Mario Kart

Mario Kart

By Jaewon

Summary:

A cozy night in turns competitive when Sana and her boyfriend battle it out on Mario Kart. Sana gets seriously into the game while he keeps joking around, leading to playful chaos, teasing, a silly “fight,” and plenty of laughter that ends in warm cuddles and sweet moments.

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The living room smelled like the popcorn we had just popped in the microwave and the faint vanilla scent of the candle Sana liked to light on quiet evenings. Rain tapped gently against the windows, making the whole apartment feel like a warm little bubble away from the world. I was sprawled on the big couch in sweatpants and an old t-shirt, Nintendo Switch controller in hand, while Sana sat cross-legged beside me in one of my hoodies that swallowed her petite frame. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and she had that focused glint in her eyes already.

“Ready to lose again, baby?” she asked, bumping my shoulder with hers as the game loaded up.

I grinned. “You say that every time, and yet here we are.”

Mario Kart had become our thing on nights like this. Sana was ridiculously competitive about it. She practiced rainbow road in secret—I’d caught her at it twice—and she picked the best characters and karts every single time. Me? I just picked whatever looked fun and tried to make her laugh.

We started with a standard cup. Sana chose Rosalina like always, pink kart shining on screen. I went with Yoshi because he made her smile. The first race began and she immediately leaned forward, shoulders tense, thumbs flying over the buttons.

“Nooo!” she cried when a green shell hit her right before the finish. She had been in first the whole time.

I crossed the line in fourth place, laughing as Yoshi did a little victory dance anyway. “Fourth isn’t bad! I call that character development.”

Sana shot me a look, half annoyed and half trying not to laugh. “You’re not even trying. You threw a banana peel on purpose right in front of me!”

“That’s strategy, babe. Psychological warfare.”

She huffed but couldn’t hide the smile tugging at her lips. We played the next race and she dominated again, cheering when she got first by a solid margin. I came in fifth this time after accidentally driving off the track twice.

“See? I’m helping you get better by giving you motivation,” I teased, poking her side.

Sana swatted my hand away. “Motivation? You’re just being annoying on purpose!”

The more we played, the more serious she got. Her tongue poked out a little when she concentrated, and she kept muttering things like “Come on, blue shell, not now…” under her breath. I, on the other hand, kept joking.

During one race on Moo Moo Meadows, I deliberately slowed down to drive beside her just so I could bump her kart gently.

“Hey!” she yelped as her character spun out. “That’s cheating!”

“Nah, that’s love. I’m just keeping you company.”

She paused the game and turned to glare at me, but her eyes were sparkling. “You’re the worst. I’m dating the worst person.”

“Yet you keep coming back for more races,” I shot back, grinning.

We kept going, the stack of races growing. Sana won most of them, getting more and more into it. At one point she actually stood up on the couch during the final lap of Rainbow Road, balancing carefully as she tried to drift perfectly.

“Yes! Yes! I’m flying!” she cheered when she nailed a shortcut.

I clapped for her dramatically. “My girlfriend is a pro gamer. Someone get this woman a sponsor.”

She flopped back down, laughing now, the competitiveness melting a bit. But then I managed to snipe first place from her with a lucky red shell in the very last second of another race. The victory music played for Yoshi and Sana’s jaw dropped.