Shadow Dancing | K.TH

False Checkmates

"I feel like deadweight," I complain, which was probably not helping my situation. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Staying quiet." V replies, his voice dripping with focus as he fixes his attention back to his chess game with Namjoon. "Please."

"Sometimes you can be so smart, V." Namjoon muses as he strokes his chin. Like he was some grandfather addressing his grandson. "But sometimes so ignorant."

With a single move, Namjoon has V's king surrounded.

"Checkmate."

"Damn this." Even though his words are harsh, his expression is unusually light as he blows out a breath of pure frustration. "I'm never playing chess with you again— this time I swear."

"That's what you say every single time you lose, V." Jimin mutters, pretending not to notice the death glare emanating from the said loser. "Same words, and you never follow through."

"Shut up, Jimin." V says under his breath, looking a bit on the sullen side. Unsurprisingly, he didn't take losing particularly well— most likely of his competitive nature.

"It's alright, Tae." Namjoon encourages like the mature, nice older brother he was. "You're the only one that can actually play. There's no one else that has made through a game with me without flipping the entire chessboard or rage quitting."

I had a feeling both of those applied to Yoongi, whose face had turned a bit warm.

"Can I play?"

My sudden outburst takes everyone aback, and Namjoon raises his eyebrow at my declaration.

"Who?"

"You."

A sudden chuckling echoes to my right, growing until it borders a full on laughter fest. Judging by the squeaky tone, I infer that the person who's laughing at me is most likely Jin.

"Give up, Tzuyu." Hoseok says, crossing his arms together. "Nobody ever beats Namjoon. And when I say nobody, I mean nobody. Do you know how high his IQ is?"

Namjoon shoots Hoseok a disapproving glance as he folds his slender fingers together.

"Do you know how to play chess?"

"This is my first time," I say, a bit of embarrassment flushing my cheeks. Maybe my outburst had been a bad idea from the first place. I already knew I was going to make a fool of myself.

"Well, there's no harm in learning."

Yoongi stops Namjoon, his eyes darting to me for a brief second before he asks. "When do we have the next job?"

"Don't worry, hyung." Namjoon says nonchalantly as he resets the pawns on the board. "We don't have anymore today. I think we have the next one tomorrow evening or so."

Job. As in assassination.

"Alright. Focus, Tzuyu." He points at the tiniest piece of the game— telling me its name and its ability to move. With each differently carved piece, he either names them pawn, knight, bishop, and a rook.