Big Book of Writing

Dishonestly Warped City For Two (Teruko & David, DRDT)

This was also made for the Fangan Gift Exchange for Starries! I hope they'll enjoy this!

***

The room was deadly silent, save for the sounds of a chair scraping across the floor as it was pushed back. Teruko had pulled the curtains across the windows and went to sit down, while David turned on the light. The old, pitiful light fixture hung over a wooden table, dimly lighting the room.

"Hurry up, will you?" Teruko grumbled, drumming her fingers idly on the table.

"Chill out, Teruko. I was just turning on the light," David sighed, heading to his own chair to sit down. "Unless you want to do this in the dark, in which case, you can turn it off yourself."

"Just forget it. You know damn well that we need to get this over with." The lucky student reached inside her jacket pocket, pulling out a deck of cards and putting them on the table. "You already know how much we both have to lose."

Reaching across the table, David took the cards and began shuffling them. "I'm surprised you challenged me to a game of cards, of all things. How exactly do you think that'll work out, especially with that luck of yours?" he idly taunted.

"You've got to be stupid if you think cards can be played with just luck alone. You also need skill - something you lack," she retorted as she continued staring at the cards, making sure that David didn't cheat while shuffling them.

Suddenly, there was a small knock on the door, and the school librarian opened it. "I understand that you two need the study room, but could you please quiet your voices a bit? You're disturbing the other patrons."

"Sorry, ma'am. We'll try to be quieter," David politely apologized, and the librarian closed the door. "Ugh, I hate that we have to use the library for this shit."

"Libraries barely get enough support as is. Stop whining and deal the Uno deck already," she quietly snapped. Rolling his eyes, David dealt the cards, five for each of them. He put the deck in the middle and sat back.

They began looking over their cards, trying not to give away anything with their faces. Teruko bit her inner cheek as she looked at her motley array of colours and numbers, while David wondered how he was going to deal with having few cards with the same number.

"Remember, we're on a time limit. Xander shows up in half an hour," David reminded.

"And I'm not gonna be here when he does," Teruko declared, placing down her first card. 

Xander has been sick for a week with the flu, and he ended up missing the beginning of their class's new unit. When he came to them and asked if they would help him catch up, neither had the heart to refuse. But since Xander's attention span to school wasn't what it used to be, neither wanted to help tutor him.

David looked at her blue three overlapping the yellow three, quickly disregarding his plan to use his yellow cards. After a brief moment, he decided to use his blue eight. They were both down to four cards, each of them treating this like a dangerous game rather than a petty match over who gets to not tutor Xander.

Teruko smiled and placed down a blue five card. David held back his cussing, guessing that she must have more blue cards too. Hoping to throw her off his tail, he placed a yellow 5 next, and she put down a yellow eight. A yellow seven was met with another yellow eight.

"Are you even trying?" Teruko chuckled, looking at his face showing a hint of frustration. But when he placed down a yellow plus-two card, she sighed as she picked up her cards. "Fine, you've made your point."

"Heh." David put down a yellow four next, smiling as he looked at the number of cards they had left. She had four cards, while he only had two. She had to pick up another card, presumably being out of yellows, but put it down straight afterwards. A yellow six.

Quickly remembering to put on his poker face, he checked his cards to see if he had one to counter it. When he had none, he picked one up from the pile. Teruko put down a green six next, making his heart skip when he checked his cards again.

"For someone who was saying something about needing skill..." David put down a green plus-two, to the lucky student's dismayed grumblings, "...you seem to be repeatedly underestimating your opponent, Teruko."

His boast was undercut by the fact that he had to pick up a card right afterwards, something that wasn't unnoticed by Teruko. Holding back her snickers at his hypocrisy, she put down a green two.

David put down a blue two, then glanced up at the clock. "We've got twenty minutes before he shows up," he informed. Teruko added a blue stop card to the pile, and smiled as David's irritation began to show. To add insult to injury, she also added a blue seven.

David grit his teeth and out down a red seven. Now they were both down to two cards each, with neither of them having enough pride to forfeit or give up any hope now. By now, their unwillingness to be a tutor was outweighed by their need to not lose to each other.

All of a sudden, the door to the study room opened again, and both David and Teruko stared at the doorway in shock. "Wha- Xander?!" Teruko exclaimed. "We thought you weren't coming for twenty more minutes!"

The redhead came through the doorway with his backpack, dragging a chair from the main library behind him. "Sorry, I caught an earlier bus to make sure I wouldn't be late. I hope I didn't keep you waiting here for too long!" he nervously laughed.

As Xander sat at the table and reached into his backpack, David and Teruko glared at each other from across the table, each blaming the other for being roped into this. Their expressions reverted back to neutral once Xander sat up again and put his binder on the table.

"I'm just glad you guys are willing to help me with this," the rebel thanked, smiling at both of them. "I'm grateful to have friends like you guys."