Author's note: I'm back, with my first fanfic of 2012…though to be honest, I've been writing this fanfic on-off for about a year now :-/
I was partly inspired by my own experiences playing board games (Frustration was the worst; it was such an unfair and mean game, and I think the dice-popper thing had it in for me) and also by some of those comic strips where Calvin and Hobbes are playing some kind of board game together (the Scrabble one is the strip everybody remembers).
It was raining heavily. The sky was a very dark grey, and the clouds showed no sign of dispersing. The heavy rain splashed onto the ground and puddles were appearing left, right and centre. Occasionally, a bolt of lightning would tear through the clouds, followed by a thunder clap that would take less and less time to follow the lightning. Only a few people dared to step outside, and they ran through the streets trying desperately to get to their destinations quicker and out of the rain.
Calvin sat by the bedroom window, gazing out at the miserable weather.
"Just typical of the weather," Calvin said. "Just as we're about to play Calvinball outside, the rain starts pouring down."
"Why can't we just have a game of Calvinball inside the house?" asked Hobbes. He was sitting by the bed, scrawling on some of Calvin's comics with a green crayon.
"There's not enough room in the house," replied Calvin, "and Mom said if we played Calvinball in the house one more time, I'd be out the door instantly."
"Really? Wow. What made your Mom get so mad?"
"So you're in denial?" Calvin asked. Hobbes frowned at the sudden question. "You know how you were the one who knocked over that vase when we last played Calvinball indoors?"
"What? That was you!" Hobbes protested.
"That's what Mom said when I told her the truth. She said you couldn't have done anything. Isn't something seriously wrong there?"
"What is?"
"How I get blamed for your actions?"
"Oh…Well, I'm sure there's something else we could do to pass the time," said Hobbes.
"Like what?" Calvin asked, a little miffed that Hobbes had suddenly changed the subject.
"Like, uh…" Hobbes looked around the room, and his eyes stopped at the closet. "…Games?" He opened the closet door and looked inside. "…How about Monopoly?"
"No. You cheated at that the last time we played."
"Well, there's still other things," said Hobbes. "What about Tiddlywinks?"
"Are you kidding?" Calvin responded. "It's only fun to play that at dinner, and with food."
"What about making paper aeroplanes?"
"No. Paper aeroplanes are for classroom use only."
"Well, what about Snakes and Ladders? It's not boring, and it can be played anywhere."
Calvin sighed. "Fine then," he muttered. "Anything to pass the time. You'd better not cheat though, because I know what you're like."
Hobbes took a box out of the closet and placed it on the floor. Calvin made his way over and Hobbes opened the box. Inside the box were a folded-up board, some different coloured counters, two dice, and a humongous rulebook with a thickness twice that of the Bible and containing what looked like a million pages.
Calvin and Hobbes set the game up. The board unfolded, revealing the game, and they each placed a small counter– a green one for Calvin and a blue one for Hobbes – at the side of the board. The rulebook was placed on the bed, which creaked a little under the weight.
"Well, that's everything set up," Hobbes commented. "Who goes first?"
"I don't know. We could toss a coin to decide. Have you got a quarter with you?"
"Or we could check the rules," Hobbes said firmly. He reached for the Snakes and Ladders rulebook.
"You don't need to look in there," said Calvin. "You must realise that you don't need to be governed by strict, repressive rules in games."
"This coming from the Dictator-for-life of G.R.O.S.S.," Hobbes returned with a grin. He scanned through the contents pages before Calvin had the chance to respond. "Let's see…'Getting started', pages 52 to 317…It says here that the youngest goes first."
There was a pause. "So…that means I go first," Calvin added.
Hobbes put the heavy book back on the bed and handed one of the dice over to Calvin. "Pretty much. You have to roll a 6 to make your first move."
"Yeah, yeah," Calvin muttered. "It's stupid that there are squares on the board numbered one to five, but they're never used because of having to roll a 6," he commented. Calvin rolled the die, and it landed on a 3.
"Ah, never mind. My turn," said Hobbes, and he reached to take the die, but Calvin took it before him.
"No, it's still my turn," said Calvin. He rolled the die again, and it landed on a 2.
"What are you doing? No its not! You've had your go, and it wasn't a 6!" Hobbes demanded as Calvin rolled the die for a third time, this time landing on a 3 again.
"But if I don't roll a 6, the game can't start! It all depends on me," Calvin replied.
"But I can roll a 6 to start as well."
"But the youngest goes first, so I have to roll the 6."
Hobbes gave Calvin a quizzical look. He eventually raised his paws in the air and said "Fine, fine."
Calvin rolled the die for another go, and it landed on a 5. "Rats!" he cursed. "So close, and yet so far!"
"Oh boy," Hobbes sighed to himself. "Something tells me this isn't going to end well."
Um…I never liked Monopoly that much (apologies to fans of it).