3rd Floor CR, Friday Morning

[bitten_notshy]

Jack had arranged his week to have a three-day weekend for ease of travel back and forth to Baltimore. Of course, now that he wasn't visiting Baltimore so much, it meant he had a long chunk of dead time at the end of every week. It bothered him.

Today, he was trying to fill that time in the common room. There was some rerun on the television -- a wacky doctor show, full of adults acting like children in ways intended to be humorous -- but Jack's attention was on a chess board he'd pried free from the back of the storage shelves. He didn't play chess regularly, but he was decent enough to find it a good mental exercise.

He was playing himself. Right now, the black side seemed to be winning, but Jack saw a way for his white pieces to regain their advantage.

[OOC: Open common room, natch.]

Comments

[bitten_notshy]

"You do," Jack nodded. "Though there's no reason to know most of it these days, so I don't blame you."

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"Gentlemen still exist," Alex assured him, shrugging. "I'm just better at being exactly the opposite. Every good guy needs a villain, right?"

[bitten_notshy]

"You need the mustache to twirl," Jack answered. "A cape, too. You should wear one."

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"Think I could pull off a mustache like that?" Alex wondered, reaching to rub the scruff on his chin.

[bitten_notshy]

"I think you would look amazing, Alex," Jack decided. "You should do it for when the new students come."

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I'll grow a mustache that I can twirl if you give yourself a mohawk," Alex offered. "You could work it. Emma would love it."

[bitten_notshy]

"I'd look like Priestly," Jack said, making a face. "One of him is enough. Were you going to move your piece, or do you forfeit?"

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"I don't forfeit," he said and did the boring thing by moving his pawn a two spaces. "I don't give up and anyone who thinks I do tends to get a surprise."

Alex smirked. "Ever worn makeup? Not like a girl but in the Priestly way."

[bitten_notshy]

The pawn move blocked what Jack was going to do with his bishop, so he moved a knight instead.

He shook his head. "If stage makeup doesn't count, no. I don't understand the fashion."

And no girls had ever asked him to. If one did, he would.

"Have you?"

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"Nope," Alex said, shaking his head and sliding a rook out to give the pawn some backup. "Well, no, I have. I got my nails painted when we were in the Bahamas. Consequences of being drunk and agreeable. And having a pretty girl all over me."

[bitten_notshy]

"It's different if a girl does it," Jack agreed, and moved his king to take one of Alex's pawns. "Did you end up with pretty sparkly nails?"

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

Alex made a face at the board before he slid his queen out a few spaces just to protect his king.

"She seemed to like 'em," Alex said, shrugging and glancing at his nails. "I painted hers too so I at least had company."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack frowned at the board, considering his options before he'd make a move. "You matched?" he asked. "That must have been adorable. Too bad I didn't get a photograph."

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"We did not match," Alex said, making a face at the word and moving a bishop out to try and set up a move where he could take one of Jack's pieces. "She was wearing the tightest fucking pants I have ever seen. I probably would have let her dump glitter on me a that point."

[bitten_notshy]

"This is Effy?" Jack asked, sliding a piece out of Alex's way. It meant a retreat overall, but he needed his knight.

Truthfully, even tight pants seemed relatively modest from what Jack had seen of Effy's wardrobe.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"Yep," Alex said, nodding and moving another pawn as sort of a baiting tactic. It wasn't subtle but he didn't care. "Probably the only one who could talk me into getting my nails painted. I should probably be concerned that she can convince me that easily."

But, well, considering what she usually convinced him with, Alex thought he could be forgiven.

[bitten_notshy]

"I wouldn't worry about it," Jack opined. He gave Alex a dirty look at the baiting and kept his bishop well clear of it, trying to make a run for Alex's queen instead.

"As long as you're both getting something you want, a little glitter never hurt anyone."

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Alex wasn't going to let his queen get taken like that so he moved her out of the way, safely hidden behind a few other pieces.

"That your way of saying you'd let Emma dump glitter on you?"

[bitten_notshy]

"No." A beat while Jack, most of his routes blocked, moved a pawn in a way that neither helped nor hurt him. "Maybe. Only if it would make her happy."

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

Alex grinned, sliding his rook out a little more to grab one of those pawns. "That was a pretty affectionate thing you just said, Jack. I'm beginning to think you're a teddy bear at heart."

[bitten_notshy]

"I'm not the one who let a girl paint my nails because she put on tight pants," Jack pointed out.

He frowned at the pawn's sacrifice, then recovered by using his bishop to take Alex's rook.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but I think you would have," Alex said, shaking his head. "Besides, it wasn't just the pants. I had other motivations for letting her talk me into it."

[bitten_notshy]

"I'm sure you had very good reasons," Jack said loftily.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"Well, you know, it's not chess but it was still pretty good," Alex joked. "But that's all right Jack, you're just as good as Effy in tight pants."

Except not really.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised for a moment. "I didn't realize you looked at my arse, Alex. Should I be flattered?"