multifandom one-shots

Benny Watts - Checkmate

"Checkmate"
My opponent looked at the board in disbelief. I won. I just defeated the Canadian champion. It took two days. 17 hours and 46 minutes.
I can't believe it.
For a whole four hours I didn't get what was right in front of me. I was only focusing on my queen when in the end it was my last rook and the knight that mated him. The audience clapped and I felt like I was floating. I looked around, the dizzying feeling fading.
The eyes of the man sitting across the chessboard meet mine. He looked at me in defeat and held out his hand. I took a deep breath and couldn't help but smile at him. I shook his hand , more proud of myself than ever.

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Later in the evening, back at the hotel:

"I can't believe you did it. I mean of course I knew but it feels so surreal you know?"
"Right?! I can't even believe it myself"
I was now sitting on a couch in the hotel lobby, with a drink in my hand talking to Benny about my victory. We met a year ago at the Cincinnati champion tournament. After I won a game against a guy with an 1800 rating, he first approached me. He wanted to play a game with me. And me being me, I couldn't say no and gladly accepted the challenge. Though he was convinced that he would easily beat me, I managed to confuse and finally beat him, all in 29 moves.
We've been friends ever since. In fact, he's the closest friend I have.
"Your great career began the day you beat the great Benny Watts for the first time" he laughed. I really can't take him seriously when he talks about himself in third person. We sat in silence for a moment smiling to ourselves. It was never awkward silence between us.
After a while he turned his head in my direction. I looked at him not breaking the eye contact once. The tension I felt in that moment was crazy, but I didn't dare to look away from his beautiful brown eyes. He was the one to break the silence "Do you want to play a game?" he asked suggestive. I started to smile "Absolutely" I said, giving him the exact same answer I gave him last year, when he first asked me for a game.

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He closed the door to his apartment right after we entered. Without a second thought I was walking towards his bed, where the chess board was planted for the past two days. He hasn't been sleeping in his bed the last 2 nights. He's been sleeping on the couch in my apartment, trying to be of as much help as he could be in preparation for my big game. I sat down in front of the board when Benny asked me "Would you like a coffee,
y/n?" on his way to the very small apartment kitchen. "You know me so well Benny" I smirked at him "Don't blame me when you have trouble sleeping later tho"
A couple minutes later he approached the bed and sat down on the other side of the board.
He noticed the concentrated look on my face as my eyes were glued to the board, studying every move he made in his private game earlier.
"You shouldn't have moved those two pawns and the knight. Moving the left rook to d5 and this bishop to e4 could've easily prevented the attack on your king" I finally said. He looked at the board trying to recreate the possibilities I just went through in my head.
I took the cup of coffee from his hand. He suddenly looked up at me "How'd you figure that out in such a short time?" "I don't know. It kinda seems obvious to me" I said. "I only came up with that after looking at the board for two hours after the game ended" he told me in admiration. There it was again. The silence.
We just looked at each other for a long moment without saying anything. But something was different. I could've sworn I've seen him look at my lips for a second.
"Anyway, let's start" I cleared my throat and started rearranging the pieces on the board.
"You play white" I said putting the last piece in its place, now looking at Benny again. "I wanna be sure you get every chance you need" I laugh at him "Yea right, as if I need an extra chance" he smiled and moved his first pawn. I started with a knight. After 15 minutes he already drives one hand through his hair, looking at the board in despair. He moves his hand towards his remaining bishop but hesitated. He then moves his bishop not seeing what I was planning. I looked at his face when I moved my pawn one forward, cutting off the way he was trying to flee with his king. He moved his king back and sighed deeply. "Check" I moved my rook now one last time, taking his bishop "mate".
I sat up and looked at him sipping at my coffee. He frowned and left his hand hanging off the bed. "Wow" he paused "I totally did not see this coming y/n. You're incredible" "Stop it Benny, you were good too" I smiled at him. He tilted his head and looked at me in disbelief "Are you serious? You just ate this like a snack and licked the fucking plate. This was the fastest someone has ever mated me" I felt my face blush and I couldn't help but smile at this. He looked at his watch for a second "It's getting late we should probably go to sleep soon" "Can I maybe sleep here with you tonight?" I asked him. His face changed "You can sleep with me whenever you want darling" he smirked. It took me a second to realize what he was talking about. I started laughing "No seriously Benny, my mom and my sister came to see my game and they're sleeping in my apartment and I really don't want to hear my sister sleep talk and my mom snort tonight" "It's cool, you can totally sleep here" he answered "with me" he added then and the stupid smirk couldn't be wiped off his face anymore. He was always making this kind of jokes but I never took them seriously.
"Alright y/n. Speed chess. If I loose and you win, I'll let the jokes be. If I win and you lose" I was really curious for what's coming next "I get a kiss" he grinned and wetted his lips with his tongue. I noticed I was staring at his lips. Fuck. What are you doing y/n?! "You in?" He asked expectantly. Damn it. I might be good at chess, but speed chess is something else. I can't think of anything that fast. Speed chess is Benny's thing. Anyways. Where was this coming from? A kiss? Was he serious? "I'm in" I blurted out not wanting to let him wait for an answer for too long. I knew I'd loose. I knew it exactly. Then why was I agreeing to this?
Do I want him to kiss me? Do I want him to be maybe a little bit more than just a friend? I mean he was attractive. He was damn fucking hot. I knew it, he knew it. The way he was always talking to me, like I was special. He made me feel special. The way he presented himself to others. The way he was always looking out for me and maybe those dirty little jokes of his made their way through my mashed up brain into my subconcience.
Benny ripped me out of my thoughts "You play white this time. Ready?" I focused on the board and the pieces again "Ready" "And go" And with that our fast little game started. My brain couldn't even process anything I was doing because all of the pieces were moved so fast. After one and a half minutes it was Checkmate.
"I won" he smirked proudly. He's right. He won. "Almost the world champion and still loosing at speed chess" he said. I looked him straight in the eyes and tried to think of something I could say that wouldn't sound completely pathetic. That's when I got up from the bed to place the empty cup on his organized desk right beneath the window. I turned around to look at him through my long lashes "You could teach me" in that moment I saw something in his eyes. Something way beyond chess "Would you like to teach me?" is the next thing I said. That's when he also got up from the bed. He walked towards me very slowly. The tension filling the room in this moment could be cut with a knife. He stood not even an arm length away from me now, looking me deep into my eyes. That's when he finally answered "I'd do anything for you y/n". He was about to get even closer to me when someone knocked on the apartment door. We blinked and he took a step back. The tension was gone, for whatever reason was behind the door. It'd better be a really good one.

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