spark

Chapter 28 : Fools

Buck stared intensely across the table, a set of cards blocking his face from the nose down. Across from him, Maddie was starring at her younger brother with a perfect poker face. Chimney, unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you viewed it, was bearing witness to this showdown with Josh across from him. Maddie broke the face and smiled smugly, fooling Buck greatly as he raised his bet and showed his hand with a pair of aces. Meanwhile, Maddie triumphantly placed down a flush.

"He falls for it every time." Stiles mused, standing in the kitchen while working on a bowl of dip.

"How does this keep happening?" Buck cries, being the only person at the dining table despondent.

"Because you suck at poker, Dad." Alex called from the kitchen island.

"Oh yeah? I'd like to see you beat me at a hand." Buck challenged, staring down at the young werecoyote as the boy narrowed his eyes at him. The stare down was broken as Buck looked past Alex and saw Stiles shaking his head at him. Buck was nodding his head eagerly, causing Stiles to increase the severity of shaking of his own head. "Alright, deal Alex in."

"I can't use my allowance to wager. What do I get when I win?" Alex questioned, moving over the table and sitting down.

"Hmm, an entire Friday afternoon of video games. If I win, you don't get to play video games for an entire weekend." Buck bargained, a smug smile on his face, while the other four adults present were looking at the blonde like he was an idiot(which he was most definitely being.)

"Deal." Alex declared, Maddie taking this as her cue to deal for the two of them. As soon as the two had their hands, they inspected them, Buck giving an obvious grin, while Alex frowned deeply at his cards.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, little man, three of a kind." Buck leered, placing his cards down on the table.

Alex leaned over, looking at the cards. A heavy sigh left the young boy. "Aw, I'm sorry too." Alex cooed, the grin on Buck's face disappearing as Alex placed his cards down. "Straight flush."

Buck held his head in his hands, his expression that of a person questioning all their life choices. "No judgement, but maybe you should quit while you're behind." Josh commented, earning a glower from Buck. "S-spoken like another person bad at poker. Heh."

"It isn't Dad's fault he sucks at poker. He just doesn't know how to bluff." Alex said, standing up and moving over to embrace Buck around his neck. "I'm going to bed, pulverizing Dad was fun in and of itself."

"Brush your teeth!" Stiles hollered after the child, who gave his Tat a thumbs up in response. The phoenix made his way over to the table, placing down a bowl of seven-bean dip and taking a seat next to Buck. "You do realize, that playing poker against a Stilinski is just asking to lose?"

"I thought taking your name would help with that." Buck whined, leaning over and resting his head on Stiles' shoulder.

"Oh my god, you two are so adorable, it's making me gag slightly." Josh said, sipping at his wine. He looked around at the two sets of couples at the table. "Is there a reason I'm here? I mean, these two are married, and you two might as well be." Josh gestured to Buck and Stiles, before pointing a finger at Chimney and Maddie.

"Well, in all fairness, you are my best friend." Maddie states, Josh holding his heart in appreciation. "So I figured it was a good enough time to let you into the fold."

"I'm sorry, what 'fold?'" Josh questioned, looking around fearfully. "You guys aren't secretly in organized crime, right?"

"No, nothing like that." Stiles sighed, taking Buck's hand in his own as he turned to face Josh. "Out of everyone in Maddie's life, you and the other members of the dispatch center are the only ones not in the know. We figured it was probably time that at least someone else there knew." Stiles could smell how panicked Josh was, but he proceeded nonetheless. Reaching out with his hand, Stiles grabbed the deck of cards and bridged it with his hands, taking the entirety of the deck and burning it to a crisp in his right hand.