Fic-DBSK-The Way Things Are
Title: The Way Things Are
Author: virdant
Length: 1,000 words; 10 drabbles.
Rating: G
Genre: General
Pairing: JaeChun
Summary: Jaejoong and Yoochun play chess.
Warning: None
Notes: Thanks to Zayah for his chess help (both years ago when he was teaching me to be moderately decent and just now when he told me his suicidal opening). Bit of a fun piece. I'll probably write another better chess fic another day (when I'm not trying to make each section exactly 100 words long). Apologies for any sloppy writing; I think I've managed to find my mistakes.
The Way Things Are
The first time they play, Jaejoong beats Yoochun in four moves.
Yoochun stares at the board blankly. Eight squares across from Yoochun’s slack jaw, Jaejoong cackles gleefully behind hands.
Yoochun isn’t a fool. For one thing, he saw that “Learn Chess Fast” website open on Changmin’s laptop right after Jaejoong used it two days ago. Additionally, Yoochun knows Jaejoong would pull something as stupid as scholar’s mate, and he should have realized that four moves ago.
“We’re doing this again,” Yoochun says, setting the pieces back to their original places. “Now.” He slams Jaejoong’s queen into place.
Jaejoong cackles more.
*
Jaejoong has a tendency for suicidal openings.
It wouldn’t be bad if Jaejoong was Changmin and sacrificed his pawns for positioning or whatever Changmin did whenever he got his pawns taken in the first five minutes of the game.
But no. Jaejoong just… dies.
Yoochun takes Jaejoong’s rook and scowls at him. “Are we playing or not?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Jaejoong says, sticking out his tongue as he concentrates. It’s an adorable pose, and Jaejoong knows it.
“Hey,” Yoochun says.
Jaejoong looks up, the pout slipping away.
“You were doing it again,” Yoochun mutters.
“Oh.” Jaejoong looks down again. “Oh. Sorry.”
*
In addition to having a penchant for suicidal openings, Jaejoong has a tendency to sacrifice his queen.
“I’m going to take your queen,” Yoochun warns, pushing his knight forward.
“You are?” Jaejoong exclaims, staring at the board in complete confusion.
Jaejoong, Yoochun decides, is absolutely horrible at thinking ahead. Not like Yoochun is much better. Yunho is better than them. Junsu, despite his spaz, is amazingly good at chess. Changmin would be best, except he uses openings that he reads off sites and books instead of just playing.
“Yeah. Don’t move that bishop, that’s how I’m going to take it.”
*
“Check!” Jaejoong crows, having successfully saved his queen (thanks to Yoochun’s warning). They’ve moved into mid-game and a scattering of pawns and other slightly more expensive pieces litter the sides of the eight-by-eight board.
Jaejoong’s move is rather baffling. It is check, but for no reason that Yoochun can think of. He understands Jaejoong very well, but this is baffling even for Jaejoong.
Yoochun settles for watching and waiting. He blocks the attack with a pawn.
Jaejoong watches Yoochun steadily from across the board. “Are you sure?”
Yoochun looks down: pieces tangled together. He can’t see a better move. “Yeah.”
*
Jaejoong has no defense.
That would be a misconception. Jaejoong does have a defense, but it sucks.
Perching over Jaejoong’s shoulder, Changmin points to a rook. “That’s unprotected,” he says.
“Oh!” Jaejoong breathes. He stares at the rook for a rather long time.
Yunho leans over to stare at the board. “Jaejoong,” he says slowly.
Jaejoong shakes his head. “I can do this.”
Junsu takes pity, though perhaps pity isn’t the right word, on Yoochun. “I’ll help you, since the others are helping Joongie.”
Yoochun grins at Junsu. “You help Jae. He needs your help more”
“Sleaze.”
Junsu slaps hard.
*
Jaejoong’s lack of defense isn’t so much he doesn’t have one, but he’s too preoccupied with attempting to take Yoochun’s pawns to bother with a defense that actually works.
Instead, Yoochun just watches Jaejoong’s pieces disappear under his slightly better defense. Jaejoong’s pawn structure is non-existent, mostly because the majority of his pawns are currently being very badly stacked in towers wider (and longer) than they are high.
“Aren’t you playing chess with me?” Yoochun asks.
“Mm-mm,” Jaejoong responds. It’s both affirmative and negative.
Yoochun smiles.
“Your move,” Jaejoong says finally.
Yoochun looks at the board. He’s in check.
*
“How did I lose my queen?”
Jaejoong cackles.
“You cheater,” Yoochun sulks. There’s no way. He was winning! And suddenly his queen was gone. Just like that!
“Should’ve paid more attention,” Jaejoong says around his hands. He’s delightfully gleeful at having taken Yoochun’s queen, probably because that sets them slightly more equal. Yoochun is still up by a rook though.
“You cheated,” Yoochun corrects. “You distracted me.” He looked to the side. “And Changmin’s giving you advice. Don’t try to hide it.”
Jaejoong slides his phone deeper into his pocket and pouts.
“Okay. Fine.” Yoochun sighs. “Ask Changmin for help.”
*
“I don’t ask Changmin for help on all of my moves,” Jaejoong says petulantly.
“You ask Yunho for help on the others,” Yoochun replies knowledgeably.
“You ask Junsu for help too! I saw that text.” Jaejoong reaches over the plastic pieces to grope at Yoochun’s cell.
Yoochun shoves it into his pocket. “Hey! Watch the board!”
Jaejoong withdraws, but only for a second. He hurls a black pawn-resting on the side of the board-at Yoochun.
“Ow!”
Jaejoong contemplates not throwing more pieces at Yoochun. Yoochun raises his hands, an attempt to catch whatever Jaejoong throws at him next.
*
Two minutes later, Yoochun’s pulling a bishop out of his left pocket and a rook from his right shoe.
“I thought we were playing chess,” he finally manages to say after he extracts the rook out. Ow. How had that managed to get into his shoe?
“We were,” Jaejoong replies cheerfully. “Now we’re building a giant tower.” He looks up. “I need that castle-thing, by the way. It’s flatter.”
From the next room, Changmin calls out, “It’s a rook!”
Jaejoong giddily laughs behind a hand, smiling.
Yoochun grins at him. “I bet we can make the tower reach the ceiling.”
*
The next times Jaejoong play Yoochun, their game degenerates into giant tower building sessions that the others occasionally join in on.
But before that, Jaejoong and Yoochun spend their time alone, heads hunched over cardboard and plastic. Yoochun thinks more than Jaejoong sometimes, but Jaejoong reads openings online and in the travel size editions of Modern Chess Openings and sometimes he manages to decimate Yoochun’s defense.
Usually, however, they sit and play. Yoochun pushes pawns and moves with a little more foresight than Jaejoong. Jaejoong plays in the moment, alternating between frowning thoughtfully and laughing gleefully.
That’s how things are.
End.
End Notes: To be honest, there is a specific way to build about meter tall towers with one chess set that I use very often. It has to do with stacking queens on rooks in specific ways. It only works with the one chess set I know though. And yes, I build towers with chess pieces. That's because I suck so much I supervise brats.
Author: virdant
Length: 1,000 words; 10 drabbles.
Rating: G
Genre: General
Pairing: JaeChun
Summary: Jaejoong and Yoochun play chess.
Warning: None
Notes: Thanks to Zayah for his chess help (both years ago when he was teaching me to be moderately decent and just now when he told me his suicidal opening). Bit of a fun piece. I'll probably write another better chess fic another day (when I'm not trying to make each section exactly 100 words long). Apologies for any sloppy writing; I think I've managed to find my mistakes.
The Way Things Are
The first time they play, Jaejoong beats Yoochun in four moves.
Yoochun stares at the board blankly. Eight squares across from Yoochun’s slack jaw, Jaejoong cackles gleefully behind hands.
Yoochun isn’t a fool. For one thing, he saw that “Learn Chess Fast” website open on Changmin’s laptop right after Jaejoong used it two days ago. Additionally, Yoochun knows Jaejoong would pull something as stupid as scholar’s mate, and he should have realized that four moves ago.
“We’re doing this again,” Yoochun says, setting the pieces back to their original places. “Now.” He slams Jaejoong’s queen into place.
Jaejoong cackles more.
*
Jaejoong has a tendency for suicidal openings.
It wouldn’t be bad if Jaejoong was Changmin and sacrificed his pawns for positioning or whatever Changmin did whenever he got his pawns taken in the first five minutes of the game.
But no. Jaejoong just… dies.
Yoochun takes Jaejoong’s rook and scowls at him. “Are we playing or not?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Jaejoong says, sticking out his tongue as he concentrates. It’s an adorable pose, and Jaejoong knows it.
“Hey,” Yoochun says.
Jaejoong looks up, the pout slipping away.
“You were doing it again,” Yoochun mutters.
“Oh.” Jaejoong looks down again. “Oh. Sorry.”
*
In addition to having a penchant for suicidal openings, Jaejoong has a tendency to sacrifice his queen.
“I’m going to take your queen,” Yoochun warns, pushing his knight forward.
“You are?” Jaejoong exclaims, staring at the board in complete confusion.
Jaejoong, Yoochun decides, is absolutely horrible at thinking ahead. Not like Yoochun is much better. Yunho is better than them. Junsu, despite his spaz, is amazingly good at chess. Changmin would be best, except he uses openings that he reads off sites and books instead of just playing.
“Yeah. Don’t move that bishop, that’s how I’m going to take it.”
*
“Check!” Jaejoong crows, having successfully saved his queen (thanks to Yoochun’s warning). They’ve moved into mid-game and a scattering of pawns and other slightly more expensive pieces litter the sides of the eight-by-eight board.
Jaejoong’s move is rather baffling. It is check, but for no reason that Yoochun can think of. He understands Jaejoong very well, but this is baffling even for Jaejoong.
Yoochun settles for watching and waiting. He blocks the attack with a pawn.
Jaejoong watches Yoochun steadily from across the board. “Are you sure?”
Yoochun looks down: pieces tangled together. He can’t see a better move. “Yeah.”
*
Jaejoong has no defense.
That would be a misconception. Jaejoong does have a defense, but it sucks.
Perching over Jaejoong’s shoulder, Changmin points to a rook. “That’s unprotected,” he says.
“Oh!” Jaejoong breathes. He stares at the rook for a rather long time.
Yunho leans over to stare at the board. “Jaejoong,” he says slowly.
Jaejoong shakes his head. “I can do this.”
Junsu takes pity, though perhaps pity isn’t the right word, on Yoochun. “I’ll help you, since the others are helping Joongie.”
Yoochun grins at Junsu. “You help Jae. He needs your help more”
“Sleaze.”
Junsu slaps hard.
*
Jaejoong’s lack of defense isn’t so much he doesn’t have one, but he’s too preoccupied with attempting to take Yoochun’s pawns to bother with a defense that actually works.
Instead, Yoochun just watches Jaejoong’s pieces disappear under his slightly better defense. Jaejoong’s pawn structure is non-existent, mostly because the majority of his pawns are currently being very badly stacked in towers wider (and longer) than they are high.
“Aren’t you playing chess with me?” Yoochun asks.
“Mm-mm,” Jaejoong responds. It’s both affirmative and negative.
Yoochun smiles.
“Your move,” Jaejoong says finally.
Yoochun looks at the board. He’s in check.
*
“How did I lose my queen?”
Jaejoong cackles.
“You cheater,” Yoochun sulks. There’s no way. He was winning! And suddenly his queen was gone. Just like that!
“Should’ve paid more attention,” Jaejoong says around his hands. He’s delightfully gleeful at having taken Yoochun’s queen, probably because that sets them slightly more equal. Yoochun is still up by a rook though.
“You cheated,” Yoochun corrects. “You distracted me.” He looked to the side. “And Changmin’s giving you advice. Don’t try to hide it.”
Jaejoong slides his phone deeper into his pocket and pouts.
“Okay. Fine.” Yoochun sighs. “Ask Changmin for help.”
*
“I don’t ask Changmin for help on all of my moves,” Jaejoong says petulantly.
“You ask Yunho for help on the others,” Yoochun replies knowledgeably.
“You ask Junsu for help too! I saw that text.” Jaejoong reaches over the plastic pieces to grope at Yoochun’s cell.
Yoochun shoves it into his pocket. “Hey! Watch the board!”
Jaejoong withdraws, but only for a second. He hurls a black pawn-resting on the side of the board-at Yoochun.
“Ow!”
Jaejoong contemplates not throwing more pieces at Yoochun. Yoochun raises his hands, an attempt to catch whatever Jaejoong throws at him next.
*
Two minutes later, Yoochun’s pulling a bishop out of his left pocket and a rook from his right shoe.
“I thought we were playing chess,” he finally manages to say after he extracts the rook out. Ow. How had that managed to get into his shoe?
“We were,” Jaejoong replies cheerfully. “Now we’re building a giant tower.” He looks up. “I need that castle-thing, by the way. It’s flatter.”
From the next room, Changmin calls out, “It’s a rook!”
Jaejoong giddily laughs behind a hand, smiling.
Yoochun grins at him. “I bet we can make the tower reach the ceiling.”
*
The next times Jaejoong play Yoochun, their game degenerates into giant tower building sessions that the others occasionally join in on.
But before that, Jaejoong and Yoochun spend their time alone, heads hunched over cardboard and plastic. Yoochun thinks more than Jaejoong sometimes, but Jaejoong reads openings online and in the travel size editions of Modern Chess Openings and sometimes he manages to decimate Yoochun’s defense.
Usually, however, they sit and play. Yoochun pushes pawns and moves with a little more foresight than Jaejoong. Jaejoong plays in the moment, alternating between frowning thoughtfully and laughing gleefully.
That’s how things are.
End.
End Notes: To be honest, there is a specific way to build about meter tall towers with one chess set that I use very often. It has to do with stacking queens on rooks in specific ways. It only works with the one chess set I know though. And yes, I build towers with chess pieces. That's because I suck so much I supervise brats.