to avoid sending anyone flying with a stray knee or hip while squeezing on by.

Fortunately, the big white bear carrying a little brown marten wasn't easy to miss for long. Especially when the tightly-packed game machines left me no choice but to brush and bump into fur and metal alike.

A sideways glare from an otter I forced into a stumble came my way first, though it didn't last much longer after my music-muffled apology.

Or, more likely, once he realised how far towards the ceiling he had to look to find me.

The otter moved aside for us, as did his fox friend and the Maleni-sized husky they were holding, after he'd nudged the former's arm for attention.

After that awkwardness, the rest of the crowd standing between us and the basketball game seemed to notice us. They were quick to follow suit, scuttling aside with quiet stares from chest-high at best, and I think a snicker or two, as I pushed onwards and offered out a few more apologies.

Martin meanwhile, well, he didn't seem fazed by any of this, sitting calmly and quietly while I caused one hell of a scene.

The way towards the arcade's rear got way less unpleasant once we'd got clear of the dancers and their spectators. Not exactly _free_and clear, but at least it wasn't crowded enough to keep me worried about bowling anyone over.

And boy, was I happy to get some relative space once we got to the rear corner, the one area in the place not crammed to bursting. Just the odd person heading to the bathrooms in the back passing through to think about.

Finally, for a short while at least, I could take a break from looking non-stop in each and every direction for things and folk I might thump into.

Martin might've been slowly getting used to being around me, or at least, getting used to hiding his uncertainty, but I doubted anything or anyone else in that place would ever manage to cope with me.

A doubt that the basketball game we were hovering around made only stronger.

"Should all be self-explanatory," Martin said, stepping out of my paws and onto the scaled-down, barriered Maleni play area fixed around hip-height to me. "Gloves go on, then the headset."

I gave my scaled-up version of the play area a quick once-over, finding the headset marked for player one in red, and some matching fingerless gloves set atop a basketball-themed table that a bunch of connecting wires disappeared into. The screen ahead featured a raccoon character in third-person view playing out a demo game, taking shot after shot at a hoop in an arena almost as packed-out as the arcade.

"You good?" Martin asked as he slipped on the first of his little gloves. "Something you're not sure of?"

This whole entire thing, actually. "So... is this more fun than _actual_basketball, would you say?"

"That's... definitely a question." He picked up the second of his gloves and weighed it in his paw. "I don't play real-life basketball, but this is fun in its own way?" Then came a tooth-flashing smile. "And with how big you are, it'll be a whole lot easier for me to play against you this way, that's for sure."

I nodded and studied the equipment on the table some more. A table that probably didn't sit so low to most. "True."

"Hey, I'm joking," he replied, slipping on that second glove. "C'mon, cheer up! This'll be fun. Like nothing else you've ever played before."

I turned my attention back to my own gloves. Only then, reaching down to pick them up, did I realise how small they were at their default size. The strips of velcro around the backs of them gave me some hope, but those finger holes... definitely not.

One after the other, I adjusted my gloves to their maximum size and slipped them on... Phew. They fit. Just.

My fingers and my fur were a little pinched for sure, and with every clench of my fists, the crackling velcro sounded ready to give.

But, they were on.

Without doubt, whoever made this game didn't have guys my size in mind, and that went for more than just those gloves...

The play area around me didn't offer much by way of space, with side rails almost in reach to my left and right.

Then there was that table ahead, set up so close that I could've touched it even from the back edge of the platform.

It put me off moving too far or too fast, even before I'd put on my headset. The last thing I needed was to fall into and break that table, not to mention the second player equipment set upon it.

Actually, I take that back. The _last_thing I needed was to do the same to the side rail that Martin and his play area were fixed atop. An area that'd be more like waist or chest height to most other Visoka, and not at risk of a stray hip-check if I got too caught up in play...

"You still good up there?" Martin called, looking up from that platform as if he could see me through his own headset. "I'm all set and ready to throw down here."

"I'm fine, uh... Almost there."

"Just shout if you need some help, 'kay?"

I picked my bright red headset up from the table... and turned it over in my paws while examining a few more restrictive velcro strips. "...Thanks."

I managed to get those strips on either side of the headset to stay fastened at the second and third times of asking: a short time after Martin made another, hinting at impatient, offer of help.

Gods damn, I hoped the other games would be more accommodating once we got to them. An arcade had never been as much work as this before, that's for damn certain.

But, at the end of all my struggling, I did manage to get myself my first glimpse into a virtual world.

I mean, if a make-believe basketball arena seen through a tight-fitting headset could be considered a 'world'.

Whatever the answer to that, I had to admit that for what this was, it looked... kinda impressive.

Like... you were there. On the court. Almost.

I had a crowd of thousands all around me, watching and cheering, their cameras flashing, the full works.

With a turn of my head, I could look towards each and every one of them in all four stands.

Then, I could straighten up and face the basket ahead, complete with a scoreboard... seemingly hovering in space above it.

"What d'ya think, Ben?" Martin asked. "Cool, no?"

I turned to him... and looked up to find a lanky leopard, rather than down towards a Maleni marten. That smacked as a mindfuck and then some. "...Uh, yeah. It's pretty neat."

"Honestly." The spotty cat's mouth moved almost in time with Martin's voice. "I'm tellin' you, VR's the future of gaming."

"Could be... Once people get used to it, I suppose."

"That the character you wanna play as?"

The words made sense, but the question did quite register. "...Character?"

"Heh, yeah." The leopard put his paws on his hips... Okay, yeah, that was pretty cool. "You might've noticed, but I'm not 'me' in here."

"...I did."

"There's a button in the bottom left corner where you can choose your character."

"...What am I at the moment?"

"Right now you're some fox guy with a headband."

"That'll do for me."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's all good," I said as I waved him off... and noticed the slimmer, orange-furred arm my smaller white paw was attached to. "...Okay, this is weird."

"You'll get used to it," he said with a snort I heard loud and clear. It's only then that I realised his voice was coming through the game. "I'll get us started."

A bunch of letters in an eye-watering green blaze flew onto... the screen, I guess, moving into formation to say, 'Get Ready!'

"Whew." I tried, and failed, to blink the searing green out of my eyes. "Kinda bright."

"You'll get used to that as well," Martin replied. "Best do what it says!"

A countdown starting with an equally bright green '3' began.

On '2', I tensed up.

And on '1', I had the presence of mind to ask, "Hey, where are the balls?"

"Next to you."

'Shoot!' flashed up in yet more glaringly green letters.

A basket of balls magiced itself into existence to my left. From there, it should've been easy to get the game going.

Reality ended up being anything but.

My gloves made it tough to move my fingers, and bending down to pick up balls that weren't actually there proved a challenge in itself.

The pixelated crowd kept on cheering, kept on flashing their cameras. Like I wasn't totally failing to actually get into the game.

At last, I got one of these ghost balls between two fox-shaped paws.

It rose up with me as I readied to shoot.

And then decided to present me with a whole new challenge.

How in the world did you shoot something that didn't weigh anything? How did you gauge the power required to throw that weightless something up into an equally make-believe basket?

All that on top of my never-ending agitation over clattering into something fragile every time I moved.

Slowly, and anything but surely, I got into the beginnings of a flow with this game.

I took a shot.

Found myself another ball.

Then I took another shot.

A few of those shots even went in the basket.

Martin meanwhile... Let's just say he was flowing freer than I was.

One, two, three. Ball after ball arced up into view twice as fast and way more accurately towards the hoop.

Twenty points became twenty-two, became twenty-four on his scoreboard.

All while I struggled to hit double figures.

A thud echoed through the space between my ears and headset. A quick twinge of pain radiated away from my knee.

Slamming that table ahead proved way easier for me than hitting a respectable score.

I glanced over to Martin's leopard character... but I didn't find him. Not until I'd turned my head further to find him further back from the basket.

A higher level maybe?

There were... levels to this?

"Don't stop now," he called out to me, right before yet another successful shot warped him even further down the court.

Stop or not, I didn't have a prayer of catching him, or his ever increasing score. In fact, as the final buzzer played like music to my ears, our contest ended as a complete blowout in his favour, the exact scoreline something I preferred not to remember.

Not exactly the first ever VR experience I'd been hoping for.

I couldn't get my gloves and headset unstrapped and dumped back onto its table fast enough.

Martin on the other hand took more of his time about it, almost studying his smaller headset once he'd slipped it off and set it down onto its own docking station.

Another silence came between us. One made all the more obvious by the never-ending noise and fun to be found all around our bubble.

"Good game," he lied, managing to raise his head and make eye contact only a moment or three after he'd said it.

"Yeah," I said, needing a moment of my own to work out that I'd best add, "You too."

I wanted away from that game as fast as possible. In fact, maybe too fast.

I started to turn, and to take a step. My head, however, followed my shoulders, then my hips, intent on going in every other direction all at once.

"Woah," Martin called out. "Watch yourself."

I grabbed the closest rail I could find to catch and balance myself: the rail beside the Maleni play area he was standing atop.

"The dizziness'll wear off in a little bit," he said. "Take a sec and chill, yeah?"

The neon purple lights on the walls, the signs- hell, the walls themselves kept moving and swirling. I pressed a paw to my achy eyes and started rubbing. "Gotcha."

We had ourselves a little more downtime in our corner of the arcade, mostly waiting for my eyes to stop stinging and for my head to stop spinning.

As things turned out, Martin had put that time to use, too, gathering his thoughts to take us on a trip back to the entrance and our earlier conversation.

"Hey, listen..." He sagged back against the small table on that small platform, sighing snout sinking into the collar of his jacket. "I figure I oughta... I should probably explain about my profile. My height."

Things stopped spinning and stinging long enough for me to get a proper look at him. As awkward as those first moments of our first meet-up had been, bordering on painful, even, I wasn't sure it warranted being as downcast as he seemed. "Uh, you don't?"

"Don't, what?"

"Don't have to explain, I mean." Oof. Awkward still wasn't far away. "Like... I don't really care- mind."

Martin's chin snapped away from his chest, mouth twisting just like it had out front. "Well, I care. And I care enough to tell you that I lied about my height because being this short... it's put people off before. Maleni _and_Visoka."

The arcade might've stopped spinning, but my head had only just started. Normally, I could've spoken for hours about anything with him, but right there, right then, I could barely remember how to breathe. "...Mmm."

"I'm amazed that _you'd_lie, though."

"You... are?"

"Big time." He pushed away from that table and trotted over to the guardrail closest. "Like, let's be real for a sec here. There's a fuckton of Maleni who go hard on the 'bigger is better' mindset, y'know?"

"I know..." On steadier legs, I took a backward half-step from Martin and the play area. Awkward was back with a vengeance and then some. "But, uh, it's not just Maleni. A fair few Visoka feel that way, too... And it's not always for the best."

"...It's not?"

"Ain't you seen the hassle I'm having trying to move around here?" That's when I realised how far I'd moved from both him and the basketball game, and how much of the path to and from the bathrooms I'd started filling. "That's not to mention how much hassle I'm_causing_."

"Ben. It's freakin' busy," he said with a punchy air of authority. "In case you've not noticed, no one's having an easy time moving around here."

"Whole lotta difference between moving easy and causing a scene in the process."

"What scene?" Martin threw a paw up and away from the guardrail. "Hell, all I'm thinking is that you got us back here pretty damn quick considering the crowd." Then, calmer, he set that paw back down atop the railing. "Anyway, I'm not too sure that's a sign that bigger is worse, or that it's worth lying about your height over."

"Clearly it ain't just that!"

"Then what, clearly, is it?"

Gods, he really had a response to everything, calming when I calmed, getting fiery when I fired. Like we were bouncing off each other without even meaning it.

The extra-small marten held a glare that he'd channelled the entirety of his Maleni five-foot-three into, demanding a response of my own.

I'd offer him one, quietly, but only once I'd reduced the space between us. "Bigger's worse... or certainly not better when people see you as..."

Martin's head tilted just enough to be noticed, his piercing eyes blunting.

"...Well, as an object. Not a person. Something to help them get their rocks off versus... someone to be with, I s'pose."

He lost all intensity, his mouth creeping open and his fierce glare fading to become a curious stare.

Bizarrely, I think I preferred the fierceness. "Too much info, right?"

"Uh, kinda."

"Sorry."

"No, no..." He waved me off with one paw, but I couldn't miss him rubbing the back of his neck with the other. "It's... fine? Like, I'm the one who pulled us back to the whole height issue."

Issue? Did he think of our heights, _my_height, as an issue?

"If it helps, I'm not one who typically goes for bigger species. Or Visoka, full-stop."

My jaw tightened. A sensation that spread rapidly to the rest of me. "Uh, I don't think it does."

"No, look, what I'm trying to say is, even with our difference in size... an even _bigger_one than I, we expected..." Martin shuffled back from the railing of that play area, head dipping towards the hand on his chest, fingers rubbing, grinding over his jacket. "I've been real excited to meet up with you... If only 'cos I figured it'd give us the chance to chat and do stuff together in person. Stuff we both like."

As quick as the tension started, it evaporated just as quickly.

Instead, while I worked on processing exactly what Martin had said to me, turning every one of his words over and over, searching for any meaning hidden beneath surface level, a tingle began within me.

A tingle centred in my chest, and soon radiating out into the rest of me.

Smiling wide came automatically, and as much as my size might've left me nothing but uneasy in this crowded arcade, at that exact moment, I sure didn't mind feeling like I was ten feet tall.

"I mean, let's give it the rundown," he continued, his snout lifted up and away from the collar of his coat, aimlessly searching all around the neon-tinged dimness. "We've got computer games, and VR games, too, now that I've shown you how cool they are."

"Oh, uh... Yeah, VR's cool-"

"And I'm all ears if you wanna chat more about rushball," he said with a face filled with excitement. "Not my thing by any stretch, but... for real, I really like hearing you talk about things you're passionate about."

"Rushball, yeah," I replied, trying to meet his newfound enthusiasm at least halfway as I continued, "Passionate, sure."

"And we've got a whole lot more in common, going by all the stuff we chat about in the evenings, so... Yeah, all that said, you don't gotta worry about that when it comes to me. Only being interested in your size and all."

"I appreciate that," I said, flatter than intended, leading me to add, "Really. I do."

My flatness didn't appear to faze Martin too much. The spark in his eyes remained, as did the perk of his black-tipped brown ears.

That tingle within me had petered out, faster than I wanted, and faster than it should have. It wasn't his doing. Not entirely, and not directly. After all, no matter where our conversations took us, I'd still be standing there in that cramped arcade, forever sticking out like a sore, particularly large thumb.

"Woah," called a voice from behind, almost in tandem with a short, teeth-suckingly sharp jab into the small of my back. "Uh, s'cuse me."

I looked back, and down over my shoulder, finding the pink-furred scalp of a husky attempting to slide between me and the game I thought I'd moved clear of behind.

"Crap, uh, sorry about that, big man," he mumbled, less to me, more to the floor. "Didn't mean it. Honest."

"It's fine." I stepped forward, pressing against the bars and barriers ahead of me, giving that guy extra room to slip on by. "Don't worry about it."

The husky used that space to skip away, hurrying towards the restrooms without so much as another glance my way.

"Shall we move?" I suggested through a huff, turning back to Martin on a platform now barely escaping the threat that was my stomach hanging over it.

"Sure," he replied, sticking beside the railing closest to me. "You wanna check out another game? If your head's cleared up enough, that is."

"Yeah, I'm good. I just wanna move."

"Okay... You got anything in particular that you wanna play next?"

I made a quick, token check of the surrounding area. Just like before, and just like it had been since we'd got here, every single machine was taken, their various headsets and handheld components occupied by people having a loud load of fun.

"Not really," I admitted, well aware of the resignation seeping into my voice. "Everything looks busy. And kinda... involved."

"Involved? How d'ya mean?"

"Like..." I turned back to Martin. Found the sting I'd caused in his easily-missable pout and lifted brow. "Uh, I mean... This is fun and all, but... I s'pose I'm new, and I find this stuff all a bit complicated?"

"Oh." He had a think about that, stroking his little chin and peering off into the distance...

At least, he would have, if not for me and my stomach blocking and looming over him.

I stared at him staring at me. I'm not sure how long that might've lasted if I hadn't piped up to ask, "What're you thinking?"

"Groove Rider!" he said, loud and proud.

"...What?"

"We can play Groove Rider. I saw it on our way over here."

"And what kinda game's that?"

"You'll see." He beckoned me and my paws towards him. "It's not complicated at all. Fun, too."

I wasn't too convinced by Martin's half-answer at best. At the same time, I wasn't too happy to keep hanging around and filling up space, either.

"C'mon! I'll show you."

Those last insistent squeals of his were enough to get me moving.

I gathered Martin into my grasp, then followed his directions back into the busiest of busyness.

We hung a left, then a right, filing through never-ending chest-height crowds massed around game after flashy game.

As we passed some kinda fighting game, complete with a grunting, shirtless snow leopard throwing out some fast, angry punch combos, I started to focus more on how fast those crowds noticed and parted for us.

No issues. No dramas.

Aside from the mohawk-sporting rat guy who almost jolted out of his fur after turning to find a Maleni-sized marten being held directly at eye-level.

For sure, if I'd been shorter, we probably wouldn't have made it to the game Martin suggested in even double the time.

And judging by the way his tail flicked over my palms, he absolutely approved of our speed.

As with everything else we'd passed, we arrived to find this 'Groove Rider' game already in use. The silver lining at least was that we were first in line to play next, forming the start of a queue that a fair few folk had to brush past to get by.

A silver lining that soon tarnished once I'd got a chance to watch the game being played.

The pair that were playing, a brightly-dressed fennec and her mouse friend in equally loud clothes, sure weren't holding back on the strobing, step-high platform that made up the play area.

Even with their headsets fitted, and their controllers gripped in both hands, they moved around like lightning, reaching way up high and far down low in a rhythm matching the high-tempo dance music blaring from the speakers.

They were great. Amazing, even.

The only question I had was how in the hell would I compare when the time came for me to get up on that narrow, barely bear-sized stage.

"See, it's not like that full-on dance game everyone's crowding around," Martin said. "You don't have to move around all that much."

I checked out the screen showing the players' eye view of a winding pipe, or tunnel, watching two torrents of electric blue and orange boxes hurtling down it towards them.

Boxes that smashed into shards once one of the players swiped a digital paw at them.

Again and again.

Several per second.

"Really?" I scoffed. "I'd hate to see a game where you _do_have to move 'all that much'."

"Ahh, it'll be fine," he sang back with full confidence. A confidence that faltered and fell along with his sagging ears once he turned to me. "But... we don't have to play. If you don't want to."

Ugh. Martin had rolled this right back on top of me and then some. He had my number; this game looked nothing like something I'd be suited to.

On the other hand, I really hated the idea of being a killjoy and putting a downer on the day.

After a second review, and after tuning out the girls putting on a spectacular show before us... the game _did_seem fun, and not all that complicated. Just put on a headset, grab those controllers, and swipe at targets as they fly at you.

But that play area. Gods, space to move around in really was at a premium, especially for all the failing arms and fast moving feet involved, no matter how much Martin might've tried sugarcoating it.

"I get it," he said, sending up a new layer of sweetness amid the heavy bass pulsing from the game. "Honestly, I do. But the way you're talking, acting, you make it sound like you're struggling to fit inside the building."

"With how tight it is in here, and with how many people there are, honestly, it kinda feels like I am."

"Pfft, well if you are, then you're not alone." Martin gestured towards somewhere across the arcade. "Guessing you missed that 'yote who nearly lost their can of soda just now."

"They did?"

"Yeah. Some possum getting off of Ice Crisis walked right into them. Practically headbutted their arm and almost sent Berry Blast flying all over everything."

I glanced around to try and find any trace of where that might've happened. Fat chance. I couldn't even find an 'Ice Crisis' game, let alone that coyote or possum.

"It's cramped in here for everyone," he insisted, before dishing out an even more demanding, "Chill out. Please. Let yourself have some fun, alright?"

We didn't have much else to say to each other after that.

At least, I didn't have much to say to Martin while he sat quietly in my paws.

Once those girls had finished their game and left it free, we climbed up onto our play areas and readied ourselves to take our turn.

Without doubt, even with all the rapid moving I was about to be doing, I felt way more positive about playing 'Groove Rider' than that awkward basketball game.

For one thing, getting prepped to play involved much less effort. You just slipped on the headset, grabbed your two controllers, and that's that. You were good to go.

For another, once we'd got the first battle stage underway, it turned out I was way better at swiping at and smashing through brightly-coloured boxes than shooting awkward virtual baskets.

...Mostly.

...To start with.

But, no matter my score, no matter its slow fall further and further behind Martin's, I _was_having fun.

The different music on various different stages all slapped hard, and the rhythm running through me made swinging in time with those airborne boxes that much easier. Almost like auto-pilot.

An auto-pilot that soon threw me and my hip sideways into something solid.

"Oh shi-," Martin barked from down at my side, his virtual hands trembling, failing to swipe at his targets for a split second. "What was... You all good up there, Ben?"

"Uh... Yeah." I missed a few of my own boxes as the realisation hit that I'd just hip-checked his guardrail. "Are you?"

"All grand!" In a blink, his misses turned back into hits. "Don't go trying to put me off, hah."

Put him off? ...If only I'd meant to.

From then on, I had my size flooding my mind.

Me and the rhythm fell out of sync.

Each and every move, I questioned, double-checked.

My thoughts turned more towards my surroundings than the music and the targets on-screen.

Miss. Miss. Miss.

Damn it.

Hell, even the targets themselves became a problem. I swear, the lower ones got lower, sailing past my knees unswiped and in one piece.

My scores started to crash.

I started to think, maybe I _was_too big for this game after all.

Then, no matter how much Martin tried to push me along between stages and songs with his pep talks and whatnot, my thoughts turned to and dwelled on whether I was cut out for this whole VR business, full stop.

After the fifth and final stage that our credits had paid for, the curtain came down on our latest head-to-head contest.

Martin had won, of course.

Five stages to zero, obviously.

I did take heart from the stage scores I'd put up. Scores that, actually, hadn't fallen all that far behind Martin's. Even after I'd hip-checked myself out of the groove and into a lingering funk.

Even so, better performance or not, just like when it came to shooting virtual hoops, I found myself on the wrong end of a blowout.

And losing stung.

A lot.

Fuck, I'd had enough of doing so much losing lately.

"Uh, you cool?" Martin asked as I dumped my headset and controllers back where they belonged. "Maybe take a sec--"

"I'm fine," I replied, hearing, feeling its lurking, biting undercurrent. Regret sparked up inside me almost instantly. "I mean, it's just a game."

"Yeah, totally." He watched me shuffle the couple of steps over to his play area. And I watched him hop a hurried step back once I got there. "But, uh, I meant maybe take a sec if your head's feeling swirly like last time."

"Oh." I'd already extended my paws halfway towards him by the time I'd come to a halt again. His grimace became mine, too. "My bad... but, nah, I'm actually mostly okay?"

"You sure?"

"I'm a little groggy, I s'pose..." I started to pull away. "But it's not messing my head or balance up any."

"That's good." Martin skipped forward twice as fast as he'd retreated, grabbing and wrapping a brown paw around my white fingertip. "Just making sure."

His tiny tug compelled me to stop. Then to move my paws, and me, back closer to him.

The warmth of his grasp found its way into my finger. Then my paw.

Then the rest of me.

All the noise. The music, the voices, the chaos all around us... stopped.

And all that remained was... justus.

"You did do great, though," he said. "A solid effort for a first try in my book."

The arcade roared into life again.

All the other gamers packing the place returned.

...Including those queueing to play 'Groove Rider' after us.

"Thanks," I replied, basking in the second wave of warmth that flowed through his voice... even as I flicked my fingers to hurry him into my paws. "We probably oughta find some place else to chat..."

Pushing past my hint of VR-generated dizziness, I carried us away from both the machine, and a couple of piercing glares from those impatiently waiting their turn.

Finding space for a place to stop and 'chat' some more wasn't easy by any stretch of the imagination.

In fact, in these clogged up, never-clearing aisles, it proved to be downright damn near impossible.

We kept on trying, kept on searching, and in the end, thanks in no small part to my fast-paced strides forcing anyone walking the other way to stop and step way aside, we found ourselves something. A tight, barely me-sized alcove nestled between the last in a line of games and the darkened door of a fire exit.

I'd get a chance to catch my breath there, so to speak. To clear the last dregs of grogginess from my head, then chat some more before we searched out our next game to place.

A positive proposition, I first thought.

A major mistake, I soon realised, once Martin chose the next subject to talk about.

"Hey, uh..." Martin shifted and straightened in his seat within my paws, peering up at me with a slow-growing smile. "Given how our conversations and all have panned out so far, I'm not sure you'll wanna talk about it, but..."

My shoulders stiffened. I resisted against my arms and my fingers following suit. "But?"

"At the same time, I kinda can't help myself."

"Okay... what about?"

"That rushball game you played the other week."

My resistance fell, fingers tightening, trying to clench.

"We--ooh." My pads shocked Martin into a jolt as they pressed into his back. "Uh, we've not really spoke much about the game since it happened, but--"

"Listen--"

"Look, sorry, but I gotta ask."

"I don't-"

"How did it feel to make the news over causing that old building to tumble while playing?"

Every moment of tightness and tension I'd experienced over the course of our meet-up returned. All at once. With laser-like focus, deep and direct inside my chest.

I didn't know where to look. Where to put myself.

Like it mattered.

With Martin sitting in my paws, wherever I went or whatever I did, he'd stay right there with me regardless.

Just like the question he'd asked me.

"Crap," he said, muted to the point where it barely carried over the background noise of the arcade. "...Sorry, with all the stuff about size we've already-- I shouldn't have brought it up."

As harsh as it might sound, even as his little ears lowered, I had to brush his apology away.

If I hadn't, well, my response would've been 'No', quickly followed by 'You damn well shouldn't have'.

"Don't worry." Martin waved a frantic paw, as if trying to make this all go away. "Forget I said anything, yeah?"

He couldn't. _I_couldn't.

The question was out there. It'd happened.

Just like that fucking rushball game.

"Embarrassing," I replied, winding the clock back to before his moment of regret. "I felt, and still feel, majorly embarrassed about it. Ashamed, too. In a way."

Martin's little brow furrowed just enough for me to notice. "That's... a pretty strong way of feeling about an accident- uhm, if you don't mind me saying so."

"Well,_you're_not in my shoes," I shot back. Calm, but wrapped up in so much of that tightness. "Accident or not, _I'm_the one that caused it."

"Maybe, but-"

"Not that it was just me involved. That godsdamn bear-sized red panda that tackled me, took me down and helped create that mess was pretty fuckin' big, too. Not that they mentioned _his_name in the paper. Or even used his picture!"

"I still don't get why they used your name in that story," he said, arms folded, mouth twisting, as if he could even hope to match how I felt.

"Because, apparently, one of the other players on the team gave it to the reporter who was poking his nose around after the game."

"Nah, I mean, why does your name matter? What's it add to the story?"

"You're asking me?" I grumbled, lazing against the warm outer case of the game we were tucked in beside. "I don't- Whatever it matters, as it is, they just mentioned 'an opponent from a Koprovician team' and then me, 'Benedikt Rybar', the oversized polar bear that fucked up part of the Maleni district. They didn't even care enough to mention anything about how our team got fucking annihilated on the scoreboard in the process."

I huffed out as much of my annoyance as I could, slumping even harder against the flexing black casing.

The dozens of others at the arcade carried on with their fun, perfect afternoons, oblivious to us lurking in our dark, lonely corner.

What a brilliant direction for our first in-person meet-up to have taken. That was the first thought that entered and circled round and round in my mind...

Right before Martin leaned forward to share his thoughts and decide where we were heading next.

"Being real, if you ask me, 'fucked up' is a bit strong, big guy. That place had been condemned and ready to go for ages." He batted at the side of one of the fingers supporting him, then grinned. "And being _super_real, that part of the district over near the park's all old and already pretty fucked up anyway."

I shoved myself out of my slouch and fully back onto two feet. Jokes, laughs, they couldn't have been any further from what I wanted to hear right then. "Whatever the case, however you wanna dress it up, that was my first and last game for that team."

"Oh!" Martin looked shocked, singing out his sympathy as he continued, "Aw, hey, that's a shame. You never told me that."

"It's... fine?" In turn, I found his shock to be a little shocking in itself. "I wasn't really into it anyway. Never have been. Rushball, I mean."

"Okay, that's... news to me. Why were you even playing in the first place, then?"

"Because a friend from work reckoned I'd be good... And because his team were short of a forward to be on the bench that game."

"Gotcha," he said, although judging by his deep frown and glazing eyes, he didn't get me at all. "And was that, like, the first time you've ever played?"

"Pfft, nah, heh. Not ever. I've played in the past, mostly back in high school."

"But, you said you've never really been into rushball." Martin shook his head so fast and so hard that I felt it in my palm pads beneath him. "Why did you play in school!?"

"Because the coach there practically begged me, and because my dad absolutely, positively _knew_that I'd go pro someday, so I _had_to play. Y'know, all because of the size that I am..."

Lips pursed, ears halfway flat, Martin's baffled gaze softened.

That meant the disgusted scoff he followed up with came by complete surprise. "Yeah, screw that! Nobody needs that kinda pressure in their life."

I snorted a big, hard laugh, almost reflexively. The way it sent Martin's head fur flying and flapping almost earned another.

"Hey, turn the fans down, jeez!"

"Sorry." My thumb was the next part of me to test its reflexes, reaching over the centre of my cupped paws to fix his soft... delicate fur back into its fluffed-up... stylish updraft. "Um, what was I saying?"

"High school," he confirmed, correcting a few last fur strands before reaching... to pat the side of my departing thumb. "Being forced to play rushball for the team."

"Uh..." His was a thankful pat... obviously. "Oh! Right, yeah, so, I tolerated playing for a couple of years, had it take over more and more of my life, with the kicker being that I've always found hockey more interesting."

"Hey, that's cool." His smile beamed. Brighter than usual, even in the dark. "I didn't know that. Do you play hockey?"

"No. Sadly, the whole 'not being able to skate' thing's a bit of a barrier to that."

"Just a small one, heh."

I couldn't resist offering him a smile of my own. "When I say interesting, I mean more that I'll watch some of the big games on TV here and there."

"Right, right, I feel that," he said, just as _I_felt a swish of his tail brush over my fingers. "Cool."

"Probably for the best that way. If me playing rushball makes the news, imagine what flying around out of control on a pair of skates might cause." I stepped backwards, searching for something to rest against deeper into the shadows. "I'd be on the wrong end of more than just gawks and chuckles from strangers, and the same tired jokes about breaking stuff at work."

My reversing backside bumped into something.

Something skinny. Metal.

It started to move. Then stopped with a faint click.

I stopped myself fast. Then looked back and down over my shoulder.

I'd found a fire exit, and my butt, its access bar.

Thank gods that I'd not pressed it any harder and forced the damn thing open. Dealing with the alarms ringing in my head was stressful enough, what with really, _really_not wanting to be retreading this old ground with Martin, and with how I'd so visibly started the gears inside his head turning over it.

"See, I can't talk of the jokes and looks and all," he said, running a finger back and forth beneath his chin. "But the news, like, c'mon, it was _only_the local newspaper that cared enough to report about it. The same local rag that publishes shite like 'park grass growing fast after rain' this summer, and 'local raccoon tries to sell himself online'."

"I remember that one," I said. "I went to school with that guy... Always a sandwich short of a picnic."

"Plus, the story about you was angled more towards how it takes so freaking long for the council to get old, crumbling buildings in our district demolished."

"That didn't stop _me_getting my photo plastered in the paper, though-"

"And! As an even bigger, better plus, a couple of guys I know were there watching that game, in the wooded bit between the field and the district..." He started to grin, stretching it from ear to ear. "They couldn't stop talking about how _'awesome'_it was. The way you and that red panda guy shook up the ground, the trees, and brought a whole bastard warehouse down in the process."

"And you?" I asked, fast and true, jolting Martin and his grin back down into a small smile. "What do you think about it?"

"Me?" His face creased up with confusion. "I'm not bothered by it, if that's what you're asking?"

"I... suppose. Yeah. That's what I'm asking."

"Right, then, no, I'm not bothered. To me, it's... something that I heard had happened one Saturday afternoon last month." He shrugged, sat back against my fingers, and took a slow, deliberate breath. "It sounds like it's way more of a deal to you than anyone I know that lives in the district... If that helps?"

"A little. Maybe." I shuffled a half-step forward from the darkness around the fire exit, and away from its access bar still lurking behind me. "It's just another example to chalk up to my size creating a problem."

"Hold up." Martin pushed his palms out and up towards me, tail tip flicking. "As much as you might not always appreciate it, it's safe to say there's a good chunk of Maleni out there that'd _never_see your size as being a problem for them at least."

"Oh no?" I decided against taking the second half of my shuffled step. "Well, I don't even have to go back any further than my train ride to come here today for an example."

"Which is?"

"Which is me damn near stepping on the whole access ramp to the Maleni doors when I got off at the station."

"And how's that due to your size?"

"Because I only almost fell into it after not ducking quick enough in the rush, then smacking the top of my head on the doorway like a complete fuckin' moron!"

Martin reeled back. "...Oh."

I caught my breath meanwhile, sighing once I had, fully regretting my outburst. "I saw more than one Maleni get a little worried when they saw me stumbling their way, let me tell you."

"On the other han-"

"And that's not the first time my clumsy ass has done something like stupid like-"

"On. The. Other hand," the little marten snapped, fierce and fiery, totally unfazed by the fact that I could've wrapped a single paw around him. "I bet you being as big as you are comes in useful, too, right?"

"...Useful?"

"Yeah." His glare was insistent. Insistent that I consider his idea. "Come on, tell me how a seven-foot-plus polar bear helps someone out."

My mind went blank. Probably for the first time that entire day.

The only thoughts I could cobble together, all while under Martin's expectant, upward gaze, focused on everything bad. The bumps, the stumbles, the impacts, and the embarrassment that inevitably followed.

I kept on trying, kept on fighting to claw through all those unpleasant memories, eventually making it to, and remembering, one bright point. "...At work."

Martin's ears perked, smile stretching; a silent request for me to explain what I meant.

"In the warehouse... I'm the only one that's tall enough to reach the second-level shelving. That helps save time by not having to go look for one of the lift trucks we have way too few of."

"See? There you go. The benefits of being on the bigger side."

"I guess? It's hardly a big deal."

"To_you_, maybe. But imagine how it is for guys on the short side, like me. Can't tell you how many damn times I've had to ask someone to grab something off the top shelf at the supermarket."

I wasn't sure whether to snicker or show sympathy at that. Instead, I went for the third option: keep my mouth closed.

"And hey." He settled back against my curled fingers, hands behind his head as if he were on a recliner. "We haven't even mentioned the benefits of how roomy these paws of yours are. Like travelling around in first class, this."

I allowed myself a short, close-mouthed chuckle at his compliment before I brought things back to those so-called 'benefits'. "I suppose my size _can_help sometimes, but... it feels like everything I do, everything that happens to me, is dictated by my size. Like, just once, even for just a day or so... I wish I could forget about it. You know? Not have everyone gawking at me when they pass by. Like here."

"Here?" he asked, crossing one leg over the other. At least one of us could relax. "I've not noticed that."

"I damn well have. Even with these games and all going on, I catch glances and stares. Though, now, it's hard to know if it's purely down to my size, or because of that story." I slumped even harder against the machine behind me, sending out a huff as its speakers hammered into me. "Guh, I don't even know why I'm saying all this to you."

"And what's _that_supposed to mean?" Martin snatched his hands from behind his head, sitting up with the deepest frown. "Just because I'm not your size doesn't mean I can't emphasise-"

"No! Jeez! What I'm saying is..." I gasped down a deep breath to stop myself snapping back at him any further. "Sorry, I don't... What I meant was, I don't know why I'm putting all this stuff out in the open like I am. I mean, we've only just met."

"In person." Martin settled back down into his recline. "We're hardly strangers. We've spoken before plenty."

"Not about this. Or stuff like this."

"No?" He glared at me like I'd insulted him. "I'm pretty sure I told you about all the shit that's going on with my family not too long ago. My uncle being my uncle and causing my dad all kinds of stress with the shady stuff he gets himself into."

"Oh. Yeah... I remember that."

"Trust me, I don't go talking about that kinda thing with just anyone." His momentary annoyance gave way to a subtle smirk and softer tail sways. "I guess we both find it way too easy to talk to each other, eh?"

I shone a smile, showing the warmth welling up within me. Admittedly, Martin was right; he really _was_just as easy to talk to in-person as he was over our voice chats.

He allowed me to be comfortable. To push myself away from the metal panel I'd slumped up against.

Then, I could take a step away from the shadowy corner I'd sunken into.

As we returned to rejoin the thumping, thunderous atmosphere of the frantic, fun-filled arcade, Martin's eyes never left mine.

He had more to tell me.

So, I stopped short of the crowds to give him space to speak up.

"Being real, though. Going back to the whole size thing..." His smirk disappeared, gaze redirecting off to one side as he allowed himself a moment of thought. "I understand it. Even if I don't have anything like the exact same experience that you do... I know it's not fun to feel like you're different because of your size. Like you're the odd one out."

"Yeah... Just being another one in the crowd... That'd be nice, I think."

"Still, I say you gotta look at the positives of your size more often! Like how much help you are at work in the warehouse." Martin found me, and his smirk again. "As much as I might be a hypocrite for saying that. Hah, I'm small even for a Maleni, me."

"Honestly, you don't look that much smaller than the average Maleni to me."

His tail lashed at my palms, ears flicking hard. "Gotta say, that's what I was hoping for when I agreed to meet up with you... And I guess you being extra big helps with that even more."

"Yeah. S'pose it does." I gave my cupped paws a delicate shake, sending Martin into a gentle bounce upon my palm pads. "Plus, you being on the slightly shorter side means you're super-easy to carry around."

"Glad to be convenient like that." He bounced again. This time from his laughing, loud and true. "Convenience-sized, even."

Any and all tension, within or between us, dissolved and disappeared into the party-like atmosphere roaring on strong all through the arcade.

An atmosphere that we both wanted to return to being a part of.

"Let's go play something," Martin said, kicking back in these 'first class' paws of mine. "If there's any place that's good for forgetting about your size, then it's in a VR game."

"I s'pose so," I replied, revelling in the leftover warmth from our talk enough to chuckle over where my thoughts went next. "At least when I'm not hip-checking your play area."

"Yeah, please try not to do that," he said with a snort. "See anything you wanna try?"

I scoped out the games on offer from the edge of the little hideaway I'd found for us, shuffling further and further away with every one I found and discarded.

Everything in sight looked either super-intense, super-crowded, or both. A bunch of games that needed _way_more movement and flexibility than I was anywhere near capable of.

More to the point, they were all competitive. All games where two, three, four or more players went up against each other, be it in dancing, fighting, racing, or something else entirely.

I needed to get us back into the aisle, to look above and beyond the crowds, as well as the games nearest us, and pick out something interesting.

Once there, it didn't take long to pick out that something. "Hey, that over there might be fun."

"And what's 'that over there', big guy?" Martin asked, up on his knees in my paws and peering past my fingers. "Kinda too small to see over these people and machines and all here, y'see."

"My bad." I started to raise my arms. "Here-"

"No, no, no!" He batted at me at high speed until I stopped. "I don't gotta, nor do I wanna come all the way up there."

"Sorry."

"Heh, it's cool. Whew." Martin settled back down as I returned him to waist-height. "_Tell_me what the game is."

"Can't see the name, but... it's some kind of shooter in the next aisle. The guys playing it are holding the controllers like you'd hold a machine gun, shooting at a bunch of aliens attacking a city."

"Oh, that's Alien Assault." He rolled over from his knees and into a seat facing me. "I'm down for playing that."

"Cool." I started off through the crowds, swerving past some other games, heading over towards where I'd seen it. "It'd be fun to try something that's co-op."

"Tired of me winning already?"

"Something like that." I shot him a grin to match his. "Did you forget who's carrying who, by the way?"

"I didn't." His grin grew even wider, tail waving like a flag. "But I'm with ya. Co-op play'll be a nice change of pace."

As it turned out, giving 'Alien Assault' a shot _did_prove a nice change of pace.

A great change, actually.

Way more fun than basketball and way less awkward than dipping and dancing around flying targets.

But, above all of that, playing alongside Martin, not against him, was the best change of all.

Our first try went well. With our headsets on and our make-believe rifles locked and loaded, we faced down an entire army of alien invaders and more, blasting our way through rubble-strewn streets, blown-out buildings, and various open areas of a crumbling, devastated city.

In the end, it took a slimy, overgrown boss monster with its tentacles, lasers, and all kinds of other nonsense breaking out from a metro station to put us down.

No matter. Nothing a new credit couldn't fix: a motto we reminded ourselves of each time something killed us.

Finally, after spending far too many of those credits, we hung up our invisible guns about halfway through the river crossing that was the game's fourth stage. But not before we entered our names onto the top ten leaderboard.

Once we'd had our fill of fighting aliens, me and Martin decided to work our way around the arcade some more, checking out some of the other co-op-focused games on offer.

Then a few more.

All of them, in fact. I think.

Time ended up getting away from us in all the right ways, and it wasn't until I noticed the sun had begun to set outside that I realised how much all this VR gaming had worn me out.

We left the games behind a short while after that, much to the appreciation of my tired eyes and aching feet.

The rest area at the front of the arcade had got even busier in the hours since I'd been there waiting for Martin, overflowing with other folk winding down or taking a break.

We did find ourselves a spare seat not too far from the vending machines. Or, to be more exact, _I_found myself a seat, with Martin in turn taking one atop my thigh.

Not before we grabbed ourselves a snack and a drink from those vending machines, though.

Settled, snacking, we sank into the lively, rolling waves of chatter, regularly breaking from chomping on our crisps and sipping on our sodas to add to the conversations unfolding around us.

"So then," Martin said after a swig of his orange soda. "Outta the games we played, which was your favourite?"

"Got a lot to choose from." I eased myself back in my seat, thinking far more about his question than the creak of the chair I think I heard. "Alien Attack was pretty fun. I ain't usually big on shooters, but the VR made it for me, I'd say."

"Fair shout."

"Either that or Rapid Response. The whole paramedic thing's not something you'd think could be made into an arcade game, never mind a VR one."

"I know, right!?" He practically glowed in delight as we recalled the very last game we'd played. "You were pretty great at driving the ambulance. Kept it real nice and smooth. Made those quick-time events to treat patients a breeze."

"The time I drove it into a ravine aside."

"Hah, we'll ignore that one."

"And you?" I asked, sensing my smile spread as the little marten in my lap looked more and more relaxed. "Which was your favourite?"

"Ah, they were all great, but..." Martin gave his chin a thoughtful rub, his other paw idly tapping... patting... the top of my thigh. "Nah, sorry. I can't call it."

"Oh, that ain't no fun."

"What?" he said with a snort. "I had a blast playing all of 'em with you. They're _all_my favourite."

"Pah, I s'pose that's a fair answer." I let myself loosen further, opening my legs, resting an arm on the back of my seat.

My chair crackled some more. My hips and thighs started spreading into and onto the ones either side of me, pushing up against those sitting there. It wasn't like I could help it. Besides, what I wanted to say to Martin was way more important.

"It was way more fun than I expected. The VR, I mean."

"Oh?" He fastened the top of his soda bottle and slipped it between his crossed legs. "How so?"

"The way I felt like I was actually 'there', y'know? That, and how we were the same size each time."

"Ah, yeah, I'm with ya. Those are the best parts." His delight softened into an easy smile. "The size thing, especially."

Our fast-flowing conversation eased into a natural pause. Martin tossed a crisp into his muzzle, while I took a moment to scope out the rest area.

So many gamers were here, of all shapes, species, and sizes. They all came together as smoothly as me and Martin had, laughing and talking in their various groups, with Maleni friends right there with Visoka ones, settled and perched in shirt pockets, collars, or in laps like the little marten chilling out here with me.

Everyone fit in. Myself included... No matter my size.

"Hey, Ben?" Martin asked, drumming his fingers over his soda bottle. "Can I...? Uh, I mean, I wanna say sorry about when we were sitting here earlier."

"Earlier?" We'd played so many games, let so much water flow under so many bridges, that I genuinely struggled to remember 'earlier'. "What about it?"

"The way I acted about the whole 'heights we put on our dating profiles' thing." He craned his neck up towards me, a gleam of regret finding its way into his smile. "And for the jokes I made about your height. The 'headbutting the ceiling while sitting' stuff and all."

"It's--"

"Just took me by surprise," he blurted, scratching his shoulder blade. "Like, I expected you to be big, being a polar bear and all, but... well, you're huge, heh."

My turn to find my bottle of soda, chuckling into my chest at his description of my size.

Huge... Coming from him, it didn't hurt anything like as much as I expected it to.

In fact, it didn't hurt... at all.

"My bad. Sorry," he said, losing what remained of his soft smile. "I don't mean to make fun--"

"No, hey, no." I wanted his smile, his softness back again. "It's fine."

"Wait, really?"

"It's not like you're wrong."

"Guess not." Back came his delight in the form of a delicate smirking grin.

"And anyway, I should apologise as well. For lying about my size on my profile in the first place."

"What?" He scoffed, uncrossing his legs to lay back atop my leg. Super chilled. "It's not like I didn't lie as well."

"True, but... Still. I feel bad about it."

Martin's tail swept over my trousers. "We really do both have big hang-ups about our heights, don't we?"

"Something else we've got in common."

"Heh." He patted my thigh. Again. Anything but idly, that time. "Let's just say we're both sorry. How 'bout that?"

"Works for me." My tail would've been waving like his if it were long enough. "And that we both forgive each other?"

Martin sighed, nodded, then patted me again from his sprawl. "Works for me."

We stayed there for a little while longer, finishing off our snacks, our drinks, talking here and there about all the games we'd played together that afternoon.

Our back and forths went so smoothly, so easily, and they were so much fun, no matter how long they went on for.

I'd started this meet-up of ours grateful for how much they felt like our online chats. But by the time I was thinking about the walk back to the train station, and the rest of the walk home ahead of me, we'd moved onto a whole new level. A level of comfort, of familiarity, that I'd never had the pleasure of experiencing with Martin before.

I didn't want this feeling to end.

I hoped that it wouldn't have to.

"I'm probably gonna have to head on home fairly soon," I muttered, unable, unwilling to hide my reluctance. "4am start at work for me tomorrow."

"Oh," Martin's tail lost its loose, sweeping sways as he sat up to check his phone. "Wow, okay... I guess we've been here longer than I realised."

"Time flies when you're having fun," I didn't hesitate to say. "And I've had a lot of it."

"Absolutely! And same here."

"But, uh, before we do finish things off and head on outta here..." All the smoothness and the easiness of our talking, on my side at least, dried up in an uncompromising instant.

"...Yeah?" he asked, every Maleni-sized inch of him watching me in expectation.

"I wanted to ask..." Dryness found its way to my mouth, too, making words, any words, tricky to form.

But those eyes of Martin's. Patient. Hopeful... They told me just how much he wanted to hear what I had to say.

No way was I about to deny him that. "...How did you feel about going on a second meet-up... or second date, if you'd like to call it that?

"I'd absolutely like to call this a first date," he replied with an effortless ease I could only be impressed, and relieved by. "So, yeah. Sure. I would."

"You'd... like to call it a second date... or you'd like to go on one?"

He snorted hard. I couldn't miss his subtle headshake. Nor his kind little smile. "Both."

Joy. Relief. Excitement. An overpowering blend of all three took hold of me and refused to let go.

Gathering Martin out of my lap and into my paws seemed a logical next step.

As did bringing him up all the way to my snout.

"One thing's for sure," he said, placing his paw on the tip of my nose as his eyes locked to mine. "We won't be shocked by each other's size next time we meet."

"We won't be worried about scaring the other off, either," I replied, taking untold pleasure from the grin the little marten met me with.

It all proved far too much. The strength of my feeling, my emotion, wasn't like anything I'd experienced before. It affected every part of me. Left me running on nothing but instinct.

The long, firm, full-body hug against my snout that I pulled Martin into included.

"Jeez," he grumbled, sending small yet strong vibrations right the way through me. "Holy shit."

"Hmm?"

Martin shuddered, throwing his arms out towards me. Arms that reached around each side of my snout like they were made to measure.

My nose pressed into his chest, tracing and conforming to its lines and contours, reaching all the way from one shoulder to his other, his subtle, delightful scent only heightening the experience.

We fit together... perfectly.

"Good gods," he muttered, finishing with a moan that rumbled through his chest and into my snout.

"You okay, Martin?"

"Absolutely," he said with barely more than a trembling, breathless whisper. "I've just found another positive of you being as big as you are."

"What's that?" I asked, holding him in place with a tight yet careful squeeze.

"You hug good. _Real_good... Godsdamn."

I snickered under my breath, savouring the sensation of his small paws pressing and rubbing into my muzzle fuzz. "Right back at ya."

We unwrapped ourselves from one another a far-too-short while after, taking a second to dust off crumbs and check our pockets before I stood on up to carry us outside.

As fun as our arcade afternoon had been, and fun it really, _truly_was, I couldn't deny myself a happy exhale after making it out into the chilly but comfortable dusk time air. Finally, I could hear something other than the neverending thumping and droning of arcade machines and the hordes of folk playing them.

That happiness didn't come without some sorrow. A cold pang filled my chest as I bent down to help Martin onto the Maleni walkway outside the VRrcade.

A pang that'd continue long after I stood back up straight.

But one he'd help ease with a well-timed smile.

"I'd say I'd call you, but..." He rested his arms on the walkway's guardrail, crowds of Maleni moving in both directions behind him. "Do our voice calls count for that?"

"They've got the word 'call' in there," I replied, feeling the breeze of the Visoka-sized crowds passing behind my own back. "So, probably?"

"Sounds legit, heh. Either way, we'll talk again soon."

"Definitely." I wrapped a now empty paw around the back of the other and squeezed. "I'm looking forward to it."

"Same." Martin's smile sweetened. "Well, uh... I had a wonderful time today."

"Me too!"

"And... I hope our next meeting... date... will be even half as good."

"I'm sure it will." The thought to bend and reach on down, get myself a second helping of our tight hug in the arcade crossed my mind.

Just for a brave second.

The crowds around us, even bigger than those back inside, forced me to settle for offering a wide smile and a parting wave instead. "Take care getting home, alright?"

"Back at ya, big guy." Martin kept his eyes up on me, even while he stepped onto the moving walkway, and very nearly into some hare already riding it. "I'll see ya soon."

I watched him roll and walk off down the street, slowly losing sight of him amongst all the other Maleni-sized travellers as he passed the corner of the VRcade, then completely once the walkway inclined down into an underpass running beneath a side-street.

It hurt to watch, honestly. We'd finally made it to a good place after the bumpy start our first-ever in-person meeting got off to, then suddenly, it was time to say our goodbyes.

With a sigh, I turned to face the strengthening, eye-watering winter breeze and started my own journey home, homing in on the train station, visible from my vantage above the crowd.

Why_did_it hurt, anyway?

It shouldn't have. We'd see each other again, and we'd be talking online and playing a game or something together again before I knew it.

It wouldn't be the same, though.

I wouldn't have him right here with me.

The sadness would pass, however. Replaced instead by a strengthening spring in my quickening step.

Yes... We _would_see each other again.

We'd see each other, and we'd not have to battle through the pre-date fears that'd created that rough start to our afternoon.

I couldn't wait for my next voice call with Martin, and even less so for our second date that I'd aim to schedule as soon as possible.

And, most critical of all, I couldn't wait to experience the sensation of our second hug together.

Our second hug where we could fit together... perfectly.