O Fortune,
like the moon
you are changeable,
ever waxing
ever waning;
hateful life
first oppresses
and then soothes
playing with mental clarity;
poverty
and power
it melts them like ice.
-O Fortuna
"C'mon, Beks, do your thing," JJ said, grinning - the expression was too large for his seventeen-year-old face, crinkling one eye into a wink."I gotta keep my streak, man."
He held out the dice with a wink. The black paint had begun to rub off, leaving the nine and seven as incomplete connect-the-dots, constellations of chance. Yellowed plastic glinted in the light that poured over JJ's table, framing the nicks and smudges in reflected fluorescence.
His lucky dice, he called them.
"I'm playing against you," Otabek objected mildly. "And this is backgammon."
"So?" JJ shrugged. "You never win anyway."
I do with other people, Otabek thought. For a moment, he hated the brittle cockiness of JJ's smirk, the way he reached for victory like no one else could want it - could need it - like he did.
Because, as he'd noted, Otabek never won.
Isabella Yang leaned forward, snagging JJ's bottle of sparkling water.
"JJ, aren't you supposed to ask me to do that?" She pouted playfully and took a sip, leaving a smear of scarlet where her mouth had brushed the plastic. In a moment, Otabek knew, Isabella would slip away to check her makeup. He wondered if JJ noticed how she wore her confident smile the same way she applied her eyeliner, sharp and hard and carefully monitored for perfection.
"Nah, Belle, Beks is magic," replied JJ, rolling the dice between his fingers. "He wishes you good luck, you get good luck."
She giggled, and Otabek wondered if Isabella could see the flash of panic that lit JJ's blue eyes like lightning whenever he began to lose.
"You don't believe me?"
"I don't believe in luck," she said with a shrug, and finished off the water. "Be right back."
She slipped into the bathroom with her purse. JJ turned back to Otabek.
"Please?" JJ whispered, flicking his eyes in the direction Isabella had gone. "Just this once."
New girlfriend, new season, same JJ, desperate to prove himself the king.
Same Otabek, too: friendly competition was always the friendliest when one didn't fear defeat.
He blew on the dice, more of a sigh than a breath, and JJ beamed at him.
"You're the best, Beks," he said as Isabella emerged with a fresh shine to her lips. "Let's do this-"
"JJ, don't you dare," Otabek grumbled, holding back a quiet laugh.
"-JJ style!"
Fifteen minutes later, Otabek lost, and JJ clapped him on the shoulder.
"Good game, yeah?"
"Yeah," Otabek agreed. It had been close. "I'm off for the night. See you at the rink tomorrow."
:: :: ::
YOU ARE READING
O Fortune
FanfictionOtabek Altin was lucky. He always had been. He was, he reflected (with some bitterness), lucky in the same way that a rabbit foot was lucky - it never did the rabbit any good.
