(Wake My) Crooked Heart
It was wrong to invite him here, Diana realizes belatedly. But Astrid and Sam were on a date and she didn't want to venture out by herself, not on a Friday night when the waiters served pity as a side dish and asked her, "Are you sure you don't want a table for two?"
She had wandered around the empty apartment for a bit, and then surrendered and called up Quinn.
Even now, she suspects he only came out of pity, but at least he's not being obvious about it.
"You play?" Quinn gestures to the chessboard on her desk.
"Not really," Diana admits. "Astrid's tried to teach me, but I just like looking at the pieces. You?"
"Same. I'm not smart enough." His grin shows he doesn't care at all. "So what's your favorite piece?"
"The king," blurts Diana. "I mean, he's not very useful or even likeable but he's the most important piece of the whole game. And all the other pieces are willing to follow him and sacrifice for him and, I don't know. I guess that's pretty cool." Then she looks down at the floor, half laughing. "That probably didn't even make any sense."
"No, I get it," Quinn says. "I just thought you'd like the queen or something. All-powerful and stuff."
"But she's not," Diana argues. "And anyway, it doesn't matter if the king's gone. The queen is nothing when the game's over."
"Isn't that the same for all the pieces?" Quinn has this way of creasing his eyebrows when he studies people.
Suddenly Diana feels silly, standing here and talking about chess. But she tries to find the right words to explain. "It's different. The pawns didn't have much in the first place. But the queen goes from powerful and confident to nothing when the king dies."
"Must suck, huh?" Quinn asks softly.
So he's guessed, Diana thinks. He's smarter than he gives himself credit for.
Quinn takes her silence as an answer. "Because I think you're looking at it wrong. Losing a chess game is like getting wiped out while surfing. It sucks, yeah, but there's another wave coming and that's a different wave. Another chance that you can't take if you don't move on."
"Surfing? Really?" She smirks, but the expression is empty of all her usual malice.
Tentatively, he smiles back. "Okay, not the best analogy. But you get what I mean?"
"Yeah." And strangely enough, she does. "Yeah, I do."
[a/n] This is a sample oneshot. If there's interest, I may continue with a multichapter fic that explores the gradual development of Quinn and Diana's friendship and eventual romance.
Song Inspiration: Running For Cover by Ivan & Alyosha