Fic: Club my Diamond Heart of Spades [5/?] [Nellis]
Club My Diamond Heart of Spades [5/?]
Author: Karesu
Fandom/Pairing: Left 4 Dead 2 [Nick/Ellis]
Disclaim: Not mine, I assure you
Summary: Nick is a conman by trade, swindling people out of their money the moment he grabs hold of a deck of cards. What happens, though, if he finally meets his match? [AU story]
A/N: New installment. I went back to the basics of playing cards and more NICK! Have you missed him? I know I have. Anyway I hope you guys enjoy. Also please ignore my bad attempts at writing anything about cards and how to play them, in real life I am the worst poker player ever.
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
The thing that most people never realize about Poker is the most important aspect was never the cards, the opponents, or even the odds. The most important thing about Poker is learning how to lay in wait and switch your facial expression in interesting intervals so the other people can never really guess what you're thinking while they, in fact, guess what you're thinking. This was the first thing Ellis’ uncle had taught him about the game.
It was this very advice that put him to an advantage to the self proclaimed conman he currently owed. Nick was good, Ellis would give him total credit for that, but he also was far too stoic. It gave everything away! When he was a kid El would never have figured that there were different kinds of brooding and silence. Hell, he made a point to stay away from silence all together. It wasn’t until later he figured it all out.
Nick radiated two primary fronts of indifference, which made him horribly expressive for someone so impassive.
The first was carried with a sort of feline grace to it, mainly in the way Nick purchased himself on the stool and slyly looked around at the other players in an infrequent and unhurried manner. The second was when his eyes hurriedly fell upon different players, the inner workings of his mind going full speed trying to figure out what they had. Sometimes it would be accompanied by a slight twitching of the eye as he looked back down on his cards.
One screamed of a good hand while the other was a sure bet that he was trying to play the field. Anyone with eyes and a non-alcohol induced brain could see it. The problem, Ellis decided, is even though they could they were making the foolish mistake of taking one for the other.
When Nick’s brilliantly colored eyes scattered among the crowd one would assume nervousness, and that was exactly what the conman wanted his opponent to think. If they caught the extremely subtle shifting they started to feel good about themselves and figure Nick was showing through the cracks. They bet more against him, assuming he had nothing and was showing his players tick. They lost. Always.
When he was relaxed and sparely playing the field, it meant he had a horrible hand. It worked like the other, but in reverse. They saw how calm he was and no one that confident had a terrible hand. When you had a bad hand you were jittery, everyone knew that. The problem was, so did Nick. No one caught on so once again, the conman won. Simple as that.
“Hundred.” Ellis said, smiling for the entire world as if he didn’t really know what was going on. People expected it from him and it worked. Nick might be subtle, but that was never the hick’s style. He supported deception in the way of lots of talking, being nice [people weren’t used to it so it tended to throw them off], and playing off the fact many people thought he was a totally easy target and idiot.
“Bold move, kid.” Nick sneered as he brought his cigarette to his lips and took a long drag on it. They never came in at the same time and tried not to play against one another, but the way there were avoiding each other when only four tables were open was far too methodical.
“I got the cash, been savin’ my paycheck since thanksgiving fer this! Plus I ain’t gunna lose.” It was said with an airy tone, but Nick caught the serious edge to it. They weren’t dealing with the rest of the crowd; who embodied thoroughly smashed idiots that were easy targets. No, they were currently playing against one another.
“I’d like to see you try, really I would.” Nick shot back and looked back down at his cards. They had been playing together, conning people, for about a month now. It had only been a week ago when Ellis had talked to Keith about the whole Nick situation as he had dubbed it in his head. He still hadn’t come up with an answer to any of it; mainly due to the fact Nick was still acting like a complete asshole.
He squirmed in his seat, looking back at Nick sheepishly. “Well ya know, I can hope. I mean jus’ look at ya, you’re doing real well!” Which was true enough, the older man had racked up a decent amount of cash during the evening.
“So are you.” Nick said, looking back down at his cards.
“Nah, that’s just luck!” He protested, even if the two of them knew better.
The problem with the game they were currently playing was that the two of them knew the other’s particular way of playing by now. Nick knew that Ellis could see his different moods; while Ellis knew that acting the fool was definitely not going to win him anything this time. Not that anything had stopped him from beating the other man before… only problem was he was the dealer last time. It was a lot easier to cheat at a game that you were running.
In all actuality that might be the worst part of all of this, he wasn’t running the show at all. Nick held all of the cards, and car, without giving Ellis any leeway. This was the first time he felt that he had any power over the other since this whole proposition was proposed. He was determined to win. If nothing else, he figured, if it came down to it he had much more good karma than the other man and thus good luck should be coming his way.
Nick, on the other hand, was relishing in the fact that he had some honest-to-goodness competition for the first time in years. At first it had pissed him off; he had lost money to a dim witted hick that shouldn’t have been able to count to five, not to mention twenty-one. That hadn’t been the case at all, and it intrigued him. Now he was in a battle with him, one that didn’t really matter who won ‘cause the money just went to him in the end anyway, but his pride was on the line.
“Just go on with the game, we’ll see how lucky you get.” The older man almost kicked himself at that comment. He wasn’t usually prone to such cliché statements but the brat just brought out the worst in him.
New cards were put down before each player and Nick’s eyes looked around. His mind was whirling and he tried to count out what was on the table and the likelihood that anyone would have a better hand than he had. He wasn’t the best at counting but he did know enough for the practice to benefit him. Picking up his cards a long and easy smirk made it onto his lips. It wasn’t the best hand in the game, but the probability of someone having the two other hands that would beat it was low.
“Last call!” The bartender bellowed from across the room, which also meant this was the last hand of the night. He caught Ellis’ eye, sending him a message that he wasn’t going to win. The southerner, for his part, just shrugged and looked down at his hand as the betting started off again.
“Fold.”
Nick stared at him in suspicion and waited for the round to be over. He laid down his cards, winning the game and racking in the last bit of cash that was laid down before him. He had done well for the night, especially adding the kid’s winnings with his own for the final total. He couldn’t help but feel that something was wrong, like he shouldn’t have won. The smug feeling he expected to accompany winning a game over Ellis was replaced with a weary feeling that made him think somehow he had been cheated.
The rest of the men at the table grumbled and got up, a few of them walking over to the bar to get their last drink of the night. Nick just kept staring at Ellis, trying to figure him out. It was at that point that the mechanic pulled up the cards that he had previously put face down on the table and lifted them up for the older man to see. Royal flush. He then handed them to the dealer who was picking up cards and shuffling them back into a deck.
“Real nice playin’ with ya, got some good luck on yer side.” He then headed over the bar for a beer, leaving Nick with the knowledge that he had just lost.
This didn’t annoy him as much as it probably should have, which was an odd sensation for him. He knew that he had been bested by the younger man and instead he found it almost… funny. Ironic even. Shaking his head he moved from the table and walked out of the door. He would see Ellis soon, then they could talk about how much he still owed for the car and the peculiar game of cards that had just transpired between them.
Ellis moved out of the boat and onto the docking platform that connected it to land. He had talked to some guys in the bar area about this and the other, nothing too important. He bought a round of drinks for the guys, not worried that it was Nick’s money. Hell, Nick had actually walked out with all the money this time around. He made it out of the parking area, looking up at the darkened sky and pondered on the things that had been happening to him as of late.
He couldn’t really complain and he did have a beauty of a car that he had been riding around in for the past few weeks. The repairs had been extensive but once they were done the car had been rightfully his. He named it Margaret after his mother, ‘cause it was just as beautiful as she was. They were both women after his own heart, although in two different ways.
He walked up to the car and gazed at her in conflict. On the one hand he had put a lot of work into repairing her and fixing up every little detail. She was running perfect and Ellis was as proud of how well he had fixed Margaret. He was almost done paying for her, too. He had given as much of his paycheck toward it as he could- but he had to help Nick with his ‘job’ to get the rest of it. He was good at it, sure, but sometimes it made him feel majorly guilty.
“Well,” He muttered under his breath as he looked toward the old truck that was sitting there. He would have brought his beauty, but he didn’t want to soil her by getting in her after cheating people out of their cash. He knew that he would never be able to look at her without thinking about gambling, and Nick, but he didn’t need to spoil everything. “Time ta go and see ‘em.”
The drive was silent, not even the radio breaking the mood. Usually the southern boy would be singing with the radio and what have you, but tonight wasn’t one of those times. He pulled up to the ritzy hotel that the other was stay in and parked, self-consciously pulling at the plain jeans and t-shirt he had on.
In all actuality Ellis felt kind of like a hooker when he drove himself to Nick’s hotel . In some ways he wished that he could be going up their just to… talk. The fact that his reasons had every bit to do with money made it seem almost dirty in a way. Sighing he walked over to the elevators, ignoring the woman working the night shift giving him a knowing look as he passed. She must have suspected something between the two men who met frequently and always late at night.
The glass elevator was already at the bottom floor and it smoothly moved him up to sixteen when he pushed the button. He didn’t even know why he was here, Nick had already taken home most of his winnings. It was more of a routine than anything else by this point he supposed. Coming up to room 1608 he knocked on the door lightly.
There was a long pause until finally it was swung open and Nick looked at him hard, leering in the doorway. A cigarette was hanging from his lips and he looked slightly more un-amused than he normally did. With a jerky motion he beckoned the other into the room, stalking over to the modernistic couch that was in the living area of the hotel room and sat there brooding. Ellis waited, opting to lean against the wall in case he needed a quick escape.
“You let me win.” It was simply put, and Ellis wasn’t sure how to deal with the statement. Usually the hick was the blunt one, not the conman.
“Well you was lookin’ like you needed it.” He said, choosing his words carefully for the first time in a long time.
“Bull shit!” Nick cried and got up from his seat, turning slightly so he was glaring at Ellis dead on. “You and I know that the outcome of that game didn’t fucking matter, and you just told me a God damned lie! Kid if you’re going to hand me a line come up with something better than that.”
Ellis swallowed, trying to come up with a decent answer to the accusation. “I... I’m sorry.” Nick’s facial features’ twisted into something akin to confusion and Ellis put his hand up to momentarily stop him from going on with whatever he was about to say. “You’ve been holdin’ all them cards since you crashed that pretty car of yours. I just wanted ta feel like I still knew what was goin’ on, ya know? Man can’t breathe under water, nor can ‘e live while being smothered like you was doin’ to me. I thought by making you see that I won, even when you won, I’d somehow win. Don’t know what I was thinkin’, sorry.”
Again a long pause. Then some throaty laughter escaped the older man in a fit. “When you say it like that, it almost seems to be a form of poetic justice. I’m not going to let you apologize for something like that. Fuck it all, shit like that is one of the reasons I like you, kid.”
For some reason those words, although they weren’t exactly a compliment, sent a pleasant warmth throughout Ellis’ body.
Author: Karesu
Fandom/Pairing: Left 4 Dead 2 [Nick/Ellis]
Disclaim: Not mine, I assure you
Summary: Nick is a conman by trade, swindling people out of their money the moment he grabs hold of a deck of cards. What happens, though, if he finally meets his match? [AU story]
A/N: New installment. I went back to the basics of playing cards and more NICK! Have you missed him? I know I have. Anyway I hope you guys enjoy. Also please ignore my bad attempts at writing anything about cards and how to play them, in real life I am the worst poker player ever.
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
The thing that most people never realize about Poker is the most important aspect was never the cards, the opponents, or even the odds. The most important thing about Poker is learning how to lay in wait and switch your facial expression in interesting intervals so the other people can never really guess what you're thinking while they, in fact, guess what you're thinking. This was the first thing Ellis’ uncle had taught him about the game.
It was this very advice that put him to an advantage to the self proclaimed conman he currently owed. Nick was good, Ellis would give him total credit for that, but he also was far too stoic. It gave everything away! When he was a kid El would never have figured that there were different kinds of brooding and silence. Hell, he made a point to stay away from silence all together. It wasn’t until later he figured it all out.
Nick radiated two primary fronts of indifference, which made him horribly expressive for someone so impassive.
The first was carried with a sort of feline grace to it, mainly in the way Nick purchased himself on the stool and slyly looked around at the other players in an infrequent and unhurried manner. The second was when his eyes hurriedly fell upon different players, the inner workings of his mind going full speed trying to figure out what they had. Sometimes it would be accompanied by a slight twitching of the eye as he looked back down on his cards.
One screamed of a good hand while the other was a sure bet that he was trying to play the field. Anyone with eyes and a non-alcohol induced brain could see it. The problem, Ellis decided, is even though they could they were making the foolish mistake of taking one for the other.
When Nick’s brilliantly colored eyes scattered among the crowd one would assume nervousness, and that was exactly what the conman wanted his opponent to think. If they caught the extremely subtle shifting they started to feel good about themselves and figure Nick was showing through the cracks. They bet more against him, assuming he had nothing and was showing his players tick. They lost. Always.
When he was relaxed and sparely playing the field, it meant he had a horrible hand. It worked like the other, but in reverse. They saw how calm he was and no one that confident had a terrible hand. When you had a bad hand you were jittery, everyone knew that. The problem was, so did Nick. No one caught on so once again, the conman won. Simple as that.
“Hundred.” Ellis said, smiling for the entire world as if he didn’t really know what was going on. People expected it from him and it worked. Nick might be subtle, but that was never the hick’s style. He supported deception in the way of lots of talking, being nice [people weren’t used to it so it tended to throw them off], and playing off the fact many people thought he was a totally easy target and idiot.
“Bold move, kid.” Nick sneered as he brought his cigarette to his lips and took a long drag on it. They never came in at the same time and tried not to play against one another, but the way there were avoiding each other when only four tables were open was far too methodical.
“I got the cash, been savin’ my paycheck since thanksgiving fer this! Plus I ain’t gunna lose.” It was said with an airy tone, but Nick caught the serious edge to it. They weren’t dealing with the rest of the crowd; who embodied thoroughly smashed idiots that were easy targets. No, they were currently playing against one another.
“I’d like to see you try, really I would.” Nick shot back and looked back down at his cards. They had been playing together, conning people, for about a month now. It had only been a week ago when Ellis had talked to Keith about the whole Nick situation as he had dubbed it in his head. He still hadn’t come up with an answer to any of it; mainly due to the fact Nick was still acting like a complete asshole.
He squirmed in his seat, looking back at Nick sheepishly. “Well ya know, I can hope. I mean jus’ look at ya, you’re doing real well!” Which was true enough, the older man had racked up a decent amount of cash during the evening.
“So are you.” Nick said, looking back down at his cards.
“Nah, that’s just luck!” He protested, even if the two of them knew better.
The problem with the game they were currently playing was that the two of them knew the other’s particular way of playing by now. Nick knew that Ellis could see his different moods; while Ellis knew that acting the fool was definitely not going to win him anything this time. Not that anything had stopped him from beating the other man before… only problem was he was the dealer last time. It was a lot easier to cheat at a game that you were running.
In all actuality that might be the worst part of all of this, he wasn’t running the show at all. Nick held all of the cards, and car, without giving Ellis any leeway. This was the first time he felt that he had any power over the other since this whole proposition was proposed. He was determined to win. If nothing else, he figured, if it came down to it he had much more good karma than the other man and thus good luck should be coming his way.
Nick, on the other hand, was relishing in the fact that he had some honest-to-goodness competition for the first time in years. At first it had pissed him off; he had lost money to a dim witted hick that shouldn’t have been able to count to five, not to mention twenty-one. That hadn’t been the case at all, and it intrigued him. Now he was in a battle with him, one that didn’t really matter who won ‘cause the money just went to him in the end anyway, but his pride was on the line.
“Just go on with the game, we’ll see how lucky you get.” The older man almost kicked himself at that comment. He wasn’t usually prone to such cliché statements but the brat just brought out the worst in him.
New cards were put down before each player and Nick’s eyes looked around. His mind was whirling and he tried to count out what was on the table and the likelihood that anyone would have a better hand than he had. He wasn’t the best at counting but he did know enough for the practice to benefit him. Picking up his cards a long and easy smirk made it onto his lips. It wasn’t the best hand in the game, but the probability of someone having the two other hands that would beat it was low.
“Last call!” The bartender bellowed from across the room, which also meant this was the last hand of the night. He caught Ellis’ eye, sending him a message that he wasn’t going to win. The southerner, for his part, just shrugged and looked down at his hand as the betting started off again.
“Fold.”
Nick stared at him in suspicion and waited for the round to be over. He laid down his cards, winning the game and racking in the last bit of cash that was laid down before him. He had done well for the night, especially adding the kid’s winnings with his own for the final total. He couldn’t help but feel that something was wrong, like he shouldn’t have won. The smug feeling he expected to accompany winning a game over Ellis was replaced with a weary feeling that made him think somehow he had been cheated.
The rest of the men at the table grumbled and got up, a few of them walking over to the bar to get their last drink of the night. Nick just kept staring at Ellis, trying to figure him out. It was at that point that the mechanic pulled up the cards that he had previously put face down on the table and lifted them up for the older man to see. Royal flush. He then handed them to the dealer who was picking up cards and shuffling them back into a deck.
“Real nice playin’ with ya, got some good luck on yer side.” He then headed over the bar for a beer, leaving Nick with the knowledge that he had just lost.
This didn’t annoy him as much as it probably should have, which was an odd sensation for him. He knew that he had been bested by the younger man and instead he found it almost… funny. Ironic even. Shaking his head he moved from the table and walked out of the door. He would see Ellis soon, then they could talk about how much he still owed for the car and the peculiar game of cards that had just transpired between them.
Ellis moved out of the boat and onto the docking platform that connected it to land. He had talked to some guys in the bar area about this and the other, nothing too important. He bought a round of drinks for the guys, not worried that it was Nick’s money. Hell, Nick had actually walked out with all the money this time around. He made it out of the parking area, looking up at the darkened sky and pondered on the things that had been happening to him as of late.
He couldn’t really complain and he did have a beauty of a car that he had been riding around in for the past few weeks. The repairs had been extensive but once they were done the car had been rightfully his. He named it Margaret after his mother, ‘cause it was just as beautiful as she was. They were both women after his own heart, although in two different ways.
He walked up to the car and gazed at her in conflict. On the one hand he had put a lot of work into repairing her and fixing up every little detail. She was running perfect and Ellis was as proud of how well he had fixed Margaret. He was almost done paying for her, too. He had given as much of his paycheck toward it as he could- but he had to help Nick with his ‘job’ to get the rest of it. He was good at it, sure, but sometimes it made him feel majorly guilty.
“Well,” He muttered under his breath as he looked toward the old truck that was sitting there. He would have brought his beauty, but he didn’t want to soil her by getting in her after cheating people out of their cash. He knew that he would never be able to look at her without thinking about gambling, and Nick, but he didn’t need to spoil everything. “Time ta go and see ‘em.”
The drive was silent, not even the radio breaking the mood. Usually the southern boy would be singing with the radio and what have you, but tonight wasn’t one of those times. He pulled up to the ritzy hotel that the other was stay in and parked, self-consciously pulling at the plain jeans and t-shirt he had on.
In all actuality Ellis felt kind of like a hooker when he drove himself to Nick’s hotel . In some ways he wished that he could be going up their just to… talk. The fact that his reasons had every bit to do with money made it seem almost dirty in a way. Sighing he walked over to the elevators, ignoring the woman working the night shift giving him a knowing look as he passed. She must have suspected something between the two men who met frequently and always late at night.
The glass elevator was already at the bottom floor and it smoothly moved him up to sixteen when he pushed the button. He didn’t even know why he was here, Nick had already taken home most of his winnings. It was more of a routine than anything else by this point he supposed. Coming up to room 1608 he knocked on the door lightly.
There was a long pause until finally it was swung open and Nick looked at him hard, leering in the doorway. A cigarette was hanging from his lips and he looked slightly more un-amused than he normally did. With a jerky motion he beckoned the other into the room, stalking over to the modernistic couch that was in the living area of the hotel room and sat there brooding. Ellis waited, opting to lean against the wall in case he needed a quick escape.
“You let me win.” It was simply put, and Ellis wasn’t sure how to deal with the statement. Usually the hick was the blunt one, not the conman.
“Well you was lookin’ like you needed it.” He said, choosing his words carefully for the first time in a long time.
“Bull shit!” Nick cried and got up from his seat, turning slightly so he was glaring at Ellis dead on. “You and I know that the outcome of that game didn’t fucking matter, and you just told me a God damned lie! Kid if you’re going to hand me a line come up with something better than that.”
Ellis swallowed, trying to come up with a decent answer to the accusation. “I... I’m sorry.” Nick’s facial features’ twisted into something akin to confusion and Ellis put his hand up to momentarily stop him from going on with whatever he was about to say. “You’ve been holdin’ all them cards since you crashed that pretty car of yours. I just wanted ta feel like I still knew what was goin’ on, ya know? Man can’t breathe under water, nor can ‘e live while being smothered like you was doin’ to me. I thought by making you see that I won, even when you won, I’d somehow win. Don’t know what I was thinkin’, sorry.”
Again a long pause. Then some throaty laughter escaped the older man in a fit. “When you say it like that, it almost seems to be a form of poetic justice. I’m not going to let you apologize for something like that. Fuck it all, shit like that is one of the reasons I like you, kid.”
For some reason those words, although they weren’t exactly a compliment, sent a pleasant warmth throughout Ellis’ body.