Again it turns out I didn’t even realise this one until over a month later. 
This cat says I’m a fool and so do I.
Warning: Deceased character; near-death of a child.
Harlan Blaze Johnson (27 March 1994—1 May 2022, aged 28) was an arcade co-owner of the arcade previously called C’s Epic Arcade at the mall Leighton’s brother Parker works at. The arcade was often visited by Leighton as one of her places to travel. Harlan always got along with the Metzger family and while Robin is usually busy, he enjoys coming to the arcade to play trivia games. He’s also a thrift shop fan too, selling his unwanted clothes to thrift stores. Many of the arcade games were superhero-related and Leighton and her partner loved to play them. Leighton currently has the high score on many arcade games and her partner adores this about her. The arcade is a small business in the mall that is frequented by average folk, but once Rorrie Travis, an actor from LA, visited the arcade alongside his girlfriend Carmen and fans liked seeing them there. Harlan loved computer science but loved all sorts of sciences, especially Leila and Josie‘s interests in botany and biochemistry. He jokes that he never goes outside since he always played arcade games, but this is false and he was very pro-science. The arcade has membership deals and makes a special cheaper membership bundle for students. He’s exceptionally a fan of Raul’s love in astrophysics and loves the geeky spacial sciences most. While Harlan is the co-owner, the owner is female and basically an older Leighton, so Leighton very much enjoys seeing her as well. Harlan loves seeing women in leading roles and successful careers, being the older brother of midwife Chloe Johnson. He likes that Chloe delivered Parker and Holly’s baby and wished he knew them more, seeing that Parker also worked at the mall, but they didn’t see each other every day since Parker was working in the food court. However Mosley’s cutesy baby demeanour always put Harlan in a good mood.
Harlan was a chill individual and liked to get along with people. He and the arcade owner were practically best friends. He has a rare collection of old comic books that were shared among him and his great-grandfather. His rarest one was one of the earliest comic books, which his great-grandfather traded to him for a bundle of limited-edition 1950s comics. His great-grandfather is 100 years old so he has had a lifetime of collecting. However Harlan and his great-grandfather are serious collectors and won’t let random people touch their comic books. Harlan has only once let someone borrow a comic book from his stash, and that was to Leighton because Harlan had a sense she was a true comic book fan. It was also likely because this comic book was the 1961 book Fantastic Four #1, which debuted Invisible Woman.
Harlan often joked that he “never got fresh air” due to his love for gaming but this wasn’t the truth and people knew this, now more than ever. While having on his day off from working, he went hiking in the local park. He walked for most of the time before relaxing by the river to eat lunch. A family was there and there were two small children, one who was a 4-year-old girl and one who was a baby boy. Harlan smiled, thinking about how they reminded him of Mosley. The smile quickly turned into a face of panic when the 4-year-old girl walked too close to the river and fell in. Harlan immediately jumped in and swam over to her, grabbing her and safely moving her to land, where her parents would hug her and cry that she nearly died but was saved. However for Harlan, he was still submerged in the water at that point, being pulled by currents until he himself drowned. The little girl’s parents were petrified he had died but were forever grateful he saved their daughter and always wanted to repay Harlan’s family. Leighton was shocked when she heard of his death but deep down, knew he was always a hero. Leighton’s girlfriend had comforted her through the trauma. Leighton asked Chloe what she should do with the comic book he lent her and Chloe said, “Honestly keep it. He never lets people do this so if he did that, he knows you’re a true fan and he’d want you to have it.” Chloe had been very dejected over her brother’s death but the family Harlan helped was always so nice to her, especially since she helped deliver their baby son. The Metzger siblings used this to feel happy that they are a family and get to still see each other every day. Mosley has helped put some light back into Parker and Holly’s life by dancing around and being playful. The arcade’s owner admitted she had secretly been falling for Harlan but that he would unfortunately never know. In his honour, the arcade has since been renamed C and H’s Epic Arcade.
Rorrie was created by @Lindseylloyd052399
Carmen was created by @readingclaygirl
Raul, Leila, and Robin were created by @kitkatcookie
Chloe was created by @emily_becca123
Josie, Parker, and Leighton were created by @I_meme_it
