A Fool's Guide to the In-Between [A Twisted Wonderland Fanfic]

Chapter 12

...𝙏𝙒𝙊 𝙈𝙊𝙉𝙏𝙃𝙎 𝙇𝘼𝙏𝙀𝙍...

"Ha!" A victorious shout rang out through the Octavinelle dorm, startling those who were relaxing in Mostro Lounge, and causing a savvy businessman to groan as the shout caused him to drag his hand across the paper. A long line of black ink now swept from the end of a 't' to the side of the paper.

Azul glanced up from his work, his frown disappearing when he saw a kitten standing proud, her hand of cards splayed on the glass table between her and her opponent. Floyd was less than pleased with Y/N Pinker's success and threw his cards down, knocking over the poker chips that they had been playing with and slumped back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting. Azul snickered at the two, a small smile appearing on his lips when he saw Y/N's prideful grin. No one could ever be mad at the little kitten, though little wasn't quite the right word to describe her. 

Jade looked up from his book, smirking when he saw Y/N making faces at his twin, clearly proud of her win. "Did Y/N beat you, Floyd?"

"Yes," Floyd pouted, sinking deeper into the couch of the VIP room. 

"Of course I did," Y/N purred. She reached out to the table and pulled the chips closer to her, smirking at Floyd all the while, one of her ears flicking in smugness as he glared at her. Sitting back on the couch, she threw one leg over the other, and tilted the front edge of her fedora down, turning to the side to smirk at Jade through the one eye he could see. "Did you doubt me, Jade the gem?"

Jade shook his head and returned to his book, more interested in the potions textbook rather than the game that his brother and new friend were playing. 

"Rematch," Floyd declared, suddenly shooting out of his seat. He piled all the cards up again and dealt them out between him at the kitten again, glaring at Y/N in a playfully daring sort of way. 

"All right, kelpcake." Y/N pushed herself off of the couch and grabbed the cards as Floyd passed them to her. 

"This year's Magical Shift Tournament saw a twelve per cent increase in sales from last year. A splendid result." Azul smirked. He rose to his feet, taking with him a single sheet of paper. 

"But y'know~," Floyd said, pulling a card from the deck, "We got a higher placing than usual since N/N joined the team." He winked at Y/N, throwing a jack down onto the pile. Though he thought Y/N might have been peeved with him for giving her a not-so-nice card, Y/N picked it up, twirling the card between her gloved fingers before slipping it into her hand, laying down a queen on the trash deck. Floyd scowled at the girl and drew another card.

"As long as we weren't last, I don't care. After all, Magical Shift is just a game where you run around carrying a disc like a dog," Azul said with a shrug, taking a seat beside Y/N and throwing his arm around the back of the couch where she sat. He smirked when he saw her hand.

"Ey~ Azul," Y/N pouted, shielding her cards. "Don't show kelpcake what I have~" She threw down a three and lay down her hand, smirking victoriously when she saw Floyd's defeated face. "Royal flush," she purred, leaning back into Azul's arm.

"The field that we must be serious about is the final exams," Azul said, scooting away from Y/N when Floyd nearly jumped on her for beating him for the fifth time in a row. Y/N quickly disappeared with a mocking wave, reappearing behind Jade a second later, snickering as she hugged him from behind.