Chapter Text
“That will be all for today.”
Barbara lets out a small sigh of relief that is echoed by every other student in the Biochemistry class, but probably for different reasons than hers. She liked this subject, really, but after a grueling week of midterm exams she was more than ready to just have some time for herself.
Quickly, she places her laptop back in her bag and gets up, hoping to avoid the huge flux of people filing out of the classroom. The girl’s hopes are shattered though when she hears the stern voice of her professor again.
“Miss Gunnhildr, a moment please?”
Barbara’s blood turns cold and her stomach drops at the mention of her surname. What could he possibly want with her? Has she done something wrong? Oh no, did she remember to sign her name on her essay? She always forgot to do that back in high school! Okay, maybe not always, but definitely a couple of times… This is bad.
Her legs now shaking, Barbara makes her way to the professor’s desk, using all of her might to not just bolt out of the room in panic. She is certain the man in front of her definitely wants to torture her, because he seems to take as long as possible to acknowledge her standing there, opting instead to shuffle with the slides in the projector – his back facing the poor, fidgeting girl.
“Uh… professor?” Her voice sounded so small and fragile that Barbara wondered if he even heard her; oh how she hated speaking with authority figures… “You called me?”
“Ah! Miss Gunnhildr, I’ve finished grading your essay on Immunohistochemistry,” There it is, he’s probably going to tell her how terrible it was, or how she entirely missed the point, or- “your description of its uses on cancer diagnosis was flawless. Just what I expected from our top student.”
The man beams with pride, but Barbara is still processing the fact that she wasn’t being scolded.
Truth be told, he was right, the blonde was indeed the top med student at the University of Mondstadt, but the better her academic prowess got, the more her anxieties about it grew, weirdly enough. The reason for this probably stems from the immense pressure her mother, Frederica, have put her under ever since she was a small child – “You are a Gunnhildr, we are always meant to be the best.” she would always say, it didn’t help that her older sister was the closest to flawless a human being could be (a fact that her mother would never let her forget). So whenever little Barbara brought in her perfect report cards, her mother would dismiss her enthusiasm and only tell her how this was the least she could have done; the girl could imagine how irate Frederica would be if there was a single mediocre grade in that report.
Ever since then, school had become a place of great anxiety for Barbara, every test or assignment just another opportunity for failure and to subsequently face her mother’s wrath, and every perfect score she got was only increasing the expectations on her even more, causing her inevitable fall from grace to be even worse than before.
“Uh… thank you, professor.” is all that she could manage to say through her constricted throat, not even waiting for a reply before scurrying out of the classroom in a hurry. She needed to leave right now, to take a break at least for the rest of the day or else she was going to have a full on panic attack.
Thankfully she knew just the place to go to blow off some steam.
Barbara has a little secret.
It isn’t at all dangerous or shady, really. To be honest it is quite silly, but it is special to her nonetheless, maybe specifically due to the fact that she never shared it with anyone else before; it is hers, and hers alone.
Driving home as fast as the traffic laws allowed her, Barbara quickly changes from the dreary clothes she always wore to class – It’s not a fashion contest, Barbara, it’s a learning institution , the nagging voice of her mother ringed in her head, – to a cute navy blue lolita jumper skirt and a flowy white blouse, complete with patterned stockings, a blue beret and a black bow on her collar. The style was very flashy, yes, but Barbara loved it so much, she felt weirdly like herself while wearing it, like this was the real her.
After styling her hair in pigtails, the girl gets back in her car and sets off to her little safe haven – That place being the arcade at the local mall.
Yes, as stated, her secret was very silly; whenever she had any free time after class, Barbara would rush to the flashy arcade and cement her position as the top Street Fighter Alpha 3 player even further. The rush she would feel at beating every single opponent she ever faced was exhilarating, making her want to train more and more just to become the best. No one here knew anything about her family or her legacy or what was expected of her, no, here it was just her, the machine and her enemy; such a refreshing change.
Barbara takes in the atmosphere with a content smile on her face – the loud electronic noises from the machines, the excited screams and laughs, the cheesy pop music blaring from the kind of blown out speakers… Yes, she missed this.
It’s been almost an entire month since the blonde had visited the arcade. Studying took precedence over her games, of course, but she would be lying if she said it wasn’t extremely hard to stay away from all of this. Now that she is back again though, she is going to certainly make up for the lost time.
The place usually was pretty empty this early in the day, so that means that her usual machine sat empty waiting just for her; the familiar music sending tingles down her spine. Stretching her arms and cracking her fingers, Barbara inserts a token in the slot, quickly choosing R. Mika as her fighter and skipping the very familiar origin story displayed on the screen.
When the first fight began, the girl’s face changed instantly. The meek, shy med student melted, giving way to focused, confident eyes that observed intently every movement from the CPU controlled character. Every attack attempt was countered by quick movements and every opening successfully and mercilessly punished by Mika’s grappling attacks. The two rounds were over in seconds, her character not taking a single hit.
“Not bad,” someone says accompanied by an impressed whistle, the honesty of which Barbara couldn't quite ascertain. The voice came from the token exchange counter but she decided to ignore it, she was used to having onlookers during her fights anyway.
The second and third fight went much the same way, with Barbara defeating every single opponent with perfect health, her score only getting higher.
“Do you normally play by yourself like this?” the person interrupted her again. The girl was starting to get annoyed, and that only got worse when she noticed the terrible smell of cigarette smoke coming from the counter.
“There is just no one on my level here.” Gods, who would have thought that she could brag like this in any other circumstance, it was strange how self assured she could be whenever she was playing. A loud snort accompanied by a deep laugh came from the other person – it didn’t sound mean spirited, mostly just very amused.
“Ah, I see,” an almost imperceptible chuckle punctuating the phrase.
“By the way,” Barbara said in an annoyed tone, “You can’t smoke here.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I’m sure the boss doesn't mind.”
With a displeased grumble, the blonde tries to ignore her new spectator as much as possible, focusing instead on beating Bison quickly and flawlessly. With a last special move, R. Mika jumps from the ring and finishes her rival with a final drop kick. “K.O.” flashes on the screen and Barbara finally relaxes, writing the usual “BRB'' as her name for the high score while the credits played; judging by her points and her great performance she is sure she has just beaten her own record.
As the top ten scores scroll up – mostly comprised of her own previous attempts –, Barbara waits for the sweet release of endorphins at seeing her name again on top, but it never comes. Instead it shows up in second place, right under a new name: ROS.
“What?? But, who…?” She was so confused, she had never heard of anyone with those initials around here, especially not someone that good.
“That would be me.”
Leaning her hip against the arcade machine, the person who was watching the blonde this whole time revealed herself. She was very tall – almost a head taller than Barbara –, with short red dyed hair and incredibly pale skin that contrasted heavily with her dark ripped jeans and the black t-shirt with the logo of a band that Barbara had never even heard of. Black combat boots scraped the linoleum floor and fully ringed fingers tapped against the game cabinet while she waited with a smirk for the shorter girl to react to her presence finally.
Barbara for her part was transfixed. The girl in front of her was incredibly beautiful in a dangerous sort of way, everything about her felt so new and foreign compared to her sheltered life until this point, and she plays SFA! Maybe they could be friends and discuss combo strategies and… Wait, no! She is her enemy! Shaking her head slightly to break free from the strange fog in her brain, Barbara points her finger accusatorily at her.
“You’re ROS??”
“Rosaria, actually.” the mysterious girl explains – as if the distonantly colorful employee nametag clipped to her t-shirt wasn’t enough confirmation – , her smirk never vanishing. “You must be BRB then?”
“It’s Barbara,” she narrows her eyes at Rosaria to show her annoyance, but honestly she is ecstatic. Her heart thrummed loudly in her chest at the opportunity of finally having a new challenge. Finally she would have a rival that would push her abilities even further than before. A new relationship based on honor and mutual respect and-
“Ah, it’s nice to finally meet the second best Alpha 3 player around.”
Nevermind, Barbara is going to wipe the floor with her right now.
“How about a 1v1?” Barbara managed to say between gritted teeth. Rosaria looks thoughtful for a few seconds, even going so far as placing her index finger on her chin, humming dramatically.
“Hmm, I don’t know. What’s in it for me?”
“What?”
“Oh, you know… I’m the champion, you’re the challenger, I’ve got nothing to win and you’ve got nothing to lose,”
Barbara was still stunned by her words. Okay, they made sense in a way, but what do you even hope to gain when playing fighting games?
“Fine, do you want money?” She could do that, if there is one thing that she and her family never lacked was mora. However, the offer only made Rosaria snort dismissively.
“Oh, I know!” The redhead chimed in. Barbara was relieved for a second before she noticed how the neutral expression on Rosaria’s face gave way to a wolfish grin, causing the blonde to gulp loudly, “How about a kiss?”
“A… kiss?” Barbara was dumbfounded. She had never even kissed anyone before, and this girl just asked for it as a prize? She couldn’t do it, right? That wasn’t the right thing to do; your first kiss has to be with the person you love, and she has been saving it for so long already. What would her mother say if she saw her pure, perfect Barbara kissing a random girl at a seedy arcade of all places? She would be so mad…
But, then again…
Her mother wasn’t here, right?
It’s not like she is going to lose either
And she really wants to wipe that stupid grin from Rosaria’s face.
“Look, if you are not up for-”
“I’ll do it.” Barbara says resolutely, slapping her palm beside the joystick with two tokens between her fingers. She offers one to Rosaria, before inserting hers in the slot.
“My, who would have thought that this kitten had claws under all those frills?” The taller girl chuckled again, rounding the cabinet to stand beside her opponent. This girl was getting on Barbara’s nerves too easily, she really needs to focus.
When the character select screen appeared, Barbara quickly chose R. Mika again and watched to see what the other girl would pick. Rose, huh? Of course she would choose the mysterious woman with a dark past, how obvious. Unfortunately it is a bad matchup for the blonde: Rose’s magic attacks are usually very annoying already, but for a grappler character like Mika they are downright dangerous. She will have to keep out of range and close in only when she is 100% certain it will pay off, not to mention watching out for her sliding kick. It’s not impossible though, the strategies for her victory are already forming in Barbara's mind.
The announcer signals the beginning of the fight and the world melts away again; both girls barely moving aside from their deft fingers. Barbara was right, her opponent really is relying heavily on the sliding kick to break her lower defense, but her own air game is enough to control the first half of the match. Her lead is short lived though, as Rosaria locks her in a combo on the corner of the screen that has her entire life bar completely depleted in mere seconds, winning the first round.
“You should low block more, you know?” Rosaria says in between rounds, the only answer being a quick “shut up” from the short blonde that has her chuckling again.
While the first round was a toss-up between the two, the second one was a complete demolition by Rosaria. Barbara has barely room to breathe as every single attempt to grapple Rose is quickly tech’d and punished, she had never seen someone read her moves so well before. With just a quarter of her health left, Mika finally manages to score a 5 hit combo, but it’s ultimately useless when the redhead gets the upper hand again, finishing the fight with an aerial magical strike.
As she watches R. Mika falling to the ground, Barbara can’t believe this is happening. It must have been years since the last time she lost a match, especially to someone else like this. Tears threatened to escape and that only made her feel worse – What is she? 7? What kind of 21 year old cries because she lost at a fighting game?
Only then the real consequences of her defeat dawns on her; She would have to give her first kiss to Rosaria.
It’s weird how that doesn’t seem to worry her as much as just losing. Actually, she doesn’t mind it at all. Rosaria is beautiful, and she seems very cool, in an annoying and condescending way, maybe, but still very cool. She could do worse for a first kiss, she argues.
“Fine… take it.” she mumbles, all of her confidence gone. Rosaria turns to her with what seems to be her normal neutral expression and tilts her head in slight confusion; gods, she is going to make Barbara say it, won’t she? “The kiss… I lost, so you can take it, I guess.”
Rosaria leans down and the blonde stiffens, she closes her eyes and does her best to tilt her head up to the taller girl. The hammering in her heart is uncomfortably strong, and Barbara doesn’t even try to control her shallow breathing – this is it, her first kiss, it’s happening, finally.
“Nah.”
Barbara opens her eyes only to see Rosaria leaning back against the machine. It was like someone had dumped a bucket of ice cold water on the blonde, she was so lost and vulnerable and honestly pretty hurt, was she just rejected like that?
“Whu… Why?”
“Nothing personal, I just don’t kiss girls who don’t wanna be kissed,” Rosaria said simply, one hand on her back pocket. Did she look like she didn’t want to be kissed? I mean, she was nervous, sure, but it’s not like she didn't want it a little… or maybe a lot… When Barbara looked back again, the redhead was already making her way back to the counter; maybe she should call her? Explain it was a misunderstanding or that she can try again, or- “Besides, kissing a small fry like you would only hurt my reputation anyways.”
This girl…
Barbara makes a promise that day: She was going to beat Rosaria.